America’s Financial Crisis is Not a Clogged Sewer Problem

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UT Austin/LBJ School of Public Policy economist James K. Galbraith is testifying this morning at 10 am EST for the House Financial Services Committee. He will be joined by economists John Taylor and Alan Blinder. Galbraith, a fervent Obama supporter, is not much impressed by the early moves of President Obama’s economic team.

More on Dennis Ross & Chas Freeman: Israel Hardliners May Be Ticking Off Obama Team and Showing Signs of Weakness

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Laura Rozen has done a really great piece of reporting on Dennis Ross‘ new appointment as “Special Advisor on the Gulf and Southwest Asia” to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very much worth reading in full to get a Kremlinological fix on Ross’ seemingly reduced role.

Reaction to Barack Obama’s Speech to Joint Session of Congress

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I have just some very quick reactions to the Obama speech tonight as I’ve been on Al Jazeera English Network tonight talking for more than three hours on it and don’t want to really repeat the general patter of many other commentators and bloggers.

Guest Post by George Lakoff: The Obama Code

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This is a guest post for The Washington Note by UC Berkeley cognitive linguistics professor George Lakoff, author of The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain and Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate–The Essential Guide for Progressives.

Text of NPR Story on Lugar’s Cuba Moves

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Jackie Northam, national security correspondent for NPR, has a great piece up on Senator Richard Lugar’s moves on US-Cuba relations that will air this evening. But here is the beginning of the “text” that can be read in full as well. But the opener: The senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says U.S….

MEDIA ALERT: NPR’s All Things Considered on ‘A New Pivot in US-Cuba Relations’

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This evening at about 5:30 pm EST, I will be discussing Senator Richard Lugar‘s important new Senate Foreign Relations Committee report titled “Changing Cuba Relations: In the United States National Interest” (pdf here) with Jackie Northam on All Things Considered. From Lugar’s opening letter with the new US-Cuba “committee print”: “The debate [over U.S.

Lugar Calls for a “Return to Realism” on Cuba

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Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar, a long time realist and serious strategic thinker about America’s national security challenges, has just popped the bubble of those who have used Cuba for decades in their ineffective ideological crusades.