The subject line of this thread is incomplete.

"Alito is a confirmed asshole."

Who's burying their head in the sand? I am quite aware of what goes on, I just can't let it get to me anymore. I guess I just let go of the USA #1 bullshit. If you really pay attention to what is going on in our government you realize it's fucked beyond repair.

What are you doing that is going to change anything at that level? Most people in this country are ill-informed, uneducated, powerless and don't care. That's the problem. The shuysters in government and elsewhere are just doing what do because they can get away with it.

same wrote:well gee, know i know why our country is shot. if you don't want to leave like me, then you want to burry your head in the sand.

Justin from Queens wrote:I've said it before (not here) and I'll say it again.

Everyone to the left of Olympia Snow should have shut the hell up about Harriet Meirs. Last time I checked, the Democrats lost the election in 2004.

Bush's ultraconservative base made a much bigger stink about Miers than the Democrats. They demanded someone with a more predictable track record and they got him.

Marlowe wrote:Who's burying their head in the sand? I am quite aware of what goes on, I just can't let it get to me anymore.

"burying your head in the sand" doesn't mean being unaware. it means that you're trying to ignore a problem. a problem you must be aware of or else your head wouldn't be in the sand. the phrase refers to how ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they get scared.

as far as i can see you can deal with problems in one of three ways: run from them, ignore them, or try to solve them. in regards to the government of the united states of america i will probably take the first option eventually. i love this country but at this point i'd rather live somewhere else. somewhere where corporate executives aren't either making, or appointing people to make most of the important choices about how the country is run. you are obviously taking the second option.

same wrote: the phrase refers to how ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they get scared.

as far as i can see you can deal with problems in one of three ways: run from them, ignore them, or try to solve them. in regards to the government of the united states of america i will probably take the first option eventually. i love this country but at this point i'd rather live somewhere else. somewhere where corporate executives aren't either making, or appointing people to make most of the important choices about how the country is run. you are obviously taking the second option.

Not that it matters, but the whole ostrich with its head in the sand thing is a myth.

So where do we move? Canada used to be the favorite expatriating zone for disaffected American liberals, but I hear tell their recent election brought in a Canadian version of Bush. Britain is really foggy, every animal in Australia is poisonous, South Africa is South Africa, and I don't speak any languages other than English. I guess that leaves New Zealand, but I hear tell they're tightening up immigration after too many geeked Americans moved in after Lord of the Rings came out.

jimmy two hands wrote:

same wrote: the phrase refers to how ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they get scared.

as far as i can see you can deal with problems in one of three ways: run from them, ignore them, or try to solve them. in regards to the government of the united states of america i will probably take the first option eventually. i love this country but at this point i'd rather live somewhere else. somewhere where corporate executives aren't either making, or appointing people to make most of the important choices about how the country is run. you are obviously taking the second option.

Not that it matters, but the whole ostrich with its head in the sand thing is a myth.

So where do we move? Canada used to be the favorite expatriating zone for disaffected American liberals, but I hear tell their recent election brought in a Canadian version of Bush. Britain is really foggy, every animal in Australia is poisonous, South Africa is South Africa, and I don't speak any languages other than English. I guess that leaves New Zealand, but I hear tell they're tightening up immigration after too many geeked Americans moved in after Lord of the Rings came out.

so if it's a myth about the ostriches what does it refer to? or are you saying ostriches don't stick their heads in the sand and the saying is referencing a myth?

also, i'm planning on moving someplace like germany or denmark. i've got a lot farther to go to learn danish but it might be worth it. i still have to finish school though.

jimmy two hands wrote:

same wrote:Not that it matters, but the whole ostrich with its head in the sand thing is a myth.

so if it's a myth about the ostriches what does it refer to? or are you saying ostriches don't stick their heads in the sand and the saying is referencing a myth?

ostriches put their heads immediately on the ground. it looks like their heads are underground, when in fact they are not.

from" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich "

In popular mythology, the ostrich is famous for hiding its head in the sand at the first sign of danger. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder is noted for his descriptions of the ostrich in his Naturalis Historia, where he describes the ostrich and the fact that it hides its head in a bush. There have been no recorded observations of this behavior. A common counter-argument is that a species that displayed this behavior would not likely survive very long. The myth may have resulted from the fact that, from a distance, when ostriches feed they appear to be burying their head in the sand because they deliberately swallow sand and pebbles to help grind up their food. Buirying their heads in sand in fact will suffocate the ostrich. When lying down and hiding from predators, the birds are known to lay their head and neck flat on the ground. When threatened, ostriches run away, but they can also seriously injure with kicks from their powerful legs.

same wrote:as far as i can see you can deal with problems in one of three ways: run from them, ignore them, or try to solve them.

Don't forget what might actually be the most effective option in a situation like this... actively work to magnify the problem, and accellerate its seriousness. You could call that "solving them", but I'll bet that's not what you had in mind with that statement.

The root of the problem with regard to the US govt is this:

It's a nice, slow, steady decline.

It's too mild a trajectory.

If tomorrow there was legislation up to make it legal for the government to listen to any and all emails and phone calls for no reason, other than to snoop around and find people up to no good, and more legislation up that would ban the possession of all guns by anyone other than approved police forces and the US military, and more legislation raising income taxes by 40% for anyone who makes less than $450,000 a year, and more legistlation etc etc... if all of these bills came up and were passed within a week of each other, there would be a fucking revolution faster than you can imagine. There would be people storming DC with their guns.

But the way things work in the US is that little things change here, and little things change there, and new reality teevee shows are introduced, and new diversionary controversies are cooked up, and lo and behold, nobody is gonna do shit about shit.

Voting reform... who talks about that anymore? Not nearly enough people. Why? Because that was SO LONG AGO! That was like, a million years ago, that whole thing with black people in Ohio having to stand in line for 18 hours for some reason, or whatever it was. I forget the details, because nobody much talks about it anymore.

US torturing prisoners that are essentially being held in a military-state type fashion, that's not getting talked about so much either. That's OLD NEWS!

FEMA fucked up pretty good with the whole New Orleans thing.

The CIA fucked up pretty good with that whole Iraq war thing.

There are countless other examples that I haven't done anything to keep track of, so they are no longer blips on the radar for me.

If all these sorta things went down at once, maybe people would get bent outta shape enough to do something about it.

Jack shit is gonna change in the US without a revolutionary kinda change. A big, honking, revolutionary kinda change of the way shit works in this country.

I would love for somebody to name their band's next album "The Revolution Will Not Be... Happening". I would do it, but it doesn't make any sense considering the content of my band's songs. If the World War W thing had lasted, that would surely be the name of our album.

Nothing's gonna change here, folks. Power is too deeply ingrained. People are too docile.

So what I believe to be the most viable option is the fourth option, which you have left out. Do everything you can to accellerate the bad shit. Make it happen out of control, not as a trickle, but as a flood, like as if the retaining walls have broken. Maybe then a big enough volume of people will be outraged enough that they'll do something to enact some real change.

Hey, good luck to you, thoughtful, sensible revolutionaries! Yours is the truly good cause! All 0.00001% of the population worth of you! Good luck achieving your critical mass of participants! The odds are so squarely stacked against you! But I wish you only the best! Honestly!


Hey, this is my 666th post! Huzzah!

"Check your local PBS listings..." No you didn't just say that without a detectable hint of irony. Oh man. I'm dying over here <ROFL (!!!!)> Hide the sharp objects and don't drink that glass of Kool-Aid - your girlfriends will still be able to get your would-be seeds hoovered and I dare say the sun will rise tomorrow morning.



No, really - take two, it's ok - I got enough for everyone...

Amen and good that Sam Alito was confirmed. Let's hope Justice Kennedy either retires or goes out horizontally before Bush is out of office.