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Failed Conservative Values: All about Greed
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There is sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.
Mahatma Gandhi
I interviewed people around the Democracy for America booth at the California Democratic Party Convention in San Jose. I asked people how have conservative values failed? It surprised me how many responded that the conservative value of greed was the biggest failure. Here are some of the comments.
Failed Conservative Values: Dan Healy on Greed & Force
The word conservative is even more abused than the word progressive, I think. But I guess in its current incarnation of those phrases, I think the word conservative literally means “I’m out for me”, and the word progressive means “We are out for we” at his most basic analysis. That’s how things seem to look right now.
more...
Greed is a value. And again, if you think of the word conservative -- and I think even what a lot of conservatives think they are – they would reject that label. But I think greed obviously as a conservative value is “I’m going to look out for me, and who cares about you”. That is in a lot of ways a core conservative value, and it’s clearly not working, and has never worked, and it never will work. And that’s kind of the bedrock one.
In terms of the context of due process, the idea kind of broader in the sense of war, the idea that force is a value that works. Folks that consider themselves conservative -- which one would think is restrictive – are actually the most aggressive in terms of the use of force.
The use of force in context of how we police ourselves, the use of force in terms of how we execute our foreign policy. That’s clearly a failure, and it’s one that people are hopefully coming to realize.
Failed Conservative Values: Don on Greed is Good
This is Don at the Democratic Convention in San Jose. I’m being asked by the cameraman here what was the failed conservative value. As far as I can see, the key conservative value – I don’t know if it’s failed.
The underlying fundamental conservative value is greed is good. If everyone acts entirely in their own self interest, it will make the best of all possible worlds. I’m not sure that that’s failed. But that is the operating value.
And other things flow from that. What about people who fall by the wayside? Perhaps because they’re not big enough or that they didn’t act fully in their self interest, that they fell by the wayside.
That’s another conservative value that follows from the first one – that people who do not act in their own self interest do not deserve anything and should fall by the wayside.
Another conservative value is that if people band together in their own self interest and oppose the very greedy, that’s wrong, because they are overcoming the will of the strong.
At a certain point you reach a contradiction in the conservative values, because conservatives are going to say “We mustn’t let people band together for their own self interests, because they’ll be against the will of the strong.
If you go back to Plato, I think he points out an inconsistency there. If they’re really weak and banding together, then they’re not so weak. So that’s a flaw, and that’s really a dynamic of what’s happening in history.
I see a different point of view as a progressive, and I don’t think that greed is a good value. I think it’s been disproved over the centuries that every man with his own rifle – emphasis on the word “man” – takes care of himself and those he chooses to take care of. We’ve seen that fail throughout world history. So perhaps that’s the failure in the conservative value.
I suppose the bull elephant seal, or the solitary lion might be your metaphor for the greatest good. And social animals that band together for their own welfare, whether they are honeybees, or attack dogs, or whatever, a contrasting example. We built civilization on socialization. Not on individual greed.
Failed Conservative Values: Norma on Greed
My name is Norma, and how conservative values have failed – they’ve failed, because they have forgotten the little man. They’ve forgotten that they don’t earn their money. We’re the ones that earns it for them. We’re the low-paying workers. We’re the ones that are out there on a daily basis. They get the fruit of our labor.
I think their value is greed. They have forgotten that they can’t do it without us. They need to start remembering that. I would guess that they were like an anaconda, in that they sit there and try to choke their prey. They’re trying to choke every dollar out of us for their benefit, so that they will get bigger as we get smaller.
I think their value is greed. They have forgotten that they can’t do it without us. They need to start remembering that. I would guess that they were like an anaconda, in that they sit there and try to choke their prey. They’re trying to choke every dollar out of us for their benefit, so that they will get bigger as we get smaller.
Failed Conservative Values: Karen Suarez on Greed
That’s what I don’t get. I would think that the title conservative would mean to conserve, and it even says – I’m not a religious person – but it says in the Bible somewhere, somebody told me once, that I will destroy those who destroy the earth.
And I can understand using resources – you need to live. We take the energy from the sun in different forms around us. We need to survive. It’s the sun, and energy is the circle of life. But to overuse and be greedy – I don’t understand it.
EDWIN: Have conservative values failed?
ANSWER: I don’t even think they realize – in this Administration right now, I don’t think people understand what they were trying to do. I think they opened up Pandora’s box, and they’re not happy with what they wished for.
And I can understand using resources – you need to live. We take the energy from the sun in different forms around us. We need to survive. It’s the sun, and energy is the circle of life. But to overuse and be greedy – I don’t understand it.
EDWIN: Have conservative values failed?
ANSWER: I don’t even think they realize – in this Administration right now, I don’t think people understand what they were trying to do. I think they opened up Pandora’s box, and they’re not happy with what they wished for.
Failed Conservative Values: David Lutness on Me Firstism
The conservative, just like the progressive, is not monolithic. There are many conservatives who think that they should be allowed to proceed without the interference of government. There is also a large segment of people who call themselves conservative who believe they should be allowed to proceed with the benefit of government. So they pay lots of men money and they get things like new big contracts to provide over in Iraq – like Halliburton.
EDWIN: What is the value in one word?
ANSWER: Me first. Very often conservative values work for the people who have them. They have failed society. If you say that the conservative values are the people who argue that you need to burn coal without stripping the stacks so that we can have cheap electricity without having to worry about or pay for the fact that burning coal is polluting the ocean,
Now they are telling us to only turn it on once a week or maybe once a month, or once a year. Or don’t feed tuna to anybody under the age of six. A direct consequence of burning coal, by the way.
Question
What do you think is the Progressive counter value to Greed?
Failed Conservative Values
I ask for your assistance to systematically build the arguments and tell the stories that reveal how Conservative Values have Failed. Join in our effort to create a documentary and book on the subject by contributing articles, posts, chapters for the book and video clips. Check our website for more information and a growing outline of tasks that need to be done on this project.
More Progressive Values Stories:
Edwin Rutsch
What Are Progressive Values? Documentary Project
http://ProgressiveSpirit.com
and Study Group
In case anyone's interested, here are some photos from Facebook. Many are from the famous Recoleta Cemetary, including several of Eva Peron's tomb. There's one saying "Fuera Bush" ( Get out, Bush) and one of lovers with a woman knitting in background. The guy hauling the cart is interesting.
Anyway, enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20907&l=172ee&id=620987121
I'm so glad to see that you're still posting away here. It's good to come "home". i've been SO busy trying to get things done in our Legislative District that I don't post much. I do quickly browse the threads each day to get the news. THe blog is my home page so i'm always poking about. Just not taking the time to post except for every now and again.
Can't believe we're actually on at the same time!
For those of you drooling to see more Facebook photos, here are some ones of the shoe factory, (run by some friends), the famous obelisk, the entrance to the ecological preserve with it's glorious statues, a photo of my dear friend, Cristina, and my modista, Anna, who makes and repairs clothes for me. She's holding up two tango shrugs in her disheveled and fascinating little shop.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22340&l=f2030&id=620987121
Oh, and that's the famous Colon Opera House.
Did I tell you all that Cristina and I went to the gay milonga?
Barbara or Cheryl, do you have Skype? It's phenomenal! I chat and can see the faces of my friends in Buenos Aires almost every day.
We live in an amazing world!
Was it you who asked if I speak Spanish? Yes, but the Buenos Aires people butcher the language, dropping the ends of words and most s's. The people in Mexico City do the same. It's maddening! Ånd at the milongas, they speak "Lunfardo" which is peculiar only to tango dancers...and in Uruguay they speak yet a different sort of Spanish. Yikes! Only Cristina and I speak English when together, so the Spanish I spoke when living 4 years in the Yucatan, has come back rapidly.
A couple of weeks ago, I was dancing with a man who had terrible bad breath and during the "cortina" (break between songs) he wanted to talk and I told him that I only speak French....and wouldn't you know...he started talking rapid French to me!!!
A cabbie last week thought I was from Brazil!!! I started doing the samba in the back seat. They just never guess the U.S.A. They can't pinpoint my accent, since it's Yucatecan.
Goodness, how chatty I am. Now to bed.
but do have IM and a wonderful webcam and use it to see and talk to my kids. would love to tap into you some time. if you can communicate that way, send me a private email with your IM addy and i'll send you mine.
So glad you are having a wonderful time. the pictures are great. thanks!
I'm tempted to say "dissolute ladies" and don't mean it unkindly. Americans have long had a reputation of working too hard. I'm beginning to think it should be that they've "been worked" too hard. The temptation to exact servitude did not go away with making "involuntary servitude" illegal. In some minds, the "all-volunteer Army" is nothing more than "voluntary servitude."
Oddly, they use that word in this little spoof
http://www.bsalert.com/news/2208/US_Mint_Announces_New_Coinage.html
The spouse found it very clever and I've had to bookmark the site. LOL
- Sometimes I surprise myself. like this comment I left on KOS.
By Monica Smith on Jun 1, 2008 5:47 AM EDTBush Two, in his radio address for this past Memorial Day, actually spoke of Americans who were
delivered from the agony of war to meet their Creator
It's as if he sees himself as just hurrying them along to their final destination.
Death is liberation and he's freeing a lot of souls. How that's different from the oft repeated assertion that suicide bombers are heading to paradise is a good question. It isn't. The only difference is in who's sending them. Bush Two wants it to be him. He's jealous.
How much evil is driven by jealousy? Didn't Cain slay Able because he was jealous of the latter's preference.
Whence does jealousy arise?
- Well in six months Bush will be delivered from the agony of the Oval Office.
By Phil Specht on Jun 1, 2008 6:31 AM EDTIt is going to take all the hope Obama can gather up to face the mess left behind.
Not just a slogan, it will take all of us.
- Hillary has been delivered from the agony of the campaign trail.
By Phil Specht on Jun 1, 2008 6:39 AM EDTThe Senate will seem like the sleepy backwater it is at times.
let's hope she doesn't pull up short in the gallup out and break an ankle, that was one hard fought contest
McCain will be a piece of cake for Obama now.
I certainly hope you're right Phil. The media will certainly continue to let McCain skate, and attack Obama at every opportunity
and ignite the press with another candidate.
I still think Senator John is a place-holder, sent out to test the waters and try out themes, and prod for democratic weaknesses.
If there's been a major mistake on the part of Democrats it's the tendency to underestimate Republicans, and not just the perfidy of which they, in their lust for power, are capable.
In many ways, Mr. Obama is wheezing across the finish line after making a strong start: He has won only 6 of the 13 Democratic contests held since March 4, drawing 6.1 million votes, compared with 6.6 million for Mrs. Clinton
Mr. Obama’s announcement on Saturday that he would leave his church was just another reminder of how events continue to unfold in the race. She has signaled her ambivalence about the outcome, continuing to urge superdelegates to keep an open mind and consider, for example, the number of popular votes she has won.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/31/cheney-record/
With his approval rating hovering around 30 percent, Vice President Cheney nevertheless went to Virginia yesterday to rally conservatives around the Bush administration. The Virginian-Pilot reports that he urged state Republican activists “to promote the Bush administration’s policies during campaigns for this fall’s presidential and congressional elections.” Some highlights from his speech:
On the economy: “Republicans believe that when Americans are facing tough times, the first thing we should do is let them keep more of their own money. That is why the President proposed and signed a stimulus package with immediate, direct relief to the American taxpayer.”
On energy: “Our administration has worked with the Congress and the private sector to try to increase the efficiency of cars and trucks, to promote alternative fuels.”
On Iraq: “The work goes on — and our strategy in Iraq, with a surge of operations that began more than a year ago, is succeeding. The only way to lose this fight is to quit.”
Cheney is grasping at his last straws.
On the economy: “Republicans believe that when Americans are facing tough times, the first thing we should do is let them keep more of their own money. That is why the President proposed and signed a stimulus package with immediate, direct relief to the American taxpayer.”
Fact is that when Washington sends money, it's always someone else's money. If you've paid for a product or service and, instead of delivering that product or service, the seller rebates a portion and tells you to get what you wanted somewhere else, that's a rip-off.
Some people believe in miracles. That doesn't make them real.
On energy: “Our administration has worked with the Congress and the private sector to try to increase the efficiency of cars and trucks, to promote alternative fuels.”
Since Congress does not build cars or trucks, this is a good example of useless effort that's planned to fail.
On Iraq: “The work goes on — and our strategy in Iraq, with a surge of operations that began more than a year ago, is succeeding. The only way to lose this fight is to quit.”
Didn't it use to be said that it's important to quit when you're ahead? So much for conventional wisdom.
I still think that the idea is that the checks sent out an cashed will serve as a data base next year to check who filed and reported that "income" and who didn't. Our household didn't get a rebate, although we did get a check "correcting" our calculations, probably because I routinely file with my social security number listed first, even though I don't have any independent income against which the return could be checked. Which is what leads me to think that this is an exercise in validation--getting more people to file in hopes of getting a refund and get them into the data base.
Speaking of taxes, why is it that sales taxes are routinely assessed against the buyer?
Why not assess them against the sellers, of which there are far fewer, and save buyers the nuissance of having to wait for the on-the-spot calculation? The only explanation that seems to make sense is that there's an interest in generating resentment against taxes in the general population. At the same time, don't the sellers get to hold on to the revenue they collect as a sort of "float"? Do they also get to deduct a service charge?
NH is looking to generate more revenue more efficiently and from a broader segment of the population.
The top of the thread made me want to recommend a documentary I just rented called "The Take". It was made a few years ago by the CBC and focused on events in Argentina following the currency collapse, namely the takeover of shuttered factories by their former workers.
I won't go into all the details of how they did it, but the gist is in the new workers' collectives, in most cases everyone working there makes the same money, bottom to top, and they make all their decisions through group voting. When there's money for a raise, everyone gets a raise.
The results have shown much more productive companies that are able to offer their goods at lower prices.
Xerox Corp. has for many years had self-managed work groups in its factories. A little less dramatic because they are paid on traditional US scales and not all equal, but Xerox took the foremen out and found the groups ran much better without them.
So I am wondering why we haven't challenged before now why bosses are entitled to more money. They don't really have more responsibility because all they do when they get in trouble is pass the buck anyway. It's really got me thinking, but anyway, rent "The Take" if you can.
-- volney
that's committed to the principle of inequality and hierarchy and since legislated inequality has been terminated (albeit piece-meal) monetary inequality is the only objective (as in something that's able to be weighed and measured and examined) measure they are left with.
This need to achieve some sort of superior status seems to arise, perhaps paradoxically, from a deep-seated sense of inferiority which seems to be passed down from generation to generation by people whose ancestors weren't wanted where they were born.
The explanation that the immigrant experience is directed by the anticipation of weath and success in a new world is a myth, an after-fact justification of what must have been a rather wrenching experience--being rejected and subjected to indignities by one's own people.
Everybody wants to be wanted. Those that can't escape the realization that they're not wanted, naturally make up stories to comfort themselves. That they're better than everyone else is one such story. African Americans are different because they don't have to create that myth. Ditto, to a large extent, for the Central Americans who just walk north and still keep connected with the people back home. I actually think that's why they're resented; because they don't have that psychological impediment--an impediment that continues to be transmitted via abusive behavior and constant reminders that some people aren't good enough.
SYDNEY, Australia- Australia, a staunch U.S. ally and one of the first countries to commit troops to the Iraq war five years ago, ended combat operations there Sunday, a Defense Department official said.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was swept into office in November largely on the promise that he would bring home the country's 550 combat troops by the middle of 2008.
Rudd has said the Iraq deployment has made Australia more of a target for terrorism.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
the promise of participating in the nuclear cartel. Australia has a significant nascent nuclear energy program, I think, and would probably prefer not to be accused of harboring plans to produce WMD.
I put "bribed" into quotes because I'm not quite sure how to properly categorize potential aggression that's withheld on the basis of certain conditions being met.
What is it when the school yard bully says "you're either with me or against me"?
Between a government (which controls the instruments of physical force) that's under the control and direction of so-called "private corporations" created by a state charter to engage in productive enterprise and a government that organizes agencies to engage in productive enterprise directly?
How significant is that difference if physical force is as routinely used on behalf of the interests of the so-called "private corporations" as it is to promote the interests of the government?
We didn't have TV in 1968 so the video clips of the riot police and national guard attacking students and anti-war protesters are quite startling to me. I think those who invented "medium cool" were mistaken in thinking that TV would serve to desensitize the population. After all, the reason images from Iraq need to be censored is because the public would be inflamed if they saw bodies and buildings routinely blown to bits.
""The RBC meeting has effectively made us say hello to the general election and goodbye to the primary fight. But if you look at the line up for today’s news shows, it doesn’t appear that the media is quite ready to say goodbye. So while the rest of us should be saying “yes” to party unity, it looks like the media is saying “I don’t know” to letting go.
ABC’s “This Week” - Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” - Sen., Carl Levin, D-Mich., Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; Mandy Grunwald, Clinton campaign adviser.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” - Scott McClellan, former White House press secretary; former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.; Harold Ickes, Clinton campaign adviser.
CNN’s “Late Edition” - Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.; former Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich.; Ickes; Democratic strategists Jamal Simmons and Hilary Rosen; Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez.
“Fox News Sunday” - Howard Wolfson, Clinton campaign adviser; Bonior; Brendan Sullivan, director of the children’s sports program Headfirst. ""
Good ole predictable media-- keep the pot stirred up, resurrect Jeremiah Wright. Clinton flacks and hacks greatly outnumber Obama reps
Howard comes on at about the 16 min mark, after Mcaulif.
Tell Maine, people that go to caucus don't count.
or Puerto Rico does count since they have no electoral vote
or being the only one on the ballot you get to count Michigan
and even given all that their campaign continues to lie about the votes
- The 06 landslide guaranteed Howard Dean a place in the Party Chair Hall of Fame.
By Phil Specht on Jun 1, 2008 9:27 AM EDTand the election of Obama will mean they can go ahead and name the place after him
Jim Blanchard, the former governor of Michigan, noted yesterday, “I’m reminded of the old Will Rogers adage, which was: ‘I belong to no organized party. I’m a Democrat.’”
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/07/clinton200807
The comeback id:
This winter, as Clinton moved with seeming abandon to stain his wife’s presidential campaign in the name of saving it, as disclosures about his dubious associates piled up, as his refusal to disclose the names of donors to his presidential library and foundation and his and his wife’s reluctance to release their income-tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton’s own long-suffering ambition, I found myself asking again and again, What’s the matter with him
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080529_the_lamont_lesson/
Today’s political landscape has not changed from 2006. America still opposes the conflict, and Democrats not only refuse to use their congressional power to cut off war funding, but have opted to insult the public’s intelligence. Indeed, at the same time the party is airing ads attacking John McCain for wanting to continue the war, Democrats in Congress are championing a $165-billion military spending bill that indefinitely prolongs the occupation. The party’s leaders are not debating strategies to end the war, but “the kind of pro-war Democrat[s] that we ought to be,” as Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., said a few months ago.
We gave Congress the power, indeed a mandate, to end the occupation of Iraq, but they refuse to follow through.
and sea back from BA (sorry sea, I associate "bs" too much with *, so prefer not to use your formulation) and also Cheryl around a lot yesterday!
*********
WaPo has some catty headlines on the front page today about how the Dems' meeting yesterday tore "the party in half" and prompted "anger from the Clinton campaign." Based on what I saw, those are clear overstatements that intended to divide and disrupt. Sure, there were disgruntled elements and Ickes, in particular, sounded as if he is not giving up. But I saw a lot more unity, even among Clinton supporters, than anything else.
If the MSM spent half as much time really investigating and reporting even a small portion of the criminal wrongdoing of *Co, they would not have time for such pettiness.
But for anything close to those stories, one must check out the on-line edition and Froomkin (who is only on-line) and who has apparently been on leave for the past week.
**********
And cC: Roger looked good yesterday ... the first time, imo, in a long time that he has looked that good. He struggled a bit with his first two matches at the French this year. Hope that he has finally shaken the mono and its after-effects.
We actually attended some of the French Open in 1997, not the championship weekend but about this stage, i.e., the first weekend, where there are still quite a few challengers in the game and it's fun to see them all trying. We came over from Geneva with some friends and saw Steffi Graf, graceful as a ballet dancer, Michael Chang, Marcelo Rios, Yevgeni Kafelnikov (also graceful), Lindsay Davenport and Pat Rafter (Australia). I believe that Pat actually won the championship that year ... or I have my years confused. Roland Garros is a beautiful stadium and, of course, is on the outskirts of Paris, so it's also a great chance to see the City of Light.
Of course, the spouse's most significant memory is of seeing Anna Kournikova, with her famous flaxen braid. Men!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01richedit.html?th&emc=th
THEY thought they were being so slick. When the McCain campaign abruptly moved last Tuesday’s fund-raiser with President Bush from the Phoenix Convention Center to a private home, it was the next best thing to sending the loathed lame duck into the witness protection program.
Americans don’t like being lied to by their leaders, especially if there are casualties involved and especially if there’s no accountability. We view it as a crime story, and we won’t be satisfied until there’s a resolution.
to take this and run with it!
But the prosecutions should not stop with * alone ... he had LOTS of help.
==============
CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
Bugliosi Would Seek Death Penalty for Bush
22 Corporate Crime Reporter 22, May 30, 2008
If Vincent Bugliosi were prosecuting George W. Bush for the murder of the more than 4,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq, he would seek the death penalty.“If I were the prosecutor, there is no question I would seek the death penalty,” Bugliosi told Corporate Crime Reporter in a wide-ranging interview.
Bugliosi is the author of the just published book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (Vanguard Press, 2008).
“I’m urging here that an American jury try George Bush for first degree murder. I want to see him on trial for murder before an American jury. And if they convict him, it will be up to the jury to decide what his punishment is. One of the options would be the imposition of the death penalty. If I were prosecuting him, absolutely I would seek the death penalty. As Governor of Texas, George Bush signed death warrants – 152 out of 152 – most of them for people who only committed one murder.”
Bugliosi said he is sending a copy of his book to all fifty state Attorneys General, offering his assistance in prosecuting Bush for homicide.
[...]
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/bushdeathpenalty053008.htm
But would we actually put to death a president for murder? And how many appeals would that take?
If Bush could be charged and convicted of treason, that would be even better since treason is not a pardonable offense.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01dowd.html?ref=opinion
So now comes Scott McClellan, once the most loyal of the Texas Bushies, to reveal “What Happened,” as the title of his book promises, to turn W. from a genial, humble, bipartisan good ol’ boy to a delusional, disconnected, arrogant, ideological flop. Although his analytical skills are extremely limited, the former White House press secretary — Secret Service code name Matrix — takes a stab at illuminating Junior’s bumpy and improbable boomerang journey from family black sheep and famous screw-up back to family black sheep and famous screw-up.
W.’s dwindling cadre hit back hard. In Stockholm, Condi — labeled “sometimes too accommodating” by the author — scoffed: “The president was very clear about the reasons for going to war.” She’s right. He was very clear about it being because of W.M.D. Then he was very clear about it being to rid the world of a tyrant. Then he was very clear about it being to spread democracy. When that didn’t work out, he was very clear about it being that we can’t leave because we can’t leave.
He was always wrong, but always very clear.
MoDo has her own share of penitence due for her journalistic treatment of Gore in 2000, that redounded in *'s favor.
Yes, she does get it right on occasion. But more often, she is just catty to everyone.
And her prime and nearly unique interest is MoDo, not the good of the country.
we hardly knew you ...
==========
Bhutto Dealt Nuclear Secrets to N. Korea, Book Says
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 1, 2008; A16
Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, on a state visit to North Korea in 1993, smuggled in critical data on uranium enrichment -- a route to making a nuclear weapon -- to help facilitate a missile deal with Pyongyang, according to a new book by a journalist who knew the slain politician well.
The assertion is based on conversations that the author, Shyam Bhatia, had with Bhutto in 2003, in which she said she would tell him a secret "so significant that I had to promise never to reveal it, at least not during her lifetime," Bhatia writes in "Goodbye, Shahzadi," which was published in India last month.
Bhutto was slain in December while campaigning to win back the prime minister's post.
The account, if verified, could advance the timeline for North Korea's interest in uranium enrichment. David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a research organization on nuclear weapons programs, said the assertion "makes sense," because there were signs of "funny procurements" in the late 1980s by North Korea that suggested a nascent effort to assemble a uranium enrichment project.
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053102122_pf.html
women were not generally terrified for their lives or for those of their daughters prior to our illegal invasion and occupation.
Religious fundamentalism versus women's rights: guess which side is winning.
=========
Mother who defied the killers is gunned down
Five weeks ago Leila Hussein told The Observer the chilling story of how her husband had killed their 17-year-old daughter over her friendship with a British soldier in Basra. Now Leila, who had been in hiding, has been murdered - gunned down in cold blood. Afif Sarhan in Basra and Caroline Davies report on the final act of a brutal tragedy
- Afif Sarhan and Caroline Davies
- The Observer,
- Sunday June 1 2008
Leila Hussein, who was murdered in Iraq. Photograph: Observer
[...]
Her death, on 17 May, is the shocking denouement to a tragedy which had its origins in an innocent friendship between her student daughter, Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, and a blond, 22-year-old British soldier known only as Paul.
The two had met while Rand, an English student at Basra University, was working as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water. Although their friendship appears to have involved just brief, snatched conversations over four months, Rand had confided her romantic feelings for Paul to her best friend, Zeinab, 19.
She died, still a virgin, four months after she had last seen him when her father, Abdel-Qader Ali, 46, discovered that she had been seen talking 'to the enemy' in public. She had brought shame on his honour, was his defence, and he had to cleanse his family name. Despite openly admitting the murder, he has received no punishment.
[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/01/iraq/print
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn05312008.html
The sky is dark with chickens coming home to roost. America is in a terrible fix. But you wouldn’t know it from the politicians. Obams, Clinton and McCain flourish quick-fix recipes that are as inconsequential as a pop gun aimed at a gunship by an Iraqi child. Whoever is in charge come January 2000 will have to set as drastic a change in course as did Roosevelt in 1933, the last time the political economy faced this serious a crisis. Not that we need another Roosevelt, trying to bail out capitalism and stave off the left.
We need an an active radical mass movement, shoving Congress into action. There’s no sign that any of the candidates have advisors at their elbows capable of offering pertinent counsel. Thirty years of vacuous boosterism about the virtues of neo-liberalism and unfettered markets have exacted a fearsome toll on the intellectual capacity of the policy-making elites.
Click here to consider the other side of the story: http://online.logcabin.org/
Wouldn't it be nice if we could trust the DFA workers? Let's click here to see what they're trying to censor us from seeing: http://online.logcabin.org/
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