Foley's meltdown - the seductions of clicking

It's easy to delight in the Hastert/Foley meltdown, and how it's hit a national nerve. Building on all the administration's abuses, failures, and lies, the cover up of this out-of-control congressman may just give America the inadvertent gift of a chance to finally change course.

As I read the daily stories, though, I fear that too many of us will devour them with relish, then do little more than gloat. I worry that we'll be so busy following each breaking revelation about the self-destruction of a regime so drunk on it's own power it's finally overreached, that we'll end up doing nothing but cheering. At a moment when those long disengaged or disagreeing might finally be receptive, that would be a profound loss. Because the degree of the electoral shift in this key election will likely be decided by the volunteer energy that turns out borderline participants to vote.

Many of us have followed the Foley/Hastert story by reading about it on progressive websites, and these sites have done a great job of placing it in context. Yet the time we spend online also risks being part of the problem.

The perils criticizing Israel: not as bad as it once was

Tony Judt, the NYU professor and liberal writer for the New York Review of Books, has just discovered some of the consequences of publicly criticizing Israeli government policies, as he has been doing. Here's a message he released on Oct. 4: "I was due to speak this evening, in Manhattan, to a group called Network 20/20 comprising young business leaders, NGOs, academics, etc, from the U.S. and many countries. Topic: the Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. The meetings are always held at the Polish Consulate in Manhattan.

Infighting

http://mattbors.com

The pundit path for death in Iraq

No one knows exactly how many Iraqi civilians have died from the war’s violence since the invasion of their country. The new study from public health researchers at Johns Hopkins University estimates that the number of those deaths is around 601,000, while saying the actual total could be somewhere between 426,369 and 793,663. Such wartime figures can’t be precise, but the meaning is clear: The invasion of Iraq has led to ongoing carnage on a massive scale.

While we stare at numbers that do nothing to convey the suffering and anguish of the war in Iraq, we might want to ask: How could we correlate the horrific realities with the evasive discussions that proliferated in U.S. news media during the lead-up to the invasion?

In mid-November 2002 -- four months before the invasion began -- a report surfaced from health professionals with the Medact organization and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. “The avowed U.S. aim of regime change means any new conflict will be much more intense and destructive than the [1991] Gulf War,” they warned, “and will involve more deadly weapons developed in the interim.”

Naked and afraid

What blessings, what outrage.

The Amish child said, "Shoot me first." The survivors counseled forgiveness and prayed for the soul of the murderer. This was all too solemn and too real to be purveyed by the mainstream media as picturesque curiosity, horse-and-buggy morality in the age of the Hummer.

The Amish modeled courage and healing for the rest of America. They modeled a peace built not on intimidation and conquest but on respect and forgiveness. They shut down the cynics for almost a week. They grieved, they buried their dead and they reached out to the killer's widow.

Kneel with them, mourn with them, rise up angry.

The body count in our nation's schools over a period of barely a week was eight innocents: students, a teacher, a principal, shot point-blank by psycho-terrorists with easy access to personal arsenals. Another eight were injured and at least one of them, an Amish girl, is in grave condition. More than 400 people have died in school violence in the last dozen years, many hundreds of others have been wounded, and uncounted close calls - like the one this past Monday morning - have been averted.

Re: Governor Debates article

"Please be aware that this type of activity must be scheduled in advance in order to have permission to be on campus or you may be considered trespassing." -- Kathleen Armontrout, Campus Scheduling Office, University of Cincinnati.

I find it fascinating (in that fascist kind of way) that a public institution on public property supported by public monies could claim any lawful citizen doing anything legal (freedom to assemble) would be trespassing.  Obviously an attempt by UC administration to join forces with majority parties in bullying third party candidates and stomping on the democratic process. 

Tammy Makela
Supporter, Peirce for Ohio campaign

Dear leaders

AUSTIN, Texas -- Nobody else seems to be asking the obvious question about Susan B. Ralston, former administrative assistant to Jack Abramoff and, until last week, assistant to Karl Rove. She got hired by Rove at $64,700 after the 2004 election and then received a raise to $122,000. Why? I've never gotten a 100 percent raise. Did you? Is this common?

Responsibility

Piercing the simulacrum: Of faux democracy, petty tyrants, and painful realities

“The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves.” ---attributed to Dresden James

A caricature of a man who has wrought havoc in virtually every endeavor throughout his miserable existence has found his calling. Exuding false bravado and contrived machismo, he has swaggered his way into the deepest recesses of America’s collective psyche, fulfilling the inculcated need for a “manly” patriarch. Chest thumping, bullying, and ultimately unleashing the Hell of the Pentagon’s death machine upon those brazen enough to resist conversion to the American Way, King George IV has succeeded the tyrant American Revolutionaries toppled over 200 years ago.

Governors debates in Cincinnati - Report from the front lines

I currently am a Democrat that is unhappy with the lack of leadership in my party, a party that can not admit it was robbed of the 2004 election, a federal crime of enormous proportions.  I also currently am the campaign manager for my friend, Bob Fitrakis, the Green Party candidate for Governor of Ohio.  Bob and I have worked on election investigation issues together since November 2004.   

Now here is a peek into some of what I have seen this week.   

Pages

Subscribe to ColumbusFreePress.com RSS