It's Been....

[filkertom]

Five years since we illegally invaded a sovereign country. Flimsiest of excuses, trumped-up evidence, nothing good came of it. (Anybody who says, "But we got rid of Saddam Hussien", I'll fuckin' ban. He was not worth this. Nothing and nobody was worth this.)

If you have a few minutes, please take a look at a responsible plan to end the war in Iraq. dday at Digby's Hullabaloo has a good plain-English analysis if you get stuck.

What are your thoughts on what else we have to do to fix the country? I'm very much of the repair-the-infrastructure-to-create-jobs-now school, as well as lots of work on renewable energy. Oh, and, the Rule of Law would be nice.

ETA: link to Digby's.

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[trifleresplende.livejournal.com]

I hate those shitty shows as much as you do, but implementing an actual LAW against them would be sorta fascist, wouldn't it? "Junk TV" could be interpreted to be just about anything.

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

Saddam should of went during Operation Desert Storm (and Bush the first). That's all I think I can say about that.

Back on the restoring the country.

• Get out of Iraq!
  
• Finish up Aftganistan. We're below a two-front war in terms of readyness and this is basically a two-front war!
  
• Get the Republicans out, as well as any Republican-leaning Democrats.
  
• No more economic stimulus. Crash the market now, and get it over with. There will be pain, but in the long run it is good.
  
• Reform the banking industry again -- no more subprime loans, legal liabilities for lying about your finances.
  
• More courts! Get more judges installed as we have a large case log to go through. I mean, Novell can finally go forward with it's lawsuit against Microsoft over Windows and WordPerfect (which it had sold off to Corel). The lawsuit dates back to 1994!
  
• Reform the FCC's accounting of broadband -- the bar is too low (128Kbps ISDN) and too general (If anyone in a zipcode has broadband, then it all has broadband). The bar should be 2Mbps down, 256Kbps up, and specific to street level.

There's more that can be done, but this is a good start.

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

1. Impeach Bush and Cheney, and try them for war crimes.

2. What acelightning and strredwolf said. Also need significant reform in the credit industry - not just in subprime loans and lying about your finances, but also credit card abuse, on both sides of the game. Your suggestion is good, too.

3. The insurance industry needs to be looked at under a microscope. Credit-based insurance scores need to be done away with - risk-based assessment is not perfect, but it's better than "scores".

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

Slightly peripheral rant here...

The thing that nobody's saying, as they let Mr. "Last Throes" get away with calling Iraq a "successful operation," is this:

The total number of people who are walking the Earth who would identify themselves as a hater of America or an enemy of America today must surely be vastly greater than that number was before the invasion.

That's millions of new enemies, certainly. Turkish citizens, for example, had a 52% favorable view of the U.S. in 2000, and 9% in 2007. 75% of Indonesians were favorably inclined to the U.S. and now that number is 29%. These shifts produce terrorists and terrorist groups.

The army is for fighting other armies, of foreign states. Terrorism is not state actors, but individuals and small groups in the populace (including your own) who decide to become violent. When the bell curve shifts like that, you get a big boost on the fringe end, where the terrorists spring up.

So whatever gets built on the site of the WTC is in a hell of a lot more danger of being attacked in 10 or 20 years than it would have been without the invasion of Iraq. This operation was a horrible step backward, as far as protecting America.

That's what needs to be said. It disturbs me a lot that nobody in the press, and neither Democratic candidate, seems to be saying it.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

I wish they were saying it, too.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

My plan to restore the country

1. Begin switching power plants over to nulcear as they do in Europe. Not only would this drasticly reduce the amount of emissions it would also allow us to do more with less.

2. Begin development of synthetic fuels (I'm not sold on biofuels) and emphasize hybrid vehicles. Allow for major tax incentives for real inovation and tell the automobile industry that they have a year to being producing an actual fuel efficient car (as in real 50 or better miles to the gallon) or those incentives go the first manufacturer able to pull it off.

3. Allow oil companies to drill here in the United States and develop gas on our own terms. I realize that this would be a contentious solution at best but with the above two in place we could tell the Saudis to bugger off because we didn't need them any more. If they wanted to remain an ally of the United States they'd have to fix their human rights issues and reform their religious sharia law into a more secular law that recognized the rights of the people to believe as they will.

4. Reform health care by installing a system that would allow people who have private to keep what they have but would better help the poor and people who just can't afford it to get it. (Much like Obama's plan actually)

5. Begin pull out of Iraq to focus on Afghanistan.

6. On fixing the economy I'd listen to the experts and craft a plan based on their advice since I don't know a lot about such things on my own.

7. Remove Scientology's tax exempt status and begin RICO investigations into them. Also allow for a class action suit to prosecute them for slander/libel of their critics.

There are more things, to be sure, but those seem like a good place to start.
What say you all?

[trifleresplende.livejournal.com]

1. But where do you put all the nuclear waste?

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

I heard a simple solution to the health care problem: whatever Congress votes for themselves to get for health care, that is what every American gets. The problem with this is how will we pay for it. But I like the thought of "what's good for Congress is good for all citizens" regarding benefits like this. Right now, I am more worried over loosing my job due to the massively increased health care costs I will have (I am diabetic, I have to get my glocophage every month, I can not skip it like I can a teeth cleaning) rather than how will I pay for my mortgage.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

So I guess after Cheney's speech yesterday declaring the war a good thing he's not welcome in your journal anymore? LOL.

There're some good suggestions above me.

I would also add decriminalizing (not LEGALIZING but DECRIMINALIZING, there's an important difference there) marijuana and immediately commuting the sentences of the ridiculous numbers of Americans who're doing unconscionable prison terms for minor mj related crimes, as well as restoring their voting rights. This would need to be followed by comprehensive reform of our other drug laws & a shift to education & rehabilitation as a first defense over policies that have caused us to have the largest prison population in the world.

All the people who'd lose their jobs in the prison business because of this could be retrained & shifted in to minor federal agencies like, I dunno, the EPA, the USDA, and other little piddly bodies that do things like inspecting products to make sure they're safe before we get them.

Shifting the country to an intelligently planned flat tax would be nifty.
We could seriously bolster things by removing the blanket tax exemptions for ALL religious organizations, making them file taxes like anyone else, and only getting deductions for the % of their $ that actually goes to charitable works.

No IRS agents would lose jobs, as we would simply shift them to enforcing tax laws on both businesses and churches, both of which now currently routinely skirt them, costing the country billions.

I could go on, but that's it for now :-)

Re: marijuana

[signy1.livejournal.com]

Now, me? I'd not only decriminalize it, I'd legalize the stuff, regulate it, and then tax the living expletive deleted out of it. Yeah, some underage kids will still get it-- they get booze and porn, too. Not only do we get to stop spending unconscionable amounts of time and money prosecuting recreational pot smokers, we get a nice fresh source of incoming money like the ones from the other vice industries. I have similar views regarding prostitution.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Restore civil liberties, balance between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, correct the shocking rightward swing of the supreme court.

Check every "illegal combatant" and sort them into prisoners of war and criminals. The criminals get all the rights of criminals, including the right to a fair and speedy trial, the right to be protected from cruel or degrading treatment (using the pre-Bush definition) and the right to have evidence that derives from illegal procedures like torture thrown out. The prisoners of war get all the rights of prisoners of war, including the right to protection from cruel or degrading treatment (see above regarding definition), the right to go home when the war against their nation is over, and the right to regular visits from the Red Cross to ensure decent treatment. Yes, it means we turn loose of a lot of people we have taught to hate us. But if we didn't have evidence they were guilty in the first place, we should never have held them, and we don't right that wrong by continuing it.

Fix the military so that decent, equal treatment of women soldiers and soldiers who are not evangelical-fundamentalist-christian does not depend on the whim of the CO of a given unit.

Get religious indoctrination out of the schools and seriously tighten up requirements for people to be allowed to homeschool their children; end religious exemptions for homeschooling qualifications.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I have to respectfully disagree with you on that last one and in part on the fixing the military thing.

The armed forces have been making great strides on that issue. To the point where there are wiccan chaplains and the like. So they are gaining ground.

Parents have a right to homeschool their children for whatever reason they choose and religion is a major one. If a parent doesn't like or agree with certain things being taught in public school because of their religion then they have every right to homeschool their children with that as their reason. It's part of the free expression/practice clause of the Constitution.

[gavroche42.livejournal.com]

"But we got rid of Saddam Hussien"

(I don't believe it was worth it either, but I've never been banned from anywhere, and I thought that could be cool.)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I knew somebody was gonna do that. ;) Ten-minute ban starting... now.


... aaaaand you're back. Sorry, had to. I said I would.

[pickledcritter.livejournal.com]

One thing I want to mention - the phrase "illegally invade" keeps getting thrown around, and unfortunately, it's not true. While the spirit of the laws of our country have been violated by the invasion, nothing in the letter of the law has unfortunately been violated - and that's what the real issue is.

Congress passed the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq and they have not yet revoked such usage, thus the provisions of the War Powers Act are satisfied. There was a constitutional challenge, but an appellate court headed by a Clinton-appointed judge noted there was no standing for the challenge.

Was Congress lied to by the White House to get the resolution passed authorizing the use of force in Iraq? Yes - but they (Congress) haven't done anything about it even though it has been clear for the last FOUR YEARS they were lied to. However, that still does not make our current use of force in Iraq illegal. Immoral? Absolutely. Illegal? Unfortunately, no - and that is the saddest part of the situation IMHO. Our elected officials (ALL of them that are not making serious efforts to strike down/reverse the resolution/bring our kids home) are sitting there, doing nothing, when with one voice vote they can end the whole thing...

While it is understandable that vast majority of US citizens hate the actions currently going on over there, tossing around polemic like that does nothing but perpetuate the "liberal foaming at the mouth" stereotype that the right wants keep pointing out (and while you may actually be foaming at the mouth when it comes to the actions of this Administration, it's best to try to separate the emotion from the actions so the points can be taken more seriously).

Ummm...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Why do you think this is being tossed around emotionally? And, for that matter, what if it is? I get offended when a fucking stupid frat boy shows how macho he is by starting wars.

And re: legality -- it doesn't take a lot of digging (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_the_Iraq_War). And you don't mention the international treaties violated, such as the UN Charter (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3661134.stm). Not to mention the war crimes committed in prosecution of the war, such as the violations of the Geneva Conventions against torture.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry: We can't fix Detroit. We'd have to have an inordinate amount of chutzpah to think we can fix Baghdad.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

1. Require a journalism degree to get a job hosting a TV journalism show. Too many of those yahoos have backgrounds as political operatives, not journalists. "News" has become nothing more than partisan propaganda.

2. Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

100% agree on that first idea. It would solve a lot of the problems I have with most news shows.

However I'm very much against the fairness doctrine on a matter of principle. The Constitution says very plainly that Congress shall make no law concerning free speach. As the fairness doctrine is a law that concerns free speach it is, by definition, unconstitutional. I've got no problem boycotting shows or things like that but please let's not get government involved. This is one we can solve on our own through basic capitalism.

[pickledcritter.livejournal.com]

Here is what I am trying to say: technically we legally invaded Iraq - it was not moral and was based on false information, but it was done according to the laws we have on our books. Also, based on the info in the wiki article, until charges are brought against the US and ruled on by the Security Council in regards to the invasion and human rights violations, we're technically not in violation of any international law either (and given the US and UK's veto power on the SC, that's what's called a fixed game...).

I think that what I was trying to say and maybe didn't get it out like I intended is that our laws regarding the use of military force are BAD, and Bad law != illegal. The detainment/torture issue is a separate issue that again our duly elected officials - including the ones we voted into office a year and a half ago - have decided to ignore and the UN is also pretending will go away. I say it is separate in that the war is already ongoing, so any torture/war crimes are covered by a different set of laws vs. the initial entry into the country which is a specific event that I was referring to when I was discussing legal/illegal.

The point I.m trying to make is that most of our elected officials passed a (bad) resolution backing the president getting into this mess, but they did do it according to the laws of the nation. The resolution was not struck down by an appellate court - therefore the authorization was legal in the US by definition, and the UN is essentially ineffective as long as the US and UK run the show at the UN.

The Responsible Plan would cover fixing what I'm talking about above so it doesn't happen again, which is why I support the plan.

[pickledcritter.livejournal.com]

crap - this was meant to be a reply to your reply to me, Tom...sorry :)

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

I can has Bill of Rights back pls?

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

I would love to get that one back.

I admit the urge, btw, to find a pic of GWB, the Shrub, with a (otherwise) pity-able look on his face - cut it to 100x100, and type on "Do Not Want!"

But I would be afraid someone would actually think that would be my opinion..

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Two words...

BUY MEXICO!

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

And rename ourselves "Iraq!" :D

[djonn]

The one essential pre-requisite to any successful long-term improvement in the quality of governance in this country:

We must combat and defeat the mindset that equates the words "politics" and "politician" -- without exception -- with corruption, insincerity, and an inability to act other than in one's own self-interest.

The successful and skillful practice of politics, governance, and (gasp!) statesmanship is and should be the practice of thoughtful study, good-faith negotiation, and conscientious compromise. In order to achieve effective policy solutions to any of the issues raised above, we must overcome the false rhetoric that attempts to define "politician" as a dirty word and promotes the idea that simply engaging in political activity -- specifically, seeking and being elected to public office -- somehow inherently corrupts the individual who does so.

This does not mean that there are no corrupt elected officials; far from it. However, I'd submit that over the last 30 years or so, the media's eagerness to cover political scandal at the expense of covering the (much less sexy) necessary process of governance has so thoroughly imprinted itself on public consciousness that it's filtering through into our educational system -- and that's dangerous, because that makes it exponentially more difficult to train a new generation in the essential skill-set of effective political leadership. Those skills include logical thinking (including an understanding of rhetoric), the practice of principled respect (and respect for principle), and the aforementioned abilities to negotiate and compromise.

Those are skills that we need in political leaders generally, irrespective of party affiliation or philosophical background. Yet by demonizing the very practice of politics and the profession of governance, we're making it more and more difficult for potential leaders to acquire those skills, more and more difficult for people with those skills to win elections . . . and more and more difficult for our institutions of government to operate as they were meant to operate.

"Politics" and "politicians" are not dirty words -- but words have power, and the more we use them as if they were, the harder it will become to repair our system of governance.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That's a good 'un. Government in this country is supposed to be of the people, by the people, for the people... We The People. Way past time we got back to that.

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

Thanks for asking. Here's How to Fix Everything in 9 Simple Steps (http://darrenzieger.livejournal.com/23485.html), which led off a political blog I didn't wind up having time to maintain.

I deal here only with domestic policy. I was going to follow up with a foreign policy piece, but, well, see previous paragraph.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Balance the budget. In ways that at least start to take into account the interest on existent debt. Yes, I *also* think we need to repair the inrastructure in order to create more jobs, and to use government money to address health care gaps, and I am willing to see numbers that suggest that we can't do all those and balance the budget also. But until I see said numbers, I'm going to assume that I can prioritize all three and get away with it, if I'm *not* putting exorbitant amounts of money into making rubble bounce in the middle east.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, I've got these two great ideas for getting money back into the system immediately. First, we cancel the tax cuts for the rich since 2001, and, second, we get the hell out of Iraq to the tune of $12 billion a month....

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

End all foreign entanglements, including NATO, and bring our troops home from everywhere. Also, abolish foreign aid, at least from the government---if people want to help foreigners, let them do so with their own money and on their own nickel.

End the War on Drugs, and try those who've trampled the Constitution in waging it---preferably in courts where the Bill of Rights, on which they've trampled, do not apply. IOW, double jeopardy, no protection from self-incrimination, and lots and lots of "cruel and unusual" punishment. Full pardons and restitution of lost properties and wages for all those convicted of "drug" crimes.

Get the government OUT OUT OUT of the health-care business. Think about it---would any of you want to trust your health to a government run by Republicans? Everybody knows that all Republicans are snake-handling Biblical-literalist Scrooges, after all...

Get rid of "boutique" blends of gasoline, and make it a lot easier to open new refineries. Right now, one of the big things keeping gasoline prices high is lack of refinery capacity. If this means that the eco-freaks are unhappy, tell them to STFD and STFU.

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

I think some things would be:

* Get out of Iraq.
(I will give just enough to set a date and let Iraq gov. know they got until then to get their shit together, but we need to get out.)

* Reform National Education.
I think we need some government assistance/direction, but I do not like the way it's currently set up.

* National Universal Health Care.
It works, it's been proven. If it's done right, it works well.

* Do Something about Big Business in Washington.
The government it suppose to be By/For/Of The People. While a business is made up of people, the current standard of behind the doors bribes and deals mean a lot of the time it comes to "For The Profit Margin."

* Address Unemployment.
Current unemployment numbers are terrible.. what's worse, though, is that (as I understand it) after a certain time people roll off the bottom, even if they don't get a job. How many people are really, truly unemployed? What can be done to fix this. It's not just a question of making jobs, either.

* Get Rid of Hidden Rider Clauses/Earmarks/Tabs/Whatever-ya-wanna-call-them.
If someone is passing legislation about Schooling, page 126, paragraph 5 is not where you should insert a grant for a new library/stadium/FiTB Pet Project. The same is said for page 1. If you want to bring up a pet project, do so... don't tack it on to something else so it can get accidentally passed, or used as a "silver bullet."

* Remind people what Tax is for.
I will admit that I hate paying taxes, but I know that money goes toward things like Interstate Highways, etc. They are needed, if we want the gov. to be able to actually do something without exercising unusual powers. I'll gladly pay taxes, if they get put to good use.

* Balance the budget.
Figure out how to do it. It's not hard, in theory. I would expect to pay more taxes for a Universal health care system. I would expect to pay more taxes for any new and major program. No one wants to be the one to tell the public "We need more money to do what you want" so we go in to debt, and that sucks. Also, since the gov. does so, it sets a sort of expectation that it's okay for others to have to do so to get things done, too. This is dangerous, stupid, and comes close to being evil.

* Revamp the Economy.
I find it stupid that "a healthy economy is a growing economy." -- "What goes up, must come down." There has to be a better model. I admit I am not an economist, but that's my take on that one.

* Get in to Alternate Energy.
Solar, Geo-Thermal, Wind, Nuclear.. there are a lot of choices (I know that's not all of them.) Some of them are more controversial than others. We need to look in to them, and Do Something.

I could keep going, but this is already longer than I intended.

[dbcooper.livejournal.com]

I would strengthen the Bill of Rights, and strengthen the economy by:

1) Funding soon-to-be-desperately-needed improvements and rehab to the Interstate Highway System, as well as matching state funds for state and county roads. This will add jobs to the economy, and obviously make the roads better--and where we are going (sorry, Doc Brown) we will still need roads.

2) Ending corporate welfare. Cutting taxes to create jobs has not worked. I would back legislation that would fine and charge interest on tax incentives taken by companies that failed to live up to their end of the bargain.

3) Restarting FDR's Works Projects Administration. This time, to simplify and make more flexible the WPA's structure, WPA 2.0 would work directly with municipal public works departments to beautify and renew blighted areas (WITHOUT moving existing residents out), rebuild city roads, re-engineer drainage systems and other projects, etc.

4) Expanding the schools. You know, those who CAN do also teach. And those who learn can do.

5) Restricting the FCC's mandate to facilitating communications and increasing bandwidth. The focus on what they call "decency" is divisive, off-mission, pointless, and frankly anti-First Amendment. It's time they got to work on a nationwide wireless Internet mesh.

6) Building a nationwide electrical grid, which could be fed from any source anywhere on the grid.

7) Rebooting the Department of Defense as a DEFENSE agency. We must focus on smaller, more flexible, faster applications of force. In air superiority, the only competitor for our F-22 Raptor is...our own F-15 Eagle. In armor, the only competitor for the M1 Abrams series tanks is the outmoded T-72 and T-80 Russian tanks. In infantry, we are one simplified and more reliable combat rifle and a few extra months of training per head away from being the best fighting force ever. Only the Navy seems to really be focused properly; they're going to smaller, faster ships with less expensive and more accurate ordnance, and I approve. (Okay, I'm a little biased there.)

8) Indicting the RIAA.