BUSHwhacked Two!!

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 10:38 AM

Why does the so-called "Conservative Cavalry" keep forgetting the lessons of history? We had so-called "free market capitalism" and it did not work. Faced with a full-blown Communist threat in the early days of the last century, the Capitalists opted to incorporate a level of socialism. This worked pretty well for a pretty long time.

Now, once again, greed is overcoming common sense. In their efforts to squeeze every bit of profit they can out of our tortured environment and their poorly structured system and inherently unfair system, they are trying to go back to those glorious days of yester-year, when the captains of industry and commerce are free to do as they please.

LISTEN UP, MAV - It didn't work before and it won't work now. Bush is not smart enough to conceal the true face of corporate greed. Do you think the rolling blackouts in California are accidental? Or that they will go away? Or that people will continue to ignore them forever? Keep dancing you're foolish little "victory dance". Keep gloating your little gloat. Your ideas are old and flacid and they DO NOT WORK.

We all share this world. It is a finite arena, with finite resources. Unbridled exploitation is not a good plan. And yet it seems to be the only one you have to offer. If there was any place left for you to go I'd say "Take your bad ideas and GO AWAY." But whether you like it and admit to it or not, it is ONE WORLD. And, in the end, you cannot continue to pretend that you have a right to most of it while billions go without. Like the fall of apartheid it's only a matter of time before the balance shifts for good and all. The only question is whether the change be managed or cataclysmic. Your lack of vision, your greed, your refusal to accept the inevitable practically guarantees the latter.

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: GUEST,Stakly
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 09:25 AM

WHAT is that pervasive STENCH ?? oh, only MAV- someone forgot to flush the loo again.

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Skeptic
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 07:01 AM

Uncle Jaque,

The speech was boring IMO. It was fairly typical for that sort of thing but it didn't do anything for me. One way or another. The appointments weren't boring. Nor were they a big surprise. Consistent with what Bush has espoused throughout the campaign.

Norton and judicial appointments concern me much more than Ashcroft. What Ashcroft (if confirmed) does or does not do can be reversed. The damage potential for Norton and an ideological judiciary are much more far reaching. (Just as was/is the damage done by ideologically liberal judges). Please note I said ideological. A judge who is conservative or liberal who doesn't use their office to promote their personal agenda is one thing. Judicial ideologues of any flavor seem to be wholly in the "ends justifies the means" camp.

MAV,

And the rich will get richer, the poor poorer, the middle class will shrink and the election results remain under a cloud. Can a constitutional amendment to change the title of "President" to "Generalissimo" be far behind?

Regards John

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: blt
Date: 25 Jan 01 - 12:59 AM

Computer problems and my job bring me to this thread a bit late.

Reading over BUSHwhacked I & II, I think how easy it is to generalize about complex things. Abortion, prayer, Christianity, the Constitution, atheism--I feel uneducated in many ways when I consider all the ins and outs of these issues.

Kat, you wondered where the energy would come from to fight against yet another wave of oppression. Where has anyone ever gotten this energy from? My feeling about this is much of the world has been fully engaged in this fight and by virtue of my citizenship (US) and skin color (pale) and class (middle), I've been exempt. It's about time I feel to be a part of something more worldly and human.

The Right and all that word implies (from Bush to the far Right) reminds me of that character in the film Yellow Submarine that snortled up everything, including itself. Perhaps that's an optimistic view of the possible future we're facing. It's oddly optimistic, because I'm not particularly optimistic about the next 50 years. The drive to have things at someone else's expense is an old problem, but it does feel as though that process has been intensified exponentially. I believe that those with corporate wealth--that less than 1% of the human population--are panicking because it's clear the supply is drying up. They are like addicts, indeed, they exemplify the addiction process because even knowing that resource extraction and over-consumption are killing the biosphere (which includes us), these profit-driven practices continue. I think Helen Caldicott observed in a speech that when gasoline-burning cars are aggressively marketed to the populations of China and India, the atmosphere will not recover. Period.

So here's the paradox--knowing that there are the corporate junkies who would like us all to become junkies and who will even go to court to force us to become junkies, how do I, with my 1974 Martin D-28 and my 49 year old life span, drum up the courage to just be who I am? And how do I express my love and compassion for all those who would simply just like to be who they are, with friends, families, lovers, babies, grandchildren, old scratched record collections, flannel shirts, hiking boots, and all the paraphenalia we cherish in our own right? How do I talk to the very injured teenagers and small children I work with, who live in very injured families and communities? How can I survive witnessing their trauma, let alone how can I help prevent it?

Personally, this is what I've decided to do, and ironically the decision was made a long time ago--it really chose me, I didn't chose it--and I'm not preaching to anyone, just describing what has been and is helpful to me in my life. I'm not exactly good at doing all these things, I'm still a practicing human being and I make a lot of mistakes. And this list is deceptively simplistic.
Meditation, Tai Chi, and Chi Gong
Hiking
Dance
Education
Singing
Hot springs
the ocean
the mountains
Relationships of trust and love
teachers
learning to be less judgemental
speaking up
writing letters
caring for my grandson
poetry and songwriting
political activism
change the strings on my guitar

Don't give up, the potential we have to be fully human is completely real, more real than the ghost-lives Bush and his ilk would have us lead.

blt

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: MarkS
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 11:45 PM

Calling for a national day of prayer unconstitutional?
Doubtful. Freedom of speech and all that.
MarkS

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Matt_R
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 11:32 PM

kendall, remember the birthday thread? She's just turned 17.

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: GUEST,MAV
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 11:23 PM

Wait! I forgot one;

Oooooh, the smart@$$ed, vulgar, lowlife, white trash dirtbags are whacking, bad!

(We should be able to kill a lot of perfectly good socialist giveaway programs and prosecute a lot of criminals in the next few months)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ! Woooooo! He he he he he, no please, HAW HAW HAW HAW (gasp, pant pant) Whoa, you're killin' me! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Signed,

Ha ha ha ha ............(holding belly "oh, oh, oh")

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: GUEST,MAV
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 11:04 PM

Oooooh, the murder/borts are whacking, bad!

Oooooh, the green weenies are whacking, bad!

Oooooh, the anti-Christian bigots are whacking, bad!

Oooooh, the union-thug bureaucrats are whacking, bad!

Oooooh, the lying, thieving RATs are whacking, bad!

Signed,

The People from the Red Areas of the map.

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: kendall
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:47 PM

I'm curious Firecat, how young are you?

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: GUEST,Uncle Jaque
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 09:38 PM

You find the appointment of John ASHCROFT (and resulting confagaration in the Senate) for Attorney General "BORING"???

Really?

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Burke
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 07:37 PM

The Church of England is the established church, right? The Archbishop of Canterbury could announce a national day of prayer for the Queen or the Parliament or whatever. An additional division of power.

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Skeptic
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:44 PM

Firecat,

I watched it too. As a sort of penance for future sins. And later read the transcript, to see if maybe I missed something. There was nothing to miss. And in case you've repressed the whole experience, he never did "get on with it". About on par with most HS commencement speeches. No sound, no fury....no nothing.

But then, he tried to make up for boring us half to death by some of his cabinet appointments.

Regards John

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Firecat
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 12:13 PM

I actually watched the Presidental inauguration, mainly cos I had nothing better to do, and the only thing I can remember from his speech is that "Something or other and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love" and I just thought " SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I actually ended up shouting "GET ON WITH IT!!!" at the TV screen!

Subject: RE: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Skeptic
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 11:56 AM

McGrath,

A vison many of us share.

On taking ours politicians to seriously: I think a difference may be is that they take themselves so seriously. Are quite willing to create a bureaucracy and spend lots of taxpayer' money in support of what any reasonable person would recognize as portentous posturing.

And the question is would either the Queen or PM ever consider proposing something like a National Day of Prayer in the first place?

Regards John

Subject: BUSHwhacked Two!!
From: Greg F.
Date: 24 Jan 01 - 10:35 AM

First PartHERE