http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Mon, 27 Sep 2004 21:55:47 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/09/27/215547.php mike larkinAfter Bush's election, the United States will inflict mass civilian casualties in Iraq. I predict full throated support for the carnage from the likes of Eric Olsen, Al Barger, Glenn Reynolds, and so on.The U.S. plans phony elections next January, rigged to favor corrupt, expatriate Iraqis. Since whole areas of Iraq, like Falluja and Sadr City, are outside of U.S. control, the military is preparing an assault to pacify these populations. Civilians will be killed. It's the American way.Analyst Michael Schwartz explains:"What the U.S. may have gained [from recent air strikes], therefore, is the apathy of the world to escalating violence against Iraqi civilians. This, more than the success or failure of these individual campaigns, may lay a foundation for the massive offensives that the U.S. military appears to be preparing for the period just after the American elections in November....The calibrated increases in the destructiveness of U.S. air attacks over the past few months appears to have numbed local and international outrage, a condition that allows for further escalation and magnitudes more casualties."I believe that people like Olsen and Reynolds are looking forward to the killing. Beneath their shallow talk of spreading democracy lies a hatred for common Iraqis. The Iraqis didn't welcome us with open arms, so this is what they deserve. If you are a resident of Falluja or Samarra, even if you are a pregnant woman or a small child, then you are automatically a terrorist. So the hell with you.Murdering innocents also helps prowars assuage their wounded post 9-11 nationalism.Nothing is more maddening than watching self-styled advocates of Iraqi democracy sit silently by or applaud while the U.S. inflicts civilian casualties. It makes me sick to be an American.Bush's second term will be a horror. But it's going to be fun watching prowars wallow in their own lies and hypocrisy. I'm keeping a list. Politics20348@blogcritics.org Mon, 27 Sep 2004 21:55:47 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/09/04/224947.php mike larkinAfter Bush's re-election, the country will be subject to a punishing round of tax increases.It's already started. Yesterday, the government announced that Medicare premiums will rise by 17.5 percent, a tax increase by any standard. And that's just the beginning.Call it The Big Lie. Even as they attack John Kerry for wanting to raise taxes, top Bush Administration officials know that they will be raising taxes as soon as they are re-elected. Social Security taxes will increase to pay for privatization, gasoline taxes will rise to pay for the deficit, "user fees" will be tacked on everywhere to pay for the bloated U.S. military.It has to happen. The numbers just don't add up, and something has to give. The government can only avoid tax increases by eliminating whole departments, like Education and environmental protection. That, of course, is not going to happen.Bush's re-election is assured, unfortunately. But I for one am going to enjoy watching conservatives wallow in their own lies and hypocrisy come January. Politics19466@blogcritics.org Sat, 4 Sep 2004 22:49:47 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/21/162515.php mike larkinArgentina. Brazil. India. And now Venezuela. Everywhere you look throughout the democratic world, the Left is on the march, winning election after election.Hugo Chavez's electoral romp is a huge victory for opponents of U.S. foreign policy. It's a huge victory for advocates of social democracy. And for left-leaning Americans, it's a welcome tonic to the dreary U.S. Presidential campaign.Of course, the Chavez victory won't be replicated in the United States. Bush's re-election is assured--and even if he did lose, he and his entourage would never step down. They would simply declare martial law and move the country to a modified form of military dictatorship.It's all over for the United States as a viable historical project. But throughout the world--ah, things are looking up! Politics18916@blogcritics.org Sat, 21 Aug 2004 16:25:15 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/09/161932.php mike larkinNow that George Bush has apologized for the Iraqi prisoner scandal, it's time to put the whole thing behind us and move on.It's been a trying week for our country. The abuse scandal has forced us to confront our deepest, darkest selves, to probe the very essence of what it is to be an American. (The great thing is that we did this even though the torture was obviously the work of a few rogue troops at the very bottom of the chain of command, without any encouragement from their superiors.)Monday and Tuesday of last week were particularly dark days for our country. People were downcast and troubled everywhere you went, asking themselves how such a horrible thing could have happened to the greatest country in the world.Wednesday was a bridge day, in which the fog seemed to lift a bit. By Thursday and Friday, Americans, encouraged by George Bush's courageous and heartfelt apology, began to forgive themselves for all that had happened.Saturday morning was still a bit rough, I hear, although I wouldn't know personally, since I never get up before 11:00.By Saturday night, though, the healing was complete. In the shopping malls and the movie theatres, at the baseball parks and the ATM machines, Americans were upbeat, optimistic, knowing that the country was back on track.The message is clear. We may have taken a few bumps and bruises during the week. But now the worst is behind us. We are a forgetful--er, I mean, forgiving people. America is proud. America is strong.America is back. Politics15516@blogcritics.org Sun, 9 May 2004 16:19:32 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/08/232944.php mike larkinThere are two types of terrorism: retail terrorism and state terrorism.Osama bin Laden practices retail terrorism.The United States government, as the Abu Ghraib scandal shows, practices state terrorism. It is therefore illegitimate.It really is that simple. Politics15503@blogcritics.org Sat, 8 May 2004 23:29:44 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/03/17/230637.php mike larkinStrongest economic growth in the G7!!!20% rise in manufacturing jobs in the last ten years!!!Awesome health care system!!!Legalized gay marriage!!! Most gay friendly country in the world!!!Last Prime Minister was a dope smoking fiend!!! (That's a good thing.)Against the war in Iraq!!! Told the U.S. to shove it!!! Booed the U.S. national anthem at a hockey game!!!The Conservatives may come to power, but they're just castrated Republicans!!!Carruthers is really funny!!Nelly Furtado is totally hot!!!!Tim Horton sucks, but it turns out it's owned by Wendy's!!!!Canada rocks!!! Get me out of the %@# U.S.A.!!!! Politics13840@blogcritics.org Wed, 17 Mar 2004 23:06:37 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/03/17/201555.php mike larkinThis time, I'm not kidding: The statement said it supported President Bush in his reelection campaign, and would prefer him to win in November rather than the Democratic candidate John Kerry, as it was not possible to find a leader "more foolish than you (Bush), who deals with matters by force rather than with wisdom." In comments addressed to Bush, the group said: "Kerry will kill our nation while it sleeps because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish blasphemy and present it to the Arab and Muslim nation as civilization." La dee dah. Politics13836@blogcritics.org Wed, 17 Mar 2004 20:15:55 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/03/14/225302.php mike larkinThose who instigated the Iraq war have the blood of Madrid on their hands.Before the war, opponents predicted that the invasion would unleash a new round of Islamist terror and that invading would put innocent people--in Europe, America, etc.--at mortal risk.The invasion unleashed a new round of Islamist terror and put innocent people--in Europe, America, etc.--at mortal risk.It's time for people who yak on in right wing blog fashion about the war on terror to take some personal responsibility for the consequences of their political positions.It's true that the only people directly responsible for the Madrid bombings are the bombers themselves. Duh. But if I indulge in a reckless action, like the Iraq war, that any idiot could have foreseen WOULD PUT INNOCENT PEOPLE AT RISK, PEOPLE WHO IN THIS CASE WERE OVERWHELMINGLY OPPOSED TO THE WAR, then, goddamit, I've got some explaining to do.By analogy, imagine if the police fought a neighborhood gang by recklessly exposing innocent residents to retribution by that gang--and, in the process, made the gang stronger. That is what has happened here.In this case, the Andrew Sullivans and their ilk are cranking up their "Anyone Who Points Out the Obvious is Blaming America for 3-11" routine. Then, out of the other side of their mouths, they are blaming antiwars for 3-11.Even more egregious is their argument that the Spanish people behaved in a cowardly fashion by voting out the ruling party. Those who make these accusations can go fuck themselves. Politics13707@blogcritics.org Sun, 14 Mar 2004 22:53:02 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/03/13/000855.php mike larkinThere are three likely scenarios for the U.S. elections this fall. None of them involve John Kerry becoming President.The first scenario is that an improving job market and/or foreign policy developments will allow Bush to win by a comfortable margin. Immediately upon re-election, of course, the GOP will break its campaign promises by raising taxes and cutting social spending. It will need to do so to pay for its bloated military budget.The second scenario is that the election will be close, a replay of 2000. In that case, Diebold and the other electronic voting companies will simply throw the election to the Republicans, allowing the GOP to maintain power.The third scenario is that pre-election polls will show Kerry with a commanding lead. In that case, the Bush Administration will just cancel the elections and move the country to a modified form of military dictatorship. Sound crazy? It's really common sense. The GOP can't afford to lose power. The scandals are too huge, the corruption too staggering, the stakes too high. For people like Cheney, getting kicked out of the White House would simply be a prelude to going to jail. And so they will do anything, absolutely anything, to stay in power.Mark my words. Politics13670@blogcritics.org Sat, 13 Mar 2004 00:08:55 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/03/07/185345.php mike larkinWhy are right wing Republican administrations so protectionist?Their rhetoric aside, Reagan and the Bushes have been far more protectionist than FDR, Carter, and Clinton were. Whether it's open protectionism like panicky steel tariffs, or the quieter moves the White House is using to protect orange growers in Florida, Republicans are, by any standard, the Protectionist Party.Believe it or not, I don't subscribe to the view that the GOP is being hypocritical. I think it honestly supports free trade.The problem is that when you tear down social supports like Social Security, welfare, Medicaid, minimum wage laws, etc., you are plunging people into fear--for their jobs, their pensions, their homes. Fearful people become xenophobic. Xenophobic people become protectionist.When people have more assurances they won't be thrown out in the street, they're more likely to support open trade with other countries. This is why a Kerry Administration would be far more supportive of free trade than a second Bush Administration.As an example, take the Asian economies like South Korea. They provide their people with a modicum of education and social support. To blunt calls for more widespread protectionism, they use tariffs and quotas judiciously--much as a doctor uses a small pox vaccine to guard against an outbreak of small pox. As a result, these countries both contribute to, and benefit from, free trade.Compare them to the Latin America economies. In the 90s, social programs were gutted at the same time markets were thrown open. In fear, people have rejected free trade. Anti-free trade governments have swept to power in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, and are about to in Bolivia, Peru, possibly even Mexico.If you want an open international trading system, you need to impose minimum labor and environmental standards on the poorest nations, while bolstering social programs in the wealthiest nations. Otherwise, countries will stop participating.By analogy, imagine you want traffic to flow freely in a big city. You would build good roads, require people to drive safe cars, and impose minimum traffic regulations like stop signs and red lights. Otherwise, anarchy would abound, and people would stop driving. In the United States, a single payer health insurance system would do more to encourage free trade than all this lecturing folks about the evils of protectionism. Free to start their own businesses without fear of compromising their health insurance, people would become more robust participants in open trade. When single payer was introduced in Canada, business start-ups soared. Canada now has the strongest economic growth of any G7 country. Unfettered capitalism leads to protectionism. It's the iron law of international trade. Culture13485@blogcritics.org Sun, 7 Mar 2004 18:53:45 EST