I believe it is and that we will never become the country so many dreamed was possible.

Many of us really believed that our disgusting history of slavery, Jim Crow, slaughtering, starving and isolating native Americans, letting the poor sleep in ditches and subway gratings, and burning witches at the stake, was behind us.

But those days are far from gone. There was, for a short period of time during the 20th century, people in government who fought for the rights of “common people.” (Some of them were called Democrats and a few were called Republicans.) But those days are gone. Those who hold power are bought, paid for and owned by modern day barbarians that we call corporations. And to corporations, we are all as disposable as toilet paper.

And these corporations are more than willing to let the fringe lunatics among us run amok. It doesn’t cost them anything. Redo grade school text books to dumb down children? No problem. Let credit card interest rates increase by 60%. No problem. Hand over billions in cash to banks and Wall Street? No problem. Let people die because they can’t afford health care? No problem. Pass a “health care” bill that says everyone has to buy insurance? No problem. Let any “health care” bill kick in four years from now? No problem. Leave abortion legal, but don’t let any that can’t afford it have access to it? No problem. Let fringe lunatics rant on radio and TV against anything that benefits human beings? No problem. Help put people to work so they can survive? No way. None of this hurts corporations, or affects them one bit.

Well, do I really need to go on? You all know that this country is badly broken. Hell, we’re even fighting with each other over ways in which we can move around the rubble to make it look a little better. It’s called rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

America survived the Great Depression of the ‘30s because we had leaders who cared. That’s long gone. Today, we have a government of vultures picking over the debris. They know they’re owned by their corporate masters, but they still want more.

Perhaps, 20, or 30, or 40 years from now, we’ll return to some degree of sanity in this country. On the other hand, we may end up looking like Uganda and stoning LGBTs to death. Either way, most of us will have given up caring about it, or be long gone.

If this post seems a bit on the pessimistic side to you, perhaps you would like to shine some optimism on the state of our country.

Forget about the unemployment “statistics.” They are a mathematical lie.

Forget about how we’re being told all that “economic stuff” isn’t going as badly as it was a while back. That’s just another “statistical lie.”

Forget about how things are going to get better next year – or the year after that – or maybe the year after that. Do you really think that anyone in the government has any idea as to when “things are going to get better?” The people peddling this crap don’t have a clue.

But what they do have is food on the table tonight.

Do you? Are you agonizing over how you’re going to feed your family tomorrow? Or the day after that? Or the day after that?

Let them use the term “Recession” as much as they want to. Most people who live in the real world know that this is a Depression, no matter what it’s called. And they know that the government is doing virtually nothing to help "Main Street."

Very many are in an economic hole that’s not getting any better. Food costs more. Gas costs more. Medical care costs more. Credit card companies are screwing us for every last cent. Getting a second job to bridge the gap is difficult when you can’t find that first job.

Those of you who are not worried about mortgage payments, car payments, medical bills, and the countless other things that show up in your mailbox daily, are fortunate. But countless millions are trying their best to cope … and survive.

Anyone who doesn’t grasp the fact that millions of their fellow citizens are drowning, are either burying their heads in the ground, don’t give a damn, or praying that they’re not next.

So I guess the obvious question is, “What do we do about it?”

I’d really like to hear your answers.

The last time I used my free time to read a book and do nothing else was a few weeks ago. I had almost forgotten how wonderful an experience it is. I read books on and off in between work, being online and doing the chores of daily life. But a few weeks ago, I had some time off, I turned off my computer, and I got to spend five whole days engaged in a magical, far away land inside my own mind.

Being online provides a human interchange of sorts. Reading stimulates imagination, thoughts, ideas, and even lowers your blood pressure.

Give yourself a break. Take a vacation from your computer and read a book. You’ll find it’s one of the very best gifts you can give yourself.

Yet, we all eat every day. We have enough water. And if we’re fortunate, we have access to some basic, (perhaps barely adequate), form of health care.

But how often do any of us give any thought to our fellow human beings in what we so casually call “the third world?”

In most of Africa, Asia, and much of South America, children and adults are dying from hunger, lack of clean water, disease, genocide, and the lack of most of us giving a damn.

For the first time in history, The U.S., Canada, Europe and a few other countries, have the resources, and the power to help a vast portion of humanity that are unable to help themselves.

Instead, we continue our age-old wars, our quest for more of everything, our desire for world (or at least market) domination, and our not giving a damn whether those “other pesky third-world creatures” live or die.

This is not a “sermon.” Hell, I don’t even believe in whatever “God” you do.

But it is a call for the awareness that we all share this same small planet in an infinite universe. And if we don’t help out each other, no one else is going to do it for us.

And just to get political for a second, I don’t expect any Republican to understand what the hell I’m talking about. But how about you? And for that matter, what about me? It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot of late. And I’ve reached the conclusion that making donations isn’t enough. Perhaps it’s time we change the way we view the world, our place in it, and what we can do to make it a better place.

I suppose that this post is the result of having a day off with nothing more important to do than think.

Why are we pretending that we still live in a democracy?

Last week, we all watched as five madmen who sit on the Supreme Court committed murder in plain view. They murdered all of our freedoms. They turned each and every one of us into corporate “property.” They murdered any hopes we may have held for a better life or a better world. They murdered the United States of America.

Do you think these are extreme statements? Think again.

Corporations are now free to buy any and all politicians. They are free to peddle any propaganda they want to peddle. They can spend whatever is needed to convince a vast majority of Americans to do and believe whatever they want them to do and believe. There are no longer any limits or restraints on corporations.

And who’s going to say “no” to them? Suppose that someone walked up to you and offered to spend a billion dollars to get you elected to congress. And that in return for doing what you’re told to do, you can have anything you want. Are you too principled to be bought for a million dollars? How about a billion? How about 10 billion? How about 20? And for everyone who can’t be bought, there are countless others who can.

Of course, we could always amend the Constitution to overturn what these maniacs have done. All we need is two thirds of both the House and the Senate to approve a Constitutional Amendment. And then three quarters of the states would have to approve it. My guess is that it would be easier to walk from here to Mars than to get an amendment to take back our freedoms from the corporations.

Health care, jobs, election reforms, reigning in Wall Street, regulating banks, and whatever else seemed to be possible are now dead illusions. The corporations will move quickly between now and the election this November to consolidate their ownership of us. And their propaganda machinery will kick into full gear and tell you that what is happening to you is not happening to you.

So long, America. It was nice while it lasted. But short of a full scale, second American Revolution, it’s all over.

I knew a "union delegate" a while back and there was literally no distinction or separation between him and organized crime.

But he told me something that I'll always remember. He said: "The most important thing to them in the world is money. You can get away with a lot of stuff, but if you steal from them, you're dead."

Although it was many years ago, I still remember these words. However, over time, I came to realize that the only purpose of the money was to buy power.

Most people think that money makes the world go round. Actually, it's just the admission ticket to power -- which puts you in control -- which let's you make people do whatever you want them to do. There's a word for all of that. Evil.

So when we have a bought and paid for government, the same word applies.

In my opinion, there are far too many ugly sentiments expressed on DU these days. Perhaps it was always thus, but I’ve begun to notice it more and more.

I’m not talking about original posts, or posts by those who disagree with the OP. I’m talking about the extreme rudeness, insults and intentional cruelty of some DUers.

Someone complains about something and the “Quit Whining” crowd shows up.

Someone posts an unpopular opinion and, rather than a counter argument, too many are content to tell the OP that he/she is an imbecile, using words that don't break DU rules.

Someone posts something that not too many people are interested in and they’re told to “Get a Life.” If it's something you're not interested in, why not just go to another thread without hurling an insult?

And even on what most would consider an “intelligent post,” there are always those who will tell the OP that he/she is insane, again using words that don’t break DU rules.

I read DU far more often than I post. But, over time, I’ve noticed that many of the bullies and cowards are the same people. I have no idea what they’re problems are, but they are taking them out on us. And they are doing so because they can do it anonymously.

Why am I using the terms “bullies” and “cowards?” Because they say things online that they would never say to someone’s face. And this is the worst form of being a bully or coward. They are totally avoiding the possibility of getting slapped, or punched out.

I can’t wait to see how many bullies and/or cowards show up on this thread.

A slave is a piece of property owned by someone or some entity.

I really need someone to convince me that the majority of us are not owned by health insurance companies, banks, companies that pay our salaries and can discard us in a second, and a political system that gives us few choices. (Shackles and whips are not needed in today’s world.)

For all the truths, bitching, advice, suggestions, anger, rants, and opinions posted on DU daily, the fact that we are slaves never comes up. But make no mistake about it. We are all owned. As long as we live in this country and play by the rules, we have little or nothing to say about how we are governed, manipulated and screwed on a daily basis.

Need more proof? About 75% of the people in this country want a public health care option (and perhaps even a single payer system like the rest of the civilized world has). Yet, what we want is being ignored.

How secure is your job? Even if you belong to a union, the company you work for could pick up and move to Bangladesh next week. “Official” government unemployment figures aside, countless millions of Americans are out of work because most work has been shipped to countries that pay people perhaps as much as $1 a day. None of us had any say in that, or the means to prevent it.

How many of you read the small print in your mortgage? The purpose of small print is to ensure that you can get fucked by whoever is holding your mortgage anytime they want to fuck you.

And regarding our two party political system, about the only thing we can be sure of is that Democrats will sell us out reluctantly, while Republicans will sell us out with glee.

So can anyone explain to me how you can believe we are not slaves?

E. J. Dionne’s column in today’s Washington Post covers an issue to which none of us have been paying attention. And it’s an issue that can ensure we’ll never again see an election in America that hasn’t been bought, paid for and totally corrupted by corporations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...



Given the recent history of today’s Supreme Court, they have consistently put corporate interests over individual interests. If they do so again this week, we could very well be screwed beyond repair.

We don't get a say in their decisions. So the question is, if they decide to once again sell us out, what do we do next?

This isn’t our first era of ugliness. Hell, with the exception of a very few eras, American history is filled with murder, mayhem and, in some cases, crimes against humanity.

I guess the first and one of the largest crimes, was the mass extermination of the people who inhabited this land before we came along. We call them Indians, but their self-chosen names are far more meaningful.

Then there was slavery that lasted for a few hundred years, and the remnants of which we still live with today. It is perhaps the most egregious, shameful, despicable criminal act committed in the history of this country. And what’s worse is that there are still far too many Americans today who, not only won’t condemn it, but would probably welcome its return.

WWII was our finest moment. “The Greatest Generation” really did save the world from fascism. But I guess some of us Americans will always disagree on the morality of dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – not to mention the tens of thousands of civilians killed when we fire bombed Tokyo and Dresden.

And that V-shaped black granite wall on the Washington Mall attests to one of our country’s most recent crimes and the 58,000 plus Americans who gave their lives for a lie.

So what about today? Our hands are now bloodied with countless deaths, the unspeakable crime of torture, and the recent revelations that we subcontracted murder. At the moment, our president is focused on health care. But we know that this is a man who can walk, chew gum, and flawlessly recite all the lines of “King Lear” at the same time. Obama is more than capable of addressing health care and crimes against humanity simultaneously. Someone needs to explain to me why he’s not doing it.

After eight years of a criminal administration, how come we still find ourselves in yet another really ugly American moment? Why are those we put into office doing nothing about the crimes against humanity committed during the past eight years? Is this an omen of what the rest of this century will look like? Why are Cheney/Bush & Co. walking around free? Why are they getting a free ride – the free ride that we refused to grant to German war criminals at Nuremberg?

So let's hear from you. Do you think I'm looking for a perfect world? Of just a relatively sane one?

Perhaps, with the exception of Bill Moyers, Walter Cronkite was the last man that could truly be called a journalist.

No one was really sure that Jack Kennedy had died until Walter Conkite took off his glasses, choked up, and told us that Jack Kennedy was dead. Back then, it didn't get more official than that.

And far too many wouldn't have believed that a man had actually set foot on the moon until Walter Cronkite told us it was so.

He was the most trusted man in America and for good reason. He was, what used to be called a journalist in the truest sense of the word, as opposed to the charlatans who endlessly bloviate on our TV screens today.

His death marks the death of an era when the words journalistic integretiy and truth meant something. Will we ever see such an era again? Will we ever see the likes of Walter Cronkite again?

Today is the first time I've ever seen this bumper sticker. And I'm finding it a hard message to ignore. It's almost as profound as some imaginary bumper sticker that says "Nazis Are Dangerous To Your Health."

Either peddling or believing bullshit seems to be embedded in the human makeup. And what further proof is needed than the last eight years in which Cheney/Bush kicked up a massive storm of bullshit and a majority of people bought into it.

Bullshit (whether it's used to produce propaganda, lies, delusions, or distortions) can be harmless when used in a joking manner. Yet, as all of human history has demonstrated, it can be deadly when used by tyrants.

With all the worries over swine flu, perhaps it's bullshit we should fear the most.

Why is it that greed constantly triumphs over charity? Why are humans more willing to go to war than search for peace? Why are people more likely to follow their worst instincts than their best?

I don’t know how many here remember the Vietnam era, but the measure of “victory” back then was “body counts.” Just how sick can you get? Counting the number of “enemies” killed in the last week/month/year, was the “yardstick” our government used to “prove” that we were “winning.”

What got me off on this line of thought today is the Supreme Court. Obama could appoint Jesus to replace Souter, and the Republicans would attack him for picking some sandal-wearing, long-haired trouble making Jew, who was a just a know-nothing carpenter and a threat to “our way of life.”

Democrats are no saints. But it’s virtually impossible to not despise the venom, the divisiveness, and the pure hatred that the Republican Party sells on a minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day basis.

Those of you who still call yourself Republicans should really take a long, hard look at the nature of the poison and viciousness you are endorsing. That’s a diet that will make you the victim of your own bile. And it will eventually devour you.

It's been about 45 years since Democrats last achieved greatness with the civil rights act and the voting rights act.

Ever since then, they seem to have lost their souls. Jimmy Carter was a good man who was totally ineffective. Bill Clinton introduced us to the term "Republican Lite." And during every Republican administration in between, Democrats have caved, groveled and betrayed their principles.

They now control the White House and both houses of congress. Will we see universal health care? Will we see adequate funding for education? Will we see our veterans properly cared for? Will we see big business reigned in, regulated and forced to play by the rules? And will we see the modern equivalent of Roosevelt-like programs that put people back to work?

It's only been a hundred days, so perhaps it's too soon to tell. But try telling that to someone who can't feed their family, a child whose family can't afford a kidney transplant, someone whose job has just been shipped to Indonesia, a student working in WalMart because college costs are out of reach, or a veteran contemplating suicide with no one there to help.

A hundred days isn't a lot of time. But after the past eight years, it's up to the Democrats to start moving at warp speed to fix everything that has been intentionally destroyed. Perhaps step one should be to stop all spending on our phony wars and re-channel those dollars to where they are so desperately needed.

More than 50 years ago, there was a Humphrey Bogart film titled "Key Largo." In one scene, the bad guy, Edward G. Robinson, is asked by the actor Lionel Barrymore what he wants. Robinson, stumbling over his answer, utters, "I want, I want ..."

Bogart completes the sentence: "He wants more."

Robinson nods, "Yeah, that's what I want. More."

Barrymore asks, "Will you ever get enough?"

Robinson replies, "No. I guess I never will."

That scene petty well sums up the danger that threatens us all. There are those among us who want "more." Pause for just one moment and grasp the meaning of the word "MORE" as used by those who want it. What they really are saying is that they want everything there is.

We're in the hole we are now because the Wall Street "Masters of the Universe" wanted MORE. Dick Cheney, who in a short time in office turned Halliburton from a multi-million dollar company into a multi-billion dollar company (through no-bid government contracts), wanted MORE. Every conquerer or banana republic dictator in the history of the world wanted MORE. And today, your very existence is threatened by financial powers using their banking practices and credit card usury to accumulate MORE.

I sometimes wonder if a few thousand years from now, some explorers from elsewhere will land on our barren planet. And, after studying what we left behind, will they conclude that we were made extinct by greed -- the drive by some to possess MORE?