#3
makes it harder and harder to keep giving Toyota the benefit of the doubt here...
Posted by: abu do you love ||
02/12/2010 4:08 Comments ||
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#4
Notice the time periods on when these ex-gov employees joined Toyota. This speaks to the true reasons that the Tea Parties are bi-partisan affairs.
This sort of corruption has gone on for years with both parties. The one thing that Zero has accomplished in his overweening arrogance is so expand this sort of nonsense that it has become achingly apparent to anyone not in a state of permanent recto-cranial inversion.
#5
This nation needs a new political class altogether. Time for a third party not beholden to moneyfiddlers or trial lawyers or real estate flippers.
It would greatly improve our politics if the field attracted more doctors, ex-military and intelligent people who've had to meet a payroll more than once or twice.
#3
First, he has long past Carter in in inability to get anything done. And second, at least that "Dumb hot chick" knows how to make a decision. After Obama, anything will be better. Even a hot chick from Wassilla...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/12/2010 15:20 Comments ||
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#4
Oh, please stop with the "President Palin" nonsense.
She'd probably make a good Senator for Alaska, though, and after a couple of terms doing the nitty-gritty in Washingtoon, who knows.
#6
I don't think Sarah Palin is ready to be president in 2012, and I don't think a person without deep experience is going to be elected in 2012.
But it sure is fun to watch the rabid Left go, well, rabid ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2010 18:19 Comments ||
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#7
I agree, Doctor Steve. After this brief experiment with an unvetted neophyte with hidden records (grades and otherwise) and no proven record of votes ("present" is not a vote) on tough issues, nor core principles. I think the next Prez will be an old dog that we all know and understand with a proven track record. "Hope and Change" will be in the shit-can. Back to "Let's get the Adults in power"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/12/2010 18:23 Comments ||
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#8
An old dog that we all know and understand sounds too much like an old Washington hand who's gone to the right schools and gets along with all the journos and others from Georgetown.
I think people still want and we end up getting an outsider, but someone with a bit more experience than Palin. I doubt we get another Senator, they don't work out well. So that leaves one of the Govs. I'd love to see Mitch Daniels get it, but Jindal, Pawlenty, or Barbour are possible, and Perry would be a blast. Too bad Palin resigned. Too bad Sanford self-destructed, but that's a good example of why not to go for the young uns. Should be a crowded field.
#9
...or Eisenhower Petraeus. Not like an independent movement could succeed. I suspect that's one of the reasons the One hasn't undermined the general up till now. Better to keep him employed elsewhere.
#10
I'd love to see Mitch Daniels get it, but Jindal, Pawlenty, or Barbour are possible, and Perry would be a blast.
Jindal's evasive comments re: The Louisiana Purchase, IMHO, make him unfit to be president. Heck, I think they make him undesireable to be governor; he was elected because the rest of us down here were tired of the Democratic machine, not because we wanted him to play footsie with it.
Also, I don't think, in 2012, anyone's going to want some sort of postgraduate-degree wonder who's never DONE anything in his life. Part of the problem with Zero is that we're continually HEARING about how smart he is, without any evidence being in attendance.
Posted by: Phil ||
02/12/2010 21:49 Comments ||
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#11
That's because he's does well academically, but has no real intelligence.
#12
I beg to differ, Bright Pebbles. The little I've seen leads me to believe his GPA was inflated, and his election to the Harvard Law Review was for much the same reasons as his election to the presidency of the United States. I don't doubt he believes he is as good as his resume' claims, though.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/12/2010 10:13 Comments ||
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#3
Jerry Pournelle has a recent reflection on the Tea Party movement: if we don't have a viable two party system, a way to turn out unsatisfactory political leaders without the election being taken as an invitation to remake the fundamentals of the nation -- as the 2008 election was interpreted as a mandate to turn the nation into a European model socialist state with socialized medicine and expanded welfare and a huge increase in the portion of GDP disposed of by the government, with full Industrial Policy and the rest -- we are in deep trouble. If each election is an institutional revolution, and the stakes escalate with each election until losing the election is ruin for a large number of people -- the subsequent history is pretty clear. Institutional civil war is not stable.
Conservatism is enjoyment, not permanent revolution. It took a while to get into this hole. It will take longer to get out. First we stop digging. Then we begin to dismantle parts of the huge structure. But we must not do it by turning out all the civil servants. Devolving many of their tasks to lower levels, subsidiarity and transparency, those are vectors. The Department of Education is, I think, an exception; but most government programs began with good intentions, few of those who run them for us are villains, and people made dependent on government cannot simple be turned out to starve. Transitions take a long time: what's important is to get the vector in the right direction, and it's very likely that the only way to do that is to completely change the leadership in both parties. We have to make elections a way to choose those who will lead, not simply choose between the Creeps and the Nuts.
#4
Tea partiers, such a microcosm of America. Silly folks think they represent some kind of voters majority, these folks need to take a serious look at their numbers
#6
You're right, 746, we should all just sit down, shut up and do what our Ivy League educated betters tell us to do.
Above all else, we shouldn't use that horrible "conservative" tag, or do anything that smacks of it. That was pure poison in Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts these last few months.
(BTW, 25% cannot win an election, but it sure as hell can influence the outcome of one. Case in point....fewer than that identify as "liberal", and we ended up with a more left wing federal government than we have had in decades.)
Racist!
Editor's note: Roland S. Martin, a CNN political analyst, is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith," and the forthcoming book "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for TV One Cable Network and host of a one-hour Sunday morning news show.
(CNN) -- Sarah Palin's most ardent supporters in "real America" love to suggest that those of us who don't buy into her shtick fail to grasp why they love her, citing her realness, plain-spokenness and whatever else they can conjure up.
Folks, nice try, but as a native Texan, I've seen many politicians and wannabes over the years who had charm, wit, charisma and a twinkle in their eye.
Anyone who has listened to the best football coaches the Lone Star State has to offer will tell you that they can persuade a mother and father to send their boy to hell to fetch a glass of ice water and bring him home a better man. They could teach a politician or two how to connect with average Americans.
You want a media darling politician with substance? Try the late Gov. Ann Richards, a woman who could cut you deep and beam ear-to-ear with her motherly smile. But unlike Palin, she had a host of strong ideas in her head that actually made sense and appealed to a cross-section of folks.
Former Rep. Charlie Wilson, who died this week, was a smooth-talking Texan who loved to party hard. But when it came to politics, he knew how to get things done. The media loved him because he could sit with you and enjoy a beer over barbecue, give them a hilarious quote or two, and explain foreign policy better than Henry Kissinger.
Why haven't I cottoned to Palin? Because she portrays herself as a straight-talking politician who wants to lead a movement in the "Lower 48th" -- but is nothing more than a political celebrity willing to cash every check she can grab.
What truly exposed her for me? It was the ridiculous way she reacted in opposing ways last week to two political heavyweights who used the word "retard." This rant seems a little more deep-rooted than her personal opinion on the use or misuse of the word retard. Retard. Carry on, hypocrite.
When it was reported that President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, told a group of liberals that they were "f-----g retards" for threatening to run ads against fellow Democrats who weren't jumping on the health care reform bandwagon, Palin demanded his resignation. She's just giving it back, and hypocrits liberals and their and supporters don't like it. Better to wave your hands and point away from where the real action is if you're a liberal defending another liberal. Like when Reid decided Obama was a good negro, vs. when Lott was joking about the KKK.
As the mother of a child with Down syndrome, Palin has often used her bully pulpit to demand respect for the mentally challenged. Nothing wrong with that. It is an issue that is close to her heart, and she should be a fierce advocate for them.
Yet when one of her biggest supporters, conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, also castigated liberals by calling them "retards," Palin provided him cover, even trying to explain away his comments.
In an interview with Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace, she said Limbaugh was using satire, while Emanuel was blasting those who disagree with him. But anyone who can read or listen could hear Limbaugh calling folks he disagrees with the same. Palin even went further, agreeing with Limbaugh that liberals are "kooks."
So Emanuel and Limbaugh used the word "retard" to describe folks they disagree with, but only Rahm was wrong? Yep, that's how it is in Palin's world. The advocate for the mentally challenged was quick to pounce on someone she disagrees with politically but defended her patron saint, Rush.
Sarah, when you hold yourself up as a fierce protector of the mentally challenged, politics shouldn't enter into the equation. Either you criticize everyone who uses a word that you consider a slur, or you come across as a crass politician who is afraid to offend your chief booster.
Maybe you ought to listen to your spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, who thought you cared about the mentally challenged when she sent this e-mail to HotAir.com about Limbaugh's comment: "Gov. Palin believes crude and demeaning name-calling at the expense of others is disrespectful."
But knowing that wouldn't sit well with Rush, you backed off and gave him cover.
If you were true to your cause, you would have demanded an on-air apology from Limbaugh and scolded him for using the word. Instead, you showed your true colors.
Sarah, I haven't bought into your fake "I'm-a-real-American" persona. You slam the president for using teleprompters, but write crib notes on your hand to remember basic beliefs that should be easy to regurgitate.
You decry the "lamestream" media, but you bask in its glory and have joined its payroll as a Fox News contributor, even having the network build a studio in your home. Talk about media elite.
You give a speech riddled with falsehoods about the president and national security, and then try to shrug them off as the "lamestream" media attacking you.
You don't fool me, even as your legion of fans considers you the second coming of President Reagan. You quit on the people who elected you to become a political celebrity, which your presidential running mate blasted then-Sen. Barack Obama for doing.
You had the opportunity to show everyone that you're willing to take on anyone who crosses the line against those who are mentally challenged, and you failed.
Please, make as much money as you can. Paraphrasing comedian Martin Lawrence, ride this train until the wheels fall off. But please, cut the crap. You're a crass politician with no true conviction. Your actions have shown that.
#1
Oh, and I'd like to see you take similarly aggressive aim on any others you might deem (in a Fair and Balanced manner, of course) to be hypocritical as well.
#2
She's really gotten into their heads! Kind of fun to watch the squirming.
Oh, and Sarah had the good sense to endorse Rick Perry instead of 'truther' Debra Medina!
A drunk Ann Richards once told a constituent who was complaining about a nursing home scandal that it wasn't her job to investigate that 'stuff'; Dateline or 20/20 was supposed to do it.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/12/2010 5:44 Comments ||
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#4
Ann Richards was a drunk, corrupt, and worst of all a socialist. Sarah Palin is a human being and an authentic American.
Ann Richards, Mr Roland, was the one who was fake-folksy, along with other fake-folksy people like Molly Ivins, Garrison Keillor, and Michael Moore. All of them have the non-coastal patter and accent down, but, bedazzled by fame, sold their values for acceptance by the cultural elite, and became Hollywood-NYC Washington-Boston-LA-San Francisco where it counts - on the inside. Once you've done that, any claims to folksy authenticity are void. Speaking in a regional accent does not give you a pass for becoming a collectivist and a cultural Marxist, and those of us "bitter clingers" who ARE real Americans (and lose the sneer quotes, boy) can see through that in a heartbeat.
Getting the accent down but missing the philosophy and outlook of real middle America is what's phony, Mr Roland. The fact that you have asserted otherwise means that you're either dishonest or stupid.
Whatever her faults, Sarah Palin is closer to the heartland where it matters than Ann Richards could ever have hoped to have been.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/12/2010 6:03 Comments ||
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#5
Have to admit the accuracy of the comment about Palin makes Liberals squirm with her connect. She DOES connect, there is no doubt about that. And its grass roots and real.
Its kind of nice to see this clown, Roland Martin, praise a woman, Ann Richards who was a drunk ( really? ) and a Lefty drone ( oxymoron) . That was her name, huh ? Some local woman politician ( Texas governor...never heard of her) ? I dont doubt that she was. Lefty and local, I mean.
"Listening to the Spirit within" is the sort of book thingy they have a whole shelf full of at the discount used Jesus in Outer Space bookstore on Hwy 92. Right alongside Heal your Cancer with New Age Crystal Therapy.
Palin is going to run for President in 2012. And Obama will disappear just like Kerry did. Remember Kerry saluting and reporting for duty on that big screen at the Convention? And Edwards ( the beast with two backs), the best man for the democratic job...the Doinks sure know how to pick 'em.
#7
The Democraps are very quick to blast others for a lack of perfection while forgiving total failure on their own side. Is Palin perfect? No. Is she better than any Democrat in DC? By far.
#9
I come from a long line of bovofecundians. I can smell bullshit like this a mile away.
This is one of those "Molly Ivins" type Texans, who wrap themselves in "being Texan" without really getting the essence of it, and who look down their high society noses at the riggers, cowboys, plant workers and salary workers who are the real deal, and their elitist condescension, contempt and hatred drips from everything they do.
People like Roland Martin should be horse whipped. Or worse yet (for them), they should be forced to make an honest living, working a real job.
#11
Either you criticize everyone who uses a word that you consider a slur, or you come across as a crass politician who is afraid to offend your chief booster.
After Don Imus made his infamous nappy headed ho comments. Martin repeatedly called for his head. He also recently wrote an article titled Time for President Obama to go gangsta on the GOP. Theres nothing quite like someone being hypocritical about hypocrisy.
#14
Familiar with menudo, this Tripe is unfit for consumption.
Points for being able to weave so many scare words together..putting it at about a 7th grade spring semester level. Logic and critical thinking exercise puts the other side of the coin as, to use the tricks of this base level of opinion forming homework, is, "Though I am unconvinced and know better than you, I do acknowledge she is a powerful existance." which is a 'juvinile' or 'sophomoric' approach to making an arguement.
And to be as ironic as whoever this is, is, that with the statement about how Mrs. Palin basks in the glory of the media when it is that media which is manufacturing first level gut responses to the word Palin using all the obvious old tricks of the trade...I 'rank' this article below Mr. Baldwin's article the other day based purely on the fact Mr. Baldwin formed his own opinion. This writer is purely chickenscratch unable to make the cut for a Mad Libs article. The sad truth is that people like Mr. Martin, if I could be so bold, are supposed experts in the education of literature and continually brandish the sword of words like a mule carefully humps a bushel of warm bison piss.
But keep on doing what'cha doin' y'all 'cuz itsa fective yalz itsa formin my 'pinion anstuff(snort and cough, spit).
#15
when less than half of a partisan constituancy supports a possible candidate, its not Populism. You can rename the GOP all you want, but their still the GOP as is Sarah.
#19
BH6 - her comments to Beck this week can only be construed (IMHO) as, if not an actual troofer, then as pandering to troofer conspiracists. We don't need that "I think we have not been told all the truth" crap
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/12/2010 17:05 Comments ||
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Palin's final answer to Wallace showed how perfectly she has come to inhabit that part. When he asked her what role she wants to play in the country's future, she said:
"First and foremost, I want to be a good mom, and I want to raise happy, healthy, independent children. And I want them to be good citizens of this great country.
"And then I do want to be a voice for some common-sense solutions. I'm never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I'm not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I'm going to fight the elitist, because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don't get it, and big government's just going to have to take care of us.
"I want to speak up for the American people and say: No, we really do have some good common-sense solutions. I can be a messenger for that. Don't have to have a title to do it."
This is a pitch-perfect recital of the populist message that has worked in campaigns past. There are times when the American people are looking for something more: for an Eisenhower, who liberated Europe; an FDR or a Kennedy or a Bush, all unashamed aristocrats; or an Obama, with eloquence and brains.
But in the present mood of the country, Palin is by all odds a threat to the more uptight Republican aspirants such as Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty -- and potentially, to Obama as well.
Palin did not wear well in the last campaign, especially in the suburbs where populism has a limited appeal. But when Wallace asked her about resigning the governorship with 17 months left in her term and whether she let her opponents drive her from office, she said, "Hell, no."
Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand. The lady is good.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
This is rich. There are two very telling points here that put a spotlight on this writer's elitism.
1) Obama, with eloquence and brains. Oh really? I have seen no sign of either, have you?
2) Palin did not wear well in the last campaign, And I'm sure that she was the one running everything when she campaigned for President. Oh, what's that? She didn't run for President, but was VP on McCain's ticket? Gee, maybe it was McCain's campaign that had the problem, huh?
#5
Quick quiz for the Obami: name one lapidary Obama phrase that sticks in your mind a la "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" or "ask not what your country can do for you..." or "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Got anything? Even one?
Eloquence, my arse. The man's a towel boy for the Oligarchy.
#3
When it comes to my Arab readers, I am very optimistic. When it comes to the West, I am less optimistic. It's harder for me to penetrate the American mind than the Arabic -- A job for the rest of us
A spray-painted anti-Muslim message was discovered Thursday morning on the front of the Al-Farooq Islamic Center in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, according to police. A written note disparaging Islam also was left at the mosque, police said.
Video from the scene showed "Muslims go home," in red spray paint across a window of the mosque.
The mosque was established in 2003, according to the center's Web site.
The FBI also is involved in the investigation. Who the fuc& would take the time to leave a note? I'd seriously look at the possibility that they did it themselves for some reason.
#1
Nashville has a large Muslim population. A couple of years ago a Muslim cab driver tried to kill a Vanderbilt student by running him and his buddy down with the cab. They'd been discussing religion. Student was critically injured, but his buddy managed to get out of the way.
Of course, they deserved to die. One was Catholic and the other was Protestant.
#2
Nothing new on the Hasan investigation out at Fort Hood I take it? Must not have been a "hate crime." Good luck with the graffiti. If you tire of that one you can always default to railway gang graffiti. It's much more colorful.
#3
Ironic that this is a CNN report. In a CNN broadcast, yesterday, regarding the Texas church arsons the reporter said there were no suspicions of a hate crime because the majority of churches werent comprised of predominantly black parishioners.
#7
And when it turns out it was the muslims doing it like virtually all the other 'hate' crimes against them have turned out to be, will it still be one then?
It has been widely reported, most recently by Al-Jazeera, that the Obama administration and the British government have been contemplating paying off moderate' elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan to the tune of perhaps one billion dollars as a means of pacifying resistance in that troubled nation. That proudly defiant American slogan, millions for defense, but not one penny for tribute,' which traces its roots to the eighteenth century, would fall to the wayside if this attempt at appeasement turns into public policy.
The idea that moderate' Islamic terrorists exist and that their loyalties can be bought are central concepts to the philosophical construct that Obama has brings to the war on terror. The President naively believes that the majority of Muslim terrorists are misunderstood, disenfranchised freedom fighters who want nothing more than to take control of their lives and prosper. A billion dollars or so will go a long way, in Obama's view, toward helping them organize their communities in a peaceful, loving way.
The reality behind the fanatic, ultra-fundamentalist mindset that guides the Taliban has been revealed time and time again. This disturbing BBC interview of a thirteen year old Pakistani girl named Meena is another reminder of the true nature of the Taliban, and the way that fundamentalist Muslims treat women in general.
At one point, Meena described how her family turned her nine-year-old sister Nahida into a suicide bomber:
Posted by: ed ||
02/12/2010 10:58 ||
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Who knows exactly what happened in Iran during the demonstrations Thursday marking the anniversary of the Islamic revolution? Thousands of images and stories have leaked out of the country since the disputed presidential election last June. But it is extremely difficult to verify information. Those foreign reporters who get visas are forbidden to cover opposition demonstrations. As for the local reporters who have not been jailed or fled the country, their main concerns are how to be efficient, now that a dozen newspapers have been closed since June. As of this month, Iran is imprisoning more journalists than any other country.
Last summer, a prominent photojournalist was summoned by judicial authorities in Tehran just as government security forces had been rounding up hundreds of journalists, opposition members and protesters in the wake of the disputed election. He had been covering the election for the French photography agency SIPA and Andisheye Now, a newspaper owned by Mir Hossein Mousavi, one of the candidates for president. But this photojournalist's ties to an opposition paper were not the cause of the regime's concerns -- at least not at first. Authorities were furious because he had filed photos of the protests to his employer in France, an action they contended was akin to spying and participating in a conspiracy against the government.
Over the weeks that followed, two of his colleagues were picked up on similar charges, Andisheye Now was shut down, and its editor, Amir Hossein Mahdavi, was imprisoned. Fearing arrest at any moment, he left the country with only a small bag and his camera. He arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan on Aug. 4, and after overcoming various bureaucratic hurdles at the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, he secured a visa for France.
Such stories are, sadly, increasingly common. Many Iranian reporters see exile as the only means to guarantee their safety. At least 50 journalists have fled the country since June, the largest exodus of the sort since the 1979 revolution. One journalist had to flee because she spoke to the BBC about Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman who became a symbol of the opposition after she was fatally shot during the protests. One photojournalist fled after one of his images was prominently used by a major international media organization. A third had to leave after blogging about the situation of prisoners. This list grows longer every day.
The state's reaction to the spread of information has been repression. When the vice minister for culture and Islamic orientation describes news media publications and Web sites as "means used in an attempt to overthrow the state," it is clear that the regime is ridding itself of unwanted witnesses to its human rights abuses. More than seven months after the election, 48 Iranian journalists are still being detained in difficult conditions. On Nov. 20, a U.N. General Assembly committee accused the government of stepping up its use of torture and other forms of cruel and inhuman punishment, and expressed concern about "serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations." Despite such clear condemnations from the United Nations, Iranian authorities continue to detain journalists without any accountability.
Sasan Aghaei of the daily newspaper Farhikhteghan was picked up Nov. 22 after intelligence ministry officials carried out a search of his Tehran home. Aghaei, who also edits the blog Azad Tribun, is the third Farhikhteghan journalist to be arrested since the election. The other two, Masoud Bastani and Reza Norbakhsh, the newspaper's editor, have both been given six-year jail sentences. Even media professionals who remain free cannot escape government surveillance and intimidation. Their persecution is part of a wider harassment campaign carried out by security forces, designed to protect President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from internal dissent and to limit the information leaving the country. To an extent, the strategy has succeeded.
During the "Green Revolution" last summer, the power of social networking sites as an alternative to other media amazed the world. The regime took notice. Iran's Revolutionary Guards are now directly involved in online censorship, blocking thousands of news Web sites and blogs every day. Censored in Iran or forced into exile, journalists often no longer have a platform or means to openly discuss the political and human rights situation in their home country. By making these journalists choose between repression or flight, the regime has succeeded in tightening its grasp over information. The exodus of Iranian journalists is not just a human tragedy but also increases the risk of a news blackout.
The international community must continue to denounce the conditions that have led journalists to flee Iran, as well as ensure that exiled journalists have the means to continue their work in a safe environment. Failing to do so could be disastrous for the Iranian people and the global community.
Anti-government demonstrators showed up as scheduled on Iran's streets Thursday, commemorating in their own defiant way the 31st anniversary of the country's Islamic revolution. Government forces, meanwhile, worked overtime, and apparently with some success, to clamp down on the protesters.
Important as the day's efforts by the dissidents may be, though, their significance transcends one day, or one anniversary. It is simply this:
The Iranian revolution in 1979 was the biggest event of the last generation in the Middle East, spawning wars and radicalization that have reshaped the region and, to some extent, the world. If we're now watching the slow unwinding of that revolution, the consequences will be equally momentous.
To be sure, this is a long-term question, not a short-term one. Iran's Islamic government in its current form is well-entrenched, and the Revolutionary Guards that sustain it are by far the country's most powerful force. The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has shown that it possesses the most important attribute of any imperiled regime, which is the willingness to use brute force to quell rebellion.
So it may take years rather than months to know the end result of today's grass-roots opposition to the Ahmadinejad government, and there is a distinct limit to what the U.S., or any outside force, can do to affect the course of opposition within Iran.
Yet slowly, things appear to be changing. For one thing, the world increasingly views Iran's mistreatment of its own dissidents as a problem on a par with its nuclear program. One small sign of this came Thursday in the U.S. Senate, where a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a bill that would compel the Obama administration to target economic sanctions on Iran at officials who abuse their citizens' human rights, not just at those involved in the country's nuclear program.
"The scheme of the bill is straightforward: targeted sanctions against human-rights abusers in Iran," said one Senate aide involved in drafting the legislation.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Possible, but IMO both RUSSIA + CHINA, etal. recognize that Radical Islam makes no distinction categoriz CHIN BUDDHISM andor RUSS ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY as in opposition to Islam + Sharia rule. IMO, THEY PRAGMATICALLY NEED THE US TO DEFEAT RADIC ISLAM FOR THEM, AS MUCH TO SAVE THEIR ARSES FROM A FUTURE ISLAMIST ENEMY AS WELL AS TAKE SHOTS AT US GEOPOL POWER.
2010-2020/2025 > BOTH RUSS + CHINA, + even INDJUH ETC. are collectively unready to deal wid any sort of NUCLEAR MILITANCY-TERRORISM.
#6
they have a low-cost way to force us into a high-cost war AFAICT, we are already in a high-cost war. I don't think Russia or China forced us into it, but that's beside the point. One of the goals of Osama bin Laden was to do great damage to the US economy. Osama had little or nothing to do with it, but in any case our current financial/economic crisis has us on the edge of disaster. The late USSR collapsed mostly due to financial & economic overreaching, and I'm sure both Russia & China remember that.
#7
The author is wrong. Iran's nuke program is about coercing neighbouring states economically and if that doesn't work threatening them militarily. I have no doubt that given the opportunity, Iran would invade/occupy all the land around the Gulf. Remember most of these areas have shiite majorities under Sunni rulers.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Who knows exactly what happened in Iran during the demonstrations Thursday marking the anniversary of the Islamic revolution? Thousands of images and stories have leaked out of the country since the disputed presidential election last June. But it is extremely difficult to verify information. Those foreign reporters who get visas are forbidden to cover opposition demonstrations. As for the local reporters who have not been jailed or fled the country, their main concerns are how to be efficient, now that a dozen newspapers have been closed since June. As of this month, Iran is imprisoning more journalists than any other country. 
