Do You Feel Like a Lone Voice in the Wilderness?

[The Whiskey Priest]

What issue is like a raw nerve for you? The issue you see crystal clear as important, yet no one else seems to see it that way. The issue that is so important to you that you are willing to talk about it anytime.

For me, it is the concentration of wealth. It is important to me because I believe it has reached a point of criticality, where a few are in a position to use the attended power of wealth in an unbridled acquisition of social and political control.

What is you one issue? Do you have one? It is not a person, it is what that person respresents.

[Bronco69]

1. For me it's the total takeover by the talibornagains.

And hardly anyone seems to care! Sure we talk about it a lot here on DU, but go out in the real world and mention it and people will say you're crazy.

[mopaul]

5. ditto

our number one threat

[atommom]

6. Me too.

[enid602]

8. theocracy

I wouldn't be so concerned about the religious taking over if they had the ability to run the country smoothly. The problem with most recent theocracies (Iran, Afganistan) is that they've proved that religious leaders have little talent for making good economic decisions, and tend to place value and moral concerns above bread and butter issues. So ironic, considering that materialism is a huge tenet of fundamentalist churches. Don't get me wrong; theocracy is always a bad idea, especially in culturally and religiously diverse countries such as ours.

[BulletproofLandshark]

2. Peak Oil

Most of the people I know see rising gas prices as just a temporary setback, not realizing how dire the situation really is. A lot of them seem to think that OPEC nations need to just open up the spigots a little or something. Nobody really takes me seriously though, and I suspect they won't until they're not able to put food on their tables. I don't worry about myself, but I have 3 nieces ages 9, 4, and 2. I worry every day about the future we've condemned them to, and fight back tears every time I do.

[rockedthevoteinMA]

3. I feel that way too Tinman

I feel if I try and mention Peak Oil to anyone they'll have me committed. It's all because if it's not reported on the teevee, then it's not happening. I watched a special on the history channel last night on private jets... and I said afterwards, how can they show this crap? How can they ignore that we are in a neverending oil crisis which is only going to get worse?

There are so many things the gov't could do, but instead they give tax breaks to the people who buy those huge SUV's...

[cynatnite]

9. I googled 'peak oil'

I hit just only a few websites and after some quick reading I now realize how dire the situation is. It makes perfect sense and it scares the hell out of me!

Time to do some serious research and planning for the future.

[babylonsister]

13. Peak oil: sites recommended by fellow DUer:

Short, nontechnical, from widely read sources (NYT & RS)
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7203633?pag...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/opinion/25deffeyes.ht...

[seabeyond]

4. laying in bed last nite, religion

i told self, screw the repugs, i want the religion. i dont know why, but i am mre pissed at religion grabbing hold of our nation than anything else. i think the have contaminated and culted the brains more than bush ever could, and in the name of jesus. and they couldnt be walking further away from jesus.

religion is what i want to have the downfall

and i remember the time when i thought it wouldnt be so bad for people to be a little more spiritual., that our nation had lost spirit a bit

wrong, lol lol

[tavalon]

7. Faux "News"

and the media in general. I still hear the phrase "liberal media". I want my fucking liberal media already!!!!!

I'm still learning about Peak Oil so I don't talk about it much yet but it is definitely in my top ten list for what will destroy our world.

Before all of this became pressing, my pet issue was autism and the complicity of the CDC, IOM and the AMA in protecting Merck and the other pharmaceutical companies from being held liable for causing the epidemic of autism. Boy, I got plenty of eyebrows raised but usually when they saw my file cabinet full of corroboration and saw that I knew what I was talking about, I could bring most of them around. Since these groups and the companies they are protecting have quietly backed away from doing what they were doing, I decided I needed to get into the fight to save the country because no more children were going to be destroyed by them in this manner anymore (thank goodness). I still see red though, when I see them continue to play their CYA game. I still want to see everyone involved in that cover up hung up by their genitals until they die. Oops, did I say that out loud?

[greatauntoftriplets]

10. The takeover by the talibornagains is enabling ....

the wealth to be concentrated among the few. That gets stuck in my craw every day as I serve the corporate masters at my workplace. It seems to me that those who have the highest income do the least work, and vice versa.

[RevCheesehead]

11. Practically all the f-ing time.

Christians don't want to hear the real message of the Gospel.
Non-believers don't want to hear about liberal Christians.
Conservative Christians are certain I am going to hell.

There are probably some who will be pissed that I'm pointing out that your post is a reference to John the Baptist, "a voice crying in the wilderness." John was in the wilderness because he was not welcome in the cities. But that didn't stop him from preaching.

See? religion is everywhere, and it does have something relevant to say, even today.

[BlueIris]

12. Choice. Your post made me think of one or two

of my favorite statements from the world of literature, philosophy and poetry, namely, that one from Marge Piercy's "Right to Life": "Without choice, no politics, no ethics lives." Because of the way choice has been eradicated by the Bush Administration, we are no longer living in a free society by any definition of the term. In my eyes, nothing he has done cannot be undone in the long term, but that will mean nothing to the women who have their lives ruined in the meantime. No, Bush is not the only person to have contributed to the crippling assault on choice, but he and his goons have done a fuckload of damage. It's disgusting, its outrageous, and it makes me INSANE that on top of all the other oppression and destruction he has created, NOBODY SEEMS TO NOTICE. Go look at what the Governor of Colorado contributed to the war on choice last week. It's one of the worst things ever.

The other poem your post made me think of was a piece by David Wagoner, "Staying Alive." Has anyone else read that? It's incredible. I've been ruminating on it since the election. On a literal level, it's actually a useful set of instructions for campers, hikers and wanderers, should they become stranded in the wilderness. I checked out its content with a wilderness-survival instructor in college once, and apparently its facts are sound. Figuratively, of course, it's a set of guidelines for helpful attitudes to adopt during times of extreme personal or societal strife (Wagoner wrote it, I believe, in the mid-1950s.) Because of copyright issues, I'm obviously not going to stick it up here, except maybe the last couple of lines: "If you are lying/Flat on your back with arms outstretched behind you,/You say you require/Emergency treatment...If you hold them over/Your head, you want to be picked up. Three of anything/Is a sign of distress. Afterward, if you see/No ropes, no ladders,/No maps or messages falling, no searchlights or trails blazing,/Then chances are, you should be prepared to burrow/Deep, for a deep winter."

[BearClaws]

14. yep,

My beef is how big the whole religion thing is in this country has become political and the Repukes seem to think they own it.
"Separation of Church and State"?
What a joke!
Listen to the right wing talk radio, All talking points, with the minions of clones all agreeing all the time.
No discussion, just lockstep agreement by the clones.
Sickening.

[The Lone Liberal]

19. I like that

....burrow/Deep, for a deep winter.....That about says it.

[Lerkfish]

15. The systematic torture of known to be innocent detainees.

although ALL of Bushco's crimes strike a raw nerve with me, this one does more than others because it should be a no brainer to NOT torture people. Period.
There is NO justification for torture at ABu Ghraib , NO justification for torture at Guantanamo Bay.

To me, the fact that the order to torture comes from the top is the most telling facet of the depraved evil this administration represents. Yes, everything else they do is evil, but it should be clear to EVERYONE, expecially anyone claiming to be a christian, that torture is the lowest activity a human can contemplate and perform on another human being.

The other evils they can spin this way and that, blah blah blah...but when it comes to torture, its all hanging out, the evil. The only defense they have is denial.

IMHO

[BlueIris]

16. I'm sorry, your "issue" (read=human rights crisis) is as important

as anything Bush has done to hurt the population of this country--I do know and recognize that. I was torn between Bush's fuck-ups in domestic and foreign policy. Abu Ghraib is the closest thing to pure evil I have seen discussed openly since the public learned of the atrocities in Bosnia or Rwanda. And this time, these horrible crimes were committed by our own soldiers. After reading Hersh's "Chain of Command," of course, there is no way I can say anyone in the military or intelligence community is exempt from responsibility, and the aspect of those terrible events I find most horrid is the suffering of the prisoners, but of all the things I thought America's representativs capable of, pointless, inexcusable torture of P.O.W.s was not one of them. Maybe that makes me naive, but that is also why reading of the abuse was so painful for me--that is one of the tactics America is no longer supposed to support.

[Lerkfish]

17. its the one issue that keeps me awake at night...and further

its the one issue I always harpoon a conservative with.
They say "Bush is great, blah blah blah"
Me: so...you condone torturing detainees.

now, at this point they go into denial mode:

they: nobody was tortured..so what they had to wear panties on their heads.
me: people were tortured, people were killed during torture
they: it was only a few bad apples
me: it came from the Gonzales memo that its ok to torture
they: there was no memo.

and lather, rinse, repeat.

Why the denial? because NO ONE in their right minds could ever condone torture, so since they can't break their support of their Bush messiah, they have to enter a weird mental trick of complete denial that either the torture never happened, or some isolated low level person did it, contrary to orders.

[moof]

18. Truth or lack of it.

[DeepModem Mom]

20. 1. The destruction of the system the Founders put in place...

in a time of Enlightenment; the end of the American dream, as Enlightenment, day by day, becomes a thing of the past.

2. Satan's creation of Karl Rove, and his assigning him to George W. Bush.

[bvar22]

21. Global Corporatism (Free Trade)

The ongoing raping and looting of 3rd World countries without regulation or oversight in the name of Free Trade
is the single issue that will most affect the Quality of Life
and distribution of resources (wealth) not just for Americans, but for EVERYBODY on the Planet!!!!

Much more than:
Who does or doesn't get an abortion.

Who does or doesn't get married.

Who does or doesn't buy a gun!

Who does or doesn't pull a feeding tube,



As long as Big Money is allowed to focus the public debate on the above issues, the Ultra Rich
(CEO's & Investor Class, top .25% ) will continue the rape of American LABOR and 3rd World countries.

" As the Republicans were coming back from the wilderness - lean, mean and hungry - Democrats were busy assimilating their opponents' belief system. In no small part because they coveted the same corporate money, Democrats practically walked away from the politics of struggle, leaving millions of working people with no one to fight for them... Even as poverty spreads, inequality grows, and our quality of life diminishes, democrats have become the doves of class warfare."---Bill Moyers

http://www.pbs.org/now/commentary/moyers20.html

If an issue is not talked about on TV...., is it REAL?


I'm currently kicking a thread about this that is dropping like stone.


link to Free Trade Thread

[info being]

22. No. I have no voice at all anymore.