Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Too Much Irony   Somehow this piece just touched so many issues that I have found to be particularly ironic lately that I had to blog it.   As I was waking up this morning listening to NPR I listened to Bob Dole (a Republican I have always admired) talking about civility in political discourse.  I had to google civility and politics.  Not only did I find his speech, but too many good articles to link to directly.  I think that I might need to add this to my list of common google searches.   I don’t know about you, but I support the idea that I don’t want my taxes going to support companies who outsource all the decent paying jobs overseas.  For a long time I worked really hard to ‘buy American’ even though that cost me more others who did not share my scruples.  Lately I have given up even trying because there is no way that one can tell if a product is even touched by American hands.  This is what free trade has gotten us I guess.  While the conclusion of this article tends to minimize the affect of outsourcing I would be willing to set up a tour of American rust belt communities for the people who do not see this trend as significant.   Adding a “what is good for the goose clause” to the prescription benefit proposal is indicative of how bad the idea really is.  No wonder that AARP is considering opposing it.   And finally, Wolfowitz lets Iraq’s neighbors know that they are not to mess with our new colony.   1:16:59 PM    Talk back! []

Thursday, May 01, 2003

An Interesting Article in the Nation   “Rolling Back the 20th Century” by William Greider   His contention in a nutshell is that Bush Co. and the other neoconservatives have as their goal to return America to the era of McKinley.  I am still thinking over all the implications of his article.   To be honest some of my thoughts about the need to reduce the influence of the Feds in all aspects of our daily lives have resonance.  However, the full scope on the America that I have come to know would not be something that I would want for my grandson.  Repression of everyone but the privileged classes is one of the hallmarks of America that McKinley represented.   I have been working at putting up into my blog the diary of my Grandfather.  He was born just after the civil war just as I was born after WWII.  I have to admit that I have been forever changed by reading his daily account of the problems that he had to overcome to have a family in those hard times where he was often separated from his wife and children for months.   Bush Co.’s nostalgia for this past history fails to account for the differences between the turn of the 21st century and the 20th.  During the turn of the last century we still had much of the West left to open up for expansion and resource extraction.  We no longer have that.  What we do have is the rest of the world.  Perhaps that explains the imperialist approach as exemplified in the documents prepared by the Project for the New American Century.   Another difference is that I do not believe that the American people will stand still for drastic income re-distribution.  While many of the programs of the New Deal did not live up to their promise, they did provide a good standard of living for the majority of Americans.  That standard of living is under threat by these Draconian measures that are being full court pressed by our current administration.  It will be interesting to see what comes from the battle over the tax cuts.  If Bush does not win his full measure of cuts I am sure that he will make that a campaign issue especially if the economy is even marginally starting to improve.   What is more troubling to me is that the issues are not open to debate.  Effective discussion in this country is deadlocked by ideological language differences.  If it does not end in some kind of violent revolution I will be surprised. 8:39:56 PM    Talk back! []

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

US Policy on Iraq a Moving Target?   Where we were going at 1:00 am April 22, 2003?   Watching the news aggregators from our most popular search engines is fascinating.  It would be fun to keep a log of them over time as they seem to document the official statements of Administration Officials, leaks, etc.  I think it is even possible to detect trends on issues by watching these headlines and stories.   Last night at 1:00 am I did a Google News Search on Iraq.  The trend that I picked up is that Bush is preparing to 'do a runner' on Iraq. Rumsfeld is no longer trying to prepare the American people for a long period of 'assistance' to help the Iraqi people set up their government. The INC has gotten its military training and is in place. I think it is possible that they have been set adrift as well given the fact that the military who has been training them does not seem to know of their existence. *boggle* As far as Chalabi goes he must be feeling pretty schizophrenic by now. Predicting things is always pretty damned tough. If we do pull out in the next few months I won't be surprised I guess. I expect we will be knee deep in some other conflict by then. We after all, do war best.   As of 1:36 pm April 22, 2003   The trend is pretty much around the issues of war reparations, dropping sanctions so that the oil money can be used for rebuilding Iraq, the rising influence of the Shiites in the formation of a new government.  There is also coverage of the progress made by Jay Gardner in getting social systems working in Baghdad.  Two Middle eastern papers have an interesting take on things as mentioned in an article from Dar Al-Hayat and one from Middle East Online.   All of the articles (not just the two mentioned above) are very interesting reading. 1:48:38 PM    Talk back! []

Sunday, April 20, 2003

Bamboozle Who?   Who are we trying to fool?  Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi proclaims himself the mayor of Baghdad.  The military spokesmen there claim to not know who he is.  Other sources state that he is part of the Iraqi National Congress and an aide to Chalabi.  Chalabi is a close associate with the Bush triumvirate (Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz).    Now it appears that the US military is in the process of training the military wing of the Iraqi National Congress. Who is it that we are trying to deceive?  The Iraqis will figure this out probably faster than the US population.  Sounds like Punch and Judy, no? 12:13:58 PM    Talk back! []

Saturday, April 19, 2003

Who is Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi?     According to many sources this individual proclaimed himself the mayor of Baghdad.    Many of the cited resources claim to not know who he is or how he came to be in Iraq or basically anything about him.  American officials seem to be disclaiming his authority.   He seems to have some money or at least whatever it takes in Baghdad to get a radio program going that is broadcasting anti-Saddam/pro-American information.   Others claim that he is an ‘aide’ to Ahmed Chalabi the head of the INC (Iraqi National Congress one of the exile opposition groups).  Mr. Chalabi has been the center of a fire storm of controversy over his connection with Bush insiders.  There has been speculation for many days that the Bush administration intends to set him up as interim leader of the ‘not-occupation’ government in Iraq. But there has been nearly as much denial of that by administration spokespersons.  It is all so very confusing.   That Chalabi was flown to Kuwait by US forces seems undeniable.  Was Zubaidi also a part of the INC contingent?  If we do not support Chalabi’s presence, how come we provided the air fare?   In my way of thinking it is probably in the best interests of the US to have a pro American government form in Iraq.    But the problem can be seen as circular in many ways.  Saddam himself was considered pro American pretty much up to the time he decided that he needed to get his own ‘pay’ for taking care of our little Iran problem and invaded Kuwait.   Can Americans really allow the people of Iraq to form their own government absent from our meddling to be sure that they “get it right”?  How does any country who has taken the bold step of invasion to accomplish regime change manage to support without being seen as meddling?  Somehow that idea of being hoisted on one’s own petard seems relevant again.   2:07:10 PM    Talk back! []

Friday, April 18, 2003

OK… Let Me Get This Straight   Bechtel is getting the contracts to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure.  This is the same Bechtel that the Iraqis named in their declaration as a source of their chemical weapons technology.   My-oh-my.  Isn’t that special. 12:39:06 AM    Talk back! []

Thursday, April 17, 2003

Liberalism Dead?   At 57 I have been political since I first saw a Buddhist monk immolate himself in Vietnam.  He and a few others managed to bring down the Diem regime by appealing to the compassion that exists in most people.  I saw how one person or a small group could "change the world".   I quested to find a place in several movements.  Worked for a bit with the Democrats in Seattle but found the group to be cliquish and the process devoid of anything other than expecting lockstep loyalty to what superiors were saying.  My knowledge for example of mid level bureaucracies was never tapped to help develop strategy to counter claims made against liberals (tax and spend being a good example).  I felt more like a cog in the machine than I did in almost any other social group I was involved with.  I kept holding up my hand but was never called on.   Counseling Nam vets was what I did best.    I opted to vote but not participate in party politics.  I saw my values trashed by people like Rush Limbaugh with nary an effective counter attack launched by liberals who seemed to be unable to concentrate on any set of core values and appeal to the grassroots for support.   Instead, I saw Democrats co-opted into big money politics.  I saw them taking money from the same interests that the Republicans did.  This choice further led to them being discredited.  That seemed to me to be a good GOP investment strategy.  The US spent the USSR into oblivion.  The GOP spent the Democrats into a cage.   Our population is aging.  My Baby Boomer demographic is not only the largest single group, but we tend to vote with higher percentages than others.  As a part of the natural aging process we are tending to become more conservative as we *gasp* solidify.   We need a Socratic approach it seems to me to address some issues:  While capitalism is the best system, why is it not creating the abundance for all that it purports to do? How can we shift the center of the political spectrum to pick up small to medium business people who are getting shafted along with most individual workers in this country but who seem to think that their best interests are represented by the GOP? How can we appeal to people’s real compassion for the marginalized groups in our country?  How can we counter the Reagan strategy of making them the problem instead of the victims of our failed economic system? We need to point out that instead of decreasing the size of the federal portion of our government; the Republicans are increasing it at a faster pace than ever. We need to counter the claim that what happened on 9/11 was an attack on the American people instead of an attack on the institutions that maintain the status quo of most individuals in the world.  This one will be the hardest I think. We must drop back and sacrifice some of our most cherished sacred cows to get out in front of arguments instead of being pulled along by them. We must learn to capitalize on the low voter turn out that has benefited the GOP. We must stop patronizing people who are marginalized.  They tend to see why liberal stereotypes have validity better than we do.  Can liberals rise out of the ashes?  I don’t know.  If we can not deal with these issues I don’t think so.   These are my thoughts and mine alone?  -  Marie L. Foster 11:14:47 AM    Talk back! []

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History by Thom Hartmann     The last three paragraphs read: “Today, as we face financial and political crises, it's useful to remember that the ravages of the Great Depression hit Germany and the United States alike. Through the 1930s, however, Hitler and Roosevelt chose very different courses to bring their nations back to power and prosperity. Germany's response was to use government to empower corporations and reward the society's richest individuals, privatize much of the commons, stifle dissent, strip people of constitutional rights, and create an illusion of prosperity through continual and ever-expanding war. America passed minimum wage laws to raise the middle class, enforced anti-trust laws to diminish the power of corporations, increased taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, created Social Security, and became the employer of last resort through programs to build national infrastructure, promote the arts, and replant forests. To the extent that our Constitution is still intact, the choice is again ours.” Read it all here. 10:40:26 PM    Talk back! []

Iraqi traditions and values   I was taken by this phrase (the Blog title) from a current news article concerning the discussions of the various parties about what they wanted to see in a new Iraq now that Saddam no longer has control.   It occurred to me that I do not really know what those values might be.  What I do know about Iraq has been filtered through many veils. Most of what I have read has been written by non-Iraqis.  While much of this information is very good.  I hope soon to be hearing more Iraqi voices talking about what they want to have in a post conflict Iraq.  And while I think that the ex-patriot voices have a place, I hope that they are secondary to people who stayed and suffered under Saddam's regime. 2:55:55 PM    Talk back! []

Back at the Ranch   The prez just changed the rules about how our own national heritage (our public lands) are to be protected from looters.  According to an article in the LA Times, written by Elizabeth Shogren, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) no longer needs to evaluate any piece of land that developers want to exploit for commercial purposes for their “wilderness qualities”.  I believe that this means that Bush et al believe that short term use of our heritage for mining, or drilling for resources is more important than preserving those areas that could have value as recreation areas or just for set aside for the future of our nation.  Since there is one piece of land in this country that I have an association with and a deep desire to protect I am feeling very sad over this.   I have requested from the Times the ability to reprint the article as you have to be a subscriber to read it on-line.  While the subscription is free, they will take information from you that they promise not to divulge to third parties and only subject you to adverts when you are on their pages.  In their defense on this, I have had a membership there for a long time and have never been subjected to any computer hijack activities.   If you are a member or wish to fill out the form to join you can read the article in its entirety here. 2:29:51 PM    Talk back! []

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Don’t you hate it when things just get untidy?   As Gomer Pyle on the Andy Griffith Show used to say….   SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!   We manage to occupy the Oil Ministry while the antiquities of our human heritage are carted off by looters.   ALERT! NEW CONSPIRACY THEORY! Art collectors of the world are behind the attack on Iraq!   President’s popularity surges back at home - well maybe not!   I feel dizzy. 1:12:46 PM    Talk back! []

Sunday, April 13, 2003

Unintended Consequences   As a social worker dealing with families in all kinds of stress situations I had to become as prescient as I could be to avoid them (unintended consequences that is).  My knowledge of the uncertainty principle came into play often as I tried to retain a balance between the members of my peer group who sided more to one end or the other of the spectrum of family autonomy versus child safety.   What are the unintended consequences of the action that our country has taken by attacking Iraq?  I can not wash my hands of the blood from the bodies of Americans and Iraqis because I said “don’t do It” as loud as I could or because I was ignored by those hell bent on some agenda that I am not even sure that they understand that they have.   Perhaps Iraq will deconstruct itself from the capricious and arbitrary boundaries that the European Colonial powers created there when the Middle East was ripe for conquest again.  We can speculate on this and ponder.  I just wonder if we really can let that happen.   There are apparently some other unintended consequences going on here.  Pat Buchanan is drifting left it appears.  Maybe we have reached some kind of tipping point? 9:34:49 AM    Talk back! []

© Copyright 2003 Marie Foster.