Current Events

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Is Obama Becoming W-ized?

January 6, 2010 in Current Events, Foreign Affairs, International, Journalists, MEDIA, Mid-East, Security by Mardé | No comments

More Juan Cole stuff this morning. He’s making a good argument that these new Obama administration airline passenger screening measures are casting too wide a net and will end up alienating people. Also, they tell al-Qaida which countries not to send bombers from. For example, Indonesia and India aren’t on the list. And why is Cuba on the list?

It’s hard to find a discussion of these issues on the American media which is so scared it might be called ‘liberal’ that it constantly bends over backwards to appease the republicans, who are mostly right wing now, with vanishing numbers of ‘moderates’. So, it was refreshing to hear, thanks to Juan Cole, a different analysis of these new screening measures brought to us by, yes, you guessed it, AlJazeeraEnglish.

Here’s a 24 minute video from AlJazeeraEnglish with the title, “Inside Story – New airline security measures: Safe or discriminatory? – 5 Jan 2009″

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIRp4qKp138[/youtube]

So, if Obama’s rhetoric is high minded and progressive, are his actions more like a continuation of George W. Bush’s policies? In other words, is Obama becoming W-ized?

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Behind the Laughter

October 13, 2009 in Crisis, Culture, Current Events by Mardé | No comments

There’s a good Op-Ed by Bob Herbert this morning. It seems Conan O’Brien has been having fun making fun of Newark, NJ. Behind that laughter lies a nation full of urban tragedy. Our cities, as usual, are ignored and continue to suffer.

Here’s a couple comments, expressing better than I can how tragic this situation is:

I don’t know about Newark, but in college I had the opportunity to live four months in Dakar, Senegal, a city which we like to define as “third-world.” Back then I had this idea that I needed to see what “poverty” looked like. However, upon returning and moving to metro Detroit, I can see that there was no need to go half so far. Dakar is far better off than Detroit, with a comparable literacy rate (60%), fewer drugs, and far less violence. In parts of Detroit, poverty/unemployment/crime rates are through the roof, streets are abandoned, every other house is burned or falling in, every window broken, and empty sky scrapers crumble, condemned and overgrown with plants. You can’t believe it until you’ve spent time there.

Detroit is in appalling condition. I would never have believed that the United States of America, which brags and blathers so hard on the world stage, would allow such unthinkable destitution. The country that offered me so much privilege and even led me to assume that poverty was always elsewhere, that children were hungry in China and Africa but never here five minutes away, offers neither safety nor opportunity to so many children in Detroit.

Yet on every TV station there are self-worshiping blowhards in suits and ties frothing at their audiences of nervous middle-class mice about America, the “greatest country on earth.” What makes America great? Dakar is a wonderful place with serious trials and significant suffering, but also a lot of hope and spirit. Detroit is a toxic wasteland by comparison.

I share your concern, Mr. Herbert. But I don’t think Conan O’Brien is really the one in need of reprimand. In fact I almost appreciate his comments, for bringing at least a little attention to America’s dark secrets, and maybe even a little levity.

Thanks, m.s. from southeastern michigan.

And here’s another comment. This one from Kate Madison of
Depoe Bay, Oregon:

…”So what are we doing? While mulling the prospect of sending up to 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, we’ve stood idly by, mute as a stone, as school districts across the nation have bounced 40,000 teachers out of their jobs over the past year.”

YEAH! Conan O’Brien’s act is kind of like laughing at the funeral of a brutally murdered child–horrifying but understandable only as an act of total denial! WHAT IS WRONG WITH US that we are willing to think about sending many more of our young people into the horrific war in Afghanistan–denying completely that most will come home with PTSD (if they survive), just as they did in Iraq and Vietnam! Yet…..we LAUGH about the terror and poverty in a place like Newark that probably produces as much PTSD in its deprived, abused children as Afghanistan and Iraq combined!

Let us face it! We are a narcissistic, spoiled country, and we do not wish to see what is right in front of us everyday! If we did, we would never have let it happen in the first place!!!

Well, maybe we wouldn’t have let it happen, but it wouldn’t have been a sure thing, given inherent human selfishness.

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Obama’s Nobel

October 12, 2009 in Awards, Current Events, Politics by Mardé | No comments

It’s probably true, as Minds Erased says, that the Nobel Peace prize is really like a Grammy Award, not based on merit, just a popularity contest, and only meant as a form of encouragement. Hendrick Hertzberg in the latest New Yorker (Oct. 19) pretty much agrees with this view. But that old foreign policy guru, Zbigniew Brzezinski, while admitting that Obama needs to earn the prize, deserves it nevertheless. Why? Here’s what he says:

He deserves it because, in the course of less than a year, he really has refined America’s relationship with the world. He has grandly improved America’s image in the world. He has committed America to a series of policies designed to resolve conflicts and to deal in a non-unilateral fashion with key issues. And he has committed America to grand goals in the area of nuclear weaponry, global problems and so forth.

What do I think?

Well, I think Iran is really not a threat and that if Obama can’t figure out how to talk to them, he’s not earned much, and he really should get out of Afghanistan. At least it appears now that he may drop the idea of routing out the Tailban. That’s a step forward.

But what do I think about Obama getting the prize?

Well, I don’t think he should have rejected it, but I’m sure it’ll be an additional burden for him to carry. It’s good that he at least is donating the proceeds to charity.

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63rd Coming Up

June 12, 2009 in Current Events, Memories, Reunions by Mardé | 6 comments

Hey, the wife and I are going to my 63rd high school reunion tomorrow. After 63 years why bother? Good question. There will be perhaps three or four members of that class of 1946 present. Let’s see. Who will they be? OK, me, Shirley Burne MacDougall, Claire Ferguson Tappening, Helena McKniff “Mickey” Crocker. Is that it? Not much out of that class of 36 members, eh? Well, there are more than four alive but they don’t chose to come. Why not? Well, maybe they think, “I never sat down at lunch with them then. Why should I have dinner with them 63 years later?” ha ha A good one for sure.

The class wit, John Joseph Waugh, will not be attending. That’s too bad because he could liven things up, like he does through his emails. But he is suffering from pulmonary fibrosis which as he says is a progressive disease, and it would be too uncomfortable for him to make the trip from North Carolina, oxygen tank and all. So, yesterday I put his phone number in my cell phone under “Waugh”, and will give him a call during the banquet.

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Israeli Bombardment of Gaza a War Crime

January 12, 2009 in Current Events, Mid-East, War by Mardé | 4 comments

Juan Cole this morning displayed this article from the Sunday Times of London and suggested all his readers do the same. Here it is!

From The Sunday Times
January 11, 2009

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence – it’s a war crime

ISRAEL has sought to justify its military attacks on Gaza by stating that it amounts to an act of “self-defence” as recognised by Article 51, United Nations Charter. We categorically reject this contention.

The rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas deplorable as they are, do not, in terms of scale and effect amount to an armed attack entitling Israel to rely on self-defence. Under international law self-defence is an act of last resort and is subject to the customary rules of proportionality and necessity.

The killing of almost 800 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and more than 3,000 injuries, accompanied by the destruction of schools, mosques, houses, UN compounds and government buildings, which Israel has a responsibility to protect under the Fourth Geneva Convention, is not commensurate to the deaths caused by Hamas rocket fire.

For 18 months Israel had imposed an unlawful blockade on the coastal strip that brought Gazan society to the brink of collapse. In the three years after Israel’s redeployment from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. And yet in 2005-8, according to the UN, the Israeli army killed about 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children. Throughout this time the Gaza Strip remained occupied territory under international law because Israel maintained effective control over it.

Israel’s actions amount to aggression, not self-defence, not least because its assault on Gaza was unnecessary. Israel could have agreed to renew the truce with Hamas. Instead it killed 225 Palestinians on the first day of its attack. As things stand, its invasion and bombardment of Gaza amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5m inhabitants contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law. In addition, the blockade of humanitarian relief, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and preventing access to basic necessities such as food and fuel, are prima facie war crimes.

We condemn the firing of rockets by Hamas into Israel and suicide bombings which are also contrary to international humanitarian law and are war crimes. Israel has a right to take reasonable and proportionate means to protect its civilian population from such attacks. However, the manner and scale of its operations in Gaza amount to an act of aggression and is contrary to international law, notwithstanding the rocket attacks by Hamas.

Ian Brownlie QC, Blackstone Chambers

Mark Muller QC, Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales

Michael Mansfield QC and Joel Bennathan QC, Tooks Chambers

Sir Geoffrey Bindman, University College, London

Professor Richard Falk, Princeton University

Professor M Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul University, Chicago

Professor Christine Chinkin, LSE

Professor John B Quigley, Ohio State University

Professor Iain Scobbie and Victor Kattan, School of Oriental and African Studies

Professor Vera Gowlland-Debbas, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

Professor Said Mahmoudi, Stockholm University

Professor Max du Plessis, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

Professor Bill Bowring, Birkbeck College

Professor Joshua Castellino, Middlesex University

Professor Thomas Skouteris and Professor Michael Kagan, American University of Cairo

Professor Javaid Rehman, Brunel University

Daniel Machover, Chairman, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights

Dr Phoebe Okawa, Queen Mary University

John Strawson, University of East London

Dr Nisrine Abiad, British Institute of International and Comparative Law

Dr Michael Kearney, University of York

Dr Shane Darcy, National University of Ireland, Galway

Dr Michelle Burgis, University of St Andrews

Dr Niaz Shah, University of Hull

Liz Davies, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyer

Prof Michael Lynk, The University of Western Ontario

Steve Kamlish QC and Michael Topolski QC, Tooks Chambers

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Michael Moore says….

December 12, 2008 in Current Events, Depression, Economy, Politics by Mardé | 2 comments

let the American auto industry choke on its mistakes and bad management. Hey, isn’t this what the polls say too? Michael’s right in tune with the American people. Right?

And it looks like the Richard Shelby’s and the Mitch McConnell’s of the U.S. Senate are letting Michael and the American people get their wish. Who cares if this leads to the mother of all depressions and stock market crashes, huh?

As long as we punish those greedy CEO’s, that’s the main thing, huh?

Of course, Michael expects that the workers will be simply transferred to building cars that are not primarily dependent on oil and, more importantly [building] trains, buses, subways and light rail (a corresponding public works project across the country will build the rail lines and tracks). This will not only save jobs, but create millions of new ones.

Hey, great pie in the sky dream, Michael! Wonderful fantasy!

By the time the new administration gets around to proposing a plan anywhere near like yours, Michael, assuming it ever would or could, given the realities of politics in America, the country may have already suffered total economic collapse.

Hey, maybe this will bring the return of the caveman?! Perhaps we’ll find out whether in fact we are related to those knuckle dragging Neanderthals after all! :lol: :mrgreen:

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Mob Rule Wins?

December 9, 2008 in Crisis, Current Events, Economy, Finance by Mardé | 5 comments

I’ve been scanning through the comments on the New York Times to Washington Takes Risks With Its Auto Bailout Plans. Most of them are screaming mad at the “bailout” plan for the auto industry. Incidentally, it’s not a bailout; it’s a loan. Anyway, at last I found a comment (#232) I can agree with:

Now we’ve got the mobs all fired up, screaming for the heads of the big 3 CEOs. Meanwhile, the bankers are skulking off with the entire US treasury in their back pockets, and not a hint of oversight. They’re raising interest rates on credit cards. Making it almost impossible to get a mortgage, or to buy a car. Who’s going to buy a car anyway when you’ve lost your job? Toyota’s and Honda’s sales are down 30-40% too. They’re not encumbered with huge contracts like GM and the other domestic producers are, because their governments provide healthcare for their employees and invest heavily in their auto companies. The big 3 were doing just fine a year or two ago, when Americans were buying their gas-guzzlers by the millions because that is what we wanted! It takes time to re-tool factories and make something different. Sure, fine, they should have started earlier. They’ve made their share of mistakes, but the banks, the financial markets, the oil companies and THE GOVERNMENT have been complicit in creating this mess. Free trade is not fair trade. GM is still very successful in Europe, selling fuel-efficient, well built cars. But they’re not allowed to sell cars in Japan. (By the way, the Brits are on the verge of having to bail out their auto industry too – people can’t buy cars when there’s no credit available or they’re unemployed.) So we have a situation where our own manufacturers cannot compete in our own market. And what do we come up with for a solution? Let’s get the government to regulate them even more tightly and make it even harder to compete here! Great! Let’s give the bankers the next installment of their bailout, with no strings attached so they can continue to withhold credit and charge usurious interest rates on whatever they do issue. At least we’ll have the heads of those evil, arrogant CEO’s! That should satisfy the mobs!

— Jim Doyle, Honolulu

Way to go, Jim! And I might add, who cares about the 3.5 million people who will become unemployed if our auto industry fails? As Jim says, we’ve got the heads of those evil, arrogant CEO’s.

Frankly, my dears, I’m sick and tired of people pissing all over our auto industry. And what’s more, the unionized workers are not overpaid. See Missy’s post on this.

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Robert Reich is Right

December 5, 2008 in Blogs, Crisis, Current Events, Depression, Economy by Mardé | 6 comments

I’ve been following Robert Reich’s blog in recent days. He’s the incredibly short but friendly and articulate guy who once was Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor. You can see him every so often as a political commentator on various TV pundit shows.

Bob’s post for today, Friday, December 5, 2008, is captioned Shall We Call it a Depression Now? Here’s the final paragraph from that post:

Two things are needed: First, the massive Treasury bailout of the financial industry must be redirected toward Main Street — loans to small businesses, distressed homeowners, and individuals who are still good credit risks. Second, a stimulus package must be enacted right away. It needs to be more than $600 billion — which is 4 percent of the national product. It should be focused on job creation in the United States — infrastructure projects as well as services. Construction jobs are critical but so are elder care, hospital, child care, welfare, and countless other services that are getting clobbered. Service businesses accounted for two-thirds of the job cuts in November, meaning that the weakness in labor markets has shifted from the goods-producing sector of the economy to the far larger services sector.

I’d say he is right on with that. Reich is right! Not politically to the right, but simply right. The over half a million jobs lost in November should be enough to wake up even the most far right wing nut in the U.S. Congress.

But will it? There are still obstructionists in the Republican party. They’d rather have the whole country go down the tubes in order to embarrass Obama and have a chance for some votes come next elections.

Barney Frank is right too. Do we want an unmitigated disaster on our hands by not bailing out the auto companies? No. We’re forced to bail them out at this point, or the country really really goes over a cliff.

Hey, just my opinion. Of course I could be wrong. Any other opinions or alternatives out there?

UPDATE: Here’s an interesting little blogginheads debate between two guys, Mickey Kaus and Robert Wright. One is for the bailout of the big three autos, Kaus, while Wright is against it.

FURTHER UPDATE: Missy has a great post on The Myth of the Overpaid Union Auto Worker. Great cartoon and great comparison of the auto companies treatment with that of the banks. Check it out!

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From Bad to Worse?

November 13, 2008 in Current Events, Depression, Finance by Mardé | No comments

Did I once say everthing’s going to hell in a handbasket? Yes, I think I did, in this post. Well, that was then! Look what’s happening now!

And yet, and yet, I see this this morning: S&P 500, Dow futures jump on Wal-Mart optimism. I guess everybody’s going to their local Wal-Marts these days to save money. Hey, when the barrel’s almost empty, why not scrape the bottom of it? So, let’s see what the new day brings. How low can things go? Pretty awful low! Way more to go? I think the world’s going to hell in a hand basket. HA HA?

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GOTV from Chicago

November 3, 2008 in Current Events, Politics by Mardé | 1 comment

Here’s a two minute trip through an Obama phone bank in Chicago where people are sitting on the floor using cell phones to call places across the USA, like Indiana, Pennsylvania, you-name-it. Pretty exciting stuff. For further details see this Talking Points Memo report.

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