Friday, May 28, 2010

Make that Change

The political center of America has been moving decidedly to the right for decades.

Actual liberals have been all-but banished from the Democratic Party.

Ask yourself, do we have any heroes in America like Marek Edelman, who left us this past October? Uncompromising and fierce, even in the face of death, even in the face of the scorn of his countrymen and allies?

The Democrats will not get their shit together on issues like marriage equality or reproductive rights and they have caved on every economic issue there is.

The Clinton 90's heralded an era of Democratic Reaganomics.

The Democrats are now on the wrong side on the death penalty, the war on crime, the war on drugs, and more or less every other aspect of both our foreign and domestic policy.

Gains are small and usually immediately taken away. Resistance is met with either scorn, or muscle.

We, the left, caught a great deal of grief from the Democratic Party when we dared to refuse to support Gore and Lieberman who might as well be Republicans.

I’m sorry, but you can’t move that far to the right and then complain that the left has abandoned you.

And anyone who has spoken out in the last eight years, from Ward Churchill to Bill Maher to the Dixie Chicks can tell you what it’s like be responded to with simple, brutal, unmoving force.

And now, we are at a crossroads. Did we really mean what we said when we voted for change, or are we just jerking off?

Are we pissed off enough about this recession to demand that the people we just put into office reverse the past 28 years of systematic deregulation that led to this whole mess?
The hubris of the last eight years, the prioritizing of power over party, and party over country has imploded the Republican Party and we have been given a magnificent opportunity. It would be a crime to waste it. But the Democrats have indeed wasted the opportunity.

They could not get meaningful health care for all Americans even with a Super-majority in both houses. You know why? Because they didn't fucking try!

They talked of bi-partisanship as if it were the primary virtue for any politician. As if making friends with the enemy were more important than principle.

They've put Blackwater into Pakistan for Christ's sake!

No more. I've come to a crucial decision. When you choose between the lesser of two evils, you are still choosing evil.

Go ahead and tell me I'm throwing my vote away.

But from now on, every vote will go to a Socialist, Green or Independent candidate.

I used to think the Democrats' problem was weakness. Now I see that it's a lack of conviction.

And for the record, to you, the Democratic Party, you left us. Adieu.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Contact Your Lawmakers! Get Out of Afghanistan!

Below is a link you can click to send messages to your Senators and your Rep asking them to support legislation getting us out of Afghanistan.

http://www.winwithoutwar.org/page/speakout/timeline

They have their own pre-written message, but I suggest writing your own. I think when politicians get the same thing over and over they tend to think a lot of people are clicking without thinking and probably don't give it
the weight they should.

So, in the hopes that Sen. Bond, Sen. McCaskill and Rep. Graves will actually read something I took the time to compose m
yself, here's what I wrote:

With due respect, the arrogance with which we are fighting this war is staggering.

I know that you are educated. You don't get to where you are if you're not smart.


No superpower in history has been able to conquer Afghanistan and many have tried.


First, the terrain is prime for defense and second, this is not a culture that surrenders. EVER.


What's happening there now is a civil war and we have got to get out. Please, I care about my country too much to stand by and watch it continue in its imperialism.


I'm writing to ask that you support legislation introduced by Senator Feingold (S.3197) or Representatives McGovern and Jones (H.R. 5015) requiring the president to submit to Congress a plan for the "safe, orderly and expeditious redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan."


President Obama promised change and he has not delivered it. It is up to the legislative branch to stand up and get our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq.


Please, don't let any more of them die over there.


Please don't let any more of our young people become killers.


Thank you for listening.


Joshua D. Lucht

Blue Springs, MO 64015

joshlucht@yahoo.com

Friday, May 14, 2010

In Her Wake: An Interview with Dr. Nancy Rappaport

I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Dr. Nancy Rappaport, author of "In Her Wake," about her mother's suicide.

This is an unbelievable book that everyone who is depressed or knows someone who is mentally ill needs to read.

Friday, May 7, 2010

SWAT Team shoots dogs in front of 7-year-old child

This shit is just disgraceful. What's sad is that the worst thing that could possibly happen to these cops is they'll lose their jobs. And that's the best we can hope for.

We have to stop letting these guys get away with this just because they're in uniform. As a society, we have to start demanding criminal prosecution for cops who do things like this.

What you see in this video is not something that happens in a free country.

SWAT Team shoots dogs in front of 7-year-old child