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Post by slh1234 on Jan 17, 2009 3:56:22 GMT
SLH1234: "My assessment is not doom and gloom - that is the AGW position. My statement was an honest assessment of what I see. Now if I use your tone, I can respond and say "You can blow sunshine all you want, but that isn't going to change the situation." " Sunshine spreading as a policy, in my experience is a hell of a lot more effective than doom and gloom spreading. There is an outcome grid here: Possibilities: 1) Your reps won't listen. 2) They will listen. A) You don't write. B) You do write. Outcomes: 1A) Nil 1B) Nil 2A) Nil 2B) Positive The only strategy with any chance of positive outcome is B, writing. There are no negative outcomes, other than the tiny effort required to write. You've already expended far more effort on your posts than would be needed to fill out the form and send a short message to all your congressmen. Why is this? Could it be that you are really trying to convince everybody else here not to write? I think you missed what I was doing. Politics involves a lot of charicaturizations, and distortions. Your assessment of me as "doom and gloom" was a distortion. My retort that you were blowing sunshine was an intentional distortion on my part to try to make the point ... I don't think it worked. Pidgey is right in that it takes a grass roots movement. My assessment is that right now, we are so far from having a grass roots movement in places like California that it seems overwhelming. The elected reps are a lot of things, but one thing they are not is naieve. They poll constantly and know what their constituency thinks, and that is how they know what public face to put on. Barbara Boxer responded to me like she did because she doesn't dare go on record agreeing with me. She doesn't dare sign her name on a letter where she agrees with our position, or promises any compromise with us. She doesn't dare because her base is overwhelmingly on the other side of the fence on this issue, and she knows it. Yes, we can write (and as I said, I have - JIC you missed that), but unless a change is made in the attitude of the voter base in California, it would be political suicide for her to agree with us either publicly, or in voting. That's not doom and gloom, that's a political reality.
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Post by pidgey on Jan 17, 2009 18:34:24 GMT
The worst reality of it all is that Congress and most of the higher tiers of government will be allowed access into the sealed and provisioned bunkers to wait out a dieoff in a catastrophic event. Theoretically, this could easily lead to a certain malaise when considering codifying the public good against the general public sentiment, especially if statistical analysis points to it being a non-starter. Most people have a very fairytale idea of what the future should look like.
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Post by jimg on Jan 17, 2009 18:45:28 GMT
Now there's a frightening thought Pidgey.
What if the population was killed off, and only the politicians were left to repopulate it.
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Post by pidgey on Jan 17, 2009 19:11:17 GMT
Well, most of them are lawyers, so...
At a convention of biological scientists one researcher remarks to another, "Did you know that in our lab we have switched from mice to lawyers for our experiments?"
"Really?" the other replied, "Why did you switch?"
"Well, for several reasons:
1) Lawyers breed faster, so there are more of them. 2) Lab personnel don't get emotionally attached to them. 3) Lawyers will do things to each other that rats won't. 4) Animal protection groups don't get excited. 5) Some people actually LIKE rats."
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Post by jorgekafkazar on Jan 18, 2009 4:45:15 GMT
"...Yes, we can write (and as I said, I have - JIC you missed that), but unless a change is made in the attitude of the voter base in California, it would be political suicide for her to agree with us either publicly, or in voting. That's not doom and gloom, that's a political reality." You may be right. Thank you for writing.
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Post by jorgekafkazar on Jan 19, 2009 19:52:59 GMT
For those of you who haven't discovered this, yet: change.gov/You can submit your ideas to BO, there, and read any number of nifty, aluminum-foil helmet rants. Didn't see much on AGW, though. I guess the propaganda is in.
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Post by pidgey on Jan 20, 2009 3:26:02 GMT
Speaking of incredible coincidences, had to take a flight down through Dallas today and was on the plane with Senator Tom Coburn. We talked for awhile (jetway and concourse) and stopped at the food court in the C Terminal. Turns out he's a Taco Bell man. I had Wendy's, but, hey, I do Taco Bell a lot myself so I don't hold that against him.
Anyhow, that's one down-to-earth guy. In short, he's an Okie. We were riding coach and he asked me where I was headed. When I said "Birmingham", he immediately complained about the ticket prices to get there. This ain't the kind of guy to blow money on stupid stuff, which probably means that he's too good for Washington.
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Post by jorgekafkazar on Jan 20, 2009 4:50:10 GMT
Speaking of incredible coincidences, had to take a flight down through Dallas today and was on the plane with Senator Tom Coburn. We talked for awhile (jetway and concourse) and stopped at the food court in the C Terminal. Turns out he's a Taco Bell man. I had Wendy's, but, hey, I do Taco Bell a lot myself so I don't hold that against him. Anyhow, that's one down-to-earth guy. In short, he's an Okie. We were riding coach and he asked me where I was headed. When I said "Birmingham", he immediately complained about the ticket prices to get there. This ain't the kind of guy to blow money on stupid stuff, which probably means that he's too good for Washington. So did you bring up AGW, or not? Speaking of down to earth pols, did you ever see "Charlie Wilson's War?" Good flick.
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Post by pidgey on Jan 20, 2009 22:28:05 GMT
Speaking of incredible coincidences, had to take a flight down through Dallas today and was on the plane with Senator Tom Coburn. We talked for awhile (jetway and concourse) and stopped at the food court in the C Terminal. Turns out he's a Taco Bell man. I had Wendy's, but, hey, I do Taco Bell a lot myself so I don't hold that against him. Anyhow, that's one down-to-earth guy. In short, he's an Okie. We were riding coach and he asked me where I was headed. When I said "Birmingham", he immediately complained about the ticket prices to get there. This ain't the kind of guy to blow money on stupid stuff, which probably means that he's too good for Washington. So did you bring up AGW, or not? Speaking of down to earth pols, did you ever see "Charlie Wilson's War?" Good flick. Didn't really need to, much. Click on this one and scroll down to the "Global warming" section--kinda' says it all: www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_CoburnDid I mention that he's an Okie?
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pkatt
New Member
Posts: 28
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Post by pkatt on Jan 27, 2009 7:16:59 GMT
Ive been writing letters since the announcement of the first bailout. I called. I wrote. They passed the failure anyhow. So I wrote more letters to more people and even to news organizations. I even wrote on change.gov. It would seem no one is hearing.
What do you do when they don't listen?? I voted against my reps who are on the gravy train but I am but one small voice in a crowd who doesnt seem to care that their elected official is part of the problem.
We need term limits, pay limits and anti-lobby laws.... but how do you get the crooks to comply?
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Post by pidgey on Jan 27, 2009 13:13:32 GMT
It's the unfathomably huge herd of blithering idiots that's the problem, which is why the rights to vote were so limited by our Founding Fathers way back when--to keep them from causing order to proceed to absolute chaos. Having such power in the hands of The Masses gives them the ability to install the most self-interested leaders who know that the easiest way to wealth and power is to tell The Masses whatever they want to hear while taking candy from The Baby.
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Post by jorgekafkazar on Jan 28, 2009 5:30:21 GMT
It's the unfathomably huge herd of blithering idiots that's the problem, which is why the rights to vote were so limited by our Founding Fathers way back when--to keep them from causing order to proceed to absolute chaos. Having such power in the hands of The Masses gives them the ability to install the most self-interested leaders who know that the easiest way to wealth and power is to tell The Masses whatever they want to hear while taking candy from The Baby. Well, you've got a point there. The electorate has been "stuffed" with propaganda suckers. We're supposed to be a republic, not a democracy. Did you see that video on YouTube of hundreds of suckers signing a petition to ban "di-hydrogen monoxide?" These people deserve what they get. Unfortunately, we have to suffer the same fate...
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Post by jimg on Jan 28, 2009 6:01:24 GMT
Oust the incumbent!
I noticed after Perot received a big percentage of the votes, they changed the laws regarding campaign contributions, in favor of the current two parties.
Perhaps with the stink they're creating in Washington we may actually have a shot at a third party candidate.
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Post by pidgey on Jan 28, 2009 16:10:01 GMT
Perhaps with the stink they're creating in Washington we may actually have a shot at a third party candidate. Probably not as long as The Majority make the proverbial lemmings look like rocket scientists in comparison.
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Post by pidgey on Jan 28, 2009 16:13:47 GMT
Well, you've got a point there. The electorate has been "stuffed" with propaganda suckers. We're supposed to be a republic, not a democracy. Did you see that video on YouTube of hundreds of suckers signing a petition to ban "di-hydrogen monoxide?" These people deserve what they get. Unfortunately, we have to suffer the same fate... Dihydrogen monoxide can effectively be pretty toxic in excess quantities and goodness knows there's enough of the stuff on the planet to wipe us all out if we're not careful... THERE OUGHTA' BE A LAW!!!
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