From top left: Kue Bui for Newsweek; Andrew Hetherington / Redux; James Keyser / Time Life Pictures-Getty Images; Richard A. Bloom / Corbis; Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP-Gettty Images; Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images

Newsweek magazine has a very interesting and lengthy article, entitled “The Return of the Neocons” by David Margolick.

Here’s a short excerpt: “One prominent activist on the libertarian end of the party – who hates what he sees as their costly foreign – policy adventurism and the GOP electoral losses (i.e., the presidency and both houses of Congress) he attributes to them – calls them ‘parasites’: with little electoral power of their own, he claims, they have had to attach themselves to others, like George W. Bush. Comfortably ensconced behind a cloak of anonymity, he bristles, but also marvels, at their endurance and effectiveness, comparing them to ‘an infection that keeps coming back.’ “They’ve perfected this absolutely incredible thing: they announce who they are, how powerful they are, how influential they are, and get people to write articles about them,” he says. “But when their policies are perceived to have caused mass chaos, they don’t exist, they didn’t have anything to do with it, they weren’t there, and they get really snotty. And anyone who attacks them is anti-Semitic.”

Worth a read we think.

Technorati Tags: neocons, Newsweek, return

As we get deeper and deeper into the Afghan quagmire, ostensibly to defeat al-Qaida, along with its ever-mysterious Osama bin Laden and to defeat the Taliban, in order to prop up the Karzai government, it appears that the Taliban is always a step, or two ahead.

At this point, nearly every Afghan province has two governors – one belonging to the Karzai regime and the other to the Taliban one.

At the same time, it appears that many Afghans prefer a decisive rule to the disarray of the Karzai government.

The Taliban has established an elaborate shadow government of governors, police chiefs, district administrators and judges that in many cases already has more bearing on the lives of Afghans than the real government.

U.S. military officials say that getting rid of the Taliban’s shadow government and establishing the authority of the Karzai administration over the next 18 months will be critical to the success of President Obama’s surge strategy. But this has been complicated by the fact that in many areas, Afghans prefer the severe but decisive authority of the Taliban to the corruption and inefficiency of Karzai’s appointees.

For many Afghans, there is little, or no choice. Across broad areas of the country, especially Afghanistan’s vast rural areas, the government has little to no presence, leaving the Taliban as the only authority.

After been forced underground or into exile in 2001, the Taliban has returned not just to wage war but also to demonstrate that it is capable of delivering a different model of governance from the one offered by Karzai and his allies. Afghans who live under Taliban control say the group’s weaknesses remain the same as during the movement’s previous five-year rule. The Taliban provides virtually no social services, leaving Afghans on their own when it comes to health care, education and development.

Most Afghans celebrated Taliban’s ouster on 2001, but after eight years of Karzai’s government, many say they would happily welcome the Taliban’s return.

It appears then that whatever is defined as a “victory” in Afghanistan will not be a military one, but rather a very strong push to improve the efficiency of the central government, while cleaning out the ever-present corruption. In addition, the Afghan government forces will have to actually establish a strong, viable presence even in areas presently considered to be Taliban strongholds.

Whether the U.S. and NATO will be able to achieve that within the next 18 to 24 months remains to be seen, but the prospects do not look promising at all at this point.

Maybe if we finally gave up the search for the mythical Osama bin Laden, more resources could be channeled into actually fighting for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and to offer them a viable future, which for so many decades has seemed to slip almost out of reach?

Technorati Tags: afghanistan, government, politics, shadow, Taliban

There is no doubt that Thanksgiving is a very nice, family holiday and that it holds a special place in people’s calendars and hearts.

There’s nothing wrong with of at all… except that the pervading myth about the whole feast and its de rigueur menu, which supposedly originated with the Pilgrims in the first half of the 17^th century isn’t strictly true at all.

In addition, the Pilgrims were really a very unsavory bunch of Puritans, who had the leave England,  where they have overstayed their welcome by a long, long shot.

So, fortunately, the so-called Pilgrims had very little to do with the whole thing. As it happened, it was a creation of 19^th century Americans, particularly New Englanders, who wanted to have another national holiday. At the time, we had only two of those: Washington’s Birthday and the Fourth of July. There was also Christmas of course, which wasn’t really counted as a National Holiday.

Abraham Lincoln's presidential order establishing the Thanksgiving Holiday

From the beginning Thanksgiving was a holiday very directly related to food. Something along the lines of a harvest feast, which by that time was celebrated in practically every country of the world in some form.

What really and truly started the whole thing was Sarah Josepha Hale, probably the first female American novelist of note, who has written books, such as Northwood: A Tale of New England and Mary had a Little Lamb. Ms. Hale has written a whole chapter in which she described Thanksgiving in minute detail, with the turkey and the dressing and the gravy and all the other things and ingredients that we now think of as an integral part of the holiday.

Her novel turned out to be extremely popular and Sarah Josepha Hale became the editor a popular woman’s magazine, creating in the process a lot of the mid-19^th century fashion trends, one of which was, as you might have guessed, the Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving officially became a National Holiday in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln after some important Union victories during the Civil War issued a presidential order, making it official.

We hope that these tidbits of historical information do not disappoint those who believe in the traditional Pilgrim/Indian-related lore. It still remains a very nice holiday. Probably even nicer, without the nasty Pilgrim/Puritan connotations.

If only the artificially-fattened turkeys tasted better…and if the NFL football games were not a part of it all…

We get the feeling that if Sarah Josepha Hale was faced with both of the above, she would have given up on Thanksgiving altogether.

In any case, a Very Happy Thanksgiving to all! Just don’t overeat, please.

Technorati Tags: football, Indians, nfl, Origins, Pilgrims, puritans, Real, Sarah Josepha Hale, Thanksgiving, Turkey

Glenn Beck

That paragon of righteousness, FOX News’ Glenn Beck has been trying to get rid of Van Jones, the White House “special adviser for “green jobs, enterprise and innovation” for a while and a few days ago it happened.

Beck called Obama a “racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people” and later, trying to back up his claim, Beck cited Jones as a “black nationalist who is also an avowed communist.”

At issue is a comment – recorded last February before Jones joined the White House Council on Environmental Quality – in response to an audience member who lamented that Democrats were less effective than Republicans in using their majority to pass energy legislation.

Jones’ reply: “Well the answer to that is, they’re assholes.”

Van Jones

He added, “Now, I will say this: I can be an asshole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama, are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity.”

Beck made Jones a frequent target on his FOX show, labeling him a “radical who wants to fundamentally change America.”

Not to give Glenn Beck too much credit – since he doesn’t deserve it – it appears that Van Jones was largely pushed out by anti-climate change advocates from the oil industry and Beck, who made Jones’ “peccadilloes” public was simply the vehicle for his resignation.

Although it is really sad, actually quite tragic, that so many Americans receive their marching orders from Glenn and Rush, this video clip by Stephen Colbert might lighten your heart a bit. Thank you to SpicyBugzWorld for having it up first

Glen Beck has also been instrumental in organizing a march on Washington by conservatives, who were eager to protest the president’s health-care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending. Thousands of misinformed citizens under the banner of “Taxpayer March on Washington” marched through the city wielding banners and chanting “USA!”. “It’s not about health care, it’s about Obama seizing our freedom,” said one protest sign. Opposition to climate-change bills now in Congress was also on display. “Don’t send our coal to Asia,” said another placard. One protester held a sign saying: “Joe Wilson Speaks for Me.” Others held signs showing President Obama as Adolf Hitler.

We wonder how those people have reached their conclusions, and how valid these conclusions are, particularly in view of the fact that most appeared to have achieved whatever “wisdom” they had by watching television, listening to right wing radio shows and opinions emanating from the pulpits of their churches.

As Bill Maher so aptly put it, and we quote: “Who knew that electing a black man with a foreign-sounding name would make rural white people insane?”

Rush Limbaugh

At the same time, that other paragon of virtue, civility and wisdom, the darling of the right, Rush Limbaugh wasted no time at all at the start of his Thursday show, describing the president’s speech on health-care reform as “inappropriate,” “childish,” and “disgusting.” Rush also made a bold accusation: that the president “lied through his teeth” during the speech.

Limbaugh’s entire program that day was based around the notion that Obama was “lying … from the moment he opens his mouth until he ends the speech.” And yet, it appears that it was Rush who hopped from lie to lie during three solid hours.

For example: Limbaugh capped off his week-long insistence that “death panels” are implicitly – not explicitly – in the House bill by responding to Obama’s charge that the idea of death panels “is a lie, plain and simple” by saying: “It’s not a lie, plain and simple. [...] It’s in the bill. You want them run out of the White House. They are going to determine who gets treated and who doesn’t. [...] So we’re not lying. We’re not spreading bogus claims. You call us out, we’re gonna hit back twice as hard.”

Well, Rush, we wonder if you offered to buy a beer (maybe along with some strong prescription painkillers) for the South Carolina cracker who all of a sudden made himself notoriously famous by screaming about the same words that you like to use publicly so much?

After the death of William Buckley, the conservatives do not seem to have a single, viable, intelligent leader – one who even remotely could be termed an intellectual.

There’s nothing wrong with proper, intelligent conservatism. We used to consider ourselves moderate conservatives at one time, years ago. The Bush 43 outrage and the present crop of conservatives have completely and probably permanently cured us of that affliction.

Not that we are happy with what the Democrats are doing (or not doing, for that matter), the Republican’s situation seems to be much more serious. Not only have they lost the White House and both houses of Congress, but also they seem to be dominated by crazies, primitives and yes – assholes.

All of a sudden the reality downs on those, who managed to keep their eyes, ears and minds open: The Grand Old Party is not so grand anymore and neither is our politics in general.

Technorati Tags: assholes, conservatives, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Van Jones

The Christian right, which as of late has been facing some serious questions about its remaining strength and viability, has found a new life along with the election of Barack Obama.

The right’s opposition to health-care reform seems to be its most effective method of getting back into the political game.

Conservative leaders are rallying their troops to oppose the president’s agenda. They have organized online town hall meetings, church gatherings, fundraising appeals, and e-mail and social networking campaigns.

FRC Action, the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council, has scheduled a webcast Thursday night for thousands of supporters in which House Minority Leader John Boehner and other speakers will be responding to the president’s health-care address.

The “us versus them” mentality seems to play very well for the conservatives.

Since the right’s bread-and-butter issue of abortion took a back seat during last year’s election, the Christian right has been a prime force in moving it back to the front by focusing on it as a potential part of the health-care reform.

Polls show that the health-care packages now in Congress are widely unpopular among evangelicals. More than seven in 10 white evangelical Protestants in the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll have said they are dissatisfied or angry about the Democratic reform proposals.

As a matter of fact a coalition of over 30 conservative Christian organizations, representing about 5 million people and calling itself the Freedom Federation was formed in August. Opposition to health-care reform was the first issue on its agenda.

We can perfectly understand a Christian group, or groups being opposed to abortion. But is this really what this new campaign is all about?

First of all, is the health-care reform going to increase, or facilitate abortions to any measurable degree? We don’t know and we suspect that the Christian right doesn’t know that either, as details of whatever health-care reform is going to get finally approved are at this point unclear at best.

So if it isn’t abortion, maybe it is simply another attempt to become a stronger political force in our society. Too bad that the conservatives have picked health-care reform as their vehicle, trying to deprive all of us and themselves also of better and more affordable health-care options.

Another baffling health-care reform issue – not necessarily related to the Christian right – is the opposition by a goodly number of elderly people. As far as we can tell, this segment of the population, already covered by Medicare and often Medicaid as well is worried about “government takeover of our health-care system”. In case somebody hasn’t explained it to those people yet, they are already covered by a government health-care system, which they seem to actually like quite a bit. So what gives?

Technorati Tags: Christian Right, Health care, medicare, opposition, reform, Revived