SecularCafe - Politics & World Events

Monday, 28 May 2012

Secular Café: See, here's the problem with health-care in the U.S.A.

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

See, here's the problem with health-care in the U.S.A.

May 28th 2012, 21:18

The cash discount for care

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...008905.graphic

(sorry it's a strange graphic, I can't post the image)

I'm particularly sensitive to these costs as I just (finally after two months of no coverage) signed up for a very high deductible plan that costs me over $200/mo that is only for high-risk/extensive care (hospitalization, ct scans, etc) and I have to pay for virtually everything up to $15000 per year.

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Secular Café: Farewell, Timbuktu: Former seat of Islamic learning to become an “Islamic state” under Sharia

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Farewell, Timbuktu: Former seat of Islamic learning to become an "Islamic state" under Sharia

May 28th 2012, 12:26

http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2012...+News+Daily%29

This is not a good thing....

Quote:

Timbuktu, the city (and state) in northern Mali which was once a wealthy center of trade and seat of Islamic learning and culture, more recently home to many UNESCO World Heritage sites, will become an Islamic state under Sharia, the BBC reported today.

Quote:

Two rebel groups that seized northern Mali two months ago have agreed to merge and turn their territory into an Islamist state, both sides say.

The Tuareg MNLA, a secular rebel group, and the Islamist group Ansar Dine signed the deal in the town of Gao, spokespeople said.

Ansar Dine, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has already begun to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in towns such as Timbuktu.

The groups took advantage of a coup in March to seize the territory.

…

Mali’s Communications Minister Hamadoun Toure told the BBC that other countries should help Mali tackle al-Qaeda in the region.

An Islamist group with ties to al-Quaeda is going to help Mali tackle al-Quaeda?

Am I the only person who sees this as naive as thinking that Mitt Romney will prove a ‘strong church-state separationist’?

Meanwhile, even before reaching the agreement–and I’m not sure how a secularist group reaches agreement to Sharia law–the Islamists had already been hard at work destroying Timbuktu’s fabled past.

Quote:

Since seizing the city in March, Ansar Dine has targeted Timbuktu’s precious Muslim heritage.

The shrine of a 15th Century sufi saint Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar has been attacked, according to Lazare Eloundou Assomo of Unesco.

“The entrance gate of the mausoleum was completely destroyed and burnt,” Mr Assomo told the BBC World Service. “The curtain that protected the shrine was destroyed.”

Timbuktu is known as the city of the 333 saints, says Alida Jay Boye, author of Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu.

The fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam objects to the veneration of saints’ tombs, maintaining that it amounts to saint worship.

“Salafis do not want there to be any intermediary between the believer and God. It looks like Ansar Dine is going after shrines just like other groups have done in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia,” she says.

Neil Whitehead, a former hotelier in Timbuktu, has fled to Morocco because of the recent unrest.

He says that conditions are deteriorating in the city.

“The Salafis are turning on the locals, raiding their homes and taking anything of value, together with any food. All shops are shut and, in the words of our friends, ‘everything is broken’,” he said.

“They have introduced a form of Sharia and the locals feel like prisoners in their houses.”

Once again, Islamists demonstrate their acceptance of other cultures and their willingness to leave others to their own beliefs.

Yes, they act much like fundamentalist Christians. If it doesn’t support their belief system, they want it destroyed.

You can read more about Timbuktu’s present and past at UNESCO.org, and about how UNESCO and the government of Mali are working to preserve Timbuktu’s earthen architectural treasures here.

There are links at the site with further info.....

Sunday, 27 May 2012

Secular Café: Republican Party too "wacko"

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Republican Party too "wacko"

May 27th 2012, 21:04

Republican Party too 'wacko' to still be considered mainstream - The Irish Times - Sat, May 26, 2012

Quote:

Two prominent political scientists say the Grand Old Party has become more loyal to party than to country and is to blame for dysfunction in the US political system.

They cited Mitt Romney's dismissal of global warming as a hoax, MR's extreme anti-immigrant policy, Allen West's claims of Commies in Congress, and a Republican audience cheering when someone stated that someone unemployed who loses medical insurance should be allowed to die.

Quote:

These examples are cited by two prominent political scientists, Thomas Mann of the liberal Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, as evidence the Grand Old Party is no longer mainstream.

The GOP, they write, has become “an insurgent outlier – ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition”.

Though the two gentlemen have long pointed their fingers at both parties, they have decided that it's the Republican Party that deserves most of the blame nowadays.

Quote:

Last summer’s debt-ceiling fiasco showed how Republicans “have become more loyal to party than to country”, Mann and Ornstein write. ...

The authors quote Mike Lofgren, a Republican congressional staffer who resigned last year, after nearly three decades, saying the party “is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th-century Europe”.

That article referred to
‘It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With The New Politics of Extremism’ by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein - The Washington Post

Quote:

Now Mann and Ornstein have decided that the time has come to abandon the evenhandedness still fashionable among political journalists (as opposed to the partisan talking heads and bloggers now so popular). The blunt result will be invigorating for some readers, and infuriating for others.

Their principal conclusion is unequivocal: Today’s Republicans in Congress behave like a parliamentary party in a British-style parliament, a winner-take-all system. But a parliamentary party — “ideologically polarized, internally unified, vehemently oppositional” — doesn’t work in a “separation-of-powers system that makes it extremely difficult for majorities to work their will.”

There's an additional problem.

Quote:

Mann and Ornstein chose not to explore the history of today’s voters’ cynicism, a powerful ingredient in the poisonous brew they describe. Doing so would have given them a chance to add some even-handedness to their story. In 1964, on the eve of the disastrous Vietnam War, 77 percent of Americans expected their government do “do the right thing” always or most of the time, according to opinion polls. Ten years later, after Vietnam and Watergate, 77 percent had become 36. Today it is less than 20 percent who have that confidence in the government. The Vietnam War, largely the work of Democrats, and Richard Nixon together destroyed Americans’ confidence in their governing institutions. It has never been restored. Several generations have grown up since reflexively distrusting their government.

Saturday, 26 May 2012

Secular Café: Strange 1942 World Map

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Strange 1942 World Map

May 26th 2012, 23:59

"OUR POLICY SHALL BE THIS:

1. We, the U.S.A., in cooperation with our allies, for reasons of our national safety and in the interests of international morality, are determined to crush and completely destroy the military power of the Axis aggressors, and their satellites regardless of cost, effort and time necessary to accomplish this task.

2. The old world order of colonial oppression, exploitation of dominions, rival imperialism and mercenary balance of power diplomacy; of majesties, dictators, privileged minorities, plutocratic monopolists and similar social parasites; the corrupted order responsible for the present world cataclysm, endangering our national safety and peaceful process, shall never rise again.

3. A New World Moral Order for permanent peace and freedom shall be established at the successful conclusion of the present war.

4. For reasons of history, economic structure, favorable geography and the welfare of mankind, the U.S.A. must, altruistically, assume the leadership of the newly established, democratic world order.

5. To reduce the burden and criminal waste of armaments expenditures everywhere in the world, the U.S.A., with the cooperation of Latin-America, the British Commonwealth of Nations, and the U.S.S.R. shall undertake to guarantee peace to the nations which will be permanently disarmed and demilitarized after the conclusion of the present war.

6. In order to be able, in the fulfillment of our obligations, to effectively prevent the possibility of a recurrence of another world cataclysm, the invincibility of the U.S.A. as a military, naval and air power, shall be the major prerequisite.

7. For realistic considerations of strategy and our invulnerability, it is imperative that the U.S.A. shall obtain relinquishment of controls of their possessions from all foreign Powers in the entire Western Hemisphere, it's surrounding waters and strategic island outposts as outlined on accompanying map.

8. For considerations of hemispheric defense and in the spirit and tradition of the new Monroe Doctrine of hemispheric solidarity and the "Good Neighbor" policy, the U.S.A. with the consent of the Latin-American Republics, shall obtain control and protectorate rights of the relinquished territories.

9. To strengthen our position in the Caribbean area which is of obvious importance to hemispheric defense, all possible inducements shall be offered to our neighbors of Central America and the West Indies to facilitate their entrance as equal states of the U.S.A. as outlined on map.

10. To fortify the politico-economic unity of the Western Hemisphere, the U.S.A. shall promote and assist the unification of South America into a well organized, democratic, federated "United States of South America."

11. The liberated British, French and Netherlands Guiana shall be reorganized as one state of the U.S.S.A.

12. All Powers shall relinquish their controls of their colonial, mandate and strategic island possessions everywhere in the world.

13. The British Commonwealth of Nations, the second military and naval Power of importance cooperating in a binding compact with the U.S.A. as a Power for freedom, shall retain and acquire control such territories, peace-security bases and strategic islands outposts essential for the maintenance of world peace and freedom as outlines on the map.

14. The U.S.S.R., the third military Power of importance cooperating with the U.S.A. as a Power for freedom and the maintenance of world peace, shall acquire control of the liberated, disorganized adjacent areas and those of Germany-Austria to be re-educated and eventually incorporated as equal republics of the U.S.S.R., as approximately outlined on map.

15. A world League of Nationalities with arbitration and supervision powers shall be organized.

16. A World Court with punitive powers of absolute boycott, quarantine, blockade and occupation by international police, against lawbreakers of international morality shall be organized.

17. The U.S.A. with the close cooperation of the United States of South America, the British Commonwealth of Nations, the U.S.S.R. and the World League of Nationalities, shall promote and assist in the unification of the relinquished territories and the areas at present unsoundly divided into well organized democratic and absolutely demilitarized republics as approximately on the map.

18. The areas known as Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, the island of Corsica, and eventually Italy and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily shall be unified as a demilitarized, federated "United States of Europe."

19. The areas known as Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Spitsbergen islands shall be unified as a demilitarized, federated "United States of Scandinavia."

20. The continent of Africa shall be reorganized and unified as a demilitarized, federated "Union of African Republics."

21. The areas of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Hejas, Aden and Oman, shall be unified as a demilitarized union of "Arabian Federated Republics."

22. The areas known as India, including Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Burma shall be unified as a demilitarized "federated Republics of India."

23. The areas known as China, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand, Malaya, Indo-China and Korea, shall be unified as a demilitarized, federated "United Republics of China."

24. The areas known as Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Crete, Dodecanese and adjacent islands in the Aegean sea shall be unified as a demilitarized "Federal Republic of Greece."

25. The areas known as Eire and Northern Ireland shall be unified as a demilitarized independent republic of "Eire."

26. The area of the Holy Land of the ancient Hebrews, at present known as Palestine and Trans-Jordan, and the adjacent requisite regions as outlined on map, for considerations of history and the imperative necessity to alleviate a post war refugee problem, shall be unified as a demilitarized republic of "Hebrewland."

27. The area known as European Turkey, adjacent to the Dardanelles, sea of Marmora and Bosporus, for considerations of realistic peace strategy shall be placed under joint control of the U.S.S.R. and Turkey.

28. The area known as Turkey shall be a demilitarized independent republic of "Turkey."

29. All problems of exchange, transfer and repatriation of populations shall be administered by the World League of Nationalities.

30. The criminal perpetrators and their partners in guilt of this hideous war shall be brought to justice and unforgettable punishment administered.

31. All subjects of Japan and all persons of Japanese origin of doubtful loyalty shall be expelled from the entire Western Hemisphere, U.S.A. protectorates and strategic island outposts and their property confiscated for post-war reconstruction needs.

32. All subjects of Germany and Italy and all persons of German and Italian origin known as active supporters of Nazi and fascist ideologies shall be treated similarly.

33. German, Italian, Japanese immigration to the Western Hemisphere, its protectorates and island outposts shall be indefinitely stopped.

34. All persons of German origin in East Prussia and the Rhineland shall be transferred to inner Germany and the regions permanently de-Prussianized.

35. All persons of German, Italian and Japanese origin shall be permanently expelled from their now conquered territories and their property confiscated for post-war construction needs.

36. To cleanse the populations of the defeated Axis aggressors of the intoxication of military chauvinism; to effectuate the removal and destruction of their potential military establishments; to recover the accumulated loot and to re-educate them for their eventual membership in the Family of Nations, the areas of Germany-Austria, Italy and Japan shall be hermetically and indefinitely quarantined and administered by appointed Governors subject to supervision by the world League of Nationalities.

37. All resources, industrial and labor capacity of quarantined areas shall be employed for the post war restoration and reconstruction needs.

38. To reduce the numerical power of the aggressor nations, as a potential military advantage, a Population Control Policy shall be elaborated and applied in the quarantined area.

39. In the New World Moral Order which we seek to establish, besides the essential political freedoms, the following fundamental economic changes are imperative:

(a) Nationalization of all natural resources and equitable distribution of same to all nations…everywhere in the world;

(b) Nationalization of international banking, foreign investments, railroads and power plants….everywhere in the world;

(c) Nationalization of all armaments producing establishments by all military powers;

(d) Federal control of foreign commerce and shipping;

(e) The establishment of a world common monetary system;

(f) World wide limitations of interest rates to a maximum of two percent;

40. To retain the victory and leadership of our united democratic effort….the aim of which is not vengeance or exploitation, but freedom and security to all nations for peaceful progress….the unified "Supreme War Command of the United Nations" at the conclusion of the present war, shall be recognized and transformed into a permanent "Supreme Military and Economic Council" collaborating with the World League of Nationalities in post war construction and to enforce world peace.

41. The "Supreme Military and Economic Council" shall appoint the Governors to administer the quarantined areas until their eventual parole.

For this purposeful beginning we must fight until absolute victory."

http://bigthink.com/ideas/21338

Secular Café: South Africa taking a step backwards?

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

South Africa taking a step backwards?

May 26th 2012, 13:34

The SA constitution was much admired. But what on earth are they doing now?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...bt-traditional

Quote:

The traditional courts bill threatens to undermine this security for millions of South Africans living in rural areas. The bill is the latest in a series of clumsy attempts to define, regularise and institutionalise the role of traditional leaders. In so doing, the bill undermines the protection afforded by constitutional civil rights.

The bill would grant individual traditional leaders sole authority to interpret and implement customary law. The bill would also prohibit rural people from opting out of the jurisdiction of traditional courts, preventing access to alternative forms of justice and circumventing the authority of the constitution...

...It is no accident that some of the most vociferous public debates in South Africa and sites of the most violent conflict have concerned the role of women and the legal equality of sexual and gender minorities. These have sometimes been adjudicated by traditional authorities but, contrary to the way the chiefs are presenting it, the traditional courts bill elevates the role of chiefs and threatens to ossify traditional law.

Tradition, too, must evolve, and, indeed, it has done. The constitution holds that customary law should be recognised, respected, and – most importantly – subject to the constitution. Yet Contralesa and the National House of Traditional Leaders have consistently rejected LGBT people as "un-African", recently recommending that "sexual orientation" be removed from the bill of rights.

The very essence of our democracy is the protection of vulnerable people. This bill, if enacted, would effectively remove that protection for millions of South Africans. For women, gays, lesbians and transgender people, in particular, the protection of the bill of rights is necessary armour against traditional authority. If South Africans keep traditional leaders in a modern democracy, these figureheads should play a role consistent with the constitution, not one that tampers with our rights.

Secular Café: Right-Winger quits "Hate, Anger And Fear Machine"

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

Right-Winger quits "Hate, Anger And Fear Machine"

May 26th 2012, 06:44

Writer Michael Fumento Quits Conservative Movement, Calls It "Hate, Anger And Fear Machine" / Queerty
My break with the extreme right - Salon.com

Quote:

…I find myself linked not only with the Unabomber, but also Charles Manson and Fidel Castro. Or so says the Chicago-based think tank the Heartland Institute, for which I've done work. Heartland erected billboards depicting the above three declaring: "I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?" Climate scientists now, evidently, share something in common with dictators and mass murderers. Reportedly bin Laden was scheduled to make such an appearance, too.You see, I've published articles saying I do "believe in global warming." Yes, I've also questioned the extent to which man-made gases have contributed to that warming and concluded that expenditures to reduce those emissions would be as worthless as they'd be horrifically expensive. No matter; just call me "Ted." Or "Charlie." Or "Fidel."

This is nuts! Literally. As in "mass hysteria."

The sort of manners that the right wing has?

Quote:

Civility and respect for order—nay, demand for order—have always been tenets of conservatism. The most prominent work of history's most prominent conservative, Edmund Burke, was a reaction to the anger and hatred that swept France during the revolution. It would eventually rip the country apart and plunge all of Europe into decades of war. Such is the rotted fruit of mass-produced hate and rage. Burke, not incidentally, was a true Tea Party supporter, risking everything as a member of Parliament to support the rebellion in the United States.

All of today's right-wing darlings got there by mastering what Burke feared most: screaming "J'accuse! J'accuse!" Turning people against each other. Taking seeds of fear, anger and hatred and planting them to grow a new crop.

In effect, many "movement conservatives" have much more in common with Maximilien Robespierre than Edmund Burke. Their policy prescriptions often have a remarkably Robespierrian quality about them, the sort of reckless radicalism than Burke had so famously criticized. By comparison, Obama seems Burkean, a cautious reformist.

Look at the sort of "research" that many "movement conservatives" do:

Quote:

Conservatism has also historically emphasized empiricism. Joe Friday of "Dragnet" must have been a conservative: "All we want are the facts, Ma'am." When President Reagan famously said, "Facts are stupid things," he meant to quote President John Adams' observation that "Facts are stubborn things."

But how much fact was there in Heartland's billboards, whose shock purpose has been likened to tactics of the hard-left animal activist group PETA, with whom I've repeatedly locked horns. Or in West's assertion? Or Breitbart's tirades? Rush Limbaugh compared Breitbart, who never wrote a single investigative report, to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the dynamic duo who brought down the thoroughly corrupt presidency of Richard Nixon.

He actually said Breitbart's work was superior. Oh, dear!

Friday, 25 May 2012

Secular Café: My take on Afghanistan

Secular Café

For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world

My take on Afghanistan

May 25th 2012, 12:36

Taliban was created by Pakistan to remove Russians (America aided) and to take over Afghanistan for Pakistan.

"In the beginning the Taliban numbered in the hundreds, were badly equipped and low on munitions. Within months however 15,000 students arrived from the madrassas in Pakistan."

"Pakistan, however, started to provide stronger military support to the Taliban. Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests. On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive. The Taliban entered Kabul on September 27, 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."

"The Taliban were largely founded by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 1994. The ISI used the Taliban to establish a regime in Afghanistan which would be favorable to Pakistan, as they were trying to gain strategic depth."

"According to Pakistani Afghanistan expert Ahmed Rashid, "between 1994 and 1999, an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Pakistanis trained and fought in Afghanistan" on the side of the Taliban. Peter Tomsen stated that up until 9/11 Pakistani military and ISI officers along with thousands of regular Pakistani armed forces personnel had been involved in the fighting in Afghanistan.

In 2001 alone, according to several international sources, 28,000-30,000 Pakistani nationals, 14,000-15,000 Afghan Taliban and 2,000-3,000 Al Qaeda militants were fighting against anti-taliban forces in Afghanistan as a roughly 45,000 strong military force."
All quotes from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban

With the loss of Bangladesh (considered by many Pakistanis as 'good riddance'), Pakistan is focusing in Central Asia. Afghanistan (pop. 32 m.) is the first step which they think will lead them to Uzbekistan (27 m.), Turkmenistan (5 m.), Kirghistan (5 m.), Tajikistan (7 m.), and possibly Kazakhistan (16 m.) as compared to Paksitan's 200 m. These are the stakes for Pakistan with all the minerals and oil that they can control there.

US can avoid all war costs and losses by simply handing over Afghanistan to Pakistan, if it suits their long-term strategy. Taliban would vamoose in a day and Pakistan will stop helping al-Quaeda. :)