Unhappy Thanksgiving

[WilliamPitt]

(Photo: anjan58 / Flickr)

Unhappy Thanksgiving
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Thursday 26 November 2009

The calendar has come around again to Thanksgiving, and families all over the country will be gathering around dinner tables to celebrate. Or try to, anyway. With unemployment above ten percent, and with actual unemployment closer to twenty percent, with foreclosures all over the place, with wages dropping and food prices rising, with the economy improving only for those who have lots of money, there will be millions of people without a whole hell of a lot to feel thankful for.

Ten months after the inauguration of Barack Obama, those "Yes We Can" and "Hope" slogans have begun to ring more than a little hollow. Of course, the man inherited a vast array of ongoing catastrophes from his predecessor, and it is a dead-bang certainty that ten months under a McCain administration would have left us in far worse shape than we find ourselves in today, but the realization that matters are only slightly better than they would have been under the worst-case scenario doesn't go very far anymore. Some things are better, but the fact of the matter is that some things are worse, and most things are exactly the same.

The news on Tuesday was filled with reports that Obama intends to announce his decision regarding America's ongoing war in Afghanistan on December 1, and the early word is "expansion." McClatchy News reported, "President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional US troops over the next year to what he's called 'a war of necessity' in Afghanistan. Obama is expected to announce his long-awaited decision on December 1, followed by meetings on Capitol Hill aimed at winning congressional support amid opposition by some Democrats who are worried about the strain on the US Treasury and whether Afghanistan has become a quagmire, the officials said."

So, there it is. The US military is in terrible shape after two wars, and sending more troops into the Afghan conflict will only add to the damage. The cost of sending additional troops will further undermine our economy and make Obama's domestic agenda all the more difficult to achieve. The Afghan people, already deeply resentful after eight years of American occupation and warfare, will not greet a new investment of troops gladly. We can all hold hands around the Thanksgiving table and pray to whatever God may be listening that Obama will provide some sort of coherent exit policy, but the fact remains that no occupying force in more than a century has employed any effective exit strategy from Afghanistan beyond utter defeat.

Speaking of domestic policy, the much-ballyhooed push to reform America's health care system has gone completely sideways in the hands of Congress people bought off by insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and in the hands of a president who demanded change but has taken three steps back for every one step forward. The result looks to be a watered down farce of a bill that could very well make matters even worse than they already are. Economist Robert Reich recently wrote about the current state of affairs in the health care debate:

So the compromise that ended up in the House bill is to have a mere public option, open only to the 6 million Americans not otherwise covered. The Congressional Budget Office warns this shrunken public option will have no real bargaining leverage and would attract mainly people who need lots of medical care to begin with. So, it will actually cost more than it saves.

But even the House's shrunken and costly little public option is too much for private insurers, Big Pharma, Republicans and "centrists" in the Senate. So, Harry Reid has proposed an even tinier public option, which states can decide not to offer their citizens. According to the CBO, it would attract no more than four million Americans.

It's a token public option, an ersatz public option, a fleeting gesture toward the idea of a public option, so small and desiccated as to be barely worth mentioning except for the fact that it still (gasp) contains the word "public."

Our private, for-profit health insurance system, designed to fatten the profits of private health insurers and Big Pharma, is about to be turned over to ... our private, for-profit health care system. Except that now private health insurers and Big Pharma will be getting some 30 million additional customers, paid for by the rest of us.

Upbeat policy wonks and political spinners who tend to see only portions of cups that are full will point out some good things: no pre-existing conditions, insurance exchanges, 30 million more Americans covered. But in reality, the cup is 90 percent empty. Most of us will remain stuck with little or no choice - dependent on private insurers who care only about the bottom line, who deny our claims, who charge us more and more for co-payments and deductibles, who bury us in forms, who don't take our calls.

Pretty much says it all right there.

With public attention focused on the economy, Afghanistan and health care, the White House is moving in stealth to renew some of the worst Patriot Act provisions enacted by the Bush administration. Specifically, the administration seeks to renew three parts of the Act that are set to expire on December 31, according to the Inter-Press Service:

National Security Letters (NSLs)

The FBI uses NSLs to compel Internet service providers, libraries, banks, and credit reporting companies to turn over sensitive information about their customers and patrons. Using this data, the government can compile vast dossiers about innocent people.

The 'Material Support' Statute

This provision criminalizes providing "material support" to terrorists, defined as providing any tangible or intangible good, service or advice to a terrorist or designated group. As amended by the Patriot Act and other laws since Sep. 11, this section criminalizes a wide array of activities, regardless of whether they actually or intentionally further terrorist goals or organizations.

FISA Amendments Act of 2008

This past summer, Congress passed a law that permits the government to conduct warrantless and suspicion-less dragnet collection of US residents' international telephone calls and e-mails.

All we as Americans can do is work to push these elected officials away from the abyss they have us teetering over, and hope that there will be something to be thankful for next year. For now, however, just about everything before us is either worse or exactly as bad as it was before. Not much to be thankful about here.

http://www.truthout.org/11260901

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[clear eye]

11. I think he honestly (and wrongheadedly) believes that their leaders' prescriptions

are the most knowledgeable and best advice for "raising all boats" (improving the global economy). Perhaps he thinks that temporary pain to 1st world workers somehow benefits the huge numbers of people in the rest of the world. In other words, he's a sincere neo-liberal. Quite a few otherwise brilliant people have been oblivious to the real world impact of the class loyalties of the extremely knowledgeable and intelligent international financiers. Even the destruction of the Argentine economy in the 1990s can't seem to disabuse them. Remember, his prime campaign advisor, who gave him excellent political advice, was Austan Goolsbee, a business economist from the legacy of the "Chicago school". It would be easy to become convinced that someone who steered him so right politically was also a top-notch source of economic advice, and Goolsbee worshipped Rubin and protegees.

I fervently wish that Obama could see that putting the rest of the world's "ordinary" people under the thumb of international corporatists, and thereby curtailing if not abolishing chances for true representative democracies, leads inexorably to the consolidation of wealth and utter devastation for the majority of people everywhere. I believe that he has been convinced that efforts to regulate multi-nationals and limit their power will adversely affect economic development to the point that he can't see what the reverse is actually doing.

[annabanana]

15. +1

[clear eye]

2. You left out the deafening silence from DC about e-voting and counts. n/t

[MindPilot]

6. just one more thing they are deafeningly silent about. eom

[bertman]

42. A shoutout to clear eye for mentioning the "unmentionable"--that which shall not be

acknowledged.

[fascisthunter]

3. Another Gem from Will

thanks bud....

hope ya had a good one yesterday regardless of politics.

[MindPilot]

4. "All we as Americans can do is work to push these elected officials away from the abyss"

What do you propose? 70% of the people want a public option but we won't get it. A huge majority opposed the bankster bailout; they did it anyway. I could cite example after example, but those whom we elected to represent us instead ignore us. We write, we call, we march, and we get platitudes. And please don't say "vote 'em out"; we did that last time.

[WilliamPitt]

5. "we did that last time"

Did we?

[MindPilot]

7. Democratic majority in the House and Senate in 2006

with a clear mandate to end the Iraq war. Ignored.

On edit: And an even bigger one in 2008. Still there.

[WilliamPitt]

9. So you think Republicans are the only bad guys in DC?

You know better, I'm sure.

[MindPilot]

12. No not at all.

I think you completely missed my point. Right now it feels like even though we voted for a whole bunch of Democrats, the Republicans still won.

[WilliamPitt]

14. Indeed

Both parties work, by and large, for the same interests. Which ain't us.

We knew this going in. I did, anyway. None of what has been happening should come as a galloping shock to anyone.

[MindPilot]

17. Not really a shock, but certainly a disappointment.

I just hate having my cynicism validated on such a regular basis.

[WilliamPitt]

18. I tell myself every day:

"Bring a helmet."

:(

[bertman]

43. "I just hate having my cynicism validated on such a regular basis." Amen, MindPilot.

[unapatriciated]

73. Lili Tomlin said it best

"No matter how cynical i get, i just can't keep up". Lili Tomlin
I have felt this way since reagan.

[femrap]

78. Love her and

the comment....I'll be repeating it.

We're on our own. There are no heroes. The government cares nothing about us.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

25. I'm not shocked, but Will... What can we truly do about it?

We have marched, done sit-ins, written letters, signed petitions. The corporations are firmly entrenched in the government.
Until corporate person hood is no longer constitutional, until elections are publicly financed, nothing will change.

With corporate tools sitting on the Supreme Court, throughout government, and in Congress changing the above is just a pipe dream.

So do we just resort to having Unhappy Thanksgivings and lives do to the issues you cite, year after year-

Even if we manage to start getting more progressive individuals into local elected posts/congress, and assuming they stay
true to their principles it will take decades to even begin seeing a shift towards anything more humane.

Anyway... I've decided to take a stand this spring participating in Peaceoftheaction.org

Peace IN, Peace ON

[WilliamPitt]

27. You won't like the answer

Keep voting for Democrats. Third parties have neither the funding nor the popular support to get elected in enough numbers to affect change, and the GOP is simply not an option.

Despite all the justified pessimism and anger over the last ten months, things are better than they were. Not by very much at all, but definitely by a little. We go from here to elect better Dems by supporting them and voting for them, and we will get better representation every time we do it. Baby steps is the only way short of some popular, active, open and effective rebellion, but that won't happen anytime soon in this country, if ever.

Anyone who thought Obama and a congressional majority would be an instant panacea for all that ails us was simply fooling themselves; if you believed that, you left your chin open for the sucker punch you should have seen coming. But it is a little better now, and if we keep at it, it will get a little better each time we succeed at keeping the GOP at bay while working to elect better representation for us all.

It's the only way, and like as not, it will take a lifetime to be realized.

Selah.

[Hardrada]

36. We don't have a lifetime. We have a lot less time than that.

A society continuing to disintegrate will run the risk of really massive civil disturbances which will inevitably bring forth a military coup. We already have half a military coup d'etat already.

[WilliamPitt]

41. So what's your plan?

[Hardrada]

46. A salient question at this point! I do have Canadian friends

but I was putting a worst case scenario. It is all too likely for such a sequence of events if dissent is not peaceful. Non-violent resistance and general strikes might be an option. Probably the only option but part of the media will have to report this fairly and I am not sure we can count on that.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

66. You're right

I don't like that answer. Too many variables - with the deck stacked against us. When I birthed my babies 20 something years ago
we were living in, for the most part- peacetime. I raised my boys to live in a peaceful reality. How quickly that changed.
This is not the country I want my kids to live in.

Yup, I actually thought Obama would start making big inroads back towards that reality- I had 'Hope" That quickly changed too.
Throwing us a bone perhaps by eliminating the Patriot Act, DADT, keeping lobbyists out of his administration- would have been
a nice start. I would have considered those actions baby steps.

It's time for civil resistance in DC- day after day - we get 1000 people committed to arrest, daily, while congress is in session slowing the place to a grinding halt-
clogging up that city's jails- tying up their courts- making it hard for the comfy congress people to get to their destinations is
the goal.

I've got my huge Martha Coakley sign up- I'll be voting dem for a long time, and will never sit out an election, but I would also consider voting
for a strong independent too- It's no longer party for me, but issues from now on.

Shanti

[WilliamPitt]

74. Do you live in Cambridge?

I saw a huge sign on Fresh Pond Pkwy the other day. I mean HUGE.

"It's time for civil resistance in DC- day after day - we get 1000 people committed to arrest, daily, while congress is in session slowing the place to a grinding halt-clogging up that city's jails- tying up their courts- making it hard for the comfy congress people to get to their destinations is
the goal."

You first.

I don't mean to sound like a dick saying that. But I've heard it so many times. Talk is cheap and easy, and I've never seen talk like that backed up by anyone. My plan sucks, but it is feasible and doable. Yours? I'll believe it when I see it.

Again, please forgive my tone.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

81. No worries-

Regarding your tone, that is. I'm just of the mind set that we need more than your plan- we need my plan too.
Working together.

I'm just wondering- Say your congress person was of a Steve Lynch mode- and a Bernie Sanders type registered as and independent
came along to challenge democrat Lynch. Who would you support? I'd go for the Sanders kind every time. Would this be a difficult
decision for you?

I will go first. In fact plan to in the spring with the group- Peace of the Action. http://peaceoftheaction.org/
I've been arrested already protesting this war, and the prospect of this happening again to me doesn't
frighten me too much. I just can't tell my kids, or show them, I didn't try to save what's left of our so-called
democracy.

Hell- I'm using vacation time and using my own dime towards this endeaver. It will be interesting to see how
TPTB will react to this type of action. We aren't initiating it until we have 5000 people committed.

I'm down Cape in Truro btw-
off to teach yoga

namaste

[WilliamPitt]

82. Check out Progressive Democrats of America

Their "Inside/Outside" strategy sounds like what you're looking for.

http://www.pdamerica.org/

http://pdamerica.org/about/strategy.php <--- Inside/Outside

http://pdamerica.org/statecaucus.php?s=MA

:toast:

[clear eye]

19. I emphatically agree, so

I have been encouraging the heads of reform NGOs to get together in an umbrella group that has the numbers to implement a gen'l strike. Clearly we have to play hardball to be heard above the campaign contributions. Unfortunately so far there've been no takers.

[MindPilot]

21. I don't think Americans will ever do that.

It is just not in our nature to move in groups large enough to implement something like a general strike. And even if we did, we all go back to what ever we do in a couple days and nothing changes. In the end we wouldn't hurt the power structure; we would simply being making each other's lives difficult. Marches are passe and large-scale riots would simply result in martial law.

I'm afraid at this point the only real option we have is to let this current power structure die a natural death. It may take a couple generations or more but I think what has to happen is a slow change in our economic culture. As the Gordon Gekko "greed is good" types retire and die they will be hopefully replaced with a generation of socially responsible, socialist-leaning capitalists. Unfortunately most of us won't live long enough to see it, but we can certainly make sure we sow the seeds.

[clear eye]

23. I respectfully disagree.

I'm not advocating riots. The fragmented progressive response to the bought and beholden gov't is the fault of the leading activists and could be changed by them. Each one just has to admit that there's no pay-off in insisting on going it alone. The gen'l strike would have to be arrived at incrementally when the mass march failed. It would be seen as the logical next step.

[Generic Other]

8. We have bent over backwards to give him the benefit of the doubt

But I can only keep HOPE alive for so long. I have defended Obama's actions repeatedly pointing out that his conservative response to issues is partially the result of an African American man who has learned how to survive in white America by not unnecessarily upsetting the status quo, ie. he displays patience under fire, is articulate, tries to avoid confrontation, acts in a moderate fashion at all times so as not to be labeled and dismissed as an angry black man. And what has it gotten him? What I would call the electronic version of a virtual lynching by the media and the rightwing loonies.

His position of compromise, of moving to the right on issues has gained him nothing. The Palinites hate him with the fervor of people wearing hoods and bedsheets, the left feels betrayed by his seemingly cynical effort to win our vote at any cost, and many of us see him as merely having perpetuated the Bush doctrines in his first year in office. Clearly at worst, he has done nothing remarkable in any way. Contrast that to how fast Bush destroyed America in his first year in office.

I am trying not to be cynical. I have avoided criticizing, but I cannot be silent forever. I fear if I had to vote for a candidate today, I would be hard pressed to choose Obama even though I backed him 100% in 08.

Time for him to act like the Democrat we all busted our asses to elect. Otherwise the next election is gonna be a bloody one. I for one will stay home if this is the best Obama can do.

Getting out of the foreign wars and having universal healthcare are not negotiable issues to me.

[MindPilot]

10. "I for one will stay home"

Agreed. Staying home is the very real attitude that will be the result of the Democrats continuing down this path. I don't feel like my vote means anything anymore. First off nobody really seems to give much of shit if it's even counted, and then no matter who gets elected, it is the corporations that actually win. Citizenship and participatory democracy these days seems like an exercise in futility.

[Generic Other]

16. Corporat America has outlobbied and overidden the electorate

I want their heads. That's where I will turn my attention rather than trying to elect their "bought and paid for" politicians ever again. At this point in time, none of them are worth two cents to the people of this country, because they work for different bosses.

[Swamp Rat]

30. Me too, sister!

:grr:



:hi::hug:

[KoKo]

54. Thanks...Swampie...

Been a "Long Time...No SEE" except sporadically...here.

Always love 'ya...we aren't always on "same page" but some of us kind'a know...who we want to "hang with"...but MAN the DAMNED THING MORPHS!

Peace...

koko

[Generic Other]

63. Hi Swampy!! Still fighting the good fight I see!

Glad to see that everyone hasn't been bought and sold yet.

[femrap]

79. The Corporations are

calling the shots. That is where our anger should be directed.

[David Zephyr]

84. Great graphic.

Thanks.

[blues90]

13. And many people here feel I'm a pessimist.

I just look at the resent history of our politics and see nothing has changed.

All the protests to get out of these damn wars , let alone try to stop them in the first place, or to impeach the last admin landed on deaf ears and blank TV screens fed by our so called media, but we saw Balloon boy .

All the calls and for get the emails which flow through the tubes in slow motion and appear in your in box as a form letter with a donation button that stands out like the sun. And all the hand written letters that may take months to be opened.

The thing that was the reality for me was during these times before the last admin finally exited the rooms was the fact that during all the DC protests which were on weekends and right there in front of the capital building and the senate where all that was required for a congress rep or senator would have been to stay over and walk out front and take interest and face the people. I saw one congressman Kucinich , but not one soul who ran for the seat of the president anywhere near the place. There were less than a handfull of sitting members of congress out there.

For me this was very telling and people wonder why things have not changed, I say follow the money flow from K street to the house and senate just be careful not to trip over the black box voting machines on your way out.

[Generic Other]

20. I watched and recorded 10 million people protest the wars

I made a video from traffic cam stills at 15th and Constitution Ave. That was the only media coverage of a million people descending on Washington DC (many DUers were there in 2003 and in 2005). I posted/collected info about as many the protests as I could find on DU to make sure our voices were not forgotten when the media refused to give us any airtime at all. Now they cover teabagger protests with no more than a few hundred people and conflate the numbers as if they were reporting the second coming of christ, acting as if a few thousand angry teabaggers equals a new American Revolution. Corndogs up their asses! With mustard!

http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a250/Larkworthy/big%20brother%20video/?action=view¤t=bbbb.flv

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4439801

[KoKo]

32. +!

[ClayZ]

68. +1

Thanks! Bookmarked

K and R

[KoKo]

33. +1

[bertman]

44. "I just look at the resent history of our politics . . ."

I like the sound of resent history, blues90 even though I'm pretty sure you meant 'recent'. Resent resonates with me, especially when your raise the point about no Congressmembers except Kucinich taking the time to recognize or thank the protesters.

[blues90]

51. I used resent because it resonates with me as well

I should have placed brackets around (resent) so it would not appear as a type-O.

I watched all the protests as I'm sure you have too. Kucinch was the only one running for president and the ONLY one who came out to meet the people protesting . That says volumes to me.

I can only wonder why no other senators which ran for president did not even bother to take the time to stay in DC those days and show up in support of the people and I would have to say , they do not care.

They took most of two years off campaigning which is like any worker saying well I have this job but I'm taking days off , many of them to run for the better job, can you imagine how well that would work out? . Even Edwards did not show but he was not in office. Biden ran he was in the senate, Obama was and Clinton was, Kerry was . There were a few in congress but right now I can't even recall their names because of all the issues since then that have flooded my mind.

I say since the people are asked to take a risk and the soldiers are forced to take a risk then let the sitting senators and congress members take the risk, give up your seat then go out and campaign , you lose well you lose. Just perhaps you did a shitty job.

In fact to go a bit further and in all fairness if there is a sitting senator or congress member then they should not be allowed to campaign , their record should be enough to stand on it's own. Put their name on the ballot in some black box machine and if they did well by the people then they have no need to campaign.

So yes I (resent) recent history.

[bertman]

60. You're right that Edwards was not in office before the '08 elections, but he was a sitting

Senator--a freshman--when he ran for the Presidency in '04. For all of his campaign rhetoric, many of us North Carolinians lost our respect for him when he began his campaigning in '02. We elected him to replace the right-wing nutcase, Lauch Faircloth after having the deadly dynamic duo of Faircloth and Jesse Helms representing us for about half a century. Of course, when he was campaigning for the Senate he was all about representing the people of North Carolina and being a voice for the people. Then, shortly after getting elected, he started traveling and missing votes and being our ABSENTEE freshman Senator. That told me all I needed to know about his commitment to the people. I voted for Kerry, but Edwards was a drag on the ticket as far as I was concerned.

After Edwards' defeat we lost the seat to another right-winger, Richard Burr.

Probably more info than you wanted.

[blues90]

64. No , not too much info . That's why I feel and said

If a senator or even a congress member want to run for another seat they should let their record be the judge and not be allowed to campaign and if they are bent on campaigning then give up the seat.

Why do they get to bend rules or have they made these rules themselves in the first place.

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. K&R

[Ichingcarpenter]

24. Watch out now, take care

Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of Maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go


While Weeping Atlas Cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow








Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)


Good Reflection Will,

Time now,
seems to have accelerated,
because of the urgency
of what we see around us on this planet

and some have just only woken up
and are still rubbing their eye to what
the last, almost, 10 years meant

Partisans fought the NAZIS and Fascist in WWII

Capitalism is a POLITICAL system
anyone disagrees with that
try thinking

Your well being is tied to it for survival

it sure an't a democracy in the workplace
where you spend most of your time
and then go out and vote every 2 or 4 years
to 'change the system'.

This is why they broke the unions
Unions are democratic
but require participation and solidarity


Oh did I mentioned climate change yet?
Maybe another rant, at another time, on how
capitalism is the cause and not the solution.
Corporations have been fighting it for years




Now who in the Corporation can be on top the Pyramid
without even casting a vote in a corporation?
Not the lowly shareholder that's
for sure. Because the system is rigged now
just look a the banking crisis, car crisis, corporate health crisis
and tell me the amount of stock given to CEOS

Only when one looks at the
Corporate, so called capitalist, system
and realize that they are considered human now
by the US supreme court, and they an't.

will realize that you are living in a Matrix

[KoKo]

34. K&R...some people on this thread worked really hard...

worth the reads..

[Ichingcarpenter]

37. Hillary, Obama or Edwards would still brought out the results we see

Some less some a little more than others...... but basically the same.
I went with Obama and still em hopeful on what is possible
after what was intrenched into this government

It will take years to change.....
without a purge...or a velvet revolution

if you don't wake up
then it will be too late.

I think that even the old ones
should start putting the pieces together.

The bailout proved that......

their ponzi system is in jeopardy
and they know that
but don't think that we do

It no longer has the solutions and have been
proven

LIARS

Prove to me ........ you are telling the truth
I no longer listen to your media servants

BLACK FRIDAY....... no one gets the irony in a George Lucas or Joseph Campbell comedy of human Mythos .

[KoKo]

53. BTW...a Good watch for How the Lacota Indians (Native Americans) Strike Back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLViW3weN9k&NR=1

It's a two-parter..so be sure you watch and then go to the end. It's WONDERFUL!

[spiritual_gunfighter]

80. Yes they did

and when I feel completely hopeless I read these posts and I dont feel like I am all alone. It has been disheartening reading post after post on DU recently condoning the behavior of our President and Congress, pretending everything is okay. It feels good to read this thread. Thank you for everything you do and have done, everyone.

[Raksha]

85. Very good poetry...thanks for posting that. Yours???

[Greyhound]

26. K&R, but I don't think there is anything we can do to stop this train wreck.

We once again have succumb to the false choice of which corporate advocate we prefer to gawk at.

[Ichingcarpenter]

29. How many roads is it gonna take?

to find our dignity?

So many roads, such much at stake
to find our dignity?

[Greyhound]

70. Or our compassion. The parallels between recent/present America and Dickensian England

are stunning to me.

[KoKo]

56. I'm not sure either...but I think and BELIEVE it's a WORLDWIDE Awakening..and it

isn't (any longer) ALL up to US.

But, then, "I'm a believer" that we work in increments and we are "Three Steps Forward...two Steps Back? ..but in the end ...way long down that road ...what we worked for ...will be "incrementally" ...some GOOD STUFF.

Yeah...I get depressed a lot...though. But...Keep thinking ahead.. And trying to keep perspective on all of this shit thrown at us...does cause a lot of heartbreak and sometimes lead to extra glasses of wine...and even some sleepless nights with NIGHTMARES FROM HELL!

:grouphug:

[Greyhound]

69. At my particular age it has been almost all backward. I got to see (perhaps) the tail

end of progress, since then it has been steadily downhill and this guy's making it worse every day.

[bigtree]

28. difficult

. . . to call it any other way, despite some impressive advances by this Democratic administration; achieved just by virtue of following natural Democratic principles and values. I wish more of those would rub off of the president as he makes decisions on the vestiges of Bush's militarism and anti-democratic manipulations.

K&R (for your clear-eyed view)

[nannah]

31. ditto

[Skittles]

35. we could have done much better than this

[WilliamPitt]

38. Who? How?

[Skittles]

39. Democrats need real, true progressives

candidates who really will fight for the people

[WilliamPitt]

40. I ask again.

Who?

[KoKo]

57. Skittles...we REALLY did NOT have that Choice to "Do Better." It was programmed..and we need to

Deal with it. You've been here long enough to know how we Compromised...Compromised....Compromised.

It's up to the WORLD...it's out of our hands......

Do ya' think? :shrug:

[bertman]

45. Regarding the "exit strategy", there will be no exit strategy. Military types do not like

exit strategies. Their lives and their jobs depend on attacking, gaining and holding ground--not retreating. Of course, there will be talk of exit strategies and discussions of exit strategies by "serious" thinkers and talking headcases. But in the end, there will be another war in another place so we can "redeploy", leaving behind our puppet governors who will struggle to stay alive until they are overcome by the indigenous forces who don't love our hegemony.

I'm engrossed in "JFK and The Unspeakable. Why He Died and Why It Matters". The parallels between what happened in the early sixties between the Presidents (Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson) and the military/CIA cabal are quite astonishing. Kennedy ordered his military commanders to prepare withdrawal plans for our Vietnamese advisors. They disobeyed the order. They undermined JFK's presidency at every opportunity. Many did it in public. Does this ring any bells about what is happening now?

Meanwhile, the Military-Industrial-Corporate Complex has had almost 50 years of uncontested power and virtually endless funding to consolidate their hold on our national government. They have expanded the Empire and flaunted its corrupt muscularity time and again in hopes of subjugating any nation that might be foolish or desperate enough to challenge its authority.

They have turned our nation into a surveillance state that Hitler would have envied. They have no intention of giving up any of the power they have gained even if it means strangling the last breath out of our democracy. That gasping, wheezing sound you hear is Lady Liberty trying to stay alive. Against all odds.

Rec.

[peace frog]

72. depressingly right on

They have turned our nation into a surveillance state that Hitler would have envied. They have no intention of giving up any of the power they have gained even if it means strangling the last breath out of our democracy. That gasping, wheezing sound you hear is Lady Liberty trying to stay alive. Against all odds.

[MrMickeysMom]

47. Perhaps we should all bombard Harry Reid's office to ask if he's gonna take credit

... Can we thank him very much for not keeping Joe Lieberman under control?

Can we place the blame firmly on him? I think with his popularity rating around 38%, we should.

[KoKo]

59. Ahhh ...Harry Reid... The best we Dems Could do is to Support his Repug Opponent to Get HARRY OUTTA

THERE!

But, I'm sure this will get me a huge note from DU MODS that I WILL BE BANNED FOR LIFE FROM THIS SITE.

I said it ANYWAY!

I'm GLAD TO SAY IT. THE GUY'S A POS...!

[G_j]

48. frankly

I think, like many other good people, I'm depressed. And yet more war doesn't light any candles at the end of the tunnel.

I wish I had devoted more time to learning Zen meditation.


REC

[David Zephyr]

49. K&R. It's the elephant in the living room that Democrats don't want to acknowledge.

Brilliant OP. And brave of you to post it here.

You write: "The cost of sending additional troops will further undermine our economy and make Obama's domestic agenda all the more difficult to achieve." True. Painfully true.

And you write: "For now, however, just about everything before us is either worse or exactly as bad as it was before." Also, painfully true.

I look at Obama's cabinet and advisers and shake my head. The decisions he makes reflect the influence of those who surround. Look at who has his ears and it explains why he's sputtered so much. And, it portends more of the same. Not a good thing.

[KoKo]

55. It's one of Will's "BEST ANGELS" Posts.....

I won't say more...but to applaud him on this one.

(And, Will knows that I always thought he had "Best Angels"}

[WilliamPitt]

58. They show up from time to time.

;)

:hug:

[Cha]

50. Yeah, Doom and Gloom..

for many and I feel for them.

But, at my house we're grateful that we have President Obama and we can see the difference.

I know it's rough right now but I'm hanging on in these harsh times for when we come through the bad roads as we surely will.

[avaistheone1]

67. What difference do you see?

[MichiganVote]

52. One would think or hope, that the Obama support of the Bush Patriot Act could manage to

keep a few gate crashers out of our own frickin' White House. Well done Homeland Security, a new low even for you.

[Snazzy]

61. I was wondering how much consensus get formed around thanksgiving tables

Using these required attendance family gatherings as a barometer for what's up with politics. But not just to my own thinking; the holiday really is a mental milestone for everyone in the country in some way, and therefore a milestone in refining reactions to the presidency and the state of the nation. A very significant opinion event--I imagine a pollster or demographer somewhere coined that term already.

Opinion was: it's bleak.

Now that's what's consistent with OP. War and Patriot act wasn't in the discussion till I put it there though, it was the economy, the economy, health care, and pass the mashed potatoes.

I don't really understand how two wars are so nearly completely hidden from view, but they are. Our exit strategy, if there is one, one day, will be more of that fine spin cycle. Meanwhile I'm maybe having my own epiphany (with a hangover and a nice doggy bag of turkey) that maybe social change, or rather the public opinions that can finally drive some change, only happen with an unresponsive Democratic government.

So I take issue with "All we as Americans can do is work to push these elected officials...." There is more to the mechanism. Fighting corporate control of everything on planet earth and also, especially, reigning in the media seem like worthy endeavors to me and probably more fruitful than hoping for elected officials to do almost anything meaningful for the non-wealthy.

[Major Hogwash]

62. Yeah, but now we own a car company.

I'm just going to have a hard time getting parts for it now - now that they stopped making it.

Krap.

[mmonk]

65. Yep.

Not much to add.

[natrat]

71. the conclusion i draw is that they are wrecking the country on purpose

[Steely_Dan]

75. Where are the youth of today...

Most of us remember the protests of the past. Our generation took to the streets to express our displeasure.

I know some here will not like this, but it must be said. Where are the youth protesting? Do we need a draft (for example) to motivate some? I am disappointed in those who have their whole futures ahead of them and are watching what is happening to our country. Is it that they do not have the perspective to understand? I'm confused.

-P

[soryang]

76. Not only is the "public option" a fraud but medicare is gutted

The huge premium increases in medicare advantage are in the mail as medicare rates to physicians are reduced dramatically in the "health care reform" The 500 billion plus in medicare cuts are substantial rather than innocuous and set the stage for a debacle in 2010. This insurance company bailout is a stealth plan to destroy medicare. The references to Chicago School attacks on latin American countries as models for what the democratic party is doing to the United States are spot on.

[Honeycombe8]

77. How cheerful! Thanks for the uplifting giving of Thanks message! Most of us are doing fine....

let's not forget that. Even with unemployment over 10%, that means that 90% of us are employed.

It is worthwhile to give Thanks this holiday for what we DO have. All of us. Including those without a job. They may have their health, their children, families. This is more than some people with jobs have. (I don't have family, for instance. But I do have a good job. Well, I do have SOME family, but no spouse, no children, and the family members I do have are in another state, and we're not close.)

So it's worthwhile to sit around the table and eat whatever you could afford to buy (it's the holiday, not the food), and remember to be thankful for what we do have. And remember those who have less.

That's what it's all about.

If you want to win elections, doomsday, pessimistic prophecies and ideology won't cut it.

I am thankful for many things, despite the hardships I have faced in my life, and some that I face now. I bought a turkey and had Thanksgiving dinner alone (as usual). Well, my dogs were there. I had a wonderful day. It's the best day of the year for me. I remembered those less fortunate (regardless of the unemployment rate, there are ALWAYS millions who are less fortunate). I remembered the animals who are roaming the streets, injured and starving. I try to remember every person and creature. And I do not dwell on what I have NOT had in my life - the miscarriages I had, leaving me with no children; the spouse who treated me like garbage years ago; the failure to ever meet anyone else to love me or for me to love; the lack of a close family; the beatings I endured as a child; the abandonment I've experienced repeatedly; the poverty I endured when I first left home years ago.

Through all the hardships I learned that Thanksgiving and Christmas have nothing to do with what you buy or what you eat. People have commented on occasion that I am such a "happy" person all the time. It's true. I usually am. And I am particularly happy at Thanksgiving. That is because when a person has lived through really bad times, you really appreciate it when you have made your way through it.

I am healthy. I like to think I look younger than my years (:)) and am still kinda cute (double :)). I recently dieted and dropped 15 pounds (yay!). I paid off my car years ago. I paid off my house (through many, many hours of overtime, when other people were vacationing or spending evenings with their family - I have never gone anywhere for a vacation in my life). I have two awesome rescue dogs. I have a good job. I have a few good friends. And I do get along with my family, even tho we're not close.

These things didn't just happen. I made them happen. And yes, I am very happy and thankful this Thanksgiving, while still remembering all people and creatures who are facing hardships. (P.S. I give to charities, so I try to remember others, including animals, all year long.)

Happy Thanksgiving! (and my turkey turned out great! Got it on a great sale, too!)

[HillGal]

83. Between this and the global warming e-mails, not sure how much more I can take :(. NT