EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT MORSI DESTROYS GOOD WILL BY TAKING DICTATORIAL POWERS

Egyptian President Morsi had built up a sense of trust in other countries for his calm handling of the Israeli-Palestinian cease fire.

But then he foolishly destroyed the good will by trying to arrogate to himself powers of a dictator.  Specifically, he said that his decisions could not be overturned by any Egyptian court.

Now we watch in disbelief, as Egypt goes through another political convulsion.

U.S. SHOULD SUPPORT PALESTINIANS REQUEST TO JOIN UNITED NATIONS

I call upon Pres. Barack Obama, Sec. Hillary Clinton, and UN Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, don't be on the wrong side of history and what is right and just.  Support the request of the Palestinians for Palestine to become a member of the United Nations.

MY WISH LIST FOR SECOND TERM OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

What I wish for during President Barack Obama's second term:

1.     a push to make a pathway to citizenship for all the undocumented immigrants in the United States.

2.    an end to extra-judicial killings via American drones.

3.    support for the Palestinians effort to obtain statehood and membership in the United Nations.

4.     an expansion of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to include a "single payor" system, where the government offers health insurance to all in return for paying income taxes.

5.    an end to animosity to Iran.  The United States should not have any "enemies."  This includes Iran.

MR. OBAMA, STOP ISRAEL FROM ATTACKING IRAN AND STARTING NEW WORLD WAR!

There are reports out of Israel that an Iranian ship is sailing to Gaza, laden with arms. 

This seems a pretext for war monger Netanyahu and Lieberman to start a war with Iran by sinking one of their ships.

I call upon Pres. Barack Obama, do not let Israel attack Iran!

PRES. OBAMA WORKS WITH EGYPTIAN PRES. MORSI IN BRINGING ABOUT GAZA CEASE FIRE

It was Pres. Barack Obama who was instrumental in bringing about a cease fire in Gaza.  Obama worked closely with Egypt's president Morsi in arranging both sides to agree.  He called Morsi six times on Monday and Tuesday this week.

Thanks go to Sec. Hillary Clinton, who went to Israel to tell Netanyahu in blunt terms that the United States wished him to agree, rather than continue Israel's immoral and illegal bombing of the Palestinian people.

See the key reporting in today's The New York Times by Peter Baker and David D. Kirkpatrick.

COMPARE ASSAD OF SYRIA AND NETANYAHU OF ISRAEL

Compare Bashar al Assad's procedures with those of Bib Netanyahu.  Both claim they are fighting armed terrorists.  Both order their war planes to bomb homes of civilians, killing scores of men, women and children.  Both engage in collective punishment against their political opponents.

U.S. NEEDS TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINE AS MEMBER OF UNITED NATIONS

Here's what I want Pres. Barach Obama to do during his new term.  Support the Palestinians in their just desire to achieve informal membership at the United Nations.

Perhaps the latest flare-up of fighting is a result of Bib Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, determined to stop the desire of the Palestinians to be recognized by the U.N.  Perhaps he is afraid that the U.N. will then condemn Israel for its harsh and cruel treatment of Palestinians.  Or for its use of collective punishment against civilians in Gaza for the acts of a few.

NETANYAHU SEEMS INTENT ON STARTING ANOTHER FOOLISH WAR

Israeli prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, seems intent on starting another conflagration in the Middle East.  He ordered a targeted assassination of Hamas leader, Ahmad Jabari, last night.  Now he is calling up 30,000 Israeli reservists.  Can anyone be in doubt that he intends that Israel invade Gaza?

I say, stop this foolishness!  Nothing  permanent as to peace can be attained through Israeli guns and bombs.

MY PREDICTION—OBAMA WINS REELECTION TOMORROW WITH 320 ELECTORAL VOTES

I hear reporters on NBC, CBS, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, and France 24 talk about the election as a virtual tie.

I disagree.  President Barach Obama is going to win almost every state.  Mitt Romney is going down to defeat.

American presidential elections are decided on the number of electoral votes, with 270 needed to win.  Each state is assigned so many electoral votes, based on population.  Illinois, for example, has 20 electoral votes.  If Obama wins in Illinois, he garners all of the state's 20 electoral votes.

From what I see in state-by-state polls, I predict Pres. Barach Obama will win with 320 electoral votes.

WHEN WILL THE UNITED STATES OBJECT TO VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN BAHRAIN?

I call upon Pres. Barach Obama and Sec. Hillary Clinton to condemn the decree in Bahrain, prohibiting public demonstrations.

Why can't the United States government put pressure on the ruling Khalifas of Bahrain to extend human rights, such as free speech and the freedom to demonstrate, to the Shia in Bahrain?

BBC MANAGERS SHOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT BEHAVIOUR OF JIMMY SAVILE

How could the managers at the BBC not have been aware of Jimmy Savile and his pattern of sexual abuse of children over 30 or 40 years?

The New York Times should rethink hiring the BBC's managing director, Mark Thompson, as new editor of the paper.

POLLS SHOW LEAD EXPANDING FOR BARACK OBAMA IN KEY STATES

Good news!  Pres. Barack Obama seems to be pulling ahead in the various key state polls.

Here's a rundown from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT STRIKES DOWN AS DISCRIMINATORY FEDERAL DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT

The U.S. government is divided into three branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.

While majority rule determines the makeup of the first two branches, the electorate does not select the federal judiciary.  This means that the judicial branch is immune from majoritarian rule.  One of its main purposes is to protect minority rights in the face of majority rule.

Today, we have another example of the integrity of the federal judiciary.  The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the right of two homosexual adults to marry and secure the same legal rights as heterosexuals when they marry.

Timothy Williams reports in The New York Times online that the court held today that the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which bars homosexual marriages, is unconstitutional.

Writes Timothy Williams:

"A federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled on Thursday that the federal statute defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman unlawfully discriminates against same-sex married couples by denying them equal federal benefits."

REPUBLICANS CREATE FALSE CHARGE AGAINST PRES. BARACK OBAMA ON LIBYA

The Romney campaign, and Republicans in general, seem to think that there is a smoking gun to be found in the administration's handling of the Benghazi tragedy.  The story line appears to be that Obama is hiding his own incompetence in not immediately recognizing that the attack and killing of the American ambassador on September 11th was an act of terrorists that had nothing to do with the furor that erupted in the Islamic world over a perceived insult to the prophet Muhammad in a video made by an Egyptian-American in California.

But Scott Shane reports in The New York Times today that the administration at first did not have intelligence information that the attack was a jihadi attack, but rather one connected to protests over the anti-Muhammad film.  Furthermore, intelligence reported that some of the attackers claimed to bystanders that they were angry because of the film.

Reports Shane:

"According to reporting by David D. Kirkpatrick and Suliman Ali Zway of The New York Times, eyewitnesses have said there was no peaceful demonstration against the video outside the compound before the attack, though a crowd of Benghazi residents soon gathered, and some later looted the compound. But the attackers, recognized as members of a local militant group called Ansar al-Shariah, did tell bystanders that they were attacking the compound because they were angry about the video. They did not mention the Sept. 11 anniversary. Intelligence officials believe that planning for the attack probably began only a few hours before it took place."

 

Given this information, it is no wonder that administration officials, like Susan Rice, announced that the attack was connected to the video film.

 

Republicans are seeking an indictment of Pres. Barack Obama, without any real evidence or basis.  This shows their desperation, in their quest to win the presidential election coming up in three weeks.

END DEATH PENALTY IN UNITED STATES

Stop the death penalty in the United States!

Florida is preparing to execute a man diagnosed with schizophrenia next Thursday, Ed Pilkington of The Guardian reports on-line:

"David Glant, a judge with Florida's eighth circuit, has found that John Ferguson, 64, can be given lethal injections next Thursday despite a US supreme court injunction that prohibits executions of the insane. In his concluding remarks, the judge agrees with the prisoner's defence lawyers that Ferguson is a paranoid schizophrenic who genuinely believes he is "Prince of God"."

PAUL RYAN - THIS GUY MEANS TROUBLE IF ELECTED

I watched some of the debate last night between V.P. Joseph Biden and Republican Cong. Paul Ryan.

To think that there are a lot of American voters who might choose Ryan and Mitt Romney over Barack Obama and Biden is astounding!  And even more surprising is that a majority of old geezers over 65 prefer Romney/Ryan!

Ryan and Romney want to lower takes on top earners, cut social programs, and, above all, do away with Social Security and Medicare. 

They claim that seniors over 55 will not be affected, but how about those between 45 and 55?  Instead of health care from Medicare, Romney/Ryan will give them a voucher.  If their health expenses exceed the face value of the voucher, well, too bad!

SPEECH AND IDEAS ARE PROTECTED LIBERTIES

Remember back in grade school, someone would say to you, your mother is a xxxx!  And then you tried to beat him up!

Children naturally take words over-seriously, not knowing that freedom of speech allows a person to say almost anything he wants, including, your mother is a . . . . !

Actually, freedom of speech flows out of freedom of ideas.  This is a connection that the Catholic Church has never understood.  It tries to make certain thoughts, "sinful."  Maybe, the priests succeeded in convincing people that this was the case for the first 1700 years of Christianity, but then came the French Enlightenment, and the idea that ideas could be sinful or harmful was tossed on the dung heap of discredited belief.

It is amazing to think that words still are the basis for hurting or killing people.   Or that insults should be met with a gun or a sword, especially when the insults are imagined as being directed to a religious prophet.

LIFE ACCORDING TO THE TALIBAN - SHOOT 14-YEAR-OLD WHO INSULTS YOUR BELIEFS ON TREATMENT OF WOMEN

Declan Walsh covers the story in The New York Times today of the school girl in Pakistan, shot in the head at close range by members of Pakistan's Taliban, because they objected to her campaign for universal education for girls.

Members of the Taliban give the impression of being from an age of unenlightenment, hundreds of years ago, where, if you don't like what someone else says or thinks, you kill him or her, in this case, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai.

KICK OUT ALL POLITICIANS WHO VOTE TO CUT PENSIONS IN QUEST FOR AUSTERITY

I call upon all those older people in Spain, Greece and Portugal, who have had their pensions unjustly reduced in the pursuit of austerity, don't accept this immoral penalty.  Vote out all those politicians, who have meekly surrendered your basic rights.  Reject all tributes to the Germanic austerity zealots behind Angela Merkel.

I commend the citizens of Athens for protesting the arrival of Angela Merkel in Greece.

POMPOUS MITT ROMNEY CALLS IT IMMORAL FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT TO INCUR INDEBTEDNESS, BUT WHY DID BAIN CAPITAL INCUR MILLIONS IN DEBT TO RUN ITS BUSINESS?

Okay, Barack Obama was not up to his usual high quality in the first debate with Mitt Romney.  Romney won, but who cares?  The victory will be short-lived.

In the meanwhile, consider Romney's pompous and self-righteous statement that leaving government indebtedness for our children and grandchildren to pay off is downright immoral.

If going into debt is highly immoral, how come Romney's own firm, Bain Capital, borrows millions of dollars on each deal that it does, so that it can buy a controlling interest in the company's stock?

The answer is, Romney's firm is a business, and it operates according to business principles.  If it borrows money or if it sells bonds, it has a pretty good idea how and when it will pay back.

The same principle applies to the biggest corporation, the government of the United States.  The government borrows money, so that it can invest in creating jobs, providing for the common welfare, e.g., for the costs of Medicare, building highways and infrastructure.  These are necessary to foster a prosperous and healthy society.  The notion that Romney's Bain Capital may go into indebtedness, but the U.S. government may not borrow money more than its current income is ridiculous, sophomoric and dumb.

Furthermore, when Romney says it is immoral for the government to incur indebtedness, how about if the indebtedness is earmarked to create well-paying jobs for our children's fathers and mothers?  How "immoral" would it really be if the U.S. government did nothing to make sure today's children and tomorrow's grandchildren went hungry because the government failed to invest in their future and their welfare?

ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN ARE WARFARE AGAINST IRANIAN PEOPLE

Economic sanctions against Iran and Iranians are really a form of warfare.  Instead of guns to kill Iranians, the United States and European Union use economic tools to reduce the living standard of ordinary Iranians to a state of penury.

PRES. OBAMA, DO WHAT IS RIGHT, CONDEMN KING KHALIFA OF BAHRAIN FOR TYRANNICAL SUPPRESSION OF PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTERS

More violent protests in Bahrain as a result of the killing of a 15-year old protesting the harsh rule of the Sunnis and King Khalifa.

Why does the United States refuse to condemn the suppression of a democratic wave in Bahrain?

Two answers:

1.  the protests are Shia-led.  Iran, predominantly Shia, is just across the bay from Bahrain; and

2.  the U.S. bases its naval Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and doesn't want to be kicked out.

Pres. Obama, condemn the suppression in Bahrain.  To heck with the Fifth Fleet.  To hell with American dislike of Iran and Iranians.  Do what is right!

HOW CAN ANY WOMAN IN THE U.S. VOTE REPUBLICAN?

How could any woman in the U.S. vote for someone like Republican Todd Akin, running for U.S. Senate in Missouri?

First, he defines some rapes as "legitimate," casting doubt on all other violent assaults on women which are not "legitimate."

Then, a few days ago, he says that his female opponent, Claire McCaskill, has not acted 'ladylike."

Here's a report by Karen McVeigh in The Guardian online.  Writes McVeigh:

"The furore caused by Akin's now infamous and much-criticised "legitimate rape" comments – suggesting that victims of rape can "shut down' potential pregnancies – shows little sign of abating. Despite signs of a U-turn from the Republican party who abandoned him over the comments, Akin, who believes abortion should be banned even in cases of rape, has become associated with bad science and an anti-woman agenda.

Akin did nothing to overcome that perception on Thursday, when he said that his Democratic opponent Claire McCaskill had not acted "ladylike" during a recent debate. Patty Murray, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, described the remark as "demeaning to women and offensive to all".

Let me ask the question again, but this time extend it to all Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney.  How could any woman in the U.S. vote for any Republican candidate anywhere in the country?

NETANYAHU CLAIMS PALESTINIAN CHARGE OF ETHNIC CLEANSING IS WITHOUT BASIS, YET AT THE SAME TIME ACCUSES IRANIANS OF TRYING TO BUILD NUCLEAR BOMBS

For sheer exaggeration and hyperbole, Bibi Netanyahu has outdone Ahmadinejad of Iran and Morsi of Egypt.  Bibi claims the end is near.  Any nuclear bombs made by Iran will be equivalent to nuclear weapons in the hands of Al Qaeda.

Forget for a minute that Al Qaeda and the Shiites of Iran have nothing in common.  Al Qaeda is Sunni, Iranians are Shia.  Even more importantly, the Arabs of Al Qaeda despise the Iranians for being Persian, not Arabic.

Bibi's statements are inflammatory and wild.

Tom Clancy reports on Netanyahu's speech today in The Guardian online.  Writes Clancy:

"Netanyahu's bomb drawing was like a crude, almost a spoof, version of Colin Powell's notorious presentation of Iraqi WMD in 2003, but for all its crudity and questionable assumptions, it without doubt succeeded in distracting almost all attention from Mahmoud Abbas's plaintive description of 'ethnic cleansing' in occupied Palestinian territories. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has for decades been centre stage at the UN General Assembly, but not this year, in the febrile atmosphere around the Iranian nuclear programme."

Note that, as Tom Clancy reports, Mahmoud Abbas charges Israel and Netanyahu with "ethnic cleansing," and Bibi facilely dismisses the objection, according to The Daily Beast, "We won't solve our conflict with libelous speeches."  The irony is thick.  Bibi accuses Iran of making nuclear weapons, contrary to the evidence and the protestations of the Iranians.  Yet he tries to avoid the charge by the Palestinians by claiming that the objection is without basis.

SUPPORT PEOPLE OF GREECE AND SPAIN IN REJECTING BANKRUPT POLICY OF AUSTERITY

If I were in Spain or Greece today, I would be joining the protesters against any further implementation of the crazy and discredited Germanic-inspired economic policy of "austerity." 

Helena Smith reports on Greek demonstrations for The Guardian online.  Writes Smith:

"Hundreds of thousands of anti-austerity protesters took to the streets of Greece on Wednesday as the country was paralysed by a general strike in the first mass confrontation with Athens's three-month-old coalition government.
In one of the biggest demonstrations in the capital in recent years, as many as 200,000 marched on the Greek parliament, according to unions in the public and private sector, which called the strike to oppose new wage and pension cuts – the price of further rescue funds from international lenders."

No economists, other than maybe crazy Republicans in the U.S., would subscribe to a policy of cutting government jobs and pensions in an attempt to foster economic growth and prosperity.  Spain and Greece are mired in a deep recession, maybe even a depression.  Now is not the time to impose cuts on people's salaries and benefits.  Now is not the time to put government workers out of their jobs.

Stop this insane and cruel policy of austerity.  Enough of this madness!

OBAMA DEFENDS FREE SPEECH AT THE U.N., REJECTS CALL TO MAKE MOCKERY OF PROPHET A CRIME

At last Pres. Barack Obama has come out with a strong defense of free speech.  In his speech today at the meeting of the General Assembly of the U.N. in New York, Obama rejected the call from some Islamic leaders that the U.S. establish a law to punish those who mock the Prophet Mohammad or Islam.

Helene Cooper reports for the on-line The New York Times on Obama's speech.  Writes Cooper:

"While condemning the “crude and disgusting” video that prompted the protests in Libya and throughout the Muslim world, the president worked to explain — before a sometimes skeptical audience that has never completely bought into the American idea that even hateful speech is protected — why the United States values so highly its First Amendment.

"“We do so because in a diverse society, efforts to restrict speech can become a tool to silence critics, or oppress minorities,” Mr. Obama said. “We do so because given the power of faith in our lives, and the passion that religious differences can inflame, the strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more speech — the voices of tolerance that rally against bigotry and blasphemy, and lift up the values of understanding and mutual respect.”

"Americans, he said, “have fought and died around the globe to protect the right of all people to express their view.”

"And he said pointedly that “there is no speech that justifies mindless violence.”

“"There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents,” Mr. Obama said. “There is no video that justifies an attack on an embassy. There is no slander that provides an excuse for people to burn a restaurant in Lebanon, or destroy a school in Tunis, or cause death and destruction in Pakistan.” "

MANY IRANIAN UNIVERSITIES BAR WOMEN FROM TAKING COURSES

This is an outrageous day for women's education in Iran.  Today, rules prohibiting women from taking over 80 courses take effect in many Iranian universities.

Prohibited classes include English literature and nuclear physics.

Fariba Sahraebi writes in today's BBC online:

"With the start of the new Iranian academic year, a raft of restrictions on courses open to female students has been introduced, raising questions about the rights of women to education in Iran - and the long-term impact such exclusions might have.

More than 30 universities have introduced new rules banning female students from almost 80 different degree courses.

These include a bewildering variety of subjects from engineering, nuclear physics and computer science, to English literature, archaeology and business."

ROMNEY NEEDS TO RELEASE LAST 10 YEARS OF TAX RETURNS

That Mitt Romney has released his 2011 federal tax return means little if nothing.   When Romney filed his taxes this past April, he was already the de facto Republican nominee.  We can consider everything in the tax return, such as the amount of taxes paid, to be self-serving.

What Romney really needs to do is to release the rest of the last 10 years returns.  Romney himself has made an issue of the 47% who, he claims, pay no taxes.  Let's see exactly what he himself has paid over this period.

NETANYAHU MEDDLES IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

I find it disconcerting and inappropriate that Israel's prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, is inserting himself into the American presidential election.

Everyone knows that Bibi wants Mitt Romney to win.  And that Netanyahu doesn't like Obama because Obama refuses to go along with the stupid "red line" demand of bully Netanyahu.

Netanyahu badly wants to start a war against Iran in order to divert the world's view from the miserable state that Israel has forced upon the Palestinians.

Harriet Sherwood writes in today's online The Guardian:

"The political TV advertisement featuring Binyamin Netanyahu and the slogan "The world needs American strength, not apologies" is likely to fuel claims that the Israeli prime minister is interfering in the US presidential election in support of Republican candidate Mitt Romney."

Additionally, the Democrats have conveyed to Netanyahu that his meddling is unwelcomed.

Writes Sherwood:

"But, according to Yossi Verter writing in Haaretz recently, US officials had relayed to a "very senior Israeli figure" that "in the eyes of the Democratic administration, Netanyahu is perceived as campaigning on behalf of Mitt Romney." To the president and his aides, the Israeli prime minister's actions look like "crude, vulgar and unrestrained intervention in the US election campaign".

"Joe Klein of Time magazine described Netanyahu's recent behaviour as "an unprecedented attempt by a putative American ally to influence a US presidential campaign".

"The editor of the New Yorker, David Remnick, said Netanyahu seemed "determined, more than ever, to alienate the president of the United States and, as an ally of Mitt Romney's campaign, to make himself a factor in the 2012 election"."

STOP TRANSFER OF PUSSY RIOT TO FAR-OFF JAIL

News that Russian authorities are planning to transfer convicted members of Pussy Riot to a remote jail hundreds of miles outside Moscow.  Anna Nemtsova writes for the Daily Beast the latest update on the situation of the three young ladies who staged the Pussy Riot satire in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

Writes Nemtsova:

"The three members of Pussy Riot sentenced to two years in prison in a trial that attracted worldwide attention are asking the warden of their pretrial detention center to let them serve out their time in Moscow instead of at a remote penal colony hundreds of miles away.

"More than 2,000 prisoners have died in or en route to Russian prisons in just the last six months, according to Russia’s prosecutor general. And the young women’s lawyers, who do not expect an Oct. 1 appeal of their August sentence for hooliganism to be successful, have received threatening messages from prison employees."

ROMNEY PUTS ALL THE BLAME ON PALESTINIANS - HAS HE BEEN FOLLOWING THE ISRAELI CRUELTIES ON THE NEWS?

Ewen Mac Askill writes in The Guardian online about Mitt Romney's comments blaming the Palestinians for not wanting peace with Israel.  Writes Mac Askill:

"The latest clip shows Romney dismissing the chances of peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not an unusual view, but he then goes on to firmly put the blame solely on the Palestinians.

"He contentiously described the the Palestinians as "committed to the destruction and elimination" of Israel and indicated he was unlikely to pursue, as president, the creation of a Palestinian state, warning that Iran would use it as a base for attacks on Israel."

I guess that Romney, in putting the blame on the Palestinians, has never heard of Israeli soldiers firing tank shells at Palestinian civilians, or Israeli warplanes wantonly destroying essential infrastructure in Gaza, or Israeli hardliners cruelly forcing Palestinian families off their land, so that Jewish settlers can illegally and immorally move in.

NETANYAHU TRIES TO PRESSURE OBAMA ON WAR WITH IRAN

Bibi Netanyahu, Israel's warmongering prime minister, now appeals to the American public after being rebuffed by Pres. Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on "setting a red line" in the case of Iran's nuclear development.

Harriet Sherwood reports for The Guardian:

"The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has renewed his demand that the US set out clear "red lines" for Iran over its nuclear programme, in remarks likely to put further strain on his relationship with Barack Obama in the runup to the presidential election.

"In interviews on American television networks to mark the Jewish New Year, Netanyahu repeated his call for the US to clarify the point at which it would take military action rather than allow the Iranian nuclear programme to advance."


Netanyahu is a bully who would like nothing better than to drag the United States into a disastrous war with Iran.

OBAMA LEADS ROMNEY IN FLORIDA, OHIO AND VIRGINIA

Pres. Barach Obama leads Mitt Romney in Florida, Virginia and Ohio.  That according to a recent NBC poll, reports Bloomberg News.

Jonathan D. Salant writes from Washington:

"An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released yesterday of likely voters in the swing states of Florida, Ohio andVirginia showed Obama ahead in each race. Recent national polls by CNN and Gallup following last week’s Democratic National Convention also put Obama in the lead.

"The NBC/Journal poll gave Obama a 49 percent to 44 percent edge over Romney in both Florida and Virginia, and a 50 percent to 43 percent edge in Ohio. No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio."

ENLIOGHTENMENT CHANGES WESTERN WORLD IN 18TH CENTURY

The western world was never the same after the French Enlightenment in the 18th Century.  Religion no longer was the absolute font of wisdom and sexual morality.  People began to think outside the box of theological construction.  Thinkers such as Diderot and Montesquieu pursued secular humanism with their La Religieuse and Lettres Persanes.  Liberty of speech and thought acquired supremacy.  Unfortunately, most of the rest of the world never had their own Enlightenment.

PRES. OBAMA, RESIST NETANYAHU'S PUSH TO BOMB IRAN

Pres. Obama, I support your reelection and I contribute to your campaign.

In return, I do ask that you not let that bully Benjamin Netanyahu throw his weight around regarding the policy of the United States towards Iran.

David Sanger and Isabel Kershner write in today's The New York Times online.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel inserted himself into the most contentious foreign policy issue of the American presidential campaign on Tuesday, criticizing the Obama administration for refusing to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike. As a result, he said, the administration had no “moral right” to restrain Israel from taking military action of its own.

 

"Mr. Netanyahu’s unusually harsh public comments about Israel’s most important ally, which closely track what he has reportedly said in vivid terms to American officials visiting Jerusalem, laid bare the tension between him and President Obama over how to handle Iran. They also suggested that Mr. Netanyahu is willing to use the pressure of the presidential election to force Mr. Obama to commit to attack Iran under certain conditions. "

We all know that Bibi is angling for a American military strike against Iran.  That means untold death and destruction.

I am tired of U.S. wars in Islamic countries or anywhere else.  Pres. Obama, continue to resist that warmonger, Netanyahu.

STOP AMERICAN SANCTIONS AGAINST IRANIAN PEOPLE

Stop the cruel economic warfare against the people of Iran.   American sanctions hit the ordinary Iranian.  They have little effect in changing policies of the Iranian government. 

Inflation is around 100% in Iran today.  There is shortage of essential medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.  Products of daily life are hard to come by. 

This is the effect of American sanctions against the people of Iran.

ISRAEL IS BIGGEST THREAT TO WORLD PEACE

The government of Canada, under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has terminated all diplomatic relations with Iran.  But something here is strange.

Why did the Canadian foreign minister repeat the mantra of Israeli PM Netanyahu that Iran is the greatest exporter and threat of terrorism in the whole wide world?  I suspect that Netanyahu and Harper are buddies, and this was a favor to Bibi on some account or for some unknown reason.

I would argue that the biggest threat to world peace is Israel.  Under Netanyahu, it is clear that the Israeli government is looking to start a war against Iran.

CANADA MAKES HUGE MISTAKE BY BREAKING DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH IRAN

In ending diplomatic relations with Iran, the government of Canada has made a huge mistake.  Breaking off contact harkens back to the cold war, when the solution to political disagreements was to declare war.

Can any good come to Canada by saying that it no longer wants to engage in diplomacy with Iran.  What is the next step.  Rain bombs down on Tehran?

HUGE INJUSTICE: BAHRAINI SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS LIFE SENTENCES AGAINST PROTESTERS DEMANDING HUMAN RIGHTS

The Bahrain Supreme Court upheld life sentences for some of those found guilty of protesting against the Sunni-dominated regime of the Khalifas.

This is the same King Khalifa who regularly comes to Washington and holds talks with his ally, the United States.

I call upon the president, Barach Obama, to come out firmly against the injustice handed out against those protesters, most of whom happen to be Shia.

GEORGE OSBORNE CUTS GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND PAYROLLS, CASTS U.K. INTO STEEP RECESSION

Prime Minister David Cameron reshuffles his cabinet, but he keeps George Osborne as chancellor of the Exchequer.  The same Osborne who has forced thousands of cuts in public employment, at whose door we can lay Britain's double-dip recession.

This same tactic is what mindless Republicans in the United States wish to do with the American economy.  The mantra of cutting spending harks back to the days of Herbert Hoover when the same opponents of public debt took charge. 

Fortunately, there are some smarter economists in the U.S. today, like Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, who refuse to go along with cutting government spending when the economy is in danger of going back into recession.  But imagine the chaos and economic turmoil if that faker, Mitt Romney, and his side-kick, Paul Ryan, win the coming election!

PAUL RYAN CLAIMED HE RAN MARATHON IN UNDER THREE HOURS! RIDICULOUS!

Paul Ryan, vice presidential candidate picked by Mitt Romney, claims he once ran a marathon in less than three hours. That's means Ryan would have to run a sub-seven minute mile each and every mile of the 26-mile race.

Runners World investigated his claim and found no evidence of his boast. Subsequently, Paul Ryan was forced to apologize for his exaggeration and withdrew his claim.

Lawyers have a saying, "false in one thing, false in all things."  So when Paul Ryan says that he will safeguard Medicare by making it into a voucher system, his listeners should suspect this too is a wild boast without any substance in reality.

POLICE SHOOT STRIKERS AND KILL 34, THEN STATE CHARGES STRIKERS WITH MURDER!

Imagine that you a miner in a platinum mine in South Africa.  You engage in a labor dispute with the mining company that pays you bare existence wages.  You strike and hold a rally.  The police come.  They open fire with live bullets.  Thirty four strikers die at the hands of a rogue police.  Then a week later, the state prosecutor charges 270 of your fellow workers with murder!

This is what is happening in South Africa.

The decision to prosecute the striking miners for what the police did in shooting the protesters is outrageous.  I blame Jacob Zuma, head of the ANC and president of South Africa.

The miners are blameless in the killing of their comrades, shot down by the police in cold blood.

ELIMINATE SECURITY COUNCIL AND VETO POWER OF PERMANENT MEMBERS AT UNITED NATIONS

When the United Nations was created in 1945, the founders created a peculiar system whereby the Security Council had all the power regarding peace and security, and the General Assembly had very little.

Furthermore, each of the five permanent members—Russia, China, Great Britain, France, and the United States—has veto power over any resolution regarding peace, war or security which is brought to the Security Council.

The conflicts in both Libya and now Syria bring up the necessity to amend the structure at the U.N.  Disband the Security Council.  Put all power in the General Assembly.  No one country should have the power to veto or stymie the work of the world body.

GREEKS! RESIST THE IMPOSITION OF AUSTERITY!

I urge the citizenry of Greece—don't allow Angela Merkel or François Hollande to impose cruel and excessive cuts on your economy.  Merkel and Hollande are just like Republicans in the U.S.  They blindly and arrogantly insist on cuts that will cause Greece and the rest of Europe to go into steep economic depression, not just recession.

FREE PRE-TEEN GIRL IN PAKISTAN ACCUSED OF ACT DENIGRATING RELIGION

Free the pre-teen girl in Pakistan's tribal areas accused of burning sacred books.  There are many backward societies in the world that have never experienced an enlightenment.  This poor girl's hometown is one of them.

LET JULIAN ASSANGE REMAIN COOPED UP IN ECUADOREAN EMBASSY IN LONDON

I say, let Julian Assange stay in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.  His argument that Sweden may extradite him to the U.S. if he returns to Sweden to face sexual assault charges is transparently pretextual.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR FINGER-POINTING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The police in South Africa, in cahoots with the ANC, open fire with live ammunition against striking miners.  Some 34 are killed, and another 70 wounded.

Linda Polgreen reports in today's The New York Times that South Africa's police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, is defending and justifying the massacre.

This is an outrage.

Who ordered the police to fire real bullets at the strikers?  Was it Phiyega?  Was it Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president?

What ever happened to the principle that police should not use lethal force unless absolutely necessary?

Contrary to Jacob Zuma's self-serving statement, this is a time for finger-pointing.  My first  move, fire the police chief and ask federal prosecutors to begin an investigation of a horrific crime scene, even if it leads to Zuma and Phiyega. 

CONDEMN THE COURT IN MOSCOW FOR ITS TREATMENT OF PUSSY RIOT

What's up with the Russian court system?  A judge in Moscow sentences three members of Pussy Riot to two years in prison for singing a ribald hymn to the Mother of God, asking to drive Putin out.  Since when should the courts punish "disrespect" for organized religion?  Is Pussy Riot's real offense a complaint against the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church.

I am a retired lawyer.  I am ashamed of the court's decision.

ARREST JULIAN ASSANGE

Enough of this silliness with Julian Assange!  Three women in Sweden have accused him of sexual aggression, specifically in refusing to use condoms.

Julian Assange needs to show up in Stockholm and answer these accusations.  Perhaps the charges have no basis.  But a court needs to hear the evidence and decide, not Julian Assange.

Julian Assange can't put off answering serious sexual charges by claiming without evidence that Sweden will hand him over to U.S. authorities.

STOP ISRAELI MARCH TOWARDS BOMBING IRAN

There have been many articles recently about statements from Israeli leaders that they are getting close to mounting an attack against Iran.

Here's a blog posted by Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian.  Writes Sherwood:

"In the past few days, the Israeli public has been hit by a blizzard of speculative articles suggesting a military strike against Iran's nuclear sites is imminent."

The reckless talk by people like Netanyahu and Barak is out-and-out warmongering.  It seems that the Israeli government wants to pave the way towards a military attack.

Stop this talk of bombing Tehran.  Obama should condemn Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders for their push towards war.

U.S. GOVERNMENT SHOULD OFFER AID AND FOOD TO IRANIAN VICTIMS OF SEVERE EARTHQUAKES

Iran suffers another catastrophic earthquake.  Thousands of Iranians are without food or shelter.

Why can't the government of the United States publicly announce that it stands ready to help out?

I ask the same question for the Israeli government?

Iranian victims are people who are suffering—men, women, children, young babies, old persons.

Just because the governments of the U.S. and Israel have quarrels with the leaders of Iran should not prevent basic human sympathy and prompt offers of assistance.

WHEN WILL THE OLYMPICS END?

I say humbug to the Olympics.  The games are a slick way for members of the Olympics committees and "family" to rake in huge amounts of cash at the expense of gullible athletes striving for a token gold medallion.

Consider some of the sports featured:  beach volleyball, especially showing attractive young females in bikinis, equine dressage (dance steps for smart horses), water polo, pole vaulting, field hockey.  Now, would any crazed fan now watching these games ever tune in to them if not during the Olympics?  A resounding no!

Olympic members and family have convinced the world to watch because they market the events as national contests, involving patriotic pride and jingoistic fervor.  Stop the Olympics scam!

LET PUSSY RIOT GO FREE!

The young ladies comprising Pussy Riot jumped into the sanctuary at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow and sang a "hymn" asking the Virgin Mary to drive Putin out.  They also sang about the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, saying that he was more interested in politics than justice and peace for all.

And for this, the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox clergy want the young ladies to be sentenced to seven years!

Stop this injustice.  Let Pussy Riot go.  Putin deserves punishment from the Virgin Mary for his assumption of absolute power.  And the Russian Orthodox Church deserves penalties from on high for corruption and its identification with those in power.

IRANIAN GOVERNMENT REITERATES ITS BACKING OF BASHAR AL ASSAD!

I wrote yesterday about the unfair and unjust effect of American economic sanctions against the people of Iran.  Sanctions are really warfare, but not with tanks and planes.  Instead, American sanctions are economic warfare against a whole people.

However, today, I read that Iranian leaders have reiterated their support of butcher Bashar al Assad, and claim that his war against the Syrian civilian population is really a war against terrorists.

I thought the Iranian leaders were smarter than repeating Assad's patently fictitious stories.  Syrian government helicopters, war planes and tanks bomb and shell Syrian towns, destroy homes, kill children as well as adults, and commit war crimes, seemingly without stop.

And Iran countenances and approves? 

If there was one move by which Iran could appear as a pariah to the civilized world community this is it.  I am sure those who declare themselves enemies of Iran are partying and rejoicing without end at this development.

STOP OBAMA'S SANCTIONS AGAINST IRANIAN PEOPLE

Stop economic sanctions against Iran and the Iranian people.  Sanctions are but another form of warfare, one nation against another.  Military warfare kills people by bombs and tanks.  Economic warfare kills people by reducing them to abject impoverishment.

The people who are hurt by Barack Obama's sanctions against Iran are the shopkeepers, the laborers, the teachers, the doctors, in a word, the whole civil population of Iran.

AUGUST 6TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIROSHIMA - GRANDSON OF HARRY TRUMAN TO PARTICIPATE IN MEMORIAL

Next Monday will be the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, resulting in the fiery deaths of 140,000.  The Guardian reports that a grandson of the American president who ordered the bombing is in Hiroshima to attend the memorial service.

Clifton Truman Daniel, 51, is the grandson of Harry Truman.

It is amazing that many, but not all, Americans believe the bombing was justified and the right thing to do. 

The bombing is a good example of an out-and-out war crime.  Harry Truman did not face trial because the U.S. was the victor.  It seems that only leaders of the vanquished are brought up on war crimes.

But I commend Clifton Truman Daniel for recognizing the awful suffering and fate of 140,000 souls who were incinerated on that day back in 1945.

STOP AMERICAN DRONE STRIKES IN PAKISTAN

Stop the American drone strikes in Pakistan.

I don't understand how Pres. Barack Obama can order these non-judicial killings.  Obama is at once the judge, jury and executioner.

How many men, women and children in rural Pakistani villages have been incinerated by American drones?  This is against international law—one country firing missiles across another's borders and killing the target country's people.

These drone strikes are making everyone hate the Americans.  Chris Woods in The Guardian reports that it is radicalizing ordinary Pakistanis.  Writes Woods:

"One of Islamabad's most senior diplomats is warning that CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas are weakening democracy and risk pushing people towards extremist groups.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to London and one of Pakistan's top ambassadors, also accuses the US of "talking in miles" when it comes to democracy but "moving in inches"."

PRES OBAMA, DON'T LET NETANYAHU MAKE A FOOL OF YOU

Why does it seem that the Obama administration kowtows to bellicose Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel?  Netanyahu threatens to bomb Iran, so Obama and his ministers obsequiously promise they will increase economic sanctions.  Who cares about the people of Iran, the ones who are severely and unjustly hurt economically by U.S. sanctions?  These American sanctions are really economic warfare waged against all Iranians.

Netanyahu in his threats against Iran wants to divert attention away from the real problem of Israeli persecution of the Palestinians.  No wonder the Palestinian economy is one tenth or less of the Israeli economy.  Netanyahu and his cobelievers in Israel's divine right to a greater Israel won't allow Palestinians to export their goods and services to the rest of the world, and they block construction materials from entering Gaza.

U.S. WAGES ILLEGAL ECONOMIC WARFARE AGAINST IRAN

The New York Times reports today on  U.S. imposing additional sanctions against Iran and its oil industry.  Mark Landler and Steven Lee Myers write:

"The new sets of measures, which target Iran’s oil and petrochemical sectors as well as its shipping trade, intensify existing sanctions intended to choke off the revenue that Iran reaps from its two largest export industries. While they do not represent a quantum leap in pressure, they address a potential weakness in the continuing effort: Iran’s increasingly adroit maneuvering to circumvent sanctions by selling its oil through foreign banks or for alternative means of payment, like gold."

This is warfare being waged by the U.S. against Iran, and it is just as illegal as military warfare or bombing Tehran.


The people who suffer as the targets of such American economic warfare are the common people, not Iran's leadership.  It is the guy who loses his job in the oil industry, the storekeeper whose sales fall off sharply because no one has money to spend, the single mother whose state payments suddenly stop.

I call upon Pres. Barack Obama, stop this illegal waging war against the people of Iran.

ASSAD'S WAR CRIMES—SHELLING OF CIVILIANS IN SYRIA

I realize that the government of Russia does not want to see another Libya ending in Syria.  The capture, torture and killing of Col. Gaddafi was disgusting and barbarous.  However, Bashar al Assad's shelling of Syrian cities and towns is also revolting.


In his quest to hang on to power, Assad shows himself to be the Butcher of Damascus.  Shelling and bombing of civilian homes and dwellings—certainly these things constitute disgusting war crimes.

STOP TRAVESTY TRIAL OF PUSSY RIOT IN RUSSIA!

Three young ladies from Pussy Riot are on trial today in Moscow for "desecrating" the cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church.  What did they do?  They sang a ribald song by the high altar mocking President Vladimir Putin.  And for that, they could be in jail a very long time.

This legal action is a travesty and a blot against justice.

Where is the concept of free speech in Russia today?  It appears not to exist.  Say something in church against the ruling ecclesiastical or political authorities and you could wind up like members of the Pussy Riot facing a sentence of seven years.

ROMNEY WOULD APPROVE AN ISRAELI MILITARY STRIKE AGAINST IRAN, DESTROYING WORLD PEACE FOR NEXT 500 YEARS

Mitt Romney is in Israel and, in a talk that he will give today, he makes it clear that he would approve of any military strike that Israel may decide to carry out against Iran.  According to Romney, Israel has the right to bomb Iran to stop any nuclear "capability."  This means Romney would approve attacking Iran even if it never developed nuclear weapons, yet it had the "capability."

Harriet Sherwood writes in The Guardian:

"In comments echoing Netanyahu's position that a nuclear Iran is the biggest threat to the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Romney will say: "We have seen the horrors of history. We will not stand by. We will not watch them play out again."

"Preventing the Iranian regime developing a nuclear weapons capability "must be our highest national security priority," Romney will say according to excerpts of the speech released in advance. "The security of Israel is in the vital national security interests of the United States.""


And here's the irony—Israel has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has about 100 nuclear warheads, maybe more, while Iran is a signatory to the NPT, and has said that it has no intention of producing a nuclear warhead.

This is madness. Romney cavalierly approves of a strike against Iran for the act of processing uranium, something allowed to all signatories of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty! How many Iranians will the Israelis need to kill in order to stop Iran from developing nuclear power and even a nuclear deterrent?

Imagine Romney as President.  He would allow an illegal war against Iran that kill thousands of Iranians.  The result would cause hatred and killings for at least the next 500 years.

AN AMERICAN ANTAGONIZES BRITISH ISLES - MITT ROMENY

Mitt Romney is in London for hardly a day, and he antagonizes the whole British Isles.  The American Prospect calls him a Nitwit in London.

Romney is the epitome of the guy next door who thinks he knows it all, especially in his attitude of superiority to you and everyone else on the block.

This is the guy that Republicans are coalescing behind?  Romney may have made a lot of money at Bain Capital, but he is sure lacking in humility and diplomacy.

OLYMPIC GAMES REALLY ABOUT MONEY, NOT ABOUT ATHLETES

Mitt Romney now in London has caused quite a political storm, questioning London's readiness to stage a successful Olympics.

Hélène Mulholland reports on Romney's statements in The Guardian:

"The US presidential candidate Mitt Romney has questioned the readiness of London 2012, saying there have been "disconcerting signs" in the buildup to the Games – but said the focus would soon switch to celebrating the athletes.

"Before meetings with David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband on Thursday, he told US television: "It is hard to know just how well it will turn out.""

But Romney goes on to perpetrate the biggest myth about Olympic Games—that they are all about athletes and competition.

That is the biggest baloney.  Romney, having managed the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, no doubt knows the vacuousness of his assertion.

The Olympics are all about money, money to be taken in by the Olympic Organizing Committee and the Olympic directors.  Athletes are merely the pawns used by the Olympic organization to lure spectators, TV contracts and advertisers.