They got the power.They can get away with anything.That is the reality.

[KlatooBNikto]

They can lie and cheat with impunity.We can only point that out.They laugh in our faces and keep doing what they are doing.

They can say white is black, up is down.We can't do much about it.

They have all the Press and Media cowed by fear or bribed to say what they want them to say. We can't do much about it.

They have the Congress, Supreme Court in their pockets.

They are now in position to rig all elections so they don't have to worry about elections.

And worst of all, they know that the American people just don't care whether there are scandals in high places. People have become accustomed to scandals for so long, it looks like the same thing to them.

[Skittles]

1. America is going to sink a long, long way

before the people will start to care. It is very painful watching the downward spiral.

[tom_paine]

9. Watching it? Hell, we're LIVING IT.

As Amerika goes, so goes it for all of us...even Free American who reject Imperial Rule.

And yes, we have so far to fall. Currently, we stand head and shoulders above our fellow Third World Nations lead by Dictatorial Strongmen.

In the future, when there is less and less left to steal, we will begin to sink down to the level of our fellow Third World Nations.

For now, we are the richest Third World Nation that ever was.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. ever hear of huberis?

during high school, I read a lot of Greek tragedies, and huberis (overweening pride) was the downfall of all the main characters. They always went too far, sure that they would always be able to do what they wanted to do. We're seeing that starting here with the Social Security debate. Even the sheeple won't blindly follow when they recognize that Bushco is messing with their personal lives.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Same theme in Wagner's "Ring Cycle". The last opera ends

with "Gotterdammergung", the "Twilight of the Gods" with Valhalla in ruins with the Earth. The path that got them there was the insane quest for the Rhein Gold that offered immeasurable power over Heaven and Earth (similar to "The Hobbitt" which came later to "The Ring Cycle").

I predict that attacking Iran will be our "Twilight of the Gods" with allies turning against us (and Israel) and we will finish the journey as pariahs in nearly every way.

[liberal N proud]

5. The US and Israel - the 21 century version of Germany & Japan

Could it be that the world will turn on us as it did on Germany and Japan in WWII?
Will that be what it takes to stop the regime in power in this country?

[teryang]

3. Well said

The American people pretend they don't care because the outside of the onion provides the semblance of normalcy. It allows them to do this. To do otherwise is to admit impotence.

[tom_paine]

10. Well said, yourself, teryang

Also, to do otherwise is to admit they were made fools of.

People, in general, would rather murder you than admit they've been fooled. The longer and deeper the fooling, the more powerful the denial that defends the ego.

[wildmanj]

6. power

and to think---the democrats had all this power once and had not the foggiest idea what to do with it---we were foolish enough to just give it away

[H2O Man]

7. Five to One

".....The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer...
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're taking over
Come on!"
-- James D. Morrison

What the heck is going on here? Are my children the only youngsters that question authority? Is it just my household?

Why aren't college students organizing on every campus, holding sit-ins, demanding teach-ins, inviting old hippies & yippies to celebrations of life?

Message to Youth: Don't fall for the Big Lie. This administration has not got the "power" ..... you do. Without your cooperation and participation, this administration can no more run the country than I can clean my house today without my children's cooperation and participation.

[KlatooBNikto]

8. In the 60's we used to think that our youth were idealists. I do not think

so anymore. Many of them saw that their own asses were on the line because of the draft.If there had been no draft you would have seen apathy rule in the 60's just as much as it does today.Bush and his gang have their fingers on our pulses better than us. He knows our Congress is made up of cowards;our Supreme Court can be bought and will stay bought;our Press and Media can be easily intimidated and coopted.He also knows that the vaunted idealism of our youth is a fraud. People like Cheney, Rush, Will, Newt who obtained draft deferments in one way or another represent our character better than the socalled idealistic youth.

[H2O Man]

11. I disagree.

Yesterday, there were discussions about Malcolm X on here. Malcolm had become strongly "anti-white" in the mid-to-late 1950s and early '60's. It was his experience speaking on college campuses and having the opportunity to interact with white college students that first made him realize that Elijah's "devil" theories were full of shit. The young people were not concerned with the Civil Rights movement because of the draft; it was because young people tend to have a better developed sense of right and wrong than do older folks.

When we examine world history, we find that almost all positive social change comes from the hard work of dedicated young people. The fact that today's American youth are not taking part in progressive movements at the level our country needs them to is a symptom of our culture's pathology. A measure of that sickness is found in the fact, as you allude to, that it would take a draft to wake some of the young people today.

[LevineAvi]

12. It's gonna be this way for a long time !! n/t