Besides emote about the oil spill, what is it we are expecting Obama to do anyway—it's not like sending more help to the Big Easy. Dear Leader | The New Republic www.tnr.com Thursday
This is dead on. Obama Takes On Conservatism | The New Republic www.tnr.com Thursday
History Lesson
There was once a great Texas Congressman named Jack Brooks, a tough old partisan liberal in the LBJ tradition. In his early days in politics, an opponent tried to red bait him, and Brooks responded:"I fought the fascists for five years in World War Two; I own a shot gun back at home and Ill shoot any man …who calls me a Communist."
Food for thought. Thursday
When your friends start saying stuff like this, it is time to re-evaluate: "Israel does not need enemies: it has itself. Or more precisely: it has its government. The Netanyahu-Barak government has somehow found a way to lose the moral high ground, the all-important war for symbols and meanings, to Hamas. That is quite an accomplishment. Operation Make the World Hate Us, it might have been called." Operation Make The World Hate Us | The New Republic www.tnr.com Friday
Helen, Perhaps it is time to consider collecting that pension www.breitbart.tv www.breitbart.tv Saturday
Will this end the stupidity?
Probably not Apologies Are In Order (You Betcha!) | Room Eight www.r8ny.com Saturday
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Money quote: "I have no problem with Turkey or humanitarian groups loudly criticizing Israel. But I have a big problem when people get so agitated by Israel’s actions in Gaza but are unmoved by Syria’s involvement in the murder of the prime minister of Lebanon, by the Iranian regime’s killing of its own citizens demonstrating for the right to have their votes counted, by Muslim suicide bombers murdering nearly 100 Ahmadi Muslims in mosques in Pakistan on Friday and by pro-Hamas gunmen destroying a U.N.-sponsored summer camp in Gaza because it wouldn’t force Islamic fundamentalism down the throats of children. That concern for Gaza and Israel’s blockade is so out of balance with these other horrific cases in the region that it is not surprising Israelis dismiss it as motivated by hatred — not the advice of friends." Op-Ed Columnist – When America’s Friends Fall Out – NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com Saturday
Money quote: “I do not discount the importance of force. Woe to the country that discounts the efficacy of force. Without it Israel would not be able to survive a single day. But we cannot allow ourselves to forget for even a moment that force is effective only as a preventative — to prevent the destruction and conquest of Israel, to protect our lives and freedom. Every attempt to use force not as a preventive measure, not in self-defense, but instead as a means of smashing problems and squashing ideas, will lead to more disasters, just like the one we brought on ourselves in international waters, opposite Gaza’s shores.” Op-Ed Contributor – Israeli Force, Adrift on the Sea – NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com Saturday
Excuse me, I don't want to seem rude or insensitive, but can anybody out there give me a clue as to why this strange young woman is worth over a quarter page in the New York Times (even on a Saturday)? Moreover, it seems to me that the idea that one can overcome one's forbidden sexual urges by embracing celibacy and dedicating one's life to Catholicism has been proven of late to have a less than perfect track record. Beliefs – A Gay Catholic Voice Against Same-Sex Marriage – NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com Saturday
Krugman explains to the cracksmokers at U of Chacago why Fannie and Freddie are not responsible for the recession. As I wrote in October, 2008, “As to our friends Fanny and Freddy, they weren’t exactly eunuchs at the orgy, but their role was hardly central; they didn‘t make subprime loans, but they did buy subprime loans made by others. In the riot which took place, they didn’t throw the brick through the window, but like many others not necessarily disposed to criminal activity they weren’t above entering the store and taking a television and a box of diapers. But blaming this crisis on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the CRA is like blaming the Federal Budget deficit on earmarks. What idiot would do something like that? Part of the problem? Of course, but eliminate it from the mix and it won’t make much of a difference. One might as well blame the spread of AIDS on KY Jelly.” Things Everyone In Chicago Knows – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com krugman.blogs.nytimes.com Saturday
While there's nothing more delightful than watching hypocritical "pro-family" puritans being caught with their panties apparently never in an upward position, the sexism and racism being directed at Tea Party crazy Nikki Haley is so profoundly disturbing that I am rooting for her to win the Republican Governor's nomination (against several other right wing crazies) in SC. Enough is enough! [and then I hope she gets ass whipped (perhaps not the best choice of words) in November]. Op-Ed Columnist – Elections Aren’t for Sissies – NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com Saturday
For Helen Thomas: Borat suggests how to handle the BP oil spill Borat – Throw the Jew Down the Well!! www.youtube.com Saturday
Useful advice to Obama from centrist Democrats. Democracy Corps » Toward Renewal and Leadership www.democracycorps.com Sunday
It is time to join the Facebook group, "Gatemouth’s Blog” Gatemouth's Blog Gatemouth is the man New York politicos love to hate. An angry, acerbic, absurdist, contrarian, pragmatic, partisan, neo-liberal, Bill Clintonite, New Democrat, with an intolerance for sacred cows and…Sunday
A left wing friend sent this to me, as if it proved anything about the blockade, or about Israel. I do not think it does. Although I think the blockade is legal, I am not greatly enthusiastic over its details (denying someone cilantro to me seems a fundamental violation of basic human rights), and I surely will not defend people being shot in the head at close range, without being given good reason to do so. BUT, it is not relevant to the merits of the blockade, one way or another–as Leon Wieseltier once wrote "… it is a mistake to regard self-defense sentimentally. No just war was ever fought only justly. No state was ever innocent, but not all states are evil." These individual acts may or may not war crimes, but if they are, it does not in and of itself undermine the justification for the blockade; and even in the event that the shootings were themselves justified in the heat of the situation, this would does not sanctify a blockade that was itself unjustifiable (or overreaching). The blockade sinks or swims (perhaps not the best choice of words) on its own merits, or lack thereof. Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range | World news | The Guardian www.guardian.co.uk Sunday
Still no apology from Hackshaw—could it be anti-Semitism? Of course not, only a schmuck would call someone a bigot without a shred of evidence, out of mere personal pique. Sunday