calimary
calimary's JournalWelcome to DU, jinx1!
Glad you're here! Good question! We all need that help! The only time I can even vaguely remember that the answer would have been "yes" is some commemorative thing upon the passing of some public figure or other. Completely non-essential, and utterly irrelevant regarding the hard realities of policy-making and law-making.
What I remember in detail is this wall of "No" that we kept banging into, with untold numbers of attempts to break through that wall, or at least bore a hole in it. These assholes were HORRIBLE. Just take a moment to imagine what kind of nay-saying the enemy would say if OUR side did nothing but turn up its collective nose at ANYTHING the President wanted.
And we all know why, don't we? Because the republi-CONS are being led around by their own noses by the teabaggers. And what pumps through their veins, in far greater numbers and proportions, is racism.
It seems there's one really remarkable thing about racism: its staying power. We supposedly declared it over and done with about - how long ago? From somewhere in the middle of the 19th Century? Isn't that somewhere around 150 years ago? Haven't we been able to get over it by now, as a country? Why is this still a problem? Why is it still an issue in this country? What's been done to perpetuate, or even reinforce it so effectively? And what HASN'T been done to bring it to a complete, stale, closed-and-locked, body's-gone-cold, end-of-discussion END? What HASN'T been done to make sure this is SECURELY and in TOTAL FINALITY over and done with? Dead and buried and just a bad memory? Why has racism been allowed to continue? Actively? Passively? Both, probably?
We need to look at this seriously, and ask ourselves some pretty serious self-examining questions, seems to me. WHY is racism still a problem? Why have we not been able to conquer it? If a generation is about 20 - 25 years, how many generations is that since Abraham Lincoln's day? One hundred and 47 years works out to five to seven generations. Give or take. I mean, it just seems to me that it's time we grew up as a nation.
All I see when I observe teabaggerism - whether it's what they're saying on radio/tv/cable or writing in editorials, books, and blogs, or shouting and stamping their li'l feet at rallies, protests, and town hall meetings and hoisting their poorly spelled protest signs - is a bunch of adult-size three-year-olds throwing temper tantrums, because mom or dad didn't take them to Kiddie Land today. I see a bunch of spoiled brats yelling and screaming in the cereal aisle at the store, because mom wouldn't buy them all the Count Chocula they demanded. They embarrass me as an American, and humiliate themselves. These people has insisted they're not growing up at all, stuck on a world view that extends no farther out from them than the tips of their noses (or pot-bellies, whichever is larger).
We weren't born yesterday, as a nation, or as a reunited nation. We should be asking ourselves seriously, as a nation, isn't it time we grew up?
Well, I don't care! Too damn bad. They oughta get some backbone up when they KNOW
FULL WELL what the truly and genuinely "right" thing is and should be, to do for their country.
Just imagine - what if. What if - there were truly noble and sensible "moderate republi-CONS" (although that seems an oxymoron to me by now) stepped up, en masse, in a united front, and stared down the teabaggers and the norquists and the rest of the vermin? Defied the limbaughs and becks and other assorted assholes? What if they went shoulder-to-shoulder, lockstep, together, in active and forceful resistance to the teabagger movement? What if they went on Pox Noise and told the truth? Yeah, they wouldn't get invited back, but so what? There are other media. There are other ways. There are other means. They could hold news conferences. They could issue public statements. They could blog. They could tweet. They could start special Facebook pages and more. Hell, they could start their OWN movement. And it might have made a difference.
I think part of the reason the teabaggers succeeded was that there WAS no pushback, back in the beginning when it could really have swatted them down. There was a vacuum and they rushed in to fill it. There was NOTHING standing in the way or shouting back or denouncing anything they did. They were allowed to have their way. And look at what happened! Look how much more fucked-up we are now.
People like Olympia Snowe had a very special and unique responsibility to speak out, to be their party's conscience, and to keep it on track, in touch with its better self - NOT its baser self. She was uniquely positioned on the inside. She would have had more allies by the day until she had an army behind her. Facing down an army that's like a solid concrete block wall is a lot harder for a group of renegade jerks throwing teabags around than if they were facing a whole lot of walls with a whole lot of front doors left ajar.
If there had been some substantial resistance from within the GOP, led by somewhat more reasonable and realistic people such as Olympia Snowe professes to be, it's possible the teabag movement might not have gotten off the ground, or at least not as far off the ground as they have. It's like a cancer. If you go at it with firepower the instant you detect it, your chances of eradicating it are very strong. If you just kinda hang back and let nature take its course and figure it'll be alright, then your loved ones will be talking to undertakers, and MUCH sooner than later.
Welcome to DU, RoverSuswade!
Glad you're here! Like your screen name!
File this one under "WTF took you so long?" Only NOW you're speaking truth to power and doing the TRULY right thing, Olympia (instead of using the word "right" the way the knuckledraggers have perverted it? Only NOW you're telling the truth - when you're about to get outta Dodge? When you don't have to take the heat anymore? Basically still a coward.
Sorry - kind of a hardass I'm being, this morning. But we don't need this from people like her now so much as we did when the GOP started careening off onto the wrong track and worshipping the teabaggers and grover norquist etc. That's when it could have made a difference, and when a sensible, clear-eyed, clear-throated voice might have given others a little more cover to resist the shit, too. Comin' in a little LATE there, aren't ya, Olympia? Where were you when it really mattered? Shall we rename you Janey-Come-Lately?
If you REALLY love your country, you're there when it really matters. PARTICULARLY when you're privileged to sit in the expensive seats like she had in her position as a Senator. Those of us in the cheap seats are usually not listened to. SHE was positioned much differently.
What I always seem to get is "wellll... I don't know... "
That's when you know their brains have gone "TILT!"
"Welllll... I don't know..."
That's when I know I hit a soft spot and they have no comeback.
And when I get the "both sides are messed up" or "well, both sides do it" then I POUNCE.
OH YEAH???? WHO IS IT that tried to suppress the vote - to TAKE AWAY THE RIGHT OF PEOPLE TO VOTE?!?!?!????" Was that the Democrats?
WHO IS IT who tried to force vaginal probes into women's bodies against their will? Were any Democrats pushing that one?
Who's denying climate change all the time? Do you hear or see ANY Democrats doing that?
Who's trying to butt in on gynecologists' offices? Is it the Democrats leading that one? ANY Democrats leading that one? Which ones, 'eh? Name me ONE.
Who are the ones always saying 'NO, NO NO NO NO' to every idea and proposal that comes up - even many of THEIR OWN IDEAS AND PROPOSALS???
Which party is it that's supporting fucking RACISTS who go around holding protest signs showing The President Of The United States with a bone through his nose? Any Democrats? Tell me which ones.
And I tailor it by whomever I'm arguing with.
WHO's the party trying to keep you from having your kid stay covered on your health insurance?
WHICH party is it that doesn't want you to be able to stay covered - and allow your insurance company to decide when they've paid out enough when you're still sick or injured???
WHICH party is blocking the funding that your community needs to fix that delapidated bridge down the road from your house???? Is it REALLY the Democrats piling on that, too?
You live in Tornado Alley - which party is it that is begrudging YOU GUYS disaster aid? Any Democrats on that one? Or is it all republi-CONS?
WHICH party is it that doesn't give a damn that you (female) don't get paid what the guy next to you gets paid even though you're both doing the same job and you've been there longer? Tell me which party that is!!! Democrats? Or is it the GOP?
WHICH party is trying to protect the rich and screw the poor - even during times like these of really great need????
WHICH party is it that doesn't want to make the rich pay a few dollars more in taxes to help support their country as their patriotic duty in her time of need - AND WE'RE STILL AT WAR, TOO, BTW, IN CASE YOU FORGOT, when most of 'em have more money than God??? Which Democrats are on that one? Can you name me any?
WHICH PARTY IS IT that's nickeling and diming our veterans up the ying-yang when they come home all fucked up from a war that we were LIED INTO??? WHICH PARTY IS THAT???? IS THAT BOTH SIDES???? REALLY????? YOU tell ME.
That's when I usually get either flat-out silence or that ol' fallback "...welllll... I don't know... "
And that one's usually muttered under one's breath, so you kinda have to listen for it.
I, for one, am SICK TO DEATH of hearing that old canard - "both sides! Both sides! Both sides are doing it! They're both for shit!" NO, THEY AREN'T!!! Both sides are NOT doing shit like this!!! And I'm tired of hearing it. That's lazy and ill-informed talk you're hearing when someone says that to you. It means they're NOT thinking, they're NOT reasoning, they're NOT paying attention, they're NOT keeping track, and all they're doing is watching Pox Noise and regurgitating false and distorted and agenda-driven talking points they hear repeatedly. They're NOT thinking critically. Hell, if they WERE thinking critically and paying attention and keeping track of what's going on in the news, they'd be watching something other than Pox Noise in the first place.
So I strike. I don't let that one go. I feel like I HAVE TO confront - and correct the record. 'Cause if they ARE getting all that dreck from Pox Noise, then they are NOT hearing anything to counter it from any other sources. They're NOT hearing anything but the propaganda and nothing from the reality-side to counter or check it. And I think they need to. ESPECIALLY since they won't hear it even if they watch CNN or most of the other outlets, many times including MSNBC. This is a theme that is NOT widely expressed. Most of the reporters and anchors out there haven't gotten to that point of enlightenment and acknowledgement or recognition of reality. And it's just much easier to blow it all off by saying "meh, both sides. Both sides!" So nobody REALLY gets what's happening and who's genuinely at fault. I think that's why republi-CONS can keep getting away with being elected and reelected. Nobody remembers, nobody's told, nobody's enlightened, nobody's breaking through the bullshit and telling the truth. So if I'm there and somebody's spraying this shit at me, then I feel like I might as well do something about it. If they start spouting this brainless robotic shit, then I think they better be able to defend it. Because it's not one bit true.
And SOMEBODY has to be there to debunk the crap and set the record straight, and KEEP it set straight, especially since we can't depend on the media to report responsibly and do it on their own. Who knows? If you try it, YOURS might be the very first visit to reality that your friend or neighbor or relative has had a glimpse of, yet.
Aw crap - sorry this is so long...
Great stuff, babylonsister! Thanks for finding this!
I still think President Obama has been FAR too nice and too reasonable to these bastards, who are in SERIOUS need of an attitude-adjustment and a political ass-whupping that lasts for a whole generation at least.
I'm just glad you're back!
Besides, yours is one of my favorite screen names of all time! How could you possibly forsake us?
Happy New Year to you as well! I personally am BEYOND gratified and thrilled that 2012 is almost over. It was a tad bit hellish at casa de calimary. We got through it alright, but it wasn't easy. The new year looks to be much better. AND we can all look forward to another four years with our President, Barack Obama, and myth wrongney gets to fade into obscurity along with his Queen of Entitlement, her ladyship ayn of dressage. Sure won't miss her one bit! The old year is taking them with it, thankfully enough. That's good news for all of us!!!
Welcome to DU, hopemountain!
Glad you're here! And it's sad but true - he was not a good man at all, at least as far as his policies that foisted all kinds of bad things upon this country. You want to know where the anti-union/screw the worker stuff started? When reagan fired the unionized air traffic controllers. Their union was PATCO. He sure took care of that. And how unfair of all those greedy ol' air traffic controllers to want a little bit bigger pay checks, considering all the ungodly stress that comes with that job.
He was the one who chose james watt as Interior Secretary. One bastard picks another bastard. james watt once testified on some panel, wide-eyed and sincere as all hell, that "when the last tree is felled, Jesus will come back." He was dead serious. When I saw that, I wanted to scream!!!!! He's the one who went around the country speechifying about how our precious natural lands and unspoiled wildernesses and national forests and public lands needed to be opened to "ALL THE PEOPLE!!!" And it sounded sooooooooo goooooooood. Sold that one to hundreds of thousands of gullible reagan-worshippers. What he REALLY meant when he said "ALL THE PEOPLE!!!" was the people who you would WANT shut out of our precious natural lands and unspoiled wildernesses and national forests and public lands: oil drillers, lumber clear-cutters, strip-miners, and more. THAT was the "ALL THE PEOPLE!!!" that he was talking about. Now mind you, he was careful NOT to spell out what he meant, and who that nameless, faceless, anonymous group of "ALL THE PEOPLE!!!" actually was. There was a REASON why those "wrong elements" were locked out of our national parks and forests and wetlands and wilderness areas. TO KEEP THEM FROM DESTROYING EVERYTHING, THAT'S WHY!!! Earth rapists, every last one of them.
Dear GOD, I hated james watt. I was SO glad when - of all people - nancy reagan did him in. She didn't like how he dissed the Beach Boys, who were supposed to headline a 4th of July concert on the Washington Mall, I think it was. He disinvited them because he said they attracted the "wrong element." That was evidently just a little too much for Queen Nancy, who professed in public to like the Beach Boys a lot and took great umbrage at what he'd said. And then she set about her own lethal sneaky little stab-in-the-back whispering campaign within the White House, and he was dead meat in short order. She also did it to donald regan and drove him from his job also. She thought he was making her precious ronnie look bad. No loss there, either.
What a bunch of ruthless scheming jerks that whole sorry lot of them were. GOOD RIDDANCE TO THEM ALL!!!!!! I ground my teeth for eight long miserable years while they were in power. It took every bit of professionalism I could summon to speak of them in my newscasts with any semblance of objectivity.
ronald reagan. The "legacy" (from the depths of HELL).
I was asked to make this an OP. Thank you guys for suggesting that - it's my honor!
I think I realized the first time I heard one of his radio commentaries what a dangerous man he was. Dangerous in that he sugar-coated all kinds of horrible, stingey, cheapskate, selfish, un-Christian, myopic, shortsighted, penny-wise/pound-foolish ideas that NEVER should have seen the light of day, much less find any favor with anybody anywhere. HORRIBLE stuff. And the "kindly" affable old uncle shtick he presented, soooooooooooo slick and silky and folksy and aw-shucks.
I worked at the FM rock-format sister station of this AM talk station that ran reagan's commentary. It was a strategy he adopted after he lost the presidential nomination to Gerald Ford in 1976. He went back to California and a number of very wealthy republi-CON tycoons and industry chieftains gathered around him and funded him and helped him build an increasingly appealing and high-profile platform that would keep his name and voice and statements in the news and in the public eye and ear. Ensured that he didn't fade away and wasn't forgotten - so he could rise again to fight another day, and preferably win next time. They propped him up and gave him his cue cards and watched him sell the "gospel" of that freedomy-freedomy thing, of trickle-down and the bullshit about the free market being a magic cure-all for everything that ailed America. And as the actor he was, he did splendidly! He sold that shit just like he sold that GE all-electric home and anything else he pitched.
And I'd catch some of those commentaries, and I remember being very troubled. This guy was trouble. He was GONNA be trouble. We had to do something! And nobody did. Nobody cared. Everybody just really liked his pleasant old affable persona a lot. They'd listen to anything and forgive him anything. They felt he really understood, connected, and was somehow one of them, even though he was a Hollywood celebrity and governor of California and slicky-boy smooth-talking spokesman and aw-shucks harmless ol' fella.
Harmless MY ASS. I knew people were gonna bite. I knew people were gonna go for that shtick. I knew they were gonna fall all over themselves to see in him what they wanted to see. And they'd love it when he'd lull them back to sleep with his pleasant folksy talk and demeanor, that aw-shucks stuff that was worth more than the Crown Jewels. People loved that stuff and they ate it up. It sounded SOOOOOOO good and so comforting and so soothing and so harmless.
And look what he did. Look at the "reagan revolution" he started. The blight he caused to sicken our land. I blame him for just about everything that's gone wrong with our country. Whatever is happening now started with ronald reagan. He made it okay to be selfish. He made it okay to be a cheapskate. He made it okay to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. He made it okay to turn the poor and mentally ill out onto the street. He made it okay to balloon the war machine while too many people starved. He made it okay to put down the poor as moochers and welfare queens and all kinds of other lies and fabrications and fairy stories. As phony as any of the fiction he starred in.
I will go to my grave hating and despising ronald reagan more than any other individual in history. If I could, I would systematically go around the country removing his name from every award, every bridge, every ship, every school, every highway, every airport, every government building, every foundation, every scholarship, every monument, every ANYTHING. Starting with what should still be the Simi Valley Freeway and moving straight across the country all the way to what should still be known as the Washington National Airport. He was the most dangerous man in America, if not the world - because of the shit he sold and made to seem respectable and desirable. That bastard singlehandedly caused more hardship, did more damage, and wrought more wreckage, despair, and desolation than any other figure in history. And we are STILL paying for it, through the nose, today.
From the original thread by Pretzel_Warrior:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022090530
DAYUM! I'm crying my eyes out! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Let this INSPIRE you!
Let this inspire US ALL!!!
Shee-it, I LOVE happy endings!!!
THANK YOU for posting this, Segami! This is utterly restorative!
Welcome to DU, Demo_Chris!
Good to have you with us! ANY American with a conscience and even half a brain would be horrified at what the GOP has become. Which explains the teabaggers. No consciences, substantially less than half a brain.
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Gender: FemaleHome country: USA
Current location: Oregon
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 81,212
