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  1. #1
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    One of the Best Political Rants I've Read in a Long Time

    I saw this pass by me today and thought I would share. I don't care what your political views are, you can't deny this man is speaking the truth on how screwed our entire government is getting on both sides of the aisle and that the majority of Americans are just sitting there and taking it.

    Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it's death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, and here are some excerpts...

    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Iacocca
    Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?

    Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder.

    We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.

    But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

    Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned "Titanic". I'll give you a sound bite: "Throw all the bums out!"

    You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

    The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the "America" my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.

    I've had enough. How about you?

    I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest "C" is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine Cs of leadership, crisis being the first.)

    Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

    On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess. So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by healthcare costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

    But when you look around, you've got to ask:"Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

    Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to
    do is react to things that have already happened.

    Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

    Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

    Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "The Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies?

    How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

    Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the healthcare problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

    I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break.

    Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

    Had Enough?

    Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope! I believe in America! In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the "Great Depression", "World War II", the "Korean War", the "Kennedy Assassinations", the "Vietnam War", the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

    If I've learned one thing, it's this:

    You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play.

    That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to "Action" for people who, like me, believe in America . It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had "enough."

    Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It's our country, folks, and it's our future. Our future is at stake!
    A-FUCKING-MEN!

  2. #2
    The Mizzle Fizzle of Nikkei's Haremizzle

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    I got a spam email similar to this the other day.


    I deleted it.

  3. #3
    THOU THOU THOU THOU THOU THOU THOU THOU
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    Why would I consider the words of one of the people responsible for the Ford Pinto brilliant, other than the fact that he might be doing Darwin's work?

    If he somehow tries to backpedal out of this, is he going to explode?

  4. #4
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    Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense?
    *points to Barack Obama*

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Beckwin View Post
    *points to Barack Obama*
    lol stop trolling

  6. #6
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    I'm glad that so many voices are finally starting to speak up about the state of the nation. It's amazing how you can look back at the 20th century and wondered if we learned anything at all. Ever seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? It's as relevant today as it was in 1939. I'll let Howard Beal from Network (1976) do the talking for me on this one:

    I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad.

    You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

  7. #7
    Doesn't take it for granite
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    Its my money and I want it now!?

  8. #8
    Lavik
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    we needed dennis this year
    seriously

  9. #9

    Quote Originally Posted by Beckwin View Post
    *points to Barack Obama*
    It's funny with how smart Beckwin thinks he is, that he actually fell for Obama's propaganda. Beckwin seriously doesn't understand that Obama is just the same old politician we've had for the last 60 years or so, who will say anything to get elected but when push comes to shove won't actually follow through on it.

  10. #10
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    he's the best politician we've seen in the last 60 years or so.

    So tell me pohibaba, how will a libertarian (republican black sheep) joke like Barr work to eliminate the national debt? I'm not quite convinced cutting both social services and taxes at the same time would actually be able to accomplish that.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by pohibaba View Post
    It's funny with how smart Beckwin thinks he is, that he actually fell for Obama's propaganda. Beckwin seriously doesn't understand that Obama is just the same old politician we've had for the last 60 years or so, who will say anything to get elected but when push comes to shove won't actually follow through on it.
    This coming from the guy who has the sig of a presidential candidate who:

    A) voted in favor of the war in iraq
    B) flip-flopped on his medical marijuana drug policy
    C) doesn't believe in religious freedom in the military

    and my personal favorite

    D) was photographed licking whip cream off the chest of a stripper

  12. #12
    Ive sucked 27 dicks, in a row.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cephius View Post
    D) was photographed licking whip cream off the chest of a stripper
    So if I vote Libertarian, do I get the whipped cream AND the stripper, or do I have to provide one of them myself?

    On a more serious note, good rant, but that's all it is. He doesn't have any answers himself (other than the ubiquitous "Get out there and fix it!" answer), and spends most of the rant doing precisely the things he's ranting against. Maybe it makes more sense in the context of the rest of the book, but it does indeed read just like the "motivational" chain-emails I get in my inbox every day.

  13. #13
    I'll change yer fuckin rate you derivative piece of shit
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    We have a number of difficult problems with no easy answers - and any solution proposed has downsides that alienate certain groups. Immigration, the war in Iraq, the economy, energy crisis, etc. etc. etc.

    It's politically advantageous for politicians to not stick their necks out, because no matter how forward-thinking, how well-presented a solution is, it still has serious detractors. This is not an ideological rift - it's a series of tarbabies. Noone has "THE ANSWERS" because they...just don't exist. It's just a bunch of "who do you want to piss off the least", and that's the game everyone is playing.

    The saddest (or best) thing that will come from this election, in my opinion, is the american populace will realize the limitations of the president's power. Barack is not our savior, not because he sucks, or is evil, or not well-meaning, but because there's only so much a president can do.

  14. #14

    Quote Originally Posted by Beckwin View Post
    he's the best politician we've seen in the last 60 years or so.

    So tell me pohibaba, how will a libertarian (republican black sheep) joke like Barr work to eliminate the national debt? I'm not quite convinced cutting both social services and taxes at the same time would actually be able to accomplish that.
    The first thing he would do is to force Congress to pass a reasonable and realistic budget, and then force them to stick to it. This would also mean that he would force them to spend money on and only on things that are the Constitutional responsibility of Congress. He would also immediately stop all borrowing from other countries. He would cut our military budget to a fraction of what it is now because we wouldn't use our forces to police the world and we wouldn't turn over our military sovereignty to the UN and to NATO like we would if Obama was President.

    To answer your question more directly, that would give us a surplus, and I would expect that he would use some of that to pay off the National Debt. Most importantly though, I would hope that he would try to eliminate some of the debt using diplomatic measures. Our debt is $9.5 Trillion; if we were to try to pay that off in my lifetime (I'm 25, let's assume I'll live to 100: 75 years) we would need to pay off $126 Billion PER YEAR. That's simply not possible. Plus, that's assuming that we wouldn't be borrowing any more money ever, which simply isn't possible if we have either a Republican or a Democratic President.

    Now, explain to me Obama's plan to get rid of the National Debt.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zosi View Post
    So if I vote Libertarian, do I get the whipped cream AND the stripper, or do I have to provide one of them myself?

    On a more serious note, good rant, but that's all it is. He doesn't have any answers himself (other than the ubiquitous "Get out there and fix it!" answer), and spends most of the rant doing precisely the things he's ranting against. Maybe it makes more sense in the context of the rest of the book, but it does indeed read just like the "motivational" chain-emails I get in my inbox every day.

    Agreed. The whole... I dunno, apathetic-activism? thing is really played out and lame. Oh politics as usual blah blah none of them are good blah blah let's do something! blah blah I guess maybe I can write another lame blog article/chain mail. It's the kind of stuff that was appealing maybe when you were in your early teens and becoming politically aware for the first time.

    If you really want to make a difference and fix things, then donate, volunteer, organize, campaign, protest, write letters, register people to vote, lobby, run for office, and/or at the very least just vote. I'd say vote for whoever is closest to what you desire combined with a legit chance at winning (because with no runoff voting or parliamentary system, third party votes frankly go down the drain and can actually serve to more of your disinterests at the federal levels, typically). But hell, even if you vote for a third party you can at least have some semblance of putting your money where your mouth is instead of writing vaguely populist rants of general antipathy, which concurrently tend to demonstrate your lack of knowledge on the issues as well.

  16. #16
    Lavik
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    but what if you vote and diebold changes it and then erases the evidence


    ogod lets not open that CoW

  17. #17
    Pandemonium
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    EDIT: forget it, debating politics with someone who seriously thinks Bob Barr would be good for this county is pointless

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by pohibaba View Post
    The first thing he would do is to force Congress to pass a reasonable and realistic budget, and then force them to stick to it. This would also mean that he would force them to spend money on and only on things that are the Constitutional responsibility of Congress. He would also immediately stop all borrowing from other countries. He would cut our military budget to a fraction of what it is now because we wouldn't use our forces to police the world and we wouldn't turn over our military sovereignty to the UN and to NATO like we would if Obama was President.

    To answer your question more directly, that would give us a surplus, and I would expect that he would use some of that to pay off the National Debt. Most importantly though, I would hope that he would try to eliminate some of the debt using diplomatic measures. Our debt is $9.5 Trillion; if we were to try to pay that off in my lifetime (I'm 25, let's assume I'll live to 100: 75 years) we would need to pay off $126 Billion PER YEAR. That's simply not possible. Plus, that's assuming that we wouldn't be borrowing any more money ever, which simply isn't possible if we have either a Republican or a Democratic President.

    Now, explain to me Obama's plan to get rid of the National Debt.
    Similar to how Clinton achieved a surplus, frankly. Restore upper-tier taxes to increase revenue, cut middle class taxes further to stimulate the economy at the base level. Eliminate tax loopholes while at the same time streamlining government for efficiency. Ending the Iraq war alone would about cover your 126 billion per year figure. On top of that, healthcare reforms could actually save money, as the US gov generally spends more per capita on healthcare than nations with socialized systems.

    The problem with Barr's plan is it'd be too much of a system shock in a 4 year term to actually implement. You can't just turn off the switch on all government spending. Obama's economic plan intelligently employs more conventional means- taxes, efforts toward spending efficiency, and ending a war on a reasonable time table, working with the Iraqi government, who is requesting the same thing and also requesting no permanent bases (the Iraq issue is something Barr and Obama would find common ground on, policy wise).

  19. #19
    The Mizzle Fizzle of Nikkei's Haremizzle

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    Now, Bob BarrKer......

  20. #20
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Beckwin View Post

    If you really want to make a difference and fix things, then donate, volunteer, organize, campaign, protest, write letters, register people to vote, lobby, run for office, and/or at the very least just vote.
    QFT

    seriously, it's sad how many people are so upset with the way this country is now, yet do nothing to try and stop it. Actions speak louder than words.

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