As my first OP (and I'm not even sure I can get my point across properly)

[Jenny Red Eye]

But,

Why do the people in this country, in general, fall apart at the seams over stupid things?

Hillary's email.

Spitzer's hooker.

Weiner's sexting.

In the mean time, we left several million body parts in Iraq.

Real body parts, real bodies, real people, real families.

I probably won't be able to respond too much (burning eyes from allergies), but I can only imagine how the rest of the world views this country in regard to this issue.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Celebrity gothchas are part and parcel of selling Cheetos and beer.

Welcome to DU and keep posting.

[Jenny Red Eye]

2. Thank you

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. ...

[CANDO]

60. Hey now! Easy on the Cheetos!

Proud Frito Lay OTR driver here. Clogging arteries, but it sure tastes good doing it!

[OldHippieChick]

3. More signatures on a petition

regarding suspension of the Top Dude of Top Gear than there were signatures on the petition requesting the DOJ investigate the 47 senators. Go figure ...

[JayhawkSD]

102. Investigate what?

They signed the letter with their own names, and the letter is written in plain English, so what is there for the DoJ to investigate? Did the petition spell out what the investigation would be looking for?

[OldHippieChick]

104. Violation of the Logan Act

or any other violation of the Constitutional separation of powers

[blm]

4. The rest of the world views us accurately - severe case of arrested development since the 80s.

Thank Moonie News media for putting this nation on the fast track to Idiocracy. FOX came in shortly after and broadcast the propaganda.

Barnes and Noble:

Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right and Built an American Kingdom
by John Gorenfeld, Barry W Lynn (Foreword by), Barry Lynn (Foreword by)

Overview What does it say about American politics when a famous 1970s cult leader publishes a Washington newspaper, dresses up in the U.S. Senate offices like King George III, and no one in D.C. seems to care? One night in 2004, at one of Washington’s most outrageous dinner parties, members of Congress bought a shining crown and robes to a billionaire mystery man who calls himself the True Father: the Reverend Moon, sushi mogul, conservative philanthropist, and publisher of the right-wing Washington Times.

[annabanana]

29. I believe I have a pic of that

It was quite the spectacle .. unbelievable without the evidence.

[heaven05]

91. I was a moonie

in the 70's for a very short while. Quite an experience. Spoke against his religion's mind control every since. Worse or at least comparable to Scientology.

[blm]

94. GHWBush knew Moon's talent for mind control - they had close ties since 60s.

The propaganda media empire he developed was purposeful and a crucial component for the powerful elites' to achieve their goal of global fascism. The rule of corporate empires.

[busterbrown]

56. Amazing how so much of our population believes in Spirits..

[Sherman A1]

6. I believe for the most part

folks care rather little about these issues. What you are hearing is the noise of the 24 hour news cycle and the plethora of talking heads desperate to fill air time and sell advertising. Turning off CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS & ABC will do wonders for your perspective.

And Welcome to DU!

[AngryDem001]

70. "Turning off CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS & ABC will do wonders for your perspective."

As well as your sanity. Esp. as we head into yet another election cycle.

[marlakay]

79. I noticed even Jon Stewart couldn't do another election

He probably knows how crazy the right will get with Hillary.

I agree though watching very little broadcast news is good for the soul. Anything big happening or even small and we all hear about it online.

[heaven05]

92. yep

has done wonders for me and I add the local news in that mish mash of lies and depressive information also.

[namastea42]

7. I'll take a guess and say we can relate to the smaller things

and these smaller things let us vent some steam because those big things, sometimes you can't think about them they are so horrible.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Glad to see your first post, and welcome!

You did make your point, got it across very well, and bonus points for spelling and punctuation. Believe it or not, but incorrect punctuation and misspelling really are speed bumps for some folks when you're trying to get a point made. With the "Check Spelling" button at the bottom of the posting window, there's really not much excuse for the latter.

It seems to be about what the news media can make a story of. As we shift from newspapers, to television, to online news, there is less and less of an attention span to get through to, and I've seen a real dumbing down of the news as we've slid down that slope.

At the rate we're going, I expect the news stories of 2025 to each be about five words.

[99Forever]

10. It's by design.

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2015, 03:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Makes it easier to pick your pocket.




Forgot to add:

Welcome to DU, thanks for adding your voice.

[Enthusiast]

86. /\/\/\ It's by design. /\/\/\

It most certainly is. Diabolical.

[think]

11. Hope your allergies get better. Are you using any eye drops?

Opcon-A really helps me when things get bad:

http://www.cvs.com/shop/health-medicine/allergy-asthma/allergy-eye-drops/bausch-lomb-opcon-a-eye-drops-skuid-238295

[Jenny Red Eye]

13. Thanks to all above...and to you think...

I was using a steroid drop but they did not help. I will research the link you posted. Thank you.

[FSogol]

96. They now make eye drops with antihistamines in them.

Allergy meds make me feel ok, but never did anything for my eyes. The eye drops with antihistamines work wonders and I never knew about them until a bout of poison ivy got on my face around my eyes.

[gblady]

107. yes, that brand.....

really helps me when my allergies kick in.....instant relief!

[Fumesucker]

12. Welcome to DU..

Some of us bring up more weighty matters but they tend to slide off the front page rapidly.

There is an inverse ratio between posts and recs that can often show which OPs are good.

Lots of posts, few recs, flamebait.

Lots of recs, few posts, good stuff.

Have fun!

[Cooley Hurd]

14. A good 1st OP!

Welcome to DU!

[cali]

15. I find this rather simplistic and lacking an understanding of context

[Jenny Red Eye]

18. Maybe. But sometimes, the truth isn't very complicated at all.

[cali]

21. sure it's true that illegal wars that leave millions dead and maimed are more important

than politics, but that doesn't mean that politics is devoid of importance. Going by your post, we should never discuss politics at all because it's less important than war.

[Jenny Red Eye]

23. Replace "war" with any other major issue that may fall under the umbrella of politics,

and my point remains the same.

[zeemike]

54. When I hear something is too complicated the first thing I think of is

What are they trying to do, not talk about it?
The truth is not complicated.
And welcome to DU...good first OP.

And I think you made your point well.

[Snarkoleptic]

16. We're being distracted with circuses while the plutocrats rob us blind.

IMHO

[Agnosticsherbet]

17. Jeb Bush and George Bush destroyed emails. We hear crickets.

Senator Vittier had prostitutes and is even reported to wear diapers applied by said prostitute. Crickets again.
Mark Folley in 2006 sexted with male pages, and solicited sex, and was hounded out of office.

What I see from these stories is there is a double standard, in most of these stories. Would Folley have been shamed if he had been boinking a female page? Who knows.

The US population is tired of war, which is making it difficult for Obama to convince them to fight what really is a clear if somewhat distant danger to the US, ISIS.

From what I've seen, the rest of the world things we are stupid with our obsession with sex.

Man of them were with us in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our European neighbors actively pushed us with our Libyan military response, and they would like us to do something about Islamic State Extremists.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

19. Spitzer was one of the few actual superman anti wall street heroes, and we let him down

We let him down by allowing one word of nonsense about hookers to interfere with the incredible work he was doing protecting us from Wall Street.

Hillary is a powerful and assertive woman and rightwingers hate women and her especially.

Lots of hate of her here at DU, so be careful.

Weiner is a liberal but he fucked up and I know from a reliable source he was a real ass to his staff, so while I would still take him over any and all cons combined, we can do better.

Excellent first OP, my friend.

[cali]

25. He let his constituents down is another way of looking at it. He prosecuted people

for the same thing he was doing.

As for Hillary, I question her judgment. She voted for the Iraq War and supported it for years and years. She wanted to launch an offensive in Syria. She supported the Libya disaster. She was instrumental in the TPP. Beyond that, she's a lousy campaigner. Yes, she's better than any repuke, but that's not saying much.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

26. You have no clue who Spitzer was and how Wall Street and insurance companies hated him

This is DEMOCRATIC underground, we will ALL support Hillary after the nomination if she is nominated

period

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

110. Nonsense on Spitzer and Nonsense on Hillary

[Enthusiast]

87. +1 on Spitzer! And yet David Vitter remains in office.

[blm]

103. David Vitter (R-PooopyDiapers) a far creepier story, but, corpmedia doesn't TARGET Republicans

with anywhere near the energy and widespread coverage that they target Democrats. They want Democrats removed from office. They want Republicans to remain.

[Enthusiast]

113. Exactly.

[NightWatcher]

20. We are easily distracted (and purposefully manipulated) by pointless BS

Good first effort. Just watch out for trolls who will try to bring you down to their level of fighting.

[Rex]

22. Well for 8 long and agonizing years the world thought of us like this

Now they think of us like this


So all that other stuff, falls into the reality TV tabloid realm of gossip. At least the rest of the world doesn't hate us anymore!

[AtheistCrusader]

42. I disagree.

That pile of shit is entirely too non-threatening.

Most of the world was scared of us during that time period. As well they should have been, looking back at how we lashed out militarily at nations that didn't do shit to us.

[pennylane100]

24. I absolutely agree with you on most of the points you made,

except the Weiner sexting. If politicians who had affairs or used prostitutes were all made to resign, I think congress would be half empty. However, sending pictures of your penis to young women, or even men for that matter, is, for me at least, a deal breaker. I would not be able to continue supporting that person.

It is sad that we continue to focus on stuff like emails and extra marital activities while continuing refusal to accept responsibility for the death and carnage we created in Iraq. To add insult to injury, the the war criminals who were responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions, remain free and living well courtesy of the taxpayers.

[Turbineguy]

27. Because those who promote

this sort of thing want us to be seen as a nation of trivial, self-absorbed dolts. And it could be true. The serious matters are difficult and complex. They require thinking and effort. Kim Kardashian's butt on the other hand, is fairly simple. But it will not fit on a bumper-sticker either.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

28. Because that's what the media covers.

Let the plebes fight over the small stuff, so the oligarchs can continue to do the big stuff without the little people getting in the way as much as possible.

You're absolutely right that Hillary's vote for the Iraq war is far more important than her cavalier attitude toward State's email problems.

[sabrina 1]

30. You got your point across fine, and it is a very excellent point. Welcome to DU.

Edited to add, I care a lot more about the body parts Hillary claims to have left behind in Libya than her email, eg. And her support for all those dead Iraqis and US troops.

Maybe the focus on the email is supposed to distract us from these most important issues. If so, it's not working for me.

[pnwmom]

31. Good questions! Welcome to DU! Congrats on your first OP! nt

[Skidmore]

32. The public has been trained to respond to

gotcha moments and to scandal since the 1990s. If something can't be turned into a movie script or a reality tv program, then it is deemed by the media as not worth giving air time. Watch ABC News sometimes (we do because its the best local news channel available in this area). ABC/Disney has a vocabulary for its news which includes frequent use of the word "dramatic" and people don't make statements for them when interviewed, they "speak out" and on and on. Delivery is always in an urgent voice with. Combine that with a reading of the grocery list and you can manufacture outrage by the time you get through the dairy portion of the list. I send frequent letters to them about this sort of things. The media, as well as our politicians, need to be reined in. The politicians need to be reined in and caged because they are corrupt. Money buys both and the public reacts to what is presented. When we don't push back, we get what sells.

[Thespian2]

33. Good post.

I find most Americans are distracted by trivialities. Weighty issues require too much thought, beyond the capabilities of probably half of the population. I live in Canada. Most of my friends and neighbours simply laugh when American politics is mentioned. We have a greater problem...Stephen Harper aka W. Bush, Junior.

[rock]

34. Critical Thinking

Well, in this case, lack of same. Welcome aboard, stay a while.

[valerief]

35. The PTB want media diversions so we don't think and demand the PTB do the right thing.

The MSM, being owned by a handful of people now, has brainwashed people into caring about these media diversions.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

36. On most issues the rest of the world think we are

both a joke and at the same time, an unpredictable danger. The #47Traitors didn't help. At least the #47Traitors DID help liberal/progressive/democrats.

[GeorgeGist]

37. Entertainment.

[riqster]

38. A very good OP.

Thanks.

[ErikJ]

39. Spitzer was clear hit job, to silence him for exposing Bush/Wall St mortgage fraud

in the Wash Post a month earlier. And for going after mortgage fraud in NY.

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime

................
What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers.

.....................
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

[Enthusiast]

88. PLUS ONE, a huge bunch!

[WinkyDink]

40. Reflection isn't easy for one person, let alone 300 million.

[AtheistCrusader]

41. Good first OP.

A good discussion starter, as any OP should be.
Never be shy about starting a new conversation. Good stuff.

[sendero]

43. Lots of people will..

... completely agree with you and they are all correct. Our country is heading for the dumper because average Americans are easily duped by the Main Stream Media, which spends 24/7 focusing on trivialities while the country burns.

When the shit really hits the fan (and that could come in the form of a world war or of an economic collapse) people will start waking up a bit. There is plenty of pain out there already but apparently it's going to take a lot more to shake people up and make them ask themselves this simple question... "how did this happen?".

And then maybe "what can we do about this?"

[Panich52]

44. Ran across Alternet article that pointed out same thing:

"9 social panics that gripped the nation, were totally false, and did lasting damage"

Janet Allon, Kali Holloway, AlterNet

Americans flip out over the strangest things. The latest in AlterNet's Fear in America series.

READ MORE»
http://act.alternet.org/go/58450?t=3&akid=12844.1924881.l_jLhL


••
Made your point nicely, btw.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

45. *In general*, people in the country don't care about any of those things

All you have to do is watch MSNBC, and virtually everything they're covering, well, people just don't care about. Do you think people care about Hillary's email? Well, people don't. The media sure does, but people don't. People don't care about much of anything.

[stillwaiting]

47. People care about sports, entertainment, and getting stuff where I live.

Oh, and SALES. They definitely care about sales (which goes back to getting stuff).

That, overall, is a recipe for disaster for this country. People can be easily misled because they don't know or understand what's been happening in this country, and even if we tell them they don't know if they should believe us because other people are telling them something entirely different.

Way too many people just don't care enough to spend time to figure out what's going on politically in this country, and so, we will continue to lose ground economically to the 1% (who are psychopathic in their greed).

[ChisolmTrailDem]

68. Don't forget getting laid and buzzed... nt

[marlakay]

80. Most people I know are just happy to make it through the work day

Either go home or to the gym, eat dinner and relax with TV or a good book to read.

They don't want to think about the world's problems or politics, their own life of paying the bills and keeping their marriage together is enough.

[whereisjustice]

46. Since you asked... I'll tell you exactly why

Hillary's Email
A critical record of United States history is contained in those email records that are maintained outside of public oversight. Public officials were never intended to be given the final authority to manage and archive US Govt. records on their own computer systems. The reasons for this should be obvious. Beyond the very real possibility that the system could be exploited or compromised by foreign intelligence services, hackers/script kiddes or opportunistic unvetted employee outside the Federal hiring system, it allows an official to cherry pick and/or delete communications that contain unfavorable information. A complete historical record of State Dept business is needed to understand what went wrong in State Dept. actions and what went right.

The fact that Republicans do it is what I call the Childhood Defense - when a child is caught playing with matches and their excuse is the bully down the street does it all the time and besides you didn't know matches were dangerous. Sure.

Spizter's Hooker
Do you want the guy whose job it is investigate corruption by public officials and/or private corporations to be compromised because of the likelihood that subjects of investigations share the same prostitutes and/or escort agency as he does? An edit, I'll add the problem of sex trafficking, a huge problem in America. If the attorney general is a regular customer of an agency that also markets women, just how blind is justice in this case?

Weiner's Sexting
It should be obvious why a married public official should not be sending pictures of his genitals to random women on the internet. Beyond the massive political liability it creates for the Democratic Party, it casts serious doubt about the senders ability to make difficult decisions. Making things worse? The upfront denials only to be met with more and more evidence. It just ends up making the man (and his defenders) completely foolish.

Body Parts
Perhaps the reason we have so many body parts in Iraq is because the character of our public officials can be reflected in their behaviors around common sense issues. In each of the above cases, our reasonable expectation is that public officials should know better. If they can't understand why its a bad idea to send pictures of their dick around the internet, then how can they be trusted to vet the evidence for war?

Irony
Now, ironically, what could be worse than the obvious ethical and moral violations? The subsequent tortured denials and outrageous spin control by overly defensive hacks and operatives attempting to "defuse" the situation. Imagine a bomb disposal unit whose only tool is a sledge hammer. That's how hapless they are.

It is always amazing to me that fellow Democrats rarely mention Bill Clinton's behavior as a possible reason why Democrats lost the subsequent Presidential election. Nope, they trot out whipping boy Ralph Nader. But there's rarely been a more punishing spectacle of denials from the charismatic charmer Bill Clinton. He gave Republicans everything they were looking for but never got until then - absurd denials, semantic arguments over the word "is" and "sex" endless hearings.

If he had handled this in different way, I have no doubt that the needed votes would have been easily obtained and the Iraq body count would have been much lower.

So there you go. With high office, comes high responsibility. It's not just a dress that gets stained, it could end up being a stain on America's credibility and reputation in the world.

[LuckyLib]

57. Excellent summary. Thank you!

[mountain grammy]

59. Very good and thoughtful post.

Got me thinking about how I don't think the email thing is such a big deal. It really is important, no matter who does it.

More reason to support Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. Not even a hint of wrongdoing there, and they have plenty of enemies.

[liberal_at_heart]

74. I don't give a damn what any of them do outside of work.

I want to know what their voting record is and how they stand on the issues. That is all I care about.

[whereisjustice]

99. But you can clearly see... Spitzer, Clinton and Clinton were inside of work, not outside...

And Weiner? It's an interesting question but I just don't care to research it at this point..

If the top law enforcement officer of NY wants to allow legal/unionized sex workers (which I am inclined to favor) that would be different. He shouldn't be AG. But given well established organized crime links to illegal escort agencies, he was foolish. Next time perhaps he'll find a sex mate without all the associated legal baggage and conflicts of interest. His job is 24/7 unfortunately.

As far as Clintons? I can't add anything to what I already said except in Bill's case, it is the oldest trick in the book for opponents to use a sex foil to embarrass or steal information from senior executives in government. Really, really stupid. And at the "office".

[LittleGirl]

76. excellent summary of those reasons why they are important

and up thread someone said that DU will support Hillary if she is the nominee...well, I think we can come up with someone more suited for the position because I am one hard core lefty that won't support her. And this email thing was the last straw for me. She should have known better and damn it, I used to be an email administrator for a global company - email is retained for legal reasons. Every damn one of them and she should, of all people, know that. Freaking pisses me off the excuses she's given. WTF? She blew it and for DU to blow off this scandal is ridiculous. It is very important to her credibility.

[Doctor_J]

48. because republicans own the media. All of it.

[SalviaBlue]

61. ^^^^^^^this^^^^^^^^

[Enthusiast]

89. PLUS ONE, a huge bunch!

[Logical]

49. Werner was a issue! The flat out lying about it was the problem! nt

[Jack Rabbit]

50. We've allowed ourselves to be trained by the teevee

I'm 63 and can remember when watching a network newscast left one feeling like an informed citizen. I remember my parents and older sister watching Edward R. Murrow when I was way too small to understand what he was talking about. I watched Walter Cronkite or Huntley and Brinkley cover a presidential assassination, the War against Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. That was television news at its zenith. After Watergate, the quality of television news declined steadily until it reached its nadir during the Clinton Administration and helped the GOP make a constitutional crisis out of a shady real estate deal where the President was clearly bilked and a tacky blow job that really had nothing to do with it. It hasn't recovered from that since and still presents two sides of an argument where there are not legitimately two sides.

It didn't take much digging to tell the Bushies were lying out of their teeth during the run up to the War against Iraq. Did the White House press corps do any digging? No. Instead, they rewrote White House press releases and passed them off as "the way it is."

Meanwhile, I had killed my teevee and started getting news on the Net. I was aware of this, this and this, as well as intelligence that Saddam destroyed his biochemical arsenal after the first Gulf War. Those matters weren't discussed much in the American mainstream media, a category from which I have excluded FoxNews.

[canoeist52]

58. Ditto on killing the TV.

Amazing how much more I've learned since, by reading from diverse on-line sites. Bullshit detector became so much sharper.

[hopemountain]

51. one thing would be

to wean folks off of msm, fast food, soft drinks loaded with chemicals, and their response to fear.

[arcane1]

52. The short answer: because the television tells them to n/t

[avebury]

53. Hilary's emails deflect from the Senate 47.

It seems like the MSM will never focus on all the lies, distortions, unconstitutional actions, and so on and so on that are attributable to the Tea Party and Republicans. It is all smoke and mirror to get the uneducated, ignorant Fox news type viewers looking in the wrong direction because they are too stupid to focus on what is really going on in the country.

[randome]

55. Wait. We're letting new members in now? When did that happen?

I DIDN'T AUTHORIZE THIS!

Just kidding. Welcome to DU, Jenny.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Where do uncaptured mouse clicks go?[/center][/font][hr]

[calimary]

62. Welcome to DU, Jenny Red Eye!

Glad you're here! Congrats on your first OP! You ask some pretty good questions. I imagine the rest of the world pretty much scratches its collective heads over us. We have some pretty strange priorities that ring our chimes, don't we.

[rurallib]

63. American exceptionalism

pretty obvious Americans are "exceptional"

[rustydog]

64. Jenny, an EXCELLENT first post! Welcome to DU

[DeSwiss]

65. They can't help it, they're made that way.

- They've chosen the lesser of two evils for so very long, they can no longer tell the difference between good and evil.

Many still think this is the lesser one......

K&R

“If people base their identity on identifying with authority, freedom causes anxiety. They must then conceal the victim in themselves by resorting to violence against others.”

~Arno Gruen

[Tom Ripley]

66. People are petty

[Flying Squirrel]

67. But not all Toms. ;)

Sorry, big Tom Petty fan here. Carry on!

[villager]

69. "20,000 doomed to die, and they wonder at my hat!"

I think Tolstoy had it figured out in "War and Peace."

And-- welcome aboard!

[SheilaT]

71. As a couple of others have already said, it's because

most people watch a lot of TV.

I don't have a TV, haven't had one since June, 2008, when I moved to where I am now. I obviously have the internet, and I get to watch just about everything I want over the internet, or from Netflix.

By not having a TV I'm insulated from the idiocy of the media doing some story to death. Here's my best example: When Michael Jackson died, I went to watch Keith Olbermann via the internet as I usually did. Couldn't figure out why his show didn't show up on the MSNBC website. It was almost a year later that I learned that all of the networks had gone to wall-to-wall coverage about his death. I was appalled. With all due respect, Michael Jackson's death did not warrant covering that story and that story only for the rest of the day.

People who watch regular American television news get caught up in that crap. There's just no perspective, no balance, and while everyone is hyperventilating over whatever new story of the day is, more important things simply aren't covered.

[Triana]

72. Welcome to DU!

FABULOUS OP.

Hope you get some relief soon from the allergies.

[JDPriestly]

73. Great post. Thanks.

[liberal_at_heart]

75. great first OP.

[AverageJoe90]

77. It's really complicated.....but it's been a problem since the beginning.

But there's always hope on the horizon.....just ask the same-sex couples who've been able to get married since 2004. And welcome to our forum.

[blkmusclmachine]

78. It keeps the peons distracted and in-fighting, while the 1% pick our pockets.

Look, shiny thing over there!!!

[Ike Q]

81. As my first post, period,

I agree with you, Jenny!

[Tsiyu]

82. Welcome to DU n/t

[chknltl]

83. Interesting. My first OP was also about something we left in Iraq

Welcome to DU Jenny Red Eye. My name is chknltl. Normally I would add a waving smiley or some such and that would be that. Your first OP struck a nerve with me, it reminded me of my first OP. What I am about to say below is not nice at all. It would be understandable if you read no further. I admit to some bit of thread hijack but in reality it isn't. You discuss how we as Americans choose to fall apart at the seams over silly stuff but ignore something we left in Iraq. That is EXACTLY what I too am discussing below, but it is about something else we left in Iraq.

When first I learned of this 'something' we left in Iraq, it was early 2005, I told EVERYONE I knew into about it. Soon I began to feel like some kind of 'Chicken Little' because it was always a topic for me, I started telling even total strangers about it, strangers at the laundry, strangers at our local Baskins and Robbins Ice Cream Shop, strangers where I bought my pizzas, strangers at my bus stop and strangers on the busses I would catch. I wrote letters to my senators and my Congressmen. I even got a reply from Representative McDermott and he wasn't even my Congressman, Norm Dicks-Dem-6th district, Pierce County was mine but I can not recall if he replied.

Then I found the Democratic Underground. My name chknltl stems from this time because truly, I felt like one. I waited the allotted time and responses, I think one only needed 15 responses back then but that was a while ago....so much water has gone under the bridge and yet so little changed...(sorry I digress because I have not spoken about this in some time and the horror is flooding back now), I posted my first OP about that something we left in Iraq.

That topic, that nightmare to Iraq and arguably to our entire world is depleted uranium.

I am not a star member so I can not research our DU data base, that said I did find this online from 2005, it is a conversation I had with a fellow DUer named Burt Worm and the conversation was (I think) about how to write my first OP on depleted uranium or DU as we called it:
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3757049
Eventually I did write it, it drew some modest attention but it was pointed out to me then that other DUers had written similar articles before.

Sadly, by 2006 I grew pessimistic and with a great deal of sarcasm I posted something that I am alarmed to say got picked up and turned into something I could never have envisioned, (I just now found this online while trying to find that first OP btw), from: http://pantrydawg.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html

"A Unabomber in the making???

You interpret this Democratic Underground post:

chknltl (1000+ posts) Thu Dec-07-06 05:22 AM
Original message
Are
there any laws about mailing sand?
...you know like the kind found around
old dead tanks over in Iraq.

What if the citizens of Iraq started doing
just that, mailed these samples off to...oh I don't know..maybe the arms
manufacturers who created depleted uranium munitions, the politicians who were
bought out by those same arms manufacturers and what the hell let's add faux
news on that list. Do you suppose they might be justified in returning the
favor? It's "only" sand ya know.
Just wonderin....


posted by Myra Langerhas at 5:38 AM | 1 Comments "

It is 3/16/2015 and I will add my own comment right now: I am not a unabomber Myra, do you deny what we did to Iraq? Do you deny the dangerous radioactive substance we littered their soils with or do you deny that this stuff is even dangerous? No, I do not wish this material on even my worst enemy! I don't live there Myra but the question I asked back in 2006 is of those who do live there. Let me ask you Myra, how angry would you be, if your loved ones, your children were so exposed because you happened to call Iraq your home? Would YOU Myra be angry enough to become a unabomber like you suggested I might be in your post? You, Myra Langerhaus, YOU decide what you would have done then, or even now if you and your family were stuck living in a contaminated zone over in Iraq. Would you like my solution? I think a lesson from WWII is in order. It wasn't the German troops that got punished after WWII. If I recall, the actual NAZIS who committed the worst crimes against humanity met a proper fate-one determined in a court of law in a city called Nurnberg. I am OK with courts of law Myra, I don't take the law into my own hands. That said, I recall a different punishment that occurred to civilians who lived around those death camps. Not sure if there were any courts of law used but those civilians were made to clean up what was left in those camps. I'm thinking I might be OK with seeing those who supported our manufacture and use of depleted uranium in Iraq and Afghanistan be made to clean that up too, Myra.

Maybe Myra will see this? Maybe she will again turn it into something it was not intended to ever be.
Well, digression with Myra Langerhas over.

You asked here in your first OP what the world must think of us..... I have asked that one too.
No, I do NOT blame the troops. I was one of the troops myself long ago and I know for a fact, troops just do what troops are told to do. Often times they get stuck with a lot of unexpected consequences....well unexpected by them at any rate. Currently the numbers of our troops also suffering from depleted uranium affects is unknowable but astonishingly high for sure!

I can't look at this anymore, look at the video if you dare but I'll warn you, it is horrific! From my own experiences discussing it, Americans just aren't that into it. Maybe you will understand where my ugly thoughts came from towards my fellow Americans in that 2006 post when it comes to this particular 'stuff' we left in Iraq.

[Enthusiast]

85. Jenny Red Eye, you have identified a very significant aspect of life in 21st Century America.

The national dialogue you speak of is carefully crafted to serve TPTB (the powers that be).

Real issues are often ignored because if the people gave it much thought they would realize the true authors of this suffering—TPTB.

Never in all of history have TPTB had such effective means of distracting and hoodwinking the populace. This is Machiavellianism on steroids.

For example, over the next few weeks much of the population will be focused on March Madness to the exclusion of all else. Television has become the ultimate tool of distraction.

[heaven05]

90. your point is lucid, true

and well taken.

[The_Commonist]

93. Welcome to the human condition.

People will want to tell you that it's the TV, or that it's just "those other guys on the other side," or because the super-rich are distracting you to steal your money, or even that it's just us Ugly Americans who behave like this. But no, it's all of humanity through all of history.

Greek comedy based on blunder and tragedy based on hubris was around 2500 years ago, and we are still blundering and hubrising, but now the entire world can watch minutes after the event. 2500 years is an eyeblink in the scheme of things, and although we might be quite a bit taller than we were then and can peer into the heart of the Big Bang and the atom, we're really not all that different than we were back in those days.

Why does the human condition cause us to behave this way? Answer that, and you'll win the prize.

And of course, it's not each individual, we can see reality with varying degrees of clarity. But I do think that veils of clouds and tears and bullshit is the default position, because seeing and understanding reality for what it really is can be VERY HARD WORK! Most people don't want to work that hard, for what seems like little reward. In fact, it often seems like downright punishment! You can walk around in a daze and enjoy the bread and circuses, and of course the prurient controversies, or you can work hard to see what's really going on here and be rewarded with those real body parts haunting your dreams.

A few days ago, someone here posted a question: "When Did Right-Wing Anti-Intellectualism Start?"

Answers ranged from "It started with Vice President Spiro Agnew," "It goes back to the late '40's," "when the left/right line of demarcation was drawn," "1776," and many other answers, both good and shallow. Even though I thought my answer was the cleverest, someone else wrote this, which said the same thing in a clearer way:

"Ever since our ancestors discovered that some people think about things more thoroughly and soundly than others? Since the first bully squared off with the first human who was smarter than he was, and lost? Unfortunately, power and the capacity for sound reasoning seldom travel in the same company..."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017251549

Point is... It ain't the email, it ain't the sexting, it's not even just us dumb Americans. We've always been like this, All of us, and probably always will be.

Hope that helps, and welcome to DU.
You will see the human condition on full display here...

[A-Schwarzenegger]

105. good post

[Jenny Red Eye]

95. .

My thanks to each of you for responding.

[betsuni]

97. This OP is a miracle.

Only 17 posts, first OP -- 142 recs, so many views and comments. Did you sprinkle catnip around your post? Work a spell? Congratulations -- I'm envious!

[raouldukelives]

98. Because those issues are bummers.

And if people focused on those issues & learned about them they might get mad. Heck, they might even demand a change. They might start calling for curtailing climate change and ending war$. Which of course would adversely affect the corporations demanding they remain the only ones calling the shots when it comes to deciding what actions to take.
Corporate shareholders enable fiduciary responsibility. Because of it, no one is responsible. Only those who enable such actions to begin with. They are legion.

[whereisjustice]

100. lol - Gingrich/Petraeus are rolling in their political graves. Who knew character is a liability?

Surprising that so many Democrats are willing to give the most powerful people in the nation such a "wide stance".

But god help the Walmart employee who is 5 minutes over their allotted bathroom break.

On edit - Petraeus makes the point better than the scurrilous scumbag Limbaugh.

[liberal N proud]

101. M$M obsessions with celebrities

They love to make and then break people.

The rest of the world laughs at us!

[pansypoo53219]

106. no critical thinking skills, and complicated high crimes in misdemeanors are HARD. blue dresses are

eezy. or-SQUIRREL!

[Orsino]

108. Because a few very rich men tell us to freak out about those things.

We obey rich men, particularly when they control most major media outlets.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

109. {W}hy should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that...?

Barbara Bush

But why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or that or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that, and watch him (her husband, former president George H. W. Bush) suffer?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

111. The English Language: Don't try it at home.

[leveymg]

112. Because we can't deal directly with real policy differences, particularly Mideast, Iran, Iraq . . .

so we get a lot of symbolic politics and sex scandal spectacles, instead.

Spectacles feed upon the underlying tensions without a requirement for resolution or even public exposure of the facts. That's why these issues come back so many times, over and over again, in disguise. It's a politics of permanent spectacle and evasion.

It's so pervasive that direct conflict appears insane.