Ben Tanosborn It was the time to go to the barricades, not just unionized labor but the rest of America’s middle class that union activism had helped create. It was the time to reverse the ill-advised globalist course in which Reagan and Bush Sr. had taken the nation. And, as it later proved out, it […]
Why Peace-Mongering Is Un-American
Ben Tanosborn It’s been almost two decades since the “Kitty Hawk incident” (1994) and the display of American naval power in the Yellow Sea. Since then, no US aircraft carrier has had a presence north of the East China Sea. But that will come to an end shortly as the U.S.S. George Washington is on […]
US Economic Intelligentsia Oblivious to Deferred Doom
Ben Tanosborn Will US politicians kick the can down the road once again? Need we ask? Of course they will, except each time that happens, the can gets heavier and travels fewer and fewer feet, giving us an indication that soon the can might be so heavy that they’ll bust their toes. Or will they? […]
Argo: Hollywood’s Anti-Iranian Argot
Ben Tanosborn I’ve always been convinced that all great conspiracies, at least those which might be regarded as successful, have one thing in common: no identifiable conspirators. We may identify them, but will dare not accuse them for either lack of perceptible proof or the probable dire consequences we would face as disadvantaged accuser(s). In […]
Recalling the Start of America’s Fiscal Eclipse
Ben Tanosborn As 2012 was coming to an end, Americans became concerned with what was referred to as the “fiscal cliff”… while the unrecognized problem all along has been what might be more appropriately called the “fiscal eclipse.” Once again, political and popular aversion to face economic reality won the day, and the illusory fiscal […]
Gun Control: An Incomplete Answer for a Desensitized Society
Ben Tanosborn It takes a horrific event, one close to home and which affect people we identify with, to give us a momentary shock capable of re-sensitizing us; taking us, at least in the short term, from a state of indifference to one of genuine concern. This December 14, the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary […]
Will US Vision of Middle East Change on the Road to Damascus?
Ben Tanosborn It is unlikely that American leaders, from the State Department to the White House to the Pentagon will seize the Syria-opportunity as a turning point in helping bring calm and stability to the Middle East. Obama failed miserably during his first term to get Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table, forcefully if […]
Romney Champions the Rich, Obama Champions… No One
Ben Tanosborn A model nation for democracy, is that what we claim to be? My guess is that many political scientists would place the US as democracy’s anti-model, not exactly the nation to emulate. For starts, here we are more than three weeks before Election Day (November 6) and people are already casting ballots in […]
The RAP Vote: Alternative to TweedleBar’k and TweedleMitt
Ben Tanosborn Well, the second half of the quadrennial political charade is over, Pres. Barack Obama making his case for a second term in office before a friendly audience of militant Democrats at the convention in Charlotte. Tongue-in-arm Joe Biden, likely to be held accountable for his “America’s best days are ahead of us” remark, […]
The RAP Vote: Alternative to Lack of Acceptable Choices
Ben Tanosborn Almost half a millennium ago, Montaigne, in his wisdom, was telling us that “sometimes it is a good choice not to choose at all.” [Essays III.ix]. He could have been addressing what would eventually be American democracy, its captive politics, and the fantasy that voters are making a meaningful choice when casting their […]