Obama, the piecemeal president

Notes 34

Our “piecemeal president”
What does President Obama really believe?
Christian Science Monitor
By Jacob Bronsther – Fri Jan 21
New York

Obama surfed into the White House on a wave of seeming principle: change, bipartisanship, reason, deliberation, pragmatism.
They are so general that they provide little analytical or moral traction. He will never support tax cuts for the rich, until he will. He criticizes Bush's expansive view of presidential war powers, then adopts it. The list goes on.
There is no well of enduring principle upon which he seems to draw.
In 2009, The New York Times asked Obama: "Is there a one word name for your philosophy? If you're not a socialist, are you a liberal? Are you progressive?..." Obama's answer, "No, I'm not going to engage in that," underscored his fear of labels. That fear is curbing his ability to initiate a new era of liberalism. To create a lasting movement, Obama, like Reagan and FDR, must set down principles that apply to changing circumstances. His thin methodological principles are not up to the task.
So far he's the piecemeal president

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The need to cut through the myths of America that permit so much unpardonable destruction

"Greatest Nation" Rhetoric Roars Back
Robert Jensen, Truthout: "[The] expression of American exceptionalism is unexceptional in US political history, but it roared back stronger than ever in 2010, especially in the rhetoric of the Tea Party movement. As it becomes harder to ignore the United States' decline as an economic power - which will limit the capacity for imperial marauding around the world - the inclination of most mainstream politicians to assert our greatness will intensify. Those of us with radical or progressive politics need to challenge these kinds of slogans when we talk with friends, family and co-workers.... It is neither churlish nor malevolent to want to honestly assess the accomplishments and failures of one's country. Rather, it is the obligation of every citizen."

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The cost of unbridled greed

Is America Too Corrupt to Keep Up?
David Sirota, Truthout: "A sovereign nation investing its wealth in its domestic economy seems like a no-brainer, especially during a global recession. But in this crazy age of American politics, even that has become a controversial notion. This is the subtext of a dispute that simmered beneath the pomp and circumstance of this week's U.S.-China summit.... China's industrial policy success carries a basic lesson: When a nation couples public spending with incentives that encourage domestic corporate investment, an economy tends to grow its own wealth-building industries. That's simple enough to understand, right? Evidently, not within our own government."

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A story suitable for WikiLeaks. Right up there with the Bourne Identity series

Green zone, movie, Matt Damon, 2010
Storyline
Following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his men are charged with finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction, whose existence justified American involvement, according to the Pentagon and their man in Baghdad, Poundsgate. Veteran CIA operative Marty tells Miller that there are no weapons, it is a deception to allow the Americans to take over the country and install a puppet leader. Also suspicious of Poundsgate is Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne, who lets slip to Miller that Poundsgate told her he had secret talks in Jordan with an important Iraqi, code-named Magellan, who told him about the weapons, though it now seems likely Magellan's true information was to the contrary. So begins a hunt for the truth.
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Somebody finally gets it. Reducing social security and medicare benefits is de facto increase in taxes for most Americans.

GOP's State of the Union Responder Would Set Higher Taxes on Middle-Class Than Millionaires
Pat Garofalo, Think Progress: "House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) was announced today as the Republican who will be responding to President Obama's State of the Union address next week. Ryan has gained a (largely unearned) reputation as a fiscal hawk due to his radical Roadmap for America's Future, under which the U.S. budget will eventually be balanced (after federal debt surpasses 100 percent of GDP), mostly via privatizing Social Security and Medicare. According to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, the Roadmap would raise taxes on 90 percent of Americans, while dramatically lowering them for millionaires. In fact, a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that Ryan's plan would ultimately translate into middle-class tax rates being higher than those for millionaires."

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WikiLeaks: 1 percent of diplomatic docs published
Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press –
LONDON: Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini drew considerable attention when he described the WikiLeaks release as the "September 11 of world diplomacy."
WikiLeaks has given the world's public an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at U.S. diplomacy. Among the most eye-catching revelations were reports that Arab countries had lobbied for an attack on Iran, China had made plans for the collapse of its North Korean ally, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had ordered U.S. diplomats to gather the computer passwords, fingerprints and even DNA of their foreign counterparts.
Over and over again, the cables captured world leaders lying — to each other, to their allies, and to their own citizens.
Diplomacy "comes across as a scheming, duplicitous profession — which it kind of is," said Carne Ross, a former British diplomat who resigned over the Iraq war.
The cables are laced with cynicism.

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What are the tea baggers saying about his rise in taxes, cut off oil imports. Hell no. Some increases are acceptable as long as they are business related and not part of public services.

Higher pump prices coming your way this spring
By SANDY SHORE, AP Business Writer Sandy Shore– Fri Jan 21
Gas pump prices that are around $3 a gallon now may seem like a bargain by the time your kids are on Easter egg hunts.
Pump prices have risen nearly 9 percent since Dec. 1 and topped $3.10 a gallon this week. That's the highest level since October 2008. The price may rise or fall a little over the next few months, but analysts expect it to range between $3.20 and $3.75 gallon by March and April ahead of the summer driving season.

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We have become the gold standard for 28 other countries illegally snatching people off the street. Our policies have made international thuggery legitimate.

Use of extrajudicial rendition in Uganda terror case sparks controversy
Christiand Scinence Monitor,
By Scott Baldauf – Fri Jan 21
Nairobi, Kenya
While condemned by human rights activists and the European Parliament, and criticized by some US military officials as "counterproductive," renditions are seen by at least 28 US allies as a necessary weapon in the battle against terrorism. Estimates of the number of renditions since the US-led war on terror began after 9/11 are educated guesses, but some human rights organizations put the number over 1,000, and the British human rights group Cageprisoners estimates that 88 men, women, and children have been subjected to extrajudicial transfers from Kenya as of 2007.
"This is happening on a global scale," says Asim Qureshi, executive director of Cageprisoners, which tracks renditions and treatment of terrorism suspects at detention centers such as Guantánamo Bay and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. "What is interesting about Uganda is that their efforts are quite open. I don't think any help is being given by the Kenyan government in this case."

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Seems terrorism is common around the world, not just in Muslim Middle East

Car bomb blast kills Mexican policeman
AFP – Sat Jan 22, 7:40 pm ET
PACHUCA, Mexico (AFP) - A policeman was killed and three others wounded Saturday when an abandoned car rigged with explosives detonated in the central state of Hidalgo, local police said.

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Who really cares about Ivanka getting knocked up? Or me performing my toilette? What happened to private and personal?

LOS ANGELES — Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, is pregnant.
"I have been wanting to share some amazing news with you all for some time ... I'm pregnant!" she Tweeted.

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