New Republic says liberalism is dying
Martin Peretz in the New Republic says the liberalism is dying.Ask yourself: Who is a truly influential liberal mind in our culture? Whose ideas challenge and whose ideals inspire? Whose books and articles are read and passed around? There's no one, really. What's left is the laundry list: the catalogue of programs (some dubious, some not) that Republicans aren't funding, and the blogs, with their daily panic dose about how the Bush administration is ruining the country.
posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 1:36 PM
3 Comments:
How about Jim Wallis and David Batstone at Sojourners, Cornell West and Michael Lerner at Tikkun and Lakey and the Rockridge Institute crew. Maybe some of those folks belong more to the left than liberal though.
Liberalism is dying? Can you confusatives be honest enough to tell the truth just once?
In the first place, just because people aren't nazi doesn't automatically mean their liberal. You amerinazis call anybody left of far right a liberal; moderates, right of center, left of center, libertarians, middle of the road, and centrists.
Liberalism could be seen as dying if we accepted your distortion.
If liberalism were dying, would you be men enough (of course not) to admit it had something to do with the fact that the amerinazi's unofficial propaganda ministry, Clear Channel, was effectively using its media monopoly to silence the opposition?
I'd ask you to think about that for a while but I know you confusatives never think, you just react.
In Jesus' Glorious and Holy name,
Dean Berry -- REAL American
wonder if you've seen this.
Begin forwarded message:
Date: September 20, 2004 9:45:31 PM EDT
Subject: Fw: Mandatory draft bill proposed
Mandatory draft for boys and girls (ages 18-26) starting June 15, 2005, is something that everyone should know about. This literally effects everyone since we all have or know children that will have
to go if this bill passes. There is pending legislation in the house and senate (companion
bills: S89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin as early as spring, 2005, just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately. Details and links follow. This plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft. Also, crossing into Canada has already been made very difficult.
This legislation is called HR 163 and can be found in detail at this website: http://thomas.loc.gov/ . Just enter in "HR 163" and click search and this will bring up the bill for you to read. It is less than two pages long.
This legislation aims to make the draft more equitable along gender and class lines and also eliminates higher education as a shelter. If this bill passes, it will
• include all men and ALL WOMEN from ages 18 - 26.
• college will no longer be an option for avoiding the draft
• Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester.
• Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.
• The administration will be signing an agreement with Canada which will no longer permit anyone attempting to dodge the draft to stay within it's borders.
• also include the extention of military service for all those that are currently active.
If you go to the selcetive service web site and read their 2004 FYI Goals you will see that the reasoning for this is to increase the size of the military in case of terrorism. This is a critical piece of legislation, this will effect our undergraduates, our children and our grandchildren. Please take the time to write your congressman and let them know how you feel about this legislation.
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.house.gov/gt ; http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.senate.gov/gt
Please also write to your representatives and ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills and write to newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story.
$28 million has been added to the 2004 selective service system budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant is ready for activation. Please see www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.htmlgt ; to view the Selective Service System annual performance plan, fiscal year 2004. The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan (and permanent state of war on terrorism) proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.
www.hslda.org/legislation/national/2003/s89/default.asp
http://www.hslda.org/legislation/national/2003/s89/default.aspgt
Entitled the Universal National service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring
that all young persons (age 18-26) in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes."
These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services. Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era. College and Canada will not be options. In December, 200 1, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in.
Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30 point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country.
What to do:
• Please send this on to all the parents and teachers you know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents. . . And let your children know - - it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!
• Contact your legislators and ask them to oppose these bills (if you haveAOL, just type "congress" into the aol search engine and input your zip code. A list of your reps will pop up with a way to email them directly.)
We can't just sit and pretend that by ignoring it, it will go away. We must voice our concerns and create the world we want to live in for our children and grandchildren.
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