David Corn

I hope someone is listening

Barak: Bibi may be ready for two states

JERUSALEM (JTA ) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be ready to endorse a Palestinian state during meetings with President Obama, his defense minister said.

"I believe Netanyahu is ready for a process whose end is two states for two peoples," Ehud Barak, head of the Labor Party, told Israel's Channel 2 on Saturday night. "Even Netanyahu understands that the ultimate end of the process is two peoples living side by side in peace and security."

Barak said he thought a regional peace accord would take three years to agree upon and another five years to implement.

Meanwhile, an unnamed Netanyahu aide told the Israeli daily Ha'aretz that the prime minister is unlikely to voice support for the establishment of a Palestinian state during his meeting with Obama.

He will, according to the aide, propose the drafting of a new "road map" for the Palestinian peace process and to restart Palestinian peace talks with the participation of moderate Arab states, Ha'aretz reported.

Netanyahu arrived Sunday in the United States and huddled with advisers in advance of his meeting Monday with Obama.

http://tinyurl.com/qgmwau

Netanyahu says Palestinians must accept Israel

May 18 01:39 PM US/Eastern

President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he is ready to resume peace talks with the Palestinians immediately, but any agreement is contingent on their acceptance of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

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Sounds pretty reasonable!

Let's see if the Boy Wonder can deliver!

Then again, Boy Wonder has been trained by the best of the best:

William Ayers, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. headline Mideast peace rally

Oak Park forum features 2 figures associated with President Barack Obama

By Tara Malone | Tribune reporter
May 18, 2009

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and Dr. William Ayers are greeted by Rebekah Levin with the Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine. (Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune / May 17, 2009)

The day before President Barack Obama was to meet with Israel's prime minister, community activists, clergy and residents marched through Oak Park on Sunday to call for a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

And they were led in their efforts by a politically provocative pair from Chicago: Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. and William Ayers.

The two men shared the stage for one of the first times at First United Church of Oak Park during a forum before the annual walk.

They urged a rethinking of the Mideast conflict, a shift in perspective that's not unlike the view espoused by Obama.

SPIEGEL: The Bush administration was so suspicious of you that US intelligence agencies tapped your phones.

ElBaradei: That didn't bother me so much because I never had anything to hide. On the contrary, it gave me a shot in the arm because I knew that I was doing the right thing. But my daughter was deeply disturbed that people were listening in on her private conversations.

SPIEGEL: Would you have thought the Bush administration was capable of that sort of a wiretapping campaign?

ElBaradei: It didn't really surprise me. What can you expect from an administration that -- in a mixture of ignorance and arrogance -- passed over countless diplomatic opportunities to conduct a dialogue with Tehran? The entire Middle East was turned into a complete mess.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,625600,00.html

Israel's PM wants 'immediate' peace talks

[...]

Without mentioning a Palestinian state, Mr Netanyahu said Israel was ready to live "side-by-side" with Palestinians.

President Obama also said Israel had a clear obligation - under the so-called "roadmap" - to stop building Jewish settlements in the West Bank "in order for us to move forward".

"That's a difficult issue, I recognise that, but it's an important one and it has to be addressed," the president said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8055105.stm

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This might be good news. President Obama also gave a bit of a deadline for Iran - by the end of the year we should see talks bearing fruits. The question is if not - then what?

Obama says he needs until the end of year to come up with a plan on Iran but gives family owned Chrysler dealers three weeks to liquidate all their inventories and fire all employees.

Nice!

So much for Obama being for the working man!

Hey Antidote, while we've got time, let's take a short quiz:

Which Vice President is the biggest moron evah?

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Biden Reveals Location of Super Secret VP Bunker

The vice president, well-known for his verbal gaffes, confirms at a dinner the existence and location of a secret hidden bunker that Cheney is believed to have used after the 9/11 attacks.

By Jonathan Passantino

According to a report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president.

The bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks.

Eleanor Clift, Newsweek magazine's Washington contributing editor, said Biden revealed the location while filling in for President Obama at the dinner, who, along with Grover Cleveland, is the only president to skip the gathering.

According to Clift's report on the Newsweek blog, Biden "said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment."

Clift continued: "The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall."

CIA more popular than Pelosi, poll shows

Americans seem to be split on whether the Central Intelligence Agency misled House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on waterboarding, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll out this morning.

About 43% of those surveyed say it's at least somewhat likely that Pelosi was lied to about the use of waterboarding -- an interrogation tactic that simulates drowning -- on detainees. Meanwhile, 41% say the CIA likely did not mislead Pelosi, which she accused the agency of last week.

The CIA gets favorable marks from 63% from the public, according to the poll. The Democrat speaker, meanwhile, has a 35% favorable rating.

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The CIA is more popular than even the Boy Wonder who is only at 62%

You can fool most of the people all of the time.

Say what? Obamas trickle down tax scheme isn't helping the middle class like he promised?

I'm shocked!
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Blue collar U.S. males lose more ground

Mon May 18, 2009 7:00pm EDT

* U.S. male unemployment rate surges past national average

* Blue collar men take worst hit, wages keep falling

* Construction may recover; many assembly jobs are gone

You can fool most of the people all of the time.

This would explain Obamas 62% approval rating. Left wing nut roots will believe anything the Wonder Boy tells them!

Looks like the party of Cheney and Limbaugh is looking better everyday~~~

New Gallup poll shows indepenends are split evenly on party identification for first time since 2004:

They’ve been within a point or two several times but the last month Republicans were dead even with Democrats (including leaners) was June 2005. It’s a huge swing from a month ago too, from 50/39 to 45/45.

New abortion poll:

The poll finds 49 percent of voters today describe themselves as “pro-life” and 43 percent as “pro-choice” on the issue of abortion. This is the first time more voters have described themselves as pro-life in the poll since April 2004.

New Gitmo poll:

Just over half of Americans (55 percent) oppose transferring detainees from the Guantanamo Bay facility to prison facilities in the United States…

45% to 45%

The polls about reproductive rights is not suprising as more and more people are becoming radically christian. That does not mean the women should not be allowed to make their own choice, with their families and doctors about what to do with their own bodies. Abortions have only increased under the Bush/Cheney era - they actually decreased while Clinton was in office. This is the difference between good family planning and education vs. abstinence only education and less access to contraceptives.

But getting back to David's topic...I think that Obama has the personal power to make something happen. I hope he does.

"Obama To Go Bad Cop"..? Never happen. Since taking office, Obama's every single decision point one way: Status Quo. Business As Usual.