Issue:Day 141 of Bush's Silence - New York Times
Specific:"Today marks Day 141 of Mr. Bush's silence on the genocide, for he hasn't let the word Darfur slip past his lips publicly since Jan. 10"
Comment:This strikes me as dissonant with the notion of a compassionate conservative. It is wrong.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Issue:CNN.com - DeLay angered by 'Law & Order' mention - May 27, 2005
Specific: "This manipulation of my name and trivialization of the sensitive issue of judicial security represents a reckless disregard for the suffering initiated by recent tragedies and a great disservice to public discourse," DeLay wrote in a letter to NBC President Jeff Zucker.
Comment: It is this kind of short thinking that is the problem for public discourse. There are problems in today's world that require volumes of thought to find a solution. In that volume of thought there needs to be different presentations of the ideas. This provides perspective.
For a good idea, or a good solution to a problem is by definition one that can stand the scrutiny of different perspectives. The source is irrelevant.
John Stewart is popular not because he entertains us by one-liners. He makes relvant points wrapped in humor. His humor as that of the piano playing Mark Russell, highlights the truth of an issue.
Star Trek's first interacial kiss gave Norman Lear cultural cover for Sammy Davis Jr. to kiss Archie Bunker. No one thought either these were a mainpulation of a sensitive issue or the trivialization of something important. These provided a service to public discourse because it initiated discussion of the issues with different perspectives.
Tom Delay is not the problem. For me it is the unknown of how many more neo-Republicans (Republicans not of my father's generation) that do not want to have discusssions with different perspectives involved. How many of these neo-Republicans equate John Bolton type behaviors as appropriate diplomacy to "get things done"? What's the rush for these neo-Republicans - is time running out? There is always time to think things through. Work smarter, not harder - I think the neo-Republicans think the other way.
Specific: "This manipulation of my name and trivialization of the sensitive issue of judicial security represents a reckless disregard for the suffering initiated by recent tragedies and a great disservice to public discourse," DeLay wrote in a letter to NBC President Jeff Zucker.
Comment: It is this kind of short thinking that is the problem for public discourse. There are problems in today's world that require volumes of thought to find a solution. In that volume of thought there needs to be different presentations of the ideas. This provides perspective.
For a good idea, or a good solution to a problem is by definition one that can stand the scrutiny of different perspectives. The source is irrelevant.
John Stewart is popular not because he entertains us by one-liners. He makes relvant points wrapped in humor. His humor as that of the piano playing Mark Russell, highlights the truth of an issue.
Star Trek's first interacial kiss gave Norman Lear cultural cover for Sammy Davis Jr. to kiss Archie Bunker. No one thought either these were a mainpulation of a sensitive issue or the trivialization of something important. These provided a service to public discourse because it initiated discussion of the issues with different perspectives.
Tom Delay is not the problem. For me it is the unknown of how many more neo-Republicans (Republicans not of my father's generation) that do not want to have discusssions with different perspectives involved. How many of these neo-Republicans equate John Bolton type behaviors as appropriate diplomacy to "get things done"? What's the rush for these neo-Republicans - is time running out? There is always time to think things through. Work smarter, not harder - I think the neo-Republicans think the other way.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Issue: GOP Tilting Balance Of Power to the Right
Specific: "House Republicans, for instance, discarded the seniority system and limited the independence and prerogatives of committee chairmen. The result is a chamber effectively run by a handful of GOP leaders. At the White House, Bush has tightened the reins on Cabinet members, centralizing the most important decisions among a tight group of West Wing loyalists. With the strong encouragement of Vice President Cheney, he has also moved to expand the amount of executive branch information that can be legally shielded from Congress, the courts and the public"
Comment: Without being a conspiracy theorist, this continues the notion of the pattern I've been seeing for years. This was not my father's Republican party. My father was not into power for the sake of power. He was not in secretive powers and abilities. Yet it is from the work of my Father's Republican party, that the current Republican party has used to gain power. It is off the power of the Dot.Com boom and bust that the current Republican party has used to gain members to my Father's Republican party. And it this current Republican party that used Bill Clinton to wrench control from my Father's version of a Republican Party and the country.
9/11 only made the current Republicans' job easier. If it had not happened, they would have found something else as a excuse. Their policies have changed governance by elected officials and representatives into an MBA government. We are being lead by a CEO, not a President.
My Father's version of a Republican party wanted a President of the people, akin to Abraham Lincoln, not a CEO, akin to Ken Lay of Enron.
Specific: "House Republicans, for instance, discarded the seniority system and limited the independence and prerogatives of committee chairmen. The result is a chamber effectively run by a handful of GOP leaders. At the White House, Bush has tightened the reins on Cabinet members, centralizing the most important decisions among a tight group of West Wing loyalists. With the strong encouragement of Vice President Cheney, he has also moved to expand the amount of executive branch information that can be legally shielded from Congress, the courts and the public"
Comment: Without being a conspiracy theorist, this continues the notion of the pattern I've been seeing for years. This was not my father's Republican party. My father was not into power for the sake of power. He was not in secretive powers and abilities. Yet it is from the work of my Father's Republican party, that the current Republican party has used to gain power. It is off the power of the Dot.Com boom and bust that the current Republican party has used to gain members to my Father's Republican party. And it this current Republican party that used Bill Clinton to wrench control from my Father's version of a Republican Party and the country.
9/11 only made the current Republicans' job easier. If it had not happened, they would have found something else as a excuse. Their policies have changed governance by elected officials and representatives into an MBA government. We are being lead by a CEO, not a President.
My Father's version of a Republican party wanted a President of the people, akin to Abraham Lincoln, not a CEO, akin to Ken Lay of Enron.
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