It's outrage fatigue, I tell ya.

[Jackpine Radical]

They stole two Presidential elections, probly created 9-11, lied to get us into a war, are in the process of stealing everything they can from the powerless and downtrodden, and are encouraging the destruction of life on earth.

I'm in some kinda neurotransmitter burnout. I have no norepinephrine or cortisol or acetylcholine left. I read about the latest outrages, and don't even react. It's all just more shit heaped on top of a pile that's already big enough to smother the life out of all of us.

I'm not apathetic, I'm not depressed, I enjoy my life. I participate in my county Democratic party. But I don't expect anything good to happen on the national scene now, or for some time. THEY control the media and the mass mind of America--or at least enough of it to forestall a revolution.

The sheep are not only marching off to slaughter, it seems that they are actively herding each other toward the abbatoir, ganging up on any who seek to stray from the path and pushing them back into the fold. The rich deserve their wealth. The jobs have to go overseas--how else could Mall-Wart give us these wonderful prices? We're too expensive. We need to settle for less. We can't expect to have minimum-wage jobs because the Chinese will work for $.20 an hour.

[ewagner]

1. Scandal Fatigue

I've never seen anything like this.......

with the BFEE in charge it's just one outrage after anolther...I think it's deliberate because before the public can focus and mobilize on one scandal, the SOBs are onto the next scandal....

It was enough to make me crazy during the first term but Dubya seems to be stepping up the process now......

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Yeah. That's what I mean.

It just feels deadly to get into the details of one after another scandal or outrage.

The press are paid hucksters.
Ho hum.

They wanna cut veterans benefits.
Big deal.

They're gonna end SocSec.
Wonder what's for supper.

[cthrumatrix]

31. it's sad when your understanding of the media and corp changes 180 degrees

they are crooks

[tabasco]

47. Nine billion dollars missing ...

ho hum.

[htuttle]

2. "No, this is no bad dream."

The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green he leadeth me the silent waters by.
With bright knives he releaseth my soul.
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places.
He converteth me to lamb cutlets,
For lo, he hath great power, and great hunger.
When cometh the day we lowly ones,
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate,
Lo, we shall rise up,
And then we’ll make the bugger’s eyes water.

[Nihil]

25. Good one! (n/t)

.

[Doctor_J]

4. nah, it's ignorance

just imagine if every night a sane, honest version of Brian Williams led the Nightly News with,

"10 more AMerican soldiers and 500 more Iraqi civilians are dead tonight, victims of a war that George Bush lied to get us into. Meanwhile, the Taliban and assorted drug lords are back in control in Afghanistan"

or

"As expceted, George Bush's hand-picked candidate won today's sham 'election' in Iraq. Given that most Iraqis are afrid to leave their homes, and that the administration's own people are counting the votes, this result should surprise no one except people who believe Rush Limbaugh speaks the truth"

[FizzFuzz]

5. agree. I'm even thinking of taking a break from DU

because my addiction here and everything I learn isn't doing much to stem the tide. I can talk to the choir, fine, but when I try to introduce a fact or two, (what I can remember in this ceaseless avalanche of outrage being committed against us and the planet), I get looked at like I'm wearing a tin foil hat. RW talking points, or pious christofascist moral superficialities is what I get thrown back at me. If they didn't see it on Fux or CNN, it didn't happen.

I think maybe I need to just step away from the computer, avoid the people who sing the double-plus-good songs, and try not to think about politics. And when it all explodes, just try to duck (la-la) and cover.......

:cry:

[Sugarbleus]

23. It's a REAL symptom ya'll

I've had it bad. I DID take a break from DU AND the news. I just clicked it off. Started doing some pleasure reading, visiting with others, went shopping, sat in the yard, slept in...

I had to just deflate for a few days; my body, my mind couldn't take it. I was getting extremely sick. I was flying off the handle at people that didn't deserve it. You know ya got it bad when kids and pets run screaming away from you...(bad vibes and all that) LOL

BUT...it was only a break, not a quit. What I've come to learn, for myself, is to "pick my fights". There are so so many fires burning, so many things needing attention that I figure some of you will aim your attention in one direction, I will aim my attention in the direction that means the most to me. The other thing that occured to me is to start getting involved closer to home. I've paid most attention over the years to things on a national level...it's been good in that I get a big picture of things. But now it's time to get things down and thats easier to do from a local starting point.

So, with fax machine and facts, I intend to make my views known to everyone local and state wide...some at national level as often as I possibly can. I contacted my local demcratic club the other day where they invited me to join them for discussions. We shall see how that goes. I needed an outlet for my frustrations and that seems like as good a place as any to start.

I enjoy DU, I've made friends, I've learned a lot. I will not abandon DU........I just need to get busy with hands on stuff in order to turn my outrage into action.

So, yes, take a break... life is still happening. Do something fun and pleasurable for awhile. Many others will still be with nose to the grindstone and one can always come back and catch up.

Let's not get so sick from fatigue that we are useless when action is really needed.

Brightest Blessings, SB :hi:

[FizzFuzz]

45. thank you SB! I appreciate your reply--think I'll save it and refer to it

when I need to!

And I am reducing the amount of time here--I have to! Just too addictive, I need to get back to my real life! LOL


Merry meet, :D

[satya]

6. I could've written that myself (if I could write that well).

It's as if it's part of their strategy--when you're being assaulted on all fronts, which battle do you fight? The temptation to run for shelter is overwhelming, yet where in the world are we safe from this lunacy? And what about those left behind, who don't have that option?
:shrug:

[AG78]

7. You said it

And then you add this Iraqi election coverage. We know the Iraq constitution is already done, and it's going to let corporatism run wild. These elections, the people going out to vote notwithstanding(although they may have been afriad of bombs, and a lack of food), are just a total sham.

I still don't quite know which words would express my thoughts, but you did a pretty good job of doing it. I mean, I never would've thought of norepinephrine.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

8. Outrage Fatigue

is a great way to put it..................I think I have it too.

[verdalaven]

9. This is exactly how I have been feeling.

I am also enjoying my life while understanding that my government is working against me at every turn. It isn't so much a state of apathy, as you said, or even acceptance, but complete exhaustion.

[Ripley]

10. Agree.

When NPR discusses how enlistment is a good option for poor families because of the great survivor benefits, one must question how far can it go? It seems unreal that just a few short years ago, we saw Monica in her stupid beret every 15 minutes on CNN. Travelgate. Whitewater. All of that amounted to no deaths, no crimes, not even much "morality" to wring your hands over.

Yet the new millenium has brought America to her knees. Fascism in a kinder, gentler more hip jewel tone. It's not only acceptable to be ignorant or conformist without question, it is demanded. They have their victory. We who dissent are too beaten down to bother any more.

[cdb]

14. Martyr benefits

The PLO pays martyr benefits. Wasn't Saddam kicking in money to the families of suicide bombers in Isreal??

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. What. The. F*#%?

"Enlistment is a good option for poor families because of the great survivor benefits". :wow: So now the poorest of the troops will be worth more to their families dead then alive? That is just plain sick! They are actually pushing this sick agenda? This is probably sickest thing I have heard so far. :puke: Won't create jobs but are willing to give "great survivor benefits" to those having no options but to fight and die in the BFEE/PNAC Oily Wars.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. Mine began with impeachment in 1998

So I'm now into my 7th year of burnout.

[peacetalksforall]

39. Mine started with the Iran-Contra secret sub-governmet and the

retroactive study of the Kennedy-King-Kennedy assassinations. So, I'm really a sick puppy.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

41. Yeah but Clinton should have healed all that

we got a 7 year repreive. But yes my mom got all in a fit over Nixon/Watergate and the Vietnam war, so she's suffered a bit over the years.

[mopaul]

12. we are suffering LACK OF OUTRAGE fatigue

only a few of us are even outraged at all. the status quo is redefined daily.

[txaslftist]

13. GOOD.

A little outrage fatigue is probably in order. Everyone is so prickly around here all the time. "You're just a Dean hack."; "You're not a real liberal, you're a Clark supporter." "You can't be a real lefty, you go to church." Blah, blah, blah.

Outrage fatigue forces us to pay attention to the real WORK of being a democrat. Going to the party meetings and caucuses, getting behind real candidates and putting forward our progressive ideals into the actual machinery of government. If we get tired of firing off salvos at every tired old rant we see here, literally knee-jerk reactions, and we have to concentrate on things that actually will HELP the situation, that is a good thing.

I'm sure the jews cried quite loudly on the way into the showers, but loud crying accomplishes nothing. Organize, work, donate, discriminate between the things you can do something about and the things that just piss you off.

[Ishoutandscream]

15. Fine post. I think you describe how I feel

I'm simply numb at the moment. Don't like to discuss politics, or even come here anymore. It's like a depression that makes you not want to get out of bed. I'm slowly getting back.

A rep from our local democratic party says she has missed me at the meetings. I told her I'm quietly mourning and tending to other things in my life. I spent so much on the campaign (talking energy, not high dollars) and it took it's emotional toll on me. I told her it would take time.

[SmokingJacket]

16. Don't let them win, though.

I feel the same as you. I've been outraged for so long, and to no good effect, that I just don't know what to do anymore.

Maybe this is a good time to lie low? Enjoy life, ignore the news, and recharge batteries.

Because soon -- I think, maybe I'm wrong -- things are going to be so bad we're going to have to give a shit again. (Iran? Draft? Economic collapse? Some unforeseeable super-scandal?)

[Demit]

17. Sometimes I feel like Mia Farrow's character in Rosemary's Baby...

You have nowhere to turn for help because they're ALL in on it. Republicans, Democrats, news organizations.

I have not watched the news--even NewsHour pisses me off--or the Sunday shows, and I cancelled the New York Times, those shitheads. I rely totally on Latest Breaking News and Slate's overview on the day's papers. I totally ignored the "election" in Iraq, knowing the story in four words: It Was A Sham. This helps insulate me from the immediate kind of outrage pain.

I am kept sane by DU and the Nation, knowing that others know we have stepped through the looking glass. I've gone back to reading mysteries & police procedurals. THAT kind of fake world is comforting.

I laugh too, and enjoy things, but live always with a feeling, in the back of my mind, of dread. Never considered myself a nihilist, ever, but I live with the feeling now that this--this nightmare--might not end in my lifetime. It will take so long to undo what these people have done, and they're not even finished yet with what they're doing.

Yikes. Time to go pet my dogs, or something. But I hear ya, Jackpine.

[CrispyQ]

19. You really hit the nail on the head with that statement . . .

"I laugh too, and enjoy things, but live always with a feeling, in the back of my mind, of dread. ...I live with the feeling now that this--this nightmare--might not end in my lifetime."

That is exactly how I feel. Perhaps I too, should go back to fiction for an escape.

[TOOLZ]

43. "This is no dream, this is really happening!!"

I spend a lot of time at the dog park, too.

[CrispyQ]

18. Agreed.

I'm numb with exhaustion. Every day I check CommonDreams, DU, BuzzFlash & others & I am overwhelmed with the continuing bad news. The corruption of this administration, the complicity of the media, the apathy of the sheeple. When will there be an end to this madness? How much destruction before the sheeple wake up & what will be left when they do?

[AnnInLa]

20. Yeah, I'm starting to get a "bunker mentality"

It's so inconceivable, the things we have witnessed during the bush* years, that I'm starting to just "hunker down" and wait for the ultimate destruction of this country as we know it. I had a terrible thought last night...if all abstractions are relative, and there are no absolutes, maybe these times are the new reality? If the definitions of truth, honesty and decency can be defined by whomever is in power and accepted by the masses, maybe we are now living in a parallel universe where everything is now upside down?

Of course, as an above poster observed...this is what the "opposition" is counting on...we just get tired of fighting and drink the kool aid.

[AG78]

21. It's in their playbook

2+2=5

In the end, we will love Big Brother.

[Cats Against Frist]

34. I've been saying for months that the postmodernists are vindicated

This is pretty much verbatim what Foucault and many of the post-modernists believe(d). I got superfreaked out with the Suskind NYT article quote about "

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

And this was a BUSH AIDE that admitted this. They think they're harkening back to some classical Platonic philosopher King & God stuff, but they are really the embodiment of postmodernism -- with the twisting of the language, the mind-numbing totalitarian propaganda, the false binaries, the logical fallacies.

It is ultra fucked up. I thought for a long time that the postmodernist critical theorists were blowing smoke, but I think they're probably the most revolutionary thinkers in all of history -- and guess how lots of them die?

They kill themselves.

[Jackpine Radical]

36. This is some really interesting thinking.

[Ripley]

37. Damn.

That is truly depressing. I found this snippet from an English Professor>>

On another level, however, postmodernism seems to offer some alternatives to joining the global culture of consumption, where commodities and forms of knowledge are offered by forces far beyond any individual's control. These alternatives focus on thinking of any and all action (or social struggle) as necessarily local, limited, and partial--but nonetheless effective. By discarding "grand narratives" (like the liberation of the entire working class) and focusing on specific local goals (such as improved day care centers for working mothers in your own community), postmodernist politics offers a way to theorize local situations as fluid and unpredictable, though influenced by global trends. Hence the motto for postmodern politics might well be "think globally, act locally"--and don't worry about any grand scheme or master plan.

That description actually sounds quite positive and reflects what a lot of other DUers are saying...do what you can in your own little part of the world. But it is all futile if the Assholes of the Universe do have a grand scheme and master plan and they control the message.

Ah, it started raining. Perfect.

[cap]

22. i suggest burnt out people start solidaity meetings...

no heavy politics... no discussing scandals or the latest demise of a govenment provided benefit...

start celebrating your neighbor's goodness...remember the good that was done in the election...we found each other.... a little political chicken soup for the soul and you will regain your strength.

refresh...restore...renew...
do good in your own back yard

[peacetalksforall]

24. You spoke my psyche and my state of mind...but I would say don't

drop out...exposing what is going on is essential. Exposing means learning. Learning is our best defense. They rely on and are counting on our stupidity. They are responsible for the dumbing down. That is the role of the cpns (corporate propaganda networks) in their partnership with the cabal. Remember the USSR - the brains were exiled, murdered, and silenced.

[Jackpine Radical]

26. I have no intention of dropping out, but

I find myself drawn to rethink my approach to accomplishing change.

For me, that may mean a return to my roots. I'm a psychologist, but I got into the profession as a sort of "experimental metaphysician." I became a clinician when confronted by the need to make a living in a world that seemed to think it already had enough academic diddlers.

Anyway, by metaphysics I mean "the branch of philosophy that attempts to understand the fundamental nature of all reality, whether visible or invisible. It seeks a description so basic, so essentially simple, so all-inclusive that it applies to everything, whether divine or human or anything else. It attempts to tell what anything must be like in order to be at all."

I'm increasingly convinced that the real differences between US and THEM lie in the very basic, primitive assumptions we make about reality, and that we aren't gonna get anywhere with mere political change. We need to accomplish a fundamental shift in the Weltanschauung of a majority of the population. From this perspective, the ephemera of scandals, outrages and even wars are distractions from the real battleground.

Edited to add:
I'm trying to tell how it is for me and I really don't mean to rain on anyone else's parade, but just after I posted this I saw a thread to the effect of "DU this poll, it's being FReeped," and I was struck by the degree to which that seemed like such an unproductive, futile, barren and hopeless exercise.

[peacetalksforall]

27. If you take this someplace...a forum, a website or more....I would like to

join in for the exploration.

[Jackpine Radical]

35. I'm really open to suggestions on this.

For starters, see if this does anything for you:

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~ursa/philos/goswami.htm

Edited to add:

SWC {Science Within Consciousness} is the brainchild of theoretical physicist Amit Goswami of the University of Oregon. In the editor’s opinion, it is not merely incidental that Goswami was raised and educated in India, before teaching physics in this country for three decades. He first published his revolutionary new concepts in 1989 in a physics journal, followed in 1993 by his book The Self Aware Universe (Tarcher/Putnam).

The Hampton Press published his book, Quantum Creativity; Waking up to our Creative Potential in 1999. Goswami, author of a well regarded text on quantum Mechanics, described in this book his ideas about the quantum mechanical functioning of the mind, thereby providing explanations of mental phenomena that had no explanation in contemporary Physics, Physiology or Psychology.

A comprehensive review of his latest book. The Visionary Window (2000, Theosophical Press) is in this issue of the Bulletin. This new book profits greatly by the seven year passage of time since his first book, The Self Aware Universe, as Goswami has lectured all over the world on his new ideas and received feedback from his audiences. These ideas and concepts, when accepted by both academics and the lay public, as they must eventually be, will result in a revolution that is as momentous as that engendered by Copernicus centuries ago. The purpose and function of these Bulletins is to foster understanding and consequent acceptance of these new concepts.

The review of The Visionary Universe contains significant and relevant quotations from Karen Armstrong’s new book, The Battle for God. These quotations will help you, as they did the editor, to understand the reasons for the consternation caused recently by insane, suicidal terrorists in this country. SWC potentially holds an answer to the questions we are now faced with in our society.

[peacetalksforall]

38. One thing that helps me is the education....by watching the thieves, liars

and destroyers and trying to sort it out, I've learned law and history and the political make-up of our country. I've grown. I think that learning about the infrastructure of the country, the laws we're governed by, and the assault on them and the threat of losing them has to be one of the forces of good.

Many people are learning by osmosis. The little old man calling in to Washington Journal because of his solo interest in abortion (funny how so many men are obsessed with abortion) will learn something while listening and waiting for his next opportunity to speak out (and/or preach to us).

Many of us here come with ingrained principles of allegiance from our innocent childhood. Some come with a background of searching on a more universal level of mankind's evolution. We were somewhat content that our country was going forward. We're now talking shock and exhaustion at losses our country is suffering by our own, the threat of more losses, including the loss a la Orwell. That's why I am interested in a metaphysical look at it. It could help me. I appreciate your post (mucho). I'll look at your links and come back later - after I do some work.

[Demit]

29. Interesting. I had thought we were accomplishing a shift in outlook in

this country...from the 60's onward. I had thought we were progressing. I had thought that was the natural order of things, to progress. Civil rights, the acceptance of equality for women, the acceptance of gay people into everyday life. Maybe it's only because I was born at this time and lived through these times, but I really thought people's thinking was changing. And that they themselves saw this as a good thing.

But all of this is backlash, isn't it? All that's happening now--religious fundies, lashing out at people who are different, denying science--is a spilling over of people who resented having to let go of their old prejudices. The Rethugs tapped into it and nourished it, but it was always there, the desire to go backward. Progress isn't a permanent thing after all.

I wonder if this is what it felt like at the start of the Dark Ages. I'm not a student of history, but there was a period of learning, and culture, and then it was all lost for hundreds of years, right? And there must have been educated people who looked around at what was happening and felt helpless, and mourned. That's how I feel now.

So yeah, to paraphrase the psychiatrist/lightbulb joke, you can't change the population (with politics)--the population has to want to change.

[KoKo]

30. I understand what you say. But a little bit of hope...

When I saw "Unfreep this poll" I groaned. But, I realized that some of us who've been here are just so tired of being "assaulted" daily by the Right Wing in league with the media since the Clinton Adminstration that we are just plain worn down and tired. For us, there's no escape with a Media that doesn't offer entertainment or intellectual stimulation and political books which only verify what we already have discovered in our journey trying to fight the small, narrow minded zealots which have taken over America. But, for the poster who is trying to "Unfree this Poll," it may be their first step into trying to make a difference. The poster may have newly awakened to the reality of these terrible times we live in, and may be a fresh troop to replace those of us who are so tired and burned out. I try to look at that action as positive for that poster, as trivial as it may seem to those of us who know that those polls are there to get hits on whatever media website needs some good numbers to attract more ads.


The tirednees I feel is from this long journey of trying to fight back against a philosophy which seems to be so alien to everything many of us on this website seem to believe in common. If we live in Red States we look around and see people we have nothing in common with philosophically and politically and we realize to "get along" we have to leave unsaid what we really want to say. When we've spoken out in three elections we've appeared to lose whether through vote fraud or having the wrong message. Some of us who became politically active during this Bush Reign have seen how unresponsive our party is to actually trying to win on State and National Level. The values we have are being assaulted by some of our own Party Leadership as well as the Right Wing. At this point, it's obvious something serious is wrong after an election we should have won handily.

Those of us who value truth, honor and principle in our dealing with our fellow humankind have seen lies, greed, financial swindling and coercion become the path to success in our corporations, financial institutions and government. Those who lie and swindle the most cleverly are promoted, over those who blow the whistle on corruption.
Perhaps we've reached a tipping point where the corruption can't be any more obvious and help is on the way from those who were content to ignore while others fought, but no longer can justify what their eyes are telling them and their ears are listening to.

Our culture of Greed will have to be exposed as "hollow" and not fulfilling before we see a change,though, I think. The political situation may be easier to change than the underlying problems of a society so obsessed with power and wealth. But, the two are really so entertwined it would be hard to see one without the other.

We need a new "Age of Enlightenment." I wonder where it will come from, though. It seems the whole globe is on a rampage to exploit our earth's resources for financial gain and power. If you aren't onboard then the train has left and there won't be any support for you, seems to be the mantra. There aren't any places left to hide out from it. Perhaps just going inside oneself is the only answer. A peace from within. :shrug:

Just inane ramblings here......thinking along the same lines as most of the posters here...but it was good to vent it. Maybe it's just the weariness with it all... We need some good news and some fresh troops to feel a difference CAN be made.

[FizzFuzz]

46. I would also be interested in discussing this idea.

My spiritual parctice addresses this. It's referred to as the need for individuals to become happy (tapping into innate wisdom, courage, life force and compassion) and effect personal growth, which will ripple out to affect those around us, and society as a whole. Encouraging others and influencing positive social change depends at the core, on dialogue. This may be the hardest part; I know it is very hard for me to overcome my separation from those who anger me by their "unevolved" nature (to be honest about my own bias. They make me very very angry, and it ain't easy for me to settle down and respect their "divine spark" enough to make a human connection!)

[tom_paine]

28. Well said, Jackpine. It's an old story we are reliving

n/t

[Neecy]

32. I hear ya...

I've been in a state of shock, transformed to almost complete apathy, since the election. I got a black "I DID NOT VOTE 4 BUSH" wristband and wear it, hoping it'll be like garlic to a vampire - if I didn't vote for him, none of the ugly things he does will affect my life. But I know that isn't the case.

Last week, though, I was shocked out of my apathy by the photograph of the young Iraqi girl covered in her parent's blood after they'd been murdered by our soldiers. I can't fight everything these looters are doing - who can? - but I'm going to rouse myself out of this stupor and get back into the anti-war movement. I put it aside during the campaign, mainly to protect a war candidate. Is that obscene, or what?

So, like others I'll pick my battle, but it's a sad damn fight. The opposing forces are so overwhelming.

[Rambis]

40. Brilliant!

You summed up my feelings on this whole mess well. Now it is time for a pint.

[ultraist]

42. I can totally relate

It's also exhausting to feel powerless. That's why whether it be a small (and possibly insignificant) action such as defreeping a poll or emailing the MSM or a Congress Rep, taking action helps to re- energize me.

I have not been able to bring myself to get involved again locally though. I'm still stingy from the election but taking small steps to remain active is helping me to feel more motivated and is a deterrent to apathy.

I am planning to attend the anti-war rally in DC March 19. Events have a way of reinvigorating me! My plan is to step back into volunteering locally when I return. For now, I am taking somewhat of a reprieve, finding comfort in reading posts of like minded individuals, a respite so to speak while taking small, safe actions.

Everyone handles disappointment, outrage, fear, guilt and other emotions in their own way. These types of emotions can be debilitating if we allow them to be. When I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed with these type of emotions, I know it's time to step outside of myself and do something for someone else or just kick back and enjoy.

Thanks for the insightful post! It was very therapeutic for me to write this. :)

[Skittles]

44. JAYSUS

the list could go ON AND ON - they hang MEDALS on the pieces of SHIT who created this PHONY WAR - they PROMOTED CONDI who is f***ing INCOMPETENT; they're making a guy who endorses TORTURE our ATTORNEY GENERAL

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

48. No d oubt

no fucking doubt - so what's to be done?

[RandomKoolzip]

51. Take a break, then run for local office.

Become a city councilperson, an alderman, what have you.

Donate to Dems who fight, e-mail those who don't with angry commentary.

Do positive things which have no overt political context: buy some plants and water them. Write a poem. Call relatives and tell them you love them. Play the tablas. If you're at work, get up and take a walk around your desk.

I think we all need a break.......but only to recharge the batteries.

[Hugin]

49. I'm with ya Jackpine. *whew* n/t

[EST]

50. Yeah.

I burned so bad I had to drop out the day after the election. It was horrible-did not sleep more than four hours total in the next seven days. Such high hopes, seemingly endless battles and agonizing waits for the other shoe.

It took nearly two months for me to do more than a cursory scan of DU about once a week. I still don't watch any commercial news. Jon Stewart, INN, and Democracy Now represent the limits of my interest, although I have now accumulated about an hour of CSPAN. Slowly beginning to fight the war again, but I'm planning to limit my participation for a while.

Best wishes to all on this thread and yes, we do understand each other's intellectual walking wounded plight. Thanks, all, for allowing me to contribute.

[poe]

52. Burnout not allowed-Spring is near

If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst."
-- Thomas Hardy Se rebeller est juste, désobéir est un devoir, agir est nécessaire !

:grouphug: