« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »
August 31, 2006
How FAKE is Burning Man. . .
This is going to take a while, and you still might not get it. . .my apologies in advance if this is the case.
Oh what has become of my beloved Burning Man. Ok, for starters, that's a bit much, even for me. So let's back up.
I've been to a couple of Burning Man celebrations in the Nevada desert. People who are familiar with me generally find this to be a shock. The festival is a moonbat carnival to most people, it's really not, but that's what people portray it as. Let me be straight though, Burning Man IS a moonbat carnival, it's a hippy freak show, it's a bunch of leftist morons sitting in the desert talking about how great Communism is. It's about raw unadulterated sex and violence, it's about free-love and all that jazz.
Burning Man is a lot of other things also. It's about showing up in the middle of nowhere and creating a city, on the fly, on demand. It's also about destroying that city and dancing around it in glee as it burns. It's an oxymoron wrapped in an enigma obscured by camouflage. In short, it's great fun.
Some people have called Burning Man "Mardi Gras on steroids." Let me assure you it's not. It is, but it's not. The night of the burn is like "Mardi Gras on steroids with some blotter acid and an IV drip of tequila". I could talk about the Burn night, but that's not the intent of this post.
The "Community of Burning Man" is a special thing. It's spontaneous, friendly, open, loving and accepting. It's also EXTREMELY judgmental if you're. . . say . . . religious (but only mainstream religion, trying to organize a traditional Canonical Catholic service wouldn't make you any friends, but a hippy dippy worship ceremony with actors playing out the Moon and Sun having intercourse will get you lots of play from the "spiritual" among Burners.) Religion is just one example, if you were to seriously show up with a Pro-Bush, Pro-War or Pro-Israel viewpoint, you'd also most likely be ostracized if you admitted so publically or loudly. Likewise if you had anti-homosexual viewpoints, or a number of other views. Burning Man is tolerant, but it's also intolerant.
Personally, I love Burning Man, I don't agree with half the things other people there do or say, but as I look at, they don't agree with half of the things I do or say too, so it balances. I can say so many horrible things about Burners, each paired with a great thing. It's a brief glimpse of a "possibility for Community" that I can certainly agree with and accept. I could live in a year round Burning Man, I would probably be successful and thrive while generally being pretty happy.
95%+ of Americans and 99%+ of other inhabitants could most certainly not write that above paragraph and mean it.
Burning Man is an ideal living set, it's a fantasy land where there is virtually no crime, no personal property, no income, no expenses, a barter economy based on gifting rather than trading, environmentally friendly (apart from the massive burning destruction at the end of course), tolerant, safe, secure and a haven for personal liberty.
Simply put, most human beings can't handle that. That's not an insult, it's just an examination of reality. Most humans want and need a sense of structure and order, they need to know that there is a "safety net" of public infrastructure (non-Westernized nations less so), they need to know that their personal property and security of person is protected by an organized and capable force. They need to know that the mail will come, not because someone has created a cool art project and is playing mailman, they need to know that the mail will come regardless of whether or not the artist continues his personal commitment. Most need to know that there will be oversight of public eating facilities, clean potable water, etc etc etc. Burning Man delivers all these things, so to the supporter of Burning Man, they may not understand what I'm saying, BUT, at Burning Man, these things are FAKE, they are an illusion. Yeah, there's WiFi now at Burning Man, but it's not economically stable, it couldn't support a society. There's mail at Burning Man, but you couldn't trust it for commerce. There's so so much to see and do and touch and feel and play with and jump on and roll in and more, that Burning Man FEELS real. It FEELS like something you could get behind and support as a "lifestyle".
Alas dear reader, it's FAKE, completely FAKE.
Fake people, doing fake things, creating fake art, in a fake city. It seems real when you're wrapped up in the moment, but in reality, it's just a "vacation", it's not real, and it can't be real, because if it were real, you'd have to support it. For it to be real, people would have to make more of a commitment to it than taking a week off from work and spending evenings and weekends creating costumes.
There are some truly REAL people at Burning Man. In fact I'd suggest that almost all are REAL people. People who deep down realize that they are on vacation, at a great party, and as such, they are generally disposed to good behavior, having fun and not harshing their own or others vibe. That's what makes Burning Man fun, meeting these REAL people in a wholly UNREAL world. That's what makes something in your head click when you pass through the gates (or begin to pick up random CB signals if you've chosen to drive in across the dry lakebed from the East). That click is the "disconnect from reality", you're in the world of Burning Man now. Things are different.
Burning Man truly is a great experience, it's impossible to describe Burning Man in short form. Countless books and DVD's have been devoted to documenting and exploring what Burning Man is. None of them are right, they are just various perspectives offering a view of varying broadness, never encompassing the whole.
I highly recommend the event if you are of the philosophical worldview to "handle" it. To enjoy Burning Man you have to be able to rationally disconnect the two worlds, if you try to bridge them you will fail and only diminish the experience. You have to accept that the world of Burning Man is ordered chaos with outbreaks of Fascism and Anarchy, there is no law, although sometimes there is, and there is order, although sometimes there isn't. If you can "accept" this, if you "roll with it", and you can realize that it's FAKE. You can have a great time.
So I hope I've giving some of you a perspective on Burning Man. So let’s just shift gears here for a second and laugh at just "How FAKE is Burning Man. . . "
The Burners like to think of themselves (as a group) as being generally leftist/Democratic/Progressive in orientation. There are certainly exceptions, this is Burning Man after all. The "collective" of Burning Man embraces many environmentalist concepts and carries them off quite well. The event encourages it's attendees to use environmentally friendly products and to leave no trace (camping lingo: meaning to take everything you bring with you when you leave and leave the environment in as close to the same condition as you found it). There are groups that attend to assist with recycling and green cooking. The event puts a premium on being kind to the Earth and you're bombarded with environmentalist messages throughout. It's is after all a moonbat carnival, a "progressives" party.
Never mind that at the end a significant portion of the content of the event itself is set ablaze to burn unmitigated sending tons upon tons of unmitigated pollution into the atmosphere. Personally, I think it's a sacrifice on the altar of the cult of global warming, but that's another issue.
For years, they've been trying to mitigate this obvious hypocrisy between the conscious of a super-majority of attendees and their actions in burning tons upon tons of wood, paint, plastic, fabrics and other items in the open air.
But finally folks, today, that's all changed:
A group of "scientists" have "created" a way for the Burners to mitigate their destruction of the environment. Burners can now "buy credits" to compensate for their pollution.
Yes, now for just $5, you can burn away to your hearts content. Because someone in the background is going to mitigate your personal pollution, which you are creating just so you can have the joy of burning it.
What's the first project they will fund with the Burners money?
A windmill to provide power for a Native American casino.
See, I told you it was all FAKE.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 3:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 29, 2006
Mind changing. . .
I just spent a little over two hours rummaging through The Korea Liberator.
For so many years, the United States has been the all-purpose (a) benefactor, (b) defender, and (c) scapegoat that has protected an economically strong, yet politically immature nation from making sound security decisions against a background of the hard reality that surrounds it. With a new presidential election coming, the best thing the United States could do for its own long-term interests would be to help Korean voters perceive those realities and the interests they realistically share with the United States. If Korean voters are capable of perceiving those interests, they will elect responsible statesmen who will sit down with U.S. defense planners to draw up an updated plan for an alliance that fits modern realities. If not, what makes sense won’t matter, and political pressures for a total U.S. withdrawal and a complete abrogation of the alliance will reach tipping points in both the United States and Korea.
Read the whole thing, then take some time and look around for yourself. I had alot of pre-conceived ideas about Korea (North and South) challenged, and some scary possibilities confirmed. I'm adding it to the blogroll if you can't get to it today. It's a link I don't want to misplace, and will certainly visit again, and again.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 9:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
These people are nuts, but it's OK. . .
Because we get to make fun of them.
If you're unfamiliar with Yisrayl Hawkins or the House of Yahweh, take a few minutes to click the links and find out about this cult o' nuts who believe that nuclear war has been prophesized and will begin on September 12th, 2006.
Now I won't go through all of their "back up" for their claims, I'll leave that to you, but I will post this very informative video about the cult of the House of Yahweh and let you see for yourself.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:43 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 28, 2006
Revisiting Katrina. . .
I was going to put up a bunch more pictures and video taken after the storm and from my subsequent trips to New Orleans (click for the Katrina archive), but I found something much more important for you, so I ask you give the time you would have allotted to me to Wizbang.
So head on over:
The Katrina Video Congress Didn't Want You To See
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 7:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
More required viewing. . .
Over at Gateway Pundit, some excellent must see video and must read coverage "When UN ambulances attack!"
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 1:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 27, 2006
Steve and Olaf freed. . .
Fox news, they've got Shep up early this AM, has announced that their two reporters, Steve Centani and Olaf Wiig have been released. I guess I can take a deep breath after that last post.
Nah, I'm still gonna let that all stand.
Apparently they "converted to Islam". It'll be interesting to hear what Centani reports after this.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 5:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 25, 2006
Ok, so I'll lighten up a bit. . .
Most of the recent posts have been heavy handed, I haven't injected enough reason to have the blog URL passed around and dump bandwidth for no reason lately. So let's do that.
The folks at HowItShouldHaveEnded.com produce some really funny stuff. Their newest work is this one on how Superman - The Movie should have ended.
But this is my fave, partly because I'm a huge Star Wars fan (I'm not into the Expanded Universe or anything like that, although I did play Star Wars Galaxies for a while.) and partly because I feel that this is actually how the movie should have ended.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 3:24 PM
Required viewing. . .
Given my last post, I thought I'd just add this. Hezbollah, great with the kids, aren't they?
H/T to Wild Thing
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 2:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Personally. . .(A rant)
I'm tired of this kidnapping crap. They need to release the FOX News journalists immediately, or any and all compassion I have for the people that live in that region of the world (i.e. the true "civilians") is about to evaporate.
Let me put it this way. If there were an abduction of two journalists by a "previously unknown militant group" essentially a brand new "terrorist" group in Birmingham, AL, you can bet dollars to donuts that every policeman, firefighter, FBI agent, even national guard elements would be combing the city damn near door to door.
BUT. . . They would also be joined by literally thousands of citizens who would pound the pavement themselves. Community Groups would mobilize, and every stone would be turned.
The Gaza is an anarchistic proto-state, two rival terrorist organizations, who's only governing principle is to throw cash down to the people to buy their acquiescence (despite the fact they have very little to buy) who have got themselves stuck between a rival upstart group and Israel and the U.S. breathing down their neck. They have no structures in place that would even allow them to begin conducting a door to door search, or even have the possibility of being able to manage it. Or do they????? They certainly have the forces, don't they? They have some paper and some clipboards don't they? I'm sure they have a map?
The sad fact is that the Gaza government doesn't want to find these journalists, just as the Gaza government doesn't want to give up the Israeli soldiers. They NEED war, and they NEED it sooner rather than later. They need the threat of violence to control the civilian population and get them to endure all manner of injustice. They need war because it's the only thing their particular death cults find worthy. When you base a society on the concept that the greatest death possible, with the highest attainments in heaven achieved is by murdering infidels, these fools NEED war. We'd like to think they only need this in small doses, and we could practice containment on them, but the THEY includes more than just the Gaza and Lebanese groups, it's including Iran and Syria, and while Syria could sit by almost indefinately and play the containment game, Iran is under time pressure, Iran is trying to seize it's moment. The Iran power brokers need to make their play, do their part for greater Islam and take their place at the head of the Islamic Faith. They need war/murder/death to the infidels now, because they've reached a number of critical political evolutionary points, and they've made religious promises to get there.
Let's face it, if the Catholic Church based it's access to the top slots in heaven on murder, the Big C would have never gotten off the ground under the Romans. So it's basis was on something else, commitment to Jesus, who didn't run around lopping of heads in wars of conflict. Now look, this isn't a comparison of the two, I'm just pointing out that what you base your religion on forms the nature of your civilization.
Now it's debatable what Islam is based on, just as it's debatable what Catholicism is based on. Both Islam and Catholicism have their benefits and their faults. But there is a problem, and that problem is that Islam has had their faults rise to prominence within the faith and created monsters in the process.
If you are a Muslim man, you're most likely very rational and probably a good person, trying to live a good life and make the right decisions for yourself and your family to improve your lot as you race around through space on this big blue orb. If you are a Catholic man, you're most likely doing exactly the same.
Fanaticism is what we're talking about people. Yet this isn't the fanaticism of a small cult, it's the fanaticism of MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO GREATER ASPIRATION IN LIFE BUT MURDER. That's not a cult, it's a threat to civilization itself, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, it makes no matter, this fanaticism is a threat to civilization itself.
Iran's President (sorry, I'm not gonna go find the correct spelling and cut and paste it), is one of these fanatics, his aspiration is to get to heaven and receive his 72 virgins. He sees his martyrdom as a political one, he sees his martyrdom status as delivered by his very service to the creation of the Islamic caliphate, he'll get his crack at the top spot in heaven, and he knows it. That's an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS individual to have around. There is no way in Armie's mind that he can actually fail in his quest to battle the infidel, he's already locked in what he sees as mortal conflict. This is evidenced by his letter of late to George Bush calling Bush to Islam. Armie is engaging in what he sees as ritualized combat leading up to the actual show. His war has already begun and he is playing the role of omnipotent dictator in consult with the religious powers delivered in the personages of the Imams and Ayatollahs who remain the men behind the curtain. Who in a very real sense are even greater fanatics who are even deeper in psychosis than the "fighters on the streets" and the power-brokers/Political Sheiks like Armie.
So Iran needs war. Their fanaticism demands it, to deny the Muslim masses the ability to attain the top slots in heaven is a position these fanatics cannot back down from. Once you promise someone heaven, you can't take it away, when you promise paradise, and you're using religion to do so, you're stuck, you've either got to deliver or you've gotta go Jim Jones and pass out the Kool-Aid.
Hezbollah cannot stop their war against Israel. It's not about "land", it's about God, they are after all, the "Party of God" remember. Hamas cannot stop their war either, they cannot accept defeat, because they have generations of young Palestinian men who have been bred for a purpose, that purpose was to drive out Israel. Many of these young men believe that their own way to achieve a better life for themselves is to die in martyrdom and receive the gift of paradise from Allah. Come on people!!!! Can't you see the danger here. You basically have human predators being bred and created with all rational thought stripped away, all ability to question stripped away, you then cage these people in isolation from the rest of the world and you feed them a God-construct that demands that they blow themselves up (but only where their death can create the largest number of infidel casualties).
The absurdity of this situation is coming to a crest. We as a civilization are in some extremely dangerous straights right now. I think that the Mutual Assured Destruction of the Cold War was certainly a threat, and we minded our p's and q's to keep that eventuality off the table. BUT. . . there is no such fear on the part of Islamic Fanatics, contrarily, they have devised a quite logical and ingenious tactic. They have simply abandoned the need to care for the welfare of their people. They have turned their people into cannon fodder and send them to die without reservation about how many will survive the attack because all who are sent to attack are sent to die. They have abanoned the need to care for civilians, instead using them as human shields rather than create military defenses, simply place your machinegun nests or rocket launchers in civilian areas, use the humans above and around you as meat to absorb shrapnel and bullets. It's Ok, because if these civilians die, they died in the service of Allah against the infidel, and they will be martyrs for the cause, and achieve paradise.
Is this turning your stomach yet?
There will be no peace until this fanaticism is quite literally stamped out from within while pressure is put on it from without. If no pressure comes from within, from moderate Muslim communities, no amount of outside pressure will eradicate it, and that leaves only one solution for us infidels. If there isn't a change in the Muslim street in Gaza and Lebanon, which are both proxy acts for Iran and Syria, there is going to be a serious escalation in the Middle East, and when the other side provokes Israel by kidnapping soldiers in the north and the south, and they feel that they need to bump it up a notch by kidnapping Americans as well, there comes a point where you begin to say that you've had enough provocation, and it becomes time to open up the can of whoop-ass all the way.
We are using slightly less than 15% of our combat power in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have a number of pools to pull from if we need to. Without much effort, we could put 25% of our force in the middle east and escalate the violence to a point where much of the Middle East is charred sand and the population centers are significantly reordered.
We're approaching the point of all out war people. It's a war that is being forced upon us, it's a war we've consistently said we did not want, but would not shy from. This world war is against an ideology and those that would align itself with such an ideology, that ideology is Islamic Fascism and it's fast becoming, if not past, time to start calling this a World War and get busy with winning it.
Thanks for letting me rant.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:24 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 24, 2006
This is my "Gay Marriage" post. . .
NOTE: This post will be revised, revised again, and revised again, consider it my "position paper on Gay Marriage".
For the record: Gay Marriage, I'm strongly against it. However, I'm strongly supportive of civil unions.
I'm writing this post and creating an new category here because I think we've hit snag in the ongoing peace process that of late has been "gay marriage".
Here's the link "Straight woman seeks equality under gay-rights law: Unwed Redmond worker wants her male partner to receive health benefits".
Here's where the whole dealie-o which is the "gay marriage" debate will break down. Now for the record, I'm an unmarried heterosexual male atheist. I live in a committed relationship. I don't hold my opposition to gay marriage as proof of religious credentials, in fact, the religious aspect of marriage is completely immaterial to me. I could not care one whit about who buggers whom or how many penises or vaginas (or their ratios) are in a bedroom.
My arguments against gay marriage and for gay unions stem from purely sociological and economic concerns. It also speaks to the isolation of a sub-group of the body politic and grant them rights AS A SPECIFIC GROUP ONLY. Which I am strongly against, that is exactly what happened in the Washington case.
In Washington, employers were essentially forced to extend spousal benefits to homosexual couples, this benefit was DENIED to heterosexual couples. Now someone will come in and pop off and say that rights were extended to married couples, when this is simply NOT true.
What happened in this case is that an insurance company made a decision to sell their services to those that demonstrate an ability to enter into and live under a particular social construct. This social construct existed before the insurance company did and will probably exist after the insurance company is gone. Now the next thing that happend was that the employer bought said services on behalf of a subset of it's employees acting merely as an agent for said insurance company. All of this was extended as a benefit and a part of the employees compensation for labor delivered.
All of this is essentially part of the bargaining process you go into when you take a job with an employer.
NONE OF THE ABOVE CAN BE CONSIDERED A "RIGHT" IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.
Now what has happened in Washington state, is that "gay rights" activists have created and garnered support for and implemented a program where the government will interfere with the negotiations between employer and employee and force the employer to extend additional compensation to indivdiuals who have demonstrated to the company that the ONLY THING NECESSARY for them to receive this extra compensation is to engage in homosexual sex.
Yet, an employee who conversely has a heterosexual lifestyle, is not extended this particular "right" which is granted to those that engage in homosexual sex.
This is BEYOND ludicrous on so many levels.
So here's my take. Let homosexual couples enter into civil unions. In a few days I'm going to post a do-it-yourself kit for homosexual civil unions which will work in all 50 states. You'll get access to your loved ones if they agree to the civil union and they are hospitalized, you'll be able to show that you live a committed lifestyle to each other, and you'll get a nifty civil union certificate from my Church of Common Sense Interpretations.
What else exactly is it you want from society? NO, scratch that, what exactly is it you want from the government?
Do you want to file jointly? That's easy as pie, form yourself an LLC with your partner, dump all your wages into the LLC and all your partners wages into the LLC, then pay yourselves salaries and sell your labor to your employers via the LLC. BINGO, you're married as far as the IRS is concerned, in fact you get even better loopholes and deductions. So if it's a tax matter, stay tuned and I'll give you some more detailed instructions.
Do you want to have society "accept" your lifestyle? Sorry, but that's not the pervue of government, so stop with the hammering on the government to get it. The government does not dictate the whims of society, society dictates the whims of government and society isn't going to be legislated from the bench into accepting the gay lifestyle. That's something the gay lifestyle has to do, make friends with the rest of the world. Trying to do an end run and get the Government to tell churches what to do isn't going to fly. Granting yourself special rights is only going to make society reject you more. Getting the government into everyones bedroom is not the way to get the government OUT of yours.
So what is it that the "gay marriage" proponents really want from the government? It's pretty obvious that they want the government to do their social change for them, but that's not the function of a democracy. The people drive social change, it's not handed down from above.
I'm sure the keywords here will attract the trolls, and that's ok, because in their spitting anger they'll probably drop a few allusions to what it is they really want, and that's what I'm looking for. It's also why this post will evolve over time, for now, let's just poke the nest a bit.
--Jason
I'll come back to this post from time to time and ammend it as I put down my arguments supporting my position and defending arguments attacking it. I expect I'll use this post in the future as direction for readers seeking to find my absolute opinion on the matter. I'll use it to refute trolls or just send the link around as backup for my position on other forums, blogs, etc.
It's also the first post in a new category, so this will serve as the anchorpoint for keyword relevant searches.
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Look here MSM, stop with the armageddonist blather. . .
So I was going through my daily routine of hitting the bigger news sites looking for interesting stuff when THIS caught my eye.
Here, via Reuters, we have the alarmist report of a "Tropical Wave" heading for the Caribbean. Got that? A wave, not a tropical storm forming, not a hurricane about to ravage unsuspecting non-white people, but a wave.
Yes, yes, I know it's been a slow year for all those reporters who were banking on a heavy-weight hurricane season to pay for their new condos purchased with their bonuses for Katrina coverage, but to report on a TROPICAL WAVE, give me a goddam break people.
Look, I'll grant that a Tropical Wave is a somewhat important meteorological construct, and weather forcasters should pay attention to such a construct, but for al-Reuters to come out with a statement like:
"If the wave gets into the Gulf of Mexico, it could disrupt the U.S. oil and natural gas producing and refining facilities, damaged last year by hurricanes Katrina and Rita."
This statement is simply bullshit. IF the wave gets to the Gulf of Mexico, and IF conditions are right, a tropical depression MAY form, and IF conditions are correct, then a tropical storm MAY form from that, and IF conditions continue to be favorable for it, a hurricane MAY form, and finally, IF a hurricane forms, it MAY disrupt oil and gas facilities.
To try to elevate this Tropical Wave into the realm of imminent weather threat is simply alarmist and armageddonist blather from the MSM, it's what I could call a "most ridiculous" or "bottom story" of the day.
--Jason
PS This reminds me of the lunacy a few months back when "hurricane experts" were calling for the scale to go up to 6 for categories of cyclonic storms. Which in turn reminds me of the amplifier that goes to eleven.
-JC
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 22, 2006
Required Viewing. . .
I, a Muslim is a Czech documentary from a series called "infiltrator", it's runs about 30 minutes and is Czech with English subtitles. The documentary uses hidden cameras, microphones and a "potential convert" to Islam to enter Czechoslavakia's Muslim culture.
I believe the program speaks for itself. Watch it now, I'm sure it won't last long on the big public video servers.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 18, 2006
15 Years Ago Tomorrow. . .
The Soviet Union collapsed under it's own weight, helped along with a shove from one of our nation's greatest Presidents, Ronald Wilson Reagan.
To many, including me, the collapse of the Soviet Union proved the fatal flaws of Communism. The Soviet directed economy was unable to react to local economic crisis and unable to find efficient ways of distributing resources. The simple fact that after decades of Soviet rule, the Communist Party was unable to find a way to feed it's people, provide goods and services and deliver the promise of a better life than that which existed in the West, condemned it to failure.
Gorbachev's policies of glasnost (political openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring), which included an easing of government censorship, exposed the average Soviet citizen to the fact they were far behind the West despite years of government propaganda. Regional economic autonomy led to a rise in regional nationalism and a diminished allegiance to the central government and the Communist party in general. The unintended results of glasnost and perestroika led to uskoreniye (speed-up of economic development) which was unable to counter the economic costs of inflation despite the government's attempts to hide it from the masses. Citizens began to realize that taking control of their own economic destiny (as exemplified by the rapidly expanding black market) led to greater prosperity for the individual, but still didn't match the prosperity of the West.
When they compared themselves to the West, Soviet citizens finally began to realize that they truly were "oppressed". As individual discontent grew, Soviet "states" began to become obstructionist to the Central Government's policies, turning instead to local initiatives and withholding tax revenues from Moscow. As the Politburo's power diminished at the local level, the Parliament (which prior to this period was a largely symbolic body) saw their power and prestige grow.
The Warsaw Pact states, looked upon the weakening power of the Soviet government as an opportunity to escape the Soviet's iron fist, by early 1991 the governments of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania had thrown off the yoke and set the stage for a revolution in Soviet Union.
On August 19, 1991 a group of Communist Party hard-liners seized control of the government. The world watched in fascination as the State Emergency Committee placed a vacationing Gorbachev under house arrest and tried to take the Soviet Union back to a period of iron-clad Soviet control. Despite the political power of the Committee's members, which included the KGB Chairman, Internal Affairs Minister and Defense Minister, they were unable to consolidate control as Russian President Boris Yeltsin and members of the Parliament defiantly held the "White House" (Russian Parliament Building) and the citizens of Moscow and Leningrad rallied round the resistance.
Soviet armor arrived on the scene at the White House and promptly defected to Yeltsin's side. Yeltsin's denouncement of the coup via megaphone from the top of a Soviet tank was broadcast to the world and marked the beginning of the end for both the coup and the Soviet Union itself. Commandos dispatched to seize the White House and arrest Yeltsin and leaders of the resistance unanimously refused their orders and stood idly by.
The "Vodka Putsch" collapsed after four days and Gorbachev returned to Moscow. His power was fatally wounded, and in very real terms, Yeltsin was the nation's new leader, if not yet in name. Despite resigning from the Communist Party and the promise to purge Communist Party hardliners from the government, Gorbachev was never able to regain real power. By December, the transformation was complete, all of the Soviet Republics had declared independence and the Soviet Union was no more. Communism was no longer on the march, it was in full retreat.
Fifteen years is a long time on the world political stage. Today a new breed of Communists is organizing in South America, while China's communists are embracing a hybridized free-market system in an attempt to mitigate the inefficiencies of Communist economic policy.
In my view, China and the new Communist states of South America are doomed to failure just as the Soviet Union was. Their hybridization of economic markets into a "free yet directed" economy is merely smoke and mirrors. While such policies may increase the economic prosperity of citizens in the short term, it's this very economic prosperity of individuals which will eventually lead to the collapse of the world's remaining Communist States.
Die-hard leftists and neo-Communists point to Venezeula's apparent success as proof that a Communist state can survive, they also point to China's role as a major industrial produced as an indication that Communism will rise again and be a viable alternative to Democracy and free markets, these are both false beliefs. While Communism can indeed create short term benefits for a people, the inflexible nature of a directed economy can never compete with a free market without crippling government subsidies and false economic props. Likewise the unparalleled capacity of the free market for economic development cannot be matched by centralized planning; it's simply not flexible enough or quick enough to effectively respond to changing market conditions.
Prosperity, which Communism promises, is also Communism's greatest enemy. Prosperity leads to a desire for greater prosperity as individuals realize their potential and seek greater wealth and the comfort and security it provides. The nature of individuals to seek a better life for themselves consistently trumps the misdirection of their economic activity for the support of others. This doesn't mean that people do not have great capacity to help others, but forcing people to give up a portion of their economic prosperity against their will through centralized planning, and forcing people into economic roles they don't wish to take is are untennable positions for a government to take.
Venezeula cripples itself with each move into a directed economy; Citgo (the Venezeulan oil-company) has the potential to be a major player in the world oil economy, in many ways it already is; but the interference of the Central Government in Citgo will lead to it's demise. For any economic entity to succeed, it must be able to recognize and adapt to changes on it's own. Citgo is hampered with a Government that sees it as an unlimited cash cow, while investment in the structures needed to ensure it's viability go ignored and development of new reserves are hampered by the removal of the cash assets needed to ensure viability go to other, unconnected projects. The failure of a Communist State to re-invest in the economic structures that support it is a common theme as managers who have no real hard experience in the industry make decisions from political perspectives rather than empirical economic perspectives.
A similar economic hamstringing is occuring in China, while the Chinese have been very effective in creating a broad based economic engine, it has no depth as critical infrastructure is put into place as window dressing to pay homage to the state rather than put into place to give solid support to China's growing industry. Across China today, there are scores of viable yet abandoned factories from projects which have fallen out of political favor and have their support or even liscense to operate stripped from them for political considerations, causing much needed capital to simply evaporate. As millions of citizens stream into the cities to find work, they are herded like cattle into appaling living quarters and become virtual slaves to the state and its favored industry of the moment.
For sure, there is great economic improvement of the lives of individuals in China, but this improvement is not based on an individuals performance under the whip, but rather his or her loyalty to the party. Businessmen have to constantly balance the needs of their economic activity with the dictates of the state, this leads to the inevitable hiding and hoarding of capital and the development of the black market. This black economy will continue to grow in China just as it did in the Soviet Union. As people begin to rely more and more on the black market and less and less on the state, the state's power will be undermined, and once individuals have tasted the sweetness of the economic apple, they are loath to abandon the flavor for bland handouts of Soylent Green. The Chinese culture historically has produced shrewd economic minds and many would argue that this culture actually supports the Communist system, I beg to differ. While today, Chinese culture independent of the state is complimentary to Communism, it's a certain eventuality that as the masses migrate into the middle class, the dictates of human nature take over, driving the individual to acquire more, want more, and most importantly, want more than the other guy. This desire to not only keep up with the Joneses, but to surpass them will eventually manifest itself in China, and in many ways it already has. As people move up in social and economic status, they demand a share of the political power which governs it. With prosperity comes a desire for more prosperity and as this desire increases, it must be accomodated. Communism by it's very nature, no matter what hybridization you put into it, fails to meet this challenge of the masses for greater and greater economic and political power. Eventually the balance will tip in the favor of the indivual as he (or she, but not in China) gains power and demands more control over his life.
The Chinese will be able to keep the lid on for the foreseeable future, but underneath the facade is a growing middle class, a middle class that will begin to demand protection for it's status and the protection of rights that become a need when wealth is generated. The state can not only content itself with protection of life (security, food, shelter, etc.), it must, if it wishes to survive in a modern economic construct, provide its citizens with protections for liberty and secure the mechanisms necessary for the pursuit of happiness, these latter two philosophic constructs cannot be accomodated in a political system such as Communism. Communism cannot deliver liberty to the populace, because the populace must always remain the property of the state to continue its viability. An individual cannot be considered property and have liberty at the same time, the two concepts are mutually exclusive. The pursuit of happiness means the pursuit of the things you want, not the things the state decides to provide for you, central planning cannot deliver the broad spectrum of goods and services the pursuit of happiness entails. Even if a Communist government were to try to respond to the changing tastes of individuals, it is incapable of responding fast enough or efficient enough to effectively deliver.
[Aside: Before you fire off an email telling me that Chinese citizens are not property, I will address that as follows: If someone (state or individual) tells you where you must live, if you must receive permission to work, if at a moments notice you can be forcibly removed from your home and job to be placed in another home and job not of your choosing, you are in fact property of another, be it individual or state.]
Communism, in a very real way, is slavery. The only difference between a traditional "slave" (as some Muslim communities still practice) and a Communist slave is who holds the whip. It doesn't matter to the slave if the whip is held by an individual or an actor of the state, he is still a slave, and slavery cannot be tolerated.
So on this day, with the anniversay of the collapse of the Soviet Union on the horizon, I urge you, my meager readership to think about the existance of Communist slaves the world over. Realize that our fellow human beings are held in bondage and prevented the very freedoms we all too often take for granted. I urge you not to fear the rise of Communism in South America or it's continued presence in China, Cuba and N. Korea, instead I urge you to despise it as the citizens of the Soviet Union came to. Recognize that "Che worship" is the worship of oppressors and those that would enslave other men to their will, to their dictates. The concept that a state can make better decisions for an individual is an truly evil concept. To deny an individual the control of their own destiny is to encourage evil in the world. To fail to support Democracy is to support the imposition of another's will on the individual.
As we remember the collapse of the Soviet Union, we must turn our attention to the other Evil Empires emerging. We must, at every turn do whatever we can to encourage dissent and rebellion in those areas of the world where an individual is stripped of his individual right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We must expose the man behind the curtain of Communist regimes and point out their failings at every turn, as loudly as we can so that the oppressed of the world know that we support them in their natural quest for freedom and liberty. We cannot continue to stand idly by while more and more people fall under the control of their "betters", for the concept of "betters" does not exist in a world where all men are created equal.
As we remember the collapse of the Soviet Union, we must look forward to the disintegration of Communism worldwide; in some cases this means we must destabilize those nations which oppress their citizens, in others it means we must "cook" their economy, drive it to a fever pitch where the ability of the state to control it collapses, in others we will have to act to remove regimes that are bent on oppression and where starvation is considered a means of control, in all, we must reject the tennents of Communism and do our best to bring about it's eventual demise.
This is what we should think about as we remember the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a victory over Communism surely, but it was only one battle, albeit a major one, but the war against Communism and for the freedom of mankind is far from over.
--Jason
UPDATE: Welcome Ace of Spades HQ readers, please feel free to take a look around, and thank you for taking the time to give my words a brief bit of your attention.
MAJOR UPDATE: Just a few hours after I posted this, Bloomberg reports that the last Soviet Premier/Dictator, Mikhail Gorbachev, praises Hillary Clinton. If that's not telling, I'm not sure what is.
There are those that would look favorably on Gorbachev, I do not. While his policies led to the eventual fall of the Soviet Union, don't think for a second that Gorbachev was anti-Communist, he wasn't. The collapse wasn't an intended outcome of Gorbachev's polices; the intent of his policy was to stave off the economic and political collapse of the Soviet regime. He would have been more than happy to serve out his time as a Soviet Premier / Dictator for Life, thankfully, the world had different plans.
-JC
Posted by JasonColeman at 9:33 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
August 17, 2006
Trying to help. . .
I've gotten a number of comments and emails about Abramson High School as a result of my posts on Hurricane Katrina and it's aftermath. Some have made use of the comments sections here to reconnect with friends and family members displaced by the storm.
While I try to respond to emails I get and comments that ask for specific information, I thought that it would be more appropriate to make a separate post in response to this comment received today:
I am a coach at RL Turner High School in Dallas, Texas. I have a student from Abramson that plays football for me. I am having problems locating his transcripts and they are trying to make him take So. and Jr. level classes. Where can I track down this information? Please someone help, give me a number or something.
Unfortunately, the Louisiana Department of Education website has been down for some time and the traditional avenues that administrators and educators would use to acquire student transcripts are still not available. I've spoken with officials from the department and they hope to have the website and it's tools available soon.
I was able to get a direct contact person and phone number for those seeking student information.
For information regarding those students displaced by the storm and school transcripts from Louisiana public schools, contact Deidra Kibbe via email at deidre.kibbe@la.gov or via telephone at 877.453.2721 or 225.342.3730.
Please note that Ms. Kibbe is extremely busy as schools around the country open and requests for official transcripts pour in. Also, Ms. Kibbe can assist with any Louisiana public school system (not just Abramson), but unfortunately cannot help with private school transcripts. Those seeking private school transcripts will have to contact them directly. Let me know if you have problems contacting a specific private school and I'll do my best to help you find current contact information as many schools have been forced to change telephone numbers as service is restored and most have not been actively updating websites (they have bigger crawfish to boil at the moment). If you'd like my help with this matter, please use the following email: katrina_help@[REMOVE_THIS]jasoncoleman.com.
I hope this helps.
--Jason
UPDATE: Almost immediately after posting this, a reader emailed asking which New Orleans public schools are open in the city. The New Orleans Public School District opened four schools on Tuesday for the 06-07 school year. They are:
Bethune Elementary - 3649 Laurel St.
Franklin Elementary Math & Science - 1116 Jefferson Ave.
McMain Unified High School - 5712 S. Claiborne Ave.
McDonogh #35 High School - 1331 Kelerec St.
In addition, the Orleans PM School, where students can work during the day and receive credits in night classes is also open.
Note that these are schools operated by the New Orleans Public School district, there are approximately 18 to 20 schools that are opening in the New Orleans Metro area under state control and additional schools opening as "Charter Schools".
While the fate of Abramson High is debatable, it's my impression from the La. Department of Education that it probably will have to be destroyed and a new high school built or perhaps a combination school district created to cover the areas Abramson served.
-JC
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 16, 2006
NYC 9-11 Calls Released. . .
New York City officials today released over 1600 emergency calls and transmissions between dispatchers, first responders and other responding agencies today. Included are calls from individuals trapped inside the World Trade Center complex and individuals reporting the terrorist attack upon the Twin Towers. Also included are calls between responders and supervisors offering help, support, direction and information as the attack and the its aftermath unfold.
Listening to the released material is quite difficult emotionally and brings the horror of that day once again into sharp relief. I'd recommend that everyone take at least some time to listen to the recordings as they are an important part of understanding the scope of the event for the individuals tasked with responding and managing a crisis previously unimaginable.
I have nothing but praise to offer for the courageous efforts and professionalism the recordings demonstrate.
WARNING: There are some very graphic descriptions of tragic events included in the recordings, they are most definately inappropriate for young children and those easily disturbed.
Links to the released tapes after the jump.
911 Emergency Calls Released Aug. 15, 2006
Recording 1 - Moussaoui Trial Calls
Recording 2 - Fire Part 10
Recording 3 - Fire Part 10
Recording 4 - NYPD Supplemental Call
Recording 5 - Manhattan Ch. 01
Recording 6 - Manhattan Ch. 02
Recording 7 - Manhattan Ch. 03
Recording 8 - Manhattan Ch. 04
Recording 9 - Manhattan Ch. 05
Recording 10 - Manhattan Ch. 06
Recording 11 - Manhattan Ch. 07
Recording 12 - Manhattan Ch. 09 10 12 13
Recording 13 - Fire Manhattan Ch. 18
Recording 14 - Fire Manhattan Ch. 20
Recording 15 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 02
Recording 16 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 03
Recording 17 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 04
Recording 18 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 05
Recording 19 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 07
Recording 20 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 08
Recording 21 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 09
Recording 22 - Fire Brooklyn Ch. 10
Recording 23 - Fire Bronx Ch. 03
Recording 24 - Fire Bronx Ch. 04
Recording 25 - Fire Bronx Ch. 05
Recording 26 - Fire Bronx Ch. 06
Recording 27 - Fire Bronx Ch. 08
Recording 28 - Fire Bronx Ch. 09
Recording 29 - Fire Bronx Ch. 10
Recording 30 - Fire Bronx Ch. 16
Recording 31 - Fire Bronx Ch. 17 18 19 20
Recording 32 - Fire Staten Island Ch. 02
Recording 33 - Fire Staten Island Ch. 03
Recording 34 - Fire Staten Island Ch. 04
Recording 35 - Fire Staten Island Ch. 13
Recording 36 - Fire Staten Island Ch. 20
Recording 37 - Fire Queens Ch. 04
Recording 38 - Fire Queens Ch. 07
Recording 39 - Fire Queens Ch. 08
Recording 40 - Fire Queens Ch. 09
Recording 41 - Fire Queens Ch. 10
Recording 42 - Fire Queens Ch. 12
Recording 43 - Fire Queens Ch. 20
Recording 44 - EMS Manhattan South
Recording 45 - EMS Manhattan Central
Recording 46 - EMS Manhattan North
Recording 47 - EMS Bronx South
Recording 48 - EMS Bronx North
Recording 49 - EMS Bronx Auxiliary
Recording 50 - EMS Main Entrance Tele
Recording 51 - EMS Manhattan-Bronx Supr Tele
Recording 52 - EMS Comp. Rm. Desk 1
Recording 53 - EMS Comp. Rm. Desk 2
Recording 54 - EMS Queens West
Recording 55 - EMS Queens West Auxiliary
Recording 56 - EMS Queens East 1
Recording 57 - EMS Brooklyn-Staten Island
Recording 58 - EMS Brooklyn Central
Recording 59 - EMS Brooklyn North Auxiliary
Recording 60 - EMS Brooklyn-Queens Supr Tele
Recording 61 - EMS Conf. Rm. Table
Recording 62 - EMS Conf. Rm. Wall BU
Recording 63 - EMS Mars Desk Tele
Recording 64 - EMS CW1 Hotline
Recording 65 - EMS CW1 Tele
Recording 66 - EMS CW3 Tele
Recording 67 - EMS CW Disp Supr. Hotline
Recording 68 - EMS CW Disp Supr. 01 Tele
Recording 69 - EMS CW Disp Supr. 02 Tele
Recording 70 - EMS CRO Supr. Tele
Recording 71 - EMS CRO Relay Tele
Recording 72 - EMS CRO ACD 01
Recording 73 - EMS CRO ACD 02
Recording 74 - EMS CRO ACD 03
Recording 75 - EMS CRO ACD 04
Recording 76 - EMS CRO ACD 07
Recording 77 - 77 EMS CRO ACD 08
Recording 78 - 78 EMS CRO ACD 09
Recording 79 - 79 EMS CRO ACD 10
Recording 80 - 80 EMS CRO ACD 12
Recording 81 - 81 EMS CRO ACD 13
Recording 82 - 82 EMS CRO ACD 14
Recording 83 - 83 EMS CRO ACD 15
Recording 84 - 84 EMS CRO ACD 16
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 4:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 15, 2006
Yes, I'm a slacker. . .
Yes, yes, I know I didn't blog hardly anything for the month of July.
Yes, yes, I know I've had a number of broken links throughout the blog.
Yes, yes, I know there are plenty of topics I haven't addressed that I should have.
Yes, yes I know I haven't posted any pictures of my recent trip to Germany yet, or even mentioned it for that matter.
BUT. . .
I did fix the Combloggerator link in the sidebar today, which I've taken a bit of heat for leaving broke for so long. The Combloggerator community has my sincere apologies for that.
If you're confused or wondering what I'm talking about, the Combloggerator is a collection of blogs based in and around Birmingham, AL. You can get to it by clicking the links in this post, or the picture of Vulcan in the sidebar.
--Jason
PS - Truth be told, I'm toying with letting this blog go the way of the dodo and starting up another at one of the other domain names I have. I've made a number of structural mistakes with this blog; such as not creating enough categories, not paying attention to bandwidth issues and not posting regularly. Shutting down this blog gives me some mixed feelings, and although I'm sure that eventually I'll figure out the direction I want to take, sometimes I just look at it and say "Dammit, this isn't what I want." So I mumble and grumble and carry on, maybe this tiny bit of venting will provoke me into making the changes I want and starting up something more serious and paying greater attention to it.
-JC
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 14, 2006
Has Google jumped the shark. . . .
Internet behemoth Google, seems to be setting itself up to jump the shark. From censoring results in China, to some dubious methodology in it's click-based advertising system, Google has already been under fire.
Now it seems they are taking offense to the terminology "to google" claiming that its use by media outlets is approaching trademark infringement.
While I can see Google's point, and I can almost agree with its, I think it's a seriously bad move to send menacing legal notices to media outlets. Google is on shaky ground with the rest of the world media via it's Google Video and Google News services. Further, their plans to digitize and make available on the web, every book ever published is setting the internet giant up for a showdown with Big Media over intellectual property rights.
Personally, I think they are setting the stage for a battle they cannot win by antagonizing the media and trying to play the bully. When push comes to shove, it's highly unlikely that their plan to digitize and offer up every published work will succeed. Authors like readers, for sure, and so do publishers, but both groups also want to be paid for their intellectual output and the resources used to publish such works. If Google succeeds in dealing such a fatal blow to print media, the public will be ill served as publishers will begin to step back from publishing hard copy and publishing only via electronic means where they have a greater control over who can access their content.
To take books away (as Google is unwittingly trying to do) would be a significant negative blow to the education of the masses. As much as Google would like it to be so, access to the internet is not universal and it never will be. Additionally, the ability to transfer knowledge without additional technological support (other than handing over a book) will be seriously harmed. Google is facing a showdown and before they get to the dance, they are further antagonizing their partner and will only gain enemies by trying to buck common vernacular and determine how people use the English language.
If Google wants to fight the use of their name as a verb, they need to go first to the publishers of Oxford's English and other dictionaries, not the people using the terminology found there.
Google is severly over-valued as a company, their position is far from stable at the top of the heap and as we've seen time and time and time again, your position on top is short-lived if you go after the people who put you there.
If they press this particular issue with the media, eventually they'll get a backlash, and the lawsuits over Google News and other services will begin to mount up. Remember, it only takes one successful lawsuit to force Google to shut down it's News or Video services. The sudden injunction on either of these services would severely hurt Google's stock, it will also produce a pile on effect as lawyers descend on Google en masse to begin a "death of a thousand cuts" which will be championed by the media that Google is antagonizing. Google has alot of cash, cash that once tapped with a successful lawsuit, will bring about a legal swarm of locusts that will make drug company liability cases seem pale in comparison.
For me personally, I don't rely on Google as I once did. I found over time that there were other search engines which produced better results with particular subject matter. While Google's interface is clean and fast, their results are being "gamed" more and more everyday. Just like Windows is targeted by virus developers because it's the prominent platform, Google is targeted by SEO con-artists and spammers because of it's position at the top.
Unlike Microsoft, there are simple and widely available alternatives to Google. Their position is not secure, they live in a multi-layered glass house, and if they start throwing stones at the brick and mortar media, the brick and mortar media will throw back. It doesn't take a structural engineer to determine who will win the rock throwing contest.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
How did this guy ever become a Congressman. . .
Via Newsbusters:
Congress' village idiot, Charlie Rangel said on MSNBC's Hardball:
"You take Islamic and you call them fascists, you call them radical. You never called Hitler a Christian fascist. This is insulting to an entire religion."
You're right Charlie, we didn't call him a Christian fascist. We called him THE Nazi Fascist. Hitler was a Catholic apostate. As such, he could hardly be called a Christian. In fact, Hitler's mouthpiece, Goebbels, said of Hitler:
"The Fuhrer is deeply religious, though completely anti-Christian. He views Christianity as a symptom of decay. Rightly so. It is a branch of the Jewish race... Both [Judaism and Christianity] have no point of contact to the animal element, and thus, in the end, they will be destroyed."
That's why no one called him a Christian fascist, Charlie. Germany was Hitler's religion, he abandoned Catholicism and Christianity and clamped down hard on the The Church and churches of Germany who put God-constructs first and Germany-second.
We didn't call him a Christian fascist because he wasn't trying to impose a Christian belief system on people (as Islamist fascists DO wish to impose Islam). He DID impose the Nazi belief system on people and that's why we DID and DO, call Hitler, a Nazi fascist.
This is just one in a long list of completely stupid and off the wall things Rangel has said and done, including (but certainly not limited to) sponsoring a bill calling for a draft and then voting against his own bill.
It just amazes me that this IDIOT is a United States Congressman.
--Jason
NOTE: Comments are closed due to spambots. If you have a comment related to this entry and wish to have it published here, send it to comments -AT- jasoncoleman -dot- com.
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:41 AM | Comments (9)
August 11, 2006
Another great Ned Holness clip. . .
That's Carlos Mencia for the uninitiated.
Carlos Mencia, the equal opportunity offender.
Enjoy!
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 9, 2006
More thoughts on Lieberman. . .
How Joe Lieberman's political future shapes out could very well shape the destiny of the national political scene.
Lieberman has an opportunity here to find the center ground of American politics. Americans are used to the two-party system, but they aren't THAT used to it that a third cannot emerge. Various constituencies have made a play for the center in the past and have even had success at the local and state level. Yet the development of a viable third party has eluded us. Now we have a viable chance to see a Party evolve around Joe Lieberman and his ousting from the Democrat party WHILE A SITTING SENATOR.
Make no mistake, Lieberman was kicked out of the Democrat Party. He didn't simply lose an election and get pushed to the back of the line, the Democrat Party machine itself worked to oust Lieberman. The tools of the Party were applied to one of their own with malicious intent. This move will seriously anger many moderate Democrats and they very well could jump ship and follow Joe's lead in national politics.
The Democrats will be forced to fight Joe and fight him hard. They can't afford to have Lamont win the Democrat primary, ousting Lieberman, and then have Joe come deliver a knockout in the second round. Lieberman wouldn't just be taking down Lamont, he'd be taking down the Democrat Political Party Machinery. A Lamont loss can only bring about a total implosion of the Democrat Party for it to survive. A Democrat Party trying to function mass appeal party needs credibility in their activities. With this ousting of a sitting party Senator and then the loss of the seat as well, the Dems will have ZERO credibility as a viable party for governance.
If Lieberman can harness his power right now, he can build an institution and shape the face of American Politics for decades to come. Joe Lieberman could coin the Independent-Democrat Party and embrace the former ideals of the Party of Jackson and abandon the far left. Many members of the center-right would flock to him in droves.
If Joe holds his seat in spite of the Democrats, he will become one of the most powerful political figures in the current scene. He will represent the will of the people rather than the will of the party. If, and this is a big if, he can listen to the will of the people and build their trust quickly as the leader of a viable Third, the Democrats will see their power wane further in '08 as the grassroots truely comes from the ground up and fields a number of Independent-Democrat candidates in blue states. Who, if they do emerge, will win handily against Democrat establishment opponents.
I don't see a Lieberman / Libertarian alliance, so there isn't really a ready made constituency for Lieberman to tap. To build a third he would have to start basically from scratch, but it has been done before and today the tools for outreach and organization are more effective than ever before.
I would have to give serious consideration to a third party, not because I'm unhappy with the Republicans, but because they don't fit my total bill, there's always room for improvement, there just aren't many options out there.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 9:00 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Where's the outrage, where's the congressional hearings. . .
With each round of oil company quarterly earnings reports of late, we've had cacophony of left-leaning morons call for Congressional investigation and calls for windfall profit taxes.
Now, Disney posts profits for the quarter of over a billion dollars and a profit margin of 39%.
Where's the outrage? Where are the calls for Congressional hearings? Where are the calls for investigation of movie ticket price gouging? Isn't this level of profit simply obscene to the Kennedy's and Kerry's of the world?
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 8:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 8, 2006
Welcome the Independent Senator from Connecticut. . .
The Democrats have set in motion what can best be considered the beginning of their end. Tonight, Senator Joe Lieberman was narrowly defeated in a primary race by a "netroots" candidate. A product of the far left internet machine, Ned Lamont, will carry the Democrat standard in November against a newly Independent Incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman.
Lamont will lose and lose big in the November election, and the Democrats will not only have lost an election, but they will have lost a seat in the Senate that could still be theirs. In the process they have also created an enemy of their former Vice-Presidential candidate and alienated hundreds of thousands of Democrats who feel the party moving away from them faster and faster everyday.
Lieberman should embrace his new status as an Independent. The Democrats threw out one of their moderates, the Democrats abandoned the center. Joe will drag alot of center oriented Democrats with him wherever he lands. By all accounts this should be the opportunity a viable third party has to make itself a force in American politics. Joe could easily be the lightning rod for such a party.
-OR-
I think the Republican Party found their next VP. So I'll call for it now. Condi-Lieberman '08!!!
--Jason
PS - So since Lamont was a Kosidate, and since he won, this gives the Kos Kids their first "win" right??? So that means that the Kos Kids first win was against. . . A Democrat. Go figure!
-JC
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
