Demanding an honest accounting on homegrown terrorism – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

it is time to say the obvious thing no one seems to be saying:

America is under attack by right-wing terrorists.

And here, again, it is necessary to say what the point is not. Namely, it is not that conservatism equals terrorism. These criminals are fanatics, and fanaticism is restricted to no particular ideology. Ironically, that’s an argument to which conservatives often turn deaf ears when it is made on behalf of Muslims, but that doesn’t make it any less true — or applicable here.

That said, what’s telling is that we won’t even call this what it is. When the Symbionese Liberation Army and the Weather Underground were committing violence in the 1970s, we were not slow in decrying leftwing terrorism and requiring progressives to disown it. When al Qaida kills and maims, we are not shy about branding it Islamic terrorism and requiring moderate Muslims to disown it.

For some reason, though, we are reluctant to call right-wing terror by name. And you can forget requiring conservatives to distance themselves from it.

Demanding an honest accounting on homegrown terrorism – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

E.J. Dionne: Paul Ryan and the triumph of theory – The Washington Post

By E.J. Dionne Jr., Sunday, August 12, 12:10 PMThe Washington Post

If Paul Ryan were a liberal, conservatives would describe him as a creature of Washington who has spent virtually all of his professional life as a congressional aide, a staffer at an ideological think tank and, finally, as a member of Congress. In the right’s shorthand: He never met a payroll.

If they were in a sunny mood, these conservatives would readily concede that Ryan is a nice guy who’s fun to talk to. But they’d also insist that he is an impractical ideologue. He holds an almost entirely theoretical view of the world defined by big ideas that never touch the ground and devotes little energy to considering how his proposed budgets might affect the lives of people he’s never met. …

How can Ryan justify his Medicaid cuts when, as the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found, they would likely leave 14 million to 19 million poor people without health coverage? How can he justify tax proposals that, as The New Republic’s Alec MacGillis pointed out, would reduce the rate on Mitt Romney’s rather substantial income to less than 1 percent? How can he claim his budgets are anti-deficit measures when, as The Post’s Matt Miller has noted, his tax cuts would add trillions to the debt and we wouldn’t be in balance until somewhere around 2030? …

But the issue in this election will be how Americans want to be governed. Republicans mock President Obama for still thinking like the professor he once was, yet in this race, Obama — far more than today’s conservative theorists and to the occasional consternation of his more liberal supporters — is the pragmatist. He’s talking about messy trade-offs: between taxes and spending, government and the private sector, dreams and the facts on the ground. In embracing Ryan, Romney has tied himself to the world of high conservative ideology. As liberals learned long ago, ideology usually loses.

E.J. Dionne: Paul Ryan and the triumph of theory – The Washington Post

President Obama uses lftar dinner to promote religious freedom | The Capitol Column

During a Ramadan dinner at the White House last night, President Barack Obama condemned the attack on a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin.  He said any assault on religious faiths “is an attack on the freedom of all Americans” and has no place in the United States.

President Obama also said at the dinner that no American should ever have to fear worshipping in public. 

Read more: http://www.capitolcolumn.com/news/president-obama-promotes-religious-freedom-at-iftar-dinner/#ixzz23IGHmBz5

Just the headline must be causing strokes and militia meetings all over the country. And the President defending someone accused of thought-crimes by a lunatic — appalling.

I do appreciate the writer explaining what McCarthyism was. And the House Republican who says don’t judge all House Republicans — who vote as a monolith — by a few loons. OK. Let’s give them the Senate and the White House, while we’re at it.

Kudos to the commenter who spells out the Iron Rule: Do onto others as you think they would do onto you. (The Golden Rule is for wimps and deadmen.) Perhaps progressives should follow conservatives: git a gun!

I’m stunned Fox doesn’t spin this. But then, Rove [spit on the ground] manages to. _mjh

Fox News poll: Obama’s lead grows as Romney’s support slips | Fox News

The president would take 49 percent of the vote compared to Romney’s 40 percent in a head-to-head matchup if the election were held today, the poll found. Last month, Obama had a four percentage-point edge of 45 percent to 41 percent. This marks the second time this year the president has had a lead outside the poll’s margin of sampling error.

Obama’s advantage comes largely from increased support among independents, who now pick him over Romney by 11 percentage points. Some 30 percent of independents are undecided. Last month, Obama had a four-point edge among independents, while Romney had the advantage from April through early June.

There was also an uptick in support for Obama among women, blacks and Democrats.

Fox News poll: Obama’s lead grows as Romney’s support slips | Fox News

Rove: For Romney, Even Means Ahead – WSJ.com

By KARL ROVE

Wednesday’s Gallup poll had President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney essentially tied, with Mr. Obama at 47% and Mr. Romney at 46%. That’s good news for the challenger: Mr. Romney has absorbed a punishing three-month Obama television barrage that drained the incumbent’s war chest. Historically, undecided voters tend to break late for the challenger.

Rove: For Romney, Even Means Ahead – WSJ.com

E.J. Dionne: A challenge to conservatives – The Washington Post

Reports from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and others show that social mobility is greater elsewhere, notably in Denmark, Australia, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden and Germany.

What do these countries have in common? Not to put too fine a point on it, all have national policies that are, in right-wing parlance, more “socialist” or (to be precise) social democratic than ours. They guarantee their citizens health insurance. They have stronger union movements and more generous welfare states. They tend to keep higher education more affordable. In most cases, especially Germany’s, they have robust apprenticeship and job training programs. They levy higher taxes.

The lesson from this list is not that cutting back government, gutting unions and reducing taxes on the rich will re-create an America of opportunity. On the contrary, we need more active and thoughtful government policies to become again the nation we claim to be

E.J. Dionne: A challenge to conservatives – The Washington Post

At first, I was angry at Jack Hertz’s assertion that Obama is less patriotic because he was born in Hawaii. I was born in Hawaii when it was still a territory. (Yet, I am eligible to become president.) But then, I stopped saying the pledge of allegiance in the second grade, about the same time I stopped going to church, and for much the same reason.

Although there are decent and thinking people who are patriotic, religious, or both, the ones who judge other people are much too loud. _mjh

ABQJournal Online » Talk of the Town

Obama’s a Different Kind of Upbringing

AMERICAN CULTURE inculcates among its children feelings of patriotism and pride in country. This is done to such a high degree that young men and women are willing to sacrifice their lives for country. Children are exposed to patriotic songs from birth. They learn to recite the Pledge of Allegiance from a very young age. Because this has occurred for so many generations, such feelings have become ingrained. It’s not unusual for many Americans to feel a lump in their throats when they hear the National Anthem.

President Obama was born in Hawaii a few short years after Hawaii was admitted to statehood. Generations of American patriots did not exist there at that time. A short time later, he moved and spent several years in Indonesia. It’s certainly not likely that he was exposed to American patriotism there. Then, back to Hawaii. Here he was, ready for college having not been ingrained with the same feelings most Americans have. Perhaps this is the reason there are so many photos of him listening to the National Anthem without placing his hand over his heart. For those who have lived their entire lives here, the gesture is automatic. This might also explain why he does not accept the notion of American exceptionalism.

JACK HERTZ

Albuquerque

ABQJournal Online » Talk of the Town

This response was good. _mjh

ABQJournal Online » Question Patriotism If You Must, But the Prez Knows His Protocol

Question Patriotism If You Must, But the Prez Knows His Protocol

RE: “OBAMA’S a Different Kind of Upbringing”:

I noted Jack Hertz’s comments in a letter published Tuesday, in which he asserts some facts not in evidence, or which are just plain inaccurate.

Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961. Hawaii became a state in August 1959. Between 1946 and statehood Hawaii was a non-governing territory (like Puerto Rico), subject to all United States protocols including the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance.

During Obama’s childhood in Indonesia, Hertz appears to have special knowledge on how his mother— herself reared in middle America — reared her child.

On the issue of the National Anthem: Federal guidelines state that people in military attire should stand at salute during the playing of the National Anthem. Men wearing hats should remove their head wear and place it over their hearts. Men without head wear should stand at attention during the playing.

In grammar school and also as a Boy Scout First Class, although I am in my 60s, this still remains the appropriate protocol. Perhaps Hertz should exhibit proper protocol himself. The president apparently knows it.

THOMAS P. ZANOTTI

Belen

ABQJournal Online » Question Patriotism If You Must, But the Prez Knows His Protocol