A dope at Huffington Post made a comment about how it's important to have neocons in politics because they balance things out... as "proof," the person mentioned that they've kept "parasites" off the national dole...
Your "parasites" reference is a not-so-veiled allusion to the welfare state. Not sure where you're coming from, but you should rethink that concept because it's pretty clear by most objective metrics that the top 1% (http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2006prel.pdf, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-bernstein/its-our-turn-now_b_102345.html) and the most wildly profitable corporations (oil industry?) are making more money than ever - and have gotten an unholy amount of welfare in the form of federal tax breaks, subsidies, and helpful deregulation. They unduly influence national policy, and in doing so, heavily influence household expenditures.
They are, therefore, far more logically called "parasites" on the state than the 'other' people you're trying to refer to. None of the giveaways to the richest was initiated by "liberals."
Balanced views need no extremists as you imply. All you need is honest, logical assessments of problems and prospective solutions. People screaming illogical or dishonest ideas on one side or the other do not help at all... unless you're an idiot reporter for an idiot "news" show, in which case it's fodder for good ratings.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Republicans Taunt Obama As Spineless Over FISA Reversal
Somebody at HuffPo commented in support of Obama's willingness to throw the baby out with the bathwater on FISA changes.
You're right - but you're missing the point that some people are trying to make. If the pigs on fux and the other neocon talking heads are going to rip you up and down no matter what you do - then STICK to your GUNS, maintain your DIGNITY, and DO WHAT'S RIGHT!
It is wrong to allow the telecoms to get immunity and let these crimes go uninvestigated. He gave up on his principles in order to look "tough on terror" (I've called hillary guilty of this triangulation, too)... and he still got slammed!
I don't know about your or Obama, but I've found it very easy to do the right thing while in elected office and get slammed by repug idiots. There's something reassuring about doing the right thing that makes their stupidity irrelevant. Conversely, caving in for political expediency AND getting clubbed by neocon swine must feel really, really crappy.
I hope he learns from this and gets back to the basics. NO MORE triangulation, Obama!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Serenity Lost: Obama And The Netroots
His immunity sell-out is an example of triangulation. It's something that has made me sick of people like the clintons. If he won't stand up for justice and the Constitution at this time in history, he's going to have a helluva time raising money this Summer and Fall. There's still time for him to turn around his position without looking bad.
But if he proves to be too clinton-esque in attacking our nation's problems over the next 4 years, the 2012 primary could take him the same path as Carter.... which would be sad, because I think Carter's hindsight lesson is to have been stronger during his term in dealing with injustices - for example, he could have stopped stroking the shah of Iran.
Going out of your way to avoid rocking the boat doesn't guarantee you a smooth, capsize-free ride. Obama should heed history's lessons or be doomed to repeat them.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
The Surge Is Working? Not If You Read the Latest GAO Report
About Iraq War
Mitchell, it quickly becomes a never-ending goal post-shuffling act of futility when the administration's scumbag talking heads get their pie-hole open. Now the "winning" mark is preventing Iran from having more influence than we have.
But the bottom line is that Iraq is NOT our country. It belongs to the Iraqis. If they choose friends that we don't particularly like, tough. When Iran's democratically elected ruler wasn't cooperative with the shadow entities orbiting our government in the 50's, we deposed them and installed the Shah. The Shah was the force that united Iranians against their government and the US. You reap what you sow - as the saying goes. At some point you should learn that meddling backfires, and backfires bad. It's time to back off.
In looking at our recent and past conduct in the world, it's wrong to allege that we are trying to be the "police" of the world - we're now the hypocritical, overbearing, controlling, abusive "parents" of the world. No small feat for someone who 8 years ago decried "nation-building." Probably not ironically, I picture Babs bush as exactly that sort of parent... but I digress...
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Monday, June 23, 2008
Bill Kristol is Not Stupid, So Why Does He Pretend to Be?
About Bill Kristol
Turd-bag extraordinaire, Bill Kristol vented his vile spleen about an ad that was run featuring a new mother and her infant son. The mom told John Mccain that he wasn't allowed to have him to serve in his endless Iraq war.
Well, I agree with your criticism of the ad - though I certainly don't see how that lends any credibility to kristol's stupid spin. The ad was probably very effective on people who are going to vote for Obama, but missed the mark with everyone else... and the "everyone else" group is the one we need to be shooting for, right?
When you try to win hearts/minds with ambiguous symbolism, you open yourself up to superficial criticism. They'd have done MUCH better to speak directly to the draft issue and this unjust war. "I'm keeping my eye on you guys who lied us into war that killed so many of our children. Too many moms and dads had their kids stolen based on lies. We aren't going to let this happen again."
THAT would have been a helluva lot more cogent and require a lot more creativity on kristol's part to defame.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Turd-bag extraordinaire, Bill Kristol vented his vile spleen about an ad that was run featuring a new mother and her infant son. The mom told John Mccain that he wasn't allowed to have him to serve in his endless Iraq war.
Well, I agree with your criticism of the ad - though I certainly don't see how that lends any credibility to kristol's stupid spin. The ad was probably very effective on people who are going to vote for Obama, but missed the mark with everyone else... and the "everyone else" group is the one we need to be shooting for, right?
When you try to win hearts/minds with ambiguous symbolism, you open yourself up to superficial criticism. They'd have done MUCH better to speak directly to the draft issue and this unjust war. "I'm keeping my eye on you guys who lied us into war that killed so many of our children. Too many moms and dads had their kids stolen based on lies. We aren't going to let this happen again."
THAT would have been a helluva lot more cogent and require a lot more creativity on kristol's part to defame.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Infrastructure: Boring Word, Hot Topic
About Barack Obama
Read my lips - no new roads.
Rebuild broken bridges, resurface existing roads, build new mass transit lines, fix schools, etc. But no new roads. New roads have been encouraging unsustainable suburban sprawl jungles for 50 years - it's time to stop throwing money down that hole. New roads to "relieve congestion" are NOT fixing failing infrastructure. What they are is a maintenance burden for the tax-payers to deal with for darn near forever. In the short term, it serves as covert corporate welfare for builders who could just as easily be putting their money into revitalizing housing stock in cities. Purely and totally a lose-lose for society. The only ones who win short term are the builders - who could still win by focusing on brown-field development instead of killing farms.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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