Sunday, December 07, 2003

One More Seat at the Table

One More Seat at the Table
By Parag Khanna

Published: NY Times, December 6, 2003


I found this to be one of the best appeals to the United States..an appeal to relinquish its Security Council veto power in favor of majority voting. In Khanna's words, "No country has more frequently exercised its veto right, while simultaneously denouncing other nations' use of it."
He calls for a stronger United Nations, which can extend (and repair tarnished) American influence while also making unilateral action by the United States unnecessary in the future.

Will anyone listen?


Kristof Column is Way off the Mark

Nicholas Kristof is either a GOP mole or secretly endorses another Dem Candidate


Re: There They Go Again
By Nicholas D. Kristof


Wow.
What an intellectually disappointing column by Kristof.
My personal view is that, if he doesn't have a personal agenda, then he's very much out of touch with
the pulse of politics of the moment.

He says: "I agree with Mr. Dean on many issues, and I admire his willingness to oppose our Iraq invasion from the beginning. But shiny-eyed teenagers who distribute leaflets for him in places like Yamhill County are going to get very cold stares — and end up heartbroken.."

I'd remind Mr. Kristof that there are hundreds of thousands of shiny-eyed folks of all ages out here working for Governor Dean.
When you think about it, there were some shiny-eyed folks in 1776 who faced the risk of a lot more than
heartbreak. (Can you spell prison and death?)
It worked out well for them. And it was totally unexpected, wasn't it?

I can almost hear Kristof back in 1776.."..those silly, shiny-eyed fools think they can beat the British..."
Someone nudge old Nick and remind him that this is the new bloodless revolution.
And we will win..with Howard Dean as our chosen leader.

Kristof is very condescending and downright insulting to middle Americans in this column:

"...I seriously doubt that anybody who publicly uses the word "contretemps" can ever be elected president...You get the feeling that if Mr. Dean and Mr. Bush were stuck together in a small Missouri town, Mr. Dean would lecture farmers about Thomas Paine's writings, while Mr. Bush would have the cafe crowd in stitches by doing impersonations of Mr. Dean..."

First, he makes Bush sound absolutely retarded in this scenario. Then he makes middle-Americans sound like a
bunch of ignorant rednecks who would never understand or care about principles, but would rather laugh at a monkeyboy's antics. I give middle America far more credit. I truly have faith that all Americans are concerned about the health and welfare of their own communities and the health of the democracy that allows their participation in the political process.


Kristof says: "...Mr. Dean is smart, but he knows it. America's heartland oozes suspicion of Eastern elitists, and Mr. Dean's cockiness would exacerbate that suspicion."

I'm not sure that middle America is any different than the South in the "suspicion of elitists", but I DO know that Howard Dean has taken the Democratic lead in South Carolina according to the most recent Zogby poll.
This contradicts Kristof's stated belief.

What do you think?
Is Kristof a one-man "stop-Dean-team"?

Just which one of those other nine Democrats do you figure is on his secret agenda?

U.S. Air Strike Apparently Kills Nine Children

This sounds too much like something that would happen in the Gaza strip


When is the chance of killing one "known-terrorist" worth the lives of nine innocent children?

Was the "isolated, rural site" we bombed a family home?

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A U.S. air strike apparently killed nine children as well as the suspected militant who was targeted on Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, according to the U.S. military.