Jack Lippman
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Bin Laden’s Death and Pakistan’s Role in it
It was a great accomplishment to locate Osama Bin Laden and to kill him. Those who accomplished it deserve the highest commendation. The President deserves credit for having the guts to authorize the mission when a far less hazardous operation, such as bombing the place into oblivion, might have been a safer choice. Nevertheless, I am certain the President’s detractors will find some way to criticize him for putting an end to the man who is responsible for the death of thousands of Americans. Shame on them if they do.
More important is the role Pakistan played. I feel that either one of two conditions prevailed: (1) Because of the location of Bin Laden’s hideout, the Pakistanis must have known about it, or even were complicit in ensconcing him there, or (2) they were totally unaware of his being there. If the first is the case, they are guilty of duplicity in dealing with us. If the second is the case, they are incompetent. In either situation, they are people we do not want as allies.
Because Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal, this problem must be handled very carefully. I would hope that our government is working on ways to make this arsenal dysfunctional, perhaps in the same manner as a computer virus was used to delay Iran’s nuclear development program, or perhaps in other, less passive ways.
JL
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Why President Obama Released his Original Birth Certificate … with due credit to columnist Kathleen Parker
Besides David Brooks, of whose thoughts I gave you a sampling in my last posting, another of my favorite “conservative” columnists is Kathleen Parker. A recent column of hers gave an insightful explanation of why President Obama finally released his original “long-form” birth certificate. Parker felt that the President did this to deflate and derail the efforts of real estate tycoon Donald Trump to campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination.
Thus far, Trump has based his campaign on questioning the President’s birthplace and academic history. These arguments have made him the darling of the extreme right wing of the G.O.P., an area dominated by the Tea Party people, a group which sometimes acts like its primary mission is to dismantle most of the social safety net (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Unemployment Benefits) which our government has put in place along with diminishing support for education and the rebuilding of America’s deteriorating infrastructure. Parker feels that by Trump’s placing himself at the far right of G.O.P. nomination hopefuls, he gives the others (Romney, Pawlenty, Daniels, Gingrich, etc,) the appearance of being centrists and not so tightly connected to the far right as he is. In brief, he makes them look good!
With Trump out of the picture, however, these other potential nominees would have to reorient themselves to the right to gain the support of the Tea Party people and other extreme conservatives many of whom they disagree with, but whose support they would have to seek. The further to the right the eventual G.O.P.nominee is, the easier it will be for the President to defeat him in 2012. The longer Trump is in the running and pre-empting the extreme right, the more time the eventual nominee, and it won’t be Trump, will have to polish his centrist credentials, making him a more formidable opponent for the President in 2012.
JL
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Distinguishing Fact from Fancy
I recently attended a seminar at Lynn University here in Florida entitled “Dialogues in Democracy,” dedicated to promoting more civility in our political discourse. Participants included former Sunshine State Governor Bob Graham and former long-time Congressman Clay Shaw. Some of the participants believed that it would be a good thing if more Americans took on a greater civic role in their communities, becoming more politically active.
I don’t know how wise this would be since the rise of the Tea Party movement is an excellent manifestation of what can happen when more people become politically active, but do so without a full and honest understanding of the issues involved. It has been said many times that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts. Until there is some agreement as to what the “facts” are, it is pointless to indiscriminately encourage people to become more civic minded. As I have said in earlier postings, if five percent of the electorate is enough to change the result of an election, it is important that the voters from which that five percent will come can distinguish fact from fancy, and truth from lies. Until that can be accomplished, encouraging more people to play a greater civic role may prove self-defeating.
JL
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Unpublished Correspondence - Anarchy
I recently wrote a letter to the Palm Beach Post. While they have published my letters on occasion, they did not print this one. That’s okay with me since I always have the opportunity of including it in my blog. Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago, a gentlemen wrote a letter to the Post criticizing the political situation in a local town and asking “Where are the anarchists when you need them?“ This prompted me to write a letter to the Post, the text of which follows:
“A recent letter writer (Lake Worth Selling Out – Sunday, 4/24) concluded his comments with a question: “Where are the anarchists when you need them?” One of the definitions of “anarchy” provided by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government.” Because those who believe that government which governs least, governs best seem to have this definition in mind as they proceed to dismantle parts of our government, the anarchists the letter writer is looking for probably can be found in the State House in Tallahassee and among the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party in Washington.”
I think I am going to re-read Ayn Rand, whose writings (and a current film, “Atlas Shrugged”) are being used to legitimatize a lot of right wing thoughts. Congressman Ryan, who introduced the G.O.P.’s budget in the House is a fan of hers. More on Rand in subsequent blogs.
JL
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