Letters to the Editor
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Hillary v. Barack
Hillary's one cultural crime is being an ambitious woman. The Hillary haters hate that she wasn't content to be an ornamental First Lady, but wanted to be involved in policy.
It's going to be really interesting to see which cultural bugaboo is more or less threatening to Americans: ambitious white woman or successful black man.
Maybe the dream ticket will be Hillary for President with Barack as Vice President -- I don't think the former would consent to be the latter's running mate. We'll see how it hashes out in the primaries. Forget all the others; they're all pretenders, some more delusional than others.
But I think Hillary's the longer shot, to be honest -- it feels like the negatives (e.g., slanders) against her are more numerous than any perceived negatives around Obama (mostly his inexperience -- it's a sign of how desperate the Right are that they jump on his middle name as an issue, whereas with Hillary, they only need to say her name and that's enough).
I honestly don't know how I'd vote; I want them BOTH to win!
Maybe I'll go with whichever one Traitor Joe Lieberman *doesn't* like.
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I pray she doesn't stand a chance.
When will you American fools realize that the presidency is important and that turning it into a popularity contest or an opportunity to engage in affirmative action ill serves all whose lives are effected by your choice. Grow up and behave like adults your fucking up the world for the rest of us.
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the Left's wish list
Anonymous: you're right, it's the American middle class and not immigrants that are building McMansiions in the exburbs. But why are they moving out there? Because they like 2-hour commutes to work? Or because the native and immigrant underclass are making the city and inner suburbs (and public schools there) unlivable?
It's that simple. If you're a liberal, stopping immigration now is key to getting your wish-list.
Third world immigrants screw you on big issues, like universal healthcare or the environment, because they're net consummers of welfare and they're causing our population to explode.
They also won't help you with "boutique" issues like gay marriage or feminism because they are from traditional, tribal cultures; their children don't follow the assimilation pattern of previous century's European immigrants. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The hurdle that the Left needs to get over, if they're serious about their wish list, is being able to draw a line between an 'us' and a 'them.' Right now, the American left is up in arms about bogus issues like global warming or Christian 'theocracy'. But they won't dare to say what they're really afraid of -- of the fact that white liberals are a bit like penguins huddled on an ever-shrinking ice floe.
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An Answer to tbc's Question - Part I
Before I start my bulleted list, I'd like to take exception with the idea that correctly identifying the illiberal natures of Bill Clinton and Joseph Lieberman makes one "far left." On the contrary, it is simply observing facts.
Now here is what I, a progressive-leftist, would do if I and my compatriots were running the country:
1. The Federal minimum wage would be set to $20 an hour.
2. The Wagner Act would be repealed.
3. A Worker's Bill of Rights would be established as Constitutional amendments, and then enforced.
4. The "war on drugs" would be abolished.
5. All non-violent drug offenders would be granted a general executive amnesty and released from all local, state and federal prisons and jails.
6. The Constitution would be amended granting women the right to chose an abortion.
7. The top tax rate would be raised to 70%.
8. Three words: National rent control
9. Capital gains taxes would be increased to 60%, with signing bonuses and severance pay under $10,000 exempted.
10. Illegal immigrants caught in the United States would be automatically deported. The borders of the U.S. would be effectively sealed and no further immigration allowed until all 40 million who have come here in the last 25 years have been assimilated.
11. Corporate welfare would end. Top tax rates on corporate profits would be 30%, 50% and 65% depending on the size and profitability of the corporation.
12. The legal concept that corporations are de facto "persons" with "rights" would be repealed.
13. The off-shoring of jobs would become a Class "A" felony, with ALL those involved arrested, charged and tried.
14. Prosecutors would be forbidden from charging any suspect with being in violation of any statute other than that which directly effects the issue at hand. In other words, no more threats to throw the book at someone for wanting a trial.
15. An Office of Special Magistrate would be established as a permanent watchdog - with full enforcement powers - over police, prosecutors, judges, sheriffs and prison personnel.
16. The DEA and ATF would be disbanded. The FBI would only continue to exist as a special, on-going investigatory task force within the Justice Department.
17. The Penal Codes of every state in the union, and the Federal Penal Code, would be purged of every blue law that currently exists. Furthermore, all PCs shall be purged of "nuisance" and "lifestyle" laws.
18. The budget of the Department of Defense shall be cut in half, then cut in half again after a period of ten years.
19. All troops on foreign soil shall be recalled.
20. National, comprehensive, single-payer health care will be the law of the land. All private insurance will be banned.
21. The age of consent will be 16 years of age in all places at all times.
22. "Dry" laws will be deemed unconstitutional and banned.
23. A constitutional amendment shall be made proscribing any law that would inhibit or sanction unharmful behavior between consenting adults.
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An Answer to tbc's Question - Part II
24. All current drug laws would be abolished. Hard drugs could be had at specially designated shops, whereas marijuana would be freely available at all stores that wish to carry it. The purity of said drugs would be supervised by the FDA, and their sales taxed by local, state and federal authorities.
25. Prostitution shall be made legal, but with close medical supervision of all prostitutes, all of whom will have to register both locally and nationally.
26. Unemployment insurance will cover the entire after-taxes salary or wages of any person laid off or terminated. This shall continue for one year, at which time it shall be lowered by 20%. Each subsequent year of continued unemployment will result in another 20% reduction in benefits.
27. No religious observance of any kind will be allowed in any public (i.e., government use)place or building. That includes schools, and that includes Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, etc.
28. If it is determined that a given church, mosque, temple, ashram, etc. is essentially more business than worship, it shall immediately lose its tax-exempt status and be taxed as a business.
29. School funding will no longer be based on local taxation. It will be a Federal mandate. The schools in the worst current shape will get the biggest boosts, the ones in the best shape the least. All graduates in education will be required to spend two years as "Federal Educators", where they will be sent to the most problematic districts. As a reward for this service, any education grad with a debt load shall have their debt forgiven. Those without a debt load will receive a relocation and matriculation bonus of no more than $100,000.
30. As teaching is one of the most vital professions in the nation, teachers shall be held to standards similar to those of doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. No interference from the teacher's union shall be permitted. If necessary, a national emergency shall be declared that will temporarily strip the teacher's union of strike authorization. Teachers who fail to meet these stricter standards shall be de-certified and disallowed from teaching ever again, in any capacity.
31. School vouchers shall be abolished.
32. Upon graduation from high school all males and females will be required to provide two years of service to their local and state communities under the aegis of a revived Works Progress Administration. They shall be taught the skills necessary to do their jobs in the first year, then in the second year put to work improving or replacing infrastructure. As the insfrastructure emergency winds down, they will be assigned more traditional community work.
33. Non-functional citizens (i.e., the "hard core" homeless) shall be granted dignified, private housing in the form of small apartments. They shall have access to counseling and therapy, as well as classes intended to help them to reestablish a sense of personal dignity. All vagrancy laws will be cleared from the books. Lastly, sanitariums dedicated to humane treatment of mental illness shall be constructed and reserved for the "worst of the worst."
34. Senior citizens without family, or bereft of family help, will become wards of the state, and shall receive hospice-quality care until the end of their days. This will include regular social stimulation by either volunteers or young adults fulfilling their two years of service. In the case of seniors whose families desert them, said family members will be tracked down and their wages garnished by a certain amount to help off-set the cost of the care of their senior family member.
35. In cases of divorce women will no longer be able to demand support from their ex-husbands, nor ex-husbands demand support from their ex-wives. All divorce shall be no-fault.
36. Light-rail within cities and suburbs, and mag-lev heavy rail between cities and intra-state, shall become a top Federal infrastructural priority. The automobile will gradually be phased out as a common form of transportation. Ditto the jet, except for international travel.
37. Free and professional day care will be a national, social benefit.
38. Police powers in this country will be drastically curtailed. The PATRIOT ACT would be abolished, as would all "unitary executive" nonsense such as wiretapping without a warrant, "sneak-and-peek"s, mail snooping and so forth. The RICO statute would be streamlined and its more creative uses banned. Asset forfeiture would be abolished except in cases of persons found guilty by a jury of their peers at trial, and in such cases the economic interests of immediate family members will be taken into consideration.
a. Since the police seem incapable of policing themselves, citizens would be granted the right to sue individual officers for false arrest and imprisonment, brutality and so forth. Departments, stations and precincts could likewise be targeted.
b. Every prison and jail in the United States would be placed in receivership and under Federal investigation for crimes against humanity. Full and thorough-going investigations of all prison personnel would be a priority. Anyone found complicit with prison gangs, guilty of brutality, torture as defined by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, abuse, dereliction of duty (i.e., using rape as an administrative tool, or just letting it happen) or other crimes shall be prosecuted and themselves imprisoned. The scrutiny of these people would go all the way to how they filled out incident reports, with strong sanctions to be used against those who describe inmate incidents as "NHI", or "No Humans Involved."
c. The practice of promoting and paying prosecutors based upon the number of cases they take and the number of guilty pleas and/or convictions they win shall be abolished.
d. Judges who have made it abundantly clear that they care not one wit for justice, fairness or impartiality shall be removed from the bench without right to appeal.