Why does this sign seem to capture the current state of American politics?
I assume the driver simply burns his car and walks away.
144 thoughts on “End of the Road?”
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Why does this sign seem to capture the current state of American politics?
I assume the driver simply burns his car and walks away.
Comments are closed.
Jill, P.S. I am not into Obama enough right now to waste my time and energy defending him.
Jill , I don’t want to be put in the position of defending Obama. He has done much that is wrong and is probably going to lose so what is the point? I am not going to be put in a position to be used as bait by all the Obama haters on this blog whether they are coming from the left or right. There is too much hostility here. After watching last night’s debate I became convinced that Romney can take it all. I respectfully decline the offer and am starting to run late for a lunch appointment. SanPete seems more than willing to debate you.
Can’t turn right, can’t turn left, and can’t go straight ahead… Clearly, our only course of action is to roll into a ball and suck our thumbs.
Mike S.,
I am pleased to see you are back…. I hope all is well sir….
S.M. and everyone else,
Sorry that I accidentally got everyone’s response from yesterday pasted onto this thread. Since I did, I would like to say I do not agree with the use meanness in the post which follows mine. I am genuinely interested in a real answer and do not wish to use personal attacks in the discussion.
S.M.,
I see that you are discussing the election today so I was wondering if you would be willing to answer my question from yesterday.
This is a sincere question. I am not trying to attack you. It is a problem that I don’t understand. You write: “Jill, I really don’t think there is much of a cult of personality any more. We are just trying to avoid total tea party republican dominance.”
Please help me understand why you believe supporting Obama will avoid the abuses of tea party Republican dominance. Here’s why I ask. The following is a short list of things Obama has done. He broke our law by refusing to prosecute people who committed torture and war crimes. Further, many of these same war and financial criminals were appointed to key positions within the Obama administration. Just as you point out there is something at least fishy about Erin formerly working for GS, most of Obama’s top advisers worked for GS and were implicated in the 08 economic crash. People who committed torture were appointed to key positions within the military.
Illegal surveillance of the population has increased under Obama.
The wars have continued with a troop increase in Afghanistan and a completely illegal invasion of Libya. The use of drones has increased by an order of magnitude under Obama since Bush with the resulting death of nearly 2000 civilians; men, women and children. The US uses cluster bombs. The US is in 6 hot wars. The US greenlighted the massacre of protesters in Bahrain, afterwords selling that govt. some of our most sophisticated weapons. Obama is building another huge prison in Afghanistan which will be off limits to any law, US or Afghan. Obama conducts extra judicial renditions to nation’s besides us who torture. Obama has declared his right to kill any American citizen he deems a threat on his say so.
Obama’s Federal Reserve has been secretly doling out trillions of dollars to his donors, money we as taxpayers are on the hook for. Obama is refusing to prosecute or stop the illegalities in the banking industry which are still occurring (see the blog nakedcapitialism for a very good list of those illegalities). The banks have devised even more sophisticated gambling instruments which most non-govt. sponsored economists point out will crash the economy again, only much worse even than in 08.
Obama supports public money for religious institutions to run schools and some other formerly public programs. Obama cut off the ability for the highest risk, most impoverished women in our nation from purchasing abortion coverage. He took single payer off the table from the beginning.
While spending 30 million every hour for his wars, he supports the reduction of social security and medicare/medicaid. He has consistently supported oil and gas drilling/fracking and cut funds to alternative energy companies.
So many questions arise in my mind. First, if Obama is doing all this and more while still needing votes from loyal supporters, what will he do when he no longer needs your vote? Why do you trust someone who did all these things not to institute more of the very worst policies one can imagine.
Further, how is supporting a person who does all this going to prevent Tea Party abuses? It seems to me that it would guarantee them. Should someone from the Tea Party get elected every single power claimed by Obama passes to that person. Wouldn’t it make more sense to withdraw support, consent to any president who has claimed all these illegal powers so that any succeeding president will know they may not claim these powers to break our law? Wouldn’t a firm, no to Obama send a message to the elites who run all the major party candidates that we the people will not tolerate such illegalities and cruelties in our political class?
I’m laying this out the best I can and I hope you can help me understand your thinking on the matter. I would appreciate your response and I give my word in no way will I attack what you say. I may have further questions but I will ask them in a respectful and kind manner.
Swarthmore mom 1, October 11, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Jill, I have a lot of work to do today and don’t have the time to answer all of your questions. I think we should wait until the election approaches next year and assess the possibilities. There is a debate tonight on Bloomberg news. It is supposed to focus exclusively on economic issues.
I Am Fear Mongering Again 1, October 11, 2011 at 2:28 pm
The reason I will not answer you is as follows:
I really don’t have a legitimate answer for you that you would not laugh me out of the room.
Jill 1, October 11, 2011 at 2:28 pm
S.M.
I certainly appreciate that it would take time to answer this question and this not being a good day to do so. So if you could, if you decide to advocate for Obama before the election approaches next year, if you would help me understand that advocacy, I would be very grateful to you for that explanation. Thanks!
anon nurse 1, October 11, 2011 at 6:09 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/new-york-times-sues-federal-government-patriot-act_n_1005021.html New York Times Sues U.S. To Reveal Use Of PATRIOT Act
Sanpete 1, October 11, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Jill, the reason you can’t understand other views about this may be that you start with at best highly controversial, unsubstantiated premises that you don’t question the way you’d apparently like others, like Obama supporters, to question their beliefs.
Almost everything you say about Obama is false or unsubstantiated opinion, but to take just one example to illustrate, you start your list with “He broke our law by refusing to prosecute people who committed torture and war crimes.”
Unless you have in mind some as yet unpublished examples, this is just false, but that doesn’t stop it from being taken as an article of faith on the far Left, who have absolute certainty that everyone from President Bush to Rumsfeld to Yoo to . . . [insert midlevel authorities] . . . to the lowest CIA operative who conducted waterboarding is clearly guilty and should be prosecuted. People know this without a trial where the facts and a defense could be presented, and usually without knowing the applicable law very well, without having read the relevant documents, such as the Margolis letter explaining why no sanctions would be recommended against Yoo, and so on. That’s a faith-based approach to the issue.
US law regarding torture essentially requires that there be proof of bad faith to get a conviction, that those charged knew they were breaking the law or had plenty of reason to know it. There’s simply no good evidence to show that in the cases of those who created the “enhanced interrogation” guidelines and applied them. Therefore the most likely outcome of prosecutions would be acquittals.
Is that what you want, for those who abused detainees with techniques that most regard as torture to be found innocent, setting an affirmative precedent for future abuses?
Prosecutors have some latitude in deciding what to prosecute, based on factors including how strong the evidence is. In general it’s an abuse of power to bring prosecutions where there’s no likelihood of conviction; in this case it would unavoidably be a huge political circus likely to actually set back the cause of human rights with undesirable precedents.
The root problem here lies in the law as written, which needs to be more precise. That’s where progressives should be focussing their efforts, but apparently the desire for retribution is stronger than the desire to accomplish something practical.
Some people have a tendency to see things in simple, clean black and white, a kind of of fundamentalism. That has its uses, I suppose. But if you (or others here) have that tendency, it will keep you from understanding Obama and his policies, and the complex, messy facts that underlie them.
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Very fitting title for this Q&A today,Busted,caught with your finger in the cookie jar etc.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44873565#44873565
What is wrong with our world is that it is driven by human ego and greed. The politics are merely tools used to achieve power. To the sociopaths that strive to climb the social ladder empathy for their fellow human’s
suffering is merely abstract.
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/177675-wall-street-execs-turn-back-on-obama-give-to-romney
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/romney-says-occupy-wall-street-protests-are-the-wrong-way-to-go/
Think the next president will be Romney. Wall St has turned to him, and they will be victorious. Obama is old news to Wall St, and they have moved on.
I sure hope its the end of the road for the political class of capitalist running dogs and lackeys and their depraved vision of an economy!!! It’s well past time for most of them to be in jail. 30 million an hour for Obama’s handlers’ wars. 23 trillion stolen from US taxpayers for Obama’s “savvy businessmen” friends. A govt. “buy for” the banksters and the MIC?
Citizens are saying NO. I don’t know if we will be successful but we are trying. It is the beginning of the peasant rebellion and I hope, the end of the oligarchy.
anon,
And I’m stuck in the middle with you ….
Delusion on the right, denial on the left…
Zyy-
How well you understand us! And after we blow up the gate we will claim that we just “foiled a terrorist plot”.
“And may God continue to bless the United States of America !”
That gate straight ahead won’t stand an RPG or SMAW.
USA! USA! USA!
“Why does this sign seem to capture the current state of American politics?”
*******************
I think the dumpster is a nice touch.
There is no left nor right on a dead end street is probably the answer to your question.
They don’t call it “double up” they call it “double down”, which is an indication of direction.
We have peaked on many things and are scheduled to peak on other things.
Full scream ahead.
It captures what Wall Street- which gave over $10 mil to both Obama Ana Bush- must laugh about on election day: heads we win, tails you lose. To me the OWS movement boils down to the frustration people feel over the marked contrast between the two candidates. Not McCain and Obama, but the Obama who campaigns and the Obama who governs. The most hopeful candidate ever has become the most disappointing President ever, whose legacy will be leaving people cynical about whether to trust the two party system and wondering if the banks simply own the place. Hopefully the driver gets out and refuses to move until something truly changes.
And…where is Eric….