Just In Case You Didn't Notice, It Is A Whole New America People!

[DistressedAmerican]

Welcome everyone to the Post-Katrina, Post-Brownie, Post-Massive-Deficit, Post-DeLay-Indictment, Post-Frist-Stock-Investigation, Post-Poll-Numbers-In-The-Thirties, Post-American-Turn-Against-The-War period of the Bush years!

I know that it is too early to get out hopes up about the pending grand jury investigation just yet.

But, I have been reading a lot of posts in the past few days that appear mired in the Post-9/11 atmosphere. They say stuff like, "If the past five years is an indicator (fill in random defeatist, negativity of choice here)."

I am here to tell you, THE PAST FIVE YEARS ARE NOT AN INDICATION. Things are very different now. I know we have been beaten like dogs for quite a while. It has made many weary of any kind of positive expectations. That I can understand. But, now is not the time to cower and expect the worst. Instead we need to be redoubling our efforts.

The investigation in question is not taking place three years ago. The indictments, if they are to come, are not just another glitch that Bush will get a pass on because there was another terror alert. Short of an actual terrorist attack (or Bush attack), nothing is going to wipe these indictments and trials off of the airwaves.

America is pissed that we went to Iraq and that it has been a disaster. They feel like they were lied to already. When the grand jury (not Fitz BTW) hands down indictments that go to the very core of their lies, America will be ready to listen. More importantly they will want ACCOUNTABILITY. Demand it.

They will start with paying back the Repug Congress. 2006 is going to be a watershed event for the Dems. There is even a chance that the swing will be so dramatic that we could plausibly move to impeach this entire criminal enterprise.

Even if we fail to accomplish that, 2008 is set to be very interesting indeed. The repugs are in chaos. The Neocon/Fundie alliance has so alienated the rest of the party (the majority by the way) that they are going to demand something very different from their candidate next round. That something different will not set will with the current party hijackers. Turn outs will likely be very low on their side. We on the other hand are fired up. Ready to go out there and kick these asses right the hell out.

So as you are digesting the various tidbits, remember to view them in the new context. We are no longer in the deluded, shocked and terrified years. We are over that and ready to restore the grand balance. Maybe even swing it solidly our way for a while.

Stay positive, be ready to kick the hell out of them while they are down and enjoy the ride ladies and gents!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Develop a positive platform and encourage cheerful positive candidates

Twelve months is a long time. The Democratic Party must make itself attractive to disaffected Republicans or else they will drift back.

[halobeam]

2. Yea... and a clear message on what Dems will DO while in power

instead of just saying... vote for us, cuz we're not Repubs.

If it doesn't happen soon... we will lose this window of opportunity.. IMO.

[DistressedAmerican]

4. Absolutely! Now IS The Best Chance We Have To Define The Alternative.

That is how we will win BIG!

[senseandsensibility]

3. What you said

And thanks for taking the time to put it coherently and convincingly. It's been very negative around here lately, and I;ve been at a loss as to why.

[DistressedAmerican]

6. Some Have Learned Helplessness And Some Are Just Trolls.

Positivity is in general the order of the day. I should stress that. Sometimes we have a tendency to place too much importance on the naysayers. There aren't that many.

I just hate to see them making converts!

[acmavm]

5. Yep now is the time to act. Because the repubs are gonna drag out

those two tired old hypocrites, McCain and Guilliani, God help us (or somebody).

[unhappycamper]

7. Good post, but

I would change ". . kick the hell out of them while they are down. . " to ". . grind them in the dirt. ."

my 2 cents. . .

[DistressedAmerican]

8. How About A Healty Dose Of Both! Not Mutually Exclusive!

Kick 'em AND Grind 'Em! Rat Bastards!

[babylonsister]

10. Nice to see a good, positive post, DA, and I love

your elevator graphic! :thumbsup:

[DistressedAmerican]

11. If You Like That, You Will Love This!

[nookiemonster]

27. DA, I love your work!!

:thumbsup:

n/t

[DistressedAmerican]

32. Youy Have Hands Down One Of The Best Usernames Here! I Love It!

:rofl:

[bonito]

9. And a good morning to you too!

Great post to wake up to. Recomended

[DistressedAmerican]

12. Good Morning! Can I Offer You Some Toast?

[Sydnie]

13. Glad to see you got your sea legs back!

In other words, glad you're back to your old self!

Couldn't agree with you more!

[Atman]

14. I thought it was "Morning In America" once before (cartoon)...

I hope you're right this time!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

15. I woke up

this morning in Tallahassee to 53 degrees, a brisk wind and a new day.

I have this feeling that this is a fresh start for us all.

[catmandu57]

16. Finally, the pendulum is starting back

I've been here for four years now, I've been up and down waiting for this. Watching each scandal, waiting for it to bring these arrogant bastards down, now it's happening and i feel better than I have in five years.
I can feel it, the wind from the swing is a hurricane, soon these orcs will be scurrying for any hideyhole they can find, it's time to shine a powerful light on these cockaroaches, no place to runm no place to hide, come out wherever you are game over.

[livetohike]

17. As usual DistressedAmerican you come with some great ones

:yourock:

[Village Idiot]

18. This sounds waaaaay too optimistic.

There is an UNELECTED idiot dirtbag in the WH, BOTH houses are controlled by ReThuglican kleptocracies, and there seems to be very little the Democratic Party can do to counter ANYTHING effectively.

There are too many timid, cowardly, asshole Democrats in the Senate and in Congress who will NOT stand up for their constituents, not against torture, against the war, against the Medicaid disaster, the looming SoSoc shortfall, corrupt electioneering, jerrymandering via redistricting, election fraud, campaign finance reform, etc.

How will this change in 2006? Sure, Amerika is pissed. Pissed, but essentially helpless to change anything as long as there are UNVERIFIABLE e-voting machines, ineffective campaign finance reform laws and a ReThuglican majority unwilling to accede to Democratic demands.

Do not forget, a sitting Senator or Congressman has an OVERWHELMING probability of being re-elected. That is the way it is set up. Compare election rules between partied candidates and independents sometime - you will be in for a rude awakening. I can easily forsee that the ReThuglican Kleptocracy will still control BOTH houses after 2006, Satan Bush, Jr. will still be in the WH, and waaaay too many Democratic USAsians will STILL be represented by a bunch of ineffective centrist sell-outs from the DLC.

If ShrubCo does not issue blanket pardons for their cronies and henchmen on their way out the WH door, I will be incredibly surprised. Those Democrats who say that * will not be able to get away with it, that no other president has ever done this, etc., have forgotten WHO THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.

I really hope that I am wrong, however, and that sitting Dems will get a bit of serious backbone, deliver the House in 2006, and that the DLC/DNC will come out EFFECTIVELY for an end to the Iraq debacle...it might shake things up a bit, and perhaps the current Kleptocrat-In-Chief might not have it all his way...

[EVDebs]

25. Don't fear. There is a God and there is 'karma'

Galatians 6: 7-8 What they sow so shall they reap. We're just like the late 1920's with too many plutocrats and too much concentrated wealth in the hands of too few.

Kevin Phillip's book Wealth and Democracy spells it all out. "You can have great wealth or a democracy, but you cannot have both", Louis Brandeis

[DistressedAmerican]

29. You Remain Weak As Long As You Believe You Will Always Lose.

Part of winning is believing that you can win. I hope we can bring you around to that position over time!

[femrap]

41. I haven't been this happy in a long time....

I feel indictments are right around the corner. And I think these indictments will embolden Americans....wear an anti W button or t-shirt and you will be amazed at how many people say 'Love the button/t-shirt.'

I feel the change as well...and I think it started with the Schiavo case. I felt the momentum shift.

I am way past the spineless Democrats....it's up to us, the American people, now. We have to get active. We need to call the shots. We make them take our orders.

[Coastie for Truth]

19. People are pissed at Bush

Even the cops out here at pissed at Bush and Gubenator Boobengrabber.

It's a combination of many things - but it comes to over reaching (Prop 75 to kill the public employee unions -- the fire fighters, nurses, and teachers are taking that battle to the public), calling up Guard units a second time for the "War Without End" - and the gross mismanagement of FEMA in the Katrina aftermath.

Good old GOP firefighters are the volunteers at Dem fund raisers.

In the last two months the straws started breaking the camels' backs.

[DemocracyInaction]

20. Now print that out and mass mail it to our Democratic Congressmen

and party leaders. Bush being slapped in the face with a two-by-four is a grand thing to witness but the welt will disappear and be covered by make-up UNLESS the Democrats fix bayonets and never let up until after 2008 election. That's the way the repukes took us down ten years ago. We are not going to return the favor by hiding behind a tree, wishing on a star, and hoping they will destroy themselves completely. Revolutions aren't won by hiding in the closet under the pile of old shoes...........

[Hissyspit]

21. You forgot Post-Jeff Gannon, and post-Staged Troops Videoconference

Not big things for the general public, but still on the radar.

[DistressedAmerican]

30. And Of Course POST-MEIRS-NOMINATION!

How did I forget that?

[AnotherMother4Peace]

22. And you, my good friends at DU, have helped with the awakening.

[thinkingwoman]

23. Recommended

Great post. Great elevator and prison door graphics.

[flying_wahini]

24. I am positive!

they are going down.... woohooo
great to see you again:hi: from houston!

[Beam Me Up]

26. DistressedAmerican, I have a question for you: Where is Eberhart?

That is, General Ralph Eberhart, commander of NORAD on 9/11/01, now promoted to head the subsequently created NORTHCOM.

Believe me, I WANT to be optimistic. I see lines of investigation that are closing in on two of the three people who IF--and I say again--IF 9/11 was an inside job, had to have known: Chaney, Rumsfeld and Eberhart. The Plame investigation and the AIPAC investigation are moving toward Cheney and Rumsfeld respectively.

But what about Eberhart?

[DistressedAmerican]

31. Personally I Have Never Believed That 9/11 Was An Inside Job.

Eberhart is a new name to me. I'll have to do some reading up. At this point, I can say that I am happy to see two of the three feeling the heat. As for Eberhart, let me get back to you once I have ducated myself on the guy a bit.

[Beam Me Up]

44. Something of interest to contemplate:

General Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart
Retired, Jan 1, 2005
From his bio:

"General Eberhart entered the Air Force in 1968 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. His staff experience includes serving as Executive Officer to the Air Force Chief of Staff at Headquarters U.S. Air Force; Deputy Chief of Staff for Inspection, Safety and Security, Headquarters Tactical Air Command; Director for Programs and Evaluation, Headquarters U.S. Air Force; Director of Force Structure, Resources and Assessment, the Joint Staff; and Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. The general has also served as Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, Commander, Air Combat Command, Commander, Air Force Space Command, and as Commander in Chief, U.S. Space Command.

My bold. See more here:

http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5317

Interesting about that U.S. Space Command.

Here is an excerpt from the speech given by theologian David Griffin, author of "The 9/11 Commission Report; Omissions and Distortions," at the University of Wisconsin (broadcast via C-SPAN) in April of this year (my italics):

Fully Facing the Truth about the American Empire

To be sure, as Chomsky, Falk, and Chalmers Johnson illustrate, strong portrayals of American imperialism as far from benign can be drawn without any suggestion that the Bush administration arranged 9/11. These portrayals can be drawn from publicly available documents.

One such document is the ÒNational Security Strategy of the United States of America,Ó published by the Bush administration in September of 2002. David North says, not unfairly, that this document Òasserts as the guiding policy of the United States the right to use military force . . . against any country it believes to be, or it believes may at some point become, a threat to American interests.Ó ÒNo other country in modern history,Ó adds North, Òhas asserted such a sweeping claim to . . . world domination.Ó40

Another such document, called ÒVision for 2020,Ó was published in February of 1997 by the US Space Command. The mission statement at the head of this document reads: ÒU.S. Space Command--dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment.Ó41 There is no mention of democracy and human rights. In the body of the document, in fact, we find this amazingly candid statement: ÒThe globalization of the world economy . . . will continue with a widening between ÔhavesÕ and Ôhave-nots.ÕÓ The point of this statement is that as the domination of the world economy by the United States and its allies increases, the worldÕs poor will get still poorer, making the Òhave-notsÓ hate America all the more. We will need, therefore, the power to keep them in line.

The United States can do this---and this is the documentÕs main message--through ÒFull Spectrum Dominance,Ó which will involve merging Òspace superiority with land, sea, and air superiority.Ó Dominance in space will include, the document frankly says, the power Òto deny others the use of space.Ó

By speaking only of the Space CommandÕs effort to develop a Òmissile defense system,Ó the Pentagon and the White House like to suggest that its purpose is purely defensive. But the goal includes weaponizing space so as to give US forces, in the words of a more recent document, a Òprompt global strike capability, whether nuclear or non-nuclear, (that) will allow the US to rapidly and accurately strike distant . . . targets.Ó42 The fact that the U.S. Space CommandÕs program is an aggressive one is announced in the logo of one of its divisions: ÒIn Your Face from Outer space.Ó43

Simply from these and other documents, taken in conjunction with the actions of the Bush administration and the US military, we can see through the claim that the US project of creating the first truly global empire is a benevolent or at least benign enterprise. However, we can fully grasp the extent to which this project is propelled by fanaticism based on a deeply perverted value system only when we realize that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were orchestrated by our own leaders--and that they did this to provide the justification, the fear, and the funding for the so-called war on terror, which would be used as a pretext for enlarging the empire.

I will illustrate this point with one of the most brazen examples of the use of 9/11 to get funding. Shortly before the current Bush administration took office, a document entitled Rebuilding AmericaÕs Defenses was published by an organization called the Project for the New American Century,44 founding members of which included Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld. This document focused primarily on getting more tax money allocated for the technological transformation of the US military, with the centerpiece of this technological transformation being the US Space CommandÕs project to weaponize and thereby control space. Because this transformation of the US military will be very expensive, the document said, it will probably proceed very slowly--unless America suffers Òsome catastrophic and catalyzing event--like a new Pearl Harbor."45 It is interesting that on the night of 9/11, President Bush reportedly wrote in his diary, ÒThe Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today.Ó46

In any case, earlier that evening, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was on message. We might assume that he would have been disoriented by the fact that the Pentagon had just, on his watch, suffered an unprecedented attack. Instead, he was ready to use the attacks to obtain more money for the US Space Command. In front of television cameras, Rumsfeld berated Senator Carl Levin, then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, saying:

Senator Levin, you and other Democrats in Congress have voiced fear that you simply donÕt have enough money for the large increase in defense that the Pentagon is seeking, especially for missile defense. . . . Does this sort of thing convince you that an emergency exists in this country to increase defense spending . . . ?47

This strategy worked. Congress immediately appropriated an additional $40 billion for the Pentagon. Since then, furthermore, the president has gotten every additional appropriation he has sought for the so-called war on terror.

I suggest the entire Griffin transcript is worth reading. It can be found here:

http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=535

or:

http://tinyurl.com/9sx3p


A DVD of this talk is available for a small donation from the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth: http://www.mujca.com/

[carolinayellowdog]

28. Cokie Roberts removed her kneepads this morning-- a signal event

Hey,

This morning she did a commentary on Morning Edition, something I've come to dread because of her unfair framing of every issue in favor of Bush. But for the first time in years she sounded unbiased and nonpartisan. She's as perfect a symbol of the complicit media as anyone, and if she's not shilling for Shrub he IS going down.

I stopped watching TV after *'s first inauguration, out of disgust with media complicity in the election theft. TV news has been complicit in every Bush misdeed since then, but today I ordered cable to be installed again at the end of the week. That is an expression of faith that for the first time since the goring of Gore, we might be able to trust TV news to be fair and balanced re the Bush maladaministration.

CYD

[Joe Chi Minh]

33. Spot on! The criminality is so different in scope AND degree,

it amounts to a difference in KIND! Negativity on the basis of the last n number of years is disinformative - intentionally or not.

[Pachamama]

34. Hey DistressedAmerican! With optimism like that your going to have change

your DU name... :hi:

PS: I agree with you....I still think however this fascist cabal won't let go of power easily or quietly....it may get ugly and we may all need to be prepared...

[DistressedAmerican]

35. Always Prepare For These Guys! They Do Surprise On Occassion!

We keep kicking them down everytime they try to get back up. We have kicked them down this far. I feel pretty good about future efforts in the "kicking down" arena!

Keep the lances sharp and at the ready!

[Pachamama]

36. I'm with you! Btw - love your image....reminds me of the Grateful Dead!

:hug:

[DanCa]

37. Nows the time to picket and protest the fundies

I am not talking about the people in the pew. I am talking about the policy makers, and the Fred Phelps, Family Focus, and the religious right lobbyist group that get in everyones way. We cannot remain stoic, silent, or runaway from this problem. The right wing wont leave us alone, however if we give the bullies a figurative bloody nose they'll leave us alone.
Note I am not talking about the Christians on DU, it's the rightist I am talking about. Nows the time people lets stop attacking each other, and line up and fight the right.

[DistressedAmerican]

38. Don't Forget Radical Cleric Dobson. Karl Tells Him Things!

[femrap]

42. I refer to these people as

the American Taliban or Christian Fascists....and you are right...we need to stand up to them and show how truly power-hungry they are.

[dxstone]

39. YES!... they are ON THE ROPES!!!

It would be such a shame, to give up now, when the prize is finally within sight!





I sincerely hope we don't have to wait that long, though...
Surrender, Dorothy!

DA, you are a treasure here on DU!
d

[DistressedAmerican]

40. SURRENDER DORTHY! Hysterical! And You Little Dog Too!

:rofl:

[Laurab]

43. I AGREE!!!111

and it will be even more of a whole new world when it hits the corporate media, and the un-informed public FINALLY gets a look at what has been going on. There are so many people who have no idea - I know a lot of Democrats and * haters who have no idea what I'm talking about, when I talk about indictments and things like that. Actually, I think a lot of them think I've gone over the edge. These are people who consider themselves at least a little informed, and they have NO idea.

When this finally hits the front pages - and it will HAVE to, all hell is going to break loose, and it won't be pretty for the * and his pals, to say the least. I cannot wait..........

[DistressedAmerican]

45. Dammit Still Waiting. Freaking Delayed Gratification!