The decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators in a public, civilian court within sight of Ground Zero is one of the strongest expressions of America's strength that I have heard in many years. There is no honor, no pride, no confidence in trying your enemies in secret. There is honor, pride and chutzpah for America to hold fast to our ideals, trust our democracy, and try our enemies in full public view.
The republicans are expressing an amazing amount of hysterical fear at the prospect of giving the terrorists a fair, public trial. I am proud as all hell that we FINALLY have the balls to do this. I have full confidence that our democratic system is strong enough to hold this trial and I thank the Obama administration for restoring our confidence in our own democracy. Bush dragged this out for 8 fucking years, making us all afraid, doubting America's strength. Obama is reminding us that we are strong, our democracy is strong and our court system is strong. The terrorists wanted to frighten us, to make us doubt America and its democracy. Bush fell right into their trap, spreading fear and doubt. Obama is sending a clear message to Americans, to the terrorists and to the world that America's democracy will NOT be frightened by terrorists anymore. We will put our faith in our own values and feel confident that we will prevail over the fears and doubts the terrorists and Republicans both seem to thrive on.
When the 1993 bombings of the WTC happened, we maintained our faith in our own American democracy and tried the perpetrators publicly in a civilian court. That showed balls. That is better than most countries in the world would do. We gave them a fair trial and they are serving their sentence.
I am proud to see those who planned the attack on our city are being brought right here to New York to stand trial. In many ways it makes me feel prouder than I have for a long time. It shows the world that YES America IS strong enough to trust in our core democratic values.
Submitted by mole333 on 16 November 2009 - 11:41am.
I recently wrote about the resurgence of the left wing in Latin America and how this represents a final nail in the coffin for the Reagan Doctrine I grew up with. The main reason these left wing victories are so important is not necessarily the left wing victories, but rather the fact that democracy is now the norm in Latin America, rather than cold war influenced civil wars between right wing dictators and left wing guerrillas. I should note that the US support of dictators in Latin America pre-dated Reagan, but the undermining of democracy in Latin America was taken to an extreme by Reagan and the atrocities committed with the US picking up the tab were among their worst.
But even with democracy now the norm, there are still issues with what to do with the dictators of the past. The first of the US-supported dictators to get ousted, much to his shock, was Manuel Noriega of Panama, when the elected Bush decided that Noriega was too much of an embarrassment to keep supporting him.
This week, the latest Latin American dictator to have his comeuppance is Alberto Fujimori of Peru. This is another milestone in the path to stable democracy in Latin America. From BBC News: more this way»
Andy Carvin (@acarvin) and Shireen Mitchell (@digitalsista) were having a back and forth about how newspapers are conversations. I totally disagree. Newspapers are anything but conversations.
When humans discovered they could draw on the side of a cave or scratch symbols in a clay tablet, they discovered how to preserve not just memories of events past but the hoped for images of events to come. Writing is an engine for the preservation of memory and imagination.
Newspapers do not fall outside of the mnemonic function of writing. Neither are blogs, comments in blogs, real-time chats or twitter. Yet the difference between newspapers and, for example, Twitter is the amount of change and velocity inherent in the structure of writing and publishing with Twitter.
This reminds me very much of my years of graduate study at NYU. In studying Nitezsche, Baudelaire and the history of the avant garde and modernist movements of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, you can see a move against the totalitarian concept of not just truth but being. more this way»
The Reagan doctrine for US-Latin American relations has died.
With the democratic electoral win for the FMLN in El Salvador, the Latin American left dominates politics throughout Central and South America. The FMLN in El Salvador. The Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The South American left wing governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and other nations.
Back in the 1980's, a dominant part of Reagan's foreign policy was to support right wing dictators and right wing death squads in Latin America to topple existing left wing governments (e.g. Nicaragua) or to prevent a left wing take over (e.g. El Salvador). The atrocities Reagan was willing to accept from his proxies were disgusting. The rape and murder of nuns. The destruction of entire villages. Torture and terrorism worse than anything Saddam Hussein ever perpetrated. And remember that Reagan was even willing to deal with Iran in order to keep weapons flowing to his brutal anti-communist proxy armies. more this way»
There is one song that more than any represents the people's America, the America of the working class and middle class. The unofficial anthem of the United States has echoed through the decades. On Sunday, January 18th, 2009, that song was sung in Washington, DC, to usher in a new era. This Land is Your Land:
[NOTE: HBO has, ironically, pulled this video of "This Land is Your Land" from You Tube. They have the rights to it. You can watch their footage of the concert here.]
And here are the lyrics as originally written, and as sung by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen to welcome President Barack Obama:
This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
As I have done before back when Obama was heading for victory in the election, I want to present this anthem of the American Dream through the decades.
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It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
