Obama is a pragmatist, not an ideologue. This may alienate ideologues, which includes progressives that helped elect him.
When Mr. Obama wandered into the White House briefing room Thursday afternoon hoping to make small talk with reporters, he was instantly confronted by an unwelcome question: Why was he waiving his tough restrictions on lobbying for a Pentagon nominee? The president brushed it off, saying he would not return “if I’m going to get grilled every time I come.”He's trying to do what he sees as best for the majority of Americans, appeasing the financial elite with cabinet picks, insuring Cheney's neocon chain-of-command is no longer in power with others -- trying to do what's right for progressives, republicans, the military and the intelligence community. He's going to endure criticisms from all of these groups, but will the majority of each group end up ganging up on him? We elected a pragmatic president. He's not going to please all of us all of the time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/us/politics/25agenda.html?_r=1&em>
The US found an exit strategy for Iraq -- it's via Afghanistan
With Bush's War on Terror grinding to a halt or changing direction, are the would-be terrorists left losing the propoganda war?
With Obama, al-Qaeda faces an entirely new challenge, experts say: a U.S. president who campaigned to end the Iraq war and to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and who polls show is well liked throughout the Muslim worldAfghani protesters yell "Death to the Americans"
US to Help Afghanistan Boost Higher Education Quality?
Hillary Clinton meets Afghani women judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys.
From Afghanistan: US Military Actions are Promoting the Taliban
More Afghani News
Maybe tolerating and encouraging Hamas as a counterbalance to the PLO wasn't such a good idea?
How the Bush Administration Embraced Lemon Socialism
Obama wants to spend money too, but on green businesses and here in the US.
What were the most successful startups in 2008?
The rate of destruction of old growth trees in the west is increasing.
New president, same dumb media storylines
Reactions:
"I must say I was a little disappointed to hear about the exception for the deputy secretary of defense. He may very well be well suited to the job but this goes to show what happens when you set up hard and fast rules. No sooner do you make a rule and you want to make an exception." (John Danley)
"I'm starting to wish we could elect the White House press corps every four years along with the president." (Joan Walsh)
"John Edwards was right when he spoke about there being "two Americas." The way Edwards framed it, there was an America of "haves" and an America of "have-nots." My version is a bit different. There is an America that watched with hope and excitement as Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the 44th president of the United States. And there is an America that watched with dread and skepticism." (Charlie Cook)
Anonymous response: "Isn't the dread and skepticism side the one that supported the incompetent, self-destructive, overly secretive and likely criminal, Bush administration?"
"(I'm) wondering why Barack Obama finds it acceptable to kill unborn babies, but unacceptable to detain/torture terrorists." (Facebook)
Anonymous response: "The majority of those held at Gitmo were not terrorists, but maybe after enduring our over-the-top torture, they will consider getting involved in it now? It's as if Obama opponents don't really pay attention and just throw rocks to throw rocks"
From reader Todd White:
I just wanted to pass along this document that one of my friend's sent me, published by Amnesty International. As hard as it may be to read the following testimony, I think that it is important for us to be informed about this issue...Your Job:
President Obama has issued an Executive Order to close down Guantanamo Bay within a year. We should take the time to thank his administration for this, but we should also try to assure that this does, in fact, happen. Some are now claiming that Obama's decision is not a good one, and that those released will go back to terrorism. The fact of the matter is, the majority of prisoners are innocent. Over 500 detainees have been released, with all charges against them dropped. A great article was published on CNN.com about this yesterday.
And even if there are prisoners who are guilty, we must ask ourselves, should the accused even be treated like this, before a trial? Even after a trial, I don't think that any human being deserves this kind of tortue and treatment. It is inhumane, cruel acts against humanity, and numerous human rights groups have been trying to do something about this for years.
It is important to note that at the end of this testimony, Jumah does stress that not ALL American soldiers participated in the torture and harsh treatment, and in no way is this trying to cause hatred of all American soldiers in the hearts of anyone. It is just an injustice that has been documented time and time again, and yet, our mainstream media hardy reports about it.
Another human rights organization is cageprisoners.com, which has many more accounts and interviews, if you are further interested.
Jumah's Testimony
Today is Suggestion Sunday! What do YOU think we can all do to help the nation and world? It can be as big as small as you want -- everything adds up -- what do you suggest?
Posts
I had an interesting (I think) idea today which builds on yesterday's assignment of creativity and on President Obama's call to service. It also builds on the apathy or slothfulness of citizens. Interestingly the creativity theme was presented in our Church's sermon last week. So my thoughts were of people that who spend their lives engrossed in television or on the internet or playing video games for entertainment. To pacify themselves. To not take part in society. Now I'm not saying any of these in and of themselves is bad, but when it is the focus of one's life and essentially takes that individual out of society, then I would say that is a bad thing. Now, the idea was to create a video game, a multi-player online game complete with Avatars etc as a form of entertainment, but also as a form of enrichment and a way to participate in real society. It would ge a game where the purpose is not to slaughter, rape, pillage etc, but to achieve an education, create a functional society, to incorporate reality, current events and history into the mix. In order to succeed one must educate them with multiple areas and become involved in "operations" of society. One must do service work. And somehow this service work benefits real society. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteabsolutely excellent idea..and the player could be advanced when they do something as u mentioned above..can this be taken further? for those in this field?
ReplyDeleteJohn I agree with your premise that those are the kinds of things divorcing us from community. Your idea is a good one. It reminds me of Second Life (http://secondlife.com/ )
ReplyDelete"Second Life is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.
From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.
You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow Residents. Because Residents retain intellectual property rights in their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other Residents.
The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the inworld unit of trade, the Linden™ dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden dollar exchanges. "
All kinds of things go on in this place and what's interesting is that a lot of it mimics what goes on in real life -- there are fraudulent land-deals, bank scams and bad pickup lines, for instance.
Thanks Mark, I was thinking there was something along those lines. Hadn't really explored it. Have heard about second life. I guess I just don't spend much time on that.... Maybe I'll have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI want to teach my four year old the Pledge of Allegiance, and rediscover the meaning along the way...
ReplyDelete