Dear List Members:
I am disturbed by Frank's trashing of Miriams posts to this list.
While I do not pretend to understand why Frank has displayed so much
anger toward Miriam, I do feel strongly that Miriam has the right to
express her opinions, just as Frank does, without anyone setting up
Straw men and attacking another list member. If we on this list are
unable to set forth our opinions and rationale, without being trashed,
how do we propose that we deal with our nation's real threat, Trump's
destruction of American democracy?
Carl Jarvis
On 11/20/20, Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Miriam, yes, I very much do think you are a supporter of the GOP. Over the
years all of your posturing has ben aimed at destroying the Democratic party
which clearly supports the GOP. As far as your financial status, remember
that it is *you* that has bragged about having access to social security,
medicare, bond funds and a pension so if it is none of my business then
don't post it and it won't be. Honestly, I know many folks who don't have
access to any of those things and will never so maybe think about those
folks when you are acting as a GOP agent.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2020 6:23 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Typical Democratic Official on the Pentagon
& War-as DOD Confirms Iraq, Afghanistan Withdrawal
Frank, Sweetheart, What financial security tax shelters, etc. are you
talking about? Do you think I am a supporter of the Republican Party? If
so, you are delusional. It's none of your business, but my dwindling income
comes from social security, Fred's pension from Helen Keller Services of
approximately $450 a month, and income from municipal bonds which I
purchased over the years with money that I saved from my adoption work.
Those municipal bonds, as they expire and are replaced, pay less and less
income. It's now down to about 3% or less for any new bond purchase. Those
bonds support the MTA (which is about to go bankrupt because of the Corona
Virus), and various universities, colleges, and hospitals in New York State.
I am currently paying rent and utilities for the house that my younger
daughter and I live in, very high supplemental medical insurance and
prescription insurance for Medicare, many of my younger daughter's expenses,
and for my part-time home health aide. I also paid for a generator for this
house and for a decent heating system, in order for the house to be liveable
for us, even though I don't own the house and get no tax benefit from those
expenditures. All of that money came from the money that I saved during the
30 odd years that I worked in adoptions with no financial security at all,
as an independent worker. And one of the reasons for that happening was
that when I tried to find a decent social work job after my older daughter
was born, no one would hire me because I was visually impaired, and I'm
talking about the 1970's. I did go back to Helen Keller Services for a
while. It was, to be blunt, a shitty job. So Frank, once againm, you
absolutely do not know what you're talking about. You slander people out of
anger and prejudice. I've been a registered Democrat for my whole life and
I naively voted for Democrats up until 2016. And had I been living in a
swing state, I would have voted Democratic then and in 2020 also, even
though by then, I understood what the corporate wing of the party was.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2020 1:18 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Typical Democratic Official on the Pentagon
& War-as DOD Confirms Iraq, Afghanistan Withdrawal
Miriam, as I told Carl; what I read was Nader's own book, "unsafe at any
speed". I know a hit piece when I read it. Nader never did anything to hold
any corporation accountable. What he did was enable the auto industry to
move unionized pants into non-union areas and break up labor. Take a good
look what happened to General Motor's Norwood Ohio plant ain the years after
Nader's attacks. It resulted in moving it across the border to Canada which
was at the time out of the UAW's reach. I know that you want to blame
anything and everything on the Democrats so that you can convince people to
keep the GOP in place which will benefit your tax shelters, stock, and bond
funds and as you put it "financial security".
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2020 12:33 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Typical Democratic Official on the Pentagon
& War-as DOD Confirms Iraq, Afghanistan Withdrawal
Frank, Where in the world did you hear such bullshit? And people wonder why
there are folks who believe Trump's lies! I don't know what you've been
reading, but it certainly has nothing to do with historical facts. The only
people who destroyed the labor movement are corporations and not Ralph Nader
who was attempting to hold them accountable way before you were born. Some
of the people who spread all this negative propaganda about him, about the
Green Party, are corporate Democrats who decided in 1972 that they were
going to ditch the last sort of liberal presidential candidate the party
had, George McGovern, and start taking advantage of the country's move to
the right. And whatever socially liberal values they continued to proclaim,
they certainly didn't support unions. By the time Clinton took office, the
Democrats were proclaiming a new way, no more welfare, mass incarceration,
no more unions, free trade which meant that corporations could send
everything to countries where the labor was cheap and unorganized. What do
you think, during your lifetime, the Democratic Party did for labor? All it
did was to buy off union leaders.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2020 10:51 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Typical Democratic Official on the Pentagon
& War-as DOD Confirms Iraq, Afghanistan Withdrawal
Carl, it was actually General Motors. This was part of Ralph Nader's
campaign against the U.S. auto industry which was a means of destroying the
labor unions and promote foreign makers to build products in non-unions
states. The result is that today the average employee makes less than their
counterparts did in 1980. Nader targeted the auto industry because, believe
it or not, 1 in every 11 working Americans work in some part of that
industry. So, cutting the legs out of organized labor had a profound trickle
down effect which is still being felt today.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2020 4:49 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Typical Democratic Official on the Pentagon
& War-as DOD Confirms Iraq, Afghanistan Withdrawal
Remember the old commercial, "What's good for General Electric is good for
the Nation"? or was it General Motors? or General Mills?
I remember Ronald Reagan's oft repeated line, "At General Electric, progress
is our most important product". Actually he only needed to change one word.
Change Progress to Profit, and it speaks to the point that our nation is
not one united collection of states. It is a nation of corporations. The
nation is run by Private Enterprise. So every action our nation takes can
be answered by simply asking, Who Profits? And sure enough, at the bottom
of the Pig Pile there is a corporation(or more)profiting.
People, the Working Class Majority, are nothing more than a natural
resource.
Congress does not call the shots. Nor does the president or the Supreme
Court.
Indeed, "we the people" do not have access to the classified information we
would need in order to make decisions that would benefit the Working Class
Majority. Congress is not allowed to see all of the classified documaants.
Nor is the president. Our ship of state is sailing for the benefit of
Corporate America. What's good for the Ruling Class is good for the Ruling
Class.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/18/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
And why, in the name of God, was an attack on the Taliban in
Afghanistan necessary as a response to the 9/11 attacks on the US? It
wasn't the Taliban who attacked us. It was individuals from Saudi
Arabia. Insanity! But almost everyone, except a tiny minority of
people, supported that unnecessary attack. Yes, murder some extremists
in a poverty stricken country for the sake of our national pride!
Miriam
A Typical Democratic Official on the Pentagon & War-as DOD Confirms
Iraq, Afghanistan Withdrawal November 18, 2020 William J. Astore takes
on Jeh Johnson's opposition to any haste in bringing troops home from
the nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, before Pentagon
confirmed Wednesday Iraq and Afghan withdrawals.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Nov. 15, 2020.
(YouTube
screenshot)
By William J. Astore
Bracing Views
Jeh Johnson, formerly homeland security secretary under President
Barack Obama, showed how a typical Democratic official approaches the
Pentagon and war as he spoke on ABC's This Week on Sunday (11/15).
For Johnson, the Pentagon "is typically an island of stability" in the
U.S.
government, but President Donald Trump was destabilizing that island
because of recent changes to Pentagon personnel. Trump's changes
could be driven by his desire to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan,
speculated Johnson, which was not a good thing:
"If he [Trump] wants troops out of Afghanistan, as I know most
Americans do, we have to do it in a way that makes sense, in an
orderly manner, and that comports with battlefield reality . in trying
to strike a deal, you don't unilaterally surrender your greatest point
of leverage by unilaterally withdrawing troops before the Afghan
government and the Taliban have stuck a deal. So this is very
concerning and if I were in the Biden transition team right now, I'd
be very focused . on restoring stability in our national security."
[On Wednesday the Pentagon confirmed that the U.S. is pulling 2,500
troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan, causing alarm among U.S. allies
and senior Republicans.]
We can't surrender our "leverage," those thousands of U.S. troops that
remain in harm's way in an unnecessary war that was won and then lost
almost two decades ago, because it's that "leverage" that will compel
the Taliban, who have already won the war, to strike a deal with an
Afghan government that exists mainly because the U.S. government props
it up. Makes sense to me.
By the way, only "most Americans" want our troops to come home? Where
are all the other Americans who want them to stay there indefinitely?
Within the Washington Beltway, I'd wager.
The Afghan war has always struck me as nonsensical. Yes, some kind of
response to the 9/11 attacks was needed, and initial U.S. military
strikes in 2001-02 succeeded in toppling the Taliban, in the sense
they saw no reason to stand and fight against withering fire. At that
moment, the U.S.
military should have declared victory and left. Instead, the
Bush/Cheney administration decided on its own disastrous occupation,
extended another eight years by Obama/Biden, even though we knew full
well the extent of the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
'Leverage' & 'Stability'
Aug. 19, 2020: Military honors for U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Paul Voss
who died during a crash of a Bombardier E-11A aircraft in Ghazni
Province, Afghanistan. (Arlington National Cemetery, Flickr, Elizabeth
Fraser)
The Afghan war has lasted so long that I've been writing articles
against it for more than a decade. You'd think any sensible and sane
Democrat would love to see U.S. troops withdrawn and the war finally
come to an end. Not so. The war must continue in the name of
"leverage" and "stability."
I like Johnson's truly absurdist reference to "battlefield reality,"
which, if we're being real for a moment, reflects a Taliban victory.
Unless the U.S. wants to occupy Afghanistan forever, with hundreds of
thousands of troops, that victory is not about to be reversed. And
what kind of "victory" would that be?
"Stability" is not preserved by fighting unwinnable wars on the
imperial periphery, unless you're talking about the stability of
Pentagon finances and corporate profits. Johnson's wiki bio does
mention he's on the boards of Lockheed Martin Corporation and U.S.
Steel, which certainly hints at a conflict of interest when it comes to
offering advice on ending wars.
In the meantime, we probably shouldn't tell our troops, whom we're
supposed to love and support, that we're keeping them in Afghanistan for
"leverage"
until the "battlefield reality" is more in our favor. That's truly a
recipe for endless war in a place that well deserves its reputation as
the graveyard of empires.
Finally, a reminder to Democrats: your Pentagon is an island of
stability, and your troops are creating the leverage that allows
democracy to flourish everywhere. If this makes sense to you, and if
this is the guiding philosophy of Joe Biden's national security team,
we're truly in deep trouble.
William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and history
professor, is a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN),
an organization of critical veteran military and national security
professionals.
This article is from Bracing Views.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not
reflect those of Consortium News.
