Blah3 New Year's Day Series: 'For The New Year'

[americanstranger]

I had the idea last week for the posters over at B3 to write a series of editorials under the umbrella title 'For The New Year,' and it's shaping up to be a kickass series, if I must say so myself. Here are excerpts, first from someone we know well here. From Dedalus:

Whatever adjustments Rove and Company have been making of late, they still believe most people like the Prez, ‘cause, gee, he’s just such a manly man. And as a result, they think we’ll go along with anything that Georgie Thinks Best. Actually, I think most people’s reaction at this line of defense will come closer to the one described in a recent op-ed by Andrew Greeley, criticizing “Cheney’s law” of unfettered executive power:

Under Cheney's law, therefore, the president isn't a constitutional leader but in effect a military dictator, not notably different from Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez -- not to mention other military dictators in ages past. We must trust his virtue and restraint and that of those around him to assure us he won't abuse his absolute power. He is, after all, a God-fearing man who prays over all his decisions. This is pretty thin armor.

Thin armor, or the emperor’s new clothes? In either case, this act won’t stand the light of day. Team Bush is doing everything they can to keep the shades drawn, but I’m looking forward to an ending like you find in a Hammer Dracula film—y’know, Christopher Lee flailing about as the sunlight hits him from every direction, until he collapses into a heap of steaming bones. So keep the popcorn fresh, y’all, and thanks for reading, and thanks to Stranger for letting me be read.

http://tinyurl.com/dslpc

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From our resident economics guy, Invictus:

If there's a "glass half-full" to the situation in which the U.S. finds itself as one year ends and another begins, it's that things are so bad in so many ways that there's so much to hope for.

As one who keeps an ever-watchful eye on the economy (and the markets), I guess what I'd hope for in that regard is jobs. Plentiful. Well-paying. Meaningful. JOBS.

Job creation in this economic cycle -- as some of you are probably sick of seeing from me -- has been nothing short of abysmal. We need to do better. Trumpeting the cherry-picked claim that we've added 4.5MM jobs since May 2003 (mediocre in itself) just doesn't cut it.

I'd also like to see some sound fiscal policy. I'd like to see the end of tax cuts that overwhelmingly favor the wealthy. I'd like to see someone, somewhere, try to address the spiraling cost of health care. I'd like to see the savings rate in this country climb out of the negative and back into the positive. I'd like to see Americans starting to attack the massive amounts of debt we've assumed in the past few years. I'd like to see the pendulum swing away from ridiculous executive compensation for executives who don't get the job done and then parachute out of their broken companies with packages larger than the GDP of some third world countries.

Overall, I'd like to see Americans wake up to the fact that the damage done to our country by this administration is going to take years -- if not decades -- to undo. So the sooner we start, the sooner we'll finish.

http://tinyurl.com/7kje7

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From the inimitable Monkeyfister:

Shine on you crazy diamonds... --Pink Floyd

A new year dawns. Bright, shiney, pink and full of promise. Hope. Tantalyzing possibilities. This is the year we press our efforts, change the tides and hail the first rays of the rising sun, casting it's sweet light onto a land which seemed lost to cold, bitter darkness for too long.

As 2005 ground to a halt, it seems to me, too, that that metaphorical pendulum, which had inexorably been swinging to the right, also stopped. Like Jacob Marley, the GOP, the Administration, and its agenda, is hopelessly encumbered with the chains of its misdeeds. Thus weighted, now is the time to heave to, and shove them over the rails, and off this keeling Ship of State.

Our long season of perserverance in the Fields of Adversity is finally bearing fruit, but there is much work to be done before the November Harvest celebration...

Clicking through the internets this morning, I was truly touched, and moved by the realization of the enormous amount of work that we all have collectively accomplished-- one blog at a time, one article at a time, one person at a time. Each of us a little ice pick at the base of the crushing glacier that is the Bush Government. At times, I have felt as if I'm simply shouting into a crevass, screaming into a hurricane, but now, I feel like my words-- our words, our energy and efforts have managed to find and wake up those whom we've been struggling to rescue, our fellow citizens. As the new year begins, I feel, for the first time in what seems an eternity, that it's not all been in vain. Our energies have not been grounded, but have actually begun to turn a mighty Dynamo in the spirit of America. It's reassuring knowing I'm not alone.

http://tinyurl.com/agdq2

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From our newest member, a guy from Down Under calling himself TimBuck2:

Just the other day I read something along the lines of ‘Voices count for more than Votes’. Voting hasn’t helped just recently, so I guess it’s time we make our voices heard.

Since the current regime couldn’t care less about any of us, we will have to overcome the inertia and take them on. Like any schoolyard bully, when confronted, this regime may just back down. So, let’s take them on, wake them up and HAVE SOME FUN!

As the saying goes: ‘things always get worse before they get better.’

Let’s make sure that this is as bad as it gets.

http://tinyurl.com/ak24v

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And here's my humble offering:

What has thrown the White House off its stride to the greatest degree is naturally those anonymous patriots who have seen fit to lift the veil and expose what Bush and his administration have been doing since September 11, 2001 - without consent, without legal standing, and without any type of oversight. The White House has proven, time and again, that unless they are caught red-handed doing something underhanded or downright illegal, they will keep right on doing it. The only time they see fit to try to explain their actions is when faced with public outcry against their policies (ie., Abu Ghraib). And the only time this happens is when someone on the inside tips off the media.

So the call must go out for more whistle blowers to raise their voices and tell the American people what is being done in their name, albeit often without their approval or knowledge. William E. Jackson, Jr. from Editor & Publisher issued exactly such a plea over at the Huffington Post:

Alas, there is scant tradition in the American government—unlike the British parliamentary system—for civil servants and ministers to resign on principle and state their reasons. However, analyses like those of The Post and The Times could not be written without the assistance of career civilian and military officials, and a few political appointees, in the national security agencies. So I call upon patriotic government employees to think first of your country and how to pressure the Bush Administration to withdraw from the quagmire of Iraq. "Whistleblow" for the greater national interest.

Don’t let it be on your conscience that you stood by while more blood was spilled—because so much blood had already been spilled--in a losing venture. I know what I am suggesting. You do not owe loyalty to a White House regime that repeatedly, and with knowledge aforethought, has lied to Congress, the American people, and the world, in leading the United States into the greatest strategic blunder of our time.

Do not be afraid. SPEAK UP—or LEAK.

http://tinyurl.com/9vbks

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Lots of good reading from my guys, who I am convinced are one of the mightiest blogging teams anywhere. Read, enjoy, think, act.

Happy New Year to you all from all of us at Blah3.

-as

While you were busy
Lighting roman candles on the yellowcake
They shook you on down --Clutch, Gullah