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In reply to the discussion: As Republicans Make Millions Suffer, the Left’s Ideologues Obsess Over Edward Snowden [View all]freshwest
(53,661 posts)159. More from the link, why I'm disgusted with this media circus:
What is happening on the left is a repeat of the events that allowed teabaggers to sweep into power in the House and states in the 2010 midterm elections, and despite the damage voter apathy then is wreaking on the people now, the same contingent of disaffected liberals is drawing attention away from the only solution to stave off more Republican devastation on Americans in distress. Instead of focusing on one mans self-imposed legal problems, the left should be educating Americans about why they are in distress and help prepare them to participate in the next election. It is true Republicans in former Confederate and ALEC-controlled states are passing voter suppression laws, but it highlights the need to start mobilizing Americans who are suffering the effects of the Republican victory in the 2010 midterm elections to prevent more damage if the GOP prevails in the next election. There is absolutely nothing ideological civil libertarians can do to help their hero who banished himself to a Russian airport now or in the future, but they can help their fellow Americans who are real people in distress. It is a mystery why they need an idealized hero, but they found one and it is distracting them from the plight of half the population.
Millions of Americans are suffering and they need assistance now. Senior citizens and disabled Americans unable to leave their homes are going hungry because the sequester cuts anywhere between 5 and 19 million meals from Meals on Wheels, and 775,000 women and children are being dropped from the WIC program by the end of the year due to sequester cuts. Over 100,000 disabled adults, Veterans, and poor families will be put on the streets from the sequesters HUD cuts, and 65,000 children will lose two nutritional meals five days a week from Head Start cuts; 11,500 Head Start jobs will be eliminated as well. These are real numbers affecting real Americans that are in distress and yet, civil libertarian ideologues are focusing their attention on one man who sequestered himself in a Russian airport.
To be fair, a share of the blame lies with the media that has made the expatriates in Russia and South America the focus of so much attention instead of the plight of millions of Americans suffering Republican cuts. In fact to keep Americans distracted, the media focused the peoples attention on a baby born to an English prince, and has been busy providing daily updates on a New York mayoral candidates sexting addiction instead of highlighting the plight of millions of Americans in distress and who can blame them? It is what the people want, and it is just like civil libertarians who want to keep their hero in Russia in the news instead of their neighbors who are struggling in poverty or near poverty.
There is no doubt the people focusing on the plight of Snowden are sincere and passionate, but where is their compassion for millions of their fellow Americans victimized by Republican cuts in their own neighborhoods and families? Women are losing their reproductive rights, children are going hungry, seniors and Veterans are being put out on the streets, and millions of Americans are losing their right to vote, and the same ideologues on the left are distracting attention away from the plight of real Americans in distress. Curiously, and just like 2010, they are focusing their attention on one man who stole and passed on secrets from the United States government instead of Americans in distress.
Those who aren't affected, cannot be bothered with these invisible people. And talk loud and proud about ideology and purity, while others are concerned about those to whom the media gives no time. They offer no solutions, and insult every solution offered. Okay, then. And here's the words of a POTUS who was by no means perfect and would never, ever have passed the purity tests made nowadays:
True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
It's a damned sad thing to see this.
Millions of Americans are suffering and they need assistance now. Senior citizens and disabled Americans unable to leave their homes are going hungry because the sequester cuts anywhere between 5 and 19 million meals from Meals on Wheels, and 775,000 women and children are being dropped from the WIC program by the end of the year due to sequester cuts. Over 100,000 disabled adults, Veterans, and poor families will be put on the streets from the sequesters HUD cuts, and 65,000 children will lose two nutritional meals five days a week from Head Start cuts; 11,500 Head Start jobs will be eliminated as well. These are real numbers affecting real Americans that are in distress and yet, civil libertarian ideologues are focusing their attention on one man who sequestered himself in a Russian airport.
To be fair, a share of the blame lies with the media that has made the expatriates in Russia and South America the focus of so much attention instead of the plight of millions of Americans suffering Republican cuts. In fact to keep Americans distracted, the media focused the peoples attention on a baby born to an English prince, and has been busy providing daily updates on a New York mayoral candidates sexting addiction instead of highlighting the plight of millions of Americans in distress and who can blame them? It is what the people want, and it is just like civil libertarians who want to keep their hero in Russia in the news instead of their neighbors who are struggling in poverty or near poverty.
There is no doubt the people focusing on the plight of Snowden are sincere and passionate, but where is their compassion for millions of their fellow Americans victimized by Republican cuts in their own neighborhoods and families? Women are losing their reproductive rights, children are going hungry, seniors and Veterans are being put out on the streets, and millions of Americans are losing their right to vote, and the same ideologues on the left are distracting attention away from the plight of real Americans in distress. Curiously, and just like 2010, they are focusing their attention on one man who stole and passed on secrets from the United States government instead of Americans in distress.
Those who aren't affected, cannot be bothered with these invisible people. And talk loud and proud about ideology and purity, while others are concerned about those to whom the media gives no time. They offer no solutions, and insult every solution offered. Okay, then. And here's the words of a POTUS who was by no means perfect and would never, ever have passed the purity tests made nowadays:
True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
It's a damned sad thing to see this.
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As Republicans Make Millions Suffer, the Left’s Ideologues Obsess Over Edward Snowden [View all]
flamingdem
Jul 2013
OP
because people _do not care_ about the patriot act if they cant pay their bills
pasto76
Jul 2013
#51
There would not have had a vote on "scaling back" the Patriot Act if not for Snowden.
kentuck
Jul 2013
#71
Well I have been reading about all the horrible things that Obama supposedly does
Vietnameravet
Jul 2013
#7
Are they obsessing over Snowden or are they obsessing over the Republican policies...?
kentuck
Jul 2013
#12
You speak of the left as if we are a bad thing for this country. I get a very strong impression
A Simple Game
Jul 2013
#85
So pointing out that DUers are obsessing over Snowden is obsessing over Snowden?
SunSeeker
Jul 2013
#188
Really? Is he/she fantasizing about having mojitos on the beach with Snowden like some DUers??
SunSeeker
Jul 2013
#199
So, it is the left that forces flamingdem to post dozens of anti-Snowden and Greenwald
Luminous Animal
Jul 2013
#194
The OP claims that the left is obsessing over Snowden. I'm not seeing that...
Luminous Animal
Jul 2013
#198
What irony. Look around. THose obsessed here in DU with Snowden and put up post after post
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#17
Democrats usually side with whistle-blowers and not the authoritarian state.
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#25
Why do posters here define the "left" by their own narrow purist criteria
BumRushDaShow
Jul 2013
#68
If you are so "progressive" why dont I ever see you posting in threads that pertain to
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#123
So tell us what issues you are interested in, besides Snowden and any other whistle-blower that
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#162
Sorry, somehow you stepped between me and flamingdem. My post 123 was to him/her.
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#214
"Why do posters here define the "left" by their own narrow purist criteria"
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#106
No, they simply realize that the anti-Snowden crowd are no different from the bush apologists.
Katashi_itto
Jul 2013
#153
I don't know how many times I've seen the same Greenwald article posted.
AllINeedIsCoffee
Jul 2013
#24
And authoritarians hate Chomsky. He dares to speak truth to Big Daddy power. nm
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#110
AND out of the State Houses. Both governors' mansions AND the state legislatures
calimary
Jul 2013
#60
It's because many people only care about policies that they think affect them.
BenzoDia
Jul 2013
#38
Would you say it's obsessive to post several anti-Snowden threads every day?
last1standing
Jul 2013
#39
The erosion of our civil liberties as disclosed by Snowden is not mutually exclusive.
totodeinhere
Jul 2013
#45
Snowden is not an excuse for anything. Quite the contrary, there is no excuse for ignoring NSA
totodeinhere
Jul 2013
#99
"NSA spying is being used by the 1% who control this country to keep us under their thumbs?"
cstanleytech
Jul 2013
#59
I don't think it's the lessor of two evils. I think it's the issues of survival vs surveillance. n
kelliekat44
Jul 2013
#64
A simple solution to your dilemma. Call off the dogs and give Snowden his passport.
Tierra_y_Libertad
Jul 2013
#69
How are Snowden or civil rights activists responsible for the GOP's crimes?
Anarcho-Socialist
Jul 2013
#72
Democratic Socialist here: the surveillance state and suffering imposed upon the millions by
HardTimes99
Jul 2013
#76
If the words of Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez ("tip of the iceberg") have not
HardTimes99
Jul 2013
#152
This post is classic deflection. Blames the Left for the inability of the Center to carry out
leveymg
Jul 2013
#92
Here's a list of your GD OPs since the NSA spying was revealed, flamingdem:
muriel_volestrangler
Jul 2013
#98
You hate that post because it effectively illuminates how obsessed YOU are with Snowden.
stillwaiting
Jul 2013
#119
Well, you certainly have no problem putting down "the left's" interest in Snowden's revelations.
stillwaiting
Jul 2013
#132
The meaning of your OP and all of them seems to be 'blame liberals not the Republicans'
Bluenorthwest
Jul 2013
#133
You and others here are engaging in shaming and outing in a really sick fashion
flamingdem
Jul 2013
#104
We've all seen your one billion and one posts on Snowden and Greenwald so there is nothing to
Bluenorthwest
Jul 2013
#141
That's still more data than the NSA has on him. Kind of creepy, dude. nt
AllINeedIsCoffee
Jul 2013
#105
Be realistic. The NSA runs a web crawler that collects all the data that Bing or Google do
muriel_volestrangler
Jul 2013
#117
Heh - so flamingdem thinks talking about the thread starter is a 'call out'?
muriel_volestrangler
Jul 2013
#250
How are you blaming the left here? Does the left create a dragnet surveillance program or was that
TheKentuckian
Jul 2013
#147
So the desire to fill our bellies means it's acceptable to empty our souls?
Savannahmann
Jul 2013
#138
most of them are not the left, most are conspiracy theory types and right wing libertarian types
JI7
Jul 2013
#148
What a goddamn fucking STUPID article. It's not either/or. It's possible to do both.
MotherPetrie
Jul 2013
#149
The problem I see is that we have Democrats that carry water for the conservative Administration.
rhett o rick
Jul 2013
#246