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How a Mitt-Style Increase in Military Spending Might Cost You Your Job by Lynn Stuart Parramore, alternet.org | October 24, 2012
As predicted, one of the big clashes in the final presidential debate on Monday night concerned military spending. The dustup not only revealed a key difference between the candidates, it gave us the best line of the night, Obama's quip that we no longer rely on horses and bayonets. When it comes to federal spending, the choices we make reflect our national priorities. If you listened to Mitt Romney during the debate, it was pretty clear what his priorities would be if elected. He could not hide the fact that when it comes to spending, children, education, eldercare, trains, roads, technology, research – in short, the things that make life livable at home – will take a backseat to fighting foreign wars abroad and pumping up an already bloated military budget. But here’s what he really didn’t want you to know: Increased military spending could land a pink-slip on your desk. read more »The Continuing GOP Foreign Policy Meltdown by J. Christian Watts, jackandjillpolitics.com | October 23, 2012
The election of President Obama further decoupled the GOP from the American condition. They don’t have to be responsive to any issue, any situation, any reality, or the truth. Their base hates the President more than they love America, so their candidates can do and say whatever lunatic, hateful, mendacious claptrap comes to mind. Their version of the 47 percent doesn’t care what they say, as long as the President is defeated, or shamed, or humiliated. They simply don’t care. Even in this contested reality, foreign policy has existed as the one place where there should be some buy-in from the GOP. But I find myself aghast at the GOP’s lack of foreign policy seriousness. Looking at the GOP field, at their ideas and ideology, devoid as it is from reality, we should all be terrified of a Romney Presidency. read more »Obama Outpoints Romney In Third Debate by Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post | October 23, 2012
The “horses and bayonets” moment is probably the headline. But the larger story of the third and final presidential debate, ostensibly about foreign policy, is that Mitt Romney didn’t really lay a glove on President Obama. For most of the evening, he didn’t even try. Obama came ready to punch, Romney to counterpunch — or, since we’re torturing the boxing metaphor, to clinch. He agreed with Obama’s policy on Afghanistan, on Libya, on Syria, on the use of pilotless drones in the fight against al-Qaeda, pretty much on everything except how to improve the U.S. economy. Which wasn’t even supposed to be a topic of discussion, but apparently nobody told the candidates. read more »Obama And Romney Ignore Climate, Could Learn From Hillary Clinton by Lisa Hymas, grist.org | October 23, 2012
The climate silence is complete: Climate change got not a single mention in any of the three presidential debates nor in the vice presidential debate this year. That hasn’t happened for 24 years. In the final debate on Monday night, focused on foreign policy, moderator Bob Schieffer didn’t ask anything about energy or climate, but he posed a couple of open-ended questions that would have given easy entrée to either candidate had they any inclination to bring up the topic: “What is America’s role in the world?” and “What do you believe is the greatest future threat to the national security of this country?” In a debate about global challenges and global threats, Romney and Obama both chose to say nothing at all about the climate crisis, the most global of all challenges and threats. read more »Obama as Commander-in-Chief, Romney as Banal Bully by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | October 23, 2012
I thought the third and last presidential debate was a clear win for the President. He displayed the authority of the nation’s Commander-in-Chief – calm, dignified, and confident. He was assertive without being shrill, clear without being condescending. He explained to a clueless Mitt Romney the way the world actually works. Romney seemed out of his depth. His arguments were more a series of bromides banalities than positions. This has been Romney’s problem all along, of course, but in the first debate he managed to disguise his vacuousness with a surprisingly combative, well-rehearsed performance. By the second debate, the disguise was wearing thin. In Monday night’s debate, Romney seemed to wither — and wander. read more »The Supersizing of American Politics by Tom Engelhardt, tomdispatch.com | October 23, 2012
Obesity is an American plague -- and no, I’m not talking about overweight Americans. I’m talking about our overweight, supersized presidential campaign. I’m talking about Big Election, the thing that’s moved into our homes and, especially if you live in a “swing state,” is now hogging your television almost 24/7. There’s a wonderful old American postcard tradition of gigantism, a mixture of (and gentle mocking of) a national, but especially Western, urge toward bravado, braggadocio, and pride when it comes to this country. The imagery on those cards once ranged from giant navel oranges on railroad flatcars to saddled jackalopes (rabbits with antlers) mounted by cowboy riders on the range. Think of the 2012 election season as just such a postcard -- without the charm. Though no one’s bothered to say it, the most striking aspect of this election is its gigantism. American politics is being supersized. read more »Foreign Policy Really Is Foreign to Mitt Romney by John Nichols, The Nation | October 23, 2012
Mitt Romney’s just not that into foreign policy. Again and again, Romney agreed with Obama’s approaches to international issues. Sometimes, he did so explicitly. Sometimes, he simply restated Obama administration policies as if he had developed them himself. In case anyone missed the point, the president was at the ready with lines like: “I’m glad that Governor Romney agrees with the steps that we’re taking” and “I’m pleased that you are now endorsing our policy…” But Obama was not satisfied to rest on the laurels from Romney. The Democratic president knew he needed as strong showing in the last of a cycle of debates that began with an Obama performance so weak that it renewed Romney’s run. And Obama got it. read more »Final Presidential Debate Exposes The Real Mitt Romney by Joy-Ann Reid, thegrio.com | October 23, 2012
Throughout much of the campaign season, political analysts have asked variations on the question, “who is Mitt Romney?” During last night’s third and final presidential debate, which was as tonally different, at least on Romney’s part, from the first debate as night is from day, I think we found out. Mitt Romney is exactly who he has always said he is: a businessman. Before now, we just didn’t know what business he was in. Now we do, and it’s door-to-door sales. And since his the product he’s currently hawking in America’s neighborhoods is President Romney — a product with few defining features other than tremendous wealth and invisible tax returns — Mitt is engaged in a rather cynical, but also very simple, marketing campaign. read more »Nothing Is Foreign to the Liar Willard Romney Anymore: A Report from the Flippy-Floppy Final Debate of 2012 by Charles P. Pierce, esquire.com | October 23, 2012
It was early in the proceedings here on Monday night when I was struck with a horrible vision. It may have been right about that moment in the final presidential debate when Willard Romney — who, for most of the past two years, has been the most bellicose Mormon since they disbanded the Nauvoo Legion — looked deeply into the camera's eye and, inches from actual sincerity, said, "We can't kill our way out of this mess." It was the horrible vision of John Bolton in four-point restraints.You have to give Romney and his campaign credit. They said they were going to do it. They telegraphed the punch five months ago. They told us he would renege on his previous positions, and he has. They told us he would reverse his field over and over again, and he has. They told us that the only real principle to which the man will ever hold firm is that he will be utterly unprincipled. read more »Obama Fires And Romney Falters But Third Debate Fails To Find A Flourish by Gary Younge, The Guardian | October 23, 2012
If the world could vote on 6 November, Barack Obama would win by a landslide. A global poll for the BBC World Service revealed that 20 out of 21 countries preferred the president to his challenger. But when you watched the presidential debate on foreign policy on Monday night you had to wonder why. Not because Mitt Romney was better, but because on matters of policy, Obama was almost as bad. It takes a friend to reveal the harsh truth to the global community, so here it is: "Obama's just not that into you." read more »
The Latest
Obama to Shut Guantanamo, CIA Prisons, The New York Times | January 22, 2009
President Obama is expected to sign executive orders directing the Central Intelligence Agency to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantanamo detention camp within a year. The orders would rewrite American rules for the detention of terrorism suspects. read more »
More Joining Military as Jobs Dwindle, iht.com | January 21, 2009
As the number of jobs across the nation dwindles, more Americans are joining the military, lured by a steady paycheck, benefits and training. The last fiscal year was a banner one for the military, with all active-duty and reserve forces meeting or exceeding their recruitment goals for the first time since 2004, the year that violence in Iraq intensified drastically, Pentagon officials said. read more »
Obama Orders Halt to Guantanamo Tribunals, The Guardian | January 21, 2009
The U.S. president, Barack Obama, has ordered a suspension of the controversial Guantanamo Bay military tribunals, in one of his first actions after being sworn in. Within hours of taking office Obama's administration filed a motion to halt the war crimes trials for 120 days, until his new administration completes a review of the much-criticized system for trying suspected terrorists. read more »
Senate Confirms Six Cabinet Secretaries, Associated Press | January 21, 2009
The Senate swiftly approved six members of President Barack Obama's Cabinet, but put off for a day the vote on his choice of Hillary Rodham Clinton to be secretary of state. read more »
Iraq Willing to See U.S. Troops Leave Early, USA Today | January 21, 2009
Iraq is willing to have the U.S. withdraw all its troops and assume security for the country before the end of 2011, the departure date agreed to by former President Bush, the spokesman of the Iraqi prime minister said. read more »
Wrongful Detentions Ruled at Guantanamo, iht.com | January 21, 2009
In the last three months, at least 24 detainees have been declared improperly held by courts or a tribunal — or nearly 10 percent of the population at the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where about 245 men remain. read more »
Iraq Plan Includes Withdrawal Option, Reuters | January 15, 2009
The Pentagon said it is drawing up a plan for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq that would meet President-elect Barack Obama's campaign timetable for a 16-month pullout. But defense officials emphasized that the Obama plan would be among a range of options that will be ready for the president-elect to review as soon as he takes office. read more »
Senate Commttee Endorses Clinton, BBC News | January 15, 2009
Hillary Clinton has been endorsed as President-elect Barack Obama's secretary of state by the U.S. Senate's foreign relations committee. The final vote on her appointment will be taken in the Senate after the inauguration of Mr. Obama. Speaking before the committee, Mrs. Clinton said U.S. read more »
Court Validates Wiretapping Powers, iht.com | January 15, 2009
A federal intelligence court, in a rare public opinion, issued a major ruling validating the power of the president and Congress to wiretap international telephone calls and intercept e-mail messages without a specific court order, even when Americans' private communications may be involved. read more »
Judge Orders Detainee Released, The Washington Post | January 15, 2009
A federal judge ordered the release yesterday of a detainee at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ruling that the government's evidence is too weak to justify the man's continued confinement. It is the second time that U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon has ordered the release of a detainee after examining government evidence, most of it classified. read more »
