“Bill Clinton is correct that we should rethink things like the Stand Your Ground law…”

I’ll start caring about what Clinton has to say when he apologizes to the nation for NAFTA, financial dereguletion, etc….

What most people who say they want more choices fail to realize is that the votes MUST come first. Politicians in the 2 “major” parties will never voluntary loosen the rules in a way that will threaten their hold on power. I always tell people to vote for the candidate with whom they MOST agree, and the one who has most firmly stood by those beliefs. The more votes go to candidates from other parties, the more the mainstream politicians will be threatened with losing power and willing to make policy corrections. At this point in time – to vote for either of the two parties is to be a part of the problem. There are almost always other names on the ballot – especially for president – vote for one of them. Chances are, you won’t have to hold your nose to do so.

The last time some Witnesses came to my door, one of them asked, “Have you ever read the Bible?” I replied, “Yes, many times. That’s why I’m an atheist.” The funny thing was – He didn’t even try. He just turned, hands trembling for some reason, and walked away.

You’ll have a hard time going to mass because they changed some words around? Funny – One would think that centuries of child rape would be enough to give you pause. Go figure..

Women have gone for this kind of crap my entire life. I remember women and girls’ dreamy-eyed reaction to this romance story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_and_Laura

It was all so romantic. Hell, 30 million people can’t be wrong, can they? This was a national event level rape fantasy.

Raising awareness and trying to convince people to join the cause is all well and good, but if they don’t start doing something, this thing will not last long. This is the same problem I had with the WI demonstrations – people marched around for a few weeks, singing songs and carrying signs and, in the end, the law they were against passed anyway. With OWS, I think they should decide to be more proactive. If you’re going to get arrested for doing nothing (as some of them are) you might as well disrupt something. Block the entrances to the NYSE, the investment houses, banks,… SOMETHING! Taibbi wrote this today: “There are times when one wonders how effective marches are – one of the lessons that the other side learned from the Vietnam era is that you can often ignore even really big protests without consequence – but in this case demonstrations could be very important just in terms of educating people about the fact that there is, in fact, a well-defined conflict out there with two sides to it.
” http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/occupy-wall-street-drawing-the-battle-lines-20110927 He’s going there tomorrow. I’ll be interested to see his take on things.

I just got home from work and,………….. Dylan is not hosting his show today??!! Could be trouble.

Beau had better watch out – Daddy might have to spank him for daring to question power.

I agree tht the rules need changing, and that the 2 parties won’t let it happen, so what do we do?

Funny thing is – My ballot has more than 2 names for nearly every office, especially for president. I haven’t voted for a D or R, in a general election, since 92′. If so many people WANT to vote for other than D’s or R’s – THEN THAT’S WHAT THEY SHOULD DO! It isn’t rocket science. Just stop voting for the 2 parties and they’ll eventually get the message.

I don’t disagree. But the point remains. Even though the Koch’s et. al. hold the strings, but they can do little without willing teabaggers who will use or withhold their votes to punish the fence sitters in Washington if they must. This is the lesson most progressives still need to learn: that no one in power will fear you unless you refuse to support them – and follow through on that come election day.

This is incredible for a host of reasons. First of all, throughout the last two years, we’ve seen the Senate pass a bill and then tell the House, “that’s the best we can do” and jam them with it. The House became almost an appendage to the Senate, with the Senate version of bills always taking precedence. Here we have the exact opposite, now that Republicans control the House.

That’s because the Republicans, especially in the House, are afraid of the teabaggers, and that fear is spreading to the Senate. Why? Well, because the teabaggers will actually hold them accountable for failing to do what they want. Progressives, on the other hand, were no such threat to Democrats who settled for the “best we can do” bullshit from the party leaders.

I’m not trolling the thread – I’m responding to your replies. Nor am I inciting violence. I’m inciting self defense and the preservation of a way of life. Have you ever read a history book, labor history or other? No group can long survive the unwillingness of its members to defend the group.
Do you really think today’s corporate leaders can be begged or shamed into doing what’s right? They’ve been waging a successful war on workers for 30+ years! They’re surely not going to stop, now that they’re so close to totally annihilating the standard of living of the masses. When they’ve acheived their goal, you beg for their scraps if you want. I’ll be taking the food from their table!

Exactly! And whenever some scab crossed the line, he got his friggin’ knees busted. I’m so sick of the whining on the left, in general, and labor, in this instance that “they won’t let us….” If raising your fist in the air and carrying your sign doesn’t bring them around – bring your fist and sign down on their heads! Or – shut your mouth and fall in line with the rest of the sheep.

Tell that to those who fought and died to form unions in the first place. You people act like unions were formed at nice cozy meetings, between labor and bosses, over tea and biscuits, followed by a big sigh of relief and a group hug. NONSENSE! People beat, and were beaten – they killed and were killed – all for the right to collectively bargain and be treated like human beings in the workplace. If these are the days to which the MOTU (as some are fond of calling them) wish to return, then it is incumbent upon all workers to remind them what those days were like! You might not wish to show them – but your grandchildren will be forced to.