For the past 70+ years War and Weapons has been the USA's #1 business.
Meanwhile, our infrastructure is crumbling, the American people need renewing and JOBS, we need to invest in new technology, research, education and green energy; corporations are not paying taxes and in fact, are stashing trillions of dollars in offshore tax haven accounts. Did I mention we're still spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan and for what?
We need to rebuild the USA from bottom to top—sending weapons to Syria is just more MIC folly. I'm very disappointed in President Obama who had, until now, shown great fortitude in not being swayed by the McCain-led-Senate-Neocons who want endless multi-trillion-dollar wars.
I don't dare list the number of countries we have invaded since WWII because it makes me sick.
Entering into Syria is madness because this bloody war already involves too many countries, most importantly—Russia—as well as Hezbollah, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The only people U.S. wars have benefitted in this century have been War Profiteers and Government Contractors, otherwise, the American people have been bankrupted and precious U.S. soldiers and innocent civilians have died for no good reason I can see.
This is not our fight. We have no business in Syria despite reports chemical weapons have been used. We heard that once about WMDs. As for arming the rebels in Syria—which ones?
The GOPTea & Fox are beneath contempt with their unceasing conspiracy theories and scandal-making over Benghazi. And they're hypocrites to boot. There were more attacks on U.S. Embassies under George W. Bush than under any other President—but I don't remember hearing a peep out of the GOPTea about that, or about 9-11 that happened on G.W.Bush's watch, or the Iraq War launched in the lie of WMDs.
The GOP were silent while all that was going on but now they're trying with all their might to make a big deal about Benghazi because they have nothing else to pin on potential future Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. It's all sound and fury signifying nothing, which is the GOPTea M.O.
FYI ~
U.S. Embassy attacks by President:
Carter-3, Reagan-3, Obama-2, GHWBush-1 and Clinton-1.
U.S. Embassy attacks under George W. Bush, including 9-11:
1. On September 11, 2001 —2,996 civilian deaths, including 19 hijackers.
2. On January 22, 2002, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami gunmen attacked the US consulate at Kolkata, killing 5 people.
3. On June 14, 2002, an Al-Qaeda truck bomb detonated outside the US consulate at Karachi, killing 12.
4. On October 12, 2002, the US consular office at Denpasar (Indonesia) was bombed by Jemaah Islamiyah as part of the Bali bombings.
5. In 2002 again, 9 people were killed by bomb blast near US embassy in Lima (Peru). An attempt to disrupt forthcoming visit by President George W. Bush.
6. On February 28, 2003, unknown gunmen attacked US embassy at Islamabad, killing 2 people.
7. On June 30, 2004, a suicide bomber hailing from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan attacked US embassy at Tashkent, killing 2 people.
8. On December 6, 2004, Al-Qaeda gunmen raided the diplomatic compound at Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), killing 9 Americans.
9. On March 2, 2006, two people were killed when a car bomb exploded outside the US consulate in Karachi.
10. On September 12, 2006, gunmen raided the US embassy at Damascus (Syria), killing 4 people.
11. On January 12, 2007, a Greek revolutionary group fired an RPG at the US embassy at Greece. No damage done.
12. On March 18, 2008, a mortar attack at the US Embassy at Sana’a (Yemen) killed 2 people.
13. On July 9, 2008, an armed attack at the US consulate at Istanbul killed 6 people.
14. On September 17, 2008, 16 people were killed when the US embassy at Sana’a (Yemen) was attacked.
~ Media Matters, International The News, Daily Kos, Mother Jones
If only the MSM would do their jobs and fact-bust and truth-bust EVERY politician or political stunt, as you always do.
With respect to Clint who is an iconic actor/director, he is THE FACE of the GOPTea — a grumpy old white man.
The country and the world have moved on but the GOPTea men refuse to believe it as they cling to an idealized Leave-It-To-Beaver-past that never existed in the first place.
Do you know how Mitt Romney made his multi-millions, Mark? He's a vulture capitalist and while CEO of Bain, Romney bankrupted American companies and shipped American jobs to Mexico, India and China in order to line his pockets with multi-millions, leaving ghost-factories and heartbroken American workers behind.
While Gov. of MA that state dropped from 37th to 47th in job creation.
He oversaw the most expensive Olympics in U.S. history costing more Federal money than any Olympics ever had.
Romney has no idea how to create a single job. He only knows how to fire people. Ryan's budget will cut 4.1 million jobs by 2014. They would be catastrophic for our country.... and the world.
You might be Vice-President Biden if you released 14 years of tax returns.
You might be President Obama if you released 12 years of tax returns.
You might be Mitt Romney if you released a 'partial' 2010 tax return (leaving off the part about the Swiss bank account) and a 'partial' 2011 tax estimate.
You might be Paul Ryan if you would only release 2 years of tax returns.
Why on Earth would I vote for Romney/Ryan who won't reveal the truth about their finances, their financial worth, or whether or not they paid any taxes?
We're supposed to pay Romney/Ryan's salaries, lifelong pensions and Secret Service details for 10 years after they leave office and yet they won't reveal the truth about their finances to us?
Right on, Professor Cole. That's pretty much how I see it too.
Paul Ryan put himself through college on Social Security benefits—
yet he wants to privatize (abolish) Social Security.
Ryan's mentor Ayn Rand, wrote that she believed in 'small government'—
but was herself on Social Security and Medicare. Ryan wants to voucher-ize (abolish) Medicare.
Ryan is a millionaire, Romney is a multi-millionaire and they will lower taxes on themselves—and raise taxes on the rest of us poor and middle-class, as outlined in the Ryan budget.
Ryan/Romney are against women's rights, health care and equal pay.
They are also against
unions
worker's rights
Will defund the EPA
Will abolish the Dept. of Education
Will lower the hourly wage
Will protect corporate subsidies
Will increase the MIC budget
Will ship American jobs to Mexico, China and India
Will repeal Roe v Wade
Will get rid of Planned Parenthood
Will repeal the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Will repeal the Affordable Health Care Act
Will appoint Supreme Justices to the right of Scalia
Will abolish Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Will cut 4.1 MILLION American jobs by 2014
Will raise the deficit to $16 TRILLION by 2021
Will raise taxes on the poor and middle class
Will lower taxes on the wealthiest 1%.........
Romney/Ryan will finish the job Bush/Cheney started and destroy the United States for good.
I am rooting for Obama/Biden. As well, I hope we the people also elect a Blue-obstruction-and-filibuster-proof-congress!!
I'm so sick of our country living under the tyranny of the NRA, their powerful lobbies and all the politicians they’ve bought so they won’t legislate for better gun control.
I'm sick that our country that has been in the war and weapons business for 70+ years.
The USA needs to get out of the war and weapons business and embrace the business of Peace. Instead of spending multi-trillions on pointless war and lethal weapons that only enrich the NRA, war profiteers, and the MIC, we need to spend those taxpayer trillions on rebuilding the USA, on infrastructure, education, new technology and clean green energy, all of which would create JOBS and renew the American people. Not to mention the HUGE relief that would be to the rest of the world.
We need to depower the two terrible tyrannies—the NRA and the MIC—“that have in their direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States,” (with apologies to Thomas Jefferson) ☮
Reporter/journalist: Someone who unearthed truth and facts in the 20th century United States, and asked challenging questions of newsmakers and politicians in order to get to the bottom of a news-story. But reporter/journalists became obsolete in the 21st century because corporations own the MSM and take great pains to quell the truth and facts from being revealed to the American people. A few exceptions still exist: Juan Cole, Amy Goodman, Richard Engel and Bill Moyers.
Bravo, Professor. Standing O. All excellent suggestions and do-able. But first, we the people need to vote-out the GOPTea and Blue Dog Dems and vote-in Progs/Libs/Dems/Indys across the land; including delivering a Blue obstruction-proof congress so POTUS can get on with all of it, which I know in my heart he would very much like to do.
The USA cannot go forward until the GOPTea are voted-out. It's that simple. And it would be simple if we had a good education system and a fair and balanced MSM that actually informed we the people of the truth!
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people.
They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
Thanks so much for your 'Good News on Clean Energy' reports, Professor. They are heartwarming, especially when one reads about what a garbage dump the Maldives have become, or that there is 20 million tons of radioactive waste floating towards the U.S. Pacific Coast from Fukushima.
Cleaning up our planet feels like a Herculean task—practically Sisyphean. But every bit of good news is great news. So thanks again.
If we do not permit the Earth to produce beauty and joy,
it will, in the end, not produce food, either.
~ Joseph Krutch, American Naturalist and Writer
But we do need to remember that the GOPTea, Norquist, Rove, the Kochs and their billionaire club are obstructing President Obama every step of the way and attempting to complete the buy of their Oligarchy in November.
The Progressive views of the great Sen. Bernie Jacobs are utterly lost on this intractable congress. Our Republic is still in the hands of the voter, for all the money of the SuperPacs, but if the majority of voters are Faux-informed, we are lost, and that is a great tragedy.
I'll stay optimistic and hope enough of us are awake still and will vote-out the GOPTea and vote-in more Progs/Libs/Indys along with Dems.
I think you're correct, Travis. We have a "never fully-extinguished existence of racism," especially in the McConnell's of our government. We know that after President Obama was elected, the leaders of the GOPTea gathered together in a 'secret' meeting to plan how to destroy POTUS.
What happened to a U.S. government dedicated to doing what is best for our country and we the people? Long gone, or the few that remain are seeing their voices drowned out by the corporatists.
We need investment in our infrastructure, but the GOPTea won't vote for it.
We need investment in clean green energy, but the GOPTea won't vote for it.
We need a cease and desist attack on women's rights, but the GOPTea are dedicated to sending woman's rights back to the 18th century.
President Obama is not a King and cannot do much of anything without the congress and this GOPTea-obstructing congress will not do a thing for this POTUS.
As for the drones and the Afghan war, I lay that at President Obama's feet. He could and should end the Afghan war today, and quit the unceasing drone attacks.
I agree with the assessment of the rest of the planet.
But to be fair, from the day President Obama moved into the White House, the GOP were determined to destroy everything and anything he proposed with a historic number of filibusters and obstructions. McConnell announced to the world what the GOP intentions were—to make President Obama a one-term POTUS—and to that end they are destroying the United States and we the people and laying the blaming the President for their destruction.
Are the GOPTea ready to do something about climate change? No, they want to abolish the EPA and deregulate corporations even more so that BP and Dutch Shell Oil can blithely continue destroying our oceans, air and Earth.
Are the GOPTea willing to do something for Palestinians? No, they want more war and weapons as a Foreign Policy.
Never have I seen a more uninformed and ignorant American people mesmerized into deep sleep by the pack of lies spewed by Faux and Rush and the unceasing lying negative campaign-ads thanks to Rove/Koch's SuperPacs which what the GOPTea are counting on to get re-elected. The GOPTea are so backwards in their ideology they are attacking women's rights at an unprecedented rate, are deeply suspicious of Science, any education, and sex education in particular.
I'm still hoping for a miracle—that enough Americans have awakened and smell the Plutocracy and will vote-out the GOPTea and Blue Dog Dems and give our country a fighting chance to redeem ourselves not only in the eyes of the world, but in our own eyes.
“What the people want is very simple —
they want an America as good as its promise.”
~ Barbara Jordan, Congresswoman, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
I keep hoping the U.K. will finally arrest Murdoch and then, my dream goes, the USA can dismantle Faux over here. Broadcasting lies 24/7 must not continue, for pity's sake, if not the Republic's.
Farleigh Dickinson University did a study and found that those who watch Fox actually know less about the news than if they'd never watched it.
Thank goodness for Rachel Maddow, Professor Cole, Amy Goodman, Al Jazeera and the BBC, for starters, because at least I know I'm getting facts with them and not Faux/Rove/Norquist/Koch/ALEC/GOPTea/rightwing ideology instead of news which is all Faux has to offer, as this cartoon illustrates.
Glad you read about Franklin and Sumner. I look everything up too.
I agree that today, with the GOPTea paralyzing congress, it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad, but there are some great statesmen. Senator Bernie Sanders, for starters. I'll never forget his railing on for 8 hours to an empty Senate chamber, fighting for the middle-class. That was the most inspiring political act I've seen in congress in my lifetime. But there are other elected representatives who stand and fight for the 99%, for the environment, for women's rights, for gun control and for an end to war: Al Franken, ,Jackie Spear, Sherrod Brown, Barbara Boxer, Dennis Kucinich, Carolyn McCarthy and Kirsten Gilibrand all come to mind.
Then there are a few that I hope will be elected to congress: Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin and Tammy Duckworth, to name three. I think Hilary Clinton is a wonderful stateswoman. She was an effective Senator from New York and far as I know, she's been an effective Secretary of State. She gave an inspiring speech in 2008 at the DNC, especially the part where she quoted Harriet Tubman. I’ll never forget that.
Barbara Jordan was a brilliant stateswoman. She said one of my favorite things about Americans because I know in my heart it's true:
“What the people want is very simple —
they want an America as good as its promise.”
~ Barbara Jordan, Congresswoman, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
“Give me the money that has been spent in war
and I will clothe every man, woman, and child
in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud.
I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole Earth.
I will crown every hillside with a place of worship
consecrated to peace.”
~ Charles Sumner, American politician & statesman ☮
Legalize MJ and tax it like any other commodity like alcohol or cigarettes. I'd go so far as to say "end the war on drugs" which has been a multi-trillion dollar colossal failure and legalize all drugs. THAT would bring huge revenue into the U.S. Treasury.
Forgive all student debts right now. Student indebtedness is so ridiculous that even the President of the United States only paid off his college loans 8 years ago. Hello!
Instead of investing multi-trillions of dollars in perpetual war, weapons and 'nation building' nations that don't want us and that bankrupts the USA, we need to invest in we the people, our crumbling infrastructure, new technology, clean green energy, research, NASA and space exploration, U.S. manufacturing and most crucially, education! And education for all.
Fantastic article, Professor. I posted some of it and the link on the Huffington Post. JFK was a visionary, the GOPTea are, to a one, Regressionists.
Every single GOPTea candidate for POTUS is against women's rights. Every single one. The GOPTea are attacking women's rights, our bodies, health care and doctors with a vehemence not seen since 1692, in Salem, MA.
The GOPTea are neanderthals as your article so beautifully points out.
“Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.”
~ Jimmy Carter
So great, professor. Here's one of my faves, although it has only a vague connection to your Omar Khayyam 39!
"Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live."
~ Dorothy Parker, Résumé
Thank you, Juan. I'm truly honored because I hold you in such high regard. I'm so enjoying your translations of these beautiful "Omar Khayyam" poems. Paramahansa Yogananda felt they'd been utterly misunderstood for centuries and wrote a book about it, "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained." Your translations let their truth shine.
Reminds me of a story Paramahansa Yogananda once told about Master Mahasaya, the revered disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. The boy, Yogananda had made a flower garland for his teacher but Master Mahasaya refused to let him put it on him and bow to him. Finally, "m" as he called himself, permitted Yogananda to place it on him in homage to The One who lived inside him.
Who will you vote for then, Mr./Ms. Marsh? Romney? Gingrich? Do you feel our country would be in better hands with either of them? I can't believe you do.
You may be disappointed with President Obama but I am not disappointed, or with the Dems, speaking as a woman. They have not gone after my rights and health care and defunded Planned Parenthood; they have not taken away worker's rights to collectively bargain and busted unions; they have not sought to take away gay rights; they have not defunded education and sought to defund the EPA.
And the Dems did not sign Paul Ryan's budget, that every GOPTea did, and that calls for abolishing (voucher-izing) Medicare, lowering taxes even more for the wealthy and cutting 2.1 million American jobs over 5 years.
I will vote for President Obama again and happily. I will vote for any Dem/Prog/Indy/Lib breathing and I believe the GOPTea are in for a historic drubbing come November. We the people are waking up and can recognize a party that is strictly for the 1% when we see one—finally.
The only threat to a tidal wave for the Dems is the new GOPTea voter ID laws that I hope will be found to be anti-Democracy and tossed out by the courts. The GOPTea know they can't win fairly, so they're trying to disenfranchise millions of American voters. OCCUPY VOTING BOOTHS!!
Finally, I would never ever vote for a GOPTea—how could any woman?
Thanks so much, Professor, for posting an article about a subject closest to my heart. The renewal of the Earth, air, waters, animals, humans—all life—with clean green energy needs to become the #1 effort by humanity. It is heartening to see that slowly, slowly it is becoming so.
I have three more articles to add to your list, one from today and two from this year:
And these are about Bolivia's Law for Mother Earth, which has passed, giving Nature rights. Those include:
1. The right to life and to exist
2. The right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration
3. The right to pure water and clean air
4. The right to balance
5. The right not to be polluted
6. The right not to have cellular structure modified or genetically altered
7. The right not to be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities. . . .
If the USA were energy independent, would we have been fighting wars in the Middle East for the last 10 years? Would we have stepped in to help Libya? I don't believe so.
President Carter warned us of the impending energy crisis in 1977; that we consume more energy than we can create with oil, coal and nuclear. Al Gore has been warning us about human made Global Warming for 30 years. There is a protest in Washington DC right now over the Keystone pipeline. There is still oil in Prince William sound 22 years after Exxon Valdez. . . And still the USA depends on oil, coal and nuclear power—all of which have proven to be destructive to all life—Earth, waters, air, human, animals.
When will the USA wake up and transition to clean green energy?
Agree with you, Professor Cole. There has been fighting in the Middle East for millennia and the presence of 150,000 US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has made absolutely no difference. The fighting between whatever factions continues; government corruption continues; war profiteering continues; the only thing that has changed since 2002 is that the USA is bankrupt, the American people are homeless, jobless and our Social Services under threat after 10 years of pointless wars.
The USA must end the Middle East-wars-for-oil now and invest in clean green energy. If the USA had been energy-independent, as Jimmy Carter pleaded that we become in 1977, we wouldn't have been taken to war in Iraq on the lie of WMDs by Bush and Cheney, the two oilmen in the White House.
"We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us... The most important thing about these proposals is that the alternative may be a national catastrophe. Further delay can affect our strength and our power as a nation."
~ President Jimmy Carter, April 18, 1977
I agree that the President's plan to call for al-Asad to step down is a bad idea. In fact, for President Obama to call for any country to do anything right now is a bad idea because the USA is crumbling and needs all the help we can get. We don't have the money or the Military to continue galavanting around the globe telling other countries what to do. We should be focused on rebuilding the USA and investing in the American people and clean green energy, and we should definitely end the wars in the Middle East.
I know I'm a broken record on this point, but I'm sure this is how protestors of the Vietnam war must have felt for many years until that war was finally ended—the USA needs to end the pointless bankrupting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home. And we definitely must stop telling other countries what to do. We cannot and should not attempt to be the police of the world.
Afghanistan is a US war that never should have been. Known as "the graveyard of empires," Afghanistan has been swallowing up the USA for ten years with the needless deaths of brave soldiers and innocent civilians, multi-trillion dollar war profiteering (Halliburton, etc.), and a corrupt government that takes billions of US dollars every week and disappears out of the country with it stuffed in suitcases.
Before the USA went bankrupt there, Russia did, and although Russia left after nine years, we're still there. The first of two pointless disastrous bankrupting wars launched by GWBush—for oil.
I disagree that Americans don't want to read about this war. Americans are angry about the fact that this war hasn't been front page news. Not covering it in the news has only served to extend the needlessness for years.
We have a broken MSM, a greedy MIC that Eisenhower warned us about, and a congress that votes to keep funding this catastrophe year after year. I thought this was one thing President Obama would do—bring all the troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq. This is, for me, the most crushingly disappointing part of Obama's presidency. His inability to end the wars. And in fact, he's increased them, by adding Libya to Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, and Obama has swelled the MIC budget, earning him the title, "GWBush 2."
Afghanistan has been bankrupting, pointless and tragic. The moment US troops leave, the Taliban will return. They already are returning. What has this all been about? Oil. It's long since time for clean green energy and an end to oil, coal and nuclear power. And it's long since time for peace.
I concur with your point, Professor Cole, as does everyone I know: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be held accountable for taking the United States to needless war in Iraq on the lie of WMDs, as well as instigating torture. They should be on trial at The Hague.
Furthermore, the USA should GET OUT of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan now—ASAP. Ten years of pointless multi-trillion dollar war is enough! The American people have had it with our government shipping billions of dollars a week to corrupt governments and war profiteers. Our brave and weary American soldiers and their families, deserve better. Shame on us. And shame on the congress for funding these wars for 10 years—both GOPTea and Democrats.
We learned nothing from the Vietnam War.
We learned nothing from the Iraq War.
We're still fighting the Afghan War.
For the past 70+ years War and Weapons has been the USA's #1 business.
Meanwhile, our infrastructure is crumbling, the American people need renewing and JOBS, we need to invest in new technology, research, education and green energy; corporations are not paying taxes and in fact, are stashing trillions of dollars in offshore tax haven accounts. Did I mention we're still spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan and for what?
We need to rebuild the USA from bottom to top—sending weapons to Syria is just more MIC folly. I'm very disappointed in President Obama who had, until now, shown great fortitude in not being swayed by the McCain-led-Senate-Neocons who want endless multi-trillion-dollar wars.
I don't dare list the number of countries we have invaded since WWII because it makes me sick.
Entering into Syria is madness because this bloody war already involves too many countries, most importantly—Russia—as well as Hezbollah, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The only people U.S. wars have benefitted in this century have been War Profiteers and Government Contractors, otherwise, the American people have been bankrupted and precious U.S. soldiers and innocent civilians have died for no good reason I can see.
This is not our fight. We have no business in Syria despite reports chemical weapons have been used. We heard that once about WMDs. As for arming the rebels in Syria—which ones?
Agree with you, Phychohistorian. The GOPTea are setting themselves up to trash Hillary Clinton. Benghazi is Whitewater redux for them.
The GOPTea & Fox are beneath contempt with their unceasing conspiracy theories and scandal-making over Benghazi. And they're hypocrites to boot. There were more attacks on U.S. Embassies under George W. Bush than under any other President—but I don't remember hearing a peep out of the GOPTea about that, or about 9-11 that happened on G.W.Bush's watch, or the Iraq War launched in the lie of WMDs.
The GOP were silent while all that was going on but now they're trying with all their might to make a big deal about Benghazi because they have nothing else to pin on potential future Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. It's all sound and fury signifying nothing, which is the GOPTea M.O.
FYI ~
U.S. Embassy attacks by President:
Carter-3, Reagan-3, Obama-2, GHWBush-1 and Clinton-1.
U.S. Embassy attacks under George W. Bush, including 9-11:
1. On September 11, 2001 —2,996 civilian deaths, including 19 hijackers.
2. On January 22, 2002, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami gunmen attacked the US consulate at Kolkata, killing 5 people.
3. On June 14, 2002, an Al-Qaeda truck bomb detonated outside the US consulate at Karachi, killing 12.
4. On October 12, 2002, the US consular office at Denpasar (Indonesia) was bombed by Jemaah Islamiyah as part of the Bali bombings.
5. In 2002 again, 9 people were killed by bomb blast near US embassy in Lima (Peru). An attempt to disrupt forthcoming visit by President George W. Bush.
6. On February 28, 2003, unknown gunmen attacked US embassy at Islamabad, killing 2 people.
7. On June 30, 2004, a suicide bomber hailing from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan attacked US embassy at Tashkent, killing 2 people.
8. On December 6, 2004, Al-Qaeda gunmen raided the diplomatic compound at Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), killing 9 Americans.
9. On March 2, 2006, two people were killed when a car bomb exploded outside the US consulate in Karachi.
10. On September 12, 2006, gunmen raided the US embassy at Damascus (Syria), killing 4 people.
11. On January 12, 2007, a Greek revolutionary group fired an RPG at the US embassy at Greece. No damage done.
12. On March 18, 2008, a mortar attack at the US Embassy at Sana’a (Yemen) killed 2 people.
13. On July 9, 2008, an armed attack at the US consulate at Istanbul killed 6 people.
14. On September 17, 2008, 16 people were killed when the US embassy at Sana’a (Yemen) was attacked.
~ Media Matters, International The News, Daily Kos, Mother Jones
I have only 3 words for the despicable Mitch McConnell, who led the GOPTeas to a historic unrelenting number filibusters:
Go Ashley Judd!!
Yay!
Standing O smack down, Professor.
If only the MSM would do their jobs and fact-bust and truth-bust EVERY politician or political stunt, as you always do.
With respect to Clint who is an iconic actor/director, he is THE FACE of the GOPTea — a grumpy old white man.
The country and the world have moved on but the GOPTea men refuse to believe it as they cling to an idealized Leave-It-To-Beaver-past that never existed in the first place.
Right on, Travis Bickle!!
Do you know how Mitt Romney made his multi-millions, Mark? He's a vulture capitalist and while CEO of Bain, Romney bankrupted American companies and shipped American jobs to Mexico, India and China in order to line his pockets with multi-millions, leaving ghost-factories and heartbroken American workers behind.
While Gov. of MA that state dropped from 37th to 47th in job creation.
He oversaw the most expensive Olympics in U.S. history costing more Federal money than any Olympics ever had.
Romney has no idea how to create a single job. He only knows how to fire people. Ryan's budget will cut 4.1 million jobs by 2014. They would be catastrophic for our country.... and the world.
You might be Vice-President Biden if you released 14 years of tax returns.
You might be President Obama if you released 12 years of tax returns.
You might be Mitt Romney if you released a 'partial' 2010 tax return (leaving off the part about the Swiss bank account) and a 'partial' 2011 tax estimate.
You might be Paul Ryan if you would only release 2 years of tax returns.
Why on Earth would I vote for Romney/Ryan who won't reveal the truth about their finances, their financial worth, or whether or not they paid any taxes?
We're supposed to pay Romney/Ryan's salaries, lifelong pensions and Secret Service details for 10 years after they leave office and yet they won't reveal the truth about their finances to us?
They've failed the interview.
Sticking with Obama/Biden 2012.
Right on, Professor Cole. That's pretty much how I see it too.
Paul Ryan put himself through college on Social Security benefits—
yet he wants to privatize (abolish) Social Security.
Ryan's mentor Ayn Rand, wrote that she believed in 'small government'—
but was herself on Social Security and Medicare. Ryan wants to voucher-ize (abolish) Medicare.
Ryan is a millionaire, Romney is a multi-millionaire and they will lower taxes on themselves—and raise taxes on the rest of us poor and middle-class, as outlined in the Ryan budget.
Ryan/Romney are against women's rights, health care and equal pay.
They are also against
unions
worker's rights
Will defund the EPA
Will abolish the Dept. of Education
Will lower the hourly wage
Will protect corporate subsidies
Will increase the MIC budget
Will ship American jobs to Mexico, China and India
Will repeal Roe v Wade
Will get rid of Planned Parenthood
Will repeal the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Will repeal the Affordable Health Care Act
Will appoint Supreme Justices to the right of Scalia
Will abolish Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Will cut 4.1 MILLION American jobs by 2014
Will raise the deficit to $16 TRILLION by 2021
Will raise taxes on the poor and middle class
Will lower taxes on the wealthiest 1%.........
Romney/Ryan will finish the job Bush/Cheney started and destroy the United States for good.
I am rooting for Obama/Biden. As well, I hope we the people also elect a Blue-obstruction-and-filibuster-proof-congress!!
Yes it would follow, Professor.
I'm so sick of our country living under the tyranny of the NRA, their powerful lobbies and all the politicians they’ve bought so they won’t legislate for better gun control.
I'm sick that our country that has been in the war and weapons business for 70+ years.
The USA needs to get out of the war and weapons business and embrace the business of Peace. Instead of spending multi-trillions on pointless war and lethal weapons that only enrich the NRA, war profiteers, and the MIC, we need to spend those taxpayer trillions on rebuilding the USA, on infrastructure, education, new technology and clean green energy, all of which would create JOBS and renew the American people. Not to mention the HUGE relief that would be to the rest of the world.
We need to depower the two terrible tyrannies—the NRA and the MIC—“that have in their direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States,” (with apologies to Thomas Jefferson) ☮
Exactly correct, Professor!
O'12
Reporter/journalist: Someone who unearthed truth and facts in the 20th century United States, and asked challenging questions of newsmakers and politicians in order to get to the bottom of a news-story. But reporter/journalists became obsolete in the 21st century because corporations own the MSM and take great pains to quell the truth and facts from being revealed to the American people. A few exceptions still exist: Juan Cole, Amy Goodman, Richard Engel and Bill Moyers.
Bravo, Professor. Standing O. All excellent suggestions and do-able. But first, we the people need to vote-out the GOPTea and Blue Dog Dems and vote-in Progs/Libs/Dems/Indys across the land; including delivering a Blue obstruction-proof congress so POTUS can get on with all of it, which I know in my heart he would very much like to do.
The USA cannot go forward until the GOPTea are voted-out. It's that simple. And it would be simple if we had a good education system and a fair and balanced MSM that actually informed we the people of the truth!
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people.
They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
Thanks so much for your 'Good News on Clean Energy' reports, Professor. They are heartwarming, especially when one reads about what a garbage dump the Maldives have become, or that there is 20 million tons of radioactive waste floating towards the U.S. Pacific Coast from Fukushima.
Cleaning up our planet feels like a Herculean task—practically Sisyphean. But every bit of good news is great news. So thanks again.
If we do not permit the Earth to produce beauty and joy,
it will, in the end, not produce food, either.
~ Joseph Krutch, American Naturalist and Writer
I know exactly how you feel, GeorgeJanczyn.
But we do need to remember that the GOPTea, Norquist, Rove, the Kochs and their billionaire club are obstructing President Obama every step of the way and attempting to complete the buy of their Oligarchy in November.
The Progressive views of the great Sen. Bernie Jacobs are utterly lost on this intractable congress. Our Republic is still in the hands of the voter, for all the money of the SuperPacs, but if the majority of voters are Faux-informed, we are lost, and that is a great tragedy.
I'll stay optimistic and hope enough of us are awake still and will vote-out the GOPTea and vote-in more Progs/Libs/Indys along with Dems.
I think you're correct, Travis. We have a "never fully-extinguished existence of racism," especially in the McConnell's of our government. We know that after President Obama was elected, the leaders of the GOPTea gathered together in a 'secret' meeting to plan how to destroy POTUS.
What happened to a U.S. government dedicated to doing what is best for our country and we the people? Long gone, or the few that remain are seeing their voices drowned out by the corporatists.
We need investment in our infrastructure, but the GOPTea won't vote for it.
We need investment in clean green energy, but the GOPTea won't vote for it.
We need a cease and desist attack on women's rights, but the GOPTea are dedicated to sending woman's rights back to the 18th century.
President Obama is not a King and cannot do much of anything without the congress and this GOPTea-obstructing congress will not do a thing for this POTUS.
As for the drones and the Afghan war, I lay that at President Obama's feet. He could and should end the Afghan war today, and quit the unceasing drone attacks.
I agree with the assessment of the rest of the planet.
But to be fair, from the day President Obama moved into the White House, the GOP were determined to destroy everything and anything he proposed with a historic number of filibusters and obstructions. McConnell announced to the world what the GOP intentions were—to make President Obama a one-term POTUS—and to that end they are destroying the United States and we the people and laying the blaming the President for their destruction.
Are the GOPTea ready to do something about climate change? No, they want to abolish the EPA and deregulate corporations even more so that BP and Dutch Shell Oil can blithely continue destroying our oceans, air and Earth.
Are the GOPTea willing to do something for Palestinians? No, they want more war and weapons as a Foreign Policy.
Never have I seen a more uninformed and ignorant American people mesmerized into deep sleep by the pack of lies spewed by Faux and Rush and the unceasing lying negative campaign-ads thanks to Rove/Koch's SuperPacs which what the GOPTea are counting on to get re-elected. The GOPTea are so backwards in their ideology they are attacking women's rights at an unprecedented rate, are deeply suspicious of Science, any education, and sex education in particular.
I'm still hoping for a miracle—that enough Americans have awakened and smell the Plutocracy and will vote-out the GOPTea and Blue Dog Dems and give our country a fighting chance to redeem ourselves not only in the eyes of the world, but in our own eyes.
“What the people want is very simple —
they want an America as good as its promise.”
~ Barbara Jordan, Congresswoman, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
I keep hoping the U.K. will finally arrest Murdoch and then, my dream goes, the USA can dismantle Faux over here. Broadcasting lies 24/7 must not continue, for pity's sake, if not the Republic's.
Farleigh Dickinson University did a study and found that those who watch Fox actually know less about the news than if they'd never watched it.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/study-watching-fox-news-actually-makes-you-less-informed-20120524
Thank goodness for Rachel Maddow, Professor Cole, Amy Goodman, Al Jazeera and the BBC, for starters, because at least I know I'm getting facts with them and not Faux/Rove/Norquist/Koch/ALEC/GOPTea/rightwing ideology instead of news which is all Faux has to offer, as this cartoon illustrates.
Hi A Fed Up Swimmer,
Glad you read about Franklin and Sumner. I look everything up too.
I agree that today, with the GOPTea paralyzing congress, it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad, but there are some great statesmen. Senator Bernie Sanders, for starters. I'll never forget his railing on for 8 hours to an empty Senate chamber, fighting for the middle-class. That was the most inspiring political act I've seen in congress in my lifetime. But there are other elected representatives who stand and fight for the 99%, for the environment, for women's rights, for gun control and for an end to war: Al Franken, ,Jackie Spear, Sherrod Brown, Barbara Boxer, Dennis Kucinich, Carolyn McCarthy and Kirsten Gilibrand all come to mind.
Then there are a few that I hope will be elected to congress: Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin and Tammy Duckworth, to name three. I think Hilary Clinton is a wonderful stateswoman. She was an effective Senator from New York and far as I know, she's been an effective Secretary of State. She gave an inspiring speech in 2008 at the DNC, especially the part where she quoted Harriet Tubman. I’ll never forget that.
Barbara Jordan was a brilliant stateswoman. She said one of my favorite things about Americans because I know in my heart it's true:
“What the people want is very simple —
they want an America as good as its promise.”
~ Barbara Jordan, Congresswoman, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
“Give me the money that has been spent in war
and I will clothe every man, woman, and child
in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud.
I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole Earth.
I will crown every hillside with a place of worship
consecrated to peace.”
~ Charles Sumner, American politician & statesman ☮
Hear, hear, Professor. Agree a trillion%
Legalize MJ and tax it like any other commodity like alcohol or cigarettes. I'd go so far as to say "end the war on drugs" which has been a multi-trillion dollar colossal failure and legalize all drugs. THAT would bring huge revenue into the U.S. Treasury.
Forgive all student debts right now. Student indebtedness is so ridiculous that even the President of the United States only paid off his college loans 8 years ago. Hello!
Instead of investing multi-trillions of dollars in perpetual war, weapons and 'nation building' nations that don't want us and that bankrupts the USA, we need to invest in we the people, our crumbling infrastructure, new technology, clean green energy, research, NASA and space exploration, U.S. manufacturing and most crucially, education! And education for all.
Thank you, Professor.
Fantastic article, Professor. I posted some of it and the link on the Huffington Post. JFK was a visionary, the GOPTea are, to a one, Regressionists.
Every single GOPTea candidate for POTUS is against women's rights. Every single one. The GOPTea are attacking women's rights, our bodies, health care and doctors with a vehemence not seen since 1692, in Salem, MA.
The GOPTea are neanderthals as your article so beautifully points out.
“Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.”
~ Jimmy Carter
Fantastic photos. That's about how the percentages will go in the National election....... if everyone VOTES this time!!
So great, professor. Here's one of my faves, although it has only a vague connection to your Omar Khayyam 39!
"Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live."
~ Dorothy Parker, Résumé
Another beauty... and speaking about impermanence ~
"The bones of lovers are piled high under the moon."
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
Please keep them coming, Professor. They are just magnificent! So beautiful.
"Youth is wasted on the young."
~ George Bernard Shaw
😉
Breathtaking!
Thank you, Juan. I'm truly honored because I hold you in such high regard. I'm so enjoying your translations of these beautiful "Omar Khayyam" poems. Paramahansa Yogananda felt they'd been utterly misunderstood for centuries and wrote a book about it, "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Explained." Your translations let their truth shine.
Fantastic!
Reminds me of a story Paramahansa Yogananda once told about Master Mahasaya, the revered disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. The boy, Yogananda had made a flower garland for his teacher but Master Mahasaya refused to let him put it on him and bow to him. Finally, "m" as he called himself, permitted Yogananda to place it on him in homage to The One who lived inside him.
Beautiful. Thank you.
Ro-money reminds me of someone. . . .
"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"
~ Ebenezer Scrooge
Me too, Ann! I'm in!
Who will you vote for then, Mr./Ms. Marsh? Romney? Gingrich? Do you feel our country would be in better hands with either of them? I can't believe you do.
You may be disappointed with President Obama but I am not disappointed, or with the Dems, speaking as a woman. They have not gone after my rights and health care and defunded Planned Parenthood; they have not taken away worker's rights to collectively bargain and busted unions; they have not sought to take away gay rights; they have not defunded education and sought to defund the EPA.
And the Dems did not sign Paul Ryan's budget, that every GOPTea did, and that calls for abolishing (voucher-izing) Medicare, lowering taxes even more for the wealthy and cutting 2.1 million American jobs over 5 years.
I will vote for President Obama again and happily. I will vote for any Dem/Prog/Indy/Lib breathing and I believe the GOPTea are in for a historic drubbing come November. We the people are waking up and can recognize a party that is strictly for the 1% when we see one—finally.
The only threat to a tidal wave for the Dems is the new GOPTea voter ID laws that I hope will be found to be anti-Democracy and tossed out by the courts. The GOPTea know they can't win fairly, so they're trying to disenfranchise millions of American voters. OCCUPY VOTING BOOTHS!!
Finally, I would never ever vote for a GOPTea—how could any woman?
Thanks so much, Professor, for posting an article about a subject closest to my heart. The renewal of the Earth, air, waters, animals, humans—all life—with clean green energy needs to become the #1 effort by humanity. It is heartening to see that slowly, slowly it is becoming so.
I have three more articles to add to your list, one from today and two from this year:
Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Winner, Urges Japan To Abandon Nuclear Power
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/06/kenzaburo-oe-nobel-winner-japan-nuclear_n_950085.html#comments
And these are about Bolivia's Law for Mother Earth, which has passed, giving Nature rights. Those include:
1. The right to life and to exist
2. The right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration
3. The right to pure water and clean air
4. The right to balance
5. The right not to be polluted
6. The right not to have cellular structure modified or genetically altered
7. The right not to be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities. . . .
Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth Establishes 11 New Rights For Nature
http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2011/04/12/bolivias-law-of-mother-earth-establishes-11-new-rights-for-nature/
Bolivia enshrines natural world's rights with equal status for Mother Earth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights
Thank you, Professor, for putting it so well and simply.
If the USA were energy independent, would we have been fighting wars in the Middle East for the last 10 years? Would we have stepped in to help Libya? I don't believe so.
President Carter warned us of the impending energy crisis in 1977; that we consume more energy than we can create with oil, coal and nuclear. Al Gore has been warning us about human made Global Warming for 30 years. There is a protest in Washington DC right now over the Keystone pipeline. There is still oil in Prince William sound 22 years after Exxon Valdez. . . And still the USA depends on oil, coal and nuclear power—all of which have proven to be destructive to all life—Earth, waters, air, human, animals.
When will the USA wake up and transition to clean green energy?
Libya. Oil. War. Is it that simple?
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/03/21/the_libyan_oil_war_connection
From Afghanistan to Iraq: Connecting the Dots with Oil
http://www.alternet.org/world/47489/
"47,000 US troops is largely irrelevant."
Agree with you, Professor Cole. There has been fighting in the Middle East for millennia and the presence of 150,000 US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has made absolutely no difference. The fighting between whatever factions continues; government corruption continues; war profiteering continues; the only thing that has changed since 2002 is that the USA is bankrupt, the American people are homeless, jobless and our Social Services under threat after 10 years of pointless wars.
The USA must end the Middle East-wars-for-oil now and invest in clean green energy. If the USA had been energy-independent, as Jimmy Carter pleaded that we become in 1977, we wouldn't have been taken to war in Iraq on the lie of WMDs by Bush and Cheney, the two oilmen in the White House.
"We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us... The most important thing about these proposals is that the alternative may be a national catastrophe. Further delay can affect our strength and our power as a nation."
~ President Jimmy Carter, April 18, 1977
I agree that the President's plan to call for al-Asad to step down is a bad idea. In fact, for President Obama to call for any country to do anything right now is a bad idea because the USA is crumbling and needs all the help we can get. We don't have the money or the Military to continue galavanting around the globe telling other countries what to do. We should be focused on rebuilding the USA and investing in the American people and clean green energy, and we should definitely end the wars in the Middle East.
I know I'm a broken record on this point, but I'm sure this is how protestors of the Vietnam war must have felt for many years until that war was finally ended—the USA needs to end the pointless bankrupting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home. And we definitely must stop telling other countries what to do. We cannot and should not attempt to be the police of the world.
Afghanistan is a US war that never should have been. Known as "the graveyard of empires," Afghanistan has been swallowing up the USA for ten years with the needless deaths of brave soldiers and innocent civilians, multi-trillion dollar war profiteering (Halliburton, etc.), and a corrupt government that takes billions of US dollars every week and disappears out of the country with it stuffed in suitcases.
Before the USA went bankrupt there, Russia did, and although Russia left after nine years, we're still there. The first of two pointless disastrous bankrupting wars launched by GWBush—for oil.
I disagree that Americans don't want to read about this war. Americans are angry about the fact that this war hasn't been front page news. Not covering it in the news has only served to extend the needlessness for years.
We have a broken MSM, a greedy MIC that Eisenhower warned us about, and a congress that votes to keep funding this catastrophe year after year. I thought this was one thing President Obama would do—bring all the troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq. This is, for me, the most crushingly disappointing part of Obama's presidency. His inability to end the wars. And in fact, he's increased them, by adding Libya to Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, and Obama has swelled the MIC budget, earning him the title, "GWBush 2."
Afghanistan has been bankrupting, pointless and tragic. The moment US troops leave, the Taliban will return. They already are returning. What has this all been about? Oil. It's long since time for clean green energy and an end to oil, coal and nuclear power. And it's long since time for peace.
Excellent point, Zhu Bajie.
I concur with your point, Professor Cole, as does everyone I know: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be held accountable for taking the United States to needless war in Iraq on the lie of WMDs, as well as instigating torture. They should be on trial at The Hague.
Furthermore, the USA should GET OUT of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan now—ASAP. Ten years of pointless multi-trillion dollar war is enough! The American people have had it with our government shipping billions of dollars a week to corrupt governments and war profiteers. Our brave and weary American soldiers and their families, deserve better. Shame on us. And shame on the congress for funding these wars for 10 years—both GOPTea and Democrats.