The idea that the Right and the Left can get together to fight the monopolies, corruption and perhaps the war can end up extremely bad news,
http://richardkanepa.blogspot.com/2010/01/after-hitler-us-up-to-tamil-tigers.html
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/22672
In Massachusetts, angry voters propelled the first Republican Senator into office in 30 years. National attention missed “the triple whammy” that those who didn’t like then Attorney General Martha Coakley’s efforts to legalize gay marriage struggled to get their friends to vote, there is a growing number of people intrigued by the idea of the right and the left getting together against the establishment and the monopolies, and that a surprising number of Scott Brown’s votes came from the progressive side of the spectrum, Many frustrated progressives wanted to give Democrats a wake up call to respect their base, and/or wanted to do the health care bill over again, this time fighting for a public option. These progressives had a bad hangover when the day after Coakley’s defeat Obama called for more compromise.
Slightly off the subject maybe, bin Laden, Cheney and the neocons, and the Armageddon dreaming Christians trying to unfold events that encourage Jesus to return sooner, rather than later, also tend to have a tipple whammy effect of encouraging wide spread endless war.
Also, the national media missed the three debates emphasized economic security of Martha Coakley’s part and national security of Scott Brown’s part. Scott Brown ridiculed Martha Coakley’s claim that Afghanistan is not the place to fight al Qaeda juxtaposing it with her opposition to capital punishment and military tribunals as being weakness on her part, http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/brown_criticize.html
but this didn’t drive antiwar activists in her direction. They are disgusted with traditional Democrats who won’t vote against war supplemental funds. A growing number of frustrated antiwar activists are beginning to dream of the right and the left getting together against the government, the monopolies and the war. But strangely Joe Kennedy the libertarian who articulated Libertarian opposition to the war in all three widely covered debates and wished this election would become an election of note to put the Libertarian Party more on the map, got few votes Tea Party people tend to believe the real war is on America’s southern border suddenly didn’t seem to care that Libertarians are against nation building. By the way I have a libertarian streak, upset that the government actually wants to require people to get health care and force many to pay for it themselves. However due to strikes over employers cutting back on benefits due to rising health care costs, there will more and more difficulty for the US to compete in foreign markets with cost of exports only in the US, burdened with paying social service needs of workers in export businesses. There will be a lot more poverty due to US losing out in the trade wars.
Some rebellion could make sense such as refusing any more donations even withholding votes to Democrats until Joe Lieberman is booted out of two Committee Chairmanships.
As the Republican Party gallops to the right this kind of disappointment over half-a-loaf politicians, could lead to a Republican President, Cheney or someone similar, bragging about the eight years after 9/1l when there was no terror attempt, claiming it was because there wasn’t any coddling of terrorists. Nations that brag about human rights violations are more oppressive than those who are embarrassed when caught doing it.
Elsewhere this kind of thinking led to disastrous results. In Sri Lanka the Talmil Tigers recently enforced an election boycott. Rajapakse, who hated the Tigers won, leading to a massive attack, their defeat, and many Timal peasants living in desperate conditions in refuge camps now six months later despite the government’s promise to relocate them home by now. In the US, antiwar protesters, even though they felt Humphrey was better than Nixon, didn’t vote for Humphrey, though some half believed Nixon’s claim to having a secret plan to end the war, leading to the war spreading into Cambodia and Laos. In Germany in the 30's the Socialists begged the Communists to form an anti-Hitler coalition, but they instead mouthed the phrase, “After Hitler us!” If more of this information was widely known, there wouldn’t be so much talk of the right and the left getting together to stop the government and the monopolies.
People have become immune to the frequent cries of “Wolf”. For 40 years we have been warned that the US was in danger of being quickly overtaken by Fascism. People have been called the spoiler too many times. Nader was accused of being a spoiler, not the butterfly ballot fraud that confused Buchanan supporters to vote for Bush. Some people who voted for Nader would have stayed home if they couldn’t vote for him or would have voted for Buchanan, Some people want any kind of rebellion whether Nader, Buchanan or the Tea Party. It is perilous that as the Republican Party drifts toward the right, if some other way of expressing anger at Democrats is not available, other than voting for Republicans. People want big business regulated, and help when they are desperate, so the Libertarian Party won’t do. I would like to see big name people run for local offices somewhere as a Green Party candidate, or as part of another progressive ticket. Jerry Brown who was Governor California ( after unsuccessful Presidential and Senate attempts) [mistake corrected after blog comment below] went back into office as Mayor of Oakland. While running for Mayor of Oakland, Brown explained “Why I am running as an independent), see link,
http://www.progress.org/brown01.htm
He is currently running again for Governor of California ( Nov 2). I dream that if people get tired enough of Democrats he might switch to run for Governor as a Green, and actually win. If I remember correctly, one can run on more than one party ticket in California. Win or lose he would change the term “rebellion” into representing the Green Party instead of the Republican Party.
Back to German history, people like solidarity and unity. Some, labor solidarity, conservative solidarity, or progressive solidarity, but a growing number of people are excited about the idea of the left and the right uniting, gaining tremendous power to end the monopolies and corruption, some think to end the war. It’s not quite a parallel but many thought National Socialism was socialism.
The Tea Party Movement has the same base that Hitler once did. People who had jobs but now can’t find work; people who once had small businesses or property, who lost their home, and are united on a perceived need to defend our culture, this time from the southern border.
One thing I have to acknowledge, those antiwar activists who didn’t get excited about Martha Coakley are right, the Vietnam War ended soon after Congress stopped voting for any more supplemental war spending. But I think ending the funding this time could lead to many more problems than it did in the 60's.
I have to change the subject, to explain that what to do about Afghanistan is a far more difficult problem then the US just leaving Vietnam and peace quickly being restored. America, not just Obama, might be in serious trouble with no real way out. Had Obama went along with Vice President Biden and hunkered down in secure areas of Afghanistan, the Christmas Day terror attack attempt would still have happened, only with Cheney saying, “See I told you al Qaeda is more likely to attack if one shows weakness”. Vietnam was happy to let the US leave, al Qaeda will try to rub it in, to help with their plans elsewhere in the world. Especially if the war ends because the dollar collapses and Americans have to barter without currency to try to stay alive. If we can’t possibly keep troops around the world. Al Qaeda might especially show off have show trials against Karzai or whoever was in charge by then with gruesome Internet photos of torture and the beheading of collaborators. They will try to seize the supplies away from departing GI’s. Only the fear of the Taliban also attacking them, for not letting the US leave, would stop them al Qaeda from suicide-bombing the withdrawing US troops.
Al Qaeda has some incredible tactics. It turned over the names and details on low level al Qaeda leaders to allow drone aircraft to kill them, and perhaps family members who were in the way, so as to create a ruse to meet with top CIA analysts to suicide-bomb them,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/al-qaeda-killing-7-top-cia-experts-was-under-reported-disaster
Earlier al Qaeda leaders escaped from a surrounded by a US airbase US prison in Afghanistan,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071101500.html
It managed to attack downtown Kabul and put up a firefight that lasted for hours. A US success in Iraq was that the US managed to drastically cut down on civilian casualties while al Qaeda goons got more and more brutal, leading to even most Sunnis in Iraq being furious at al Qaeda instead of the Americans. In response in Afghanistan al Qaeda learning from the Iraq experience suddenly changed tactics and stopped being as brutal. When they attached that shopping Mall in Kabul after unsuccessfully attacking the central bank they demanded the merchants leave instead of quickly shooting and blowing up the merchants and shoppers. This counteracts General Crystal’s, and Obama’s, policy of trying to repeat in Afghanistan what happened in Iraq. See “Taliban Uses Lighter Touch To Win Allies”. This is good news to all who the noncombatants trying to stay alive but has no effect on the US managing to spend more and more money.
If you think Ron Paul has the solution, “If you leave them alone, they will leave us along” ask the Kurds. The Kurds tried to stay away from the fighting in Iraq. But when Obama managed to get the Shiites to refrain from tit-for-tat reprisals against the Sunnis in exchange for the US staying out of the cities, Al Qaeda then added suicide attacking the Christian minority areas of the Kurdistan province to try to start tit-for-tat revenge killings there.
Al Qaeda believes that the people of Islam should be a warring people. What exactly is defeating a dead suicide bomber? How is stopping a suicidal person from dying, then turning around and executing him, punishment? For instance doctors with great effort are managing to keep Nadal Hasan alive after being shot several times during his rampage at Fort Hood, only to face the possibility of trial and eventual execution if tried and found guilty where the authorities will stop keeping him alive long enough to inject him with poison as a punishment. If there is life elsewhere in the universe they might think this weird.
The problem with dealing with al Qaeda might not involve deciding what to do but in staying focused. Al Qaeda diehards as we all know are willing to kill and die for their cause. But they are also willing to work as close to 24 hours a day and be as alert as they can for their cause. CIA analysts tend to work 9 to 5 or whatever their hours, and US soldiers work as long as their assignment requires. Obama spending much more time than Bush who had al Qaeda blended in with all kinds of what he considered evil from Saddam, to Iran, to North Korea, to Hamas and Hezbollah.
On the anniversary of the Madrid backpack bombing many Spanish clerics had sermons accusing bin Laden of being a heretic, but if the English language part of the Internet is any indication they haven’t said much since. A Canadian Muslim legislator organized Muslims in his district to keep track of their kids playing around with extremism as they would, their children messing with alcohol and drugs but didn’t deal with al Qaeda outside his jurisdiction. The Daniel Pearl Foundation name after the news correspondent lured to Pakistan and beheaded on the Internet organized peace seminar and prayer services and has annual peace concerts but squirm when their work is called standing up to al Qaeda. Queen Noor of Jordan after the wedding bombing of Jordan was so effective on Jordan TV that al Qaeda agreed to leave Jordan alone if she shut up, though the al Qaeda terrorists who organized the attacks having his relatives denounce him also was involved. It’s really frustrating trying to google her comments only to get short snips by those who were upset that she claimed that it was the first time a woman tried to be a suicide terrorist. Sayyid Imyyid Imam al-Sharif whose pen name is Dr. Fadl is the most persistent critic of al Qaeda blaming bin Laden not the US for continuing deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. His words should be spread around as fighting al Qaeda rather than (or more importantly ever more expensive US weaponry). However al Qaeda may be able to adept to this as well. Anyway I think it is important to spread around his words, I hope Obama would listen to him as much as he can,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/20/dr-fadl-al-qaeda-founder_n_168707.html
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3359
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/4736358/Al-Qaeda-founder-launches-fierce-attack-on-Osama-bin-Laden.html
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3359
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyed_Imam_Al-Sharif
As long as the US takes the leadership most others will stay in the background. Despite Joe Biden’s suggestion is would be difficult for any President to stop taking the leadership. But there are things Obama could do. When the Taliban promised to not interfere in the affairs of other nations if the US leaves Afghanistan, Obama could have responded with an offer to leave if the Taliban makes it clear that they don’t want al Qaeda around.
However, remember when both Obama and the Pakistan government allowed modified Sharia Law in the Swat Valley as a peace gesture. Remember how much both US hawks and doves were upset with the situation. How much more upsetting would it be if there was a cease-fire in Afghanistan, with Sharia Law in Kabul, as the US monitored from US base camps to make sure the Taliban distanced themselves from the al Qaeda?
Al Qaeda is confident they will bankrupt the US with all our incredibly expensive smart weapons, in face of their financially cheap technology. I believe, if Obama can’t find a solution no one else can. So I want to support him and at the same time urge him to find a way to stop an incredible ever rising expense on starter and smarter weapons. Since the al Qaeda and the Taliban responded with US’s less kill ratio policy it is possible anything the US does could be sabotaged. During the Second World War there was real fear that Hitler would win, perhaps if we started to really fear al Qaeda, destroying or baiting us into destroying what we hold dear, as Americans barter in a dollar less world we might figure out what to do. Bin Laden preaches that Muslim culture is hopelessly going to be abused if Arabs don’t resort to suicidal tactics. Groups more peaceful than al Qaeda, even Hamas and Hezbollah, winning a few rounds will deflate al Qaeda’s appeal, which goes to people who never even heard of Islam such as the student outcasts who attacked at Columbine High then killing themselves.
The loss in Massachusetts doesn’t just mean one less Democratic Representative but an omen toward the loss of our way of life. Obama is our best hope but he is not nearly enough and he needs a little tough love mixed in with those who praise him.
A negative afterthought
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128368
by Richard Kane
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/22672
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/user/richardkanepa
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2419
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=5163
http://consortiumblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/logic-of-al-qaedas-mccain-choice.html?showComment=1225253700000#c7899683072517641995
Back up reference to above link, http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/082209a.html
RichardKane.blogspot.com
More information if you google RichardKanePA
Read more!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
After Hitler, Us
“After Hitler us” was a frequent comment during the Weimar Republic by German progressives in the 30's. It reminds me of the recent comments in the latest election, where many progressives turned against a moderately progressive candidate out of hard times and disgust with Obama’s lack of promised change.
Supposedly in four years a real progressive might be elected in Massachusetts, if Martha Coakley losses, but if she wins she might stay in office for many years. This in the direction of substituting the phase, “After Scott Brown, us” asserting that if Martha Coakley loses the next representative elected in four years will likely be more progressive. There is also a lack of concern from those who aren’t moderate Republicans that Republican politicians who are at all liberal are being pressured to change or even to get out, which could mean a right-wing nut case as the Republican contender in 2012. Another similarity is the percentage of poor people and the unemployed, into right wing causes. Of course the economic woes and political problems in Germany caused by mostly the worldwide economic conditions, while similar, were many times worse than today but the percentage of newly unemployed, and newly out of being kicked out of their homes in right-wing causes is similar,
http://www.lycos.com/info/weimar-republic--adolf-hitler.html
Obviously a nut case Republican candidate wouldn’t call for sterilizing Hispanics, just to kick them out of the country, definitely making no distinction of American children born of immigrant parents. As for antiwar activists being mad at Coutney saying Afghanistan is not the place to fight al Qaeda, Scott Brown’s ravings that America needs to finish the job in Afghanistan while he weaves her opposition to the war, capital punishment and support for trials for terrorists into a continuous web. A staunchly antiwar libertarian also in the race will mean that a Brown victory will be interpreted as support for the war unless the Libertarian, Joe Kennedy, does well,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/martha-coakley-no-joe-kennedy-yes
A problem with this essay is that it is an exaggeration, but a bigger problem is that we cried wolf far too often. However bin Laden is a wolf, causing untold grief the biggest example was co-sponsoring by attacking Shiite Holy Places, creating a tit-for-tat bloodbath between Sunnis and Shiites. Bush didn’t send peacekeeper’s to Somalia after Bin Laden threatened to respond, and low and behold the rest of the world under Bush stood up to Somalian pirates by themselves. There is a big world out there with many other nations who would be standing up to al Qaeda if the US backed down,
The real aggressive trouble that France gave Germany following the First World War, may or may not compare with the trouble al Qaeda gives the US,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/al-qaeda-killing-7-top-cia-experts-was-under-reported-disaster
But there is enough similarities between those who want to make everything temporary worse, in order to make them better later, and the poor and disengaged drifting toward conservative causes to cause alarm. If ACORN was able to accomplish more, and if rowdy but peaceful protests were able to show real results, the excitement over suicide attacks even by American outcasts such as at Columbine High would be far less of a problem. We must not stop finding the idea of the right and the left ganging up against Obama to be appealing and should continue this discussion just as intensely after the polls close tomorrow. By all means vote Coakley, or if you can’t take Democrats anymore, vote for the libertarian.
Related material,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128483
A negative afterthought
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128368
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Read more!
Supposedly in four years a real progressive might be elected in Massachusetts, if Martha Coakley losses, but if she wins she might stay in office for many years. This in the direction of substituting the phase, “After Scott Brown, us” asserting that if Martha Coakley loses the next representative elected in four years will likely be more progressive. There is also a lack of concern from those who aren’t moderate Republicans that Republican politicians who are at all liberal are being pressured to change or even to get out, which could mean a right-wing nut case as the Republican contender in 2012. Another similarity is the percentage of poor people and the unemployed, into right wing causes. Of course the economic woes and political problems in Germany caused by mostly the worldwide economic conditions, while similar, were many times worse than today but the percentage of newly unemployed, and newly out of being kicked out of their homes in right-wing causes is similar,
http://www.lycos.com/info/weimar-republic--adolf-hitler.html
Obviously a nut case Republican candidate wouldn’t call for sterilizing Hispanics, just to kick them out of the country, definitely making no distinction of American children born of immigrant parents. As for antiwar activists being mad at Coutney saying Afghanistan is not the place to fight al Qaeda, Scott Brown’s ravings that America needs to finish the job in Afghanistan while he weaves her opposition to the war, capital punishment and support for trials for terrorists into a continuous web. A staunchly antiwar libertarian also in the race will mean that a Brown victory will be interpreted as support for the war unless the Libertarian, Joe Kennedy, does well,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/martha-coakley-no-joe-kennedy-yes
A problem with this essay is that it is an exaggeration, but a bigger problem is that we cried wolf far too often. However bin Laden is a wolf, causing untold grief the biggest example was co-sponsoring by attacking Shiite Holy Places, creating a tit-for-tat bloodbath between Sunnis and Shiites. Bush didn’t send peacekeeper’s to Somalia after Bin Laden threatened to respond, and low and behold the rest of the world under Bush stood up to Somalian pirates by themselves. There is a big world out there with many other nations who would be standing up to al Qaeda if the US backed down,
The real aggressive trouble that France gave Germany following the First World War, may or may not compare with the trouble al Qaeda gives the US,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/al-qaeda-killing-7-top-cia-experts-was-under-reported-disaster
But there is enough similarities between those who want to make everything temporary worse, in order to make them better later, and the poor and disengaged drifting toward conservative causes to cause alarm. If ACORN was able to accomplish more, and if rowdy but peaceful protests were able to show real results, the excitement over suicide attacks even by American outcasts such as at Columbine High would be far less of a problem. We must not stop finding the idea of the right and the left ganging up against Obama to be appealing and should continue this discussion just as intensely after the polls close tomorrow. By all means vote Coakley, or if you can’t take Democrats anymore, vote for the libertarian.
Related material,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128483
A negative afterthought
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/24868#comment-128368
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Read more!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Backing Obama but not the War
My stance is that we have a good President making a terrible mistake, and admit I could be wrong about it being a mistake. That is, if among other things, Obama gets hawks to stop opposing harsh Muslim values as the main reason for supporting the war. I hope people who want to support Obama, but not the war, join me.
The belief that the West is out to oppose Muslim values is why those Muslims who believe that the war is against Islam, feel that way. I also fear the new America that is loved, not hated, by the world is something priceless that is about to go away.
How can people who agree with the above statement, or similar statements, become a united voice? We who still like Obama, but oppose the war, are a significant minority, and both sides are trying to make us choose. We know that Martin Luther King kept meeting with President Johnson, and it’s now been noted that Johnson had private strong doubts about the war. I wonder if a support Johnson but not the war movement took off, whether the war not the great society would have ended during his term.
Much of the Muslim world is both angry at al Qaeda and also hates the idea of the US imposing Western values, which is why President Obama went along with the idea of Sharia Law in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, much to the chagrin of many Americans, whether hawks or doves.
Spanish Muslim clerics on the anniversary of the Madrid backpack bombing called bin Laden a heretic. Dr Fadl a fundamentalist, who supported the concept of holy war elsewhere, condemned al Qaeda for destroying the most holly Shiite Golden Dome, causing tit-for-tat reprisals that caused millions of Shiite and Sunni in Iraq to flee their neighborhoods or die.
Hamas and al Qaeda hate each other, so do Iran and al Qaeda. It wasn’t even news in the US when al Qaeda, 11/17/09, declared war on Iran. Please, both hawk and dove, click on the following for look an amazingly different perspective,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=75663§ionid=351020101
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/50581,news-comment,news-politics,iran-neocon-ally-war-al-qaeda-and-the-taliban-obama-gordon-brown-afghanistan-israel
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/hamas_and_al_qaeda_l.php
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/4736358/Al-Qaeda-founder-launches-fierce-attack-on-Osama-bin-Laden.html
Sort of off the subject, http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/16402
After Nidal Hasan’s rampage at Fort Hood, many wanted Muslim recruits removed from the army, not noting the desperate need for Arabic translators. During the Cold War, Condoleezza Rice learned Russian just so she could understand and oppose Communism better. The pursuit victory is hopeless no matter what unless someone pays close attention.
I’m sure Obama. from his unique perspective, sees something I don’t. Maybe I’m wrong about the war, providing Obama can convince Americans to be more interested in a far off war then health care here a home, and can make Americans willing to go along with Sheria Law where Muslims want it, etc, etc.
I am saddened that so many fellow antiwar activists during Bush are starting to believe Obama is an evil man. Does anyone else have anything to add that will make it less likely that the war will destroy the new America the world is beginning to love again?
By Richard Kane
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Google Richard Kane
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/1693626c39309
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/backing-obama-not-war
http://readerrant.capitolhillblue.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=133856
Read more!
The belief that the West is out to oppose Muslim values is why those Muslims who believe that the war is against Islam, feel that way. I also fear the new America that is loved, not hated, by the world is something priceless that is about to go away.
How can people who agree with the above statement, or similar statements, become a united voice? We who still like Obama, but oppose the war, are a significant minority, and both sides are trying to make us choose. We know that Martin Luther King kept meeting with President Johnson, and it’s now been noted that Johnson had private strong doubts about the war. I wonder if a support Johnson but not the war movement took off, whether the war not the great society would have ended during his term.
Much of the Muslim world is both angry at al Qaeda and also hates the idea of the US imposing Western values, which is why President Obama went along with the idea of Sharia Law in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, much to the chagrin of many Americans, whether hawks or doves.
Spanish Muslim clerics on the anniversary of the Madrid backpack bombing called bin Laden a heretic. Dr Fadl a fundamentalist, who supported the concept of holy war elsewhere, condemned al Qaeda for destroying the most holly Shiite Golden Dome, causing tit-for-tat reprisals that caused millions of Shiite and Sunni in Iraq to flee their neighborhoods or die.
Hamas and al Qaeda hate each other, so do Iran and al Qaeda. It wasn’t even news in the US when al Qaeda, 11/17/09, declared war on Iran. Please, both hawk and dove, click on the following for look an amazingly different perspective,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=75663§ionid=351020101
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/50581,news-comment,news-politics,iran-neocon-ally-war-al-qaeda-and-the-taliban-obama-gordon-brown-afghanistan-israel
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/hamas_and_al_qaeda_l.php
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/4736358/Al-Qaeda-founder-launches-fierce-attack-on-Osama-bin-Laden.html
Sort of off the subject, http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/16402
After Nidal Hasan’s rampage at Fort Hood, many wanted Muslim recruits removed from the army, not noting the desperate need for Arabic translators. During the Cold War, Condoleezza Rice learned Russian just so she could understand and oppose Communism better. The pursuit victory is hopeless no matter what unless someone pays close attention.
I’m sure Obama. from his unique perspective, sees something I don’t. Maybe I’m wrong about the war, providing Obama can convince Americans to be more interested in a far off war then health care here a home, and can make Americans willing to go along with Sheria Law where Muslims want it, etc, etc.
I am saddened that so many fellow antiwar activists during Bush are starting to believe Obama is an evil man. Does anyone else have anything to add that will make it less likely that the war will destroy the new America the world is beginning to love again?
By Richard Kane
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Google Richard Kane
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/1693626c39309
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/backing-obama-not-war
http://readerrant.capitolhillblue.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=133856
Read more!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Viscous smears threaten US future, but suddenly there is hope
Election day smears aren't new, but for Obama and Sarah Palin they never end. The Republican Party has been getting ever more rigid when it comes to war policy for a long time. In 2006 Richard Warner dropped out, and Chuck Hagal lost, Lincoln Chafee in 2004. Arlen Specter was squeezed out of the Republican party, due to his abortion stance, and became a Democrat. In the last election, Dede Scozzafava was trounced by fake campaign ads, that looked like they were sponsored by her, shrilly overstating her pro-choice position,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/bias-media-dirty-tricks-a_b_341141.html
The polls were so bleak that she dropped out and endorsed the Democrat. Some people cheered a Democrat winning a district that was Republican since the Civil War, as some ultra-conservative ideologists cheered the Republican Party becoming more pure. But no one seems to be trying to punish or get restitution from Arkansas businessman, Jackson Stephen, who sponsored the dirty tricks. It's as if all sides seem to now think that dirty tricks is the norm.
But recently certain things have clicked back in the direction of being civil, besides Sarah Palin and Hillary comments on wanting to have a casual chat,
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/hill_up_for_coffee_talk_with_palin_3us1GLNzJEZZYZ0rj2hCdP
More importantly Mike Huckabee condemned those who can only find fault with the President. He criticized those who claim that Obama having kids on the White House lawn for Halloween was using children. Huckabee is happy that the kids had a rare opportunity and unlike some of his Republican comrades is honored that the President paid his respects to the returning dead soldiers. Since he was already condemned for being a softy in the 2006 primaries he can speak out without getting additional flack,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/19/huckabee-calls-knee-jerk_n_364023.html
I confess that I was one of those who thought something cute was going on, when ideologists accused John McCain of not being really a Republican due to McCain making conciliatory comments toward the President right after Obama won the election, instead of being frightened that a civil handshake after a rough campaign was no longer allowed.
When it comes to the ethic issues communities something more amazing has suddenly been occurring, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) came out with a report criticizing Glenn Beck as the number one fear-monger in the country. So much for the hysterics of the pro-Israel lobby, for allegedly trashing Obama for not giving Israel everything it wants,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/11/17/2009-11-17_glenn_beck_is_scarier_than_rush_limbaugh_sean_hannity_says_antidefamation_league.html
In the Cuban-American community something amazing has been happening as well. A conservative Cuban-American group, Free Cuba Foundation, sponsored an online petition against the death-threats against Cuban entertainers who were thinking of playing at a peace concert in Cuba,
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/denounce-death-threats-against-juanes.html
I wish pubic heath care protesters in this country had an online petition against the "Bury Obama next to Kennedy" placards that a few brought to the protests.
Another piece of good news is changes at the Washington Times which had been heavily funded by Sun Myung Moon. Rev. Moon came to America with the Korea-gate lobbying scandal. The Korean lobby back then was assertive like the Israeli and Cuban-American lobbies. It later became a go-between, between the Religious Right and the Political Right. Moon's News World Communications, besides owning the Washington Times and United Press International owned the now defunct Rising Tide Newspaper, that according to Scoobie Jackson originated the "Obama is a Muslim" smears,
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com/2009/06/frank-gaffney-spreads-obama-is-muslim.html
However back in Korea it maintained businesses in North Korea and had direct dealings with the North Korean government and I suspect helped prevent a war between North Korea and the West. Sun Myung Moon retired and turned over his church to his three sons. Recently Hyung Jin Moon took over the control of the Washington Times from Hyun Jin Moon. There is an exciting possibility that Hyung Jin Moon is undoing his father's right-wing policies in pursuit of Moon's other goals of a united Korea and a united world. If anyone remembers, George Bush, when it first came to office, couldn't decide if he wanted to be an interventionist or an isolationist and compromised by only going after the small (and in his mind) the particularly bad powers which he called "The Axis of Evil". Since North Korea isn't the kind of country to back down under threats, it is very possible that Moon's go-between activities prevented war between North Korea and the Bush administration. If the Unification Church undoes some of its harsh past while still pursuing a united world, the US, if not the world, could be better off.
The efforts of the Cuban-American Foundation and the ADL reminds me of something the US stopped noting since it stopped bragging about being a melting pot. A huge number of Americans are particularly interested in another part of the world, if you include the Czech and Polish-Americans upset that the defense shield isn't going to be extended there, people who get excited on St. Patrick's Day, and the native-American tribes partial to Brazilian President Lula who is a native Indian and partial to the peasants. I suddenly realize that this fights the polarization that is going on.
There is one problem where there is not yet this kind of glimmer of hope. Following the Nidal Hasan's massacre of 13 US soldiers, there has been greater polarization between American Muslims and non-Muslims. The load condemnation of Muslim-American organizations of Hasan's murders never gets reported. Rev. Pat Robertson is insisting that Islam itself is a terrorist organization not a religion, something David Horowitz is also spreading around. If they do manage to get the army to stop enlisting Arabic translators and those who have a feel for Afghan culture, and Muslims start leaving the US, it will play into al Qaeda's goal of making this a Balkanized world. George Bush applied the term "terrorist" to Green Peace and animal right's activists. Now there is a concerted effort by David Horowitz and Tigre Hill to paint Mumia abu-Jamal who was convicted of killing Officer Faulkner as a terrorist. I guess their real goal is to get anyone accused, or convicted, of a heinous crime be deigned any rights at all. The word "terrorist" seems to be beginning to be thrown around the way "Communist" was during the Joe McCarthy witch-hunt days. Whatever Mumia's involvement or lack of involvement in Officer Danny Faulkner's death, he clearly feels empowered by his writings, and no matter what he did or didn't do the night of the murder, and never felt empowered by putting a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger. Tigre Hill's movie on Mumia is not yet out but the trailer has David Horowitz philosophizing about terrorism, has headlines which it doesn't explain where they came from, "Pipe Bomb Damages 12 Police Cars", "Machine Gun Fire Kills 2 Cops". The words "kill a pig" repeated several times. And the words "pig" in bold letters repeated twice as the audio hurled it like a curse word,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2w_WntxpLE
Glenn Beck and Tigre Hill's help with his trailer, using Marc Hill's quotes surrounded by inflammatory material helped manage to get Marc Lamont Hill fired from Fox News for supporting Mumia, and got Van Jones fired or on his own decided to leave the Obama administration because Glenn Beck was making such a fuse. Perhaps the ADL could speak out about the misuse of the word terrorism, and counter Geert Wilders who on a tour with Horowitz, had been claiming that the Koran is a book that should be banned.
I wish to apologize for thinking it was cute that McCain was accused of being a Democrat in disguise when he tried to make conciliatory comments after the election was over. Thank you Hillary and Sarah Palin and all the others I mentioned on for your efforts. I urge us all to join them, but caution conciliatory comments need to be made during a heated effort for a particular bill or foreign policy, more than when a skirmish is over or one might end up facing what McCain faced.
By Richard Kane
Also available at,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/16402
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/vicious-smears-threaten-us-future-suddenly-there-hope
Read more!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/bias-media-dirty-tricks-a_b_341141.html
The polls were so bleak that she dropped out and endorsed the Democrat. Some people cheered a Democrat winning a district that was Republican since the Civil War, as some ultra-conservative ideologists cheered the Republican Party becoming more pure. But no one seems to be trying to punish or get restitution from Arkansas businessman, Jackson Stephen, who sponsored the dirty tricks. It's as if all sides seem to now think that dirty tricks is the norm.
But recently certain things have clicked back in the direction of being civil, besides Sarah Palin and Hillary comments on wanting to have a casual chat,
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/hill_up_for_coffee_talk_with_palin_3us1GLNzJEZZYZ0rj2hCdP
More importantly Mike Huckabee condemned those who can only find fault with the President. He criticized those who claim that Obama having kids on the White House lawn for Halloween was using children. Huckabee is happy that the kids had a rare opportunity and unlike some of his Republican comrades is honored that the President paid his respects to the returning dead soldiers. Since he was already condemned for being a softy in the 2006 primaries he can speak out without getting additional flack,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/19/huckabee-calls-knee-jerk_n_364023.html
I confess that I was one of those who thought something cute was going on, when ideologists accused John McCain of not being really a Republican due to McCain making conciliatory comments toward the President right after Obama won the election, instead of being frightened that a civil handshake after a rough campaign was no longer allowed.
When it comes to the ethic issues communities something more amazing has suddenly been occurring, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) came out with a report criticizing Glenn Beck as the number one fear-monger in the country. So much for the hysterics of the pro-Israel lobby, for allegedly trashing Obama for not giving Israel everything it wants,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/11/17/2009-11-17_glenn_beck_is_scarier_than_rush_limbaugh_sean_hannity_says_antidefamation_league.html
In the Cuban-American community something amazing has been happening as well. A conservative Cuban-American group, Free Cuba Foundation, sponsored an online petition against the death-threats against Cuban entertainers who were thinking of playing at a peace concert in Cuba,
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/denounce-death-threats-against-juanes.html
I wish pubic heath care protesters in this country had an online petition against the "Bury Obama next to Kennedy" placards that a few brought to the protests.
Another piece of good news is changes at the Washington Times which had been heavily funded by Sun Myung Moon. Rev. Moon came to America with the Korea-gate lobbying scandal. The Korean lobby back then was assertive like the Israeli and Cuban-American lobbies. It later became a go-between, between the Religious Right and the Political Right. Moon's News World Communications, besides owning the Washington Times and United Press International owned the now defunct Rising Tide Newspaper, that according to Scoobie Jackson originated the "Obama is a Muslim" smears,
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com/2009/06/frank-gaffney-spreads-obama-is-muslim.html
However back in Korea it maintained businesses in North Korea and had direct dealings with the North Korean government and I suspect helped prevent a war between North Korea and the West. Sun Myung Moon retired and turned over his church to his three sons. Recently Hyung Jin Moon took over the control of the Washington Times from Hyun Jin Moon. There is an exciting possibility that Hyung Jin Moon is undoing his father's right-wing policies in pursuit of Moon's other goals of a united Korea and a united world. If anyone remembers, George Bush, when it first came to office, couldn't decide if he wanted to be an interventionist or an isolationist and compromised by only going after the small (and in his mind) the particularly bad powers which he called "The Axis of Evil". Since North Korea isn't the kind of country to back down under threats, it is very possible that Moon's go-between activities prevented war between North Korea and the Bush administration. If the Unification Church undoes some of its harsh past while still pursuing a united world, the US, if not the world, could be better off.
The efforts of the Cuban-American Foundation and the ADL reminds me of something the US stopped noting since it stopped bragging about being a melting pot. A huge number of Americans are particularly interested in another part of the world, if you include the Czech and Polish-Americans upset that the defense shield isn't going to be extended there, people who get excited on St. Patrick's Day, and the native-American tribes partial to Brazilian President Lula who is a native Indian and partial to the peasants. I suddenly realize that this fights the polarization that is going on.
There is one problem where there is not yet this kind of glimmer of hope. Following the Nidal Hasan's massacre of 13 US soldiers, there has been greater polarization between American Muslims and non-Muslims. The load condemnation of Muslim-American organizations of Hasan's murders never gets reported. Rev. Pat Robertson is insisting that Islam itself is a terrorist organization not a religion, something David Horowitz is also spreading around. If they do manage to get the army to stop enlisting Arabic translators and those who have a feel for Afghan culture, and Muslims start leaving the US, it will play into al Qaeda's goal of making this a Balkanized world. George Bush applied the term "terrorist" to Green Peace and animal right's activists. Now there is a concerted effort by David Horowitz and Tigre Hill to paint Mumia abu-Jamal who was convicted of killing Officer Faulkner as a terrorist. I guess their real goal is to get anyone accused, or convicted, of a heinous crime be deigned any rights at all. The word "terrorist" seems to be beginning to be thrown around the way "Communist" was during the Joe McCarthy witch-hunt days. Whatever Mumia's involvement or lack of involvement in Officer Danny Faulkner's death, he clearly feels empowered by his writings, and no matter what he did or didn't do the night of the murder, and never felt empowered by putting a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger. Tigre Hill's movie on Mumia is not yet out but the trailer has David Horowitz philosophizing about terrorism, has headlines which it doesn't explain where they came from, "Pipe Bomb Damages 12 Police Cars", "Machine Gun Fire Kills 2 Cops". The words "kill a pig" repeated several times. And the words "pig" in bold letters repeated twice as the audio hurled it like a curse word,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2w_WntxpLE
Glenn Beck and Tigre Hill's help with his trailer, using Marc Hill's quotes surrounded by inflammatory material helped manage to get Marc Lamont Hill fired from Fox News for supporting Mumia, and got Van Jones fired or on his own decided to leave the Obama administration because Glenn Beck was making such a fuse. Perhaps the ADL could speak out about the misuse of the word terrorism, and counter Geert Wilders who on a tour with Horowitz, had been claiming that the Koran is a book that should be banned.
I wish to apologize for thinking it was cute that McCain was accused of being a Democrat in disguise when he tried to make conciliatory comments after the election was over. Thank you Hillary and Sarah Palin and all the others I mentioned on for your efforts. I urge us all to join them, but caution conciliatory comments need to be made during a heated effort for a particular bill or foreign policy, more than when a skirmish is over or one might end up facing what McCain faced.
By Richard Kane
Also available at,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/16402
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/vicious-smears-threaten-us-future-suddenly-there-hope
Read more!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Let’s Stop the Spiral of Hate!
There is intense tension between Muslims in Holland and the wider community. Some of this extends to the rest of Western Europe as well. This hasn’t happened in the US as of yet despite broad accusations concerning Islam since the Fort Hood killings by conservative papers and web-sites and which sometimes got repeated on Fox News. Only Joe Leiberman claiming that the Homeland Security Committee will investigate the Fort Hood killings for terrorism, has created public worry from progressive groups and those concerned about pushing US Muslims in the wrong direction,
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/13820
I’m not making excuses. Al Qaeda likes to attack locals who translate for the US. If mistrust created by Nidal Hasan, interferes with Arabic-speaking Americans translating, al Qaeda would consider this a real plus.
Once the US was proud of what was once called the American melting pot. Obama is attempting to bring back the America the world loved after World War II. Bush after 9/11 urged that Muslim businesses not be defaced, humbly visited a mosque, and repeatedly called particularly the King of Jordan, US’s friend. Obama and Bush while very different, don’t have the opposite visions when it comes to the need for friends. At a certain point tensions could snowball like in Holland. Remember the anger all over the Muslim world when the USSR was fighting in Afghanistan. The US hasn’t faced united Muslim anger, and it is a warped sense of patriotism to think that it shouldn’t be avoided.
Arab translators would be needed even if the US would embark on exploring a rapid orderly exit policy from Afghanistan. During the Cold War Condoleezza Rice, learned Russian, as what she felt was a matter of patriotism. I haven’t heard of bloggers, urging Muslims be removed from the army, learning Arab to replace Muslim translators.
A problem is that many people believe that the liberal media is sanitizing the facts, and thus expect more detail from the conservative media. However the NY Times may have had more detail then any other publication or blog,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10inquire.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09reconstruct.html?
Perhaps as much of the liberal media claims Nidal Hasan snapped from the insults hurled at him for being a Muslim. However, he bought a $1,000 automatic pistol in July,
http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2009/11/hasan-spent-1000-at-guns-galore-before.html
Snapping might have occurred long before November 6. Not that he couldn’t have hesitated until November 6. Witnesses say he carefully chose which soldier to shoot, so I think he was very calculating.
In 2002 Daniel Pearl who was with the Wall Street Journal, was lured by terrorists in Pakistan. In a gruesome Internet broadcast he was tortured and beheaded. Instead of reacting with hate and helping the terrorists Balkanize the world, his friends and relatives organized the Daniel Pearl Foundation with interfaith peace concerts, dialogues and prayer services,
http://www.festivaloffaithskc.org/
http://www.danielpearlmusicdays.org/
I think this is what bin Laden doesn’t want. Driving Muslims out of the West while Westerners were driven out of Middle Eastern countries would in bin Laden’s mind shield Muslims from dangerous Western influence.
Somehow many Americans think 9/11 gives us a unique responsibility to stop al Qaeda. The Madrid commuter train backpack bombings, could have killed more people had one train arrived at a station moment later. Many Spaniards can’t go to work without being reminded of that dreaded day.
To discombobulate US efforts for a coalition government in Iraq, al Qaeda at several points in 2006 and 2007 attacked and destroyed the Shiite Golden Mosque the holiest sight in Shiite world, causing massive tit-for-tat violence, and millions to have to relocate in fear of their lives,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_al-Askari_Mosque_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Askari_Mosque
Since al Qaeda has no anger at Shiite Islam, much of the Muslim World hates al Qaeda causing mass mayhem, just for a temporary strategic reason. US policy toward Iran, distracts Iran from its anger at the mayhem bin Laden caused.
Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage enhanced the ignorance of the American public to the nuances of the Muslim attitudes toward al Qaeda. My guess is that creating tension between Arabic translators and the US government was intentional, and in different ways modified what he did for maximum effect. Another tragedy that should be faced is that he can become a larger-than-life example for some. Al Qaeda members got drunk before 9/11. As part of their disguise was avoiding the mosque or appearing to be a Muslim. One Muslim web-site that I haven’t yet relocated dwelt both on the accusation that one of the 9/11 hijackers had a relative who was an Israeli spy and in almost the same breath the accusation that one of the hijackers visited a brothel. Prophet Mohammad wouldn’t have taxed drugs like the al-Qaeda-ized Taliban is doing, nor put up with a Joan or Arc, or child lookouts and spies, much less equipt a child with any kind of weapon at all. A child or an elderly lady both with down syndrome being outfitted with a remote-controlled suicide vest, is something foreign to any kind of historic tradition. One son doing this to his mother violated what every religious teacher ever advocated. Sadly, for a change, Nidal Malik Hasan gives the appearance of seriously practicing his religion. A possible silver lining in this whole affair would be if I and other could induce Americans to start paying attention to what the Muslim world thinks.
I would like to see Obama to ask France or some country to supervise a cease-fire between us and the Taliban with a clear timetable for withdrawal as long as Americans are not fired upon. But bin Laden wouldn’t want anything in the way of his vision of a permanent Muslim warring-class as long as there is a divided world, and may want to sabotage such a deal. Those who don’t have a clue claiming the war relates to an oil pipeline I don’t think helps to solve the difficulties that the US and the world is in.
Don’t forget that the attitude of Daniel Pearl’s relatives are very important whether or not at what point the US government should or should not engage in force in dealing with foreign affairs.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2419
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
RichardKanePA
Read more!
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/13820
I’m not making excuses. Al Qaeda likes to attack locals who translate for the US. If mistrust created by Nidal Hasan, interferes with Arabic-speaking Americans translating, al Qaeda would consider this a real plus.
Once the US was proud of what was once called the American melting pot. Obama is attempting to bring back the America the world loved after World War II. Bush after 9/11 urged that Muslim businesses not be defaced, humbly visited a mosque, and repeatedly called particularly the King of Jordan, US’s friend. Obama and Bush while very different, don’t have the opposite visions when it comes to the need for friends. At a certain point tensions could snowball like in Holland. Remember the anger all over the Muslim world when the USSR was fighting in Afghanistan. The US hasn’t faced united Muslim anger, and it is a warped sense of patriotism to think that it shouldn’t be avoided.
Arab translators would be needed even if the US would embark on exploring a rapid orderly exit policy from Afghanistan. During the Cold War Condoleezza Rice, learned Russian, as what she felt was a matter of patriotism. I haven’t heard of bloggers, urging Muslims be removed from the army, learning Arab to replace Muslim translators.
A problem is that many people believe that the liberal media is sanitizing the facts, and thus expect more detail from the conservative media. However the NY Times may have had more detail then any other publication or blog,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10inquire.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09reconstruct.html?
Perhaps as much of the liberal media claims Nidal Hasan snapped from the insults hurled at him for being a Muslim. However, he bought a $1,000 automatic pistol in July,
http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2009/11/hasan-spent-1000-at-guns-galore-before.html
Snapping might have occurred long before November 6. Not that he couldn’t have hesitated until November 6. Witnesses say he carefully chose which soldier to shoot, so I think he was very calculating.
In 2002 Daniel Pearl who was with the Wall Street Journal, was lured by terrorists in Pakistan. In a gruesome Internet broadcast he was tortured and beheaded. Instead of reacting with hate and helping the terrorists Balkanize the world, his friends and relatives organized the Daniel Pearl Foundation with interfaith peace concerts, dialogues and prayer services,
http://www.festivaloffaithskc.org/
http://www.danielpearlmusicdays.org/
I think this is what bin Laden doesn’t want. Driving Muslims out of the West while Westerners were driven out of Middle Eastern countries would in bin Laden’s mind shield Muslims from dangerous Western influence.
Somehow many Americans think 9/11 gives us a unique responsibility to stop al Qaeda. The Madrid commuter train backpack bombings, could have killed more people had one train arrived at a station moment later. Many Spaniards can’t go to work without being reminded of that dreaded day.
To discombobulate US efforts for a coalition government in Iraq, al Qaeda at several points in 2006 and 2007 attacked and destroyed the Shiite Golden Mosque the holiest sight in Shiite world, causing massive tit-for-tat violence, and millions to have to relocate in fear of their lives,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_al-Askari_Mosque_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Askari_Mosque
Since al Qaeda has no anger at Shiite Islam, much of the Muslim World hates al Qaeda causing mass mayhem, just for a temporary strategic reason. US policy toward Iran, distracts Iran from its anger at the mayhem bin Laden caused.
Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage enhanced the ignorance of the American public to the nuances of the Muslim attitudes toward al Qaeda. My guess is that creating tension between Arabic translators and the US government was intentional, and in different ways modified what he did for maximum effect. Another tragedy that should be faced is that he can become a larger-than-life example for some. Al Qaeda members got drunk before 9/11. As part of their disguise was avoiding the mosque or appearing to be a Muslim. One Muslim web-site that I haven’t yet relocated dwelt both on the accusation that one of the 9/11 hijackers had a relative who was an Israeli spy and in almost the same breath the accusation that one of the hijackers visited a brothel. Prophet Mohammad wouldn’t have taxed drugs like the al-Qaeda-ized Taliban is doing, nor put up with a Joan or Arc, or child lookouts and spies, much less equipt a child with any kind of weapon at all. A child or an elderly lady both with down syndrome being outfitted with a remote-controlled suicide vest, is something foreign to any kind of historic tradition. One son doing this to his mother violated what every religious teacher ever advocated. Sadly, for a change, Nidal Malik Hasan gives the appearance of seriously practicing his religion. A possible silver lining in this whole affair would be if I and other could induce Americans to start paying attention to what the Muslim world thinks.
I would like to see Obama to ask France or some country to supervise a cease-fire between us and the Taliban with a clear timetable for withdrawal as long as Americans are not fired upon. But bin Laden wouldn’t want anything in the way of his vision of a permanent Muslim warring-class as long as there is a divided world, and may want to sabotage such a deal. Those who don’t have a clue claiming the war relates to an oil pipeline I don’t think helps to solve the difficulties that the US and the world is in.
Don’t forget that the attitude of Daniel Pearl’s relatives are very important whether or not at what point the US government should or should not engage in force in dealing with foreign affairs.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2419
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
RichardKanePA
Read more!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Fort Hood Shooting Spree
It looks like bin Laden, Dick Cheney, Glenn Beck, and the people at the Washington Times and Fox News might have got their way, a world at war, but there may be still time for Obama and sober folks to help us get along with each other instead.
In Europe Muslims are seen as freaks, in the US we tend to have a touch of a melting pot and Muslims tend to get such jobs as back tellers because Islam preaches honesty, but it may not be enough and the world could end up dividing into warring camps like bin Laden and Beck craves, but groups like the Daniel Pearl Foundation are trying to bring us all together instead.
RichardKanePa.blogspot.com
RichardKanePA
Read more!
In Europe Muslims are seen as freaks, in the US we tend to have a touch of a melting pot and Muslims tend to get such jobs as back tellers because Islam preaches honesty, but it may not be enough and the world could end up dividing into warring camps like bin Laden and Beck craves, but groups like the Daniel Pearl Foundation are trying to bring us all together instead.
RichardKanePa.blogspot.com
RichardKanePA
Read more!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Obama - unlike Jimmy Carter - fights the smears Fox News hurls at him
History is repeating itself. When Carter was President, he was sabotaged and smeared by right-wingers who hated him. The very worst example was called the “October Surprise”. Under President Carter so-called super-patriotic Americans including a former Vice-President who was later to become President, President Bush, in the worst case example, worked with America’s enemies to sabotage Carter’s domestic and foreign policy. It hasn’t been smoking gun proven, but the elder Bush’s emissaries might have actually directly, not indirectly, worked with the Iranian hostage takers, google Wikipedia and October Surprise.
Obama is different, he fights back, but only MoveOn.org is supporting the President’s policy of standing up to the smears hurled against him and this country by so-called friends of America like the super publisher Rupert Murdock and his Fox News. America isn’t weak under President Obama, it is strong. For the first time, really since World War II, the world actually respects and honors this country. The Nobel Peace Prize was actually given to President Obama for bringing back the America, the promoter of peace and stability, that President Wilson once presented to the world.
The biggest hate smearers at Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times newspaper, get honored by being on Rupert Murdock’s Fox News, such as Andrew Breitbart,
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com/2009/09/andrew-breitbart-throws-stones-at-acorn.html
If the above link sticks, go the Scoobie Davis blog, and scrawl down to Sept 29,
http:www.scoobiedavis.blogspot.com/
The smear that Obama was a Muslim wasn’t urban legend, but a carefully planned hate message,
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com/2009/06/frank-gaffney-spreads-obama-is-muslim.html
As part of a subliminal hate message, the Washington Times’ story about children murdered in Chicago, had a picture with it of Obama’s children. See Media Matters story # 200905130025
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200905130025
Many think because they have been quiet of late the Moonies are mostly gone or retired. Moon has actually given much, if not all, of his control of his Unification Church to his three sons or in Moon’s mind, God has given control of His church over to His three sons.
Moon just married 40,000 new couples in a mass marriage that covered several countries. Moonies in the past, besides getting married at Moon’s beck and call, have done fund raising, such as selling flowers and small figurines and stuffed animals 16 hours a day, and did a lot of political work for their god.
An article in the Boston Globe covered the mass marriage. It was an Oct 12 Associated Press story by Hyung-Jin-Kim, http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/10/12/rev_moon_turning_over_unification_church_to_sons
The only reference to brainwashing in the story was of a child raised in the cult, However, many recruits were college students who’s lives got totally engrossed in a mind bending cult, much to the horror of their parents and other relatives. Since Moonies, in the past, did fund raising and other errands for their god, I wonder how many are now professionals assigned to smear President Obama.
We need a little history. Sun Myung Moon came to this country as part of the Korea-gate lobbying campaign to secure more aid and support for South Korea. Somehow people get all excited about the Israeli Lobby lobbying for more support for Israel. However, many of the complaints against the Israeli Lobby come from Jews that disagree with the lobby, nothing like the conspiracy between Rupert Murdock (who happens to be a foreign lobbyist not an American) Dick Cheney, and the Rev. Moon.
Rev. Moon preaches Godism, not Democracy. A victory for the world Moon envisions would not only be a defeat for what the US represents but any religion that has a concept of free will.
It is interesting to note (if not ominous)that a major paper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, took the Associated Press story of Moon’s mass wedding, and removed the reference to brainwashing and to Sun Myung Moon’s ownership of the Washington Times, and added a picture of Moon’s youngest son looking like a ordinary preacher. According to both the Inquirer and Associated Press’s version of the story, Moon’s youngest son rebelled for a while and became a Buddhist. Not emphasized in either version is that this would represent a drastic change since Moonies are supposed to worship Rev. Moon. But the youngest son was only put in charge of Moon’s local church in Korea, not Moon’s overseas lobbying empire. The Inquirer’s cut version of the story only emphasized Moon’s youngest son, Moon Hyung-jin
According to retired University of Pennsylvania Wharton Professor Ed Herman, the right-wing owner who bought out the Philadelphia Inquirer from Knight Newspapers, Brian Tierney, is embedding in right wing causes, see,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/inky-toes-party-line-lockerbie-expense-truth-and-more
Brian Tierney, mixed in with Rupert Murdoch, Moon’s Washington Times, and with Dick Cheney is a very toxic brew.
The best reference to the conspiracy I am referring to is at, Scoobie Davis’s blogs
http://www.scoobiedavis.blogspot.com/
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com,
For earlier material see,
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon.html
I wrote, the following which may add a little something to what they wrote,
http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/06/re-sun-myung-moon-ten-more-facts-about.html
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/washington-times-moonies-are-very-involved-supporting-honduras-coup
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/taxonomy/term/3210
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/author/richardkanepa
http://RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Moon’s religious views have been called weird. But more than weird, I noticed they are extremely harsh. Moon likes to dwell on the Biblical use of the word “seed” to represent procreation in general. Eve eating the apple in the Garden of Eden represents according to Moon Eve having the Devil’s Child, and the Virgin Birth in the Bible is God changing human genealogy back in God’s hands. So Jesus was supposed to, according to Moon, have a lot of kids and bring God’s seed back to humankind to suppressed the Devil’s genetic line. Thus to Moon’s ideology, Jesus failed. To Moon the only difference between good and evil is who has the most power. To me it almost seems like good means evil to Moon. Moon wants a world where a higher authority makes all the decisions.
I might get in trouble with progressive friends, but I think there is actually some merit in some of the Conservative religious causes that Moon’s Washington Times has been ruining with its support. Destroying and twisting them might be one of his so-called higher purposes Moon is up to. Moon corrupts every cause he gets involved in supporting.
Cheney and Rupert Murdoch don’t hate human rights and civil liberties, they just don’t want such things to get in the way of what they think needs to be done. Someone on the scene that truly hates freedom, and free will, may be more destructive of human freedom then the resistively small number of Moonies would otherwise merit. I expect almost everyone who reads this will think that Moon at best is an only small part of any right-wing conspiracy. But I think that I though conceivably Scoobie Davis is the only people to think otherwise.
One can get most of the details by reading the historical links by Scoobie Davis and Robert Parry at Consortium News, which I linked to earlier.
One thing missing from what they write is Moon’s heavy involvement with Latin America. The Washington Times newspaper has had heavy support for right-wing Cuban-Americans and their effort to change the Cuban government. Most of Latin America especially the governments of Mexico and Brazil were upset at the overthrow of the President of Honduras. But the Washington Times by hammering away at the idea that Obama is supporting Castro’s and Chavez’s policy by pressuring Honduras to return to democracy, got otherwise uninvolved conservative Cuban-Americans to think that by opposing democracy in Honduras they are working for more freedom in Cuba. Without the Washington Times goading them on the overthrown of the President of Honduras might have never happened in the first place.
Many Hispanic Americans including Cuban-Americans, are being pressured by US domestic circumstances in a progressive direction. Most Cuban-Americans voted for President Obama. Heath care reform will benefit Hispanic-Americans the most. If Cheney and Rupert Murdoch win the day, with the next President proud of torture and human rights violations, and elderly Cuban refugees get to march back in style to Cuba the way the Iraqi Congress in Exile did in Iraq expecting to be greeted as returning heroes it will be a disaster for them as much as it was for the Iraqi Congress in Exile. Making peace with the Cuban Government, perhaps on somewhat their terms, is their only real hope for Cuban-Americans for their homeland. The Washington Times can only permanently poison their future.
A very good sign is that many conservative Cuban Americans signed an online petition against the threat to attack any Cuban-American entertainer if he attended the then pending peace concert in Havana,
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/denounce-death-threats-against-juanes.html
This would be like Pat Robertson and Dick Cheney signing an on-line petition against such things as the signs “Bury Obama Next to Kennedy”. Why can’t other conservatives take responsibility for what the extremists among them do? I hope and think it is possible for those angry at former Fidel Castro’s legacy, to take a good look at the plight of the former members of the Iraqi Congress in Exile, and negotiate an end to the blockade directly with Raul Castro, perhaps getting certain significant but minor changes in Cuban society in the process. I also think it is possible for President Obama to get together with, and even befriend former President Bush to work against the current hate campaign against him. When Obama became President he actually called on the Washington Times reporter to ask a question at his press conference. But now Obama must fight back if people like David Corn who has sterling radical credentials will let him. However, it is possible that the Korean version of the Unification Church under Moon Hyung-jin, might eventually end up in charge of the entire Church operations and expose and apologize for past dirty tricks and work for a united world humanity, without the elder Moon’s hate for world democracy mixed in.
By Richard Kane
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/taxonomy/term/3210
PS. I can’t reedit the above for spelling & other errors
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/author/richardkanepa
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
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Obama is different, he fights back, but only MoveOn.org is supporting the President’s policy of standing up to the smears hurled against him and this country by so-called friends of America like the super publisher Rupert Murdock and his Fox News. America isn’t weak under President Obama, it is strong. For the first time, really since World War II, the world actually respects and honors this country. The Nobel Peace Prize was actually given to President Obama for bringing back the America, the promoter of peace and stability, that President Wilson once presented to the world.
The biggest hate smearers at Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times newspaper, get honored by being on Rupert Murdock’s Fox News, such as Andrew Breitbart,
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com/2009/09/andrew-breitbart-throws-stones-at-acorn.html
If the above link sticks, go the Scoobie Davis blog, and scrawl down to Sept 29,
http:www.scoobiedavis.blogspot.com/
The smear that Obama was a Muslim wasn’t urban legend, but a carefully planned hate message,
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com/2009/06/frank-gaffney-spreads-obama-is-muslim.html
As part of a subliminal hate message, the Washington Times’ story about children murdered in Chicago, had a picture with it of Obama’s children. See Media Matters story # 200905130025
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200905130025
Many think because they have been quiet of late the Moonies are mostly gone or retired. Moon has actually given much, if not all, of his control of his Unification Church to his three sons or in Moon’s mind, God has given control of His church over to His three sons.
Moon just married 40,000 new couples in a mass marriage that covered several countries. Moonies in the past, besides getting married at Moon’s beck and call, have done fund raising, such as selling flowers and small figurines and stuffed animals 16 hours a day, and did a lot of political work for their god.
An article in the Boston Globe covered the mass marriage. It was an Oct 12 Associated Press story by Hyung-Jin-Kim, http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/10/12/rev_moon_turning_over_unification_church_to_sons
The only reference to brainwashing in the story was of a child raised in the cult, However, many recruits were college students who’s lives got totally engrossed in a mind bending cult, much to the horror of their parents and other relatives. Since Moonies, in the past, did fund raising and other errands for their god, I wonder how many are now professionals assigned to smear President Obama.
We need a little history. Sun Myung Moon came to this country as part of the Korea-gate lobbying campaign to secure more aid and support for South Korea. Somehow people get all excited about the Israeli Lobby lobbying for more support for Israel. However, many of the complaints against the Israeli Lobby come from Jews that disagree with the lobby, nothing like the conspiracy between Rupert Murdock (who happens to be a foreign lobbyist not an American) Dick Cheney, and the Rev. Moon.
Rev. Moon preaches Godism, not Democracy. A victory for the world Moon envisions would not only be a defeat for what the US represents but any religion that has a concept of free will.
It is interesting to note (if not ominous)that a major paper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, took the Associated Press story of Moon’s mass wedding, and removed the reference to brainwashing and to Sun Myung Moon’s ownership of the Washington Times, and added a picture of Moon’s youngest son looking like a ordinary preacher. According to both the Inquirer and Associated Press’s version of the story, Moon’s youngest son rebelled for a while and became a Buddhist. Not emphasized in either version is that this would represent a drastic change since Moonies are supposed to worship Rev. Moon. But the youngest son was only put in charge of Moon’s local church in Korea, not Moon’s overseas lobbying empire. The Inquirer’s cut version of the story only emphasized Moon’s youngest son, Moon Hyung-jin
According to retired University of Pennsylvania Wharton Professor Ed Herman, the right-wing owner who bought out the Philadelphia Inquirer from Knight Newspapers, Brian Tierney, is embedding in right wing causes, see,
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/inky-toes-party-line-lockerbie-expense-truth-and-more
Brian Tierney, mixed in with Rupert Murdoch, Moon’s Washington Times, and with Dick Cheney is a very toxic brew.
The best reference to the conspiracy I am referring to is at, Scoobie Davis’s blogs
http://www.scoobiedavis.blogspot.com/
http://realsunmyungmoon.blogspot.com,
For earlier material see,
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon.html
I wrote, the following which may add a little something to what they wrote,
http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/06/re-sun-myung-moon-ten-more-facts-about.html
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/washington-times-moonies-are-very-involved-supporting-honduras-coup
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/taxonomy/term/3210
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/author/richardkanepa
http://RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Moon’s religious views have been called weird. But more than weird, I noticed they are extremely harsh. Moon likes to dwell on the Biblical use of the word “seed” to represent procreation in general. Eve eating the apple in the Garden of Eden represents according to Moon Eve having the Devil’s Child, and the Virgin Birth in the Bible is God changing human genealogy back in God’s hands. So Jesus was supposed to, according to Moon, have a lot of kids and bring God’s seed back to humankind to suppressed the Devil’s genetic line. Thus to Moon’s ideology, Jesus failed. To Moon the only difference between good and evil is who has the most power. To me it almost seems like good means evil to Moon. Moon wants a world where a higher authority makes all the decisions.
I might get in trouble with progressive friends, but I think there is actually some merit in some of the Conservative religious causes that Moon’s Washington Times has been ruining with its support. Destroying and twisting them might be one of his so-called higher purposes Moon is up to. Moon corrupts every cause he gets involved in supporting.
Cheney and Rupert Murdoch don’t hate human rights and civil liberties, they just don’t want such things to get in the way of what they think needs to be done. Someone on the scene that truly hates freedom, and free will, may be more destructive of human freedom then the resistively small number of Moonies would otherwise merit. I expect almost everyone who reads this will think that Moon at best is an only small part of any right-wing conspiracy. But I think that I though conceivably Scoobie Davis is the only people to think otherwise.
One can get most of the details by reading the historical links by Scoobie Davis and Robert Parry at Consortium News, which I linked to earlier.
One thing missing from what they write is Moon’s heavy involvement with Latin America. The Washington Times newspaper has had heavy support for right-wing Cuban-Americans and their effort to change the Cuban government. Most of Latin America especially the governments of Mexico and Brazil were upset at the overthrow of the President of Honduras. But the Washington Times by hammering away at the idea that Obama is supporting Castro’s and Chavez’s policy by pressuring Honduras to return to democracy, got otherwise uninvolved conservative Cuban-Americans to think that by opposing democracy in Honduras they are working for more freedom in Cuba. Without the Washington Times goading them on the overthrown of the President of Honduras might have never happened in the first place.
Many Hispanic Americans including Cuban-Americans, are being pressured by US domestic circumstances in a progressive direction. Most Cuban-Americans voted for President Obama. Heath care reform will benefit Hispanic-Americans the most. If Cheney and Rupert Murdoch win the day, with the next President proud of torture and human rights violations, and elderly Cuban refugees get to march back in style to Cuba the way the Iraqi Congress in Exile did in Iraq expecting to be greeted as returning heroes it will be a disaster for them as much as it was for the Iraqi Congress in Exile. Making peace with the Cuban Government, perhaps on somewhat their terms, is their only real hope for Cuban-Americans for their homeland. The Washington Times can only permanently poison their future.
A very good sign is that many conservative Cuban Americans signed an online petition against the threat to attack any Cuban-American entertainer if he attended the then pending peace concert in Havana,
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/denounce-death-threats-against-juanes.html
This would be like Pat Robertson and Dick Cheney signing an on-line petition against such things as the signs “Bury Obama Next to Kennedy”. Why can’t other conservatives take responsibility for what the extremists among them do? I hope and think it is possible for those angry at former Fidel Castro’s legacy, to take a good look at the plight of the former members of the Iraqi Congress in Exile, and negotiate an end to the blockade directly with Raul Castro, perhaps getting certain significant but minor changes in Cuban society in the process. I also think it is possible for President Obama to get together with, and even befriend former President Bush to work against the current hate campaign against him. When Obama became President he actually called on the Washington Times reporter to ask a question at his press conference. But now Obama must fight back if people like David Corn who has sterling radical credentials will let him. However, it is possible that the Korean version of the Unification Church under Moon Hyung-jin, might eventually end up in charge of the entire Church operations and expose and apologize for past dirty tricks and work for a united world humanity, without the elder Moon’s hate for world democracy mixed in.
By Richard Kane
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/taxonomy/term/3210
PS. I can’t reedit the above for spelling & other errors
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/author/richardkanepa
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
Read more!
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