At the moment our bucket is behaving more like a sieve.

A bucket full of holes soon loses its practical utility. I suppose it could be displayed as a decorative device, but as a means of carrying much beyond rocks or chunks of dead wood it is reduced to appearance, not substance.

It would be wise on our part, should we contemplate repairing the bucket not to trust such ‘repair’ to the good will of those with ice picks in their back pockets.

I have discovered that people are neither oblivious nor uncaring. Many are simply not as well-informed as those of us who gather here.
In fact, most of the human beings with whom I have spoken and with whom I have shared my concerns as well as my thoughts about how our country should function, are hungry for discussion. And ever more open to exploring visions of a better, more equitable, just and humane America.

As I have no evidence to suspect that this hunger for engaged conversation is not fairly widespread, I think that we would all do well to seek to build on the common, shared reality
confronting all Americans who are not ‘gaming’ the system.

Let me be blunt. The Republicans despise the ‘people’ and while playing on their fears mock and belittle them. For Republican ‘leaders’ the public are just stupid, gullible fools whom they toy with.
Democratic ‘leaders’ do not trust the people, neither do they trust in democracy, mocking the very meaning of their own Party’s name.
We will never find true kinship with the ‘leaders’ of either of the parties of power. I am certain however, that if we underestimate the intelligence and fundamental decency of the people who are more like us then we sometimes might care to ‘believe,’ then our future is bleak indeed.

The ‘people’ can come to ‘understand’ and also, I honestly feel, to appreciate the truth if we are willing risk speaking in the context of providing a vision of the future which all of us who are not manipulators and advantage seekers must share. If we speak and act from principle and honor, then we may be able to play an important role in saving our country, our world and ourselves. We will not gain riches or aggrandizement in this endeavor and I would be less than honest if I did not say that it will probably be the most difficult thing we have ever tried to do in our lives.
I would also be less than honest if I did not say that I intuitively sense that we have been preparing for this work all of our lives. Think about it. If you have something else that you believe would succeed with lesser risk, then please share it.

Were this state of affairs not frustrating enough, we must also contend with the apparent reality of living in a country where many if not most of our fellow citizens also, we are told, seem to inhabit a different reality to that which so concerns us.

The word of greatest significance in that last
sentence is ‘apparent’.

We are assured of the truth of this disparity between what we think and the what larger public believes by the media, who distinguish themselves, by exhibiting a supine servility in the presence of Republican Nabobs. They have assumed this ‘position’ since the early days of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency, even dubbing him the ‘great communicator.’ As many here have pointed out, the primary function of the media is to happily peddle whatever the Republican Party espouses. Few members of the ‘fourth estate’ question the motives or the likely outcomes of policy decisions so unashamedly destructive and mindless, that to call their ‘reporting’ blather would debase the good name of nonsense.

Why should we choose to believe the media when they say, ‘The people do not care about the war. They do not care about health care or the state of the economy.’ Why should we, for even a moment, believe a media whom we trust not at all?

This suggests that for most of us, in our essentials, we are more alike than different.

As an aside, this would seem to suggest that ‘difference’ is essentially ’superficial’ and, on balance, to be appreciated rather than feared.

‘Imagination’ in adults, while also ‘facile’ may often mean ‘easily achieved, but without attention to quality’ that is, ’superficial.’
This is the fertile ground for fear and the manipulation of fear. It is the means by which otherwise seemingly mature societies may be bullied into war and other madness.

Arguably, the most human trait is curiosity or its close companion, the display of facile imagination. Such traits, If such I may term them, appear almost inbred, as it were, and are manifest quite universally amongst the young, at least, of our species.

I trust that no one finds these notions to be totally foreign to their own personal observations.

I just checked the websites for NBC news, CNN, ABC News, CBS News and Fox. None have the China/Iraq story. And, only ABC mentions the NYT Torture story.
To quote Foser:
“It’s the Media”

Damn Liberal Media!

rwcole @ 65

Suppose that Iraq decided to throw in with the Chinese? The chinese agree to supply the “security” Iraq needs and give em REAL arms not just pop guns. In return- the Iraqis kick us out. Certainly a possible scenario.

If that happens, that would be the biggest “Oh Shit!” moment for Bush/Cheney.

Iraqis actually trying to stand up won’t please George. He doesn’t want to stand down EVER.

I hope al Maliki has good security around him.

Those alive in almost every era of our collective history have ‘believed’ (assuming they were comfortably ‘well-off’ enough to entertain conceits) that their society represented the epitome of social development(that the definition of ‘epitome’ does not, in fact, mean ‘the best’ is of small consolation).

We, with all our ‘American exceptionalism,’ have not escaped that particular, albeit popular, error.

Of late however, observant (out)posters have noted a growing number of alarming trends which underscore the stunning hubris and maladaptiveness of that seemingly ubiquitous mental habit of the ‘upright’ ape.