“And nobody yet has, nobody yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and no, not, not real enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from D.C. in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And, in these areas that are so volatile right now, because obviously it’s not just Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And, we do not have all that information yet.”
When I left the Office of Management and Budget in January 2001, the country had a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion over the next decade. When I returned last November, decisions to make two large tax cuts without offsetting them and to create a Medicare prescription drug benefit without paying for it, combined with the effects of the recession, meant that the nation faced projected deficits of $10.4 trillion over the next decade.
Among cyber-intellectuals in America, a fascinating debate has broken out about whether social media can do as much harm as good in totalitarian states like Egypt. In his fiercely argued new book, “The Net Delusion,” Evgeny Morozov, a young scholar who was born in Belarus, challenges the conventional wisdom of what he calls “cyber-utopianism.” Among other mischievous facts, he reports that there were only 19,235 registered Twitter accounts in Iran (0.027 percent of the population) on the eve of what many American pundits rebranded its “Twitter Revolution.” More damning, Morozov also demonstrates how the digital tools so useful to citizens in a free society can be co-opted by tech-savvy dictators, police states and garden-variety autocrats to spread propaganda and to track (and arrest) conveniently networked dissidents, from Iran to Venezuela. Hugo Chávez first vilified Twitter as a “conspiracy,” but now has 1.2 million followers imbibing his self-sanctifying Tweets.
This provocative debate isn’t even being acknowledged in most American coverage of the Internet’s role in the current uprisings. The talking-head invocations of Twitter and Facebook instead take the form of implicit, simplistic Western chauvinism. How fabulous that two great American digital innovations can rescue the downtrodden, unwashed masses. That is indeed impressive if no one points out that, even in the case of the young and relatively wired populace of Egypt, only some 20 percent of those masses have Internet access.
That we often don’t know as much about the people in these countries as we do about their Tweets is a testament to the cutbacks in foreign coverage at many news organizations — and perhaps also to our own desire to escape a war zone that has for so long sapped American energy, resources and patience. We see the Middle East on television only when it flares up and then generally in medium or long shot. But there actually is an English-language cable channel — Al Jazeera English — that blankets the region with bureaus and that could have been illuminating Arab life and politics for American audiences since 2006, when it was established as an editorially separate sister channel to its Qatar-based namesake.
Al Jazeera English, run by a 35-year veteran of the Canadian Broadcasting Company, isroutinely available in Israel and Canada. It provided coverage of the 2009 Gaza war and this year’s Tunisian revolt when no other television networks would or could. Yet in America, it can be found only in Washington, D.C., and on small cable systems in Ohio and Vermont. None of the biggest American cable and satellite companies — Comcast, DirecTV and Time Warner — offer it.
The noxious domestic political atmosphere fostering this near-blackout is obvious to all. It was made vivid last week when Bill O’Reilly of Fox News went on a tear about how Al Jazeera English is “anti-American.” This is the same “We report, you decide” Fox News that last week broke away from Cairo just as the confrontations turned violent so that viewers could watch Rupert Murdoch promote his new tablet news product at a publicity event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Despite their central role in fomenting secession, South Carolinian politicians did not dominate the Confederate government; in fact, Virginia, though it entered the Confederacy late, soon became home to its capital. Nevertheless, the Palmetto State had fulfilled the historical mission it had been rehearsing for years. As the unionist Reverend James W. Hunnicutt said of his native state, “The honor, the imperishable glory, of secession and inaugurating Civil War was reserved for South Carolina!”
The government will grant collective bargaining rights to the nation's 40,000 airport screeners, the head of the largest federal workers union said Friday.John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told The Associated Press he was informed of the decision at a meeting with John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration.
Palin recounted how Reagan had been “mocked and ridiculed and criticized,” something that she, too, has experienced.
“He put up with so much and he was able to handle that criticism,” she said, noting that she had recently asked some of Reagan’s contemporaries how he managed to tolerate the attacks.
If the themes weren’t clear enough, Palin also recalled how she had spent part of the day riding horses at Reagan’s ranch — describing the preserved property as “unmistakably the home of a western conservative.”
Fox Nation yesterday accused President Obama of misquoting the BIble, using the King James version to 'correct' him -- even though Obama was correctlyquoting from the New International Version.
The New International Version is published by Zondervan -- a division of Harper Collins and, yes, News Corp.
Sarah Palin (R) wants to add another R next to her name: In addition to being a Republican, the former Alaska governor and her daughter Bristol are seeking to trademark their names.
If their applications are approved, the Palins' names would appear — in certain contexts — with the registered trademark symbol, "®," next to them.
According to documents obtained by PoliticsDaily, which first reported the news on Thursday, Alaska lawyer Thomas Van Flein registered Palin's name to be trademarked on Nov. 5. Bristol's application was filed Sept 5., roughly two weeks before she began appearing on Dancing With The Stars.
Palin wants to register her name for commercial services as related to politics, such as "information about political elections" and "education and entertainment services." Bristol's trademark application is just for "education and entertainment services."
Rick Santorum stopped by at a Myrtle Beach Tea Party event yesterday in South Carolina, and assured the group that he "would sign a bill tomorrow to eliminate the 9th Circuit [Court of Appeals]. That court is rogue. It's a pox on the western part of our country."
"By proposing this legislation, Republicans are finally closing the glaring rape loophole in our health care system,” the Daily Show’s Kristen Schaal dead-panned Wednesday night — after GOP leaders had decided to change the language. “You’d be surprised how many drugged, underaged or mentally handicapped young women have been gaming the system. Sorry, ladies the free abortion ride is over.”
“Obviously, we know she’s coming here because she’s thinking about running,” said LaDonna Ryggs, chairwoman of the Spartanburg GOP. “She’s obviously testing the waters in South Carolina and ... look[ing] to see if there’s a void for her to fill.”
