“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.
The Sunday Talking Heads:
This Week with Christiane Amanpour:Ms. Amanpour’s guests will be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, French ambassador to the United Nations Gérard Araud and former Libyan ambassador to the United States Ali Suleiman Aujali who recently resigned from his post and renounced the Gadhafi regime. Also, Energy Secretary Steven Chu will discuss the very latest from the nuclear disaster at Fukushima nuclear reactor complex.
At the roundtable with George Will, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, former ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee Jane Harman and noted author Robin Wright of the U.S. Institute of Peace will debate the military intervention to stop Gadhafi.
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:The latest on the Libya crisis, and the disaster in Japan with guests Admiral Mike Mullen, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN).
The Chris Matthews Show: This week’s guests are Katty Kay, BBC Washington Correspondent, Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic Senior Editor, Michael Duffy, TIME Magazine Assistant Managing Editor and Norah O’Donnell, MSNBC Chief Washington Correspondent. They will discuss these questions:
Is President Obama failing to lead?
Could Republican “red hots” spoil the party?
Meet the Press with David Gregory: Again, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen along with Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) discussing Libya.
At the roundtable will be NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, The New York Times’ Helene Cooper, The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, and The Wall Street Journal’s Kim Strassel weighing in on Japan and Libya.
State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Making those rounds today, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, then, former CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon (Ret.) and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers (Ret.) and as a finally, Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman to discuss Libya.
Plus, an update on Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant and the future of nuclear energy in the United States with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and two nuclear experts.
Fareed Zakaris: GPS: Fareed will also be discussing the Japan crisis and the “atomic age”. Instead of Libya, he will also be examining Pakistan with “Pakistan’s best and bravest reporter,” Ahmed Rashid, to find out just how unstable this nuclear nation is becoming.
Bob Herbert: A Price Too High?
No one thought the Interstate 35W bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis would collapse. No one thought the Gulf of Mexico would be fouled to the horrible extent that it was by the BP oil spill. The awful convergence of disasters in Japan – a 9.0 earthquake followed by a tsunami and a devastating nuclear power emergency – seemed almost unimaginable.
Worst-case scenarios unfold more frequently than we’d like to believe, which leads to two major questions regarding nuclear power that Americans have an obligation to answer.
First, can a disaster comparable to the one in Japan happen here? The answer, of course, is yes – whether caused by an earthquake or some other event or series of events. Nature is unpredictable and human beings are fallible. It could happen.
Charles M. Blow: Escape From New York
New York City holds a special place in the collective conscience of Black America.
Not only does it have the highest concentration of blacks – according to the 2000 Census, there were more blacks living in New York City than in all but four whole states – much of black intellectual power and cultural capital has been accrued within its borders.
It gave voice to Shirley Chisholm, refuge to Malcolm X, legs to Althea Gibson and opportunity to Jackie Robinson. It was the incubator of the Harlem Renaissance, the proving ground of jazz and the birthplace of hip-hop.
It was a black Mecca and magnet. Was
Washington Post Editorial: Pfc. Bradley Manning doesn’t deserve humiliating treatment
IF THE ALLEGATIONS are true, Pfc. Bradley Manning facilitated a damaging breach of national security by funneling thousands of classified documents to the rogue Web site WikiLeaks. But even if so, Mr. Manning does not appear to deserve the treatment he has been receiving at the military brig in Quantico, Va.
Mr. Manning, who could face life behind bars if convicted, has been held in maximum security at the Virginia facility since July. He spends 23 hours a day in his cell. He is allowed out for one hour of exercise each day, has periodic television and visitation privileges and access to reading material, but he is forced to take meals alone and is not permitted direct contact with the others on the cellblock, although he may speak with them through the bars.
David Kreiger: The Eighth Anniversary of the Iraq War
On this eighth anniversary of the Iraq War, I feel a deep sense of sadness mixed with anger, along with regret for what might have been. We’ve had eight years of futile war in Iraq and nearly ten years of the same in Afghanistan
Following September 11, 2001, the world stood with the US. We had a choice then: to respond legally, morally and with wisdom; or, like a helpless giant, to flail out with our vast arsenal of weapons. To our shame, our leaders, then and now, have taken the latter course.
Before this war began, many of us marched for peace. People all over the world marched for peace, but peace was not to be.
Bill Berry: Carlin knew the rich just want more
Ah, the week of St. Patty’s Day, and maybe the luck of the Irish will lead us to the pot o’ gold coins.
But don’t count on it. Not in Wisconsin, not in these times. Nonetheless, in honor of this hopeful holiday, when a saint evicted the snakes from the green island, we can go to that great American philosopher of Irish descent. Surely he can put the events of recent weeks in context.
We speak here of George Carlin, who left the earth too soon in 2008, but saw the future quite clearly, which may have hastened his departure. Thanks to the Internet, he will be forever with us, or at least until Big Brother yanks him away for being too subversive.
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