really don’t get it when lefties beat up on NAFTA. It hasn’t had the large US employment hit that Ross Perot predicted;  it hasn’t been an amazing tool for economic growth in Mexico or Canada either. It seems to have shuffled the deck for very specific groups, like auto assembly and tomato growers - dramatically.  But it hasn’t had some of the mega-effects that opponents suspected it would.

The biggest flaw in NAFTA-like experiences is that capital gets the sort of playing field they seek, but labor rules and community ecology (e.g., local pollution rules)  were ignored.

We should fix that.  But lowering trade barriers - with some fairness and balance (ugggh sounds like Fox network)  is good for most people.

It should also be mentioned that this presidential election has another serious facet and that is the Supreme Court.  The next president will nominate at least two new justices.  Already there are at least three sitting justices who would like to wear Roe v. Wade as party hats.  If the conservative wins the election you might just see RvW overturned and that will return the ball back to the individual states where the right-to-life folks have a little more sway.  And then instead of one national fight you’ll have 50 different fights——more fodder for the talking heads!!!

Populist Uprising:

The last resort of the citizens before the “elected” government takes over via diebold.

There is a real debate that must be pushed in the Womens movement and the ‘European’ descent race. Isuggest any one who does not personlly have a’dog’ in this fight - get The Hell out of the Way!
I am personally taking on my fellow ‘vaginas’ to prove they are actually interested in Equal Rights.Or are they more interested in “Pay Backs a bitch?” Hillary and Her campaign tactics pissed me off to my core!I want to be able to compete on a level playing field to prove I am the ‘best person for the Job’ I do not want special priviledges, treatment or rules changed to Help me. Keep the Bar at the same Height (if not a little raised to prove I’ve earned My place at the table- undeniable capabilities)
As for Race I demand to Know How any American of European Descent intentionally partake in Prejudice and Discrimination when OUR ancestors came to this Country to End such bigotry against Them??? How can we Honor their Sacrifics if we deny those Rights and freedoms for Anyone else? How dare You spit on their efforts, sacrifics, Dreams, vision of this Country!You dishonor OUR ancestors with such small minded, special privieldge doctrines.
The way I Honor My Ancestors is by NOT subjecting Others to the Prejudices and Discrimaination they had to endure to provide such an opportunity for their Descendants. My Scotch Irish, Italian and Luthuanian Worked too hard - gave up too much to allow such travesty to still survive in this Country.
I suggest many return to the study of history to come to the realization they are now practicing what all those who came before US suffered Under!

Oops, i just found some info in the “Voter Suppression” thread from the Truthdig Webmaster which clarifies in detail the position of the staff regarding user submitted comments and also a short reply to Gramma Concept who had asked about the reply function mentioned in my previous post. It was causing the long delays in loading the pages, so they have temporarily disabled that feature.

OK, so i got a little reactionary. Sorry about that, but i am still starting a diary at the Kos too.

What the heck is going on here at Td? First commenters (i heard it from Expat first and now alicecbrown) report that comments are being censored for content, now the “reply to this” button is disabled along with the comment title.

TruthDig, are you intentionally trying to discourage conversation? Not only is this ethically irresponsible for a site whose very name implies sharing of ideas and facts, it is stupid from an ad revenue perspective. Less conversing means less reloads means less views.

i think i’ll be finding a new place to play. DailyKos maybe? If anyone else wants to join me, read my diary over there: iQ

Oh yeah, Go Sirota! i am stoked to be an active part of this uprising.

See y’all later. Or maybe not.

In one of his novels, Gore Vidal mentions that as the various religions rise and fall in credulity, (E.g, Thor, the Sun, Allah), there is a period between each religious era that is chaos.  Why?  Because the people have lost belief in this something outside of themselves.  We are in that era now, protestations to the contrary simply being more proof.
My son tells me that the 10 Commandments are just one of many similar sets of rules that man has found necessary to follow in order to live in community.  The fact that we the people trust no one in business today testifies to how the outsourcing of our industry and the lying of our CEOs has conspired together to, in the long run, bring the American Empire to a crashing halt.  Let’s just hope that the transition to another belief system or No. 1 nation can occur without destroying the species, our species.

http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=1210

The Bilderberg Conference is reputed to be held in Chantilly, Virginia this year. Barak Obama’s press secreatary had told reporters that he would be leaving from Dulles Airport in VA to Chicago. So a crowd of reports were waylaid into a flight to Chicago, while Obama disappeared elsewhere. One report is saying that Clinton and Obama are going to be maeeting with Feinstein in Virginia. Perhaps the Bilderbergers will appoint Ms. Clinton as Obama’s VP. It is very suspicious to see a press core apparently lied into taking a flight to Chicago toward no good purpose. The Obama group did no have to mislead the reporters. Something stinks.

Tell me, dear student, how many subjective terms do you identify in the following evaluation criteria on this site for ‘what is acceptable’:

personal attacks on our writers or readers
excessive profanity
racist, sexist or other discriminatory or hateful language
statements that may be construed as urging attacks on political leaders, officials, security forces or civilians—American or otherwise
comments that are off-topic or irrelevant to the story or discussion at hand
comments disclosing personal information about Truthdig writers or fellow commenters
entries “signed” by someone other than the actual author

Here’s a start: ‘excessive profanity’: Shit is OK, but Bullshit is not?
‘off-topic’: closed Town Hall meetings by the Repulsicans is not OK, but the mass murder of over 4000 Americans is?
‘irrevelant to the subject at hand’: In whose eye?  Who are the silent Orwellian censors who must OK every posting?  I am a co-ordinator of the Gore Vidal group, and I finally had to go to moderating the site, when some started using it as a porno sales tool.  But absolutely nothing else gets censored off the Gore_Vidal Yahoo Groups.  In keeping with GV’s philosophy as well as my own. 

And eliminating a comment because a ‘bunch’ (define how many, por favor) have decided to ‘Report This’ is so asinine I have no words for it.  Stand forth, and identify yourself.

Excellent post, Mr Easton.  The establishment of an outright military empire does make some sense - from an historic perspective - for America. (That it makes some sense does not make it right.) While i’m appalled by our national behavior, i’m embarrassed by our shoddy execution…and i’ve not yet decided which is worse.

There is, however, historical precedent…just not American history.  The unraveling of the Dutch empire is one, though the parallels are fairly difficult to discern.  The choices made by Britain at the end of WWII and the situation that forced those choices resemble our situation closely.  More oddly, we find ourselves in a situation similar to that of the USSR during the late 1980’s.

And with the most bitter irony, we’ve followed the rough time line of Rome…the nation state we were modeled after.

The seminal perversion of the Bushites would the treason. Good old fashioned constitutionally defined treason. You know how when politicians and military officers take that Constitutional oath of office? Then they go about the business of lying to ‘we the people’ and starting illegal wars of naked aggression on a sovereign and innocent people and rendition then detain more innocents. Torture them and brutally murder them. Yeah, insurrection seems in order. Revolution would be the better term. When a Congress turns it’s back on ‘we the people’ and arrogantly refuses to hold our “chief executive and his minions” to account. When a Congress continues to fund an illegal war of terror. When a Congress turns the single greatest experiment in democracy into a fascist charade. Yeah, insurrection is better termed as a full blown revolution. The time is come. The United States Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the White House, and our entire federal system is racked with wanton abuse and treachery. Yeah, it’s passed high time for ‘we the people’ to get up off those well pampered and indulged posteriors and get about the business of reclaiming OUR America. From the Bushies and from the corporate/special interest perverts, the religious fascists, and those ugly John Yoo types that think torture is just another way to say to the world, “we’re number one!” It isn’t too late for America to stand up and be proud of who we are as a people. Nope, November can’t get here soon enough!

The objective situation we are facing will not be corrected by another swing of the pendulum. What is dawning on us is the end of capitalism as we know it. Capitalism requires economic growth, and we have finally come up against the limits of growth. From this point of view the imperial neofacism of the present administration might make some sense, if it was more capably executed, if only to buy some time.

At the same time, by some wierd kind of synchronicity, the ruling class seems to be losing its grip, and is letting itself be scammed by the very managers and politicians who are paid to look after its interests.

We are at the start of a prerevolutionary era. We really ought to think about what we would like to see happen next.

Paul Easton
Brooklyn, NY