The barkeeper on a fine kind of compassionate conservatism.

Billmon sets Three laws.

Barfly Colman made a suggestion for a follow up on the discussions on Billmons Minimum Wages piece.

“It seems to me that [discussing what aims an economy should have] is seldom if ever approached these days: everything is cast in terms of the free market and how wonderful it is.”

The need for such a discussion is fundamental to our societies. But when was the last time you did hear a politican openly recognizing it this clearly:

The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. … The most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.
James Madison in The Federalist, No. 10 cited in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution, Charles A. Beard, 1913

Madison sees the first objective of the government as the protection of the distinct interests of those who hold and those who are without.

The second part has been lost somewhere. Nowhere but in younger constitutions one finds remnants of the compromise that has been so fiercely fighted for throughout the last two centuries.

Article 14 [Property, Inheritance, Expropriation]…
(2) Property imposes duties. Its use should also serve the public weal. …
Article 15 [Socialization]
Land, natural resources, and means of production can, for the purpose of socialization, be transferred to public ownership or other forms of collective enterprise by a statute regulating the nature and extent of compensation. …
Current Cuban German Basic Law

Societies develop on compromises. These need discussion and arguments form both sides of the aisle. We do know that the right side is strong these days. The speakers list of the DNC convention may represent some middleground. But the communists have vanished – even as scapegoats.

As Colman says – the basic discussion on the aims of the economy, on redistribution of wealth, on the service of the public weal, seems gone. Thereby the economical compromises throughout the world have tilted to the right side – nationally and internationally. The government misses the objective Madisons sets out.

As Madison recognizes, the free market of ´those who hold´ is only one side of the spectrum. What should be the modern version of the compromises? And what is needed on the left side to achieve them?

“Promises Promises” reflects the barkeeper about Edwards speech.

Links to a transcript of Edwards speech and a real stream video from CSPAN.

As Billmon says in one short post:

“I do believe we’re going to be hearing a lot more from Barack Obama in the years to come. He has the gift.”

Room for discussion here, plus the CSPAN Real Stream of Obama at the DNC convention and the transcript at the NYT site.

for all un-Convention-al issues

Virtual space for comments on Billmons new piece.

Looking at the Democrats Convention site under ->Convention Info ->Party Platform – if you have Acrobat installed – is the REPORT OF THE PLATFORM COMMITTEE. Great – here comes the definite program of the opposition to the Bush catastrophe:

…
Our overriding goals are the same as ever: to protect our people and our way of life
…
To rise to those challenges, we must strengthen our military, including our Special Forces, improve our technology, and task our National Guard with homeland security.
…
Cutting taxes for middle class Americans.
…

Upps – not what I expected.
Who may call himself Democrat and claim as overriding goal to protect our way of life?
What Democrat may task our National Guard with homeland security?
Talking about tax cuts for the middle class Americans, would a Democrat probably mention what should be done for the lower class Americans?

Some years ago I was working in marketing intensive company. The advertising folks did run ads that claimed the product to be the Best Antibiotic Against Viruses. It was beyond their comprehension when some objected that there might be some problem with that claim. (Later a satiric magazine reprinted that ad series.)

Juan Cole, Professor of History and blogger of Informed Comment, is provocating by calling the Israeli Gaza settlers fascists.

Fascism remains a useful analytical tool for understanding modern politics. Each country’s fascism has been different, since fascism is more a style than a specific ideology. Among its attributes is

Cont. reading: Fascism a style?

In an article for the Toronto Sun (thanks to Fran) Eric Margolis writes on Iran new U.S. whipping boy

This column has long predicted the Bush administration would orchestrate a pre-election crisis over Iran designed to whip up patriotic fervour in the U.S. and distract public and media attention from the Iraq fiasco.

The growing clamour over Iran’s nuclear intentions, with rumblings about air strikes against Iran’s reactors in the fall, may prove to be a part of just such a manufactured crisis.

Remember, these latest fevered claims about Iran come from the same “reliable intelligence sources” and neo-conservative hawks who insisted Iraq had a vast arsenal of weapons of mass destruction that threatened the U.S., with intimate links to al-Qaida.

Cont. reading: Not just the Right but the Duty

OT X is at about 150 comments – so here´s a fresh one…

by Jérôme Guillet

In the latest twist to the Yukos story, Russia’ Bailiff Service (part of the Ministry of Justice) has decided to seize its main production affiliate, Yuganskneftegaz, and sell it to pay for the approx. USD 3.4 bn owed by Yukos in year-2000 back taxes according to the recent court decisions.

Cont. reading: Yukos – A Tale of Professional Oligarchs

Update 25. July

The Army Report is available now at Global Security Org (PDF, long). The armys website www.army.mil is still not reachable.

End Update

The Ajax White Knight has done serious overtime:

WaPo has the 9/11 Commission Report as executive summary and in full.

At the same time, the Army finds 49 abuse cases in a report delivered at a hastily called Senate committee meeting.

Cont. reading: “The White Knight Is A Dirty Old Man”

The barkeeper at the Whiskey Bar talks about minimum wages. There are many ways to look at the statistics I guess – here´s room to do so.

Typepad, the hosting system for the Moon of A, is working on their SPAM protection.

Cont. reading: housekeeping note

For all themes not fitting elsewhere…

Here is virtual room to discuss Billmons piece about the economic bifurcation of the society and its political history and consequences.

Billmon is back, writing on Ralph Nader and the Michigan GOP. Read it at the Whiskey Bar. Room for discussion is here, under the Moon.

Discussed in the last Open Thread there are rumours of an Israeli/US american air attack on Iranian infrastructure. The last days there have been several leaks to the press by “sources” who claim that the 9/11 commission finds links between Iran and Al Qaeda.

Cont. reading: Suburb of Tel Aviv?

Let´s have a fresh one – did anybody bring drinks?