Could Bibi Lose? And Would The Alternative Be Better for Peace?

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Tuesday March 17, 2015 · 1:08 PM PDT

2015/03/17 · 13:08

There has been much discussion on this site and in the media in the last couple weeks over the uber-schmuck Benyamin Netanyahu’s war-mongering 50-minute campaign ad using Congress-critters as props and his Likud party’s flagging electoral fortunes in the polls leading up to today’s Israeli Knesset (parliamentary) elections. Many on the left are gleeful that the far-right Likud looks set to win at least a few seats fewer than the center-left Zionist Union. But due to the nature of Israel’s electoral system, once the counting is done, Bibi could lose and still end up with another term as prime minister, potentially with an even more right-wing government.

And in the chortling over Bibi’s predicament, the most important question of all is rarely asked: which will help the prospects for a peaceful and just settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, Bibi’s loss or his win? Counterintuitively, another few years of far-right wing rule may be needed before there can be any realistic hope of Israeli-Palestinian peace. Follow me below the fold to find out why…

unrepentantnewdealer

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Friday March 23, 2012 · 10:49 AM PDT

2012/03/23 · 10:49

We all know how great Republicans are at coming up with misleading names for things. "Clear Skies Initiative." "PATRIOT Act." "Death tax." Hell, even "death panels." It might be the only thing Republican politicians are good at! And no one who reads this blog should need to be reminded how bad Democrats are at messaging. Most Democrats in Congress would be hard-pressed to message their way out of a paper bag. I'm not saying they wouldn't ultimately manage. But it'd be a struggle.

This is a problem because the Beltway media's very own Wonder-Boy, Paul Ryan, has once again released a "very serious" Medicare demolition proposal, not all that different from the one he released last year. The one that helped Democrats pick up a solid-GOP seat in upstate New York by charging that the Ryan plan would "kill Medicare." It's a good line, both effective and true. And we could spend the rest of the election season repeating it and tagging the Republican representatives who voted for it last year (the entire caucus, minus 5 semi-sane members). White seniors, who are almost the only base the GOP has left, will not take a threat to Medicare lightly, so we could be looking at some deep-red seats flipping blue. In short, absent a stalling of the recovery or other major crisis, the Ryan plan could make 2012 that most unlikely of things, a Democratic landslide.

But of course, there's a catch. Follow me below the fold for more on the catch and how chocolate cake could be just what the doctor ordered.

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 22, 2011 · 9:09 AM PST

2011/11/22 · 09:09

Just saw this headline and, after checking to make sure it hadn't already been posted by any other diarist, I thought I'd share this with you. More beneath the fold.

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday August 11, 2011 · 12:19 PM PDT

2011/08/11 · 12:19

I think it's safe to say that Meteor Blades' announcement that he is leaving the Daily Kos community is THE story of the day, if not the week. The "Recently Published" tab is filling up with posts about Meteor Blades. I've read several of them but it seems they are being published faster than I can read them. Yet there's one thing none of the diaries has quite put its finger on yet: the degree to which the Obama flame-wars, more than anything else, have polarized this awesome community and contributed mightily to the incivility Meteor Blades' so rightly deplored. Join me below the squiggle to see if we can't agree to a cease-fire.

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 04, 2011 · 11:25 AM PDT

2011/04/04 · 11:25

Today the first even half-way plausible candidate for President announced: the incumbent. How crazy is it that the incumbent beat all of his possible opponents to the punch? I mean, by this time in the last election cycle, Joe Biden's ill-fated campaign had already begun and essentially ended (though he did stay in the race long enough to give us this immortal gem about Rudy Guiliani "a noun, a verb, and 9/11"). Anyway, to the announcement!

Poll

84 votes Show Results

Fired Up and Ready to... ?

84 votes Vote Now!

Fired Up and Ready to... ?

Go!

34 votes

Grow?

2 votes

Snow?

1 vote

Glow?

3 votes

Yawn

23 votes

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510

21 votes

Why We Still Need the Peace Corps

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 28, 2011 · 1:32 PM PST

2011/02/28 · 13:32

Tomorrow, March 1, marks 50 years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Executive Order creating the Peace Corps. So naturally, one would expect some contrarian to rain on the parade. Right on cue, Foreign Policy magazine has published an opinion piece by Charles Kenny asking the question, “does the world still need the Peace Corps?” Being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, I naturally have some thoughts on the matter.

It’s the Sustainability, Stupid!

His primary critique, which he returns to again and again, is that the Peace Corps “can’t seem to move on from the 1960s.” It’s difficult to decipher what Kenny means by this, as he never explains. Is it the fact that many volunteers are still motivated by the idea of service propounded by Kennedy in his Inaugural Address, that we should “ask what we can do for our country”? It’s hard to see how that’s a bad thing. Is it that the Peace Corps has been static over the last 5 decades, refusing to adapt to changing circumstances? If that’s his critique (and again, he never coherently spells out what his critique is), then he is far off the mark. The Peace Corps has undergone vast changes in the last 5 decades....

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

A Belated Kenyan Thankgiving

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday December 01, 2010 · 8:48 AM PST

2010/12/01 · 08:48

I know that for most of you, Thanksgiving probably already seems like ages ago. The leftovers are gone (except for that weird yellow-blue thing growing on the cranberry sauce), the tryptophan has long since worn off, your Teabagger cousin vacated the premises just in time to avoid having some sense beaten into him. Yet there are parts of the world that do not celebrate Thanksgiving, where people do not eat turkey and have never heard of pumpkin pie*, where internet access is touch-and-go even when it's available. The last bit will hopefully explain the lateness of this brief diary.

Poll

11 votes Show Results

Have you ever lived overseas for an extended period of time? (study-abroad for less than a semester doesn't count)

11 votes Vote Now!

Have you ever lived overseas for an extended period of time? (study-abroad for less than a semester doesn't count)

Yes, in Europe

3 votes

Yes, in Africa

3 votes

Yes, in Latin America

1 vote

Yes, in East Asia

1 vote

Yes, in West Asia

0 votes

Yes, in South Asia

1 vote

Yes, in Oceana

0 votes

Yes, in Canada

0 votes

Yes, someplace else

0 votes

No, but I've always wanted to

1 vote

No, but I will have some pie

1 vote

JUST IN: Anita Hill's Apology Letter!

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday October 21, 2010 · 11:45 AM PDT

2010/10/21 · 11:45

As we've seen, Virginia Thomas left a voice-mail message for Anita Hill asking her to apologize for accusing her husband of sexual harassment during his confirmation hearings as a Supreme Court nominee 19 years ago. After initially refusing Mrs. Thomas' "olive branch," Hill has now reversed course, issuing the following statement.

Poll

145 votes Show Results

Which Justice Needs to Apologize MOST?

Clarence Thomas for smearing Anita Hill

Antonin Scalia for introducing America to a particularly Italian way to tell someone to f*ck off

John Roberts for pretending he thought Roe was settled law during his confirmation hearings

Samuel Alito for also pretending he thought Roe was settled law during his confirmation hearings

Anthony Kennedy for thinking women need protection from their own choices, the poor dears

Ruth Bader Ginsburg for being made of AWESOME.

Stephen Breyer for putting forth a coherent alternative to "originalism"

Sonia Sotomayor for being proud of her Latina heritage

Elena Kagan for recusing herself in conflict-of-interest cases (Thomas and Scalia got a big laugh out of that one!)

Justice Pie for setting such delicious precedents

145 votes Vote Now!

Which Justice Needs to Apologize MOST?

Clarence Thomas for smearing Anita Hill

54 votes

Antonin Scalia for introducing America to a particularly Italian way to tell someone to f*ck off

19 votes

John Roberts for pretending he thought Roe was settled law during his confirmation hearings

20 votes

Samuel Alito for also pretending he thought Roe was settled law during his confirmation hearings

7 votes

Anthony Kennedy for thinking women need protection from their own choices, the poor dears

6 votes

Ruth Bader Ginsburg for being made of AWESOME.

6 votes

Stephen Breyer for putting forth a coherent alternative to "originalism"

0 votes

Sonia Sotomayor for being proud of her Latina heritage

3 votes

Elena Kagan for recusing herself in conflict-of-interest cases (Thomas and Scalia got a big laugh out of that one!)

11 votes

Justice Pie for setting such delicious precedents

19 votes

Bayh'd: The Dead-End of "Centrism"

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 15, 2010 · 3:20 PM PST

2010/02/15 · 15:20

New Political Lexicon: "Bayh'd: To inexplicably quit at the last possible second, crippling your team's chances of success. Example: 'We were close to finishing that report and just two hours before the presentation Cathy just up and Bayh'd us and now we'll never have it ready on time.' NOTE: Not to be confused with 'pulling a Palin', which is abruptly quitting to pursue a better gig."

"Centrist" Indiana Senator Evan Bayh stunned his party by announcing his retirement today. I don't just mean he stunned you or me: apparently Bayh didn't even inform Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of his intention to resign until AFTER his office had leaked that info to the media.

Poll

116 votes Show Results

The next "Centrist" Democrat to announce retirement will be:

116 votes Vote Now!

The next "Centrist" Democrat to announce retirement will be:

Max Baucus

11 votes

Mary Landrieu

6 votes

Blanche Lincoln

64 votes

Kent Conrad

5 votes

Rahm Emanuel pretty please oh please?

26 votes

write-in

4 votes

Sit-Ins, Interracial Relationships, and the Importance of Memory

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 31, 2010 · 10:30 PM PST

2010/01/31 · 22:30

Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the first Greensboro Sit-In, an occasion that will be commemorated with the (much-belated) opening of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM) in the old F.W. Woolworth building in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. For those who sadly don't know what the Greensboro Sit-Ins were, a little back-story: On February 1, 1960, in a deliberate and long-discussed act of nonviolent civil disobedience, four black NC A&T students walked into the F. W. Woolworth store in downtown Greensboro, and sat down at the “whites-only” lunch counter for coffee. These four brave young men – David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and Ezell Blair Jr. - were not only refused service, they were harassed by white patrons, the police were called and the store closed early. The store manager hoped that was the end of the matter.

It was only the beginning...

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 27, 2009 · 11:51 AM PDT

2009/10/27 · 11:51

This just in: according to Politico, everyone's favorite Benedict Arnold, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman (CT for Lieberman Party-CT) has become the first CorporaDem to announce that he will join the GOP filibuster of any health care reform bill that does contains a public option. It was only a matter of time before one of these shills for the health care lobby called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bluff. By announcing yesterday that he would ensure that the merged bill the full Senate would vote on would include a public option with an opt-out clause. Reid was essentially betting that he'd be able to get all 60 members of the caucus to vote their conscience on the bill itself when it came up for a straight up-or-down vote, but that no member of the caucus would go so far as to join a GOP filibuster. Now Lieberman is testing that proposition. So who will blink first, Reid or Lieberman?

Poll

94 votes Show Results

Who will blink first?

94 votes Vote Now!

Who will blink first?

Harry Reid

17 votes

Joe Lieberman

33 votes

Neither and the bill fails to pass the Senate

14 votes

Barack Obama, who brokers a "compromise" involving the "trigger"

11 votes

Harry Reid already capitulated to Lieberman, we'll read all about it in tomorrow's paper

19 votes

BREAKING NEWS: Our President has taste buds!

unrepentantnewdealer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday May 08, 2009 · 4:10 PM PDT

2009/05/08 · 16:10

Internal monologue of a conservative pundit:

According to multiple eye-witnesses, earlier this week, "President" Barry HUSSEIN NObama was observed ordering a hamburger with... spicy mustard!!!!This only confirms the terrible secret we conservatives have suspected him of concealing all along: that Barry HUSSEIN NObama is a secret food-connoisseur! Now that this unspeakable evil has been exposed for all to see, follow me below the fold to see how this is just the first stepping stone on the infernal garden path to TYRANNY!

Poll

130 votes Show Results

Which of the following foods is most elitist?

130 votes Vote Now!

Which of the following foods is most elitist?

spicy mustard

3 votes

Heinz ketchup

4 votes

potato puffs

3 votes

Boston, Taxachusetts clam chowder

13 votes

arugula lettuce

27 votes

lettuce, period

4 votes

bananas

2 votes

cous-cous (what the hell is that, anyway?)

43 votes

espresso

21 votes

cous-cous (what the hell is that, anyway?)

10 votes

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Could Bibi Lose? And Would The Alternative Be Better for Peace?

Medicare as Chocolate Cake: How to Stop the Ryan Plan

BREAKING: Egypt to Get "Govt of National Salvation"

WWMBD?: Calling a Truce in the Obama Flame-Wars

2012: The Shortest Campaign EVER! w/poll

Why We Still Need the Peace Corps

A Belated Kenyan Thankgiving

JUST IN: Anita Hill's Apology Letter!

Bayh'd: The Dead-End of "Centrism"

Sit-Ins, Interracial Relationships, and the Importance of Memory

Lieberman Plays Chicken: Will Dirty Harry Blink?

BREAKING NEWS: Our President has taste buds!