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Latest Articles: Opinions/Editorials
LOCAL REPORT: Jackson, Michigan Jobless Drop Among The Biggest In The Nation
Post Date: 2011-02-10 14:50:30 by Brian S
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It was already impressive enough to learn that Jackson County’s jobless rate dropped 4.3 percentage points in a year. But did you know that’s one of the biggest improvements in the country? The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that only two other communities in the country saw a greater dip in their unemployment rate from December 2009 to December 2010. Both — Muskegon (4.8 percentage points) and Monroe (4.4 percent) — are in Michigan. In fact, the 10 biggest drops all took place in our Wolverine State. Is the glass half empty or half full? A community’s jobless rate likely won’t fall so much unless it is high in the first place. Indeed, ...
Why Conservatives are Turning on Beck [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2011-02-09 00:27:50 by Brian S
53 Comments
Adam Serwer asks a good question: why now? Why, after all the obvious agreement between conservatives and Beck -- on Israel, on Islam, on big bad bogeymen like shari'ah water-carriers and socialists and Stalinists et al. -- are conservatives suddenly, as Anthea put it yesterday, circling Beck like sharks? As I discussed as the Egypt news was breaking and Beck was jumping on the opportunity to link the Muslim Brotherhood to the grand socialist conspiracy, American conservatives have a long-standing affection for conspiracy theories surrounding the Muslim Brotherhood and its supposed plot to take over America with a "caliphate." As Media Matters notes today, Beck shares a ...
Will The Real Zionists Please Stand Up?
Post Date: 2011-02-08 19:46:21 by Brian S
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If I had a hundred rupees for every time I’ve heard the term ‘Zionist’ or ‘Zionist conspiracy’ used in everyday conversation, newspaper articles or political speeches, I’d be a rich man. But despite the term’s widespread use it is bandied about with little understanding of its meaning, origin or implications. In fact, the words ‘Jewish’, ‘Israeli’ and ‘Zionist’ are used interchangeably. Let’s try to clarify this a bit: Judaism is a religion, Israel is a state and Zionism is an ideology. Dr Alan Sabrovsky, a former US marine of Jewish origin describes modern Zionism as a “witches’ brew of xenophobia, ...
Sarah Palin insults Ronald Reagan's legacy
Post Date: 2011-02-08 13:33:45 by go65
4 Comments
Now here comes the ubiquitous Sarah Palin claiming the mantle of Ronald Reagan's legacy. I have recently been minimizing the Sarah Palin commentary, and trying to emphasize more substantive matters, because I am bored to death by much liberal obsession with Palin and partisan hack jobs by the Dick Morris types on the right. In this case, Sarah Palin has nothing in common with Ronald Reagan. Reagan would never have thought of quitting as governor of California, as Palin quit as governor of Alaska. Reagan treated opponents with civility and decency, no matter how much he disagreed with them. Ronald Reagan believed in the art of negotiation, which he learned as president of the Screen ...
Palin’s Neocon Path
Post Date: 2011-02-08 12:47:14 by Brian S
13 Comments
When John McCain announced his choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on August 29, 2008, the only foreign policy experience or expertise the Republican vice presidential candidate could point to was her 20 months as Governor of the only state between Canada and Russia. But the former Governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate has come a long way in the little more than two years since the enormously successful “hockey mom” speech she delivered at the Republican National Convention. In an op-ed piece in USA Today last December 21, Palin sounded like an old foreign policy hand from inside the Washington beltway.In the article, headlined “Time to Get ...
Dr. Ron Paul: Our 30 Year Mistake
Post Date: 2011-02-07 18:41:24 by Brian S
5 Comments
The events in Egypt of late have captured the attention of the world, as many thousands of Egyptians take to the streets both in opposition to and in favor of the current regime. We watch from a distance hoping that events do not spiral further into violence, which will destroy lives and threaten the livelihoods of average Egyptians caught up in the political turmoil. I hope that Egyptians are able to work toward a more free and just society. Unfortunately, much of the blame for the unrest in Egypt and the resulting instability in the region rests with US foreign policy over the past several decades. The US government has sent more than $60 billion to the Egyptian regime since the Camp ...
The Good Word: With Turmoil In Middle East, It Is Good To Have Obama At The Helm in the U.S.
Post Date: 2011-02-04 16:52:41 by Brian S
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With all of the turmoil in the Middle East — a new opposition government not fully supported by the United States and Israel in Lebanon; a Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia; and massive demonstrations in the streets in the capital cities in Cairo; Sana’a, Yemen; and Amman, Jordan, against autocratic, repressive regimes — there is total uncertainty as to what the region’s future will be. What is certain is that while each country in the area is unique, whatever occurs in one country affects what occurs in other Mideast countries, if only because of satellite TV, the Internet and cell phones. What is also certain is that U.S.-Middle East interests are very complicated due to ...
The Tea Party Is the Muslim Brotherhood of America? You Betcha
Post Date: 2011-02-04 15:15:20 by Brian S
1 Comments
MSNBC's Chris Matthews made a remark yesterday comparing the Tea Party of America to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. "So the Muslim Brotherhood has a parallel role here with the Tea Party," he said. "They're the ones who keep you honest and decide whether you've stayed too long?" That's what you might call a backhanded compliment. Mr. Hardball could have gone so much further with the comparison. Getty ImagesA typical Tea Party sign 43;The truth is that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tea Party have a lot in common, starting at the most basic level. Both movements are dedicated to driving the world backward into a religious state, one ...
George Bush Was Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
Post Date: 2011-02-04 15:01:28 by Brian S
11 Comments
If the debate in Washington over the Iraq War had made for strange political bedfellows, during the current discourse over the Egypt crisis, the bedfellows are looking really weird. In the run to the U.S. "liberation" of Mesopotamia the romance between the neocons (American Enterprise Institute / Weekly Standard) and the liberal imperialists (The Brookings Institute / New Republic) -- consummating their relationship while doing nation building on the banks of the Euphrates -- was all the rage. You may recall that the bed aka the Freedom Agenda that our odd couple was sharing crashed to the floor of Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and the rest of the Middle East. In fact, some ...
We Are All Egyptians
Post Date: 2011-02-04 14:29:18 by Ferret Mike
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Inside Tahrir Square on Thursday, I met a carpenter named Mahmood whose left arm was in a sling, whose leg was in a cast and whose head was being bandaged in a small field hospital set up by the democracy movement. This was the seventh time in 24 hours that he had needed medical treatment for injuries suffered at the hands of government-backed mobs. But as soon as Mahmood was bandaged, he tottered off once again to the front lines. “I’ll fight as long as I can,” he told me. I was awestruck. That seemed to be an example of determination that could never be surpassed, but as I snapped Mahmood’s picture I backed into Amr’s wheelchair. It turned out that Amr had lost ...
The Roots of the American Right’s Muslim Brotherhood Panic
Post Date: 2011-02-03 19:48:07 by Brian S
9 Comments
Reza Aslan has a good piece up at the Washington Post, in which he both demystifies the Muslim Brotherhood and exposes the hypocrisy of American conservative politicians like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum for fomenting panic about the Brotherhood's supposedly theocratic aims: After all, in the United States it is axiomatic that Islam is inherently opposed to democracy and that Muslims are incapable of reconciling democratic and Islamic values. Never mind that the same people who scoff at the notion that religion could play no role in the emerging democracies in the Middle East are the same people who demand that religion must play a role in America's democracy. Ironically, one of ...
Iran Commemorates Its (Expanding) Revolution
Post Date: 2011-02-03 19:40:53 by Brian S
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33 years after delivering a major blow to the post-WWII western political infrastructure in the Middle East, by uprooting a well-entrenched US-backed monarchy, the leaders of Islamic Republic of Iran are naturally elated that Egypt is in the grips of a similar people's revolution that, if successful, can cause profound transformations not only inside Egypt but also the wider region. Indeed, "political realignment" is the catchword that comes immediately to mind when one ponders the potential (geo) political implications of a regime change in Egypt, not to mention the on-going ripple effects of a new Arab awakening elsewhere in the Arab world, triggering the thoughts of a ...
The Modern American Political Plague: 6 ways to protect against its destructive toll
Post Date: 2011-02-03 19:15:21 by Capitalist Eric
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There is a great illness infecting America today. This plague has the name: Ineptum Inesse Privatio and it is not only robbing our society of purpose, of intelligence, and of the quality of Nationalism that once held this country together during its greatest trials and tribulation, it is undermining the very fabric of this once Great Nation. The main symptoms of this illness are ignorance, delusions of righteousness, and a tendency toward anger when approached by a person possessing the all important and increasingly difficult to cultivate Cure: Proven Fact. Many of you have witnessed the outbreak. People you once had meaningful conversations with have seemed to have turned into ...
The "Tea Party" Is Not Revolting
Post Date: 2011-02-03 15:11:23 by Skip Intro
5 Comments
Just in case anyone from the "Tea Party" is watching the news from Egypt, this is what an actual revolution looks like. A quarter-million people randomly taking to the streets. No one dressed up in funny costumes and hats. No tea bags worn. Visceral, guttural, raw human outrage against one man's 29-year dictatorship while living under "emergency law" for 43 years. No voters upset that they lost an election two years earlier. Nobody angry that the government is trying to force national health care on them. Not one poster of Adolf Hitler. No professional lobbying organization putting together Official Protest Parties. BYOB. No national TV network rallying its ...
U.S. Interests in Peril as Youth Rebel, Leaders Quit in Mideast
Post Date: 2011-02-02 23:10:51 by Brian S
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Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Political upheaval among stalwart U.S. allies in the Arab world may have irrevocably altered politics in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East, Obama administration officials say. While they did not foresee the fast-changing events and can’t predict where spreading unrest will end, they insist they are keenly aware of the dangers. Longtime Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday followed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in responding to street protests by pledging not to seek reelection. The day before, Jordanian King Abdullah sacked his prime minister following demonstrations and promised “genuine political reform.” Last month, a revolt in Tunisia ...
Deficit hawkery as farce
Post Date: 2011-02-02 18:05:11 by go65
1 Comments
The idea that cutting several tens of billions of dollars out of the federal budget right now will improve the economy makes no sense. There are no doubt some government programmes that aren't worth what we're spending on them. It's always a good idea to cut programmes that aren't worthwhile. Such cuts have nothing to do with the current state of the economy, one way or the other. America faces a long-term debt problem on the order of trillions of dollars, mainly as a result of rising health-care costs and their impact on the Medicare and Medicaid budgets. Rising Social Security obligations and huge defence expenses also play a role. And a very large role is played by the ...
Neocons vs. Israel
Post Date: 2011-02-02 15:32:59 by Brian S
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One of the most remarkable features of the American response to the Egypt crisis has been its one-sidedness.The longtime, loyal American ally Hosni Mubarak turns out to have virtually no support here, from Capitol Hill -- where just a handful of Republican backbenchers have called on Obama to support him -- to the foreign policy establishment where, after Les Gelb and John Bolton, there have been few voices rallying Obama to his defense. This is partly because cold-eyed, dictator-supporting realism is a very hard sell on the, er, American Street, where peaceful, hopeful protesters have captured the imagination. But it's also partly because the "neocons" won important ...
Democracy Is Back – How Awkward
Post Date: 2011-02-01 20:20:44 by Brian S
1 Comments
It has taken just six weeks for the arrest of a fruit-and-vegetable seller in Tunisia to spark a chain of events that now threatens to topple the government of Egypt. Watching the revolt against autocracy spread across the Arab world is exciting, uplifting – and also deeply alarming for the world’s major powers, all of which are, in different ways, fond of the status quo. The discomfort of the US is obvious and much remarked upon. As the world’s only superpower and President Hosni Mubarak’s main outside sponsor, it is the US that everybody is looking to. But the turmoil in Egypt will also be a source of anxiety for European and even Chinese leaders. Europeans have ...
Buchanan: Winners and Losers From a Pharaoh’s Fall
Post Date: 2011-02-01 14:57:16 by Brian S
3 Comments
Among the biggest losers of the Egyptian uprising are, first, the Mubaraks, who are finished, and, next, the United States and Israel. Hosni Mubarak will be out by year’s end, if not the end of this month, or week. He will not run again and will not be succeeded by son Gamal, whom he had groomed and who has fled to London. Today, the lead party in determining Egypt’s future is the army. Cheered in the streets of Cairo, respected by the people, that army is not going to fire on peaceful demonstrators to keep in power a regime with one foot already in the grave. Only if fired on by provocateurs is the army likely to clear Tahrir Square the way the Chinese army cleared Tiananmen ...
And There It Is: Neocons Test Idea of US Intervention in Egypt
Post Date: 2011-02-01 14:52:20 by Brian S
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Just now on MSNBC, neocon Dan Senor, former Iraq occupation spokesman, raised the possibility of intervention in Egypt. Host Chris Jansing asked Senor, more or less, why Americans should care about what’s going on in Egypt. What are the implications for our country and economy? Senor, as he is trained to do, conjured a dangerous false dichotomy that continues to embroil the US in pointless, expensive, deadly conflicts decade after decade. “There are two directions it could go. If the Egyptian government — and other governments for that matter — is replaced by moderate secular, pro-American governments that actually want to truly partner with us in fighting terror and ...
Next ... Liberating The American People From The Israel-Firsters
Post Date: 2011-02-01 12:54:29 by Brian S
1 Comments
In his latest Newsweek article Stephen Kinzer wonders who America is betting on to counter the popular rising forces in the Middle East : “The same friends it has been betting on for decades” he answers. “Mubarak’s pharaonic regime in Egypt, Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority, the Saudi monarchy, and increasingly radical politicians in Israel. It is no wonder that Iran’s power is rising as the American-imposed order begins to crumble,” he concludes. Kinzer explains America's stance succinctly and accurately : “The U.S. keeps Mubarak in power - it gave his regime $1.5 billion in aid last year -mainly because ...
Second Amendment Rights Apparently Don’t Apply Around Sarah Palin
Post Date: 2011-01-31 19:30:20 by Brian S
13 Comments
Dear Editor: On Monday evening Jan. 24, Sarah Palin returned to her public speaking tour with a fundraising speech for a conservative Christian school in Lubbock, Texas. For anywhere from $250 to $2,500 a ticket, over 1,000 Texans listened to Palin deliver her version of the Sermon on the Mount. Her staff enforced what the local press called “tight security.” Despite a Texas law that forbids the banning of concealed handguns held by Texas permit-holders in public venues, all members of the audience had to bring a photo ID, pass through metal detectors, and anyone who tried to bring in a weapon, permit or not, was subject to arrest. Although media were barred from the event, it ...
Israel's Demand For Allegiance To A "Jewish," "Democratic" State Belie Open Society Claim
Post Date: 2011-01-31 19:09:19 by Brian S
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"Israel appears to be sliding down a slippery slope away from the very "Jewish" and "democratic" values it claims it embodies. Within Israel, there are many courageous voices rising in opposition. Sadly, within the organized American Jewish community there is largely silence." Recent developments in Israel indicate a steady movement away from the free and open society it proclaims itself to be.In October, the Israeli cabinet approved a draft amendment to the country's citizenship law that calls for non-Jews seeking to become citizens to pledge loyalty to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state."The vote was 22 to 8, with the five ...
Limited Options in the Face of Turmoil
Post Date: 2011-01-31 11:34:15 by Brian S
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Across the Middle East, dramatic events have been unfolding in rapid-fire succession, confounding U.S. policy makers. First, Tunisia erupted in mass protest leading to the abdication of that country's president and the dissolution of its ruling party. While developments there were fermenting and still unresolved, attention was diverted to al Jazeera's much hyped release of leaked notes recording conversations between Palestinian negotiators and their American and Israeli counterparts. As revelations go, the "Palestine Papers," as they were marketed, didn't amount to much. However, as an effectively orchestrated and well-timed political attack designed for maximum ...
The Egyptian Masses Won't Play Ally To Israel
Post Date: 2011-01-30 21:53:47 by Brian S
1 Comments
As long as the masses in Egypt and in the entire Arab world continue seeing the images of tyranny and violence from the occupied territories, Israel will not be able to be accepted, even it is acceptable to a few regimes. By Gideon Levy Three or four days ago, Egypt was still in our hands. The army of pundits, including our top expert on Egypt, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said that "everything is under control," that Cairo is not Tunis and that Mubarak is strong. Ben-Eliezer said that he had spoken on the phone with a senior Egyptian official, and he assured him that there's nothing to worry about. You can count on Fuad and Hosni, both about to become has-beens. ...
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