Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Shapeshifters: Neocons and Where they Come From

Some thoughts on the Neocons.

In the 1960's in was not unusual for individuals to jump around socially and politically.  I met more than one person who started out as a Goldwater conservative, swiftly became immersed in the anti-war movement, jumped heavily into right wing religious fanaticism, and finally emerged heavily in the drug culture.  The orders can be reversed, in some instances a base may have been touched more than once.

I noticed:

• They never stay long with one idea; what they wanted was action
• Some reversed position only once and then stayed with their new world view for the rest of their lives. This happened if their previous commitment was brought more by the influence of others rather than their own beliefs.  This kind of transition was always the most credible.
• Their knowledge of the new movement was shallow but the immersion was very rapid.  There was not a long period of time and reflection as they made the jump.
• Their need to join was more out of filling a void in their personal life more than a need to bring justice and fairness or freedom to society
• If they brought a deep intellectual commitment to the endeavor, they were more interested in ordering the world in their image rather than learning about the world

The last two observations apply to some of the Neocons, the most obvious, by his own admission is David Horowitz.

When ideologues make these conversions they have core values that continue, unchanged and firmly held.  In the Neocons I see twov alues that I share with them.

First, a belief that the United States has a role in the world to further democracy, stand up to brutal dictators, and stop the slaughter of innocent people.  Both the New and the Old Left subscribed to this notion. Franco's Spain, Hitler's Germany, numerous African and South American regimes and finally Communist China and Russia were all the targets of progressive opposition.

This was not universal, there were elements of the Old Left that supported Stalin and the New Left that supported Mao's China, but even SDS was one of the most outspoken critics of Communist Chinese repression. There we people like myself who criticized Cuban repression of free speech, the failure to hold free and open elections, and the treatment of homosexuals.

Secondly, there is a belief that Israel must be protected.  It is that simple.

Where the Neocons and I part company was how to achieve the goals that grew form these values.

They believe that United States military action should take care of the problem of toppling dictators accompanied by a naive and horribly erroneous notion that once the shackles of oppression were cut, democracy would grow like a thousand flowers.  There was, and tragically are, two fatal flaws.  First that toppling a dictatorship equated with controlling a freed nation. Secondly that the cultural traditions and mores of a culture were not an impediment to the American concept of democracy.

If there is any question on this point look at the dismantled Soviet Union.  Four generations of Communist repression, torture, and death could not stop or crush the reemergence of nationalism, hatred, religious warfare, and family feuds going back to the nineteenth century.

Perhaps the greater fault of the Neocons was to make it clear to the Israeli right wing that they could do anything they please without fear of loss of support from the United States. In 1967, from a position of strength following the Six Day War, Israel should have been working towards peace with its neighbors.  Instead as the years and then decades wore on, right-wing Israelis became more and more bellicose, the West Bank settlements being a step towards war, not a step towards peace.

I will be the first to support a United States military support of Israel, should it be invaded.  I will not accept anything less than a recognition of Israel's right to exist.  But that is a far cry from a policy for the last twenty-five years of providing the most reactionary extremists in Israel a blank check.

The Neocons did not change their core values relating to the United States role in fostering democracy internationally and the protection of Israel.  They changed in concluding that a belligerent foreign policy, shifting from diplomacy to war was the way to accomplish these goals. Tragically, in the New Left there was always an element that believed that the ends justified the means. Some are still in the left, many of the most influential jumped to the right.

Bush Lauches New Candidate for Outrageous Quote of the Year

            Text of Today's Presidential Speech Before Captive Audience: Bush at Annapolis

These decisions about troop levels will be driven by the conditions on the ground in Iraq and the good judgment of our commanders, not by artificial timetables set by politicians in Washington.

George W. Bush, November 30, 2005

George W. Bush is the original politician in Washington who set artificial timetables for military commitments.

This from the President's Press Conference on March 6, 2003.  The link is to the White House, not to Al Franken, Cindy Sheehan, or Michael Moore.

The only acceptable outcome is the one already defined by a unanimous vote of the Security Council -- total disarmament...

...We are determined to confront threats wherever they arise. I will not leave the American people at the mercy of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons...

...We, of course, are consulting with our allies at the United Nations. But I meant what I said, this is the last phase of diplomacy. A little bit more time? Saddam Hussein has had 12 years to disarm. He is deceiving people. This is what's important for our fellow citizens to realize; that if he really intended to disarm, like the world has asked him to do, we would know whether he was disarming. He's trying to buy time. I can understand why -- he's been successful with these tactics for 12 years.

And while it is not on point, here is another interesting excerpt from that speech:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. As you know, not everyone shares your optimistic vision of how this might play out. Do you ever worry, maybe in the wee, small hours, that you might be wrong and they might be right in thinking that this could lead to more terrorism, more anti-American sentiment, more instability in the Middle East?

THE PRESIDENT: Hutch, I think, first of all, it's hard to envision more terror on America than September the 11th, 2001. We did nothing to provoke that terrorist attack. It came upon us because there's an enemy which hates America. They hate what we stand for. We love freedom and we're not changing. And, therefore, so long as there's a terrorist network like al Qaeda, and others willing to fund them, finance them, equip them -- we're at war.

And so I -- you know, obviously, I've thought long and hard about the use of troops. I think about it all the time. It is my responsibility to commit the troops. I believe we'll prevail -- I know we'll prevail. And out of that disarmament of Saddam will come a better world, particularly for the people who live in Iraq.

This is a society, Ron, who -- which has been decimated by his murderous ways, his torture. He doesn't allow dissent. He doesn't believe in the values we believe in. I believe this society, the Iraqi society can develop in a much better way. I think of the risks, calculated the cost of inaction versus the cost of action. And I'm firmly convinced, if we have to, we will act, in the name of peace and in the name of freedom.

Who Is Sacha "Ali G" Baron Cohen? Update. News flash. NY Times Catching Up

Update. The New York Times in now covering the attack on Sacha Baron Cohen by the Kazakhstan governemnt.

You read about here on November 14th.  Waxingamerica, where you get vital news and commentary before its published in the New York Times.

Chickenhawks, Who served, AWOLBUSH

In the last few days many email and blogs have circulated the same interesting lists as to who served in the military and who did not.

All this come from a great post:    http://www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html

Having worked so long during the 1960's to end the draft, I am beginning to wonder if it should be reinstated. It would spread the responsibility more equitably among Americans and it would heighten opposition to the war, requiring everyone to have an interest in the warmongering by the Chickenhawks.

Time to Cut Cable TV? FCC Reverse, Like a la carte

FCC Pushed for Cable Unbundling-Sides with a la carte

Last Friday, November 25, 2005, I wrote a piece about unbundling cable TV packages which was prompted by a baseball trade. If you can't connect the dots, look at last Friday's post.

So today, the FCC came out in favor of unbundling, in favor of a la carte which means consumers could select the channels they wished to receive and not be required to pay for channels that were of no interest.

Do you think they were listening to me over the weekend? Naaaaaaaaaaaa.  Just dumb luck.

Bush: Outrageous Quote of the Year?

"People don't want me making decisions based on politics," Bush said. "They want me making decisions based on the recommendations of our generals on the ground. And that's exactly who I'll be listening to."

We have a sweet Golden Retriever, Roxy.  Every once in a while she does something really stupid and we refer to her as the "Joke Dog."

Today President Bush made one interesting assertion about listening to the generals, as though he was not going  to allow politics to enter into a decision to withdraw from Iraq.

It was almost three years ago that Bush refused to listen to the Generals and decided we had to invade Iraq without regard for:

• our inability to secure Iraq after defeating Saddam Hussein's army
• our inability to thwart an insurgent movement
• our inability to stop a growing a terrorist movement that would move in from Afghanistan
• our inability to secure Iraq's borders
• our inability to protect a population from a guerrilla war.

What a joke.

I imagine Bush never wanted the advice from General Zinni

Minnie Minoso Considered for Hall of Fame

Minnie Minoso, Buck O'Neil on special Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

When I was eight years old we moved to an apartment building on Chicago's South Side at 52nd and Dorchester.  For any kid a move is exciting but I was yet to discover how wonderful my life was to become.

Over the winter I learned that the Chicago White Sox stayed at the Piccadilly Hotel, just two blocks away at 51st and Blackstone.

Once the season started after school we headed to the Piccadilly about 3:30pm . The White Sox would be returning from the day game by 4:00 pm or leaving for the night game.

Every White Sox player stayed at the Piccadilly except for two.  Jack Harshmann had his entire family with him lived in an apartment about a mile away.

Minnie Minoso was black.

Chicago, the South Side, 1954. In the 1950's he was the greatest left fielder in baseball next to Ted Williams, the ninth best left fielder of all time and he was black.

After the day games, Minoso drove up to the hotel in his dark green Cadillac convertible (I think it was a '54 El Dorado). He dropped off the first of the great Venezuelan shortstops, Chico Carrasquel and then headed further south.  Word was that he lived somewhere near 63rd Street.

Nellie Fox and Billy Pierce were great, but  Saturnino Orestes Armas Minoso Arrieta was the best.

New York Magazine opens Ground Zero

The Grief Police

Like many Americans, last summer, I took a peripheral view at the battle between some of the relatives of the 9/11 victims and those trying to fashion a national memorial to those who died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania

Last summer as bizarre alliances formed and shifted with New York Governor George Pataki and Senator Hillary Clinton aligning with the families' organization, Take Back the Memorial, and a commission headed by friends of George Bush, I figured things would sort themselves out.  Anyway, I did not have a dog in that fight.

Then I read the New York Magazine article, November 28, 2005, The Grief Police and saw the politics clearly.  Take Back the Memorial, while only a handful of activists claiming to speak for the survivors of the 2,993 murdered, wants to control the memorial. They object to the government interfering in what they consider to be their private domain - the memorial to the dead.

Someone, and that includes the survivors of the victims, has to decide if this is a public or a private lost.  If 9/11 was a private lost then there should be no public memorial and the survivors families must find their own private space and private resources to commemorate the victims of terrorism. If those infamous attacks were a public loss, then there shall be public decision-making and public funding in designing and constructing an appropriate memorial.

This is a public matter.  The attack was launched against our nation and our democracy.  And that means the memorial must honor the murdered as well as the intended target, our nation. It was not just the immediate families of the dead who suffered a loss, it was the family that constitutes this nation.

Like all great losses, it was not just the loss of life, but  we also mourn the attack on civilization and our democracy, staring with our very foundation, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and all the great ideas and documents that succeeded them as we strive to form a more perfect union.

Iraq War Unintended Consequences: Egypt in Trouble

The success of the reactionary  Muslim Brotherhood winning significantly more seats in the Egyptian weekend parliamentary runoff elections is one more example of the Iraq War gone bad.

The unintended consequence of Bush's twenty-first century cowboy adventurism is taking its toll on one more precarious Middle Eastern nation. There is no way the Bush government can absolve itself of responsibility for further Fundamentalism Muslim success as a reaction to the Iraq tragedy.

If they claim there was no pre-war evidence that the invasion of Iraq would touch off pro-Fundamentalism sentiment in the Middle East's precarious democracies they either:

• think the American people are a lot stupider than we look,
• the Bush administration is stupider than even it appears to date,
• and/or they have been smoking some of that fine Egyptian hash up at the State Department

Undoubtedly, Vice President Cheney will attribute the elections results to Cindy Sheehan's opposition to the War in Iraq.

Three Views of Wal-Mart and Black Friday

Three views of Black Friday shopping and Wal-Mart.

First the usual U.S. announcement indicating Wal-Mart had a successful Black Friday with a headline story that says, Wal-Mart leads pack in post-holiday sales.

Ha.  Read on -- from Bloomberg:

Wal-Mart's November Sales Rise About 4.3 Percent, Led by Food

Food?  For the kids and Dad for Christmas? Bah, humbug.

and:

Same-store sales at Target, which has lured shoppers with clothing and home goods by designers such as Isaac Mizrahi, have outpaced Wal-Mart this year. Target's average monthly same-store sales gain through October was 6.3 percent, compared with 3.6 percent for Wal-Mart.

It looks like all retailers are improving.  Compared to others, Wal Mart doesn't look so hot.

Finally for the international perspective from the Scotsman:

Bargain hunters spark trouble at Wal-Marts

Police arrested a man at a Wal-Mart in Orlando, Florida, after he allegedly jumped a queue to buy a bargain notebook computer and was wrestled to the ground. Shoppers at another Wal-Mart store, in Texas, complained that a security guard used pepper spray when scuffles broke out... A crowd of shoppers sparked a melee in the rush for the new Xbox 360 video game console at a Wal-Mart store in north-east Maryland, and it took 10 police officers to restore order...In western Michigan's Cascade Township, a woman fell as dozens of people rushed into a store for the 5am opening and several stepped on her. When the rush ended, the woman and a 13-year-old girl suffered minor injuries.

Holiday shopping is so much more enjoyable when you get a bargain and a chance to mug fellow shoppers at the same time