Everyone who knows anything factual about the Middle East knows that the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian problem is the root cause of everything else.

If the US or Israel attacks Iran, the people will rally to the government, not overthrow it. “External threats” is the only reason Castro has lasted, and will keep the Iranian regime in power forever. An attack of any kind on Iran will result in the closing of the Strait of Hormuz and a ten-fold increase in the price of oil which will only be sold for Euros.

If Graham wants a war, he can fight it … and pay for it.

BTW, this was interesting at TP. And I believe Ebadi is quite correct (and have stated similar thoughts about Iran in the past).

Iranian Nobel Prize-Winning Human Rights Activist: ‘You Should Not Think About’ Military Strikes On Iran

Ebadi disagreed with critics who said that President Obama should have spoken more forcefully in support of the Green movement in June 2009. “The Green movement is the Iranian peoples’ movement,” she said. While it’s important for the U.S. and other democracies to voice support for human rights, Ebadi said, real change “must come from inside Iran.”

“I believe Obama’s Middle East policy is correct,” Ebadi said. By showing a willingness to engage with Iran, Obama helped create international consensus “that it is the Iranian regime that doesn’t want to talk.”

In contrast, Ebadi criticized the Bush administration’s “axis of evil” approach in the Middle East, saying that Iran and Ahmadinejad, had become more popular in the region because of U.S. policies, particularly the invasion and occupation of Iraq. “You paid money, Iraqis died, and Iran has benefited,” said Ebadi. “Saddam was Iran’s enemy that was removed by the U.S.,” and Iran’s power and influence, both in Iran and elsewhere, has been increased as a result.

Asked what the U.S. could do to help democracy in Iran, Ebadi replied that, in addition to continuing to voice support for human rights, the U.S. should “help make peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

“We have to be realistic, ” Ebadi said. “If there’s peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the Iranian government would lose” an important propaganda tool. Right now, any leader who stands up for the Palestinian cause is “will be a hero” in the Middle East, Ebadi said, something Ahmadinejad has used very effectively to his advantage.

She isn’t the first person to say these things. Just about everyone who knows how things actually work in the ME has said similar things. But the ignorant and stupid will ignore them of course, *shrug*

Oklahoma Voters May Have Accidentally Voted Against Ten Commandments, Too

As a law professor noted to CNN, however, the religious zealotry of these lawmakers may now be in serious self-conflict:

Rick Tepker, the first member of the University of Oklahoma School of Law faculty to try a case before the U.S. Supreme Court…called the passage of the measure “a mess” with implications unknown until a case that challenges it arises.

“Many of us who understand the law are scratching our heads this morning, laughing so we don’t cry,” he said. “I would like to see Oklahoma politicians explain if this means that the courts can no longer consider the Ten Commandments. Isn’t that a precept of another culture and another nation? The result of this is that judges aren’t going to know when and how they can look at sources of American law that were international law in origin.”

The complicated “mess” caused by the Sharia ban is also affecting Oklahoma Muslims, who say that, though they obviously never considered seeking sharia law remedies, the constitutional amendment makes them feel alienated. “It’s really brought the Muslim-haters out,” said Allison Moore, a Muslim activist in Tulsa. Sheryl Siddiqui, a spokeswoman for the Edmond-based Islamic Council of Oklahoma, said her group tries outreach and education about Islam, though clearly with frustrating results. “Muslims in Oklahoma do a phenomenal amount of outreach,” she said. “It’s not on us anymore. There are people out there who still believe Obama is a Muslim.”

A lawsuit has also been filed against the amendment, which charges it transforms Oklahoma’s Constitution into “an enduring condemnation” of Islam by singling it out for special restrictions. “We have a handful of politicians who have pushed an amendment onto our state ballot and then conducted a well-planned and well-funded campaign of misinformation and fear,” said Muneer Awad, who filed the suit and is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma.

Considering how few Muslims live in Oklahome, I can’t understand the majority of Oklahoma bed-wetters stupidity! I’m sure that stupid amendment will be overturned. And the morons of Oklahoma will never understand how stupid it is and how much it cost to be so stupid! They seem to think (as many redneck states do) that nothing costs anything, and money grows on trees! 😆

Endlessly amusing! 😉 😀

As NBC is in negotiations with Cablevision over a possible sale, the loss of major revenue generator, like Olbermann would not help. Politics is all well and good, but you shouldn’t destroy your profit potential or the shareholders will get nasty.

MSNBC’s Phil Griffith the Worst Person in the World, as Olbermann Joins Donahue, Banfield

I guess it just goes to prove that the majority of the MSM are obviously very pro neo-con Rethug. *shrug* (But, most of us already knew that, of course). 😉

Earlier today, MSNBC declared that it would be suspending progressive host Keith Olbermann because he violated NBC’s ethics rules by donating to three Democratic candidates for Congress. As many bloggers have noted, conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has donated to Republican candidates for Congress while promoting the same candidate on air, but has never been disciplined. Moreover, Gawker notes that MSNBC has been exempt from the formal NBC ethics rules for years. It is still a mystery why MSNBC selectively applied NBC’s ethics rules to Olbermann. However, it important to realize that MSNBC has undergone a fundamental change in leadership in the last two months.

UPDATED: Before Bush Donor Takeover Of MSNBC, Network Selectively Applies Rules To Suspend Olbermann

Welcome to the *Brave New World*. (It’s the same as the old world, only now any pretense of any rules applying to neo-con Rethugs is over.)

“W ith all due respect…” IMHO, that is the penultimate insult! If someone said that to me, s/he would not have a chance to finish the sentence! 😈

Me, I’m honest. If I am trashing someone, you can be 100% certain I have no respect for them whatsoever! 😀

Oh, and the other typical common excuse:

“But, you know he did wonderful things in the 80’s (or 70’s etc) and has several degrees and is quite intelligent and charming you know.”

The problem of course is that he (or she) has stopped taking their pills and is drinking the cool-aide now! These days, it honestly matters not at all what someone *did back then*. What are they doing now?

Ah, yes, the same civility that requires us to say “bless his/her heart” immediately before we trash them, but politely, nothing crude so that it would be obvious to outsiders. No one will ever be able to say that Southerners don’t know how “to do polite”. It is a mischaracterization that I blame on Hollywood, this belief that Southerners are crude people.

While members of the Florida legislature have been known to murder each other, they were always “correct” when speaking to each other in the chamber before the act. One has to know how to act in polite society.

Of course, I was also taught by these same kind doyennes of the Daughters of the Confederacy that Negros were inherently inferior to white people, that the Negros were better off under slavery before that evil Mr. Lincoln did them the disservice of freeing them because Negros were inherently incapable of caring for themselves and thus needed white people to do it for them, and that lynching of uppity Negros was unfortunate but, really, no different from the unfortunate need to put down a rabid dog. But we were taught to do all this politely. Which, apparently, is good enough for Mr. Troll to declare that these kind doyennes of the Daughters of the Confederacy were not racists :).

– Badtux the Snarky Penguin

The Democrats haven’t done anything that wasn’t right of center, even the so-called “Health Care reform” was a re-hash of a Republican plan from the 1990s, but the Village always wants the Democrats to move to the right.

News flash – the big losers were the right-wing of the Democratic Party.

Pelosi at least put up a fight, which is more than Reid can say. Dump Hoyer, as the Blue Dogs were losers, and promote Clyburn to number 2.