You Have Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

Fearing Fear Itself By Paul Krugman The New York Times
Monday 29 October 2007
In America's darkest hour, Franklin Delano Roosevelt urged the nation not to succumb to "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror." But that was then.
Today, many of the men who hope to be the next president - including all of the candidates with a significant chance of receiving the Republican nomination - have made unreasoning, unjustified terror the centerpiece of their campaigns.
Consider, for a moment, the implications of the fact that Rudy Giuliani is taking foreign policy advice from Norman Podhoretz, who wants us to start bombing Iran "as soon as it is logistically possible."
Mr. Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary and a founding neoconservative, tells us that Iran is the "main center of the Islamofascist ideology against which we have been fighting since 9/11." The Islamofascists, he tells us, are well on their way toward creating a world "shaped by their will and tailored to their wishes." Indeed, "Already, some observers are warning that by the end of the 21st century the whole of Europe will be transformed into a place to which they give the name Eurabia."
Do I have to point out that none of this makes a bit of sense?
For one thing, there isn't actually any such thing as Islamofascism - it's not an ideology; it's a figment of the neocon imagination. The term came into vogue only because it was a way for Iraq hawks to gloss over the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked America, to Saddam Hussein, who didn't. And Iran had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 - in fact, the Iranian regime was quite helpful to the United States when it went after Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.
Beyond that, the claim that Iran is on the path to global domination is beyond ludicrous. Yes, the Iranian regime is a nasty piece of work in many ways, and it would be a bad thing if that regime acquired nuclear weapons. But let's have some perspective, please: we're talking about a country with roughly the G.D.P. of Connecticut, and a government whose military budget is roughly the same as Sweden's.
Meanwhile, the idea that bombing will bring the Iranian regime to its knees - and bombing is the only option, since we've run out of troops - is pure wishful thinking. Last year Israel tried to cripple Hezbollah with an air campaign, and ended up strengthening it instead. There's every reason to believe that an attack on Iran would produce the same result, with the added effects of endangering U.S. forces in Iraq and driving oil prices well into triple digits.
Mr. Podhoretz, in short, is engaging in what my relatives call crazy talk. Yet he is being treated with respect by the front-runner for the G.O.P. nomination. And Mr. Podhoretz's rants are, if anything, saner than some of what we've been hearing from some of Mr. Giuliani's rivals.
Thus, in a recent campaign ad Mitt Romney asserted that America is in a struggle with people who aim "to unite the world under a single jihadist Caliphate. To do that they must collapse freedom-loving nations. Like us." He doesn't say exactly who these jihadists are, but presumably he's referring to Al Qaeda - an organization that has certainly demonstrated its willingness and ability to kill innocent people, but has no chance of collapsing the United States, let alone taking over the world.
And Mike Huckabee, whom reporters like to portray as a nice, reasonable guy, says that if Hillary Clinton is elected, "I'm not sure we'll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country's ever faced in Islamofascism. " Yep, a bunch of lightly armed terrorists and a fourth-rate military power - which aren't even allies - pose a greater danger than Hitler's panzers or the Soviet nuclear arsenal ever did.
All of this would be funny if it weren't so serious.
In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration adopted fear-mongering as a political strategy. Instead of treating the attack as what it was - an atrocity committed by a fundamentally weak, though ruthless adversary - the administration portrayed America as a nation under threat from every direction.
Most Americans have now regained their balance. But the Republican base, which lapped up the administration' s rhetoric about the axis of evil and the war on terror, remains infected by the fear the Bushies stirred up - perhaps because fear of terrorists maps so easily into the base's older fears, including fear of dark-skinned people in general.
And the base is looking for a candidate who shares this fear.
Just to be clear, Al Qaeda is a real threat, and so is the Iranian nuclear program. But neither of these threats frightens me as much as fear itself - the unreasoning fear that has taken over one of America's two great political parties.

The Most Hated Family In America

The Phelps Family http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O228AQRvcqQ

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Obama Campaigning With Gay Basher

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Gore Beats Bush Again

ANALYSIS-Nobel is sweet revenge for Gore, blow to Bush


By Matt SpetalnickWASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Call it Al Gore's revenge.The Nobel Peace Prize he won on Friday was a blow to U.S. President George W. Bush and his widely criticized environmental policy and will long be savored by the man who lost the bitter 2000 presidential election by a whisker. The honor was bestowed jointly on the former vice president and the U.N. climate panel for campaigning against the threat of global warming, in a not-so-subtle swipe at Bush, a latecomer to the battle against climate change. It may also be interpreted as a part of an international backlash not only against seven years of what many see as environmental backsliding under Bush but also against his Iraq war policy and perceived arrogance in world affairs. "The Nobel Committee's recognition of Vice President Gore shines a bright light on the most inconvenient truth of all -- the selection of George Bush as president has endangered the peace and prosperity of the entire planet," said fellow Democrat John Edwards, a 2008 White House contender. It was a double slap to the Republican president, marking the second prize to a leading Democratic critic during Bush's administration.The 2002 prize went to former President Jimmy Carter, which the Nobel committee head at the time said was a signal of disapproval over Bush's preparations for the invasion of Iraq. For Gore -- who won the popular vote for president nationwide but lost a crucial Florida vote recount battle and thus the election to Bush -- the Nobel Peace Prize brought a measure of vindication.After the 2000 election, he remade himself as a tireless environmental campaigner, winning an Oscar in 2007 for his documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth." Gore is now being treated like a rock star by Democratic supporters who want him to jump into the 2008 presidential race to claim the office they believe he was unfairly denied.BUSH'S WOESWhile Gore has grown in international stature since his narrow election loss, Bush has seen his credibility damaged at home and abroad by the Iraq war and other foreign policy woes. He is struggling to stave off lame-duck status and stay relevant while increasingly hemmed in by a hostile Democratic majority in Congress. His inner circle is steadily eroding with almost weekly departures of key aides and advisers. And the president's public approval rating, which soared to 90 percent after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, has sunk close to historic lows, with some polls putting it below 30 percent.Around the world, Bush has won few friends with his stance on Gore's signature issue -- climate change. At a White House-convened summit last month, some of the world's biggest greenhouse polluters called Bush "isolated" and questioned his leadership on the problem of global warming.Bush has rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that sets limits on industrial nations' greenhouse gas emissions, and instead favors voluntary targets to curb emissions. His acknowledgment of a problem highlighted a shift from his previous questioning of the science linking human activity to rising global temperatures.But despite his concessions on global warming, Bush has continued to face deep scepticism over his efforts to rally support for emissions goals instead of fixed limits. The White House on Friday praised Gore and the U.N. climate panel for winning what many consider the world's most prestigious honor, and Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes insisted the award "is never criticism of anyone." But Gore has been a frequent critic of Bush's environmental policy, urging him last month to follow the example set by the late Republican President Ronald Reagan in supporting efforts to protect the ozone layer by showing leadership in the fight against global warming. Increasing international recognition of the threat of climate change helped make Gore the betting choice to win the Nobel Peace Prize.Bush had been considered by betting services to be the definitive longshot -- at more than 100 to 1.

Republican Ohio EPA Sold Ohio Down The Tubes

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Leathermen fight don't ask don't tell

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Prejudice even in retirement homes

Retirement prejudice for gays. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/us/09aged.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1191931267-QJYxre8ijxaqHldN8jhU5A

O'Neil Working Hard To Defeat Republican LaTourette

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Another Republican Senator Bows Out

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/senate.newmexico/index.html

Rich Republicans Try To Steal Election Again

Rich Republicans are again trying to buy a Presidential election. Their strategy is to get Democratic states to divide electoral votes based on how many votes the candidate wins. Then they will keep the Republican states as all or nothing states. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/us/politics/04proxy.html?th&emc=th