The show RED EYE which airs really late night on FOX News is actually wickedly funny and sometimes incisively so.
Try to watch the clip from their Feb 26 discussion about the Hamas Bunny.
It is the right’s version of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report, among my all-time favorites, only surpassed by the Seinfeld Series.
I wrote earlier about how the American primaries have been a wonderful showcase of democracy at work.
Everywhere I have been traveling lately, from Tel Aviv to Ramallah, from Mexico City to Sydney, Australia, people are fascinating with the US elections.
The only scary thing that will bring us back is if the Obama-Clinton competition is not resolved in an orderly fashion by the people. If Florida/Michigan delegates become an issue, or if the super-delegates end up crowning the nominee at odds with the vote of the people, it will bring us back to the Bush-Gore elections debacle and make American democracy look like a banana republic.
In this context it is good news that it seems like Senator Obama is establishing a firm lead and Senator Clinton is demonstrating remarkable elegance in accepting the will of the people.
Below is a funny article about a man that set out to discover where all the ingredients in a twinkie came from…and the greater issue about all the artificial ingredients in our food…
I never cease to be amazed how our mass culture has created a permissiveness to eat and manufacture products whose ingredients you can’t see or pronounce.
That is, by the way, why KIND has a commitment to "ingredients you can see and pronounce."(R)
Click below to go to the article…
One of the most insightful articles to cover the American political
landscape and elections dynamics, is Michael Oreskes’ ‘The Party
Animal Either Plays Well Or Fights Well,’ [available here] in the New York Times Week in Review of Feb 3 2008. Don’t let its dumb title, presumably assigned by yet another editor that underestimates his readers, turn you off. The article is among the best and most on-target expositions of the
philosophies underlying today’s candidates, and their historical line.
For another deeper historical tackle at these competing styles is the
book ‘Crusaders vs. Pragmatists’ from Dr. John Stoessinger.
Sent from my iPhone – pardon typos
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Taken from this article about the Gaza-Egypt border debacle, this picture struck me as a sad allegory not just to the challenges of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and of building of a Palestinian State, but further to so many of the challenges faced today in the Middle East, from the peace process, to the struggle between tradition and modernity, to the many divides harming the region, to the threats of nuclear proliferation, etc.
Barack Obama’s sweeping victory this weekend – he won all 3 states, Washington, Nebraska, and Louisiana, overwhelmingly – was an opportunity for him to show humility, to speak a little more about our shared responsibility to strengthen our country and our world and be global stewards to each other. It was also an opportunity for him to speak a little bit about policy and vision – yes, to inspire, but to do so with some meat. Most important, it was an opportunity to make it about "us." Instead, the initial over-use of "my" and "me" felt like bragging about success with an undertone of entitlement and righteousness, and overshadowed his good moments.
It is clear he is trying to assure voters that he can gain the nomination, that he can beat McCain, and that he can run the country. But his speech in Virginia (where the next contest comes) had a cocky tone that is dangerous to his message.
Contrast that to the way Huckabee handled his similar victory on the Republican side this weekend. Political commentators were scoring him points by praising him for being "understated" about his wins.
A New York Times Editorial, "An Intolerable Fraud", tells of a "charity" that hides behind a patriotic name – "The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes" and its sister "Help Hospitalized Veterans" – to bilk unknowing donors trying to send funds to soldiers harmed by the war, only to squander 70% to 80% of their funds.
According to the New York Times, the guy running this outfit, Roger Chapin, spent nearly $125 million (75% of funds raised) in "fund-raising, administrative expenses, fat salaries and perks. Mr. Chapin gave himself and his wife $1.5 million in salary, bonuses and pension contributions over those three years, including more than $560,000 in 2006. The charities also reimbursed the Chapins more than $340,000 for meals, hotels, entertainment and other expenses, and paid for a $440,000 condominium and a $17,000 golf-club membership."
Just as pathetic, much of the funds the troops got was in the form of "’charitable’ phone cards sent to troops overseas in 2006 — not to let them call their families, but rather to call up a stateside business that sells sports scores."
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek.
-Barak Obama, Feb. 5th speech
A lot of disenchanment and criticism globally against the US has
accumulated over the last few years.
But I have a feeling that the 2008 primaries, perhaps even more than
the November elections will, are re-shaping the world’s thoughts about
the US and the meaning and value of democracy.
Super-Tuesday’s energy and intensity seem to have crossed US borders.
I googled news about the delegate count and before settling on CNN’s
great tracking charts, I noticed newspapers from South Africa to India
were passionately discussing the process.
A reader recently posted some very angry remarks relishing Armageddon for Israel and/from the Palestinian people…and talking about a rampage and killing and raping of children…