WTF does it take?

[unhappycamper]

We're pissing away $164 billion or so each year to keep the occupations going.

There are no mission statements nor exit strategies for Afghanistan.

We found out yesterday that gas in Afghanistan costs us around $400 a gallon, delivered.

873 American soldiers have lost their lives in the invasion and continued occupation of Afghanistan.

4,349 American soldiers have lost their lives in the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq.

45,000 American die each year in this country due to lack of health care.

The national debt is $11+ trillion and counting.

The DOW cracked 10,000 and the unemployment rate is around 10%.


:wtf: does it take to stop this shit?

[liberal N proud]

1. K&R

[PuraVidaDreamin]

2. Massive Civil Disobedience!

Americans don't have what it takes.

[unhappycamper]

3. .

:)

[1]

4. obama thinks it is worth the effort. i suspect he knows more than you. trust obama.

don't you think he would abandon this if he thought it wasn't important?

[RetroLounge]

20. That's all you got?

Nixon thinks viet nam is worth the effort. i suspect he knows more than you. trust Nixon.

:eyes:

RL

[cherokeeprogressive]

26. For many, that's all it takes.

But then I suspect you knew that.

[AndyA]

5. We're going to have to get together and take to the streets.

Then we need to VOTE EVERY SINGLE CONGRESS PERSON OUT OF OFFICE who votes to continue this bullshit. A massive replacement of Congressional representatives would get the message across: DO WHAT WE WANT YOU TO DO, OR YOU GO!

If that happened, the corporations would lose much of their power, and the rest of the crap which we endure to guarantee corporate profits, would evaporate.

[wroberts189]

6. The return of a messiah? ANY messiah? Or extraterrestrial help.

Now would be a good time.

Please ..SOS

[winyanstaz]

24. Most people wouldn't recognize a messiah if one was standing in front of them...

or posting to them in a blog. ;)
Jesus would be kidnapped and tortured for having too dark skin, wearing long hair, a robe and sandals and looking too middle eastern and foreign.
If not that..he would probably be shipped out to mexico..unless of course he would be willing to serve in the military for his green card :P

[wroberts189]

33. Not with the super hero powers they would be endowed with...

But I imagine they will not come until we are in dire straights and ready for them.


Damn I wish the aliens (Which do exist confirmed by several governments) would at least give us a little help. Just hover over our capitals a bit.... write "Save your planet or you will die" and fax/text ..imprint it in crops everywhere.


That whole Star Trek rule ... non-interference. I say f*ck that. We need help.. We are killing the damn planet. SOS. Give us a damn chance.


We need help. Our leaders lack courage.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

7. Massive strikes

Direct action etc.

K&R

[snake in the grass]

8. Sadly,

this country is going to have to hit rock bottom before anything happens. There are still too many people who don't care about what's going on as long as they can still hit the McDonalds drive-thru at 2 a.m. and watch "Dancing with the Stars". The level of suffering necessary for critical mass has yet to be reached.

[GoCubsGo]

10. I don't think even that will do it.

Even if we do hit rock bottom, most people would probably sit and take it. I'm willing to bet they'd do nothing other than sit and whine about how bad things are--and wait for someone else to do something. I wish I didn't have a better view of my fellow citizens, but they don't make it easy for me to believe otherwise about them.

[unhappycamper]

9. Make that 877 Americans have died in the invasion and continued occupation of Afghanistan.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4106251

[KharmaTrain]

11. 30 Years Of Systemic Corruption, 8 Years of Totalitarianism

After 6 years of total neglect while chasing for WMDS (and letting contractors rake in billions of our tax dollars) and a wasted adventure and occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan became a total clusterfuck. The mission lost focus and our troops ended up being stuck in the middle of tribal warfare...looked upon as occupiers rather than liberators (what an arrogant thought that was to start with). Unfortunately, in order to try to straighten the mess, President Obama is caught in his own words of putting the focus there and to "restore order" (whatever that is) more troops have been added with possibly more on the way. But this is a no-win situation as this administration still haven't come up with an end game where the mission goes from "nation building" back to going after Al Queda (which isn't in Afghanistan)...and that can be done with far fewer than the 200,000 troops and 250,000 plus mercenaries in the region. Time this administration gets focus...and comes up with a plan to define what "victory" means and get our troops out of both Iraq and Afghanistan.

While I'm trying to be patient while this administration unravels a mess not of their own doing and support VP Biden's proposals on what should be done, but this administration is caught in the rhetorical claptrap of "keeping America safe" while working on a lot of other issues...many of them trying to fix the messes of the past. Unfortunately a withdrawl would be viewed as "cut and run" by the corporate media and possibly endanger all this administration is trying to do and fix.

[Carolina]

12. K&R K&R K&R K&R K&R!!!

So true!

[jacko_be]

13. 2 days of not driving all of the us cars

no business and no work, no electricity use
the losses to the country would be huge

and gives you power, much power

[Kablooie]

14. Mustapha Mond?

[tekisui]

15. I wish I had the answer. knr

[dgibby]

16. Campaign finance reform.

Until we get public financing and stop corporations from buying our elected representatives, we will never stop this.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

17. We're gonna need massive civil disobedience for that too.

Getting rid of corporate personhood right up there with that!

[redqueen]

18. Vietnam ended when our soldiers stopped fighting / following orders.

The stuff here helped, but it seems to me that it was more the loss of control of the troops in Vietnam that made the brass give up.

[gratuitous]

19. Why do you question our national religion?

What is the matter with you, citizen? The High Church of Redemptive Violence demands that we find a violent, preferably military, solution to any problem. We solve our problems when they are shot, bombed, blasted, blown up, terrorized, or occupied. Negotiated solutions take too long and are too expensive. Launching a war is cheap, fast, and provides lots of pretty pictures of explosions to be shown on the teevee.

To stop it, you'd have to change the very warp and woof of the fabric of our society. Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to do that and got shot for his efforts. We may celebrate his life with a one day holiday each year (because he's safely dead and no longer a bother), but the other 364 days are given over to the High Church.

[winyanstaz]

25. Ramen to that too...

[Ezlivin]

21. Vote more Democrats into office

They truly listen to the voice of the people.

As soon as they get control of both houses and the presidency we'll see some real change....

[kenny blankenship]

22. 1st thing is to repudiate empire.

Which you'll notice Obama is not doing.

There's no mission statement in Afghanistan nor announced exit strategy because the real goal remains to never leave. Just like Iraq. We'd like for Afghanistan to settle down and allow us to pare our permanent forces down, but they're a stubborn bunch over there, say the Army and the history books. So we'll be killing, killing, killing Afghans until they get the message that we are there to stay.

At some point they'll get tired of watching their sons disappear and their villages burn and then we can dial our presence back to oh say 10,000 troops on a permanent basis. Like in Iraq, where we are following a timetable that has us withdrawing patrols from their cities, and drawing down forces to a permanent garrison of 50,000 (the original estimate for how many it would take to invade Iraq), Afghanistan will go back to its original invasion force levels once it is pacified. That's our "Exit Strategy" - to perpetually keep enough troops in their country that no government of the natives dares to defy us or tries to limit how we project force through their country within the surrounding region. If we want to ignore them and maintain a minimal force in their country we'll be able to. If we want to build up forces in their country and menace Iran from the east, we'll be able to. If we want to keep Pakistan guessing if we're going to snatch their nukes, we'll be able to. If we want to keep China from buying right of way to build a gas pipeline to the West we'll be able to. We intend to be The Power in charge of Central Asia, now and 50 years from now, despite the proximity of the Russians and Chinese, and Afghanistan is our main base in that campaign. We don't have to ASK them for basing rights like we do other 'Stans over there. We OWN it. The "sovereign" country of Afghanistan will watch helplessly as we do whatever we please inside their borders. As long as there is natural gas in the Caspian Basin that's the mission statement, occupation and empire without end, amen.

[troubledamerican]

23. Profiles In Courage.

That's what it takes.

[Greyhound]

27. K&R. It takes enough people to get to the point where they are willing to

stop playing the parasite's game and take back their power.

[BrklynLiberal]

28. An excellent question...not asked often enough or by and of the right people.

[HughBeaumont]

29. Nothing. Because arrest even on a misdemeanor level is difficult to recover from.

Corporations, which have greater tabs on EVERYONE more than ever, know this. An arrest even for civil disobedience, sad as it is to say, will close a lot of doors for a person. Trust me, they WILL find out later if not sooner. There's no privacy anymore.

Revolution against corporations will never happen because people plain and simple fear getting arrested. They wouldn't put their lives on the line because there's far too much for them to lose. There'd never be a "CHAAARRGE" because you'd have a whole lot of people going "errrr . . . you first."

The police will protect the wealthy and beat and arrest us. Same goes for the military. They regard THEM as "the good guys" and THEM as the "victims", NOT us.

Get fired? Where are you going to work? What are you going to do for money? The "Dole" might as well BE a damned pineapple for all it's worth. What about health care? Like Mike Moore said, "This ain't Sweden you live in". You need that job for a LOT of things in life. Lose it and you're screwn.

Even if there were thousands upon thousands at the foot of riot police, they'd stop us because livelihood is not worth throwing away. Putting things in the "Life Sucks" file and moving on while we get the shit end of the stick on a continuous basis is the 21st Century American way of life.

[Joe the Liberal]

30. It would take enough people to finally wake up.......

but that won't happen so it would take the total and complete downfall of the US to the point where it breaks up into several sovereign nations. Then the more liberal nations that rise from ashes won't have republicans weighing them down, not as many anyway. The deep red states can live in their barbaric banana republics, in other words it would be to each his own.

With all the problems facing the US one thing is clear, it cannot continue down this road for very long.

[grahamhgreen]

31. Well said. Not to mention it has a crap constitution and is an Islamic Republic.

[TexasObserver]

32. Recommend