EmileZ - Uninformed candidates?  Perry’s brain-freeze
moment aside (so what) how about someone on that
platform asking Perry if he really advocates getting
‘rid’ of the National Weather Service, the Patent
Office, issuing trademarks, government provided
economic and demographic data for business decision-
making… - in other words, THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

The first so-called debate was a debacle and if
debacles can become debaclests, the latest qualifies.

Mr. Freeze, I say that about the social issues here in Ohio because of my own experience here where I have lived for a long time.  We have many very conservative people in our state.  My daughter lives in the Southeastern area of the state, which is both beautiful and very poor.  She once said to me that she has no idea why these very poor counties like Miegs and Vinton always vote Republicans because the Republicans never do one thing for them, or work to make better conditions there. They fool them, plain and simple.

Although I am pleased that the ludicrous over-reach
by shameless minions of the plutocrats has suffered a
minor set-back, I am disappointed that anyone is
suggesting we continue to play the rigged game
established by the two party system.

Our only way out of the mess the world is in today,
is reject all forms of authority and relegate them to
irrelevancy.

As a nation, we have been here before and the workers
had guts and took action (between the end of WWI and
the end of the Depression). The power brokers fearing
for an actual Bolshevik style revolt had FDR play his
role savior while offering “just enough” to delay the
inevitable.

Thanks to WWII, all ended well for the plutocrats and
average worker “hope factor” grew as never before
with actual gains to standard of living with true
potential for upward mobility.

That is so over now! The elite have learned much
since 1939 and will out maneuver the populace easily
if the status quo is permitted to continue.

Any thinking, rational person can see that capitalism
IS a FAILURE. It was always destined to be so because
it truly is a giant pyramid scheme. Only those at or
near the very top have no worries.

We have been trained by a very deliberate marketing
campaign paid for by the elite to keep us in check by
fanning the fans of patriotism (the last refuge of
scoundrels), American exceptualism (we are the good-
guys and can do no wrong) and American superiority
(our system is at the pinnacle and every other nation
is at best, an “also ran”).

It’s all a lie and some of us are finally beginning
to see it through the perpetual smoke screen the
establishment produces to keep us from seeing
reality.

Good luck with your “left-right” paradigm, and your
irrational belief in “the system”. That is exactly
where Financial Class wants you to be.

I am perhaps not the best analyst of voting trends, but it looks to me (or feels to me) like many of the social issues which have in the past played a large role in elections are disintegrating a bit.

Most(over eighty percent of) young people, however, according to a recent Pew research poll are inexplicably in favor of having an option to put social security taxes and medicare premiums into private accounts.

The mainstream media still has a firm hand on how the debate is shaped and public perception.

The fact that the healthcare mandate was voted down is no suprise. We need a strong campaign for single payer, not to get a mandate for private insurance coverage, but to get single payer. If enough people get behind it, it is bound to succeed.

People are really quite misinformed. The mainstream corporate media debate must be discredited and exposed. The only way to to this is to push hard for alternatives.

larkohio & Leefeller - Thanks for your thoughtful responses. It’s interesting, larkohio, that you are channeling pretty much what President Obama said about Americans clutching their guns and bibles…..and yes, indeed, the Media (in collusion with the moneyed interests) likes keeping Americans afraid because we’ve become a fairly easy population to manipulate.

Gringos,
Sorry for the delay.

Some days are better than others.

Occupy Tulsa is at the H. A. Chapman Green, the city has gotten fairly
draconian of their 11:00 o’clock curfew for the park.  Police reinforcements
show up around 10:00, mace and truncheons at the ready.  The occupiers move
to the sidewalk overnight, which is legal.  There has been more conflict in Tulsa
that OKC, (but Tulsa is the more conservative of the two, and sadly, the last few
years, more violent overall), that is where maceings, and beatings took place a
few days ago when the city fathers ordered the park closed at 11:00.

In OKC, (where I am) Occupy is in Kerr Park.  There’s been much less drama
there, but, when there, the ratio of law enforcement, tea baggers, real
Americans, and the curious is about even.  50 marchers were even
“allowed” to march to the Governor’s Mansion the other night, without
incident.  Governor Fallin, however, was not there.  She was at the time
chuming it up with a lot of oil and gas executives, giving her full and
unconditional support to fracking and the Keystone XL pipeline.  (her absence
at the mansion probably had something to do with the lack of problems).  Local
media rarely mentions the 99%‘ers unless it’s a weather related story, (how will
the occupiers cope with this week’s storm of the century) or the overnight death
(from natural causes) in Kerr Park.

As you know we’ve had three large earthquakes in the past week (large for us)
including the largest ever recorded in the state, along with the aftershocks. 
Oklahoma is fairly seismically active, but most are in the 1.5 to 2.0 range and
rarely felt.  These quakes all came from the fault line in the Prague area.  The
local corporate dominated media is spending a lot of time dispelling any
connection between the quakes and the nearly 200 fracking wells drilled on or
adjacent to the fault in the last 2.5 years.  After all, “the seismic energy released
by a fracking well is equivalent to a gallon of milk falling off a table”, any
suggestion of the two being related is a hoax, like human influenced climate
change.  Environmental concerns, expressed by the occupiers, is showing its
influence there.

Mr. Freeze,
You know, I wonder the same thing about Ohio.  One answer is this, much of Ohio is very rural and Republicans are constantly scaring folks into believing that the Dems are going to take away their guns, and that gay marriage is bad.  The Republicans in 2010 were able to convince people that they were going to bring back jobs to the people.  They wrongly blamed Ted Strickland, our previous governor on our current economic plight.  We have lost so many manufacturing jobs in the bigger cities and people are depressed and ready to go for anyone that offers jobs.  Clearly, we were duped.  When Kasich did not create jobs, but instead went after public sector employees he did not realize he was attacking US, so many of us have friends or relatives who work in the public sector.  We support them, they are our friends and neighbors.  We want a government that brings us all up, and not at the expense of everyday firefighters and teachers.  Last night I ordered a pizza for delivery.  The pizza place was running a promotion and a fire truck came with the pizza delivery man, and a very nice woman firefighter brought me a free new smoke detector.  My daughter and I spoke with her and thanked her.  We also told her we voted no on Issue 2.  She is my neighbor, there is no chance we would vote against her.
That being said, there are plenty of conservatives in my state who vote against their best interests.

Hopefully, Republicans will forget what doesn’t work in
their favor politically and continue to repeat it, and
Democrats will remember what does work in defeating
Republican ‘overreach’ and continue to repeat it.

Mfreeze, I cannot speak for Ohio, but I see a pattern of people who though association, indoctrination and family ties clearly believe in simple dogmas.

The black and white, yin and yan is the same as someone saying ‘you are with me or against me’. A clear attitude sponsored by Republicans and even some people who proclaim to be liberal. Dogmas as indoctrinated beliefs drive some people in their decision making, these beliefs have noting to do with facts, or truths.

One other thing, politicians are like people on their first date, displaying what passes as good behavior,(in their minds)  they tell you what you want to hear, which doesn’t mean they will do it after the marriage.  To make it clear the Republican candidates are on a first date with the Tea Baggers right now, which does not mean they are trying to impress the you or I.

Fanatics are indoctrinated to a cause, this cause becomes like an obsession, a dogma, we have seen this kind of fanaticism in Congress of late and even here on TD when occasional posters proclaim their own self righteous convictions displaying their non house broke dogmas!

I am convinced of late the constant polarizations are part of a well orchestrated agenda, to keep the common populous divided and bickering, I also see Occupy Wall Street as a potential binder of commonality against polarization, disenfranchisement and inequality.

larkohio - I’m sincerely curious:

How can Ohioians vote for someone as openly corrupt and beholden to corporate interests as John Boehner (or ANY republican for that matter)?

Ohio has always stumped me. Given that it’s a state of hardworking folk, how did it come to pass that you all vote anti-labor, anti-populist assholes into office year after year?

QUOTE, E.J. (D)ione, Jr.:

“Tuesday’s results underscored the power of unions and populist politics”
___________________

Actually, Tuesdays results just provided another confirmation that the American people have remained either unwilling or incapable of using elections for any good purpose.

The corporate party’s factions — the over reaching Republicans and the under reaching Democrats — keep natural persons continuously incorporated, corporate collaborating together in their competition to see which faction can better achieve the corporate persons’ goals.

There are two kinds of liberals: Those who are consummately evil, and the rest who are dumber than cows.

Voter Consent Wastes Dissent:

http://chenangogreens.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=498&Itemid=1

The joke that calls itself the Republican party is on us!... No!... the joke that calls itself partisan politics is on us,... yeah,... now I think I got it!

The sign, the sign,... now I know what they can carve out on Mount Rushmore!

Now I was not here when the dinosaurs roamed,... but if they collectively did anything, I am surmising it was a hell of a lot more intelligent then what the Republican Presidential candidates have to offer!

Well, at least you’re not bitter. 
I grew up just north of Norman in the
small hamlet of Moore.

I know there’s a occupy camp in Tulsa,
anything else going on in the state?

Indeed, here in the heartless land of fly over country.

Blueokie-

You called it.  Good cop, meet bad cop. 

You wouldn’t, by any chance, be from the fine
state of Oklahoma would you?

What makes you thing that the “conservative” authoritarian followers are going anywhere hmmm?

In their fevered minds they are simply going to “gird their loins” for a concerted Crusade against the “godless libertarian left”, after all “they have God on their side”.

It’s much the same as the fundamentalist Jews’ (30%)in Israel who flatly refuse to see further than the potential of their own dominance.
Both will continue to exercise their disproportionate power to gain their version of the truth.

Keep in mind that it is arguable that America is in practice the one of the most (Christian) fundamentalist religious countries in the Western world.

even though the Constitution by implication doesn’t say that.

The battle isn’t over unless the System is updated it will the conservative obsession will simply morph into a more virulent strain. This is neither new nor exclusively American but simply a combination between human nature and refusal to learn from the mistakes of history.

One could observe that America and Americans are like all civilization when facing decline become progressively obsessed with ‘divine’/charismatic leadership intervention. Along with increasing dogma of “what made them great” (right wing) and religiosity instead of realizing that the key to survival is Adaptation to changing circumstances. Getting bigger, stronger on its own has never been the a successful tactic. Look at the dinosaurs…..they were so big and dependant on a specific environment they collectively couldn’t survive e catastrophe….If one then observes the Mammal Mega fauna it too didn’t adapt to changing conditions and 99% of them are gone too.

Man’s history proves that too…where are the Sumerians, ancient Egyptians, Macedonians/Greeks,  Romans, Mayans, Anastasi Indians, Easter Islanders, French, Brits they all got bigger and more rigid until Collapse.
Oddly enough the oldest races i.e. San, Australian Aborigines,PNG Melanesians, are all eons older and they too can’t adapt to changing circumstances .....Western Culture. In all these cases they all followed the the same pattern when facing a crisis cultural and religious ossification and rigidity then collapse…..The question is then Is America next….or will it be different reduce the ‘ossifiers’ and return to what actually made America “great” and it wasn’t “me first Capitalism”..... it was Adaptation with the changing circumstances etc.

Bugger God bless America And in with LONG LIVE adaptive Humanity

People in Ohio were outraged by our governor, who was elected because he said he would create employment, and immediately forgot he ever said that once elected.  Too many of us have friends and relatives who are firefighters, teachers, and government workers.  Ohio stood for the rights of workers. Kasich is a tool for big business.

@ larrypsy
The Washington Post carried some interesting articles about Reagan
and Bush out on the town beginning 1981.  GHWBushSr and
entourage led the blind.  Especially, after the son of a close friend of
GHWBushSr shot Reagan.  Since then, Americans are now the blind.

WGAF-We live at the whim of plutocrats.

i love her..

Listen up GOP Conservatives. This is your wake-up call. You can’t know how
happy I am to see “mad as hell” translated into action with results. Is that a
tsunami I hear?

Now its up to the Dim-ocrats to carry the mail for the corporate state, something
they’ve been more than happy to do since the mid 80’s.  Austerity and drones for
everyone!

That’s a rather odd sign displayed in the photo that
accompanies the article - I suspect Ronnie had his own
balls sucked and that resulted in the “trickle down” concept.