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April 9, 2006
Open Threat
Comments
future of the union
i was going to thank jj for posting this great link on the last open thread , now that we have a new one i thought it would make a great send off to keep it alive. it’s truly inspirational and includes an excellent current interview w/Robert Fritch, What’s The Matter With U.S. Organized Labor?
jdp will be back in a few days, i’m sure it will give him encouragement too.
a little solidarity please
Posted by: annie | Apr 9 2006 22:19 utc | 1
Glad you also thght. it valuable, Annie. So much there, it’ll take awhile to get through.
On a different level…
To communicate w/the bosses you gotta start young – Esp. if they don’t speak English (Elite prep. schools also teach chinese.) Is this happening in Europe as well, b-?
Posted by: jj | Apr 10 2006 0:08 utc | 3
One of the many odd things about the plan to bomb Iran, with or without nuclear weapons, is the targeting of the underground facilities at Nanatz. From all accounts these bunkers are empty. They are supposed to be filled with up to 50,000 centrifuges when and if the Iranians perfect the technology and build the equipment. This will take years to do. More years than Bush has left in office. Blowing a hole in the roof of an empty bunker would get the US exactly what?
There has also been talk about a new super, duper, ground penetrating conventional bomb that will be ready in 2008 by, which time I’m sure the Iranians will have built a new facility under so many hundreds of feet of granite that nothing in our arsenal will be able to penetrate it.
Other parts of the plan also make little sense. Bombing the reactor at Bushir will probably kill some Russian technicians, which will make President Putin deeply unhappy. An unhappy Putin is quite capable of selling the Iranians various conventional weapons systems that will make a lot of Americans dead. Bombing the plant will also do nothing to stop the Iranian bomb program from proceeding, if it even exists. The plant would have to be in operation for quite some years before enough plutonium was produced for even one bomb and that plutonium would have to be separated and refined which is quite a task in and by itself. Of course, since the plant is under IAEA safeguards, any diversion of the fuel rods would be instantly reported to the world and, more importantly, to the Russians who retain title to the fuel rods and any and all plutonium they contain. Any attempt at such a diversion would put Iran into a nasty confrontation with their principal source for all sort of military and technological goodies that they desperately need.
Much of the plan to bomb Iran makes little or no sense. Under the most cursory analysis it falls apart. If anyone has any insights into any of this I would appreciate reading them.
Posted by: rpe | Apr 10 2006 2:30 utc | 4
rpe wrote: “Much of the plan to bomb Iran makes little or no sense. Under the most cursory analysis it falls apart. If anyone has any insights into any of this I would appreciate reading them.”
Sense? There is no sense. It’s crazy times, spawned by neo-con arms dealers, big oil, a psychotic POTUS, and crazy Xtian enda-timers fomenting the last fall of the temple of Jerusalem so they can be Raptured on up to heaven. Maybe that’s what all those twisters in Tennessee are about–selective Rapture, on God’s time-scale.
After the radioactive dust settles, those of us “left behind” will get to fight the water wars. You think the oil wars were crazy…what do you s’pose Halliburton and Carlyle Group are planning along the lines of water rights?
“Modern society without religion would be like a crazed maniac without a chainsaw.” -unknown
Posted by: catlady | Apr 10 2006 2:45 utc | 5
I just read the following, and it was like being hit with a hammer … Damn, I hope s/he (Pringle) is wrong but I fear s/he is not:
Bush Has Hog-Tied Fitzgerald and Hung Libby Out To Dry
As I have conveyed before, that according to Michael Parenti, Bush is not the dumbass he is always stereotyped to be.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 10 2006 3:12 utc | 6
I dont think the president has the authority to dislose the name of an undercover agent, at least not before a review board from the agency concures. Unless of course, Gonzalas has been changing the rules again without telling anybody.
Posted by: anna missed | Apr 10 2006 3:58 utc | 7
Off topic to what people are discussiong currently, but …
Watch for huge Hispanic-
American demonstrations on Monday, all over US.
One in Dallas on Sunday was supposed to have 350,000 to 500,000 people.
Word out somewhere – that big corporations are helping out with the demonstration and being co-operative with time off … seems reasonable, but we’ll see as more news comes out.
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 10 2006 5:23 utc | 8
Under Gonzales’ (btw he isn´t the boss. in this it is Addington, Cheney’s man) rules, Bush can do whatever he wants.
Gonzales’ latest admission– that the President can also engage in purely domestic spying without a warrant– might seem like a pretty significant grab of power, far beyond what the President said he could do before. But if you understand the Administration’s theory of its own power, Gonzales’ statement should not be at all surprising. The distinction between domestic communications and international communications is irrelevant to the theory. The latest revelation shows that the President’s theory all along has been radical, unreasonable, and dangerous.
…
This theory, taken to its logical conclusions, gives the President the ability to treat anyone living in the United States, including particularly U.S. citizens, as wartime enemies without having to prove their disloyalty to anyone outside the executive branch. In so doing, it offers him what can only be called dictatorial powers– that is, the power to suspend ordinary civil liberties protections on his say so. The limits on what the President may do under this theory are entirely political– the question is whether the American people will stand for what the President has done if they discover what he has done in their name. But if the American people don’t know what their executive is doing, they can hardly be in a position to object. And so the President has tried to keep secret exactly what he has done under the unreasonable and overreaching theory of Presidential power that his Administration has repeatedly asserted in its legal briefs and public statements.
Attorney General Gonzales’ latest admission should hardly surprise us once we understand how much power the President actually thinks he has. Given that we will probably never know what the President has been doing in our name, we can only hope that he has not actually tried to exercise all the power he (wrongfully) thinks he possesses.
We did know Zarqawi was(is?) a PSYOPs operation of the U.S. military.
Now there is even some proof: Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi
For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi’s role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the “U.S. Home Audience” as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.
…
Although Zarqawi and other foreign insurgents in Iraq have conducted deadly bombing attacks, they remain “a very small part of the actual numbers,” Col. Derek Harvey, who served as a military intelligence officer in Iraq and then was one of the top officers handling Iraq intelligence issues on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an Army meeting at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., last summer.
In a transcript of the meeting, Harvey said, “Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will — made him more important than he really is, in some ways.”
…
The military’s propaganda program largely has been aimed at Iraqis, but seems to have spilled over into the U.S. media. One briefing slide about U.S. “strategic communications” in Iraq, prepared for Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq, describes the “home audience” as one of six major targets of the American side of the war.
The article misses the fact that propaganda and PSYOPs to the “home audience” is illegal.
Americans have grown up with the notion that the whole world just has to learn our language if they want to make money working for us or selling us their goods. It is hard to get one’s head around the thought that we have to learn some other language in order to sell them our goods.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 10 2006 7:00 utc | 12
Now there are rumors of plans to attack Iran. Most strategic analysts think that a bombing campaign would be a disastrous mistake. But … Mr. Bush ignored similar warnings, including those of his own father, about the risks involved in invading Iraq…
Why might Mr. Bush want another war? For one thing, Mr. Bush, whose presidency is increasingly defined by the quagmire in Iraq, may believe that he can redeem himself with a new Mission Accomplished moment.
And it’s not just Mr. Bush’s legacy that’s at risk. Current polls suggest that the Democrats could take one or both houses of Congress this November, acquiring the ability to launch investigations backed by subpoena power. This could blow the lid off multiple Bush administration scandals. Political analysts openly suggest that an attack on Iran offers Mr. Bush a way to head off this danger, that an appropriately timed military strike could change the domestic political dynamics.
Does this sound far-fetched? It shouldn’t. Given the combination of recklessness and dishonesty Mr. Bush displayed in launching the Iraq war, why should we assume that he wouldn’t do it again?
Not to let this Nir Rosen piece go away quite yet, because it brings up some important points about the current government stalemate. Particularly the political context as it applies to why the Sunni and Kurdish members of the new government seem to be rejecting the Jaafari/ Sadr leadership. As Rosen points out there has been some considerable history that should have them (at least the Sunnis) supporting this government.
The question raised then, is, whats to account for the move to dump Jaafari/Sadr amongst the Sunni and Kurdish leadership. The latter it would seem, is easy, in that the Kurds would like the US to stay forever for the obvious reasons of preserving autonomy through defacto partition, protection through military and economic support, all in return for their complicit (to the US) political voice in the process at large. The Sunni position seems more complex if not contradictory. The Rosen piece points out the many workable relationships between the Jaafari/Sadr and Sunni interests. So why is there this move to scuttle this emerging consenses? Theres little doubt that this move is engineered by Zalmay Khalilzad to remove the threat of first, of having the US being “officially” asked to leave, and secondly, of having the leadership fully reject the move laid out by the CPA of economic privitization (both of which J/S have promised to do) — especially before the Production Sharing Agreements (oil industry)
have been signed. The alternative SCIRI canadates are both pro-privitization and at least more pro-occupation than the J/A, so, have probably been heavily lobbied by Khalilzad that a potential split in the UIA might be worth taking (if the Sunni can come aboard) least the gravy train roll out of town — Which is not lost on the Sunni and Secular (Allawi list) for some of the same reasons — but especially also to see that a split and fragmented UAI may work out better for them politically in the short run, so they are taking the US (divide& conquer) carrot, and voting against their long term and logical interests of bringing unification between the sectarian interests in favor of seeing the UAI fragmented and the opportunities (for them) that might be opened up. We’ll see.
Posted by: anna missed | Apr 10 2006 9:52 utc | 14
Congrats to the French people!!!
Chirac backs down on employment law
b,
congratulations may be in order, but it’s also back to the drawing board: how does France tackle the problem of unemployment and underemploymnent? What does it do with its masses of “no future” youth in the banlieue?
The French may have won the battle against creeping neoliberalism, but there is still a war to be fought out there.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 10 2006 12:06 utc | 16
Yay, vive la France!
The “problem” extends beyond France – what does any country do with the work ethic, as Hannah Arendt put it way back when, when the work runs out? And none of us wants the “race to the bottom” with our fellow humans living in the G22.
For me, being liberated from work would not be a bad thing right now as I am happy living on a pretty small basic income as it is.
Posted by: Dismal Science | Apr 10 2006 14:12 utc | 17
@Dis,
I remember those fine old days when I was nearly work-free, playing gigs in the evenings and working as a day laborer or deliivering flowers during the day. It was fine being single, because I could adjust my lifestyle to my level of income.
I no longer have that option as a parent. I am at least glad that my wife and I are self-employed and can set our own working hours to allow enough time to share with our kids before they grow up and away.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 10 2006 16:20 utc | 20
both. & what’s up w/ bush panting in that clip? now i guess theirs a whole other group of vets that wanna get their hands on him. 😉
Posted by: b real | Apr 10 2006 19:36 utc | 23
@Groucho – those breeded ones do not taste any good.
My parents had a huge garden and a rabbit problem. But whatever the rabbits took away on vegetables, they gave back as meet.
Sounds more brutal and takes more handwork than bying a hamburger but is definitly less decadent.
Tokyo households have become so skilled at conserving water that municipal authorities are preparing to “punish” them by raising rates. The trend towards careful water husbandry is enabled by appliance manufacturers, such as Toto, Matsushita and Sharp, which produce washing machines, toilets and dishwashers that use a fraction of the water of their forebears five years ago. As a result, over those five years average water consumption in Japanese homes has fallen 10%, and water bills have tumbled, since most water use is metered. Consequently, Tokyo and Yokohama residents now face possible water-price hikes of 20%. (11 Apr 06 Economist Tokyo Briefing)
A datapoint on the relationship between consumption, the economy and quality of life.
Posted by: PeeDee | Apr 10 2006 21:41 utc | 26
@Pee Dee – A datapoint on the relationship between consumption, the economy and quality of life.
I don´t get that. The conservation and use of less water is good. The price hike is an attempt of a monopol to maximize the profits.
Infrastucture needs to be in public hands to avoid this, because it is the only way to be able to push public long-term interest, i.e. to conserve water.
@b – I didn’t intend to be cryptic. I just thought it interesting to note that Japanese fresh water use is declining not because of a decline in well-being, but through an increase in efficiency, probably created both via both technological advancements and a societal willingness to emphasise the virtue of and invest in conservation. Secondly, the reaction of the economic actors which have invested considerable resources in a consumption model (more water is better) that may now be obsolete is to try and recover their capital investment via higher pricing, which in turn merely accelerates the societal change to using less water and possibly developing alternative sources (like rainwater). The illogical outcome of this cycle is to legislate to force consumption to keep the economy going.
We all know how precious fresh water will become. I think there are also implications here for energy consumption, and more.
The mistaken conflation of increased consumption with increased quality of life (when the opposite is probably closer to the truth, if there is one) is something that has to be remedied before we destroy our environment; but the impact on economics as we know it is not well understood. What if minimal investment combined with a cultural change meant that we could live (more) happily on 1/30th (the world average) of what we consume now? In our current paradigm GDP drops by 96%. What happens to the Dow?
Posted by: PeeDee | Apr 10 2006 23:26 utc | 29
absolutely strange affair in rome – reminiscent of 2004 election in u s & crispins interpretation of it
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 11 2006 0:04 utc | 30
Well, I definitely don’t want to the terrorists to win, so here’s my comment 🙂
Posted by: fantasy fan | Apr 11 2006 1:07 utc | 32
r’giap- i’ve just finished the phillips book tonite & that is one glaring thing he misses in his analyses – election fraud. i kept waiting for him to at least mention the substantial ruckus over it. the closest he came was “Bluntly putting it, I believe that a careful electoral analysis shows that what can be called the Bush coalition is too narrow to govern successfully and was empowered to win only be a succession of odd circumstances in both 2000 and 2004.” exhibiting a reliance on statistics, as he does throughout his book, one would have thought that such glaring anomalies, present in fla & ohio esp, should at least merit a modicum of examination. generally though, i found his prognosis reinforces most of our collective efforts here at the moon.
Posted by: b real | Apr 11 2006 2:55 utc | 33
Congrats to the French people!!! Chirac backs down on employment law
I’d like to second that. Here in Australia the Howard government just rammed through the biggest changes to workplace laws in the country’s history, deleting unfair dismissal protection and other hard fought for workers rights, and not one bottle was thrown or tyre set alight. People here just swallow that crap.
France still has people power, a political force many other nations are missing these days, absorbed by big screen TV’s and mortgages to pay off, better not rattle the cage. So thanks to all you French revolutionaries for demonstrating that where there is a will, there is a way. People united will never be defeated!
Posted by: Feelgood | Apr 11 2006 3:13 utc | 34
America’s military coup?
Donald Rumsfeld has a new war on his hands – the US officer corps has turned on the government
Also see: Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012 (PDF)
The letter that follows takes us on a darkly imagined excursion into the future. A military coup has taken place in the United States – the year is 2012 – scattered disorders still prevail and arrests for acts of sedition are underway.
It goes without saying (I hope) that the coup scenario above is purely a literary device intended to dramatize my concern over certain contemporary developments affecting the armed forces, and is emphatically not a prediction. – The Author
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Apr 11 2006 4:00 utc | 35
The French students & workers have won a Great Victory. Too bad Americans aren’t taking a cue from them. We should be out in the streets demanding the elimination of NAFTA, which contrary to clinton’s promise that it would reduce the invasion of aliens to a trickle, if not stop it altogether, has, in fact, at least doubled the rate at which Mexicans are forced off their land due to forced import of cheap corn & driven up North. What a Nightmare for everyone ‘cept the Pirates. (No one seems to ask if they wouldn’t much rather be living at home on their own land than in some crappy xAm. slum driving down our wages.)
In any event, for anyone interested in what the French battle was all about, Doug Ireland who has lived in France, has, as usual, the best analysis. Unfortunately, it portends a A Bad Moon Rising w/their next election
Posted by: jj | Apr 11 2006 4:42 utc | 36
only in the usa…
from think progress: Right-Wing Radio Host Advocates Murdering Border Crossers
Right-wing radio host Brian James of KFYI in Arizona recently advocated murder as a way of dealing with undocumented immigrants. An excerpt:
What we’ll do is randomly pick one night – every week – where we will kill whoever crosses the border. Step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it’s your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun…[I’d be] happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope.
The remarks prompted Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton to send a complaint to the FCC. Here’s a portion:
At no time during this hour did Mr. James disavow violence or indicate he was joking. In fact, when one caller suggested Mr. James did not really mean he wanted to shoot and kill immigrants, Mr. James retorted that in fact he did mean it. Immediately after this exchange, Mr. James engaged the next caller in a discussion about the correct ammunition to use when shooting border crossers to make sure the shots would be fatal.
This type of threatening and inciting speech is dangerous and totally irresponsible for anyone, particularly a licensed body using public airways.
makes ya wonder if the response by authorities would be any different had the radio “personality” aimed his sights at a more melanin-challenged group. hope the locals there move to have that stateions broadcast license revoked.
Posted by: b real | Apr 11 2006 4:49 utc | 37
@Uncle – here is part of Harper’s April story
Excerpts from “American Coup d’Etat: Military thinkers discuss the unthinkable”
The Nelson Report via Laura Rozen:
there’s another game underway, and our sources say it’s called “pre-empting Bush” by laying out contingency plans, including the most bizarre, such as using tactical nuclear weapons on the Natanz reactor complex.
The rising drum beat of revelations, our sources argue, can have only one serious meaning: US military leaders want to force a public debate which makes it difficult for the President to talk himself into ordering a military solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. […]
What terrifies serious US military, intelligence, and diplomatic players is how this Administration can turn a tactical military victory into strategic catastrophe.
Hit Natanz…then what? That’s the big question our sources are asking.
Mutiny …
When bad things happen to good people:
Who Would You Trust, Trent Lott, Or An Insurance Company?
Posted by: Groucho | Apr 11 2006 9:10 utc | 40
jj & Feelgood,
The French people have won a great victory against their own government, but what is the next positive step towards creating employment chances for France’s youth, especially the “no future” generation being raised in the suburban ghettoes?
I find it good that the French are unmistakeably clear about what attempted solutions they will *not* accept. But what solutions will they accept?
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 11 2006 12:06 utc | 41
I don’t know where SUNLAND is but I guess this could have been anywhere in the West. I’m not really sure what I’m thinking about this, but I find it strangely disturbing.
Posted by: DM | Apr 11 2006 13:16 utc | 42
@ DM – Any reason why he couldn’t just help her across? Hmm? Isn’t he supposed to help?
Posted by: beq | Apr 11 2006 14:22 utc | 43
Any reason why he couldn’t just help her across?
might it have something do w/ officer kelly’s attitude toward cherokee? law & order means law serves order. order defines your place in society. non-whites have hardly been embraced w/ open arms in most settler communities. obviously the article doesn’t provide enough information to gather a full understanding of the context; just inferring based on the characters & the general role of the police.
Posted by: b real | Apr 11 2006 14:48 utc | 46
Why didn’t he just help her across?
Because at least this policeman saw his motto no longer as “to serve and protect” but rather “to enforce law and order”, e.g., pedestrians have to adapt their pace to the traffic, we cannot allow the slowest to set the pace…
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 11 2006 15:53 utc | 47
Good program:
Prostitutes’ ‘people skills’ are used to care for elderly
Prostitutes in Germany are learning the secret of survival in the modern world – transferable skills. The state of North Rhine Westphalia is spending €1m (£700,000) of local and EU money to get sex workers off the streets and into care homes. All they have to change is their uniform.
The retraining scheme, backed by Diakone Westfalen, a welfare programme that runs nursing homes across the country, is based on a simple observation: prostitutes, because of their experience of dealing with people, make excellent carers of the elderly. Officials say they are often better at the job than trainee nurses.
Rita Keuhen of Diakone Westfalen said: “They have good people skills, aren’t easily disgusted and have zero fear of physical contact. These characteristics set them apart. It was an obvious move.”
More in German
Here we go again …
IRAN-SYRIA OPERATIONS GROUP
Although a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) declines to comment on its existence, and the press has yet to carry a single mention of it, last month the administration formed something called the Iran-Syria Operations Group (ISOG)–a group headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Liz Cheney, the purpose of which is to encourage regime change in Iran. It’s no secret that Cheney has over $80 million at her disposal to promote democracy in Iran. But ISOG isn’t simply about promoting democracy. It’s about helping to craft official policy, doing so not with one but two countries in its sights, and creating a policymaking apparatus that parallels–and skirts–Foggy Bottom’s suspect Iran desk.
Far from being beefed up, as The Washington Post reported last month the State Department’s Iran desk continues to be manned by only two foreign service officers. At the same time, additional Iran analysts, several of them political appointees, have been brought into ISOG. Unsurprisingly, this has led to grumbling at NEA, with staffers complaining the Bush team has set up its own Iran shop and has been making end runs around the State Department’s traditional bureaucracy.
b,
and prostitutes are also good at crossing streets faster than the police can catch up with them…
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 11 2006 17:14 utc | 51
beq,
50 years of hard won culture there beq, couldnt be more comic, or pathetic, for that matter. No wonder NASCAR is the sport of choice, going nowhere really fast, wrecklessly, and with a vengence.
xxx
Posted by: anna missed | Apr 11 2006 17:34 utc | 52
more from b’s iran /syria link
this has led to grumbling at NEA, with staffers complaining the Bush team has set up its own Iran shop and has been making end runs around the State Department’s traditional bureaucracy. Does this mean that ISOG has emerged as the latest equivalent to the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans, a secretive cell to stir the imaginations of Paul Krugmans everywhere? Hardly. According to State Department and Pentagon officials, ISOG has no role to play on security issues, doesn’t coordinate at all with White House efforts against Iran at the United Nations.
what a load of crap. the last sentence is especially bogus cause we all know the WH thumbs its nose at the UN. does isog coordinate w/bolton? does it coordinate w/cheney or the white house? or does it just aviod coordinating against iran at the UN?
Posted by: annie | Apr 11 2006 17:36 utc | 53
b real
am wading through phillips slowly – but as the goood professor crispîn says – to acknowledge the level of malfeasance & corruption in both the 2000/2004 election hit right at the heart of the belief in ‘american democracy’
& speaking of what passes for democracy these days – this last night i was not so well but i was not made any better by watching the commentaries on french/german/english/italian/american television in regard to romana prodi & their adoration of the magi berlusconi
their begrudging & implicit demonisations & pretended prudence was in fact a display of how these gangsters stay together
i hope ittle tony bliar is shitting his pants
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 11 2006 17:56 utc | 54
re R’Giap’s mention of Prof. Crispin – ie Mark Crispin Miller – I heard him on CSPAN2 Sun. (taped 3/31). He said that a Big Name will have art. pub. in Big Name publication w/in a month admitting the obvious – ’04 Election was rigged/stolen.
Posted by: jj | Apr 11 2006 18:23 utc | 55
jj
that’s where i saw crispin 2 – seemed a solid fellow & yes i noted his reference to the significant public figure & he seemed very down to earth in everything else so i presume the person exists
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 11 2006 19:06 utc | 56
yikes Iran Marks Step in Nuclear Development
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that Iranian scientists had achieved the goal of enriching uranium for its nuclear power program and that the nation was determined to develop production on an industrial scale.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a speech that was broadcast live from the city of Mashad, said Iran is determined to develop production on an industrial scale.
“The nuclear fuel cycle at the laboratory level has been completed, and uranium with the desired enrichment for nuclear power plants was achieved,” Mr. Ahmedinejad said in a speech that was broadcast live from the city of Mashad.
“Iran has joined the nuclear countries of the world,” he later added. “This is a starting point for more major points of success for the Iranian nation.”
Posted by: annie | Apr 11 2006 21:27 utc | 57
@annie – why “yikes?”
There are some 40+ countries in this world who do this in industrial scale. Why not Iran?
yikes because the neo’s are going to run wild w/this and the press gaga. a possible onslaught
Posted by: annie | Apr 11 2006 21:49 utc | 59
R’Giap, he’s stellar, and orbits roughly yr. neighborhood. He did a One Man Off-Broadway show a few yrs. ago – a Monologue on the threat of the Theocrats. (It’s avail. on dvd thru his website – A Patriot Act.) I’m reading now his new bk. “Fooled Again” on ’04 election & the Animus behind the Right.
Also, wanted to share an interesting talk I heard today on Victory in France by Rick Wolff, UMass Economist. He’s spent much time recently in France observing things. He said the protest stood on 3 legs. Unions, Univ. Students & High School Students. It’s the High School Students – most of whom can’t go to Univ. ‘cuz it’s free, hence scarce, & know they’ll soon be affected by that law – who spearheaded the mobilization. He said it was easy bringing in labor ‘cuz h.s. kids decided they should not only attend, but GET THIS – Bring Both of Their Parents W/them to demonstrations – so immediately most of “labor” was included!! Damn…they take family values seriously in France. Utterly unimaginable here…but fascinating concept.
He also mentioned that Socialist Party would have been on the entirely wrong side, except they faced being tossed in history’s dustbin if they actively opposed it, when popularity – 150 cities – became apparent.
Further, much of the big business community opposed the law. They didn’t think it would give them enough of importance & risked waking people up to how much they’ve already stolen from citizens.
So, are things going to stop there, or can we have a Translatlantic Alliance to Shut Down WTO & Burn NAFTA?
Posted by: jj | Apr 11 2006 23:34 utc | 60
Stalin Has Been Using His Eraser And Air Brush Again
Down Tuckachevsky!Heel!
Posted by: Groucho | Apr 12 2006 0:35 utc | 61
& does anyone know of the roman noir by larry beinhart which i think is called ‘the librarian’ in english
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 12 2006 0:47 utc | 62
jj
briefly i think three things have happened that are all to the good :
a generation has become politicised actively in the last year & as abbie hoffman once sd a crack on the skull by a cop’s baton tells you more about the state than ten paperbacks
secondly – it has forced the unionmovement to see their strength is on the streets & the ‘factory floor’ & not in the corrupt & defeatist ‘modernising’ approach of anglo saxon unions
thirdly yr quite right the parti socialiste got a good kick in the ass where it was necessary to see what action is
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Apr 12 2006 0:52 utc | 63
Sorry to break the topic, but does Onzaga post here?
Posted by: goodkingned | Apr 12 2006 5:14 utc | 64