Displaying 451 To 480 Of 3,333 Comments Thanks, Adlib! I don’t have time this morning to watch this, but certainly will do so later. I could really care less about Ratigan. What is more important is that the corruption by the big oil/big corporations in Congress has to stop. Whatever it takes to bring the issue into the forefront is OK by me. From what you are telling me, I certainly would not agree with Ratigan’s politics either. I promise to watch the video later today from the Stockman interview. I don’t watch his program every day and am sure I’ve missed some gems along the way. Thanks for trying to educate me! I do appreciate the information! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 18, 2011 @ 8:21 am bito, you are right. I know that Tester and Nelson would not have made any difference in the outcome, but it is the principle IMO. The main reason I commented about Reid’s lack of spine was his hesitancy to change the filibuster rules when he had a chance last year. He wimped out for political purposes. The other reason is not bringing up the debt ceiling during the lame duck session that would have avoided the fight of the century. He elected to wait and that caused a real mess. I know he has the caucus and the egos to deal with, but surely there are some progressive Senators that can back him up, like Sherrod Brown and Al Franken, just to name two. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 17, 2011 @ 2:56 pm Hi food! Glad to see you! Obama I trust too…but the rest of them?? Not so much after the Jobs Act. We only had two defectors, Nelson and Tester, but that was enough to p*ss me off! They should have stood with the President on the most important piece of legislation in his first term! Shame on them! Whites of their eyes indeed! And that includes Reid! Every once in a while, he will do something good…but can’t we get a Dem. leader with a spine?? » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 17, 2011 @ 2:18 pm KT, absolutely! I’m loving this too! A little anarchy can be good sometimes! 🙂 It’s fun to watch scumbags like Cantor walk back his comments! He actually reversed course on the very same day he made the comment about “mobs”! What an asswipe! Don’t you know the rethugs would LOVE to be able to use this movement. But they are not going to be able to! The spotlight is clearly in their faces!! Polls still show that a majority blame Bush for the economic situation. The rethugs can’t escape that fact no matter how they try! This is so much fun to watch! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 17, 2011 @ 1:58 pm Adlib, thanks for the heads-up. I was more interested in the history lesson on how Constitutional Amendments are done. I’ve been curious about this subject. I thought the information included there was interesting. I agree that there are loopholes in this as you mention here. But it is my feeling that we have to start somewhere to get Citizens United reversed and the influence of lobbyists’ money out of the process. Ratigan’s petition is certainly not a legal document, but an incomplete draft to begin to make the changes that we need. If it serves ONLY to raise awareness, it will be worth it IMO. I did not see his show when Stockman was on there. I also don’t know where his personal politics stand…I will have to take your word for it. But there seem to be a lack of any MSM person who will go out on a limb to call out our bought-and-paid-for Congress! In fact, right this minute, he has a gentleman, a professor Black, on his show who is calling out the bank fraud that has not been dealt with by the Justice Department. Sorry I didn’t get the guy’s full name…I was writing this comment. Ratigan has not asked for money…I’m just saying! IMO, no harm in supporting the idea. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 17, 2011 @ 1:23 pm KT, sorry I misread your intent. My bad!! I do agree with you that the Dems cannot derail the movement! I really think that President Obama should embrace the movement. There will be those who will not think so, but he is our best hope of getting any significant changes. I don’t think there will be much political downside to his doing so. At least, he can articulate so many of the grievances of the movement. IMO, he should take advantage of the energy out there. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 17, 2011 @ 12:31 pm Dylan Ratigan at MSNBC has begun a petition drive to “Get Money Out” of Congress. So far, over 200,000 people have signed on in support for a Constitutional Amendment to remove the corrupting influence of big money from our elections and Congress. On the above website, a good history lesson is provided about how the Constitution can actually be changed… ————————————————- “But how do we do this? How does one pass a Constitutional amendment in the American system to ban money from politics? It’s not a question with an obvious answer, but history has some clues. There have been only twenty seven amendments to the Constitution in over two hundred years of history, ten of which were ratified with the Constitution itself and several of which were procedural in nature. Yet, the basic path to serious Constitutional change is almost always the same – it requires organizational focus by a dedicated small group, a willingness to build alliances across factional and regional lines, a belief in playing hardball, and a strong and sustained outcry by a large group of citizens. Often, it is accompanied by local, state, and Federal laws that move the legal system in the direction of the amendment for many years before the Constitutional question emerges. Sometimes it is accompanied by sympathetic court cases.” ————————————————— It is a bit lengthy, but IMO certainly worth reading. ————————————————— “There has been an anti-corruption movement against the modern financing system since the 1970s, and we have many allies in this struggle. It is Citizens United and the bailouts, twin representatives that make corruption so explicit, that have shown us we must act. And it is the foreclosure crisis that suggests that if we do not act, we will be acted upon. Such is how Constitutional moments happen. Now it is up to us, the people, to make this our moment, as our forebears have in their moments of crisis.” » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 17, 2011 @ 11:05 am Hi KT! Yes, it is a CROCK! But as I have mentioned in other comments, at some point the OWS is going to have to actually CHANGE THINGS! They can march until they have no more shoe leather and nothing will happen. The corporations, banks, and the politicians can just ride out the wave until it just fades away. ChoiceLady is the one who made me see that change is going to require political action by legal means. That remains the bottom line. We can all be purists about this thing, or we can be realistic about the challenges facing the movement. I am hoping that a prominent spokesman/woman for the groups can be found, one who can speak to the nation on the issues, and someone who can get a foot in the door of Congress to begin the process. We cannot do anything without our elected representatives changing the laws that protect the big banksters and their ilk. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 17, 2011 @ 10:53 am KT, this is hilarious! “…the poor, the weak, the silly..the Italians…” LMAO » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 11:19 pm Hi KT! It is shameful and I never thought I would see my country in such a god-awful mess! Sometimes when I hear Boehner or Cantor get up and spew their propaganda about the “job creators” or some other such rubbish, I am just stunned at their arrogance and at how little they care about their fellow Americans that they claim to love so much. Politics has always been a testy thing with the back and forth of debate and argument between the sides. But never would I have thought that a President would be so disrespected and insulted and even hated that the other party would risk the actual collapse of our government to see him defeated. I am frightened for us and the future for our kids. The OWS Movement is glorious! This is the one bright light that I can see right now! It is the only source of hope that I can find in this political and economic climate. Unless the people rise up together, we will lose it all! God bless all those who are marching and chanting, sleeping out in the cold! I am most definitely there in spirit with them! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 11:09 pm Cher, I agree that while these issues are important, they are very wonky for this movement at this point in time. I’m with you on the Citizens United thing, but I don’t have a clue how that can be done since it is a ruling from the Uber-Lords! The lobbying money would be one of the most important items, if not THE MOST important. If we could get the money out of Congress and have publicly funded elections, that would solve so many problems. Lobbying could still take place, but money would not be allowed in the process. What must happen first is the re-taking of the House of Representatives and the holding of the Senate, hopefully with the pick-up of a number of seats to prevent the filibuster. Without these electoral successes, we won’t be able to do anything, and we can count on things getting even worse for the next four years. I’m trying to stay optimistic, but damn! It’s hard sometimes! Thanks for posting this. I cannot take credit for posting it earlier…it was probably Bito. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 10:56 pm Hi KT! Yep, I guess it is! They’d rather watch Kim Kardashian spend Daddy’s money to buy another Mercedes or another diamond-encrusted trinket to place on her pretty little arm! Gag!!! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 1:02 pm Cher, this is awesome! Thousands of dirty hippies with no message! LOL 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 12:57 pm Thanks, Bito! I had never heard about this before. It’s really a shame that clips like this are not played by the MSM. It certainly brings the issue of jobs into the spotlight as well as the wars that we cannot afford! One sign really got to me…”Another single mother in foreclosure – thanks Bank of America” » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 12:32 pm Hi Adlib! I went back today and re-read your piece about the OWS movement. We are 11 days out from when you wrote it and the movement is still growing! The protests in other countries yesterday was amazing. We are not the only ones who have been savaged by the corporations, the big banks and an unresponsive government. One thing persists though with the efforts here in the US. The OWS movement is now a month old. While I applaud the people for their persistence, at some point there will have to be specific demands and a strong spokesman/woman for the long haul. ChoiceLady wrote that the marches and protests must be accompanied by LEGAL changes to real demands. We can all march until doomsday with no results. The corporations and the banks can just wait until the movement peters out as the weather gets colder. Until OWS consolidates its issues and brings them to the powers that be in Washington, we will not see anything significant. It would be a shame to let all this impetus and energy be wasted, only to see it fade away. Growing numbers are great, but without the lawyers stepping up and the lobbying of our Congress taking place, exactly what do we expect to be achieved? Our representatives in Washington can do just what the corporations and banks do…wait and ride it out without having to commit on any issue. One hope of mine is that the Democrats will take advantage of the energy out there. I know that many issues of the movement are not partisan, but I believe they fall under more of what the Democrats want than the other side. While I understand that it is a risky political thing to support the protests, especially if they were to turn violent, it is time that the Democrats step up and recognize what’s going on. I feel that we definitely need a champion from the Left to actually make things happen. Bernie Sanders comes to mind, but perhaps there are others who would be better. I’m just sayin’… » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 12:17 pm Bito, I don’t remember seeing anything on the Washington OWS march. There was minimal coverage of the Al Sharpton event for jobs, but nothing else. Perhaps I missed it?? » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 11:32 am Hi Murph! This is good and explains some of the reasons why the MSM gives the movement short shrift. But he didn’t mention the lack of violence. Yesterday, when a few bad apples caused all the damage in Rome, it was the lead on CNN. There were pictures of smashed windows and burning cars with black smoke rising and people running for most of the day…just the kind of “news” that the American audience likes! Dumb it down and rev up the carnage! Get your popcorn ready! I watched the coverage of the MLK memorial dedication this morning and thought back to the days of the civil rights marches. Many were not given much TV coverage until the police turned on the fire hoses and loosed the dogs on the protesters. Then the people got interested. What a sad state of affairs! While I fault the MSM for their corporate agenda, we must not forget the appetites of the American people…sex, violence and bubblegum for the mind! Do we really think that the average person is going to watch endless loops of people calmly walking down the streets with their signs and chants? Not when they can change the channel and see brainless millionaire women spending vast amounts of money for designer purses, the violence of the wrestling ring, and the humiliation of contestants on talent shows. This is one of my pet peeves! Grrrrr! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 11:04 am Patsy, I love the idea! But for some reason, I doubt that shame will do the trick! This man would have to have a soul to be ashamed of what he’s doing! BTW, I saw something reported earlier this year that stated John Boehner spent over $119,000 on golf LAST YEAR! I wonder where all that money comes from… » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 9:23 am What a disgusting piece of crap he is! He must have sent his little pimp, James O’Keefe down there to spy for him. O’keefe was seen in the crowd a couple of weeks ago. One thought crosses my mind…they must be really frightened of the movement! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 16, 2011 @ 9:18 am Bito, I am p*ssed at CNN for its lack of coverage too, but I will have to give them credit for the way they presented the Rome riots this morning. They went out of their way to insist that the protesters did not start the problems. It was, according to them, a few hundred “anarchists” who did the damage. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 7:40 pm Bito, that was truly nauseating! Especially my favorite asswipe, Cantor! If there is a god, please let Can’tor get voted out of office this next time! Nothing would please me more! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 7:37 pm KT, does art mimic life, or does life mimic art?? The age old question…chicken or egg?? » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 3:40 pm Hi WW! I don’t know who this guy is, but his picture has gone viral! It’s showing up everywhere! He did a really great job on the costume. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 3:38 pm Hi Truth! It’s amazing to me that with the thousands upon thousands of protesters all over the country, the only violence we have seen has been due to the police. The protesters have been completely non-violent. It took literally weeks for the MSM to cover OWS but today, the incident in Rome is all over the tube! Disgusting! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 12:30 pm Hi KT! And they wonder why they are called “pigs”! Welcome to the United Police States of America! Grrrrr! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 12:24 pm Hi Javaz! I never thought I would see the day that I AGREED with any Teabagger on anything! He is absolutely right! I’m glad he mentioned getting the money out of politics…that is the root of all our evil! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 12:14 pm Bito, I LOVE “Les Mis” and listen to it often! GREAT, great music! This song makes me think of the Occupy Wall Street movement every time I hear it! “Do you hear the people sing We do have a lot in common with the French Revolution! This particular video comes from the 25th Anniversary of “Les Miserables”. It is well worth watching. Some amazing talent! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 15, 2011 @ 12:11 pm Hi Patsy! Thanks for posting! In the past two days, there has been more talk of possible violence in the marches. The right would love nothing better so they can justify their verbal attacks on the protesters. I just hope that everyone involved keeps a cool head and that the protesters do nothing to aggravate a police crack-down, no matter the location. What worries me more than violence by the protesters is the possibility that right-wing trouble-makers will deliberately come in to cause problems. I would not put it past them to try it. In fact, James O’Keefe, the ACORN “pimp” was seen yesterday and filmed as he walked around the park. You can bet he was not there to contribute anything good to the movement! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 11, 2011 @ 7:08 am Hi Sue! Sorry, my doggie walked across my computer keyboard and gave you a thumbs down! I will reverse it if I can! Thanks…I forgot about “the Queen” who will put up anything ANTI-Obama or the Dems, Glenn Beck included! And can you believe that scumbag? That is one sick man! What is his obsession with the Nazis and the reference to “the night of the long knives”? Sicko! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 10, 2011 @ 4:47 pm Bito, yes…if we wash, they will come! Chinese siding? Yes again! Complete with formaldehyde, just like FEMA trailers! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 10, 2011 @ 4:03 pmComments Posted By Emerald1943
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will NOT be slaves again!”
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