 MSNBC.com |
WASHINGTON – With its pomp and glitter, a White House state dinner is a symbol as much as a meal — social evidence of the central leadership role that America plays in world affairs.
But as President Barack Obama prepares to host his first such dinner — for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — I have a nagging sense that all of that grandeur has become a little deceiving.
I’m not sure the rest of the world sees the White House as “the place to be” any more. And that will have unsettling consequences for all of us.
Obama’s role as the elegant, path-breaking, intercultural celebrity is not enough to reverse a steady erosion of our global dominance — especially not if he’s seen merely as a new hood ornament on an economic clunker.
My concern is merely anecdotal. But I have been collecting anecdotal evidence for decades. It’s what I do for a living.
I was in London and Paris last week while Obama was making his first trip to Asia. I kept paging through the local papers for stories about the trip. They were only few — almost none. He was all but invisible, except when bowing deeply to the emperor of Japan. There weren’t many stories about the United States, either.
In the business world of London, the talk last week was all about the money pouring into China, India, and Brazil, and to a lesser extent, Russia.
The cash under discussion wasn’t from American investors, but rather Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and Europe — and even trickles from one BRIC to another.
Every fund manager who was living in or passing through London bragged about just having been to — or about to leave for — China.
I never thought the glitter of Regent Street could match Manhattan, but it does.
In Paris, the headlines and the political talk I heard and read did not focus on our president or our prospects, but on the selection of a new — and no longer merely symbolic — leader for a United Europe. Europeans were talking to each other directly; Americans were not, as far as I could tell, very much a part of the conversation.
Even in matters of science and technology, I saw cause for concern. Europe is now pressing ahead successfully with its CERN supercollider, the largest experiment in the history of physics. The open-source management of the project is itself something new — and, like the World Wide Web, a non-U.S. invention.
Now, I know that one can never — should never — sell the U.S. short. Our economy, as inequitable and capricious as it is, remains the largest if not the strongest of them all. And our military, over-extended as it is, is the only one that can keep peace on the planet.
I’m not a “declinist.” I have faith in our special destiny and re-generative powers. And the U.K. and Europe have their own fiscal problems — it still isn’t clear whether the BRICs can contain the explosion they’ve unleashed.
Still, my trip made me ask two questions: why and so what?
After rivers of cash poured into the U.S., a “flight to safety” induced — ironically, thanks to our own profligacy. Now the world’s trillions are being shipped elsewhere in search of better returns. And the hoard is no longer being counted solely in dollars.
Much of that money is piled up in China and the Gulf — two places where business is increasingly being done without Wall Street as the middle man.
For one thing, it’s more efficient. For another, there are fewer cultural and security concerns.
When Osama Bin Laden attacked New York City, he meant to assault the central switching station for capital assets and direct them elsewhere.
To some extent, it has worked. In London I met Arab and Muslim moneymen who left the U.S. after 9/11 — and have not been back. “The security is just too much of a hassle,” said one Dubai-based investor. “It’s not worth it.”
And now New York — the erstwhile center of the financial action — is about to become paralyzed by the emotions of reliving Sept. 11 by the courtroom ravings of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
Washington may not prove to be an attractive a place for investors, either. We’re busy here trying to figure out how to deal with a national debt of $12 trillion — which could double in a decade.
Other countries are just as heavily leveraged as we are — or even more so — including the UK and Japan. But they don’t have the world’s reserve currency, or our colossal global military commitments.
Meanwhile, the growth rate in the BRICs for the most part re-mains strong. You can’t overstate smart money’s obsession with China even as our own global brand has been damaged.
Right now, we seem to be known abroad primarily for war, debt and dirt in the air — and not as the beacon and example of humanity at its best. The wars and borrowing of the Bush administration are a good part of the reason why — and it’s a grim reality Obama confronts every day.
And so what?
The “so what” is about the American standard of living, but, more importantly, the standard of thinking. We are built on faith in the future. Our narrative has always been upward and outward.
So now, we may have to turn inward for a while, and turn the microscope on ourselves. How do we renew and restore ourselves?
Maybe the prime minister of India has some ideas.
So much to look forward to from the dude who brought you, “Change you can believe in.” So how’s that “change” working for you now?
This is what happens when Americans pick Presidents like their “American Idol” winners!
AMERICAN THINKER
August 31, 2009
Dr. Geoffrey P. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist. He has had nearly 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of youth studies, and drug and alcohol research. Currently Dr. Hunt is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis and the Principal Investigator on three National Institutes on Health projects
Monti Says: Don’t you just love what lawyers do for a living?
Associated Press
November 23, 2009
By KAREN MATTHEWS
NEW YORK — The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said.
Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said Sunday the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but “would explain what happened and why they did it.”
The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.
Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, is a nephew of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain “their assessment of American foreign policy,” Fenstermaker said.
“Their assessment is negative,” he said.
Fenstermaker met with Ali last week at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He has not spoken with the others but said the men have discussed the trial among themselves.
Fenstermaker was first quoted in The New York Times in Sunday’s editions.
Critics of Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try the men in a New York City civilian courthouse have warned that the trial would provide the defendants with a propaganda platform.
Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said Sunday that while the men may attempt to use the trial to express their views, “we have full confidence in the ability of the courts and in particular the federal judge who may preside over the trial to ensure that the proceeding is conducted appropriately and with minimal disruption, as federal courts have done in the past.”
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Holder for hours about his decision to send the five 9/11 suspects to New York for trial.
Critics of Holder’s decision — mostly Republicans — argued the trial will give Mohammed and his co-defendants a world stage to spout hateful rhetoric. Holder said such concerns are misplaced, and any pronouncements by the suspects would only make them look worse.
“I have every confidence that the nation and the world will see him for the coward that he is,” Holder told the committee. “I’m not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say at trial — and no one else needs to be, either.”
The attorney general said he does not believe holding the trial in New York — at a federal courthouse that has seen a number of high-profile terrorism trials in recent decades — will increase the risk of terror attacks there.
Washington, D.C. (November 17, 2009) — Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matthew Brooks commented today on a post-election poll done by McLaughlin & Associates in New Jersey on November 3 and 4, 2009:
“Recently released post-election poll results from New Jersey show that Republican Chris Christie won 38% of the Jewish vote this year in his run for governor. We are pleased by Christie’s strong showing in the Jewish community in a very close race. [Click here to download a memo of the poll results.]
“The Jewish community was a key battleground in this election, with both Republicans and the Democrats actively campaigning for Jewish support. In past elections, when a New Jersey gubernatorial race was close, the Jewish community made an important difference. This year, as in 1993 and 1997, it is clear that the strong Jewish turnout for Chris Christie helped put the Republican candidate over the top.
“We believe that the 2009 election in New Jersey was not just a referendum on the job Jon Corzine has done as governor, but also on the larger national question of whether voters approve of the policies of President Obama and the Democratic Congress. There is a definite sense of ‘buyers’ remorse,’ especially among independents, about the higher taxes, higher deficits, and higher spending that Obama and Corzine represent.
“New Jersey is a state in serious economic crisis. Given the choice for four more years of Corzine/Obama policies, a large segment of the Jewish community voted for Republican Chris Christie and real change.”
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Click to download the pdf version.
An idea whose time is way past due, America…. Congressional TERM LIMITS! Read carefully, our future is at stake: http://termlimits.com/why
Take the PC test: Nidal Hasan, victim or terrorist? If you say, “terrorist” you just failed the PC test. So fail the damn test and listen to brave American patriot Brigitte Gabriel rightfully blast political correctness:
ACT! FOR AMERICA
Did you know that, from November 5th to November 10th, 85% of the news stories about the Ft. Hood attack produced by ABC, CBS and NBC did not mention the words “terror” or “terrorist”?
Did you know that investigators found personal business cards belonging to Nidal Hasan that had the initials “S.O.A” — “Soldier of Allah”?
Only now are more and more news reports and commentators acknowledging, some very grudgingly, that Hasan was a jihadist. There simply is too much evidence to ignore — even for the most stubborn politically correct apologists for radical Islam.
Brigitte Gabriel has, of course, been following the Ft. Hood terrorist attack very closely, conducting numerous interviews since it happened.
Today she gives her take on how this happened, why it could have been prevented, and what this means for the future.
Click here, or the image below, to watch this very important message from Brigitte Gabriel. Then forward this email to everyone you know so we can take Brigitte’s message viral!
And if you haven’t yet signed our petition calling for a government investigation of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, click here to do so today. As of Friday morning, November 13th, nearly 19,000 people have added their names to this petition. How about you?
Monti Says: Another correct Monti prediction! I’m getting good at this.
New York Post
November 5, 2009
By GEORGE A. KING III
Baseball’s penthouse is again decorated with hand-painted silk Yankees pinstripe wallpaper.
Nine years after their last World Series title, the Yankees earned No. 27 last night when they spanked the defending champion Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium before a record crowd of 50,315 that didn’t include George Steinbrenner.
Tomorrow morning the Yankees will celebrate with a ticker-tape parade up lower Broadway.
“Right where we belong,” Derek Jeter bellowed from a stage in the middle of the $1.5 billion Stadium.
And they looked very comfortable. Alex Rodriguez, who doesn’t have to answer any more questions about choking in the postseason, let loose with a river of victory tears and promised the parade will be a huge party.
Mariano Rivera held a copy of The Post’s front page with the No. 27 on the cover.
Hideki Matsui, who went 3-for-4 with a homer and six RBIs that tied the single-game Series record, was named the MVP and took the occasion to lobby for a return.
“I hope so,” when asked if he would be back. Matsui can become a free agent in 15 days. “I hope it works out. I love New York and I love the fans.”
From 1996 to 2000 the Yankees won four Series titles and three straight (1998-2000). They came within two outs of winning in 2001, were bounced from the 2003 Series in six games and didn’t make it back until this year when they spent almost a half-billion dollars of Steinbrenner’s fortune to import CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira to successfully plug gaping holes in the rotation and lineup.
When the subject of money surfaced, general manager Brian Cashman was ready with an answer.
“You can call us anything you want. You’re also going to have to call us world champions,” said Cashman, who didn’t join the Steinbrenner family on the stage to accept the World Series trophy.
All brought to you by the “religion of peace.” Watch how CAIR tries to spin this debacle…
October 29, 2009
by Ed White
AP – Detroit Police enter the temporary home to the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. …
• 
Slideshow: Radical Islamic leader killed in Detroit raid
DETROIT – A leader of a radical U.S. Sunni Islam group killed in a shootout with federal agents near Detroit repeatedly told followers that the government was the enemy and they must be willing to take on the FBI — even if it meant death, authorities said.
“You cannot have a nonviolent revolution,” Luqman Ameen Abdullah said, according to a 2008 conversation secretly recorded by a confidential FBI source.
Abdullah, 53, was killed Wednesday at a warehouse in Dearborn, where agents were attempting to arrest him on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. He was one of 11 people named in a criminal complaint after a two-year investigation.
FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said Abdullah refused to surrender, fired a weapon and was killed by gunfire from agents.
The 43-page complaint described Abdullah as an extremist who believed the FBI bombed New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 and the Oklahoma City federal building two years later. Abdullah beat children with sticks at his Detroit mosque, the complaint claimed, and was trained with his followers in the use of firearms, martial arts and swords.
Neither Abdullah nor his co-defendants were charged with terrorism. But he was “advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States,” FBI agent Gary Leone wrote in an affidavit filed with the complaint.
The FBI said Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, was an imam, or prayer leader, of a radical group named Ummah whose primary mission is to establish an Islamic state within the U.S.
Abdullah told followers that it was their “duty to oppose the FBI and the government and it does not matter if they die” and to “simply shoot a cop in the head” if they wanted the officer’s bulletproof vest, Leon wrote.
The affidavit also said bombs, guns and even the recipe for TNT were among Abdullah’s regular topics with his allies. Group members and former members said they were “willing to do anything Abdullah instructs and/or preaches, even including criminal conduct and acts of violence,” the FBI agent wrote.
But that description doesn’t match what Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter, said he knew of Abdullah.
“He would open up the mosque to homeless people. He used to run a soup kitchen and feed indigent people,” Walid said. “I knew nothing of him that was related to any nefarious or criminal behavior.”
Walid said Abdullah had a wife and children. A phone number for the family had been disconnected.
Ummah believes that a separate Islamic state in the U.S. would be controlled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Colorado for shooting two police officers in Georgia in 2000, Leone said.
Al-Amin, a veteran of the black power movement, started the group after he converted to Islam in prison.
“They’re not taking their cues from overseas,” said Jimmy Jones, a professor of world religions at Manhattanville College and a longtime Muslim prison chaplain. “This group is very much American born and bred.”
Abdullah’s mosque is in a brick duplex on a residential street in Detroit. A sign on the door in English and Arabic reads, in part, “There is no God but Allah.” The mosque was located elsewhere in the city until the property was lost in January because of unpaid taxes.
When the eviction took place, a search turned up empty shell casings and large holes in the concrete wall of a “shooting range,” Leone said.
Seven of the 10 people charged with Abdullah were in custody, including a state prison inmate, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Three were still at large. Another man not named in the complaint also was arrested.
The FBI built its case over two years with the help of confidential sources close to Abdullah who recorded conversations and participated in undercover operations involving the sale of furs, laptop computers, televisions, energy drinks and power tools.
Abdullah received at least 20 percent of any profit and claimed the “Prophet Muhammad said that it is okay to participate in theft; as long as that person prays, they are in a good state,” Leone wrote in the affidavit.
Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn, said the FBI briefed him about the arrests.
“We know that this is not something to be projected as something against Muslims,” Hamad said.
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