The really sad thing is that the Clintons, having been brutally savaged by these kinds of smear tactics, are now willing to resort to using them against Obama.

Posted at January 11, 2008 4:22 AM in response to The Hate Campaign Against Obama

It is actually a good thing that this is happening before Obama gets the nomination. This will give the Democrats a chance to see whether Obama can successfully counter these kinds of smear tactics because there is going to be a lot more of this when he is running against the Republican candidate. If he can successfully counter it, he will have demonstrated that he is qualified to be the Democratic candidate. If he cannot successfully counter it, he should not get the nomination. In that case it should go to Edwards because Hillary will not be able to beat McCain.

Posted at January 11, 2008 4:03 AM in response to The Hate Campaign Against Obama

It is beginning to look like McCain will get the Republican nomination after all.

There is no way Hillary with all her negatives can beat him.

Obama has the best chance of defeating McCain. Especially if he makes General Wesley Clark his running mate.

Posted at January 11, 2008 3:55 AM in response to The Hate Campaign Against Obama

Israel wanted the United States to go to war against Iraq and Obama opposed it.

Israel considers Iran to be a very serious threat and Obama wants to sit down and talk with their leaders instead of bombing its nuclear sites.

Obama's positions are good for the United States, but they are probably not all that good for Israel. Therefore Jews who are citizens of the United States are going to have to decide where their first loyalty lies.

Posted at January 11, 2008 3:51 AM in response to The Hate Campaign Against Obama

"but he has cleaned up his act since then"

Why is expressing sympathy with opressed people an act that needs to be cleaned up?

If any other country treated a conquered people as badly as Israel treats the Palestinians, liberal Jews would very actively be protesting this horrible injustice.

For example, cutting off electricity to the people in the Gaza strip is mass punishment because its effects are not intended to be limited to the people who are shooting off the rockets. The effect on the people not responsible for this is not collateral damage, but, rather, is intentional and this is therefore a war crime.

Posted at January 11, 2008 3:44 AM in response to The Hate Campaign Against Obama

The reality is that due to the power of the Israel lobby, no American politician if he wants to get elected, or even be taken seriously dares depart from the AIPAC party line.

Look at what is happening to Ron Paul. They dug up some very bigoted stuff he had put his name on in the past, which will pretty much silence him. It is no surprise that this was dug up by the Pro-Israli New Republic.

Posted at January 11, 2008 3:44 AM in response to The Hate Campaign Against Obama

" The Old Testament is merely an artifact for most Christians, it's not the law, an artifact which they might study to seek messages, concordance, about the savior's coming"

This is obviously wrong, as is demonstrated by the fact that virtually all Christians believe that they are obligated to obey the 10 commandments.

Martin Luther divided the laws of the Old testament into 3 categories.
1. The Moral Law
2. The Political Law
3. The Ceremonial Law

Luther then argued that Chritians were not oblicated to obey the laws in the second and third groups because Jesus kept them for all Christians, but were still obligated to obey the laws in the first group.

Posted at October 11, 2007 6:03 PM in response to Ann Coulter Anti-Semitic? What a shocker.

I think there is a major misunderstanding of the issues involved due to the failure to conceptually differentiate between Jews as an ethnic group and Jews as adherents to the Jewish religion. There is, of course, a large overlap here due to the fact many people that belong to one group also belong to the other, which causes the two groups to get confused. But they are separate entities.

A person can be an atheist and still be and ethnic Jew or even a Christian and still be an ethnic Jew, as was the case with St. Paul and all the apostles.

On the other hand, one can be an adherent of the Jewish religion and not an ethnic Jew, as was the case with Sammy Davis Jr.

Anti Semitism is prejudice directed against ethnic Jews, not against the Jewish religion. Therefore, for example making disparaging remarks about Jesus or St. Paul, who were ethnic Jews, is anti-semetic.

On the other hand, if a militant atheist makes disparaging remarks against the Jewish religion, whether he is Jewish or not, he is not being anti-semetic.

What Ann Coulter said was directed against the Jewish RELIGION and not against ethnic Jews and therefore was not anti-semetic. Therefore one should not be surprised that she did not criticise Israeli policies on the west bank, which has to do with ethnic Jews. (After all an ethnic Jew who is an atheist can be entitled to live in a West Bank settlement.)
As a matter of fact she most likely supports the Christian Zionist postition that Israel should have all of Palestine.

This is probably the first time I have ever defended this obnoxious hate mongering woman. But the charge of anti-semitism agaist her in this case is in error due to the failure to differentiate between ethic Jews and the Jewish religion.

Posted at October 11, 2007 5:59 PM in response to Ann Coulter Anti-Semitic? What a shocker.

"I can't repeat this enough--the underemployment rate in Mexico is around 25%, the unemployment rate between 5-10%. And that's overall. Once you start looking at specific sectors or geographic areas the numbers can look even more dramatic."

The fact that the Mexican economy is profoundly disfunctional, does not provide adequately for its people, and is dependent on exporting its poor and on remittances and repatriation of drug money should be a matter of profound embarrasment and shame for the Mexican governments, present and past.

Posted at October 9, 2007 5:07 PM in response to What Mexico Must Do

"It's one of the world's leaders in numbers of millionaires. The richest man in Latin America (and I think now the richest man in all the world) is a Mexican--Carlos Slim."

This is why it is a tragedy for Mexico that Obrador did not become President. Mexico desperately needs economic reforms. The unwillingness of the PAN to allow a nationwide recount certainly raises the suspicion that the election was stolen.

Posted at October 9, 2007 5:01 PM in response to What Mexico Must Do