Here is an increasingly common story.

I have just about had enough.

All this crime and such a slow process , it will take decades to fix most of this and I don't hold any faith in 2009 , it's too far away .

I have not been able to find a job no matter how much effort I have put into this .

My wife goes in and out of depression and so do I , we try desperately to help each other stay sane .

It has gotten to the point where I feel completely useless without a job and it is next to impossible to watch people out and about working .

I feel like I have hit rock bottom . Politics is really dragging us down .

We have even tried to join the peace corps but they require college which we don;t have , don't even know at out age if we could even do the work .

Reading about college grads having a ruff time finding work certainly does not help us close to 60 years old .

My wifes brother who is not to be trusted with his past called and said we could move to NC where her other brother has land and wants me and my wife to move there and for me to build a house on this property . He said we don;t have to pay rent since he drives a truck he would only be there a few days a month . This land is 80 miles from Charlotte , west . It is in no mans land .

Man if this becomes our only option it is a shaky and sad one indeed because we could end up in a strange land stuck with no way out .

We really don;t know what to do now , we have at best until sept before the little we have in funds to run out and it's been 13 months without a job and my wife cannot work do to medical issues .

Just listening to AAR or Nova M has become difficult because these people at least have a life going as do many people out there .

Even all my neighbors in the building we live in still have their same jobs and life goes on for them . We are at a standstill here .

I even went to vocational rehab since my shrink who put me on SDI said I should try this , it does not look good , even the counselor there said jobs are hard to come by and the process is long .

I have no idea what NC is like other than it's the south and jobs are not great anywhere across the USA now . They said they would pay me to build this house but at my age and not doing this work since 1967 i can't say I could even pull this off with confidence .

I never dreamed things would turn so bad so fast and I know well I am far from alone .

I just had to vent here before I go nuts , they should issue cyanide pills .

And the usual responses from liberals.



First, visualize EXACTLY what you want, imagine having it, really having it, and try to feel good about it every day. Also do things that make you feel good. Now, this is part of the Law of Attraction, which is not nonsense, as some have disputed. Read "The Secret" or " The Amazing Powers of Deliberate Intent" and get FIRED UP!!!! Really, it is powerful and can change your life.


Please count your blessings. You are literate, you have a computer at your disposal, you have family who want to help you. And on the other side of that coin, no matter how bad off you feel you are, you are still far better off than an emaciated, swollen-bellied, naked orphan in Dufar. When I'm feeling overwhelmed by my problems, I do somewhere with a view so I can get an idea of how big this world is and how many people there are in it.


You have a heavy load right now, maybe you should shelve politics for a while - it can be so frustrating and depressing.


Breathe in and out, each day. Invest in YOUR LIFE, FIRST; otherwise, you are too empty to contribute much of anything beyond your life (eg get the hell away from the ugliness of politics,...*seriously*). TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH. Give and receive hugs as often as possible.


In other words, quit whining, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, think positive, and whatever you do, do not think that politics has anything to do with your situation.

Free market, Reagan boot strap individualism, self-actualization, and New Age spirituality - the responses are demeaning, divisive, reactionary and border on cruel.

The alternative? Quietly send the brother $20, use the story as an opportunity for raising class awareness, and give the brother hope that his suffering is not meaningless but has value and meaning as part of a larger struggle. Mutual defense and support. Solidarity and commitment. Self-sacrifice and community.

Break down these horrible barriers between theory and reality that are rendering us politically weak and ineffective, and the barriers between each other that are turning us into moral monsters.

How did we become so weak and groveling, so callous and cold-hearted, so smug and self-centered?

I'm speaking of the respondants, not the writer of the letter. The writer I know all too well, people like him in any case. They are my family, my customers,and increasingly my friends. But these others, they are foreign, exotic to me. When I see statements like that one word looms large in my mind, California. That is where my limited experience identifies the origin of such blather. Though I did see some characters in Asheville last month that I could imagine mouthing such arrogant drivel. Other than my occasional passing through an airport I'd never see them in the flesh, knowing them only through the internet and the stray bit of junk mail(for a real scam check out the Four Winds Society). I guess my point is that I don't see the magnitude of trouble that these people can be that you do. My experience with upper class arrogance has been more the traditional sort, the country club, the debs, the Commerce Club. Perhaps I am blessed in my ignorance, though it does bother me to think I've lead such a sheltered life. So I have a hard time thinking of them as a threat. Are they worth the effort or might they be ignored, like gaudy, noisy birds in the trees?

Edit:Perhaps this is an example of what you speak, stripped of the mumbo-jumbo:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/di ... _id=538146 (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=538146&mesg_id=538146)

Gawd, what self-indulgent whining.

The OP is not talking about happiness, but rather selfishness.


So I have a hard time thinking of them as a threat. Are they worth the effort or might they be ignored, like gaudy, noisy birds in the trees?
In the country, agriculture and farmers are under attack and efforts at building opposition to the right wingers is undermined by these birds.

I think "California" as well, but we have little enclaves of California everywhere now.

Here is why I am so aware of the dangers of the New Age trends.

Check out this essay by Phillip Slater. According to him, the struggle is not between Capital and Labor, but rather between two cultural forces - the good and the evil, otherwise known as the "culture of control" and the "integrative culture." All things are then analyzed within this context.

Slater acknowledges that what endured from the 60's was not political but rather cultural, and sees this as a positive thing. "The Age of Aquarius" is well on its way to overcoming the old, the bad, the wrong, it seems. Some of the evidence he cites to support the notion that the 60's were a roaring success - "in this, most important sense, the sixties never ended" he says.

Blacks are still on TV. Women are still getting degrees and in the work force. Sexual liberation still exists. Interest in New Age ideas, alternative medicine, and organic foods keeps growing, as do Green lifestyles and anti-war protests.


The fact is, all those trends that began in the sixties have flowered and multiplied in the ensuing decades. If this weren’t so—if it had all just blown over, the neo-cons wouldn’t exist. The fundamentalist backlash that has swept the United States during the past two decades was a frightened reaction to the radical changes that began in the sixties. It was the overthrowing of a whole cluster of fundamental cultural assumptions at once that struck terror in the hearts of traditionalists the world over.

I am a traditionalist, but not a neo-con. Now what, oh wise California guru?

We have been on this bad "control culture" path for a long time, according to Slater, and that path is the root cause of all of our social ills. The 60's counter-culture represents a beginning in the effort to free ourselves from those shackles.

So how and when did this evil control stuff all start? What was our first mistake? When did we fall from grace and eat of the forbidden fruit? Aside - I love how he starts so many assertions with "for in fact."


For in fact it was with agriculture that the mega-culture that has dominated the globe for the last ten millennia began. By mega-culture I mean common values and traditions that subsume the various ethnic cultures of the world. Since the dawn of agriculture and animal husbandry this mega-culture has extended itself to the farthest corners of the earth.

Ah, man farmed. That was the root cause of all of our troubles.


Prior to today’s upheaval the most profound event in our planet’s history was the moment humans decided not to rely on the earth’s abundance, like other species, but to attempt to control it, by manipulating crops and flocks. Virtually all ‘advanced’ cultures have a tradition of a ‘fall’—from a ‘golden age’, an Eden.

Silly Humans. Didn't they know that "the earth would provide?" Why did they think they were hungry?


The Greeks described this golden age precisely: “The earth herself, without compulsion, untouched by hoe or plowshare, of herself gave all things needful.” Hesiod was obviously talking here about hunter-gatherers. And the Garden of Eden myth tells the same story—how the knowledge of the way a fruit—probably a pomegranate—can produce a tree, led to “hoes and plowshares”, and hence to constant toil and suffering. Hesiod describes the then current ‘iron age’ in exactly the same terms. Trying to control your environment takes work.

At the core - the very foundation - of New Age spirituality, of modern liberalism, of the modern upscale bastardizations of the organic movement and environmental movement is a deep and vicious hostility to agriculture. As an attack on agriculture, it is an attack on civilization and an attack on humanity itself. That dovetails quite nicely with the assault on civilization and humanity by the right wingers. We simply replace the fundamentalists "God" with "the earth" or "Nature" and define original sin a little differently - it wasn't man's selfish nature and greed that caused the problem, no, it was his cooperative community-oriented nature that led to the development of agriculture that caused the problems because then things had to be "controlled" and the "control culture" is the root of all evil. Are we to imagine that pregnant or breast-feeding women, and their children, or the sick or the elderly fared better in a hunter-gatherer society than they did in an agricultural society? Are we to imagine that the cooperation, planning and community building implied by and necessary for agriculture were bad things? In what universe? Only in spoiled, well off, upscale, academic, pseudo-intellectual, narcissistic, New Age California USA circa the late 20th century - that is the only universe that Slater's theme could have arisen.

Notice that he does not attack modern corporate agri-business practices – big money players get a pass, and are no worse than the small progressive family farmer. No it is agriculture itself – traditional agriculture – that is to be blamed for all of the horrors of the last 100 years. I suppose we are to imagine that we started down the wrong path 12,000 years ago, and are just now seeing the evil results? For 11,900 years, agriculture was a pacifying, civilizing, humanitarian activity, but hidden deep within its “ideology” was the certainty that sooner or later corporate agri-business would arise and all Hell would break loose? It couldn't possibly be capitalism, brought to its fully ravenous nature by the recent unleashing of corporations that has caused the problems. No, it is farmers who are to blame, not the ruling class.

Yet is it not true that ALL of our activities have come to be dominated by capitalism advanced by the mechanism of corporate expansion and power? Are not all aspects of our lives debased and being destroyed by this? But we are to KEEP all of the industry that supports suburban utopia, making it greener as we go along, since none of that is causing any environmental or spiritual problems, and attack and get rid of agriculture? Why is that? Why does capitalism and corporate power get a pass? Could it be our “socially responsible investment” portfolios? Our lucrative careers catering to well-off American suburbanites peddling crap like this - “yes dear little pampered suburbanite, you can keep living the way you are in your little lifestyle in Marin county as a beautiful self-actualized individual. The problems are all caused by those stupid people – like those crude farmers down in Gilroy and in the valley – and it all started back when the 'control culture' started and we were not free to indulge ourselves in our fantasies and whims.”

TEMPORARY INSANITY:
A WORLD IN TRANSITION (http://www.philipslater.com/)

I'm speaking of the respondants, not the writer of the letter. The writer I know all too well, people like him in any case. They are my family, my customers,and increasingly my friends. But these others, they are foreign, exotic to me. When I see statements like that one word looms large in my mind, California. That is where my limited experience identifies the origin of such blather. Though I did see some characters in Asheville last month that I could imagine mouthing such arrogant drivel. Other than my occasional passing through an airport I'd never see them in the flesh, knowing them only through the internet and the stray bit of junk mail(for a real scam check out the Four Winds Society). I guess my point is that I don't see the magnitude of trouble that these people can be that you do. My experience with upper class arrogance has been more the traditional sort, the country club, the debs, the Commerce Club. Perhaps I am blessed in my ignorance, though it does bother me to think I've lead such a sheltered life. So I have a hard time thinking of them as a threat. Are they worth the effort or might they be ignored, like gaudy, noisy birds in the trees?

Edit:Perhaps this is an example of what you speak, stripped of the mumbo-jumbo:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/di ... _id=538146 (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=538146&mesg_id=538146)

Gawd, what self-indulgent whining.

BP you do know them though, by extension. They are the dopes who endlessly push stiffs like John Kerry, both Clintons, and Al Gore at us as the "solution". Insist the Democratic Party is the way to get results. Etc etc.

BP you do know them though, by extension. They are the dopes who endlessly push stiffs like John Kerry, both Clintons, and Al Gore at us as the "solution". Insist the Democratic Party is the way to get results. Etc etc.
Yeah that is the point. Otherwise, who cares, to each his own, etc.

Even though the number of people promoting this crap and passing it off as "Left" or opposition to anything, the influence is pervasive. It goes unchallenged, except by Republicans. There is no counter message on the Left, no alternative, no legitimacy is granted to critics of this. How many people would support Kucinich if he stuck to the politics and pro-Labor positions and dumped the New Age junk? Practically every person in the rural county I am in would wholeheartedly support his campaign. But the New Age stuff is a non-starter. The New Agers want us to believe that people are voting Republican because they are stupid or hateful or ignorant or prejudiced. Most Democrats and liberals talk as though they just can't imagine why on earth someone would vote against the Democrats. "It must be their jeebus" or "they are knuckle dragging gun nuts" or "they are good little sheeple following their deranged leader Bush."

From purely a practical tactical and strategic standpoint , would you not want to know your enemy? Why do we accept the continual suppression of any and all discussion about Republican voters as though they were actually human beings? Democrats can talk about helping the poor, protecting civil liberties, fighting racial inequality but it is all bullshit. That is window dressing for show, and to reinforce Democrats and liberals in their inflated flattering view of themselves. The hard unchangeable and unyielding core of modern liberalism is based on tenets of New Age spirituality - those tenets are what cannot be questioned, will not be compromised on and are the glue that holds the liberal community together. Democrats may fool themselves about this and say that they have something in common with New Deal Democrats and that they are merely "open to" that other crap. "Open to" means "fully accepting and supportive of" in liberal double-speak. But the people see through the phony ruse and the hidden agenda and reject it. They see it as anti-working class, aristocratic, anti-tradition, and a threat.

A couple days after the last presidential election, I was eating with a group of middle aged professional people, all life-long Democrats. The conversation turned to the election, and I said that I had worked on many local campaigns and had often been in charge of getting early returns from key districts (with various old school tricks) and then being able to very accurately predict the outcome very early in the evening. From analyzing voters, selecting key precincts, watching turn out and analyzing trends, over the years you get a sense for what sorts of surprises can happen and why. I told them that there was no doubt that the returns from the recent election were seriously skewed and not explainable and that the anomalies were widespread. The only possible conclusion was that there was a broad conspiracy to steal the election.

Silence around the table. People even subtly moved their chairs farther away from me and didn't make eye contact with me the rest of the evening. Someone said "I can't believe that, it wouldn't be possible, and in any case Kerry lost by too many votes so even if there were irregularities it wouldn't change the outcome " and that was the end of that topic of discussion.

Later in the evening the conversation turned to the possibility that aliens are visiting us. There had been a show on the Discovery channel apparently. Everyone listened with obvious intense interest, nodding and saying things like "I think that is possible" and "I am open to that possibility" and such.

Alien visitations are just one of dozens of goofy things that liberals are “open to” and take seriously, much of it spiritual or metaphysical. They believe that these things that they are “open to” are possible and warrant serious consideration. Yet just minutes before they had treated me as though I were a lunatic for suggesting that the election had been stolen.

BP you do know them though, by extension. They are the dopes who endlessly push stiffs like John Kerry, both Clintons, and Al Gore at us as the "solution". Insist the Democratic Party is the way to get results. Etc etc.
Yeah that is the point. Otherwise, who cares, to each his own, etc.

Yeah, I agree. My real life example is Dave The Yuppoid Pilot. instructor at the local Wellness Center which is a wing of the Regional Medical Center. Huge flyboy, teaches/preaches yoga, pricey mountain bike etc. Actually I'm cool with the biking except when it becomes a hobby centered around having cool pricey gadgetry.

The same thing happens with guns. 2 grand for a scope my ass.

I saw some guy with what I swear had to be a 5 foot long bike rack mounted on the back of his pickup (hey it is florida after..you're not a 'man' if you don't have a half-ton).

So, my personal opinion aside (DOOOOOOFUS), this guy has a lot of problems. He does one exercise where he stands on his head, only he's not in good enough shape to handle it so he uses the wall as a brace. Remember, the Wellness center mostly caters to elderly floridians. Stand on their head? I hope they have an ambulance on standby.

Oh and hes had a balky back since college.

The only thing I find worse than these loons are the doomsayers who fall for every survivalist scam (get your dry rations half off this week only!!!!) The first thing they run out of is always money.

I posted this at another board as a parody -


“It is only through a change in human consciousness that the world will be transformed. The personal and the
planetary are connected. As we expand our awareness of mind, body, psyche, and spirit, and bring this awareness
actively into the world, so also will the world be changed. This is our quest as we explore new dimensions.”

People were not only blown away and in "total agreement" I think they were ready to recognize me as a guru and follow me or something. I hated to tell them that I meant it as a joke LOL.

I posted this at another board as a parody -


“It is only through a change in human consciousness that the world will be transformed. The personal and the
planetary are connected. As we expand our awareness of mind, body, psyche, and spirit, and bring this awareness
actively into the world, so also will the world be changed. This is our quest as we explore new dimensions.”

People were not only blown away and in "total agreement" I think they were ready to recognize me as a guru and follow me or something. I hated to tell them that I meant it as a joke LOL.

You expected Kucitizens to have a sense of humor? Haha, the joke's on you :)

[quote="Kid Of The Black Hole":3fo9blcg]BP you do know them though, by extension. They are the dopes who endlessly push stiffs like John Kerry, both Clintons, and Al Gore at us as the "solution". Insist the Democratic Party is the way to get results. Etc etc.
Yeah that is the point. Otherwise, who cares, to each his own, etc.

Yeah, I agree. My real life example is Dave The Yuppoid Pilot. instructor at the local Wellness Center which is a wing of the Regional Medical Center. Huge flyboy, teaches/preaches yoga, pricey mountain bike etc. Actually I'm cool with the biking except when it becomes a hobby centered around having cool pricey gadgetry.

The same thing happens with guns. 2 grand for a scope my ass.

[/quote:3fo9blcg]

Well, the class thing is certainly there:

http://images.thestreet.com/funds/goodlife/34312.jpg

Berettas for the entitled...

But, I'm not sure we lack for much, given good socialist iron:

http://www.enemyforces.com/firearms/ak47.jpg

...and you can pick up a Dragunov pretty cheap (including the scope):

http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/manual/english/svd/fig1.jpg

.

[quote="Kid Of The Black Hole":361mbpqe]BP you do know them though, by extension. They are the dopes who endlessly push stiffs like John Kerry, both Clintons, and Al Gore at us as the "solution". Insist the Democratic Party is the way to get results. Etc etc.
Yeah that is the point. Otherwise, who cares, to each his own, etc.

Yeah, I agree. My real life example is Dave The Yuppoid Pilot. instructor at the local Wellness Center which is a wing of the Regional Medical Center. Huge flyboy, teaches/preaches yoga, pricey mountain bike etc. Actually I'm cool with the biking except when it becomes a hobby centered around having cool pricey gadgetry.

The same thing happens with guns. 2 grand for a scope my ass.



Well, the class thing is certainly there:

http://images.thestreet.com/funds/goodlife/34312.jpg

Berettas for the entitled...

But, I'm not sure we lack for much, given good socialist iron:

http://www.enemyforces.com/firearms/ak47.jpg

...and you can pick up a Dragunov pretty cheap (including the scope):

http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/manual/english/svd/fig1.jpg

.[/quote:361mbpqe]

I planted that comment specifically to draw you out, Mr. Predictable :) I'm just waiting for chlamor and his Catholic School Girl On A Rampage pic.

The New Age movement - not exactly a movement but more of a trend at this point - is a religion a-forming, and it is a great opportunity to see how religions get started. We can see that rigid esoteric language - certain phrases and a certain way of speaking - are forming to perhaps become future chants and creeds.

A New Age product marketer:

"We want to fuel these great empowering visions—not just changing the economy and changing a product, but changing the lives that those products affect, giving people jobs that they can feel good about, jobs that give them a sense of dignity, jobs that bring greener products, that bring positive attention to their communities as well."

A New Age seminar leader:

"If we can get back in touch with the mystery—the mystery of who’s going to call us first thing in the morning; what intuition is going to come about an old friend we haven’t talked to in years; and what happens if we actually contact the person—this is the real juice of life. That’s the flow waiting for us if we step into it. It’s something that I believe we’re challenged to do at this moment in history, given the state of the world."

A personal self-actualization coach:

“I truly feel that all of our creativity, all of our expression, all of our comprehensions of the world are available to us in this moment. It is not a reaching out into the exotic; it is a reaching in to a way of knowing the world, which is enlarged, augmented, clarifying and open.”

Another guru:

“We’re multidimensional beings, and we’re connected to reality on many different levels. The physical reality is one part of that. But we can become aware of these other dimensions.”

And another:

"You don’t need to go looking for answers. Probably the best way to find them is to stop looking for them, in the sense of being still and being in one place.”

"We are a global heart. We are a global community. We’re a community with all of the natural creation - the truth is that of course we’re all connected. We’re all created by whatever makes the sun come up and go down."

"When we’re aligned with that greater intelligence— call it what you want, God, Great Mystery, Great Spirit, Buddha— and feel our connection to that greater force and to all the elements and all of life, then we’re protected, and we’re exactly where we need to be, doing what we need to be doing."

Notice what was just said there - "if you are in the right 'spiritual place,' then whatever you are doing and wherever you are will be 'right.'" You will be doing what you are supposed to be doing where you are supposed to be doing it. No need for thinking, in other words - just self-actualize and then do what ever you feel like doing, and donlt worry about what the right thing to do might be - no need to hassle yourself or stress out over that.

Here is a great example of the syntax and rhythm of the new incantations utilizing the buzz words. That bolded sentence is a work of art - pure New Age gibberish:

"Creating the time for intentional conversations about the questions that really matter is very critical. We need to be able to think together about complex issues, and it’s conversation that allows us to do that."

"It is about" is a common construct, as are "open to" and "intentional" this or that. "Custodianship of sacred thresholds" - gotta love that one.

"The amazing thing about a really good conversation is that, unknown to itself, it is open to and inviting of other energies and presences that eventually decide that the conversation is worthy for them to show up. Really good conversation is artistic and liturgical at the deepest sense. It’s about the custodianship of sacred thresholds."

The New Age movement - not exactly a movement but more of a trend at this point - is a religion a-forming, and it is a great opportunity to see how religions get started. We can see that rigid esoteric language - certain phrases and a certain way of speaking - are forming to perhaps become future chants and creeds.

A New Age product marketer:

"We want to fuel these great empowering visions—not just changing the economy and changing a product, but changing the lives that those products affect, giving people jobs that they can feel good about, jobs that give them a sense of dignity, jobs that bring greener products, that bring positive attention to their communities as well."

A New Age seminar leader:

"If we can get back in touch with the mystery—the mystery of who’s going to call us first thing in the morning; what intuition is going to come about an old friend we haven’t talked to in years; and what happens if we actually contact the person—this is the real juice of life. That’s the flow waiting for us if we step into it. It’s something that I believe we’re challenged to do at this moment in history, given the state of the world."

A personal self-actualization coach:

“I truly feel that all of our creativity, all of our expression, all of our comprehensions of the world are available to us in this moment. It is not a reaching out into the exotic; it is a reaching in to a way of knowing the world, which is enlarged, augmented, clarifying and open.”

Another guru:

“We’re multidimensional beings, and we’re connected to reality on many different levels. The physical reality is one part of that. But we can become aware of these other dimensions.”

And another:

"You don’t need to go looking for answers. Probably the best way to find them is to stop looking for them, in the sense of being still and being in one place.”

"We are a global heart. We are a global community. We’re a community with all of the natural creation - the truth is that of course we’re all connected. We’re all created by whatever makes the sun come up and go down."

"When we’re aligned with that greater intelligence— call it what you want, God, Great Mystery, Great Spirit, Buddha— and feel our connection to that greater force and to all the elements and all of life, then we’re protected, and we’re exactly where we need to be, doing what we need to be doing."

Notice what was just said there - "if you are in the right 'spiritual place,' then whatever you are doing and wherever you are will be 'right.'" You will be doing what you are supposed to be doing where you are supposed to be doing it. No need for thinking, in other words - just self-actualize and then do what ever you feel like doing, and donlt worry about what the right thing to do might be - no need to hassle yourself or stress out over that.

Here is a great example of the syntax and rhythm of the new incantations utilizing the buzz words. That bolded sentence is a work of art - pure New Age gibberish:

"Creating the time for intentional conversations about the questions that really matter is very critical. We need to be able to think together about complex issues, and it’s conversation that allows us to do that."

"It is about" is a common construct, as are "open to" and "intentional" this or that. "Custodianship of sacred thresholds" - gotta love that one.

"The amazing thing about a really good conversation is that, unknown to itself, it is open to and inviting of other energies and presences that eventually decide that the conversation is worthy for them to show up. Really good conversation is artistic and liturgical at the deepest sense. It’s about the custodianship of sacred thresholds."

What you are talking about sounds like a very odd admixture of suburban isolation, eastern religion, sales motivation training, and 1980s Welfare Office Speak...

"We don't have any more Food Stamps for you... How about some meaningless platitudes instead?"

I always thought this stuff lived entirely on the periphery of America as in, "it takes all kinds".

You may be right that it is much more important than that.

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/jmg0036l.jpg

.

never mind this should be on its own thread (http://populistindependent.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=2095#2095) I think