A Bit of Light Reading

Editorial: Truth / Too little of it on Iraq

I've been asked to provide more interesting reading material, so here's some: the link above points to an editorial in the Star Tribune . It discusses a series of statements by Dick Cheney in one of his rare public appearances. The lack of honesty is astounding.

You can also read this article by Molly Ivins for a brief commentary on the state of the nation today. Pay special attention to the paragraph that begins, "Let me be the first to say--we shoulda listened to Al Gore....We shoulda put that money into a lockbox for Social Security." The point she's making is perhaps the scariest point of all: that this war, these tax cuts, are not the misguided folly they seem. Indeed, they're really the fulfillment of the desire of the right wing Republicans to force the country to untie its safety net.

For a deeper exposition of this point, read Paul Krugman's article in this weekend's New York Times Magazine . You may need to go through the free registration process in order to read this, but it'll be an eye-opener for sure. Tell me, do you want to live in a country with substandard public education, no Medicare or Medicaid, no Social Security? If so, by all means, vote Republican.

Otherwise, it's time to do as Ivins says: "It's our government, we can still make it do what we want it to when we put in the energy it takes to work with other people, organize, campaign and vote--we can still make the whole clumsy, money-driven system work for us. And it's high time we did so."