…things are still not going swimmingly:
Three days of fierce fighting have convulsed Pakistan’s tribal areas and exposed what tribal elders, politicians and local officials concede is the government’s lingering paralysis in dealing with the threat from Al Qaeda and Taliban militants spilling out of the region.
The fighting, the heaviest in more than four years, has left at least 45 Pakistani soldiers dead as pro-Taliban militants and foreign fighters mount a vengeful campaign on all law enforcement in the area.
The clashes come on top of months of deteriorating security after the militants tore up peace agreements with the government in July. Since then, more than 250 members of the security forces have been killed in sustained attacks, the highest losses since the 1970s.
The upheaval underscores complaints by a range of officials that the government has been so absorbed in securing the re-election of Gen. Pervez Musharraf as president that it allowed the security threat to go unchecked.
Even after General Musharraf’s re-election on Saturday, parliamentary elections and wrangling between the president and an incoming civilian government could allow the situation in the tribal areas to drift even further, they warn….
Western officials, meanwhile, insist that if left alone, the militants and their Qaeda allies are more dangerous, because they can exploit the freedom of movement and the territory to train and plot more attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan and even farther abroad.
The lack of focus and leadership in the government has left the police, bureaucrats, tribal officials and the military reluctant to act, Mr. Shah said, even in the face of increasingly brazen assaults. Clashes are reported almost daily, he said, and the attacks are almost always initiated by the militants.
“They are definitely reactive, not proactive,” a Western defense official said of the Pakistani military, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Pakistani Army still has a long way to go in training and adopting a new counterinsurgency doctrine, another Western military official added.
The militants and their Qaeda allies have taken advantage of the disarray to spread their attacks and influence on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border….
Feeling safer? Me neither. Someone tell me again what a great job the Bush Administration is doing with national security, foreign policy and military strategery and long-term intel ops.
(Photo by Manuel Balce Cenata/AP via DailyTexan.)
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Christy!
Hello?
Number three.
And over at Digby, there is a discussion about the strife between the Turks and Kurds. Sunnis and Shiites, Turks and Kurds, Al Queda and Taliban, Pakistan and Afghanistan–wow! Heckuva job, Shrub!
Sadly, I suspect endless war was their goal,though. And it appears they are getting what they wanted.
I’ve said before that Pakistan might blow up. The uneasy alliance that Musharraf has set up with Benezir Bhutto will not last. The judiciary and military are somewhat at loggerheads. And the tribal areas will remain porous for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to continue to flourish.
All the while BushCo continues to be distracted by Iraq.
The shrub’ites are doing a great job of stealing. And wrecking the government so badly the next group of folks in charge will have a tough time of disproving their ‘government is inherently bad’ dogma.
Sounds like the US in 2002, 2004, 2006. Reelection uber allis.
BushCo knows very little about national security, foreign policy, military strategy or long-term intel.
They are the immediate gratification cabal. All the above referenced require thinking beyond two days.
Bush “I just don’t spend that much time on him” in refering to Osama Been Forgotten. God I loathe Bush and everything he stands for.
Things are turning to shit to the west of Afghanistan; more neo-con creative destruction?
link
Biodun @ 5
Bushco is distracted by his shiny shoes.
I’m feeling safe from terrorists in the ME. I’m not feeling safe from the thugs in the police, FBI, NSC, Secret Service, CIA and private security firms.
The islamists who are arming themselves are not interested in Wheeling or Washington, or Wyoming. They have no interest in coming here and making me miserable or running the school system or the court system as a sharia miracle of wisdom.
Islamists don’t care about me, you or the USA. But don’t go telling them how to live their lives or prop up some fascist to oppress them.
We are hated over there because what we do OVER THERE. They could care less about you Christy or Peanut or Mr Redd or Jane or Pach or even TRex. They just don’t care.
We need to get our foreign policy decoupled from resource plundering transnational corporations and use our military to support access to resource extraction
We would hate Islamists coming over after our West Virginia Coal, or a waves of grain. We’ed fight them if they built huge bases here, if they set up road blocks or out up security walls and check points. We’ed fight them here.
There is nothing to fear but the fascists right here in the USA national security state. And they were elected and appointed.
End this insanity.
Back to war with Eastasia again. We’ve always been at war with Eastasia, haven’t we?
Look! Here come the prisoners now!
Biodun @ 5
IIRC you and I commented a few weeks ago that Pakistan was at full boil and ready to blow. The lid is just about off.
OT..I’m shocked!!
link
SanderO @ 12
Amen.
SanderO @ 12
You mean…but wait…don’t they hate us for our freedom?
if you want to go quickly travel alone
if you want to go far travel together
if you want fuck Bush both near and far?
foreign policy?
Sander — I have quite a few friends who work for the police, FBI and other agencies who are decent, honorable people who work veryhard to uphold the laws and the Constitution and who work their asses off to keep all of us safe. Try not tarring all of them with the Bush Administration brush, thank you.
weeelll.. if you’re shrub and you exist primarily on Orwellian permanent war, then this may be a cup-is-half-full situation. If Pakistan falls to Islamic radicals and becomes Taliban:the Sequel, then we get to fight yet another war… and another, and another…
The terrorists are already in the USA, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
This administration leaks, for purely political purposes, the names of covert CIA agents and sources for espionage networks and expects us to believe they’re tough on terror?
No, instead they attack sick kids, actual war veterans, and the mothers of people killed on 9/11.
That man in the photo above disgusts me. Always has.
Can we stop with this craziness that we have to get Al Quada because they attacked us on 9.11.
There is no proof of that.
US interests have been attacked overseas… even warships!
Why do we have warships overseas? Are we in a naval war?
We have propped up oppressors around the world. I can’t even name them all… Pinochet, Marcos, Rehza Pahlavi, Mobuto Sezi Seko, De Clerk, all the dictators in latin America, except Castro and Chavez.
And now in Ubekistan. Our record is one where the people of the world see US as their opressors. Our guns, our tanks, our bombs, our planes.
We really need to re think this super power meme. It’s not helping.
let’s also consider what Pakistan is:
Pakistan – population 170 million
620,000 regular active troops, 600,000 combat reserves
Biodun @ 5
I recommend the Asia Times on this subject, and on American foreign policy, generally:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/S…..1Df01.html
Blub @ 20
Taliban:the Sequel..with operational nukes and delivery systems…I see a replay of Iran…I remember when Reza Pahlavi was our BFF, just like Pervez Musharraf.
Christy,
Not all people who are in the police etc are “evil”. But there are plenty of cops who are nasties. You must have heard about Diallo, Dorismond, Louima, Eleanor Bumpers, Michale Stewart.. all killed in cold blood or attacked while defenseless by people wearing badges.
I’m not too fond of Mr Safir who headed the NYPD either, or Mr Meuller.
How about you?
DO we need cops, FBI and an army? We sure do. But we need a clean honorable and honest one who respect human rights and the constitution.
SanderO @ 25
Actually, I think that AQ IS a threat to us, and to most other countries as well.. and, as a loosely connected network of motivated radicals, they’re a huge wildcard in world affairs. The world would’ve been a much safer place, and countries like Pakistan would be much more stable, had the allied powers gone after them with any degree of consistency and resolve after 9/11, or better yet after the Kenyan embassy bombings, and drove them to ground.
Instead, we fabricated grounds for invading Iraq and tried to pick a fight with most of Islamic world — ironically, the countries most threatened by AQ… by our actions, the US had done more to empower and proliferate AQ and the beliefs behind it than if we had simply funded ‘em directly and given ‘em an embassy.
I am sure there are actually decent republicans too. But the majority are selfish self absorbed, hateful creeps. And the decent ones ought to get out of that club or be contaminated.
I shall know you by the company you keep.
I’m fascinated by the return of Benezir Bhutto to Pakistan. Wasn’t she deposed and exiled for corruption? Can’t help thinking that her return bodes ill for stability there, but I have no special knowledge to back up that statement.
Sander — True. But saying “I’m not feeling safe from the thugs in the police, FBI, NSC, Secret Service, CIA and private security firms.” is an inaccurate broad brush. And I’m not going to sit by and watch you use it without commenting.
Because I used to work side by side with these folks, and know how many of them risked their lives for public safety. I know what it was like to re-up my NRA certification for a conceal carry permit because of threats to my safety from people that I prosecuted. So you’ll have to pardon me if I find that sort of statement not so easy to just let fly by…
SanderO @ 31
lemme know when you find one. perhaps if had a time machine…
AQ is a response to conditions in their countries.
Take Iraq. There was no AQ there at all. But what happened is the USA and the coalition acted like arrogant assholes and people began fighting back. The name of the rebels is not important.
You stick your fist into a beehive and you gonna get stung.
Revolutionaries exist all over because there are people who are not happy with the status quo and feel that armed struggle is their only option.
We did it in the revolutionary war.
The French did it when they stormed the Bastille.
Revolutions are reactions to oppression… aren’t they?
Blub @ 33
“In a galaxy far, far away…”
Blub at 33 — I happen to be related to several. Jeebus, we’ve become an awfully quick to stereotype and generalize bunch today. What is up with that?
Christy Hardin Smith @ 36
sorry.. just angry at rethugs at the moment. I’m sure many decent people are members of the republican party.. but I have yet to find a single decent Republican who actually holds elected office or position in the party.
Christy your point is well taken. And I love you and FDLer with a passion.
I did say the thugs IN xyz and I meant that there were thugs within all the security establishments which are a problem. There are also great dedicated honorable soldiers, cops and so forth. My father was one of them.
But we need to call a spade a spade and stop washing all security establishments with that golden light of patriotism.
You get lovely soldiers like Erik Prince eh? Special Forces… blah blah blah. The darling of the right now. How many good soldiers do you think he has? How many rotten apples?
We must not let the Republicans back in the WH in 2008. World peace (additional wars), justice (accountability and future possible appointments to the SCOTUS) and most importantly, our children and their children (global warming) are at stake.
Well, I’ve noticed that lately, the language has been getting a bit rough and angry, not just at FDL, but all over. Even dear Digby’s blog. Maybe we all ought to take a time out and sit in meditation for a day. Smell the pumpkins or something. Take binoculars outside and look at the moon for an evening.
It’s hard to maintain calm when you see the fascists hitting on children, I think that got to me.
Blub @ 37
Try this guy. Pete McClosky.
Christy we talk in shortcuts and stereotypes. It’s handy.
I treat all people with dignity until they prove to be creepy. I even assume cops are OK, but most are power freaks in my decades of experience.
Maybe I meet all the bad cops?
Related …
Plus: Easy to understand graphic for the cognitively challenged – i.e. Faux “News” watchers
Well, it seems to me that things are going perfectly according to plan.
Well maybe not perfectly. Enough people are dying or fleeing Iraq that the neo-cons are having to resort to Plan B to keep up the perpetual war profiteering.
No problem though. Plan B is a relatively simple matter to get going. We knew this day would come, which is why we allowed Osama bin Emanuelle Goldstein to escape to Pakistan in the first place.
Anyone who tells you that Bush and Co. don’t know what they’re doing. Or that they are utter failures at foreign policy are just naive. They know exactly what they’re doing, and everything is going according to plan — more or less.
Elliot Richardson, William Rukeslhaus and John Sirica are but three I really, really look up to. When you have good people in government, you have good government.
The right wing took the kid gloves off and put on the brass knuckles. The left sounds like they are chatting in a debating club.
We are in trying times. We can lose it all if we don’t fight back.
In fact we ARE losing it all. We hardly have anything resembling a democracy or a bill of rights.
Okie how about some living repubs aside from John Dean…
Even Bloomberg the billionaire bailed on the the elephant.
Pakistan tribesmen bury dead
Unofficial ceasefire follows killing of up to 250 people in fighting in Waziristan.
http://english.aljazeera.net/N…..588E94.htm
newtonusr @ 41
Just so you know, he re-registered as a Dem.
Small world. Last year when I went canvassing for Charlie Brown, the person I was paired up with turned out to be Pete McCloskey’s Niece. Had a nice conversation with her
I think it’s also useful to point out that the Republican Party is a political party, not an ethnicity or cultural group. It’s a group of people who associate voluntarily with a set of ideals which are, by any civilized measure, repugnant. Sure, there are probably Republican registered people who just haven’t gotten arond to burning their membership cards, but these aren’t the ones I’m talking about. If I said today, “I am a proud Republican”, by definition that means I support and affirm the policies and values of Mel Martinez and Mike Duncan (my elected organizational heads) and probably the president as well. If I don’t, then I should quit or be ousted.
So I guess, upon consideration, I don’t agree with Christy. Either we reject categorically the Republican Party and what it stands for or we’re sitting on the fence. You cannot be a member of a voluntary-association political party and somehow escape being tagged with allegience to its core policies and values.. and, right now, those core policies and values are about hate, theft and depravity.
john in sacramento @ 43
lol, I don’t watch POX but find these visuals helpful!
john in sacramento @ 49
Thanks. And while a Republican, widely admired in my house and my Cong. district (Leo Ryan, Lantos).
newtonusr @ 41
Mr. McClosky has been one of the good guys for a mighty long time.
How can you call this a democracy when the right of habeus corpus is tossed aside, when the 4th amendment is not in effect, when elections are stolen, when criminals are pardoned for political reasons, when laws are not enacted because the executive doesn’t want to, when wars are fought without the consent of congress or the people?
democracy… ha?
The Progressives are showing their spine…!!!
By Greg Sargent – October 10, 2007, 1:57PM
I’ve just learned that nearly 90 members of the House of Representatives have now added their names to a letter to the President pledging not to vote for any more funding for the war and only to vote for supplementals that fully fund withdrawal and nothing else.
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/…..nd_war.php
@ 48
There’s something about having a truce to bury the dead that’s haunting. Then the killing starts again? What a sad story, TexB.
SufiLizard @ 42
They are evil dumbasses. It’s definately a combination of both deliberate plotting and utter utter bafoonery.
SanderO @ 47
Are you referring to me?
SanderO – I know you’re not telling pups that America is dead, that there is no government left, to jump off a cliff. But your prescription is, well, what?
We don’t do violence and threats here, like some Goopers. We don’t intimidate families and outright fabricate shit. We’re not going to be self-destructive and blame it on the “other”. And if we are to be true to our own moral compasses, we never will.
So, what have you got that fits in to this blueprint?
Peterr upstairs on the Peacemakers
SanderO @ 46
And Sam Ervin and Lowell Weicker and Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski, etc., etc., etc. Why does it seem that there were so many people of integrity back then and so few today comparatively.
The attitude expressed by SanderO is what I’ve been talking about for a couple of days. Although I can certainly understand why s/he is willing to paint all republicans with such a broad brush, I’ve been caught thinking that way on many occasions, I think we have to be careful as to how we react to the evil that seems to be all around us. One of the things I like about the left, progressives, whatever you want to call yourself, is we’re not afraid to call someone out for doing bad things even if that someone is a dem. It seems all republicans put party before country. This is of course not true, but it is easy to generalize. But I’d like to think that most dems put country before party. And I see that here, so my beliefs are reinforced.
I can certainly understand how SanderO would say things about all republicans and all police. But I agree with Christy that we can’t become that which we despise on the other side. Republicans exist. In order to create a country, or even a world, that we want, we must live and work with them. We must recognize that there is some good in everyone (well, except for people like Bush and Cheney of course).
OK, as I say, just my opinion. And again, I understand the outrage we all feel on occasion. Thanks for listening.
The Washington Past reports that the recent Bin Laden video was released by the Bush Administration-not Al Qaeda. A private “intelligence” company SITE, Search for International Terrorist Entities, is run by Rita Katz, an Isr**li citizen. This company claims they secretly obtained the video. Two senior Bush officials promised to not release it, but within minutes, it was released. Then a day later, a company linked to
Al Qaeda also released it. Supposedly, a secret channel to Al Qaeda was revealed and now this access is lost.
There are a number of problems about this story that questions its credibility. 1) Even the Freepers admit that the Bin Laden video is an obvious forgery. 2) How would a private company get it, run by an Isr**li, before the US Intelligence. 3) The Bushies do
not casually or accidentally release Bin Laden videos, yet this was released within minutes. 4) Why is nothing known about “a distribution company linked to al-Qaeda”.
The great battle of Civilization versus the great evil doers, Al Qaeda, seems more and more fradulent. There is no evidence that Al Qaeda is anything more than a front by the Saudis and US neocons, to create a war. The great struggle against Al Qaeda has been either a failure or a farce. Al Qaeda is just a few criminals and spies, who somehow manage to frighten the weenies in DC. Their war profits increase and our civil liberties decrese.
Blub @ #50,
American political parties all have their shortcomings. The GOP is full of them. But the forces pushing the GOP to the right year after year aren’t dissimilar to those pushing the old guard and DC elite of the Dems to the right year after year. I know several people trying to change the GOP from within. They are all more conservative than me, especially on social issues. But like those of us attempting to reform or vitalize any American political party toward honesty, reality and utility from within, we have more in common with GOP reformers than we do with the leadership of our respective parties.
Ed*ard Teller @ 64
Thank you for saying in much better fashion what I was trying to say.
Ed*ard Teller @ 64
I guess I just don’t agree with this view. Who are we talking about here, Chuck Hagel who may oppose the war but whose views on social policy — which are, frankly, much more important to me than our foreign policy — would make our country into something the Taliban would be proud of? Ron Paul, who lives in a libertarian fantasy-land which, if implemented, would basically result in anarchy? We have to stop looking to dissidents in the rethug party for validation. Hillary is a far better liberal than the most liberal rethug out there. Just categorize her views and votes and compare them to Hagel’s. She wins, hands down, even if she is barely acceptable from a progressive standpoint.
Yes, we can be disappointed in members of our party for failing us, and we should, but there’s no comparison between them and even the current crop of GOP reformers. If you question this, chart their votes. This is the only tried-and-true method for validating political standing in our two party system. You’ll see, with complete clarity, that a fallen Dem is a sea-change better than the most angelic Rethug. Even with people like Landrieu, I would stay stil her voting record over almost any rethugs.
And to clarify, before somebody brings him up, Lieberman of Connecticut is NOT a Dem. He’s firmly in the other camp, and deeply immersed in it.
Blub @ 66
Not speaking for ET here…
But the “just plain people” who I know who are also Republicans are mostly, mostly, aghast at what’s happened to their party.
“swimmingly”…wasn’t it Coultergeist who used that term? Nice Christy!
newtonusr,
That certainly describes my mother, lifelong Republican in Ohio.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 21
yes, but there are also thugs in those organizations (speaking from personal experience)… and given the power they have, it can be pretty scarey for us proles.
ADM,
Good to see you here. How are you doing?
newtonusr @ 67
but that begs the question.. why are they still Republicans? Why haven’t they resigned their membership to become Democrats or independents? or to form a new party? I my party was taken over by radical political extremists, I’d vote with my feet. Again, Republicans aren’t an ethnicity or a cultural group — they’re a voluntary-membership party, and I have difficulty accepting that one can continue to voluntarily belong to a party while rejecting all of the views of its leadership.
Frank33 @ 63
The whole Washington Post story was immediately fishy, even aside from the fact that this SITE organization is run by some supposedly altruistic Israeli woman (gee, I feel more secure). Here is emptywheel (read comments, too): http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c……html#more
btw, I write this as somebody who was brought up in their party, who has several generations of Republicans behind him, who was a College Republican VP, and who did leave the party and rejected its precepts… so I guess just don’t have much sympathy for people who still insist on calling themselves Republicans when the rethugs are so clearly running the party. Unless one is indifferent, one has an obligation to act.
Blub @ 72
For precisely the same reason that I’m still a Democrat, an American and here. I’m not giving up on capitalism or Liberalism or the Constitution, just because some assholes want to take it away.
my bold
Blub @ 72
And by extension, why are we still Americans? Lot of people are trying to make things work without leaving their lifelong affinity groups.
But newtonusr, we don’t have a mainstream choice to the left of the Democratic Party.. they do, it’s called being an indie or even being a Dem. And, for me at least, the Dem party, while full of disappointments, is still miles away from failing me. Again, just chart or board the votes, and you’ll see what I mean. No matter how angry we are at our leadership, we’re still loads better than the the most progressive rethug.
Blub @ 72
not everyone pays as much attention to what’s going on as you do. you’re assuming that they know and see reality the same way you do.
newtonusr @ 75
amen.
well, except maybe for the capitalism part… *g*
Blub @ 77
Their choices aren’t left or right, as I see them. Their party has been hijacked by radicals whose creed is plunder. There is, in my opinion, very little to commend this band of radicals along a sliding scale of political thought. They’re just crooks and their political service is to that which serves their bank accounts and those of their patrons.
selise @ 79
I will confess to a mild Marxist streak. A little one.
selise @ 78
again, to clarify, I’ve already said that I readily accept that there are decent Republicans in the rank-and-file who just haven’t gotten around to burning their membership cards. Those aren’t the ones I’m talking about, but if we think that there are people in the leadership there, that we can count on, I think we’re dreaming. Those who identify as Republicans, including the reformers, are, politically speaking, not our friends.
btw, I’m not saying that one shouldn’t have PERSONAL friends who are Republicans (or even Republican leaders). I do. We just agree to disagree on politics. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have any friends from the first half of my life, when I was, in fact, a Republican.
I’m saying that we have to stop looking to single-issue dissidents like Hagel or Collins for guidance and leadership. They’re not our friends, and they’ll never be.
Blub – gotta leave. Work calls.
We’re not that far apart.
SanderO @ 24
Finally, a voice of reason speaks out from the Wilderness.
It’s time to go back to basics on everything, folks.
Power to the people.
All this war talk is just talk. If things were really serious, there would be shared sacrifice, even including members of the Bush family. Just like what happened during WWII. We know that there’s no Bush even thinking of serving, so this war’s just not serious. Time to move on to something Republics can really go after like internet porn.
Not good. These five articles from today (and yesterday) seem to indicate that the US (along with Britain and France) are pushing for an imminent military conflict with Iran and/or Syria. The first I read as Israeli propaganda courtesy of the NYT. The second reads as a lightly coded warning to Bush policy makers that they are headed for disaster. The third contains the following:
The White House plan is to blast some 20 suspected military and nuclear sites out of a possible 2,000 in Iran. That could provoke Iran to retaliate, which would then trigger all-out war.
The last two round out some of the other voices in response to the possibly unstoppable disaster.
An Israeli Strike on Syria Kindles Debate in the U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10…..mp;ei=5087
US urged to engage with Syria
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/98f2…..fd2ac.html
War clouds loom ever more menacingly over Iran
http://thestar.com.my/columnis…..ec=Midweek
Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a “disaster”
http://www.reuters.com/article…..9120071010
Putin sees lack of evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons program
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap…..=rsseurope
Blub @ 29
My personal belief is this was NOT by accident, but by intent.
Perfect and fertile grounds for a military state, here at home AND abroad for generations, while our corporate structure contines its rapage and pillaging of us all.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 32
CHS, you are in a minority population of those who prosecute, and carry.
Most of the rest of us masses tend to view, and HAVE tended to view, all authority with great suspicion since we were old enough to understand civil rights, Vietnam, Chicago, and civil protest and disagreement in general.
So please, cut us masses some slack for your point of view. Yours is CERTAINLY valid, but it’s from a much smaller population of the masses than the rest of us have experienced.
Thanks for understanding WHY we mistrust authority in general. I mean, look at where it’s all GOTTEN us, ya know?
SanderO @ 34
*BIGBUTTGRIN*
and, fellow citizens, as you all know,
pakistan not only HAS functioning nuclear weapons but HAS tested a functioning missile delivery system.
our prez, george bush, ok’ed that situation. and, at the same time, o.k’ed the corresponding weaponry possessed by pakistan’s bitter rival since 1945, india.
so
why are we worried about iran?
which does not have a bomb,
does not have a bomb delivery system?
won’t have one for a decade or two,
while nuclear-armed pakistan grows more unstable by the month?
does this remind you of another time in the bush presidency?
a time when bush and cheney and condi and rummy were looking in one direction
and al quaeda swooped down from another direction?
the bottom line:
increasingly unstable, nuclear-armed pakistan is THE most dangerous state in the world with respect to the possibility of our having to deal with nuclear rain and nuclear winter.
if you knew that,
and i’m sure many here did,
then you also know that george bush, dick cheney, and condeleeza rice are running the most incompetent national security apparatus we have EVER had in this country.
sleep tight; don’t let the bed bugs bite.
are r is ru
itwasntme @ 40
Got to me, too.
But these really are NOT times for meditation, rather, time for action.
Gotta use ALL the tools at hand. Sometimes, it’s pacifism that works.
Sometimes, it’s action, and PRO Action, that is necessary.
And the premise for my posit is we aint’ getting really anywhere, while the threats to the middle class, our constitution and our rights mount daily.
And of course, as a big picture world view with the UTMOST of a humanitarion love for our species, we kinda need to get off our butts and save the phreakin planet from our selves.
Selves being the onslaught of big biz and the militocracy both domestic and abroad.
And so, this mistrust of ESTABLISHED RULING authority is a BIT substantiated, ya think?
Before the mod’s hack me up, I’m NOT being combative . . I’m just trying to offer up some things that are obvious to the masses, that many in our leadership seem to ignore.
This blog proclaims itself as a progressive one. I come here for that.
I value that.
Pacifistic Prgressivism is not the order of the day though, IMHO.
It’s time for constant pressure and action on ANYONE who opposes common sense.
And that includes persons of authority.
Progressives shoud have been mounted up and PRESENT at the Frost home when the Malkin’s and the Reichwingnutz were circling their hood.
Progrssives shoulda video’d them, and run them off like the dogs they are.
And THEN demanded the local authorities should have done something about it, and chastized them and humiliated them in public.
THAT’S progressivism. I never HEARD about Malkin’s Assualt until it was over.
Now, methinks progressives need to give Malkin some basic return courtesy’s of the same ilk.
Where is the progressive tribe who can at the drop of a hat, mobilize, and defend those who attack the abortion clinics, the Frost’s of our beliefs?
Action. It’s time for action.
It’s time for the DOING. We’ve been beat to death for 30 long years, is NO one tired of it? We shoulda been tired of it LONG ago, during Reagan . . . but we did very little . . . as a general group, called, progressives.
newtonusr @ 41
That was Long, Long Ago, hoss. Mostly just not relevant anymore . . . but he was a hoss . . . in his own ways.
larue @ 92
But McNerney’s ok, in my book. *G*
larue @ 92
His being a member of the Republican party – I forgive him. But he’s the same old Pete, even now. Glad to have been a Californian while Pete served.
Blub @ 50
@ 48
The Pakistani Military appears to be as ineffective at killing Taliban, and killing citizens instead, as a US regime.
Islamic/Sharia Law with nukes, coming soon to a Pakistan near us.
As the ante to the game grows, the ante outweighs the betting pot.
Dawg help us all . . .
ADM @ 62
Comprimise and bi-partisianship, and a betrayal of elitist fat cat dem’s, have brought us to this point. Over 50 years or more, longer if you REALLY believe in the history of our nation (the one they don’t tell you about in school).
And you will turn your cheek?
Still?
Will you NOT use the other tools of democracy to fight back?
Will you appease to the end?
Frank33 @ 63
Indeed.
Frank33, I anoint you Hoss Du Jour. Whether I have the power to do so or not.
Damn FINE post, Frank.
Ed*ard Teller @ 64
I wish I knew any LOCAL folks outside of the blogosphere with those goals and qualities.
Alas, most I know local are concerned only for themselves.
But I camp with 5,000 of them GOOD ONE’S, twice a year, at Strawberry Music Fest.
Good therapy. ;-)
newtonusr @ 67
Not in my town, Sacto . . . the Red One’s are red, thru and thru. Proud of it, too. I’m talkin LAY people, here . . not politicians, not lobbyist’s, not lawyers, not anyone connected to the ’system’.
I’m talking workin people. And man, they are proud of it. Like they never left the Confederacy. And expect it to rise again.
That kind of rethuglican, that kind of intolerance.
Ya Know?
The Masses.
larue @ 99
I moved into the area (Davis) and worked in SacTown from 85 to 96. Was shocked to find how right you are about the near-confederate stance.
newtonusr @ 80
And the dem’s are different, how?
THE creed IS plunder!!!
Don’t have to be ‘radical’s, it’s the MAINSTREAM FUNDAMENTAL precept of the ruling class!!!
You can’t say these are ‘radicals’ usurping our nation, our legislation, our ruling bodies, our judiciary, our military!!!
MY GOD THEY ARE THE MAINSTREAM 1% WEALTHY!!!!!
And they mean the masses no good . . .
Radicals . . . yer killin me . . . :rollseyes:
This is NOT a struggle of politics, this is an ages old struggle for power, control, wealth.
It’s waged across the battle fields of healthcare, education, employment (in a capitalist society), division of goods produced, war, security, fear, comfort, personal choice and value of each and every human . . . what is the worth of a human? Any KIND of a human?
That’s what this is all about.
And that, as spiritual as I may make it sound (I am SO not into organized religon), is the struggle between good and evil, right and wrong.
It’s a simple struggle. It’s an ongoing, and VERY personal struggle (at least it SHOULD be).
If we don’t know what side of it we are on by the time we are formulating our own thoughs and actions, then the species is doomed.
The rest is pedantic.
newtonusr @ 100
It’s a WIDE one, ya know? *G*
Bless Sacto, the young folks DO have a vibrant counter culture. And they are making a living in the food services, and the arts. Meager, but doable.
The gay/lesbian culture is vibrant, as are OTHER cultural pieces so important to a vibrant society . . . feminism, respect for humans, etc.
However, they are all dwarfed by this oppresive non-progressive white dominant “THING” I can’t hardly describe. And it’s pervasive in the lay people, and in the ruling structure, outside of the counter culture elitists, who work the tourist trades and are ‘tolerated’ for their art, piercings, and tat’s.
Funny town, Sacto is. Funny region.
God how I miss and treasure any time I visit Santa Cruz and my few festivals . . . ;-)
I just don’t GET to The City anymore. Used to live in San Mateo . . . hard for lay people to survive THERE anymore . . ;-)
I have often wondered what Johninsacramento thinks of this town, in this godforsakenvalleythattimeforgot . . .
larue @ 96
Apparently I do not express myself well. I don’t understand why you think I would turn the other cheek. I did not say that. And I’m simply tired of constantly having to explain myself. This is why I give up so many times. What I’m complaining about is the lack of civility. And I think your comments prove my point. You apparently have all the answers. You don’t need me. Where did I talk of appeasement? Why do you feel the need to put words into my mouth?
I can’t do this anymore. I will no longer comment when all I get is attacked. It seems nobody can have any kind of discussion anymore without being ridiculed and belittled.
ADM @ 103
Sadly, blogtopia is full of some pretty insensitive people. Personally, I’m very glad you are not one of them and appreciate your comments but sometimes the kevlar is required to read the words of those who don’t think before they hit the submit button.
RBG @ 104
I know. I take things way too personally much of the time. I will try to remember your thought of wearing the kevlar. I will try and slowly count to ten before replying. And I guess I should quote comments so people will understand the context of my remarks (the old taken out of context ploy/snark). Thanks for the comment though on the almost dead thread.
The thing is, I can understand the outrage. It’s hard to control it for me much of the time. But I fear we will become that which we hate if we do not control ourselves more.
ADM @ 105
Sounds like a plan. If only more folks thought like you did, we might actually find some solutions instead of just talking past one another.