End of US Hyperpower

2011: End of US Hyperpower & its War with Islamdom | Informed Comment:

Our war with Islam may have ended, at least from our side, but how many new Islamic enemies have we created over the last ten years? How much respect can we have left with Islamic people? The Afghan and Iraqi people can't feel much good toward us after ten years US led destruction. The Palestinians can't have much respect since we allow Israel to steal their land and basically treat them as prisoners in open-air prisons. Iran and Syria are our sworn enemies. Our relationship with Pakistan is on the rocks. The Egyptian people,... after our support Mubarak? Turkey is in a rocky relationship with Israel which also means "with the US". Our relationship with much of the middle east is shaky at best.

Our war with Islam may be over but I think it will be a long time before the Islamic world sees the US as anything but a bully.

tnb

Medicare and Social Security

or just Medicare.

[Robert Samuelson, Wrong Again | Beat the Press]

"... The main source of the country's projected long-term budget problems is Medicare and Medicaid. The costs of these programs is driven by our broken health care system. We pay more than twice as much per person for health care in the United States as people in other wealthy countries with little to show in the way of outcomes.

This is not a problem of seniors getting too much in benefits. It is a problem of paying too much for the health care that they and others receive. The answer to this problem is to fix the health care system, not to deny care for seniors. ..."

Fix the health care market and a lot of our fiscal problems go away. So,.... just extend Medicare/Medicaid to everyone and take the insurance companies out of the picture. Health care problem solved.

tnb

Links

A collection of links from the last week or two.

Men of god?..... [Christian Priests Brawl at Jesus' Birthplace | Informed Comment]

[Me Not Scared of Big Numbers! | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy]

Why Occupy? Because, for some reason, the bankers run the place. [How Banks Cheat Taxpayers | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone]

[Top Ten Myths about the Arab Spring of 2011 | Informed Comment]

[The Bonddad Blog: How to Solve the Economic Problem; and Why We're Not]

Newt, like many on the right, doesn't like experts. [Bruce Bartlett: Gingrich and the Destruction of Congressional Expertise - NYTimes.com]

[America: Excelling at Mediocrity - Umair Haque - Harvard Business Review]

[Going into hospital far riskier than flying: WHO | Reuters] And we pay almost twice as much for our health care as compared to the rest of the developed world.

‘apartheid’ and ‘Israel-firsters’ now anti-Semitic words? [NGOs slam anti-Semitic comment of US Think tank]

Why Occupy? Because a lot of rules don't apply to the elite. [Why Was The Wife Of Switzerland's Central Banker Trading Francs Days Before A Devaluation?]

Fox News - Latin America, one classy poll. [Fox TV poll on Facebook: Do you think the Jews killed Jesus? - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

Bad Government

I wonder what all those big-government hating, Tea-baggers in Indiana think of this republican-led government intrusion?

 [Singing the anthem: Are you doing it 'right'? | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com]

"Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, has introduced a bill that would set specific "performance standards" for singing and playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at any event sponsored by public schools and state universities.

The law also would cover private schools receiving state or local scholarship funds, including vouchers.

Performers would have to sign a contract agreeing to follow the guidelines. Musicians -- whether amateur or professional -- would be fined $25 if it were deemed they failed to meet the appropriate standards."

tnb

David Horsey Cartoons

Here are a couple of outstanding sets of political cartoons from David Horsey.

found here

[Bush, Obama and a new century’s dark debut | David Horsey - seattlepi.com]

and here

[Bill Clinton and the distractions of the ’90s | David Horsey - seattlepi.com]

Just two of many great comics from [David Horsey]

tnb

Liberal Media

[What Moves Republican Crowds in Iowa - NYTimes.com]

A NYT article on the Republican campaign in Iowa has this great Rick Perry comment on energy.

... “Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source,” Mr. Perry said in Clarinda, earning a loud round of enthusiastic applause...

Note that the liberal media did not point out that Mr. Perry's comment was stupid.

tnb

Why They'll hate us even More.

Political Irony › America the Abusive Spouse:

Liberal Media?

[Booman Tribune: GOP Playing into Obama's hands]

I wouldn't bet on it, since it really depends on how the media frames the issue to the people. Twice this morning, on two different local news programs, I heard "Tax Cut Fight" stories that listed only one reason for the the disagreement, that "Republicans in the house want to extend the cut for a year while the president and Senate would only extend it for two months".

If this is the message that the people hear, will it really hurt the House Republicans.

tnb

Rogue Nations

There are only two nations in the world that think Israel is always right, Israel and the US. [14 UN Security Council members criticize U.S. for blocking condemnation of Israel - Haaretz Daily Newspaper]

Propaganda

.. or just crappy news reporting?

From our liberal (?) media Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com: Obama, Boehner in payroll tax standoff.

The headline to this CNN video, on the day of its release, is "Obama, Boehner in payroll tax standoff" which is not really true. The Senate passed it with a lot of Republicans voting for it, Obama has basically agreed to it, the Democrats and some Republicans in the House will vote for it but the majority of Republicans in the House, mostly the Tea Party group, won't allow it to pass. The headline should be.....

"House Republicans in payroll tax standoff against everyone else"

Fox also headlines with "Obama, Boehner Face off in Payroll Tax Impasse" but they're a propaganda outlet. CNN is supposed to be part of the vast liberal media.

Come-on CNN, you can do better than this. Say it like it is.

tnb

Something Completely Different

Wednesday Links

• American Royalty: [One-Percenter; Rugged Individualist; Randroids: Born on Third Base = Hitting a Triple | MyFDL]
• About those Settlements: [Israel builds more]
• Lots of countries want Israel to stop the settlement building [Germany, England, France, and Portugal]
• Newt's New York visit for funds was about [Israel]
• The only thing our leaders can agree on[U.S. House of Representatives endorses tough sanctions on Iran - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]
• Israeli Terrorism: [West Bank mosque set alight in suspected 'price tag' attack - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]
• War is easy when it's on the other side of the planet, with volunteer forces, via remote-control and against brown, non-christian people. [Balkinization: remote war}:
• I wonder if they would've liked Bill Clinton over-turning the "We elect George Bush" decision? [Gingrich Leads Revolt Against Judges by Vowing to Ignore Court - Bloomberg]
• Overall, US police forces must make about as much money from the drug trade as the traffickers. [RPD receives $356K for drug enforcement]

tnb

Indiana Smoking

[Indiana State Wide Smoking Law].

What happened to all of those Get-Government-out-of-my-life Tea-Baggers that Indiana elected last time? I know,... "but we have to breath the second hand smoke". Well, If a power plant or big factory pollutes the air or water you have breath that. If a bunch of rich people blow up the economy, you have breath the stink left from that. What's the difference?

tnb

Cops

[GinAndTacos.com » Blog Archive » HI, OFFICER BOB!]:

When we see cops, we think of that square-headed guy from high school who everyone laughed at so he decided to get a badge and take his insecurities out on society. We don't think of them as people who help us – we think of ourselves getting pepper sprayed, smacked over the head, or held face down on the pavement at gunpoint for no reason whatsoever.

I'm a law abiding 33 year old white male with a Ph.D. and an aspiring middle class lifestyle…and I've never dealt with a cop who wasn't an asshole toward me. Not once. If that's how they treat someone who practically shits white male privilege, I feel safe assuming that they're not being much friendlier or more helpful to anyone else. The police officer is supposed to be someone we can trust implicitly, and instead the policies of the past three decades have transformed the citizen-police relationship to one of deep, mutual suspicion. They see us as drug holding, law breaking felons-in-waiting, and we see them as an opponent to be avoided at all costs.

I'd have to agree. I'm law abiding, 52 year old, somewhat professional white male and most of my experiences with cops have been similar. The average cop in my area seems to be a rigid, no-common-sense, by-the-book, asshole just out to prove that he has the power to do whatever the hell he wants and that the laws are for me to obey, not him. They need a common-sense class in cop school.

Unknown News keeps an archive of bad cop stories here . [Unknown News: Bad Cops]

tnb

Germany doesn't like the Settlements

[Germany: Israel plan for new West Bank homes devastating to peace - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

Ron Paul

Even though his monetary beliefs are pretty far out-there, it's his lack of total, un-dying support of Israel that causes him to be treated as a fringe candidate. Unless he changes his isolationist tune, at least with respect to Israel and Iran, he doesn't have a chance.

[mondoweiss: mainstream-press-sniggers-at-ron-pauls-antiwar-message]

tnb

Farm Subsidies

Farmers are happy with their big government. I wonder how many of them like big government for poor people, education, roads, space programs, consumer protection, etc.

[pal-item.com: GOP-candidates-differ-farm-policies]

Check this site to see how much free money the farmers in your area get from the government.

http://farm.ewg.org/

Here's a look at the top 20 farmer welfare recipients for the county of the source article above. The Number 1 farm on the list has received $1.5 million in the last 15 years, number 20 got $572,000. I guess I'd want to keep that crop coming in too.    [WayneCounty,Indiana].

tnb

Why Occupy?

So, how do we get the economy moving again? According to this, [An Interview on Balance Sheet Recessions with Amir Sufi | Rortybomb] and this [A Quick Note on Wealth and Balance Sheet Debates], which include the following, it's going take a balanced approach.

Principal forgiveness is exactly such a transfer. Fiscal stimulus is a form of this transfer where we borrow from future generations to make up for the shortfall in demand. But it strikes me as much less direct and potentially more distortive than principal forgiveness.

and

The right measures here include having higher inflation targets for monetary policy and addressing the foreclosure crisis. It also means going beyond the comfort zone of deficit hawks and running large deficits to pump up demand for a number of years while deleveraging proceeds. Failure to do so will dampen the robust job growth needed to help households deleverage.

I agree with these economists that it'll take a balanced approach but I don't think we can get there given our current situation.

Principle or debt forgiveness would help,... but the banks and the rich, who would be hurt by that, own our government and won't allow it.

Fiscal Stimulus might also help but to pay for it the government would have to

• raise taxes,... but the banks and the rich, who would be hurt by that, own our government and won't allow it. 
• borrow money to pay for it,... but the banks are afraid that if we borrow too much, we might get in over our heads so they might not get their money back, and since they own our government, they won't allow that.

The Government could print money to cause some controlled inflation, which is generally favorable to borrowers (poor people) and hurts lenders (rich people, banks), but,... the banks and the rich, who would be hurt by that, own our government and won't allow that either. Now they will allow printing money if the rules of the game are set so that the printed money goes directly to the banks or the rich so that it cannot reach the masses to cause general inflation.

Most on the right believe we should cut government spending thereby freeing up resources for private business so that private business can make money that will eventually trickle down to all levels of the economy. I'm not sure this works since we've tried trickle-down for the last 30 years and according to our distribution of wealth statistics, wealth has really trickled-up, but anyway, assuming it could work, what could we cut?

We could cut defense spending but that would hurt the rich and the bankers because they own the defense contractors and, since they also own our government, they won't allow that.

We could cut foreign aid but there isn't really enough there to make a difference and anyway, most foreign aid is used to buy US products from companies owned by the rich, and, since they own our government, they won't allow that.

Which leaves us with the only two things we ever really hear about in our media, which, by the way, is owned by the rich.

Cutting waste and inefficiencies in the government bureaucracy. There really isn't enough here to make a difference, but since it doesn't really hurt the banks or the rich it is an acceptable option. It's just not enough.

Which brings us to the only viable option,.... cutting social programs like Social security, Medicare, Public Education programs, etc. These programs don't affect the rich, so,... they are presented as the only option we have.

So, how do we get the economy moving again? I agree, a balanced approach is needed but I don't think you'll see it unless the 99% can wrestle some power from the 1%.

tnb

The Debt/Deficit

I'm not sure these "Bush did it" arguments really get through to the people. [Bush Budget Aides Still Budget-Illiterate].

A better response from the left might be to be the adult in the room, something like,...... "look,.... we realize we have a debt/deficit problem in this country. We also realize that both parties were involved in creating the problem. The wars, the tax cuts, the stimulus, they all added to it. Now, the Debt/Deficit IS an issue but,.... it's not the main issue. It's not the main problem the country is facing right now. The problem is the economy. The lack of jobs. Reducing the debt/deficit will not magically create jobs nor revitalize the economy. We have to be actively creating jobs and we have to spend to do it. So, first things first,... we'll fix this one step at a time, create jobs, get the economy working again then we'll move on to the debt problem."

This country needs an adult in charge.

tnb

Why Occupy?

The revolving door between government and lobbyists. [Congressional staffers behind SOPA get shiny new jobs as entertainment industry lobbyists - Boing Boing]

Liz Cheney. American Royalty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cheney

Undeclared War, Terrorism or an Accident? [Explosion at Iran Steel Factory]

Multi-Nationals rule the world. [Pirates]

GOP Candidate: None of the Above

Will the Republicans choose someone else at the convention?

Found here: [The Real G.O.P. Dark Horse: None of the Above - NYTimes.com]

" I think there is a small but nontrivial chance that the Republican nominee could be someone like Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty or Chris Christie. (In fact, I was speculating about these scenarios as long as a month ago.)

I’m not going to describe the means by which this would occur; Mr. Cook covers that in great detail. Instead, I’m more interested in the motive.

The motive is simple: Republicans are dangerously close to having none of their candidates be acceptable to rank-and-file voters and the party establishment. It’s not clear what happens when this is the case; there is no good precedent for it. But since finding a nominee who is broadly acceptable to different party constituencies is the foremost goal of any party during its nomination process, it seems possible that Republicans might begin to look elsewhere."

tnb here...

Choosing someone who's not been in the race to this point also offers the republicans a clean-slate for the general election. Over the last four months, the current crop of candidates have been broadcasting their collective stupid for all the world to see. The Democrat's war machine will have hundreds of hours of video to mine for controversial, hypocritical, or stupid comments to use against any of these jokers. They will be easy targets.

However,a Mitch Daniels or Jeb Bush, both of whom have both remained relatively quiet and on the sidelines so far don't really have much of a recent history for Obama to run against. There won't be hours of debate, or talk show video to pick through for campaign ads. Does either have a history of supporting a socialist health care plan like Romney or Gingrich? Does either have a Santorum-like Google problem? A Ron Paul Israel problem? A Gingrich child-labor problem? Are either as dumb as Perry or as crazy as Bachman? Sure, they're both connect to "Bush" but other than that they both have pretty clean slates at this point and the Democrats would have to scramble to build an effective campaign. If the Republicans choose one of these two (or someone similar), it effectively moves the goalposts on the Democrats rendering their growing collection of campaign moments useless.

The conservative machine is a very well funded, ruthless, win-at-all-cost machine that, since Obama's win, has been very good at forcing the Democrats hand by constantly moving the goalposts. I wouldn't put it past them on this one.

I'm betting Mitch gets the nod.

tnb

Links

Here's a good history lesson on the Palestinians and Israel from Juan Cole. [Washington Actions on Palestine don't Differ from Gingrich's Words | Informed Comment]

[Discovery Channel Fail]

GE -n- Obama

Thanks to the Fox News propaganda network's relentless drive to discredit the current administration, everyone knows that GE didn't pay it's fair share of taxes. There are many others of course. Bernie Sanders talks about the Top 10 offenders here: Top 10 US Corporate Tax Avoiders Named on Senate Floor | Care2 Causes

Why Occupy?

Found here: http://www.discourse.net/2011/12/annals-of-wealth-distribution.html?

Six Walmart heirs hold as much wealth as 90 million (30% of) Americans.

    or

Wealth of 6 Walmart Heirs  = Wealth of 90,000,000 poorest Americans.

Damn.

tnb

Why Occupy?

Econbrowser: Lost Decades, Illustrated You can vote Democrat or Republican it doesn't matter because the big money owns them both.

Terrorism

Someday we may all live in terror of our war on Terrorism.




more on [Internet freedom]

tnb.

A good reason,...

.... not to vote for Romney.

Accusing Obama of 'appeasement,' Romney says he'd travel to Israel on first trip as president:

'via Blog this'

War on Iran

Media Catches Glimpse of Undeclared Covert War With Iran | FDL News Desk

I get the feeling we've been taken over by a group that doesn't really give a damn about right and wrong but is just trying to take over, or at least piss-off, as much of the world as it can.

What the hell happened to the America I learned about in school, you know, the good guy?

tnb

We are Fucked

found here: Dangerous Minds | Herman Cain’s political ‘moment’ explained in one sentence by a sane Republican

“That Cain’s candidacy was taken seriously for longer than a nano-second in a time of genuine crisis for the country raises fundamental questions about the health of the political process and the Republican party,”

—Steve Schmidt, campaign manager for Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid.

Mr Schmidt's words seem rather harsh since it was John McCain's 2008 Presidential bid, managed by Steve Schmidt, that put Sarah Palin on the ticket.

tnb

Greenwald on Iran

George Orwell on the Evil Iranian Menace - Salon.com:

Additionally, some combination of the U.S. and Israel has bombarded Iran with multiple acts of war over the last year, including explosions onIranian soil, the murder of numerous Iranian nuclear scientists (in which even one of their wives was shot), and sophisticated cyberattacks. Meanwhile, top American political officials from both parties are actively demanding that an Iranian revolutionary cult be removed from the list of Terrorist organizations (just coincidentally, they’re all on the cult’s payroll). In the past decade, the U.S. and/or Israel have invaded, air attacked, and/or occupied Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (to say nothing of the creation of a worldwide torture regime, a system of “black site” prisons around the world to which people were disappeared, and a due-process-free detention camp in the middle of the Caribbean Ocean where many people remain encaged for almost a full decade without charges). During this same time period, Iran has not invaded, occupied or air attacked anyone. Iran, to be sure, is domestically oppressive, but no more so — and in many cases less — than the multiple regimes funded, armed and otherwise propped up by the U.S. during this period. Those are all just facts.

But — despite all of these facts — all Serious people in the U.S. know that Iran is the Aggressor, the Modern Nazis, a True Menace, while the U.S. and Israel are its innocent peace-loving victims.

At War with Iran?

Report: Iran blast completely destroyed major missile-testing site - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News:

Israel and the Middle East

So the Sub deal was just a payoff to force Israel to release the Palestinian funds it was "holding" [Germany told Israel it could not go ahead with submarine purchase unless political concessions made]

This is odd. Promoting a foreign culture's mistreatment of women is usually one of the first steps our government/media leaders take to delegitimize an unfriendly or uncooperative foreign government. It's happened many times around the world but now Israel? Interesting. [U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday lamented Knesset attempts to restrict left-wing groups and expressed concern over the status of Israeli women.]

[Kristol says Obama is the problem] Yeah right ... There's been almost constant fighting in the Middle-east since the turn of the century when Britain started letting Jewish settlers move into the Arab/Muslim region and Bill Kristol thinks [Obama is the problem].

Newt

What "thing of value" did Newt create/produce? Is he a Job Creator? How has his wealth accumulation helped the US, or the people of the US? Newt Gingrich Rose to Wealth Through Congress : Roll Call Politics

Obama Care

[Charts of the Day: Kaiser's Fascinating Obamacare Data | Mother Jones]

"Virtually every specific aspect of Obamacare is viewed favorably by over half the public. The only exception is the individual mandate. Even Republicans, it turns out, like most of the specific provisions of the law."

Only 37% of the public feels favorably toward Obamacare, but 50% want to keep or expand it. It turns out that many of the unfavorable/don't know opinions aren't from people who dislike healthcare reform, they're from people who don't think Obamacare went far enough.

tnb