A Thank-You Note to George W. Bush
It’s time to give the devil his due.
And I’m here to do it. I’m here to tip my hat to George Bush.
That’s right. You heard me. We owe a debt of gratitude to this president, and I’m here to acknowledge it.
Mr. Bush, I’d like to say thank you.
Thank you for making such a thorough mess of your presidency that the citizens of this country want a change so vast, so enormous that we are willing to elect either a black man or a woman to the White House.
We needed a president as dismal, as greedy, as incompetent as you to pave the way for Barrack Obama or Hillary Clinton (although it’s looking as if Obama will take it).
Think of it! It’s a sea change in attitude. Seven years ago, I’d have said never in my lifetime will America be able to shake off its prejudices enough to elect a black guy or a woman to lead us.
But you changed all that, Mr. Bush! You and the other rich white guys who think money and power are your birthright. You and your ilk in Congress who have ignored us regular folks.
You guys are the best!
If you had been merely mediocre, sir, voters might well have accepted business as usual for the next presidency.
But you weren’t mediocre at all! You were stupendously, incredibly, magnificently terrible. And now we’re ready for a stupendous, incredible, magnificent change.
Because you ignored those living in poverty and without health insurance, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.
Because you ignored the sinking middle class and declared war on gay Americans, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.
Because you ignored corporate greed and the excesses of Wall Street, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.
Because you ignored global warming and the future of our good earth, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.
Because you ignored the Constitution and trampled our civil liberties, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.
Because you ignored those who said Iraq was no threat and squandered priceless lives and billions of dollars, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.
Because you ignored America’s history of honor and integrity and have lost our standing in the world, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.
You’re the best, Mr. Bush!
It’s been so easy these past seven years to make fun of you, sir. But behind that cynical humor have been such pain and disappointment. I’ve been so angry at the voters who put you into the White House. Twice. And I’ve had such fear for the future because those same voters will put the next president into the White House, too.
But my fears are being put to rest. My faith in the American people is being restored as I watch these primaries and caucuses. Men and women, black and white, Asian and Hispanic - people are coming together to hope and believe in the future again.
Occasionally, I hear from readers who denigrate Barrack Obama’s message of hope. Oh, he’s just selling hope, they say, as though it were something of little value.
Well, if he’s selling, I’m buying. It feels so good to be hopeful, and I haven’t felt good in so long. It’s like a wonderful breath of fresh air flowing through the land, cleansing the dirt of your administration, sir, and blowing away the stench of your greed.
I sometimes hear people console themselves when misfortune strikes by saying: There’s a reason for everything. God has a plan.
I don’t know if that’s true, really. I’d like to think so, but I don’t know.
But if it’s true - if there really is a reason for everything in the grand scheme of things - then I’m prepared to say this: Our misfortune in having you in the White House, Mr. Bush, has served us well in the long run.
And so I thank you.
* * *
A few week’s ago, I ran a timeline of George Bush’s failures to illustrate that he can do a lot of damage in the space of a year, so we’d better not get too complacent as his imperial presidency winds down.
One reader wanted to know where I got the timeline. Fair question. It came from www.inthesetimes.com although similar timelines are available at dozens of Web sites. I should have given credit to the Web site when I ran it.
I’d urge you to check it out. I used only one year’s worth of his failures in that column, but the site offers a timeline of his first four years in office. It’s a chilling reminder of his relentless betrayal of our country.
* * *
There are 330 days ’til Jan. 20, 2009.
Beth’s column appears on Monday. huckquinn@gmail.com
Copyright © 2008 Hudson Valley Media Group
this would be much funnier if the bush white house didn’t already have plans to invoke the NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE NO. 51 to cancel our 2008 elections and remain in power.
what, you thought that their broad, relentless pursuit of power would end because of some parlour trick like an election?
think again.
so, unfortunately, we won’t have a black man or a woman in the white house in 2009.
We should start a betting pool website on when 51 will be invoked.
“We should start a betting pool website on when 51 will be invoked.”
i second that
No money down; but I’m in for October 28.
i’m thinking october is too late.
they will need time for photo-ops to act like everything’s coming up roses.
my guess…
september 22
Oct. 21
I started such a pool a year ago.
$5 a pick. Winner gets all, to use paying for a lawyer to get out of whichever detention he/she ends up in.
“to get out of whichever detention he/she ends up in.”
to which we’ll start hearing that “the u.s. doesn’t imprison people”
Actually, I really think the fix is in and has been in…Hillary wins (the primary through electronic voting machines and super delegates) and the national election through the machines..The Clintons may have started out as unexpected usurpers….but somewhere along the way were shown “the way” and are part of the establishment now. someone on a previous CD board showed the comparative bills introduced/ co-sponsored by Clinton. vs. Obama…I lived in NY state while Hillary was Senator and watched her all those years…she really didn’t do much all that time…she’s no maverick…she’s status quo…a woman but status quo…not enough reason to rejoice in my book. But since she’s their man…there will be no 51…unless Obama manages to walk away with it without the superdelegates.
if directive 51 doesnt work, they always have DIEBOLD
put me down for Sept 11 for the fascist takeover
canuckchuck:
You meant Sept 11, 2001, and not Sept 11, 2008, right?
september 11?
why, that would require thought and planning.
…and this is the GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION
actually, I think it will happen Nov 27th..on Thanksgiving .
The election will have happened, so DIEBOLD can have their kick at the can, but power will not yet have been transfered. People will complain loudly about the stolen election giving McCain the presidency. However, on Thanksgiving, everyone will be travelling home when the airports are shut down, trapping millions. Then it will be easy to round them up.
The day will be when Georgie sneaks off and visits the grade schoolers.
canuckchuck– The facist takeover is already here. Business and Government CO-OP. Gov. Requirements, Regulations that is a facist country
1. Affirmative Action
2. NBC “Green Week”
3. Diversity classes
4. College educated managers with no experience,
all current examples
Yes, we sorely need change, but when you look inside the voting booth, you will find nothing to offer change.
I give up. Can’t find that timeline on inthesetimes. Can someone please share the link. T’anks.
PS Good take on what’s happening, Beth - I appreciate the irony of the whole thing.
if they inact directive 51 i’m storming the capitol. my belief is that i wouldn’t be alone in doing so. bush is a uniter….us against him.
Re:canuckchuck
Why do you think Affirmative Action is a sign of facism? Do you really believe that minorities in America have equal opportunity to education?
Re:satr9prodxns
Directive No. 51 won’t be utilized simply because Obama or Hillary do not pose a threat to the MIC, the Medical Industrial Complex or corporate crime. Do you really think that a Democrat in office will REDUCE the size of the military? Or install a universal, non-profit health care system? However DIEBOLD will probably have their kick at the can!
Once president Obama or H. Clinton take the reins of power and the public sees that it is business as usual, I’m sure Ralph Nader will start to look a lot better.
I’d like to draw attention to a bit of classic liberal stupidity in this otherwise harmless article. Beth Quinn writes,
“Occasionally, I hear from readers who denigrate Barrack Obama’s message of hope. Oh, he’s just selling hope, they say, as though it were something of little value….Well, if he’s selling, I’m buying. It feels so good to be hopeful, and I haven’t felt good in so long. It’s like a wonderful breath of fresh air flowing through the land, cleansing the dirt of your administration, sir, and blowing away the stench of your greed.”
Many Obama supporters no doubt feel something very similar. In one way, it’s hard to blame them, because the Bush Mob has indeed been foul, murderous, & criminal in a way that beggars all description.
But to allow oneself to be snookered by the (intermittently) pretty words of Obama is something else again. Obama is a Dem Party politician. Even if he has a personal decency that members of the Bush Mob lack, & even if he has the best of intentions, he’s running for the nomination of a deeply corrupt big business party. His financial support & his advisors represent the interests of Wall Street and big business. Since coming to the Senate, Obama himself has stayed very much in “safe” territory (by the standards of US politicians) on all questions pertaining to the military & “national security.”
What one must appreciate is that there is a fundamental & irreconcilable conflict between the interests of elites who own & run the country, and the interests of the rest of the population. There is simply no getting around this. Obama’s attempts to paper over the conflict with banal prettyisms about “bridging the gap between rich and poor” are pure Bullsh*t. There’s no such thing as a policy that can be pleasing both to the big financial firms & the military-industrial complex on the one hand, and to 95% of the US population, on the other. What’s good for one is bad for the other, & vice versa.
This means that at some point, Obama will have to show whose side he’s on. He’s been cleverly avoiding this, to the extent possible. After his victory in Wisconsin, he started ratcheting up the populist (ie, antiwar, & critical of big business & rich CEO’s, etc) talk. He promptly got slapped down in a sort of warning shot by the Washington Post. They let him know that if he continues with the populist talk, his honeymoon with the media is over.
The naive liberals (like the author of the above article) are going to see, sooner or later, which side Obama comes down on. But it’s not hard to figure this out in advance, because he’s accepted millions of dollars of support from Wall Street — and those guys aren’t stupid. They’re betting with big bucks which side Obama will come down on, when push comes to shove. Their record at being correct about such things is probably 100% accurate — making it all but certain that the Beth Quinns of the world are going to wind up feeling foolish, betrayed & disillusioned.
I agree, this article serves little purpose. It asks us to have wishy washy thoughts that make us feel good but have no substance. Its been done many times, Gore in 2000, Kerry in 2004. And Obama in 2008 (Hillary is not even in contention for feel good thoughts).
When hope means, “I hope that after the democratic candidate is elected they will act in a different way than they have been acting and talking” then you will get what you ask for — nothing. No change, and the continuation of the status quo.
Listen to a Nader speech and not only does he identify the problem and state it, he also offers solutions.
I have stated this before, but how many Charlie Browns does the voter have to do before they learn that the Democratic Party Leadership and its crew will snatch the football away. They have not stood up for the general public even when Bill Clinton was president.
The answer is, we are falling for it again. Obama does not offer solutions that are America’s main concern - Iraq War, Corporate greed, Universal Health care etc. Maybe next time we’ll realize that Lucy (the Democratic Party Leadership) will snatch the football away at the last minute, but don’t hold your breath.
so it goes… and goes and goes…
Nader for president
RichM__You always have plenty to say about the criminal, warmonger Repugs, and you say the Dems are just as bad. We all know a third party candidate has no chance at least this election, so as you have all the answers, what is the solution to our mess we have? Maybe a bloody revolution, all move to another country, take tranquilizers or drink until we don`t care anymore, or what?
Some of us still figure we better take the only workable choice available, which is to elect a Democrat and make the best of it, or do you have the grand solutionfor us?
and of course the democrats will “change” all that. nader for president!
Yup, Hillary and Obama aren’t really a threat to the neo-con’s Fascist agenda. However, I have this gnawing feeling inside that bush is so in ‘love’ with his position of power that he won’t relinquish it to anyone and will pull a 51. I have a bad feeling for this coming fall. Anytime between September and December, they will pull something. I think they are chomping at the bit for Los Angeles to have an earthquake so they can declare Martial law and make this progressive city a test case. The LAPD is recruiting a “reserve”. If no EQ, they will arrange an event that will produce a riot and then they will declare martial law. And then the rest of the country goes with it…
That’s one possible scenario….Fascist governments don’t have ‘elections’. Not REAL ones, anyway. Just shams.
Also, the fact that it’s a “black man” and a “woman” running in the democrap primaries is really irrelevant. I personally don’t care if the president has purple hair and a nosering the size of a quarter… if they can get the job done in a way that reflects what’s best for the people, I’m on board. I don’t see that in either Obama or Clinton. They both appear to be “status-quo” people. They’ll keep the US on it’s imperial war footing and nothing of significance will change for the average person… at least for the better anyways.
Kernel (3:30) - As long as people like you & Beth Quinn continue to say things like “Some of us still figure we better take the only workable choice available, which is to elect a Democrat and make the best of it,” nothing will ever change. The system is designed to function in precisely that way.
The people whose interests the system serves are perfectly well aware that they can count on stupid naive liberals to perceive Democrats as “the only workable choice.” (That’s why they offer you that choice. It isn’t out of the goodness of their hearts. They offer it because they know you’ll take it, and they’ve already rigged it so it serves their own interests.) They know liberals won’t bother to study the history, & that the liberals will therefore always line up with the Dems at election time. They know that even if the liberals are strongly antiwar and opposed to military spending, even if the libs want govt accountability, universal health care & other forms of socially constructive spending, etc, that the libs can nonetheless be counted on to perceive the Dem as “less evil” than his Repub counterpart at election time, & will vote for him — even if the Dem doesn’t firmly promise any of the things the libs really want, and even if he doesn’t deliver anything he promises.
The reason the ruling class lets you choose between Dem & Republican is because they know they win with both. The reason they won’t let you choose anything else, is because they haven’t rigged the others yet, & they know they probably wouldn’t win with parties they haven’t rigged.
As far what I personally suggest — I don’t have time to type it all out, right here. It can’t be stated in one quick paragraph. But if you read Zinn, Chomsky, Parenti, or the WSWS (http://www.wsws.org), you’ll get the idea.
alexnosal– No I was giving an example of real fascism.
When corporations and government get to close and dependent
Affirmative Action, Minimum wage, Diversity training, increase of fees, regulation, taxes raised or lowered on a whim. All this the corp. needs to do to function by the allowance of the government. That is fascism on a national level and acts just like socialism.
Add to the list in the lead story: Thank you George Bush for being the uniter you said you would be.
You have brought together Whites, Blacks,Old,Young,Democrats,Republicans,Independents. You have
brought them all together to vote for a change in the way our government is run. This is the only
promise you kept.
I wish that righht now they would put Bush over in Iraq to do the work he commanded be started and see if any of the people in his battilion protect him. Stick him right on the front lines. Let’s not wait to do this until he is out of the White House and living in a big million $ house in Texas while the rest of us still suffer because of his 8 yr reign. Stick his dad Bush Sr. out there too. Then his mom and wife can know what it feels like to lose a loved one to the commands of a madman! After that if they survive put them up in a Tent in New Orleans with all the people who don’t have a home or a job. Then make them pay for health care from a little or no money income.
to:
alexnosal
Re:satr9prodxns
Directive No. 51 won’t be utilized simply because Obama or Hillary do not pose a threat to the MIC, the Medical Industrial Complex or corporate crime. Do you really think that a Democrat in office will REDUCE the size of the military? Or install a universal, non-profit health care system? However DIEBOLD will probably have their kick at the can!
not really my idea on that one.
i don’t think they’ll (BushCo.) use the nspd 51 to thwart a clinton or obama administration or to save the MIC, corps or any of that other shit.
bushco merely hands out favors to them in exchange for gobs and gobs of money.
truth is, (in my view) bush and cheney don’t care about them anymore than they cared about taking care of our citizens come hell (9/11) or high water (katrina/rita).
it’s the POWER they won’t be able to let go.
RichM__If you have time to type out page after page of worthless bulls**t about Clinton, Obama, amd the Dems in general, then you have time to give us all the answer to our problems. You set yourself up as an expert on everything but have no solution that you can put in a few sentences.
You remind me of the time Chris Mathews asked one of Obama`s supporters to name even one thing Obama had done and he could not come up with anything. If you put everyone else down, you better have some ideas of your own to suggest.
I am so grateful to George and what he has done to fire up a few progressives that I may…
No, wait…
I am likely to vote for Johnny
Imagine the aging and very young being shuffled off to detention camps for their continued protection. Perhaps if a few americans needed to use their right to bear arms to protect small backyard gardens from neighbors they’ve never bothered to meet.
Ah, now that is how you get progress!
Oh, I’d like to take July 4th in the pool - if it is still open.
I knew it was going to be a disaster when Bush stole the office in December 2000. I had no idea it would be this bad and that he would get reelected! He ignored Al Qaeda before 9/11, allowing it to happen and then he used that disaster to make a power grab and invade Iraq. Unbelievable how evil and demented that guy is…I am so glad to be getting rid of him and his buddies.
So the progressive purists have been posting ad naseum about Hillary and Obama and status quo, yada, yada, and how as long as folks keep voting Dem and Repub, nothing will ever change. Who can really disagree with that?
What I’m wondering is: when is one of these purists going to offer a FUCKIN SOLUTION! A bridge — that’s gets us from ‘here’ to ‘there.’ Like Obama said, good ideas aren’t the problem, creating the MOVEMENT is.
Unless one of your brilliant purists can offer the blueprint of how we get millions upon millions to organize and commit to things like direct action or revolutionary politics, then I’ve heard enough. Jesus! We get it. The Dems are the ‘liberal’ wing of the Business Party. No shit. These purists think they’re the only ones smart enought to see it all. Grow up.
I’ll take it one step further: do any of the purists in here have any real experience in organizing? If not, STFU!!! If you do, then why not share your insights, instead of reminding us how sheeplish we all are and what not. Jesus Christ
Any takers?
I’m figuring the economy is going to start visably imploding towards the end of March to the end of April. That’s been my guess for about a year. Given that the powers that be cannot keep the lipstick stuck to this pig of a fabricated and fraudulant economy much longer than that. Grocery shelves will be empty somewhere in June or July. That’s when the sheeple wake the f**k up from their consumer stupor. There is either not going to be anything to buy that they need, or they won’t have the money (or credit) to buy it with anyway.
So, given that scenerio, I’m figuring the food riots start somewhere in August, if not before. Of course this will cause the Wanker Admin to declare marshal law. My bet is in late August. I’d go for 9/11, but that date would be a little too obvious. Of course, there is always the window of opportunity after the elections, but I think the American people with empty bellies won’t be able to wait that long. So, I’m sticking with August. Put me in the pool. Do I have to be more specific on the date thingy?
P.S. sg: I share your frustration. But there have been a lot of really good people out there trying to educate and get millions to move together in the right direction. Save your energy for a collective movement until the masses get hungry. They aren’t going to wake up and start working in the collective interest of The People until they get hungry and/or have a very rude awakening. What seems obvious to most of us here on CD is way over the heads of most Americans who still believe in a system that failed them long ago.
So, take a deep breathe and hang in there. Our time is coming. We will be the leaders of the revolution/reconstruction that will come soon. Not much longer now……..
Will wonders never cease. Three fascist acquaintances have told me they are for Obama. Now I wonder if Nader can make him move toward the progressive side or will he stick with the fascists.
What are we to say? HAIl TO THE COWARD-IN-CHIEF?
sg,
We are all angry otherwise our energies would be spent on something else instead of voicing our opinions on the internet. I for one back RichM in his analysis of the Democratic party and Mr. Obama in particular.
You ask for “F…….SOLUTIONS, right? Okay, fair enough. I’ll offer a few solutions which I’ve advocated ever since Common Dreams started the ‘Comments’ section.
#1> go to www.sickofitday.org and if you agree, please take part. Can you imagine if twenty million people took part? Something of this magnitude would encourage a “surge” of peaceful resistance and citizen non-compliance with the big money corporatists and morally and ethically deficient politicians. With increasing stay home actions or strikes, the situation will change. After the passing of the un-Constitutional Patriot Act was passed in 2001, without having been read by most politicians, we should have abandoned the two-party duopoly asap! My suggestion: Green Party or Workers Socialist Party. And for you Doubting Thomas’s keep insisting that socialism doesn’t work, examine civil service jobs or the U.S. military. Socialism works quite well.
Peace and Harmony to you and everyone the world over.
President Bush predicted Monday that voters will replace him with a Republican president who will “keep up the fight” in Iraq.I’m confident we’ll hold the White House in 2008,”
i can’t top this guy. He’s either delusional or he knows what we don’t - he’s had everything his way so far..so who am I to argue.
Until No. 51 goes into effect and marial law rules our lives, we could do worse than studying the life and tactics of Ghandi’s struggles against the British rule of India.
One of my role models is his compatriot - a Pathan called Ghaffar Khan (or Badshah Khan)
Please read the following about this non-violent partner of Gandhi’s. Pay special attention to the 1930 event described. It took many more years but the non-violence finally overcame. I’m afraid we in this country do not have the intestinal fortitude necessary but one can hope.
In this time of violence, we need to know that we are not alone.
Ghaffar Khan
Peace Warrior
The seething hatred and violence in South Asia, pitting Hindu and Muslim nationalists makes this a good time to reconsider the life of a great Pashtun warrior who lies buried in the ancient city of Jalalabad. His name was Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
His story is contained in Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man To Match His Mountains, by Eknath Easwaran (Published by Nilgiri Press). Easwaran is a meditation teacher who founded the California-based Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in 1961. The Nilgiri Press is associated with the center.
Born near the Khyber Pass to a prosperous landowning family, Ghaffar Khan was more than six feet tall and powerfully built. A devout Muslim, he led a trained Islamic army — the Khudai Khidmatgars, or Servants of God. It was a private force, formed to free the Pashtun tribesmen from British imperial rule. The Khudai Khidmatgars were thoroughly professional, with uniforms, officers, regimental flags and even a bagpipe corps. But the soldiers swore the strangest oath that warriors — especially fierce Pashtun warriors — could take:
I promise to refrain from violence and taking revenge.
I promise to forgive those who oppress me or treat me with cruelty.
Ghaffar Khan believed the mortal weakness of his fellow tribesmen was an obsession with honor and revenge killings. They helped perpetuate a cycle of violence that the British were quick to exploit for their own purposes.
This weakness continues today with the US forces trying unsuccessfully to do the exploiting. See this article in Sunday’s NYT:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/magazine/24afghanistan-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin
“Battle Company Is Out There”
In time, this devout Muslim befriended India’s Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of nonviolent protest. Photographs from the 1930s show the diminutive “Gandhiji” sitting next to the immense Pashtun warrior at rallies uniting Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi chanted from the Bhagavad Gita, a work sacred to Hindus, while Khan responded with passages from the Koran, the sacred book of Islam.
The bright-colored uniforms of Ghaffar Khan’s soldiers gave them a sobriquet: Red Shirts. On one April day in 1930, the Red Shirts showed their courage and devotion to the non-violent teachings of their leader when the British Army took one whole day to shoot down innumerable Red Shirts. As a Harvard scholar writes: “The Red Shirts kept standing at the spot facing the British soldiers and were fired at from time to time, until there were heaps of wounded and dying lying about. This state of things continued from eleven till five o’clock in the evening. When the number of corpses became too many the ambulance cars of the government took them away and burned them.”
Ghaffar Khan endured beatings and arrests and continued to lead his Red Shirts on a path of nonviolence until the end of the British Raj.
As communal and sectarian violence racked South Asia following the end of British rule, Ghaffar Khan and Gandhi travelled the Indian subcontinent, demanding that the fighting stop. At prayer meetings, the two read from one another’s sacred scriptures and calmed the crowds.
“A person who has known God will be incapable of harboring anger or fear within him, no matter how overpowering the cause it may be,” Ghandi would say.
Ghaffar Khan also championed women’s rights. “In the Holy Koran you have an equal share with men,” he told them. “You are today oppressed because we men have ignored the commands of God and the Prophet…”
When partition gave Pakistan independence, Ghaffar Khan boycotted the ceremonies — as Gandhi did similar events in New Delhi. And while Gandhi fell to an assassin’s bullet, within a few years, the Pakistani government became the jailer of Ghaffar Khan. His son, Abdul Wali Khan, said that his father spent “every third year of his life in jail.”
In the climate of festering hate that exists today, it is good to remember a gentle giant who envisioned a different kind of Jihad — a path of peace and brotherhood.
Directive No. 51, ???????????
Area 51, ??????????
I’m so confused……
Any way you look at it, I’m going to be harvested in some way or another.
AHhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
What alarms me more than the idea of “51″ being invoked is the thought that we will probably have another “surprise attack” to justify Bush’s invoking 51.
Frankly, if Bush were to invoke 51, I believe we would soon see 10 million Americans marching on Washington D.C. with torches and pitchforks like the villagers in a Frankenstein movie.
It is clear that we not only have to rid ourselves of Bush & Company, but also the slime he appointed to ten thousand jobs within his government… and the senators, congressmen and so-called “news” people who have backed his every criminal move. Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Podhoretz, Krauthammer, O’Reilly, Kagan, Scarborough, Hume and Kristol… to name just a few.
curmudgeon99 February 25th, 2008 11:12 pm
“In the climate of festering hate that exists today, it is good to remember a gentle giant who envisioned a different kind of Jihad — a path of peace and brotherhood.”
Only got one question curmudgeon99, “Why?” He failed. Ghandi failed. Their strategy failed. Why would you repeat their failure? I highly admire the non-violent methods of your teachers. But I remember Malcolm X, he said something to the effect, “If you are arguing from “Xrstian charity” and you cannot hurt your opponent, he is going to laugh at you and run you over. If your opponent however knows that you can hurt them seriously they may talk or they may just think twice before striking you.” Something to that effect.
My question for you is this, “What did Ghandi leave out? What did he not see? His Brahmin caste?” They were the rulers of India back to the Aryan pony days. During the Raj they were the compradors and administrators - they were also the ones “struggling for Indian independence”. Family and Clan. And when the Raj was broken on the back of WWII, the country went right back to the Brahmins with Nehru.
Which of the political and richfilth names of India is not Brahmin Caste? And which of the Pakistani’s is not connected by blood in the power elite. Family and clan and ruling elites sprung from inherited power and wealth crushing the general population. That is what Ghandi ‘missed’. It’s like trying to deal with the power structure in the US without dealing with bred-to-the-bone racism. And that’s only one of the “3rd Rails”.
Of course Ghandi was also part of the majority against the Brits, whereas Black people here have never been more than 12% and the good white folk have already perped out one genocide and tens of hundreds of lynchings, ‘disappeared’, executions, and massacres, and got away with them all so Black people are understandably circumspect here. That’s right, THEY killed Malcolm too, didn’t they? We’ve butchered so many, we can lose track.
No sir, you make yourself a target here and you are simply dead, a subject you might want to take up with Paul Wellstone if you have a good trance medium. Need to find a different strategy or a good way to hide till the monsters wipe each other out.
Peace.
it is food for thought, LL.
I don’t know about directive 51, but I’m worried that they’ll “RFK” Obama just before or during the Democratic Nomination. If such an event happens, I’ll suspect the Clintons behind it.
We have to realize as well, the next president will be in office when the infamous date December 21, 2012 rolls around. Maybe the Mayans didn’t see beyond that date because our government is the culprit for destroying the planet once and for all. Maybe this election will determine just what happens after December 21, 2012.
If Bush does remain in office, I hope Americans will indeed rise up and storm the White House to remove him from office, just like the brave Romanians did on Christmas day in 1989 to their much hated dictator Nicolae Ceauscescu.
Somehow, though, I think the Americans will just roll over and go to sleep. There was little outrage over the stolen election of 2000, of the illogical nature of the 9/11 attacks (like WTC 7, the lack of plane parts at the Pentagon or in Shanksville PA, and the curiousity of the Anthrax attacks being sent only to Democrats and being traced to a government lab in Maryland before being completely ignored by our corporate media), of the phony rationales for war in Iraq. I mean…we truly are frogs in a slowly boiling pot of water. We’ll croak before we realize just how evil our government truly is.
The planet is burning, the financial system is melting down, and we’re looking at a future of global depression in a wasteland.
It’s really a time to draft everybody into one big fire brigade, but instead we get hope from a snake-oil salesman, because “it feels so good to be hopeful.”
Pathetic!
We have a feel-good sloganeer in the White House now… “Compassionate Conservatism”… and we’re about to replace him with another feel-good sloganeer… “Change We Can Believe In.”
Three cheers for Obama, the New Age Bush!
Tweedledee is of course not that much better than Tweedlwdum, so will it feel better to have the change? I can only tell you of my Australian experience. We just had a change - and life seems to feel MUCH better. The small difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee can make a BIG difference. Our new government has:-
* Committed to withdrawing troops from Iraq.
* Looks like we will withdraw from Afghanistan.
* Ratified the Kyoto agreement.
* Publicly admitted and apologized for grievous sins against our native population.
Our prime minister John Howard was BBB (Bush’s Best Bumlicker). And he led the country into a dark tunnel.
I am only starting to appreciate just how dark it was. I felt bad about my country, and now I feel much better. I can see light again, and my head is no longer swimming with anger.
Can we please start referring to Obama as biracial? He’s as white as he is black. I’d still like to find a link to the timeline … anyone willing to share it? Thanks.
This reminds me of the Humbert Humbert poem in Kubrick’s Lolita:
Because you took advantage
Because you took advantage of my disadvantage
There I stood Adam naked
…….
blah blah
Where’s Peter Sellers when you need him?
Words Are Important wrote: “Obama does not offer solutions that are America’s main concern - Iraq War, Corporate greed, Universal Health care etc. Maybe next time we’ll realize that Lucy (the Democratic Party Leadership) will snatch the football away at the last minute, but don’t hold your breath.”
You’re wrong, WAI: He has stated he’ll begin withdrawing troops from Iraq as soon as he is in office, and have them all withdrawn within 16 months. He has also said he’ll close all bases in Iraq, as well as Gitmo, and end torture. For his solutions to the other problems you mentioned, go to www.barackobama.com/issues because, after all, words are important.
To several posters convinced that there won’t be an election in 2008: You know, I’ve heard this same paranoid fantasy in 2002, 2004 and 2006. I was assured by one guy that if it looked like the Dems were going to win a majority in 2006, Bush would stage a false flag terror attack and declare martial law, suspending the election. That never happened. Do you ever stop to think of the logistics of Bush attempting such a thing?
1. In case you haven’t noticed, he’s not a popular president anymore, even with many in his own party. He is also not popular in the military — sure, a small group of brass hats in the Pentagon are loyal Bushites, but look at how many of his retired commanders have come out against him, and the Military Times poll that said two/thirds of the enlisted ratings in Iraq think he’s a terrible CinC. A few hundred thousand Blackwater thugs are not going to maintain martial law in a nation of two hundred million adults, many who are armed. Bush would need the army for that, and his army is tied down overseas. Even if he brought them home, how many would participate in Bush’s takeover, and how long would the Pentagon let him and Cheney live? (Many of them still believe in constitutional government — the one they took the oath to protect and defend — and they certainly wouldn’t choose a boob like Generalissimo Bush to lead the country after a coup d’etat.) You might also recall that there was a recent and unprecedented revolution in the American intelligence community — against the wishes of the Bush-appointed heads of the agencies, all 16 US intel agencies made public the NIE on Iran, undercutting Bush’s case for war. Think the spooks are then going to support Bush’s martial law?
2. Martial law would be very bad for business. What do you think would happen to the markets if Bush declared martial law? Internationally, it would be condemned, and it’s even likely China would stop financing Bush’s debt at the rate of $2 billion a day, so how does President-For-Life Bush pay for the troops or his Blackwater contracts? No money, no martial law. Our economy would crack like an egg shell and other nations wouldn’t be lining up to help us — they hate Bush, too. The only reason Bush has stayed in office this long unimpeached is that he was good for business — that reason would be eliminated if he tried to turn this country into the Fourth Reich. What worked in Italy in the 1920s and Germany in the 1930s wouldn’t work in 2008 America — the conditions are entirely different. The Corporate Fascista have learned a lot since the defeat of the Nazis, including that it is not really necessary to toss all your opponents in jail or clamp down on free speech — just guide the most ardent of them into wasting their time on feel-good things that go nowhere — like voting for Nader or McKinney. The point of Obama is that he’s clever enough to organize a mass movement and sail in under the radar as an acceptable candidate to the Power Elite but, once in office could become much more progressive, as FDR did in the 1930s. Contrary to neocon myth, FDR was very good for the wealthy — he helped preserve and expand capitalism in this country and the rich, as well as the poor, prospered.
3. If there is another terrorist attack to set the stage for martial law, why do you think Americans will just cower in fear, as they did in 2001? A lot has happened since then and times have changed. The raison d’etre of the GOP these days, and Bush in particular, is that they have protected us from terrorist attack — another 9/11 would destroy the Republican Party, and lead to calls for the impeachment of Bush and the Congress to investigate how the attack was allowed to occur. Do you seriously think if Bush tried to suspend the elections and declare martial law in that environment he’d succeed — with 80 percent of the public and most of the military and intelligence community against him?
If Bush was going to do this, the time would have been when he was most popular and the military and the people were behind him — that was in 2002. That window of opportunity has closed now, and it’s not reopening.
Ezeflyer wrote: “Three fascist acquaintances have told me they are for Obama.”
Ezeflyer, what are you doing hanging out with fascists and why would they be for Obama?
Curmudgeon99, Bush and Rove said the same thing in 2006 — all just empty words. What do you expect him to say: “Holy crap, we’re gonna get our asses kicked next election and it’s all my fault!”?
Jacob Freeze, if you knew anything about the history of Junior and Obama, you’d readily see how different the two men are in their thinking and their backgrounds. Just because Obama’s not as piously progressive as you may be, doesn’t mean he’s like George W. Bush.
Juliann, if we start referring to Obama as ‘biracial,’ some of our friends with reading comprehension problems will see that as something else. Besides, to a cab driver or a cop, he’s black and always has been.
Mirf59, Dr. Strangelove is dead, just like the GOP this year.
I frankly have considerable trouble with the idea that the new Democrat president is going to simply allow Bush and his associates to go into retirement on January 21, 2009.
Simple justice REQUIRES that, if impeachment isn’t going to be pursued, then effective on January 21, Bush and all related members of his administration be indicted, arested, and answer for their crimes, preferably in an international venue.
I know of nothing in the US constitution that grants the US president any kind of criminal immunity (surely he can’t do a last-day pardon of himself or his friends, for convictions that haven’t been handed down yet)
Besides meeting the minimum requirements for simple justice, it would send an unambiguous, transformative message to the world that the USA has finally renounced it’s arrogant, criminal, imperialist, exceptionalist foreign policy and is now willing to join the world’s community of nations as an equal neighbor and partner.
But of course, we would only see such action under a Nader presidency or other pipe-dream scenarios.
RSJ, NSPD 51 doesn’t necessarily imply martial law…that actually would be an extreme scenario, and I agree with you wouldn’t be tenable to the American people, the military or the world. My guess is something “serious” will happen at some consequential geographic location…, 51 will be invoked and the election will be “delayed”, because not everyone will be able to vote as a result of whatever happens….otherwise it will appear that everything else is business as usual. Whatever dynamics are currently keeping Bush and Co. from being impeached are the same dynamics that will allow this to happen…the American people who voted for Bush in 2004 will not find the delay alarming, will not feel betrayed by their fearless leader…”see how he managed to keep us safe for all these years…the bad guys he told us were always trying to get us..have finally gotten us..thank heavens he was in charge all those years…they would have gotten us much sooner if those wimpy commie pinko democrats had gottten their way…”. There is also GP 20…that allows the VP to do this whole deal too…maybe Bush will somehow be coincidentally at the location of interest …wouldn’t put it past them…
No one on a blog anywhere is going to tell everyone what The Answer, or The Solution, is regarding the same old crap we’re fed every four years by both corporate parties. You know what I get tired of? The history-free critics of posters like RichM and Words Are Important, who are at least honest enough to notice the obvious. Playing the game forever of being forced to choose a corporate-controlled Democrat over a corporate-controlled Repug, when both are equally in thrall to the military-industrial-infotainment complex, is the biggest sucker’s game out there.
If we can’t learn from our own very recent history, why not just walk around with tinfoil hats and be paranoid about aliens from Betelguese taking over. We go thru this exact same scenario every 4 years, with a few like Nader and RichM reminding us not to drink the kool-aid again, while the vast majority just go ahead and quaff it down, making lots of noise about how the skeptics have “no solutions.” How can there ever BE any solutions if you’re eager and willing every time to do what the Democratic Party operatives (DLC & DNC) tell you? The first message they had for us this time was, Kucinich and Edwards aren’t invited to the party. They kicked them out on their populist asses. As RichM points out, the WaPo sent a warning shot across Obama’s bow the moment he began uttering populist sounds. Not permitted, just consult Wellstone and dozens like him in the 20th century who were cut down like field corn in October once the big boys gave the word.
Kernel and sg refuse to comprehend, and are leading the way to the poll booths for Obama, hell or high water, because there’s no other solution, even if it means this isn’t one either.
So …. “Besides, to a cab driver or a cop, he’s black and always has been.” I don’t care what an ignorant cab driver or an ignorant cop thinks. If I cared what ignorant people thought - I’d invite Repuglicans to my parties.
Let’s stop catering to the ignorant.
And from now on - rather than say Obama is biracial - i’m calling him white. Like the mama who raised him so beautifully.
Tongue deeply embedded in cheek,
Juliann
Ephraim, just like I thought, you don’t have a damn clue what to do. And I’m not no damn DNC hack or registered DEM. I’m way out in left field.
Don’t comprehend???!!! Again, have you done organizing work? At least, Obama has real experience doing that, trained in the Saul Alinsky model. Remember Saul? If you do, you should know why Obama doesn’t get too specific. Alinsky rule no. 1: organize from the bottom-up. You don’t offer specific solutions as an outsider. You go into the hood, as it were, and help folks organize around their own issues.
I’m still waiting for you, or anyone, to offer even a thumbnail sketch of how to proceed in presendential politics, bearing in mind, that NO ONE thinks electing the right person to office is going to solve anything. You might not like Obama but are you capable of understanding his point about politicians not being shit w/o “the people” creating the moral and political environment necessary for change? Or, are you like Hillary, who thinks some great leader comes along and does it all — be it Nader or Jesus Christ?
And all of you purists keep talking about Kucinich, who I still support. Well, Kucinich ain’t in it anymore. Matter of fact, he’s backing Obama. So are all the Kucinich fans going to write to him to tell what an ignorant, sell-out he is? Reminds me of neocons who call anti-war folks traitors and what not and then when one of their own calls their bluff i.e. Richard Clarke, they go on denouncing “the liberals” for doing exactly what their own icons do.
And is anyone going to talk about what a shitty, horrible, idiotic, head-up-the-ass paralysis-by-analysis job progressive boomers have done in teaching their kids how to carry on The Struggle?
Bottom line: the left has way too much analysis and no vision. Good ideas and policy-wonk stuff, unfortunately, doesn’t butter the biscuit. It’s a vision thing. It’s like Chomsky said, you have to distinguish between goals and vision. What’s the vision? And, more importantly, how do we get there from here?
I have an anarcho-syndicalist vision but if I had a button that could take out corporate America and big government in one push, I wouldn’t do it. Why? Because millions of real lives are tied up in that and it would be immoral and irresponsible to just shit on folks caught up in the system just to be principled.
And, another thing, you purist progressives are so used to losing that you ascribe omnipotence to The System, The Man, whatever. Well, the System/Man/ruling elite are not all powerful. So stop acting like they are, you idol-worshipers. I bet if Jesus Christ, himself, cracked the skies and gave us The Answer, you purists would say: Oh, that would never work because the powers-that-be will just shoot it down.
sg, I don’t care if you vote for Obama, I may also, though at this point I wouldn’t. Maybe that will change over the next 8 months but I won’t be all starry-eyed about it, expecting anything much, because I’ve been around the block too many times. He’s Wall Street’s main man, that much we know, and while he’s better than Hillary by half a light-year at least, he’s still a centrist Dem. Promises and rhetoric may yield some substance after all, but I’m not betting on it. Hillary’s as devoted as McCain to enriching the corporations at the same or even a greater pace than Bush has, but she may be right that Obama’s all hat and no cattle.
Rage against the “purists” all you want, sg, but let’s see how delighted you are by 2011 and we’re still quagmired in Iraq, health care is as shoddy and unaffordable as it is now, although “different,” and we’re curiously bogged down in a worldwide recession/depression sponsored by US transnationals who simply can’t be expected to do anything that might threaten their hegemony, especially by a White House that cares about their interests a thousand times more than yours, even if Obama sits in the Big Oval. Saul Alinsky, btw, wasn’t all that radical. Ask Danny Schecter.
Yeah, we will still be in Iraq b/c you purists want to analyze everything to death and then tell other people to “wake up.” I’ve been around that block a thousand times. The problem isn’t coming up with a new, better idea. That’s not America’s problem. America’s problem is a lack of courage. Not enough people are willing to put their neck on the line, including me.
I’m not saying Obama has not Wall St. ties but of the three remaining candidates he’s the only one who actually spent time living among poor people. He didn’t even make any money until he wrote Dreams. And, I just heard on NPR recently, that the reason Obama is able to outraise Hillary is because Hillary had all the big donors and they already reached their limit in idivid. donations. Obama, on the other hand, has something like 90 percent of money coming from people who give less than $500. Connections to Wall St? Well, how the hell else is someone going to raise money. This IS America and money rules (right now).
I’m not starry-eyed. We’re only talking about electing a president; not a king. Like I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter if Jesus is in the White House, unless he’s backed by a major movement, the system is designed to stay status quo.
Why do Obama haters assume every one of his suppoters (apparently ignoring Kucinich) think if he’s elected we will have reached the promised land? Can’t it just be that some folks think: hey, one of these three is gonna be prez and of the three Obama presents the best hope for some kind of change, slim though it may be. Is that possible?
sg, Calm down, relax, collect yourself. Yesterday, you asked for “SOLUTIONS” and I took the time to offer you one. You may or may not have read it as the choice is yours.
Us “purist progressives” are used to losing because the average citizen is unwilling to do the right thing by voting for candidates willing to represent the 95% of us common people RichM mentions but are willing to vote for candidates whose main purpose is satisfying the needs of the 5%.
Unless the citizens prefer tyranny and the yoke of big brother around their necks NOTHING will change by voting for Republican Criminals and their Democratic Collaborators.
sg, Me again. I believed you just answered your own qustion moments ago.
“Americas problem is a lack of courage. Not enough people are willing to put their neck on the line, including me.”
That statement says it all!
You’re right, I need to calm down. Breathe. I apoligize but I meant every word I say (minus the harshness). And my inclusion of me not being willing to put my neck on the line just like the rest of coward America was a slight exaggeration. I’ve been involved in progressive activities; just not worth writing home about. I’m just in a funk over preaching to the choir-ness. It’s like, why don’t we take this shit to the ditto-heads, the sports bars, the gym. Nope, we’re afraid of them like they have some kind of power we don’t. Instead we treat youngsters and others who have managed to hold onto a modicum of hope like they were idiots. It’s sad, really.
sg, No need to apologize. You haven’t done anything wrong. We ALL have the same freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights under the U.S. Constitution and…the Declaration of Independence.
Read what I posted last night on SOLUTIONS. The longer the wait, the harder it becomes.
I hear ya, sg, I share the frustration and decades of outrage. I’m also anarcho-syndicalist in spirit, btw, even if it’s as far from being implemented as Warp Speed 9. I’ve been there for a long time and I’m fed up with the promises and hopes and dreams that it only ever seems the Democratic party has any legitimate bona fides to offer all us nobodies out here in Nobodyland, meaning anything outside the perimeters of Beltway Bullshit, Wall St. or the skyscraper enclaves of every major city. The rest of us are chicken butt.
And I’m afraid Obama isn’t going to steer this listing ship of imperialism anywhere his masters won’t permit, any more than any other Dem or Repug. If he will, then I await my political and spiritual transformation, from one of realistic, however embittered, cynicism to overdue astonishment, wonder and joyful surprise. I sincerely hope all the youthful cadres are right about Obama, but I wouldn’t want to, uh, hold my breath.
Wondering if you want to think again about your comment sg.
I’m thinking, if I had the button - I’d push the darn thing down so far it’d probably break my finger and sink the button into the console.
As for the millions of real lives, I’m afraid I could never work for Boeing, or Raytheon, or General Electric, knowing what they do. To me, a real soul has a slight edge over a “real life”. And, take a look at the “real lives” happening now, or the lost ones all over the planet, and New Orleans for instance.
My advice would be - push the button, and push it hard. The current model is doing real damage (and permanent, and accelerating). It’s push it, or die.
QUOTE
I have an anarcho-syndicalist vision but if I had a button that could take out corporate America and big government in one push, I wouldn’t do it. Why? Because millions of real lives are tied up in that and it would be immoral and irresponsible to just shit on folks caught up in the system just to be principled.
Braithwa842
You said it. I had always pictured Howard as a, excuse the terminology, a misguided asshole, and a BSBB (Bush’s Second Best Bumlicker). Obviously a well-educated man, but without a shred of real wisdom, or humanity.
Then again, I’m a NZ’er, perhaps biased.
for those of you still looking for the timeline,
a google search of “bush failures timeline” presents
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1539/
I wouldn’t vote for a “black guy.”
I wouldn’t vote for “a woman.”
But I’d vote for ANYONE, male or female, of any hue of the rainbow, if I thought they were honest, intelligent, compassionate and benevolent — and had even the slightest notion of what their fiduciary relationship to the People was about.
I think it’s wise, as someone once suggested, to judge a person not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.
I think it’s also wise to judge a person not by what they have between their legs, but by what they have between their ears.
Show me somebody who’s uncompromisingly truthful, is loyal to the Constitution, is willing to stand up for the welfare of even the least among us and has a history of doing good in the world, even if at substantial cost to himself, and I’d vote for them.
Even if it was a rich white guy.
Liberty & Justice,
SJ
www.spartacusjones.com