Pre-WWII America (in Color)

I just came across these incredible images over at DailyKos.com. The diarist, JohnnyGunn, introduces the images thus:

When we think of America during the Great Depression, we often picture it in shades of grey.  It was a grim era and nearly all of the photographs we see are in black and white.

[...]

Color presents an entirely different image.

[...]

As the 1930s came to a close, Kodak came out with Kodachrome film – the first commercially viable color film available to the general public.  In 1937 and 1938, the colors were still not stable and accurate, but by 1939 Kodachrome was producing color images of remarkable precision.

He’s right. In color, that no-less grim period seems hopeful and the future brighter.

Read JohnnyGunn’s diary, it’s a compelling presentation of pre-WW II America — and he’s got a lot more pictures, too.

In Support of the Draft

There’s been a lot talk recently about reinstating the draft:

The incoming Democratic chairman [Rep. Charles B. Rangel] of the House Ways and Means Committee said yesterday that he will push to renew the military draft, as lawmakers in both parties sharpened their criticisms of the situation in Iraq and struggled for consensus and solutions.

Rep. Rangel explains his motivations for reinstating the draft:

"There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way," said Rangel, a Korean War veteran. "If we’re going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can’t do that without a draft."

And, given the following, Rep. Rangel is clearly on to something:

With Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) “calling for resuming the draft to spread the burden of military service across society,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution notes that Congress itself illustrates the same gap.

“Only about 10 percent of the members elected to Congress for the first time this year are military veterans, according to a survey by the Military Officers Association of America. In all, only about one in four members of the new Congress will have served in the military — down from half in 1991 and three-quarters a decade earlier.”

The decline in military experience among members of Congress reflects the fading of the World War II generation — where most of the men served — and the decades that have passed since the end of the Vietnam War and the nation’s last military draft.

“The number of veterans in the House peaked in 1977-78, when about 80 percent of the members had military experience, said Strobridge. The peak in the Senate was in 1983-84, when 75 percent were veterans.”

As I mention at the start, all this talk about the draft has gotten a lot of people around the blogsphere chatting about the topic, its consequences and how we can address the current lack of service inequalities illustrated by the paragraphs quoted above.

A diarist over at DailyKos.com suggest that we should reinstate the draft, along with a slew of "public service corps" for those that don’t want to serve in the military.

If there’s a draft I would ONLY support it if everyone had to serve in the military in some capacity. I would not support the draft if draftees could serve their time in one of the "service corps" that the DailyKos diarists suggests; because the mechanism that the diarists suggests opens the door to abuse by those that wish to dodge serving during a time of war and, too, the "service corps" alternative offers a way for politicians to skirt the political consequences of an aggressive foreign military policy (just like we have now, where the consequences of foreign wars are not widely felt across our country nor by the political elite because they don’t have "skin in the game").

Of course, there are those that would object to serving in the military because of religious or other moral reasons, and for those individuals there would be an option to serve in a non-combat role within the military. But the point, though, is that everyone would wear the uniform and be exposed to the sort of discomforts that come with serving in the military — which, quite simply, are not the same sort of discomforts that one is exposed to in any other type of organization.

Of course, having everyone serve in the military would create a large and ready resource available to tackle some of our ongoing domestic concerns. Consequently, a peace time military with a large number of draftees could be used at home to do many of the things that the DialyKos diarists suggest: clean up and rebuild our crumbling cities and towns; work with patients in rural areas with poor medical service; work with conservation issues; etc. My point is that the draft is only fair if everyone is obligated to serve through the military; otherwise we will not be addressing the very problem that the current "draft reinstatement" discussion seeks to address, that is: making sure that our military is used more responsibly by our political elite by ensuring that the costs of not doing so are felt widely by the American public.

Trust Your Gut

An astute poster over at DailyKos.com has decided to trust her instincts, in spite of the ridiculing from the so-called "moderate" talking heads in the media, which constantly tell the American public: This is a time to be bipartisan, let’s not look back and certainly don’t give into conspiratorial notions.

That’s what the so-called moderates tell us. In other words, don’t rock the boat. Don’t question, just go along to get along.

Well, JuliaAnn, over at DailyKos.com, says enough is enough. She’s tuning out the un-inquisitive and timid voices of the unnerved moderates; and, instead, has decided to trust herself and go with her gut, which is telling her the following:

1. Hillary Clinton was right about the "right wing conspiracy." Wasn’t that funny when she said that on the Today Show [what seems like decades ago] and everyone had a big old belly laugh? She was dead on, and we are living with its fruits today.

2. There is a ton about 9-11 we do not know. And none of it is good. I think the Commission was a monumental blow job, and that there are a hundred [at least] unanswered questions and inconceivable conclusions. I think there were Republican plants on the commission and serious flaws in both the process and the product. I think the American people are being sheltered, or bamboozled, by a lot of powerful people with agendas. My gut tells me I can trust Michael Moore. It tells me Thomas Keane is a corrupt asshole who did — and continues to do — what’s been asked of him.

3. The Republican Party is sick and twisted. I don’t mean just bloated with power and arrogance, and totally corrupt. I mean sick and twisted. If our country has a prayer, it means this party must die. Intellectually, I try to tow the line. I try to avoid comments about people’s looks, or their accents, or their idiosyncracies. I try to wait for facts, and for evidence. But my gut told me about Allen and Foley a long time ago. And it tells me that the GOP is the party of fearful and perverted people who get their jollies from pissing on others. These are the brownshirts, the psychologically unbalanced, the racists, the uncool kids, the thin-lipped fat white bad dancers, the authoritarians, the C students, the control freaks, and the dispossessed — all joined together in one political party dedicated to sticking it to whomever they can momentarily feel better than. I can look at the Republicans in my own family and see the truth: these are people who are more afraid and less educated, and willing to do almost anything to be "on top" because they spent a pivotal time in their lives feeling unimportant. They need counseling, but they won’t get it. Sure, we can discuss it — for days, for months, for years. My gut says: these people are dangerous — at every time and in every place they have appeared in history.

4. Elections have been stolen and will continue to be without a serious "event." Let’s keep batting that ball around through 2006… and 2008. Yes, I want Diebold whistleblowers to come clean. Yes, I want impartial election officials and paper ballots. And sure, I want to learn a whole lot more about exit polling and Zogby vs. Quinnipiac. In the meantime, my gut says: the Republicans have, at the highest levels of our government, colluded to tamper with elections and have committed election fraud. Go read Blue Shark for fun for the latest

5. Cheney is the president. I’m going to love being proved wrong on this one. Believe me, I want to be proved wrong. Bush the Lesser wanted to be president, all right, and he wanted to push his MBA agenda. Like the rest of his creepy crew, he aimed to drown government in the bathtub, as well as New Orleans, and as many of us as he could get swirled down the drain. But it is Cheney pulling many of the ickiest strings. He had the real agenda: to get his hands on that oil, to enrich Halliburton and himself, to dismantle all that he hates: OSHA, the EPA, the national park system, liberals, you name it. Bush just repeats the platitudes, fed to him daily. My gut tells me Cheney has his hands all over the darkest deeds of the last six years, from Valerie Plame to the detention centers.

6. Speaking of "detention centers," my gut tells me this is one of the scariest of the unreported stories the MSM has pledged to keep ignoring. A $385 million contract to Halliburton subsidiary KBR to build holding pens for people and nobody gets to the bottom of it? This is nuts, by any standard. We got multiple news reports when the outgoing Clinton administration was falsely accused of stealing $48.29 worth of W’s off West Wing typewriters — but nothing on multi-million dollar homeland security "housing"? My gut tells me that these detention centers are bad news, and that by the time we learn more we’ll be very, very sorry no one paid attention.http://www.consortiumnews.com/…

7. I bet that my name — and possibly yours — is on a list of characters to watch. My gut tells me that the huge, all-encompassing intelligence gathering apparatus in this country — the one that has created lists of anti-war groups and the names of people at Quaker gatherings — would include many of us. My gut also tells me there is a reason why so many figures of national prominence are remarkably silent during these most disturbing times. The Republicans are masters at digging up dirt and using it. My guess is that they have many citizens by the balls and are squeezing tight.

8. If the Republicans can steal 2006 — by whatever stealth methods are available to them — I expect an Internet crackdown. My gut tells me that Rove has spent a lot of time bitching about liberals on the internet messing up their shit. And I’d bet the media is none too happy, either — all 5 or 6 of those fat white guys who own the country’s airwaves. Like social security, I think this is the quiet before the storm. They’ll try to hold onto their majority, then storm the ramparts again — this time for blood.

9. We live in an era of untruth. No matter what the hearing, commission, or investigation — we’re being psy-opped into a stupor. "The Path to 9-11" was one little piece. Remember the staging of the Saddam statue take-down? Does anyone remember Jessica Lynch? http://en.wikipedia.org/… Most of the material in the national consciousness has been deliberately faked, massaged, produced, packaged, and fed to us. My gut tells me that — should we be so fortunate as to someday unravel the mountain of disinformation that is Bushco — we will be stunned.

10. Yes, Bush cheated during the debates. I believe he was fed the bulk of his lines. I’ve watched the film a million times, I’ve watched his face and measured the cadence. I’ll be happy to let this one go, really I will. But my gut says: the guy was definitely wired.

What is your gut telling you about what’s transpired over the past five years since the Bush administration grabbed power?

Democrats’ October Surprise

This is a great post over at DailyKos.com. According to the writer, the Democrats have an October surprise of their own, which involves the following:

The Clintonian Region: where Democrats no longer cede points to blowhard media pundits who are trying to set them up with attack questions just short of "when did you stop beating your wife."  This region, exemplified by Bill Clinton’s monumental ass-handing of Rove’s Fox News sockpuppet, Chris Wallace.  The Clintonian region allows every Democratic candidate to raise their chin, look their questioner in the eye and tell them that they will not get away with ridiculous, leading, prejudicial questions.

The Testorian Region: is the core of the Democratic spine.  This is where Democrats show that they’re not willing to settle for compromise with idiocy and immorality.  This is showcased in Jon Tester’s clear response that he wouldn’t "weaken" the Patriot Act, he would repeal this appallingly misguided legislation.   A strong Testorian region enables Democrats to no longer fuss around with the details of programs that are fundamentally wrong — whether it’s the Patriot Act, illegal wiretaps, or the presidential torture approval act.  With this bit of spine, they can stand straight and say "that is simply immoral, and it’s not something we’re going to tolerate in this country."

The Lamontian Region: is at the base of the new Democratic spine.  It’s the base on which Democratic candidates are building a new, enthusiastic coalition of supporters who are willing to put their time and money into the proposition that there can be real change in Washington.  The clearest example is Ned Lamont’s smashing defeat of Joe Toady Lieberman.  This strong foundation puts Democrats on their feet and gets them marching door to door, bringing the message that a new day is coming.

Go read the post, it’s worth the read.

Chris Matthews: World’s Biggest A**

Once again, Chris Matthews, a man that swoons at the sound of his own voice, proves himself to be the biggest ass and peddler of disinformation on TV. Here’s Matthews asking Ned Lamont if he had anything to do with with Joe Lieberman’s web site being down:

Never mind, of course, that if Matthews and the other useful idiots in the main stream media had done any "investigative journalism" they would’ve found what this — and other — intrepid citizen found out, namely: Joe’s web site was hosted by a crappy company that could not hold up to high traffic demands on the web site.

UPDATE: Marty Kaplan weights in on Matthew’s oft-repeated attack on Liberal bloggers:

It’s funny: the entire District of Columbia is built on the exact same process that Chris Matthews describes, except that instead of people using keyboards, they use phones, and instead of blogging, they use their access to print and broadcast media, and to one another.

I lived and worked in politics and journalism in Washington for eight years, and every day, the inviolable morning ritual was that people read the papers, they watched television, and then all day long they called one another to ask, "What do you hear?" The biggest difference between the daily routine of the Beltway chattering class and the blogosphere is that the Gang of 500 (as The Note calls them) has been replaced by the dispersed and inherently more small-d democratic netroots.