Oh, my. Just look at this headline:

A Collapsed Economy, Hateful Conservatives and Ineffectual Liberals Are a Recipe for Fascism

I have admired Chris Hedges for a long time now and this is one of his articles.

Here's how it gets started:

American politics, as the midterm elections demonstrated, have descended into the irrational. On one side stands a corrupt liberal class, bereft of ideas and unable to respond coherently to the collapse of the global economy, the dismantling of our manufacturing sector and the deadly assault on the ecosystem. On the other side stands a mass of increasingly bitter people whose alienation, desperation and rage fuel emotionally driven and incoherent political agendas. It is a recipe for fascism.

Go on over and read it if you have the time; it's not hugely long. I think it offers some real insight.
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Today's headline

Well, it's not a headline of an article in the usual sense. It's the title of someone's post over on Democratic Underground and it's so, so, so true:

Americans do not know jack about history

Very worrying.

Here's an exerpt that talks through something I've been concerned about for a long time:

Let's put it this way and go back to oh WW II, not that far ago.

Back then it didn't matter if the Japanese sunk a carrier. Yes people died, but we could produce three carriers for each carrier they sunk... yes, that simple and the Cheap Carriers proved that.

On the other hand, since the Empire of Japan did not have the capacity to produce the STEEL needed, they could not afford to lose one carrier... and each ship of the Imperial Navy they lost... was a deep loss. One of the reasons actually for Adm. Kurita to pull off the slot, he knew that reality.

Well we are in that situation right now... and this does not just translate to military gear. Yes, I like my IPOD, and yes it was designed in Cupertino, but the chip factory is in China... and those same chips could be used for guidance systems for missiles we no longer can produce without importing a lot of crap.

This country has not had an industrial policy for now two generations... and it has become a second rate power. It is just a matter of time until this becomes like very official. I don't expect the children elected to the House and Senate to understand this...

I've been truly concerned for some time about the security implications of our outsourcing of manufacturing jobs. I simply cannot fathom how this is not seen to be a serious issue by the nation's powers that be.
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A quotation to think about

I don't know why society is not willing to listen to scientists and medical people on this matter:

Drugs that are legal cause at least as much damage, if not more, than drugs that are illicit.

-- Wim Van Den Brink, a professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University of Amsterdam, on a new study in the journal Lancet, which concluded that alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine
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About Obama's Asian trip

I just found an article that was pubished last Friday on the ummid.com website. Here's the headline:

Mahatma Gandhi Remains Obama's Inspiration

Here's part of what it says:

"Barack Obama has been profoundly inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. The father of the Indian nations' commitment to social justice, equality and the spirit of satyagraha left an indelible mark on Barack Obama, shaping his polity," Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Ashram secretary Amrut Modi told IANS over telephone.

Sabarmati Ashram, or the Gandhi Ashram, was the Mahatma's official residence and played a key role in the famous Dandi March in 1930. It is now a museum, memorial and crafts centre dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in the heart of Ahmedabad city.

Obama may not be visiting the sylvan retreat of the Mahatma tucked away along the Sabarmati river, but he is the only US president who will visit Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat and the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya - the Mumbai home of the Mahatma from 1917 and 1934.
...
"Gandhi inspired several coloured leaders like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. The latter travelled to India with his wife to study Gandhi's 'satyagraha'," Modi said.Obama is no exception "because he has a vision for his people and champions the cause of equality," he said.

Here's the problem as I see it: Gandhi was not prime minister when he exercised his powerful leadership that resulted in the liberation of India. Martin Luther King Jr. was not president when he was an inspired and inspiring leader in the United States. And although Mandela eventually became president of South Africa, his greatest influence was before he attained that office. In other words, these great men were able to accomplish what they did without having to worry about political survival in the process.
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Now here's a weird headline

It's from Slate:

Pelosi's Triumph: Democrats didn't lose the battle of 2010. They won it.

Basically, the article says that passing the health care bill was more of a triumph than losing the House was a defeat. I'm not sure I buy that but the analysis is interesting.

Go take a look. It's a very short piece.
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Okay. Here's the headline:

Obama’s Pathetic Post-Mortem Response

You know, I'm really not up to giving you even a small excerpt here. Just go read it. The article is actually very short.
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Friday cat blogging!

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Another headline

It's almost unbelievable:

The Democrats Prepare to Move Right

Are they nuts???? Are they suicidal????

Appeasing the Republicans is what caused the Democratic defeat in the first place.

It has been aptly said that If voters are given a choice between a Republican-lite candidate and a Republican, they'll choose the real Republican every single time.

Sometimes I just despair; I really do.
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The headline of the day

Here it is:

The More Money You Make the More Likely You'll Vote Republican

Years ago, when I was still teaching at St. Stephen's School in Alexandria, Virginia, I overheard the secretary to the headmaster say, laughingly, to someone in her office, "Oh, now; you're rich enough to vote Republican, aren't you?" (Needless to say, her husband's income was considerably higher than her own secretary's salary.)

This was during the 1980 presidential campaign (Carter vs. Reagan). It chilled me then and the memory of it does to this day.

Here's a paragraph from the article that expresses something I've been concerned about for a very long time now:

Somehow, we have got to convince more of the affluent voters that the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor is not in their interest, no matter how uncertain the future looks. It rips communities apart. It leads to every kind of social ill and unrest, from increased crime to depression to teen pregnancy. It’s ruinous to democracy and it’s even destructive to capitalism. Society will absorb only so much unfairness, only so much disparity between haves and have-nots.

I really don't know why this isn't obvious to the powers that be.
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Tina Fey rules!

Just look:

Fey also poked fun at Fox News for referring to Palin as "Governor Palin" when she appears on the network.
"That's like calling me 'Dairy Queen Employee,'" Fey joked. "I was once, but I quit!"

I found it right here.
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Quotation of the day

I so, so, so agree with this:

The biggest lesson from last night is actually pretty simple. For Democrats to win in the future, they need to fight for the people they represent and stop cutting deals to water down reform with the same corporate interests who will turn around and spend unlimited amounts of money to defeat Democrats year after year.

-- Jim Dean, Chair, Democracy for America

Your headline for today

Right here:

10 Commandments to Revive Progressives After the November Defeat

It's by Rabbi Michael Lerner whom I've long admired.

Here's just one sentence that seems to encapsulate his point and with which I heartily agree:

Had Obama embraced and fought for a progressive agenda, even if he had passed none of it, he would have entered the 2010 elections as the champion of the huge idealism of the American people that was elicited in 2008 and which would have led the Democrats to an electoral sweep in 2010.

Some of us tried to send that message to the President. I wonder what stopped him from listening.
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Have you?

As I write, there's still time in most time zones!

This one is important, people.

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Quite a bumper sticker

Someone over on Democratic Underground apparently spotted this one the other day:

Do you have Medicare? Thank the Democrats.

That's rich, isn't it?

:-)

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