Didn’t We Fix That Iran Thing?

Iranian Atomic energy Agency Rep, Ali Asghar (courtesy Reuters)

Or, why is this man smiling? The man is Ali Asghar, Iran’s International Atomic Energy agency Ambassador. He just  had a meting in Vienna on the Iranian nuclear issue. Short review, the administration was brokering a deal that would get much of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium out of Iran. Presumably, that would make it much less dangerous and the Iranians would  not find it so easy to build  a bomb. Russia and France were on board. All looked rosy, except that it wasn’t.

Iran, in the person of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted to tweak the agreement a bit, compromise from both sides, if you will. He had previously said that the West had gone from insisting that Iran have no nuclear capabilities to discussing what kind of nuclear capabilities it would have. So Iran had moved up a notch or two or more from the Bush-era.

Quite  interesting to note that there was  almost universal opposition to the Vienna agreement in Iran. Both the hardliners and reformers were united in their negative response .( Bet Congressional Democrats would love to see that on a certain domestic issue.)   Nobody can tell us what to do with our enriched uranium. So, now we have foot-dragging, delaying etc.

Who does this tactic both worry and strengthen? How about Israel who don’t Iran should have any nuclear anything. They can say, we told you this was a bad deal all along. Will it make them more likely to take military action on their own? That is hard to answer even as  one of the largest joint US Israel military exercises , Operation Juniper Cobra goes forward.

Perhaps this telling comment from an Israeli military adviser is worth remembering. This, of course, unnamed source called Iran’s maneuvering, “bazaar bargaining at its best.” Wonder who will have the winning hand?

Scary Things

Tomorrow is Halloween and that means different things depending probably on your age as much as anything else. For the little people, it means legally sanctioned plundering. All the candy and goodies and McDonald’s coupons you can persuade people to give you. Fyi, don’t you hate it when people  who are old enough to know better come to your door with no costume  and a pillowcase, asking for a handout?

Then there are us old curmudgeonly types who just wish the holiday no longer existed and we did not have to be with the incessant door knocking and door bell ringing, even though we did it ourselves once upon  a time. Halloween etiquette says you must give out treats if you turn on your porch light. That one was shared by DiNozzo on NCIS  just recently.

Of course, there are adult Halloween parties and haunted houses to attend. No, the Capitol building is not one of them. Costumes at these parties seem to run the gamut from ridiculously expensive to just ridiculous.

I would be remiss if I failed to toss a memorial bone in the direction of our sainted golden retriever, Rameses. This kindly soul, who loved all and thought  that all loved him was quite excited by the constant parade of visitors to the house, just to see him, of  course. I remember one year in which he slipped out the door and proceeded to accompany a group of trick or treaters on their rounds for a while. Apparently sensory overload brought him back home.

Scary movies, pass;try to avoid them. MSNBC OR CNN is usually enough for me. That brings me to this and I really hate to admit it. When channel surfing earlier today, I came across Chris Matthews and heard him speak of Afghanistan. What I heard sounded something like us. Either defeat the Taliban or get out. Wow, something that sounded rather close to what I think. Did it really occur or was it  a Halloween mirage?

Don’t know for sure. Gotta go and write that letter quickly to the Great Pumpkin. Wait for me Linus.

Good History Or Bad History?

Today, House Democrats unveiled their massive health care bill (1,990 pages worth) and Speaker Pelosi called it a historic moment. I suppose that is  a true statement. But, upon reflection, that doesn’t in and of itself make it good. After all, there is good history and there is  bad history. It is somewhat early to know which one this will be.

The President was excited about it. He called the event  another milestone in the health care reform effort. There was  a big ceremony on the steps of the Capitol which was apparently an RSVP event. You or I or just any random person could not have joined in the celebration. I watched  a couple of videos, one including  a Capitol police officer where  people  were politely but firmly told they could not enter if they weren’t on the list. One gatekeeper smilingly said that it could be viewed on C-SPAN. Another example of openness and transparency in government.

Listen to these words from Speaker Pelosi:…”covers 96 per cent of all Americans (by 2013 that is) and it puts affordable coverage in reach of uninsured and underinsured Americans, lowering health care costs for all of us.” Now, I don’t know , but that seems like quite an ambitious thing. I ould just be thrilled to get  a straight, no frills answer to this question? If I have good health care and  like  it, will it change? Being unable to ask that question of anyone in power, I shall make a guess. No! That would not be the answer but betcha you  could get good Las Vegas odds on it. While I am being completely frivolous, here  is question #2. Will the plan be deficit neutral? Alas, see above answer.

Just one more thing, you had to like Pelosi’s use of the word us, referring I guess to Congress which already has the best health care money can buy. So I hope that the Speaker and Reps Dingell and Conyers and Hoyer et. al enjoy themselves.I just worry that there are roosting chickens in this legislation that will come home to us.

Or, to put it another way. This  is  a Democrat bill, for good or bad. If it doesn’t do all that they promise it will, where will the blame fall?

April 12,1945 to August 6,1945

The year 1945 was momentous in an almost unprecedented way. The dates referenced above are not the only events of major significance, but they will suffice for now. April 12 is one of those days that  people would always  remember where they were when they heard the news. President Roosevelt  was dead. The only man to be elected to 4 terms; he was just beginning his 13th year in office when he succumbed to a  stroke and died in Warm Springs, Ga at the age of 63. His death elevated a virtually unknown  man to the Presidency at one of the nation’s most critical junctures. WW II, at least in Europe was drawing to an end but the Pacific theater, another story indeed.

Harry Truman was neither  a Dick Cheney or Joe Biden in terms of power or influence. He was Roosevelt’s 3rd veep  and was not what you would call highly influential or knowledgeable and in fact had only occupied the office for 82 days. Thus he was not really aware of the feverish efforts underway to develop the atomic bomb.

Apparently he came up to speed very quickly since his decision to launch the Enola Gay with the first bomb came less than 3 months after he took office. The decision was made even though it  was by no means universally lauded and was opposed by some 70+ scientists.

I would like to draw  a comparison to the situation in which Mr Truman found himself and  the ongoing process about what should be our next step in Afghanistan. I read excerpts frm  a Eugene Robinson column today that lauded the reasoned approach the President is taking versus the “ready, firm, aim” approach of George Bush. He of course makes the typical comments about  this as  well as Iraq being George Bush’s doing.

I have had the nagging thought for some time about Truman’ s position. It was not his war that he was tasked with completing and it might have been easy or expedient politically to not blame Roosevelt, but  to give either him or his policies part of the “credit” for his controversial decision. I don’t think that he did so. Remember the buck stops here?

My point, which I am not making as well as I would like is not to say the President’s reasoned approach is  all that bad. But, given the fact that this  war was frequently referenced in the campaign, it is not conducive to fall back on the Bush’s war approach.

When he took office, WWII became Truman’s war. We could always the question, if Roosevelt had lived would he have dropped the bomb or bombs?  But it remains a specious question. For good or bad, Afghanistan is Obama’s  war ( hopefully his main adviser is not John  Kerry) and history will doubtless allocate to him the credit if he succeeds.

Eat Your Veggies (Only)

As a young sprout, I wasn’t  a big fan of vegetables, unless you count potatoes which you probably can’t. However, as one of the many unexpected benefits of marriage, Mrs THT showed me the error of my ways and I learned that there was more than one food group. I doubt that I get my minimum daily requirement of the green and yellow leafys, but I have significantly improved. ( Do coffee beans count as  a vegetable? Shucks!)

From what I have learned in recent days, I may be in real trouble  if I do not significantly increase my vegetable intake. According to an article in the UK  Telegraph by Murray Waldrop, we might all need to become vegetarian  to save our planet from the  ravages of global warming.

Waldrop quotes global warming expert Lord Stern of  Brentford who authored the Stern Report in 2006 on the cost of  tackling global warming. He believes that in the future eating meat could become a socially unacceptable as drinking and driving. He is of course not the first to address this issue. There have already been questions raised about the cost of raising livestock in terms of the resources expended. Also, methane from pigs and cattle is  a source of greenhouse gases.

Listen to Lord Stern.” Meat is  a wasteful use  of water and creates  a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better. I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that included eating.”

Lord Stern is a former World Bank economist and believes that the Climate Change Conference scheduled for December in Copenhagen should call for an increase in the price of meat and other foods that cause climate change. Presumably this would cause people to consume less of these products.

Shockingly, the British National Farmers Union did not agree with him.

Let us just say for  a moment that Lord Stern is spot on and he among others holds sway in this area. What about the untold millions whose livelihoods would be affected? What happens to them? Could one buy carbon offsets and continue to eat meat? Looking down the road, could socially unacceptable become , shall we say, not legal? Sounds really far-fetched, I know. I guess we shall wait for Copenhagen and see.

NAMESTAN

The above acronym is often used by Joel Rosenberg in his political/religious thrillers which have been quite successful and eerily prophetic. The  letters described a division of the CIA known as North Africa, the Middle East and the stan countries; Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. Fictional or not, the phrase almost epitomizes tough neighborhood in a geopolitical sense.

Look at a map of the area some time and then look at major news headlines from any source of your choosing. While not always the top story, the are seems to carry a weight far beyond its size. This weekend was a real case in point. There  were some major suicide bombings in what was considered a relatively secure part of Iraq. Baghdad was the site of two bombings whose death toll approaches 200 with many more injured. And it may have damaged Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki even more.

Travel a relatively short distance to the west to Jerusalem and what do you discover? Israeli police with stun grenades. Palestinian protesters throwing rocks and who knows what else outside the holiest site in all of Israel, the Temple Mount in the center of Jerusalem. What sparked the clash? Probably no one  knows. David Cohen, Israel’s national police chief laid blame on Muslim extremists. Muslim leaders claimed there were plots  to damage the sites. Israel has controlled the site since 1967 but in a situation that only makes sense in the Middle East allows a Muslim clerical body, the Waqf, to handle day-to-day administration. Tourists and Israelis can only visit at certain times.

And  we have Iran, who virtually lives on the front page. Nukes or not, selling enriched uranium to Russia or not ? Will there be talks? What part will Russia play? That is another Big factor when one looks at Russia’s position geographically versus the Middle East.

One more  factor is of course Afghanistan. It was the site for deadly helicopter crashes  just a few days ago, killing a number of American troops. Will Obama send troops, how many and when? Whose advice is better, Sen Kerry or Gen. McChrystal? Remember that during the campaign,the Afghan war was the one we should be fighting.

It seems that the are is a dominant feature of every president’s foreign policy, from probably Truman through Obama and rightfully so. One thing that is quite easy for us to overlook, given our Western tendency to take a short term view, is that the problems  that are there far predate our involvement; by a long time. No, make that a very long time.

My woeful lack of knowledge and historical perspective point up once again my need for te historical study of  a region whose importance can hardly be overstated. Try these phrases from your long ago study of history: Mesopotamia, Tigris-Euphrates, pyramids; there are many more and there is much history from which to learn.

Can U Be Replaced?

Sort of an open ended question, is it not? I want to begin big and then move downward from famous people to not so famous ones. The late ABC newsman Paul Harvey was always one  of most favorite newspeople . It seemed to me that he  was almost in a class by himself; at once reporter, commentator and yet never too full of himself. Since he died earlier this year he just has not been replaced. Don’t know  what  ABC has done  to fill he void, doubtful they even could.

On the other hand, Charles Kuralt, North Carolina native and Tarheel alum was host for years of  Sunday Morning on CBS as well  as other segments here and there. He died in 1997 after hosting the program for 15 years. He may not have been replaced in the strictest sense but he was  succeeded  by CBS’ own Charles Osgood. And Osgood has put his own stamp on the show while for this viewer retaining the same “feel”. One was replaced, one not.

Our own presidency provides for me the greatest example of replacement or succession,if you will. Potentially, every 4 yeras  we replace our chief executive. We have been doing so for over 200 years. Through war( Roosevelt to Truman ) assasination- Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy; death, Roosevelt, Harrison, Harding ;  the office changes hands. Often it is controversial. Try  the  1876 contest between Tilden and Hayes before you leap to any conclusions.

The system has worked, not always to our liking, but it has worked.  Our head of state can be replaced so perhaps we should be careful not to toot, toot our own horn so loudly.

One small personal example, actually one example that was repeated. Way back in 1979, my company prepared to transfer to a somewhat distant locale. Mrs THT and I were quite active in our church and that made our departure more difficult. I will confess to feeling  a  bit smug about the positions I held and thought how will they do without me. I somehow forgot that the church was 100 years old and, just maybe would carry on. It did.

Fast forward some 13 years. Same church, a bit greater position of leadership and  another job transfer. Imagine my feeling when I jokingly told someone in a meeting how easy I wold be to replace. Another person responded, I don’t know about that and actually was not kidding. Proud was I, oh yeah. Again was I replaceable,see previous lesson. Seemed almost as if  I were being taught  a spiritual lesson to not be overly enamored with myself. Still working on it some, not so much as before.

Not nearly as proud of   my humility, either. Ha!

Things I Did Not Learn in School

I have no doubt that it would take a lot of books to contain what I did not learn in school( public school as well as college) and it actually does , I guess. But being a big history buff, what I recently learned in a novel just astounded me. I will admit that my real fondness for history  kinda  hit in college, although it was beginning to develop sooner.

I had some really good professors in that process. I remember Dr Ross in Latin American history and Dr Tien Mien Wu (hope I spelled that right) in Asian history. Alas, the other names have been withdrawn from the memory bank. In those days, there was a lot of note taking as well as a lot of reading and essay writing; all of which seemed tailor-made for me. I don’t seem to remember a course in American history. Since my course selection was up to me, perhaps I thought that was one area I did not need to study. Duh! Was I and have I been wrong.

I have recently rediscovered an author named Vince Flynn whose works have been described as high concept political intrigue. Rush highly endorses him, but even if you are not a Rush fan, Flynn might still be worth a read.

I have just finished “Memorial Day”, written in 2004 and am anticipating his latest, “Pursuit of Honor” as soon as the  library calls. Most, but not all, of his books feature a CIA operative named Mitch Rapp, a quite results oriented guy. He is the kind of guy that Ioften hope we actually have in the service of our country.

My big time history lesson comes from the latter stages of Memorial Day and I quote.

                   “The fathers of America had designed their city to form  a crucifix.The Washington Monument marked the center, with the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial forming te longer center line while the Jefferson Memorial and the White House formed the shorter horizontal line.”

I have never visited the capital, so I had to resort to a map from  the lonelyplanet to check Flynn out. Sure  enough, it works. I think what really intrigued me about the above description is that I probably never heard it in school and I seriously doubt one would hear about it today.

thanks, Mr Flynn, keep writing about Mitch and we will keep reading!

(I minored in history at Appalachian State and given my grades in history versus my major, perhaps the roles should have been reversed. )

The Paul Bunyan Of Czars

When I was somewhat younger, ok, a lot younger; I really enjoyed reading stories  about Paul Bunyan and his faithful blue ox, Babe. Ole Paul was the ultimate man of the forest. Along with Babe and his mighty ax, he was  a logger par excellence and there was virtually no obstacle he could not  overcome.

Paul came along in the early 20th century and now, about  a century later , we may have his 21st century counterpart. That individual would be the President’ s pay czar, Ken Feinberg. What has  an apparently mild mannered man such as Mr Weinberg accomplished? Why, he is beginning a process of cutting the pay of overpaid, greedy financial executives.

The process as I understand is beginning with top executives for those financial institutions that received government bail out money, some of whom did not even want it to begin with. Reportedly, pay of some  execs will be cut as much as 90%. Surveys have indicated  a somewhat substantial populist sentiment for such action. Nail the greedy profiteers etc.

But, listen to some comments the President made after referring to Feinberg’s  initial eforts….”But more work needs to be done, which is  why I urge the Senate to pass legislation that will give company shareholders a voice on the pay packages awarded to their executives.”

Now, Rush’s take on this is that the government is just beginning its effort to control pay levels. He is of the opinion that other companies will also come under the government’s purview. Backing this up is  a story in the New  York Times that Fed Chairman Bernanke and friends will review the compensation at all banks, whether or not they received bailout funds. Of course, the Times likes this. Methinks they should not cheer too much, too soon.

Obviously there are people and companies and industries that all of us think make too much money. for openers, my list would include David Letterman and Keith Olbermann and probably a lot of athletes and actors and actresses. Do I want the government to control what they make? Shucks, no!!

Follow along with me a bit and see if I am just being paranoid. Ok, the feds are dealing with financial institutions now and are attempting to broaden that reach. Wonder what kind of detail is in the bill? What execs are covered, how much influence do stockholders get, etc. Now, try this thought . it is not a very large step to instituting pay controls  of some sort specifically on firms that get government contracts or receive federal monies. That could cover an extraordinarily large group there and could easily be justified in a populist sense. Why, we are just being good stewards of the taxpyer’s money.

Funny thought. The administration wants to increase taxes on the higher wage earners. Better be careful cutting their pay, may backfire  there.

Is all this the beginning of wage controls. but im a different guise?

Jimmy Carter in Training

Since our greatest former president is beginning to age  just a bit, it is about time to train his successor at roaming the world and taking care of everything that needs to be taken care of . Yes, drum roll please, it is the one and only Sen John Kerry, D, Ma. The Senator has just returned from his latest trip to Afghanistan where he persuaded President Karzai to accept a run-off vote.

It seems that Kerry has turned  the traditional role of head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee upside down. Our Clintonite friend, David Gergen says that it is”extremely rare that any president calls on an individual outside the executive branch to do as much representative work and diplomacy as Sen.Kerry.” Should Sec.Clinton be  worried that her time is short as her influence seems to be waning  a bit? Bear in mind that both Obama and Kerry were mentored by the late Sen Ted Kennedy. Obama burst on to the national stage in 2004 with a speech at Kerry’s nominating convention and seems to hold the senior senator from Massachusetts in high regard.

Now, both Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and the Associated Press go th great lengths to tout Kerry’ s expertise. Says Gibbs, he… is  somebody who has a broad range of experience and an in-depth knowldge of issues, ranging from energy and climate change to health care to foreign policy.” Wow, is that a ringing endorsement or what? Plus, he will never dare to challenge me for the White House. Oh, I just tossed that phrase in there as a  bonus.

And now, the Associated Press takes  a turn. “Obama cherishes, greatly values the experience and insight of JohnKerry. And,last but not least. There is a framed note on the  wall of Kerry’s senate office, given to him by Obama on the day of his inauguration. “‘I’m here because of you.” Just about brings a tear  to your eye, does it not? Of course, there is a lot of truth there. Had Kerry won the 2004 election, Obama could never have run in 2008.

So, we do we call this great expert? He’s not a Cabinet member, nor a czar, but  he needs a title greater than just senator. Uber  senator, maybe?