I just wonder what outrage would actually cause outrage?

[Warren Stupidity]

A blatantly stolen election? Two of them?

Advance warning of a massive terrorist strike with no response by our government before that strike occurred?

A conspiracy to defraud Congress and the People into supporting a war of aggression against another sovereign nation using completely false claims of certain knowledge of illegal weapons of mass destruction, the quick discovery that there were no such weapons, that there was no certain knowledge nor could there have been?

The revelation of a related conspiracy to punish a whistle blower by revealing the covert status of the whistle blowers wife, destroying in the process the real weapons of mass destruction investigation efforts being conducted by that covert operation and the careers and possibly the lives of an unknown number of foreign operatives working with the covert agent, said conspiracy managed by top administration officials?

The conviction of the Chief of Staff of the Vice President for obstructing the investigation into the conspiracy to reveal the covert agent's status?

The commutation of the sentence handed to the Chief of Staff of the Vice President by the President, creating a clear and obvious quid pro quo condition wherein the executive branch used its power of pardon and commutation to protect said Chief of Staff from punishment, and in doing so protect other administration officials from being implicated in said conspiracy?

The prolonged drowning of a major american city on live TV while the federal agencies responsible for emergency services failed for days on end to mount any relief effort?

The fraudulent war, proclaimed "mission accomplished" one month after the initial invasion, transformed into a completely predictable nightmare quagmire occupation with a clear potential for destabilization of the entire region, drags on for longer than our engagement in WWII with no end in sight, no possibility of anything resembling a victory or even an exit strategy, and no political willingness by either de facto official political party to do anything substantial to alter a disastrous and endless foreign adventure?

The spectacle of the Attorney General of the United States repeatedly dissembling and outright lying under oath on multiple occasions about many issues some of which clearly involved impeachable offenses, and quite likely criminal offenses committed by the executive branch?

The astounding assertion of a carte blanche executive privilege by an administration faced with numerous congressional investigations into highly questionable activities committed over the seven years of malfeasant corrupt rule by this gang of texas oil mafia hoodlums?

Oh I could go on. But I ask, what outrage committed by this criminal cabal would actually cause a prolonged public and general outrage, an uprising if you will, against a regime that must be clearly seen as outside the law and outside the constitutional framework of our dysfunctional and perhaps defunct republic?

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. It is all about the distance from the crime. If they took away - fill in the blank.,,

People's

Television
Cigarattes
Beer
cell phone
Blackberry
junk food

any of the above and more - you would get people's attention, but only those people who are intersted in those. There are so many more.

we've not been united behind a cause. We were lied into a war, but it is a volunteer army, enough people are doing well that they can afford the gas...etc etc etc

Few people are getting hit where it hurts. It is the "me" generation. It is the sign of a civilization in decline - so sad.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Yes I have maintained for a while that a general

crackup on the order of 1929-33 would be about the only thing that would bring down the current system.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. Great post, by the way, it is as if you were in my head. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

5. I surf the zeitgeist - always have. ty nt

[Gabi Hayes]

58. It won't bring the system down; it'll just hasten the eventual evolution to

an Orwellian state

if you think it's not going to happen, ask yourselves how many TV cameras are on London street corners

then watch how quickly you'll be seeing them blooming all over the USA

then ask yourselves what the truth of all the domestic spying being to us now is, and why the media REFUSE to cover this story


the past is prologue, even if it was 'fictional'....

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. How about we just insist that the American media do their job in reporting the facts and band them

from editorializing? That would probably fix the current apathy of Americans. Don't you think? If you haven't guessed, I blame the corporate owned media for our current state of affairs.

[tom_paine]

50. Exactly. n/t

[sellitman]

55. Don't even kid about..

Taking away my Beer.

[Harry Monroe]

56. "Homer no function well beer without!!"

[Harry Monroe]

66. Old Abe had it right

"The People can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. Just bring them the real facts, and beer." Abraham Lincoln

[Breeze54]

3. I'm wondering too.

Nice message. Well said. Thank You!

[VP505]

6. At this point in time

it would seem that absolutely NOTHING done by Bu$hCo could generate anything but cover up, interference, spin and diversion. IMO, if someone doesn't see the Bu$h Admin for what it is by now they never will see it in 18 more months.

[AnneD]

7. I have protested....

more these 7 years than I ever did in the late 60's and 70's. Every time ,it seems, when I watch this administration in action, I find one more outrageous thing to protest. And sadly-they get more outrageous and I find myself becoming more radicalized. This is not the government voted for and the DEMs I voted for make me feel disenfranchised. I am to the point that I would personally rat them out to the Hague for war crimes-and I never thought I would give up my citizenship-but I bounce THAT idea at least a few times a month anymore.

[Warren Stupidity]

9. Indeed.

I too keep running scenarios through my head of life elsewhere. I do not see this nation coming around.

[proud patriot]

8. all it takes is Corporate Media outrage

the media gets outraged and the public is left no choice
but to be informed .

The media got outraged about paris and so then did public
get overwhelmed with coverage and were left no choice as
to what they would be outraged about that week .

The media got outraged at Micheal jackson and left Americans
no choice but to follow the story .

Terry schiavo , the media was outraged , and so then did
Americans have to sit and watch .

Katrina managed to outrage the media , America watched stunned.

and the story goes on .

The media hasn't informed The American Populace of All the crimes
and outrages so Americans don't know about the things not covered .
Why should there be outrage when the media never follows up on
the stories that may diminish the profit available during wartime.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. I am looking at the headline: tillman shot 3 times at close range

and still I wonder what outrage will it take?

The media will stare stupidly at the Tillman coroners report, at the related claim of executive privilege over that matter, look imploringly up at their corporate masters, weigh the risks of misbehavior, and just let the story die.

[mzmolly]

65. People have become so callous that they "accept" dishonesty

from their government. In fact, I think some are "enamored" with it?

What we need is a scandal that reaches across party lines. Not sure what that will be exactly, perhaps the wiretapping? But it seems 911 "excuses" just about anything in that regard? A money scandal would be nice? Republicans love money and hate to pay taxes, so if we could connect the dots between Iraq lining Cheney's pocket and the "fleecing of America" in a criminal fashion that would be grand.



Thinkin' out loud is all.

[Oeditpus Rex]

28. The American Populace must first be *willing* to be informed

But when the teevee starts making political noises, most of 'em reach for the remote, or another beer.

[Harry Monroe]

57. "Homer no function well beer without!!"

[mzmolly]

63. There it is!

The media must be aghast.

[babylonsister]

10. Rec'd-what an excellent question. I wonder, too. nt

[Toots]

12. Well one example, when the torture pictures were released and everyone was getting up in arms

Senator Inhofe made the remark he was outraged at the outrage over the US torturing people.. We know what outrages Republicans anyway..

[Warren Stupidity]

13. I completely forgot about that outrage!

The list is, well, outrageous.

[John Q. Citizen]

29. Speaking of which....what ever happened to the rest of the pictures, the ones

that were ordered to be released, but never were?

[EFerrari]

14. Gas prices. Because most people are too stressed out

to pay attention to anything that doesn't get them to work and back.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. Yes but they would have to double and stick.

That would be part of the economic crack up that I agree would finally force people to get outraged.

[wiggs]

17. Polarization has been so successful that there won't be outrage from the

30%rs against their own group, IMHO.

Another 40% are outraged...those are people who are paying attention. What would it take for the remaining 30% who are vulnerable to outrage but are too busy, too engrossed in the story of the day, too trusting, too tapped in to MSM, too uninformed, too jaded to get worked up to the level DUrs are? Don't know....

The bumper sticker says "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention". I think this is true.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. As do we all wonder. nt

[Fly by night]

19. Sharpen the pitchforks, soak down the torches. We're going to be roasting wienies real soon.

Flying monkey minion wienies at that.

[zabet]

64. ....

[malaise]

20. Pat Tillman will be the last straw

The shit is going to hit the fan. I'm really looking forward to the NFL's take on this next week when the hearings go public. The NFL is the most establishment of Sports Organizations. The rats are cornered.

[babylonsister]

24. They are getting very good at stonewalling; we shall see. nt

[Solly Mack]

21. excuse me while I shift in my recliner...there..must have been a bad spring

now what was the question again?

[eggman67]

22. Pre-empt American Idol

for a presidential address. He'd be impeached before he finished talking.

[Generator]

23. A draft

Endless debates against that here, but a draft and in SIX fucking weeks we'd have the civil war of our dreams-I really think that. (a civil war is not a dream-but I see no way of taking back this country but that-and we would have Kent state on acid-maybe that would turn Americans off of their love of fascism and bowing to the state, or maybe not) Of course the powers that be know that and will DO anything in their power to make sure a draft never happens again and a real 1960's situation never happens again.

People aren't that dumb. They know (as Ray McGovern pointed out) that people are over there dying for shit all except greed and oil-and there is not shit all they can do about it. They know it's a bunch of lies. They don't want it anymore. But they aren't going to get off the couch-unless they are a special type of person-see Cindy Sheehan- or it directly affects THEM. Not even their spouse, or friend, but them.

Wouldn't you and most people you know go to JAIL or at least be in the streets before you'd go fight for George W. Bush's version of the world?

[John Q. Citizen]

30. In truth, the 60s thing never really happened. They offed a few charismatic leaders,

shot some innocent bystanders at Kent State, and that was that.

[blues90]

25. Who the hell knows anymore ?

It seems there were alot of people against the attack on Iraq but it happened anyway . There were many protests and so far nothing came of these .

I have no real idea of how the majority of this country lives . I knopw there are poor that have always been poor and the wealthy are getting richer .

It does not seem to matter how bad things are as long as many people are not affected . There has to be a tipping point that is felt far and wide .

Will it be gas prices , I doubt it . Perhaps an economic collapse or more terror attacks in this country .

All I know is it has to affect most people all at the same time .

You would think in light of all that has happened we would be outraged enough but it seems not .

[Hydra]

26. I've been wondering that myself

But I came to the conclusion that mass outrage isn't going to happen.

Shrub and Dick could molest children on the WH front lawn with every major news outlet filming it, and then murder them, and I'd be surprised to hear a peep out of everyone.

I think everyone who was properly outraged would react in one of two ways:

1. They would be too afraid to go lynch them
2. They would believe that violence wasn't the answer, and go looking for a cop to arrest them

[tom_paine]

52. And the cop they'd find would be a Loyal Bushie who would bury the evidence

and prepare charges against the plaintiff.

As it was in Nazi Germany, so it is becoming here in Amerika.

[puebloknot]

27. A kick from a lady of the night (up late writing) so the morning crew...

... will see it.

I'vebeen wondering this forever. Until the lights go out, food and water are in short supply, and the pharmacy is out of Prozac, people will contine to say "Not in *my* reality"!

And ... I'm an optimist, generally speaking. I can't get started on my worst nightmares for the country.

[LibDemAlways]

31. The last time there was genuine outrage in this

country was in 1968 when the ending of a pro-football game was pre-empted by the chidren's movie "Heidi."

So, perhaps, if chimp decided to deliver his State of the Union address during the last game of a tied World Series in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out and the winning run on 3rd, people might just get pissed at him.

Short of that, most simply aren't paying close enough attention to know or care what these criminals do.

[radfringe]

32. the outrage is there, as is digust, anger and frustration

what is missing is a leader capable of gathering the outrage and focusing it

Clinton and Obama are too busy sniping and swiping at each other. Edwards is talking about the issues, but getting very little media coverage, as are the rest of the candidates.

In the beginning of the campaign season in '04 - Dean gained alot of support, not because he had all the answers to all the problems - but rather he was able to tap into, acknowledge the outrage. Unfortunately, he was unable to focus it effectively, and fell prey to the media replaying the DEAN SCREAM ad nauseum

[LibDemAlways]

48. The media, as it exists today, will never tap

constructively into any leader attempting to focus the outrage. The last thing the r's and their corporate shills want is for the public to look favorably on someone who is "mad as hell" and "not going to take this anymore."

Instead they'll turn the person into an unhinged Howard Beale caricature every time.

[Gabi Hayes]

60. you mean, like, say, this guy?

har...this wasn't the image I was looking for, but it was the FIRST one that came up when I google-imaged Howard Dean!

[LibDemAlways]

67. That's the one.

[bobbolink]

33. When the news that Katrina survivors were killing themselves b/c lack of housing

and had no way to survive, and said news was met with a yawn, I realized that USians are so caught up in ME ME ME, that it's hopeless.

There WILL BE NO OUTRAGE.

There's no WE here.

[The Backlash Cometh]

34. And, yet, this is the first I heard of the suicides for that reason.

Where's the media on this?

[bobbolink]

51. The media reported it. 30 second "items" on TV, small articles in papers.

There were some threads about it on DU.

Sank like rocks.

[NuttyFluffers]

35. the abolishment of all college and professional athletics along with beer prohibition

there would be riots in the streets and the government would collapse.

in fact, i often have deeply amusing pleasant dreams about this very thing. in my dream i end up walking across this post-apocalyptic Mad Max America holding a copy of Through the Looking Glass and a jumbo sized lollipop, crowned in a precocious spill of pin curls, and looking for the most inviting shady willow tree next to which to curl underneath. there is probably a reason the universe does not grant me vast wealth of the magnitude to carry out my every whim...

[entanglement]

36. or refusing / wasting international aid post-Katrina?

[Warren Stupidity]

40. Oh the list goes on and on and on

I left off many things - torture of prisoners for example, the sacking of the geneva conventions, the ex post facto legalization of any and all former war crimes in the military commissions bill, the ongoing massive fuckover of all the people of new orleans, the politicization of government-funded research including the re-writing of scientific reports to suit irrational and/or corrupt agendas, the astounding refusal to do one damn thing about the looking climate catastrophe, the deliberate sabatoge of the public education system - it just keeps going.

This morning's Boston Globe carried a story about the complete failure of the contracted-out Iraq rebuilding program with even those projects that get completed quickly falling into ruin as the Iraqi government refuses to take over operation of the projects. Billions of our dollars, on top of the insane military spending, being flushed away. Well not quite, the military industrial contractors of course grabbed much of that in profits. And right next to it, a 20B arms deal with the Saudis, and right next to that: Iraqis are back to using ice for refrigeration as there is no reliable electricity anymore.

[NotGivingUp]

37. The outrage takes place online and goes no further. People are under the illusion that their emails

will actually do something. Oh yes...write to your representatives...let them know your mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore.

IT DOESN'T DO ONE DAMN BIT OF GOOD!!!

They are not listening. They do not work for us. They work for the corporate ruling class.

[Warren Stupidity]

41. Right: I can't even imagine the scenario

where there is actual 'public unrest'.

[Ezlivin]

38. No outrage will occur - nothing will drive us to the street

I posted this last month. But I believe we are trodding a well-worn path and as George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

There is a section that is bone-chilling in "They Thought They Were Free" by Milton Mayer. Here's a part of it:

"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That's the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and the smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked – if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in "43" had come immediately after the "German Firm" stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in "33". But of course this isn't the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.

"And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying "Jew swine," collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in – your nation, your people – is not the world you were in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way."

"You have gone almost all the way yourself. Life is a continuing process, a flow, not a succession of acts and events at all. It has flowed to a new level, carrying you with it, without any effort on your part. On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles. You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined."

"Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven't done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early meetings of your department in the university when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair." (pp. 170-172)

The more of this book I read the more I believe we are heading in the same direction.

As they say in today's parlance: Same shit, different day.

[Warren Stupidity]

43. That needs to be reposted here on its own on a regular basis.

A precise and chilling recounting of the process we are in now, only it was Germany then.

[NotGivingUp]

47. Inspiring piece...but I think people are believing our 2 party corporate system is going to save us.

It won't.

[Warren Stupidity]

53. And the current war here on DU is a reflection of that growing reality.

The party faithful here are hard pressed to continue their rationalizing away what is becoming increasingly obvious and are as a consequence becoming increasingly shrill in their efforts to do so.

[dkofos]

39. Maybe the canceling of Amerikan Idle under the guise of election

reform would generate sufficient outrage!!

[JudyM]

42. It is amazing how we're being fleeced and noone says bah. And it's a horrifying precedent.

This executive privilege crap has got to be skewered by congress, that's all there is to it. There must be an airing out of the WH or future administrations will feel entitled to similar self-serving activities without accountability.

This morning I woke up thinking why wasn't Cheney forced to divest his Halliburton stock? I mean, if he doesn't have the ethics to do it himself, why isn't there some mechanism in place to protect taxpayers from such a patently obvious conflict of interest?

Great post, it's on my mind - and so many others'- all the time. Would make a fantastic LTTE!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

sorry. stickie wicket.

not much text.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

44. I was outraged by three calls last night.

first was from the DCCC, the second from DLC, and the third form DSCC, all thanking me for my support earlier and wanting to tell me how great the Dems are doing in office. My response was the same to all three:

not one penny. not one. not one until they put impeachment of both cheney and bush back on the table and pursue it was all deliberate speed. Once they put this country back on track by going after the most dangerous, most corrupt and the most lawbreaking admin, then they can count on my vote, my support and my money. Not until then.

Am I wrong to be outraged by our side, in the face of a litany of lies, deceit, crimes and worse that the original poster put together? (and a very good job of it, too, by the by) I don't think so. I think it is time to stand up and demand that something get done. I have written countless letters, e-mailed, called, wrote LTTE and the only good responses I received were from Dick Durbin and Barack Obama. My outrage has long been directed to the neocon GOP, but that has congealed into a cold disdain, fear of their power and insanity, and an ice cold realization that our country cannot afford their presence through 2008.

my newest outrage, I think, is well directed. Until they begin to act forcefully, they are not earning my support. Conyers, Leahy, Feingold, and a few others are the exceptions, not the rule. they need to have others join them and become the majority.

[Harry Monroe]

59. I was called last week by the DNC...

...asking if I could pony up 100-150 dollars. I basically told them the same thing, not one cent from me until impeachment is on the table again and Congress starts doing its proper job of providing checks and balances. I then curtly told the person calling "thank you very much" and then hung up on her before she could get in her "but..but!!"

[Sirveri]

45. TV going away.

The panic would be massive.

[annabanana]

46. Before outrage must come realization. The corrupt and complicit media

has managed to keep understanding limited to the people who are already interested. The true "citizen-base" of this Country is alarmingly small. Politics is thought of as a "hobby", like golf, something one "does" or just another form of "entertainment". (Let's see what's on TV tonight... um... CSI... um How I Met Your Mother. . um some political stuff).

Clearly the American population has very little concept of civic duty or the responsibility of citizens to their Country, other than waving a flag, showing a yellow sticker or chanting "Number 1. Number 1, Number 1" mindlessly when prompted by some loudspeaker.

[Harry Monroe]

62. Or that repulsive chant of

U-S-A!! U-S-A!! U-S-A!!

Like politics was some sort of sporting competition.

I cringe every time I hear yahoos chanting that!!!

[LibDemAlways]

49. If Bush/Cheney were caught promoting dog fighting or

other cruelty toward animals, people would take it to the streets. Short of that I can't come up with a scenario that would get people worked up enough to get off their asses and engage in mass protests.

[Junkdrawer]

54. A decrease in the chocolate ration...

Fortunately, the ration has been increasing even as all of our jobs are exported to China and India!

God Bless Big Brother.

[Gabi Hayes]

61. I posted this before I saw yours

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

if there ever IS any widespread outrage in this country, it will be too late for any effective use to be made of it