It’s 1993 All Over Again...

It Seems We Deluded Ourselves - Again - There’s No “Real” Change.
by The Old Hippie Because It Seems, Except for Bill and Al, It’s 1993 again.

{-The Way Many Picture Me-}

I haven’t had a lot to say since the election.  Like most of the rest of the sane, rational, and reality-based, not only here in America, but all around the planet, we now watch, read, observe...  It is turning out that we were actually, once again, deluded into having hope of real change.  “Yes we can,” is becoming... “Yes we were.”  Obama’s appointments are a hard smack of reality in the face of a mandated, demanded, change by the center-left masses. Minus Bill & Al, (and Hillary having more power at State,) this ‘administration-of-change’ is the Clinton '93 through '01 administration.  An administration that is Wall Street’s, and the corporatists’ best hope of no-change - A DLC center-right slap-in-the-face to the people who elected them.

Granted, anything, any appointment, is better than what a McCain/Palin administration would have become, but this Obama/Biden administration is fast becoming the least anticipated outcome by we who elected them.  It’s a DLC wet dream.  The most corporate-friendly and pro-Wall Street, (and least trusted,) arm of the Democratic party are being ‘appointed’ into positions of power openly, blatantly, and without any signs of worrying about not being allowed to get away with it.

It’s still early, but the appointments are beyond telling.  Here are supporting links...

Past and Present - The Nation, 11/24

GOP senators hail Obama's economic team - The Hill, 11/25

Dissecting Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan - Democracy Now!, 11/25

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The following is reprised and updated from an earlier posting...

If you do not understand that both major American parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, are to the right of the "lower 99.9%" of Americans’ wants and needs - The Republicans being obviously much-much further to the right than the Democrats - Then you are doomed to be manipulated - - - As you have been since before the Republican-era of the robber barons and their purposeful Great Depression, and more specifically since they put Reagan in the Oval office.

The last eight years have been a real “kick-in-the-teeth” lesson, haven't they?  For over 60 years after the Republicans last had power to steal the nation blind, during the robber barons era, the American people simply did not let them (the Republicans) have power again - But then, like so many peoples in history, their children and grandchildren “forgot”... Then the thieves of the-very-few got their sycophants back in power with the Reagan administration, and the cycle of robbing the nation blind began again, only this time the effects and affects of their greed had/has more than national consequences - They had/have global consequences - Environmentally in particular.

The damages caused by these past eight years of blatant, sneering, sociopathic greed by the Republicans-run-amok, is, in many areas, already beyond ‘mitigation,’ much less fixable.

The saddest part?  The very-few got the money, and they will again be “allowed” to keep it.  [Update: They still are stealing - The ‘bailout’ - Pay attention.]

If the nation survives, (and considering how successfully they've ‘dumbed-down’ the masses since Reagan, it is debatable,) I wonder how long it will be before the American people again ‘forget,’ and again ‘allow’ the Republicans to have uncontrolled [deregulated] control of the governmental structures, and uncontrolled [deregulated] access to the treasury, again?  Three generations?  Possibly two?  One?  Do you even care?

[Update - 11/26]  Now we have the Obama/Biden administration, which is quickly proving to be the Clinton/Gore administration in disguise, blatantly leading us down the dangerously cautious center-right path of corporate/Wall Street friendly destruction... once again.

I wonder if this too will be “allowed.”  ( s-i-g-h. . . )

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Quote Of The Week...

The Comment Quoted Below Is In Response To The Following Article;
“I'm an American Worker and I'm Tired of Getting Screwed”

“Promote the general Welfare -

I didn't just make this up -- it’s in the Preamble to our federal constitution.  Why are we so ashamed of this?  The founding fathers weren’t, so I can’t figure this out.  Canadians speak proudly of their social welfare system, not inflecting a staining intonation of disgrace or embarrassment about it.

Promoting the general welfare means looking after the health of the citizens, seeing they are well fed and clothed, providing for them when they cannot find work, and yes, even paying them to stay home to raise children or to fund their college re-education for a new field.  The wealth generated by millions of workers should be enjoyed by those workers, not hoarded by the wealthy to poor down their throats at $499 a bottle while the unemployed starve.

Workers are not supermen, nor should they be expected to be.  If they are ignorant and make poor choices, then ask why their education was so poor.  If they did not take advantage of their free educations, ask why they did not study harder and discover ways to help students study and learn more effectively.  But don’t blame them for not knowing what they don’t already know.  That is futile, and you look very silly trying.

Everything in this world is integrally linked together, so there is no point in trying to single out certain individuals or groups to blame.  Let’s use our collective brilliance and wisdom to develop new systems of economy and society that will better all of us.  But don’t abolish social welfare systems; they are essential to any sustainable systems we devise.

Promote the general welfare, ensure domestic tranquility, and be proud of it, America.  Our founding fathers were!”

-- by “halg” as a comment to the article at AlterNet.org, linked above.

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The following is a “Below The Fold” Bonus video...
A video presentation of Sara Thomsen’s beautiful, sad and haunting, yet inspiring song. A song she created as a question... before Bush was “selected” after the 2000 national election.

Is It For Freedom?...

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Watching, As It Happens...

History - It’s Happening - Now - Enjoy It...
by The Old Hippie Because As Jerry Said, “What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been...”
But It Doesn’t Even Begin To Cover The Delusional Disaster Of The Last Eight Years.

-  National Intelligence Council Report:       The next two decades will see a world living with the daily threat of       nuclear war, environmental catastrophe and the decline of America       as the dominant global power, according to a frighteningly bleak       assessment by the US intelligence community.   -  Why Bolivia Threw Our Ambassador Out       The ‘Comments’ are almost more informative than the article.   -  “Death Bloom of Plankton A Warning on Warming”       Microscopic phytoplankton to bloom explosively ... as never before.

This Is Change?
20 Hawks, Clintonites, and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House.

“As long as the greatest crime of the 21st century remains unprosecuted,
we all...  can only blame ourselves, and deserve our collective fates.”

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A“Below The Fold” bonus - Just a 3rd update to something I wrote a while back...

The very few are winning - They are not stupid, nor are they incompetent.
The very few only care for the power of the control-of-the-control of... wealth.

The very few are educated, intelligent, efficient, and successful.
The very few have intelligently, efficiently, successfully transferred the wealth to themselves.

America is not the very few.  We, the other 99.x%, are America.
The wealth they stole, was our wealth.  It is now their wealth.  Their power.

We gave up securities, liberties, freedoms, so the very few could complete the theft.
We still are. . . Without protest, without revolt. . . With our children.

[ Update ] And now they blatantly come demanding $700 billion, (to over $1 trillion,) more -
To pay for their ‘investment’ crimes - Do you think anyone will stop them?

[ 2nd Update ] “Our” congresspeople changed some of wording of the bailout, admittedly for the better in some cases, but the final reality is that the thieves got the money, and its implicit power.

Again - You allowed - Without censure, without punishment.  Again no one stopped the very few.

The very few got away with another chunk of ‘our’ wealth, and its power over us.

[ 3rd Update ] Then they celebrated the extra theft, -twice- -openly- ...using the bailout money.

...and got away with it.  TWICE.  ...and, as usual, you “allowed” it.

Go Ahead... “Just Keep “Allowing” - Keep Denying The Realities - It’s Not
Like It’s Actually Getting Worse - Much Worse - Blatantly And Faster.”

[Proof]  “Don't Look Now, There's a Huge Wave of Inflation Coming Toward Us”

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Pay Attention...

Your ‘Background Reality’ Hoping To -Not- Be Noticed In The ‘Change.’
by Matthew Madia at OMB Watch via Democracy Now! via Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars

Democracy Now!:  ←  direct link to full video interview with Mr. Madia.

As the media focuses on President-elect Obama and the transition of power here in Washington, the Bush administration is quietly trying to push through a wide array of federal regulations before President Bush leaves office in January.

Up to ninety proposed regulations could be finalized by the outgoing administration, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment. According to the Washington Post, the new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era. They include rules that could weaken workplace safety protections, allow local police to spy in the so-called “war on terror” and make it easier for federal agencies to ignore the Endangered Species Act.

While it’s nothing new for outgoing administrations to try and enact these so-called “midnight regulations,” the Bush administration has accelerated the process to ensure the changes it wants will be finalized by November 22nd. That’s sixty days before the next administration takes control. Most federal rules go into effect sixty days after they’ve been finalized, and it would be a major bureaucratic undertaking for the Obama administration to reverse federal rules already in effect.

[Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars]  I know that it will surprise no one that most, if not all, of these regulations come at the benefit of corporations and to the detriment of the American people and the environment, including making it easier to pollute near national parks, easing mining restrictions, and neutering the Endangered Species Act.

[This Old Hippie]  Couldn't have said it better.  The ‘allowing’ continues unabated.

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Democracy Now!:  ←  direct link to full video interview with Mr. Madia.

Here is the YouTube version of the interview...

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As They Say. . .

The More It Changes, The More It Remains The Same...
by The Old Hippie Because You Are Still Allowing The Theft To Continue.

The democrats have once again caved, this time on Lieberman's threats.  He’s still chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.  No matter how one politically rationalizes this, it is patently insane.  Plus it proves the fact of the non-changed cowardliness, or corruption of the Reids', and other dinos in the Senate, that, once again, in the face of a mandate election, just as in 2006, they’ve chosen to ignore the mandate.

Plus, many sources are stating that the incoming administration is planning to -not- prosecute, nor punish, any of the out going criminals for any of their crimes - None - Zip - Nada - Therefore the out going criminals keep the money stolen, (that through the bailout they are still openly, blatantly taking,) The-very-few get to keep their freedom, get to keep ‘their’ money, and to keep their sneers at our inability, our lack of will, to stop them.  They are getting away with it all - Just as I, and many other reality-based ‘pay-attentioners,’ have been typing, saying, harping, yelling, screaming at you for years - Now proven to have been in vain.

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A Below The Fold bonus trailer... Zeitgeist - Addendum
[It’s really ‘Zeitgeist II’ - Here’s the original.]



Because of the ongoing allowing of non-change in the face of the blaring, demanded, mandated, change by the people in the 2006 election, and now this historic election - We, the people, deserve what is coming much sooner than you realize - They were not incompetent - they have accomplished, (and are still committing,) the largest successful theft of a national treasury in history, without any unfavorable repercussions to themselves.

A personal note to Joseph Kline, Jr. PhD, MD, MBA “patriot”:  (your adjective, not mine.)  You were correct back in 2001, it was/is ‘perfect.’  I just didn’t realize at that time that you were referring to the wealth transfer by this criminal administration, that you proudly support.

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Old Saw - But True -

If You See No Other “News,” Make Sure You See This One.
by Naomi Klein via Democracy Now!

Here is the direct link to multi-choice video/audio view of this report

Use it, please, as it will profit us all for you to do so.

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I only wish other's, beside the “choir,” would, could, see this short newscast report.

But, alas, they do not come to this blog, or Democracy Now! - Do they?

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Observing The Obvious...

The Corporatist Media Seems More Desperate Of Late, And Still Lying...
by This Old Hippie Because The ‘Facts’ Are Not What The ‘MSM’ Is Currently Spewing...

We all know that 1/2 of this nation can still be easily manipulated in what to believe is reality.

It has become very obvious to all the rest of us, at least those of us that still read books, and openly pay attention, that America’s corporatist media is attempting to convince that other 1/2 of citizens that our nation is right-centered, when the proven opposite is reality.  For just one small example, the Sunday talk shows this week?  12 republicans/right-wing, 3 democrats/left-wing.  But they know 1/2 will not see the manipulation, and that many of that 1/2 will simply, non-critically, believe them.

But we, the other 1/2, are not silent, we read, watch, research, speak, type, harp, yell, pester, and shove the truth forward - “Speak truth to power” - We know how very powerful the controlled media within this nation is.  We will not “shut up” as the O’Reilly’s want.  This election, with its repudiation of the GOP, and its rejection of the corporatists controllers, proves, (mandates?,) that our Constitutional Democracy is not down for the count after all.

There is so much to correct, to repair, to punish - I'm not sure it can be done by one administration in four years, or even if much of it, (i.e. the environment,) can be ‘fixed.’  But this historic election has proven one strong fact - “The effort to try to”... will be able to continue.

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A“Below The Fold” bonus -FACT- article/video news... (reprised to remind.)

Is Posse Comitatus Dead?  US Troops on US Streets

In a barely noticed development, a US Army unit is now training for domestic operations under the control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command.  An initial news report in the Army Times newspaper last month noted that in addition to emergency response the force “may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control.”  The military has since claimed the force will not be used for civil unrest, but questions remain.  We speak to Army Col. Michael Boatner, future operations division chief of USNORTHCOM, and Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive magazine. [includes rush transcript]

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Not A Lot To Say...

I Think The American People Are Finally ‘Over-Them’ - Part Two -
by The Old Hippie Because It Seems Most All Of Them Were Voted Out.

{-The Way Many Picture Me-}

I haven’t had a lot to say since the election.  Like most of the rest of the sane, rational, and reality-based, not only here in America, but all around the planet, we now watch, read, observe...  Probably many, like me, are admittedly a little stunned that the “good” actually prevailed over the “bad” in this historic, not to mention gratifying, election. After the last eight years of the “bad” being ‘allowed’ to prevail over, and over, and over again, and insanely again - It’s not all that hard to understand why one like myself would be caught ‘a bit off-guard’ by the dimensions of this historic reversal, especially since it has happened within a so openly, (sneeringly,) manipulated, and controlled, (purposefully and efficiently,) dumb-downed nation.

Is it just me, or are the right’s whack-jobs now getting even wackier than they have been?

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The following is reprised and updated from an earlier posting...

If you do not understand that both major American parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, are to the right of the "lower 99.9%" of Americans’ wants and needs - The Republicans being obviously much-much further to the right than the Democrats - Then you are doomed to be manipulated - - - As you have been since before the Republican-era of the robber barons and their purposeful Great Depression, and more specifically since they put Reagan in the Oval office.

The last eight years have been a real “kick-in-the-teeth” lesson, haven't they?  For over 60 years after the Republicans last had power to steal the nation blind, during the robber barons era, the American people simply did not let them (the Republicans) have power again - But then, like so many peoples in history, their children and grandchildren “forgot”... Then the thieves of the-very-few got their sycophants back in power with the Reagan administration, and the cycle of robbing the nation blind began again, only this time the effects and affects of their greed had/has more than national consequences - They had/have global consequences - Environmentally in particular.

The damages caused by these past eight years of blatant, sneering, sociopathic greed by the Republicans-run-amok, is, in many areas, already beyond ‘mitigation,’ much less fixable.

The saddest part?  The very-few got the money, and they will again be “allowed” to keep it.  [Update: They still are stealing - The ‘bailout’ - Pay attention.]

If the nation survives, (and considering how successfully they've ‘dumbed-down’ the masses since Reagan, it is debatable,) I wonder how long it will be before the American people again ‘forget,’ and again ‘allow’ the Republicans to have uncontrolled [deregulated] control of the governmental structures, and uncontrolled [deregulated] access to the treasury, again?  Three generations?  Possibly two?  One?  Do you even care?

[Update: A quote, from Bob Cesca at the Huffington Post, today... Link to his article here.]

“Since their thumpin’ last week, the far-right has pushed the crazy to eleven and snapped the knob clean off -- an opening salvo of twisted hackery portending an insane four-to-eight years of attacks on the Obama administration.  If the last seven days have been any indication, the far-right is shaping up to make the 1990s seem quaint -- even erudite by comparison.  That which used to be your basic, off-the-shelf intellectual dishonesty has grown into, as Digby pointed out last week, full-on intellectual violence.”

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Observed Reality. . .

Sometimes, An Article Nails Reality Clearly - This One Does.
by Chris Hedges via Truthdig.com, Nov. 10, 2008
Opening paragraph...

“We live in two Americas.  One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world.  It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth.  The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system.  This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture.  It cannot differentiate between lies and truth.  It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés.  It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection.  This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities.”

Link to full original article here.

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Nothing else - Just read it and absorb your reality.

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Just Two Months To Go...

The “Un-Stopped And Un-Punished” Still Have Two Months Left...
by This Old Hippie Because They Will Fuck With Our Minds In These Last Two Months.

They’ve already illegally made attacks into Syria and Pakistan, where ‘we’ accomplished killing more innocents than any real ‘tagets-of-interest.’  They, (the sneering corporatists of the Bush administration,) have already ‘pulled-the-plug’ on their desperate last minute attempts to push through any-and-all corporatist friendly deregulations, no matter who they hurt, nor how badly it will damage the environment even more than they have so far in their criminal short-term-greed profiteering, that no one sane even attempts to deny any more.

They have two more months of ‘power’ left to them.  If you don't think these sneering criminals, (that have openly displayed their contempt of your ‘allowing’ of their destructive theft over the last eight years,) will not grab for every single profiteering penny you will ‘allow’ them - Then you still live within a dangerous denial.

Also, elements of their corruption have retained at least their filibuster power in this election, and if you think this ‘new’ GOP, (now the party of Palin bigots and religious-whack-jobs,) that is left after these last eight years, and this election, won't use it to its fullest - Then prepare yourself for even more shocks.

The Limbaughs, Hannitys, Savages, Coulters, etc., are literally slobbering awaiting the coming profits to themselves from the coming storms of hate and prejudices that will pour out around this new mandate-driven, and historically elected, Obama/Biden administration.

Are you ready for the coming storms?  The battles to stop the correcting of so many wrongs done over the past 24 years by the worst of the corporatists?

Actually - I am.  I personally don’t believe the punishments and corrections will go nearly far enough, nor do I think much of the environmental damage will be corrected, or even mitigated, by this new administration - But this election is a long, historical, step in the right direction for this nation, and maybe, just maybe, the Constitution can be repaired from the purposeful damage done to it over these past eight years, by what is already rated as the most corruptly criminal corporatist administration in America’s history.

As they say... Time will tell. . .

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Noting else today, as most is obvious for awhile.

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Single Best. . .

The Most Informative Article Of The Week.  If You Don't Read it...
by Jim Hightower - Because He Nailed It - Clearly.

“The Five Most Wanted Rip-off Artists from Wall Street and Washington”

Our economy didn’t melt down, it was taken down... by the unbridled greed of ideological extremists, (incredibly referred to as ‘economic elites,’) who were enabled by their sneering political courtesans in Washington, (and don't forget. . . they ‘allowed to’. . . by you.)

Here’s the link to the original article - If you don't read it - You don’t ‘know’ - Right?

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While this beyond-the-pale historical election is happening, take the few moments needed to read this informative, and beautifully presented “lowdown” article - It is seriously worth your time.

I personally have harped on the dangerous disaster of de-regulation, and the take-over of all of ‘our’ federal regulatory agencies by the corrupted corporatists for years - I didn't want to be right about the criminal intent, the sneering greed - But I was, wasn't I, (as well as the many other reality-based citizens that also yelled at your incomprehensible ‘allowing.’)

All of you, the ‘good citizens’ who continued to allow - in the face of the proven reality of the-very-fews’ open criminal greed - Deserve what is happening to you now - The rest of us, do not.

“No matter how cynical you get, it's almost impossible to keep up.” -- Lily Tomlin

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Kind Of Says It All...

Assuming The GOP Controlled E-Machines Don't Corrupt It, Again.
by electorl-vote.com



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Nothing else until at least the 5th, barring any untold disaster...

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