Blaise_O, I’m sorry but your comments just take me back to my initial reaction to Amy’s report, which is that there is no general focus on poverty because the American Ruling Class does not want poverty in the focal point.  The Motion Picture Academy is as beholden to the American Ruling Class as is just about anyone who holds political office.  Now the Indian government has joined the ranks of those beholden to the American Ruling Class with their gratuitous granting of housing to those “two diminutive thespians,” as if being a day (or far more) late and a dollar (or far more) short will make up for cultural attitudes towards poverty that are far older than the Indian government.  SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is neither more nor less than a myth that cultivates sympathy for the poor without disrupting the STATUS QUO through which ruling classes keep them poor.  It is just a ploy that keeps serious debate about poverty beyond the accepted boundaries of public discourse.

I’m sure we’ll keep both eyes open.  It’s just another crook getting a kick out of nothing.

If you wil se—the dates on these posts “by me” are off—they werw posted to other aticles. IO stand by every one o fthem.

I see what somenoe is diopng—quoting my posts from other rooms—cute. Have at it! Just dpont misquote me or take it out of context—I’ll stand by it all!What a FISA-like littel squirrel ass you are! Get a life/

The post with my name on it, about Kap Pal is NOT MY POST?! I happen to asgree—but its not mine…should I run a virus scan or is this an error?

This may not resonate very well with our video-obsessed culture, but Goodman’s theme reminded me of the ending of a novel about poverty which this nation found very, very compelling some 70 years back. Anyway, there’s more here, with an open thread on what that darkly beautiful moment at the end of The Grapes of Wrath might be telling us…

The great achievement of crookism is its ability to keep the vast majority of Americans in poverty or in fear of poverty, while stealing 90% of our wealth.  Thus it looks like a self-fulfilling prophecy and the suckers and slaves will blame nature or themselves for their plight.

KalPal in absolutely correct. But the parties arent about to give up that sweat shop adn Wal-Mart money!

I wrote a letter ot the editor of a local Daily, in January, as I thought I was having flash-forwards of horros to come. I was. The gOP had failed on the “christian crap” (sorry, Christian—dont be hatin’ now! Jesus will get mad!), did nothing to curb spending and had failed as a “protector”. I was wondering what they would come up with. Immigration had been a bit of a flop. Gas prices are HORRIBLE, but they dont have answers.Let’s see—I know! The old trick—divide up poor whites and blacks! Then, I said, welcome to Third World Status! I’m surprised Obama did nto see it coming—he seems to have played right into their hands!The poor are not to blame for this—they are just an easy target fo ryou, just like blacks are to poor whites.If you would go after “the big boys” (let Kucinich cal for impeachmetn at the Convention, stop letting ATT lobbyists buy our civil rights, stop letting HMO lobbyists stop universal health care)—you could win over these people in a heartbeat—but you HAVE to quit calling them white trash. It really just makes you some other kind of trash

I agree with Stephen Smoliar, America has become alarmingly elitist - and in becoming so, sanctioned the “suppression” of the masses via several covert methods, for example:

The Media - Over-reporting on issues like Gangs, that does nothing but fan the flames of Fear and Racism - and encourages taxes spent on law enforcement and the building of prisons (and not on social services).

America is really divided into crooks (the rich), suckers and lazy cowards (the middle class), and slaves (workers).  So obviously every dollar that can be taken away from the suckers and slaves helps to keep them so busy that they can’t find the time or inclination to understand any of the endless rackets that the rich use to steal.  Stolen wealth pays for the expenses involved in setting up rackets and it guarantees that suckers and slaves can hardly learn anything about their enemy.  Perhaps the enforced leisure of unemployment may change the picture, although TV can be counted on to do its crooked work.  The Republicans have done more harm to this country than all foreign enemies combined.

The answer is yes, the Dems will ONCE AGAIN ignore the poor, ignore poverty, and then complain lik ehell when most poor peole do not spend the gas money to run out and vote for them and wil talk about how stupid they aRE.

Correction: 12.5% of the population equals one out of eight, not one out of seven.  Of course there are millions living just above the so called poverty line, probably double that amount.  So we are living in a country where a quarter of the population is severly challanged economically.

37 million people is 12.5% of the population of the US.  That’s about one out of every seven people in this country living in poverty.  But the numbers are deceiving because the poverty level is determined only by the cost of food.  If the cost of housing, heating fuel, etc. is factored in the number of people living in poverty is much higher.

anyone having any $ in CDS, whatever, I would RUSH to change to banking in England; NOT Canada who’s leader was bribed, nor Mexico who’s was the same; interesting how when India rejected the World Trade Agreement the USA & Corps wanted so badly they “suddenly” started having bombings there huh. Shatter whatever mindset you might have had about our country being the white hats; as misleading as there were WMD in Iraq; During Clinton’s administration they had already planned to remove Saddam Hussain: who, by the way, the Iraqi’s wish were alive again cuz while he was bad, the dictatorship Gov set up with same Corps there are thousands of times worse than under Hussain; Bush saying we prefer to be known as dysfunctional not dictatorship, changed it from democracy which has become the most despicable name on the planet with it’s connections with graft, corruption, & enslavement, to the Corps & wealthy to “peace”; he than said the reason there are wars are for freedom in France; he was right; the FALSE picture is of insurgents in Iraq (see http://www.democracynow.org) on Stop Loss policy requiring military to keep going repeatedly back for numerous years; course, here in the States our Gov with Corps started the lie & trend that all military personnel are mental cases & don’t want to hire them; just like “no one else will do the work” to bring illegals in; might want to check out the book stating the American worker wanting decent wage, benefits; retirement; is the whole reason for the economic state (which is also false by the way) of the USA; millions disappeared in such a time as this; US citizens; ss #‘s oops sorry ID #s planned for the rest of us; already in place folks: irregardless of who is elected, who is in Congress, who is Pres or V Pres;

you can find out about the Katrina people at truthout.org; extremely sad; however: our nation is NOT a democracy; you have been TOLD that but were you not also told that there were WMD in Iraq? and that we were fighting the Al Quieda repeatedly when in reality exhaustive study showed NO link between them & Saddam Hussain or Iraq at all? Were you not shown pictures of Laura Bush in Afghanistan what a month ago? Where the women were safe & rejoicing due to us “rescuing them? BUT suddenly the Taliban are strong, killing hundreds of our men/women; gosh, could it be TRUE as other countries keep telling us repeatedly that we are being painted FALSE PICTURES and given FALSE MISLEADING information; democracy we are not; deceit, deception, lies, distraction, manipulation, we have in unheard of since Hitler’s days; ahhh, THAT is what is going on which is illegal in our country but Mexico calls us Nacion de Immagracion; so, apparently we are NOT the USA anymore; the wealthy who bought & paid for politicians years ago are bound & determined to have their way. The “rich” Clinton refers to TAKING from is regular US citizens; From Fed, to St, to County, to city: THIS is what has been going down while they distracted you by having you watch the National convention.

Yes!  Where are the Katrina people?  Edwards may not be there but his focus is still valid and necessary.  People are in the progress of becoming poorer every day.  We are manipulated by the corporatocracy that wants control of our government.  Look at yesterdays news about Citigroup, who stole money from its poorest members, sweeping positive balances into its general fund. 

Think that doesn’t pertain to you?  If you examine every single credit card bill meticulously then perhaps you’ve escaped being overcharged and erroneously charged.  On almost every At&T;bill, I find errors, including mysterious one-time charges that they try to attribute to the government!

We need to start screaming, people.

It is about time that we speak up at recognize that this is all about the dead moose on the table.  That dead moose is Lewis Lapham has come to call the “American Ruling Class.”  Never mind the White House, anyone who makes it as far as the Senate has most likely been “tapped on the shoulder” by the American Ruling Class, if not with outright membership then at least with permission to speak at the table.  (Where is the table?  Lapham actually made a film that nicely illustrates the transition from figurative to literal language where such matters are concerned.)  Thus, all three of the “players” in the Presidential election are beholden to the American Ruling Class in one way or another (and this will almost certainly be true of the fourth “player”).

This raises the obvious question:  Is anyone out there talking sense who is NOT beholden to the American Ruling Class.  Here are a couple of examples about whom I have written:

Walter Mosely
http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2007/08/inexorable-rhetoric-of-literature.html

Tavis Smiley
http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2007/10/segregation-redux.html

For those who want an example who is a “white guy,” we have the REAL dead moose on the table, the would be candidate whose very name strikes terror into the political establishment, Ralph Nader:

http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2008/02/being-unreasonable-again.html

You want to know why poverty is not the focus, Amy?  It is because the American Ruling Class does not want it to BE the focus!  Doing something about poverty might undermine the authority behind their rule!  THAT is the REAL scandal;  and it involves far more than Edwards being out of the picture (and may invite conspiracy theorists to speculate on HOW he was so conveniently removed from the picture)!