Egrets, I've had a few.* Lazy Sunday at the Last Manatee

* shamelessly ripped off from DailyKos blogger "Kestrel".

The tension is mounting here as the Psychic Octopus is one away from a perfect World Cup. Germany has won and we are only hours away from Netherlands versus Barcelona (let's be honest here). Does the Octopus win a fish prize?

Remember the Hutaree Militia out of Michigan? It seems one of their members was arrested yesterday for plotting to kill President Obama, during his trip to the Midwest.

Amitai Etzioni has a new proposal for small government conservatives. He proposes that the Department of Justice prepare legal opt-out forms where you can have your taxes decreased by 2/3rds if you agree not to partake of any government services, with the exception of the military. My objection is that Etzioni calculates the cost of the military wrong--it's 40% of discretionary spending. So you get a 60% reduction on your taxes instead.

Ezra Klein, policy wonk at the Washington Post, saved us $4 trillion on our national debt this past week. So instead of going on a roll, he decides to play the party pooper. You know all the hype about elections, the media coverage, the campaign expenditures and the like. Well, it doesn't matter. Ezra found some geeks who have played around with their computers and says the results of the elections within 2% error depends on the state of the economy and that specifically means how much money people feel they have in their pockets. Forget everything else. Of course, this year that's bad news for Democrats. If this catches on, it may be bad news for all the political hired hands.

The American Psychological Association wants Dr. James Mitchell stripped of his license for his participation in overseeing the 2002 torture of Abu Zubayah,who was thought to be the Number 3 of Al Qaeda. The APA warned members from participating in all programs that were considered torture during the last eight years. Since the proceedings are in Texas, it's anyone's guess about the result. For the record, classified documents have come out within the past month from the Government which indicate Abu Zubayah may not even had been a member of Al Qaeda, let alone number 3.

Richard Minter, writing in the Daily Beast, says that some of us who are making fun of the gonad bomber and the Times Square bomber are missing the point about Al Qaeda. Since the end of the Bush Administration and the first 18 months of the Obama Administration, Al Qaeda has suffered crippling blows to their middle-level managers and can not maintain the basic organizational ability to mount sophisticated operations anymore. They are stuck with buying local cell phones, which are easily followed by intelligence, and their front businesses and mechanisms for laundering money have been closed down through international cooperation. With the constant assassinations of their number 3s and other high-ranking operatives, they lack the experience of developing backup plans and fielding supportive manpower to cover the primary actors in any given action. They are in their third generation, which lacks the military experience and spycraft of the previous plotters.

But never fear, Ryan Mauro of the Christian Action Network posts a piece on David Horowitz' www.frontpagemagazine.com "Muslim Enclaves U.S.A." Building on Daniel Pipes' 2004 work documenting how Muslims are creating seperate enclaves based on sharia law in the United States, Mauro outlines several groups in the United States who are creating little Muslim enclaves in Baltimore and Philadelphia. He claims Muslims of America, a group Homeland Security links to the Pakistan terrorist group Jamaat Ul-Fugra, owns 22 villages sporting such names as "Islamberg", "Holy Islamville" and "Aliville". While interesting, the article neglects the threat of rampaging Mexican Muslims. Perhaps, that's in the follow-up piece. I thought the caliphate ended in Cordoba.

Following up on Hillary Clinton's defense in Poland of the struggling civil society around the world, Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum wrote a defense of democracy promotion, admitting the whole idea got a little abused during the Bush Administration with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But she argued that President Obama should speak on the subject more frequently.

Not having any of this, Pat Buchanan in "The Democracy Obsession" at www.amconmag.com says that the United States blew the opportunity to adopt a policy of non-intervention right after the Cold War. He then blames the superfluous foreign policy elites for conjuring up the intervention in Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf War, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He accuses the National Endowment for Democracy and Freedom House of subverting regimes in Belgrade,Caracas, Kiev, Tbilisi, Beirut and Bishkek. He argues that democratic states don't make us any secure and are not our friends. He slams W for pushing democracy in the Middle East. Pointing out that pressuring Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine to have elections yielded us the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbullah and Hamas. He points to South Africa, Brazil, India and Turkey as prime examples of democracies going their own way--away from the United States. He points to both India and Brazil lining up with China to fight caps on carbon emissions and Turkey drifting toward Iran and Syria because of its reactions to Israeli actions.

Coming off his book on World War II, where he blames Churchill, he gets his digs in at the Brits again. He points out that the British sided with Mexico during the Mexican War and with the South in our Civil War. He points out that democratic governments such as Sweden and Ireland were neutral during WWII but that the Soviet Union and Chang Kai Shek sided with the U.S. He says that France denied Reagan airspace for his attack on Libya but that Salazar's Portugal gave Nixon the use of the Azores during the Yom Kippur War. He also has to throw in his plug for Pinochet in Chile.

With the fade of the Third Wave of Democratization, democracy advocates will have to answer Buchanan on the merits of his case and not slam him as an isolationist , anti-semite as we used to. America's engagement with the world will have to be re-thought and the advantages and limits of democracy promotion will have to be honestly addressed. My reservations these days are about the corporatization of democracy promotion programs. Those involved literally constitute multi-million dollar industries. Democracy promotion became institutionalized during the Clinton Administration when USAID committed billions to the effort, spurring the creation of democracy programs in every NGO known to man and then some. At the time, I was proud of my small role in pushing this development but sometimes it seems we neglected the other issues of development and we sold people on what democracy promotion really wasn't. Even during George W. Bush, democracy promotion was heralded as conflict resolution and as a tool of peace, not war. Today, major defense contractors reap the benefits of democracy funding, pulling down contracts of $50 million or more to implement just small segments of a democracy program. And under few cirumstances can the development of democracies in previously underdeveloped countries yield automatic allies in foreign policy.

What is ruinous to democracy promotion is its militarization and integration into war efforts. Take the slogan of democracy advocates, "Democracies don't start wars." We just got through an American administration which adopted a strategic policy of pre-emptive war. Or the idea during the W administration that democracies don't create terrorists. Throughout the 1970s, we had the alienated young in Western Europe create the Baader Mienhoff Brigade, the Red Brigade and in the United States the Weathermen. On the Left, there is the notion that it is poverty that creates the terrorism of the Middle East. But the profile of Al Qaeda and others are of upper-middle-class , college educated young people, disgusted at the discrepancy of wealth in their countries and repulsed by Western policies, who reconstitute themselves with religion and react violently to their conditions. That's why I am dubious about efforts in Afghanistan about nation-building. While they can ameliorate the local conditions, they don't address the heart of the problem.

And, finally, Glenn Beck says that Woodrow Wilson is America's most evil President. Reading Pat Buchanan's article, he might agree since Wilson started the whole American thrust toward democracy promotion and self-determination. But I gather Beck suggests that Wilson kicked off the whole "progressive" agenda to bring about socialism in our time. It's an interesting topic to consider--evil American Presidents. One of the nice things about the United States is that we really only have nincompoops, mediocrities, inadequate and sometimes corrupt Presidents. But do we get to evil?

For my generation, Richard Nixon ranks high on the ugly scale but can we even suggest this maudlin, insecure man, who actually had to rehearse walking like a President, was evil? Corrupt, cynical and Machivellian, sure. Did he commit evil acts? Yes. But he doesn't rank with Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and the others in the evil pantheon. He envied them. That's for sure.
Even W, whom I would rank as one of and maybe the worst President of the United States, given the extensive damage he did in every area of our life, just didn't have the heart to implement Dick Cheney's scheme for an all-powerful President. I think this accounts for why he was absent for the last two years of his Administration.

So Woodrow Wilson? Wilson was a racist and embarked on a domestic crackdown on strikers and dissenters, but he also tried to embrace a reform agenda. For years, Wilson ranked about 16 in the Siena College rankings of Presidents. He too was crippled for the last years of his Administration by strokes and illness. But Woodrow Wilson as evil? C'mon.

Sunset Cruise at the Last Manatee

This has been a glorious day for insanity as DC is in the midst of a heatwave.

Just some of the highlights:
A Republican congresswoman from North Carolina demanded Homeland Security investigate Hezbollah cells infiltrating Southwest U.S. from Mexico. Next we'll have car bombs and suicide bombers at Seizure City.

A Texas Republican congressman says on the House floor that Muslims have a thirty-year plot to have children born now in the United States so as to create terrorist cells. for the future.

Tennessee republicans with assists from the religious right are protesting a Islamic Cultural Center because it attacks the moral foundation of the state. A state known for moonshiners.

Arizona Senator Kyle walked back his statement that Obama told him he wouldn't do anything about the border until immigration reform is passed. He told the National Review his remarks were taken out of context--sort of.

Christian missionaries protested their treatment at the Dearborn, Michigan Islamic festival. Local Republicans claimed that the annual festival was a Hamas recruiting tool. This morning NPR had a program about how the CIA and the Pentagon were there recruiting Arabic and Farsi language speakers for both the military and intelligence agencies. Some one obviously didn't get the memo. NPR ran interviews with the CIA recruiter and the potential candidates.

The Pentagon told the Washington Post that Rolling Stone violated reporting rules in its interview with General McChrystal, while Rummy was with Gates having his portrait unveiled at the Pentagon.

Senator John McCain told Greta Van Cistern at Fox News that Afghanistan will be easier to pacify than Iraq. Even though we're starting ten years late and it's our government in place there and that the whole population were founding members of the NRA and are just a peace-loving crowd.

Joey Lieberman (I-Kinesset) said he might vote for an extension of unemployment benefits if it didn't affect the deficit.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said that all illegal immigrants smuggle drugs into the country.

Pew and Gallup polls reveal that Obama's approval rating has been remarkably consistent for the past six months, despite the fright poll of MSNBC/Wall Street Journal. No one thinks much of Republicans even though they are favored in the congressional elections (?). BP got an 8 approval rating for how it handled the Gulf disaster.

Another Gallup poll reveals that more Americans self-identify as conservatives than ever before--almost 42%. In other words, about the same percent of Americans that believe Jesus is coming back in 2050. The rest are Moderates about 35% and Liberals about 22%. (Note: this is about the same amount of conservatives when Republicans won back the House in 1994-so beware!)

Communitarian leader Amitai Etzoni says that America must invade Iran or else withdraw from the Middle East.

Bruce Barlett in Fiscal Times wrote about the one budget that did in fact curb the deficit. It was the one proposed by George H.W. Bush, the one where he raised taxes and provoked the stampede of conservatives to Ross Perot.

AIPAC is running around town holding small private meetings trying to sell the idea that the Free Gaza Flotilla ultimately wanted to smuggle arms into the Gaza. Maybe they should link up with the Arizona Government.

The Court in Texas tossed the Green Party off the ballot. Aides to Governor Perry admitted they had bankrolled the Green Party's petition to get on the ballot. I guess they really do fear White in November.

The Tea Party in Florida is suing each other or it or something. The Tea Party in Nevada is running ads against the Tea Party candidate for Senate, saying he never came to any rallies.

Christianist Congressman King from Iowa went birther on us on the House floor, using a photo of a little girl as the future citizen in debt saying that there is someone we know whose birth certificate we haven't seen.

The Republican candidate for Secretary of State in Connecticut has a slight problem--she was a lady wrestler. Now the Senate candidate is an owner of the World Wrestling Federation so I guess there's something in the waters up there.

Stephen Strassburg lost his first major league start the other night 1-0 but topped Herb Score's record for most strikeouts in his first four outings. I went to see the Nationals on Father's Day and they stunk the roof off the House. At least the 1962 Mets were funny and enjoyable. These guys just weren't there.

And speaking of not here, President Obama fled the capitol as insanity hit to travel to Canada. Since he has had to postpone his trip to Indonesia and Australia twice already, he's holding a mini-summit with the Asian countries on the side of the G-8 and G-20 meetings. After his Wall Street reform triumph, analysts believe he has to do a swift pivot to address global banking regulations.

The Common Good and the Clueless

The Quote of the Day:
"The great crisis among us is the crisis of "the common good," the sense of community solidarity that binds all in a common destiny--haves and have-nots, the rich and the poor. We face a crisis about the common good because there are powerful forces at work among us to resist the common good, to violate community solidarity, and to deny a common destiny. Mature people, at their best, are people who are committed to the common good that reaches beyond private interest, transcends sectarian commitments, and offers human solidarity."

Walter Brueggeman, Journey to the Common Good ( Westminster/John Knox Press, 2010). Dr.Brueggeman is a theologian of the United Church of Christ and was a distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. His book is a detailed examination of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament on the subject of the common good and is heavy going if you are not into biblical exegesis. The book was started at the end of the Bush Administration and has an afterword of hope for the Obama years. Brueggeman believes that our economic collapse, more than the 9/11 attacks, has eroded our social cohesion more than anything in recent memory.

For the secular-minded, I have been reading Amitai Etzioni's The Common Good, (Polity, 2004), which reminds me of the dry, arid prose of ethical humanists. If communitarianism interests anyone, I highly recommend Robert Bellah , who has an insightful and riveting prose style. I have been reading Robert Bellah since college and Habits of the Heart is his examination of American traditions of seeking the common good.

Has anyone noticed how our major economic units deliberately ignore the law. Health Secretary Katheleen Sibelius has been fighting the major insurance companies since health care passed for them to adhere to the new requirements and to stop jacking up premiums before the fianl phase of health care reform kicks in. The major American banks were bailed out and are now churning profits again but they have systematically ignored President Obama's entreaties to loan to small businesses and to modify home mortgages for those in desparate need. And now the oil companies virtually stone-walled on the major environmental disaster of my lifetime, yet are pushing for more rights to offshore drilling. And now we are being treated to Pete Peterson's road trip through America to dramatize the situation of our debt, which, in his opinion, demands eliminating all entitlement programs.

This week James Galbraith, author of The Predator State, tells us our deficit has "zero" importance. Galbraith, joining Paul Krugman, in fighting off the"We are Greece now"mantra from the right, points out that the projections of our debt level imply that virtually nothing will be done in the next few years to lower health care costs, the biggest culprit beside the military/ terrorist complex, and that can be done to shore up social security. He also points out that there are very few times in the history of our country where we didn't have a deficit and he argues that to maintain any economic progress the government must continue to have one. But this is Keynesian economics, not supply-side orthodoxy.

Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote this week that if our little job engine that could keeps producing jobs at the current rate, our economy in 2010 will have created more jobs this year than the entire Bush-Cheney years together. Brownstein goes further to analyze the fallacy that tax cuts to the rich and the corporations create jobs--in fact the largest periods of jobs growth in the last two decades came when these policy items were jettisoned. For the rest of America, USA Today reports that Americans are paying the lowest rate of taxes since 1950, a fact that runs counter to the tea party crowd's boisterous assertions.

In keeping with their anti-science, anti-job philosophy, the Republicans proudly defeated the House bill to provide additional funding for math and science research and job creation by adding an amendment that would require federal employees to watch porn. Democratic congressmen fled the bill. I guess Republicans were thinking about the recent discovery that the SEC employees under movement conservative Chris Cox were all watching porn on the internet instead of investigating Bernie Madoff and other criminals.

The "Quitter from Wasilla" said "We are all Arizonans now." I guess we didn't sign up for her war in Georgia. Arizona is getting slaughtered by the national boycotts so much so that Governor Jan Brewer urged citizens of the state to vacation at home this year. If there were any doubts about the racist intent of the immigration law, they were erased this week as the state prohibited any ethnic studies in public school and ended the legal requirement that certain businesses had to have interpreters for Spanish-speakers.

John McCain cut an ad about controlling illegal immigration with a very white sheriff from the central part of the state. The "Build the Danged Fence" ad drew ridicule and a great parody using Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. The actual sheriff from Nogales where the ad was filmed--a very Mexican-American looking figure--came out and blasted both the ad and the whole law. Still South Carolina's Jim DeMint tried to scuttle the financial reform bill in the Senate this week by submitting an amendment calling for the building of the border fence. All this forced Michael Gerson, former Bush speechwriter and Washington Post columnist, to admit that the Republican party is clearly now anti-immigrant and will be perceived as such.

That's apparently not all they're against. Pat Buchanan wondered why the Supreme Court had to have so many Jews in his criticism of the nomination of Elena Kagan. There is considerable irony here in that Pat Buchanan is responsible for the Republican strategy of selecting Catholic conservative judges. Now we have six Catholics on the Court. This not-so-veiled anti-semiticism was picked up in a more polite way by a conservative legal activist ironically named Miranda, who claimed Elena Kagan came from the New York Jewish socialist culture. He commended this culture for its vibrant contribution to American society but reminded his readers "but it's still socialist."

After Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal printed a picture of Elena Kagan playing softball, the New York Post dutifully followed with two articles about whether softball was a lesbian sport. Pat Buchanan chimed in on the Morning Joe show that everyone knows that lesbians are associated with softball. Rush Limbaugh reinforced the homophobic theme by calling Kagan " a Chaz Bono look-alike." So, Jewish, Socialist, Lesbian. For the record, I always felt that woman's professional basketball was the lesbian magnet and I noticed that Condi Rice made a big pitch for women's basketball this week without comment from detractors.

Elena Kagan as a lesbian Emma Goldman without experience and a thin-paper trail has Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions all a twitter. He claims that her objection to Don't Ask, Don't Tell showed what her real priorities are. Of course, this is all aimed at prolonging the process as long as possible so nothing can get done in the Senate. Newt Gingrich is demanding that Obama withdraw her nomination.

In my view, Elena Kagan is not really meant to replace John Paul Stevens, but is an early replacement of Ruth Bader Ginzburg, freeing up Obama for a different type of choice at that time.

But not all Republicans are going down this path. The band of legal brothers seem to be embarrassed by all this. None other than Ken Starr strongly came out in favor of her and Miguel Estrada wrote movingly about why she should be confirmed, stated that obviously his view might hurt her chances. Michael McConnell, the former federal appeals court judge nominated by W, stated, "She has had a remarkable and truly unusual record of reaching out across ideological divides." The two knew each other as law professors at the University of Chicago. I worried when even Johnny Yoo has endorsed her. Laura Bush, who seems off her meds this week after endorsing same sex marriage and pro-choice positions, also supported Kagan's nomination.

Dana Millbank, writing in the Washington Post, brought to the nation's attention the lunacy in the Republican Party of Maine and wondered whether they were expecting "a Viking invasion." The Portland newspapers reported that the Knox County caucus, which wrote the teabagger platform for the party, had trashed the schoolroom where they met, went through the teacher's desk and destroyed the copies of the Constitution he had, which were printed by the ACLU. One of the vandals was quoted as saying the caucus was disturbed that the teacher seemed to be a "Communist".

The NRA, which is always for the common good, again endorsed allowing people on the terrorist "don't fly" list to be able to purchase guns. Their position was affirmed by Sarah Palin. Sister Sarah also told the NRA that if Obama could, he would take away their guns. This despite Obama allowing guns into the national parks, which I think is wrong. And if Sarah could she would ban books. Oh, she did in Wasilla.

Here in Virginia , Governor Big Bob "Jobs" McDonnell passed his measure that allows citizens to openly carry guns into a bar but they are not allowed to drink. The NRA is insisting that gun carriers must be allowed to drink, while openly carrying. This is the new big debate in Virginia, which made the Daily Beast's number 2 corrupt state in the nation.

A "birther " group by the shadowy name of The New Legion for Christ based in Downer's Grove, Illinois, has funneled $1 million to the Republican primary for Governor in Alabama, home testing grounds for Karl Rove. Did the funds go to Judge Moore of Ten Commandments Fame or the candidate who was for teaching evolution before he was against it?

Haley Barbour wants y'all to come down and swim on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The oil spill is just like a "gasoline sheen around ski boats."

Glenn Beck received an honorary doctorate from Liberty University, home of the Falwells. He sensitively acknowledged that his Mormon faith presented problems for his fundamentalist audience and he did cry almost a dozen times during his speech. The first time I think was authentic when he acknowledged that he stopped going to college after the first semester because he didn't have enough money. He had many inspiring words of wisdom for the students. "Taxis smell the worst in summer." "Life is tough and only gets tougher and then you die." "Date someone who loves you as much as I do." "Shoot to kill". I'm convinced he's in some type of "scream therapy".

Democratic congressman Oberstar asked why Republicans have over 120 personal earmarks in the upcoming appropriations bill when they took a public pledge to suspend earmarks for a year.

America's oldest bloggers are back and in great form. For snarky, uninhibited commentary on our political scene from people who have lived a long life, check out http://www.margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/ . They succinctly put into perspective the problems Obama faces and have some snide comments of their own about the past inhabitants of the White House.

A raft of polls have come out this week which conclude that Americans are truly confused. For the first time in a while, Americans favor Democrats retaining control of Congress. But only 33% of Americans want to re-elect their own congressperson. In four polls I examined, Democratic approval ratings are far above Republicans in Congress. In terms of defending the average America versuis corporate interests, Obama is in the mid-55%, congressional Democrats only in the mid-30s, and Republicans at 20%. In a Roper poll, a teabagger complained that Republicans have gone too far Left! On the key right track-wrong track question, right track moved up two clicks to 42%, the third consecutive week of positive movement.

A Gallup Poll put concerns about the economy over the unemployment issue of the first time. This is disturbing because the U6 unemployment rate is till over 17%, an alarming high figure. A Washington Post/ABC poll show that Americans trust Obama overwhelmingly over Republicans to handle the economy, regulate the financial industry, the deficit and healthcare. In the Pew poll, Republicans still have a slight edge on national security. But the Pew poll does indicate that 60% like Obama personally ( a measure separate from approve, which I always take as important) and that 60% blame Bush for both the economy and the deficits. This latter number should strengthen the Democrats hand in resisting the conservative demands for gutting Social Security and Medicare under the pretense of deficit reduction.

Charles Cook is remaining tough. He still believes the Republicans will win the House. he also says that only Representative Cao from Louisiana will be the sole Republican defeated this fall. Cao took over from disgraced Democrat Jefferson, the representative found by the FBI with bribe money in his refrigerator. Cao had wanted to vote for healthcare refom but Tan Man Boehner placed two GOP handlers at each side of Cao during the vote.

Fast Eddie Rendell, the term-limited Governor of Pennsylvania, advises Democrats to go down firing. If you're going to lose, then lose for what you believe in. Rendell wisely advises Democrats to tie their Republican competitors as close to the teabaggers as possible. This seems to have been picked up in local races in the Midwest where Republicans are trying hard to avoid proclaiming their positions on the teabaggers call for the repeal of the 17th Amendment, the one that allows for the direct election of Senators. In several races Democrats are exploiting this in ads.

A strange ad by Texas secessionist Governor Rick Perry against Democrat Bill White claims White got stimulus money for the Houston metro by "cooking the books". It's unclear whether the crime is getting a $1 billion for the Houston Metro or cooking the books.

Carly Fiorina is pumping more of her cash into the Republican primary in California to try and salvage her sinking ship.

Tuesday's primaries will get alot of hype in the press but it's unclear whether they will mean anything other than local politics was the dominant factor. Progressives are cheering on Sestak in Pennsylvania and Halter in Arkansas, while Obama is for Specter and Blanche Lincoln. In Kentucky, expect Rand Paul to top Trey Grayson, Mitch McConnell's choice. Rand Paul is backed by the teabaggers, libertarians, fundamentalists, Jim deMint and Sarah Palin. Grayson was backed by the Republican establishment.