I think ideally, people wouldn’t want a war.

On the other hand, Marc, I’d love to know where you get your information on Iran. Because I actually just spent the summer there (about 3 months) and I kind of have a decent understanding on the economic situation there as well as what is on people’s minds.

I’d like to mention firstly that while I was in Iran, the number one issue that concerned Iranians (and I guess it’s more accurate if I say Tehrani people) were concerned about the economy and jobs.

From my experience, uranium enrichment was not talked about a lot – and I think that people in rural areas as well as urban areas would appreciate the power not going out at least a couple times a week for hours at times if they had nuclear energy.

I also want to mention that sanctions work if only we assume that a leader is compassionate to his people, which in this case it isn’t, and we would be punishing the PEOPLE of Iran. I love how people are like “yeah! let’s put sanctions on Iran” without even thinking it through fully. Do we want to isolate and further penalize and weaken the Iranian people? Or do we want to help the Iranian people, and equip them in a way so that they actually have the power to fight back.

Your view on sanctioning Iran is neither progressive, tactful nor right for this situation. These are exactly the short-sighted views that get the U.S in trouble with other countries year after year. Maybe you can check out Reza Aslan – he’s really critical and usually pretty balanced on the issue of Iran. He has a blog on the dailybeast and this short clip might give you better insight into Iran. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXlvQ0NTakI

By the way, going on Fox news only legitimizes their bullshit. You can’t argue in that realm – it just doesn’t make any sense. In addition to that, they put a spin on everything.

The rhetoric that was going around that Obama going to Denmark was a waste of time was a popular one because he isn’t involved in the issues. I know he is behind the scenes working hard but come on the Afghanistan issue – where the commander is saying he only spoke to Obama once; I want to see Obama work harder on health care reform – play a role in the legislative process if he really cares that much about it.

All of the issues that he is facing made the public saw the trip as a waste of time. The Chicago team in Denmark also placed a huge role in how Obama was seen. He was seen as a savior coming to put a win in the bag for the state of Chicago even though if you look at the video presentations Chicago was way off – they could never have won. This made Obama look stupid and people laughed at him.

The Obamas Michelle and Barack speeches were also inadequate. Michelle talking about sitting on her dad’s lap at 20 years old, come on. Barack making his speech all about him and America – that isn’t what the Olympics is about.

Bad for Chicago, Bad for Obama, Good for Rio

It’s a shame that Obama can’t do anything without the right complaining. I guess they’re happy that Rio de Janeiro was judged as a better city than Chicago.

iran does not scare me at all. they have way too much to lose and are amongst the most educated peoples in the middle east.

as for obama and the olympics, i don’t have a problem with him making a personal bid for america and his adopted hometown. now his critics are accusing him of a certain amount of callousness in regards to that bid, asking how come he hasn’t said anything about the latest horrifying crime to hit chicago, as if obama has the ability to stop street crimes. i’m not quite sure why obama’s critics don’t want an american city to host the olympics. anybody know?

Anyway about the Polanski/race issue, I’d say we should just ask Michael Jackson, but unfortunately he was convicted to death, so to speak, without being proven guilty.

So…yeah.