In 2008 our votes in the primaries will be more important than in the general election.
The level of complicity, intentional or not, between the current Bush war policy and the insurgency is disturbing. Perhaps the various factions have decided to restrain themselves in order to wait out the change of government in the U.S. or may return to frequent attacks next year in order to try to shape the US election. They may also be using the time to work out new coalitions against the current Iraqi government and then attempt a political coup rather than a violent one. We aren't likely to get solid information from any of the major news sources. Journalism in Iraq seems to be whatever is delivered by runners to journalists bunkered in relatively safe hotels. It seems quite certain though that nothing has been resolved.
The Republicans want to diminish Iraq as a campaign issue. If the economy doesn't slide into recession that might be enough to get a Republican candidate elected since Clinton only represents Republican lite. Absent a raging war or a recession Gulianni or Romney may appear to be a better choice to a thin majority. Either way, the American people lose. Its just a matter of which flavor of defeat you prefer.
Perhaps a strong tug to the left by voting for Kucinich in the primaries would remind Clinton that she will need those voters to win and to govern. That seems to be the best we can do at the moment.
Jake Berry
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
THE PURPLE COW
RANDOM JACK. DISSEMINATE FREELY.
SLINGS & ARROWS OF DIRTY POLITICS
By Jack Random
Given the critical problems of the world – problems that may be more critical to the future of human civilization on earth than any in history – what does the American electorate need to know?
Do Mormons believe that Satan was the brother of Jesus?
Was Barack Obama a drug dealer for the Ayatollahs at a school for Islamic fundamentalists?
I apologize for raising the questions and ask the readers to erase them from their minds.
[Do not imagine a purple cow.]
Even if one supports Hillary Clinton on the issues (I do not), one should refuse to sanction one of the most hypocritical mudslinging campaigns in memory. Not even Trick Dick Nixon accused his opponents of mudslinging for having the audacity to question his integrity on the war (“Nixon has Secret Plan to End War”) shortly before launching his own campaign of dirty tricks.
[Let me make this perfectly clear: I am not accusing my opponent of being a drug dealer.]
As for Mike Huckabee: What a sly dog he has turned out to be. As a self-proclaimed Christian leader, he would never suggest that Mormonism is a blasphemous cult.
[Do not think of a purple cow.]
I have no horse in the Republican race but, if not for the specter of war and the Neocons hiding behind the curtains, nothing would frighten me more than the possibility of a Romney or Huckabee presidency.
As an individual who believes that spiritual matters are a private affair and the separation of church and state is a fundamental tenet of democracy, there is no place for the likes of me in Huckabee’s or Romney’s America.
It is one thing to have candidates of both major parties pandering to the religious right; it is another to have candidates who consider themselves preordained to break down the walls of Jericho.
If American education, with its obsessive testing and faith-based values programs, has failed to inform Americans of the absolute necessity of maintaining the separation of church and state, then we are in deeper trouble than even the most cynical among us have imagined.
The last thing we need is a Christian leader, ordained by the Almighty, commanding a worldwide imperialist crusade.
SLINGS & ARROWS OF DIRTY POLITICS
By Jack Random
Given the critical problems of the world – problems that may be more critical to the future of human civilization on earth than any in history – what does the American electorate need to know?
Do Mormons believe that Satan was the brother of Jesus?
Was Barack Obama a drug dealer for the Ayatollahs at a school for Islamic fundamentalists?
I apologize for raising the questions and ask the readers to erase them from their minds.
[Do not imagine a purple cow.]
Even if one supports Hillary Clinton on the issues (I do not), one should refuse to sanction one of the most hypocritical mudslinging campaigns in memory. Not even Trick Dick Nixon accused his opponents of mudslinging for having the audacity to question his integrity on the war (“Nixon has Secret Plan to End War”) shortly before launching his own campaign of dirty tricks.
[Let me make this perfectly clear: I am not accusing my opponent of being a drug dealer.]
As for Mike Huckabee: What a sly dog he has turned out to be. As a self-proclaimed Christian leader, he would never suggest that Mormonism is a blasphemous cult.
[Do not think of a purple cow.]
I have no horse in the Republican race but, if not for the specter of war and the Neocons hiding behind the curtains, nothing would frighten me more than the possibility of a Romney or Huckabee presidency.
As an individual who believes that spiritual matters are a private affair and the separation of church and state is a fundamental tenet of democracy, there is no place for the likes of me in Huckabee’s or Romney’s America.
It is one thing to have candidates of both major parties pandering to the religious right; it is another to have candidates who consider themselves preordained to break down the walls of Jericho.
If American education, with its obsessive testing and faith-based values programs, has failed to inform Americans of the absolute necessity of maintaining the separation of church and state, then we are in deeper trouble than even the most cynical among us have imagined.
The last thing we need is a Christian leader, ordained by the Almighty, commanding a worldwide imperialist crusade.
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