I'm not going to create many more new threads because Otter gave me a complex. hmm But I wanted to share a speech by an Etan Thomas at the DC rally on the 24th...I thought it was very good
“Giving all honor, thanks and praises to God for courage and wisdom, this is a very important rally. I'd like to thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts, feelings and concerns regarding a tremendous problem that we are currently facing. This problem is universal, transcending race, economic background, religion, and culture, and this problem is none other than the current administration which has set up shop in the White House.
In fact, I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, **** Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the ‘hood. Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing assistance.
I’d show them working families that make too much to receive welfare but not enough to make ends meet. I’d employ them with jobs with little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I’d take away their opportunities, then try their children as adults, sending their 13-year-old babies to life in prison. I’d sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of inferior education. I’d tell them no child shall be left behind, then take more money out of their schools, tell them to show and prove themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge on things that they haven’t been taught, and then I’d call them inferior.
I’d soak into their interior notions of endless possibilities. I’d paint pictures of assisted productivity if they only agreed to be all they can be, dress them up with fatigues and boots with promises of pots of gold at the end of rainbows, free education to waste terrain on those who finish their bid. Then I’d close the lid on that barrel of fool’s gold by starting a war, sending their children into the midst of a hostile situation, and while they're worried about their babies being murdered and slain in foreign lands, I’d grace them with the pain of being sick and unable to get medicine.
Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q. would become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of inferior care, filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny pinching at the expense of patients, doctors practicing medicine in an intricate web of rationing and regulations. Patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality quickly deteriorates, but they say that managed care is cheaper. They’ll say that free choice in medicine will defeat the overall productivity, and as co-payments are steadily rising, I'll make their grandparents have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent.
Then I'd feed them hypocritical lines of being pro-life as the only Christian way to be. Then very contradictingly, I’d fight for the spread of the death penalty, as if thou shall not kill applies to babies but not to criminals.
Then I’d introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating a curb in their trust in the law. I’d show them the nightsticks and plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they’d soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason. Harassment ain’t even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised hands, cell phones and wallets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I’d introduce them to pigs who love making their guns click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets, making them a walking bull's eye, a living piñata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then we’ll see if they finally weren’t aware of the truth, if their eyes weren’t finally open like a box of Pandora.
I’d show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with the force of a boulder. The bird of democracy flew the coop back in Florida. See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep's clothing. T.K.O.'d by the right hooks of life, many are left staggering under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.
They keep telling us all is equal. I’d tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it's no wonder why so many think that crime pays.
Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe next time, we'll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay in the White House, tell them that numbered are their days.”
It's sort of amusing about this whole rally, because the counter-rally of the "patriots", while trying to make a case, only showed about 400 people, while the anti-war rally garnered 100,000.
It's not just an anti-war rally anymore. Life is decaying in this country at an ever expanding rate. We have lost touch with our own humanity. We have blinded ourselves to the suffering of others, all in order to achieve whatever it is that we have been taught is important. Get that new car, get that big house, get those credit cards. We have lost our morality, our compassion, and our dignity for all of humanity in the name of arrogance and self promotion. We need to divulge ourselves from these illnesses.
"We have lost our morality, our compassion, and our dignity for all of humanity in the name of arrogance and self promotion."
I believe you have misused the term "morality" in this statement. I thought that morality was only used when refering to banning abortion, gay mairage, and civil rights.
The rally was in fact an Anti-American rally. It displayed activists, not only against the war, but from support of Castro to protection of animals. What we saw was a collection of people who are losers in life, on the outside looking in. A group of individuals who are morally bankrupt and is on the fringe, freak side of the Democratic party. The key note speaker was Cindy Sheehan, a bitter woman who is disgracing the memory of her son and is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Sheehan and others should have been arrested for sedition.
Anyone ever notice when the "meat and potato" part of the conversation....you know....the fact and logical thinking part of debate happens.... Megan here chimes in with well....let's be honest.....crap posts like this one?
“The rally was in fact an Anti-American rally.” As far as I know everyone that participated in that rally were American. People standing united in a cause or a belief. Congregating peacefully to demonstrate a point of view as protected by Constitution. I can’t think of anything more American can you?
“It displayed activists, not only against the war, but from support of Castro to protection of animals.” How is opposition to the war support for Castro? (didn’t get that one) And when did the word activist all of a sudden become a bad word?
“What we saw was a collection of people who are losers in life, on the outside looking in.”Calling people losers based on what Megan>? When you say “outside” what are you referring to?
“A group of individuals who are morally bankrupt and is on the fringe, freak side of the Democratic party.” Are you saying that this group of people was comprised mostly of Democrats? How do you know this? 56% of the NATION think this war is going poorly and should be concluded as quickly as possible. Only 39% - 41% of the Nation feel Shrub is doing a fair job. What is morally enriching about war?
“The key note speaker was Cindy Sheehan, a bitter woman who is disgracing the memory of her son and is giving aid and comfort to the enemy.” If you’re not for our policy you are helping the enemy? COMON
For the life of me....well that's not true......when I have a few seconds to waste on thinking about people like Megan here........I do not understand how they sleep at night. At some point between puberty and the bipedal phase these individuals give away one of the most important aspects of being human....compassion! ! ! !
Most of the time when she posts it's to denigrate, belittle, lessen the conversation or engage in cheap shot trading. Talking of tap dancing and racial bigotry when it comes to logical analysis of points and topics of interest. I can't imagine an entire sub-culture in the US that feels as she does.
I almost pity individuals that think like this. Never to know compassion, understanding or even tolerance of their fellow humans. To always scream louder their point of view as if being loud somehow makes you "more" correct. As we have said time....and time again....things are not going well here on the home-front. Without tap dancing around the proof Megan....you want to know for certain how bad things are in our country.....take a good honest hard look at what your life has become and tell me is humanity something to talk about or to participate in?
I originally did not intend to make this a Megan bashing thing….more of a observation about the people who think …….or appears by her posts…….like she does.
Discrimination against any American Megan...is UnAmerican...of all the things that you've ever said that I disagree with, the thing that bothers me most is your interpretation of what the "right" American should act like. Strict constructionist means fully abiding by the constitution...not merely picking lines out of it you like or agree with. The freedoms of speech, petition, assembly, religion and press are those rights expressly spelled out in that document. And if you haven't noticed, rewriting anti-gay marriage laws into the constitution isn't exactly holding true to the originality of the founders words. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not only aspects and privileges of conservative white protestants. They are rights that are inherent to us all...
