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A Better America - America Can Be Better
* A better America – My state of Pennsylvania will hold the next major Democratic primary. The following are issues I would like to see the presidential candidates address and adopt:
~Develop a plan to end our military involvement in Iraq that allows for anti-terrorist missions and training of Iraqi forces.~Develop a multi-national plan to remove bin Laden and al Qaeda from Pakistan and this planet.
~Re-affirm the separation of church and state and pledge to remove the religious right biases that have been insinuated throughout the federal government.
~Establish a task force to create a multi-disciplined approach to reduce the human influence on global warming.~Establish a task force to suggest legislation that will re-establish a system of checks and balances for the 3 branches of our federal government. A unitary presidency does not serve the interests of a democracy.
~Develop a plan to re-build the infrastructure of the U.S. that will also create much-needed jobs.
~Establish a task force to recommend legislation and regulation of the corporate and financial community and suggest incentives for corporations to invest in American production and technology. Safe and fair working conditions, safe products and energizing America’s research and productive capabilities should be part of this plan.
(Click Read More for the rest of this post)
~Develop a comprehensive immigration plan that will prevent the influx of illegal immigrants and resolve the status of the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants already in this country.
~Address the undue influence of lobbyists and special interests on politicians by developing legislation for the public financing of elections and meaningful ethics rules and oversight of congress.
~Establish a task force to address the costs of health care, caps on medical liability, oversight of insurers and physical and mental health coverage for all U.S. citizens.
~Develop a plan to ensure comprehensive and long-term physical and mental care for wounded military personnel.
* America can be better – From many perspectives we are a country where individuals have stopped caring about each other. The above subjects I would like to see addressed by our leaders in most cases result from an abandonment of the common good. It is not a call for socialism but a sense that for profit interests cannot go unchecked. It is not a call for the takeover of free enterprise but an understanding that the structure of an economy within a democracy should provide opportunities for a work and labor force versus domination of that resource to the benefit of a few. It is an understanding that greed unchecked in any segment of our society leads to majority failure. It is the realization that a government unchecked leads to domination by a few and the loss of freedoms. It is a lesson that unprovoked war leads to consequences present and yet to be encountered. It is a reminder that one of the very basic elements of our Constitution, the separation of church and state, is weakened by allowing a particular sect to influence the policies of government. We spend more energy telling others what to think and how to live their lives than embracing concern for the quality of each other’s lives. America has been and can once again be better. The overriding challenge we face in the 232nd year of our country’s existence is finding the leadership that can correct our errors before they become permanent failures.
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The Progressive Brain for the Progressively Minded
PSB, vol. I, no. 1, Monday, March 24, 2008 (updated every Monday morning)
The Progressive Strategy Brain (PSB) is a visual and dynamic map that links over 4000 entries to show the complexity of progressive strategy and politics. PSB not only collects the dots, it connects the dots.
Welcome to PSB, which is part of the Progressive Strategy Studies Project (http://www.comw.org/pssp/index.html). PSB provides a visual organization and map of the universe of American progressive strategy within the broader context of progressive politics. It includes, but is not limited to, individuals, organizations, issues, concepts, and ideas. Over time, it will grow into an increasingly comprehensive archive. Its purpose is to give a better orientation, a better sense of this terrain. Needless to say, the map is not the territory, but a selective abstraction thereof.
This is only the first version of PSB. Just like progressive strategy itself, it is still very much a work in progress, with all the shortcomings but also with all the potential that comes with it. As such, in many ways PSB still is a skeleton, and a rather incomplete one at that. It still lacks quite some substance. It is a first sketch that includes important reference points, but many gaps still need to be filled in.
We sincerely hope you will help us with your suggestions. Our ultimate goal is to make PSB the leading reference for progressive strategy.
We are very interested in your responses, criticisms, and suggestions.
Please e-mail us at: wbrauner@comw.org
^Now THAT ^ is some kewwelll software. It's a wiki with dimension.
The Brain software concepts/advantages:
Think More Clearly
Enables you to link items associatively Provides information context and meaning Uses an intuitive visual interfaceWork More Effectively
Interacts with your existing files and software Locates data faster and easier Eliminates the confusion of files and folders Reduces irrelevant information Creates networks of information effortlesslyNavigate More Efficiently
Instant search takes you to the right information immediately Organizes files and Web pages by concept and idea Past thought list lets you backtrack and see your train of thought
Most Israelis gave up after the failure of the Oslo Accords:
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP) was a milestone in Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was the first direct, face-to-face agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
It was the first time that the Palestinians publicly acknowledged Israel's right to exist.
It was also a framework for the future relations between Israel and the anticipated State of Palestine, when all outstanding final status issues between the two states would be addressed and resolved in one Package Agreement.
The momentum towards peaceful relations between Israel and the Palestinians as demonstrated by the signing of the Oslo Accords has been seriously jolted with the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000. Further strain was put on the process after Hamas came into power as a result of the 2006 Palestinian elections. Although offering Israel a number of longterm ceasefires and accepting the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, Hamas has repeatedly refused to officially recognise Israel,[1]
Hamas has even renounced the Oslo Accords themselves, while at the same time claiming the benefits gained by the Palestinians from the Accords.
ON "This Week"
Lieberman says McCain is most like Kennedy. The next thing he'll be telling us is that Pat Robertson is part Jewish.
lindab.....HILARIOUS!!!
5.
*** cChalfonte***
Sun, 03/30/08
The momentum towards peaceful relations between Israel and the Palestinians as demonstrated by the signing of the Oslo Accords has been seriously jolted with the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000... Hamas has repeatedly refused to officially recognise Israel,[1]
======================
The end of Oslo began with Netanyahu and his followers coming into power after the death of Rabin.
"If Peres was a dreamer, Netanyahu was a destroyer of dreams. Netanyahu was a proponent of the Revisionist Zionist program of the undivided Land of Israel, not of peaceful coexistence with Palestinians in this land. He rejected the Oslo accords and contributed to the incitement against the democratically elected government that culminated in the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin..."
Shlaim, The Iron Wall p.600
Lieberman says McCain is most like Kennedy.
Is that anything like "if Bush is a Christian, then I'm the Virgin Mary!!!" :o)
6.
*** cChalfonte***
Sun, 03/30/08
Hamas has even renounced the Oslo Accords themselves, while at the same time claiming the benefits gained by the Palestinians from the Accords.
===================
The Oslo accords, "The Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements" was essentially an agenda for negotiations, governed by a tight timetable, rather than a full-blown agreement.....
"The Declaration" was completely silent on such vital issues such as the right of return of the 1948 refugees, the border of the Palestinian entity, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and Gaza, and the status of Jerusalem..."
-Shlaim, The Iron Wall, p.516
Renounce terrorism and recognize Israel. That's the baseline.
on Avi Shlaim:
There is indeed a mountain of scholarship in this book, but historiograpy is neither neutral nor value free.
In my opinion, the text tends to divide the cast in the Middle East too conveniently into white hats, the Arab regimes, and black hats, the Israeli political establishment. It goes without saying that such texts will evoke passions and partisanship in colourful measures.
Benny Morris, in Righteous Victims raised a point that readers of Shlaim should ponder upon.
When he, Morris,was assembling his materials and sources, he was struck by the cornucopia of material available from the Israelis but the paucity available from Arab sources.
Now I ask you, on which side does the Iron Wall really exist?
"The Declaration" was completely silent on such vital issues such as the right of return of the 1948 refugees, the border of the Palestinian entity, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and Gaza, and the status of Jerusalem..."=========
Renounce terrorism and recognize Israel's right to exist.....that's the baseline.
"Shlaim's writing stems from a political agenda that is hostile to Israel, which is typical of the "new historians," rather than from an objective examination of the Israeli narrative. The following story will testify to the nature of Shlaim's attitude toward Israel. A few years ago he, together with Eugene L. Rogan, published the book "The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948." In the foreword to the book, Shlaim dared to write something to the effect of the following:
In the Middle East, as in other places, history plays a fundamental role in the building of a state, in granting legitimacy to its authority and to its political system. Governments in the region impose direct and indirect authority on the writing of history. The state controls the preparation of history textbooks for the elementary and high schools. The state runs the vast majority of the universities in the Middle East, and the members of their faculties are civil servants. National history associations and government publishing houses serve as filters whose job is to uproot impermissible historical descriptions, and to convince people of the truths that the state is interested in promoting.
Since advancement in the academic establishment is closely related to adhering to the official line, historians are only barely motivated by the desire to engage in critical historical writing. Instead, the vast majority of Arab and Israeli historians have written and are writing in an uncritical nationalistic spirit.
*** cChalfonte***
Sun, 03/30/08
Reply to this
Hamas has even renounced the Oslo Accords themselves, while at the same time claiming the benefits gained by the Palestinians from the Accords.
Of course most here, most often Mike and Fred fully support Hamas and their goals as the duly elected representative of the Palestinian people. They see the Jews as interlopers and invaders in the land they have lived in for more than 2,000 years. Amazing.
The Israeli reader cannot help but react with astonishment to these lies [the writings of Avi Shlaim} regarding Israel. This entire description is of course valid in relation to the Arab countries, but in Israel the situation is the opposite:
The government does not run the universities, their faculty members are not civil servants and their advancement is not dependent on their writing according to the wishes of the government.
A failure to distinguish between the situation here and what is happening in the Arab countries is strong evidence of Shlaim's willingness to use lies and invective as long as he can achieve his goal, which is to denigrate Israel.
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5658157.html - 15 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this Mohammed Khatib, "Separate But Unequal in Palestine: The Road to
14. Fox Mulder
Sun, 03/30/08
-------------------------
6.*** cChalfonte***
Hamas has even renounced the Oslo Accords themselves, while at the same time claiming the benefits gained by the Palestinians from the Accords.
---------------------------
Of course most here, most often Mike and Fred fully support Hamas and their goals as the duly elected representative of the Palestinian people. They see the Jews as interlopers and invaders
===================
Of course, Mike and I don't need Fox Mulder's obnoxious distortions to explain our positions. We can speak for ourselves, thank you. And we do not speak for Hamas.
But on subject, it would be nice if you or cC would explain what are these "benefits" to Palestinians, to which you patronizingly allude, but fail to identify or explain.
www.theage.com.au/news/world/court-accepts-palestinianonly-roads/2008/03/28/1206207408190.html - Similar pages - Note this
We all have a right to exist, including Palestinians and Hamas, which was elected.
If Israel has the right to exist, so does Palestine.
now gone.
no, not quite gone.
JEWS-ONLY ROADS IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE: PEDESTRIAN APARTHEIDAli Abu Safia, mayor of this Palestinian village, steers his car up one potholed road, then another, finding each exit blocked by huge concrete chunks placed there by the Israeli Army. On a sleek highway 100 yards away, Israeli cars whiz by.“They took our land to build this road, and now we can’t even use it,” Mr. Abu Safia says bitterly, pointing to the highway with one hand as he drives with the other. “Israel says it is because of security. But it’s politics.”
The object of Mr. Abu Safia’s contempt — Highway 443, a major access road to Jerusalem — has taken on special significance in the grinding Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For the first time, the Supreme Court, albeit in an interim decision, has accepted the idea of separate roads for Palestinians in the occupied areas.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel told the Supreme Court that what was happening on the highway could be the onset of legal apartheid in the West Bank — a charge that makes many Israelis recoil.
Built largely on private Palestinian land, the road was first challenged in the Supreme Court in the early 1980s when the justices, in a landmark ruling, permitted it to be built because the army said its primary function was to serve the local Palestinians, not Israeli commuters. In recent years, in the wake of stone-throwing and several drive-by shootings, Israel has blocked Palestinians’ access to the road.
This month, as some 40,000 Israeli cars — and almost no Palestinians — use it daily, the court handed down its decision, one that has engendered much legal and political hand-wringing.
Does Israel subscribe to the principle of equality?
Occupiers generally don't. US Forces in Iraq, for example, do not act as if Iraqis have rights equal to their own. Why else to we force them to go through check points and show ID on demand?
Of course most here, most often Mike and Fred fully support Hamas and their goals as the duly elected representative of the Palestinian people. ===========
Fox, it is not true that "most" here support Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. It is true that a very small but vocal minority support them.
They see the Jews as interlopers and invaders in the land they have lived in for more than 2,000 years. Amazing.===========
The US was the first to recognize the State of Israel--Harry Truman.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the historic Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on September 28, 1995, in Washington, D.C.. The agreement, witnessed by President Bill Clinton on behalf of the United States and by Russia, Egypt, Norway, and the European Union, incorporates and supersedes the previous agreements and marked the conclusion of the first stage of negotiations between Israel and the PLO.
The agreement allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted autonomy to the Palestinians with talks to follow regarding final status. In return the Palestinians recognized Israel's right to exist and promised to abstain from use of terror.
However the agreement was opposed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions which launched suicide bomber attacks at Israel. Rabin had a barrier constructed round Gaza to prevent attacks.
From a school friend of Avi (Abe) Shlaim...friends since their teen years:
We played the same sports, did the same subjects, and usually went home together.
This went on for three years! From the first day I knew him it was obvious that Abe absolutely HATED Israel. His family, well-to-do in Iraq, but forced out by the Baathist regime (so he said) were now just another family of Mizrahim, Sephardic Jews, in Israel, where, truth be told, they were never the equals of the Ashkenazim.
But Abe never blamed Iraqi politics for this demeaning drop in status; he blamed the establishment of the State of Israel!
The argument then, as now, being that if Israel did not exist then there would have been no massive disinterrment of Jews from the Arab countries, where they had lived in Dhimmi peace, but in peace, for centuries.
Sun, 03/30/08
But on subject, it would be nice if you or cC would explain what are these "benefits" to Palestinians, to which you patronizingly allude, but fail to identify or explain
Would it matter, the answer is always the same, Isreal is evil and heavy handed and the terrorist, errr Hamas, are just rock throwing youths that you feel are as pure as the wind driven snow. Any argument, same response, month after month. Palestinians=good, fair, open to peace. Isreal=evil, murderous, jews. That is the sum of every one of your arguments.
Printable version Israel to cut W Bank roadblocks Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to a series of "concrete steps" to ease Palestinians' lives in the West Bank, US officials have said.
Israel has pledged to remove about 50 roadblocks in the West Bank, while the Palestinians have pledged to step up their efforts to "prevent terror".
In August, 1993, the Israeli and Palestinian chief negotiators initialed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (DOP) in Oslo. President William J. Clinton subsequently hosted a formal signing ceremony in Washington on September 13, 1993, at which Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat shook hands.
The Oslo Accords were a pivotal milestone in Israeli-Palestinian relations, aimed at propelling the peace process forward and providing for the expansion of Palestinian self-rule throughout most of the West Bank. Along with the DOP, the agreement included Letters of Mutual Recognition in which the PLO recognized the existence of the State of Israel and Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
Under the DOP, Israel committed itself to withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and acknowledged the Palestinian right to self government in those territories under a Palestinian Authority.
from Burlington... with love! (it might be too clear for much of a sunset tonight, but... ya never know)
Fox Mulder
Sun, 03/30/08
Reply to this
... Any argument, same response, month after month. Palestinians=good, fair, open to peace. Isreal=evil, murderous, jews. That is the sum of every one of your arguments
=============
That's bullshit, Fox and you know it,
but if you were a Palestinian living in the West Bank, Gaza, or as an Israeli citizen, you might well feel that way yourself. One only has to observe the conditions and humiliation they endure, in their own ancestral land, to understand why.
You are the kind of person that would have said I "went Injun" or would have called me a "nigger lover" at one time in this country.
E-mail this to a friend Printable version Baghdad on edge as curfew bites By Adam Brookes BBC News, Baghdad
And that staple of Iraqi cooking, chicken, is getting harder to come by.
In supermarkets closed by the curfew many frozen chickens have spoiled. The freezers have not been running because nobody was there to turn on the generators when the power supply cut out - as it does several times a day.
Electricity shortages plague Baghdad at the best of times. Now people are unable to drive to petrol stations to fill jerry cans for generators. Even if they made it to the petrol station they would find that petrol supplies are running low.
Feeling the heat
Those who would normally work complain they are stuck at home, listening to long discussions between neighbours of the rights and wrongs of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's confrontation with the militias.
They are following events on television, when the electricity supply allows.
Baghdad is getting hotter. The spring temperatures are already into the nineties. The city's paralysed.
Despite the curfew, another rocket has just crashed into the Green Zone. The American alarms are echoing across the Tigris river. And the power has cut out again.
Just a week ago, in odd moments, Baghdad felt like something resembling a normal city. Those moments now feel very far away indeed.
Printable version
A primary goal of Oslo, fred, was to create a framework from which Palestinian statehood could be achieved.
Again, the baseline requirement was the recognition of Israel and the renunciation of terrorism.
The PLO couldn't meet the baseline....still can't:
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” sent the same message to those who understand the history and geography of the Middle East. The river referenced here is the Jordan and the sea is the Mediterranean, both of which demarcate the outer borders of Israel.
This chant asserts that ‘Palestine will be free from the river to the sea’, leaving unsaid, but obvious, that this will happen when Israel is destroyed. Both messages clearly advocate Israel’s destruction, not peace or co-existence.
From Hezbollah, or "the Hez", as fred lovingly refers to them:
Hezbollah is a recognized terrorist group, which has been condemned even by Saudi Arabia.
The Arabic chant translated from numerous Hamas, Hezbollah rallies:
“With our soul, with our blood, we will sacrifice for Palestine.”
“Not suicide bombers. Not homicide bombers. Not murderers. They are martyrs in the highest part of heaven.”
but if you were a Palestinian living in the West Bank, Gaza, or as an Israeli citizen, ====
when were you last there, fred?
Does Israel subscribe to the principle of equality? =====
Yes. However, you can't expect them to cooperate with Palestinian Statehood when the baseline is not met.
FRED from Ashland OR
You belittle and demean the only Jewish state in the entire world day after day, month after month, and I call you on it and your response is that I am the one who is prejudiced???? Man look in the mirror.
The only thing for certain with zealots is that they are unable to see their own prejudices. And you sir are a zealot on this issue.
Just popping in on my way to nap, and know that I must address some of the things that others have been playing badminton with in reference to my blog personality.
Nothing matters, and so what if it did?!
But then again, you're all correct to some extent. And I am not about to go into each comment nor the proportion to which any one might accurate (or off base with a little tinsy-winsy bit of truth)
But to *rdorgan, yes I am difficult to understand - sometimes because of the nature of Internet communication and sometimes because I struggle.
TTFN as I need a nap to aide my recovery from yoga and lunch.
Oh, and no one (you know who you are) needs to jump me or give me a blanket party. Or do what you've done to Oler and/or any soul near your personal threshold of ideological distaste.
Ta-ta FN.
Hope that made some sense.
I for one remember them dancing in the streets on 9-11 by noon ET that day. I know who are the friends of this country and its ideals and who it not.
36.Fox Mulder
Sun, 03/30/08
I for one remember them dancing in the streets on 9-11 by noon ET that day. I know who are the friends of this country and its ideals and who it not....
===============
What does that tell us about our foreign policy?
These photos portrayed the people in them and not ALL Arabs. The Iranians were marching against 911 in the streets, but you choose to ignore that.
FRED from Ashland OR
Sun, 03/30/08
Reply to this
36.Fox Mulder
Sun, 03/30/08
I for one remember them dancing in the streets on 9-11 by noon ET that day. I know who are the friends of this country and its ideals and who it not....
===============
What does that tell us about our foreign policy?
WELLLL Fred,
It told me we had not been effective in eliminating a hatred of this country that would lead to cheering the death of 3,000 civilians in NY and Washington And these are people you support. Draw you own conclusions on your alliances. I will stand with those fighting these murderers. You stick with your friends dancing in the streets and we will each call it good.
hugs/kisses mmwa, mmwa, Paine. {{tossing blankets}}
j/k....I don't really even know what a blanket party is:)
What does that tell us about our foreign policy?=====
Some folks will always hate us.
These photos portrayed the people in them and not ALL Arabs. The Iranians were marching against 911 in the streets, but you choose to ignore that.======
The footage that I recall seeing was that of Palestinians....shouting for glee.
I believe it was Egypt/Jordan marching in our favor....not Iran.
watch history, watch john adams tonite. It is also archived on hbo "on demand" if you missed the first three episodes.
are we allowed to use profanity on this blog in it's entirety, that's crap.
35. Fox Mulder
Sun, 03/30/08
You belittle and demean the only Jewish state in the entire world day after day
==============
I demean bad things people do, whether they are Jewish, Christian or Moslem, or Atheist, and whatever their genes are.
...but I do believe there will be no peace as long as Israel tries to maintain ethnic and religious purity or hegemony, that is an ethnocracy or theocracy.
Jewish people don't need a "Jewish State" any more than Christians need a "Christian State" or Moslems need a "State of Islam" - I object to all. The difference being that with Israel, we support such a State.
If Israel were peaceful and a land of all its people, with total equality and entitlement for all cultures, there would be more Jewish immigration faster than the Arabs could have babies, but trying to maintain the "Democracy for Jews only" is what keeps the cycle of violence going, and keeps the State of Israel from growing and prospering.
The only arrangement acceptable to the right wing there, with regard to giving up the West Bank, would be to deport all the Arab Israeli citizens to the West Bank.
Hell, I might move there myself, if I could afford the skyrocketing real estate.
are we allowed to use profanity on this blog in it's entirety, that's crap.
Don't you mean that is cr..!
If Israel were peaceful and a land of all its people, with total equality and entitlement for all cultures, there would be more Jewish immigration faster than the Arabs could have babies,
So all those terrorist would become lovely neighbors and peaceful citizens that you would run into at the Mall and you could discuss soccer scores and the kids parent teacher conference with??? Yeah right.
35.Fox Mulder
Sun, 03/30/08
The only thing for certain with zealots is that they are unable to see their own prejudices. And you sir are a zealot on this issue
==================
"Zealot" is your warped perception. I have labored strenuously continuous to find all the facts on this subject in an unbiased manner. My conclusions are usually not what the media, and our biased institution portray. That does not make me a "zealot" - but one who calls me that may be a zealot.
Jewish people don't need a "Jewish State"=====
Everybody gets to have an opinion. Thx for yours:) There is indeed a jewish state....It's called Israel...since 1948. Not going away.
any more than Christians need a "Christian State" or Moslems need a "State of Islam" - I object to all. =====
again, you get to have an opinion...to your benefit to understand that the State of Israel stands whether you like or not. Just a fact, fred.
The Palestinian people claim to want their own statehood....yet they are unwilling to recognize Israel and renounce terrorism.....two requirements that must be met before they can be considered into the family of nations.
38.
Fox Mulder
Sun, 03/30/08
WELLLL Fred,
It told me we had not been effective in eliminating a hatred of this country that would lead to cheering the death of 3,000 civilians in NY and Washington And these are people you support.
==================
Wrong.
I support good people and fair play - regardless of what their religion or ethnic backround is. There are good and bad Jews and Moslem.
Your problem is you see only good Jews and only bad Moslems. Unfortunately our foreign policy is one-sided as well. I see good and bad in both sides. And I don't believe either side is justified with violence.
The Israelis have nice uniforms state-the-art weaponry. The Arabs have suicide bombers. I don't see one as any better than the other.
I see that cC is hewing to the Likud line on the Middle East.
As I've noted before, none of my Jewish friends supports the current Apartheid regime in Israel--nor do they support the "Lebensraum"
-
By Phil Specht on Mar 30, 2008 1:06 PM EDTHoward Dean is first.