.png)
No, Paula Deen may not be the most educated woman in America but neither is she the worst. So what does all this controversy boil down to?
I suspect it is about two things: a) extortion and b) time to get back at whitey.
No doubt there are those who have a thing about Obama being our first black president but the way he,Holder and others in his administration have conducted themselves and the hypocrisy of Obama's own words when matched against his actions are, from the episode with the Harvard professor forward,
in large measure, why racial bitterness and hatred have become elevated.
---
Meanwhile, Obama's Egyptian Arab Spring and the Muslim Brotherhood president he so believed in are starting to implode. And then there is Syria. (See 1,1a and 1b below.)
Since the administration cannot keep the Middle East from exploding, Kerry continues to focus the administration's efforts on Israel because Israel is to blame for all the world's problems. (See 1c below.)
---
Trying to understand Obama? (See 2 below.)
---
The Left's mindset according to Sowell. (See 3 below.)
---
With The MiddleEast faling apart and Obama confused about what to do regarding Morsi, Snowden, Syria and all the other problems that have surfaced, click on this for some humor:
---
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Egypt's state news agency says the military has drawn up a plan to suspend the Islamist-backed constitution, dissolve the Islamist-dominated legislature, and set up an interim administration if President Mohammed Morsi fails to reach a solution with his opponents.
The agency's report Tuesday provides the first details of the road map the military has said it will implement if a deadline it set for Wednesday runs out with no solution.
A retired army general with close ties to the military confirmed the report.
Hossam Sweilam said a panel of experts would draft a new constitution and the interim administration would be a presidential council led by the Supreme Constitutional Court's chief justice and including the defense minister, representatives of political parties, youth groups, Al-Azhar Mosque and the Coptic Church.
Earlier story:
Meanwhile, Mohammed Morsi faced fissures from within after a stunning surge of street rage reminiscent of Egypt's Arab Spring revolution in 2011 that cleared the way for Morsi's long-suppressed Muslim Brotherhood to win the first open elections in decades.
Three government spokesmen were the latest to quit as part of high-level defections that underscored his increasing isolation and fallout from the ultimatum from Egypt's powerful armed forces to either find a political solution by Wednesday or the generals would seek their own way to end the political chaos.
The Cabinet, led by the Morsi-backed Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, was scheduled to meet later Tuesday. But the defense and interior ministers were expected to boycott in a sign of support for the military's warnings.
The police, which are under control of the Interior Ministry, have stood on the sidelines of the protests, refusing even to protect the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood that have been attacked and ransacked.
Before the Cabinet session, Morsi met with Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Qandil in the second such meeting in as many days. No details were given about the meeting, reported by an official at the president's office, Ayman Ali.
At least 16 have been killed in clashes since Sunday between Morsi's opponents and his many backers, who have equated the demonstrations and military arm-twisting to a coup against a democratically elected president.
The Tamarod, or Rebel, movement which organized the protests has given the president until 5 p.m. Tuesday to step down or face even larger demonstrations and possible "complete civil disobedience."
In a highly symbolic move, the crowds have camped out at Cairo's Tahrir quare, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. They also have massed outside the president's Ittahdiya palace in the leafy suburb of Heliopolis.
Across town, however, Morsi's backers have hunkered down at their own rally site, vowing to resist any attempts to nullifying his election last year and the rise of Islamist voices in Egypt's political affairs after bring muzzled under Mubarak.
On Monday, a line of around 1,500 men with shields, helmets and sticks — assigned with protecting the rally — stamped their feet in military-like lines, singing, "Stomp our feet, raise a fire. Islam's march is coming."
The volatile atmosphere has been made even more unsettled by the prospect the military could soon step in.
The military's declaration, read Monday on state TV, put enormous pressure on Morsi to step down and sent giant crowds opposing the president in Cairo and other cities into delirious celebrations of singing, dancing and fireworks.
But it also raised worries on both sides that the army could take over outright as it did after the 2011 ouster of Mubarak and raised the risk of a backlash from Morsi's Islamist backers, some of whom once belonged to armed militant groups.
Morsi's office issued a statement saying a "modern democratic state" was one of the main achievements of the anti-Mubarak uprising, adding, "With all its force, Egypt will not allow itself to be taken backward."
While not bluntly rejecting the ultimatum, it said Morsi was still reviewing the military statement and that some parts of it "could cause disturbances in the complicated national scene."
At the same time, he is grappling with growing dissent within his inner circle.
A foreign ministry official said career diplomats Omar Amer and Ihab Fahmy have stepped down after nearly five months speaking on behalf of Morsi. On Monday, six Cabinet ministers quit.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
State TV later reported the resignation of Cabinet spokesmman Alaa el-Hadidy.
Also Tuesday, an Egyptian court dealt another blow to Morsi's authority, ruling that the president's widely disputed appointment of an attorney general last November was illegal.
Morsi's dismissal of Mahmoud Abdel-Meguid, who was appointed by Mubarak, was seen by the judiciary as an encroachment on its independence. The opposition has long demanded the removal of Abdel-Meguid's successor, Talaat Abdullah.
President Barack Obama said the U.S. is committed to democracy in Egypt, not any particular leader. Traveling in Tanzania, Obama said that although Morsi was democratically elected, the government must respect its opposition and minority groups.
Egypt's presidency said Morsi received a phone call from Obama, who said the U.S. administration "supports peaceful democratic transition in Egypt."
Many of those now in the anti-Morsi campaign then led demonstrations against military rule, angered by its management of the transition and heavy hand in the killing of protesters.
Hours after its announcement, the military issued a second statement on its Facebook page denying it intended a coup. "The ideology and culture of the Egyptian armed forces does not allow for the policy of a military coup," it said.
In its initial statement, the military said it would "announce a road map for the future and measures to implement it" if Morsi and its opponents cannot reach a consensus within 48 hours — a virtual impossibility. It promised to include all "patriotic and sincere" factions in the process.
The military underlined it will "not be a party in politics or rule." But it said it has a responsibility to find a solution because Egypt's national security is facing a "grave danger," according to the statement.
It did not detail the road map, but it heavily praised the massive protests that began Sunday demanding that Morsi step down and that early elections be called — suggesting that call had to be satisfied. It said the protests were "glorious," adding that the participants expressed their opinion "in peaceful and civilized manner." It urged "the people's demands to be met."
Sunday's protests on the first anniversary of Morsi's inauguration were the largest seen in the country in the 2½ years of turmoil since Egyptians first rose up against Mubarak in January 2011.
Violence broke out in several parts of the country, often when marchers came under gunfire, apparently from Islamists. In Cairo, anti-Morsi youth attacked the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood with stones and fire bombs, while Brotherhood supporters barricaded inside opened fired on them. The clash ended early Monday when the protesters broke into the luxury villa and ransacked it, setting fires.
Nationwide, at least 16 people were killed Sunday and more than 780 injured, Health Ministry spokesman Yehya Moussa told state television.
Under a framework drawn up by Tamarod, after Morsi steps down, the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court would become an interim president and a technocrat government would be formed. An expert panel would write a new constitution to replace the one largely drafted by Islamists, and a new presidential election would be held in six months.
For Islamists, however, the idea of Morsi stepping down is an inconceivable infringement on the repeated elections they won since Mubarak's fall, giving them not only a longtime Brotherhood leader as president but majorities in parliament.
"The military has sacrificed legitimacy. There will be a civil war," said Manal Shouib, a 47-year-old physiotherapist at the pro-Morsi rally outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque not far from Ittihadiya.
Outside the palace, protesters contended that Morsi could not survive with only the Islamist bloc on his side.
"It is now the whole people versus one group. What can he do?" said Mina Adel, a Christian accountant. "The army is the savior and the guarantor for the revolution to succeed."
1a)
Ozymandias Returns
Will Mohammed Morsi join the pharaohs, caliphs, pashas and strongmen that came before him?
By Bret Stephens
Mark Landler and Jodi Rudoren
Secretary of State John Kerry spent the weekend in Israel and the West Bank as protests rattled the Egyptian government and war raged in Syria. (Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin)
2) Is Obama a Victim of Self Esteem Education?
By Jonathon Moseley
I never understood Barack Obama -- or even some of my friends -- until I read The Amateur by Edward Klein (Regnery Publishing 2012 -- paperback June 13, 2013).
Barack Obama is the ultimate "A for effort [D for performance] President." Obama's ineptness is exceeded only by his giant ego. Obama received a "to be determined" Nobel Peace Prize in the naked hope that he might do something later to promote peace. This is self-esteem taken to a ridiculous extreme -- but in real life. But wait: Isn't that exactly what the liberal educational approach teaches in our schools and even in our universities and law schools?
It doesn't matter if you get the wrong answer as long as you believe in yourself. It doesn't matter if you can actually achieve anything, as long as you try. Liberal educational techniques teach students that everyone is a winner, everyone's opinion is equally valid, and there should be no competition or grading on the basis of merit.
Sure, we all have limitations. There is nothing wrong with that. Henry Ford claimed that he wasn't all that smart, but he succeeded by hiring people smarter than he. Many highly-successful people have echoed Ford with similar quotes. But the difference is he could admit his own strengths and weaknesses and take action to compensate.
The most important sentence in The Amateur is: "He doesn't know what he doesn't know." I interviewed the author on the Conservative Commandos radio show, when the book came out in paperback.
Why does Barack Obama compare himself to Abraham Lincoln? Conservatives were appalled that Obama thinks so much of himself. But that's the wrong analysis. Obama doesn't know much about Abraham Lincoln. Not knowing history, he lacks the capacity to see that he isn't in Honest Abe's league.
Similarly, Obama has given two speeches at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, evoking the memory of John F. Kennedy. "How can he compare himself to JFK?" conservatives bristle. Because he doesn't know very much about JFK. He doesn't understand that special moment which JFK embodied that day in Berlin -- what it really meant -- or Ronald Reagan's pivotal moment at the Berlin Wall. So he doesn't realize that he can't just show up and give a random speech of equal historical importance to "Ich bin ein Berliner" with which JFK committed the full might of the United States to defend the freedom of West Berlin against Soviet expansion.
Why doesn't Obama get involved in shaping legislation important to his agenda as it develops in Congress? Because he doesn't know how. Obama avoids the hard work not only because he is lazy but also because he doesn't have the skills to tackle it. He instinctively avoids situations in which his weaknesses and ignorance would be exposed.
Where was President Obama when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was under attack? Well, where would you be if you knew you don't understand the U.S. military, foreign policy, U.S. military capabilities, response options, and how various countries might be involved in defending U.S. diplomats? Obama didn't want everyone to see in the Situation Room that he could not intelligently discuss the options or the problems.
Many of the actions and omissions of the Obama Administration leave political observers scratching their head. But they are assuming that Obama is making those decisions knowingly. What if, instead, Obama simply avoids situations where his knowledge and skills are lacking? He might not admit, even to himself, any weakness. But one subconsciously avoids those uncomfortable situations.
Back in the 1980's, Rush Limbaugh mocked the self-esteem movement by explaining how students were being asked how they feel about 2 +2. If they added 2 +2 and got 5, that's okay, as long as they feel good about their own individual answer.
Conservative superstar Phyllis Schafly explained in a November 4, 1990 New York Times editorial: "Earned self-esteem is important," said Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, a politically conservative group based in Alton, Ill. But she added, "Instead of teaching them how to read, they're teaching kids to feel good about being illiterate."
Self-esteem education is damaging to students most of all. When a student leaves that artificial bubble world and enters the harsh real world, they are not prepared to succeed with an actual skill. Disorientation, difficulty, and heartache can be the results. Raised to expect positive reinforcement as guaranteed, they are exceptionally sensitive to any criticism. For example, notice how thin-skinned Barack Obama is, how he is unable to cope with any criticism.
Victims of the public schools don't easily learn from mistakes, change, or grow because that would require admitting they made a mistake that needs correcting. They often do not grow out of bad habits or limitations. The Amateur describes how Obama has failed to grow in office, for example, in sharp contrast with other presidents.
I have seen friends make decisions based on their feelings, rather than on the facts in front of them. Now I understand: that's how they were indoctrinated growing up. Their self-defeating patterns and habits are exactly what conservatives warned for decades would happen from the self-esteem movement. Conservative warnings have once again come true.
Now, it would be wrong to say that Obama is not well-educated. He is very well-indoctrinated in left-wing policy seminar talking points. In fact, Obama is naturally bright, which is the tragedy of self esteem education. He has thoroughly and deeply grasped the liberal viewpoint on everything. If Obama had been exposed to an actual education, he could have excelled. But as it is, Obama knows nothing but what is offered by liberal indoctrination. And having mastered that tiny set of propaganda points, Obama imagines himself to be well-informed. Memorizing liberal policy talking points is what Obama believes to be a real education. There is a deep irony in the fact that liberal education has crippled the efforts of its own chief standard-bearer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3)The Mindset of the Left
On Sunday millions of Egyptians poured into the squares and streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other cities to register intense dissatisfaction with their first freely elected government and demand President Mohammed Morsi's resignation. On Monday the Egyptian military gave Mr. Morsi 48 hours to clean up his act, or else.
Democracy in Egypt has not been fun while it's lasted.
Where do things go from here? The good news is that the political bloom is off the Islamist rose. The Muslim Brotherhood, so sure-footed when it came to seizing power, proved surprisingly ham-fisted when it came to consolidating it. Islam is the answer, goes the Brotherhood's famous slogan—but not, as Egyptians are learning with each passing day, to the questions of how to shorten gas lines, or maintain public security, or attract foreign investment, or build foreign-exchange reserves.
There's also good news in that the army remains a willing and viable check on the Brotherhood's political power and street muscle. There were reasons to wonder about that after the military squandered much of its support with its long interregnum (and constitutional shenanigans) following Hosni Mubarak's downfall, and then again after Mr. Morsi sacked Mubarak-era Defense Minister Mohamed Tantawi and replaced him with Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.
Yet Gen. Sisi proved he was his own man on Monday when he issued the ultimatum to his presumptive boss, warning that "if the people's demands are not met [by Wednesday], the armed forces will announce a road map for the future and take a set of procedures and . . . oversee its implementation with the participation of all political forces."
Sounds lovely. But then, as Napoleon told one of his generals, "if you start to take Vienna, take Vienna." On Monday a spokesman for Gen. Sisi insisted the army was not threatening a coup, but what happens if Mr. Morsi calls his bluff?
In fact, Mr. Morsi must call the general's bluff if he's to retain the prerogatives of his office. And Gen. Sisi must make good on his threat—or else go to prison for gross insubordination. Perhaps there's a face-saving compromise, like calling for a referendum on whether to hold early elections. But that would take months to arrange, and Egyptians are a people who have run out of patience. One side or the other will have to back down, humiliated, or there will be a confrontation.
If it's the latter, it could be along the lines of Algeria's savage civil war in the 1990s, also the result of a military coup after an Islamist electoral victory. Egypt today is awash in small arms, mainly from Libya and Sudan. The conscript army is not well-disciplined, as it showed in its brutal assault on Coptic protesters in Cairo in October 2011. Police forces are a power unto themselves. And the Brotherhood, willful and accustomed to operating as a secret organization, can call on the support of millions of Egyptians.
Nobody should want this outcome: The blood orgies of Syria are agony enough for the Middle East. What about the other choices?
There will be a temptation in the West to support Mr. Morsi on grounds that, for all of his political misjudgments, he is a legitimately elected leader trying to stand his ground against street mobs abetted by army generals. So far Mr. Obama has said little more about Egypt than to call for "restraint" on both sides. But he had flattering things to say about Mr. Morsi during last November's Gaza crisis, and the default position in American diplomacy is always to support whoever is in power.
Then again, to support Mr. Morsi is to repeat the mistake Mr. Obama made in the first two years of his presidency, when U.S. policy amounted to flattering Hosni Mubarak. (Hillary Clinton, genius diplomat, went so far as to call the dictator a family friend in 2009.) At least the Mubarak regime could be described as secular and pro-American, and reasonably committed to peace with Israel. That doesn't exactly describe Mr. Morsi, who showed he had all of Mr. Mubarak's contempt for civil liberties with none of his talents for governance.
It's a sign of how atrophied U.S. influence in Egypt has become under Mr. Obama that his views count for so little—assuming he has views at all. For the rest of us, the lesson from Egypt is that democracy may be a blessing for people capable of self-government, but it's a curse for those who are not. There is a reason that Egypt has been governed by pharaohs, caliphs, pashas and strongmen for 6,000 years.
The best outcome for Egypt would be early elections, leading to the Brotherhood's defeat at the hands of a reformist, technocratic government with military support. The second-best outcome would be a bloodless military coup, followed by the installment of a reformist government. The chances for either outcome are slight. But the Brotherhood will not go quietly. Get ready for a bloody road ahead.
1b Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi Tuesday night rejected Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ‘s demand that he quit to avert a bloodbath. He said he stood by his “constitutional dignity and demanded the army’s withdrawal of its ultimatum.
The general acted after Interior Minister Gen. Muhammad Ibrahim offered to place all police, internal security and intelligence forces at the disposal of the army because they no longer defer to the authority of the president or the Muslim Brotherhood government. This virtual “coup” enabled the army to jump the gun by 24 hours on its ultimatum to Morsi.
This military's action was not quite a “coup,” but it snatched away the Muslim Brotherhood government’s buttress of organized security forces, leaving only loyal adherents as a last prop.
The army thus jumped the gun by 24 hours on its ultimatum to the president to “heed the will of the people” - or else. This move played out as huge rival demonstrations gathered in Cairo at separate locations with no police in evidence to hold back the sporadic bouts of violence, which are expected to spread. Already, seven people were killed in three separate violent clashes between supporters and opponents of the Islamist president. Another huge anti-government took place in Alexandria as well as other Egyptian cities.
Military circles indicated that to defuse the crisis the army would force the regime to transfer ruling authority to an interim council made up of citizens and technocrats and entrusted with drafting a new constitution and preparing early elections for president.
Those sources did not disclose what would happen to Morsi and whether he would stay on in the meantime as a figurehead president without executive powers.
President Morsi and the Muslim Brothers are hardly likely to lie down for this roadmap out of the crisis, because it would mean relinquishing power after just one year, at the end of decades of being pushed to the fringes of Egypt’s political scene.
But there is not much they can do. Their call to turn out and demonstrate for the Islamic flag Tuesday brought out their own followers and no one else, whereas the opposition is not only backed by millions of assorted groups but has now gained the support of the army, the police, the security service and the intelligence agency.
Morsi insisted he would stick to his own plans for national reconciliation.
His regime is meanwhile crumbling: Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr resigned early Tuesday, the sixth minister to quit the government in the last 24 hours. He follows the president’s military adviser Gen. Sami Anan, former chief of staff under President Hosni Mubarak. Senior judges and high police officers were seen taking part in the anti-government protest rallies of the last week.
Morsi and the Brotherhood now face two ultimatums: If by Tuesday afternoon, he has not agreed to step down and call an early election, the organizers of the protest movement, which has brought millions to the streets of Egyptian cities, will launch a relentless and anarchic campaign of civil disobedience. The defense minister says the army will intervene if the government fails “to heed the will of the people” by Wednesday afternoon.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its radical allies are now considering whether to fully mobilize their adherents for “processions” and counter-demonstrations. This would take Egypt to the brink of a violent and prolonged escalation with incalculable consequences.
1b Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi Tuesday night rejected Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ‘s demand that he quit to avert a bloodbath. He said he stood by his “constitutional dignity and demanded the army’s withdrawal of its ultimatum.
The general acted after Interior Minister Gen. Muhammad Ibrahim offered to place all police, internal security and intelligence forces at the disposal of the army because they no longer defer to the authority of the president or the Muslim Brotherhood government. This virtual “coup” enabled the army to jump the gun by 24 hours on its ultimatum to Morsi.
This military's action was not quite a “coup,” but it snatched away the Muslim Brotherhood government’s buttress of organized security forces, leaving only loyal adherents as a last prop.
The army thus jumped the gun by 24 hours on its ultimatum to the president to “heed the will of the people” - or else. This move played out as huge rival demonstrations gathered in Cairo at separate locations with no police in evidence to hold back the sporadic bouts of violence, which are expected to spread. Already, seven people were killed in three separate violent clashes between supporters and opponents of the Islamist president. Another huge anti-government took place in Alexandria as well as other Egyptian cities.
Military circles indicated that to defuse the crisis the army would force the regime to transfer ruling authority to an interim council made up of citizens and technocrats and entrusted with drafting a new constitution and preparing early elections for president.
Those sources did not disclose what would happen to Morsi and whether he would stay on in the meantime as a figurehead president without executive powers.
President Morsi and the Muslim Brothers are hardly likely to lie down for this roadmap out of the crisis, because it would mean relinquishing power after just one year, at the end of decades of being pushed to the fringes of Egypt’s political scene.
But there is not much they can do. Their call to turn out and demonstrate for the Islamic flag Tuesday brought out their own followers and no one else, whereas the opposition is not only backed by millions of assorted groups but has now gained the support of the army, the police, the security service and the intelligence agency.
US President Barack Obama and Chief of US General Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey intervened in the Egyptian crisis early Tuesday, July 2, in an attempt to save the besieged President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. Obama called the Egyptian president and Gen. Dempsey phoned Chief of staff Gen. Sedki Sobhi, hoping to defuse the three-way crisis between the regime, the army and the protest movement before it gets out of hand.
The crash of Morsi’s presidency would seriously undermine the objectives of the Arab Revolt pursued by the Obama administration as the arch-stone of his Middle East policy.
The administration had earlier sought unsuccessfully to persuade the heads of the Egyptian army not to issue its 48-hour ultimatum to Egypt’s rulers “heed the will of the people” by Wednesday afternoon - or else the army would intervene. The Americans proposed instead to leave Morsi in place after stripping him of presidential authority and installing a transitional government to prepare the country for new elections to the presidency and parliament.
Middle East sources report that the army chiefs led by Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi rejected the American proposal.
Obama promised to back steps taken by President Morsi to show he is “responsive to the opposition’s concerns,” while Gen. Dempsey asked Egyptian generals to moderate their stand against the Muslim Brotherhood. The underlying message was that if they failed to do so, Washington might reconsider its $1.3 billion annual military assistance package which is the main source of income for the armed forces.
The crash of Morsi’s presidency would seriously undermine the objectives of the Arab Revolt pursued by the Obama administration as the arch-stone of his Middle East policy.
The administration had earlier sought unsuccessfully to persuade the heads of the Egyptian army not to issue its 48-hour ultimatum to Egypt’s rulers “heed the will of the people” by Wednesday afternoon - or else the army would intervene. The Americans proposed instead to leave Morsi in place after stripping him of presidential authority and installing a transitional government to prepare the country for new elections to the presidency and parliament.
Middle East sources report that the army chiefs led by Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi rejected the American proposal.
Obama promised to back steps taken by President Morsi to show he is “responsive to the opposition’s concerns,” while Gen. Dempsey asked Egyptian generals to moderate their stand against the Muslim Brotherhood. The underlying message was that if they failed to do so, Washington might reconsider its $1.3 billion annual military assistance package which is the main source of income for the armed forces.
Heartened by the US president’s vote of support, Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamic allies, rejected the army’s ultimatum for resolving the country’s deadly crisis, saying it would sow confusion and ran contrary to the Egyptian constitution.
Morsi insisted he would stick to his own plans for national reconciliation.
His regime is meanwhile crumbling: Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr resigned early Tuesday, the sixth minister to quit the government in the last 24 hours. He follows the president’s military adviser Gen. Sami Anan, former chief of staff under President Hosni Mubarak. Senior judges and high police officers were seen taking part in the anti-government protest rallies of the last week.
Morsi and the Brotherhood now face two ultimatums: If by Tuesday afternoon, he has not agreed to step down and call an early election, the organizers of the protest movement, which has brought millions to the streets of Egyptian cities, will launch a relentless and anarchic campaign of civil disobedience. The defense minister says the army will intervene if the government fails “to heed the will of the people” by Wednesday afternoon.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its radical allies are now considering whether to fully mobilize their adherents for “processions” and counter-demonstrations. This would take Egypt to the brink of a violent and prolonged escalation with incalculable consequences.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1c)Chaos in Middle East Grows as the U.S. Focuses on Israel
Secretary of State John Kerry spent the weekend in Israel and the West Bank as protests rattled the Egyptian government and war raged in Syria. (Pool photo by Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON — In Damascus, the Syrian government’s forces are digging in against rebels in a bloody civil war that is swiftly approaching the grim milestone of 100,000 dead. In Cairo, an angry tide of protesters again threatens an Egyptian president.
At the same time, in tranquil Tel Aviv, Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up a busy round of shuttle diplomacy, laboring to revive a three-decade-old attempt at peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. He insisted on Sunday that he had made “real progress.”
The new secretary of state’s exertions — reminiscent of predecessors like Henry A. Kissinger and James A. Baker III — have been met with the usual mix of hope and skepticism. But with so much of the Middle East still convulsing from the effects of the Arab Spring, Mr. Kerry’s efforts raise questions about the Obama administration’s priorities at a time of renewed regional unrest.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, once a stark symbol and source of grievance in the Arab world, is now almost a sideshow in a Middle East consumed by sectarian strife, economic misery and, in Egypt, a democratically elected leader fighting for legitimacy with many of his people.
“The moment for this kind of diplomacy has passed,” said Robert Blecher, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program of the International Crisis Group. “He’s working with actors who have acted in this movie before, and the script is built around the same elements. But the theater is new; the region is a completely different place today.”
Administration officials no longer argue, as they did early in President Obama’s first term, that ending the Israeli occupation and creating a Palestinian state is the key to improving the standing of the United States in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now just one headache among a multitude.
And yet Mr. Kerry, backed by Mr. Obama, still believes that tackling the problem is worth the effort: five visits to the region in the last three months. The most recent trip involved nearly 20 hours of talks, stretching almost until dawn, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the
------
2) Is Obama a Victim of Self Esteem Education?
By Jonathon Moseley
I never understood Barack Obama -- or even some of my friends -- until I read The Amateur by Edward Klein (Regnery Publishing 2012 -- paperback June 13, 2013).
But first you also need to remember the plague of "self-esteem" based education. And finally it all makes sense. The self-esteem movement hurt our public schools and degraded the curriculum. The self-esteem time bomb is now coming full circle, as the victims of our schools, colleges, and universities have moved into leadership of our country.
Barack Obama is the ultimate "A for effort [D for performance] President." Obama's ineptness is exceeded only by his giant ego. Obama received a "to be determined" Nobel Peace Prize in the naked hope that he might do something later to promote peace. This is self-esteem taken to a ridiculous extreme -- but in real life. But wait: Isn't that exactly what the liberal educational approach teaches in our schools and even in our universities and law schools?
It doesn't matter if you get the wrong answer as long as you believe in yourself. It doesn't matter if you can actually achieve anything, as long as you try. Liberal educational techniques teach students that everyone is a winner, everyone's opinion is equally valid, and there should be no competition or grading on the basis of merit.
Sure, we all have limitations. There is nothing wrong with that. Henry Ford claimed that he wasn't all that smart, but he succeeded by hiring people smarter than he. Many highly-successful people have echoed Ford with similar quotes. But the difference is he could admit his own strengths and weaknesses and take action to compensate.
The most important sentence in The Amateur is: "He doesn't know what he doesn't know." I interviewed the author on the Conservative Commandos radio show, when the book came out in paperback.
Why does Barack Obama compare himself to Abraham Lincoln? Conservatives were appalled that Obama thinks so much of himself. But that's the wrong analysis. Obama doesn't know much about Abraham Lincoln. Not knowing history, he lacks the capacity to see that he isn't in Honest Abe's league.
Similarly, Obama has given two speeches at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, evoking the memory of John F. Kennedy. "How can he compare himself to JFK?" conservatives bristle. Because he doesn't know very much about JFK. He doesn't understand that special moment which JFK embodied that day in Berlin -- what it really meant -- or Ronald Reagan's pivotal moment at the Berlin Wall. So he doesn't realize that he can't just show up and give a random speech of equal historical importance to "Ich bin ein Berliner" with which JFK committed the full might of the United States to defend the freedom of West Berlin against Soviet expansion.
Why doesn't Obama get involved in shaping legislation important to his agenda as it develops in Congress? Because he doesn't know how. Obama avoids the hard work not only because he is lazy but also because he doesn't have the skills to tackle it. He instinctively avoids situations in which his weaknesses and ignorance would be exposed.
Where was President Obama when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was under attack? Well, where would you be if you knew you don't understand the U.S. military, foreign policy, U.S. military capabilities, response options, and how various countries might be involved in defending U.S. diplomats? Obama didn't want everyone to see in the Situation Room that he could not intelligently discuss the options or the problems.
Many of the actions and omissions of the Obama Administration leave political observers scratching their head. But they are assuming that Obama is making those decisions knowingly. What if, instead, Obama simply avoids situations where his knowledge and skills are lacking? He might not admit, even to himself, any weakness. But one subconsciously avoids those uncomfortable situations.
Back in the 1980's, Rush Limbaugh mocked the self-esteem movement by explaining how students were being asked how they feel about 2 +2. If they added 2 +2 and got 5, that's okay, as long as they feel good about their own individual answer.
Conservative superstar Phyllis Schafly explained in a November 4, 1990 New York Times editorial: "Earned self-esteem is important," said Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, a politically conservative group based in Alton, Ill. But she added, "Instead of teaching them how to read, they're teaching kids to feel good about being illiterate."
The article further asserted:
But not everyone is applauding; even teachers and researchers who believe self-esteem is important are not always pleased with the way the concept is thrown about. Others say self-esteem workshops and exercises are more appropriate for the psychiatrist's couch than the teacher's blackboard.
Elementary school children may no longer be taught to read and write, but they will almost surely be given one of the trendy new psychological courses in self-esteem. Self-esteem is supposed to be the magic bullet that will cure all school and social problems...
Under OBE, the student has no incentive to study, work hard, and pass a test, because he can always take it again later. Since the primary goal is to develop self-esteem and to be a part of the group, rather than to learn or to achieve, OBE bans competition, honors, and traditional subject matter courses and grades...OBE does nothing to upgrade academic standards. Instead, it is designed to conceal the progressive lowering of standards
The self-esteem curriculum is technically called "Affective Education" -- "The movement has been labeled Affective Education by educators, and includes a wide range of programs and curricula which attempt to change the values and behavior of students." The result is explained, for example, in a book The Narcissm Epidemic by psychologists Twenge and Campbell.
Self-esteem education is damaging to students most of all. When a student leaves that artificial bubble world and enters the harsh real world, they are not prepared to succeed with an actual skill. Disorientation, difficulty, and heartache can be the results. Raised to expect positive reinforcement as guaranteed, they are exceptionally sensitive to any criticism. For example, notice how thin-skinned Barack Obama is, how he is unable to cope with any criticism.
Victims of the public schools don't easily learn from mistakes, change, or grow because that would require admitting they made a mistake that needs correcting. They often do not grow out of bad habits or limitations. The Amateur describes how Obama has failed to grow in office, for example, in sharp contrast with other presidents.
I have seen friends make decisions based on their feelings, rather than on the facts in front of them. Now I understand: that's how they were indoctrinated growing up. Their self-defeating patterns and habits are exactly what conservatives warned for decades would happen from the self-esteem movement. Conservative warnings have once again come true.
Now, it would be wrong to say that Obama is not well-educated. He is very well-indoctrinated in left-wing policy seminar talking points. In fact, Obama is naturally bright, which is the tragedy of self esteem education. He has thoroughly and deeply grasped the liberal viewpoint on everything. If Obama had been exposed to an actual education, he could have excelled. But as it is, Obama knows nothing but what is offered by liberal indoctrination. And having mastered that tiny set of propaganda points, Obama imagines himself to be well-informed. Memorizing liberal policy talking points is what Obama believes to be a real education. There is a deep irony in the fact that liberal education has crippled the efforts of its own chief standard-bearer.
3)The Mindset of the Left
When teenage thugs are called "troubled youth" by people on the political left, that tells us more about the mindset of the left than about these young hoodlums.
Seldom is there a speck of evidence that the thugs are troubled, and often there is ample evidence that they are in fact enjoying themselves, as they create trouble and dangers for others.
Why then the built-in excuse, when juvenile hoodlums are called "troubled youth" and mass murderers are just assumed to be "insane"?
At least as far back as the 18th century, the left has struggled to avoid facing the plain fact of evil -- that some people simply choose to do things that they know to be wrong when they do them. Every kind of excuse, from poverty to an unhappy childhood, is used by the left to explain and excuse evil.
All the people who have come out of poverty or unhappy childhoods, or both, and become decent and productive human beings, are ignored. So are the evils committed by people raised in wealth and privilege, including kings, conquerors and slaveowners.
Why has evil been such a hard concept for many on the left to accept? The basic agenda of the left is to change external conditions. But what if the problem is internal? What if the real problem is the cussedness of human beings?
Rousseau denied this in the 18th century and the left has been denying it ever since. Why? Self preservation.
If the things that the left wants to control -- institutions and government policy -- are not the most important factors in the world's problems, then what role is there for the left?
What if it is things like the family, the culture and the traditions that make a more positive difference than the bright new government "solutions" that the left is constantly coming up with? What if seeking "the root causes of crime" is not nearly as effective as locking up criminals? The hard facts show that the murder rate was going down for decades under the old traditional practices so disdained by the left intelligentsia, before the bright new ideas of the left went into effect in the 1960s -- after which crime and violence skyrocketed.
What happened when old-fashioned ideas about sex were replaced in the 1960s by the bright new ideas of the left that were introduced into the schools as "sex education" that was supposed to reduce teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases?
Both teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases had been going down for years. But that trend suddenly reversed in the 1960s and hit new highs.
One of the oldest and most dogmatic of the crusades of the left has been disarmament, both of individuals and of nations. Again, the focus of the left has been on the externals -- the weapons in this case.
If weapons were the problem, then gun control laws at home and international disarmament agreements abroad might be the answer. But if evil people who care no more for laws or treaties than they do for other people's lives are the problem, then disarmament means making decent, law-abiding people more vulnerable to evil people.
Since belief in disarmament has been a major feature of the left since the 18th century, in countries around the world, you might think that by now there would be lots of evidence to substantiate their beliefs.
But evidence on whether gun control laws actually reduce crime rates in general, or murder rates in particular, is seldom mentioned by gun control advocates. It is just assumed in passing that of course tighter gun control laws will reduce murders.
But the hard facts do not back up that assumption. That is why it is the critics of gun control who rely heavily on empirical evidence, as in books like "More Guns, Less Crime" by John Lott and "Guns and Violence" by Joyce Lee Malcolm.
National disarmament has an even worse record. Both Britain and America neglected their military forces between the two World Wars, while Germany and Japan armed to the teeth. Many British and American soldiers paid with their lives for their countries' initially inadequate military equipment in World War II.
But what are mere facts compared to the heady vision of the left?
No comments:
Post a Comment