to say loudly and often - NO! No to treating us like incompetents and fools. No to being manipulated. No to being used as cannon fodder. No to propaganda. No to trying to make us think we have to accept their view of the world. I just read a Richard Eskrow piece at CAF about elder poverty and Social Security/Medicare. Mr. Eskrow states that "someone 65 in 2009 could expect to pay $197,000 in out of pocket medical expenses." That is even with Medicare! That's to stay alive for how many more year...

deceit is beyond comprehension. Once a long time ago (15 yrs.?) I believed that we were the country the right now imagines but too much is going on for me to trust our government and our institutions to treat us like intelligent and sensible adults. This country has become the wonderland of Lewis Carroll's imaginings.

a teacher's supply store. There is at least one in every community and you don't need to be a teacher to shop there. They have all sorts of workbooks, hands-on materials and services and usually the cost is very reasonable. Ask a teacher where they go. I agree with you about learning cursive but much of the reason lies in the really difficult time many teachers have in reading the papers and tests of kids today. My own 4 grandchildren have not been taught cursive but they really don't write clea...

time this issue was made front page again. It is or should be part of the focus of OWS and other occupy movements. Right now Texas is under a very cold mass of air which is so unusual as to be profoundly disturbing. Climate change could mean that Texas will be a cold dry desert more like the arctic than what is has been for the past 15,000 years.

sharpest and most insightful creative people have come from the cauldron of the South. They have shown us a part of America many have never encountered and could never understand. (No defense of the region meant). On the other hand I don't think many people are aware of how the GOP is a mirror of the mindset of the unreconstructed South and its attitude toward women, minorities, immigrants, and other religions.

I can see the value but also the manipulation and can't decide which dominates. I am almost 69 and with the cost of today's medicine and medical care sometimes a quick passing seems preferable to a lingering vulnerability. Still undecided.

Texas but don't consider myself a Texan as most usually do. My roots are Texas, Ohio, and mostly Chicago so this report is no real surprise. It would shake up those who do think that Texas is heaven on earth though since they haven't really tried to see themselves as others do. The easiest way for them to stay ignorant and not have to respond will be to deny it all. Texas Democrats, Tejanos and African-Americans (who constitute the majority but have no political power) know it is true. What is ...

for Occupy Chicago is in production and they hope to have it ready for Christmas week. The venue has not been decided but he told me that they might try the new Centennial Park just off of S. Michigan Ave. at Randolph. Will keep DUer's informed.:bounce:

Rachel Maddow but given what she is allowed to do against what she is capable of doing there is a yawning gap. I don't watch the rest of the "liberal" line-up because their job is mainly to forestall criticism of the status quo. I don't need that in my life.

you did not offend. I am raw, emotionally, from all the BS I see around me and the losses. I think it is the same sort of energy that is driving the OWS. Thank you again.

I have lost 8 family members in the past 3 1/2 years including my father and both of my brothers so I sort of know the feel of mourning. I am also a Democratic Precinct Chair and an election judge. My sense of dread is not coming from lack of involvement but from the awful feeling that nothing can now change the course of the crisis about to befall us because of the many who don't or won't see it. Our next few years are going to be very very difficult and my grandchildren will be the ones to com...

depressed by the current state of our society I am mourning it. Every time I read of one of the really vile things said and done by the GOP elite and their most rabid fellow travelers my heart dies a little. I am watching us die as an idea and a nation and while there are many who see this dying too there are so many that want to ignore the signs and symptoms. They have rendered themselves comatose and think they will somehow float on some raft into the past of their imaginings; that this countr...

front page news and the lede on every newscast. Sadly it won't be either. We have to concentrate on shopping stats and football scores.

Just got a Kindle and down-loaded this book that I, who adores Brave New World, did not know existed. It was printed in 1958, 37 years after Brave New World,by Aldous Huxley. What a revelation. So much is timely and on point about todays world so just one short quote to whet the appetite: "Mindlessness and moral idiocy are not characteristic human attributes: they are symptoms of herd-poisoning. In all the world's higher religions, salvation and enlightenment are for individuals. The Kingdom of ...

 
now alive were not born until years after the Kennedy assassination. It seems that was the beginning of our end. We have had more ideological killings, internal terror, totalitarianism and political decay since that day. Each has built on the previous trauma and has made the country we live in today.

, with whom I disagreed religiously, helped to build the Crystal Cathedral from their piddley Social Security checks. Every month for years they sent $20 or $30 to Schuler while living on less than $1,000 combined. It is a beautiful place but how it got built makes me sick.

but the military is the largest employer of Black and Hispanic youth here in central Texas near Ft. Hood. What you propose is to re-build our ability to have work for them outside of the military. GOP won't allow that unless we make a bigger and more focused protest about the unfairness and meanness inherent our lives thanks to the 1%.

my point. Those who force the 99% to acquiesce for fear of losing their ability to protect and support are coming from a place of power but they really have no strength. There is a difference. We have the strength but not the power and if anything that is a major reason for our current state. With both power and strength equally given and applied we are all better off. OWS is about that. Those who would dominate have always known they cannot do so unless they instill fear into those they want...

the sorry point where people have to make the most difficult choices they ever imagined: do they stay employed or do they resist the corporate state? In any authoritarian/totalitarian society this becomes the point at which there is either surrender or renewal. For most it does not seem so dire and in the past each person probably felt the isolation meant to keep them from thinking about the consequences. Luckily we have the internet and other modern communications to know en masse but still dec...

My molestation was over 60 years ago but it is with me daily. Talk to everyone and anyone. I have told my husband and close friends and found such empathy and care it was astounding. You were never at fault and were totally betrayed by your molester (sadly our families share some of the fault too for ignoring what many knew was a problem person). Channel the anger to make this a better and fairer world.

who works in the "Sears" tower in Chicago has been interviewing, photographing and generally supporting the Occupy Chicago protesters for weeks now. Yesterday he told us that he is writing a play for the group: loosley based on Dickens "A Christmas Carol". The group accepted his offer and will produce, direct and find actors for the performance sometime during the Christmas season. I hope that DU'ers in the area will try to see it and support the group that is living small so that we can think a...

 
to your neighbor.

why we won't see solar power in this country. There is no way to keep it from people who have solar panels if they don't pay their bills. There is no way to make it a limited resource whose price can be manipulated either. However, the 1% keep the price up so that only they can afford this infinite resource. The Crawford Ranch was so endowed. For us it would cost minimum $60,000 for a refit.

an arguably 200 year old Live Oak on our property - thankfully not close to power lines - but I would be devastated by its loss. These trees are history, beauty, shelter, food, etc to the world and it takes sensitivity to trim them. I am so sorry you have lost yours.

 
Satire is the humor born of anger and rage. This is a great example.

Texas is more like the rest of the country in population...that is cosmopolitan. I mean that as a mix of so many different groups (and is now majority minority) that in no way reflects what it was 40-50 years ago. It is now safe to be Catholic or Jewish here; where once these religions had to operate quietly and sub-rosa. Perry and his cohort speak of a Texas that only exists in their heads.

state that is changing rapidly from an old confederate society into a 21st century cosmopolitan society and there are too many who have not caught on to that fact yet; especially Rick Perry and his cohort. What they have done in Texas to control it they thought would work everywhere when even many many Texans haven't bought his brand of kool-aid. We have to struggle to be heard but we have found ways to do that and they seem to be starting to work. The only reason they keep winning here is that ...

My husband was a volunteer fireman for many years as well as an EMT. A friend of ours is a retired professional firefighter. (Difference is pay and size of community). They would freak over this if it were made into reality. Firefighting is for those who are willing and trained to lay their lives on the line; as are police. To use prisoners as slave firefighters sounds too much like the days of Imperial Rome when they had just such an institution. Basically saying that human lives are worth noth...