THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE MORALLY AND POLITICALLY BANKRUPT

As a red-blooded american, i couldnt agree more with the premise of this. All I ask is that people in the world remember one thing... some of us are working to shut down this disgusting american machine:
1) Black people
2) Really poor people
3) Anarchists
4) Socialists
5) Communists

Just remember that. Dont let these fucking loudmouth liberals be the representation of american dissidents.

The Elite. The Powers That Be. The Corporate Overlords. The Secret Cabal That Rules The World.

I keep reading these phrases and terms on this web site and other Indymedia outlets. Supposedly only the rich, the chosen few elites and the "nefarious" corporations are running things in this country.

My parents came to the US from Portugal with less than $50 to their name. This is a fact. They worked all kinds of menial jobs to get by, and raise me as their son. They did a great job, and have lived happy lives in this country, the land of opportunity.

I, in turn, made a life for myself. In fact, last night I was elected in the primary for the Central Valley district. Soon, I will be running in the congressional election, and will, god willing, serve our people in Washington D.C. Remember--- I come from NOTHING.

That is what this country is about. Opportunity. You can come from nothing, and make of yourself whatever you want-- if you have the desire, the will to sweat to achieve it.

My mission? To give my constituents in California's Central Valley the same opportunity my parents and I have had in this wonderful country of the free and the brave.

There are many others like me. Some have had more of a leg up, some have had even less. Bill Gates is a great example. Who "chose" him? Who "knighted" him the wealthiest corporate founder in US history? He did. He made it himself. He worked within the system, and was successful as hell, according to his own measures.

So, I beg you-- before you get all fatalistic and conspiracy minded about the "elite" and the "power cliques" in this country... ask yourself: What prevents me from determinging my own fate as I see fit?

Many are out there doing just that-- and they are "really poor people".

i really don't think americans have any less moral standards than any other people on this planet. i do think that most people are completey misinformed, they don't know what's going on they believe what they are told and they to be happy.

"I, in turn, made a life for myself. In fact, last night I was elected in the primary for the Central Valley district. Soon, I will be running in the congressional election, and will, god willing, serve our people in Washington D.C. Remember--- I come from NOTHING. "

Good for fucking you. Actually, it sounds like your parents made it and you leeched off of them, which i guess is how most people become politicians in this country, leeching and living off of privilege. Must have been hard coming from imperial Portugal to imperial USA, huh. You came from nothing and it sounds like you are going to do nothing besides be another apologist for a system based on war, devastation and destruction. So, kindly fuck off

What does the above poster mean by "Imperial Portugal?" Are you implying that every Portugese immigrant arrives in Central California with a trunk of ballgowns and tiaras? No, idiot, they came here poor. Why the hell else would they move to the central valley? I suggest you unplug your mamma's computer and get out in the world.

hardly. Dennis Cardoza's parents worked menial jobs, and he never had much as a child. What kind of privileged life is that??

The only priviledge he refers to is growing up in America.

Nobody's blood is red except Americans???? GIVE US A FREAKIN BREAK !!!!

So, if your REALLY LUCKY, and happen to at the right place at the right time; OR just happen to know the RIGHT PEOPLE; OR, know how to BREAK THE LAW and GET AWAY WITH IT(-as in ENRON), and thereby become ONE OF THE FEW that are wealthy in this society, then "it's all good" with America-YEAH RIGHT!!! Dennis Cardoza-another bought and paid for Clueless Wonder!

I've travelled all over the world (Asia, Europe, S. America, N. America, Carribean) and have never felt "hated" in a single country. Some places they are absolutey crazy about Americans (Japan). When the topic of conversation turns to politics there are people who are very critical of US polices but they don't transfer that to me as an American. Most of the time we aren't even thinking about politics we are hanging out, having a few beers and having a good time.

Congratulations Mr. Cardoza. I agree that there is a lot more opportunity here than in other countries but you should not under-estimate the power and influence of corporate interests. Also, never forget that we have it good here because we are screwing over people somewhere else.

I've travelled a bit too. In Southern Mexico and Cuba I was met with nothing but affection. In both places anti-US sentiment was EXTREMELY high. Regular people were disgusted with America, many had lived here and returned home to poverty. But no one thought that meant hating individual Americans.

Though in Mexico I did get grief from Europeans. They acted out against American "imperialists." The Mexicans found this amusing considering the French and Germans both tried to conquer them and they were descendents of Spanish rule. Go figure.

Clueless Wonders are people who believe wealth can only be derived by "being REALLY LUCKY, or they happen to be at the right place at the right time; OR they just happen to know the RIGHT PEOPLE; OR, know how to BREAK THE LAW and GET AWAY WITH IT"

Congratulations, you've given up before you even try. No sweat though. Society needs people who can pick up and load the garbage into trucks too. Who knows, maybe you'll get promoted to driver one day.

So a politician climbs up the success ladder all the eay to the House. So what? What does that prove re the overall situation in the US? Nothing!! Fewer and fewer people control more and more of the wealth, even according to the Fed Reserve. The richest 1% have more net wealth than the bottom 95%. So occasionaly someone who proves him/herself a ggod backstabbing get ahead look out for # 1 careerist will climb the suck-cess ladder. That's part of how the illusion is maintained.
And what is Congress, anyway, but a bunch of self-seeking assholes who act as part of the front for the real gov't, the corporate elite? So there's a new chump in office to carry on the front game, hurray!!

==>Sure, anyone can get ahead here, but only at the expense of others.

Argueing that the gain of wealth is a zero-sum proposal is beneath even the lowelist intellect. No wonder your movement can't generate momentum. Who would neglect a movement that offers so much hope?

Why do people like you even exist? The whole middle eats seems to me like a bunch of kindergartners fighting over who gets to ride the swing. Except they do it on a global scale and fight to the death. This is our holy land. No it's ours. You don't believe in my God so you must die. Oh yea, not if I kill a bunch or your civilian friends first.

These countries are ruled by dictators and/or fear. The people are opressed by their leaders, not by the US. Say what you want about American, but Americans, by and large are good people. And they are free to speak out against our governement if they want. If the US was so terrible, we'd hear about from ourselves.

Can you give any specific examples of these terrible things the US has done. Has the US done anything similar to what the Taliban as? I don't recall seeing any people in the US hanging dead from soccer goals because they spoke their minds. I haven't seen any women getting beaten for showing some ankle.

I don't know if I'm willing to believe this is actually Dennis Cardoza. There was no return email, etc. At the same time, why would someone post as ... Dennis Cardoza?

That being said, I grew up poor in the Central Valley myself, the son of field workers, and I am doing quite alright compared to some of the people I see on my street. I got an education, got into journalism, real estate, etc. Like "Cardoza," I've always felt special -- mostly because the other kids I grew up with don't have lives like mine. My brother is in prison for drugs. My other two cousins are in and out of incarceration, along with almost everyone else whose name I can remember from my youth. Some of them are dead, shot down or smashed with bats or shanked. Others walk the streets in one kind of zombie existence or another, most of them alcoholics, their kidneys failing at age 25. It's a little town called Tulare, in Cesar Chavez country. John Steinbeck mentions it in "The Grapes of Wrath," and Kerouac drives through in "On the Road." Other than that, if you live there you work in a cheese or ice cream factory, or a Gap outlet. The air is bad and the ground is poisoned. The agriculture economy pays shit and is an environmental nightmare on account of the water that must be abused to turn desert into farmland.

We lived in shitty residential hotels, among drugs and perversion and suicide. Sometimes there was nothing to eat, so we went to McDonald's and dove into the dumpsters looking for the warm burgers. Or we ate government issue cornmeal mush and canned pork (which was actually not so bad with grilled scallions and hot tortillas! ooh!). Sometimes there was nothing -- except sleep.
I was always a bookworm who never quite fit in, and though I suffered a lot for this (dozens and dozens of violent fights over the years, isolation from my peers), it is eventually what saved me. My brother and cousins were accepted into the gangs, and this got them off to an early start on drugs, sex and submission to the hopeless path that many people in this country walk. It is not a choice, but perhaps a by-product of our way of life, just like acid rain and nuclear waste. I suppose I could harp on my own successes in imitation of this alleged Cardoza, but when I think of where I am as opposed to where I came from, I am not filled with pride but sadness.
America is a lie and an illusion, and it has been since the beginning, when the calvary slaughtered my ancestors for the glory of God. In this country, the few feed of the blood of the many, and our leaders replicate this relationship with the world at large. I am not looking forward to dying of radiation sickeness from Osama's dirty bombs, but as I sit here in my artsy loft with my tax dollars dropping cluster bombs on people halfway around the world, I know justice is coming.
There will always be those people, slimy in their own fat of contentment, who would blame America's victims for not rising to America's call. But we know the truth is a little more simple than that. Exploitation = Deprivation, and Deprivation births Rage.
Just some thoughts from another personage in the San Joaquin Valley, one who has overcome without being deluded. I would not have gone to college if I'd not read the "Autobiography of Malcolm X" in high school. Looking at the world today, I can't help but think of an invocation I once heard: "Allah's Angry Man, May He Rise Again."

a salaam alaikum, brother

un vato de Tula

By the way, if this is Mr. Cardoza, he's lying before he's even a Congressperson. His biography on his website says:

Despite his quick rise to a prominent position in the Assembly, Dennis has never forgotten his agricultural roots. Dennis' grandparents, who emigrated from the Azores Islands of Portugal, began farming the rich Merced County soil back in the 1920's. Despite his quick rise to a prominent position in the Assembly, Dennis has never forgotten his agricultural roots. Dennis' grandparents, who emigrated from the Azores Islands of Portugal, began farming the rich Merced County soil back in the 1920's. They raised dairy cattle and grew sweet potatoes, almonds, watermelons, wheat, oats and alfalfa.

So much for his parents immigrating with $50.

"So what if I lied about my upbringing. Just wait until my pretty young interns start washing up in the Delta Mendota. Talk to me about scandal then. No offense, Gary."