DISQUS

Shock doctrine, anyone? Great article! Seems like it's been overdue in the media....The thing that strikes me about the situation, is that no politician wants to be the only realistic adult in the room saying, "Kids, you're going to have to cut back on your car trips to the convenience store." Or "Folks, what about subsidizing public transit? Let's all take the bus, it'll be fun!" I live in a small city that USES its public transportation (some of us), but the govt here is so shortsighted that they want to remove bus routes to save money rather than find the funding to add light rails. These kinds of things have to happen in order to get Americans to use energy smarter--the options have to be there, and I daresay the leadership, too. Bill Maher's book from 2002, "When you ride ALONE you ride with bin Laden: What the Government SHOULD Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism" makes the following point much better than I can: In World War II, the government asked the public to cut back on consumption and to do some pretty disciplined conservation tasks--and Americans did, in the name of patriotism and bringing their sons home. Now, it's the opposite: The American Way is "I can waste as much as I want, and just relax and enjoy myself!" (And it a coincidence that we're not REALLY thinking about the Oil War where lots of people are dying?) Prohibition, slowed consumption, and self-discipline are considered a violation of the American Way. And, back to the beginning of my thought--any politician who introduces the idea of "Guys, you've GOT to cut back" is in danger of being VERY unpopular. On the hopeful side, the Green Movement has a strong momentum, so perhaps a good-looking Democratic president at the beginning of his term could risk asking us to find ways to conserve.

Wow, you tapped into all the Ron Paul crazies in the world! Meaning, the few GOPs who still (purport to) care about the integrity of the Constitution. Another day in the life of a journalist, eh?
I just read something last night that reminded me that the US was in a deeply isolationist mode before FDR had to slowly but surely persuade them that Europe deserved our help. How different history would have looked... And now we're soooo proud of our part in WWII that we've based a national nostalgia on it.

Wow, $42 million for snail mail, huh? (I thought they made a point of letting us know they had access to our emails. So don't they have a big list of all our cyber addresses?) But seriously, didn't we used to disseminate civic news through public libraries and public schools, and other civic centers? Oh, wait, we hate civic centers! Librarians are "radical [and] militant" according to the FBI, and schools aren't even worth funding.

I believe that not speaking out is worse than being silent because we're worried about hypocrisy. Yes, the US has loads of abuse and neglect to account and atone for, but let us do that also, starting with each citizen, rather than cease to speak out about egregious acts. Imagine if a mighty nation spoke out against the US and had the power to wield sanctions against us? Maybe we'd finally clean up our act. Remember the Cold War? That's when we were actually scared of another country. Hell, remember protests? When it felt like our own country could be held accountable by us, the citizens?

It's sick-making. So, what, they're Russia in between elections? Oh, nevermind, they steal elections, too. The arrogance of this administration is sick-making, but the absolute indifference of most citizens to participatory democracy is sadly the rest of the equation.

Or, are we just privy to more information these days, as we're stuck at work and surfing the 'net, and are learning possibly for the first time how Congress actually works? I'm not saying that it lets the Dems off the hook, that they're not accountable, but certainly as I learn more about Congressional protocol, I realize the good, bad, and ugly nuances of the word POLITICS.

Nice and succinct. While we're at it, where does the government plan to get the $$ to give us $600 spending money? It feels like my addled gambling-addict dad is weeping and saying, "I love you, honey, here, go buy that $2000 pony you really wanted," while he goes home to eat spam.

Not only does Bush not believe in karmic retribution, he doesn't even believe in math.

Thanks for this important story.

Bank of America jumped my rate from 9.9 to 24% in one month with no explanation and with no notification--I only happened to look at the rate section on my bill. When I called immediately to complain, they put me on hold for 20 minutes before they knew what it was about, then another 25 minutes after they were redirecting me. They claimed that it was in the fine print that they could change their rate at any time. This did not follow errant or delinquent behavior on my account--no late payment, no going over my limit. As far as I can tell, Bank of America is a complete bully, and greedy, as well as devious. Before this incident, they had changed the whole format of the bill, saying it was for better readability. But it was clearly worse--grey on grey lettering, smaller print. I couldn't easily see my due date or minimum payment. Capital One also hiked my "fixed for life" rate from 9.9 to 23%.

It's up to Washington to make sure that the banks can't constantly increase the squeeze on the working class, and the working middle class. The free market run rampant leaves democracy far behind. Congress has a chance to negotiate btwn capitalism and democracy.