[Dialogue] Time for a Change

Mon May 22 07:08:26 EDT 2006

Thou shalt care for all of creation in a manner that sustains  and nourishes 
our planet

In a message dated 5/21/2006 10:52:25 PM Central Daylight Time,  
DavThom at att.net writes:

I the spirit of Harry Wainwright's  messages, I offer this political 
commentary, 'Time for a Change'.  This  commentary written by me is attached to our 
Lake Hills Liberals'  weekly newsletter.  For the last three weeks, we have also 
had  attachments concerning theology based upon our Ecumenical Institute  
courses.  Our Lake Hills Liberals which started in mid-October 2005, now  has 325 
members.  To receive our free newsletter with attached  commentary, forward 
this message with to me your name and where you  live.  Dave Thomas, 162 - 
163rd Place SE, Bellevue, WA 98008
----------------

Time For a Change 
Is Bush Afraid of debating Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad? 
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently  sent an 18 page letter to 
President Bush, asking whether a good Christian  would have lied about and invaded 
Iran.  He suggested Bush should return to his  professed Christian 
principles.   What an opportunity for Bush to discuss his religious beliefs.  But Bush 
didn’t  respond. 
Practice What you  Preach 
Bush says immigrants should learn to speak  English and sing the Star 
Spangled Banner in English.  When is he going to learn to speak  English without a 
teleprompter? 
I Have a Dream 
Imagine that the Democrats win control of  the house and Senate.   
Investigation of the outing of Ambassador Wilson’s wife leads to Vice  President Cheney 
who is forced to resign.  Just as he thought he was invading  Israel when he 
invaded  Iraq (weapons of mass destruction,  terrorism, violation of U.N. 
resolutions), confused President Bush nominates  Senator Byrd or Senator Feingold 
or one of several Democratic governors as  vice president.   Congressional 
investigations then lead  to the impeachment of Bush.  Bush  goes down in history 
as by far the worst American president.  Alas, it’s only a  dream. 
Privacy for Government, not  People 
The Feds know you didn’t call your mother  on mother’s day.  If they ask you 
 why, tell them she’s a terrorist.   Start assembling your evidence now. 
The NSA just called me to inform me they  can save me money on my long 
distance calling.  They suggested switching to a long  distance company which makes 
large contributions to Republicans.  Now that’s government  service. 
Where’s Colin Powell? 
At least six former military commanders  have severely criticized War 
Secretary Rumsfeld.  Colin Powell hasn’t joined them.  Colin’s autobiography showed 
him to be  a fantastic person of great integrity, who almost certainly must 
disagree with  much that Rumsfeld has done.   Unfortunately, his military 
service and behavior as Secretary of State  show that his decades of serving loyally 
under superiors still affects his  independence. 
Department of War 
We call it the Department of Defense; but  it might more aptly be called the 
Department of offense or the Department of  War.  Very few of our recent (or  
even earlier) wars have been defensive, including Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, 
Grenada, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.  Military action in Korea, Bosnia and Kosovo 
might have been  justified as international efforts to stop grave injustice, but 
none of these  were defensive. 
Liberal Hawks is an  Oxymoron 
War reduces freedoms and opportunities more  than virtually anything else.   
People who lose their lives, limbs, relatives, friends and property  have 
certainly lost freedoms and opportunities.  Only rarely does terrible injustice  
reduce freedom and opportunity more than war.  Only rarely and then only when 
other  measures have failed to overcome severe injustice can war be justified.  

Yet many of our politicians who have been  liberal regarding other issues 
have been hawks, including Presidents Kennedy  and Johnson and our own Senator 
Scoop Jackson.  Failing to recognize the similarity  with the Gulf of Tonkin 
resolution which enabled major escalation of  the Vietnam War, many of our 
Democratic Senators voted to give President Bush  authority to preemptively and 
unilaterally invade Iraq,  including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, 
our Senator Maria  Cantwell and others. 
Most have been unwilling to say they would  have voted differently, even 
knowing what they know now.  These otherwise liberal Hawks are  preferable to 
conservative Hawks.   But Democratic Doves would be better yet, liberals like 
Senators Byrd  and Feingold.  Incidentally,  contrary to conservative assertions, 
Kerry and Kennedy are not nearly as  liberal as Byrd and Feingold (based on 
their voting  records). 
Moderate and Extreme  Liberals 
What is the difference between moderate and  extreme liberals?  Are moderate  
liberals only liberal on some issues?   I have recently met people who 
consider themselves liberals who  vehemently argue that undocumented immigrants 
should be forced to return to  their former countries without any pathway to 
obtaining legal status in the  United  States.   Besides being impossible to 
enforce and causing great damage to our  economy, these self identified liberals don’
t recognize that the problem is  that we haven’t provided legal ways for 
immigrants to enter to work  here. 
Incidentally, conservatives also insist  that the reputedly 12 million 
undocumented immigrants are taking jobs from and  lowering the wages of native born 
Americans.  But if they really care about these  natives, why don’t they 
support raising and indexing the minimum wage and  earned income tax credits. 
We also encounter liberals on other issues  who oppose civil unions for gays 
and lesbians.  But why not consider these people  conservatives.  Most 
conservatives  are liberal on some issues, such as extending freedoms and 
opportunities for  people like themselves.  Let’s not  consider people who believe some 
people should have fewer freedoms and  opportunities than others to be 
liberals.  Liberals believe all liberals should have  the same freedoms and 
opportunities. 
Some liberals may believe that people with  fewer freedoms and opportunities 
than others should be helped, even if these  people refuse to attempt to 
become competent and responsible, thus wasting the  help they receive.  Perhaps 
these  could be called extreme liberals.   Very few liberals fit this definition. 
Bush’s Immigration Policy 
I predict that Bush’s attempt to seal our  southern border will be about as 
effective as his other projects: stimulating  a fair economic growth, Iraq, 
Katrina, Medicare  prescription drugs, etc.  Where’s  Rove when Bush needs him.  
Bush  can’t win on immigration.  To the  extent he tries to block the borders, 
lock up or deport 12 million immigrants,  he’ll please his conservative 
supporters in the short run, but cost the  Republicans most of the votes of the 
Hispanic voters (the fastest growing  group) in the long run.  And it  won’t 
work.  And the Republicans  certainly won’t try to convict their politically 
supporting businesses for  hiring undocumented voters.  If he  tries to provide a 
pathway for undocumented immigrants to become documented,  he will be accused 
of amnesty by the conservatives.  Poor Bush. 
We should remember that most of our  immigrating ancestors were undocumented. 
  Until the 1920’s, no documents were required for entering the  United  
States.   They only had to show they were not diseased. 
With our actions to prevent immigration  become increasingly Draconian, has 
the Statue of Liberty and its inscription  become false advertising.  Maybe  it 
should be removed or at least shrouded until we return to open borders  which 
helped us become the greatest peacefully diverse country on  earth. 
Gas Rationing 
After dithering for 30 years, nothing can  be done to lower gas prices below 
$3 a gallon.  So let’s focus on avoiding $6 a gallon  prices.  With worldwide 
production  and reserves declining, the only hope is to reduce demand.  Much 
attention is directed to  increased consumption in China and Indian, but their  
consumption is far less than ours.   And China is  implementing stiffer 
mileage standards than is the United  States. 
One possibility is to institute gas  rationing as we did during World War II. 
  During our war in Iraq, why shouldn’t non-military  families share some 
burdens?   Another beneficial policy would be to lower speed limits. 
Iran doesn’t yet have nuclear weapons.  Iran does have  a more potent weapon 
of mass destruction.  It can cut off oil deliveries enough  to send prices 
through the roof. 
Are You a Gasoholic? 
Are you powerless over gasoline and is your  life unmanageable?  Have you 
tried  to reduce you gasoline consumption and couldn’t?  Unfortunately, there are 
no treatment  programs and no Gasoholics Anonymous.   Very few of us are 
recovering. 
Our United  States consumes ten times as much oil per capita as  India and 
many times more  than China.  Yet news reports suggest that oil  shortages are 
due to India’s and China’s  increasing consumption.  Maybe  it’s due to our 
being the world’s largest per capita  consumer. 
Medicare Prescription  Medicines 
Some poorer people who use lots of  medicines may save individually, but at 
enormous cost to our government  (funded by deficit borrowing to be paid back 
by future generations).  Enormous cost because the  pharmaceuticals can set 
their own prices for many medicines which have no  competition.  The law even  
prohibits the government from bargaining prices down.  Many other people who use 
fewer  medicines, but join in case they will later need more medicines, will 
end up  paying more than they have before.   They are just buying medicine 
insurance. 
Millions of Medicare recipients didn’t sign  up for part D by the deadline 
last Monday May 19th, often due to  confusion about the choices among competing 
private insurance plans.  Except for conservative desires to  privatize 
Medicare, part D legislation could have been written to simply  provide the medicine 
coverage for all Medicare recipients.  By eliminating private insurers, this  
approach would also have been less expensive.  
Many states are trying to find ways for  more people to have health 
insurance, usually through subsidizing private  health insurance for poor people.   But 
this simply subsidizes an increasingly monopolized private  insurance 
industry, which spends less than 80% of its revenues on health  care.  Medicare 
spends 98% of its  revenues on healthcare.  We need  less private health insurance 
with the savings going to expand Medicare to cover more people.  Medicare 
should continue to pay  directly to providers, unlike the new Part D which pays 
insurance companies to  pay for medicines. 
The Republican Noise  Machine 
Since reading The Republican Noise Machine, I am  really impressed by our 
Liberal  resilience.  Over the last 40  years, a vast network of conservative 
columnists, newspapers and magazines,  radio and television performers, programs, 
stations and networks fed by many  think tanks funded by wealthy 
conservatives, religious organizations and  direct mail has developed.   Forsaking 
journalistic objectivity, they are hugely partisan;  expressing their racism, sexism, 
homophobia, and other prejudicial views,  doing name calling and character 
assassination on a grand scale.  They have virtually shut out liberals  from 
radio and television, out-shouting the few that appear. 
Really scary stuff.  Yet we liberals have survived, have  won many struggles, 
are increasingly popular and are now moving toward  controlling government 
and implementing our policies again.  We have wondered how so many people  could 
be deceived.  It’s nice to  know there are limits.  Maybe we  should have 
known that when they failed to impeach Bill Clinton or even  eliminate his 
popularity.  Lots of  people are repulsed by indecency.   Iraq, Katrina, Medicare 
medicine  insurance and other incompetence can’t be disguised forever.  Let 
liberal resilience in the face of  ferocious attack renew our hope.    
Liberals Hold Their Own with  Movies. 
While conservatives predominate in most  other movies, liberals are doing 
well with movies, including documentaries,  non-fiction and fiction.  See United 
91, Baghdad ER to be shown this Sunday  evening May 21 on HBO, and DaVinci  
Code which portray alternatives to conservative  views. 
Your 10  Commandments 
Christian conservatives make a big deal of  displaying the 10 commandments at 
courthouses, schools and other government  properties.  No wonder.  Most 
probably can’t remember all of  them. 
Imagine writing your own 10 commandments.  Would they include some ‘Thou 
shall …  commandments’?  Would they feature  liberal values?  For example:   
    1.  Thou shall treat all humans equally as  members of one community of 
the children of God.   
    2.  Thou shall strive to be competent to care  for yourself and others.  
    3.  Thou shall be compassionate, helping  those with fewer freedoms and 
opportunities than the rest of us.   
    4.  Thou shall protect everyone from  mistreatment by powerful public and 
private organizations.   
    5.  Thou shall promote justice and  peace.   
What others would you choose from the  Christian commandments or add on your 
own?   Dave Thomas  

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