oh- you mean civil, meaningful discussion

indeed.

mr. obama goes to washington:

'The day "went very well," Boehner replied later. "There are issues we do agree on" and Republicans will work to find "common ground."

We should "set aside perhaps the things that the president believes in that we philosophically don't, but if there is some common ground we ought to go ahead forward with those," said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia.

Friday's meeting, he said, was "the kind of discussion, frankly, that we need to have more of."

guess what betmo is going to try?

espalier

yep.

state of my union

i am sitting here wondering.... i watched the first bit of stewart last night and he skewered the left. as he should. not that it will do one bit of good because the left is as bought and paid for by corporate interests and lobbyists as the right- but good for him. but i guess i wonder why more folks on the left aren't sticking up for what they believe in- rank and file i mean. us.

we have lived under the notion--- for at least the last 40 years or more--- that the left is bad. why? because the right told us so. the right allegedly stands for tradition and individual freedoms and less state intrusion. but facts tell us that this isn't true. in fact, the right wing agenda has stood on a platform of government secrecy; erosion of civil liberties; corporate greed and profit over people's rights; environmental collapse; replacing fact with myth,..... you get the point.

on the left, we allegedly stand for civil liberties for all men and women and ethnic groups, etc, social services to provide basic human necessities such as food, water, shelter, health care, education and safety, regulations to insure preservation of natural, and intellectual resources and preserving the notion that anyone can be anything in america.

um...... color me perplexed why we aren't more vocal? why we cower in shame to be called 'liberal' as if we don't love our country and traditions and family as much as the right- why we allow our 'side' to be shouted down time and again. why we don't wake up and see that it is the left who has no representation in congress- not the right who has successfully infiltrated the democratic party.

we can pin blame all day long on president obama- apparently, the man is the dart board for everyone. but no one is taking a good hard, long look at our congress critters- or our school boards- or our governors- or state governments. folks, look- the right is going to win in november. it's that simple. why? because the left has not- or will not- wake up to the fact that this isn't simply politics. the right wing- from the elected folks on down to our neighbors- hate us. they hate us simply for existing. i don't think i can overstate that. they will vote with their ballots and guns but they will vote. everything that has happened over the last 10 years or more will continue on--- because the left doesn't get it. we moan and gripe about obama while the pelosis and reids and nelsons and..... whoever- vote for their private interests. they don't give a rat's ass about you and me- they simply want to maintain the power structure.

so, until the left wakes up and realizes that we are already engaged in a civil war of ideology that does indeed 'trickle down' to the rest of us- well, life will go on much as it has. meanwhile, the glaciers continue to melt and we continue to drill, baby, drill for our suvs and mcmansions all the while blaming the wrong human being.

not quite noah

but it's raining pretty good. the drainage ditch is working pretty well and i cleaned out the storm drains around the property- there's a lot of water... always nice to have leaky gutters during a downpour. sigh.... flooding in the area due to lots of rain in a short time and the melting ice and snow runoff. guess i had better get used to it as the northeast gets warmer....

who knew?

holy crap! i need a part time weekend job. you would have thought i was applying at homeland security. jesus h. christ! many places have you fill out online- which is fine- but they not only have you do an application--- but an assessment questionnaire also. i am not an idiot- it's a personality assessment. you also have to agree to drug testing and background checks. to work at a fucking grocery store or retail chain. really? seriously? i started the process this morning- and after about 45 minutes of driving to a few places- it became obvious i should just come home and log on.

4 hours later and i did 4 apps online and 3 on paper. sigh. now, you could submit a resume- but some places want you to fill out an app also- so why bother doing both? i am exhausted. no wonder folks prefer unemployment. all i want is extra money for household repairs. some folks actually have to run this gauntlet to survive. i am just shaking my head.......

bye bye media

NOW on pbs

i watched the whole program and, while i was happy to see that there are a few out there who know what it takes to maintain freedom and democracy, i became increasingly saddened by the thought that there are more people who don't give a damn or won't engage. mostly because of taking for granted that our republic will always be free and ignorance of what civics truly is. we have become a nation of ruling class wannabe's- we have always attempted to emulate our 'betters' while pretending to relate to 'the common man.' the truth is- we have a corporate ruling class staffed by our politicians who are generally handpicked to run by the party. our entire system is broken, broken, broken and the majority of americans are not even cognizant of that fact.

america has ceased to be a democratic republic- thanks in large part to the conservative ideology and desire to maintain a permanent majority and in second part by the liberals who have succumbed to greed. just an fyi- next time on now--- the growing number of rightwing democrats who believe in pro life. just thought you'd like to know.

" We live in a time characterized by a refusal to remember."

the right is confident of victory. scoff if you want- but progressives and left leaners are insulated with other true believers. they believe that everyone can and will see the right for what it is. but no. most believe in 'politics' and believe in the election system. i don't believe in any of it. it is horribly broken. but don't take my word... and i hate being right--- mmm... correct--- but i have unfortunately been vindicated once too many times

bill moyers journal

"There were hands in the air in Washington this week, but it wasn't a stickup. The new Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, appointed by Congress to find out how America got rolled, began hearings this week. These four are not the victims of one of the greatest bank heists in history - they're the perpetrators, bankers so sleek and crafty they got off with the loot in broad daylight, and then sweet talked the government into taxing us to pay it back.

Watching that scene on the opening day of the hearings, it was hard enough to believe that almost a year has passed since Barack Obama raised his hand, too -- taking the oath of office to become our 44th President. Even harder to remember what America looked like before Obama, because we've also been robbed of memory, assaulted by what the Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz described as a "fantastic proliferation of mass media." We live in a time "characterized by a refusal to remember." Inconvenient facts simply disappear down the memory hole, as in George Orwell's novel, "1984."

President Obama's made plenty of mistakes during his first year, and we've critiqued them frequently here on the JOURNAL, but hardly anyone talks any more about what happened in the years before. He inherited from George W. Bush the biggest financial debacle since the Great Depression, along with two unpopular and costly wars, and a dysfunctional and demoralized government."

update

i updated the crochet blog and etsy- if you want to take a peek.... i am currently working on a purple and pink hearts throw for valentine season or whenever.... i will keep you updated. the new year is starting out pretty good- the inlaws' visit went well and we all had fun. they even made a 'snowman' :) as we had some snow. it was cold and snowy while they were here but not a lot of accumulation. we have since rectified that and have about 3 or 4 inches on the ground and it's colder than a witch's you-know-what here. ;) i don't need any more pron spam in my inbox. if i get one more pfizer ad.........

anyhoo, i am going to schlep out and get a part time job this year. there are many home improvements we need to do at the rental and one salary isn't going to cut it. i am only doing part time so i still have time to see to mom- so, it'll have to do. wish my sister luck in her job search- she is aiming to switch jobs as hers pretty much sucks. keep warm and consume copious amounts of hot tea and cocoa. i intend to pop in from time to time :) and i am still at the peace tree and sirens chronicles on tuesdays.

wonderings

it never ceases to amaze me how obtuse folks can be- the ability to live in denial is a strong one. i hear all of this hoopla about how 'obama failed america' and that the obama admin sold out. um no- not really. obama didn't run on a progressive ticket. nope. he is a middle of the roader politician who will veer right occasionally should the need arise. i had no false illusions. i voted for dennis kucinich in the primaries.

still, how folks can heap blame on one man for everything wrong in america--- when he inherited it in the first place and there are good things happening domestically and foreign although not as quickly as i would like--- and not blame congress is baffling. obama is not the leader of the democratic party. neither is nancy pelosi or harry reid. apparently, it's some guy named chris van hollen. what reid and pelosi are--- leaders of their party within congress.

and, let's face facts--- they are the ones responsible for the abyssmal health care bill; the continued funding for the foreign wars; the draconian police state that america has become, and the economic implosion we are living through. congress alone has the power to make laws for the entire country- that impact the entire world. the white house has other powers and we should indeed hold the white house accountable for the foreign and domestic powers the president holds. but, obama should not get the blame for everything.

americans have been polled and polled and polled over the last few weeks- and overwhelmingly what the polls show is that folks are not optimistic about our future; are not interested in the rethuglican war cries and fear mongering; and not happy with the dems at this time. what i am hearing is 'america is in it's empiric death throes' and folks are not happy about going down on a sinking ship. doesn't have to be that way but it's like trying to find your way out of a wet paper bag i guess. most folks don't realize that they don't have to continue to perpetuate the system.

what the ruling class doesn't want folks to know- we have real power. yep. there are about 3 billion of us to a few thousand of them. that scares them and so they resort to the fear mongering and the police state tactics and the creation of jobs in 'homeland security' to keep folks docile. they keep the structure of the election process intact while corrupting in the middle and making the whole thing rotten- but folks still keep voting as if it made any difference.

denial is nice. it calms one down in the face of overwhelming despair and panic. and it sure beats taking meds. but it doesn't solve anything. neither does the paralysis of despair. human beings as a species really don't deserve to continue. we take the right to perpetuate our way of life over any other on the planet simply because we can. it doesn't make it right or fair- but we do it because we are the strongest species. we are eradicating other species at such a fast clip that we will eventually eradicate ourselves. and that's fine by me.

we had the ability to live side by side in harmony with the other species of flora and fauna on this planet and the greed gene took root and here we are. i think that the earth deserves to throw us up and out and start over. and perhaps this next time, she will think twice before allowing a species such as humans evolve.

could we save ourselves? yep. we have the tools and we have the knowledge of what we need to do. what we don't seem to have is the ability to shake off the greed even in the face of disaster. perhaps those of us who see will be the ones who survive and humans will once again be able to live in balance with nature. but given that that would take faith in human nature- i don't look for it to happen.

new year is here

i guess i wonder why it feels like the middle of last year? it certainly doesn't feel like the same time last year- the endless waiting for the bush cabal to be out of office.... the hope that things were going to look up and get better. i'm not feeling that guarded optimism i had last year at this time.

but that doesn't mean that i am not going to come out swinging.... here's the deal...

the health care bill that will eventually become law--- sucks. sucks on so many levels i lost count but two main points come to mind

1) i don't like being mandated to do anything- and i like it even less being forced to have health care or have to pay a penalty to the irs. really? this is the DEMOCRATIC plan?

2) there is no international terrorism. nope. at least not in the way our government would have us believe. it's absolutely fascinating that so many people swallowed this lie. there have been 2 instances of 'terrorism' on american soil that allegedly came from the middle east- both within less than a decade of each other and both in pretty much the same spot. there are folks in the military industry (because it's really just a corporation with saluting) who have come out and admitted as much and they have been dismissed as 'conspiracy theorists.' that's a laugh because the conspiracy is happening within our own government.

the terrorist groups exist within their own countries- most terrorist acts within america have come from right wing fringers- britain has the ira- the hot spots in the middle east were hot because it was a guerilla civil war. the uss cole bombing? well, how can it be terrorism when we had our warship in yemen?

anyway, if the official story doesn't make sense- folks should question it. most of what we see going on around the globe is a direct result of our global policies. by 'our' i mean the western world not just america. naj recently posted about something that caught my attention:

"Now a word with my non-Iranian readers: I don't need you to cheer Iran on it's unravelling "revolution"; I don't want you to wish our "rebellion" success; I don't like it when you wear green symbols and act with more zeal than is of your business! What I wish you did is to just be aware of what is happening in Iran such that in your DEMOCRATIC systems, you can influence YOUR politicians to do the right thing vis a vis Iran. And the right thing is NOT imposing sanctions on the people and holding secret talks; and the right thing is to NOT allow Israel make threats on Iran while expecting Iran to disarm; and the right things is to not decontextualize what is happening in Iran, because you think Iran's connected to your life through the oil umbilical cord!"

i see it all of the time within the left wing blogosphere- hurrahing when protesters in iran or monks in burma take on the government; praising them for standing for democracy against tyranny- and then within the same paragraph making excuses for the democratic controlled congress who came up with the bullshit mandates in the health care bill while systematically eliminating anything good in it. really? look, the ruling class here is the ruling class- parties mean little or nothing. what we need is a global revolution- and i am not optimistic that that will ever happen.

but someone else is- hence the 'terror scares' to increase the already heightened police state right here within the american borders. crime is down, according to a current fbi report, and i fail to see why we need the continued tasing and paramilitary measures employed by our extremely flawed penal system. right now, we have a system that incarcerates people at one of the highest rates in the developed world---- to make money. at the expense of others.

profit over people does not make peace. we can kumbaya all day long and wish with all of our hearts for peace on earth and good will towards men. but, as long as the global ruling elite run the show in league with the corporates- it can't be. certainly something to think about.

happy 2010

i will update at a later time but i wanted to wish the blogosphere a happy new year :) oh, and i am pretty sure that next year is a new decade- but i do hate to rain on a parade :)