The Fulcrum
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Compassionate Conservatism at Work
If you want to see just what an oxymoron "compassionate conservatism" is, check out today's editorial in the NYT by Nicholas Kristof.
He takes a look behind all the talking and negotiating ahead of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (F.T.A.A.) and exposes just one of the potential downfalls of poorly balancing the needs of people and the desires of big business. In this case, it's big pharmaceutical companies, but the message is the same regardless of the business:
Do we really want to place protecting the profits of a small group of already very profitable corporations over the lives of real, live people?
He takes a look behind all the talking and negotiating ahead of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (F.T.A.A.) and exposes just one of the potential downfalls of poorly balancing the needs of people and the desires of big business. In this case, it's big pharmaceutical companies, but the message is the same regardless of the business:
Do we really want to place protecting the profits of a small group of already very profitable corporations over the lives of real, live people?
100,000 in 2005
A senior military official, speaking - of course - anonymously, said that there would likely be 100,000 troops in Iraq in 2005. This official was making assumptions about what the security situation would be like at that time and wasn't speaking for the president or any of his staff. However, that is a level which, by that time, would start causing serious problems with the National Guard and Reserves. The active component would be stretched seriously thin as well; that number is not significantly lower than the approximately 130,000 troops that are there now.
With all the effort going on now to train the Iraqis to take over security operations, and the administration consistently saying that our troop levels will depend on the security situation in Iraq, you'd think that BushCo would want a rosier picture painted to the public. 100,000 doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy about how secure things will be two years from now.
With all the effort going on now to train the Iraqis to take over security operations, and the administration consistently saying that our troop levels will depend on the security situation in Iraq, you'd think that BushCo would want a rosier picture painted to the public. 100,000 doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy about how secure things will be two years from now.
Friday, November 21, 2003
Wal*Mart - Again
From Damn Foreigner:
Fast Company has a great article discussing the implications for suppliers specifically and the economy generally in dealing with the colossus. The article, while pretty long, is a great primer for discovering the real costs to all of us of the Wal*Mart phenomenon.
A couple of excerpts to whet your curiosity:
I think, though that for progressives of all stripes - and this will be my last quote from the article - the money quote, the one that should really make you think, has got to be this:
A damning indictment, indeed.
Fast Company has a great article discussing the implications for suppliers specifically and the economy generally in dealing with the colossus. The article, while pretty long, is a great primer for discovering the real costs to all of us of the Wal*Mart phenomenon.
A couple of excerpts to whet your curiosity:
Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas.And that's just the tip of this well researched iceberg of an article.
[snip]
"People ask, 'How can it be bad for things to come into the U.S. cheaply? How can it be bad to have a bargain at Wal-Mart?' Sure, it's held inflation down, and it's great to have bargains," says Dobbins. "But you can't buy anything if you're not employed. We are shopping ourselves out of jobs."
[snip]
If Levi clothing is a runaway hit at Wal-Mart, that may indeed rescue Levi as a business. But what will have been rescued? The Signature line--it includes clothing for girls, boys, men, and women--is an odd departure for a company whose brand has long been an American icon. Some of the jeans have the look, the fingertip feel, of pricier Levis. But much of the clothing has the look and feel it must have, given its price (around $23 for adult pants): cheap. Cheap and disappointing to find labeled with Levi Strauss's name. And just five days before the cheery profit news, Levi had another announcement: It is closing its last two U.S. factories, both in San Antonio, and laying off more than 2,500 workers, or 21% of its workforce. A company that 22 years ago had 60 clothing plants in the United States--and that was known as one of the most socially responsible corporations on the planet--will, by 2004, not make any clothes at all. It will just import them.
(All emphasis is mine - Ed.)
I think, though that for progressives of all stripes - and this will be my last quote from the article - the money quote, the one that should really make you think, has got to be this:
Wal-Mart has also lulled shoppers into ignoring the difference between the price of something and the cost. Its unending focus on price underscores something that Americans are only starting to realize about globalization: Ever-cheaper prices have consequences. Says Steve Dobbins, president of thread maker Carolina Mills: "We want clean air, clear water, good living conditions, the best health care in the world--yet we aren't willing to pay for anything manufactured under those restrictions."
A damning indictment, indeed.
Vague Memories of Dealy Plaza
I lived in Dallas several years ago and made the seemingly obligatory visit to The School Book Repository and its Sixth Floor Museum. I roamed the streets and grassy knoll of Dealy Plaza. It was an odd feeling, sort of like the feeling you get walking around the pyramids of Mexico or the battlefields of Chickamauga; a feeling of the weight of history on a place.
Unlike those other places, the traffic still flows through Dealy, drivers in their cars driving unnoticing over the small X's painted on the road where key points in that day's events - 40 years ago tomorrow - took place. Yet for all its "ordinariness," that weight is still there; above the street noise is a silence that is somehow louder than tires on asphalt or the roar of engines. It's hard to explain, but if you been to any site where history hangs in the air, you'll know what I mean.
When JFK was assassinated, I was not quite three years old. Yet, probably through some combination of actual memory of such a momentous event and the retelling of family stories, I seem to have vague memories of those days. What I think I remember is standing in front of the television - black and white - watching pictures of Kennedy's Caisson rolling up a street in Washington, D.C. I have no other memories so clear of that time, but there is a sense of confusion and sadness when I try to remember those days; when I try to see beyond the television images.
What informs the rest of my memories and thoughts on the assassination is what I've read on the subject, the investigative news specials, the Warren Commission reports, books. I've never subscribed to the more fantastic conspiracy theories that remain so popular and I've never had the desire to watch Oliver Stone's confabulation "JFK." But I do wonder. I wonder what the world would be like if Kennedy had lived; what would have been different. No-one can say, of course, with any degree of certainty. And I've always thought that "what-if" histories were a sort of mental self flagellation. But the thoughts are there, in the back of my mind.
What would have been different? What would have been the result if Camelot had been allowed to flourish?
The vision, the memories, the hopes for Camelot contrast so brightly against the despair so many feel today. The contrast of the idealistic, young, war hero Jack Kennedy - all his human foibles now known - with the shallow, corporatist, uncurious, duty shirking Bush is striking not just for it's dissonance. But also in how the two men affect(ed) those around them. In 1962 there were problems to be sure; but there was hope there was confidence that they could be solved: civil rights, the cold war and the growing troubles in South East Asia. Today there seems to be a growing malaise; of helplessness over problems seemingly too big for those in power to comprehend, much less to solve.
Unlike those other places, the traffic still flows through Dealy, drivers in their cars driving unnoticing over the small X's painted on the road where key points in that day's events - 40 years ago tomorrow - took place. Yet for all its "ordinariness," that weight is still there; above the street noise is a silence that is somehow louder than tires on asphalt or the roar of engines. It's hard to explain, but if you been to any site where history hangs in the air, you'll know what I mean.
When JFK was assassinated, I was not quite three years old. Yet, probably through some combination of actual memory of such a momentous event and the retelling of family stories, I seem to have vague memories of those days. What I think I remember is standing in front of the television - black and white - watching pictures of Kennedy's Caisson rolling up a street in Washington, D.C. I have no other memories so clear of that time, but there is a sense of confusion and sadness when I try to remember those days; when I try to see beyond the television images.
What informs the rest of my memories and thoughts on the assassination is what I've read on the subject, the investigative news specials, the Warren Commission reports, books. I've never subscribed to the more fantastic conspiracy theories that remain so popular and I've never had the desire to watch Oliver Stone's confabulation "JFK." But I do wonder. I wonder what the world would be like if Kennedy had lived; what would have been different. No-one can say, of course, with any degree of certainty. And I've always thought that "what-if" histories were a sort of mental self flagellation. But the thoughts are there, in the back of my mind.
What would have been different? What would have been the result if Camelot had been allowed to flourish?
The vision, the memories, the hopes for Camelot contrast so brightly against the despair so many feel today. The contrast of the idealistic, young, war hero Jack Kennedy - all his human foibles now known - with the shallow, corporatist, uncurious, duty shirking Bush is striking not just for it's dissonance. But also in how the two men affect(ed) those around them. In 1962 there were problems to be sure; but there was hope there was confidence that they could be solved: civil rights, the cold war and the growing troubles in South East Asia. Today there seems to be a growing malaise; of helplessness over problems seemingly too big for those in power to comprehend, much less to solve.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Administration Admits Iraq War Illegal
From Atrios: Richard Perle, no less, in a Guardian interview:
I only wish I could say I was shocked.
Maybe BushCo was tired of inventing new reasons why they started this war. WMDs didn't work, freeing the Iraqis didn't really cut it, the "Reverse Domino Effect" didn't really work either. So they just said "fuck it. We did it because we could. "
Go read Atrios, then head over the Guardian to read the whole thing.
Disgusting.
In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing." [snip]The sheer chutzpah. Everyone opposed to the war has been saying this for months - and Perle just comes right out and admits it.
But Mr Perle, a key member of the defence policy board, which advises the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable.
I only wish I could say I was shocked.
Maybe BushCo was tired of inventing new reasons why they started this war. WMDs didn't work, freeing the Iraqis didn't really cut it, the "Reverse Domino Effect" didn't really work either. So they just said "fuck it. We did it because we could. "
Go read Atrios, then head over the Guardian to read the whole thing.
Disgusting.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Rights
Civil Rights.
Equal Rights.
Women's Rights.
Gay Rights.
Basic Rights.
Human Rights.
Yesterday the Massachusetts SJC handed down a decision that said to the State Legislature that there are no good reasons to deny gays the same rights, privileges and obligations as straights when it comes to civil recognition of marriage. No sooner had the ink dried on the decision than the wingnuts were on the airwaves. They renounced judicial activism, they demanded amendments to the state constitution. And the reverberations were felt in Washington just as quickly with all the usual morons calling for an amendment to the national constitution.
I wrote a couple of months ago about all the hoopla around the confirmation of Rev. Gene Robinson as the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop. And I stand behind what I wrote then.
But I have to say that the backlash to the Massachusetts ruling still stuns me in some ways. If you were to substitute the word "Black" or "Hispanic" or "Women" or "Jews" into the ruling, nobody would blink an eye (well... there are a few white-hooded rednecks who might, but ...). Why is it that gays remain the last group that can be so openly hated and repressed?
On the way to work this morning all I could think was that the wingnuts who are so worked up over the issue of civil unions/marriages for gays are the same ones (or their children - the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, and all that) who wanted African-Americans to stay in the back of the bus or wanted women to stay home and out of the workplace. How, in this more enlightened age, these ideas can continue to thrive in some places and in some segments of society escapes me.
Maybe I'm too idealistic. Maybe I think too much of humanity's capacity for reason, for understanding, for love of fellow man. I hope not.
But there seems to be reason to despair.
Equal Rights.
Women's Rights.
Gay Rights.
Basic Rights.
Human Rights.
Yesterday the Massachusetts SJC handed down a decision that said to the State Legislature that there are no good reasons to deny gays the same rights, privileges and obligations as straights when it comes to civil recognition of marriage. No sooner had the ink dried on the decision than the wingnuts were on the airwaves. They renounced judicial activism, they demanded amendments to the state constitution. And the reverberations were felt in Washington just as quickly with all the usual morons calling for an amendment to the national constitution.
I wrote a couple of months ago about all the hoopla around the confirmation of Rev. Gene Robinson as the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop. And I stand behind what I wrote then.
But I have to say that the backlash to the Massachusetts ruling still stuns me in some ways. If you were to substitute the word "Black" or "Hispanic" or "Women" or "Jews" into the ruling, nobody would blink an eye (well... there are a few white-hooded rednecks who might, but ...). Why is it that gays remain the last group that can be so openly hated and repressed?
On the way to work this morning all I could think was that the wingnuts who are so worked up over the issue of civil unions/marriages for gays are the same ones (or their children - the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, and all that) who wanted African-Americans to stay in the back of the bus or wanted women to stay home and out of the workplace. How, in this more enlightened age, these ideas can continue to thrive in some places and in some segments of society escapes me.
Maybe I'm too idealistic. Maybe I think too much of humanity's capacity for reason, for understanding, for love of fellow man. I hope not.
But there seems to be reason to despair.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Yes, I'm a Poet
Well, there should be plenty of scoffing over that statement, but check out my honorable mention in Todd's haiku contest over at Dohiyi Mir!
While you're there, check out the rest of Todd's blog. He's got some great stuff!
Now, off with you, go get some culture!
While you're there, check out the rest of Todd's blog. He's got some great stuff!
Now, off with you, go get some culture!
$700,000.00
$200,000.00 at breakfast.
$200,000.00 at lunch.
$300,000.00 at dinner.
$700,000.00
That was Cheney's haul yesterday in New York state. 700 people paid $1,000.00 per plate to have a meal in the same, large room as the veep.
I think I expressed my disgust at this yesterday.
Can you imagine the discussion these big donors and the Vice President must have had about Medicare or Medicaid? Can't you just hear the impassioned pleas to spend more to help those without health insurance?
[Crickets Chirping...]
Right...
$200,000.00 at lunch.
$300,000.00 at dinner.
$700,000.00
That was Cheney's haul yesterday in New York state. 700 people paid $1,000.00 per plate to have a meal in the same, large room as the veep.
I think I expressed my disgust at this yesterday.
Can you imagine the discussion these big donors and the Vice President must have had about Medicare or Medicaid? Can't you just hear the impassioned pleas to spend more to help those without health insurance?
[Crickets Chirping...]
Right...
Monday, November 17, 2003
Cheney Sighting
Seems Rochester, NY is now considered a "secure, undisclosed location." While listening to the radio at lunch-time today, I was reminded that VP Dick will be at a fund raising luncheon today in Rochester. It's part of an all day fund raiser in New York state; breakfast, lunch and dinner in three different cities.
Not that BushCo doesn't already have more money than all their adversaries combined; you can have a meal with Dick today for $1,000.00 a plate.
$1,000.00.
You can bet that that amount of smack will get you a meal in the same room as the veep, but don't bet on it getting you any say in what's going down in Washington. A measly grand doesn't compare to what the big corporations are funneling to the repugs... not to mention the Pioneers or the Cowboys or whatever in the hell the big contributors are called.
$1,000.00.
How much good would that money do if donated to a local charity? Not that our compassionate-conservative leaders would ever want any of their supporters cash going to those damned poor people or those friggin' cripples. They'll never make enough of themselves to ever be a real donor.
$1,000.00.
Imagine what a family living on the wrong side of the poverty line could do with that money. It would likely put food on the table for a couple of months or more. Maybe they could get their kids to the doctors finally. Perhaps it would pay for a month or two of medical insurance. It might even be enough to get their old car repaired and get an up-to-date state inspection. Maybe they could have a real Christmas for a change this year.
$1,000.00.
To BushCo a thousand dollars is not even a rounding error in their campaign "war chest." To the people who can afford to drop a thousand bucks for lunch it's small change. To so many others it could mean not having to choose between buying groceries and being able to buy vital medication
If you were to put it that baldly to someone at this luncheon today, they would look at you like you'd just spit in their food...
Not that BushCo doesn't already have more money than all their adversaries combined; you can have a meal with Dick today for $1,000.00 a plate.
$1,000.00.
You can bet that that amount of smack will get you a meal in the same room as the veep, but don't bet on it getting you any say in what's going down in Washington. A measly grand doesn't compare to what the big corporations are funneling to the repugs... not to mention the Pioneers or the Cowboys or whatever in the hell the big contributors are called.
$1,000.00.
How much good would that money do if donated to a local charity? Not that our compassionate-conservative leaders would ever want any of their supporters cash going to those damned poor people or those friggin' cripples. They'll never make enough of themselves to ever be a real donor.
$1,000.00.
Imagine what a family living on the wrong side of the poverty line could do with that money. It would likely put food on the table for a couple of months or more. Maybe they could get their kids to the doctors finally. Perhaps it would pay for a month or two of medical insurance. It might even be enough to get their old car repaired and get an up-to-date state inspection. Maybe they could have a real Christmas for a change this year.
$1,000.00.
To BushCo a thousand dollars is not even a rounding error in their campaign "war chest." To the people who can afford to drop a thousand bucks for lunch it's small change. To so many others it could mean not having to choose between buying groceries and being able to buy vital medication
If you were to put it that baldly to someone at this luncheon today, they would look at you like you'd just spit in their food...
Rush to the Airwaves
Just in case you've forgotten - or really tried to avoid thinking about it - Rush is back today.
I wonder what he'll be like after his little "retreat?" Will he be contrite and full of empathy for the addicts among us now?
Sure. And monkeys will fly out my ass...
I wonder what he'll be like after his little "retreat?" Will he be contrite and full of empathy for the addicts among us now?
Sure. And monkeys will fly out my ass...
Two More Blackhawks Down
I just couldn't bring myself to post anything about the Blackhawks that went down this past weekend. 17 more good soldiers gone. 2 more helicopters wrecked. Just that much further mired in the wasteland of Iraq.
I've gotten to the point that when it comes to discussing the casualties I don't even know what to say anymore. The outrage is still there; the feeling that the sacrifice is for nothing. Rather than learning from its mistakes and changing directions in Iraq, BushCo may be on the verge of a modified "cut and run." But to change directions, to learn would be to admit to the error in the first place. And one thing that the folks in Washington seem incapable of doing is admitting to error. There are no mistakes in this administration, never anything to learn from. Faith-based administration requires only adherence to the first principles.
But even as I watched the pictures of recovery crews lifting the mangled remains of aircraft, knowing that if metal was so badly twisted and torn that the bodies of the soldiers and pilots were much worse; I just felt heavy. Like nothing I could do or say would make a difference. Nothing that is within my power would keep more soldiers from dying in the heat and sand and dust of Iraq.
So... rather than learning and adapting to the situation, it seems that Bush is trying to rush through the transition of power to the Iraqis so that he can have his homecoming parade footage for his re-election campaign. But Saddam is still out there, taunting Shrub. Remnants of the Republican Guard are still lurking in the general population; armed with heavy weapons, mortars and anti-aircraft missiles. Foreign Arab jihadists are coming across the borders to join in on the fun. And the Iraqis on the street are starting to really fear the reemergence of Saddam and the Baathists.
And we sit here at home, starting another week, continuing the horrible count of young soldiers killed or maimed. While the architect of this mess sits in the chair of the most powerful person on earth, counting his reelection money, barely aware of the massacre taking place under his direction.
Something has to give.
I've gotten to the point that when it comes to discussing the casualties I don't even know what to say anymore. The outrage is still there; the feeling that the sacrifice is for nothing. Rather than learning from its mistakes and changing directions in Iraq, BushCo may be on the verge of a modified "cut and run." But to change directions, to learn would be to admit to the error in the first place. And one thing that the folks in Washington seem incapable of doing is admitting to error. There are no mistakes in this administration, never anything to learn from. Faith-based administration requires only adherence to the first principles.
But even as I watched the pictures of recovery crews lifting the mangled remains of aircraft, knowing that if metal was so badly twisted and torn that the bodies of the soldiers and pilots were much worse; I just felt heavy. Like nothing I could do or say would make a difference. Nothing that is within my power would keep more soldiers from dying in the heat and sand and dust of Iraq.
So... rather than learning and adapting to the situation, it seems that Bush is trying to rush through the transition of power to the Iraqis so that he can have his homecoming parade footage for his re-election campaign. But Saddam is still out there, taunting Shrub. Remnants of the Republican Guard are still lurking in the general population; armed with heavy weapons, mortars and anti-aircraft missiles. Foreign Arab jihadists are coming across the borders to join in on the fun. And the Iraqis on the street are starting to really fear the reemergence of Saddam and the Baathists.
And we sit here at home, starting another week, continuing the horrible count of young soldiers killed or maimed. While the architect of this mess sits in the chair of the most powerful person on earth, counting his reelection money, barely aware of the massacre taking place under his direction.
Something has to give.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Reading the Papers
It's too bad aWol doesn't read the papers, this might give him some second thoughts.
If you read it, make sure you have a tissue...
If you read it, make sure you have a tissue...
