[font size=3]We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.
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-George Orwell [/font size]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3652892



We are incessantly bullied to think STUPIDLY, because STUPID THINKING lets corporate thieves and warmongers off the hook.

They managed to MANDATE that *every single American* purchase an outrageously overpriced corporate product for their *entire lives.*

Think about that. What a coup for the one percent. This sort of mandate to buy is unprecedented.

The mandate was the goal all along, and it was planned to profit the insurance companies, period. They knew from the outset that it was nothing that people on either side really wanted, and that is why it was never presented honestly and why we got the Kabuki theater of the negotiations. Not only did our Democratic president make a backroom deal, he lied to the American people and claimed that he had never campaigned on a public option after the deal had been made, just as he had lied to Americans that he would not support a mandate.

It was a brilliant, bipartisan scam.

There is no way in hell that they ever would have been able to sell what was passed to the American people had they gone about it honestly. Not to Democrats, because of opposition to the corporate model, and not to Republicans, because of the government mandate. But fire up one side with the promise of universal coverage, and fire up the other side with the threat of government health care, and you can pass a "COMPROMISE" that nobody wants....except the corporations that will rake in the dough. The mandate on the corporate product was the goal all along.

I remember, just before this passed, watching some pundit on TV discussing polls showing that Democrats hated the plan, and Republicans hated the plan. His conclusion was (I am not making this up), "This must mean they are charting a good middle course."

What a brilliant con. These corporatists, they are very slick at what they do.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4866723

[font size=2]The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.(Stendahl)[/font size]

touting the benefits of reverse mortgages for homeowners and praising the government for making this "tool" available to Americans to enhance their retirement years.

*Real* help from the government would mean making sure wages and benefits and pensions and Social Security make it possible for people to live, buy homes, afford healthcare and education, and retire without the fear of falling into destitution.

Instead, we are offered a multitude of ways to liquidate the possessions we have and transfer the wealth upward to the One Percent before or when we die. Reverse mortgages, annuity liquidations, sell your gold for cash, title loans.

We are to consider this "help." It's the new normal to be grateful for the opportunity to mortgage the house you bought and paid for, because you cannot possibly survive in the economic climate the plutocrats have deliberately orchestrated.

Watch the responses to corporate and predatory policies.

every one of us should be outraged.

It is creepy to live in a propaganda state. These are tactics associated with totalitarian governments. They have no place in a country that purports to be a representative democratic system of government.

And we certainly pay for it.

The relationship of the people to the US government has been fundamentally changed, and in a profound way. Perhaps we have not lived in a free country for some time now, but they have destroyed any remaining illusion of our real relationship to this government most of us were taught to believe was our own.

These are the tactics of a totalitarian state manipulating and exploiting its own people, not something any of us should have to associate with the United States of America.

Hillary Clinton admits role in Honduran coup aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025601610#post29

Thank goodness America is still full of dedicated, conscientious, amazingly coordinated personas to defend the beleaguered NSA, the struggling global banks and corporations, the quivering and impoverished government of the United States, and the trembling MIC against the Massive, Orchestrated Juggernaut of Propaganda being wielded against them by....poor Americans, Glenn Greenwald...um...

You can tell the dedication by the amazing regularity of response....the rush to agree and *keep agreeing* like clockwork, like a drumbeat, to keep this marvel of consensus, this brilliant exposure of everything smeary about Glenn Greenwald and his sinister libertarian propaganda machine, right at the top of the forum!

It's gotta really suck when your *entire,* handpicked administration goes rogue and spends YEARS working aggressively, consistently, and proactively against all of your most cherished goals!

In fact, he is SO deeply and existentially obstructed that his own record looks like this:

The record shows aggressive, proactive pursuit of a corporate agenda,
(This list does not show a president trying to enact a liberal agenda and being obstructed. No, it shows him aggressively and proactively implementing policies for the banks and corporations at the expense of the 99 percent.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3202395

CUT THE CRAP! Your Month in Review from the most "progressive" administration ever.
Whoa! More proactive corporatism!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025006297

Just a Republican thing, huh? Assaulting the Constitution itself
("Good god. I can't stop!"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5554112

Study: Obama's "Trade" Deal (TPP) Would Mean a Pay Cut for 90% of U.S. Workers
("A Republican is making me do it?!"
http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2013/09/the-verdict-is-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-a-sweeping-free-trade-deal-under-negotiation-with-11-pacific-rim-coun.html

Obama’s Latest Betrayal of America and Americans in Favor of the Big Banks: TISA
("Oh, shit. Here I go again!"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/26/1309671/--Obama-s-Latest-Betrayal-of-America-and-Americans-in-Favor-of-the-Big-Banks-TISA-by-Bill-Black

Bombing Syria: The next step in the PNAC playbook, remember?
("They're Democratic peace bombs: TOTALLY different!"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025520459

The "Justice" Department under Obama
("Please, Mr. Holder! Stop! Stop!"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025587151
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025586874

Look at the OFFERS.
("God I hate when this happens!"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022060108