The public has a big stake in the success of Jon Stewart's campaign against the debasement of public discourse, because the debasement of public discourse has been a major obstacle to enacting the policies that America needs, like ending the war in Afghanistan.
If a report this week in the New York Times is substantially correct, the US has taken significant steps towards pursuing a negotiated political solution that could end the war. There has been significant debate about these developments. Are they real or hyped? If Pakistan and Mullah Omar remain excluded, won't that sink the talks? These are important questions. What does not seem to have happened so far is any significant attempt to shut down these developments by accusing the Obama Administration of "wanting to cut and run," "being soft on terrorism," or "not caring about Afghan women." That's a positive development which we should work to maintain. The steps reported this week are steps that could have been taken much sooner, saving many lives and many billions of tax dollars, if the proposal to do so four years ago by then Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had not been unjustly shot down by then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. This is why the broad public interest would be served if Jon Stewart would lead by example and acknowledge that when in a national broadcast he accused Sen. Tom Coburn of holding up $1.15 billion in reconstruction aid for Haiti, the charge was false. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/restore-sanity-jon-stewar_b_772476.html http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/10/22/125341/36 http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/738 -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] Urge Congress to Support a Timetable for Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
