Monthly Archive for October, 2004

Red, White, and Blue Flu

Following is a press release that is being disseminated to media outlets. It’s from my husband, the Rev. Dr. Randolph W. B. Becker. He is calling for a rally on Thursday and nationwide strike on Friday if we don’t have the election results by Thursday night.

Bin Laden Bounce for Bush?

With many – not all, but too many – pundits and spinners claiming the reemergence of Osama Bin Laden is reinvigorating the Bush campaign, John Kerry has got to jump on this fast and hard: “This is reminder of how miserably Bush has failed at the mission he set out for himself over three years [...]

100,000

Household Survey Sees 100,000 Iraqi Deaths

What have we done.

No further comment. Just tears.

Tracking Social Capital

As online systems which track peoples reputation or karma evolve, goodwill may become more quantifiable. It will be interesting to see if such developments will lead to a better understanding of social capital, a strengthening of the countries economy and perhaps even to a shift from ever more divisive and destructive campaigns.

Rush to War: The Documentary

Rush to War: Between Iraq and a Hard Place is Robert Taicher’s documentary about the Bush Administration’s move to strike Iraq and relate the pre-emptive war to 9/11 and world terrorism. Taicher writes Greater Democracy that he’ll give away 40,000 copies of the DVD in swing states this weekend.

Representative Democracy

I think Josh’s conclusion about the importance of a representative government is right on the mark. My wife is running for State Representative in Connecticut. Over the past several months we have spent a lot of time working together and getting feedback from friends about many issues that our state faces and even more ideas about how to address these issues.

Destruction of Social Capital in America has a Price

The current very bitter polarization in America can hardly be claimed to be creator of social capital and trust, muchless competitive economic vitality. Clearly, the current situation in America is NOT making it easier “to form new associations”, a key foundation of prosperity.

Why is this negative situation not being discussed as a critical political issue in a Democracy entering the connected era of the 21st century? If we are destroying our social capital for short term political gain, can we afford to ignore the price we will pay?

How big a blunder? How about 950 bombs, 19,000 dead and 95,000 wounded

Mitch Ratcliffe writes:

October 25, 2004

How Big a Blunder? How about 950 bombs, 19,000 dead and 95,000 wounded

Encouraging or discouraging voters

The underlying dynamic is that it appears as if the Democrats are trying to encourage people to vote and the Republicans are trying to discourage people from voting. I sure hope the Democrats are victorious in this.

CIA's secret report

Robert Scheer in the LA Times (registration required) says the CIA is holding back its report on 9-11. Writes Scheer: “It is infuriating that a report which shows that high-level people were not doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being suppressed,” an intelligence official who has read the report told me, [...]

Next »