Face It - Or Don't - But America Is A Corrupt And Criminal Shell Of A Country
By mullard12ax7

We destroyed ourselves and only a few people even recognize it, and the few who do are limited to sites like this one. Mainstream "Amurika" is just fine with torture, throwing women under the bus, hating gays, illegal wars, bailing out criminal banks and lying and cheating to get ahead.

We've devoured ourselves and let ourselves become delusional and dumbed-down propaganda-reactive robots. Everybody hates each other now, gen-whatever hates older or younger people, corporations hate citizens and vice-versa, government works largely for itself and not people, intellectuals are minimalized and largely ignored, consumerism is what matters to most people.

We let criminals of all sorts go free now, as if we're a lawless 3rd-world country. Guess what? We are.

No, It's Not Okay
By Angry Mouse

Today, the Democratic party is letting women know, once again, that we are a single-issue special interest. And our rights can be compromised away to appease Catholic Bishops, Blue Dog Democrats, and the oh-so-delicate sensibilities of anti-choice taxpayers who don't want to see their tax dollars spent on woman's health.

And much to my horror, it seems that a few members of our own community think that's perfectly acceptable. Have to pass the bill, after all, no matter who is sacrificed.

And it is not okay.

First, let's get something straight. There is no government funding for abortion. The Hyde Amendment of 1976 prohibited government funding for abortion. And the health care bill does not in any way revise or repeal the Hyde Amendment.

So let me say it again: There is no government funding for abortion.

Second, even if the bill did fund abortions, I don't care if you don't want to see your tax dollars spent that way. We all fund things we don't like.  I, for example, do not like tax credits for purchasing SUVs. I don't like supporting wars with my tax dollars. I don't like paying the salary of Michele Bachmann.  

But that's what happens in America. Sometimes, tax dollars fund things we don't like.

So why is it that the one thing tax dollars should never, ever fund is woman's health?

Because woman's health is a fringe issue. John McCain told us so in one of the presidential debates last year.

Because woman's health is a single issue, and women shouldn't allow that one little issue to determine how they vote.

Because woman's health is inherently a pre-existing condition.

Because even though we are a majority of the country, we are only 16 percent of Congress.

And it's not okay.

And I'm sick of it.

I'm sick of being told how great it is that the Democratic tent is big enough to welcome people who don't want me to have autonomy over my own damn body, and therefore, my own damn life.

I'm sick of being told that there is room enough for all of us.

And I'm sick of being told, every election year, that I have to vote for the Democrats because only the Democrats stand for women.

The Stupak Amendment does not stand for women. It spits in our face, kicks us in the gut, and sweeps us aside like yesterday's garbage.

And now our fellow Democrats, our fellow progressives, are telling us to suck it up. It's not worth killing health care reform just to protect our rights. It's not worth killing health care reform just for this one little issue.

Suck it up, ladies. Fall in line. After all, not everyone in the party thinks it's okay for us to make decisions about our health care anyway.

So yes, I'll call my representatives. And I'll write my angry emails. And I'll send my money to the right groups, and deny my money to the wrong ones.

But I am sick of it.  I am sick of being treated this way.

I am not a single issue.

I am not a special interest.

I am a woman.

And this is not okay.

I keep waiting for change. Waiting for things to get better for my family, for my neighbors, for our country.

But, it doesn't.

A woman came into my wife's store today. She was completely bald, and she was wearing a wig that kept slipping off her head because it was not a real wig (she could not afford one), but one from an old Halloween costume. She had just finished up chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. She had been given - get this - a ONE MONTH health card by the State, as she had no insurance from her minimum wage job as a BANK TELLER, to pay for her chemo and time away from her job while she was too ill to continue working her wonderful minimum wage job.

One freaking month. That's it.

When my wife told me this today, I had to ask myself: How can our country treat people like this? And then it hit me - because we're disposable.

It explains a lot.

Big companies are not worried about us boycotting their goods or services. Why? Because consumers are disposable. If a boycott actually grabs hold, they don't have to care - just make a few extra currency trades, and they get those losses right back. So why should they care about a consumer boycott? Consumers are disposable, they can take us or leave us at this point.

Why do our Congressmen vote, so often, against our best interests? Why do they side with big business almost constantly? Why is it that big business has a seat at the table, a voice in the room, and we, the electorate, have only sound bites and promises? Because the voters are disposable. All a Congressman has to do is go to their big business patrons, who will promptly create a 527 group. They play the public like a musical instrument, hitting just the right notes of fear, hatred, intolerance, and prejudice, to sway the needed numbers back in their favor. And presto-chango! New disposable voters appear.

How can it be, that a CEO can make 400 times what the average employee makes at their business? How can that same CEO cut benefits, but not executive bonuses? How can these mega-wealthy CEO's pay their employees minimum wage that is taxed at a higher rate than most large corporations pay after they find every loophole possible to avoid paying even their fair share of the tax burden? Because employees are disposable - there are always desperate, disposable people willing to fill the ranks of their companies - they've seen to it.

Don't you get it? WE. ARE. NOT. WORTH. IT. Individually, or collectively.

In the eyes of those who hold the wealth and the power of this nation, WE ARE DISPOSABLE.

We're of no more worth to them than the bag that lines their garbage can.

There's 300,000,000 million people in this country - and maybe only 5,000 of that number, are not disposable.

They are our elected officials, and their wealthy/corporate masters.

EVERYTHING - and I do mean everything - our government is doing today, ultimately works exclusively towards the interests of these few. While some actions of the government actually do good for the people, they are more the byproduct of the need for good marketing OF the government - good PR, as it were.

IF THIS WERE NOT TRUE, the health care debate, would sound quite different. Our leaders would be abhorred.

But are they abhorred? Or are they debating, and stalling, and endlessly discussing? Are they hedging, and pontificating, and making excuses? Are they bolstering, or compromising/watering down/eliminating? What will we eventually see out of all of this sound, and fury?

A watered down bill, that has an impressive sounding name - but that ultimately, will signify NOTHING to that poor woman who came into my wife's store this day. It will mean nothing to her. And it will mean nothing to millions of our neighbors, families, and friends, who continue to suffer under the status quo. We'll continue to be...disposable.

But not everyone will go away unhappy - those few, those powerful, those wealthy indispensables - well, they'll be happy...be sure of that.

As long as our politicians - our LEADERS - are wholly owned tools of the wealthy/corporations, NOTHING is going to change for the better.

We are on a downhill slide; a slide that began decades ago, but was accelerated a hundred fold by Bush.

The very people who are empowered to change things, all find that actually changing things, runs contrary to their own PERSONAL interests.

What are these personal interests? Maintaining, and if possible, vastly improving, their political career.

THEY WILL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP THEIR POWER.

Our political system has become so distorted, so...perverted, that we many find ourselves completely at the mercy of the comparatively few, and the very forces pledged to protect the many against the tyranny of the few - no matter the form that tyranny takes - are no longer acting on the People's behalf.

From our elected leaders to the press, from places where political neutrality is not only proper and expected, but illegal to break that neutrality, comes support for the few, for this plutocracy that mercilessly grips we many...by our collective throat...

As long as we continue to convince ourselves that eventually these same leaders will change things, so that their free lunch ends...as long as we collectively and individually continue to believe that someone else, will make sure things change...

NOTHING WILL CHANGE.