I think Chomsky himself would be in complete agreement with you. He would probably argue that kowtowing to monied and powerful interests is so institutionally ingrained in the political system itself that there would be very little that someone like him could do to change it.
As evidenced by his mainstream popularity. As I say, I’m not holding my breath.
But if you like Chomsky, let me suggest What Uncle Sam Really Wants. What Uncle Sam Really Wants Chomsky
I’ve suggested it many times (in my brief sojourn) on these boards and I will only say that this was my first real view of the extent of Corporate Amerika, well annotated, all public record. It needs its own thread. Why don’t you start it?
“Starry eyed idealist”?, yes. “Naive”? You tell me.
In the name of short-term profit, these assholes are running the entire world into a ditch that will make Hitler’s corpse pits look like a week in Hawaii. This is inevitable.
Look closer to home for sustenance after the fall. It won’t be anywhere else.
His support of off shore drilling ,was in my estimation, a way to defuse the drill baby drill nuts. His support did not allow more wells to be drilled. It may have opened up more ares after a while, but I thought it was a political tactic.
Obama is delivering on his promises. It is only 1.5 years. The Financial Regulation bill is a big one. If he gets a good bill, I will be reasonably satisfied. But he delivered health care. Not a great bill, but still helpful. He has “don’t ask, don’t tell” working now. He has moved toward closing Gitmo. He has scaled back the Iraq war.
I regret his Afghan aggressiveness. But you can’t get everything.
adhay, my fear is that you are close to the mark. I’ll amend my naive comment - naive to think that a politician (Obama) would be any different, or would change anything substantively. I’m not disappointed in him because I did not have any great hope in the first place.
Thanks for the link. I will look it up.
ETA: In following the link, my cache tells me I’ve already been there! I’ll re-read, and get my blood pressure up, no doubt.
We don’t call anyone who disagrees with us “morons”; we call you a moron because you are one.
Oh yes, because lynching black men accused of excessive familiarity with white women is such a minor problem compared to the appalling evil of couples living together without being married. :rolleyes:
Liberal ideology is not without its own flaws and limitations, but it ranks as absolute genius compared to the kindergarten-level version of conservative ideology that you try to promote around here.
Have you watched the Jon Stewart video linked above? Have you read Chomsky’s work linked above? If not, I suspect you get all your political wisdom from Fox and its more respected affiliates.
Politicians stay corporate bought while the money keeps rolling in. They now get to print as much as they like, whenever they like, and “redistribute” it to whomever they like while our grandchildren pick up the bill. Does that sound sustainable to you?
Relax, brother. Once the facts are clear, solutions to the problems raised immediately abound. Plenty of time.
I see a twenty year window for instituting local alternatives to cave-dwelling and poaching watermelons. I have other posts on that subject. PM, instead, if you like.
How serendipitous.
No buyer’s remorse here but I did expect a better candidate to go on sale a week after the election. Good thing that didn’t happen.
One name would be enough.
As much as Bricker & I disagree, this is much how I feel–about elections in general, actually.
I took a chance on Obama in the Presidential primary because I thought he would be good for the Democratic party–or, rather, putting Hillary in the cabinet instead of the presidency would be. There was no Republican I wanted in the White House; the party is too anti-environmentalist for me to want 12 years in a row of them. McCain was the best of a bad lot on that side.
No offense, bra. Me too. But if I were a fools’ gold icon, I’d be selling my potatoes to afford cable.
As it is, I rely on WIFI and personal contact for info. It’s mind clearing.
Thank you for putting that image into my mind. Someone please pass the brain bleach.
I can’t wait to tell you where we keep it.
Meanwhile, try this. [**** **** ****]. Better now?
The choices being Obama or McCain in the general election? No buyer’s remorse there.
I didn’t vote for Obama in the primary, I voted for Hillary, and I don’t regret voting for Hillary. She works for the Big O now, and seems to be the high point of the administration.
There is not really a lot of maneuvering room that a responsible president has. (And that is a crack about W, of course.) That said, Obama is very cautious and is not making the great strides that he can. Turning Massachusetts’ RomneyCare in the America’s Future ObamaCare was the high point of the administration and will probably remain so. Nancy Pelosi delivered that baby, Obama gets no credit. It is a small step in the right direction a few years down the road.
On the plus side, he is not fucking things up beyond all belief like McCain would have done until he keeled over and left Mighty Moose in charge to show us how bad things can possibly get.
A lot of being President of the United States of America is showing up everyday in a spiffy suit and behaving in a dignified fashion.
So, on balance, no buyer’s remorse, but he isn’t getting another donation for his campaign from me for himself or anyone else’s campaign per his twice weekly emails begging for same. I suppose if the Democrats actually get an opponent with a name that will change.
He is administrating so far to the right that the Republicans are forced to step over to Orly Taitz land just to look different.
He spent a shit ton of his political capital on it. If you’re going to complain that he won’t get much else done, you have to admit that it’s largely because what he put into Obamacare.
I find it odd that the people preaching about Obama’s ‘perfectness’ and ‘messiahness’ are often those who are against him.
I never though he would be perfect. I voted for him because I thought he was the more rational choice over McCain and I feared Palin as a VP.
I still do.
This comment doesn’t connect with reality. Obama lobbied extensively to get the reform bill to pass. Without his active presence, I really doubt the Dems would have been motivated to either get past the endless Repub filibusters or get the final reconciliation bill to happen.
Last Wednesday I convinced a power plant in Southeast Asia to make a purchase of coal for 2011 which will prevent more than 3,000 tonnes of sulfur emissions* from being emitted, despite the purchase being higher cost on an NPV basis than their “business as usual” case. In short, I convinced them over a month of effort that it was the right thing to do from a corporate stewardship standpoint. I could list a score of similar efforts in the last year.
Republicans are not conservatives when it comes to the environment. They appear to be, for all intents and purposes, business advocates at the detriment to the environment. Whereas in my philosophy, environmental conservatism means:
- Sustainability.
- Independence.
- Looking to the long-term payoff, rather than the short term reactionary instant gratification.
- Moving forward on sound science.
- Taking environmental responsibility for your own actions.
What is the difference between my conservative approach to the plant compared to a liberal approach? A liberal might have told the plant “switch to gas, generate less, or shut down completely.” A conservative says “take responsibility for these high sulfur emissions and make some course corrections. Move forward on this front, and then see if you can do even better in the future.” Evolutionary change versus revolutionary change.
I guess in some respects the liberal and conservative views on energy and the environment may be identical, but with different time frames.
- I guess those 3,000 tonnes might equate to the annual flatulence of the SDMB…I’m not sure, a study may be required.
I put out 3,000 short tons in a day all by myself.