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Comments Posted By Assumed Name

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Breaking the Back of the Baggers

Ad Lib,

I agree whole-heartedly with your description if the far-right generally and the tea Party specifically. However, long memory isn’t a virtue of Americans generally…and the political distance between October 2013 to November 2014 is forever. The 24/7 corporate news will certainly hammer “a reading,” and in so doing construct history as desired. If only facts were facts and if only the truth were “whole and nothing but.” That all said, once again, I hope I’m wrong.

Assumed

» Posted By Assumed Name On October 22, 2013 @ 11:43 am

Our 200,000th Comment! We’re Celebrating With a Comment Contest!

Hi, Ad Lib! (Thanks, and good to be back. *smiles*)

» Posted By Assumed Name On October 9, 2013 @ 4:57 pm

Congratulations on the 200,000th comment–very cool!!

» Posted By Assumed Name On October 9, 2013 @ 4:28 pm

Tea Party Republicans To Offer PR Services To Serial Killers

Hi, Ad Lib.

All I can say is that I hope you’re right and I’m wrong…but I’m still perplexed that a number of them were put into office in the first instance. (I honestly don’t know how President Obama can make his mouth assert that American exceptionalism exists. This whole shutting down the government over the Affordable Care Act scenario is truly asinine.)

–Me

» Posted By Assumed Name On October 9, 2013 @ 4:55 pm

Amusing, but depressing: first, it’s too close to the truth for comfort; and second, the same or worse will be voted back in in 2014. :b

» Posted By Assumed Name On October 9, 2013 @ 4:33 pm

The Weekend Music Thread-Back To The Garden

Micael Jackson — Earth Song (Some of the imagry is disturbing.)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DXAi3VTSdTxU

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 18, 2013 @ 6:02 pm

Why Obama Can’t Be a Magic Genie on Egypt

I hear you, Ad Lib…what a mess, no? Another irony is that although US dependence on Arab oil could be markedly decreased with the development of renewable energy (solar and wind, both of which are much less destructive than dams although large wind turbines are noisy and require constant maintenance), there seems to be no political will to fund the development of such energy even though it could in part help stimulate the economy as well as decrease greenhouse gas production. It’s awesome, and in a bad way.

–Little ol’ me

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 21, 2013 @ 5:47 pm

Kalima,

I agree with everything you expressed in your last response. (The quick charge of anti-semitism is waning as a distinction is more often made between racism (which certainly persists) on the one hand and criticizing state action on the other. Indeed, there is opposition inside Israel to expanding settlements in the occupied territories, but this is something that is unheard of in mainstream US news.)

No worries about responses that take time…as a single working mother with elderly parents, I’m more often than not slow to respond. (The last two days have found me helping my mom with my step-father’s medical visits. 🙂

Warm regards,
Assumed

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 21, 2013 @ 5:38 pm

Hi AdLib, and welcome back (as you’ve not been well, I understand).

I sincerely appreciate your concern about keeping Egypt “in line” regarding Israel, and yet does US funding really matter?

First, it’s not as if Israel is concerned about US interests (as opposed to Israeli interests only) in the Middle East as demonstrated by its announcement (that settlements would be expanded in the occupied territories) immediately before the US secretary of state was to broker a peace deal of whatever sort with the Palestinians (everyone’s despised step-child) — the announcement was a giant middle finger, Israeli internal politics be damned, in all honesty. That is, US aid to Israel doesn’t seem to buy their cooperation; and, differently, although Egypt is the giant next door (to Israel), given their internal fish to fry as well as the markedly more heavy aid from the gulf, it’s not clear (to me, in any event) that US aid to Egypt matters that much. (Perhaps it does, but absent an extremist Muslim military, political, or para-military presence in Egypt, I honestly don’t think Egypt is biting at the bit for a go at the Jewish state, especially given Israel’s superior weaponry, compliments of the US.)

On that note, that $1.5 billion would go quite a ways towards health care…or a jobs program…or so many other domestic needs.

Best,
–Assumed

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 19, 2013 @ 5:53 pm

Thanks, Kalima.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head–there is a strong psychological commitment for the US. to bolster Israel due in no small part to political rhetoric, arguably on both sides of the ailse. Interestingly, there is probably a background concern regarding nuclear weaponry in the hands of religious extremists (cue Iran & Pakistan), which seems reasonable, and yet in Israel you have a democracy that prioritizes right to citizenship based on ethno-religious membership (a kind of tribalism, if you will), and in India you have right wing Hindu nationalists who rival historical European nationalist of various stripes. “It’s interesting,” to be sure.

The other blushing evil is the pro-democracy rhetoric in politics & the news vis-a-vis Egypt and, two years ago now, the “Arab Spring” contrasted with the U.S.’s unabashed support of patently undemocratic, misogynist, actively slave theocratic nation-states (think Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others). I agree with you that a theocracy (in Egypt’s case the ironically democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood) isn’t an ingredient for democracy…indeed, it’s akin to pouring vinegar in your cake batter. Yet given what the U.S. tolerates including letting the Saudis fly home directly after 9/11, the handwringing if McCain, et al. and the news shows (they’re preformers more than informers) is hypocritical theatre at best.

That said, Morsi and his merry band of “constitutional scholars” are not missed. It’s unclear, however, what the military will spawn in it’s place…perhaps some semblence of proto democratic norms, but more than likely another Sadam Hussein figure which, although not so great if you’re a minority’s minority (Kurds in Iraq, possibly Coptic Christians in Egypt), a long standing social and economic stability after a fashion could be maintained.

Off to exercise and work!!

–Assumed

P.S. My son’s birthday bash was a hit!! Lots of work, but a ton of fun–there’s nothing like a big, happy gathering of family and friends!! 😀

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 19, 2013 @ 5:51 am

Hi Kalima,

That certainly is accurate regarding the historical beginnings of aid to Egypt. Fast forwarding to 2013, however, what does the U.S. gain in return for protecting Israel? (How does Israel further U.S. interests in the Middle East?) I’m not always clear about these things, yet it seems next door to blasphemy to inquire, so any light you could shed would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Assumed

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 18, 2013 @ 6:32 pm

Hmm…AdLib, somewhat off topic, but if the Saudis, et al. Will gladly take up the slack should the U.S.’s measly $1.5 billion cease to flow towards Egypt, and if that $1.5 billion doesn’t buy meaningful influence given the $20 billion already flowing from the gulf, them what would be the rationale for continuing to give the Egyptians–military or any other group–$1.5 billion??

–Assumed (I should say, I’ve not yet read the other comments, but will do so now. :))

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 18, 2013 @ 5:47 pm

The Weekend Music Thread-Fly Me To The Moon

Abbie Gardner — It’s Only A Paper Moon

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0noLkjBU7fk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0noLkjBU7fk

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 11, 2013 @ 7:59 pm

Boston Marathon Bomber and The Tea Party – Peas in a Pod

(I *really* wish people would stop referring to the younger brother as a “kid”–he’s a killer.)

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 6, 2013 @ 5:11 pm

Excellent, Itchy.

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 6, 2013 @ 5:02 pm

Cool.

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 6, 2013 @ 5:01 pm

…he’s a loose cannon and should be dismissed. (If he acts on his words, the small town will be liable and rightly so.)

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 6, 2013 @ 8:21 am

I don’t know, Beatlix…I keep seeing bumper stickers that say otherwise regarding their popularity: lots supporting Chia Pet, lots of silly snakes, lots of anti-Obama, and, most of all, lots of second amendment fanaticism.

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 6, 2013 @ 2:56 am

He’s in Pennsylvania? (I swear he’s dressed for a Michigan Militia meeting.)

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 6, 2013 @ 2:51 am

AdLib,

I’d like to see the report but the BBC video stream isn’t available in the US via BBC. If it repeats on television, or if you find the 30 minute program or a few segments elsewhere on the web (I couldn’t after a cursory search), please let us know. (The mixture of American white supremacy and increased willingness to use violence as politics is mind blowing…without intending to sound paranoid, we are closer to Hitler’s Germany than many realize.)

–Assumed

» Posted By Assumed Name On August 6, 2013 @ 2:49 am

Weekend Thread? A Potpourri of Posts

…I didn’t watch further Than Flaver Flave’s demise, but for a bit of variety, here’s Sykes:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VO3oC4w0hHw

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 28, 2013 @ 6:01 pm

My 10 Year Old Daughter’s First Go at Political Humor

I’m late to the party, but may I say, “Very well done, and very fun!!”

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 26, 2013 @ 7:00 pm

Rallies in St. Louis for Peace, for Justice, for All the Trayvons

**Very** cool, and good news!!

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 21, 2013 @ 10:20 am

Murph,

I don’t have to tell you, I know, but I’ll say it anyway: it’s just a fact that whites and blacks remain deeply segregated in the United States, esp. residentially and religiously. That is, there are no broad physical informal meeting places that are common ground. To have a truly interracial movement, then, requires intentional cross-racial communication and cross-racial co-operation. During the 50s and 60s certainly the black church was at the fore of the Civil Rights movement, and, therefore, it was an obvious place to reach (at least black) people. I suspect, however, that with the decline of strong ties to churches generally that the black church as starting point isn’t as promising politically as it once was. If that’s the case, then we need to identify another “base of operations,” as it were. (Frankly, undergraduate students at all but the most liberal of campuses aren’t particularly promising, either. They’re often far-right scary, anti-intellectual, resentful little things.)

The upshot: although I’m usually against remaking the wheel, I think it would be naive to hope for a 60s/70s style movement since for too many reasons (e.g., age of population, recession, and so on) this is neither the 60s nor 70s. I’m with you in thinking a jump tart is needed, and quickly, but rallies notwithstanding none is apparent, thus far. (Perhaps the Martins will continue to increase momentum and following…if so, in my humble opinion they would continue to be extremely eloquent leaders with the epitome of moral standing.)

(O/T …and, yes, my little guy is a sweetie!! 😀 )

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 21, 2013 @ 8:21 am

Murph, the rallies weren’t well advertised–it took me a half hour Internet search to find information for my area and it wasn’t announced in either of two local papers, but the common meeting place was to begin at noon in front of a federal building as the target was the DOJ. I debated whether to go both due to safety concerns (I only have the one kid with none to spare *smiles*) and because I was worried about overload for the same said kiddo. (He has had trouble sleeping of late.) In the end, we stayed home with a half hour of news about the events. It seems, however, that a lot has been done with social media–about 25% of African Americans, for example, are on Twitter, and that was huge in forcing the Florida to arrest and prosecute Zimmerman. Still, I too worry about momentum…it seemed there was hardly a whimper, frankly, after Roberts’ gutting of The Voting Rights Act.

Someone just bounced in my bed and wants a hug.

Toodle.

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 21, 2013 @ 3:39 am

The Weekend Music Thread-Love and Light

Pleasure.

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 23, 2013 @ 7:59 pm

“Shining Star” by The Manhattens

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y73L44NiLx8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dy73L44NiLx8

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 20, 2013 @ 9:16 pm

Debating the Existence of Racism (and Gravity if We Have Time)

Oh: no worries. (Also, I sometimes take time to respond…I’m attempting to write (hah!) while entertaining my summer vacationing kid. *smiles*)

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 20, 2013 @ 3:30 am

Pleasure. (An admitted odd response upon reflection, but you know what I mean. *smiles*)

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 20, 2013 @ 3:20 am

Thank you, Killgore, for the warm welcome! (I, in turn, have been perusing discussions with great interest and enjoyment. The civility is refreshing.)

» Posted By Assumed Name On July 20, 2013 @ 3:18 am