Displaying 241 To 270 Of 3,333 Comments 2012: The End of America As We Know It Hi funk! “The GOP in control of all three branches”?? Did you really think about that? I cannot imagine anything WORSE for America in light of the problems that we face and the lack of any plans by the republicans to do anything about them. They have been, since its inception, determined to abolish Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid would immediately be on the chopping block if they were to regain total power. Millions of people would be sentenced to a life of poverty and untreated illnesses. I can’t think of anything worse for us! And this is just the tip of the iceberg! I guess I just don’t understand your thinking. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 9:08 pm Dearest Cher, lovely! Great comment! You are right about the demoralization from seeing ALL our institutions crumbling around us. Our education system is failing at least two generations of our children who will grow up with limited skills, some barely able to read. How can these children know what their rights are when they are not even able to read our founding documents with any understanding? The dumbing down of America has been going on for a long time. Bush just brought it all home with his “No Child Left Behind” program that was an abject failure…but what can you expect with no funding?? Our votes are not safe! We cannot even count on fairly electing our representatives. Big money can sway the populace with deceptive ads and rig the outcomes with hacked electronic voting machines and biased election officials. Our Supreme Court is stacked against the people, working only for the corporations and their big-money benefactors. We have little chance for redress of our grievances if they run counter to big business. Judges who rule in favor of the people are demonized as “activist judges”. The government is to be dismantled, systematically, to be impotent and unable to help the people. Everything is to be sold off to the highest bidder…roads, bridges, airports that taxpayers have paid for. As the President has said, if the repubs are in power, you are on your own! But I still have hope, in spite of everything. I believe in President Obama! I know that his heart is with us and he will do what he can to stop the bleeding. We MUST hold on to the Presidency, hold the Senate, and take back the House. Otherwise, we will see the continuation of this slow and painful decline. The repubs will not rest until they have ruined it for the 99%! The Occupy Wall Street is waking up the American people! This is the best part of the movement! They have already won! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 8:49 pm Adonai, 🙂 Thanks for the vote of confidence! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 8:26 pm Murph, good points all! This is exactly why the Citizens United case is such a travesty! The first article that I ever posted in PPOV was about this case as it was under review by SCOTUS. I wrote that I was very afraid that our democracy was in extreme danger and would never be the same if they ruled as they ultimately did. Now, we can already see the results of their dereliction! The ads are already beginning in many places. The flow of anonymous money into our campaigns has already begun. The lies and deceptions are being dreamed up in the video production rooms. Air time is being purchased with millions of dollars. God only knows where this money is coming from…even possibly from foreign governments. If there is anything good coming from the Occupy Wall Street movement, it will be the awakening of the sleeping American voter! We can only hope that we can fight this influx of money and the lies and deceptions of the republicans like Rove by continuing to pound that message home! People don’t like being deceived…they need to know what Rove and the rethugs are doing to the conversation! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 7:45 pm Adlib, I’m not exaggerating at all! I really do think that every person in this country should read this piece! Sometimes, I sit and just shake my head, wondering what it will take to wake up the American people. How can they be so clueless as to send teabaggers to Congress to wreck our country? How can they expect repealing regulations to “fix” the economy? How can they just sit there and accept the inequality with all the money going to the 1 percent? What will it take to make them aware that if they vote repub, they are voting to have every bit of security stripped from them? What will make them aware that EVERY foundation of our democracy is in danger of being demolished? Today has been a pretty good day. The GDP is up to 2.5%, unemployment is slowly going down, the European debt crisis seems to have a solution, and the MSM is reporting that the President “has the wind at his back”! Enough for a little hope…I hope! Let’s all hope that the American voter will pay attention this time! We simply cannot afford to lose this one! Again, my thanks for a great piece! I’d like to nominate this for Article of the Year…or whatever the name/category is. BTW, when is that contest anyway?? 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 7:11 pm Adlib and Sue, I am hopeful too! The OWS movement may just be able to do it! It’s appropriate, IMO, that the young people are the ones in the streets and on the front lines. They are the ones with the most to lose. I will not live for too many more years. My grandchildren are my main concern as I have written above. I am doing everything I can right now to educate them. It is their future that is at stake. Nothing could be more important than this next election. It will literally determine the future for those kids…jobs, housing, economic security, education, and even nutrition. Everything that we take for granted is up for grabs by the 1%. They would control it all and take it all, leaving nothing for the rest of us! For chrissakes, even the US Post Office is in danger! I never thought I would see the day! We just have to work harder for President Obama than we ever thought about doing in the last election! He’s our only hope as it stands right now! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 6:51 pm Javaz, although I took your comment personally as I have been the one touting the advantages of St. Maarten since visiting there last winter, I certainly could NEVER hate you! I can appreciate your absolute loyalty and devotion to the “mother country”. I share your love of America and everything we can be. But if the republicans are able to completely take over our government in the next election, this country will be unrecognizable in 10 years. We will be not much better than a third-world impoverished banana republic. It’s already happening and they don’t have total control! Yes, St. Maarten looks wonderful to me! At least, I can have a banana tree in my yard! No dear! I could never hate you! I appreciate your point of view…but I disagree! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 6:06 pm Bravo, Adlib! Wonderful! I don’t think you could have said it better…I know I certainly could not. 2012 is going to be an incredible year for us all. And I believe you are absolutely right. This may be the battle of our lives! The differences have become so stark. I have never been so frightened for the future as I am right now, seeing what has transpired. I have two wonderful grandchildren about whom I worry daily. What kind of world will they live in? Will they have jobs and be able to raise families? Will they go hungry? Will they be happy? I never worried about any of these questions for myself as I grew up. It was always just a fact that I would be healthy, happy, and prosperous, living a full and productive life. Never would I have thought that in one generation, none of these things would be guaranteed for my grandchildren. After all, that was the American Dream, almost as much a part of our Constitutional rights as freedom of speech. At least, that is how I was taught to believe. We can take this country back! While I despise the baggers’ use of this phrase, there is something to be said for it now. We MUST take this country back. Nothing in my life could be more important. If we do not succeed in 2012, I do not want to think about what my grandchildren will face. Thank you for a beautifully done article! Every citizen in this country should read this! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 5:50 pm Hey food, she doesn’t make it easy for us, does she?? 🙂 I think Cher has her own agenda to educate all of us, whether we want education or not! LMAO » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 26, 2011 @ 10:34 am KT, now that was ridiculous! I don’t care if he is a Democrat! That was silly! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 26, 2011 @ 10:33 am Hi foodchain! Great to see you here! I agree with you! College students are so important, especially in this next election. We need for them to be involved if we want to see progressive change in the future. They have busy schedules and may not be up-to-snuff on all the issues. This provides an excellent way of getting them involved, IMO. After all, the outcome of this movement will affect their lives more than any other group. I know that this idea is not necessarily having to do with the election. But if the OWS movement is to have lasting effects, it must be accompanied by legislative change. And elections do have consequences! ADDENDUM: President Obama is speaking at a college in Denver right now, and outlining his plans to help students with debt. Consolidation of loans and lower interest rates. Also, increased information to student borrowers, “Know before you Owe”! All good ideas! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 26, 2011 @ 9:40 am Wow, Cher! You out-did yourself today! Great job! I’ve been reading for a couple of hours and have to admit that I have not been able to completely take it all in. Karl Rove is despicable! This is just a semantics game for him. Use the term “union workers” and people won’t like the plan. It’s sad that the American people don’t seem to see through this. The articles on education are of interest to me. The repugs seem to have a very, very long-term agenda. If they can make the schools bad enough with poor student scores and poor teaching in the classrooms, they can then say that the education system is broken. This justifies their desire to privatize it. Cut funds, lay off teachers, trash accountability standards, and limit students’ access to science and other subjects essential to a well-rounded education. Our kids come up short! This is so unfair! The kids are the ones who will ultimately pay for the agenda of the RW! It’s stunning to look at it through the lens of their long-term goals. You have to hand it to them for their patience. I am so sick of these people who would make our children the pawns in their big money game! I’m sorry to say that North Carolina is distinguishing itself as a bastion of RW ideology! Our Democratic governor, Bev Perdue, is fighting valiantly. At least, the judge has put a hold on the forced ultrasound law passed by the rethug State House. There will be more hearings in December. I am incensed at the “crisis pregnancy centers” using taxpayer funds to proselytize women and make every attempt to intimidate them, including using false and misleading medical information! This needs to stop NOW! The outcome of the next election could not be more important! We MUST stop these rethug ideologues before they completely wreck our state! It is encouraging to see a swing in the numbers that want to abolish the electoral college in favor of the popular vote. But I wrote last night that this subject comes up every four years. There will be a flap about it, but it will die off very quickly and nothing will be done to fix the problem. We also need to address electronic voting machines that can easily be rigged to alter the outcomes. This is another subject that gets re-energized every election but soon fades away. Our entire election process is being attacked at its very core. With gerrymandering and redistricting, voter ID laws and suppression of potential Democratic voters, redistribution of electoral college votes, and the influx of vast amounts of anonymous money into the campaigns, we Dems have the worst uphill battle that I believe we’ve ever faced. I know that the DOJ is looking into some of the voter ID law changes, and can only hope that their actions will be in time to stop the RW attacks. At least, it shows that the rethugs are scared of the Democrats. Otherwise, why would they be fighting so hard to screw the elections? wwwwwwwdc (that was from my puppy dog walking across the computer keyboard!) She wanted to comment this morning too! 🙂 Not to worry…she’s a good little Dem! Thanks so much for your hard work! This is an amazing amount of information for us! Now, back to reading! Have a great day! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 26, 2011 @ 9:11 am Khirad, the butt looked pretty good for an old dude! LMAO » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 25, 2011 @ 8:45 am Cher, thanks so much for your usual good work! Very interesting articles today. I am interested in the electoral college flap that comes up every four years. I’ve thought for a long time that we need to trash that system in favor of the popular vote. If memory serves me correctly, Gore did win the popular vote in 2000 but SCOTUS “appointed” Bush. This was a travesty that we are paying for to this day! Another related flap that arises every four years is the issue of electronic voting machines that can be hacked by rank amateurs. We bitch about the problem when there is an outcome in question, but the subject quickly subsides just after the election, only to be neglected until the next one rolls around. IMO, our campaign laws have been FUBAR’d for a long time, including campaign financing. With all the other problems we face right now, it’s hard to get much traction from anyone except the diehards who want things to be fair and equitable. I have no doubt that the discussion about the electoral college will flare up for a while, just like the issues about electronic voting and financing, but it will soon die off and be forgotten until the 2016 election when it will again be too late to fix the problems. I would love to see some nationally-recognized organization take on these issues to push Congress to fix the mess, someone like The League of Women Voters. It will take a major national campaign to make Congress look at it. Our only hope to see any change would be to take back the House of Representatives and increase our majority in the Senate. Let’s work for that! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 25, 2011 @ 8:43 am Thanks, Khirad. I don’t recall seeing this guy before, but he does have a somewhat impressive filmography. I would definitely not call him a “star”. The term is used quite too loosely! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 25, 2011 @ 8:30 am Javaz, you hit the nail on the head about the ridiculous candidates being pushed. I don’t know whether to blame the RNC or the media, maybe both. The end result is as you say, a mockery of our elections! IMO, there are only two candidates who are even remotely qualified to run, Mittens and Jon Huntsman. (I’m not too sure about Mittens!) The rest are cartoon characters with nothing to offer the American people! I missed the yellow flowers…what’s that about? EDIT: Never mind, I got it! How totally weird! Meanwhile as this “international screen star” talks, they are beating the crap out of the black guy in the background! There are so many subliminal messages in these ads! I’m beginning to believe that Cain may just be a “performance artist”. Could he be a hoax? Last night, it was reported that he basically has NO campaign workers on the ground ANYWHERE! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 25, 2011 @ 7:39 am Getting It Wrong In Afghanistan: Victory and Loss in 2002 and Today Hi Murph! Sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier. I was involved in the OWS Oakland thing. One comment about Daddy Bush “dropping the ball in Kuwait and Iraq”…he really didn’t drop the ball. The UN mandate at that time was for us to go in and remove Sadaams’s troops from Kuwait, pushing them back into Iraq. He would have faced some stiff opposition to removing Sadaam from power at that point in time. My son fought with the 82nd Airborne and went into Iraq during the Gulf War. When he arrived back in the states nearly a year later, the first thing he said was “We didn’t finish the job.” That was true, but we would have lost our coalition and would have been going in on our own with few allies. Too bad that Baby Bush had to do just that some years later! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 27, 2011 @ 5:19 am Murph, good article! Afghanistan has long been known for being the “graveyard of empires”, going back a few thousand years. It has been reported that no more than 20% of the population is literate. The country is essentially living in the Bronze age at best. The United States is woefully lacking in taking the lessons of history into its consideration when policies are planned. This is just another case of that blindness and refusal to really look at the situation. IMO, the Afghan people have not demonstrated a great desire for our form of democracy. They are a tribal people, accustomed to their own ways of dealing with their issues…sharia law, if you will. Of course, the Village Idiot and his ilk could never “get it” and insisted on pushing our idea of democracy on a people who are not in the least bit ready or able to participate in one. Perhaps that was just a part of Bush’s justification for the war…you remember, spreading democracy? Bush had to come up with a good excuse, especially after he let bin Laden escape from Tora Bora. But I digress… There have been a number of talking heads from the right wing interested in establishing of a functioning democracy in Libya since the downfall of Ghaddfi. Libya, while certainly not extremely “modern”, is head and shoulders above Afghanistan. If we have our doubts about the rise of a true democracy in Libya, why on earth would we think that the same can be brought about in Afghanistan? This is ludicrous at best! As Lindsey Graham said, “there is lots of money to be made” in Libya…this is no doubt the most important part of the issue, not the establishment of democracy. I think they could really care less about it. Is there a great deal of money to be made in Afghanistan? That remains to be seen. I guess the MIC can sell weapons to Karzai. Now that would certainly strengthen democracy, don’t you think! Of course, if Sec. Clinton is able to find a way to get us out of Afghanistan, President Obama will be dragged over the coals again and accused of “losing the war” as he has been over the withdrawal from Iraq. But this is the only logical thing for the US to do. We cannot afford to nation-build anywhere else but right here at home. Let the Afghan people take care of themselves. They’ve been doing so for thousands of years…without our help! Is it a perfect scenario with everyone voting for a centralized government? No, but let’s let the Afghans decide for themselves. I don’t mean to be hard-hearted or cold about the plight of the poor in Afghanistan. Women’s issues are particularly alarming, with females treated like animals and little education, if any, available to them. But the Afghans themselves will have to come around to understanding that their economy will not improve as long as they disenfranchise 50% of their population. And that can be said for many Middle Eastern countries. We can lead this horse to water, but we cannot make those changes for them until they are ready to embrace them. IMO, they’ve got a long way to go! Sorry for my rambling thoughts. Again, thanks for your article! Very interesting! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 24, 2011 @ 1:04 pm Cher, that’s another point about the President. I think he’s got a great sense of humor. He can really be quite funny when he goes off script. Remember when he swatted that fly on his arm during an interview? » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 6:32 pm Hi agrippa! I would have to agree with Cher. West is a jealous, vindictive little man who can’t hold a candle to Barack Obama, intellectually or in any other way. His appearance on The Ed Show last night was despicable. Ed was, I think, embarrassed at his pontificating, non-stop. I thought Ed was going to have to turn off his mic! In my opinion, it would have served West right if they had! West blasted the President. What a d-bag! I don’t think it has anything to do with his “world view” at all…or speaking truth to power. West does NOT speak “truth” but bloviates just like Rush Limbaugh does to anyone who will listen. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 6:29 pm Cher, great pix! Thanks! I especially like the one on top where he is holding that little boy so close. It’s a beautiful picture. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 6:19 pm Cher, after the second term, at the rate his hair is changing, he will be all silver by the time he leaves the White House…still a very good-looking man but obviously aged from the stress of the job! I thought he looked tired this morning. Something about his eyes. Maybe not enough sleep lately. It’s not like he doesn’t have anything to keep him up at night! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 5:15 pm Cher, I get aggravated at people who say that the President is cold, that he doesn’t connect with people, or that he doesn’t appear to feel their pain as Clinton did. I don’t see him in that light at all. If you watch his face when he is meeting people on the rope line at some event, he is always receptive and smiling warmly, shaking hands and listening as much as he can when someone speaks to him. He really seems interested and caring about those he meets. I see him as very empathetic and certainly kind. I would not doubt that he would have written checks to help someone out that he felt needed it. We all know that the MSM has savaged him and his temperament from Day #1…they’ve done a pretty good job of making him seem cold, at least from the press’ point of view. I hope that this “leaks” out about how he has tried to help total strangers. » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 5:11 pm KT, not just chess, but 3-D chess! He is an amazing politician! Always about 10 moves ahead of the neanderthal repubs! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 5:03 pm Cher, I noticed more of his grey hair this morning when he announced the end of the Iraq war. The job must be incredibly stressful. In looking at the list of his accomplishments during his first two years in office, I don’t know when the man sleeps! God bless President Obama and the First Family! They are a credit to us all! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 5:01 pm Oh KT! I would definitely agree with you! Many people don’t understand zen in this country. They would never be able to get “the sound of one hand clapping”! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 12:51 pm Hi Cher! Great job, as usual! One item really frosts me! The silly thing about the 24 carat gold shoe-strings! My god! Are these people so totally tone-deaf to what’s happening in this country??? I believe it was last month that some idiot designer came out with high heel shoes that cost $1500 per pair! And according to the report, they were flying off the shelves. Apparently that top 1% is doing even better than we thought! This, along with Paris Hilton’s $60,000 purse, is enough to turn my stomach! What these members of the “lucky sperm club” spend on trinkets would feed a number of families for an entire year. How do they sleep at night? Forgive my morning rant…when I think of what many people are enduring with home foreclosures and joblessness right now, I just get furious! I almost forgot to mention the time trip back to 1961. This was great! That was the year that I graduated from high school…the original “Happy Days”! Rock n’ roll was king! Dancing to it was all-consuming, and life was idyllic! Bobby-sox and bubble gum! Thanks for all your good work to enlighten us all! 🙂 » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 9:55 am Hi javaz! What a disgusting thing to say! Why did I know that this creep was a repub even before I read the article??? Keep ’em dumb, barefoot, and pregnant! That’s the goal! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 9:37 am Hi javaz! I’m laughing my tail off over Harold Camping’s prediction of the end of the world today. But just in case, I packed a bag last night! LMAO 🙂 BTW, does that fruitcake have very large ears, or is it just my perspective? As far as the GOP is concerned, their political objectives are crystal clear. It seems that there will always be about 20-30% of the American population that agree with the teabaggers, mainly because it takes NO brain power at all, never mind cognitive dissonance. Bumper-sticker slogans are all they can handle! Just a result of the Village Idiot’s effort to dumb down America! I would say that it was immensely successful! If I were you, I would not look for too much support from the churches. They have been pulled so far to the right on many issues, including the repubs’ favorite, abortion! We may see a little push-back from the Catholics on immigration. But the LDS church will of course support Romney next year. The cultural issues will take precedence over the economic issues. Too bad! You know, God, guns and gays! The old battle cry from the right! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 9:31 am Khirad, thanks for the Wall Street Journal article on the Jobs Act. Sperling puts out a very convincing argument. But unfortunately, he’s preaching to the choir! He can write/speak/blog/tweet until the cows come home, but it won’t change a single repub mind. It’s a shame that the repubs’ obstruction is not based on policy. It is based purely on hatred of this President and a sick desire to defeat him, no matter the cost to the American economy! I think that it may be good timing for the Democrats right now. The repubs are being shown for what they are, and the American people ARE watching! We can thank for OWS movement for waking the sleeping giant! We MUST take back the House, hold the Senate, and re-elect the President, no small task and an uphill battle for sure. But it is absolutely essential to literally save the country from calamity in another deep economic downturn! » Posted By Emerald1943 On October 21, 2011 @ 9:18 amComments Posted By Emerald1943
🙂 It really could have been much worse!
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