Allow me to introduce myself
Hi, I'm Thomas Nephew. Earlier this summer, Aziz was kind enough to invite me to join this blog as an occasional contributor. It's an honor; I've admired Aziz's writing at "unmedia," "City of Brass" and here for a long time; I find my own first mention of him back in September, 2002 at my blog, "newsrack," with many more thereafter.
Not that we necessarily agree on everything. For one thing, I favor impeachment of Bush and Cheney on a number of grounds, including principally the fraudulent case for the Iraq war (which I reluctantly came to support once upon a time), torture, and the warrantless electronic surveillance. I also favor a rapid timetable for withdrawal from Iraq -- I think our presence is doing Iraqis no good, and harms our soldiers , our society, and our interests.
I make no claims to particular wisdom ("that's obvious enough," many will snort) or deep political consistency over the years. I'm a lifelong Democrat, but one who's increasingly disenchanted with that party of late. I'm a sometime peace and nuclear freeze activist, but one who supported the first Gulf War, Bosnia/Kosovo, and (to my everlasting regret) this Iraq war at one time. Issues that motivate me include concerns about genocide, nuclear proliferation, the proper balance between public and private spheres, and climate change -- but more and more it's simply the adherence to the rule of law, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights (admittedly, as I see them) that is my deepest concern.
I know Aziz shares those concerns, and I know that we agree on the fundamentals: a commitment to reasoned, fair discourse, to tolerance, and to the ideals of the Constitution. I think we both share a faith that the United States is a vibrant, strong culture where the best ideas can prevail -- including, principally, the idea of freedom itself. Sometimes we have to work at that harder than I wish we did.
The following item is a crosspost from my own blog, "newsrack blog." I think it bears on Aziz's 9/11 comments a little, at least I hope it does -- it's kind of about the next 9/12, if there is one. Please excuse its length, I tend to be a long form writer, but I'll try not to overdo that. Also please excuse the crosspost; I'll try to add original material here, too, as I learn how to write stuff that fits this blog.
Not that we necessarily agree on everything. For one thing, I favor impeachment of Bush and Cheney on a number of grounds, including principally the fraudulent case for the Iraq war (which I reluctantly came to support once upon a time), torture, and the warrantless electronic surveillance. I also favor a rapid timetable for withdrawal from Iraq -- I think our presence is doing Iraqis no good, and harms our soldiers , our society, and our interests.
I make no claims to particular wisdom ("that's obvious enough," many will snort) or deep political consistency over the years. I'm a lifelong Democrat, but one who's increasingly disenchanted with that party of late. I'm a sometime peace and nuclear freeze activist, but one who supported the first Gulf War, Bosnia/Kosovo, and (to my everlasting regret) this Iraq war at one time. Issues that motivate me include concerns about genocide, nuclear proliferation, the proper balance between public and private spheres, and climate change -- but more and more it's simply the adherence to the rule of law, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights (admittedly, as I see them) that is my deepest concern.
I know Aziz shares those concerns, and I know that we agree on the fundamentals: a commitment to reasoned, fair discourse, to tolerance, and to the ideals of the Constitution. I think we both share a faith that the United States is a vibrant, strong culture where the best ideas can prevail -- including, principally, the idea of freedom itself. Sometimes we have to work at that harder than I wish we did.
The following item is a crosspost from my own blog, "newsrack blog." I think it bears on Aziz's 9/11 comments a little, at least I hope it does -- it's kind of about the next 9/12, if there is one. Please excuse its length, I tend to be a long form writer, but I'll try not to overdo that. Also please excuse the crosspost; I'll try to add original material here, too, as I learn how to write stuff that fits this blog.
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