Dredd Blog thanks Arianna Huffington and Bill Maher for their statements about the 800 lb. gorilla in the Treasury room.I mean, they have been critical of war spending, while at the same time pointing out how the MSM is treating it like a sacred rite.
MOMCOM is glorified in the media, even as she devastates our reputation in the world and our economy at home.
Arianna made it plain:
See if you can identify the bleeding heart liberal who said this:(Guns v Butter 2010, emphasis added). Bill Maher was on point with some added criticism of MOMCOM ideology:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Noam Chomsky? Michael Moore? Bernie Sanders?
Nope, it was that unrepentant lefty, five-star general Dwight Eisenhower, in 1953, just a few months after taking office -- a time when the economy was booming and unemployment was 2.7 percent.
Yet today, while America's economy sputters down the road to recovery and the middle class struggles to make ends meet -- with over 26 million people unemployed or underemployed and record numbers of homes being lost to foreclosure -- the "guns vs. butter" argument isn't even part of the national debate. Of course, today, the argument might be more accurately framed as "ICBM nukes, Predator drones, and missile defense shields vs. jobs, affordable college, decent schools, foreclosure prevention, and fixing the gaping holes in our social safety net."
Everything that goes into defense costs us about a trillion dollars a year, most of which goes into fighting the Russians in 1978. Fighter planes for all those dog fights we get into with the Taliban, submarines to foil their evil plot to blow up our ships with car bombs, and space lasers to shoot down their exploding underpants ... scream about handouts, this is what they should be protesting.(Bill Maher Blasts Teabaggers). Exactly, as Dredd Blog has been saying ad nauseum it was beginning to seem.
Here are a very few Dredd Blog posts on the subject:
Entitlement Wars - Guns vs. Butter
The U.S. Mythology Trance - Free Wars
Why Does MOMCOM Hate America?
MOMCOM - A Mean Welfare Queen
I haven't been watching Maher this year, as I've felt he's been getting a little soft. I know he's got a thing for ridiculing the Tea Baggers (and rightly so), but I think he's backed off on Obama way too much. As "the Great Liberal Hope," we should be holding Obama's feet to the fire with extreme prejudice. So far, all I've seen is a better spoken, even more disingenuous Bush.
ReplyDeletedisaffected,
ReplyDeleteHe made the comment on the last show that some of the things Obama does does not make sense to him.
Obama starts to make sense when you know that Golden Sacks has backed his very start in politics. Paul Street, a different Chicago community organizer and very good writer, has written enlightening stuff about him at zmag. (Wish I had a handy link for that, because that's a very big, confusing site, but sorry, I don't have it handy and I'll get lost if I go there. They don't call it 'the World Wide WEB for nothin. Dredd, I left you a comment at 3 Quarks on that banking story today. I've been meaning to for a while.
ReplyDeleteI didn't pay too much attention to Obama; since I live in Cali, I voted for Cynthia Mckinney and Rosa Clemente, since I was sure McCain would lose. And after going to Denver for the Dem convention (not as a delegate, by the way), I was relieved to see from the streets that Hillary would lose. If it had been a tighter race, I might have voted for him. I'm glad I didn't know more then of what I've seen now. People were energized, and at least we can realize that he got elected because of the things he said. That gives me some hope in the people of this country. If it wasn't fixed.
One can hope that the debate ("guns v butter" or "war plunder v middle class") will become national with Bill and Arianna getting into it.
ReplyDeleteThey get around ...
Alice,
ReplyDelete"Dredd, I left you a comment at 3 Quarks on that banking story"
I'll try to see if I can find it. Some of those sites are like New York City or Chicago, and I can get lost on them too. ;)
If it wasn't fixed.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that the election was fixed makes even more sense when you think of it from big business' perspective. After the GOP base rejected the big business candidate in Romney - how totally ironic, for religious reasons - big business saddled McCain with Sarah Palin and threw their support behind Obama, who had either always had one leg in the sack with them or was made an offer he couldn't refuse.
Now that Palin/Beck/Limbaugh have effectively split the GOP into the Wing Nut and the Wing Nuttier factions, Obama and the sham Dems - aka GOP Lite - would seem to have smooth sailing for eight years, with the GOP remaining useful as the "party of no" on legislative matters that might otherwise upset the status quo.
As long as Obama minds his masters as he's done beautifully so far, he'll get continued support. In other words, political theater and the illusion of "change you can believe in."
Well, it looks like no good deed goes unpunished-type thing.
ReplyDeleteWe should thank Bill Maher & Arianna Huffington for explaining that U.S. economic woes come from endless stupid wars.
They are also pointing out that the main stream media is blacking out that story.
Posted by: Dredd | Apr 26, 2010 12:06:53 PM
Dredd, I notice that often no one comments on your comments; I think this is not an especially political group. That's okay, I love this website for lots of reasons, but I just want to say that I completely agree with the points you make, and I'm glad you keep making them. People of good will need to engage more in politics, not less. I've visited your website, and I'm sure you're right about our situation. I've never been into space travel - not a scientist, and haven't learned to live on earth yet, but your rationale for it makes a goal that cuts thru alot of the b.s.
So thanks for your insight.
By the way, don't go to Crooked Timber unless you want your hair to hurt.
Posted by: Alice de Tocqueville | Apr 27, 2010 2:17:08 AM
Alice,
I think Dredd makes good points too... (and I always enjoy reading your insights too). It's the constant shameless 3-line "blog-whoring" posts that kinda turn me off.... It would be nice if he participated more actively than the "and now a word from our sponsor" approach he uses now.
Posted by: Bill | Apr 27, 2010 3:26:07 AM
Bill, thanks for your kind words. As to Dredd (and I only know him from these posts and his website), I guess, since he's not ever snarky or personal, and because I've beat my brains out to be constructive to no avail, in many circumstances including blogs, I was actually thinking he's wise to just say his bit and let that stand.
It's hard to get much nuance from a blogpost. Sometimes, no matter what you type, someone takes it other than how you mean it.
Posted by: Alice de Tocqueville | Apr 27, 2010 3:51:28 AM
could be...but i can't help but see it as a "link generating" scheme to up the Google rating. I apologise if that seems harsh..I know brief posts make it difficult to transmit nuance.. I will speak of it no more!
Posted by: Bill | Apr 27, 2010 6:09:30 AM
I ask this only out of a vague curiosity - is there a person directly responsible for the Dredd posts? After seeing the same comments verbatim on similar articles on other websites, I've started to suspect that they're the product of a bot designed to promote the blogs.
Posted by: markst7 | Apr 27, 2010 8:47:45 AM
Dredd, I notice that often no one comments on your comments; I think this is not an especially political group.
ReplyDeleteI AM NO ONE! (The Exorcist, take your pick).
Alice,
ReplyDeleteSome bloggers want to run the blog for the Blogger In Chief.
If a blog wants to prevent posts with links they can do so.
My theory is that cross pollination is a good thing.
Without bees and their cross pollination we would all starve to death.
Dredd Blog does not have advertisements, so how does that Bill dude (commenting at a site that does) figure people who leave links are only doing it for "google ratings" (they determine advertising revenue)???
ReplyDelete