Gas prices? ABC? Vote counts? Face it. We're screwed and helpless.

[Cyrano]

Like it or not, we've been getting shafted for the past six years and there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

They can raise gas to $4 or $5 a gallon, but we'll still buy it. ABC can run as many propaganda "documentaries" as they like and we can't stop them. We can cast our votes, but there's no way of knowing how or if they're being counted. And the bottom line is there isn't one goddamn thing we can do about it.

And these are just three ways in which we've been getting screwed every single day and moment of our lives since January 20th, 2001.

Many of us get involved and do what we can before and during elections. We also write or call congress reps, we sign petitions, and we bitch and groan on DU about the condition of our country.

Even when the media does cover something that, in the past, would have driven any politician from office, nothing happens.

So what's my point? It's that we are already living in a fascist state and are totally powerless to stop the juggernaut of the corporate/political/media "axis of evil." Put more simply, we've been raped, are still being raped, and we're powerless to make it stop.

Virtually all of our activism has been to no avail. We've won an occasional skirmish, but we haven't won a major battle, and as of right now, we're losing the entire war.

Invariably, when I put up a post like this, there are many who will advocate armed insurrection. Such action on our part would give the thugs the excuse they need to shoot us down in the streets. And don't think that's not exactly what they'd love to do.

I'm convinced that they'll steal this November's election as they have with the past three elections. They can't afford to have us in control of even one part of government.

I know how negative all of this sounds, but I'm merely stating our current condition as I see it. Some of you will flame me for being pessimistic. Others will tell me to go get a gun. Some will put up the smiling mask from "Vendetta." But it's all meaningless. We don't have the ways or means to pull their bloody fangs. Nor do we have the organization or coordinated plan that would be needed to stop them.

Flame away, but at least accompany your remarks with a suggestion of what we can do to level the playing field, if not defeat these miserable bastards once and for all. But for right now, I feel like a sane German living in 1939 watching a book-burning orgy at a Nazi rally. (As Indiana Jones' dad said, "My son, we are pilgrims in an unholy land.")

[bookman]

1. I wish I could argue with you.

But I can't. I will keep fighting despite what you say. If only to keep my own sanity and self respect.

[helderheid]

15. I feel EXACTLY the same way. I too will continue despite it all.

[Cyrano]

22. Reply to bookman and helderheid. I haven't given up. But, dammit,

I refuse to make believe we're making any headway.

At one point many moons ago, I was a grunt. And if there's one thing I've learned in life it's really hard sometimes to just try to keep going.

Unfortunately, what we're up against now is a very different scenario. You can't shoot them and you can't get away from the fact that they have overwhelming power over our lives.

A battlefield is a very white and black place. A stolen country is a grey environment in which there is really no way in which to focus your rage.

There are many here who would give their lives to take our country back. A noble thought indeed, but it would be as useless a sacrifice as those who are currently being killed in Iraq for absolutely nothing. My only hope is to see those who sent them there seated in the docket at the Hague.

[helderheid]

23. I hear you my friend. Thank God we still (for now) have the internet

and can share information (like the valuable work of TIA on the stolen 2004 election). :hug:

[undergroundpanther]

47. Yes

I haven't given up I will resist with my last breath which will be a fuck you to some fascist thug.. But the perception management and control this system of corruption has over people is astounding...And it IS a Gordian Knot.

As for the Gordian Knot, here's the legend:

A man named Gordius, his wife, and their son Midas rode in an oxcart into the town that would soon be known as Gordion. A legend had foretold just such a coming by oxcart of a savior king, so Gordius was proclaimed ruler.The cart that had brought them was put in a Temple to Zeus, and it was said that anyone who could untie the knot of cornel bark which fastened the cart pole to the oxen yoke would rule all of Asia.

The knot may in fact have been a religious knot-cipher guarded by Gordion's priests and priestesses. It may have symbolized the ineffable name of Dionysus and its secret would have been passed on through generations of priests and revealed only to the kings of Phrygia.In any case, Alexander the Great came along, defeated the Phrygians in battle, captured their fortress, and therefore had access to the remainder of Asia.

I see the episode of the Gordion Knot not so much as a symbol of Alexander's impetuousness as of his clear-headedness: he had Gordion in the bag, so why waste time untying knots?

And this time They THINK we are knotted up,and we THINK we are bagged.. But WE need to let the Cat out inside us,that disobedient,willful wild eyed radical, and claw this fucking shit down.

[jus_the_facts]

2. I feel your cynicism.....

....completely and totally accurate observations unfortunately. :nopity:

[Dinger]

4. I Don't. It's Our Time, Bellieve That. (nt)

[jus_the_facts]

17. Excuse me but I just can't be a cheerleader for the future....

....my perspective refuses me to allow myself the luxury of hope...I've read what you said millions of times on these boards...yet what I continue to observe is that e-voting machines will continue to steal elections and if our side wins then there's sinister motives behind even that. :tinfoilhat:

[A-Schwarzenegger]

19. "if our side wins then there's sinister motives behind even that"

You can't get any further out than that.

[jus_the_facts]

25. I'm a cynical realist...history proves my point.....

....perspectives...choose your illusion...good night and good luck.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

30. Your bouncing red heart & bouncing yellow happy heads

distract me from your cynical realism!

[jus_the_facts]

35. Well I'm not dead yet.....

....I still have a heartbeat and even a sense of humor sometimes...but a reality check proves that even some of the people who are supposed to represent us have sold us out time and again over the last 6 years...so I won't hold my breath for any real change to take place regardless of who lives in the White House.

[Dinger]

3. As Long As We Don't Let Up, We Will Kick Their Asses In '06 & Beyond

Oh shit, they'll have to come up with a new word to replace "landslide," because it will be a stunning victory for the good guys, that's us by the way. We have to, & we will, work very, very hard this election season and beyond.

[helderheid]

16. I'm sure we will kick their asses - but what's stopping them from stealing

[saltpoint]

5. If many at DU and other left blogs were on to BushCo early, much of

the country was willing to cut him some slack, plus the 30% who never budge from the far-right platform and who vote Republican because they're afraid gay Mexicans will steal their jobs and firebomb their churches.

But while he rode high in those first years, Dubya barely scraped by in the 2004 election, if indeed he won at all, which I think is HIGHLY debatable.

And his numbers are stuck in the 30s, low 40s, and they ain't goin' noplace as long as Iraq is a smoking ruin.

Big night on Nov. 7th in a lot of congressional districts. Order some good booze and blue balloons.

[mbee]

6. The movie is just an orchestrated effort to cover up the report

coming out about the Bush Pack of Lies leading up to Iraq. So they think if they show Clinton, Clinton, Clinton in the movie all else will be forgotten. Let's see has Bush's poll numbers gone up lately. Don't think so! Doubt they will. Gas prices are down, but here in MD we have a 72% electric increase if we don't get a Democrat in the State House quick. I don't think people will be fooled this time.

[ClintonTyree]

7. Yeah, we might as well just give up........

and join the rest of the "herd" with the blank stares on their faces, shuffling along to the beat of the RepubliCON propaganda wurlitzer. :shrug:

NOT! At least I'm going down swinging and you can bet I'll take a few of the bastards with me. :grr:

[Cyrano]

28. We need you alive. "Going down swinging..." will accomplish ...what?

[blue cat]

8. I tend to agree with you

except that we can't give up. Reality is going to open a lot of eyes sooner or later. Things are going to get really really bad before we can overcome.

[notadmblnd]

9. they can't handle Iraq

how in the world do you figure that Americans would be defeated if it was taken into the streets? I for one give my neighbor and fellow American more credit than that. I'm not going to flame you because I just don't have time or patience for the negativity or cynisism today. I hope you feel better about things soon. Please don't lose hope, I feel there is change coming, and I want to be good. If anything destroys America, it will be our own helpless defeatist attitudes.

[DemInDistress]

10. the only thing we have to fear is...

Diabolical Deibold.. if we can overcome those thieving machines "WE WIN"

The mood of the country has changed, many angry Americans await the BFEE/GOP this November and I see the writing on the wall.

However, the Bush Crime Family has one more "trump card" that dreaded Martial Law. I can't help but feel they'll use it especially knowing what they have to lose.

911-2 anyone??

[Twist_U_Up]

11. No doubt.......these nazis are entrenched with boots dug in

They have had since WW2 to rebuild a new empire with past lessons learned.

welcome to the new AmeriKa

[Generic Other]

12. I keep blowing on the sparks to keep the one bit of light alive

If we are truly "living in 1939 watching a book-burning orgy at a Nazi rally," we must become sabateurs and piss on their bonfire. We will extinguish this evil because we have no choice.

[Bonobo]

13. Read this post!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2091379

[OzarkDem]

41. EXCELLENT ADVICE - READ

I'm not usually one for all caps but this is very important. Everyone should read it and work with it.

Accept the fact that most of the public is tricked by the GOP and doesn't pay enough attention to real issues. The trick is to work with that information and manage their perception.

[rubberducky]

14. I`ve been saying for a while now.........

That the repubs are not setting up everything that they are putting into place to hand this country over to the dems. It makes me sick to see every nail that they put into America`s coffin. But, I really do not think they will leave office without one hell of a fight.

[INdemo]

18. You have some very strong points ....

The problem is we dont and even the Democratic leaders in Washington don't realize just how strong this power group of Republicans is ..they have control of the media to communicate their propaganda and they control our court system. (Supreme Court) The Republicans will do what ever it takes to stay in power because there is just too much to uncover ,crime,corruption, election fraud etc..The list goes on and on...Does anyone think for a minute these criminals would allow the truth exposed to the public...
Take a look at what has happen in the last week...these Repukes are desperate.

[lectrobyte]

20. It's always been about fighting the power. Never give up.

[Taverner]

21. Bullshit. Plenty we can do

Boycott, and LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE BOYCOTTING

Get off fossil fuels

Vote, but have very low expectations

Get on the streets, make like minded people as ANGRY AS YOU ARE

And above all, remember Mike Malloy's words of wisdom

"there are some good Republicans," but explaining "You know... I tried to be Mr. Nice Guy... I used to be on CNN's Talkback Live. I tried to be a nice man... you know, don't get ugly. What did I get for it? Pushed into the wall. Screw 'em."

This means, all Republicans (yes all of them) are your enemy

Flyover America is run by your enemy.

We are at war, ladies and gentlemen...and the warzone is Rational America vs. Flyover America.

[Thrasybulus]

24. they are powerful but not invulnerable

Bush would never have acknowledged the overseas CIA prisons if there were not a chance that the repulicans would lose one house of Congress.

They do not control all the votes everywhere. They cannot make Katherine Harris the next senator from Florida even though they control that states voting apparatus more than any other.

I fear the only way Brown can defeat Dewine is through the courts, hopefully he has people working to document voter suppression in its myriad forms.

We lose only when we cease to resist.

[yorkiemommie1]

26. i feel like that too

but i'll never give up because they never will.

I'm writing a letter to my heirs in my will to warn them against the evildoers in our country.

[Blue_Tires]

27. well said

[LittleClarkie]

29. YOU can bend over if you want to

Me, I'll keep on truckin'

[helderheid]

31. see post 22

[BootinUp]

32. I can't read your post, sorry.

Its too fucking defeatist. Let me know when you are ready to fight, there is an election in 2 months.

[helderheid]

33. see post 22. Not giving up but also facing the reality. We cannot afford

to pretend that we have one big fucking beast we're up against. Just because we're the majority doesn't mean that we'll win - they play dirty and we need to always keep this in mind in this fight.

[Cyrano]

43. Thanks, Helderheid. It's been my experience that there are many who

will post defiant statements regardless of reality. Best to treat such posts as a scream of frustration from people who are rightfully enraged, but have no real way to fight against the malignant plague that has befallen all of us.

Macho calls to battle, or pledges of "fighting to the end no matter what" usually are voiced by well meaning people who are as angry, frustrated, outraged and helpless as are we. Admitting those qualities in oneself is impossible for many to do.

I have never said that we will lose to those in power. However, the final victory may not come about in our lifetimes. For every step and a half humanity takes forward, it's usually followed by a full step back. Achieving progress, justice, Utopia, or whatever anyone wants to call it, is a slow, frustrating process.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

34. Stop typing. Save energy.

You only use more oxygen typing.

[treestar]

36. Bush's popularity is so low that none of this helps them at all

They are just doing the same old thing because the believe it worked in the past.

An obvious propaganda film tying Bush's "heroism" to 911 - even the American public is going to be tired of that, finally. So there is a good chance it all backfires on them. It is clear ABC wants to prop up the unpopular President. That is obvious enough for most people to resent it.

Why so we assume 911-baiting helps him? By this time it evokes more of his incompetence than his alleged toughness. Harp on the fact he was hidden and protected, didn't go to the controls in DC, didn't go to NYC, but was flown around the country as if he had to be protected, and how hypocritical it is for him to claim to be "protector" of us.

[Tsiyu]

37. Last week, I drove from middle TN down I-24 to I-75 South

to I-16 all the way to Savannah and 80 and Tybee - and back the same way.

I did not see ONE BUSH STICKER.

Not one, through heavy Labor Day week and weekend traffic through all sorts of towns.

While on Tybee, I caught Max Cleland on Maher's show, laughing like a kid again.

The Neocons only fool themselves. The rest of the nation is on to them to one degree or another. But the next tragedy will not win them converts, and it won't make them stronger even if it makes America a little weaker. They have always tried to run our economy. ALWAYS. Jefferson had fights with the fundamentalists and the greedy warmongers before we were even a nation.

They have turned the screws a little more, true. But you can do everything you can to remove those screws by being careful about where your money goes. Starve the beast, if you can sacrifice and do it.

But don't feel alone. We may presently be at the mercy of evil people, but the majority of us are not fooled by them. We see the evil.

[nebenaube]

38. this stinks of Rove n/t

[OzarkDem]

39. Keep the pressure on the news media to report it

the freepers have been doing this for years - we're just getting started. We have to stop being "nice" and start hitting the news media HARD every day to report news fairly and honestly.

[The2ndWheel]

40. I embrace your pessimism

I like it. Things are only going to actually, fundamentally change if we lose hope in the current way of doing business. As long as we play on their field, with their rules, we're going to lose the game.

This is't new. This constant, mind numbing fight for power and control has been going on for thousands of years. There is only one way to stop it, and that would be by stopping it. Stop shopping. Stop participating in their political structure. Even stop using the internet.

Now, since very few people will take any of those fairly drastic steps, nothing will fundamentally change. We'll be sitting here 15 years from now fighting the same fights. I know, we'll be beyond war by then. Yeah.

We're not going to change the system from the inside. That never happens. However, as history has shown, if you try and start something outside of that structure, it eventually sucks whatever it is that you're doing into it, then molds your ideas into the existing structure, and nothing happens.

Outside of a truly, honest, root change to the whole process, it's all just time killer. It makes us all feel good. We want fairness in a system built on the exact opposite. Everybody wants control. Everybody wants growth.

We either change our entire way of thinking, on a mass level, or it'll just get worse, even though every person we vote for will tell it can only get better if they get to sign the checks.

[helderheid]

42. BRAVO. Your nick suits you very well!

:applause:

[Imagevision]

44. It's difficult to comprehend nothing was done about election reform

[undergroundpanther]

45. I know how you feel.

I am in the Pit and the pendulum watching the blade come closer and closer.. I struggle at my cuffs,they get tighter,,yell no one hears me,
The blade drops,I write my heart out,nothing changes,the blade drops closer,I read about all of the things being done to erode our freedoms to negate out votes,to subjugate us with"non lethal weapons", To excuse to torture us and wipe us off the Earth,I see a million billion little Eichmann's,and the blade drops..


I look at the reality I am in,On SSI,being transgender,and anti-authoritarian,a mental health history,no work history,no skills beyond being creative,and knowing how vulnerable I am to destruction in this sick culture full of sociopaths, and greedy rich people who would blame me for being poor and hurt,while realizing that I cannot buy my way out of this country to escape to somewhere like Sweden if the shit hits the fan,realizing I have very little social supports.. I shudder knowing if the boot-boys come for me in the form of a social worker,or as a Black water mercenary either way I am doomed,I will be reeducated,camped and bullied if that does not work I will be a Guinea pig for big Pharmacy, I may be worked to death,or used for a sex toy for some corporate asshole that has paid a bigger asshole for his "privileged" place in the ownership society". I see the unnatural clouds,and I know if I lived in the woods I would not survive for the rain itself is toxic and the woods are barren of life..I remember my neighbor being taken away the day my mom moved out,I don't know why or where he went to. The neighbors don't live there anymore.The house is vacant.
http://www.unknownnews.org/05D31-J06d-1231Panther.html

The blade is in front of my face now, I can feel it's whoosh of air blowing across my abdomen,,and I close my eyes,but I know it will not help me,I open them and I wait to see my own innards spill upon my face.

For I Do not see a revolt,I do not see workers on a national strike,I do not see people storming ABC and ripping the fucking 9/11 lie video out of the broadcasting machine,grabbing the mike and telling the people the truth, like they do in the South,as in Mexico,peru Guatemala,I don't see much resistance,I don't see Soldiers laying down their guns in Masses, I see that people still mow the lawn and shop till they drop.

I see plenty of fear,obedience,apathy,by standing and finger pointing,tiredness and dispair..So many noses to the grindstone,busy,busy,busy,playing make believe,going to make a career,going to have kids.. Activists doing the same old things that may have worked in the past to quell such abuse of power horrors, that do not work now. And I weep for all of us,I ask Why Why,Why, and no one knows why,no one knows how to undo this,the blade makes a fine red line across my belly..and I weep..

[Ino]

46. If the Repugs stay in power

I'm wondering if the conservatives-who-vote-Democratic-this-time will be outraged or secretly relieved. Will they protest, believing that if even THEIR OWN conversion made no difference in the outcome, then the elections MUST BE rigged? Maybe, must maybe, something will be done then.

This article gave me a chill today:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060909/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_interview_4

Dismissing the possibility the top House Democrat, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) of California, could rise to House speaker if the GOP lost its majority, the president said, "That's not going to happen.

[Jack Rabbit]

48. Not a goddam thing we can do about it?

This is what you do when they don't count your vote the way you cast it . . .



Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugène Delacroix
From the website of the University of Southern California