When someone like Palin posts a map with cross hairs on the districts of Democrats, when she says "Don't Retreat, Instead-RELOAD!" there are desperate people cleaning their weapons who listen. When Christian fascists stand in the pulpits of megachurches and denounce Barack Obama as the Antichrist, there are messianic believers who listen. When a Republican lawmaker shouts "baby killer" at Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, there are violent extremists who see the mission of saving the unborn as a sacred duty. They have little left to lose. We made sure of that. And the violence they inflict is an expression of the violence they endure.
These movements are not yet full-blown fascist movements. They do not openly call for the extermination of ethnic or religious groups. They do not openly advocate violence. But, as I was told by Fritz Stern, a scholar of fascism who has written about the origins of Nazism, "In Germany there was a yearning for fascism before fascism was invented." It is the yearning that we now see, and it is dangerous. If we do not immediately reincorporate the unemployed and the poor back into the economy, giving them jobs and relief from crippling debt, then the nascent racism and violence that are leaping up around the edges of American society will become a full-blown conflagration.
Left unchecked, the hatred for radical Islam will transform itself into a hatred for Muslims. The hatred for undocumented workers will become a hatred for Mexicans and Central Americans. The hatred for those not defined by this largely white movement as American patriots will become a hatred for African-Americans. The hatred for liberals will morph into a hatred for all democratic institutions, from universities to government agencies to the press. Our continued impotence and cowardice, our refusal to articulate this anger and stand up in open defiance to the Democrats and the Republicans, will see us swept aside for an age of terror and blood.
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As FEMA and other government agencies prepare for what is now being called by some, the worst oil spill disaster in history, plans to evacuate the Tampa Bay area are in place.
The plans would be announed in the event of a controlled burn of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico, if wind or other conditions are expected to take the toxic fumes through Tampa Bay.
-----------------------------------------------and what a country goes through.
Regarding recreational drug use, the late Alan Watts advised that "once you get the message, hang up the phone". Addiction destroys individual lives, careers and families. Addiction is personal imprisonment. As an individual, you are responsible to check yourself; and if need be, get help and get better. This is a medical and spiritual thing. It should not be a legal one. The "Drug War" is a waste of our public resources and it actually creates corruption, violence and illness.
In addition to the "War on Drugs", The "War on Terror", the "Patriot Act" (and more recently, the Military Commissions Act) are attacks on your own American Freedom. Your Freedom is guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. These attacks on freedom are facilitated by America's true enemies through corruption, monopolization and propaganda.
A country whose knowledge and perceptions are intentionally obscured by the ruling powers is in the same condition as a drunk who doesn't know when he's freezing to death... a crack-head who doesn't notice the decay of his own mind and body.
To work towards decriminalization of cannabis in Florida, we must consider cannabis as a medicine, and that many are using cannabis as a medicine. To work on getting medical cannabis decriminalized, check out People United for Medical Marijuana at http://www.pufmm.org/ .. It's easy to remember .. "puff 'em" www.pufmm.org
In addition, if you suspect that cannabis or something else has seduced you into a trap, it could be time for you to learn what the 12 steps are all about. To find a meeting in the Tampa Bay area, check out http://www.bascna.org/meetings/
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http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/05/grayson-files-war-is-making-you-poor-bill.html
Grayson files 'War is Making You Poor' bill
Rep. Alan Grayson, Florida's most colorful member of Congress, files a lot of bills with eye-catching names. They have no chance of passing but the idea is to provoke thought. Today he announced the “War Is Making You Poor Act."
According to his office it:
- Limits the amount of funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
- Eliminates the federal income tax on the first $35,000 of every American’s income ($70,000 for married couples)
- Cuts the Federal deficit by $15.9 billion
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/the-great-shame-americas_b_586377.html
The vast, sprawling coastal marshes of Louisiana, where the Mississippi River drains into the gulf, are among the finest natural resources to be found anywhere in the world. And they are a positively crucial resource for America. The response of the Obama administration and the general public to this latest outrage at the hands of a giant, politically connected corporation has been embarrassingly tepid. ... This is the bitter reality of the American present, a period in which big business has cemented an unholy alliance with big government against the interests of ordinary Americans, who, of course, are the great majority of Americans. The great majority of Americans no longer matter. America is selling its soul for oil.
Where is the outrage? Where are the millions marching in the streets, where is the round-the-clock roadblock coverage tracking every moment of the crisis, every effort to plug the leak, every desperate attempt to mitigate the damage?
Where is the White House? Where are Republicans? Where are Democrats? Where is the left? Where is the right? Where is the "fierce urgency of now?"
Prominent oceanographers [are] accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill's true scope. The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate the magnitude of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean.
In the movies, pretend heroes like Bruce Willis and Will Smith save the planet while the whole world watches with breath and belief suspended. In real life, a global catastrophe is treated like a mere annoyance, mismanaged by a rapacious oil company, while drill-baby-drillers double down on their folly and the White House puts out defensive fact sheets about how they were on it from "day one."
Is this really the best we can do?
America is capable of greatness -- but our reaction to this unprecedented event is anything but great.
In some parts of the country, the sight of oil drifting toward the Louisiana coast, oozing into the fragile marshlands and bringing large parts of the state's economy to a halt, has prompted calls to stop offshore drilling indefinitely, if not altogether. Here, in the middle of things, those calls are few. Here, in fact, the unfolding disaster is not even prompting a reconsideration of the 75th annual Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival. "All systems are go," said Lee Delaune, the festival's director, sitting in his cluttered office in a historic house known as Cypress Manor. "We will honor the two industries as we always do," Mr. Delaune said. "More so probably in grand style, because it's our diamond jubilee."
Granted, some scientists are telling us the truth, some reporters are digging up unpleasant facts, some citizens are rising in anger, some federal agencies are doing what they are tasked to do. People are working to fix this. But by and large, America's collective response to this crisis is disproportionately anemic.
Leadership is virtually non-existent. Blaming BP for being greedy and destructive is the least we should do, not the only thing we do. We need to turn the tide once and for all against those whose ideological rigidity is ravaging the planet.
...
Why has this unfolded so badly?
- Democratic leaders have been blindsided by this spill, having just come out in favor of offshore drilling to appease Republicans.
- The right, for the most part, is stuck in the 19th century, consumed by a manic hatred for anything green.
- Oil companies are after one thing: money.
- The press and punditry are busy chasing the story du jour.
- Defenders of the administration are loathe to critique it, out of a sense of loyalty.
Consequently, we're left with a halfhearted and halting, shameful response to a profound tragedy.
This isn't Katrina II, it's worse. As the oil keeps gushing and the damage keeps growing, we are squandering a rare chance to turn the tide against those whose laziness and greed and ignorance is imperiling every living thing on our wonderful and beautiful - and wounded - planet.
Words are a necessary precursor to deeds, anger is an essential ingredient for social change. Speaking up and speaking out is the difference between apathy and action. 30 years of conservative message dominance is a function of the right's ability to master outrage. Now is the time for Democrats and progressives to muster (and master) the kind of outrage worthy of this calamity.
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