Letters to the Editor
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Yes Yes Yes!
Sign me up. Boycots, protests, civil disobedience, general strike. Whatever it takes.
Ondelette-yes, thank you, we need all the pieces of the puzzle.
We need to bug the shit out of jelly spined Dems until they stop disrespecting us, the base. Vote out the Lieberliars who are nothing more than neocon moles. Stop voting for people like Sherrod Brown of Ohio, "progressive" tho he may be, who voted for the MCA. What good is it to have a Dem in office if he gives us the shaft on something that important? If he won't stand against that he'll buckle on anything. Stop rewarding these fools when they so egregiously vote against our values. Brown is not the only one, of course, just an example.
Flood, and I do mean FLOOD, the Capitol switchboards and e-mail inboxes on a daily basis until we get satisfaction on impeachment. You say it's a loser? What is the alternative? At least we can gum up the works and maybe prevent even more serious shenanigans. Considering the lawlessness that permeates this administration, anything less than impeachment in unacceptable.
So I say Impeachment should be our first priority. There are already popular movements afoot to bring it about, including several State Legislatures who are bringing resolutions to the floor-
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7384
Thankfully, Section 603 of the United States House Rules provides for the inception of impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives "by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State."
http://www.vtimpeach.com/frontPage.do
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/23/01059/5778
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Californians_prepare_to_confront_Pelosi_Democrats_0425.html
http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html
http://www.mass-impeach.org/
After Impeachment, off to the Hague!
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Michael Harold
I understand.
I too affiliate with MoveOn (and I know my immodest proposal's tactics potentially overlap, or outright duplicate, theirs). I am an active member of organized labor; and I am one of the usual suspects paying dues to and raising hell with the ACLU, Medicins Sans Frontiers, the Human Rights Coalition, Amnesty International, NRDC, and others. I am not at all obstinate about the need for a new organizing entity; I am simply, naively, and unwisely offering my services. And although, like you, I can be something of a hothead, I hope that every one's cooler head will prevail. I hope that my proposal will sharpen some people's perspectives. I hope we will all keep doing what we do, what we have to do... despite Bush's escalating assaults and indignities. But I am in earnest. I would rather blog about things more personal and quiet (INFP y'know), but if a big enough group wants a facilitator for a perceived unfulfilled need, I will serve.
Sincerely,
Gordon Ginsbergps- I hear ya', Sunny! The Hague. Yes.
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Gordon
Yes!
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@Michael Harold, petrodollars
I don't think you quite understand the economics.
The "petrodollar war" business is nonsense, a LaRouchean conspiracy theory. The pricing of oil in dollars is a formality; actual dollars are not required, nor does the denomination of oil prices in dollars have any impact on the monetary supply. We have a fungible currency; practically every commercial bank in the world offers dollar-denominated accounts. If the Iranians wanted to change their oil revenues from dollars to euros or yen, they just exchange the currency, the same way everybody else does. Oil is no different from any other commodity. You can buy a bushel of soybeans in the U.S. and pay in dollars or buy them in Japan and pay in yen, but the price is the same and neither choice makes a difference to the monetary supply.
Many in American government, particularly in the Bush administration, have pressured China to do exactly the thing you say they fear: to sell off some of its dollar reserves. They believe (erroneously, I think) that China's reserve holdings artificially keep up the value of the dollar, making U.S. exports more expensive on world markets. In truth, China's currency reserves probably have very little effect on the dollar's value. The institutions that hold those currency reserves use them to secure credit, and the existence of these reserves is no secret, so their value is, in a sense, already priced into the dollar market. Either way, the last thing China wants to do is to drive down the value of the dollar, and that will be true even as domestic consumption picks up.
But if China did move those dollars into the market, that would not constitute inflation. Inflation is an increase in the money supply; those reserve dollars are already accounted for, just like the dollars in your savings account, i.e. it's not the same as printing money or other true inflationary measures. Whether such a move would cause a decline in the value of the dollar (an effect often mistaken for inflation) is unknown. The only things one can do with U.S. dollars are hold them in reserve or use them to buy dollar-denominated goods and services. Given that the major currencies float, it's really a non-issue.
Iran can open a dozen oil bourses denominated in Indian rupees, euros, frequent-flier miles, corn, chickens or pesos and it will have zero relevance to the value of the dollar on world markets. Demand for dollars is driven mostly by the performance of the U.S. economy.
I'm always amused that Salon readers are so self-assured in predicting wild fluctuations in commodities and currency markets. If you guys know so much more than everybody else, why aren't you making billions as commodities traders and currency speculators? Between peak oil and petrodollars, you should be euro-denominated billionaires in no time.
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Gordon...
I haven't read all of the comments from today yet... family visit still going on. And I have an early, busy day tomorrow at work. So, I'll have to read the rest of them some time tomorrow.
But, in the meantime, I encourage you to start that blog, and, YES, I am interested in contributing in some way.
And I peeked a bit further ahead (behind really) and skimmed ondelette's comment about needing all of the factors involved. And a blog may make it possible to coordinate them.
[If you need any help setting up the blog-- just ask.]