Tag: 2 cents

Words and for him that is all it takes

From the WSJ:

The United States has formulated a new strategy in response to the recent anti-government protests that have broken out through the Arab world since the start of 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. After weeks of internal discussions, the US decided to put its support behind longtime allies who may be willing to initiate political reform, even if that means citizens’ demand for full democracy are delayed.

Despite the fact that US officials are still calling for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s immediate removal from power, White House officials have formed the “Bahrain model.” The proposed system endorses the ruling power to stay in control but works with the local population to create democratic reforms that suit demands of the protesters.

2 cents: Talk, words and no action, the O model. He can now have speeches crafted to be eloquent and beam to him on his teleprompters but positive democratic action will not be taken. Words are his tool and weapon of choice because with words you turn a democratic republic to a socialist nation. You change the government by policies and legislation. You wear out the citizens with words.

See the evil beauty is that words do nothing now for the citizens in nations wanting to democracy BUT words do everything here to rid a nation of the same democracy.

icubudLeave a comment

Surviving

From The Week magazine 2/11/2011 edition

Higher-wage jobs—paying $17.43 to $31 an hour—accounted for almost half the jobs lost during the recession, according to the National Employment Law Project. Of the jobs created during the first seven months of 2010, 76 percent paid $8.92 to $15 an hour.
CNNMoney.com

2 cents: One of the key characteristics missing from the type of data O and Congress try to peddle while saying that the economy is beginning to recover. Adapting to changes does not mean recovery, it simply means surviving.

icubudLeave a comment

in a nutshell

Mr. Levy, the former Israeli peace negotiator, said: “The problem for America is, you can balance being the carrier for the Israeli agenda with Arab autocrats, but with Arab democracies, you can’t do that.”

the full story here

2 cents:
This circles Reagan’s words and rebuke about Carter’s administration and the Iran mess it created. With the Shah of Iran you had stability in the nation, someone doing his best to keep extremism at bay while trying to allow the culture flourish. True he was a autocracy but he was an allie of the USA and in many ways the region because of his allegiances to the West and a separation of religion and government. Our government’s meddling (OIL) and instigation led to his overthrow and the power that took the place of the vacuum was the Ayatollah and you know the rest.

Now this may tick someone off but it needs to be “said” – because of the attributes and philosophy of the Islam religion the risk to a nation and the world is exceptionally great when democracy is attempted. For example – central to its belief structure is the necessity of the religion being the government so with this ideology the different views/positions of Islam run the country literally. When you have a religion that encourages violence for the sake of their version of Islam, well then the liberal arm of Islam will always be killed by the extremists which means extremism will run the government.

If what some of the earlier reports are stating is true and this mess in Egypt had been encouraged & nurtured by USA meddling then our government has committed another atrocious act of disservice to the world.

icubudLeave a comment

Unite around religion

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader has called the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia an “Islamic liberation movement”.

In his address, during Friday prayers at Tehran University in Iran’s capital, he said that people are witnessing the reverberations of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

“The awakening of the Islamic Egyptian people is an Islamic liberation movement and I, in the name of the Iranian government, salute the Egyptian people and the Tunisian people,”he said.

Khamenei has urged Egypt’s protesters to follow in the footsteps of the Iranian revolution which toppled a pro-US leader and installed an Islamic Republic, calling on Egyptians to unite around religion.

Khamenei added that the Egypt’s embattled president, Hosni Mubarak, is a “servant” of Israel and the United States.

The spiritual leader’s remarks were received by cheering crowds of worshippers who, raising their hands, chanted “Death to America! Death to Israel!”

full story here

2 cents: I believe this confirms my “in a nutshell” post

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Time for plain talk

From today’s Washington Post:
“I don’t think America appeals to the younger generation,” she said. “I’m cautious not to present them with the American example because there’s a negative attitude to America, a disappointment.”
No one yet knows what kind of Middle East will emerge from Cairo’s embattled streets: a newly democratic one, an increasingly radicalized one, or perhaps one in which authoritarian regimes tighten their grip. Events in Cairo are unfolding too rapidly to predict, but one possible outcome could be a more visibly anti-American drift.
Still, it is notable that even the most rabid protests against President Hosni Mubarak have focused on his reign, rather than on the American role in enabling it.
Reform of a particular sort could actually bolster U.S. interests if it allows more open commerce and development of a strong middle class in societies often split today between a connected rich and a dispossessed poor.

My 2 cents:
Plain talk is what our government needs to convey to Egypt and Muslims across the world.
Plainly and honestly explain that we are pro-democracy and have as a hope a world that embraces democratic principles. That our hesitation and lack of clarity for what is going in Egypt is because of the fear of extremists of any kind seizing this opportunity to plunder Egypt and any other nation that opens the door to a democratic process.
Be honest. Be respectful. Egyptians, Muslims, citizens of the world would appreciate honest dialogue. The region could strengthen and bloom under such words.

icubudLeave a comment