Daily Archives: 11/13/2010

(Community Matters) in the spirit of bipartisanship being offered around earmarks, Pres Obama announced today from Japan that his administration and the DNC hope to continue the ban against contributions from PACs and lobbyists assuming the GOP will adopt these standards. Or, “we can negotiate a common policy acceptable to the Republican caucus. Now that they are assuming Congressional leadership of the House, we know Republicans will step up in helping set funding standards that improve credibility of the American political system. We know GOP constituents also care about standards that ensure public trust and priorities, so expect Republican leadership to adopt the same bans; however, we’re prepared to negotiate if that’s what they insist better serves our country. After they’ve assumed the House leadership for 60 days, we’ll adopt their standards as a show of good faith.”

(Community Matters) This is increasingly heard in the US.  Prejudice against Muslims is rising around the world. Many of my Jewish friends worry and speak about Anti-semitism (especially in Europe), and yes, this is a concern. Perhaps why I find the anti-Muslim sentiment in emails sometimes forwarded to me especially disturbing. I don’t mean to promote political correctness. Broad national & racial biases can handicap us in many ways (& perhaps build self-fulfilling prophesies). Not to mention, that jingoism, even racism both have highly predictable outcomes, historically.

Saturday’s NYT profile of Berliner, Thilo Sarrazin