Have I told you how much I hate these people? - Mike Malloy. It is every thinking person’s responsibility not to side with his or her executioners. - Albert Camus. Popular democracy anywhere threatens fascism everywhere. - The Scallion. A fascist junta of neocons using George W. Bush as its shill has taken over America by bloodless coup. What will it take for us to stage a revolution and take our country back? - Dot Calm. Drive a hybrid. Leave a lighter footprint on the planet. - Dot Calm.
Like Granny D, I have watched my own beloved country change, and I am angry beyond words about what I see. I grew up seeing America as the equivalent of the movie good guy, the hero in the white hat who came to the rescue of those in need around the world. I have watched in silent horror as the corporations, the captains and the kings of industry, used a comparatively small outlay of cash to buy the Republicans to use as their shills. George W. Bush is the puppet cowboy-king of shills, the proverbial emperor with no clothes. Every day, I watch these evil men legalize, legitimize, and institutionalize robbing the poor to pay the rich. They are carving up America like a giant carcass and doling out choice chunks of its meat to themselves and their cronies. Since the Democrats have been sipping at the same corporate teat where the Republicans have been gorging for the past generation, the fascists are free to do their worst; there is no longer any opposition. There is no one left to stand up for the rights of the American people, the Constitution, or the democracy, which I fear will be replaced by a fascist dictatorship in my lifetime. Wake up, America: we need a REVOLUTION NOW!
Greetings,
gentle Dot Calm Readers and fellow Truth Crusaders!
I am working on something big that I hope will benefit teh Internetz when I post it. This is one reason I have been trying to leave everyone a day or two to digest between posts. However, there are some items I couldn't resist posting today.
The question from my GOP colleague still rings in my ears: “Do you feel good about all the babies you’ve killed?”
Not
too long ago, I was walking back to my DC office after votes, through
the tunnel underneath the Capitol. Next to me was a GOP Member of
Congress from the Midwest. I didn’t know him too well, so I started what
I thought would be a polite conversation. Where are you from, what did
you do before you were elected, do you have a family, etc., etc. Just
normal stuff. We reached the end of the tunnel, and boarded the elevator
to our offices. In the elevator, when we were alone, he “popped the
question”:
“Do you feel good about all the babies you’ve killed?”
I told him that I don’t see it that way. Abortion is not murder.
Then the elevator doors opened, and he walked away.
Here are some things that I feel good about:
(1) I feel good about it when women can decide when they want to have children, and when they don’t.
(2) I feel good about protecting the most fundamental right of all, the right to control your own body.
(3)
I feel good about women making up their own minds about birth control,
rather than male-dominated institutions dictating to them.
(4) I feel good about more children being brought into this world who are wanted and loved, like my five children.
If
that Member of Congress was expecting me to apologize for being a proud
supporter of women’s rights, including reproductive rights, then he was
sadly mistaken. If he was expecting me to rethink my position because
of his hit-and-run hyperbole, then he was just naïve -- and mistaken.
I have never — and I will never — back down on this issue. Women in America should not have their decisions on health and childbearing stolen from them by men in government.
If you want to have a child, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s fine.
It’s really none of my business. And if you help me elect me to the U.S.
Senate, then I’ll help to keep it that way.
A
few months ago, some protesters who thought that they could stick their
nose in other people’s business showed up at my office. They started
shouting obscenities, demanding I end my support for Planned Parenthood.
My answer was one word:
“No.”
And isn’t it time that someone said this to them? Isn’t it time?
At least 83 unarmed Christians were killed by police in America in 2015.
...Now you know.
According to http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/, police killed at least 101 unarmed Blacks in 2015. 39% of unarmed people killed by police were Black in 2015 despite Black people being only 13% of the U.S. population. Unarmed black people were killed at six times the rate of unarmed whites in 2015. Only 7 of the 101 cases resulted in officer(s) being charged with a crime. According tohttp://blackdemographics.com/culture/religion/, 83% of Blacks are Christian. Hey, Christians--
doesn't it bother you that so many of your brethren were gunned down, beaten to death, or killed in custody by police in America?
Or are you too busy equating
Black = thug
to remember that these people
were your fellow Christians?
********************************************
From Salon
Paul Krugman has Bernie’s back: “Hard to imagine a better refutation of anti-tax, anti-government economic doctrine”
Paul Krugman has newsfor those who think European-style democratic socialism wouldn’t work here: “The Danes get a lot of things right, and in so doing refute just about everything U.S. conservatives say about economics.”
In his New York Times column this morning, Krugman continues the conversation about Denmark which led to one of the big compare-and-contrast moments between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton during last week’s Democratic debate. And he has some facts for Republicans who think every European economy looks like Greece’s.
Denmark maintains a welfare state — a set of government programs designed to provide economic security — that is beyond the wildest dreams of American liberals. Denmark provides universal health care;college education is free, and students receive a stipend;day careis heavily subsidized. Overall, working-age families receive more thanthree times as much aid, as a share of G.D.P., as their U.S. counterparts.
All this happens, henotes, with a very strong economy — despite tax rates that would cause Grover Norquist to pass out.
Strange to say, however, Denmark doesn’t look like a set from “Mad Max.” On the contrary, it’s a prosperous nation that does quite well on job creation. In fact, adults in theirprime working yearsare substantially more likely to be employed in Denmark than they are in America. Labor productivity in Denmark is roughly the same as it is here, althoughG.D.P.per capita is lower, mainly because the Danes take a lot more vacation.
Nor are the Danes melancholy: Denmark ranks at or near the top on international comparisons of “life satisfaction.”
It’s hard to imagine a better refutation of anti-tax, anti-government economic doctrine, which insists that a system like Denmark’s would be completely unworkable.
Nation’s Oppressed Christians Huddle Underground To Light Single Shriveled Christmas Shrub
December 10, 2015
The gathered Christians listen to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Carol Of The Bells” at low volume for fear that someone on the surface might hear.
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION—Persecuted and driven into hiding because of their beliefs, the nation’s oppressed Christians reportedly huddled in a secret underground bunker late Wednesday night to decorate and light a single withered Christmas shrub.
At great personal risk, the Christians were said to have smuggled in a few strings of colored mini lights, tinsel, popcorn garlands, Hallmark Keepsake ornaments, and other contraband in order to trim the shrub inside the subterranean chamber, the last place in America where they were safe to celebrate Christmas.
“We have come together today to observe a Christian holiday that has been all but stamped out on the surface,” said a man who wished to be identified only as “Greg,” after hanging a figurine of Mickey Mouse dressed as Santa Claus from one of the shrub’s boughs. “I can’t say this humble bush is much of a Christmas tree, but it was the largest we could manage to get here, given the circumstances. Let us remember, though, that to merely celebrate Christmas—to exchange gifts and eat our candy canes in peace—without the government or the powerful secular elite coming in and destroying it is a blessing in itself.”
“They want to bring an end to our holiest day,” he added, as several others erected a 3-foot-tall light-up Grinch and plastic signpost bearing the words “Santa Stop Here” behind him. “It is up to us to keep Christmas alive.”
After double-checking on the chamber’s entrance hatch to ensure it was tightly closed and locked, Greg then reportedly led the gathered Christians in hushed renditions of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas” as the shrub was lit.
Those in attendance, many of whom had trekked hundreds or even thousands of miles, spoke of the great sacrifices they had made solely so that they could look upon an actual Christmas tree with their own eyes. A number of the Christians recounted how they had secretly carried a brightly painted plastic nativity scene and an inflatable 7-foot-tall snowman to the secret site, the latter item having been trafficked across three states in a truck with a false bottom. Others mentioned how they had sewed a few star- and wreath-shaped sugar cookies into the linings of their coats to avoid detection by the masses who sought to erase their holiday—and ultimately, their entire faith—from American life.
Reports confirmed that many who had arrived in the hidden underground sanctuary immediately broke down in tears upon being greeted with the forbidden words “Merry Christmas,” a phrase none had heard spoken openly in years for fear of harsh reprisals.
“It was difficult and dangerous to get here, but it’s all worth it to actually be able to celebrate the birth of Jesus,” said a 42-year-old teacher from Virginia who refused to give her name as she helped flock the shrub with a spray can of fake snow and arranged gifts of Yankee Candles and Amazon gift cards underneath its meager branches. “Unfortunately, this is the only way we can practice our beliefs now that corporations, the media, and our elected leaders have all conspired to remove every trace of Christmas from the country.”
“I just want to make sure my kids know what Christmas is really about,” she continued, adjusting the plush reindeer antlers atop her head and switching on her glowing Rudolph nose.
After the Christmas shrub was lit, the Christians were reportedly grateful to partake in other sacred traditions without fear of interference or abuse, such as the reading of the 2005 storybook classic The Elf On The Shelf and the viewing of grainy VHS copies of A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Santa Clause, and other beloved films that had been passed down through the generations.
Sources confirmed that as the evening drew to a close, all of their wrapping paper, Christmas cards, and fabric Santa hats were burned in trash cans to erase any evidence of the shunned celebration. The wary Christians then reportedly removed all incriminating green-and-red items from their persons and dispersed in small groups so as not to attract attention from federal authorities.
“Make sure your little ones destroy their stockings before you leave and empty their pockets of any trinkets or bells—they mustn’t have anything on them that jingles,” one man was overheard saying tearfully to a friend before embracing him and slipping off into the night. “I’ll see you again next December, God willing. Stay safe out there.”
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