gdp's Comments

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Afghan 'Experiment'

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:44:18 +0000

What's happened to leftists? Have they forgotten how to think -- or read? To say that Obama's style is "Soviet" is a long way from saying that the Soviets are (were?) behind the escalation of the war. (How could they be when they're gone, gone gone....?) COIN theorists quote Mao: don't blame me, blame them. As for "Western capitalism" being the "real" cause of the Afghan war -- really? I don't think the Pentagon is a "capialist" institution, quite the opposite. Yes, we agree on "the ruling elite," which is empowered by the government. Governments make war: separate economic and governmental power, and you have no more wars to make Big Oil richer than it already is.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Afghan 'Experiment'

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:19:38 +0000

I think the Taliban has the Pashtun franchise pretty much locked up. As for the Bush administration and HTS: the fascination with "science" as a weapon of war, specifically the social "sciences," is a specifically left-liberal conceit that has nothing to do with Bush. See here: http://mises.org/rothbard/mantle.asp See also Friedrich von Hayek's "The Counter Revolution of Science," full text here: http://www.archive.org/stream/counterrevolutio030...

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Afghan 'Experiment'

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:08:11 +0000

Good points. I will have to write a column about the 'stans -- Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, etc., -- soon.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Afghan 'Experiment'

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:07:07 +0000

Oh bull. I never said the Soviets -- who no longer exist, by the way -- are behind US imperialism, nor is Mao (he's dead, don'tcha know). As for liberalism -- who do you think is in charge in Washingon, these days? Ron Paul? Wake up, Grady my friend! The "liberal" road to a decades-long war has already been mapped out by our Dear Leader.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Afghan 'Experiment'

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:31:43 +0000

http://humanterrainsystem.army.mil/paula.html

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Is the Antiwar Movement Waking Up?

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 21:30:09 +0000

The solution is building an antiwar movement that transcends the narrow boundaries of "left" and "right". It also means knowing who our friends are, and, more importantly, who our enemies are. And don't be so down on "fingerpointing"! it's necessary -- and it's also a lot of fun, at least for me. I am, after all,about as far from being a "progressive" (as presently defined) as one could possibly get, and it gives me no small amount of pleasure to point out how cravenly the "antiwar" voices of yesteryear have fallen silent at the sight of the killing fields of Afghanistan.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Is the Antiwar Movement Waking Up?

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 16:40:13 +0000

Yes, I read that, too: but you can bet the media are still being "vetted," albeit under the radar. As to your other points: unlike most conservatives, progressives are supposed to be anti-war in principle -- and, historically, they have been, at least until the rise of the Dear Leader. Now, it seems, they are silent in the face of the biggest most ambitious imperialist project to do -- the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and much of Central Asia. They have turned on a dime. Why is it unfair to point this out? One slight correction of the factual basis for your critique: "your own party"? Which party is that? We here at Antiwar.com don't participate in electoral politics, and we support no party, not even the Libertarian Party.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Coming Media Bailout

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:44:42 +0000

See -- yelling works. Darpanet to the contrary notwithstanding, govt' didn't create anything: indvidual scientists discovered a preexisting scientific principle. It would have happened fifty years earlier if vital resources hadn't been diverted from private hands. As it was, the entrepreneurs truly developed the internet, not the Pentagon;.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Coming Media Bailout

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:35:18 +0000

There is an argument to be made, however, that since the "mainstream" media is just a shill for the government anyway, especially in foreign policy matters, that they might as well be put on the payroll as government employees. That way, it's all upfront -- and everybody knows who and what they are serving. Markets fails liberal snotnoses like you because, like most puffed-up ersatz "intellectuals," you no doubt believe the market fails to appreciate your genius, and thus doesn't reward you commensurate with your alleged abilities. Life is hard, bud, and then you die.... And this tired canard about "the Pentagon" having "invented" the internet is just as tired as the arguments you make for a government-controlled media: the internet was there waiting to be discovered, even if the Pentagon had never existed. Indeed, it may very well have appeared on our computer screens much earlier -- if so many resources hadn't been wasted and shoved down the ravenous maw of the State.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Coming Media Bailout

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:35:05 +0000

Oh please -- what is it about the "progressive" give-me-free-money-because-I'm-cool viewpoint that produces such condescension? He who pays the piper calls the tune, comrade. The mainstream press has nothing to say about the subsidies you descry. That's because they are FOR those subsidies -- and would especially be for them if they were recipients. Share the wealth, spread it around: GE and the New York Times, together in celebration of corporate liberalism.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : The Coming Media Bailout

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:24:47 +0000

Yeah, let's put the Federal Trade Commission in charge of Antiwar.com -- maybe then we can get a government bailout. That will obviously ensure our independence. Actually, why bother with the FTC -- let's just make Antiwar.com an appendange of the Pentagon, and be done with it. You miss the whole point of my piece: readers (i.e. the free market you hate so much) have stopped paying much attention to the media precisely because they recognize what shills they are for Washington. It's not the internet that's killing the "mainstream" -- it's that realization on the part of their former audience. "Blind market worship"? What I find scary is blind worship of the government -- the very same government, I shouldn't have to remind you, that is killing Afghans, Iraqis, and others all over the world every single day. And now the Pentagon is vetting "embedded" reporters. Oh, but by all means, let us bail out the Washington Post so that they can print more pro-war editorials and give a home to every neocon columnist in DC.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : War? What War?

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:09:12 +0000

I offer Mr. Magoo as the proof that what today passes for the "left" in America is the main danger to peace and freedom. Oh, give me the "Old Left" over the zombies of PC-ness any day! I'll trade a thousand Mr. Magoos for one Alex Cockburn!!! check out his obit of Robert Novak, here: http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn08212009.html Read and learn, Magoo!!!

Antiwar.com Original Articles : War? What War?

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:09:23 +0000

Ah yes, all those top-secret organizations of the left, encompassing "thousands," that no one but YOU knows about. Any names? Please name ONE such organization. I'm waiting .... The fact is that the entire "left" in the US is so enamored of Obama due to their commitment to identity politics. Even the usually reliable Trotskyists -- except for the good ol' Spartacist League (oh, sorry, pardon me: I mean the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist)! And don't forget the Revolutionary Communist Party. Not to mention the Workers World/PSL types. Taken together, these people are lucky if they number over a couple of thousand. But these are old-fashioned Marxist-Leninists -- almost as out of fashion as we paleo-libertarians! I notice you didn't answer my defense of Jefferson with the usual "he was a 'racist'!" Not quite "tireless," are you?

Antiwar.com Original Articles : War? What War?

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:43:32 +0000

Who organized the antiwar demonstrations -- the Workers World Party and/or the Party for Socialism and Liberation? Gloria LaRiva and her sectarian outfit attached all kinds of other demands to their calls to "mobilize" -- are libertarians (never mind normal people) supposed to turn out and listen to long tirades about Mumia Abu Jamal? Puh-leeze! Nor did they invite a single libertarian speaker. Sectarians -- just like you. Yes, I supported Buchanan as the only credible anti-interventionist candidate. But you forget my endorsement of Ralph Nader after the GOP primaries. See here: http://www.amconmag.com/article/2004/nov/08/00010... The absurdity of your sectarianism is underscored by your attack on .... Thomas fucking JEFFERSON, of all people! I'll take ol' Tom over Obama -- or Gloria LaRiva -- any day. Make of that what you will.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : War? What War?

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:43:19 +0000

Please check out the adoring message to Obama posted by "United for Peace and Justice" upon the joyful occasion of Obama's election. And yes, they ARE the left: CPUSA and "Committees of Correspondence." Ditto for the International Socialist Organization. As Alex Cockburn points out, the left gave up anti-imperialism for identity politics a long time agol. Those 252 conference attendees are a fair sampling of the attendees in general. Are you saying they aren't?

Antiwar.com Original Articles : War? What War?

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:32:52 +0000

Oh please: a canard not even backed up by any facts. Lindbergh is hailed as a hero even today, except by idiots like Christopher Hitchens. Is that the kind of "leftist" you are? Well, then all the rest of the nonsense you emit begins to make "sense."

Antiwar.com Original Articles : War? What War?

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:28:21 +0000

And it's no surprise that you end your missive with evocations of political correctness: I'm "racist" and an advocate of "anti-Semitism." You provide no evidence for these charges, but, then again, a sectarian leftist like yourself needs no evidence, except, perhaps,that I "support" Pat Buchanan -- although since he isn't running for anything, I'm not clear as to what this means. But even associating with anyone so politically incorrect is a sin, in your book -- he's a demon, according to you, and all he touches is demonic by definition. If there are indeed "tens of thousands" of people like you, then no wonder the "Left" is such a mess these days. The multi-culti Left is blinded by race, which is the real essence of YOUR "dogma." You see a black President, and swoon. "Leftist"? Not really: you're a garden-variety liberal, who cares more about imposing your own domestic agenda of all-power-to-the-government on the home front than opposing -- and stopping -- mass murder (of mostly non-white people, but never mind) abroad.

Antiwar.com Original Articles : War? What War?

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:28:06 +0000

Excuse me, but the left -- except for the Spartacist League -- VOTED for Obama. That's their original crime. The rest followed from that. The demonstrations did not fail -- they raised public consciousness of the war(s), and helped created an atmosphere that Obama had to appease by masquerading as the "antiwar" candidate. "What would you have us do Justin Raimondo?" STOP VOTING FOR DEMOCRATS. That, at least, would be a start. And then how re-ordering your priorities: stop prattling on about the 14th Amendment (say what?) and Obama-commie-care, get off your asses, and start demonstrating against the Afghan occupation. NO, the poll I cite is not less than 200 people: over 2000 attended "Netroots Nation."

Comment on Antiwar.com Articles : Comment on 'Progressive Warmongers'

Thu, 9 Apr 2009 14:30:54 +0000

As for the Cato Institute, AEI, and the Chicago School: AEI is hardly libertarian, the Chicago School is a rather vague and eclectic designation, and Cato -- please go back in the archives and you'll see I've attacked Cato on all too many occasions, by name, in the most (ahem) unflattering terms.

Comment on Antiwar.com Articles : Comment on 'Progressive Warmongers'

Thu, 9 Apr 2009 14:27:40 +0000

I didn't say anything about all liberals: only that Keynesian theory, which seems to be quite popular in certain influential circles at the moment, is inherently prone to warmaking, and serves as a rationale for "priming the pump," as it were. And, of course, if we lived in a libertarian society, "owning the government" would get Big Business nowhere, because there wouldn't be all that much to own.