This is the thread for news and politics. Talk about whatever you’d like.
As for me……
As I’m sure you are aware, today is the 11th anniversary of the tragic events of 9-11-01. For that reason I’m giving you a link in case you’d like to watch the 11th Anniversary Ceremony from the 9-11 Memorial. It’s a live webcast starting at 8:30AM.
Watch it here
From the website 911memorial.org
Wandering Views 
It is not that common for me to completely agree with Patrick Buchannan. I’m interested in what you guys think.
The conclusion he makes: “If there is no reason to go to war with Iran, there is every reason not to go to war. Notwithstanding the alarmist rhetoric of Bibi and Ehud Barak, President Obama should stand his ground. And on this one, Gov. Romney should stand with the president, not the prime minister.”
Full column here:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/has-obama-called-bibis-bluff/
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If any of us were living in Israel, we would be quite justified in viewing Iran’s looming success in building nuclear weapons with alarm. Netanyahu, a cool customer, has every reason to view the present situation with grave concern. Iran’s leaders have made it crystal clear that they wish Israel to be reduced to ashes.
America has been a firm, though not uncritical, ally of Israel going back to Truman. Obama himself claims that his administration will not allow Iran to build nuclear weapons, though given his vacillation, Netanyahu for good reason finds it hard to trust him. Should Iran succeed with its nuclear weapon goal, America’s reputation for loyalty to allies will have been shredded.
Interesting that CB, a leftist, finds common ground with Buchanan, a paleoconservative, though the alliance of the hard left with the hard right on criticizing Amerika is well known.
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Sails
I know many Israelis who do not think attacking Iran is a good idea. And the Israeli military reportedly does not think attacking Iran is a good idea. It’s not an issue of political views here, it’s an issue of what makes the most sense with respect to overall policy, including the defense of Israel. You so hilariously continue to label me “lefitst” merely because I disagree with right wing views. And this is the manichean problem with the right wing these days. I miss Ronald Reagan — he was a man who spoke to the public fairly simply but understood nuance.
BTW, Bibi has publicly repudiated the conservative line on the President and Israel.
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Sails
I think I figured out where you got the leviathan imagery — a George Weigel analysis of the election. I agree with Sullivan’s analysis and he says it better than I can:
“Only in the right-wing echo chamber is Obama enacting Leviathan-style statism aimed at stripping America of religious influence, and the Randian-capitalist ticket an exemplar of conservative circumspection and moderation.”
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On Facebook, I’m involved with the Moebius Syndrome community/group. Many people with Moebius have issues with feeding or breathing. (So thankful to God that my case of Moebius does not involve those things.)
There are a few children I’m familiar with who need nursing care within their homes due to these serious issues. Their parents tend to support “Obamacare” because they are so afraid of what will happen to Medicaid (which pays for, or helps pay for, their children’s care). One of their fears is that without the ACA they would be forced to put their child in an institution.
Stories like this one strike fear in their hearts…
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57508338/feds-fla-warehouses-disabled-kids-in-nursing-homes/?tag=re1.channel
Does anyone know how Romney’s plan will affect these children?
(FYI, “Moebius Syndrome is an extremely rare congenital neurological disorder which is characterized by facial paralysis and the inability to move the eyes from side to side. Most people with Moebius syndrome are born with facial paralysis, which means they cannot close their eyes (or can only close them partially) or form facial expressions. Limb and chest wall abnormalities sometimes occur with the syndrome.” From the Many Faces of Moebius Syndrome site.
Many, like me, have some movement on one side of the face.)
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Karen, if I read that story correctly, the issue isn’t that children are being institutionalized (and definitely not against the will of their parents) but that those that are, are in nursing homes, which are not appropriate for their care. I would guess that these are children whose parents have chosen to let the state care for their children instead of doing so themselves. I’m not sure why parents who can care for their own children would need to worry about that?
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. Karen, if the Romney promise on retaining portions of the ACA that prevent insurers from dropping patients is accurate (and Romney’s campaign walked back from the clear statement he made about this on Sunday) then these parents should retain coverage. However, how Romney’s replacement to the ACA would handle the ACA’s provisions on disabilities care is still an unknown.
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CB, why do you think the Romney-Ryan ticket is very Randian? If this is Randian, I’d hate to see what you’d call a ticket headed by Ron Paul!
I assume that you don’t call Obama an Alinskyite, Marxist, or socialist, and I also assume that you would use the testimony of self-described socialists to help prove your case against that. That’s fair enough; I call Obama a liberal, not a socialist. Therefore, check out this link from Atlantic Monthly describing how true libertarians/Randians view Paul Ryan and his plan. I don’t of course agree with the criticism of Ryan and his plan, but I agree that he’s not a Randian. Surely you can understand the, ahem, NUANCE that agreeing with Rand on some things and being inspired by her writings to fight collectivism is not the same thing as agreeing with her philosophy and being a crusader intent on eliminating the safety net.
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Linda, that story was just an example of what these parents fear could happen. (At least one of the families in that story has been fighting to bring their child home, but I guess Florida does not pay for home care. Very sad.)
The parents & children I’m referring to can only care for their children at home with a lot of help from nurses & home health aids. Most people cannot afford these services, so they receive Medicaid to pay for them. A couple have mentioned a kind of waiver they have that allows this in-home care. They are afraid that a Romney administration would gut Medicaid, & they would not be able to afford to keep their children home.
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Also note that Ryan is a faithful Catholic who counts Thomas Aquinas as a big influence on his philosophy.
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Matt
My answer may be a little more complicated than you are looking for but here goes. Sullivan was responding to this piece:
http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/8876
which compares this electoral cycle to a contest of Hobbes v. Burke. The central notion is that one side is completely stateist and does not recognize contribtiuosns from nonState entities. That is of course, hogwash as an analysis. The other day Sails refererred to the monsterous levithan and I found that odd as that’s not a run of the mill remark. I do think Sully was a little over the top in his push back.
On your post, I wouldn’t consider Rep Ryan to be a libertarian despite his claims of Randian inspiration (in fact, Ayn Rand might vote him off the island). Nor would I consider the President to be anything other than a small l liberal and market-oreiented democract. He’s not a marxists, nor an alynskite (whatever that is …) or even a true socialist. I would consider the President to be as socialist as Pres. Nixon, or Roosevelt (either one), George HW Bush, George W Bush or Clinton.
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Karen,
Gotcha.
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This is a remarkable day. Within a span of 41 minutes, CB “completely agreed” with Pat Buchanan and “missed” Ronald Reagan.
I am afraid that many moderates would not like Reagan so well if he were to reappear. Reagan and Obama were the most ideological Presidents of my life. Each was constrained by events and Congress. Each was able to be elected, despite their extreme ideology because of the failure of their predecessor who belonged to the opposite party.
CB, I have missed Reagan every day for nearly 24 years, but I enjoyed every day of his 8 years as I enjoyed my son’s childhood. Now if I could only get you to say something nice about General Lee.
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Ricky: “I am afraid that many moderates would not like Reagan so well if he were to reappear.”
Very true.
And if you recall (those old enough to recall), liberals at the time despised Reagan, to the point that some of them genuinely believed he would “push the button” (yes, that button) before he left office. Remember all the nuclear war horror films that came out in the 1980s?
It always makes me smile to hear people say Reagan would feel out of place (in other words, not conservative enough) in today’s Republican party.
But he was a gifted leader, one of those who is appreciated by some people more in retrospect I suppose.
I guess since he didn’t blow up the world and has now been safely dead for a long enough time, it’s OK to say he wasn’t so bad after all? 😉
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Ricky
I voted for Reagan amd for Bush senior. See that’s thing, folks from WMB think that when I say moderate I mean liberal. Nope. When I say moderate, I mean moderate. I think President Reagan would have approved of President Obama’s plan to reduce duplication in government by eliminating the Commerce dept.
Robert E Lee — a honorable man and gifted general (except for Pickett’s charge, but then, folks were just learning about modern warfare at the time). I’m a fan. I like Stonewall Jackson too — hard not to admire his steadfastness.
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Ricky
Oh and on the Union side, Grant was ok — knew what to do with the numbers he had. Sherman was a name I can’t say on this site without AJ getting out the discipline stick. Most kind word for him, the man was a war criminal.
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New Rule: No one can call CB a liberal. Her positions on Lee and Jackson (not to mention Reagan) establish her bona fides. Donna J, Great Point! LOL! When Big Bush said he was kinder and gentler, it was Reagan he was implying was unkind and ungentle. When Little Bush said he was a compasionate conservative, who was the “uncompassionate conservative” he was thinking about? It was Reagan. This is why the Bushes are known as “Wimpy” and “Wimp, Jr.” in our house. Nevertheless, I voted for them as I will now vote for “Mormon Wimp”.
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CB, LOL about Sherman. My mother is one of these 75 plus year olds who blames Obama for literally everything that goes wrong. She has Fox News on 16 hours a day. However, I don’t think even she would put Obama in a class with Sherman.
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I got this video of Allen West speaking to the Jewish Republicans, and he really tells it like it is. Truly worth the watch if it comes through on the link:
http://resistance.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2600775:Topic:5919122&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic
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