Displaying 571 To 600 Of 3,333 Comments When The Simmering Public Finally Erupts Sue, they have been using Twitter but not so much for a call to arms. I have not seen much in the way of organizing. My major problem is the lack of a consistent message. You see all kinds of signs and slogans, everything from the Troy Davis situation to corporate greed. There was even a van there with signs to free the Wikileaks guy. The Twitter thing has been just asking for support and for medical supplies to treat the injured. Maybe I have missed others. I remember when we did the Washington Moratorium during the Vietnam war, tens of thousands showed up. There was no Twitter or Facebook, but we did know when and where. It was spread through college campuses and word of mouth. These guys really need some serious organization. I think they are flying by the seat of their pants. Cornell West showed up in support, but I haven’t heard of any celebrity or politician coming out. » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 28, 2011 @ 4:39 pm Bito, perhaps he didn’t know about it although I really doubt it! There are lots and lots of people who aren’t aware due to the blackout! » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 28, 2011 @ 3:25 pm KT, agreed. I don’t know if they would be arrested for the eye goggles…you know, that 150 yr. old law against wearing a mask?? What a bunch of Bullsh*t! The helmets are a must! Surely there is no NYC law against wearing a helmet! » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 28, 2011 @ 3:23 pm Agreed, Adlib. Sorry I’m in such a blue funk today. I am not taking anything away from the protesters who are risking physical injury and arrest to stay out there. I posted a comment on another site about getting Dr. Cornell West to quit bashing the President. I received a couple of very terse replies that “don’t you get it? The protests are ANTI-Obama” and that he is a tool of the corporations. It makes me wonder just exactly what these protesters really want. Some of these people are obviously not very politically savvy. They are not taking the accomplishments of the President into consideration…maybe even buying into the propaganda from the right to feed their anger. It’s all very confusing. I’m just afraid that there are going to be a lot of burned people before this fight is over. » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 28, 2011 @ 2:26 pm Thanks, KT…strange that Reuters is putting these pix out, not the NY Times or Newsweek. » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 28, 2011 @ 1:50 pm Adlib, great article! How sad that it must come to this! I have been wondering how long it would take and what kind of insults the American people would have to stomach from the greedy corporatists to finally get up off the couch. The way I see it right now is that this situation is simmering, not quite to a full boil yet. I guess the American citizen has not had enough…that comfy couch is just too hard to leave even if his right to vote is in jeopardy! Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC has begun petition drive to “Get Money Out” of the government. At least one member of the MSM has taken up the cause. We all know that our representatives are completely bought and sold by the corporate and special interests. I don’t know if a petition is going to make much difference, but at least someone is trying to keep the issue in front of the people. I remember the protests during the Vietnam war when the students were actually able to change the politics with their persistent demands to stop the war. However, it took years to make substantive change…and many arrests and bloodied protesters. Thousands of protesters from all over the country descended upon Washington DC to march in the Moratorium. The government could no longer ignore the people. Unfortunately, this march in New York City does not come up to the numbers necessary to make a major impact. The messages are varied with no apparent organization, which IMO hurts the movement. The media blackout has certainly not helped. We are fighting a terrible uphill battle. As David Axlerod stated yesterday, it’s a “titanic” fight. We will see millions upon millions of dollars poured into the campaign against the Democratic candidates, including the President. We are fighting lies and smears of the right wing. We are fighting those corrupt politicians who take vast amounts of money for their votes. We are fighting voter suppression all over the country, including the possible hacking of electronic voting machines and redistricting along racial and ethnic lines. The odds are formidable! I’m sorry…I’m rambling, I guess. It’s just that the problems we face seem to be coming to a head, and the winds are blowing against us. It is going to take much more than 500 students on the sidewalks of lower New York to change the status quo. I admit that I don’t know how to get the American people off their couches! They have forgotten that freedom is not free, and liberty must be guarded constantly! » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 28, 2011 @ 1:28 pm Why America Fails: One Man’s Opinion Bito, you are so right! But how many people will be so depressed and down that they will even believe in voting anymore? The right-wing controlled media is not doing anything to help either. The corporate financed lies and smears turn people off to the process. Sad to see! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 1, 2011 @ 5:36 pm Hi jj! It reminds me of the same thing, Germany in the 30’s just as Hitler was coming into power in the early days. He started off slowly enough with promises of German pride and restoration of the country’s strength. Only a few were really aware that his hatred of the Jews was going to result in concentration camps. He preached against the Jews, but who would have thought that he would actually set out to exterminate millions? No reasonable person would have ever dreamed of that. I see the US in a kind of half-sleep right now, knowing that things are not right, but not quite awake enough to see what’s really happening. We have a group of far right religious nuts who are intent on taking over the government, much as Hitler did then. They are starting out slowly, taking local and state positions, but working always to overturn the laws and protections that we take for granted. One example right now is the constant attack on women’s reproductive rights. They are currently sponsoring ballot initiatives in two states with plans for all the rest. This fits right in with the repub’s agenda, or vice versa. Some people do not take these people seriously. They are pretty far out there for sure, but don’t underestimate them. They are more than determined and they are pushing their candidates with the support of the republican party. They have merged with the GOP and they have plenty of money behind them. Take Rick Perry’s recent prayer fest in Texas. It was completely sponsored and run by the religious right Dominionists. Perry is their guy to take the White House. Fortunately for us, Perry is not going to make it, but perhaps next time, they will find another candidate who can take the presidency. If that happens, we are so totally screwed! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 1, 2011 @ 4:55 pm CL, the last word of your comment gave me the chills! No, we as a nation are not that hard-hearted, but when people are faced with a threat to their actual physical survival, they can become very hard-hearted very quickly. Last night, I scrolled through the site “We are the 99%” and read many of the stories there. I noticed that so many of the young people had been forced to move back in with their parents simply to survive. Some even told of sleeping on friends’ sofas for long periods of time, even panhandling for food money! A few of the women even admitted to “sex work” to earn enough to support themselves. How sad that anyone would have to go to this extent just to buy food and pay rent in this, the richest nation in history! I read one comment from a young mother who said she only eats once each day to make sure that her children will have enough to sustain them. How can this be? My point is that over-crowding is already happening. We have slums where 20 people may live in a small apartment for lack of any other choices. Shelters are full to capacity, food banks are stretched to the limit, and benefits are non-existent or being cut to those most vulnerable. A lack of health care was another subject mentioned in many of the stories on that website. Many of the stories were so sad…medication or food? What a terrible choice! Any major city in this country has its homeless, living under cardboard boxes and carrying meager possession in shopping carts. Their numbers are growing as more and more people lose their homes and have no where else to go. A number of the stories told of parents losing homes after years of responsible living, through no fault of their own. Of course, joblessness was the #1 cause of most of the problems. Granted, we are not where we were during the early days of industrialization in this country. But I am afraid that we are quickly sliding in that direction. When you have a republican governor trying to roll back child labor laws, and others who would abolish the minimum wage, what else can you think? I sincerely hope that some legal aid will come to help the movement, but you and I both know that it’s going to be one hell of a fight against the powers that be. I cannot remember such a deliberate and concerted assault on the rights of the American people that we see in our current situation. I am afraid that the short attention span of the voters will put our worst nightmare in the White House and give him a Congress to do his bidding. If that happens, we may well be doomed. I still believe that when given the FACTS, the American people are sympathetic to the plight of so many. We just have to keep pushing back hard against the right wing that would take away every safety net from us. Even if it is all “roar” and no action right now, I support the protesters. Perhaps this will wake up the people in this country to get involved. Thanks for your insightful comments here! You are a jewel! I am so glad you are my friend! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 1, 2011 @ 12:36 pm Adonai, things can definitely get much, much worse. The American voter has such a short attention span. We voted in President Obama for the change that he promised. It has been very disheartening that many have turned against him in such a short time, expecting him to work miracles. I cannot remember any president having to face the myriad of problems that he has tackled in two and a half years. The opposition of the repubs has been stunning. My point here is that with that short attention span and expectations of immediate gratification, I am afraid that the voters will elect another George Bush! If that happens, I don’t know if the country can survive. You know, as well as I, that the repubs’ policies will do nothing to combat the jobs problem and spark an economic recovery…quite to the contrary. I’m not giving up on it. I agree that we are strong, but the basic underpinnings of good jobs, decent wages, solid home-ownership, and a fair representative government are sadly disappearing. This does not bode well for us as a nation. As I wrote last year, “If they take away all our jobs, take away all our homes, and limit our educations, what kind of third-world country will we be in ten years?” And the way I see it, that’s exactly what’s been happening. » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 29, 2011 @ 2:21 pm Adonai, thanks so much for your article! It is indeed timely and echoes some of my thoughts. I have been thinking that if this country does not change tracks, we will collapse under our own debt and weight! I am not getting any younger…I have two grandchildren who are almost grown, and I am deeply worried about their futures. When I was growing up in a small Southern town, we never locked our home or our cars. We could go shopping and leave the keys in the car, parked in front of the stores on Main Street. Now, if you are foolish enough to do that, your car will not be there when you come back. It was a much more simple time of innocence that I’m afraid will not return. There is a hard veneer to America now. It’s every man for himself with little or no regard for others in need. America is much too involved in the next silly sitcom or who will win “American Idol” to concern itself with hungry children or homeless veterans living under bridges. Our Congress has been bought and sold by the corporations that urge us continually to buy the latest, greatest…whether we can afford it or not. The debt of the average American family is staggering. Students who attempt to get a college education find themselves indebted for the rest of their productive lives. It is a cruel kind of slavery with no emancipation in sight. And don’t get me started about the outsourcing of our jobs for cheap overseas labor! It is really no wonder that young people are protesting the greed of the bankers and corporations who have robbed our country blind! In my humble opinion, unless America drastically changes its direction in the very near future, the Union itself may be in danger of breaking. What it will take to wake up the American people is still a question that I cannot answer. The polarization of our politics is the most drastic that I have ever seen in all my years. As we approach another election next year, the ugly and divisive ads begin again to smear the candidates, deepening the political divide even further. No candidate, whether for local town council or for President of the United States, is immune from unfair and biased attacks. Ideology is king…the true needs of the people are ignored. We continue on this track at our own peril! The foundations of our democracy include the active participation of the people. Unless our populace becomes concerned enough to become involved, to loudly and persistently voice our needs to our representatives in government, to work to preserve our own rights, and to vote, our “experiment” in democracy will fail, a victim to our own apathy. We will become a nation by the corporations, for the corporations with nothing left on our skyline but high-rise monuments to greed. Your history lesson puts this current situation into a perspective that I have not seen anywhere else. Most thought-provoking! Thank you for posting it! » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 29, 2011 @ 8:11 am Audadvnc, I know! But it makes me feel better. Otherwise, I just sit here getting more frustrated by the minute! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 4, 2011 @ 1:52 pm JJ, I’m afraid you are right about the direction of the economy. It ain’t getting any better, that’s for sure. Now the rethugs have refused to bring the American Jobs Act to the House for a vote. I personally think that they are going to pay a heavy price for that obstruction at the polls next year. The President can, at least, run on his efforts to get something done and point out what the thugs in Congress have NOT done! I just hope that he will not allow them to chop up the bill and try to disassemble it to the point where it really will do very little good. It IS a depression, whether they call it that or not. Ask the chronically unemployed in this country what they would call it! Ask the millions of people who have lost their homes. I’ll bet I can tell you what they would say. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 4, 2011 @ 1:49 pm Audadvnc, I did see that…how interesting! It must be nice to have enough money to buy Congressmen and now the police to do your bidding! I wonder if the banksters think their little machinations are not transparent! Thanks so much for the link. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 4, 2011 @ 9:25 am Kalima, thanks for the link! This is good news for the protesters. If anyone can organize and focus the group, the unions can do it. With the attack by the repubs on unions, I would have been surprised if they didn’t support the movement. It is, after all, the same bunch of crooks who would strip the unions of collective bargaining power. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 4, 2011 @ 9:17 am Cyranol, thanks! I am happy to say that you won’t find off-topic flaming at the Planet! It just simply won’t be allowed here. In the couple of years that I’ve been a member, I can only think of one instance of a troll attack that was taken down immediately. There is no excuse for that kind of thing. It serves no purpose at all! That’s not to say that we don’t have some spirited debates on the issues! 🙂 I learn from these folks every day and value their friendship. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 4, 2011 @ 9:12 am Hi cyrano! I’d be most pleased to submit a comment to CNN! It would not be the first time…nor will it be the last, I’m sure! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 3, 2011 @ 9:18 am Over at our friends’ place, “Crooks and Liars”, there was an article about an “Occupy” protest that we never heard about. Apparently, at the end of the summer, a large protest happened in Tel Aviv, Israel over many of the same issues that we protest here…jobs, affordable housing and health care, education, and the wars that sap our government of money. Perhaps I missed it during our debt ceiling debacle, but we can not take total credit for this movement that involves Israel as well as the Arab countries. We are definitely not alone! http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/biggest-occupy-protest-you-never-saw- “So what can we learn from this? The Powers That Be don’t seem to want us to know that even in countries that aren’t run by dictators, citizens everywhere are unhappy with huge economic inequalities and lack of opportunity, nor are they willing to support the huge military expenditures that suck up money away from everything else. We also learn that whether by design or circumstances, if the people are too restless, the establishment will look for ways to divert us.” Divert? I believe we can see more than a few examples of that! According to MSNBC, since taking over the House of Representatives last January, Speaker Boehner has put up ZERO jobs bills, but has instead put forth NINE bills concerning abortion! Until we come together and DEMAND action from our Congress, they will drag their feet and stall as long as possible on the President’s American Jobs Act. But I digress… » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 3, 2011 @ 8:53 am Adlib, thank you! This movement has struck a chord with the American people. I understand that plans are in the works for Washington DC. That should be huge! If progressives don’t now take full advantage of this, they will deserve defeat in the next election. I was always taught that this government was supposed to reflect the wishes of the populace, something that has been sorely missing in the past 10 years. Unless our elected representatives begin to pass laws to protect our rights and give the “average Joe” some help, the incumbents are going to find themselves in the unemployment line! The mood of the American people is surly! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 3, 2011 @ 5:14 am Bito, thanks for your help! I thought I remembered that address as being correct, but my brain has not been functioning for the past couple of days..still have that stupid migraine. I appreciate your looking out for me. 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 3, 2011 @ 4:58 am CL, about that friendly SCOTUS…just how do we make that happen??? I am personally hoping that Clarence Thomas gets his just rewards. Maybe that could open up a spot. Otherwise, unless one of them dies or decides to retire, we don’t have a chance. It won’t do us much good for Ruth Bader-Ginsburg to retire, just to be replaced with another liberal justice. With the Citizens United ruling, I am very worried about the upcoming elections. Take Elizabeth Warren’s Senate campaign. She is up against Scott Brown’s giant campaign war chest of over $10 MILLION! And he can always get more if he needs it. We only have to lose four seats to lose control of the Senate. It’s a little scary for sure. As far as those changes in the laws are concerned, I have to leave them to people who are much smarter than I will ever be. I didn’t study too much banking and economics in nursing school, but I can write you a book on trauma! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 2, 2011 @ 10:18 pm Thanks, jj! If Perry somehow manages to get himself elected, I don’t think this country can survive. Think of the problems we have now…and multiply them by 100! The repubs will wipe out everything that could possibly pull us out of this depression, with only more tax cuts. They have said they want to “drown” the government, and they seem to be making good progress. Tax revenues are certainly not “nil” but are the lowest they have been in many years. The repubs are trying to make the government as ineffective as possible…then they can blame the President. It’s all about the power! They will do whatever they have to do in order to win back the White House. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 2, 2011 @ 9:40 pm Thanks KT! The Citizens United case was one of the worst things that ever happened to the democracy. In fact, I think the piece I wrote about it was the very first one that I put up on PPOV. It’s long been a thorn in my side. I agree with you about the campaign finance reform, but how do you get those who benefit from the corruption to give up the corruption?? It’s always amazed me at how quickly the representatives that we send to Washington get corrupted by the power. Maybe they were always that way, but I’m sure the long lines of lobbyists outside their offices don’t help. Thanks for the Aristotle quotation…very appropriate! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 2, 2011 @ 9:22 pm Hi Cyrano! I feel your pain! LOL I’m old and trapped in the South! But I checked out the “Occupy Together” website and found out that there are lots of marches in all areas of the country. You might want to check it out. Sorry I don’t have that link handy, but I’ll try to find it! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 2, 2011 @ 9:15 pm Thanks MW! I really do like the way this guy thinks and writes. We had a discussion about this yesterday on the other thread about Wall Street. Choicelady made some very good comments on the subject. CL’s point, well taken, was that the movement needs to be followed by legal action. The emotion of the protesters will amount to nothing if it is not translated into action in the courts. So far, in spite of the fact that cases are “in the works”, no one from the Wall Street banks and corporate CEOs have been jailed for their obvious crimes. CL made the point that their actions were, in fact, legal. I am certainly not an attorney, nor do I understand many of the laws concerning banking, but it would seem that when the actions of a few are so blatantly immoral (if not illegal), then change must come through the courts. Only by taking to the streets will we be able to start the process to bring about this change. Sad that it has come to this! I wrote a comment about slums and the poor yesterday too. I believe it is on the same thread. We are quickly moving in that direction if the repubs have their way! If you have time, check out the website for “We Are the 99%”. It is quite eye-opening! Here is the link: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/ » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 2, 2011 @ 6:44 am An addendum to this piece: I actually wrote it a few days ago but somehow failed to get it submitted. Still technologically challenged! Sorry…this is a little out-of-date, but I still think Mr. Graeber has a good handle on the protests. Thanks for reading! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 2, 2011 @ 6:08 am TAKE ACTION: Sign White House Petition to Fight Voter Suppression Adlib, we’ve got a little problem…only 49 signatures in 3 days. Either something is wrong with the WH site, or we need to get going and spread the word. We also need to make sure the link to the site is available in the Twitter feed. Perhaps we can ask Bito to fix it?? » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 28, 2011 @ 3:31 pm Hi jjgravitas! Thanks for your comment and your signature! Please spread this around to your friends and ask them to sign. We need some help to reach our 5,000 goal. I was glad to see Rachel Maddow do a segment tonight on this subject. I hope she will keep it up. Sen. Sherrod Brown was on as her guest and he said he’d never seen anything like this radical bunch that is trying to take away everything we hold dear! This is a nasty uphill battle for sure! » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 27, 2011 @ 8:33 pm We have to make sure the link is showing up in the Twitter feed. I have posted it to a couple of other blogs today, like “The People’s View”. Also, I’ve sent it to my email contacts. We only have 26 signatures so far…we need a lot of help! » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 26, 2011 @ 3:18 pm Why Is Equality So “Controversial” for Republicans? Hi atdnext! Excellent! These cretins need to be called on the carpet for their bigotry! In every debate so far, we have seen the true colors of the repub party come out, from the cheering for the death penalty and the “let him die” response from the audience, to this booing of a soldier whose life is on the line in Iraq. It was somewhat encouraging to read that Huntsman did come out, albeit a day late, to condemn this latest example of the repubs’ limits on patriotism. We will have another “debate” (and I use the term loosely) and perhaps two more before this painful process is over. I wonder what question by some pseudo-journalist will provoke anger, bigotry, gay-bashing or racism from either the candidates or their supporters in the audience. How shameful that these attitudes are out there for the whole world to see! Howard Kurtz opened his program on CNN this morning with comments about the media and the debates. While not exactly condemning FUX News, it was pointed out that many of the questions were not of the caliber that the voters deserve to hear, such as Megan Kelly’s “What would you do to turn the economy around?…You have 30 seconds to answer.” That seems to be the way the repub brain works with jingoistic and bumper-sticker questions and answers. Bigotry and hatred fit perfectly…140 characters or less. Thanks so much for your article! Well done! » Posted By Emerald1943 On September 25, 2011 @ 8:37 amComments Posted By Emerald1943
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