Hogging the Hysterics

[Progressive Tiger]

Greetings, Torchers. As a newbie here I would like to say that I have followed your postings for quite some time (actually, since the demise of the "Soup") and now feel compelled to submit my own contribution.

I would like to call upon my fellow liberals to come out of the shadows and be as hysterical about some of our core beliefs as a number of conservatives seem to be lately. Why should they get to have all the fun? I thought we were supposed to be the radicals. Doesn't anyone remember the sixties? 

Anyway, I'd like to be the first to congratulate my socialist/communist/the-guy-wasn't-even-born-here/pals-around-with-terrorists/he's-destroying-the-country/President for tricking President George H.W. Bush into signing UN Agenda 21 TWO DECADES AGO and waiting until now to unleash its devastation.

Brilliant strategy and obviously something we libs need to jump up and down about.

[In Dulci Jubilo]

Mr. Bailey, your writings exhaust me.    I'm almost too tired to type, but I feel the need to respond, to take one small issue with your verbosity.      You obviously have not studied poverty nor its causative factors a great deal at all, otherwise, you would not have issued such a simplistically naive statement as "it was and still is the Liberal Democrats invoking Social Justice that lead to the disheartening childhoods you were kind enough to give your time trying to fix the social damage they suffered."     Poverty runs MUCH MUCH deeper than that.    

[Lisa O'Brien]

I personally feel Detroit is a bad example - I feel Detroit is in the shape it is for multiple reasons, first being that for many years it was run by in my opinion a corrupt Mayor (Coleman) who appointed many family and friends to high paying jobs and then failed to perform or just stole from the people, second when Coleman Young called Ronald Reagan a dried up old prune (I think that was the gist of his comment), Detroit stopped getting a lot of Federal aid. Lastly I believe the city council is inept - I think all of them has either gone through a bankruptcy or had tax liens against them. If they cannot run their own household in a financially sound way, how can they run a city. Detroit's problems in my opinion come not from government handouts, but more from corrupt local government.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Nope - I didn't say it was Reagan's fault. I place the blame solely  on Coleman Young for the start of the decline of Detroit. The Kwame Kilpatricks just added more sh!t to the pile.

[Willy]

There are a myriad of reasons why Detroit failed. [A] The 1967 riots convinced many Detroiters to flee to the suburbs. [B] Coleman Youngs anti-white attitude, his corrupt administrations and his politics of retribution did little for Detroit and it's image. [C] The Auto Makers and Unions failed to recognize the threat of overseas competition coupled with the production of shoddy products and over the top union benefits which made cars less competitive with foreign manufactured vehicles and weakened the Detroit based auto industry which forced it  to diversify, requiring their flight from Detroit and leaving a void in the City's manufacturing base. [D] Politics played a large role in Detroits demise when politicians turned Detroit into a welfare town. Instead of doing everything possible to attract business, a climate of contempt for the white business community was a pervasive attitude projected by Detroit's political leaders which in turn led to alienation and racial tensions. This was not helpful in creating a positive economic climate. Those with money and power fled Detroit in search of greener pastures.

[In Dulci Jubilo]

As a recently transplanted Detroiter, I for the most part agree with your assessment, Willy.

[Progressive Tiger]

"First we will kill all the subversives; then we will kill their collaborators; then their sympathizers; then those who remain indifferent; and finally we will kill the timid." -- General Iberico Saint Jean, military governor of Buenos Aires, 5/76

Mr. Bailey, the above quote is from a Latin American general who attended the notorious "School of the Americas" when it was operated by the U.S. Army in Panama until we gave the Canal Zone back to the Panamanian government. The school was our attempt to modernize the militaries of Latin American countries so that they would be more effective in quashing socialist-communist movements in those countries.

I taught a course in counterinsurgency operations (not something invented by Gen. Petraeus by the way in spite of the media hype about him writing a manual on the subject) at the School of the Americas in between my first and second Vietnam tours. The attendees at the school were supposedly the cream of the Latin American officer corps. Many of the graduates eventually became dictators, architects and operators responsible for some of the world's worst human rights violations.

These individuals voiced fears about Leftists and social justice efforts posing lethal threats to the Conservative establishment. Their pronouncements are nearly identical to those being made by many Conservatives in the U.S. today. The attempts to save their countries from "evil social reform" resulted in the deaths of many thousands of innocent people. 

Now, don't be alarmed, Mr. Bailey. I am not placing you in the same basket with Latin American dictators. You are an American who cares deeply for his country. You are not a tyrant or murderer of innocents. My point is that extremist positions at either end of the political spectrum have the potential of going too far in one direction, creating calamitous outcomes which ultimately benefit no one. 

In a modern democracy, when revolutionary dialogue invokes images of blood as being necessary to preserve liberty among its citizens, and within its own national borders, it is a warning sign that we are not living the ideals of a free democracy that we claim to cherish. The ballot box is where differences should be resolved. If we don't like what one political party is doing, then we organize ourselves and vote the bums out. If we lose the electoral contest, we simply resolve to make a stronger case and strategy for the next time. But, you knew this anyway I'm sure.

You asked if I was prepared for the "blowback" that will occur when Obama "leads the country down the road to hell." If you would detail your vision of such a "blowback," I would be happy to share with you how I would react to the situation.

P.S. Stop exhausting my compatriot, In Dulci Jubilo. I need all the support I can get here.

 

 

[In Dulci Jubilo]

Mr. Bailey:   The gift of your prose is quite fortuitous.   I have been having trouble sleeping at nights, and I was JUST about to make an appointment with my physician to discuss the possibility of trying one of the sleep medications such as Ambien.   I now find it unnecessary to make that appointment.   I can now simply read a paragraph or two of your masterpiece, and will be off to la-la land in a matter of moments.    :-)

[Willy]

William

You definitely have a way with words. I hope your book does well and look forward to seeing you on the "best sellers list". Disregard what Dulci says. He's just upset because that's how folks react to his posts. [just kidding Dulci] I actually think Dulci has a way with words as well.

[In Dulci Jubilo]

How conservatively presumptuous of you to assume I am a male, Willy.....and your kidding is well taken.   

[Willy]

My apologizes Dulci. For some reason I pictured you as an old fat naked guy sitting in front of his computer. Wait, that's me. Not really, I don't wear glasses.

[In Dulci Jubilo]

Haha!    But I bet you have a gun hanging on your wall just like he does!!

[Progressive Tiger]

Ms. Jubilo, I mistakenly thought you were of the male persuasion too! Your use of the phrase "shyly stepping out of the shadows" had me thinking you might be a gay male.   Wouldn't that sort of revelation have generated a new discussion.  ;-)

I've been married to a strong woman for so long that I stopped associating shyness with women. (Cue Helen Reddy…"I am Woman hear me snore…"  I mean, "roar"… No, I actually think "snore" would be more accurate if we’re talking about my better half.)

I was waiting for you to post a tome explaining the complexities of poverty to our little gathering here. I was tempted to do it myself except it seemed like too much work.