Actually several of my relatives died fighting the nazis on their feet.

Some of my relatives might have killed them. They tell me they all squealed like pigs. Some of my family fought for America. Just like the Civil War, brother against brother.

Oh sweet jeebus!

Phatprick Hanky… It appears this blog, called Cheering for Ron Paul, has been taken over by the blathering bitches of Orange county.

Ladies, have at this racist, sexist anti-semitic boob.

#121749 by PatrickHenry on 12/21 at 2:34 pm
Well, Patrick, my face is a slight shade of pink.  While I was writing my last post, which was immediately after Cyrena posted one to me, I got distracted and didn’t finish for a while, then posted without reading the current stuff, which included your compliments on my contribution, apologies to those you attacked, and commitment to a more uplifting, if not spirited, debate on issues, without personal attacks. 

I am going to trust you are sincere, and I withdraw my RAT analogy as related to you.  It takes a lot of courage to apologize.  Backatcha.

The internet is a great place to learn, as well as express.  All of us are in some state of rage at the machine, helplessness, fear (thank THEM for that),
frustration, ignorance, limited awareness, and who knows what else.  It is indeed, and as I said I try to constantly heed my own words, difficult to discipline ourselves not to inflict pain and/or negative energy on each other in the expression of all that distress. 

That is EXACTLY what those who believe they have the divine right to rule us want us to do—turn on each other.  It is what has happened in ghettos, barrios, Africa, and everywhere in the world where the have-nots and the powerless are fighting for meager
resources doled out in pitiful and grossly inadequate measure, and controlled by overwhelming force.

It is interesting to note that most of the police beating up black people in New Orleans are black.
Those fighting the battles of the rich for riches in Iraq are poor.  On and on ad nauseum.

I’m not sure if Cyrena is right about the tactics of doing battle with the genuinely recalcitrant liars and smear mongers on the internet.  We all succumb at times to the temptation to just vent.  I know I do.  And afterwards I may feel good for a moment or two, but on reflection I feel diminished.  Maybe I am taking it too seriously, but I still feel it would generally be better to rise above it and take the higher road.  I hear people better when they do that, and I suspect the reverse is true.  I am more likely to take other opinions to heart and consider them when they are offered respectfully.  I may still end up disagreeing, but not dismissing without pause.

So, of course, I will continue to debate with you and others about Ron Paul and the other politicians with whom I not only disagree, but see as forces of destruction against a society that, in my vision, embraces equality, liberty, and justice for all.  And as you can tell by now, for me “all” includes women,  for many of whom I speak out on the issues of health, economic parity, control of our bodies, and other needs specific to our gender.

Thank you for your comments.  Best of luck in the future.

And Happy Solstice to you!

#121640 by cyrena on 12/20 at 11:45 pm

Cyrena…Points well taken.  So long as you (and all of us) are having fun!  I can see that.  It is sometimes just so liberating to tell the assholes where to go and do it anonymously.  Mea Culpa!  And you are correct, so long as it does not suck you in too far or give you apoplexy!  I do like your analogies.

But I also think there is a time to stop and not give them the arena or ego gratification of having someone pay attention to their inane musings.  There is a behaviorist tenet that continuous reinforcement when completely cut off, with no reinstatement at all, will cause the RAT to stop coming to that source fairly quickly.  On the other hand, what is called “partial reinforcement,” that is, reinstatement of reward after it has been cut off, even if just once or twice, will keep the rat returning and returning and returning.

I’m sure these rats will just find other mazes in which to continue their confused mental dysfunction and smear attacks.  The identified rat has just invaded the Huckabee article on Truthdig.  Come join the fun!  Like you say, we will keep finding them and exposing them and maybe sooner or later they will melt into a puddle of their own oooze.

You have elevated my confidence in the intelligence
and savvy of the bloggers who seem to actually speak truth to power, with sanity, awareness, knowledge and genuine compassion.  I will trust that The Great Equalizer will sort out the chaff.

BLESSINGS ON THE WINTER SOLSTICE, SISTER!  and to EVERYONE ELSE!

I hope we will all STOP, BE QUIET, and have a reflective moment today to think about and commune with Our Mother, The Earth, in one of her moments of greatest darkness, and pledge our hearts and minds and bodies to healing the wounds the Barbarians have inflicted and will continue to savage upon her unless and until they are stopped.

I’m so sorry Ernest, but I won’t be arguing with you.  We are both now committed to our respective candidates and I won’t say anything negative about Kucinich nor you. I have high regard for Kucinich and I respect you and your thinking, but I have thought it all through and I will stand up for what I believe.  I do think Edwards is contrite about his voting for the war early on, but he has seen the light and I can only give him the benefit of the doubt.  I absolutely despise Lieberman, but politics makes for strange bedfellows and we do not know enough to pass judgment.  I’m sure we can find skeletons in all candidates closets.  I will continue to look forward to your comments and please have a happy solstice.  It begins tonight.

Completely believing in a civil society, Patrick Henry, I wholeheartedly accept your apology.  I can get very hot under the collar and feisty, to say the least.  I will certainly hold to Jaki’s standard and usually do unless somebody acts like an AH.  I respect your decision to support Ron Paul, although I cannot see how anyone can, but we have our own proclivities.  I hope you will tolerate it when I post something repugnant I’ve discovered about your candidate, I will not attack you, however.  And you too, please have a happy solstice.

As an addendum to my last post, Shenonymous seems to think that it is wise to vote for Edwards because, well, she has a “good feeling” about him, and, well, the press and polls say he has better numbers supposedly than Kucinich.  So, I suppose we ignore the fact that Edwards’s so-called health-care reform is a carbon copy of what Nixon was advocating back in 1970 to head of Senator Kennedy’s efforts at that time to adopt a national health care system.  Any “reform” that does not cut out the $350 billion currently wasted on the parasitic vampires known as the healthcare insurance industry is a scam.  But hey, the man has a nice smile, says he’s for the poor and, after all, how could we vote for a man (Kucinich) who is a head shorter than his wife?

re: #121537 by Jaki

I found you post to be one the best I have ever read here at Truthdig, It was very objective and therefore revealing.

I am guilty of much you ascribe to and especially owe you, Jaki, Shenonymous and Cyrena an apology for any over the top insults that I have given.

You only have to back 50 posts or so to see how it escalated. Nothing I’m proud of.  I will do my best to avoid repeating it.

I ask each of you the same thing and hold Jaki’s standard to each of your posts. 

I must remind you that I do support Ron Paul as the Republican candidate as he is the best among them and will continue to post here as the good news of his candidacy develops.

Let’s not forget that John Edwards did not merely vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq but was a co-sponsor along with Lieberman.  During one of the debates he, like Clinton and Obama, refused to say that all troops would have left even as late as 2013.

There seems to be a fundamental gap between what Edwards the candidate says and what Edwards the Senator did.

Edwards’ “take” on the war is lengthy and explicitly spelled out at the On the Issues site, which seems to be a completely objective site that lists all candidates’ views on all the issues and is quite good to make comparisons.  If you have two browsers, you can invoke the site on two candidates at the same time to make it easier to compare them.  The following sites are respectively for Edwards and Kucinich.  You have to scroll through the candidate’s page to get to the Issue you are looking for, for instance on the Iraq war, Edwards’ position is a couple of scrolls down.  Check it out, it can be fascinating for any candidate you want to know more about.

http://www.ontheissues.org/John_Edwards.htm

http://www.ontheissues.org/Dennis_Kucinich.htm

Happy Solstice 2007

She,

Must agree with you, I have found the little bit I have listened to Edwards, his rhetorics makes more sense than the other two front runners picked by the mass media.

It would be my hope that he would clean up the Whitehouse and be a president for most of the people instead of special interests.

What is his take on the war? Seems digging for substance one has to dig for all of the front runners, that is why Kucinich was so refreshing. 

Truth is what Kucinich seems to provide, does Edwards?

I am well aware I am going to suffer the ire of many, but let the tarot cards fall where they may (they don’t really do anything, so what? Me afraid?  Naw, it just sounded good to say it, somewhat theatrical).  I have just posted almost the exact, same comment on the Edwards “Looking Beyond the Haircut” forum and I see no reason not to repost it here.  So here you go folks.  Have at me.

Have I found my candidate? You betcha, John Edwards.  I have a good feeling about this and I don’t usually go on feelings.  I am not doing so exclusively here either, rather I have listened to all the candidates very critically over the span of time they have been stumping, debating, lecturing, and measuring what every one else is saying, both proponents and detractors, but I also am adding in the gut factor.  I don’t get that sinking feeling that I get with the other candidates regardless of their sincerity, promises, and objectives.  I have a great deal of respect for Kucinich’s principles and program, and even Hillary’s courage to wage an intelligent campaign, and Obama’s electrifying outlook.  I, at this time of solstice have chosen Edwards and it seems there are quite a few others also on this and a few other forums who have too.  Now as the new year refreshes we must do more than sound off, we must breathe more life into his candidacy than ever seen before in an election and help him kindle the energy that will bring back this country to the high moral ground and sufficiency it once had.  Personally I am going to sign up with his campaign on the solstice as an article of faith and at this moment I feel more optimistic than I have in years. And I thank you all for helping me find my way.

Happy solstice everyone and may the renewal of the sun be the genesis of a better era for you individually as well as for the world.  Let us take this time between winter solstice and summer to celebrate our humanity.  A little dramatic I know, but sometimes I get carried away, it is my histrionic nature.  But it is done with candor, probity and anticipation of a brighter now.

#121537 by Jaki

Hi Jaki,

This is a great post, but of course I had to throw in some of my own mix here, just to keep us balanced with a bit of humor.

•  Some of the things I have noticed in my short time of responding:
1.  Those who game, bait, manipulate, and are mean-spirited will show themselves to be who they are without others wasting energy to respond.

OK,
I know this is true, and that we don’t have to respond, as they will surely show themselves, (or their ‘asses’ as my grandma would have said). On the other hand though, sometimes it’s just so much fun, and well worth the indulgence, so long as we don’t get bogged down or sucked in by it. At that point, it DOES become an energy waster.
•  They become very obvious right away with their convoluted logic, outright lies, smears, and vitriol, changing the subject when confronted with truth, escalating personal attacks, and often, because they are in a deteriorating mental state, they lack or lose command of language.

Now, all of this is true as well. But, think of it this way, some responses tend to cause them to deteriorate far more rapidly, making them all the more obvious, in a speedier period of time.

Like take PH for instance. He’s only recently begun to show his ass. I’d say within the past 4 to 5 weeks, give or take. Now I say that because he’s been posting on this site for quite a while, and he was never so obvious. (or maybe he’s like the Sybil psychosis of multiple personalities) So, something brought this out, and I would have to say that it was certain responses, whether they were intended to do that or not. And, it was probably bound to happen sooner or later. We don’t really even know if it was ‘one thing’ that caused the breakdown, or a series of things.

Now it might sound cruel, (or equally mean spirited) to target the rot and dysfunction by responding to it when it becomes apparent. But, you wouldn’t ignore a tumor that might be malignant now would you?

So, you have to either cut it out, or attack it with chemicals, or whatever seems the most appropriate for the time and the circumstance. In PH’s case, we use a combo treatment, that will hopefully just ‘cut HIM out’, and at least help to expose the poisonous nature of his psychopathy, so that others can be made aware of the infection.

It can also be thought of a lancing a boil. We pop it open, let all of the nasty shit drain out, and at some point in time, it dries up and goes away. Such as it is with PH and his ilk.

Of course that’s not to say that they don’t come back. Unfortunately, they do. So, we remain ever vigilant, without letting ourselves get too terribly worked up over it, and enjoying the time when the infection has been checked. When it returns, (if we haven’t been able to excise it completely..the preferred option) then we just whip out the antibiotics again, or get the knife for the lancing.
That comes in the form of limited responses, and also provides a warning to the rest of the society, (in this case the blog) that conditions are dangerous, and that they should be aware, and know how to recognize the poisonous elements. Once they can recognize the danger, they generally participate in the ‘cure’ and we’re back on even energy balance once again.

So, it does require a sort of constant adjustment, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a ‘negative’ energy in any response, such as when Shenonymous recommended that PH get himself some Midol. He’s SUCH a bitch these days, and it might help him.
Even if he doesn’t follow the recommendations, at least others will be aware that he’s having a difficult menstrual cycle, (that’s just lasting a really long time) and so they’ll know to be aware.
Meantime, thanks for the intuitive piece.

Some of the things I have noticed in my short time of responding:

1.  Those who game, bait, manipulate, and are mean-spirited will show themselves to be who they are without others wasting energy to respond.

They become very obvious right away with their convoluted logic, outright lies, smears, and vitriol, changing the subject when confronted with truth, escalating personal attacks, and often, because they are in a deteriorating mental state, they lack or lose command of language.

They are vampires, sucking energy, to no good end.

They have no sincere interest in opening their small minds to anything other than their own garbage.

Albeit a huge temptation, it becomes beneath one’s dignity to even bother to respond.

2.  Everything in this world is composed of energy, including thoughts and spoken words.  Our human containers have limited energy and limited time.

3.  There are truly intelligent people with whom we can have conversations that educate, inform, enlighten, challenge,  and give some semblance of comfort in a world that needs it, if only by showing solidarity.

4.  Blogging can be a lesson in learning to impose boundaries on ourselves and not allow ourselves to be pulled into providing a forum and attention to the
vampires. 

None of these observations are in any way meant to discourage debate with those with whom one disagrees.
That is how we all learn and grow and change.  It is the quality of those responses that we need to learn to discern, and see or intuit motives and the modus operandi behind them. 

Allocate energy to the intelligent, reasonable, sane, and genuinely inquiring contributors.  Provocateurs abound.  They will drain us dry.  They do not deserve our attention.

I say all these things to myself, as well as everyone else.

As Jon Stewart and Al Gore commented last night on The Daily Show, the internet has become the great equalizer in the quest for and exposure of truth, but we have to be able to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

The only joke around this forum PH is your brain.  Maybe you don’t listen to the news?  It was all over all the stations, radio and TV yesterday about McCain in Iowa.  You are such a dunce.  We all know it and think it’s you that has menstrual periods, one mixed up dude who doesn’t even know how to spell the insult he is making. Take some Midol won’t you?

Partisan politics two choices, the best of the worst. Here we go again!

Cyrena, Maybe you can IM your menstral cycles and have them together.

Sheman, McCain, surely you joke.

#121364 by Shenonymous

•  Patrick Henry why don’t you pull your head out of your ass and don’t’ forget to wipe it after it’s out.

Shenonymous,

Please, let him leave it up there. It’s been there so long, it’s obviously a danger to the world at large, so leave it be. You can feel the hate and misogynistic membranes as they all rot together. It won’t be long before he blows himself up. You can just tell he’s getting closer and closer, and he just gets uglier and uglier, and more obviously demented in his comments. Just be glad you aren’t one of his kids, or heaven forbid a spouse, if he even has one. Might need to send a rescue squad for them. I know I would have escaped a long time ago. We’re talking seriously psychotic, and even dangerously so.

Meantime, I appreciated your last post on getting involved, once we see how things go after the primaries. I’m still also looking very much at John Edwards myself. I like him, in that he’s not absolutely perfect, and that he can defend whatever questionable things he may have done, (like his original vote for the action against Iraq) as simply being unable to fathom that the lies would be so unconscionable. It’s the same reason why most folks don’t want to accept the more likely truth about 9/11. Still, none of them are perfect, and I think he’s as close as we can get to what might be the best, and still electable. That’s the key with the issue on Kucinich, whom I very much like, but I just don’t know how many folks can get behind him between now and then. We’ll see.

Jaki, on Nader, I have to admit that I’d never paid a whole lot of attention to him until sort of recently, if ONLY because he was the 3rd party candidate, without much chance. That’s not to say that I don’t like most of what he says, but my first exposure to him from long ago, seemed to be more in-tuned to the upper middle class who just bitched a lot, because they didn’t want to pay their fair share of anything.

Now, that was years ago, and I admit that it wasn’t an entirely fair assessment, and besides, I was young and more ideological. SINCE then, I’ve changed my mind, and in part as a result of a film that I viewed recently, produced by his sister, Laura. It’s rather dated, (I think early 80’s) and I was really impressed with it, even though it only referenced his work, to the extent that it applied to what SHE was doing.

She’s an anthropologist by the way, (you may have known that) and this documentary, is titled “Little Injustices”. For my own work, it was very relevant, since my stuff is legal systems.

Meantime, I’ve apparently had no luck in sending you a PM. I did try, but I have no way of knowing if it reached you. I’m just guessing not. So, if you want to try on your end, we’ll see if that produces anything. I’m pretty convinced that I’ve been somehow ‘hampered’ in my communications on TD. (yes, I know it would not seem that way, based on my posts). Still, I no longer receive notifications when others post to anything. (well, VERY sporadically I should say) And, when I went to check the panel/control box yesterday, I discovered several new PM’s for which I had never received any notification. Since I don’t otherwise look at the thing, I wouldn’t have known. 

So, apparently I CAN at least receive them, but otherwise, they’ve got me like, ‘restricted’, or else I don’t know what I’m doing. (maybe both). Anyway, if you can reach me, then I can reply with my direct email address.

And now, I’m back to the latest piece from Amy, on the CIA black sites, and the torture and rendition. I’ve been following that from the beginning, but this is the first time there’s actually been testimony (that she’s done) directly from the victims of these sites. (well, there was the Canadian guy).

Shenonymous, I forgot. I remember your mention of the horowitz types that you said you all used to cast off like snot. (I loved it). Consider PH as such.

Patrick Henry why don’t you pull your head out of your ass and don’t’ forget to wipe it after it’s out.  You are a jerk extraordinaire (is that word too big for you, or did you only get to the second grade where 5-letter words were as big is they get, cause sweetie that is how you act?  Ron Paul is getting nowhere and McCain is eclipsing everyone this week.  Glad you wasted your votes on Nader as third party candidates will get nowhere in this country.  You don’t count anyway. 

From the blathering bitch Shenonymous Meticulous from the mindless state of Texas formerly of Southern California where my mind got tainted permanently.

It appears this blog, called Cheering for Ron Paul, has been taken over by the blathering bitches of Orange county.

I love quasi-academics, those who know the meaning of everything (and how to spell it) but can’t change the oil in their car, the filter in their furnace or follow a simple diagram.  They are the same ones who thought the world was flat in that era. Most present themselves as liberals, hardly knowing liberal is derived from liberty, something Ron Paul advocates.

#121164 by cyrena,

You call this pressure? you have obviously led a sheltered life. Your distortion of my posts deserves a response, semantics aside.  As I previously stated all non profits, lobbies (NAACP included) and churches should pay taxes, i.e. property, sales, general use and all others as private citizens do. You twisted it into being against rich black folks (your words). As far as you being a humanist, I find that laughable as you have to resort to petty name calling and putting peoples opinions down to elevate yours.

You want to go negative, I’m here for you baby.

#121300 by Shenonymous,

“This does not include the disgusting television news and talk shows that posture posture posture and tries without success to sound intellectual and which always comes out with a bunch of shit”. 

Like your posts. 

Your vocaulary astounds me, you are out to impress and certainly do; of your conceit.  5 dollar words for 10 cent meanings is what you peddle.

#121178 by Jaki,

Whether or not you accept it you can be pro-choice and a states rights advocate.  I just don’t believe its the governments business to dictate to various communities and doctors especially in private hospitals on what procedures they have to perform against their belief systems.

BTW I voted for Nader in the past two elections so I guess were both energy sucks together and whatever that other word you said was (I guess Shenonymous will let us know). 

Leefeller,

Its fathom, not Phantom, be careful or the spelling police will get you. 

All,

You are entitled to your opinions and on election day see you at the booth, I vote candidate over party and see two fine candidates in Kucinich and Paul. I would love to see them debate the issues.

So you girls get alot of beauty sleep, pull your head out of the sand and watch Ron Pauls numbers soar even with the media censorship which you all seem to think is OK.

I think it is always a conflicting choice when the options seem so limited, but it is only seeming.  I tend to think positively.
With your nine points of change, Jaki…
1.  I agree 100%
2.  I agree 100%
3.  I agree 100%
4.  I agree 100%
5.    I agree 100%
6.(5)    I agree 100%
7.    I agree 100%
8.    I agree 100%
9.    I agree 100%

Add that all up and it may be only 900% but I’d round it off to 1000%, which might be excessive but in my book it doesn’t even come close to how much I agree with you.  I know Greece too and you comparison is so accurate.  Yes we need to light a fire under the asses of the American people.  I, and Cyrena, tried to tell this to Ernest in his effort to promote Dennis Kucinich, who I think has the best ideas but is kind of flat when it comes to personality.  But Ernest is resistant and takes a stodgie unimaginative same-old same-old approach.  I don’t know yet who I will vote for, I vascillate because it is so important to me that I get it right.  John Edwards does look the part right now, but I do appreciate Kucinich’s positions.  To get back to the point, yes, you are absolutely right in what we need to do and I for one am ready to do some stuff.  I am not sure yet who I will toil for.  But once that decision is made, I will pull out all the stops I have with the little resources I have, which is more in the form of unceasing energy than a whole lot of dollars, but maybe I can be instrumental in getting other people to donate???? I have worked for political campaigns before (and in California) and I will do it again.  Course I am now in the mindless state of Texas but I’ve been seeing some signs of life here in the way of Democratic ventures.  Maybe we will come out of the woodwork.  I have bright thoughts and expectations we will get through this election and it will be sound and sure.

I always look forward to your and Cyrena’s comments and always come away after reading them with some new knowledge.

P.S. to my immediately previous posting:

People need to be energized to participate.  I have had the experience of being in the birthplace of democracy (Greece) during one of their national elections.  People there talk politics all the time.  Their voting numbers are astounding—close to 100%.  When I was there in 1984, people were required to travel to the birthplace of their father to vote, which meant they were given priority access to all transportation means (air, water, rail, bus).  Tourists (including my group) were bumped off in order to accommodate the Greeks going to vote.  I don’t know if that is still required.  It seemed somewhat silly (and Patriarchal) to me, but they must have had their reasons. And people did it.  They traveled to vote.  They take it very seriously.

During the week before the elections, I was in Athens and got caught up in the final candidate appearances held outdoors.  In one instance over 2 million people crowded the streets.  Traffic was not allowed.  It was exhilarating.

Shenonymous…I must say it is very conflictual for me to do anything to discourage people from voting Democrat in this next election.  The writing is soooo on the wall for the future; that will probably be our only sane option.

When I pose questions, I always end up thinking about my own questions and hope for some potential answers from within and without, like on this site.

How I see it is the following has to take place for this country to have fair and equal representation:

1.  Elections have to be publicly funded.  Corporate lobbyists and their influence need to be eliminated, whether that involves a First Amendment fight or not.  Money should not be equated with “free speech.”

2.  The Constitution needs to be updated.  There need to be provisions that allow legislation that is “in the public interest” (not corporate interest) to be in place “in perpetuity” until it can be proven to be no longer in such interest.

I live in one of the more “enlightened” parts of California where we have had two of the better Democrats working for us (Leon Panetta and Sam Farr) and we were able to save The Monterey Bay from oil exploitation by having it become a National Marine Sanctuary IN PERPETUITY.  Of course, it could always happen that King George or Czar Cheney might declare some kind of National Emergency or create a “terrorist attack” that could change everything, but our leaders did everything they could to keep the status permanent.

We were also, in the 80s able to keep developers at bay by passing a growth-control initiative, also (to my knowledge) in perpetuity.  Plus, we have consistently for the past twenty-plus years elected a Board of Supervisors and City Council with liberal majorities.

We have a very high level of citizen involvement and interest in the politics of our community.  But we have to be constantly vigilant. And that is the price of democracy.

3.  We will have to get all those who do not vote and/or are disenfranchised for whatever reason (hopelessness, apathy, fear, racism, you name it) to get out and vote for Democrats and then do this over and over and over for the next ten elections.  Then we will need to hold their feet to the fire and see if they truly will do what they pledge to do.  See if there really is a difference and one that is lasting.

4. It needs to be made EASY and FAIR (no long lines in minority communities) to vote.  Students and younger workers must be made aware that the future is in their hands.  How you convince them of that, I don’t know.  But they don’t vote in the numbers that are needed. 

5.  National Debates need to be taken back and given over to the supervision of non-partisan League of Women Voters.  How did it get taken from them in the first place? 

5.  Electronic Voting has to be shelved until someone invents a tamper-proof machine that provides accurate paper feedback to the voter.  Meanwhile, back to paper ballots and strenuous oversight in the counting.

6.  We need to open up our system to multiple parties with a level playing field.  Otherwise, it isn’t a democracy.

7.  Paid political ads on all media should be banned.  Again, another First Amendment battle, but one that will definitely prove to be in the public interest.
There should be a representative democratically elected public commission to which all electioneering materials are submitted to check their veracity.  Candidates should run on substance (their stands on the issues, their experience, truth) not smear.  There should be as many public debates as there can be, with all of them televised and on other media.

8.  And, most importantly, we need to work and work and work to uplift the consciousness of the people, so that racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other forms of discrimination are rooted out, and we can have a truly representative democracy.

Yes, I agree with you, somewhat, too. The splinter-Democratic Party machine has siblings in every organization, those who thrive on power.  And the media is complicit in denying all the candidates who were passed over to participate in the debates, which I find completely odious and offensive and I have said so both here and on many other forums.  How to root them out is beyond my or other ordinary folks control, except to make note of them, complain like hell to the MSM and other agencies such as congress??? Whatever that good might do is debatable.  The power mongers are unstoppable in their efforts but we might be able to mediate it with our own protests. 

I have also expressed several times in different places my admiration for Nader’s work over the years, but I still believe he uses demagogic strategies as well.  A pot calling the kettle black fallacious tactic.  He needs to be listened to much more closely to get past the prima facie complaints he lodges.  But that does not completely discount what he says. I just don’t think he is presidential material.  The outcome of his lawsuit for being prevented from running in 2004 will be very interesting.  I am a fanatical advocate of searching out the truth.

Yes, we are faced with a conundrum, but the more I listen to NPR and all the various talk shows on that station the more I am encouraged that the people, we the people, are listening and noting all the warts and pimples appearing on our politicians and we will do something about them as time goes by.  This does not include the disgusting television news and talk shows that posture posture posture and tries without success to sound intellectual and which always comes out with a bunch of shit.

Shenonymous, although I agree with what you say in your email that there are seemingly really good Democrats working their butts off in Congress to pass legislation FOR THE PEOPLE’S BENEFIT, only to have the twits, sadists, greed mongers, and earth-haters sabotage them, but what is unclear to me is the difference between the Democratic Machine—the one that kept Ralph Nader off the ballot in many states and out of the National debates (Kucinich, too), and have silenced and discredited as much as they could those not under their control—and the duly-elected individual Democrats in the Senate and House.  Who is really in control of outcomes? Including who gets to run and who gets elected.  Who controls the money?  Who makes the threats for non-conformance?

In the film about Nader (“An Unreasonable Man”) it was pointed out that Ralph, who was the ONLY person running for President in 2000 who commanded huge audiences (10-20,000) who PAID to see and hear him, could not reach 1/10th of the population that being in the televised debates reached, even if he did personal appearances in every state every day.

I hope you are right that a shift of balance in the Congress and a Democrat in the White House will get us out of the messes this country is in.  But Clinton got us into some of those messes (NAFTA, among others).  What will another Clinton do?  Or any Democrat who needs hundreds of millions of dollars to get elected?

I am a life-long Democratic voter and I will probably hold my nose and do it again (unless Ralph runs), but I am not convinced yet that those who think the ship has to sink in order for things to change are wrong.  When you have a system where when one administration is in power certain laws and regulations can be put in place and another administration comes in and wipes it all out, you’ve got a f**ked up system.  An endless loop of wasted energy and resources.

Ralph Nader’s efforts over decades to protect the American public are being systematically wiped out by the deregulators, privatizers, and globalizers currently in power.  To see the list of what this truly courageous man has done, got to PBS.org and search for the film.

Ah, well, it is indeed quite a conundrum in which we
find ourselves. 

Need a laugh today?  Go here:
http://www.glumbert.com/media/women

Well, if I were you, I just wouldn’t vote.  Let us Democrats do the work for you.  While it appears there are none and there are those who would love to blur the differences because the Republicans haven’t a bunch of gerbils’ asses chance to win the next election, there are differences.  Democrats will not forget the poor or middle class.  They will end the Bush war.  They will get health care for the majority of Americans.  It is a travesty to pretend amnesia when it comes to what the Democrats stand for.  They literally have been hamstrung by the flash-frozen brained Republicans in congress to pass any legislation, but they finally got through the emissions bill.  Yes, you can cry that we always blame the Republicans but who else are you going to blame?????  It is just the truth and the truth hurts the ones that love to lie.  Get a couple more Democrats in congress then the Republicans can eat the dust.  Yes, the Democrats can put up more fights in congress, but our not being insiders we don’t know exactly how things play about there.  What kinds of payment those devils try to screw out of the Democrats.  Democrats know that to be as obstinate as the blockhead Republicans and their blockhead president, the country would truly suffer in the short term. And we just can’t stand any more paper cuts.  Impatient reactionary behaviors only get the circle run in deeper. The wise ones bide their time and find the ways to make progress.  Democratic congressmen and senators see the writing on the wall with a malevolent president who vetoes every step forward.  He is truly an evil man.  And you all got him there.  Villainy is afoot with every single bill Democrats propose.  You can try to obscure the differences but you are deluded.

You know picturing an elephant with it’s head stuck up it’s arse, is hard to phantom, but Patrick Henery shows us how easily it can be done.

Earnest, very comprehensive information on the twisting of our government into the shape of a swastika. Freedoms lost to apathy, taken for profit by opportunists. 

Horowitz changed sides after his accident with the microwave, freedom was never an option in his mind. 

Truth is doomed to be covered by crap, we see it every day in the news.

She, the difference between the Democrats and the republicans, is their logos, otherwise business as usual. 

Kucinich and Gravel are the only options and the nation will never see them surface above the cover of lies.

Why not ask Al Gore himself?  Al Gore has a website where such questions can be asked.  It is a legitimate and important question. 
http://www.algoresupportcenter.com/contactal.html

Cyrena…I will look for any PMs that might appear.  Thanks for the explanation.  If I can, I’ll explore it from my end, too.  I have something I’d like to communicate directly to you.

Regarding PH…I said something in my one and only response to him that I sometimes agreed with him.  For the life of me I can’t remember when that might have been…maybe something about the press being censored.  But, in truth, I think PH is really one of those weak-minded energy sucks I referred to in my last email about being cautious.  Unless he says something that just demands an answer or the planet will die, I prefer to ignore him.  He plays people. 

He had no response when I said he could not be (as he claimed) pro-choice and pro-States Rights.  When confronted with his contradictions or with any semblance of truth, he just ignores it and goes on the attack.  That is the definition (in part) of an energy suck.  Fuggeddaboutim.

Ernest, it was just so sad, though I wasn’t surprised, to read what you said about the more extreme turn to the right the universities are making in terms of academic freedom.  Thankfully,
I’ve been out of that milieu for a long time so I haven’t been paying a lot of attention.  Is there no more SDS to counter the SAF?

Has anyone seen the documentary “An Unreasonable Man,” about Ralph Nader?  I saw it tonight on PBS.
Impressive.  What integrity. My respect for him increased by 200%.
My disrespect for the Democrat/Republican Machine
also increased by a similar amount.  I’m not sure I could vote for any Democrat now. And I know I could never vote for a Repugnican.  Ralph has said he would consider running again if the Dems run Hillary.
I wonder….

Might the 3rd time be a charm?
Are we yet sick enough of the takeover of our (budding) democracy by the corporatocracy?

Or will we again play into their whole scheme of voting for the lesser of evils and still getting evil?

Too bad Kucinich won’t bolt from the party that gives him nothing but crap.  Nader and Kucinich would make quite a team.  I like Gore’s commitment to the planet, and he appears to have changed, but after watching the Nader film, I’d have to be convinced he isn’t going to be controlled by The Machine if he gets into the White House.  That’s a big question.

#120919 by Jaki
•  Am I correct in my understanding that people who write on these blogs have a way to communicate directly with others by email?  As I have said before, I am new to this, but someone told me there is that option, if both consent.  If so, you are welcome to contact me personally.

Hi Jaki,
Thanks for your post…I’m just getting to it. Now on this part of it…there IS a way to do this. It’s through the Private Message system that TD has, and while I’ve been the recipient of such messages in the past, (and I was generally always please to receive them) I’ve had little luck actually ORIGINATING any of these messages on my end. Now admittedly, I haven’t tried lately, (it’s probably been close to a year since I have). When I did though, I was never able to make it work. Now it could be because of some fluke at the time, (long story -  involved a ‘hacking’ we think – never did really find out). BUT, I said that to say that I’m perfectly willing to try it again. So, when I do, I’ll let you know.

If it works, they’re supposed to send you some ‘notification’ that you’ve received a PM or ‘private message’, and then you have to go to your panel or account page to retrieve it. If I can make it work, I’ll just send you my email address, and that’ll do it.

#120877 by PatrickHenry

Ah…feeling the pressure there a bit PH? Yep, you’re definitely just digging yourself deeper and deeper. You shouldn’t let it get to you so easily…

Let’s have a look at your obvious emotional breakdown…

•  OK, You contribute money to the NAACP which Jesse gives to his mistress or did she sue him for it? I can’t remember and don’t care.

I don’t know either, (about the financial transactions between Jesse and his alleged mistress.) YOU BROUGHT IT UP!! As I said, IN RESPONSE to YOU –(bringing it up) I didn’t know or care either, since she definitely didn’t give any of it to me. As for any contributions to the NAACP, I probably should have said that I HAVE contributed – in the past- when I had an INCOME. That’s been a really long time now. So, I don’t any longer.

•  You said: “I’m sorry the salaries of those black folks disturbs you so much”.
Where did that come from?  I could care less. 
Here’s more. THIS ‘came from’ your reference, (in AT LEAST 2 posts, but maybe more) to the 6 and 7 figure incomes (that you think these ‘lobbyists’ earn) and how you’re all pissed off about the fact that they use city services without paying taxes. Yep PH, you’ve gone on and on about these 6 and 7 figure incomes, and then you brought up the deal with Jesse Jackson’s mistress and a million dollars, which nobody else knows is even true, since all of this stuff has come from YOU!! And, the more you write, the more the rest of us see that you’ve lost it. So, THAT’S where it comes from, (YOU) which tends to contradict the fact that you don’t care, or…in your words, ‘could care less’, which is also stupid, because if you know English, or anything even very simply ‘linguistic’, If you say that you COULD care LESS, it obviously means that you DO CARE – at least SOME.

So, when you say that again, you should say it like this: “I COULDN’T (or COULD NOT) care less. (even though it’s obvious that you do, or you wouldn’t have written the same shit over and over.)

You did the same thing on the thread that addressed Turkey’s bombing of the Kurds in Northern Iraq. Your response was, “Turkey can have all of Iraq as far as I’m concerned”.
Then, when I responded that Iraq wasn’t OURS to ‘give’ to Turkey, you came back with some stupid shit about how Iraq actually WAS yours, and how you had a lien on it and all, because your kids’ trust accounts were set up based on that money. (yes, I do paraphrase on that part, but it was that ridiculous, so I’m relaxing the rules).

So, it would appear that you can’t make up your distorted and troubled mind PH. First you say you don’t care, and then you proceed to provide multiple details about stuff that most folks really DON’T CARE about!! Which is it? Nevermind, spare us.

And no asshole, I wasn’t there with Hillary, she’s lots older than me, so I wouldn’t have been running in that crowd. I was just entering my Catholic High School back then.

In summary. You’re just a bitter sleazebag PH. And, since I’m a humanist, I feel sorry for you. But I can’t help you. Get a therapist.

#121053 by Ernest Canning

On David Horowitz…

•  He contends that such offending remarks are a violation of the student’s right to academic freedom—a rather Orwellian twist that suggests that the radical right has the “freedom” to suppress all forms of thought, speech and expression that the far right feels should not be heard whereas the basic concept behind Academic Freedom involves the free flow of information sans outside political interference and censorship so as to maximize the diversity of thought and study.

Yep Ernest, Emphasis on the Orwellian TWIST!! You broke it down really well. In short, these are ideological psychopaths, and Shenonymouns explains it all so much better than I could, in this post at #121070

She writes, in part:

•  Many campuses are very savvy to his depravity and factor that into academic freedom.  I was once the target and know that campuses come to the defense of their faculty.  Now maybe not all do, but there are those that do. To my mind, Horowitz and all of his cronies are perverse reprobates and ought to be squashed like the filthy bugs they are and that is probably casting aspersions to filty bugs.

So, for the record, I’m overwhelmingly ‘blessed’ (for lack of a better word) to be at one of those savvy campuses that can and will and DO come to the defense of their faculty. (if the faculty WANT to be defended). I add that part because one of our local chairs has been attacked by the Horowitz gang, and she told the administration NOT to ‘defend’ her. (Guess she’s gonna do it herself, and I’m always glad to help wherever I can – with whatever ‘works’ - sometimes it’s pretty unconventional).

Also lucky for me/us/whomever….we’ve got one of those super emeriti like Shenonymous on staff here, and it just deee-lights me!!! Oh yeah!! I love it. (He’s the one on the list of the Dangerous – one of my very favorite professors.) Like…. I just feel so ‘privileged’ to have access to his brilliant mind.  (actually, we have several, but he’s the one with the emeriti status).

So, after so many years of mistreatment on the Corporate Plantation, you can imagine how tickled I am, to be in the current environment. Downright ‘smug’ sometimes. What can I say? There are far worse things I could ‘revel’ in.

Meantime, I’m all for squashing those filthy bugs of the Horowitz gang, and we’ll take any help we can get. So Shenonymous, and Jaki, and Ernest, and whomever else wants to join in…just come on down. (Shenon….bring your shit-kickers, you know you can pick up a pair at your local hardware/feed/general store ).

All the better for squashing the bugs.

re:  #121054 by LWM

Actually several of my relatives died fighting the nazis on their feet. 

How did yours die, on their knees?

It is often the case, Ernest, when a fanatic changes it is usually into another diametrically opposed fanatic, such it is with Horowitz.  It is a sort of built in modus operandi that they just can’t psychologically shake.  And he preaches to a choir of screeching Rightwing Degenerates, I call them the RDs and his “The Professors…” diatribe is yeah at least seven years old.  We professors, or former professors, emeriti who often return for part-time work, slough him off like snot.  Many campuses are very savvy to his depravity and factor that into academic freedom.  I was once the target and know that campuses come to the defense of their faculty.  Now maybe not all do, but there are those that do. To my mind, Horowitz and all of his cronies are perverse reprobates and ought to be squashed like the filthy bugs they are and that is probably casting aspersions to filty bugs.

PatrickHenry on 12/17 at 7:31 pm

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2798.htm

Then the clueless fascist links to TBRNEWS again.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Barnes_Review

What a moron.  No wonder you lost WWII.

Cyrena, Jaki and Shenonymous:  Comparison to Richard Evans’ “The Coming of the Third Reich” provides a disturbing historical precendent where the National Socialist German League, in addition to calling for a reduction of overcrowing in lectures through the removal of Jewish students, sought the “dismissal of pacifist professors, the creation of new chairs in subjects like Racial Studies and Military Science, and the harnessing of universities to the national interest, away from the pursuit of knowledge as an end in itself.”  (Compare this to Noam Chomsky’s reference in “Failed States” to an October 2003 bill which the U.S. House of Representatives “unanimously passed…that could require university international studies departments to show more support for American foreign policy or risk their federal funding.”

David Horowitz, author of “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America” is a former Marxist-Lenenist turned right-wing intellectual who, in his earlier polemic, “The Art of Political War” (a Karl Rove endorsed copy was given to every Republican member of Congress for the 2000 election) ascribed to the Leninist doctrine that in “political conflicts, the goal is not to refute your opponent’s argument, but to wipe him from the face of the earth,” now heads an organization labeled “Students for Academic Freedom” (SAF).  At the SAF Web site, Horwitz, who in no sense could be described as a “student,” takes the position that a professor has no right to criticize the war in Iraq or President Bush unless the subject of the class is war or contemporary American presidents.  He contends that such offending remarks are a violation of the student’s right to academic freedom—a rather Orwellian twist that suggests that the radical right has the “freedom” to suppress all forms of thought, speech and expression that the far right feels should not be heard whereas the basic concept behind Academic Freedom involves the free flow of information sans outside political interference and censorship so as to maximize the diversity of thought and study.

SAF encourages students to report the perceived transgressions of any professors who dare to speak out.  In an apparent effort to join the Horowitz thought police, a right wing alumni group at UCLA offered students $100 per class to supply notes and tapes of professures who used lecture time to press positions against Bush, the military or multi-national corporations.  According to a Feb. 2006 Nation article, “UCLA’s Dirty Thirty,” “Horowitz and his allies seek to impose external political control over central educational functions like curriculums, hiring and firing, and teaching methods.”  And as revealed by Media Matters, Horowitz’s critique has by no means been limited to what is said “inside” the classroom.

Cyrena…P.S.  Shuddering seems to be on the menu these days, not just about Ron Paul.  Just thinking of ANY of the Repugnicans.  I mean, Huckabee?  Guiliani?  Romney?  McCain?

I heard Romney say today that “Freedom requires religion and religion requires freedom.”  Requires?????  (shudder shudder puke)

I sure hope there is a turn-around in the next election, but I am convinced that the ballot is going to be the key, having heard so much these days about how the plan is already in the works to once again sabotage the voting process.

We probably need UN supervision.  In fact, we should insist on outside help.  (If we get that far.)

#120908 by cyrena on 12/17 at 10:09 pm

Cyrena…The 60s were the best years of my life…the most politicizing, the most exciting, some of the most creative and important in the formation of my lifetime interests, and some of the most dangerous.  It was my destiny to be of the age I was then and to be in the place I was.  It was also created by a series of weird “happenstances” and “coincidences” I won’t go into here.  But it is quite a story.

My last response was only meant to be cautionary to those who do resistance work (not for sympathy).  Agents, provocateurs, and weak-minded humans who can’t stand women, or anyone of color, who take strong stands they don’t like, are everywhere.  You have to be very grounded in what you do to not be taken off in the wrong direction by the devious who attack, spy, provoke, and rat (not to mention suck energy, such as some on these blogs do).  But of course you already know this.

In reference to your comment about being paranoid, an old friend of mine (a comedic muckraker), who often was VERY, and even flipped out around it at times, was fond of saying, “Even paranoids have REAL ENEMIES.” 

But if we are committed to revolutionary change in this world, we do what we have to do.  As another inspiration of mine, Joseph Campbell, related in conversation with Michael Toms in the book, “An Open Life,” (and this is my paraphrase):  we have to respect the life we’ve got to lead and make it our business to not get crucified in the process.

A little caution goes a long way.  Too much paralyzes or takes you over the edge.

I think it was Shenonymous who referred to you as a “young person,” though I did call you “dear” in my response.  It was intended as an endearing remark.  I was aware that you had said you were in industry for over 20 years, so I knew you were not the typical college age.  Kudos to you for returning to school to pursue something you love.  You will be great at it.  You have such fire and guts.  And a great head on your shoulders combined with a lot of feet to the fire experiences.  All of which will serve you in the inspiration of your students.

Am I correct in my understanding that people who write on these blogs have a way to communicate directly with others by email?  As I have said before, I am new to this, but someone told me there is that option, if both consent.  If so, you are welcome to contact me personally.

Hi Jaki, (and all)

I hate to hear what happened to you in your tenure within academia in California, back in those days. Seriously, I do. I remember it well myself, though I was young at the time. I was in fact making my rounds through the UC system in the early 70’s, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and UCLA. And, even then, things were bad. I had a similar harrowing experience at a summer program at Santa Cruz, while I was still technically in high school. It was really my first time at being targeted for my race as well as my gender. It was an unsophisticated attempt to do me harm, which is really the only reason it failed. Otherwise, I might now just be one of the many statistics of the times back then.

But, I said all of that to say that my 27+ years in corporate America weren’t a whole lot different. I mean, I mentioned the rat race, but that alone wouldn’t have caused me to ‘eject’ or (more truthfully) BE ‘ejected’, (and accept it) if not for all of the other similar hazards and attacks that you’ve experienced yourself. Far too numerous to mention, and some just better put aside, (at least for now) if only because some of that stuff is recent enough to have me still paranoid about posting much of it on a public forum. And, I can’t even apologize for my paranoia, because it has a real credible foundation. Just better to be safe then renditioned and/or tortured. (at least to the extent that one CAN be safe in these times, without spending their life ‘underground’).

That said, in my return to academia 4 years ago, I recognized the same political and personal lynching that occurs within the corporate structure, and in some cases, it’s hardly different than what I encountered in the long years of my career in the commercial aviation industry. (I even had some incidents similar to yours down in San Diego). What we’ve seen happen to Norman Finkelstein and Ward Churchill are not isolated incidents, though they are certainly more noticeable to us, because of their outstanding contributions. (they too, are on the neoconners list of the 100 most dangerous professors). So, it’s awful everywhere we look. I don’t think there’s any place that is exempt from it now, unless we’re talking about just pitching a tent and living on the beach, with just the fish and the birds for company. I’m already real close to that now, and whose to say it won’t happen anyway?

So, this time around, the tenure stuff isn’t critically important. Actually, it’s not important at all. Mostly it’s just a matter of me finally working at something that I actually ENJOY, (though I also enjoyed my work in the aviation industry) without the corporate politics and hassles that come with the fierce competition. IOW, I don’t need to get rich. I just need to be able to take care of myself in modest fashion. (Good thing, eh? Even that could seem like grandiose expectations in these times we live in today.) Besides, nobody ever got wealthy from teaching or doing research, and I don’t believe that anyone going into it should expect that. So, while I love it when you all call me the “young Cyrena” (Ernest and Shenonymous delight me with that) I’m actually not. At my age, most of the rising stars around here (whether faculty or students) are younger than I, and so I enjoy just providing some backup and support for them. It’s allowed me to sort of re-group, and recover from the terror-filled experiences of my time in the corporate jungle.

So, all things considered, we just take it one day at a time, and I try to keep my eye on a few of the better spots on the beach, should it come to that. If I hit the lottery, (which could be difficult since I don’t generally play it) a nice little boat would come in handy as a residence and a get-away vehicle in case something the likes of Ron Paul were ever to become a reality.

I shudder at the thought.