Damascus Provides Stage for Arab Disunity!

Soon many will be receiving their "$600 -1200 candy" from the government. I probably won't because I earn beyond the cut-off but it is just as well because I doubt I would buy anything anyway so I would not be helping propel our economy upward and out of its current malaise. These checks are meant to provide an economic stimulus just as another fix would be for a dope addict or another bottle of booze would be to an alcoholic. We already spend too much so the political cure is spend more. Makes sense if you want to perpetuate the problem.

A little information on taxes that should be of interest. Give the politicians more and they will spend it and then some. They too know about leverage. (See 1 below.)

I find it ironic that Democrats haven't done anything distinguishing since re-capturing control of Congress but "to the victor belongs the spoils" and things continue to "spoil" in Disney East as Reid and Pelosi pursue their rancorous management of the Senate and House. Partisanship is as rife as ever.

Apparently Republican legislators are still held to a higher level of expectation because Democrats have been in control of Congress for most of the past 50 years. Voters seem to have become complacent with their incompetence. Voters occasionally turn to Republicans out of frustration but quickly lose faith when they also blow it.

One day, perhaps, voters will connect our nation's systemic and endemic problems with past excessively Liberal legislation that, empirically speaking, persistently falls far short of its billing. Until they do, Republicans failures will continue to quickly become their own undoing.

While Republicans are expected to stick to their conservative philosophy, Democrats are seen as progressive and thus, seem to be given a wider latitude and consequently, voters have come to expect and accept "anything goes."

Otherwise, how can one explain Sen. Obama's popularity. Granted he is running against an opponent with high negatives, who wakes up every morning trying to decide who she is. Sen. Obama may be bright but his legislative record is so thin you can see through it. He may be a gifted orator but like Wilson's Music Man, his "change" pitch reminds me of that old song: "Everything Old is New Again."

I guess we are a nation presently so down on itself we are vulnerable to the mellifluous but empty pitch of a political messiah. How sad.

A new twist to the Hariri investigation by the U.N.'s new Canadian investigator. (See 2 below.)

Abbas blasts Israel as Damascus Conference begins and states it has rejected all peace overtures for 3 decades. Abbas also stated Syria was ready to assist in ending the political crisis in Lebanon. Lebanon's F.M. Siniora, accused Syria of meddling in Lebanon's affairs. Syria's FM accused the U.S. of applying pressure on Arab States not to attend the conference. And so it goes when Arabs come together for a unity meeting. (See 3 below.)

What is the Arab World's press saying about the Damascus Conference. (See 4 below.)

Peggy Noonan exposes Hillary and suggests people are finally beginning to get it, even New Yorkers. After all these years,it took the Bosnia tapes to convincingly demonstrate Hillary is a pathological liar. The liar virus seems to run in the family.

Where have people's heads been all these years? Don't answer!(See 5 below)

Dick


1) Careful how you vote and what you vote for.

Taxes after Clinton 1999 Taxes after Bush 2008

Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250

2)UN investigator: Lebanese ex-PM Hariri murdered by “criminal network”


In his first report Friday, March 28, Daniel Bellemare of Canada, head of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission, also connects this criminal network, or parts thereof, with 20 subsequent “terrorist attacks” in Lebanon that killed 61 people and injured close to 500. Eleven targeted anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.

The commission said the evidence indicated that the network of individuals who “acted in concert” existed before the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in central Beirut in Feb. 2005 and carried out surveillance prior to the killing.

The Bellemare interim report is the tenth provided by the UN commission. Up until now, Syrian operatives were the lead supsects for planning and executing the assassination of the anti-Syrian politician. It is not clear if the new report which names no names supports the suspicions against Damascus.

Bellemare said the commission will focus now on identifying links between the Hariri network and other attacks, its scope, the identity of its participants and their external contacts.

He disclosed that DNA profiling is being conducted to assist in identifying the bomber who blew up the Hariri convoy killing 22 people.

In his last report in December, former chief investigator Serge Brammertz found the bomber did not spend his youth in Lebanon but only his last two or three months in the country.

Bellemare, who will be the lead prosecutor at the Hariri tribunal when it begins work in The Hague, plans to issue a progress report in April that should indicate a date.

UN legal chief Nicolas Michel said the tribunal had received enough funding to keep it running for a year.

3) As Arab summit opens in Syria, Assad blasts Israel


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the opening session of an Arab summit in Damascus on Saturday that Israel has rejected all peace negotiations in the last three decades and has continued breaking its obligations through continued settlement expansion.

Assad also said Syria was willing to cooperate to help end a political crisis in Lebanon.

"We in Syria are fully prepared to cooperate with Arab or non-Arab efforts... on condition that they are based on Lebanese national consensus, the basis for stability in Lebanon," Assad said in a speech to the summit.

Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said the United States had put pressure on Arab leaders to stay away from the Arab summit.

"Unfortunately they did their best to prevent this summit but I can tell you they failed because tomorrow you'll see... a very successful summit with convenient leaders present and also with important resolutions," he told reporters.

The summit opened in the absence of Lebanon and of conservative Arab leaders critical of Syria's role in the Lebanese crisis.

Eleven heads of state from the Arab League's 22 members were present at the opening session, slightly less than normal at the annual event, reflecting displeasure with Syrian policy.

The absence of Lebanon, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan means the summit cannot help resolve the political crisis in Lebanon, which has not had a president since November.

Diplomats and commentators agreed with the Syrian view that Washington had been the driving force behind the campaign to dissuade Arab leaders from going to Syria, which prides itself on its resistance to U.S. and Israeli policies.

"The Americans have been working on ensuring low-level representation in the run-up to the summit. We are seeing now a snowball effect," said one diplomat in the Syrian capital.

Siniora accuses Syria of blocking elections, deepening crisis

Lebanon's prime minister accused Syria on Friday of blocking the election of a new Lebanese president and deepening the country's 16-month political crisis through its interference in the country's internal affairs.

Fuad Siniora said Lebanon decided earlier this week to boycott this weekend's Arab summit in the Syrian capital of Damascus because Beirut is usually represented by its president.

"The direct reason for not attending this summit is to assert that Lebanon is naturally represented, at any Arab summit, by its president," Siniora said in a televised speech addressed to the Arab leaders on the eve of their two-day summit that begins Saturday.

Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's ended his term last November without a successor elected.

Lebanon's sharply divided parliament has failed to elect compromise candidate army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as president because the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority and the Syrian-backed opposition remain deadlocked over the shape of the future government.

"It is regrettable that four months have passed with the vacuum in the
president's post ... and Syria has played, during and before this period, a major role in deepening the political crisis in Lebanon," said Siniora,
standing in front of a nearly a dozen Lebanese flags.

Siniora also accused Syria of blocking an Arab initiative to end the crisis, as well as efforts by the head of the Arab League to find a solution between rival Lebanese groups. He called on Damascus to open a new page between the two countries.

4) From The MEMRI Blog: News about the Arab Summit

The following are news items published on The MEMRI Blog (www.thememriblog.org ) in advance of next week's Arab League summit, which will take place on Sunday March 29-30, 2008 in Damascus, Syria.

Saudi English Daily On Damascus Summit: A Summit In Name Only

In an editorial, the Saudi daily Arab News stated that the Arab summit scheduled to be held in Damascus next week is doomed to failure, and that a clear message is being sent by the many Arab leaders who are skipping the event and sending lower-level representation. The paper pointed out that the Lebanese factions have failed to resolve their differences, and that some Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, see Syria as having done little to pressure its allies in Lebanon, in particular Hizbullah, to move toward reconciliation. It said that Syria's special relationship with Tehran was not endearing it to moderate Arab states nor to the West, and that it is being accused of taking sides in the Palestinian rift for giving refuge to the Hamas political leadership. The editorial added that the Arab world today is no better than it was a year ago, when the last summit was held, but that even "successful" Arab summits have failed to resolve the most immediate challenges or reach popular expectations. It said that this summit may go down in history as the last of the Arab summits, if not in occurrence then in substance. It accused the Arabs of failing to appreciate and copy the examples of other regional groupings which have employed their alliances to confront their differences rather than amplifying them, and that by using the summit event to pressure Damascus over its own policies, the risk of derailing the entire Arab League organization had increased to dangerous levels. The paper concludes by asking what will follow the ritual convening of the Arab summit in Damascus, and says that barring a miraculous breakthrough, the meeting will further cripple Arab collaboration in face of regional and international challenges. The organization has failed to respond to crises, whether in Gaza, Darfur, Somalia, or Iraq.

Source: Arab News, Saudi Arabia, March 26, 2008


'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat' Editor: Absence Of Heads Of State At Damascus Summit Is Justified

Tareq Alhomayed, editor of the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, has defended Saudi Arabia's decision not to send its head of state to represent it at the upcoming Arab summit in Damascus. In an op-ed in the paper, he stated that there was no justification for the participation of heads of Arab states at the summit, because of Syria's and Iran's actions in Lebanon. Calling the ruling by the Mufti of Syria requiring every Arab ruler to participate in the summit "a joke," Alhomayed wondered what the mufti would rule regarding Syria's and Iran's actions in Lebanon and about the "holocaust" that the Syrian regime was going to bring upon Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine in the name of the "resistance."

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, March 25, 2008


Saudis To Send Low-Level Representation To Arab League Summit

The Saudi representative in the Arab League, Ahmad Qatan, announced yesterday, March 24, that he would head the Saudi delegation to the Arab League summit in Damascus at the end of this month. A Syrian source said of the low-level Saudi representation that "such a position does not serve joint Arab activity," and that Saudi Arabia was "evading [participating in] responsible dialogue."

Source: Al-Watan, Syria; Al-Jazirah, Saudi Arabia, March 25, 2008


Mubarak Won't Attend Damascus Summit

Sources in the Egyptian leadership have said that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has decided not to attend the upcoming Arab League summit in Damascus, slated for the end of this month, in light of Syria's involvement in Lebanon. The sources added that in the next 24 hours Egypt will be consulting with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE in order to coordinate their level of representation at the summit, and at its conclusion Mubarak will decide whether he will send Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif or Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit as his representative to the summit.

Source: Al-Masryoon, Egypt, March 23, 2008

Syrian Columnist: Syria Won't Relinquish Its Principles For Arab Summit

In his column in the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra, Salim Aboud wrote that the responsibility for participation in and the success of the Arab League summit lies not with Syria but with all Arabs. He said that whether the summit is held in Damascus or not, and whether Arab leaders attend or not, Syria will continue to adhere to the resistance, and will not relinquish its principles.

Source: Al-Thawra, Syria, March 11, 2008


Syrian Oppositionist To Arab Countries: Boycott Damascus Summit

In an interview with the website of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party, former Syrian MP and oppositionist Mamoun Al-Homsi called on Arab countries not to participate in the upcoming Arab League summit in Damascus. He said that holding the summit in Damascus would be a defeat for the Arab monarchs and rulers, and would give Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad a medal of honor that he would try to brandish in order to prove that he was the one who made the decisions in the region. Al-Homsi added that the act of leaders attending the summit would be considered a blow to the Syrian people's right to life and freedom, and a crime against the peoples in the region.

Source: psp.org.lb, March 10, 2008


Apprehension In Lebanon About Syrian Reaction To Lebanese Summit Boycott

The London daily Al-Hayat reports that according to elements in the Lebanese parliament who are part of the March 14 Forces, Lebanon is preparing for conflict with Syria due to Lebanon's boycott of the Damascus summit. Diplomatic sources said that top Syrian officials hinted to them that Lebanon was likely to face a new wave of violence by the Syrian regime, including bombings and murders.

Source: Al-Hayat, London; Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon, March 28, 2008


Syria, Lebanon Wrangle Over Damascus Summit

At a March 26 press conference, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem attacked Lebanon's decision to boycott the Arab summit in Damascus, hinting that foreign elements were involved in the decision. He also accused the U.S. of pressuring over the summit, and of attempting to split the Arab world. Al-Muallem stated that Lebanon had missed a golden opportunity to take care of its internal crisis, and of its relations with Syria. He called on the Arab countries who maintained a special relationship with Lebanon, particularly Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to show more cooperation in implementing the Arab League initiative in Lebanon. Lebanese MP from the March 14 Forces Mustafa Alloush responded to Al-Muallem's statement by saying that the Syrian regime's "golden opportunity" to Lebanon had so far manifested itself in three decades of killing, terror, and destruction. He added that Syria was determined to bring in the Iranian regime, like a cancer in the Arab body, instead of returning to the bosom of its Arab brothers. Also, former Lebanese prime minister Salim Al-Hoss warned that Lebanon was on the threshold of collapse, and needed a united Arab resolution that would bring it out of the crisis. He added that no neighboring country would emerge unscathed in the event of an explosion in Lebanon's internal situation.

Sources: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London; Al-Thawra, Syria; Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon, March 27, 2008







Arab League Sec'y-Gen Moussa: No Limited Summit

The London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reports that Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa is vehemently denying that there will be a limited summit prior to the Damascus summit at the end of the month (see http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/5917.htm ).

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, March 5, 2008


March 14 Forces Reject Syrian Proposal To Resolve Lebanese Presidential Crisis

The Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal reports that Syria has submitted a new three-part proposal for resolving the Lebanese presidential crisis. The proposal, submitted to Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, includes electing a president, establishing a transitional government, and holding early parliamentary elections within six months. Elements from the March 14 Forces rejected the proposal. Lebanese Communications Minister Marwan Hamada said that the initiative was a trap aimed at preventing the presidential election until the Arab summit, scheduled for later this month in Damascus.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, Lebanon, March 5, 2008


Damascus Summit Controversy Continues

Syrian sources have denied that a limited Arab summit is to be held prior to the Damascus summit scheduled for later this month (see "Report: "Mini" Arab Summit Will Discuss Postponing Damascus Summit" ). Samir Geagea of the March 14 Forces called to boycott the Arab summit in Damascus if Syria continued to thwart the Arab initiative for resolving the Lebanon crisis. An official Saudi source said that Saudi Arabia had agreed "in principle" to attend the summit, but did not note the level of its representation. An official Gulf source said that Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries would attend only if Lebanon attended.

Sources: Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, March 4, 2008; Al-Akhbar, Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon, March 4, 2008


Syria Rejects Arab League Sec-Gen's Request To Postpone Damascus Summit

The London daily Al-Hayat reports that Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa has asked the Syrian leadership to postpone the Arab summit in Damascus due to fear that some countries could boycott it. Syria rejected the request, stating that at least nine countries had announced that they would be sending leadership-level representation. The Lebanese daily Al-Nahar reported that Syria had also rejected an Egyptian-Saudi request presented by Moussa to pressure Lebanon's allies to hold the presidential election as soon as possible.

Sources: Al-Hayat, London; Al-Nahar, Lebanon, March 3, 2008


Report: "Mini" Arab Summit Will Discuss Postponing Damascus Summit

Diplomatic sources in Jordan have confirmed that a limited Arab summit, with the participation of eight Arab countries, could be held in Cairo or Sharm Al-Sheikh prior to the summit scheduled for later this month in Damascus. According to the report, the eight countries will be Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, and Jordan; possible dates are March 9 or March 16. The sources stated that this conference would discuss the proposal to postpone the Damascus summit in order to permit the Lebanese to reach an agreement over the election of Michel Sleiman as president.

Source: Al-Hayat, London, March 3, 2008


Syrian MP: Moving Arab Summit Venue From Damascus - Suicide

At a joint press conference with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'alem said that the Arab League summit would convene on the appointed date. Syrian MP Muhammad Habash told the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that moving the summit's venue from Damascus would mean suicide and catastrophe for Arab solidarity. He added that there was a possibility that Iran would be invited to the summit.

Sources: Teshreen, Syria, March 2, 2008; Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, March 1, 2008

5) Getting Mrs. Clinton
By Peggy Noonan

I think we've reached a signal point in the campaign. This is the point where, with Hillary Clinton, either you get it or you don't. There's no dodging now. You either understand the problem with her candidacy, or you don't. You either understand who she is, or not. And if you don't, after 16 years of watching Clintonian dramas, you probably never will.

That's what the Bosnia story was about. Her fictions about dodging bullets on the tarmac -- and we have to hope they were lies, because if they weren't, if she thought what she was saying was true, we are in worse trouble than we thought -- either confirmed what you already knew (she lies as a matter of strategy, or, as William Safire said in 1996, by nature) or revealed in an unforgettable way (videotape! Smiling girl in pigtails offering flowers!) what you feared (that she lies more than is humanly usual, even politically usual).


But either you get it now or you never will. That's the importance of the Bosnia tape.

Many in the press get it, to their dismay, and it makes them uncomfortable, for it sours life to have a person whose character you feel you cannot admire play such a large daily role in your work. But I think it's fair to say of the establishment media at this point that it is well populated by people who feel such a lack of faith in Mrs. Clinton's words and ways that it amounts to an aversion. They are offended by how she and her staff operate. They try hard to be fair. They constantly have to police themselves.

Not that her staff isn't policing them too. Mrs. Clinton's people are heavy-handed in that area, letting producers and correspondents know they're watching, weighing, may have to take this higher. There's too much of this in politics, but Hillary's campaign takes it to a new level.

It's not only the press. It's what I get as I walk around New York, which used to be thick with her people. I went to a Hillary fund-raiser at Hunter College about a month ago, paying for a seat in the balcony and being ushered up to fill the more expensive section on the floor, so frantic were they to fill seats.

I sat next to a woman, a New York Democrat who'd been for Hillary from the beginning and still was. She was here. But, she said, "It doesn't seem to be working." She shrugged, not like a brokenhearted person but a practical person who'd missed all the signs of something coming. She wasn't mad at the voters. But she was no longer so taken by the woman who soon took the stage and enacted joy.

The other day a bookseller told me he'd been reading the opinion pages of the papers and noting the anti-Hillary feeling. Two weeks ago he realized he wasn't for her anymore. It wasn't one incident, just an accumulation of things. His experience tracks this week's Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showing Mrs. Clinton's disapproval numbers have risen to the highest level ever in the campaign, her highest in fact in seven years.

* * *

You'd think she'd pivot back to showing a likable side, chatting with women, weeping, wearing the bright yellows and reds that are thought to appeal to her core following, older women. Well, she's doing that. Yet at the same time, her campaign reveals new levels of thuggishness, though that's the wrong word, for thugs are often effective. This is mere heavy-handedness.

On Wednesday a group of Mrs. Clinton's top donors sent a letter to the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, warning her in language that they no doubt thought subtle but that reflected a kind of incompetent menace, that her statements on the presidential campaign may result in less money for Democratic candidates for the House. Ms. Pelosi had said that in her view the superdelegates should support the presidential candidate who wins the most pledged delegates in state contests. The letter urged her to "clarify" her position, which is "clearly untenable" and "runs counter" to the superdelegates' right to make "an informed, individual decision" about "who would be the party's strongest nominee." The signers, noting their past and huge financial support, suggested that Ms. Pelosi "reflect" on her comments and amend them to reflect "a more open view."

Barack Obama's campaign called it inappropriate and said Mrs. Clinton should "reject the insinuation." But why would she? All she has now is bluster. Her supporters put their threat in a letter, not in a private meeting. By threatening Ms. Pelosi publicly, they robbed her of room to maneuver. She has to defy them or back down. She has always struck me as rather grittier than her chic suits, high heels and unhidden enthusiasm may suggest. We'll see.

What, really, is Mrs. Clinton doing? She is having the worst case of cognitive dissonance in the history of modern politics. She cannot come up with a credible, realistic path to the nomination. She can't trace the line from "this moment's difficulties" to "my triumphant end." But she cannot admit to herself that she can lose. Because Clintons don't lose. She can't figure out how to win, and she can't accept the idea of not winning. She cannot accept that this nobody from nowhere could have beaten her, quietly and silently, every day. (She cannot accept that she still doesn't know how he did it!)

She is concussed. But she is a scrapper, a fighter, and she's doing what she knows how to do: scrap and fight. Only harder. So that she ups the ante every day. She helped Ireland achieve peace. She tried to stop Nafta. She's been a leader for 35 years. She landed in Bosnia under siege and bravely dodged bullets. It was as if she'd watched the movie "Wag the Dog," with its fake footage of a terrified refugee woman running frantically from mortar fire, and found it not a cautionary tale about manipulation and politics, but an inspiration.

* * *

What struck me as the best commentary on the Bosnia story came from a poster called GI Joe who wrote in to a news blog: "Actually Mrs. Clinton was too modest. I was there and saw it all. When Mrs. Clinton got off the plane the tarmac came under mortar and machine gun fire. I was blown off my tank and exposed to enemy fire. Mrs. Clinton without regard to her own safety dragged me to safety, jumped on the tank and opened fire, killing 50 of the enemy." Soon a suicide bomber appeared, but Mrs. Clinton stopped the guards from opening fire. "She talked to the man in his own language and got him [to] surrender. She found that he had suffered terribly as a result of policies of George Bush. She defused the bomb vest herself." Then she turned to his wounds. "She stopped my bleeding and saved my life. Chelsea donated the blood."

Made me laugh. It was like the voice of the people answering back. This guy knows that what Mrs. Clinton said is sort of crazy. He seems to know her reputation for untruths. He seemed to be saying, "I get it."