We are running out of friends in the Middle East. For all of the talk of supporting freedom in the Middle East, the U.S. has usually backed its depots. Given our dependency on Middle East oil, we have had very little choice. That’s what happens when you don’t allow drilling in Alaska’s ANWR, anywhere off our coastlines or domestically where billions of barrels are estimated to exist.
Now, however, we have a President who is VERY different from any that came before him going all the way back to Truman and Eisenhower.
This Pakistani sees it as a wonderful thing
This is the Egyptian street in the strictest sense of the word… the silent majority no longer silent.
Despite the number of tear gas canisters fired at protesters and the number of those who have been beaten and detained, there is a feeling among many Egyptians that a long dormant patriotism and pride has been finally awakened.
Ironically perhaps, the notion of Arab unity, long a running joke in the region, is being felt for the first time as many Arabs pledge solidarity and support for the people of Tunisia and Egypt.
Egypt is the most populous and influential Arab country, a socio-political stalwart. What happens there will resonate in the region and produce a ripple effect much more powerful in magnitude and impact than Tunisia’s. Over the past few days, protests in Yemen have grown in strength and gusto.
For years, Western nations have used the lack of democratic reforms in the Middle East and North Africa as leverage to pressure and manipulate ruling dictatorships to bend to foreign interests.
Now that the Arab street is alive with the power of the people for the people and by the people, will policies in Washington, London and Paris accommodate their pursuit of democratic reform?
This man is not picking sides ..... yet
It can tempting to look at an uprising against an oppressive government and automatically take the side of the protesters — the students in Tiananmen Square or the pro-democracy marchers in Iran for example — but in Egypt, the nature of the uprising is a little different.
Here’s John Bolton on the Muslim Brotherhood that is behind the uprising in Egypt:
I don’t think we have evidence yet that these demonstrations are necessarily about democracy. You know the old saying, “one person, one vote, one time.” The Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t care about democracy, if they get into power you’re not going to have free and fair elections either.
And I think there is substantial reason, for example, to worry the minority Coptic Christian population, about 10% of the population will be very worried if the Muslim Brotherhood came to power.
Let’s be clear what the stakes are for the United States. We have an authoritarian regime in power that has been our ally. We don’t know at this point what the real alternatives are.
In a democracy and freedom sense, that says “the enemy you’re allies with is better than the enemy you don’t know.”
MY OPINION
I think there is some good news in that people are questioning the oppression they have lived under. People who have not self governed leave a vacuum that Islamic Fundamentalism will try to fill. There will be a vacuum when Mubarak steps down, and Tunisia and Yemen. I don't like dictators but I remember the aftermath of the fall of the Shah of Iran under Carter that we are still living with.
My best thought is that the success in Iraq helped lead to justice.
I wish the Body of Christ were strong on the ground in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen to be the light that fills the empty places that will result.
I'm not sanguine about all this. On balance this is not great news. I'm no fan of the corrupt Egyptian government, but I'm less of a fan of Iran Ayatollah types on the southern border of Israel. That's the net result of what will happen if things go south. This COULD BE the king of the South in Prophecy.
The President ordered the cabinet to cut a whopping $100 million from
the $3.5 trillion federal budget!
I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same
thing with my personal budget. I spend about $4000 a month on
groceries, medicine, bills, etc, but it's time to get out the budget
cutting ax, go line by line through my expenses, and go to work SLASHING my budget!
I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio -1/35,000 of my
total budget. After doing the math, it looks like instead of spending
$4000 a month; I'm going to have to cut that number by twelve cents!
Yes, I'm going to have to get by with $3999.88, but that's what
sacrifice is all about. I'll just have to do without some things, that
are, frankly, luxuries.
P.S. Callista and I, along with Dave Bossie, are proud to release our new photo book, Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny, inspired by the life and legacy of Ronald Reagan and our documentary of the same name. In honor of Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6th, we’ll have more to say about Ronald Reagan in next week’s newsletter.
P.P.S. Callista and I are also very proud that our documentary, Nine Days that Changed the World, has been nominated for The People’s Choice Festival Award on February 26thThe American people certainly don't need any more empty promises. Millions of American families have been pushed to the edge of desperation by this economy.
OBAMA: Tackling the deficit “means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs, which is part of why nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit.”
THE FACTS: The idea that Obama’s health care law saves money for the government is based on some arguable assumptions.
To be sure, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the law will slightly reduce red ink over 10 years. But the office’s analysis assumes that steep cuts in Medicare spending, as called for in the law, will actually take place. Others in the government have concluded it is unrealistic to expect such savings from Medicare.
OBAMA: “I’m willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits.”
THE FACTS: Republicans may be forgiven if this offer makes them feel like Charlie Brown running up to kick the football, only to have it pulled away, again.
Here’s the spin and the facts from the White House – and from Republicans – on the spending freeze in President Obama’s State of the Union address.
Spin: Obama is announcing a five-year freeze on a portion of government spending.
Fact: In fact it’s only partially new. He proposed a three-year freeze during last year’s State of the Union, and put it into place. So this extends last year’s proposal by two years.
“It is true that we already had a three-year freeze, so there were already significant savings in the budget. But we’ve extended that by two years,” Gene Sperling, a top economic adviser to Obama, said Tuesday afternoon.
Spin: The White House is selling the freeze, as Sperling put it, as “one of the deepest and toughest spending restraint budgets that has been seen by a president.”
Fact: They are freezing less than one half of one fourth of the budget. The current budget is $3.8 trillion, but for general purposes, consider the budget to be roughly $3.5 trillion each year over the last few years. Of that amount, about $2.5 trillion is mandatory spending, much of that being entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Of the $1 trillion that is left over in discretionary spending, only about $400 billion in annual spending fits into the category that Obama is freezing.
Another way to look at this is that the total budget is just under 24 percent of the economy, or gross domestic product, which is roughly $15 trillion. Obama is freezing a portion of the budget that is only two percent of GDP.
Obama does admit in his speech that he is freezing “a little more than 12% of our budget.”
“To make further progress, we have to stop pretending that cutting this kind of spending alone will be enough. It won’t,” he says, according to his prepared remarks.
