prole

Of course it's the liberal left's problem to solve. For all the bluster about political struggle you seem to think either that there are no real interests at play here, that all interests are or can be made compatible, or that systems can be built to keep interests in equilibrium. The third option, familiar to us all, neither precludes the recognition that some interests are incompatible or taking sides. My message isn't that no one's doing anything. I have a great respect for the work civil and human rights organizations do. Those legal rights are the bedrock of liberal democracy and must be continuously defended and expanded. What I'm saying is that in spite of the strides made in those areas (setting the Patriot Act and all those related failures aside) we have seen massive concentrations in of power and wealth and an attendant drop in mobility and opportunity for regular Americans. Legal freedoms are sacred but can't be the end-all-be-all for left politics if people are effectively limited from exercising life, liberty, and the pursuit happiness (equality of opportunity) based on income. When the left starts dealing with its economic blind spot and starts offering real alternatives to the policies that have only benefited the wealthy, your dumb and frustrated voter problem solves itself.

I like the whole "arc of history bends toward justice" thing and certainly colossal strides have been made in terms of both the legalistic definition of equality under the law (the actual operation of the "justice system" however is questionable, yes I know your position on the war on drugs) and the improved cultural acceptance of difference (as long as it doesn't challenge consumer capitalism). What isn't addressed is how the concentration of wealth, marketization, and the hardening of class structures hollows out and limits the actual exercise of freedoms in a meaningful way. Yes, America has witnessed rising inequalities and concentration of power before (not to mention the fact that the country was founded by waves of immigrants seeking to escape rigid class-bound Europe), but how many lost generations are we going to need to see before the liberal left starts to address class in America while getting thrown a bone or two in the form of paper rights the exercise of which are dependent almost solely on the ability to pay?

The debt ceiling default stuff is rubbish. It's not going to happen. But that won't stop Obama from giving Republicans 90% of what they want. That 90% isn't the armageddon the hypothetical default would be, but will just as surely add grease to the skids. Watching liberals chase their tails around this good cop/bad cop column would be astonishing if it weren't so typical. Check out this line: It's the policies championed over the last 30 years by the shining lights of American conservatism and the triangulating blue dick Dems that got us here. Which "moderates" are we hearkening back to here? Hindsight being 20/20 (um, well this is America after all), which Republicans were fit to govern? Yeah, the GOP is having a hard time putting the populist genie back in the bottle, let's not let them convince us we need more economic voodoo juice to do it.

I don't know who Reason's Spokesman is these days, I think that position might have fallen under the budget ax, but the piece seemed reasonable to me. ditto The quoted passage is key. The "range" Brooks tosses out there only represents a range on the narrowest of spectrums. His arguments seem reasonable because they're simply a regurgitation of the same supply-side crap that got us here, like a candidate running on name recognition. Republicans pining for the "reasonableness" of Reagan, Bush, et al is a joke enough, what part of "chickens coming home to roost" do Democrats not understand? I'm not sure Brooks is correct at all about the New Right. What better foil than the Insane Clown Caucus to convince us of the soundness and moderation of the very policies that took us to the brink? Judging by corporate balance sheets and bank accounts of the ultra-rich in the Great Recession, things seem to be going quite well politically. As Brooks does point out correctly, the Obamas are stumbling all over themselves to provide more of the same washed-up trickle down using the language of moderation. If enough Democrats and "sensible" Republicans are providing what the Right wants, the whackos are just what the GOP needs. Republicans are just proving once again that politics are best played by people who know what the fuck they're doing.

Somebody call the WAAHHHBULANCE!

STFU, noob. Spray: If its not climbing, mountaineering, or skiing related, please keep it in here!

Sure I did, I just didn't realize I stumbled into the weekend warrior chest beater forum. Did you wear you picket necklace again?

Go fuck yourself.

Is David Brooks supposed to be the voice of reason now? What a douche.

What do you think they were hiding?

by Mennen!

You're really close to Dog the Bounty Hunter there. What did he smell like?

Only $13,000 left. More than manageable. Thank god I finished school just as Bush, Greenspan, Gramm and the gangbanksters were pulling the rug out!

At the same time Americans' ability to pay is shrinking. But hey, don't get your panties in a bunch.

Now we're getting somewhere, at long last. And the connection between participating in a leisure activity that requires immense amounts of persistence, sacrifice, discipline, deferred gratification and getting into and completing college is...completely random? Something that happens only after someone sits in a lecture hall for X number of hours? Just like getting into college, participating in leisure activities that require immense amounts of persistence, sacrifice, discipline, deferred gratification is a fuckofalot of an easier proposition for some people than others. It's that rising inequality thing you seem incapable of addressing again!

According to USA Triathlon, 49% of triathletes report white-collar jobs and 19% report professional jobs such as doctor, lawyer or accountant. It's not clear how they could achieve these positions simply by participating in triathlons, but the connection to higher education is a bit easier to trace...

Don't forget to make it affordable, YEESH!

Oh puhleeze. Wow, you guys managed, what, 48 hours? Now you're the fricking Dalai Lama? No, you're right back in here. Pardon me, but y'all's transformations are a bit underwhelming...

I had a great weekend and I didn't do shit to make the world a better place, so we're even.

Doesn't look like the climbing thing is really working out for you. I mean, it's only Tuesday and you've already regressed to where you were last Thursday. Try soloing more.

Work out some of your Oedipal angst?

No, it's still going.

Afghanistan. We pulled out "all combat troops" out of Iraq how long ago. Let's just say I know a guy who might be going there soon. This shit pisses me off so much. Let's say something were to happen to a soldier now. In the last decade, public awareness of the harm that soldiers were in was high and soldiers have been taken care of. Now, with politicians blatantly lying about drawdowns and the media following blindly, how likely is there to be vocal support if God forbid, a soldier becomes an amputee or dies and the government tries to hose him? I'll tell you. Nothing. Public outcry is the only reason that ramshackle hospitals and substandard care have been fixed. Now, we have zero visibility and a still (admittedly less so) hostile area with little transparency with the American public. [/end rant] Problem solved. Thanks for playing.

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I11w-rl6iaY&ytsession=UVDkze-nivSTbqbHUQIz_JYonFCQPbTYePxKNTy0PX2n3-M_84ItdPm74C8LT8MIHWklXey_ATTiiHWpcQDstxMScXblD8_HKXxJbeGNIPYOpCSLDaKo8nRhBNvrL_17g0wxnTBM86StsJZQGs5rMCAzOW8T10siZDXlHfgK0-3f7ssjE2VTgdv64dIEA2v94jd0l6ofTlaEmT1yJj_UKr6iJRJtaOk8plqASavHvP-24kmznOWKGOOibbPIKFCJsYcITRTNQdxEujgSh-U4RW_cbgRv7uHvrGRQ_9hNhaE&has_verified=1

Six points ahead on the Freedumb Scale!