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 <title>open Democracy News Analysis - america inside out - Comments</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/columns/america_26.jsp</link>
 <description>Comments for &quot;america inside out&quot;</description>
 <language>en</language>
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 <title>Andrew Yu-Jen Wang  on &quot;Dan Rather, CBS, and George W Bush&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america_world/dan_rather#comment-494407</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;Speaking of George W. Bush: &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog). &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Many people know what Bush did. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bush was absolute evil. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bush is now like a fugitive from justice. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bush is a psychological prisoner. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bush has a lot to worry about. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang&lt;br /&gt;
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996&lt;br /&gt;
Messiah College, Grantham, PA&lt;br /&gt;
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993 &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG&lt;br /&gt;
______________________&lt;br /&gt;
I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memory so it never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:44:37 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Andrew Yu-Jen Wang </dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 494407 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>Sambo1 on &quot;The strange death of Republican America&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-strange-death-of-republican-america#comment-481577</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;hell republican america, this is great news for the world.&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:34:41 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Sambo1</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 481577 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>SinisterMatt on &quot;The strange death of Republican America&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-strange-death-of-republican-america#comment-480272</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;Just for clarification, the idea of &quot;the imperial presidency&quot; goes back much further than Cheney and Nixon.  My history of it is a little fuzzy, but I think that FDR was the start of the whole idea, as he transformed the bureaucracy of the executive during the Great Depression.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But I agree.  It will be interesting to see what the Democrats do with their control of Congress and the White House.  Hopefully they do a better job than the Republicans did.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cheers!&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
 <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:42:22 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>SinisterMatt</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 480272 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>SamEllison on &quot;The strange death of Republican America&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-strange-death-of-republican-america#comment-480019</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;Yes we can!&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
 <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:59:49 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>SamEllison</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 480019 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>bfearn on &quot;Taxi to the Dark Side: an open letter&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/taxi_to_the_dark_side#comment-440760</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;The &#039;good&#039;  guys must tread carefully in America.  If you step right up and speak as if the truth will be accepted you will be marginalized as quickly as Obama&#039;s former pastor.  As an actor once said, referring to America in general, &quot;You don&#039;t want the truth&quot; and he was surprised how it worked out for him and he wasn&#039;t even close to the truth.  The anti-truth factions are so powerful in America that real change is impossible and I don&#039;t use the word impossible lightly.  It&#039;s all too bad and very sad but then America never got off to a very good start did it?&lt;br /&gt;
Try any one of the 50 chapters in this book for some of the &#039;truths&#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
www.amoralamerica.info&lt;/p&gt;
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 <pubDate>Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:09:23 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>bfearn</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 440760 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>joe_11 on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-439031</link>
 <description>I will miss Sidney&#039;s contributions to this site.

His point about self defeating and hubristic demands for purity is valid.  But one can be too compromising, and that is what has really snatched defeat from the jaws of victory from the democrats for the past 50+ years.

Any of the Democrats would definitely be superior to any of the Republicans, but I&#039;m not sure Hillary has really demonstrated the ability to take on the established powers.  Her support for the Cheney/bush invasion of Iraq demonstrates her real style and substance.</description>
 <pubDate>Sun, 06 Jan 2008 05:01:26 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>joe_11</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 439031 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>Gaius Baltar on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-438461</link>
 <description>Ha! Ron Paul is hardly a challenge to multinational corporations. He wants to practically dismantle the federal government which will mean it wont be able to regulate corporate interests.</description>
 <pubDate>Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:08:51 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Gaius Baltar</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438461 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>SamEllison on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-438206</link>
 <description>Right on all counts, we must rid our country of the &quot;Cheney Precedents&quot; and rescue the Constitution and the rule of law. Good luck with HRC and all that goes with it. Listen for the voice from the back of the auditorium, it&#039;ll be me.</description>
 <pubDate>Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:07:12 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>SamEllison</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438206 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>longviewhaus on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-438189</link>
 <description>Comments

Mr Blumenthal wants Hillary to become president. That is the subtext of this story. However thoughtful it may be, the Democrats most likely to win will, if even elected, continue the &quot;War &amp;amp; Plunder&quot; tradition of our county these past 100-plus years(only interrupted by the 1920&#039;s financial collapse).

Without going into endless detail, when Democratic candidates get their majority backing from large corporations (via the DLC), the congressional-military-industrial complex, the corporate controlled media, and the permanent &#039;elite&#039; political classes, what could possibly happen but perhaps the illusion of a slowdown of the &quot;War &amp;amp; Plunder&quot;, not a true change of economic and political direction.

A juggernaut with the magnitude of the current political momentum is unstoppable without some even greater force, perhaps a massive military and/or economic push-back from a group of major nations willing to commit themselves to confrontation with the United States.

It could happen, but until it does, a change of political parties in this country will only mean more of the same. It is naive or disingenuous for Mr Blumenthal to infer otherwise. But then duplicity and deception toward its most dedicated backers has been the hallmark of the Democratic Party for decades.

Don&#039;t be deceived.

dci

Posted by: Donald Carl Isenman | November 23, 2007 at 12:35 PM</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:49:51 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>longviewhaus</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438189 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>wolf1929 on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-438188</link>
 <description>I admit I actually stopped reading when I got to the part suggesting we have two opposing parties. This is of course completely untrue. There is only one &#039;party&#039; in Washington; the &#039;money&#039; party and they are having a fine time indeed. The socalled democrats are absolutely on board with the imperial presidency not to mention the fact Hillary and Bill are two of the most powerful neocons in Washington. Repubocrats are simply the minions of the multinationals performing theater-for-the-masses.

The &#039;people&#039; fell asleep at the wheel and the result was predictable. The Republic is no more, the &#039;elections&#039; are a charade creating the illusion of &#039;opposing&#039; parties. Whoever is &#039;nominated&#039; (unless it is Ron Paul of Texas) will be owned lock, stock and barrel by the multinationals. When we &#039;vote&#039; now, we are simply tightening the noose around our own necks. Open democracy my foot...............</description>
 <pubDate>Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:53:12 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>wolf1929</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438188 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>alfredo.bremont on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-438170</link>
 <description>the choice is simple accurate rationale and wise, the third way which is in this asymmetrical world the proper one is the less unexpected but the most appropriate. Sydney Blumenthal for president. he has the character the aim, the vision and is impartial on this fratricide battle for power, America deserve new men,new blood from a younger wiser and noble generation.
as estrange as it might seem defeating the prognostics of the press and the certain expectations of many this is the men for America, and America can return to his original roots by having an original men. he has the expertise and the knowledge. brave America now is your chance to return to real democracy, Sydney is the will be real president this wonderful nation needs and deserves. moreover he has keep his image his mind and his soul clean from the disrupted and very corrupt present, and his vision is Cristal clear, the fact is he deserves the post or Rather America demands a men of his integrity to guide it and sail it out of the current turmoils the nation has being on the past decade.</description>
 <pubDate>Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:47:30 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>alfredo.bremont</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438170 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>boyte on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-438157</link>
 <description>Harry Boyte

Peter Levine, director of the CIRCLE  -- the main US center of research on young people&#039;s civic and political involvements, and also the source of the annual Civic Health of the nation index for the congressionally mandated National Conference on Citizenship -- has important reflections on civic versus technocratic and hyperpartisan leadership styles in his recent blog posts. See http://www.peterlevine.ws/mt/</description>
 <pubDate>Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:49:12 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>boyte</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438157 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>boyte on &quot;The choice&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/america_inside_out/the_choice#comment-438156</link>
 <description>Harry Boyte

There is a different way to look at the challenge of a new president -- from the vantage of the whole society, and how to tap the civic energies and agency of mulitple institutions and the general citizenry. From this vantage, Blumenthal&#039;s &quot;choice&quot; is a Faustian bargain -- between a state-centric, technocratic model and Bush&#039;s market-centered approach. Both depend ultimately on authoritarian leadership, cloaked in different legitimation narratives. The alternative -- appearing across multiple domains, as I describe yesterday in &quot;Building Civic Agency&quot; -- is a citizen driven approach to change, in which markets and states are resources, but on tap not on top.

There are rich leadership traditions that support such a third way, such as the biblical tradition of Nehemiah and his parallels in US civic and political life, from Lincoln to Addams, Roosevelt to ML King come to mind, as I argued recently in the Star Tribune:

http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1554072.html</description>
 <pubDate>Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:30:35 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>boyte</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438156 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>Peter Maffia on &quot;Walter Lippmann and American journalism today&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america_inside/walter_lippman#comment-438119</link>
 <description>Blumenthal fails to mentions the independent journalists that exist. While showing the need for noncommercial journalism he does not adress any alternatives. This is sad.

Furthermore I have doubts whether the basic theses of the text are really resilient.
A journalist can just give his description/interpretion of what happened. He does not have &quot;access to the facts&quot; nor do we. Thats why we have to discuss. If truth exists it can only become present in the discourse. 

It is the structure of the public which does determine the prejudices one does use for judgment (statistically seen).
So there&#039;s not only need for a revitalisation of the journalistic culture (this way i do understand the text), but even more need for a change of the structure of the public.
As long as journalism is commercial, it will be too dependent from power (and power will be too dependent from journalism) for journalism to be free.

@alfredo
even if sydney&#039;s gonna be president, is he supposed to say &quot;everyone report the truth now&quot; and then some wonder will happen and all truth will come out?

I also wonder why the silence about 9/11 in such a text - while it is directly in the middle of the controversy.
Journalism can never be free, the media can not be open when such fundamental suspicions as the theory that 9/11 was an inside job or the theory that the planes we saw on tv that day and thousand times after that where video fakes are not discussed.

The corporate media is accused of crimes and it will not take part in it&#039;s own conviction.</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:51:55 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Peter Maffia</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 438119 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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 <title>alfredo.bremont on &quot;Walter Lippmann and American journalism today&quot;</title>
 <link>http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america_inside/walter_lippman#comment-437785</link>
 <description>well Sydney as i said before you are set to become president of the Americas. and it is an offer you cannot refuse. moreover beside Noah Chomsky there is no fit men at the moment to take the nation back to its own roots. rebuild it and reshaped fitted to the new century. courage and a firm mind and you will see that you have always being the men that the nation once needed and now more than ever demands.</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:57:56 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>alfredo.bremont</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 437785 at http://www.opendemocracy.net</guid>
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