Month: January 2011

This is some seriously shallow analysis:

When Obama plays the hawk he also wins friends on the center and the right. We like our presidents to act “against type” — in other words, for Republicans to use carrots with our enemies, and for Democrats to use sticks. It suggests moderation and pragmatism: a president who isn’t a prisoner of ideology. So, for Obama, the act of being hawkish — almost regardless of how or where — encourages the image of a steadfast guardian of the Republic.

And presidents have more credibility when they deviate from expectations. After all, if a perceived dove like Obama favors escalation in Afghanistan, then perhaps it really is necessary.

Is Obama a hawk? Is he a hawk like John McCain? Is he “playing” a hawk?

What’s true is that the left would not be quiet about the escalation of the war in Afghanistan if a Republican were in office. The left would not be quiet about civil liberties if a Republican were in office. On some security related issues it does seem to add legitimacy that presidents of both parties feel they are necessary.

But, mostly what we have are a bunch of bedwetting politicians who are petrified of getting blamed for not doing enough to prevent a mass-casualty terrorist attack. It’s not about hawks and doves. It’s about guts, and it’s about priorities. Obama can’t even close Gitmo because of the bedwetting. But at least he’s trying, and that’s not something a hawk would do.

I wouldn’t call him a dove or a hawk. He’s the leader of a country that can’t stand to be made uncomfortable for two minutes.

AlJezeera reporting:

Israel has called on the United States and Europe to curb their criticism of president Hosni Mubarak “in a bid to preserve stability in Egypt” and the wider Middle East, an Israeli newspaper reports.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that the foreign ministry, in an urgent special cable, instructed its ambassadors to key countries, to “stress … the importance of Egypt’s stability”.

Increasingly, president Mubarak has been isolated by swift and at times harsh criticism from Western leaders who called for reform. It is unclear how angry Egyptians will interpret Israel’s apparent support for their government.

http://english.aljazeera.net/n...

Of course. We have paid off Egypt for the past thirty years to guard Israel’s western flank. Now we hear that Hillary is calling for a meeting of all US ambassadors in the Middle East. Is there a connection?  

“….officials say Clinton plans to meet personally with ambassadors from front-line states to hear about developments on the ground. Officials also expect that specific concerns about the WikiLeaks revelations will be raised.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/31/ap/politics/main7300991.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CBSNewsCourtWatch+(CBS+News%3A+Court+Watch)

Israel’s greatest fear, strange as it seems for “the only democracy in the Middle East,” is democracy, in Egypt and possibly other countries like Jordan and Syria. Clearly, democracy in Lebanon is already a threat.  

Trends in party political support since the 2007 general election

[Update 1/2/11 9.15PM] A new poll has just been published which shows Fine Gael at 30% (-4) and Sinn Fein returning to an earlier high point of 13% (+3). All other parties are the same. It is significant that Fianna Fail have received no further boost from the election of Michael Martin as leader and that Fine Gael have gone down despite (because of?) their meeting with Barroso. The Chart above has been updated to reflect these latest figures.[End Update]

Two new opinion polls published on 30th. January have given us additional data points on the likely outcome of the General Election to be called by Brian Cowen tomorrow (Tuesday) and expected to take place on 25th. February. Both polls were in the field last Wednesday and Thursday, after the Cowen implosion and just as Fianna Fail were electing their new leader, Michael Martin.

So what outcomes can we predict based on:

i)   The data to hand

ii)  Experience of previous polls/elections

iii) Campaign events to date?

1. Fianna Fail

As the most recent polls were in the field just as Michael Martin was being elected, it is unclear whether they capture the full effect of any Martin “bounce”, or, indeed, any criticisms and negative impacts his leadership may have.  There is certainly a concern that a Cork based leader will be of little help to many beleaguered FF candidates in Dublin.

However as several polls both before and after his election of shown, he is by far the most popular leader FF could have elected, and there is already some evidence that his effect on their polling will be generally positive.  The last comparable poll showed FF at 13%, so their current polling at 16% is already an improvement.  However a small poll (sample 200) front-paged by the Sunday Independent last week without any methodological details showed FF at only 8% at the height of the Cowen implosion.  So it is possible that the FF vote has already doubled since its low point.

There may also be a “shy voter” effect whereby some of those polled are embarrassed to admit to voting FF and this may be behind at least part of the rise in those saying they will vote Independent to 15%. As voters vote for candidates rather than parties under the Irish single transferable vote system, there may also be a local candidate effect whereby FF have a preponderance of well known and established incumbent candidates who are not shy of distancing themselves from the FF brand when it suits them.  

FF numbers generally improve as campaigns progress (they achieved 42% in the last election even though the average of their polls over the previous 6 months was only 38%) and their leader is now the most popular personality and perhaps most able debater. Most pundits would therefore expect FF to “achieve” c. 20% of the vote and 30+ seats – a huge decline from 42% and 77 seats at the 2007 general election.

2. Fine Gael

Fine Gael have been polling consistently in the mid 30’s in recent polls, and like Fianna Fail, tend to do better in the actual election than prior polls would suggest – they polled 27% in the last general election having averaged 24% in opinion polls over the previous 6 months. This is largely because their base – middle class, rural and older – tends to have a higher turnout at election time.

As against that, their Leader, Enda Kenny, has consistently polled badly and is regarded as a poor campaigner/debater. Under most circumstances, the electorate has difficulty in identifying policy differences between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael –  Fine Gael generally presenting itself as more prudent, competent, and ethical than Fianna Fail – as befits a party largely representing professional and propertied classes.  

However in this election Fine Gael has successfully differentiated itself from Fianna Fail by opposing the blanket bank bailout/guarantee  and by arguing for a renegotiation of the IMF/ECB deal.  They can thus present themselves as a genuine alternative despite the fact that in terms of economic ideology they are at least as elite orientated as Fianna Fail.  They just represent different strands of the elite!

It is thus likely that Fine Gael will be, by far, the largest party after the election, and may even have enough seats to form a minority Government with some independent support.  They would fit in very comfortably with the EPP majority within the EU.

3. Labour

This has been a difficult campaign to date for the Labour Party, squeezed on the left by Sinn Fein and the United Left Alliance (lumped under Independents in all polls to date); and on the right by a more assertive Fine Gael successfully differentiating themselves from Fianna Fail’s policies in Government.

Labour has lost c. 10% in the polls since its high point of 33% in Sept. 2010 when it actually out-polled Fine Gael by 33 to 24%. There are various views on why this has been the case. Fine Gael have recovered from a failed leadership heave against Enda Kenny  in June 2010. Many regard Labour’s refusal to countenance any prospect of working with Sinn Fein as a mistake – given that Sinn Fein have been able to work even with Loyalist parties in Northern Ireland.

Neither were Labour helped by a petulant performance by their Finance spokes-person, Joan Burton, in a television debate with the Socialist Party’s Joe Higgins MEP on “Tonight with Vincent Browne” – admittedly not helped by a characteristically boorish performance by the host.  For a flavour of this debate, see the you tube clip below:

The bottom line is that Labour is now fighting to retain second place against a slightly improving Fianna Fail and could end up (again) as the junior partner in a Government dominated by Fine Gael. Given Labour’s failure to develop any kind of working relationship with others on the left, and determination to work only with Fine Gael, it is a fate which they have perhaps created for themselves.

4. Sinn Féin

Given that Sinn Fein are the only party to have opposed the IMF/ECB bail-out in full, it is perhaps surprising to see their support declining from 13 to 10% in the last poll.  However their leader, Gerry Adams, is seen as a near illiterate on economic matters in a campaign dominated by economic issues. With only four TD’s in the outgoing parliament Sinn Fein have lacked effective spokes-persons with the exception of the recently elected successful candidate in the Donegal by-election, Pearse Doherty. Labour never misses an opportunity to remind all who will listen that Sinn Fein failed to oppose the Bank guarantee initially – almost certainly because of Sinn Féin’s inexperience in parliamentary manoeuvring.

Sinn Féin also, typically, does less well in actual elections as opposed to opinion polls, partly because (like all smaller parties) they do not run candidates in all constituencies, and also because their younger and working class base is less likely to turn out.  Undoubtedly they will significantly increase their parliamentary representation this time, but the moment when they might even have out-polled Fianna Fail is probably over, now that Brian Cowen has resigned as leader.

5. Greens

The Greens are bumping along the bottom within the 3% margin of error of most polls. However they are only running candidates in a few constituencies and some of these are high profile resigning Ministers.  The Greens may have regained some credibility by finally pulling the plug on the Government and they only need a few of their candidates to buck the national trend to be in with a chance of gaining a couple of seats. However they may only be clutching at some of the straws which have already broken the camel’s back…

6. Independents

Although they may form a technical group to obtain more parliamentary rights, the Independents tend to be quite a disparate group of small parties like Joe Higgin’s Socialist party and “colourful personalities” like Jackie Healy-Rae who are focused almost entirely on issues local to their constituencies.

Groups such as the United Left Alliance which includes the Socialist party, have (so far unsuccessfully) sought to persuade pollsters to disaggregate the Independents vote and poll the ULA separately. This is a not unreasonable request given that the Independents poll numbers have now risen to 15%, and the Green Party, which is polled separately, is down at 1 or 2%.  However much of the support for independents is of the “plague on all your houses” variety, some shy Fianna Failers, and a wide variety of local candidates with no collective brand identity, so it is very difficult to extrapolate those numbers into likely seats actually won. Many higher profile independents such as Senator Shane Ross, a stockbroker and financial journalist and author who has written widely condemning crony capitalism and bank bail-outs will undoubtedly do well.

Conclusion

Based on the above, I would expect an outcome something approximating to the following:

(Labour to do better than Fianna Fail in terms of seats on similar first preference vote totals because they attract much higher numbers of lower preference votes from all corners).

What is interesting about this outcome is that it is fundamentally unstable.  Fianna Fail are campaigning to go into opposition, not into Government. They have said they might support a minority Fine Gael Government if it implemented the IMF/ECB plan, but the entire history of Fianna Fail in opposition is to be as obstructive as possible, and it is difficult to see such an arrangement lasting for long.

Fine Gael, on their own, would have difficulty forming a Government as many independents and Sinn Fein are significantly to the left of them.  A Fine Gael Labour coalition would be incredibly unwieldy with an imbalanced 105/60 Government to Opposition split and with many disappointed bank-benchers not receiving a Ministerial job. The history of all coalitions is that the junior partner tends to be decimated at the next election, so why would Labour write it’s own death warrant to become, once again a 10% marginal party? (Ok ok, so why change the habits of a lifetime…)

Sinn Fein and the ULA have argued for a right-left re-alignment of Irish politics with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail forced to cohabitate and faced by a (more or less united) Labour/Sinn Fein/Independents opposition. Perhaps Labour’s biggest strategic mistake has been to rule out any alliance on the Left which left it with no option but to seek to coalesce with Fine Gael. Voters tend vote for leading parties, not junior partners, and Labour to form a Government on it’s own was never a credible alternative. Now even a second place finish by Labour is no longer a foregone conclusion.

On the numbers above, a Labour Fianna Fail coalition is just about feasible, but there is no way that I can see Fianna Fail agreeing to an arrangement which might consolidate its minority status in Irish politics.  Unlike Labour, Fianna Fail realises that it needs to play a long game if it is to capitalise on the unpopularity of a successor Government implementing more or less the policies it has institutionalised through the IMF/ECB deal.

Readers may wonder how the disastrous conduct of economic policy by the present Government could lead to so little change – a perhaps marginally renegotiated IMF/ECB plan implemented by a Fine Gael or Fine Gael/Labour government with a broadly similar economic ideology.  Why has the economic implosion of Ireland not led to a political implosion like Tunisia or Egypt? The presence of a broadly functioning democratic system is perhaps part of the answer. A broad consensus on EU membership and the responsibilities this entails is perhaps another reason.

But unless I am missing something rather dramatic, the economic implosion is not yet leading to political revolution, or even anything much more than a change of Government with marginally different policies.  However if the next Government fails to lift Ireland out of a deflationary/recessionary cycle, all political bets will be off as well.

After all, the only thing Judge Vinson (Federal District Court-FL) did was strike down a law Republicans hate. Trust me on this, that’s the meme we will be hearing from the media in the days to come regarding the decision to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act by Judge Vinson.

For most people, an “activist judge” is one whose opinions they don’t agree with. But Judge Vinson’s ruling today — that the entire health care law must be voided because he found one provision unconstitutional — really meets an indisputable definition of “activist.” […]

Simply ruling against the mandate puts any judge on the opposite side of the vast majority of expert legal opinion. But given just such ruling, a less “activist” judge could have stricken just the mandate, along with directly relevant provisions — like guaranteed issue and the ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. Vinson decided instead to “legislate from the bench” and scrap the subsidies, regulations, marketplaces, and other goodies the law creates that really have nothing to do with the mandate as well.

Brian Beutler at TPM is correct, of course. This is an example of extreme activism by a federal judge, but it won’t be portrayed that way by anyone outside of a few people on MsNBC. This means that health care reform that eliminates exclusions for pre-existing conditions and extends health insurance to your kids until the age of 26 are at risk. Those provisions are pretty important to me for my 21 year old son and my daughter). No doubt there is a provision in the law (eliminating the Medicare donut hole, health exchanges for people who cannot get health care anyplace else, etc.) that will impact you or someone you care about.

Yet, I doubt you will hear a peep from any Republican about Vinson’s activism. They will be cheering him as a true devotee of the Founders’ original intent. I can;t wait to see the first quotes from Republican politicians claiming that something James Madison or Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton said back in 1789 or 1803 or whatever year they choose supports Judge Vinson.

Now the question becomes whether the 11th Circuit will uphold Vinson’s extreme action. In any event this case is headed for the Supreme Court. So once again, we will be left to the mercy of Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court, since he is the swing vote on an issue like this one. I’ll but Justice Scalia or Roberts interns have already started to draft opinions arguing that what Judge Vinson did was all perfectly proper.

Here is some interesting information from Haaretz in Israel.

“The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren’t considering their genuine interests,” one senior Israeli official said. “Even if they are critical of Mubarak they have to make their friends feel that they’re not alone. Jordan and Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how everyone is abandoning Mubarak, and this will have very serious implications.”

Of course, the U.S. and the Europeans are pursuing their interests as they see them. What they are not doing is pursuing Israel’s interests. And Israel is growing alarmed in exactly the same way that this “senior Israel official” says that the Kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia are growing alarmed.

Israel called on the United States and a number of European countries over the weekend to curb their criticism of President Hosni Mubarak to preserve stability in the region.

Jerusalem seeks to convince its allies that it is in the West’s interest to maintain the stability of the Egyptian regime. The diplomatic measures came after statements in Western capitals implying that the United States and European Union supported Mubarak’s ouster…

…Senior Israeli officials, however, said that on Saturday night the Foreign Ministry issued a directive to around a dozen key embassies in the United States, Canada, China, Russia and several European countries. The ambassadors were told to stress to their host countries the importance of Egypt’s stability. In a special cable, they were told to get this word out as soon as possible.

What’s at stake is the peace agreement that Egypt has shared with Israel since the Camp David Accords were signed in 1979. Despite losing two wars with Israel in 1967 and 1973, it was still plausible in 1979 that Egypt might threaten Israel again. It’s not plausible anymore. Israel is now clearly a nuclear-armed country, and their military is much stronger now relative to Egypt than it was in the 1970’s. Israel doesn’t really need a peace treaty with Egypt to assure its survival, but the treaty does allow it to enjoy a smaller. less mobilized military than would otherwise be the case. The main reason they want to keep the peace treaty with Egypt is for the purposes of public relations and world opinion. The status quo allows Israel to continue the fiction that they are working towards a peaceful conclusion of the Palestinian question.

The truth is that starting in 1982, the Israelis abandoned any good-will intention to return the land they occupied in the 1967 war. They did this by adopting Ariel Sharon’s deliberate plan to build permanent settlements in the conquered territory. Here’s how Sharon explained his vision.

“In my opinion what determines our fate for many generations to come are the Jewish settlements. Without underestimating the importance of war and military combat in the defense of our country, I think that in establishing settlements in the Galilee, in the Negev, in the Golan Heights, in Judea and Samaria, in the Jordan Valley and in the Gaza Strip I had the privilege as the chairman of the Settlement Affairs Ministers Committee and as the Defense Minister to decide about the establishing 230 settlements all over Israel, more than 60 of which in the Galilee. To me, the settlements are the most important thing…

…”The most important motive for settlement is historic. It was a mistake, of mine too, that for 30 years I did not stress enough the historic significance of establishing settlements in Judea and Samaria. This is indeed the birthplace of the Jewish people, and feeling your rights, which is a crucial component of security, depends first and foremost on the fact that you live in a place that’s yours. To think that only the security factor is important was a mistake. Throughout the years, when I explained why Israel should keep Judea and Samaria and other regions, I emphasized only security reasons. While it is true that there’s no alternative to the minimal depth problem, there’s always the possibility that someone would say: ‘To solve this security problem we grant you such and such aid or guarantees or means to cope.’ The security issue is of a temporary nature and a moot point, while the historic issue, which is the real issue, if far stronger than anything else. It was a mistake. Not a personal, but rather a Zionist one. The center of attraction to Israel is the Bible stories. The holidays, the seasons, the landscapes – everything is historic. Mearat Hamachpela (Tomb of the Patriarchs) – what nation in the world has such a monument, of almost 4,000 years, where the forefathers are buried, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah? We come to the United States and see Jefferson’s tomb and the Lincoln Memorial, and millions of people come and observe with excitement a thing that is 200 years old. And here we see sites that are thousands years old. This element gives power and a feeling that you have a right.”

Obviously, this violated the letter and the spirit of the Camp David Accords which formed the predicate for the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. As far as I am concerned, once it was decided under Begin to permanently settle the occupied territories, there was no real reason for Egypt to honor their peace treaty. I don’t mean by that they should go to war with Israel, but neither should they go on pretending that Israel has honored their end of the deal.

Without Mubarak, there is no guarantee that an Egyptian government will continue on with the pretense that Israel is on path to creating an independent Palestine. That has not been their intention since at least the time that Sharon was given carte blanche to treat the occupied territories as Israel’s property.

And, the important thing about this? It makes people incredibly angry and they blame the United States and our allies for letting it go on…and on…and on.

That will continue to be true with or without Mubarak. And there has to be a limit to how much pain America is willing to suffer for being a party to this injustice. If Israel doesn’t wake up in a major way, and soon, they may discover that are as friendless as Hosni Mubarak is today.

I agree with James Fallows. Jon Huntsmen needs to shit or get off the pot. He cannot continue to serve as our ambassador to China while gearing up to run for the Republican nomination for president. If he isn’t going to run, he needs to make that crystal clear, and if he is going to run, he needs to resign his post. The former Utah governor is a more qualified and more plausible than anyone currently thinking about challenging Obama. If the Republican base has a practical bone in their bodies, they’ll easily nominate Huntsman, and he would probably win, or come very close to winning. Fortunately, there is no evidence that the Republican base is in any mood to be practical, and experts think Huntsman would fail to win the nomination. I wouldn’t be so sure.

Regardless, Huntsman can’t simultaneously serve in the administration and work to undercut it.

No one wants to talk about the Nazis (or in the case of Fox News, admit that they do). Bad form and all that. Yet, we have real people inspired by the Nazis who live in our society and they are indeed a real and present danger.

One of these people is Jeff Harbin who was arrested in the Tucson are on January 14th by police when they found “12 grenade-like improvised explosive devices built with PVC pipe filled with black powder, ball bearings and an improvised fusing system.” in his truck. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 28th for illegal possession and transport of explosive devices.

Here’s how the US District Attorney described these IED’s found in Harbin’s possession:

“Jeffrey Harbin built these IEDs in such a way as to maximize human carnage,” said Dennis K. Burke, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.

The local chapter of the National Socialist Movement denied that Harbin was still a member of their organization. How convenient for them. Nonetheless, the report by ABC15.com states that its reporter’s sources believe more arrests in the case are expected. It’s possible that Harbin constructed these 12 grenade like explosive devices by himself, of course. It’s possible that the National Socialist Movement had nothing to do with his actions and that their ideology had no influence on him whatsoever. It’s possible that he built these “IEDs in such a way as to maximize human carnage” just for fun and did not intend to ever use them to attack human beings, by himself or in league with others.

It’s also possible that someday pigs will fly.

What we do know is that domestic terrorism is real. Just as JT Ready, the very individual who admits he recruited Jeff Harbin to join the National Socialist Movement.

Of course, no surprise, JT says he is no longer a member of the National Socialist Movement either, nor would he answer any questions about what Harbin intended to do with his stash of explosive, human killing devices. But at least he admits domestic terrorism is real.

I just wish our national news media would cover stories regarding right wing domestic terrorists to the same extent that they cover stories regarding “Islamic terrorists.” After all if the man who made these remarks …

“This is a white, European homeland. That’s how it should be preserved if we want to keep it clean, safe, and pure.”
–Ready speaking at a National Socialist Movement rally in Oct. 24, 2009

“The jew [sic] itself knows it is a parasite. I have had them admit as much to me and laugh in my face… But a parasite cannot carry on in its parasitic nature if it is exposed for what it really is. Their whole house of cards comes tumbling down for all to see. Like in 1933 Germany. Just because it has two legs, does not change its nature any less than a six-legged parasite stops sucking blood. There have been many pogroms when the host people stops being victims of these vampires. Another pogrom is approaching.”
–New Saxon blog posting, May 8, 2010

“This is the minuteman project on steroids. We’ve got people with assault weapons. We will use lawful, deadly force when appropriate.”
— KOLD News 13, June 21, 2010

… says domestic terrorism is real, I’m inclined to believe him.

.
A member of Dutch parliament states the party of Geert Wilders has no foreign policy beyond Flanders (Belgium) and Israel. In the new minority cabinet, the post of FM is in the hands of right-wing Liberal Freedom Party (VVD) Uri Rosenthal. Recently he made clear he would personally stop Dutch funds going to the Electronic Intifada, a Palestinian support group. I was afraid he was on a campaign to change Dutch foreign policy moving away from the European Union and more closely tied to the US and Israel concerning the Arab countries, Middle-East and Iran.

The hanging of Dutch-Iranian citizen Zahra Bahrami proofs this point of mine. Rosenthal’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ was in fact a refusal to communicate to Iranian ambassador and diplomats and following a hard line Likud policy. His argument is based on  the human rights abuse in Iran and the lack of a democratic government. In a Dutch radio interview, Uri Rosenthal admitted to these facts this morning. Uro Rosenthal stayed under the radar for many years and quietly moved up in the ranks of Dutch politics. Uri Rosenthal became a paid ‘security expert’ in The Netherlands and got lucrative government funds for his ‘research.’ In The Netherlands, I’m pretty critical of decades of blind support for Israel and it’s policy of occupation and building illegal settlements on the West-Bank.

Amsterdam Schiphol airport was a free haven for moving military arms, ammunition, precursor materials for chemical and biological warfare. It was a hub for moving US Army and Air Force parts to Israel during their military campaigns of 1967, 1973 and undoubtedly for the Lebanon Wars and Gaza oppression.

The true nature of these goods became clear to the world and the citizens of The Netherlands when a El Al Boeing 747 freight jetliner crashed ona suburb of Amsterdam. Israel refused for years to come forward with any information of goods carried on board. The lives of many police, firemen, rescuers and the local community were harmed or destroyed by toxic fumes and residues.

  Iran hangs woman held after protests

  Dutch FM a Likud Spokesperson

The Dutch, Israel and Airport Security

Major cover-up in 1992 :: Crash El Al Boeing 747-200P cargo plane in Amsterdam

There are many duplicate sources, I lived through the EL AL disaster and aftermath in the Netherlands. The Dutch government was complicit to protect the state of Israel rather than care for the health of its citizens.

October 4, 2009 marked the 17th anniversary of the worst air disaster in Dutch history. It also was the date of the beginning of one of the largest scandals and cover-ups in the history of the Dutch government and it involved Israel, Mossad, the US, El Al, secret and illegal chemical weapons transfers, unconfirmed allegations of weapons-grade plutonium, and as many as 2,000 local residents and firemen eventually reporting health complaints.

 « click  

Israeli ICTS Connection To Pollard & Schiphol Airport

Amsterdam El Al Crash Exposed Israel’s Chemical Weapons Arsenal

My earlier diaries …

Sharing Intelligence with Mossad

Israeli Security Failure at Amsterdam Airport

The Dutch, Israel and Airport Security – Part 2

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

I think it is safe to say that progressives did not cause the loss of a single seat in Congress through the use of primary challenges to incumbents or moderate candidates. But that isn’t stopping some people from whining.

Clearing primaries for members and discouraging liberal groups from spending against incumbents should be a priority for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, [Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA)] said. “It would definitely help, I think. You need to talk to those groups.”

DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) brushed aside concerns about contested primaries limiting his party’s chances.

“I have not had to worry about that yet,” Israel said. “I haven’t had to even contemplate urging people not to run. The net is wide open. And then we’ll make decisions as we go forward.”

It’s possible to screw things up by adopting unrealistic purity tests. We all saw that happen with the Tea Party. But it didn’t happen on our side. We lost almost every single competitive contest in the country, regardless of funding, the quality of the candidate, the campaign strategy, or the quality of the opponent. We lost because our base didn’t turn out and their base did. It’s that simple. Under the circumstances, nothing in the known universe could have saved Blanche Lincoln, or countless other backstabbers. But voting progressive wouldn’t have saved them either. In the last election cycle, the only thing that could have mitigated disaster would have been something that created real fear or real excitement in our base. Individual candidates had no control over that. As for excitement, our opinion leaders were too busy nit-picking to do anything but crush what little excitement that might have existed.

Sometimes, it’s just not your cycle.

A white male Californian named Roger Stockham was arrested earlier this week when he was caught by police in Dearborn, MI with explosives. Stockholm has been charged with “one count on a threat of terrorism or false report and one count of explosive-possession of bombs with unlawful intent for possession” based on an alleged plot to bomb a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan. Stockham, allegedly made threats against the mosque and stated he came to the Detroit Metropolitan Area in Michigan because of the high percentage of Muslims who reside there. He was literally arrested while sitting in his car in the parking lot of one of the largest mosques in America:

cont.

The suspect was arrested in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn on Monday, while hundreds were inside the mosque that sits along Ford Road, police said. […]

“He’s very dangerous,” Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad told the Free Press. “We took his threat to be very serious.” […]

“He’s had a long history of being angry with the United States government,” Haddad said. […]

Haddad said that a witness said that Stockham was planning to blow up the mosque. The suspect “appeared to be acting alone,” Haddad said. “His threat has been mitigated.”

An employee at a local bar called police after overhearing violent threats allegedly made by the man, Islamic Center of America Executive Administrator Kassem Allie said. The employee was afraid that Stockham was going to target Muslims or Arabs in the area, he said. […]

Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly said the suspect “had a lot of high-end fireworks.”

“It was the max you could buy legally.”

They were not “conventional explosives,” O’Reilly said. “But at that level, those things misused are terrific weapons.”

Obviously, this is no longer the type of incident that surprises anyone these days. Not after the Tucson Massacre. Not after the murder of two nine year old girls in Arizona by politically motivated terrorists, one white (Christina Green) and one Hispanic (Brisenia Flores).

And certainly not after the foiled bomb plot in Spokane, Washington, where a sophisticated bomb laced with metal fragments and a chemical found in rat poison, located along the route of a parade held to honor Martin Luther King , was discovered and defused before it could be detonated with the intent to kill and maim as many parade participants as as possible:

CNN, citing a law enforcement official, confirmed that the chemical is found in rat poison and that the shrapnel consisted of small metal pellets. The Spokesman-Review first reported the chemical-shrapnel mix Tuesday, noting that rat poison is used to prevent blood from coagulating.

No, the report of another crazed right wing terrorist intent on attacking one of the many “enemies of America” that hate radio and conservative television hosts rail about on a daily basis can hardly be said to be surprising. Nor is the fact that President Obama’s Tucson Memorial speech seeking a respite in the use of such violent and hatefukl invective against Gays, Liberals, Democrats, Hispanics, African Americans, and Muslims (to name but a few groups targeted by conservative hate mongers) has been met with disdain and rejected by the very same propagators of the hatred evidenced by the “lone wolf” whack jobs they clearly mean to incite (in my humble opinion).

We have heard no apologies from Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Bill O’Reilly or Sarah Palin or Michelle bachmann (or the many other lesser lights of the conservative and Tea Party Movement who mimic their rhetoric) for the violent acts to which such reckless and hateful speech invariably leads. We have heard Republican and Tea Party Senator Mike Lee make the ridiculous and inane claim that toning down the hate filled rhetoric from the right would allow the Tucson shooter to win as if this is all just a game and the deaths and injuries suffered by the victims of Tucson are irrelevant to our political discourse.

We have seen Sarah Palin’s gall on display when she stated that she was the real victim of the shooting because her “targeting of Democrats” by placing sniper scope cross hairs over their Congressional Districts (including the district of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) was criticized as dangerous and threatening. We’ve known that former Democratic Congressman Dreihaus had a brick thrown through the window of his home and received death threats after now Speaker of the House John Boehner issued a statement last March that that Dreihaus “may be a dead man” if he returned to his home district after voting for health care reform:

Last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner of West Chester warned that anti-abortion Democrats would suffer politically if they voted for the health care bill, singling out Rep. Steve Driehaus by saying he “may be a dead man” and that he “can’t go home to the west side of Cincinnati” because “the Catholics will run him out of town.” […]

Driehaus’ press secretary Tim Mulvey complained today about the “far-right-wing” Whistleblower publishing Driehaus’ home address. Here’s what he said:

The Whistleblower, a far-right-wing publication in Cincinnati, today published Rep. Driehaus’s home address with a link to directions, urging readers to protest at the Congressman’s home this Sunday. Today’s headline in The Whistleblower is “Tea Party Vows Revenge.”

This comes during the same one-week period that a right-wing special interest group published a photo of Rep. Driehaus and his children, the local Democratic Party headquarters in Cincinnati had a brick thrown through its front window, and Rep. Driehaus’s office received death threats.

So, the fact that a right wing nut job planned to bomb a mosque and kill innocent Muslims in attendance there is not surprising. Sadly, despite the President’s appeal and the best efforts of all decent Americans who know that a political culture that devolves into nothing more than scapegoating and blaming one’s opponents for all the nation’s ills does a disservice to all Americans. Such angry, distasteful and dangerous rhetoric puts innocent lives at risk. Yet, it seems the violent language of the right and the on-going demonization of their political opponents and minorities will not stop. Therefore, we can expect more incidents like the Tucson Massacre, and further attempts by right wing domestic terrorists which were narrowly averted in Spokane and Dearborn in our immediate future.