May 8th, 2008 10:30pm
Chuck Sweeny
How will the Republicans help John McCain win in November? Here’s what might happen. I don’t raise this to the level of prediction. Right now it’s just a hunch.
Democrats, especially if they nominate Obama, will be painted as the appeasement party, not to be trusted with the role of commander in chief of the world’s most formidable military. Obama, McCain is already saying, is the favorite candidate of Hamas, the terrorist organization. (McCain, you may remember, says he abhors negative campaigning.)
That might not do the trick, however. Americans are focused on the economy, and they’re not too concerned anymore with the war in Iraq and the “War on Terror.” The GOP can’t win unless they scare people to death.
The only way to refocus Americans on the bogeyman of danger — International Terrorism — is to do what George W. Bush may do, in an effort to help McCain win the presidency and the GOP to avoid disastrous losses in Congress:
Sometime this summer or early fall, an “incident” will occur that causes the U.S. to retaliate, probably with air-strikes, possibly escalating to sending in Marines.
Inevitably, the “incident” will be in the Middle East region, most likely Iran, or maybe Syria, or it could be an attack on Israel by Iran.
Do I think the incident will be staged? Obviously I don’t know. But my knowledge of history informs me that we’ve done it before.
LBJ had his Gulf of Tonkin attack. The story at the time said that North Vietnamese gunboats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Turned out this was a “Wag the Dog” attack because it didn’t happen. That’s not my opinion. That’s what the declassified U.S. government report concluded.
Nevertheless, it was ballyhooed in the media at the time, and it gave Johnson a reason to send 500,000 troops to Vietnam.
Or how about the explosion that blew up the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor, back in 1898. The American press, led by Joseph Pulitzer (the yellow journalist they named the prize after ) and William Randolph Hearst, immediately hit on a slogan “Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain” to sell papers and stoke fires of resentment against the colonial power that ruled Cuba.
That resulting hew and cry gave President McKinley the cover he needed to wage the war against Spain that kicked the colonial power out of Cuba, and out of the Phillippines, as well. Both countires became American protectorates, so that the U.S., the nation begun as a revolt against the British Empire, ended the 19th century as a colonial power.
So, who or what caused the Maine to explode and sink? To this day, the U.S. Navy says it doesn’t know.
In 1941, the American people remained isolationist despite the twin terrors of Hitler ravaging Europe and the Imperial Japanese forces marauding China and the South Pacific.
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, causing the U.S. to finally enter the war that had been raging for two years in Europe and longer in Asia. Britain, undergoing severe bombing by the Luftwaffe, was begging us to join the fight to smash Hitler before he controlled the entire European continent.
Debate continues to this day over whether President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance that the Japanese were planning to attack, but did nothing to prevent it in order to change public opinion in favor of war against the Axis powers.
(I must add that I agree with Winston Churchill, who, when asked if he thought the Americans would join the war, said, “The Americans will always do the right thing — after they`ve exhausted all the alternatives”)
In more recent history, we have the Bush administration’s “weapons of mass destruction” argument for invading Iraq. Turns out there were no such weapons; the administration embellished — fictionalized — parts of the intel reports.
No, I don’t believe we staged the 9-11 attacks, and I believe our invasion of Afghanistan was fully justified. We should have stopped there, however. The Bush spin machine, unfortunately, used 9-11 to gin up war fever to invade Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9-11.
Betcha didn’t learn any of that in high school histroy class.
May 8th, 2008 10:25am
Chuck Sweeny
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews after interviewing Clinton campaign manager Howard Wolfson: “he’s like one of those Japanese soldiers still fighting in 1953.”
May 7th, 2008 12:19am
Chuck Sweeny
As for my predictions Monday on NC and Indy, I wasn’t far off.
I said Obama would win NC, 57 to 43 percent; he actually won 56 to 42.
I said Clinton would win Indiana, 52 to 48 percent; she actually won 50.9 percent to 41.1 percent.
May 6th, 2008 10:42pm
Chuck Sweeny
As votes begin to be counted in Lake County, Indiana, Barack Obama is closing the gap between him and Hillary Clinton. At the moment, it’s a 51-49 contest, with 25 percent of the vote counted in Lake County. In that corner of northwest Indiana, which is really part of Chicagoland, Obama was leading with 75 percent of the vote.
May 6th, 2008 09:41pm
Chuck Sweeny
Barack Obama did better than I expected in North Carolina, winning a decisive victory on the strength of a coalition of blacks, young voters and college-educated voters. In Indiana, all counties have been counted save one — Lake County in northwest Indiana, where Obama is supposed to be strong. Whether it’s strong enough to surmount Hillary Clinton’s statewide lead of about 43,000 votes is questionable, but if Clinton gets a win here, it will be close.
Overall, a good night for Obama at the end of a very bad two weeks of his campaign. Still, the media pundits are seeing the contest in terms of the “white working class voters,” who are for Clinton. So, the commentators’ template is, “Obama would be in trouble in November because he can’t win the white working class vote.” Rarely did I hear “Clinton would be in trouble in November because she can’t win the black vote,” which is going 92 percent for Obama.
The way the pundits have it figured, if Clinton is the nominee, she’ll get the black vote because almost all blacks vote Democratic and have nowhere else to go, while white, working class voters would bolt their party if Obama is the nominee and vote for McCain.
I’m not so sure. The myopic talking heads on TV ihave been so miserably wrong this year that it just could be that the opposite of what they say may indeed be true!
May 6th, 2008 03:33pm
Chuck Sweeny
U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, went to the Oval Office in the White House today, May 6 to observe President Bush sign a House-Senate resolution awarding a congressional gold medal to Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyiay 6, 2008, in the Oval Office. The democracy crusader is being held under house arrest by the miltary dictators who run Burma, which they call Myanmar.She received the medal for her courageous and unwavering commitment to peace, nonviolence, human rights, and democracy in Burma, Manzullo’s office says.
Joining Bush and Manzullo for the signing were Laura Bush, Senator Dianne Feinstein, (D-CA.); Congressman Joe Crowley of New York; Senator Mitch McConnell, (R-KY).
May 6th, 2008 09:34am
Chuck Sweeny
Alright, I might as well get in on the elections prediction racket. Indiana and North Carolina are having Democratic primaries today. Here’s what I think will happen:
North Carolina: Barack Obama had been far ahead in the polls, but they’ve been closing as Hillary Clinton took a page from her husband’s Arkansas past and began campaigning as a redneck , standing on the back of a red pick ‘em up truck and vowing to smash both Iran and OPEC. Shezaaaam!
Obama will win the state 57-43.
In Indiana, Obama picked up on the state’s obsession with basketball (rent the classic movie “Hoosiers” starring Gene Hackman and you’ll understand) and did a lot of parking lot pick up photo ops.
However, the Billary machine has hit him hard with negative ads and her support for a federal gas tax holiday could help her.
Hillary will win Indiana, 52 to 48.
I’m curious about who will take “Mayberry,” which as Andy Griffith Show fans know, is the real NC town of Mount Airy, Andy’s home town.
I’m thinking Hillary, but I’m not sure. I’ll go down the fillin’ station and ask Goob what he thinks will happen today.
May 5th, 2008 10:27pm
Chuck Sweeny
The country in southeast Asia that was devastated by the cyclone is called BURMA. Latest reports say 50,000 are feared dead.
The country is NOT “Myanmar,” which many newspapers insist on calling it. That name was foisted on the country in 1989 by a brutal military junta that, among other things, holds Nobel laureate and democratic reformer Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest and refuses to allow democracy to return.
The rulers also failed to notify coastal residents that the cyclone was coming, which caused many deaths. Mrs. Bush appealed Monday for the country to allow U.S. aid workers into Burma to provide disaster relief.
By using the word “Myanmar,” we are legitimizing the junta. So, it’s Burma to me.
Congratulations to The Washington Post and to The Guardian for using the correct name for the country.
May 5th, 2008 10:11pm
Chuck Sweeny
Last spring, Heartland Community Church undertook a huge volunteer project and cleaned, fixed and repainted two grade schools and some East High School classrooms.
This year’s project will be much bigger. Heartland congregants learned Sunday that come June, they’ll be refurbishing Ellen Stiles School, the westernmost school in the district, they’ll keep plugging away on East, and they’ll take on Flinn Middle School — the whole thing.
Heartlanders will also install doors and side panels on scores of toilet stalls in schools throughout the Rockford School District.
No tax dollars are used, all the materials are bought by the church or donated. Heartland is hoping for 5,000 volunteers to get the job done in about a week.
May 1st, 2008 12:34am
Chuck Sweeny
Some quick thoughts on the NICTI commuter rail report that was delivered Wednesday by TransSystems, the group’s pricey consultant.
Ahem. Three million U.S. and state tax dollars to discover what we already knew all along? Yep. That’s how much we are spending to learn the obvious — the route with the most ridership is the one that goes through Belvidere, Marengo, Huntley! Ya think?
Tell me, where do I go to sign up to be a consultant?
Well, duh! Belvidere is where this conversation began way back in 1997. I know, I was there. Dick Durbin was a newly-minted U.S. senator who came to Chrysler City to listen to area leaders discuss their belief that the region needed commuter trains. Chicagolanders had begun moving to Boone, continued to work in the burbs and downtown Chicago, but were chagrinned to learn there was no commuter train close by.
Now, the report that was issued has some good points, but the elephant in the room is the sloooooowwwww speed. People need to get to downtown Clhicago in approximately the same time as it takes them to drive. And that’s faster than 2.5 hours. For most of us, that’s just too long. Second, many people won’t undergo the hassle of transfering to another train in the Elgin area to get to Chicago.
What’s needed is through train service to Union Station, whether that’s by contracting with Metra to run the trains out here, or by securing running rights and operating the trains ourselves.
However, all this is going to require a big local committment, funding-wise, because the U.S. government is in the hands of the road lobby, right up to the secretary of transportation, Mary Peters. And if John McCain is elected president, you can forget about any money for passenger rail. He’s solidly against it! Don’t know what the Hillster and Barack would do about rail money — they’ve not said word one about it.
In states where new commuter train services have been built, voters have enacted statewide sales taxes to pay for the services. The taxes range from a quarter percent to one percent. New trains are rolling in Salt Lake City, Portland, Denver, Houston, Alberquerque and many other cities.
We’ve pretty much maxed out our sales tax in Rockford and Machesney Park, although voters could conceivably favor a quarter percent tax for a decent and fast commuter service to Chicagoland.
What I’m curious about is how committed local leaders are to moving the train down the track. Will they do the heavy lifting needed to advance this idea? I mean, they’ve been promising for years that the train is just five years away. And it’s still true today. It’s always five years away. Waiting for the train around here is like Waiting For Godot.
I’m pretty sure we won’t get much help from the state of Illinois and I’ll be surprised if our legislative delegation in Springfield expends energy on commuter rail. They’ll provide lip service and shout “Choo Choo!” and that’s the extent of their support.
It will be up to city and county leaders, Boone County Chairwoman Cathy Ward, Belvidere Mayor Fred Brereton, Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey and Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen to get this commuter train from its current HO gauge model to the real, lifesize McCoy.
Of course, the federal government’s hostility toward passenger rail could change in January, especially if Democrats increase their majorities in the House and Senate. Durbin, the Senate majority whip, is the second most powerful senator in the land, and he’s a strong advocate for rail service. It was Durbin, remember, who initiated the move to return Amtrak service to northern Illinois. Note: the Quad Cities people are far ahead of Rockford and Belvidere when it comes to making a united case for Amtrak service.
There’s no reason why we can’t do what NICTI members suggest and use the Belvidere route for both Amtrak and commuter trains. That’s what happens in Los Angeles, where you can board one of Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliners, or a MetroLink commuter train, with a common ticket.
Previous Posts
