In2 Opening the books as it were…
I just offered this up in a comment so I thought I’d make a space for it
Open threads can be very interesting and if nothing else offer a glimpse into what others are thinking about,and hey isn’t that supposedly one of the benefits of this whole world-wide web thing?
So if someone out there in web world would like to offer a topic,a link,an opinion or just ramble on a bit about a political/social topic….go ahead and jump in2thefray
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A non politics thing I’m looking forward to today is of course the AFC Championship game here in Foxborough, Mass. between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens.
On a political slant I must confess I’m shuffling the SC primary thing through the synapses this morning.I prefer Romney and as a Bay Stater/non communist need a Romney run over a Newt one for my states Senate race.(Brown v Warren)
And on another non political note, winter has finally arrived to my zip code.
I’m happy. But it was an unsatisfying win. The Pats played like shit for the most part.
I guess that kicker for Baltimore will be on suicide watch.
Im pretty sure he’s walking home. Good for Brady on being so honest in saying he sucked during post game,he did!
I tend not to have much to say on things Israel and have for the most part kept that position throughout my time here on WordPress/in2thefray.
That’s not to say I fail to see the topic and all its “relatives” as important. I found an article at CityJournal to be very interesting. It is quite long and as most of the CJ pieces I’ve recommended in the past requires the reader to read it with an open mind and a dedication to absorb it,ruminate on it.
With that said I offer:
Hannah Arendt and the Origins of Israelophobia
Very interesting read Alfie. The article points out to me the need to be a “student” of Israel to totally understand the situation before one could even hope to comment on “Israelophobia”. It will take some time to absorb all that I read but the important facts to ruminate on is what occurred in the late 40′s is the cause and effect we see today.
Glad you had a chance to check it out Raji. If on your journey of expanding your horizons you find something you’d like to share please feel free to drop a link.
I know I was in the minority, now much less of a minority after three long years of the most failed President in U.S. history, but I made a statement months before Obama was elected President that I didn’t find Obama especially bright, certainly not highly intelligent, or terribly inspiring. I couldn’t figure out the Cult of Obama then, and I certainly can’t figure out the Cult of Obama now.
But I was sent this link from an email and it provided me a reminder how off the cuff, Obama is not even ordinary in response. George Bush looks smooth juxtaposed to Obama, unless Obama talking about a subject he is attuned to say, like basketball.
Remind yourself of this idiocy when somebody calls any Republican stupid:
http://obamashlamadama.com/flake.html
Even though I don’t like the guy and want him out that montage bordered on painful. It makes you struggle to decide between feeling sympathy for O and laughing ones a** off.
Although the proof isn’t so much in the video, I can’t think of any public figure whose intellect is more exaggerated.
As usual the attack on Obama’s “intellect” is the last bastion of stupid opponents. Take a lesson from Christopher Hitchens, who despite his own opinion of Bush, told Bill Maher’s audience that they were idiots (or frivolous in Chris’s words). The ‘stupid” joke gets old (and juvenile) whether it’s against Bush or Obama.
Let’s stick to policy.
Admittedly I’m biased R but I find your choice of defense to be a red herring of sorts.
First off Obamas intellect was headlined as a point of his superiority ergo highlighting his goofs is slightly more legit than calling someone with a Texas drawl stupid.
The media vetting process which has & will touch on many things during the GOP primary makes the lapses the media committed for Obama seem near criminal. Intellectual stature being an area of focus.
Perhaps you didn’t mean it that way but seriously,,,,ya thinks Obama goofs are the only thing Tex and others have??
An Obama lackey carrying the water for policies that are clearly a failure by now that any reasonable person would recognize as abject failure, is hardly a worthy defense of a man that is nothing but an intellectual fraud, perpetrated by a sympathetic and corrupted media with the fawning sycophants of 2008 still in tow, not terribly bright themselves.
I don’t know how many ways I can say this:
Obama’s “intellect” is marginal; his unoriginal and tunnel vision is a muddled mix of a policies currently implemented throughout Western Europe that are imploding as we speak, further indicating not only a lack of sense, but lack of character; Obama’s idea of economic revitalization is half again of a failed stimulus that has become a punch line for jokes; his litany of campaign promises a broken trail of bread crumbs leading to the edge of a cliff; his energy policies of “green jobs are a national ripoff and disgrace. This is possibly the most corrupted administration in history, documented by Peter Schweizer’s excellent research in “Throw Them All Out.”
Frankly, Obama has one overriding gift. The ability to manipulate millions of weak minds and cause class warfare and division amongst people – his supporters people unable to think or do for themselves and most often wards of the state.
That’s not an indication of intellect but a reprobate nature.
While I obviously disagree with some of this comment, it beats the hell out of a blooper reel.
That’s no blooper reel.
That is your “intellectual” off the teleprompter and without the prepared speech. That is the buffoon you are trying futilely to pretend and convince your political adversaries is superior to all Republican candidates in thought and deed. That kind of reasoning is what should be accompanied by a laugh line…
You continue to remain as confused about Obama as you are when it comes to sound foreign policy, conflating American gullibility with American culpability. Like it was America’s foreign policy that led to 9/11 and Islam is just Christianity of a different flavor, the latter you so dearly love to mock; the former, you Park 51 appeasement and tacit approval.
That is no laughing matter, for legions of fools will be the death of us all. Like Obama.
Disabusing the left of its perception that Obama is an intellectual heavy weight has no comparison.
In a somewhat recent interview within the last couple weeks Huntsman said China is spending tons of money on internal security-type things and he concluded that “China is more worried about China right now than it is worried about America.”
I know you keep up on China, Alfie, and I was wondering if you’ve heard or read any similar conclusions.
@ Huck I do try to keep up on China in fact I just finished a very good book by James Kynge titled China Shakes the World © 2006
China is very much concerned about itself. Its growing middle class,the sustainability of its export driven economy,resources,Party relevancy/power retention,corruption issues and security. Very interwoven are all these things and a big concern for them. It is though undeniable that friction and potential for greater friction exists though since although China is probably not trying to be the big bad Blue Sea power some freaked about with the recent aircraft carrier thing they are looking for some hegemony tied to resources and new markets.
Also Foreign Policy Magazine is a very good China/BRIC nations resource
I just read this…your state of the Union. Remember these facts, as President Platitudes blames everyone but himself tomorrow night. Perhaps he can diss the Supreme Court some more to deflect:
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The unemployment rate when Mr. Obama was elected was 6.8 percent; today it is 8.5 percent — at least that’s the official number. In reality, the Financial Times writes, “if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11 percent.”
In addition, there are now fewer payroll jobs in America than there were in 2000 — 12 years ago — and now, 40 percent of those jobs are considered “low paying,” up 10 percent from when President Reagan took office. The number of self-employed has dropped 2 million to 14.5 million in just six years.
Regular gasoline per gallon cost $1.68 in January 2009. Today, it’s $3.39 — that’s a 102 percent increase in just three years. (By the way, if you’re keeping score at home, gas was $1.40 a gallon when George W. Bush took office in 2001, $1.68 when he left office — a 20 percent increase.)
Electricity bills have also skyrocketed, with households now paying a record $1,420 annually on average, up some $300.
Some 48 percent of all Americans — 146.4 million — are considered by the Census Bureau either as “low-income” or living in poverty, up 4 million from when Mr. Obama took office; 57 percent of all children in America now live in such homes.
Since December 2008, a month before Mr. Obama took office, food-stamp use has increased 46 percent. Total spending has more than doubled in just four years to a record high of $75 billion. In 2011, more than 46 million people — about one in seven Americans — got food stamps. That’s 14 million more than when Mr. Obama took office.
Median household income has dropped nearly 7 percent in the last six years, taking inflation into account. What’s more, nearly 20 percent of males age 25 to 34 now live with their parents.
Low- and middle-income Americans 65 and older now hold more than $10,000 in credit card debt, up 26 percent since 2005. The average age of the American car is 10 years; in 1990, it was 6.5 years old (by the way, in 1985, Americans bought 11 million cars; in 2009, less than half that, 5.4 million).
On the macro side, America’s annual budget has jumped to $3.8 trillion — and yet the United States brings in only about $2.1 trillion in revenue. The U.S. trade deficit for 2011 was $558 billion. America’s total public debt stands at $15.23 trillion; in January 2009, the debt was $10.62 trillion. Mr. Obama is on pace to borrow $6.2 trillion in just one term — more debt than was amassed by all presidents from Washington through Bill Clinton combined. The debt is rising by $4.2 billion every day — $175 million per hour, nearly $3 million per minute.
Remember, Obama is the smartest man alive. Just ask a prog.