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 Jim can be reached by e-mail at mailto.freeman@gmail.com SHARE 
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Websites at www.Jim-Freeman.com and www.dark-side-of-the-moon.com
I am politically left of center, tempered by respect for some of the thought on the right. It's the partisan intransigence I have opposition to and always try to frame my commentary from a thoughtful rather than outraged point of view. God knows there is enough to be outraged about, but that doesn't serve a useful purpose. We need coming together, not further distance.
I'm not young, having lived in portions of eight decades, but it gives me a sense of perspective, having experienced a goodly part of our history. I was there before TV, there when Wall Street gave sound advice, there when we knew our neighbors and banks were local. Many of my readers were alive and working before the internet, Wal-Mart and McDonalds--but damned few personally remember FDR, Truman and Eisenhower.
It's been a wonderful experience, but I have never had reason to fear for the future of my nation and I'm very deeply concerned at the moment. Essentially a novelist, I felt the Clinton impeachment and Bush administration left me little choice but to set aside fiction and speak out publicly. That's not a choice I regret, but I am sad for the circumstances that require it.
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Saturday, November 3, 2007
BULLFEATHERS AND BIG SUGAR What better metaphor for government? In a way, it's comforting that American sugar, the world's most expensive, will continue in that capacity due to yet another ten years of subsidy. Keeps that Central and South American sugar in its place. Sticks the corporate finger in Fidel Castro's eye.
Saturday, November 3, 2007BULLFEATHERS AND BIG SUGAR What better metaphor for government? In a way, it's comforting that American sugar, the world's most expensive, will continue in that capacity due to yet another ten years of subsidy. Keeps that Central and South American sugar in its place. Sticks the corporate finger in Fidel Castro's eye.
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Monday, October 29, 2007
WAR AGAINST DRUGS--LOST KIDS TO LOST NATIONS There is no one to stand up against these far more deadly agents of destruction, these Community Anti-Drug Coalitions, who have successfully moved tens of thousands into our prisons, destroyed nations, killed thousands, wrecked tens of thousands of lives--and made not a nickel's worth of difference to our children.
Monday, October 29, 2007WAR AGAINST DRUGS--LOST KIDS TO LOST NATIONS There is no one to stand up against these far more deadly agents of destruction, these Community Anti-Drug Coalitions, who have successfully moved tens of thousands into our prisons, destroyed nations, killed thousands, wrecked tens of thousands of lives--and made not a nickel's worth of difference to our children.
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Monday, October 29, 2007
WASHINGTON POST DEAD-WRONG IN CHILD PORNO EDITORIAL In an effort to be touchy-feeley and warm and cuddly so far as babies are concerned, the Washington Post has come down absolutely on the wrong side of the debate.
Monday, October 29, 2007WASHINGTON POST DEAD-WRONG IN CHILD PORNO EDITORIAL In an effort to be touchy-feeley and warm and cuddly so far as babies are concerned, the Washington Post has come down absolutely on the wrong side of the debate.
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Saturday, October 27, 2007
Put On the Cuffs, I'm Guilty as Charged Jane Harman, a Democratic member of the House from California, has just gotten together with fellow members to pass HR 1955 RFS. Just four days ago, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 sailed off to the Senate. Harman had fourteen co-sponsors, ten Democrats and four Republicans. Harman's bill has been called, quite properly, a "thought crime bill."
Saturday, October 27, 2007Put On the Cuffs, I'm Guilty as Charged Jane Harman, a Democratic member of the House from California, has just gotten together with fellow members to pass HR 1955 RFS. Just four days ago, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 sailed off to the Senate. Harman had fourteen co-sponsors, ten Democrats and four Republicans. Harman's bill has been called, quite properly, a "thought crime bill."
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Friday, October 26, 2007
The Master Liquidity Enhancement Con (duit) In a stunning editorial leap of faith, the New York Times headlines that "3 Major Banks Offer Plan to Calm Debts in Housing." What three major banks have actually suggested, with Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson safely in tow, is that someone else sail in to save their considerably-at-risk bacon.
Friday, October 26, 2007The Master Liquidity Enhancement Con (duit) In a stunning editorial leap of faith, the New York Times headlines that "3 Major Banks Offer Plan to Calm Debts in Housing." What three major banks have actually suggested, with Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson safely in tow, is that someone else sail in to save their considerably-at-risk bacon.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
RICH AS ROCKEFELLER NOT NEARLY RICH ENOUGH This makes me as angry as anything I have read in this past over-angering year of politics. The scion of one of the nation's wealthiest families guttered in the payoff trough with the likes of Randy Cunningham and Jack Abramoff. Never enough, is there John?
Tuesday, October 23, 2007RICH AS ROCKEFELLER NOT NEARLY RICH ENOUGH This makes me as angry as anything I have read in this past over-angering year of politics. The scion of one of the nation's wealthiest families guttered in the payoff trough with the likes of Randy Cunningham and Jack Abramoff. Never enough, is there John?
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Monday, October 22, 2007
AH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE . . . Aha! That explains it. Crocker and Petraeus changed that strategy that they wouldn't tell the Congress about just last month, to another strategy they won't tell anyone about, but one that updates itself to fight the guys we put in power over the guys who were in power.
Monday, October 22, 2007AH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE . . . Aha! That explains it. Crocker and Petraeus changed that strategy that they wouldn't tell the Congress about just last month, to another strategy they won't tell anyone about, but one that updates itself to fight the guys we put in power over the guys who were in power.
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Saturday, October 20, 2007
TWO SIDES OF A VERY DIFFERENT FARMING STORY Once upon a time that farmer-consumer thread was unbroken, but those were the days before lettuce in January. Who among us remembers the precursor to farmers' markets, the farm-stand on the rural highway at a farm gate?
Saturday, October 20, 2007TWO SIDES OF A VERY DIFFERENT FARMING STORY Once upon a time that farmer-consumer thread was unbroken, but those were the days before lettuce in January. Who among us remembers the precursor to farmers' markets, the farm-stand on the rural highway at a farm gate?
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Friday, October 19, 2007
AND ON THE 3RD DAY, CONGRESS RESTED There's all this inane controversy over Senator Larry Craig, when it's actually Senators Pat Leahy, Arlen Specter and Charlie Schumer who are in bed with George Bush.
Friday, October 19, 2007AND ON THE 3RD DAY, CONGRESS RESTED There's all this inane controversy over Senator Larry Craig, when it's actually Senators Pat Leahy, Arlen Specter and Charlie Schumer who are in bed with George Bush.
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Thursday, October 18, 2007
750,000 Americans Take 50% Drop in Social Security Don't worry about losing your Social Security benefits in 2040 or 2050. Three quarters of a million American citizens are already losing theirs.
Thursday, October 18, 2007750,000 Americans Take 50% Drop in Social Security Don't worry about losing your Social Security benefits in 2040 or 2050. Three quarters of a million American citizens are already losing theirs.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Unprepared in Iran, the Follow-Up to Unprepared in Iraq Yet in the face of this evidence (and with a Congress too cowed on terrorist issues to stop him), Dick Cheney, through his surrogate George Bush, plans to attack Iran before the remaining fifteen months of his administration have gasped their last.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007Unprepared in Iran, the Follow-Up to Unprepared in Iraq Yet in the face of this evidence (and with a Congress too cowed on terrorist issues to stop him), Dick Cheney, through his surrogate George Bush, plans to attack Iran before the remaining fifteen months of his administration have gasped their last.
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Monday, October 15, 2007
KICKING THE LAST LEG OUT FROM UNDER THE IRAQI CHAIR The Pentagon, no doubt while Robert Gates was busy elsewhere, trying along with Condi Rice to rekindle a sense of bi-partisan goals between Russia and the United States, was up to mischief in Iraq. Serious stuff--the kind of decision-making that characterized the early blunders by L. Paul Bremer, for which we are still paying a huge price.
Monday, October 15, 2007KICKING THE LAST LEG OUT FROM UNDER THE IRAQI CHAIR The Pentagon, no doubt while Robert Gates was busy elsewhere, trying along with Condi Rice to rekindle a sense of bi-partisan goals between Russia and the United States, was up to mischief in Iraq. Serious stuff--the kind of decision-making that characterized the early blunders by L. Paul Bremer, for which we are still paying a huge price.
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Friday, October 12, 2007
GORE WINS NOBEL--SUPREME COURT RULES HE CANNOT ACCEPT In a stunning reversal, but true to their core beliefs, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today that Al Gore cannot accept the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded him.
Friday, October 12, 2007GORE WINS NOBEL--SUPREME COURT RULES HE CANNOT ACCEPT In a stunning reversal, but true to their core beliefs, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today that Al Gore cannot accept the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded him.
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Friday, October 12, 2007
CONGRESS DROPS WHITE HOUSE DEMANDS, ALONG WITH ITS PANTS In the dance this administration orchestrated over the still-warm corpse of American values, 'abhorrent' has come to mean 'offensive to the mind, but allowable.' Most of us were flim-flammed by the wording, victims of adminispeak; in common context, the synonyms are repulsive, detestable, obscene and repugnant.
Friday, October 12, 2007CONGRESS DROPS WHITE HOUSE DEMANDS, ALONG WITH ITS PANTS In the dance this administration orchestrated over the still-warm corpse of American values, 'abhorrent' has come to mean 'offensive to the mind, but allowable.' Most of us were flim-flammed by the wording, victims of adminispeak; in common context, the synonyms are repulsive, detestable, obscene and repugnant.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007
ARE THERE NO SUCCESSES IN THIS ADMINISTRATION? It's shocking to see our mainstream newspapers regularly (at long, long last) referring to this administration with such phrases as "waste, fraud and political meddling that are a hallmark," along with "arrogant massing of executive power" and "one more barn door to be closed on an irresponsible administration."
Wednesday, October 10, 2007ARE THERE NO SUCCESSES IN THIS ADMINISTRATION? It's shocking to see our mainstream newspapers regularly (at long, long last) referring to this administration with such phrases as "waste, fraud and political meddling that are a hallmark," along with "arrogant massing of executive power" and "one more barn door to be closed on an irresponsible administration."
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Tuesday, October 9, 2007
A 2nd Shaming of America by the Supreme Court Of what use is a secure nation that has lost its conscience? Is there a man or woman who would stand and say "I give you my freedoms to keep me safe," or is that merely the wail of children afraid of something under the bed?
Tuesday, October 9, 2007A 2nd Shaming of America by the Supreme Court Of what use is a secure nation that has lost its conscience? Is there a man or woman who would stand and say "I give you my freedoms to keep me safe," or is that merely the wail of children afraid of something under the bed?
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Monday, October 8, 2007
Bush Shoots Down Antique Planes It is (arguably, but barely) necessary for the president to travel and to speak, even at fallen firefighters memorials, but at what cost? Two or three million bucks? Just to make what is clearly a political statement and inconvenience a bunch of ordinary folks.
Monday, October 8, 2007Bush Shoots Down Antique Planes It is (arguably, but barely) necessary for the president to travel and to speak, even at fallen firefighters memorials, but at what cost? Two or three million bucks? Just to make what is clearly a political statement and inconvenience a bunch of ordinary folks.
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Monday, October 8, 2007
So NOW What the Hell are We Doing Here? It was about Saddam until it wasn't. Then it was about al-Qaeda until it wasn't. When it wasn't about 9-11 and wasn't about nation-building, it became about holding the gangsters away from each other until they could form a government. Maybe even a democratic government, although we'd have settled for any government that could hold our coat for us as we beat a speedy exit.
Monday, October 8, 2007So NOW What the Hell are We Doing Here? It was about Saddam until it wasn't. Then it was about al-Qaeda until it wasn't. When it wasn't about 9-11 and wasn't about nation-building, it became about holding the gangsters away from each other until they could form a government. Maybe even a democratic government, although we'd have settled for any government that could hold our coat for us as we beat a speedy exit.
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Sunday, October 7, 2007
Free Speech Becoming Too Expensive No one has thus far enacted an anti-bribery law because the Congress is a co-conspirator. Congress itself equated free-speech with the ability to pay for free-speech and locked us in the "I can afford more free-speech than you" box, from which there seems no exit.
Sunday, October 7, 2007Free Speech Becoming Too Expensive No one has thus far enacted an anti-bribery law because the Congress is a co-conspirator. Congress itself equated free-speech with the ability to pay for free-speech and locked us in the "I can afford more free-speech than you" box, from which there seems no exit.
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Wednesday, October 3, 2007
RUMSFELD PRIVATIZES MILITARY, THEN QUITS If this sounds like a military and State Department that's lost its sense of mission, that's because it is. Report if you feel like it guys--otherwise just Rambo around the country between beers.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007RUMSFELD PRIVATIZES MILITARY, THEN QUITS If this sounds like a military and State Department that's lost its sense of mission, that's because it is. Report if you feel like it guys--otherwise just Rambo around the country between beers.
