Great Britain

Eighth Anniversary Of The Iraq War’s Beginning, And Now Libya!

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It is quite ironic that on the 8th anniversary of America’s involvement in the Iraq War, which killed over 4,000 and wounded over 30,000, many very seriously, that suddenly we are engaged in war against Libya and its leader, Moammar Gaddafi!

The first missile strikes against Libya were by the French, but soon were joined by the United States and Great Britain, with the war effort being endorsed by the Arab League.

President Obama has said there will be no combat troops on the ground, that the purpose of the conflict is to prevent mass murder in Benghazi and other locations in eastern Libya, and to allow the rebels against the central government forces of Gaddafi to have a chance to succeed in defending themselves and to overthrow the 42 years long Libyan dictatorship, which has been condemned by UN Resolution 1973.

So we are now engaged in THREE wars at the same time, although Iraq is not considered to be hostile territory anymore, and American forces are scheduled to leave at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is a war we are now engaged in for the 10th year.

The question is whether we can be certain that our involvement will be just missiles and air attacks, or whether it will deteriorate and lead to combat forces, no matter what Obama is saying now.

The thought of three wars at once, and the economic costs involved is enough to make one sick, and will probably mean further cuts down the road in domestic spending!

And there is concern that the Arab world and Muslim nations, while no friends of Gaddafi, might yet someday turn against the West, led by the US, France and Great Britain, and accuse them of a holy war against Islam.

There is also concern that Obama has not involved the Congress in the war planning, although that fits Presidential actions under Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and the two Bushes, and other Presidents have intervened in a non war situation without Congressional approval. The War Powers Act of 1973 is again proved a “paper tiger”, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich is leading the attack on Obama asserting too much authority without approval of Congress.

So this Libyan intervention has just begun, and is bound to be longer lasting and creating more headaches, both domestic and foreign, than one wants to imagine today!

But at least, we will not be able to say that we ignored a potential mass holocaust, as Jimmy Carter did in Cambodia, and Bill Clinton did in Rwanda!

Are Muslim Citizens Threats To Homeland Security? The Peter King Committee Hearings And The Real Threat To The Nation!

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New York Republican Congressman Peter King, a member of the House since 1993, is the new Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and is about to conduct hearings on what he calls the Islamic threat to America presented by disloyal Muslims in American society.

King can certainly give several examples of Muslims in America who have been proved to be engaged in terrorist activities, fortunately stopped by excellent intelligence activities by cooperation between federal and state government officials. With the tragic exception of the Fort Hood massacre by a Muslim soldier, all of the attempts have been prevented.

But are we to say, for instance, that all community college students should be considered dangerous and worthy of investigation by the Homeland Security Committee, because of Jared Lee Loughner shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, which led to six deaths and thirteen wounded?

Are we to say that all white Christians who had been in the military should be investigated because of Timothy McVeigh blowing up the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995, killing 168 people and wounding nearly a thousand people?

We cannot allow the Islamic haters in this country, many of them Christian fundamentalists, to anger and provoke good, law abiding Muslims, several million among us and growing, into hating the nation they willingly migrated to or have grown up in as citizens, to feel they are being persecuted or scapegoated, particularly when Muslim soldiers are fighting for us, and in many cases, have helped report and crack plots by the miniscule number of Muslims who have conspired against us!

What Peter King is doing is really the new McCarthyism, loose labeling people as Communists, and now substituting Muslims for Communists!

It is also important to point out that Peter King has a “skeleton” in his closet, his strong advocacy for the terrorist Irish Republican Army in its long war against British control of Northern Ireland. Can a person who supported terrorism actions against America’s strongest ally, Great Britain, be taken seriously when he claims to be fighting terrorism by promoting insecurity among law abiding Muslims, who are certainly over 99 percent of all Muslims?

And it should be pointed out that IF King really wishes to investigate terrorism threats, look to the hundreds of such groups listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, including neo-Nazis, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, and Ku Klux Klansmen!

The number of such groups are at an all time high of 1,002, with many of them so called “Patriot” groups that have grown dramatically since Barack Obama became President, and believing that the federal government is the “enemy”!

And if one counts groups that go beyond just hate groups and Patriot groups to include nativist extremist groups which are a threat to ethnic, racial, religious and sexual orientation minorities, then the total is 2,145, a 40 percent increase from 2008-2009 and a 22 percent rise in 2009-2010!

Also realize that many Republican politicians and talk show hosts on radio and television use loose rhetoric, and are encouraging the paranoia and hate by their loose use of language!

So only when Peter King is willing to investigate and publicize the far greater threat from right wing hate groups would his committee be seen as doing something worthy of our support!

Time For High Speed Rail Projects Across Nation: Great Step Forward!

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The Obama Administration is committing Recovery Act funds to promote intercity high speed rail projects across the nation, and Vice President Joe Biden announced today $53 billion over the next six years to advance such projects.

This will promote economic recovery by creating many jobs, save oil consumption by encouraging more people to travel to work and on vacation on high speed rail, and improve the environment as well.

Already, we have high speed “bullet” trains in Japan and South Korea, as well as in Great Britain and France, and they offer convenient travel and have put these nations way ahead of Americans in envisioning the future of transportation!

This is another stage of the transportation revolution, as much as Abraham Lincoln promoting the transcontinental railroad network in the 1860s, and Dwight D. Eisenhower advocating the interstate highway system in the 1950s!

The Obama goal is provide high speed rail transportation to 80 percent of the American people over the next 25 years! This is a priority that needs to be accomplished, but the Republicans in the House of Representatives may stand in the way of this investment, which would indeed be tragic! 🙁

The Proposal To Increase The Size Of The House Of Representatives: An Unworkable Idea! :(

Ronald 4 Comments

A political science professor at Northwestern University, in combination with one at New York University, recently promoted an idea in a NY Times op-ed on how to reform the US House of Representatives.

Their proposal was to increase the size of the House closer to the original intent of the Founding Fathers, who set up the original House to reflect 30,000 white males in each congressional district in 1789 and after. Of course, women and blacks and native Americans were not counted at the beginning for purposes of congressional representation.

Their point was that now a member of the House of Representatives represents approximately 700,000 people, and that the fixed total of 435 was only set after the 1910 census.

Meanwhile the population has tripled since 1910, so the argument is that a member of Congress cannot represent his or her constituents adequately, as there are too many people per congressional district.

Their proposal is to raise the number of members of the House of Representatives from 435 to 1500, so that each congressional district represent only 200,000 people, about the same as in 1910. This would, supposedly, make members of Congress closer to their constituents and make for greater levels of democracy.

The author must say that he totally disagrees with this proposal, considering it unworkable and chaotic!

As it is, the House of Representatives is too unwieldy with 435 members, and often what goes on in the House is nothing more than chaos, as it is hard to keep order and to move forward on legislation expeditiously.

To have 1500 members is an insane idea, and would not promote progress, but rather confusion and disarray. And the idea of third party movements having a say only promotes further chaos, anarchy, stalemate and gridlock.

A multiparty system would not work better than our two party system, and would be far less efficient.

And also, how about the offices and seating space required for 1500 members in the House Office Buildings and House chamber? And what about the costs of having that large a legislative body?

The comparison is made by the authors of this op-ed that Great Britain has 61 million people and 650 members of their Parliament, making it one for every 78,000 people, and that Canada has 33 million people and 308 members of their Parliament, making it one for every 109,000 people.

But these countries are a lot smaller in population, so they can have the luxury of having smaller numbers of people per representative.

But to have such a large number as 1,500 in a nation of 310 million people is simply too unwieldy and difficult to manage and to work efficiently.

If anything, the author would argue for a smaller House, closer to 301, where each member represents one million people, as a way to make for efficiency. but of course the Congress would have to vote to make themselves smaller, which is not about to happen! 🙂

And also remember that members of the largest populated states in the Union have their Senators represent many millions of people, and as long as they have adequate office space, budget, and staff, that can be accomplished, so the idea of a larger House of Representatives is just that–an idea that will see no fruition, but certainly is an interesting subject for discussion by academics! 🙂

Sarah Palin’s Quest To Learn Foreign Policy Begins In Haiti!

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Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is visiting Haiti this weekend in the midst of controversy over the recent presidential election, and the turmoil surrounding the cholera epidemic and the earthquake that have made this year probably the worst in the long tortured history of that nation. 🙁

She is traveling with Franklin Graham, the evangelical preacher son of Billy Graham, with both of them ignoring the request of the State Department and the Obama Administration to avoid visiting there at a delicate and dangerous time for Americans to visit, who require extra security coverage.

Why is Palin visiting? It is apparent she wants to build up foreign policy credentials for her expected run for the White House, and also continue to gain the support of evangelical Christians at the same time.

She also is expected to visit Israel and Great Britain, and possibly other European nations in the year 2011, even though it is clear that she carries little weight and respect in the eyes of foreign leaders.

Does Sarah Palin really understand the history of Haiti, and could she point it out on a world map without coaxing or hints? 🙁

Does she really have any background and depth in world affairs, and can she acquire this simply by doing photo ops with foreign leaders in what will obviously be just a publicity stunt? 🙁

Can Sarah Palin really make judgments when she has exhibited no curiosity about the world until now, and every time she opens her mouth and speaks, she makes one long for the “intellectual” George W. Bush or Dan Quayle, who by comparison are “geniuses”?

And beyond all of this, can Sarah Palin unite even her GOP colleagues when she utilizes such language as “impotent” and “limp” to describe her critics within the Republican Party who point out her total ignorance, and quite frankly, stupidity, every time she utters any comment on anything? 🙁

Again, she may be a nice neighbor and a friendly person, as long as you do not dare to criticize her. But since she is so defensive and negative and VERY ignorant, she does not belong in the very serious business of wishing to be President of the United States!

Not everyone born in the US is qualified to be President. You need real credentials and you need “smarts”, neither of which Sarah Palin possesses now, or ever will possess!

Barack Obama And Afghanistan: Wrong Direction! :(

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President Obama is going the wrong direction on Afghanistan, and it could affect his re-election opportunities, as well as his historical reputation as President! 🙁

At the NATO summit in Portugal, the US government has made clear that while the summer of 2011 shall see the start of withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan, that combat will not end until 2014, and the President left it open that if the situation required it, we might see American combat troops beyond four years from now! 🙁

This is absolutely the WRONG thing to do, and it is interesting how many NATO nations are withdrawing their involvement, with the Netherlands and Canada already in the process of withdrawing, and Italy not far behind, and Great Britain making it clear that no later than 2014, they will withdraw their troops!

Already, American forces are over two thirds of all troops, and the percentage will be growing in the next four years!

The combat deaths are rising rapidly, and the expenses on the American budget are also rapidly adding to the national crisis over the deficit and the national debt!

For anyone to believe that NATO and the United States are somehow going to win in Afghanistan defies common sense and the history of that forsaken land!

Alexander the Great, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union failed to win in Afghanistan!

Do we really want our nation to be affected in the same negative fashion as what was visited on the old Soviet Union, leading to its economic and political collapse? 🙁

And does Barack Obama really want a left wing challenge from a Russ Feingold, a Michael Bloomberg, or someone else that will weaken his candidacy, and lead to a right wing Republican becoming President by default in the 2012 Presidential election? 🙁

It is clear that the American people want our sons and daughters to come home, as this constant warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan over this past decade has done great harm to American society and accomplished almost no progress, while killing and wounding thousands of the younger generation, with no results worth defending!:(

The British Media, BP And Anti American Sentiments: Shocking To An Anglophile! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

The author wishes to make it clear that he is an Anglophile, who admires and appreciates everything British, even though historically, as with any country, there are certainly criticisms that can be made of a nation’s sins in its past!

Therefore, it is very shocking to the author to witness the depth of the resentment expressed in the British media toward the United States, over the Oil Spill Crisis caused by the accident involving British Petroleum Corporation!

The BP mishandling of this environmental and economic disaster, and the insistence of the US government that BP is totally responsible for all costs of the resolution of this matter, has managed to cause a rift unseen in a long time!

The US and Great Britain have had a special relationship for a long time, going back to World War II. While the two nations have not always agreed on everything, and sometimes their leaders have been on different wavelengths on different foreign policy matters, it is something new to have the British media, famous for being extremely emotional on many issues, to make the United States government and its President the center of harsh criticism over something that even they should realize we as a nation have every right to be furious about!

To be demanding answers from BP at a Congressional hearing is not unreasonable! What is unreasonable is that BP acted in a totally aloof, evasive way, and has conducted terrible public relations on the Oil Spill Crisis in the past two months! 🙁

If Great Britain had suffered the same tragic economic and environmental disaster as a result of the mishandling and abuses of an American corporation, would not they be just as furious and demanding of action as our country is with BP? 🙁

Therefore, the British media reaction arouses resentment and anger in this country, rightfully, and it seems to the author, that their conduct is reprehensible!

Thank goodness, the British government has been more circumspect in its behavior, even thought it is obvious that British Prime Minister David Cameron is certainly uneasy and uncomfortable with how the United States citizenry, media and government have been expressing growing frustration with BP!

Neither nation, however, should allow the Oil Spill Crisis to undermine relations between two countries, which have been as close to “bosom buddies” as any two nations could possibly be over a long period of time!

The Greek Crisis Just The Tip Of The Iceberg! :( Europe In Crisis!

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The Greek economic crisis, leading to widespread riots and looting over the past two days, is an alarming development, which is likely to continue and to spread to other European nations which have debt crises and weak economies!

The Greeks are so overextended in debt that if it were not for the assistance of Germany, the strongest economy in Europe, it would go bankrupt and into chaos and anarchy. As it is, with Germany insisting on harsh cutbacks in the Greek economy, including dramatic cuts in pensions and benefits, the Greeks are involved in massive demonstrations that are rapidly getting out of control, with three bank workers killed after a bank building was set on fire.

The problem with Greece and, really, with many other nations, including the United States, is that too many wealthy people have been successful in evading taxes or paying far less than they should be expected to pay, and the middle class is becoming the victim, as well as the underclass, as a result of their selfishness and greed! 🙁

And in the midst of all this, the Republican party continues to be demagogic and promote lower taxes, acting as if government can exist without proper collection of taxes based on ability to pay. It is that party, under George W. Bush, which had a lot to do with the economic crisis this nation and the world faces! 🙁

The problem is that the so called PIIGS nations (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) are all in financial crisis, and it is affecting the value of the Euro currency, and now causing a stock market crisis as I write this! 🙁

The biggest irony of all this is that Germany (once the nation of Frederick the Great, Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Adolf Hitler), and the nation that caused two world wars and represented autocratic and dictatorial governments in its past, has become the savior of the nation which represents the emergence of democracy in the Western World in ancient times! Who would ever have imagined such a scenario?

The danger is that this European economic crisis could spread elsewhere, and already, there are hints that Great Britain, having its parliamentary elections today, may face a somewhat similar economic crisis, for the prime minister who is elected to head the House of Commons. It might be a mixed victory, something that might be regretted for the man who faces the future economic crisis in the United Kingdom!

And, ultimately, if this economic crisis goes ballistic, it will affect the economic future of Barack Obama’s presidency, and the fortunes of all Americans! 🙁