[Peace-discuss] US betrayed by Democrats again - and by ourselves

[Ricky Baldwin]

Certainly we shouldn't allow the government to take
money from the poor and from infrastructure, which is
essentially the same, to pay reparations to Iraq, (or
to do anything else -- or to do nothing at all).  But
the reparations are still due.  And, yes, the rich
should be paying their taxes -- should be taxed at a
higher rate, at least as much as they used to be, but
in truth they didn't pay that either, so the issue is
the political will to make them pay, not the rate.

In the short run, though, take it out of military
(contractors) R&D and pay the Iraqis.

And, just to say it again, I also think that we can't
just blame the rich for the war or the taxes.  We also
can't just blame the spineless Democrats or bloodless
Republicans.  We allowed it.  We elected these clowns
and if we didn't *exactly* elect every one of them,
then we sure as hell damn near elected them - got them
close enough to steal it, anyway, when they never
should have been even remotely in the running.

Then we allowed them to carry out their disgusting
agendas without disrupting their prim and proper press
conferences, their dusty old so-called "debates" (over
whether they would screw the poor over a barrel or put
the thumbscrews to them), and their $1000 a plate
dinner parties.

Sure, some of us have been working hard on a number of
fronts, or trying to focus on one (it's hard to know
which way to go when each front is so profoundly
screwedd up and there are so many damn fronts). 
Unfortunately we waste a lot of precious time
squabbling amongst ourselves instead of talking to the
people we really need to be talking to - those in the
great disgusted public who for want of a better term
we might call "potential recruits" - but some of us do
try.

Many others don't, let's be plain.  It's easier to sit
back and criticize than to get out and do your best,
fail, at least halfway, forget things, drop the ball,
collapse from fatigue or depression or confusion,
screw up, struggle with contradictions, make
compromises, refuse to compromise, struggle with all
kind sof personal obligations that you'll be
neglecting as a result, and take the blame from
everybody who says you should have done more - or less
- or should have compromised - or shouldn't have - and
all the while we're losing ground.  That's tough.

But the reason we lose is not because those of us who
do these things are not doing enough.  The reason we
lose is not because we aren't entirely correct in our
strategy.  The real reason is that there just aren't
enough of us doing it, and the reason for that is that
we (as a whole) aren't focussed enough on finding new
folks with new ideas and new energy and new complaints
and hangups and strengths and weaknesses of every
kind, and encouraging, welcoming, helping, integrating
into our thing - or their own new thing - those new
folks.

Now I think some of us do a fair job of this actually,
at least some times.  I just think we have to start
taking some responsibility for the screwed up way
things are, including the things we disagreed with -
and I'm going to start right now by getting my ass off
line.

Ricky

--- "John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:

> At 04:57 PM 1/5/2007, karen medina wrote:
> 
> >Chas. 'Mark' Bee
> >
> > > Full reconstruction on our dime.
> >
> >Definitely. But not under US control of the dime.
> 
> 
> I say full reconstruction on the dime of the Bush
> and Cheney families and 
> Halliburton and the Carlyle Group and so forth. 
> Seize their assets; 
> torture them until they reveal the location.  I
> ain't got any more dimes, 
> when our own infrastructure and the welfare of our
> own poorer citizens have 
> been so sorely neglected for so long.
> 
> John Wason 
> 
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>
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> 


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