If you have already put this issue aside, congratulations and read no further.

In his article Let’s Cancel 9/11, Tom Engelhardt starts asking some questions that need to be asked.

Ask yourself this: ten years into the post-9/11 era, haven’t we had enough of ourselves?  If we have any respect for history or humanity or decency left, isn’t it time to rip the Band-Aid off the wound, to remove 9/11 from our collective consciousness?  No more invocations of those attacks to explain otherwise inexplicable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and our oh-so-global war on terror.  No more invocations of 9/11 to keep the Pentagon and the national security state flooded with money.  No more invocations of 9/11 to justify every encroachment on liberty, every new step in the surveillance of Americans, every advance in pat-downs and wand-downs and strip downs that keeps fear high and the homeland security state afloat.

Rather than thinking of ripping off the Band-Aid as a cure, I think of the illness as constant picking at a scab.  In this country we memorialize the sneak attack on us at Pearl Harbor, the blowing up of the Maine (Remember the Maine!), the defeat at the Alamo (Remember the Alamo!) and now we have 9/11.

Is it common in other countries to memorialize incidents of their own victimization?  The Irish remember Bloody Sunday and other cultures remember affronts that happened thousands of years ago. We Jews are taught to always bring up The Holocaust.  Yet, I think it is time to put all of this in its proper place.

In Tom Engelhardt’s column he said,

And surely it’s our duty in this world of loss to remember the dead, those close to us and those more removed who mattered in our national or even planetary lives.  Many of those who loved and were close to the victims of 9/11 are undoubtedly attached to the yearly ceremonies that surround their deceased wives, husbands, lovers, children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters.  For the nightmare of 9/11, they deserve a memorial.  But we don’t.

In the column Setting Their Hair on Fire, Paul Krugman weighs in on the Obama jobs plan.

First things first: I was favorably surprised by the new Obama jobs plan, which is significantly bolder and better than I expected. It’s not nearly as bold as the plan I’d want in an ideal world. But if it actually became law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment.

…

Still, the plan would be a lot better than nothing, and some of its measures, which are specifically aimed at providing incentives for hiring, might produce relatively a large employment bang for the buck. As I said, it’s much bolder and better than I expected. President Obama’s hair may not be on fire, but it’s definitely smoking; clearly and gratifyingly, he does grasp how desperate the jobs situation is.

Later, in the article he comments on Mitt Romney’s alternative.

Yes, Mr. Romney has issued a glossy, well-produced “jobs plan,” but it might best be described as 59 bullet points with nothing there — and certainly nothing to justify his assertion, bordering on megalomania, that he would create no fewer than 11 million jobs in four years.

Romney’s plan may border on megalomania, but it is right over the edge into disingenuous.  If he is half the business person he claims to be, if it were his own money, Romney would not be hiring people and investing in new plant and equipment as a result of his own plan.  Until there are more customers than can be satisfied by opening up already closed plants and using already idle equipment, an entrepreneur would just be wasting money to make that sort of investment.  Given Romney’s track record in business, one can be fairly assured that he is entirely aware of this even when he makes his nonsensical proposals and uses ridiculous numbers such as 11 million jobs.  Who will be the first press person to call Romney to task on this?

Robert Reich gives us his opinion of the President’s initiative in his article Two Cheers And One Jeer for The American Jobs Act.

Two cheers for the President and his America’s Jobs Act. Cheer Number One: In presenting it to a joint session of Congress, he sounded as passionate and determined as he’s ever sounded.

Second cheer: He laid out the problem correctly and effectively. He explained why jobs and growth must be the nation’s first priority now — not the federal deficit. The economy is in crisis. People are hurting. So government must act, and act quickly. It’s irresponsible at a time like this to suggest that government should simply close down.

But a jeer because the jobs plan he presented isn’t nearly large enough or bold enough to make a major dent in unemployment, or to restart the economy.

It reminds me of how we used to taunt the food servers in the mess hall in the Army.  They had the rank of Specialist.  We  used to praise them with remarks such as “Good water, Specialist”, or “Good bread, Specialist.”  We used anything that we were pretty sure they had bought instead of cooked.

The Republicans have an advantage in the current situation. If you are just as happy to have nothing happen, then you don’t need anything like a majority to get your way. For Democrats who actually want to make life better for most Americans, they need to fight twice as hard to make something happen. Are the voters ready to help make something happen?

See the entire video Full Speech: Obama Prods Congress to Pass $450B Jobs Package ‘Right Away’

September 11, 2011

My opinion is changing on the President’s jobs plan. If such an inadequate plan is adopted and fails, it will poison the very idea of having a well designed, adequate job creation program by the federal government.

If we cannot get the President’s plan strengthened before being adopted, might we be better off doing nothing? The ensuing dire results subsequent to inaction would strengthen the case for doing something rather than destroy the case for a generation or more.

In fact, Obama’s negotiating position might be strengthened if he could show that he was willing to walk away from a bad deal, by vetoing a plan so weak that it is worse than nothing.

I have an idea who would have no trouble sitting on his donkey for 14 months.

See the entire video Full Speech: Obama Prods Congress to Pass $450B Jobs Package ‘Right Away’

Can Boehner stand any more of this adult talking to? If he weren’t so tanned, maybe his face would be red.

See the entire video Full Speech: Obama Prods Congress to Pass $450B Jobs Package ‘Right Away’

Gee whiz, Boehner doesn’t even applaud the G. I. Bill Of Rights. Maybe he thinks that after going to war in WWII, the G. I.’s should have returned to their proper class and not been allowed into the middle class. Is this how Republicans show off their extreme patriotism? Good enough to fight and die, but not good enough to get into my country club?

Or perhaps Republicans think that the effort they put out to put a flag pin in their lapels is enough patriotism.

See the entire video Full Speech: Obama Prods Congress to Pass $450B Jobs Package ‘Right Away’

Maybe Boehner isn’t applauding because he gets his kicks from watching the rest of us race to the bottom. For himself, he seems to prefer tanning rather than racing.

See the entire video Full Speech: Obama Prods Congress to Pass $450B Jobs Package ‘Right Away’

Here are a few ideas that Boehner doesn’t seem to get excited about. We can probably all guess what he thinks should be done about collective bargaining rights.

My previous post explains what The Shock Doctrine is.

See the entire video Full Speech: Obama Prods Congress to Pass $450B Jobs Package ‘Right Away’

If being first doesn’t excite Boehner, could he be happy if we were good enough for the people to have a decent standard of living?

Being first may be a bit much with our populations being much lower than either China or India.

See the entire video Full Speech: Obama Prods Congress to Pass $450B Jobs Package ‘Right Away’