Modus Operandi

[H2O Man]

"Modus operandi" is a term used by investigators to describe the characteristic method used by a person in certain acts. It is Latin for "mode to work." In the media, we often hear it referred to as "m.o."

By finding patterns in the modus operandi of an individual criminal, or an organized association of criminals, investigators are able to identify suspects in unsolved crimes. It is the older sibling of "criminal profiling," and is a forensic science that the general public can easily understand and appreciate when they are exposed to coverage of criminal investigations in the media.

The current Bush administration scandal, concerning the "politically motivated" firing of federal attorneys, is an interesting example. Citizens who watch Fox News are likely to believe that the firing of these attorneys is simply the m.o. of all administrations. Each and every day, Fox journalists chant the mantra, "Clinton did it, Clinton did it, Clinton did it." Fox News reports that firing federal attorneys is simply the characteristic method used by every administration.

Much of the media has been more fair and balanced than Fox, however, and have noted that there is reason to suspect the Bush administration may have been doing something beyond "playing politics." There are reasons to believe the administration was attempting to manipulate the justice system. And progressive democrats recognize that this type of illegal activity is the Bush administration’s m.o.

Many of us have read Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s book, "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy. (Harper Collins; 2004) In Chapter 5 (Science Fiction), we find the following: "When the administration can’t actually suppress scientific information, it simply issues a new set of facts. The White House has taken special pains, for example, to shield Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton, from sound science. ….

"Interior Secretary Gale Norton seems particularly inclined to manipulate science. …. During the late winter and spring of 2002, Norton and White House political adviser Karl Rove pressured National Marine Fisheries scientists to alter their findings ….. Norton has also ordered the rewriting of an exhaustive 12-year study by federal biologists detailing injuries that Arctic drilling would impose …. She reissued the biologists’ report as a two-page paper showing no negative impact to wildlife. She ordered suppression of two studies by the Fish and Wildlife Service …. She suppressed findings that mountaintop mining would cause ‘tremendous destruction of aquatic and terrestrial habitat.’ She forced Park Service scientists to alter a $2.5 million environmental impact statement that found that snowmobiles were damaging Yellowstone’s air quality, its wildlife, and the health of its visitors and employees. A federal judge has reprimanded her office for interfering with scientists in the case.

"Manipulating data leads to one pesky problem: scientists who stick to their guns. And when scientists resist the White House agenda, the Bush camp threatens, intimidates, or purges them. …. During the first few years of Bush’s presidency, the assault on science was still somewhat ad hoc. But by midterm, his advisers were moving to institutionalize the corruption."

The Bush administration’s modus operandi is institutionalized corruption. And there is no part of the administration that has not been corrupted. The Congress needs to move forward on the investigations – including but not limited to the federal attorney scandal, the Plame scandal, and the purposeful lying to bring our nation to war in Iraq – and they must enforce the law. There have to be consequences for the institutionalized criminal behavior of the Bush-Cheney administration.

[Me.]

1. What's Happening To The Bees?

Why are they disappearing? I don't consider it a coincidence that this is happening during *'s tenure. As for Norton, I hope her former assistant spills the beans on her.

[rosesaylavee]

5. The lax attitude generated by this admin

may be more to blame than outright intention to do harm. I tend to think its a pesticide that shouldn't have been approved in the first place (see link).

Saw this post earlier this month on DU (thanks MissMarple!): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=388981&mesg_id=389056

Wouldn't you know it, this is the spring I take a class on keeping bees! Our instructor has 125 hives and he felt that he had this syndrome a couple of years ago but as he is not a commercial keeper (over 300 hives makes you commercial) he and others here in Illinois were pooh-pooed about their die off concerns.

[Me.]

11. Some Are Also Wondering If It Has To Do With Genetically Modified Seeds

which are causing huge problems in Africa and India. Birds (other than pigeons) are dying too.

As to whether there is intention to cause harm I think the attitude is one of not caring whether they do or not as long as some crony can suck up a few more dimes. In the courts it might be called criminal negligence.

Mornin' Rose!

[H2O Man]

21. I'm not sure

about the issues regarding bees. I've read a few things. And I know that last year, there weren't many bees in the ground, especially after the June flooding. But there were plenty of other bees in this area. So maybe there are a number of issues that are both regional, and that are the result of periods of time that are significantly longer than the Bush2 administration.

I remember back when Bill Moyers interviewed Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons. They spoke about the various types of laws. Recently we have seen how the combination of wealth and position can result in people being treated differently by man's law: Rove skated while Libby was convicted. Yet no one was even charged with the actual pre-investigation crimes they definitely committed.

Oren told Bill about another law: "it's what we call the great law, the common law, the natural law. The law says if you poison your water, you'll die. The law says if you poison the air, you'll suffer. The law says that if you degrade where you live, you'll suffer. The law says all of this. And if you don't learn that, then you will suffer. There's no discussion with this law."

Moyers: "There's no mercy in nature. You can't get down on your knees and beg forgiveness."

Oren: "There's no mercy in nature. And there's very much something that people should understand -- that you suffer in direct ratio to your transgressions against the natural world. The natural world will prevail. You know, human beings are still a biological experiment as far as the world's concerned. We've only been here a short time. In the time of the earth and the time of the world, the human being is only here a short time. You see, when you're dealing in the time of an oak, or the time of one of the great sequoias, you can take a chainsaw and in ten minutes kill a tree that's four hundred years old, and there's no way you can make that tree grow back. You'll have to wait another four hundred years for another. So technology has overtaken the common sense of the human beings and the understanding of time. And just as the time of an ant is very short, the time of a mountain is very, very long.If you don't have a good understanding of what time is, then you can get yourself and your people and your generation into a lot of trouble. And I think that's where we are right now."

[Me.]

28. There's No Mercy In Nature

Another thing I came across is that the earth is shaking beneath the melting ice. There is something about the notion of the earth shaking that is scary. My thinking lately is that mother nature is going to start reclaiming her own.

www.architecture2030.org/news/archivedNews.php?limit=5

[lovuian]

35. I believe Bush administration Goal is to Destroy America and

control all the Important resources in the world
Oil= energy
Food=GM crops
Water= controlling water rights
Vaccines = control disease
Military= largest army in the world
Gold= Banking system
Police= contol of the population
Religion= control of people

Genocide= controlling population
Birth Control

the list goes on and on

The freeest and most dangerous country to Bush Mafia is a Free America
it must be destroyed

Its one helluva evil agenda
They have taken the Templars mantra and perverted it
Mother nature is going to fight back Its a living breathing organism and its been around a helluva longtime
longer than the Bush family

[lovuian]

36. I want to see the Anger of Americans when OIL Food Water

health just absolutely soar in prices and they get no jobs or raises or nothing

Its going to be an anger never seen before
PS I think we are really getting closer and closer to that point

[Me.]

42. Something To Think About Doing

Buying & storing organic seeds

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=organic+seed+companies&btnG=Google+Search

[dkofos]

2. This will be *ush's legacy. Drones in high places. What will happen

when they are no longer told how to think or act.

Will they be able to think for themselves??

[H2O Man]

22. As Peter Tosh noted:

Down-Presser Man

Downpresser man
Where you gonna run to
(3x)
All along that day
(CHORUS)

You gonna run to the sea
But the sea will be boiling
When you run to the sea
The sea will be boiling(2x)
All along that day

You gonna run to the rocks
The rocks will be melting

When you run to the rocks
The rocks will be melitng(2x)
All that day

So I said
CHORUS

You drink your big champagne and laugh(3x)
All along that day

I wouldn't like to be a flea
Under your collar man
(3x)
All along that day

You can run but you can't hide(3x)
Telling you all along that day

You gonna run to the Lord
Beggin' to hide you
(2x)
You gonna run to Jah
Beggin' to hide you
All, all along that day

And I said Downpresser Man

Where you gonna run to
Where you gonna run to Downpresser man
Where you gonna run to
I said all along
All along, along that day Downpresser man(4x)

Wait, Downpresser man
Where you gonna run to
Downpresser man
I don't know where you gonna run to
All along that day

Downpresser man
You can't run, you can't bribe Jah-Jah
Can't call him in a bar
Fe can drink some
Devil soup
Can't bribe him to run a car now
Can't test him faith
Downpresser man(5x)
Where you gonna run to

Downpresser man
You can't bribe no one
Them no want no money
Them run'f money
That money get funny

[madokie]

3. If congress doesn't do something and soon to stop this we will have lost our country

[H2O Man]

23. Right.

I think that the American people are starting to wake up. I think that people in the villages, towns, and cities across this nation are going to demand that Congress take meaningful action to protect our Constitutional democracy. But I fully agree that the hour is getting late. The opportunity we have at this time will never present itself again.

[loudsue]

30. Time is of the essence in this, H2O Man. The republics are going

to be fighting (cheating) as if their lives depended on it in the next election, in order to try to stop the investigations that threaten to put them all in jail.

I REALLY want congress to pass a law (and pass it NOW, while even some republicans might sign off on it -- enough to override a veto) that says no presidential pardon applies to members of the president's cabinet, the Vice-President, the president or vice-president's staff, or upper level management of his departments, if that person is being investigated for, or has been found guilty of, crimes coming from within our government. Government officials need to KNOW they WON'T be pardoned if they are going to commit crimes within the government.

And there need to be new, and very severe penalties for election gerrymandering. This administration has shown us how very dangerous some of the existing loopholes in our laws can be to Democracy.

:hi: Thanks for another great post! You are truly a gem!! :loveya:

:kick::kick::kick::kick:

[mmonk]

4. Amen.

And NO compromising on subpoenas. Enforce our laws and defend the constitution (and thus, the people).

[H2O Man]

24. Exactly.

The police in our community do not compromise with bank robbers. The criminals in this administration are attempting to steal something of far more value than the treasure in a bank's safe.

[ms liberty]

6. K&R n/t

[live love laugh]

7. kick

[rosesaylavee]

8. Thanks for suggesting another good book

to read. Picked up Schlesinger's 'Imperial Presidency' this week because of your many posts referencing that book. Its alarmingly current in the points he makes about the dangers of an imbalanced executive branch though it was written in 1973.

K & R

[H2O Man]

25. Schlesinger ends his

classic "The Imperial Presidency" with a wonderful Walt Whitman quote:

"There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their supreme confidence in themselves, -- and lose their roughness and spirit of defiance -- Tyranny may always enter -- there is no charm, no bar against it -- the only bar is a large resolute breed of men."

[rosesaylavee]

33. I think the Internet has helped

us regain our 'spirit of defiance'.

[hang a left]

9. Institutionalized Criminal Behavior

That just about wraps this admin up.

Don't forget 9-11

[H2O Man]

26. I saw a story

on Fox News this morning, regarding a movie that Charlie Sheen is helping to make about 9/11. Without moving this thread in that area -- and hence off of DU:GD -- I thought it was distasteful how the Fox chatter-boxes attacked the movie that they haven't seen, and savaged Sheen's personal life. Again, another case where we recognize the modus operandi of Fox News.

[Breeze54]

10. "Manipulating data leads to ...." ?

"We' have to get the 'goods' on them. Evidence! ASAP!!

"And there is no part of the administration that has not been corrupted."

That line put a chill down my spine...again.

Thanks H2O Man; for writing this and all that goes into that too!

[H2O Man]

37. It is very important

that the Congress move faster in gathering the evidence, than this administration moves to destroy it. I always think back to the magazine article from December 2003, where an "unidentied" senior administration official -- who we can safely code-name "Karl Rove" -- said of the Plame scandal, "We've moved the earthmovers in over this one."

[Annces]

12. You hear the rationalization that the administration is just playing politics

However there is some point where you pass by politics into much more sinister and corrupt practices. I think of the Bill Moyers piece where Abramoff said about Reed "He is a bad version of us. No more money for him". And this administration has taken corruption and power grabbing to its extreme.

[H2O Man]

39. Good point.

This isn't "playing politics" .... any more than the mafia "played cops & robbers." This administration is the very definition of "organized crime."

[Octafish]

13. Well said, H20 Man: ''Bush administration M.O. is Institutionalized Corruption''

Those who've failed to see this have imperiled our nation.

One brave university professor has started a course on the subject, if I read this correctly:

critcrim.org

Division on Critical Criminology - American Society of Criminology

The Bush Family: A Continuing Criminal Enterprise?

Gary W. Potter, PhD.
Professor, Criminal Justice
Eastern Kentucky University

The S&Ls, the Mob and the Bushs

During the 1980's hundred of Savings and Loan Banks failed. Those bank failures cost U.S. taxpayers over $500 billion to cover federally insured losses, and much more to investigate the bank failures (Pizzo, Fricker, and Muolo, 1989; Brewton, 1992; Johnston, 1990). More than 75% of the Savings and Loan insolvencies where directly linked to serious and often criminal misconduct by senior financial insiders (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 305). In fact, less than 10 percent of bank failures are related to economic conditions, the rest are caused by mismanagement or criminal conduct (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 305).

A good example of the Savings and Loan failures can be found in the activities of Mario Renda, a Savings and Loan insider who often worked in close collaboration with organized crime (Pizzo, Fricker and Muolo, 1989: 123-126;302). Renda served as a middle man in arranging about $5 billion a year in deposits into 130 Savings and Loans, all of which failed (Kwitny, 1992: 27). Many of these deposits were made contingent on an agreement that the Savings and Loan involved would lend money to borrowers recommended by Renda, many of whom were organized crime figures or people entirely unknown to the banking institution involved (Kwitny, 1992: 27).

Equally good examples of financial misconduct in the Savings and Loan scandal is found in the activities of the Bush family. In some cases Bush family members helped skim Savings and Loan funds which were delivered to outsiders as a part of deals involving lucrative payoffs to bank directors. In other cases, members of the Bush family intervened to influence decisions involving highly speculative and unsound investments involving loans that would not be repaid if the venture was not profitable. And finally, the Bush family’s political connection served to protect those guilty of misconduct in the Savings and Loan scandal (Kwitny, 1992: 24).

Neil Bush: Taking Down Silverado

In 1990 federal bank regulators filed a $200 million lawsuit against the officers of Silverado Banking, including Neil Bush, brother of the current President. The lawsuit accused them of gross negligence which resulted in a loss of $1 billion by Silverado and the bank’s ultimate collapse (Los Angeles Times, 1990). According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: “Our conclusion is that Silverado was the victim of sophisticated schemes and abuses by insiders and of gross negligence by its directors and outside professionals” (Johnston, 1990). Neil Bush was reprimanded by the Office of Thrift Supervision for pervasive conflicts of interest while serving as a paid director of the bank Of particular concern was his role in a serious of loans totaling $132 million from the bank to two businessmen, Bill Walters and Kenneth Good (Los Angeles Times, 1990: 1; Isikoff, 1992: A1). Walters and Good, after securing the loans from Silverado, lent Neil Bush $100,000 and later forgave the loan entirely. In addition, Walters and Good owned a company which paid $550,000 in salaries to Neil Bush (Los Angeles Times, 1990: 1; Isikoff, 1992: A1). In the end Walters and Good lost a total of $330 million loaned to them by Silverado. They also received instructions from a member of Silrverado’s board of directors on the establishment of family trusts to prevent the government from seizing the money they owed the bank (Kwitny, 1992: 32). The shutdown of Silverado was postponed from October to December 1988 so that it would happen after President Bush, Sr.’s election campaign had ended. Neil Bush had to pay only $50,000 to settle the federal lawsuit against him and he was able to avoid any legal costs because a senior banking industry lobbyist formed a legal defense fund to pay the legal costs (Fritz, 1992).

CONTINUED...

http://critcrim.org/critpapers/potter.htm

Thank you for another brilliant post, H20 Man.

Would more Americans -- let alone DUers -- would drop the cowardly ostrich act and pull their heads out of the sand.

Non-ostriches can get a head start on the pack here:

http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/bushcrimefamily.htm

[H2O Man]

40. It is important

that citizens take actions to reclaim our Constitutional democracy. That includes everything from getting involved in the local school board; getting college students to organize voter registration drives, among the student body and in low-income, under-represented neighborhoods; getting local town and city boards to take a stand against the war (a recent DU thread noted that Cooperstown, NY just did!); writing letters to local newspapers (it's just as important to write to the smaller ones, as the large papers and magazines); write, call, and visit the offices of all of your elected representatives, including democrats and republicans; and build linkages with other community=based activists and organizations.

This is the opportunity that 2007 provides for Americans. We need to take advantage of every option we have.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

14. kick

[TankLV]

15. They KNOW they stole the WH in 2000 - everything springs from then...

They had to make sure they remained in power NO MATTER THE COST OR MEANS...

Period.

It all stems from there...

If we had rose up and challenged them THEN AND THERE, it would have all fallen apart.

But as soon as we decided to LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THEIR COUP, they KNEW we wouldn't lift a finger and they determined early on to do whatever it took to keep power.

I am certain that the 2006 elections - seen as an "off year election" and a "minor" election caught them COMPLETELY by SURPRISE...

They never dreamed they would ever acutally LOSE...

[H2O Man]

41. You are right .....

In the 2000 election, we saw an ambitious grab for power, that openly denied the American people the outcome that they had voted for. A group of criminals broke into our nation's capital, and took our democracy hostage. That may sound blunt, but it is true. And everything they did between 2001 and 2006 was in the context of their criminal modus operandi. Everything. Every single thing.

Yeah, 2006 caught them by surprise. And for that reason, we can be sure that they are going to make 2008 as ugly and vicious as they possibly can. It is, of course, their modus operandi.

[ClayZ]

16. K and R

[spanone]

17. If Congress does nothing but investigates for 2 years, so be it.

A cancer has taken over our nation and it must be removed or our once great nation will die.

[H2O Man]

43. It seems that it

would take at least two years to investigate the many, many crimes this band of thieves has committed. One of the real advantages that democrats have is the amount of research and investigation that skilled and dedicated people on the progressive left have done since 2001. I think that we can safely say that many of the things that were discussed on DU in, say, 2003 .... and which might have sounded "extreme" to the mainstream at that time .... are now viewed as mainstream. The Plame scandal is my favorite example, but there are many, many more.

[annabanana]

18. A Democrat in the White House will help with the USA situation. .

The corruption that has been attached to other departments will be harder to root out.

[H2O Man]

44. I agree.

Any democrat will be an improvement from the mobsters in the current administration. And more, we have an opportunity to actually select who will be the best democrat for the job .... which is why I think it is important that we have objective discussions of each of the democrats running. We need to take a frank look at each candidate's strengths and weaknesses.

[Tsiyu]

19. I think the "evil genius" theory is out the window, too

These are just common criminals who stole enough rope to hang themselves.

:kick:

[H2O Man]

45. There is a line

in the movie "All the President's Men," where Mr. Felt tells Woodward that the gang of crooks in the White House aren't that good at crime. I think of that when I see how poorly this administration responds lately.

[Tsiyu]

51. Yes, the similarities are striking

When Newty Gingrinch stepped down during the witch hunt of Clinton, I knew
why. I knew people who worked on his campaign in Georgia.

The hypocrisy of the media during that moment in our history - when they were focusing on one couple's affair yet the "moral elite" were engaging in the same behavior with no mention in the press - made me so angry.

But I also caught a clue back then about the arrogance of the "Contract On America" thugs. Newt did have to step down from a position of power, one he no doubt cherished with all of his Neocon might. For all of his macho posturing, he couldn't change the fact that his hypocrisy and personal immorality would not be tolerated.

And I realized that it was their arrogance and elevated sense of their own importance - the divine right of thugs I called it back then - that allowed them to believe that once in power they could do anything they desired and no one could stop them.

I mean, how could Newt sit there in DC frothing at the mouth over morality when he was engaged in the same activity?

His lies had to stem from pure arrogance and a disconnect from reality.

The Bush administration has taken these "qualities" to a whole new level. And they will be forced to step down for the same reasons.

They are just not bright enough to understand that whole CYA thing.

You see, kings don't have to cover their asses. Their subjects must believe everything out of their mouths or be punished as unpatriotic. Too bad that fantasy only exists in their little heads.

They are good at criminal behavior. But not very good at covering up their crimes, because they don't feel they should even have to do so.

[Me.]

52. Divine Right Of Thugs

Good line.

As for why their cover-ups have been so lousy, I think it's because of two reasons:

They're not very bright actually and thoroughly incompetent, even in the things they do for themselves and to further their cause.

They, in their arrogance, think we're stupid and too vacuous to pay attention.

[NastyDiaper]

20. With Griles and Norton making press,

Nasty recommends Crimes as a good, reasonably short, read.

;) Link amazon through a DU link, and search "Robert F. Kennedy Jr." :web:

[H2O Man]

49. Last week

I took part in a program at a local high school, where I discussed a long and difficult struggle to have the government and regional industries clean a 120-acre toxic waste dump in rural, upstate New York. The site was listed as two SuperFund Sites, although it was actually one large site, that happened to have a dirt road running through it. (It became the first "test case" of the EPA MSW law in federal court, and among other things, I had done much of the investigating and producing witnesses for the EPA and DoJ.)

In return for my participation, all I asked was that the high school purchase copies of Robert's books, "Crimes Against Nature," and "The Riverkeepers" (w/John Cronin). Great books.

[bleever]

27. There is a cancer on our democracy.

There is no compromising with cancer.

[H2O Man]

50. Right.

This administration is compromising our democracy. We need to isolate the diseased tissue, and remove it from power.

[porphyrian]

29. I'll definitely kick that. - n/t

[Swamp Rat]

31. RICO'em

;)

[BelgianMadCow]

32. Evil is rooted deep and is branched out

pretty far.
Always good to shed further light on this. I am as fascinated as when overturning a rock where you see a cockroach scurrying under. You know what you will see will send shivers down your spine but you also know you HAVE to see where it went.

Let there be light.

Thanks H20 Man.

[bobthedrummer]

34. I couldn't agree more-"institutionalized corruption" or whatever similar term a citizen

might prefer is the MO.

Fwiw, here is a parent thread about Mr. Cheney and his National Energy Policy Development Group/NEPDG case (but this thread is linked to several other serious corruption issues).

After many patient requests for NEPDG documents from Mr. Cheney, the GAO did take him to US District Court in DC, less than a week before the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Here's a link to a freshly archived thread from a week ago that is valuable to all researchers-and it is rock solid support to the "institutional corruption" MO than you nailed so well H2O Man.

NEPDG DU collaborative investigation thread (started March 18, 2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x440721

[malaise]

38. Great post

Lock up these criminals.

K & R!

[Me.]

46. I Second That Kick

:kick:

[yowzayowzayowza]

47. MO, indeed.

Thx again. K&R.

[Kurovski]

48. K&R.(nt)

[bobbolink]

53. I"d like to respond to one of your comments....

I'd like to respond to your assertion about low-income people in your post #40.

While I agree with you that it's important to facilitate more involvement of low-income voters, I MUST remind all DUers that there have been many, many pleas here in the last few years on behalf of low-income people. Two budgets have come and gone, while some of us have BEGGED DUers to contact their Reps. Very few responses, very little interest in actually becoming active in poverty issues.

So, while I agree and applaud your suggestion that there needs to be more attention paid to GOTV efforts in low-income areas, it's empty unless/until there is SERIOUS EFFORT to address the needs of poor folk.

When I've tried to talk with Dems about this issue, I'm either ignored, insulted or discounted. It just isn't seen as a "sexy" issue. It's an insult to poor folk to assume that of course they will vote for Dems, when the only time they are contacted at all is before an important election. This has gone on for many years, poor folk know they aren't important to the party except for their votes, and have, for the most part, given up hope that Dems will take a strong, active interest in them.

We lost our Champion, RFK, many years ago, and have been largely invisible since then.

When is the time going to come when our votes are important enough to Dems to start taking a serious, active part in championing our cause? When will all of you become partners to us, rather than leaving that job to a very few?

I have felt the urgency that you are talking about for a long time now. Since there doesn't seem to be that much concern on the part of the citizenry, I've decided to smell the roses while I have the opportunity.

Or, watch and listen to the waterfalls. That picture you've posted before comes to mind, and I wish I could sit by the falls for a while.

[H2O Man]

55. One thing that comes

to mind, using history as an example, is how Martin Luther King appealed to the middle- and upper-class, while Malcolm appealed to the poor. The poor trusted Malcolm, because he had been one of them much of his life.

Robert Kennedy was special -- there are wonderful stories of Native Americans writing to his widow to say how they had accepted him, and trusted him. There was a beautiful line about RFK's ability to move from world to world effortlessly .... and this was only as a result of his intense suffering post-63.

If I were to sit near that waterfalls with you, my Wonderful Sister, I would point out that you provide the answer to your own questions here .... You ARE an advocate for the poor on DU. It is good that others do, as well. It is true that neither you or they can really expect to see many results for your efforts. They are not above the surface. Yet. But be patient. And be steady. Fight the good fight. Change is going to come.

[bobbolink]

56. Save me a rock by the falls!

Your words are such a healing balm to this aching soul! I was taken aback, and didn't even know how to formulate a reply.

Thank you so very much.... I have a special drawer for healing words, and will type out this reply of yours, and pull it out when I'm needing a lift.

I don't know, however, that I *CAN* be "patient". People are suffering, people are hurting, and people are dying. All the while, we're invisible to most, including right here at DU. I'd punch a wall if it would wake people up.

The "cries" of hurting folk, if you will, occupies my thoughts much more than the excuses of INDIFFERENCE.

[bobthedrummer]

54. Kick.