In response to the conversation on Karylee's wall!

• Timothy Martin Flanagan Obama is a Republican... He was a better choice than McCain and Palin... but not by much. Hopefully we can find an actual progressive to run. Obama's embrace of the death penalty, the Bush agenda, wiretapping, and rendering Americans for torture, rape, and murder overseas... is only the short list of why we need someone on our side for a change...

  Saturday at 3:56pm ·
• |

  Doug Stanley

  Timothy. While I respect your right to your opinion, you frighten me. I sincerely hope, for the sake of the future of this country, that a candidate who embraces the things you espouse is never successful in attaining elective office. Esp...ecially as President of the United States.
  I'm pleased that you recognize that Obama was and is not the Messiah he was thought to be, and I agree that the selection of Sarah Palin was a horrible choice. However I also hope that this run at socialism is over. I do appreciate the dialogue, and thank Karylee for allowing it on her wall. God bless America.

Tim Wrote:  I did not "espouse" any of the sad realities which now exist.  I only pointed them out. I think that having a president who embraces the Bush agenda, wiretapping, and rendering Americans is frightening as well.  But what would be more frightening is to ignore the facts.

The linguistic acrobatics which are necessary to call Obama a "socialist" are ludicrous. Just more spin from the mean machine.   However, your claim that the Bush agenda is tantamount to socialism may, at some levels, be historically accurate.  Hitler considered himself a socialist. And the claim that we have a right to attack anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any reason... seems relatively Un-American to me. As for Obama... while his embrace of wars of choice is frightening... this stance has more to do with corporate fascism than socialism.  We are on a slippery slope...

Basically Obama's surrrender to the right wing does not bode well for everyday people.  Hopefully we will find someone to secure the peace, fix our schools, and get insurance companies off the table and out of our pockets. We need a Dept. of peace instead of endless war. And cutting social services to fund tax breaks for billionaires is insane.  We should properly care for our elderly, students, children, veterans,
and other Americans who have lost jobs, homes, and health.

We need universal nonprofit healthcare like the rest of the planet... functioning schools, intact infrastructure, constitutional integrity, and a return to the rule of law.  Today's progressives, in many ways, are the new conservatives.  We would conserve values, laws, the environment, and the constitution. Who could argue with this?  Healthy educated employed citizens can build a better tomorrow.

The mean right wing spin machine's vision of endless corporate occupations on the taxpayer dime is nonsense.  And it is unfortunate that Obama has surrendered to this view.  Most Americans have no idea what they have lost.  Legalizaed rendering, wiretapping, wars of choice, and the suspension of habeas corpus has set this nation back 400 years.  Congress is most to blame.  They suspended habeas corpus and made torture legal.  Their betrayal of the values my father defended in World Ware Two is a tragedy.  In my view.

But...  opinions vary...  And thanks Karylee for the space for the preceding conversation. Any who have opinions on these matters could send a letter to editor@theportlandalliance.org.... for 20 thousand readers!
http://www.theportlandalliance.org

Islamophobia: the efficacy of hate

Anyone
who calls
an entire
religion evil...
is sick.



Abrahamic
traditions
(Judaism,
Christianity,
& Islam)
have each
inspired a
variety of
nutcases
and wackos
who have
chosen to commit unfathomable atrocities.


But the idiotic and sociopathic behaviors
of individuals who claim one religion or
another... in no way provides reason to
indict all Muslims, Christians, and Jews
who share the same God and
spiritual foundations.

Abrahamic tradition holds that the greatest
force is love. The faith, hope, and courage
of these faithful has moved mountains
and ended wars.

Devout Christian, Muslim, and Jewish
people understand and agree that others
should treated with the same compassion
and kindness which all of us would hope
to receive.

Fortunately, the sane among us can keep
these things in perspective while
ignorant and hateful fear-mongers
recklessly spew violence and vitriol.

Labor Day, Fall, Celebrations, & Epiphanies...

Enjoy! www.writingresource.info/laborday

"... Happy Labor Day. Time for another uprising. Nonviolent civil society, unified across racial, ethnic, class and religious lines, has all the power if they ever choose to use it."

peacevoice.info/

More Administrators hired than faculty!

August 17, 2010, 03:10 PM ET  http://theissueslist.blogspot.com/

Growth in Administrators
Outstrips Growth in Faculty Members

A report issued today says that the number of administrators for every 100 college students increased by 39 percent from 1993 to 2007, while the number of professors and researchers rose by 18 percent during that period. The study of 198 public and private universities was released by the nonprofit Goldwater Insitute, and led by Jay P. Greene, a senior fellow at the institute who is also head of the department of education reform at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Officials at one university system, the University of Texas, objected to the study's methodology. They told The Dallas Morning News that the study included counselors, deans, and accountants in the administrative ranks, which artificially inflated those numbers. Mr. Greene said the point was to account for staff not directly involved in instruction or research. His report blames this "bloat" for the increase in college costs.

Is Government the solution or the problem?

Effective leaders in various governments have created productive jobs and steered economies from ruin to prosperity.  Freely established nations of good people have banded together to secure the peace, protect their freedom, and realize justice according to a foundation in the rule of law.

Recessions may come and go, but these are merely fluctuations in economic conditions which transcend governments, taxes, and the vicissitudes of nature. Government spending, when creatively administered, demonstrably raised all ships and move us from the great depression into a position of strength and security as the richest and most powerful nation in modern history.

Obama is creating great uncertainty by allowing the Bush tax's to continue.  His surrender to corporate insiders on health care has been a disaster, although what small steps forward which have been made are helpful. The decision by congress to consider heath insurance premiums as taxable income is insane. 

The astronomical debts run up by the Bush and Cheney administration have crippled this nation for the next half century.  If our current president would reject endless wars and occupations as a platform, we might be able to move forward. Businesses in American will hire when our government stops exporting jobs overseas in blatant surrender to transnational economic cartels who have bought this this nation. 

Personal incomes in America have been in decline for the past ten years.  Until we begin to invest in America, incomes will continue this downward spiral.

Bush's Third Term....

In his campaign stump speech, Obama said that he wanted to
restore the moral high ground he thought was lost under Bush:
"We are going to lead by example, by maintaining the highest
standards of civil liberties and human rights."
He explained ways this would be accomplished.
"Close down Guantanamo, restore habeas corpus (the right
to see the evidence against you), say no to renditions,
no to wireless wiretapping."  He also declared that single
payer was the only solution to our health care crisis. 
How did he do?
Obama has not closed Guantanamo -- and some Guantanamo
prisoners have reported harsher treatment under Obama. 
The Obama administration has argued against extending habeas
corpus to some prisoners, and it has continued rendition
and warrantless wiretapping. In fact, Obama went further:
secret sentences. Osama bin Laden's cook Ibrahim al-Qosi
was convicted, and his sentence will not be revealed until it's
been completed.

Obama criticized Bush for claiming that the U.S. president |
has the authority to detain U.S. citizens without charges.
Osama’s administration goes further and says that, without
charges or evidence, the president has the authority to kill
U.S. citizens and even maintains a list of citizens targeted for
assassination. Obama complained about the "revelation of
secret programs" under Bush; yet, as a Washington Post
headline said this summer, "U.S. 'secret war' expands globally."

The Bush administration was criticized for making backroom
deals where the participants weren't revealed. Obama promised
his administration would be transparent and that, for instance,
he would make every aspect of the health care reform debate
open to public view, even broadcasting all negotiations on C-Span.

In practice, Obama held back names of health industry
representatives meeting behind closed doors in the
White House until a lawsuit was filed and didn't
allow transparent health care negotiations or for
them to be broadcast. He has, however, been more
open than any other administration, according to the
Pulitzer-winning PolitiFact, and posts most visitors
online, with exceptions for "sensitive meetings."
Obama criticized Bush for being in bed with oil interests.
But Bush's people were left in place in the Minerals
Management Service, which approved without
inspection at the behest of oil interests the drilling
permit that led to the Gulf\of Mexico spill. Rolling
Stone reported that staffers throughout the Interior
Department refer to working there now as "Bush's
third term."

There are many more similarities, such as in the use of
military tribunals instead of traditional courts,
Middle Eastern strategy and lack of protection
for whistle-blowers.  And the Cheney-Bush policy
of endless war to enforce corporate occupations...
has only continued and expanded.

All that said, there are examples where Obama has gone against Bush policies: abortion, children's health insurance, tax cuts for the rich and the release of torture memos.

The verdict
So would a person have to be "crazy" to compare
George W. Bush's presidential policies with those
of Barack Obama's?

No. Bush and Obama have behaved similarly on
major issues, including energy policy, government
transparency, terrorism, civil liberties, health care,
war & peace.  Obama, like Bush and Cheney,
favor judicial homicide, even when compelling
evidence exists that such laws result in the deaths
of innocents and undermine the moral authority
of the law.

We deserve better.  All we can hope for now,
is that some more progressive candidate may emerge
so that Bush does not get a Fourth Term.

Hiroshima

"In visiting Hiroshima, Obama wouldn't question the service and sacrifice of American veterans. The purpose wouldn't be to make America or Americans feel guilty about the past. Rather, he could begin putting into action his talk of a world free of nuclear weapons. Hiroshima is a stark reminder of the incomparable destruction wrought by nuclear weapons. 

...Obama is ideally suited to alter the conversation on Hiroshima. He has changed America by reintroducing hope into the political and social conversation during a time of financial crisis and war. 

...By paying his respects to those who died in Hiroshima, Obama can show both Japan and the rest of the world that Americans take this history seriously, that we say in one voice "never again."

The U.S. president can also help inaugurate a new era in relations between Washington and Tokyo. The new Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, stood at the United Nations last month and invited leaders to understand the need for a world free of nuclear weapons from the perspective of those who were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Hatoyama did so not to blame Americans for this history, but rather to articulate Japan's responsibility as the only country to be devastated by such bombs: Others must never know such suffering. The new Japanese prime minister is also promising a forthright examination of Japan's role in World War II. It's time for President Obama to make this a joint endeavor.

As the president wrestles with the intricacies of Afghanistan's future, recognizing America's past history should be fairly straightforward by comparison. His visit would give him and the United States credibility to move forward in setting the tone for discussions of nuclear nonproliferation, weapons reduction, and, ultimately, their abolition. We can only focus on this future if we deal honestly with the past.

Put differently, if Mr. Obama cannot visit Hiroshima, why would the leader of any other country believe he or any American could turn words about a non-nuclear world into action?

© 2009 Foreign Policy in Focus

John Feffer

On the "decline" of Europe...

Europe is moving forward: securing peace, embracing justice,
and enhancing freedom.  Many all over the world embrace these
articles of faith and have the courage to walk the talk.

Those who indulge in fear-mongering, war, aggression, occupation,
exploitation, and exclusion will not prevail.  Good people are building
bridges to a more abundant future. The cynics and those who do little
but whine and complain will be displaced and transcended by people
of vision with serenity in their hearts. Not to worry."

For the Tea Party Pretenders...

Tea Party pretenders claim government is always bad...

But reality intervenes:

Effective leaders in various governments have created productive jobs
and steered economies from ruin to prosperity.  Freely established
nations of good people have banded together to secure the peace,
protect their freedom, and realize justice according to a foundation 
in the rule of law and the good people among them.

Recessions may come and go, but these are merely fluctuations in
economic conditions which transcend governments, taxes, and the 
vicissitudes of nature. Government spending, when creatively 
administered, demonstrably has raised all ships.

 In America, government job creation moved us from the great depression
into a position of strength and security as the richest and most
powerful nation in modern history. 


Obama is creating great uncertainty by allowing the Bush taxs cuts to
continue.  His surrender to corporate insiders on health care has been a 
disaster, although what small steps forward which have been made are
helpful. The decision by congress to consider heath insurance premiums
as taxable income is insane.  The astronomical debts run up by the Bush and
Cheney administration have crippled this nation for the next half century. 

If our current president would reject endless wars and occupations
as a platform, we might be able to move forward. Businesses in American will
hire when our government stops exporting jobs overseas in blatant surrender to

transnational economic cartels who have bought (and stolen) this this nation. 

Personal incomes in America have been in decline for the past ten years.  

Until we begin to invest in America, incomes will continue this downward spiral.

We can do better.  And the government (which is us) can be part of the solution.
Tim

Dangerous Disinformation

Disinformation is Dangerous


The American people will not allow
King George, Dick Cheney, or Rush Limbaugh
to destroy this nation by making neo-colonialism
national policy.

Allowing transnational economic cartels to
dictate terms for healthcare and misuse our military
for corporate ambitions overseas... clearly destroyed
our economy during the Cheney fiasco and does not
serve us well today. The residual effects of Cheney's
betrayal and collaboration with the oil industry now |
soils our shores, contaminates our resources, and
diminishes our future. No more.

Patriotic Americans will take back this nation.
Corporate ambitions for occupation and exploitation
have cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars.
These crippling blows are not partisan issues.

Taking back this nation is a matter of survival.
Those who depend on infortainment for their "news"
will be in for a surprise during this election cycle.

They were surprised when a black man won the
presidency. And they will be more surprised when
a liberal majority in America (from both sides of the
aisle and beyond) take back this nation from the
Fortune 500 and install principled leadership to
secure prosperity and progress based on
peace instead of war, construction instead of destruction,
and courage instead of fear.

in solidarity and with best regards, Tim

http://sites.google.com/site/constitutionalrightsresource/disinformation

Post Script:  The "pajama party" is not a "news" service.
They deliver disinformation. Pure and simple.
Their product might more accurately
be called info-tainment.
Their various contributors
aim at the lowest common
denominators of ignorance
and fear. We must depend on proactive
journalists to debunk their junk.

Timothy Flanagan,
editor at The Wordsmith Collection

Facts still matter.
Take a look at this offering from http://newsjunkiepost.com/

"The top 50 conservative websites are a fascinating compilation that
seems to be dominated by disinformation. That is, false information
promoted in order to influence public opinion or the government.
They demonstrate a high degree of alarmism coupled with a serious
lack of journalistic integrity, which can be a noxious mix that helps
ignorance grow."

    http://www.unionresource.org/
"Together we make a difference."