great vid!

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Rush Limbaugh is just a bad person.

Does Rush really believe what he says or is it just shtick?

I just saw Miguel's "angry video" about our nation having a "bought" congress and how our president needs to go directly to the America public to help fire everyone there... I PREDICT 100% FAILURE!

Everyone BITCHES about how Congress is beholden to special interests and their money, and how entrenched some of our "career" congress men and women have been. But the bottom line is that the American public vote to return their representatives time and time again! Why? Because while all of us want to clean house -- we also want our own reps to continue bringing home the bacon! That, and voter apathy, explain the general ease at which our failing reps get to keep their jobs. Look at incumbent success rates HERE.

Recall the wanton stupidity of us the citizenry, who jumped on the war bandwagon eight years ago -- for the sake of patriotism and love of our country of course -- to support our idiotic president in making war on countries that we know (and care) next to nothing about! And our adventures have burned how many TRILLIONS -- borrowed incidentally??

Do we even have a "right" to be angry? Yeah, a bunch of us are angry and want the economy turned around NOW so we can borrow and consume and fatten ourselves just the way we did -- yeah, we are "entitled" because we are AMERICA!

Sorry folks, but what we really need are:

o a big dose of reality to recognize just how fat, arrogant and ignorant we have collectively become
o a big dose of humility -- not "anger" at everybody else but ourselves
o a true willingness to roll up our sleeves and rebuild our crumbling system

Congress is NOT the cause of our problems... it is a SYMPTOM -- it is our creation! Don't fantasize about solving our problems by kicking out 534 yahoos. Worry about how to change the attitude of 350 million spoiled brats -- counting from Baby Boomers on!!

Sorry, but had to get this off my chest. Tea Partyers and Wall Street Occupiers -- take a good look at yourselves and see just how you too have been milking the system!

Ben, there is a lot about your post I agree with, especially these:

o a big dose of reality to recognize just how fat, arrogant and ignorant we have collectively become
o a big dose of humility -- not "anger" at everybody else but ourselves
o a true willingness to roll up our sleeves and rebuild our crumbling system


The public is to blame for a large, large part of it, but I also think that the people we put into office over the years have created the system that we are so angry at today. Its been molded and formed by corruption, greed, and idiocy, and the system has become so powerful, that the average person is mostly helpless against it. Yes, we elected the people in office but I doubt that the American public at large WANTED a corrupt and unfair system, and through our laziness and complacency, that is what happened. Its a two sided coin. My hope is that the Occupy protests are a realization of our failure as a society which lent itself to the formation of our system today. If people are willing to finally stand up to the big players, hopefully it will be a wake up call for us all.

I definitely agree that none of us are blameless for the present economic circumstance. I don't want to say any more than that.

My perception of the protests was that they are an empty gesture directed at people and entities who already received what they wanted 3 years ago and over whom neither the people nor the government hold any leverage. Then I saw this article:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/crime/2011/10/fraud-charges-filed-against-sf-bank-execs-who-accepted-millions-bailout

It may be entirely reactionary on the part of the government but regardless of the impetus it is an interesting new course of events.

Ben, you're blaming the victim

Yes, were "lazy and complacent" to let it happen like Travis said.

And we're stupid to run up debt, spend more than we earn, buy more house than we can afford, etc. Then, if you lose your job you're totally screwed.

Opposite that, if anyone was hard working and saved up then the current financial problems wouldn't have much effect.

But, the problem is that the right wing has taken over the government - Republicans almost totally and Democrats about 50% - and waged war on the lower 99%. So far, they've won but maybe things will turn around.

This has happened before. Like in the 1930s the pendulum swung back from the ultra-rich back to the 99%. Hopefully it will happen again now.

And then the cycle will repeat. We'll all be wise to the corruption and won't let it happen, but when we all die off they'll be ripe for it to happen again.

Good points and funny.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-5-2011/parks-and-demonstration

Does Rush really believe what he says or is it just shtick?

good question, I have listened to the show enough to realize he has (mostly) great intentions.

but:

"L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs" (hell is full of good wishes and desires).

Edited by hellbillylarry on 10/13/2011 11:12:05 MDT.

Ben, it wasn't my video. I was just putting up something to express what the OWS people are trying to say, and I thought the video expressed it very well.

Remember, I'm not an American citizen (the why and wherewithal is too long a story for here). What has taken place in the States is largely beyond my sphere of effectiveness. I pleaded with every American I knew, the day after the New York tragedy, to react calmly and not let things get out of hand. The days leading up to both the Afghan War and the Iraq War I protested as hard as I could against them, knowing that it would turn into what it has. Did a single one of my American friends who supported Bush listen? No. In fact I was treated pretty badly by quite a few of them... lost some good, old friends. Americans in general don't listen to anyone else, even if the others are making perfect sense and acting calmly and rationally. What is going to happen this time with the OWS? I don't know. It seems a lot of people are angry. I wonder if they realize at all that what everyone is feeling so worked up about is a need for wisdom and fairness and practicality.

You, too, Ben, are angry. It is obvious in your words. And what you are saying is exactly part of what the OWS is saying, though you don't seem to realize it. You are asking for sensible ways to solve the big problem. You asking for people to wake up. You are asking for change and a different way of doing things. That's what the OWS protests are all about. You should go and talk to some of the more articulate and thoughtful ones. I think you will be surprised. The whole movement is quite an intelligent one, with people from all walks of life.

Jon Stewart cracks me up!

Ryan

Overall, just a reaction to more Big Money in politics, so @ Clint: I do not sense the OWS protests are anti-TP.

(ed:brevity)

Edited by hknewman on 10/14/2011 14:29:36 MDT.

Please allow me to have the hubris to clarify our differences in less than a paragraph:

It all boils down to what you believe the roll of the federal government should be. One side believes in a limited government and fiscal responsibility and the other side believes in an ever expanding government that is funded by ever increasing taxes. The last part there may be deemed unfair, but aren't the dems always attempting to pass more taxes and more laws 365 days a year?

Choose your side but at least realize that we can't afford the second option and now were seeing that europe can't afford it. Hell, we can't even afford the republicans version of a "limited government".

"Please allow me to have the hubris to clarify our differences in less than a paragraph:"

Ummmmmmm, perhaps 'bias' instead of 'hubris' would be more appropriate. Or, more correctly, "the hubris to clarify with obvious bias, our differences......"

I can summarize the differences between us in a sentence.

One of us thinks the banks taking sixteen trillion dollars from our communities, because they gambled their way into debt, is acceptable.

One side wants a limited federal government

The other side wants reasonable federal spending

The 1% use this and other arguments to distract us while they take what they want

Actually it's more like 0.1% or 0.01%

The American system is a plutarchy operating under the illusion of a constitutional republic.
I have failed to donate to anyone's campaign forcing them to feed from the lobbyists slop trough. Again and again I have failed at finance reform, campaign reform, and term limits for politicians. I also failed to stop wars that will also fail within months of our withdrawing and I failed to stop borrowing to finance my lifestyle.
I have sold my children's future for unlimited rights to buy stuff from WalMart and someday I will point proudly at the flat screen tv that no longer works and the kitchen appliances I bought off their backs.

I think both sides are not happy with bank bailout. I think it's important to note that Bush may have implimented the bailouts, but it went agains conservative ideology to do it.