worst ever

>
> Chris, you say truthful things here ... but do you really
> read the news? watching TV news (even CNN) doesn't count.>
>
> from the first webpage i cite below: "In Florida, felons
> are banned for life from voting unless granted clemency."
>

Sure. . .and that should be fought. . .but remember, 100 years ago,
women were banned for life from voting. . .period.
A bit more than 100 years ago, African-Americans were banned from voting.
And so on.

Now we have, even under the most conservative administration, an
African-American Secretary of State, a Chinese-American female secretary
of Labor, etc. etc.

And as I was saying before, it may be all lies, but the Bush people take
great pains to claim that the war in Iraq is not about Empire, but about
democracy. 100 years ago, I'm sure they would have said, "Hey, we are
the graetest people on earth. Why shouldn't we rule it? Yes, we're
imperialists!" Of course, some of them may be thinking that now, but
they can't get away with saying it out loud (except in certain places,
perhaps). And most conservative voters really believe (if hugely
naively) that that's what the war was about. . .bringing democracy to
Iraq.

This is all, of course, not because Bush is "not such a bad guy", but
because the whole fabric of American society has changed pretty profoundly
from back then.

In any case, this is definitely not a call to "take it easy" . . .just a
moment to reflect on the fact that society can and does change for the
better . . .but as Chomsky says, "not without sharp reversals", which we
seem to be going through at the moment (or at least an attempt at one . .)