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I'm Not Bitter - I'm Outraged

by: OPOL

Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:34:13 PDT        
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( - promoted by buhdydharma )

Any more the bad news comes like the steady downpour of the tropical monsoon.

There is no time to catch one's breath.

There is no pause to absorb the outrages of the day, no interlude to break the tragedies into digestible chunks, no relief for the overwhelmed between the vicious punches to the gut, the finger jabs to the eyes, the thunder kicks to the groin.

A-Perfect-Storm-of-Bad-News_FLAT
OPOL :: I'm Not Bitter - I'm Outraged
All the bad news seems merely an aperitif to the madness of our 'leaders', if only we had to cope with the bad news alone, if only we had real leadership to provide a sane response to regrettable circumstances and events.  If only...

What-we-have-done-in-Iraq

HOW-SHAMEFUL-IS-IT

It seems that gradually over time more and more of our 'leaders' have abandoned all but the merest pretense of public service, even as events have eroded their carefully crafted veneers, leaving their naked greed and unabashed self-interest writhing obscenely on the pubic stage.  Please, no one mention the disgusting spectacle and we can all just pretend it's not happening.

Words like integrity and honor have been reduced to props and disguises for people who have neither to hide behind disingenuously as if they were so many lapel pins in the form of the American flag.

Patriotism

Those things we hold most dear, our freedom, our democracy and our claim to be a nation of laws have been stolen, sullied, abridged or rendered moot.

We have foolishly allowed unethical politicians to steal elections outright - we even tolerated the Supreme Court getting in on the act.  There has been no democracy in the USA since Bush v. Gore in 2000.  There may never be again.

With record low approval ratings for the Bush/Cheney regime and the albatross of an unpopular war hanging from the GOP's neck, do you think that a Democratic presidential candidate will win the White House, get us out of Iraq, and end our long national nightmare?

Think again - the mighty election theft machine Karl Rove used to steal the US presidency in 2000 and 2004 may be under attack, but it is still in place for the upcoming 2008 election.

BradBlog

The-REAL-Danger

How did we ever become so depraved as to tolerate what has been done in our names?  And if anyone is bitter - so fucking what?  How are we supposed to react to the dismantling of America?  The shipping of our jobs overseas?  The open predation of Big Business on the American people?  The deteriorating condition of our cities, bridges, and national infrastructure?  The growing number of unemployed, uninsured, and homeless Americans?  

How deliriously happy and hopeful are we supposed to be about the trashing of the Geneva Conventions, the shameful abandonment of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, extraordinary renditions, the first official US torture program in history, aggressive war, the rape of the middle class, the looting of the treasury, war profiteering, war crimes and government officials who smugly smile as they blatantly lie to us all with utter impunity?

Bitter?  No.  More like nuclear fucking outrage!  What's wrong with anyone who doesn't get that?  Huh Hillary?  What the fuck is wrong with YOU?

If we don't have the right to be bitter, then our last right has been taken away...not that I'm surprised.  

Heh, I guess I'm just bitter.

JUSTICE-Peace-Out-OPOL
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I'm Not Bitter - I'm Outraged | 128 comments
Tips for total fucking outrage? (4.00 / 40)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
You'd think (4.00 / 22)
that they'd be able to read the writing on the wall by now....

The "sit on the ball and run out the clock" election strategy doesn't look like it's actually working. 100 Years Of War McSame is running neck and neck with either remaining Dem, so I fail to see what can be gained at this point by the Dem party's strategy of blame the GOP for the Iraq mess.

--grannyhelen @ Fri Apr 11, 2008 at 11:45:14 PDT


[ Parent ]
I am bitter and outraged (4.00 / 18)
that all this is getting drowned in coffee and orange juice.
[ Parent ]
and bowling (4.00 / 16)


the glory, the love, the madness.
[ Parent ]
OPOL, you damn elitist. You're probably a communist too . . . (4.00 / 9)
AND an Islamofascist.

An elitist communist Islamofascist, that's you, OPOL.

[ Parent ]
You pegged me Rusty. :-D (4.00 / 5)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Well, someone had to. Enough is enough. (4.00 / 9)
communists.bmp

You wear a hat.  

Communists wear hats.

I rest my case.

[ Parent ]
you're such a wierdo! (4.00 / 7)
(^.^)

come firefly-dreaming with me....
[ Parent ]
Heh. Well at least I'm not an elitist communist Islamofascist who has (4.00 / 6)
admiring groupies all over Boston but won't even hang out with them.

[ Parent ]
Now you've gone too far. (4.00 / 5)
I'd have been there...they didn't ask.

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
The DD girls issued a general invitation, which you must not have seen. (4.00 / 5)

At any rate, if you would have gone to Boston, OPOL, it's not likely this essay would have gotten posted today, and I wouldn't have been able to make unsubstantiated assertions about your connections to elitists, communists, and Islamofascists.  

I would have had to argue with Turkana all day, and that isn't any fun at all.    

[ Parent ]
hey, Rusty8 (4.00 / 5)
we talked about you too



Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

[ Parent ]
I'm requesting a comprehensive WITR so we can all see a (4.00 / 5)
full disclosure of the sober discussions, with graphs and charts, AND a full disclosure of the less than sober discussions, with graphs and charts and verbatim transripts.

WITR: Boston Confessions.

Don't make me wait.  I produced a WITR for you within days,  pfiore1776, so I hope I see the same promptness and efficiency from the authoresses of what will undoubtedly be the greatest WITR of all time.    

[ Parent ]
i can tell you something. (4.00 / 5)
that online friendships are real. because we knew each other in 3D world. we jumped right into it. really. as though we'd been meeting and talking like this for years.

crazy. i know it sounds crazy. but it is true.

and we talked about politics for HOURS. it was great. and having real life people to talk to about these things made blogging a little less urgent. actually, when i got home today, i was exhausted. had to take a nap.

now masslass has totally upended my timeclock. because i'm awake now when i should be getting sleepy.

heh. it's kinda like jet lag.

how are you doing btw??? anything new, weird, interesting going on in your life?


Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

[ Parent ]
MY fault????? (4.00 / 4)
now masslass has totally upended my timeclock. because i'm awake now when i should be getting sleepy.

;-}

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde

[ Parent ]
well............. (4.00 / 5)
here the fuck i am... not sleeping but no one is up with me...

poor me!!!

hey honey!!!!!!

Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

[ Parent ]
You ever faithful, ever true (4.00 / 4)
companion is still up with you...  Would you like another
glass of wine??

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde
[ Parent ]
Yes. (4.00 / 4)
Oh . . . you mean pfiore.

[ Parent ]
whichever ;) (4.00 / 4)
It's all good..  Better yet - both!

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde
[ Parent ]
I believe it. People I know who've met up with Online friends all say (4.00 / 4)
how fun and energizing it is.  

I'm doing OK, I can't say there's been anything new or weird in my life lately, but DD is always extremely interesting.

How are you doing, pfiore?  I hope the delay moving to the Netherlands gets resolved soon.

 

[ Parent ]
i'm doing well (4.00 / 4)
except for that little delay thingee. it's like i just wanna go home. i want to get on a plane, and go home.

but there is this... have to say that being with my sisters, living with them, has been wonderful. so much better than i expected. like picking up old rhythms. finding that we fit together.  


Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

[ Parent ]
Methinks you overestimate yourself (4.00 / 3)
Rusty1776  ;).   Yes we talked about you... but not ONLY about
you.  You should have heard what we said about OPOL  (heehee)

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde
[ Parent ]
I didn't mean a WITR revealing the discussions about me, I was referring (4.00 / 5)
to the entire discussions throughout the evening about everything and everyone.

 

[ Parent ]
Well, in truth... (4.00 / 5)
There's a chance that a great deal will be about you...

But I do agree...pf is the person to tell the tale - and oh
what a tale it will be  ;)

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde

[ Parent ]
Heh. I haven't overrated myself since Christmas morning 1969, and (4.00 / 4)
that was only because of a brief surge of testosterone related passion triggered by events beyond my control.
[ Parent ]
there you go again R8... (4.00 / 4)
getting too serious. i got what you meant.

but i was having fun thinking you might be just a tad jealous...  

Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

[ Parent ]
I sure as hell was jealous. (4.00 / 4)
OPOL gets all the girls, so I had to Swiftboat him and call him a (DELETED BY BUHDYDHARMA) and then drop subtle hints to see if any of the DD girls talked about me at all.  
[ Parent ]
good!....and i'm laughing.... (4.00 / 4)
you're quick. maybe even an educated man... holy moly.


Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove
[ Parent ]
Might be worth firing a few rounds at. :-D (4.00 / 4)
Gus McCrae

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Outraged, bitter, (4.00 / 21)
angry, sad, frustrated, betrayed, etc.  The list could go on forever.  I kind of think if you aren't feeling this way, then you aren't paying attention.

I so wish we could find ways to get your powerful media out to the masses OPOL.  It might wake a few people up.

OPOL, Bhudydharma, (4.00 / 17)
and all the "Dharmics" here, plus other inspiring and activist bloggers are spreading the word and are forcing the media to report stories that are "buzzing on the blogs".  They've gotten the message out to media people like Keith Olbermann and Jon Stewart.  It's been an excruciatingly slow process, but I remember back before Hurricane Katrina, when no one in the media dared question anything that the "bushies" did.  

I remember being amazed when Anderson Cooper finally dared to start asking the tough questions in his interview with bush dog Landrieu (& IMHO, answers to these same questions re the bushCo Authorizing torture, should be demanded of Congress members, especially Conyers, Pelosi & Reid right now):

"Does the federal government bear responsibility for what is happening now?......I have to tell you, there are are people here who are very upset and angry...Do you understand that anger?...people here who are kind of ashamed of what is happening in this country right now..."

I know it was long overdue, and there hasn't been the progress we all hoped for at this point, but I'm hoping that the loud outcry of "outrage" by people like OPOL, Bhudy, Troutfishing, the ACLU and all the other people here who are very upset and angry--won't let our "leaders" sweep this under the rug--not this time.

[ Parent ]
Thanks serendipity. (4.00 / 11)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Yes but I wasn't talking about getting the issues out there (4.00 / 11)
How do we get the OPOL's beautiful, powerful artwork out there?  It hits at hearts.  So how do we get it out to the masses without it losing its impact.  Its not something you can just show in a 5 minute blurb.  It takes really getting a good look at the pictures, really seeing the horror that is going on.
[ Parent ]
Good question, Alma (4.00 / 9)
OPOL, have you done and are you planning to do any exhibits of your art work?  I agree with Alma that they are beautiful and powerful.  
[ Parent ]
No. (4.00 / 8)
I tried selling prints on a website but it didn't exactly take off.  I've concluded that I'm a lousy capitalist - but I remain hopeful (as an artist).

Anybody know any publishers or agents?  :-D

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem

[ Parent ]
What about craft fairs/ art shows? (4.00 / 8)
Relatively low capital investment, lots of attendees (potential customers).  Just sayin...
[ Parent ]
I appreciate the suggestion... (4.00 / 7)
I'll be mulling that over.  Some of my art might get me shot in this crazy country.  :-)

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Maybe stick to "blue" areas (4.00 / 6)
in "blue" states--to start with anyway ;-)
[ Parent ]
I live behind enemy lines... (4.00 / 4)
so I forget that there are blue areas.  :-)

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
HA! (4.00 / 5)
i did too for 10 years of hell.  now i'm in a border city, but more blue than red.  very rarely see Confederate flags here, or hear outright racist remarks.  

it's heaven. ;-)   you have my undying respect, OPOL, for surviving and thriving where you're planted!    

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  

[ Parent ]
You need some R & R on Occasion... (4.00 / 4)
...maybe a vacation to a "blue" area so you can return to the battle energized ;-)
[ Parent ]
Austin in July... (4.00 / 6)
if the airlines are still in business.

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Hey, St. Paul is pretty blue (4.00 / 5)
how bout a trip up here in...oh say...September.

The weather should be nice and there will be lots of people in the streets. (he-he)

Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it. Mahatma Gandhi

[ Parent ]
St. Paul is pretty blue, but... (4.00 / 3)
...I wouldn't suggest that OPOL set up an art exhibition in front of the Xcel Energy Center from Sept. 1-4--that is, unless he's ready for a wee bit of excitement... ;-)
[ Parent ]
I'm always up for a wee bit of excitement. (4.00 / 3)
I guess there's such a thing as too much though...I guess.

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
I hear you guys are planning a big party. (4.00 / 2)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Boy, I Dunno About Austin (4.00 / 4)
I still blame them for letting Bush get out of town alive.
[ Parent ]
That IS unforgivable. (4.00 / 2)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Billboards in key locations? (4.00 / 5)


"Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people..." Henry Kissinger
[ Parent ]
i would donate (4.00 / 4)
to a billboard, seriously!  been hawking billboards forever now.  i like their 'in your face can't turn the dial' aspect.  plus, they're big.  :-)  

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
I would also donate (4.00 / 6)
especially if it were one of OPOL's graphics. Now that should get some attention.

"Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people..." Henry Kissinger
[ Parent ]
i would scrape something together (4.00 / 3)
but ONLY if the billboard was in a red, red large southern town....hot'lanta, charleston, savanah, charlotte.....you get the idea

beacause these are the eyes that need opening most

come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
I'm having a dialog. (4.00 / 19)
One half of my brain is saying to the other, "Well, WTF did you expect anyway? An election based on the issues? The End of the War in Iraq? Economic justice? Peace? Universal Health care? Fair treatment of immigrants? Preservation of the Constitution? Candidates on the left who would act in your interest?"

And the other says, "M*****f*cker.  M*****f*cker. M*****f*cker. M*****f*cker."

And the first says, "You talkin to me?  You talkin to me?"

And the other says, "You know, you already knew it was this f*cked up, right?  I mean: it's not a surprise if you've been paying any attention at all for the past 40 years.  And you have been paying attention, yes?"

Has it come down to this?  I am so beyond bitter.  
 

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.

I hear that brother... (4.00 / 17)
to me it just makes Hillary's nonsense that much more infuriating.  Bitter my ass.  Who is she trying to kid?

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
davidseth (4.00 / 14)
are you in my head or am i in yours?

& yes...

I am so beyond bitter.  

so, So, SO beyond bitter.

come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
Ria (4.00 / 4)
i think he's in mine, as well!  =:-0  

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
. (4.00 / 16)
Photobucket

Reality is the result of war between two rival groups of programmers,

so....Roar Louder!!!

WOW. (4.00 / 13)

Now THIS... is powerful OPOL!

Very "kestrel-esqe!" Ha!

And what, exactly (4.00 / 12)
is that supposed to mean? :) :) :) :)

lolololololololololololol

You might have that backwards!


[ Parent ]
If There's Anything I Miss About Big Orange (4.00 / 9)
it's the daily kes.

FYI, kestrels are everywhere around here these days...snapping up emerging insects, spring peepers and the odd small rodent.  The other raptors are also out in remarkable numbers.  We even have a bald eagle nest a couple of hundred feet from the drive to our lock and dam.  The eagles are busy refurbishing it for this year's hatch.

Thank you, Rachel Carson.  

[ Parent ]
we are being buried by an avalanche of historical injustice........ (4.00 / 12)

exactly (4.00 / 5)
and nothing short of that.

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
OPOL, You Can Ease Your Outrage (4.00 / 8)
by going to church.  Be sure to take your gun with you.
I always take my gun when I go to church... (4.00 / 7)
it's a dangerous place.

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Amen. ;-) n/t (4.00 / 6)

[ Parent ]
i'm bitter (4.00 / 17)
and outraged:

"I think you reserve impeachment for grave, grave breaches, and intentional breeches of the president's authority," he said.

"I believe if we began impeachment proceedings we will be engulfed in more of the politics that has made Washington dysfunction," he added. "We would once again, rather than attending to the people's business, be engaged in a tit-for-tat, back-and-forth, non-stop circus."



the glory, the love, the madness.
For Those Without the Inclination To Click, (4.00 / 6)
those words belong to Barack Obama.

'Nuff said.

[ Parent ]
That's sad. (4.00 / 4)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Ronald Raygunz was the keynote speaker at my HS graduation in '64 (4.00 / 14)

I was sitting there, so not into listening to him and his John Birch Society crap, when my mother elbows me in the ribs. With an intensity I rarely saw in her she asked if I was paying attention, I shrugged and said "Why, this guy is really stupid". Firmly, and I do mean firmly, she said, "These are the people you have to be afraid of". Mid 50's she was the state chair of the Democratic party for one term and she really knew what she was talking about.

But it took me all the time up until the idiot left Crawford to realize what she was talking about (there was a discussion after the speech), and the importance of what was said then didn't sink in.

Bitter? Outrage? Depressed? Confused? All those emotions are my heritage now. But the big one, the strongest emotion I feel these days is guilt, plain and simple. I didn't do as much as I could have from '64 up to the present to keep the present circumstances from happening. Instead of just voting, I could have been an active volunteer, but I never did, I just lived out my life in my personal little reality not really paying attention to the world around me.

I can't beat my self up over it I know, but, "I wish'a, I could'a" is going to be a part of my life now. Along with a whole lot more activism.

visualize: the act of the mind using spiritual energy to manifest in the physical realm  

Hey (4.00 / 7)
what's up with the "1" on Alma upthread?
Mousegraphical error?
Fix, maybe?
[ Parent ]
am positive it was a mistake (4.00 / 7)
it happens, sometimes, especially if (at least on my browser) i don't click in the page before scrolling up or down after reccing a comment.  without the click, my ponies revert to wrongs.  and i recently accidently hide one of Budhy's comments!  thank goodness he's a compassionate man, someone else might have shot me!  

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
It's very easy to do... (4.00 / 9)
a silly millimeter off and BLAMMO!

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
If You Think That's Tough, (4.00 / 2)
try rating stuff at MyDD.  Rating anything there is a two-step process.  Clicking "Mojo" or "Troll" is only the first step.  Nothing "takes" until you click "Rate all".

If you have a bunch of recs clicked and then want to reply to a post, all your recs will disappear if you hit "Reply" before you submit them with "Rate all".  Then you have to go back and do them again.

There may be a way around that but damifiknow what it is.

[ Parent ]
damifi'd bother to go there! (4.00 / 3)
what a messed up system!

come firefly-dreaming with me....
[ Parent ]
A day later , but sorry Alma, totally mouse error, fixed (4.00 / 1)


visualize: the act of the mind using spiritual energy to manifest in the physical realm  
[ Parent ]
No problem (0.00 / 0)
I kind of figured thats what it was.  :)
[ Parent ]
The Illuminati Plan to Destroy America (4.00 / 8)
Yes we are all in fact Katrina victims.
Things should start breaking down soon and we might do well with a paradigm shift towards pure unadulterated survivalism.

Get off the electronic surveillance grid.  Pay for more stuff in cash, real cash money.  All of that data mining money used to check if I bought a 60 inch TV tax free in New Hampshire will then have been wasted simply because it won't be on my American Distress Card.

I don't, and will never own a device creating brain tumors commonly known as a cell phone unless there is some strategic anti-government reason to do so.

Convert stocks and paper only assets to liquid assets.  You are voting no confidence in the economy and making a point that Wall Street is only investing in things that would terminate the continuation of your family name.

Stock up, food, tools, gardening, homeopathics, alternative and 12 volt systems, water filtration and decontamination.  It could be the new American industry.

Whatever you do to others you also do to yourself!

The Illuminati Plan.... (4.00 / 5)
Oh, shut up. >;)
Or go back to Alex Jones, or even, Hal Turner talks that shit, you know.
This is a place for people with some grounding in reality, as opposed to those who believe, for example, that it wasn't a plane that hit the Pentagon.
I bit your tinfoil and it made my fillings twinge.
[ Parent ]
I had to look up Hal Turner (4.00 / 12)
Eeeewww gross, and AM radio with Sean Hannity, double gross.
Unlike Mr. Crashing no Gates they at least allow me here to bring up crap blacklisted by M$M and with an anti-New World Order slant, which now returns 42 million Google hits.  To me at least it provides substantial relief from two junior high schoolers doing the racist/sexist thing.

I lived your "reality" until I went to business school and found out I was just a fuckee of elite global parasites.  My mistake here was in using the dreaded Pavlovian "I" word instead of the mythical but real Globo-corp.

Whatever you do to others you also do to yourself!

[ Parent ]
kestrel (4.00 / 16)
i find nothing wrong in lasthorsemans urging everyone to give up their plastic...use cash. this is just one way to get back at the banking industry/wallstreet.

nothing wrong in the idea of planting & stocking up your own food, or buying locally. this is but one way to get back at agri-buisness who are putting small farmers out-of-buisness, using chemicles developed for war as poisons for bugs, genetically modifying every seed in sight to develop vegetables that can be shipped thousands of miles but each year have less and leaa nutrtional value.

nothing wrong in his notion that cell phones may be harmful....did you see the article stating something about the president may be calling/texting you in case of a national emergency? doesn't that seem Wrong to you too?

& what about these onstar things in cars.... exactly who has access to that info of where i am at any given moment?

do i believe in the black helicopters and conspiracy theories too much? maybe.

but i love my tinfoil hat of light.

it doesn't mean i expect YOU to wear one.

be excellent!

come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
Abandoning Plastic (4.00 / 7)
I would suggest we all do that ASAP...before they figure out how to make untraceable cash illegal to use as payment for any large purchase.

That time is coming, you know.  Banks already have to report cash transactions totaling $10,000 in one day.  Note that's a total...not an individual transaction.  If you give four grandchildren $2,500 each, Uncle Satan wants to know about it.

It's called the "Bank Secrecy Act"...as in there ain't no secrecy any more where banks are concerned.

Link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

(Dammit, how do I get a link in here using cool words instead of http://www.gibberish?)

LMAO!!  I see on preview that our software thinks www.gibberish?) is a real website.  I wonder what happens if you click on it.

[ Parent ]
see 'new essay' (4.00 / 5)
it has many tips & tricks....

i've found the [xxx httpxxx] only works if you have one link to do....

so if you're doing an essay & want to do a buncha links you gotta do the < a href....> thingeys :(


come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
"New Essay?!" (4.00 / 5)
Well, duh.  I kept looking in the stuff about posting comments, since I'm not the most prolific essayist here.

Thank you, ma'am.

[ Parent ]
i also JUST found (4.00 / 6)
'FAQ' (frequently asked questions!)

huh! these site admins had all the answers....i just didn't know where to look (its taken me since sept to learn/find all this stuff....guess i'm enjoying the essays too much!)

come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
Illuminati? Homeopathy? (4.00 / 4)
There's two ideas that belong in the same thought.

I agree with a lot you have to say, as well as Ria.  There are conspiracies in the world--that's why the word exists, but a world wide, centuries long, completely successful conspiracy to rule the world?  Come back down to earth.

Don't like Cell phones?  Don't use them.

Don't trust On-star?  Don't buy it (I myself don't like the idea of On-star Big Brother AT ALL!).

Want Homeopathic "cures"?  Save your money and carve yourself a magic wand.

Bush Sucks!

[ Parent ]
one person's tea (4.00 / 6)
is another person's homeopathic cure. surely there's room for both here, Boise Lib.

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
Of course, plenty of room for all! (4.00 / 2)
Here's a piece by James Randi on Homeopathy, enjoy.



Bush Sucks!

[ Parent ]
rec'd for straightening out my (4.00 / 3)
screwed up definition of homeopathy....

i thought it was using herbs/plants for medicine... you know~ teas, tinctures, oils, etc.

who is this james randi?

come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
Hi Ria. (4.00 / 2)
James Randi was a stage magician for many years (The Great Randii).  When Uri Geller claimed special mental abilities for his parlor tricks James Randi started his carrer as a debunker.  He has had a reward for one million dollars out for decades--if anyone can prove that they have any "paranormal" abilities he will give them a million--he's never had any takers (only fakers).

I've been thinking about an essay on Randi and critical thinking for a while now.  You just convinced me to get to work (thanks and also damn, now I have to get to work).

Bush Sucks!

[ Parent ]
Actually (4.00 / 2)
one person's tea IS everyone's Homeopathic cure.

Bush Sucks!
[ Parent ]
Our passivity in the face of evil will be the shame of this generation (4.00 / 11)
We did nothing. We kept quiet and waited for it to pass, and in this decision we lost our dignity and our honor. We cannot un-plunder Iraq and restore the lost lives. We cannot un-torture the victims of Bush's monstrous regime. We cannot un-spend the vast sums that have been squandered.

But, worst of all, we cannot undo our capitulation to evil. All we can do is apologize, again and again, to future generations.  

we didn't all (4.00 / 9)
do nothing, ANKOSS.  but what we did wasn't enough, or there wasn't enough of us, or whatever whatever... and for that i am accountable.  but we weren't all passive and i am quite grateful to all who have spoken out.

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
To be honest with you ANKOSS, (4.00 / 8)
your words ignite the same kind of response in me that the preachers in fundamentalist churches used to.

I know there is a place for collective accountability. But I will NOT be shamed by the actions of people I do not support, never voted for, and have done just about everything in my power to stop. Granted, my power to stop them has been limited. But I did not capitulate to anything they've done.

From my experience, the kind of shame you talk about is debilitating. Perhaps not for you. But it is for me.

I certainly don't hold myself innocent in all this. But I'll praise the actions of those here who have put their all into stopping it before I'll consider the need for any shame.

Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it. Mahatma Gandhi

[ Parent ]
And even if we fail... (4.00 / 4)
...to stop the madness, as Sophie Scholl and the White Rose society were unable to stop that madness, those who have said "NO" in word and action cannot be numbered as the "Good Germans of the early 21st Century."

The fierce urgency of now.  Martin
[ Parent ]
Me too n/t (4.00 / 7)

i'm outraged BUT (4.00 / 10)
but have to take this off-topic a bit

you definitely have a contingent of female DD fans... and if your ears were burning last night, it's because the gals were talking about how great we think you are

keep on it OPOL... we hear you YELLING LOUDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

The Girls of Docudharma... (4.00 / 10)
sounds like a Playboy spread.  :-)

(Sorry.)

On a more serious note, I am a huge fan of each and every one of you and I'm just grateful you aren't saying terrible things about me (you aren't are you?).  :-P

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem

[ Parent ]
LOL (4.00 / 7)
the girls of docudharma playboy spread... just laughing... whaddya think ladies?



Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

[ Parent ]
I will if you will pf (4.00 / 4)
the girls of docudharma playboy spread

Boy, wouldn't THAT shake some people up?!!  lmao  

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde

[ Parent ]
Hey I don't even want to see (4.00 / 4)
myself naked so I am pretty sure nobody else will either!

But I can take the pictures!

[ Parent ]
The official spokesperson for The Girls of Docudharma (4.00 / 4)
told me I could take the pictures . . .

And told me you will be Ms. January, undercovercalico.

But if I hear any more of this OPOL OPOL OPOL swoon swoon swoon sigh sigh sigh swoon swoon swoon all over the place, I'm going to have to reconsider my participation in this project.

[ Parent ]
Oh we talked about YOU (4.00 / 3)
as well Rusty and it was all quite flattering. But really. Do you blame us for swooning over OPOL? He is the man.
[ Parent ]
As long as I can supervise the posing and can take the pictures (4.00 / 3)
for this Girls of Docudharma photo spread, you can all swoon over OPOL to your heart's content.

Just not during the photo sessions.  

[ Parent ]
Seems like a fair deal...n/t (4.00 / 3)

[ Parent ]
hey ucc, welcome home! (4.00 / 3)
And I'm thinking that Rusty taking the above picture spread
would be one hell of a reality check!  heehee

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde
[ Parent ]
We all.... (4.00 / 2)
swooned when we talked about you.....
[ Parent ]
Awwww go on... (4.00 / 2)
:-P

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Just another... (4.00 / 5)
...female DD fan for OPOL!

The fierce urgency of now.  Martin
[ Parent ]
i have said more than once (4.00 / 4)
i am doing write-in this election....

OPOL for president!!

come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
OPOL -- boy, do I share your outrage! (4.00 / 7)
I've even given consideration to becoming a "martyr."  I don't think I could be within 2 feet of any of these people without losing it and then, I would be shot dead.

The anger and frustration of doing all that we can "legally" and still having not enough impact perpetuates our anger and frustration.

I sometimes view the whole of it as totally surreal -- it's not really happening -- but, it is and we view it with a kind of disbelief that this has all happened in our country.  It has happened because it wasn't stopped in the beginning, the beginning of illegal aggression, thus, the aggressions have continued and still, no stoppage.  Partly, because of the "fear" factor that has become so engrained in many and mostly, because of the fact that Americans have been so long to catch on to what has been going on, i.e., TV news.

I agree with those above that your collages should be displayed.  But, displaying them means one of two things:  one displaying them to engage and wake people up, or two, displaying them for artistic quality.  I know the "message" is stronger to you and it is to me, as well, despite the artistry, which was your point for creating them in the first place.  

I can offer, as an idea, the Metropolitan Art Museum of Chicago, as a place that may have some interest.  I've been there and have seen photographic works, etc.  If you were to present a collection of collages, a series, so to speak, who knows, it may work.  Another alternative may be small art galleries, who do take on unusual and different forms of art. Wish I could be more helpful in this light.

P.S.  I have sorely missed being here for a number of weeks.  Mainly, the computer broke down -- permanently.  Taxes, and a general need to take care of other serious matters, thus, my contribution will be somewhat sparce, but certainly, my heart is here with you and all of the rest who put their hearts out in this most dreadful period of our history.    

Say "YES" to Generation We  Go there, read the Petition and sign, if you agree!   Say "YES" to GENERAL STRIKE

Thank you tahoebasha. (4.00 / 6)
Good to see you my friend.

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Thank you, OPOL, for keeping the drum beating, and equally good to see you! (4.00 / 5)
One thing I forgot and, I'm sure you probably already know, but I just want to remind you that should you submit any of your works, be sure to have the copyright logo on each of them, whether it's so or not -- it should serve as a deterrent to theft.

Say "YES" to Generation We  Go there, read the Petition and sign, if you agree!   Say "YES" to GENERAL STRIKE
[ Parent ]
Hi OPOL (4.00 / 11)
We have shake-the-head disorder too.

In 2004 my husband (11 bravo 'Nam bronze star) wanted a newspaper just to see what was happening in Iraq.  It was early April, right before Sy Hersch broke the Abu Ghraib story.  That Sunday, April 4, we could not find the word Iraq on the front page of a single national newspaper.  

What was going on, we debated for hours.  Were journalists gagged?  My husband sourly remarked that he hadn't heard if indeed they had "won" the "war."

Until Abu Ghraib, it was distinctly uncool in the US to be political for most people.  There are still family members who won't "talk politics," totally unaware that it's all politics.

Meanwhile a 10 trillion national debt (close) cha-chinged its way (from around 5 trillion in 2000) onto the US taxpayers' tab.  No one asked, no one debated, and evidently scant few cared.  Or thought about the consequences.

Here we are in 2008, collectively discovering that the hull's been ripped out.  People still regard it as too complex, that the entire mortgage industry served as collateral to "finance" the national debt (in huge measure the price of wars over the past century).

In light of all this I can but say, what are you to do with a people who refuse to pay attention to the wars its nation wreaks on others?  Can one feel that sorry for a people who refuse to pay attention until it hits them in the pocketbook?

I'm not saying I regard this with mirth, not for a moment.  Because everything's wildly spooling out of control now due to the decimation of the US currency, with all the "players" on Wall Street mostly abandoning collapsing cash for commodities and hoarding, thus provoking food scarcities and riots all over the world.

All that is the price of people who couldn't be bothered to question what their government did overseas, who maybe thought life in other countries was cheaper/less worthy in God's sight.  Now the wrath of the world is focusing on the US due to the collapsing dollar (due to debt/the phony hypothecation of real estate values).

I don't think anyone's going to get it until foreign troops arrive to fight.  And every empire crumbles one day.  But how can we deny that most citizens refused to pay attention until the war literally cost them their mortgage?  If they even comprehend the connection now?

I pity the US people, I do.  But only to a point.  

And now the inevitable is here... bankruptcy.  Such is the cost of ceaseless war since WWII.

Non-Borrowed reserves of US depository institutions (1950 - 02/2008) - Source Federal reserve of Saint Louis

Harsh but true stonemason... (4.00 / 7)
thank you my friend.

"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
Unfortunately, stonemason, there is so much truth to what you say! (4.00 / 8)
But, largely, it's been because the American people have not been aware and thus, not on top of all that has happened in this country.  I think most of us have said that until it hits the American populace in their "pockets," there will be no outrage!  It's now beginning to take hold, I think.

Incidentally, the foreclosures were inevitable.  There was an LTE in my newspaper in the Tribune (Chicago) on March 21, 2008, and which sticks in my gut, as follows:

Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke are the reason there is a sub-prime crisis.  They did nothing to stop the predatatory lending that causes the crises.  They were warned by the attorneys general of all 50 states and did nothing.  So each state passed its own laws to regulate sub-prime lending.  But in 2003, during the height of the crisis, Bush invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act that pre-empted all state predatory lending laws and then made new rules that prevented states from enforcing their own consumer protection laws against national banks.  Bush, Paulson and Bernanche did everyinting in their power to let his crisis run its course.  Why would Bush & Co. knowing allow predatory lending that would cost the citizens of the U.S. their houses, pensions and jobs?

They deliberately sabotaged our economy.  Were they hoping it would not fall apart until a Democrat took the White House?

It is so clear that BushCo have been trying to "Katrinalize" us all that one should not even think otherwise.

Finally, Lasthorsesman, above, is not leading anyone astray.  If we were to become more self-sustaining, seeking our own ways to survive -- the corporate mongols would ultimately feel the crunch and seek, ultimately, to accommodate us, perhaps.

Say "YES" to Generation We  Go there, read the Petition and sign, if you agree!   Say "YES" to GENERAL STRIKE

[ Parent ]
as Johnny Carson used to say (4.00 / 8)
"I did not know that."

But in 2003, during the height of the crisis, Bush invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act that pre-empted all state predatory lending laws and then made new rules that prevented states from enforcing their own consumer protection laws against national banks.

The mortgage industry was very deliberately set up as collateral for foreign debtors.  No one knows better than them that it's a fiat currency, and they sought collateral.  Well, welcome to the bitter future.

I don't see clout mustered for putting corporate moguls in a pinch.  Heck they're gone, doing business elsewhere.  Most people in the US don't realize that the wealthy mostly fled with the money a long time ago.  They have basically left the nation to rot.

[ Parent ]
hey!!! tahoe! (4.00 / 6)
you're back!

i just asked Alma about you. glad you're okay and it was just a computer issue.

hellooooooooooooo!

Well the first man comes along that can read Latin is welcome to rob us, far as I'm concerned. I'd like a chance t' shoot at a educated man once in my life. Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

[ Parent ]
Hi, pfiore8. I've missed being here. (4.00 / 4)
Thanks for thinking of me.  Alma had told me.

I hope your packing is coming along O.K. -- won't be long now for the BIG move, eh?


Say "YES" to Generation We  Go there, read the Petition and sign, if you agree!   Say "YES" to GENERAL STRIKE

[ Parent ]
OPOL, tahoebasha3, others, here's a bulletin (4.00 / 4)
When I tried to find the source of the (VERY ENLIGHTENING) information posted above by tahoebasha3, it led to a very interesting source and story which I have now chronicled in a diary currently titled my Johnny Carson moment.

It turns out there is a very interesting back story to the fall of Elliot Spitzer.  Have a look if you will.

[ Parent ]
update (4.00 / 4)
I have retitled it to "Crying Rape."
[ Parent ]
That graph is... (4.00 / 8)
...the most profound statement on this entire f***up I've seen.  Simple, short, pictographic, and as they say in mathematics, "elegant!"

The fierce urgency of now.  Martin
[ Parent ]
very Wile E Coyote (4.00 / 2)
absolutely.  It broke my husband's heart, and mine.  I should say, I can't claim to sense the fullness of this.

Thank you.

Someone whose words on it so exceed mine is James Howard Kunstler:

Has there ever been a society so exquisitely rigged for implosion? The whole listing, creaking, reeking edifice stands like one of those obsolete Las Vegas pleasure palaces awaiting a mere pulse of electrons to ignite a thousand explosive charges perfectly placed to blow away the structural supports.

    The inertia holding everything together that I described in last year's forecast finally melted away at mid-summer and events began spooling out of control. Specifically, the massive tonnage of debt-backed securities circulating through the financial sector stood revealed for the mostly worthless bales of paper they truly are, and the investment community was left suspended in mid-air, grinning unconvincingly, like Wile E. Coyote thirteen yards beyond the edge of the mesa, with a sputtering grenade in each hand and an anvil tied to his ankles.

Also a fine painter, his sketches in words just don't quit:

The United States is so broke, its people at every level from the Federal Reserve on down don't know whether to shit or go blind. The homeowners cringing in the media rooms of their 5000-square-foot personal family resorts don't know how long they can stay put microwaving pepperoni hot pockets with the default clock ticking. The mortgage "servicers" don't know how they will persuade interested parties like, say, the Illinois State Cafeteria Workers' Pension Fund (holder of X-amount of mortgage-backed securities underwritten by, say, Merrill Lynch or Deutsche Bank) to foreclose on properties scattered everywhere from Key West to Bainbridge Island -- or if there is actually any legal mechanism known to man that would make it possible to "work out" the sliced-and-diced collateral. The millions of maxed-out credit card holders and the issuers of their plastic are stuck together paddling a leaky tub in a sea of troubles every bit as wide, deep, and polluted as the one the mortgage junkies and their enablers are sinking in. The developers of malls, office parks, and power centers are weeping into their filing cabinets as the harsh daylight of insolvency stops the orgy of "consumption" and the retail tenants pack up their unsellable goodies for the liquidators, and the rent checks stop arriving in the mail, and the notes on this mall and that mall enter the eerie realm of "non-performance." And, of course, there are the genius wonder boyz and Wall Street playerz whose algorithms and turpitudes underwrote the script of this horror show -- for all I know they'll end up laughing into sugary skull drinks on a beach in the Cayman Islands, or doing Chinese fire drills in federal prison (or simply ass-fucked on the granite countertops of their Tribecca aeries by mobs of angry, repossessed, swindled former American dreamers pouring into Manhattan from the tract house dormitories of New Jersey and Long Island).  ( from "Fullblown Panic, January 21, 2008

Worth your read.

[ Parent ]
Rove's dirtiest trick (4.00 / 5)
turned out to be the media. Rove matered divide and conquor, but the media found out that fear sells.

When I went to have my gall bladder removed, I jokingly asked a nurse how many anthrax cases they had lately. She thought I was serious and said only a few walk-ins, but hundreds of calls complaining of symptoms.

Why should the media point out the need for oversight and investigations when they can have Lou Dobbs fill up the time with insinuations that illegal immigrants carry leprosy.

It looks like Obama will get the nod for the Democratic candidate. I like his manner of speaking, and I like a lot of the vacuous stuff he says. The problem is when I hold up his actions against his words. Or the things he doesn't say about investigations and accountability. He should be shouting at the podium about Congress abdicating their powers, and how many in Congress have chosen to uphold loyalty over the Constitution.

Clinton certainly isn't any better.

They know anything they say will be shredded by the media. They will be made to look like America-hating, elitist communists who are in league with Islamofacists intent on putting a terrorist on every block.

I look at Haiti recently and they have been storming the palace. Do you know why I think we don't do the same? Because we think we have something to lose. We'll get in trouble and they might take our stuff away and make us go to rehabilitation classes and fine us. I guess it's only when you are hungry or you have seen half your family killed by the government that things look a little different and realize that you really don't have anything to lose.

As long as we have food and fear hanging over our heads, the politicians will do whatever they want.

Contempt of Congress is a state of mind.

freedom (4.00 / 6)
another word for nothing left to lose....

come firefly-dreaming with me....
[ Parent ]
One of the three best lines EVER!! (4.00 / 5)


Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde
[ Parent ]
Yipee! We're all free! :-o (4.00 / 1)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
ala Monty Python - (4.00 / 1)
Look on the brighter side of life....

;-]

Always forgive your enemies.  Nothing annoys them so much. ~Oscar Wilde

[ Parent ]
Might as well. :-) (4.00 / 2)


"The truth shall set you free - but first it'll piss you off." Gloria Steinem
[ Parent ]
I'm Not Bitter - I'm Outraged | 128 comments
Reform Immigration -
March for America
Sunday, March 21
 

March on Washington
Saturday, March 20
 

 

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