I Am Angry

(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: HeyThereSpaceman., unforth, D Sharon Pruitt)

I Am Angry
By John Cory
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Tuesday 09 March 2010

I am angry.

I'm tired of pundits and know-nothing, media gasbags. I'm tired of snarky "inside politics" programming. I am sick of the bigotry and hatred of "birthers" and faux patriotic cranks and their GOP puppet masters. And I'm really pissed at the Democratic Party that confuses having a plate of limp noodles with having a spine.

I'm going to vomit if I hear the word "bipartisanship" one more time.

It was bipartisanship that gave us this activist, conservative Supreme Court, a Supreme Court that says money is free speech and corporations are persons except when real people try to hold them accountable for their greed and poisonous ways.

Bipartisanship gave us the Patriot Act and FISA and illegal wiretaps and two wars and "free speech zones" and "no fly" lists. God bless bipartisan America.

I get nauseated every time the Senate explains how it takes a super majority to do anything for the American people. Tell you what, Senate Bozos, if it takes 60 votes to pass legislation, then it should take 60 percent of the popular vote to get you elected.

When some Tea Party crank says, "I want my country back," I respond, "No madam, you want your country backward."

When a deficit-mongering politician says, "How do we pay for this?," why not ask, "What did you Republicans do with the surplus we Democrats left you?"

When a compassionate conservative says, "Health care reform is socialism," why not answer, "No, sir, it is the moral and American way to care for people"?

Yes, I can hear it now: "You are naïve and simplistic. These are complicated matters and require sophisticated solutions. Democrats are a big tent and strive for balance. But Republicans block our path at every turn. We are thinking and considering new ways to work in harmony with everyone."

Bite me.

The only thing you get with "harmony" is a barbershop quartet.

The rest: http://www.truthout.org/i-am-angry57520

I sometimes think we Democrats mistake craven greed with spinelessness. It's likely both, but the common denominator is that money has subverted and punk'd We the People.

It gets worse with every passing day.

Objectives
Make elected representatives answer to the electorate.
Remove corporate influence from all levels of public governance

Suggested Goals to Accomplish These Objectives
Publicly fund elections
Eliminate corporate person-hood
Initiate instant runoff voting
Eliminate electoral college
Ban exiting public officials from accepting lobbyist positions
Oversight of the Federal Reserve
Tax reformation
Budget reformation

Citizen Actions to Accomplish These Objectives
Strengthen and expand alternate media
Infiltrate existing party systems to affect changes
Exploit current means to pressure representatives
Prepare, support, and run Liberal/Progressive candidates


Read more: http://thefrankfactorspace.ning.com/notes/The_Plan#ixzz0hroA63PR
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

"Tell you what, Senate Bozos, if it takes 60 votes to pass legislation, then it should take 60 percent of the popular vote to get you elected."

In fact, I think I'm going to make that my tag line.

Corporate tools in office.

Of course, since the Powers that Be still own the Voting Machinery, it wouldn't be difficult to accomplish.

...and this article is dead solid freakin' perfect.

But that's just my Quaker soul talking.

This is superbly written, and just what I've come to expect.

A proud K&R

Are you going to K&R her thread? :shrug:

Obama promotes a mixture of things, some of which I approve, and some of which I don't.

I appreciate your question, BTW.

:hi:


On edit: I wish you'd unblock your PM box to me. I'd like to talk sometime...

topic for me. What do others do?

If I think the subject is interesting or important and if I wholeheartedly agree with the poster or the post gives me important new information: K&R.

If I think the subject merits further discussion: rec.

If I think the post is misguided but it falls in one of my areas of interest- I will post my dissent. Practically speaking, that's a kick.

If I think the post is a regurgitation of multiple rw talking points or is just plain mean-spirited: unrec.

John Cory did.

:hug:

is well written and gets to the point on a variety of important ideas.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7861236

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.
Mohandas Gandhi

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.
Albert Einstein

Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before - it takes something from him.
Louis L'Amour

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
Buddha

oh, and also -






bipartisanship

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.” – Saint Augustine

and a furious man abounds in transgression." Proverbs 30: 22

"Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13: 13

"Love suffers long and is kind ... does not seek its own, is not provoked, ... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

We don't appeal often enough to love I agree.

“Anger at injustice is the political expression of love.” MLK

Don't dwell on anger. Harness it, draw power from it if you are able. People who suppress their anger may not just be less healthy but also more likely to die prematurely.

Those who want to suppress anger or wish it away are making us sick.

Suppressing anger of the masses has put us on a fast track to fascism. Despite acknowledging the opposing POV may be well meaning, it is still reinforcing the status quo of injustice in this country. Progressives are going to need to get aggressive. I don't see any other light coming from the Dem Party.

the only instance of Christ becoming angry that was recorded was at the money changers. I think that could be a lesson.

a story which always bothered me. An innocent fig tree. Figs weren't even in season, and why not use your powers to do something positive, like make the tree produce some figs?

Of course, when I was once playing hide and seek with my dog I ran around this tree and grabbed a branch to help me make the turn, and the branch snapped off, almost making me fall on my butt in the river. I was so angry I started beating on that unreliable tree. I thought that if I was the son of God, I woulda ripped it up by its roots and thrown it so hard it woulda hit the moon. Now that would be a kick-ass miracle. Plus, cemturies later, astronauts could find the tree on the moon and go "holy crap, that story really happened - there's the tree!"

:hi:

Money-changers in the temple? No problem! But a fig tree off season? Yikes!

Okay, and maybe at Rush. I'm sure he was not mentioned as radio had not been invented, yet.

But, that's all! Anger at money changers, fig trees, and Rush. Only.

in the mouth of a lot of Christians.

Thom Hartmann talks about a couple misinterpreted parables from time to time, turn the other cheek and walk a mile in another's shoes. The church teaches those and others out of the context of their times and when the context is included are possibly outright subversive and more like civil disobedience. I think there is much we haven't got quite right, you know, the prevailing wisdom.

I've been taking a hard look at my own personal political anger lately, sometimes expressed on DU and sometimes elsewhere. I've begun to conclude that it's not helpful, at least not to me. Recognition of injustice and corruption are essential. An understanding that I need to work for change is essential. I'm not sure that my anger is equally essential. I'm suspecting that it only harms me and makes me a less effective activist and advocate.

I agree that suppressing anger isn't a healthy solution. But feeling it and then allowing it to pass from your being is not only healthy but necessary. I would submit that it's not suppressing anger that puts us on the track to fascism, but rather suppressing understanding. Understanding will naturally lead to anger in most, but it's the understanding - and actions based on that understanding - that will give the people power, not the anger.

Until recently I've held to the view that if you're not pissed, you're not paying attention. But I've moved to the belief that you can pay attention and see the bad in the world, and work to correct it, without carrying around that pain as the negative energy of anger. For me, I've found that when I can instead convert that to compassion I'm healthier and more effective at helping achieve positive change.

Just two-cents worth from a bumbling practitioner of Zen.

I couldn't agree more about understanding but that is all higher level more recent evolution. Appeals to peace, love and understanding are more difficult and not any less important.

I don't see anger as negative energy, but when you refer to it as carrying it around, yes, it does begin to feel like what you are talking about.

Telling people they shouldn't be angry is unproductive and there is scientific evidence it is actually harmful. Not saying you or another in the thread intends or does that btw.

Anyway, I think what you said was well said.

LOL :D

It only got 21 recs when I posted it. I kept shamelessy kicking it, too. Guess it was the weekend. Either some people have lives or DU is wacky (or both).

Actually, hfojvt, I was going to repost it on Monday with a different title - "Madam, You Don't Want Your Country Back, You Want It Backward" - but never got around to it.

Thanks for plug, though.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7497299&mesg_id=7498741

But I was not fond of this OP. I think we already have too much anger. I also always think it is ironic to wag our finger at them for their 'hatred' while we talk about how angry we are at them.

Will Pitt's posts get featured on the front page automatically. Mine do not (unless admin puts a particular one there, same with everyone else), so that increases their visibility. I thought at the time I posted it that the title was not particularly good, but that there are many good points and lines in the piece, and that the common thread in them was not really anger as the author seems to think. But, truth be told, it went viral (repetition beyond even DU's influence - I saw it get tweeted all over the place and it showed up on Facebook a lot) almost immediately beyond any influence I or even Will has.

Two different links with you being pissy at me. I'm not in either thread. Very strange.

Never saw your Cory post. Wouldn't have posted this if I had.

Feel better now?

Jesus.

*shaking head*

P.S. I did 30 seconds of research and discovered that:

1. I've been here three years longer than you.

2. I have 24,000 more posts than you.

...which leads me to conclude that your angst over the attention I get (compared to you) might have something to do with those two facts.

Again, not my fault.

So.

or it might be my fault. There's a fine line between teasing/horsing around and being pissy, and I probably crossed it. Or there is a certain inequality here in that I am sorta fond of you and I might razz you like we are old friends whereas you are thinking "who the hell is this guy?"

The Cory thread was Hissyspit's - not mine. I was bemoaning (sort of) the fact that an OP which I did not like was making its way to the greatest page - AGAIN. I think we already drink too much of the hateraid around here, and one of the consequences of that is that it spills over and we end up lashing at each other. Especially at the heretics who we feel need to be taken to room 101 for their thoughtcrimes of "thinking" like one of THEM. One of the sharks http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/122

And after Hissyspit laughed at the fact that his post only got 21 recs even though he kicked and kicked it I just commiserated with him about an obvious reason.

And I don't really have that much angst about your popularity or my own unpopularity, although it would be sorta nice to have at least 1/10 as many friends as I have detractors. But that's certainly not your fault, and I never said it was.

As for the other post, I did put a little bit of effort into that OP and had hoped it might help in Massachusetts, if only a little, and I wryly noted that it was languishing while this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7497951#7501634
had about 3 times as many Rs.

imo.

Anger is natural, using it to blame others for everything is just plain stupid.

:hi:

And hasn't "compassionate conservative" been proven to be an oxymoron?

-

:applause::applause::applause::applause::applause:

Thanks for sharing Will.

That makes no sense at all.

IOW, giving in to Repugs when people like Alito and Roberts were nominated. And now we get ultra-conservative SCOTUS decisions from said nominees.

...they're the ones who need to hear it.

Smash on, Will Pitt.
:thumbsup:

:kick:
Great Stuff!

If you are not angry at all this bipartisanshit, you are not paying attention!

Excellent.

I am fuming in my car, thinking of German Jews trying to find common ground with Stormtroopers or Freedomriders dialogging with the KKK!

Anyone who wants bipartisanship with these thugs isn't on our side. No exceptions.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Corporate welfare...no problem, we can do that. Public welfare, well that's just socialism. Huge military budgets are a necessity to keep you safe, but health care to help keep you alive...ummm, well there is just not enough congressional support for that, sorry; how about a mandate for private for-profit health insurance though, now quit your bitchin'. Abortion! The killing of innocents...as a moral nation we can't have that, but we'll gladly pay the travel expenses to Iraq or Afghanistan for your teenager to fill the spot of a badly needed meat shield for bullets and bombs...they get a nice flag when they come home, and you can keep the flag.

Great one Will. Thanks, I needed that.

The author was John Cory.

Glad you liked it. :)

Oh, and I sent someone your way the other day who was looking for a commercial pilot to talk to. Did they find you?

confuses having a plate of limp noodles with having a spine"

k&r that

:applause: :applause: :applause:

K&R

Though I realize it is more comfortable to wait for some miracle to happen.

When I say fight, I dont mean an armed revolution. That would be a disaster and we would be worse off.

First we need a high profile organization that is talking about this.

Here is a rough plan from The Frank Factor. A place to start.

http://thefrankfactorspace.ning.com/notes/The_Plan

one made in the USA no less! I guess I'm afraid if I start towards DC with that 5-tined persuader, I'll find out first-hand, what Guantanamo's like.

It would be their excuse to jump directly to fascistic dictatorship.

The tines are spaced far enough apart that they wouldn't serve for herding cats either.

As Jim Hightower said so well: "The only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill".

k&r

we get the "harm" and they get the "money". You're angry, I'm fucking pissed.

Yellow.

It's easy to be angry about shit that you don't plan to fix yourself. The internet is littered with these things. But unless our Congressional leaders come up with solutions they can actually pass, it's pointless.

Don't just say things.

Do things.

After the presidential election, the Democrats went home fat and happy, and the Republicans went home pissed off and eager to show it.

That's why they have tea parties, and we have.... Pelosi and Reid.

Hooray.

Stay angry, William. My health won't allow me to anymore.

Edit: K&R.

Mr. Pitt, YOU are one cool dude!!!!!!!