Um... you could start by naming names, toomey.

Ferengi is more fitting.

Only in it for the profit. And their many Rules of Acquisition.

Well, then let's make sure HIS constituents start feeling it.

They've clearly got the "Meh - it just hits those other people... who cares? As long as I got mine..."

Let's do something to change that!

I think the taker states oughta start giving some of it back. If it's really true (and I think it is) that you only truly understand and can sympathize with how the other guy lives, let's give 'em a taste of it. Your state pays X amount in taxes, well then, you can expect to get X amount back from the federal government in benefits or programs or whatever. Living in a donor state, I've been wanting to see that for a LONG time.

Yes. DEVIOUS. We have to start fighting the way THEY do.

WHY don't we have people who are willing to be more devious? Where are OUR push polls, like the one now attempting to screw Elizabeth Colbert Busch? Why can't WE fight like that???? And when (God forbid) there's a republi-CON in the White House, why do our people always cave and go along? THAT has to stop. Taste of their own medicine. See how they like it.

I think Job ONE is to get more Democrats elected. ESPECIALLY at the state level.

That seems to be where all Hell is breaking loose and the bad guys have control. And look what they're doing!!!!!!!!!! 152 different kinds of Voter suppression, 3459 different approaches to curtailing or doing away with a woman's right to choose, umpteen hundred ways to screw the worker and further pad the fat cats. It's just astonishing! And HORRIFYING!!!!

Priority ONE, I think, is to remove as many republi-CONS from office, and prevent them from gaining ground. Yeah, we have those supposedly in our camp who are unruly, but the BIG problem is the bad guys on the other side. Too many of 'em. WAY too many of 'em.

It's a nationwide, culture-wide reeducation we have to work on - changing people's minds on things they've been taught to cling to through propaganda and media and relentless repetition of talking points, whether it's the hatred of paying taxes or denying legitimate science and just thumping the Bible all the time.

And as usual, our Dems were snoozing while all these little worker bees were busy three decades ago, building an infrastructure. They built it alright. And it's bringing us all down.

It's not overdramatic at all. It's what happened, and what was the inevitable result.

And once again, WE CALLED IT. We knew it. We saw it and were able to identify it. We knew the truth, and of course, nobody listened. To li'l old Sandra, I'll just say this - you're Too Fucking LATE. Easy for you to say, now, honey. LONG after the damage was done. You're just now getting around to it? What? Did you think there was some handy-dandy statute of limitations after which you could speak with impunity, and allow yourself to look at the reality around you? Well, maybe with the easily-suckered, you can. But NOT WITH US, honey.

And thanks for NOTHING, SANNNNdra. It's all yours. Got your name all over it, honey. You could have prevented it, with ONE vote: YOURS. And it'll hang around your neck for all of history. It's done. You did it. You can't excuse it now. You can't go back and fix it. You can't do the good and proper thing. The damage is done. And it's on YOUR conscience forever and ever, whether you like it or not. To riff on what all your little friends said during the last campaign? YOU BUILT IT. You built this house of shit with your four other fiendish pals in the black robes. Now you can live in it forevermore.

Unfortunately, that's how I will always remember her, regardless what else she's done, or how she's possibly otherwise distinguished herself. She's one of the Fiendish Five. Or Fucked Five, if you like it a little more frank.

You're not by ANY means the only one who thinks this way, dog_lovin_dem!

I think pretty much every one of us here on DU came here, or stumbled here, looking for that kind of refuge. And every one of us, I'll bet, was stunned to discover that - much to the contrary of what the media and most of the politicians and everyone else who supposedly "knew better" was telling us - we were NOT alone. We were NOT alone thinking and feeling the way we did - about what amounted to a frickin heist. This was a mugging! They frickin' STOLE THE ELECTION. And there's good reason to believe they stole it from Kerry, too, four years after they stole it from Al Gore.

Face it. What's increasingly true anymore is that the bad guys can't win unless they cheat, or in one way or other successfully manage to get around the system in place. That's the ONLY way they can win the big one anymore. Because the numbers are no longer with them. And the only way they can win the race is to fix the race.

This place was an oasis. A life raft. A drop of healing, cooling water to the parched and dry. It really did keep many of us from grinding our teeth into powder during those horrible years. At least, we had each other. And we kept each other company, and buoyed each other up.

Barrump bump! Superb comment, Warpy!!!

Man - that IS a perfect fit, isn't it! The Donald Trump moth caterpillar!

"If it's a typical caterpillar, it's all mouth and consumes everything around it. The fact that this one is poisonous to all creatures around it just adds to the propriety of its name."

But the caterpillar's hair moves better.

I finally got off the rollercoaster. Found a way to retire.

I was originally gonna put "I finally got off the merry-go-round," but either one works. My discomforts with my work made me feel like I was just going around in circles, and I did NOT like the ups and downs and other drama all the time. It was like - "hey, can we just go cover the news?"

Well, maybe. But I heard a report saying heidi heitkamp told Harry Reid flat-out that she would

only vote for it if he needed it - as in, if he had 59 votes, she'd be willing to be the 60th. But not in any other case.

Sorry, heidi, but that's not good enough.

We all have to continue to lean on them - HARD. Face it: they are counting on the uproar to die down. They're fully expecting that enough people will...
- get discouraged and give up
- get distracted when other stuff starts happening and give up
- or the press gives up - SO "old-news" and besides, there's too much else going on
- and if the press gives up, people forget - because they have to be reminded, like eight-year-olds, in order to keep thinking about it
- people get bored and give up (there WILL be people deciding they're tired of seeing these whiny parents always whoring for media attention. "Sheesh, enough already. Get over it and move on." Just you wait. Time passes and does strange things.)
- and you'll see fewer ads for gun controls because donation money will dry up, especially if it's deemed as "not a hot issue anymore,"
meanwhile the NRA finds the field clearing nicely of all those annoying objections and moralists and whiners.
...and it spirals downward from there.

They think the heat's going to turn down on this issue and finally just go away. They think they can wait this out.

Brothers and Sisters, THEY'RE COUNTING ON THIS.

We have to prove them wrong. Defy their logic!

Updated TOLL FREE Capitol Hill switchboard numbers conveniently located in my sig line below.