"Face it, the system is rigged, and it's rigged against us"

by: MinistryOfTruth

Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 15:27:17 PM CDT

Must Read Eric Alterman article about our kabuki democracy -- and what to do about it.

digbysblog.blogspot.com

     Face it, the system is rigged, and it's rigged against us. Sure, presidents can pretty easily pass tax cuts for the wealthy and powerful corporations. They can start whatever wars they wish and wiretap whomever they want without warrants. They can order the torture of terrorist suspects, lie about it and see that their intelligence services destroy the evidence. But what they cannot do, even with supermajorities in both houses of Congress behind them, is pass the kind of transformative progressive legislation that Barack Obama promised in his 2008 presidential campaign. Here's why.

thenation.com

    As for the "Here's why" and how to fix things part, one should go read the whole article at The Nation, and go below the fold for more.

Please join me in observing Buy Nothing Day tomorrow

by: rossl

Thu Nov 26, 2009 at 12:36:01 PM CST

We're in a pretty messed up place politically and environmentally.  Multinational corporations and financial firms pretty much own the government.  Global warming is not only a real and present danger, but rapidly accelerating.  There is a plastic "raft" in the Pacific Ocean bigger than Texas.  And as people we're constantly being taken advantage of to make this situation last longer so that corporate profits and bonuses can climb even higher than they are now.

The strong link between these two things - our society's consumerism and the terrible political, social, environmental, and economic situations we're in - demands action.  By buying things from these corporations and feeding into this model of an economy, we only encourage it.  So I'm asking you:  please join me in buying nothing tomorrow.