I received a telephone invitation from Representative Ron Wait to an Illinois House Republican town hall meeting 6:30 PM tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15,2008, at the Zeke Georgie building.
I encourage everyone who can make it to attend.
DKK
Monday, July 14, 2008
How Was Don Manzullo's Telephone Town Hall On Gas Prices?
I don't know!
The machine that called my house must have thought I was a machine as it apologized for missing me and taunted me with a telephone town hall that I really would have loved to participate in. Clearly a technological glich as Don's own voice was teasing and tempting me!
I called the Manzullo campaign office to see if I could join but no one answered there.
So, if you participated and have any new information that we would be interested in reading let us know.
DKK
Update:
By the way, this was the second time this has happened. I think there is something with my phone or their system is tuned wrong.
DKK
The machine that called my house must have thought I was a machine as it apologized for missing me and taunted me with a telephone town hall that I really would have loved to participate in. Clearly a technological glich as Don's own voice was teasing and tempting me!
I called the Manzullo campaign office to see if I could join but no one answered there.
So, if you participated and have any new information that we would be interested in reading let us know.
DKK
Update:
By the way, this was the second time this has happened. I think there is something with my phone or their system is tuned wrong.
DKK
About that Iraqi Demanded Timeline -- No Such Beast Exists
The prime minister was widely quoted as saying that in the negotiations with the Americans on a Status of Forces Agreement to regulate the US troop presence from next year, “the direction is towards either a memorandum of understanding on their evacuation, or a memorandum of understanding on a timetable for their withdrawal”.Ooww, Sorry Barack -- Your NYTimes editorial was based on thing but poor reporting. Nothing new there, your entire candidacy is based on poor reporting.
That was the version of Mr Maliki’s remarks put out in writing by his office in Baghdad.
It was widely circulated by the news media, and caught much attention, including that of Mr Obama.
There is only one problem. It is not what Mr Maliki actually said. … What he actually said was: “The direction is towards either a memorandum of understanding on their evacuation, or a memorandum of understanding on programming their presence.”
DKK
BBC
Bush To Lift Executive Order Banning Off Shore Drilling -- Congressional Action Required To Proceed
The White House says President Bush is planning to lift an executive ban on offshore oil drilling. The White House says President Bush is planning to lift an executive ban on offshore oil drilling.
In a Rose Garden statement on Monday, the president plans to lift the ban. But by itself, the move will not lead to more drilling off America's coastline.
That just leaves the Congressional ban that has to be lifted. Nancy Pelosi says the call for more drilling is just a hoax but $4/gal gasoline says otherwise. Those prices are affecting every aspect of the economy today so the pressure on Congress will be immense.
DKK
ABC News
Victory Through Delegitimization -- Warning -- This Is The Post Where I Compare Bush To Reagan
How do you defeat an ideology?
Ronald Reagan won the cold war by essentially refusing to accept the premise, long held and touted as policy by the left, that the US was equal to the Soviet Union. No better, no worse, just a different system.
Reagan refused to believe that and refused to treat the Soviet system as a system on par with ours.
He delegitimized the USSR in the minds of many in America and around the world.
Today Soviet Communism has pretty much been relegated to the ash heap of history just as Reagan predicted.
Lately I have noticed some using "scare" or "mocking" quotes (not that this is new, I just started noticing it in this context) when referring to the War On Terror. This is something I imagine might have happened at the beginning of the Cold War. However, long before the fall of the Soviet Union these had fallen by the wayside as the realization of the historic situation penetrated the elite media classes.
Following 9/11 President Bush realized that we had entered a new era in dealing with terrorism. As such he formulated the only course of action that had any hope of relegating that ideology to the same ash heap of history that the USSR ended up on. Unfortunately those who insist on using the "scare" quotes have failed to understand the reality of today's historic challenges.
President Bush formed a strategy premised on delegitimize terrorism by treating any nation that harbors terrorists as terrorists themselves. He pushed for a worldwide crackdown on sponsors of terrorism, froze the funds of terrorists, cracked down on the trade of weapons on the open seas and removed the governments in two of the worlds worst nations. Winning the hearts and minds was secondary and only possible by the continued demonstration of and the threat of a willingness to take action to force the issue. In essence you had to convince governments supporting terrorism or harboring terrorist that it this was too costly. Thus forcing an active change in their policies from supporting terrorism toward one where terrorism was no longer supported or ignored and quietly accepted.
This delegitimization policy is very similar the one Reagan used to end the Cold War, halting the spread of communism in the world and pushing it back to a point where today many communist nations practice some form of capitalism.
Through the history of this new policy and throughout the Bush Presidency I have observed the conventional wisdom (which is wrong more often then not) following the same pattern it did during the eight years of Ronald Reagan. As we know today, and was evident within the term of his successor, the policy worked and the USSR disintegrated forthwith.
That leads me to the future of the current incarnation of the delegitimization policy. One of the reasons the policy succeeded against the USSR is time, the policy survived the man legitimizing it as the policy of the nation.
With the election of George HW Bush there was no longer any hope that the Soviets would be able to wait out the policy until a more open administration took office. That knowledge had an impact on their decision making and on their actions.
Would the USSR have survived had Dukakis succeeded and worked with what he called the 'new thinking' in the Soviet Union?
Will the terrorists hold out? Even more importantly, will those on the cusp of accepting that the terrorists, who have been knocked back on their heels worldwide and left isolated by the Bush policies, are truly illegitimate hold out for the prospect of 'new thinking' here at home?
Will the policy that can and is delegitimizing the terrorists be given enough time to succeed as it did with the Soviets?
DKK
Ronald Reagan won the cold war by essentially refusing to accept the premise, long held and touted as policy by the left, that the US was equal to the Soviet Union. No better, no worse, just a different system.
Reagan refused to believe that and refused to treat the Soviet system as a system on par with ours.
He delegitimized the USSR in the minds of many in America and around the world.
Today Soviet Communism has pretty much been relegated to the ash heap of history just as Reagan predicted.
Lately I have noticed some using "scare" or "mocking" quotes (not that this is new, I just started noticing it in this context) when referring to the War On Terror. This is something I imagine might have happened at the beginning of the Cold War. However, long before the fall of the Soviet Union these had fallen by the wayside as the realization of the historic situation penetrated the elite media classes.
Following 9/11 President Bush realized that we had entered a new era in dealing with terrorism. As such he formulated the only course of action that had any hope of relegating that ideology to the same ash heap of history that the USSR ended up on. Unfortunately those who insist on using the "scare" quotes have failed to understand the reality of today's historic challenges.
President Bush formed a strategy premised on delegitimize terrorism by treating any nation that harbors terrorists as terrorists themselves. He pushed for a worldwide crackdown on sponsors of terrorism, froze the funds of terrorists, cracked down on the trade of weapons on the open seas and removed the governments in two of the worlds worst nations. Winning the hearts and minds was secondary and only possible by the continued demonstration of and the threat of a willingness to take action to force the issue. In essence you had to convince governments supporting terrorism or harboring terrorist that it this was too costly. Thus forcing an active change in their policies from supporting terrorism toward one where terrorism was no longer supported or ignored and quietly accepted.
This delegitimization policy is very similar the one Reagan used to end the Cold War, halting the spread of communism in the world and pushing it back to a point where today many communist nations practice some form of capitalism.
Through the history of this new policy and throughout the Bush Presidency I have observed the conventional wisdom (which is wrong more often then not) following the same pattern it did during the eight years of Ronald Reagan. As we know today, and was evident within the term of his successor, the policy worked and the USSR disintegrated forthwith.
That leads me to the future of the current incarnation of the delegitimization policy. One of the reasons the policy succeeded against the USSR is time, the policy survived the man legitimizing it as the policy of the nation.
With the election of George HW Bush there was no longer any hope that the Soviets would be able to wait out the policy until a more open administration took office. That knowledge had an impact on their decision making and on their actions.
Would the USSR have survived had Dukakis succeeded and worked with what he called the 'new thinking' in the Soviet Union?
Will the terrorists hold out? Even more importantly, will those on the cusp of accepting that the terrorists, who have been knocked back on their heels worldwide and left isolated by the Bush policies, are truly illegitimate hold out for the prospect of 'new thinking' here at home?
Will the policy that can and is delegitimizing the terrorists be given enough time to succeed as it did with the Soviets?
DKK
The Wonders Of Capitalist System
In this post by Chuck Sweeny he wonders if 58,000 people died in Vietnam so we could have cheaper stuff. This is my reply:
This is my reply:
DKK
Looks to me that we are doing clean up of those last redoubts of communism after our victory in the Cold War. (Like wrapping up the Japanese holdouts on deserted islands)That was attacked by a commenter known as "redrover" who attacked me for being, "a corporate sponsored traitor to American's values," and, "have ALWAYS needed and used slaves of one kind or another to buttress your business practices."
Kruschev said he would bury us without going to war because communism was the better system and our own working class would be our undertakers. Fortunately he was wrong. He failed to understand human nature — the working class wants to be upper class and need the sense of accomplishment from working toward success! That is the beauty of capitalism, as the Chinese and soon the Vietnamese, are learning.
Mr. Myerson calls himself a ‘cockeyed optimist’ but it seems like more of the negativism you get from the rest of the Washington media.
David
This is my reply:
Wow redrover, thank you for pointing out these glaring difficulties, for unwittingly reinforcing my point, and for actively making the system you decry work!I post because it demonstrates extremist behavior, proves a point, is entertaining, and it seemed worth posting.
Your efforts should be applauded (minus the hyperbole that accuses everyone of being slave owners -- that was a bit over the line, but still, congratulations!)
Think about what your doing, your using the markets the very way capitalist pigs like me not only approve of, but praise! I am completely seriously, this is not sarcasm!
What type of pressure can be applied to China that would work? Force or financial pressure? The threat of an attack or the threat of internal strife from being cut off financially because of human rights practices? Market driven sanctions are far more effective at garnering change then are government mandated sanctions.
Today's information age has greatly reduced the need for government intervention in the free markets. Praise to you and others like you for using these tools of modern capitalism to press for change. If it hadn't been for the financial pressure of consumers and investors many companies would still find it acceptable to use child labor, as their customers would never have forced change by threatening the companies market position. There have been vast improvements worldwide as companies apply market driven pressure to their suppliers far more effectively then government ever could!
Up to 35 million Chinese died when Mao 'reformed' the Chinese economy (up to 60 million total as a direct result of Chinese communism), often of starvation. Millions more suffered a drop in life expectancy due to lack of proper nutrition and access to proper health care and sanitation. Yet as the economy is reformed again the Chinese life expectancy has risen (an 11 year average increase 1982 (60) to 2000 (71) and a huge increase of 2 years to 73 years by 2005, and a projected rise to 85 years by 2050 as people are lifted out of poverty). That was only made possible by the influx of capital and by people using the capitalist system effectively the way you have!
Capitalism is a wonderfully motivating system for positive change as you have proven! It has built in incentives and rewards but it also has very effective market driven penalties that you have harnessed for good, working the system the way it was designed to work. This is why capitalism beats communism every time.
Thank you again! Even as you are forced to become that which you hate we do appreciate that sacrifice and your efforts.
David
DKK
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