Yesterday afternoon Jason Bellini of The Daily Beast said that gay rights leaders had made a deal to wait on repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. He said that Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) "let slip" to a number of gay leaders that the Human Rights Campaign told him that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is not the White House's priority: Last night Andy Towle got another statement from … [Read more...] about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Heats Up
An Unexpected Cache of World War II Memories
Tomorrow marks the 65th anniversary of the D-Day Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy. President Obama will visit the tiny town of Colleville in Normandy and view the beaches below the village---the sacred landing zone dubbed Omaha Beach---and pay homage to the over 9,000 American soldiers buried here. I just finished reading the story of one of the heroes who … [Read more...] about An Unexpected Cache of World War II Memories
BUY REAL ESTATE TODAY? – ONLY TO LIVE IN FOR THE LONG HAUL.
There have been many calls from “experts” that the time is right to buy real estate. Don’t believe their objectivity as many are funded by major national residential and commercial real estate companies. Surveys across the country do not indicate that the bottom of the real estate markets have occurred, even with significantly lower prices than 2 years ago. “Location, … [Read more...] about BUY REAL ESTATE TODAY? – ONLY TO LIVE IN FOR THE LONG HAUL.
The $125,000 Question
I feel like Jon Stewart of The Daily Show after taking a week off. Among the news items he missed was General Motors filing bankruptcy giving taxpayers a 60% ownership. Stewart thought it was cool owning a car company promised to be a more lean, green, mean machine. So what if it still fails? Stewart asked. "It's insured." Pause. Imaginary phone call. "By AIG? Yikes." I … [Read more...] about The $125,000 Question
Republicans: Note the Tories
Labour Leader Brown and Tory Leader Cameron; their expressions may soon switch faces * * * Do the Republicans in the U.S. think they have nothing to learn from the the Tories in the U.K.? If so, the R's may want to reconsider, given the T's strong showing in recent U.K. elections. Granted, those election results may have less to do with a sea-change in U.K. … [Read more...] about Republicans: Note the Tories
Pacifying The Proles
Will Pfizer prevent social revolution in this country? This question came to mind on a recent day when two seemingly unrelated events occurred. I finished reading a book about the decline of the Roman Empire. And a drug company announced an unusual giveaway plan. With regard to Rome. You think Bush and Cheney were bad? Think Nero and Caligula (the latter a nickname, by … [Read more...] about Pacifying The Proles
The Right and Obama’s Cairo Speech
Ira Stoll writes in Commentary that the speech was "awful." Here is a rundown of his complaints. … [Read more...] about The Right and Obama’s Cairo Speech
Dionne, Rush, et. al., Take 2
So the WaPo's Dionne and TMV's Stickings agree that "the right wing's rants get wall-to-wall airtime," while the most progressive voices are too-often ignored -- and thus "the range of acceptable opinion" for American media "runs from the moderate left to the far right and cuts off more vigorous progressive perspectives." One potential translation of this Dionne-Stickings … [Read more...] about Dionne, Rush, et. al., Take 2
Reflections on Obama’s Cairo Speech
I have been deeply disappointed with Obama's overly pragmatic (to put it nicely) approach to foreign policy thus far. In particular, I am disappointed with his emphasis on stability over democracy and human rights, notably with respect to China, Saudi Arabia, and other appalling regimes. As well, like the editors of TNR, I have been "extraordinarily disappointed" with … [Read more...] about Reflections on Obama’s Cairo Speech
John Avlon’s Wingnut Of The Week: Ted Rall and Tom Tancredo
Centrist writer John Avlon, who wrote the must-read book Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics -- a book that documents how centrists and moderates can indeed be passionate and do indeed take political stands -- has awarded his latest Wingut Of The Week awards on CNN to two worthy candidates, on the left and right: Ted Rall and Tom Tancredo. The former chief … [Read more...] about John Avlon’s Wingnut Of The Week: Ted Rall and Tom Tancredo
The Triumph of the Limbaugh-Gingrich Axis: E.J. Dionne on Rush, Newt, the Media, and How Conservative Spin Skews the News
In case you missed it, make sure to check out this brilliant column from E.J. Dionne, published yesterday at the WaPo. While it says what many of us have been saying for a long time -- namely, that the establishment media are effectively being manipulated by, and have for a long time been dominated by, conservative narratives that shape and frame how the media inform their … [Read more...] about The Triumph of the Limbaugh-Gingrich Axis: E.J. Dionne on Rush, Newt, the Media, and How Conservative Spin Skews the News
Obama’s Knowing Naivete
The Cairo speech has come and gone, an American president preaching the Golden Rule to the Muslim world, trying to walk a fine line between faith and reason through murderous beliefs and irrational hatreds. Parsing what Barack Obama said will keep "experts" busy for some time, but the words were less exceptional than the act, an American leader presenting himself as both the … [Read more...] about Obama’s Knowing Naivete
The Economy: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Today's unemployment report contained some of the first unequivocally good news that I've read in an economic report in a long time. The huge decrease in layoffs ("only" 350k jobs lost) was much better than expected, and while one month doesn't make a trend, it does provide some hope things won't disintegrate again like I think they will. The stock market may not go up much … [Read more...] about The Economy: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
The Big Unit Wins #300
Yesterday was Obama's big day in Cairo, obviously, but, in the sports world, or at least in the North American sports world, the big news yesterday, bigger (in my view) than Game 1 of the NBA Finals and Game 4 of the NHL Finals, bigger historically, was made in Washington, ironically enough, where one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, The Big Unit, 45-year-old Randy … [Read more...] about The Big Unit Wins #300
Traditional Marriage Gets Stranger
From Fox, "a matrimonial reality series," I Married a Stranger: The premise of the show is that a woman frustrated by the dating scene agrees to wed a man she's never met. While she prepares for her blind wedding, friends and family select a spouse from a pool of six eligible suitors offered by the show's producers. The men are eliminated one by one until only two candidates … [Read more...] about Traditional Marriage Gets Stranger
Late to the Cairo Speech Reaction Party
Tzipi Livni, current leader of the opposition party (Kadima) in Israel * * * I published a post last night with the same title as this one. Something about the prior version troubled me. So I revisited it and finally decided (i) it was not balanced enough, and (ii) I didn't have enough expertise on Israel/Middle East matters to be making the suggestions I had made. … [Read more...] about Late to the Cairo Speech Reaction Party
Today in History: Operation Shingle
Back on Memorial Day we talked about one of the more famous allied operations during World War 2 which took place during the relief of Bastogne in France. Today marks the anniversary of the end of another major engagement, this one in Italy. Known as Operation Shingle, later combined with Operation Diadem, it was first envisioned by Winston Churchill and somewhat reluctantly … [Read more...] about Today in History: Operation Shingle
Venezuela: Revolutionary Role Model Or Sad And Surreal?
Pablo Kleinman, Editor-in-Chief of Diario de América, a Spanish-language political journal, and President of the Californiana Foundation, a Los Angeles-based think tank, paints a picture of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela in a way that Chavez would not like to have the world see it in this post on RealClearWorld: The Caracas Metro is modern and attractive. The trains are … [Read more...] about Venezuela: Revolutionary Role Model Or Sad And Surreal?
Obama In Cairo: Speaking Flattery to Power (Guest Voice)
Speaking Flattery to Power By Barry Rubin Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo is one of the most bizarre orations ever made by a U.S. president, not a foreign policy statement but rather something invented by Obama, an international campaign speech, as if his main goal was to obtain votes in the next Egyptian primary. That approach defined Obama’s basic themes: Islam’s … [Read more...] about Obama In Cairo: Speaking Flattery to Power (Guest Voice)
Common Ground on Abortion (Guest Voice)
Common Ground on Abortion By Malcolm Potts MD, PhD The abortion debate, as President Obama stated at Notre Dame in May, will not go away and should not go away. The way towards common ground is through asking the right questions. As long as one side asserts women’s rights and the other the embryos' rights, then the war on abortion will go on consuming our energies and … [Read more...] about Common Ground on Abortion (Guest Voice)