I have never pimped a diary or a blog.  What I have done is pick out parts of the best of them as a means of illustrating or promoting my point of view (which like everyone thinks of their own, I think is a correct one:).  But, in this case, I am going to make an exception, with regard to a blog, and specifically to one item of content.

The blog is ‘The Washington Note’, a blog of Steve Clemmons.  IMO, he gives some of the most reasoned and balanced views of what is happening in Washington, what is happening in the world, and particularly what is happening in US foreign policy, of anyone on the political scene.  But, he is not just a ‘pundit’ – he is actively engaged in the process, interacting with movers and shakers not only in the US but around the world.

If you have not experienced ‘The Washington Note’, I encourage you to do so.
And now for the other part of the endorsement.

The New America Foundation brands itself as a vaguely progressive organization that exists to "bring exceptionally promising new voices and new ideas to the fore of our nation's public discourse." The organization raises funds from progressive donors - funds that could go to all sorts of progressive causes. As a progressive you may be fine with that, except when you read this invitation.

Think tank navel-gazer Michael Lind has a very long-winded article in Salon today desperately trying to downplay the issue of race in the 2008 political campaign. Like most white pundits, he can't seem to accept that yes, race plays a factor in American politics. And so he attempts to debunk my straightforward Race Chasm analysis by manufacturing a concept he calls "Greater New England."

Ian Masters' KPFK/Pacifica Radio Program

Guests and Program Detail  
Sunday 11/25/07
11am Pacific Time

IAN MASTERS Host
LOUIS VANDENBERG Producer

KPFK 90.7fm Los Angeles -- listen live in the greater Los Angeles area

www.kpfk.org -- for live streaming and podcasting

www.ianmasters.org -- audio archives

IAN MASTERS Host
LOUIS VANDENBERG Producer

KPFK 90.7fm Los Angeles -- listen live in the greater Los Angeles area

www.kpfk.org -- for live streaming and podcasting

www.ianmasters.org -- audio archives

Well, I'm lying from the get-go as far as any bears in this diary, but believe me, there are hobbits and Christians aplenty in the newest entry in the fantasy genre by semi-noted New America Foundation fellow, Fox News contributor, Newsday columnist and former White House (Reagan & Bush Sr.) aide James P. Pinkerton. Published in the September 10, 2007 issue of The American Conservative, Pinky's "The Once & Future Christendom" is a wonderfully bizarre think-piece on using J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy series as a pro-active strategy for "protecting" Europe (or "Europa" when Pinky is soaring on wings of neo-con prose, or "The Shire" when he's hitting the pipe...) against the senses-shattering evil of Sauron, er, scratch that, the Muslimization of what Pinky fondly recalls as the "Imperium Christianum".

Really.

The title brings back memories doesn't it?

It just gets curious’er and curious’er...

We here in the progressive blogosphere already knew that despite all the fractious denials and rancorous public statements to the contrary, the Bush administration has indeed been talking clandestinely with Iran all along. Now, to what end or to whose benefit necessitated this furtive behavior, quite frankly, seems counterproductive to the administration's desired end goal regarding Iran -- whether it be war or cooperation.

Why not tell us the truth about it? Why would the administration hide diplomatic efforts with Iran when the Congress, the American people, the Iraq Study Group, and the majority of world leaders have all been pushing them to pursue this course since the beginning?

If you have any doubt that Wes Clark gets it, and haven't had a chance to listen to his Keynote address in Washington on Monday, listen/watch here:

 http://www.newamerica.net/...

to what General Clark said the Monday before Bush went before the Congress to dissemble about where this country is.

This link shows both Sidney Blumenthal's brief comment, well worth hearing and some questions taken by Steve Clemons before  General Clark speaks.

Perhaps if you take the time to listen to this you may understand why I have felt so strongly that perhaps this man is our best hope to defeat the neocons.
And to turn our country around to where we can again feel that there is hope for the future.

General Wesley K. Clark Addresses New America Foundation Audience (1/30/06) on Capitol Hill:
"The Real State of the Union 2006"

It is a privilege to be with you this afternoon to address the state of our Union, to offer an assessment, and to tell you how the our Union can be great again - For today we are into our fifth year of war abroad and threats at home, and the state of the union is not what it should be, and not what it could be..........

Listen to this 45 minute speech on C-SPAN monday night 11:45 EST  ( 8:45 Pacific Time)

Transcript - www.securingamerica.com

C-SPAN now has the complete proceedings of today's New America Foundation on "The Real State of U.S. Foreign Policy 2006" up on their website.  Just go to www.c-span.org , and click on the "All Recent Programs" link at the bottom of the page.  The link is entitled "New America Foundation on State of Foreign Policy."

When Wal-Mart's trucks break down, no one expects the government to pay to repair them.  Wal-Mart pays to fix them and the costs are included in the price of the goods they sell.

Yet moderate Democrats apparently think that when workers get sick, companies don't have the responsibility to "repair" their workers.  The new talking points from think tank Washington -- echoing what Ezra says-- is that it's not Wal-Mart's responsibility to take care of sick workers:

The controversy over Wal-Mart's benefits may mask what some experts see as an unraveling of the employer-based system of health coverage. "These are indications of the gaps in the health care system that are exposed by Wal-Mart," said Len Nichols, a health economist at the New America Foundation, an independent public policy group in Washington. "You can't blame Wal-Mart."

So it's nice to know that when we on the labor left mobilizing against Wal-Mart feel the knife in our back, we know who put it there.