Re: This Is Leadership?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: September 29, 2008 5:58:13 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Re: [IP] This Is Leadership?


> Anyone for term limits?

No.  Term limits are increasingly being seen around the country as
utterly counterproductive to having real experience in our leaders.
Where term limits are in place, we typically see a constant parade of
inexperienced and often ineffectual politicians who are forced out
just as they begin to hit their stride.

Term limits have nothing to do with Congress' action today.  LIES do.
The American people have been screaming bloody murder at their
representatives that they don't want the Wall Street bailout (now
called "rescue" to sound less like the charity it is).

Viewed dispassionately, it's clear that *some* sort of bailout (not
necessarily the one just voted down) is needed.  Quickly.

But we've been lied to so much that it's completely understandable
why people feel the way they do.  Lied to about the PATRIOT Act.
Lied to about Iraq.  Lied to by their mortgage lenders and banks,
and by untold numbers of economic pundits.

And why don't people see the urgency?  One factor is that the workings
of the credit market have been largely invisible to most of us.
But there's another factor.

Turn on the TV.  Turn on the radio.  You'll see and hear the same
array of commericials for investment plans and cheap home loans as
always.  It's as if nothing whatever has changed, like a parallel
universe to the crisis atmosphere we see on the news in between the
advertising spots.

What's more, I have yet to see a single spot from any bank or
financial institution that says, "We're suspending our normal ads to
tell you that we're in crisis.  And we need your help.  And we
apologize for our greed and misleading actions up to now."
Fat chance.

Instead, what we see and hear is business as usual.  Invest!  Buy!
Dream the dream!

No wonder that most people feel that they're being fed yet another
lie, and are passing along these feelings to their congressmen.

The financial industry is now reaping the whirlwind of greed.
And the rest of us are being sucked into their nightmare.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com





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