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Tag(s): Depression; Depression; Think Tanks-Advocacy Orgs
Group(s): Reality-Based Community (rbc)Add to My Group

January 25, 2008 at 09:26:57

No Meds for This Depression

by waldopaper Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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This is depressing... Kucinich dropped out. Not that it made any difference anyway, but at least some of us felt like we had a voice. The news was received in the blathersphere with taunts... "moonbeam," "flake," "weirdo," "he can't win" and the like... and these people purported to be "Democrats!" So now even the entertainment value of the fake "elections" has dropped to zero.

Oh yeah... right... Dr. "free market" Ron Paul and his rage against the "collectivists." Sorry, I read Ayn Rand in high school and found it wanting. So that's where the US is... "voting" for the suit with the biggest hair on American Idol... so the "team" can "win." Soon we'll have to break for the Stupid Bowl... that's the one where the big guys crash into each other and throw the pointy brown thing, right? Salt lightly with the usual blather about getting "consumers" to consume more and run some beer commercials. Yeah, that will fix everything.

And the "consumers" will "root" for their "team," like they were the Packers or the Colts or the Frogs or whateverthefuck. I secretly hope the outraged nations of the world wreak havoc on this den of pork... and then you'll hear, "waahhhh... what did WE do?" Nothing, Einstein. I'm just as guilty... for doing nothing. I don't think my Kucinich bumper-sticker will cut any ice with somebody whose family was torn to pieces by a Bigbux Defensecorps Inc. "smart bomb." Of course the "rest of the world" has no need to resort to violence... (unless we go crackers like the Germans did... a very real possibility). They'll just flush their worthless "dollars" and go on without the US.

Naomi Wolf listed ten steps toward totalitarianism in her book The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law

You have probably seen this. Naomi says she finally thinks it's time for... gasp... "impeachment!" sigh. And of course she keeps it positive and upbeat and assures her audience that it all has a happy ending if we all pull together and diddly ding dang do something.

I want to grab the microphone and say, "nice shot, Naomi." good summary... precise analysis... but... it doesn't have a happy ending. There is nothing we can "do." We're hosed. Game over. Too late. No window... it closed... they bricked it shut. We're hosed. Got that? You cant "save amerikka." It's bloody gone. stolen. pissed away... because we were too gosh darn bizzley buzz buzz bizzy to notice.

Of course I'm always captain bringdown with my darn negative attitude and never offering "positive solutions." how about this... don't get on the train. Remember "9-11?" Was anyone the least bit curious about who did it and why? Was anybody asking for a REAL investigation? No... everybody was "busy" baking an amerikkan flag cake... putting on Home Depot "power of pride" bumper stickers.

I talked to several people who were donating blood. Are you insane? Donating blood? Those people are pulverized. Well... I gotta do SOMETHING. For real. How about doing NOTHING until we find out just exactly whathefuck happened? We had to get busy and have a war. That wasn't enough so we had to get busy and pass the "USA PATRIOT" Act. Still not enough... so we had to get busy and have another war. I'd say we've been busy enough. And it's too late to get busy and undo all that other busyness. But I DID go to
http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org/ and signed the "petition." What the hell.

I just got a kick out of Wolf's video because for years I've been just like Naomi's friend saying, "...they did this in Germany... they did this in Germany... " and got much the same reaction. Unfortunately, none that I know of turned out to be a Naomi Wolf (yet) and absorbed the material. If the USAns were capable of "doing" anything, the last administration cabinet meeting would be quite grim.

Many of us were shouted down for saying there was now no "party" difference... and now here are bright minds like Wolf... finally aware of what has been going on for years... saying... "...we have to tell our representatives..." huh? This is like telling your toaster to do brain surgery. Wish we could save Naomi and all the other well-intended folk some wasted effort and inevitable grief. Not only are "our representatives" incapable of getting a clue... they're there precisely BECAUSE they're clueless. It's way past time to stop it... we can only IMAGINE how to adapt to it. That's the problem now. We can't IMAGINE.

Who knows if occupying the factory and building Solidarity Bicycles is a way to adapt to the approaching economic tsunami, but it's LIGHT YEARS ahead of anything the average USAn can even IMAGINE. Prediction: in a few years, everybody will be saying, "I saw this coming, but no one would listen to me." Kind of like, "...there were no Nazis here." Yep, everybody huddled around the burn barrel under the bridge is going to be a fucking sage, so we may as well eat our martyrdom twinkie right now. gulp. yum. The pay for telling people what they don't want to hear aint never been that great. That's what made Dennis Kucinich a "flake."

And that, ladies and germs, is why the USA is toast. We want somebody to hand us a "to-do" list so we can turn off our brains and get busy. Well... fascists are REALLY good at handing out "to-do" lists... do this guy... now do that guy. Now we're getting "paid," and we're all really busy. Life is good. Isn't it? Of course come payday... there's Milo Minderbinder's IOUs... and chocolate-covered cotton. All those "gimme money" pop-ups, phone calls. junk mail, spam... gonna go away when "money" is worthless. Then what? Nobody wants to hear that, do they? That's why Naomi's gotta say there's a light. Does she KNOW it' s the oncoming train? The door of the krema? Oy, the Irony! Busted by our own "busyness."

Is there a prescription for survival? We can't even imagine it.

waldopaper is an insignificant teacher, informed reader and professional writer... living in dominionist crackerland... with two women, one young man, three cats and two dogs... alarmed at a failing state controlled by corporate psychopaths armed with nuclear weapons. There's a light on. Somebody's home.

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5 comments

Political Activist for Freedom, civil rights, and common sense from all persuasions. I would like to legalize the Constitution.

I am also a land owner and permaculture farmer. Relocalization and Community building are the only tools we have in these troubling times.
HighstreetPolitical Activist for Freedom, civil rights, and common sense from all persuasions. I would like to legalize the Constitution.

I am also a land owner and permaculture farmer. Relocalization and Community building are the only tools we have in these troubling times.

Don't bash Paul without doing your research

Nice article.

I know this author doesn't seem to think Ron Paul is worth the research. He knocks him in the article. And then goes on to Laud the AmericanFreedomCampaign pushed by Naomi Wolf.

I say this author hasn't done his or her research, or they would know that Ron Paul is the one who Introduced Naomi's campaign into Congress via Legislation.

He does happen to be the only candidate left in the race who has a chance of unseating the Establishment actors on both sides.

by Highstreet (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 26 comments) on Friday, January 25, 2008 at 8:54:29 PM

The author lives in a small village in central Europe and has been active in the local workers movement for nearly 3 decades.

Globalism knows no borders, why should we ?
Tony ForestThe author lives in a small village in central Europe and has been active in the local workers movement for nearly 3 decades.

Globalism knows no borders, why should we ?

Strike Bike

The Strike Bike was a very good example of how it's supposed to be when management pulls an asocial stunt on the Belegschaft. I was hoping to search and find the Strike Bike factory up and running but my scroogle tells me they closed down last Oct. That doesn't mean it's all over. The Belegschaft took possession of what was theirs....the production facility, all tools and inventories therein and did what they could do to keep the thing running. That is how it's supposed to be. It's rare and we haven't seen such an action for a long long time. Betriebsbesetzungen, when they do occur, are most usually kept quiet : don't want people reading about this ...oh no. It's completely legit and legal here in Germany, by the way.

The Congress is nothing more than another Betrieb. I mean, we're gonna bite it any old hoo so why don't we have a little fun on the way out ? But just one kwetschen ; would that be legal ?

Thanks for another great article and keep em comin' Waldo !

by Tony Forest (6 articles, 15 quicklinks, 151 diaries, 1343 comments) on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 5:39:54 AM

Gregg Gordon is a writer, musician, activist, and otherwise ne'er-do-well in Columbus, Ohio.

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." - Edmund Burke
Gregg GordonGregg Gordon is a writer, musician, activist, and otherwise ne'er-do-well in Columbus, Ohio.

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." - Edmund Burke

Well done Waldo -- Dennis forever

It's rare for a depressed person to write so well. I've been there. I know.

But I'm better now, and as far as I can see, the comic aspect is the only thing left worth hanging around for (so thanks for contributing). I'm just going to pop some corn and enjoy the show -- best I can anyway. I figure sometime in the next few years, we're gonna get fucked by global warming anyway, so why go to any trouble. Let the fascists take the blame.

I'm probably still going to vote for Dennis when the primary finally comes to Ohio, though. That'll show 'em. I got my "Don't Blame Me" bumpersticker all ready (although I can't afford the gas for the car).

by Gregg Gordon (26 articles, 47 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 199 comments) on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 2:16:20 PM

Consider voting for the candidate Kucinich most agrees with

Paul and Kucinich agreed on 2 of the 3 most important issues of our time, the War and the Patriot Act. Paul is the only other candidate running who has voted against Both.

Vote in protest.

by Highstreet (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 26 comments) on Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 3:30:40 AM

concerned citizen of the planet
Jan Hoyerconcerned citizen of the planet

Jan_Hoyer

Many activists feel disempowered and become internally overstressed by the state of our world, which reappears into health problems. Some may appreciate a great little handbook by Jeremy Safron, "The Fasting Handbook: Dining from an Empty Bowl". Safron recommends several different types of fasts, and explains the circumstances where they might be beneficial. Included are descriptions of a "Media Fast" which can immediately benefit well being though these challenging times. Another is a "Speech Fast" which can be of benefit for speechgivers and choosing our spoken words more carefully.

Thanks for sharing the excellent links. I am most grateful to having discovered Carolyn Baker's website through your comments on another article. Baker's website is an educational Godsend of useful resources and spiritual guidances for facing difficult new realities.

http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/224/3/

Logging off to mend some socks and make oatmeal . . . :)

by Jan Hoyer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 5:49:28 AM