China is the hope of the western capitalist class. I think a lot of people would agree with that. My theory is that they’re not the hope simply or necessarily even largely because they represent a vast new market. They’re not the hope in spite of the human rights abuses and the repressive regime. They’re the hope of corporations and the capitalist elite because of those things. The corporate capitalist elite doesn’t believe that “free markets” and a strong economy require an open and free society, however much they use the that rhetoric to sell the idea to the suckers here in the West. They’ve been looking, for at least 70 years, for a good test case that proves you can have long term economic success without freedom. That’s why so many of them were so supportive of fascist regimes. It’s why Alan Greenspan and the other so-called libertarians of his generation so loved Pinochet’s Chile. They got their hopes up with Singapore and Malaysia, and other somewhat dystopian regimes in my lifetime.

China’s the big hope. Corporations don’t want to bear the cost of creating private armies capable of keeping the rabble down. That shit’s more expensive than healthcare! If they can get that service to come out of the taxes paid by their workers and customers, all the better. If they can have a “communist” party be the ones that achieve this goal of theirs, I’m sure that’s a delicious irony for many of them.

A few weeks ago, I noted that we had about a dozen Iraq war veterans running for congress. That number is now up to 50. All but one of those is running as a Democrat. The Democrats are generally quite explicitly against the Iraq war. This is the largest number of war vets to run for election to congress since the end of WWII. I can’t imagine that the bulk of these guys are bad candidates, but they are not getting the support or encouragement of the Democratic money machine at all. Fifty some recent vets running for congress together could be an amazing PR opportunity. They’d give the Democrats the opportunity to steadfastly oppose the war and have candidates who already have instant credibility with a lot of voters, many of whom may been featured in positive local media profiles as they shipped out or had their tours of duty extended. In certain Republican districts, they may actually make the Democrats competitive for the first time in ages. Better yet, these candidates would appear to fit in well with the presumed Democratic strategy on Iraq for the fall: seek to redeploy our troops elsewhere in the middle east and shift the burden of in country operations to the Iraqi army. But, no. Why wait for the Republicans to shoot you in the knee when you’ve already got a loaded gun at home.

You know those stories we’ve been hearing lately about how Google censors the internet in China?

Well, if you’re located in the U.S. and try to click this link or this one you may just wonder what the hell they mean by “Do no evil”.

“I have certainly advocated declassification. I have participated in declassification decisions,” Cheney said. Asked for details, he said, “I don’t want to get into that. There’s an executive order that specifies who has classification authority, and obviously it focuses first and foremost on the president, but also includes the vice president.”

Looking at this article coupled with the info in my previous post, we now have a pretty clear idea of what Cheney and Libby are up to. There was no violation of the law on Libby’s behalf because Cheney authorized him to reveal classified information. There’s no violation of law on Cheney’s part because he has the authority to classify and declassify info as he sees fit, even if he’s only doing so as part of a political vendetta.

This is the kind of abuse of power that you’d like to think wouldn’t have stood in much of our history. It looks like it’s just SOP these days.

This is one of the most disheartening things I’ve read in a long while. I tried to call the Hackett campaign office as soon as I read it, but went to voicemail and the mailbox is full. I think there are an enormous number of democrats and anti-war independents out there who would give this guy money. Many of them might only give that money now that they know the party pressured his donors to stop giving.

The only part of this that I think reflects badly on Hackett is that it showed a lack of understanding of grass roots organizing that he gave up so quickly. He’s got a potential national donor base and a pretty high media profile after 2004. Someone in his organization should have known enough to tell him that.

Of course, it only reflects badly upon him if this whole thing isn’t a brilliant stunt to drum up those supporters. Either way, keep http://www.hackettforohio.com/ on your radar for the next few weeks.

America’s masterplan is to force GM food on the world.

The popular consensus in Europe makes it unlikely that the U.S. will ever really get GM crops there, but you can bet we’ll use this ruling against less powerful nations.

Interesting article that touches on the defense strategy in I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s upcoming trial. He’s already told the grand jury that Dick Cheney and other “superiors” authorized and encouraged him to leak classified information to the press to help drum up support for the war. That authorization appears to be part of the basis of his defense against criminal charges. If believed by prosecutors (whether it works as a defense or not), this almost certainly means more trials for high ranking Bush administration officials. This warms my cold, black, little heart. Apparently the same tactics that have worked in busting up the cosa nostra are effective against this little mafia, too.

I can’t tell whether this is an intra-family coup or one of the first cases I’ve seen where a struggling company has done the right thing in reorganizing. I particularly liked this part of the statement:

“We recognize that these efforts will require sacrifices at many levels, and it is important that the Company’smanagement lead the way…”

New Orleans seeks foreign aid to rebuild. Six months after Katrina, the city remains mostly in ruins. The billions of dollars promised to the city aren’t coming. There’s little sign that Bush’s committment that “we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes” was any more serious than any other promise he’s made during his presidency.

I see some holes in this argument posted by a user over at John Edwards’s One America Committee blog, but the basic thesis is right. You’re not, under the current social and political climate, going to have a House or Senate full of liberal Democrats. You’ll never have one full of Greens or independent liberals. And while we may not like some of the more conservative Democrats, Democratic control of the Senate or the House does mean that liberals will control important committees. There’s no option for progressive change or even holding on to the progressive reforms of the past at the federal level other than voting for Democrats. That’s true even if your state or district’s candidate isn’t all you’d like him or her to be.