Comments on: General Dysfunction

By: Third Chamer

Third Chamer — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:28:02 +0000

Ha! Coop’s childish reaction here makes my day. Oh,
that I could be the evil “Sid” whom he and his buddy
Hitchens had to ape Joe McCarthy to destroy.

We must note Cooper ignoring the opportunity
to withdraw the smear about Gore creating the Willie
Horton issue, A LIE he cashed a paycheck from the
LA WEEKLY to write, among much other Republican
subterfuge garner no doubt from “pals” like Hitchens
and Mickey Klaus.

Other than that, he takes a deep breath, and
ignores what he really cannot answer. HIs measured
response to Obama’s war stands as a stark, utter
contrast to the hysteria with which Cooper greeted
Clinton’s (comparatively mild) hawkish moves.

By: reg

reg — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:13:42 +0000

Pretty ironic comment Jim, considering who holds so much of our debt.

By: Jim R

Jim R — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:20:07 +0000

“Tariq: ….the Chinese involvement is very crucial for economic reasons. We need to construct a social infrastructure in Afghanistan, and only the Chinese could fund it. But in return for that, the Chinese would demand total peace and an end to war.”

No Tariq. Actually the Chinese demand total control for peace, whereever they are. The Chinese are not Americans. They never give something for nothing, and more often take something for nothing They really ARE imperilistists.

The worst thing Afghanistan could do is invite the Chinese into their country….and the only way they will ever get anything from them.

By: Marc Coper

Marc Coper — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:51:03 +0000

Thirdcharmer HAS to be either Syd Blumenthal OR maybe Bill Clinton is actually one of our readers.

Pablo has a diode implant from Caracas.

Tariq Ali has a bouquet of marvelous ideological answers for everything — none of which have ever worked.

Other than that….

By: Pablo

Pablo — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:36:16 +0000

Marc writes:

“I’m not letting Obama off the hook. No way. But if you think he is the problem here, or that the Democrats are not resolute enough (when in fact they are doing what they have always done) then you have not been paying attention to American history”

FDR would roll over in his grave to hear MC’s words… or Obama’s deeds thus far.

Here is a simple example… banks too big to fail are too big and should be broken up (a la Glass Stiegal)
Stop home forclosures.
Public Works.
WPA.

Bottom line: Those who benefit by Obamanomics did not/will not support him.

FDR figured it out and single handedly created the american middle-class…. meaning a 40hr week offered a living wage…
Today Obama has single-handedly created Timothy and Ben.

Those three of us here who write in populist hues of the Hope sold us of a new deal revival have been greeted (even by our host) with howls of execration for having the temirity to suggest witholding support to a party whose leadership, including Barak Obama, campaigned against the CT primary victor,Ned Lamont , and instead for Joe Lieberman.
Populism will never be embraced by the Dems again because populist tendencies eschew the real-politique of empire; a system which places pecuniary gain over true democracy in places like latin america.

By: Dan O

Dan O — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:35:52 +0000

Third Charmer,

You aren’t by any chance Sidney Blumenthal, or maybe even ‘ol Bill himself are you? I can’t think of another reason for you relentless single mindedness.

By: Anna Churchill

Anna Churchill — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:00:37 +0000

Sorry for confusion on first ref to experiment still ongoing in Mass started by an ex military guy for “delinquents”.

By: Anna Churchill

Anna Churchill — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:59:19 +0000

Hmmm furlough programs…. Apparently, in Norway, they have an island were the most vicious of criminals live in a civilized community of group homes and are able to wander freely and live like human beings. This includes ax or chain saw murderers. Recidivism is said to be minimal.

Castaways
The Penikese Island Experiment
by George Cadwalader
Foreword by Robert Coles

Since 1973 the Penikese Island School has continued to challenge the odds, take risks, and keep its vision. The result has been a significant contribution to the lives of troubled youth.

—Edward J. Loughran, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Youth Services

********************************************************************

#
A Life Sentence: Norway?s Sustainable Prison – Wellsphere
A prison on an isolated, icy patch of land, surround by miles of freezing water—and no guards? If you’re like me, right about now you’re think.
http://www.wellsphere.com/green-living…norway-s-sustainable-prison/734337
#
Greenline » Sustainable Prison?
Norway has a sustainable prison! Yes the bucolic oil-rich Scandinavian … A Life Sentence: Norway’s Sustainable Prison : Chelsea Green on June 29, 2009 …
greenlineblog.com/sustainable-prison/
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Norway Unveils “First Ecological Prison” – Sustainable Housing and …
Norway’s relaxed prison policy is intended to reduce re-offending by released offenders, and Bastoey prison aims to bring new values to the handling of …
http://www.enn.com/green_building/article/22379 – Similar
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Norway’s eco prison | News | Sustainable Procurement | Action …
Download a video showing how Bastoey Island prison, in Norway is using renewable energy, self-sufficient organic food provision and recycling programmes to …
actionsustainability.com/news/176/Norways-eco-prison/
#
At Norway Prison, Inmates Lead The Good Life
Oct 19, 2009 … Norway unveils first ecological prison | Green Business | Reuters · A Life Sentence: Norway’s Sustainable Prison : Chelsea Green …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/…/at-norway-prison-inmates-_n_326116.html
#
Sustainable Prisons: Con or Pro? : TreeHugger
The organic farm at Bastøy Prison in Norway has been written about in Treehugger … spoke to Oregon Public Broadcasting about the Sustainable Prisons …
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/sustainable-prisons-con-or-pro.php

By: Anna Churchill

Anna Churchill — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:45:26 +0000

Dear D White,

New Zealand has been one of those places people have been quietly sneaking off to for years…I bet the grand children would follow.

By: D White

D White — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:13:27 +0000

I am 60 years old and have voted Democratic since casting a primary vote for Shirley Chisolm in 1972, but I am done with voting. It is a futile exercise. I naively thought that Obama might acutally be an agent of change but the oligopoly is too entrenched. If I did not have grandchildren here I would gladly emigrate to a non imperialist country.

By: Third Chamer

Third Chamer — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:49:22 +0000

Lots to agree with here, and lots of problems. Is this
the same Marc Cooper who was stopping slightly short of
calling for a war crimes trial for Bill Clinton when he
pushed back at Milosvich? Compare the first year of
Clinton and Obama’s Presidencies and Clinton looks like
a raving progressive. Yet now the President gets all kinds of
slack.

If we are to accept the premise that Poor Obama has to
swim in mighty Fuped waters (and who could disagree?) why
does Cooper ignore the the obvious root of the problem?
The Military Industrial Complex has gotten so absurd U.S.
Today is running pieces on the corruption (and not bad ones
either). Are journalists like Cooper still afraid somebody is
going to accuse them of being hippies who spit on
Vietnam Vets at the Airport?

Again, how did we get here? From Today’s “Daily
Howler”: Al Gore introduced Willie Horton to the Public!
The Claim was utterly, stone cold false. It had started in
1992, invented by the RNC as a campaign attack on
Clinton/Gore. But eventually, the sainted Bradley began
shrieking it out, even though he’d explained how wrong
it was in his best selling book. When he did, the
mainstream Press corps followed along, en masse.
Chris Matthews repeated this bullshit this week.”

And were did I first learn of Al Gore’s creation of
Willie Horton? In an LA Weekly hit job on Al Gore of
course; drum roll please…written by Marc Cooper.

Dysfunctional is right.

By: Cappa

Cappa — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:42:51 +0000

GM Hoakster, I agree except that we live in a country where a major party and its leaders worry about Tiger Woods more than the war.

Yes, Obama is wrong. What are we going to do about?

By: GM Hoakster

GM Hoakster — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:28:23 +0000

Obama is proof that symbolic politics are extremely limited. Obama might have broken many boundaries but that does not mean much given that he was unable to regulate banks.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:36:17 +0000

Reg: Yeah, as I said before, I think Joya’s more knowledgable than Ali personally. Ali’s ideal is just another form of imperialism. I just don’t think we’re making any progress at all and only increasing chaos. I mean, yes, average Afghanistan citizens don’t like the taliban anymore than they do the occupying forces,but the taliban are just getting more and more angry. I can’t help but agree with Joya here.

By: Anna Churchill

Anna Churchill — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:03:14 +0000

THe question marks were meant to be arrows!!! somehow the insert didnt take.

By: Anna Churchill

Anna Churchill — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:02:39 +0000

More misanthropy!

“When we actually spend time debating death panels instead of rational ways to stay healthy.

??When people are willing to line up overnight to get a discounted big screen TV but not participate in a march demanding they have health care.

When too many people are worried that same sex couples might get married — as if it is any of their goddamn business. When we believe we can fight two wars that are not only unwinnable, but that we can do so by demanding no war tax, no draft, no sacrifice whatsoever except for the mothers and fathers who lose their children in a fucking nameless desert, fighting for a regime dominated by poppy-growers and warlords.”

By: Cappadonna

Cappadonna — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:58:26 +0000

The problem is that the American people are ignorant and self-absorbed, long ago abandoning the common good for self-preservation.

We want change, so long as it doesn’t require us to change.

By: Alex VanderWoude

Alex VanderWoude — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:09:26 +0000

My understanding is that a lot of the people who attend the TEA party protests have very similar feelings: a pox on both their houses, there’s no substantial difference between the Reps and Dems. Those parties are actually two wings of the same party, the party of the insiders. The outsiders are ordinary folks who pay the taxes that fund the whole thing — yeah, that’s you, buddy.

By: Brad in SoCal

Brad in SoCal — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:02:26 +0000

Orwell was right. The wars will continue without end, while we sip our “Victory gin” and spoon up our pink porridge. Is it too late for rational leftists (I do hope that’s not an oxymoron) to recall words like “imperialism” and “militarism” and convince our fellow citizens to resist the temptations of empire? Bring the troops home now. Rebuild a functioning civilian economy, not a permanent war economy. And rebuild (build?) a left in this country that is based on solidarity, equality, and democracy and that is not afraid to stand for social transformation in all spheres. A left which can transform its own favorite practice of circular firing squads of the selectively deaf into a serious, thoughtful, engaged and ever-growing chorus of concerned citizens. Is it too late for that? When Obama said, “We are the change we have been waiting for,” he was right. We must now get our act together, or “wander for more millenia than there are stars” (from a poem by Erica Jong).

By: General dysfunction |

General dysfunction | — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:14:23 +0000

[...] Marc Cooper Democratic fecklessness certainly might be one component of the fix we are in. But only one among many, many others. Our problems run much much deeper. The last year has not demonstrated so much the lack of will or courage of Obama as much as it has starkly highlighted the general dysfunction of our body politic. Elect someone who as much as promises even incremental change and you run right into an ossified, unresponsive system that has taken decades to gel and harden. [...]