Whatever side you are on, you have to appreciate Congressman Ron Paul for putting a serious, credible Libertarian view on health care and the war in Afghanistan. Republicans should learn from him rather than isolating him and his ideas. His perspective on “Corporatism” vs. Capitalism is very powerful. Check out the video above. It is worth the 10 minute investment. Oh, and a special note to Larry King… you don’t thank a sitting Congressman for being on your show by saying “Thanks Ron”.
Categories: Opinion · Video Links · health care reform
Tagged: afghanistan, Congressman Ron Paul, Health Care, Libertarian, Politics
This episode of PoliTalk offers lots of options for listeners. The first half of the show features a discussion of the options facing the President for the war in Afghanistan. Glenn explains why there are no good options, and Jeff tries to completely change the discussion by offering up a totally different option. The options get more clear when it comes to health care reform and the future of the public option. Glenn explains why the public option, as positioned now, will ultimately work for the President…and Jeff explains why it might not…and why Hillary Clinton may have been a better option to lead this debate. Always entertaining and informative, it’s PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.
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Categories: Episodes
Tagged: afghanistan, Health Care, Politalk, Politics
2009 is proving to be a very good year for Wall Street, but times are still tough for people on Main Street. While the Dow passed the 10,000 mark and Wall Street bonuses will be very big, unemployment remains very high and businesses, especially small ones, are hurting. Jeff and Glenn explain why financial reforms may hold the key to encouraging economic recovery helping Main Street! And why the Administration needs to focus more on helping small business and less on Wall Street pay packages and Fox news. Always entertaining and informative, it’s PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.
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You can get the PoliTalk Podcast on iTunes and Zune
Categories: Episodes
Tagged: economy, Financial Regulation, Goldman Sachs, Podcast, Politalk, Politics
Following up on last week’s in-depth discussion of Afghanistan, the PoliTalk boys turn their sights back home to talk about the political implications of what’s happening over there. They wonder what our end game is, and how various options will play politically back home. Moving to discuss the politics of another hot button issue, they explain how room rates at Las Vegas hotels are tied to the fate of health care reform. They also explain why they are on a crusade to counter the hate-filled sensational bombastic rhetoric found on most political talk shows, and encourage their listeners to invest in and help re-brand the nature of political discourse. Always entertaining and informative, it’s PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.
Join us in Boston on November 10, 2009! Register now, visit http://nationaldebateseries.com
You can get the PoliTalk Podcast on iTunes and Zune
Categories: Episodes
Tagged: afghanistan, Health, health care reform, Las Vegas, Nevada, Podcast, Politalk, Politics
President Barack Obama
At 6:15am this morning, I walked into my exercise class and three women were talking. One said,
Did you hear Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize?
I said,
Well that’s impressive… what did he win it for?
The look on their faces was like I had just hit a puppy with a bat. Is it just me or isn’t there usually an accomplishment associated with the Nobel Prize? So, I did some research.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said,
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.
Okay, I get it, the committee is in love with the idea of Obama versus and tangable accomplishments. Setting a tone is great and necessary, but its strikes me that the end goal of peace should be the bar. Then again, I am not on the selection committee. As for me, I am happy for President Obama. He is certainly gaining worldwide recognition and it can’t hurt us on the international front for having a sitting president having this credential early on in his term. So to President Obama, I say Bravo. Oh, and can we get some resolution to the healthcare problem? Thanks.
To the Norwegian Nobel Committee, I say… what are you thinking? I get that peace is not medicine or physics where you can point to a tangible discovery or breakthrough. However, your award now seems to be more of a political statement rather than one that is predicated on accomplishment.
Past Nobel Prize Winners:
Categories: Breaking News
Tagged: Nobel Peace Prize, Obama, Politics
In what might be the most substantive and engaging episode of PoliTalk, Lt. Col. Joseph Alessi Ph.D., chair and professor of Military Science at the University of Pittsburgh, walks us through what is really going on in Afghanistan. To understand the current political decisions, you have to understand the complex history of this country, and to do that, you need to listen to Joe. The McCain campaign had “Joe the Plumber.” At PoliTalk, we have Joe the Scholar, who offers a fair, balanced view of the region and explains why if you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to repeat it…and nowhere is that lesson more vital than Afghanistan. Always engaging and informative, it’s PoliTalk — your weekly political podcast.
Join us in Boston on November 10, 2009! Register now, visit http://nationaldebateseries.com
You can get the PoliTalk Podcast from iTunes and Zune
Categories: Episodes
Tagged: afghanistan, David Letterman, history, Iran, Podcast, Politalk, Politics
Just when you thought it was safe to talk about the Middle East, Iran drops a bombshell… almost literally. Between the announcement of a new nuclear plant and the testing short and medium distance ballistic missles, Iran has put itself back on the world stage. Join Jeff and Glenn as they discuss the region, the implications of Iranian actions and their take on possible outcomes.Always informative and entertaining, it’s straight-forward political analysis on PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.
Join us in Boston on November 10, 2009! Register now, visit http://nationaldebateseries.com
You can get the PoliTalk Podcast from iTunes and Zune
Categories: Episodes
Tagged: afghanistan, Iran, Podcasts, Politalk, Politics
We want to apologize up front for this episode. No, literally. Because in this one, Jeff and Glenn dive deeper into the issue of political apologies. Why are they done? What is their purpose? Why do innocent family members get dragged out into public? And maybe most important, do they actually change anything (I mean, afterall, they are apologizing for a reason…). Our co-hosts not only look at the recent apology by Congressman Joe Wilson, but also President Bill Clinton, Senator David Vitter, Senator John Edwards, Governor Mark Sanford and Governor Eliot Spitzer. Always entertaining and informative, it’s PoliTalk, your weekly political podcast.
Join us in Boston on November 10, 2009! Register now for Early-Bird Special Pricing, visit http://nationaldebateseries.com
Listen to the current installment of PoliTalk and get yourself informed, inspired, entertained and ready for the day… spread the word… tell two friends, and so on and so on…
You can get the PoliTalk Podcast from iTunes and Zune
Categories: Episodes
Tagged: Apologies, Bill Clinton, Joe Wilson, Podcast, Politalk, Politics
Glenn and Jeff react almost immediately to President Obama’s speech to Congress, putting the speech in context, reminding listeners what they should watch from the President and Congress over the next week, and explaining the politics and policy ramifications of the speech. They offer praise for the broad objectives met through the speech, dive deep into a discussion on the proposed health care exchanges and the effect on small business. Jeff reacts strongly to Congressman Wilson’s outrageous outburst during the President’s discussion on immigrants and Glenn takes heed of President Obama’s closing words and offers his strong views on the need for more reasoned and rational debate of issues. Always entertaining and informative, it’s PoliTalk — your weekly political podcast.
Join us in Boston on November 10, 2009! Register now for Early-Bird Special Pricing, visit http://nationaldebateseries.com
Listen to the current installment of PoliTalk and get yourself informed, inspired, entertained and ready for the day… spread the word… tell two friends, and so on and so on…
You can get the PoliTalk Podcast from iTunes and Zune
Categories: Episodes
Tagged: Congressman Wilson, Healthcare, Obama, Podcast, Politalk, Politics
Afghanistan Relief Map
Every once and a while, we find that one of the comments posted on this blog is deserved of its own blog entry. This is one such occasion. The commenter, Andrew, responded to our recent blog post on Afghanistan. Andrew did two tours of duty in Afghanistan with the US Army. He presents some interesting perspective for those of us who look at the situation from afar.
I am Andrew. My father is a frequent reader of this blog and had me read your post and the article from the BBC. Your post is very informative and the fact that you have no comments yet on this particular link is disturbing. As a two-time Afghanistan veteran and history buff, I know it is a dynamic region where cultural diversity, history, and a unique location in the world have afforded it the unique position of a crossroads for invading forces.
First made infamous during the march of Alexander the Great’s military on it’s way to conquest in India, Afghanistan has been host to invasion for countless generations. The problems were have now in Afghanistan stem from the Soviet invasion, true, but the root of the trouble is seeded from the failed invasion of the British. The degree of the failure is apparent not only from the Enfield rifles the locals sell to American Soldiers in country, but from the tribes that were simply cut off by the pen of British statesmen creating modern Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. Tribes that have been in the same region for thousands of years and watched Macedonian’s cross the mountains were separated by a line drawn in the sand by a foreign dignitary. This makes it extraordinarily difficult to deal with since tribal authority, especially in the remote trouble areas of the Afghan border regions (Ghazni, Khandahar, Helmand, etc), is seen as a higher authority than the national government. A Pashtu is a Pashtu. The border makes no difference and yet, to us, it is a huge problem. We can not even deal with the same family to catch Osama due to the Afghan/Pak border and modern views of sovereignty. Yet, the locals could care less since it has been their land far before the British, let alone the United States, ever arrived. Al Qaeda hides right across the border. In case news reports have not made that clear, they are staying with the same tribes that live in familiar Afghan towns.
Their cultural history also teaches us that they are extremely fond of the “Arab” due to their religious connection through Islam. Modern scholars have realized this but Arabs are seen as the true followers and original worshippers of Islam and the later adopters of this religion are enthralled, and thus easily manipulated, by them.
Their history and culture, which is heavily tribal in nature, also calls into question the effectiveness of payoffs and rewards for information. Sure, some Afghans are willing to accept a few hundred dollars for information. However, for the capture of Osama, as odd as this may sound, it would be far more beneficial to offer a farmer some sheep, land, and a guarantee of future prosperity for his family than it would be to hand him millions. He would understand the land offer and be able to understand it much more than a few million greenbacks.
To divert quickly onto another topic of history that is applicable, we should review Pompey the Great and his conquest of the pirates. He understood their mentality, fought when needed, converted when possible, and cleared the Roman world of them quickly. Counter insurgency at it’s best, circa 60BC.
Afghanistan has an assortment of problems. A lack of leadership in government (Karzai is called the Mayor of Kabul by many locals), a terrible infrastructure, and, of course, another war. Without understanding what makes them tick, what makes their culture unique, and what their history is, we will fail just like the Soviets and British before us. It is sad to say, but so few men in the military feel this way.
Categories: Opinion
Tagged: afghanistan, Al Qaeda, history, Politics
PoliTalk – The Weekly Political Podcast
