I consider Mssr. Friedman to be a liberal worthy of the “moonbat” title based on the bulk of his columns.

It’s true that he’s an outspoken hawk - having publically proclaimed that a blood-for-oil war was just okay with him - but - I’d put forth that a single feather doesn’t make the bird - when you look at Friedman’s larger body of work - he’s quite liberal.

On you’re points (and they are very good ones) :

1. You may be right on this. While I concede the facts would seem to be on your side on this point - I’m still hopeful that we’ll be able to stuff that particular genie right back in that bottle.

2. I couldn’t disagree more. I suspect you might be someone who’s very much against the unions - which is fine - I’m certainly no fan myself - but I don’t believe for a moment that any independent American is overpaid [excepting porcine corporate CEO’s] - I have a deep and abiding belief in the ability of the individual to prosper limitlessly.

3. Your point about the Unions is a valid one. But… I look at it like this: I see the Unions as chemo and radiation therapy for the cancer of Corporate Greed. As bad as I resent the Unions - their origins - their heavy-handed tactics and their impact on an individual’s freedom to work at what they want where they want - I resent their NECESSITY more.

If Corporations played nice and never made underaged children work in unsanitary conditions or took advantage of people and payed people a decent wage - or never tried to make people work in blatantly unsafe and unhealthy conditions - there would be no need of Unions. I resent the hell out of that.

As I’ve said before - chemo therapy and radiation are very damaging - indiscriminately killing healthy tissue too - and never something you would just “have” for “no reason”. But in the form of the Unions they (unfortunately) stand as an effective counter to pervading cancer of Corporatism.

It’s VERY important to point out that it’s not JUST Union jobs that are being “offshored” at a frightening rate. Read my review piece on Lou Dobbs Exporting America. It points out that prestigious jobs in IT, the legal professions, the MEDICAL professions, and the financial and banking professions as well as other are being “offshored” at an equally stunning rate.

Those aren’t Union jobs, brother.

“left-wing lunatics like Friedman” ???

Maybe it’s not fair to use the NYT as a barometer, but Tommy is considered by many to be the most conservative columnist they have.

(On second thought, being the most conservative columnist at the Times is kind of like being the world’s tallest midget.)

Ask a liberal what they thought of “The Earth is Flat.”

“Moonbat?” Friedman??? Baffling. “Frustratingly Centrist,” Maybe.

Mac, I won’t engage you on your support of protectionist trade policies. Don’t want to waste either of our time.

I will posit the following.

1. The genie is out of the lamp on Global Trade. There was a time when opposing it would have given folks in your position a chance to take the collossus out at the knees. That was 11 years ago.
2. Americans are overpaid, and we are just going to have to deal with that reality.
3. The longer the concept of American Union Organized Labor endures, the faster Amercian jobs will vanish. Jobs are running as much FROM that spectre as they are TO some perception of the benefit of foriegn labor.

But we can agree to disagree, right?