Morning Joe 3/18/2011 - Birthers, Hawks and Hysterics

On Morning Joe today there was conversation with Bob Herbert and Steven Rattner about Libya and the UN resolution to create a No-Fly Zone. The consensus was that Obama has done a good job of waiting until support has been built, and that now we'll be one among many rather than America going in cowboy style. Howe ver, there is also the reality that many people have already been killed by Qaddafi, the Libyan military has already set up and are now defeating the rebels, and that even if we stop the Libyan planes, the Libyan military will slaughter the rebels on the ground. The UN never reacts in time, so all those supporting UN involvement just want to look good, but it's a useless excercise. Plus there is the problem of the President getting us involved solely through his power. Libya has not attacked the US, and now we are going to war? We'll be dragged into a ground fight. Bob Herbert said America has to be involved. Why? If the European countries and Arab League can't do it, then I suppose  Libya could just take over Europe and the Mid-East if Qaddafi decided so. Bull.

And, yes, there was more hysteria about the nuclear reactors in Japan. The main argument is that Japan's government is not being honest, although no one has any evidence of this, and detection of radiation levels don't contradict what Japan is saying.

Morning Joe showed a clip of an interview with Donald Trump by some reporter -- Trump said he has doubts that Obama is a legal US citizen. Now, you would expect the Morning Joe crew to castigate Trump as a Birther. No, they didn't, because they have a social relationship with Trump. Joe Scarborough even suggected that Trump has a chance at President. My, my.

Before I had had enough, Daniel Poneman, the Deputy Secretary of Energy,was on, and he was asked about the model of the generator on the fault line in California. He gave a bureacratic answer that said nothing -- he would not readily admit that the facilities are on a fault line and he said he didn't know what models were there. I feel so confident in our government.

This morning's show was really incredible, as in really incredible.

Glenn Beck 3/17/2011 -- Libya and Japan

Today Beck presented information on Libya and suspicous connections with American intellectuals and internationalists. I won't go into the details -- they can be found on GlennBeck.com. What I want to address is what Beck is doing and what the MSM is not doing.

Whether one believes the connections Beck made, and makes on a regular basis, lead to anything nefarious is beside the point. Most on the Left, and many on the Right, dismiss Beck as a kooky conspiracy theorist, but most know better. Beck threatens them. What Beck is doing is providing  information traditional media once provided, so that people can make up their minds what to make of the information. No one in media is providing this kind of information or making these connections. I find what Beck is doing a valuable service, because I don't have the resources to investigate, and media's job is to investigate.

At the end of the program, Beck gave a pretend Presidential speech on Japan that he feels Obama should have given. Beck is right -- Obama should have used his office to appeal to the American people to help Japan. Obama is obviously busy with other stuff.

Glenn Beck 3/15/2011 -- This or That?

On today's Fox show, Beck continued with what he began discussing yesterday, the nuclear meltdown in Japan and the bond/economic meltdown around the world and in the US. The nuclear meltdown is being overstated in the media, and the economic meltdown is understated.

Glenn started with portraying the heroism of the workers in Japan who are risking their lives at the nuclear plant, then praised the civil, disciplined behavior of the Japanese people during this crisis. It has been incredible how the people in Japan are dealing with this tragedy -- there certainly hasn't been enough coverage of the bravery and discipline and cooperation.

Beck then talked about the known facts of the nuclear plant problem. You know, liberals are always bragging about how they stick to facts and how conservatives use hyperbole and subjective reaction, but the liberal media is leaving out many facts as they look for sensationalism, or simply demonize nuclear energy.

Later in the program Beck showed that across the world economies are being propped up by government spending, and now that stimulus is running out trends are pointing to another big downturn. Beck makes the point that this will meet an end and it will end in crippling inflation and collapse. All signs point to what happened in Germany before WWII. Beck is one the few people in the media addressing this problem head on.

I have recommended a return to a free market, but as Beck realizes, even that means a long slow route to stability and sanity. The countries of the world have pumped up economies by too much and there has to be a pay back. Tomorrow I will give my opinions on what that road back to sanity might look like.

Beck also made the point that if we don't want to use coal or nuclear or oil or natural gas, then we have to decide what we're going to do for energy, because alternative sources of energy are not ready for market on the scale we need. We can either have this or that, but if we get rid of this what will that look like. I suppose we could have both this and that until that is ready for market -- that sounds like a better route.

Morning Joe 3/15/2011 -- Nuclear, Nuclear, Nuclear

On Morning Joe today they continued to focus on the possibility of a nuclear tragedy although there is still no evidence of a widespread nuclear problem. The Morning Joe crew believes that Japan's government is holding back information, but I doubt they would put their people at risk knowing that it will be become clear enough shortly what the radiation levels are. There is hardly any talk about the real problems facing millions of people in Japan -- food,shelter, loss of loved ones, missing people, electricity, general upheaval and unimaginable anxiety.

The Morning Joe crew reported that Saudia Arabia is sending troops into Bahrain to protect the King, and that the US is urging caution. So much for democracy. It now appears that the US administration's position is that if democracy doesn't smell right to us, we'll reject it and support the tyrants, but if it smells okay we'll support the people.

It was also reported that the US is likely to join other nations to intervene in Libya. If we do, we'll be left holding the bag when things go wrong. Our interference in the Mid East and Northern Africa will not turn out well if history is a guide. Bahrain could turn into a confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The situation doesn't look good and there is no way for America to win, because what we're doing isn't consistent and principled, so it'll eventually anger most of the people in that region. We need to clarify our relationship in the Mid-East.

Later on Morning Joe, Andy McCarthy came on and had to once again double-pinky promise that the Republicans will tackle entitlements. Dee Dee Myers praised Obama for putting out a starting budget to begin the debate. That's funny. Pat Buchanan was the only one living in reality -- Pat said that the Democrats want the Republicans to tackle entitlements so that the Democrats can destroy the Republicans for tackling entitlements. Bingo.

More on Japan

http://www.thedailybell.com/1866/Japan-The-Tipping-Point.html

Yes, the whole world can learn a lot from Japan, if only the world understands the right lessons.