Diatribune - imperialism - Comments

I don't think it's even

epppie — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:06:12 -0600

I don't think it's even clear that violence has been reduced. US military deaths have been reduced (Thank God) via payment of protection money, and REPORTING HAS BEEN REDUCED!!

On one hand, it's

epppie — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:07:32 -0600

On one hand, it's understandable that the Germans, and we, were and are, seduced and paralysed by propaganda.

On the other hand, propaganda couldn't work
if we didn't let it.

The abandonment of the rule

kerry — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:43:07 -0600

The abandonment of the rule of law is the fault of the American people just like it was the fault of the German people during the Nazi rule. The American people have either sat by indifferently or worse completely co-opted the "unitary executive". There should be a firestorm demanding the impeachment of these criminals. Instead there is idle passivity. Even the most progressive democrats can't come together on impeachment. Impeachment is the only defense to the rule of law currently available.

Edwards is more comfortable

Feral Cat — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:07:05 -0600

Edwards is more comfortable talking to his peers, a jury of his peers. He enjoys give and take and a chance to make a passionate plea. I understand that. Those forums on the other hand are not real debates between two people. Just a lot of gotcha questions with too little time to answer with thought.

Bascially, CEO types like businessman Brian Schweitzer like to run things like a CEO. They like unitary power. They want to call all the shots. It might be more efficient, but it's not democracy and it flirts with fascism. The Nazis were very efficient. We had our fling with a CEO president and vice president and it was a disaster. Time to return to the rule of law and by people who know what that means and also that it should apply equally to every class of citizen.

Join us at the Pink House in

CODEPINK — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:37:14 -0600

Join us at the Pink House in Washington! www.codepinkalert.org/pledge

Great point eppie!

CODEPINK — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:35:09 -0600

Great point eppie!

Edwards, Kucinich, Gore -

epppie — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:49:09 -0600

Edwards, Kucinich, Gore - those are the candidates I take seriously. Edwards seems incredibly comfortable and eloquent when dealing with audiences one on one, but extremely uncomfortable during debates.

The pro-business Dems (as if other Dems are antibusiness, but it's how they see things, or seems to be) seem to have a stranglehold on the party even locally and seem to fear people power.

That's the way it is here in

Feral Cat — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:52:49 -0600

That's the way it is here in Montana. We spend more time fighting the DLC business moderates in our party than the Republicans. The more liberal you are the more you get grief. They even went so far as to infiltrate progressive county committees and fill them instead with yes men.

For me the way out of this mire is to reclaim the Democratic party from the Eisenhower Republicans who have taken it over. And for my money, that means electing John Edwards who will turn Washington upside down. He was here in Montana last night and drew almost 1000 people with no publicity. His speech was electrifying filled with passion and urgency for us "to get off our couches" and do something.

Power to the people. See you in Washington

It's amazing, but Rove is

epppie — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 01:37:26 -0600

It's amazing, but Rove is finally right about something. The Dems have been eager to demonize their base, going back decades. The GOP has never done that, that I know of.
We see it today. Even socalled progressive Dems would rather hunt down "extremists" in the party, than take on the warmongers, faux Dems and Blue Dogs who sell the party out to the GOP again and again and make close elections that we just barely lose or just barely win a self-fulfilling prophecy, in a country where the vast majority agrees with Dem positions.

I was about to say the very

Mentarch — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:25:20 -0600

I was about to say the very same thing ...

Bush the uniter.

epppie — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:18:39 -0600

Bush the uniter.

The story from Bahrain about

Jacob Freeze — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:02:48 -0600

The story from Bahrain about Iranian troops chasing the PKK on the border of Iraq is another very weird card in a very weird deck. I hadn't seen this story until you linked it here, but it suggests an unexpected synergy in the region... Iran and Turkey rolling up Kurdistan and restoring an integral Iraq to Iran's Shiite friends, and solving Turkey's problems with the PKK at the same time.

A marriage of convenience between Iran and Turkey! Who said the US couldn't make friends in the Middle East? We just can't make them for ourselves...

Well put! Just goes to show

Mentarch — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:45:47 -0600

Well put!

Just goes to show the inherent inconsistency in U.S. foreign policy.

From the standpoint of

Jacob Freeze — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:21:04 -0600

From the standpoint of Likudniks and their hired neo-cons, both Iraq and Afghanistan are fantastic successes. After they also convert Iran and Syria into miserable wastelands, what's next?

The intellectual superiority of Gaddafi over all other Islamic leaders is demonstrated once again by his brilliant manoeuvring to take Libya off the list of nations that the Likud and its neo-con instruments can sell as enemies of the United States.

Mubarak and Musharraf have also managed to keep US bombers out of their skies, but at the price of deeply compromising their own legitimacy in the Islamic world. Meanwhile Gaddafi has even increased his prestige within Islam and especially in Africa, and he isn't even on our radar!

Too true, sadly enough

Mentarch — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:54:37 -0600

Too true, sadly enough ...

It's as if we were living in a different Universe altogether ...

(sigh)