originally posted at Docudharma
Getting Started
Barack Obama said something today that I think is beautiful from a framing perspective:

I mean it's like these guys take pride in ignorance! It's like they like being ignorant.

(hat tip to ruff4life)

I believe this is the counter frame to the Elitist Democrat.

Nobody wants to be ignorant, and depending on leaders who are proud of their ignorance and demand ignorance from their followers cannot be good for the running of a country.

Ignorance is simply not good public policy.

As Oil Peaks, supply chains stretch and the New Economy fails, there are going to be some major changes in the life of Average Americans.

The future is wide open as far as 'how bad' it's going to get. There are many possible dystopic futures: Mad Max, 1984, A Brave New World, Harrison Bergeron, to name a few, but let's not focus on the doom and gloom, let's take a look at the opportunity for community, friendship and cooperation - there is no law that says the bad guys are going to win.

Let's take a look at a possible future that I don't think is on many people's radar.

So I'm watching Star Trek Voyager as I'm sitting in my condo at a remote location doing some shows for the summer.

There was a commercial on, and I swear the dude looked just like Markos. It was the Markos clone and his cute girlfriend taking pictures of themselves.

Keep your mind out of the gutter.

Anyway this got me thinking...G

We are where we are because of Failed Conservative Policies.

For the last 30 years Conservative politicians, think tanks and corporate media have fed us a steady diet of lies and half truths that have created the dire political and social situation that America now finds herself in.

Voluntary regulation, market speculation, and corporate sponsored public policy are all Failed Conservative Policies and they are doing great damage to the American people.

We can now add off shore drilling and exploration to those Conservative Policies that are designed to fail Americans and turn America into a failed state.

For the last 40 years, Americans have been working more for less.

Mother and Father must work just to 'make ends meet', which is a colorful euphemism for keep food on the table and an insurance card in their pocket.

It's for the children, you know, all the work we do. Parents trying to give children more than they had.

Investing in the stock market for the future, saving a hundred thousand for college, moving to the 'safe' neighborhood.

Well all of that's been in vain. All we've done as a society is ensure that our children will live the Republican Dream: A Sweatshop Economy.

consumer |kənˈsoōmər|
noun
a person who purchases goods and services for personal use : [as adj. ] consumer demand.

• a person or thing that eats or uses something : Scandinavians are the largest consumers of rye.

- Thesaurus -
consumer
noun
if you're a satisfied consumer, we've done our job | they provide what consumers ask for

purchaser, buyer, customer, shopper; user, end user; client, patron; (the consumerorconsumers) the public, the market.

Euphemism is the New Soma.

"The Economy lost 83,000 jobs in March."

Who cares...

"200,000 Americans lost their livelyhoods, healthcare and face hunger and homelessness this March."

"83,000 bread winners fired in March, what will happen to their families?"

Bam! Gut Punch!

It's personified personalized - human. Putting a human face on issues is HUGE for Progressives.

ubiquitous |yoōˈbikwətəs| adjective present, appearing, or found everywhere : his ubiquitous media presence was felt by all of the progressive blogosphere

We need a progressive message to be ubiquitous. To be instantaneously ubiquitous. In mere moments from one control panel, the progressive blogosphere could be flooded with a video message.

How cool would that be?

Well it's almost here...

This is going to be quick and dirty, and is simply intended as a heads up for those with more time and better Kos creds than I have...

Good Morning crazy dog people!

This is the second installment of Sunday Morning Canine Interaction the blogging series that's all about hooking up and spending quality time with our dogs.

Today we'll be expanding on last week's foundational training exercise, Unsolicited Eye Contact, and we'll talk a little bit about operant behavior and what the benefits are of working with an operant dog.

We'll also talk a little bit about training in general and tie it in to modern day politics - it is a political blog after all.

Hop on over the bump for more...

Hello crazy dog people.

Let me introduce myself and a new weekly feature here at dKos: Sunday Morning Canine Interaction.

My name is Ron Watson and I train dogs for a living. My partner (and girlfriend), Apryl Lea, and I run a small dog training studio in Western Michigan Called Pawsitive Vybe. We do pet training, dog sport training, personal lessons and behavioral consultations and employ positive training methods.

I'd like to share some of our training expertise and advice with the dKos community.

It'll be a welcome change for me to step away from the political doom and gloom that is ever present in 21st century politics and world affairs and step into my passion and livelyhood and share some of that passion with all of the dKos dog lovers out there.

A couple weeks ago we were returning from conducting a seminar in Charlotte, and we turned on a Ben Harper playlist, and I was just hit, full flush, by the power of his lyrics from Both Sides of the Gun.

If you're wondering where the protest music is, look no further and click on the links and pick up the album.

I'd like to share the lyrics from a few of the tunes from the album.

I'm tired of the candidate diaries.
"Waah! That's a hitpiece!"
"Waah! You're a sexist Pig!
"Waah! You're playing the race card!"
"Your Preacher's a bad American!"
"Your Preacher's a Mafia Don!"

If we're going to talk about politics and religion, we might as well speak clearly and with power.

While we're poking each other with sticks and whining about it, the Republicans have been preparing their 2008 Party Platform, and it doesn't look good for America.

Read on...

We're on the road right now, on our way back from Charlotte.

I just saw $4.11 per gallon diesel. It's the first time I've seen gas over $4.00 per gallon in the US. Crazy!

But it pisses me off, I mean it really offends me, that Diesel is $.70 more expensive than gasoline.

This is simply Robbing People to Pay Profit.

There's an interesting video that you all should see:
http://60minutes.yahoo.com/...

Pay attention to the second clip in the series for a look at what 'deployment in Iraq might look like'.

May 25, 2009 4am

Well, the American experiment of self governance is officially over.

Some of my Darknet contacts and I have decided that putting our experience and understanding down on paper is the most important thing that we can do as it is plainly evident that the fight for human rights and self governance is going to go on for generations, and without these couple thousand personal experiences from the resistance, history will not understand how this global conflict and lockdown happened.

I’m taking on the task of providing a narrative. A zoomed out, big picture description of the Suffocation of Freedom. I apologize for jumping around the timeline and all, but I find that I write my best stuff as a stream of consciousness. Organization has never been my strong point, and given the horrible situation we are all in, I’m a bit too stressed, and have more important things on my mind.

"Don't talk to Strangers."

Mom & Dad

The dark car rolls up and the window slides down...
"Hey kid! Want some candy." You like puppies, right?"

"All I need is your name, address, phone number and you'll need to initial... right here, and sign here...Aah, don't bother reading it, I'm a good guy. Trust me."

What's more important? Corporate Dollars or Common Sense?

Corporate Dollars say we have to negotiate and compromise with big oil companies, big drug companies and big insurance companies.

Common Sense says these people are not going to just sit down and give their power away.