"Shoula, Woulda, Can" by Tommy Boy

[The Zanti Regent]

His latest brain droppings...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/opinion/27FRIE.html?hp

[LittleApple81]

1. I think he has gone bonkers. Remember that song "They are coming to take

away HaHa..."

[thebigidea]

2. build more Embassy libraries? Holy shit, he really has gone mad

Say, here's a better idea:

Don't invade countries in the first place, ya fuckin' knob.

[papau]

3. I thought he had some good ideas!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/opinion/27FRIE.html

Shoulda, Woulda, Can
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: May 27, 2004

<snip>
• We would take all the money the Bush team has wasted on P.R. campaigns directed at the Arab-Muslim world and put it into three programs: a huge expansion of U.S. embassy libraries around the world, which have been cut in recent years (you'd be amazed at how many young people abroad had their first contact with America through an embassy library), a huge expansion of scholarships for foreign students to study in America, and a huge expansion of our immigration service so it can quickly figure out who should get visas to study or work in America and who shouldn't. Too many good students are getting shut out of the U.S. You don't get better P.R. from ads. You get it from bringing people into America or American libraries and letting them draw their own conclusions.

• We would adopt a 50-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax, the Patriot Tax (along with my wife's proposal: free public parking anywhere in America for any hybrid or other car getting more than 35 m.p.g.). A Patriot Tax would help pay for the Afghan and Iraq wars and help finance a Manhattan project to speed the development of a hydrogen economy, enabling the public to make a contribution to the war effort while lessening our dependence on foreign oil.<snip>

• We would spearhead efforts in trade talks to reduce U.S., European and Japanese farm subsidies. Nothing would be more helpful to Pakistani, Egyptian and other poor farmers in the Muslim and developing worlds than no longer having to compete with our subsidized produce.<snip>

• We would spell out that the war on terrorism is a long-term war on radical Islam — and while force is necessary in that effort, it is not sufficient. We have to connect all of the above dots to strengthen Arab-Muslim moderates, because only they can take on their extremists. Unfortunately, the Bush team reacted to 9/11 as if all the old rules and methods had to go. I believe 9/11 was gigantic. But the old rule book — emphasizing allies, the Geneva Conventions, self-sacrifice, economic development, education, Arab-Israeli diplomacy — was and remains our greatest source of strength in the effort to promote gradual reform in the regions most likely to breed threats to our open society.

<snip>

[struggle4progress]

4. Agree and disagree. It's a mish-mash. He's desperate for credibility.