The "new normal" thing has been going on since the inception of government.

Take a little freedom today and there will be a small outcry. This time next year it's a given that that freedom is gone and you can take a little more. Keep whittling away until it's gone and people are looking at you funny for suggesting they might want to try liberty.

Gun owners experience this everyday.

Makes me wonder if both parties are dancing to a secret tune.

2nd linearoonie

Was just re-reading the report, and this stuck out:

The President cautioned federal agencies that “[t]he Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.”2

I am of the opinion that there has been more transparency. Sometimes even too much. And hasn't the FOIA process been simplified too? I haven't have first-hand experience but have heard it's easier now.

Maybe Wikileaks was part of this Kidding! (Sort of.)

Ok, this is really going to sound strange but I remember hearing more than once, Bush saying (under his breath, while shaking hands at gatherings and on video) ...."things aren't as they seem" and "things are going to get worse" and "pray".

So here's what I began thinking just before Obama was sworn in.

I figured all he promised was going to go by the way-side because he has no clue what is REALLY going on in the higher government behind closed doors.
I figured once he was briefed as to tptb reality, his eyes would open to the truth and his promises would be history.
Maybe tptb bought his soul a long time ago. Maybe he was promised a free ride to the top.
I feel he was all for the power trip and knew it wasn't wise to ask questions, not that he probably cared to ask any questions.
Now that tptb have made good on their part of the deal, he mostly stays out of the picture (per orders), and when they pull his string, he jumps only to hide in the background again until he is summoned again.

Once they are in the Presidential shoes (in the know), they rarely follow through, imo.



[edit on 29-7-2010 by sweetliberty]

Outstanding thread, Lucidity. I have been noticing more and more over recent days that I find myself aligned with the ACLU.

Once a target for my contempt and disgust, I am starting to see them as the last best hope to save our nation. A team of lawyers fighting the corporate dragon using its own weapon of fire: law.

We will see. If not, that is just that much closer we are to being left with violence as an only solution. I am a pacifist. I hope to never see that day.

You gotta hand it to Dubya - who else could have shredded the Constitution while most of the American public cheered him on?

Since media consolidation back in the 80's the American public has had increasingly less real news and more distraction/propaganda spoon fed to them.

It looks like the boogeyman of "terrorism" was frightening enough to allow our rights to be so horribly abrogated. What this implies about the child-like mentality of most Americans goes without saying.

More and more people are waking up to the fact that we have been hoodwinked and quite badly at that, so perhaps there is hope. Yet the reality is so frightening (i'm talking about government here, not boogeymen) that many would as soon flip the channel and go back into their comfort zone of total disassociation via television as face the facts.

This is a sad legacy to leave our children and grandchildren. Despite having been active in exposing our government's misdoings for many years I have nothing to feel good about.

This story will probably have a sick, twisted ending like some fairy tale where the witch actually gets to eat the children. The quest for power destroys the humanity of some while it takes the critical mind from others.

The only real hope I entertain is that the system will collapse of it's own hubris and fiscal irresponsibility. Then perhaps will can rebuild again on the ashes of the old American dream.

Originally posted by Frogs

Yeah - the problem is, what's the solution?

Clearly "Vote 'em out!!" has been tried. It seems to just replace the current with more of the same regardless of which brand they wear.

It actually hasnt been tried.

Not once have Americans voted en mass to remove both parties simultaneously. We have always assumed that the two parties are pursuing different agendas. Clearly, in the last several Presidencies, (from Regan on, at least) they are not.

We could still try to vote them out, by clearing both houses, and the oval office, and putting in all fresh meat. Kick both Parties to the curb, and try to rush through reform before the new electees are corrupted by those we cant vote out. (CIA, etc.)