dagblog - Comments for "Hair: Obama Punches a Hippie on Memorial Day"

It is serious. We cant

Resistance — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 19:15:16 +0000

In reply to What strikes me is that you

It is serious.

We cant control what a mad man and a few cohorts will do; except address the underlying causes of such hatred.

Maybe a good start would be; we quit meddling and maybe we wouldn’t be so hated?

What we can do is learn, that America is not the Worlds police force or should it be.

Washington's Farewell Address 1796

“The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns.

Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world;”

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp

That's from Munich '72 or

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 15:28:15 +0000

In reply to And maybe back there in

That's from Munich '72 or what? Something to do with hippies?

What strikes me is that you

Flavius — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:44:33 +0000

In reply to And I really would like to

What strikes me is that you and LULU are both making serious points. Somewhat undermined by your attacks on one another which I guess are inevitable. But you both are serious people concerned about a very serious issue.

broke through the candy lane

Resistance — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:39:54 +0000

In reply to And I really would like to

broke through the candy lane santa claus everything is peachy myth

Sep 14, 2003 – DICK CHENEY: My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. ..... they tell us this would be easier, that we'd be welcomed with flowers, ...

2004 Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah,_The_Hidden_Massacre

Jun 5, 2006 – Donald Rumsfeld: “Shit happens.

AS IT ALWAYS HAS AND DOES

It's Another Trope, he just

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:02:34 +0000

In reply to And I really would like to

It's Another Trope, he just never learns ........Help us Spiderman...

We don't negotiate with terrorists

A combination of a booming

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:28:12 +0000

In reply to I'll take a look, but... What

A combination of a booming economy and pushing them out of the nest, likely - people become scared, complacent, still overworked at home, etc.

I actually don't care that

Peter Schwartz — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:25:23 +0000

In reply to I don't think you realize,

I actually don't care that Obama's no Clinton politically - yeah, nice to be smooth and sympathetic, but I'm more basic in my needs.

Well, yes and no. If you're going to be a politician, it's better to be a good one. A good one can make things happen that a poorer one can't. Persuasiveness. And ability to get public opinion on your side.

So good political skills enables a person to get done all those thing you do care about, especially when the going gets tough. Good politicians are able to get more of their agenda done in general.

I would wager that a lesser politician would not have been able to withstand Lewinsky-gate...and still maintain 60% popularity.

We used and hyped the

Peter Schwartz — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:19:43 +0000

In reply to We used and hyped the

We used and hyped the "principle" of "dictator threatening to kill them any minute". How many did Qaddafi actually kill? while Assad has killed over 10,000 documented, 100 the other day, and yet we do nothing? Doesn't meet your test of pragmatism? we're giving "non-lethal aid" to the rebellion? well we gave lethal aid to the rebellion in Libya, which shut down Qaddafi's army - why not do that? who's going to complain? Iran? Iraq? Turkey cares? Israel?

You're throwing a lot of stuff at the wall, but I'm not sure how much is sticking. The point was to prevent the killing. That means the killing hadn't begun, yes? But it's not as though Qaddafi had no history of killing, so...

It meets my test of pragmatism because the fear is we could spark a wider conflagration, especially with the US involved and then others decided to balance us out. These conflicts always have cross-border implications, in part because the ethnic groups cross borders. So these countries care if the conflict widens beyond Syria's borders.

I believe the Arab states are providing lethal aid. It doesn't meet the test of principle which would, of course, prompt us to go in. I would support that...in principle.

I think it's pretty clear that in these conflicts it's often unclear whom we're really supporting. This seems to be true of the Kosovars. There are questions about the Libyans. And there are questions about the wheels still spinning in Egypt. This is why inserting ourselves is always a somewhat dicey proposition. It would also be true in Syria where ethnic conflict also looms.

They coulda, but they didn't.

I'll take a look, but... What

Peter Schwartz — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:56:55 +0000

In reply to It could be argued that

I'll take a look, but...

What I understand--and perhaps I'm wrong--but getting people back to work was really a function of the burgeoning economy.

Once the economy flagged, those folks were the first to fall through the cracks.

But I'm willing, as always, to be educated on this point.

Look, you won't find me slamming Clinton or Gore in general and certainly not in a comparison with Bush. I liked and voted for both of them.

Pretty brilliant, and builds

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 05:50:41 +0000

In reply to More seriously, I favor a

Pretty brilliant, and builds up on all the international liberal institutions and approaches we should be supporting. Instead of bang-bang-shoot-em-up that'll-show-'em fixes.

And his speeches just hold together for me - they're eloquent, cohesive, compelling - rather than a lot of speeches I hear that feel more like a litany of glib ad-words.

I especially liked:

We must also acknowledge that there are economic sources of this rage as well. Poverty, inequality, masses of disenfranchised young people are fertile fields for the siren call of the terrorists and their claims of advancing social justice. But depravation cannot justify destruction, nor can inequity ever atone for murder. The killing of innocents is not a social program.

Nevertheless, our resolute opposition to terrorism does not mean we can ever be indifferent to the conditions that foster it...

Developing nations have an obligation to spread new wealth fairly, to create new opportunities, to build new open economies. Developed nations have an obligation to help developing nations stay on the path of prosperity and to spur global economic growth. A week ago I outlined ways we can build a stronger international economy to benefit not only all nations, but all citizens within them.

Of course after 9/11 that became anathema to speak - only that we were just and they wronged us - the victimhood nation. And we can't speak openly about the effect our economy has on the rest of the world - it's about us, and as to whether our protectionism and corruption hurts others, well, they can tough it. And an intricate understanding of "build a stronger international economy" has turned into a glib faith in free-trade-will-lift-all-boats. Hardly.