(And I also posted here - also, posting may be on or off for the next few days.)And why am I not at all surprised that former Laura Bush employee Andrew Malcolm is leading the charge, as John Cole tells us here?
Well, as Media Matters informs us here, not only did President Nixon bow to Emperor Hirohito, the man responsible for bombing Pearl Harbor, but President Eisenhower did likewise to former French (!) president Charles DeGaulle (and gosh, as Joe Conason tells us here, even The Sainted Ronnie R talked to dictators too - golly...no word on any bows, though.)
Lather, rinse, repeat…
True, the country is still staggering from the hammer blows of a severe recession. With unemployment at 10.2 percent, the administration’s first moral — and political — priority should be kick-starting the economy and creating jobs.Do you know what else leads to high budget deficits, Cokie darling?
But that’s in the short run. In the long run, deficits matter. A lot. And the numbers are truly shocking. The budget shortfall reached $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, by far the largest in history. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the national debt will snowball by a total of $9.1 trillion over the next decade.
Offshoring, that’s what, such as the kind you and your hubby championed here.
And now, for the reality perspective, I give you today’s “cold slap in the face” from former Reaganite Paul Craig Roberts (here)…
There are two reasons for the dollar's demise. One is the practice of American corporations offshoring their production for U.S. consumers. When U.S. corporations move their production of goods and services for American consumers to foreign countries, they convert U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) into imports. U.S. production declines, U.S. jobs and skill pools are destroyed, and the trade deficit increases. Foreign GDP, employment and exports rise.And somehow, I don’t think any of the long-term jobless in this country are worrying about the budget deficit while they’re chasing down dead-end job leads and trying to figure out how to shift credit card balances around to find the lowest APR while also paying for food, clothing and the mortgage/utility bills (of course, Heaven forbid that the Robertses would go find these people, talk to them, and challenge their preconceived notions...yes, I know the Robertses acknowledged unemployment, but my point is that the deficit is something to discuss when our economy returns to something approximating normal behavior.).
U.S. corporations that offshore their production for U.S. markets account for a larger share of the U.S. trade deficit than does the OPEC energy deficit. Half or more of the U.S. trade deficit with China consists of the offshored production of U.S. firms. In 2006, the U.S. trade deficit with China was $233 billion, half of which is $116.5 billion — or $10 billion more than the U.S. deficit with OPEC.
…
One of the great lies of the offshoring interests is that U.S. manufacturing is in trouble because of poor U.S. education and a shortage of U.S. scientists and engineers. Pundits such as Thomas Friedman have helped to spread this ignorance until it has become a dogma. Recently, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt lent his weight to this falsehood (see "The U.S. No Longer Drives Global Economic Growth," Manufacturing & Technology News, Nov. 30, 2007).
The fact of the matter is that the offshoring of U.S. engineering and R&D jobs and the importation of foreign engineers and scientists on work visas have combined with educational subsidies to produce a surplus of American scientists and engineers, many of whom are unable to find jobs when they graduate from a university or become casualties of offshoring and H-1b visas.
Corporate interests continue to lobby Congress for more foreign workers, claiming a nonexistent shortage of trained Americans, even as the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology concludes that real salary growth for American scientists and engineers has been flat or declining for the past 10 years. The "long trend of strong U.S. demand for scientific and technical specialists" has come to an end with no signs of revival (see "Job and Income Growth for Scientists and Engineers Comes to an End," Manufacturing & Technology News, Nov. 30, 2007).
What economist has ever heard of a labor shortage resulting in flat or declining pay?
There is no more of a shortage of U.S. scientists and engineers than there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The U.S. media have no investigative capability and serve up the lies that aid short-term corporate and political interests. If it were not for the Internet, which provides Americans with access to foreign news sources, Americans would live in a world of perfect disinformation.
Author and former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg floated the idea of a Million Muslim March on Washington to reclaim their religion from the murderous extremists, here and abroad. The AIFD's Jasser applauds the idea, as do I.Oh, and by the way, as some sort of attempt at equivalency, Bykofsky begins his column by telling us about Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Muslims in 1994 (so there’s proof that Bykofsky isn’t some pundit wanker trying to play judge, jury and executioner on Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused Fort Hood shooter, before he’s even tried…right?).
American Muslims could use the march - a secular pilgrimage, really - to visibly wrench their religion from the terrorists' bloodstained hands.
If a loyal American Muslim asks, "Why should I have to do this?" my answer is easy: You don't have to. You should want to.
Well, all I can say is that, anytime you think Bernard Goldberg can enhance your argument, you’re out there on a short limb to begin with.
This 2006 USA Today story tells us of a poll which found that 39% (of those polled) “favored requiring Muslims, including U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID 'as a means of preventing terrorist attacks in the United States.' " Further, the poll found that about one-third of respondents "said U.S. Muslims were sympathetic to al-Qaeda, and that 22% said they wouldn't want Muslims as neighbors."
Not to be outdone, though, U.S. Congressional Repugs Sue Myrick, Trent Franks, Paul Broun (taking a break from screeching about health care reform) and John Shadegg (I swear, Shadegg is usually right in the middle of this stuff too or certainly nearby) called for an investigation into the Council of American-Islamic Relations, which Glenn Greenwald rightly termed a “witch hunt” here.
And even though there are six million Muslims in this country according to a quote from President Obama noted here (now seriously people, why would he lie about that?), there is only one representative in the U.S. Congress (who had to endure this moment of media insanity from “America’s Assignment Editor”) and, of course, none on the Supreme Court (or ANY court in this country, as nearly as I can determine).
So yes, I actually agree with Bykofsky about the fact that Muslims should march on Washington.
However, instead of doing so for the purposes of a “loyalty oath,” I would suggest that they do so for a wholly other reason.
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