The state of the world has me wanting to vent. I'll be making demands as I see fit. I'm sure a common theme will be
Mess with Texas
I am living proof that you can be religious and conservative yet also care for, and even get along with, a gay former spouse. ...I believe it was intolerance and the fear of homosexuality that put me and my family through complete hell.
...[T]he sin factor was ingrained in him at an early age. Being gay would not only endanger his job and family life, it could also cost him his relationship with his parents, his church and God. Chris feared that coming out would invalidate him as a human being.
Some conservative activists have expressed concerns that Roberts may become an "unreliable" justice like David H. Souter or Anthony M. Kennedy, who were appointed by Republican presidents but who have not consistently supported conservative positions on the bench.<Monkey Mind> <!--12:03 PM-->
"It is time for us to seize the moral high ground and state unambiguously that antigay [sic] discrimination in any form is immoral."
In my previous post, I talked about the rebuilding of the US's manufacturing capabilities in the wake of our loss of top world bully status. That task will force us to tap our natural resources in ways that could resemble the Soviets. Our country could become an eyesore of environmental exploitation that makes our current 'work' look like a chipped plate. I think there is something we can do about that, but I'm not sure what. National Parks and Wilderness Areas are not enough.
This is a random, but serious, concern. <Monkey Mind> <!--8:39 AM-->
Our deficit is going to destroy us. That is, unless the president's economic plan is to drastically cut benefits to the growing rolls of retires. Since he won't be making the cutbacks (unless the campaign phrase "Bush/Cheney 2004-The Last Vote You'll Ever Cast" is true), he doesn't have to face the consequences of his actions. Our spending on the war and other ways has us on a crash course.
Part of China's economic policy is to embrace the profitable aspects of capitalism AND to do it in an energy efficient way. They will kick our asses. They will win this economic game. More power to them.
The United State's dominance of world economics is ending. I expect the downfall to end with a war. A war with China.
The US can not win a war with China, but if we are so desperate for oil that we challenge China, it's going to be a sorry site. With China as the economic leader, we'll have a hard time rallying allies. China will assume the role the US has had as the social/economic/political/militaristic bully on the world stage. The US will experience the discomforting, frustrating, at times random, diplomatic and political failures which had formerly been under our control for the first part of our nation's history. To use another overwrought metaphor, we'll get a taste of our own medicine.
And, since our economy is so dependent on cheap goods from overseas, especially China, China could implement tariffs which could cripple us. This is the part about our trade deficit coming back to bite us in unexpected (or at least not-so-obvious) ways. Even if it were to happen tomorrow (which it won't), the former glory of the US's manufacturing economy will be so dismantled, our economy will be in such bad shape, and our natural resources severely depleted that we will not be able to effectively pull it together to maintain the cornucopia of food and goods that is the US market today.
[The analogy that immediately comes to mind is the SF Bay Area's regional transit. The oil and tire interests got the Key System dismantled to drive profits. Within a number of years, the need for a regional transit system again became apparent, and BART was born. The Key System was light rail that could get people from Berkeley to downtown San Francisco faster than BART can. Replacing the Key System was expensive, problem-filled, and inefficient. The same will be true when the US is faced with rebuilding, not just retooling, its industrial capabilities. Only this time, we won't own the resources that made it possible to do cheaply. (I know that we still have tremendous manufacturing capabilities in this country, but they've become highly specialized, rely on overseas component manufacturing and assembly, and expensive.) We'll be looking overseas for the raw materials and components for our rebuilding, and they are not going to come cheap.]
I am not an economist, but what I'm talking about, while pessimistic, seems pretty obvious from the few clues I have.
Finally, I do not think that the US's downfall is a bad thing. It will simply be a fact that is part of history. I do not see China as the bad guy. I'm just speculating on the future of the US based on what I know today.
We need a lean, balanced budget which focuses on education, energy efficiency, and empathy. <Monkey Mind> <!--8:13 AM-->
I'll post others if I find them. <Monkey Mind> <!--9:05 AM-->
Hamas Leader Calls Bush Foe of Muslims
By GREG MYRE
Published: March 29, 2004
JERUSALEM, March 28 The new Hamas leader, Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, said Sunday that President Bush is the enemy of Muslims and that God has declared war on the United States.
Hamas has long said its battle is with Israel, and has directed its attacks, and most of its heated oratory, against it. But since last week, when Israel killed the Hamas leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Islamic movement has issued bitter denunciations of the United States, though it has stopped short of saying it will strike at American targets.
"We knew that Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam and Muslims," Dr. Rantisi told several thousand Hamas supporters attending a rally at the Islamic University in Gaza City. "America declared war against God. Sharon declared war against God, and God declared war against America, Bush and Sharon."
G.I.'s Padlock Baghdad Paper Accused of Lies
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: March 29, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 28 American soldiers shut down a popular Baghdad newspaper on Sunday and tightened chains across the doors after the occupation authorities accused it of printing lies that incited violence.
Thousands of outraged Iraqis protested the closing as an act of American hypocrisy, laying bare the hostility many feel toward the United States...
/archives
