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The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up updated

By Stacy on 14 August 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday.

On this day in history, August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. And right now, he is turning over in his grave.

Some links for you to peruse:

~UPDATE: Tim Pawlenty just quit the Presidential race.

~Ok, Bachmann wins the Iowa popularity contest.

~Labor unions are growing increasingly angry at President Obama and with good reason. In what some are saying is a slap in the face to the labor unions, the Democratic convention will be held in a right to work state, North Carolina. Twelve labor unions will sit out the convention and while Obama may assume that at the end of the day he will get their support, he may be underestimating the electoral impact of having some of the Democrats’ most ardent supporters refusing to take to the streets, go door to door and generate enthusiasm for a democratic victory in 2012. In addition, the unions are none too happy with the three free trade bills (South Korea, Panama, Colombia) that Obama will sign, as they are net job-killers and provide more tax havens for wealthy corporations.

~Mitt Romney’s recent “gaffe” about corporations being “people” actually wasn’t a gaffe. Under Supreme Court jurisprudence, corporations are people, with some (not all) constitutional rights. Of course, the decisions that anointed corporations with”personhood” was the result of years of out-of-control conservative judicial activism by the SCOTUS and which culminated in the Citizen’s United case. All that said, it does say a lot about Romney’s view of the role of corporations in public life, the economy and politics.

~The administration has claimed that drone strikes in Pakistan have not resulted in civilian casualties, but this report says otherwise. Many civilians have been killed, including 168 children.

~A new political era in Israel? The tent protests are truly incredible to behold. I only wish here in the U.S. we would wake up and feel inspired to do the same thing rather than simply feeling resigned.

~Run Elizabeth, Run.

~David Meyer asks (and answers) “why aren’t Americans protesting?” like their compatriots in other parts of the world.

~Sarah Palin just can’t stand to not be the center of attention.

~Gay rights in Nepal.

~A gay man at the Iowa State Fair asked Tim Pawlenty if he considered him a second class citizen b/c he was gay. Good for him. These candidates with hateful policies and rhetoric need to be confronted.

~The Pentagon is playing with fire. But luckily for them, the MSM isn’t interested.

~President Obama isn’t even pretending to be interested in the grass roots donation drive that helped him achieve victory in 2008. He’s going for the big bucks. We all understand how this works- he had big donors last time around too- but he’s “I’m for the little guy” message has largely been jettisoned due to total lack of credibility.

~I’m sorry, but Rick Perry is a joke. I’m sure he’ll excite a lot of the far right Evangelical base but when you proclaim that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional and then can’t have an articulate discussion about it other than to throw out bumper sticker sound bites, then you aren’t serious. Also with Rick Perry, he is even more opposed to gay rights than his fellow right wing GOP candidates.

~Speaking of right wing GOP candidates, next up…Rick Santorum. Have you noticed that when it comes to foreign policy (ie. anything other than talk about the economy/taxes and social wedge issues like gay rights and abortion), the Tea Party types get a glazed look and start speaking total nonsense? Rick Santorum has an interesting view of the history of Iran vis-a-vis the U.S.

~Speaking of Iran and Santorum, while he unabashedly is opposed to any type of rights for LGBT folks in the U.S., he supports gay rights for….Iranians!

~DC lobbying firms represent the human-rights abusing Bahraini government for a rather large fee. Is there anyone they won’t represent?

~Who is and isn’t deemed a “terrorist organization” and who does and doesn’t provide material support for said terrorist groups is largely political. Take the Mujahedeen Khalq (MEK or Warriors of God) for example, now that Iran is in our cross-hairs, a group with American blood on its hands is the darling of Washington DC officials because the group opposes Ahmadinejad. It’s sort of like the pre-Iraq War all over again when the Iraqi diaspora community (think Ahmed Chalabi) won the hearts and minds of neoconservatives (and others) because they were virulently opposed to Saddam Hussein. The problem was, much of the information they passed on to the government was false and they had absolutely no base of support in Iraq. Similarly, the MEK has no support amongst the Iranian Green Movement and it operates in a cult-like, undemocratic manner that should make Washington nervous. The NYT published an excellent opinion piece yesterday that is worth a read if you aren’t familiar with the controversy surrounding MEK.

~So, do you agree with this WaPo commentator that Obama should cancel his Martha’s Vineyard vacation?

~In case you missed it, Jeffrey Goldberg interviewed Israeli opposition leader (Kadima) Tzipi Livni, who said that Obama needs to continue to put some pressure on Israel.

~Tom Friedman is overpaid if he keeps writing stuff like this.

~At least one U.S. official seems to understand Afghanistan’s tribal culture.

~A school in Missouri has recently banned one of my favorite books, Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. Just for fun, here is a list of the top 100 banned books (2000-2009) from the American Library Association. Here are the top ten:

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

~The latest blow to the health care reform bill is a reminder of what happens when President Obama (and Congress) settle for sketchy compromises like the individual mandate over a public option, which likely wouldn’t be struck down. The next Appellate court to rule on health reform is the notoriously conservative Fourth Circuit. You can be sure of one thing, this is going to the Supreme Court.

~A stage collapse prior to a concert in Indiana ends in tragedy.

~Lets just keep ignoring our crumbling infrastructure because I’m sure it will all just fix itself.

~Are they kidding? Michele Bachmann’s people had insisted in advance of the debate that she be able to leave at each commercial break to “touch up” her makeup?

~Former counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke gave an interview for a local PBS station where he accused the top echelon of the CIA of a cover up with respect to two of the 9/11 hijackers. The response from the mainstream media (other than PBS)? Something between a collective yawn and an attempt to downplay the charges leveled by Clarke.

You made it to the end. I’ll leave you with some Free-running/building-jumping that you definitely shouldn’t try at home:

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Progressive Notes: Israeli Middle Class Takes to the Streets for Social Justice

By Art Pronin on 12 August 2011

Art offers his perspective as a movement progressive activist.

An anthem of the protestors has been “If I were a rich man” from Fiddler on the Roof:

The social justice protest movement in Israel, one which is growing by the day, is finally getting some American media attention. Some. It is a huge story around the world. Never have Israelis taken to the streets for weeks like this for social justice. Over 1/4 the population of Israel has now hit the streets to demand a better life. The middle class is up in arms over crippling housing costs, high food prices, childcare expenses, and a government system not working for the ordinary person.

Gilad Perry, a progressive leader in Israel, emailed and posted online this summary out of what they are fighting for:

Recently, the cost of living in Israel has become so high that the middle class, who maintains this country, has been almost entirely eroded. The situation is so extreme that it is difficult to supply the most basic necessities, such as – housing, health, education, food, work, and environment. For the sake of comparison – an Israeli earning an average wage must work for 132 months in order to purchase an average apartment, where as an average American would have to work for only 60 months’ pay. A container of cottage cheese in Israel costs 1.6 times the amount that it costs in England, and baby formula costs 2.5 times the amount that it costs in the U.S. This situation is similar with other food products, with gas prices, education, and more. All of this is despite the fact that the average Israeli works more hours than the average citizens of almost all of the other OECD countries. The average Israeli retires at an older age and receives lower wages than most of other OECD countries (3 times less than the average Australian and half of the wage of the average American).
All of this is taking place despite the fact that Israel’s economic growth is amongst the highest in the world. This can be explained by the following statistic: Israel ranks fourth amongst western countries in terms of inequality in wealth distribution (GINI Index) – the economic growth is not trickling down.
Over the last two weeks, I am excited to say that mass amounts of people – young and old – from every point on the political spectrum, unexpectedly decided to go out into the streets to demand that our country be returned to us.
Hundreds of thousands (!) are taking to the streets as a part of a non-violent struggle to voice their distress.
This is not a political struggle. It is not a struggle against this government or any other. In fact, each of the last several governments has taken us in the same direction. This is an Israeli struggle; a Jewish struggle. The struggle is made up of my partners in the Dror Israel Movement, the students, the Histadrut (Labor Federation), the doctors, the teachers, the social workers, and many additional organizations, but it is primarily a spontaneous struggle of middle class working people. At the head of this effort are the young people whom have created and are living in ‘tent cities’ in the streets of Israel. The Israeli people have never seen such a wide consensus towards a just path (87% fully support the struggle and its goals).

The protests were sparked by a young woman unable to find housing because the prices were so high:

The protests began as a Facebook protest group initiated by 25-year-old Daphne Leef.[5] According to media reports, major renovations in her building meant Leef had to vacate the central Tel Aviv apartment where she had lived for the past three years; she found that apartment rental prices in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area had skyrocketed. Leef pitched a tent in Habima Square in Tel Aviv, and opened a Facebook protest page, where she invited others to join her protest. In response, protesters gathered in the streets around Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, as well as in Zion Square in Jerusalem..

One woman had enough, pitched a tend, used Facebook and Twitter and helped ignite a movement. Long simmering socio-economic issues have caused a uprising on the streets.

Mothers have gathered with strollers demanding equitable healthcare access and cheaper costs for childcare. Parents are protesting in a yellow balloon solidarity movement for their children:

“We just can’t take it anymore,” Yael Barda, one of the protest organizers told Ynet. “We all need a home, we all need education, we need to see that raising a child in this country doesn’t require a mortgage. We’ve had enough of the gaps between low wages and the cost of living.”

1,000s of parents protest in Jerusalem

Furious parents have just begun the fight:

Barda stressed the protest was not political: “The government has to understand that we want to change the system. This isn’t about Bibi. Who will you replace him with? As far as we are concerned, elections are not the answer. We see ourselves as a social movement for change.”
MK Ilan Ghilon (Meretz), who arrived at the Tel Aviv rally with his daughter and granddaughter to show his support, told Ynet that, “Citizens here are asking the State to provide them with what they’re entitled to. Not just housing – but everything. A state isn’t a business – if it was, it would have gone under.”
Anat Rosilio, another of the protest’s organizers, added: “Our next step is to devise a strategic plan which will serve our goals and include a free education law and a decrease in the prices of all basic products.”

Israeli PM Netanyahu, under brutal pressure to respond, came out on July 26th with a housing reform plan that was seen by many as a half measure that would not work. The protestors rejected it, especially since it utilized privatization, something which is at root of the housing crisis to begin with. Kadima head Livni slammed it:

Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni slammed Netanyahu’s affordable housing plan, saying that he was “taking down tents, not building homes.
“He doesn’t understand that the problem isn’t technical, but fundamental. The middle class needs to be unburdened, and for that the national policy must be changed. Marginal solutions are not enough.”

The 8/6/11 rally was the largest in Israeli history. Over 400,000 chocked the cities of Israel demanding a better life for the poor and middle class. An op-ed from Sima Kamdon directed at PM Netanyahu shows the mood:

I think it was the greatest no-confidence protest in the history of the state; because the question, Mr. Prime Minister, is no longer how many people hit the streets last night, but rather, how many did not. …You should have been there, Mr. Prime Minister, in order to understand it. Believe me, watching it on television isn’t enough. The sense of energy cannot be sensed through the screen; this excitement and sense of solidarity. … In order to feel it, one must march with this giant human wave and scream along with it “the people, demand, social justice,” in one voice, with all your heart and soul. ..
Had you been there yesterday, Mr. Prime Minister, you too would have been touched upon seeing the hundreds of thousands of people. Yes, sir, hundreds of thousands of people who marched there. ..You would have seen a whole nation that used to be indifferent, dispirited and hopeless – but came back to life. …
I saw the parents of young children carrying their kids on their shoulders or pushing strollers. I also saw the parents of these young people, as well as grandmothers and grandfathers who came with their grandchildren. I saw among the crowds people who can easily make ends meet. They can even help hundreds of others. I saw adults whose eyes were shining and hearts went out to the tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of youngsters who led them in an amazingly orderly fashion through the streets of Tel Aviv. They looked around in amazement, with pride, with jealousy even…
Yes, with jealousy; they would give so much to be part of this young, inspiring generation. …They must have asked themselves last night, where were we all these years? What have we done? Why were we silent? .. Why didn’t we do the job for these kids? And how did we abandon them to indifferent governments, without a political horizon, without financial security, and yes, without social justice.

PM Netanyahu for weeks struggled to come to grips with this movement and still is groping, finally deciding a committee would meet with some of the protestors and try and draw up a plan. Try.

Meanwhile a call for one million Israelis to march in September is the new focus. Palestinians also plan marches in September, a possible nightmare scenario for PM Netanyahu’s government.

May we see the day when Americans go to the streets in such a way the government is forced to respond and try to comply with the demand of the middle class.

Here is one of the protest movement’s Facebook pages with lots of info.

Also here is the position paper of the protestors on housing.

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The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 07 August 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

Quote of the Day:

“No risk of that, no risk.”

– Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during an interview in April, discussing the risk of the U.S. debt being downgraded.

Some links to go with your morning coffee/tea:

~China, our banker, is angry at the U.S. about the downgrade. I guess more administration-China ass kissing diplomacy is in order.

~The Super Duper Debt Committee will just cause more problems than it solves, for obvious reasons.

~The biggest US single-episode loss of life in the Afghanistan War took place Friday as insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 38 members of US special forces and 7 Afghan soldiers. More here.

~Also on Afghanistan- The International Crisis Group has issued a report which concludes that despite dumping billions of dollars into nation-building in Afghanistan, the U.S. and its allies have failed to stabilize the country. I think the billions of dollars they are talking about does not include the money spent on the actual war effort there-in other words, just the military and civil rebuilding and stabilization efforts.

~In today’s WaPo there is an article about the origins of the debt showdown and how Eric Cantor took advantage of the House’s new Tea Party recruits to turn the debt ceiling debate into a standoff over the role of government.

~The Wikipedia conference is currently taking place in Israel and the Wikipedia founder talked about how the community tries very hard to keep Wiki entries as neutral as possible. That’s not easy in an era where as soon as there is a political controversy, groups run to the site to get their version of the story out.

~Up to 12 million people’s lives are under direct threat in the Horn of Africa as drought, famine and war take their toll. Much of the world looked away when the predictions of an extreme famine were first put forth. However, the terror group al-Shabab claims there is no famine taking place in Somalia but of course, that could be because the group is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the men, women and children who are currently starving to death and as a result, they bear direct responsibility.

~A Navy vet and former defense contractor in Iraq explains why he is suing Donald Rumsfeld over the Bush administration’s torture policy- but here’s the thing- in a crazy twist, he was tortured by Americans in Iraq.

~In much of the media’s coverage about the S&P downgrade, there seems to be a tendency to ignore the impact of the refusal to add ANY revenue-generating provisions in the debt deal. There was plenty of blame to spread around to both parties, but there are some interesting tidbits in the S&P statement about revenues. It would seem that the GOP is giddy about the downgrade because throwing a Molotov Cocktail into our already depressed economy was always the GOP plan leading up to 2012.

~While the S&P is certainly correct that Washington is completely dysfunctional and getting them to do anything constructive for the good of the nation is a bit like trying to herd cats, there is no denying the politics of what is taking place. Firedoglake has a good summary of some of the things that may have actually been behind S&P’s decision to downgrade the US credit rating.

~So, how is Saudi Arabia doing on the human rights front? Really, really well. [/sarcasm]

~Despite a lot of people giving Obama props about being willing to put defense cuts on the table, the truth of the matter is that the Obama administration shows no interest in curbing out-of-control defense spending as evidenced by his new Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, publicly complaining all last week about how disastrous defense cuts would be. Once again, fear trumps reason. Interestingly, when asked, Leon Panetta can’t seem to articulate any reason why any proposed cuts would be so dangerous to our nation’s security:

~Over 300,000 people took to the streets in Israel this weekend to protest the high cost of living. Good for them. We need to do that here in the U.S.

~The Obama administration will likely squander yet another opportunity to take a serious stand on environmental issues. The Alberta tar sands pipeline is currently being reviewed by the State Dept. and the review itself has been mired in controversy from the start. The pipeline’s chief lobbyist is a former Hillary Clinton deputy campaign director and Secretary Clinton made the none-too-subtle remark long before the review process even started, that she was “inclined to support” it. That made environmentalists and even many Congressional Democrats hopping mad. Of course, the buck doesn’t stop there and environmentalists and congressional democrats are urging the administration to not approve the project. Good luck with that, the fix is in.

~Speaking of the environment, some say that the current Congress is the most anti-Environment since about the 1950′s. Impressive.

~All eyes are on Wisconsin which is in the midst of the largest number of recall elections in U.S. history. Huge amounts of cash have been flooding in to the state via special interest groups from both the left and the right. Some see Wisconsin as a dry run of sorts for what may happen in 2012, ie. did the Tea Party types go too far?

~Gov. Rick Perry’s prayer rally certainly won’t endear him to moderates or independents but I have a feeling that’s ok with Rick Perry.

~Things are still not well in Sudan/Southern Sudan. There is still a long, long way to go.

~The repressive, human rights-abusing Communist Chinese government continues to throw fuel on the fire of religious freedom with respect to Buddhists in Tibet. Even if Americans know very little about this right now, it is a very big issue and could lead to bloodshed when the current Dalai Lama dies. And when that happens, Washington will be forced to take notice but by then it will be too late.

~The death toll in Syria continues to rise as government forces continue the siege on Hama. As Assad’s forces continue to slaughter his own people, the Syrian foreign minister comes out and makes the ludicrous statement that the Assad government will allow free legislative elections by the end of 2011. Yeah, and unicorns are real.

~Both Palestinian and Israeli security forces are frustrated with the politicians in Ramallah, Jerusalem and Washington DC. This is something I have heard over and over again. The Israeli and Palestinian security forces have been training and had unprecedented security cooperation over the past 8+ years, with impressive results, while the politicians piss away every opportunity for a reasonable solution to the conflict.

~Sean Hannity thinks it’s wrong to require insurers to cover birth control but guess what he thinks they should cover…Viagra. Indeed.

~Fox News is out of control with race-baiting.

~Politico continues with its status quo hackery and prints an op-ed from GOP Representative Duncan Hunter, who fear-mongers about cutting defense spending. Ok, no problem there because people can write opinion pieces from various points of view. The problem is that a) he makes patently false claims about the role of defense spending in our current debt crisis and b) Politico knew, or should have known, that Hunter has a conflict of interest when it comes to defense spending given most of his top campaign contributions come from defense contractors. If Politico readers knew that, they might be a little bit more discerning when it comes to taking Hunter’s claims at face value.

~Demonstrations turned violent in Tottenham, England, as people marched to the police station to protest the shooting of a 29-year old man Mark Duggan by police last week. Racial tensions have historically been high in the Tottenham region and as of last night, the situation was still not under control.

~Some in Israel are concerned about a bill that is poised to pass the Knesset and which seeks to provide guidance to the courts such that they would be expected to privilege maintaining “the state as the Jewish nation state in ruling in situations in which the Jewish character of the state clashes with its democratic character.” Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf and other critics of the pending legislation have argued that proponents of the bill seem to be saying that maintaining a Jewish state and upholding democracy are at odds. It’s an interesting debate.

~Donald Trump really embodies the corporate greed and entitled attitude that seems to have infected this nation. His most recent stunt is to vow to do everything in his power to prevent the building of an offshore wind farm in Scotland because it will obstruct the beautiful view from the golf course he is currently in the process of building.

~Whatever you do, don’t read Thomas Friedman’s silly editorial about the financial crisis in today’s NYT, it’s five minutes of your life that you’ll never get back which is why I read it for you. It’s loaded with dumb analogies and really obvious points like “[r]egarding growth, we surely need a much smarter long-term fiscal plan than the one that just came out of Washington.”

The End.

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Progressive Notes: Al Gore Calls on Us, New Progressive Alliance, Van Os Urges His Party to Wake Up, and Other Doings

By Art Pronin on 06 August 2011

Art offers his perspective as a movement progressive activist.

Lonely Obama signs Budget Control Act

So much to discuss this epic week, a turning point for many activists. Kudos to Russ Feingold, Keith Olbermann, Rep. Cleaver and many other saying NO to this devil sandwich. Al Gore’s words on Olbermann are stirring. He says our system is totally corrupt, the media and too many pols. He urges people to get in the streets and resist austerity. He calls for a American Tahrir Square. Perhaps Gore’s time to lead is NOW:

We have the Israeli Spring breaking out. As Tel A’viv protestors let it be known:

A number of signs that were hung on Kaplan Street read “Resign, Egypt is here”.

"When government is against the people, the people are against the government."

Today 1/4 the population of Israel are in the streets, over 300,000, protesting for cheaper housing, the end to government corruption and more. It is the “Israeli Spring” as they, like us, are fed up with their government too corrupt to solve their problems. A liveblog is here. Read more on Ha-Aretz here .

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Ca) is one of the few brave members of congress. She and Congressman Conyers founded the Out of Poverty Caucus. Lee voted against the authorization for war right after September 11th fearing we were rushing into something we could not get out of. Here she is speaking July 30th on the debt vote and how “the American dream has become a nightmare for too many”:

Obama’s debt deal has sunk with the public of course. And Wall St. isn’t in love either this week. In fact Kevin Drum shows a mere 10 percent back this deal with no new revenue and cuts to hundreds of programs. 10! Congress’ approval sits at 14pct. Another wave is sweeping towards DC again.

The Whitehouse met with liberal groups and got an earful about the debt deal fiasco and don’t worry, the Whitehouse blames the base for not fighting hard enough. Yeah right buddies!

Recall when Obama asked America to call their congress members to urge them to cut a deal and end the debt crisis? And the circuits at the Capitol shorted? Guess who it appears flooded congress? yep- the Tea Party according to Pew:

…some 66% of Republicans and Tea Partiers contacted an elected official during the standoff while only 5% of the rest did the same. This despite a direct appeal from President Obama to do exactly that.
As was the case in the midterm election, age was a crucial factor. Only 19% of 18-29 year-olds followed the story closely and 1% contacted an official versus 54% of those over 50 who followed the debate and 16% who contacted an official.

Gee could it be because Dems did not phone in because the deal included “everything on the table including SS and Medicare”?

Progressives have many crucial state level battles ahead and it is important we be engaged in them in Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, California and more. In fact in Colorado enough signatures were gathered to undo a freeze in tax rates and would raise the taxes to pay for schools. Lots to do, much more than in DC these days.

Tavis Smiley and Cornell West have launched a 15 city bus tour to highlight poverty in America and the poor are being criminalized. The bus tour hits key African-American, Latino and Native American communities suffering with intolerable double digit pct unemployment rates on top of massive poverty. Their first stop is Obama’s hometown Chicago and the goal is to not just highlight the poor but to show that criticism of this administration’s policies is not just ok but beneficial:

They’ll visit soup kitchens, public housing projects, and farms. They’ll stay with low-income families and along the way they’ll try to assess whether Obama’s policies are working.
“This is a way to galvanize as opposed to complain,” West said. “Both parties have rendered the poor invisible. The only thing we have left is to dramatize their plight.”

Lots of talk of how this debt deal is like FDR’s 1937. But there is a major difference, FDR aligned himself with progressives while Obama is conservative. Joe Nocera in a must read in the NYT points this out:

..One thing Roosevelt did right during the Depression was legislate into being a social safety net to soften the blows that a free-market economy can mete out in tough times. During this recession, it’s as if the government is going out of its way to make sure the blows are even more severe than they have to be. The debt-ceiling debate reflects a harsher, less empathetic America. It’s sad to see.

The deal is vindictive towards the less fortunate. It’s authors went to town against ordinary Americans by slashing at the safety net.

Famed economist Galbraith has a take on what we are seeing- make a Depression to help the rich:

Galbraith said he thinks some of the super-rich out there, sitting on all that cash, are actually hoping for the economy to crash and burn.
“The strategy of pursuing a deflationary strategy is a strategy that greatly benefits people with cash,” said Galbraith. “If you’re interested in deflating asset values, and you have cash with which to buy assets when things hit rock bottom, then you have a powerful interest in a deep depression.”
“That’s certainly consistent with the banks holding 1.4 trillion [dollars] of reserves, which is absolutely unprecedented,” said Pollin, who backs a tax on excess reserves. “That’s 10 percent of GDP.”

Speaking of FDR and throw backs to 1937 David Woolner, FDR historian from the Roosevelt Institute wrote a great piece on how Obama failed miserably on learning any lessons from Roosevelt. In fact after FDR realized his huge cuts contracted the economy he got passed a new stimulus which stabilized it at least. FDR was saved economically by WWII and thus his presidency.

The Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party passed a resolution this week calling for Obama to face a primary challenge for his rightward tilt and especially for the debt deal. Caucus members caught hell for saying out loud what many are thinking but the issue is injected into the political conversation in California. Read the resolution here .

After this catastrophic regressive debt deal we ask “where do we go f rom here as progressives?” I do not have a clear answer yet. Several orgs have piqued interest for me. One is the New Progressive Alliance. This org has a aggressive approach to try all things: primary Obama, if not then recruit delegates in places like Iowa to be non-pledged for leverage at the convention, if candidates do not uphold progressive values then vote third party. This new group is to organize progressives of all parties into one unit to push our pols and elect anti-austerity and anti-corporate folks.

This org has a platform. It is the 1912 Progressive Party platform which is great.

One more potent note on this debacle. In Texas, David Van Os, a well known name around here for Democrats, wrote a stunning indictment of how Obama is wrecking the party’s future. Van Os has been general counsel for AFL-CIO, former chair of the Travis Co. (Austin) Democratic Party, a precinct chair, counsel for ACLU, and many others. He was also nominated by Democratic primary voter to run for Attorney General here but lost.

His words have ignited a real discussion about Obama because he has been such a part of the party for so long:

…This president bears no resemblance to progressivism, populism, leadership, backbone, or to express Democratic Party values. I do not follow him, do not trust him, will not trust him, and will not follow him. To those who will inevitably say, “But oh my gosh, he is the only alternative to the right-wing conservative Republicans,” I say: “Give me an opponent who tells me straight up that he opposes me and doesn’t pretend otherwise. A Trojan horse pretending to my friend is the greatest danger of all because he co-opts my defenses and opens the city gates against me from the inside.” Grass roots Americans who supported this Trojan horse in the election of 2008 need to wake up to the truth about the political fraud that sucked them in.

Amen to that.

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‘In the News’, Politics and Beyond

By Taylor Marsh on 17 July 2011

“In the News” is now its own blog, since our upgrade. You can tweet or FB any post there, too.

Anyone can post or cross-post from his or her blog. It’s getting quite a lot of reader traffic. Give it a try! Post a news blurb about anything, including items non-political.

I was pretty surprised when nothing about Casey Anthony showed up. Paul’s editorial cartoon above was so fantastic, I just had to post it today and remind everyone that whatever you’re reading and find interesting or outrageous, important or silly, to talk about even beyond politics is always welcome.

Stacy has one up on Israel’s Anti-Boycott law that’s a must for anyone interested in the Middle East.

Spincitysd has quite a few, including a head’s up on Pakistan, as the U.S. withholds funding. Though his penchant for pointing out missed news continues to provide hilarity.

Thanks for those posting “In the News.” I just love reading (and tweeting) what’s posted.

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The Sunday Early-Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 17 July 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

On this day in history, July 17th, 1918, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.

Some news for you on a fine Sunday morning:

~President Obama has decided not to nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

~This week Jeremy Scahill of the Nation did a fine bit of investigative journalism and revealed that the CIA is running secret prisons in Somalia, which if true, means that we still basically have a rendition program. And how did the fawning corporate media respond to the revelation? Well, two ways- 1. they largely ignored it and 2. when they didn’t, they dutifully jotted down administration talking points denying the allegations in the article. Naturally, they gave administration officials total anonymity to do this, lest said officials be held accountable at some future date. You know, for lying. Glenn Greenwald wrote a must-read article about how the administration uses the MSM to attack real investigative journalism that it finds inconvenient. For my part, I ~~stalked~~ followed David Gregory around Twitter on Friday asking him repeatedly if he would cover the story on MTP today. Naturally, that wasn’t on his agenda. Because foreign policy is hard.

~Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s maiden voyage to Iraq and Afghanistan was, shall we say, less than spectacular. Les Gelb has more here. Just what the White House needs, another wishy-washy consensus-builder.

~Sobering statistics: The Minimum number of people killed by CIA drone attacks in Pakistan last year was 607. Number of those who appeared on a U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists- 2. Hearts and minds people, hearts and minds…

~Did Obama lie about his dying mother’s battle with health insurance coverage? It appears he did. Does it matter? Probably. Why do politicians always do this and think that they can get away with it? As someone who did have a mother who was denied insurance coverage for potentially life-saving cancer treatment, I find his “misstatements” crass, politically expedient and insensitive.

~The GOP plan for the economy? Blow it up and blame it on Obama. This Red State article has been boomeranging all over the right-wing blogosphere and was apparently passed around at the House GOP caucus meeting. The fact that the Democrats, and the WH in particular, can’t use this to their advantage shows that after almost three years, their political messaging still sucks.

~Rupert Murdoch is very sorry that his media empire is an unethical, corrupt wasteland.

~The White House and State Department deflected questions all last week about whether President Obama or Secretary Clinton would meet with the Dalai Lama, who has been in Washington for over a week. Then, Friday evening, the WH released a statement saying Obama would meet with him- on Saturday (yesterday), and no photographers or press would be present. In response, China said that Obama’s meeting with him harmed Sino-U.S. relations and get this…”hurt the feelings of the Chinese people…”

~Good God, Michelle Obama eats a burger and fries for lunch while attending the opening of a eatery called “Shake Shack” and the self-righteous food nazis go nuts!

~Michelle Bachmann left her controversial Church not long before announcing her Presidential run. Coincidence? Does it matter?

Cats crash Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s interview in Istanbul:

~Thank goodness the GOP is keeping track of the important issues, like ensuring that the energy-draining incandescent light bulb sticks around for a while longer.

~The U.S. has formally recognized the Libyan rebels as the government of Libya. That sounds messy.

~Think Progress interviews the former head of the American Jewish Congress about the Mideast peace process and the Palestinians’ UN bid for statehood. He says the U.S.-sponsored peace process is a fraud and one of the main obstacles to peace is actually the United States itself. It’s a great interview, check it out here.

~Doctors Without Borders has formally spoken out against the CIA’s use of a fake vaccination program for children in Afghanistan, which they used to obtain information on Osama Bin Laden. DWB says it harms public health efforts undertaken by NGO’s in the region. Our MSM is not covering this issue at all.

~Sebastian Junger writes a powerful opinion piece for the NYT about the psychology of war.

~Meet the pay for play conservative nonprofit that writes a LOT of pro-energy industry laws around the country- The American Legislative Exchange Council. Democracy for the highest bidder.

~Remember the people who sold us all the lies about Iraq’s WMD’s? They are like bad pennies, they keep turning up. Only in Washington could such losers keep failing upward. Doug Feith, the man who Gen. Franks referred to as the “stupidest guy on the face of the earth” is now a foreign policy adviser to Rick Perry.

The End.

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Knesset Outlaws Anti-Israel Boycotts, Threatens Democratic Status

By Taylor Marsh on 12 July 2011

Israel has just hoisted on itself the equivalence of a McCarthy-like witch hunt for those it feels might be traitors to the Greater Israel cause. These kinds of loyalty oath stunts and such government brittleness undermine democracy and narrow national debate during times when its smarter to keep the gates of ideas as widely open as possible. – Steve Clemons

Israel is taking a page from America’s blackest handbook, changing the fundamental core of what democracy means to people out of fear.

Former Pres. George W. Bush began our walk off the terror plank and away from our founders intent, with Pres. Obama continuing many of Bush’s worst practices (see Bradley Manning). The imperial presidency taking deeper route in a republic that was founded with the opposite nature woven into our fabric. It’s changed the lives of Americans, which we see daily in airports across this country, as well as in our political speech, and how we waste our money in the misadventures across the world from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya, while our own independence as a country falters through debt and lack of innovation.

The Knesset’s move reveals the lack of leadership in Israel today from the ruling Likud party, which has strong support political in this country on both sides of the aisle.

Last year some Israeli artists and academics also called on colleagues to ban cultural institutions located in West Bank settlements.
Ilan Gilon, a Knesset member for the left-wing opposition Meretz party, warned that the bill would further delegitimise Israel. “We are dealing with legislation that is an embarrassment to Israeli democracy and makes people around the world wonder if there is actually a democracy here,” he said.
Israel parliament passes anti-boycott bill

Part of this law, which will likely be immediately challenged, includes making it illegal for a citizen to boycott West Bank settlements.

Digging in would be another word for what’s being done by hard line Israelis.

Politicians yearly make pledges to Israel, calling it “the only genuine democracy in the Middle East.” If this boycott law survives it won’t be anymore.

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The Sunday News Round-Up

By Stacy on 10 July 2011

On this day in history, July 10, 1509, theologian John Calvin, a key figure of the Protestant Reformation, was born France.

Some news that caught my eye this fine morning:

~Elizabeth Warren for Senate?

~The GOP has predictably rebuffed the President’s so-called Grand Bargain, which is really a Grand Capitulation to corporate interests on the backs of the middle class, so perhaps its a good thing. Interestingly, polls consistently show that the American people are on the Democrats’ side with this- they see no problem whatsoever with tax increases for the richest Americans, closing some of the ridiculous tax loopholes that create subsidies for big business etc. So now we are back to the cuts/revenue increases that were part of the Biden-led negotiations.

~Witchita, Kansas, again becomes Ground Zero in the battle for abortion rights.

~The Washington Post’s resident right wing hack, Jennifer Rubin, thinks that defense spending has nothing to do with the deficit. I still can’t believe the WaPo gave her a platform. Oh, wait, Fred Hiatt, Jackson Diehl, Krauthammer. Never mind, yes I can.

~Mitchell Plitnick over at LobeLog has a good piece on why the U.S. is so frantic about the possible upcoming UN vote about Palestinian statehood. In addition to putting Israel and the U.S. in a very, very tricky spot, the reality is that things have changed since the Arab Spring and the release of the Palestinian Papers- something which the Obama administration seems reluctant to take to heart. The Palestinians can no longer enter negotiations without achieving substantive results, end of story. That’s the new reality. The U.S., meanwhile, has nothing to offer but the same old, failed formula of never-ending negotiations that achieve nothing other than the further entrenchment of the occupation beyond the Green Line and the Palestinians know this. Hence, the UN vote.

~Ann Coulter thinks we bombed Egypt, which caused Hosni Mubarak to leave. Jesus Christ! WHY CAN’T THE REPUBLICANS DO FOREIGN POLICY?!?

~Eric Cantor cancels the July 18th House recess. Isn’t every day recess in the House?

~Winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan.

~The life of Betty Ford.

~John Aravosis thinks Obama should appoint a top level LGBT adviser. Dream on.

~It’s nice to know that James Murdoch is just as much a scum-bag as his father.

~For a great article on the cozy relationship between the elder Murdoch and British politicians, check out this article. The sad thing is, the same corrosive media/political cronyism is right here in our own Beltway.

~ Dick Morris’ makes stuff up. Again. Note to the right: Using Israel as a political wedge issue is a really bad idea…for Israel.

~South Sudan declares independence.

~Glenn Greenwald points out that in our effort to fight terrorism, we’re actually creating more terrorists. It’s like a hamster wheel of sorts.

~Ever wonder what happened to the so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lindh? Read this article from his father with a rather disturbing update. Now remember, Lindh is in jail as part of a plea deal for joining and fighting with the Taliban (the govt had no proof he was a “terrorist”, a with whom we are [right now unofficially] negotiating with.

~Alex Pareene over at Salon’s ‘War Room’ points out that when it comes to terrorism-foreign policy-national security coverage, the Washington Post has No. Standards. Whatsoever.

~Keeping Michele Bachmann from letting go of the reins is probably more than a full-time job for her fancy new advisor Ed Rollins, but she clearly slipped away from him for a moment to be the first (and hopefully only) Presidential candidate to sign “The Marriage Vow – A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family.” Naturally, anything with the word “family” in coming from the far, far, far right includes stuff about gay people, Sharia Law and porn. Or something. Naturally, Pamela Gellar is thrilled.

~The feds have ruled that marijuana has no acceptable medical use. You can read more about Obama’s War on Pot here. The admin. seems to be harder on medical marijuana growers/users than he is on the Big Banks that caused the global financial crisis. #fail.

~Over-react much?

~Forty people are dead in a mere 24 hours in Mexico- drug and gang related violence.

The End.

[cross-posted over at USFoPo and the Middle East]

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The Sunday Early-Bird News Round-Up: The Red, White and Blue Addition

By Stacy on 03 July 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday. Happy July 3rd, pre-Independence Day!

I’ve even managed to find a red, white and blue bird, the Crimson Rosella (at left)

On this day in history, July 3, 1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended in a major victory for the North.

For those of you who are not off doing something amazing on this long holiday weekend, I’ve rounded up some news for you to peruse:

~Of course we are!: The U.S. says we are willing to keep troops in Iraq if Iraq would like us to stay! I mean, it’s only been what? Eight years?

~Don’t even get me started on the U.S., Israeli and Greek bullying of the U.S. Boat to Gaza, aka the Freedom Flotilla. Whether or not one agrees with their mission or their tactics, the U.S. and Israel just look like a bunch of bullies. Interestingly, Haaretz was reporting yesterday that Greece agreed to prevent the boats from leaving Greek ports in due to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s lobbying the EU to toss Greece another huge bailout.

~Thirty Afghan civilians have been killed in 48 hours as a result of IED’s.

~The battle over raising the debt ceiling has been totally mismanaged by the White House. That the GOP can basically sell the idea that cutting services and programs for the working class is acceptable in order to continue lining the pockets of wealthy special interests, is a damning indictment of this administration’s policies and political messaging.

~The governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, signed a controversial bill legalizing gay civil unions. It’s controversial because the tide has clearly turned- after New York, many want the states to go further with a full recognition of gay marriage, not just civil unions. Governor Chafee, for his part, supports gay marriage and says that the bill will get them one step closer to legalizing gay marriage. Perhaps, but it’s debatable.

~Ok, this YouTube ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee really just wrote itself:

~This opinion piece by Leonard Pitts Jr. caught my eye. He calls out Obama for his disingenuous word games in refusing to throw his support behind gay marriage. But what struck me is how honest Pitts is- he describes how he used to support civil unions while opposing gay marriage. He goes on to say that he finally realized that doing so was illogical and based on the presumption that the relationships of gays and lesbians were somehow less worthy than those of heterosexuals.

~I know Taylor covered this last night but it’s so annoying I just have to chime in. Is Ben Smith serious? One of the most biased pieces of non-Journalism I’ve seen in a long time. Seriously, it just screams “I’m a planted story!” The reason it’s so annoying is that Politico has been beating this drum for about 3 years now. I could write an article that reaches the exact OPPOSITE conclusion by selectively interviewing Jewish people that I know support Obama’s Mideast policies. Oh, and granting them total anonymity. But would it be newsworthy? No, it wouldn’t be. It would just be selective, agenda-driven drivel.

~Tim Pawlenty isn’t raising much money. Goodbye Tim, we hardly knew ye.

~Secretary Clinton has called on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down.

~Another Republican nobody has ever heard of is entering the Presidential race. But at least he has a catchy name.

~Justin Elliot does some follow-up journalism and asks Jeffrey Goldberg what happened with his prediction that Israel would go to war with Iran? Naturally, Goldberg dances and weaves. Predicting and promoting the next neocon war is sort of a part time job for Goldberg.

~Pinkwashing has been in the news a lot and it’s in the news again! This time in relation to bad Israeli PR about the Flotilla and false accusations that the Flotilla participants are homophobic. Never mind that quite a few are openly gay. If you aren’t familiar with the whole Pinkwashing phenomena, that article I linked-to is a good run-down of recent events.

~If you didn’t read this Greenwald piece about the ridiculous show State Dept. legal adviser Harold Koh put on in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, go read it. Basically, defending Obama’s Executive power grabs with respect to Libya is getting more difficult, even for those in his own administration. This is actually embarrassing- it’s a short video of Sen. Risch reading a quote from Senator Obama about war powers and Koh responding.

~Mental illness and gun rights.

~Contrary to popular perception, the repeal of DADT has not taken place and GLBT soldiers continue to be booted out of the military and some are even requesting to be discharged as a result of ongoing harassment and discrimination.

~The son of actor Rob Lowe will be interning for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

~An ExxonMobile oil pipe burst in Montana releasing oil into the pristine Yellowstone River.

~The Strauss-Kahn case is one big mess but alleged rape/sexual assault cases often are. I don’t know what happened in that hotel room, obviously, and so I can’t speak to that, but I will say this- people who are sometimes dishonest and lack credibility in the usual sense can still be sexually assaulted. Yes, someone could make up an allegation, but the credibility of the victim is a very thorny issue. It’s important to note in this story that as of right now, that prosecutors have not dropped the rape charges.

~The deterioration in U.S.-Pakistan relations is resulting in the U.S. having to use costlier supply routes to Afghanistan due to fears that Pakistan may decide to block more direct routes that wind through their country.

The End. Have a nice weekend and safe holiday!

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Let’s Play ‘Who’s More Pro-Israel?’

By Taylor Marsh on 03 July 2011

Let’s see, Gaza or gossip, which shall it be? For almost every news outlet this week it was the latter, while the former is where the action is. From James Zogby writing over at Huffington Post:

When it comes to issues involving Israel, politicians in Washington can become quite hysterical, making the dumbest remarks or doing the most illogical things. Evidence of such bizarre behavior abounds, and this week provided several examples.
Taking top prize would be newly-elected Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. Kirk wants the U.S. to use military assets to stop the humanitarian flotilla on its way to Gaza. He wrote that the United States should “make available all necessary special operations and naval support to the Israeli Navy to effectively disable flotilla vessels before they can pose a threat to Israeli coastal security or put Israeli lives at risk”.
[...] … All this might just be dismissed as “political pandering” or more “harmless hot air” from politicians who specialize in both. But it is dangerous and has consequences. In the first place, actions and statements like these send absolutely horrible messages overseas about the inability of American politics to deal fairly with any Middle East issue that involves Israel. And so these behaviors end up undercutting U.S. diplomacy. Secondly, these actions, and the bizarrely skewed, one-sided politics they reflect, tie the hands (or, at times, force the hands) of Administrations, negatively impacting the ability of policymakers to act. And finally, in the end, these comments and actions embolden hardliners in Israel and the Arab World, who both come to believe that there are no restraints on Israeli behavior and no way that Arab concerns will be heard or respected in U.S. policy debates.

However, it’s just not on the radar of the American media. Too dangerous. Controversial. Inflammatory. It makes network heads uncomfortable.

Instead it’s all about Who’s more pro Israel?, one of the most dangerous political games we play in this country. But at every presidential election, play it we do. Stacy has an “In the News” diary up about Sec. Clinton announcing administration talks with the Muslim Brotherhood, which on cue is freaking out the Right.

There’s nothing more serious than Middle East politics and it shouldn’t be treated as a political parlor game, but that’s exactly what Politico did this week. In a long, gossipy piece, Ben Smith traded on 2008 canard that Obama is an iffy friend of Israel by mining staunchly pro Clinton Jewish quarters to stir the currents of discontent. It’s a continuation of the conservative campaign to discredit Pres. Obama and portray him as soft on Israel, which is a falsehood, but some media outlets just can’t resist.

Smith has written about this before. Here’s an example of the well from which Smith drew his alleged proof:

“I’m hearing a tremendous amount of skittishness from pro-Israel voters who voted for Obama and now are questioning whether they did the right thing or not,” said Betsy Sheerr, the former head of an abortion-rights-supporting, pro-Israel PAC in Philadelphia, who said she continues to support Obama, with only mild reservations. “I’m hearing a lot of ‘Oh, if we’d only elected Hillary instead.’”
Even Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who spoke to POLITICO to combat the story line of Jewish defections, said she’d detected a level of anxiety in a recent visit to a senior center in her South Florida district.
[...] The qualms that many Jewish Democrats express about Obama date back to his emergence onto the national scene in 2007. Though he had warm relations with Chicago’s Jewish community, he had also been friends with leading Palestinian activists, unusual in the Democratic establishment. And though he seemed to be trying to take a conventionally pro-Israel stand, he was a novice at the complicated politics of the America-Israel relationship, and his sheer inexperience showed at times.

Why does being “friends with leading Palestinian activists” make Obama less pro-Israel?

It takes a friend to tell you the truth sometimes, with Obama’s stance on Israeli settlements something that most experts agree must be dealt with by PM Netanyahu, though on the denial goes.

All of this precipitated by anxieties from a very small but vocal minority, with all hell breaking loose again when Pres. Obama stated, then defended, that Israelis and Palestinians should begin with the 1967 borders, with land swaps.

Now it appears Obama’s supporters are readying to hit back at this continuing media meme. From Greg Sargent:

A group of well-known figures in the Jewish community has been in discussions with senior Obama adviser David Axelrod about how to respond to the criticism, which is expected to intensify as the campaign heats up. Among them: Alan Solow, the former head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; former Congressmen Mel Levine and Robert Wexler; and executive Penny Pritzker.
“We will have highly credible spokespeople and surrogates speak out in a general manner in support of what this administration has done, and articulate it in a way that we think will resonate with voters who care about this issue,” Solow said in an interview. “We will meet with supporters who have expressed concerns or want to be briefed on these issues on a one-on-one basis.”
“We got close to 80 percent of the vote among Jewish Americans in 2008, but we had to aggressively bat down efforts to divide the community and to inflame,” David Axelrod told me. “Plainly we have to be at least as assiduous about it this time. If we’re passive in response it would be a mistake.”

Politico’s Smith got in the usual comments, with divisions quickly revealed or satisfied when the name of Dennis Ross is invoked:

The qualms that many Jewish Democrats express about Obama date back to his emergence onto the national scene in 2007. Though he had warm relations with Chicago’s Jewish community, he had also been friends with leading Palestinian activists, unusual in the Democratic establishment. And though he seemed to be trying to take a conventionally pro-Israel stand, he was a novice at the complicated politics of the America-Israel relationship, and his sheer inexperience showed at times.
A Philadelphia Democrat and pro-Israel activist, Joe Wolfson, recalled a similar progression.
“What got me past Obama in the recent election was Dennis Ross — I heard him speak in Philadelphia and I had many of my concerns allayed,” Wolfson said. “Now, I think I’m like many pro-Israel Democrats now who are looking to see whether we can vote Republican.”

Pres. Obama has deep challenges for 2012, but “pro-Israel Democrats” voting Republican isn’t a main one.

Our media is incredibly juvenile when it comes to covering the Middle East. Intramural political gossip substituting for serious mining of the challenges in the region continue to be the norm.

James Zogby noted what’s said around here a lot.

And so, far from being harmless hysteria or just plain dumb, all this posturing can be damaging and dangerous. It is a good part of the reason why we are in the mess we are in the Middle East and why a just resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict appears to be so intractable.

Every time the media chooses gossip over big stories like what’s happening surrounding the Gaza flotilla, solving problems in the Middle East gets a little further away, which doesn’t help anyone, especially Israel.

That President Barack Obama would have popularized the phrase “audacity of hope,” after which we named our boat, now seems a cruel hoax, particularly as many of us recalled the high hopes we had once harbored for Obama the candidate. Instead of an “audacity of hope,” Obama the president has often displayed a “paucity of courage.” – Ray McGovern

The politics of “Israel versus the Palestinians,” which is the way the U.S. media reports on this region, as well as how our politicians play it, puts Pres. Obama in an untenable position.

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Tim Pawlenty’s Neoconservative Spring

By Taylor Marsh on 28 June 2011

It’s like the ghost of George W. Bush, but with smoother segues. …and so it begins:

Now is not the time to retreat from freedom’s rise.
[...] Yet at the same time, we know these revolutions can bring to power forces that are neither democratic nor forward-looking. Just as the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria and elsewhere see a chance for a better life of genuine freedom, the leaders of radical Islam see a chance to ride political turmoil into power.
The United States has a vital stake in the future of this region. We have been presented with a challenge as great as any we have faced in recent decades. And we must get it right. The question is, are we up to the challenge?
My answer is, of course we are. [...]
But President Obama has failed to formulate and carry out an effective and coherent strategy in response to these events. He has been timid, slow, and too often without a clear understanding of our interests or a clear commitment to our principles.
And parts of the Republican Party now seem to be trying to out-bid the Democrats in appealing to isolationist sentiments. This is no time for uncertain leadership in either party. [...]

There’s the obligatory chastising of Pres. Obama, because he’s mean to Israel:

In 2008, candidate Barack Obama told AIPAC that he would “always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel.” This year, he told AIPAC “we remain committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” So I have to ask: are all the options still on the table or not? If he’s not clear with us, it’s no wonder that even our closest allies are confused.
The Administration should enforce all sanctions for which legal authority already exits. We should enact and then enforce new pending legislation which strengthens sanctions particularly against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who control much of the Iranian economy.
And in the middle of all this, is Israel.
Israel is unique in the region because of what it stands for and what it has accomplished. And it is unique in the threat it faces—the threat of annihilation. It has long been a bastion of democracy in a region of tyranny and violence.

Oh, and you’ll love the part on Syria. Mr. Pawlenty has a domino theory of sanctioning nations, with the U.S. providing Wilsonian intervention wherever needed.

The fall of the Assad mafia in Damascus would weaken Hamas, which is headquartered there. It would weaken Hezbollah, which gets its arms from Iran, through Syria. And it would weaken the Iranian regime itself.

Daniel Drezner weighs in saying it was a “a reasonably coherent speech.”

You can likely imagine what the part on Palestinians reads like, but here’s the bottom line: It’s all the Palestinians’ fault.

When the Palestinians have leaders who are honest and capable, who appreciate the rule of law, who understand that war against Israel has doomed generations of Palestinians to lives of bitterness, violence, and poverty – then peace will come.

If you like your neoconservatism rebooted, T-Paw’s for you. A more accessible, well spoken George W. Bush, whose record at least shows a hint of competency.

John McCain’s got to love this guy.

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Israel Drops Threats Against Journalists Covering Gaza Flotilla

By Taylor Marsh on 27 June 2011

If there was anything dumber for the Israeli government to do I don’t know what it could have been. Threatening journalists who are covering the Gaza flotilla backfired, as it should.

Netanyahu said in a statement that the policy for journalists covering the flotilla should not be the same as against infiltrators and those who enter Israel illegally.
Members of the Israeli media and international journalists will be embedded in Israeli Navy vessels in contact with the flotilla “in order to create transparency and credible coverage of the events,” said a statement issued Monday from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“We are pleased to see that Israel has recognized the value of allowing reporters to cover an important news event, and understands that journalists should be treated differently from political activists. We urge the government to continue to do its utmost to promote freedom of the press as core values of a democratic society,” the Foreign Press Association said Monday in a statement. It had previously criticized the threats made to journalists covering the flotilla.

Max Blumenthal has written a piece over at Mondoweiss about the extremist Rev. Hagee funding the group Shurat Hadin, among others, trying to sabotage the mission of “The Audacity of Hope.” Max covers the story below in detail, complete with video exposing Hagee.

Sources in the Shurat Hadin (Israel Law Center) on Sunday took responsibility for lodging an anonymous civil complaint against the American-flagged ship, The Audacity of Hope, which is a part of the flotilla expected to sail towards Gaza later this week, Army Radio reported. The complaint, filed to Greek harbormasters, alleged that the boat was not seaworthy and accused the organizers sailing the ship of aiding terror, according to the report. – Group says its responsible for flotilla complaint

From the Christian Science Monitor:

This flotilla is attempting to reach Gaza in a dramatically changed regional context from May 2010, before the uprisings collectively known as the Arab spring. With the chance for real democratic change in Israeli neighbors like Egypt, organizers are hoping to press home their argument that the Palestinian residents of Gaza are as deserving of basic freedoms as any of their neighbors. “It’s even more relevant this year,” says Robert Naiman, a US activist waiting to board in Athens. “There’s a revolution of popular expectations and we’re playing out on a stage in which governments in the region feel more pressure to respond to public opinion.” – Intense Israeli lobbying stalls Gaza flotilla

Gaza flotilla activists on one ship are alleging sabotage:

One of the ships due to participate in the Gaza flotilla was deliberately tampered with while it was docked in Greece’s Piraeus port, Gaza flotilla activists told Haaretz on Monday. The ship, due to carry Greek, Norwegian, and Swedish passengers to Gaza, was found with its propeller shaft broken, the ship’s spokesman Israeli activist Dror Feiler told Haaretz.

There’s also a story in Haaretz about Turkey and last year’s flotilla worth reading:

Turkey has asked Israel to agree to a toned-down version of the UN Secretary-General’s report on last year’s flotilla to Gaza, according to a senior government official in Jerusalem.
According to the official, the Turks are “very worried” about the harsh criticism of Turkey they expect the report to contain, and want Israel to agree to a softened version as part of a package deal to end the crisis between the two countries over the flotilla, which took place in May 2010.

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The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up: Father’s Day

By Stacy on 19 June 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday.

Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there!

On this day in history, June 19, 1862, slavery was outlawed in U.S. territories.

Here are some news stories from around the internets that you may or may not have seen:

~Barack Obama has pulled a GW Bush and is arguing he doesn’t need Congressional approval to use military force in Libya because what we are doing there doesn’t meet the definition of hostilities. I kid you not. I be the Libyans would beg to differ. So, while the White House is trying to convince all the good people at Netroots Nation that Obama actually gives a damn about the progressive base, the NYT has came out with an incredible story about how Obama, like Bush before him, ignored his top legal advisers about the need for Congressional approval prior to bombing Libya.

Maybe President Obama could have a debate with Senator Obama circa 2007 because this is what Senator Obama said about war powers:

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.
As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action.

~Speaking of Netroots Nation, the Obama administration is predictably buttering up the glbt vote. Once again the argument goes something like this “hey, we may be letting you down but just imagine how bad off you’d be if those other guys were in charge!” I give Obama credit where credit is do- for example on DADT- but I can’t help but get the sense that he has to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing, and even then only after polls show that about 60% of Americans support it.

~More on the annoying politics of gay marriage.

~So, it’s official, we’re already in negotiations with the Taliban. I’ll repeat the question I posed in last weeks news round-up: If we can negotiate with the Taliban, a group that is killing American soldiers and Afghan civilians as we speak, why do we reject without any debate, the possibility of Mideast peace negotiations with Hamas? I have yet to get an answer to that question. If you have any ideas, please leave them in the comment section.

~Today, Karl Eikenberry offers a rare rebuke of Afghan President Karzai for his remarks about the U.S. negotiating with the Taliban, among other things.

~Tim Pawlenty’s tax plan is a joke- almost 40% of the benefits of the plan would go to the top 1% of the richest Americans. I don’t care how much average Republican voters hate Barack Obama, do they realize that the GOP exists to line the pockets of big business at their expense? And no, the Democrats don’t get a pass on this either.

~A Bahraini blogger at Netroots Nation called out the State Dept. for their silence on the brutal crackdown in Bahrain despite their knowing all the gory details about what the government was/is doing. Inexcusable.

~In the wake of the “Gay Girl in Damascus”/Amina controversy (if you are not familiar with it you can read about it here) there has been quite an important discussion that has ensued about how the West has misrepresented the glbt community in Arab countries, purportedly for their [our] own selfish purposes. If anything good has come of the Amina hoax, it’s that glbt advocates in the U.S. and Europe are having an open dialogue with members of the glbt in the Arab world, many of whom feel that the West doesn’t really understand their real concerns, but instead are taking advantage of them in order to push a decidedly Western agenda. On a similar note, there’s now a long-time-coming controversy brewing about the popular blog Gay Middle East, the gist of which revolves around the question of “who gets to speak for glbt Arabs in the Middle East?” There’s also the controversial issue of Pinkwashing which you can read about here.

~President Obama isn’t polling well against an unnamed GOP opponent. That’s not so good.

~John McCain is upset that some of the GOP presidential candidates are listening to the electorate and expressing doubts about invading and bombing a new country each week. He calls this view “isolationist.” You see, McCain’s (and Lieberman and Lindsey Graham) definition of “patriotism” is threatening the use of force to deal with every situation. If one expresses doubt or questions aobut whether this is in the U.S.’ best interests, well, then you are relegated to the status of cheese-eating-surrender-monkey. Go sit in the corner!

~Why is this news?

~An excellent article about how Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was put on a pedestal by the U.S. and other Western countries, all the while they ignored the reality of what was going on on the ground (in the territories). The unelected Fayyad could stay in Washington’s good graces only so long as he unquestioningly did their bidding and now that there is a new Hamas-Fatah unity deal in the works (it’s not a done deal yet) and a continued push for a declaration of statehood at the UN in September, Fayyad may find for the first time that his phone calls will not be returned by the State Dept. and White House.

~Speaking of Israel-Palestine, Thomas Friedman has the whole solution mapped out in one short article. That was easy.

~A comedian impersonating Obama was pulled off the stage at the Republican Leadership Conference for making racial jokes. Isn’t this the same guy Fox News uses for their fake Obama debates?

~Andrew Breitbart is pathetic. Question- did Breitbart call on Vitter or Ensign or Sanford to resign when they were caught with their pants down?

~Our ally, Pakistan. Sigh.

~It’s interesting how Islamaphobia is so mainstream that it’s actually used as a political tactic to get votes. There aren’t a lot of groups about which you can say that, except perhaps glbt folks, who of course are also used by the right as a political wedge issue.

~Ok, this guy is my new hero. This was very bad planning by British Prime Minister Cameron’s advance team. Watch the doctor come in the hospital room and kick Cameron out for using a patient’s room as the setting for a political photo op:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTzMmkyk8V0&feature=player_embedded

~I’m sorry but Justice Clarence Thomas has turned the Supreme Court into a joke. And it would be entirely appropriate for Chief Justice Roberts to rein him in. It has nothing to do with his conservative judicial philosophy but has everything to do with the way he conducts himself. There was a time in this country when the Supreme Court was actually respected. I know, go figure. There have always been controversies but the SCOTUS has weathered those storms by staying as far away from politics and the appearance of impropriety as possible. Not Clarence Thomas though (and Justice Scalia is guilty of this also).

~The perpetually angry neoconservative WaPo blogger Jennifer Rubin quotes John Woo, the author of the infamous torture memos in the Bush administration, for guidance on War Powers. Good grief.

~Private contractors in Iraq will be able to stay in Iraq long after the remaining troops leave which means they will still be able to line their pockets rebuilding the country we bombed to hell and back.

The End.

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Sunday Morning Early Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 12 June 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

On this day in history, June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court in the landmark case Loving vs. Virginia, struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

I’ve rounded up some news links, you know, so you can sound smart and on top of the news at breakfast or lunch…

~Joe Lieberman tries to undermine the President’s foreign policy.

~As everyone who hasn’t been stranded on a deserted island knows, Representative Weiner is taking some time off to get some sort of treatment for something (they didn’t say what), do some soul-searching and probably more to the point- sit back and hope this all blows over so he can stop the flow of fellow Democrats calling, one after the other, for his resignation. Anyone care? No? Ok, moving right along…

~What is wrong with the Democrats that they can’t make this a political issue? The GOP is waging war on Elizabeth Warren of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)- could the GOP make it any more obvious that they don’t give a damn about the average American, preferring instead to create a platform based on enriching the very people that caused the collapse of the global economy? And yet what are the Democrats doing to get this message out? All I hear is *chirp* *chirp*

~GOP Rep. Dana Rohrbacher has been asked by the Iraqi government to please leave their country after he publicly called for Iraq to repay the U.S. for the cost we incurred invading and occupying their country.

~John Aravosis of AmericaBlog calls out CNN’s Roland Martin for defending Tracy Morgan’s homophobic rant. It’s worth a read.

~So, how much have the Bush tax cuts cost the U.S. thus far? $2.5 trillion. And yet the Democrats and the media continue with the farce that the GOP is serious about deficit reduction. They weren’t during the Bush years and they aren’t now. Rather, they are interested in gutting social programs they never liked to begin with and are using the deficit as an excuse. Anyone who takes defense spending completely off the table can’t be taken seriously about deficit reduction.

~Alabama has passed a draconian anti-abortion bill based on a “fetal pain” rationale. Naturally, there is no exception in the case of rape or incest.

~I’d like to introduce you to Texas Governor and possible GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry.

~The neocon hawks who want to “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” don’t really understand the Green Movement there although they are more than willing to use their purported concern for the Green Movement to try to make it sound like their war-mongering is born of humanitarian concerns.

~A major bump in the road to reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

~After the death of Osama Bin Laden, will Obama take advantage of the opportunity to make a significant reduction in troops in Afghanistan or will he follow the advice of the departing Secretary Gates and General Petraeus? The question everyone should be asking is ten years from now, will we still be saying “we’re making some progress but if we leave we could lose what gains we’ve made”? I can’t help but think the answer to that is “yes.”

~The real reason the WH rejected the French proposal to hold a Mideast peace summit with the Palestinians and Israelis- the administration is afraid another country might actually act like an honest broker and mediator.

~Dana Milbank provides a good example of everything that is wrong with the Washington press in this piece. Note he makes sure to tell us he knows Goolsbee personally and that Obama’s economic policies were initially “extreme” (the stimulus that didn’t have enough stimulus?).

~Daniel Ellsberg of “Pentagon Papers” fame reminds us just how crappy our government really is. He notes that much of what Nixon did would be legal today under an expanded definition of Executive power and laws like the PATRIOT Act. By the way, the Pentagon Papers have finally been declassified.

~The Obama administration’s war against whistleblowers was dealt a major blow in the NSA leak case. The government’s case fell apart in an effort to not have to expose some evidence to public scrutiny. Former NSA employee Thomas Drake was charged under the seldom used Espionage Act, which many felt was a draconian way to go after whistleblowers such as Drake, who exposed a multi-billion-dollar government boondoggle of waste and fraud and in the process, also revealed the NSA’s illegal (at the time) domestic surveillance data mining operation. If that isn’t the definition of “whistleblower” I don’t know what is. If we actually had a major media figure with some guts, they would actually dain to ask President Obama exactly what his definition of “whistleblower” is, particularly given he lauded them as champions of justice as a 2008 Presidential candidate. Oh, but he said a lot of things in 2008, didn’t he.

~Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ripped NATO in his farewell speech.

~No, Hillary doesn’t want to be President of the World Bank. Guessing her next move after Secretary of State has become a full-time parlor game in DC.

~I agree with Senator Harkin- Obama has fallen into the GOP trap of prioritizing the deficit over job creation.

~Rep. Giffords has released her first set of photos since the Arizona shooting in January. She really has made an amazing recovery thus far. She’s a very strong woman.

~The Obama admin. is funding a mobile-phone compatible shadow internet for dissidents to use to get around their own government censors.

The End.

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Daniel Levy on Assad Brutality, Israel and Preferred Devils

By Taylor Marsh on 08 June 2011

Daniel Levy wrote a very important post for Foreign Policy yesterday, After Golan clashes, is Israel rethinking the Assad (or Palestine) file? Here’s a snippet:

[...] And Israel is none-too-enamored of the alternatives in Damascus. One alternative to the Assad regime — a democratic Syria with greater soft power diplomatic heft and perhaps with Islamists as part of a governing coalition — is as unappetizing a prospect for an Israel intent on maintaining its belligerent posture to the Palestinians and to the region (including its occupation of the Golan heights), as the Egyptian version of the same is shaping up to be. Another alternative — that of Syria becoming a largely ungoverned chaotic space and forming an arc of fitna (or sectarian strife) with Iraq and Lebanon is also unattractive.
For the peace rejectionist government of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the survival of an embattled, desperate, and thoroughly discredited Assad regime apparently hits that Goldilocks sweet spot — just the right outcome.

If you take the time to read the whole piece carefully what Daniel reveals is the reason for U.S. policy being so hopelessly skewed and interminably incoherent, even as events continue to unwind. From Levy:

At least until Sunday’s events, Israel’s position on revolution in Syria hued closely to the status-quo conservatism that has so characterized the shared Israeli-Saudi response to the Arab Spring. Both Israel and Saudi had been critical of the “premature” abandonment of the Mubarak regime, especially by the U.S. Unlike Mubarak, of course, Assad is not an ally (for either the Israelis or the Saudis), but he is part of an ancien régime for which Israel had effective management strategies in place.

Fox News contributors take whacks at Sec. Clinton for her, let’s call it a softer approach to Assad, but considering Israel’s own stance it’s rather ironic conservatives don’t get what’s going on.

On Sunday, June 5, marking Naksa Day (the Arab “setback” in the 1967 war), protesters — mostly Palestinian refugees and their descendents — marched to the Israel/Syria disengagement line representing the border between Syria and the Israeli occupied Golan Heights. According to reports up to 22 unarmed Syrian-Palestinian protesters were killed when Israeli forces apparently resorted to live fire (Israeli laid mines may also have been detonated and may have caused causalities, the exact unraveling of events remains sketchy). In most respects, this Sunday’s events were a repeat performance of the outcome of May 15′s Nakba Day commemorations (which Palestinians mark as the anniversary of their catastrophe in 1948).
Israel’s initial response to the wave of regional anti-regime protests reaching Syria was, according to reliable reports, to privately root for the “devil we know” approach — encouraging allies, including the U.S., to go easy on the Assad regime.

The backdrop for all of this is the notion of a U.N. vote for Palestinian statehood this fall, which will change nothing without negotiations, something that the “peace rejectionist government of Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Daniel’s description that I am hereby adopting, has no intention of engaging seriously.

But if anyone thinks this is good news for Israel they’re wrong.

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The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 05 June 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

On this day in history, June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles. Also on this date in 1967 the Six Day War erupted between Israel and the surrounding Arab states.

Here are some morning links for your perusal:

~Former U.S. diplomat Lawrence Eagleburger died yesterday at the age of 80 years.

~The Yemeni President is in Saudi Arabia for medical care. That could be awkward for the U.S. For now, power has been transferred to the Vice President.

~Defense Secretary Gates is in Afghanistan saying his “goodbyes” and reassuring the Afghans that we will be there for the long haul. Obama has set himself up to have to battle not only the GOP on a myriad of issues but now his own party on Afghanistan. The troop surge didn’t work and the underlying problem- a corrupt, illegitimate government that is playing both sides- won’t be “fixed” by counterinsurgency.

~Speaking of Secretary Gates, why does the media help perpetuate the myth that Gates has been a leader in terms of cutting defense spending? Because really what he’s done is just moved money around. If people like David Gregory had stones they’d confront Gates with this but instead they fawn all over him in a rather embarrassing manner.

~The heroes of Jopin, Mo.

~Question: if the U.S. is willing to entertain the idea of having talks with the Taliban, a group that is killing Americans as we speak, why is negotiating with Hamas under certain conditions such a taboo? I’m not being sarcastic here, I’m honestly just asking the question.

~Are you tired of hearing about the Weiner scandal? Well, here’s the thing- we know the media loves anything having to do with sex, or anything that even hints of sex, because it’s so much easier to cover than, say, the latest Supreme Court decision. But it’s also a morality tale of sorts. Whoever was advising Rep. Weiner to go on the teevee box and give winding, circular, vague non-answers to basic yes or no questions should be fired or voted off the island.

~Just what President Obama needs, more photos of him on the golf course.

~Operation Cupcake.

~Donald Trump is jealous that Sarah Palin and her American history lessons are getting more attention than he has been of late.

~Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Any mention of the anniversary is forbidden in China and they have done everything in their power to erase the tragedy from China’s history.

~You have to hand it to Fox News, they really take on the big issues!:

~Never under estimate the ability of far right conservatives to dumb down almost any issue. They are allergic to nuance and prefer instead to see everything as Black or White, Good vs. Evil. That’s all well and good and it certainly makes for much easier political messaging but at the end of the day, that’s not how the world works.

~I realize that Sarah Palin supporters get really, really angry whenever someone criticizes her but I simply don’t understand why someone would defend someone with such a limited grasp on national and foreign policy. Every politician makes mistakes or stretches the truth and no politician can be an expert on every subject, but Palin’s statements are simply incomprehensible and it is just not acceptable for any candidate or political figure to blame their lack of basic knowledge entirely on the media.

~Ambassador Chris Hill has an interesting commentary about the Mideast peace process, or lack thereof. There seems to be a widening gap between long-time diplomats and foreign policy experts and politicians in both the U.S. and Israel. Regardless of where one stands on this issue one thing is certain, the current politicization of the peace process won’t help resolve the conflict or keep either the Israelis or Palestinians one iota more secure.

~The administration and the media have reacted dismissively to Sy Hersh’s New Yorker article about Iran’s supposed nuclear capability. It would seem that the media really haven’t learned anything since the Judith Miller, Scooter Libby days of reporting in the run-up to the Iraq War. Glenn Greenwald rips Politico for their journalistic hypocrisy and their acting as stenographers to those in power. The way in which the media has responded to the Hersh article is more proof that the media don’t report the news so much as decide what is and isn’t worthy of national debate. Irrespective of what one believes about Iran or Hersh’s reporting on this issue, it’s interesting how the administration and those in the media seem unwilling to even allow a debate to take place.

~Richard Cohen gets paid to write this stuff? Actual money?

~Meet GITMO’s evil twin, Bagram.

Ok, this is your daily dose of cute- the video went viral but in case you haven’t seen it, it’s hard not to smile as you watch it:

~While few people are watching, the situation in Sudan worsens.

~The Iraqis must be so thankful to us for fixing their country.

~Rather than screaming non-stop about the debt, which has been a problem in the making for well over a decade, we should be screaming for campaign finance reform so that voting isn’t just window-dressing for democracy.

~This is interesting- some religious Christians are questioning the morality of the GOP budget proposals. Apparently some people think selfishness and screw the poor isn’t a great Christian rallying cry. Good for them. A politician’s faith is/should be a personal matter unless they make it a center piece of their political platform and in that case, questioning some of the more blatant hypocrisy is justified.

~It’s official, hardly anyone in Congress agrees with Obama’s Libya strategy. Of course, the irony of the GOP maneuver is rather rich given most of them never met a war they didn’t like. The wording of the congressional resolution should have been applied to the authorization for the use of force in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The End.

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Netanyahu Dismisses Fatah & Hamas Deal

By Taylor Marsh on 27 April 2011

“You can’t have peace with both Israel and Hamas,” Netanyahu said, in remarks directed at Abbas. “Choose peace with Israel.” – Fatah and Hamas agree to historic Palestinian reconciliation deal

Haaretz (and Reuters) calls it “historic.” PM Netanyahu’s reaction proves he doesn’t want to deal with the Palestinians at all (as if we needed it). He slams Abbas’s efforts to form an interim government with Hamas, when we all know that if Abbas did a straight deal with Israel Hamas would balk. After Bush pushed the Palestinians on elections, which put Hamas in power in the first place, it’s a bit hard to un-ring that bell. Much more at the link above, with Abbas doggedly moving forward on having Palestine declared whether Netanyahu likes it or not.

MJ Rosenberg on the matter:

Netanyahu, who rarely gives any indication of favoring any agreement with the Palestinians that would require ceding the West Bank (i.e., any agreement) may be worried that a Hamas-Fatah deal makes negotiations more likely rather than less.

Elliott Abrams proves why the Council on Foreign Relations matters less now than it ever has before.

This deal, if it is real, will be interpreted in Israel as a choice by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to make peace with Hamas rather than with Israel.

If Abbas and Hamas aren’t squabbling it sort of puts the spotlight on Netanyahu, which is exactly what he doesn’t want, which Mr. Abrams certainly knows.

Any movement towards an agreement between the factions of the Palestinians is a step in the right direction.

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War Hawks and Neocons

By Taylor Marsh on 23 April 2011

Security forces in Syria met thousands of demonstrators with fusillades of live ammunition after noon prayers on Friday, killing at least 81 people in the bloodiest day of the five-week-old Syrian uprising, according to protesters, witnesses and accounts on social networking sites. – Security Forces Kill Dozens in Uprisings Around Syria

We will never be rid of the curse.

The Washington Post’s shameful op-ed eviscerating Pres. Obama over “inaction” in Syria isn’t worth reading, but it goes nicely with John McCain playing president in Libya.

Welcome to another edition of America’s amateur foreign policy hour.

Having Sen. McCain say in Libya that “for the United States to withdraw our unique offensive capabilities at this time would send the wrong signal” is not only inappropriate, but reenforces the notion of an empire nation, which is the biggest reason our country hangs in continual economic limbo, something conservatives never consider when thinking of national security that must include our economic health.

The BBC is reporting that NATO has utilized armed Predator drones, with Pres. Obama approving the action earlier, which now have struck inside Libya for the first time. Unarmed drones have been used for intelligence and reconnaissance missions.

Pres. Obama could not have approved the use of anything that is a worse symbol of American imperialism than a hell fire missile coming from a Predator. This type of action has already proved counterproductive in Pakistan, but then U.S. policy has been in a perpetual state of chaos for over 10 years.

As an aside, I don’t watch Chris Matthews much anymore, but took a moment yesterday to do so only to hear him trip over himself opining that Predator drones might signify a way out of Libya, something that made him sound so incredibly ignorant I wanted to immediately turn off the TV, but curiosity stopped me, because I wanted to see how he was going to get out of this mess. As he interviewed Richard Engel, he asked the significance of the armed drones being utilized instead of an AC-130, with Engel saying the armed drones were like “a kite” in comparison, something Matthews didn’t know. What’s worse is that he didn’t bother to find out before he went on the air or do any homework on the matter, at least none that was evident. It’s no wonder people are stupid on foreign policy with the likes of Chris Matthews dispensing opinions that armed drone attacks might be the end, instead of simply positing questions and letting the experts tell you what is and is not true.

It seems to me the American people have to get reacquainted with a new thought, which war hawks and neocons are not going to like and neither are humanitarians.

Our standard for bombing or becoming militarily involved in another country that has not attacked us must have at its core that a clear and present danger to the United States must exist.

Unless genocide or ethnic cleansing are happening we stay out, with the ugly reality in geopolitics that you also need proof that it is. We shouldn’t bomb countries before something has happened, preemptively involving ourselves in something that is only a threat.

It’s horrific to read and hear about the carnage erupting throughout the Middle East, but we simply cannot be involved in every skirmish, no matter how gut wrenching the reports. The founding of our own American freedom came through a lot of bloodshed and chaos, with the result of fighting for your own country part of what rebuilds a nation’s character. New American discipline needs to be instilled in our leaders to engage with the world community to bring thugs to justice, without everyone expecting U.S. military involvement for which taxpayers are on the hook.

I’d start with George W. Bush for Iraq, but then I’m a liberal, not one of the mealy-mouthed Democratic elite.

Released last night, Pres. Obama’s statement on Syria:

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of force by the Syrian government against demonstrators. This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now. We regret the loss of life and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims, and with the Syrian people in this challenging time.
The Syrian Government’s moves yesterday to repeal Syria’s decades-old Emergency Law and allow for peaceful demonstrations were not serious given the continued violent repression against protesters today. Over the course of two months since protests in Syria began, the United States has repeatedly encouraged President Assad and the Syrian Government to implement meaningful reforms, but they refuse to respect the rights of the Syrian people or be responsive to their aspirations. The Syrian people have called for the freedoms that all individuals around the world should enjoy: freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and the ability to freely choose their leaders. President Assad and the Syrian authorities have repeatedly rejected their calls and chosen the path of repression. They have placed their personal interests ahead of the interests of the Syrian people, resorting to the use of force and outrageous human rights abuses to compound the already oppressive security measures in place before these demonstrations erupted. Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by his Iranian allies. We call on President Assad to change course now, and heed the calls of his own people.
We strongly oppose the Syrian government’s treatment of its citizens and we continue to oppose its continued destabilizing behavior more generally, including support for terrorism and terrorist groups. The United States will continue to stand up for democracy and the universal rights that all human beings deserve, in Syria and around the world.

This is why there is The Hague.

The president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh has reportedly offered to resign in exchange for immunity.

I used to say about George W. Bush and the neocons that if they’d been around during the Cuban Missile Crisis we’d have wasted Cuba. But after Libya, I’m not so sure if Barack Obama doesn’t deserve his own sub-category, even as Sec. Clinton has already said we will not become engaged in Syria. The inconvenient geography of Syria renders it absolutely impossible, making a mockery out of the “humanitarian” angle of Libya, which never should have been uttered, let alone engaged militarily.

The problem with all of this is that Pres. Obama’s foreign policy makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why Libya and not Syria? It’s not about “inaction” in Syria as much as it is irreconcilable stupidity for going into Libya, a decision that looks like the height of hypocrisy when reading, watching or hearing about the carnage in Bahrain.

Pres. Obama doesn’t have a Middle East strategy, policy or anything resembling a foreign policy road map, which is now nakedly exposed.

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PM Netanyahu Invited to Congress

By Taylor Marsh on 21 April 2011

The invitation came from Republicans, announced by Rep. Eric Cantor.

“People seem to think that whoever goes first gets the upper hand,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator and a director at the New America Foundation. Using Mr. Netanyahu’s nickname, he said: “If Bibi went first and didn’t lay out a bold peace plan, it would be harder for Obama to say, actually, despite what you said to Congress and their applause, this is what I think you should do.” – Invitation to Israeli Leader Puts Obama on the Spot

The chaser, the op-ed of Turkey’s Abdullah Gul.

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Your Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 17 April 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday.

On this day in history, April 17, 1961, approximately 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in an attempt to topple Fidel Castro

Here are some links on this lovely Spring morning:

~The WSJ has an unusually good piece about the dangerous brinkmanship going on between Saudi Arabia and Iran. While Iran is certainly going to take advantage of unrest in the region, it’s also clear that every tin-pot dictatorship is trying to blame their people’s justified, long-overdue demands for democracy and economic opportunity as being the result of outside meddling, whether from the U.S., Iran, Israel etc. If every there was a time fundamentally re-thinking our strategy in the Middle East and doing something about our dangerous addiction to the region’s oil, it’s now.

~In a sea of depressing news, here is a good story- Japanese animal lovers band together and risk radiation exposure to save stranded dogs in the evacuation zone by the disabled nuclear plant.

~Mission Creep in Libya?

~Speaking of Libya, it was a bloody day in Misrata on Saturday and the Liban Rebels are growing frustrated with NATO for not doing more to stop Gadhafi’s attacks. This problem was entirely foreseeable- to think all we had to do was institute a no-fly zone and then let the untrained, poorly-armed Rebels fight Gadhafi was naive. It was obvious early on that if we went in to help we’d have to be doing all the heavy lifting until Gadhafi’s forces were destroyed.

~Whael Ghonim, the Egyptian Google executive that started the Facebook page that helped give voice to the Egyptian Revolution, blasted Western elites and others for propping up Mubarak for so long. Irony alert- he was speaking at a panel at the International Monetary Fund (ie. to elites).

~The Ross Perot of 2012, Donald Trump, is now the GOP frontrunner.

~Donald Trump has a friend in Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who is more than willing to spread the birther conspiracies and “Obama is a secret Muslim” nonsense. However, if Trump ever decides to get off the crazy train and start talking about serious issues like currency manipulation and trade imbalances with respect to China, he’ll find his new-found friend will jump on the next passing wingnut ship without ever looking back.

~Hey, who needs environmental protection?

~A long, interesting article/interview with Israeli opposition leader (Kadima) Tzipi Livni.

~When are we going to have an honest, in-depth national debate about Afghanistan? The administration is already trying to sell us on the idea that things are “improving but fragile”- in other words, we can’t possibly leave anytime soon! They are also preemptively warning that they expect much more violence. Well, they are right on that front. When is the media going to start to confront Gates, Obama, Clinton with the reality that Karzai, who likely stole the election, is playing both sides while lining his pockets and international bank accounts with U.S. taxpayer money?

~Speaking of Afghanistan, the administration must be pleased with this Washington Post piece which appeared late last night- “In Afghanistan’s south, signs of progress in three districts signal a shift.” Who are the main sources for this potted plant story? General Petraeus and “other military officials.”

~Ok, while we are arguing about federal funding of planned parenthood and NPR, Congress approved $205 million in aid (in addition to the billions already set aside) on Friday for an Israeli missile defense system. I’m a little confused as to why this was done right now when Congress has already approved a record-setting amount of aid for Israel not just for this year or next, but for the next 10 years. And I’m not just picking on Israel here- the same goes for other countries- Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan etc. At a time when Americans are being asked to sacrifice in a HUGE way, we need to re-think some of our foreign aid – I don’t advocate totally slashing the foreign aid budget because it’s an important aspect of our diplomacy and there are both humanitarian and strategic reasons for it. Nor do I advocate totally gutting aid to Israel. It’s nice that Israel has a nationalized health care system and a growing economy while here in the U.S. the GOP thinks federal money spent on health care is evil socialism. I think that at time when Congress is taking a machete to the budget and claiming every dollar spent has to be offset, I think it’s fair to demand that everyone sacrifice at least a little bit. Nothing should be exempted from the debate.

~Jim DeMint would like the U.S. Constitution amended so as to ban federal deficits. And I’d like a pink pony.

~Why is Rick Santorum such a homophobe?

~Candidate Obama was completely opposed to signing statements. Until the other day.

~Nope, no racism in the Tea Party!

~Guantanamo on trial.

~If you haven’t seen this video of the cat and dolphin playing, check it out, it’s too cute:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGrN3uWO_Rs]

~Down with Tyranny has a spot-on post about how the GOP plan for education is to turn it into yet another corporate profit-mill. But first they have to destroy the teacher’s unions.

~In case you missed it, Dana Milbank had a self-serving piece in the WaPo where he bemoans Obama being “rudderless” without Pelosi watching his political left flank. This from the guy who has spent two years mocking the liberal base and warning that Obama should move to the center (ie. the right).

~Secretary Clinton was in Seoul and is now in Tokyo promising generous U.S. financial support after the Tsunami/earthquake (where is the money coming from?).

~At least Rep. Weiner is telling the truth about the Kabuki GOP budget.

~Sarah Palin was in Wisconsin tossing out some sarcastic, largely meaningless bullet points. All of this seems to portend a larger role for her in the GOP’s financial misinformation campaign.

~Why does the MSM give Orly Taitz a platform to spew her brand of crazy?

~Politico carries the Washington Post’s water. Because, you know, the WaPo would never do anything unethical or which interferes with its objectivity!

The End.

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Why not the best for President Obama and the Democratic party? And how much more will victory be worth having [...]
Oh Donna, How We Danced
DONNA SUMMER was writing “Love to Love You Baby”; I was Miss Missouri. “Last Dance” came out in 1978, the [...]
Edward Klein’s Jeremiah Wright Interview Goes Wide with Swift-boating Proposal, and Sean Hannity’s Help
“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in [...]
Trayvon Martin Knuckle Injury: Small Abrasion, 1/4 Inch in Size
DEFENSE HACKS led by “Just One Minute” made a lot of noise on Wednesday, writing Trayvon Martin “showed bloody knuckles,” [...]
Romney’s Bill Clinton Swipe Followed by Whopper Rove Ad
MITT ROMNEY IS betting that tweaking Pres. Obama on Bill Clinton in Iowa will land, while just making stuff up. [...]
Hillary’s Vogue
“I feel so relieved to be at the stage I’m at in my life right now. Because you know if [...]
Republicans Already Lost Hispanics, Now Shoot for Losing Next Generation
“While President Obama has played politics on this issue, the Republican Party and our presumptive nominee Mitt Romney have been [...]
Obama’s Composite Girlfriend Creates Rip van Winkle Awakening
The success of “Dreams” has given Obama nearly complete control of his own life narrative, an appealing tale that has [...]
Ann Romney’s Style
IT’S FABULOUS and she can afford it. When I saw it on CBS “This Morning,” I knew it would catch [...]
Arrogant Amnesia: Obama Gets OBL, Republicans Stuck with ‘Mission Accomplished’ Cod Piece Photo Op
AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA in the Situation Room with Brian Williams on the bin Laden raid has exploded. Sen. [...]
Gritty GIRLS Takes Over
“You could not pay me enough to be 24 again.” – female doctor giving Hannah a pelvic exam Inspired genius. [...]
Beyond Timothy Leary and Valley of the Dolls: Psychedelic Drugs and Healing in the 21st Century
“Rick Doblin has done a lot for the field, but he is more of a populist,” Grob says. “We need [...]
Shrill for the Women’s Vote: Ann Romney and Hilary Rosen Go to War
My Twitter feed was on fire after an appearance last night on CNN’s AC360, where I said that I thought [...]
For Zocalo Public Square: When My Butt Kicked Me, by Taylor Marsh
A Former Dancer Learns to Work Out Again After a Puzzling Injury Beyond politics. A very different type of piece [...]
Erick Erickson Gets the ‘Joe Scarborough Award’
As an added bonus, it was more than a bit ironic to hear Barack Obama call Paul Ryan a social [...]
Mad Men Megan Draper’s Black Pantie Moment
“You’re too old. I don’t need an old person.” – Megan Draper, “Mad Men” Megan Draper’s cutting “old person” line [...]
The Hill: Women are the Real Game Changers, by Taylor Marsh
I wrote a piece for The Hill yesterday. Here’s a snippet: HBO’s “Game Change,” adapted from the blockbuster book by [...]
America is a Woman
**updated** The bishops’ opposition to contraception is not an argument for a “conscience exemption.” It is a way of imposing [...]
Joe Scarborough’s Weird DM Rant Invades My Weekend
*updated below* So much for keep calm and carry on, what Joe Scarborough proclaims to be his motto. It was [...]
The Weekend Pres. Obama Gave Women Their Own Social Security
But the reality of life here is that Mr. Gulbranson and many of his neighbors continue to take as much [...]
Joe Scarborough Compares Obama Contraceptive Mandate to Federal Govt. Mandating Southern Baptist Female Deacons
“… I think women should be deacons as well as men. …But if the federal government, if the Justice Department [...]
Susan G. Komen Puts Romney’s ‘Not Concerned About the Poor’ In Perfect Context
The decision, made in December, caused an uproar inside Komen. Three sources told me that the organization’s top public health [...]
U.S. News & World Report: Time for a Tea Party of the Left, by Taylor Marsh
President Obama takes his base for granted on issues like the Bush tax cuts, Plan B, and the economy - US [...]
Ryan Lizza and The Hillary Effect, Case Proved Beyond Any Doubt
The reason I wrote my book was to tell a piece of history. It was to set the record of [...]
Capitalism Out of the Closet
**UPDATED** Would we be any worse off with Stephen Colbert as president? I doubt it. Politifact has watched the video [...]
UK Guardian Interview for The Hillary Effect
Last week was busy for me. One interview I did was for the UK Guardian, which is up today: Does [...]
The Party’s Over
There’s a reason Obama reelect doesn’t have a slogan. All they’ve got is a question: Are you in? Symbolic of [...]
A Word from Amb. Joseph Wilson about The Hillary Effect
“During the primary elections that pitted Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, Taylor was the leading analyst of, and most articulate [...]
Not Disappointed in Pres. Obama
**Postscript added** President Obama is now neck and neck with a generic Republican challenger in the latest Real Clear Politics [...]
Fan Politics
Despite rising public concern about the federal budget deficit, Americans favor keeping Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are [...]
Money Quote that Would Make Reagan Laugh
“Cantor and Kyl just threw Boehner and McConnell under the bus. This move is an admission that there will be [...]

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