Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us…..
And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor: not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country. -John F. Kennedy
Never have those words resonated so loudly as now in these uncertain times where government and House Republicans let their highly-compensated dogmas hold the American People hostage. Never has government been so self-centered! Clearly, Congress does not value the lives of the American People. They are confident in ignoring us all.
Lately, patriotic themes serve as staunch opposition to raising the debt ceiling…unless medical device companies are spared taxes earmarked to defray the costs of premiums, expand coverage to millions and improve quality care–making it more patient centric and integrated clinically. These companies profit from the system yet too greedy to pay their fair share of taxes. Let’s bargain, switch liability from doctors to these companies and no increase taxes.
BTW, Obamacare is here to stay!
Congress: Grow-up and stop being such sore losers. Obama won the election. He is more clever than you. Move on.
Their Failure to listen to the American People and to the world will cost this country more than dollars. 
Peace is a good feeling for to resolve problems. Thank you.
it certainly would be. 🙂
Angela – your words are always thoughtful and compelling. Be cautious of falling prey to emotions – that is where credibility can be lost.
Though I feel and agree…our country will ride above the single mindedness of the past and the political right. Let us not provide emotional ammunition.
Keep writing… keep the messsge strong. You are an influence.
BTW, Obamacare is here to stay!
Congress: Grow-up and stop being such sore losers. Obama won the election. He is more clever than you.
Randall,
I appreciate your wise and thoughtful advice. My emotions are my weakness and strength–making them dilemmas.
We need something to happen in Washington. For some reason, JFK’s inaugural speech begs out to Congress to stop this divisiveness. Admittedly, he was referring to the Cold War, another country and here we are all Americans; divided and united, we stand???
BTW, thank you for stopping by and your comments.
Angela
I’m not sure you’re accomplishing much by quoting homilies. We have negotiated under more adverse circumstances than this: War, Depression, social unrest. Both sides cannot be dogmatic. For instance, in Obamacare, what might be delayed? Suppose websites are not available to everyone, so between now and March 31, 2014, not everyone can sign up, or not everyone can sign up without it taking a day or two.
PROPOSAL: Put the mandate off a year, but keep the websites open so Americans can sign up. Perhaps put the mandate off until October 31, 2014.
Obama’s position appears to be the law is non-negotiable. He will not talk. The Republicans can argument, it doesn’t work. End it.
I wonder if there is a compromise to be made, but only if people don’t construe compromise as “negotiating our fears.”
Hi michaelulinedwards,
Unfortunately, by using Obamacare as a bargaining tool, we are toying with people’s lives.
Granted the communication of the ACA was poor; and at fault for the current state of confusion and creation of myths.
However, I don’t think we should try to hoodwink the President. I hear he is clever. 😉
I appreciate your comments and understand your frustration. And I agree we should find what unites us.
Angela
It’s frustrating and alienating for the American people when our elected officials pass laws that do not apply to themselves. If I were to “shut down” tomorrow and stay home, I certainly wouldn’t continue to receive pay; I’d find myself out of a job and someone else more than ready to step in.
As long as our elected officials are insulated from the problems of the people, they will never know how to address those problems to the people’s satisfaction.
Hi Joe,
We insulate them by not holding them accountable. Why don’t we?
Because you fear to come forward and hold them accountable!
How do we do this, MBA? How do we cut the strings of the puppeteers, liberating those tiny HRs?
Liberating the tiny ones would create even more disasters than they’re creating already.
Liberating the tiny ones might indeed cause more havoc.
If all you do is flush out the nest.
But if you flush out the nest and stomp on the roaches as they scatter, you will be making progress.
I hate to put it in such terms, but you have to learn to think like a sociopath. And that is distasteful for most people, which is why we let them get away with everything. Normal people have to practice to think so low. You have to imagine the lowest a person will stoop to, then try to imagine even lower.
Even as a thought exercise, it has the potential to send you into therapy!
Still, you have to learn how they think in order to know how they will react and what you must do to stop them. And when you stop them, you must destroy them.
No benefit of the doubt.
You must destroy them in such a way that they will never recover, their lives will be ruined, and no one will want to associate with them ever again.
In this case, it would mean exposing the little HRs, letting the world know the depths to which they have sunk, then if at all possible, try them for treason.
That will put an end to any more attempts of that nature. Then we can start rebuilding the country.
Lol, yeah right. Be aware though……..at least half of the American electorate thinks like those little ones. And as it seems to me, the rest is not far off.
MBA.
I jotted down all your obstacles and challenges.
How about more concrete solutions given your reality (which I agree with)?
All of them? You must be Angela the infamous Tarot reader!
Already told you: I’m not interested and way to lazy to get myself involved. And besides, you people should learn to clean up your own mess.
LOL..the drama continues
Valerie,
I share your disgust and frustration. However, sociopaths are totally irrational and dangerous people. I advice staying away. If we acted like them–sociopath–the world would be full of crazies, I don’t want that either.
There healthy options that are direct, sustainable and more productive. And you mentioned one that is often talked about and is now under t-HRs rule–TRANSPARENCY. House Republicans losing the fight with the American People are DESPERATE! Moreover, they are little dictators thinking, they can lock Americans in dark rooms without food or water…
Sadly, Leadership is lacking.
Hi, Angela,
I agree with you — it would be best to stay away.
However, sociopaths won’t let us do that. That’s why they need to be exposed — so the rest of us know who to avoid.
And if you have to deal with them, you must be utterly ruthless.
There must be no advantage in this country for sociopathy. As it is, sociopaths are rewarded — we give in to them.
Sociopaths are really just toddlers in adult bodies. That’s why they can do so much damage — they look like adults, they sound like adults. So by the time we realize they have no adult judgment whatsoever, the damage has been done.
Lives are ruined. Businesses are ruined. In our case, a whole country may be ruined.
You have to crush them completely — that is, you take ALL their toys away.
Just like a two- or three-year-old bully. Take all his toys away and sit him in a corner, by himself.
You see, they don’t have boundaries. They never learned to have boundaries. Their parents didn’t teach them to have boundaries and discipline, so now society has to do that job.
For some, the only thing that will work is jail.
Just my two cents.
BTW, Angela, the world IS full of crazies. The sooner we recognize that, the better off — and the safer — we’ll be.
MBA, what do you suggest? Something concrete would be nice…
Ah you warrior woman you, just join forces with Valeria and the likes of you two. My way of dealing with people like this, if such a thing would ever be placed on the top of my agenda, is not for you 😉
Valeria appears to be a force of her own. 🙂
Do you think we need POWER to make a difference?
Hmmmm, what difference would it make?
You mean POWER is not enough.
Yep, this is what happens when you have only two political parties and “leaders” who pretend to serve “the people” but failed to outgrow the once on them imposed “my dick and balls are bigger than yours” mentality.
Forget this JFK babble. People are always driven by fear. Fear is primal. Oh, and if you deny this, you are only fearing your fear.
Um……I forgot to say……ugh!
aaarrrrgh
Hi Roald,
Fear is primal… Fear does not have to control your life decisions.
The current embarrassment and pettiness are examples of irrational obstinacy on the part of House Republicans (HR) The two party system is not at issue here.
At issue are complex multifactorial cultural beliefs entangled in ego and … I guess the “dick and balls are bigger” mentality.
{Psssst, I think HRs have smaller ones, will not accept and now claim smaller is better…their wives disagree though…}
Getting back on topic, my question is who are their puppeteers?
If that really was a question, then asking this shows me that you don’t know what’s going on in you country.
Please Roald aka Mr. Bad Ass enlighten me as to what is really going on?
As you saw, Valeria, a.k.a the Lady with the Private Blog, lifted the veil on this already a little bit. To see the rest of the iceberg you have to go diving. Best would be the deep sea diving variant. Since most people are afraid of dark waters, and I’m too concerned about creating massive havoc in the land of the free and home of the brave, I decline to become a follower of Diogenes, and rather stay in my darkness, controlling things from there.
What kind of diving do you suggest?
It was meant metaphorically, as you damn well know. But it comes close to what I do in my professional practice with people who believe they could confront (and eventually enjoy) what they keep in hiding deep down below the surface of their regular personality structure.
MBA,
We can’t control the interpretations of our words. And why should we? Those different interpretations are rainbows in the skies…
Hi, Angela!
So, you wanted to know who the puppeteers are?
Among them are the Koch brothers, whose father was one of the founders of the John Birch Society.
So there it is.
Here’s my pet peeve: I would like for the mainstream media to stop treating this as if both sides were at fault. You don’t negotiate with terrorists. Ideally, you’d let law enforcement handle them. However, in this case it gets a bit complicated!
Take a look at one of Rachel Maddow’s videos — she shows clips of some of the Tea Party members promising to shut down the government if they were elected.
In other words, this has NOTHING to do with Obamacare, and everything to do with wanting to destroy a Democratic president. Similar to what they did with Bill Clinton.
Also, take a look at a video by Representative Chris Van Hollen (aka, My New Hero), “The GOP’s little rule change they hoped you wouldn’t notice.” Here’s the link on youtube:
http://youtu.be/0Jd-iaYLO1A
They changed the rule on who could request that the government be reopened.
They changed it on October 1.
They tightened it so only the Speaker or his designee could call for the vote.
Why?
To make it more difficult to get the government opened.
Obstructionist.
Mean-spirited.
Evil.
Hi Valeria
Thank you for this information. I am enraged.
We are no longer a Democracy!!! The Speaker allowed the koch brothers and their allies to take control of this country. As I said, House Republicans do not VALUE Americans.
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. What do you suggest ordinary citizens do?
For most Americans struggling, unable to even afford time, this is simply noise. They know nothing of the facts that will be re-written with help from MEDIA.
So, What can WE DO?
When this is over, it should never happen again!
Dream on. This will happen over and over again, and then…….again. And when, after a zillion times, it finally seems over, it will ……..yes, wait for it………happen again! But…..like I said…….dream on. Can make you feel soooo good. And who wouldn’t want to feel good, eh?
Roald, MBA drama of the world, tell me something positive.
Positive? What does that mean? Making things look nicer than they are, perhaps? Something to make you feel good? Poor me thought I was already was doing this.
It’s not “deep see diving” though, where we learn to see clearly in total darkness.
But for what it’s worth, I saved a baby iguana today from certain death.
Oh, you saved a baby reptile!
How cute!!!
And utterly ironic.
touché…LOL
Hey, hope I wasn’t misunderstood here. That wasn’t a comment about a poster on your blog.
It was a political remark.
Or maybe I didn’t get it?
Do I understand this well? Saving that animal was not a positive thing to do?
Oh, it was positive!
My remark was that saving a baby reptile is a sweet thing to do. But at the same time, a band of fully-grown reptiles were intent on destroying everything around them. Turned out that 144 House Republicans who voted against opening the government. I am now looking for a list of names to enter onto the Human Reptile list.
Okay, so that wasn’t one of my better metaphors.
Hey, I’m still working on it.
Valeria, when you complete your list–I suggest including financial ties to medical device companies and others–please share. I will help disperse the Human Reptile list and expose those t-HRs.
Still no explanation as to why House Republican decided to screw with the American People…or the extent of the damages unnecessarily inflicted on Americans and internationally.
The beautiful Black Queen herself asked me to say “something positive”, Valeria, and who am I to ignore her command? Guess you didn’t get this indeed.
Btw, not everything is about America, eh?
We have Weapons of Mass Destruction…WMD…that is our POWER and that is why everything is about America.
Angela,
You are already doing something. You are providing a forum for thoughts to be exchanged.
But if we are going to take our country back, we need to organize.
Remember a few years back when a lot of internet sites went black to protest censorship?
We need to do something like that.
We need to pick a day, get as many people together as possible, and have something like a massive Google Hangout — but not just rely on Google.
We should have a wall of such videos constantly rolling.
We have to correct the mistakes the mainstream media is making — you see, they don’t understand the gravity of the situation.
They think the Tea Party Republicans want the same thing they want and that they are reasonable.
They don’t and they aren’t.
Now, here’s my opinion.
We haven’t had a well-functioning government for a long time.
The guys with all the money are the same people — the very same mindset — that got poor whites to give their lives in the Civil War so that these ultra-rich white people could get free labor.
They lie.
They tell people it’s about “states’ rights” — or FREEDOM to determine your own way.
But it’s not about freedom at all. They want all of us to be slaves.
Why do they get away with paying so little at WalMart? Why are jobs with slave wages the main ones being created? Well, those jobs and the specialized technical ones.
They use people – white and black. It isn’t even really about race. They just use the issue of race because it works. It’s really about money. About getting people to work for free or as close to free as possible.
Think about it — all those poor white people who lost their lives in the Civil War, fighting so rich white people would not have to pay them.
Why pay a white person when you can get a black one to work for free? That limits jobs for white people. Yet there they were, fighting for it! Just like they are fighting now for the right to die sick and broke, so a few rich people can laugh all the way to the bank.
I really wish people would notice that when someone tries to create conflict, stop fighting your brother and look to see who’s running off with your piggy bank.
We can get them now.
They didn’t have the internet back then.
We can finally put this to rest and have a functioning country where everyone has a job, an education, an a future. A white picket fence.
But we need to organize and get the word out.
Because that’s what sociopaths fear more than anything.
Exposure.
– V
BTW, I love rich people — regular rich people. I intend to become one, so I’m not trashing the guy who came up with a good idea and made millions, or even billions. I’m talking about one tiny group of ultrarich people who want to own everything and don’t care about the rest of us. Tiny, tiny group — but they’ve been in power for far too long. That’s what US chattel slavery was about, so we solve this problem and we’ve solved 80% of our other problems as well.
Hi Valeria,
Thank you, I would like to do more. I like your ideas.
If we do organize, we should use Big Data and informatics to help guide us. I don’t want to stage a march or sit in. I want to make a statement that will resonate so loudly Koch will find another country.
We need the facts. We need to go to Washington and let our voices be heard in Congress. Valeria, I like this and I can do this with broad based support and resources.
Unfortunately, I don’t have that.
Re: “LOL..the drama continues” Shhhhh, didn’t you observe? Even the bourgeois clique of WP had enough of the melodramatic tragedy you ignited, and thus eliminated the possibility to respond to your latest attempt to keep it alive. But since I’m the undisputed Drama King of Cyber Country and you’re my Drama Vixen, it would have broken my heart should I have decided to leave you riba caya. Hence I renewed the crap.
We did it with our voices. The government is open for business!!!
That is until Feb 7 but relax they will need the American People then–election year for many House Republicans. OPPORTUNITY for empowered Americans tired of CRAP.
Observe and listen to Republicans, some are still bent on destroying this country and defaulting on our enormous debt to the China and the world. Why? Obamacare!!! They don’t care about providing a safety net of HEALTH for poor working families.
Observe to see if their words align with their actions. They are getting better at creating myths with help from media. Today, Republicans VALUE the elite 1% more than the middle class or working poor.
IMO, they are cutting their noses off to spite their faces. Observe and don’t forget those House Republicans who do not value the American People.
You can celebrate as much as you like, fact is, american politics is far from what they want the world to believe. Yuck!
Did you know the bill to reopen the government contained an additional $2.1 billion for an Ohio River dam project?
They managed to sneak a couple of things by us.
From http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/174000-to-a-senators-widow-and-other-surprises-in-the-fiscal-compromise-bill
Another section of the bill hikes funding for projects along the Ohio River, portions of which flow through Illinois and Kentucky, states represented by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The bill boosts money for the projects by $2.1 billion, from an original $775 million to $2.9 billion: “Section 3(a)(6) of Public Law 100-676 is amended by striking both occurrences of ‘$775,000,000′ and inserting in lieu thereof, ‘$2,918,000,000.’”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., defended the Ohio River dam project, saying the project will actually save taxpayers money. “This is not an earmark. It saves the taxpayers lots of money and enables the Corps of Engineers to continue a project,” Reid told reporters at a news conference Wednesday night.
These items have been tucked into the all-important piece of legislation with just about no chance for public review. The final plan was worked out Wednesday morning by McConnell and Reid, and was put on the fast track for votes in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Just an FYI.
Valeria, thank you. I appreciate this VERY much. 🙂
Angela
Re: “You mean POWER is not enough”. I meant, even if you would make a difference, it wouldn’t make a difference, because the difference wouldn’t be any different than all the other differences that were made before.
Oh, and stop screaming.
You know, I actually understood that. And it made sense.
Should I be worried?
Currently the only thing that should really worry us is what soon is going to happen at the Fukushima plant. If only a little thing goes wrong then, its radiation will wipe out all life on the northern hemisphere. Seems that even the Japanese people have no clue of what could be in store for them.
LOL
So, yet somehow things are different…
But of course, but it doesn’t made a difference.
LOL