President Obama, President Hosni Mubarack of Egypt, and the Arab people in the Middle East and the United States, I take great pleasure in extending my sincere support for all of your efforts to create a loving and prosperus Middle East.
If I could cook a meal for you all, as a token of my appreciation for this initiative, I would cook lamb stew with anice seeds, garlic and olive oil. I would pour this over cous cous, which I learned to cook when I was in Mirabou, Algeria. My daughter, who is dead, is Leila. I named her Leila from the story of Romeo and Juliet, which in Arabic is Leila and Magnum. Her middle name is Tassidite after her Arabic, grandmother from Algeria.
What happened to the Obama we were promised during the campaign? For those of you who have forgotten, an Obama Presidency was supposed to initiate a new direction for our country--a new embrace of the underlying principles upon which this nation was built. And after his first week in office, it seemed that he might just deliver on that promise. Since then, there has been one reversal after another. The release of the OLC memos notwithstanding, virtually every decision this administration has made after those first few days in office would have been no different had GWB still been in office. Consider three of the more recent betrayals of his stances during the campaign:
If it's not apparent to you, you're not paying attention. The republican agenda, and philosophy of most modern American conservatives, is based entirely in response to new deal democrats. Oooh they hate us sooo much. How dare we force hard working executives to give back to those free-loaders down on the line. That's why they pick the Sarah Palins when a women loses, and Michael Steele when a black man wins. And this response has created a party that is disgustingly disillusioned, and dangerous to a progressive future.
Modern conservative thought flies in the face of all established belief amongst the greatest thinkers in history, including the lord of the religion they claim to follow. Jesus, Buddha, Mohamed, and Confucius; all agree that the way to an enlightened society is to strive for something bigger than ourselves.
To believe their mindless babble a conservative must go to great lengths to justify their greed and heartlessness. Lindsay Graham hates earmarks but uses them frequently. Rush Limbaugh has been divorced twice but rails in defense of marriage's sanctity. Gay bashers are gay. And worthless bank executives foreclose on thousands of homes but coming running when the hammer's coming down on them.
They don't stand for personal responsibility. They just don't want to be responsible for YOU. They don't stand up for smaller government. They don't want government helping the poor. They think poor is by choice and they are certainly not giving up their hard-earned money to help out those bums on main street. And for all their professed patriotism, they sure do seem close to secession... again.
I fear your revolution, patriot. You revolt against the brotherhood of man. Your is a reformation against knowledge. Your cause is self-interest, and your enemy is the universal right to the pursuit of happiness.
To the conservative it is a sin for companies to sacrifice a little short term profit to provide a quality product at a decent price. That's disloyal to the shareholders. Teachers are only in it to put forth a liberal agenda. Artists create works for the money. And unions should shut up and take pay cuts when the companies going bad, but executives need us to stand up for their contracts when they run it into the ground. Oh, wait, most house republicans ended up voting to tax the contracts anyway.
The neocon transformers want us liberals to be their bogeyman. They want to scare you with stories of socialism. But we will not apologize for a literate society, a 70 year life span, a car in every garage, and highways from New York, to San Francisco, and even to Freedom, Ohio. We take pride in Universal Suffrage, and we relish in the scientific revolution. Liberal spending put a man on the moon and it will one day mine asteroids and explore deep space. And we will not back down from that.
"Dr. Kamran Mofid is a visionary activist committed to the evolutionary transformation of social, ecological and spiritual values. His is a vision of a healing world, in which justice and peace are increased – rather than diminished – by the process of globalisation." -- Common Ground
http://www.cg.org/news_list.aspx
Alma and Clifford Pearson Distinguished Speakers Series
Location: Samuelson Chapel - California Lutheran University
"Kamran Mofid is founder of the Globalization for the Common Good Initiative and co-founder/editor of the Journal of Globalization for the Common Good. Born in Tehran, Iran, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Windsor, Ontario, and his doctorate in economics from the University of Birmingham, U.K. In 2001 he received a Certificate in Education in Pastoral Studies at Plater College, Oxford..." http://www.callutheran.edu/calendar/event/1787
To listen to the lecture please click here: http://www.callutheran.edu/CLV/
"Outside ideas of right doing And wrong doing, There is a field I’ll meet you there." -- Rumi
Afghanistan joins war on terror review
"I am very, very thankful that President Obama has accepted my proposal of Afghanistan joining the strategic review of the war against terrorism in the United States," Mr Karzai said.
Kabul would send a delegation to Washington headed by Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta to take part in the reassessment, he said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25059965-12335,00.html
"In his seven years in office, Mr. Karzai has successfully presided over the transition of the Afghan state from the devastated, pre-modern institution it was under the Taliban to the deeply troubled but largely democratic one it is today. Perhaps most important for his future, Mr. Karzai has assembled a team of senior administrators whose competence and experience would be difficult for any challenger to match." New York Times, 2/7/09
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/world/asia/08karzai.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's Interview of 2/15/09 with Fareed Zakaria
Part I:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/02/15/gps.karzai.intv.pt.1.cnn?iref=videosearch
Part II:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/02/15/gps.karzai.intv.pt.2.cnn?iref=videosearch
Interveiw: Hamid Karzai, Aljazeera.net 2/14/09
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/2009213193946154689.html
"Hamid Karzai is fluent in English having gone to university in Simla, India where he received an M.A. in the International Relations and Political Science Program"
"Hamid Karzai is said to be fluent in five other languages (Pushtu, Dari, Urdu, French and Hindi) and is comfortable with the electronic media. While at university, the Soviets invaded his homeland."
"Hamid Karzai has an honor doctorate in literature, an honorary doctorate of Laws from Boston University and Georgetown."
http://www.zimbio.com/President+Hamid+Karzai/articles/388/19+Must+Know+Facts+Afghanistan+President+Hamid
Presidents’ Day Tribute,
On behalf of We the People of the United States of America, I take great pleasure in presenting this tribute of our love and appreciation for all that you have done for our country, our people, democracy , education, prosperity, happiness, freedom and justice locally, nationally, and internationally, but most importantly, for instilling in us our hopes, beliefs, and faith in the one God, Father of us all: to President Barack Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia and Sasha, and our four former living presidents and our former First Ladies, President George W. Bush, and First Lady Laura Bush, President William Jefferson Clinton, and First Lady and/or Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, President George H. W. Bush, and First Lady and/or First Mother Barbara Bush, an extremely historically unique position to be the both the wife of a president and the mother a president, President Carter, and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. God bless you and wrap His arms of favor and good health around you and all of us too.
We do not fail to love our neighbors as our self, so pray for God’s favor on all of our brothers and sisters around the world: God’s bouquet of flowers, petals in a variety of colors, just like He likes to see it.
Happy Presidents’ Day around the world and we salute our flag and our living Chiefs. You mean so much to us. We love you and trust you with our lives, our hopes, and dreams. Thank you from our hearts.
To all the presidents, their first ladies and families, who have gone to be with God, we remember them and thank them for giving us such a wonderful country.
Reading Recommendations -- Dr. Kamran Mofid, Economist:
Economists are the forgotten guilty men
