Of course I'd vote for a blender over the Bush Crime Family, but I can't really say I'm "for" Howard Dean. This WaPo editorial articulates a number of his positions: it's really disappointing that he wants to be Nixon to Bush's Johnson and keep the good fight going in Iraq and Afghanistan "now that we're there." Screw that. You'll never convince me that policing countries half a world away keeps us safer than competently monitoring known terrorists here at home. Why don't we try the latter, just for a change? I think what Dean's really saying is "me no buck capitalist juggernaut." Really inspiring.
I opposed the Iraq invasion/occupation but I don't think we can just leave now. If you leave right now, then you turn the country into a fundamentalist islamic state. Check out a new blog called Riverbend from an Iraqi woman, probably Salam's girlfriend.
Her blog, called Bagdad Burning, is here: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Here's what she wrote:
"I continued upstairs, chilled to the bone, in spite of the muggy heat of the building which hadn’t seen electricity for at least 2 months. My little room wasn’t much better off than the rest of the building. The desks were gone, papers all over the place… but A. was there! I couldn’t believe it- a familiar, welcoming face. He looked at me for a moment, without really seeing me, then his eyes opened wide and disbelief took over the initial vague expression. He congratulated me on being alive, asked about my family and told me that he wasn’t coming back after today. Things had changed. I should go home and stay safe. He was quitting- going to find work abroad. Nothing to do here anymore. I told him about my plan to work at home and submit projects… he shook his head sadly.
I stood staring at the mess for a few moments longer, trying to sort out the mess in my head, my heart being torn to pieces. My cousin and E. were downstairs waiting for me- there was nothing more to do, except ask how I could maybe help? A. and I left the room and started making our way downstairs. We paused on the second floor and stopped to talk to one of the former department directors. I asked him when they thought things would be functioning, he wouldn’t look at me. His eyes stayed glued to A.’s face as he told him that females weren’t welcome right now- especially females who ‘couldn’t be protected’. He finally turned to me and told me, in so many words, to go home because ‘they’ refused to be responsible for what might happen to me.
Ok. Fine. Your loss. I turned my back, walked down the stairs and went to find E. and my cousin. Suddenly, the faces didn’t look strange- they were the same faces of before, mostly, but there was a hostility I couldn’t believe. What was I doing here? E. and the cousin were looking grim, I must have been looking broken, because they rushed me out of the first place I had ever worked and to the car. I cried bitterly all the way home- cried for my job, cried for my future and cried for the torn streets, damaged buildings and crumbling people."
If we leave now, her situation gets much much worse. I think the Dean admininstration will give her a better deal.
Hi, Philip. As a roundabout way of addressing your comment, here's my priority list for what needs to happen in the US right now. This list assumes a limited amount of time and energy on the part of progressive forces, so the tasks will have to be taken in order. Okay, here goes:
1. Reduce US prison population from 2 million to, oh, say, 1,000,000. Find gainful employment for all releasees.
2. Return all white collar jobs lost to India, and then begin returning blue collar jobs lost to China, Mexico, etc etc etc.
3. Return regulatory oversight of banking and securities to New Deal levels.
4. Institute "tort reform" to allow judgments against personal assets and bank accounts of CEOs in cases of corporate malfeasance (including corporate tax evasion).
5. Rebuild labor movement.
6. Enforce mandatory fuel-efficiency levels. Begin incremental move of utilities to wind and solar.
7. Institute universal health care.
8. Enforce drastic cuts in military spending, post Cold War. Remove WWII-era, Cold War-era, and "terror war"-era bases from England, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Cuba (including Guantanamo), the Stans, etc etc. Find gainful employment for decommissioned soldiers and non-military uses for war materiel.
9. Commit funds for rebuilding and paying personal injury claims stemming from our invasion of Iraq.
10. Seek non-military solutions to help Iraqis of both sexes lead better lives.
hey, i'm signed up for 3 through 7, more harmony than you might expect...!
Regarding 1 and 2, Ed Meese has a solution!
If Dean's anti-Globalist stand is still the same as reported in the WaPo editorial above, this could be a potent campaign issue for him, regardless of what anyone thinks about his desire to stay the course in Iraq or whatever. I guess I was vaguely pro-globalist in the Clinton '90s, maybe not as strong a believer as Big Jimmy seems to be, but thinking that having nations economically interconnected lessened the chances of war. Now I'm convinced we've been hoodwinked on this issue by the multinationals, that it's all about profits for the few. If more people knew about IBM's plans to move thousands of white collar jobs to India (as discussed very pointedly in this Bob Herbert editorial), and if Dean is actually against such plans, he could ride a wave of popular opposition. I think the DLC/Robert Rubin types are on the wrong side of this issue. "Outsourcing" is going to incredibly destructive to the country--eventually the population will consist millions of burger flippers servicing a handful of greedy f*cks owing allegiance to no nation.
My brother-in-law has been working for a big computer/tech company for years. He's always been a company man, enthusiastic about his position and work. These days his enthusiasm seems to have shifted to a sort of protective optimism that he's in no immediate danger of losing his job to someone in another country. None the less, he's been taking night courses in robotics, artificial intelligence and other fields, preparing himself for a move.
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Of course I'd vote for a blender over the Bush Crime Family, but I can't really say I'm "for" Howard Dean. This WaPo editorial articulates a number of his positions: it's really disappointing that he wants to be Nixon to Bush's Johnson and keep the good fight going in Iraq and Afghanistan "now that we're there." Screw that. You'll never convince me that policing countries half a world away keeps us safer than competently monitoring known terrorists here at home. Why don't we try the latter, just for a change? I think what Dean's really saying is "me no buck capitalist juggernaut." Really inspiring.
- tom moody 8-27-2003 4:10 am
I opposed the Iraq invasion/occupation but I don't think we can just leave now. If you leave right now, then you turn the country into a fundamentalist islamic state. Check out a new blog called Riverbend from an Iraqi woman, probably Salam's girlfriend.
Her blog, called Bagdad Burning, is here: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Here's what she wrote:
"I continued upstairs, chilled to the bone, in spite of the muggy heat of the building which hadn’t seen electricity for at least 2 months. My little room wasn’t much better off than the rest of the building. The desks were gone, papers all over the place… but A. was there! I couldn’t believe it- a familiar, welcoming face. He looked at me for a moment, without really seeing me, then his eyes opened wide and disbelief took over the initial vague expression. He congratulated me on being alive, asked about my family and told me that he wasn’t coming back after today. Things had changed. I should go home and stay safe. He was quitting- going to find work abroad. Nothing to do here anymore. I told him about my plan to work at home and submit projects… he shook his head sadly.
I stood staring at the mess for a few moments longer, trying to sort out the mess in my head, my heart being torn to pieces. My cousin and E. were downstairs waiting for me- there was nothing more to do, except ask how I could maybe help? A. and I left the room and started making our way downstairs. We paused on the second floor and stopped to talk to one of the former department directors. I asked him when they thought things would be functioning, he wouldn’t look at me. His eyes stayed glued to A.’s face as he told him that females weren’t welcome right now- especially females who ‘couldn’t be protected’. He finally turned to me and told me, in so many words, to go home because ‘they’ refused to be responsible for what might happen to me.
Ok. Fine. Your loss. I turned my back, walked down the stairs and went to find E. and my cousin. Suddenly, the faces didn’t look strange- they were the same faces of before, mostly, but there was a hostility I couldn’t believe. What was I doing here? E. and the cousin were looking grim, I must have been looking broken, because they rushed me out of the first place I had ever worked and to the car. I cried bitterly all the way home- cried for my job, cried for my future and cried for the torn streets, damaged buildings and crumbling people."
If we leave now, her situation gets much much worse. I think the Dean admininstration will give her a better deal.
- Philip Shropshire 8-27-2003 1:32 pm
Hi, Philip. As a roundabout way of addressing your comment, here's my priority list for what needs to happen in the US right now. This list assumes a limited amount of time and energy on the part of progressive forces, so the tasks will have to be taken in order. Okay, here goes: 1. Reduce US prison population from 2 million to, oh, say, 1,000,000. Find gainful employment for all releasees. 2. Return all white collar jobs lost to India, and then begin returning blue collar jobs lost to China, Mexico, etc etc etc. 3. Return regulatory oversight of banking and securities to New Deal levels. 4. Institute "tort reform" to allow judgments against personal assets and bank accounts of CEOs in cases of corporate malfeasance (including corporate tax evasion). 5. Rebuild labor movement. 6. Enforce mandatory fuel-efficiency levels. Begin incremental move of utilities to wind and solar. 7. Institute universal health care. 8. Enforce drastic cuts in military spending, post Cold War. Remove WWII-era, Cold War-era, and "terror war"-era bases from England, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Cuba (including Guantanamo), the Stans, etc etc. Find gainful employment for decommissioned soldiers and non-military uses for war materiel. 9. Commit funds for rebuilding and paying personal injury claims stemming from our invasion of Iraq. 10. Seek non-military solutions to help Iraqis of both sexes lead better lives.
- tom moody 9-01-2003 8:57 am
hey, i'm signed up for 3 through 7, more harmony than you might expect...!
- big jimmy 9-24-2003 6:56 am
Regarding 1 and 2, Ed Meese has a solution!
- tom moody 10-13-2003 1:38 am
If Dean's anti-Globalist stand is still the same as reported in the WaPo editorial above, this could be a potent campaign issue for him, regardless of what anyone thinks about his desire to stay the course in Iraq or whatever. I guess I was vaguely pro-globalist in the Clinton '90s, maybe not as strong a believer as Big Jimmy seems to be, but thinking that having nations economically interconnected lessened the chances of war. Now I'm convinced we've been hoodwinked on this issue by the multinationals, that it's all about profits for the few. If more people knew about IBM's plans to move thousands of white collar jobs to India (as discussed very pointedly in this Bob Herbert editorial), and if Dean is actually against such plans, he could ride a wave of popular opposition. I think the DLC/Robert Rubin types are on the wrong side of this issue. "Outsourcing" is going to incredibly destructive to the country--eventually the population will consist millions of burger flippers servicing a handful of greedy f*cks owing allegiance to no nation.
- tom moody 12-26-2003 6:43 am
My brother-in-law has been working for a big computer/tech company for years. He's always been a company man, enthusiastic about his position and work. These days his enthusiasm seems to have shifted to a sort of protective optimism that he's in no immediate danger of losing his job to someone in another country. None the less, he's been taking night courses in robotics, artificial intelligence and other fields, preparing himself for a move.
- steve 12-26-2003 3:49 pm