"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"

[WonderGrunion]

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
"All government — indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act — is founded on compromise and barter."

-Edmund Burke

So yeah, go ahead and stay at home from the polls in 2010 and 2012. See where that gets you.

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. Well, nobody stayed home in 2008

and yet it seems like evil is getting whatever the fuck it wants anyway.

So now what? :evilfrown:

[WonderGrunion]

6. We may have had record turnout in 2008

But loads of people stayed home.

[Sebastian Doyle]

11. But the record turnout was responding to the message of "Change"

And the hope that a new generation of leadership, embodied in this young black dude with the "funny name" would somehow get us off the path to destruction that this country had been on for the previous 30 years, certainly at an accelerated pace since 12/12/2000.

I don't think anybody realistically expected it all to end overnight. But we expected signficant steps in the proper direction. And despite the spin, despite the rhetoric, despite the bullshit, that is NOT what we're seeing.

Mandatory payments to a criminal insurance industry, is a huge step in the WRONG direction.

Escalating the war in Afghanistan was a huge step in the WRONG direction.

Even THINKING about fucking with Social Security is a leap off the goddamn cliff in the WRONG direction.

This is evil not done by the Republican "bad men" but by the men (and women) that we were told were "good".


So again, I ask the question: Now what? :evilfrown:

[WonderGrunion]

12. If I take your premise as fact....

Then the good must associate.

[LWolf]

2. I'm staying home.

But then I, like every other voter in my state, vote from home.

Why would you think people are going to abstain from voting?

Do you really mean that you think they won't vote the way you want them to?

[WonderGrunion]

5. You've missed all the liberal bloggers saying they will stay home in 2010?

I suspect that is not the case.

[LWolf]

14. Yep.

I've missed it. Of course, "staying home" on a censored partisan board, can be a euphemism for other things.

[WonderGrunion]

16. Which "censored partisan board" do you read?

Or is that a euphemism for ordering pizza?

[LWolf]

24. This one, of course.

I'm not sure what euphemism you are referring to, though.

It's not against the rules to note that DU is a censored board with a partisan focus. It's openly stated in the rules.

[earcandle]

3. Thanks for the Quote and the Reminder of who we are!

conversation between two friends with different points of view, on hot topics that don't go away and who fear no evil

[WonderGrunion]

10. Thanks for the kick.

n/m

[pocoloco]

4. You can stick your "compromise and barter" where the sun don't shine!

We have very few principles left to barter away!!

[WonderGrunion]

7. I choose progress over being progressive any day of the week

I don't care where you stick that.

[gulliver]

8. Breitbart is a lying dirtball.

[WonderGrunion]

9. More than that. He is the enemy.

Yet some would rather be "disappointed" in President Obama than fight against the repukes. Sad times.

[gulliver]

18. Agreed. Pretty painful to watch actually.

Here we are with an excellent president in place in tough times. Obama is methodically returning the country to health and greatness. It takes time to mend the bone-deep damage caused by Bush/Cheney and their Republicans. But Obama is getting it done. How, one might ask, given the now-demonstrated ingratitude and shallow stupidity on the left and right, did we get so lucky?

With all the Breitbartish deceit coming out of the Republicans, why on earth anyone on the left would have boo to say about Obama is beyond me. I don't agree with everything that is happening with the government, but I know Obama is making things better faster than anyone with a shred of realism would hope.

[The Straight Story]

13. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that is that people shrug when the rights of others

disappear and say things like "Well, I don't do X and if you don't like the new laws then you should stop doing X"

"OH, you think X is ok to do - well I don't and think it should be restricted, cause freedoms I don't like are not freedoms"

Hear it from both sides all the time.

[WonderGrunion]

15. When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

- Martin Niemöller

[sabrina 1]

20. .

Dear Democratic Base,

When Breitbart came for ACORN
We helped him get them
Because we were politicians

When they came for Van Jones
We did the same thing
Because it's party before principles

And when Breitbart came for Shirley Sherrod
We handed her over as fast as we could
Because well, we're pragmatic

But then we realized they were coming for us
What should we do?

Hugs and kisses from
Your Democratic Party

P.S. Please go to the polls, we're sorry and we promise to change

[WonderGrunion]

22. Except Van Jones quit, he was never fired

And both Van Jones and Sherrod support President Obama.

He is the only thing standing between you and President Palin and you take every opportunity to spit in his face and show that no good deed goes unpunished.

[sabrina 1]

25. He quit the same way Shirley Sherrod quit

Do you want a longer list? I have one. But I think people get the point.

Please post a link to any post of mine, anywhere, where I have 'spit' in the president's face. That is a lie!

I have and will disagree with him on policies, and agreed with him when he got things right and posted OPs about his successes.

You are not credible, I will waste no more time on this. Party loyalists will be the down fall of this country as they will go along with any policy no matter how bad it is.

Anyone who cares about the Democratic Party will tell them when they are doing wrong. Not to mention it is their duty to do so. Blind loyalty is and always was dangerous to any nation.

[Fumesucker]

32. First they came for the dopers..

But I was not a doper so I remained silent.

The USA has the highest incarceration rate in the world, bar none, Obama has no intention of changing that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Kerlikowske

Richard Gil Kerlikowske (born November 23, 1949) is the current Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a position generally referred to as the United States "Drug Czar". He assumed office on May 7, 2009.

(...)

In a May 22, 2009 interview on KUOW radio, he said any drug 'legalization' would be "waving the white flag" and that "legalization is off the the charts when it comes to discussion, from my viewpoint" and that "legalization vocabulary doesn't exist for me and it was made clear that it doesn't exist in President Obama's vocabulary." Specifically about marijuana, he said, "It's a dangerous drug" and about the medical use of marijuana, he said, "we will wait for evidence on whether smoked marijuana has any medicinal benefits - those aren't in."

[sabrina 1]

17. What are you talking about?

Who is staying home from the polls?

As far as your quote, I don't think that was all Edmund Burke had in mind when he said that.

We just witnessed a perfect example of what he meant this week.

We have learned that all of our war criminals are free from any fear of prosecution. They can now relax and enjoy their ill-gotten fortunes while their victims, those who are still alive, continue to try to get some justice for the torture they endure, if not in this country, then maybe elsewhere.

Which 'good men' made that decision? I know I will not be supporting anyone who decided to remain silent about war crimes. There is no compromise or barter to be tolerated for war crimes, and I doubt very much that Edmund Burke would disagree with me on that.

I don't support war crimes or war criminals and I don't remain silent about egregious acts like this just because of party loyalty.

I will be focusing on Congress, hoping we can get some decent human beings elected and keep the few who are there who did try to stop it all. But I will NOT be working for people who turn a blind eye to war crimes.

It's the least I can do.

[WonderGrunion]

19. You have your interpretation of Burke, I have mine

A lot of liberal bloggers have said they would stay home, that is what Van Jones was talking about at the netroots convention.

[sabrina 1]

21. Did Edmund Burke support covering up war crimes?

Van Jones is a nice guy, he was betrayed by the WH, but he has risen about that as he cares more about his country. He has urged people to fight and keep fighting for what is right, and no one knows better than he how often this party doesn't do that. So, he's trying to give them a backbone. So

[WonderGrunion]

23. You just continue doing the least you can do

The rest of us will keep the true evil of Repuke control at bay.

[sabrina 1]

27. You mean evil like war crimes, torture

dropping bombs on innocents for their resources? Did the Democrats make a statement that they are now against those evils? Last I heard they are not even going to investgate war criminals. Do you agree with that? Allowing those evil doers you say are against, get away with crimes?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

26. I always vote. I'll be voting for the most progressive, anti-war, candidates on my ballot.

Even if I have to write them in.

[HughBeaumont]

28. Evil triumphed when their puppets gave Evil the keys to OUR kingdom.

Evil triumphed when they got control of the economic system and gamed it 700 million fold to their advantage.

Evil triumphed when wages were lowered, universal health care was shot down, retirements became privatized, unions were quashed and education bankrupted adults young and old at a 350% profit margin.

Evil triumphed when they bought most mass media and paraded the same 10 neo-con talking points year after year, using 1984 as an instruction manual rather than a work of fiction.

Evil triumphed when they glamorized war from the time we were kids, encouraged meanness and turned life, liberty (or "Freedums") and the pursuit of happiness into a zero sum game.

Evil triumphed when they dictated to us that money is far, far more important than people, love, compassion, honor, loyalty, family and good.

Evil is Shiva, with many, many puppets on each hand that we all listened to and trust with the utmost of faith.

Evil acts like the benefactor, when it's actually the destroyer.

Evil thrives because they made us so ridiculously afraid to stand up to it.

[sabrina 1]

29. The banality of it is disturbing. How those who railed against it

just a few years ago, today have become apologists for it. All because of a letter 'R' or 'D' after the names of the leaders of the party they support.

We are now the flip side of the Freepers ... war, torture, war criminals, all swept away and forgotten about.

[Scurrilous]

30. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Touchdown]

31. Yawn!

:puffpiece: