"Without an army to fight, and no defensible political objectives to attain there can be no war! Nevertheless, the press and our governments continue to go to great lengths to present the operation as necessary for peace....If we compare the farrago in Afghanistan to the 19th-century expansionism of Germany—Prussia, really—I see little reason to object to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s limited wars of aggression against Denmark (1863), Austria (1866) and France (1870) to expand and consolidate Prussian power. The losing sides might disagree, but the decision to launch these wars for selfish national motives was rational, calculated and efficient."

"Washington’s policies are taking their toll from Afghanistan to Main Street to the Gulf of Mexico. That’s why so many people are more determined than ever to lead from the grassroots by sending genuine progressives to Congress."

"...it is fair to say that Arab attitudes one year after Cairo are both cautious and mature. They are neither unrealistically hopeful nor excessively deflated. They are still waiting for needed change and open to recognize it when it comes."

"The utility of surveys of this type is that they provide business leaders with an unofficial sounding board from which they can identify concerns. The results also provide governments with indices by which they can measure the mood and needs of a critical sector of the society that will be the driver of future growth and development."

"For government or the rest of us to insist on defining them by their faith, or even how they describe themselves or how they define their actions, is at best careless. It also runs the risk of Western governments treading into the murky waters of sanctioning “good” or acceptable Islam or applying a religious litmus test on groups which, in itself, makes a political statement that is most certainly none of our business, and can be dangerous."

"The corporate-military centrism of the Obama administration has demoralized and demobilized the Democratic Party’s largely progressive base -- the same base that swept Nancy Pelosi into the House Speaker’s office and then Barack Obama into the White House. National polls now show Democrats to be much less enthusiastic about voting in November than their Republican counterparts."

"Since some vulnerable and/or conservative Democrats will also place political considerations ahead of needed reform, should the effort to fix the nation’s broken system fail to find a few GOP supporters, it is unlikely that the effort will succeed. As a result of this inaction, the problem will remain, states like Arizona will continue to take the law into their own hands, and immigrants, both legal and illegal will continue to live in fear of profiling by overzealous law enforcement officials."

"...the matter of statehood must be presented as more than the solution to a pesky problem or a begrudging acceptance of a demographic reality, it must be elevated into a visionary right of people who have for too long been denied freedom. What is needed are real people telling real stories, making the Palestinian narrative come to life....As long as the Arab side in absent and/or passive and waiting, the game will be defined and won by others."