Is Obama Punking Us? - Frank Rich - NYT »
Posted By deathray 4 months, 2 weeks ago in Political Opinion
“ AUGUST is a challenging time to be president,” said Andrew Card, the former Bush White House chief of staff, as he offered unsolicited advice to his successors in a television interview last week. “ I think you have to expect the unexpected.”
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deathray
Hm...summarizing a life...Investment banker, sailor, unintentional gourmet cook. Ex US Naval officer, also Foreign Service. Split my time between NYC and Miami Beach ...
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deathray4 months, 2 weeks ago
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president obama is trying to steer a course between scylla and charybis. unable to placate the right, he's angering many on the left as well on some policies, vice versa on others.
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he's unfortunately had to recant (imho) many of the campaign promises made during the presidential election cycle...but none of us are in his shoes.
it certainly seems that it's harder to govern than it is to campaign, particularly if you can't break the hold of special interest on Congress.-
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Beau78904 months, 2 weeks ago
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As Rich says:
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What the Great Recession has crystallized is a larger syndrome that Obama tapped into during the campaign. It’s the sinking sensation that the American game is rigged — that, as the president typically put it a month after his inauguration, the system is in hock to “the interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few” who have “run Washington far too long.” He promised to smite them.
No president can do that alone, let alone in six months. To make Obama’s goal more quixotic, the ailment that he diagnosed is far bigger than Washington and often beyond politics’ domain. What disturbs Americans of all ideological persuasions is the fear that almost everything, not just government, is fixed or manipulated by some powerful hidden hand, from commercial transactions as trivial as the sales of prime concert tickets to cultural forces as pervasive as the news media.
The only protections "the average guy" has against any powerful hidden hand are those provided by government regulation. And sometimes even that regulation allows more loopholes than it closes for private industry.
Add to that the utter dependence of elected reprentatives on big pockets in order to reach an ever-rising competitive level of campaign funds and the Supreme Court's reluctance to uncouple campaign contributions from free speech, and not only can no president "interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few," but neither can anyone whose ability to reach power depends on donations. -
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hyperbola4 months, 1 week ago
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Only the rhetoric has changed with Obama. The "wet dreams" of our corrupt elite have not changed and Obama is a willing accomplice to them.
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Liberals Are Going Nowhere With Obama
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/08/10/liberals...
The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or “extraordinary rendition,” restore habeas corpus or halt the warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of citizens. It will not push through significant environmental reform, regulate Wall Street or end our relationship with private contractors that provide mercenary armies to fight our imperial wars and produce useless and costly weapons systems.
The sad reality is that all the well-meaning groups and individuals who challenge our permanent war economy and the doctrine of pre-emptive war, who care about sustainable energy, fight for civil liberties and want corporate malfeasance to end, were once again suckered by the Democratic Party. They were had. It is not a new story. The Democrats have been doing this to us since Bill Clinton. It is the same old merry-go-round, only with Obama branding. And if we have not learned by now that the system is broken, that as citizens we do not matter to our political elite, that we live in a corporate state where our welfare and our interests are irrelevant, we are in serious trouble. Our last hope is to step outside of the two-party system and build movements that defy the Democrats and the Republicans. If we fail to do this, we will continue to undergo a corporate coup d’etat in slow motion that will end in feudalism.
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alanocu4 months, 2 weeks ago
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Is Obama punking us? Does a bear sh*t in the woods? Is a frog's ass watertight? Obama is the leader of the punks. The problem is he's so useless and ineffective he thinks a Democratic majority in the House and Senate just gives him more power to whine about Republicans.
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hefaa1Comment removed: Hard Banned
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icono14 months, 2 weeks ago
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Special interest groups, do by and large, determine how Congress will address and or vote on an issue.
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When young 0Bama was campaigning, he largely played to public sentiment and anger toward a 'belligerent' and or 'distant' Republican Govt, and promised the 'voting public' "Change they could believe in.", with governmental transparency guaranteed from day one of his Presidency.
However, the reality of DC is that 'change' is a 'brokered process with the Devil' and 'transparency' is not welcome and shunned or worked around to protect the identity and therefore activities of the 'inner circle members' of DC's true power brokers, the lobbyists.(In this case, I'm using the phrase of 'power broker' to mean a person or group of individuals that strongly persuade politicians to vote along policy lines that favor the lobbyist 'special interest' like big Pharmacy and etc.)
To survive in that environment, 0Bama and Co. has to drop the sweet campaign rhetoric and promises of change and 'do as the Romans do' while in DC. Which, of course, has the effect of destroying his credibility with his base, and possibly, with the independent voters as well.-
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dunkirk4 months, 1 week ago
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well said icono. its that process that will be interesting to watch, Obama has already broken at times making comments about the insidiousness of the lobbyists. What this indicates is a housecleaning that needs to occur on both sides of the aisle.
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hyperbola4 months, 1 week ago
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Well, that shows lack of courage, or that Obama has been a creature of the corrupt elite that "hired" him from the very beginning. For example, instead of soaking taxpayers with trillions of new debt to "rescue" corrupt financial oligarchs, Obama could have done what Teddy Roosevelt did a century ago - bust up the corrupt (financial) monopolies. Instead he has reinforced them.
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gamahuche4 months, 2 weeks ago
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FTA:
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The best political news for the president remains the Republicans. It’s a measure of how out of touch G.O.P. leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are that they keep trying to scare voters by calling Obama a socialist. They have it backward. The larger fear is that Obama might be just another corporatist, punking voters much as the Republicans do when they claim to be all for the common guy. If anything, the most unexpected — and challenging — event that could rock the White House this August would be if the opposition actually woke up.
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If that's the good news then of course its just another symptom that change is slower and harder than expected..
The problems that the US is facing are conceivably so deepy ingrained and so intractable that the nation cannot be prevented from falling apart.
By anyone born of woman, nor even Macduff.-
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TheRealizer4 months, 2 weeks ago
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Our economic base has been destroyed, manufacturing has been moved offshore, due mostly to deregulation and tax breaks for companys to locate elsewhere. All trade barriers have been removed and the borders threw open to both cheap goods and willing to work for nothing imported labor. The formerly well paid blue collar worker must now compete with foreign slave and prison labor. We import poverty, we export wealth, it can't continue very long or we become a wholly owned subsidiary of The People Republic of China!
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pc254 months, 2 weeks ago
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he played you and you fell for it. On the night of the election the spin began. When it became apparent that he was the winner Bob Beckel and other started to make the rounds on the networks that were covering the elections results. Their message.....Obama set the bar so high that he would not be able to fulfill all his promises. Wow...you needed to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. He was the projected winner and his minions were already out trying to lessen the expectations of the Obama administration. You guyfs were had and now its beginning to take the country down.
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slate4 months, 2 weeks ago
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With all the power of the House and Senate he should be able to just push things through. However, members of his own party are stopping him. All the Rs can do is be vocal, other than that they are just bystanders like we are.
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Dems stopped this last bill.-
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deathray4 months, 2 weeks ago
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heya slate -
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it's true that the democrats don't have the party discipline that the republicans do. also, because many of the blue dogs are first term congressmen, they are definitely susceptible to the lure of money in exchange for votes.
there is no reason for the republicans in congress to be supportive of the president's plans, but they are not just standing around; they are actively obstrusting the president's agenda.
of course, this is the job of the opposition party. there could be many reasons for this, but i guess conventional wisdom would say that it's because they put their own special interests above country.
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Poulenc4 months, 1 week ago
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Obama always was and continues to be a moderate, too far to the right for those solidly left of center, and of course--well, a "socialist" to those on the right who demonize "big government," i.e., anything that encourages egalitarianism as opposed to the protection of money as Priority One.
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The sad part is that those most in need of the kinds of programs O. proposes decry them--out of fear, out of ignorance. These are the same people who voted for George W,. Bush twice.
How does one get people to act in their own best interests? All suggestions considered.-
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bigG4 months, 1 week ago
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"How does one get people to act in their own best interests? "
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Excellent question poulenc. I have always wondered why those of little means would ever vote Republican as the Reps have clearly shown from Reagan on that they favor enabling the already wealthy.
I have to give it to the Reps, though, as they are clearly also the masters of spinning(many times via outright fabrications) the "emotional" wedge issues in their favor. The health insurance issue is no different. Look at the misinformation being disseminated on a bill that doesn't even exist yet. -
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dunkirk4 months, 1 week ago
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"a "socialist" to those on the right who demonize "big government,""
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To the right its any govt that isnt controlled by the right, They supported Bush and the expansion of the govt to the largest size in history. It wasnt a problem until a Dem was in office,
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mmrhe4 months, 1 week ago
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I agree Poulenc
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The GOP has successfully coopted the 'Little Guy'!
I believe Obama is still in the process of finding his sea legs in DC
The thing that is most disturbing to me so far is how easily he surrendered to the insurance companies over reform.
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lloydm654 months, 1 week ago
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This man is evil,he came to destroy he started in 2001,his radio interviews lamented that supreme court failed to give money to blacks when they upheld the civil rights.He said they gave us the right to sit at the lunch counter,but gave us no money to pay the check.So we know why he is hell bent on killing jobs and destroying families its payback time.His type would rather see long soup lines,than turn from his folly.
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Engnr4 months, 1 week ago
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Of course he is punking us, what ever that is, here is his plan laid out for the people who will listen:
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The Obamanation Plan:
Fact: The British Health Care Service is the largest health care system in the world with over 1.3 million employees. Most of the employees are administrators. This makes them the 3rd or 5th largest employer in the world. Why is this important? It is because I did not realize how big the American Health Care System would be.
So how much bigger will the American Health Care System be?
Most likely it will be the largest employer in the world and have access to all your personal data, bank accounts and taxes.
That should say something to you.
Obama will appoint “his man” to be in charge of this organization and I believe that they will focus on hiring Acorn and SEIU members to fill many of the positions. Both of these organizations are currently under investigation for illegal activities. This will create massive employment, credited to Obama, but in 2013, after the election, when private plans can no longer accept new members they will have to start to lay off employees and we will have massive unemployment and your health care will be provided by Acorn and SEIU. This is why they are so active in these town hall meetings. This should scare the heck out of you, it does me.
On the surface it appears that President Obama has the best intentions for us, but I think he sat in Rev. Wright's church to long and has his own agenda, and underneath we get the largest socialist program run by his buddies in the world.
Bill H.R.3200 Universal Health Care MUST BE DEFEATED AT ANY COST!!
ANY COST!!
I have sent this letter to my Congressman and Senators, please feel free to do the same to yours. And now you know why they wanted to push this through before anybody had a chance to read it. People are attending town hall meeting all over the USA and they are angry.-
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dunkirk4 months, 1 week ago
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So your complaining about the British health care Industry to our congressman?? Did you include the part where the healthcare they receive is rated above the health care we receive?? I didnt think so. You make a lot of claims about private plans not accepting new clients can you show us where that was said? ya know proof. Oh and citing the insurance company propaganda as proof isnt really showing any proof. Seems the only way private insurance fails is if the public option Obama is promoting attracts a huge proportion of the public. For that to happen it has to provide better care and options then the private ones offer to make people leave. SO maybe you can explain why we rate 37th in health care among industrialized nations? And even better why you want to continue to rate that and deny people access to medical care. Seems that in itself highlights the fallacy of the "compassionate" right.
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dxxy4u4 months, 1 week ago
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Does The News Media, and you Bloggers have ANYONE, or ANYTHING else to (b)itch about? When there is NOTHING to (b)itch about, you can ALWAYS (b)itch about Obama. Most of the bloggers NEVER read the thread. They come online to (b)itch, and to see their (b)itching in print. While they are (b)itching about Obama, he's poising himself to become the GREATEST President ever. He will Over shadow his "Idol", Abe Lincoln. So go on with your SENSELESS (B)itching.
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chevydog4 months, 1 week ago
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Prez O is a politician, with all positive and mostly negative that that connotes. The success of his tenure depends on other politicians, with all positive and mostly negative that THAT connotes.
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Seems like we in the US hold very conflicting views about being an "expert". On one hand, we like to think they know what they are talking about -- doctors know medicine, civil engineers know bridges, etc. But there's always that little suspicion that, because even experts need to eat, the source of their income will somehow "corrupt" even their knowledge.
The political process has, I think, become too polarized. To the point where too many people can say "If it ain't our idea, it ain't good." This has always been true to a degree. But I also think there was a point at which we recognized more that competing interests were just that; and had to be somehow reconciled if one was to move forward. Not "good guys" and "bad guys"; which fundamentally means that he with the biggest stick wins.
So is Prez O punking us? I'd say yes, to the degree that he implied/said that he could stand above all the messy process. There are/were lots of people who thought that this is a better way to govern (myself among them); though maybe not that Candidiate O was the best equipped guy to do it.
Don't know If I hold any answers, other than the slow relization by the public that we really are discussing competing interests and "druthers" rather than versions of absolute truth. Muddling through together needs to have more appeal than it seems to right now.-
doggammitComment removed: Retracted by user
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bonaroo4 months, 1 week ago
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I don't feel that Obama is punking me. I'm not sure how the rest of you feel, although at this point in the thread, it looks like a mixed bag. Except for the blue dogs, things have gone much as I expected so far. I think to a large degree it depends on how much people know about the political process, and maybe more importantly how large financial deals are crafted. At no point have I ever expected Obama to revolutionize how agreements are reached. I have tremendous respect for the forces that are trying to be reconciled in this process. Millions of peoples lives and trillions of dollars are at stake. My perspective is shaped to a large degree from my proximity to the health care industry. My wife is the general manager of a hundred million dollar a year medical device company with 400 employees. I know first hand that this issue is already changing the medical industry for the better. I don't believe that compromise is the same as corruption. There is always a fulcrum point in a deal, and the blue dogs used theirs to their advantage. I'd be curious to know what moved them in the end to allow the bill out of committee. We may never know, or it might play out later. I think there is a long way to go yet, but in the end we will all be better off for it.
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coolrayfruge4 months, 1 week ago
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People have been getting Punked (as you call it) for centurys now.
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It is the history of mankind.
One civilization after another.
To depend on a individual to rule and lead us and exspect that they will make the right choices for our lives.
Is just plain foolishness.
Its become a profitable business for them.
To some its a choice, to others they are robbed of their Freedom to live freely off the land and provide for themselves.
Forced into a society where they have to pay for what once was their freedom and right.
Pay someone to provide for them, what they use to provide for themselves.
We have made our live harder.
If you try to go back to those days when we had that freedom.You find it harder.
Cause money controls everything now.
Your shunded ,harassed, robbed ,vandelized,even Jailed and fined for trying to live freely.
I know cause there are alot of people trying to get out of the system right now,live off the grid.
Our government got to much control over our lives and it to costly to live in it any more. -
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TonyByron4 months, 1 week ago
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The headline reads:
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"Is Obama Punking Us?"
The tense of the verb is wrong.
I think it should read: "Were you 'punked' by Obama"?
Those who voted for Obama were punked on election day.
Those wise enough to not vote for him were not punked.
The act of punking is over and those who think it's just now happening are those who just removed their Obama-colored glasses. -
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geneveroth54 months, 1 week ago
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“Manufactured Protests” Myth Starts To Crack
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Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, August 10, 2009
The media created myth that the town hall protests raging across the country are artificially manufactured is starting to crack, as the public takes the press to task for parroting the erroneous talking point that the demonstrations are the work of lobbyists and Republican organizations, and that they are fostered by underlying racism.
A caller to C-Span’s Washington Journal show perfectly clarified the issues we have been highlighting all along, that the protesters are not just Republican “right-wingers,” they aren’t being prodded into action by lobbyists, and the anger is not just directed against Obamacare, but against the entire agenda, and especially against Congress passing legislation thousands of pages long without even reading it.
The caller then took on attempts to discredit the protests by labeling them racist by pointing out that the only person to have been physically attacked during the demonstrations was a black man who was protesting against Obama...........
Full Story..........
http://www.infowars.com/manufactured-protests-myth...-
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Beau78904 months, 1 week ago
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That anger, which was among just a small portion of Obama's opponents, has been manipulated and amplified by right-wing media coverage. It's been nurtured and turned against whatever most of the protesters' corporate masters wanted to fight.
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First it was the stimulus--which appears to be helping the economy, btw--and now it's healthcare reform.
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geneveroth54 months, 1 week ago
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Why Do You Submit to the People Who Rule You?
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Karen De Coster
LRC Blog
August 7, 2009
These are the people who rule you, and they are carrying out their “donor maintenance.”
Political donors are the people who buy politicians so they can have a piece of your pie redistributed to them through the application of a cascade of unconstitutional decrees.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moves in a rarefied world of high society and high-level politics — and nothing underscores that fact quite like her plans for the August recess.
The two-day “issues conference” starts next Friday night with a dinner for roughly 170 guests on the back lawn of Pelosi’s multimillion-dollar home in the fashionable Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco.
Nancy Pelosi, a multi-millionaire, is destroying your life and freedom through her control of the governing body that lords it over all of us.
When the economy tanks and inflation runs rampant, forcing Mom and Pop into food lines and unemployment lines, begging for tidbits, Mrs. Pelosi will be comfortably ensconced behind the walls of her California mansion, complete with servants, crystal, and fine wine.
When Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class are lying in an overcrowded, musty, appalling medical clinic somewhere, being ignored for days under a socialized health care plan, Mrs. Pelosi will have private and immediate access to the best doctors and best hospitals in the world.
These monsters, who have been given extraordinary powers to rule over you, have become so used to ramping up their powers and stomping their legislative jack boots down on your head, that they are not the slightest bit tolerant of resistance.
They loathe your disobedience, your verbal challenges, your hostility to their supremacy.
In a prior blog post (”Town Halls Gone Wild“), it was pointed out that some town halls had gotten so out of hand that frightened politicians were escorted out by police protective squads.
Now, Nancy Pelosi, the repulsive, arrogant bitch that she is, has likened the middle class resistance to her socialist-fascist agenda as an “astroturf” movement..............
Full Story...............
http://www.infowars.com/why-do-you-submit-to-the-p... -
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joeblowe4 months, 1 week ago
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"resistance - and plenty of it." Here's a plug for Congress.org - a site that makes it very easy to send your elected employees a piece of your mind. I recommend you use it - often. Thank you.
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One more plug:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constituti...
I find this a handy bookmark to an on-line copy of the U.S. Constitution. Yes, anyone can be a constitutional scholar - IF you can read and understand English.-
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Beau78904 months, 1 week ago
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Here's another one I like:
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http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
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