Disturbing Possibilities

Via Michael Tomasky, I found this unsettling post from Robert Dreyfuss over at The Nation. Dreyfuss reports on the tenous situation on the northern Lebanon border with Syria, were the Lebanese media reports there are at least 10,000 amassed Syrian troops. It's becoming increasingly clear that Syria believes that groups operating in northern Lebanon pose a serious threat to its security. This set of circumstances is particularly disturbing because Syria is currently in the midst of negotiations with Israel over a peace deal that would include a return of the Golan Heights to Syria.

Despite the obvious consequences of a Syrian invasion of northern Lebanon including civilian casualties and a possible collapse of the talks between Syria and Israel, it could also be a huge boon to John McCain. This is of course completely illogical, however, the voting patterns of the American people are rarely steeped in logic. Rationally, one would conclude that an increasingly calamitous and unstable situation in the Middle East would call for a different approach. However, as was demonstrated in 2004, the Republicans usually shift into full bear fear mongering mode (with a great deal of help from the MSM) in order to remind the public that only they can protect America from the terrorists. The surrender happy Democrats would cut and run. There's no doubt that McCain in his infinite wisdom would proclaim that "we are all Lebanese" now, just as he did when Russian made incursions into Georgia. We see this over and over again from McCain. The man is prone to hyperbole. In fact, it's probably fair to call him a hypochondriac. Whenever anything happens, he completely freaks out. When Russia invaded the South Ossetian region of Georgia it was the "greatest foreign policy challenge since the fall of the Soviet Union." Also, McCain has regurlarly called the current financial crisis (actually, he calls it a fiscal crisis, which Matt Yglesias is right to point out is wrong) the "greatest crisis since World War II." Admittedly, the current fall out on Wall Street could prove to be the greatest crisis since World War II, but is irresponsible for McCain to say so before the entire scope of the problem is known. Anyways, to get back to my point, many in the media like Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer and Tom Brokaw would tout McCains resolute stances on national security and foreign policy. It doesn't matter that John McCain's views are completely wrongheaded, in today's media landscape a strong disposition towards military force and increased tensions with America's "enemies" is equated with deep understanding of international affairs.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user failasoof April 25, 2007

R.I.P. Paul Newman

Great Actor. Great Man. Via Eric Alterman at Altercation.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user JamesAlec September 27, 2008

Wah! Wah! I'm losing! TIME OUT!

Look, John McCain, there's no crying in baseball! You can't call time out! You've said numerous times that you don't know a lot about economics, and suddenly you are going to rescue the bailout package! This reminds me of something I would've tried in high school debate! I really hope people are smart enought to see through this. To anyone that's unsure, THIS IS A TOTAL GIMMICK! It's a stunt! McCain knows he has no credibility on the economy so he's hoping a little political theater will save the day. Bullshit. Don't buy it. For those of you that aren't yet convinced of Sarah Palin's knownothingism check out this clip courtesy of Think Progress:



I'm sorry, but I have no fucking clue what she just said. I'm in league with Glenn Greenwald on this, I actually feel sorry for her in this instance because she clearly has no idea what the hell she's talking about. I'm pretty sure bailing out Wall Street has nothing to do with health care reform, but perhaps I'm just being inflexible!

Corporate Socialism

You, my dear readers, might have noticed that I've been relatively silent on the financial meltdown that we are currently in the midst of. In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that it is because most of this stuff is over my head. Perhaps the only affinity I have with John McCain, is that I also don't know as much about economics as much as I should. I blame this on my own shortcomings and supply side doctrinaire professors that taught me voodoo economics back in college. However, I'm not running for president. John McCain is. Anyways, I'm getting off on a tangent here. I titled this post corporate socialism because lately we've seen a lot of government nationalization of business, particularly in the financial sector. I think the irony of this is lost on a lot of people. A deeply conservative, radical free-market, Republican administration has been nationalizing (at least partially) corporations left and right! I wrote a somewhat sarcastic post about AIG last week, but just think about it, we as taxpayers own a 80% of AIG, the largest private insurer in the world! Or to put it in more socialistic terms, the state controls an 80% stake in AIG. Isn't that crazy! Wow! If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the crisis, and some ideas on what to do about it; I'd recommend reading the blogs of Paul Krugman, Ezra Klein, and Dean Baker. You should also check out this report by the Center for American Progress on Paulson's proposed $700 billion bailout plan.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user grahamlyth July 20, 2008

OK, Now I'm Just Pissed!

In past posts, I've had some harsh criticism for John McCain. But this time, seriously, he's stuck a personal chord. You dishonorable, undignified fool. My ire is the result of this post by Democracy Arsenal's Max Bergmann, which came to my attention via Ezra Klein. John McCain has completely flip-flopped on the issue of U.S. involvement in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Here's what John McCain wrote in 1996:

"Motivated by romantic, anachronistic notions of Irish republicanism, some prominent Irish-Americans persuaded the president (over the objection of the State Department) to jump headfirst into the Northern Ireland problem, severely straining our relations with London...[through our] mistaken involvement in the Northern Ireland problem, President Clinton has deepened the risk to his credibility and further damaged relations with our British allies." [Foreign Policy, Summer 1996]

OK, now I realize this is from 12 years ago, but that's just an outrageous claim. This condescending, cowardly rant reeks of the up most hypocrisy. John McCain is incredibly supportive of groups lobbying in favor of Israel, but apparently lobbying in support of peace in Ireland is repulsive to him. That's not to take anything away from Israel or those that ardently support it. While I have a number of disagreements with some of the U.S.'s strongest voices in support of Israel, I admire their devotion to Israel and the Israeli people and they have every right to petition and lobby their government in support of Israel. The same should go for those who love Ireland, right? Well not if you're John McCain! If you're an Irish-American that supports peace efforts in Northern Ireland you're simply motivated by "romantic and anachronistic notions of Irish Republicanism." Also, if anything this has helped our relationship with Great Britain. Indeed, as Bergmann points out in his post, via a quote from Congressman Richard Neal, Tony Blair has actually thanked the U.S. for it's efforts in the peace process! Man, it's hard to contemplate how unbelievably stupid John McCain is. He literally makes George W. Bush look like Aristotle!

Anyways, I mentioned that John McCain flip-flopped, well here's John McCain today in Pennsylvania flipping and flopping:

If I am elected President, I will continue America’s leadership role. I am committed, as I know the American people are committed, to furthering the bonds of cooperation that have been forged in Northern Ireland’s peace process. As a demonstration of that commitment, I will continue the practice, begun by President Clinton, of appointing a U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. I know Senator Obama has questioned whether that appointment is needed. I would urge him to reconsider. If I am elected president, I assure you that there will be no weakening in America’s commitment to peace in Northern Ireland. I’ll maintain the special U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland, and I will welcome peacemakers to the White House.

Flip-Flop! Flip-Flop! Flip-Flop! Bergmann says he's not sure if McCain just can't remember his previous position or if he's just lying. I assume the worst and that McCain is lying. But if he's not, then his demonstrable senility disqualifies him for the presidency.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user News Corpse May 23, 2008

Community Organizing: A Noble Profession

Via Oliver Willis. Perhaps I'm just a sap, but that video kinda got to me. I was actually most stuck by Biden's "last chance" remarks and I thought that their entrance into the video was just at the right time.

Willis also links to a great article in the Los Angeles Times by Richard Fausset. Fausset's article is an in-depth look into the profession of community organizing. The article is extremely well written and it gives you a better sense of what it is that a community organizer actually does. In stark contrast to the perspective taken by Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, community organizers actually have many responsibilities and far fewer resources to go about them than mayors. This article is a must read for anyone interested in social change.

Two Items

I'd like to call my dear readers attention to two articles that I think are well worth a read. The first is by Alan Wolfe, a noted political scientist at Boston College. Wolfe's article dissects why McCain essentially has to lie in order to sell his candidacy. The key graf:

The current lie du jour of the McCain campaign is that their man will aggressively take on the greed that is causing the collapse on Wall Street. Given McCain's lack of interest in the economy, wealthy campaign contributors, and ideological hostility toward government regulation, this stance is laughable. But McCain's lie unconsciously reveals an important truth, which is that when the economy goes into a tailspin, the public prefers a solution long identified with liberalism. McCain could tell the truth, which is that he is all for the free market and can barely wait until the crisis passes so the rich can go about the business of becoming ever richer. But if he does that, he will lose. McCain wants to win. Therefore he lies.

The second article is over at the American Prospect and is written by Matt Yglesias. Yglesias argues that it would be prudent for Barack Obama to once again highlight his foreign policy and national security bonafides. He focuses on the fact that the president has a lot more control over foreign policy matters than he/she does over domestic issues. Indeed, no matter the outcome of the presidential election, the Democratic majority is certain to expand. This majority will be able to hinder many of the more undesirable elements of McCain's domestic agenda. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said on the foreign policy front. Here, McCain will have the ability to send troops wherever he pleases, with little to no intervention from Congress. This is disturbing since the McCain foreign policy platform makes the international policies of the Bush administration look tame.