freshwest

freshwest's Journal

September 24, 2013

Yup. Can't resist. Sorry if it's old to you. Not as old as recycled anxiety:

I'm ah tellin' ya, and we still have this TEOTWAWKI in my area of the country:

So skeered I won't be able to sleep...

September 23, 2013

I'd like to think that would work. But see, they followed Ron Paul and feel it's not their fault.

They are purists, superior to all others. In losing in 2008 and 2012, they feel they are victims and react with red-hot anger against all the 'sheeple.' If you don't go along, you're the enemy.

Specifically to your good suggestions,. which might work on some baggers, but not all:

Limbaugh: They'll say they never listened since he's a Republican. He never supported full freedom an liberty like Alex Jones, et al. Their savior is now Rand Paul who is only GOP since Libertarians are oppressed. And Ron Paul was robbed - twice!

Bush: They will say he was a statist enabler of big government.

Iraq: They'll say they were never for Iraq as they are always anti-war much more than you, (except on the poor but that's another story there). If they profited off it, they say it's NOYB and why shouldn't they make some money?

Wall Street Deregulation: Their answer is government regulation is restraining the free market and is the reason for the problems. If you didn't get rich from Wall Street, you're a loser and probably a moocher.

They have an answer for all of those, really. Their catch all for all the evil in the world is government, and people would just be fine if it all went away. Like they are in Somalia. They actually support that. It's freedom!

Thank you very much for the suggestions and support, though.

September 23, 2013

Tears. Strong arms. Comfort. Love:

...What Robert Kennedy understood, what Dr. King understood, what all our great leaders have always understood, is that wisdom does not come from tragedy alone or from some sense of resignation in the fallibility of man. Wisdom comes through the recognition that tragedies such as this are not inevitable, and that we possess the ability to act and to change, and to spare others the pain that drops upon our hearts. So in our grief, let us seek that grace. Let us find that wisdom...

Thank you, President Obama and Michelle for your compassion, wisdom and vision.

September 22, 2013

'The oddest thing is the absolute pure anti-Democratic party hatred.'

Very true, that. I've only seen it from the most extreme RW boards, Rush, Fox blowhards, Infowars and Glennbeckistan.

Dripping with disdain, utter contempt that has nothing to do with real life people working for our party's platform. Worse, really, because they come close up and with sharper knives instead of baseball bats like the Tea Baggers.

They know the words that wound, memes that slice the guts out of people, and offer no solution but their way or the highway.

It's an infectious disease, immune to all facts and reasoning and there is no cure, no amount of trying to make one's position clear. At times, I wonder if I'm talking to a living breathing human being or a computer program designed to flay the skin off and devour the heart of compassion.

Just sayin'

September 21, 2013

OMG! There you go after that rail! What of our sacred cows, will there be BBQ? Sorry, just bad today

The thought of nearly a million people out of work, soldiers forced to work without pay, millions of people (1 in 8 in my state) suffering food cuts, is making me cranky as hell.

I mean, damn it, it's the LEAST that a civilized society could do. It's what is given to people in floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters. We are suffering through a man-made disaster begun by Nixon and Reagan, through Nordquist, then the Randian Supermen and their population reduction and enslavement program.

Worried about a fascist dictatorship by Obama? Keep your eye on the shiny thing over there while they do it from the ground up and sneak up on you.

20% of military families are on food stamps. A good read with excellent political sense by a veteran on food stamps and an image I added:

My Name Is Jason, I’m A 35-Yr-Old White Male Combat Veteran… And I’m On Food Stamps

--snip--

My name is Jason. I turned 35 less than a week ago. My first job was maintenance work at a public pool when I was 17. I worked 40-hours a week while I was in college. I’ve never gone longer than six months without employment in my life and I just spent the last three years in the military, one of which consisted of a combat tour of Afghanistan.

Oh, and I’m now on food stamps. Since June, as a matter of fact.

Why am I on food stamps?

The same reason everyone on food stamps is on food stamps: because I would very much enjoy not starving.

I mean, if that’s okay with you:

…Mr. or Mrs. Republican congressman.

…Mr. or Mrs. Conservative commentator.

…Mr. or Mrs. “welfare queen” letter-to-the-editor author.

…Mr. or Mrs. “fiscal conservative, reason-based” libertarian.

I do apologize for burdening you on the checkout line with real-life images of American-style poverty. I know you probably believe the only true starving people in the world have flies buzzing around their eyes while they wallow away, near-lifeless in gutters.

Hate to burst the bubble, but those people don’t live in this country.

I do. And millions like me. Millions of people in poverty who fall into three categories.

Let’s call them the “lucky” category, since conservatives seem to think people on welfare have hit some sort of jackpot:

Those living paycheck to paycheck? They’re a little lucky.

Those living unemployment check to unemployment check? They’re a little luckier.

Those living 2nd of the month to 2nd of the month? *ding* We’ve hit the jackpot!

The 2nd of the month being the time when funds gets electronically deposited onto the EBT card, for those who’ve never been fortunate enough to hit that $175/month Powerball.

I fall into the latter two categories. But I’ve known people recently - soldiers in the Army – who were in the first and third. They were off fighting in Afghanistan while their wives were at home, buying food at the on-post commissary with food stamps.

And nobody bats an eye there, because it’s not uncommon in the military.

It’s not uncommon – nor is it shameful. It might be shameful how little service-members are paid, but that’s a separate issue.

The fact remains anyone at a certain income level can find it difficult from time to time to pay for everything. And when you’re poor you learn to make sacrifices. Food shouldn’t be one of them.

The whole concept is un-American. People living here, in the greatest country on Earth, with the most abundant resources, should be forced to go hungry because of the intellectual notion of fiscal conservatism and the ideological notion of self-reliance.

Are you fucking kidding me?

I didn’t risk my life in Afghanistan so I could come back and watch people go hungry in America. I certainly didn’t risk it so *I* could come back and go hungry.

http://thesterlingroad.com/2013/09/19/my-name-is-jason-im-a-35-yr-old-white-male-combat-veteran-and-im-on-food-stamps/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023699016

Here's one to chew on, as the differences in the two parties has never been more clear, to those who know the facts:

Why does the Republican Party zealously pursue policies so obviously counter to the best interests of ordinary Americans?

Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights, civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance reform, the environment and tax fairness. No political party could remain so consistently wrong by accident.

The only rational conclusion is that, despite their cynical "family values" propaganda, the Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to betray the interests of the American people in favor of plutocratic and corporate interests, and absolutist religious groups.

Why? Because they're...

No, I'm not going to be nice about it.

September 21, 2013

He's wrong when he says this:

"Say what you like. Go to hell Yankee shits. We're free. The rest doesn't matter!" Ramirez said.

Dear Mr. Ramirez, et al:

No, you're scurrying to pay tribute to your new lords and masters, the Chinese corporate CEOs. That might not sit too well with your peasant class, though.

So keep flogging that dead horse from history to make the USA the big villain and wave scraps of colored fabric over your dead. You trained people to howl when you blow the dog whistle. Surely the local press and the man in the street will praise your big cojones for elevating discourse by using the word shit. Meh.

But the Chinese now own your ass, just like they own so many resources in the Americas. Without voting but with the collusion of governments and oligarchs there, you will sell your land and your people to your new masters.

Any resistance mounted by the indigenous peoples to stop being slaughtered by the armed forces of global interests were not resisted by 'free©' governments. Who knows, maybe there is something to be learned from all of this. The world is not what you tell us, but we knew that all along, didn't we?

In all cases, even the USA, they are called 'allies.' But the global interests, like all merchants, regard no land as sacred, nor the living flora, fauna and people that rely on it. They only want what they can take to other places, like pirates. Did you fight the forces that dictate your foreign and domestic policy, are you really 'free©' when you do the bidding of Russia, China, etc.?

During the course of the bloody resource wars in Latin America, you stood by and let the masses fight and kill each other in the behalf of your friends, like the ones you are flying to visit right now.

You are not 'free©' you have merely been summoned. Just because the names are changed, it doesn't protect the guilty. Your 'freedom©' did not protect the innocent. I wouldn't be so quick to point fingers, if I was you.

As much as I love the image below, I'm sure that is not what is going on behind the scenes at all in the present context. AFAIK, those pieces of cloth were just the icing on the coffin, as the forces that run the world don't care about the symbolism that captures the human imagination.

While I prefer the style on the left, it's not really good enough, as it is not just to those who gained capital through education and work, not conquest or chicanery. But can we really separate the two?

What is on the right is not good at all but for a few in a country, the landed ones, and makes landless slaves out of the rest. They and the bounty of nature will all be driven from both sides to feed the global machine.

Nations mean nothing, so quit your swaggering. One may say what idiocy one wants about PBO, but his humility in the face of these foes of equality says much more in terms of realizing hard facts on the ground, and not exploiting people to serve others. I'm sure he is very aware there are immense forces arrayed against common folks.

So Mr. Ramirez, I don't trust your version of 'free©' government to not sell people out, after seeing what your fellow 'freedomfighter©' Evo did in the end, to feed the global machine, with the new brand name, China, attached instead of one of the western names. That doesn't change the facts on the ground, unless Chinese CEOs are more humane than anyone else, something many doubt.

Despite my initial affection for the ideas Evo stood for, I see results. I don't trust him anymore than I trust the USA's Koch-funded 'freedomfighters©.'

DUers, please pardon the sources, but I've read the same stories on the DU, various times and sources:

http://lithiuminvestingnews.com/4140/china-and-bolivia-enter-lithium-resource-agreement/

http://www.globalresearch.ca/bolivia-s-mine-nationalization-of-south-american-silver-corporation/31942

http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/3794.cfm

http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/09/06/behind-bolivias-nationalization-of-canadian-mine/

I don't read these with the emotional and ideological bent they work to convey, so satisfying even to me, but gather meager ideas of what is going on there and cross reference it against my own values.

The indigenous people are pitted against the poor to do the bidding of the same global cabals. It doesn't change the facts to change the names of the owners.

Disclaimer: I'm in a crappy mood so this comment is not at all fair or balanced, and my conclusions may be way off, but when you feel crappy, things are off.

I am not really surprised by much of anything, but we all have to figure out where we are positioned in this global milieu. I leave you this popular quote, which is to be taken with a grain of salt, too:

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.

~ Frank Zappa

September 21, 2013