Democracy Now did a brief headline story on Matthew Hoh's resignation from this morning. The link and complete text are below.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/27/headlines#3

US Official Resigns over War in Afghanistan

The former top American civilian working in the Zabul province of Afghanistan has resigned from the Foreign Service to protest the Afghan war. Matthew Hoh said he quit because he had come to believe the war was simply fueling the insurgency and that the United States is asking its troops to die for what is essentially a far-off civil war. In his resignation letter, Hoh wrote, “I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end.” Hoh is a thirty-six-year-old former Marine who fought in the Iraq war. He is the first US official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war.

Judy the caller got it wrong when she said that what the Obama won the Democratic nomination because big money wanted a man.

The simple fact is that Hillary Clinton lost the nomination by running a terrible campaign. She let Obama get the lead and momentum in the early primaries and caucuses and her campaign assumed she was going to wrap up the nomination with a big win on Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday ended up pretty much a draw and the Clinton campaign apparently had no plans for carrying the campaign past early February 2008. That allowed Obama to put together a string of 11 or more victories in a row. Clinton also found her campaign in financial trouble while Obama's campaign was soaring. When she got her campaign back on it's feet she was closing the gap beating Obama in primary after primary. She just ran out of time and primaries; Obama's lead was just too big.

Obama got the most money from Wall Street because all the indicators pointed to a Democratic win. It was a good bet to support whoever the Democratic candidate was going to be.

Then McCain ran a terrible campaign and although he got a bump when he selected Sarah Palin, but that fizzled once they let her be interviewed.

Obama won because he ran a disciplined campaign, energized voters (especially young people and African-Americans) and his competitors ran terrible campaigns.

No conspiracy required.

Both the first and third hour topics on today's show are related. Hour one, "Wall Street's Naked Swindle" and hour three's "Has capitalism lost its Soul" are subjects on the minds of many Americans from all political stripes. Hour two will offer a chance to rake leaves or tackle some other neglected chore. The recent steady barrage of outrageous affronts to public decency by the commercial interests running rough shod over our lives has sparked a growing potential revolution throughout society. It is not often that the fringe right and the fringe left share anger over the same issue. Instinct tells me that this rare convergence offers an equally rare opportunity for reform. Whether or not this will be a watershed event depends on many variables. The only players who have shown their cards are the bad guys. They are obviously unafraid and undeterred in their plans to consolidate wealth and power into their hands. Neither the people or their government, nor their conscience has served to modify their behavior in even the most modest ways.

We all know their identities and their transgressions. Wall Street, Investment Banks, Credit Companies, Oil, Coal, Natural Gas, and other Energy concerns, The Chamber of Commerce, Health Insurance, Drug Companies, etc. the list is impressive in it's length and breadth. It would be easier and shorter to list those few commercial concerns who still strive to remain responsible and respectful corporate "citizens". Reckless and irresponsible business practices, running our economy into the ditch, exorbitant salaries and benefits for executives, shady manipulation of markets and prices, red-lining, churning, patient dumping and fraud are just a few of the corporate crimes we all have come to know. The press prefers to use the less onerous label of : "mis-conduct" for corporate crimes.

All of this is already known by anyone with a pulse and a conscience. The only questions are will we allow these S.O.B's get away with it or not. What we don't know is if the people will finally say ENOUGH! and will they have a leader with the fire and fortitude to harness and wield their sword of liberty and justice? I suspect that our well meaning President is no Jackson, T.R. or FDR. I don't think he, (Obama), is as secure as those great leaders who took on the powerful and malevolent forces, (banks and trusts) of their times. I think President Obama will need a pretty big shove from the people before he acts forcefully.

FDIC Head Sheila Bair Tells Protesters: "It's Time to Put an End to the 'Too Big to Fail' Doctrine... No More Bailouts!"
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/

On her way inside the Banking Convention, where she was about to deliver a speech, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair told protesters:

It's time to put an end to the 'Too Big to Fail' doctrine... No more bailouts, no more bailouts!
This is without doubt the most important populist moment so far this year.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/

Larry Whitten has a problem that many people seem to share. This “hotelier” from Virginia, who took over a hotel in Taos, New Mexico—a small community of mostly Latinos and the white unconventionals and eccentrics—apparently was unaware of its long history as a haven for Spanish culture (kind of like northern Wisconsin being a hide-out for Scandinavian culture). It seems that he has a difficult time adjusting to the fact that the long-time Latino residents may not like being treated like trained dogs or monkeys, and are incapable of grasping concepts like self- respect, self-knowledge, and the capacity to think. Whitten claims to believe that it is too tough for white people to pronounce Spanish names like “Marcos,” so he had the Latino employees Anglicize their names. Frankly, Spanish names are much easier to pronounce than some of these Russian names I encounter at the airport, so it is more likely that Whitten was simply putting his Southern prejudices to work. He also ordered his Latino employees to refrain from speaking Spanish in his presence. Why? Because this paranoid bigot thinks they might be saying bad things about him (and probably are); funny how nobody is worried about what speakers of various Asian and European tongues are saying about bigots and racists—or people they feel “superior” to.

Second-generation Latinos who are born in this country are no different than any other—they will likely have “Anglicized” first names, and English will be their “native” language. Interestingly, a snap poll indicated that 43 percent of respondents think that Latinos should be forced to change their names if an employer demands it. “This is America,” said one respondent. Some have claimed that “customer service” reps in places like India have to change their names too, but it isn’t the guys who answer the phone when I call about a late-posted credit card payment. With all these made-up names adults give their kids these days (DeLisha?), it comes down yet again to the habit of targeting Latinos for popular punishment.

As an aside, I watched for the first time CNN’s “Latinos in America” last Thursday evening. This episode concerned racial or ethnic identification. Apparently this show favors the Latina point of view over the Latino male. I could tell, but not because the news segments focused on women. During the discussion, there was a cut to a Spanish-language video featuring Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez; the camera then cut to Soledad O’Brien reaction—one of undisguised hostility. While a California congressman (off-camera because all the Latinas had to have their faces on screen), there was a cut to O’Brien’s scowling mug, and after he was done she jumped in out-of-turn to make an annoying buffoon out of herself trying to prove how much more superior her opinion was.

After a racist e-mail from a viewer suggested that Latinos referred to themselves as such because they’re embarrassed to be called “Mexican” or “Cuban” or whatever (again, here is Latinos being held to a different standard than white or blacks), actor John Leguizamo did a Chicano activist impression, which solicited another cut to an O’Brien stare of hostility, followed by her huffy married-to-a-white-man defense of herself. Daisy Fuentes also was apparently uncomfortable with Leguizamo’s unfriendly attitude toward bigots—not surprising, since the toughest thing she has had to do to fit into the Anglo-Nordic world is her skin-tight clothes. Given societal prejudices and favoritisms , it should come as no surprise that that Latino males do have a more unfavorable view of bigotry and bigots than do Latinas.

Tom,
I'm trying to get through but am unable....love listening...but I have to ask....if you don't fight against abortion on demand (exceptions for extreme cases), your plea to be a just and fair society is moot.

Abortion is a civil rights issue.

Re: DeathPenalty Trying to be a logically consistent progressive is not always easy. I am anti death penalty and pro-choice. This is, I believe, a logically "challenged" or fragile position to take if consistency is to be observed as an absolute. The only distinction one seems to be able to gain cover from is that the fetus is not yet a person until born. It is more legalistic than I would like. While I believe this distinction is valid, it isn't entirely satisfying or adequate for me philosophically . What am I missing?

@Scott & Progressive Mews
You both are exactly right. The question still remains why the Democrats are so complacent and silent? I think they are frightened, confused and perhaps lazy. After eight years of mismanagement and neglect by the opposition, there is plenty to do. Underfunding a program is tantamount to fraud by those who do so. Not addressing these frauds when given the reins of responsibility is tantamount to maleficence . Progressives need to start kicking butts and taking names. Where is Alan Grayson when we need him?

@ B. Roll
What is missing today is a healthy and robust sense of public shame. While I was in college, one of the divisions my father had under his leadership was Hamilton Beach. I figured that should be good for a blender for my dorm room, at least. Wrong. During that same time, my father would leave early every day and park his big ol' Cadillac in the first spot at the front of the vast parking lot. His car was there before anyone else on the day shift. He waited until long after the last worker went home at shifts end before coming home each night. I told him "you are the boss now, why not take it a little easier now?" He told me he would be ashamed if the men and women didn't see him there first and last thing every single day. He would have been disgraced if the employees saw him taking advantage by snagging a blender for his kid. The kind of executive excess and blatant dishonesty on display every day now would have made him ill. The fact that the people watch idly by without outrage and condemnation would probably surprise him. It does me.

I think your hypothesis about locally based management is valid but not entirely comprehensive. Sound and moral values can't be limited to only local connections. Otherwise, by that constriction, traveling business people on the road would all be cheating on their wives. You are absolutely right about the ramifications of mergers and take overs. There once used to be a positive connotation to longevity and concern for legacy that is less esteemed today. It is a sad thing that GM ran Pontiac and Oldsmobile into the ground. The ethos of so many executives today venerates very little but self promotion and short term gain. It has grown resistant to the medicine of shame. In the coming days I'll try to relate a story about Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that will illustrate some of what I'm saying. Its a good story about truly bad behavior. It will make most liberals favor the Death Penalty.......for corporations at least.

Progressive Mews

Long time no see!

Another aspect of the privatization of prisons is related to your point that the new prisons are often located in rural areas. This results in a primarily rural white workforce of guards and administrators controlling the lives of primarily urban black and brown prisoners who they have little understanding of and empathy for.

It also puts an additional burden on the families of the prisoners who tend to be poor and live a considerable distance from the prison. It’s hard for the families to keep contact with their imprisoned members. Wives and husbands can’t see each other for long periods and children grow up without seeing one of their parents. Even an imprisoned parent can have a beneficial impact on a child. Many prisoners are intelligent thoughtful individuals who may have made a mistake out of desperation or may have been wrongly convicted.

The privatization of prisons makes an already bad system worse.

DDay

My instinct was that businesspeople like your father were more common then. The change may have to do (in part) with the continued business mergers and business takeovers. Locally based management might feel more of a commitment to local workers than to workers in a different region of the country. Then the legal requirement that a corporation’s first priority is to maximize profits changes the cultural psychology of the corporations. Being rewarded for maximizing profits at all costs becomes a selective mechanism for a particular type of person and bends others to fit the corporate culture.

Human beings, can’t live with them; can’t live without them.

DDay, the '60 Minutes' piece on Medicare fraud adds fuel to the "See! Government can't do anything right!" argument. One of the points made by those opposing 'Obamacare' is that the current system is being abused. Why those same folks have never done anything to fix it before this is never explained. Of course MSM nevers seems to ask about that.

I quite agree that the problems need to be addressed. Why we can't do that AND make other improvements at the same time baffles me.

Death Penalty to be privatized in Arizona.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/us/24prison.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Amnesty Internation reports that the Saudi government crucified a man earlier this year.

In 2008 it executed about 100 people.

Nonetheless, people still commit crimes.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/man-beheaded-and-crucifi...