Comments on: The Left, Changing Course, Goes Pragmatic

The New Republic: The Netroots Miss Their Stokely Carmichael Moment

[feelfree1]

LawyerTom1,

It sounds like you are championing many of the very same neo-liberal/neo-conservative policies that got us into the mess that we currently find ourselves in.

Re: "(though Sadam was a war criminal and definitely deserved to be hung)"

You sound like you don''t have much respect for the rule of law, or for the principle of "innocent until proven guilty". Neither the media nor a kangaroo court installed under the boot of an illegal invasion qualifies as a legitimate venue for this determination.

I very much wish that Saddam was still alive, as he would be an extremely valuable witness in the war crimes tribunals against the Bush global terror network.

You sound like an apologist for the Democrats- the other Corporate/AIPAC-owned Party.

[lawyertom1]

socrates392. Thanks for the uninformed shot. You have no idea what type of law I practice, nor what type of clients I assist. I probably accomplish more to benefit the public and protect their health and welfare in a week than you do in a lifetime. Nice try, no cigar.

I have watched and dealt with the unions and school administrators, and I am disgusted. Schools in the hood are wretched, and those in the burgs are barely better. Classes are dumb-downed to the lowest common denominator, and rarely are the truly gifted helped. The curriculum is a yawn. Why do you think that on any reasonable scale of comparison U.S. students rate so poorly? Only until you get to the University level do you see us excel.

Yes, there are a few good teachers, perhaps you are one. Thank god I had some of them. But, with all due respect, they are too few. There is a lot of dreck that we cannot get rid of, and so we condemn our children to their malfeasance. I have taught at all levels, from elementary to post-grad level [I hate being bored]. I have dealt with supposedly the best public and private schools.

Throw all the abuse you want my way. I will still sleep soundly tonight. But, the educational system needs to be torn up and started over from scratch. We leave too many behind, and waste good minds like there is no tomorrow. We squander resources. It is really sad. It needs to be changed.

[lawyertom1]

Part 2. Open up our markets to those of the poor and undeveloped to help them grow their economy; no tariffs, no barriers. That type of globalization will help the unfortunate, even while you carry your placards against some poorly managed Fortune 200 who overpays its executives. Second, forget tied or commodity based aid. Give cash. Let purchases be made to help local markets grow. Yes, markets, trade, global interaction can help, if done correctly.

Obviously, as recent experience has shown, we will need to increase significantly the regulatory capability of the FDA, USDA, and Customs, because unfortunately some arses will try and cut health and safety corners [like that never happens here... parish the thought].

There is nothing wrong with global trade, only with the distorted policies and programs we have in place.

Stop pretending that big companies are the sole evil in the world. There are some really, really bad and crazy folks out there. Perhaps dinner with the Lords Resistance Army or Charles Taylor, when he was free, or Sadam, when he was alive, would help to make your day. You might even leave the meal with most of your bodily appendages, but then perhaps not.

"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." Aesop.

[lawyertom1]

SharnCedar. Part 1.

I rarely like to get into debates over the obvious, but in this case I will make a couple of comments. Think Darfur, Rwanda, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Liberia, just to name a few examples where either the past or current failure to act has lead to hundreds of thousands to over a million deaths in each location [joint action has shown success often, for example in the former Yugoslavia and East Temor where unified action was effective]. It is too bad that you think globalization when I am advocating saving millions of our fellow humans, action that takes many countries acting together diplomatically, economically, and yes militarily, if only because there is so much death and destruction over such a geographically diverse area. Smell the carnage, and curse those who fail to act. Sometimes military, diplomatic, and humanitarian action, done together and jointly with allies, makes a lot of sense. [Iraq is such a joke it is hard to know where to begin. Suffice it to say that it was, how can I be oh so polite, ill-planned and conceived, ill-executed, an ego trip for the Shrub, and a complete waste (though Sadam was a war criminal and definitely deserved to be hung).]

Given your obsession with the false boggieman of globalization, there are two not so simple steps that I commend to your contemplation. One, get rid of all agricultural subsidies, period. If the farmer is truly poor, then give him/her welfare, but most of the rest is a waste.

[socrates392]

"Improve schools [we should be appalled; if necessary, take on the unions -- sorry teachers, but you are becoming part of the problem; I use to love you, but then I had to deal with schools; awful, awful, awful]. Ignore the quasi-socialist left nuts and the totalitarian right."

Posted by LawyerTom1 at 02:55 PM : Aug 26, 2007

Hey, LawyerTom1, I am a teacher. When you and all the other tax payers start paying me and other teachers as much as you, LAWYERtom make . . . maybe then you can start complaining about teachers unions!

The way I see it, you get paid far too much to for your ambulance chasing-- I think you''re part of the problem. Stop blaming hard working teachers for trying to do their jobs and take a look at yourself for a second.

[feelfree1]

Re: "But, until Nader, no progressive third-party candidate had dramatically pushed American politics to the right %u2014 as Nader did when he helped elect George W. Bush. In the process, he discredited progressive third parties for a generation."

Democrats are truly a craven and dishonest group, as a whole. There is not a single Democrat who has earned the standing to criticize an American with the integrity and achievements of Ralph Nader.

Besides that, the Democrats are only recently waking up to the vote fraud efforts that robbed their pathetic corporate-owned Presidential candidates of victory in 2000, and in 2004.

They will argue that Bush came to power by way of election fraud in Florida in 2000, and then in Ohio in 2004, both of which are well documented. But when you mention Ralph Nader, these dishonest and cowardly opportunists in the Democrat Party revert right back to blaming him for their own dismal failures, insisting that nobody that their craven organization does not approve should be allowed to run.

The Democrat apologists have spent years blaming Ralph Nader for their own incompetence and impotence, and have gone on to prove that every single criticism of the Democrats made by Ralph Nader, has been 100% accurate, and very well deserved.

[feelfree1]

Referring to groups like the "Daily Kos" as the "left", is disinformative and pathetic.

The "Daily Kos", "Moveon.org", and other mainstream liberal groups, are little more than a different flavor of those who see a future in supporting big corporate and AIPAC interests.

Unless the U.S. public is able to muster the courage to reject the false choices of the 2 dominant Corporate/AIPAC-owned parties, we are doomed, and we may well have the government that we collectively deserve.

[standlee5]

Multinational business probably have more say in the presidential election than we do with our vote.

[standlee5]

I agree there is no right or left. That''s why neither Edwards nor Hunter has a chance. We''re already global and just go throught he motions to pretend to be a democracy.

[skyk-2009]

Conservatives went through that just before ''''06 elections and are now ready for "08. When you clean house you most likely will lose the next battle, yet win the next war.
Posted by cfin5 at 12:59 PM : Aug 26, 2007
+ report abuse

It''s not MEAN Spiritedness.. it''s just FACT. When the citizens of your ONLY ally, Britian, think your leader is a Fascist worse than the leader of North Korea, I''d say you have cleaning enough to last 40 or 50 years, which is about how long you losers are out of power! You never responded to the points made in my post I would guess for good reason. The TRUTH remains that the Republican Party is TODAY dominated and run by Southern Fascist... they do not know how to run elections without hate and division. The problem with that is, as we have all seen with the Rove tactics, you can''t govern. No, I''d say you folks have seen your last tour of governing until at least two generations are passed... that''s about how long it has taken in the past. That''s about how long it took for folks to forget McCarthy!

[sharncedar]

"Work with our allies to contain the dangers in the world."

Hey lawyer tom the first time I read this I thought you said, "work with our allies to create the dangers in the world". That made more sense to me. ain''t that really whatchall are doing, creating dangers, to create smokescreens for globalization? So people don''t notice that they no longer can afford a house, you create some wars, so that people don''t notice they are paying $500 billion a year for a defense industry that doesn''t defend anyone, you prop up some poor Arabs in the desert as if they were the bogeyman?

"Work with our allies to create the dangers in the world." I like it.

[erichsh]

ConDumism, I''ve seen many of your posts before and it''s clear what you think of Republicans, etc. But try to take a step back from criticism for a second and answer this - who is your ideal candidate for President? What leaders out there (whether in this country or elsewhere in the world) most closely embrace what your vision of this country would be?

[lawyertom1]

If the Democrats want to continue on their winning streak, they need to embrace the DLC. The majority of Americans are pragmatic, freedom loving, tolerant, middle of the roaders.

How does that translate? Strong defense [the ghost of Scoop Jackson and Charlie Vanick]. Work with our allies to contain the dangers in the world. Responsible fiscal and budget policies. No tax give-aways to the ultra-rich [bring back the Paris Hilton tax (aka Death Tax -- no trust funds for airheads); make them work]. Tax policies that encourage business growth and savings; use all policy, fiscal, and tax means to encourage job growth. National health care [several reasons: no reason to let every other industrial country have a competitive advantage; help the poor, in other words, be truly Christian in our charity]. Protect the environment. Dah. Repair our infrastructure. Start thinking green and sustainable; it is nowhere near as simple as folks think, but we can do it. Improve schools [we should be appalled; if necessary, take on the unions -- sorry teachers, but you are becoming part of the problem; I use to love you, but then I had to deal with schools; awful, awful, awful]. Ignore the quasi-socialist left nuts and the totalitarian right.

Only the ideologues on the left and right fail to see reality. Too much theory and philosophy; too little connection to what works.

[cfin5]

MYIDonCBS,......I don''t feel tardy!

[myidoncbs]

I liked the phrase: "an idealist in a post-utopian age". But SharnCedar got it right: "DailyKOS" is not "the Left".

There is no "Left" or "Right" wing today, but there are many, many people who realize that the NeoCons are utterly full of $h!t, and that this country can''t survive with a ret*rded Armageddon-lover playing president while his paranoid NeoCon puppet master pulls the strings.

[condumism]

cbsnews.com: cleary the VOICE of American''s FASCIST CORPORATE media, reporting only from the REICHT WINGED FASCIST PERSPETIVE.

[cfin5]

skyk,......I would suggest you tell your own party to clean up their own house before lecturing conservatives on political mean spiritedness. Especially some of your like-minded commentors here. Besides, that''s always the "Oh, why can''t we all just get along" card you play when your about to lose.........Conservatives went through that just before ''06 elections and are now ready for "08. When you clean house you most likely will lose the next battle, yet win the next war.

[skyk-2009]

You have to hand it to today''s McCarthy Clone''s, they do not give up easy, but give up they will. This nation now see''s them for what they are and see the hate and division politics of the Right for what it''s always been. For whatever reason the right has NEVER, since the very first, figured out where the strenght of this nation comes from. That''s probably the reason you will NEVER hear one of the quote an old dead Rightwinger... they don''t dare because those dead one''s were no different than the alive one''s. This nation, as FDR showed Hitler and his Axis, is strong ONLY when it''s UNITED. When Japan attacked us did FDR go before the public and insult the Conservatives who had fought him for years in helping Britian? OF course not, although I''m sure he would have loved too. Why? Because he, unlike the Right Wingers, knew that this nation could not fight a war with a radical Right fanatic, Hitler, and have American''s feeling left out of the process. NOT ONCE during that period did FDR EVER say "you are with me or against me"! It does look like these pathetic losers would after over 200 years FINALLY get the message, but NOOOOOOOOO!! They continue to attack and demonize ANYONE who dares not march to the Party''s Line... Fascism does NOT work in America, it only serves to weaken us!!

[sharncedar]

So the "Daily KOS" is the "left". Talk about a straw man argument! In a straw man argument, you set up a straw man, that is a phony character, then knock him down. Bush does this often, with his "some people want to surrender to Al Quaeda, but I don''t".

Here we have the set up of a straw man representing something called the left. Then we are told what a bunch of compromising hypocrites they are.

Let''s examine their definition of the left. The left is a term that came from the left side of the podium in the French assembly during the French revolution, where the radicals who wanted to kill all rich people, rather than most of them, or as th far right believed just beat them and take their property, they sat near each other and it was to the left of the podium. As thing progressed, and they the beat them and take their money position of the far right fell out of favor, it became more fashionable and safer to sit further and further left.

So "Daily KOS" the "left"? Do they believe in killing all rich people, or just most like the centrists? Not hardly. They are the far, far right, outside the building - little toe-licking snots.

[cfin5]

This is the best the DNC could come up with during the summer huddle? A DumberNcraptiC kvitchurbitchenfest?!......COOL! Carl Rove must be more of a genius than I thought retiring early like that. Maybe you can let off the gas peddle before you cross the finish line, but I don''t recommend it..........Ron Paul, the un-socialist in 2008!