Boy howdy, have you ever hit the nail Phil.Very few of my friends will talk to me because of my stand on the war's, and the disconnect that smirkco has created to take it out of the realm of everyday life.I would be honored to be able to go to Dover Airbase and show my respect for those returning who have fallen,but in doing so I would be labeled a terrorist in the eyes of my government.This is the twisted logic that has been foisted upon us by those who view us as cattle rather than a vibrant integral part of our society.Buy duct tape and plastic,and fear,fear,fear the boogie man.We will take care of ideals and innovation.Submerge yourselves in selfish diversion,make no waves,sell your souls to WANT,so that it may be your master.Out of sight ,out of mind,we will take care of you if you'll only shop a little more.This is why these wars have gone on and on.This is why our country is being devoured by the special interests.We have lost our nations soul which was founded on openness and the freedom to participate/protest(within limits) that which we feel is a detriment to our well being.Not one of the candidates strikes me as having the backbone to bring about the change that is so sorely needed.All I see are people of power, who WANT more power.

Phil Hoskins...nicely stated and spot-on!

Carl Nemo **==

Great analysis and commentary. If I could single out one observation, it's this one:

America was founded for the common good. That common good included individual liberty as a necessary component, but the individual was always a part of the whole, not free of communal obligations.

We need candidates who address the common good, the weakness of individualism gone rampant and the supremacy of the corporate behemoth at the expense of all else.

Individualism has moved to a selfishness that borders on outright hedonism. The quality that made our country so unique is now being exploited by the media, the market, and even our swaggering president, who implored us to maintain our orgy of spending, even as billions of dollars disappear into the black hole called the War On Terror.

Tonight in the debates the dems all agreed that they could not fix health care, education, etc, until they ended the war in Iraq. The war money is what they needed to finance these things. Everyone except Hillary brought up the issue of the huge debt more than once. They all agreed to tax the rich and take away the corporations "breaks."

Oddly, they all seemed to be in agreement about a time table for ending the war now, 9-10 months with only slight differences on how to go about it.

As I expected, Hillary attacked Obama, essentially calling him a liar. Accusing him of saying one thing but voting the other. I could see Obama was pissed. She used the republican playbook of "you say you are against the war, but voted Bush funds for it." Obama's answers could have been better but he and Edwards tag teamed her fairly well. If I remembner correctly, Edwards said he hopes to finish second again. That seems wierd. As if his main goal is to get Hillary out of the way early and then go head to head with Obama. He must think he can Beat Obama with no interference because the convention will be afraid to run a black person.

Richardson made some good points but what he accomplished was to support Hillary's needing experience contention. I don't know why they allow her to get away with claiming she has 35 years experience. Doing what? And she says the others say they want to change things while she has been making changes all of her life.

That was what I got out of it. Now for the vote.

Once again, we see business as usual in the Final Flush of this once-mighty monument to capitalism called the USA. I entirely can't blame Bush for this one, though. In my opinion, and I've said this before, the most recent demolition of the working class (it happens every 30-40 years in America) started in 1969 with the introduction of the Harvard MBA program, gained serious momentum with Ronnie Union-Slayer Reagan, and is now at a nadir with Emperor McFilthy, GWB.
The labor movement, or rather, the non-existent labor movement is the single biggest problem this country faces, next to our filthy wars-of-choice. I also find it interesting how Karl Marx, in Das Capital, said (150 years ago!) that the decline of a capitalist country will always be marked by wars designed to protect "markets." I'm not a communist, but the guy nailed it.
Hell, I was once an electrical engineer. But since my country has sold me down the river so many times, it's more profitable for me to be a musician! Is that pathetic, or what? I can't even get a job building WMD's anymore.... nowadays 60% of an F-16 fighter is made overseas!
This country has cancer, it's malignant, and I fear it has spread to the vital organs. When China decides it has better things to do than prop up our degenerate economy, people will be shooting each other for a loaf of bread or some decent shoes for their kids. I hope I'm wrong. But you only need to look at the fall of any other capitalist country to know it ain't gonna be pretty. Charles Dickens and Karl Marx were only scratching the surface of what's in store for US, if we don't get wise, FAST. Happy 2008, folks.

Once again, we see business as usual in the Final Flush of this once-mighty monument to capitalism called the USA. I can't entirely blame Bush for this one, though. In my opinion, and I've said this before, the most recent demolition of the working class (it happens every 30-40 years in America) started in 1969 with the introduction of the Harvard MBA program, gained serious momentum with Ronnie Union-Slayer Reagan, and is now at a nadir with Emperor McFilthy, GWB.
The labor movement, or rather, the non-existent labor movement is the single biggest problem this country faces, next to our filthy wars-of-choice. I also find it interesting how Karl Marx, in Das Capital, said (150 years ago!) that the decline of a capitalist country will always be marked by wars designed to protect "markets." I'm not a communist, but the guy nailed it.
Hell, I was once an electrical engineer. But since my country has sold me down the river so many times, it's more profitable for me to be a musician! Is that pathetic, or what? I can't even get a job building WMD's anymore.... nowadays 60% of an F-16 fighter is made overseas!
This country has cancer, it's malignant, and I fear it has spread to the vital organs. When China decides it has better things to do than prop up our degenerate economy, people will be shooting each other for a loaf of bread or some decent shoes for their kids. I hope I'm wrong. But you only need to look at the fall of any other capitalist country to know it ain't gonna be pretty. Charles Dickens and Karl Marx were only scratching the surface of what's in store for US, if we don't get wise, FAST. Happy 2008, folks.

Once again, we see business as usual in the Final Flush of this once-mighty monument to capitalism called the USA. I can't entirely blame Bush for this one, though. In my opinion, and I've said this before, the most recent demolition of the working class (it happens every 30-40 years in America) started in 1969 with the introduction of the Harvard MBA program, gained serious momentum with Ronnie Union-Slayer Reagan, and is now at a nadir with Emperor McFilthy, GWB.
The labor movement, or rather, the non-existent labor movement is the single biggest problem this country faces, next to our filthy wars-of-choice. I also find it interesting how Karl Marx, in Das Capital, said (150 years ago!) that the decline of a capitalist country will always be marked by wars designed to protect "markets." I'm not a communist, but the guy nailed it.
Hell, I was once an electrical engineer. But since my country has sold me down the river so many times, it's more profitable for me to be a musician! Is that pathetic, or what? I can't even get a job building WMD's anymore.... nowadays 60% of an F-16 fighter is made overseas!
This country has cancer, it's malignant, and I fear it has spread to the vital organs. When China decides it has better things to do than prop up our degenerate economy, people will be shooting each other for a loaf of bread or some decent shoes for their kids. I hope I'm wrong. But you only need to look at the fall of any other capitalist country to know it ain't gonna be pretty. Charles Dickens and Karl Marx were only scratching the surface of what's in store for US, if we don't get wise, FAST. Happy 2008, folks. And a GREAT piece, Phil. Thank you.

Sorry for the multiple posts. I'm not in love with my opinions..... just a functionally illiterate web-surfer.

Just look at the number of comments in each column of today's CHB. Hillary's crying engendered 30, while the article on voting stimulated only 3 people to comment. Perhaps we should begin to change our priorities. Voting, by mail or in person, is certainly more important than whether HC produced crocodile tears or the real thing.
All these politicians lie. Clinton, Obama, Guiliani, McCain, are all skilled liars. The problems begin when THEY begin to believe their own lies and lose the ability to tell the difference between the truth and their lies.

Bush and Cheney are prime examples, altho I believe that Bush does not know whether he is lying or telling the truth and Cheney does and is just a very evil man. Bush is not too stupid to lie, hell, he connived his way thru two losing elections and is still the Chief Executive. Cheney on the other hand is devious, cruel, and contemptuous of the American people, and the two of them scare the hell out of me.

I hope that there are elections in November, and I hope that California will allow me to eventually register so that I can vote. I just wish that there was a candidate I wanted to vote for...

"America was founded for the common good. That common good included individual liberty as a necessary component, but the individual was always a part of the whole, not free of communal obligations.

We need candidates who address the common good, the weakness of individualism gone rampant and the supremacy of the corporate behemoth at the expense of all else."

Well unfortunately, the answer isn't socialism. While the war, and our others overseas obligations i.e. Korea, Germany, Okinawa, and many other overseas US installations, are certainly costing us tons of money that could be rerouted, and better spent on buying down our national debt, etc., we can ill afford to take one new obligations and entitlements. In fact, obligations and entitlements are huge part of the problem and need to be dealt with fast. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, need to be reformed. And while the idea of a safety net for the lower classe is a good one, allowing those who are capable of taking care of themselves to do so, is also very good idea. Requiring everyone to have health insurance in the way we require people to have car insurance is a good idea. Having the government provide insurance for those who cannot provide proof that they are getting it for themselves is a very good idea. The government could shop this large group of people who need coverage to tons of eager insurance companies, who certainly would love to bid on contracts to ensure millions and millions of people with guaranteed payment of premium. If the government could then do a good job with this pool of people, then they might attract even more people to their program. Perhaps, employers to did not offer their own insurance could be mandated to pay a percentage of the employees cost. The rest could come out as a payroll deduction, and perhaps a tax break could be given for this to those at the lower end of the economic scale. Reduction and whole scale revision of corporate tax codes, in an effort to encourage the growth of business in this country might be a helpful way of offsetting the burden. Corporate taxes are merely passed on as costs to the consumer their reduction or elimination would only benefit the citizens. Of course, the entire tax code needs to be simplified.
It frightens me that not only the Democratic but also the Republican front-runners seem to be" big government" people.
In these times of economic difficulty spending needs to be reined in in large ways relief needs be provided to people by putting more money into their hands, to complain about economic trouble created by the war, in one breath, only to demand a new entitlement that is complete government control of health care, in the next breath, is silly.
Government does not need to take over things to fix problems it merely needs to nudge the private sector and citizens in the right direction.

Socially liberal, fiscally conservative... constitutionalist, libertarian...
empower & encourage people to take care of themselves.
the solution isn't always to throw more $ at the proplem.