[Dialogue] {Spam?} Re: (no subject)

Mon Sep 10 14:05:23 EDT 2007

You can find the major neo con players as well as a rather detailed set of  
reports of their creed, sgtrategy, and tactics at:  
_http://www.newamericancentury.org/_ (http://www.newamericancentury.org/) 

In a message dated 9/10/2007 12:55:16 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
jimripsr at qwest.net writes:

Thank you, Dick  Kroeger,   (I see Addi was faster than I am.  I applaud her  
thoughts.) 
It has been obvious to a lot of  people that this is going on.  But these few 
sentences expose the process  in a wonderfully succinct, easy to grasp way.  
This does “crystallize”  the situation, as you put it so well.   
However, I am intrigued by your  use of “neo conservatives” in this manner.  
Without really examining the  term rationally, I have presumed it to be a 
new, sophisticated manifestation  of fiscal and political conservatism.  But as 
Lakoff presents his “What  they hope to accomplish” list, it seems more of an 
unlikely collection of what  we called “allies” during World War II.  There 
were huge philosophical  differences among us:  the “Never Again” Europeans 
and British who were  appalled by World War I and were lulled by Neville 
Chamberlain’s appeasement,  then the courageous, embattled Britains inspired by 
Churchill, the reluctant  “America Firsters” dragged in by Pearl Harbor, the prima 
donna generals like  Patton, Montgomery and the Free French’s deGaulle, and 
all of them/us allied  with Stalin’s brutal communism.  No wonder we had a Cold 
War  afterwards. 
My thought is simply that in order  to be effective in fighting what’s 
happening and increase our chances of  creating a better future, it seems to me we 
need to identify our various  opponents carefully and be prepared to deal with 
their disparate goals with  specifically tailored methods.  What they share is 
a willingness to  manipulate public opinion so they can impose their goals on 
the rest of us.  For the moment, they are “allied” with an administration 
that is most  definitely seeking  “domestic war powers and much greater 
political  control in the United  States for the president and the  administration.” 
One important  component is the extremely powerful AIPAC lobby comprised of 
and supported by  powerful people who support the idea of “Greater Israel” vs. 
the Arabs in the  Middle East.  They were architects of  our preemptive 
strike in Iraq and are now promoting war with  Iran.  They have a powerful  grip on 
Congress and on Presidential candidates.  Anyone who challenges  them will be 
smeared as anti-Semitic.  However they are opposed by many  thoughtful Jews 
and some rabbis including Tikkun’s Rabbi Michael Lerner.   There is more open 
opposition to the “Greater Israel” idea in  Israel’s press than there is in  
this country. 
The oil  conglomerates and the military-industrial complex President 
Eisenhower warned  us against are powerful supporters of the Bush administration at  
present.  Their goals are profits, lower tax rates, less government  regulation 
of business, cheap labor, no restrictive (costly) environmental  controls.  
Exxon-Mobile is offering $10,000 bonuses to established  scientists who are 
willing to write learned papers debunking global  warming. 
And then there are  the well funded religious groups who are determined to 
impose their opposition  to abortion, gay rights, and separation of church and 
state on anyone whose  beliefs differ.  These issues are for them, more 
important than poverty  or expanded health care or free speech.  Among them are “
rapture  Christians” who support “Greater Israel” because they think it will 
bring on  Armageddon and the second coming of Christ.  Fortunately there are  
religious people with a much broader focus.  Jim Wallis and Bishop Spong  are 
among my personal favorites.  
Available to all  these groups is a remarkable pool of very talented, 
skillful opinion  manipulators, who for a price, can create a convincing case that 
black is  white.  And despite the religious idea that we are created in God’s  
image, history shows us we are  by and large much too gullible, too  vulnerable 
to manipulation.  Public opinion supported Hitler and  Mussolini, also 
Chamberlain’s appeasement.  Lindbergh was a powerful  voice among the America 
Firsters.  Then there was Joe McCarthy’s long  popularity, our support of the 
Vietnam War’s rationale, and the fact that many  Americans still believe that Saddam 
Hussein was behind the 9-11 attack.   Personally, my guess is that within the 
year, we will be at war with  Iran, the Middle East will really be in flames 
and it won’t matter  at all who is president or who controls Congress because 
all money and energy  will go into “supporting our troops.” 
Our only hope is for  those of us who care to find and fund honest, skillful 
opinion molders who can  somehow counteract the distortions and truth twisting 
of those hired by  Lakoff’s list of culprits.  

Jim Rippey Sr in rainy Bellevue, NE 

____________________________________

From:  dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net 
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net]  On Behalf Of  KroegerD at aol.com
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 10:40  AM
To:  nspmn at googlegroups.com
Cc:  dfl-faith at yahoogroups.com; Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
Subject: [Dialogue] (no  subject)

September 10,  2007

It has now  crystallized for me!  It has now been made clear the underlying 
device  used by the neo conservatives to successfully advance their  agenda.

In his latest book,  Thinking Points,  author George Lakoff gives us an 
example of “what they  say” as popular cover for “what they hope to  accomplish”

What they  say:
Find and destroy weapons of mass destruction.·
Oust· Saddam Hussein and  free the Iraqi people to establish their own 
democracy.
· Allow Iraqi  Businessmen to establish a free market.
Use the profits  from· Iraqi oil to build  infrastructure for the people of 
Iraq.
Allow  Iraq to· become a shining  example of liberty, free markets, and 
democracy in the Middle East.

What they hope to  accomplish:
Show that global order can be reshaped· to our advantage by  military means, 
and show enough force to intimidate other countries in the  Middle East.
Use the war—linked to  the “war on terror”—as· a way to establish  domestic 
war powers and much greater political control in the  United  States for the 
president and the  administration.
Shift domestic· spending from  social programs to the military, and shift 
domestic wealth to defense  contractors and the oil industry.
Establish a controllable  “client· state” government  in Iraq.
Gain access to the  world’s second largest oil·  reserve.
Establish permanent military bases in the heart of the  Middle East· to gain 
a strategic  position, particularly with regard to Iran.
Use the  war· as a rallying call  for electoral advantage in America.
Allow  American· corporations to  take control of a significant portion of 
Iraq’s  economy.
· Privatize military  functions in order to (a) maximize the effect of 
fighting forces, (b) increase  profits for military contractors, and (c) remove 
accountability for such  actions as torture and bribery.
Establish the· dominance and  independence of the United  States in world 
affairs by ignoring the will  of many of our NATO allies and the UN.

Author Lakoff  suggests that progressive values will not prevail until we 
systematically  expose such devices.

How gullible are  we?

Dick  Kroeger
Orono,  MN
952-476-6126

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