|
 Monday, January 26, 2004
"Tacitus" [Daypop Top 40]
An extremely thoughtful posting from a conservative who is beginning to despair. One who recognizes that a strong legislative branch is needed to balance extremist Executives of either party. This is one of the better discussions by a grown-up from the conservative side. I have grown to like divided government, and feel that having a Congress and President of the same party often hurts rather than helps. 11:12:14 PM 
|
|
Shoot if You Must this Old Grey Head. Shoot if You Must this Old Grey Head - Paging Barbara Fritchie - they're after the Stars and Stripes again:... [Unqualified Offerings]
Get rid of the Stars and Stripes because it is reasonably independant. That will show them for publishing the facts and supporting soldiers rather than politicians. 10:48:50 PM
|
|
|
Internet as Political Force. Dan Gillmor writes in the aftermath of the Iowa caucuses and Howard Dean's third-place showing:
Anyone who doubts that the Internet is changing politics in major ways just isn't paying close enough attention.
Howard Dean and his campaign staffers have been this election cycle's innovators, even if the candidate has turned off many voters with his hot-headed rhetoric and style. They have used technology to raise money and to communicate with supporters, giving supporters an unprecedented role in running the campaign from the edges rather than campaign staff controlling it solely from the center. Their work, or least some of it, is a template for everyone else, now and in the future.
Look at Kerry's Web site . It has borrowed from Dean's campaign. There's a campaign Weblog, operated by a veteran of the blogging sphere. There's the link to Meetup.com, connecting supporters with each other in the physical world. There's the fundraising link, a phenomenon that goes back in presidential campaigns to Republican contender John McCain in 2000.
Today, every serious presidential candidate has a blog in addition to a Web site. Tomorrow, every serious candidate for any office will be using these online techniques, or at least some of them.
This is how the Web works: letting people emulate each other's tactics, folding the best new ideas into traditional platforms and messages.
For once, politics leads business in adoption of new technologies. [E M E R G I C . o r g]
This is why it was worth watching Dean. His campaign caught on quickly because of his innovative use of the INternet. Now all are trying to use the same technologies. It will forever change politics. But it will no tall of a sudden make everyone ethical, etc. But it is a different medium. Whereas TV hates 'hot' discourse, the Internet tolerates it very well. 10:45:44 PM
|
|
Bob Keeshan. Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan fought with Lee Marvin at Iwo Jima [Top Internet Urban Legends]
With his death this last week, Captain Kangaroo's WWII record has been making the rounds. Nice to get the true story. 10:22:40 PM
|
|
Marcus Dixon: 'A Teen's Legal Lynching'. Don't miss this moving column on the Marcus Dixon case in the Houston Chronicle by Marian Wright Edelman, President and... [TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime]
His crime was having sex with a white girl 3 years younger than him. A teenager having sex with another teenager results in a 10 year prison term. The jury thought it was a minor charge and were shocked to see a mandatory 10 year sentence handed down for something that is seldom ever tried. It is because of trials like this that African-Americans know they can not get a fair shake if they enter the justice system. Here was a boy with a 3.96 GPA headed to Vanderbilt on a full scholarship and with a 1200 SAT. If he had been white, he would be in classes in college, not in prison. It is why much of the Deep South is rightly viewed as worse than many Third World countries when it comes to the justice system. 10:07:38 PM
|
|
State Pot Case Taken Over by Feds. True Story: David Dean Davidson, 52, and Cynthia Barcelo Blake, 53, grew marijuana on their own property for their own... [TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime]
I love the part about getting their lawyers out of the way in order to get the feds in. This sort of subterfuge would not seem to be appropriate, but the PATRIOT Act gives the Feds all sorts of leverage. It is things like this that make so many DAs sound scummy. 9:57:30 PM
|
|
Connections. CONNECTIONS....I've come across several snippets of economic data/analysis recently that provide a surprisingly connected view of what's going on in the economy these days. This might get a little long [~] apologies in advance [~] but here are four data... [Calpundit]
A very well thought out examination of jobs in this economy. Not only are jobs not being created, but the ones that are still available are lower paying. There is a drive to the bottom when it comes to payroll, driven by outsourcing and Walmart. what happens when people are not paid enough to consume? After they have raised so much debt they can no longer keep the Ponzi scheme going? Henry Ford was a smart capitalist. He paid his workers a high wage because he recognized that unless people had the money to buy his cars, there would be no market for them. It seems that today's CEOs are forgetting this basic lesson. 9:39:26 PM
|
|
Kevin Drum Joins the Ranks of the Shrill. Kevin Drum has concluded that the Bush administration's policy toward Iraq could only be thought up by a creature lower than the belly of a snake: Calpundit: Terrorism and Elections: TERRORISM AND ELECTIONS....Apparently George Bush is now almost panicky in his desire to disengage from Iraq and get the UN in. The Washington Post reports today that at this point virtually any proposal from the UN will be entertained, but only under one condition:"The United States told us that as long as the timetable is respected, they are ready to listen to any suggestion," a senior U.N. official said.In other words, anything goes as long as we're out by June 30. The occupation has to officially end before next year's elections. There are, of course, many reasons that liberals generally didn't support the war in Iraq, but certainly one of them was the overwhelming partisan cynicism that the Bush administration brought to the task. Karl Rove made it clear that the war would be a perfect wedge issue for Republicans, Andy Card admitted that the "marketing" of the war resolution was deliberately timed, and now we discover that they really don't care much what happens to Iraq as long as... [Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]
This Adminstration's cynical manipulaton of the war, from its use to help Republicans during the midterm election, to its bolstering of Bush's popularity, to our planned exit strategy (a strategy that does not really care what happens in Iraq as long as we are out by June 30) will surely be an interesting study for future historuians. These people do not even try to hide their thoughts on these matters. They may be cynics but do ot appear to be totally hypocritical. 9:31:51 PM
|
|
Note: The Ten Americans Who Did the Most to Win the Cold War. Note: Here are the ten Americans who, in my view, did the most to win the Cold War: Harry Dexter White: Treasury Assistant Secretary* who was the major force behind the Bretton Woods Conference and the institutional reconstruction of the post-World War II world economy. He accepted enough of John Maynard Keynes's proposals to lay the groundwork for the greatest generation of economic growth the world has ever seen. It was the extraordinary prosperity set in motion by the Bretton Woods' System and institutions--the "Thirty Glorious Years"--that demonstrated that political democracy and the mixed economy could deliver and distribute economic prosperity. George Kennan: Author of the "containment" strategy that won the Cold War. Argued--correctly--that World War III could be avoided if the Western Alliance made clear its determination to "contain" the Soviet Union and World Communism, and that the internal contradictions of the Soviet Union would lead it to evolve into something much less dangerous than Stalin's tyranny. George Marshall: Architect of victory in World War II. Post-World War II Secretary of State who proposed the Marshall Plan, another key step in the economic and institutional reconstruction of Western Europe after World War II. Arthur Vandenberg: Leading Republican Senator from... [Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]
A very interesting list and one sure to spark some discussion. 9:26:05 PM
|
|
Almost Feeling Sorry. Almost. South Knox Bubba writes that he almost feels sorry for those who believed the Bush administration's claims about Saddam Hussein's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons program, and who expected David Kay to vindicate them. Almost: South Knox Bubba: I almost feel sorry for them... ...sort of like rubes at a sideshow who get conned into paying fifty cents to see the "Amazing Two-Headed Beast" only to find a deformed pig fetus in a thirty-year-old jar of formaldehyde once they're inside:Pejman Yousefzadeh: I think that Kay is going to prove invaluable in resolving the question about WMD's. JunkYardBlog: The Kay report contains a reference to botulinum toxin, and the fact that investigators found a live vial of it in the home of an Iraqi scientist. Botulinum is in fact a weapon of mass destruction--it's the most poisonous known substance. [...] So we have found a WMD in Iraq. We will probably find more. It remains for the world to realize what this means.InstaPundit: DAVID KAY ON MEDIA COVERAGE: ...David Kay also said, "We're going to find remarkable things" about Iraq's weapons program. Funny that this gets so little attention.Bill Hobbs: WMD: The Hunt for the Truth: South Knox Bubba says I'm... [Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]
People who believed this Adminstration's claims of WMD do not require any pity. They were hoodwinked, just as the Congress was. Planting the seed of mistrust in the decisions of the Executive branch, decisions that result in people dying, is the greatest tragedy of tis Administration. Claiming pre-emptive war when there was no WMD to justify the claim simply demonstrates that this Adminstration can justify going to war against ANYONE at anytime. I am sure that makes the rest of the world feel safer. 9:25:35 PM
|
|
|
|
|
