Constructive gadfly
stevendedalus's Articles In Politics » Page 25
July 26, 2008 by stevendedalus
 In the beginning there was labor in order to survive. Later there were those who could not withstand back-breaking work and soon forged weaponry to control others to do the work for them. Out of this forced labor grew primeval civilization—the rule of men—subjugating the powerless to its bidding through the division of labor from which sprang the few with talent and skills developing a hierarchy of labor that increased productivity and its own limited stature though still under...
July 24, 2008 by stevendedalus
        By swift boating McCain, General Clark learned it works only when undermining Democrats. Ironically Bush has made it easier for Obama to execute his timetable. Why would Hillary want to give up the powerful influence of New York State for the negative influence of a nation? Cap & Trade should be called what it is: Copout & Gain. Give up Guantanamo? Okay. In my backyard—no way. Death penalty for child rape wipes out the slim cha...
July 22, 2008 by stevendedalus
  To the disappointment of the Obamacans, it is nevertheless just as well Barack has turned the page to Hillary’s southpaw centrism—and Bill’s for that matter. For had Obama continued the rhetoric in pandering to the non-pragmatic progressives, he would end up in the trash bin of McGovernites. The country conceivably is ready for change and a Black American not of the color of Wright and Jackson, it is definitely not prepared for the color of Move-on Quixotism. Actually Obama’s ori...
January 23, 2008 by stevendedalus
Primaries ought to be curtailed. We are bombarded with the same old emotive, repetitious prolixity without factual and practical substratum—not to mention outrageous $millions wasted in crisscrossing the country, TV ads, pointless debates for the exclusive pundits and YouTube to revel in. Candidates should have greater credentials, along with an elaborate multi-point position paper exposed to scrutiny, analysis. Each contestant should be required to hold press conferences defending his/her po...
January 23, 2008 by stevendedalus
The Washington Post’s economic guru accuses the primaries candidates in both parties of throwaway promises in the battle for the nation’s progeny. As an example, Hillary is “reclaiming the future for the nation’s children.” Samuelson suggests this is rubbish because he predicts: “today’s young workers and children are about to be engulfed by a massive income transfer from young to old.” He reasons that social security, Medicare and Medicaid primarily for the agéd is now 40% of the federal budget...
December 17, 2007 by stevendedalus
 The new darling of the internet has broken his own record of raising over $4mil in a day over the internet by $6mil yesterday. It just goes to show that donations by credit card is a hell of a lot easier than checks in the mail. It doesn't seem to matter what the candidate Ron Paul stands for when the Libertarians and the Birch Society are in accord! How do you figure?   
December 10, 2007 by stevendedalus
Ridiculous! Huckabee a frontrunner in Iowa—give me a break. Rather, he is a product of born-again zeal. The Christian Right is determined to keep alive its proselytizing the nation to messianic politics: even to the point of making Romney, who heretofore kept his Mormonism to himself, announce, as it were, his faith a close second to evangelism and modestly but consistently growing here and globally. Welcome to the automat of religious twists and turns. This shows the danger of Iowa’s...
December 6, 2007 by stevendedalus
Unlike Bill Clinton I did oppose the war in Iraq as proposed “from the beginning.” But like Bill Clinton I acknowledged that the Gulf War was ongoing. It was in a state of continual truce interrupted by numerous Saddam infringes such as Kuwait border troop movement and repeated offensives on the no-fly zones. To be sure Saddam was a blundering strategist, having had to agree to a truce, not to mention the truce with Iran debacle, and being a damnable nuisance. On the strength of its being ...
November 24, 2007 by stevendedalus
Hillary’s flipflop—undermining her governor’s stand on driver’s license for illegal immigrants—is a disappointment beyond belief. Her befuddled circumlocution was more than enough to defeat Spitzer’s proposal, which, granted needed pragmatic tweaking but at least it was an effort to face up to this insurmountable issue of what to do about the undocumented already here to stay.
November 10, 2007 by stevendedalus
Snowflake[Rumsfeld]: “Make sure the American people realize that they are surrounded by violent extremists.” This same useless propaganda is the basis once more for a presidential election as perceived by the prominent candidates of both parties, though the Republicans will relentlessly pursue it—particularly Giuliani if he wins the nomination. This same rhetoric was played out during the Korean and Vietnam wars in the guise of the domino theory and before then the McCarthy era to whip up a fr...
November 6, 2007 by stevendedalus
Another pock on US leadership is the escapist mess in Afghanistan. Though we and major allies—European, Australian and Canadian—make up the bulk of NATO there, the forces are underfunded as a the stepchild of the Iraqi skirmish and unable to contain the resurgence. To make the matter worse, the remainder of NATO refuses to consider itself a combat force but rather there to do nation building. Moreover, the battle of the poppy fields are doing as poorly, not a surprise, as our own domestic war on...
November 5, 2007 by stevendedalus
Overreaction to global warming is the same tactics of exploitative fear as was the carried on, and still is, in the rush to Iraq. These piecemeal inconvenient truths do not forge a systemic strategy—on the contrary, it generates greater negatives. Who among the poor would not resent a lecture on the good graces of organic foods originated from the elite holier-than-thou image-seekers who can afford them? No one of moderate means would pay triple the price for a head of cabbage. Who among us shav...
October 30, 2007 by stevendedalus
 Despite Hillary Bashing by not only Republicans but Democrat candidates, I pragmatically but ambivalently lean toward her as the next president. Unquestionably the perception is that she has high negatives by both sides and the pundit myth-makers—all of whom still think she should stay home and bake cookies—and I too feel low vibes but not for her personality—at least she has one which has been lacking in the White House—rather, I dislike her ties with shady fund-raisers and her cosy relat...
October 30, 2007 by stevendedalus
Why do we continue the desperation of clinging to the frayed rope of private health insurance? Even Hillary wants the upper middle class to keep their existing employment related policies. This is in face of an accelerated belief in the business realm that private insurance is wrecking its global competitiveness. Essentially she wants to return to the same old “regional” concept under the guise of generating greater competitive health insurance industry. The whole point of “insurance” competitio...
October 5, 2007 by stevendedalus
Frustration over illegal immigration is a kind of Catch 22. The Washington Post points out that even though funds for border patrol and its technology increased 1000 percent from 1986-2002; that is, from $150 million to $1.6 billion. Manpower increased threefold over the period. What once was three million illegals has increased to 12 million and still counting. The Post estimates $7.6 billion will be the projected cost by 2011 and some say as much as $30 billion. While immigrants keep coming ov...