Sunday, March 09, 2014

On Juan Williams Defending Condi Rice Re Rutgers U Profs Opposed to Her Being Invited To Speak There

Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going. If she starts talking... her instinct is to start with this blame America, you know, I'm the victim. If that stuff starts coming out, people will go bananas and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross ~ Juan Williams (dob 7/6/1946) in a 1/26/2009 comment to Bill O'Reilly while appearing on the O'Reilly Factor.

H/T to Lester Nation of rAtional nAtion United States of America for his highlighting of Juan William's defense of the ex Secretary of State regarding her invitation to speak (and receive an honory degree from) Rutgers U, and some professors with a "political agenda" speaking against it.

Juan Williams, who Mr. Nation describes as a "a rational and reasonable liberal", cites Condi's credentials (including a PhD, college teaching, provosting at Stanford U, and working her way up from a working-class family in the segregated South) and concludes that "only partisan hatred can blind the faculty to her extraordinary level of accomplishment for herself and her country".

rAtional strongly agreed, and several Liberally inclined commenters also weighed in and said they said Condi should be allowed to speak. I attempted to submit two comments citing Rice's involvement with an administration that mislead the American people into a war based on cherry-picked faulty intelligence and outright lies, but rAtional was having none of it. No doubt because bringing up such things would fall into the category of "gnawing on old bones".

"Gnawing on old bones" is a phrase rAtional likes to use when anyone brings up crimes or misdeeds of Republicans. This makes rAtional uncomfortable so he dismisses such talk by implying there is a problem with the person who brings up these things. The point being that I agree with the faculty's objections and (if I worked there) would sign their petition (my Liberal colleague's disagreement not withstanding).

It isn't "partisan hatred" to be concerned about misdeeds and lies of prior presidential administrations. That such things are swept under the rug explains why current and future administrations will continue to push the envelope. The Obama administration continued the policies of spying on the American people that began under bush (rAtional professes to be opposed). And the drone strikes in a country we aren't at war with (Pakistan and elsewhere) have only increased (but two examples).

I think "gnawing on old bones" is a phrase rAtional uses to express his opinion that the idea that we could learn from past misdeeds or "mistakes" (and not repeat them) is BAD. So, we disagree on that, as well as the belief that Juan Williams is a "a rational and reasonable liberal".

This time Mr. Williams defends Condoleezza Rice. Previously Juan defended Clarence Thomas when Thomas was accused of sexual harassment. If Williams were a Conservative defending Black Liberals, I think other Conservatives might say he was doing so only because they're Black. I won't say that because I can't think of an example where Williams has defended a Black Liberal. He seems to have a habit of exclusively defending Conservatives.

And remember he was fired by NPR for Islamophobic comments on Bill O'Reilly's "Factor", and then hired by Fox. Because he played to the Islamophobia of their base, IMO. Frankly I question whether Williams is either rational or reasonable. And I have questions regarding how Liberal he really is. Williams agreed with the Rutgers Profs that Rice had a role "in pushing the false claim of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq" and supported "using enhanced interrogation techniques to get information from terror suspects", but says she should still be allowed to speak.

Allowed to speak, in Juan's opinion because "all of that is [not] negated by her service in President George W. Bush's administration". No, Condi's accomplishments aren't "negated". We simply should not ignore her participation in the lying-into-war and supporting of war crimes, Juan! "Rational" my ass.

The article by Williams is under a header (on the Fox site) that asks "why do liberals have so much hate Black Conservatives"... even though the text of Williams' article does not mention this "hate". The "hate" is brought up by Sean Hannity in a video (at the top of the article).

According to one protesting prof interviewed by Fox Nooz, it's not about Republican and Democrat. Said prof says "I have good Republican friends who are members of the Tea Party. That's not the issue. For me it's the morality of what was done during the war".

Rudolph Bell, a history professor who signed on to the petition, agreed (who knows why) to be interviewed by Sean Hannity says he is concerned about the choice of Condi to give the commencement speech in regards to her role in misleading the American people concerning WMD Iraq didn't have, as well as her support for EITs (i.e. torture).

Some excerpts from the Hannity program...

Hannity: Did Barack Obama mislead the American people when he said if you like your [insurance] plan you can your plan?

Rudolph Bell: She's absolutely welcome to come. I think $35,000 would be a little high. We normally pay at the most $2,000. Anyway, on academic freedom grounds I would never protest her coming to Rutgers. As a commencement speaker, that is different. That is a faculty governance issue. I'm not trying to silence her. She is entirely welcome to come as anything other than a commencement speaker.

Sounds very reasonable to me, and not "partisan hate", hatred for Black Conservatives or "Liberal lunacy". Allow her to speak, just not in a commencement capacity. That way people who want to listen can attend and those who don't can skip it. This way, people who wish to protest can do so by not attending and not have to miss their commencement. Also, we can avoid an "ugly" scene of people turning their backs on her (as has happened previously). Not that I'd be against that form of protest, but I'd have thought the University might want to avoid that. And I surely would not be OK with giving her 35k either.

As for Hannity claiming that Obama mislead the American people about keeping their insurance policies if they like them... that is a false claim. The ACA contains a provision that grandfathers in plans that do not meet the ACA minimum requirements.

Grandfathered health plans do not have to meet all of the law's new coverage requirements. But in order to be grandfathered, health plans must have existed on March 23, 2010. Those with individual grandfathered plans had to have them before the law took effect. And to maintain their grandfathered status, the plans must not be changed to cut benefits or significantly raise prices for consumers through deductibles or co-pays. (Source).

The insurance companies changed plans to cut benefits or significantly raise prices for consumers and therefore those plans did not maintain their grandfathered status. Obama told the truth. It was the insurers who (in my estimation) changed the plans ON PURPOSE so they couldn't be grandfathered in (so they could try to trick people into paying more) while blaming Obama.

But that is another topic entirely. I only wanted to address it because Hannity lied about misrepresenting - misrepresenting that, it should be noted (even if you think Obama misrepresented) - is not comparable. Telling people they can keep crap insurance plans (plans that do not meet minimum requirements) when some didn't meet the grandfather requirements is NOT the same as lying about WMD in order to hoodwink the public into supporting an illegal war!

In conclusion I must say that Juan Williams is a poor "Liberal" for attempting to give Condi a pass (even given her impressive resume prior to lying to the American people). Also, when the rAtional dude said "I would be most interested in hearing what my more liberal leaning readership has to say about the New Brunswick Faculty Council of Rutgers University request to nix the invitation" he lied. I submitted 3 comments (2 critical of Condi and one of Juan) and rAtional declined to publish either.

Video Description: Proof Condi Rice lied about WMD Iraq destroyed.

SWTD #238, lDel #16.

3 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the post.

    As for the comments I did not publish, well lets just leave it at you and I know what was in them. Good enough for me. They will remain lost to the ages.

    PS: You have a wonderful forum here to speak your mind in any way or fashion you choose. So, do it, I'm certainly down with that.

    Have a good week Mr. Sanders, really.

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  2. I don't believe that twelve years is enough time to forget about the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. I think it is too soon to consign these discussions to the dusty archives of history. I tend to sympathize with those who continue to condemn the sadistic administration of GWB and its war profiteering neo-conservative power brokers. The only problem with this narrow view is that it obscures the crimes against the United States Department of Energy and other various crimes that Bush at the very least attempted to perpetrate on the American people. (Remember how he tried to privatize SS, humorously changing the insurance system only for those born slightly after the president and the first lady?) RN, you remind me of legends of New Mexico, how old men after their deaths become wonderfully free spirit beings dancing over the rims and mountains of their beloved land. Similarly, you seem to have been freed from your republican past. May you be happy and content in your new life. I for one shall always fight to defeat the republican party. The democratic party is the only thing standing between the republican party and the death of the American way of life.

    The three of us can probably agree to having some apprehension over the use of armed drones outside zones of active military combat. We have heard the empty claims of the current president that these actions have saved lives of Americans abroad and those of our allies by preventing attacks real or imagined. Perhaps just by killing the right people we can stay eternally vigilant and safe. You gentlemen understand the futility of such an argument. We have heard apologists for this inhumane practice claim that it is by the far the least destructive means of achieving these desired ends simply because they are compared to the random destruction and utter annihilation of heavy conventional aerial bombardment. Circular arguments which do not satisfy my sense of justice. Let's take the last twelve years, put them in their context and bring the discussion up to date as of this very month. UC Santa Barbara has one of the finest media centers in the country for discussions of political and sociological importance. I invite you to watch a rational debate between qualified academics who also have relevant experience in related fields such as working for DOD. The topic is drone warfare. The panelists are distinguished. This traces the discussion back to the summer of 2001 when the Bush administration actually blew up a mock-up of Bin Laden's Afghanistan residence in the Nevada desert with a predator drone, but was unable to decide if the operation should be carried out by the CIA or the Pentagon, or if it would have been sufficiently lethal. All the way to a recent declaration by the Pakistani High Court that drone strikes within their borders are illegal and a violation of their sovereignty. The court also declared that they must be considered war crimes because of the loss of civilian lives. Unfortunately, at 90 minutes, it is the type of presentation that might best be suffered through after a nice banquet.

    Enjoy listening to intelligent minds discuss this issue. My hero in this is Mary Ellen O'Connell. She dominates the discussion and fairly wins over her colleagues.

    http://www.ucsd.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=25811

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  3. Liar ? Are you kldding? You bill if this intelligent women and yet you kiss the ass of that horrible liar Hillary Klinton, how dumb is that!
    Don't bother to answer, I already know

    ReplyDelete

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