Today's Mental Health Break

Here's one ya just gotta love.

Sometimes you just have to laugh, even if it's with hands covering your face.

With apologies to any offended,

Leanderthal

One of His Best

Here's one of James Carroll's best ever op-ed pieces.

Clearly today's must read.

Leanderthal

The Politics of Fear, Hallmark of the Right

Here's just one paragraph from an important essay about Right Wing Extremists' use of the threat of terrorism to frighten(terrorize?) Americans.

It's another of many trenchant posts on TomDispatch.com, an online progressive source for articles and essays about American Imperialism and the United States of Fear. Its publisher and editor is Tom Engelhardt whose bio is found at TomDispatch.com.

I continue to recommend what Tom Engelhardt offers at his TomDispatch.com website,which is affiliated with The Nation Institute.

This entire essay is worthy of serious attention. Please read it. Access it here.

Leanderthal

Friedman Hits One Out of the Park

Here's Tom Friedman's view that America should get out of the Israeli/Palestinian conundrum. "You can't want peace more than the parties themselves", he writes.

Perhaps the view of this Jewish American journalist will have a needed impact on American policy.

Leanderthal

Galbraith Calls It Like He Sees It.

Here's a trenchant piece on the failure of our leaders to do the right thing. The author is James K. Galbraith, a truly learned economist of the progressive persuasion.

Using an old and often trite phrase, he calls it like he sees it.

And it's disturbing.

Leanderthal

Krugman Gets It

Paul Krugman gets it here, in his analysis of the Obama tax deal. It needs no further comment from me.

Leanderthal

Pictures, Cartoons and Words

Everything I need to know about politics I learn each day from the political cartoons of David Wasserman in the Boston Globe and Tom Toles in the Washington Post.

In an earlier post today I showed Wasserman's.

But here it is again(you will need to scroll down a bit to see it) followed by Tom Toles' cartoon.

See if you agree that these two guys capture the essence of the public's reaction to the stories of the day.

Be sure to read the Toles blog just below his cartoon, and also click on the Ezra Klein link.

Leanderthal

This is Good. This is Really Good

Here's Tom Friedman's reaction to the deal Obama cut with the GOPhers.

He's looking at the big picture, the view from 40,000 feet. His analogy to a family economic dilemma is good, is really good.

Leanderthal

"Remember - this is a Compromise!"

Here's Wasserman's Boston Globe cartoon of Obama in short pants. And Wasserman is a liberal, progressive political cartoonist!!!

Reluctantly, I have to agree with his depiction of Obama as a school child being mugged by GOPher bullies.

The Daily Beast points out here that the Dem base is more angered by how the deal was reached than the specifics in the deal. After all reinstating unemployment insurance and some of the other parts of the deal itself make it at least palatable.

I guess making backroom deals is what a community organizer does. Historians, able to assess long term results and effects, might make him look good, but in the here and now it appears that Obama has abandoned his role as head of the Democrat party, by not attempting to sell the plan to the Dem politicians and his liberal constituent base. That doesn't go down well.

His televised self righteous condemnation of Dem politicians and base is at least unfortunate. He appears to have betrayed them by caving in to GOPher demands that nothing will get done without extending tax cuts to the enormously rich. That's the nauseous gag factor in all this.

Some are pointing out that it's only for two years. Don't count on it. Two years from now Obama will be running for a second term. This isn't going away any time soon.

And finally, here's Maureen Dowd's take on it. She nails it.

Leanderthal

Them's Hard Sayin's

Please read here the Sunday Times opinion piece by Frank Rich. He is considered a progressive journalist, somewhat left of center, so it's an eye opener to read his clear cynicism about Obama's behavior.

I've been of this mind for some time now and to have an in-touch journalist of the likes of a Frank Rich articulate what I've been trying to is reassuring that I'm not just a crank curmudgeon.

The Stockholm Syndrome seems a bit over the top, but when you think about it, Obama is actually exhibiting either that psychological behavior, he's just too naive to play the game of politics and/or he needs to be liked too much to take a strong stand for what he told us he believes, and for which we elected him.

The most recent example of course is the one Rich refers to, the meeting of GOP heads, Dem heads and Obama in which pleasantries were passed, followed quickly by the GOPHER manifesto delivered the very next day, stating total obstruction of Obama efforts, regardless of merit, until their GOPHER patrons,those richer than Creosus, are paid off with a continuation of their obscene tax cuts.

I never expected Obama to be ineffectual, and I'm not happy that I seem to be experiencing him that way. James Carville was correct, if crude, when he said(I paraphrase) that if Hillary gave one of her jewels to Obama, they'd both have two.

"WikiChina"

Here's Tom Friedman's tongue-in-cheek diplomatic cable from China's Embassy in DC to Beijing.

Ya gotta read this.

Leanderthal