Weekly Politics
It's that time of the week again... yup, Tuesday! Also, my political links have started piling up again, so I'm going to unload some of them on you.
I'll admit it. I drank the Kool-Aid. Or at least sipped it. I saw the positive election coverage, and bought into it. I think I was mistaken. For all of you that thought these Iraqi elections were equivalent to Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech... well, you're right. But not in the way the Republicans would like you to believe. This article indicates that the Sunni's (20% of the Iraqi population) didn't seem too enthused by this whole election thing. To put 20% into perspective - that's a lot. Apparently that's equivalent to the number of US citizens that own a passport. Or the number of US citizens of Irish descent. Or the combined populations of California and Texas. I could make some comment about leading a horse to water, but not forcing it to drink... but I don't think I'd drink that water either. Yeah, they got elections. But they're still a far way off from Democracy.
Moving away from Iraq, we turn now to the Geneva Convention. In the LA Times, there's an Op-Ed piece arguing that the Geneva Conventions need to be rewritten to deal with terrorist groups and pseudo-states. The basic argument is that prior to 9/11, terrorists were dealt with as criminals - innocent till proven guilty, trial by jury, proof, evidence, etc. After 9/11, people wanted to deal with terrorist groups as an enemy of war, which falls under the dictates of the Geneva Convention. What is now happening is that people realize that terrorists don't quite fall into either group. They aren't common criminals, but they are not a nation with which we are at war - hence, the Geneva Convention would not apply. I tend to agree with them there. I think we need to find some middle ground. The problem I have is, HOW DID THAT MIDDLE GROUND BECOME TORTURE?
Next up, American students are morons. "36% believe newspapers should get 'government approval' of stories before publishing." Can we send them to Iran? Or North Korea?
Finally, January 15th was Martin Luther King's Birthday. February is Black History Month. In the middle, Bush tried to sell his social security plan to the black community. From that article, I gathered the following information. "On average, black males die six years sooner than white males," "The average age of death for blacks is earlier than for whites because homicide, poverty, and a lack of health care kills many black men at a young age," "The Census Bureau says 11 percent of whites do not have health insurance, compared with 20 percent of blacks," "Whites have a significantly higher average monthly retirement benefit than blacks because they had higher wages." Oh man. That's a lot of problems. But Bush's social security plan is going to solve all of that. Yes indeed. Designed for the black community. No more troubles.
I'll admit it. I drank the Kool-Aid. Or at least sipped it. I saw the positive election coverage, and bought into it. I think I was mistaken. For all of you that thought these Iraqi elections were equivalent to Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech... well, you're right. But not in the way the Republicans would like you to believe. This article indicates that the Sunni's (20% of the Iraqi population) didn't seem too enthused by this whole election thing. To put 20% into perspective - that's a lot. Apparently that's equivalent to the number of US citizens that own a passport. Or the number of US citizens of Irish descent. Or the combined populations of California and Texas. I could make some comment about leading a horse to water, but not forcing it to drink... but I don't think I'd drink that water either. Yeah, they got elections. But they're still a far way off from Democracy.
Moving away from Iraq, we turn now to the Geneva Convention. In the LA Times, there's an Op-Ed piece arguing that the Geneva Conventions need to be rewritten to deal with terrorist groups and pseudo-states. The basic argument is that prior to 9/11, terrorists were dealt with as criminals - innocent till proven guilty, trial by jury, proof, evidence, etc. After 9/11, people wanted to deal with terrorist groups as an enemy of war, which falls under the dictates of the Geneva Convention. What is now happening is that people realize that terrorists don't quite fall into either group. They aren't common criminals, but they are not a nation with which we are at war - hence, the Geneva Convention would not apply. I tend to agree with them there. I think we need to find some middle ground. The problem I have is, HOW DID THAT MIDDLE GROUND BECOME TORTURE?
Next up, American students are morons. "36% believe newspapers should get 'government approval' of stories before publishing." Can we send them to Iran? Or North Korea?
Finally, January 15th was Martin Luther King's Birthday. February is Black History Month. In the middle, Bush tried to sell his social security plan to the black community. From that article, I gathered the following information. "On average, black males die six years sooner than white males," "The average age of death for blacks is earlier than for whites because homicide, poverty, and a lack of health care kills many black men at a young age," "The Census Bureau says 11 percent of whites do not have health insurance, compared with 20 percent of blacks," "Whites have a significantly higher average monthly retirement benefit than blacks because they had higher wages." Oh man. That's a lot of problems. But Bush's social security plan is going to solve all of that. Yes indeed. Designed for the black community. No more troubles.
posted by Jeff at 10:43 AM
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