21 July 2010

Just ranting

OK, I admit it, I am getting old. Also very tired, tired of having to deal with physical pain every damn day. Tired of needing pain meds to manage each day. Big deal, there are many people in this world who are way worse off than I am.
What has really got me pissed off of late has been the attitudes of a seemingly majority of the "left" in the old US of A. I check in at the web site "Crooks and Liars" every day or so. The prevailing attitude there and some other "left" leaning web sites is that no matter what, we all need to vote for the donkey gang this coming November. Well, my reply to that is, bull shit! Absolute bull shit in fact.
Why would any sane human being just blindly vote for the donkey gang?  They are not very much better than the elephant gang. I see them as being just the "opposite" sides of the very same coin. It used to be said that there was "not a dimes' worth of difference" between them. I don't see that much difference. True, there may be some members of either party who do not follow the "party line" totally, but between the two parties, there is very little difference today. In my opinion, they have both sold out to the big money interests. The "too big to fail" gang has bought both the donkey and the elephant gangs. Lock, stock, and both barrels.
If the donkey gang really cared about the working people, as they supposedly once did, why, when they had majorities in BOTH houses of Congress AND the presidency, didn't they push for and get a real national health care plan? Why are they going along with the idea that "entitlements" (read Social Security and Medicare for starters) need to be cut, while they make permanent the Shrubbie tax cuts for the super rich? Why do the donkey gang continue to vote ever more monies, that we don't have, for the damn fool wars of choice we are bogged down in?
An article today at Counterpunch really set me off on this. It has been bothering me for some weeks now, but the article by Mr. Brain Foley really got me to vent on this. The article is great and I highly recommend it to you. Here is the link to it;www.counterpunch.org/foley07212010.html
After you read his article, let me know if you are also "spitting mad".
Actually, I have to wonder why any working class person would be tempted to send money to either of the animal gangs.
Another question, why would any working class person ever vote for either of the animal parties again? Once upon a time, it seemed as though the donkey gang cared about the working class. They once counted on support from the unions. Of course that isn't very much now days. How can the unions matter now that most of those jobs have been sent off shore? Fewer union jobs means fewer union members and that means less political clout for the unions. Well, that was a pretty "easy" way to break those unions wasn't it? Yes sir, just send all those high paid, skilled union jobs to Pakistan, India, or some other country with very low labor rates. And where are the donkey gang members in all this? Please, you should not have to ask, remember, Billy Bob Bubba pushed for and got NAFTA! Yep, a "democrat" got that "free trade" bill pushed through Congress and he signed the damn thing. And now they want us to give money to that "party"?  Do they really think we are that damn stupid?
There are alternatives to the animal gangs. You can vote for a third party candidate. I do not think that such a vote is a "throw away" vote. I also do not believe that Nader "cost" Gore the 2000 election. Gore and his "pal" Joe lost it themselves. And then they didn't even fight for a true recount. Looks like they really didn't want to win that bad after all. Just how I see it.
A good start to making a change in the old US of A might be over at the following web site.www.uspvp.org. They have a very interesting proposed amendment. Well worth looking into.
Some how things must change in our country. We are broke. Our infrastructure is falling apart. We have high unemployment. Most of the skilled jobs have been sent off shore. The political clowns in D.C.want to cut Social Security and Medicare among other social programs. They want to make the tax cuts for the rich that W. Shrub signed as permanent. They keep spending borrowed (!!) monies on idiotic wars of choice that do not make us safer. They funnel obscene amounts of money into the "too big to fail" banksters who caused the economy to collapse. And they keep trying to scare us all with new "terror" threats.
We are bombing people who have never had any intention of harming us. We kill by remote control people who probably could not have found the US on a map, let alone have any ill feelings towards us. Oh, they hate our guts now, because we killed members of their families. Hell, if some foreign army killed your family members, you'd hate the country who sent those troops also. America is the invader in Iraq and Afghanistan and we are fighting those idiot wars with borrowed money! Just like the oil disaster in the Gulf, paying for these wars will fall to our great grand children and maybe even beyond that generation.
We are spoiling our own nest, killing and maiming people who never had any ill will towards us before we invaded their countries. We are damaging the ecology of the planet and yet the "liberals" say we need to elect more "democrats"? WHY?
What war has Go-bomber stopped? What prison in Cuba has he closed? (He did make that a campaign promise to close Gitmo.) How will anybody except the insurance companies benefit from the health care "reform"?  How long will these "democrats" continue to spend borrowed money on useless wars?
Do not tell me how the elephant gang is the "war party". BOTH the elephant AND the donkey gang are the war party. America does not have a "peace party", we have two wings of one war party.
My suggestion, if you get a letter asking you for money for either the elephant or the donkey gang, don't send any, of course. However, do NOT throw the return envelope away. Nope. Send it back to them, empty. That way they have to pay the return postage. Sending them an empty envelope at their expense is just about what they deserve. After all, they give us empty promises each election cycle. Maybe we should return the favor. Just my opinion.
semper fi

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you, Charlie, only it seems such a waste to choke up the U.S. Postal Service with a bunch of empty donation envelopes. Pretty much everybody - Republicrat or Democan alike - can find a use for a couple of nice, fat washers. At least that way they know that you're trying to contribute in your own small (though fairly heavy) way. Just a thought.

Cheers! I enjoy your blog. Keep it up. Best of health and happiness to you.

Rich S

charlie ehlen said...

Well, it actually helps the Post Office in that they collect the postage for the returned envelope. Also, by sending back the empty envelope, you give a letter carrier some work to do.
Do the same with junk mail and they might take you off the mailing list.

Tao Dao Man said...

Vote for the challenger. No matter which party he, or she may belong to. If there is a third part candidate on the ballot, vote for them.
These kleptomaniacs have to be shown that they are not wanted.
The system is broken. By voting these sewer rats back into office time after time we are condoning their crimes against humanity.

Grandpa Ken said...

I'm not a regular daily reader, Charlie, but I occasionally tune in and I felt like I ought to let you know that (that I occasionally check in on what you have to say and that I am a Vietnam vet, class of Aug’68 to Jul’69).

Your feelings about political parties are spot on. I also agree with the “People’s Virtual Party” that we should pledge to vote for "no more" Republicans or Democrats "no matter what." In fact, we should write in names rather than waste our vote otherwise (if no Third Party or Independent candidates are available).

(Reality Zone misses the point that if we vote for the challenger "no matter which party he or she belongs to" the corrupt Two Party system still wins.)

If enough voters could imagine the possibility of sending The System a message on election day – of only voting for Third Party or Independent candidates or writing in a name – it could be hard for the Main Stream Media to ignore that... Imagine the headlines the next day:

“American voters decide to Send a Message rather than Worry About Who Wins or Loses.”

“American voters Finally Figure It Out - that it doesn’t matter who wins or loses but who runs and why.”

“A new era in politics is born – political party leaders are stunned!”

Wouldn't that be nice? I have no reason to believe our two-party political system can be fixed. It needs to be completely done over and made simple again with as loud a call for "real change" as possible in November. (Like I thought we were going to get in November of 2008 with Obama - I feel so betrayed.)

We shouldn’t drop out of the system or give up on it we should send it a message: “No more Democrats or Republicans no matter what – no more bait and switch! Period.”

We need real healthcare reform in America (Single Payer) and we need jobs – now - public jobs for public projects and whatever it takes to get America back to work (like they did in the ‘30’s with the Work Projects Administration)!

Hang in there Charlie, thank you.

Tao Dao Man said...

GK:
I do understand the point that the whole system is corrupt. I have been screaming about this for a long time. :-)
The two party system is set up to be just that.
A two party system.
No matter [d] or [r] on the lapel. The agenda is the same.
As long as this system stays in place, it will lead us further into the abyss.
We can not even depend on SCOTUS.
They are sitting at the same camp fire.
I think the question that must now be asked is.
Does evolution come about through revolution? Or, is it the other way around.
My yin & yang for the day. LOL

gesneri said...

Good blog once again, Charlie. I always enjoy reading your latest. Hope your physical discomfort will ease somewhat.

I will probably write in my votes in the coming midterms. I won't stay away from the polls and be counted among the apathetic, that's for sure. My vote for a congressperson is futile anyway--I'm in a conservative Republican district and have not in my memory had a congressperson who actually represented my views. I've had a couple of not-too-bad senators in past years, though.

gesneri said...

Forgot to say that I used to be spitting mad. Now I'm just old, tired and disgusted but trying to hang in there.

Tao Dao Man said...

Here is a good example of the two [one] party system hard at work.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/24-4
Enjoy.

Grandpa Ken said...

Reality Zone:

I've been to your website and you are way ahead of me in probably every respect... Your subsequent link to Common Dreams and Ralph Nader's article about the new official Duopoly in California is also well put... So how come you can't agree to no more Republicans or Democrats no matter what? That no matter what happens we agree to never vote for another Democrat or Republican again, ever - unless they renounce their party affiliation and at least pretend to be "independent."

From now on we write in a name if no "Independent" choice is available. We "Make a Statement" rather then vote for the "lesser of two evils." A duopoly system is evil so why accept it?

If enough voters write in names and refuse to accept a "rigged" duopoly system isn't there at least some hope they won't be able to cover that up - that enough voters refuse to go along?

As for Evolution vs. Revolution - refusing to accept a rigged choice should be a step in the right direction either way... No more Republicans or Democrats. No more Democrats or Republicans. If there is no "Independent" choice "Write in a name!"

Tao Dao Man said...

GP:
I totally agree with you about the write in votes.
I have been a registered Independent for many cycles.
Many dems can not figure me out.
Repubs just shake their head. :-)
The system has to change.
Real term limits need to be set in place.
President = one term =six years.
Tax payer funded elections.
No private contributions.

I was absolutely effen livid when SCOTUS ruled on Corps being individuals.
I posted many threads about it.

Write in votes, as you suggest is great in principal. Unfortunately the small amount of peeps that vote do not think like we do. They have been programmed to accept the [lesser of two evils] tactic.

If W was doing what the O Team is doing the Dems would be outraged. But since he is a dem they give him a pass.
This infuriates me to no end.
It is possible that the day will come soon where there are break away parties from the two.
A tea party for the insane rethugs is already under way.
We need a Peace Semi-Socialist party to break from the dem party.