I need someone to tell me everything is gonna be alright.

[Philosoraptor]

Please. I'm not holding up too well. And if it helps to call me dirty names, go ahead, but I'm at the brick wall. I'm discouraged like never in my life, sick of the apathy, sick of the insanity and it's getting to me.

Is it getting to you too? Misery loves company, and misery loves reassurance. I need someone to get through to me and convince me that things will get better instead of 100 times worse. But it will be a tough job, I'm jaded, cynical, burnt out, dejected, and beyond frustrated.

Please, someone reassure me, my fellow Americans, please.

I'm fucking pitiful ain't I?

[Bluebear]

1. You are not pitiful. And apathy is dissipating...people are getting scared

And they should be. 2006 is all that matters. I said it a year ago when people were doing Prez polls for 2008....2006 is ALL that matters.

[Philosoraptor]

3. I'll vote, cause it's literally the least I can do.

I wish I could do more, besides merely voting, I wish I could make everyone wake up.

[bananas]

2. When the USSR fell, there was chaos, but everything was alright

until they ran out of vodka and cigarettes,
that brought them close to open revolt,
and the government quickly made vodka and cigs supply a priority.

[Philosoraptor]

5. I admire the Russian people

and the way they surrounded their white house 3 million strong and simply threw the cockroaches out.

[bananas]

21. I know what you're going through

I went through it during selection 2000.
I knew the background of these people,
I knew they would be doing all this stuff.
The only way I could survive was to accept the worst.
And you know what? I'm overjoyed, because the worst didn't happen.
9-11 - Everyone was in shock, I was relieved that it wasn't a nuke.
I expected martial law that evening - hasn't happened yet.
Bolton - still not confirmed - it was supposed to happen years ago.
They are afraid of us - that's why they say no draft - they know a draft is political suicide.
Keep some perspective - we've been through the McCarthy Era, civil rights protests, suffragettes, MAD, nuclear winter, (ok - the threat of MAD and nuclear winter, not the actual thing), Reaganomics aka Voodoo Economics, Clinton's BJ, Enron Operation Death Star targetting Grandma Millie, ...
Somehow we'll muddle through this.
Hope that helps?

[PassingFair]

71. Thank you.

That helped.

:hug:

[bdamomma]

63. I only wish we would do something like that.

[Eric J in MN]

4. I'm a pessimist, but there is an optimistic book by Bill Scher...

of Liberal Osasis. The new book is "Wait! Don't Move to Canada: A Stay-and-fight Strategy to Win Back America."

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/41922/

[bullimiami]

6. p-raptor. im afraid i dont things are going to be alright.

i can tell you that you are not alone.
this country has lost its public sanity and its humanity and even if we were the only 2 people who believed this, and we are not, the reality is that WE are civilized and human and behave accordingly and do what we can to make this world a better place.

[sandnsea]

7. Everything is going to be alright

Although we probably ought to make sure there are at least 3 people in the real world and 3 people online who are keeping tabs on us. As long as we're looking out for each other, we'll be okay. Even if things get worse before they get better, as long as we can still fight, there's still hope to turn this mess around.

[Bluebear]

8. Truly, sns that is not a bad idea. nt

[Philosoraptor]

10. I'm a one day at a timer

Every day is an effort, and everyday I tell myself that everything is gonna be alright, and that's all I have.

[sandnsea]

14. I worry more about environment and poverty

and corporatism, to tell you the truth. Now that, I don't know that it'll be alright. But this Bushit?? Yeah, that'll be alright. I don't know what will kick-start the American sense of freedom and human decency, but something will. Just like Teri Schiavo. They'll over-reach, something will come out. The media isn't covering as much as they used to. Something will shock the senses. Maybe it's just an historic lesson that yes, nazism can happen anywhere. Maybe it's fate that it happened at this point in history, amid our particular generation that still remembers protesting in the streets with the next generation that is influenced by that fight. But it'll be okay, as long as we just keep speaking up and moving forward.

[Random_Australian]

9. There is still hope.

You are alive, so you will always have the chance to be happy.

There are many unpleasant things and nasty, malicious people in this world, Philosoraptor, and yes, for a time they will take and destroy.

Yet the taking is a two way street - they don't know it and the first generation never may know it ut they are gradually removing their own chances to get ahead. Systems become unstable when controlled by too few.

There is an algorithm, it is not really in our heads yet but it is in nature. It drives evolution and eventually will provide an impetus to create and develop society anew, and will in time make things better.

Things move, but no matter how hard anyone tries, to turn in the direction of too few having too much amplifies the faults of the mind and causes instability in any system with too few at the top.

And the RW philosophy creates a chosen few with the connections who dominate the rest. Which is unstable, as described above.

Nothing in nature would stop them from taking power, but there is a lot against them keeping it.

[Philosoraptor]

12. thanks

of course, I'm not giving up, but your words lift me.

[ClintonTyree]

11. You're not alone........

I have same exact feeling. I used to love this country. Now, I see us becoming everything we railed against when I was growing up. The other day I sat on the shores of the St. Lawrence River looking over at Canada. A mere stone's throw away. I'm seriously thinking of heading in that direction. I don't want to be a part of this madness anymore. I'm getting to old for this shit.

You're not in this alone but I CAN'T tell you everything is going to be alright because I feel it isn't. We've taken another giant leap in the wrong direction. As Walt Kelly so aptly put it.............

[Swamp Rat]

13. I share those feelings every day

but I try to channel the frustration into something positive, like playing guitar or drums, or studying real hard. Sometimes when I look at the holes in the ceilings and think about how the contractor took the money but never came to fix the house, I wonder if it is worth it anyway, especially since the levees are still fucked, the city is way screwed up, and the federal government just wants us to disappear. Woe heaped upon woe has taken a toll on my health too, compounding life long health problems, but I am still breathing... I still have a mind sharp as a tac. My band has broken up because musicians cannot afford to live here anymore, so I guess I'll go back to playing classical guitar. It's a solitary instrument most of the time, but it satisfies something deep inside.

I don't know what to tell you... :hug:

[Philosoraptor]

15. Thanks Rat.

I'm a player too, and since I havn't been doing too much of that lately either, we are in sympatico. You've certainly been through a lot lately, and I know you're tough.

[Swamp Rat]

23. Take out that harmonica and play the blues!

I got my guitar out now. I guess I'll follow my own advice. Seeya later alligator! :hi:

[GetTheRightVote]

22. It is amazing you are still going thru so much there after a year.

I drove down right after Katrina and took supplies into the town of New Orleans. I saw so much damage with my own eyes and it was very difficult for me. I do not even live in the area. It looked like a war had taken place and it looks like another war is still being fought there by its survivors. Not just in getting over their loses but in regaining their homes and lives yet our government does little in assisting you.

I am so sorry about it all. I do so hope that New Orleans raises again so that we as a people can share in its revital. Good luck from one O-Town to another.

Nickname River Rat to Swamp Rat. Lived off of the Missippi up north, there is nothing like her, miss her at times.

:kick:

[Swamp Rat]

27. Thanks. I go sit by the river a lot, on the levee or at the park to watch

the sunset and the riverboats. Sometimes I bring crawfish and beer, other times just a book. I've been doing that most of my life, and like the river rats, when I was a child I used to play on the sunken barges. I was born in a hospital that literally overlooks the Mississippi River, a stone's throw away.

:hi:

[Philosoraptor]

29. i'm a mississippi barge rat too.

born in st. louis, swam in the big muddy as a kid and played on sunken barges and shot river rats for fun.

played the blues on it's banks around a fire many a night.

[Swamp Rat]

35. I could not swim in the river where I'm at

The water is very polluted and the undertow would get you in a matter of seconds and send you 200 feet or more to the bottom in the middle. In fact the current flows in opposite directions at the same time. Sometimes you can count 5-8 different current flows! One time I saw this old fella catch a stingray after a hurricane because of all the gulf water that flowed into the delta. I would never eat fish from the river in this area, but the water made the batture behind the levee fertile enough to grow decent herb... well, for us kids it was good. :smoke:

edit: We did go swimming, but that was by the Bonne Carre spillway in the swamp. We used to take cases of beer, crawfish, and oyster po-boys out to the bayou and swing from trees on rope swings, like a bunch of drunk swamp rats that we were, and dive into the water... hoping not to get bit by a water moccasin.

[autorank]

16. Get a room to do that crying...;)

Sure,

It's all good as one of those Voltaire characters said.

It's always darkest before the dawn.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

We've to keep hoeing while we pray for rain.

and

There's a sucker born every minute.

We have a president who goes before the nation on the tee vee and said torture is essential.

The people, already disgusted with him in huge numbers, have their gag reflex tested again and
fail to support him.

Then, the BDSM faction of the US Congress ratifies el jeffe's manifesto by trashing the constitution.

It's just fucking great. Relax. Get your beauty rest and get ready to kick some ass.

Cuz there is is going to be one hell of a back lash over this one. And don't tell me people don't
notice. I just paid for part of a Zogby Poll that said ONLY 45% of likely voter have significant confidence that * was elected fair and square in 2004. Well, 55% doubt the election of * and that's not good.

Wait until the pictures, already in place, start getting leaked. You know, a picture's
worth 1000 words. And pictures of coerced male on male sex in Iraqi prisoins is not going to go
over well with anybody here.

The Congress is as delusional by now as the White House.

It will be ugly, we'll win a great victory, celebration every where for the renewal of democracy and
the effort to clean up the atmosphere, earth and sea...then a big ass comet hits and blows us all to smithereens. How's that. Quit that crying, turn that frown upside down, and lets all say together,

:) Have a nice day :)

[Philosoraptor]

17. the comet puts in all in perspective.

a silly little insignificant creature like me can't see the big picture.

[bananas]

30. Remember when that comet slammed into Jupiter?

It had been a larger comet that broke up into smaller pieces.
Over several days, the pieces crashed into Jupiter - Wham! Wham! Wham!

[Philosoraptor]

31. 21 pieces I think

the Shoemaker Levy comet, like a monster frieght train, left black stains in Jupiter's clouds larger than earth. Very scary. Jupiter has saved us millions of times from bombardment, but it can only do so much.

[bananas]

34. Yup, one day that'll be us.

Even Steven Hawkings says we should colonise Mars to avoid extinction.
How did you come up with your username?
I always read it as "philosophy rapper", "one who talks about philosophy", but now I see it is "raptor", "one who eats philosophy" or "one who dines with philosophers"?

[Arugula Latte]

81. After seeing the way humans treat each other,

I don't want us to colonize another planet. If we can't make it here on this beautiful planet, then we don't deserve to bring our hatreds and pollution to Mars or any other part of the galaxy.

[autorank]

56. Hey, man, I've got your back...

We'll get you going, hop on board, a little Goa Trance and it's all good.

[Binka]

20. You Rock Baby!

:loveya:

[autorank]

58. Getting Binka some "space dust"

It's safe cuz it's natural...none of that crying game...

Get lit;) open up to the comet...

[GetTheRightVote]

24. This is new to me = pictures of coerced male on male sex in Iraqi prisoins

What is that about autorank, where is the information coming from ????

:kick:

[autorank]

59. There were reports at the time when the Senator people saw

the videos from Abu G. And then everyody shut up.

The story is coming up again. It's MSM stuff, don't have it in the old link file
but it's out there. Isn't that disgusting that they were forced to do that.

Here's a piece on Hersh...may be in here.

We operate on guilt, operate on shame…The idea of photographing an Arab man naked and having him simulate homosexual activity, and having an American GI woman in the photographs, is the end of society in their eyes.'
-Seymour Hersh

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/10/11_hersh.shtml

It's on tape...whoa, a pissed off civil swervant releasing that would blow some minds...

[GetTheRightVote]

18. Ditto form me, I am so depress these days I can not stand it

It started after the first stolen election in 2000.

:kick:

[Philosoraptor]

19. "they " know this, and they are taking full advantage of it.

They are messing with our minds.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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

[ClintonTyree]

28. Or go shopping.......

to keep the "Bush economic miracle" alive! :rofl:

[lumberjack_jeff]

26. Wish I could help. It's 3 am here. I usually sleep. n/t

[CarbonDate]

32. Turn your despair into rage.

Turn your broken heart into a fist.

Then go visit my friend Tony at http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/.

We're talking real-time action, not venting online.

One of us is a nut. Two of us is a conspiracy. Three of us is legion and unstoppable. Won't you join us?

[grannie4peace]

33. been there

HI- ya'll ---I've been reading the du for awhile but just
yesterday got on to write-- i too get really dissappointed(
that's an understatement:):)) when i see what is happening.
especially when there are people fighting to stop the
craziness and they are just run over by it... then i'll see a
bumper sticker quoting Gandi about evil always loses in the
end or i'll remember a verse out of the Bible and think "
I cannot give up hope that love and peace will win out in the
end. what seems so powerful here on this plane is only the
gross manisfastation of matter. there are powers at work that
we as humans don't and cannot see clearly right now, but we
must have faith that no matter how bad everything looks it all
comes out in the wash!  Howdy to you all--- i admire the
writing s of many of you!!! i chuckle each time i read about
"TWEETY"  & love the "SCREAM"--embrace
it--- what you are doing is bearing fruit..each time a being
speaks out against injustice--IT IS GOOD. good works can in
the end only bring good!!! :):) G4P:)

[Philosoraptor]

36. welcome granny

I always feel better after talking to granny

[grannie4peace]

37. COOOL!!!

Yesterday i got the smiley faces when i typed but none today--- hey p'man-- my grandson loves v for vendetta--- he's a young genius !!! i showed him your "face" & he got a kick out of it.... i'm honored to be talking with you... you are one of my favorite reads on the du:):)

[Swamp Rat]

38. I always feel better after hugging a granny.

:hug:

edit: welcome to DU! :hi:

[bananas]

40. Hey grannie, welcome to DU !!!

It's going to get real crazy through the election in November.

[grannie4peace]

45. thanks

it blows me away-- i had about 10 bumper stickers on my truck & one day i got discouraged and took them all off.... my S.O is going to be driving it any way. but thr reason i took them off was being discouraged.... then the next day things started looking better and i was really happy, as i think about that now--- the world is going to see-saw back & forth... thats just the nature of things.... we've got to "keep the faith" and ride the waves!!! Wow that was kind of cool--- :):):):hippie:

[sarge43]

48. Welcome grannie.

Good to have you on board.

[mogster]

72. Welcome, grannie4peace

:hi:

[mmonk]

39. I can't tell you that but I can tell you

as long as you and others here stay informed and know the score and inform people, there's a chance everything will work out fine.

[grannie4peace]

41. i think i'm hooked!!!

for days after giving up on cnn i've been glued to the du!!!! now i think i'm hooked... i can't type fast and have a dog that needs to walk 6 miles every day,but the rest of the time i'm planted at my computer screen searching the du for information about the "state" (mental) of our country. i've thought about canada too but its all gonna be 1 big country... so, one day at a time is so very wise!!!!i love you guys--- hang in there--- :)O8) :hippie: _ that's me:)

[mmonk]

44. Yep, hang in there!

:thumbsup:

[carolinayellowdog]

77. Welcome to DU, grannie4peace!

This site has been my #1 resource for information and solace, since 2002. Every day we are joined by dozens of new members who find their way to us, and many of them start contributing right away. I look forward to your posts.

[deutsey]

42. When I feel this way (which is all too often)

I try to remember those who came before me who struggled even though they didn't live to see the fruits of the labor.

How many abolitionists fought slavery but never lived to see the Emancipation Proclamation? How many people struggled for civil rights, labor rights, women's rights, etc., even though they didn't "change the world" in their lifetimes?

I want to see my efforts amount to something...I want to outst Bush, I want to leave a better country and world for my children, I want America to be fair and just, and I do what I can to achieve these objectives. But these days I have to look at the bigger picture and see myself as contributing in some small way to helping it become a reality...Maybe I'll live to see this reality, maybe I won't, but to succumb to defeatism isn't an option for me.

[Skidmore]

43. I slept on it last night and had nightmares.

I really really hate (yeah, hate) what these people have done to my nation. I detest the callous disregard for life and self-annointing grandiosity of * and OBL and others like them which are destroying the world. They are all cut from the same cloth. I loathe the religious establishments and the predatory cult leaders that head them and sow destruction in the name of whatever god. I detest the self-congratulatory, mindless pandering done by our legislators as they cover their asses to hide their incompetency or scramble for the crumbs of recognition and backpats doled out by *. I abhor the craven obsequiousness of the press as they vie for nicknames instead of truth. My greatest anger is reserved for the indolent public who would rather pursue the latest fad and spend their live shopping their brains out while ignoring their responsibilities as citizens and selling their rights out at the same time Special contempt goes to the segment of the population that mewls in abject fear that they will either be forced to become Muslim or gay or entertain the idea that there is a whole other world outside of our borders. I'm still angry this morning. I'm pissed, pissed, pissed! And I'm not going to get over this any time soon!

[sarge43]

46. Philosoraptor, you're not pitiful

I want to put my head down and weep, but I run out of tears sometime ago. I believe my beloved country suffered a fatal wound on 12 December 2000 and yesterday it may have died from it. I wish I could say things will get better, but I'm not sure anymore. The landscape looks very dark right now.

Of course, I will continue to do what I can - what is the alternative?, I'm too old and too poor to start over - and I won't have it said that I stood by and did nothing. I owe that to myself, all the people who came before me who fought for and defended our ideals and to those who will come after us.

I do know over the past six years I've developed sympathy and, perhaps, understanding for the ordinary, decent Germans of the 1930's. What can one do against the deliberate, malevolent, powerful assault on fundamental human rights and decency? I'm not sure, but at least we can rage against the dying of the light.

Oh yeah, for the Agent Smith who may be reading this - fuck you. Your mother would be so ashamed of you.

[grannie4peace]

53. hi sarge43

what happeed on 12/12/2000? i'm old also-- i like that part:):) i too think it looks really DARK-- i just read on hindsite(?) about the "comma" it's creepy but it is coming, i fear.... i think your insight was most helpful to me....i'd never really considered what that was like....i do sometimes think about the prophets and am amazed by their "balls"!!!!:):)G4P

[sarge43]

62. You're not old, Kiddo

You'll always be my baby nephew who could routinely clear out Mom's food supply.

12/12/00 was the day the Supremes handed Smirky the election by overriding the Constitutional right of a state to control its electoral process. It all started there.

When I was in Germany, I visited the Dachau concentration camp - nightmarish and haunted. It was the end result of what happens when we see another human being as the "other" rather than a brother or sister.

Yeah, it's commonplace to dismiss the people of ancient times of having a less evolved moral standard. Read the prophets; they spoke for all times.

[bananas]

47. One more vote needed to put this on the greatest page

and I think everyone who's posted would agree it should be there.
Thanks Philosoraptor for the OP.

[donheld]

49. You're far from being alone.

Many of us here at DU and elsewhere are in the same boat. I'm just thankful that with resources like DU we don't have to face all this alone. Many are facing it alone and are very very frightened.

[grannie4peace]

54. amen!!!

Amen!!:)

[BreweryYardRat]

50. Relax. Things will turn out okay.

They generally do.

:hug:

[Zhade]

51. Sure, let me lie to you.

...

Okay, I can't.

No one can honestly tell you it'll be alright. No one knows. The end is not clear yet.

But time is fading fast. These evil men must be stopped, and I hope peacefully, or violence will come to our streets.

Look, I want to be able to say that's not possible. But I can't in good conscience say that.

I can say we need to redouble all efforts to get these men out of power and into prison.

(And try to make some time every day to laugh. It helps. A lot.)

[ClayZ]

52. The weight of nothing!

"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coalmouse asked a wild dove.

"Nothing more than nothing," the dove answered.

"In that case I must tell you a marvelous story," the coalmouse said. "I sat on a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, not in a raging blizzard. No, just like in a dream, without any violence at all. Since I didn't have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,471,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch--nothing more than nothing -- as you say -- the branch broke off."

Having said that, the coalmouse ran away.

The dove, since Noah's time an authority on peace, thought about the story for a while. Finally, she said to herself, "Perhaps there is only one person's voice lacking for peace to come to the world." - Source unknown

[grannie4peace]

55. wow

thank you clayz---that was niiiiceO8)

[ClayZ]

57. Welcome grannie4peace!

I am a grannie too.

Glad you liked the story. It always soothes me!

http://www.worldcantwait.org

[grannie4peace]

61. hi

i've been to worldcantwait and hope there is a good response.:)good to meet you !!! grannie:):)

[NotGivingUp]

60. loved it! thanks.

[bdamomma]

64. I just hope the ones who have unleashed all this deception

and ignorance will get the just dues they deserve, like Lee Atwater he ended up with a brain aneurysm.

[xynthee]

65. See this DailyKos post: "Calm the Fuck Down Already"

It helped me!!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/28/193836/545

snip:

I swear to freaking God. Everybody needs to take a freaking chill pill on this torture legislation.

Yes, torture is awful. Yes, the bill purports to eliminate the right of habeas corpus. Yes, American citizens are included. Yes, these are fundamental American values. Yes, Democrats should stand up for those values.

Yes, yes, yes. Yada yada yada.

But please end the incessant hand-wringing, and try to remember how government--even under this administration--works.

This bill doesn't change SHIT. Not today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Nothing.

And all you hand-wringers out there are just playing right into their hands by obsessing about this.

[meganmonkey]

66. You'll feel better if you go here next Thursday:

There are events planned in more than 100 cities so far. I think everyone here is going to be SHOCKED by the turnout, as they sit at home on their computers, or at work wondering what all the fuss is about. This is a mass general strike, and I expect it to be a turning point. Call in sick, take a vacay day, whatever you have to do, everyone should go. If there is no event planned, start one, stage one, make a sandwich board and wander your town encouraging others to get in the streets. As someone who protests several times a week and talks to people on the streets, I can tell you that the so-called Dem-party-activists are the LEAST supportive, but all the people who DUers like to call sheeple-ignorant-apathetic are ready to pour into the streets. The farmers, the immigrants, the blue-collar people losing their pensions and their homes...They have known longer than we have that our electoral process is a joke and that the changes we need won't come from the voting booth.

THE ANSWER LIES NOT IN THE PARTY, BUT IN THE PEOPLE

In solidarity,

Megan

Announcing a Day of Mass Resistance:

OCTOBER 5, 2006

BRING THIS TO A HALT!

www.worldcantwait.org

YOUR GOVERNMENT, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is openly torturing people, and justifying it.

YOUR GOVERNMENT puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.

YOUR GOVERNMENT suppresses the science that doesn't fit its religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.

YOUR GOVERNMENT enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.

People look at all this and think of Hitler - and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come.

We must act now; the future is in the balance.

Millions and millions are deeply disturbed and outraged by this. They recognize the need for a vehicle to express this outrage, yet they cannot find it; politics as usual cannot meet the enormity of the challenge, and people sense this. There is not going to be some magical "pendulum swing." People who steal elections and believe they're on a "mission from God" will not go without a fight. There is not going to be some savior from the Democratic Party. This whole idea of putting our hopes and energies into "leaders" who tell us to seek common ground with fascists and religious fanatics is proving every day to be a disaster, and actually serves to demobilize people.

But silence and paralysis are NOT acceptable. That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn - or be forced - to accept. There is no escaping it: the whole disastrous course of this Bush regime must be STOPPED. And we must take the responsibility to do it. And there is a way. We are talking about something on a scale that can really make a huge change in this country and in the world. We need more than fighting Bush's outrages one at a time, constantly losing ground to the whole onslaught. We must, and can, aim to create a political situation where the Bush regime's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and can take responsibility to change the course of history. Acting in this way, we join with and give support and heart to people all over the globe who so urgently need and want this regime to be stopped.

This will not be easy. If we speak the truth, they will try to silence us. If we act, they will try to stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and around the world, and as we get this going we are going to reach out to the people who have been so badly fooled by Bush and we are NOT going to stop. The point is this: history is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. And it is also full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined.

The future is unwritten. WHICH ONE WE GET IS UP TO US.

[mom cat]

67. You are only suffering from the profound realization of how bad it

really is. I would never take that away from you! We desparately need people who truly understand the gravity of the situation, and I have always counted on your posts to honestly convey that truth.
Those who most deeply understand, feel the most pain. Hang in there, lick your wounds. I am likking mine this morning too. I know that both of us will get up and fight again ... harder, smarter and with even deeper passion.

:grouphug: for all of us!

[lectrobyte]

68. ...as one of my friends use to day, don't take life so seriously,

it's only a temporary condition. Don't ever give up the fight, but find all joy and happiness you can between rounds.

[nashville_brook]

69. okay Philosoraptor! here goes....

it's not pitiful for people who take IDEAS seriously to feel beaten down by what is going on. this IS big. this IS new territory. this IS dangerous. this IS wrong wrong wrong. and it's SCARY.

live with this. put it in your hat and OWN it. there's POWER in OWNing it.

now... lets say things get as bad as our worst fears. these "laws" are used to put political activists in Halliburton prison camps. lets say the very worst happens. YOU ARE STILL GOING TO WAKE UP EVERYDAY and have to carry on. WE have to find what it takes to stay "okay" given all this shit.

if this is as bad as we think it might be -- then we really need each other NOW MORE THAN EVER -- to borrow that crappy slogan.

the question that i think we should all be asking ourselves is: what are we willing and able to do?

lets honor these gigantic emotions we are all feeling by turninig that energy into something useful. our namesake... the Underground Railroad... might provide some guidance.

that's the best i can do... i'm right there with you.

[mopinko]

70. i am sparticus

bout all i can say. this whole mess dovetailed with some personal shit, and gave me a hell of a thursday.

but seriously, does anybody know anything about legal action on this? aclu, pfaw?

marmar answers this question-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2254563

that is why du rocks. great minds think alike.

[Skelington]

73. Get out of the GD and go outside for a few days.

[The Backlash Cometh]

74. Go out and grow a garden.

If nothing else, this horrible dark time in our history won't suck everything that's beautiful.

[hatrack]

75. Sorry, I'm not your guy

I only ask my self one thing - how much more will it take?

My gut feeling - a lot more, and it will have to affect tv programming, pro sports and fast-food availibility.

[leftofthedial]

76. every person with a conscience in this country

feels just like you

we need to channel despair into anger and anger into activism

[lostnfound]

78. When hope feels gone, I think of what I tell my little boy..

Things like...

Yes, sometimes life is scary, but that's why God made you BRAVE.
Sometimes life is HARD, but that's why God made you STRONG.
Sometimes life is complicated, but that's why God made you SMART.

[Beelzebud]

79. Everything is NOT going to be alright unless we FIGHT.

[seabeyond]

80. not a thing in my life changed from yesterday to today.

i woke. my kids did. my hubby did. we still loved on one another. we chatted, we enjoyed each other. i took them to school. hubby went to work, and well.... i sit here tlaking to you

you sit in misery.

look around your real world. is that misery necessary. what doe sthe world, your loved ones, your fellow man gain thru your misery

and dont you say, i dont feel or do as much as you, cause i wont sit in misery. i feel and do at least as much, NOT sittin in misery

[carolinayellowdog]

82. Reassurance from astrology

Hi Philosoraptor,

In the ongoing struggle between hope and despair, I take some comfort from Nancy Waterman's Starlight News, despite her strong suggestion of war with Iran in 2007. Here's an example of an accurate prediction she made a year ago:

Karl Rove may be under a dark cloud due to the Plame investigation through early July 2006. The following two years may see a diminished or more restrained role for him in the administration or else a feeling that that the adminstration itself is in some severe distress in which Rove is embroiled. (7/31/05)

Here are some future predictions:

Another very troubling period for Dick Cheney comes in late 2006, from October 22 through January 2, 2007. He is likely to be depressed and restricted in some way, with health problems a significant possiblity. (1/1/06)

Beginning in late September 2006 through most of 2007, George Bush's popularity will be in significant decline. Nonetheless, the spring of 2007 may bring him into a renewed period of aggressiveness, recklessness, unilateralism, and possible military activity through 2008.

My thoughts: the last two years of this presidency will be disastrous, and they will never regain the support they once enjoyed from the public. Whether or not the Democrats take Congress, Bush and Cheney have run out of tricks that can fool the American public. Therefore, the 2008 election will probably mark the end of neocon mania. C'mon, you got through six years of this hell-- only two more to go!

CYD

[galileo3000]

83. Faith, Hope, and Charity to you.

I do have faith in my ideals. It gives me the courage to hope, the patience to persevere. If I could, I would give you some of my strength and take some of your fears. If it helps, I will do a charitable act in your honor this weekend.

I often quote Gandhi, but I believe in his ideals.

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always." M.K. Gandhi.

[Arugula Latte]

84. This helped me a little. I hope it helps you:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/29/105037/615

[roguevalley]

85. you aren't pitiful. I want you to know, my friend, that it is going to get

better. It will get better. There is so much discontent out there. No matter what you might think about how things are now, the discontent will carry. Its silent and in the gut of MILLIONS and MILLIONS of people. Don't be afraid. Be hopeful. It will be better.

[CarbonDate]

86. Things don't work themselves out.

People work them out through hard work and dedication.

I was so on the verge of giving up. But we can't, no matter how hopeless it seems.

[mdmc]

87. no doubt

-everythin' gonna be okay!