Postscript:  Note how this string died of asphyziation?  That ought to tell us something.
Suggestions”  Lack of interest, yes, but precisely in what?  Why?  Etc.

gerard, January 9 at 8:49 pm

The “working together” part is the real issue, as you say.

I often debated what the “well-regulated” part of the “well-regulated militia”
meant. Personally, that freakin’ comma means nothing to me. It, is, easy, to,
throw, commas, in, anywhere, and, still, convey, one’s, message.

But that “well-regulated” part had me going because if every male over 17 or 18 was supposed to have, or was least advised to have, a gun, how the heck they expected farmers to assemble from miles around and then be on the same page as a group of farmers 100 or 200 miles away, as far as military tactics, is beyond me. It isn’t like having everyone report for the weekend warrior monthly ANG meetings, if you know what I mean.

As an alternative, I thought that well-regulated might have been used in place of “disciplined”; as in owning a weapon but not using it to solve squabbles with the neighbors over some creek boundary.

There are a lot of people out there who are getting on the informational bandwagon, but there’s a big difference between owning a firearm and knowing how and when to use it. I certainly hope it never comes to that and that we are
able to accomplish this tactfully and legislatively, but 99% of the politicians in office were only thinking about GETTING elected; nothing was said about actually doing anything constructive once they got into office. Once they get in with the good ole boys and hop on that public nipple, there’s nothing to stop
them. If they get thrown out, they still get their lofty pensions. So where’s the incentive?

Well, if you ever figure it out, let me know, I’ll be second in line. How’s that?

““Well, I strongly doubt that it wll be that easy!  In fact, the
first major effort is going to be to discover how to work
together simply to prevent our own self-destruction.”“
***********************************************
And therein lies the rub because of all the issues thrown out
to confuse and obfuscate there remains the fact that there are
several issues vastly more important that of the so many
others used to divert attention from the real important ones
and it is discouraging as hell to have so many comments all
‘shotgunning’ issues all over the waves, almost as if that is
contrived which I feel it is, which is perfect for losing sight of
which handle on what to fix or right first, so the next problem
would be easier to handle.

Scott Ritter wrote a short piece of a book on ‘Waging Peace’
and how getting organized is of paramount importance to
whip the disaster/crisis of now that is in of itself a far and
vastly more organized agenda that our very well fertilized and
cultivated mainstream media vegetable garden cannot seem
to wake up and overcome and as I have, so do I believe others
have a priority list of what needs fixing first but I turn that
over to others to contemplate.

BR549: Well, I strongly doubt that it wll be that easy!  In fact, the first major effort is going to be to discover how to work together simply to prevent our own self-destruction.  Then after that, and only after that, comes the easy part—positive change for the better.  Right now there’s a sort of “Samson Option” psychology in the wind, if my nose is telling me the truth.  The frantic babbling about Armageddon, the suicidal cant about virgins and heaven, the refusal to curb greenhouse gases, the continuation of worldwide pollution, the possibility of nuclear accident, the incessant wars, the killing of doctors who perform abortions and the refusal to distribute condoms—all of it so irrational that it is surprising most of us can still sleep at night, let alone write a coherent sentence.

gerard, January 9 at 6:25 pm

Wise words. I hear what you are saying.

Sometimes I think this will all play out like the typical evil villains in a movie all
climbing onto the same wagon and driving themselves over the cliff on their way
to steal Granny’s farm ........ and the townspeople then all get to go home and
watch a nice sunset.

And could it be that BECAUSE they are “not playing by the same rule book” they are causing the country to collapse both abroad and at home? And BECAUSE they are “not playing by the same rule book” they are denying themselves the ability to correct their course of action in time to even save themselves?
  The banksters and Wall Street tycoons failed, and because they were thought to be “too big to fail,” now the government that “saved” them is itself failing—up to its neck in debt, lost wars and a jobless, restless, confused, angry population on the edge of dog eating dog behavior. Furthermore, half the world hates us for past rampages and hopes for our demise.
  This is all primarily because of “not playing by the “same” rule book in which is inscribed since time immemorial as: “Do unto others ...  Time to climb down from the “dominator” peak where the air is too thin to breath, and start living with and for others in every way we can.  Doing things the wrong way leads to failure, as our present policies are certainly proving, over and over—economically, environmentally, socially, internationally—no?
  And another thing, as they say: We haven’t even tried yet to unite together, discern problems accurately, design methods of redress and “play by the rules” to reclaim our honor, our citizenship, our human rights. As usual with us, there is the ever-present danger of simply shutting our eyes and “shooting from the hip.”

gerard, January 9 at 4:49 pm

No argument there, however, if we expend all our energies trying to play fair,
while “they” are doing everything outside the book to illegally undermine their
own country, at what point do we dare ask ourselves if we have any hope of
winning if we are the only ones playing by the rules?

On the other hand, we can ask ourselves if the collective price we pay to win is
worth that price after having cheated to obtain it?  You may be arguing that
remaining civil is the best and only strategy, while THEY have pulled our
manufacturing base out from under us, attempted to seize every agriculture
pond across the country as federal water sources, built countless detention
facilities, attempted to put backyard gardens under federal scrutiny, etc. Take
your pick, but THEY aren’t playing by the same rule book.

Well actually, the answer isn’t in assassinations and hangings.  Far from it!  The answer is in rational, democratic, practical assessments of key issues that can be changed by a populist movement including the broaest possible reach beyond race, class and party.  (At the moment it is probably the need for jobs that are not dependent upon wars and military occupations, which means exchanging Pentagon/corporate domination of the economy for activities that promote human well-being—improvement of education, infrastructure, environment, energy policy and diplomacy/wiser foreign policy.)
  Labor is crucial to success’ also progressive politics applied to health, education and welfare, civil rights, prison reform (to point to better focii than war and destruction).  Curbing the power of corporations will be the hardest because money has such a hold on government in this country now.(This happened once before and was overcome to some extent, but no sufficient reforms were maintained, so have to be done over as the new New Deal or similar.)
  The same forces that rant in favor of either destroying “the system” or letting it fall apart are the ones who can and must save it, even though they don’t see clearly how to do it.  Answers will come in the process of moving forward together—if sanity prevails.  Rage mitigates against sanity.

gerard, January 8 at 9:39 pm

About that road to fascism, you are so right. The country gets so fed up with
politics as usual that it elects a man who had given everyone here and abroad
REASON TO HOPE, yet after the corporate lobbyists and AIPAC got through with
him behind the scenes, we went further into the toilet than before.

If Obama came to some early demise, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised, not
through some planned CIA event like Kennedy, but by some ordinary but
frustrated and angry housewife. When are these used car salesmen in Washington
going to get the message? At what point are they hung as traitors?

Just what is it, perhaps, that makes the “tea party” psychology so attractive to certain kinds of people—that is, people who are “fed up” with “politics as usual”—whatever that means to each of them?  Some mean fed up with Washington?  The Democrats? Feeling sold out? Too much government?  Unemployment?  Fear?  “Terrorism?”  A sense of overall frustration?
Etc. etc. vague, and ad infinitum. The key words are “fed up” and this psychology may attract a great many people for a great many reasons.
  That doesn’t make it’s an automatic winner, though there is some danger of that happening, especially if uncritical media allow it by slanting news and editorials in their direction just for the fun or the funds. (Media love emotional circuses, remember.)
  By sidling up to this craziness, the Republicans show that they are willing to risk a dance with fascism (which should surprise no one), but it is also a warning to Democrats and others that ALL PROGRESSIVES had better get their act together.
  The danger is that some unscrupulous “leader” wlll step into the intellectual vacuum/emotional free ride of it all and lead them over the cliff into fascism.
  (PS again I hope I’m wrong.  and PS2—any group that calls itself “Truthers” or think they have “the truth” needs watching also.)

Once again the republicans go for quantity over quality and
therein lies the trouble, the well cultivated and fertilized msm
garden veggies all willing to do as they are told when they vote
without a clue.

Only serious involvement and strong support from populist princess Sarah Palin and powerful voice of loyal opposition, Rep. Michele Bachmann, will give “Tea Party” movement real plausibility & longevity.

A lot of people confuse the Tea-Party rallies as they stand now, having been hijacked by Faux News et al. Never do that. It was libertarians that started it and it was about as anti-Republican as it could be. Now it’s a Republican-controlled zombie army of mindless state worshipers. Never confuse these zombies with the awake, skeptic that some call “the truth movement”...entirely unrelated. So-called “truthers” would never be caught dead state-worshiping…rather, they were born in resistance to Bush. They could no sooner fall for the Republican cult than become Democrat state-worshiper instead. They forecasted this entire Obama fiasco. Time to start listening to them? I have. One of the first things they point out, if you ask, is that these TeaPartyists are a bunch of zombies. I concur.