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How Can America Win Back the World?
(photo by DiAnne Grieser)
The latest Utne Reader poses the title question: How Can America Win Back the World?
Author Hannah Lobel describes a recent scenario where President Bush proposed humanitarian relief in Darfur but it appeared to be too late for us to help much. She asks whether we have squandered our power and, if you will, political capital under this Administration. I will cut short the litany of things that have gone wrong in the last six-plus years, from Katrina to Guantanamo. We all know them too well. We also know that our position in the eyes of the world has gone down, that much goodwill toward our country has been squandered.
She then describes what must be done, and comments that this administration can not be counted on to do it, nor might they be able to if they had the political will.
Her positive program includes the following:
1. Re-engage the international community.
2. Take the lead on climate change.
3. Drop the pursuit of a more advanced nuclear arsenal.
4. Ensure that government can provide basic services.
5. Rejoin the International Criminal Court.
6. Bring back habeas corpus.
7. Commit to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
8. Stop torturing people.
Can you add to the list? Do you agree with the list? How much can be done with this Administration still in the White House? Assuming someone else takes over, how do we start?
Here are some recent books that relate to the subject:
Power and Superpower: Global Leadership and Exceptionalism in the 21st Century by Morton Halperin, Center for American Progress, Century Foundation.
Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy, Houghton-Mifflin, 2007.
Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World by Dennis Ross, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.
These authors refer to our country as needing to overcome our strange breed of isolationism coupled with interventionism. This would entail a shift in priorities. Murphy suggests we need to be more aware of the rest of the world, particularly as we are all connected by the reality of infectious diseases, climate change and dangers posed by failed states. We need to acknowledge reality.
As Dennis Ross points out in his book, pandemics brewing in chicken coops in Asia can land on our runways. Gasses from our SUVs can dry up Africa's arable land.
Hannal Lobel presents some hope in the Utne Reader article. She speaks of the MySpace generation, and cites examples of college students on a number of campuses who are engaging in activism and bypassing Washington. They are grouping to wage economic pressure on regimes like Sudan and China. Youth networks like Americans for Informed Democracy are holding videoconferences to improve US-Islamic relations.
She also cites a study by the Pew Research Center (January 2007) in which 62% of 18-25 year olds say the country needs to start listening to its allies and compromise when needed, compared with only 52% of their elders.
So can we just ride things out? Do we really have to? Do we have a choice?
The Center for American Progress has put together Power and Superpower, a guide to realigning ourselves with the international order.
The American Security Project has been launched, with Gary Hart at the helm, and is a bipartisan plan to foster dialogue about our real security needs.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is devising a "smart power" strategy, to balance hard military power and soft diplomatic and economic power. They are mandated to draft a set of foreign policy recommendations for our next President's transition team. They are tapping individuals such as Sandra Day O'Connor and retired General Anthony Zinni, and sending people on "listening tours," to tap the public for ideas.
We have many pressing issues at all levels, but we can visualize the overall focus that we need, to guide us in changing direction and emphasis toward promotion of peace and justice.
Two things I can add to that list:
Impeach Bush and Cheney.
Make them stand trial for war crimes here or at the Hague.
Discovered this video "Republicans for Impeachment" at youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtYZo7vRkHA&NR=1
How can America win back the world?
The answer is, at this tme we can not do so.
The only thing we can do is leave them alone. They know we preemptively invade people, torture them, carpet bomb them.
Anyone else see the recent international polls saying most believe we are less trustworthy than Iran or North Korea....?
Hard not to get that message.
The only way I see of us winning back the hearts and minds of the world, is to impeach georgie and put him and his freak show on trial for WAR CRIMES.
How will this help repair the damage...? It works in several ways.
For 1, it shows we not only understand what has happened, but we are willing to actually take responsibility for it.
2) It will show the world an unprecedented era, when common people riase up and hold their leaders accountable not just for serious crimes but WAR ITSELF.
3) Since it would be unprecedented, people will again marvel not only at the stunning cleverness of OUR Founding Fathers, but the mechanics of a system that allows those commoners to raise up and seek accountability. Let us remind them why we once were the envy of every slave and king.
4) It would dispell the fear of US that has been created by the misuse of our military.
5) Maybe, just maybe, if we lay EVERYTHING on the table, and show the rest of the world how fooled we can be, and how honest we can be about it, they might, just maybe, forgive our children of our elders sins.
And 6)The unprecedented transparency of a modern war crimes trial, will not only expand our own laws so this may never happen again, but it may very well become a template to others living under the bootheels of butchers, and maybe, just maybe, it would change the entire world.
The suicidal evolution of mankind has brought us to these days. The ony way to save ourselves is by not allowing others to die. To stop those who would kill so many, for no reason at all.
We must evolve, and soon, or the entire earth will lay in ashes before the end of this century.
Maybe even before the end of our own lifetimes.
I don't think the world will ever forgive us. And since even in 04, due to media propaganda, our country was still supporting war, torture, and other things, they will have difficulty believing that it wasn't the people as opposed to the administration.
And also, the saddest thing is that in 9-11-2001 the world was completely with us. That was the best opportunity to have world peace. Instead, I suspect that if a 9-11 were to happen today, the world would probably cheer.
We are now the big bad guys, period!
They will forgive us.
If we ask it of them in good faith.
We can offer up a war criminal as proof of our penance.
It is the only way they would believe it.
Do you realize under the new Executive Orders, all of us could be jailed with assests siezed just for the conversation we are having now ?
Whatever happens, I was proud to stand with patriots, and no one wil ever be able to take that away from me.
I will die free because of it. Even if I am in chains.
Do you realize under the new Executive Orders, all of us could be jailed with assests siezed just for the conversation we are having now ?
Posted by: Christy at July 22, 2007 11:18 AM
Yes. Each time I've protested this week, I have explained that new executive order to anyone who speaks to me.
If they demand proof, I simply point them directly to the executive order itself. (I have a copy printed with me. Seriously...I need eight hands for all the things I carry!)
But, Christy, we are fighting a fascist regime, just like those in WWII fought fascism to save lives, I must do the same. Imagine how many more would be dead and how many more countries would have died to fascism had the revolutionaries not kept up the battle.
If you're in Florida (or not) you may want to help this effort:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/21/19591/0228
Gangsta’s Paradise
Coolio
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I take a look at my life and realize nothings left.
Cause Ive been blasting and laughing so long that even.
My mama thinks my minds gone but I aint never crossed
A man that didnt deserve it.
Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of
You better watch how youre talking and where youre walking
Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk
I really hate the trip but I gotta loc
As they croak I see myself in the pistol smoke
Fool! Im the kinda g that little homies wanna be like
On my knees in the night
Saying prayers in the street light..
Been spending most of our lives living in the gangstas paradise
Keep spending most of our lives living in the gangstas paradise
Look at the situation, they got me facing
I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the streelife.
So I gotta be down with the hood team
Too much television watching got me chasing dreams
Im a educated fool with money on my mind
Got my tin in my hand and a gleam in my eye
Im a loc'd out gangsta straight trippin banger
And my homies is down so dont arouse my anger
Fool! death aint nothing but a heartbeat away
Im living life, do or die what can I say
Im twenty-three now, but will I live to see twenty-four?
The way things are going I dont know
Tell me why are we so blind to see
That the ones we hurt are you and me
Been spending most of our lives living in the gangstas paradise
Keep spending most of our lives living in the gangstas paradise
Power in the money , money in the power
Minute after minute, hour after hour
Everybodys running but half of them aint looking
Whats going on in the kitchen but dont know whats cookin
They say I gotta learn but nobodys here to teach me
If they can't understand it, how can they reach me?
I guess they cant , I guess they wont , I guess they front
Thats why I know my life is outta luck fool !
Been spending most of our lives living in the gangstas paradise
Been spending most of our lives living in the gangstas paradise
Tell me why are we so blind to see
That the ones we hurt are you and me
Oh look, a democrat with another STRONGLY WORDED LETTER.
At least they are noe writing about the proper subject. That only took seven horrible f*cking years of death and war crimes.
Feingold to introduce censure resolutions against Bush.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) announced today that he will “introduce two censure resolutions condemning the President, Vice President and other administration officials for misconduct relating to the war in Iraq and for their repeated assaults on the rule of law.” In March 2006, Feingold introduced a censure resolution against Bush over the NSA wiretapping program. In a statement released today, Feingold said:
At my town hall meetings, online, and everywhere I go, I hear the American people demanding that the President and his administration be held accountable for their misconduct, both with regard to the disastrous war in Iraq and their flagrant abuse of the rule of law. Censure is a relatively modest response, but one that puts Congress on record condemning their actions, both for the American people today and for future generations.
Read the full statement.
UPDATE: Feingold discusses his censure resolution on Meet the Press. Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/22/feingold-to-introduce-censure-resolutions-against-bush/#comments
The book referenced above on Statesmancraft is on sale half-price at a local bookstore which is being forced out by Barnes and Noble. No worries. B&N owns both bookstores. Anyway, I might buy it.
I read an interview with the author, who talks about where we go next. If we impeach the cronies and more jump ship, their legacy will remain for awhile. After eight years, there will not a negotiating mindset in place, as that's not how they have been doing business.
He doesn't feel we can use the threat of force in situations where we might need a stick, as we've overburdened our forces in the wrong places. He doesn't feel that our foreign policy has been reality based. Example: our policy makers thought that going into Iraq would scare Iran into submission. Wrong. As he points out, they thought everything would "fall into place, not fall apart."
What does he recommend for the next president? That he or she strike a different posture and tone from day one. Make it clear that we need others and cannot survive alone nor do we want to. The new president will "inherit" Iraq so will have to demonstrate that a new approach is being taken, that a new mindset is in place.
I agree that the people of the world would respect the people of this country more if we would stand up to this, and we also need to wake more people up not only to what has gone on in this country but to the rest of the world. We need to neither ignore them nor interfere with them, but work together cooperatively.
I like the original version too, by Stevie Wonder.
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been wasting most their time
Glorifying days long gone behind
They've been wasting most their days
In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise
Tell me who of them will come to be
How many of them are you and me
Dissipation
Race Relations
Consolation
Segregation
Dispensation
Isolation
Exploitation
Mutilation
Mutations
Miscreation
Confirmation...to the evils of the world
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been looking in their minds
For the day that sorrows gone from time
They keep telling of the day
When the Savior of love will come to stay
Tell me who of them will come to be
How many of them are you and me
Proclamation
of Race Relations
Consolation
Integretion
Verification
of Revelations
Acclamation
World Salvation
Vibrations
Stimulation
Confirmation...to the peace of the world
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
We've been spending too much of our lives
Living in a pastime paradise
Let's start living our lives
Living for the future paradise
Praise to our lives
Living for the future paradise
Shame to anyones lives
Living in the pastime paradise
Look at the update on that post.
Responding to the censure resolutions on CBS’s Face the Nation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the Senate should keep its focus on other priorities
WHAT OTHER G*DDAMNED PRIORITIES HARRY?
He is so full of it he is starting to STINK REAL BAD.
OK, take a deep breath & enjoy a laugh or two, at the expense of the "brilliant" right-wingers...
Check out this thread...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1399687
We are sitting here reading in hard copy from the Seattle TImes/PI (they combine on Sundays) an article about why Bush/Cheney probably won't be impeached. The logic is that to attempt to do so seriously would unify the Republicans and that they're more beatable if they are split. That's an argument in addition to the one about nothing else getting done if attention focusses on impeachment. These aren't my arguments. I'm just reporting.
We need to know the arguments in order to make moves. Good article also on Cindy Sheehan's latest work.
Impeachment or ?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003800489_impeach22.html
Cindy Sheehan
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=impeachtown22&date=20070722&query=sheehan
What's holding up legislation this year anyway is the Republicans' filibusters and threats, not Democrats with impeachment in mind.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003800474_filibuster22.html
madame defarge
moran the morans at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/22/4291/04659
great video! Has really been getting around. Yay!
Posted by: not my president at July 22, 2007 01:20 PM
The only countries worth boycotting are the Republicans' own favorite puppet states and buddies.
As in, Saudi Arabia instead of France.
As in, Nicaragua instead of Mexico.
But, Christy, we are fighting a fascist regime, just like those in WWII fought fascism to save lives, I must do the same. Imagine how many more would be dead and how many more countries would have died to fascism had the revolutionaries not kept up the battle.
Posted by: sparrow at July 22, 2007 11:23 AM
I was fighting fascism in the 1980s in one of America's puppet states, too.
Wait, that'd be a lie. I was too young to fight - and my father was too much of a fascist beneficiary to fight either. But I still knew that the fascism was utterly unpopular among everyone, and that behind the fascists' backs, everyone fought them.
What I do know for sure, is that the fascism I've seen in the 1980s is very much like the fascism I see in today's USA. Even the key players (Moon, Yoo, etc.) are the same.
Posted by: sparrow at July 22, 2007 11:01 AM
Sadly, I agree with this view.
So many Americans hold belief systems so out of line with the rest of the world's, that we simply no longer have any credibility, period.
At least the world forgave us when Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but still lost. But when W had a 3 million vote advantage over Kerry, we lost all excuses.
I no longer identify as an American when I travel abroad.
Ally
I don't know how to boycott a whole country. I would like to support independent Nicaraguan businesses if I went there again. It's even poorer than Mexico. I need to look at my label and if it says "Made in Nicaragua" was it sweatshop-made? Is a corporate pig getting rich off their label and my purchase?
As for Saudi Arabia, when I gas up, how can I tell where the petroleum is from? When I worked for Shell Oil, there were barter-like exchanges between companies constantly. I can not support policies that I don't agree with. I don't have a mortgage right now which could be partially held by some Saudi Arabian fat cat who is a friend of the Bush family.
I do support the moderate women I just read about in Turkey who want to avoid wearing the veil and sliding under Sharia law. When I was in Istanbul I was careful to try to support small independent businesses and avoid the Russian mafia, although they probably owned my hotel, as they engineered us to go to their fur and leather fashion show, which had all Russian models. Turks in the market told me that Russian mafia had come in droves, as the war we started in Iraq had chased them across the Iraqi border, just as the newly porous borders have allowed insurgents to pour into Iraq from outside.
I am so tied up in boycotts that everything is a conscious decision but would appreciate any suggestions about how to do it judiciiously without boycotting whole countries.
Now if I had a company and was making decisions about labor, the conscious thing to do would be to look for the least exploitative way to hire workers, yet I would have to consider the bottom line. Let's hope I wouldn't be like the greedy people in the quote TSP posted last thread.
Speaking of Koreans, did you hear about those held by the Taliban?
I don't identify as an American when travelling unless it comes up and it seems safe. Then I make it clear that I don't agree with what is going on re. certain policy decisions. I am even careful what I say here, for reasons that you all are discussing right now. I have a friend who is moving to Canada who fears travel will be much more restricted in the future and even now, the drop of the dollar makes it almost cost-prohibitive to go many places, unless one is wealthy.
Juan Williams v William Kristol
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/22/11181/5658
Priceless!
Ally
Did you see the video with the Young Republicans?
Moon owns the hotel the convention was held in.
The link is above.
Why is a member of the U.S. House on the Homeland Security Committee, DeFazio, D-Ore., being denied access to enter a secure "bubbleroom" in the Capitol to examine classified material???
Read this diary...
Another 'False Flag' Red Flag
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/22/11236/6340
The Case for Not Waiting Out This Presidency
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/opedne_jim_free_070721_the_case_for_not_wai.htm
NMP
Re: Young Republicans - it'll be too disgusting for me to ever watch, but I am aware that it was Moon's hotel.
Re: Boycotts - point well taken. My rule is: do the average people of a given country/society support, on a wide range, policies that are detrimental to my well-being? In case of Poland, it's 90% yes, so I have no qualms about boycotting anything related to Poland. And in many Islamic countries, sharia is being brought in by POPULAR DEMAND - that's enough for me.
BBC has kept me well informed of the South Koreans in Afghanistan. Two things must be pointed out: (1) W failed in Afghanistan because of his Iraqi misadventure/diversion, and (2) the Koreans better be more careful about following our neocons' orders.
Seen on a city bus in Los Angeles today:
"Democrat Buys Red."
I couldn't observe the bus well enough to see the details or decipher it, other than that it was a Dell ad - without doubt, a hardcore Republican company with lots of Democratic business.
Perhaps Apple should consider running a "Republican Buys Blue" ad - since W and Rush both use Macs.
Ally
I would boycott products from a company that originated in a bad country, but I would not limit my travel unless they were really bad.
Like I might have agreed with those musicians and actors who refused to perform in South Africa during apartheid days. & I have heard of those who won't go to America right now.
I'm more concerned about having my travel restricted by economics or political problems. I feel I have the right to go anywhere and when I was a kid my dream was to go to Russia, since I heard so much scare talk about the Soviet Union. I wanted to see if the people there were regular humans like me. Twice I was prepared to go and my plans were thwarted.
Now I really want to go to Cuba and John Kerry was going to allow people to go. He thought that would spread more idea of democracy than prohibiting people. That got slammed. The way to go now is via Canada, I guess, or through a special program. I had a friend who promoted a musical exchange there, with Bonnie Raitt and some others.
I doubt the Polish people specifically support products and policies that oppose us. If so, are they being brainwashed? I have to think alot about the boycotts. They have to be more targeted than that for me.
Then there is the reverse - what do we support? I feel pretty good about supporting Costco, for example, and put alot of research into that decision.
I have a friend who is moving to Canada who fears travel will be much more restricted in the future and even now, the drop of the dollar makes it almost cost-prohibitive to go many places, unless one is wealthy.
Posted by: not my president at July 22, 2007 02:26 PM
Travel is already becoming more restricted. For example, a passport did not become a universal requirement until about a century ago.
And pretty soon, the only way to fly will be naked with no carry-ons. That's the only way to ensure that no bombs or other threats will be aboard the aircraft.
The European Union, despite all its faults, is one happy exception to the rule, since its member states have taken down internal borders, and flashing a passport at the border is no longer required. (You do need at least a National ID card for immediate police inspection anytime, though, but we're coming close to that ourselves, without the corresponding freedom of movement.)
When is your Florida friend actually moving to BC? That move has been in the plans for a LONG time, I must admit. Just curious.
Posted by: not my president at July 22, 2007 08:26 PM
For me, Poland's widespread support of homophobia, and brutal suppression of any and all Pride events, is enough grounds to stay out.
Polls say that 90% of Poles support the government's ultra-homophobic stance.
Poland has been warned repeatedly by EU regarding its human rights violations, but it's not budging.
I'll admit that this is a problem widespread throughout much of Eastern European/Slavic nations, not just specific to Poland. Russia and Ukraine are pretty worrisome places for me too.
On the other hand, there are plenty of places with great people, despite questionable official government policies. China is a great example, and I still have fond memories of climbing the Great Wall and strolling the Forbidden City.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at July 22, 2007 08:23 PM
Actually, there is a "Republican Buys Blue" ad for Dell. I saw it yesterday on the way into the city. It's a picture of -- you guessed it -- an old white business man with a scowl on his face. Pretty much how I picture republic party politicians...
NMP,
More replies to your posts...
Re: Cuba - I would like to go as well, if it helps Cubans understand their world better, and help make their country better. JK has a good point. Careful engagement is better than shutting out.
I have a feeling that the hardline stance of the Republican Party and its Cuban-American supporters has actually strengthened Castro's hand. And Cuba is not alone - hardline policies against Iran resulted in moderate Khatami being replaced by lunatic Ahmadinejad, for example.
But speaking of Iran, that's one nation I am staying out of, for personal safety reasons as well. I have no intention of visiting nations that want to stone/behead me on sight. And that's why I am breaking ranks with CodePink as it plans a peace mission to Iran.
What do WE support? Always a good question. I do wish more of our nation's companies acted like Costco.
Posted by: madame defarge at July 22, 2007 08:46 PM
I'll look out for it. Thanks!
The "Democrat" in the ad looked a lot like the Republican in the ad you described... white corporate-looking old male.
Ally
My friend is now a Landed Immigrant in Canada and has bought property in BC but they are finishing up some work in Florida and trying to sell some property there. So they are still not up there as much as they want to be and have not yet truly moved. They have some complicated arrangement where it'll be a little of a hassle for them for a few years financially and legally and then they'll be in! They'll also be dual citizens. Yes it has been in the works for awhile - it has not been easy as they did not score alot of points for vocation, education, language and so on, so had to pretty much guarantee they wouldn't be a drain on the system. Canada has tough requirements too though I got something in the mail that said they are relaxing requirements for that visa for computer programmers and the like, to draw in people that we are currently restricting outside of a limited quota.
There is still a part of me that wants to go to Iran. I know women who go there for cheap plastic surgery but they are Iranian-American. That's really ironic! When they lived there though, they never wore the veil and they could wear blue jeans etc. They don't like the way it is there but they still have some cultural connections.
I kind of am getting to feel that way about America, which is sad. I feel connected to things in our background like, say, the music of Louis Armstrong.
I just saw "La Vie en Rose," about Edith Piaf. I was in the bathroom and someone said, "People liked her music because it was a distraction from the wars they were in" (in France) and then someone else said, "Just like this movie is a distraction for us form the war we're in".
On the way home, I saw a giant P E A C E sign above a building called the Good Shepherd Center so I had to rush home for my camera. When I got there, I heard some strange but familiar music. I followed it to a bandstand and there I saw a bunch of mismatched people wearing all sorts of different Seargant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band type uniforms and they were playing the music of John Phillip Sousa!
As I returned to my car, I saw a guy I'd been wondering about that we call "The Old Communist." There he was with his crewcut, very high water pants and his City Lights bookbag, as always. He has a very distinctive walk. I think he is a Trotskyite, not a Maoist. He's been around for years.
Strange day.
NMP,
Thanks for the update on your friend. Good for them!
Would love to see the PEACE sign on your blog soon. And all the band members too.
Earlier today, I was driving through Koreatown (the BIG one in downtown LA, not the numerous small ones I live in) on my way from downtown LA to the Grove shopping mall, and was thinking of you as I passed a building labeled "Kwan Yin Temple." I'm pretty sure though, that the inhabitants probably don't want to hear anything about Kwan Yin being formerly male...
984,786
=
Estimated number of Iraqis killed since we invaded.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
May God Forgive Us.
Almost 1 million dead.
FOR NOTHING.
My God.
Ally
This is amazing:
The "Universal Gateway" chapter in the Lotus Sutra lists thirty-two typical forms in which Kuan Yin may appear. For instance, if a boy or girl is about to gain some enlightenment, Kuan Yin transforms herself into a boy or a girl to teach the child. If a monk is about to attain some enlightenment, Kuan Yin transforms herself into a monk. In short, she can appear as a monk, a nun, a king, a minister, a celestial being, or a normal person like you and me. The purpose of such transformations is to make people feel close to her and willing to listen to her words. (source available upon request)
A damning piece to the WaPo. VERY damning.
Remembering the Downing Street Minutes
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24992
If you need a quick answer for those who dare you to lay out a case against georgie, start with three little words.
Downing. Street. Memos.
Just received this "Geezer poll" via email, but with no answer. I suppose we are supposed to guess.
Just announced the latest total cost of the IRAQ WAR................
YOUR CHOICE -
1] $359 Billion
2] $ 475 Billion
3] $567 Billion
4] $799 Billion
And your guess is? ----------------------------------------------
What do they mean by "total cost" - for defense? offense? reconstruction? contractors? military only?
I know the famous $87 billion was for less than a year. That was maybe 5 years ago. I would tend to go with one of the higher figures just based on that.
Christy
It would be hard to find an American paper with a center bias, let alone a left bias. Then there is the goal of a paper that reports the facts and tells the truth. That's even harder to find.
"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."
-Mark Twain
I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson
That is not about biased newspapers.
It clearly lays out how the WaPo in particular helped a war criminal preemptively invade a country and covered up for him.
It shows the naked duplicity of their lies and them fully engaged in dismissing HIGH TREASON.
A PATTERN of behavior.
There is something different about the Downing Memos and I am certain they still scare the total crap outta georgie and the blair witch project.
It is a fraud that only evil people could engage i. And unlike all of the missing pieces we have in other evidence, the Downing Memos are REAL and get to the very heart of the matter.
They can not be denied.
I found the way they suppressed the Downng Memos very interesting.
No denial, no chance of it, so instead they simply state 'There is nothing new to report in them' the papers say the same thing, but HOW did he get them to NOT report OBVIOUS TREASON...?
The Downing Memos are the single most damning piece of evidence there is against them, and ALL OF THEM are implicated by it.
I think it is high time we start bringing it up again.
Christy
So it wasn't here that I read about some Homeland Security official being refused a look at some classified information at the White House?
Let's see.
Are you sure you even want to look at this "False Flag" diary? (if you haven't) - I had to open it up and close it back up quick or I'd go hide under the bed and be unable to sleep and I have to work at a camp tomorrow. Obviously, I'm not a happy camper.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/22/11236/6340
I mean, that's vague and speculative, but it creeped me out. Funny alot of this stuff hasn't ended up in the paper shredder, like in the Nixon administration.
I guess nowdays you just use a different email server and delete alot of it.
Consider this hypothetical:
A Democratic president is forced to take action after terrorists attack New York and Washington. It's clear that the terrorists' sponsors are based in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But within 18 months, this Democrat decides to invade a country that had nothing to do with the attack. In the next four years, he spends half a trillion dollars, sucking America deeper into a quagmire, stretching the military to the breaking point - while in Pakistan, the culprits remain free. Indeed, U.S. intelligence officials warn that the evildoer group in Pakistan has "regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability."
Imagine it's the eve of a national election. Any question how the GOP would respond?
They'd run TV ads mocking the Democrats as the party that has made America weaker. Their talking heads on Fox News would lament about how the Democrats are wrecking our proud military, can't be trusted to run a war, can't even choose the right war to fight. They'd crank out podcasts about how the party of George McGovern is wasting our precious blood and treasure while our true enemies plot to kill our kids in their suburban beds.
In short, the Republicans would craft a visceral message that aims for the gut and engages the emotions. Over the last 40 years, that has been the GOP's metier.
These days, however, the Republicans are stuck in neutral, because it's their own guy who has fought the wrong war and emboldened our enemies. Which gives the Democrats a rare opportunity to lash out at GOP national security failures, to aim for the gut and engage the emotions.
But that is not what Democrats do.
They are cerebral by nature. They dislike emotional appeals. They fear that if they get too pugnacious, some voters might get mad.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070722_The_American_Debate___Democrats_rare_chance_to_go_for_gut.html
Really interesting analysis.
Guesses are coming in via group email for the "Geezer quiz" of how much has been spent on the Iraq war. Alot of the contestants work at the VA.
Do you realize under the new Executive Orders, all of us could be jailed with assests siezed just for the conversation we are having now ?
Posted by: Christy at July 22, 2007 11:18 AM
And in other democratic countries also, Christy. In Australia, we have a man - Dr Haneef - who is languishing in jail right now because he gave his mobile phone with his simcard to a 2nd cousin in England. He gave it, rather than waste the credit still on it.
AND the Australian Federal Police got it wrong. They said that it was discovered in a burnt out car that drove into the Glasgow airport terminal in Scotland. This was simply untrue. It was discovered in Liverpool England when they questioned a young guy.
AND our MSM has been having a field day claiming, 80,000 documents were siezed from Dr Haneef's computer showing a more fanatical view of buildings than is usual in tourist photos. There was another fictional account of fantasy, but the headlines are so appallingly stupid and damaging I can't be bothered reading them.
All I can say to you is - don't give your mobile phone away - simcard intact! Now our laws are apparently going to change to ensure that every simcard is registered! Hey Big Brother! I cannot believe the stupidity and hysteria of our leaders - and our next leaders, waiting in the wings to take over. It surely is destructive.
AND even though Dr Haneef has done nothing wrong and was the registrar of the Gold Cost Hospital in Queensland, his visa is revoked and as soon as he is acquitted or convicted by the courts he is to be deported! He still has not seen his baby daughter or his wife since this began.
AND during the police interrogation, they pointed to names in his diary that are the names of terror suspects in the UK. No, the handwriting was not Dr Haneef's, but that of the police. It's a sick, sick world.
The rest of the world will forgive America, sparrow, but first some of us have to forgive our own gullibility and hysteria. I didn't trust the AFP before this. Now that I know for certain they are so desperate to get a *guilty* person, they'll frame him, I need to forgive us first of all.
We know that Bush is illiterate - those photos are beautiful mme d! Pretty much all Republicans are also! Rich and illiterate. A pretty deadly mix that is.
I don't normally repost email action alerts, but this one seemed to dovetail perfectly with the prevailing mood of the DCP these days, so here 'tis:
----------
Call Congress Today for Impeachment
We've reached the impeachment moment for Vice President Dick Cheney. We've pushed the cosponsor list for H. Res. 333 up to 14. Chairman John Conyers says that if we get 3 more he'll begin the impeachment proceedings.
And many Congress Members must be recognizing that there is no other path available. Cheney and Bush have repeatedly refused to comply with subpoenas, ordered former staffers not to comply, and announced that the Justice Department will not enforce contempt citations from Congress. When a special prosecutor attempted to hold this administration accountable, Cheney's chief of staff obstructed justice, and Cheney persuaded Bush to commute his sentence. There is no course left for Congress but Impeachment.
On Monday, July 23rd, the fifth anniversary of the meeting that produced the Downing Street Minutes, Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Ann Wright, Debra Sweet, Dave Lindorff, David Swanson, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, Kevin Zeese, and Tina Richards will lead a march to Chairman Conyers office and not leave until he agrees to begin impeachment proceedings.
If you cannot be there, you can take two minutes on Monday and do two things: phone Chairman Conyers at 202-225-5126 and ask him to start the impeachment of Dick Cheney; and phone your own Congress Member at 202-224-3121 and ask them to immediately call Conyers' office to express their support for impeachment. Your Congress Member might be one of the three needed, not just to keep impeachment activists out of jail but to keep this nation from devolving into dictatorship.
Also email your Representatives:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/73
Hey All, I am going to catch up with Cindy et al after I teach this morning, so hopefully will be reporting live.
That will be around 2:00.
Hope you can all call if you support us!
Actually, call around 11 am if you can, because that is approximately when the march will be arriving at the House offices.
Richard plans to be there to observe.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/07/22/doh_re_mi
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"The Simpsons" is the only show in the history of broadcasting that's simultaneously cartoon, sitcom, and reality TV. Yes, reality TV: Nowhere else on the small screen are emotional truths and outrageous behavior so memorably (let alone humanely) exhibited.
Where to begin with singing the show's praises? Why, with the characters, of course. The population of Springfield teems with a density of eccentricity that's like a convention of Shakespearean clowns presided over by Preston Sturges , only with fewer fingers and much stranger hair.
With "The Simpsons Movie" opening Friday, we asked some well-known locals who their favorite characters might be. (That snarl you hear in the distance is Krusty the Clown, still fuming that he didn't make the list.)...
...JOHN KERRY, US senator:
"I could say my favorite character is Mr. Burns, because thanks to him even after Dick Cheney is out of office he will live on as a cartoon. But I'm actually a Bart fan, despite the fact Time named him one of the 100 most influential people, and I didn't make the list. He once mooned a doctor, indicating he has the same view toward our current health-care system most Americans do."
---------------
now if we can only get that krusty klown out of the white house,
Otter
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PLEASE READ THIS NOTE
Our web hosting company is upgrading our server this week. I do not have a specified day and time. This may affect access to the DCP website at times. If your browser fails to connect, wait a few minutes and try again.
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From that False Flag DKos diary.
"Maybe the people who think there's a conspiracy out there are right," DeFazio said."
I never did feel the coincidence theory was valid.
You are right NMP, very freaking creepy.
John Kerry watches The Simpsons?
That is the only show on television I've watched for years - since it's inception! I'm a loyal fan and will be going to this QuickEMart, for a Squishee and a pink donut with Sprinkles.
My favorite character is the Mayor, who talks like a Kennedy.
http://www.mmmthatstasty.net/Site/QuickEMart.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndljI8LdWVs
dKos poster dengre prposed this simple, elegant, very effective piece of legislation in a diary today, one that even the most skanky slimeweasely republican't would not be able to make any kind of legitimate case for voting against:
"The 110th Congress should pass a law that there will be no statue of limitation on any crime committed by a Members of Congress, the Senate, their staffs, the President, the Vice-President and all political appointees of the executive branch while they are in office. Any past criminal action still prosecutable within the statue of limitation on the date this Bill is signed into law will be covered by this provision."
I love it. Let's make it so.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/23/1465/34280
Major fraud case got shut down by removing the lead prosecutor.
This one stinks from top to bottom.
"A team of state insurance auditors arrived at Reciprocal of America's headquarters in January 2003 to launch their investigation. They shepherded the company's 300 employees into a conference room and locked the doors."
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/286713.html
In case you missed it, here's the audio bit from Saturday's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" portion of the "Not My Job" with special guest...Patrick Fitzgerald. The theme was...
"We are so not going to ask you about Scooter Libby!" Three questions specifically created to not be about Scooter Libby.
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=35
The bit is about 13 minutes long & is fun to listen to.
I had 22 emails and 14 had to do with impeachment!
I won the "Geezer" contest by guessing closest the number of dollars spent so far on the Iraq war. It's almost $500,000,000,000.
A trillion is 1000 billions and we spent almost 500 billion, which is 500,000 millions, I think. ??
Bush, an MBA, swore to run the United States like a corporation.
What would happen to a CEO who did this? This is from a conservative think tank. What if they were a conservative Board of Directors? Stockholders? Would they tolerate this?
With Iraq on Fire, Bush Puts Rest of World on Hold
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072307N.shtml
Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef report for McClatchy Newspapers: "As the White House struggles to show progress in the 52-month-old war, other important global issues increasingly are getting pushed to the side ... 'Canceling a
meeting here or there may not seem like a big deal, but the slights are piling up,' Asia expert Walter Lohman of the conservative Heritage Foundation wrote recently."
We are the stockholders, literally and/or figuratively. We can't even support this from a business viewpoint, let alone a moral one!
I just got the wierdest phone call.
It was listed as The Christians Diabetes something, anyway, I answered and this lady says 'Hello, Christy?'
I said, 'Yes?' And she started asking me if I had diabetes or a respritory problems they could help send me meds for?
It confused me, and I was like 'No diabetes, no respritory problems" and she asked if I knew others that they could help? I said no. Not off the top of my head.
I told her I am not sure where you got my name and my number from, then she said they work off lists obtained by churches, of people who asked for help. I was stunned by it.
I told her I had not attended a church for almost 20 years.
She got real antsy and said 'Ok well, God Bless you and have a blessed day' and hung up on me.
I do not know why that seemed so wierd, but the more I think about it the wierder it seems.
Very interesting article about Blackwater in IL & how the locals are very suspicious & unhappy about having mercenaries as neighbors...
'America's private army' under fire for Illinois facility
Anti-war activists, locals are wary about military contractor's new training site
http://tinyurl.com/3bb7vr = Chicago Tribune
Posted by: Christy at July 23, 2007 10:56 AM
I get similar calls all the time from some Republican Congressman's "small business recognition office." Haven't even heard of the Congressman's name, but all I know is that he's based out of state.
And my business doesn't give any political contributions to anyone of either party. (Unless, that is, if you count my father's alleged fishing trip with W in 1997 as a contribution.)
(I say "alleged" because the story seems made up.)
Posted by: not my president at July 23, 2007 10:29 AM
We live in a world where CEOs can wreck their businesses, and still walk away with huge severance bonuses.
The US automotive and airline industries are perfect examples.
Great oped in LaTimes (written by someone actually NAMED).
Great piece but also depressing. What a sick situation we are in.
Iraq hasn't even begun
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-garton19jul19,0,6963317.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel
We know that Bush is illiterate - those photos are beautiful mme d! Pretty much all Republicans are also! Rich and illiterate. A pretty deadly mix that is.
Posted by: woz at July 23, 2007 12:46 AM
woz, it's a well-known fact that wealth tends to make you Republican, and education tends to make you Democratic.
And the party leadership caters to this tendency - Republicans prefer tax cuts for the rich, Democrats prefer increased education spending.
Breaking: Miers, Bush Chief of Staff to face contempt charges
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Breaking_Miers_Bush_Chief_of_Staff_0723.html
WHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HAAAAAAA!
If you've been following the latest corporate crap at Daily Kos about JetBlue, you've got to watch this video...
JetBlue's new pre-flight video
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/23/114441/098
Posted by: madame defarge at July 23, 2007 11:58 AM
JetBlue may be owned by George Soros, but it was never our friend.
JetBlue sold passenger data to government bureaucrats VOLUNTARILY.
JetBlue forced Karen's friend Raed to cover up his shirt, or miss the flight.
I've stayed away from JetBlue, and will continue to do so. Even though the airlines I do fly (United, American) are hardly any better.
And I'm gonna sign up for a DKos account... I've never had one till now, believe it or not.
Cool, Ally. You won't be sorry.
Well I made it to KwikEMart - took photos of course.
The pink donut was the grossest thing I have ever eaten.
There was an actual guy instead of Abu, who actually has to work there once the promotion is over at the end of the month. & there was a guy sitting outside on the concrete. It's really just a normal 7-11, in the shadow of the Space Needle. I always liked the show though, because it was on Fox and actually skewers Fox (& others) and it's a good commentary on places like where I grew up.
The world held massive protests before the invasion of Iraq, the USA noticed and did not care. The Evidence presented before the UN was contrived, fraudulent, and fake. Only in the USA were people fooled, nobody else believed it.
From that point on, the USA had nowhere to go, it had committed itself to a Lie. The results of Iraq war are not even close to playing out...it will be 25 years before the full effects of the iraq war reveal themselves.
The world has moved on; Asia is the worlds economic engine. Europe is roaring ahead with technologies and research, Africa is developing its resources, with South America close behind. The US Dollar is at the point of collapse.
America needs to wake up and understand geopolitics do need USA in the equation any longer.
Russia is a Cash Machine, the largest petroleum seller on earth. Very soon it will be the largest LNG seller on earth ( Liquid Natural Gas). While the USA is spending a billion a day in Iraq, Russia is placing a Billion a day in the bank.
Europe Replaced the USA as the largest trading block with Asia in 2006. in 2007, Shanghai become the largest recipient of Capital in the world, replacing New York which held that title for decades.
America cannot win the world back...it can only hope it is not left too far behind.
(hat tip to MBK)
Senator sees Iraq war as history repeating
He was a seminal figure as the Vietnam War spiraled downward, just as the generals and the politicians were starting to acknowledge that the war was a failure.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-kerry_zuckmanjul23,1,3288818.story
The tall man
Chinatool
You said:
America needs to wake up and understand geopolitics do need USA in the equation any longer.
I presume you meant:
America needs to wake up and understand geopolitics do NOT need USA in the equation any longer.
Pretty grim assessment and not that hard to back up, so where do we go from here? Ideas?
You have to somehow overcome massive citizen apathy.
The ease by whioh a story can be slipped into the mainstream, and taken at face value by so many without a hint of research, it's astounding really.
Reich there under your nose all along.
new thread--from the phonebooth!!