Hey you, don’t watch that, watch this
This is the heavy heavy monster sound
The nutsiest sound around
So if you’ve come in off the street
And you’re beginning to feel the heat
Well listen buster
You’d better start to move your feet
To the rockin’est, rock-steady beat of Madness
One — step — beyond!

Sorry!

It never ceases to amaze me that everyone looks at elections as if they were betting at a horse race. Only those with the lowest “handicap” are considered “viable”. And how do people who profess to a strict dogma attend to such matters? Marginalization

“Conservatives” cant’ find anyone in “the frontrunners” who can meet all of their criteria for faith and family so they’ll pick the lesser of “evils”.

If they, and I might poke a few fingers at “progressives” as well in this case, would look a little “lower on the totem pole” they may find someone they are more “in tune with”.

Heaven forbid people of faith would apply some or people with “heart” would look into them.

I agree with Selise at 16.

At one time Democrats were a counterweight to corporate power in this country. That was before they decided to become republican-lite.

Can you imagine JFK, Truman, or LBJ voting in favor of the bankruptcy bill? Can you imagine them selling out American labor on trade deals like NAFTA?

Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal organized the government into an entity that countered corporate “Big Business” power and influence over policy as well as acted as a counterbalance between business and labor to insure a level playing pitch. Big Business, their minions and appologists have taken a vow to undo everything created in the New Deal agenda.
Political fraud has been the only path to power for the conservative politician, the conservative agenda being a wasteland of publically acceptable ideas, and a bankruptcy of ethics all camoflaged in flags and self-assigned morality. Once Nixon usurped the Republican party, narrowing its base to the conservative right, and selling itself the party of “law and order” to entice an unwary public into surrendering their support for the corporatist’s hidden agenda. Nixon’s attack and breakup of the communications monopoly began the assault on the regulatory authority developed by the New Deal, and provided a windfall for those holding significant portions of stock as well as exposing the stock to significant speculationary pressures in the stock exchanges, mostly to the disadvantage of the smallest shareholders. This began a process that fourty years on has seen the very function of governance gutted to a disfunctionate shell, and the constitution shreaded to meaningless tatters in the process.
Like Humpty Dumpty, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men are not going to re-establish the document as it once was, the people, the perceptions, the education and knowledge that created the document are no longer and todays heirs seldom measure up to their forefathers feats let alone focus of attention, such was the measure of giants.
What will have to be built to replace the founding document must have both a greater inclusiveness of the citizen as the source of authority for power as well as a greater protection from the abuse of governmental as well as economic power. But foremost in importance is the protection necessary above all others, the guaranteed protection of law in the courts. Only on a truely level field at law, is the citizen truely protected. Should the law remain the right of the few, no legal protection can be guaranteed all citizens and eventually this story shall be repeated, I fear.

Selise, I wonder if Darth locked himself in his bunker during Live Earth for fear the peasants would get riled up by RFKJr. and storm the Bastille. It’s a rousing speech.

see you on the barricades!

i really should type up a transcription of it today. so many great lines and great thoughts. inspiring… wish for all to hear it.

Selise….in light of all the damage that Cheney/Bush have done to this country, I cannot let go of Nader’s role. I think you’re right that our corporate dem’s aren’t much better, but there is and was a huge difference between Gore and Bush.

I also believe that election fraud was a far bigger cause for Bush’s “win” and the Supreme Court’s “selection” than Nader’s role.

i actually think there’s a huge difference between most of the dems and bush. all i’m saying is that i don’t think anyone knew at that time (2000) just how bad bush would be on issues like torture, nsa spying,… we all did know how much bush was lying about his fiscal policies (thank you paul krugman).

so, i don’t really blame nader… i do blame the dems – especially lieberman, and also in general for running such a pro-corporate campaign. i blame people who voted for bush. i blame people who undermined the electoral process – especially, i blame scotus. and most of all i blame me… i didn’t fly down to FL for the recount, i didn’t organize pro-vote counting rallies… so, imo, nader makes for a convenient scape goat – but the blame really lies elsewhere.

snowbird42 @ 83

How long before he is fired?

The question is, does he have something to show Sen. Leahy? If not, it won’t help a lot. We need evidence.

Statements of employees on what it’s like on the inside is evidence. We have to be careful not to become victims of the “smoking gun” notion that somewhere, there’s a written confession if we could only unlock Rove’s Blackberry. This is a trap. The evidence is everywhere and overwhelming. Packaging and repetition.

snowbird42 @ 83

How long before he is fired?

The question is, does he have something to show Sen. Leahy? If not, it won’t help a lot. We need evidence.

We can hope he does & contacts Leahy or vice versa. IMO writing that op-ed was an act of tremendous courage since he’s still in DOJ…

Selise, I wonder if Darth locked himself in his bunker during Live Earth for fear the peasants would get riled up by RFKJr. and storm the Bastille. It’s a rousing speech.