One ray of hope

If Hilary Clinton is elected, Congressional oversight and limited executive power will come back into fashion in January '09. That will undo a smidgeon of damage.

-- Thelma Ritter

Horse. Shit.

He said:

"But my bigger point is that all I hear from the left is give give give: give of our time, our skill, and our money. We give to candidates who fail us, and who in turn give the money to network TV, which despises us. We give to political organizations whose leaders feather their nests while asking people to volunteer their time."

I totally agree, and I've had the experience of feeling had. For example, I gave quite a bit of money (in terms of my income) to the Kerry campaign in 2004. I desperately wanted Bush to lose. I got a last minute appeal days before the election, and donated even more, more than I could afford at the time. Later come to hear that the Kerry campaign decided NOT to do a big ad blitz the final few days, and that, in fact, Kerry ended up with millions of unused donations in his war chest. Rumor was, he planned to use it to run again. My contribution? I figure it was part of that "nest egg" the poverty stricken Kerry (and his catsup-heiress wife) could then use in a future campaign.

My response is not to become bitter at "the left" -- whatever that phrase means these days. I just learned to give smarter. I also don't give more than I can afford. No more running up my charge cards to help a candidate.

As for this blog, I give because I believe that Glenn is making a real impact on the raving beast, the mainstream media. He has been quoted by name by prestigious and influential pundits, and opinion makers read this blog. He employs a researcher, which most bloggers do not, and for which I do not believe he is being reimbursed by Salon.

I say all this not in an attempt to defend Glenn Greenwald; he is more than capable of doing that himself. I'm just saying that I trust him to use my contribution wisely. I think there are others that read this blog that think so too.

As to Markos, maybe his ad revenue makes him a wealthy man. I don't know. He's never asked me for a contribution and I've never given one to him, although I think The Daily Kos is a national treasure and an example of democracy in action.

With each passing day the promise of what America can be is fading. Goodbye FDR, JFK,MLK,RFK, and countless and nameless others who made the gigantic effort to make a place of love and tolerance. Beyonce Welch - Doing My Best to Save America from Fascism.

MSM:

At what point has the MSM ever been better? Did someone not point out that the MSM was just as bad during Vietnam? Was the Watergate reporting not just an aberration (?Timberman?)? How many Watergate stories (Secret prisons, illegal wiretapping, torture, bad hospitals, etc) are there today as opposed to then (somebody else will have to chime in what stories broke / did not break before/during/after Vietnam).

Maybe all this time, our reliance on the MSM has been faulty.

Republicans/Democrats:

Why would they care about what WE think? How much profit is this war bringing to the already wealthy people? Would any demonstration (less fuel usage, payment skipping, less shopping) really have an impact on the war machine? There is billions upon billions to be made by constant warfare. Does anything outside the military complex even matter anymore? Would any of our “impact” on the economy hold a candle to the wealth and power of the military complex?

Money=Speech

...how about one to undo the 1976 Burger Court decision making money a form of political speech?

-- ondelette

Corporate Personhood

More simply, an ammendment that says that no Corporation has unalienable rights - and that all people, everywhere, do.

-- Ames!!

They were both intended to create a Corporotocracy and have very much succeded.

It's time for people of conscience to express their utter disgust with our elected representatives and their dismal failure to uphold the Constitution, not to mention basic morality.

Writing letters, calling their offices, protesting in the streets accomplishes nothing. Time to get physical.

How about this: large groups of citizens attend sessions of the House and Senate on the same day and, after eating something vile, vomit on Congress.

Probably still wouldn't force any change in their behavior, but it would send a powerful message to the world that many, if not most, Americans do not want to be complicit in the crimes of our leadership.

With a name like Beyonce, you must be young. (No one in my generation was named Beyonce that I know of). I can't make blithe assurances that things will improve -- it could very well be that this country, "conceived in liberty and dedicated to proposition that all men are created equal", will shortly be relegated to the dust bin of history. And we'll only have ourselves to blame.

But it ain't over till it's over, as Yogi Berra said, so hang in there. We may just turn this thing around, in spite of how dark things look.

His message speaks volumes. Look at what he is consciously willing to give up. To hold up the Constitution is sanctimonious. He doesn't stand by the "moral authority" rationalization of our tactics, but rather abandons it wholesale. He essentially admits "we are them." This is America's crusade, a fight about religion, a struggle for resources; primordial tribalism.

This is more honesty than his leaders are willing to comport. He represents a not-insignificant portion of the citizenry among those that are even paying attention.

Better red than dead, indeed.

FIVE whole years ago, when things were just beginning to roll, I correctly surmised that the changes Bush was making were no good for the Nation.

Of course, EVERYONE all but ignored me and others like me.

Y'all thought, "If only we get Democrats into power again, we can fix this mess"

Who has the last laugh? I wish I could say I do. But I have been pulled down along with this once great nation by the collective ignorance of all you now demonstrable FOOLS who trusted but did not verify a rigged system.

Maybe the conspiracy theorists were RIGHT after all.