The call by some members of the black media for African Americans to support President Obama in racial solidarity is a terrible idea. Just as terrible as women supporting women only because of their sex, or any other group viewing the world solely through the narrow prism of their own experience.
If pursued and played by Obama, it would be the worst thing not only for his reelection campaign but also for the country. The man who was elected on a promise of unity neither black nor white nor red nor blue cant now play the race card. Any of his supporters who play that hand will be doing a disservice to themselves and to the nation.
How did this come about?
As Obamas approval has been slipping, some leaders in the African American media have begun calling on blacks to ignore their concerns and just vote black. Leading the pack is radio host Tom Joyner, who reaches an astonishing one in four black adults. Maybe we could just have Joyner and Rush Limbaugh wrestle each others ideas to the mat and skip these tedious debates, primaries and conventions.
Joyner is blunt with his 8 million listeners: Stick together, black people.
Too many of us sat passively way back when the deciders were outsourcing our jobs to underdeveloped places halfway around the world. Now they've outsourced our democracy to just a handful of states and are in the act of hijacking our holiday season.
We need to demand an end to the greed-based imperatives of a few states that have been leapfrogging their primary and caucus dates ever earlier just to cash in on the campaign dollars windfall that goes to those who go first.
Every four years, Democratic and Republican voters in most states discover that the choice of a presidential nominee has already been made for them. Or that their first-, second- and third-choice candidates have already been forced out of the race by voters in a small, faraway place that really doesn't represent their own interests. The nominee is virtually chosen by springtime, forcing everyone to sit on their hands until the final two months of the fall campaign.
There is a better way one that may not have been suited for earlier eras, but is ideal for fostering democracy in the Internet Age. It is based upon the concept of time-zone primaries and caucuses, and we'll get to it in a minute.
But first, here's a quick catch-up on the mess our politicos have made of today's nominating calendar. While most Americans are agog amid the usual Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's whirligig, television's gush of warm-and-fuzzy holiday commercials will duel with those slash-and-burn attack ads of desperate presidential candidates.
Iowa, which planned to go first on Feb. 6 (also way too early), will now hold its caucuses before some have cleared their New Year's Eve cobwebs on Jan. 3, 2012. All because Florida moved to cash in by moving its primary to Jan. 31, igniting a chain reaction: South Carolina and Nevada pushed earlier into mid-January. And as a result of all that, New Hampshire's infuriated pols are now threatening to hold their 2012 primary in December 2011.
It's about time for us to start streamlining our presidential politics for the Internet Age. And we can start by getting rid of our campaign bandwagon's ancient running boards the vote-first anachronism of Iowa and New Hampshire and the notion that we still need two small states to go first and do our thinking and thinning for us.
Many have suggested four regional primaries/caucuses Northeast, South, Midwest and West on the first Tuesday of March, April, May and June, the order of each region's elections being drawn from a hat each election year. But this idea has one huge negative: It conveys potential advantage to a candidate who may be strong regionally, but weak nationally.
Solution: To avoid traditional regional bias, regroup the regions according to three time zones. The Eastern Zone would have Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York and New Hampshire all voting the same day. Central Zone would have Michigan, Iowa and Texas. Western/Rocky Mountain Zone: Oregon, Colorado, California and Arizona. It is an idea I have long favored, and this age of YouTube and Twitter politics, its time has come.
Advantages: No longer would we have our initial decisions made for us by voters in two or several small states that are famously unrepresentative of the American rainbow mosaic, from its racial hues to its economic rainbow that ranges from Rust Belt to Cotton Belt. And millions more Americans can become part of the first wave of elections that narrow the field of presidential nominees.
Martin Schram: SalemNews.com, Salem, MA
October 20, 2011
#1
While you're at it modernizing this process, how about modernizing the time zones as well. They were originally drawn up to accommodate the railroads which had a need for standardized time. We move and work to different rhythms than the railroad these days. Then they thew in 'daylight savings time' which now covers more of the calendar than 'standard' time. How about just shifting everyone east one zone, Eastern to Atlantic, Central to Eastern, Mountain to Central, and Pacific to Mountain and do away with DST.
[Dawn] THE reform of religious seminaries has been an oft-debated topic since the early days of Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf`s ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... regime. Yet over the years, madressah reforms have achieved very little. As reported in this paper, talks between the government and the Ittehad Tanzeemat-i-Madaris Pakistain, an umbrella body representing different schools of thought, have gone nowhere and there is no sign of a central madressah regulatory body. What has complicated matters is that under the 18th Amendment Islamic education is now a provincial subject. Federally, seminaries are handled by the interior division, and perhaps this is the crux of the problem. The interior ministry is clearly not equipped or able to initiate any substantial reform. Madressah reform is the domain of educationists, not the police or law-enforcement agencies. Also, the state needs to clarify -- for itself and for others -- what it means by reform. The federal religious affairs minister has said the state wants to register the madressahs, rationalise the curriculum and `mainstream` the institutions. Yet the government seems confused about whether this should be an administrative exercise or a socio-cultural and educational one.
Does reform simply mean adding computers to madressah classrooms and teaching `secular` subjects so that graduates can join the workforce? Or does it mean changing a narrow, often sectarian and jihadi worldview into one that accepts tolerance and plurality? For both these purposes the interior ministry is ill-equipped to take on the challenge. Furthermore, while ensuring that seminarians don`t take to the path of militancy and extremism is a noble aim, the state needs to focus as much if not more attention on resuscitating a nearly dead public school system. It is understandable why many underprivileged parents would choose to send their children to well-funded seminaries with free meals and lodging instead of to crumbling state schools. This is where reform is really needed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
There is no market for guys who memorized the Koran for a degree. Those grads disappear and are killed in foreign wars. Those grads kill more Paks than anyone.
[Dawn] THOSE who work in development have an accepted practice for evaluating the performance of a project: after polling stakeholder perceptions, a `report card` is issued classifying success or failure against measurable indicators.
It is a pity Pakistain has no such document to show how it has fared in countering faceless myrmidons since October 2001.
The task of evaluation becomes more difficult when grading the impact of the internal counter-insurgency on external relations. In this case, that would mean taking the perceptions of our neighbours into consideration. How do they think we have fared? The opinions of the Afghans, Indians and our putative ally the US would be relevant.
Arguably, Pakistain may have achieved greater, albeit temporary, success against the faceless myrmidons internally; yet from the point of view of our allies, our efforts rate poorly since they accuse Pakistain of supporting bully boy groups. In this sense, we have placed ourselves under bigger problems externally.
Who is responsible for this situation? It is a fact, for instance, that insurgency reared its head in Pakistain after the US attack on Afghanistan in October 2001. After that incursion, snuffies took refuge in Fata and Pakistain`s various cities. Controlling the insurgency became difficult when the actions of militaries on both sides of the border resulted in snuffies shifting from one jurisdiction to another.
It could be argued that military offensives do not actually reduce the number of bully boys, except marginally, but shifts them around and that is misinterpreted as success.
This dilemma in anti-insurgency operations is vividly portrayed by the case of Swat`s snuffies when, led by Fazlullah, the hard-core fighters took refuge in Afghanistan`s Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... . Since the US had earlier withdrawn from that region, it became a strategic safe haven for the Afghan and Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... militants.
It allowed them to come together and reorganise attacks on Dir, Bajaur and Chitral in Pakistain, as well as within Afghanistan. One may ask, then, that if this is the situation today, what was the purpose of earlier operations by US forces in Kunar or Nuristan? It was clearly a flawed approach.
Similarly, the Pak forces fought with snuffies and met with fierce resistance from the Taliban when Operation Sherdil was launched in August 2008 in Bajaur. The military claimed that 2,744 terrorists, including 321 foreigners, had been killed and 1,400 injured in the operation. Yet two years after the end of operations in Bajaur, the area remains insecure and is attacked by snuffies operating from Kunar. A similar pattern can be observed in other Fata areas.A report by Rand Corporation stated: "Pakistain will not be able to deal with the Death Eater threat over the long run unless it does a more effective job of addressing the root causes of the crisis and makes security of the civilian population, rather than destroying the enemy, its top priority. In addition, Pakistain`s decision to support some Death Eater groups has been counterproductive."
This comment challenges the claim that matters have improved as compared to the situation in 2008-09, when large chunks of territory were under the control of hostile groups. True, the territories have been taken back from the bully boys, but it is doubtful whether the security of the population has improved in the long term.
Matters are not helped either when external pressure against Pakistain is increased. The US claims that Pakistain is an unreliable ally because of its support to the Haqqani network. Such recriminations have made the task of ending the insurgency doubly difficult. The question should actually be: is Pakistain complicit or does it lack the capacity to eradicate the Death Eaters?
Being complicit means that under-performance has been taking place on purpose; being incapable of dealing with the situation may relate to a lack of capabilities or the adoption of a weak strategy.
In either case, the situation demands that we reformulate our counter-insurgency goals so as to create a convergence between internal and external perceptions. Internal security will not improve otherwise. Secondly, Pakistain needs to enhance its capacities in the areas in which it is weak, particularly in criminal investigation and policing.
We also need to resolve the strategic contradiction that has crept into our external relations; on this count we need to rethink, in consultation with others, our policies relating to Afghanistan and the US.
Three recent developments -- the signing of the Indo-Afghan strategic agreement, the extension of the drone attacks to new areas of North Wazoo and the deployment of US forces in the greater Khost area of Afghanistan opposite North Waziristan -- indicate a worsening external security situation.
The convergence of these events at the time of the US secretary of state`s visit indicates the employment of coercion to shift our policies. The message is clear: cooperate or expect the worst.
The divergence between the US and Pakistain arose after the May 1 raid in Abbottabad that netted the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be but now ain't... . It is further encouraged by the belief that since the US will be exiting Afghanistan in December 2014, it makes sense for Pakistain to retain the support of its Afghan proxies.
It is obvious that Pak assumptions will shift if the US retains bases inside Afghanistan, as it is presently contemplating, and does not withdraw completely by 2014. If that is the case, it is likely that the insurgency in Afghanistan will continue into the foreseeable future.
Pakistain needs to seriously review its counter-insurgency strategy and ensure that internal as well as external compulsions are addressed collectively. Otherwise, we may be headed towards some unwelcome results. Given our current financial and economic difficulties, it is time that Pakistain`s security policies were adjusted. Pakistain`s anti-insurgency report card does not, unfortunately, boast high marks.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/22/2011 00:00 ||
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Banned militant groups and new madrassas linked to them are changing the traditionally tolerant and progressive landscape of Sindh
On October 13, unidentified men fired at an Afghanistan-bound convoy of NATO fuel supply trucks in the Shikarpur district of Southern Sindh and burned six of them. Before that, on October 1, a group of 30 armed men attacked NATO trucks at the National Highway near Khairpur district, wounding four people and destroying 10 vehicles. NATO supply trucks had been attacked in Peshawar, Khyber Agency, Islamabad and Balochistan for years, but recently such attacks are also being carried out in Sindh.
Some believe that the motive of such attacks might be insurance claims and not terrorism, but a leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that the men who attacked the NATO supply vehicles in Sindh were in fact militants and belonged to the TTP-linked mobile 'Siyara Group'.
Sindh's civil society and nationalist parties fear that militancy and religious intolerance are gaining grounds in the province. New madrassas (seminaries) and increased activities of banned jihadi organisations are affecting the traditional Sufi and progressive landscape of the province.
"The mushroom growth of madrassas, most of them funded and backed by banned militant outfits, is posing a threat to Sindh's non-violent traditions," says Salam Dharejo, a political analyst who writes in monthly Newsline. "Due to deep-rooted influence of Sufism and progressive nationalism, militancy has never flourished in Sindh," he said, "but the proliferation of militants is posing a threat to what has been a liberal society for many years."
Banned militant organisations are strengthening their bases in Sindh especially in districts like Umerkot and Mithi, where non-Muslims are in majority. And that is changing the secular socio-cultural landscape of the province, said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think tank.
While violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA continues to get media coverage, underdeveloped regions of Sindh are quietly becoming the recruiting grounds for militancy, analysts believe. Although there is no concrete evidence of involvement of any Sindhi in a suicide bombing, many people belonging to Interior Sindh, especially Shikarpur, had taken part in the jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir and many of them were killed during the war, Dharejo said.
"Yes, the threat of religious militancy is evident and the Sindhi society has resisted it because of its political culture," said Bakhshal Talahoo, a political activist associated with Labour Party Pakistan, "but at the same time, the Afghan war and the Islamisation of the society by dictator Ziaul Haq has also affected the secular colour of Sindh and its politics." He believes that if Sindhi politics will lose their democratic structure, the society will be more receptive to religious extremism.
Charity organisations linked to banned jihadi outfits have been active in relief work after the recent floods in Sindh, exploiting the natural disaster to strengthen their organisation, Rana said. Some of these banned charity organisations had simply changed their names.
The civil society and nationalist parties also have serious concerns over the increasing construction of new seminaries. Only in district Khairpur, hometown of Sindh Chief Minister Qasim Ali Shah, 93 seminaries out of the total 117 are not registered with the government, said a local journalist. In Umerkot district, there are more than 400 madrassas.
The growing activities of banned organisations have and the madrassas linked to them have played a key role in hurting the religious harmony prevalent in the region, Sindh's civil society activists say. The forced conversion of Hindus to Islam had never been a widely acceptable practice in Sindh, but in the recent years, hundreds of Hindu girls have been forcibly converted or encouraged to marry Muslims, Dharejo said, adding that such practices, which have threatened the secular fabric of the society, have never been publicly condemned by a local or civil society organisation. Religious groups and institutions have actively extended moral and financial support to such practices.
A Hindu member of Sindh Assembly, Ram Singh Sodho, resigned from his seat and took refuge in India after he received threats from militant groups. Media reports suggest that incidents of kidnapping of Hindus for ransom have risen alarmingly during the last few years, forcing many families to abandon their homes and shift to India and other countries.
Sufism had made a great impact on Sindhi society and Sufi shrines dot its landscape. Most recently, the shrine of Hazrat Noor Shah Bukhari situated in Mirpurkhas was attacked and set ablaze by unidentified attackers on late 14 July night, damaging some parts of the building .
"Taliban militants consider Sufism as a big threat to their radical brand of Islam. A majority of Sindhi people are adherents of Sufism, and have always condemned the Taliban's un-Islamic acts," said Dilshad Bhutto, head of Pakistan Secular Forum. "Islam spread in the Sindh region through the preaching of great Sufis, not through Arab fighters."
But some analysts disagree. "There is no presence of Taliban elements in Sindh. It is the forces that want to malign the Sindhi people who are involved in the attacks on NATO supply vehicles," said a leader of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz. "We have nothing to do with NATO, but we support their actions to eliminate militancy and terrorism."
#1
"Religious groups and institutions have actively extended moral and financial support to such practices," referring to the forced marriage and conversion by Hindu girls to Islam.
Sorry, Sindh--"militancy" is winning.
Posted by: American Delight ||
10/22/2011 9:41 Comments ||
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A Very Special Announcement
by T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII Heh - a sample:
I have in recent weeks been besieged by a host of right-thinking conservatives who have importuned me to enter the presidential fray. These have included my vivacious like-minded colleague Kathleen Parker and those two dapper Davids of conservative letters, Brooks & Frum; joined in chorus by countless voices from Washington's top bipartisan litigation and consulting firms. With the President vulnerable and so many sensible government contracts at stake, they have persuaded me that the GOP electorate is yearning for the one voice in our party brave enough to consistently stand athwart the Tea Party lunacy. And, with the entire current Republican field variably afflicted with this madness, I could not help but relent to their entreaties.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/22/2011 13:05 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
THE reform of religious seminaries has been an oft-debated topic since the early days of Gen 
THOSE who work in development have an accepted practice for evaluating the performance of a project: after polling stakeholder perceptions, a `report card` is issued classifying success or failure against measurable indicators.
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
Wazoo
