Displaying 451 To 480 Of 1,116 Comments Arab Uprisings: Still Writing History 2CCP – I’m with you on this one. Unilateral air strikes? B2 bombers? The only reasonable answer is “No.” » Posted By Buddy McCue On March 17, 2011 @ 5:21 pm henlopen – That kind of action is NOT what I would want to see in a leader. What I would rather see is a President who surrounds himself with expert advisors who can give him all sides of the issue, who try to predict (based on knowledge of the region and its history) what will happen if he does this or he does that. If President Obama IS that kind of President, surely one of those advisors would be making the point that PocketWatch is making in the comment below. It’s a very good point. We (the U.S.) can’t be seen as a manipulator of events, or else the people fighting to overturn the autocratic regimes can be made to appear less legitimate. I don’t want to seem dismissive of your view, but acknowledging all the angles of this complicated and sticky situation is not the same thing as hiding under a bed. » Posted By Buddy McCue On March 17, 2011 @ 11:56 am Thanks for collecting all these things together for us. It’s going to take me awhile to read through them all! » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 2:29 pm reply to cyrano – I see what you mean. What people are willing to do and what they are willing to say can often be two very different things. But these survey results I cited show that the people aren’t completely averse to progressive ideas, at least in theory. Maybe it really is mostly a matter of presenting the ideas to them better. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 24, 2011 @ 5:23 am PW- That makes a lot of sense to me. Plenty of politicians and “media personalities” make the case against government, but who is making the case FOR government services? No one, as far as I can tell. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 24, 2011 @ 5:18 am What a striking visual… » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 24, 2011 @ 5:08 am Pity that strategy works so well. I don’t have the statistics to back it up, but I have heard that the less people vote, the better the Republicans do in elections. That sure would explain why they put so much effort in suppressing the vote, while Democrats put so much effort in the opposite: increasing the number of voters. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 23, 2011 @ 11:35 am But are we REALLY a center-right nation? Down here in Georgia, it sure feels that way. But nation-wide polls show that most Americans support progressive ideas (even though the actual word “liberal” has been so thoroughly demonized.) There’s a good list of these poll results at this webpage here: http://www.occasionalplanet.org/2010/08/20/america-is-not-a-center-right-nation/ A few from the list that I’ve copied and pasted: 69 percent of U.S. voters agree that, “government should care for those who cannot care for themselves.” (Pew Research, 2007) 64 percent of Americans would pay higher taxes to guarantee health care for all U.S. citizens (CNN Opinion Research Poll, May 2007) 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health coverage to all U. S. citizens. (Gallup Poll, 2006) 86 percent of Americans want Congress to pass legislation to raise the federal minimum wage (CNN, August 2006) 71 percent of Americans think that taxes on corporations are too low. (Gallup Poll, April 2007) 66 percent of Americans think taxes on upper-income people are too low. (Gallup Poll, 2006) 78 percent of Americans think “women should have an equal role with men in running business, industry, and government.” (National Elections Survey, 2004) 67 percent of Americans think the U.S. should emphasize diplomatic and economic means over military methods in combating terrorism. (Public Agenda and Foreign Affairs, 2007) Only 15 percent of Americans think the U.S. should play “the leading role in the world” (Gallup Poll, February 2007)—a remarkable rejection of U.S. global hegemony and empire. 62 percent of Americans in September of 2007 thought the invasion of Iraq was “a mistake.” (CBS News, September 2007) 70 percent of Americans want a multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty (Pew Poll, November 2005) » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 23, 2011 @ 10:25 am Last summer my lawn mower wouldn’t start. My gut told me, “Kick the thing as hard as you can!” I went with my gut and really hurt my foot. The gut can be pretty dumb sometimes. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 23, 2011 @ 7:54 am Imagine if we did have real journalism. What would the media be saying about her? Maybe they would be speculating on Face The Nation or Meet The Press: “Why won’t she submit to being interviewed? Does she really expect to be able to hide behind her Facebook and Twitter accounts? We’ve invited her over and over to a hard-hitting interview, but she won’t agree…” Or maybe they’d say nothing at all about her. Who remembers failed Vice-Presidential candidates, except for collectors of trivia? » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 21, 2011 @ 6:26 am Invite For Collaboration Part 2: ThinkProgress has some interesting news about how AOL makes the majority of its profits. http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/01/youve-got-ripped-off-aols-scam-economics/ Here’s the gist of it: 80% of AOL’s profits come from selling subscriptions, and 75% of the people who subscribe are already connected, and don’t need what they’re selling. That’s a scam. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 21, 2011 @ 6:44 am Your analysis of Palin rings true to me. When you say “Palin exemplifies the kind of person who believes they have a right to succeed because they are doing everything the way that their leaders tell them to,” I find myself nodding my head. That’s exactly it. Hard-right conservatives like herself know that truth comes from authority. It’s a completely different mindset from empiricism; one does not start with questions and work toward answers. One starts with answers and works backwards. It’s like the Scientific Method in reverse. The conclusion comes first. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 1:32 pm Wisconsin, what does it really mean? And they probably would have said, “Roosevelt, Hoover, what’s the difference? Maybe I’ll just stay home during the next election; THAT’LL show him!” » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 1:11 pm Excellent! Thanks for pointing this out. I wish more people realized what things used to be like before real reforms were put in place. No one deserves to owe his soul to the company store. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 11:41 am That’s what it means down here in GA too. Clearly not the intent of the people who developed the Declaration of Human Rights. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 8:50 am Wouldn’t be the first time that the Right has twisted a perfectly good phrase into meaning something else. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 7:09 am Wow, that’s some inspired street theater! I love the eyes and finger and all. It was probably a lot of fun for the demonstrators, and it really gets the message across. By the way, I remember Fingerhut from years ago. Their catalog used to have all kind of wacky, improbable and tasteless stuff. I read it for the laughs! I just looked them up in a separate window since I read your comment, to see if they’re still in business, and their collection of merchandise just seems … normal. Kind of a disappointment. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 4:27 am I heard Maddow making that case on her podcast, and she’s very convincing. She shows how this could not possibly be about the budget, and she does a beautiful job explaining it. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 4:17 am Perhaps that’s why the right to form and join unions is specifically spelled out in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights? That document was written shortly after the war, and the facts you mention about the Nazis likely influenced the content, it seems to me. I may as well paste the relevant part here: Article 23. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 22, 2011 @ 4:13 am My opinion? It will never stop. This struggle for power will go on for generations to come. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 21, 2011 @ 2:52 pm That IS a good excerpt. (I was going to provide an excerpt too, but it got bigger and bigger until I realized that I wanted to copy’n’paste the whole thing!” It’s all about the power alright; there’s no denying that. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 21, 2011 @ 1:09 pm There is an excellent Op-Ed in the New York Times by Paul Krugman about what’s going on in Wisconsin. It isn’t very long, not even a full page, but it really gets to the heart of the matter: » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 21, 2011 @ 12:34 pm I think that George Carlin was right when he said that they call it “The American Dream” because you have to be asleep to believe in it. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 2:50 pm Thanks for the info! I wondered how they were actually defining it. I remember that during the Bush/Kerry debates, John Kerry pointed out that under the present definitions, George W. Bush himself could be considered a “small businessman” because of a company that he owned that dealt in wood. Bush had no idea what he was talking about. He laughed in derision, and joked with audience members: “Heh heh. Heh. heh. Wanna buy some wood? Heh heh.” Turned out that Kerry was right, but who knew (or cared?) Bush was seen to have gained the upper hand in that part of the debate. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 2:47 pm Yeah! The Republicans like to talk about small businesses, but the official definition of that includes giant corporate interests apparently ( I believe the definition uses the number of people within the company, rather than the amount of money that the business makes and spends.) You’re absolutely right that the MSM should focus on the success stories of REAL small businesses and what they do. The mainstream talks a good game about free enterprise, so why don’t they back that up with any good solid reporting about it? » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 2:29 pm That’s exactly what I’m talking about. My career has been in sign-making. A long time ago, it was called “sign-painting,” and anyone who owned a sign shop was able to paint. If you couldn’t even letter a board, you’d be laughed out of the business. But automated sign systems have almost completely taken over. Now most sign work is made using computer-cut vinyl graphics. I rolled with the changes, put down my brushes, and learned the new technology. But I found that the people I worked for no longer needed to know anything about sign production. I found that a person who comes from an affluent family who wasn’t good at anything in particular was regarded as the “creative one,” and often bought a design studio or a sign shop so as to have something to do. Most of the old signpainters either retired or were forced out of business by the machines. I’ve read that there once was a day that CEO’s were not mostly people with business degrees. Once there were engineer CEO’s in charge of car companies. There used to be people who worked their way up through the ranks to be the person in charge. I wish I lived back then. Hell, I’d give my left foot to actually live in a true merit-based society. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 2:12 pm I found out a little while ago that one of my favorite beers was made by a distillery that is employee owned and operated (Fat Tire.. if you haven’t tried it, do! It’s good.) Makes sense that the product should be good; the company’s decisions are made by people who actually make the product. On the other hand, many of the places I’VE worked for are owned by people who know nothing about the work at hand. The production is inefficient, time and material is wasted, and the product suffers because the person in charge does not have the long experience of the people who work for him. All the important decisions are made by the person least qualified to make them. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 1:41 pm That really does sound like good business. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 1:17 pm Too much reverb on that album. » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 1:44 pm That’s a good use of them! » Posted By Buddy McCue On February 20, 2011 @ 6:56 amComments Posted By Buddy McCue
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/opinion/21krugman.html
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