* Amaya <amaya@debian.org> [2008-08-11 10:00-0400]: > Jimmy Kaplowitz wrote: > > At DebConf8 there will be a discussion on Tuesday night about the > > location for DebConf10. There haven't been any bids discussed so far, > > so I think it might be a good opportunity for the US to take its turn, > > even despite the immigration hassles, and specifically to propose > > DebConf10 in New York City. There are a lot of other upsides to > > counterbalance the immigration problems, such as: > > The prposal really looks great. I'd love to get back to NYC. > And I really hope that, by 2010, $Obama will have rationalized not only > the inmigration problems, but also the privacy implications of > travelling to the US, the data retenction policy, the abusive "security" > meassures and so on. First of all, Obama is not a reason to plan debconf in NYC. Secondly, don't get your hopes up. I want that too, but a politican says what is necessary to get elected and then typically ends up disappointing. Obama has already supported the FISA wiretapping crap (good bye 4th ammendment), has no plan for full withdrawl from iraq, his green agenda is more brown than green, I could go on until your eyes glaze over and you ignore me. So, I will tell you this, delete now, unless you are prepared for a rant of epic proportions that you should actually read anyways, especially if you are an starry-eyed Obamatron. There is a real danger that people think that all it takes is to get the right candidate in the white house. People need to realize that this is only the beginning. The weapons and reconstruction companies that make significant profits from a continued presence in Iraq have been getting very nervous about the possibility of the very real possibility of a Democratic victory, and this is the first election cycle in 14 years that the Democrats have gotten more money from the arms industry than the Republicans (1994 democrats got 32%, this year they have received 52%). Democrats have been getting *huge* pressure from these corporations and so far they have gotten nothing other than cheerleading from their supporters. That strategy does not work. If we dont demand the kind of change that we want, it wont happen because the big weapons companies, the oil and gas, the agribusiness companies, etc. are all pushing hard from the other side. They are organized and focused, record profits are at stake, they see us wanting to take away their market. Obama needs to *earn* the trust that he has been given. Don't get me wrong, there is possibility, as our country has faced moments as we are in before, and those moments have produced major progressive victories. After the market crash in 1925, the New Deal was produced, but this did *not* happen because of FDR. This happened because the people in the US were so organized, radicalized and pissed off that FDR was able to sell the New Deal to the elites as a compromise, because the alternative was bleak for them (revolution). He was only able to do that because he was under enormous, continuous pressure from the grassroots. Progressives of the 30s didn't think that it was enough to get their candidate into office and relax, they knew that they needed to organize a counter power to the business lobby that was pushing from the other side. This was done through mass union drives, consumer organization, organizing students... (they also had this crazy idea that since wall street financiers created the crisis, that de facto disqualified them from solving it) Obama needs a threat that he can use to say to the Wall Street players who have funded his campaign that he has no choice. Unless people in the US wake up and provide that, everyone is going to be confused, sad and disillusioned about what happened, that is if they even notice. If I stop ranting now, I am sure you will all appreciate it. micah
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