Friday, April 11, 2014

With all due respect, I have to disagree with Former President Carter.


Former President Carter is a great man. He is dedicated to peace. He does seek the high road whenever possible.

However, the relations between Iran and the USA has been very strained over all these many years. There are remarkable gestures by the new Iranian President to reassure all those concerned of a framework to lift sanctions. There are statements by the P5+1 regarding movement toward a permanent agreement with Iran.

The idea forgiveness should pre-emept good policy and governance is not a good one. The framework is not about being generous in spirit or actual provisions. The framework is very serious work that cannot be misinterpreted as generosity in any way. The relationship between Iran and those writing the framework to relieve sanctions cannot be tainted by imposition of any idea there are people from the past forgiven for any role they took with American hostages.

The USA and Iran still face off over those jailed in Iran. Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer were some of the latest victims to the Iranian prisons. They were camping and then they found themselves in an Iranian prison being held for large amounts of money to secure their safety. That isn't hostage taking? I think it is. 

I am sure it can be stated Mr. Aboutalebi quite possibly played a role that protected Americans from a far worse outcome. He could have acted as an interpreter in ways that could have justified Iran's position stating the hostages were spies. He probably could tell many tales about his intervention in preserving the lives of the hostages. That was the right thing to do. The hostages of the Iranian crisis were innocent people. The moral and correct thing to do was to be sure they were understood and protected. So, to think he was an exceptional person of 'good will' toward the hostages simply because he conducted himself morally at the time doesn't mean he is a hero.

As an ambassador for Iran he would be entering a sphere of influence that was once appalled by his country's stark hatred of the USA. Would that actually make him influential and the best representative to the United Nations? No, it wouldn't. 

I think Mr. Aboutalebi's declaration to be ambassador was demanded by the extremists in Iran. The conservatives that can be affiliated with the former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I am quite confident the extremists are in misery over the success of President Hassan Rouhani. There should be no surprise, the current Iranian President has a long history of connecting with other nation leaders to bring an understanding about his nation. He has a demeanor that is inclusive and not alienating. That is simply being an effective President at a time when the Iranian people have reached out with his election to portray their longing for a peaceful resolve in lifting the sanctions.

To be completely honest, why would the Supreme Leader chose such a controversial representative to the United Nations when in fact he might derail the entire process that has brought all concerned to this point? It was playing with fire in very poor judgement to ignite the past again. 

As far as I am concerned the USA refusing a visa to Mr. Aboutalebi was in the best interest of the Iranian people. I can't believe the Iranian leadership has been this short sighted.

There are also changes going on with the negotiating team. It just isn't a good time to drastically change those of influence within the negotiations or the United Nations.

State Department's Architect of Iran Nuclear Negotiations to Retire (click here) 

By John Hudson
April 11, 2014

On Friday, the White House announced the retirement of Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns, a giant in the diplomatic world and a key architect of the nuclear negotiations with Iran and six world powers.

Burns, who had already twice delayed his retirement, has agreed to stay on until October, which will afford the administration more time to eek out a potential deal with Tehran with one of its most trusted diplomats at the helm....

The Iranian sanctions and hopeful negotiations have a very long history (click here). I realize the word foolish is very harsh, but, to let 'chance' enter the arena with someone once involved with former American hostages is more than a bit foolish. Why lose ground? Why jeopardize what has been achieved? 

There is still issue about the integrity of the returned hostages. They may be very forgiving, but, to have someone they had to face and count on to insure their safety again on the level of a diplomat would be more than they should bear as well as their families. The choice of Mr. Aboutalebi is very short sighted and a bit extremist in it's suggestion.

The United Nations isn't really about forgiveness, that is a capacity left to god. The United Nations is a serious body of diplomats seeking to solve problems and not inflame circumstances that would jeopardize the best outcomes. Perhaps Iran's leadership hasn't been exposed enough to sincere diplomacy that achieves lasting results with ambitions to peace. Perhaps their next choice will be better and somewhat enlightened.


Karen Jeffers

April 4, 2014 at 1:30 pm

Former President Jimmy Carter (click here) yesterday said he is supportive of letting a known member of a terrorist group, Hamid Aboutalebi, into the United States as Iran’s newest ambassador to the United Nations.

Aboutalebi was a member of the Muslim student group who held 52 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for more than a year beginning in 1979 during Carter’s presidency.

When asked in an interview if the United States should block Aboutalebi’s entrance to U.N. headquarters in New York, Carter told radio station WTOP:  “You know, those were college students at that time, and I think that they have matured. …I think it would be inappropriate for the United States to try to block someone that Iran wanted to choose.”

Steven Colbert started the support network for Rafalca. There is nothing about Mr. Colbert that hates Republicans. The Right Wing media is it's usual sour grapes.


With the news that a dressage horse (click here) co-owned by Ann Romney might be heading to the Olympics, Stephen Colbert has a new favorite sport. He's so committed to what is obviously America's new pastime that he's even whipped up an exciting new anthem which is sure to entice every Joe Sixpack out there.

The people at Gladstone never had so much fun. I know because I frequently attended these events.

Why doesn't the media leave Alex Baldwin alone or otherwise known as "I am really pissed he is not on Friday night anymore."

There is a truism about Mr. Baldwin in that he has come of age during a far more rigid time in the country. Republicans can get away with it, but, forbid an American critical of government should.

Swearing and using colloquialism has become a death spiral for Mr. Baldwin. Why? I haven't got a clue. All the right wing wackos on television and radio not only get away with it, but, foment hatred. Baldwin is not fomenting anything not even his own career. So, this chronic iconography of a man primarily interested in equal rights for everyone has been once again targeted as a homophobic. Really?


...Americans, (click here) in terms of their enthusiasm for defending their beloved democratic principles in the face of an ever more muscular assault on those principles by the state in the name of national security, are exhausted. If you are a “boomer”, like me, and have lived through the past five decades with any degree of political efficacy, you can draw a line from JFK’s assassination to the subsequent escalation of the Vietnam war, on to 1968 with the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the Chicago Democratic Convention and Nixon’s resurrection; from there, to Kent State, the Pentagon Papers, Nixon’s re-election, Watergate, Nixon’s resignation, Ford’s pardon, Carter’s one term and out, the curious Iran hostage situation, Reagan (who brings back a degree of the charm and affability that died in Dallas), Iran Contra, Oliver North, Bush the First (as in first CIA director to become president), Iraq the First, Clinton kills welfare, Gingrich shuts down the Congress, Clinton’s impeachment, the 2000 election, Bush v Gore, Bush the Second, 9/11, Iraq the Second, “Mission Accomplished”, the Swift Boaters, Afghanistan, Gitmo, Assange, Manning, Snowden.
I have left out a good deal. There is, of course, a lot that’s positive running through the American narrative during this time, but I think more bad than good. You look at all of this laid end to end and you’d think the US might have had a nervous breakdown. I believe it actually did....

Now, if you want to talk homophobe...but...oh, wait...that is just religion talkin'.


“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
And on the seventh day God rested, but, he or she never said with whom. This is Baldwin? This is not Baldwin. Get over it.

Governor Kasich on how to buy the vote, split unions, gain funding and win elections while destroying a democracy.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — State representatives of both parties have criticized Ohio Gov. John Kasich for saddling them with a midterm budget bill loaded with proposals they called unsuited for a non-budget year.
One fellow Republican said Kasich’s practice of proposing voluminous off-year budgets was putting the governor in control of Ohio’s legislative branch of government.
Rep. Terry Boose’s remarks came Wednesday before the House voted 57-33 to pass the measure.
Democrats railed particularly against a last-minute amendment to one of nine bills derived from Kasich’s 1,600-page “midbiennium review” that were up for votes Wednesday. The revision changed campaign finance law to lift a disclosure requirement applied to independent political expenditures and loosen political-giving restrictions on state contractors.
Other bills up to for votes addressed education, job training, veterans and workers’ compensation.

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2014/04/09/Ohio-House-approves-Kasich-s-midterm-budget-bill.html#VzvcSq2fXIlzVouF.99
In February 2011, (click here) Gov. Kasich replaced Ohio’s Department of Development with JobsOhio, a private non-profit exempt from public record laws. Gov. Kasich’s administration resisted efforts by the state auditor to procure JobsOhio’s financial records, leading to a subpoena. JobsOhio ultimately complied, but Gov. Kasich later fast-tracked a bill to strip the state auditor’s authority to examine the records.

Gov. Kasich also sought to institute new restrictions on voting, including the elimination of in-person voting three days before elections. After opponents of the bill gathered enough signatures to hold a referendum, Gov. Kasich signed a repeal of all the new measures, except the elimination of early voting. A federal appeals court reinstated early voting in October 2012.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — State representatives of both parties (click here) have criticized Ohio Gov. John Kasich for saddling them with a midterm budget bill loaded with proposals they called unsuited for a non-budget year.
One fellow Republican said Kasich’s practice of proposing voluminous off-year budgets was putting the governor in control of Ohio’s legislative branch of government.
Rep. Terry Boose’s remarks came Wednesday before the House voted 57-33 to pass the measure.
Democrats railed particularly against a last-minute amendment to one of nine bills derived from Kasich’s 1,600-page “midbiennium review” that were up for votes Wednesday. The revision changed campaign finance law to lift a disclosure requirement applied to independent political expenditures and loosen political-giving restrictions on state contractors.
Other bills up to for votes addressed education, job training, veterans and workers’ compensation....

All corruption, all the time.

COLUMBUS – Companies, (click here) nonprofits and unions wouldn't have to disclose when they pay for an election advertisement, and corporations with state contracts would be allowed to spend money on elections, under a provision that passed the Ohio House Wednesday.
The provision would void a rule implemented by former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner that governs election spending by corporations, nonprofits and labor unions. The rule requires the groups to disclose when they spend money to advocate for or against the election of a candidate, both through a statement included in the ad and through a form filed with the secretary of state's office.
But Republicans' main issue with the rule, a spokesman said, is its prohibition of election-related spending by corporations with state or federal government contracts within one year of their receiving money from the government. They also wanted to void the part of the rule that prohibits spending in elections by corporations with more than 20 percent ownership by non-U.S. citizens or corporations based outside the U.S....

...Members of building trades unions (click here) —including carpenters, laborers, electricians and iron workers—tend to be more conservative politically than most other union members. They often side with business over environmental groups and find common ground with Republicans on infrastructure projects.

"We're pragmatic with our politics. Jobs are our currency," said Sean McGarvey, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department at the AFL-CIO in Washington....

The decision to increase public works spending (click here) while ignoring $1.5 billion in unemployment compensation debt is — like celebrating tax cuts paid for with tax hikes, and demanding more debt to fund election-year spending – another example of politics as usual from Gov. Kasich, who routinely insists his policies aren’t politically motivated.

Kasich’s capital budget includes numerous outlays whose benefits to taxpayers in other parts of Ohio are difficult to explain.

Fiscal year 2015-2016 capital budget appropriations include:
  • $10,000,000 for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton
  • $6,000,000 for Lake Erie Island State Park/Middle Bass Island State Park
  • $2,198,500 for the Dayton Art Institute
  • $1,560,522 for Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron
  • $1,000,000 for a boardwalk in Celina
  • $1,000,000 for the Cincinnati Zoo
  • $825,000 for Victoria Theatre in Dayton
  • $750,000 for the Toledo Zoo
  • $695,000 for Imagination Station, a Toledo children’s museum
  • $600,000 for Wood County Historical Center & Museum Accessibility Project
  • $530,261 for Akron Civic Theater
  • $500,000 for Hale Farm in Bath
  • $500,000 for Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown
  • $500,000 for The Historic Sidney Theatre
  • $500,000 for Colony Theatre in Marietta