Obama’s Mideast plan leaked

And it’s one of the most brilliant pieces of realpolitik I’ve ever seen. 

http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2009/09/obamas-middle-east-peace-plan.html

Unfortunately, this can go one of four ways:

1. Both sides can accept losses. Palestinians accept alternatives to the right of return, the acceptance of some settlements which, if they’re the ones I think are considered “large settlements”, are contigious to the Israeli border and will be annexed. Loss of air control (although I can see that being a negotiated point after a 2011 Palestinain state is developed). Israel has to accept that sections of East Jerusalem will not be under their control, offer amnesty to Palestinians and accept international forces.
2. Both sides hate the plan, rejecting it for some the above reasons.
3. Israel rejects the plan. This is hard for me to fathom, but I can understand Eastern Jerusalem and loss of absolute sovereignity to international forces can be seen as a sticking point.  This seems like madness to me, but Israel has been moving progressively further to the right, and has shown it’s willing to buck international opinion, which would condemn Israel for rejecting the plan.
4. Palestinians reject the plan. That breaks down further into two distinct possibilities.

•  Palestinian Authorities reject the plan.  This is possible but, like Israel, is unlikely.  More so in fact, since Palestinians can recognize they’re in a pretty crappy negotiating position.  Signing in early gives them a good negotiating position.
• Palestinians groups (Hamas, Al Aqsa Brigade) reject the plan.  This unfortunately is the most likely scenario.  This could be nasty, depending on how much support and coordination exist beween Israel, Palestinian forces and international forces.  Depsite that, it wouldn’t be a game breaker,a dn in some ways would be the closest to the example of Northern Ireland, which definitively rejected the return to violence, despite Republican attempts to re-engage.

Regardless, this administration hasn’t shied away from taking on large tasks.  The stimulus, health-care and now a definitive peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  They’ve weathered the first well, let’s wish them the same success on the next two.

Massachusetts grinds to a halt as EMK is mourned, scorned

I have to be honest.  I didn’t know that Senator Kennedy had succumbed to brain cancer until I walked by a newspaper machine at about ten in the morning yesterday.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so out of touch.  Since jzuk (resident obituary writer) hasn’t penned anything about Kennedy’s death — justifiably, since he’s fielded pretty much every other notable personage who has passed this year — I’ll go ahead and type a few words.

but the health care protests have nothing whatsoever to do with race

Glenn Beck is frothing at the mouth, resurrecting the spectre of Jeremiah Wright.  The birther movement has ramped up its efforts to prove that Obama wasn’t just born in a pre-state Hawaiian protectorate, but rather in Kenya.  Still, the health care protests aren’t about race.  Merely about health care.

CNN can finally retire “Latina Justice” infographic

Yesterday (6 August) Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed in a 68-31 vote as the 111th Supreme Court Justice.  She will be sworn in tomorrow (8 August) by Chief Justice Roberts.  Guess which side of the aisle voted unanimously to confirm, and which side largely opposed her (with only nine exceptions).

So when does Hillary meet up with Robert Redford?

Today marks the start of SoS Clinton’s 11 day, seven nation diplomatic trip to the African continent.  This visit is record-breaking in a number of ways; it’s her biggest trip since becoming chief diplomat, it covers issues running the gamut from economics to sex and gender, and it’s the earliest trip to Africa by any sitting Secretary of State.

John McCain Determined to Tilt at yet another Windmill

On 3 August 2009 John McCain, who you might remember as “this one,” made it known that he will oppose Sotomayor’s confirmation.  While he acknowledges that the judge’s life story is “compelling,” it is evidently outweighed by the fact that she is a (say it with me) judicial activist.  The full text of McCain’s statement can be read here.

LittleSis – following the money never felt so fun

Ok, so we all remember the line from All the President’s Men where Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook) tells Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to “Follow the money” in order to get to the root of the Watergate cover-up. In case you don’t, here’s the dialogue.

Deep Throat: No, heh, but it’s touching. Forget the myths the media’s created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.
Bob Woodward: Hunt’s come in from the cold. Supposedly he’s got a lawyer with $25,000 in a brown paper bag.
Deep Throat: Follow the money.
Bob Woodward: What do you mean? Where?
Deep Throat: Oh, I can’t tell you that.

Woodward must of been thinking, “How’d you like a brown paper bag over your head Mr. Almighty Deep Throat?”

Though Woodward eventually traced all those brown paper bags back to Tricky Dick, this clip shows his initial, cumbersome, but unbelievably lucky, attempts to piece together the tangled web that was CREEP (the Committee to Re-elect the President).

Unfortunately, the “brown paper bag”-esque relationships that these days come in the form of speaking fees, PAC contributions, and close lobbyist ties, can still be a tough puzzle to snap together. Yes, the immediate post-Watergate period led to the creation of the FEC and there now exists a plethora of disclosure documents that detail these relationships Many of these documents have been aggregated and re-aggregated on mirror sites for years.

Lady Gaga as Rand Heroine

First of all, it’s great to be back.  Many tips o’ the nib to jzuk and scrahan for picking up my slack while I recuperated from TB and scads of dental work.  That said, back to the grind!

Amidst the mad flurry of hearings – Supreme Court confirmation, health care bill, and otherwise — it’s sometimes difficult to remember what’s really important; pop-friendly neo-burlesque electronica!  Or conservative parodies thereof.

Palin implicated in ethics probe… Wouldn’t it be nice to see a Checkers speech?

Who could have predicted that this news would break when I wrote the Palin v. Nixon piece two weeks ago, but hey it looks as if the two have even more in common than I thought. Wouldn’t it be great political theater to see Sarah give one of these?

And now, part two.

Obama’s Waterloo? The GOP’s DeMint-ed Attempt to Stall Health Care Reform

Why is it that some of the more annoying figures in American politics seem to always come from South Carolina? Many of the country’s most notable contrarians have come from the Palmetto State: John C. Calhoun, Strom Thurmond, and in more recent memory, Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget a few notably adverse events as the Siege of Fort Sumter and that bizarre Confederate flag thing a couple of years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I too have enjoyed the state’s white sand beaches, spicy barbecue, and the beauty of the City of Charleston, one of the best preserved spots in the US despite having to endure both a massive earthquake and a devastating hurricane over the last 150 years.

Perhaps they just make buildings and people more stubborn down there.

Alas, I digress. Let’s get back to that tart South Carolina political stew I was discussing earlier. You can add to it yet another ardent dissuader, the state’s junior Senator, Jim DeMint, who on Sunday referred to the current push for health care reform as “Obama’s Waterloo” during a conference call with conservative political activists.

I’m not sure exactly what he means by “those freedom solutions that work in every area of our society”. Perhaps he means increased deregulation and a continued laissez-fairre approach to health care that has served us oh so well over the last fifty years.