How about a shout out for the normally disregarded retail worker?

The men and women who stock the shelves, ring up the purchases, put up with customer rudeness, anger, etc., and work ungodly hours and days, are so often unappreciated, and for certain, underpaid.

Hours on their feet, little or no health care, stessed, working holidays, nights, weekends - these folks deserve so much more than they receive from their employers and customers, considering what they put up with, especially this time of year.

How about a little DU love for America's retail workers?

THANK YOU!!!

Things evolve.

This does include us humans too, you know.

Behavior adapts, perceptions alter, experience shapes; all of it melds together, persistently driving fundamental change.

And consequently, one more fascinating and wonderful change has taken place within the singular (even if somewhat schizophrenic) consciousness that is the Human Race.

Did you ever try to understand - I mean truly get it -- why OWS went worldwide? And so quickly, at that?

I believe it is because OWS is a reflection of what has changed within the body Human.

The Human skin wrinkles, shedding old needs and priorities, and in doing so has produced something strangely magnificent: OWS.

The Tea Party never went global, for it is nothing new; just a somewhat clever (yet ever so clumsy) re-branding of the status quo. It is incapable of growing beyond the bounds of its own atavistic conception, and thus, will ultimately turn out to have positively influenced...well, nothing.

Consequently, the Tea Party is consumed with image, rather than substance, and is constantly redefining itself in response to the various appetites which it feeds. The Tea Party actually needs a face...but it will never find one, for one does not, and cannot, exist. And this, in many ways, makes it the antithesis of OWS.

For you see, OWS does indeed have a face.

It is the person standing next next to you, and beside you, and behind you.

It is the protestor standing bravely in the path of abusive backlash against what is daring and new and absolutely necessary to the human race.

It is the men and women who show up to help others, with no concern for the personal price they might pay, for doing so.

It is me, as I type these words.

It is you, as you read them.

Things evolve.

A leader may yet emerge within OWS...but truly, I doubt it. The need for such a leader does not exist outside of the minds of those who seek to somehow define OWS as a thing familiar, and therefore, quantifiably safe.

Each of us, from London to Oakland, from Sydney to Nome, from Zucotti Park to Cairo, we are the face of OWS; and you, are the face of OWS...

No other face, is required...

Just to be clear:

Relevant -- Having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand.
-- (source - Merriam Webster Dictionary on my desk)

President Obama, through his silence, through his attempts to once again be the middleman, through his refusal to voice his OWN opinion and the ethical foundations upon which they rest, has proven himself, at least to me, to be completely without relevance to the #Occupations.

President Obama's entire significant and demonstrable bearing, is focused with politically typical precision upon his own reelection - and that is all.

President Obama is trying to juggle his performace against his promises, while riding a bipartisan unicycle on a Republican tightrope 8 miles above the rest of us; it would actually be a miracle if he had any relevance to #OWS, given where his thoughts and deeds seem to be centered, so far and above the rest of us.

No one in and of the #OWS protests, is even mentioning President Obama. In fact, he's been out of town the past couple of weeks in Asia, and he is likely expecting to come home trumpeting his foreign policy brilliance.

But the country has changed significantly in the last 10 days, and Mr. Obama is not returning to the same America he left, so short a time ago.

The 1% has brazenly sicced their private, incredibly well armed and angry, armies upon us, and there has been no mention whatsoever, no condemnation, no promised investigations, - there has been NOTHING from him or his administration - about the brutilization of American citizens exercising their most basic RIGHTS, while our SWORN PROTECTORS shred the Constitution with sociopathic glee as they criminally abuse their power over the 99%.

Mr. Obama, his administration, and especially his DOJ, don't need to defend #OWS; but they are duty bound to protect and defend the fucking Constitution. And when they fail to do so, they do indeed send the clearest and strongest message possible about OUR relevance, to them...

Thus, I leave you with this thought, voiced when our country was still newly born. Please keep it in mind, if you would, when Mr. Obama returns and political expediency requires him to address all of this:

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. -Thomas Carlyle, writer (1795-1881)

* -- on edit -- I just want to add, based on a few of the comments, that President Obama has made HIMSELF irrelevant - #OWS and the 99% didn't do it, and neither did the Repubs. Mr. Obama is irrelevant due to his OWN decisions.

** -- also edited for spelling --

After all, if you go by the strictist of definitions, true Nazis were getting rich from Hitler's systemic cronyism, living lavish lifestyles, and exercising power over millions of people.

By this definition, only the big shots like Himmler and Goehring (and Hitler), and the rest of the top dogs, were Nazis.

But...this isn't the reality of it, though...is it...?

The vast majority of Brown Shirts might not have gotten rich, but they got something else, something which also served Hitler's ends.

The Brown Shirts were given virtually unlimited power ovre the general population.

-- Are you a Brown Shirt, and want to get even with someone? Bash their skull in with a brick, or your boot, or a nice handy baton - no problem for you, whatsoever. Bash away.

-- Maybe you don't like the guy down the street, or the girl who turned you down for sex, or your brother? No problem. Just frame them as enemies of the State, and bam! Instant revenge.

Sure, there were some Brown Shirts who were Brown Shirts only for survival's sake, who did their best to ameliorate the worst of Hitler's excesses at the local level - but they made little to no difference in influencing the culture which glorified in the violence and ego gratification their vast power allowed.

So were the Brown Shirts just as bad as the top level guys, since they willingly - and even enthusastically - carried out the Nazi agenda in the own towns, villages, and neighborhoods?

Because I think they were just as bad.

Just as I think the police, generally speaking, are NOT PART OF THE 99% - for pretty much the same reasons I believe Brown Shirts were true Nazis.

These cops out there bringing violence and human rights abuses down upon OWS people, are doing so, again generally speaking, for one of two reasons:

1) They want to do it, they love doing it, they are reveling in their power for their own benefit, unconcerned in the least about the larger questions, and how their own action affect everyone else.

or

2) They do not like the abuses they see all around them, but they are too COWARDLY (thus selfish and self serving) to stand up and STOP THEIR FELLOW COPS FROM ABUSING THEIR POWER.

Personally, I don't give a FUCK about the culture "good" cops struggle in - they are still a part of it, just like the unwilling Brown Shirts.

And here's the thing: Cops are NOT Brown Shirts. Cops HAVE a choice - they can quit being cops ANYTIME.

If OWS - and the rest of us - have ANY hope of successfully resisting and SURVIVING the wrath of the 1%, we had better come to terms - emotionally and practically - about just how much a part of the 99% cops actually are - based on their ACTIONS - NOT THEIR INCOME.

Cops, in a very real way, have been our culture's modern day gladiators. What American doesn't love a good high speed chase on the 11 o'clock news? Cop shows and crime dramas DOMINATE our airwaves, and our society places such value on the "job" these people do to "keep us safe." Well, we'd better get over this particular brand of hero worship, and fast, before we all get a nightstick upside our heads...

Check out crime statistics - instead of violent crime rising during this economic nightmare, as historically, such crimes have always done, crime rates are DROPPING. We're keeping ourselves safe - by choosing it every day - not because the cops are soooo busy with the fighting crime thing.

If cops were actually so busy fighting real crime, then why are they ALL OVER THE COUNTRY abusing peaceful OWS people, instead of being out there fighting all that crime?

Puh-lease. Cops haven't done anything different in my area...or anywhere else that I've heard of. No dramatic new methods or weapons to lower crime rates. Cops have not done shit - the fact is, we've done it ourselves..

And how about that condescending and invincibly arrogant open letter to OWS from Oaklad police? Did you like how they hollowly claimed to be part of the 99%, but without ANY emotional connection to actually BEING part of the 99%? Man, that was so obviously manipulative. It was a play on commraderie - and NOTHING more.

You yourself KNOW that cops are a corrupt and dangerous sub-culture; and they are, because of their collective actions, and personal morals, values, and ethics. And it is this fact which defines them as part of the 1%.

One final thought: When this all finally shakes down, and we've broken the power of the 1%, I think we're going to need our own "Nuremberg trials" to address the rapidly growing list of human rights abuses afflicting the 99%...

I'll make this brief:

OWS is not angst with the 1% because they possess wealth.

No.

The 99% is engaged in this very real fight because of what the MAJORITY OF THE 1% do with the staggering and tremendous power their wealth gives them.

It is not about money - it is about the exercise of power.

Which brings me to the police.

They remove THEMSELVES from the 1% by the manner in which they exercise the staggering and tremendous power being a cop gives them.

OWS will never be able to convince the MAJORITY of police to join our side, so long as their exercise of all that power they possess remains abusive, and therefore, personally profitable.

The wealthy form exclusionary social circles, where the 99% are unwelcome, unsolicited, and kept outside.

So do cops.

Question: How many police actually hang out and post here at DU? I'd love to know, because after being on this site for more than 8 years, I have not personally encountered any OP written by a police officer.

They have their own hangouts, where they exclude the rest of us, where we are unwelcome, unsolicited, and kept outside (think "cop bars" - or try to go to a police board - those I have visited require being a cop to even read posts).

The majority of police keep themselves apart, and do so willfully, and with what seems to be snering contempt for the general public - it is a culture of contempt (good example here).

So please - know WHAT you are fighting.

It is not wealth.

It is the abusive exercise of power - wealth is merely the vehicle for this abuse, just as the uniform and badge are for police.

Please - stop trying to convince the cops of the righteousness of our cause, because to them, it is immaterial. Based on the MAJORITY'S actions, police care only about their own power, and having more and more and more and more and more of it - kind of like, I dunno, the wealthy's drive for more and more and more and more and more wealth.

Look at our own history, read what relatives of cops say , look at how they conduct themselves right now - and then try to believe they are really on our side and just don't know it yet...

Sorry, but you don't get to have it both ways - not in a world of consequence.

Barack Obama cannot be both the leader of our Democratic party, and upholder of those principles, morals, and values that define our Democratic platform - and in turn, define those of us who identify themselves as Democrats, while at the same time taking actions which can only be desribed as political, actions which directly contradict Democratic values.

Those who endlessly list Obama's "progressive" actions and accomplishments while simultaneously failing to acknowledge the much longer list of betrayals of progressive/liberal/Democratic ideals and capitulations to Republican/wealthy/corporate interests, are blind to the larger pattern of his actions; a larger pattern which suggests Obama's "progressive" actions are merely coinicidental to Democratic/liberal/progressive ideals - and are NOT the point.

Do you understand the difference? If not, please gather the following items: A picture of George W. Bush, a large rubber mallet, and any song by Alan Jackson after 2001 - you'll have better luck with these, than you will finishing this piece.

When debt ceiling "negotiations" are wrapped up, and an Obama mouthpiece announces the results to Americans and Cantor and Boehner are crowing and cackling the results to an adoring media, I have no doubt whatsoever SS and Medicare and who knows what else of our social safety net, WILL BE DAMAGED.

Why am I so certain of this?

Because our President, our Democratic leader, our hope for meaningful change, is not "ours."

Barack Obama performs his actions as President and leader of the Democratic party for monied interests; he answers to corporate interests, he acts on behalf of wealth and privilage and power.

There is no true consistency in Obama's presidency, nor is there a moral thread binding his actions together.

And perhaps worst of all, there is no long-term thinking evident in Obama's actions - most of what he has done, and continues to do, seems opportunistic and insincere.

Seriously, people - get a grip.

For the last couple of weeks, I've seen more GBCW posts and more hand-wringing over the "tone" and "devisivness" and "anger" plaguing our beloved DU.

There is so much angst flowing around here its more like reading a compilation of depressed teenage diaries than a political message board authored by some pretty smart adults.

And no actionable solutions are offered - only draconian ideas whose intent is little more than to strangle the expression of anything disagreeable to the person complaining.

Come on - we're supposed to be progressive thinkers around here.

DU has not changed. Skinner did not issue new guidelines for posting, did not change the subject, did not slowly encourage impatience, did not delete sympathy and empathy and pity from the menu.

What we are experiencing here at DU is simply one manifestation of the growing rift within our culture as our social contracts break down and are replaced with greed-driven domination by the powerful and elite.

We are ALL victims of this new paradigm, you know.

Consequently, our need to be understood, our growing lack of patience for those who do not understand, is the new normal for pretty much everything that is America right now.

And DU is simply reflecting this new reality.

So instead of leaving the site, instead of bitching and moaning and crying and pining away for the "good old days," I recommend trying something else.

Practice patience.

Give to each other.

Remember the person who will be affected by your comments or posts, may or may not be in the same place you are, and could be in a much worse place than you.

Work as individuals to cultivate an atmosphere that reflects our progressive values, rather than one which battles with them.

STOP being so damned judgmental.

We. Are. A. Community.

So act like it. Because if we fail to be kind, and giving, and thoughtful, and patient, with each other, this island of hope and positive reflection, which IS our community, will break down completely, and then what will we have?

Certainly not each other.

And for many DUers, we're all we've really got left, right now.

So fucking remember that, next time you feel that stab of impatience, that need for textual vengence, that desire to make SOMEONE pay for your own sense of displacement.

You do NOT know the harm you may be causing another; you don't know the price someone else will ultimately pay for your 30-second ego boost at getting that textual knife in for a good stab in some offending person's heart.

And you DO know what small acts of kindness and patience and giving can mean to another; you can make a difference - big and small - for everyone you interact with...which is a much healthier ego boost than getting your keyboard bloody...

Despite pride, despite ego, despite fear, despite angry denial: At some point, we need to get real.

I'm not going to rattle off the endless lists which demonstrate this point, as I firmly believe you are already quite aware - you know the score, even if it is difficult to look at, and even harder to admit.

But if we are going to salvage any kind of future for ourselves and our loved ones, we need to face facts.

Little meaningful difference remains between the Republican Party establishment/leadership/goals, and the Democratic Party establishment/leadership/goals.

Yes, the Republicans brazenly call their shots, use strong-arm tactics, unbridled fear mongering, and general hysteria, to win their points. They openly lie when it suits their purposes, and make no bones about their ultimate goals.

Yes, Democrats appear to stand up to Republican thuggery, using strong language and passionate debate/rhetoric/theatrics to demonstrate their diametric opposition to Republican governing chicannery...only to...sob...

CAVE. AND CAVE. AND CAVE. THEY CAVE IN. THEY CAVE UP. THEY CAVE DOWN. THEY CAVE AROUND, and AROUND, and AROUND. Did I mention they CAVE? Constantly?

And regardless of the different paths taken, both (R) and (D) roads lead to the exact same place.

A place where war crimes and austerity and enormous wealth for a privilaged few and poverty and neglect for everyone else, are the new norm, and the Constitution is no longer a sacred document, but a thing already discarded by those trusted to wield OUR POWER in OUR NAMES.

So - wakey, wakey - and grab a tissue if you need it to sop up your tears born of this massive betrayal by both Parties, and then get fucking mad, goddammitt!! Isn't it well past time to start having some serious conversations about this, folks? Because if we hand OUR POWER over to these same two D.C. insider groups, even one more time, I am sorry to say, we are well and truly fucked.

This is not mere speculation on my part - do the math and admit it - D.C. politics is a zero sum game, and there is no end in sight, if WE THE PEOPLE allow these "honorable personages" to continue.

And one more thing to chew on: What exactly IS America? Is it wealth? Or is it People?

Better decide this one quick, before the matter is settled on our behalf...

So we have finally arrived.

Based on the "legal" dissolution of a city government in the US, Democracy is no longer the law of the land.

We the People have placed OUR POWER of self-determination into the hands of politicians, who we then TRUST with OUR POWER, to manage responsibily on our behalf and for our benefit, and to do so within the bounds we all agreed upon when we TRUSTED THEM with OUR POWER.

That is how a Democracy is supposed to function.

However, it is now LEGAL in the United States to disassemble a city's government.

People, if you cannot see THIS IS THE LINE - then please tell me - if this is NOT the line, then what the FUCK, is?

The CONTRACT is broken.

This is NOT about MICHIGAN.

This is about ALL OF US.

Keep talking about the 2012 elections. Keep being distracted by open mics (sorry, I don't believe in "accidents" and Mr. Obama). Keep being distracted by fine political theater, like we saw in the House today, which has so many a flutter, which, in the end, signifies NOTHING. Why?

Because what happened in the House is MEANINGLESS in the face of what occurred to ALL AMERICANS in Michigan today.

I swore an oath to defend our Constitution, and I fear it is too late; there is nothing left to defend.

If you cannot see the END - the DEATH - of our Constitution - in the events in Michigan, I urge you to read up on 1930's Germany, and how the German people did NOTHING when their government was eaten from the inside by vile greedy monsters.

If you carry on tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, as if all is the same, as if it is "business as usual," and keep merely strolling along while Rome burns all around us...then all I can do is welcome you to your future...good fucking luck...

Time to stand up. Time to fight. The free ride is over. Now you have to pay for your freedom.

Or recognize you are CHOOSING to give up your freedom in favor of this fucked up, unjust, immoral SHAM.

It is not an easy thing, being around an immortal being, when it is in the midst of dying.

You should know.

If it is not death, then it is an intrinsic change; which for us short-lived types, it means essentially the same thing. ((UPDATE, in response to comments: In other words, there are many things in our individual realities we tend to treat as immortal - things which we treat as if they will be around forever.))

Immortals are all around us; some of them we create, some are already ancient and established upon our entry into this world, while others are young, eternity still before them.

For example, take Mt. St. Helens. If you showed a picture of it from January 1980 to a high school student today, they would probably not be able to name it as Mt. St. Helens. Show them a picture from 2000, and they would likely know it for what it is.

Or England. Sure, it's been lots of things over the centuries (monarchy, conquerer, empire, parlimentary democracy, Bush WOT BFF, etc.), but one thing it has been for over 1000 years - pretty much for all of its existence - is England.

Or, take the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America.

Young, as immortals go - not even 2.5 centuries. A pretty strong start - a bit of trouble before the century mark, as we all know - and then some real maturing. Oh yeah - and absolutely phenomenal growth in power, position, and prestige - until about 40 - 50 years ago, when the America that was, started to show some wear around the edges.

America as we knew her - as a Constitutional Republic - is within a few years of deeply intrinsic change, as the tremendous wealth (and the power it represents) continues to be siphoned from the People who actually produced it, to the hands of a relatively few individuals, who appear to have as one of their goals, the completion of this intrinsic change.

And thus our nation - born before we came to be, part of the very fabric and definition of our lives, stretching beyond our short lifetimes into the distant future, undying, immortal - fades away before our very eyes. Our country is a massive thing - there is no individual effort which can save an immortal - to try is to attempt to drain the ocean, one cup at a time. And We the People, caught in various stages of grief, are trapped between faith, and uncertainty.

Or, to end my waxing of the poetic, our country lies bleeding in the fucking gutter while a bunch of rich assholes rips her limbs off and attaches freakishly grotesque cyborg parts powered by the shattered dreams of Americans - while our political leaders hand them the tools and the rest of us watch from the sidewalk, stunned and motionless...

I don't, really, not where I live. It's conserva-rush-hann-oreillllllyyyyy land around here. Sure we liberals do vote as liberals, but it is physically intimidating to declare oneself a liberal around here. Seriously.

One of the head honchos at the local grocery store had a black eye last week. I asked how it happened, he said he was "arguing with his wife at the bar," and apparently another guy told him to stop disrespecting her and hit him in the face with a pretzel bowl. A pretzel bowl. I asked if they guy was in jail, he said, "He didn't really hurt me, so its no big deal." Violence - safety - sure...

Someone taped a poorly handwritten note - complete with illustration - on the local gas station door that said because the store owner supported the city's street guy's re-election (this was about two weeks ago), this person would no longer shop there - and there was a little stick figure pointing what looked like a stick figure gun at a stick figure store. The owner kept it on the door for days - he thought it was funny, as he didn't even live in town, and couldn't vote in the city election anyway. Politics - guns - violent threats - oh, such fun.

And of course, openly bashing Democratic figures is the only "acceptable" political talk in "these parts" - defending anything Dem brings, in the least, the mighty wall of silence and stony looks. At worst - who can say? A pretzel bowl to the face?

It all adds up to a decidedly unfreindly air for liberals. And I know its not just here - it's tucked in all over America - in cities big and small.

Why does the left have no voice?

Because the bullies in the room are letting us "solve-problems-without-pretzel-bowl-violence" types know we'd better keep our "socialist, communist, fascist, lefty loving" opinions, to ourselves.

So what can we do to solve this problem? And don't say, "Stand up!" because that is not working so well right now. Without messaging in the bigger outdoors, those of us surrounded by bullies are outnumbered, and drowned out, and we feel as though no one on the national scene has our back. What do we have to back ourselves up with, but dry Internet statistics and quotes from places like the NY Times, or Huff Po, or DU, or Kos, and so on?

Nothing, that's what. Our liberal Dems in DC may as well not exist, for all the noise they are able/allowed to generate.

Until we figure out how to address this issue, we are not going to have a voice on the left to be heard.

It is currently being strangled to a squeek, in these parts, at least...

I am a soldier. I swore an oath to protect and defend our Constitution.

Despite what some may think, I am doing my duty, as I see it. I spent some years as a drill instructor, and consequently, I don't "instruct" in a manner which might even remotely be considered diplomatic. Good thing, I suppose.

I am not a diplomat.

What I am, is a strategist - and a damn good one too. Lots of soldiers are alive today because of my - admittedly irritating - ability to shoot holes in what others consider to be "airtight" plans.

The first thing a successful strategist MUST excel at is identifying problems - and not just the obvious problems, but the underlying factors which create or sustain problems. If you can solve from "the root," the obvious problems are no longer a factor.

Folks - we have a few very serious problems which MUST be addressed before 2012, if we are to avoid moving rashly forward because emotionally, we really, really, really need to. I'll start with the first, and biggest, problem.

There are some FACTS we must acknowledge:

-- Torture IS ILLEGAL, in about 100 different ways.
-- Mr. Obama is still permitting/sanctioning torture.
-- Torture is a "high crime" and is an impeachable offense.

Can you just imagine the chaos that will ensue in our government if Republicans decide to pull this card after Obama wins in 2012? Tell me - how much of anything will get done in government if Obama is stuck defending himself from impeachment? Its just political theater at its distracting best for Republicans, and a golden opportunity to block anything Democrats try to do by using their impeachment of Obama as a club against Democrats who dare to raise their voices.

Remember when Issa said he was going to start investigations into Obama as his highest priority?

Hello???? What do you suppose those investigations might be used for, hmmm? Anyone? Anyone at all?

To paraphrase, in strategy success is built around the idea: "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

Now - what do we do with this possible calamity? In what way can we - right now - work to disarm, or in the least, weaken, this probable Republican strategy?

Pretending it's all okay because a Democrat is carrying on Bush's criminal acts, is not a viable strategy. Sorry if it hurts your feelings, or your ego, or your delusions - but I'm right on this point.

How probable is it Republicans would do this? Is impeachment over war crimes truly something we should be concerned about?

Remember that Democratic President - what was his name...oh, yeah - President Bill Clinton! You know, the one Republicans impeached over a blowjob? Remember him? Remember how that "moral majority" Republican guy, Newt Gingrich, was leading the charge for impeachment, even as he was FUCKING AROUND ON HIS WIFE?

You do the math. I don't like the odds, myself. Name one dirty trick Republicans haven't used when given the opportunity to do so - I can't think of one.

If we continue to deny we have a very real problem, we're screwed, and you should know this.



I don't like denial and hypocrisy, especially when the stakes are so very high, and patience is not my best trait. I know, real newsflash. But telling ourselves the truth is not just a value - it is about survival - literally.

Too many of us are accepting illegal behavior from Obama, too many are willing to look the other way in exchange for a 2012 victory, and too many are over-invested in pretending there is no problem other than a lack of support for Obama. If we allow this to continue, we are placing our hands right on top of the Republican's hands on the "chaos button."

We don't have a lot of time to convince our best candidate that he needs to STOP BREAKING THE LAW or he's going to fuck us all. 2012 looms large before us.

If we can't unite to pressure Mr. Obama into changing his behavior, we will have no chance to stop Republicans from tearing this nation yet another new and terrible wound.

It is my duty, as a soldier, and as a citizen, to do what I am capable of doing, to stop them. And yours, too...and the first step we MUST take is to confront our own hypocrisy, stop the silent but deadly "It's Okay If A Democrat Does It" mantra that is being said and denied being said in the same damn sentence, and face the REALITY - we are being outplayed, big time, and if we just keep drifting along...

I have read quite a few OP's in the last several weeks concerned over the perception of Democratic unity eroding away. People express a variety of emotions when voicing their concerns - a sense of loss, depression, frustration, disillusionment - a lot of unhappiness, to say the least.

A tireless theme in these outpourings is a strange, sideways sort of longing for the days of George W., when we had a "common enemy," and we found that our differences, while still present, were more a distraction than a commentary on Democrats in general - in other words, it was no big deal, because we had a much bigger fight on our hands - personified in the boy king and his cohorts.

I have to agree - the unity Bush spawned has faded and we now find ourselves occupied with trying to convince each other to support the powers that be or risk finding ourselves under the thumb of another Republican like, or worse, than Bushie boy. Sometimes the fear is thicker than spoiled milk.

I can tell you EXACTLY why we have no unity.

We united to get Obama elected, and though many supporters of other candidates were disappointed, they too "came back to the fold" and supported the Democratic nominee all the way into office, and then doggedly kept that support going in the face of disappointment after disappointment after disappointment.

SOME OF US united behind the ideals and ethics and promised actions. SOME OF US never bought into the cult of personality represented by Mr. Obama, or by the Democratic Party.

We united behind a SET OF VALUES we wished to see revived in our culture.

Want some unity again?

THEN DEFY CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, DEFY EGO, DEFY THE LURE OF VICTORY FOR VICTORY'S SAKE, DEFY THE SELFISH CALL OF CELEBRITY.

When you support a PERSON and not the values you support that person to act upon, you will excuse ANYTHING THEY DO OR DON'T DO which contradicts your OWN VALUES. This ain't friggin' Beverly Hills 90210 -- this is our CHILDREN'S FUTURES. And you want to bitch about disunity instead of working to defend and fight for your values?

Grow the fuck up and stand up for your values instead of living in the false comfort of a persistently dishonest cult of personality. This isn't a goddamn high school popularity contest, and the level of Democratic "hurt feelings" is getting to be pathetic. Supporting a PERSON instead of YOUR VALUES is weak, hypocritical, self-serving, and indicative of a lack of focus on WHO WE ARE.

And perhaps worst of all, it is a selfish betrayal of our potential.

I want, as do countless other people, true unity...but we are NOT going to find it in the box of tissues we keep passing around.

Our values are the ONLY honest unity we EVER had.

So Mr. Obama is the GREATEST POLITICAL GENIUS who has ever lived. He is unbelievably AMAZING!!

All this time, I thought he was really throwing liberals, the poor, the Constitution, and any meaningful fullfillment of his promises to those of us who elected him, under the proverbial bus. But now I see the TRUTH!! Isn't he incredible??

And I just have to add (I don't mean to gush - no wait, yes I do!) that President Obama's awesomeness continues to be awesomely impressive!!

I'm sure he's got a few of you - a very small few, I am certain - buying into the strategy I am now seeing unfold before my unbelieving eyes he is using to smite our enemies, those Tea Bagger Republicans and their Evil Overlord Corporations! Boo, bad guys!! Booooooooo!!!!!!!

See, if you haven't figured it out yet, our Great President is just PRETENDING to capitulate at every turn to Republican demands! He is just making it look like, through surrounding himself with Wall Street bankster bigshots like little Timmy G. and that super cool guy from GE, and Daley and all those other bigshots, that he all about the status quo for the wealthy! When he agreed to keep Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy in place, that was merely his first step in implementing Plan Long View (that's just my super secret decoder name for it, I'm sure his is waaayyyy cooler), and after the 2012 election he will spring his trap! KA-POWWIE go the bad guys!!

This is such an exciting time to be an American!! I know, it is inconvenient for some of us, maybe even hard or seemingly impossible, what with rising gas and food and clothes and rent and medical bills and payments for this and that and everything else, to make ends meet. And I know some of us will be going to bed hungry tonight, and tomorrow, and for a while to come. And some of us, unfortunately, will probably give our lives as we get through Plan Long View, from insurance company shenanigans, or regulatory failures, or food supply disruption, or maybe a falling apart bridge or something. I promise, as I'm certain Mr. Obama does, your sacrifice will not be in vain. Might I suggest? A picture of President Obama in your living space, will help a bunch, if you need inspiration or a reminder of just what exactly we are fighting for in 2012 - this can go a long way to keeping your spirits ever rising as we gear up to win in 2012 and send those Tea Baggering Repuklickers and their putrid money mongers packing!!!!!!

SHARED SACRIFICE, folks! Our President is telegraphing his plan to us, trying to help us get ready for his great strategy to unfold after he magnanimously spends $1 billion to win in 2012! Keep gathering your pennies for the big fight to come, folks! Obama needs those pennies if he is going to reach that billion dollar mark! Come on, dig deeper and deeper and deeper than you ever have before!! SHARED SACRIFICE!! SHARED SACRIFICE!! Come on, say it with me!! SHARED SACRIFICE!! SHARED SACRIFICE!!

The right wing is SO DAMN SCARY and MIGHTY that our even mightier President has to trick them into believing he is weak and will drop his stated core values in a shot to further that image for those terrible, awful Republicans! Why, if he were to show them how mighty he actually was, they wouldn't get to take all of the rope he is feeding them! And then after we have spent every free penny we have to help him win in 2012, just watch! KA-BLOOEY!!!!!!!! He will throw off his weak-kneed, lilly-livered coward facade, and SHOW THEM THE REAL POWER OF THE PRESIDENT!!!

So start gathering your coins - folding money if you can, too. Skip meals, or only take your meds every other day - or feed the kids shredded newspaper and mayonnaise - they won't know the difference from the bologna you can buy at the store these days anyway! And take those savings and start sending them to our President so he can win in 2012 and show those evil Republicans and Tea Baggerinos and Banksters who is really THE BOSS!!

And don't forget to support your Democratic incumbants! Think yard sales - do you really need three pairs of jeans, two pairs of shoes? You won't need that can opener soon - hock to an unsuspecting neighbor! And then take whatever you raise and ship it off to your Democrat running in 2012!

WE CAN DO THIS! WE CAN WIN EVERYTHING BACK! ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS BELIEVE IN PRESIDENT OBAMA, AND THE U.S.A.!!!!!!

Go Obama!!!!! Go U.S.A.!!!!!!!

Seriously - enough is enough. I am no longer able to see how we can possibly have anything approaching a truly democratic election in 2012.

For if we continue to participate in this bullshit fraud of a corrupt owned government, if we actually believe the 2012 election will be anything other than a corporate selection, we are fully and fearfully deluding ourselves. My god, they have fucking voting machines for sale of fucking eBay - the integrity of our elections literally for sale to the highest bidder! They aren't even trying to hide it anymore!

So come on - pass this idea around.

See how it feels.

If you think this is our only chance, let's get on with it.

Let's start spreading the word NOW.

We've got a lot of work to do to SAVE OURSELVES, and we need to get busy.

We need to get some BIG BRAINS working on this, and we need to begin getting the attention of people who can help us make this happen - Maher, Olbermann, Stewart, Colbert, Moore, etc.

NO MORE CORPORATE SELECTIONS - CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION NOVEMBER 4, 2012.

---edited for typos, typos, typos! I hate freaking typos!!---

UPDATE: From Kos recommended list:



Read the article - apparently I'm not the only one thinking this - time to be brave, folks - Democracy is NOT FREE, and we have an even rougher ride ahead, no matter what we choose to do, or not do...