Xntrk—I don’t think the present Cuban arrangement is what Marx and his immediate ideological descendants envisioned.  However, I would have to go there to investigate the situation to speak with any certainty and that’s a bit involved.

Capitalistic economy and society have not melted down yet by any means.  The particular problems of the United States derive, I think, from its imperialism, which I don’t think is necessary to capitalism, pace Lenin, although I do think capitalism is likely to create a ruling class which will be tempted to it.  There are many states now practicing various forms of capitalism which are not trying to rule the world or run empires, and they seem to be getting along.  This does not mean I am a big capitalism fan, but I am trying to see the world clearly and I don’t see any global collapse, even on the horizon.  The U.S. will collapse if it keeps on its present path, but the U.S. is not world capitalism.

Oh, come on, TaoWalker—as if I had kids to perpetuate myself!  That’s a bit much.

At this point I am giving in, up, over, out of this conversation because I am coming to feel that I am arguing with some kind of God who has THE answer, or all THE answers and all of us millions of “civilized” people are not worth saving so why worry.  Sorry.  It’s what your words are starting to project, and I’m not commenting here to win or lose.

Gotta go,  I have a call from a relation.

(G)erard’s adamant reassertion to-the-contrary notwithstanding, Human Beings (as a simple matter of obvious biological fact) do not actually occur and are not viable in Nature as “individuals.”  On the other hand, those can always be found within the ‘hot-house’ CONfines of any “civilization.”  Her effective admission, though, that she knows of no real impediment to even several billion of these half-living ‘artifacts’ coalescing back into the organic form of Humanity she might call “community,” despite her not being able to imagine it happening, is welcome.

The ‘how’ of that is really no more describable in specific terms than would be that of any other widespread natural phenomenon occurring-in and so adapted-to the great variety of physical and other circumstances found among Peoples around the world.  How did we achieve such widespread ‘distribution’ in the first place?  That a large majority of Humans abide still much closer to the ‘ground’ than do their Sisters and Brothers (like gerard?)in the OVER-developed “nations,” probably bodes well for the former’s chances of surviving the system-collapse gerard fears so much.

Would it ease her mind at all to realize how much better all our ‘chances’ are in the Living Form that goes with our Natural Organic Function here?  The Whole Living Arrangement is then able to respond supportivley to our presence.  There is no longer any need to go on ripping and tearing from our Mother Earth and all our Relations the nourishment and other things we need, like the “individual”-ized members of the subspecies homo domesticus are CONdemned to doing at-present….with all the self-(and ‘other’-)destructive impacts that behavior inflicts on them and on us ALL.

Concerning gerard’s umbrage at this Old Man’s earlier observations about some possible chinks in the armor of her altruism, if there are none….well, good on her.  She brought her GreatGrandChildren into the conversation, though, and it’s only sensible to assume a certain amount of ‘self’-absorption among those who’re so heavily invested in their own “individual”-ity.

Probably gerard does not accept that Humanity as such has a given organic function within the Living Arrangement of our Mother Earth, so the possibility that the actual basic organic form of Humanity here is something other than the ersatz “individual” is outside the limits of her present understanding.  All this Old Indian is doing here is suggesting to our tame Sisters and Brothers that the condition their CONdition is in, and about which so many of them are complaining more-and-more bitterly these days, is in large measure a function of their own engineered ignorance….to be perhaps uncomfortably blunt about it.

Look around at the actual Living Earth, Friends.  Try to put aside all the CONventional wisdom you think you possess, and see if there is, in your Personal experience, really any such thing here as an embodied ‘entity’ that just ‘expressed’ itself out of nothing, full-grown and totally autonomous.  Look in any mirror, and try to CONvince your own ‘self’ that you are that kind of creature.

Finally, isn’t it foolish to expect there even to be any remedy for the common predicament the domesticated peoples are in that won’t require some measure of more-or-less painful sacrifice?  Isn’t their ‘fair share’ of that sacrifice, “individual”-ly, likely to be pretty-much in-proportion to the things they have ‘enjoyed’ only as the ‘fruit’ of their participation in the failing CONtraption?  Mustn’t anyone with gerard’s obvious Personal qualities be completely, even acutely aware of this necessary feature of the Living Universe we ALL together Sing and Dance with?

Will she be able to take “YES” for an answer?

HokaHey!

TaoWalker:  Minus the accusations, I guess you are presuming both more and less from what I am trying to say.  1.  Because you do not spell out details, I still can’t discern exactly what you are promoting. If it is the Green movement (grow your own food, etc.) I know people who are able to do that, but I know far more people who can’t see how they could do it because of lack of funding, ability, self-confidence, physical limitations.  As I’ve said, I’m all for those who do, but until I hear more exact details or am referred to a place where I can find them, I have to say I can’t see it for millions of people who are presently enslaved (I don’t deny that) to the present system. 
2.  One reason they remain enslaved is they have no idea of the how-to “get altogether OFF the
greased-skids-to oblivion ... and back ALL together into the Organic Form of ... Community.” I am sure “any number” could—and many would .. if they understood the details of how.
3.As to preserving individuals, that is the only way people get preserved—one heart and mind at a time. Of course everybody has a primal desire to “save” all our relations (to quote a phrase) but that doesn’t mean ONLY THOSE OF OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY, and you do me an injustice to portray what I say in that limited way.
4. Let’s not go any farther with the personal attacks. Misunderstanding is easy due to the brevity of these comments and the dangers of misinterpretation.  We are all trying to find answers to enormous urgent questions.Belittling each other is a waste of time and energy, in my opinion.

And Anarchissie:  “Doing it from the ground up is what I am talking about.  A problem the left has—it doesn’t quite know how to talk to those at ground level—nor has it found a way to talk to elites,’

In addition, I have this crazy feeling that even at the top there is considerable fear and trembling behind the scenes as some of the brightest of the grabbers begin to see that their world is caving in and it is their fault and they have no idea what to do.  I think we saw some of that in the frantic and ignominious bailout.  Maybe I’m dead wrong—but it’s my gut feeling.

mr. walker…does acknowledging one’s own individuality preclude one from acknowledging a greater common good?  is viewing one’s own individuality as a give and take process with other phenomena ‘artificial’ and ‘decadent’?  is it wrong for a society to cultivate some degree of individual autonomy in each of its members so that such a member will have the strength to stand against that society when it goes wrong?

the point i’m trying to make is that you’re ascribing a concept of individuality to TD’ers who are miles away from an anyrandian/atomistic conception of individuality.

For those who are having difficulty understanding the relevance of Marxism in today’s world, despite the meltdown of the Capitalistic economy and society I would recommend today’s edition of Gramma. It contains Fidel’s latest Reflection - a discussion of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Caribbean. There are also reports from Haiti, and a very interesting article about Leonard Peltier.

As for no Marxist Country ever demonstrating the success of that economic system, I find it odd that you ignore Cuba. It continues to exist, come Hell or High Water and continual attacks from our Empire; and exports Doctors not soldiers. What is so bad about that? is it that the wealthy cannot buy the beachfront for their exclusive use, while the peasants work as their servants?

I almost forgot the link: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html

For those who are having difficulty understanding the relevance of Marxism in today’s world, despite the meltdown of the Capitalistic economy and society I would recommend today’s edition of Gramma. It contains Fidel’s latest Reflection - a discussion of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Caribbean. There are also reports from Haiti, and a very interesting article about Leonard Peltier.

As for no Marxist Country ever demonstrating the success of that economic system, I find it odd that you ignore Cuba. It continues to exist, come Hell or High Water and continual attacks from our Empire; and exports Doctors not soldiers. What is so bad about that? is it that the wealthy cannot buy the beachfront for their exclusive use, while the peasants work as their servants?

Apologies to gerard for mistaking her gender.  Her repeated assertion, however, to the effect that only a relative handful of Human Beings can enjoy together the mutual benefits of The Tiyoshpaye Way, simply does not ‘compute.’  If, though, she in-fact knows of some kind of ‘upper-limit’ on how many Human Beings can respectfully devote their precious attention to taking-care of both the organic functional responsibilities given to Humanity within The Living Arrangement here AND each other, perhaps gerard will be good enough to tell us precisely what that limit is and exactly how it came to be established….and, if pertinent, by whom.

It still seems to this Old Savage that the fundamental flaw in gerard’s own ‘ointment’ is its obsessive CONcern with the salvation of “individuals”....including apparently (and quite understandably) her octet of GreatGrands.  She feels irrevocably stuck herownself, maybe, in that awful CONdition, and so remains reluctant to acknowledge it for the artificially-induced (and degenerate) state that it is.  To put it yet another way, it is the dead-weight of their CONtrived “individual”-ity itself that is taking the domesticated peoples down with the foundering ‘ship’ of “civilization,” along with its death-dealing dog-eat-dog eCONomic ‘operating system’.  So trying to limit those eight precious Youngsters (and everybody ‘else’) to having to submit (will-they, nil-they) to the imposed burden of a false ID-entity, just so the apparatus that is ‘processing’ them into fodder for ‘the gods’ anyhow can keep on going a little-while longer, is certainly doing them no favors.

It is likely this apparent utter lack of any shared sense-of or functional knowledge-about the greater Living context in which this is all taking-place, which renders obviously good and decent Persons like gerard and Virginia777 completely unable to get any kind of ‘traction’ for the “movement” they seek.  Does anybody here really think our tormentors’ tame two-legged tools are just ‘whistling Dixie’ when they talk about all those “slippery slopes” that “....your huddled masses” have to beware-of?  In-fact, a careful reading of their submissions here might lead one to conclude gerard and Virginia 777 are (perhaps semi-consciously) advocating-for interests more ‘self’-centered than not….a desire on their part to hang-onto their own comforts and CONveniences while they last, even if the system producing those is actively destroying the things their descendants will need to live at all.

The “escape” this Old Indian recommends, on-the-other-hand, is not into some ‘new-and-improved’ neverneverland, but rather getting altogether OFF the greased-skids-to-oblivion our tame Sisters and Brothers are sliding down as hapless “individuals,” and back ALL together into the Organic Form of Humanity english-speakers among them call (for lack of any better words) “Community.”  That IS a Way any number can go.

Besides, The Way of Life Herownself, as any free wild Human Being can tell you (and it’s no mere ‘metaphor’ but just plain fact) really is nothing but a never-ending Song ‘n’ Dance.

HokaHey!

Xntrk—Cockburn is fun, but the kind of problem with the Left he is noticing omits several important points.  In the case of Greensboro and the Civil Rights movement in general, we must remember that the activists were not asking for a fundamental change in the American way of life or its religion of liberalism and capitalism; they were trying to get themselves or their beneficiaries, the Black people of the South, in on the game as equal partners.  I don’t want to disparage the courage, fortitude and intelligence of the Civil Rights movement in any way, but within the American scene theirs was a goal with which many non-radicals could sympathize, and was therefore reachable in a way that more radical propositions like anti-war, anti-imperialism, socialism, communism, anarchism and so forth are not.  Accepting a few Black people or women into their ranks obviously does not disturb the ruling class as does a suggestion that the existing structures of domination, ownership and control be altered, much less abolished.

Cockburn deplores the decay of organized Marxism.  While I admire the dedication and passion of some Marxist-Leninist types, I think they are ignoring the lessons of history and are especially irrelevant to the American scene.  I regard a loss of interest in their politics as simply a common-sense reaction to the failure of Marxists to produce anywhere, any time, the sort of conditions they said they were struggling for.

There is Left activism going on, but unless leftists dress in black and tie masks on their faces, and break store windows, nobody notices.  Maybe that’s for the best.  In any case, if we’re going to get beyond lib-cap and its imperial wars and social and economic disorders, we have to figure out how to do it from the ground up.  I find the business in Venezuela somewhat opaque in this regard, which may be due partly to the differences between my Yankee sensibilities and those of the Latin Americans.

Xntrk:  I read the Counterpunch article when it came out.  Cockburn has no use for the current Left, particularly the peace movement. He, likek many others is always careful to state what he doesn’t like.  So long for now.

Anarcissie, I hate to copy reams of material on to the comment boards. But this review of a book about the Venezuelan revolution addresses the problem you raised in your last post. No, the Government is not the answer to participatory politics in Venezuela, anymore than it is here. But, with the new Constitution, it is possible for the Venezuelans to construct their own neighborhood councils, and take over production plants etc. even without the full support of the bureaucracy, see:
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5105

“However, readers on the left seeking a rosy account of the “Bolivarian revolution” are likely to be disappointed.  Most of the book consists of interviews with an impressive variety of individuals who refuse to hold back their criticisms.  Their stories bring to life the true struggle for revolutionary change, one that faces two main challenges defined in the first chapter by housing activist Iraida Morocoima:

It is important for people to understand that we are fighting on two fronts: the struggle against the opposition so that they don’t alter our goals, and the struggle against the government bureaucrats that support large financial capital who continue to give these lands to the large construction companies.  That’s why we say this is a process of revolution within the revolution.

The Bolibourgeoisie (a name given to bureaucrats within Chavez’s administration), she argues, serve as a fence between the people and Chavez that often stops the effective implementation of the constitution.

However, as the short-lived 2002 coup d’etat proves, Chavez’s return to office was largely a result of mass mobilization from the grassroots movements.  His mere existence, therefore, depends on the strong support of some of the most radical groups in the country.

The grassroots movements also implement the constitution when the government is unable or unwilling.  As women’s rights activist Yanahir Reyes argues in the book, women’s struggles go beyond the language of gender inclusion used in the constitution.  She goes on to assert that only through grassroots and participatory education will a more gender inclusive culture be created.

While Reyes applauds the government for the creation of institutions to support women, she admits: “[T]he bureaucracy swallows good intentions.  I think it is a mistake to keep strengthening the institutions.  The communities are ready to make the changes.  The struggle continues to be the divide between institutions and popular power.”

The stories told in Venezuela Speaks! also bring into question our own ideas of democracy as solely representative and open the door for a debate on a new form of democracy, one dependent on the active participation of its citizens.

As a result this book should also serve as a tool for activists outside Venezuela, including activists in the United States.  It shows how, through debate, self-criticism, and popular education and media, people are able to free themselves from the manipulation of state and corporate power.

Whether the revolution can go beyond Hugo Chavez and the support of his government is still unclear.  However, what is apparent is the slogan presented in the introduction: “The people have awoken.  With or without Chavez, Venezuela is no longer the same.”

I have read other reports concerning the ‘Missions’, Medical Clinics established in the slums that are not controlled by the Big G Government, but the residents themselves. There are also ‘Neighborhood Councils’, consisting of a couple of square blocks, to larger communities who make the decission as to what work they want done with Government money. They vote on it, draw up the plans, go to the Governing Body, get the money, hire their own resident workers, and organize their own improvement projects.

Now, that is participatory democracy from the bottom up. You don’t have to be a Chavista to see real possibilities in these new approaches to old problems.

Gerard, Violent Revolution? From the LEFT? I don’t know what you’re smokin’ or even if you indulge, but it must be some good sh** if it leaves you that delusional.

I expect violence, as the economy and job market continue to decay, but it will come from the right, not the left. Those are the troglodytes with the guns and the military experience. We are much more likely to see some combination of the purges during the McCarthy era, coupled with the violence against any Left-Wing Radicals similar to what occurred in the 20s and 30s. Don’t forget, out Military has never hesitated to shoot down demonstrators, whether Veterans seeking promised benefits, or students at Kent State. And, it doesn’t take much talent to stage a riot that results in violence against the poor…

A more detailed rebuttal to your theories can be found in at http://www.counterpunch.org, in Alexander Cockburn’s The Left: Downhill From Greensboro. It is the lead article. As for yanking my chain, it was no one comment, it was the repeated ‘Pie in The Sky’ scenarios of the Left awakening from its coma and organizing viable solutions to real problems. Remember, you are looking for solutions from a bunch of people who cannot organize kittens around a bowl of milk!

Xntrk, February 7 at 11:27 pm:
’... I have a very difficult time understanding why you seek to reinvent the wheel, when the Bolivarian Democracys in Latin America have figured out how to have Participatory Democracy while providing for the needs of the poor and working class. ...’

Are you sure about that?  I looked up a few pages about la democracía participativa and they seemed to consist mostly of general intentions.  Participatory or not, democracy still sticks us with the state; its main advertisement is that although it’s bad, all the other versions are worse.  I think there may be a few problems before we can put those particular wheels to good use up here.

However, in my Venezuelan researches, I did come across http://www.llanera.com/musica/, so they were not entirely unrewarded.

Xntrk…i really don’t get your ‘reading’ of gerard’s posts.  she doesn’t strike me as someone who would be concerned about protecting her own little fiefdom.  i read her as just expressing a very human uncertainty about what to do next. 

your own posts have made me curious bolivarian ‘participatory’ democracy.  i’m not someone who shares your seemingly absolute condemnation of competitive capitalism…altho, i and a lotta other people nowadays are aware that our present banker finance capitalism has got to go.  just chimed in here cuz i thought your post was unfair to gerard.

To end these illegal wars would be quite simple
Bring back the mandatory draft, NO EXEMPTIONS.
That was the real anti-war protest of Viet Nam.
Middle class white America going to get shot at.
Most of the war protesters went on to become
insurance salesman, stock brokers and lawyers never
again to question American foreign policy.

With todays economy, (starting with Reagonomics in1980) there is very little for high school grads
from the inner city or rural america to choose from.
Joining the military are mosts only option.

Make the middle class suburbia fight these wars too,
see how fast the media then covers the anti-war
protests

nTrk:  Well I guess I rattled your cage somehow.  Get this:  I’m not a capitalist; in fact I think it is evil, unfair, and unworthy of human beings.  It creates monsters.

I also have great regard for the Latin American countries that are trying and succeeding to some degree in taking their property back from the North American bandits.

I also highly respect your green living efforts and success. 

Now—what I DON’T want to see is violent overthrow of the present system—even it it were possible, which I don’t think it is without a tremendous lot of bloodshed.  Until something better is suggested, that leaves me with advocating nonviolent organization (as massive and as dedicated as possible) to CHANGE the present system and move the United States in the direction of the future—which will necessarily include a “greener” way of life, more social justice everywhere and above all, an end to war and violence, killing and hatred, regret, resentment and PTSD. 

Thanks for all your correspondence.  I await your reply.  Gerard

Gerard, I recognize you now. You are the ‘Voice of Reason’ at every public meeting. You know who I mean: The person who thinks there must be someway to tweak the system to protect his little fiefdom, and therefore moves to set up a study group’ to find the perfect way to proceed. A year or so later, the ‘Study Group’ disbands from sheer inertia, and the status quo becomes even more quo. Of course most people’s Status’ remains intact…

I have a very difficult time understanding why you seek to reinvent the wheel, when the Bolivarian Democracys in Latin America have figured out how to have Participatory Democracy while providing for the needs of the poor and working class. Could it be that the Latin American model rejects Capitalism? Perhaps that concept is beyond your understanding. What could possibly motivate people if they cannot get rich doing it?

What a waste of time it is to wait for the US Public to take off their blinders, shut off their TVs and get off their lazy butts. Capitalism depends on competition and greed to motivate the little pigeons fattening for plucking. Of course being a true citizen of the Red White and Blue, I too am highly competitive - But, growing the best organic corn you ever tasted is a challenge. So is designing a water system to provide water without exhausting the water table. Then competing with friends to see who can teach the most illiterate adults to read, or collect the most food for the food bank also meets my need to always be Number 1 without enslaving or killing the neighbors; whether they be in Iraq, China, or Southern California.

Hey, very sorry!  Certainly didn’t mean that to go on three times?  Isn’t anybody checking?  Apparently not.  Once was enough already!

Clash:  Interesting paragraph:  “Motivations, what will motivate those you say are scared, debilitated into thinking beyond the environment they were born into? To think for themselves, to retrain their instincts so that when they do attain knowledge they have the wisdom to no how to use it? To run from the religions and politics of death, from the false promise that suffering is saintly, nothing in this life matters and all will be well in the next. When the keys to this motivation turn up you will be at the beginning of the beginning and not the end.”
  Motivation?  Realizing need plus awareness of a creative, inspiring person or people who believe in and have specific plans for working toward a better future.
  Thinking out of their born-in box?  Learning from new experiences with others.
  Running from religion and politics?  I give up on the fanatics.  But many are well into running from present politics. At present they have nowhere to run to. That’s our job.
  As to “keys turning up”—forget it.  Reform, constructive change etc. doesn’t just “turn up.”  It is created by active, thinking, caring people who actually invent ways of being human in inhuman contexts.  That’s also our job. 
  I understand the universality behind “hokahey!” but here’s the difference.  For true believers in the best that humans can be, it’s a good day to learn how to live.
  As to the “success” or “non-success” of the Civil Rights accomplishments, what truly great people they were!  As our friend Johannes often says to TD people, but particularly for Rosa Parks and her many comrades, “Salutations!” We should all be that courageous!

Clash:  Interesting paragraph:  “Motivations, what will motivate those you say are scared, debilitated into thinking beyond the environment they were born into? To think for themselves, to retrain their instincts so that when they do attain knowledge they have the wisdom to no how to use it? To run from the religions and politics of death, from the false promise that suffering is saintly, nothing in this life matters and all will be well in the next. When the keys to this motivation turn up you will be at the beginning of the beginning and not the end.”
  Motivation?  Realizing need plus awareness of a creative, inspiring person or people who believe in and have specific plans for working toward a better future.
  Thinking out of their born-in box?  Learning from new experiences with others.
  Running from religion and politics?  I give up on the fanatics.  But many are well into running from present politics. At present they have nowhere to run to. That’s our job.
  As to “keys turning up”—forget it.  Reform, constructive change etc. doesn’t just “turn up.”  It is created by active, thinking, caring people who actually invent ways of being human in inhuman contexts.  That’s also our job. 
  I understand the universality behind “hokahey!” but here’s the difference.  For true believers in the best that humans can be, it’s a good day to learn how to live.
  As to the “success” or “non-success” of the Civil Rights accomplishments, what truly great people they were!  As our friend Johannes often says to TD people, but particularly for Rosa Parks and her many comrades, “Salutations!” We should all be that courageous!

Clash:  Interesting paragraph:  “Motivations, what will motivate those you say are scared, debilitated into thinking beyond the environment they were born into? To think for themselves, to retrain their instincts so that when they do attain knowledge they have the wisdom to no how to use it? To run from the religions and politics of death, from the false promise that suffering is saintly, nothing in this life matters and all will be well in the next. When the keys to this motivation turn up you will be at the beginning of the beginning and not the end.”
  Motivation?  Realizing need plus awareness of a creative, inspiring person or people who believe in and have specific plans for working toward a better future.
  Thinking out of their born-in box?  Learning from new experiences with others.
  Running from religion and politics?  I give up on the fanatics.  But many are well into running from present politics. At present they have nowhere to run to. That’s our job.
  As to “keys turning up”—forget it.  Reform, constructive change etc. doesn’t just “turn up.”  It is created by active, thinking, caring people who actually invent ways of being human in inhuman contexts.  That’s also our job. 
  I understand the universality behind “hokahey!” but here’s the difference.  For true believers in the best that humans can be, it’s a good day to learn how to live.
  As to the “success” or “non-success” of the Civil Rights accomplishments, what truly great people they were!  As our friend Johannes often says to TD people, but particularly for Rosa Parks and her many comrades, “Salutations!” We should all be that courageous!

The founding foreigners were only self righteous slave owners, who used words to ensnare the poor to fight a war so they could also skip out on their taxes. Before and after this war these genocidal maniacs were intent on murdering and stealing the resources of the indigenous people they found to be in their way.

The structure we find ourselves caught up in is not so much different from the original, only the face they give slavery has changed. They created a middle class to be a buffer between the very poor and themselves with entitlements to insure some one else would do their dirty work. Now that they no longer need so many to fill this in between space they are taking what they have always believed was theirs in the first place.

The right provides the structure mentioned above some will cling to it until very end. As for the left its dogma is hard to swallow at time’s, and the structure it represents remains splintered.

The history gerard writes of fondly can also be understood quite differently, as to the organizers and movements these were not successful in the long term, civil rights only shifted the burden of slavery elsewhere, Anti- Nukes well our new president is determined to build more of the contraptions, Anti-War when did they stop? They just moved them around and in the end hired private contractors when they could no longer fill the ranks of their armies, the environment it has never been worse, whether climate change is man made or not, global destruction of recourses continues as does the poisoning of the Bio-sphere. History didn’t start when we found ourselves turned upside down by economic depression.

Motivations, what will motivate those you say are scared, debilitated into thinking beyond the environment they were born into? To think for themselves, to retrain their instincts so that when they do attain knowledge they have the wisdom to no how to use it? To run from the religions and politics of death, from the false promise that suffering is saintly, nothing in this life matters and all will be well in the next. When the keys to this motivation turn up you will be at the beginning of the beginning and not the end.   

You ask for structure, though it is the very nature of these systems that create the chaos, un-sustainability. The talking monkey has come to far down the road of the dominant culture to put down his sharpened stick and so even if you provide structure for those who cannot or will not think for themselves, the most monkeys with the sharpest sticks will push those that will not stand up and think for themselves out of the way.

Tao-Walker through his words tries to show us that without strong human instincts the systems some abide in degrade the human, to say you are human and to be human are two very different things. Since freedom of speech and freedom of thinking are now controlled by your culture I will leave this one last thought, violence has always moved down the chain of power, those that have the power will use it to maintain their power and protect what they believe is their property and even you are theirs if you allow yourself to be.

On What To Do:  One more thing—quite likely it
is not either/or but both/and.
  This discussion is more interesting than most—because we are all reaching for something better—whether “out” or “up” or both.
  Sorry that “escapers” was a bad choice of words.  I know much that the suggested “out” implies concerning working with Nature instead of against her etc., will necessarily be the most important part of any renaissance.  I know that it is the human insults and offenses against Nature than are doing us in.  In that regard probably science and technology will have to be “re-structured” starting with fundamental concepts such as What is science for? because it should be clear by now that science is not a-moral as some would like to believe.
  I also know that sharing will have to replace of keeping.  So we pretty much agree on important basics.
  I wish I could see how the “back to nature” way could work for more than a small remnant of humans in isolated spots.  Am I missing it entirely?  I may be reading too much Zen into the Old Indian’s proposals.
  (By the way, this “Old Indian” here always reminds me of four young kids I ran into in Japan, three Navajo and an Apache. Also of Lupe carrying my father’s precious piece of museum pottery around the livingroom on her head!and of dancingShiyo.Hokahey!)

gerard—there is something basically wrong when people, including the Left, worry primarily about being Number One.  That is what Dionne’s article was pushing and it’s what we should expect from the neo-cons at the Washington Post, but it is a dead-end road to nowhere.  It is the dream of a slave.  I think that’s what TAO Walker is trying to point out, but how to get the message across?  It is apparently so radical, so profound, so fundamental that most people can’t understand it.

gerard…i’m pretty much with u on this thread, but i do think it would be best not to use the word escaper for someone like our self-proclaimed ‘savage’ mr. walker.  the tiyoshpaye way, as can be gleaned from other mr. walker posts, does seem to be a small-scale example of participatory self governance.  i’d like to think that some people are working to implement the idea of participatory democracy on a national scale… and eventually on a planetary scale.

u are right about the importance of creating a Structure for this self governance.  the founding ‘fathers’ certainly got some things right when it came to establishing this structure.  giving the high degree of power that they did to an unrepresentative (from the general populace’s pov, intead of an individual state pov) senate was a mistake in democratic structural design. (some at the constitutional convention were aware of this design flaw, but went along with it to get the needed votes from smaller states to pass the constitution)  the evolving power of the supreme court..allowing 9 people to overide laws made by (hopefully) representative legislatures and then making it VERY difficult to overide their veto…flies in the face of democratic governance.  the constitution gave the power of money creation to the people’s representatives in congress.  we’ve allowed it to slip into the hands of private bankers and are now living with a hollowed out economy because we let them play their short-term ‘profit-making’ games.

we have to alter these power structures that have arisen and that are now impediments democratic self governance.  let mr. walker contemplate the ‘natural’ living arrangement of our mother earth.  cicero said ‘freedom is participation in power.’ let’s all do what we can to create democratic structures that allow for this participation.

Exactly gerard!! Pessimism, negativity, nihilism, bitterness - these are so apparent in the left, they are all over the blogs, for one.

The left needs to mobilize, it needs to leave bitterness and nihilism behind. Times are dire, but that does not mean it is time to give up,

that means its time to Get Moving!

There’s a lot in what you escapers say, but I resist it mainly because I think people can help themselves.  They are not helpless, just immobilized. (Sorry about the technological figure.) 
  So yeah, I think I have an inkling of what
TaoWalker means when he spins webs like “to get back into the rhythms and flows of the song and dance of Life Herownself” etc. It is all romantic and enticing—and vague.  Maybe it is true that most or all of us have to be destroyed and go back to Nature and start over, but ... I’m interested in the most of us coming together for each other in spite of all our faults.  Why—because I am human, I guess, and I know that change for the better can be and has been accomplished—at some cost of courage.  I admire that courage which says “don’t desert the sinking ship” etc. 
  We have a historically close example—the work and love of the people who turned segregation around in the South (and there are others everywhere.)  They acted out of a consecration to peace and justice here and now, not just for themselves but for others. 
  It’s okay with me for those who want to take the Tayoshpaye way—whatever the how-to details are—but I have trouble believing that more than a small minority will understand where to even begin to do it unless specifics are spelled out more clearly.   
  As for people who think tnat the end of humanity is good riddance—well, I can’t and won’t go there.  It’s suicidal and I have eight great grandchildren.  By the way, I’m a she, a writer, and a “community organizer"from way back.  And I’m not alone in my prescriptions, and hope to heaven that people are more than sheep to the slaughter.
  By the way, people are not desperately trying to find a way out.  Most of them are so scared and debilitated by ignorance that they don’t even want to think about their predicament.  Unless there is some reasonable structure where they can find their way to help themselves and each other (and I stress STRUCTURE, not some amorphous retreat) they will be victimized by others with an unreasonable structure (as of now) or some other less palatable amorphous retreat—possibly into oblivion.
  The stakes are high.  The alternatives are waiting. How many times before have people been demobilized thinking that the world was going to
end?

The CONtraption as in Tao Walkers minds eye, or the dominant culture as perceived by another to define the predicament that the talking monkey now finds itself ensnared in, unable to untangle from the life destroying beliefs, that when acted upon only tighten the noose.

Faith, hope, pity, weakness (not to be confused with compassion), are the crutch, the “good people” use to hide from their predicament in the apparent world, and with their magic used up and their instincts tamed there is nothing else they can do.

Though there are ways to rise above and beyond this moment, it will take the recognition that knowledge without strong instincts leaves many with no wisdom to take the necessary actions to make the changes required. There is no collective mind, no collective consciousness, no leader, or principality there is only what our minds perceive in the apparent world. It is these predominant perceptions that could be changed if a different culture was truly the motivation for change.

We are separate beings, alone unless we choose to participate, or are coerced into participation by the fear of being alone, singled out or separated from the herd. The CONtraption is the coercion, as for being number one, two or three or any other number, the technologicaL CONtraption operated by the dominant culture has already seen to that.

Gerard, and others here who approach ‘The-Situation’ from what are basically the same CONventional directions despite any mostly-only-cosmetic ‘differences’ in ideological bent, all share a fundamental ‘working’ assumption.  It is this.  Those “....huddled masses” caught-up in the increasingly CONvoluted toils of the “civilization” CONtraption must, somehow, “think” or “vote” or “fight” or “buy” or “organize” (They’d be onto something if they spelled that ‘ORGAN-ize.’) their way out of their at-least partly self-inflicted (and entirely shared) predicament….BUT, without giving-up the cold comforts and crippling CONveniences to which they’ve become so accustomed (in-fact, addicted).  It is probably a CONsequence of both false-pride and prejudice-inducing propaganda that they remain so CONvinced they are seeing the damned thing for what it actually is….and that renders them so resistant to suggestions they are (rather badly) mistaken in their learned CONceits.

The ongoing futility itself (of their more-and-more desperate efforts to find an actual way-out), however, and the obvious relentless escalation these days of their “individual” and communal distress, as their entrapment grows always more (and never less) CONstricting, argues strongly against there being any useful validity at all in that all-too-common set of received beliefs.  Having been ‘transplanted’ (with their own ‘manufactured’ CONsent) from the Natural Living Arrangement of our Mother Earth to the ‘hot-house’ CONditions of “civilization,” our tame Sisters and Brothers are now stuck (like so much ‘wet-ware’-on-the-half-shell) all-but helplessly inside the CONstruct’s ‘operating system,’ which is called (by this Old Savage anyway) “the eCONomy.”

So Gerard, at least, is maybe being a bit disingenuous when he says below that he is always “...looking in every direction that points UP….” for some relief, because this Old Indian has been here for awhile now figuratively holding-up a ‘sign’ saying “The Tiyoshpaye Way OUT!”  To put that in terms maybe more accessible to him, and perhaps others, it is only by regaining the Natural ‘elevation’ of our ORGAN-ic Human form and function within the Whole Living Arrangement, that those members of the subspecies homo domesticus can EXIT the “global” death-trap even now well-on-its-way to closing finally over them all.

It is one of the more vicious features of the thing’s command-and-CONtrol apparatus, though, that its captives remain CONvinced nothing worthwhile even exists outside its shrinking CONfines….and that absolutely no Human Beings whatsoever have been able to escape its ruthless clutches.  This despite the fact their tormentors, the system’s owner/operators, know otherwise….and are theirownselfs in panicky fear of what it bodes for the outcome of their criminal enterprise.  This explains their unseemly haste, here in these latter-days, to ‘eat-and-run.’ 

So we have this remarkable mix of events and circumstances today in which those already caught in the maelstrom of imminent oblivion are ‘programmed’ to not even ‘see’ (let alone recognize for what it is) the Life-line thrown to them by those of us among their own Human Kind who had the good sense to stay out of the deadly device in ‘the-first-place’....which is called, in one prevalent myth, “The Garden of Eden,” but more accurately described as merely the receiving dock for the kitchen of the mess-hall of ‘the gods.’

As Gerard himself suggested, though, the ‘self’-centered sufferers will likely go on looking for the Medicine they need everywhere it isn’t….until there’s no ‘place’ left for them but The Tiyoshpaye Way, to get back into the rhythms and flows of the Song ‘n’ Dance of Life Herownself.

HokaHey!

Milk and Honey Serfdom   empirePie  

The nincompoop faux republic leaders of nominal Logo land
the bottom feeding sociopathic dunderheads
of leveraged empire,.. carrot led,.. bottom fed
donkeys of preemptive dread
jump to the right of left
for all that’s left
as disorder climbs new heights for the empty caves
of more disaster theft
while more and more are left bereft

The fearful masses huddle by flickering images of Apocalyptic prophecy
spilling ‘milk and honey’
as they descend on freedom’s stairs..

to the serfdom that is theirs

Gerard. I’ve got news for you. The world will survive. Homo Sapiens may not survive. Evolution will continue, but, given the new conditions, it is highly unlikely that the same primates we have now will emerge again. The good thing will be that the new species will be in much better natural equilibrium when Homo Sapiens, the gigantic destroyer-species, is gone from “The World”. Good riddance in my opinion and nothing to be upset about.

P.S.  In case any of you get tired of my raps, rants and raves, sorry -o- but the “hidden issue” of 2010 is world survival—and I’m looking in every direction that points UP.

A missed potential that is seldom mentioned anymore—like it doesn’t even matter.  The United Nations.
  U.S. does everything in its power to defeat measures that come up in either chamber that represent the needs of other countries, particularly the so-called Third World nations.  At the time of its foundation millions of people around the world hoped it would be an agency with growing potential for preventing wars and levelling up the vast economic differences. But time after time the US (and other members on the “Sedurity” Council) have scoffed at, undermined and boycotted measure after measure—and are still at it!  The original mistake of course was to have a “Security” Council in the first place.  Too much power concentrated in too few. Plus the fact that the Right Wing are all brainwashed to hate the UN as “world government”, which of course means that US would not be able to rule the world as it is attempting to do.
  But my point is—whether you say “too idealistic” or not, there was a time when most of the world was quite serious about the possibilities of peace with justice.  Problem is, if we have another World War, (because of the nature of modern weapons) there may not be enough pieces left to put back together. “I have a dream ...” as MLK said.

All these people miss the point:
There’s a HUGE difference between being number one economically and therefore able to influence how the world economy works and being number one militarily and using violence to enforce our position.

I really don’t like the idea of China being number one.  We’ve seen that they have virtually no respect for copyrights, being the principle bootlegger of book, music and movies for decades.  We’ve seen they have mechanisms in place to prevent adulteration of food products—melamine in dog food (cheaper than real protein), anti-freeze in toothpaste (cheaper than saccarine), lead paint in kids’ toys, psychotropic drugs other kids’ toys.  And who knows how many other cheats in their products?

THAT is what we are being supplanted by.  Do you REALLY want that?

We’ve farted around on renewable energy for almost 30 years.  We should be 30 years ahead of China, but now they are.

Note that I don’t fault China.  OUR JOB is to make our economy productive and strong enough that we can say “NO!” to tainted and contaminated products.

This piece of garbage is typical for the so-called Washington “insider” reporters. It is about one thing, and one thing only namely Mr. Dionne trying to tell me how important he is because he was allowed to have an interview with the Vice President who chuckled and immediately K.O.‘d this lightweight pundit.

Taowalker describes US distress as caused by historical chickens coming home to roost and emphasizes that we American chickens have it coming as historical justice.  He’s right, of course.
  But ... it is not easy to ascribe degrees of responsibility.  Some of it is/was sins of commission; some is/was sins of omission. Some are guiltier than others.
  Recognition and confession is the first step, and most of us haven’t even gone there yet.  After that comes at least some significant attemtp at recompense (though always insufficient to the need), and after that a hoped for reconcliiation or “moving beyond” or something that allows life to continue.
  So far there are few signs of “progress” in any direction but instead a sick thrall of discontent, misery, awareness of guilt, and hate. I feel that the only thing that will save any of us is if all of us can come together for the sake of both necessity and desire.

Xntrk:  Couldn’t agree with you more. One problem about these bite-sized comments is they lack context and are easily misunderstood—not to mention hastily written.  Thanks particularly for calling Latin American resistance movements and initiatives to my attention. They get short shrift in the ordinary media—and not by accident.

The problems of Dominion USA are, however, enormous compared to most others.  Not that that’s any excuse. 
  How much of the difference might be that they (overgeneralizing) have something from the outside to pull down and kick out—foreign exploitation.   
  We, however, are trying to figure out how to fight against ourselves.  We are our own worst enemy (Americanism, dominionism, capitalism, military-dependent economy etc.)and yet don’t want to admit it or confront it for that very reason. Just a momentary thought, not a conclusion—not even an assumption yet.

Xntrk helpfully reminds us that Native Peoples up south on Hummingbird Island, having survived the five-plus-century-long mostly Hispanic assault to stamp it out, are even now actively restoring The Tiyoshpaye Way to their homelands.  Of course the damned yankees are busily establishing ‘beachheads’ in Colombia and Paraguay from which to mount ‘counter-revolutionary’ expeditions, if they can ever free-up enough of those military ‘resources’ presently pinned-down by lightly-armed Natives resisting those forces’ psychopathic occupations in the deserts and mountains of Asia.  In the meantime, the usual murderous array of clandestine operations proceeds apace.

So it’s hard to muster much sympathy for those among theamericanpeople posting here who complain about the burgeoning encroachment upon their own miserable half-lives by that same ruthless and insatiable command-and-CONtrol apparatus they’ve until recently been so slap-happily satisfied to sic on Indigenous Peoples everywhere at-the-drop-of-a-hat….the same one, probably, their overseers are always talking at them through.  What kind of damned fools could ever’ve thought those chickenhawks weren’t dead-certainly going to come ‘homeland’ one fine Day….not just to roost, but to gorge on the fattened carcasses of their erstwhile enablers?

Is it any wonder us surviving free wild Indians just have to shake our heads at the entire americanspectacle?

HokaHey!

Think about the daily messages most Americans hear.

They hear tons of propaganda from CNN, Faux, MSNBC and the like.  Same in local newspapers.  Some on crappy local TV news.  Same on local radio.

If they are already progressive, they might go read progressive news on the internet.  Even then, that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the many militaristic, pro-corporation messages they hear every day.

So, saying that everyone has access to progressive messages is not really relevant. If you listen to the ad-people types, what they are concerned with is how many times they get to repeatedly put their message in front of a person.  Progressives are massively outgunned in that fight.

Of course, to me this leads to what should be progressives number one message ... that is to turn off and generally disbelieve the rest of the propaganda.  The more we can convince people not to trust the propaganda, the more our messages get through.

This isn’t hard.  Americans have a history of distrust of the media, and they are very distrustful now.

We can say things like “Why would you believe the same people who told you that Iraq had WMDs?”  Use the long track record of falsehoods in the propaganda against them.

My feeling is that this needs to be a constant message from all progressive groups and politicians.  We need to slowly pull people away from the propaganda sources until they really don’t have an audience any more.

Then, when the corporate media tells us the next Obama is great, while ridiculing the next Kucinich, no one will be listening.

gerard is all hung upon missing the message: Nobody is listening?  Could be that’s because the Left severely lacks access—to media, to politicians, to “connections.”

Yet, as far as I can tell [by reading the comments] Gerard, as well as most other TD commentators, ignore any message from the ‘Left’ that does not originate in the US. That is simply short-sighted and xenophobic.

The most vital area of Leftist thought and development in the world today, is in Latin America. The election of several Left-leaning governments, the development of Bolivarian Democracy, and Socialism for the 21st Century are not Anachronisms; they are vital Social/Political movements that may provide the fulcrum to deconstruct Capitalism. Oh, I know, they are led by the suspect Chavez, The Indian football player Evo Morales, and supporters of the Cuban Revolution, along with a bunch of Trotskyismo Commies - But, they are actually doing something positive in several countries.

Education; Health Care; Community Democracy and decision making; Sustainable Agriculture; Alternative Energy. Then there are the cooperative economic projects funded by ALBA - Interest free.

Yet here we sit, like lumps of gravy, doing nothing but ruin dinner for the rest of the world. Bitch, bitch, bitch; moan and groan; ‘Oh, woe is me, life is hopeless…’ It’s time to shell out for tickets to Caracus Venezuela, and the 5th International being held this year. It would be nice if the US voices in Latin America were not all dressed in Military Camo and Army Boots [Except for the deported Hispanic refugees and citizens, of course]

Its the EVAPORATION

We are going to see just what is numero uno

Progressives, and just about everyone else, have access to media; they have the Internet.  The problem is not means of publication, which it may have been in times past.  The problem is that by and large the People do not want to hear what progressives have to say.  For progressives, it is tempting to attribute the situation to some defect of the People, but it might be in their interests as well to consider that there may be some defect in the message, either as to its content or the way in which it is being presented.

As a leftist, rather than a progressive, my messages are even more repugnant to the People, so unfortunately I can’t give any advice as to the best method of message improvement.

I hypothesize that most human communities, if not operating under slavery, are still in the shadow of slavery, which has been the dominant political structure of the civilized world since antiquity.  Slaves are mostly interested in acquiring the power and wealth of their masters.  This orientation can sink very deeply into psyche and culture, and once they are imbued with it, are changed only slowly and with great difficulty.  Under these circumstances, ideas like peace, freedom, equality and autonomy seem incomprehensible or hopelessly utopian to most people.  I try to give people ideas, but it’s slow going.

Paul G:  Thanks for the Counterpunch reference.  I had missed it. I notice that he, too, says it is possible to junk the “empire” notion but, naturally, the “emperorers” of Wall Street don’t want to do it.

I also think there is a lot of fear mixed up in the emperorers’ thought processes.  Having concentrated for years on “getting” and “holding” and “selling”—whether power or money or both—they actually can’t relate to much else, let alone to the world having gone out of (or beyond) their control.

Nader’s “novel” (a boringly naive but fascinating effort which I am wading through) points in the direction of a kind of “voluntary revolution” among people who have not only means but precious access to the sources and agencies of power. They very well know what to do without Nader telling them, and in that regard it’s an audacious attempt to set things right.

My suggestion would be that “progressives” progress to the point where they can invent and discover ways to get access to access, if you catch my drift. (And by the way, that does not mean hitting people over the head. Some political and financial sophistication is required here.  Who has it?)

Chris Floyd wrote a piece at Counterpunch, entitled “War, Budgets and Blind Ambition: The Limited Minds of the American Elite”:  http://www.counterpunch.com/floyd02022010.html

And Michael Tennant wrote this, which was posted at Antiwar.com, entitled “Neat, Painless, Perpetual War”: http://original.antiwar.com/mike-tennant/2010/02/02/neat-painless-perpetual-war/

As MLK said, The United States is the #1 purveyor of violence in the world.  Beyond that, this is really a sad little hole in need of vast social change, poverty eradication, and overall system change.  The political elite/corporations/mainstream media effectively control the entire political dialogue and decide who’s movement is going to be successfull—so they will subsidize and glamourize the reactionary right-wing teabag movement, but a real left movement for system change?  We will be left out.

Nobody is listening?  Could be that’s because the Left severely lacks access—to media, to politicians, to “connections.” 

I haven’t been watching these comments very long but it occurs to me at this point that the reason most of us are here online at TD is that this is the “best” or “only” access we have to share ideas and frustrations.  (The latter seem to predominate.)

If this is true, do you think what we do is at all worthwhile in the larger sense—or is it mere venting to no significant effect?  I note that comments seem to be picked up abroad at least occasionally and have felt this makes the venture somewhat worth continuing.

Answers to comments are sometmes helpful, and that’s a good thing.  The site offers each of us a sounding board.  Another plus. Sometimes authors of primary articles check back and respond—another plus.

But is there something we are missing about this effort here?  Could we make it more effective somehow?  Suggestions?  Reactions?  Comments?
  The whole problem of access bothers me increasingly as things drift from bad to worse. I don’t wish to enjoy merely the satisfaction of seeing my words in print, or engaging in ideological sparring. That superficiality is what may ruin the effectiveness of the entire Internet, but I hope not.  Yet what will prevent it?  Mere chance? Or corporate domination again/  Or fear of surveillance?  Or ...?

gerard, February 4 at 8:16 pm:
‘Could be that what’s left of the Left are too good at critiquing and not good enough at suggesting alternatives and acting to support them. ...’

The actual Left has all kinds of alternatives to suggest.  However, no one is listening to them at the moment.  The Empire has some more crumbling to do.  I’m just wondering if it will go slowly or quickly, and what kind of awakening we will observe when it finally goes.  It could be rough.

In a way, Biden’s outburst was very sad, snatching as it did at the fading ghost of the dream of dominance.  I guess if he didn’t think that way he could not be an important politician.

Could be that what’s left of the Left are too good at critiquing and not good enough at suggesting alternatives and acting to support them.

If that is the case then we probably are doomed.  I resist adopting that idea because humans have done great creative things as well as miserably destructive things. I want to help and encourage, not resign the human race to defeat and self-destruction. I feel this is not blind optimism, though I am aware of tremendous problems. But I want to deny the old dichotomies because they tend to cancel out possible alternatives. Personally, I am sick unto death of Good versus Evil and the entire simple-minded set-up it presents.

You can expect to see this link on any article discussing foreign affairs/military for the next day or so. There is a new Venezuelan English Language Newspaper - Both print and on-line. The first issue is great, and it certainly shows that The US is neither #1, nor the only choice to many of the Earth’s Citizens.

Check it out, it’s is gorgeous!

http://centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/correo_del_orinoco_internat_2.pdf

Apart from the dismal conceit that our leaders can pom-pom their way out of any mess,
Biden’s assumption that America MUST be numero uno represents a prima fascia case
against the nation’s collective delusional mythos. To put it more plainly, American
Exceptionalism falls under the category of problem, not solution.

Besides, take away our two biggest exports—blockbuster movies and status anxiety—
and just about the only thing left is a grotesquely bloated military budget that announces
to the rest of the world: “We may be culturally pre-pubescent and driven by fear and
greed, but we can still kick your sorry asses”.

TAO is right, The GreatAmericanDream is like an aging high-school jock, now with a
balloon mortgage, a bum knee and a beer gut, trying to hit on his daughter’s BFF at the
local waffle house.

What’s the old saying about brilliance and bull-droppings?  Biden obviously is in the ‘baffle them with bull-turds’ mode.

The economy sucks, so expect to hear a lot more of this red-white-blue/we-are-number-one bull droppings from them. Its about all they’ve got to talk about, at least when they aren’t meeting with wall street lobbyists to talk about their success in giving billions of our tax dollars to them.

Slight problem:  If the US is to become Number 1 economically again, only the manufacture and sale of arms will do it because that’s all we have left of our “supremacy”—that is, making war and encouraging othrs to make war. What a retrograde field of endeavor in which to excel!
  Meanwhile other far more humane fields beckon.  We can go there if we can get the thumbs of the Pentagon/MIC off our throats.  Development of safe energy, medical research, safe food, fair distribution of resources, water conservation ... thousands of beneficial occupations (not to mention the arts so vital to the human spirit) waiting just off stage.
  Also, we will need to forget “preeminence” and “supremacy” for half a minute and think about cooperation and mutuality.

Everybody talks (endlessly) about “the eCONomy,” but nobody seems to have a clue exactly what the damned thing IS….much less what to do about it.  Maybe that’s because they’re in such deep denial about its actual effects on the Natural Living Arrangement they still have to half-live and gasp-for-breath in every day….not even to mention the escalating institutionalized degradation it inflicts on their own sorry selfs.  Here’s a clue from six thousand years of Chinese experience:  It is what it DOES!

In every town in america you can find the over-the-hill high school sports hero who still acts as if everybody must still be in absolute awe of him over his ‘historic’ performances.  In the make-believe “community-of-nations,” with its idiotic rule-of-fear ‘dominance’ paradigm, that poor fool is the U.S. of A.

Joe Biden comes by his perpetual adolescence as honestly as does most everyone else listing their self among theallamericanpeople.  Nor is he any more to blame for the fact that (in their dog-eat-dog virtual world-o’-hurt) americans’ve definitely joined the ranks of the-eaten, than anybody else is….here in the land of the freebooter and the home of knave.

“The dream is over,” tame Sisters and Brothers.  Wake-up and face The Music.

HokaHey!

Mr. Westheimer is absolutely right; all I can add is that it won’t matter much if the president under whom the imperial dream and glory come to an end is a Demo or a Repub—both of the two wings of the War Party will be to blame. A plague o’ both their houses!

Why does such a marvelous independent site such as TD continue to hi-lite scribbles from Eeee Jay Dijon?—the poster boy for meaningless establishment blather? This chump is the journalistic equivalent of room-tone.

the only way a country, organization, or person can ‘maintain leadership’ is by *leading*.  Leading is done by example and persuasion, and meaningful only in pursuit of a goal.

‘Leaders’ whose sole purpose in leading is self-aggrandizement are always obvious and heeded only when they are able to coerce others into accepting their supposed leadership.

Another name for this variety of leader is ‘bully’—and, unfortunately, that’s the only variety of leadership the United States has left to offer.

“We the People” Inc should be reclaiming our Resources and our Profits from the global market.
These private corps have been hand our nations natural resources for pennies on the dollar. Making outrageous profits and salaries.
Would it not better to take those Natural Resources of the United States Back not only pay down the national Debt (caused by these Oil Tycoons and Traitors) but Prosper from them?
Borders mean ownership. Corps have no borders. therefore they own nothing. Only lease- lets end those leases and reclaim those American Resources for Americans and our economy. that’s not Socialism, that’s Nationalism! Protecting and Defending that which is legitmately OURS! I got a Birth certificate that proves I am a living breathing partner in this Republic- wheres the Corps?
They should not own our Democracy, nor they should not control the means to it’s solvency either. Corps have not only blocked access of ‘We the People’ from the market place as merchants/vendors (healthcare)- Domestically and internationally, they have highjacked our raw materials as well.

We are number one! Hooray…errr we are number 37 in providing health care to our own people.

Our military expansionism will bring us (the US)down just as it has brought down all the previous “empires”.  It is morally and economically unsustainable.

Biden is such a Clintonian gasbag, second only to Obama himself.