The Secret War Against Obama And The Progressive Movement

By Yashwanth Manjunath

Most citizens with a pulse are aware of the tremendous obstructionism of the Republican Party in their efforts to destroy President Obama and his progressive agenda. Between their abuse of the filibuster and John Boehner’s infamous “Hell no you can’t!” speech before health care reform passage, on top of countless other examples, the Republican Party has made it clear they intend to see Obama fail by any means necessary. However, only the most astute and politically savvy voters are aware of the secret war being waged against Obama and the rest of the progressive movement by the …

U.S. Wasted Billions Rebuilding Iraq

The Associated Press reports on the enormous waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars in Iraq.

A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children’s hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets.

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More than $5 billion in American taxpayer funds has been wasted – more than 10 percent of the some $50 billion the U.S. has spent on reconstruction in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watchdog agency.

And that’s a …

New York Cabbies Regularly Face Racial Slurs

At the end of a story about Ahmed Sharif, the New York cabbie who was stabbed by an anti-Muslim bigot, Bhairavi Desai of the Taxi Workers Alliance notes that half of New York’s cab drivers, many of whom are from India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, have been victims of racial slurs during the past year.

Early next week, the New York Taxi Drivers Alliance will release a survey it conducted of 200 drivers over five weeks, Desai said.

During that time, two researchers working for the union asked drivers about verbal and physical assaults they said they’ve endured.

More than half …

Just How Far From Ground Zero Is A Mosque Acceptable, And Does Size Count?

One way those who don’t really like mosques at all have of opposing the Lower Manhattan Tolerance Center is to say it’s about location, location, location.  This is not true of all the opposers, of course, but it’s an artful dodge for some. So what is the proper distance, asks Chris Moody at The Daily Caller.

Obama To Birthers: “I Can’t Spend All My Time With My Birth Certificate Plastered On My Forehead”

Brian Williams spoke with President Obama and brought up the perception on the part of too many that he is either a Muslim and/or a foreign national (or maybe the birthers actually believe he’s an illegal immigrant).  The president made a good point when he said he trusts in the goodness of the American people, who didn’t let those falsehoods get to them.  In fact, maybe that’s the difference between those on the right and those on the left: The right is suspicious of those who are not “like us” and will use that to tar anyone they think is …

Radio Host Joe Madison Confronts Glenn Beck On Claim Obama Is Racist

Glenn Beck was visiting the studio where Joe Madison does his XM radio show, and Madison was able to convince Beck to sit in front of his microphone. Good for Madison. Not good for Beck (h/t Think Progress).  Beck admits he didn’t know what he was talking about when he called President Obama a racist.  He also admits he doesn’t know what Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for, which is especially interesting in light of how Beck was in D.C., where Madison does his show, to co-opt the King message. Beck says he’ll “talk to Alveda” about what …

“Restoring Honor” Rally A Lesson In Demagoguery

The very title, “Restoring Honor”, not-so-subtly suggests someone or some thing took that honor away. Without being specific, both Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin talk about how undefined forces are at work tarnishing us. Beck says, for example, “Something that is beyond man is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.” Greg Sargent at the Washington Post sums it up nicely.

They played on their followers’ murky fear that a sinister and Godless other is trying to transform our country into something no longer recognizable as America.

When …

What Progressives Can Learn From Sarah Palin

Anna Holmes and Rebecca Traister make the case in today’s New York Times that progressives should be as outraged at their own failings as they are at Sarah Palin’s ascension.

Since the 2008 election, progressive leaders have done little to address the obvious national appetite for female leadership. And despite (or because of) their continuing obsession with Ms. Palin, they have done nothing to stop an anti-choice, pro-abstinence, socialist-bashing Tea Party enthusiast from becoming the 21st century symbol of American women in politics.

They make an excellent case that without progressive policies, Palin might still be a housewife in Wasilla.…

Obama And FDR

by Stuart Shapiro

A few weeks ago I posted about the comparison between liberal reactions to FDR and Obama (they were both negative).  However this left open the question of why FDR thrived in the 1934 midterms and Obama’s best case scenario is a moderate loss of seats.  New Deal Democrat has a plausible explanation of the difference.

…while FDR and the New Deal democrats in Congress focused on Relief, Recovery and Reform, the failure to even consider a new WPA is emblematic of the neglect by Obama and the current Congressional democrats of the critical first link — Relief…

Did The Beck Rally Change America And Do A Miracle? Ummm….No

By James Frye

I’ve just finished watching the 3-hour (or 300 hour, if you include Glenn Beck’s never-ending, rambling word salad “speech”) rally for “Restoring Honor” in DC on C-SPAN.  Despite the hype for and against, this thing was kind of a bust.

The people who attended were clearly there for a red-meat tossing tirade about how the evil Socialist President Obama and the handmaidens of Satan – aka The Democratic Party – were destroying America.  What they got instead was a long-form Christian revival meeting combined with a military recruiting show.  The message was pretty clear and nothing new …

New York Islamic Center Could Qualify For Public Financing

There is no reason why the  lower Manhattan Tolerance Center should’t qualify for public financing, just like other religious non-profits. New York City Comptroller John Liu’s office is willing to consider it, says spokesman Scott Sieber.

“If it turns out to be financially feasible and if they can demonstrate an ability to pay off the bonds and comply with the laws concerning tax-exempt financing, we’d certainly consider it,” Sieber told Reuters.

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The mosque’s backers hope to raise a total of $70 million in tax-exempt debt to build the center, according to the New York Times. Tax laws allow …