Liberty and Justice: My American Journal

Republicans on Friday pushed a bill through the House phasing out federal loan guarantee program for green industries such as solar energy. The loan guarantee program falls under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was passed partly with the intention of promoting a revival of nuclear energy. President Obama has supported the development of innovative clean energy technologies.   He has also supported nuclear and natural gas production. The Fremont, California based company, Solyndra LLC, was the first renewable energy company to receive a federal loan guarantee under the stimulus.   The company failed financial woes in the face of Chinese competition. The Energy Department successfully supported projects such the world's largest wind farms in Oregon, a large solar generation project in California and a major photovoltaic solar power plant in Arizona. These projects have been saving nearly 300 million gallons of gasoline a year. The problem with this bill is that we are n...

It is not logical to demand from Iran to cease defending herself while her adversaries advance their WMD resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Israel .   Germany has provided Israel nuclear-capable submarines and how to arm them: http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2012/03/05/israels-nuclear-weapons-program-and-lessons-for-iran/   No one in the region should have the nuclear bomb. That is the first logical step toward a peaceful coexistence.   Israel is the only state with nuclear bombs and ability to explode them on any country in the region. The second step is to accept the Iranian position that at this time nuclear bomb development is not part of their strategic plan for self-defense.    Third, like Japan, Germany and Brazil accept the Iranian prerogative under NPT to have a full-nuclear fuel cycle program.   The last, and the most important diffuse the 60 years old conflicts between Arabs and Israel. This is good for the Uni...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice : United States "voice is muted" under Obama ”There is no doubt the United States' voice has been muted," Rice said on "CBS This Morning," adding, "When the United States' voice is muted, the world is a more dangerous place." Ms. Rice has a myopic view of the world we live in.   During the term of her office, the United States attacked two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.   During that period the international attitude toward the United States negatively changed.   What was wrong with America:   assertive unilateralism and internationalism? “U.S. standing—its position with respect to reputation, stature, or prestige in world affairs—declined dramatically in the past decade. Many American leaders and citizens worry that this decline, despite a recent upturn, may be part of a long-term trend that will be hard to reverse. President George W. Bush initiated a new national strategy fo...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice : United States "voice is muted" under Obama ”There is no doubt the United States' voice has been muted," Rice said on "CBS This Morning," adding, "When the United States' voice is muted, the world is a more dangerous place." Ms. Rice has a myopic view of the world we live in.   During the term of her office, the United States attacked two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.   During that period the international attitude toward the United States negatively changed.   What was wrong with America:   assertive unilateralism and internationalism? “U.S. standing—its position with respect to reputation, stature, or prestige in world affairs—declined dramatically in the past decade. Many American leaders and citizens worry that this decline, despite a recent upturn, may be part of a long-term trend that will be hard to reverse. President George W. Bush initiated a new national strategy fo...

The statement: "While Tehran says its atomic work is purely peaceful, Israel and Western nations believe it is moving towards a nuclear bomb that could change the regional balance of power" is often heard or read in the media. This statement should be examined for accuracy. The statement has been forwarded as a justification for placing economic and political pressure on the Iranian society and if we could change the Iranian government. 1. Western nations believe it is moving towards a nuclear bomb that could change the regional balance of power” How could this be? Iran does not have any nuclear bomb, but Israel does. There is no parity in this case. 2. Iran has some very old and new domestically produced defense system; these systems are not at parity with those we have supplied to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf States. 3. "Western nations believe" that Iran is moving towards a nuclear bomb. But our national security agencies in the US have in...

The main issue of interest for both Israeli and American public is the internal issues of jobs, health issues, housing, and the cost of living. Israel is suffering from a self-inflicted problem. Only as one nation, a Federal State of Arabs-Jews, Jews and Arabs alike could have peace. Would an intruder into your home expect love and harmony from you? Would Israel harboring nuclear bombs and attacking her neighbors and threatening to attack Iran, expect respect, love, and peace? The hawkish AIPAC lobby organized its annual conference in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met with Obama at the White House, and the pro-war crowd had one goal in mind: to pressure the President to draw a new “red line” for military action to try to block diplomacy with Iran and make Iran war inevitable. In the entire week, there was not a single word about Arabs and peace. Iran is not the real issue. The issue is the failure of our government to force Netanyahu to accept a fair negotiated peac...

The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon for gas and 22.4 cents per gallon for diesel. This tax does not include the other taxes by the states and local communities. This federal tax is not generating the $260 billion GOP needs for a proposed highway construction and transit program! The cars are more efficient and people are not buying more gas. The GOP has a solution. They want to get the money from the federal employees. How? They suggest the federal employees should contribute 1.5 percent more of their monthly income for their retirement. At present the retirement benefit is calculated based on the average salary of the last five years of the service. The GOP has proposed to base the retirement benefit for the new employees based on the average salary of the last three years of the service. These changes would reduce the federal contribution to the retired employees’ benefit by about $4 billion a year. The GOP proposal would take money from the retired federal empl...

The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon for gas and 22.4 cents per gallon for diesel. This tax does not include the other taxes by the states and local communities. This federal tax is not generating the $260 billion GOP needs for a proposed highway construction and transit program! The cars are more efficient and people are not buying more gas. The GOP has a solution. They want to get the money from the federal employees. How? They suggest the federal employees should contribute 1.5 percent more of their monthly income for their retirement. At present the retirement benefit is calculated based on the average salary of the last five years of the service. The GOP has proposed to base the retirement benefit for the new employees based on the average salary of the last three years of the service. These changes would reduce the federal contribution to the retired employees’ benefit by about $4 billion a year. The GOP proposal would take money from the retired federal empl...

The statement that” Iran is a threat to US and an existential danger to Israel" is not logical. I don't believe a word of it! Iranians are anything but stupid to attack us or Israel. The story is just a fabrication to heat up the stuff before another war hits the fan. Israel will go to whatever length necessary to drag US into another war in the Middle East. Who would benefit from another war in the Middle East? Not Iran or USA. They both have a lot of internal problems, and neither one can afford another war. We need to stop the crazy people whose intentions are questionable. We have just started to make headway to economic recovery, if another war instigated by Israel would drag US into a new conflict, the war surely would derail our recovery for a longtime. In that case, let us say good bye to President Obama’s second chance for another term in the office. Do American workers and families have to sacrifice more to allow Israeli control of the region? Could President O...

Many Republican candidates and Tea Party members are advocating or agreeing with many of the following ideas: The government should create a two-layer tax system. Those who make less than the poverty level should mostly be exempt from all federal income taxes. Those who make above the poverty level should pay a flat tax of 14% on all incomes exceeding the poverty level. • A flat tax of 5% should be levied on all incomes to be used exclusively for the national defense. • Education should be free up to 9th grade. Any schooling above 9th grade should be privatized and fully paid by the students and their parents. All real estate taxes at the federal and states’ level of education should be eliminated. • Any tax at a state level should be approved by a 60% of the eligible population. • All interstate highways and railways should be designated as “tollways” and the cost of the maintenance and expansion be paid by those who use those roads. • Any environmental regulation that would t...

What is the nature of the political war between the Democratic leaders and the Republican candidates on the government's role in our society? We call our system a Capitalistic society. A society based on the principle of making profits and using our capitals to employ others to produce goods and services (workers) for making profits from the investment. We have been very successful as a Capitalistic system. The conflict between the two parties can be summarized by: Republican Party candidates advocate curtailment if not the elimination of the government’s control on making profits. Democratic Party leaders advocate protection for people who provide the services, their environment security, and income. Republican candidates challenge the leadership in the Democratic Party as a hindrance to freedom of making profits by creating many rules and regulations. The Republican leaders see these regulations as anti-job or anti-profit. They indicate these regulations reduce the profit...