i wonder how many of us who feel powerless in the face ofthe bushit family

and in the face of their effort to drive this country towards a fascist bush-totalitarian state, will see the effects of our frustration and anger reflected on our healths--unless, of course, we have a very good and healthy way of letting off the steam that listening to the bushit family creates on our biological bodies and in our psychological minds.

Tired of everything. It seems like my entire day is filled
with having to choose between things I DON'T WANT TO DO and
then doing them.

I hope Spring cheers me up.

I feel like I'm living in a Twilight Zone episode....

i really hope you can find something that you like to do and that you can go ahead and do it...anything, small as it may be, like watering the plants for a couple of minutes a day, if you like doing that, can be very relaxing...anything to feel that you are in control of yourself and your life...which these days, and thanks to the bushit family, many of us feel that we are less and less in control of.

as anger itself effects all aspects of health in a negative way. Anger merely gives power to those whom you are angry. My husband says that in his wild hippie days, he would keep his cool just before a fight, and allow the anger of his opponant to defeat his opponant. Angry people aren't thinking; they are reacting. People who keep their cool also keep their wits about them.

So what do we do when we see all this stuff happening that is destroying our country? For one thing, we wait and observe. The whole Bush house of cards is starting to shake. Observe where the shaking is the worst-what can we do to encourage it to shake some more at that point? It could be something as symbolic as a rose to a brave reporter, or a letter of thanks to a Senator who has had the courage to stand up for Truth. Or it could be a sincere conversation over the water cooler with that co-worker who voted Bush because he thought he'd be safe. Armed with facts and keeping a cool head can win over the doubtful. Remember, every step we take consciously, with intent and without wild anger, will help bring Truth and Justice to the fore.

the fight against the bushit family begins with small steps of symbolic support towards others who are seeing (or are beginning to see) the light, and support towards our own selves as in keeping our cool and knowing where we stand and what our truth is.

:toast:

Working against my own anger has been something I've been doing for several years. I spoke from personal experience about the effects anger can have, and how being calm can be more empowering.

learn from what you say --except that he does not listen!

And the anger varies from low-level (an average day in Bush World) to near rage, when there's something egregious going on, which seems like every other day now. The out-and-out, non-stop lying by the nation's top executives is outrageous, and they're literally getting away with murder.

I am angry over what's being done to this country, and depressed that even 35% of its citizens seem to think that all is okay.

I work out regularly, I avoid cable TV, I try to lead a sane life in an insane time. But the choice of just going numb has no appeal. I will fight.

However, I do expect that there will be some biological price tag come due for constantly reacting to all the bullshit. EIGHT YEARS of bullshit. :grr:

biological reaction to this insane world thebushit family has thrust upon us.

i began one of my ways of fighting this terrible regime today by wearing a peace pin from dawn to dusk, wherever i go, or even when i am in the house.

on both issues and campaigns... I don't know how much of a difference my actions will make but I know they will make SOME difference. And SOME difference is a whole lot more than NO DIFFERENCE, which is what you get by being angry and depressed and pouring all that energy into venting and complaining. We still have some power.

Pour your anger into something positive, and in return you will get energy and hope.

drop bombs on countries on the other side of the globe.

on the other side of the globe (at this time)--sometimes i wonder when he will start drooping them here--although some think he was complicit on the 9/11 plot.

counted, we might have had a dozen or so middle easterners in the pokey prior to 911.

I think my biggest fear is having to deal with the IRS on anything. And it is too easy for someone to name you even if they don't have anything specific to call.

in a cold sweat.

Even though I live in Australia, I know exactly how you're feeling. I feel enraged and embarrassed with the government that has been foisted onto us. I am a member of the Australian Labor Party, and at our monthly branch meetings we spend "general business" discussing all that is wrong with our country and the world in general. However, all it seems to achieve is preaching to the converted. When you feel enraged, write letters to the editors of newspapers, offer to do voluntary work for the Democrats, start your 2008 campaign NOW.

I find that belonging to a political party, it does give me a bit of a warped sense of what the average voter is actually thinking because we tend to mix with like-minded thinkers. It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that John Howard is a nice person. He's the leader that Australia has that looks like an elderly version of Harry Potter. He is actually an arrogant, mean spirited, brown nosing liar.

Probably another positive thing that you could do is to convince as many people as you can to vote. That is not a problem in this country because it is compulsory. If it wasn't compulsory here, we would never get rid of this conservative government. Probably one good reason why Howard is at the moment trying to change the law regarding this matter.

Maintain your rage and use your energy to bring down Bush and all his buddies. Maybe Cheney might take them all hunting. We could only dream.

Gail

Sometimes the effort to bring down Dimson** and his buddies feels like screaming into the void. Can't comment much on that hunting suggestion since we're probably under surveillance now! :hi:

of it...this time around in the persons of george bush, tony blair (whom i used to think of waaay back as a nice person but came to find out he is just as much of a pompous *ss as bush) and your own john howard... it seems that "mean spirited, brown nosing liar" is a description that fits all three of them, it is for sure the common ground they share.

letters to the editors, oped-pieces offered up and published on the internet,i have done--many. though it is beginning to seem here lately that one is just, "preachging to the choir", as you say. So, it is all a bit frustrating right now.


fighting bush and his buddies now is more than just fighting-bush-and his buddies, we have to fight the cast iron grip they have placed on our electoral system through their diebold-lie-and-don't-tell
voting machines...it is all such an uphill battle.

thanks for your good thoughts and positive energy for our country perhaps we will come to see it pass that "the people united shall never be defeated" here and in australia and in the rest of the world.

a toast to victory:
:toast:

getting real tired of my outbursts. I get up, pissed off most days and this after having dreams at night about the all the crap from the previous day. Come to think of it, I am getting real tired of my outbursts too.

least expect it about the most ridiculous kinds of things you can imagine ... i see it as an escape valve letting out all of the accumulated steam it has been gathering from just looking at all the injustices being committed in this world by bush and his ignorant, rapaciously greedy goons and *ss holed republicans--and those democrats too who can't seem to get enough power or courage in them to say no to the bush agenda.

i make myself go out and smell the flowers (in my case look at the bouganvillea in my yard which has bloomed so beautifully this year), or walk around the block, or listen to music -- all of that offers me some respite for a while--until i again come across the image of the *sshole, or his stupid policies, and words of distortion, lies, spin, arrogance, and power and control; and then, i want to scream all over again--which i may do but then retreat again into some music, or a good movie on t.v., or anything that will help me get over the rage.

if there were a flower on the smilies look up table, i'd post one here for you. there is none. so i will just post this angel and may he shower your day with all good blessings from above.

O8)

I've read and re-read it several times. It has been tempting to respond to a few of the thoughts expressed on here -- valid thoughts, many deeply felt, and expressed very well. So here goes ...

"Power" is our version of the Latin base "posse," meaning to "possess the ability." "Powerlessness" is perhaps best understood as when an individual views his/her "locus of control" as being external (in the hands of others), rather than being internal (in their own hands). In reality, we all have a degree of power, though as St. Francis points out in that famous saying, there are things we have the ability to change, as well as things we cannot. The key is knowing the difference between the two.

We find examples of individual and group power and powerlessness, thoughout history. A few that I find interesting are Viktor Frankl's experience in the Nazi death camp; my good friend Rubin "Hurricane" Carter's 20 years in the darkness of the American penal institutes; and the Onondaga Nation's struggle to remain sovereign in its dealings with New York State and the USA.

Frankl shows that an individual can grow, not because of man's inhumanity to man, but despite it. Carter tells us that in order to do that, we must not only grasp that internal locus of control, but we must be willing to give up the anger and hatred that we too often treasure. The Onondaga teach us that we must maintain trust in our traditional values, no matter how quaint or outdated they may seem to others in our modern Roman state.

I've spoken numerous times on DU about having been hit by a person driving while chattering on a cell phone. I went from being a strong, healthy, athletic person, who had a wonderful life with a beautiful wife and four children, and a job I loved .... to a physically disabled person who can no longer do many of the things I used to take for granted. I'm usually found in the chair I sit in now, as I write these words. But some days, I get up and walk around. Last year, when I was alone, I walked outside to look up at the night sky. Well, I can't look up without falling. I fell, and spent a couple hours flat on my back, like an old turtle, waiting for my sons to get home and pick me up. That is one type of powerlessness. I will admit that I felt frustrated, and even a bit sorry for my sorry self. But after a few minutes, I remembered why I had come outside ... to look at those stars and planets. And laying there, I realized that the same energy in that great universe was also inside me.

wisdom ... the fruit of extreme pain... and the result of having been able to grieve through that which we have lost... your post, a call to give up the anger and the hatred residing in many of us these days, is a living example of what happens when we do. it takes a lot of wisdom and maturity to be able to do so when GWB and his goons keep throwing so much crazed injustice in the face of all of us. You are right, though, being able to give up our anger and hatred, maintaining our traditional values in the face of the criminalization of some them (as the Bishop from California has called for, i.e., continue being a good samaritan even if you are threatened with jail) and doing the right thing, no matter what, is the only way to maintain our reason and any degree of sanity.

may we all continue to be able to look at the stars and the planets and the roses that come with them.

:patriot: