Is supporting the troops sending more bodies without body armor? Or sending them without reasonable training or rest before deployment? Or failing to provide adequate mentor support to our returning permanently wounded for navigating the bureaucratic minefield of separation from active duty to the care of the Veterans Administration?
What does "We support the troops" mean?
Does support the military mean stripping the National Guard of soldiers and equipment so we are more vulnerable here at home against any one of the many potential disasters we face? Or does it mean hiding the fact that we are now accepting less than the best and brightest—even by Army standards—into the ranks of those commanded to kill the enemy? Isn't THAT what is truly demeaning our soldiers?
What does "We support the military" mean?
Who now doubts that Bush 43 and Cheney are delusional? As I wrote previously:
If as President Bush said—clearly, by the way—"that Iraq is the central front in 'the decisive ideological struggle of our time,' " to quote Frank Rich in today's NY Times (OpEd, Sunday, December 14, 2007) ... then is "the surge" the last, best chance for victory in the Iraq?
The "decisive ideological struggle of our time" is being paid for with tax reductions for the wealthy? and the blood of the working class's children?
Who does not see the absurdity in this?
Why aren't we, like the late Molly Ivins wrote, out in the streets beating on our pots and pans, making noise?
Have we already driven off the cliff and just haven't started falling yet?
And there are those who say Congressman Murtha has "stumbled"? Are they kidding?
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Where do we go from here?
With the wars still raging in Afghanistan and Iraq ... with our own "What? me worry?" King George high horsing it until January of 2009 ... What do we do now? Where do we go from here?
I mean ... who are we kidding? If what Bush 43 and Cheney did in starting a war of aggression against Iraq are not high crimes and misdemeanors deserving of impeachment ... then what is?
But nothing is going to come of it, is it? Because the whole political class is falling all over themselves trying to avoid any kind of direct action that would somehow taint them in anyway with some segment of the electorate that would eliminate them from election or re-election ... because it isn't about serving the people. It's about getting elected because in their minds that is the only way one can effectively serve the people. The hell with calling attention to our core values ... that just gets you assassinated.
When the death of Anna Nicole Smith sucks the oxygen out of the news ... we are in as big a mess as Rome was when the Romans thronged to the circus.
And the egregious violence of 24 Hours as well as our other "entertainment" ... have we become so inured to violence that our youth have no pangs of conscience when the abuses of Abu Garib or Guantanamo unfold on their watch? Isn't that the real story of photos passed from soldier to soldier?
Have we become so caught up in the comfort and wealth of our way of life that we really don't see the irony of changing light bulbs in 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10,000 square foot homes? Or of everyone of driving age in a household having their own Prius?
Have we gone totally insane? Living so deep in denial that we have already soared off the cliff ... and just not started to feel ourselves falling ... yet. You tell me.
I mean ... who are we kidding? If what Bush 43 and Cheney did in starting a war of aggression against Iraq are not high crimes and misdemeanors deserving of impeachment ... then what is?
But nothing is going to come of it, is it? Because the whole political class is falling all over themselves trying to avoid any kind of direct action that would somehow taint them in anyway with some segment of the electorate that would eliminate them from election or re-election ... because it isn't about serving the people. It's about getting elected because in their minds that is the only way one can effectively serve the people. The hell with calling attention to our core values ... that just gets you assassinated.
When the death of Anna Nicole Smith sucks the oxygen out of the news ... we are in as big a mess as Rome was when the Romans thronged to the circus.
And the egregious violence of 24 Hours as well as our other "entertainment" ... have we become so inured to violence that our youth have no pangs of conscience when the abuses of Abu Garib or Guantanamo unfold on their watch? Isn't that the real story of photos passed from soldier to soldier?
Have we become so caught up in the comfort and wealth of our way of life that we really don't see the irony of changing light bulbs in 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10,000 square foot homes? Or of everyone of driving age in a household having their own Prius?
Have we gone totally insane? Living so deep in denial that we have already soared off the cliff ... and just not started to feel ourselves falling ... yet. You tell me.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Hillary, dillary, dumb ....
Hillary shot herself in the foot in her comments about Geffen ... and Obama.
It's going to be downhill for her from here ... that's a prediction we can come back and track in the months ahead.
Actually, it was downhill from the moment she made it clear that she would not admit that she had made a mistake in voting to authorize the Bush 43's war in Iraq.
Now it will only be a question of how far down she will drag the populist/progressive movement in her attempt to become President.
When we return the Democratic Party to the people, we will win elections. That is what the "corporationists" fear most. Hillary is willing to be a tool of the power elite in order to win the Presidency ... it is all about her ... and very little about we the people.
It's going to be downhill for her from here ... that's a prediction we can come back and track in the months ahead.
Actually, it was downhill from the moment she made it clear that she would not admit that she had made a mistake in voting to authorize the Bush 43's war in Iraq.
Now it will only be a question of how far down she will drag the populist/progressive movement in her attempt to become President.
When we return the Democratic Party to the people, we will win elections. That is what the "corporationists" fear most. Hillary is willing to be a tool of the power elite in order to win the Presidency ... it is all about her ... and very little about we the people.
Monday, February 19, 2007
The Edwards-Richardson ticket
I might as well come right out and say it, "I support John Edwards for President in 2008, and I support Bill Richardson as his running mate."
I mean, get it out there on the table now.
There probably are some folks who question why I support this ticket. Mostly those who don't read this blog ... so, yes, that is like most folks out there.
But on the other hand, these are notes to myself basically ... a journal, a log, a diary of thoughts along the way, that I can go back and look at later ... to see how I evolved, how my world evolved ... and how close to my predictions, to the direction I thought we would take ... or how divergent from the path I predicted ... or planned or hoped we would take.
I am constantly reminded of how small of a group it takes to alter the course of the future. We have the iconic image of Jesus and his twelve disciples meeting in the upper room in Jerusalem. We have the reality of twelve individuals meeting in a small Quaker bookstore in 1783 leading to the abolition of slavery in Great Britain.
This is chaos theory at work. A small pebble can alter the course of a boulder as starts to roll down the mountain.
I have no excuse for not trying to guide the course of my nation in keeping with what I believe are its core values: social, economic, and legal justice for all under the rule of law.
I mean, get it out there on the table now.
There probably are some folks who question why I support this ticket. Mostly those who don't read this blog ... so, yes, that is like most folks out there.
But on the other hand, these are notes to myself basically ... a journal, a log, a diary of thoughts along the way, that I can go back and look at later ... to see how I evolved, how my world evolved ... and how close to my predictions, to the direction I thought we would take ... or how divergent from the path I predicted ... or planned or hoped we would take.
I am constantly reminded of how small of a group it takes to alter the course of the future. We have the iconic image of Jesus and his twelve disciples meeting in the upper room in Jerusalem. We have the reality of twelve individuals meeting in a small Quaker bookstore in 1783 leading to the abolition of slavery in Great Britain.
This is chaos theory at work. A small pebble can alter the course of a boulder as starts to roll down the mountain.
I have no excuse for not trying to guide the course of my nation in keeping with what I believe are its core values: social, economic, and legal justice for all under the rule of law.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
The new economics - Post 1
"Free" markets don't exist and are impossible to implement universally.
"Fair" markets don't exist and are impossible to implement universally.
In both cases success of any player immediately unbalances the market unless the player as buyer is equally rewarded as the player as seller in that they both achieve an optimum objective of present value in the transaction. One major problem is that all future assignable costs incurred by the total process of bringing goods and services to market and selling and buying and then consuming them, are NOT covered by the sale/purchase transaction. Note: We do not transfer the liability of future costs as easily as we transfer the potential for future profits when we transfer "ownership". These externalities—such as secondhand smoke from cigarettes—create imbalances in markets. There are others, but beyond the purposes of this comment which is to simply point out that "free" and "fair" markets cannot exist universally.
We need to implement "rational" markets. These are markets that monitor and regulate transactions and their processes before, during, and after the actual "transfer" of ownership by the simple physician's dictum, "First, do no harm."
I will discuss the concept of a rational market in terms of a "fair" market underlying or forming the level playing-field/foundation for a "free" market to operate with minimum impediments to market forces. Raise the foundation for all, with access to the sky for those who can build strong structures least likely to fall over on us.
"Fair" markets don't exist and are impossible to implement universally.
In both cases success of any player immediately unbalances the market unless the player as buyer is equally rewarded as the player as seller in that they both achieve an optimum objective of present value in the transaction. One major problem is that all future assignable costs incurred by the total process of bringing goods and services to market and selling and buying and then consuming them, are NOT covered by the sale/purchase transaction. Note: We do not transfer the liability of future costs as easily as we transfer the potential for future profits when we transfer "ownership". These externalities—such as secondhand smoke from cigarettes—create imbalances in markets. There are others, but beyond the purposes of this comment which is to simply point out that "free" and "fair" markets cannot exist universally.
We need to implement "rational" markets. These are markets that monitor and regulate transactions and their processes before, during, and after the actual "transfer" of ownership by the simple physician's dictum, "First, do no harm."
I will discuss the concept of a rational market in terms of a "fair" market underlying or forming the level playing-field/foundation for a "free" market to operate with minimum impediments to market forces. Raise the foundation for all, with access to the sky for those who can build strong structures least likely to fall over on us.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Well, it's clear ... isn't it?
While the insurgency in Iraq was rearing its head in June, 2003, our prescient leaders where going all out trying to quell the claims by critics of the decision to go to war that the intelligence in support of that decision was cooked up by Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.
So instead of doing something concrete about the growing insurgency, they did something covert about their critics ... and stonewalled any investigation right up until the seating of new Congress this January, three-and-a-half years later ... with the Republican Congressional members now claiming it is "old news".
The Republican Party was hijacked by neoconservatists and now they are trying to blame Democrats for the mess they created ... are they kidding us? They should not only be voted out of office, they should be laughed out ... riding on a rail, covered with tar and feathers ... for they have sold us out for personal gain within their clique ... at a time when we could use some rational conservatism to weigh in on our progress.
So instead of doing something concrete about the growing insurgency, they did something covert about their critics ... and stonewalled any investigation right up until the seating of new Congress this January, three-and-a-half years later ... with the Republican Congressional members now claiming it is "old news".
The Republican Party was hijacked by neoconservatists and now they are trying to blame Democrats for the mess they created ... are they kidding us? They should not only be voted out of office, they should be laughed out ... riding on a rail, covered with tar and feathers ... for they have sold us out for personal gain within their clique ... at a time when we could use some rational conservatism to weigh in on our progress.
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