…but I can’t help but ask, WTF????? From a tweet by Representative Jack Kimble (CA-R; Twitter page here: RepJackKimble): There’s a war going on between traditional America and those who would like to take Christ out of The 4th of July Excuse me? Is it that the time for the whining about the so-called “War on Christmas” too far away, or is this the loony right-wing version of Christmas...

Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins defied their party leadership and voted FOR the extension. More than kudos — my heartfelt respect and gratitude — to them for this.

Has the U.S. goal in the Middle East been to fragment and even dissolve Arab nations in order to plunder their wealth? Furthermore, now that using Israel as a beachhead toward this goal has run its course, has Israel become a liability in this Western colonialist plan? Columnist Hafiz al Barghouty from Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah of the Palestinian Territories writes that Israel is faltering as the West’s ‘front...

Do the World Cup Football results reflect global political realities? According to columnist Muwaffaq Mahadeen of Jordan’s Arabic-language Al-Arab Al-Yawm, football aka/soccer, which he writes dates to the Mayan civilization, was never just about sport, and the teams that succeed or fail reflect the fortunes of the nations they represent. For Al-Arab Al-Yawm, columnist Muwaffaq Mahadeen writes in part: Football...

Campus groups cannot discriminate against gays and receive school funding. That’s how the Supreme Court decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez is being interpreted by much of the media. It’s truthfully an overstatement of what the 5-4 decision stands for, but the ruling does have the effect of allowing schools to require open admission to campus groups, including gays. The case comes from the...

The visceral anger many Iraqis continue to feel over the American invasion is expressed in this article by columnist Khalid al-Jibouri of Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper. After having read former CIA Director George Tenet’s book, At the Center of the Storm, Al-Jibouri writes that people like Tenet should be ashamed at the inestimable damage he and others have done in pursuit of a policy that cost the...

I just read a fascinating article published before the news of the so-called “newfound” $1 trillion worth of mineral riches in Afghanistan broke. The article, published early May in my local newspaper, also came before last week’s McChrystal “scandal” and firing. I mention these two items of more recent news because my mind immediately started wandering and wondering how much difference those two...

Reading this article from yesterday’s El Watan of Algeria, one gets the impression that there is precious little more important to people in that nation than football aka/soccer. Licking the wounds of Algeria’s defeat but paying some respect to the Americans who won, columnist Omar Kharoum writes for El Watan in part: In the end, the Greens were eliminated from the World Cup, but at least they...

The Ohio Supreme Court handed down a decision today in McFee v. Nursing Care Management of America, Inc. that holds that, “…it’s not gender discrimination for employers to require a minimum tenure for employees to take an extended leave for any purpose, pregnancy included.” (See this Columbus Dispatch blog post.) What’s the problem? Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice...

I have not contributed much to the Moderate Voice during 2010 while I actively posted numerous submissions during 2009. This is due to a variety of factors that some TMV contributors and readers might understand and others may simply dismiss as just worthless excuses. Throughout 2010, I have continued to read TMV once a day, sometimes dropping by twice as it adds new posts far more frequently than all other...

Algerians are very proud of their national football team, in part for the political statements its victories represent. According to this article by Abdul Nasser of Algeria’s Arabic-language Echorouk al-Yawm, at the 2010 World Cup, eliminating England and America will also be seen as a victory for Palestinians in Gaza. Reflecting the ferocity of Arab support for the Palestinians and enduring historic...

Hot on the heels of this German editorial roundup headlined Will Obama Be 21st Century Jimmy Carter?, comes this article from France’s Le Figaro. It’s a narrative picking up steam both here and abroad. As French columnist Pierre Rousselin points out, comparing President Obama to Jimmy Carter isn’t just for U.S. neoconservatives anymore. For Le Figaro, Rousselin writes in part: Comparisons...

Geert Wilders, for anyone who does not know the name, is the head of an extremely right-wing political party in The Netherlands, called — in the standard format of the name describing the opposite of what it actually is — the Party for Freedom (which, according to Wikipedia, is the third largest political party in that country). Wilders is also a member of The Netherlands’ House of Representatives.

Israel announced today that it planned to “ease its blockade of Gaza“:

Barry Rubin and many others have spoken forcefully, eloquently and spiritedly about the absolute and undeniable rights of Israel to exist and of the Israelis to live peacefully and securely within the borders of their own country. As a person who totally subscribes to those tenets; as a person who has Jewish roots and ancestry; and as a person who has seen a great number of his ancestors—almost an entire...

Is Tehran considering sending an aid flotilla to Gaza because it fears Turkey’s influence and feels it has to top Ankara? According to this article by columnist Muwaffaq Matar of Alhayat Aljadeeda, a newspaper in the West Bank, while Palestinians could certainly use more help, Iran’s game of one-upmanship is destined to come at the expense of Palestinian lives in Gaza. Exposing yet another chasm...

Is the United States so desperate about impending defeat in Afghanistan that it is setting up Pakistan as a scapegoat? Continuing with our coverage of the Pakistan-media onslaught, recent charges that Pakistan Intelligence has been aiding Taliban militants appear to have triggered this angry retort from the editorial board of Pakistan’s Quetta and Peshawar-based Frontier Post. The Frontier Post editorial...

The noises coming out of the Pakistan’s media are angry – both at the Pakistan government and particularly at the United States. Reasons include the perception that America favors India and its position on Kashmir, doesn’t appreciate Pakistani efforts in battling terrorists, and that Washington controls Pakistan’s leaders like puppets on a string. These two editorials from Pakistan’s...

First, the details of the proposed investigation:

Sandy Tolan, writing in Salon, articulates a theory that has been coalescing in my brain for some time now, as I brood to myself about why, why, why, does Israel keep making the same self-destructive mistakes over and over and over again? This is one of those articles that makes you feel like the author was running around inside your own head (emphasis is mine):

Despite the humanitarian aid that Israel allows into Gaza, the blockade is causing a crisis that is “only going to get even worse,” according to a new report by the International Committee of the Red Cross:

I have no doubt that many readers will reject the substance of this statement out of hand. Before you do that, however, I urge you to read Ken O’Keefe’s entire statement. I did. I certainly don’t take everything he says as Mt. Sinai truth. (One example: he makes an oblique reference to the Armenian genocide as a “past injustice” and of course without using that terminology, and...

Here is a prime example of what I call “the Jewish schizophrenia”: liberal on all issues of social justice and human need; fascist on Israel (emphasis in original):

As Worldmeets.US has been documenting over the past month, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has come under fire both from within and without his country for opposing tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran, which are championed by not only the United States and Europe, but Russia and China as well. In this broadside against Lula, columnist Sergio Malbergier of Brazil’s Folha newspaper...

During a homily in St Peter’s Square delivered before 15,000 priests from around the world to conclude what was to be a year of celebrations, the pope issued his strongest apology yet. Still no specifics about what will change. Except stronger controls on choosing men who enter the priesthood: “In admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the...