radical rants shouted from Liberal Street Fighter
I learned from a blogger I have come to respect that I’ve been radicalized.
This observation came after I made several statements, statements that seemed obvious to me, starting with:
I have a problem with an opposition party that won’t oppose.
I have a problem w/ a class of corporate mercenary lawyers running everything for both parties and on k-street while our entire social infrastructure rots away.
I have a problem w/ everyone saying that since it can’t be won, it’s better not to fight.
In the long run, Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse didn’t stop the westward march, but they at least went down fighting.
In the long run, the Light Brigade rode into the guns, but their example inspired those who came after.
In the long run, the defenders in the Alamo fell under Santa Ana’s assault, but fueled a revolution.
In the long run … sometimes you have to fight and lose in order to inspire those who come after to fight the next battle. All morning long, one voice after another … “the Dems have nothing to say against him …”
My only question is how long it will take them to fold, how long until the shut up and allow a voice vote so his confirmation looks unopposed on the record.
I’m expecting not long.
Yup, that’s pretty radical.
So what exactly IS worth fighting for? If you want to ask why no one trusts the Democrats anymore, one can start with understanding how Americans see themselves, the stories Americans like to tell about what it means to be an American.
When we’re kids, we all learn about how General Washington, after a string of disasters, with starving and freezing and dying troops, launched a suprise attack, about how he held together his troops and helped to create this nation. That our nation was founded by brave fighters who kept fighting, against overwhelming odds.
We love stories about the Alamo, about brave families building homesteads, about pilgrims and fighters and “Give me liberty, or give me death!” John Brown, Martin Luther King, Elizabeth Cady Staton, Susan B. Anthony, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, “Rocky” and numerous others. That’s how Americans like to think of themselves, and how they want to see their leaders.
The Republicans recognize this, and play to it. The Dems make lots of noise about how important an issue or a fight is, then …
… well, then nothing. The leaders of this party in DC are like whipped curs, quivering, afraid to bare their teeth, for fear of their master’s hand, a hand they also love to appease. As I put it in the booman thread, regarding the idea that the Dems need to be careful, pick their battles:
(this) is triangulating)
and any Dem who votes to confirm this troglodite-in-Prince-Charming’s-clothing should be on the left’s hit list. They should be hounded in their next primary, jeered in the public square. Their name should be mud, though I think we all know which whipped curs (aka Vichy Dems) will be JUST FINE with this guy, this enabler of criminal corporations and a police state.This is EXACTLY why the party telling us we should support Casey and Langevin is WRONG. Those are EXACTLY the kind of assholes who cross the aisle, who put a bipartisain stamp on the dismantling of our nation’s freedoms.
THIS is why Reid shouldn’t have been minority leader … he AGREES with Judge Roberts on so many issues. How can you “oppose” if you’re ON THE SAME SIDE in the culture war?
Don’t need to wait and see. I know exactly what this guy is. No matter how many times some infotainment talking head assures me there is no record, I know damned well there are PLENTY of records.
I won’t win this battle, but frankly I’m ready for the party to split if the whipped curs in DC continue as they have been. Let’s break the fucking party if Dr. Dean isn’t successful in reforming the party, in overcoming all of the obstacles they’re placing in his way. Lets form a new party around the Progressive Caucus if we can get them to join us. I’m sick of this. I’m sick of “centrism”, I’m sick of a lack of conviction, a lack of spine, a fundamental lack of ANYTHING remotely admirable about so many of “my” party’s leaders in DC.
Fight dammit!
This is, of course, the observation that renders me “radicalized”.
It’s radical to stand up, (or type), a demand that a political party that represents you fight for what they claim to believe. It’s radical to expect that a radical jurist who believes our body of law was frozen in Amber in the 18th Century should be opposed. It’s radical to expect that POLITICS happen in Washington, that the two party system actually express itself in more than comforting soundbites as America is dragged back to the Robber Baron era by a coalition of wackjob Fundamentalists, out-of-control greedheads and reactionary legal scholars.
The electorate will never rally to a political party that stands for nothing. A political party that won’t bloody it’s knuckles, that won’t risk a loss after a bruising fight, will never be trusted as “American”. No one wants someone on their side who won’t “have their back.” As the party has tacked with the wind-driven polls, trying so hard to keep to the “center” (wherever THAT is), as it’s abandoned the poor, labor, women and minorities, is it any wonder that people aren’t eager to rush to their side? To “our” side?
Great movements grow out of noble battles lost. When the hell are we going to pick a battle to fight?
I watched you and BooMan’s discussion earlier with great interest.
Your thoughts appealed to the feelings of my heart.
BooMan’s appealed to the thoughts in my head.
It was not my impression that BooMan said that you were ‘radicalized’ as an insult. But I don’t want to put words in his mouth.
and I meant it when I said I learned something.
This is how I’m viewed, by many people. Yet I see a disaster in progress. I see a house on fire, yet no fire engines. I want to know exactly when we’re supposed to “go to the mattresses”.
When do we fight? Never?
our system of government does not work. It’s broken. We the people don’t do shit, we have done to us.
I’ve passed the radical stage and feel like an anarchist. Ranting and raging isn’t accomplishing anything..
What we want are people with integrity running for office. That means that we have to be skeptical about the people who run. We have to look at records, not statements, we have to look at results not rhetoric. Also when we get gimme letters, we need to look at results. The NRA has a great track record of getting results, NARAL hasn’t as much. That said I am not joining NRA, but I would like for NARAL to look at how they do business and I would like for my dollars to make a difference, not see the world getting worse all the time for Planned Parenthood.
If someone runs for office, let us talk about their votes, their results. You know George has been a complete failure all his life and his presidency is no exception, but nobody talked about his failures during the election. Truth telling is just not done on the scale that should happen in running for major offices. Rove has been a trickster for ever, why not make him an issue in the campaign rather than giving him a pass?
I can’t see a lot of our current dems having the courage to run a bare-knuckle campaign because there are so many secrets that they have hidden in the gloves.
and then was quietly pushed into retirement.
His “fear” of martial law being instituted in the US following another terrorist attack is getting closer to being actualized.
I’ve been re-thinking gun control,as well, ever since he made this comment (slip) on Nov 20, 2003.
Great…Bushco has succeeded in pushing China & Russia into a military cooperation pact and in turning me into the militia.
As an aside, I campaigned door to door for the slightly lesser of two evils (Kerry) last Fall and Summer in West Virginia. There are a couple of towns there where our military would have to use napalm and lots of it (Fallujah-style) to subdue. Wild-West type shit. In those towns, there were 5 guns (many displayed) for every yellow ribbon…and there were so many yellow ribbons, I had to wear sunglasses.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/11/20/185048.shtml
There’s a run on ammo on the periphery of DC (“Gun-free zone”). And, to spare you the wisecracks…it’s an unseasonable run.
so successful at splitting the country down the middle and fanning hate and anger, I don’t doubt for a minute that the RW is looking to use those guns they’ve got permits for. Adrenaline is running high in both our camps, although I bet the first shot will come from them, not the bleeding heart liberals.
Speaking of results, in order to make a difference we have to look at ways to defuse that split.
The founders not only had a sense of civil rights, but civil duties. That is lacking today. If you tell someone they have a duty to vote, they tell you to f^%& off, they are free to not vote if they so choose.
That is why our system has failed: the freedom to be apathetic is contagious… I have seen it encouraged on both sides of the aisle. We need an antidote.
Anybody have any suggestions? IRC, Condorcet, or some other ranked voting system? Mandatory voting? Voting holiday or multi-day voting? No black boxes? Transparency? Real campaign finance reform? Proportional representation? Scrap the Electoral College? Mandatory military or community service? What would do it?
I don’t know about your discussions with BooMan, but this post intrigued me. Recently, I was told, I’m no Liberal, I’m a Radical. It was meant in a good way, but it still got me to thinking about the difference. I so often find myself left of the left. I get Radical notions like putting a cap on wages. I see no reason why the CEO of a “bankrupt” corporation can receive millions in bonuses and pay, while the workers on the floor receive cuts in pension, health care, or worse, pink slips. I don’t see why multi-millionaires receive Social Security when people who need it, get their checks slashed. I don’t think corporations are people and I want to reinstate the monopoly laws, particularly in the media. I think public utilities should be just that, public. I also think condoms should be given out in schools for free. For all these reasons and far more, I find myself left of the left.
But, on the other hand, I do understand that my views are not the norm. It has taken me years to come to grips with that. I do understand that my ideal version of society does not mesh with the vast majority and so, I must make concessions. Yes, I have my limits, but I do see the progressive left making big strides. I see Boxer’s Rebellion and Conyers fight to restore real elections. I see the Democratic Party standing up to Bolton and questioning Guckert. In fact, I have seen more spine in the Democratic Party in the past year, than I had seen in the prior 5 years combined.
We all knew going into the election that this would happen. There were two things that scared me most about the evil neocons…the environment and the Supreme Court. Both would have lasting, if not permament, results. Roberts nomination is no worse than I expected. I truly think that we still haven’t hit rock bottom in terms of the lasting and disasterous effects this administration will have on America. I can’t say that I understand why there are still people left who applaud Bush, but I do think we will have to sink further still to make people wake up and smell the coffee. I am just praying that we will be able to recover from what he does. If we lose the right to have control over our own bodies, we can win that back. But once a species is extinct, there is no winning it back. With the Supreme Court takeover, it is likely that America will suffer for years to come, but even that can be reversed in time. Of course we should put up a fight, but in reality, we will have to suck it in and accept that for the forseeable future, we will have a conservative Court.
there is no reason why people will accept the help of a party that helped destroy the ground beneath their feet.
When do we start making amends for all of those years of appeasement?
Well I asked my friend where is that black smoke comin’ from ?
He just coughed and changed the subject and
said oh wa I think it might snow some
So I left him sippin’ his tea an’ I jumped in my chariot
And rode off to see just why and who could it be this time.
Sisters and brothers daddys mothers standin’ ’round cryin’
When I reached the scene the flames were makin’ a ghostly whine
So I stood on my horse’s back an’ I screamed without a crack
I say oh baby why’d you burn your brother’s house down ?
Jimi Hendrix House Burning Down
so, madman, i wondered where you’ve been today. now i know. i’m curious. what’s going on in the online blogworld in regards to Roberts? smells organizzzzed
I’m guessing your on more or less the same page as Billmon, yes? And did you read the thing Amanda linked to, at redstate.org about his wife being a former vice-president of of Feminists for Life?
oh yeah.. nice guy.
tell you what, madman. why don’t you come over tomorrow and do a post at ourword about this.
radicalized? nahh. simply good taste in music.
thats two good songs ive hit you with today.
you owe me one.
The PR campaign has been stunning, hasn’t it? And all of the kind words dribbling out of the mouths of the Dems, like babies who’ve dropped their sippie cups.
Oh, what a NICE man, they say. Isn’t his son just the cutest little thing?
*soto voce*Oh, and by the way, if Judge Roberts has his way, the court would roll back the Federal Government’s ability to assert regulations over the states, but don’t you worry your little heads about it!
I suppose it’s more fitting to compare him to a pirhanha than a shark, since his sort travels in schools, and his razor sharp teeth are legal briefs and decisions. The “scarlet billows” left in his wake are ripped out legal protections, shreaded pensions, eviscerated environmental protections and mangled illegal abortions … lives left in ruins in deference to the demands of wealth and fundamentalist religion.
Not fair, some would say. You don’t know that Judge Roberts believes, or would do those things on the court. But I know that one judges a man by the company he keeps. I know from my time as a philosophy student that people gravitate to a given philosophy fairly early in their schooling. I know that only a fool hires a mercenary to represent them, no matter what the code of ethics says about “zealously representing a client” … someone who wants to win hires a true believer.
I’ll try to put something together for ourword later today, probably after work. Thank you for encouraging me … I’m a little uncertain about my tendency to bluster, and I don’t want to be too roughneck on a blog that has such interesting and frank discussions.
I’m a little uncertain about my tendency to bluster, and I don’t want to be too roughneck on a blog that has such interesting and frank discussions.
you’re concern has been obvious to me for quite some time. it is appreciated too! so, don’t worry.
thanks …
now if only work and school didn’t take away so much writing time …
đŸ˜‰
Let’s name names!
Who in the blogworld are you suggesting is taking a dive for Roberts?
List sites here:
My latest up at OurWord too …
What in the Sam Hill is happening here?
I’m w/ you Madman. I live in DC, just give the word.
When I see photos of seas of people in Mexico City and Bolivia, I realize that we’re just not there yet, and may not be ever….
Because we don’t have a sea of people ready to rise up, we have to work with what we’ve got.
And what we’ve got are people who may be willing to change their votes, and vote for Democrats in 2006 and 2008.
And I realize how very far that falls from what we’d all wish to see happen, but it’s what we can realistically hope for at this juncture in our history. It’s really, perhaps, the very best we can hope for in that we can at least safeguard some of what we cherish such as Social Security, Medicare, and some civil liberties.
But Susan, that won’t happen if we keep letting the right define the debate. I’m under NO illusion that we’ll have the kind of country I would like to see … but we’ll never move back to the center, let alone left, if we silence arguments from my wing.
The Republicans are where they are b/c they fed, watered and encouraged their passionate flank to drive the debate … thus making really horrible policies sound better by comparison. It’s like the recent announcement by the Red Queen’s Court, after making an inflated prediction of the budget deficit some time ago, the White House announced Deficit Will Fall, and Keep Falling, a complete line of bullshit, easily debunked, but the lazy media regurgitated it. The Republicans do it all the time, in every field — money, science, abortion, education — and they use flacks and their passionate flank to do it.
The difference, of course, is that advocates for environmentalism, women’s health, universal health care and fair trade policies are RIGHT, and well within the finer traditions of our society and the Enlightenment from which it sprang. Why, then, does the party allied with that left wing try SO HARD to silence it?
Really, I’d really really like to know, because what they’re doing now isn’t working. It hasn’t worked ever, unless you count Clinton’s Presidency, and that was as much about timing and his personality than anything he advocated. People are hurting worse NOW because of what that Rockefeller Republican pushed through WITH THE GINGRICH REPUBLICANS.
I don’t get it.
love that speech … though it is so terribly sad.
for a while đŸ™‚
But, for the record, by radicalized I meant only that you are calling for all out opposition to this judge irrespective of any other considerations.
That’s not my style. But that doesn’t make me right and you wrong. It just means that I see you as having abandoned any moderation in your belief in total combat. Thus, my observation.
to my view I’m pointing out a wildfire … others don’t see it that way. To me this is the endgame of a Republican movement that started decades ago, and lefties and Democrats STILL don’t see that.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.
pointing out wildfires.
However, there are a bunch of issues to consider on this judge beyond his positions on legal issues.
Taken all together, they might not amount to enough to argue against total warfare, but they should at least be weighed carefully because we choose that course of action.
I’ll list some of them:
next:
Now, taking all of this into consideration, I feel like I need to learn more about this judge before I recommend fighting to the death over his nomination. I don’t think we will benefit from blowing up the Senate just to show people we have a spine. To get away with that, we have to win the argument on the merits, and have the American people take our side in the fight.
Given that Roe may be overturned after these two judges are confirmed, we stand a good chance of winning the argument if we play our cards right. But I think it is too early to go premptively nuclear on this judge. Just my opinion.
we don’t KNOW this decision was made in a moment of weakness. PR in the WaPo does not constitute proof. For all we know, Bush picked him weeks ago. He was on a lot of shortlists.
This isn’t a big suprise. His record is well-known to anybody who pays attention. He’s a winger. Don’t believe CNN and RNC press releases that he’s not radical. He’s been a radical for a long time, no matter how handsome, nice and pleasant he is.
As for the filibuster being taken away, so what? What good is an arrow that never leaves the quiver. We can pin THAT on them for ’06. We can’t reform the party, or take back our country, if we don’t emphasize how radical the Republicans have become.
This man was headed to SCOTUS waaay before 2003 — daddy tried to get him on the federal bench but couldn’t, junior did and now….
Roberts seems to believe that individual freedoms are a complication necessary only in cases where there is no executive authorized to call the shots.
He is not merely corporatist. He is radically authoritarian. He will bless the pretext for rationing habeas corpus. He will grant no standing for citizens insisting on government accountability. He will provide the legal ceremony for pushing people into a new category of enemy noncitizen. He will act credulous at any phony emergency requiring the suspension of elections or the imposition of martial law.
What’s the rush? It’s not distraction. It’s a desperate race to lock away democracy before the people ask for it back.
This moment is the culmination of 40 years of work. This choice is the ultimate point of all the prior politicking.
So this is the most absolute action they’re going to take. They can risk losing one, maybe both other branches of government in exchange for taking the Court at this moment in history.
Their program has always been based on the march of technology and progress. Much of what could swing in the coming generation may become logistically unable to swing back ever.
I could be crazy but I don’t see any bigger plans for which they’d be willing to compromise this move. This is what they’ve pushed or compromised everything else to accomplish.
LORD, man. Have you ever seen anyone die?
This is just TALK.
You want to see the abandonment of moderation?
Go to the favelas of Brazil.
The rat-heap jukyards of urban Africa.
Iraq.
The hills of Afghanistan.
East New York.
This is just TALK.
There will be NO “abandonment of moderation” in this country until LOTS of people are regularly missing their dinners.
Abandonment of moderation?
Please.
I’ve got your abandonment of moderation right HERE.
We are headed for a BIG fall, Booman, if we do not stand and fight right now.
This far and no further.
No Roberts, no Rove, no Cheney, no Bush, no war, no MORE!!!
Compared to what is going to happen if these people have their way, Madman is being NICE.
I’m telling you…weapons are going to begin to come out real soon.
Did you see where they closed the London underground again today? Did you read about what was up in Chicago on Dkos? About the Palisades Mall evacuation yesterday 1/2 hour outside of NYC? “False alarms” my ASS.
The Iraq War is coming HOME, this time.
And we are pussyfooting around about a corporate hack lawyer?
Please…
We have to make ALL the noise that we can about ALL of this.
NOW!!!
Before it is too late.
AG
i think we need to remember the Polls tell us that Americans are disatisfied with BOTH Congressional Rep’s and Dem’s. We know why they are displeased with Republicans, because they abuse their power, but why, oh why do we think America is displeased with the Democrats?
It’s either because they’re acting too much like the Republicans (and voting like them) or that they are not standing up the this group that abuses power.
Either way, the status quo is NOT WORKING.
they speak up on something… a repub bashes them, and then they back down… and when they say something, they hem and haw and try not to make anyone mad! hell, i wouldn’t support someone like that! get some damned balls! friggin open your mouth and stand for something!
Madman, I’m with you here. The only thing that republicans understand and respect is ruthless force. They are {} this close to completing their sweep of government and if we sit still on this one, we will find that while we were busy contemplating our next move, they will have steamrolled us again. There are millions out there just begging the democrats to stand up and fight for them. This is the Supreme Court we are talking about here. There is no more time to think. If ever there was a time to act, this is it.
I fear, that too many issues have allready been shoved down our throats, and I agree in a battle, not just on this issue, but ALL of them.
It’s way past time to set and say, well, we’ll get them next time, bull shit, it’s past time.
I’ll put more than my 2cents on that.
I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.
My heart is with you, but my brain understands BooMan. I think this man is very dangerous, but I really am afraid that there is no effective way to attack him. After all, how many Americans are going to understand arcane Fourth Amendment arguments? And even on the gut-level issue of abortion, there’s still a lot of willing blindness (“they won’t really take that away”). Add to that the commercials that are even now airing with flags and inspiring music and a good-looking, all-American guy, and it’s hard to see that a fight will end up doing anything but bloodying the Dems.
And yet, even as I say this, I can’t help but think of my former Representative, Barbara Lee, who was roundly condemned as the sole hold-out (434-1) on granting Bush war powers for Afganistan because there was no guarantee that they would not be abused. Even though she took A LOT of abuse, she was ultimately able to hold her head up high as the only member of the House with the brains, courage and integrity to have said “No.”
Long story short — I dunno.
but I really am afraid that there is no effective way to attack him.
Fear is preventing you from devising a way to attack him. Fear is preventing you from standing up for your rights. What are you afraid of?
After all, how many Americans are going to understand arcane Fourth Amendment arguments?
It is easier to underestimate your constituency, then to find a way to effectively communicate with them.
And even on the gut-level issue of abortion, there’s still a lot of willing blindness
Complacency feeds blindness, so certainly look the other way.
Add to that the commercials that are even now airing with flags and inspiring music and a good-looking, all-American guy, and it’s hard to see that a fight will end up doing anything but bloodying the Dems.
They have a monopoly on what is right and good for this country, so don’t challenge them.
Well I guess it takes one to know one then. You took the words right out of my mouth. We have nothing in the house and the senate but criminals and cowards. . .doesn’t matter which party we’re talking about.
If we/Dems don’t stand up and stand for something WHY would anyone want to vote for us? What they hell are they so afraid of except losing those BIG corporate dollars if they don’t play ball. They for sure do not have the average citizen’s best interest at heart, or even in their thoughts. They are a disgrace. . .and every once in a while when we see one of them do one small right thing we jump up and scream and applaud to try to encourage them.
I am disgusted and sick to the bottom of my soul with these people. I have lost my country and there seems no one in a place of power and position that gives a damn.
Too much money, too much power and too little understanding or caring what the average citizen has lost and continues to lose. They have no connection to the real world.
Yesterday it was HP and 14,000 jobs. . .today it is Kodak and 25,000 jobs. . .GM and the airlines and more and more companies (now they know they can get away with it) dumping pension plans and health care. WTF?
Very soon it will be the Ultra Rich and the beggars on the street.
But this group of spineless whiners will fold within days on this SCOTUS Justice. . .with all of their excuses. And the next one and the next one and the next one.
I guess you and I Madman are the ones that will have to storm the Bastile.
Call me when you and madman are ready to fight! I’ll be beside ya!
Me too. I wanna see them try to mess with this pissed off latino.
Now where did I put my pitchfork and my torch?
I understand hearings won’t be held until September. That gives us August to get something done.
I haven’t entirely made up my mind yet on this guy, although I’m inclined to go with Kid Oakland and think, since I don’t trust His Nibs’ judgment, that the odds of Roberts being a bad choice are pretty good.
However, in any case, like I said somewhere else (in Kid Oakland’s diary over on DK, I think) I want to see this tied to Rove. I think the Democrats should not even consider any proposal, any nomination, anything put forward by His Nibs, as long as Karl Rove still has a security clearance. They really need to be in Bush’s face on this 24/7.
And of course I’m worried that they won’t do it.
I really am worried for this country. I’m worried that unless the system gets fixed, we are going to see up close and personal in this country, on a grand scale, exactly what happens when you have a powerless underclass who feel they have no voice in their government and have to get a voice. And it won’t be pretty.
What is radical about wanting our constitutional rights protected? What is radical about expecting the people we voted for to stand up and do the job WE pay them to do? What is radical about wanting to see that the criminally insane evil power hungry greedy warmongers be held to account for the lies and the lives that have been lost? What is radical about wanting a press that is fair and balanced and not just a propaganda machine for the right wingers? What is radical about wanting the laws of the land and the laws of the world to be upheld and enforced? What is radical about saying no to torture?
I guess I am a radical too and I am not ashamed to say it anymore. I will stand with anyone here that is willing to say I am sick and tired and I am not going to take it anymore!!!
One defination of radical according to Webster’s is:
Carrying convictions or theories to their fullest application. Let’s roll!!!!
sounds like we’re reaching the end of the noose. I am ready willing and after Aug 2nd- able!!
My grandson saw the best of me- Bushco will see the worst of me- and I can be extremely good and EXTREMELY bad!!
Right on Rosie! I feel the same about my grand daughter and I want her to see that as “nice” as Grammy is that she is also willing to go to the ends of the earth to protect our rights so that she may know the freedoms we all grew up with. I owe it to her, I owe it to the children. I refuse to stand by and leave this mess for them to try and clean up. Pick our battles? Save it for the next big fight? I think we all can see where that has gotten us.
Bush isn’t the only one moving the goal posts (or the whole stadium or that matter), sadly, it appears to be the American way.
Back when I was a young debraz, my friends complained about paying 75 cents a pack for smokes. “If they ever go to a buck a pack, I’m quitting.” And then, “if they ever go to a 2 bucks a pack, I’m quitting”. And now that I’m a middle-aged debraz, “If they ever go to 5 bucks a pack, I’m quitting.” In NC, a pack a smokes is still under 5 bucks, but I ain’t holding my breath… and they can’t.
I could tell you about my family vacations with 4 kids in the car, all having to pee while my dad drove by exit after exit, saying, “Oh darn, missed it. We’ll get off at the next one,” but I think you get the drift.
Gonzales is a torture advocating horror who believes the Constitution is optional for the President. But hey, I’ll give him a SCOTUS pass. The bankruptcy bill is terrible for everyone except the bankers and the rich and the rich bankers’ politicians. But heck, we’ve got elections to consider. The gang of 14 compromise is terrible. No, it’s good, they only got 5 more extremists on the Federal bench, but man are those wingnuts pissed and we’re saving our stuff for SCOTUS. Iraq is a mess, the gateway to perpetual war. Hey, wouldn’t a pro-war candidate be oh-so-electable?
Agree or disagree about the values, the politics and the policy, but don’t keep moving the fuckin’ goal posts, driving past the marked exits telling me you missed it. How about some reality from the “reality-based” community?
I’m sensing I’m getting radicalized, sure. I really sense it when I talk to my dad, who I used to feel more in sync with. Now that he’s collecting his Social Security, and now that I don’t believe I will ever be able to collect it, we just don’t seem on quite the same wavelength some of the time. I used to understand the generational gap between him and me as primarily a cultural thing (i.e., he’s ambivalent about gay culture becoming mainstream, I couldn’t care less), but now it’s political too. He’s not getting more conservative in HIS old age; I’m getting more hard left in MY old age. He’s from the Sixties generation of young adult that grew up in economic prosperity and could reasonably expect to live a better life than his parents did. (I have no children, but if I did, I know my children could not expect the same.) The system worked. You worked, paid into the system and then the system paid you. My mother also just applied for her Social Security and already she’s talking differently. The light at the end of the tunnel is here–for her. But not for me.
People wonder why I would do something that’s “against my economic interests” as to support a local Indian land claim. Well, the way I see it, doing so is no more or less against my economic interests than supporting the status quo. Donald Trump now owns my house (thanks to eminent domain), the democratic system in my state has broken down and you really can’t get anything addressed the way you’re “supposed to” in a democracy (oh, and Howard Dean still never comes up here–reportedly he’d rather run for mayor of New York), and we’re ALL going to be taxed to death here sooner or later, so what difference does it make WHO owns your house? If you’re going to go under anyway, why not see (social, historical and environmental) justice done, before you go under?
Okay – the above paragraph is me on a bad day. Usually I’m not so gloomy. (Personally, my philosophy is, if you’re going to be taxed to death, enjoy the hell out of whatever public services you get from it.)
But this is how radicalism starts. It starts when people really believe there is no alternative to the current system except for dismantling it. Now, I’m no radical, because frankly I’m not economically disadvantaged enough to really be that far along. (And, I do so enjoy watching Howard Dean give hope to OTHER people, so yay team.)
I also think that a lot of talk about peak oil is a form of magical thinking that is an alternative to violent radicalism. (Not the theory of peak oil, but responses to it.) It is like the Ghost Dance or the Rapture. I almost detect a new form of American religion evolving around it, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I suspect that 100 years from now people will still be looking for that mystical Peak Oil crash and will have modeled their daily lives on it accordingly.
You people seem like middle of the road from my point of view here on the west coast of Canada.
“Left Coast” includes B.C. and Hawaii. <smile>
and I don’t care if I win my fights so long as we win the war! When the war is won everybody can laugh about what a fruitcake I was and I will laugh right along with them.
I voted for “Raving Radical” and I mean it as the highest compliment. I’m right with you. I was reading Billmon’s posts about this yesterday and today and he seemed to be saying something similar but also seemed to be saying nothing could really be done about Roberts. But, like you, I’d rather see the Dems fight and lose (and expose what we DO know aobut this guy) than not fight at all.
I voted ‘raving radical’ because I am one too, and we are a small fraction of the population, relative to the human race. Most of us are liberal or conservative as long as our world allows us to behave in that way, but just wait ’till the stormtroopers are coming down your street. I’m ready, but I’m not going out looking for them.
Here’s what I’ve learned from george: Patience and Faith. I can see that the wheels of justice are turning (although unbearably slowly) and other people are coming around to my point of view.
I’m watching the people who are in a position to do something about the ruling crime family, and I have complete faith in them, or god within them if you prefer, that our species will continue to evolve and create a better world. I’m happy to watch patiently.
The world needs us extremists to stimulate some measure of response in the otherwise detained.
Thanks for this diary, Madman.
where I no longer feel any sense of relationship or responsibility to the laws of the land. When the lawmakers are so divorced from the people, how can we say that their laws have any relevance to us any more. Not that I am about to go out and commit crimes or anything, but the basic sense of respect for the “rules” that one might expect from a citizen in a free country — I find it seem to be no longer there. It’s not my country, these are not my people, it does not represent me.
We have been invaded by aliens. There is no need to talk about greys and lizards — just look at the photos of the Robert’s family. Do these people look remotely like anyone you know? How long has it been since anyone you know dressed, sounded, acted like that? Who are these freaks and why in the world should we accept anything they tell us to do?
This invasion has been a long time in the making. What annoys me about the left’s response to the Roberts nomination and other things is that so many seem to see all these things as unconnected, random acts of petty thuggery — instead of seeing more of the big picture. This takeover has been in the works for decades, people working behind the scenes for years, putting judges in place, putting media people in place, assasinating and otherwise messing with political figures here and abroad. It is an agenda, and the goal is total domination.
It does not take a great paranoid conspiracy diagram to connect these dots that are placed ever and ever closer, yet still people just won’t see it.
We are on the brink of a domination that, if completed, will mean no chance to escape again. Very soon, we may no longer have the luxury of free communication — on blogs or anywhere. We will see total corporate/military/Gov’t control as those three entities merge into one. It’s not just about one seat on the Supreme Court. It is about the total lockdown of this country. We have no other choice but to fight like hell now.
I agree, wholeheartedly.
Scary times. The other scary thing … with every clampdown comes eventually a revolution, and this is a very violent society. If we can’t motivate a swing back politically, the alternative is truly frightening.
I too am radicalized, I am anathema amongst the more right of right wingers in my community. I have been called a socialist, a communist and a traitor to my country because I question authority, I call Bush a liar and a crook and Cheney a criminal.
I have nothing but contempt for the two Senators that supposedly represent me, and my House Rep is a Tom Delay clone, every Republican member of the Kansas delegation to the Congress is rated 10% or 0 on Civil Rights issues by the ACLU.
I fear for my country, my children and my life as an American citizen, because these fascists want nothing more than to control all aspects of the lives of Americans. The want good little citizens that buy the corporate products that they create for minimum wage, everything is owned by the repuglican elites and there are only two classes, the super rich and the poor. Won’t it be shocking when mainstream republicans discover that Brownshirt and company are going to end up taking over their lives.
That SCOTUS, will become nothing more than a rubber stamp for the corporate fascist monopolies, that congress will be appointed by the same monopolies and the President will be the CEO of the United States Corporation of America and will be appointed by the Board of Directors of World Dominion Inc.
I have been a Democrat/Liberal/Progressive all of my life. For the first time in my life, I am going to say something that I never thought would be uttered from within me.
I am no longer in favor of gun control in any way shape or form, as long as the fascist regime that is in power, continues to erode my civil rights, my guaranteed Constitutional rights and wants to be able to hold American Citizens in custody with benefit of Habeas Corpus. For the first time in my life, I will be purchasing a weapon to insure the safety of my family.
Is that harsh, is that something I want to do, Yes and NO, yet is an action that I feel is a necessity to insure the safety of myself and my family. I fear this government, I fear my Senators, my rep and I fear that there are way to many Dominionist in the command structure of the military for me not have this rational fear.
I will do everything in my power to legally eliminate this corrupt and evil administration. I will shout without fear what I believe to be true concerning their evil, their disregard for basic human rights and their desire to take over completely my country.
I hope that everyone everywhere will wake up to the evil that resides in the White House and Congress and if we are not prepared to stop them, then SCOTUS.
I used to be strongly opposed to gun control on the theory of self-defense against an out-of-control government. Then it dawned on me one day that one guy with a rifle is not much use against armored infantry with air support.
If the occasional nut with a gun and a hostage can seldom hold off the civilian police for more than 24 hours, it isn’t likely that the odds will be any better against actual internal security troops.
Ummm…hello
The resistance in Iraq is doing pretty damn well with light weapons….
and 300,000 tons of explosives
Very interesting. I also in the past year or so have switched positions on gun ownership. I used to be just utterly opposed to it, but two things changed my mind. The first obvious one is as you mentioned, the threat of fascism. Now saying that makes me feel like some survivalist nutter. I always laughed at those who thought they must stockpile weapons to prepare for the collapse of society, but I am not laughing any more. Maybe they just saw the signs sooner, just like we now see it but there are still many people out there who don’t.
And the second reason I have relaxed my stance on gun ownership is the revelation in Michael Moore’s film “Bowling for Columbine” that, though Canada has many more guns per capita that the U.S., they also have far less gun violence that we do.
My hope now is that this Rove thing will be the leak that sinks the whole ship. But my fear is, especially with the threat to the supreme court, that we will continue to see a slow slide toward fascism for a few more years until one day, suddenly everything is in place for total domination and we the people will be utterly defenseless against it. Of course for that to happen it would take an army, and the way it is looking now, the army is less and less likely to support that because they too have seen the truth about BushCo. It would not surprise me if we wake up some morning to find a military coup going on, and isn’t it funny that those are the kinds of things that generally only happen in the so-called “third world’ countries. Well, it’s our world now.
I’ll cop to being a radical under those terms.
They way I see it, the Republicans are the party that wants to screw me, and the Democrats are the party that lets them do it.
Democrats care too much about winning elections to change anything. If there is a Democratic core value beyond getting elected, I’d like to know what it is. Or, to put it another way, I’d like to know what principle is important enough for a Democrat politician to lose an election?
The prevailing view in the so-called “reality-based community” is that we should only fight the battles we know we can win and save the rest until some far away day when, in the total absence of leadership, the general populace mutates into wild-eyed liberals. The problem is not just that that is never going to happen, it’s that the Republicans know how to win that game every time. Unfortunately, I suspect it will not be until the Dems fail to make any significant gains in the mid-term Congressional elections before the cocksure status quo Dems currently running the little Dem pond will be kicked out of the way to make room for principled leaders who aren’t afraid to fight battles they aren’t guaranteed to win.
My hopes are not very high with the current party leadership, Howard Dean notwithstanding. I’d worry more, but it would be extremely easy for me to emigrate, so I can afford to watch almost to the very end of this debacle.
Not many people have that option, though. So ask yourself, what battles are you willing to lose? Or, more to the point, when is doing the right thing important enough to risk failure?
Don’t confuse fighting smart with not fighting at all. They’re two totally different things.
We have a whole month to go before the hearings start. In the meantime, we should be getting to work digging up dirt on Judge Roberts so that we will be ready to deliver the knockout punch come the hearings. We have to assemble evidence convincing enough that the Gang of 7 will agree that this constitutes extraordinary circumstances.
Of those 7, Biden has already stated that the Supreme Court is an extraordinary circumstance. So, if Biden opposes Roberts, that makes 6 we need to persuade.
To understand where I am coming from, go back to the fights of Muhammed Ali, particularly his fight against George Foreman. He leaned on the ropes for six rounds taking the best George had to offer. With 30 seconds left in the seventh he suddenly unleashed a flurry of punches that knocked Foreman out.
The reason I am using a boxing example is that Reid was a boxer once. I suggest he may be appearing as reasonable as possible, and then planning to unleash an ambush on Roberts when the hearings come.
Furthermore, I suggest the Democrats want this story out of the way as quickly as possible so the media will return to Plamegate. The more coverage on the front pages of the media, the better off we are. Dean is planning to run against the GOP corruption in 2006.
that the filibuster is off the table (thanks Liebermann and Nelson!) and echoing Republican PR points isn’t exactly fighting smart.
Say something like, “we look forward to discussing his record with him in the upcoming hearings” then shut up.
Not what they did though, is it?
What kind of evidence will it take to convince either Lieberman/Nelson/DiFi or Chafee/Snowe/Collins that Roberts is an unacceptable nominee?
We have to some up with something that they don’t know about Roberts that is serious enough to make them change their minds. That is the problem we have to solve.
I voted for “foul mouthed malcontent.” From me that is high praise since I consider myself a foul-mouthed malcontent.
Decision are made by those who show up.
Progress is made by those who give a damn.