@THOM: Caste is only one issue. This is about ‘control of the masses’ . . . Propaganda is more effective against a population devoid of rhetorical skills.

This prefaces the second hour, but anyway.

This morning I spent some time on the phone with Senator Kerry's office and speaking with someone on the Foreign Relations desk.

I was able to explain at some length and detail that I spent the month of Jan. 2002 in Northern Afghanistan with an NGO, in Northern Alliance held territory (portraits of Shah Massoud everywhere.) I mentioned that in the entire month I was there every Afghan woman I saw was dressed in a full burkha, even new mothers holding newborns. The local warlord that we were supporting had four wives.

I was able to reference Malalia Joia's article in yesterday's UK Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/30/obama-afg...

A troop surge can only magnify the crime against Afghanistan
If Barack Obama heralds an escalation of the war, he will betray his own message of hope and deepen my people's pain - Malalai Joya guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 November 2009 19.00 GM

All to marshall the argument that to escalate the war in the name of women's/human rights is a complete sham.

I then had the time to bring in the recognition of the elections in Honduras under the auspices of the coup regime and the ten new bases in Columbia as further evidence that the change we voted for is nowhere in sight, or at best minimalist in nature.

As always, I thanked the gentleman for his time.

Richard,

I did also mention the fact that the level of discourse coming from the political/media class is often an echo chamber of no-nothingness.

Certain exceptions apply, of course.

@ZeroG - Thx for posting your story. You know, Barack Obama has a Facebook page for which a thread under the Discussion Tab that is running beneath the Michael Moore letter to him to stop the escalation.

I fear our Obama has been forced into this. My underlying optimism is that the escalation will be the final surge for which as is also being stated, an exit strategy will be outlined.

mstaggerlee
Re: the escalation
Why the change of heart (on Obama's part)?

@Food Fascist -

I agree - along with Obama's announcement of a temporary troop level escalation in Afghanistan, I also expect he will detail a plan for withdrawal.

Why is it that things always have to get worse, before they get better?

mstaggerlee'

I laughed when Groucho said it, I laugh (with scorn) when Obama says it:

"Hello. I must be going!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6yLRmo7CjU

Zero G. December 1st, 2009, 9:59 am - Your comment is awaiting moderation.

still? was I immoderate? que?

Zero G.,

"Zero G. December 1st, 2009, 9:59 am – Your comment is awaiting moderation.

still? was I immoderate? que?"

This often happens when we list more than one URL in a post.

Echo my constant refrain: Obama has never been anything other than a wishy-washy, mediocre, just-right-of-the-middle-of-the-road, pro-corporatist centrist AND there is no/nada/zip/zero evidence extant anywhere that even hints that this assessment is incorrect.

Truth is he was a better choice than McCain and/or Clinton and that is all we have to console ourselves.

If we all remember back to the campaign . . . Obama held the Afghan theater to be a righteous war and Iraq was house of cards built on a sham.

@DDay: If there was a re-do, I’d have already jumped into the wayback-machine and bitch-slap Edwards just before he did the nasty-naked with the bad videographer and drag him into the race for really-reals.

Richard,

Yes!

@Quark: My read on Clinton remains Democrats Love Corporations . . . She remains a Goldwater Gal. No real difference than Obama except a little more hair trigger cuz there is something to prove.

Hillary most likely wouldn't have been any better in regards to these wars we are in, but, my guess is she wouldn't want to emulate Reagan or be hung up on bi-partisan clap trap. She might even have bitch-slapped the banks and Wall St. i doubt Rahm would have had such sway either. We know Bill wouldn't. Oh well...what is done is done.

You are right about the hair trigger. It is one problem with electing a woman President. We force them to prove they have a pair. Sorry ladies...it's our, (Men's) fault.

It is Hillary's State Dept., which is behind the U.S. recognition of the election in Honduras under the auspices of the coup govt. Lanny Davis (a Clinton advisor) was an open supporter of the coup regime.

I am a Jew. My ketubah (marriage contract) out-lines my right to divorce and the rules I must apply to the proceedings. This is a RELIGIOUS FREEDOM issue.

Farg the Rapturarians and their broken understanding of my people’s traditions.

Thanks Quark,

My immoderate post with the pesky URLs removed - both articles at Consortium News -

Zero G. December 1st, 2009, 9:59 am - Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Food Fascist – On Obama being forced into this, see Ray McGovern’s piece:

Obama’s Profile in Courage Moment
By Ray McGovern
November 24, 2009

and see Robert Parry’s:
How the War Hawks Caged Obama
By Robert Parry
November 30, 2009

mstaggerlee – Remind me again – who else did more to further the cause of peace in 2008 – 2009, (PRIOR to the current escalation) than Barack Obama?

Umm, Wavy Gravy? (lol)

DDay,

Thanks, tho similar sentiments probably adorned caves millenia ago...very little is new...

@Quark Your right again, (concerning neocon chicken hawks) and I'll take a women any day over them. BTW Thom will be in Minneapolis on Sat. Jan 23rd. for the Blue State Bash at the Convention Center. I'll buy you a drink. I'll be easy to find....I'll be the fat bald stud-muffin following Stephanie Miller around like a lost puppy.:-)

DDay,

I have never gone to the Blue State Ball (Ed Schultz never excited me that much, tho if Thom or Mike Malloy were there --- you know, someone with whom to exchange ideas --- I might have been tempted. (I could kick myself for not going to one of the first ones when Russ Feingold was a guest!)

If we don't get a blizzard or temps. below -30 degrees F, I actually MAY attend (if I can meet and talk with you.)

Meanbwhile, in a city “famous” for its supposed continuous rainfall for most of the year, working outside all day in these conditions can make life rather miserable. Last Thanksgiving (yes, some people have to work Thanksgiving), it rained eight hours straight, took a break for a half-hour, and then rained some more. Needless to say, it was quite miserable. Having slavered in these conditions, you are not really in the mood to put up with people who treat you like a criminal or a terrorist—like those blue-shirted bozos with the rent-a-cop badges and Department of Homeland Security patches. These guys with their red IDs (denoting people with limited capacity for work), generally justify themselves by confiscating their daily quota of bobbie-pins and toe nail clippers; a training film I saw showed a table upon which was laid out a bucket full of explosive material from a bag that had been tagged “inspected” by these folks. It’s particularly frustrating to have these guys try to intimidate you by putting their hands on your food during one of their “surprise” 4 AM inspections. I’m trying to be obscure here, for “security” reasons.
Speaking of trouble, where I work there is a new rule: No cursing, touching or “nick-names.” Sometimes it is difficult to comply with at least two of these items when you hear something odious to one’s sensibilities. On the Saturday of the Senate procedural vote on the health care bill (that merely allowed debate on the bill to begin), I discussed the health care issue with a person who I would say gets most of his “facts” from Fox News and such. I explained to him that yes, it was possible for there to be a net budget surplus (according to the CBO) in the Senate health care bill, because it would be paid for by tax increases and other means, and not just money coming out of thin air; apparently he had been told that the cost of reform was all deficit spending.

I also had to explain why we needed a public option, because we couldn’t trust insurance companies to be honest—just like how the drug companies are raising prices seven times the rate of the CPI after promising to reduce prices by $80 billion. He was concerned that reform would have an adverse effect on his family, which I thought odd, since he didn’t have any insurance. He was of course concerned that people might go to jail if they didn’t buy insurance, but I thought a $750 fee for not getting insurance was a small price to pay, particularly if you needed emergency care, and it would probably end-up being paid for by the hospital’s “charity” fund. He was also concerned about taxing “Cadillac” plans; I told him he shouldn’t worry about that; the plan our company was offering (which I talked about a couple weeks ago) would not qualify.

But then he told me that he had heard that the government could force you off your private insurance plan and into the government plan. My first reaction normally would be something to the effect “Where did you get that bullshit from?” But then I remembered the new decree against cursing, so I cried out “Where did you get that horseshit from?” This caused some people to crane their hands toward the supervisors’ cubicle, but I think I was well enough excused for expressing myself in this fashion.

According to a newspaper story the Sunday following the first vote, at least one Democratic senator is stating his belief that the Senate bill should not be furthered watered down just to appease the four senators, when the majority of the country wants real reform, including a public option. These four senators need to put aside re-election concerns and show a little “profile in courage,” and do what they know in their heart of hearts is the right thing. They may find that there is a “silent majority” that wants reform, as opposed to the fanatical right-wing fringe element shouting annoyingly in their ears.

@Richard

What make you think that those records aren't already kept by Homeland Security?
:-)

NO ONE stops Corporate entities from forcing religion on anyone . . . This dude is smoking the rope.