Thursday, February 19, 2009
Mideast: Permanent Peace Is Possible
Three Mega Religions: Major Confusion, Big Emotional Entanglements
I am not Muslim, I am not Jewish, I am not Christian. Thank God. If you truly believe in God - does not matter if that is a God as described by one particular religion - would you die for God? Countries have gone to war over smaller things like real estate: land. But God? That is a big one. The major passion of being a Muslim, a "believer," as Bin Laden might say, the major passion of being a Jew, even a secular, cultural Jew, the Christian self-righteousness, all come into play. Christianity is a great religion, but it only makes sense within the framework of religious diversity. It is not a superior religion. It is not the ultimate religion all humanity will end up with. It is not Da Bomb. It is just one among many religions. It is a great religion, but then so is Islam. Buddhism is a great religion: I am a Buddhist. Hinduism is a great religion: I was born a Hindu, I grew up a Hindu.
All these religions have long memories. 1000 years was but yesterday. There are numerous wounds on all sides, all very much alive in the collective memory. No wonder Jerusalem is combustile. Keep a lid on the matchsticks.
Love And Coexistence: Big Difference
Peace is or is not about love. Love might or might not happen. Love is vague. In seeking peace you are seeking coexistence. New York City is the role model for visions of grand peace. People from every little town on earth, not every country, not every city, but every little town on earth live in NYC. It is a wonder there is no permanent civil war, no raging bloody battle in this city. Because there is coexistence. A common complaint is New Yorkers are not very nice. But they are at peace. There is crime in the city. But the city is at peace. There is no civil war.
Past And Future: Big Difference
The past is unfathomable. There are too many grievances on all sides. Who did what to whom when where? The lists are endless. I am not suggesting people should forget the past, or not talk about it. That's what blogs are for. Talk as much as you want. Put it all out there. Speak up. Air it all. Vent. The past is not event past. Talk.
But peace talks have to be about the future. You start with the end point, you start with the final map, and then you seek paths to that point from where you stand.
Final Map
The final map has two parts. One, there are two states, Israel and Palestine. Two, all Arab countries have been turned into democracies. Jerusalem is probably an international city like the Vatican. Vatican is not Italy. Not all Palestinian refugees return back to Israel. Some do, but some end up in Arizona, and Australia, and Bahrain, and Toronto, and Brussels, London, perhaps. On the knottiest issues, creativity will have to make attempts where bull headed steadfastness has so far not delivered.
My Gripe With Israel
It is like when you come across some Jews in New York whose idea of sounding white is to sound more racist than the racist whites, or at least as imagined. The Germans abused the Jews, but that does not mean the Jews get to abuse the Palestinians.
My Gripe With Arabs
When you don't have democracy, the top 10,000 people in the country keep all the billions, and they blame and incite the masses to blame Israel and America for everything, all the povety, the social ills, all logjams in international politics, global warming, your grandpa's wrinkles, everything. You need to have periodic elections so you know who to blame: the person in office who you boot out next time around. The massive sexism in the Arab world is a direct result of a lack of democracy. The 10,000 Al Qaeda guys are so sexist, they don't even have sex.
But democracy will not come from the current crop of leadership, and it should not have to come from America: Bush killed a million and a half Iraqis. Democracy should have come because a million and half Iraqis marched the streets, and shut the country down for three weeks. Democracy has to come the grassroots way, the mass movement way, country after Arab country.
White Guy Presidents And Barack
Clinton dabbled in Mideast peace towards the fag end of his presidency. Bush dabbled in Mideast peace towards the fag end of his presidency. Those were not serious attempts. Not Barack. The first foreign leader he called up as president was Abbas. His first TV interview sit down was with an Arab network. This guy means business, but he can't do it alone. The Arabs are going to have to play ball. The Israelis are going to have to start making sense.
Permanent peace in the Mideast is possible within Barack's eight years. The War On Terror has a conclusion. Most of it is in political and diplomatic work to do with Mideast peace. People power delivered Barack a presidency. People power in the Arab world is the open secret also in the Arab world.
And if permanent peace is not achieved during these eight years, we are in for a long, long inning.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Stimulus: Make It A Trillion
Stimulus: Size Matters
It was not the big spending of the New Deal that brought the Great Depression to an end, it was the massive deficit spending of World War II. We forget. A do nothing government would be suicide. A do little government would be foolhardy. This is the time to err on the side of doing much. Little will be late soon enough. So the idea that there are politicians who are trying to bring the stimulus down to 800 billion from 820 billion, I find ridiculous. This is slavery to ideology, not to reality, not even crisis reality. The house is on fire, do not ration water.
A crisis is also a time for reinvention. This is a time for America and the world to reinvent itself. The bailout package in America's chance to draw a new financial architecture, for itself and for the world, a new architecture that is fully transparent, fully accountable, and fully global. The toxic assets are bad news. Many banks will go down the tube. Many banks will lose big money. But then the toxic assets never really fell in the category of wealth creation. Sooner or later that truth was going to emerge. Now is that time. It is time for the banks to clean up the slate and start afresh in the banking business. Go back to the fundamentals. Banks take money, banks lend out money.
https://twitter.com/parame
http://baselinescenario.com
Constructing new schools was my favorite item in the stimulus package, and they took it out! Put that back in. Build new schools. Every child in America should be getting educated in 21st century schools.
This stimulus package is step one to America becoming a full-fledged knowledge economy. Don't take it from 820 billion to 800 billion. Take it from 820 billion to 900 billion. Put 20 billion down for new schools. Put another 30 billion for broadband. ($6 Billion For Wireless Broadband: Too Little) Put 30 billion down for health care. Make it 900.
And talk to the world. The three biggies are all inter-related. (Global Finance, Global Terrorism, Global Warming) America got itself a Global President, now it needs to get itself Global Solutions to Global Problems. Talk to the world. Work with the world.
Slumdog Millionaire
In The News
Big goals and hurdles await Obama The Associated Press
Barack Obama, playing in Peoria Los Angeles Times, CA
Gregg says he can help Obama while in Senate The Associated Pres
Obama to promote stimulus plan in Denver, Phoenix The Associated Press
The Barack Obama Florida Town Hall Moment Showed He Gets the ... U.S. News & World Report, DC
Vegas mayor tells Obama his comments harmed city The Associated Press
Obama's outreach to GOP govs has its limits
Historians See Parallels Between Lincoln and Obama Voice of America
Judd Gregg Withdraws as Commerce Nominee New York Times
No US timetable to remove Nepal Maoists' terror tag
Obama returns home for final stimulus plan push CNN International
Big goals and hurdles await Obama The Associated Press
Obama's Financial Rescue Plan Voice of America
Obama vows Zardari of ‘strong partnership’ Daily Times
HER TRIP: Clinton is the first secretary of State since the 1960s ... Christian Science Monitor
Is Hillary Clinton Dissing China And Slighting Europe?
Senate Approves Stimulus and Begins Intense Talks
Michelle Obama on the cover of Vogue
Recovery package clears key Senate hurdle Washington Post
Haggling begins on final US stimulus plan
Republicans Choose First Black Party Chairman New York Times
Steele becomes first African-American RNC chairman
Republicans name an African American as their party chairman
US economy shrinking at fastest pace since 1982
Republicans seek new leader to launch fightback
Obama finds that partisanship still lives in Washington The Miami Herald
Michelle Obama’s Balancing Act New York Times
Grim growth data an economic 'disaster': Obama AFP
Curiosity Over Clinton’s Itinerary New York Times
Analysis: Stimulus bill that's not all stimulating The Associated Press
Tsvangirai Secures Party Backing To Join Zimbabwe Unity Government Voice of America
Fears over Sri Lanka war children BBC News
Protectionism may lead to depression, India warns rich nations Press Trust of India
'Palestine Today Is an Open-Air Prison' Washington Post
A Calmer Iraq Prepares for Another Try at Ballot New York Times
Nortel getting out of WiMAX Bizjournals.com
Five Reasons Dell Should Leave Smartphones Alone ChannelWeb
Dell could join Acer in unveiling smart phone
Stimulus Plan Would Provide Flood of Aid to Education NYT
On Arab TV Network, Obama Urges Dialogue
Aides Say Obama’s Afghan Aims Elevate War
Obama, Visiting G.O.P. Lawmakers, Is Open to Some Compromise on Stimulus
F.D.R’s Example Offers Lessons for Obama
Layoffs Spread to More Sectors of the Economy
Advertising: Teaching Teenagers About Harassment
Everybody's Business: Deep in Debt, and Now Deep in Worry
Economic View: Six Errors on the Path to the Financial Crisis
News Analysis: Nationalization Gets a New, Serious Look
Clinton snubs woman chosen to replace her in Senate Sydney Morning Herald "Caroline Kennedy called me on Wednesday and said that for personal reasons she had chosen to withdraw. "She had got no signal from me that she had to withdraw. She got no indication that she wouldn't be selected."
Obama: 'Rigid Ideology Has Overruled Sound Science' ABC News
Obama begins reversing Bush climate policies
Dowries banned by Nepal
Obama in his first big face-off with Republicans over stimulus
LJP finalises on LS seats in Bihar sans other UPA parties
EU: Goodwill, But No Help For Obama On Guantanamo Yet
Friday, February 06, 2009
Stimulus: Size Matters
(photo courtesy a Facebook friend of mine, no, she is not American)
The Obama Message Shift Time Gone is the warm and fuzzy talk about how everything is on track and Washington can get along at bipartisan White House cocktail parties. In is the tough talk about how members of Congress--particularly Republicans--have to stop bickering and threatening delay, and get something done. .............. In the last few days, we've seen proposals arise from some in Congress that you may not have read, but you'd be very familiar with, because you've been hearing them for the last 10 years, maybe longer. They're rooted in the idea that tax cuts alone can solve all our problems, that government doesn't have a role to play, that half- measures and tinkering are somehow enough, that we can afford to ignore our most fundamental economic challenges: the crushing cost of health care, the inadequate state of so many of our schools, our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. ............... Those ideas have been tested, and they have failed. They've taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit of over $1 trillion. And they've brought our economy to a halt. And that's precisely what the election we just had was all about. The American people have rendered their judgment, and now's the time to move forward, not back. Now's the time for action.The idea behind deficit spending to get an economy out of a recession goes back to Keynes and FDR, it is another thing that it is said when the two met they did not much like each other, kind of like Newt Gingrich and Bill Gates, when they met, they did not much like each other, there was no talk.
Before Keynes the orthodoxy was only someone stupid would spend money they don't have. Going into debt was not what wise people did.
The American economy really only turned around after the monstrously massive deficit spending that World War II forced the country into. Otherwise the recession of the 1930s was a deep ditch. We don't call it a recession, it was a depression. It was a major flunk.
The American economy today does not have a 30% unemployment rate, so this is not a depression, not yet. But then a recession mishandled is a depression. Don't count it out yet. This is the financial SARS virus that America has already exported all over the world. The entire global economy is sneezing.
If mishandled, this downturn could hit a tipping point, and then there would be no turning point. It would go downhill from there. At that point a trillion dollar jolt is going to feel like something on the cheap.
What the American economy has is a cardiac arrest. And it needs a jolt. That is why size matters. Reducing the size of the stimulus is exactly the bad idea. And you can't do it in steps. A jolt has to be one big step. Spending a trillion $100 billion a year over 10 years would be too lukewarm. It would not be a jolt, and hence not a stimulus.
The stimulus has to be announced with a bang, not a whimper. It has to be implemented with a bang. It has to be followed through with a bang.
There is an urgent need for a new global financial architecture. That is the number one lesson. But it will be much easier to shape that new architecture if the US economy is not in the bad shape it is in right now, if the world economy is feeling some upswing.
This is not a recession that comes once every 10 years or so. This is something that happens once or twice a century, once every 70 years or so. This is big. This asks for a big dose of medicine.
This is the time to think big, and engage in massive spending programs, massive infrastructure programs.
Obama Bank Pay Ceiling Would Make Many CEOs Stoop CNNMoney.com
Obama limits bailed-out bank CEO pay
President Obama Enters the Chaos Zone FOXNews
With Daschle out, Obama should make Romney the healthcare-reform czar
Obama Sets More Modest Goals For Afghanistan
'Finish the job' in Afghanistan? Where do we begin?
Op-Ed Contributor Afghan Supplies, Russian Demands
McCain looks to nix ‘buy American’ from Obama stimulus
Reject 'Buy American' clause or risk a trade war
Obama Bows to EU Demands on Stimulus
Panetta says he would end harsh CIA interrogation tactics
Russia, US pledge closer cooperation under Obama
Obama Goes Airborne Today For First Time As President
Obama takes first ride on 'spiffy' Air Force One
Howard Dean Was Grassroots 1.0, Barack Is Grassroots 2.0
- President Clinton as president described then Governor Dean as the best Governor in the nation when it came to health care.
- Howard Dean is a doctor. We need a doctor in the house.
- A doctor or two. His wife is also a doctor.
- Barack was a Deaniac in 2004, so was I. I came to Barack by way of Dean.
- Howard Dean authored the 50 state strategy. It delivered in 2006, it delivered in 2008. He was great as DNC Chair. If he had won the primary in 2004, he would have won the general.
- Howard Dean was the original anti-war candidate.
Howard Dean Should Have Been Obama’s Pick All Along Truthdig, United States Within a week of Obama’s winning the presidential election, Dean’s name began to circulate as a top contender for the job. Dean is a physician, a former family practitioner in fact, and during his 11-year tenure as governor of Vermont, health care and other welfare-related reforms were a priority. ........ Dean became imprinted on the national consciousness when he surged to the head of the pack during his run for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination by playing the angry anti-war candidate. His novel use of the Internet to raise funds and organize supporters produced a meteoric rise in the polls. ........ I lived in Vermont for nearly all of Dean’s 11 years as governor. The 2004 presidential contender who whipped crowds of young voters into frenzies with his bracing oratory was someone we had not seen before. ....... Though Dean can be famously argumentative, he is not known as a politician who holds grudges. As governor, he’d fight like mad for an initiative he believed in but on the next issue of importance could work with those who had just opposed him. ...... He served much longer as chief executive of a state with a fixed budget and very real health and human services responsibilities, and his track record in that capacity should count for much. ........ “When Dean left office in early 2003, most states were in dire financial shape, their revenues hammered by the collapse of the dot-com economy. Vermont, by contrast, had a comfortable surplus, thanks largely to Dean.” ......... “The only real exception to rigid budget discipline was health care. … This did stretch the budget some, but those costs were offset somewhat by increased tobacco taxes.” ....... Dean “for the first time pushed governmental health care coverage out beyond the welfare population to working people who did not qualify for Medicaid.” ......... “Government observers in Vermont usually cite two highlights among Dean’s accomplishments in office: tight budget management of the state’s economy, and Success by Six, an effort to link early education programs to social services. … Dean, perhaps because of his medical training, demanded measured results.” ........ “One of my most persistent activities during the early ’90s,” recalled Glenn Gershaneck, who was Dean’s press secretary before eventually heading the state Transportation Agency, “was trying to fend off the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party. The will to spend money always exceeded the resources available, and the push to spend came mostly from the left.” ....... Dean’s strained relationship with Obama’s White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, with whom he famously clashed over strategy during the 2006 midterm election—Emanuel wanted DNC money to be targeted where it could help Democratic congressional candidates win immediately while Dean was intent on a long-range plan to build party infrastructures in all 50 states ....... But just as presidential candidate Dean paved the way for now-President Obama’s use of the Internet as a campaign tool, it was DNC Chairman Dean whose 50-state strategy helped candidate Obama keep John McCain on the defensive in traditional red states. ....... Dean was a true Washington outsider who took over a broken political machine and achieved astonishing results. ....... Dean’s proven strengths—his medical training and his ability to work within budgets, to name just two. And no one could bring more passion to the job ...... imagine the damage that could result from an effort led by a career politician with no understanding of the dynamics at play in our health care system, let alone the human organism ...... After so many years of fruitless rhetoric by politicians, why not let a medical doctor with proven success as a political operative and a record for plain talk and common sense have a chance? ....... As governor, he made advances in the area of health and welfare by gaining support for initiatives such as health insurance for children and prenatal care and other preventive wellness measures that cost relatively little and offered long-term savings and sustainability.
Why not Howard Dean for Sec. of Health and Human Services?
Howard Dean for HHS or Health Czar
Chris Matthews: Howard Dean should replace Daschle
Dump Daschle - Howard Dean for Health and Human Services Beliefnet.com, NY
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