Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’
July 29th, 2011 by John Feehery
I like to call myself a Libertarian, but I am really not.
I don’t really want government to disappear. While I read The Fountainhead in college, and I admit I have found it to be influential in my life, I think Ayn Rand was a little kooky and her objectivism philosophy is unworkable in the real world.
My brother, the Tea Partier is a Libertarian. He wants government to shrink dramatically. He wants police forces to be shrunk, he wants teacher’s pensions cut, he wants most regulatory bodies eliminated. He finds government to be oppressive and he wants it to be gone.
He also believes that for the last forty-five years, America has been living a lie. He hates the military industrial complex, he hates the Federal Reserve, he wants to go back to a Gold Standard. He thinks we should never
have gone into Iraq and believes that the Soviet Union would have fallen without the Reagan buildup, and he believes that the banking system in this country is essentially corrupt.
He also finds Michele Bachmann to be appealing and he appreciates what Joe Walsh is doing in stopping the debt limit extension. Read more...
Tags: Ayn Rand, Federal Reserve, Gold Standard, Government, Internet poker, Iraq, Joe Walsh, John Boehner, Libertarian, medicare, Michele Bachmann, national defenses, Social Security, Soviet Union, taxes, Tea Party, Tea Party libertarians, The Fountainhead
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Food, Foreign Relations, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Media, Politics, Promises, Theory, corruption, election, health care, medicare, national security, spending, taxes, war | 1 Comment »
June 23rd, 2011 by John Feehery
President Obama took 13 minutes to say something he could have said in 30 seconds. He is taking 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan immediately and plans to take out 30,000 or so more by the end of the year.
The rest of the speech was pure puffery, told with some dramatic flair, and with a left hand that kept stabbing the air for emphasis.
He left both sides unsatisfied. The left is clamoring for an immediate withdrawal, joined by more and more libertarians on the right. Neo-conservatives saw the President’s decision as dangerous sign of creeping isolationism. Most members are stuck in the middle with the President, hearing from their constituents that this war should be coming to a quick close but also being briefed by the Pentagon, which warns that too precipitous a withdrawal could have negative ramifications for our national security.
I am not an isolationist, but that doesn’t mean that I think we should stay in Afghanistan. I think you can make a case that leaving the Afghans to their own devices could be dangerous, but I mostly think that because of the heroin problem, not because of the Taliban. Read more...
Tags: adam belmar, afghanistan, America, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, Government, Iraq, Iraq war, Joe Manchin, national security, Obama, Politics, President Obama, Roy Blunt, spending, war
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Politics, Theory, middle-east, speeches, spending, war | No Comments »
June 8th, 2011 by John Feehery
In the short term, the economy might dip back into a recession, which means that our debt picture in the long term gets only worse.
In the short term, it sure is fun to make fun of Anthony Weiner. In the long term, do we really want to kick out members of Congress because of affairs that they didn’t have?
In the short term, the media swarmed over an Internet rumor that there were 30 dead bodies outside Houston. In the long term, if the media keeps jumping on these stories and causing local police departments to deploy resources, they all go broke within five years.
In the short term, Republicans may lose their House majority over Medicare, in the long term, if that happens, we will never fix Medicare and it will go broke.
In the short term, politicians seem to only care about the next election. In the long-term, short-sighted thinking will spell the doom of this nation.
In the short term, everybody is talking about jobs. In the long term, we have more serious issues when it comes to the basics — water, food, roads, electricity – which nobody is talking about. Read more...
Tags: Anthony Weiner, Congress, Democrats, Economy, Government, House Republicans, Iraq, Long Term, medicare, Michelle Bachmann, national security, Politics, recession, Republicans, Sarah Palin, scandal, Short Term
Posted in Bad Decisions, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, GOP, Government, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Religion, Scandals, Theory, Unemployment, bad news, health care, middle-east, national security, poverty, spending, war | No Comments »
November 30th, 2010 by John Feehery
In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus) is the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, endings and time. His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January, which begins the new year. Most often he is depicted as having two heads, facing opposite directions; one head looks back at the last year while the other looks forward to the new, simultaneously into the future and the past.
Janus is a fascinating mythical figure. He is honored at the beginning of each year, although most people don’t know it, because January is named after him.
According to Wikipedia: “He was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. He was also known as the figure representing time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other.”
But invoking Janus can also be an insult. If you are a two-faced Janus, that means you are a hypocrite, a liar, a shifty, no-good, dirty scoundrel. Or perhaps a diplomat. Read more...
Tags: Arab leaders, diplomats, Government, Iran, Iraq, January, Janus, mythology, national security, Politics, two-faced Janus, WikiLeaks, Wikipedia
Posted in Foreign Relations, Government, History, Politics, Scandals, The Web, Theory, corruption | No Comments »
November 23rd, 2010 by John Feehery
Every once in a while, as I peruse my Facebook friends, I run across a friend who has put “It’s complicated” in their relationship status.
It’s a phrase that neatly sums up the world we are now living in.
The economy is complicated. Some sectors are doing swell, others are in the deepest of depressions.
Sex is more complicated. You used to have male and female. These days, you have third choice, transgender. That is not the kind of complication that my grandmother spent too much time worrying about.
The war on terror is complicated. Was Iraq part of the war on terror or was it a war of choice? Why are we in Afghanistan? Are we winning or losing there?
Race is more complicated these days. It is not as easy as black and white, and now people are starting to get that. The President isn’t fully black or fully white. In fact, he is about half and half, and calling him either white or black is a disservice to his grandparents on either side of the family. Tiger Woods is even more complicated. He calls himself cablanasian (caucasion, black, asian). Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, complicated, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, Facebook, Government, health care, Iraq, Obama, Politics, Presidential election, Republican, Republicans, spending, taxes, tiger woods, Unemployment
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, Government, History, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Social Media, Theory, Unemployment, election, health care, national security, spending, war | No Comments »
September 7th, 2010 by John Feehery
“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” – T.S. Eliot–The Wasteland
Had T.S. Elliot just witnessed the August endured by the Obama Administration, he might have changed his opinion of the cruelest month. Because, politically, for Democrats, this August has been nothing, but a wasteland.
From the moment Michelle Obama set foot in Spain, to the moment her husband decided to wade into the New York City mosque mess, it has been nothing, but bad news for Congressional Democrats.
As the President’s popularity ratings have sunk, so have the fortunes of his close allies in Capitol Hill. According to Gallup, Republicans now enjoy the biggest advantage to the following question in the history of the poll: “Will you vote for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate this coming November?”
And in race after race, the polling is not getting any better for the Democrats. It was widely reported that Democratic operatives have already thrown in the towel on the House, and are now turning their attention to saving the Senate majority, a concern that was deemed unthinkable only four months ago. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, George W Bush, Government, health care, Iraq, McCain, November elections, Presidential election, Republicans, White House
Posted in Economy, Government, Politics, Theory, election, health care, war | No Comments »
August 31st, 2010 by John Feehery
Photo via the NY Times
The President said he wanted to turn the page on Iraq.
I wonder how that makes the Iraqis feel. My guess is that they are saying, “wait, this chapter isn’t done yet!” About the only Iraqi who wants us out is that Sadr character, who is just looking for a way to grab power for himself.
It was nice that Mr. Obama called former President Bush today, and that he mentioned that conversation in his speech tonight. I wonder if the current President acknowledged that the former President was right when it came to the surge. I doubt it.
Mr. Obama has been pretty consistent that he didn’t like the Iraq War and that he wanted to spend the money that we spent in Iraq on bigger government to “help the middle class.” The irony is that most middle class voters are clamoring for smaller government, lower taxes, and less meddling from the Feds, not for more help from Mr. Obama.
Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, George W Bush, Iran, Iraq, Oval office
Posted in Bad Decisions, war | No Comments »
August 19th, 2010 by John Feehery
US Soldiers in Iraq
I was talking to my good friend Alex Mistri, a man who spent a year working for the military and the State Department in Iraq, and I asked him what he thought about departure of combat troops from that beleaguered country.
He told me he was deeply ambivalent. He wished that the president had a just a little more patience to give the Iraqis a chance to get their coalition government together. On the one hand, he was happy to see that our policies over there have worked and that many of our troops are coming home knowing that they did a good job. On the other hand, he is deeply apprehensive that the cake isn’t ready yet, and by leaving, we give extremists a chance to destabilize the country.
I share Alex’s deep ambivalence. I share Alex’s pride in the job our combat troops did in battling terrorists and stabilizing large sections of a country that has been in constant turmoil for almost a decade. But this thing is not over, and I hope that the president didn’t rush this for political reasons. Read more...
Tags: Alex mistri, Barack Obama, Democrats, Economy, George W Bush, Iraq, Republicans, war
Posted in Politics, Theory, war | No Comments »
April 27th, 2010 by John Feehery
I turned on Fox News and watched Laura Ingraham interviewing a State Senator from Illinois. The State Senator wants to call out the National Guard to patrol the streets of Chicago, which has been enduring a running gun fight for months now in the city’s toughest neighborhoods. Laura asked a simple question: Why can’t the cops handle it? The answer: They are out-gunned and out-manned.
In Arizona, the news lately has been focused on the new law, aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants. Lost in the spotlight has been the plaintive cry for help from those who live near the border: Call out the national guard and help us patrol our streets. Our police force is outgunned and outmanned.
In Afghanistan, the National Guard is only part of the elements that are in theater, fighting the Taliban. But as they fight the Taliban, they are also fighting those who make a lot of money from heroin production.
In Washington, the Attorney General says that he won’t prosecute those who use marijuana. The President says little about the carnage in his home town of Chicago, and blames the people of Arizona for passing a tough law that he calls “misguided.” Read more...
Tags: Arizona, Attorney General, Chicago, George Bush, illegal immigrants, Iraq, marijuana, National Guard, police, prohibition, war on drugs
Posted in Drugs in America, Immigration, Laws, Politics, Theory, national security, war | 1 Comment »
March 8th, 2010 by John Feehery
It wasn’t as exciting as the first time that Iraq held democratic elections, but it was probably more significant.
I asked my friend Alex Mistri, who spent a year in Iraq working at the highest levels of the American government, what these elections mean to him.
He told me two things.
First, Iraq is slowly but surely becoming a model of democracy in the Middle East.
Second, that having Iraq become a model of democracy is actually a threat to the Iranians, even if the Iranians have some influence on some of the political parties today.
As Alex puts it: “The road ahead in Iraq no doubt remains uncertain. But the Iraqis have once again demonstrated – not through word but action – their appetite for representative government. Increasingly, it must enter the international consciousness – if it hasn’t already – that Iraq is becoming the most democratic nation in the region.”
As it turns out, President Bush might have been on to something with his crazy belief that a place like Iraq could handle democracy. Alex asked the question, “Might the ‘quixotic’ aims of the previous administration still be within reach?” Read more...
Tags: Alex mistri, democracy, George W Bush, Iran, Iraq, middle-east, Persian, Saudi Arabia
Posted in Foreign Relations, Government, Politics, election | 3 Comments »
I like to call myself a Libertarian, but I am really not.
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