How has your life changed since Bush stole office?

The biggest change for me has been with the media. I deplore it as much as I deplore that piece of shit in the White House.

I have seen somewhat conservative radio stations before Bush fire all hosts with opposing views--therefore I had to quit listening to stations I had listened to for years.

I bought satellite radio just to get the truth. I don't have it now because of the change from Sirius to XM--but I plan to get it when I buy a new car soon.

I watch television about 90 percent less than I used to. When I do, it is with a jaundiced eye. It's not just the political news shows that are "hazardous", it's the mind numbing, cheap and unentertaining reality shows that are a problem for me as well.

When I drive, it's now often in silence. Without satellite radio, I can choose to listen to my favorite types of music but even that, I find, is frustrating. With Clear Channel dominating the listening landscape, the same songs are played every other minute it seems.

I won't even mention the political shows. But I find all of this very frustating because I have no choice except to turn off the garbage that is today's media. That leaves me in silence in my car, and often elsewhere as people strike up conversations about the girl in Aruba or Terry Schiavo--I am clueless because I don't give a shit about this stuff.

I exercise more though I've been a little lazy lately. I'm looking for a new hobby to fill up my time.

interaction with friends family and strangers

pulled kids out of christian private and put them in public

i dont see feel the same way about religion as i did in past. and it is changing my conversation with my boys on religion also

those are just three really really huge ones that are personally effecting my family. not i see it all as a good thing. life happens. shit comes our way. it is what we do with it is indictitive of who we are as a person, and what we create to live

financially i am much more conservative in spending

i bought vehicle with good good gas mileage

i am very enviromentally friendly

i spend so much of my time reading all the many lies of bush and the wrongs he is committing, cause the truth is hard to come by

i dont watch media 24/7 anymore, i am on line.

it has made me jump into our public school system and become politically involved.

connect with our black community to bring the dem vote to a really red area

i can go on and on and on how this administration has effected my life, my brothers life, even my fathers life.... and all this alone effects me and my fmaily in our interaction

I care much more about global warming and the toxins that are being dumped into the ecosystem by corporations. I didn't really pay attention to before.

my income is a quarter of what it was under Clinton
and my stocks have been stagnant for 6 years.

If you wanna go broke... vote Republican

At least under Carter you could invest in CD's at over 10%. I think some went up to 15%. That is better than the stock market average.

most of my money is invested in european/emerging markets mutual funds, and have benefitted greatly from the dollar's decline.

except as a teacher I have to deal more with standardized testing and "no school left standing. Oops...I means "no child left behind."

Plus I now read DU.

Our local public radio has many interesting interviews. They used to be all left but now are a little toward the middle. It is still the only intelligent radio station in our area. The rest are religion or Spanish and I do not speak Spanish.

i used to be a tv new/political show junkie. now i can't and don't watch a single such show. there's no point. it's entirely predictable, the right wingers will be shouting the same illogical talking point, interrupting the token lefties, and delivering a minimum of actual news. file it under "seen one, seen 'em all."

we recently got sirius and between "talk left" and du i get all the news that matters.

the media is a joke when it comes to political coverage. shrub's honeymoon with the press started when he announced as a candidate and is only slowly, maybe, coming to a close with katrina. that's just an insane abdication of the media's traditional duty to bring us the news and instead act as a propaganda arm of the government.

I just got XM last week cause I got fed up with local radio programing. I just got sick and tired of radio talk shows talking down on callers and giving their own views in politics and they have not a clue of what the heck they are talking about. These radio talk show hosts treat younger callers like crap and we are expecting youth to respect other peoples views? No wonder why people is so rude now.
After I got my XM radio I felt like sending a letter to every morning talk show host in my area but could not get myself to wright anything. I am in satellite heaven. Air America Rocks!

My views about religion changed dramatically.

what I believe now that it's obvious religion is and always has been used to push through some of the most detrimental political policies.

...caused the incredible rudeness in our society. It all began with Limbaugh. Americans have always been rude to a certain extent, but it has exploded since Limbaugh.

Tammy

I grew up in a church going home, went to a Catholic high school, got a degree form a Catholic college, and always had a live and let live attitude.


This administration opened my eyes to the evil-doers calling themselves holy.

I can’t stand people yapping about their religion any longer. I wish they would all just shut about it, go help the poor, and pray in silence.


I now believe all religion is a scam.

I found DU and some sanity
Having been born long before we had electricity in our neck of the woods, therefore I never got in the watch teevee mode as a youngster, too old to pick it up now.
peace

My health started to screw up. I guess GWB came in to finish the job. Ugh.

Tammy

I lost the ability to work at nursing, I lost all hope of ever getting health insurance, I lost all hope of ever being able to retire with a decent standard of living, I lost all hope in a better future, I lost all faith in the election system, I lost my vote in the 2004 election, itself, and I lost all pride in my country and what it stands for.

Losing the media wasn't a big deal, it's been crap since Reagan vetoed the reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine three times in the 80s.

I've gained a few things, too: I've gained a feeling of deep shame over what my country has become in so few years. I've gained a feeling of shame that a crippled old broad in flyover country couldn't do a single thing about stopping the theft of her country. I've gained a great deal of rage against all enablers of this treasonous bunch. I've gained deep horror at what the brand of Calvinism spewing forth from "Christian" stations on TV has done to the hearts and minds of people who want to be good and think they will get guidance from "Christians" on TV. I've gained a deep disgust for anyone who is willing to sell his country for a few dollars in tax cuts.

I will never forgive the Repuglican Party or any of its voters for any of this.

made me think that I have a hard time remaining friends with those that support Bush. I want them out of my life.

I haven't told ANYONE this, so I'll spill my guts to you all, not that you care. My husband doesn't care at all about politics, can't see that our country and the entire planet is being raped and pillaged and that thousands of people are dying for the benefit of a few.

I am intensely angry that he is not angry.

Thank you for posing this question. I have the name of a counselor that I was planning to call next week to set up some talk sessions to figure out what the hell is wrong with me. I'm angry and depressed all the time in spite of taking antidepressants, eating right, and exercising, which is what you're supposed to do to not be angry and depressed, right? I actually talked to a friend who is an astrologer about what is going on (Mercury in retrograde, something going on with Saturn, eclipse coming up, new moon, weird stuff getting worse and coming to a head April 11 and then starting to get better--that's her explanation), but thinking on your question gave me the answer.

On edit: I've also changed my religion. I had been trying to fit into the christian mold for a number of years when it really no longer resonated, and seeing the hypocrisy of some christians and the stupidity of some others made me decide that blind faith is a bad thing. Note: That is not to disrespect Christians who really follow Jesus's teachings.

I'm not sure what I would do if my husband wasn't as outraged by all this as I am. He's so much of a sounding board for me. I'd probably be angry and depressed too.

Best wishes with the therapist. Will your husband go too? My husband and I went a number of years ago, and a good therapist can help marital communication tremendously.

My husband is a therapist as well. He's a good one (an excellent one, imo, but I'm biased of course!). There are a lot of not-so-good therapists and some downright lousy ones out there. Even if you find a good therapist, sometimes the "fit" isn't good for you. So, if this therapist doesn't seem like the right one, don't give up.

Best wishes.

:hug:

Talking to a counselor is scary because I don't want to think there might be an underlying problem with our marriage. Geez, that sounds like something from the 1950s. That's even scarier.

If there's one thing we can thank Bush for, it would be the awakening redux that people like you and I seem to be experiencing. We are awakened to the fact that we can no longer sit by idly trusting that people in power will take care of everything for us. This awakening is so important that, as many here have shared, we may even have to sever ties to those who are still asleep.

You're right. This administration has been the proverbial clue-by-four for a lot of people.

I take antidepressants, but I still get depressed. That's how big this situation is. But nothing is wrong with you. It's the country that is screwed up. Antidepressants do help me, though. I can at least function. I quit working for awhile before I started on them. I couldn't even handle work. So don't dump the antidepressants.

Tammy

It just seems particularly bad right now.

my income has fallen by a third since 2000. I'm lower middle so a third is huge.
As for the nonmonetary damage...just knowing that my country and the Constitution as I knew it are dead, and that there's an army killing people wrapped in my flag has caused inestimable physic damage.

I wish there was a way to be a follower of Christ without being a Christian

Family: With my dad - even discussing the weather becomes a political debate. (note: my dad is so conservative he makes limbaugh look liberal)

my mom - well, we use to see pretty close on the issues, then not so much. she voted for bush* mainly because she thought she would be getting a big-fat taxcut.. over the christmas holidays she said "I think bush* is the worst president ever, if I could I would 'unvote' "

my brother - he follows politics someone, but we really don't get a chance to discuss it without my dad chiming in

my sister - doesn't follow it at all, so there's no discussion on any level regarding politics

my partner - she claims she is a disillusioned hippie, all politicans are crooks, and "I don't want to hear it - it upsets me too much".....but every once in awhile - she'll come home sputtering about the latest something bush*/GOPers have pulled

TV watching: I do alot of channel surfing between C-Span 1&2, CNN, and MSNBC during commercials. I've usually crashed for the night by 7:30-8:00pm ( I start work at 6:00am) so I don't watch the prime time shows


Work: as previously mentioned I start work at 6:00 am, put in my 8 hours, sometime 10 hours for the overtime and 4 hours OT on Saturdays when it's available. Why? need the money

financially: worse off, working as much OT as I can. bush*'s taxcut amounted to $2.50 a week, this was offset by increase in health insurance co-pay and local/state taxes going up
Gas costs more - so my cost of working goes up, means less money in my pocket. heating fuel went up - we did save quite a bit by using the wood stove from end of October-beginning of March (we ran out of wood)- getting an oil delivery today of 150 gallons, that's costing us approx. $350, almost double what it would have cost just last year. We keep the thermostat set at minimum (so we can get hot water) when running the woodstove, but now that we are out of wood, we bumped it up to 65-degrees, and wear sweatshirts & thermal underwear

because less money is being collected by federal government (thanks to the bush* taxcut) it means less money going back to the state and cities/towns. this means state/city/towns have to raise their taxes to make up for the difference. Our county is going through property reassessment -- I'm afraid to see what that is going to mean for us

disposable income: :rofl: yeah, right... I wish I had some.
we use to eat out about once a week, nothing fancy, just a small local family restaurant -- now "maybe" once a month.

I'm driving a 9-year old car with 115,000 miles on it. I had planned to trade it in and get a new one -- but I'm still driving it because I can't afford a car payment. My partner's car is 10 years old, 160,000 miles - we're holding off getting her a new one too for the same reason

our "big" purchase last year was a new kitchen stove, the old one died, and couldn't get parts for it anymore. Had to borrow the money from my partner's mom to get it

at the moment we have two envelopes in a drawer, we each put $10 a week into each envelope. 1 is for cord wood for next winter, the other is for a new computer - but the wood has priority, if wood ends up costing more than we figure then we'll put the computer money towards the wood

investments: I have a couple of very small retirement funds, both are under $2,000 at the moment. One of them was much higher, but it lost value when bush* plopped his butt in the oval orafice and hasn't recovered significantly since. the other is through a 401k at work. It's not earning much, I've looked at the other offerings on the plan, and they aren't doing any better - so I just keep what I have and think of it as a savings account with shitty interest. Forget IRA's and those plans - I don't have enough "disposable income" to be able to afford it

in a nutshell - I'm 50 years old, I'm earning twice as much as I did when I was 25, but I'm no better off - I still live paycheck to paycheck, and squirrel away nickles & dimes when I have them

that people would finally come to their senses and do what was right for the earth. i used to think we would leave a better world. i used to think we had time to do this. now i'm not so sure.

We lost our health insurance, my husband lost his job. He's now back at work making about half what he did before but we find ourselves paying about 5 times as much in income tax. (From an average of about $1100 REFUND, we will be paying $2400 above and beyond what was withheld this year...and almost another $1000 to state income tax)

Savings is gone from the 2 years he was out of work trying to make sure we kept the house and the car, we're deeply in debt from those 2 years. From a AAA credit rating to one of 'deadbeat' today. (Yes, we're working to pay it off and it wouldn't be there if my husband was not so adamant about NOT filing for bankruptcy when we could have)

We don't go out any more, we don't have long distance service and if it wasn't for the union paying for my cell phone and internet access (I manage their website, this is part of my pay) I wouldn't be able to type this now.

The one thing I have scraped out is to donate to DU...and I'd be in deep shit if my husband knew about that.

I first became a news hound when I was floating around the world on several naval ships as a Marine. Prior to that I mostly payed attention to Gilligan's Island, The Big Show, The Wild Wild West, Minnesota Viking Football (we did not have a team in Tennessee then), and playing with my friends after school.

As a Marine on a Naval Ship, we slept in bunks stacked five high usually on the bottom of the ships, the Navy needed the sailors to run the ships, so they slept closer to the top. After a few weeks at sea and not knowing what was going on in the world, I became accustomed to reading the news transmitted to our ship and posted on the bulkhead (wall). The last thing I wanted was for a torpedo to come through our ship and me not even knowing someone was mad at us, so I started paying attention to what was going on in the world. When your life is at stake, it focuses the mind.

After the military, I became a firm news addict, making sure I was home to catch the evening news and flipping from network to network to aid me in determining the truth, after the network news, I made a point of viewing The McNeil/Lehrer News report on P.B.S. I also at my peak, read three newspapers a day every day, The Tennessean, Nashville Banner and the U.S.A. Today when it started publishing in Tennessee. I felt like this gave me the best chance of actually determining the truth because everybody would at the least subconsciously put their spin on it. The odd carryover from my military days is, that I was always far more interested in the events of the world as opposed to the news in my own home town, murders, kidnappings, robberies or local scandals generally bored me. A coup in a foreign country, the fall of the Soviet Union, democracy on the march with the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and the fall of Marcos in the Philippines, our exploration of space, these were exciting things to me. I gradually became aware of a large percentage of the world's various leaders and what they stood for.

I did not start becoming disillusioned with the MSM until the late 90s when they began their "War Against Gore". This flew so much in the face of my reality that it stunned me, I made allowances for subconscious spin or maybe even an outright isolated lie, but this was systematic and obvious to the point of slander! How on earth could every network I viewed, every newspaper I read, repeat this absurdity that Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet as if he were in a laboratory and came up with the idea. I continued to scour the news for years looking for someone out there to set the record straight. Al was clearly talking in his interview with Wolf Blitzer about his legislative record while in Congress and this was indeed a great achievement. To me this was akin to our press turning on Charles Lindbergh after his solo flight, claiming the Wright Brothers deserved the credit because they invented the airplane. While Lindbergh's flight required physical and psychological courage, both achievements required vision, and opening the internet for the people did require political courage. The claiming he invented the internet slander by the MSM of course is only the tip of the iceberg of the War Against Gore, for a much more comprehensive account, google the Daily Howler's website for "War Against Gore" or "2000 debates". Many of these are the same people that would go on to cheer lead our way to a war based on lies.

Gradually it became clear to me, the corporate owned MSM does not want the American People to be empowered, they are afraid of true democracy here at home and Al Gore paid the price for it.

So much of what has happened during Bush's reign of terror has affected me the same way that I am as tired as they claim to be. :eyes: I remember the Gore attacks, too. I wondered if anybody could see through it as I did. They even starting sexualizing him after they couldn't bring him down on his braininess. I recall them starting to talk about his crotch or something. They are the lowest form of life.

Another interesting thing for me is that I used to hate politics. Politics has always been a nasty business, full of lies and empty promises. Little did I know how much deeper the problems were--that the political system is rotten to the core.

As for the media, I think I've traveled through the stages of grief about it. First I denied it--even turning back to listen to the most hate-filled radio hosts in hopes that they might come to their senses--then came anger at having to change my way of life because they changed. Finally I have acceptance. Not that I like things the way the are, but I acknowledge that things have changed, and hope for change in the future.

and will probably stay here until the rightful President is installed. I forgot to mention History was my favorite subject in school and I am too afraid to allow myself to come to an acceptance stage, lest the same thing happen to our nation as happened to Germany in the 30s.

Peace to you linazelle.:hi:

...where I was pretty happy before GWB came in. I was just recovering from depression. I feel like GWB stole that from me. Antidepressants & the thought of the neocons' destruction are all that keep me going. *That* is how much my life has changed.

Tammy

.....taken since idiot boy was appointed to the WH.

I'm going to age myself here :shrug: by saying I remember the first time Reagan was elected to the WH and at that time I had serious doubts about the intelligence of the average American voter.:eyes: I mean come on, who ever came up with the idea of an actor in the WH anyway? Being smooth in front of the camera? Isn't that what ACTING IS ALL ABOUT??:think: When that same actor was reelected to the WH I wore a T-shirt for a long time that had a picture of a camera and the monkey from the movie "Gonzo goes to Washington" and the caption said (on the front)"You voted for this!" Then on the back it had just the monkey and said, "America elected a President!"

Fast forward to today and I'm sorry but I don't see much difference except for two things.:grr: Bush is not as smooth a talker:wtf: as Reagan was and has a horrible camera presence:puke:.

With this appointed WH squatter I'm TRULY ANGRY all the time.:grr: I have no faith whatsoever that America will ever wake up to what is really going on behind the scenes in our name.:wow: The lack of a real media who digs for the truth and then reports it makes me absolutely sick!:puke:

Oh, there is much, much more but now my stomach is in knots:cry: just thinking about all this so I will quit here.:argh:

I've been looking at foreign countries to live in just because I dont want to pay taxes to a government I dont support.

For the past five years I've been stuck in a job that I hate more than anything. It pays decent I guess, but I've suffered from depression and other problems related to stress for the past five years. I've tried to find other jobs out there that pay equal or better to what I make now, but I just can't. I also can't take any kind of pay cut because the cost of living has gone up so much. Things were way different under Clinton in the 90's. If you were miserable in a job, it wasn't too hard to just leave and find something better. I feel like I'm stuck until * gets out of office or the job market gets better.

it has been the worst five years of my life in every way that can be measured

but a lot of the time I can't help but think being ignorant would be better sometimes. I've been working out more since '04, though and working on learning French, Spanish, and Portuguese. I'm confused about where to flee.

I'd learn some Spanish because Venezuela is looking pretty attractive nowadays. Not only do they have a real leader who cares about the people and the country, they have awesome weather too.

is that they'll be invaded too. *sigh*

in times like these. I too have wished I was ignorant about what's going on.

and I used to watch teevee with those primetime news magazine.

No more.

and will buy property in Ireland as soon as I am approved. That is a move I NEVER even contemplated before Bush - it was only with the 2004 results that I actually began investigating that possibility. My husband and I will stay and fight as long as we can but I want to make sure my kids can get out, and have a place to live if it comes to that (draft age kids). Irish citizens can claim family members as residents and if it comes to that I'll go.

I've bought gold and silver for investment purposes which used to be an idea that would have had me in uproarious laughter 8 years ago.

I've become an internet news junkie and given up teevee watching entirely since it's all a sham anyway. I've dropped my subscriptions to RW fronts posing as newspapers and magazines like the Chicago Tribune, and instead I focus those dollars on websites and blogs that inform truthfully and with accountability.

I scan the news for peace vigils and anti-war rallies and then I make sure I put those in my schedule first. I attend speeches by known opponents of this criminal admin and read books by folks like Richard Clarke and Joe Wilson.

I've lost patience with anyone, ANYONE, who isn't outraged with this admin and have virtually dropped most people as friends who won't at least even acknowledge that we are in deep shit with this criminal bunch.

There's so much more but even thinking about all of the changes just deeply pisses me off.

my increasing awareness of the bigotry, sexism and racism of my fellow Americans. I am truly appalled by this.

In going over expenditures from the past few months, I just don't see where we can cut too many more corners.

Of course this is only one of many ways things are different. I have to say, I am feeling a lot less hope these days, as opposed to 2000. I'm almost numb from outrage overload.

I almost think that is their plan--to be so radical and to make so many changes that people can't keep up. Couple that with a media that won't keep up anyway and we have the disaster we are in.

Yeah, the 'media' have become incredibly dreary. The endless hate-filled spew from adamantly smug, stupid, soul-devoid people to get the inhumane and regressive, dull, lifeless semblence of a world they like...it's a bad dream that just goes on and on and on. It's been a living in the Land Of The Dead of the ancient Greeks. Endless navelgazing, narcissism, revelling in death and dying, and no redemption.

No creativity, that's what gets me about these years. Just endless uninspired crap and profiteering and human neglect everywhere. Misere. No real breakthroughs in science, floundering research, few or no great new artists, no excellent philanthropy or charity of new scope.

much less tolerant of the politically ignorant and naive. I don't spend a lot of social time anymore with people who don't share my politics.

Ever since Bush took office, the radio business has been all about feeding the corporate cow. Bigger is better and there is less competition due to deregulation. I had to leave two jobs, one with Clear Channel the other with Cumulus, because the corporations are all about the dollar and not about public service. If the FCC would scrutinize corporate radio station's public file like they did 30 years ago, those stations would be shut down because they don't have the community involvement and are too politically slanted. So I wound up starting my own business consulting small stations in how to compete with the big boys. It is a simple plan: keep it local.

One thing Bush did that has helped is his tax cuts. My own personal and business taxes have been cut in half since he took office. As long as he is wastefully spending, he can use less of my money to do it, thank you very much. But if someone comes along who can spend tax dollars more wisely, I will be happy to pay more. But his tax cuts should have been for people of my tax bracket and below only. Clear Channel and the rest need to be taxed at a MUCH higher rate.

benefit and others misssed it. I agree that there should be less taxes with this regime because they don't use our tax dollars wisely.

I netted $10,000 more in 2005 than in 2001, and paid (total tax line) half, without any extra deductions. Maybe I figured it wrong, but I hope not. I don't want the IRS knocking on my door.:hide:

I've lost respect in being an american, but I've found more meaning in what it means to be a patriot (since bush and his league of idiots have abused it so badly, it's caused me to study the truth behind it as being more than a missile class).

I've watched as loggers carried away more of my neighboring forest than they used to. I get more emails and letters about tortured animals -- I fear more for the endangered species act. And I have grown to hate many democrats and republicans alike. The last one you may question me on -- or outright flame me if you're like many people I've dealt with here on DU. My reason for this is because as many have said, I am not republican-lite. I am not a beta to republican alphas. It's taught me party loyalty is an oxymoron and to vote on my ideals. It's taught me if push came to shove, my party I respected, the democratic party, would not protect the environment the civil liberties of our nation or even fight to protect people dying within the united state of america. In part, I respect the actions of some democrats very much. In whole, I wonder why the party even exists.

I've become a bit more bitter, slightly more vulgar. I'm afraid to fly on airplanes lest I'm wrongfully accused by some wingnut who, 8 years earlier, allowed people by the airport metal detectors because they were on a lunch break (used to fly quite a lot in my youth. It's caused me more fear than anything that's happened recently).

It's caused me to be a bit prejaduice, which I am ashamed of. Not because I think that people of any kind of race are bad inherently. But because our president allowed an exodus of people from a country he claimed was full of terrorists to our own. I no longer trust our country's ability to keep terrorists out, as with all the 'big brother' info they've had they were not even able to prevent this huge attack that should have hit the filters.

Plus I've learned to severely dislike certain individuals. Those who take the names of animals that I love, IE fox, wolf, and turn them into a household swear word by friends. Those who are just plain asanine (fritz, orielly, limbaugh, etc). It's caused me to mourn for people who want to do any good in this world and it's caused me to mourn the successes or the progress in the human race as a whole. It's taught me most of the world is filled with corrupt governments like our own. It's taught me that rome wasn't so much a point in history as it was a point in a revolution human governments will continue to take for as long as they may exist.

It's also given me quite a lot more interest in moving out of my country. But on a positive note, given me the courage to actively write republican senators and hold them accountable for what I believe are direct evils to hard working americans who make them what they are. For without us they're nothing.

And a final unrelated note to DUers who say they feel as if they do nothing? Emails may go unanswered, but they are the proverbial drops of water in the tests on how long it would take for water to drip on an individual's head before they go insane. For every drip, they grow closer to perpetually cracking with fear. Without individual action, there would be no group action.

...prior to 2000, we had zero debts and owned our home outright.

Since the NeoCons took over, we've lost a business, just discharged a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and now have a mortgage.

Additionally, we have no health plan.

I'm currently unemployed and looking for any work on a contract basis anywhere in the country involving technical recruiting.

Bitter? Yes, we certainly are.