tvashtarkatena

He is constrained now that he didn't appeal to the people who gave him a mandate to reign in Laissez Faire zealots all the while he appointed (and keeps appointing) the very same architects of these disastrous policies at critical posts of his administration or supported conservadems against progressive challenges. Furthermore, as has been pointed out by Dean Baker, PKrugman and others, there are things that he could do without going through congress. You are confused w.r.t. to what was said about gay/weed. These are important issues but not to the detriment of working on the rest like the economy and foreign policy. I assure you, I'm not confused at all about what the DOJ has/hasn't done about gay weed under Obama. I never mentioned what Obama thought on either issue, and, as long as his DOJ is towing the line, I don't much care.

more passive aggressive behavior from you, but of course no specifics per usual. Jim seems more the openly aggressive type. More action, less talk...that kind of thing.

From personal observation, I believe that things have improved markedly over the years across the board - with the global environment accepted due to sheer population pressure and as a direct result of more consumption by previously poorer folks. Sometimes the good and the bad walk down the street hand in hand. I also see those trends RAPIDLY reversing. The acceleration of wealth concentration in this country is serious and should be reversed for the health and well being of the society as a whole - including those wealthy people. Bigotry, misogyny, and xenophobia is all rage among our nation's beloved krackers and kooks. The religious right cleverly wrapped itself in fake fiscal conservative's garb and is currently screaming about The Constitution! I learn from mistakes, and countries are probably no different. I see some positive results from all the troubles - decade or more hiatus for 'wars of choice', hopefully. A huge and powerful liberal backlash from the Bush years (ACLU membership and funding doubled - which enabled us to fund strong chapters in all 50 states (Ole Miss went from 1 overwhelmed person to 11 effective ones during in the past 6 years, for example, funded in no small part by good ole WA state). Non retards no longer argue that global warming isn't real or isn't caused by humans. Uncut globalism is under scrutiny. The deficit is under scrutiny. Green/healthy food is readily available. The huge, blue tarp that previously hid the obesity epidemic has been blown off. Of course, it could all go wrong - we might all be doomed to endlessly watching The Road, over and over.... I'd like to pretend that I have a wee bit of say in the matter, however.

In the end, voters will have to choose who is more likely work with them for the world they want: Obama or Bachmann, Romney, etc... Disappointments aside, that's not a difficult choice at all for me.

Obama's less of a disappointment if you expected less from him. Economically, I believe he's highly constrained by the Rfucks, by the deficit, and by the world economy. Remember, it's not just us in this thing. I'm personally disappointed by his Gitmo/National Security/Secrecy policies and actions, or lack thereof, but heartened by the DOJ laying off gays and weed (I know, I know, gays and the War on Drugs are non-issues - those 2.3 million folks in jail can just rot, and those 15 million gays or however many their are can just find God and be done with it). National politics play only a small part of everyone's daily lives, however. State and local seem to play a larger role, but mostly, people just make their own way. Still, a values based society recognizes that it has weaker members and gives them a compassionate hand. Libertarians sell that compassion cheap - real cheap. I have a problem with that. Reagan era policies, pushed by every president since, coupled with Bush's disastrous war/tax cut one two punch fucked us. Ie, we fucked ourselves through short term thinking, worship of short term monetary gains, laziness regarding the public good, and willful ignorance, pretty much. Now we're at least all talking about it, and that's a good thing.

Being a ripe old codger, I know that things can change quite a bit in two years, and that every action has a reaction. I also know that in a country half full of dumbshits, the prez gets blamed for unemployment. Then again, I also know that incumbents have a huge advantage. Then again.... ...we'll see.

Which people? In your work, don't you operate under the assumption that everyone should have equal protections under the law? Maybe I misunderstood you, but your statements on this board implied that you thought everyone should have access to health care. Maybe our fields of should are just more or less wide. As far as politics go, politics (when defined as a field of struggle over power) is all there is, I've never posted anything here that would suggest otherwise. Given you postings, I think we're talking about a difference in attitude, not viewpoint. We worship one thing here: Money, and we're paying the price for that on a very personal level. How do we turn America to a values based society? One issue at a time, I'd wager. Money will always be an important practicality, but it would be nice not to see American's sell their privacy, altruism, satisfaction, and health so cheaply. For example, I was at a fambly gathering this week and heard a tea bagger go on about how we should legalize drugs but allow insurance companies to charge them extra. Sounds really reasonable, right - until you get to the details, which, of course, would involve mandatory drug testing for all insured. Ie, to save a few bucks a year, this 'libertarian' was willing to give up a substantial aspect of his privacy - even down to his bodily fluids. The other side's arguments are invariably weak. It's not an intellectual or fact based movement - hence, its kooky followers. I prefer exploiting those inherent weaknesses to throwing up my hands over them. The difference is a glass half full versus empty one. I see a steady stream of progressive victories over the years that has not stopped - in fact, I believe its accelerating right now. That tempers the obvious disappointments that continue, and will continue, to occur in a country half full of redneck dumbshits. Things go in opposite directions simultaneously here all the time - that's Merka, for ya. I also see that it's never been any different. Fighting for progressive change is more like digging a ditch that floods and partly fills in every winter - what do you do? You just keep digging. It's not sexy, but having the partially draining ditch is better than none. You can take comfort thinking of the day when winter stops coming and you can stop digging. I also don't blame other conspiratorial forces (the media, for example) when, for example, the ACLU loses. Not everything is in our control - we can't force judges to vote a certain way. We do the best we can given what we can influence (and the media is definitely in that category); past that, the chips will fall where they will.

we'll talk about it in 2012 when you shake in your boots because most people (who are progressive on issues) aren't energized to vote for another round of capitulation. Being a ripe old codger, I don't shake in my boots much. The tide comes in, the tide goes out. I do what I can; sometimes my side wins, sometimes not. It's a never ending struggle; the dumbfucks are not in short supply, and I hear they're making more of them. I'm not sure you speak for what 'progressives' will do in the next election. I hope that everyone will weigh the pros and cons of their voting decisions and act accordingly. It's almost always a lesser of two evils choice; the adults among us understand that. I put very little faith in the judgement of my countrymen, for obvious reasons, however. The trick is to get to enough of them to tip the scales a wee bit in our favor on occasion. Still, if there's any country in the world that needs reform, given its stage front position, its ours. I could run away to New Zealand or some such, but it's too fun battling the Kooky Kristians and Libertariofascistas. My viewpoint doesn't involve so much defeatism because of a raft of historical wins my advocacy organization has enjoyed recently - and next year may even be better if we play our cards right.

Well, therein lies the rub. Neither I nor my advocacy colleagues consider anyone their masters. The rich aren't going to make it easy to gang up on them so you can take their stuff, regardless of how necessary it is (and it most certainly is). You gotta be good to pull that one off. But hey, if you just want to party, that's cool. No forfeit required.

what a clueless moron. The corporate media doesn't report on anything that progressives do irrespective of marketing or how many people participate. I don't know if you consider the ACLU progressive or not (I'd wager not), but we get reported on all the time at all levels. Working the media is one of many necessary skills for any serious advocacy organization. If you're not willing to do even that much, then you don't deserve anyone's hard earned cash, time, or energy - there are more productive places for those to go.

People who are serious about progressive change don't pay much attention to a program that describes the way the world should be. Providing a feasible, step by step plan go get to that world, one that takes politics into account, packs a lot more punch. This requires a long game, serious fund raising, a professional level of organization, getting feedback from the voting public, and negotiating with the enemy, however. Otherwise, it's just another groovy idea.

That would actually be a good start. You gotta work with the world you got to make the world you want.

Quad posting. Definitely crazed.

BTW, the Progressive Caucus needs to update it's marketing materials...50 years is a long time for one campaign. It might learn a thing or two about the connotative meaning of titles from its foes. The 'People's' Budget? Might as well included a Che T with each copy. "Nobody Listens!" No shit, Sherlock. Hire a PR firm that knows what its doing and play the game at the pro level or just stay home and renovate the yurt or something.

Of course, if you're just setting ole j_b up for a roasting, game theory teaches us that it'll take about 2 postings for the j_b/KKK stream-of-incontinence to start flowing again.

So that is your "platform"? Exactly the contents of that link are what you propose, with no deviation or exception to anything? You might try dropping your content-less stream of insults and babbling-terminology-spew and actually state a solution for once, j-bot. You could, of course, pre-emptively do the same. It might just be a bit more persuasive.

The Gubmint Good/Gubmint Bad arguments typically presented here here leave me a bit dumber. The idea that an organization's charter - gubmint agency v corporation, for example, is, on its face, moronic. Certainly historical context and the people involved wouldn't come into play. 'The Issues' are similarly dumbed down here. Take 'obesity'. First of all, obesity is only one aspect of a much larger metabolic syndrome - hypertension, inflammatories, diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance, and high triglycerides. It's caused increased consumption of sugar, particularly fructose - a substance our bodies are not evolved to metabolize without significant damage. Government and corporations have played on both sides of the field here. Corporations market both very healthy, environmentally sound, and socially responsible foods, as well as Cherry Coke. Trader Joe's is awesome, Kroger Foods blows. Government launched the cheap shit food movement under Nixon (along with the War on Drugs...thanks, DICK) - agricultural subsidies, subsidies for the fast food and shit food production industries, relaxed regulation, a pro corporate FDA - in addition to mandatory labeling, a national food ingredients database, and public health education, and research grants; all of which have enabled those who give a fuck to live healthier. Ie, please STFU already unless you're going to intelligently discuss something that isn't so meta-generically ideological that information exchange actually sucks perfectly good neurons out of the body and flushes them down some great and smelly swirling asshole that also operates in the reverse. This must be the mechanism behind the obvious retardation of the United States.

Private prisons and pet care.

"Seal Team Six, Seal Team Six, we have a Red Sleigh down..."

Just another Gay Weed issue, really.

Miss has an extensive and growing private prison system, too. Hmmm.....

I was chatting up one of my colleagues from Mississippi. They're trying to reform the state's "training school" system - basically, they're version of juvy. 3 fights, 3 joints, or 3 cases of truancy will land a 13 year old girl in a green jumpsuit, shackled to 4 other 13 year old girls, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sometimes a little discipline is all a kid needs.

I'm smarter than God.

Canuck fans: 100,000 tools in need of a box.

A 1:1 scale model of the Bone's cerebral cortex, or a visual rrepresentation of the nutrition content in a metric ton of any Kroger Foods product?