The Hollywood Liberal

The GOPs Slash-Spending, Balance-the-Budget School Lunch Program Illustrated

Can We Take Away Alan Greenspan’s Pension?
Joe Nocera gets most of the story right in his discussion of the Financial Crisis Inquiry’s Commission’s (FCIC) report today. There was gross negligence, greed, and outright fraud, but none of this would have lead to catastrophic consequences if we…

Thank AIPAC For Placing USA On Wrong Side In Egypt
If one needs additional proof that the “pro-Israel” lobby and the policies it dictates to US policymakers are bad for both the U.S. and Israel, look no further than what is happening in Egypt. The regime that the Israeli government…

The Seductive Power of Right-Wing Persecution Politics
First, I’d like to thank Josh Marshall for inviting me to participate in TPM’s Book Club and Versha Sharma for setting everything up. I’ve been a devoted reader of Talking Points Memo ever since the 2004 elections. Then in 2008,…

GOP Conference Chair Thaddeus McCotter Says ?America Must Stand? With Mubarak Dictatorship

As ThinkProgress reported today, former Bush administration official and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton abandoned his supposed belief in “democracy promotion” and told right-wing radio host Mark Levin that the Egyptian pro-democracy protests are a “big opportunity” for jihadists, siding with the Mubarak dictatorship.

Now, yet another high-profile Republican is disparaging the protest movement and openly siding with Egypt’s dictator. In a statement posted on his website last night, GOP Conference Chair Rep. Thaddeus McCotter wrote that “the Egyptian demonstrations are not the equivalent of Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution” and that “America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve an imperfect government capable of reform.” He even went as far as to say that “freedom’s radicalized enemies are subverting Egypt” with the demonstrations:

“The Egyptian demonstrations are not the equivalent of Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution. The Egyptian demonstrations are the reprise of Iran’s 1979 radical revolution.

“Thus, America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve an imperfect government capable of reform; and prevent a tyrannical government capable of harm. […]

“This is not a nostalgic “anti-colonial uprising” from within, of all places, the land of Nassar. Right now, freedom’s radicalized enemies are subverting Egypt and other our allies.

McCotter’s remarks are as offensive as they are ignorant. To start with, the congressman is right that the demonstrations in Egypt are different than those in Iran. The protest movement in Iran was organized around its candidate in the election, who actually was literally an Islamist. Meanwhile, the demonstrations in Egypt were mostly spontaneous and led by younger progressive Egyptians; it was days before the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood even began taking part in the protests, and even now, they are far from the dominating force.

And while there are many legitimate concerns about the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egyptian politics, it is important to note that the Egyptian Brotherhood has long denounced violence, even taking part in the movement to end violence against Coptic Christians.

Furthermore, it is almost comical to claim that Mubarak’s government is “capable of reform” and to say that the current government is opposed to a future “tyrannical government.” After all, in a desperate attempt to appease the democracy movement, Mubarak appointed vice president and prime minister who are essentially loyal to him; the appointed vice president was actually the head of the country’s notoriously brutal intelligence service.

Needless to say, it is insulting to the thousands who are demonstrating and many who have given their lives battling the Mubarak dictatorship for McCotter to baselessly suggest that they are actually the tools of violent jihadists and that we should continue our bankrupt policy of backing the dictatorship in Egypt.

Mitch McConnell: A Senate obstructionist could turn into a man of action
ELIZABETHTOWN, KY. - In the first two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, Mitch McConnell raised the art of obstructionism to new levels. When McConnell and his united GOP troops couldn’t stop things from getting through the Senate, they made sure the Democrats paid a heavy price for winning.

Will Obama or Republicans win the future?
The public got a preview of the 2012 election debate this past week, with Obama and Republicans offering starkly different prescriptions for winning the future.

With 2012 looming, Obama focuses on economy
Less than three months since his party’s major election losses, President Obama has presided over a West Wing makeover designed to help him keep a sharp focus on economic issues heading into his 2012 reelection campaign, while drawing clear lines of distinction with newly empowered Republicans.

The tortured tale of Rep. Dennis Kucinich and his olive pit
Heard the tale of the vegan and the olive pit? A man bites into a sandwich wrap and his tooth splits in half, below the crown and to the bone. An unpitted olive did the damage. The tooth becomes infected; the man has an adverse reaction to his antibiotics, and emergency medical intervention is or…

In Egypt, the Revolution Will be Tweeted
Mike Littwin, Denver Post
It was spring of 2003 and Baghdad was about to fall. I was in Cairo because Egypt is the most important country in the Arab world and because covering the war from a place where no one was shooting seemed like the safer course.The situation there was tense, though, if not as tense as it is today. I was headed to Friday prayers at al-Azhar mosque, the 1,000-year-old center of Egyptian Islam. The grand sheik — appointed by Hosni Mubarak, who was the autocratic president then and is the autocratic president now and has been the autocratic president for 30 years — was to…

The Arab World’s New Order
Robert Kaplan, Foreign Policy
Ten Most Economically Prosperous Countries In The WorldThe Legatum Prosperity Index's economy sub-index measures countries' performances in four area…Ten Most Innovative Countries In The WorldWhich are the most innovative countries in the world, the ones who contribute to the general advance…Ten Safest Nations In The WorldHuman beings crave for safety for themselves and their loved ones. Societies plagued by unrest canno…

Reagan: A Believer Who Caught Destiny’s Eye
Michael Barone, Examiner

The Real State of the Union: Broke
Robert Robb, Arizona Republic

How Does Govt Kill the Internet?
Natalie Wolchover, Life’s Little Mysteries

Cops Do Roadside Cavity Search
Three Atlanta police officers are on administrative leave over accusations that they subjected two men during a June traffic stop to body cavity searches on a public road in broad daylight. Brian Kidd said members of the Red Dog unit pulled over the car he was driving and forced him to pull down his pants. Kidd said a passenger was subjected to a body cavity search. “They went to his bottom part,” he said. “That’s as low as you can go. I don’t think anybody should be subjected to that kind of search. I had to look away because I couldn’t watch my friend be done like that.”

Late Late Night FDL: Muppets meet harp virtuoso Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash & Miss Piggy, from Season 5 (1981) of ‘The Muppet Show’ Grab your popcorn, put your feet up on the seatback in front of ya, and aim your spitballs at the ushers please. This is Late Late Night FireDogLake, where off topic is the topic … so dive in. What’s on your mind? […]

Johnny Cash & Miss Piggy, from Season 5 (1981) of ‘The Muppet Show’

Grab your popcorn, put your feet up on the seatback in front of ya, and aim your spitballs at the ushers please. This is Late Late Night FireDogLake, where off topic is the topic … so dive in. What’s on your mind?

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Google Denies WikiLeaks Censorship
In a BBC interview with Eric Schmidt, Google’s outgoing chief executive, Schmidt spelled out his ambitions for Google in China as well as declaring that the search giant will deny government attempts to censor WikiLeaks documents. At the same time, Google has set about censoring the site’s auto-complete function for queries around torrents, as the search giant capitulates to big media demands. —JCL The BBC: Eric Schmidt—stepping aside as chief executive of Google—has told the BBC he has ambitions to promote the web firm’s business in China. Among other tasks, Mr Schmidt hopes to find a Chinese partner for Google’s Android mobile phone operating system. He noted that he was the most pro-China of Google’s triumvirate leadership. In March last year Google stopped co-operating with China over censorship—a joint decision that Mr Schmidt said he was happy with. Read more

In a BBC interview with Eric Schmidt, Google’s outgoing chief executive, Schmidt spelled out his ambitions for Google in China as well as declaring that the search giant will deny government attempts to censor WikiLeaks documents.

At the same time, Google has set about censoring the site’s auto-complete function for queries around torrents, as the search giant capitulates to big media demands. —JCL

The BBC:

Eric Schmidt—stepping aside as chief executive of Google—has told the BBC he has ambitions to promote the web firm’s business in China.

Among other tasks, Mr Schmidt hopes to find a Chinese partner for Google’s Android mobile phone operating system.

He noted that he was the most pro-China of Google’s triumvirate leadership.

In March last year Google stopped co-operating with China over censorship—a joint decision that Mr Schmidt said he was happy with.

Read more

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