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Daveparts Donating Member (854 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 07:55 AM
Original message
You Say You Want A Revolution?




We all want to change the world or so the song goes, I can’t say I’d blame anyone if they did. Would you be surprised if I told you weren’t the only one thinking that, around eighteen months ago the Bush administration changed the order of succession after the Secretary of Defense to a political appointee in the Pentagon in place of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I think it’s important to give credit where credit is do, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight that snoozed through Katrina but by God they’re watching their back!

There is absolutely no reason to change the order of succession other than fear of a coup and being on the outside the question then becomes are they afraid of what has already happened? Or what is going to happen? Again, the administration is on the ball like a duck on a June bug in January 2005 they gave the friendly folks at Halliburton a multi million dollar contract to provide “Temporary detention and processing capabilities.” Sound ominous doesn’t it but of course they have a perfectly sane and reasonable explanation (not) it is to prepare for “an emergency influx of immigrants, or to support the rapid development of new programs”


If George Orwell were alive today would his last words be “I told you so” before he pulled the trigger? Politia speak is always fun its like being at a party were you’re not wanted and everyone is talking about you without using your name. “An emergency influx of immigrants?” It’s the President on the phone, we need two million Mexicans Stat! “Temporary detention and processing capabilities?” There is not one word of that that doesn’t sound like it came from a document entitled The Final Solution, maybe I’m just paranoid it’s probably some mundane reason like to take care of the multitudes while they hold the try outs for American Idol.

As you are already aware it is painfully difficult to listen to those we disagree with but it’s bloody important for by knowing what they’re thinking they can tell us what we should be thinking. So maybe you’re not interested in a revolution but think about this if the shoe were on the other foot they would be already concerned about it now and no one has ever accused them of being the shiniest rocks in the pond. It reminds me of the story about the farmer who had one of his hogs stolen instead of telling anyone he didn’t say a word until one day his neighbor asked, “Did you ever find out who stole that hog?” “Not until now” he answered.

We in America are a nation born of revolution written into our founding documents,
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Sounds pretty damn clear and straightforward doesn’t it? Jefferson wasn’t very adroit at Politi speak was he? Well that’s the point! If you live in America and you think your political party is doing a great job of running things congratulations the lobotomy was a complete success! I am always amazed at the bedrock 30% percent that support the President no matter what he proposes it kind of gives an insight into Nazi Germany or Jonestown those people who just want to follow the flag to be seen as loyal. The Democrats are no better they ran on a policy of change and up until election day we heard all about Impeachment, healthcare reform, bringing the troops home now! And what did we get? A non-binding resolution we prefer grape Kool aid to Orange Kool aid and the President got his feelings hurt because the speaker questioned his integrity.

Well rest assured I have no questions about the Presidents integrity he has none and a non binding resolution that makes about as much sense as having all the troops click their heals three times and say “There’s no place like home” Anyone heard when the Democrats will be repealing the Patriot Act? Or the draconian bankruptcy legislation?
No, but they won’t reauthorize some of the Presidents tax cuts next year, we are drowning in debt but maybe the Democrats will do something about it…next year.
They were elected on changing the direction of the country and we have given them the wheel and what do they do? They want to adjust the air conditioning and play with the radio.

In the lead up to the second American revolution (the Civil War) politicians on both sides wanted change did they pass a non binding resolution? Or promise to do something about it next year? The nerve and arrogance of our politicians to not be in power 24 hours and already talking about next year. No there were fist fights on the floor of the house chamber and Congressman assaulted each other in the cloak room they wanted change not just talk about change. In 1935 when the bonus marchers occupied Washington tanks were guarding the White House and the Senate left the capital building via a tunnel in terror of the populace. They knew a non-binding resolution wouldn’t satisfy the marchers and feared for their lives. In the next election cycle the people got change for the politicians knew the time for talk was over

But here in the world’s paragon of Capitalism we live under the two party system, the party in power and the party out of power. The party in power gets 65% of the lobbyist contributions and the party out of power gets the rest. So the President supports the war and the opposition party? Passes a non binding resolutions the Democratic Presidential candidates claim they want peace and then go speak at the annual Herzliya Conference and line up with Republicans supporting yet another war. The left wing or the right wing
either way all your getting is the bird. Are they serious? Are you? Jesus Christ is the very symbol of a passive man yet he over threw the tables of the moneychangers to say Enough! No more! Woody Guthrie during WW2 was singing at a war bond dinner with Sonny Terry, Woody was invited to sit as the guest of honor at the main table while Terry who was black was offered a plate in the kitchen Guthrie finding out Terry wouldn’t be allowed to eat at the same table over threw the table to the ground saying “By God if were going to fight Fascism we’ll start right here!”

No polita speak no one in the room doubted how Woody Guthrie felt about it, do you want to just talk it? or walk it? If you think you will change anything with out repercussions think again if you think it will get better by itself wake up your dreaming. But gee you say the Democrats are going to raise the minimum wages. Yes 30% after almost ten years that would make even Nixon blush in embarrassment Harry Truman wanted to raise it 40% after four years and national health insurance to boot in 1948! We have a checkbook democracy what we see on the news or other media is nothing more than shadow puppets.

So let’s get a couple million folks and march on D.C. Ok, but first we need permits and parade routes and understandings and regulations just like the first American Revolution right? “Yes sir, I’d like to apply for a permit to dress as Indians and throw tea into the harbor is this the correct office?”

If you want to start a revolution you must do things they don’t like not things they will agree too! Recently 500,000 marched for Peace in Washington with the net affect of …Zip! Now hypothetically had 10% of those marchers blocked interstate highways in major cities across America on a Monday morning with banners that said stop the WAR Now! Would the public have gotten the picture? Would the media have covered the event a little more closely? If we then said we would continue to do it every week unannounced until the troops came home would that have a little more impact than marching on Washington?

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!” - Mario Savio, before Free Speech Movement demonstrators entered Sproul Hall to begin their sit-in on December 3, 1964.

We live in a Capitalist system and you won’t stop a Capitalist system or even get their attention until you stop the flow of the money. If you were to blockade postal centers they would call out the National Guard before sundown because that’s how the money moves or a moratorium on credit card payments I wonder what would happen if Citi Bank were to come up 100 million dollars short next month. Even down to using shopping carts to block Wal-Mart parking lots. But gee those things wouldn’t be very nice, pretty boy Floyd the bank robber said, “I saw all those bankers stealing from the farmers and the little folks and I just saw what I was doing as getting even.” You will not change a damn thing without making people angry and 30% will always be against you or maybe it’s just not that important to you

After all just because the President denies global warming and evolution doubles the money supply in six years starts two wars spending the income of the average American every sixty minutes loads your children with $100,000 + debt as he threatens to start another war with possible nuclear strikes and the Democrats just shake their heads going uh huh, as he cuts the growth in funding for education as Americans lose health insurance and wage growth hasn’t kept up with inflation in four of that last twenty years and lags behind every industrialized nation in the world. As we export our manufacturing base and pass punitive laws to limit our freedoms and shred the bill of rights and give away a one trillion dollars in tax cuts to the richest 5% for the express purpose of job growth yet in the first six years can’t keep up with the growth of the population or as Marie Antoinette said, “Let them eat cake!”

Maybe some day when your grandchildren climb on your knee and ask, “What did you do in the revolution Grand pa?” You can look them in the eye and say, “Why I sat on my ass and watched television! Now be quiet this room is being monitored you know”
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Ezlivin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 08:03 AM
Response to Original message
1. K&R - Scary in its implications
Particularly this line: "... around eighteen months ago the Bush administration changed the order of succession after the Secretary of Defense to a political appointee in the Pentagon in place of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

These people do not do things haphazardly. They "slipped" in a few things into the Patriot Act and then they used them, most recently in the case of the AGs.

Sooner or later the American people are going to realize that 9/11 wasn't an unforeseen accident or a case of incompetence either.
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CJCRANE Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-17-07 05:26 AM
Response to Reply #1
11. 9/11 was a de facto
Counter-Revolution which used "hijackers" as its foot-soldiers.

But it wasn't bin Laden who grabbed all the power and destroyed American freedoms.
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dweller Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 08:12 AM
Response to Original message
2. k&r
"We live in a Capitalist system and you won’t stop a Capitalist system or even get their attention until you stop the flow of the money."

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!” - Mario Savio, before Free Speech Movement demonstrators entered Sproul Hall to begin their sit-in on December 3, 1964.

X-actly.
dp

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Parisle Donating Member (849 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 08:13 AM
Response to Original message
3. Nice one, Dave. Got my rec.
--- Nothing like a rant based on real rationale. And Ez,.. this thing is scary in two dimensions -- not just the calculated assault on the Constitution and the dollar by the neocons, but also (as Dave implies pointedly) it is also scary in terms of what We the People are eventually going to have to go through to correct it. Comfort and complacency may be out the window.
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BeFree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 08:51 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. What, is there something wrong?
Are people not happy? Everybody I see looks happy, happy, happy. They got their cars and their credit cards. They got the castle, and the freedom to do what the government tells them they can do, so they are hap, hap, happy.

And you want them to revolt?

Well, my friends, I tell you where the revolt begins -- it begins between the ears. And it's getting there, but it's gonna be awhile before it fills that vacancy in the heads of the masses of the people. By then it may be too late, eh?

Peace and Solidarity.
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natrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 08:30 AM
Response to Original message
4. crafty indeed-the way they insulate the public from truth to avoid reaction
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lostinacause Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 02:07 PM
Response to Original message
6. What a great idea... Death, destruction and the likelihood of a leader who is
worse then Bush. Count me in...

This is much better idea then coming up with a good plan that would actually address the current needs of the nation.
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Daveparts Donating Member (854 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 03:27 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Is there a leader Worse
Than Bush? Is that possible? I'm in complete agreement with you about positive solutions. My point is you must tear down the rot you can't expect to build a better world on a rotted frame by tacking on this or that. That is after all what the Declaration of Independance instructs us to do.

Neither party has any interest in the middle class, we have a corporate congress a corporate media and a rump court system. Your not going to get anywhere writing letters to these people. They don't care what you and I think. If you think making nice will fix them your Neville Chamberlin your playing hardball with a wiffleball bat.

We had a rebellion in 1776 and got Washington, Jefferson and Adams we had another rebellion in 1860 and got Lincoln we damn near had a rebellion in 1932 and we got Roosevelt. Is it the fear of the unknown that frightens you more than the fear of the known? Generally tyrants are like bullies as soon as the realize people are standing up to them they fall or run, And politicians are like lemmings if the workingclass were to stand up and flex their political muscle you would see lots of good candidates appear. In any case I ask again Is their a possible worse leader than Bush?
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Parisle Donating Member (849 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 03:46 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. I'll give "BeFree" and "lost" their due,....
--- The huge inertia and entrenchment of the political industry DO indeed auger against fixing the situation by working purely through the national level parties. I've always felt that the real solution has to happen at the state government level, and even that would be a halting and tedious process. Vermont is showing some interesting initiatives, eh?
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lostinacause Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 04:16 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. First, I would take Bush over Putin any day. You do a great injustice to the political climate
in other regions by claiming that Bush is worse then the leaders in those regions. I'd go into more detail but there is no point. If you think it is that bad in America read a newspaper. The problem with power gaps is that they tend to be filled by those who have the desire to get power.

I've have a few things to do if I find time I will address the rest.
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Daveparts Donating Member (854 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-16-07 06:52 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. Then Take Him
How many countries has Putin invaded? Russia has lowered their national debt by 50% in the last year. How much has Bush lowered our national debt? How many countries has Putin threatened with nuclear strikes?
How many countries who are not signers of the NPT has Putin sold nuclear fuel to or traded for mangos with? How many secret prisons has Putin opened? Putin was also elected President two more times than Bush.
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CJCRANE Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-17-07 05:31 AM
Response to Reply #9
12. Russian and America
have totally different kind of histories. There has never been a tradition of democracy in Russia AFAIK so the analogy isn't quite that simple.

And dictators often last for as long as they can keep their supporters happy (whether in reality of rhetoric). Look at Mugabe in Zimbabwe - there is 80% unemployment and 1600% inlfation, his people are starving but he's still in power.
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Daveparts Donating Member (854 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-17-07 09:45 AM
Response to Reply #12
13. On the Nose!
"dictators often last for as long as they can keep their supporters happy"

Bushes approval rating overall 30%
Bushes approval rating with Republicans 70%
Bushes approval rating for households earning more than $100,000 a year 77%

Congress is a Millionaires club we don't live in a democracy but the illusion of a democracy. Hitler was elected Fuehrer Mao was elected chairman but we don't honestly believe these were actual democracies do you?

We must create 150,000 a month just to stand still and in six years the administration claim 7.5 million new jobs or a deficet over over three millon jobs yet annouce the unemployment rate is 4%

I would speculate that those three million are niether Republicans nor earning over 100K
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