Tapping all the power at your disposal is not an easy thing. Great power comes with great risks and some danger. But wisdom, strength, confidence and determination, added together enable the strong to make full use of their power. This is lofty territory....

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Originally Published on OpEdNews

Can You Guess What This Ad is Selling?
A guy in a hard-hat, in front of a new construction site is talking about cereal-- a ten day plan.

In the background, a girder falls, pushed through a narrow, maybe foot wide window opening, falling from the second floor to the ground. I wonder. "What's that got to do with an ad?"

He keeps talking about well the ten day program works, while four or five large drums/barrels are pushed so they fall of the back of a truck, one at a time.

Finally, we see, as he continues talking, as a truck bed is tilted, a truckload of dirt smoothly dumped on the ground.

Well, can you guess the product he's selling?

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He's pushing bran cereal as a cure to irregularity. I broke up laughing at the use of these visual metaphors for taking a dump, cutting a loaf, ie., having a good bowel movement.

So, will this imagery of letting loose work? Are you feeling a little looser, better able to let go of a good donation for the good cause? Can I I use some humor to ask for a contribution to support OpEdNEws? Providing the financial help to keep us running and regular is a very serious matter, but it will help if I can write about it with a bit of light approach. Please demonstrate that it is not necessary to always be serious. Make your contribution today.

The articles we're running today show the level of anger and contempt our writers have for the Whitehouse... and for the Democrats who have enable Bush and his despicable company. When congress returns in September, I hope they will be chastened by the reception they've had from their constituents. I'll be seeing mine on the 30th, when we both speak at a candidate's fundraiser. So far, he's done very well, voting the way I've wanted him to, except on the biggest, toughest one, witholding further funds for the Iraq war. I'm going to tell him it's the only way for the Democrats to regain the respect of the people. My legislator had the guts to serve in Iraq. He should have the guts to pass legislation that will surely put him under fire from the right.

It's interesting to follow Doctor Pete Bagnolo's exploration of how John Ashcroft, who I was no fan of, was so morally superior to Gonzales. Getting back to my opening paragraph, there are different varieties of feces. We have a 14 year old yellow Lab-- a miracle in itself-- and she has accidents in the house. Most of the time they are relatively dry and easy to pick up. Then there are the days when her stomach is off and the accidents are a much looser mess. Thus we have the Ashcroft and Gonzales metaphor. Gonzales is the most ill smelling, filthy mess in recent memory, perhaps all the history of the judiciary. You have to hold your nose and get down on all fours to scrub up this one. And the congress will have to do the same. There's no nice neat way to clean this one up. So far, the judiciary committees have not rolled up their sleeves, put their boots on and stepped all the way into the mess. They must do that, and in a hurry when they get back. They must be prepared to do what it takes, even if the right comes back and tries to bloody them. Our nation's future is on the line-- democracy, integrity, position of power in the world...

Patrick Leahy, John COnyers-- these committee chairs must take bigger risks, get more aggressive, more combative and step up the conflict. Doing little, taking their time is not enough. Bush and his criminal team does not stand still. We see how his appointees are literally causing the deaths of people-- the highly visible miner rescuers, for example, let alone the continued deaths of US troops and Iraqi civilians. How much more chaos can there be than what we saw last week with one terrorist attack killing over 500 and injuring over 1000?

The fact is, the right wingers still surviving in the congress are desperately holding on to the failed idea that it is possible to "win," to achieve "victory."

Their definition of winning, or victory has been such a moving target... but ultimately, if it wasn't such an abomination, such a tragic lie, it would be a joke.

The Dems in congress must use whatever tactics-- PR, language, framing, humor, swiftboating-- it takes to label and define these Victory seekers as either liars and frauds or incompetents who are dragging America down.

Conyers and Leahy should be taking off the gloves. None of this "my friend" crap. The people blocking the termination of this war have to be handled rough and tough, and that absolutely includes the dems who side with republicans. How are they any different than that most particularly despicable vermin-- Lieberman.

Continuing on the starting metaphor of this rant, America has been sent on a trajectory that is headed down the toilet. Bush, his neocon idiots, his sycophant generals and his rubberstamp republican enablers and their invertebrate coward democrats have accelerated that descent. The only way it will end is if the leaders who have been elected and given a majority use ALL the power at their disposal.

Tapping all the power at your disposal is not an easy thing. Great power comes with great risks and some danger. But wisdom, strength, confidence and determination, added together enable the strong to make full use of their power. This is lofty territory, where true heroism, where apotheosis-- touching and being touched by god-- occurs. It is not for the faint of heart. The times for these moments cannot be conveniently scheduled. They come with risks and the true heroes who accomplish these feats must be ready and able.

That is what we will need, literally in the coming weeks, from Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Patrick Leahy, John Conyers, and the majority heads of the other congressional committees. The Democratic presidential candidates who waffle or avoid taking stands on these issues deserve to fade into history. The presidential candidates who embrace the opportunity to take the strong stands that must be taken will be thrust into leadership.

These are dangerous times-- for democracy, for America, for freedom. They call for greatness. The greatest, most heroic people started out on the same level field as their peers. Then they did something-- taking the initiative or responding the extraordinary circumstances, that raised them above the crowd. It is the time for someone to find, within her or his self, what it takes to lift this situation to the next level, where the lies and distortions, and games are clearly shown for what they are. Will it be John Conyers or Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton or Dennis Kucinich? Probably not. It could be any member of congress.

Metaphors-- they take our minds to places we might not go. Now imagine a volcano ejecting a huge boulder, then spewing lava, then a huge explosion of smoke and ash, filling the sky. And I'm not talking about eating a cereal that makes you more regular. I'm talking about channeling the inner strength, energy, vision and passion to rise above the mob to take the lead and make a difference.

It will take creativity and courage and impeccable timing. I pray we see it happen soon.

P.S. this started out as a note to my newsletter readers. I know it's unusual to include a call for contributions in an article. But then again, OpEdNEws.com is an alternative, experimental media site. We're always trying new things. Consider yourself a participant in an experiment, if this is your first encounter or your 100th with OpEdNews. We'll keep you on your toes.

Authors Bio:

Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind.  Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives  one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big)  to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, debillionairizing the planet and the Psychopathy Defense and Optimization Project. 

Rob Kall Wikipedia Page

Over 200 podcasts are archived for downloading here, or can be accessed from iTunes. Rob is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com

Rob is, with Opednews.com the first media winner of the Pillar Award for supporting Whistleblowers and the first amendment.

To learn more about Rob and OpEdNews.com, check out A Voice For Truth - ROB KALL | OM Times Magazine and this article. For Rob's work in non-political realms mostly before 2000, see his C.V..  and here's an article on the Storycon Summit Meeting he founded and organized for eight years. Press coverage in the Wall Street Journal: Party's Left Pushes for a Seat at the Table

Here is a one hour radio interview where Rob was a guest- on Envision This, and here is the transcript. . 

To watch Rob having a lively conversation with John Conyers, then Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here. Watch Rob speaking on Bottom up economics at the Occupy G8 Economic Summit, here.

Follow Rob on Twitter & Facebook. His quotes are here

Rob's articles express his personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.