When Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), representative of the double consonant majority of New Hampshire, said the title of this blog he was speaking to history… not to the future.
But, and I’m sure it was a big one, BUT, he probably wasn’t planning on being in the minority any time soon.
I ask instead, when did Wal Mart gain the same rights as Walt Henry? Why does Conoco deserve better treatment than Conner Lavery? I don’t know. What I do know is that Wal Mart has more money than Walt and that Conoco more power than my cousin Conner. I do know that in the waning hours of of stupidity and foolishness, there will no doubt be a few Cassandras – a few oracles of reason – a few Americans who question if Murrow was right. If Murrow’s words still ring true. If “Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.” still means something.
You were asleep. It’s alright, so was I. When I got in my car at 6.30 the talk was of a speech that happened while the nation slept. It is mostly our habit to ignore anything that doesn’t happen within the time zones that encompass our nation but this time it happened to make the radio and I happened to hear it on NPR.
Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists. They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of different faiths — but more than any other, they have killed Muslims. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam.
This line struck me for many reasons but by far the most profound thought I had was I’ve never thought of it like that before. If there is one point that I’d wish people every where to hear, it is that point. I have had a little less than a dozen Muslim students pass through my classroom door and, other than the hajib they wear as a choice, they are as diverse as their peers. Some are quiet, some are leaders, some are thoughtful, and some don’t participate in class. I’ve always tried to reconcile the horrors of the world by thinking that not all Muslims are the same but I’ve never quite thought what the president said in Cairo.
Of all the things I want people to remember is that these extremists – these terrorists – aren’t waging war on America or the western world, they are waging a war on those who disagree with them, on the good and the sensible who wish for peace and prosperity. These people are Christian and Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist, Muslim and Atheist, but mostly they are people.
I could react to the Un-State of the Union and the Republican response but I’m not up for it and frankly my readers would rather hear other people talk about it I’m sure. In case you were wondering where the joke was in that sentence it was “my readers.” Everyone knows no one reads this blog for me.
The second video is particularly interesting. I have little or nothing against Bobby Jindal other than I don’t like the argument that government must suck because it has always sucked. That just sounds defeatist to me.
Smart people saying stuff:
Darn’t I can’t get a youtube video to Brooks and Shields from Jim Lehrer News Hour reacting to Obama. If you follow this link and click on the left dot in the bottom right of the video you’ll get that part of it. WHY MUST THE INTERNET BE SO HARD.
I can get them reacting to the Republican response though:
Brooks has always been billed as a conservative columnist but I’m guessing there are conservatives howling at his reaction as Progressive and Liberal. Meh, I disagree with him a lot but I think he’s smart and honest.
The Bearded Man has been removed from the wedding in case anyone was wondering.
Guuuuuuh.
That is what I have to say.
Hilary? Whatever, I don’t really care. Yes, I do care more about Foreign Policy than many of these other subjects but I think HRC will put an Iron Lady face on our FP so that might not be bad. I’d hate to get in an argument with her. I mean if she can neuter 42 she can probably take me.
The Auto Industry? Dunno. Honestly, I don’t. Every day I go back and forth. Five days ago I read an article that said let them go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 11 they can still make cars and yet have the protection of the government that will allow them to renegotiate certain deals. I was sold.
The next day I read an article that said something to the effect that while bankruptcy might seem like a good idea – it is what we made the airlines do – it won’t work. See the auto industry works on a loan system which won’t work under bankruptcy protection. They take out a loan, buy parts they need, build cars, sell cars, repay the loan. (Farmers do much the same thing bytheway.) Since the credit market is screwed though, this all comes to a grinding halt. If they can’t get loans, they can’t buy parts on credit, build cars, sell cars and even more damaging they take down the parts industry as well. I was sold – I didn’t like it but I was sold.
The next day I read an article that said no they will be able to survive under bankruptcy protection. Basically, it goes Forth and Back until I toss up my hands.
Instead, I’m going to dabble my toes in the walking-back-expectations pond. I may talk about this again later, but I wanted to just put it out there that we (on the left) should keep our “America’s going to change” rhetoric to a minimum. I don’t want to get into it now but changes happen in increments. One of the issues with America is that we’re screwed up because we expect results. Now. That’s why Iraq isn’t working like it might have. We were unwilling or unable to acknowledge initially that it would take a Herculean effort in Afghanistan and that hubris led us to attack Iraq. It will take forty years for either country to reach where we’d like it to be. With Team O winning in ‘08, people may think that the left should take what it can and give nothing back. I’m not one of them. I think that the goal over the next two years should be an incremental shift of the center, marginalizing the far right by creating distance between it and the dominant center.
Would I like to see radical shifts in the problematic sectors of the government? Uh, yeah. But I also think that Obama is going to be farther left personally than his administration will be forced to be. I’ll let you know at midterms in two years whether he should be going further with the second half. It is unfortunate but administrations get maybe 16 months before they have to start running again (Midterms). Then they get less than a year to breath deep and take on the other side. I want 8, 12, 16 years of smart Democratic rule. In eight years I’ll have a child I’m sure /gulp. I will quickly have to start looking out for his future. These next four mean nothing to me if in the following decade doesn’t go in our favor as well. I think that if Team O can get through some good looking reforms and gain seats in 2010 then they’ll have license to try to do something more dramatic.
I’ve read two books by Prof. Noam Chomsky and I probably should read about twelve more. Each of the books I read, I’ve found I needed to read twice -I did- because there seems to be such vision and depth that I know I am missing out on parts. In this video he talks about the lesser of two evils: Obama. When you have ten quiet minutes watch this. I say quiet because… well, its Noam Chomsky, man.
Next time something completely different: Your zombie survival plan. Don’t tell me you haven’t considered the alternative exits to your apartment.
What started out as T-Dizzle’s offhanded comment that “we should do something on election night” has snowballed into a /gulp themed election night get together.
So the night of the election we’ll be tuning into Bill O’Reilly crying at about 11.00 pm after having spent the night flipping channels, diverting ourselves with games and conversations, and surfing the Intertubes. The theme was not my idea I’d like to point out. I had just planned on taking the day after off so I could stay up until Ohio figured itself out (pronounced: 3 am). Then Back and Lady VanHart got involved and now it’s a Red, White and Blue theme. I guess I’m fine with that though because they intend on making food and I do not.
So, if you’re reading this and you already have our address, you are invited to the Corporate HQ of Forth and Back International. Unlike the last election, I hope to wake up happy the next day – seriously, my mother would not even let us say W’s name in the house for at least a month because she was so dissapointed.
I like watching ABC for the debates. Maybe I’m just a sucker for George Stephanopoulos since Sam Seaborn’s soaring rhetoric was rumored to have been written after him. That is not confirmed by IMDB.com though. Whatever, I like him.
Here are some of the many maps that follow the only 270 votes that really matter.
That is a grand average of: Obama 265.6 McCain 163 Toss-Up 109.4
This of course means next to nothing but it does give you a picture of the quickly decreasing time between now and the election. It seems that everyone is agreed on McCain’s states -odd really- and no one really agrees on Obama’s. While I’m sure there is a reason it is something to consider.
