A staggering loss…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Z1LmudNr8

“Then don’t mind me cause I ain’t nothin’ but a dream…”

In 2012, the popular vote was… not to vote.

Obama: 65 million
Romney: 60 million
Eligible but not voting: 110 million

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html

So many thoughts about all this. I watched this year’s Boston Marathon from my little town before the runners made their way into Boston. I know people who run the marathon. Like many in Massachusetts, the race is a nice little part of our lives. It’s personal. The next day, I went into Boston and [...]

Under the settlement the Obama administration reached with the banks, the average foreclosed homeowner who was a victim of bank fraud will receive just $300. Here are excerpts from Obama’s remarks about this “landmark settlement”: “We have reached a landmark settlement with the nation’s largest banks that will speed relief to the hardest-hit homeowners , end some [...]

Chained CPI: Obama’s chains of poverty. Social Security contributes absolutely nothing to the deficit… not a single penny. Making Social Security solvent, i.e. fixing it permanently, requires a very, very simple change. Remove the cap. America: a place where we cut benefits for ninety year-olds and protect billionaires by capping Social Security taxes. After the [...]

Thanks, Barbarian. Rec’d. Let me start by saying that I know very little about Kasich and even less about what goes on in Ohio. It pains me, though, to realize that we have come to see “grey” as pleasantly refreshing. Dog bless the centrists! Things have gotten so perverse that we expect all outfits to [...]

Thanks, TA… I appreciate that.

The link to my FDR post was embedded in the sentence but here’s another version of the link:

http://my.firedoglake.com/welshterrier2/2010/11/04/fdr-1936-when-democrats-were-democrats/

Excellent and recommended! I’m not quite sure what you mean by oligarchy existing “inside our democracy”. It seems to me we have an oligarchy and we do not have democracy at all. I define democracy as a political system in which each citizen has a relatively equal voice in the affairs of government. With an [...]

“One thing that shows how far we have to go is the fact that the site we are discussing the end of Capitalism on is a .com capitalist site…”

I have always assumed the “.com” was an acronym for communism. Could I be wrong?

Sorry to hear you’re planning to leave, True American. I hope you’ll reconsider. It’s hard to see how we can make progress if people, for whatever reason, keep quitting. I like much of what you said but I truly don’t understand your apparent disdain for atheists. I’m an atheist. I don’t need to believe in [...]

Wow, look who the cat dragged in. It’s been too long, my friend! I guess I’ve been next to invisible around here lately. You raise a critically important point. Corporate decision-makers should be held liable both civilly and criminally when their corporations break the law. Instead, they are rewarded with bonuses and golden parachutes. It’s [...]

In seeking an alternative to capitalism, allow me to offer the following perspective to guide our analysis. In most cases, people will act in their own self interest. I truly hate to be this cynical and would love to see the human condition as one of benevolence and goodwill. Many of us do have compassion [...]

To quote Moliere, “we die only once and for such a long time.”

I find that very motivating; I hope you do too.

You know, in some ways you’ve really highlighted a fairly new dissenter on the scene. In my post, I noted the rift between the anti-war, sixties politicos and the drop-out, counter-cultural hippies. Recently, locally, I’ve encountered a somewhat new type of activist. For lack of a better phrase, I’ll go with yours: “lifestyle dissenters”. The [...]

“When I occupied, I did it on crutches, but not much is available me to in getting out in the world now. So, I do what I can from home. Life 2.0.” The pen is mightier than the sword. You can quote me on that, dear Wendy. I’ve been spending most of my Sunday’s with [...]

“I’m too old for much…” People keep saying this to me. And yet, I find myself growing stronger with each passing year. I am now referred to as “that community activist”. I’ve also become very comfortable as a public speaker. Perhaps at some point I’ll write about what I’ve been doing. But, for now, I [...]

Every once in awhile, I like to stop by to take the pulse of the revolution. Today’s visit brought a wendydavis post right up there on the top of the recommended column with more than 150 responses from the FDL warriors. I just couldn’t resist. With appropriate apologies, I decided to read the comments instead [...]

The Second Amendment is also an instance of the balance of powers principle. It was meant to give people the power to confront an armed, tyrannical State and overthrow it, as the Founding Fathers themselves did. The argument is made by some that the right to bear “arms” really means “armament equal in firepower to that [...]

This list is obviously a fantasy and exits only in the minds of those who believe in such things or are on some kind of drugs since it ain’t no way gonna happen in reality. A list of contradictions and incongruities.

Ideology is a conglomeration of values that should not be weighed on an attainability scale. [...]

When enough grow hungry, the regime will fall. One thing I have found somewhat heartening is the growth of the urban agriculture movement. Consider this excerpt about local farming within the Chicago city limits: Source: http://www.climate.org/topics/international-action/urban-agriculture/chicago.htm

The poverty rate in Chicago is 20.5% and the extreme poverty rate is 9.1%. Like urban poor in developing countries, urban [...]