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Come, now, Thom! I wouldn't know what I was voting for. The system of bi-cameral representative government? The current manifestation of that system, including such matters as dysfunctional Senate rules? the persons filling (playing?) the various roles now? corporate influence? military influence? the absolutely ridiculous, unfair, and inefficient taxation by which the government finances its role? Etc.?
2950-10k Isn't "political crime" redundant?
There's not "too many guns" in this country...it's just that they are in the hands of the wrong people...because the right people are too eager to give them up believing that the system will protect them! But what if the system is so corrupt...it IS the bully?
The right people would be the ones who know that they may one day need to use them...or those who don't want them but know they must have them to defend their liberty and freedom. The right people would be the ones who never want to have to use them but know that they may have to one day to defend themselves against whatever forces that try to deprive them of their life, liberty, or freedom.
I am a progressive liberal but one who knows that unless you can fight back...the bullies will continue to rule the day. And the bullies know it! They will continue to try to convince their victims that they should not be able to protect themselves.
It is pretty ridiculous to hold the position that you will never have to defend yourself against the bullies and therefore you will never be prepared to do so if you believe in the fallacious idea that someone else will protect you. It might be the very last mistake you will ever make. And it might even be said that one of the reasons why our system has become so corrupt is because the bullies have spent years in manipulating their victims, psychologically, that made it easy for them to bully us out of our homes, our jobs, and our savings...and eventually...our lives... and it was like taking candy away from a baby.
PROBLEM #6: Revolving doors....DUH..make it illegal for any politician, ranking military person, or ranking government official from working for private sector jobs that directly relate to decisions made while in office.
I think most people don't realize all the good Government has done for the majority of people. As Thom has said the corporations have taken over and now we are exchanging good for bad. The cancer has spread and we may be terminally ill. Time will tell. It is up to us to take our Democracy back. We can not be still and think anyone is going to do it for us this time. Everyone needs to get up and stand up for their rights.
D Richards thanks for the links. The info you provided is relevant for those ready to hit the streets. It will be interesting to see what our tipping point will be this time. The pressure is building and it is a matter of time. I think our government is probably well stocked with weapons to control the dissent. I guess one side effect of our right to bear arms and the Lobbying group NRA is there are many more people with guns in this country. I am not promoting weapons as I don't even own any. The facts are we have too many guns in our population. If serious civil unrest started I see a potential for a big gang fight.
I have one reduction in Government request, downsize our military and end the war The our Government can have more funds to take care of America and her people. We gotta reinvent the 60's and early 70's and find courage to peafully protest and avoid conflict with the authorities as they would love to arrest and inprison us so we can work for the new age of American Industry in the privatized prison system
I keep thinking, that if corporations are people, then shouldn't they have a birth certificate? Impossible, because people are born, they are not incorporated! The republicans were relentless in forcing Obama to show his birth certificate to prove he was born a US citizen. That is something a corporation can not show, so how can they possibly be a person? Do they have biological parents? People do! Corporations don't have children, they have employees. An employee can be fired. You can't fire your children! Corporations are NOT people!
PROBLEMS & DUH SOLUTIONS
PROBLEM #1...gridlock between the parties; DUH...make all politicians NON-PARTISAN.
PROBLEM #2...career politicians; DUH...one term term limits & no pensions.
PROBLEM #3...overpaid politicians; DUH...minimum wage for all politicians.
PROBLEM #4...politicians as perpetual campaigners; DUH...gone with term limits.
PROBLEM # 5...politicians not representing the people; DUH...all issues voted by popular vote with politicians' issues being advisory only.
PROBLEMS & DUH SOLUTIONS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DUH, DAT'S ALL, FOLKS!!!!!...for now.
17th century enlightenment thinker John Locke understood that good government was an agreement among members of a society to give authority to chosen leaders in order to facilitate this goodness of government. It was a way to improve society and protect everyones natural rights. If this agreement was violated members had a right to resist.
I believe such thinking from the age of enlightenment applys to whats happening right now and 30 years of agreement violation is quite enough. With 79% dissatisfied it's time to RESIST! We can start by tuning out Fox and all right wing mass media and instead focus on the PLAIN TRUTH. Become informed and likewise inform your neighbor and everyone carry this truth all the way to the voting booths. We could end up with at least 79% political satisfaction, enough to bring back fairness in tax laws, trade laws, anti- trust laws, universal creation of labor unions, universal health care, Supreme Court overhaul, etc.... a true representative democracy.
When frustration reaches the level on not being able to discern between political parties just remember who the Tea Party chose to partner up with!
It figures, a job killer would agree that corps. are people!
Is Palin not officially in yet so she can avoid all those darn ?'s related to govt.?
It's a political crime that Senator Sanders is not on the gang of 12!
The Republicans are not against government, like they say, they are against democratic government. That is why their ideal society seems to be China, now that China has renounced Communism but has retained its police state.
The Republican base moved their manufacturing plants out of the United States because they hate and fear the power of organized workers and the right to organize is relatively well protected in the United States. Initially they moved operations to Mexico but after some time Mexican workers began to organize and won better pay and working conditions in those manufacturing plants. So then the U.S. manufacturers moved their operations to China. Apparently the possibility of workers organizing and gaining power in China seemed unlikely to the big manufacturers since there is such a far reaching and efficient police state and security apparatus there that is unhampered by any considerations of human rights.
Here in the United States, the Republicans speak against big government calling it tyranny while in actual fact, they themselves work against democracy increasing the power of government while reducing the collective and individual rights of the people. Aggressive attempts to take away collective bargaining rights are being implemented in Wisconsin and other states. Imperial usurping of the will of the people is being effected in Michigan. Not that long ago laws like the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act and the general eroding of the rights of the accused laid a legal foundation for a police state in the United States. New laws and extension of old laws introduced by the Republicans give police and F.B.I. the power to monitor phone conversations and e-mail exchanges without warrants. And it needs to be mentioned that all the many different large and small instances of privatization of government functions are making those areas of government less accountable to the public.
Essentially, the Republicans may reduce the size of government but they increase its power. What they do do is reduce the democratic character of government.
When Republicans talk about "big government tyranny" they are referring not to the rights of free speech and assembly being infringed upon. They support those infringements. They are not talking about the right to a fair trial and freedom from wrongful criminal accusation and conviction being denied. They support that too. They are not talking about the right to be free from government eavesdropping being taken away because they support that too.
When Republicans talk about the tyranny of big government they are referring to government not allowing them to be abusive to the public and to their employees. It refers, essentially, to government not allowing them to enslave, pollute or kill and injure the public with defective products - or, in other words, not allowing THEM to effect a tyranny over our society - since the role of democratic government is to prevent that from happening. Thus using privatization as the primary method, reducing the power and influence of democratic government upon the dealings of business is their ultimate goal. A government that embraces privatization is still powerful, it merely enforces the right of private individuals to enslave and abuse the broader public, putting its power at their disposal, and abdicates its responsibility to protect the public's right to be free from such abuse. Such a government no longer serves the public. It serves only an elite exclusive clique of private individuals. The great ambition of the right wingers and Republicans for the United States is to privatize every function of government and every aspect of life but we already know what a privatized government is. It is a government not accountable to the people, a government that serves primarily the interests of the private owners but serves those of the general public only incidentally. It is a government that can be treated like the personal property of a small elite group of individuals. We had government like that for most of the history of civilization.
It was called feudalism and monarchy.
Q, Do you think the government will react?
A. Yes, like a nuclear disaster.
Bechtel's answer to rule and regulation was "Become the government." As for General Dynamics, they too becoming the government re-insured our Capitol's final descent into lunacy.
There are terrible disgraces on the heads of our leaders, and I can hardly look at any of them without laughing. This a historyonic side-effect of Linclonapin, no doubt, a necessary medicament due to the present state of things.
Were an elected "official" to look at his/her watch, clearly visable by my own eyes, and tell me the time, I would NOT believe them. THAT is how much I distrust ANYTHING our present government says, of any party.
None of the present problems will ever get solved by any party until the voters clean the house and install people that might actually give a damn about the country, the Constitution, and the people that actually make up our society, of ALL walks of life and economic standing.
Our present situation has evolved into power for the party politics with ill regard for it's consequences. The economic situation will stumble along, falling further behind it's present state, until the tax code is revamped into a basis which treats EVERYONE fairly.
That being said, I have damn little faith our government will solve any problem ahead of us, economically, credit rating, militarily, global trade, or otherwise.
If corporations are people, can I marry one?
Well, 99% of the voters are clearly satisfied with government of, by, and for sociopathic corporate persons.
In the only polls that actually matter (elections), 99% of the Americans who vote regularly robotically vote for either the really retrograde Red Team or the deeply depraved Blue Team of the corporate party... a (near unanimous) routinely reliable supermajority popular vote mandate, from natural persons in favor of corporate person control over natural persons' lives and livelihoods.
I'm in the 1% that wants a small (i.e. non-militarized) sensible government, of, by, and for natural persons that conscientiously respects the rights of Nature whose health we all depend upon for our continued existence.
The "progressives" are the liberals who vote for Democrats so they can keep protesting against what they keep voting for.
The Devolution of Liberalism:
http://chenangogreens.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id...
Have a laugh > George Carlin - American BULL >>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7LvUDCcNss&feature=player_embedded#at=48
The best joke I've heard in years is when Republicans question where are the jobs. If anyone should know where the jobs are it is the REpublicans. How about the 5 million jobs they helped export by Corporate America. Then Republicans rewarded these firms by giving them tax subsidies. Anyone that thinks tax cuts to the rich creates jobs should immediately enroll in a reality class and research history as to the success of trickle down economics. You do understand Obama attempted to eliminate the tax subsidies to job exporting corporations and give them to American firms that hired Americans. Can you explain to me why the Republicans blocked this proposal. I just wrote to Speaker Boehner and made a suggestion that would greatly improve the ability of the average American to understand exactly what is true and what is false, and what Republicans and Democrats stand for. The suggestion was to install two booths on the floor of the House with lie detectors in stalled. Then require anyone making a statement on the floor to be connected to a lie detector, both Republicans and Democrats. I also suggested a siren be installed on roof of the Congress that would make one blast if a Democrat lied and two blasts if a Republican lied. Then for the first time in history we would find out the extent to which Republicans are incapable of making a factual statement. Then for the first time in history we would know what the Republicans really stand for. I suggest a side benefit of this process would reduce comments on the floor by REpbulicans to zero for they appear to believe lying is acceptable and excuse the practice by simply saying it is politics.
This is why the Republicans have been able to get away with very nearly destroying this country. The fault definitely does not rest with the parties equally by any stretch of the imagination. Republicans allowed Wall Street and the banks to self regulate under Bush. The result was very nearly the Second Great Depression due to greed, fraud, and gambling with our money by WALL Street and the banks. The Republicans under Bush allowed the oil and gas industry to self regulate and we got the worst oil spill disaster in history in the Gulf. George Bush inherited a surplus from Clinton and then proceeded to start two wars that cost trillions, cut taxes that cost trillions, and passed the drug prescription bill that cost trillions. None of these were paid for and done off budget. The Republicans fail to include these costs when they talk about how big the deficit was that Bush left for Obama. The Republicans supported the closing of 50,000 manufacturing operations and exportation of 5 million jobs with tax subsidies to those companies guilty. Obama attempted to discontinue paying tax subsidies to corporations exporting jobs and wanted to give these subsidies to American companies that hired Americans and this was blocked by the Republicans. Republicans fought everything Obama tried to do to remove the possibility that we would again bail out banks and Wall Street if event of another collapse and Republicans blocked most of changes and produced a water downed bill to change oversight of banks and Wall Street. The Republican budget for 2012 by Paul Ryan privitized Social Security and Medicare and eliminated these programs as we know them today. The guaranteed coverage provision is eliminated. The Payment proposed to citizens to purchase private coverage would pay only 50% of the cost in the first year, if you can buy coverage.The Republicans have only two programs to offer as they have for 50 years- cut taxes and make government smaller. Trickle down economics has never created one job in our history but has cut jobs. The wealthy are getting more wealthy and everyone else has seen reduction in income. The Koch Brothers have purchased 3 members of the Supreme Court and 100% of Republicans in Congress, plus 60% of Governors. They write the bills proposed by Republicans in Congress and being introduced by State Legislatures, actually ALEC writes the bills. The Republicans produced a down grade of our credit rating by refusing to include revenues and refusing to agree to anything until the last minute which clearly shows they will take this country to the knees just to make Obama look bad. I voted for the REpublicans primarily until 2008 but came to recognize the Republican Party I supported no longer exists. The current party is a cancer that will destroy the way of life for the average citizen. Nearly all Republicans signed a pledge to not cut taxes for any reason which clearly violates the oath they take when they accept office. If REpublicans win in 2012, the U.S. will immediately become a Third World Country with two classes, the wealthy and everyone else. If you are under 55, your future will consist of hoping your children will be able to support you and pay for your health care. The only hope for this country is to put Democrats in control of both Houses and the Presidency.
There is plenty of money here and here only to go around. Here's a Interesting piece of news . The US military to Launch fastest plane ever > There seems to be no stopping the adventure feeling of supreme power. No end of thinKing in terms of delivering bombs to us at a much faster pace," whoopee!. "And So, The March goes on ~Oops ~ I mean some kind of victory ~" No, I mean ~ And The beat goes on! http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/10/us-military-fastest-plane-falcon
It has been obvious to me for years that this was coming. We need to stop worshiping at the feet of the wealthy and corporate Amerika and stand up for ourselves. Get in the game for the sake of our children and grandchildren!
Thom- Government is broken, and you are 100% correct. The problem I am having is everyone (from both sides) uses the talking points of "We need jobs, jobs, jobs"... well that is all great and dandy but HOW COME WE NEVER HEAR WHO IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT?! No media discussions, of any source, talks about in any detail on how we can get manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. . Whichever candidate can capilize on this topic will win 2012.
Nothing that government does - like the military, Social Security and Medicare, public education - are do it yourself projects. I think we all agree it is not about the Republican bad guys; everyone (well, nearly) is acting irresponsibly, or more accurately, with corporate responsibiliy. As to government getting out of everyone's hair, more often than not the times when government seems to intrude are corporate favors. And THAT is what Thom is talking about.
You can listen live to the show on KPOJ (a link is provided on Thom's page) without commercial breaking in during the show. You still have commercials during breaks but not during the show.
Thom's interview with Peter Ferrara was a striking example of how those who proclaim the "wisdom" of the extreme conservatives use the volume argument. The volume argument being the process where stating one's opinions louder and louder will establish the validity of their claims. I felt sorry for the man as he angrily melted down when pressed to substantiate with details or facts his superficial analysis of economic fact. As Thom pushed for more information this emotionally insecure spokesperson retreated into screaming at a high pitch. It is sad to see an emotional break down by an adult during what started as a discussion/debate of political/economic history. I can only guess that he is not used to speaking to persons who do not share his ideology. I wonder if his usual audience responds to emotional intensity mistaking his fevered pitch as evidence of the validity of his information. It seems to occur regularly on the show. I found this individual's display to be especially sad. Thom was very tolerant and gracious (his usual style) as his guest melted down.
Just a side note: Americans Elect was just on the Colbert Report....remember to look just who founded Americans Elect (Peter Ackerman) and how he made all his money...and what organizations he is part of...like privatizing social security...like overthrowing governments by internal subversion...like associations with the military industrial complex. Even Noam Chomsky warned about one such group Freedom House as being a front for the CIA. In my opinion, he and his organization (now his son runs it), is not a friend of the majority of people...hard working Americans...but is a front for more exploitation of the people by wealthy tricksters. Their facade sounds inviting but it is a trick. Look and investigate before you get trapped into supporting them or signing their petitions.
Do TV stations actually make more money on political advertising? If so, I imagine it's because of the increased demand for air time. Other than that, it might be the dependability. They know politicians are going to advertise, whereas a corporation advertises only whenever it decides it needs to.
A little from column A and a boatload from column B.