"I recall Ralph Nader warning the new President Obama to distance himself from the Bush/Cheney policies. Still rather than admit that Ralph Nader is often right, many of you criticize him for running for president in 2000… Let it go! If President Obama would have listened to people such as Mr Nader at that time Gates wouldn’t have the Obama story to tell in his new book."
Well said.
"By the way, instead of the media always making a story out of Joe Biden’s gaffes, maybe someone ought to pay attention to how right he has often been on National Security. I thought Vice President Biden even when he was a senator had many a good thought when it came to foreign affairs. "
Biden was one of the lead Democrats pushing for the war on Iraq. On the home front he pushed for the Bankruptcy bill that allowed credit card companies to charge usurious interest rates. I don't have time to check this, but I would say it is a good bet he also pushed for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill that tossed out the Glass-Steagall Act that led to the near collapse of Wall Street's banks.
I'm no admirer of Obama, but I'm far from inclined to buy into a hit job from the NYT. Obama was dealt a set of marked cards when he was saddled with Iraq - the consequence of one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century aided and abetted by the NYT.
lew: You are forgetting our glorious victory in Grenada under the heroic leadership of Ronald Reagan when we only amassed around six thousand naval and support personnel to face the overwhelming odds of a couple hundred Cubans and Grenadian allies.
"The Reality of Robert Gates: Defense Secretary Robert Gates is leaving government with accolades from all over Official Washington. Only a few dissenting voices note that the reality of Gates’s four-plus years at the Pentagon’s helm doesn’t match the image," as former CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar observes in this guest essay.
Unfortunately, the Brits were and are far from infallible as the histories of Britain's colonies and Thatcher, Blair and Cameron prove. Equally unfortunately in too many instances, the US and Britain have a lot in common.
If I recall correctly, it was Voltaire who suggested we define our terms. It appears that many in the rightmost spectrum of Israeli politics and their supporters have elected to redefine their terms when it is politically expedient.
"Netanyahu’s demand is either racist or fundamentalist and is objectionable from an American point of view on human rights grounds either way ..."
No doubt Netanyahu is well aware that the American point of view on human rights is fungible so it will be of little concern to him - just like many other American points of view.
"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is adding a fifth demand to his negotiations with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas: That the Palestinians recognize…"
Any bets on what Netanyahu's six, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth demands will be?
" Perhaps the lesson to be drawn when comparing how the two wars ended is that unconditional surrender and allied occupation resulted in the better outcome."
On the other hand, a more likely reason was the relative magnanimity shown by the victors to the defeated after World War II compared with the vindictiveness demanded by the French after WWI. The Marshall Plan compared with vicious demands for reparations that created fertile soil for Hitler's propaganda.
I Am Sorry for the Role I Played in Fallujah: As a US marine who lost close friends in the siege of Fallujah in Iraq seven years ago, I understand that we were the aggressors by Ross Caputi - http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/23-5
The WHO must release report on Iraqi birth defects now: The indefinite postponement of the World Health Organisation's report is alarming scientists and activists. By Dr Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, a native of Iran, - http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/08/20138111224621617.html
" Some here sneer at repetitive references to Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler’s statement of the truth: “War is nothing but a racket.” "
The last time I checked the official website for the Marine Corps I couldn't find any reference to General Butler, two-time Medal of Honor recipient. It looks like his statement about war being a racket made him persona non grata there.
Consortium News has a couple of articles that expand on Professor Cole's:
Forgetting why al-Qaeda spread: Exclusive: Al-Qaeda extremism is resurgent across the Middle East with its affiliates seizing territory in western Iraq and in neighboring Syria. But the neocons are whitewashing their role in spreading this extremism via George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, reports Robert Parry. - http://consortiumnews.com/2014/01/05/forgetting-why-al-qaeda-spread/
Bush’s Anti-American Legacy: As Iraq becomes a hotbed for al-Qaeda terrorism, President George W. Bush’s legacy grows even dimmer. But one could argue that he did succeed in stirring democratic impulses in the region, albeit mostly of an anti-American variety, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar describes. - http://consortiumnews.com/2014/01/04/bushs-anti-american-legacy/
The problem is not only McCain and Graham and their failure to get badly need psychiatric counseling. The people who keep re-electing these warmongers may be worse.
What we need is an artist to give his or her rendition of Fallujah as Picasso did for Guernica. As for veterans of that carnage they probably don't want to talk about and would most likely prefer to forget it if they could.
"First, we shall dispense with your attempt to continue riding your pet hobby horses listed above."
In other words, we will continue with the policy "don't do as I do, do as I say."
This is rich, coming from supporters of one of the two nations who engineered the overthrow of Iran's democratically-elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadeqh, in 1953.
"...but if Iran comes in from the cold and conducts itself in accordance with internationally accepted standards, "
What would those international standards be like? Lobbing missiles from drones to get people on a Tuesday kill list? Accessing the electronic communication systems of everyone on the planet? Condoning, if not supporting, right-wing coups, as in Honduras? Shredding the UN Charter and Geneva Conventions to wage an illegal war, as in Iraq? Engage in "enhanced interrogation?" Behave as a lapdog for the Israel lobby?
Very well said, John. Re: " The public will to protect those institutions was insufficient in the exuberant emergence of the middle class, and now internal reform is precluded." it appears that our "good Americans," like the "good Germans" of an earlier era, are complicit.
You may be giving the NSA (an other like agencies) credit for more intelligence than they deserve. Possession of knowledge/information does not guarantee intelligent decisions will follow.
"When the U.S. arms opposite sides of a conflict – and U.S. imperialism basically sees both the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts as one big Mideast blowup that Bush instigated in 2003 – its goal is to simply prolong the fighting."
Supplying Iran and Iraq at the same time was one precedent.
Several years ago a so-called titan of Wall Street said in a television interview that morality does not play a role in business decisions. Similarly, religion does not play a role in foreign policy decision-making in Washington. Only perceived interests do. Even if there is good reason to believe in the likelihood of blowback.
The attacks of 9/11 cost around 3,000 mostly American lives. How many American lives have been terminated by the "remedies" applied in Afghanistan and Iraq? How many American lives have been wrecked by maimings and PTSD in applying those "remedies" in Afghanistan and Iraq? How about Afghan and Iraqi lives, not that many Americans care about them? How many billions - make that trillions - of dollars have been squandered to pay for those "remedies"? How much of that incomprehensible amount of money became profits and income for the military-industrial junta?
"That not enough has been done about domestic gun violence is a separate issue but not mutually exclusive of counter-terror measures. They both can be accomplished simultaneously, but..."
But they are both not likely to be accomplished simultaneously when the focus is exclusively on one and the other is virtually ignored.
"That guns in America kill many more each year than the 9/11 attacks demonstrates the need for more gun control. Nevertheless, it is a non-sequitur as a discussion point regarding counter-terrorist measures and their constitutionality."
It is a pity you can't see the irony of this nation's alleged priorities for your non sequiturs. Hundreds of billions spent on a so-called war on terror that has spawned al-Q'aida affiliates from AfPak to western North Africa and virtually nothing done about American-on-American murders that are many multiples of terrorist-on-American murders.
"Good to see a judge view the NSA’s metadata collection program rationally, as a means to protect against terrorist actions against the United States."
The histories of US courts, including the supreme (sic) court, are replete with examples of judges getting it wrong. Without minimizing the dangers of terrorists, it would be a worthwhile diversion to note that the one-time attack of 9/11 killed around 3,000 people but guns in America take out around ten times that every year.
" If he had any integrity at all he would have acted and not run away, much as Henry David Thoreau or Daniel Ellsberg and a dozen others who protested against U.S. policy. "
The difference is that Snowden, unlike his critics sitting in the comfort of their own homes, had enough sense to learn from the vindictiveness applied to other whistleblowers and elected to not commit a form of suicide.
We might also usefully ask, “Do the mainstream media and Washington’s elites threaten 9th, 14th Amendments, ‘Inviolate Personality’?
“That so many Americans, including members of the Washington punditry, are so willing blithely to abandon these rights and that liberty is absolutely appalling. You have a sense of how they would have behaved in the 1930s if they had been Germans after Hitler’s coup.”
This malignancy should come as no surprise. There have been countless warning signs. Among the worst was the skit created in Bush’s White House for the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner that had Dubya making fun of the non-existent WMDs that promoted the war on Iraq. This obscene performance promoted lots of sycophantic laughter among the guests while in many homes in the United States and Iraq survivors were grieving over their lost loved ones or caring for the physically and psychologically maimed. Only one guest, David Corn, now of Mother Jones, had the integrity to walk out during this obscene attempt at humor. http://www.thenation.com/blog/156077/mia-wmds-bush-its-joke
And today, on CNN (the most trusted name in news for the gullible) its list of the ten worst scandals of 2013 had Edward Snowden bundled with Mayors Ford (Toronto) and Filner (San Diego) and Anthony Wiener. To add another knife in Snowden’s back there was the innuendo attached to Snowden taking refuge in Russia. You know what that means, don’t you, fellow neocons and patriots?
"The connection between the Sisi government’s strategic short-sightedness is its handling of the Muslim Brotherhood, and American malignancy after World War Two, is not entirely obvious."
My point was to note that the propensity for violence is part of the human condition. The US changed from a position of moral leadership to a major purveyor of violence. Other nations replicated this violence, not because of the US but because of their own propensity for violence. If the US had practiced what it preached when it helped write the UN charter, there might have been less, but other nations would still have been violence prone.
"How can the Sisi government not see how its actions contribute to this downward spiral?"
It isn't just the Sisi government, it is the authoritarian attitude of so many people from earliest recorded history to the present who see violence against perceived enemies as the way to resolve problems.
After World War II the United States was generally acclaimed as the world's moral leader. Less than two decades later Martin Luther King, Jr. saw fit to call the US the greatest purveyor of violence. Since then many other nations have accepted this aggressive version of the US as their example to follow.
How can the US government not see how its actions contribute to this downward spiral?
"3. Phil Robertson took a wrecking ball to his television career. "
This doesn't look like a good bet. Cracker Barrel, a company that got in hot water over anti-gay policies, has reportedly resumed selling Duck Dynasty products. Robertson just got millions of dollars worth of free publicity and there are probably millions of people who share his philosophy. If people can make money off him and his program, he's safe and will be spouting his bigotry all the way to the bank.
"When is the US going to elect a real honest president to represent the 99% of Americans?"
First, of the 99% many are enablers because they get a piece of the action that accrues to the One Percent. Then there are others who go along with the policies of the One Percent because they are managing to get along. That leaves a minority who believe in such quaint notions as "a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and "liberty and justice for all."
So your question really is, "When is the US going to elect a real honest president to represent that minority of idealists?" The point to note here is that it is not enough to elect an honest president. He or she also needs popular support in the streets that translates to support in Congress; otherwise, as happened with Carter, the oligarchs of the Republican and Democratic parties will gang up on that honest president and bring him or her down as they did with Carter.
Oaths taken by the major party oligarchs and their supporters to defend the Constitution are meaningless. So to are their pledges of allegiance to the United States. Their only allegiance is to themselves and their campaign donors.
I can tell you who was called on the carpet for not telling the truth about taking drugs to play baseball to give you an idea of Congress's priorities.
Eisenhower warned about the rising power of the military-industrial complex and not enough people paid attention. Truman warned about the CIA's growing potential for abuse and not enough people cared about that either - http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/22/trumans-true-warning-on-the-cia/
"This story should be a huge scandal, but I fear it won’t be."
Because huge scandals are routine in the United States and the majority of American people are apathetic and morally comatose.
"Moreover, the $10 million has to be seen as a bribe..."
Bribes are to Washington's operatives what mothers' milk is to babies. The problem is too many of them are not illegal. As a wise person once said, "If you give someone a gift and that changes the relationship, then that gift is a bribe."
"...these senators and other politicians have no more loyalty to it than they have to the Constitution they have deceitfully pledged to uphold."
Their recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance are just as hypocritical as their oaths to uphold the Constitution. Their allegiance is not to the flag that is supposed to represent the United States. Their allegiance is to two flags: the flag with 50 corporate logos that replaced the stars and the other flag with only one star - the star of David. As for "liberty and justice for all" that is one of the cruelest pieces of mendacity that ever comes out of their mouths.
"The only members of Congress that have historically been pro-Arab and anti-Israel have been those whose constituency provides a net local political benefit from doing so –"
If the pro-Arab donors were ever to outbid the Israel lobby for the favors of Congress's courtesans then Netanyahu and Israel's right wing would be in deep trouble.
"... but the thirteen Democratic senators involved are traitors to the party."
Let's not forget these are the types of politicians who have no loyalty to others. Their only loyalty is to themselves. The same can be said of the Democratic and Republican parties. The oligarchs' first loyalty in each case is to the party. If the Israel Lobby ever outlives its usefulness, it will find these senators and other politicians have no more loyalty to it than they have to the Constitution they have deceitfully pledged to uphold. Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street once said on television that what some politicians say in private about Israel and its lobby is the opposite of what they say in public.
"You know how the Tea Party House of Representatives obsessed with cutting food stamps to working families and veterans and children this fall? They were trying to save $4 bn. At the same time, they have kept in place a piece of fatally flawed legislation regarding estate taxes that has cost the government $100 bn and counting, and which threatens our democracy."
Don't forget the $607 billion for our war department / military-industrial junta. If this obscene display of our national priorities is not a sign of moral degradation and societal decadence, what is?
It is interesting that the incident we are discussing here appears to be a non-story in the mainstream media that is so much more intrigued with the statements of a TV personality many consider a bigot.
" That some cannot focus on anything but the arrest procedures suggests an inability to look at the wider picture"
That some of us focus on what has become standard operation procedures for "law" enforcement shows a recognition of a problem that is becoming more invasive in the body politic; that is, people with authority and authoritarian attitudes abusing their power and the apparent consequences of such abuse. Power not only corrupts, but it apparently also induces paranoia, and if we allow ourselves to be ruled by paranoiacs, then the days of what is left of our democratic republic are numbered.
"I find it amazing that the US attorney’ s office would expend so much energy in pursuing this case when he has given up on criminal cases against ANY of the executives responsible for the banking debacle."
On the other hand many people would be more than amazed if our justice (sic) department pressed charges against the banksters.
Then there was Nannygate, the infamous incident when half-a-million-dollar-a-year lawyer Zoe Baird was caught not paying taxes on the minimum wage she paid to her two Peruvian helpers. No strip searches there, but she did have to abandon her chances for becoming Slick Willie's attorney general. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannygate
"... they put her in the general prison population and subjected her to a strip search."
It could have been worse, and given the arrogance of our various branches of law enforcement it probably will get worse. If the victim of this assault had been from some Middle East nation where the people take a different attitude towards female "honor" that assault could have been a death sentence. As it probably was if, as reported, Iraqi women were raped in Abu Ghraib when our forces were bringing freedom and democracy to that now-horribly benighted land.
"What has been your experience that the state is nothing but the “looter of the people”? "
A person would need to be exceptionally radical to claim "nothing but"; nevertheless, the present administration and some members of Congress appear to have set themselves the task of transferring a great deal of wealth from "the people" to corporate entities. Obamacare looks like a candidate forcing people to pay insurance corporations for policies of dubious value. Then there are those who would like to transfer control of the Social Security trust fund to Wall Street. We might usefully add the transfer of tax revenues to the military-industrial-security junta.
" If you believe that governments always lie and cannot on any issue be trusted, what is your answer? Anarchism?"
If we were to go through history and found that every government told just one lie (shouldn't be hard to do) then that would support the claim that all governments lie, but it wouldn't support a claim that all governments lie all the time. So there is no argument for anarchy there.
This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. The new nominee to head the CIA disagrees with Judge Leon: "Feinstein got Krass to say she disagreed with a federal judge's opinion on Monday that the NSA's bulk surveillance of US phone data was likely unconstitutional. Krass, who would have a limited ability to oversee that program at CIA but likely has insight into it through her Justice Department role, disputed Judge Richard Leon's assessment that such constitutional protections surround that data." - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/18/senators-clash-with-justice-department-lawyer-over-cia-intelligence-memos
"As usual, you present the alternatives that fit your Narrative. There is another alternative: It just might be possible that the majority of Verizon and AT&T’s customers know and care, ..."
Given how ill-informed and gullible the mass of people can be (estimated 70% fell for the Bush lies for war on Iraq) I'll stick to my concept about Verizon and AT&T customers.
"Fifty-some years ago that astute observer of politics, I. F. “Izzy” Stone, said that all governments lie and all governments since have indicated that is probably an immutable law."
"If you believe the government, ‘You’re stupid: Americans are taught the myth that their democracy is safeguarded by an independent press. But the government and other powerful entities have long mastered the art of manipulating the major media, even to the point of bluntly telling reporters the facts of life," as Jon Schwarz recalls. - http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/18/if-you-believe-the-goverment-youre-stupid/
"The risible statement about Snowden’s “altruism” aside,..."
Snowden's action has obviously been a divisive issue. I prefer the side that I'm on with "Former whistleblowers: open letter to intelligence employees after Snowden: Blowing the whistle on powerful factions is not a fun thing to do, but it is the last avenue for truth, balanced debate and democracy by • Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Peter Kofod, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Coleen Rowley - http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/11/whistleblowers-open-letter-after-snowden-revelations
and
"Snowden honored by ex-Intel officials: Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, an organization of former national security officials, has honored NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, praising his decision to reveal the extent of U.S. government electronic surveillance of people in the United States and around the world." - http://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/08/snowden-honored-by-ex-intel-officials/
Can you name anyone on your side who is not a lapdog for the military-industrial-security junta?
Having met Stansfield Turner and a friend who knew him well, I'm more inclined to see this as Carter cleaning up the CIA's act. 700 less people in the CIA?. How does that work out percentage-wise? The people equivalent of chump change?
" Others (and I include myself here) recognize a certain loss of privacy and the potential for abuse, but trust the government is using the metadata collection for the stated purpose."
Fifty-some years ago that astute observer of politics, I. F. "Izzy" Stone, said that all governments lie and all governments since have indicated that is probably an immutable law. And you trust the government? How about some rogue who may not be as altruistic as Edward Snowden and who decides to use information he has access to and decides to blackmail someone. There are too many risks to this accumulation of data to trust anyone with access to it.
" We’ve bled our country dry trying to influence global politics. "
More likely the country is being bled dry making the world safe for global corporations to make ever greater profits. The greatest waste of the national fisc can be found in the Pentagon and security budgets.
Unfortunately, it appears the motivation for the disassociation of Europeans from some Israelis comes only from laws and not moral revulsion. On the other hand, we should be grateful there are such laws in the absence of moral imperatives.
How do you manage to come to your preposterous conclusions? I highlighted Patrick Cockburn's opening statement about the bankruptcy of American and British policy in Syria and you accuse me of wanting the US to intervene in Syria - A thought I never once entertained.
To go back to another of your rants, you accused me of whining about Obama's speech at the 2004 convention after I said it was a resounding success. How or why do you manage to come up with such nonsense?
Whether you choose to pardon me or not, I'll just ignore any comments you address to me in the future.
"The Affordable Care Act alone is a nearly unprecedented accomplishment. "
According to critics of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) some 20 to 30 million people will be ineligible for coverage. Supporters of Obamacare have apparently conceded this deficiency with the claim that the people who came up short this time will be taken care of in the next phase. When national health plans were developed in western Europe, not only were all citizens provided free medical care but also tourists afflicted with medical emergencies.
The debacle that goes by the name of Healthcare dot gov suggests there is a shortage of competence and, perhaps, integrity in the upper ranks of management.
It does appear that I have pressed some button on you. It's late where I am so I won't take time for a long response. I had a question mark after the "Daley machine" because I didn't know who was supporting him, but it was obvious some group was. Apparently Penny Pritzker was involved. If I recall correctly her bank was in some legal problem. Then there was the support from energy corporations that will probably translate to Obama approving Keystone XL and fracking. Affordable Care Act an accomplishment? Some people may be getting improved health care, but when it was written by industry insiders and insurance stocks took a jump when it was approved, obviously it was not only written by the insurance industry but it was also for the insurance industry. Now the insiders are back on the insurance company payrolls as "consultants". The only way to create a health plan for all the people is single-payer. That's what the Europeans have at $5K to $7K per year with no deductibles and no risk of medically-caused bankruptcies, but it wasn't even considered for discussion in Washington until it was too late to stand a chance. Here people are facing $6,000-a-year deductibles after $200-plus monthly premiums and still having the possibility of a medical bankruptcy. For the record, I did enjoy Obama's speech at the 2004 convention, but by that time I had learned to look behind the curtain to see who was pulling the levers. Try it some time. You might find it interesting. Maybe while you're at it you can find who's pulling the triggers on all those drones killing innocent people at wedding parties.
This explains Obama's assignment and modus operandum. His backers in Chicago (the Daley machine?) got him an audition at the 2004 Democratic Convention to be their carnival barker, and it was a resounding success. The party loyalists were mesmerized by Obama's rhetoric and, if they weren't pro-Hillary, they were hooked on Obama without ever noticing the conflicts between his actions and his rhetoric. Some of those early loyalists have caught on to the act, but many still cling to the mantra of hope and change. Lotsa luck. He may be doing something worthwhile for his legacy in Iran, but that remains to be seen. First priority. Post-presidential career.
Andrew Levine has a long article on presidential elections and the prospects for 2016, "Do elections make any difference?: Plus ça Change, Plus C’est la Même Chose" by Andrew Levine - http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/13/do-elections-make-any-difference/ - in which he finishes with a great point: Write in Edward Snowden's name for president. Unless the lesser-evil argument has some validity in 2016 this appears to be an excellent choice.
"An admirable man as potentially ‘great’ as any American leader during that awful time, he appears to be trapped in this giant system which he struggles to master on a daily basis in the most poisonous atmosphere we have experienced since, perhaps, the Civil War."
I'm not so sure about the "admirable" part, but I will agree he appeared to have had a lot of potential. However, the System is stacked against anyone with thoughts of changing it. Not that Obama had any such thoughts. He was clearly a willing participant in this game. Carter managed to get in the White House with good intentions, but the oligarchs of both parties ganged up on him when he tried to go his own way. Anyone else, Bernie Sanders?, having similar thoughts would have similar prospects.
According to his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Party Convention this is what Obama liked about John Kerry and presumably what he wanted people to believe he believed in: "John Kerry believes in the Constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties, ..."
The problem with so many people is they still believe in that 2004 version of Barack Obama and have failed to "watch his legs." "Constitutional freedoms"? Check with General Keith Alexander, James Clapper and John Brennan and the rest of the NSA on one hand and Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and other whistleblowers on the other..
"Tell me, Bill Bodden, was Ted Cruz’s government shutdown strategy a demonstration of moral courage, because he didn’t pay any attention to any outside political considerations, or was it stupidity that led to failure?"
I'm not a mind reader, but I would guess arrogance and ideology were factors.
"The rhetoric Netanyahu uses is not just sprinkled with falsehoods, it is pure propaganda, every word of it."
And many of (supposedly) our senators and representatives in Congress buy into his propaganda. Even some who would otherwise be considered good people. 29 standing ovations when Netanyahu last addressed Congress!!! Not quite another Nuremberg rally, but it is on the same side of the moral divide.
" Beijing is getting a free ride on energy security because the US is paying for the costs of providing it."
It seems China's negotiators get better returns on investments that our warriors. If I recall correctly, China signed some contracts in Afghanistan for rare minerals without so much as firing a bullet while our troops were being blown up by IEDs and other devices.
" I never thought I’d feel nostalgic for the Reagan Era, but the country has certainly become more repressive than it was in the 1980′s rather than less."
The problem with the Reagan era, as Walter Karp explained in "Liberty Under Siege," is that was the time when Tyranny began to take giant steps leading us to Obama's era of Hopeless and plus ca change, plus la meme chose. Same story in the UK with Maggie Thatcher.
"I recall Ralph Nader warning the new President Obama to distance himself from the Bush/Cheney policies. Still rather than admit that Ralph Nader is often right, many of you criticize him for running for president in 2000… Let it go! If President Obama would have listened to people such as Mr Nader at that time Gates wouldn’t have the Obama story to tell in his new book."
Well said.
"By the way, instead of the media always making a story out of Joe Biden’s gaffes, maybe someone ought to pay attention to how right he has often been on National Security. I thought Vice President Biden even when he was a senator had many a good thought when it came to foreign affairs. "
Biden was one of the lead Democrats pushing for the war on Iraq. On the home front he pushed for the Bankruptcy bill that allowed credit card companies to charge usurious interest rates. I don't have time to check this, but I would say it is a good bet he also pushed for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill that tossed out the Glass-Steagall Act that led to the near collapse of Wall Street's banks.
I'm no admirer of Obama, but I'm far from inclined to buy into a hit job from the NYT. Obama was dealt a set of marked cards when he was saddled with Iraq - the consequence of one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century aided and abetted by the NYT.
Gates was, however, right on this one if he was telling the truth: "Israel has isolated itself by its own actions," Robert Gates says by Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz - http://mondoweiss.net/2014/01/isolated-actions-robert.html
Robert Fisk's reporting on that event will back you up.
"... we haven’t won a war since Korea, ..."
lew: You are forgetting our glorious victory in Grenada under the heroic leadership of Ronald Reagan when we only amassed around six thousand naval and support personnel to face the overwhelming odds of a couple hundred Cubans and Grenadian allies.
"There are good people that run, their campaigns are just ignored by the MSM and other powers that be."
And,. worse, they are ignored by the American people.
For the most part and for what it is worth, I agree.
"The War in Afghanistan: The legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Volatile Situation in Pakistan by Can Erimtan - http://www.todayszaman.com/news-223646-the-war-in-afghanistan-the-legacy-of-zbigniew-brzezinski-and-the-volatile-situation-in-pakistan-by-can-erimtan-.html"
This is a version of several similar reports I have read about Brzezinski getting Carter and the US into Afghanistan: "The War in Afghanistan: The legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Volatile Situation in Pakistan by Can Erimtan - http://www.todayszaman.com/news-223646-the-war-in-afghanistan-the-legacy-of-zbigniew-brzezinski-and-the-volatile-situation-in-pakistan"-by-can-erimtan-.html
"The Reality of Robert Gates: Defense Secretary Robert Gates is leaving government with accolades from all over Official Washington. Only a few dissenting voices note that the reality of Gates’s four-plus years at the Pentagon’s helm doesn’t match the image," as former CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar observes in this guest essay.
The Myth of Robert Gates - http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-myth-robert-gates-5373
"The British knew how to do this."
Unfortunately, the Brits were and are far from infallible as the histories of Britain's colonies and Thatcher, Blair and Cameron prove. Equally unfortunately in too many instances, the US and Britain have a lot in common.
"They live in an imaginary America (and world) which has no basis in reality and their personal lives are the same. It’s pure Hollywood."
Unfortunately, too many Americans buy into these illusions and delusions.
More evidence of the corruption and hypocrisy that is Washington, DC - as if we needed it!!
If I recall correctly, it was Voltaire who suggested we define our terms. It appears that many in the rightmost spectrum of Israeli politics and their supporters have elected to redefine their terms when it is politically expedient.
"Netanyahu’s demand is either racist or fundamentalist and is objectionable from an American point of view on human rights grounds either way ..."
No doubt Netanyahu is well aware that the American point of view on human rights is fungible so it will be of little concern to him - just like many other American points of view.
"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is adding a fifth demand to his negotiations with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas: That the Palestinians recognize…"
Any bets on what Netanyahu's six, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth demands will be?
Thanks for the links, Joe. I take it you didn't find anything on the official website for the Marine Corps either.
" Perhaps the lesson to be drawn when comparing how the two wars ended is that unconditional surrender and allied occupation resulted in the better outcome."
On the other hand, a more likely reason was the relative magnanimity shown by the victors to the defeated after World War II compared with the vindictiveness demanded by the French after WWI. The Marshall Plan compared with vicious demands for reparations that created fertile soil for Hitler's propaganda.
Frank Rich on the national circus: Hagel was bad; his inquisitors were worse - http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/frank-rich-hagel-better-than-his-inquisitors.html
Vets and Fallujah:
I Am Sorry for the Role I Played in Fallujah: As a US marine who lost close friends in the siege of Fallujah in Iraq seven years ago, I understand that we were the aggressors by Ross Caputi - http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/23-5
Occupy Fallujah: The other Occupy Movement by Victoria Fontan - http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/24/occupy-fallujah/
The WHO must release report on Iraqi birth defects now: The indefinite postponement of the World Health Organisation's report is alarming scientists and activists. By Dr Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, a native of Iran, - http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/08/20138111224621617.html
" Some here sneer at repetitive references to Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler’s statement of the truth: “War is nothing but a racket.” "
The last time I checked the official website for the Marine Corps I couldn't find any reference to General Butler, two-time Medal of Honor recipient. It looks like his statement about war being a racket made him persona non grata there.
Consortium News has a couple of articles that expand on Professor Cole's:
Forgetting why al-Qaeda spread: Exclusive: Al-Qaeda extremism is resurgent across the Middle East with its affiliates seizing territory in western Iraq and in neighboring Syria. But the neocons are whitewashing their role in spreading this extremism via George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, reports Robert Parry. - http://consortiumnews.com/2014/01/05/forgetting-why-al-qaeda-spread/
Bush’s Anti-American Legacy: As Iraq becomes a hotbed for al-Qaeda terrorism, President George W. Bush’s legacy grows even dimmer. But one could argue that he did succeed in stirring democratic impulses in the region, albeit mostly of an anti-American variety, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar describes. - http://consortiumnews.com/2014/01/04/bushs-anti-american-legacy/
The problem is not only McCain and Graham and their failure to get badly need psychiatric counseling. The people who keep re-electing these warmongers may be worse.
What we need is an artist to give his or her rendition of Fallujah as Picasso did for Guernica. As for veterans of that carnage they probably don't want to talk about and would most likely prefer to forget it if they could.
"First, we shall dispense with your attempt to continue riding your pet hobby horses listed above."
In other words, we will continue with the policy "don't do as I do, do as I say."
This is rich, coming from supporters of one of the two nations who engineered the overthrow of Iran's democratically-elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadeqh, in 1953.
"...but if Iran comes in from the cold and conducts itself in accordance with internationally accepted standards, "
What would those international standards be like? Lobbing missiles from drones to get people on a Tuesday kill list? Accessing the electronic communication systems of everyone on the planet? Condoning, if not supporting, right-wing coups, as in Honduras? Shredding the UN Charter and Geneva Conventions to wage an illegal war, as in Iraq? Engage in "enhanced interrogation?" Behave as a lapdog for the Israel lobby?
Very well said, John. Re: " The public will to protect those institutions was insufficient in the exuberant emergence of the middle class, and now internal reform is precluded." it appears that our "good Americans," like the "good Germans" of an earlier era, are complicit.
As the Greeks ignored Cassandra in ancient times so too most Americans will likely ignore Assange and others (e.g., Snowden) like him.
You may be giving the NSA (an other like agencies) credit for more intelligence than they deserve. Possession of knowledge/information does not guarantee intelligent decisions will follow.
Not that the facts will matter to GOP strategists.
A reminder on the hazards of revolution: "A long ferment in the Middle East: The hazards of revolution" by Patrick Cockburn - http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/27/a-long-ferment-in-the-middle-east/
"When the U.S. arms opposite sides of a conflict – and U.S. imperialism basically sees both the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts as one big Mideast blowup that Bush instigated in 2003 – its goal is to simply prolong the fighting."
Supplying Iran and Iraq at the same time was one precedent.
Several years ago a so-called titan of Wall Street said in a television interview that morality does not play a role in business decisions. Similarly, religion does not play a role in foreign policy decision-making in Washington. Only perceived interests do. Even if there is good reason to believe in the likelihood of blowback.
Why is 9/11 considered an act of war when other similar, if lesser, acts are always referred to as terrorism and crimes to be punished as such?
The attacks of 9/11 cost around 3,000 mostly American lives. How many American lives have been terminated by the "remedies" applied in Afghanistan and Iraq? How many American lives have been wrecked by maimings and PTSD in applying those "remedies" in Afghanistan and Iraq? How about Afghan and Iraqi lives, not that many Americans care about them? How many billions - make that trillions - of dollars have been squandered to pay for those "remedies"? How much of that incomprehensible amount of money became profits and income for the military-industrial junta?
"That not enough has been done about domestic gun violence is a separate issue but not mutually exclusive of counter-terror measures. They both can be accomplished simultaneously, but..."
But they are both not likely to be accomplished simultaneously when the focus is exclusively on one and the other is virtually ignored.
"That guns in America kill many more each year than the 9/11 attacks demonstrates the need for more gun control. Nevertheless, it is a non-sequitur as a discussion point regarding counter-terrorist measures and their constitutionality."
It is a pity you can't see the irony of this nation's alleged priorities for your non sequiturs. Hundreds of billions spent on a so-called war on terror that has spawned al-Q'aida affiliates from AfPak to western North Africa and virtually nothing done about American-on-American murders that are many multiples of terrorist-on-American murders.
"Good to see a judge view the NSA’s metadata collection program rationally, as a means to protect against terrorist actions against the United States."
The histories of US courts, including the supreme (sic) court, are replete with examples of judges getting it wrong. Without minimizing the dangers of terrorists, it would be a worthwhile diversion to note that the one-time attack of 9/11 killed around 3,000 people but guns in America take out around ten times that every year.
"This will eventually end up at the Supreme Court, where I am confident the program will be upheld."
Given the preponderance of conservatives and corporate cronies on the supreme (sic) court you are probably right on this one.
" If he had any integrity at all he would have acted and not run away, much as Henry David Thoreau or Daniel Ellsberg and a dozen others who protested against U.S. policy. "
The difference is that Snowden, unlike his critics sitting in the comfort of their own homes, had enough sense to learn from the vindictiveness applied to other whistleblowers and elected to not commit a form of suicide.
We might also usefully ask, “Do the mainstream media and Washington’s elites threaten 9th, 14th Amendments, ‘Inviolate Personality’?
“That so many Americans, including members of the Washington punditry, are so willing blithely to abandon these rights and that liberty is absolutely appalling. You have a sense of how they would have behaved in the 1930s if they had been Germans after Hitler’s coup.”
This malignancy should come as no surprise. There have been countless warning signs. Among the worst was the skit created in Bush’s White House for the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner that had Dubya making fun of the non-existent WMDs that promoted the war on Iraq. This obscene performance promoted lots of sycophantic laughter among the guests while in many homes in the United States and Iraq survivors were grieving over their lost loved ones or caring for the physically and psychologically maimed. Only one guest, David Corn, now of Mother Jones, had the integrity to walk out during this obscene attempt at humor. http://www.thenation.com/blog/156077/mia-wmds-bush-its-joke
And today, on CNN (the most trusted name in news for the gullible) its list of the ten worst scandals of 2013 had Edward Snowden bundled with Mayors Ford (Toronto) and Filner (San Diego) and Anthony Wiener. To add another knife in Snowden’s back there was the innuendo attached to Snowden taking refuge in Russia. You know what that means, don’t you, fellow neocons and patriots?
"The connection between the Sisi government’s strategic short-sightedness is its handling of the Muslim Brotherhood, and American malignancy after World War Two, is not entirely obvious."
My point was to note that the propensity for violence is part of the human condition. The US changed from a position of moral leadership to a major purveyor of violence. Other nations replicated this violence, not because of the US but because of their own propensity for violence. If the US had practiced what it preached when it helped write the UN charter, there might have been less, but other nations would still have been violence prone.
"How can the US government not see?"
The US government sees perfectly well and has concluded that the Egyptian government is something the US and Israel can live with.
"How can the Sisi government not see how its actions contribute to this downward spiral?"
It isn't just the Sisi government, it is the authoritarian attitude of so many people from earliest recorded history to the present who see violence against perceived enemies as the way to resolve problems.
After World War II the United States was generally acclaimed as the world's moral leader. Less than two decades later Martin Luther King, Jr. saw fit to call the US the greatest purveyor of violence. Since then many other nations have accepted this aggressive version of the US as their example to follow.
How can the US government not see how its actions contribute to this downward spiral?
Power not only corrupts, it also induces paranoia. And that includes Washington.
"3. Phil Robertson took a wrecking ball to his television career. "
This doesn't look like a good bet. Cracker Barrel, a company that got in hot water over anti-gay policies, has reportedly resumed selling Duck Dynasty products. Robertson just got millions of dollars worth of free publicity and there are probably millions of people who share his philosophy. If people can make money off him and his program, he's safe and will be spouting his bigotry all the way to the bank.
"When is the US going to elect a real honest president to represent the 99% of Americans?"
First, of the 99% many are enablers because they get a piece of the action that accrues to the One Percent. Then there are others who go along with the policies of the One Percent because they are managing to get along. That leaves a minority who believe in such quaint notions as "a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and "liberty and justice for all."
So your question really is, "When is the US going to elect a real honest president to represent that minority of idealists?" The point to note here is that it is not enough to elect an honest president. He or she also needs popular support in the streets that translates to support in Congress; otherwise, as happened with Carter, the oligarchs of the Republican and Democratic parties will gang up on that honest president and bring him or her down as they did with Carter.
Oaths taken by the major party oligarchs and their supporters to defend the Constitution are meaningless. So to are their pledges of allegiance to the United States. Their only allegiance is to themselves and their campaign donors.
I can tell you who was called on the carpet for not telling the truth about taking drugs to play baseball to give you an idea of Congress's priorities.
RT is uneven, which means some of its reports are solid and some aren’t." and that is no worse than our fawning corporate media.
Eisenhower warned about the rising power of the military-industrial complex and not enough people paid attention. Truman warned about the CIA's growing potential for abuse and not enough people cared about that either - http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/22/trumans-true-warning-on-the-cia/
"This story should be a huge scandal, but I fear it won’t be."
Because huge scandals are routine in the United States and the majority of American people are apathetic and morally comatose.
"Moreover, the $10 million has to be seen as a bribe..."
Bribes are to Washington's operatives what mothers' milk is to babies. The problem is too many of them are not illegal. As a wise person once said, "If you give someone a gift and that changes the relationship, then that gift is a bribe."
"...these senators and other politicians have no more loyalty to it than they have to the Constitution they have deceitfully pledged to uphold."
Their recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance are just as hypocritical as their oaths to uphold the Constitution. Their allegiance is not to the flag that is supposed to represent the United States. Their allegiance is to two flags: the flag with 50 corporate logos that replaced the stars and the other flag with only one star - the star of David. As for "liberty and justice for all" that is one of the cruelest pieces of mendacity that ever comes out of their mouths.
"The only members of Congress that have historically been pro-Arab and anti-Israel have been those whose constituency provides a net local political benefit from doing so –"
If the pro-Arab donors were ever to outbid the Israel lobby for the favors of Congress's courtesans then Netanyahu and Israel's right wing would be in deep trouble.
"... but the thirteen Democratic senators involved are traitors to the party."
Let's not forget these are the types of politicians who have no loyalty to others. Their only loyalty is to themselves. The same can be said of the Democratic and Republican parties. The oligarchs' first loyalty in each case is to the party. If the Israel Lobby ever outlives its usefulness, it will find these senators and other politicians have no more loyalty to it than they have to the Constitution they have deceitfully pledged to uphold. Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street once said on television that what some politicians say in private about Israel and its lobby is the opposite of what they say in public.
"You know how the Tea Party House of Representatives obsessed with cutting food stamps to working families and veterans and children this fall? They were trying to save $4 bn. At the same time, they have kept in place a piece of fatally flawed legislation regarding estate taxes that has cost the government $100 bn and counting, and which threatens our democracy."
Don't forget the $607 billion for our war department / military-industrial junta. If this obscene display of our national priorities is not a sign of moral degradation and societal decadence, what is?
It is interesting that the incident we are discussing here appears to be a non-story in the mainstream media that is so much more intrigued with the statements of a TV personality many consider a bigot.
Don't forget: One of the rules in the Amerikan Empire is "Don't do as we do, so as we say."
" That some cannot focus on anything but the arrest procedures suggests an inability to look at the wider picture"
That some of us focus on what has become standard operation procedures for "law" enforcement shows a recognition of a problem that is becoming more invasive in the body politic; that is, people with authority and authoritarian attitudes abusing their power and the apparent consequences of such abuse. Power not only corrupts, but it apparently also induces paranoia, and if we allow ourselves to be ruled by paranoiacs, then the days of what is left of our democratic republic are numbered.
"...medical personnel performed what amounted to a rape at the behest of the CBP officers."
Justice is raped around the world every day.
"I find it amazing that the US attorney’ s office would expend so much energy in pursuing this case when he has given up on criminal cases against ANY of the executives responsible for the banking debacle."
On the other hand many people would be more than amazed if our justice (sic) department pressed charges against the banksters.
Then there was Nannygate, the infamous incident when half-a-million-dollar-a-year lawyer Zoe Baird was caught not paying taxes on the minimum wage she paid to her two Peruvian helpers. No strip searches there, but she did have to abandon her chances for becoming Slick Willie's attorney general. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannygate
"We lost our democracy when We the People stopped caring,..."
That was/is probably the most fatal blow.
"... they put her in the general prison population and subjected her to a strip search."
It could have been worse, and given the arrogance of our various branches of law enforcement it probably will get worse. If the victim of this assault had been from some Middle East nation where the people take a different attitude towards female "honor" that assault could have been a death sentence. As it probably was if, as reported, Iraqi women were raped in Abu Ghraib when our forces were bringing freedom and democracy to that now-horribly benighted land.
"What has been your experience that the state is nothing but the “looter of the people”? "
A person would need to be exceptionally radical to claim "nothing but"; nevertheless, the present administration and some members of Congress appear to have set themselves the task of transferring a great deal of wealth from "the people" to corporate entities. Obamacare looks like a candidate forcing people to pay insurance corporations for policies of dubious value. Then there are those who would like to transfer control of the Social Security trust fund to Wall Street. We might usefully add the transfer of tax revenues to the military-industrial-security junta.
" If you believe that governments always lie and cannot on any issue be trusted, what is your answer? Anarchism?"
If we were to go through history and found that every government told just one lie (shouldn't be hard to do) then that would support the claim that all governments lie, but it wouldn't support a claim that all governments lie all the time. So there is no argument for anarchy there.
This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. The new nominee to head the CIA disagrees with Judge Leon: "Feinstein got Krass to say she disagreed with a federal judge's opinion on Monday that the NSA's bulk surveillance of US phone data was likely unconstitutional. Krass, who would have a limited ability to oversee that program at CIA but likely has insight into it through her Justice Department role, disputed Judge Richard Leon's assessment that such constitutional protections surround that data." - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/18/senators-clash-with-justice-department-lawyer-over-cia-intelligence-memos
"As usual, you present the alternatives that fit your Narrative. There is another alternative: It just might be possible that the majority of Verizon and AT&T’s customers know and care, ..."
Given how ill-informed and gullible the mass of people can be (estimated 70% fell for the Bush lies for war on Iraq) I'll stick to my concept about Verizon and AT&T customers.
We were talking about divisiveness that created two sides. Not what your old man did or some other meretricious nonsense.
"Federal Judge to NSA: What you did to Verizon Customers was Unconstitutional"
Ironically, it appears most, if not all, of Verizon's customers either don't know or don't care. The same seems to go for AT&T.
"Fifty-some years ago that astute observer of politics, I. F. “Izzy” Stone, said that all governments lie and all governments since have indicated that is probably an immutable law."
"If you believe the government, ‘You’re stupid: Americans are taught the myth that their democracy is safeguarded by an independent press. But the government and other powerful entities have long mastered the art of manipulating the major media, even to the point of bluntly telling reporters the facts of life," as Jon Schwarz recalls. - http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/18/if-you-believe-the-goverment-youre-stupid/
"The risible statement about Snowden’s “altruism” aside,..."
A recent Quinnipac poll has Americans in favor of Snowden by a margin of 55 to 34 - http://www.quinnipiac.edu/images/polling/us/us08012013.pdf/
Internationally, polls have indicated a higher favorability rating for Snowden.
"The risible statement about Snowden’s “altruism” aside,..."
Snowden's action has obviously been a divisive issue. I prefer the side that I'm on with "Former whistleblowers: open letter to intelligence employees after Snowden: Blowing the whistle on powerful factions is not a fun thing to do, but it is the last avenue for truth, balanced debate and democracy by • Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Peter Kofod, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Coleen Rowley - http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/11/whistleblowers-open-letter-after-snowden-revelations
and
"Snowden honored by ex-Intel officials: Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, an organization of former national security officials, has honored NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, praising his decision to reveal the extent of U.S. government electronic surveillance of people in the United States and around the world." - http://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/08/snowden-honored-by-ex-intel-officials/
Can you name anyone on your side who is not a lapdog for the military-industrial-security junta?
Having met Stansfield Turner and a friend who knew him well, I'm more inclined to see this as Carter cleaning up the CIA's act. 700 less people in the CIA?. How does that work out percentage-wise? The people equivalent of chump change?
" Others (and I include myself here) recognize a certain loss of privacy and the potential for abuse, but trust the government is using the metadata collection for the stated purpose."
Fifty-some years ago that astute observer of politics, I. F. "Izzy" Stone, said that all governments lie and all governments since have indicated that is probably an immutable law. And you trust the government? How about some rogue who may not be as altruistic as Edward Snowden and who decides to use information he has access to and decides to blackmail someone. There are too many risks to this accumulation of data to trust anyone with access to it.
Perhaps it is now time to refer to the generals and ex-generals running the national "security" system as a junta.
But the means to the end incorporated appalling forms of barbarism that were common to that era.
Why were the "Christians" who attacked the Muslims in Near East called Crusaders and not barbarians?
" We’ve bled our country dry trying to influence global politics. "
More likely the country is being bled dry making the world safe for global corporations to make ever greater profits. The greatest waste of the national fisc can be found in the Pentagon and security budgets.
Probably the only people surprised at the Islamic Front's aggression are our warmongers trying to do to Syria what they did to Iraq.
Unfortunately, it appears the motivation for the disassociation of Europeans from some Israelis comes only from laws and not moral revulsion. On the other hand, we should be grateful there are such laws in the absence of moral imperatives.
Mr. Watson:
How do you manage to come to your preposterous conclusions? I highlighted Patrick Cockburn's opening statement about the bankruptcy of American and British policy in Syria and you accuse me of wanting the US to intervene in Syria - A thought I never once entertained.
To go back to another of your rants, you accused me of whining about Obama's speech at the 2004 convention after I said it was a resounding success. How or why do you manage to come up with such nonsense?
Whether you choose to pardon me or not, I'll just ignore any comments you address to me in the future.
"The Affordable Care Act alone is a nearly unprecedented accomplishment. "
According to critics of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) some 20 to 30 million people will be ineligible for coverage. Supporters of Obamacare have apparently conceded this deficiency with the claim that the people who came up short this time will be taken care of in the next phase. When national health plans were developed in western Europe, not only were all citizens provided free medical care but also tourists afflicted with medical emergencies.
The debacle that goes by the name of Healthcare dot gov suggests there is a shortage of competence and, perhaps, integrity in the upper ranks of management.
Mr. Watson:
It does appear that I have pressed some button on you. It's late where I am so I won't take time for a long response. I had a question mark after the "Daley machine" because I didn't know who was supporting him, but it was obvious some group was. Apparently Penny Pritzker was involved. If I recall correctly her bank was in some legal problem. Then there was the support from energy corporations that will probably translate to Obama approving Keystone XL and fracking. Affordable Care Act an accomplishment? Some people may be getting improved health care, but when it was written by industry insiders and insurance stocks took a jump when it was approved, obviously it was not only written by the insurance industry but it was also for the insurance industry. Now the insiders are back on the insurance company payrolls as "consultants". The only way to create a health plan for all the people is single-payer. That's what the Europeans have at $5K to $7K per year with no deductibles and no risk of medically-caused bankruptcies, but it wasn't even considered for discussion in Washington until it was too late to stand a chance. Here people are facing $6,000-a-year deductibles after $200-plus monthly premiums and still having the possibility of a medical bankruptcy. For the record, I did enjoy Obama's speech at the 2004 convention, but by that time I had learned to look behind the curtain to see who was pulling the levers. Try it some time. You might find it interesting. Maybe while you're at it you can find who's pulling the triggers on all those drones killing innocent people at wedding parties.
This is how Patrick Cockburn, one of the more knowledgeable and honest reporters on the Middle East, began his latest article on Syria: "The final bankruptcy of American and British policy in Syria came 10 days ago as Islamic Front, a Saudi-backed Sunni jihadi group, overran the headquarters of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (FSA)..." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/britains-policy-on-syria-has-just-been-sunk-and-nobody-noticed-9005332.html
This explains Obama's assignment and modus operandum. His backers in Chicago (the Daley machine?) got him an audition at the 2004 Democratic Convention to be their carnival barker, and it was a resounding success. The party loyalists were mesmerized by Obama's rhetoric and, if they weren't pro-Hillary, they were hooked on Obama without ever noticing the conflicts between his actions and his rhetoric. Some of those early loyalists have caught on to the act, but many still cling to the mantra of hope and change. Lotsa luck. He may be doing something worthwhile for his legacy in Iran, but that remains to be seen. First priority. Post-presidential career.
Andrew Levine has a long article on presidential elections and the prospects for 2016, "Do elections make any difference?: Plus ça Change, Plus C’est la Même Chose" by Andrew Levine - http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/13/do-elections-make-any-difference/ - in which he finishes with a great point: Write in Edward Snowden's name for president. Unless the lesser-evil argument has some validity in 2016 this appears to be an excellent choice.
"And the hypocristy (sic) in this case "
Obama not the only person guilty of hypocrisy during the recent commentaries on Mandela. The others are countless.
"Obama after Snowden is a story still unfolding. I hope the President reads Juan Cole. He may yet rise to the occasion. I hope he will."
As the old saw would have it, hope springs eternal.
"An admirable man as potentially ‘great’ as any American leader during that awful time, he appears to be trapped in this giant system which he struggles to master on a daily basis in the most poisonous atmosphere we have experienced since, perhaps, the Civil War."
I'm not so sure about the "admirable" part, but I will agree he appeared to have had a lot of potential. However, the System is stacked against anyone with thoughts of changing it. Not that Obama had any such thoughts. He was clearly a willing participant in this game. Carter managed to get in the White House with good intentions, but the oligarchs of both parties ganged up on him when he tried to go his own way. Anyone else, Bernie Sanders?, having similar thoughts would have similar prospects.
According to his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Party Convention this is what Obama liked about John Kerry and presumably what he wanted people to believe he believed in: "John Kerry believes in the Constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties, ..."
The problem with so many people is they still believe in that 2004 version of Barack Obama and have failed to "watch his legs." "Constitutional freedoms"? Check with General Keith Alexander, James Clapper and John Brennan and the rest of the NSA on one hand and Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and other whistleblowers on the other..
Perhaps we should first consider another question: Can Mandela’s truth and reconciliation heal the United States?
"Tell me, Bill Bodden, was Ted Cruz’s government shutdown strategy a demonstration of moral courage, because he didn’t pay any attention to any outside political considerations, or was it stupidity that led to failure?"
I'm not a mind reader, but I would guess arrogance and ideology were factors.
And Einstein and others came to believe their "scientific endeavors" were a mistake.
"I think Bibi is a pretty astute politician."
There are, however, indications he is not as smart as he believes himself to be, and he won't be the first person to discover that the hard way.
" I can’t understand why the USA with its massive State Department full of talented people, hasn’t been in constant negotiation with Iran."
Rx: Israel Lobby
Meanwhile the US position is confirmed at Mondoweiss: "Obama and Kerry drop talk of Palestinian state for ‘state institutions’ and ‘transition’" by Allison Deger - http://mondoweiss.net/2013/12/palestinian-institutions-transition.html
and
"Kerry threatens to delay Palestinian prisoner release if PA refuses US/Israel demands" by Ira Glunts - http://mondoweiss.net/2013/12/threatens-palestinian-usisrael.html
Despite the happy talk about the US-Iran nuclear deal, the Iranians should probably watch their backs - as they probably are.
And what does that say about politicians in office when they willingly do what is wrong and lack the moral courage to do what is right?
For what it is worth: "Obama and Netanyahu downplay differences on Iran nuclear deal: Israeli prime minister says he shares US preference for ending Tehran's alleged weapons programme through diplomacy" by Dan Roberts - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/binyamin-netanyahu-barack-obama-iran-nuclear
It might be a good idea to file the comment about Netanyahu preferring diplomacy with stories of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
"The rhetoric Netanyahu uses is not just sprinkled with falsehoods, it is pure propaganda, every word of it."
And many of (supposedly) our senators and representatives in Congress buy into his propaganda. Even some who would otherwise be considered good people. 29 standing ovations when Netanyahu last addressed Congress!!! Not quite another Nuremberg rally, but it is on the same side of the moral divide.
" Beijing is getting a free ride on energy security because the US is paying for the costs of providing it."
It seems China's negotiators get better returns on investments that our warriors. If I recall correctly, China signed some contracts in Afghanistan for rare minerals without so much as firing a bullet while our troops were being blown up by IEDs and other devices.
" I never thought I’d feel nostalgic for the Reagan Era, but the country has certainly become more repressive than it was in the 1980′s rather than less."
The problem with the Reagan era, as Walter Karp explained in "Liberty Under Siege," is that was the time when Tyranny began to take giant steps leading us to Obama's era of Hopeless and plus ca change, plus la meme chose. Same story in the UK with Maggie Thatcher.