Dear DU'ers of the early 21st century,

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

May 1, 2037

For those of you who were alive and old enough to be aware during W Bush administration, are all the things we've heard really true?

Were 2 elections stolen? Were hundreds of laws ignored? Were we mislead to war?

Did they actually lie almost all the time and expect people to believe them?

Is it really possible they could say they were all about moral values, but they ignored suffering and pain and hunger and problems of all kinds, in favor of their corporate contributors?

But most of all, what stopped him, them? W, Rove, Rummy, Condi, all the folks we've heard about? Seems like a big secret.

Did W step down after 2 terms or not?

Was there an election in 2008?

How did the skies get clean, the wildlands get preserved once again with wilderness status?

Who was responsible for putting us back on the Kyoto protocol? How did global warming finally subside?

Was there enough oil? Enough wind, solar, and other power?

How did civilization survive?

Yours truly,

Future generations of DU'ers

[htuttle]

1. "April 4, 1984"

"To the future or to the past,
to a time when thought is free,
when men are different from one another and do not live alone -
to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone.
From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude,
from the age of Big Brother,
from the age of doublethink,
from a dead man -
Greetings".

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

2. Nice. n/t

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

3. Did this 6 week old help?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

10. Isn't "Bou Bou" cute? :) n/t

[marions ghost]

4. The people slowly

began to understand that they had all been taught to operate out of a sense of lack.

That nothing was ever enough.

They began to see that to live this way is Hell on earth.

And they decided to live, instead of surviving poorly.

[Bake]

5. That's rather optimistic, I think.

It assumes that something, or someone, stopped them. It assumes that civilization survived.

I'd say that's a bit optimistic at this point.

Bake

[marions ghost]

6. if you really

didn't believe that somehow we will survive, then you probably wouldn't even have the optimism to post here. But it could be true in that civilization as we know it may not survive. Personally I'm hoping for something better than what we have now.

Bushco had a big dream. They are failing, whether they realize it or not. Millions can see now that they are failing. We who don't support Bushco --and the system he rode in on --can have a new dream now. Of transformation. That's as far as I can see. I don't see over to the Promised Land, but we will at least have the opportunity to turn this around. Why buy into powerlessness? A lot of us aren't going to go cheerfully over the cliff. Too stubborn.

[Bake]

7. I am somewhat optimistic, otherwise I'd blow my head off.

Having said that, however, the only way ANYTHING happens to loosen the fascist grip on power in the USA is for the media to do it's job (yeah, right, like they'll be glad to do that!). Otherwise, the populace is so anesthetized by crap like AmIdol, NFL, NBA, Desperate Housewives, etc. etc., that no one (except us, it seems) gives a flying sh*t about what's happening all around us. And this is because that is exactly what the media has TOLD them to think.

We live in a world of sound bites with NO -- NONE -- NO genuine analysis of the news happening in the mass media. Nobody reads the damn newspapers anymore (except us, again), and there is no real journalism on television. None.

Nevertheless, I continue to be cautiously, guardedly optimistic that SOMETHING will wake up the sleeping giant. I hope this NSA shit is the thing to do it. But I've thought that before.

Bake

[marions ghost]

8. People anesthetize themselves at times...

when they feel powerless to do anything. At this point with the neocon Titanic going down, they might seek out escape more than ever. Esp those who invested heavily in it. I agree, the public seems paralyzed--exactly where the masterminds of this whole misadventure wanted them -- but I'm not convinced it means they aren't worried or don't care. I know somebody who went bungee jumping while his sister was dying...people thought it uncaring, but it was only because he felt so angry and powerless. We face overwhelming problems in this country now, thanx to Bushco. The average person doesn't see a way out. It's gonna take some real masterminds to lead us out of this mess, cause masterminds on the Dark Side got us into it.

But everybody knows when the cesspool is overflowing--everyone's gonna be steppin in it even if they can still distract themselves. NSA, energy crisis, Katrina, Iraq, Dubai ports deal, healthcare crisis--the biggies are getting through the media distortion. It's seeping in...the biggest political disaster in US history is unfolding. Who do you know who seems really happy or like everything's just dandy? Maybe only the young, bless em, and the (oblivious) rich. The truly foolish are not so large in numbers IMO.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

9. A person would need to be SO SO insulated from the

world to not know there are MAJOR problems.

I keep hoping against hope they'll do as Neil Young sings and Imp Each the Pres and all the rest of them afore any attacks on Iran take place.

But you gotta have hope...ever see the musical "Damned Yankees?"

You've gotta have heart
All you really need is heart
When the odds are sayin'
You'll never win
That's when the grin should start

You've gotta have hope
Mustn't sit around and mope
Nothin's half as bad as it may appear
Wait'll next year and mope

When your luck is battin' zero
Get your chin up off the floor
Mister you can be a hero
You can open any door
There's nothin' to it, but to do it

You gotta have heart
Miles and miles and miles of heart
Oh, it's fine to be a genius of course
But keep that old horse before the cart
First you've gotta have heart

(You've gotta have heart, you've gotta have heart)
You've gotta have heart
All you really need is heart
(When the odds are sayin you'll never win)
(That's when the grin should start)

You've gotta have hope
Mustn't sit around and mope
Nothin's half as bad as it may appear
Wait'll next year and hope

When your luck is battin' zero
Get your chin up off the floor
Mister you can be a hero
You can open any door
There's nothin' to it, but to do it

You gotta have heart
(You've gotta have heart)
Miles and miles and miles of heart
(Miles and miles and miles of heart)
Oh, it's fine to be a genius of course
But keep that old horse before the cart
First you've gotta have heart
(You've gotta have heart)

[AuntiBush]

13. Since I'm Speechless tonight...

thank you, dbaker41 for speaking for me.

[motocicleta]

14. let's all ditch our TVs; that's my cause celebre

I definitely think we cannot win until we let those bastards, the TVs, go from our lives. I am optimistic, but my optimism is clearly tied to people severing the links to the idiot box.

Also, a very smart lady I know says, based on who the heck knows what, that this period we're in is supposed to be scary and dark, and is a transitional time that will end positively in 2012. I know that's cryptic and wierd, but it is still giving me hope right now when I sorely need it. Some yogi or something. I'm liberal enough to not care exactly what she's talking about, and she's liberal enough to not care if I believe, just that I understand the message. Whatever floats yer boat, as they say.

:freak:

[marions ghost]

15. gotta look at

why people can't just "sever links to the idiot box." TV provides a psychological and emotional function in many people's lives, often their only connection with the wider world beyond their restricted microcosm. It is also a form of meditation, the only way some people can unwind and relax. We all know what a good babysitter it is and how it keeps you company. And it is addictive. If you want to overcome an addiction you have to be prepared to substitute other activities for the addictive one, and in fact, live totally differently. It takes a lot of self-discipline and incentive to quit.

I don't feel so lofty about TV consumption, being somewhat addicted to the computer as a window on the larger world. The difference is you can feel more in control on computer, make choices, and not feel so force-fed. You also don't have to have all that maximal stimulus coming at you all the time. All those jerky jump cuts and disruption of continuity-- hyped-up images & sound designed to be absorbed by the primitive brain even if your cerebrum is paying no attention. I find TV irritating because of the excess noise accompanying every image...sometimes I just want to look and not have a lot of blathering every single second. But TV being such expensive 'space', leaves no spaces, bludgeons relentlessly. And this latest ploy of making commercials more seamless and story-like is even more insidious. TV COULD be better--we all know that. We desperately need TV alternatives and I think that's the realistic way to go for the immediate future. Ideally I wish all selling could be relegated to shopping channels. But that's not the way it currently works. TV is the perfect medium for social and political brainwashing. But I don't blame people for being sucked in. It's naturally mesmerizing to us curious monkeys.

Interesting that you should refer to this a Dark Time. Look at ALL the media we have. Look at all the INPUT, all the information at our fingertips. And yet, ironically, it is a Dark Ages. We have more means for being informed than ever before in history, but our corporate masters want to keep a tight grip on the message. Right now we have to overcome those distorted messages any way we can.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

11. Bushco had a Pipe Dream, like a

hookah-smoking caterpillar.

A nightmare for the rest of the world.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

12. White Rabbit lyrics

"White Rabbit"

By Jefferson Airplane

"One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small

When men on the chessboard
get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your Head
Feed your Head!""