Comments Posted By Liberty60
Displaying 11 To 20 Of 29 Comments
'IQ OF A CELERY STALK?' WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT ONE?
Palin is similar to Obama in that they both spoke in vague terms, instead of wonkish policy-speak.
But Obama spoke of a desire to transcend partisan politics, to bridge our difference, to find common ground.
Vague platitudes? Sure.
But they are platitudes that everyone can believe in, and develop policy from, and build on. It is how he built a coalition of wildly diverse interests and identities, who wanted to create something in common.Palin'splatitudes are actually angry resentments- the evil Elites, the foolish Leftists, the "ones who don't see America the way you and I see America"
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 22.11.2009 @ 17:25
Her sentiments are the politics of exclusion, of class warfare in its most destructive manifestation.
HADLEY EMAILS DON'T 'PROVE' GLOBAL WARMING A CROCK
Funnyman touches on it, that to dismiss the notion that 6 Billion humans cannot possibly have an effect on the earth's climate is partisan hackery.
Science is never as "settled" as we would like to think. Even now there are arguments over what killed the dinosaurs, whether or not they were cold or hot blooded, etc.
What we the public have to do is to make policy based on the most reasonable assumption of risk and cost, based on the competing arguments.
right now, it seems to me the cost of changing our habits while massive, is still less than the potential effects of global warming.
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 21.11.2009 @ 22:30
COULD WE WIN IF WE HAD TO FIGHT WORLD WAR II TODAY?
Dunno if anyone here read Gary Allen's books from the 1960's. The two I remember were titled None Dare Call It Treason and None Dare Call It Conspiracy.
Both were wild John Birch Society screeds filled with conspiracy theories linking the Illuminatie, the Trilateral Commission, the Rockefellers, Du Ponts, Rothchilds, etc. They made Dan Brown look like a cautious wonk.
Expect the Tea Party press to begin cranking these out once again.
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 20.11.2009 @ 20:57
Steve- are you consciously quoting Gary Allen?
Just curious.
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 20.11.2009 @ 19:20
I seem to remember that very few Americans thought it was worth it to fight Hitler, or Tojo, until the invasion of Poland and Pearl Harbor. Hitler had been waging war on Europe for 2 years before we got involved, and Japan had been waging war in China for nearly a decade before Pearl Harbor.
As I recall from my history, Roosevelt had to perform a strenuous act of salemanship to convince Americans of the need and rightness of the war effort. Had Pearl Harbor not occured, its possible we may have remained neutral with respect to Imperial Japan.
It was after the war, that the popularity of isolationism was conveniently forgotten, and the myth sprang up that every man jack of them knew, just knew, that Hitler should have been stopped, and every one of us leapt to our feet and marched off to serve the cause.
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 20.11.2009 @ 19:19
A <em>ROGUE</em> REACTION: PALIN IS NO REAGAN
Dragon-
I take Palin seriously, if for no other reason, than there is a tremendous latent pool of rage today; we are in the worst situation since 1932, and the only ones getting better are the wall Streeters who got us here to begin with.I don't fault the Palinites for being angry; sometimes that is a good and useful tool. I fault them for not presenting a constructive avenue.
Specifically- Rod Dreher noted that Palin is a "conflicted populist"- she writes passionately about how Exxon screwed over the people of Alaska, and postures as the people's champion in bringing the corporation to heel.
yet on the next page, she chirpily claims that Big Business gets a bad rap in society.
Would Palin take on and break up the "too big to fail" banks on Wall Street? Doubtful.
She waxes enthusiastically about freedom, about the need for limited government; does she fear the enlargement of the Executive power, such as warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detentions, the suspension of habeas corpus?
I don't think so.
For all her populist rhetoric, how would a Palin Administration govern any differently than the GWB Administration? She is surrounded by the same coterie of advisors, and is backed by the same supporters.This is why I can't support the Tea Party, because they have this same conflict; they support and are friendly with the very same corporate interests that have worked against the people's interest; they support the very same enlargement of government power that makes a mockery of "limited government".
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 20.11.2009 @ 15:21
Rick touches on what I see as the core of Palin's limitations; its not her lack of knowledge, and as Dreher says, we don't expect a 12 point program on the Federal reserve;
But Palin- and Palin's fans- represent a deep anger, a populist resentment of anything outside of her demographic; its not a coincidence that her family and lifestyle are her main selling points; Because she herself IS the message- the courageous heartland mom who embodies the best of American values. By subtraction, you get a picture of who she does NOT represent- nonhunters, non-Christians, non-whites.She hasn't framed a vision of America that doesn't seethe with rage at the ever-shifting target of "elites"; instead of a vision of what she wants America to become, we get sniping of a vague and just-out-of focus group of evildoers, variously the media, corporations, regulators, immigrants. She is selling anger and resentment, not shared sacrifice and advancement.
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 20.11.2009 @ 13:15
PALIN AND HER SUPPORTERS IN A TIME WARP
Dragon @ 39:
"Cut taxes"...sweet Jesus. Seriously? Thats the universal, all purpose sure fire magic bullet Republican solution.
The layoffs are happening because businesses stopped getting clients, because no one is lending money now as a result of the Crash;
Cutting taxes on what little income businesses have now, isn't going to do squat.
Until the markets start running again, until money starts flowing through the system again, taxes could be zero, and nothing would happen.What irritates me, is not that she is proposing a solution that won't work; What irritates me is that the Republicans only have that one prhase, "Cut Taxes" that they use for every economic problem they face; they wave it around like a magic wand, like a talisman that wards off evil spirits; they use it without thinking, without reflection, just a repeated mantra.
And people like Rush swoon and say this is a "substantive policy answer".
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 19.11.2009 @ 12:19
This is why people say Sarah is anti-intellectual- its not that she doesn't have a Harvard degree- its not that she can't think- she just chooses not to- she prefers a tired hackneyed cliche to a serious thought.
" I’d rather have a vacuous, ‘do-nothing’ President than a savvy, Harvard-grad who uses every national crisis as an opportunity to reward special interests with programs and create new entitlements which increase the deficit."
Damn straight! Thats what I hated about Bush (Harvard MBA '75); he used the terrorist attacks to shovel billions in lucrative contracts to Halliburton. Then to top it off, he creates a new drug benefit entitlement which only balloons the budget deficit.
Wait- you DID mean Bush, right?
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 18.11.2009 @ 21:43
Optimus;
Actually, Reagan did NOT cut spending; he massively increased military spending while also cutting taxes. This combination of stimulus spending helped lift us out of recession, but increased the national debt astronomically.
Look at this graph of our national debt-
http://zfacts.com/p/318.htmlAs I pointed out, our taxes are already lower than during his terms; So another round of tax cuts won't help us.
Comment Posted By Liberty60 On 18.11.2009 @ 17:32
