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The VA is in trouble. They were only prepared for the "Cakewalk" war that was promised instead of our longest war in history. As a result the Veteran Claims Backlog is killing us faster than the war itself.
Please highlight this: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/court-backs-veterans-complaints-on-mental-health-services/?partner=rss&emc=rss
This is a chance for an Obama win! If he continues to ignor the problem, the GOP will use it. I am not sure that they are not behind it but that's another story in itself.
Seems like the "Deny-Delay-Hope-They-Die" mentality (60 minutes) is still SOP at VA.
Otis B
Complacency is the enemy of democracy. Democracy can't work if the people sit on their duffs and complain but DO nothing. Legislation like this, as a appalling and outrageous as it is, is a true indicator of the Republicans' confidence that there will be little to no opposition...
Gene Lewis, Truman didn't run in 1952. Adlai Stevenson was the Democratic candidate.
I just wish Eisenhower had changed running mates before Nixon's Checkers speech. History would be quite different now.
"Fascists don't like art, or artists"---Exactly!
The Renaissance followed freedom from the coercive belief it is right to suffer here,--to find happiness after death. When the people reached agreement NOW is the time for happiness--our capacity to love-- became expressed in art, architecture and music---and progressive social changes began to move all toward 'heaven on earth'.
Fascists don't like artists because they can't be programmed. An artist is authentic,--and the art reaches a common place deep in personal thought,--our humanity. The 'new' republicans are robotic,--their minds are synthetic,--manufactured by their leaders,--corporations who were obviously not endowed by nature with a sense of responsibility for the welfare of other people.
Life is an art! There was no blueprint for our ancestors to follow. Those who made a difference in our world,--moved human facts toward truth,--and human laws toward justice.
Art is a threat to fascists who are dependent on enhanced individual reliance on physical senses for success in their endeavor to control. Physical structure allows us to observe and be observed,--to copy what we see. Unfortunately we are in a reality where the 'person' is encapsulated in this physical barrier to thought. We can only FEEL our own existence,--our humanity. Those who break through, who follow personal convictions have overcome all obstacles, and effected our ascent.
I didn't get my driving license until after I voted for the first time. The reason was I didn't have anywhere to drive.
Democracy has nothing to do with cars!
Ike was a loyal dem before and during WW II. HJe was approched by rep to run againt Truman becasue Truman was going to win his third turm. Only way to swtop him was a big war hero
For you to think most of us are sitting on our asses it total BS. For myself, I have been to so many protests I cannot count them all. I have written a library full of letters to my congressional members and the president and only get a canned response. I have made countless phone calls to all of them. It is the same old crap that goes on and on. Why it is that the American people are supposed to give their hard earned tax dollars to "foreign aid" so we can bring democracy to the world when we don't have a democracy here in the United States of America? Why is it Americans are to be satisfied with the "lesser of two evils"? I am sick of the "lesser of two evils" and I will no longer vote for either EVIL.
I am also involved in trying to get Citizens United overturned. What are you doing to make that happen?????
I totally agree with you. It is time we had some hutzpah like others around the world. We sit here, like they did, expecting some knight in shinning armor to come along and save us. We are the ones who will save ourselves. We can either wait until we are all half dead or we can hit the streets now. I am for living in the NOW. To heck with this vote Democratic crap. It hasn't worked in 30 years so why do we think the wealthy will all of a sudden have pitty on the 98% of us and do what is best for all? I have been a pacifist all of my life but if violence is what the wealthy want, I believe they will push us to the breaking point and they will get it. When people have nothing, they have nothing to loose. The thought of leaving this kind of America for my grandchildren to deal with it not acceptable.
I think the war on art is just another version of the war on people who think for themselves. Most artists I know are very open minded and tend to view the world in "Republicon non-acceptable" ways. Art is also a form of communication and community. The wealthy want us detached from each other and stupid. So far we are showing them we are beyond stupid by our unwillingness to see things for what they really are. Why change your tack when you are getting everything you want? From uninformed idiot Americans to a bought and paid for president, the wealthy and their congressional whores have it all. It is hard for most of us to realize these people are psychopaths and they literally have NO conscience. It is one thing to say, "psychopath" it is another to grasp the full meaning of the illness. If you have no conscience you don't give a damn about anyone else and you are unlimited in what you will do to another human being. Because psychopaths know they are supposed to have a conscience and realize they do not, I believe they turn to greed to to try and satisfy that which cannot be satisfied. Until we unite and fight back we will remain on the slippery slope to fascism led by people who should be in mental institutions.
Re: So here we are in the midst of perpetual war... Engineers Request Permission to Speak Freely Regarding World Trade Building 7
Preface: This essay does not question whether Bin Laden and Al Qaeda attacked us on September 11, 2001, or whether Iran, Saudi Arabia or another nation-state had a hand in the attacks. It focuses solely on a peripheral issue regarding the third building which fell on that terrible day.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/
Let us not forget what started it all!
As a person who has been in the arts and made my living from designing and creating for 30 years, I am deeply saddened, but not surprised. Those who mainly use their left brains just don't understand because they haven't experienced the freedom and joy that art expression gives those who are more right brained. Art and music and dance and theater help to broaden the experiences of all, just as sports do. I was horrified when I was watching a great program on the Universe on PBS and saw it was a David Koch production. I was wondering what the angle was, because there is always an angle - now I know. I'm convinced the goal is to control all media input, including the internet, so they may control the minds of the people. The country is so confused right now because they hear rhetoric from Fox and the right-wing talk shows that's false and misleading. They even hear falsehoods coming from the Senate floor. Then they're expected to figure out who is right when they may read or hear something completely different form another source. We are so screwed. This is how the Tea Party got so many of their puppets in office in 2010 - they simply lied and blasted their lies all over their media. Nobody knew when they were electing a Walker or Scott or any of the Tea Party Congress people that they were going to have the agenda they are executing. I also don't believe the GOP is all that concerned about the Presidential election of 2012. They are doing all their dirty work on a state level and if challenged - they'll go right up to SCOTUS, where they will be ratified. In fact, they are doing as much as they can to render the Presidency ineffective by working to take over the House and the Senate... they already have the judges. The most important thing we have to do in 2012 is get people to vote. The GOP wants Dems to know Obama is a shoe-in and stay home. People must vote for the Congressional and Senatorial races - they are what really counts right now. Soon, with no regulation to stop them - the right will be feeding us propaganda all day long and that may be the only form of entertainment left as people get poorer and sadder and more ignorant and give-up hope.
There is no separation of corporate and government worlds. We are being bought and sold by Corporations with our own willingness to not see and desire for "fun" or "convenience".
essay writing help
I have for some time come to dislike professionals sports. Professional sports remind me of the gladiators during the Roman Empire. In our Anti-Christ nation these athletes are overpaid, pampered, spoiled, and disgusting.
I am for the arts, crafts, plays, films, music, dance, and concerts. Personally, I believe that art and culture give us a better lifestyle. With that said I oppose watching human beings who are displayed in films as freaks. These so-called actors come across as grotesque. The human body is beautiful and the body is marvel in God’s creation.
Jon Stewart interviews Jon Ronson
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-may-16-2011/jon-ronson
1% of general population, 25% of prison population... 4% of Corporate CEOs - do Psychopaths rule the world?
"Nobody in my corner was
Nobody in my corner was supporting Newt anyway. Secondly, abortion is about 'another' body. The one inside, that is unless you feel that 'thing' in a woman's body is nothing more than just a glob of flesh, by the way has: a nose, hands, eyes, a heartbeat, its own DNA etc., etc., etc.,"
Yes and some even grow up to become Republicans! Also, OBL was not aborted. Nor was Hitler. Nor was Stalin. Nor was Lenin. Nor were any of the Khmer Rouge. Nor were the countless other Dictators who murdered their people by the MILLIONS and practiced Genocide. They were not aborted so that they could live to murder and gas MILLIONS later on! The Millions they killed also had noses, hands, eyes, heartbeats, and own DNA - and also one thing that aborted babies do not - the awareness that they were being killed and murdered; cognizant that their loved ones were also being murdered; and aware of and feeling pain!
And what about those who were also not aborted and who are now “Soldiers in Christ” and who’s main mission in life is to KILL abortion doctors??
And you sir - What if you would of had the Power to Abort OBL knowing what he would do? Would you have done it? And if not, would you then be guilty of the 3000 he murdered on Sept 11? You can't have it both ways. If you say it is all God's will, then you are stuck with the fact that it is also God's will that some babies be aborted. If you then state not so, then it is God's will that 3000 died on Sept 11 because God is all knowing and all powerful and he knew what OBL would do. Under your logic no one is guilty - not you, not OBL, not God!! But if GOD knew, that means he allowed it to happen. That means he has to take responsibility. If he is All Knowing, and All Powerful, that means he is very much aware that abortions do happen, and that means that he does allow them to take place. If you say no to that, then that means that he is NOT All- Knowing and All-Powerful: if that is the case, he is not much of a god.
Why would the REPUBLICANS slip this in when we have a Democratic President??
Do they know something that that Democrats don't? Are they planning something?
Someone needs to look into this Congressman Buck McKeon! Ties with Big Oil? The Kock Brothers? Big Corporations? Big Banks? Foreign Nations?
What IS HIS and the Republicans ultimate AGENDA? Maybe that is the BIG question we all should be asking!!!!
Watched Lisa Jackson, head of EPA, on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and felt like sharing some thoughts on the regulation vs no regulation debate.
1. When someone complains about to much regulation, the responce is always "well dont you want food without poisen, or clean water, ect..." Of coarse people want these things at least to some level, but everything we do has some effect that could be minimized if we were willing take the protection or oversight farther. For example, the presence of roads has negative effects on wildlife, sediment into streams, ect... It makes sense to regulate the number of roads to some degree but we as a society would agree we need roads. However we are excepting a level of negative effects to the environment to have the roads we need to funtion as a society. My point is I have heard the term cost benifit analysis brought up on the program when used to assess regulations as always a negative thing, but it is conducted for everything and is useful.
2. Lisa Jacksons comments on the additional regulations on Boilers, she stated that it would create jobs because someone would have to build the new cleaning technology. However, she does not recognize that we do not live in a protected economy and rather than spend that extra money to build the cleaning technology, the company may choose to go over seas instead. If we were a closed economy, then yes, an additional regulation would add jobs, cost would be passed on, and society would pay for the rules it wants. Forestry in California is an excellent example. State forest practices add high costs that the landowner has to take on societies behalf, good or bad, but the 2X4 does not go up in price due to wood products from other countries filling the store shelf. I have been witness to plywood being used from China on a job where a us plywood mill is 5 miles away.
It makes sense to have land use planning to ensure protection of property and to ensure my actions do not negatively effect my neihbor. But do I really need to pay 15000 dollars in developmental fees to build a house on my property or need specifics that tell me how far apart the rails on my deck need to be. I believe in land use planning oversight but it gets rediculous!
Just some thoughts,
Judd
Here's a video where Eliot Spitzer and Dylan Ratigan explains, with a garbage bag and play money, what transpired during the "bailout".
http://dailybail.com/home/eliot-spitzer-the-federal-reserve-is-a-ponzi-s...
There will be more "bailouts" to come...just wait! American taxpayers will get garbage in exchange for making the banks richer just like the last time. American taxpayers got stuck with the bill but got nothing but worthless garbage in return. As Eliot Spitzer said...the Federal Reserve is a giant Ponzi Scheme. The Federal Reserve is touted as an independent quasi-government entity supposedly controlled by no one but itself...but as Spitzer shows it was/is controlled by the very banks who created the garbage that made them rich initially and then got wealthier by being "bailed out" by the tax payer, and future tax payers, who got worthless garbage in return.
The right wing extremist partys war on art comes as no surprise. Creative minds have always been a threat to those seeking total control over a population they wish to dominate for personal gain.
Look where Galileo's validation of Copernican theory got him! The Catholic church dogma that the Earth was the center of the universe was not to be challenged. Galileo's creative mind was a very serious threat to the church and the power it held over the people.
I went through a 4 year design school in the late 70's and can assure you we were all liberal and progressive thinkers. Creative minds by the very definition are progressive. I still keep in touch with many classmates and guess what, we all still share similiar political sentiment, no surprise!
So in conclusion, unless the Republicans legalize lobotomys on all creative minded people, their war on art is doomed to fail and only reflects more idiocy on their part.
Watch PBS Frontline Tuesday 24, May
Entire show on Wikileaks and Bradley Manning.
But, Gurjeet....Obama IS a Republican! He ran on the Democratic ticket, pretends to be a Democrat, and calls himself a Democrat..and a lot of people have been fooled into thinking he is a Democrat....but he ACTS more like a Republican. If he acts like a Republican no matter what suave drivel comes out of his mouth he is a Republican. He is a covert Republican.
The Republicans don't want us to know that Obama is a Republican and will continue to try to convince us by berating him and pretending he is "the enemy". The actual Republican politicians would rather have "their" man with an overt title of "Republican" but the ruling elite calls the shots and they win because the political system (Republican or Democrat) is controlled by them. But this is all part of the act to get us to believe Obama is on our side even while he sells us out to the Republicans (or more accurately...to the ruling elite).
I'd venture that had Obama not been elected the first time and an overt Republican had won the Presidency...like McCain/and whats her name...then it would have been a whole lot tougher to have bailed out the economic crooks that got the $700 billion.
I have heard some economists say that Americans were so sick, and distrustful, of Bush and the Republicans that the (originally Bush...pushed through by Obama) bailout may not have gone through without rioting in the streets. Obama was the slick tongue devil that pretended to be on our side with slogans like "hope we can believe in"....so people went along hoping that Obama, et al , knew what he was doing....and that what he was doing was in the best interest of the people....supposedly avoiding a catastrophic collapse of the banking system...uh, yeah! ...saved the a$$e$ of the criminal banksters and other big time gambler/swindlers...those of us who, wisely, may not have trusted the Wall Street slot machine who kept our money in savings accounts, or other low risk accounts, that were FDIC insured would get their money.
If they can work overtime printing more money to inject into the current failed Wall Street in their vain and stupid attempt to create yet another bubble..and ..making the numbers look high in their attempt to sucker more Americans, and foreign investors to pry open their savings accounts to risk in the market again.....they could print more money to pay FDIC demands. So big time market gamblers would have lost, as they should have lost, but others of us would still be backed by the US government and the money printing machines...and those with gold probably would have been in the best shape.
And that is another issue....if we can waste trillions of dollars on stupid wars in the Middle East and print more money to cover that they should have no problem doing the same thing with the Social Security and Medicare.
The decline in knowledge and/or appreciation of the fine arts in America among citizens parallels the advent of the Tea Part movement and the election of right-wing Republicans throughout the country who go against the basic economic and human rights interests of the vast majority of people.
The Republicans are shrewd and aggressive, but are not interested in asthetics or in creativity as it relates to emotions, character, or a sense of justice. Talented people may have genius; right-wingers generally are less able and less developed both emotionally and intellectually than are artists or those who those who understand various forms of art. Artists and writers are sometimes on the cutting edge of expressing thoughts about social issues. In a musuem of modern art, I once saw a whole room that contained photos and documents on the war in Iraq, collected and arranged by one artist. Art often goes against covention. Conservatives are the epitome of the conventional and the status quo. There are no doubt some conservative rich people who admire or even collect art. But for the most part, I don't see conservatives hanging out at art gallaries and museums, or even spending much time at the theater or at the symphony. Like William Bennett, they seem likely to engage in more vulgar pursuits, like gambling at a casino, or what Thorsten Veblen referred to as that which is "pecuniary." After all, conservatives believe life is merely a gamble, with winners and losers. The conservative philosophy, athough followers will deny it to the living end, is based on dragging most people down while only promoting the interests of the super-rich. Art of all kinds is designed to inspire and even uplift people, and to make them think in new ways. That goes against the conservative screed of going backwards instead of forward on various issues.
Berry: Good Web Site!
I especially liked the video of Max Keiser accusing Goldman Sachs of being an economic terrorist....I watched it before at another Web Site as well.
Re " But we've got to think seriously of third-party candidates,third formations, third parties".
The election for president of the United States, is going to be between Barack Obama and a Republican candidate. Whether we like it or not. Third parties can win in local races at best, and even then it's so unlikely that it's a surprise. Taking your vote away from President Obama ensures Republican victory. And as poor of a progressive Barack Obama has turned out to be, when a Republican president is in power, there is nothing stopping the radical right wing agenda. Have we already forgotten the incredible damage that George Bush did to us just within these past 10 years? Look at the dire consequences of the victories by Republicans at the state level even. Taking away cities' rights to choose their own representatives as Rick Snyder is doing in Michigan. Taking away workers right as Scott Walker is doing in Wisconsin. This is not something to be taking lightly. And the president decides who is on the supreme court when a justice leaves. We need Barack Obama in there, to pick at least a moderate, rather than a right wing president, picking a corporate lawyer. Is Obama everything I've hoped for? No. But ensuring republican victory, which is what you're doing, is going to have dire consequences, for us all (the 99ners).