[allenwrench]

Listen up knuckleheads....ALL politicians are cut from the same cloth.
Our government has lost its focus of 'the government of the people, by the people and for the people' that Lincoln wrote about in his Gettysburg Address.

The politicians we have entrusted our lives and our country to have failed miserably with the job they have been given.
The politicians are corrupt, dishonest, greedy, power hungry, egomaniacs that will do anything to maintain power. The only conscience they serve is that of their special interest groups that shell out the dollars.

But lets be honest. When you go from this...



To this: Royal Family (Very Large)

ANY person that lives a rock star life would be ruined as a politician that is supposed to serve the people first. I would too, so would you. After all we are only imperfect humans.

The Greek philosophers knew that when passion rules the mind, that the only job left for reason is that of the subservient task to find cleaver ways to satisfy the passions. They called it "putting passion before reason."

So, when our imperfect politicians succumb to too much greed and luxury they need to be brought back to earth and need a little help from the citizens they serve via a citizens oversight committee.

Our government has become so complex, that almost nothing substantive to help America can be done. The first step is to simplify the government and start returning to the ideal of 'the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

All we have to do is to look at who our leaders are as men to see the tickle down sickness that the public gets mentored with. When the presidents are too busy sticking cigars in women's private parts while on duty or become slap happy idiots that work overtime on finding new and creative ways to shoot off their cap guns at every imagined threat...what else do you expect?

And now we are putting all our hopes in someone that can't even be honest with how many houses he owns? So if such a person can't be honest with such little things, how can they be trusted to be honest with very tough things to convey to the public?

Or the year in - year out delusional cries of making education and medical insurance affordable by the democrats. If a party is so delusional how can they be trusted to see truth and convey it to us? I'm afraid you politicians are dismissing this massive problem that faces humanity with something called wishful thinking.

My sister-in-law had to borrow from her retirement fund to pay $92,000 for her kid to go to college for just 3 years. Now she is broke and can't afford the 4th year. Do democrats really think they will be able to reduce a $125,000 college bill down to $10,000?

Last night on O'Reilly they had a blissninny democrat (I think) saying how he would outlaw nukes worldwide. When he was pressed how he would do it, he only said HE would...like he is God.

What was the big topic about on the news about the slap happy dems convention...how many nights to give to the Clinton's to talk? Did they mention Peak Oil? Our looming food crisis? Or how we will run out of uranium in the dot so distant future? No, they just worked on masturbating their egos.

As I said, ALL politicians are cut from the same cloth. It make no difference if you vote for piece of shit A or piece of shit B - shit is shit and that is the bottom line. The ONLY alternative America has in being force fed this diet of shit is abstain from eating shit any longer and to clean the remanning shit up.

On the radio it said one proposal for mandatory health insurance required the average family to pay $13,000 per year while getting a $5000 tax deduction. If I understand that correctly the $5000 would mean barley $2000 in actual tax rebates. so the net increase in cost of living to the family would be roughly $11,000.

How do they expect to force families to pay another $11,000 that they can't afford? Do they plan to attach liens to their hoses to foreclose? If $13,000 per year can be reduced to maybe $1000 per year in out of pocket expenses they may have something.

But if the out of touch politicians understood anything about the working class they would realize that if a family does not have health insurance it is because they can't afford it....and some can't even afford to add the $1000 let alone the high cost the politicians have in mind.

If you can just get a few changes made in government you will be on your way to a government that serves its people, instead of people being slaves to the politicians.

When the politicians vote on a bill - it has to be a vote on one single proposal. Outlaw the bundling of all these special interest add-ons that corrupt bills into a putrid mess that no one can understand. In addition a citizens oversight committee must be formed and it must have teeth to act.

Our imperfect human leaders make mistakes and we citizens have little or no recourse to fix those mistakes and this must change if you want something different from the diet of shit you are being served. That is why revolutions come about for change. But we must be careful about what we are revolting against, as what we replace it with may be worse than what we have destroyed, so keep that in mind.

BTW, if and when America is ready for a revolt over the travesty of American political system, all you have to do is to follow the lead of our politicians and DO NOTHING. America can be shut down by the citizens - just by doing nothing and go on strike.

When it comes down to it, we are dependent on strong government to keep the invading armies at bay. But everyday life is NOT dependent on the politicians flapping their jaws and blowing hot air out their ass.

What we are dependent on is each other and our cooperation at making life livable from the lowest shit shoveler and up the ladder to the highest doctor or airline pilot.

But coming back to reality this gives a glimpse of how engaged the citizens of the US of A are: link

lets look at another forum with lots of traffic...except when it comes to activism: link



Well, maybe next time around the country would be more energized. Of course this presupposes we have the gas and the planes will still be flying so we can get to the conventions to voice our disgust about this putrid mess we call the American political system.

I have not voted since I was in college back in the '70's. I could see back then what sort of diet they were serving up and decided to abstain until something better was offered. Well, the menu never changed, so my vote was always been an abstention vote.

Some voters say, if you don't vote you can't complain. Well, that is not true. There is no law on the books that says that. Neither does it say that American must vote to live in America. The bottom line is this - you can't complain unless you are willing to do something.

Voting just got us in the mess we are in, so voting does little to fix the problem and in reality it just perpetuates it.

But until RADICAL change has been FORCED on our politicians NOTHING WILL CHANGE. IF NOTHING CHANGES...NOTHING CHANGES...it is that simple.

We can't afford politics as usual any longer in our country. America is headed for collapse due to peak oil, peak natural gas, peak food and the rest. Citizens take back your country from the self serving politicians while you still have something left to call America...the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

[Roccland]

NICE RANT!!!

agreed...

+1

(mods don't delete this thread - just say'n)

[Niagara]

I LOVE this one.

[flash width=425 height=344]http://www.youtube.com/v/0u6lCBnRoHQ&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]

(R.I.P. George, you will be missed.)

[TWilliam]

I LOVE this one.[Carlin Video] (R.I.P. George, you will be missed.)

Those have been my exact sentiments for years. We non-voters are the ones with the right to complain, not the ones who put these @ssholes in office.

George echoed my opinions on so many things, I swear he was an externalization of my own mind, and yes, he will be greatly missed.

[mos6507]

We non-voters are the ones with the right to complain

You have a right to complain. I don't know how it accomplishes anything. You want to change things? Don't like the choices? Maybe try running for office yourself. Then you'll get a taste of the merciless ridicule that politicians have to endure.

[aflurry]

We non-voters are the ones with the right to complain

You have a right to complain. I don't know how it accomplishes anything. You want to change things? Don't like the choices? Maybe try running for office yourself. Then you'll get a taste of the merciless ridicule that politicians have to endure.

seriously... complain all you want... feel better?

[patience]

I am an adherent to the cesspool theory of government:

Yea, govt is like unto a cesspool, where the biggest chunks float to the top and form the upper crust. Verily, thine upper crust do stinketh! Yet if one disturbe thy upper crust, yea crack it to bits and, even remove it, the stink is MUCH WORSE, for a time, as the raw sewage hath no barrier to the nose! The biggest chunks again rise to the top, they perforce begin yet again to stick together, and form a NEW upper crust. And slowly, in the fullness of time, thy cesspool stinketh less, yet it stinketh all the same. Only the shades of color and texture of the crust is changed.

What hast thou accomplished?

George was right. The nature of the public has to change.

[threadbear]

We non-voters are the ones with the right to complain

You have a right to complain. I don't know how it accomplishes anything. You want to change things? Don't like the choices? Maybe try running for office yourself. Then you'll get a taste of the merciless ridicule that politicians have to endure.

Try running for office without AIPAC backing and see how far you get. The problems are both systemic (corporate control) and parasitic (pro Israeli influence) Sorry Mos--Just sayin' This isn't anti Semitic, just good old anti Israeli neo conservatism.

[Plantagenet]

Try running for office without AIPAC backing and see how far you get..

cough cough!

Barack Obama

pssst... HEY THERE!

Barack Obama.

[threadbear]

Try running for office without AIPAC backing and see how far you get..

cough cough! Barack Obama
pssst... HEY THERE! Barack Obama.

Obama had to fall right in line or he would have had an Edwards like smear campaign to fight, all the way to the White House.

[dinopello]

We non-voters are the ones with the right to complain

You have a right to complain. I don't know how it accomplishes anything. You want to change things? Don't like the choices? Maybe try running for office yourself. Then you'll get a taste of the merciless ridicule that politicians have to endure.

Try running for office without AIPAC backing and see how far you get.

I worked a campaign for my friend running for school board and we had no AIPAC backing and we won! Local offices have much more influence on you life than any other. As a candidate, you still have to endure the smears and occasionally present a "nuanced" position so as to not alienate some constituency if you want to win though.

[Carlhole]

Politicians always come in with this "Time for a change" message at the start of every single election cycle. But the two-party system in the the US is extremely resistant to change. It evolved to virtually guarantee gridlock to resist change.

This is because all the arguing and fussing about issues such as the support of Israel is done behind closed doors through a process of compromise within each party. Candidates who reach the top of the Democrat or Republican party have already been processed through this system of intra-party compromise. This is why you will never see them raise issues before the public concerning Israel or the continued American occupation of Okinawa or Korea - or , in fact, the need for an expensive array of 700+ military bases worldwide.

You will never see them raise a whole host of other important issues before the public. You will never see any questioning of the Federal Reserve system at the top of party agenda in a two-party system, for example.

In a parliamentary system, you can have many different parties capturing seats in the legislative body (Congress). Voters vote for a single party (not individuals). Party members are ranked according to their importance within each party. Each party is allotted a number of seats in Parliament according to the percentage of the popular vote they received. If a party wins 50 seats in Parliament, it's top 50 members occupy those seats.

So, for example, suppose there were a Peak Oil Party. Issues most important to it would be energy, sustainability, permaculture, conservation and things like that. If the PO Party won 16% of the popular vote, it would capture 16% of seats in Parliament (or Congress, or whatever you want to call it). These people would also vote on things like Medicare, funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and everything else. They would also debate these things openly with member of other parties.

If you really wanted to "change" the system, you would adopt a parliamentary process, which has been described by political scientists as a decision-making "sports car" compared to the two-party system's "Titanic". Since the amount of compromise within each party is less, the issues which are open to debate between parties is much greater. In a parliamentary system, you would see a much broader, more spirited debate with a much more interesting discussion of them (The American Congress is heavily sedated and very low key when compared to the spirit and passion of parliamentary debates in Europe, for example).

All of this "change" rhetoric, therefore, will remain simply talk until the actual systemic basis of change is put into effect. There is nothing in the Constitution that forbids a parliamentary process. The two-party system evolved in this country due to electoral rules - not Constitutional authority. All you have to do is change the electoral rules. If you wanted to limit the number of parties to 5 - 7, you would simply require a minimum percentage of popular vote requirement of, say, 5%.

But members of BOTH Democrat and Republican parties do not want this to occur because it is in their mutual interest to maintain their dual monopoly of the political process. It is the two-party system in the US which enables only a few powerful factions of elites to pull strings behind the scenes. Thus, our elected officials are little more than salesman and mouthpieces for powerful people who are hidden from public purview.

Of course, you can bitch all day long about politicians' always promising to deliver change and never following through with it. But bring up the idea of reducing gridlock by adoptin a parliament with multiple parties and you'll shouted down with pat statements like, "Parliamentarism is un-American" and rubbish like that.

[threadbear]

We non-voters are the ones with the right to complain

You have a right to complain. I don't know how it accomplishes anything. You want to change things? Don't like the choices? Maybe try running for office yourself. Then you'll get a taste of the merciless ridicule that politicians have to endure.

Try running for office without AIPAC backing and see how far you get.

I worked a campaign for my friend running for school board and we had no AIPAC backing and we won! Local offices have much more influence on you life than any other. As a candidate, you still have to endure the smears and occasionally present a "nuanced" position so as to not alienate some constituency if you want to win though.

I suppose on the schoolboard level, you can get ahead without AIPAC backing. But just try to get anywhere in rural Washington state, school boards included if you raise the ire of one of Aipac's retarded cousins, Focus on the Family, or some other Christian Zionist group.

[TWilliam]

You have a right to complain. I don't know how it accomplishes anything.

It generally doesn't, which is why I generally don't. I just said that we had the right to complain, not that I do.

Then you'll get a taste of the merciless ridicule that politicians have to endure.

They deserve every bit of ridicule and scorn they get. Anyone who makes a career of seeking positions of political power and influence is IMO thereby disqualified from holding them. A genuine leader does not proclaim themselves worthy of the position; they are deemed worthy by those who choose to follow.

[vtsnowedin]

On the radio it said one proposal for mandatory health insurance required the average family to pay $13,000 per year while getting a $5000 tax deduction. If I understand that correctly the $5000 would mean barley $2000 in actual tax rebates. so the net increase in cost of living to the family would be roughly $11,000. How do they expect to force families to pay another $11,000 that they can't afford? Do they plan to attach liens to their hoses to foreclose? If $13,000 per year can be reduced to maybe $1000 per year in out of pocket expenses they may have something.

Ouch!!! That will make us pay up for sure.

Just write in T.Boone Pickens. It messes with the vote counters heads and you can see if they are really counting them or just the tomb stone votes.

[Newfie]

One of the biggest problems we have is that people don't complain ENOUGH! They are complacent, go with the flow, don't rock the boat.

I see it at work all the time. Phone in the conference room doesn't work. Hey, no problemo! I'm not gonna complain.

Bull Shit!

Hell here on PO we complain that not enough people are PO aware. Why are they not? Because they are not accustomed to doing Critical Thinking. Why? Because our entire school system is bent into making them "Good Citizens." Conformist. Non-complainers.

Some small radical group was selling T-shirts last year that said: "Stop Bitching, Start a Revolution"

But I'm afraid to wear it, it might upset someone.

[Newfie]

A friend sent the below rant to me this morning. Now here is a guy who knows how to BITCH!

Lee Iacocca: Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it's death throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts:
Lee Iacocca Says:
'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned 'Titanic'. I' ll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up.
I hardly recognize this country anymore. The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis!

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way these are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character , courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korea n Wa r', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learne d one thing, it's this:
'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

Make a 'real contribution' by sending this to everyone you know and care about......our future is at stake!