The idea that the Right and the Left can get together to fight the monopolies, corruption and perhaps the war can end up extremely bad news,
http://richardkanepa.blogspot.com/2010/01/after-hitler-us-up-to-tamil-tigers.html
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/22672
In Massachusetts, angry voters propelled the first Republican Senator into office in 30 years. National attention missed “the triple whammy” that those who didn’t like then Attorney General Martha Coakley’s efforts to legalize gay marriage struggled to get their friends to vote, there is a growing number of people intrigued by the idea of the right and the left getting together against the establishment and the monopolies, and that a surprising number of Scott Brown’s votes came from the progressive side of the spectrum, Many frustrated progressives wanted to give Democrats a wake up call to respect their base, and/or wanted to do the health care bill over again, this time fighting for a public option. These progressives had a bad hangover when the day after Coakley’s defeat Obama called for more compromise.
Slightly off the subject maybe, bin Laden, Cheney and the neocons, and the Armageddon dreaming Christians trying to unfold events that encourage Jesus to return sooner, rather than later, also tend to have a tipple whammy effect of encouraging wide spread endless war.
Also, the national media missed the three debates emphasized economic security of Martha Coakley’s part and national security of Scott Brown’s part. Scott Brown ridiculed Martha Coakley’s claim that Afghanistan is not the place to fight al Qaeda juxtaposing it with her opposition to capital punishment and military tribunals as being weakness on her part, http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/brown_criticize.html
but this didn’t drive antiwar activists in her direction. They are disgusted with traditional Democrats who won’t vote against war supplemental funds. A growing number of frustrated antiwar activists are beginning to dream of the right and the left getting together against the government, the monopolies and the war. But strangely Joe Kennedy the libertarian who articulated Libertarian opposition to the war in all three widely covered debates and wished this election would become an election of note to put the Libertarian Party more on the map, got few votes Tea Party people tend to believe the real war is on America’s southern border suddenly didn’t seem to care that Libertarians are against nation building. By the way I have a libertarian streak, upset that the government actually wants to require people to get health care and force many to pay for it themselves. However due to strikes over employers cutting back on benefits due to rising health care costs, there will more and more difficulty for the US to compete in foreign markets with cost of exports only in the US, burdened with paying social service needs of workers in export businesses. There will be a lot more poverty due to US losing out in the trade wars.
Some rebellion could make sense such as refusing any more donations even withholding votes to Democrats until Joe Lieberman is booted out of two Committee Chairmanships.
As the Republican Party gallops to the right this kind of disappointment over half-a-loaf politicians, could lead to a Republican President, Cheney or someone similar, bragging about the eight years after 9/1l when there was no terror attempt, claiming it was because there wasn’t any coddling of terrorists. Nations that brag about human rights violations are more oppressive than those who are embarrassed when caught doing it.
Elsewhere this kind of thinking led to disastrous results. In Sri Lanka the Talmil Tigers recently enforced an election boycott. Rajapakse, who hated the Tigers won, leading to a massive attack, their defeat, and many Timal peasants living in desperate conditions in refuge camps now six months later despite the government’s promise to relocate them home by now. In the US, antiwar protesters, even though they felt Humphrey was better than Nixon, didn’t vote for Humphrey, though some half believed Nixon’s claim to having a secret plan to end the war, leading to the war spreading into Cambodia and Laos. In Germany in the 30's the Socialists begged the Communists to form an anti-Hitler coalition, but they instead mouthed the phrase, “After Hitler us!” If more of this information was widely known, there wouldn’t be so much talk of the right and the left getting together to stop the government and the monopolies.
People have become immune to the frequent cries of “Wolf”. For 40 years we have been warned that the US was in danger of being quickly overtaken by Fascism. People have been called the spoiler too many times. Nader was accused of being a spoiler, not the butterfly ballot fraud that confused Buchanan supporters to vote for Bush. Some people who voted for Nader would have stayed home if they couldn’t vote for him or would have voted for Buchanan, Some people want any kind of rebellion whether Nader, Buchanan or the Tea Party. It is perilous that as the Republican Party drifts toward the right, if some other way of expressing anger at Democrats is not available, other than voting for Republicans. People want big business regulated, and help when they are desperate, so the Libertarian Party won’t do. I would like to see big name people run for local offices somewhere as a Green Party candidate, or as part of another progressive ticket. Jerry Brown who was Governor California ( after unsuccessful Presidential and Senate attempts) [mistake corrected after blog comment below] went back into office as Mayor of Oakland. While running for Mayor of Oakland, Brown explained “Why I am running as an independent), see link,
http://www.progress.org/brown01.htm
He is currently running again for Governor of California ( Nov 2). I dream that if people get tired enough of Democrats he might switch to run for Governor as a Green, and actually win. If I remember correctly, one can run on more than one party ticket in California. Win or lose he would change the term “rebellion” into representing the Green Party instead of the Republican Party.
Back to German history, people like solidarity and unity. Some, labor solidarity, conservative solidarity, or progressive solidarity, but a growing number of people are excited about the idea of the left and the right uniting, gaining tremendous power to end the monopolies and corruption, some think to end the war. It’s not quite a parallel but many thought National Socialism was socialism.
The Tea Party Movement has the same base that Hitler once did. People who had jobs but now can’t find work; people who once had small businesses or property, who lost their home, and are united on a perceived need to defend our culture, this time from the southern border.
One thing I have to acknowledge, those antiwar activists who didn’t get excited about Martha Coakley are right, the Vietnam War ended soon after Congress stopped voting for any more supplemental war spending. But I think ending the funding this time could lead to many more problems than it did in the 60's.
I have to change the subject, to explain that what to do about Afghanistan is a far more difficult problem then the US just leaving Vietnam and peace quickly being restored. America, not just Obama, might be in serious trouble with no real way out. Had Obama went along with Vice President Biden and hunkered down in secure areas of Afghanistan, the Christmas Day terror attack attempt would still have happened, only with Cheney saying, “See I told you al Qaeda is more likely to attack if one shows weakness”. Vietnam was happy to let the US leave, al Qaeda will try to rub it in, to help with their plans elsewhere in the world. Especially if the war ends because the dollar collapses and Americans have to barter without currency to try to stay alive. If we can’t possibly keep troops around the world. Al Qaeda might especially show off have show trials against Karzai or whoever was in charge by then with gruesome Internet photos of torture and the beheading of collaborators. They will try to seize the supplies away from departing GI’s. Only the fear of the Taliban also attacking them, for not letting the US leave, would stop them al Qaeda from suicide-bombing the withdrawing US troops.
Al Qaeda has some incredible tactics. It turned over the names and details on low level al Qaeda leaders to allow drone aircraft to kill them, and perhaps family members who were in the way, so as to create a ruse to meet with top CIA analysts to suicide-bomb them,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/al-qaeda-killing-7-top-cia-experts-was-under-reported-disaster
Earlier al Qaeda leaders escaped from a surrounded by a US airbase US prison in Afghanistan,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071101500.html
It managed to attack downtown Kabul and put up a firefight that lasted for hours. A US success in Iraq was that the US managed to drastically cut down on civilian casualties while al Qaeda goons got more and more brutal, leading to even most Sunnis in Iraq being furious at al Qaeda instead of the Americans. In response in Afghanistan al Qaeda learning from the Iraq experience suddenly changed tactics and stopped being as brutal. When they attached that shopping Mall in Kabul after unsuccessfully attacking the central bank they demanded the merchants leave instead of quickly shooting and blowing up the merchants and shoppers. This counteracts General Crystal’s, and Obama’s, policy of trying to repeat in Afghanistan what happened in Iraq. See “Taliban Uses Lighter Touch To Win Allies”. This is good news to all who the noncombatants trying to stay alive but has no effect on the US managing to spend more and more money.
If you think Ron Paul has the solution, “If you leave them alone, they will leave us along” ask the Kurds. The Kurds tried to stay away from the fighting in Iraq. But when Obama managed to get the Shiites to refrain from tit-for-tat reprisals against the Sunnis in exchange for the US staying out of the cities, Al Qaeda then added suicide attacking the Christian minority areas of the Kurdistan province to try to start tit-for-tat revenge killings there.
Al Qaeda believes that the people of Islam should be a warring people. What exactly is defeating a dead suicide bomber? How is stopping a suicidal person from dying, then turning around and executing him, punishment? For instance doctors with great effort are managing to keep Nadal Hasan alive after being shot several times during his rampage at Fort Hood, only to face the possibility of trial and eventual execution if tried and found guilty where the authorities will stop keeping him alive long enough to inject him with poison as a punishment. If there is life elsewhere in the universe they might think this weird.
The problem with dealing with al Qaeda might not involve deciding what to do but in staying focused. Al Qaeda diehards as we all know are willing to kill and die for their cause. But they are also willing to work as close to 24 hours a day and be as alert as they can for their cause. CIA analysts tend to work 9 to 5 or whatever their hours, and US soldiers work as long as their assignment requires. Obama spending much more time than Bush who had al Qaeda blended in with all kinds of what he considered evil from Saddam, to Iran, to North Korea, to Hamas and Hezbollah.
On the anniversary of the Madrid backpack bombing many Spanish clerics had sermons accusing bin Laden of being a heretic, but if the English language part of the Internet is any indication they haven’t said much since. A Canadian Muslim legislator organized Muslims in his district to keep track of their kids playing around with extremism as they would, their children messing with alcohol and drugs but didn’t deal with al Qaeda outside his jurisdiction. The Daniel Pearl Foundation name after the news correspondent lured to Pakistan and beheaded on the Internet organized peace seminar and prayer services and has annual peace concerts but squirm when their work is called standing up to al Qaeda. Queen Noor of Jordan after the wedding bombing of Jordan was so effective on Jordan TV that al Qaeda agreed to leave Jordan alone if she shut up, though the al Qaeda terrorists who organized the attacks having his relatives denounce him also was involved. It’s really frustrating trying to google her comments only to get short snips by those who were upset that she claimed that it was the first time a woman tried to be a suicide terrorist. Sayyid Imyyid Imam al-Sharif whose pen name is Dr. Fadl is the most persistent critic of al Qaeda blaming bin Laden not the US for continuing deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. His words should be spread around as fighting al Qaeda rather than (or more importantly ever more expensive US weaponry). However al Qaeda may be able to adept to this as well. Anyway I think it is important to spread around his words, I hope Obama would listen to him as much as he can,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/20/dr-fadl-al-qaeda-founder_n_168707.html
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3359
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/4736358/Al-Qaeda-founder-launches-fierce-attack-on-Osama-bin-Laden.html
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3359
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyed_Imam_Al-Sharif
As long as the US takes the leadership most others will stay in the background. Despite Joe Biden’s suggestion is would be difficult for any President to stop taking the leadership. But there are things Obama could do. When the Taliban promised to not interfere in the affairs of other nations if the US leaves Afghanistan, Obama could have responded with an offer to leave if the Taliban makes it clear that they don’t want al Qaeda around.
However, remember when both Obama and the Pakistan government allowed modified Sharia Law in the Swat Valley as a peace gesture. Remember how much both US hawks and doves were upset with the situation. How much more upsetting would it be if there was a cease-fire in Afghanistan, with Sharia Law in Kabul, as the US monitored from US base camps to make sure the Taliban distanced themselves from the al Qaeda?
Al Qaeda is confident they will bankrupt the US with all our incredibly expensive smart weapons, in face of their financially cheap technology. I believe, if Obama can’t find a solution no one else can. So I want to support him and at the same time urge him to find a way to stop an incredible ever rising expense on starter and smarter weapons. Since the al Qaeda and the Taliban responded with US’s less kill ratio policy it is possible anything the US does could be sabotaged. During the Second World War there was real fear that Hitler would win, perhaps if we started to really fear al Qaeda, destroying or baiting us into destroying what we hold dear, as Americans barter in a dollar less world we might figure out what to do. Bin Laden preaches that Muslim culture is hopelessly going to be abused if Arabs don’t resort to suicidal tactics. Groups more peaceful than al Qaeda, even Hamas and Hezbollah, winning a few rounds will deflate al Qaeda’s appeal, which goes to people who never even heard of Islam such as the student outcasts who attacked at Columbine High then killing themselves.
The loss in Massachusetts doesn’t just mean one less Democratic Representative but an omen toward the loss of our way of life. Obama is our best hope but he is not nearly enough and he needs a little tough love mixed in with those who praise him.
A negative afterthought
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128368
by Richard Kane
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/22672
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/user/richardkanepa
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2419
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=5163
http://consortiumblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/logic-of-al-qaedas-mccain-choice.html?showComment=1225253700000#c7899683072517641995
Back up reference to above link, http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/082209a.html
RichardKane.blogspot.com
More information if you google RichardKanePA
Read more!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
After Hitler, Us
“After Hitler us” was a frequent comment during the Weimar Republic by German progressives in the 30's. It reminds me of the recent comments in the latest election, where many progressives turned against a moderately progressive candidate out of hard times and disgust with Obama’s lack of promised change.
Supposedly in four years a real progressive might be elected in Massachusetts, if Martha Coakley losses, but if she wins she might stay in office for many years. This in the direction of substituting the phase, “After Scott Brown, us” asserting that if Martha Coakley loses the next representative elected in four years will likely be more progressive. There is also a lack of concern from those who aren’t moderate Republicans that Republican politicians who are at all liberal are being pressured to change or even to get out, which could mean a right-wing nut case as the Republican contender in 2012. Another similarity is the percentage of poor people and the unemployed, into right wing causes. Of course the economic woes and political problems in Germany caused by mostly the worldwide economic conditions, while similar, were many times worse than today but the percentage of newly unemployed, and newly out of being kicked out of their homes in right-wing causes is similar,
http://www.lycos.com/info/weimar-republic--adolf-hitler.html
Obviously a nut case Republican candidate wouldn’t call for sterilizing Hispanics, just to kick them out of the country, definitely making no distinction of American children born of immigrant parents. As for antiwar activists being mad at Coutney saying Afghanistan is not the place to fight al Qaeda, Scott Brown’s ravings that America needs to finish the job in Afghanistan while he weaves her opposition to the war, capital punishment and support for trials for terrorists into a continuous web. A staunchly antiwar libertarian also in the race will mean that a Brown victory will be interpreted as support for the war unless the Libertarian, Joe Kennedy, does well,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/martha-coakley-no-joe-kennedy-yes
A problem with this essay is that it is an exaggeration, but a bigger problem is that we cried wolf far too often. However bin Laden is a wolf, causing untold grief the biggest example was co-sponsoring by attacking Shiite Holy Places, creating a tit-for-tat bloodbath between Sunnis and Shiites. Bush didn’t send peacekeeper’s to Somalia after Bin Laden threatened to respond, and low and behold the rest of the world under Bush stood up to Somalian pirates by themselves. There is a big world out there with many other nations who would be standing up to al Qaeda if the US backed down,
The real aggressive trouble that France gave Germany following the First World War, may or may not compare with the trouble al Qaeda gives the US,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/al-qaeda-killing-7-top-cia-experts-was-under-reported-disaster
But there is enough similarities between those who want to make everything temporary worse, in order to make them better later, and the poor and disengaged drifting toward conservative causes to cause alarm. If ACORN was able to accomplish more, and if rowdy but peaceful protests were able to show real results, the excitement over suicide attacks even by American outcasts such as at Columbine High would be far less of a problem. We must not stop finding the idea of the right and the left ganging up against Obama to be appealing and should continue this discussion just as intensely after the polls close tomorrow. By all means vote Coakley, or if you can’t take Democrats anymore, vote for the libertarian.
Related material,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128483
A negative afterthought
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128368
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Read more!
Supposedly in four years a real progressive might be elected in Massachusetts, if Martha Coakley losses, but if she wins she might stay in office for many years. This in the direction of substituting the phase, “After Scott Brown, us” asserting that if Martha Coakley loses the next representative elected in four years will likely be more progressive. There is also a lack of concern from those who aren’t moderate Republicans that Republican politicians who are at all liberal are being pressured to change or even to get out, which could mean a right-wing nut case as the Republican contender in 2012. Another similarity is the percentage of poor people and the unemployed, into right wing causes. Of course the economic woes and political problems in Germany caused by mostly the worldwide economic conditions, while similar, were many times worse than today but the percentage of newly unemployed, and newly out of being kicked out of their homes in right-wing causes is similar,
http://www.lycos.com/info/weimar-republic--adolf-hitler.html
Obviously a nut case Republican candidate wouldn’t call for sterilizing Hispanics, just to kick them out of the country, definitely making no distinction of American children born of immigrant parents. As for antiwar activists being mad at Coutney saying Afghanistan is not the place to fight al Qaeda, Scott Brown’s ravings that America needs to finish the job in Afghanistan while he weaves her opposition to the war, capital punishment and support for trials for terrorists into a continuous web. A staunchly antiwar libertarian also in the race will mean that a Brown victory will be interpreted as support for the war unless the Libertarian, Joe Kennedy, does well,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/martha-coakley-no-joe-kennedy-yes
A problem with this essay is that it is an exaggeration, but a bigger problem is that we cried wolf far too often. However bin Laden is a wolf, causing untold grief the biggest example was co-sponsoring by attacking Shiite Holy Places, creating a tit-for-tat bloodbath between Sunnis and Shiites. Bush didn’t send peacekeeper’s to Somalia after Bin Laden threatened to respond, and low and behold the rest of the world under Bush stood up to Somalian pirates by themselves. There is a big world out there with many other nations who would be standing up to al Qaeda if the US backed down,
The real aggressive trouble that France gave Germany following the First World War, may or may not compare with the trouble al Qaeda gives the US,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/al-qaeda-killing-7-top-cia-experts-was-under-reported-disaster
But there is enough similarities between those who want to make everything temporary worse, in order to make them better later, and the poor and disengaged drifting toward conservative causes to cause alarm. If ACORN was able to accomplish more, and if rowdy but peaceful protests were able to show real results, the excitement over suicide attacks even by American outcasts such as at Columbine High would be far less of a problem. We must not stop finding the idea of the right and the left ganging up against Obama to be appealing and should continue this discussion just as intensely after the polls close tomorrow. By all means vote Coakley, or if you can’t take Democrats anymore, vote for the libertarian.
Related material,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128483
A negative afterthought
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128368
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Read more!
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