Month: February 2011

The Tragedy Of Revolutions And Wars: Destruction Of Historical Artifacts! :(

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We are now discovering that one of the great tragedies of the Egyptian Revolution, overall seen as positive in tone, is the unfortunate destruction or stealing of historical artifacts.

This happened in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003, a real tragedy, as Iraq, of course, is the site of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

Now, apparently at least 17 artifacts have been found missing from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, including a statue of King Tut, and that is a tremendous loss that cannot be measured.

The problem with revolutions and wars is that it leads to lack of respect and reverence for our historical past on this earth, due to the total breakdown of law and order.

Just imagine the horror if America’s national treasures were to be destroyed or stolen, and realize the upset historians have right now that a researcher in the National Archives damaged a manuscript of President Abraham Lincoln, a pardon of a soldier with his signature, dated April 14, 1864, and changed to make it appear as if it was signed on the day of Lincoln’s death in 1865! 🙁

If all of us, both in this country and elsewhere, do not respect and revere historical documents, artifacts, and buildings in a proper way, then we have destroyed our heritage as much as damage to the environment affects the long run of civilization!

Hopefully, the stolen artifacts from the Egyptian Museum, including the statue of King Tut, will be recovered and still be in good shape to be put back in the museum to educate and enlighten future generations of both Egyptians and tourists from all over the world!

The Moderation Of John McCain: Return Of The “Old” McCain

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Senator John McCain of Arizona has been transformed again, now back to the moderation he was famous for until he had a contested primary for re-election from former Congressman J. D. Hayworth in the midterm elections of 2010.

Highly critical of President Obama over the past two years, and generally very cranky and irritable, as well as mean spirited, and denying he had ever been a maverick, even though he called himself that for years, suddenly McCain is smiling and supportive in many ways of President Obama.

Now he feels that President Obama handled the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson masterfully, and also feels he has handled the Egyptian Revolution situation in am excellent manner. He has consulted recently with Obama, and suddenly, he is back to his old self that made him more appealing than most Republicans over the past decade.

Meanwhile, other Republicans, particularly many of those thinking of running for President, are finding fault with the approach of Obama, including Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, John Bolton, and others.

Isn’t it amazing how when campaigning for advancement politically, candidates will conjure up criticism and be hypocritical, while when the pressure is off, such as with John McCain in 2011, suddenly a charming, smiling, supportive politician recognizes accomplishment when it occurs! 🙂

CPAC Convention Demonstrates Total Division On 2012 Presidential Nominee

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The CPAC convention this weekend in Washington, DC, again demonstrated total division on the issue of who to support for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, as Congressman Ron Paul of Texas again won the straw poll with only about 30 percent of the vote, with Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts second with 23 percent, and everyone else way back in the single digits.

The chances of Ron Paul being the 2012 GOP nominee are zero, even though he had won last year’s CPAC straw poll as well. His views on removing America’s involvement overseas, while appealing to many, will never be the Republican platform in 2012, and his libertarian domestic views, while very appealing to a lot of young people at the convention and around the country, also has no chance to become standard GOP doctrine.

With Mitt Romney ending up second again, and having been first in 2007 and 2008, it may just be a boost to his candidacy, but still it is clear the race for the hearts and minds of conservatives will be a long drawn out battle over the next year.

With Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee not attending the CPAC convention, and failing to show up well in the CPAC straw poll, it also may help Romney, but it seems likely that there will be a lot of blood letting before any chance of unity, and indeed there is no guarantee of a united backing of any Republican nominee for President in 2012.

Abraham Lincoln’s 202nd Birthday: Greater Than Ever, Even If Unappreciated By Many Southerners And Republicans!

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Abraham Lincoln, our greatest President, is 202 years old today, and we are about to commemorate all of the events of the Civil War, on its 150th anniversary this April, but there are many who will not be celebrating this man.

Throughout the South, the descendants of the Confederate States of America are about to celebrate the rebellion, rather than mourn the loss of life brought about by their insistence to defend their right to own slaves, using the facade of “States Rights” to justify the abuse of human rights!

And much of the Republican Party today, while mouthing the heritage of Abraham Lincoln, glorify states rights, as if it is still a valid alternative to defy the national government and the Constitution, as the South did a century and a half ago.

It is ironic that the party of Lincoln, which fought states rights and secession, now contains within it political leaders who openly advocate the same ideology in 2011.

If someone from 1861 to 1865 suddenly came back and saw what has happened to the party of Lincoln, and that it was the Democratic Party which elected the first African American President, Barack Obama, in 2008, they would be totally shocked and speechless!

Meanwhile, ignore the repudiation of Lincoln in the South and in the GOP, and let us celebrate this great man who preserved the Union and ended slavery! He is still our greatest President, and will never be surpassed!

The GOP Attack On Women: Nothing New But Now Enhanced!

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The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has talked about creation of jobs, but instead is focusing on a war against women and their medical care! 🙁

Bills have been introduced to take away federal support of women having Pap tests, breast exams, and HIV tests, because it is all considered part of “family planning”, a code word for the organization Planned Parenthood, which the Republican Party wishes to destroy.

The Republicans have also introduced legislation to tax medical plans of women and their employers who have private health insurance which cover abortion procedures.

They also have tried to redefine rape, so as to avoid the idea of abortions to cover rape and incest, as they wish to force all pregnancies to full term, no matter the age or health or mental state of the prospective mother.

And yet, does the party show any concern about the well being of children born to mothers who do not wish to have children, or cannot afford the economic expense of unwanted children? Of course not, as their only goal is to require birth, but show no concern about life after birth! 🙁

Attempting to outlaw abortion for all reasons will not stop the practice, but will force women who do not wish to have children to obtain a dangerous, “back alley” abortion, which could lead to their deaths.

The Republican Party claims to believe in smaller and less government, certainly when it comes to economic regulation, but again is proving it is very willing to intrude on people’s private lives as to their social interactions and their personal bodies, and that is reprehensible! 🙁

The Destruction Of Public Employees Labor Unions: An Assault On The Middle Class And 80 Years Of American History! :(

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As the nation faces the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, we are witnessing an assault on public employees and their labor unions, wiping out eighty years of hard gained rights since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in so doing, further eroding the middle class!

It was labor unions, which came to full development and success beginning in the 1930s, which helped to create decent working conditions for millions of Americans, both in the public and private sector.

Now Republican Governors, and backed by the Republican leadership in Congress, are salivating over the loss of pension and medical benefits, the end of collective bargaining, and the return of employers, including state governments, dictating conditions of work to employees, as if this was the Gilded Age or the 1920s revived! 🙁

In the process, the middle class is being wiped out, being added to the growing number of Americans who are falling into poverty, and yet the suggestion that raising taxes on the wealthy and business might lessen the assault on hard won labor rights is automatically dismissed.

If the states and the national government continue the Republican assault on the middle class, there is the real danger that people will not just sit by and take punch after punch, and allow their dignity and rights gained long ago to be taken away without a counter reaction.

We are entering very dangerous territory and conditions, and yet the Republican Party seems to be tone deaf and immune to the reality of human suffering, only concerning themselves with the comfort of the elite wealthy and corporations.

It may remind many of the arrogance of the elite in other societies, and how their short sightedness led to unfortunate tragedy!

Democrats and progressives must continue to speak up and oppose with all of their energy this great tragedy of the middle class being destroyed, without any concern as to the long range effect!

Robert Gibbs Leaves, Jay Carney Becomes Obama’s Press Spokesman

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Today marks the end of the tenure of Robert Gibbs as President Barack Obama’s press spokesman, and the succession of former Time Magazine journalist Jay Carney to that challenging position.

Gibbs worked with Obama since he announced for the Senate seat in Illinois in 2004, and will continue to work behind the scenes for the reelection campaign of the President. He was well liked by most journalists on the White House beat, but the position was starting to become a stressful one for him, as it is one of the more difficult jobs, to be the public spokesman for the President on a daily basis.

Carney, who was most recently the press spokesman for Vice President Joe Biden, with a strong journalistic background, and also married to ABC News correspondent Claire Shipman, should be able to stay on good relations with the press, at a time when the public image of the President should be even more significant, as he heads into the re-election campaign.

It was amazing to realize that Gibbs left his position on the single most historic day of the Obama Presidency, with the stunning success of the Egyptian Revolution!

Republican Attack On PBS And NPR: Attempt To Suppress Knowledge And Analysis!

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The Republican Party is setting out to destroy the public education system nationally and in many states, and part of that attack is the plan to zero budget the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio.

Both PBS and NPR have been contributing to the knowledge, entertainment, and education of the American people since the mid 1960s, part of the many contributions of the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson.

But because conservatives and many Republicans hate both PBS and NPR because of their perceived liberal and progressive bent, they want to wipe it out, and take away all of the benefits of both over the past 45 years.

This is, effectively, promoting censorship and ignorance, and it should be condemned, and petitions, emails and phone calls need to be sent to the House of Representatives to call upon them to stop these intolerant steps, as they try to suppress freedom of expression.

The amount of public funding of PBS and NPR is so minimal, and will not have any real effect on the national debt or deficit.

It is short sighted and demagogic to call for the removal of public support for television and radio programming that is the highest quality found in the communications industry today!

A Day Of Historic Proportions: Egypt’s Revolution Triumphs!

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Today is a day of celebration for Egypt, the Middle East, and the whole world.

The peaceful overthrow of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak in a democratic non violent revolution is a cause for euphoria, and it gives a warning to the other Middle East autocracies, and dictatorship everywhere, including Iran and North Korea. It is a followup of the liberation of Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The power of social media, which cannot be easily controlled or monitored, is a method by which the masses can express their desires and lead to removal of despots. No one could have imagined the impact of Facebook and Twitter on the events that transpired in Egypt. Imagine, that in 18 days, Egypt transformed, and a thirty year dictatorship collapsed.

Egypt has now experienced two events of massive proportions that took 18 days to develop–this present revolution, and the Yom Kippur War where Anwar Sadat defeated Israel and took some land back in 1973 from the earlier 1967 Six Day War, but yet moved toward American friendship soon after and eventually to a peace agreement with Israel, including recognition of Israel, and a joint Nobel Peace Prize for Sadat and Israel’s leader, Menachem Begin.

This is also a moment to salute President Barack Obama, who handled this historic crisis deftly, supporting the masses of Egypt and pressuring Mubarak in private, while using carefully crafted language in public. No one could have handled this crisis better, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates did a fantastic job in assisting him and others to deal with this transforming event. This will go down as one of his greatest triumphs in the Presidency!

Even better, Barack Obama comes across as a hero to ordinary Egyptians, and by his open minded attitude to the Muslim world, he makes us a safer nation, but with full awareness that there are radical Muslim enemies who wish this nation ill, but diplomacy is essential if there is ever to be a potential for long term peace in the 21st century world!

The US Senate In Turmoil: Rapid Turnover Becoming A Fact Of Life

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The US Senate is often called the greatest debating society in the world, and it carries tremendous prestige, with so many of its members often thought by them and by others as potential candidates for the Presidency.

So the rapid turnover going on in recent years is a fact of life, but it helps to make the Senate appear in turmoil with so many new members.

In the 112th Congress, there are 16 new senators, 13 Republicans and three Democrats, and now a total of five Senators, three Democrats and two Republicans, have announced their intention to retire at the end of their terms in 2012.

Democrats Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jim Webb of Virginia, and Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman are leaving, and Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona also are retiring, with all but Webb having had multiple terms in the Senate.

A lot of the wisdom and the vision of the Senate is leaving, so while many have varying views of all these five Senators, in many ways it is a sign of the stresses and tensions of serving in the Senate, making it far less desirable for many to stay beyond two to three terms.

Of course, on the other hand, it might be a good thing that fewer Senators are deciding to remain to the point where they might be wearing out their welcome–which, at least in the mind of Tea Party Movement leaders, might be true of Republicans Senators Orrin Hatch of Utah, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Richard Lugar of Indiana, with Hatch and Lugar having served six terms already, but still planning to run yet again in 2012. The question of whether it is good for some Senators to serve into their 80s remains a major subject of debate, even at a time when others decide to “throw in the towel” by a more normal retirement age.