> The official website of The Transition: <http://change.gov/>
Well, it's been three days of celebration, and I've done my share - hey, nothing wrong with cheering the thrashing of petro-fundamentalist goons - but the time has come to get back to work. I don't know about y'all, but I'm sick to death of this goddamn flag-waving neo-imperial America-is-backism by people who should know better. It's gotten so bad, William Gibson is posting Leonard Cohen videos about democracy coming to America - the same song, incidentally, which was used by the Gingrichians in 1994. To accelerate the sobering-up process, here are some choice morsels from Domain Change, that compendium of imperial madness:
http://change.gov/agenda/foreignpolicy/
> Meeting the Challenge of a Resurgent Russia
> The Problem: Russia's invasion of Georgia in August 2008 has created a
> serious new security challenge for the United States and our partners in
> Europe. In contrast to the Bush Administration's erratic policy of
> embracing Vladimir Putin but neglecting U.S.-Russian relations
One, two, many Saakashvilis! Not that we should be surprised that the most bloodthirsty war criminal of the contemporary era would glorify a lesser war criminal. And don't get me started on the usual blank check for whatever horrible apartheid settler colonialist violence Israel happens to be inflicting on Palestine at the moment. More madness:
> The Problem: George Bush’s policy in the Americas has been negligent
> toward our friends, ineffective with our adversaries, disinterested in
> the challenges that matter in people’s lives, and incapable of advancing
> our interests in the region. As the Americas have changed, we have sat
> on the sideline, offering no compelling vision and creating a vacuum
> for demagogues to advance an anti-American agenda.
Oh those dangerous demagogues, who dare to practice the democracy we simply purchase via $3 billion in TV airtime, and won elections and reelections across the continent by delivering actual political change. Mustn't let those banana serfs get ideas, else they might go and construct a viable industrial base or two.
But surely the Dems will do something about the economy, right? Roubini and others have called for a stimulus package of $300-$400 billion, minimum. Here's what we'll get:
http://change.gov/agenda/economy/
> Provide $50 billion to Jumpstart the Economy and Prevent 1 Million
> Americans from Losing Their Jobs: This relief would include a $25
> billion State Growth Fund to prevent state and local cuts in health,
> education, housing, and heating assistance or counterproductive increases
> in property taxes, tolls or fees. The Obama-Biden relief plan will also
> include $25 billion in a Jobs and Growth Fund to prevent cutbacks in road
> and bridge maintenance and fund school re pair - all to save more than 1
> million jobs in danger of being cut.
Sure, there's some extra chicken feed for renewable energy - maybe $15 billion a year, and some other minor programs. Grand total: $80 billion at best. Throw in tax relief, we're talking maybe $110 billion. Not even close to turning around a $13 trillion economy heading straight for its very own version of a Soviet-style collapse. But don't worry, that $1 trillion war machine will be going full bore, thanks to smarter, change-ier wars.
I think our union comrades have already realized this, but we don't have two years. On January 20, we will have exactly six months to get EFCA and a few other things passed, because in one year the minimalist band-aid solutions will fail, the economy will stagnate, and the Right will return, even nastier and more hateful than before, with an entire multipolar world to demonize. The fight isn't over, the fight has just begun.
-- DRR