Libya on the brink and the French respond

The French are stepping in to aid the rebels in Libya, as the Qaddafi regime steps up its repression.

The civil war already has created a humanitarian crisis in the African nation, one the west needs to address. So we should follow the French lead, aid the rebels -- in Libya and across the region -- to show that we believe our own rhetoric about democracy and that we are not the monsters al Qaeda paints the West to be.

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For democracy to flower, the grassroots need constant attention

Democratic self government needs some help in the United States. We have grown soft in our assumption that change comes from the orderly, yearly visit to the ballot box. Nothing more is needed from us.

Is that true? Not when you consider the evidence. Our willingness to cede our own authority to our elected officials, to vote them into office and then ignore what they do, has left us with a fragile connection to power. Money governs the electoral process -- picks the candidates and runs the campaigns -- and the winners at the ballot box know exactly to whom they owe their jobs.

A huge majority of Americans tell pollsters they want politicians to leave Social Security alone, for instance, but because the financial services sector wants a piece of the federal retirement pie it keeps ending up on the table.

We got financial reform, but only in name, health-care reform that leaves corporate health-care companies in charge, a recommitment to state secrecy, and we're still waging two disastrous -- and unpopular -- wars, despite two elections in which voters emphatically said we should leave.

It's not Barack Obama's fault, however. Anyone who thought Obama, whose ascendancy in the Democratic Party was anything but a challenge to the party hierarchy, would challenge the corporate state just hasn't paid attention to his history as a politician or the history of the republic.

Don't get me wrong. I'm angry with Obama and the Democrats. They talked a decent game, but had no intention of playing.

But we cannot blame them for betraying progressive principles if we have not applied the necessary pressure.

Consider the wars -- as Chris Hedges does in this rabble-rousing column. The wars go on because we have not demanded that they end, have not forced the issue.

We will not stop the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, we will not end this slaughter of innocents, unless we are willing to rise up as have state workers in Wisconsin and citizens on the streets of Arab capitals. Repeated and sustained acts of civil disobedience are the only weapons that remain to us.

We have to march and write and speak out. That's what history tells us, as Howard Zinn made clear during the early part of the 2008 election season, as the press got caught up in the blathering nonsense of candidates and the minutiae of horse-race politics:

The unprecedented policies of the New Deal—Social Security, unemployment insurance, job creation, minimum wage, subsidized housing—were not simply the result of FDR’s progressivism. The Roosevelt Administration, coming into office, faced a nation in turmoil. The last year of the Hoover Administration had experienced the rebellion of the Bonus Army—thousands of veterans of the First World War descending on Washington to demand help from Congress as their families were going hungry. There were disturbances of the unemployed in Detroit, Chicago, Boston, New York, Seattle.

In 1934, early in the Roosevelt Presidency, strikes broke out all over the country, including a general strike in Minneapolis, a general strike in San Francisco, hundreds of thousands on strike in the textile mills of the South. Unemployed councils formed all over the country. Desperate people were taking action on their own, defying the police to put back the furniture of evicted tenants, and creating self-help organizations with hundreds of thousands of members.

Without a national crisis—economic destitution and rebellion—it is not likely the Roosevelt Administration would have instituted the bold reforms that it did.

Rahm Emanuel said before the inauguration that Obama would not let a crisis go to waste. The president did, as did a neutered American left. It is up to us on the left to change the dynamic, to make them do the right thing.

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The heat is on the Heat

The Miami Heat showed last night why they may have a lot more difficulty getting through the Eastern Conference playoffs and to the finals than their record would indicate.

The team led the Knicks last night for most of the game -- but surrendered two significant Knicks runs that ultimately doomed the Heat and the Heats' big guns came up small when they needed to come up huge.

Lebron James and Dwayne Wade looked flustered and Chris Bosh disappeared for long stretches. There were lazy passes and an inability to contain Carmelo Anthony when Anthony wanted it.

What seemed obvious, as the game clocked ticked down to zero was that the Knicks wanted it more, from Anthony's decision to cover James down the stretch to Amar'e's huge block on James to Chauncey Billups once again living up to his nickname.

What was striking was the Knicks' defense when it mattered. A team that no one will confuse with the Willis/Clyde or Ewing/Oakley Knicks, Stat and Melo made it clear last night that they were ready to put in the effort on the defensive end, and the role players -- Bill Walker, Shawn Williams, Rony Turiaf -- played their roles well.

The Knicks are not going far in the playoffs this year -- though I do think they match up well with their likely first-round opponents Chicago or Miami.

But I have my doubts as to whether the Heat can go far, as well. The Celtics play devastating defense, as does Dwight Howard and Orlando. And the Heat just don't close out games or win close games (5-11 in games decided by 5 or less) or consistently beat good teams (under .500 against teams above .500).

None of this is meant to indicate that the Heat are a bad team. These numbers are going to change and the Heat will move to the top of the heap. It's just that, this year, the Heat have a lot of work to do.

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Charter dissent

There appears to be some dissent from charter mania, and not just in the suburban districts.

Droves of parents and community members at tonight's Newark school board meeting expressed vociferous outrage about a plan to close and consolidate failing Newark schools in an effort to clear space for charter schools.

The meeting became so raucous and hostile at moments that Advisory Board President Shavar Jeffries threatened to remove audience members or stop the meeting. About 300 people attended the meeting at the 15th Avenue School, one of the facilities slated for consolidation.

Everyone wants parental involvement. Well, here it is.

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A small, but important step toward equality

President Obama is finally doing the right thing on the Defense of Marriage Act, at least in part

After two-plus years of allowing his administration to defend the indefensible anti-civil rights law, he has ordered it to back away from its constitutional defense of Section 3 of the statute, "which limits the definition of marriage to opposite-sex partners, precludes spouses in same-sex marriages from receiving certain federal benefits to which spouses in traditional marriages are entitled."

While the president and Attorney General Eric Holder, who announced the decision, did not go so far as to call for DOMA's full repeal or say that the administration would remove itself from all challenges,

Holder noted that Obama had "concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny."

It is an issue of discrimination for the administration, which means that the debate has been altered. The administration very specifically backed away from conservative attempts to define this as a debate about traditional marriage. I wish he would have gone farther -- to declare without reservation that DOMA should be repealed -- but Obama's decision is an important step forward for gay rights. 

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After picking schools' pockets, governor gives districts some cheese

I'm wondering whether the governor has strained himself patting himself on the back for all the good work he's doing on education aid and reform.

Here is the press release he issued today to announce local school aid figures:

Further demonstrating his firm commitment to strengthening and reforming education in New Jersey, Governor Christie is providing an additional $250 million for New Jersey schools in his fiscal year 2012 budget. Aid figures released today by the Department of Education show an increase for every school district in the state. In addition, public charter schools will receive $4.6 million in additional funds – an increase of over 50 percent -- another indication of the Christie Administration's commitment to expanding high-quality public charter schools for New Jersey children.

“Last year, our state faced severe fiscal challenges, and we had to make some very difficult choices. Reductions to education funding were among the most agonizing of those choices,” Governor Chris Christie said. “Because of the foundation we set in last year's budget, and our responsible management of the state's finances, New Jersey is on firmer footing and we are able to put more funding into classrooms throughout New Jersey."

That's a lot praise for himself for a paltry increase of $250 million. Yes, paltry -- he cut more than $1.1 billion last year and the $250 million he's increasing aid this year does not even come close to fully funding the state's education formula.

But that's not a surprise. The governor's education priorities have never included the public schools, which he views as broken.

"(M)ore money on its own will not fix our education system. We must continue to vigorously pursue education reforms to fundamentally change public education, focused on achieving results for children, rewarding excellence in the classroom and demanding accountability throughout the system.”

His reforms? A "challenge (to) the status quo" that "move(s) toward a system that demands accountability, rewards highly effective teachers, utilizes performance measures and ensures each and every child receives the quality education they deserve."

In English: testing, charters, vouchers and the breaking of the teachers union. The goal has nothing to do with improving the state's schools and everything to do with longstanding conservative ideology. And that is jut not good for the students of the state.

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Political World: More shell games?

My column -- part one -- on the governor's budget plan can be found here.

Melo mania

This certainly appears to be a blockbuster, and quite expensive for the Knicks, but if you break it down, what actually happened?

If the reports are right, the Knicks gave up three of their top six, plus the big Russian who is just starting to look like he might have an NBA future.

Contracts aside, this is probably more than Melo is worth. But contracts play into this and there was a good chance that Wilson Chandler was not going to be part of the Knicks' longterm future, because he becomes a restricted free agent (read this over the weekend, but cannot remember where).

Mozgov is nice, but nothing to block a trade. And Felton for Billups -- well, Billups remains the better player in the short term, a champion with a proven track record. I like Felton -- he is tough -- but we may have seen his best ball already this season. And Billups' contract expires in 2012, like Felton's, so that is a wash.

Looked at this way, removing Chandler, Billups and Felton, it comes down to Melo and spare parts for Danilo Gallinari, Mozgov, a first-rounder and Anthony Randolph. Who wouldn't do that?

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On to chapter two, in which we wonder what the military will do

Hosni Mubarak has been chased from power, with the military taking over for what is being termed a temporary transitional period. Egyptians are elated, but this is only the first step toward democracy and the citizenry that took to the streets will need to keep the pressure on to ensure that the military does not take advantage of the power vacuum to create a new authoritarian regime.

It is something that at least some protesters are aware of:

Abdel-Rahman Samir, a protest organizer, said the movement would open negotiations with the military, but said demonstrations should also continue to ensure changes are carried out.

“We still don’t have any guarantees yet — if we end the whole situation now it’s like we haven’t done anything,” Mr. Samir told the Associated Press. “So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands.” 

So, a new chapter begins.

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Still waiting for history to be made

Hosni Mubarak is still in office and intends to remain there until the fall. Or until he can be pushed, which is going to happen sooner rather than later. From Nick Kristof:

Mubarak’s speech was a striking reminder of the capacity of dictators to fool themselves and see themselves as indispensable. If he thinks that his softer tone will win any support, he’s delusional.

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History made or in the making?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The first chapter does appear to be coming to a close, slowly, painfully. This is what The New York Times is reporting:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak just said in a televised address to his nation that he intends to remain in office until a new president is elected in September.

When he promised to oversee a peaceful transition of power until September, crowds of protesters erupted in unhappiness if Cairo's Tahrir Square. As he continued to speak, the protesters in Tahrir Square broke into loud chants of: "Leave! Leave! Leave!"

Mr. Mubarak, who said that he would not "listen to diktats coming from abroad," also refused to immediately lift the emergency law that has been in continuous effect since 1981, promising only to clear the way for ending the state of emergency once stability and security is restored.

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If chapter one is ending, what happens in chapter two?

It appears likely, according to news reports, that Hosni Mubarak is ready to step aside. The question is what happens next: Does the military take over? Does it take over temporarily under the oversight of a council of civilians? Will there be chaos? Will the Muslim Brotherhood take over?

History unfolds as it unfolds -- we can't predict its outcome nor, as these shifting currents in Egypt prove, can we control it. We just have to go with it and trust that the democracy movement is strong.

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Quote of the day: Robert Braun cuts to the chase

There are a lot of serious flaws -- unfixable flaws -- with the "scholarship" bill that has been making its way through the state Legislature in recent days.

First, we should be working to improve public education by making public schools better, by finding more money for schools in urban districts and changing the funding mechanism to make it fairer. Creating a system in which the state gives tax credits to rich folks to create scholarships designed to siphon kids from the public schools into private -- including religious -- schools does not improve educational opportunity. It only exacerbates the gap between urban and suburban schools (the top kids get to escape failing schools) and endorses the privatization of public schooling.

Just as important, the bill would take public money -- tax money -- and hand it off to religious schools, an endorsement of religion that is a direct violation of the First Amendment prohibition against the state wading into religion.

This brings me to the quotation referenced in this post's title, from one of the few top-notch political columnists in the state, Robert Braun of The Star-Ledger:

It is just plain wrong to use taxes to promote a religious message.

Simple. To the point. Too bad the people in Trenton do not seem to be listening.

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Packing up

The redistricting committee has met just three times, but it already is entering its contentious stage with the discussion focusing on a scheme to pack minorities into unified minority districts. The plan, being pitched as a way to increase minority representation, would have the side effect of creating more suburban (read white) districts expected to vote Republican.

Some Latino groups back the plan, others oppose it and the two political parties that control our broken state government are arguing its merits (the GOP, while not endorsing it, certainly is exploring it, while the Democrats are opposed). No one, which should be obvious, is concerned with anything more than narrow parochial interests.

I hope this is not the direction this debate takes, because too much is at stake in the redistricting plan.

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Cutting our way to wealth and happiness

The liberal case for cutting Social Security? Matt Miller has decided to follow Andrew Cuomo down the spider hole of regressive budgeting, buying into the notion that the only way to fix our fiscal problems is to cut our way out of it.

Never mind that Social Security, as it's currently constituted, does not go nearly far enough and that Medicare should be expanded to cover all Americans. I know this is a statement that is out of step with political fashion, but our problem is not that we pay too much in taxes to get overly generous benefits. Our problem is that we have allowed the gap between the rich and the rest of us to grow exponentially.

Taxes in the United States account for 27.3 percent of gross domestic product -- far lower than the 36.2 percent average for 30-member Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and lower than all but four of its members.

And yet, we still pay more per capita for healthcare than any other industrialized nation, fail to cover a large section of our citizens and still have one in six workers either unemployed and underemployed.

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The protests continue

The analysts say that Hosni Mubarak is planning to wait out the protests in Egypt, hoping that the protesters will lose stamina, average Egyptians will turn against them because of the disruptions or both.

But it is tough for me to believe that the protesters will give up -- especially with record protests today. A change is coming, the only questions are when and what shape it will take. The end game, however, has to be of the Egyptians' choosing.

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Political World: Brave new digital world

Some thoughts on the announced sale of the Huffington Post to AOL -- or, more accurately, on the future of news reporting.

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Listen to the people: Mubarak must go

I have no say in the matter, nor should I, but it is clear to me that the Egyptian masses have already decided the fate of their aging autocrat.

Hosni Mubarak is, according to this New York Times piece, increasingly isolated and his presence atop Egypt's government is an obstacle to ending protests that have shut down the country.

It's just as obvious from reading the statements of pro-democracy demonstrators that removing Mubarak and replacing him with a Mubarak-lite will not be satisfactory, either.

The only answer is real democracy, and we and the rest of the international community need to help make it happen or get out of the way.

Grassroots: Save jobs, safeguard workers

My column in The Progressive Populist, on the need to rebuild labor protections, is live on the site.

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A debate without trust

We have entered the zone of pure politics, as though we've been operating outside of it since Gov. Christie first entered the race for New Jersey governor in 2009.

I don't mean that as a crack against the governor, but against the entire political environment that has overtake the state since he took office and the state began operating under a divided government.

Political games are the norm these days, but the debate over the governor's canceling of the ARC tunnel, what should be done with the ARC money allocated by the federal government and whether toll hikes approved to cover the tunnel project should be repealed has descended into pure nonsense.

What we know is this: The Democrats want to repeal the toll hikes; the governor wants them to stay in place and he wants to use the money to help replenish the Transportation Trust Fund. The Office of Legislative Services says the hikes can be repealed; the N.J. Turnpike Authority's bond counsel says doing so will damage the authority's ability to raise money.

The memo warns that among the potential ramifications are litigation brought against the Turnpike Authority or state by bond owners.

The Turnpike Authority may not be able to issue enough bonds to entirely fund its $7 billion Capital Improvement Project, and the ratings on the Turnpike Authority bonds would likely be lowered. The U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission could investigate or bring litigation against the Turnpike Authority based upon financial projections that included the revenue from the hikes, the memo says.

"Any such downgrading of the Bonds will increase the costs of the Authority’s future borrowings and impair the Authority’s ability to borrow needed capital funds," it reads.

Bleak, to say the least. The question is not so much who is correct -- the bond counsel's opinion is just that, an opinion. The question is not about fact, but about policy, though the argument is being portrayed by the political ones as an argument over facts.

Let's consider several other facts: The state Transportation Trust Fund has gone bust and someone will need to pay to refill it. We could do so by boosting the state gas tax, by using toll money or by raising general purposes taxes.

The gas tax is a use-based approach. If you drive in New Jersey, you pay the freight. The toll approach is also use-based, but targets a subset of drivers, most of whom are from out of state. The general tax approach hits everyone -- including those who don't drive. Which of these is best? Again, this is a policy debate. I would argue for the gas tax because it holds the potential of altering our driving behavior, but that is not on the table -- the governor has promised to veto it. Same goes for the general tax -- a problematic approach anyway.

The toll hike has been passed, is supposed to generate $1.25 billion in revenue. The governor wants to put it in the trust fund, which is used to repair and maintain roads and bridges and expand public transportation.

I'll let you be the judge.

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Private funding for public schools

Let's be serious here. This bill attempts to skirt the church-state wall by creating privately funded scholarships, but -- and this is key -- the state is offering tax credits to encourage it.

The program, which for the first time would provide widespread taxpayer funding for religious and private education, would not be directly funded by the state. Instead, businesses would contribute to the scholarship fund in exchange for tax credits. By its fifth year, the program could cost the state up to $800 million in lost tax revenue.

This seems a state endorsement of the plan and just another example of how the state is moving to dismantle public education. Rather than addressing the real issues -- funding disparity and a segregated state -- we are privatizing the funding of more and more of our educational system.

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Cracking down on the news in Egypt

This is always the first thing that autocrats do to protect themselves -- shut down the news and you shut out the world. Shut out the world and you can pretend nothing's happening. It's worked elsewhere, but in Egypt it is too late. The world knows that the Mubarak regime is on the ropes.

Security forces and gangs chanting in favor of the Egyptian government hunted down journalists at their offices and in the hotels where many had taken refuge on Thursday in a widespread and overt campaign of intimidation aimed at suppressing reports from the capital.

By evening, it appeared that none of the major broadcasters were able to provide live footage of Tahrir Square, the epicenter of antigovernment protests. Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya television networks said their journalists had been hounded from the street and from the vantage points above the square where cameras had been placed, and both CNN and BBC appeared to be relying only on taped footage of the square. Jon Williams of the BBC said via Twitter that Egyptian security had seized the news agency’s equipment from the Cairo Hilton “in an attempt to stop us broadcasting.”

The Egyptian state news agency had earlier asked foreign reporters and crews to move out of all the hotels near the square.

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The spread of protest

Events move quickly on the other side of the globe, but it appears that the protesters in Egypt have reached a point that the Iranian opposition failed to get to last summer. And it is having reverberations around the region.

I mentioned Jordan yesterday. Today's paper brings word of Yemen, where

the longtime president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced a series of concessions on Wednesday that included suspending his campaign for constitutional changes that would allow him to remain president for life and pledging that his son would not seek to be his successor.

“No extension, no inheritance, no resetting the clock,” Mr. Saleh said Wednesday during a legislative session that was boycotted by the opposition. “I present these concessions in the interests of the country. The interests of the country come before our personal interests.”

He ordered the creation of a fund to employ university graduates and to extend social security coverage, increased wages and lowered income taxes and offered to resume a political dialogue that collapsed last October over elections. In answer to opposition complaints that voter records are rife with fraud, he said he would delay April parliamentary elections until better records could be compiled.

Yemen, which is a U.S. ally, is home to a significant al Qaeda presence.

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What side are they on?

New Jersey politics makes little sense. Democrats are calling for a rollback of toll hikes, while the Republicans want the new tolls to fund the Transportation Trust Fund. When did the world flip upside down and Republicans suddenly supporter higher tolls?

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Call them the White Dashes?

Bands come and go, but it is still tough to swallow when a great band splits. The news today that Jack and Meg have called it quits leaves me feeling like one of Jack's harsher guitar runs has been cutting a hole in my ear.

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Political World: Pain at the pump may have benefits

Political World, my twice-weekly Patch column is up (here is the East Windsor link).

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Change in the Middle East: The people choose a different model

There appears to be a wave of change rushing across the Middle East. Tunisia, Egypt and now Jordan have faced or are facing massive demonstrations, with governments falling and change being forced upon calcified regimes.

Neocons had made the case back in 2003 that the toppling of Saddam Hussein by the American military would lead to a sea change in the region, but that sea change never came.

Suddenly, in response to the suicide of a fruit seller in Tunis, the revolution appears to be happening.

What the Bush administration and his neocon allies never understood back in 2003 was that democracy cannot be created at the point of a gun, that change would only happen from below. Now, with Hosni Mubarak's regime teetering on collapse and Jordan having dismissed its cabinet, we are faced with the prospect of a change we cannot control -- and it scares us, because we see a remake of the Iranian revolution in the offing.

But what if what we are witnessing is not Iran-redux, but a remake of the 1989 collapse of the Iron Curtain? Jonathan Schell, in his 2003 book, The Unconquerable World, talked of the power of people movements, as opposed to the use of force.

Violence is the means, as all dictators have known, whereby the few dominate and exploit the many. Nonviolence is the means by which the many can reclaim their rights and advance their interests. Peace begins, someone has said, when the hungry are fed. It is equally true that the hungry will be fed when peace begins. Equality and nonviolence--peace and justice--are inextricably linked, and neither can flourish in the absence of the other. Peace, social justice and defense of the environment are a triad to pit against the imperial triad of war, economic exploitation and environmental exploitation.

The Eastern Europeans, he said, along with others who have broken away from dictatorial regimes and managed to set up free and open societies, eschewed violent revolution for the force of human connectedness. Where violence was the means to the end, the overthrow of the strongman was followed by the creation of a new authoritarian regime (as with the former Soviet Republics that border on Asia and many of the former colonial holdings in African and Latin America).

Violence begets violence, which is why our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan led to civil wars in those countries and has yet to bear democratic fruit. It is why we are more likely to see democracy grown in Tunisia and Egypt than in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least in the short term.

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