So I'm watching CNN while in line at Wells Fargo...

[Downtown Hound]

And they're going on and on trying to freak out the public about Iran's nuclear capability. They have all of the same government talking heads on, you know, the ones that were sooooo certain Iraq had all these deadly weapons, talking about the growing Iranian threat. And then they switch to the "Battle of Fallujah," and it's all about how much progress our troops are making in their valiant effort to retake the city from terrorists/insurgents. I get to the counter and make my deposit, and the lady behind the counter asks me in the most corporatized, Stepford voice you could imagine if I knew about "the reindeer," and pointed to a stuffed reindeer on the counter. I replied that I did not. She then gave me a grin that would make Mrs. Cleaver of the Beaver family proud and told me that if I referred a friend to the bank, I would get a free stuffed reindeer and so would my friend!

And all this time I'm thinking, all of this war in the background, all of these lies, all of this death, all of this corruption, and we as a society go right on grinning like hypnotized idiots pushing more and more consumption. When did we become a nation of robots and Stepford wives?

[Beam Me Up]

1. Always have been, but now you're paying attention. n/t

[ewagner]

2. Surreal isn't it?

on edit: You just reminded me why I feel so strange lately. All the issues that I was so passionate about BEFORE the election are still in the same state....the things I hated are still happening...the things I feared most about a Dubya II term are coming to pass....the repubs make Delay exempt from rules...the Plame Investigation is probably dead....

Why the HELL shouldn't I be angry?

Why the Hell should I "GET OVER IT!"?

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. I thought I was the only one who walked around taking notes of

the parallel worlds we live in.

[ewagner]

9. You're not alone

there are LOTS of us......

[crispyguy]

3. Outrageous

I would find another bank...

[bullimiami]

8. I use a very small very local bank.

Im not sure if they are any better but they arent a huge corporation at least.

[crispyguy]

10. same

I also use a small local bank... far superior

[bullimiami]

5. Welcome to the world of the woken.

You took the blue pill.

[maveric]

6. They are just priming the pump for the Iran invasion.

Wasnt there a thread about pentagon officials hanging out at CNN studios?
bu$hpravda is hard at work demonizing Iran, prepping the lazy-minded, gullible American sheeple public for another warfront for oil.

[glitch]

7. Got bit in 50s. Fought it 60s-70s, Coma in the 80s. Succumbed in the 90s

Now most of us are zombies.
:hi:

[Nikepallas]

11. If I was into conspricies I'd say BUSHCO has given the media new

maching orders. Prepare the mindless ones for the start of another war. Iran is the next target.

[Neverarepublican]

12. Sometimes

i shut down and don't think about how bad things are.
But sometimes I am out in public and just look at faces and expressions and wonder if they are drinking the Kool-aid, or if they are worried as much as I am.

[AP]

13. Switch to a Credit Union.

[hatrack]

14. Ever see the movie "They Live"?

Rent it. You'll understand.

[Downtown Hound]

15. I've seen it

And I understood it too, but today was the first time it hit me so hard while I was out in public. It was like I finally felt with my heart what I've believed in my mind all this time.

[distantearlywarning]

16. I had a moment just like this today

I went to a newsstand looking for something to read on the bus. They had a giantic rack of magazines, every single one of which had some combination of three things on the cover:

1) a vapid celebrity in skimpy clothing and/or a wedding dress

2) A headline reading: "Lose 10 lbs before Christmas on the new Miracle Soup Diet"

3) A headline reading: "50 ways to please your man in bed"

One very small section of the magazine rack had several "news" type magazines in it. Every one had a smirking picture of He Who Must Not Be Named on the cover.

I was just standing there thinking, My God! What a nation of morons I live in. Dark clouds are massing on the horizon and everybody around me is busy debating whether Nick Lachey cheated on Jessica Simpson. Reading People Magazine while Rome burns.