Neo-Neo Con

Chris Matthews calls Christopher Hitchens a “Neo-Neo-Conservative.” It makes sense. Neo-Conservatives are largely old school liberals who broke with the far left in the 60s. Hitchens was (and still is) a hardcore anti-Vietnam protester who has rebelled against the Left in their comparison of Vietnam with Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD8uHW0hbiA

This is a pretty interesting debate on God that Hitchens has with a rabbi.

McCain Beats Obama at Something

Although I think Obama and Biden won all the debates, I have to say that I thought McCain was both ballsier and funnier at the Memorial Dinner.

Larry King and Bill Maher Comment on Memorial Dinner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx4zSJb33LY&feature=related

Bill Maher on Joe the Plumber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dik_92C-Dds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMQLW-T0KzI&feature=related

Liberal Eric Alterman Debates With Trotskyist/Neo-Con Christopher Hitchens on Iraq War
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/15143?in=08:15&out=18:14

HBO Presidential Debate
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/was_there_too_much_sex_and

Terrorists and Secessionists

“The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government.”

“My government is my worst enemy. I’m going to fight them with any means at hand.”

Sound like Rev. Wright? Bill Ayers? Try Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaskan Separatist Party that Todd Palin was a member of for 6 to 7 years. The AIP founder made the comment in 1991, in an interview that’s now housed at the Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Two years later, Vogler was scheduled to denounce America as a tyranny before the U.N. His sponsors? The Islamic Republic of Iran. But before he took the world stage, he was killed by a fellow seccessionist. Here’s another quote from Vogler:

“And I won’t be buried under their damn flag… I’ll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home.”

Vogler advocated renouncing allegiance to the United States. In the course of denouncing Federal regulation over land, he said:

“And then you get mad. And you say, the hell with them. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska.”

This is the same group Sarah Palin recorded an address for the convention, saying “Keep up the good work”, and now she’s complaining about Obama “palling around” with Ayers. By “palling around”, she of course means being a part of a mainstream (not “radical” as falsely stated by a McCain ad) education committee supported by a Republican governor, with local civil leaders on the board, which included Ayers as well as a former Nixon administration official who has contributed to McCain’s campaign.

Let’s compare these to the infamous Rev. Wright quotes:

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people,” he said in a 2003 sermon. “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”

In addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda’s attacks because of its own terrorism.

“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye,” Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost,” he told his congregation.

Well, John Kerry’s 1989 Committe report concluded that members of the U.S. State Department “provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking… and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers.” And I’ve heard the conservative mantra of “…then build bigger prisons.”

Wright accuses people who say “God Bless America” as worshipping country over God. I’ve been told this is unchristian. I find it to be uniquely Christian. Before Constantine fuzed Orthodox Christianity into the Eastern Roman Empire, Christians were unique among their fellow Jews and Romans in refusing to ally themselves with either the authorities of Rome or Judea. Most religious people today make the mistake of combining the two and kids are even forced in our schools to “pray” to the idol of Lady Liberty with their hands over our hearts in the droning chant typical of brainwashing. Vogler though, along with those who follow him, only wish to replace the American flag with the Alaskan one, even if it means getting founding from Iran to denounce America as a tyrany before the U.N. Considering the historic injustice perpetuated on African Americans, it’s no surprise to me that there are “black separatist” groups. But the idea that Palin’s husband wants Alaska to separate when his wife is taking in all these huge Federal earmarks is ridiculous.

The references to Hiroshima, Palestinians, and South Africa will no doubt piss off conseravtives, but I find these controversies far more open to interpretation than most of the stuff I read from the conservative Human Events newsletter. He’s obviously a conspiracy theorist. But unlike the author of the bestselling book “Obama Nation,” who thinks the Bush Administration caused 9/11, at least Wright is fighting against the side he believes to be perpetrating mass injustice on the population.

Anyone who watched or read Obama’s speech about “A More Perfect Union” knows that he has a completely different worldview than Wright:

“On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

“I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.”

“But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.”

……

“But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.”

Do you think the AIP does charity work? Somehow I doubt it. Here’s the full speech:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/18/text-of-obamas-speech-a-more-perfect-union/?mod=googlenews_wsj

Maybe this seems to be too far a reach since this is the Vice President’s husband, not the President. But the problem with this objection is McCain could die while in office. If McCain croaks, Palin will be president, and there is a good chance that Todd could become the “shadow president”, just as some have referred to him as the “shadow governor”. The latest ethics panel that found Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor also pointed out that Todd was heavily involved. An article from globeandmail.com says:

>According to those close to the administration, he attending meetings, sat in on interviews, made phone calls to lawmakers to express his support for his wife’s issues and was copied in on staff e-mails.

>He has been referred to as the “shadow governor” and The New York Times reported that his constant involvement in state business prompted some of the staff in the governor’s office to begin asking, “What would Todd do?” when faced with decisions that would affect his wife’s agenda.

This is not something from the distant past either. Max Blumenthal writes:

“Extremists Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll helped launch Palin’s political career in Alaska, and in return had influence over policy. “Her door was open,” says Chryson — and still is.”

“Palin backed [former Alaska Independence party chairman, Mark] Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution’s language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as “Black Helicopter Steve,” to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. “Every time I showed up her door was open,” said Chryson. “And that policy continued when she became governor.” …

Chryson further streamlined the AIP’s platform by softening its secessionist language. Instead of calling for immediate separation from the Uni ted States, the platform now demands a vote on independence. Yet Chryson maintains that his party remains committed to full independence. “The Alaskan Independence Party has got links to almost every independence-minded movement in the world,” Chryson exclaimed. “And Alaska is not the only place that’s about separation. There’s at least 30 different states that are talking about some type of separation from the United States.”

Even Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley and author of “Thank You for Smoking”, has written an article denouncing Palin and arguing for the “conservative case for Obama”.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/aip_founder_professed_hatred_f.php

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/he_lied_about_bill_ayers.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081010.CAMPAIGNPALIN10/TPStory/International

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27105917/
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-10/the-conservative-case-for-obama

Libertarianism vs. Neo-Conservatism

I’ve heard a couple of people I know on the right describe their beliefs as “Libertarian”, but the policies they support seem to me to be a lot closer to Neo-Conservatism. There is a big gulf between Ron Paul and John McCain, so I decided to make a chart, so people know the difference:

· Libertarians are uber-doves. Neo-Cons are uber-hawks.
· Libertarians fear our government. Neo-Cons fear foreign governments.
· Libertarians are for isolationism. Neo-Cons are for expanding the empire.
· Libertarians believe we should not have entered the Second World War. Neo-Cons blame the Left for losing the Vietnam War.
· Libertarians are for getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Neo-Cons are for going into Iran and Georgia.
· Libertarians are obsessed with civil liberties. Neo-Cons are obsessed with demonizing Communism, despite the fact that their intellectual father, Irving Kristol, was a former Trotskyist.
· Libertarians inherited their tolerance for sexual taboos from Robert Heinlein and the hippie movement. Neo-Cons are 60s reactionaries who believe homosexuality and pornography brought down the Roman Empire.
· Libertarians are for ending the war on drugs. Neo-Cons believe the border patrol should shoot Mexican drug smugglers on sight while protecting inflated drug prices so that it can be used to fund an illegal war in Nicaragua or support Afghani poppy-growers.
· Libertarians are against sending foreign aid to Israel, along with every other country. Neo-Cons are for destroying any probable future threat to Israel.
· Libertarians are for completely opening the borders. Neo-Cons are for building a giant wall along the border and financing a mass relocation of illegal aliens.
· Libertarians believe it should be legal to burn the flag. Neo-Cons believe it’s un-American to not wear a flag pin made in China.
· Libertarians follow the Austrian school of economics based on Carl Menger’s Prinicples of Economics. Neo-Cons follow Supply Side economics based on a line graph Arthur Laffer scribbled on a napkin for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.
· Libertarians believe in balancing the budget and want to go back to the gold standard, which would entail a massive gold buying program that would cause the value of the dollar to fall and the price of gold to rise, amounting to a massive transfer of wealth from the United States to those who own gold. Neo-Cons believe tax cuts increase government capital and spend more than Libertarians or Liberals on military budgets.
· Libertarians are hard-line economic Darwinists who would allow the banks to fail despite the financial consequences. Neo-Cons are corporate socialists who want to bail out all of Wall Street but allow the lax regulation that helped cause it to continue unabated.

Here’s a quick list of priorities for the four political positions:
Liberal: Save lives (capital punishment, etc.), help the poor, save money, defeat evil
Conservative: Save lives (pro-life, etc.), save money, defeat evil, help the poor
Libertarian: Save money, save lives, help the poor, defeat evil
Neo-Conservative: Defeat evil, save lives, help the poor, save money

“[Conservatism] is so influenced by business culture and by business modes of thinking that it lacks any political imagination, which has always been, I have to say, a property of the Left…. What’s the point of being the greatest, most powerful nation in the world and not having an imperial role? It’s unheard of in human history. The most powerful nation always had an imperial role…. [Previous empires were not] capitalist democracies with a strong emphasis on economic growth and economic prosperity…. It’s too bad, I think it would be natural for the United States… to play a far more dominant role in world affairs. Not what we’re doing now but to command and to give orders as to what is to be done. People need that. There are many parts of the world—Africa in particular—where an authority willing to use troops can make a very good difference, a healthy difference…. [But with public discussion dominated by accountants] there’s the Republican Party tying itself into knots. Over what? Prescriptions for elderly people? Who gives a damn? I think it’s disgusting that… presidential politics of the most important country in the world should revolve around prescriptions for elderly people. Future historians will find this very hard to believe. It’s not Athens. It’s not Rome. It’s not anything.” -Irving Kristol, Father of Neo-Conservatism and William Kristol

“The hard part of the supply-side tax cut is dropping the top rate from 70 to 50 percent—the rest of it is a secondary matter. The original argument was that the top bracket was too high, and that’s having the most devastating effect on the economy. Then, the general argument was that, in order to make this palatable as a political matter, you had to bring down all the brackets. But, I mean, Kemp-Roth was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate.” -David Stockman, Ronald Reagan’s budget director

“None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers…” -David Stockman

“Do you realize the greed that came to the forefront? The hogs were really feeding. The greed level, the level of opportunism, just got out of control. [The Administration’s] basic strategy was to match or exceed the Democrats, and we did.” -David Stockman

“Mr. David Stockman has said that supply-side economics was merely a cover for the trickle-down approach to economic policy—what an older and less elegant generation called the horse-and-sparrow theory: If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.” -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist

“The extreme promises of supply-side economics did not materialize. President Reagan argued that because of the effect depicted in the Laffer curve, the government could maintain expenditures, cut tax rates, and balance the budget. This was not the case. Government revenues fell sharply from levels that would have been realized without the tax cuts.” – Karl Case & Ray Fair, Principles of Economics (2007), p. 695

“You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due.” -Dick Cheney

“It is also a fact that our tax cuts have fueled robust economic growth and record revenues.” -George W. Bush

“You are smart people. You know that the tax cuts have not fueled record revenues. You know what it takes to establish causality. You know that the first order effect of cutting taxes is to lower tax revenues. We all agree that the ultimate reduction in tax revenues can be less than this first order effect, because lower tax rates encourage greater economic activity and thus expand the tax base. No thoughtful person believes that this possible offset more than compensated for the first effect for these tax cuts. Not a single one.” -Andrew Samwick, Chief Economist on Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2003-2004

Recent Interview With McCain on 60 Minutes:

Pelley: “In 1999 you were one of the senators who helped pass deregulation of Wall Street. Do you regret that now?”

McCain: “No, I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Palin Files Ethics Complaint Against Herself

Palin Files Ethics Complaint Against Herself
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5827023&page=1

Evidence Surmounts Against Excuse Given for Firing In-Law Trooper
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5844710&page=1

Palin’s Proposal for Online Transparency of the Government Checkbook Already Done…. By Obama
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/18/palins-transparency-proposal-already-exists-in-dc/

McCain Proposes Same Kind of Deregulation for Health Care as He Proposed for Banking

McCain Can’t Remember His Position on Condoms in Africa

Who Spent More, “Tax and Spend” Liberals or “Fiscal Conservatives”?
* Johnson: 4.1 percent
* Nixon/Ford: 5 percent
* Carter: 1.6 percent
* Reagan: 1.4 percent
* Bush I: 3.8 percent
* Clinton: 2.1 percent
* Bush II: 4.8 percent

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51342

* The economy has lost nearly 3 million private sector jobs under President Bush. His is the only Administration to lose jobs since Herbert Hoover. Despite a slight uptick in recent months, the last two and a half years are the longest period of ongoing job losses since the 1930s.

* Census Bureau data shows that poverty increased and real median household income fell last year. In both years of the Bush Administration, the number of Americans in poverty has increased while the real income of a typical household has fallen.

* The budget deficit reached a record high of $374 billion this year, with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projecting a deficit of $480 billion next year. Next year’s deficit may well climb past $500 billion since the CBO numbers do not reflect the costs of military and other activities in Iraq.

* Average annual economic growth under President Bush is 2.1 percent, less than two-thirds the average growth rate under President Clinton and rivaling his father for the weakest performance of any President in the last 50 years.

http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=fs-108-1-408

Wall Street

McCain-Palin