Bleeding Heartland
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 Bleeding Heartland

iowademocrat

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Why AM I so Angry?

Crossposted from Daily Kos 
 
Why am I so angry?
I feel terrible. Why?
Part of it is the disillusion borne of a youth squandered and a middle age fraught with emotional fragility and a stunning lack of honest effort on my part. My personal failures are large and deep. Brought up to be selfless – to be “Christian” in the best possible sense – to put others before myself, to turn the other cheek, and to give my life over to the benefit of others, I did not do it. I squandered the promise I showed as a youth. I failed to develop and nurture my special talent for music, and my ability to write both music and words. I have been selfish rather than selfless.
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The Bottom Line on Health Care

(I've recently spoken with several early Obama supporters who echo iowademocrat's sentiments. - promoted by desmoinesdem)

(crossposted from IowaDemocrat)
 
From the very beginning of the Obama caucus campaign continuing through the general election, I gave more money, more time, and stuck my neck out further than I ever had before for a Presidential candidate, and I've worked hard for quite a few.
 
I will not invest my energy in a cause that has no bottom line, no goals which the president will not compromise, nor any clear cut progress toward true reform.
 
I respect Barack Obama for the great things he HAS done, but I refuse to work for his version of health care reform when he has no clear goal other than to pass something – anything – that may get through Congress, regardless of content.
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I'm Guilty as Hell

(This battle is personal for so many people. - promoted by desmoinesdem)

Today, after some serious procrastination, I forced myself to drive out to the hospital to see a friend who just got some really bad news. This friend – I'll call him Mort – had stopped in to see his family doctor for symptoms he did not disclose to me, but the result was a colonoscopy last Thursday, and a colon resection and liver biopsy on Friday, The lab reports yesterday confirmed the worst. He has colon cancer, and it has spread to his liver in two spots.
I call him my friend, but to be brutally honest, he's more of an acquaintance – even though I've known him and his whole family for forty-five years. The fact is, in that entire time, I've probably only had one or two conversations with him that could be called anything more than small talk.
Nevertheless, I want to share a bit of Mort's story with you. You see, I feel somehow personally responsible for what has befallen Mort. In fact, I'm guilty as hell, and I can't take it any more. I need absolution, and confession is the best way to feel I've received it.
(Just so you know, I'm not a religious person, but the language of the church fits my mood, so I'm appropriating it.)
So, this is diary in the original sense. It is a very personal expression of how I feel right now.
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Defeating the Health Care Forum Bullies (getting something done)

(Thanks to iowademocrat for bringing this discussion to Bleeding Heartland. - promoted by desmoinesdem)

(crossposted from Daily Kos and iowademocrat)
 
Last Wednesday, I attended a health care forum in Iowa hosted by Senator Tom Harkin. Following it, I wrote a diary, “Now I understand why war happens (a health care forum story).” In it, I asked the question, how can you defeat the bullies who are overrunning most of these meetings?
 
The problem in dealing with the teabaggers, deathers, birthers, racists, anarchists and radical libertarians who are overrunning health care forums nationwide is simple to describe.
 
They. Don't. Listen. Ever.
 
So, you can't really talk to them. When they have stacked the room, the intimidation is palpable. That's how they win.
 
I couldn't for the life of me think of how to beat these people, short of overpowering them somehow – hence the title of the diary. But, even as I wrote it, I knew that overpowering them just feeds into their fear and paranoia, and realistically, it's impossible anyway.
Today, after a little sleep and some reflection, I realized that the effect of the teabaggers' aggressive intimidation made me stupid for about eight hours. Anger is an amnesic agent. It makes you forget what you know. I was angry, depressed, agitated, and clueless all at once.
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Now I Understand Why War Happens (a Harkin Health Care Forum Diary)

(Thanks for this first-person account, even though it is frightening. - promoted by desmoinesdem)

 (crossposted from Daily Kos) 

Yesterday, I saw our problem first hand. We are in a world of trouble, people.

Mobs are powerful and wholy beyond reason. Yet, they must be stopped, because they are extremely dangerous. There are a lot of very angry, very frightened people out there, and about 150 of them turned out on a Wednesday afternoon to harass Senator Tom Harkin, shout incoherent political slogans (the same ones that have been diaried to death here in the last week), and to let him know that they are very angry about the idea of government in general and government health care in particular. The total crowd was limited to about 210 by the fire code. 

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