A friend recently reminded me of these lyrics from “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who. It’s an Inaugural Poem for the rest of us.

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In a couple of weeks, it will be the turn of Israeli citizens to pick a Prime minister, albeit indirectly. It is going to be a tough choice that many, probably the majority of the electorate (see polls here ), will avoid by voting for a smaller party. Why? Because they have to choose between pleasing themselves and pleasing the world. They know Benjamin Netanyahu is a brilliant leader who has proven that he understands and is able to deal effectively with the major problems facing the country: Iran, her terrorist proxies and the economy (See, his interview with Stephens).

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Back before there were computers, cell phones, ipods, video recorders, microwaves and even before most families had color television I had a childhood that meant the world to me. A large part of my childhood memory was a Shangri-La nestled in the north central part of Wisconsin called Clintonville. If Disneyland was, “The Happiest Place on Earth!” Clintonville was the safest place on earth, at least to a young boy growing up in the United States of America. As children, we all need a safe place to visit not only for the joy it brings us at the moment but also for the adult escape we can retreat to when our lives become frayed or filled with fear from time to time.

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(First published in the Vallejo Times-Herald) 

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As President Bush is packing, a review of his legacy is starting in earnest. Much of it is troubling at best, and all too often, it is profoundly regrettable. However, he deserves kudos for the way his administration dealt with Libya. Even more important: It suggests steps the next administration should consider in dealing with other rogue states.

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To paraphrase Lyndon Johnson: “Doing the right thing is easy; knowing what the right thing is? That’s hard.”

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CUE ORGAN MUSIC:  In today’s episode, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of fame and fortune, is crushed by press reports saying that she had to bow out of the race to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate because of problems involving taxes, a nanny, and possibly her marriage.

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This was the first full day on the job for President Obama.  He signed executive orders closing the prison at Guantanamo within a year, and restricting interrogation techniques to those found in the Army field manual.

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THOUSANDS OF ACADEMICS WORLDWIDE SIGN PETITION TO PROTEST CUPE ONTARIO’S PROPOSED BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES Here we go again. Please read and sign. Remember the Danish cartoon fiasco. Here we go again. The Dutch court of appeals ordered the minister of Justice to put on trial the justifiably controversial Geert Wilders for incitement to racist hate. While I am no fan of anachronistic criticism of thousands of year old holy books, I do not believe boycotts and trials are the proper response to such transgressions. You can read more about the case in Death to Free Speech in the Netherlands and find a petition on his behalf addressed to the Dutch government here. Do consider signing. If you wish to help him defray his legal cost click here

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Hi, all. I’ll have some big news to announce in a few days regarding my writing about movies. Hope you’ll check back.

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WASHINGTON: New White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs withstood a tough grilling from reporters in the Executive Mansion’s briefing room today, an indication of how hard the media intends to be on the administration of President Barack Obama.

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Please read the short post here.

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So, the guy who is ultimately going to be responsible for sending me a tax bill each year gets away with failing to pay almost $40,000 in taxes.  If that were me, I’d be in jail.  Apparently, however, if you’re a friend of Mr. Obama, you get a cabinet post.

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Do you remember the good cop, bad cop scenarios played out in countless Hollywood dramas?

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Hi, all. I see a LOT of movies–141 in the theater last year alone. I decided I ought to blog about my experiences. If you care to read my impressions on movies, have a look at the Movie Mike blog. It’s not politics, it’s not celebrity gossip, it’s not a diary–it’s not even full-blown movie reviews. It’s comments about the pictures I see; usually, brief entries about some facet of a picture that I think is getting overlooked. It’s a different perspective. Lemme know what you think, okay?

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In all things political, there is symbolism and there is substance. Nowhere is it more dangerous to substitute the former for the latter than in the arena of national security. President Obama wants to close Guantanamo Bay, other foreign prisons and limit CIA interrogation techniques? Go right ahead–as long as you’re willing to live with the consequences, Mr. President.

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Hillary Clinton was sworn in as Secretary of State yesterday, and most likely Timothy Geitner and Eric Holder will be confirmed as Secretary of Treasury and Attorney General, respectively, in the near future.  So, along with Bob Gates at Defense, the senior cabinet positions in the Obama Administration will be filled.

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WASHINGTON – On the occasion of this most joyous of inaugurations, my emotions are mixed, yet not contradictory.

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 Dr Phares’ Annual Address at the Florida Society for Middle East Studies

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Clemens Heni, a post-doctoral fellow at Yale, writes here (scroll down for the English text) about a sermon preached by Rick Warren in April 2005 in which Warren praised Hitler Youth. In that sermon he also lauded the ability of Lenin and Mao to mobilize large numbers of people. Warren says that a similar mobilization, or revolution, is needed to fill today’s sense of spiritual emptiness.

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On Election Day last November, 48% of voters cast their ballots against Barack Obama.  With his approval rating now somewhere in the 70’s, it shows that a lot of Republicans are willing to give him a chance.  There should be a flip-side to this.  How about Democrats giving Republicans a measure of civility in return.

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It could have been expected. Economic downturn scares dictators and military spending is one way to stimulate an economy. There is little doubt that the worldwide economic downturn during the Thirties played a pivotal role in the rise of aggressive militarism in Japan, Italy and Germany. So, it should not surprise us to read that China is increasing military spending to meet foreign and DOMESTIC challenges nor that a worried India is determined to meet the challenge. The simultaneous rise of two nuclear superpowers is difficult in the best of times which these times are definitely not. In other words, the coming economic depression has made perilous times, much more perilous and I have yet to mention Russia, Pakistan or Iran.

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So here I was, still teary-eyed from 44’s exhortation to America to face our difficulties with courage and determination, prepared to do my part in restoring America’s mandate for stoic resilience. I thought about the greatness of this moment - our new racial mosaic right inside the White House instead of just outside on the Mall. I reflected on the new symbol of our classless society where poor kids can go to Princeton, Columbia and Harvard Law and any poor celebrity can fly his/her jet to Washington to perform for these alumni when they become President and First Lady. But a few details were blurring the afterglow…..

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There was a line drawn in the sand yesterday during Barack Obama’s inaugural address. First, let me say that I thought it was a terrific speech. It was uplifting and hopeful, and I am certain that Americans feel better about themselves this morning. The problem that I have is ideological because I think President Obama said something in his address that economically was dead wrong. He said, “the question that we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.” Great soundbite, but it begs the question. Contrast that with Reagan’s inaugural address in which he stated that big government is not the answer to our problems, but rather big government is the problem.

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Well, doggone, did we elect a neoconservative president?

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We described the president’s inaugural address yesterday as workmanlike.  That description holds.  It was less than a great speech.  Only a few have argued otherwise, and they had skipped their medication.

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We humbly nominate, as the most over-the-top statement of the day, this line from an editorial in Britain’s reliably leftist and anti-American Guardian:

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One needs to pause to at least recognize the majesty of the moment. There is no question that the United States of America, when it comes to the transition of power, understands democracy. Yesterday, George W. Bush, was the leader of the free world and today, the power transfers to Barack Obama; and, it will be seamless. Like most Americans, I will be swept up in the wave of patriotism as I watch the oath of office delivered, and I clearly want to send my very best wishes to our new President. I also feel like I need to wish him “good luck.” For those of you waiting for the obligatory, “he’s going to need it,” that is too silly for me and demeans the enormity of his task.

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The manufactured international incident which Crazy Joe Biden alluded to a few months ago could well be Kosovo or Bosnia or both. Especially given that Obama is under Clintonian tutelage, the new Clinton administration is setting its sights on the Balkans again, and readying to reengage the Christian Serbs. The first order of business will be a long-anticipated staged attack on Albanians by Albanians — stage managed by Western intelligence — to be blamed on the Serbs ala the 1994 Markale marketplace bombings in Sarajevo and the breadline massacre there in ‘92. Please read here.

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Obama showed us that he’s Jimmy Carter with these early lines of his Inaugural:

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My friend, comedian Cody Marley out in L.A., suggests this as Obama’s opening line today:  People of earth! (stare intently)… Ha, just kiddin’.

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