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Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Show Sexism Still Trumps Racism
Tweet Share on Facebook December 15, 2008 Comment (10)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
On Friday usnews.com posted a fascinating op-ed piece about women in international security. All I can say is, hear, hear and read, read!!
Recent headlines lead one to believe that we should award U.S. policies an "A" for inclusiveness, yet empirical evidence suggests we still have a way to go: Multiple studies on women in national security have illuminated concern about the progression of women into senior leadership positions. Many of the studies question whether women face either real or perceived barriers to reaching the highest ranks.
And the answer to the studies' question (whether women still face barriers to the top) is yes, yes, yes! As I've said before, last month's presidential election is proof positive it is more acceptable to be sexist than racist. The sexist insults hurled at Sen. Hillary Clinton (being called a she-goat, her laugh being called a cackle, etc.) if translated into racial slurs and used instead against President-elect Obama would never have been tolerated. And yet, to this day, no one has been forced to apologize to Clinton for all the highly-biased poppycock she had to endure.
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The End of the Global War on Terrorism
Tweet Share on Facebook December 15, 2008 Comment (2)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
I've long disliked the phrase "global war on terrorism" because terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology or movement. Patrick Cronin of National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies elaborates over in the Op-Ed section today on the limitations of the "war on terrorism":
After 9/11, the United States reduced its role in the world to one big idea: prosecuting the "Global War on Terrorism." Inevitably, terrorism, which is a tactic, not a philosophy, failed to provide a universal organizing principle for U.S. security. Now President-elect Barack Obama faces a wicked dilemma: how to recalibrate America's strategy to meet myriad complex challenges with diminished power.
Cronin goes on to identify eight separate challenges that Barack Obama will face after January 20. The whole thing is worth a read.
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Barack Obama Speechwriter Jon Favreau, the Hillary Clinton “Grope” and Scenes From the Surveillance Republic
Tweet Share on Facebook December 12, 2008 Comment (39)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Bonnie wrote about Obama chief speechwriter Jon Favreau's recent unfortunate encounter with the perils of Facebook, joining a chorus calling for Favreau's professional head.
Well, no. The Favreau kerfuffle certainly holds broader meanings, but they have little to do with the character of the next president's head wordsmith.
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The GOP Bungles the Auto Bailout
Tweet Share on Facebook December 12, 2008 Comment (34)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The GOP clearly isn't happy with its popularity ratings in the tank. They threaten to send the Grand Old Party spiraling down into political Middle Earth. At least that's the impression Senate leaders are making by killing the Big Three auto bailout.
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In Memoriam Robin Toner
Tweet Share on Facebook December 12, 2008 Comment (2)We at Thomas Jefferson Street extend our deep sympathies to the family and friends (including our own Jack Farrell) of the late New York Times reporter Robin Toner who died early this morning at her home here in Washington.
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Bush Administration’s Antienvironmental Policies Hurt Polar Bears
Tweet Share on Facebook December 12, 2008 Comment (11)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
There's not an animal in sight the Bush administration doesn't want to send off to extinction on the way out the door. Now it's the polar bear. Yes, let's just slaughter them all, why don't we?
With just more than a month left in office, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Thursday made
permanent a rule that says the listing of polar bears will not be used to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a leading cause of global warming, and the primary reason for the loss of Arctic sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears.
These "special rules" announced by the Interior Department continue the Bush tradition of selling out science in the name of corporate environmental destruction. They are proposed to "reduce the influence of federal scientists" on endangered species decisions. Yes, let's ignore the scientists, because, after all, what do they know, compared with evangelicals anxiously awaiting the second coming of Christ, right? Kempthorne did so while making permanent a "special rule" to block steps that could protect threatened polar bears.
In case you were wondering, we're now down to 1.74 million square miles of sea ice. This is the second-lowest level on record. It is also 860,000 square miles below the annual average between 1979 and 2000. The ice is what's keeping not just polar bears but much of the Arctic ecosystem alive.
I guess the Obama administration should be thankful it will have so much to do when it takes office, undoing the ridiculous last-minute moves of the Bush administration.
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JFK and Barack Obama’s Centrist Transition to Liberalism
Tweet Share on Facebook December 12, 2008 Comment (1)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
Leave it to a better commentator and a smarter Schlesinger to team up to more eloquently make a point I hazarded last week about the perception that Barack Obama's cabinet choices are centrist rather than liberal. Liberalism is an ideology, I suggested, while pragmatism is not an ideology but rather how you apply it.
E.J. Dionne has a great column in today's Washington Post examining the supposed liberal disillusionment with Obama. He cites similar rumblings that emanated from the left in the lead-up to the Kennedy administration, quoting from the Journals of JFK aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (or as I was wont to call him, Dad).
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Is Jon Favreau for Real?
Tweet Share on Facebook December 11, 2008 Comment (65)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Is this for real?
According to thedailybeast.com, President-elect Obama's chief speechwriter was photographed groping, quite inappropriately I might add, a stand-up photo of secretary of state nominee Sen. Hillary Clinton:
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Rod Blagojevich, the Stupidest Governor in the Country, Puts Obama in a Bad Light
Tweet Share on Facebook December 11, 2008 Comment (44)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
I'm a little late, thanks to jury duty and other matters, to weigh in on the incredibly juicy Rod Blagojevich story. Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday morning on the basis of a criminal complaint issued by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. That Blagojevich has been under legal investigation and has been in danger of indictment has been widely understood by all serious political actors in Chicago and Illinois for some time: This wasn't entirely a surprise. "Our worst fears were realized," was the official reaction of state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a critic of Blagojevich who has been contemplating challenging him in the 2010 Democratic primary for governor. But it was a surprise that Blagojevich made so many impolitic and indictable statements when he had every reason to believe that he was under surveillance. The always shrewd Jennifer Rubin is on to something when she asks whether Blagojevich is "just plain crazy." She is "intrigued by the mendacity, bordering on insanity. How does someone function in a high office with such a loose grip on reality?"
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Immigration Fraud Riddles Suspended Family Reunification Program
Tweet Share on Facebook December 11, 2008 Comment (4)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not the only one committing a fascinating form of fraud. In a little-noticed move last week, the State Department suspended an immigration program, disqualifying certain would-be immigrants from entering the country. Why? They were committing fraud in massive percentages.
