From T.O.S: Is anyone else having a REALLY HARD TIME coping?

I apologize but I'm taking great joy from there misery over there. A few samples for your perusal....

I had no idea this would hit me so hard. I feel that all my hopes for the future have been shattered. Evil, hate and greed are rewarded. Wrong is Right. Fascism will prevail. Not to mention increased terrorism, hate crimes, isolation from the global community, loss of civil rights, etc.

AND, we have to look and listen to the f**king Chimp for another 4 long, miserable years. I don't know what to do. I am really beside myself and almost feel like I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown.I am sick to my stomach and I feel like I am going to have a heart attack.

I started smoking again, I can't bear the thought of going to work tomorrow, and I really don't have much hope at the moment. I can't eat, I've cocooned myself in my bed all day and have avoided every phone call. Oh - and I broke up with my boyfriend. You are not alone.

My heart feels like it's actually broken and I am afraid to leave the house because I am not in control of the rage I feel, and fear that the smallest thing will set me off.

I always thought that things were never quite as bad as they seemed, and that Americans were mostly good. But I think things have really turned... they are perhaps even worse than they seem, and perhaps the American empire is entering its terminal phase with a lot of pain and suffering ahead.

I have a background of depression (mostly from my days of living closeted) and am worried that the funk that I am dealing with might go long term. I cannot let that happen.

To that end, I am going to continue to devote a good chunk of time with a couple causes, to keep me going.

If things get really tough, get a really good friend or family member and just let go.

and face the jeers of his 6th grade classmates in our predominantly republican rural community. I bought him a donut at the local shop and reminded him that we still have to tell people that the war is wrong, that the poor need an advocate and that our planet is not their trashcan.

"we still have to tell people that the war is wrong, that the poor need an advocate and that our planet is not their trashcan."

Of course, unfortunately, the Pukes simply don't think these things are important. I just got off the phone with a dear friend who keeps insisting Iraq had something to do with 9/11 and if we "don't fight them over there we'll have to fight them here".

This is how Bush wants you to feel and he's hoping you'll go away, don't go away, in four years time USA will still be suffering from his policies, the economy and Iraq will still be great problem.

As I see it, whatever they say, it isn't a landslide, almost half the American people wanted a change, there were people who didn't vote, which is unforgivable, they may rue the day they didn't and will be there next time, in force.

I hope that we will get a chance in 4 yrs. I am angry, but not sure who to be mad at. I feel like Kerry played us and took one for the team (s and B)with no intention of ever winning. I don't know where to turn I told my friend to take pictures of the trees and all the open areas of beauty around us now because it won't be their for long. I fear for our troops and the kids that are going to be drafted. I applied for passports for my family today just in case I need. I think Democracy died yeasterday in America I never wanted to believe it could happen. There are protesters here in oregon tonight. I am still in shock. I don't like the mixed up feelings that I have because I have no way of seperating them all.

I had an appointment with my counselor today, and she encouraged me to not look too far in the future and the terrible possibilities it holds.

I managed to calm down and try to focus on the things that bring me some small measure of contentment. It is very hard--the more I hear about Tuesday's fiascos and the evil people who made them happen, the angrier and more frustrated I get. This is producing physical symptoms similar to yours. It's up to me to get a handle on this, I know, but damn, it's hard. Like you, I cannot bear the thought of looking and listening to Bush for the next four years. I have determined I will NOT do that. Thank God for remote controls.

I wish I had the words to make you and me feel better about all this. But I do not. All I can think to do is resolve to do everything I can to stop the fascist juggernaut that is speeding toward us. I must try, for my children, grandchildren, and all of us who share this planet.

There are probably pockets of sites online where liberals are not coping well.

Here's an example:

http://unfacts.org/cgi-bin/politicsandrants.pl?read=8055

I've been around.
Just not feeling much like I had anything to say.
Now I may have to REALLY keep my head down, unless the Justice Department beats my door down and has me hung along with every one else that doesn't convert to Xtianity.
I'm working too hard , for too little to entertain thoughts of moving out of the country, but this is just sickening.
I don't know, maybe Canada, maybe New York...someplace foreign...
But I'm too old, tired and poor to go.

It was right for Kerry to give it up. There wasn't a chance....there won't be a chance for many generations.

America (at least the one I dream of) is toast.
The presidency isn't the only thing to look at here. Look at the ballot initiatives, and the Congressional races. If you think the Evangelical Mullahs don't own this country now, you're dreaming.

This ain't gonna change for a long, long time.

As desperately as I was hoping for a Kerry miracle I think he's doing the right thing by not dragging it out. Even more disconcerting is the landslide victory for banning gay marriage. I think that's a barometer of how much control the religious right has over the country. Oh well it's only my conscience that makes this bad for me. Upper middle class white collar guys who've sold out to corporate america will continue to do well personally under Bush. Thanks goodness I'm not poor or a minority or a woman or gay or drafting age. Sure I'll have to stare at the 10 commandments in state buildings. Sure portions of my tax money are going to go to religious organizations. Sure the separation of church and state is going to continue to erode. Sure science and education are going to continue to decline in this country. Sure there is going to be more war. At least I'll get favorable tax shelters for my short term capital gains.

We live in the tension between two states – The “dark” of greed and religiosity and fear to the exclusion of reason and compassion, and the other side – trying to find a balanced way to meet the needs of our people, necessarily forsaking selfish gain and forsaking limiting-but-comforting beliefs.

Someone said recently that Bush wants so desperately to be in the “Lamb’s book of life.” Kerry campaigned on helping the middle class in the country, and protecting rights. One view is selfish, one view is altruistic. These two ideologies, head to head, create tension. But it’s gonna be okay. We’ll come through the dark ages, we always have. And we will. That's my take.

You're both missing the point. This race was (as future races will be ) won in the pulpits. Illegally, I might add, since tax-exemption should require non-partisanship. However, this race solidifies (and may CODIFY)the religious right's stranglehold on thought and debate in this country.

What I mean to say is that the churches broke the intent of the law, and don't have any cause to worry about it, because they will BE the law.

We're ******.

Paranoia in this day and age is a necessity.
How do we know that you are just couching your terms in what appears like logic to you, while all the time being some Xtian, bible thumping, backlash to the 14th century?

You believe in slavery, that much is obvious from your abortion stance.

Propagandizing and playing on the fears of the religious from the pulpit is what won this election.

It was divide and conquer, and we will pay for this in lost liberties, rising deficits , lost respect in the world (except through fear, intimidation, and economic extortion), a loss to progressivism, and a return to the inquisition and the crusades.

THAT is the large picture, and if we take our eyes off of THAT ball...well...

Screw it, it ain't my country anymore, it's yours.

I'm tired and pissed off...I give up.

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