RadioActive with Steve Mitton: February 2011

Sunday, February 27, 2011

But for the Grace of God: How Abraham Lincoln Used Faith to Overcome Depression

Abraham Lincoln is a powerful mental health hero for me. Whenever I doubt that I can do anything meaningful in this life with a defective brain (and entire nervous system, actually, as well as the hormonal one), I simply pull out Joshua Wolf Shenk's classic, "Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness." Or I read the CliffsNotes version: the poignant essay, "Lincoln's Great Depression" that appeared in "The Atlantic" in October of 2005.

Every time I pick up pages from either the article or the book, I come away with new insights. This time I was intrigued by Lincoln's faith--and how he read the Book of Job when he needed redirection.

Following I have excerpted the paragraphs from The Atlantic article on Lincoln's faith, and how he used it to manage his melancholy:

Throughout his life Lincoln's response to suffering--for all the success it brought him--led to greater suffering still. When as a young man he stepped back from the brink of suicide, deciding that he must live to do some meaningful work, this sense of purpose sustained him; but it also led him into a wilderness of doubt and dismay, as he asked, with vexation, what work he would do and how he would do it. This pattern was repeated in the 1850s, when his work against the extension of slavery gave him a sense of purpose but also fueled a nagging sense of failure. Then, finally, political success led him to the White House, where he was tested as few had been before.

Gaddafi: Barakeh Obama is friend

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi considers the US president a blessing to the Muslim world. In a speech published in London-based al-Hayat newspaper on Saturday, Gaddafi praised Barack Obama, called him a "friend" and said there is no longer any dispute between his country and the US.

Speaking in the Libyan city of Sirt at an event marking the 24th anniversary of an American attack on Libya, he said, "At the time, we were the target of the American cannon, the American navy challenged us in the gulf of Sirt and attacked us all along Libya's shores. America tested Libya, and the Libyan people resisted the large country, but today, thank God, the difference is great."

He said, "Now, ruling America is a black man from our continent, an African from Arab descent, from Muslim descent, and this is something we never imagined – that from Reagan we would get to Barakeh Obama."

Dallas Target: Texas Resident Arrested on Charge of Attempted Use of Weapon of Mass Destruction

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, a citizen of Saudi Arabia and resident of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested late yesterday by FBI agents in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised explosive device (IED) and his research of potential U.S. targets.

The arrest and the criminal complaint, which was unsealed in the Northern District of Texas, were announced by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; James T. Jacks, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas; and Robert E. Casey Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Dallas Field Division.

Aldawsari is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Lubbock at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning. Aldawsari, who was lawfully admitted into the United States in 2008 on a student visa and is enrolled at South Plains College near Lubbock, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Obama recruits an army of community organizers to carry his 'movement forward for years to come'

The community organizer who became president has launched a massive pre-reelection year campaign to assemble and train an army of new community organizers to carry Obama's "movement forward for years to come."

Strengthening "our democracy" presumably has something to do with reelecting the revered leader in 2012.

However, the Organizing for America recruiting message says nothing about politics or election campaigns and strangely talks in military terms of "a grassroots program that aims to put boots on the ground and help foster a new generation of leaders -- not just to help win elections but to strengthen our democracy in communities across the country."

The same Obama campaign group was reported involved in fomenting and facilitating the ongoing Wisconsin protests against Gov. Scott Walker's budget plans.

Government Unions Have Not Benefited the Public

The protesting public school teachers with fake doctor's notes swarming the Capitol building in Madison, Wis., insist that Gov. Scott Walker is hell-bent on "union busting" in their state. Walker denies that his effort to reform public sector unions in Wisconsin is anything more than an honest attempt at balancing the state's books.

I hope the protesters are right. Public unions have been a 50-year mistake.

A crucial distinction has been lost in the debate over Walker's proposals: Government unions are not the same thing as private sector unions.

Traditional, private sector unions were born out of an often bloody adversarial relationship between labor and management. It's been said that during World War I, U.S. soldiers had better odds of surviving on the front lines than miners did in West Virginia coal mines. Mine disasters were frequent; hazardous conditions were the norm. In 1907, the Monongah mine explosion claimed the lives of 362 West Virginia miners. Day-to-day life often resembled serfdom, with management controlling vast swaths of the miners' lives. And before unionization and many New Deal-era reforms, Washington had little power to reform conditions by legislation.

Scientists warn that Earth could be "unrecognizable" by 2050

For all the talk of economic stagnation in the U.S., you could pick a worse time to live in parts of the developing world. Average worldwide income is expected triple over the next 40 years. And in developing nations that figure could jump 500 percent. The global infant mortality rate has more than halved over the past 40 years, according to the World Bank. Technological advances and economic liberalization have opened a whole new world of opportunity for billions who only decades ago would have been abandoned to extreme poverty. Then Thomas Malthus rears his ugly head, and his warnings of the dangers of population growth are like a post-historic Hydra.

As the global population surpasses 7 billion this year -- experts expect that figure will surge to 9 billion by 2050 -- and standard of living rises, natural resources continue diminish. All of this conspires to put additional pressures on a global ecosystem already buckling under the weight of human consumption. According to scientists at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the confluence of precipitous demographic and environmental factors amount to a massive ecological bubble; one that, should it burst, could lead to catastrophe.

EDITORIAL: Blind hatred of the ROTC ban

Former U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Maschek last week received an unfitting welcome at a town-hall meeting at Columbia University. The Iraq-War-veteran-turned-college-freshman was heckled, mocked and inexplicably called a “racist” during a forum convened to discuss reinstatement of ROTC on campus 43 years after the program’s expulsion. The university gave Iran‘s Islamic strongman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a warmer welcome than this young man who shed his blood to serve his country.

Mr. Maschek uses a wheelchair to get around as a result of being shot 11 times in combat. Yet Columbia‘s leftists, blinded by their anti-war fervor, refused this disabled veteran even the most basic of courtesy as they sought to prevent him from exercising his right to free speech.

During the Vietnam conflict, military-leadership training programs were booted from some campuses in protest of the war or the draft or both. After U.S. forces withdrew and the draft was repealed, anti-ROTC schools did not change their stance. They just came up with a new justification. Opposition to the program was then a protest against the military’s ban on homosexuals. As a result of the Obama administration‘s embrace of homosexual conduct in the armed forces, it appears university leftists will need to come up with a new excuse.

The inflation disaster is near

Five dollar a gallon gas will shatter the Federal Reserve's tightly constrained lid on inflation and accelerate the other half our long anticipated "double dip" recession. Gas and diesel powers America's 141 million cars, 100 million pickups and SUV's, 8.8 million heavy trucks and 6.7 million motorcycles. Oil runs our harvesters, delivers our groceries, cooks our food, heats our houses, propels our jets, fuels our M-1A1 Abrams tanks, and lubricates our bicycles. American business can only absorb a few percentage points increase in oil prices before passing on their additional distribution costs to the consumer. Already the increases in food and clothing prices have been felt at the cash register. Disposable income will inevitably drop along with consumer demand for domestic cars and trucks, imported goods from China, and destination vacations to resorts in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. Don't even ask what this means to our already sluggish unemployment numbers.

So, how close are we to $5.00 a gallon gas? This photo was shot yesterday, February 22, 2011. We may look a back at these prices as the "good old days" of inexpensive energy costs.

In June of 2008, Congressman Roy Blunt released the following information about how the House members voted on energy issues. During this time Democrats were the majority party in both the House and Senate.

Democracy Versus Liberty

It is truly disgusting for me to hear politicians, national and international talking heads and pseudo-academics praising the Middle East stirrings as democracy movements. We also hear democracy as the description of our own political system. Like the founders of our nation, I find democracy and majority rule a contemptible form of government.

You say, "Whoa, Williams, you really have to explain yourself this time!"

I'll begin by quoting our founders on democracy. James Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 10, said that in a pure democracy, "there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual." At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Virginia Gov. Edmund Randolph said, "... that in tracing these evils to their origin every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy." John Adams said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." Alexander Hamilton said, "We are now forming a Republican form of government. Real Liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy, or some other form of dictatorship."

Bat removal at McDonogh 35 hampered by 'endangered species' designation

NEW ORLEANS – Attempts to rid McDonogh 35 High School of bats that have been flying around the third floor are being hampered due to the fact that officials have been told these bats are an endangered species and can’t be exterminated.

School system officials have been trying for weeks to rid the school of the bat problem that has upset parents and students to the point that they staged a rally outside of the school last week to protest.

The third floor of the building has been closed for classes while exterminators try to get rid of the bats. Putting out poison or sprays is not an option as the bats have to be captured and relocated and released, according to school officials.

Orleans Schools Superintendent Darryl Kilbert said that 90 percent of the bats have been removed.

Monday, classes scheduled for the third floor were moved to the first floor.

Dems' Dependence on Government Workers Poses Peril

The Democratic Party’s increasing dependence on public employee unions is a serious disadvantage in the political battles of today and the years to come.

Labor has always been the backbone of the Democratic coalition, but the collapse of America’s industrial unions and the aggressive organization of well-paid government workers has caused a seismic shift in the party’s composition. The party of steelworkers and coal miners has become the party of clerks and teachers.

In the 2010 elections, the biggest outside expenditure came from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which pumped more than $87 million into races, all on behalf of Democratic candidates.

While President Obama and his party railed against the outside groups that were propping up Republican efforts, less noticed was AFSCME doing the heavy lifting for Democrats.

Democrats had certainly earned that support.

Four men slashed teacher's face and left him with fractured skull 'for teaching other religions to Muslim girls'

$Slashed: Victim Gary Smith was left with a fractured skull$

Four men launched a horrific attack on a teacher in which they slashed his face and left him with a fractured skull because they did not approve of him teaching religion to Muslim girls.

Akmol Hussein, 26, Sheikh Rashid, 27, Azad Hussain, 25, and Simon Alam, 19, attacked Gary Smith with a Stanley knife, an iron rod and a block of cement.

Mr Smith, who is head of religious education at Central Foundation Girls' School in Bow, east London, also suffered a fractured skull.

The four now face a jail sentence.

Detectives made secret recordings of the gang's plot to attack Mr Smith prior to the brutal assault.

The covert audio probe captured the gang condemning Mr Smith for 'teaching other religions to our sisters', the court heard.

The RE teacher was targeted as he made his way on foot along Burdett Road in nearby Mile End on July 12 last year, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

Capitol Chaos: Could Union Bill Be Passed Separately Tuesday?

MADISON - Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says his chamber of the Wisconsin legislature will convene to pass non-spending bills and act on appointments on Tuesday even if minority Democrats remain out of state in an effort to block a vote on Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill.

Could one of those bills be the union aspect of the budget bill, in a separate vote on Tuesday?

Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach told The Associated Press on Monday that Republicans could attempt to attach the part of the proposal taking away collective bargaining rights to an unrelated bill and pass it Tuesday.

"I told them, 'Listen, Senator Miller, we're marching forward with our business. I am setting the calendar for tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. I would expect that the Democrats will be there, but we will be taking up a resolution. We will be passing a piece of legislation, and we will also be confirming one of the governor's nominees to their cabinet position," said Republican State Senate President Scott Fitzgerald on Newsradio 620 WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Morning News."

Wisconsin reveals class war between 'have-nots' and 'have yours'

As public-sector unions protest over cuts to their taxpayer-funded benefits in Wisconsin, James Poulos offers an insight so simple and so insightful, it's been bouncing around in my head all day:

As talk turns to the 'new class war', the concept of a class defined not so much by its net worth or tax bracket as by its economic (and therefore political) dependence on government will sharpen step for step with the reality of this class, which will be hitting home in all its gruesome implications for those outside and inside it.

...

Anyone who responds to the current crisis by anointing unionized employees of the government as the epitome of 'the working man' is placing themselves, and I really do not say this lightly, at the mercy of socialism -- not just as an intellectual theory, but as an emotional promise of happiness. There has never been a viable, durable Labor Party in the US. But neither has the government class ever been so big or faced such an existential threat.

It's important to say that the concept is sharpening only now because public-sector unions have been a sleeper issue for years during which economic times were good (and there weren't as many public-sector union members). Combine these three factors:

Unions have represented more than a third of the public-sector workforce since the late 1970s;
The public sector has expanded substantially as a portion of the American economy over the last 30 years;
Union membership in the private sector has decreased sharply, going from one-in-five union membership in the private sector during the 1970s to about one-in-13 or worse.

Unions have come to rely on the public sector because government employees are easier to organize, and managers less resistent. Who's going to put up a fight over an organizing campaign with a politically active union when taxpayers are paying the bill? If the union wants nicer benefits, it's easy to cave in, tax dollars and budgets be damned. It's good for campaign coffers.

The Decline of Liberalism

AMERICAN LIBERALISM, synonymous today with big government, the exact opposite of the liberalism of Edmund Burke and other British champions of individual liberty, arose essentially from the use of the state to alleviate the most severe economic inequalities in society. In Great Britain this began in the competition between the Liberal and Conservative leaders, William Ewart Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, between 1865 and 1880, and among major European powers with the quest for an unthreatening working class with the founder and first chancellor of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck. Britain had a great battle over pensions under the chancellor of the exchequer just before the First World War, David Lloyd George.

The assassination in 1914 of the distinguished French socialist leader Jean Jaures, for advising against a headlong plunge into general war, was a grim harbinger of what was to come: ineffectual socialist pacifism that facilitated the advance of totalitarian regimes of hitherto undreamed of evil. Between the wars, in the aftermath of the hecatomb of World War I and through the Great Depression, there was a general drift to higher taxes, a more extensive social safety net, and the rise in Britain and France of democratic socialist parties to principal opposition status and a few turns at government (Ramsay MacDonald and Leon Blum).

You can lead kids to broccoli, but you can't make them eat

Anyone who has ever tried to sneak healthy food into kids' lunches knows what Chicago Public Schools is going through.

Sometimes kids openly embrace the new food. Sometimes they eat it without realizing the difference. And sometimes they refuse it altogether.

CPS has met with all three reactions this school year, when it stopped serving daily nachos, Pop-Tarts and doughnuts and introduced healthier options at breakfast and lunch. But in a sign of how challenging this transition can be for schools, district figures show that lunch sales for September through December dropped by about 5 percentage points since the previous year, or more than 20,000 lunches a day.

During visits to several CPS schools over the last few months, the Tribune heard many accounts of students throwing away their lunches. Others say they opt for "cookies and slushies" from the canteen or wait to eat until they get home. And while some kids said they still like their school meals, the vast majority used the same word to describe the food: nasty.

"If they're going to feed us healthy, they need to feed us something good that's healthy," said Mijoy Roussell, a sixth-grader at Claremont Academy who was skipping lunch in favor of a packet of candy. "This food is disgusting, which is why I'm not eating lunch."

For the 2010-11 school year, CPS and its caterer, Chartwells-Thompson, switched to menus featuring more whole-grain products, less sodium and a wider variety of vegetables. Most cereals offered have less than 10 grams of sugar per serving.

Chartwells and CPS note that these changes exceed existing U.S. Department of Agriculture meal standards, but they appear to have created negative impressions of healthy foods among many students.

"They want us to eat healthy food, but the food has no flavor," sophomore Jacob Hernandez said as he picked at unsalted rice and beans at North-Grand High School. "Last year, they had a yellow Puerto Rican rice. But this year it's all dry, and you can tell they put a lot of stuff in there, but what's the point if there is no flavor?"

US must be removed from Islamic world: Khamenei

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday called on Muslims to "remove" the US from the Islamic world.

"The main problem in the Muslim world is the presence of the United States. It is the biggest problem. We need to address that," he told a gathering of Shiite and Sunni scholars in Tehran for an international conference on Islam.

"It is necessary to remove the US from the Islamic world," the all-powerful cleric and Islamic republic's commander-in-chief said, adding that the country's arch-foe was currently weak.

Khamenei urged Muslims worldwide to preserve the "people's movement in Egypt," saying it was the duty of both the people and dignitaries of Arab nations and the entire Islamic community.

He reiterated that the Arab revolts were "Islamic" and must be consolidated.

"The enemies try to say that the popular movements in Egypt, Tunisia and other nations are un-Islamic, but certainly these popular movements are Islamic and must be consolidated," he said.

Wisconsin's Blow to Union Power

“It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.”

That wasn’t Newt Gingrich, or Ron Paul, or Ronald Reagan talking. That was George Meany -- the former president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O -- in 1955. Government unions are unremarkable today, but the labor movement once thought the idea absurd.

Public sector unions insist on laws that serve their interests -- at the expense of the common good.

The founders of the labor movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help create. Government workers, however, don’t generate profits. They merely negotiate for more tax money. When government unions strike, they strike against taxpayers. F.D.R. considered this “unthinkable and intolerable.”

Government collective bargaining means voters do not have the final say on public policy. Instead their elected representatives must negotiate spending and policy decisions with unions. That is not exactly democratic – a fact that unions once recognized.

George Meany was not alone. Up through the 1950s, unions widely agreed that collective bargaining had no place in government. But starting with Wisconsin in 1959, states began to allow collective bargaining in government. The influx of dues and members quickly changed the union movement’s tune, and collective bargaining in government is now widespread. As a result unions can now insist on laws that serve their interests – at the expense of the common good.

House blocks funding for health care law

The GOP-led House voted today to block funding to implement the nation's health care law.

The action came on several amendments to a must-pass spending bill that would pay for government operations from March through September.

Specifically, the House voted to prohibit any funds be used by the Internal Revenue Service to carry out the law's mandate that Americans buy health insurance. The individual mandate, one of the law's key tenets, has been struck down by federal courts.

The House also adopted an amendment by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., to bar the Labor and Health and Human Services Departments from spending any money for the rest of fiscal year 2011 on the health care law. Still another provision adopted today would ban the government from paying the salaries of any federal employee involved in implementing the health care law.

Guess How Many Members of Congress Claim to Have No Religious Affiliation?

If there are atheists and agnostics serving in the halls of Congress, there are none who will openly admit to it. According to the latest Pew Research survey of U.S. Senators and Representatives, no member of Congress admitted to having no religious affiliation.

The most popular religious label in Congress is Protestant, followed by Catholic:

The 112th Congress, like the U.S. public, is majority Protestant and about a quarter Catholic. Baptists and Methodists are the largest Protestant denominations in the new Congress, just as they are in the country as a whole. …

U.S. Soldiers Love the Army‘s New ’Punisher’ Smart Weapon

The United States Army is celebrating its latest technological advancement on the battlefield — the new XM25 grenade launcher or, as many soldiers have affectionately nicknamed it, “The Punisher.”

"The Punisher"

The weapon was first used last December and has since seen action in at least nine engagements, disrupting two insurgent attacks on observation posts, taking out two PKM machine gun positions and destroying four ambush sites, the Army Times reports.

One such engagement left the enemy either “so badly wounded or so freaking scared” that he dropped his weapon and ran, Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner, Program Manager for Individuals Weapons said.

Best of all, there have been no reported casualties among ground units carrying the XM25 in any of those nine engagements.

Have ‘Weapons of Mass Effect’ Been Found in San Diego? ‘Yes’

A curious interview by a local San Diego news station has some people wondering if terrorists are sneaking “weapons of mass effect” (WMEs) into the country through the sunny city’s ports. And while the idea may seem implausible, statements made by a port official, and the attempt by a public affairs official to direct his answer, appear to suggest WMEs have been found in San Diego.

While local ABC affiliate KGTV (ABC 10) was investigating San Diego port security last week, the news station interviewed Al Hallor, the assistant port director and an officer with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). During the conversation, reporter Mitch Blacher asked if Hallor’s office had ever found any WMEs in San Diego. Hallor admitted that while such devices have not been found at the port of San Diego, they have been found.

But almost immediately after giving that answer, Hallor and Blacher were interrupted by a public affairs official from CBP, forcing Hallor to try and clarify his answer. Still, the clarification was telling:

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After the interview, CBP issued a statement regarding Hallor’s answer. But the statement doesn’t clarify as much as appear to cover up, and only addresses nuclear devices:

Another view on why there is no robust job growth

The economy should be creat ing jobs.

That, anyway, is what everyone says. President Obama thinks that. And so does Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, every Wall Street economist and all the unemployed folks sitting around Starbucks logging on to Monster.com.

But jobs aren't being created -- at least not nearly enough by even the most forgiving definition of an economic recovery.

Don’t put wire on your windows – it might hurt burglars! Villagers outraged after police order them not to protect garden sheds

Residents in Surrey and Kent villages have been ordered by police to remove wire mesh from their windows as burglars could be injured.

Home owners in the villages of Tandridge and Tatsfield in Surrey and in Westerham, Brasted and Sundridge in Kent have said they are furious that they are being branded 'criminals' for protecting their property.

Locals had reinforced their windows with wire mesh after a series of shed thefts but were told by community police officers that the wire was 'dangerous' and could lead to criminals claiming compensation if they 'hurt themselves'.

'Dangerous': Police have told villagers that wire mesh protecting their windows could hurt burglars and lead to lawsuits

Surrey Police have defended the move but outraged residents have attacked the force for seemingly trying to protect criminals.

Thomas Cooper, of Tatsfield, Surrey, said he put the mesh around three of his garden sheds after two break-ins over the past four years.

He said he decided to take action after reports of a rise in shed burglaries in the area near the Kent and Surrey border.

Wyoming House Panel Backs Concealed-Carry Bill

Wyoming residents would be able to carry concealed guns without a permit under a bill that has cleared a legislative committee.

The House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee voted 8-1 Friday in favor of the bill, sponsored by Casper Republican Senator Kit Jennings. It already has cleared the Senate and now goes to the full House.

The committee amended the bill to specify that people couldn't carry concealed guns while intoxicated.

If the bill becomes law, Wyoming would join Alaska, Arizona and Vermont as states that don't require citizens to have permits to carry concealed weapons.

Obama, Now -- and Then

There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments. This is one of those times. The people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard, and Egypt will never be the same.

I inherited this mess.

I'm sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt can find the answers, and do so peacefully, constructively, and in the spirit of unity that has defined these last few weeks. For Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day.

We're going to punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends.

The military has served patriotically and responsibly as a caretaker to the state and will now have to ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.

You would think they would be saying thank you.

Above all, this transition must bring all of Egypt's voices to the table. For the spirit of peaceful protest and perseverance that the Egyptian people have shown can serve as a powerful wind at the back of this change.

I won. So, I think on that one, I trump you.

Associated Press photographs DECAMPING: Egyptian soldiers Sunday take down tents used by demonstrators in Tahrir Square in Cairo. It was part of an effort to restore normalcy to the Egyptian capital after more than two weeks of demonstrations that culminated in the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

CAIRO | The Egyptian military dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution Sunday, saying it would rule the country for six months or until elections can be held, according to a statement read on state television.

The moves meet two of the key demands of protesters who had vowed Saturday to remain in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 18-day uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, until all of their demands were met.

Egypt's Cabinet, appointed by Mr. Mubarak, will remain in place, according to a statement by the Cabinet on Sunday.

DECKER: Obama’s fake Christianity?

President Obama‘s coddling of Islam has many Americans questioning his national-security judgment, if not his intentions. In his administration’s muddled response to the crisis in Egypt, one clear message came from all the president’s men: A new government in Cairo “has to include a whole host of important nonsecular actors,” as stated by White House spokesman Robert L. Gibbs. The hitch is that in the Middle East, nonsecular means radical Islamist, like the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, in the middle of this global clash of civilizations, Mr. Obama‘s own religious disposition is being questioned – and not from the right, but the left.

On his HBO show “Real Time” on Friday, host Bill Maher said of Mr. Obama, “I think he’s a centrist the way he’s a Christian – not really. … His mother was a secular humanist and I think he is.” When Princeton University professor Cornel West challenged Mr. Maher‘s point about Mr. Obama‘s religion, saying, “He changed his mind on the God question, brother Bill,” the comic retorted, “It’s like when he says ‘I struggle with gay marriage’ – you don’t struggle with gay marriage, you’re fine with gay marriage.” Another guest – who insisted Mr. Obama has “always been pretty centrist” – helpfully reminded that Mr. Obama “did go to church before he was a candidate for the presidency.” That church, of course, was presided over by the racist, anti-American, hate-spewing Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Comfort food: Sometimes only mac and cheese will do

It's not every day that macaroni and cheese makes news.

Oprah Winfrey told talk-show host Piers Morgan recently that after her movie Beloved tanked in 1998, she binged on 30 pounds of mac and cheese. Our good twin knows that wasn't healthy, but our bad twin totally understands. Somehow, we just aren't wired to handle disappointment with an apple and carrot sticks.

Mac and cheese also was in the news when a homeless Ohio man, found to have a golden radio voice, was hired to record a Kraft TV commercial about its home-style creamy noodles. The instant fame (Today, Dr. Phil, viral YouTube video) took its toll and Ted Williams ended up in rehab, where something comforting was surely needed.

And just-released federal guidelines, intended to make school lunches healthier, have people talking about retooling the childhood staple with whole-wheat pasta and a serious reduction in fat.

Obama's Social Security number goes to court

An attorney who has aggressively pursued the release of President Obama's Hawaii long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate filed a complaint in federal court yesterday to force the release of Obama's Social Security files.

"I'm not asking for Obama's Social Security number," Attorney Orly Taitz told WND, acknowledging that the Social Security Administration will not release the number of a living person. "I want related information, including information about deceased individuals that will help us prove whether or not Obama has committed Social Security fraud."

Taitz filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to force the Social Security Administration to respond to her Freedom of Information Act request seeking information on Obama's Social Security number.

At the heart of Taitz's complaint to the court is the suspicion that Obama has engaged in Social Security fraud by using a number initially issued to another person.

Taitz contends the Social Security number Obama has used the most often since around 1980 was, according to Lexis Nexis and Choice Point, initially assigned to an elderly individual born in 1890 who resided in Connecticut.

MICHAEL GOODWIN: Egypt Protests Prove That It's Amateur Hour at the Obama White House

In her 2008 race against Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton famously used a ringing red telephone to question Obama's national-security chops. "It's 3 a.m.," a narrator warned over video of a sleeping child. "Who do you want to answer the phone?"

We now know neither Obama nor Clinton was ready for the call from Egypt. Whatever the clock says, it's still amateur hour in this White House.

From the moment the demonstrations started 12 days ago, the foreign-policy team stumbled. Secretary of State Clinton said Hosni Mubarak's regime was "stable," and Vice President Joe Biden said Mubarak wasn't a dictator and shouldn't resign.

As the ranks of marchers swelled, Obama's instincts took him in the opposite direction. He quickly tried to push Mubarak out, first behind the scenes, then more publicly.

A measure of uncertainty in the face of the historic uprising is understandable, but American leaders have been serially certain. They have wholeheartedly embraced ever-shifting simplistic views, none of which fully reflects the obvious dangers ahead and the fallout from dumping an ally of 30 years.

It's almost like Super Bowl rooting. Packers or Steelers? Mubarak or demonstrators?

Undermining Allies

While everyone's attention seems to be focused on the crisis in Egypt, a bombshell revelation about the administration's foreign policy in Europe has largely gone unnoticed.

The British newspaper The Telegraph has reported that part of the price which President Obama paid to get Russia to sign the START treaty, limiting nuclear arms, was revealing to the Russians the hitherto secret size of the British nuclear arsenal. This information came from the latest WikiLeaks documents.

To betray vital military secrets of this country's oldest, most steadfast and most powerful ally, behind the back of the British government, is something that should set off alarm bells. Following in the wake of earlier betrayals of prior American commitments to put a nuclear shield in Eastern Europe, and the undermining of Israel and calculated insults to its prime minister, this pattern raises serious, and perhaps almost unthinkable, questions about the Obama administration's foreign policy.

When States Go Bust

It’s a solution of apparent Alexandrian elegance and simplicity: Empower America’s cash-strapped states to slice cleanly through a strangling knot of debilitating debt and government union cronyism by letting them file for bankruptcy. Long-term liabilities could be restructured, unaffordable labor contracts rewritten, fiscal health restored. No federal bailouts necessary.

This intriguing idea quickened last November when former House speaker Newt Gingrich gave it an animating shoutout during a speech at a Dallas think tank. That was followed by a detailed explanation in this magazine by David Skeel, a corporate law professor and bankruptcy expert at the University of Pennsylvania (“Give States a Way to Go Bankrupt,” November 29, 2010). As conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill began cooking up legislation to change the federal bankruptcy code, the concept exploded across the Internet—not to mention in Wall Street research departments.

Are Health-Care Waivers Unconstitutional?

The president cannot simply decide who does and does not have to follow the law.

The constitutional dispute over the health-care law has thus far centered on the lawfulness of the statute itself — most dramatically when, last week in Florida, a federal judge held the act to be void. Waiting in the wings, however, is another constitutional question, one concerning not the statute, but waivers from it.

The Department of Health and Human Services has granted 733 waivers from one of the statute’s key requirements. The recipients of the waivers include insurers such as Oxford Health Insurance, labor organizations such as the Service Employees International Union, and employers such as PepsiCo. This is disturbing for many reasons. At the very least, it suggests the impracticability of the health-care law; HHS gave the waivers because it fears the law will cost many Americans their jobs and insurance.

'I Didn't Raise Taxes Once'

Bill O'Reilly's Fox interview with President Obama on Sunday was fascinating, and not merely because Mr. Obama made clear he's an ardent fan of these pages. What really caught our attention was the President's claim that "I didn't raise taxes once. I lowered taxes over the last two years."

The Presidency is demanding, and with the Egypt mess and his other duties, perhaps Mr. Obama has forgotten some of his tax achievements. Allow us to refresh his memory. In his historic health-care bill, for example, there is the new $27 billion "fee" on drug companies that is already in effect. Next year, device manufacturers will get hit to the tune of $20 billion, and heath insurers will pay $60 billion starting in 2014—all of which are de facto tax increases because these collections will be passed on to consumers as higher costs. Of course, these are merely tax increases on business.

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As for tax increases on individuals, perhaps he forgot the health-care bill's new 0.9 percentage point increase in the Medicare payroll tax for families making over $250,000 and singles over $200,000. That tax increase takes effect in 2013, as will the application of what will be a 3.8% Medicare surtax (up from 2.9% today) to "unearned income" for the first time. This is a tax hike on investment and interest income, which will reduce the incentive to save and invest.

Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

HOUSEHOLD DATA
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

[Percent]

Measure Not seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted Jan.
2010 Dec.
2010 Jan.
2011 Jan.
2010 Sept.
2010 Oct.
2010 Nov.
2010 Dec.
2010 Jan.
2011

U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force

5.9 5.4 5.6 5.8 5.5 5.7 5.7 5.6 5.5

U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force

6.9 5.9 6.2 6.1 6.0 5.9 6.2 5.8 5.6

U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate)

10.6 9.1 9.8 9.7 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.4 9.0

U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers

11.2 9.9 10.4 10.3 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.2 9.6

U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force

12.0 10.7 11.4 11.1 11.0 11.2 11.2 10.9 10.7

U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force

18.0 16.6 17.3 16.5 17.1 17.0 17.0 16.7 16.1

NOTE: Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

SOURCE

A Liberal's Guide to Happiness in America

As a practicing liberal, I require four basic requirements to be met in order to improve the quality of my life and promote my general happiness. I can never be satisfied unless these conditions are met, therefore it is the responsibility of all Americans to meet these requirements, thereby ensuring my happiness, as is my right.

First and foremost you must provide for my general welfare:

It is the responsibility of people throughout this nation of wealth to provide for my needs. My needs are free housing, food or the equivalent thereof in cash, free health care, transportation, child care, entertainment (satellite or Direct TV), and some form of retirement package that is acceptable to me. It is your duty to see to it that I and my extended family are cared for from cradle to grave. You must accept the fact that it is unreasonable for you to expect me to alter my behavior in any way, and to demand change on my part is nothing more than hate speech and should not be tolerated in a free country. Additionally, you are no longer allowed to criticize or condemn my behavior in any way, shape, manner, or form. My behavior is the direct result of your success, thus, it is your fault that I'm the way I am. If you don't feel guilt, you must be one of the capitalistic elitists hoping for the demise of all the poor and down trodden.

Soaring Oil Price Threatens U.S. Economy

In recent weeks, the price of oil has climbed above $90 per barrel. As chaos spreads through the Arab world, we could soon see much worse. With these facts in mind, it is essential that U.S. policymakers act to protect the U.S. economy from this ever-worsening trend.

The likely impact of a new oil price rise is shown in the graph below, which compares oil prices (adjusted for inflation to 2010 dollars) to the U.S. unemployment rate from 1970 to the present. It can be seen that every oil price hike for the past four decades, including those in 1973, 1979, 1991, 2001, and 2008, was followed shortly afterwards by a dramatic rise in American unemployment.

The distress to American workers caused by such events is manifest, but the economic harm goes far beyond the impact on the unemployed themselves. A sustained oil price of $90 per barrel will add $480 billion to the U.S. balance of trade deficit. Furthermore, there is a direct and well-established relationship between unemployment rates and rates of mortgage defaults.

Simpson: Leaving Entitlements on Auto Pilot Will Crush the U.S. Economy

President Obama's calls for a five-year freeze on discretionary spending, as well as Republican demands to turn back the budget clock to 2008 spending, will save "peanuts" and do nothing to turn around the country's "sacrosanct" entitlement culture, one head of the president's deficit commission said Sunday.

Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, who was appointed by Obama along with former Bill Clinton chief of staff Erskine Bowles to lead the president's panel for reducing the nation's debt, said leaving Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on auto pilot will crush the U.S. economy.

"I'm waiting for the politician to get up and say, there's only one way to do this, you dig into the big four, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and defense. And anybody giving you anything different than that, you want to walk out the door, stick your finger down your throat and give them the green weenie," Simpson said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Yes, They’re Overpaid

"Scapegoating,” claimed the American Federation of Government Employees. “Punishment,” said the Federal Managers Association. “Transparently cynical,” declared Paul Krugman. President Obama’s late November announcement of a two-year pay freeze for federal workers has been poorly received by unions and left-wing activists, who see it as the end result of a year-long campaign to reduce federal salaries. Taxpayers should hope it is just the beginning. Fundamental reform of federal pay would save tens of billions of dollars annually, and it would be a strong indication that lawmakers are serious about reducing long-term deficits in all parts of the budget.

Unfortunately, the debate over federal pay has been fraught with extreme claims. Some politicians have accused federal workers of making double what they deserve, while government unions maintain they are underpaid by around 25 percent. The rhetorical back and forth has largely hidden a substantial academic literature, dating back to the 1970s, that compares the pay of federal and private workers. Economists have addressed the issue with a variety of techniques and from a number of different angles. Over the past year, we have worked to update their results with the most recent data, and our conclusions have been the same as theirs: Federal employees do receive a substantial wage premium by comparison with similar private workers.

Ft. Hood's victims: sacrificed for PC

Let's start by stating the most obvious conclusion to be drawn from the re cent report by Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins concerning the Fort Hood massacre: Unless we expunge it from our national discourse, political correctness gets Americans killed.

On Nov. 5, 2009, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an American citizen, a radicalized Muslim, a psychiatrist and, in the words of the report, "a ticking time bomb," shot up a soldier readiness center on America's largest active-duty Army base, killing 12 military personnel and one civilian, and wounding 32 others. It was a direct assault on the armed forces of the United States by a self-proclaimed "Soldier of Allah" (written on his business cards) who shouted the Muslim incantation Allahu akbar before opening fire.

Lieberman: Zeroes in on Army's blindness to Hasan's radicalism.

It's hard to imagine a clearer example of the asymmetrical warfare a free and welcoming country fights against cowardly opponents who refuse to abide by the laws of war, but there it was.

In any other war, someone like Maj. Hasan would never have gotten close to the Army, never have been handled with kid gloves, and never been promoted.

What was the Army thinking? That if we could just get our enemies to like us, all this unpleasantness will soon be over?

America bent over backward after 9/11 to assure Muslims that we weren't at war with Islam. Our country offered the hand of friendship to people like Maj. Hasan -- ignoring his radicalism, his praise of suicide bombers, his sympathy for Osama bin Laden and his belief that his religion, as the report notes, "took precedence over the US Constitution he swore to support and defend as a US military officer . . . Hasan's statements about the primacy of religious law occurred as he was supporting a violent extremist interpretation of Islam and suggesting that this radical ideology justified opposition to US policy and could lead to fratricide in the ranks."

He certainly was right about that.

Did anybody, from the fruit-salad brass to our crack intelligence services, do anything about it? Of course not.

http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20110202&t=2&i=326107162&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=2011-02-02T192753Z_01_BTRE7111CVA00_RTROPTP_0_EGYPT-USA

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6 Historical Reasons Why The Muslim Brotherhood Must Not Be Allowed Into Power In Egypt

With the recent events in Egypt, there has been a lot of talk about the Muslim Brotherhood. I have to admit, I never knew much about the Muslim Brotherhood until last week. I had read a little about their actions in the past and assumed that they were an old, defunct organization whose members had funneled off into other organizations. My assumptions were wrong.

The Muslim Brotherhood is alive and well, and not just in the Middle East. They are a worldwide network of Islamic extremists with one overriding goal: the adoption of Islam and Sharia law throughout the world, and they have a history of violently attempting to achieve that aim.

Formed in 1928 in Egypt by a young, idealistic school teacher and activist named Hasan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood began as a fundamentalist Islamic group, basically a militant religious revival. Their statement of faith couldn’t be more clearly laid out:

God is our objective, the Koran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle is our way, and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations.

The Muslim Brotherhood has, from its outset, advocated an armed, violent struggle in order to win the world for Allah and Islam.

Game over: Barack Obama has endorsed a role for the Muslim Brotherhood in a new, post-Mubarak government for Egypt.

This should come as no surprise. Obama has behaved consistently all along, from his refusal to back the protesters in Iran, who were demonstrating against an Islamic Republic, to his backing of these protesters in Egypt, to whom he has just given a green light to establish a government that, given numerous historical precedents, will likely be the precursor to an Islamic Republic.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday that a post-Mubarak Egyptian ruling group “has to include a whole host of important nonsecular actors that give Egypt a strong chance to continue to be [a] stable and reliable partner.”

Valerie Jarrett to uniformed general: More wine, garçon!

In Washington, bigwigs can misspeak and misstep a million times without drawing attention. And then there are the seemingly harmless moments that stick to a person like super glue: Joe Wilson barking “You lie!”; Jesse Jackson mumbling into a hot mic that he wants to castrate Barack Obama; Dan Quayle trying to spell things.

Like coal crushed into diamonds by the pressure of a million eyeballs, such moments are forever.

During an exclusive dinner hosted Monday by the Alfalfa Club, Obama adviser Valerie Jarret had just such a moment. And were it not for an irritated tipster, Jarret might have walked away from the dinner unblemished.

According to our tipster, Jarrett was seated at the head table along with several other big-name politicians and a handful of high-ranking military officials. As an officer sporting several stars walked past Jarrett, she signaled for his attention and said, “I’d like another glass of wine.”

Garçon!

The Nuts and Bolts of the ObamaCare Ruling

For months, progressives smugly labeled the legal challenges to ObamaCare as "silly" or even "frivolous." Today their confidence must be severely shaken.

Late Monday afternoon in Pensacola, Fla., U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson delivered the second major judgment that the centerpiece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—the "individual mandate" that forces Americans to buy health insurance whether or not they want it—is unconstitutional.

In December, District Court Judge Henry Hudson ruled against the mandate in a separate lawsuit brought by the state of Virginia. But Judge Vinson's sweeping and powerfully reasoned decision this week went much further, striking down the entire health-reform law on the grounds that the individual mandate was not severable from the rest of the statute. And the plaintiffs in Judge Vinson's courtroom included the attorneys general of 26 states, not just one. His opinion thus casts a dark shadow over ObamaCare until the Supreme Court issues a final ruling on the matter.

What Independents Want

If the House were composed solely of independents, it would pass the same conservative legislation as Republicans on Obamacare, the individual mandate, purchasing health insurance across state lines, spending, offshore oil drilling, and Social Security reform.

That’s the finding of Resurgent Republic, a Republican polling outfit that applied the views of independents to the House. For instance, 63 percent of independents opposed the mandate to buy health insurance in Resurgent Republic polling. That translated into 276 House seats, a solid majority.

The views of independents are crucial because they represent the nation’s critical bloc of swing voters. Their switch away from Democrats in 2010 produced a Republican landslide. Independents overwhelmingly voted for President Obama in 2008 and Democratic congressional candidates in 2006 and 2008.

The Resurgent Republic analysis found that independents favored conservative policies on 37 of 40 major issues. Only on three education issues – teacher certification, aid to private schools, and merit pay – were independents in the liberal camp, though the polling was mixed on merit pay. The most recent Resurgent Republic poll found them siding narrowly with conservatives on basing teacher pay partly on student performance.

Does Egypt Miss Dubya? Misunderestimating Democracy’s Appeal

When Barack Obama first ran for the White House, a key argument he made was that he could “heal” America’s battered image in the eyes of the world, especially with Arabs, in the wake of the occupation of Iraq and other Bush administration policies. In June 2009, he gave a much ballyhooed speech in Cairo that the White House dubbed a “new beginning.”

Despite this new beginning, the administration has been largely on the sidelines during the tumult in Egypt, little able to affect or even stay ahead of the events. One reason may be that the U.S. is actually less popular in Egypt today than it was during the Bush years.

According to Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, the U.S. had a 30% favorability rating in Egypt in 2006. That is not much to be proud of, but by 2010 it had sunk to a mere 17%. (Pollster Nate Silver has argued that polls show a recent rise in pro-U.S. feelings in Egypt, but the methodology of that data has been questioned.)

One possible explanation for this decline has been the White House’s virtual abandonment of the previous administration’s policy of promoting democracy in the region. Obama touted the virtues of democracy a bit in his Cairo speech but generally pulled back:

I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: No system of government can or should be imposed by one nation by any other.

That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone.

Jon Huntsman leaving administration soon

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the charismatic former Republican governor of Utah who appeared to put his presidential ambitions on hold when he became President Obama's ambassador to China, abruptly resigned his post Monday and appears likely to take a shot at ousting his boss.

Huntsman will leave Beijing on April 30, giving the administration just three months to fill a crucial diplomatic post and adding further intrigue to a crowded field of Republican presidential aspirants.

White House officials said they were miffed about Huntsman's shift and said late Monday that they doubt he could make a successful run at the presidency. The ambassador spent time during Chinese President Hu Jintao's recent visit with Obama, but gave them no indications that he was planning a possible run.

Huntsman's appointment had been widely praised, both for his expertise on China and foreign policy but also as a shrewd political move. Obama's top advisers had long viewed him as a potentially potent challenger in 2012, and sending him to Beijing seemed to successfully avoid that possibility. Moreover, it was a coup for a president looking to show a bipartisan side.

5 Reasons Liberals Aren't As Happy as Conservatives

Did you know liberals aren't as happy as conservatives? Of course, you did. How could you not know it after listening to them incessantly wail, gripe, whine, and complain about everything? But, let's bring....drumroll, please -- the science! First, here's the Pew Research comparison between Republicans and Democrats:

The survey, released this week, points out several disparities based on lifestyle, beliefs and political persuasion:
* Republicans are happier than Democrats.

* People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't.

* The rich are happier than the poor.

* Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks.

* Married people are happier than the unmarried...

Muslim Brotherhood: ‘Prepare Egyptians for war with Israel'

A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel, according to the Hebrew-language business newspaper Calcalist.

Muhammad Ghannem reportedly told Al- Alam that the Suez Canal should be closed immediately, and that the flow of gas from Egypt to Israel should cease “in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime.” He added that “the people should be prepared for war against Israel,” saying the world should understand that “the Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime.”

Ghannem praised Egyptian soldiers deployed by President Hosni Mubarak to Egyptian cities, saying they “would not kill their brothers.” He added that Washington was forced to abandon plans to help Mubarak stay in power after “seeing millions head for the streets.”

In the Sikh tradition, the kirpan represents a commitment to fight evil. The dagger is a religious symbol that baptized Sikh males are expected to carry (MyFoxDetroit.com).

A Detroit-area district says it's allowing Sikh students to wear a small, religious dagger to school, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.

The decision by the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools reverses a ban put in place in December after a fourth-grader at a Canton Township elementary school was found with a dull, 3- to 5-inch kirpan.

The kirpan represents a commitment to fight evil in the Sikh tradition. The dagger is a religious symbol that baptized Sikh males are expected to carry.

The principal initially let the boy keep the kirpan, but the school board instituted a ban because of parental concerns and conflicts with the district's rules against bringing weapons to school.

The Detroit Free Press and WXYZ-TV report that under the new guidelines, kirpans meeting certain criteria will be allowed for Sikh students.

Queer Ecology @ The MLA

A panel on “Queer Ecology” was featured at the 2011 Annual Convention of the Modern Language Association (MLA). Four panelists provided their insights on the relationship between “queers” and the environment, coming to sometimes contradictory conclusions.

In her lecture “Green Angels in America: Aesthetics of Equity,” Katie J. Hogan of Carlow University argued for “environmental justice,” and used as her vehicle the controversial play Angels in America.

Hogan argued that Angels in America is a “contribution to this queer environmental effort” because it “links beauty, environment, and social justice” with an “esthetic of equity.” She argued that “minorities have the right to appreciate the esthetic of their environment” even if others consider that environment to be “blight.” Hogan discussed her assumption that queers and other minorities mostly live in urban environments, where the urban environment is often limited to things like weeds that grow up between sidewalk cracks. Hogan argued that the oppressive majority “condemns urban environments as blight” instead of looking at them as “spaces of opportunity.”

Hogan argued that nature is a “vehicle for escape,” going on to state that “the queering of nature offers complex nature-based resistance that transcends” white culture.

Egypt revolt is 'step towards Islamic Middle East'

Iran said on Tuesday the uprising in Egypt will help create an Islamic Middle East but accused US officials of interfering in the "freedom seeking" movement which has rocked the Arab nation.

"With the knowledge that I have of the great revolutionary and history making people of Egypt, I am sure they will play their role in creating an Islamic Middle East for all freedom, justice and independence seekers," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying on state television's website.

Salehi, who was officially endorsed by the Iranian parliament on Sunday as foreign minister, said the uprising in Egypt "showed the need for a change in the region and the end of unpopular regimes."

"The people of Tunisia and Egypt prove that the time of controlling regimes by world arrogance (the West) has ended and people are trying to have their own self-determination," said Salehi, who also currently oversees Iran's controversial nuclear programme.

Forget about President Obama's State of the Union Address, writes Ray Villard, news director for the Hubble Space Telescope, America's real "Sputnik moment" should be attempting to deflect an asteroid currently hurtling toward Earth.

Earlier this year, Russian scientist Leonid Sokolov of St. Petersburg State University announced his calculations that the asteroid Apophis will pass within 18,000 miles of Earth, close enough to knock geosynchronous satellites out of the sky.

Villard warns, however, that when Apophis comes screaming by on Easter Sunday, April 13, 2036, there's no guarantee it won't stray from course and strike the planet.

"The bottom line is that asteroids are featherweight objects compared to other solar systems bodies. Gravitational forces and even the pressure of sunlight can shove them around," Villard writes in an article for Discovery News. "There are so many dynamical uncertainties affecting asteroid trajectories that Apophis will haunt us right up to 2036, and well beyond."

Uncle Sam in the driver's seat

Disregard Barack Obama's rhetorical cotton candy about aspiring to be transformative. He is just another practitioner of reactionary liberalism and champion of a government unchastened by its multiplying failures.

The word "entitlements" was absent from his nearly 7,000-word State of the Union address - a $183 million speech that meandered for 61 minutes as the nation's debt grew $3 million a minute. He exhorted listeners to "win the future" by remembering the past.

On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, in the Utah Territory, a golden spike was driven to celebrate the joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. In the 1960s, the United States sent men to the moon. Obama said: Today's government should take more control of the nation's resources so it can do innovative things akin to building the transcontinental railroad and exploring space.

Egypt protests show George W. Bush was right about freedom in the Arab world

For decades, the Arab states have seemed exceptions to the laws of politics and human nature. While liberty expanded in many parts of the globe, these nations were left behind, their "freedom deficit" signaling the political underdevelopment that accompanied many other economic and social maladies. In November 2003, President George W. Bush laid out this question:

"Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty? Are millions of men and women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism? Are they alone never to know freedom and never even to have a choice in the matter?"

The massive and violent demonstrations underway in Egypt, the smaller ones in Jordan and Yemen, and the recent revolt in Tunisia that inspired those events, have affirmed that the answer is no and are exploding, once and for all, the myth of Arab exceptionalism. Arab nations, too, yearn to throw off the secret police, to read a newspaper that the Ministry of Information has not censored and to vote in free elections. The Arab world may not be swept with a broad wave of revolts now, but neither will it soon forget this moment.