February 18, 2013

I like it too!!! GREAT piece!

A mere three paragraphs, but VERY powerful! And straight to the point.

Thanks for finding it and posting it here!

February 18, 2013

Wow - what a wonderful, uplifting, inspiring, and comforting story!

How cool and how brave of you to share thoughts and issues this intimate. And how generous!

There are so many deeply caring and compassionate people here on DU. Even the cantakerous ones and in-yer-facers have hearts of gold. I've found personally, and followed what other DUers have shared, that this is a truly great community. To that "large and growing support system of friends and family" you mention, you can add us here. I've seen it again and again - the people here will buoy you up when you need a shoulder or two to lean or even cry on. Chances are you'll get scores of them!

You're correct to have hope. You're correct that you count, that you matter. You're correct that you are well-worth loving. We're glad you're here and that you shared this healing and expansive and illuminating journey. Thank you for this thoughtful and thought-provoking post.

February 18, 2013

Jealous!!! I so badly want to go to the Tucson Gem & Jewelry Show someday. So many beads!!!!

I bet you had a great time!!! I look at all the bead books and mags with a bib on from all the drooling!

And then to top it off with this special bit of good news - it's like adding the perfect clasp to a beautifully assembled necklace! And in Arizona no less! That means whoever was there before left it tuned to MSNBC. There is obviously a recognition of demand there on behalf of that hotel's management. GREAT news! You better believe every little bit helps! The ocean is made of many drops of water.

Great post!!!

February 18, 2013

Certainly does seem like a big fat deja vu, doesn't it?

Deja vu all over again, as the saying goes. We'll be lucky to get past the 15th Century. I just kinda wish it weren't another European, which I suspect we'll wind up with. I'd like to see a pope chosen from an area of the world with the most Catholics. It'd be nice to see some other part of the world represented for a change. AND it'd be nice if mahony stayed home. Why he still gets a voice in this and still enjoys this privilege with all its accompanying perks just makes no sense.

February 18, 2013

There were a few of them - reporters who got fired because they dared to question the war.

If one valued one's job and paycheck, one didn't make waves. It still makes me feel sick to my stomach. And DAMN we here tried so hard to warn people! SO HARD!!! And nobody wanted to listen. No one was paying any attention. Your patriotism was questioned immediately if you weren't in lockstep support of the bushies. I used to get mean, angry, menacing looks from pickup truck drivers on the Ventura Freeway because I dared to have bumper stickers in the rear window of my car that read "War is Not the Answer," "Dean for America, and "bush KNEW." Once my car was even keyed. And one of my tires was slashed. And that was the night my daughter borrowed my car. Only then did I take those bumper stickers off because I was afraid for her. Not so much for me, but if something happened to her at the hand of some knuckledragger, I'd never have forgiven myself.

It was such a bad time. I remember arguing with another one of the "karate moms" in the neighborhood, who just rock-solid insisted that cheney had served. I just-as-rock-solidly insisted otherwise. She refused to believe me - she was what you'd regard as a 1%er and she and her husband were CONservative and voted straight GOP, and I think she thought I was some hippie nut (even though she did like my art - and me too, when we weren't talking politics). It was only when a third neighborhood mom stepped in - a not-so-CONservative 1%er - who verified that I was correct, that cheney never served. And the first woman was visibly shaken, and suddenly started stammering "well, I'm being given wrong information. I'm getting wrong information." Referring to her brother-in-law or some other fellow limbaugh disciple who'd reassured her that yes, cheney had served. It reminded me of one of those old cartoons where the robot shorts out and goes "Tilt!" But did it change anything about her attitude? Did it give her a pause - to think and rethink what she'd been led to believe? Naaah. Not a chance. Wasn't moved to start questioning anything else. She was as relentlessly republi-CON as ever. And since I was one of those silly ol' tax-'n'-spend libruls, she certainly wasn't willing to take my word for it. It took a third person stepping in, independently, to set her straight.

BY THE WAAAAAY - keep in mind that we also have not just the willfully thick-headed but those, like I suspect john mccain is, who are too proud to get real for a moment and admit they were wrong. OH DEAR GOD NO! We can't POSSIBLY have that!!!!!! Must NOT be!!!!

NOBODY likes admitting they were wrong. It takes courage to do that. It takes courage to admit you swallowed the bullshit whole and did not consider raising a single question. It takes a lot of self-examination and honesty and very adult behavior to admit you fell for something without even considering ANY opposing views. Nobody wants to admit, or own up to the fact that they've been had. Which is exactly the case here. I suspect there's some manhood thing going on here with a lot of 'em. The whole Who's-the-Alpha-Male thing. This is a struggle I suspect john mccain has had for most of his life. He's the son and grandson of admirals and he was something like fifth from the BOTTOM in his own Annapolis Naval Academy graduating class. He cost the Navy (and us taxpayers) several jet fighters with his sloppy airmanship. And in one case, he damn near took out the whole carrier on which he blew a landing. Seems to me he had the same father complex dubya had - straining under the weight of a type-A high-achiever dad and the fear that li'l junior just didn't have what it took to fit into the old man's shoes and make them his own, and take his "rightful" place as the alpha male of the whole family. And as we've seen and had to suffer through - that makes for some screwy decisions and reckless behavior and costly waste and ill-advised actions and statements and cockiness that goes straight up the ass.

I think we're gonna see an even pricklier john mccain once this documentary airs. It'll just remind quite a few people across the country where he stood on Iraq, and how nobody with a shred of a brain can say that war was anything but a shitty idea and a lie.

February 18, 2013

Same here, too.

VERY dark red days. Blood red.

February 18, 2013

The saddest part of this is how this is viewed as a "smackdown."

John McCain seemed quite surprised and then immediately enraged when he realized that David Gregory, whose standard reply to Republican talking points is a serious look and then the expression mmhmm, would actually challenge him on something that he said.


Well... I read the transcripts. Unless a forceful tone of voice and some assertive body language (like suddenly leaning forward in your seat, and/or and taking up more visual space by spreading your arms wide across the table, or farther in front of you on the table, to appear more dominant) was used, these are merely gentle little nudges toward reality and the truth of the matter. Too bad that nudges are regarded as "smackdowns" these days. No. I want people to start spouting "You LIE!" I want some of these interviewers to start saying - "that's flatly not true, Senator," or "Congressman, you know you're misrepresenting what happened/rewriting history/not telling the truth." Or even hell, "YOU built it." THIS is considered a smackdown? I want one of these assholes to throw a hissy fit and rip off the mic and stand up and stalk off the set! I want to see them make themselves look so bad that even the thickest media mule-head can't avoid or soft-pedal or deny it.

I'm sorry, maybe I'm going overboard here, but I want pompous double-talking windbags like mccain firmly put in their places. Being nice to them or just making a serious face and saying mm-hmm and nothing more certainly hasn't worked. It's only reinforced and rewarded bad behavior and encouraged it to continue and grow even worse! Because it goes unchecked. It's like giving the tantrum-throwing five-year-old what he/she is demanding by throwing a public fit, instead of taking the child outside and imposing a time-out for a few minutes. You do NOT reward the dog you're training by giving treats when it does something shitty, after all!

It's like this scene in "Fawlty Towers" where this family of three is seated in the hotel dining room. Parents and a maybe 13-year-old boy. And the boy behaves WRETCHEDLY!!! Rude, insulting, disrespectful, and not exactly mumbling about it, either. And the mom's idea of checking that young lout's behavior is merely looking at him sideways with a little smirk and mewling "oh, nnnowwww!" from time to time.

Basically the republi-CONS have been allowed to run amok, unchecked and unrestrained, ever since they got smart about monopolizing the media. It's a multi-pronged campaign involving:
1) buying up critical masses of media
2) programming relentlessly partisan shows wall-to-wall
3) swarming the talk shows and panel discussions with an overabundance of CONservatives all dressed up and photogenic, and loaded with carefully vetted and focus-group-tested talking points.
and more.

I swear - the very same people who sneer at research and science sure have made a science of this! Check out this link that was posted here awhile back. I love this essay so much that I've kept it open on a separate tab on my laptop for weeks!

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2011/07/14-propaganda-techniques-fox-news-uses-to-brainwash-americans/

Gotta be aware of these things at all times! And they're at it constantly, so we always have to be alert and observant. Shit - it's like being on patrol or something. But we have to stay on top of these guys.

February 17, 2013

They are all EXCELLENT!!!

And well worth sharing!!! These all go into my quotes collection!

Thank you for posting them here, ashling! They sure speak for me!

February 17, 2013

You bet your sweet bippy. Li'l jebbie bush is a PNAC signatory.

That ALONE is reason enough to work like hell to keep him OUT of the White House. 'Cause if he gets there, he brings all that same PNAC vermin and all their little friends back into power with him. Take that one to the bank. It doesn't matter HOW circumspect he sounds now, about the Iraq war, it doesn't matter HOW reasonable he talks now. He's STILL one of them. And not to be trusted as far as you can throw your car.

These bastards ALL have to be watched. ALL THE TIME. We have to know where they are and who they hang with AT ALL TIMES! Because that's always a good indication of what they're up to.

February 17, 2013

Yep. You've GOTTA keep track of 'em. ALL of 'em.

And who THEY hang with - in and out of power. Remember bill kristol has a whole set-up of his own with his Weekly Standard magazine that spews all kinds of PNAC and NeoCON poison at every step. Think of the rat's nest THAT is! And who's involved there, writing and editing, and eventually of course, getting face-time on Pox Noise to legitimize them as the next generation of movers and shakers from Hell.

It's exhausting. But it has to be done. We HAVE TO keep track of these people - where they scatter to, and who they work for now, and in what circles they're still actively moving, since they're still out of power with President Obama reelected and the White House remaining OUT of enemy hands. Thank GOD!