Archives for Category "Foreign Policy"
February 1, 2007
Bad JuJu
I should be working tonight - but I can't. My neck and shoulders are all scrunched up. I can only type here intermittently and because I'm sitting in a recliner with the laptop propped on a throw pillow. Not going to subject myself to sitting up at my desk. Oh well.I sent an email earlier today. It said:
Uhh -- January's over?!?!It said some other things, too. I do try not to annoy my friends with such vacuity in email. In instant messages, sure, but not email. Heh. But seriously, 2007 is 1/12th of the way finished, people! How did that happen? I mean - I can point to each week this month and explain why it just flew by for me, but still. I'm not ready, I'm not ready! Lots of stuff going on out there that I wish I had time to weblog about properly. Some quick highlights -- well, lowlights really:
Sh*T!
- Molly Ivins died. I'm so very, very sad about this. Various tributes have been posted around the web from colleagues, friends, and fans.
- Glenn Grennwald has an excellent post up about Our Little Churchills. Read the whole thing.
But Churchill would have recoiled -- he did recoil -- at their argument that criticism of the Leader and the war are improper and hurts the war effort. Churchill repeatedly made the opposite argument -- that one of the strengths of democracies is that leaders are held to account for their decisions and that those decisions are subject to intense and vigorous debate, especially in war. In January, 1942, Britian had suffered a series of defeats and failures (which Churchill candidly acknowledged and for which he took responsibility), and he therefore addressed the House of Commons and insisted that a public debate be held in order to determine whether he still had the confidence of the House of Commons in his conduct of the war.
- The crazies in the White House and their worshippers in that diehard 28% are trying to provoke a war with Iran. They are certifiable.
If this country allows the Bush administration to run their game again and start yet another war, we'd better get ready to see our lives change in some fundamental ways. The world will not forgive us --- and we shouldn't forgive ourselves. This is very, very serious.
The Democrats need to stand up and do something, not just issue tut-tutting resolutions of "concern."
<=> | in: Civil Rights & Feminism / Democrats / Federal Politics / Foreign Policy / Journalling
January 26, 2007
Tabdump Friday
Things are still a bit whacked -- this has just been a crazy-busy month with trips and meetings and workshops and various other things consuming all of my cycles. Today was, I hope, the beginning of the winding down of that craziness so that I can actually focus and get some work done. The only really atypical thing today was a dentist appointment. No cavities. No real plaque build-up. Still. Mumble-ty years and counting. They say, "Come back in six months." I say (silently to myself), "Nope - I'll be back in 12 months." In honor of whatever freaky bacteria live in my saliva and keep cavities and plaque from forming, I'm sucking on a Tootsie-roll pop leftover from Halloween right now. Rah.Tomorrow, Jim Webb is going to be at a town meeting hosted by our statehouse delegate. We're going to drop by and see our fancy new Senator in person for the first time. Given that he gave the Democratic response to the State of the Union just this week, I suspect it will be crowded.
Lots and lots of stuff I've been meaning to blog about, but haven't gotten around to. So here's a bit of a tabdump - in no particular order:
- Here's Melissa Etheridge's song - up for an Oscar, as is Al Gore's movie - which you really should all watch. I own it - if anyone local wants to have a little movie party and watch it, let me know.
- Related is this post about sea level changes and projections. Thermal expansion alone, even apart from glaciers melting, is significant.
- The U.S. comptroller is very concerned about the state of our finances. George Bush has driven the nation's finances into the toilet - we, our children, and their children will be paying for it as the bill comes due. And the borrow-and-spend Republicans will scream about how it's all the Democrats' fault when taxes have to increase. Just watch.
- The oh-so-illustrious mainstream media (*cough cough*) is rolling out its usual smear jobs on leading non-Republican figures. The Washington Post hired hack John Solomon to write a front-page article about how John and Elizabeth Edwards... wait for it... sold their house. The horror! A real-estate transaction. Sic 'em! The article insinuated all sorts of things, but in fact they did nothing wrong at all. The WaPo has such high journalistic standards. Ha! (Even their ombudsperson, who's often useless or worse, didn't think it was appropriate.)
- Speaker Pelosi pushes back on the self-styled "Decider" and his plan to throw more American soldiers into the meatgrinder that is Iraq:
PELOSI: He's tried this two times — it's failed twice. I asked him at the White House, 'Mr. President, why do you think this time it's going to work?'
Nancy's mama didn't raise no fool.
BUSH: Because I told them it had to.
PELOSI: Why didn't you tell them that the other two times? - This video really made me grin. An earlier version apparently made the rounds for awhile, but it finally caught my attention. It's a dude named Matt. He dances (not particularly well). He travels around the world and dances everywhere he goes. It's great. The music is apparently a dying language. See his site for more information on the whys and wherefores of the project.
Best mefi comment: "Thanks, little dancing man, for reminding me that I've wasted my life." - Finally, Valentine's Day approaches. If you celebrate it, Rafe has some useful romantic gift-giving advice for pragmatic people.
The first rule of romantic gift giving is that practical gifts are never romantic.
Mmm... gifties!
[...] The second rule of romantic gift giving is that for a gift to be appreciated, it has to exceed expectations. That means that big events call for bigger gifts.
[...] The third rule of gift giving is that a gift is a token of generosity. In other words, the more you sacrifice to give a gift, the more the recipient will appreciate it.
<=> | Comments: 1 | in: Federal Politics / Foreign Policy / Journalling / State & Local
January 11, 2007
Sorry, Ben - We Couldn't Keep It
Bush and Cheney and their sycophantish supporters do not believe in democracy and have done nothing but see how much they can get away with through sheer bullying. Digby documents this phenomenon and concludes:I think that we must be honest and admit that we aren't living in a real democracy anymore. Yes, it has the trappings of one. We hold elections and we petition our government and offices change hands. But it is so infected with spin and lies and the willingness of its leaders to deny the democratic spirit of the constitution at every turn that it no longer really functions as one.
It has never been more clear that the people are irrelevant in our system of government than it is at this moment. Fully 70% of the public disapproves of president Bush's job performance. Even more disapprove of his Iraq policy and a large majority believe it was a mistake to invade and occupy Iraq in the first place. 88% do not want this war war to be escalated. His party just lost a large number of seats in both houses of congress over this issue.
And yet this 30% president with 12% support in the country is going to exactly the opposite of what the country wants him to do and he will get away with it. Democracy? Not so much.
<=> | Comments: 3 | in: Democrats / Federal Politics / Foreign Policy / Media Dysfunction / Republicans
