Middle East

The Gasoline Mythology And Barack Obama’s Public Opinion Ratings

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After having improved his public opinion ratings in recent months, with the improvement in unemployment numbers and other successes, suddenly Barack Obama has witnessed a dramatic drop in poll ratings, due primarily to the rise in gasoline prices.

Apparently, the people polled feel that Barack Obama is out to cost them more money in purchase of gasoline for their cars and trucks.

This is totally preposterous, as the facts are that NO PRESIDENT can control the price of gasoline, which is controlled by foreign conditions in the Middle East and elsewhere, and by manipulation of prices by the oil companies and their wealthy supporters, including the Koch Brothers.

The oil companies have heard that Obama wants to cut down oil subsidies on taxypayers’s backs, so this is the way they can undermine him, while making even more obscene profits than ever before.

And of course, the instability over Iran’s development of nuclear capability also contributes to uncertainty, when it comes to the future of oil prices, mostly based on hysteria and panic, rather than reason.

This is not the first time that a President has been undermined by oil prices that he could not control. Ask former President Jimmy Carter about how oil prices rising in 1979 and 1980 harmed his quest for re-election.

Nothing could please conservatives and Republicans more than to see Obama defeated, and then the oil lobby would be in full control of the White House and Capitol Hill, and we would be far worse off!

The gasoline prices will simply make Obama’s battle for re-election tougher, as he will have to try to reason with voters that he has no control over that issue, which again, I wish to reiterate, is the truth!

Barack Obama Advice From Yogi Berra: “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”!

Ronald 1 Comment

There will be the tendency for Barack Obama supporters to feel good after Super Tuesday, and feel that Barack Obama has a second term in the White House in the bag.

That would be the worst assumption possible!

On paper, yes, things are looking good as the GOP race for the Presidential nomination continues, and Mitt Romney looks in trouble, and Rick Santorum, who most logical people cannot see having any chance to win the nomination or election, continues to do well, particularly in the heartland of the nation.

Eight months to go until the election, and the world can turn upside down and inside out, in less than that amount of time.

We could have a major war in the Middle East against Iran, or another economic downturn, which could be triggered by that war with Iran.

Unforeseen circumstances we cannot imagine could occur, and the tides could turn.

Remember that Thomas E. Dewey was ahead of Harry Truman in 1948; Richard Nixon ahead of John F. Kennedy in 1960; Jimmy Carter ahead of Ronald Reagan in 1980; Michael Dukakis ahead of George H. W. Bush in 1988; George H. W. Bush ahead of Bill Clinton in 1992; and Al Gore ahead of George W. Bush in 2000 to the end, but not considering the electoral vote issue that would help Bush in the end.

There is plenty of work ahead for the Obama team, and they cannot afford to be cocky.

They need to remember the admonition of Yankee great, catcher Yogi Berra, who is famous for his line about baseball games: “It ain’t over till it’s over”!

No more true statement can be expressed regarding politics, as well as sports!

The Clash Of The Future Now: Arizona As Ground Zero

Ronald 1 Comment

The state of Arizona is a perfect example of a right wing state clashing with the future, and it is now Ground Zero.

This is the state of Governor Jan Brewer, just about the most despicable woman politician, not an easy thing to say when one thinks of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, but she fits the bill with her words and actions, including her disrespect shown to the President Barack Obama by pointing her finger at him, and lying about it and many other things.

This is the state of Senator Jon Kyl, thankfully retiring at the end of this year, with his former respectable image destroyed by evidence of bias, prejudice, and loads of stupid statements in the past few years.

This is the state of Senator John McCain, once respectable and moderate, but now old and grouchy and ready to take America into another Middle Eastern war anytime.

This is the state of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, being investigated on charges of violating the rights of prisoners and mistreatment of Hispanics, whether legal or illegal, and not caring about image or violations and abuses, as he promotes a “tough guy” image embarrassing to his state.

This was the state of Russell Pearce, who thankfully was recalled by the voters of his state senate district, but was infamous for anti immigrant and pro gun legislation seen as very extreme.

This is the state of Paul Babeu, Pinal County Sheriff, another “tough guy” and hardline against illegal immigration, who is now shown to have had a sexual relationship with an Hispanic male, which has now become a scandal and will hamper his attempt to serve as a Republican in the next Congress.

This is the state which has a state senate which has banned ethnic studies courses for Hispanics as undermining their “Americanism”, and a state legislature which passed the infamous SB 1070 immigration bill now being challenged by the US government in court.

This is the state which has been judged by NATIONAL JOURNAL to have the second most conservative House of Representatives delegation, only behind, regrettably, my resident state of Florida. Notice that I say “resident”, as this author and blogger still identifies as a New Yorker, the state he lived in, went to school in, and worked in, until moving to Florida in 1989. The fact that New York’s House delegation is rated seventh most liberal, behind only Hawaii and five New England states makes this author proud!

Getting back to Arizona, the state, despite these disgraceful “public servants” and legislative record of discrimination and prejudice, is rapidly changing demographically, and can best be described as having two groups migrating to the state over time—older white retirees, and young Hispanics and Latinos, which guarantees continued clashes, but with young Hispanics and Latinos having the advantage for the future.

Thirty percent of Arizona is now Hispanic, compared to 58 percent white, and over the next decade, it is possible that whites will become less than the majority of Arizonans, and this will affect its politics dramatically.

Some think Arizona could go to Barack Obama, in the Presidential Election of 2012, although that still seems unlikely. But by 2020 and after, the Democrats will have a great advantage, as will be the case in Texas as well.

So the white population is facing a future in which it will NOT control the agenda, the state legislature, or the House delegation or the Senate seats. This is the clash of the future, already displaying itself now, as Arizona is becoming Ground Zero in the recognition of the transformation of America that will be national in the next generation!

Another Moral Lapse: Syria Added To Cambodia And Rwanda

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Any decent human being, witnessing the horrors of a Holocaust in Syria, as the world sits by and takes no action to stop the massacre of the citizenry by the government of Bashar Al Assad, feels helpless.

This massacre has been going on for almost a year now, and yet no nation or group of nations is doing anything other than to express horror at what is going on. In America, there is a feeling that we cannot intervene, as Barack Obama did in Libya, because of lack of international support and the exhaustion felt in this country about our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iranian influence in Syria, which also prevents intervention, as Russia and China side with both nations, is in itself an alarm bell, that could be looked upon in the future as a tremendous mistake that causes a worse overall situation in the Middle East, and endangers Israeli national security.

No one is saying that it is an easy decision to think of American intervention in Syria, but the feeling of helplessness is disturbing.

We must not forget that the world stood by as the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia slaughtered 2.5 million between 1975 and 1978, during the administrations of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

And we must not forget that the world stood by as we had the mass murder of about two thirds of a million in Rwanda in 1994 during the administration of Bill Clinton.

Will we be able to keep our heads from being in shame when we look back at this time in the future?

The Reverend Franklin Graham: A Hypocrite Of Massive Proportions!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Reverend Franklin Graham, the son and inheritor of the mantle of the Reverend Billy Graham, now 93 years old, has never been the equal of his father, and today on Morning Joe on MSNBC, he proved just how hypocritical a person he is!

Graham claimed he did now know if Barack Obama is a Christian, but would take him at his word, although he was troubled that Obama’s father, grandfather and great grandfather from Kenya were Muslims, and could understand that many would have doubts about his Christianity. He said he thought Obama might secretly be a Muslim, because Obama was working to give the Islamic faith a “free pass” by promoting the idea of contacts with the Islamic world, and was failing to protect Christians in Islamic nations from attack. Actually, Obama HAS issued a statement calling upon Islamic countries to protect the rights of minority religious groups, including Christians, but Graham conveniently lied about that fact. Graham has also earlier questioned whether Obama was born in the United States, making him a “birther”, at least in the past.

Franklin Graham measures whether one is a “good Christian” based on what they say, EXCEPT for Barack Obama!

Franklin Graham decides that one is religious, based on church attendance, when that proves absolutely nothing about a person.

What proves whether anyone is “religious” is his or her treatment of other human beings on a daily basis, on how he or she judges others, on whether one keeps an open mind, and does not condemn people who have other religious beliefs.

Graham also expressed doubts about Mitt Romney being a Christian, as he pointed out that many Christians thought that the Mormon Church was not a Christian church.

But he had no doubts that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were Christians, taking them at their word, although he pointed out that both were Catholics, and that Protestants had differences with Catholic beliefs.

Basically, for a evangelical Christian like Franklin Graham, there is a quandary as he is faced with a person he thinks may be Muslim, a Mormon, and two Catholics. This, plus the fact that the US Supreme Court has six Catholics and three Jews is troubling to those who have problems with both Catholics and Jews. He accepts Santorum and Gingrich as “better” than a ‘ secret Muslim” and a Mormon, but is obviously troubled that his way of looking at religion is not found in any of the possible Presidential candidates!

What it comes down to is that Franklin Graham is a hypocrite big time, and an embarrassment to his father, the Reverend Billy Graham. He is not the worthy successor of his father by any standard one can create!

Reality Of America’s Future: The Growing Role Of Asian Americans

Ronald 2 Comments

In the midst of “Linmania”, the rise of Jeremy Lin to stardom in the National Basketball Association, we are seeing people promoting humor about Asian Americans, specifically in the case of Jeremy Lin being Chinese, but we are also seeing the ugly tone of racism rearing its ugly head.

The fact that Asian Americans of all nationalities are high achievers academically is causing resentment among other racial and ethnic groups, which in itself is a sign of racism by people who have themselves experienced racism.

And of course, whites who are uncomfortable with the growing diversity of America’s population are alarmed at what this means, although hopefully, the number with such feelings is miniscule. But face the facts, that there are those who are nativists and racists and join paramilitary organizations determined to keep America’s white Christian population in control of the future.

But it must be recognized by all Americans that the growing role of Asian Americans of all backgrounds is the reality of the future in this nation.

While smaller in numbers than Hispanics and Latinos on one hand, and African Americans on the other hand, the Asian American population is rapidly growing, and will be an influential part of America long term.

The average American is certainly not aware that Asia is the largest continent with THIRTY percent of all land on earth; that Asia contains SIXTY percent of the world’s people; and that six countries have EIGHTY percent of all the population of the continent (China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan); and that if Pakistan and Bangladesh had not separated in a civil war 41 years ago, the combined Pakistan would be larger than Indonesia.

The future of the world is in Asia, and the defense and economic growth of America is based on what happens in Asia, as well as the growing Asian population in America. No wonder Barack Obama has said that our focus must be on Asia in the future, not the Middle East as the priority, as it has been, even though much of the Middle East is actually in Asia. But he is referring to East and South Asia, where the major population countries exist, not West Asia, also known as the Middle East.

And remember that our wars in the past century have focused on Asia, with Japan the enemy in World War II; North Korea and China in the Korean War; North Vietnam and China in the Vietnam War; and the Soviet Union, a Eurasian power our enemy during the Cold War years. And wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are also Asian wars, although not technically in East or South Asia.

So we must as a nation learn more about and understand Asia, and specific nations and cultures in Asia, and understand the role and significance of Asian Americans in our country’s future.

There is no room for the kind of discrimination visited against the Chinese and Japanese in the past, as well as generalized nativism against Asians of all backgrounds that expresses itself even today, and even with the success of Jeremy Lin. It is time for enlightened understanding for our country’s economic future and security and safety!

Newt Gingrich: The Demagogue, The Bully, The Narcissist, Revealed Again!

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been shown to be a full scale demagogue, and Mitt Romney showed Gingrich’s hypocrisy again and again in last night’s debate, leading to the belief that Romney has recovered from his defeat in very conservative South Carolina, and now is more likely than ever to be the GOP nominee.

Gingrich is a demagogue on the level of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon; he is a bully; he is a narcissist par excellence; he is a man without any morals, ethics or scruples, except his own aggrandizement!

Newt Gingrich is willing to victimize the poor; he is willing to behave as a racist; he is willing to lie without any shame; he is willing to stir up anti Islamic hatred; he is willing to stir up trouble in the Middle East by claiming that Palestinians do not exist; he is willing to sacrifice wives as disposables for his own ambitions; and he is willing to use incendiary language against the President of the United States, and in so doing, encourage lack of respect for the person holding the office, in a way that no other President has EVER been treated!

The people he has worked with in the Republican Party and in Congress have turned against him, and the conservative ideologists have mostly abandoned him, with the major exception of Michael Reagan, Ronald Reagan’s adopted son, and conservative talk show host.

It cannot be soon enough for Newt Gingrich to be removed from the attention of the national news media. Maybe Florida will be the place of his “Waterloo”, and if so, NOT soon enough, as he makes the word “politician” a dirty word, which it should not be!

An Outrage And Dangerous Concept For Jewish Newspaper Publisher To Even Suggest Obama Assassination!

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It is absolutely shocking and reckless that the publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times suggested that Israel’s Secret Service, the Mossad, assassinate President Obama, because of the belief that Obama is out to harm Israel’s security.

According to Andrew Adler, Israel needed to strike against terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, attack Iran, and assassinate Obama, to insure the safety of Israel.

While backing away from his statement, which many Jewish leaders denounced, it still should lead to a Secret Service investigation against Adler, for advocating violence against our government and President.

And just imagine the horror if such an event were to occur, whether successful or not. It would lead to a national revulsion against the state of Israel, including calling for removal of all foreign aid to that nation; the end of the US-Israeli military alliance; the condemnation by millions of Americans of Israel as a terrorist nation; and the end, forever, of any possibility of the two nations ever working in support of their common goals in the Middle East. It would transform the Middle East and the geopolitical scene in a very destructive manner!

Defense Cuts Coming: Unavoidable, And Reasonable Long Term

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The Pentagon, Secretary of State Leon Panetta, and President Barack Obama have announced plans for the future of our military, which are unavoidable and reasonable long term.

The philosophy behind the defense plans is that present costs for military spending, and trying to have the capability for involvement in two major wars at the same time, is unsustainable in the present economic climate.

Instead, involvement in one major war, with ability to send troops to a second theater of war, with eventual commitment of some troops from the first theater of war over time, is the best that America can do.

Also, the goal is to face the reality that future military personnel cannot have the same expenditures on families, health care costs, salaries, and pensions, as those costs now are beginning to become a financial burden on the American treasury.

Also, the major focus will be on the area of Asia and the Pacific, rather than the Middle East, where so much effort has been concentrated . The thought is that China, North Korea, and Pakistan are the major challenges for the long term future, and should be given the focus of our attention, without forgetting about Iran.

The one way not mentioned to change this reality is to start heavier taxation, particularly of the wealthy, as cutting of entitlements, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is not acceptable in any major fashion. We will have tp pay as we go if we want everything to be what everyone wants, but right now, that is not possible, so we need to concentrate on where it is felt the major challenges are in the future.

We must also face a more restrained use of military force in general, and more modest foreign policy goals, and deal with the internal problems this nation faces.

Conventional forces will be de-emphasized in favor of counter terrorist actions and “irregular” warfare, and greater investment in long range stealth bombers and anti missile systems.

Fighting regional wars, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be no longer a goal of the military, causing long periods of commitment and wearing down the budget costs.

The goal is to cut defense spending by $480 billion over the next decade, but if Congress fights over it, automatic cuts could rise to $1 trillion!

Special Forces troops, elite counter terrorist troops, and armed drones are the future of the military, with a decline in conventional ground forces.

The Army and Marine Corps would decline in numbers, and fewer troops would be stationed in Europe, in order to allow greater deployment into the Asia-Pacific theater.

This plan for the future will lead to a fight in Congress, but what else is new?

New Foreign Policy Initiative: US Marines In Australia, A Challenge To China

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President Barack Obama, on his visit to Australia and Indonesia, has made a new initiative in foreign policy by arranging with Australia for the establishment of a US military presence, approximately 2,500 marines, starting in 2012, and being fully accomplished by 2016.

This is a veiled warning to China on security interests of both Australia and the United States, and an indication that the US is facing the reality that the major center of world affairs in the 21st century will not be the Middle East, as important as that is, but rather East Asia, with the growing influence of China, along with the significance of Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia, plus the South Asian nations of India and Pakistan.

The population of the nations mentioned above are a majority of the world’s people.

This is, therefore, a path breaking event, another indication of how Barack Obama is changing the course of American foreign policy and national security for the long run, beyond his time in the Presidency!