COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, June 18, 2012

Barack Hussein Obama - A domestic enemy of the US Constitution?


CURL: Obama: A domestic enemy of the U.S. Constitution


ANALYSIS/OPINION:
-
The Washington Times




“Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation — I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.*
“* Unless, you know, 224 years from now, whoever happens to president simply decides he really doesn’t want to do that.”
- Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of Barack Obama’s U.S. Constitution
The Founders set the course in a simple, concise, 35-word affirmation — the president’s top job is to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution. The chief executive does, of course, have other responsibilities, but his guardianship of the document they had just written was deemed by the Founders to be of such great import that they made him swear it — aloud, in front of witnesses.
In 1884, Congress, having no set oath of office, wrote its own: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same …”
Little did they know then that 128 years later, America would face just that: a domestic threat to the U.S. Constitution.
From the very beginning, the president and his administration made clear they had no intention of enforcing laws they didn’t like. Mr. Obamaand his minions decided that they would simply stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act, no longer prosecute growers of “medical” marijuana, and let some states walk away from provisions in the No Child Left Behind law (which, by the way, was co-authored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and passed the Senateby a 91-8 vote).
Mr. Obama’s Justice Department has even more flagrantly flouted the laws of the land. Out of the blue, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, reinterpreted America’s gambling laws (and dumped the decision on Christmas Eve so as to avoid scrutiny). More recently, Mr. Holder has decided to thwart congressional oversight by refusing to release documents on the disastrous “Fast and Furious” gun-running scheme, and he is actively fighting Florida for trying to expunge dead people from its voter rolls.
Now comes Mr. Obama’s decision to stop enforcing America’s immigration laws. The new policy states that illegal immigrants who were younger than 16 when they entered the country are eligible for a two-year exemption from deportation. Of course, the “deferred action process,” as Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano called it, will apply to illegals up to age 30. (Think when they legally get their driver’s licenses they will also be handed a voter registration card?)
The increasingly desperate Mr. Obama, once a constitutional professor, knows full well he is circumventing Congress. In March 2011 he told a group of young Hispanics: “America is a nation of laws, which means I, as the president, am obligated to enforce the law. I don’t have a choice about that. That’s part of my job.
Congress passes the law. The executive branch’s job is to enforce and implement those laws,” he said. “There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as president.”
So why now? Politics. The Hispanic population in Florida, Virginia, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado may well decide the November election, and with working-class whites, religious blacks, disenchanted young people and Jews fleeing in droves, Mr. Obama is looking to shore up his support, even if that means violating his oath to protect the Constitution.
Continuing his nonstop campaign of division — black against white, rich against poor, straight against gay, religious against secular, race against race — the president is seeking to build whatever loose coalition of support he can. Forget bipartisanship; a coalition of the middle, Mr. Obama’s sole path to victory, he thinks, is to stir up so much discontent within different strata that he can win re-election.
Of course, the liberals who whined about President George W. Bush’s signing statements haven’t made a peep about Mr. Obama’s Napoleonic power grab.

75 comments:

  1. In the video clip, Obama is at ease, unguarded and academic in his analysis of the Constitution. Obama is hardly in awe of the Constitution. He expresses the politically correct words and claims respect but then gets on to business and sees the Constitution as subservient to domestic realities. A US President that sees the document as fundamentally flawed is not a man to be guided or restricted by that document. His natural inclination is to see it as he calls it, flawed and to be worked around.

    Obama may or may not be an enemy of The Constitution but certainly is not an ally.

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  2. Obama sees The Constitution to be a white document (code word: “ enormous blind spot”). Obama goes from calling it remarkable to “imperfect" to flawed and then to "deep flaws.”

    Obama likes to use the term "fatal flaw.”

    Obama sees The Constitution in the past tense.

    Obama is a domestic threat to the very concept of the original intent of the Constitution. He should be removed from office.

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  3. The Constitution is a remarkable writing. Created by a group of 'irrelevant old white men' who knew mankind to be packed with the lesser urges of greed, lust for power and passion that they knew they themselves possessed in full measure they set about to restrain these very urges by forming up a truly unique system of balances and restraints to keep themselves at bay from themselves. It is hard to overstress what a unique set of circumstances and talented and remarkable men brought this about.

    But, then, of course we hear that some of these men owned slaves.

    Where did Jefferson for instance get his education? There weren't really 'schools' here at the time. Tutored, his learning grew naturally in a mind raised in a family that valued such things much more than a good harvest.

    It's hard to be optimistic about the Constitution. Another term of the usurper and an appointment or two to the Supreme Court cutting into the constitutionally respectful wing of the Court and the jig appears to be up nearly up. Created in a rural society it may well be doomed in this mass rat race of a nation we have going now.

    There is real truth in the idea it is the character of the people not the parchment that counts. Many a current tyranny may have a wonderful constitution for all I know.

    At any rate, Ruth Ginsberg advises other countries not to look to our Constitution when writing their own. I can't recall where she advised them to turn.

    Impeach Obama? He should be tried for treason and jailed.

    b

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  4. Puhleeze (again)

    After the Supreme Court ruled against Andrew Jackson in the case regarding the Cherokee, Ol' Hickory said, "they made their ruling, now let'em enforce it," whereupon he promptly ordered the Cherokee rounded up, and marched to Oklahoma.

    American Presidents have always fought against the Supreme Ct, and Constitutional restrictions. Obama may be a tad bit unique in some ways, but not in this'un.

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    1. .

      Hey, everyone does it. It must be ok.

      .

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    2. We're "people," Q, not sheep. The President isn't an automaton, he's a "person" with opinions.

      Everyone, everywhere, pushes for their particular agenda. Having been elected by a "Majority" of the People, the President is in a place where he can push a little harder than the average Joe/Jane.

      Do I, entirely, agree with the President's decision? No, not really; but I doubt that it's the "end of Constitutional Governance as we know it."

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    3. .

      More rationalization.

      You ignore the pattern. This constitutional lawyer has little or no regard for the constitution if it becomes inconvenient or encroaches on his political ambitions.

      And sorry, methinks you are a bit hypocritical...er...sorry I meant flexible. If the same president decided to withhold funds that Congress had allocated for subsidies to solar and wind projects because he disagreed with the policy or as a quid pro quo to big oil, you would be screaming. If he ordered the registration of every gun in the country, long and short, for national security reasons you would become leery of 'the trend'. If the FEDS pulled you over because you 'just didn't look right, ordered you out of the car and frisked you, asked questions and delayed you while the ice cream you just bought for your grankid was melting in the back seat, and then ordered you on your way with no explanation or apology, you would either be livid or slink home and pout.

      .

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    4. Well, yeah. Again, I didn't say I was "crazy" about the DREAM ACT Lite policy, just that it isn't, necessarily, a "Constitutional Emergency." More like Business As Usual from the "land of dicks."

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    5. And, of course I'm hypocritical. I didn't say anything about applying for Sainthood (much less being accepted.) :)

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    6. .

      Dream Act Lite is irrelevant (to me) except as another example of the pattern Obama has established. I've got bigger concerns with what he is doing.

      .

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  5. We won't even go into Lincoln and FDR.

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    Replies
    1. Neither Lincoln nor FDR got into ordering the Catholic Church around, and didn't have in mind to off the vulnerable elderly by with holding care via some health advisory panel or such.

      b

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    2. These could, easily, have been considered "flaws" in their administrations, not features.

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  6. Well, the "take the money and run" party was defeated by the "wait, let's get a little more before we bolt" party.

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  7. Watch Florida hearing about O's eligibility live here -

    http://www.wnd.com/2012/06/209789/

    First guy's comment is right on.

    b

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  8. From Wiki

    At age 16, Jefferson entered the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, and first met the law professor George Wythe, who became his influential mentor. He studied mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy under Professor William Small, who introduced the enthusiastic Jefferson to the writings of the British Empiricists, including John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton.[18] He also improved his French, Greek, and violin. A diligent student, Jefferson displayed an avid curiosity in all fields[19] and graduated in 1762, completing his studies in only two years, half the time it took Adams to graduate from Harvard. [20] Jefferson read law while working as a law clerk for Wythe. During this time, he also read a wide variety of English classics and political works. Jefferson was admitted to the Virginia bar five years later in 1767.[21]

    Google is your friend.

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    1. I remember him being tutored as a kid. Shit, maybe I'm thinking of Shakespeare. It's scary, getting old. But it sounds to me from that blurb, he already knew French, Greek, and violin.

      b

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    2. Violin is kinda same as fiddle, Ruf, but slower.

      b

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    3. Here it is, link provided by my wife -

      http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/jeffersons-formal-education

      What I'm saying is, he didn't exactly go to City Elementary, K-8.

      b

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  9. Father’s Day might always be a tricky holiday for Woody Allen but this year was particularly awkward. Ronan Farrow, the 24-year-old son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, let loose yesterday tweeting, “Happy father’s day — or as they call it in my family, happy brother-in-law’s day.”

    Mia Farrow even got in on the act, re-tweeting his message and adding her own comment: “BOOM.”

    Woody and Ronan have been estranged for years since his parents split and because Woody was dating (and later married) Soon-Yi Previn, Mia’s adopted daughter, Ronan’s step-sister. He has been quoted in the past as saying, “He’s my father married to my sister. That makes me his son and his brother-in-law. That is such a moral transgression.”

    Soon-Yi has said that she never considered Allen her father or even a father figure, noting that Andrew Previn, Farrow’s former husband was her adoptive father.

    Ronan, named Satchel Ronan O’Sullivan Farrow when he was born in 1987, is the sole biological child of Woody and actress Mia Farrow. He is currently serving as special adviser to the Secretary of State for Global Youth Issues and director of the State Department’s Global Youth Issues office.


    What's the definition of confusion? Father' Day.

    b

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  10. Inside photo of President Obama and his Cabinet revealed below -

    http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/revealed-photo-obamas-pot-smoking-choom-gang/605806

    Just one more tidbit that should have been made public before this idiot was ever elected in the first place. Obomba was created and sold to a completely duped electorate, most of which never cared enough to give a crap as to who Obomba really was.

    Some of those folks still don't care. My hope is that enough voters have caught on and actually do the right thing and throw this marxist, dope smoking, cocaine snorting, open borders, federal gubment exploding, dictator wannabe, out on his leftist ass.


    My sentiments exactly.

    b

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  11. Doin' the electric slide, whatever that is, in the Rose Garden, barefoot -

    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/08/stars-celebrate-obamas-50th-birthday/1#.T9-M7MX5AiV

    This is the kind of shit that pisses my wife off most, going tribal, turning the place into a disco.

    b

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  12. OMG!! They smoked pot?!?


    Really?!?

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  13. Indeed, Rufus. It is an excellent Jeffersonian preparation for the high office of President.

    b

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  14. I'm not sure I'd want a President that grew up in the Seventies, and didn't smoke a little pot.

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  15. .....and snort a lot of coke......it's almost a requirement for the job, these days.

    Romney definitely isn't the candidate for you.

    He like, studied hard, and started businesses, and gave to charity, and went to church and shit.

    b

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  16. You have no idea what Romney did, or didn't do, those two years he spent in France as a young man (teenager?)

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  17. I think most Americans will have the same reaction as I did - to wit: "Looks like a pretty nice bunch of kids having fun. What's the prob?"

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    Replies
    1. The problem is, it's all he did. That's why his grades are sealed.

      b

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  18. Oh bullshit. He was on a Mormon mission. You are just passing gas.

    Allen West: “The resurrection of an imperial presidency”
    posted at 4:01 pm on June 18, 2012 by Erika Johnsen

    The GOP is somewhat less-than-pleased with President Obama’s Friday announcement that he plans to take the United States’ deportation policy into his own hands and issue young illegal immigrants work permits allowing them to stay in the country legally, and several Congresspeople had some fightin’ words for the president on the House floor on Monday afternoon.

    Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) quoted the president from a year ago, when he said the administration can’t ignore laws on the books — advice that Poe said Obama ignored last week. …

    “He doesn’t like the constitutional process for lawmaking because it just gets in his way, so he acts like an emperor instead of a president,” Poe added. “It’s time for the former constitutional professor to read the Constitution.”

    Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said he is “deeply alarmed that America’s president so blatantly undermines the rule of law.”

    “In America, we elect presidents, not caesars,” Brooks said. “The only way to change America’s immigration law is as our Constitution demands, through Congress not by imperial decree.”

    Ouch — tell us how you really feel! But when it comes to calling people out for wildly presumptuous oversteps of authority and political pandering, there are few who do it better than Rep. Allen West (R-Florida). He pretty much sums it up:

    “What country did we wake up in on Friday?,” West asked. “It just causes people to ask, where are we? You know, the last time we had this was with King George III, and we didn’t like it too much. And I think that you’re seeing the resurrection of an imperial presidency, and the arrogance thereof. To think that you can come out and basically tell the American people that this is what we’re going to do … and don’t question me.” …

    “America is not about ruling by verbal edict or just whims; the president has been elected to enforce the laws of this country. And he doesn’t get to pick which laws he likes or dislikes. And I find it very perplexing and ironic that when he had control of the House and Senate, this did not seem like a very important issue.”


    http://hotair.com/archives/2012/06/18/allen-west-the-resurrection-of-an-imperial-presidency/

    b

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  19. And, you're right. Anyone the Koch Bros give $395 Million to isn't the candidate for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Soros is the donor for you.

      Plus the American Communist Party, the New Black Panthers, the.....oh well, what's the use.

      b

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  20. Mormon kids don't sneak off and get drunk, and smoke dope? Really? Those must have been Presbyterians in disguise that I used to hang with. Grow up.

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    1. My Mormon friend in high school died drunk on the rocks of the Clearwater River when the sports car went off the highway on the way to the whorehouse in Orofino, so, yes, they do.

      I'm doubting Romney did much of that.

      Anyway, if he did, he's still alive to deny it.

      :)

      b

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  21. I'll take Soros over the Koch boys every day of the week.

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    1. Every day, a little more of the onion is peeled back.

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    2. I've been making my feelings about the Kochs known for a long time. Trust me, that wasn't an endorsement of Soros. I would have put Beelzebub, himself, in approx. the same spot.

      Delete
  22. The Washington Post is saying the country is too big, diverse, complicated now for any President to succeed. Thus we ought to give Obama any term.

    :)

    b

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  23. Why I Believe Bush Must Go
    By George McGovern
    Sunday, January 6, 2008
    The Washington Post

    I have not been heavily involved in singing the praises of the Nixon administration. But the case for impeaching Bush and Cheney is far stronger than was the case against Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew after the 1972 election.

    LINK

    The story is well worn by now but McGovern goes on the describe the lack of a war declaration, illegal phone taps, Guantanamo Bay, and prisoner abuse as specific examples of constitutional assault.

    I am not at all sure what point I want to make, or should be making. Some constitutional infringements are more serious than others? The dividing line being war vs peace? And if so, how about we 'recalibrate' the definition of war to include the heels-dug-in recalcitrance of domestic dispute?

    A few threads back I was called for evincing some sympathy for the hand Obama was dealt. I backtracked. But GWB was quite possibly dealt an equally, if not worse, set of circumstances, post 9/11. I acknowledge that as well.

    (Irrelevant footnote, I can never see myself extending a similar degree of the sanguine "it's humanity what do you expect" for the money-changers who deserve hell on earth until I say they've had enough.)

    I see BC is still taking the odd potshots at those of us who prefer the middle to the left vs right formulation (possibly a bad mistake to underestimate the size of that demographic.) But there it is. The commonality of virulent hatred for the leadership class.

    Democracy demands a state named comity as a prior condition. - "Blast From the Past (BC: Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone)

    I love that sentence for the elegant construction and the old-fashioned insight. (The poster goes on to reach conclusions with which I disagree, but ... one thing at a time.)

    A little bit of intellectual tension is good. But too much is "hail mary save me a spot in the warm end of the cave."

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  24. Did Bush and Cheney Violate the Constitution?

    A more detailed argument here.

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  25. Here ya go Maxine -too much civility is a bad thing--

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/06/civility_and_the_legacy_of_george_w_bush.html

    We need to emulate the Greeks maybe, where the politicians are beginning to punch each other in the face?

    I agree with the Washington Post, the country is ungovernable. Therefore, we need to elect Sarah, who couldn't govern it either, but is at least nice to look at, and might bite a crony capitalist or two in the ass.

    It's called realism and low expectations for this world.

    b

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  26. I almost got to agree with Bob on this one. The legislators in the "State of Comity" scares the hell out of me (and, usually, for good reason.)

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    1. I stand corrected once again Rufus. I Think you are correct.

      Bob however is tainted by Obama hatred.

      Delete
    2. Yeah, the ODS is strong. In all our old, familiar places. :)

      I was disturbed by the BDS from the left, and now, I'll be damned, if the sister virus hasn't infected the right.

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    3. I figure'd Maxine would say something like that.

      b

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  27. Rufus, the only way to personally survive this stuff is to develop the State of Comedy mentality.

    b

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    1. I'm considering going back to "drinkin', gamblin', and whorin' around. :)

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    2. Not sure how to break this to you but I think Obama would win the "live young, well, and often contest for reality is but a construct" contest.

      Comedy being a direct descendant of what one takes seriously.

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    3. Which is to say, Obama lived his youth.

      It looks like Romney may have done some "living" of his own.

      They are now both grown men.

      Let the votes be cast accordingly.

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    4. I'm going back to my movie.

      Complicity.

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    5. That's always an option, Rufus, and a good one.

      In a highfallutin' mood, I call it the Falstaff Option.

      b

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    6. On second thought, "movie" doesn't sound all that bad, either. :)

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    7. Geeze, Rufus and I just had a Rodney King Moment.

      Or at least I did.

      Which raises another point: the tolerance for conflict.

      I'm guessing there is a Laffer curve optimum in there.

      With cultural/demographic specificity.

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    8. In my case, Max, it just suddenly occurred to me that drinkin', gamblin', whorin', and fightin' sounded really tirin'. :)

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    9. I'm tellin' ya, Maxine, it's time for a real Laugher Curve.

      We need a good ol' whahahahahahahahhahahahahhahaha from Melody too one of these days.

      b

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  28. Inspectors from the IMF, EU Commission and European Central Bank, known collectively as the troika, are expected to visit Athens quickly after Parliament approves a new coalition government.

    ...

    With tax collection having faltered during Greece's past two months of political paralysis, the troika may well ask for an additional €2 billion of spending cuts to reduce this year's budget deficit, Greek officials fear.

    The adoption of the new cuts is a precondition for the release of Greece's next portion of aid, without which the government could run out of cash to pay pensions and public-sector wages as early as mid-July.

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  29. None of this is to deny that some U.S. companies will find life a bit less pleasant should the European recession deepen and lengthen. They will: Starbucks is already seeing a slight drop in sales in Europe.

    ...

    In the end the course of the American economy will be determined not in Berlin, but in the voting booths of America, where voters face a choice, not an echo​—​a choice between a candidate who believes, really believes, that America’s future prosperity depends on an expansion of the public sector, and one who seems more likely to see our salvation in unleashing the private sector by reducing regulations and reforming the tax system. So far, Europe’s voters have been denied a voice in their economic future by a eurocracy skilled at avoiding the ballot box.

    We are luckier here in America.

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  30. The Asian stock markets had rallied overnight on the news of New Democracy's victory, but investors in Europe sold furiously, with the Spanish Ibex index closing down 3 per cent and Italy's major exchange dropping 2.9 per cent. The Athens stock market rallied by 3.6 per cent.

    The fate of a new government will depend on how far it is able to extract concessions from Brussels and Berlin. Efklidis Tsakalotos, an economics professor at Athens University and a newly elected Syriza MP, said the most important question is how far the new government can successfully ask European leaders for better terms "to keep out of power those horrible radicals".

    ...

    The poll's final result was determined by better-off Greeks who feared a Syriza victory would lead to an exit from the euro. In the wealthier districts of Athens and in more prosperous towns, New Democracy did strikingly well, while Syriza had similar success in working and lower middle-class areas.

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  31. The Republican Party’s 2008 presidential candidate, John McCain, is warning about foreign money influencing American elections this year via a prominent supporter of Republican politicians.

    ...

    The exchange went like this:

    JUDY WOODRUFF: This question of campaign money highlighted today by this -- the announcement that there's a huge amount of money coming in from one donor in the state of Nevada.

    SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Mr. Adelson, who gave large amounts of money to the Gingrich campaign. And much of Mr. Adelson's casino profits that go to him come from this casino in Macau.

    JUDY WOODRUFF: Which says what?

    SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Which says that, obviously, maybe in a roundabout way, foreign money is coming into an American campaign -- political campaigns.

    JUDY WOODRUFF: Because of the profits at the casinos in Macau?

    SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Yes. That is a great deal of money.

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  32. On this day in 2004, European Union leaders agreed on the first constitution for the region’s 25 members. "The message is that we can create a new era for Europe," Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowan said at the time.

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  33. Replies
    1. That guy needs to spend a week with me out at the stables shoveling real horse manure.

      b

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  34. The video by Brazilian scholar and politician Roberto Unger serves as an indictment of both parties. But in it, Unger says Obama must be defeated in order for the Democratic Party to restore itself "as the vehicle for the progressive alternative in the country."

    ...

    Unger wasn't exactly thrilled about the thought of a Mitt Romney presidency, either. He warned that should Obama be defeated, "there will be a cost for his defeat in judicial and administrative appointments."

    But, he said, the risk of "military adventurism" would be the same under either Obama or Romney.

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  35. This is interesting -

    Energy Policy IS Local Politics

    http://www.redstate.com/vladimir/2012/06/18/energy-policy-is-grassroots-politics/

    Neat maps showing the vote by county in Pennslyvania compared to the energy possibilities there. Upshot: many Democratic folks don't like O's energy policies when it comes down to the voting booth if there is some money to be made.

    Also has really neat drilling wells that look like pine trees.

    b

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  36. This is really interesting -

    Googoosha on the rise in so many ways -

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulnara_Karimova

    Neither Lady Gaga nor Madonna can compete.

    b

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  37. .

    Roger Clemons found not guilty.

    It's funny you can get 30 years in prison for lying to Congress regarding taking drugs; yet, when Congress lies to us? Zip.

    Edwards, Clemons, Bonds, they just keep coming. Amateur hour at the DOJ.

    .

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    Replies
    1. Do you mean Holder is going to get 30 years?

      Oh, he lied about running guns to drug runners, sorry.

      b

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  38. In the secondary market, where the debt is bought and sold, one trader said Monday that buying is virtually at a standstill, with even reliable domestic Spanish buyers pulling back.

    A full bailout of Spain may not be realistic given the European authorities' current set of resources, say many investors and economists. There are broad calls for European leaders to craft far bolder approaches quickly—before Spain falls into the abyss.

    "Someone suggested locking European leaders in a room," said Nick Firoozye, head of European rates strategy at Nomura in London. "This market pressure is a way to do that."

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  39. Supreme Court decision handed down -

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyph_DZa_GQ

    b

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  40. It’s certainly true that success in putting down an insurgency takes time and patience. But it’s not true that Americans are simply too impatient a people to sustain the effort needed.

    Americans have engaged in prolonged wars, cold and hot, in the past. What’s key is a sense that success is possible and, in turn, a president willing to make the case that success is not only possible but necessary.

    Unfortunately, this is not the president we have.

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  41. Here is Deuce's argument, soon to be published in Foreign Affairs -

    Israel's regional nuclear monopoly, which has proved remarkably durable for more than four decades, has long fueled instability in the Middle East. In no other region of the world does a lone, unchecked nuclear state exist. It is Israel's nuclear arsenal, not Iran's desire for one, that has contributed most to the crisis. Power, after all, begs to be balanced.

    The first sentence here is a marvel of incoherence.

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-06-17/iran-nuclear-bomb-israel-proliferation/55654248/1

    Most of the comments feel it is really lame-brained.

    You decide.

    b

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    Replies
    1. The first sentence here is a marvel of incoherence. The article is thoughtful, rational and the conclusions reasonable based on actual historic facts on nuclear powers rather than the propaganda and Aipac fed hysteria of the comments. Where is the incoherence and which part is a marvel?

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    2. Israel's durable nuclear monopoly hasn't resulted in any Big War, (with Israel involved, dust ups in Lebanon notwithstanding) and that is stability. Iran with nukes might well be emboldened to probe around the edges even more than now, feeling protected by a nuclear umbrella. Egypt has kept the peace treaty, never moved towards nuclear weapons, and that is stability. Based on the last four decades, the current situation would seem to be the model to follow if one is seeking stability - no Big Wars with Israel involved. Syria and Jordon haven't caused any big problems. And neither did the Iranians, until the current crop of lunatics came along threatening the end of The Two Satans.

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  42. Some may not welcome the frank interventions of Mr Cameron, but he made no apology for it, warning that Britain has as much to lose from European stagnation as anyone else even if it is not part of the monetary union. "There was too much optimism at the outset about the economic fundamentals in the periphery of the eurozone," he said.

    "If the eurozone is to stay together then it has to make at least some of these difficult decisions.

    "The alternatives to action that creates a more coherent eurozone are either a perpetual stagnation from a eurozone crisis that is never resolved... or a break-up."

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