Restarting the Clock of History
A reader sends a link to the Wall Street Journal article Days of Rage which describes the rough ride of Joe Lieberman and John McCain.
Two events last Friday speak volumes about the direction of modern liberal politics, and it's not an encouraging trend, especially if you're a Democrat who wants to take back the White House. The first is that antiwar candidate Ned Lamont captured a third of the delegates at Connecticut's Democratic Party convention, thus winning the right to challenge Senator Joe Lieberman in an August primary. The second is the nasty treatment of Senator John McCain by faculty and students during his commencement address at the New School in New York. ...
Mr. McCain was invited to the New School by its president, former Democratic Senator and Congressional Medal of Honor winner Robert Kerrey. When Mr. Kerrey spoke, he was also heckled, with someone shouting, "You're a war criminal!" It'd be comforting to dismiss all this as mere Manhattan derangement, but these passions have become common in liberal media and Web precincts and are spilling into national politics. ...
Take Connecticut, where the left is targeting Mr. Lieberman for political extinction because of his pro-war views. Their vehicle is Mr. Lamont, a rich Greenwich businessman who decided to run after the Senator wrote an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal supporting U.S. policy in Iraq. Mr. Lamont ... needed 15% of the delegates to get a place on the primary ballot, but in the event rolled up 33%. That's a remarkable showing against a three-term incumbent who as recently as 2000 was on the party's national ticket and ran for President in 2004. "They are saying this war was a mistake and bring the troops home," Mr. Lamont declared. Mr. Lieberman will still be favored to win the primary, but angry-left activists around the country will now descend on the state and the fight may well turn vicious.
The treatment given Lieberman and McCain raises the question of whether it is possible to build a consensus policy on the war against terror. Is there any political figure willing to fight terrorism in a minimally effective way who will not be targeted and vilified by a substantial percentage of one of America's major political parties -- and perhaps by its press and "intelligentsia"? That is probably what Hillary Clinton is trying to figure out.
One unintended effect of the September 11 attacks is that it put a defining question to different modes of American political consciousness. Until then it was possible to treat many ideologies respectable since the 1960s as harmless forms of iconoclasm, posing "provocative" but fundamentally hypothetical views. But when attacks on the US homeland made it categorically necessary to answer the question: 'are you willing to fight our assailants', many sincere ideologues paused, shook their heads and said: 'No. In fact I am morally obligated to help our assailants'. When Noam Chomsky went out of his way to support Hezbollah it wasn't inexplicable, it was logical. His long articulated hypotheticals have simply become actuals.
The murky concept of sedition, with which freedom of speech must uneasily coexist, is founded on the notion of a threat. Radical Marxist thought derives protection from its status as a defeated mode of political action. The Cold War was fought against armed Marxism on every continent and clime for half a century. But when the Cold War was over, or in places where Radical Marxists did not actually take up arms they were allowed to keep their narratives and tolerated, as the Muslim Ottoman Empire once countenanced Jews and Christians for as long as they posed no threat. No physical threat. But although Marxism was defeated by the largely economic process of Globalization it flourished -- even dominated -- in the cultural institutions of the West at a time when Islamism was triumphing over secularism in the Middle East. From the Marxist perspective at least, the Cold War ended not in defeat, but in a negotiated armistice; with surrender on the economic front offset by a capitulation to it by the West on cultural matters. People might have to work in private companies, it's true, but all the accompanying baggage of traditional culture like religion, sexual mores, notions of objectivity, etc were forfeit; and that was more than compensation. That was the tacit 'deal' and the EU, UN and cultural institutions were going to carry it out. By slow degrees the Western world was going to be politically corrected, multiculturalized and transnationalized. "Imagine there's no countries/It isn't hard to do". And as the 1990s drew to a close it didn't seem all that far away.
September 10, 2001 was the last day on which which hypothetically incompatible modes of thought could coexist in a kind of "don't ask, don't tell" environment. When the planes smashing into the Twin Towers forced everyone to nail their colors to the mast Marxists no less than the conservatives indignantly found themselves facing an unanticipated rebellion. Liberal rage over Bush -- and maybe Lieberman and McCain -- for behaving "illegitimately" and "turning back the clock" is incomprehensible until one realizes that from a certain perspective it represents a double-cross. The West was supposed to die; slowly and comfortably but ineluctably. And we were supposed to buy off the Islamists until we could finish the job ourselves. Bush declaring his intention to fight for the survival of the West was just as logical as Chomsky's pilgrimage to Hezbollah and just as infuriating to his enemies.
Until September 11 it was possible for the more "enlightened" segments of society to regard patriotism, religion and similar sentiments with the kind of amused tolerance that one might reserve for simpletons. Nothing that a little institutionalization and spare change couldn't straighten out. The problem for the Democratic Party is that the Great Polite Silence is over. People like Chomsky and President Bush have stopped being hypothetical and become all too real. Bring it on.
BTW
Just Citizens says it received this email from Army spokesman John Boyce regarding the case of the "Ranger" featured on Socialist Alternatives:
“Initial research by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg shows no Soldier with the name of Jesse Macbeth having ever been assigned to the Special Forces or the Army Rangers -- which are, in fact, two separate disciplines. This appears to be some sort of hoax. No Soldier by that name at Fort Lewis to our knowledge, in the past, either. Of course, the line about "go into the Army or go to jail" is vintage TV script not heard since the 1960s. There are also numerous wear and appearance issues with the Soldier's uniform -- a mix of foreign uniforms with the sleeves rolled up like a Marine and a badly floppy tan beret worn like a pastry chef. Of course, the allegations of war crimes are vague, as are the awards the Soldier allegedly received.”
Like a pastry chef. What has Boyce got against pastry chefs?
139 Comments:
"Imagine there's no heaven. It isn't hard to do."
Not to nitpick, but you're conflating two different verses from John Lennon's "Imagine". The first verse is "Imagine there's no heaven/It's easy if you try." The second verse, which is probably the most apropos one in the context, is "Imagine there's no countries/It isn't hard to do."
Joshua,
Corrected as per your 2:14 PM
Oh jeeze, joshua, the point was clearly made and yes, you are nitpicking.
I read the reports about Mc Cain and Rice and came away with a slightly different impression.
My opinion is that the "intelligensia" such as it is is to be found in the American Academy.
It was the proffesors who lead the protests.
I've know a few of these guys and they are die hard communists. They really bought the whole marxist agenda and cannot get past it.
Plus they live and breathe in an echo chamber that supports thier particular point of view while working hard to stifle others.
But as usual, this posting by our gracious host is thought provoking.
We are in a struggle here. There are those of us who really believe that America is worth fighting for. There are those who don't.
but I believe that the vast majority of the anti war bigots really don't know a damned thing about the consequences of a failure to respond. These people wouldn't say that America isn't worth fighting for, its just that, well, the Islamists aren't sufficiently threatening.
Is this a defining moment for all of us? Must we chose sides? It seems so.
War is a very polarizing activity.
I think one of the difficulties in dealing with "the Left" is that it is hard to take them seriously - they don't act that way.
One of the local radio stations likes to play a segment where a leader at an antiwar rally says "We are against this war Mr. Bush. Shame on you!"
Shame on you? That is the best they can come up with? Americans are fighting and dieing - magnificantly - to not only "perserve the blessings of liberty" but to - incredibly - extend them to other lands and the response is "Shame on you"?
Senator McCain and the SecState speak about this at college graduations - and the best the opposition can come up with is to literallty turn their backs?
To put things in historical context:
Horatio is on the bridge - but an old lady wants him to move so she can vaccuum.
The Japanese attack force is picked up on radar inbound to Pearl Harbor - and the suggested approach is to have Air Traffic Control deny them clearance.
The Marines are raising the flag on Iwo Jima - but red, white, and blue is "out" this year on the fashion runways of Paris.
We have met the enemy and he is ridiculous.
Vincente-McCain's Optimistic Dream for the Future of the American (anglo) Worker
I guess the one guy might be Afro:
Works all the better!
I wonder if the tactic isn't exactly as rwe describes it. A sort of punctuated equilibrium wherein we suffer an attack, respond with force, get pulled back by the internal opposition to our use of force and the await the next attack.
No patient enemy has to sustain an attack against us, they just need to strike often enough to damage us and let the internal strife do the rest.
If OBL and the ruler junta in Iran can survive the Bush presidency, things might look a bit rosier for them in '09.
I just wonder.
The American Left has been remarkably successful in vaporizing the America of the 1950's. Can anyone old enough to remember imagine any of the three majors with a new "Firestone Theater"? The corroding effect has been spread across the planet and has had no small effect in scaring the mullahs into becoming jihadists. Do not underestimate their power to coerce and the limits to their ambition. Now I know the audience on this blog. We often ridicule and laugh at their audacity and outrage. I believe it is past that. The majority of Americans under 40 have no idea as the degree of the change and a majority of all ages simply does not see them as a threat. Their natural allies are within the idealistic young and they own academia. Their methodology has been the use of the courts. Our goal should be to ensure the election of conservative presidents. That will not happen if the immigration and amnesty bill is passed. The Democrats are lining up to walk the plank Port side. They never disappoint.
Yon:
Army pleads for more troops after Afghanistan firefight
MILITARY commanders have demanded an extra 600 British troops for Afghanistan after a series of suicide bombings and a firefight against hundreds of Taliban.
Officers have also warned that unless restrictions are relaxed on when soldiers can open fire the Taliban may inflict major losses.
2:44 PM 2164th,
Sang a Jackson Bros song to my wife, then stopped short when I recalled the Super Bowl Breast incident for the first time in a long time.
A wave of embarrassment for my country swept over me as I recalled the dumb-ass look on that dumb ass, having just done about the most graceless and stupid thing it was possible to do in front of the world's largest audience.
Including our families.
...I still recall also the outrage at the preachers after 9-11 that said maybe all that had something to do with it.
And Bush is raising money for Chaffee against a Conservative.
AGAIN!
Wretchard,
You perfectly articulated what happened to me on September 11th. My family hails from Europe, and I am an artist who has worked in Entertainment and Media most of my life.
Consequently, I have always had friends and family who were anti-American. To me this seemed natural and appropriate. I agreed that America needed chastisement for its myriad sins. I thought this would help bring about a better America on the ashes of the old racist, war-mongering America.
But, on 9/11, I realized that these people didn't want to philosophically destroy America, in order to bring about a better America. No, instead, they REALLY wanted to destroy America.
That was a real shock to me.
My wife is a first-generation immigrant, actually, from your part of the world. Her family grew up Christian on the island of Mindanao, and you know what that means. Suffice it to say, they had to leave, and luckily her mother had been born in Hawaii.
On 9/11, my wife said the following words to me,
"If they destroy America, people in the Phillipines, and other third-world nations, will have nothing to hope for."
That broke my heart.
We need to make sure America sticks around. Wasn't it Lincoln who said, America is the last, best hope of mankind.
This gives you what you asked for, dave h. That it is rather under utilized as well as misunderstood can be laid at but one man's doorstep...
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons. ..."
Senator Biden, who says he wrote the Resolution, has stated it is a Declaration of War.
He should be taken at his word.
S. J. RES. 23
JOINT RESOLUTION
September 14, 2001
"USE OF FORCE" RESOLUTION
The UNwar stops here.
After coming to an understanding of the President's Authority granted in Resolution 23 this piece becomes all the more interesting.
Mr Dan Darling writes in the Weekly Standard. He quotes from the famous 9-11 Commision report, connecting dots that put Iran well within the scope of Reolution 23.
Or so it could seem.
It is an interesting read,"Eyes Wide Open"
There are still open questions about Iran's relationship with al Qaeda.
A Stopped war may not be correct twice a day.
But it is ALWAYS politically correct.
McCain a Thoroughbred No Longer
John Kerry's Encore
Al Gore: The Comeback Kid - John Heilemann, New York Magazine
Bordering on Fraud, by Thomas Sowell
The immigration bill before Congress has some of the most serious consequences for the future of this country.
Yet it is not being discussed seriously by most politicians or most of the media. Instead, it is being discussed in a series of glib talking points that insult our intelligence.
The Radical Marxist narrative is straightforward. The West is guilty of enslaving the black man; starting both world wars; of impoverishing the Third World; of imperialism; of destroying the planet. What part of that is hard to understand?
Once these premises are accepted and they are unquestioningly accepted by many persons, then Chomsky's avowal of the enemy is simply the logical consequence. QED. September 11 is simply challenging those with these convictions to have the guts to act according to their convictions. The difficulty facing the Democrats is that these ideas actually inhabit a "legitimate" part of their ideological spectrum.
Of course it's possible that these ideas, promoted as they are by the worst death-cult in the history of the world, are actually wrong. But that's another story. But intellectually one sees the difficulty.
"But, on 9/11, I realized that these people didn't want to philosophically destroy America, in order to bring about a better America.
No, instead, they REALLY wanted to destroy America."
The GOOD thing about having Algore as a Google Director:
If a Chicom wanted to give money to GWB like they did Algore,
they wouldn't be able to find Bush on Google.
Vote Getter
(gop base)
"No, instead, he REALLY wanted to destroy America"
The way we know it.
One sick puppy.
Many attributions of the "Good Intentions" of the left are misplaced, to put it mildly.
Anyone who hung out among the New Left, which is now the mainstream left, KNOWS that to be true.
Ask Dave Horowitz.
McCain and 'the Constitution'
The Hoped For Future of the GOP
Unfortunately for Strickland, Blackwell is a black man who is outspoken in support of school choice and traditional family values--issues that speak powerfully to a large number of African American voters.
These issues, especially coming from a black candidate, will cause an unusual number to vote Republican and keep many Democrats at home.
The play of race in this election will transform a toss-up into almost certain victory for Blackwell.
BLACK OPINION
The African American community is not as homogeneous or as liberal as the voting record might suggest. Historical ties and the legacy of the Civil Rights battles in both Parties of course play a huge role, but black voters are relatively conservative on many issues, and becoming more so.
And a 13th Century Culture Forbids Amusement
Iran Shuts Down Newspaper Over Cartoon
The government today closed one of its biggest newspapers for publishing a cartoon that mocked Iran's Azeri minority and led to ethnic protests in several cities, including this one in Tabriz.
Voltimand,
"I see it as an irrationality devoted to its own demise just as surely as suicidal terrorists are devoted their own."
Civilizational suicide is rational given the premises of the radical left. Yet individual leftists may delude themselves into thinking they will not share the fate of the society they destroy. They will.
When Chomsky looks out at the Charles River and Memorial Drive his heart may say "surely this will survive". Or he might think "I'm an atheistic, leftist, pro-Muslim Jew"; they won't kill me. But the only part of that descriptor which matters as they lead him to the slaughterhouse is "Jew". What do you call "an atheistic, leftist, pro-Muslim Jew"? A Jew. And deep down, I think, he suspects that, before dismissing it. That's the only irrational part.
Very well said, MD.
I'm surprised they are still intelligent and well written, given the inanity of the vocal left.
The New Left Leaders of the 60's were often brilliant, and sometimes funny.
A far cry from today's M Moore Crowd.
---
High Fever - Burning Headache
The "you did not defend your position adequately" response is standard fare in DC when people have made up their mind to disagree with you anyway, no matter what you say. It is especially used when they later find out that you were right - and rather than taking the blame say it was all your fault, anyway, for not convincing the unconvinceable.
As for the fake Ranger - perhaps there is no legal basis for the US Govt to go after the guy - despite the fact that his statements rate higher than the latest Osama tape or Saddam diatribe relative to attacking the U.S. BUT isn't there a US Army Association or Ranger Association or Special Forces association that can take the guy to court, embarrass him publically, and leave him a permanent pauper, from legal bills if not actual damages?
I learned in DC that the 3 little words that make the word go around are "Make It Hurt."
"that's getting in the way of efficiently dealing with whatever (meager) threat to US security is posed by radical Islamism."
I largely agree with you, Wretchard, but I would add a major caveat. Just as the old continent of Laurentia is not quite the same as North America, old Marxism isn't quite the same as modern defeatism.
The result of September 11 was a shock to both the Left
and the Right. On the Left, you have the "paleo-Marxists"
who ferociously oppose al-Qa'eda because they exemplify the worst aspects of both feudalism and corporations (and al-Qa'eda is the worst kind of multinational corporation...), who remember how Karl Marx ardently supported the Union during the Civil War, and feel deeply and horribly betrayed by most of the Left (and feel angry at the Left in a way only apostates can). Likewise, a similar chasm has developed on the Right, where the neo-Isolationist (and often pro-Saudi and neo-Lindberghist) appeasers from the "American Conservative" and the "American Free Press" feel betrayed by President Bush's aggressive response to the September 11 attacks.
Now, even more fractures are deepening. Most conservatives feel betrayed that President Bush could even consider giving over our ports to the effective control of the Emir of Dubai. And immigration is likely to fragment the Right even further. Poor (and often rural) conservatives feel doubly under attack -- corporations want to replace them with foreign workers and leftists want to replace them with foreign voters. The immigration issue has cast President Bush as a weak president who is flatly unwilling to enforce existing immigration laws.
Right now, the Democrats would sweep into power if only they could just keep their mouths shut. The problem we face is that the Far Left (and some on the Far Right) seeks to replay the Spanish Civil War on American soil. It is often forgotten that the principal reason why the Right rose up in Spain had little to do with an inherent opposition to democracy. Instead, the triumph of the Left in the 1936 elections had transformed into a reign of terror against the Right. It is not for nothing that Noam Chomsky would look upon the anarchist terror in Republican Spain as a beacon of hope for humanity.
Sowell points out the pathetic:
---
"Putting unarmed national guardsmen on the border is another cosmetic move, a placebo instead of real medicine.
The excuse is that it is not possible to train more than 1,500 border patrol agents a year.
Meanwhile, we have trained well over 200,000 Iraqi security forces while guerilla warfare raged around them."
---
Cuts are made in Military Programs and at the Border and ICE remains pitifully small, while domestic spending veers further out of control.
It's an insult to be expected to take this as a serious effort.
Trying to argue with the left is like trying to reason with a blast furnace.
The left holds no values, hierarchies, conditions or experiences as sacred. You're black, female, grew up poor in a South of "Colored Only" signs, of klan-murdered schoolfriends - naturally the left would embrace you? Wrong. They turn their back on you.
Then you realize, for the left, it is not about the poor, the black, the oppressed female; the left is about power. That Condi Rice possesses power that those leftists students do not, was unbearable to them. They needed to maintain the purity of their self righteousness facing the real amalgam of Condi (with her very real power).
Speaking of re-starting stuff, Thanks Wretchard: The problem for the Democratic Party is that the Great Polite Silence is over. People like Chomsky and President Bush have stopped being hypothetical and become all too real. Bring it on.
This is the Scary Bit - our Progressive brethren are declaring, for purely political reasons, that THERE IS NO THREAT, so we should all take a chill pill.
Remember back in the 90's? There was no real threat, except for Al Qaeda's declarations and act of war against us, y'know, blown up embassies, torpedoed warships ... except for stuff like that, no war was going on.
Tony,
You forget the REAL threat:
GLOBAL WARMING!
A chill pill is just what
Dr Bubba orders.
(on advice of chief advisor on macroclimatological research,
the Weather Wizard hisself:
Algore!)
Imagine Jesus of Nazareth told the truth when He said, THREE TIMES, that the Holy One 'like unto the Son of Man' would come at the time that:
1)the Abomination of Desolation prophecy ran out, 1844;
2)the Gospel was taken out to every nation; 1844, and
3)the Times of the Gentiles was fulfilled, and the diaspora ended, with -say- the signing of the Edict of Toleration, March 21st, 1844.
Wouldn't it have been near-miraculous for Jesus to have gotten it right, 3 out of 3? But for that to happen, He would have had to MEAN what He SAID, and He would have been giving His life to bear witness to the truth of His words, which call every righteousness-loving human to the One Who came May 23, 1844.
He would have been authorized, by God, to start the Clock of History running on a New Era, radically different from the 7,000 recorded years of kingly rule and priests guarding the keys to reading, writing and math!
If Jesus WAS telling the truth, and the One Jesus promised DID come May 23, 1844, then our new clock marks today as the Year 163BE.
Hmmm....
I asked the question not solely because today marks the anniversary of that Holy and Blessed event, but because His Coming, the recognition (at 2hours 11minutes after sunset) of Who He was, Who He IS, marks the POINT at which the New World begins.
Many here think this is the same old same-old, in which case we are ruled by a king (who? hunh?), 97% of all people are illiterate, and the 3% who can read and write are mostly in the kingly caste of nobility, and the ecclesiastics of the world.
Oh. Reality today moves faster than the Speed of Horse, which USED to be the defining speed for news, invasion, escape?
Then I'm forced, BY reality, to accept that the world of today IS responding to different dynamics, IS composed of different dynamics than those which governed the previous 7,000 years prior to May 23, 1844.
The telegraph paved the way for telephone, radio, TV internet computers cable laser...
So those of us, Gentle Readers, who want to know the moral and social guidelines for THIS Day, applicable to NOW, are well-guided to the Teachings of the Glory of God!
Pertinent, relevant, no priests, personal responsibility to God, equality of men & women, one-ness of humankind, abolition of racism, freedom of speech...
These and more were given to humans, by God, starting May 23, 1844!
PAC run by Howard Dean's brother endorses Lamont:
Lieberman, a three-term senator who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, is facing his first primary since joining the Senate in 1988. He's been criticized by many in his party, including Lamont, for being a strong advocate of the Iraq war and a supporter of some Republican Party policies.
Lieberman and Howard Dean, who were opponents in the 2004 presidential primaries, have exchanged barbs about the war. In December, Lieberman said Democrats who don't support Bush's war policies risk undermining the president's credibility.
Lamont Endorsement
How many more "Jesse Macbeths" are out there?
Rewinding the tape. Wretchard brought up the possibility of state sponsored moles infiltrating the US in regards to CIA Leaker Mary McCarthy.
I initially dismissed it as being too far fetched. I am not so sure.
Jesse Macbeth is caught doing an impersonation of an US army Ranger and is exposed as a fake.
Now, some people over at Lgf note Jesse Macbeth changed his name from and Islamic name to an American name before going on his spear campaign against the US military.
Lgf poster Peter Verkooijen writes:
..."what it's worth, it appears that his name was changed, in 1986. To Jesse Adam Macbeth from...Jesse Adam Al-Zaid?!"
See: lgf post #80 by Peter Verkooijen
It would be nice to know more about Jesse Adam Al-Zaid a.k.a. Jessie Macbeth and his family and countries he has visited.
Now, I am beginning to wonder how many times this type of name change then "smear" the US military has occurred in D.C. ? If so, how far up in the chain to they go?
Could Wretchard be on to something?
And, why does this guy Jesse Adam Al-Zaid suddendly propagate this huge lie during exact time Iran is testing a new missile, plus the high level talks between the Administration and Israel (not mention Chomsky embracing Hizbullah, and the new OBL tape)?
Sure the confluence of events may be random. But, what if they are not random - but well planned? If so, are rich Islamic players pulling the strings behind these events?
Hopefully they are just random events - if not then we have something to worry about.
According to Newsweek, it is not Marxists that constitute a real worry to the New World Order, but Populists.
"...May 29, 2006 issue - A populist rebellion against globalization is going global. This self-destructive form of economic nationalism started along the Caracas-Moscow axis, as Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela trumpeted the classic populist promise: to steer wealth from the rich and the foreign to the poor and the homegrown. Increasingly, though, the same politics of fear is taking hold outside of troubled and newly flush oil states. What French President Dominique de Villepin calls "economic patriotism" has become acceptable from Tokyo to Washington. Multibillion-dollar campaigns to guarantee jobs or incomes for those left behind by national booms are now taking hold in the biggest markets of Asia. ...
...The strongest bond among the new populists is a will to resist the global threat to local jobs. While slow job growth has long haunted Europe, the region's recent burst of populist energy traces to the European Union enlargement in 2004, which brought 10 largely postcommunist countries into the European fold and raised the specter of Poles "taking" jobs from Rome to Rotterdam. The surprise is that now in Asia, too, the egalitarian impulse is replacing fast growth as the top priority.
The Asian Development Bank warned this month of a looming "jobs crisis" in Asia, with export machines like China no longer producing jobs as fast as they once did. As in the West, rising global competition is pushing manufacturers to adopt technologies that boost productivity but reduce demand for workers. Twenty years ago in China, manufacturing employment rose 1 percent with every 3 percent rise in GDP; now it takes an 8 percent rise in GDP to produce the same gain in jobs. "The whole paradigm we saw in East Asia's newly industrialized economies no longer works," says Ifzal Ali, chief economist at the Asian Development Bank in Manila. "This is a major challenge to countries across the region." ..."
When those local jobs are lost to imported foreign workers, eventually the locals will mobilize against the job losses.
Even in the US.
In any case the story, The movement is spreading beyond its Latin roots, as leaders from Paris to Beijing respond to rising public worries about jobs and inequality.
"over the last several decades "
If that were only true. While it is true that there has always been some cross border migrations, the levels of both the flow and the lack of a serious attempt to stem it, have all occurred in the past five years. That's been since 9/11, sorry that facts on the ground mar your little parody.
Fact of the matter, prior to 9/11 Mr Bush's major Fpreign Policy inititive was to negtitate a "new" border policy with Mexico in the desire to open the US to greater immigration. This Policy inititive was dropped from the Legislative agenda and then implemented regardless, illegally, presenting US with "assimilation" as the "only" practicle solution, now.
If I had wanted Democratic Policies, I'd have voted for Democrats. Education "reform", Campaign "reform" & now Border Policies.
If Mr Bush & company side with Mr Kennedy, Fiengold & Reid and not the Republicans in the House, may as well get folks that say what they mean, next election.
If JFKerry had been elected and behaved the way Mr Bush has, my expectations would have been fulfilled. The War on Terror would be unprosecuted, devolved into a Criminal chase & the US Borders would be open allowing unfettered migaration into the US.
For Mr Bush to behave in that manner, is & was, down right terrible.
Max Boot writes
Supporters of the war note that much of the violence in Iraq is confined to four of 18 provinces. True. But you can't ignore the continuing instability in the capital. Baghdad is much more important to Iraq than Washington is to the United States. With at least 6 million residents, it has a quarter of the country's population, and it is not only the political capital but the center of media, business and culture.
That's why anyone who cares about the future of Iraq should be alarmed by the postings of a pro-democracy Iraqi blogger named Alaa at messopotamian.blogspot.com. "The situation in Baghdad is deteriorating from day to day," he writes. "Very soon, if this situation continues like this, the city is going to be brought to a complete standstill and paralysis…. Whole sections of the city have virtually fallen to gangs and terrorists." ...
...The pacification of Tall Afar, a town of at least 150,000, required 3,800 American and 5,000 Iraqi soldiers. That's a ratio of one American per 40 civilians. In Baghdad, there are currently three American combat brigades, or about 8,600 troops. That's a ratio of one American per 698 civilians. No wonder the capital is so unsafe.
Even if you add in Iraqi security forces — about 9,000 Iraqi soldiers and 12,000 national police officers are deployed in Baghdad — there is still a woeful shortage of security. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of the uniformed Iraqis belong to political militias, criminal gangs or insurgent groups. Residents don't know whom to trust.
TO GAIN control of the situation, an American officer who has served in Baghdad suggested to me the need to deploy at least 35,000 U.S. troops (six brigade combat teams, plus support personnel), two Iraqi army divisions (20,000 men), and 30,000 competent Iraqi police officers. That would give you a total of 85,000 security personnel, or one per 71 inhabitants — still lower than the ratio in Tall Afar but much higher than it is today. ..."
Mr Boot says the US's primary concern is Force Protection, not the Security of Iraq.
He calls for more US troops & securing Baghdad.
To funny, now that Mr Maliki is in charge. We'll see how Mr al-Sadr's Mahdi Army fills out ISF uniforms, soon enough.
As that Sunni Parliment memeber said, after he and other Sunni walked out of the Parliment's session, due to the lack of a complete "Government" to vote upon.
"It's gonna get bloody"
From the Marxist perspective at least, the Cold War ended not in defeat, but in a negotiated armistice; with surrender on the economic front offset by a capitulation to it by the West on cultural matters. People might have to work in private companies, it's true, but all the accompanying baggage of traditional culture like religion, sexual mores, notions of objectivity, etc were forfeit; and that was more than compensation.
Not entirely fair. Whatever the faults of the old Marxist left, lack of belief in "objectivity" was not one of them. Indeed, Marxists were as deterministic as any End of History type nowadays.
What has changed the Left - and this has happened since the end of the 1960s turmoil - is its embrace of postmodernism and relativism. By abandoning any notion that the world and its cultures can be objectively described (except through the prism of reflexive anti-Americanism), it has opened the door to anything. Chesterton apparently never said it, but it's a good line anyway: those who believe in nothing will believe in anything.
It is this conquest of the Left by the Boas/Derrida crowd that has made their Faustian bargain with the jihad possible. What would Marx or Engels have thought of a Khomeini or a Bin Laden? They would've considered them relics of a bygone age soon to be subsumed by capitalism, not brave warriors against the American empire.
As noted by Newsweek
" Caracas-Moscow axis "
That Havana Summitt, October '06, could really turn into something "big".
Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador & Russia.
Perhaps a "few" of the 'Stan's thrown in as well.
They'll all be there,
all the usual suspects.
Regarding Jesse Macbeth, shouldn't he be judged by his peers, that is, other pretend veterans?
If comments on the war should only be made by veterans, shouldn't comments on pretend veterans only be made by those who have walked a mile in their shoes?
It's A Movement.
Marxist rhetoric combined with unfettered nuclear development and proliferation, aided & abetted by Moscow through proxies, as always.
What pleasent topics of discussion in the Palaces of the Havana beachfront.
There's a KGB Bear in the woodpile,
better believe it.
A pox of pate-a-choux on Jesse MacBeth for impersonating a pastry chef.
Bumpersticker one-upmanship San Francisco style: I'm ALREADY Against The Next War
Great post/Good comments today--thanks all.
wretchard,
This post of yours seems to be wrapped around a false dichotomy:
"When the planes smashing into the Twin Towers forced everyone to nail their colors to the mast "
It is awfully simplistic but also true of how the Bush administration has approached 911. Either you support everything he does or you are for the terrorists. This is absurd and it is a false dichotomy. It is perfectly rational to be against terrorism, against the flying of planes into big buildings, and wholly opposed to the Bush reactions to such an event - in particular invading and occupying Iraq. OIF is a counterproductive response to fighting terrorism and my saying that in no way makes me seditious or for terrorism.
"...Up to a point, we understand plunging fertility rates. Wattenberg reviews the usual suspects: improved incomes; health and life expectancies (as more children survive, parents have fewer babies); growing urbanization (families need fewer children to work the fields); women's access to education and jobs; contraception; later and fewer marriages; more divorces. But our understanding is only partial, because there's one big exception to low fertility rates: the United States.
American fertility is roughly at the replacement rate, 2.1 children per woman. Nor does the U.S. rate merely reflect, as some think, a higher rate among Hispanic Americans. The fertility rate is 1.9 for non-Hispanic whites and about 2 for African-Americans, reports demographer Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute. What explains the American exception? Eberstadt cites three differences with Europe and most other advanced countries: greater optimism, greater patriotism and stronger religious values. There's some supporting evidence. A survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago asked respondents in 33 countries to react to this statement: ``I would rather be a citizen of (my country) than of any other.'' Among Americans, 75 percent ``strongly'' agreed; among Germans, the French and Spanish, comparable responses were 21 percent, 34 percent and 21 percent, respectively. ..."
The Impact of Collapsing Birthrates courtesy of RealClearPolitics
Sam,
A concerted effort is called for, to enlist Joe Lieberman to the other side, where he's welcome. It's doubtful the Repubs have a candidate that could defeat Joe or Lamont in the coming elections.
Senator Joe would be wonderful addition to the Republican slate, and woo many "moderate voters" to our cause and camp.
Ledger,
I believe that should read: something more to worry about...
No Ash,
Just obviously misinformed.
Just heard on Fox News Channel that the fake Ranger's video was the second most visited site on the entire internet.
Now, tell me that liar did not do some damage!
I have written the Air Force Association and told them I think they should establish a coordinated policy with the equivalent USN, USA, and USMC organizations and sue that guy - and preferably those who aired his interview as well - into a permanent pauper status.
whit
i am in gahanna,
how can we send you an email?
9:02 AM Whit:
Their latest plan is to fill up that new super duper Jumbo Airbus with Pregnant Muslim Women, Land for a short time at night in the desert out by Area 51, induce labor/childbirth to produce a superplaneload of AMERICAN CITIZENS, then take off again for training in Warizistan...
At that time the stage will be set for the FINAL ASSAULT on Western Civilization as we know it, when the
United States is defeated by U.S. Citizens!
Occupation:
I could drive up to Kahana and you could e-mail me:
Gahanna to Kahana would be cool.
This storyline could well send cheers through the ranks. But then again, without doubt, it will definately draw a line in the sand. There will be not doubt if Mr Gonzalez takes on the criminals, straight up. No not on the Border, but in NY City.
:...On Sunday, during the ABC news program, "This Week," Attorney General Gonzales was asked if the federal government might prosecute journalists who published classified information.
"There are some statutes on the books," he answered, "which . . . would seem to indicate that this is a possibility." He went on to suggest that such prosecutions were implicitly authorized by the Congress when it passed the statutes. "We have an obligation to enforce those laws," he said. "We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected." ..."
The New Criterion
or this piece in the Boston Globe
Be careful what you wish for.
It oft times turns out differently than first expected.
Sorry, I took my frustration out with inane humor to avoid tears or broken monitors while I listened to JPod on Hewitt for as long as I could stand it:
All labels and emotions, all the time, forget about addressing FACTS.
If GWB and the Senate succeed in giving away the country, and we complained about it trying to stop them, and if Hillary is then elected, it will be ALL OUR FAULT. (us being the evil nativists, populist nutter exclusionists, and etc)
Wonder why he can't accept Edwin Meese's Simple Straightforward Outline in the NY Times describing how our NEW IMPROVED NON-AMNESTY is in fact virtually identical to the AMNESTY that he and Reagan tried in 1986?
( but did not try to say it was NOT an amnesty)
From that try, they, and some of us learned that if you don't insist on solving the present problems of illegal entry/employment first, and instead give away citizenship first, the problem once again will balloon further out of control.
---
---
But our "Conservative" "Allies" insist on crying disaster and resorting to name-calling instead of addressing the facts and trying to do something about a REAL Solution.
The Prime Minister of Iraq said
"... After meeting with Denmark's prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, al-Maliki issued a statement saying: "Our forces are capable of taking over the security in all Iraqi provinces within a year and a half." ...
... It was the latest of several deadlines discussed recently regarding Iraq's plans to take over more of the security of the country from the U.S.-led coalition.
From the AP Wire via ABC News.
18 mmonths from now would be...
... November 2007 add another year for unscheduled delays ...
2008
The Brits say "four" years
The clock is ticking, regardless.
Dan,
Hewitt said Reuters and ABC are reporting HASTERT now under investigation re:
Abrahmoff!
---
Habu,
Dry Heaves here, this hurler is outta gas.
All is not lost, 'Rat, in 18 months we'll have plans for electronic trip wires, drones, and etc so some other than Mexicans will get a free planeride home, and more Mexicans can be caught and released.
"Good Faith Effort"
we'll call it, to match the "man of faith" in the W.H.
That could put Mr Shadegg it good position to be Speaker.
As long as the Republicans can hold the House.
Dan, see my 2:33 PM:
Maybe we could work it out through dancing?
That was aristide's perscription for Eygpt, give it over to the Mohammedans, so in a generation or two, there could be "real reform".
Perhaps that will be his perscription for US, as well.
Dash of Democrats in the Governmental mix.
Teach US all a lesson.
The defend at any costers always Start from the position that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for Bush and the Senate to get honest, start to do their jobs as they pledged they would, and enjoy landslide victories in 06 and 08.
Why?
They don't want to.
Why?
We won't get into that.
In this corner we have the Nativists, and in that corner are the Defend at any Costers.
Labels fight to the death, no holds barred!
New York gala was a yawn for Mukhtaran Mai:
Feted by the famous and honoured by Time magazine, Pakistan’s rape victim turned human rights activist Mukhtaran Mai is unimpressed by all that has come her way in the recent months. Mai was unimpressed by the celebrities that gathered recently in New York at a gala dinner hosted by Time magazine, the Daily Times said quoting the New Yorker.
Mai was included by Time among the world’s 100 most influential people. The dinner was attended, among others, by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ralph Nader, Lauren Bush, Martha Stewart, actor Will Smith, columnist Arianna Huffington, actress Jennifer Lopez and Senator John McCain.
New York Gala
"ISLAMABAD • Pakistan’s literacy rate slightly fell to 52 per cent during the second quarter (October-December) period of the current fiscal as against 52.4 per cent recorded in the previous quarter (July-September) of the same year.
Even if we got Moby Dick translated, half the people could not even read it.
At Least We Aren't Hypocrits
Charles Martel
Readers' editor right to publish apology, external review finds:
The Guardian readers' editor, Ian Mayes, was right to publish an apology and correction relating to a G2 interview with Professor Noam Chomsky, according to an independent outside review.
The Chomsky interview was written by Emma Brockes and published in G2 last October. It suggested that Chomsky had cast doubt on atrocities committed at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war by placing the word massacre in quotation marks. In his correction, Mayes said there was no evidence to support this claim and gave an unreserved apology to Prof Chomsky.
Mayes also acknowledged that the headline accompanying the interview - which was not written by Brockes - had compounded the injury to Prof Chomsky.
Published Apology
danmyers wrote:
""Either you support everything he does or you are for the terrorists." This, he will argue is fact."
ummm, no, that is the false dichotomy at the heart of wretchards post and you are correct; it is false and a silly statement.
Larry Johnson et al At Work
---
" I didn't see the Colon."
That would be Ash?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Hillary Clinton pushes for reinstatement of national 55 mph limit:
The announcement comes as a surprise, despite rising gas prices and increased pressure from environmentalists, as it is unlikely to prove popular with voters.Naturally, that's not the only automotive issue on her mind... among other four-wheeled initiatives, Clinton reported that she is pushing for 50 percent of America's gas stations to offer ethanol by 2015, with 100 percent by 2025.
Sammy Hagar was unavailable for comment.
Hillary Clinton
Cedarford, thank you for reminding us of the disparity between the American experience and that of people in Europe, Russia, China, Japan, and the Middle East. We in the U.S. have enjoyed an astonishing run of luck for so long that it’s hard for even those who’ve read some history to comprehend the gulf. The last serious bloodletting on American soil — I mean, one comparable to what the rest of the world has experienced repeatedly — was our war between the states, “The War of Northern Aggression” as some term it still. That war ended one hundred and fifty years ago. As horrific as the battle experiences were for American forces in the 20th Century wars, the civilians at home were at a far remove from the carnage.
The only significant bit of American population that has known the experience of having to step around corpses in the streets to get to the market, or church, or school, is the immigrant population.
I sometimes wonder if that may after all make them a lot more ready to defend AMERICAN culture than are the gutless pukes of the Left.
Rumsfeld/Pace Town Hall
Malkin on MacBeth
I don’t mean to dismiss as trivial the anguish and wreck of 9-11; But much of the loss is the cost we paid for meticulous and exhaustive labors to search, to clean up, to investigate, to understand, to argue, to rebuild and recover. Repetitions of such acts yield diminishing chaos of the sort our enemies desire as we learn to cope with events. Look at Israel; their society continues to function despite the disruptions of suicide murderers in ton lots.
The development of the jacketed military round was only tangentially compassionate. Among civilized armies, wounded soldiers are customarily defended, rescued, and evacuated. So a round that leaves a soldier incapacitated instead of dead absorbs the energies of ten trained personnel for each wounded soldier — field medics, stretcher bearers, ambulance drivers, medivac chopper crews, and all the attendant medical staff at field hospitals.
It has seemed to me for years that titanic forces are steering our paths toward a mess that will render the bleatings of Leftists and Marxist idiots conspicuously irrelevant. I curse them, but on reflection, I really don’t think they have the power or wit to MAKE history. They’re like the flies that madden cattle in the sweltering Serengti. The greatest danger they pose is the disease they spread. Otherwise, they have only the ability to make their hosts miserable.
sam,
You left out the most important element of Hillary's
Energy Initiative for the 21st Century: (aka restatement of ideas from the previous, non-terminal "energy crisis")
Decals on the Gas Pumps to remind motorists to check tire pressure!
fiddler,
That no lives were lost in the cleanup of the towers is one of the towering achievements of our culture imo.
But as you say, immensely expensive.
---
In WWII there would have been a tradeoff of lives for cost and speed.
(plus some things were just not possible with the equipment available)
11:10 PM, Trish
As schoolkids, we sent care packages to Japan also.
But there was that
"Unconditional Surrender" thingy beforehand!
(I wonder why they were so much more co-operative?)
11:10 PM
Wretch mentioned hunches a while back.
On the morn of 9-11, I had a hunch.
Dammit!
11:44 PM -
Truman, otoh, traded their lives for speed and the lives of our soldiers.
Being from Missourri, and not being Milo, he considered "them"
the "enemy."
Show me State, huh?
We're waay past objectifying "enemies" now, thank goodness.
It's soo dehumanizing.
Hezbollah against integration into Lebanon's Army:
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah ruled out the widely popular option of integrating his armed group into the Lebanese army. His statement on this matter was viewed as a positioning strategy ahead of the June 8 national dialogue meeting on disarming all the militia in Lebanon.
A pro-Syrian Palestinian militant group which retains bases in Lebanon demanded the same rights as Hezbollah for its own fighters and rejected a decision by the Lebanese politicians during the national dialogue talks to limit carrying weapons to inside the camps only.
On May 25, 2000, Israel completed the withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon. The unilateral move spelled the end of 22-year occupation by Israel. Hezbollah was credit with liberating the south.
Hezbollah Against Integration
Arrest of Illegals Falls off Clinton Pace
By Stephen Dinan
Washington Times,
The U.S. Border Patrol increased at a faster rate and apprehended more illegal aliens per year under President Clinton than under President Bush, according to statistics from a new, unpublished congressional research briefing report.
" The rest of this page intentionally left blank."
We should start a Belmont/Macbeth 5th column watch list.
For those that give off that floppy pastry chef vibe.
Folks claiming to have served, etc.
'Rat, Trish, Habu, 2164th, and etc.
You know who you are:
So do we!
The advantage to being in a group is that at least one of you can sense who the deviants are and keep everyone away from them.
"... there are also daily warnings that there is something terribly wrong with a system predicated on a cynical violation of the law. ...
...Today, almost a third of all foreign-born persons in the United States are here illegally, making up 3 to 4 percent of the American population. It is estimated that the U.S. is home to 11 or 12 million illegal aliens, whose constantly refreshed numbers ensure there is always a perpetual class of unassimilated recent illegal arrivals. Indeed almost one-tenth of Mexico's population currently lives here illegally!
But the real problem is that we, the hosts, are also different from our predecessors. Today we ask too little of too many of our immigrants. We apparently don't care whether they come legally or learn English - or how they fare when they're not at work. Nor do we ask all of them to accept the brutal bargain of an American melting pot that rapidly absorbs the culture of an immigrant in exchange for the benefits of citizenship.
Instead, we are happy enough that most labor vans of hardworking helots stay on the road in the early-morning hours, out of sight and out of mind. Sometimes, though, they tragically do not.
By VDH, who used to be sooo smart, but now, is oh so out of touch... in the
Brave New World of Immigration.
By Thomas Sowell
Of all the insults to our intelligence in the current discussions of immigration legislation, the biggest insult is the claim that border control legislation and legislation on the illegal immigrants already in the country must go together.
Why? What will happen if they are done separately? And who will be worse off?
The claim that the two pieces of legislation must be passed at the same time has been repeated endlessly. But endless repetition is not a coherent argument. ...
...Let's return to the question of what would happen if border control legislation were to be voted on separately from amnesty legislation, instead of in the current package deal.
First of all, we would find out who is serious about border control, especially if the question of amnesty (by whatever name) is postponed for some definite period of time, in order to first see what happens at the border before taking that irrevocable step.
Who would lose anything by this separate consideration of the two pieces of legislation? The country would not lose anything. Neither would the illegal aliens already in the country.
The biggest losers would be politicians. They could no longer be on both sides of the issue by voting for a package deal but would have to stand up and be counted on border control.
Some say that the Democrats would filibuster a bill that offered border control separately. Fine. Let them!
Let them show their true colors in an election year and then go face the voters in the fall.
Of course, those Republicans who are either weak-kneed or who share the Democrats' views would also lose the political cover of being able to vote on both sides of the immigration issue. ...
...As for not being able to pass immigration legislation separately, that claim has already been refuted by those who made it. The Senate has just passed a bill allowing illegal aliens to collect Social Security, even if they were hired with forged or stolen Social Security cards. ..."
Thomas Sowell, another American racist?
Yep, hysterical exclusionist, nutter nativist, namby pamby NIMBY, silver-spooned academic elitist, classist neanderthal, and etc.
---
"The biggest losers would be politicians.
They could no longer be on both sides of the issue by voting for a package deal but would have to stand up and be counted on border control."
---
Probably raised on the campus of Stanford by rich professor-parents.
Macker in Black.
"Zealots may chant ÁSi, se puede! all they want.
And the libertarian right may dress up the need for cheap labor as a desire to remain globally competitive.
But neither can disguise a cynicism about illegal immigration, one that serves to prop up a venal Mexican government, undercut the wages of our own poor and create a new apartheid of millions of aliens in our shadows.
We have the entered a new world of immigration without precedent. This current crisis is unlike the great waves of 19th-century immigration that brought thousands of Irish, Eastern Europeans and Asians to the United States.
Most immigrants in the past came legally. Few could return easily across an ocean to home. Arrivals from, say, Ireland or China could not embrace the myth that our borders had crossed them rather than vice versa."
G.W.B. (Psst... your response to C4 has been recorded and posted at BrainSurgeryWithSpoons!)
I like your style, GWB!
"...As many Republicans see it, President Bush is trying to ram a Democratic amnesty bill down their throats - a bill that would amount to political suicide for them.
House Republicans are dead-set against legalization, convinced that backing Bush's plan would so infuriate conservatives that they'd sit out the election and let Democrats win control of Congress.
The Senate can't pass the bill alone, so as long as the House holds firm, any compromise bill won't include legalization. Bush aides have pleaded to Congress to show he's still relevant by passing the bill - but they're not finding agreement.
Bush guru Karl Rove got an earful when he tried to persuade House Republicans yesterday - 19 of the 20 who spoke out said no way to legalization and some voiced resentment at White House pressure.
"It was a very cool reception. No matter what the president and the Senate call it, people see it as amnesty," said House Homeland Security chairman Peter King (R-L.I.)
"There was some concern about the White House laying out a false choice between amnesty and mass deportation. Nobody is calling for mass deportations - and the White House should know that." ...
... But what's been less noticed is that in the Senate, a huge majority of the Republicans up for re-election this fall - and some Democrats in Republican states - also oppose legalization. In a test vote on legalization this week, only 18 of the 55 Republican senators voted in favor.
Of the 15 Republicans up for re-election, only four supported legalization. ...""
from the NY Post
Create strawman arguements and defame your opponents, name calling and the like.
No wonder the small donations are drying up for the Republicans.
I've read alot about RINOs here, lately.
George W. Bush
he certainly qualifies.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Randi said...
"Jesse MacBeth is the pinnacle of leftist argument, like Dan Rather's forged papers. The same impostered approach pervades academia, journalism, and career civil service.
There be many Jesse MacBeth's running around. Several of them are trolls posting on this thread. They could take their nonsense to Kos, but then it would be drowned out in all the other idiocy."
I kindly dissent. The force of your argument should outweigh your credentials. I prefer dialog to dogma and an articulate dissent based on reason rather than a rant based on time in grade.
6:38 AM
But the Republicans are not alone in Leadership having wandered astray from their flock. The Democrats have got their own "problem child"
"...Pelosi move triggers revolt
By Josephine Hearn
Furious black lawmakers, rallying behind Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), were pulled back from the brink of open revolt against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an emergency meeting with her yesterday.
The meeting with a handful of CBC members was called after Pelosi wrote the embattled lawmaker, who is at the center of a massive bribery scandal, a curt note requesting his immediate resignation from the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Outraged that one of its members was being picked on even though he has not been charged with a crime, ..."
From the Hill.
There is also a story
DOJ: Hastert is not under investigation
By Susan Crabtree
2164th: MacBeth was shown, in less than 30 hours, to be inaccurate in his claims of military service; a lying poseur, incapable of having been where he said he'd been, incapable of having done what he said he'd done, and showing myriad signs that he was NEVER connected to or associated with or serving as or fighting alongside United States Rangers!
MacBess had chances (still does) to post ANY documentation to counter the considered analyses of the left/right blogosphere in its considered conclusion that he is a lying poseur!
His REFUSAL and INABILITY to post such do NOT 'prove' him a liar, but the mass of contrary details posted during widespread, concurrent and consecutive Fiskings of his bilge, DO support the assertion that he has cranio-neuronal damage crippling his ability to deal with the world in a truthful, forthright manner, for WHATEVER reason.
2164,
You are right, or those Generals that derided Mr Rumsfeld, why we'd all have to admit that, with all their legitimate Military experience, they were right.
Not based upon their arguments, but upon their "past", their experience and knowledge. That their "military pedigree" trumps Mr Rumsfeld's civilian appointment by the President. Mere politician that he is, Mr Rumsfeld could never match the accumulated wisdom of the dissenting Generals.
Could he?
karridine
This MacBeth fella, I did not have to "see" the video to know he was a fraud. There are many frauds in life, con men that always "move on".
He made no arguments, only wild and baseless charges. Those concerned pointed those out, as well as MacBeth's personal short falls, early on in the episode.
It appears he broke no laws.
It is of much greater concern that Mr Gonzalez may soon bring an indictment of the NYTimes.
That is real news, worthy of discussion, as it will change how the debate has been waged, in Washington.
For decades past the "leak" has been use against Republicans and Democrats, alike. The future will be unlike the past, if the Times is called to Court.
Not perhaps for the worse, but an extension of the Federal reach, for sure. To use a Law that has sat idle of almost fifty years, now...
It'll be interesting to watch.
Duke, Dusty and now Mr Jefferson.
Anyone know his nickname?
DR, I thought you were arguing a few days back that the selective application of laws is the tool of tyrants? Are you now reversing yourself and suggesting that the Feds dust off a law for use against the NYTimes? If so, how about applying that law against all the publications whom propagated the Plame leak, or any other strategically placed leak by the Bush admin? A lot of publications will be dragged into this net if the law is to be equally applied.
The "Treason of the Clerics" that has divided the elites from the interests of the communities of Western Civilization is a real but recent phenomenom that has accelerated over the last 40 years. See Halberstam's Best and the Brightest.
No ash, I am not "advocating" for that, merely commenting upon it's happening.
The "leak" system has developed over many years, decades. The entire information system in the US is based on offical releases and offical & unoffical leaks.
Based on that old but active Signals Intelligence Law, the NY Times seems to have acted illegally.
Just like on the Border, Laws long ignored can come to life, or not.
It may begin as "selective" enforcement, but enforcement can grow. If Guest workers need an ID card, wil not Citizens, as well. Otherwise the "Guest" could claim to be a Citizen, when asked.
There would only be one way to know.
Your papers, Please!
The comparison of the Plame affair to the NSA revelations is like apple and oranges.
No active intelligence was revealed in Ms Plame's case. The Prosecutor has made that clear.
Misstatements to the Grand Jury, not leaking Intelligence, is Scooters suppossed malfeasence.
The same cannot be said of the NYTimes and the NSA story.
DR, true the Plame case now is just a perjury case but as you know there are many leaks coming out of Washington from both parties and pursuing publications for reporting the stories invites selective application of laws or a draconian attempt at silencing a free press.
On a (sort of) related note, there is the interesting case of the Congressman getting his office searched and the now brewing battle of various co-equal arms of the government raiding and searching other branches. Will we someday see the POTUS getting his office searched in a legal investigation?
The card will contain a "biometric" code, perhaps your medical history as well.
All to be entered in a data base, that will be lost or stolen from the Federals later.
Like the names and #'s of the Veterans or the Nuclear secrets that left Los Alamos.
All you'd need is a House subpoena and a willing Federal Judge to sign a search order.
According to Mr Gonzalez.
Two branches trump one.
Then the House Committees could have found those Rose Law firm billing records, sooner.
Brian Ross and the Exploding (rocket fueled) GM Truck.
8:03 AM The Democrat from Louisiana refused to turn over the requested docs when approached in a more polite manner.
That would be William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana.
LIBERAL HOUSE REPUBLICANS COMING AROUND ON IMMIGRATION.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Chris Shays:
(NOW) No path to Citizenship!!!
(18 Community Meetings did the trick)
hmmm, with Dems in control of a new House maybe we'll see a willing judge ready to sign a warrant to search Mr. Bush stuff for evidence of perjury over Niger cake or some such Malefeasance...
If GOP is listening to the people, there WILL NOT be a democrat house, ash.
Eat your yellow cake with plutonium relish.
True enough, doug.
But the Executive often refuses to turn over requested docs, to the Congress.
A House subpoena and a Federal Judge. Decisive action. At the door of the White House.
Rome redux.
The precendent has been set. After 200 years, Mr Gonzalez has gone where no Government has gone before.
What is "conservative" about that?
Mr Jefferson could have been indicted, convicted, stripped of office, based on what I've heard & seen, to date.
Mr Jefferson has yet to even be indicted.
Unless Mr Hastert and his crew are just spoiling for a fight, with Mr Bush, there is a real issue there.
I predict William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, will be indicted.
As to precedent, I am no Scholar.
(Except 1st gen Jets and 60's Detroit Iron)
Mr Gonzalez has been "less than aggressive" prosecuting Clintonista Traitors.
Condi is an Egghead of the first order.
A Pianist for Secretary of State.
LONG, very learned answers to simple questions.
An Anti Truman to be sure.
As the clock tick tocks are we seeing the Republicans that must stand for reelection running from Mr Bush and his positions?
Mr DeLay was not known as the "Hammer" for his pleasent ways.
Soon doug, we'll be told Mr Bush was "really" for Border Enforcement, all along. It's all been a feint, Rovish counter intutitive intelligence strikes, again.
Chants of "Misunderstimated Agin" will ring out from the White House as the border fence goes up, the Democrats go down and the Republicans sail on to '08 with a slim majority.
It could happen.
A Master Bluff by the Poker Player.
Miss Underestimated.
Brian Ross, ABC News, nee NBC Exploding GM SUV.
William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, refused a subpoena for 8 MONTHS!
...special team visited office, designed NOT to take legislative material:
Just Criminal Evidence.
"We Americans, as always, promise to be magnanimous in victory"
---
But we do all have our bad days.
ABC News may be busted for Slander.
After World War II a lot of folks, particularly in the sheltered U.S. were mesmerized into thinking the world was transformed into some miraculous modernity. Well, how can you blame us? I feel like an idiot just listing all the things that we take for granted that are unknown to most of the world, and were unknown to people still living.
We beneficiaries of the industrialized West have been immersed in an artificial world for four generations — the great grand-children of the generation that survived World War II are now approaching maturity.
We still have real difficulty accepting that the miracles we know have not changed anything fundamental about how humans behave and think, even among those who live with them. We can learn to drive a car, pilot a supersonic single-engine fighter jet, or space shuttle, but our reflexes are still referenced to the speeds and timescales of walking. We can learn to design integrated microcircuitry smaller than we can see, but our vision is still limited to a single octave of the electromagnetic spectrum. We can contemplate and speculate on cosmic distances and events, but only as symbolic reductions of things we cannot directly comprehend without going mad.
We are profoundly prefigured in our instincts and tendencies by millions of years of socializing as mammals in packs, families, and tribes.
Sometimes I think blogging and the internet, along with a lot of praying, provide some hope of advancing.
On the other hand, when I really get depressed about the three-ring cesspool of DC, I recall how back at the end of the 19th century in Paris — City of Light and High Culture — the aristocracy and rich bastards from around the world flocked to be entertained by the wildly popular performances of Le Petomaine, who farted melodies to orchestral accompaniment.
On reflection, if our current crop of cultural leaders could do that it would be a material improvement.
10:48 AM,
Atmospherics Ain't Everything.
SHANKLIN SUPERNEWS
doug,
Seems that the White House is backing off from your highly trained team's search.
Mr Bush has ordered the FBI to "Seal" those documents taken from Mr Jefferson's Dongressional office and place them in the control of the Solicitor General.
The clock ticks on.
Is that still Ted Olsen?
Maybe the Senators will be declared above the law too?
What might they do (to us) THEN?
"...May 24, 2006 - As controversial CIA Director Porter Goss exits the agency, NEWSWEEK has discovered new details about a purge of top agency operatives shortly after Goss's arrival in 2004. A bitter secret feud over a Clinton-era counterintelligence case was apparently a major motivation behind the loss of those seasoned intelligence veterans, sources say. Gen. Michael Hayden, President Bush's nominee to replace Goss as CIA chief, has signaled that when he is confirmed by the Senate, probably later this week, he intends to appoint one of the principal victims of the feud, former CIA operations chief Stephen Kappes, as deputy CIA director—a move that is regarded inside the intelligence world as a final insult to Goss and his inner circle. ..."
This story is in or MSNBC.
All about Belgrade...
The Clintonistas win, doug.
If Newsweak can be believed.
Ain't life with Republicans Grand?
or just an old party?
<--- a href="http://www.google.com/"> TYPE IN "LINK" "or creative LINK TITLE" HERE <--- /a --->
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Copy url from address bar, put between QOTATION MARKS were http://www.google.com/ IS NOW,
TAKE OUT THE 9 --- Spaces, paste into comment, press Preview, and it will tell you what mistake you made.
Save one in notepad so you can just copy and paste it.
I'll try and find google help article, but someone else will beat me.
Send Goss To Iran!
Round up all those Vets with those SS Numbers, Force Sheriff Joe to Imprison them in Tents in their Pinko Panties!
My SS Number and 214 were encrypted!
Nyah, Nyah!
SUCKERS!
(So were all TANG numbers:
In-State Courtesy)
BLOGGER HELP
http://help.blogger.com/
Habu:
In the meantime, just paste complete url from the ADDRESS BAR.
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We have to suffer the indignity of copying it from your comment into OUR address bars.
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"complete url" = everything in the address bar.
1:07 PM You're sick, Bobal!
I'm re-thinking that Yukon trip!
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Plus, I'm telling your daughter about what you're going to do to save her world.
GWB Epithet:
Weakness is PROVOCATIVE
Note to habu_1,
The sites listed give some information about embedding html hyperlinks in your comments. The code is not accepted in all blogs, though.
(Each of the following URLs is preceded by “http://”)
help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=880&topic=17
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Good Luck!
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