Image via WikipediaThe 2010 mid-term election is like FDR's mid-term election of 1938.
Wall Street Journal: The Carter-Obama Comparisons Grow: it's time for the president "to get rid of those teleprompters and connect" with voters. Another of Mr. Obama's clear errors has been to turn over the drafting of key legislation to the Democratic Congress: "That doesn't work even when you own Congress," he said. "You have to ride 'em." ..... Mr. Obama, like Mr. Carter in his 1976 campaign, "promised a transformational presidency, a new accommodation with religion, a new centrism, a changed tone." .... Pat Caddell, who was Mr. Carter's pollster while he was in the White House, thinks some comparisons between the two men are overblown. ..... the president's ability to pull himself out of a political tailspin is hampered by his resistance to seek out fresh thinking. ..... Democrats need no reminding that Mr. Carter wound up costing them dearly in 1978 and 1980 as Republicans made major gains in Congress.
"Walter Mondale himself sees a parallel," starts the Wall Street Journal article. Now I know who to listen to. Mr. Reagan Landslide.
Wall Street Journal: Summers to Step Down:Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appears to be the last of the top "economic principals" who came into the White House with Mr. Obama. GOP, Tea Party Unity Spells Defeat For Obama: Tea party voters have been incited to political action by the policies of the Obama administration and the Pelosi-Reid Congress. These include a heretofore unimaginable federal spending spree, a failed package of stimulus programs, a government takeover of our health-care system, and the Democrats' insistence on raising taxes, particularly on job creators, even though job creation is our country's greatest need...... Sen. Lisa Murkowski lost the GOP primary in Alaska to Joe Miller. Now she's launched a write-in campaign to get re-elected. Top Republican Cites Concerns for GOP's Senate Chances: while Republicans could seize control of the U.S. House, "the chances of a [GOP] majority in the Senate may not be that great .... Bill Clinton said the tea-party's popularity is understandable in this environment. The movement "reflects the feeling of a lot of Americans that they're getting the shaft" Primary Shows Divide Among City Democrats: Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Queens Democrat, said Ms. Saujani "built a campaign on being pro-Wall Street, and I think the problem was that's not where citizens are. Even New Yorkers understand it's in their best interests to reform Wall Street.''..... According to internal polling data from the Maloney campaign, 20% of residents in the district said the financial industry was their primary source of household income. Yet the same polling found that 75% felt the industry needed more effective regulation.
The Onion: Poll: 1 In 5 Americans Believe Obama Is A Cactus
Say No to Ahmadinejad's presence at UN General Assembly September 23
Ahmadinejad does not represent the Iranian people
September 23, 2010
September 20, 2010
Union for Advancement of Secular Democracy in Iran (UASDI) is planning protest actions against Ahmadinjed's presence at UN General Assembly.
Schedule of the Events
Actions
1. Rally @ UN: Caravans from several cities have been organized to arrive at the UN on September 23rd to protest Ahmadinejad's presence at UN General Assembly. We are calling on all freedom loving Iranians in North America as well as freedom loving Americans to join our protest of Ahmadinejad's appearance at the UN General Assembly and join us in calling for the establishment of a secular democracy and abolishment of all forms of discrimination in Iran. [1] Date: September 23, 2010
Time: 2:30-5:30 PM
Place: 47th Street and 1st Avenue
Rally media contact: Farid Ashkan 718-309-1996
2. Sept 23 Presentation of collage to United Nations asking for end to torture and execution in Iran.
When: Sept. 23 @ United Nations annual assembly
Where: 47th St and 1st Avenue
Agenda: 2:30-5:30 keynote speakers and presentation of 3,000 plus signatures from citizens of US and Canada
Who: Thousands of citizens of US and Canada rally to protest violation of human rights in Iran during Ahmadinejads visit to the U.S.
Demands from United Nations to be read aloud in front of United Nations building, as stated below
On sept. 23 thousands will gather in front of United Nations building (47th St. and First Ave.)
We call upon Secretary Gen. Ban Ki-Moon and High commissioner Navatnam Pillay to take urgent measures to protect human rights of Iranian citizens:
• To appoint special Envoy for fact finding mission on the condition of political prisoners to investigate claims of torture and cruel conditions in Iran's prisons.
• Meet with Members of Bar Association in Iran investigating their restrictions and inability to defend their clients.
• Transmitting urgent appeals and communications to the Islamic Republic of Iran to release all political detainees.
Collage media Contact:Negeene Mosaed 760-217-6001
3. Aerial Advertisement: A small airplane will carry a banner against the Islamic republic and Ahmadinejad along East River (New York City] from 5-6:30 PM on September 23rd.
Media Contact: Kourosh Parsa: 203-570-6964
4. Rally @ Hilton East Hotel: Ahmadinejad and his entourage are staying at this Hotel.
Date: September 23, 2010
Time: 7-8 PM
Place: 42nd Street and 2nd Avenue
Across Hilton East Hotel
Rally media contact: Kourosh Parsa: 203-570-6964
5. Promotion Video: While the 6 minutes promotion video is in Persian, it portrays the human rights violations in the Islamic Republic in the past 31 years. The 6 minutes video is a human rights violations indictment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrhR8lRgAlU
Video production media contact: PanteA Bahrami: 1-646-575-3690
6. Mobile Billboard: A truck will be driving through New York City downtown area on September 23rd between 9 AM-4 PM to publicize our campaign against Human rights violations in Iran. Call our media contact for truck route in New York City:
Mobile Billboard media contact: Mehrab Z. Dero 404-483-0256
7. Petition: UASDI is asking the delegates from different countries at the UN General Assembly to refuse to honor Ahmadinejad's presence at the UN by boycotting his speech to the General Assembly.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/boycotahmadinejad/
Contact: Jaleh Behrouzi 703-340-7726
8. Campaign Website: www.uasdi.com
9. Facebook Link: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=122700294447032&ref=mf
Union for Advancement of Secular Democracy in Iran (North America)
(The Union is composed of Iranian-American and Iranian-Canadian organizations and groups from across North America, who have a shared belief in, and advocate the principles of democracy, the separation of religion and state, and the full implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Iran.)
For more information on upcoming actions in New York City, Please call 404-483-0256
Media Contact:
404-483-0256
uasdi.action@gmail.com
I believe this has to be the next big grassroots push for the democracy movement in Iran. Urge people to shout Allah O Akbar from their rooftops every night from 10-10:30 PM. We have to do this until we hear the shout from most homes in all towns and cities across the land of Iran.
Then it will be high time to ask people to come out into the streets all over again.
But before we do that, we have a lot of political homework to do. A revolution needs a purpose. A revolution has to have a goal. A revolution needs an action plan.
The Iranian diaspora has to get organized. The global netroots/grassroots has to get organized. We need to raise money, lots of money. There are enormous logistical details involved.
Mousavi has to come around to the new goal. The goal no longer is to hold again the fraudulent elections. The goal now is regime change. This Iranian regime has to make way for a new interim government that will hold elections to a constituent assembly. That is the new goal. The Iranian diaspora has its political work cut out to rally the Iranian diaspora around that new goal. The political organizations inside Iran have to come around to this new goal.
There is no point in calling the people out into the streets before this basic political homework is done. Maybe even the shouting from the rooftops can wait a little while. Let's get down to the political work. Let's get it done.
The Huffington Post: Election Reform As A Way To Put Republicans On The Spot: pass the Fair Elections Now Act, which likely to be voted out of committee next Thursday .... 165 co-sponsors and at least 40 more supporters, would give matching money to candidates who agreed to raise only small donations. It even has three Republican co-sponsors. ...... So far in this election cycle, House and Senate candidates have raised $1.2 billion dollars, and the money arms-race only grows. ..... Under the proposed Act, a candidate who raised small donations from at least 1,500 small donors contributing no more than $100 each for a total of at least $50,000 could get matching money, at a 4-to-1 ratio ..... As much as $3 million in public financing would be available -- enough to be competitive on most House races. The money wouldn't come from tax dollars, but from a special levy on the auctioning of broadcast spectrum
Of all things Pelosi could do between now and the November date, this would top the list. This is smaller than immigration reform and bigger than doing nothing. This is just the right size thing to do.
And with Charlie Rangel sleep walking to jail time after Bill Clinton sent out a robocall on his behalf right before the September 14 primary, the Dems badly need something that shows they stand on the side of politically clean. This bill would be it.
Pelosi can't do the stump speech thing that Obama does. That we should leave to Obama. But this House thing is Pelosi territory. She can get this done just like she got health care reform done and she got finance reform done.
The Dems need this bad.
The fear is not that the Tea Party might out think Obama. They have no plans to out think. Their plan is to numb the American people to not think anything. Their plan is to use racially coded language and imagery to get the American people to think that perhaps the guy in the Oval Office is not one of us.
If the Dems can turn this into an election about ideas and the future, that will lead to victory.
Obama does not need a victory in November. The Dems losing in November puts him in a better situation to win reelection in 2012. It is the American people who need Obama to win, who need Pelosi to be able to keep her job. And this election bill will help.
The Huffington Post: Obama Challenges Tea Party: 'Specifically, What Would You Do?': Obama, in no uncertain terms, accused the movement's members of refusing to talk in specifics. ..... We had two tax cuts that weren't paid for, two wars that weren't paid for. We've got a population that's getting older. We're all demanding services, but our taxes have actually substantially gone down." ..... What you can't do, which is what I've been hearing a lot from the other side, is we're going to control government spending, we're going to propose $4 trillion of additional tax cuts .... Obama does seem to operate at his best when facing inherently adversarial questions (recall the positive coverage he received for going to a Republican conference in Baltimore during the height of the health care debate).
There is no election for this leadership role. I have no plans to launch an organization, or a NGO. It is just me and my digital tools. But what I do requires more than internet access, way more. I am the only digital ninja/commando of my kind on the planet. I have a track record. I have done this once before.
I have come up with a set of principles, a suggested road map. It worked in Nepal, it will work in Iran. It will work everywhere where there is no democracy. That road map is no secret sauce. All my methods thrive on openness and transparency. I want to clone myself many, many times and get those clones busy for the cause of democracy everywhere. That is the idea. What I have done is special, but it is no secret. It can be done again and again and again. Others can do it. That is the idea.
My methods are like in the Matrix movies. You use the Internet to transport yourself to the many theaters of action. When I was doing the democracy work for Nepal it felt to me like I sat on the central committees of all political parties in Nepal. Members of all political parties were on my mailing list. I had penetrated all the media houses, and the human rightsNGOs, and the diaspora organizations. And to top it all, I had a very public blog. You did not have to be on a mailing list to access that.
There can be no compromise on non violence. We have to stay non violent. And there can be no compromise on the goal of regime change to put in place an interim government with the mandate to hold elections to a constituent assembly. But other than that we have to seek allies everywhere. We have to reach out to governments and media houses and any and all. People anywhere regardless of who they are can support the cause of democracy in Iran.
My claim to leadership is the principles and the road map I have to offer. It is that I have my super political instincts and kinetics to offer. All I really have is my ability to persuade people to do what needs to get done, in very public conversations where they always have the option to talk back. I have my ability to ride the waves of human action when people on their own are already doing what needs to get done. I have my ability to stay around like a watchdog, just in case. And I have the ability to step aside once the work is done.
Image via WikipediaWhen the Soviet Union was around it felt like it was going to stick around forever. Compared to what the Soviet Union was, Iran is nothing, Saudi Arabia is nothing. When the Soviet Union finally collapsed, it collapsed like a house of cards. It felt so easy and inevitable.
At some level it feels to me like if the democracy movement is done right in Iran, we could see a 1989 repeat. The War On Terror does not have to stick around for half a century. We can conclude this one fast. But the democracy movement has to be done right.
So far it has been crowds of people hooting and hollering in a soccer stadium to make a cup of coffee. The people of Iran have done what they were asked to do. But they have been failed by the leaders and the organizations and the diaspora and the global netroots/grassroots.
We have to remobilize. We have to do it all over again. We have to do it right.
I envision a resource rich movement. We have to raise money. Lots of it. There are enormous logistics involved in a democracy movement done right.
Iraq and Afghanistan have been progressive failures. The progressives in America did not think the cause of democracy in far away countries like Iraq and Afghanistan were their business. So the neocons stepped in and waged war and spent trillions of dollars. The progressives still don't have billion dollar ideas to take democracy to the other Arab countries. I say let's start with Iran.
The global netroots/grassroots has to mobilize, it has to raise money. It has to help the Iranian diaspora organize and coordinate.
Mousavi's leadership role is not certain. He could see personal growth and agree to a change of goal for the movement, or he has to step aside. For now I am for sticking with Mousavi as the mascot of the movement and trying our best to get him to see that the goal has to be changed. Mousavi as mascot allows us to take advantage of the fissures in the Iranian state structure. We have to exploit those to the max.
But the goal no longer is holding elections all over again. The goal is regime change. The goal is ending the theocracy. The goal is a new democratic constitution.
A democratic Iran is going to be a proud Iran. A democratic Iran is going to speak vociferously for its interests in the global arena, as it should. A democratic Iran is going to talk in terms of nuclear energy. A democratic Iran is going to talk for justice for Palestine. Sure. Why not?
But the bet is that democracies don't go to war with each other. And so a democratic Iran and Israel will be able to live in peace. That part is science. Turn the Arab neighborhood into one of democracies, and the war clouds depart.
Haaretz: Clinton Urges Iran To Reject Military Expansion: In an interview for broadcast Sunday on ABC's This Week, Clinton said many Iranians are also worried ..... she has "grave disagreements" with the Iranian Revolution. .... "But the early advocates of it said this would be a republic. It would be an Islamic republic, but it would be a republic. Then we saw a very flawed election and we've seen the elected officials turn for the military to enforce their power," she said. ..... many Iranians, even those who were originally sympathetic to the revolution are starting to have serious second thoughts about the direction their government has taken. ...... "I can only hope that there will be some effort inside Iran, by responsible civil and religious leaders, to take hold of the apparatus of the state."
This is a strange coincidence for me personally that just when I should challenge Hillary to a Nobel duet, I should come across this unusually strong statement for someone who is Secretary of State. (Competing With Hillary Now)
Although her statement is more likely to do with the fact that Iran is a hot button issue, and the UN thing is about to happen. But I still took note.
For once Hillary and I are on the same side. She has really gone out on a limb with this statement of hers.
Iran is a political problem. It is not primarily a military problem. If the political problem is taken care of, the military issue vanishes like magic. And the political solution is to take the democracy movement to success. I think that goal can be achieved by the end of 2011. But I need to be able to work full time on it from now till then.
Fundraising is the not sexy part of political work. At least for me it is. But it is necessary, and I am working on it. In my own digital ways.
Haaretz: Olmert: Bush Offered To Absorb 100,000 Palestinian Refugees If Peace Deal Reached: the United States would be willing to absorb some 100,000 Palestinian refugees immediately as American citizens ..... "I think that if the refugees - many of whom are already second or third generation [Palestinians] living outside of the territories – were given a choice between returning to Israel or the United States, we could guess what they would choose" ..... every ruling Israeli government must accept the fact that peace negotiations would be based on the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and would include a land exchange. Still, he stressed that both sides must realize that neither Palestinians or Israel would ever have full sovereignty over Jerusalem.
Image via WikipediaStates exist. There is a state in almost every country. There are one or two countries that feel stateless. Even in those countries there are semblances of the entity, the state. A state is a political entity. States interact with each other.
The US state has a close relationship with the Saudi state. A lot of people in the Arab street take that to mean the US is a hypocritical power that talks about democracy but shakes hands with an autocratic state like Saudi Arabia.
I preach governance literacy to the netroots/grassroots that put Barack Obama into power in 2008. They were more excited before Obama got into power than they have been since he has been in power. It is almost as if they miss being in opposition. That comes from a lack of governance literacy.
If America had a declared policy that should Saudi Arabia become a democracy like Turkey, it would impose economic sanctions upon that new democracy, then I would agree that America is an evil power that not so secretly is for autocracy. But America has no such policy.
America was not opposed to the people of Iran coming out into the streets. America is not opposed to the people of Saudi Arabia coming out into the streets. America is not opposed to the people of Egypt and Syria coming out into the streets.
America can not be, is not opposed to democracy movements. America as a country was born with a mission. That mission is a total spread of democracy. But the American state has to deal with states as they exist, not as it wished they were. I am 100% sure President Obama and Secretary Clinton fantasize about Egypt being a democracy, and Saudi Arabia and Syria being democracies, but it is their job to deal with Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Syria as they exist today. They get paid by the American people to deal with those states as they exist today. A soldier gets paid to fight. A president gets paid to run a country.
The vast, mysterious apathy of the Saudi masses is the reason there is no democracy in Saudi Arabia. The US is not to be blamed.
As for the global arms trade, I have my thoughts and feelings about that, and drug trafficking and human trafficking. I have my thoughts and feelings about a world free of nuclear weapons. President Obama also wants a world free of nuclear weapons. He said that in a speech early as president. But then there is the goal and there is the road map to that goal. I do think his road map takes too long. But I am glad for the shared goal.
One big reason I feel strongly about democracy in Iran is because I hope Iran will set an example, and people will flood the streets also in Cairo, in Riyadh down the line. I am hoping for a domino effect.
What excites me is that I think the global netroots/grassroots is sufficient unto itself to bring about fundamental political change in these countries.
But I am pragmatic about getting help from any and all actors. There can be no room for violence. Other than that I am for raising a lot of money. I want money from private individuals, from NGOs, from states, if possible. Heck, I will take money from the CIA, as necessary. As long as the basic goals and methods are not compromised, I do envision a resource rich movement for Iran.
Actually that has been one of my consternations. The US executed a trillion dollar military plan to bring democracy to Iraq. Why will it not think of a billion dollar grassroots/netroots non violent plan to bring democracy to Iran? I'd help shape that. I have done this before for Nepal. I can do this again for Iran.
Eisenhower talked of a "military industrial complex" as did Gorbachev. There are powerful people who stand to make a lot of money when weapons are sold to the Saudi state. That geopolitical detail does not take away from the democracy movement in Iran. The grassroots work for democracy must go on.
In The News
New Turkey Huffington Post (blog) While European societies are mired in recession, paralyzed by self-doubt and divided by rising social conflicts, Turkey is hurtling toward the future. ..... This year Turkey's economy is projected to grow by more than 11 percent, second only to China. ..... Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb of Finland saluted Turkey as "a truly global player" and "one of the top five countries in the world today."
Jewish Minority Influential In Iran NPR the country's estimated 25,000 Jews. .... They feel very Iranian. They've been there longer than anyone else, really, going back 2,800 years. .... there are minorities in Iran and the fact that it is not a monolithic society. ..... Iran is 97 percent Shia-Muslim .... there is a Jewish member of parliament. There's a Zoroastrian member of parliament. There's a Christian member - two Christian members of parliament..... Jews are free, yes. ... They're allowed to drink, for example, in a country where alcohol is banned. ....... They can have a member of parliament, but they can't become a minister, for example. You have to be a Muslim. That's part of the constitution. ....... when it comes to expressing any kind of sympathy for Israel or the idea of a Jewish homeland, no, they are not free to do that. ...... It is a perfectly democratic system, so long as everyone does what they're told. .... if you're a Muslim who decides to convert - well, that's punishable by death. ..... the whole idea behind the challenge to Ahmadinejad and the challenge to the system subsequent to the election was that the experiment has gone wrong.
$60 billion arms deal between United States and Saudi Arabia Party for Socialism and Liberation . Under secret negotiation since 2007 .... the largest arms deal in U.S, history. .... up to 84 Boeing F-15 fighters and upgrade 70 others .... 70 Apaches, 72 Black Hawks, and 36 Little Birds. ..... the U.S. military-industrial complex has increased its share to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals ... No elections have ever been held in Saudi Arabia, and the country has a horrendous human rights record.
Did Iran really do so well out of the Iraq war? The Guardian The Americans ... spent over a trillion dollars, lost more than 4,000 people, tarnished their reputation in the region and failed to control Iraq's oil wealth...... Iran can arm and fund militias till kingdom come, but at the end of the day, in Iraq, it is ballot papers, not bullets, that decide who stays in power and who gets the boot. .... When Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest-ranking Shia scholar, fell ill during the summer of 2004, he tactically avoided travelling to Iran for treatment. ...... The Iraqi army continues to go from strength to strength, the Iraqi intelligence is ever more capable of gathering information and Iraq will soon catch up with the region in oil exports
What the Hiker Release Says About Iran's Internal Power Struggle TIME a level of chaos and political infighting inside the regime ..... what was most notable about Shourd's release was the rebuke it involved for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the hands of his own judiciary..... Iran's judiciary — controlled by rival conservatives who are loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei but antagonistic to Ahmadinejad ...... insisted on the bail payment of $500,000 .... . The infighting in Tehran is really vicious right now, and more publicly visible than it's ever been..... a degree of chaos in the regime rather than easily defined factional battles ...... There have even been signs of open conflict between the President and the Supreme Leader ...... a system that puts final executive authority in the hands of an unelected clergy ..... "Ahmadinejad is asserting the autonomous powers of the presidency in a way we haven't seen before, even pushing back against the Supreme Leader. And some see that as heresy."
Why Ayad Allawi is Iraq's greatest political survivor Telegraph.co.uk a land where a politician's status can often be measured by often someone has tried to kill them ..... Despite general improvements since the US-led troop surge in 2007, he feels the country is still teetering on the edge of the abyss. ..... London, where he spent decades as an opposition leader after defecting from Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party during the 1970s. ..... still maintains strong links with the British govermen and spent part of last week meeting the new Foreign Secretary William Hague ...... Sectarianism, he claims, is still rife in Iraq, within both the security forces and the political establishment. ....... His party has a strong following among Iraq's Sunni minority, although he himself is from a wealthy Shia family ..... His grandfather helped to negotiate Iraq's independence from Britain ...... the fears voiced recently by the Iraqi military chief of staff, General Babakir Zebari, that its armed forces will not be fully ready until 2020 .... the West should begin talking to the Taliban and Mullah Omar in Afghanistan, just as Britain and America ended up talking to Shia and Sunni insurgents in Iraq
Freedom, democracy and human rights in Syria Independent A country cannot be built on past grudges. We have to forgive – I don't know about forget – and we have to live together, all Syrians who believe in democracy and human rights, to have a new era. The Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed. Syria will change." ..... he wants Syria to break its relations with Iran ..... Damascus is the West's gate to Iran, Bashar is the middle-man between Washington and Tehran. ..... We are campaigning internationally for a new Syria.
If I can get 200 prominent Iranian Americans to give me $1,000 each, that is all I need. That has been my thought. I am still thinking along those lines. But then earlier today I went on Twitter, did a search on "Iran democracy," and sent reply tweets to about 10 people talking about Iran, each time linking to my main Iran democracy page - bit.ly/irandem - and already there is some welcome chatter.
Now I think my preferred method is to get 2,000 people on Twitter to give me $100 each.
I should keep this fundraising two track. I should try both ways.
These two tracks beat trying to get the CIA - the thought did cross my mind; think Bourne - or the State Department, or some NGO to give money. I am saying no to any kind of paperwork. You look at my blog posts and you donate. That's it. Anything more is way too complicated.
My work is a netroots/grassroots thing. We netroots/grassroots people are not big on hierarchies. We want Obama to make as much data public as possible. We don't want to go to the White House. We want the White House to come to us, wherever we are. That's the spirit of grassroots governance.
That is the absolute best way to work on Iran democracy.
I have no desire to launch an organization. No NGO, nothing. So the contributions are not tax deductible.
I want to keep things simple. I have already stated where the 200K will go. And I will report periodically on how much I raise. That much transparency is all you get. And that ought to be enough.
There is no other political challenge on earth I salivate over more than the Iran democracy movement. This is what I want to put most of my time into until a regime change in Iran.
It is possible, or I would not be looking into it.
Let's go raise some money. Help me out.
Of the two stated methods, the Twitter method is perhaps the better one. You talk to people who are already explicitly interested in Iran democracy. That is a good starting point. They are interested enough that they are talking about it.
New York Times: Message to Muslims: I’m Sorry: Muslims are one of the last minorities in the United States that it is still possible to demean openly, and I apologize for the slurs. ..... “Sorry for Portraying Muslims as Human.” ..... Must coverage of law-abiding Muslims be “balanced” by a discussion of Muslim terrorists? ..... should reporting of Pope Benedict’s trip to Britain be “balanced” by a discussion of Catholic terrorists in Ireland? ..... I also want to defend America against extremists engineering a spasm of religious hatred. ...... Japanese did attack Pearl Harbor and in the end killed far more Americans than Al Qaeda ever did. Consumed by our fears, we lumped together anyone of Japanese ancestry and rounded them up in internment camps. The threat was real, but so were the hysteria and the overreaction. ...... Radicals tend to empower radicals ..... We’ve mostly learned that about blacks, Jews and other groups that suffered historic discrimination, but it’s still O.K. to make sweeping statements about “Muslims” as an undifferentiated mass.
Image via WikipediaThe 2010 mid-term election is like FDR's mid-term election of 1938. 
