Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Look what blogger friend Rick found.
In the meantime, we have some immediate struggles on our hands But the good news is that the broad movement that elected President Obama and larger majorities in the Congress is up and running.
This movement, or if you like, this loose coalition in which labor plays a larger and larger leadership role, can exercise an enormous influence on the political process. Never before has a coalition with such breadth walked on the political stage of our country. It is far larger than the coalition that entered the election process a year ago; it is larger still than the coalition that came out of the Democratic Party convention in August.
The task of labor and its allies is to provide energy and leadership to this wide-ranging coalition. Yes, we can bring issues and positions into the political process that go beyond the initiatives of the Obama administration. But we should do this within the framework of the main task of supporting Obama’s program of action.
We can disagree with the Obama administration without being disagreeable. Our tone should be respectful. We now have not simply a friend, but a people’s advocate in the White House.
When the administration and Congress take positive initiatives, they should be wholeheartedly supported and welcomed. Nor should anyone think that everything will be done in 100 days. After all, main elements of the New Deal were codified into law in 1935, 1936 and 1937.
Of course, change won’t be easy. The pressures to weaken, even mothball, progressive, anti-corporate measures will come from many quarters.
That said, the opportunities for working class and people’s gains are extraordinary. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Starring us in the face are some immediate challenges.
First, we have to support the passage of the President’s stimulus bill in the Senate.
Second, we have to bloc any Republican efforts to derail the nomination of Hilda Solis, the nominee for the Secretary of Labor. This is the first round in the battle to pass the EFCA. Some may think this is a struggle of only the labor movement. But nothing could be further from the truth. A bigger labor movement in this country would strengthen the struggle on every front. No one expressed this point better than Martin Luther King toward the end of his life.
Third, we have to join others in resisting evictions and foreclosures – not to mention cutbacks and layoffs at the state and city level.
Fourth, the wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan have to be brought to a close. As former President Lyndon Johnson realized too late, wars of occupation (in this case Vietnam) can quickly ruin a presidency that has great promise.
Well, you probably have other and probably better ideas.
In any case, we have our work cut out for us. But I think we can confidently say that change is coming. And we will build a more perfect union.
Yes We Can!
— Sam Webb, Chairman, Communist Party, USA
What are the ramifications of this? Why should we ignore it and “move on”? I can think of exactly two reasons. No more, and no less.
First of all, it is not a reliable mode of critical thinking to reject something just because a perceived enemy adores it. The Wedding Rule applies: If you announce “I’m not coming if X is coming” the hostess’ proper response is “That’s a shame, we will miss you.” Maybe, just maybe, Barack Obama can be a friendly and constructive President even though communists like him. Busted clocks being right twice a day, and all that.
Second of all, you really aren’t supposed to say anything bad about communists nowadays. We now have a plurality of generations brought up on the idea that there is something antiquated about inferring that people are evil just because they’re communists — some decent folks are born in communist countries, after all — therefore, there is something antiquated about reading nefarious things into the communist way of life. This plurality of generations has witnessed the sustained and intense slandering of Sen. Joseph McCarthy…who cares that he was right about some things? Why let facts get in the way? So nobody wants to be thought of as another Joe McCarthy. And when you talk about communists infiltrating the United States, masking their movement behind a friendly countenance, why, you sound like you should be muttering away in some creaky old rocking chair, wearing a plaid shirt crusty with your dried out drool. It’s better to leave these things unsaid.
And I can’t help noticing something.
The first reason is a wisened counsel against following the guilt-by-association thinking-framework.
The second reason is an example of it.
They cancel each other out. Completely.
Meanwhile, the communists have so infiltrated. We should know this. We’ve been fighting — or looking the other way while others fought — for their “right” to do so.
I also can’t help noticing something else: If you search the history books for elections somewhat resembling the cult-of-personality debacle that preceded President Obama’s elevation, you’ll come up mostly empty…until you start inspecting such “elections” in communist nations. And then they all look like that. A “free” press, held captive. Visual propaganda with the Dear Leader’s visage staring off to the left or right, somewhat upward…usually with accentuating spiritual-ific wavy things in the background, not quite defining clearly whether the icon is supposed to be depicting a temporal leader, or a spiritual one. At the center of it all, a guy really, really good at giving speeches, who can do nothing wrong — and nobody’s a hundred percent sure what His plans are.
The cult-of-the-personality is a well-established communist trait. Like Rick says, if Sam Webb’s ringing endorsement is really news to you, you must’ve had your head stuck somewhere for quite awhile. Maybe it’s time to start listening to the old man in the plaid shirt. But it might be too late.
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Sadly true, although the only example close to this, was Venezuela in 1998, and that was after the coup d’etat
- narciso | 02/10/2009 @ 11:43attempt in 1992; (which didn’t happen) and the subsequent
economic crises, that brought him to power. Some would argue that the February ’48, that brought the communists to power in Czechoslovakia; is a close match.