Reid And Angle Could Use A Shot Of Tequila, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis In Afghanistan, Karl Rove Needs To Be Stoned

Eugene Robinson
John Dickerson

"Two years ago, with the nation facing a host of complex and difficult problems, voters put a bunch of thoughtful, well-educated people in charge of the government. Now many of those same voters, unhappy and impatient, have decided that things will get better if some crazy, ignorant people are running the show?" - Eugene Robinson

"After watching the Nevada Senate debate, the country should hope that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." - John Dickerson

I was disappointed that I had missed the debates between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, along with the debate between Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell. So I made sure to search out the debate last night between Harry Reid and Sharron Angle. I expected to come away with a negative impression of Ms Angle, and she didn't disappoint. At times she tried to get away with downright old fashioned slander, once accusing Mr Reid of making all of his money while as a Senator...

What surprised me, though, was that for all of his experience and years served, Harry Reid is a crappy debater. He comes across as someone's kindly grandfather who is reluctantly drawn into a scurfluffle. John Dickerson has a good description of the debate, it didn't feel like there were real people talking at each other, it felt more like someone quickly edited a response from previously taped material from both candidates... Whether Harry Reid pulls through and gets re-elected or not, the Democrats should seriously think of replacing him as leader of the Senate with someone younger and with a little more pep. I would love to see Al Franken or Amy Klobuchar in that post; it doesn't have to be awarded on the basis of seniority... Conversely, the Republicans should seriously consider replacing John Boehner and especially Mitch McConnell for their failed obstructionist strategies during the last two years...

 The NY Times reports that there are 33 races with candidates espousing tea party ideals, meaning that win or lose, they have a good chance of becoming a third party and influencing policy on a national level. I think that they will take over the Republican Party, as they essentially have already. All that's left is the formal announcement and cutting of the cake. Interesting, though, that we have all kinds of splinter groups of differing hues of conservatism wandering out in our political wilderness, and there are no moderates brave enough to take on the loudmouths. Unless we find a way to filter out the wackos, our future elections may end up stranger than this present one. The crazier ones are fun for their entertainment value, and we should always keep a Rand Paul or Michelle Bachmann in reserve for those dark and gloomy days, but please don't put them in charge of the CIA or in charge of foreign policy... On the other hand, I think Carly Fiorino is right, that all debates should now start off with a few shots of tequila...

One of the problems of war is what happens to a city or village after being bombed. Water sources are affected and the quality of sanitation goes downhill, paving the way for outbreaks of diseases. Afghanistan is currently seeing outbreaks of malaria and a disfiguring skin parasite transmitted by the bites of a sand fly, probably brought to the region by military gear that was in Iraq, as the BBC reports: "The Afghan capital, Kabul, has been hit by a disfiguring tropical skin disease, the World Health Organization says. The WHO warned that the disease, cutaneous leishmaniasis, threatens the health of 13 million Afghans, especially women and girls. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted through the bites of certain species of sand-fly. It can lead to severe scarring, often on the face, and regularly goes undiagnosed and untreated. Several other major cities such as Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-e Sharif are also centres of leishmaniasis."

So far the only way to treat this disease is by the use of expensive drugs, although an experimental form of heat treatment is currently being tested. It will go away by itself after a year or so, but leaving behind horrible scarring. This disease could be one of the reasons thousands of residents of Kabul took to the streets protesting the American presence... It's a good thing that peace talks between the Talibans, the Americans, NATO, and the Afghan government are taking place, because after nine years, it looks like we are wearing out our welcome... As an aside to this, if a peace is negotiated and we pack it all up, where will we locate our next Bagram prison, which is where we put our prisoners from our war on terror, the ones we keep without charges, and the ones we use mercenaries to torture for information. Maybe on Okinawa or deep in a mine in Chile?.. Just another gift from the good ol' USA...

Obama won't be making any choices on what to do next in Afghanistan until after the elections in November, and, as Robert Dalleck explains in Foreign Policy, his choices are bleak: "Obama faces his next momentous decision on what to do in Afghanistan while praying that Gen. David Petraeus, the hero of the Iraq surge, can duplicate the feat before the public's patience runs out. So far, the president has avoided either fully embracing the Afghan war or calling for outright withdrawal. His commitment of 30,000 additional troops was meant to reassure America's national security hawks that he is as determined as they are to defend the country's safety from future attacks. At the same time, his promise to begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011 suggests his understanding that Afghanistan could be another Vietnam -- a costly, unwinnable conflict that could tie the United States down in Asia for the indefinite future. It might also be, of course, that Obama has serious doubts about the value of sending American soldiers to die in a far-off, impoverished land of little strategic value, but understands that simply to walk away from the conflict carries unacceptable political risks, undermining his ability to enact a bold domestic agenda that is central to his administration and his chances for a second term."

Obama's domestic enemies are painting him as some kind of intellectual pussy who would rather try and talk than take action. It's the John Wayne syndrome: weak men like Dick Cheney and John Bolton trying to huff and puff and bluster the house down while belittling those who find it silly to swagger around wearing chaps and spurs... Remember, John Wayne was a coward and alcoholic who beat up on his Hispanic wives, yep a great American to idol and emulate...

It's about that time in the elections that the conservatives start pulling off childish pranks and name-calling, much like George Bush did to John McCain... It's about time that Christine O'Donnell calls her opponent gay, or Jan Brewer in Arizona calling her opponent gay, or Tom Tancredo in Colorado calling his opponents gay immigrants... We already are watching some of the most vicious television commercials crafted by Karl Rove, with every sentence in them a falsehood but said in a tone of voice scientifically guaranteed to produce a negative image inside your head. It's a high-tech way of bullying and calling the other guy names, a high-tech way of saying that the other guy is gay, a way to shame him in public... If we're going to bring back stoning people to death, could Karl be the first one we get to toss into the arena?