Image via WikipediaThe obesity epidemic in America more than anything symbolizes what is wrong with this country, and how it has gotten itself off the tracks. Michelle Obama more than any other single person in this country has managed to hit the nail on the head, although her efforts need some major scaling.
The obesity epidemic in America and the debts and deficits as far as the eyes can see are both deeply correlated. A people that can not eat right are not capable of voting for elected officials who can make the right decisions for them in public matters like the budget.
The trimming of the national budget has to start with the voters' waistlines.
The number one reason the job market in America is so bleak is because the national budget is out of control. You erase the deficit and you will start creating jobs. And both parties have been focused on the tiny slivers of the budget. I mean, come on, if defunding Planned Parenthood might have balanced the budget even I might have supported the move.
You balance the budget by looking at the military budget. You take one hard look at the entitlement programs. And the Bush tax cuts are so very offensive. The Bush tax cuts are probably the number one reason why there are not plentiful jobs in America.
Getting people to come out into the streets in large numbers is the hardest part of a democracy movement. But when they do, it is for the world to support them. And the Syrian people are not being accorded that basic reach out.
There are many, many nonviolent options. One would be for the governments of the world to no longer recognize the Assad government. Kick his ambassadors out. Freeze all his global assets, and that of his cronies. There is so much that can be done outside of Syria to help out the brave people of Syria.
Even the most brutal of dictators think of their personal future. Assad crossed the line a long time ago. He knows full well that when all is said and done and when he has lost as he will, he will face either imprisonment or death.
I think she is going to win the nomination. And I think she is a formidable candidate. And I am opposed to sexist rants against her just like I am opposed to racist rants by her.
But we are going to win. Barack is going to prevail.
New York Times: Signs Grow That Palin May Run: Sarah Palin is fortifying her small staff of advisers, buying a house in Arizona — where associates have said she could base a national campaign — and reviving her schedule of public appearances. ...... Palin and her husband, Todd, have bought a $1.7 million house in Scottsdale, Ariz. ...... the Palins, who have become especially protective of their privacy in the maelstrom that has followed them since 2008 ..... Palin has reshuffled her staff, rehiring two aides who have helped plan her political events. And she is expected to resume a schedule of public appearances soon — perhaps as early as this weekend — to raise her profile at a moment when the Republican presidential field appears to be taking final form. ...... the moves are at odds with conventional wisdom — if not wishful thinking — among establishment Republicans in Washington that Ms. Palin has decided not to run. That thinking has been voiced increasingly as the party’s professional political class, which Ms. Palin has railed against, has sought to declare the field of candidates closed. ..... None of the likely and declared candidates have fully galvanized the Tea Party activists who form the core of Ms. Palin’s support. ...... “I want to make sure that we have a candidate out there with Tea Party principles,” she told the Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity last week. ..... “We have got to have faith that the Republican Party is going to surface somebody who can take on both sides of the aisle,” she said on Fox Business Network. ...... “I have that fire in my belly.” ...... her one-woman media conglomerate
She will run. She will win the nomination. She will lose in the general election by a wide margin. And that will be the end of Sarah Palin as a political figure in America. Image via Wikipedia
Emphasizing values like faith, family and work is one thing. Talking small government is one thing. Talking low taxes is one thing. But rabid racism is quite another. The Tea Party is not getting away with rabid racism. They shall be countered.
Sarah Palin "gets" the basic conservative principles. She can talk in broad outlines. She is telegenic. She is charismatic in her own way. But on the specifics of policy she remains shallow.
Let there be a fair fight. Let opposing philosophies and worldviews be fully heard by the people, and let the people decide. It does not have to get ugly. Racism is ugly. It worked during the depths of the Great Recession when Palin appealed to the baser instincts of the masses. But that Great Recession is over, thanks to Barack. If this country had done what Palin wanted done during those depths, the unemployment rate in America today would have been more like 29% and not the 9% it is.
We are for eliminating the deficit. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have a better track record on the deficit than do George W Bush, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan.
During the recent Blogger outage, a whole bunch of my blog posts got lost. And then all of them came back except this one at my Barackface blog. Since it had already been cross published at Technorati, I still had a copy.
The military action in Libya has absolutely been the right move. And a limited military action in Syria might be called for soon enough, something that is a week max. But military action is not an option when the tide of democracy finally hits Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and China.
But military action is very much an option in the African countries. If a dictator anywhere in Africa uses full force against peaceful protesters, you give an ultimatum, you get UN authorization, and you take out the command and control structure, and that includes the top guy. But if they don't unleash animal brutality, instead they enter into peaceful negotiations, if they seek out political outlets, then military action can be avoided. But even in those instances the full non military might has to be put to the goal of getting the dictator out. That is the only acceptable outcome to any democracy movement. People do not get off the streets unless the dictator bows out.
Doing right in Libya and Syria is important. Unless democracy wins in those two countries, the democracy flames will not rise in Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Since there are no military options on the table for Saudi Arabi and Iran, we can hope and pray there will be massive street action. An agitated people willing to pour into every street in the capital city, a people willing to march onto the presidential palace can bring absolutely any dictator down. You have to be willing to sacrifice a few hundred lives.
Unless there is a total sweep of democracy across the Arab world and Africa, Russia is not going to wake up. And in this first phase Saudi Arabi and Iran are the only hard countries. Because there are no military options. Otherwise everywhere else aerial surgical strikes to take the top guy out if he crosses the line just might be the best option. When a killer goes on a shooting rampage at some mall, the police gun him down. Same thing.
This could all be done and over with in 2011, or it could spill over into 2012, and that would be just fine. The US military does not worry about Europe, because Europe is a bunch of democracies. Democracies don't go to war with each other. A total sweep of democracy across the world will allow America to do something it desperately needs get done to get rid of its budget deficit. America will then be able to vastly reduce its military budget and that is going to be a good thing.
China is tricky. Because China is not like Libya, not like Saddam's Iraq, China is not Iran, China is not even Russia. Physicists say if there is another universe, it might have different laws of physics. At some level China is politically like that. The Chinese president gets a meager salary. The Chinese president does not stay in power for life. The change of guard is pretty well done. Withing certain parameters, the Chinese Communist Party does have what might be called internal democracy. And, most important, China has lifted more people out of poverty than any power in history. They have been doing something right.
The democracy movement in China might start and conclude by asking for and getting fundamental political reform. There are amendments to the constitution so that other political parties are allowed, federalism is put into place, and human rights are guaranteed to the point Google gets to go back to China absolutely uncensored.
But if America truly wants to see democracy in China, it has to be willing to enact total campaign finance reform in one swoop. Democracy is one person, one vote. And America does not have that democracy.
The way this democracy wave will conclude is China will become more like America and America will become more like China. America will also have to make way for a global currency. It can not be the dollar forever more.
This global wave of democracy is going to hit America's shores as well. Done right it is going to bring total campaign finance reform to the American political system.
When all is said and done, Putin is out, but the Chinese Communist Party is still in power, one among many political parties in China.
The Atlantic: Hillary Clinton: Chinese System Is Doomed, Leaders on a 'Fool's Errand': she was, as usual, fluent, comprehensive, and in total control of the details. ....... China, and its frightened reaction to the Arab Spring, came up, that she took an almost-Reaganesque turn, calling into question not just Beijing's dismal human rights record, but the future of the Chinese regime itself. ....... questioning the long-term viability of the one-party system ....... she sees the Arab Spring as the harbinger of a worldwide move toward democracy. ...... They just had a riot in Bangladesh because the government wants women to inherit equally. That's a red line, and that infringes on the rights of women, and therefore, I am against it ...... we are losing the war of ideas because we are not in the arena the way we were in the Cold War. ..... China is starting an English-speaking television network around the world, Russia is, Al Jazeera. And the BBC is cutting back on its many language services around the world. We're not competing. I just feel like we're missing an opportunity. And I'm well aware of our budget constraints and all of the difficulties we face, but now is the time — not in an arrogant way, but in a matter-of-fact experiential way. ....... power is diffuse. It is no longer the province of just governments. There's too much going on in the world today. People know too much. So we have to start dealing with people on a more direct basis. ....... the dispersal of power through information that was unimagined a decade ago, let alone 50 years ago. ....... But we don't walk away from dealing with China because we think they have a deplorable human rights record. We don't walk away from dealing with Saudi Arabia — ....... We don't have to blow. The winds are blowing. There's no stopping them. And what we have tried to do with him is to give him an alternative vision of himself and Syria's future. ....... with the Revolutionary Guard basically in charge ....... following the fall of the Berlin Wall, how Germany responded and Poland responded, you couldn't say that there was one template that fit all. ....... you can look at transitions to democracy in Latin America and in Europe — look at Spain and Portugal. There's no two that are exactly alike.
That the Al Qaeda is well and alive. It is actively plotting. It would love to have a symbolic target specifically against the President Of The United States. It is not just about the grandmother. It is also about cousins. Image via Wikipedia
The Pakistani ISI blowing up the cover on the CIA station chief in Pakistan confirms my suspicions that there are powerful elements within the ISI who were actively involved with providing Bin Laden a safe sanctuary. Not even the Pakistani government knows who these people are. These might be the very same people who got Benazir Bhutto killed.
The Al Qaeda does out of the box thinking. 9/11 was an ultimate act of out of the box thinking. Now what the Al Qaeda is saying is forget buildings, forget trains, we are now going to target high profile individuals. Well, they already did. They started with Benazir Bhutto.
I think Barack Obama's grandmother should be brought to America. The Kenyan police might not be equipped to provide safety. The Al Qaeda can not be allowed any symbolic victory. And they are going to keep trying for years. Now is exactly the wrong time to go easy on them. The right thing to do is to hunt down the other bastards as well. There's a whole list of them.
The Guardian: Ahmadinejad Allies Charged With Sorcery: an increasingly bitter power struggle .... a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached. ..... On Sunday, Ahmadinejad returned to his office after an 11-day walkout in an apparent protest over Khamenei's reinstatement of the intelligence minister, who the president had initially asked to resign ...... Ahmadinejad's unprecedented disobedience prompted harsh criticism from conservatives who warned that he might face the fate of Abdulhassan Banisadr, Iran's first post-revolution president who was impeached and exiled for allegedly attempting to undermine clerical power. ....... Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a hardline cleric close to Khamenei, warned that disobeying the supreme leader – who has the ultimate power in Iran – is equivalent to "apostasy from God". ....... the feud has taken a metaphysical turn following the release of an Iranian documentary alleging the imminent return of the Hidden Imam Mahdi – the revered saviour of Shia Islam, whose reappearance is anticipated by believers in a manner comparable to that with which Christian fundamentalists anticipate the second coming of Jesus. ...... Ahmadinejad's obsession with the hidden imam is well known. He often refers to him in his speeches and in 2009 said that he had documentary evidence that the US was trying to prevent Mahdi's return.
This is how you know the regime in Iran is only months away from getting toppled. This rift is a sign the regime in Iran is feeling the pressure of street action elsewhere in the Arab world.
Image by PanARMENIAN_Photo via FlickrWhat has been going on in Syria has been breaking my heart. It is like these bastards who run the country have basically decided they will stop at nothing.
I am not saying the US needs to get involved in a fourth war. Libya is not war. Aerial military action is not war. It is more like police action.
We have to learn from Libya. The lesson from Libya is it is basically fruitless to just target the peddlers in the streets and let the big druglords go.
The NATO powers need to read that UN resolution a little more closely. NATO has been authorized to stop the brutality upon unarmed civilians. But that has continued unabated. And so NATO has to take out the command and control apparatus at Gaddafi's disposal.
The best way to do this is by taking the top guy out. We experimented in Libya. Now we have to revise our operations in Libya, and we have to do it right in Syria.
You freeze all foreign assets of all members of the regime. You issue interpol orders for their arrests. You get a UN resolution passed. You demand that all violent action against peaceful protesters cease. And if the guy does not comply, you take the top guy out through surgical aerial strikes. If it takes more than a week, you are not doing it right.
Some people are like oh no, you get rid of the dictator and there is going to be chaos. Chaos is now. Chaos is that hundreds of innocent civilians have been butchered, and there seems to be no end in sight.
The people in Syria are not lesser people. If people in Libya deserve protection so do the people in Syria.
Image via WikipediaI have pushed the thought that elements of the Pakistani army and intelligence played a role in creating and sustaining the safe house for Bin Laden. These are the same elements who attempted to kill Musharraf when he was in power - more than once. These are the same people who got Benazir Bhutto killed.
What if that is not true? What if Bin Laden did all this on his own? That would be the scary version.
He picked the right town, obviously. While America spent a decade launching drone attacks in the rugged mountains, he lived his quiet life in a fancy Islamabad suburb. If anything he had shown a knack for out of the box thinking. The 9/11 attack itself was the ultimate act of out of the box thinking. It was so unexpected.
He needed to move money to buy that plot of land, to build himself a fortress. He needed money to safely move in there. And I am pretty sure he had contingency plans in place to get him out of there. If he had had the slightest hint he was being watched, he would have gone elsewhere, somewhere he felt equally safe.
So this guy had resources at his disposal. He had a sophisticated network of well connected people. He had tons of money. He had donors. More than anything else he had his brain. He thought things through. It took America a decade to get him. The mightiest power in human history took 10 full years to zero in on him. You have to give the guy some credit.
And you have to ask, what did he leave behind?
My political instincts tell me the Al Qaeda thunder has rightfully been stolen by the Arabs braving the streets for democracy. I have long advocated draining the swamp instead of just going after mosquitoes. And the military details of this operation are not my specialty, but there is plenty of reason to believe vigilance has to be maintained. All it would take is one attack 1/10th the size of 9/11 to send all actors right back to the drawing board all over again.
Think about it, Bin Laden's final place of hiding was as out of the box and as bold as his most spectacular attack. The guy kept thinking to the very end.
9/11 happened. Madrid happened. London happened. Bali happened. Mumbai happened. It is not like 9/11 happened and that was it. This thing is not exactly over. Vigilance has to be maintained but the best foot forward is to support the democracy movements in the region to the hilt.
Image via WikipediaThe obesity epidemic in America more than anything symbolizes what is wrong with this country, and how it has gotten itself off the tracks. Michelle Obama more than any other single person in this country has managed to hit the nail on the head, although her efforts need some major scaling. 
