In fact, they have a-changed!

Yee of little faith, Jonathan. We're in, Jonathan, and ain't nobody kickin' us out now. Nobody. Not "powers that be". Not puss infested, certified liars such as Karl Rove. Not dimwitted neandrathals such as George Bush. Not shotgun weilding, snearing walking heart attacks like Dick Cheney. We're in...and we ain't a-goin' away.

Yee of little faith, Jonathan. We're in, Jonathan, and ain't nobody kickin' us out now. Nobody. Not "powers that be". Not puss infested, certified liars such as Karl Rove. Not dimwitted neandrathals such as George Bush. Not shotgun weilding, snearing walking heart attacks like Dick Cheney. We're in...and we ain't a-goin' away.

-- Kitt

Tsk.

Meanwhile back at the emails, let's see the Congress show the way by disclosing all their communications. I have no doubt they have broken laws along the way, that should be enough to demand disclosure. Anything else is high hypocrisy.

Meanwhile back at the emails, let's see the Congress show the way by disclosing all their communications. I have no doubt they have broken laws along the way, that should be enough to demand disclosure. Anything else is high hypocrisy.

Gosh, shooter, these blistering diatribes of logic have plumb got me convinced. You are absolutely right that if anyone else has done anything wrong (particularly if they are defeatocrats), then the Bush administration has done nothing wrong. It's so simple! It's practically genius! In fact, it IS genius! I doff my cap to you and herewith become a true believing red blooded super patriot Bushie. Yippee!

Any citizenry that will piss in a cup in order to get or keep a job has very little fight left in them.

The Democrats are only *slightly* less venal than the Republicans.

Shitter242 speaks on a topic he's an expert on:

Anything else is high hypocrisy.

-- shooter242

Shitter242: a shameless hypocrite who's obviously high!

Like the rest of the fascist lapdogs, the shitter thinks the Bill of Rights is merely a Bill of Suggestions, and probable cause, of search and seizure procedures, are for pussies. Rover has left a stinking trail of probable cause for a decade, minimum. Let's see the pudgy little toadie under oath under the lights in prime time.

Not sure if this has already been covered here, but I ran across this item in the April 13th Chicago Tribune:

"Before [Chief Justice John Roberts'] nomination to the Supreme Court in 2005, his 2-decade-old file on affirmative action went missing from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Democrats called for an investigation, and the National Archives inspector general's office looked into the matter, eventially reporting that it 'was unable to determine whether the missing file was taken intentionally, unintentionally or lost."

I don't have a lot of confidence that this Supreme Court will rein in this administration.

Any citizenry that will piss in a cup in order to get or keep a job has very little fight left in them.

The Democrats are only *slightly* less venal than the Republicans.

-- Jonathan Hoag

The Republicans have been trying to destroy net nuetrality for years now. Because of the outrage of at least some of us in the general public, and because of the "slightly less venal" Democrats in Congress...they have failed to do so.

We are winning that battle. Why don't you get on board instead of rolling over with a 'kick me, and please kick me again' attitude? Why do you want to allow yourself to be cowed into believing that there is some all powerful group of 'haves' out there that just are gonna' have it all no matter what anyone else does or says? I can't live my life that way. Sorry to see that you choose to.

Why do you want to allow yourself to be cowed into believing that there is some all powerful group of 'haves' out there that just are gonna' have it all no matter what anyone else does or says? I can't live my life that way. Sorry to see that you choose to.

Those who have the gold make the rules. It's a cliche, but like many cliches it has a strong element of truth to it.

I'm in the habit of trying very hard to see things as they really are rather than the way I wish they would be.

There is a concept in addiction called "variable reward", essentially it boils down to addictions actually become stronger when you are not assured of the reward every time you perform the addictive behavior.

Look at gambling addicts, every time they lose only reinforces the idea in their heads that they are going to win *next* time.

Cigarette manufacturers vary the amount of nicotine in their product over time in order to enhance the addictive qualities of that product.

If you apply the concept of variable reward to government you will see that we are being manipulated like addicts. First they take away some freedoms, then they give a few back. But the overall trend is toward fewer freedoms.

Oligarchy, patriarchy, theocracy, mysogyny, racism, military aggression, and fear mongering (aka xenophobia) are the planks in the republikan platform. They will continue to lie and flaut the law as long as they get away with it. Impeachment is long in order, and jail terms for a list too long to ennumerate herein. Start with dick, ricearoni, perle, wolfoshitz, and go on from there. Dozens upon dozens are guilty of war crimes, obstruction of justice, grand larceny (helliburton's no bid contracts, et al). Orange jump suits for the whole pack of fascist jackals. Oh, and 52 dead Americans so far in the April escalation these liars call a "surge".

You might want to look at this... it's absolutely incredible:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2007/04/bush_administration_breakdown.html

Glenn, can you find out if this is by any means for real? It sounds like a parody, but I think it's supposed to be true.

It would be the cherry on the cake of your article.

If you apply the concept of variable reward to government you will see that we are being manipulated like addicts. First they take away some freedoms, then they give a few back. But the overall trend is toward fewer freedoms.

-- Jonathan Hoag

Yes, I'm fully aware that we have been tamped down, tilled under, bullied and bloodied, and that much of the population is either unaware of just how much of their constitional rights have been revoked or considerably undermined, and I know that much of the populace just doesn't care, or even seem to understand that they should care. Ignorance is bliss and all of that.

That's all a shame and will continue to be a shame. But this specific conversation between you and I was, in essence, about Net Nuetrality. That particular issue can go a long way to turn the tables. I say that for a number of reasons. One is that it is the most informed and most determined of us who can take advantage of this means of communication.

The net has proven to be and will continue to prove to be one of the greatest ways ever to get the word out and get it out fast and easily. Undermining that won't be as easy at it has been to simply bully and pay off the MSM pundits, for example. That has been a relative cakewalk for the money changers. This isn't. We've got them by the short hairs with this one, and we're running with it.

Just look at the effect Glenn Greenwald moving to Salon has had. Now, when Glenn talks people in positions of power in the MSM listen, and they feel obligated or defensive enough to reply. Their replies often times come off as pathetic and disingenuous. That gets noticed by Joe and Jane on the street or Joe and Jane reading the net. There are a lot of people out there who were unaware of what a bunch of stenographers and, really, just bald faced liars, they were being taken for chumps by.

This is no small battle we are currently winning. It is a huge battle and could well lead to a sea change in America.