Our Shame

Our government, in our name.

What would Golda say?

I heard a story many years ago about Golda Meier, former Israeli Prime Minister, that proported to be from her time in the Israeli Parliament. I have no idea whether it is truth or folklore.

At the time, there had apparently been a steep rise in the reported number of rapes, and the concerned representatives felt moved to respond. They suggested a country-wide curfew for women, to “protect” them from the apparent predators. Rather than arguing with them about the obvious sexism that even made that suggestion a possibility, she turned it around. Golda responded that she thought it a wonderful idea, but that it seemed obvious that, were a curfew to be extended, she thought it should apply to the male half of the population. “After all, it is men committing these crimes, don’t you see?”

The proposal was, of course, immediately abandoned.

I couldn’t help but think of that when I read this, via Salon.

My thoughts exactly

Never in my wildest imagination did I ever imagine myself liking to Newsweek. But Howard Fineman, of all people, has captured the existential reasoning behind my decision to blog:

And there always is an argument about something. We are, after all, the Arguing
Country. We are born to debate, free of top-down rulers and their absolutes; no
other place has such a provenance and responsibility. We are—and must remain, if
we are to thrive—a never-ending series of arguments: about the meaning of
personhood and citizenship; about the structure of government, credit and the
law; about our relationship to the rest of the world and even to the demands of
our own history. The "gun issue," for example, is an element of a larger dispute
over the limits of individualism in a country created for the "general welfare."
Facts change, but the underlying creative tensions do not. The trick is to tap
the heat of the friction in the service of progress as we struggle toward the
Founders' "more perfect union." We've been doing it since 1607.

My thoughts exactly.

Fake Schock - Real Awe

The NY Times breaks a big one.

What strikes me is not that they did it. It’s how well they did it. Organized media manipulation. This has always been the single realm of competency in the Bush Administration. From Judith Miller to Plamegate. Blackout the caskets and take fake walks through fortressed markets. Whatever else you say about them, the Rove Gang really knew how to “catapult the propaganda.”

Sure wish they had mustered some of that energy toward governing.

Another Report on this Debacle

Our own Defense Department’s think tank releases a report. McClatchy picks it up. This is the opening line:

"Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a
major war and a major debacle," says the report's opening line.

They go on.

The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins,
a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with
other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in
prewar preparations.

[Snip]

The report said that the United States has suffered serious political costs,
with its standing in the world seriously diminished. Moreover, operations in
Iraq have diverted "manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers"
from "all other efforts in the war on terror" and severely strained the U.S.
armed forces.

"Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there
(in Iraq) were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become,
at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to
expand its influence throughout the Middle East," the report
continued.

The addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq last year to
halt the country's descent into all-out civil war has improved security, but not
enough to ensure that the country emerges as a stable democracy at peace with
its neighbors, the report said.

"Despite impressive progress in
security, the outcome of the war is in doubt," said the report. "Strong
majorities of both Iraqis and Americans favor some sort of U.S. withdrawal.
Intelligence analysts, however, remind us that the only thing worse than an Iraq
with an American army may be an Iraq after a rapid withdrawal of that
army."

"For many analysts (including this one), Iraq remains a
'must win,' but for many others, despite obvious progress under General David
Petraeus and the surge, it now looks like a 'can't win.'"

Anything you’ve read so far that you didn’t know?

I wish reports like these mattered. If someone is a “defeatist” in the face of a conflict we “can’t win”, doesn’t that make her/him a pragmatist?

You can download the entire report here.

Stunning Incompetence

The non-profit sector occasionally eats both young and old alike, and work has prevented predictable posting lately.

But for those of you who believe this MBA President had already reached the zenith of incompetence, I offer you DDay at Hullabaloo presenting a new GAO report. I wish some of the bigger mouths on the net were half as focused on this as they are on last night’s media debate debacle. Emptywheel provides a sickening timeline.

TGIAD

Thank God I’m a Democrat!

I may have a distorted impression of tonight’s Democratic debate, because I tuned in late. Apparently I was lucky enough to miss the most baiting, Republican-framed questions from the “moderators”, as well as the most aggressive exchanges between the candidates. Apparently ABC decided to divide the debate in two: the cheap crap half and the policy half. I will sleep grateful that I missed the first half.

But while the rest of the netroots is piling on ABC, and their atrocious handling of their role, I have to tell you that my first reaction was delight in watching both of these candidates. What a sadly sweet thing it was to hear two extremely intelligent people lay out their understanding of the challenges we face putting this republic back together after the wantonly destructive years of Bush. Sadly sweet, because its sad to realize how hungry we are for intelligent adult conversation in the political realm. Screw the intricacies of their positions. Just listening to these two – and comparing them to the pathetic excuses for leadership that we have settled for over the last 7+ years – made be proud to be a Democrat.

Although I continue to believe that Hillary would be a more effective President, I no longer truly care who wins. I will be proud to wave the banner for either of our potential nominees. They so out-class the Republicans.