The War on Ideas

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain

Socialism - the new Communism

As president, McCain said he would work on political, diplomatic and economic fronts to counter the rise of socialism [...] Yet the United States must also stress the advantages of capitalism and democracy to win "a war of ideas" in the region, he said.

[...]

[McCain] said the Iraq war "has diverted attention from our hemisphere and we have paid a penalty for that" in the form of a growing leftism.

  Raw Story article

A war of ideas. I guess it goes pretty well with terror wars, come to think of it.

Apparently "leftism" is on McCain's hitlist should he become president. I like how he associates capitalism with democracy as though socialism can't be democratic.

Get the point: the Iraq Invasion is a diversion from the threat in our own hemisphere. Apparently the threat of socialism is even greater than the threat of WMD. Who knew?

I just watched a video of the Joseph McCarthy-Army hearings before the Senate (Point of Order). Are we going there again?

The more I read about McCain, the slimier - or maybe nutser - he seems. And if the Democrats insist on foisting Hillary Clinton on us, I have no doubt McCain would beat her hands down, no matter how great public intolerance of the current GOP administration grows.

By the way, not too long ago I watched the excellent Good Night, and Good Luck. If you haven't already seen it, do yourself a favor. You'll get to see what a real reporter (Edward R. Murrow) is like.

And, if you want to see some more real reporting - particularly war reporting - there's a nice clip of Morley Safer in Viet Nam (the burning of Cam Ne) in the Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan, No Direction Home. Another video I highly recommend, as much for its clips of the U.S. scene in the late 50s, early 60s, as for anything else, including some great music by artists who influenced Dylan. I actually bought the DVD, even though I am not a big Dylan fan, his brilliance notwithstanding, and rarely buy DVDs - I only own two others.

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Back on topic....closely related to the war on ideas....

Silenced

After questioning a Republican congressmember's "decency" for seeking to restrict housing reconstruction funds for Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims, a Democratic Representative was barred Wednesday from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

[...]

"He wants to punish [towns affected by Katrina] for mistakes of the Bush administration," said Rep. Taylor. "Mr. Price, I wish you'd have the decency, if you're going to do that to the people of south Mississippi, that maybe you ought to come visit south Mississippi, and see what has happened, before you hold them to a standard you would never hold your own people to, and that you fail to hold the Bush administration to."

Price immediately asked that Taylor's remarks be stricken from the record, which the Chair at the time agreed to. Taylor was then barred from speaking on the House floor for the remainder of the day.

  Raw Story article

[...]

Littig explained that criticizing Price's "decency" on the House floor had gone too far according to the body's rules of procedure. [...] [H]e should have used the word "courtesy" instead of "decency."

Oh, yeah. Huge difference. And I say, lock 'im up next time he says something like that. A veritable incitement to violence. No...no...it's the equivalent of a physical attack.

You must not question a Congressmember's "decency". Actually, "Congressmember" sounds a little indecent to my ear.

....and hey, do what you want....you will anyway.