Rolling Stones Say New Song "not attack on Bush"

[beltman713]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4142564.stm

Stones song 'not attack on Bush'

Sir Mick Jagger has denied that a new Rolling Stones song called Sweet Neo Con is an attack on President Bush.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40679000/jpg/_40679180_stonesap2_203.jpg
Tickets to see The Rolling Stones in Toronto on Wednesday cost £4.60

"It's not aimed, personally aimed, at President Bush," he said. "It wouldn't be called Sweet Neo Con if it was."

The singer told US TV show Extra: "It's not really aimed at anyone." On the track, he sings: "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite."

The band kicked off their latest world tour with an intimate gig in Toronto, Canada, on Wednesday.

For just C$10 (£4.60, US$8.35) a ticket, 1,000 fans at the Phoenix Theatre saw the rock legends warm up for their A Bigger Bang stadium tour.

'Home from home'

The band will play more than 40 shows in the US and Canada in the next five months before moving on to Mexico, South America, the Far East before reaching Europe next summer.

They often rehearse and perform in Toronto, a city they describe as a "home away from home".

Wednesday's gig saw them perform new songs as well as classics including Brown Sugar, Jumpin' Jack Flash and a cover of Bob Marley's Get Up, Stand Up.

Their new album, also titled A Bigger Bang, will be released next month.

Support acts on their tour will include Joss Stone, Black Eyed Peas, Metallica, Maroon 5 and Pearl Jam.

CNN News Video (http://movies.crooksandliars.com/cnn_rolling_stones_sweet_neo_con_050810a.wmv) This song sounds pretty good.

[princesskittypoo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4142564.stm

Stones song 'not attack on Bush'

Sir Mick Jagger has denied that a new Rolling Stones song called Sweet Neo Con is an attack on President Bush.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40679000/jpg/_40679180_stonesap2_203.jpg
Tickets to see The Rolling Stones in Toronto on Wednesday cost £4.60

"It's not aimed, personally aimed, at President Bush," he said. "It wouldn't be called Sweet Neo Con if it was."

The singer told US TV show Extra: "It's not really aimed at anyone." On the track, he sings: "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite."

The band kicked off their latest world tour with an intimate gig in Toronto, Canada, on Wednesday.

For just C$10 (£4.60, US$8.35) a ticket, 1,000 fans at the Phoenix Theatre saw the rock legends warm up for their A Bigger Bang stadium tour.

'Home from home'

The band will play more than 40 shows in the US and Canada in the next five months before moving on to Mexico, South America, the Far East before reaching Europe next summer.

They often rehearse and perform in Toronto, a city they describe as a "home away from home".

Wednesday's gig saw them perform new songs as well as classics including Brown Sugar, Jumpin' Jack Flash and a cover of Bob Marley's Get Up, Stand Up.

Their new album, also titled A Bigger Bang, will be released next month.

Support acts on their tour will include Joss Stone, Black Eyed Peas, Metallica, Maroon 5 and Pearl Jam.

CNN News Video (http://movies.crooksandliars.com/cnn_rolling_stones_sweet_neo_con_050810a.wmv) This song sounds pretty good.

i'm sorry i need a definition please....
i never learned what a neo con was....

[Gold9472]

Personally, I'm HAPPY if it IS directed at Bush. That's what the "Freedom Of Speech" is about baby. You don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

[Gold9472]

i'm sorry i need a definition please....
i never learned what a neo con was....

That's a very hard question to answer in a simple sentence...

[princesskittypoo]

i understand!!!! a neo con is a bad guy in the white house named bush..... who wants to take our freedoms away and bring genocide to every country.

[ThotPolice]

I think the statement was made to save record sales remember the Dixie chix? I’m a big fan of the stones but Jagger was always more business than politics. It think there is no doubt it is directed at the bush admin. It kick’s ass that he wrote the song.

[princesskittypoo]

yeah people had to buy their album so they could destroy it. (dixie chix that is)

[ehnyah]

Irving Kristol (1920-) is considered the founder of American neoconservatism, and is the father of William Kristol. He describes himself as:

"a liberal mugged by reality."

http://media.portland.indymedia.org/images/2005/06/318775.jpg

"There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work." - Irving Kristol


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Kristol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

''Neoconservatism'' is a somewhat controversial term referring to the political goals and ideology of the "new conservatives" in the United States. The "newness" refers to the term's origination as either describing converts new to American conservatism (sometimes coming from a liberal or big-government New Deal background) or to being part of a "new wave" of conservative thought and political organization.

The neoconservatives, often referred to by their political opponents as the neocons, are credited with (or blamed for) influencing U.S. foreign policy, especially under the administrations of Ronald Reagan (1981?1989) and George W. Bush (2001?present). Neoconservatives have often been singled out for criticism by opponents of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, many of whom see this invasion as a neoconservative initiative. Compared to other U.S. conservatives, neoconservatives may be characterized by an aggressive moralist stance on foreign policy, a lesser social conservatism, and weaker dedication to a policy of minimal government, and a greater acceptance of the welfare state, though none of these qualities are necessarily requisite.

Neoconservatism is a controversial term whose meaning is widely disputed. Most people currently described as "neoconservatives" are members of the Republican Party. The term is used more often by those who oppose "neoconservative" politics than those who subscribe to them; indeed, many to whom the label is applied reject it. The term is frequently used pejoratively, both by self-described paleoconservatives, who oppose neoconservatism from the right, and by Democratic politicians opposing neoconservatives from the left. Recently, Democratic politicians have used the term to criticize the Republican policies and leaders of the current Bush administration.

Critics of the term argue that the word is overused and lacks coherent definition. For instance, they note that many so-called neoconservatives vehemently disagree with one another on major issues. They also point out that the meaning has changed over time. Whereas the term was originally used for former Democrats who embraced the welfare state but aggressively opposed the Soviet Union, now the term is primarily used to describe those who support an aggressive worldwide foreign policy. The term is also used to describe those who are accused of adopting a "unilateral" foreign policy rather than relying on United Nations consensus and actions.

In academia, the term refers more to journalists, pundits, policy analysts, and institutions affiliated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and with Commentary and The Weekly Standard than to more traditional conservative policy think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation or periodicals such as Policy Review or National Review.

Beliefs

This political group supported a militant anticommunism; more social welfare spending than was sometimes acceptable to libertarians and mainstream conservatives; civil equality for blacks and other minorities; and sympathy with a non-traditionalist agenda, being more inclined than other conservatives toward an interventionist foreign policy and a unilateralism that is sometimes at odds with traditional conceptions of diplomacy and international law. They feuded with traditional right-wing Republicans, and the nativist, protectionist, isolationists once represented by ex-Republican "paleoconservative" Pat Buchanan. Still, the neoconservatives have generally allied with other conservatives electorally and in terms of which administrations they have joined. Ideological differences between paleoconservatives and neoconservatives are often ignored in alliance against those to their left.

But domestic policy does not define neoconservatism; it is a movement founded on, and perpetuated by an aggressive approach to foreign policy, free trade, opposition to communism during the Cold War, support for beleaguered liberal democracies such as Israel and Taiwan and opposition to Middle Eastern and other states that are perceived to support terrorism. Thus, their foremost target was the conservative but pragmatic approach to foreign policy often associated with Richard Nixon, i.e., peace through negotiations, diplomacy, and arms control, détente and containment (rather than rollback) of the Soviet Union, and the beginning of the process that would lead to bilateral ties between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the U.S. Today, a rift still divides the neoconservatives from many members of the State Department, who favor established foreign policy conventions.

Intellectually, neoconservatives have been strongly influenced by a diverse range of thinkers, from Max Shachtman 's strongly anti-Soviet version of Trotskyism (in the area of international policy), to the libertarian-leaning Milton Friedman, to the elitist, ostensibly neo-Platonic ideas of Leo Strauss.

Origins

Neoconservatives are conservatives who are "new" (neo) to the conservative movement in some way. Usually, this comes as a result from the migration from the left of the political spectrum to the right, over the course of many years. Though every such neoconservative has an individual story to tell, there are several key events in recent American history that are often said to have prompted the shift.

Some of today's most famous neocons are from Eastern European Jewish immigrant families, who were frequently on the edge of poverty. The Great Depression radicalized many immigrants, and introduced them to the new and revolutionary ideas of socialism and communism. The Soviet Union's break with Stalinism in the 1950's led to the rise of the so-called New Left in America, which popularized anti-Sovietism along with anti-capitalism. The New Left became very popular among the children of hardline Communist families.

Opposition to the New Left and Détente with the Soviet Union would cause the Neoconservatives to emerge as the first important group of social policy critics from the working class. The original neoconservatives, though not yet using this term, were generally liberals or socialists who strongly supported the Second World War. Multiple strands contributed to their ideas prior to becoming neoconservatives, including the Depression-era ideas of former New Dealers, trade unionists and Trotskyists, particularly those who followed the political ideas of Max Shachtman. The current neoconservative desire to spread democratic capitalism abroad often by force, it is sometimes said, parallels the Trotskyist dream of world socialist revolution. The influence of the Trotskyists perhaps left them with strong anti-Soviet tendencies, especially considering the Great Purges targeting alleged Trotskyists in Soviet Russia. A number of neoconservatives such as Jeane Kirkpatrick, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz were Shachtmanites in their youth while others were involved in the Social Democrats, USA, which was formed by Schachtman's supporters in the 1970s.

The original "neoconservative" theorists, such as Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz, were often associated with the magazine Commentary, and their intellectual evolution is quite evident in that magazine over the course of these years. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s the early neoconservatives were anti-Communist socialists strongly supportive of the civil rights movement, integration, and Martin Luther King. However, they grew disillusioned with the Johnson administration's Great Society. Some neoconservatives also came to despise the counterculture of the 1960s and what they felt was a growing "anti-Americanism" among many baby boomers, in the movement against the Vietnam War and in the emerging New Left.

According to Irving Kristol, former managing editor of Commentary and now a Senior Fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington and the Publisher of the hawkish magazine The National Interest, a neoconservative is a "liberal mugged by reality." Broadly sympathetic to Woodrow Wilson's idealistic goals to spread American ideals of government, economics, and culture abroad, they grew to reject his reliance on international organizations and treaties to accomplish these objectives.

As the radicalization of the New Left pushed these intellectuals further to the right in response, they moved toward a more aggressive militarism. Admiration of the "big stick" interventionist foreign policy of Theodore Roosevelt remains a common theme in neoconservative tracts as well. Now staunch anti-Communists, a vast array of sympathetic conservatives attracted to their strong defense of a "rolling-back" of Communism (an idea touted under the Eisenhower administration by John Foster Dulles) began to become associated with these neoconservative leaders. Influential periodicals such as Commentary, The New Republic, The Public Interest, and The American Spectator, and lately The Weekly Standard have been established by prominent neoconservatives or regularly host the writings of neoconservative writers.

Academics in these circles, many of whom were still Democrats, rebelled against the Democratic Party's leftward drift on defense issues in the 1970s, especially after the nomination of George McGovern in 1972. Many clustered around Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a Democrat derisively known as the "Senator from Boeing," but then they aligned themselves with Ronald Reagan and the Republicans, who promised to confront charges of Soviet "expansionism."

In his semi-autobiographic book, "Neo-conservatism", Irving Kristol cites a number of influences on his own thought, including not only Max Shachtman and Leo Strauss but also the skeptical liberal literary critic Lionel Trilling. The influence of Leo Strauss and his disciples on some neoconservatives has generated some controversy. Some argue that Strauss's influence has left some neoconservatives adopting a Machiavellian view of politics. See Leo Strauss for a discussion of this controversy.
[edit]

Neoconservatism as a "Jewish" movement

One of the most controversial issues surrounding neoconservatism is its relation to specifically Jewish intellectual traditions; in the most extreme form of this view, neoconservatism has been regarded by some as primarily a movement to advance Jewish interests. Classic anti-Semitic tropes have often been used when elaborating this view, such as the idea that Jews achieve influence through the intellectual domination of national leaders. David Brooks in his January 6, 2004 New York Times column wrote, "To hear these people describe it, PNAC is sort of a Yiddish Trilateral Commission, the nexus of the sprawling neocon tentacles."

The controversial evolutionary psychologist Kevin B. MacDonald published an article in The Occidental Quarterly, a journal of opinion, on the alleged similarities between neoconservatism and several other possibly Jewish-dominated influential intellectual and political movements. He argues that "[t]aken as a whole, neoconservatism is an excellent illustration of the key traits behind the success of Jewish activism: ethnocentrism, intelligence and wealth, psychological intensity, and aggressiveness."[1] His general conclusions are that neoconservatism fits into a general pattern of twentieth-century Jewish intellectual and political activism. Since Leo Strauss, a philosophy professor, taught several of the putative founders of the neoconservatism, MacDonald concludes he is a central figure in the neo-conservative movement and sees him as "the quintessential rabbinical guru with devoted disciples". [2]

MacDonald contends that, like Freudian psychoanalysis and Marxism, neoconservatism uses arguments that appeal to non-Jews, rather than appealing explicitly to Jewish interests. MacDonald argues that non-Jewish neo-conservatives like Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Donald Rumsfeld are examples of an ability to recruit prominent non-Jews while nevertheless preserving a Jewish core and an intense commitment to Jewish interests: "it makes excellent psychological sense to have the spokespeople for any movement resemble the people they are trying to convince."[3] He considers it significant that neoconservatism's commitment to mass immigration is uncharacteristic of past conservative thought and is identical to liberal Jewish opinion. MacDonald's views of neoconservatism are not widely accepted in the United States, though similar theories have found a more receptive audience in some Arab media, such as Al Jazeera. His views have been characterized as anti-Semitic and have been condemned as "nauseating" by some, including the writer Judith Shulevitz. (For wider discussion, see Kevin B. MacDonald)

Michael Lind, a self-described former neoconservative, wrote in 2004, "It is true, and unfortunate, that some journalists tend to use 'neoconservative' to refer only to Jewish neoconservatives, a practice that forces them to invent categories like 'nationalist conservative' or 'Western conservative' for Rumsfeld and Cheney. But neoconservatism is an ideology, like paleoconservatism and libertarianism, and Rumsfeld and Dick and Lynne Cheney are full-fledged neocons, as distinct from paleocons or libertarians, even though they are not Jewish and were never liberals or leftists." [4]

Lind argues that, while "there were, and are, very few Northeastern WASP mandarins in the neoconservative movement", its origins are not specifically Jewish. "...[N]eoconservatism recruited from diverse 'farm teams,' including liberal Catholics (William Bennett and Michael Novak..) and populists, socialists and New Deal liberals in the South and Southwest (the pool from which Jeane Kirkpatrick, James Woolsey and I [that is, Lind himself] were drawn)." [5]

Neoconservatism as an "ex-leftist" movement

Would you like to know more? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism_in_the_United_States)

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