Egypt = Algeria

Hope not. What just happened in Egypt looks much like what happened in Algeria and sparked a terrible level of bloodshed for years. Egypt is poorer which bodes ill. Can it be smarter?

employer mandates section of Obamacare delayed

The Obama Administration today declared that it will not enforce the employer mandates for health care coverage until 2015. A break for business, a loss for labor, a loss for insurance companies, yada yada yada. The usual; politics defined as the picking of winners and losers (contrast with sports where there are winners and losers too but nobody picks them, we hope). Now when the USSC upheld the mandatory purchase section of the Affordable Care Act...now that was something...that was a signal of a new day in American politics. Calls to mind the Eastern saying, 'may you live in interesting times.'

Analyzing the Snowden search: where's waldo?,,,er, Edward Snowden

The glee with which the media are hunting Snowden is a signal of their irrelevance. (CNN was running dawn to dusk coverage for awhile). Experts on extradition law are trotted out. Is this what they study in journalism school? And do te American people gain any insight or knowledge from such information? Answer? No. The media has become society's background noise.

Obama and the Drone Speech (anti-drone)

When Obama made his speech dialing down his drones war it was hailed as a turning point. It was supposed to show that the US was serious about disengagement from Af-Pak. But it was a public plea to the Pashtuns/Taliban not to be so ferocious in the usual spring offensive. It worked, sort of. Direct talks are on the way and they are without preconditions. They are also without Karzai who has become irrelevant. The US would like to stay in Afghanistan but not under the gun. The question is can they offer guarantees that would satisfy Omar? He does not want to be in a parade in Kabul and wind up getting droned. My guess is that te Taliban will never trust the US. So they will have to leave or stay but under te gun.

Why the IRS should target the Tea Party (and any other lawbreakers)

If any citizen stood and said that they refuse to pay their taxes that is akin to conspiracy. And if they did not pay their taxes that is a crime. Don't really see the problem if the national tax agency, authorized by constitutional amendment, upholds the law. When Vietnam war protesters threatened to withhold taxes because of their pacifism they were tried and convicted. Probably no one on earth is completely satisfied with their country's tax policy.

Israel helps Syria's Assad

Does anyone else see a correlation between Israelis airstrikes and Assad's successes? They divert focus away from the Syrian regime because the only thing Syrians hate more than their government are the occupiers of their Golan hills. Thanks Bibi for splitting the focus of the Syrian population.

Or has terrorism against Americans only just begun? New Orleans.

And what is exactly is the difference between Boston and New Orleans incidents? Guns not bombs? From Yahoo news: "FBI spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig told reporters that the shooting was "strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans," not at an act of terrorism. The AP reports that nearly 400 people had shown up for the parade but 200 were in the direct area where the shots went off."