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theicefish wrote a new diary post: Charter 99 -In Memoriam: Václav Havel. – A Three Line Occupy Manifesto
Václav Havel passed away today. In December 1976, he and others signed the “ Charter 77” , a demand for a civil society in Czechoslovakia. He spent some years in jail, as did others, as a result. The communists knew that words can be the most powerful blow against an oppressor. Twelve years later the “Velvet Revolution” began [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: A Three Line Occupy Manifesto
It is easy for a manifesto to become a laundry list of demands, as there is so much to complain about these days. Each additional item reduces the chance of obtaining consensus. What follows is a try at a “short list” that might work. Fix it, rewrite it, whatever, but a movement without a written [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: Japan Starts to Understand the True Cost of Nuclear Power, Cabinet Recommends Cutting Reactors
The respected Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, headlines today (7/31/11) in its English language version an article by Shinichi Sekine,
Cabinet recommends cutting nuclear reactors , “The Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan presented on July 29 an interim report on new energy policies. The basic thrust of the policies is that Japan will “decrease its number of nuclear [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: A Single Payer Healthcare System Might Make Us More Like Puerto Ricans
Why do Puerto Ricans live longer that we do here in the 50 United States? Just perhaps it is because they have a better healthcare system than we do. The US trails 35 other countries or territories in life expectancy , including Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Martinique, and Guadeloupe (we are in a tie with Cuba). [...]
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theicefish commented on the diary post The Debt Ceiling Fraud by Arthur Fullerton.
Nice post Your point that the “debate” is a fraud is the key to fixing this. The right has been funding high end ad agencies (so-called think tanks) for the last few decades to shape the “debate” in their language with their terms of reference and it has simply worked. It is debate that is [...]
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theicefish commented on the diary post Right Wing Way of Dealing With Debt by Ruth Calvo.
Nice post. The Right Wing Extremist agenda could not survive a decent public conversation. They metaphorically scream because if they were speaking people might actually understand what they are saying and start ignoring them.
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: On Alcoholism and the Republican Balanced Budget Amendment
Few if any competent economists endorse the idea of a mandatory balanced budget every year. That’s because budget deficits are a lot like alcohol. In moderation they are certainly pleasant, and quite possibly healthy. But we have a different situation today, because as for alcohol, the only treatment for a history of uncontrolled abuse is [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: Why the FDL Petition for the Social Safety Net is Not the Best Idea
The FDL petition to “Pledge to Protect the Social Safety Net” is a good idea, but its not the best idea. The FDL petition is a good example for looking at the contrast between a successful right wing tactic and those of the centrists and progressives. Today the conversation in America about the Federal budget [...]
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theicefish commented on the diary post Interview: Van Jones on What We Can Learn From the Tea Party by Amy B. Dean .
Makes a lot of sense. The problem to figure out is that the Tea Party has an advantage because they are trying to demonize many functions of government. Unfortunately it is always easier to mobilize people against something than for something. For a progressive movement to succeed, a well defined problem to be against is [...]
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theicefish commented on the blog post Call Members of Congress and Tell Them if They Cut Social Security, You’re Done With Them
See also the related FDL post,
“A Pledge to Protect the Trust Funds” at
http://my.firedoglake.com/theicefish/2011/07/04/a-pledge-to-protect-the-trust-funds/
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theicefish commented on the diary post Ellison Takes the Progressive Caucus People’s Pledge: Won’t Vote for Cuts by Teddy Partridge.
outstanding; your point about the Progress Caucus being a “swing vote” in Congress is interesting and might be correct. Getting their attention is the hardest part.
See also the post “A Pledge to Protect the Trust Funds” at http://my.firedoglake.com/theicefish/2011/07/04/a-pledge-to-protect-the-trust-funds/
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: Politico Reports on Fox’s New Standards of Depravity
In England people very well may go to jail for the behavior of a Murdoch owned news outlet but I care more about what is happening here. The Murdoch owned Fox works to mobilize right wing fanatics and Tea Party Astroturfers to undermine our political process and once common sense of decency. In case you [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: Fourth Of July Notes On Democracy; Wouldn’t It Be An Experiment Worth Trying?
It great to see all the ideas bouncing around cyberspace today about the state of our Union. Many of them have to do with Freedom, others about Democracy. Let’s get some of the ground rules straight. First of all the US is not a democracy; we are a republic, fortunately still with many democratic characteristics. [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: A Pledge to Protect the Trust Funds
First of all, neither Social Security, nor Medicare A, are part of the budget deficit problem. These Trust Funds are running huge surpluses that they lend to the US Government, reducing what it needs to borrow from China and the Saudis. There may be some issues with the very long term funding of Social Security, 50 [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: Should “Gift-O-Mania” be Grounds for Impeachment?
The strange case of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, possibly suffering from an undiagnosed but clinically advanced case of Giftomania, was reported on by the New York Times this Saturday in a lengthy article.
“…The two men met in the mid-1990s, a few years after Justice Thomas joined the court. Since then, Mr. Crow has done many [...]
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theicefish wrote a new diary post: Congressional Extremists Fiddling as Rome Burns and Threatening to Force US into Budget Default; Import Subsidies for Guinness Next on Agenda
The Wall Street Journal has quoted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as saying that if Congress doesn’t raise the $14 trillion debt limit by Aug. 2, the federal government won’t be able to pay all its bills, which would have a “catastrophic economic impact.” For some reason the Extremist Right is trying to test this and see what [...]
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theicefish commented on the diary post Waterboarding; Cheney Still Advocating For It by Bill Egnor.
“I’ll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I’ll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.” -Jessie Ventura (Ex Minnesota Governor and retired Navy Seal)
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theicefish commented on the diary post May 9, 2011: Osama Still Dead! Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due… by GregoriusU.
I love the jar analogy! The extremist wing of the Republican party campaigns with a constant drum beat of their exclusive possession of realism, pragmatism, and effectiveness. The progressives need to take off the gloves and start hammering them on their simple lack of competency in any public sphere. The only thing they know how [...]
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theicefish commented on the diary post Waterboarding; Cheney Still Advocating For It by Bill Egnor.
Some Japanese water boarded American POWs in WWII; we hanged them for it. But that’s the American generation that invented Social Security and the New Deal. They understood something about right and wrong that we have lost.
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theicefish commented on the diary post Obama Still Dithering on Release of Bin Laden’s Long Form Death Certificate by theicefish.
I would have to agree with you that individuals on opposite sides do often get along; but there is a collective phenomena of demonization by the fringe right now that lumps all progressives together into a bin of America hating baby killers that don’t understand how the real world works, and it seems to be [...]
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