Is the US a Xtn nation - Ken Blackwell debates Christopher Hitchens

Blackwell, former Ohio Secretary of State, debates noted atheist Christopher Hitchens relative to the US being a Christian nation.

Blackwell, who now works for the ultra-right wingnut group, the Family Research Council, didn't have a chance! Probably because he has no clue as to what he's talking about.

If you haven't read the Newsweek story, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," by editor Jon Meacham, it's worth a look. For one thing, he gives too much attention and credence to R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mohler, a rabid fundamentalist, represents only one very noise segment of Christianity, and would be shunned by many of the mainstream denominations - their clergy and laity - as an example of ignorance and superstition.

Nevertheless, Meacham makes many interesting observations and from what the most recent polls indicate, the number of people who identify as Christians is dropping, while the numbers for unaffiliated as well as atheists and agnostics is growing.

G-20 - Building up, not tearing down

[Image from BBC]

The differences between our current administration and our former administration are stark. The latter was mostly concerned with flaunting power and tearing down, and the Obama administration is concerned with cooperation and building up.

Thus, at G-20, the "leader of the free world" (our president!), helped to bring about what McClatchy calls "large achievements."

"The leaders of the world's major industrialized nations accomplished something at their G-20 summit...that rarely happens at such gatherings of heads of state.

"The produced large achievements.

"They pledged the first-ever global regulation of hedge funds and private-equity firms, big players in global finance that have enjoying operating under the regulatory radar. They agreed to require banks to set aside more capital in good times to help them function in bad times. They vowed to crack down on tax haven nations that allow the wealthy to escape taxation. And they pledged $1.1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund and related institutions to help revive the global economy."


What struck me, in particular, was how for the first time in a long time, the United States held out the hand of friendship by explicitly involving itself in cooperative efforts, and thus telling the rest of the world we not only own up to our culpability in this godawful mess, but recognize that we do not live in isolation, that we cannot "make it" on our own, that we're all in this together and we'll do whatever it takes to make it right.

That's a 180 from how the Bush/Cheney gang of criminal thugs operated over the past eight years!


This obviously does not mean that our problems are over and that we're on the way back to easy street. We may never walk easy street again. But it does mean that we're committed to taking the necessary steps to modify the system so that it works, not just for the greedy bastards on Wall Streets around the world, but for all the people -- those who because of the greedy bastards are now homeless, jobless, and hopeless.


McClatchy has much more on this subject which you can survey here.

Socialism brings about collapse

Yup. "Socialism" means financial collapse, according to the Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, Christopher Monckton.

Well, maybe not. Sweden, Norway, and other nations are among the most stable and most advanced countries in the world and operate on a "socialistic" financial system.

Maybe Viscount Monckton doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. For example, he says of his beloved England:

"Every Labor government there has ever been from 1926 to the present day has always ended in exactly the same way because they essentially try to run a communist financial system."

Huh? Someone please explain to the Viscount the difference between apples and oranges. Communism and democracy are political systems. Socialism and capitalism are economic systems.

Thus, a democracy like Sweden may operate very well under a socialistic economic system. In the United States we have had a partially socialist system for years. Public schools are socialistic. The U.S. Post Office is socialistic. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid might be termed socialistic.

Socialism is not necessarily bad, nor is capitalism necessarily good. In fact, recently we have seen just how bad free-market, unregulated capitalism can be! Thus, the government has had to step in and enact "socialistic" measures to keep the economy from collapsing. And, the funny thing, good ol' not-so-conservative George W. Bush is the one who did it!


To people like Viscount Monckton, however, reality, reason and truth seldom make an impression. Thus, he pontificates that the United States will surely collapse if it falls prey to "socialism."

Monckton is worried about Obama. He's afraid Obama is going to "redistribute the wealth," and the poor folks might get a chunk of it. My God, dontcha know "redistribution of the wealth" only works when it's redistributed into the greedy hands of the rich?


Been there, done that. We're in a terrible mess right now, not because of socialism, but because of unfettered, free-market capitalism and an insane redistribution of the country's wealth to the very rich through a system of misguided tax cuts by the Bush administration!

Mr. Monckton is a gasbag who ought to head back to his estate and contemplate chasing the foxes instead long-deceased conservative fantasies about the evils of socialism.

(Monckton is also a "journalist," a failed politician, a Roman Catholic, an amateur scientiest, and a global-warming denier. He is very rich. No wonder he doesn't like socialism. If there's wealth to be redistributed, he wants it!)

Osama bin Laden planning new attack on U.S.

This story is being reported in newspapers around the world. What follows is from theage.com.au, but it appears in the brisbanetimes.com and in UK papers also.


Warning of new bin Laden attack

Paola Totaro, London
November 10, 2008 - 12:00 AM


Osama bin Laden is planning an attack against the United States that will "outdo by far" September 11, an Arab newspaper in London has reported. ...

...

And according to a former senior Yemeni al-Qaeda operative, the terrorist organisation has entered a "positive phase", reinforcing specific training camps around the world that will lead the next "wave of action" against the West.

The warning, on the fron page of an Arabic newspaper published in London, Al-Quds Al-Arabi -- and widely reported in the major Italian papers - quotes a person described as being "very close to al-Qaeda" in Yemen.

The paper is edited by Abdel al-Bari Atwan, who is said to be the last journalist to interview Osama bin Laden in 1996. According to the report, bin Laden is himself closely following preparations for an attack against the US and aims to "change the face of world politics and economics". The operative is quoted as saying that "this will be shown by the fact that we now control and major part of the south of Somalia." ...

... the threat level [is] described as "severe".


More here.


A quick survey of some of the major U.S. newspapers online revealed no mention of this story! Why would that be?