the99strikesback
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How a victim-blaming system excuses rape
January 7, 2013A horrifying 12-minute video of young men in Steubenville, Ohio,...
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“The line “the American people chose divided government” is especially interesting. It’s not really a good way to describe what happened during the...”
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Our nation was gripped by so many fallacies and delusions in 2012 that the whole Mayan calendar...
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“The biggest single conceptual failure of my argument for war is that I gave absurdly little thought to the post-invasion phase. I was aware that the Bush administration was deploying far too few troops to the front for a workable occupation while blatantly lying about the war’s likely costs. I assumed that its real plan was to decapitate the Iraqi leadership, install a more pliant and less brutal military figure in Saddam’s place, and call it democracy.”
Throwing Bush under the bus won’t make up for your nice ride on that bus.
Colin Powell on why he supported the Iraq War -
The argument I made at the time was more prosaic. In the aftermath of the Gulf War, the United States and its allies forced Iraq to promise, among other things, to submit to United Nations inspections to verify that it had vacated its unconventional weapons and was not building more of them (especially nuclear weapons). Iraq never fully complied with these terms. Over more than a decade, Saddam Hussein vacillated between complying with some of the terms and complying with none of them. (Richard Butler, the U.N. chief weapons inspector, was among many of those who testified about Iraq’s years of noncompliance.) I followed this throughout the nineties frustrated at Saddam’s ability to evade full compliance for so many years.
My logic in supporting the war boiled down to the following:
- The truce terms of the Gulf War requiring a complete, verified shutdown of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were valid and necessary.
- Iraq had refused to comply fully with these terms.
- Therefore, it was appropriate for the United States to threaten — and if necessary, carry out — war in order to force Iraq to comply.
Looking back, I have several regrets. We now know that Iraq no longer had any unconventional weapons program. Over the years, this has come to be seen as retrospectively obvious. It was not. While the Bush administration deliberately twisted and overhyped evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the legitimate evidence did show, albeit less dramatically than the administration said, that Iraq had active unconventional weapons programs. This was the judgment of fellow Western intelligence agencies. It was also a logical inference from Saddam Hussein’s refusal to fully comply with U.N. demands even after threatened with invasion. (That Iraq refused full compliance was documented at the time by Hans Blix, Butler’s successor, but this has largely been brushed aside in the retrospective critique.)
The absence of weapons of mass destruction is the most crucial element of my argument that I got wrong, though the part I have the least regret for getting wrong, as it was very hard to know at the time.
Sorry, this explanation is just too little too late. It sounds like you are making excuses, Mr. Powell. The U.S. felt obligated to police Iraq on behalf of the U.N? Don’t think so. He does however go on to say:
What’s more, I also thought that the anti-interventionist left’s sociological analysis of the debate taking place was correct. Somehow, supporting the war was cool and a sign of seriousness, creating waves of social pressure on politicians and commentators in a way that prevented a fair debate.
Well, thanks for that anyway, This article is worth reading in its’ entirety.
On November 6, a solid majority of California voters supported Proposition 30. The ballot initiative, which temporarily raises the sales tax and increases income taxes for the wealthy, will generate an estimated $6 billion per year to help stabilize the state’s dismal finances. The vote was a landmark event in California, the state that launched a national anti-tax revolt by passing Proposition 13 in 1978. And for Governor Jerry Brown—who was serving as a much younger governor back then—the triumph was particularly sweet.
We should not underestimate how thoroughly significant prop 13 was back in 1978. It ushered in a 30 year era of government downsizing (all based on white property owners who didn’t want to pay for services for ‘those people’). It gave Grover Norquist his template for congress. It has strangled govt for over a generation…until now.
As prop 13 should not be underestimated so too one shouldn’t underestimate the incredible psychological impact of prop 30 in California. It is a watershed moment that augers a new period of respect for govt when done right. This is the BIGGEST indicator of a dawning progressive era - the willingness to recognize the necessity of govt and its proper funding. No more shrinking govt to a size so small you could ‘drown it in a bathtub’.
Truth
Image from: My Village Idiot is Missing (Facebook)
More Truth about raising taxes
$200,000.00 in 1945 had the same buying power as $2,535,640.45 in 2012.
So anyone earning today’s equivalent of 2.5 million in 1945 was paying 94% in taxes. Taxes were raised to such a level largely to pay off war debt.
Sound familiar?
We should never again go to war without first knowing how to pay for it. Our safety nets certainly should not be plundered to pay for it.
A thorough look at the history of U.S. taxes: History of Tax Rates
I think we’ve reached a tipping point.
This is different. Everybody feels it. I think we may actually get real gun control legislation…soon.
So much change queued up:
- The prospect of real gun control
- Taxes WILL go up on the rich and America wants it that way. The Occupy Wall St. argument has won out and been vindicated. This will strike to the core of the GOP more than anything else. It’s their raison d’être.
- Same-sex marriage approved by a majority of voters in 4 states. Not courts, voters! So far so fast. Less than a decade.
- Recreational pot in two states.
- The California GOP is thoroughly dead. A democratic supermajority for the foreseeable future. Get ready for some MAJOR changes now that Republicans have no numerical means to obstruct. California today is the nation tomorrow.
- Obamacare is the law of the land, upheld in the Supreme Court, and here to stay. It will serve as the foundation for decent health care in 21st century America. And there will be many improvements to make.
- Despite everything Wall St. threw at her, Elizabeth Warren is not just a US senator, she sits on the banking committee.
- Hillary looks formidable for 2016. Not ‘inevitable’ just ready.
The GOP is in demographic death throes. It has alienated single women (including divorced), Hispanics, and millennials, three of the fastest growing groups in the American electorate percentage-wise. The Democrats now have enormous electoral might in too many swing states. The GOP may not see the White House again for a while.
Dare I say it? A progressive era is at hand. This time, when you hear a right-winger cry about ‘I want my country back’, you can sympathize (Nah, maybe not). The Right has lost America. ‘What does the GOP stand for now?’ - you’ll hear a lot of that.
image: veracitystew.com
political tipping point
Image: politicalhumor.about.com
When you see a political party that openly flaunts these attacks on the American constitutional balance and the country’s credit for purely partisan reasons, you begin to see how deep the rot has gone. This is not a party worthy of any role in government. It’s a destructive, self-interested faction, threatening the stability of this country’s constitution and economy. Obama is absolutely right not to yield on this. This anti-conservative radicalism is anti-American, uncivil and unpatriotic.
It must not be appeased. It has to be ended.
It’s up to true conservatives like Sullivan, Frum, Brooks, Scarborough and others to take back conservatism from the crazies who posture and pose as conservatives. The authoritarians, posing as conservative freedom-lovers, have had their way with the GOP and left it a shambles. Repair will be long, difficult, and painful. Calling out authoritarian craziness for what it is is a huge start. But I yearn for the day when the actual terms ‘authoritarian’ and ‘authoritarianism’ are used and used regularly. Pull back the linguistic curtain and expose the cancer for what it is. Name it what it is. Names and words matter. No more hiding behind nice words like ‘conservative’ and ‘conservatism’. No one but an authoritarian wants to be governed by an authoritarian.
andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com
The 800 lb gorilla in the room is the election of House speaker on Jan 3.
It complicates everything for the GOP. If Boehner strikes a deal now that makes the Tea Party (still strong in the House thanks to gerrymandering) howl, he could get a real challenge for leadership. One guy (not a flake) has made noises to the effect of a challenge already. It’s like trying to pass major legislation in a presidential election year. Too risky, everyone’s dug in.
We’ll go over the fiscal cliff simply because Dec 31 comes before Jan 3, the date of the speaker selection. Obama knows this. He can propose whatever. The sun, the moon, the stars, it doesn’t matter.
- The likely truth is that John Boehner never had the votes to cut a deal with President Obama. -
Obama could have offered them free milk and cookies for life. He could have offered them 100 bucks in cuts to one dollar in tax hikes. It doesn’t matter. And he knew that when offering Social Security. He knew it was safe! The GOP House is officially dysfunctional. The House is organically incapable of intelligent resolution in so short a time. He knows they are so fractured they will be unable to unite behind a deal…any deal. This means Obama can offer what he wants knowing it will get rejected.
Republicans have been living in a nightmare since Nov 6. A poll just came out showing that, for the first time ever, a majority of Americans think the GOP is more extreme than it is moderate. The deterioration over the last three years in America’s eyes is startling. I always thought the GOP would implode. I didn’t think it would be this soon. A truly leaderless party. America is ok with gay marriage, wants tax hikes on the rich, and now is ready for gun control. Their heads must be spinning!
The House GOP is locked in the past and we have now seen the crazies in his party destroy what was left of Boehner’s speakership. Jan 3 is looking dicey for for him. 50-50 he doesn’t make it. The recent debacle in the House was the last straw.
So the real bargaining happens after the House speaker selection on Jan 3. Then Boehner will know if he’s safe and can proceed.
And reducing beneficiary benefits won’t be part of the deal. Payments to HMOs maybe, but not beneficiaries. There is nothing in the election that warrants that.
image: pjmedia.com
The Second Amendment is a deal with the devil and I’m sick to death of being party to a deal I never made. The ignorant, illogical and ideologically perverted — whether around your dinner table, on your Facebook page, at your office, on Fox News or in Washington — have been in charge of the gun laws in this country for far too long.
- Michael Seitzman
This.
California Judge Thinks Rape Victims’ Bodies ‘Will Not Permit That to Happen’
Today, the California Commission on Judicial Performance unanimously voted to admonish the Superior Court judge over statements he made during the 2008 sentencing of a man who threatened his ex-girlfriend with horrific violence before proceeding to rape her. The prosecution requested the defendant be sentenced to 16 years in prison, but Johnson only gave him six. Here’s why, according to the judge himself:
I’m not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something: If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage is inflicted …
And this guy used to be a prosecutor in the Orange County district attorney’s sex crimes unit. Seriously.
Source: Atlantic wire
Seriously.
“In his speech, he also complained about partisanship, adding, “I regret to say as I leave the Senate that the greatest obstacle that I see standing between us and the brighter American future we all want is right here in Washington,” he said. “It’s the partisan polarization of our politics which prevents us from making the principled compromises on which progress in a democracy depends.”
While it can be argued that Lieberman did walk the anti-partisan walk, it can be equally argued that he was part of the rightward shift in American politics that led to the advent of the Tea Party and the stubborn refusal on the part of any Republicans to compromise.
The 70-year-old Senator will forever be remembered in the annals of Senatorial history as the man who turned on his own party to endorse a Republican presidential candidate and address the Republican convention in 2008.”
Source: addictinginfo.org
