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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Michael Harold
Published Letters: 498 Editor's Choice: 3
Why can't we replace our buffoonish ideologues with their pragmatism? NSA is filled with smart people, and we stick them under absolute short-sighted narcissists decade after decade.
We are still an open society in many ways. But meritocracy in our society is beginning to bump into a glass ceiling once you reach the upper middle class. The physical, quantitative and health sciences are still mostly meritocratic. But other social institutions including politics, education and religion have a different dynamic. The least meritocratic are the top tiers of politics and business, which have nearly evolved to autocracies. All we're missing in our politics is hereditary succession.
Just think, if Hilary gets elected we may end up with 28 years of presidential rule by two families. With a U.S. population of 300 million, I would think we could do better than that.
(I'm not dissing Hilary. It's just that I seriously doubt that we will dismantle the executive power Bush has accumulated. The Democrats want it, and when they get it they will try to keep it. And if we are going to have the purple robes of imperium invested in one person, I'd much rather it be Hilary than Rudy. -- I'm feeling a little cynical today. I'll be back to my sunshine self tomorrow I'm sure.)
Hillary the president. Hilary not-the-president.
International news is available online in English through a number of websites. Here are some of the sites I frequent:
http://www.nettizen.com/newspaper/
Lets you access NYT, Washington Post, China Daily, Asahi (Japan), and BBC News plus about a zillion others
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/
Lets you look up online papers by country and region and lists the papers with notation so you know which are available in English
And then there are papers like:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ The Guardian
http://www.independent.co.uk/c/?ec=500 The Independent
http://www.cbc.ca/news/ CBC (Canada)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/ Spiegel
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/ (China)
http://english.pravda.ru/world/ Pravda
http://www.haaretz.com/ Haaretz Daily
http://english.aljazeera.net/English Al Jazeera
And another zillion online news journals
I agree with you that impeachment as a practical matter doesn't make sense. Even so, I think impeachment should continue to be held forth as an option whether or not the effort actually leads to impeachment.
That enough Republicans will support impeachment seems unlikely at this point. The Bush administration has done so many horrible and unconscionable things already (i.e., war crimes, spying on its citizens, Jim Crow era voter suppression, etc.) that there is nothing short of a preemptive nuclear attack on France, San Francisco or Hollywood at Cheney's and/or Bush's direct order that could cause any Republican congressperson to actually vote for impeachment, and even that might not do it.
There is no doubt that they are trying to run out the clock.
However, with continued perseverance on that part of the American public who actually cares whether or not America continues to exist as a democracy as opposed to a dictatorship, those Republicans who refuse to act with integrity and honesty will find it nearly impossible to separate themselves from Bush in the 2008 elections.
Persistence is the key. Some people in the media (like Glenn) are casting a light that makes the continued lies difficult to maintain. If the mainstream media can be made (cajoled, embarrassed, whatever works) to turn its gaze in the direction of truth, the administration's lies will be nearly impossible to maintain and impeachment may very well end up on the table.
I found this place only a little while ago and I have been taking long deep drinks from it every day ever since. I'm generally not a joiner, but I detect a Salon subscription in my future.
For good or bad, this place has a great deal of diversity in its mostly liberal politics and temperaments. A lot of the hard-right conservatives who come to visit and/or harass would probably agree with Catbert: "The longer you stay, diverser it gets."
This is a scenario that has replayed itself countless times throughout history at every level of politics and government.
It is simple.
At times, the only thing standing between a crooked politician (i.e, the Executive) and a jury (i.e, Congress) is the prosecutor and the will to prosecute. Given the long list of Bush administration crimes and malfeasance, the only thing standing between Congress and the Executive office is the Attorney General.
If the AG can be removed from office, a flood of new evidence will find its way into the light, provided by government officials who will suddenly have more to gain than to lose by cooperating with Congress. A special prosecutor can then be named and investigations can begin.
Gonzales is the key. Once Gonzales is removed, Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rice are all suddenly accountable for their actions.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
