Edward Said opposed the Oslo Accords and also opposed a 2 state solution. Hardly a “moderate” voice.

I have heard Khalidi on news programs such as the PBS Lehrer NewsHour and have found him less “moderate”
than his Columbia University predecessor Edward Said. Much to Said’s credit, he did establish with his friend Israeli musician David Barenboim a youth orchestra designed to encourage musical understanding and friendship amongst classically-trained young Israeli and Palestinian musicians. Ironically they haven’t had as much success disseminating this message via concerts in the Arab Middle East as they have had elsewhere, including a US tour two years ago which included visits to my undergraduate Ivy League alma mater and Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium (where I had the pleasure of hearing them performing almost as well as many of the first class European orchestras).

One more thing: Your putting “scholar” in quotes (“Dr. Rashid Khalidi, the Palestinian-American ‘scholar’ currently a professor at Columbia University”) was pretty damned sleazy.

Khalidi has a B.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. from Oxford. He has taught at the American University in Beirut, the University of Chicago, and Georgetown, and he’s now a full professor at Columbia. He’s the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies and a past president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America.

There’s a lot more, but the point is made. Khalidi’s scholarly credentials are impeccable, and your attempt to marginalize him with quotes is just sad.

And by the way, Khalidi’s politics are not nearly as one-sided as you appear to believe. He’s a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He’s on the board of the Palestine-Israel Journal, which you should look up immediately. And he’s also a member of the national advisory committee of the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East. Look that one up, too.

Obama was predisposed already to be anti-Israeli since he was friendly to Dr. Rashid Khalidi, the Palestinian-American “scholar” currently a professor at Columbia University (Obama knew Khalidi when they were South Side neighbors.).

Ah, he knew a Palestinian in Chicago, therefore he was predisposed to be anti-Israeli. This makes about as much sense as the rest of what you’ve been posting.

But, just for the record, it turns out that he knew some Jews in Chicago, too:

[Obama] has had Jewish mentors throughout his career. Philanthropists like Bettylu Saltzman, Penny Pritzker, and Lester Crown were crucial to his campaigns. His friend and neighbor the late Arnold Jacob Wolf was a rabbi. Michelle Obama’s cousin Capers C. Funnye, Jr., is the first African-American member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and the spiritual leader of Beth Shalom, a congregation on the South Side. One of Obama’s closest colleagues in Springfield was Ira Silverstein, an Orthodox Jew, with whom he shared an office suite in the Capitol building; Obama acted as Silverstein’s shabbos goy, turning on lights and pushing elevator buttons for him on Saturdays. … Abner Mikva, a former congressman, federal judge, and counsel to Bill Clinton, jokingly told the Chicago Jewish News during the campaign, “I think when this is all over, people are going to say that Barack Obama is the first Jewish president.”

http://bit.ly/9LiKOM

“No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?”

I have to be the bearer of bad news to Mr. Kwok but the Rethuglicans currently have 41 senators. To convict an impeached president or overturn a veto, they will need 67. It is mathematically impossible for them to gain 26 seats as far less then that number of currently Democratic seats are up for election in 2010. It would appear that Mr. Kwok is seriously unhinged. I have a flash for Mr. Kwok,. The Rethuglicans are not going to repeal the health care reform measure and they are also not going to impeach and convict President Obama. And, it the economy is improving and unemployment is going down in 2012, he will be reelected for a second term.

In all seriousness, if we’re going to talk about scary, dangerous things, I thik the RNC turning down an offer from the Democrats to sign a “let’s disagree but officially decry violence and demagoguery together” agreement quite possibly the scariest and most dangerous of them all.

“Purity tests,” firing of those within the party who utter the slightest criticism, cries to vote out moderates in lieu of extremists. These all sound like the way you guys paint the Democratic Party…but they’re coming from your own house.

So who, exactly, is the party painting itself with shades of totalitarian demogoguery? Take a look in the mirror…

“The question comes to my mind have you been willing to defend your country and the Constitution or are you unwilling to stand up for them, they are not important to you or you let someone else do it for you. Personally I started my first tour in 1963 and ended my last in 1991 so they mean a lot to me and I have been willing to be there to defend both.”

I think it’s more of a question is where to draw the line. My desire to see more people healthy and happy is more important than if I have to buy health insurance or pay a fine.

It’s great that you’re willing to defend out republic and Constitution. In this case, I think you’re just using that as an excuse not to like this particular reform bill. Moreover, we the people, elected our representatives according to law. They did pass this bill on our behalf. If you don’t like them don’t vote for them in November.

@John #39 -

You don’t know that to a certainty. If the Republicans do take back congress you can forget about congress passing any meaningful action on climate change. They think it’s all just a big hoax perpetrated by Al Gore and the IPCC.

WIth substantial majorities in both Houses, the Republicans can overturn the Messiah’s veto. Who knows? They may embark first on impeaching and convicting him, then act to repeal the ObamaCare bill.