tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post3549840694151623106..comments2023-12-03T02:23:12.272-06:00Comments on BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com: Whatever Happened to the Anger On the Left?Marc McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17105754072842852126noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-18068307519786035902008-08-30T22:21:00.000-05:002008-08-30T22:21:00.000-05:00Given the list of candidates for the White House, ...Given the list of candidates for the White House, I am forced to agree with you on this one, Iraq is a major foreign policy plan. Hopefully the Democrats will prove more decisive if they get the White House.<BR/><BR/>The alternative, Hillary Clinton, does not appeal to me. McCain agrees with Bush about 95% of the time. <BR/><BR/>I am glad that Obama has not lived the elitist life that some of his colleagues in Senate have (at least not in his youth anyways), and I do hope the Obama will fight for the common citizen. It remains to be seen whether the Democrat hopeful will deliver or become another lame duck. <BR/><BR/>As for the national debt, I am convinced that the way things are going, the US is going to have to default on payment someday. The Bush administration insists that the deficits are temporary and manageable (of course, Bush also officially believes that the current recession is not a very severe problem). I think that this is a very serious problem for our children, and that Americans are in a psychological state of denial over the magnitude of the problem. <BR/><BR/>As I said, at the heart of the problem with the left not fighting is, to be liberal is to be open minded and flexible (versus the meaning of conservative). Even when those ideas contradict what is generally accepted as reason.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-10198755425437318872008-08-30T00:31:00.000-05:002008-08-30T00:31:00.000-05:00re:>>>Russia has lots of everything.>&...re:<BR/>>>>Russia has lots of everything.<BR/>>>>Its one weakness is lack of<BR/>>>>people with 140 million it does<BR/>>>>not campare with the other big<BR/>>>>powers.<BR/><BR/>Well, 140 million is more than Japan has (and the latter has the world's second-largest economy).<BR/>And Russia these days does have the world's third largest (after China and Japan) foreign exchange reserves: an eye-popping $600 billion. This gives Russia a great deal of clout over debtor nations like the U.S. (even if most Americans are too ignorant and uninformed to grasp this).Marc McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17105754072842852126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-2242624035403515452008-08-30T00:27:00.000-05:002008-08-30T00:27:00.000-05:00re:>>I am also concerned that Obama>>i...re:<BR/>>>I am also concerned that Obama<BR/>>>is not the great man that you<BR/>>>have portrayed him as.<BR/><BR/>Actually, I have not portrayed Obama as a "great man." I do support him over McSame---but I would have much, much rather have had a Dem candidate (and true progressive) like Kucinich.<BR/><BR/>re:<BR/>"(Obama) has no major foreign policy plans."<BR/><BR/>Hold on a minute. He has vowed to end the Iraq War fiasco. That's about as major (and important) a foreign policy plan as any candidate could possibly have in this election. In fact, in the area of foreign policy, everything else is trivial, compared to that.Marc McDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17105754072842852126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-25858112713586780422008-08-29T23:38:00.000-05:002008-08-29T23:38:00.000-05:00I think that it is a fundamental flaw in the Democ...I think that it is a fundamental flaw in the Democratic party. It is too corrupt. <BR/><BR/>Robert Reich, the 22nd Secretary of Labor (during the Clinton admin) fears that the Democratic party has lost its connection with the middle class. I am convinced that he is correct. <BR/><BR/>The Left these days is not as confrontational as the Right. Perhaps this is because the right is much more aggressive, and utterly unwilling to accept anything that deviates from their ideology ... including common sense. To be Liberal is to accept new ideas, and I am afraid that the left seems to have tolerated the intolerable. <BR/><BR/>I am also concerned that Obama is not the great man that you have portrayed him as. He voted to give the telecommunications industry immunity for spying, has shifted his Israel policy just to capture the Jewish vote here, and has abandoned public financing. He has also ignored issues like the growing water crisis (not just worldwide but in America), climate change, and has no major foreign policy plans (maybe why he choose Biden).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-68369438771868504582008-08-21T22:14:00.000-05:002008-08-21T22:14:00.000-05:00Reminds me of the Chinese opium war. Britain wante...Reminds me of the Chinese opium war. Britain wanted tea from China, yet China didn't want anything produced from the empire. Instead they demanded payment in silver. Britain didn't have any significant silver inputs and concerned about the outflow of silver they devised a new plan. They shipped opium to China to get the funds they needed. When China protested they beat it up and took Hong Kong.<BR/><BR/>All the gold would stack up in the oil states. This would mean the amounts left in the US would become ever more valuable. The only way to prevent it is to hand the gold back for US goods. This happens now except the Saudis recycle the dollars by agreeing to buy US munitions. They must have deserts full of rotting fighter jets and tanks by now. Yet they have to do it to keep the flow going. If they didn't the US would eventually be unable to buy any oil.<BR/><BR/>Russia has lots of everything. Its one weakness is lack of people with 140 million it does not campare with the other big powers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-74470595015689198552008-08-21T18:09:00.000-05:002008-08-21T18:09:00.000-05:00I think it is more along the lines of; for example...I think it is more along the lines of; for example, 'anti-war' people have to learn to be able to fight 'pro-war' people in order to win their cause. But their cause is not to fight in the first place.<BR/>Hence, the catch 22.<BR/><BR/>In order to fight the republicans on their terms, we have to turn into people we would rather not be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11753985.post-5183700343724685912008-08-20T19:03:00.000-05:002008-08-20T19:03:00.000-05:00"(Dems are) smug in the belief that the nation cou..."(Dems are) smug in the belief that the nation couldn't possibly be so stupid as to vote for a third term of George W. Bush"<BR/><BR/>Seems like we've been down this road before. In 2004, I recall a lot of Dems who very confidently believed that the nation would never be so stupid as to vote for a second term of George W. Bush.<BR/>I recall how it was quite stunning when Bush "won" the election. It took me a couple of days to recover from the shock.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com