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August 8th 1974 - Nixon Resigns - August 8th 2009 --> It's up to Us!
I was at the Kennedy Center, and the Bolshoi Ballet was performing Raymunda, an exquisite ballet; a perfect performance. I don't remember if it happened at intermission, or just between acts, but the curtains came down, and a huge screen lowered. No one knew what was coming, but then it happened; Nixon resigned. Sorry, it's in two parts.
This was a time that was very tense with the Soviets, and Mikhail Baryshnikov defected that same year; he had to do it by escaping his KGB handlers while he was in Canada. It's hard to remember what it was like then, but the philosophy of "mutually assured destruction" was supposedly the only thing that kept the US and the USSR from dropping the big ones on each other.
I remember thinking as I watched Nixon doing his best to maintain some dignity as he resigned in disgrace, that these Russian dancers must be amazed at this peaceful change of power. Surely if our President, who was clearly unworthy to lead, stepped down and our process kept our government going, we had a truly great government that mere men could not bring down.
I remember feeling a little bit afraid, but also proud, and especially with the Bolshoi Ballet as our personal witnesses to this event.
Well, there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then, and I personally think we have lost our way. What Nixon did pales in comparison to the Bush/Cheney regime, and they not only never were held accountable, but proudly tout their many failures as examples of their toughness and patriotism. Using fear as a tactic, they stoked it and managed to invade a country that was of no danger to us, and they kept the war so antiseptic, that few really feared Iraqis by the time they left office.
But to fill the void of fear, the party of Nixon, Bush and Cheney has now focused on our very own President. He is to be feared, because how else would they gain power? Because there is no reason to fear him, they have to invent things, such as questioning his legitimacy of birth; saying he includes a "Death Panel" in his health care reform; and more. This fabricated fear is a cynical and malevolent threat to us all.
If we don't get back on track with this good, intelligent, and capable man, I just don't know if we ever can. If we don't educate the ignorant, defuse the hate, and take away the power from those who use it against the very substance of our country, we will lose it, and our children's futures.
It's time to get serious.
This was a time that was very tense with the Soviets, and Mikhail Baryshnikov defected that same year; he had to do it by escaping his KGB handlers while he was in Canada. It's hard to remember what it was like then, but the philosophy of "mutually assured destruction" was supposedly the only thing that kept the US and the USSR from dropping the big ones on each other.
I remember thinking as I watched Nixon doing his best to maintain some dignity as he resigned in disgrace, that these Russian dancers must be amazed at this peaceful change of power. Surely if our President, who was clearly unworthy to lead, stepped down and our process kept our government going, we had a truly great government that mere men could not bring down.
I remember feeling a little bit afraid, but also proud, and especially with the Bolshoi Ballet as our personal witnesses to this event.
Well, there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then, and I personally think we have lost our way. What Nixon did pales in comparison to the Bush/Cheney regime, and they not only never were held accountable, but proudly tout their many failures as examples of their toughness and patriotism. Using fear as a tactic, they stoked it and managed to invade a country that was of no danger to us, and they kept the war so antiseptic, that few really feared Iraqis by the time they left office.
But to fill the void of fear, the party of Nixon, Bush and Cheney has now focused on our very own President. He is to be feared, because how else would they gain power? Because there is no reason to fear him, they have to invent things, such as questioning his legitimacy of birth; saying he includes a "Death Panel" in his health care reform; and more. This fabricated fear is a cynical and malevolent threat to us all.
If we don't get back on track with this good, intelligent, and capable man, I just don't know if we ever can. If we don't educate the ignorant, defuse the hate, and take away the power from those who use it against the very substance of our country, we will lose it, and our children's futures.
It's time to get serious.
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Okay, what do you propose. I see lots of complaining about the way things are going. Lets talk about solutions. Pick a topic (or several).
Torture/human rights/civil rights
Healthcare/plutocracy
Environment/global warming
Politics
The economy
War/international relations/feed the hungry
Energy/peak oil/carbon balance
Education
just to name a few.
August 9, 2009 12:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
You ask a very reasonable question -- where to start? I guess that we all have areas that mean more to us than others; we just have to be relentless in pushing our topics up and out. We have to keep sending letters and making sure that our side is heard and acknowledged.
It is a daunting task. Somehow we also have to find a way to listen and also to be heard by those on the other side; we have to listen to them so we can try to figure out their fears and make the effort to explain. I am also hoping that as the economy improves there will be a more hopeful feeling that will allow us to move forward.
But like I said, at the moment, I think we've lost our way, and unless we figure out a way to turn things around, it will not improve, because the far-right is NOT going to try to change things for the better.
August 9, 2009 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, that depends on your definition of 'better'. Personally, I think it would have been far better to spend the 80 billion spent so far on global warming, and the trillion proposed to be spent, on something useful like medical research. How many diseases could have been cured with that money? Money that was squandered on a theory that is not provable, and is not supported by real science. Yes CO2 absorbs IR, but less so than water vapor does, and every gram of C in fossil fuels was once in the atmosphere (thats where it was absorbed and turned into fossil fuel from). Burning all of it will cycle it back into the atmosphere and then most of it back into the oceans and biosphere, just like what has been happening for billions of years. The alleged affects are ridiculous, since even supports claim that there is only a .5 to 1.5 degree rise per century, which considering daily/yearly temp fluctuations are in the many tens of degrees it is completely lost in the noise.
August 9, 2009 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, we could do both global warming and medical research if we hadn't squandered trillions on two useless wars. The 911 crime should have been treated as such; there should have been a global search for bin Ladin and his cronies; they should have been dragged out of their caves and put on trial (or they could have died trying to resist). If that had been done, it would have cut their "movement" off at the knees rather than having wars that merely recruited more.
The money wasted on those wars; the lives wasted on those wars; the untold suffering and our loss of prestige has hurt our country beyond comprehension. Yes. we agree. Money could have been better spent on medical research; I would take it from bogus and useless wars; you would take it from efforts to control global warming. I guess that's a start?
August 9, 2009 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, the problem with what you suggested is that OBL was under the protection of the Taliban, so it would have necessitated military intervention in Afghanistan to get him and his cronies. Plus removing those evil kooks from power was a good thing IMHO. It is also hard to argue that Sadaam was good or that removing him was a bad idea, but easy to argue that the way it was done was sub-optimal.
August 9, 2009 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your list of issues is daunting and, as you indicate, not even complete. But the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. IMO, that one step is to eliminate corporate money from the electoral and legislative processes.
I don't pretend to know how to do that, especially since it's the recipients of all that money that would have to change the laws (barring some sort of national referendum). But for almost every issue on your list the pushback against change or reform or improvement is corporate money. It is the most corruptive influence in our society.
Perhaps we could begin with a citizens lobby for all national elections to be publically funded. I suspect this might make the health care reform effort look like a walk in the park, but it would be a starting point. Your thoughts?
August 9, 2009 8:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good, a substantive suggestion. I've heard many debates of just this issue over the years yet little has happened to produce substantive change.
I think it necessary to define the 'doable' things on an individual level. Such as:
Write letters, make your voice heard.
Find an economic pressure point. Contact businesses that support candidates that support the status quo and tell them you will not patronize them for instance. Tell candidates that your support is contingent on their support of reform. Send these parties letters too.
So we need to discuss what an individual can do to help those who don't know how to address these issues understand and take action.
August 9, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yikes!! I may have shot myself in the foot here.
Isn't there a case on corporate contributions coming up before the Supremes next month? They may set a new standard for sleaze.
But your point is well taken. Maybe a starting point would be for each of us to write our Reps and Senators and ask them point blank for their position on publically funded elections. In writing. No waffling.
Does anyone know of an existing organization or group organized around this issue?
August 9, 2009 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
You don't need an affiliation. Send your opinion direct.
Set high ultimate goals, but subdivide the journey into achievable steps.
The way I use is to make a page with the goal at the top. Then I subdivide the goal into many parts and then set myself to each one in turn.
August 9, 2009 8:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yea, I was thinking mostly of reducing duplication of effort.
August 9, 2009 10:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, C'Ville, for getting something started here. I have to admit that I am growing weary of dealing with wingnuts and their hate and fear and greed. It is emotionally and psychologically draining, not to mention occasionally disorienting. Like falling down the rabbit hole.
Mel Brooks once said that he gets his personal revenge against Hitler by mocking him. Maybe that's the direction we need to follow. "Springtime for Cheney and Gitmo."
August 9, 2009 8:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I think we're all weary. I do remember thinking 35 years ago that it couldn't possibly get any worse than what happened with Nixon. I had watched the Watergate trials gavel to gavel (I was working the evening shift and so I was stuck to the tv all day before work.
I had the sense that truth was coming out; that I was really watching history, and also that I was watching justice being served. Now, I have the feeling that I am watching one person after the other get away with their crimes.
Corporate influence is a great place to start, but like you, I realize it is so entrenched that it will take more than a good-faith movement to make it happen. Daniel Schorr on NPR this morning noted that since Nixon, no one has ever truly trusted any of our Presidents. I think that is true.
I really do think that the new wave of Democrats are a step in the right direction; they just have a big black wall of resistance from the obstructionists, and with the economy they were handed, the right wing is blaming them in hopes to regain power. We really have to hang together!
August 9, 2009 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I recommend Russ Baker's book FAMILY OF SECRETS for info on how Nixon (who I hold no truck for) may have been set up by a number of people starting with Waterbugger James McCord.
August 9, 2009 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm still in the first section about Poppy Bush, CIA, Big Oil and JFK assassination. It's very troubling and frightening. I checked it out at the local library, and now I'm worried about the Feds coming in and reviewing their records.
If you don't hear from me for a couple of weeks, somebody please check those FEMA re-education camps.
August 9, 2009 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't worry. Michelle Bachmann has your back :-)
August 9, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
She has hair on her back?
August 9, 2009 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably. Most werewolves do.
August 9, 2009 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wonderful story, C'Ville. I was 12 nearly 13 then, but I understood from my parents that I was seeing history.
Nixons antics seem so ordinary by comparison, don't they? I will not be happy until I see some prosecutions. I understand Obama's reluctance, but we must pressure him to go forward, the country won't heal until he does.
I also think, until the right wing heros of the last 8 years are held to account for their many transgressions, their loud-mouthed followers will continue to get louder and more unbalanced. As it is, they are empowered because they know they 'got away with something.'
That is unacceptable.
I think that beyond prosecutions the American people should be demanding reparations. We can start by confiscating the ill-gotten gains of Cheney and all his war-profiteer buddies.
Get them in the only place it will actually hurt. Their wallets.
August 9, 2009 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Halliburton could entirely fund global warming research and development! That would be karma!
August 9, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
You should be aware that Cheney DONATED over 30 million dollars worth of Halliburton options to charity. Contrast that to Al Gore, who used his soap box on global Warming to build a 100 million dollar fortune, while donating zippo to charity.
August 9, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
... and therefor what - Cheney was right to invade, lie, torture, etc. and global warming doesn't exist?
August 9, 2009 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, since you don't like to find citations, here are some that refute what you just said:
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2006/04/kirsch_cheney_t.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/18/115445/192
While this is not illegal, by exploiting a loophole in the Katrina tax relief laws passed regarding charitable donations, Dead Eye Dick was able to obtain a refund of at least $1,000,000 MORE than he would be able to get in any other year.
The best part? None of the charities were Katrina related at all.
And Al Gore donates "ZIPPO?" I think not:
http://www.looktothestars.org/news/384-al-gore-donates-peace-prize-money
Gore will receive half of the total $1.56 million prize money for the award, which he shared this year with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for his work to call attention to the threat of global warming, and will reinvest it into the cause that is closest to his heart.
“My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100% of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance For Climate Protection,” said Gore in an email. “I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
If you want to try to make someone seem like a good guy, you really should look elsewhere than Dick Cheney. Oh. There was always Barbara Bush, who donated money, for which she got a tax deduction. She put a string on it though: It could only be spent on her son's educational soft-ware. Way to help out all those Katrina people who were so lucky to be living in a football stadium, eh, Barbs? And if it just happened to give Neal a few hundred thou to boot, why bother your "beautiful mind" about it?
Try again, BullDog
August 9, 2009 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and I didn't even point out that the 6.8 mill was for that one year (2006). And that it was done by an independent administrator, since his funds were in a blind trust. That means he had no direct knowledge or control of the fact that the donation was done in that year. So what part of what I posted did you refute? Nothing as far as I can see.
August 9, 2009 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and if you read my link you would know that it was the only year that an exception was made, which Darth Cheney took advantage of to "donate" OPTIONS. That dick has more money than he could ever spend anyway and all his "contributions" rewarded his friends, as did the Bush's.
Al Gore donated cold hard cash.
Please don't try to convince anyone that the Cheney's have anyone but their own interests at heart
August 9, 2009 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not correct as usual. Cheney donated the bulk of his money to the Univ of Wyoming. And apparently you do not understand what options are if you think there is some difference between millions worth of options and cash. The options get exercised, the stock sold, and 'poof' you have cold hard cash.
As far as having more money than he could ever spend, Cheney, like most republicans, became rich and then went into politics. Gore and Clinton, like most democrats, went into politics and then became rich.
August 9, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
but he did it through a Katrina loophole that was supposed to get money to the people who needed it from the HURRICANE THAT THE BUSH/CHENEY ADMINISTRATION IGNORED! His "charitable contribution" was a special exception designed to send money to Katrina victims. Normally you can't donate that percentage and get a tax deduction for the whole amount. He USED Katrina to get himself a big refund, after donating to a college that will probably endow a chair to him. Fuck Cheney, and I am done with you, you ignorant cur.
August 9, 2009 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it was in a truly blind trust, Cheney did not have control and therefore he does not deserve any credit for the donation. I am sure though that he did take the tax deduction.
August 9, 2009 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
So it was bad for Cheney to ACTUALLY donate 6.8 million to charity, but good for Gore to PLEDGE to donate 750 grand (to some GW group that has him as chairman of the board!!!) ? When I said he gave zippo I was referring to the year of the election, when Cheney had given over 33% of his income to charity, and Gore gave 353 bucks. The real point was about profiting from service, as Cheney did not do and Gore and Clinton certainly did do. Cheney gave away millions, Gore and Clinton enriched themselves like no other pres/vp in history.
August 9, 2009 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Arf! Arf! Right. Cheney is a philanthropist. I don't care how many stocks he donated! He could never have benefitted by them anyway once his administration had finished trashing our economy. He didn't see it coming? Now, that is funny! He was protecting himself!
But you say he was a patriot?
That is why he was involved with Iran - Contra; he outed a CIA agent, he started completely bogus wars, he shot his friend, advocated and ordered torture and other illegal acts; and he personally supervised the destruction of our country's prestige in the world. Bad Choice Bull Dog.
Bad Dog!
August 9, 2009 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink