A Fabulous Friedman…

“We are, quite simply, witnessing one of the greatest examples of misplaced priorities in the history of the U.S. presidency,” he says:

By doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world. That is, we are financing the U.S. military with our tax dollars and we are financing the jihadists - and the Saudi, Sudanese and Iranian mosques and charities that support them - through our gasoline purchases. The oil boom is also entrenching the autocrats in Russia and Venezuela, which is becoming Castro’s Cuba with oil. By doing nothing to reduce U.S. oil consumption we are also setting up a global competition with China for energy resources, including right on our doorstep in Canada and Venezuela. Don’t kid yourself: China’s foreign policy today is very simple - holding on to Taiwan and looking for oil.

Read more about his geo-green strategy.

A progressive altar call

What must be avoided at all costs is a tendency to hunker down and commiserate over how embattled we are. We must be outward looking, expansionist and evangelical in our every move.

A very smart article by Christopher Hayes, who thinks progressives need to get “evangelical.” In the few days since J. sent me this original, it’s been picked up by Truthout and Alternet, as well. Good stuff!

As for Jeb…

See why James Wolcott says “Any blogger who uses the phrase ‘the liberal New York Times’ without irony should be returned to the pet store as a dead parrot.”

Here I go again…

…harping about conservative hypocrisy. Useless, I know. Sadly, the answer to my co-blogger’s question is, yes, a little more can probably be said about the Terri Schiavo case –

“What this issue has done is it has galvanized people the way nothing could have done in any off-election year,” said Rev. Lou Sheldon, the founder of the group, acknowledging that the case of Ms. Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged Florida woman, had moved many to open their checkbooks. “That is what I see as the blessing that dear Terri’s life is offering to the conservative Christian movement in America.”

That kind of opportunism might shock you if you hadn’t already heard what Tom Delay told the Family Research Council…

“One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America,” Mr. Delay told a conference organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian Group. A recording of the event was provided by the advocacy organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others,” Mr. Delay said.

(Yes, relish that a moment: God brought Terri Schiavo to this point so that we could all see how Tom Delay is being persecuted.) And it might shock you if you hadn’t already heard of the memo Senate Republicans circulated two weeks ago…

“This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue,” that memo explained. “This is a great issue, because Senator [Ben] Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor [of the Schiavo bill] and this is a tough issue for Democrats.”

Instead, it’s merely disgusting and reprehensible. Much like the spectacle of Mr. Bush flying back to DC (not a few people have remarked on the blazing ironies therein) to sign a bill that apparently everyone knew would not automatically force the reinsertion of Ms. Schiavo’s feeding tube. And what a fascinating change of heart Mr. Delay has experienced in the years between his own family tragedy and the more highly exploitable Schindler/Schiavo family tragedy. If there’s any good news to be had in any of this, it’s that the vast majority of Americans seem to be seeing through the whole charade. (In light of those poll numbers, the Bushies are now downplaying the president’s personal convictions in the matter, suggesting that he didn’t really want to sign the bill, a maneuver perfectly described by Kevin Drum as “galactically craven”.)

Can anything more be said on this sad affair?

Maybe just this: “For honest reporters, the Terri Schiavo case is something of a nightmare,” writes Brian Montopoli. To learn why, read his piece in the valuable CJRDaily. Given the amount of media attention devoted to this story, it is astonishing (or maybe just very disappointing) how little actual journalism is being practiced.

What might have been…

The passing of George Kennan evoked a spate of reflections on his life and work, none more insightful than this recent column by James Carroll. Here’s a sample:

How we remember the past determines the shape of the future. If Kennan’s life reminds us that there was nothing inevitable about the militarized confrontation of the Cold War, it can also help us see an alternative to the belligerent course now being set by Washington. Here is what a Kennan-like preference for political and diplomatic responses over military ones would mean today:

An aggressive movement away from US dependence on nuclear weapons, which is the best way to check proliferation.

Avoiding the militarization of conflict with China, which can needlessly lead to a new Cold War, complete with a rekindled arms race, only now rushing into space.

A prompt end to the war in Iraq, the first step of which is a withdrawal of American forces, paired with a renunciation of all US military bases in the Middle East.
Depriving terrorists of their raison d’etre by defusing Arab and Islamic resentment of American intrusions in the Middle East.

Meeting the gravest threat to national security, which is the global degradation of the environment, by renewing structures of international cooperation.

Bush administration policies run in an exactly opposite direction from the way shown by the life of George Kennan.

As with communism in the early days of the Cold War, we have made a transcendent enemy for ourselves with ”terrorism,” imagining a globally organized, ideologically driven threat that far exceeds what actually exists. We have made an idol of a particular notion of ”freedom,” forgetting again that freedom from hunger and disease is what the vast majority of humans long for. Once more, we fail to see the ways in which American-style freedom includes dehumanized elements (violence, prurience, greed) that others might properly resist.

In Iraq, we reenact the perverse American script that saves by destroying. In Korea, once again (Secretary Condoleezza Rice resplendent in a military bunker), we imagine that saber rattling helps. As for international institutions like the United Nations and the World Bank, we express our contempt by appointing as representatives their sworn enemies.

George F. Kennan was a good man. Despite himself, he helped launch his nation down a dangerous road. In regretting that, he spent his life calling for another way. The ultimate ”realist,” he legitimized the idealist’s dream. War is not the answer. America can honor this prophet by heeding him at last.

Let the Church Say Amen!

We could say that about every post — but in this case, it’s the title of a brand-new documentary film that’s premiering on PBS next week (check your local station for viewing time) as part of the “Independent Lens” series. Produced, directed, and edited by a friend of a friend, “Let the Church Say Amen” creates a portrait of a small storefront church in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC. You’ll be amazed and inspired by the stories of folks working to make a better life for themselves in the shadow of the White House. Don’t miss it.

Global Fund Victory!

The Senate approved an amendment to the Budget Resolution that will increase money to the Global Fund from $300 million (after Bush’s proposed cuts) to $800 million. (Previous post here.)

Now, what would they call this if he were a Democrat?

Rick Santorum is “rethinking” his position on the death penalty, in light of the campaign to end the death penalty launched by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, in light of changing opinion polls…

Maybe he thought it was the Hypocritic Oath?

From this great Progress Report:

Bill Frist has been positioning himself in the media as a champion for Schiavo’s interests. Yet, much of Schiavo’s medical care has been financed by $1,000,000 from two medical malpractice lawsuits Schiavo won after her heart attack 15 years ago. Frist has been leading the charge to limit recovery for people like Schiavo who are severely debilitated. If Frist is successful, people like Schiavo would not be able to recover any punitive damages no matter how severe their injuries.

He’s also been positioning himself as a medical expert on a case about which he knows little more than than his colleagues:

In a speech last week on the Senate floor, Frist said that “speaking more as a physician than as a U.S. senator,” he believed there was “insufficient information to conclude that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state.”

Frist — who as a surgeon performed more than 150 heart and lung transplants — said his conclusion was based on a review of footage of the brain-damaged Florida woman whose parents are seeking to reconnect her feeding tube. He said he also consulted court documents and spoke to a neurologist who examined Schiavo two years ago.

Frist’s comments raised eyebrows in the medical community.

Although there are no official rules against the practice, ethicists said, it is generally considered unprofessional for a doctor to make or question a diagnosis on the basis of incomplete information.

“In general, physicians would consider it unprofessional for doctors to take clinical stands on issues without adequate clinical data,” said Dr. Neil Wenger, head of the ethics committee at UCLA Medical Center.

William J. Winslade, a bioethicist and law professor at the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, was more direct. Frist “has no business making a diagnosis from a video,” he said.