Arrrr mateys! I completely forgot that today is Talk Like a Pirate Day! Shiver me Timbers! I’m off to get some Spanish booty ye lubbers!
Month: September 2011
Friends in High Places
Well, it would seem that I am making all kinds of friends in high places. First, Barack Obama invites me to dinner, and now Al Gore is making a personal appeal to me to contribute to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
At no time has Democrats’ progress been more threatened than it is now. Single-minded proponents of a dangerous and extremist agenda are working feverishly to roll back every Democratic gain we’ve ever made.
The Tea Partiers now calling the shots in the Republican Party won’t back away from their radical agenda. And they are also exceedingly well funded by corporate backers, thanks to the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision.
It will take an unshakeable commitment from grassroots Democrats like you to guarantee our progress and to continue to move America forward.
That’s why I am asking for your support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)’s Million Dollar Matching Gift Campaign before their critical Federal Election Commission (FEC) fundraising reporting deadline on September 30th.
I am making this personal appeal to you because it’s imperative we have a strong FEC filing on September 30th.
Yes, the Tea Partiers certainly do have an extreme radical agenda. Imagine, thinking that the government should live within its means and actually follow the Constitution. I don’t know where they get such wackos.
Well, Al Gore can certainly count on me!
Hey!, there’s more. I just got an e-mail from Harry Reid!
We are locked in a struggle for America’s soul. Our very values are at risk.
Rick Perry calls Social Security a “monstrous lie.” Paul Ryan dreams of ending Medicare forever. And the Republican response to the thought of an uninsured coma patient? Grisly, callous shouting from the audience.
They want to reverse the steps our country took to care for the sick and prevent our parents and grandparents from living in squalor.
Doing so would fundamentally change America. We simply must fight back.
The Republicans want to ride a wave of frustration to win four Senate seats so they can remake America. Unless you contribute to the DSCC’s $662,000 goal before midnight on Sept. 30, we won’t have the resources to stop them in their tracks.
This country could change forever. Don’t wait to fight for the ideals all of us believe in.
Everywhere you look, Republicans are assaulting the very idea that we are our brother’s keeper and that all Americans deserve a certain basic dignity.
The Republicans don’t seem to care that our people don’t have jobs. They refuse to lift a finger to get the economy moving again.
The Republicans don’t seem to care that one in four American children live in poverty. They’re too busy lecturing us about the budget deficit they created while defending huge tax giveaways to the big corporations.
Democrats have always been the party that fights for the middle class – and now is no different. If we’re going to stand up to the special interests, the DSCC needs the grassroots to come through in a big way.
The DSCC is counting on grassroots donors for $662,000 before Sept. 30. Let’s make sure we get there.
I know progress doesn’t always come as quickly as we’d like. But our values will always endure.
Democrats will always be the ones fighting for what’s right for the American people. Republicans will always fight for the super-rich and the big corporations.
Right now, we need you in this fight. Please give whatever you can right away.
Those fiends!. Wanting to balance the budget and not supporting Obama’s latest stimulus boondoggle. Not to mention wanting to keep money in the private sector so that employers might feel confident enough to start hiring again. I’m with you Harry!
Bizarro World
I think that I must have entered Bizarro World.
You know, the strange planet in the Superman comics where they do everything the opposite the way it’s done on Earth. I get the impression from reading this article from USA Today.
WASHINGTON — The Palestine Liberation Organization‘s ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that any future Palestinian state it seeks with help from the United Nations and the United States should be free of Jews.
“After the experience of the last 44 years of military occupation and all the conflict and friction, I think it would be in the best interest of the two people to be separated,” Maen Areikat, the PLO ambassador, said during a meeting with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. He was responding to a question about the rights of minorities in a Palestine of the future.
Such a state would be the first to officially prohibit Jews or any other faith since Nazi Germany, which sought a country that was judenrein, or cleansed of Jews, said Elliott Abrams, a former U.S. National Security Council official.
And yet, somehow it is Israel that is the evil apartheid state, even though some 20% of Israel’s population are Arabs who have all the same rights as Israel’s Jewish population. And, the Palestinian Authority is somehow on the side of the angels, even though they are notoriously corrupt and undemocratic as this report from Freedom House makes clear.
Corruption remains a major problem in the West Bank, though Abbas has overseen some improvements. Prime Minister Salam Fayad, appointed by Abbas in 2007, is highly regarded for his commitment to transparent government, and has been credited with significantly reducing corruption at the higher levels of the PA.The media are not free in the West Bank. Under a 1995 PA press law, journalists may be fined and jailed, and newspapers closed, for publishing “secret information” on PA security forces or news that might harm national unityor incite violence. Several small media outlets are routinely pressured to provide favorable coverage of the PA and Fatah. Journalists who criticize the PA or Fatah face arbitrary arrests, threats, and physical abuse. Since 2007, both the PA and Israeli forces have shut down Hamas-affiliated radio and television stations in the West Bank. In February 2010, a PA military court sentenced Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa television correspondent Tareq Abu Zaid to a year and a half in prison for “transferring information and money,” despite a Palestinian Supreme Court ruling calling for his release. In July, the PA Ministry of Communications issued notices to 19 radio and 25 television stations to stop broadcasting for one month and “correct their positions” or face permanent closure, according to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA). International press freedom groups regularly criticize Israel for blocking journalists’ access to conflict zones, harming and sometimes killing reporters during battles, and harassing Palestinian journalists. Israel insists that reporters risk getting caught in crossfire but are not targeted deliberately. Both Palestinian and Israeli security forces were accused of assaulting and arbitrarily detaining several journalists in 2010.The PA generally respects freedom of religion, though no law specifically protects religious expression. The Basic Law declares Islam to be the official religion of Palestine and also states that “respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions (Judaism and Christianity) shall be maintained.” Personal status law, which governs marriage and divorce, is based on religious law; for Muslims it is derived from Sharia (Islamic law), and for Christians it is governed by ecclesiastical courts. Some Palestinian Christians have experienced intimidation and harassment by radical Islamist groups and PA officials. In late October, blogger Waleed Hasayin was arrested on charges of defaming Islam and the Koran and violating the PA’s blasphemy laws; Hasayin was still being detained at year’s end while the PA investigated the allegations.While Palestinian women are underrepresented in most professions and encounter discrimination in employment, they have full access to universities and to many professions. Palestinian laws and societal norms, derived in part from Sharia, put women at a disadvantage in matters of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Rape, domestic abuse, and “honor killings,” in which women are murdered by relatives for perceived sexual or moral transgressions, are not uncommon. These murders often go unpunished.
So, how do I get back to a world that is rational?
Statehood for Prussia
With all the recent controversy about the plan for the General Assembly of the United Nations to vote on Palestinian statehood, it is important to recognize that there are other nationalities cruelly deprived of a state of their own. Jonathan Swift over at Pajamas Media makes the case for a homeland for the oppressed Prussians.
It is melancholy to contemplate the homeless condition of the Prussians, an ingenious people whose remarkable antics in prior ages did so much to enliven the politics of Europe. Indeed, now that world opinion has grasped the necessity of returning the descendants of the Arabs of Palestine to their ancestral residences, it must certainly be the hour for a similar service to be rendered on behalf of those belonging to the tribe of the great Frederick.
For while it has been some time since that glorious state known as Prussia graced the map of our fair continent, still the lands of the Prussians were theirs and theirs alone, until that fateful day not yet seven decades past, when the awful Poles, seeking to reestablish a country for which the world had no apparent need, rudely cast them out.
Thus exiled, at barely the same moment as their Arabesque counterparts, the poor Prussians have ever since been forced to endure life stateless, wandering amongst such diverse foreign peoples as Saxons, Westphalians, Rhinelanders, Bavarians, and, even in some cases, Americans, people with whom they have nothing whatsoever in common, and whose company they must certainly find nearly beyond endurance as they continue to pine away, yearning in eternal agony for their lost homeland.
Oh, the pity of it all! Does not Justice herself cry out in anguish, denouncing the continuance of such hideous circumstance? Surely all men of reason and good will must give their whole-hearted assent to the proposition calling for the rightful return of the Prussians and their reestablishment upon their native land in their natural state. But how can such a noble and necessary project be accomplished?
This done, a conference could be called of all the principle powers of the planet to agree upon new boundaries for the two states, Prussia and Poland, so as to enable them to live together amicably in accord with the principles of eternal Justice, in precisely the same wise manner as is now contemplated for Israel and Palestine. As a starting point for such apportionment, the borderline should first be chosen to be that which pertained in 1942, before the rude Polish annexations made during a particular moment of Prussian disadvantage distorted the previously established arrangements. These boundaries, however, could then be adjusted by such further trading of territories as might be mutually agreed between all the parties in attendance.
Clearly the illegal occupation of the Prussian homeland by the Poles must be ended!
A Victor Not a Butcher
I posted this review at Amazon.com.
One of my favorite figures from American history is Ulysses S. Grant. He was the greatest general of the Civil War, and perhaps in American history, with three Confederate armies surrendering to him. He was not such a great president, though better than most give him credit for being. The corruption in American politics during his administration was not his fault and, in fact, was endemic throughout the country. He did stand up for the rights of the freedmen and the native Americans, and this perhaps along with his victory over Lee accounts for the hostility with which many contemporary and Southern sympathizing historians have treated him. It is all too commonly believed, even today, that Grant was a butcher who defeated Lee by sheer weight of numbers, without regard to the casualties he inflicted.
Therefore, it was a real treat to read Edward H. Bonekemper’s Ulysses S. Grant: a Victor, Not a Butcher. Bonekemper shows conclusively that far from being a butcher, Grant was, in fact a master of strategy and misdirection. In his western campaigns, Grant skillfully achieved his goals; the capture of Vicksburg and the Mississippi, driving the Confederates out of Tennessee, etc. with a minimum of casualties. The toll was heavier in the east, against Lee, but as Bonekemper points out, while Grant suffered as many deaths in the eighteen months he commanded the Army of the Potomac as all of the previous commanders had in three years, nevertheless, Grant had developed a winning strategy on a national level, which coordinated with Sherman’s march to the sea brought the South to its knees.
Some reviewers have commented that Bonekemper brings nothing new in this book, no new research or any revelations to one already familiar to the course of the Civil War. This is true, but I think it serves as a helpful introduction to a sometimes-neglected military genius.
Message from a Saudi Prince
Prince Turki al-Faisal, former ambassador to the US has written an op-ed piece in the New York Times. Essentially he is saying that if we don’t allow the Palestinians to declare their statehood this month at the UN, then Saudi Arabia won’t be our friend anymore.
The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has. With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the “special relationship” between Saudi Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims, who demand justice for the Palestinian people.
Considering that Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were Saudi nationals and Saudi Arabia is still funding radical mosques and madrassas all over the world, and is one of the most oppressive nations on Earth, one would think that with a friend like that, we hardly need any enemies.
Israel should see the Palestinian bid for statehood not as a threat, but as a chance to return to the negotiating table and prevent further conflict. Recent polls show that up to 70 percent of Palestinians say they believe there will be a new intifada if the deadlock is not broken shortly; this should encourage Israel to seek peace with the moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
I can’t imagine why Israel would see a Palestinian state as a possible threat. Just because a majority of the Palestinians want to destroy Israel. Look at the map above. See how vulnerable Israel would be against a hostile Palestine.
The 2002 Arab Peace Plan must be the starting point for negotiations; a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders is the only realistic foundation on which to restart talks, seeing as how the Oslo Peace Process has proved fruitless.
Why has the peace process proved fruitless? Because the Palestinians don’t want peace or a two state solution. They want a one state solution with no Jews. I don’t really believe the Saudis are particularly sincere either.
Although Saudi Arabia is willing and able to chart a new and divergent course if America fails to act justly with regard to Palestine, the Middle East would be far better served by continuing cooperation and good will between these longstanding allies.
American support for Palestinian statehood is therefore crucial, and a veto will have profound negative consequences. In addition to causing substantial damage to American-Saudi relations and provoking uproar among Muslims worldwide, the United States would further undermine its relations with the Muslim world, empower Iran and threaten regional stability. Let us hope that the United States chooses the path of justice and peace.
A couple of questions:
1. If Prince Turki al-Faisal and Saudi Arabia are so concerned about justice in that part of the world, why don’t they take up the cause of the Kurds in Turkey, the Christians in Iraq and Egypt, or the Shiites in their own kingdom, all of which are being treated far worse than the Palestinians?
2. If the Palestinians want their own state, why don’t they show that they deserve one by learning to live at peace with their neighbors? This means openly acknowledging Israel’s right to exist, renouncing the use of terrorism, even against “Zionists”, and taking out the anti-Semitic propaganda from their media and school curricula. Maybe after five or ten years with no incidents, the Israelis will feel secure enough to allow a Palestinian state.
3. By the way, why have the other Arab states in the region ever taken in the Palestinians? Has Saudi Arabia ever offered these refuges a home and a chance for a new life?
If I had to choose between having either Israel or Saudi Arabia for an ally, it really isn’t a difficult choice. I would go for the country that has religious freedom and doesn’t treat women as sub-humans. I hope President Obama feels likewise
Related articles
- The folly of the Palestinian statehood bid (telegraph.co.uk)
- Why we should oppose Palestinian statehood at the United Nations (lightandtruthonline.com)
- Turki al-Faisal, Leading Saudi Prince, Opines (danielpipes.org)
- Travels in Saudi Arabia (davidscommonplacebook.wordpress.com)
Upset in New York
The news is full of the the stunning upset in the special election of New York’s ninth Congressional district, Anthony Weiner‘s old seat. Republican Bob Turner defeated Democrat David Weprin to gain a seat that has been in Democratic hands since 1923. A key factor in this 40% Jewish district seems to have been Obama’s poor treatment of Israel, which Turner criticized. Also, I believe that this election was seen by many as a referendum on Obama.
It is possible to make too much of a single election, but if I were a Democratic strategist, I would be really, really worried.
Related articles
- Turner Upsets Weprin in NY-9 (politicalwire.com)
- American Jews Turn On Democrats
Attackwatch
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Jim Messina, the campaign manager for Obama for America.
David —
Remember the claims that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States?
Or that health care reform — a law that brings down costs and improves health care for all Americans — would help “pull the plug on grandma”?
If he had released his birth certificate two years ago, the claims that he wasn’t born in the United States never would have gotten as much attention as they did. I wonder if I told Mr. Messina that I had a bag of magic beans that I would be willing to sell him, if he would believe me. That makes about as much sense as believing that “health care reform” can simultaneously lower costs and improve health care. But, on
to the message.
This campaign isn’t going to wait to find out what’s coming. We’re building a program right now to snuff out these false attacks the moment they start, fight back against distortions of the President’s record, and mobilize our supporters around the truth.
It’s called AttackWatch.com — and if you have an interest in seeing lies about President Obama countered, you should give it a close look.
Will you visit AttackWatch.com today and sign up to fight back on the President’s behalf?
Yes, I want to help respond to attacks on the President.
Not right now, but I can donate $5 to fund the 2012 campaign and support this work.
Not right now, but I want to check out AttackWatch.com.
Being a part of AttackWatch.com is simple. Just visit the site when you see a new attack on the President. If we’ve heard it before, you’ll be able to download all the facts and resources you need to fight back. If we haven’t, you can be the first to let us know about it.
You can also sign up to be on the front lines as attacks develop — we’ll be in touch in the months ahead with new tips for how to spread the truth to your friends and neighbors.
I am so tempted to join attackwatch and see what kind of stories I can make up. Republicans say Obama is a lizard man from Alpha Centauri! They are running ads accusing Michelle Obama of really being a man!
It would be fun but judging from the derision this is attracting, see here, here here, and I’m sure many other places, I imagine that this effort will soon be consigned to the memory hole.
Best of the Web from the Wall Street Journal picked this up too.I wonder if the people who came up this this thought about the probable reactions they would get.
In a related note, President Obama wants to have dinner with me.
David —
Supporters like you are the reason I’m here, and the values we share have always made our organization more than just a political campaign.
So whenever I can, I want to take the opportunity to meet you. Last month, that meant I got to talk to folks in Iowa about small-business opportunities, and sit down with a group of volunteers from around the country who helped build this campaign in their communities this summer.
Today, I want to ask if you’ll join me and three other supporters for a meal and conversation sometime soon.
He’s asking for a donation to his campaign, of course, but you can enter without contributing, so I entered. My chances of winning are about the same as winning a lottery, but it would be fun to meet him, and tell him what I think of the job he’s doing.
Related articles
- AttackWatch: Obama campaign makes its own GOP watchdog site So… (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
- Big Brother Launches Attackwatch.com: Is This America? (mikesright.wordpress.com)
- Obama campaign launches website to fight misinformation (thehill.com)
Amish Jailed for Refusing to Pay Fines
I first saw this in my local newspaper, The Madison Courier. They didn’t have it on their website but the Courier Journal does.
MAYFIELD, KY.— Mose Yoder stood in Graves District Court Monday afternoon, rested his bearded chin in his hand and awaited the question from Judge Deborah Hawkins Crooks.
She told him he owed $158 in fines and court costs for refusing to display a bright orange-red safety triangle on the back of his horse-drawn buggy.
“Mr. Yoder, do you intend to pay that amount?” she asked.
He shook his head silently, and she sentenced him to four days in the county jail.
In all, Crooks sentenced nine Amish men to between three and 10 days in jail, beginning late Monday night, for their refusal to pay the fines on religious grounds.
The men said that paying the fines would amount to complying with a law they believe violates their religious strictures against wearing bright colors or trusting in manmade symbols for their safety.
“I don’t think it’s right to put somebody in jail for practicing their religious beliefs … but that’s what we’ll do if that’s what it takes to abide by the biblical laws,” one of the men, Levi Zook, said before the hearing, which was held in a courtroom packed with dozens of Amish men, women and children.
Now, I am sympathetic to claims of religious discrimination but that is not the case here. This is a matter of public safety. Having a safety triangle on the back of their buggies will make it less likely that someone in a car will hit them in the dark. Surely they should put aside their scruples for the safety of their neighbors. In any event other groups of Old Order Amish do comply with this rule.
The men belong to an especially strict sect known as the Old Order Swartzentruber. Other Amish groups — including another that also lives in this Western Kentucky county — do comply with the safety requirement.
It is not as if the state of Kentucky weren’t willing to accommodate their beliefs.
If it doesn’t, more Amish may be filling the local jail, which has special-ordered dark-colored jumpsuits out of respect for the men’s likely aversion to wearing the usual orange jumpsuits.
For their part, the Amish have suggested using lanterns and gray colored tape. The lanterns would work well enough at night but the state has argued they would not be as effective in daylight.
I would add that if they are interested in obeying Biblical laws, they should consider this passage by the apostle Paul.
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:1-7)
And Peter.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (1Peter 2:13-17).
They did not mean, of course, that you should obey any order or law if it goes against God’s law. But you should obey any reasonable law, especially when it is intended for public safety.
Spongebob in Trouble
From ABC. According to at least one study, Sprongebob Squarepants makes children dumber.
The cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is in hot water from a study suggesting that watching just nine minutes of that program can cause short-term attention and learning problems in 4-year-olds.
The problems were seen in a study of 60 children randomly assigned to either watch “SpongeBob,” or the slower-paced PBS cartoon “Caillou” or assigned to draw pictures. Immediately after these nine-minute assignments, the kids took mental function tests; those who had watched “SpongeBob” did measurably worse than the others.
Previous research has linked TV-watching with long-term attention problems in children, but the new study suggests more immediate problems can occur after very little exposure — results that parents of young kids should be alert to, the study authors said.
Kids’ cartoon shows typically feature about 22 minutes of action, so watching a full program “could be more detrimental,” the researchers speculated, But they said more evidence is needed to confirm that.
It is just one study and not a very good one.
The results should be interpreted cautiously because of the study’s small size, but the data seem robust and bolster the idea that media exposure is a public health issue, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis. He is a child development specialist at Seattle Children’s Hospital who wrote an editorial accompanying the study published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Christakis said parents need to realize that fast-paced programming may not be appropriate for very young children. “What kids watch matters, it’s not just how much they watch,” he said.
This study used a small sample of children with similar background and they were not evaluated before the study.
Most kids were white and from middle-class or wealthy families. They were given common mental function tests after watching cartoons or drawing. The SpongeBob kids scored on average 12 points lower than the other two groups, whose scores were nearly identical.
In another test, measuring self-control and impulsiveness, kids were rated on how long they could wait before eating snacks presented when the researcher left the room. “SpongeBob” kids waited about 2 1/2 minutes on average, versus at least four minutes for the other two groups.
The study has several limitations. For one thing, the kids weren’t tested before they watched TV. But Lillard said none of the children had diagnosed attention problems and all got similar scores on parent evaluations of their behavior.
Well, I don’t care what that study says. I like Spongebob and I have watched the show for years. I don’t think it has affected my mental functioning at all. O look, shiny object.
Where was I? Seriously though, Spongebob is not educational programming, just a silly show. Parents probably shouldn’t let their young children watch too much of any show on television, but I am sure that an occasional episode of a silly cartoon won’t scar a four year old for life.
Related articles
- Give SpongeBob a break! (child-psych.org)
David's Commonplace Book 