Op-Ed
Sanora Babb died on Dec. 31, aged 98. Harry Magdoff died on New Year's Day, at 92. Frank Wilkinson died a day later, at 91.
My line has always been that to get really old it pays to have been a Commie or at least a fellow traveler. In younger years they tended to walk a lot, selling the party paper. They talked a lot and, above all, they never stopped thinking. The quickest way to kill someone is to send them off to quasi-solitary, torn from their comfortable nest and thrown into a nursing home or into managed care, where people talk about them at the tops of their voices, referring to them in the third person. You can see them dying before your eyes, their brains turned to mush. It takes about a year to kill them off, unless a "surprise birthday party" wipes them out even earlier.
Trotskyists tend to be more feverish and stressed out, hence less likely to turn the bend into their 90s. As for Maoists (over here), I don't know. As Chou En Lai answered, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, Too soon to tell. The ex-Maoists I know are mostly still in their mid-60s.
My line has always been that to get really old it pays to have been a Commie or at least a fellow traveler. In younger years they tended to walk a lot, selling the party paper. They talked a lot and, above all, they never stopped thinking. The quickest way to kill someone is to send them off to quasi-solitary, torn from their comfortable nest and thrown into a nursing home or into managed care, where people talk about them at the tops of their voices, referring to them in the third person. You can see them dying before your eyes, their brains turned to mush. It takes about a year to kill them off, unless a "surprise birthday party" wipes them out even earlier.
Trotskyists tend to be more feverish and stressed out, hence less likely to turn the bend into their 90s. As for Maoists (over here), I don't know. As Chou En Lai answered, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, Too soon to tell. The ex-Maoists I know are mostly still in their mid-60s.
We've all heard the line. "That would make us look weak on national security." That line is supposed to be based on public opinion, not just the opinions of media corporations and pundits working for Pentagon-funded think tanks. That line is supposed to have something to do with the general American public. But it does not.
Take a look at this survey from last spring by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (University of Maryland): http://tinyurl.com/8jzp5
According to this data, the largest cut by far that most Americans would make in federal discretionary spending is in the military budget, which they would cut by nearly a third. In particular, majorities favor reducing spending on the capacity for conducting large-scale nuclear and conventional wars. Next on the list of cuts after the "defense" budget? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most Americans believe that spending on economic and humanitarian aid is much higher than it is, and yet they want it increased significantly. Most Americans favor multilateral approaches to security.
Take a look at this survey from last spring by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (University of Maryland): http://tinyurl.com/8jzp5
According to this data, the largest cut by far that most Americans would make in federal discretionary spending is in the military budget, which they would cut by nearly a third. In particular, majorities favor reducing spending on the capacity for conducting large-scale nuclear and conventional wars. Next on the list of cuts after the "defense" budget? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most Americans believe that spending on economic and humanitarian aid is much higher than it is, and yet they want it increased significantly. Most Americans favor multilateral approaches to security.
AUSTIN -- It takes a Texas Republican to get that fine, hairline reading on the ethical sensitivity scale we all prize so highly. Thus, it comes as no surprise that a couple of six-packs of Texas Republican congressmen have signed up to endorse Rep. Roy Blunt, Tom DeLay's chosen successor, in the House leadership fight. Glad to see they're taking this ethical stuff seriously.
Why else support a man of whom the director of CongressWatch observes, "[His] tenure in Congress has been marked by exchanges of favors between himself and special interests, and a deep embrace of lobbyists. He is an architect of today's sleazy, big-money politics, not the agent of change that Congress so desperately needs right now to regain credibility with the public." Just the man for our delegation.
Why else support a man of whom the director of CongressWatch observes, "[His] tenure in Congress has been marked by exchanges of favors between himself and special interests, and a deep embrace of lobbyists. He is an architect of today's sleazy, big-money politics, not the agent of change that Congress so desperately needs right now to regain credibility with the public." Just the man for our delegation.
We celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His dedication and his vision, expressed in word and deed, inspire generation after generation. “I have a dream” will be heard in classrooms across America. School children and TV specials will remind us of his vision of an America in which we would judge others on the quality their character, not the color of their skin. President Bush will add his praise on Dr. King’s birthday. But we should not airbrush Dr. King for public viewing. Dr. King had a dream, but he was just not a dreamer. He was a poetic orator, but he was not just an orator.
Remember me, Dr. King said, as a “drum major for justice.” He was arrested, stoned, knifed, wiretapped, scorned and hated during his life. Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover loathed King, and the Bureau sought to discredit him even after his death.
Remember me, Dr. King said, as a “drum major for justice.” He was arrested, stoned, knifed, wiretapped, scorned and hated during his life. Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover loathed King, and the Bureau sought to discredit him even after his death.
No matter what you think of George W. Bush, he is staking out his claim as a bona fide Horseman of the Apocalypse.
With his Hand of Hell in Iraq already yielding countless dead, $200 billion wasted and a global war against Islam well on its way to Armageddon, Bush has definitively established his ability to wreak unparalleled disaster on a global scale with zero positive outcome.
By drowning New Orleans and turning its alleged rebuilding plan into a sinkhole of corruption and disarray, he has shown he can lay waste to an entire American city.
And now he is visiting disease and death on tens of millions of our elderly and ill with a botched Medicare/Medicaid drug plan that has plunged the nation's pharmacies into total chaos while driving the states even closer to bankruptcy. As you read this, millions of Americans are without medications that may be life-sustaining because of what Bush has done to "improve" their pharmaceutical plan.
One can only shudder at what might come next.
There have, of course, been lesser catastrophes, or ones whose long-term devastation is primarily political.
With his Hand of Hell in Iraq already yielding countless dead, $200 billion wasted and a global war against Islam well on its way to Armageddon, Bush has definitively established his ability to wreak unparalleled disaster on a global scale with zero positive outcome.
By drowning New Orleans and turning its alleged rebuilding plan into a sinkhole of corruption and disarray, he has shown he can lay waste to an entire American city.
And now he is visiting disease and death on tens of millions of our elderly and ill with a botched Medicare/Medicaid drug plan that has plunged the nation's pharmacies into total chaos while driving the states even closer to bankruptcy. As you read this, millions of Americans are without medications that may be life-sustaining because of what Bush has done to "improve" their pharmaceutical plan.
One can only shudder at what might come next.
There have, of course, been lesser catastrophes, or ones whose long-term devastation is primarily political.
In the wake of the Alito hearings, mainline pundits are calling his nomination a done deal. Alito didn’t spew obscenities or green bile. He didn’t admit that he’d reverse Roe v. Wade or vow to proclaim George Bush Lord Emperor. Rehearsed and coached by committee member Lindsay Graham (and by some of the same lawyers who justified Bush’s NSA wiretaps), he instead spoke deferentially and humbly about respecting legal precedent and separation of powers, while Republican committee members made him out to be a mix of Solomon and Mother Teresa. Much like Clarence Thomas during his hearings, Alito dodged the tough questions with evasions and platitudes, suffered convenient memory lapses on areas he couldn’t dodge, and justified controversial past stands by saying he was just trying to be a team player. We know little more about him than before--except about his capacity to dissemble.
In the wake of the Alito hearings, mainline pundits are calling his
nomination a done deal. Alito didn't spew obscenities or green bile. He
didn't admit that he'd reverse Roe v. Wade or vow to proclaim George Bush
Lord Emperor. Rehearsed and coached by committee member Lindsay Graham (and
by some of the same lawyers who justified Bush's NSA wiretaps), he instead
spoke deferentially and humbly about respecting legal precedent and
separation of powers, while Republican committee members made him out to be
a mix of Solomon and Mother Teresa. Much like Clarence Thomas during his
hearings, Alito dodged the tough questions with evasions and platitudes,
suffered convenient memory lapses on areas he couldn't dodge, and justified
controversial past stands by saying he was just trying to be a team player.
We know little more about him than before--except about his capacity to
dissemble.
From Sheila Parks:
I have just come from a meeting with two Kennedy aides - about Alito. This is about a filibuster. We must get enough Democratic votes for a filibuster. Everyone in each state must work on their Senator - those that voted for Roberts. Call, email, visit, etc., etc., etc. Those up for election are especially vulnerable (of course, this precludes the e-voting machines).
Two free numbers for D.C Capitol Switchboard: 1-866-340-9281 and 1-866-340-9279
EVERYONE SHOULD CALL FEINSTEIN IN CA. SHE IS ON THE COMMITTEE. Everyone should call Feingold - (this from us: 202-224-5323 - or the above numbers. As far as working on the Repubs, there is always Chafee, Snowe and Collins, but working on the Dems is better.
CHOICE IS THE KEY ISSUE we were told
From Stephanie Low:
New Yorkers, in addition to the request below, join the phone banks at PFAW this week and next. Call Tony Simone at 212 420 0440 and tell him you can come in with your cell phone to call people to lobby their reps against Alito. Thanks!
I have just come from a meeting with two Kennedy aides - about Alito. This is about a filibuster. We must get enough Democratic votes for a filibuster. Everyone in each state must work on their Senator - those that voted for Roberts. Call, email, visit, etc., etc., etc. Those up for election are especially vulnerable (of course, this precludes the e-voting machines).
Two free numbers for D.C Capitol Switchboard: 1-866-340-9281 and 1-866-340-9279
EVERYONE SHOULD CALL FEINSTEIN IN CA. SHE IS ON THE COMMITTEE. Everyone should call Feingold - (this from us: 202-224-5323 - or the above numbers. As far as working on the Repubs, there is always Chafee, Snowe and Collins, but working on the Dems is better.
CHOICE IS THE KEY ISSUE we were told
From Stephanie Low:
New Yorkers, in addition to the request below, join the phone banks at PFAW this week and next. Call Tony Simone at 212 420 0440 and tell him you can come in with your cell phone to call people to lobby their reps against Alito. Thanks!
One of the heroes of My Lai died a few days ago, dislodging the old horrors and a fleeting national debate the world is begging us to reopen.
Are we the good guys? Is God on our side?
"We kept flying back and forth, reconning in front and in the rear, and it didn't take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere. Everywhere we'd look, we'd see bodies. These were infants, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever."
This story only gets worse. It took almost two years before a full-scale investigation got underway and the American public slowly became aware of what helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson happened upon on March 16, 1968: a wanton slaughter of Vietnamese civilians, being carried out by American troops.
"I think a count has been anywhere from two to four hundred, five hundred bodies. . . . I think that's a small count," Thompson, who died of cancer on Jan. 6, related during a My Lai symposium at Tulane University in 1994. He and his two-man crew stood in for the American conscience on that day.
Are we the good guys? Is God on our side?
"We kept flying back and forth, reconning in front and in the rear, and it didn't take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere. Everywhere we'd look, we'd see bodies. These were infants, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever."
This story only gets worse. It took almost two years before a full-scale investigation got underway and the American public slowly became aware of what helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson happened upon on March 16, 1968: a wanton slaughter of Vietnamese civilians, being carried out by American troops.
"I think a count has been anywhere from two to four hundred, five hundred bodies. . . . I think that's a small count," Thompson, who died of cancer on Jan. 6, related during a My Lai symposium at Tulane University in 1994. He and his two-man crew stood in for the American conscience on that day.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Boy, you really can't take your eyes off this bunch for a minute, can you? If they're not screwing up one thing, then they're screwing up another -- busy little beavers. And then there are the administrative nightmares they have created all by themselves: The new Medicare prescription-drug benefit is such a disaster area, four states took it over in less than a week just to make sure poor people received their drugs.