Yesterday, on the television, I heard my president use the phrase "Cut 'N Run Democrats" to describe Americans who have the audacity to want and end to a war on Iraq in the guise of pursuing a "war on terror" (before that it was to "spread Democracy", before that it was a need for "regime change", and before that an imminent threat of a "mushroom cloud" and "weapons of mass distruction" - pardon me if I don't believe your motives this time). What immediately came to mind is the speech in which our president says "I'm a uniter, not a divider."
Sigh. No, sir, you are a hypocrite and a liar and I've never been more ashamed of my country.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
Shit-Slinging and Assymetric Warfare
Two things seem pretty evident this week; neither the war on terror (which, I like to remind everybody, is a tactic - not an enemy) or the culture war between liberals and conservatives is getting any better. In both cases, things continue to get much worse.
The leaking of a six-month old National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that concluded we're creating more terrorists than we're getting rid of, the mutiny of U.S. military Generals against Donald Rumsfeld, and current conditions (thousands of sectarian murders) on the ground are irrefutable evidence that, for whatever reason, Iraq is falling apart and we can't seem to make it work. We need a new plan - either win the hearts and minds of everyday Iraqis with overwhelming generosity and goodwill, block by block if need be, or blow those hearts and minds acrosss the desert in a full-on genocide. Anything less than those two extremes will result in a long, painful and expensive quagmire that will cost thousands of American lives, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and any credibility we ever had in the world. Most people seem to agree that our current "strategy" (whatever that is) is unrealistic and unsustainable. Anyway, enough of my blather, please read this fascinating articla about Assymetric Warfare on DKosopedia. Conservative or Liberal, I think you'll find it interesting.
And we're more hotly divided in this country than we ever have been in my memory. Its evident in the lack of courtesy and decorum on the the shit-slinging that takes place on so-called "talk" shows and website forums, both liberal and conservative. Nobody seems to be trying to understand the arguments on the other side, most seem content to call the other names. We belittle and dismiss one another reflexively. If there was anything good to come out of 9/11, its that those differences disappeared for a very short while and we all pulled together. Too bad it takes that kind of disaster to remind us we're all on the same team.
The leaking of a six-month old National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that concluded we're creating more terrorists than we're getting rid of, the mutiny of U.S. military Generals against Donald Rumsfeld, and current conditions (thousands of sectarian murders) on the ground are irrefutable evidence that, for whatever reason, Iraq is falling apart and we can't seem to make it work. We need a new plan - either win the hearts and minds of everyday Iraqis with overwhelming generosity and goodwill, block by block if need be, or blow those hearts and minds acrosss the desert in a full-on genocide. Anything less than those two extremes will result in a long, painful and expensive quagmire that will cost thousands of American lives, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and any credibility we ever had in the world. Most people seem to agree that our current "strategy" (whatever that is) is unrealistic and unsustainable. Anyway, enough of my blather, please read this fascinating articla about Assymetric Warfare on DKosopedia. Conservative or Liberal, I think you'll find it interesting.
And we're more hotly divided in this country than we ever have been in my memory. Its evident in the lack of courtesy and decorum on the the shit-slinging that takes place on so-called "talk" shows and website forums, both liberal and conservative. Nobody seems to be trying to understand the arguments on the other side, most seem content to call the other names. We belittle and dismiss one another reflexively. If there was anything good to come out of 9/11, its that those differences disappeared for a very short while and we all pulled together. Too bad it takes that kind of disaster to remind us we're all on the same team.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Half-Cocked And Ready To Fight
Yesterday I left a nasty comment on the blog of a Harvard Economics Professor who was arguing against the federal minimmum wage laws and somewhat in favor of the Earned Income Tax Credit (but only as a last resort). A litany of supportive comments followed his article, most championing the conservative wisdom of a professor who resides within maybe one of the most powerful learning institutions in America.
His blog was actually in response to who he called "misguided students" who marched in support of a living wage for so-caleed "unskilled" staff on the Harvard campus. Because of Harvard's vast endowment, which would easily allow the school to afford such a move, the professor argued that it would be artificial and, overall, a bad message for business in American and bad move for our economy.
I went off on him.
Not because I'm qualified to argue with a Harvard economics professor, (I'm just a pseudo-intellectual, community-college drop-out) but because I'm a hothead and I'm tired of people so far removed from the struggle for working-class Americans making decisions that so profoundly affect them - especially when they're never experienced the day-to-day lives of the working poor. In other words, men in ivory towers shouldn't talk about how $10.51 an hour (in Boston no less - you try and survive on that, mother-fucker ) is too much money. Especially when the benefactors of current economic policies are enjoying such an overabundance of profit made with the blessing of George The Younger. It's extremely offensive to some of us.
Let's face it, the rich rely on the sweat of the working poor - always have, always will. Fine, theat's an economic hierarchy that will never change - at least not as long as humans control the resources. But don't think you can rationalize that injustice in public without risk of getting a virtual tomato smashed upside your insulated Harvard melon. There's a whole lot of us out here who are pissed-off about our fading prosperity while fat-cat Harvard-educated MBA's look for new and complicated ways to screw us out of the meager wages we get.
Anyway, I'm kind of afraid to even go back to that website. I'm sure I'm getting throttled on every side by conservatives who think I'm not qualified to argue the point, missed the point completely, don't understand the point, or otherwise am not worthy of being scraped off the bottom of their right wingtips. But, I must retrieve my comments for posterity...
Well, you’ve answered for me how our so-called “leaders” become so out of touch with their working-class constituents. You talk about the economics of the working poor as if their circumstance were merely the natural order of the universe, and that your access to an Ivy League education and a brilliant career were a birthright. Don't talk to me about what a unskilled labor is worth until you've at least "walked the walk" like Ehrenreich did. She's a liberal, and it sent her running for the sanctuary of her own priveleged life. What’s lacking from this conversation is a sense of humility and any attempt at finding humanity in economics - which works out so well for those at the top. I can't believe there's an argument about whether a working-class gig at Harvard is worth $10.00 bucks an hour? Who deciides? Unfortunately, you do. And you’ll spend years arguing why the very least among you don't deserve enough money for a clean place to live and insurance against a medical disaster. I never hear a serious discussion about the social cost of a company pulling a $100,000,000,000 out of an economy in a single year while their employees are eating Ramen noodles bought with food stamps and wonder if that pain they feel in their gut is from poor nutrition or stomach cancer. Their choice is to work for that company, or the other national behemoth down the street who offer the exact same lack of wages and benefits. If there is any justification for a minimum wage in America, then there must be justification for a maximum profit as well. If there isn’t, then I hope you’re all be prepared for the social cost that stress and status anxiety will bring to your doorstep. Will you chase those lowly souls back across the bridge by force or will you foolishly ask, “Why do they hate us so much?”
His blog was actually in response to who he called "misguided students" who marched in support of a living wage for so-caleed "unskilled" staff on the Harvard campus. Because of Harvard's vast endowment, which would easily allow the school to afford such a move, the professor argued that it would be artificial and, overall, a bad message for business in American and bad move for our economy.
I went off on him.
Not because I'm qualified to argue with a Harvard economics professor, (I'm just a pseudo-intellectual, community-college drop-out) but because I'm a hothead and I'm tired of people so far removed from the struggle for working-class Americans making decisions that so profoundly affect them - especially when they're never experienced the day-to-day lives of the working poor. In other words, men in ivory towers shouldn't talk about how $10.51 an hour (in Boston no less - you try and survive on that, mother-fucker ) is too much money. Especially when the benefactors of current economic policies are enjoying such an overabundance of profit made with the blessing of George The Younger. It's extremely offensive to some of us.
Let's face it, the rich rely on the sweat of the working poor - always have, always will. Fine, theat's an economic hierarchy that will never change - at least not as long as humans control the resources. But don't think you can rationalize that injustice in public without risk of getting a virtual tomato smashed upside your insulated Harvard melon. There's a whole lot of us out here who are pissed-off about our fading prosperity while fat-cat Harvard-educated MBA's look for new and complicated ways to screw us out of the meager wages we get.
Anyway, I'm kind of afraid to even go back to that website. I'm sure I'm getting throttled on every side by conservatives who think I'm not qualified to argue the point, missed the point completely, don't understand the point, or otherwise am not worthy of being scraped off the bottom of their right wingtips. But, I must retrieve my comments for posterity...
Well, you’ve answered for me how our so-called “leaders” become so out of touch with their working-class constituents. You talk about the economics of the working poor as if their circumstance were merely the natural order of the universe, and that your access to an Ivy League education and a brilliant career were a birthright. Don't talk to me about what a unskilled labor is worth until you've at least "walked the walk" like Ehrenreich did. She's a liberal, and it sent her running for the sanctuary of her own priveleged life. What’s lacking from this conversation is a sense of humility and any attempt at finding humanity in economics - which works out so well for those at the top. I can't believe there's an argument about whether a working-class gig at Harvard is worth $10.00 bucks an hour? Who deciides? Unfortunately, you do. And you’ll spend years arguing why the very least among you don't deserve enough money for a clean place to live and insurance against a medical disaster. I never hear a serious discussion about the social cost of a company pulling a $100,000,000,000 out of an economy in a single year while their employees are eating Ramen noodles bought with food stamps and wonder if that pain they feel in their gut is from poor nutrition or stomach cancer. Their choice is to work for that company, or the other national behemoth down the street who offer the exact same lack of wages and benefits. If there is any justification for a minimum wage in America, then there must be justification for a maximum profit as well. If there isn’t, then I hope you’re all be prepared for the social cost that stress and status anxiety will bring to your doorstep. Will you chase those lowly souls back across the bridge by force or will you foolishly ask, “Why do they hate us so much?”
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Always Impressed by Conservative Blame-Gamers
It seems the conservatives have finally smartened up and realized that, "Hey, with all our money and political connections we should be the ones re-writing history for the hoi polloi. It's all Clinton's fault!" I'm referring of course to the reported revisionist history of "The Path To 9/11" a docu-drama to be aired on ABC that reportedly will squarely place the blame for the attack on the Clinton administration (conservatives are still blaming Clinton even though they've controlled all three branches of government for six years - and just in time for the election!) Never mind that Bill Clinton actually ordered attacks on Bin Laden's terror camps and blew up an aspirin-factory in the Sudan in an attempt to hurt Al Queda. Never mind that President Bush and his cabal ignored a PDB entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike WIthin The U.S." Don't even get me started on how that cabal abused actual intelligence to sell the Iraq war to a gullible and vulnerable public. Bush wasn't worried about Bin Laden because he was too busy giving massive tax cuts to his already bloated billionaire friends - I'm sorry, I mean his base.
Check out the inside story about the solidly right-wing creators of "The Path To 9/11" at The Huffington Post"
Interested in the Clinton Conspiracy side instead? Check out The Greatest Jeneration.
The culture war is still raging on with the full support of a president who laughably declared he was a "uniter, not a divider".
Who knows, maybe we'll have a red state/blue state civil war of our own some day. We're on the verge of drawing eachother's blood in this country like the Sunnis and the Shia.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Five Years After 9/11
Five years after we were attacked by Al Queda, Osama Bin Laden is still at large, the former World Trade Center is still a hole in the ground and we've pissed away almost half a trillion dollars in Iraq. Somebody is getting really, really rich from all this while continuous electricity and clean water are still a rarity in that country. Sad. I said it then, and I'll say it now - I can't believe we invaded Iraq. I blame George Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Don Runsfeld, Condo-Leaser Rice and Colin Powell - I blame Powell for not having the decency to resign before they made him lie to us. A good soldier till the very end. Perhaps it's time to retire that sidearm, sir.
Oh, and I blame CONGRESS -for ignoring your oversight DUTY to the AMERICAN PEOPLE. You're all fired.
I remember standing in my kitchen, my jaw on the floor, while the president announced his plans for "the war on terror". We have about as much a chance of winning the "war on terror" as we do "the war on drugs". Terrorism is an intelligence matter - always was, always will be. You can say you're fighting a "war" on terror - but it's a lie. Wars are for nation/states. You can take a military action against terrorists - but you can't fight a war on a tactic. It's all bullshit. Smedley Butler is turning in his grave.
But even five years after 9/11- 43% of Americans still believe the War On Iraq had something to do with 9/11. Sad. Now the Republicans are singing the same song in this electioin cycle. Are most people still that gullible? Probably.
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