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:

~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.