We have GOT to get out of that sinkhole.

Just more American lives poured down a garbage disposal - and for what?

Good, Mr. President. Let's get the fuck OUT of there.

Unfortunately, there's a slew of them who've come and all vouched for the same thing.

I just hate this. Looks to me like that murdering vigilante bastard is gonna get off. It will be a damn shame and a miscarriage of justice, and mind you - it's just my opinion. What I'm seeing looks like a pretty slick defense presentation. To ME - I think the SOB is guilty as sin! He MURDERED that kid with no provocation after stalking him and menacing him, and he had a gun so I'm sure it made him feel like Marshall Dillon or Rambo or Clint Eastwood back in the "go ahead, make my day" days, or some such.

Dear God I hope I'm wrong. But as I watch the trial, I can't help but think "Georgie" is gonna beat the rap. And go back to his gunslinging again. And what seems TO ME as malice aforethought - Zimmerman had it all "figured out" ahead of time based on earlier prejudices and assumptions of the moment that the kid was a nogoodnik and he was going down. And maybe "Georgie" will even feel vindicated because the jury in effect will have said it's perfectly okay what he did. While that innocent kid is in a grave, having been "armed" only with a bottle of iced tea and a pack of Skittles.

Cold blooded killing, is what it looked like to me. One party winds up needing a fucking Band-aid and the other party is shot - TO DEATH.

Dear God I hope I'm WRONG!!!!

Probably stems from some knee-jerk 3,000-year-old "tradition" about women as property.

Well, I am NOBODY'S property.

Hear hear! AND here here! Hopefully!

So great, this broadened thinking on weed! I'm one of those who's seriously amazed that this is happening. At long last! Did we ever REALLY think we'd see the day?

Great thread, MineralMan! Thanks for starting it!

They also serve who only lurk and read.

Absolutely! We need people with your perspective here!

More important than EVER! I see far too much of the younger generation, young snot-nosed whipper-snappers like paul ryan and eric cantor who aren't old enough to remember (and they probably slept through the later American History class sessions covering the first half of the 20th Century) WHY we need the regulations and protections that were implemented - with the New Deal, for example. They DEFINITELY don't have any sense of WHY Roe v Wade was so essential to women's rights later on, and how many women died from back alley abortions back in the day. They have NO idea. Not a damn clue. All they want to do is tear down, tear up, and tear apart.

You're fighting the good fight on all of our behalf. And you deserve all our gratitude! (And a few million people following in your footsteps!)

Welcome to DU, StevePaulson, AND also adirondacker!

Glad you guys are here! We get some utterly SUPERB one-liners and original bumper-sticker fodder from our own midst, here on DU. This one will keep me laughing for awhile!

MAN, "The Quitter and the Shitter." Obviously they were made for each other! Sounds like date night in Political Hell!

Thanks! };D

We at DU are more like trim tabs. WHO SAYS we don't have influence outside of this site?

Something I posted on another one of your threads, Will:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3165317

...this makes me think of Buckminster Fuller's trim tab metaphor.

Trim tabs are small end pieces on a wing or a rudder or something, that facilitates a change in direction of a very much larger object, like a ship or plane. Large objects like those are hard to move. You have to start small with something that's easy to manipulate. The trim tab moves the rudder and the rudder moves the larger vehicle.

It's remarkable how little and seemingly insignificant things can launch or accelerate something much larger.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_tab

You never know who's reading in, here. Alan Grayson does. Elizabeth Edwards used to. Fans of higher-profile writers like Will Pitt. We ALL have the potential to be trim tabs here. I just read a report linked from here that cited the Daily Kos and DU as manifestations of the Obama-is-fucked-and-nobody-supports-him-anymore interpretation. There's another level of extension beyond those "few thousand" regular readers of DU. The effect compounds and can start metastasizing like a cancer.

I just worry about damaging the brand. It can lead directly to republi-CONS snatching the White House again.

OMG!!! Now where'd you find that sweet little photo? }:D

Michael's the one behind the other three, making the sign! In back of the two-studs-and-a-teddy-bear.

This was at Hooligans in Jacksonville NC a few weeks ago! One of my current FAVORITE photos from them on tour.

Left to right - Ted (Stud #1) on bass, Michael the front man/lead guitarist/principal songwriter, Matt (resident teddy bear) on drums, and Josh, (the new guy, second guitarist and backup vocalist, and you could consider him Stud #2).

They're my babies! Well, one of them was. The others are my "sons without stretchmarks." All of them are or will be 23 this year, except for Michael who just turned 21. Even so, they're seasoned veterans by now, and have earned the title of "national touring band." They've been touring since 2010! And dammit, they're astoundingly good! Objectively. And when the shirts start coming off, as they really get cranking, it can become a kind of religious experience! Ever since Ted started doing that, I've regarded it as a kind of public service - beautifying America as it were. They're like a litter of puppies around the house, too, with Andrew their tour manager - who actually took this photo from the back of the stage. He's a real cutie, too!

All of them are complete and total sweethearts. Not a diva in the bunch! And they work their asses off! Not just onstage, either, but in the crowd and with the fans, outside where the line forms before the doors open, all the way to the bitter end when people start to pack up and load their tour vans. Michael even did that during this past winter, in places where fans were waiting outside in three-degree weather. He didn't care. Wanted to go out and meet everybody and introduce himself and pass out free stickers and wristbands and stuff.

ACIDIC ROCKS!!!!!

Naaaah, I'm not proud or anything...