There are no good options on Egypt.  The only leverage we have is the monetary aid which many politicians are calling on Obama to stop funding.  Obama is reluctant to do this because in the short term it will have no effect on the Egyptian army but may have negative effect on us!

The problem with cutting off aid is that most of the money is in the form of a fund deposit which is used by the Egyptian army for the purchase of military hardware from U.S. manufacturers.  So this will indirectly hurt U.S. businesses right away.  But the Egyptian army may not need those arms right away.  For example, they may not need to buy any sophisticated fighter jets to combat their own civilians right now.  In the meanwhile Obama is getting lobbying pressure from arms manufacturers and the states where they are located.  Given the minimal effect cutting off funding will have on the Egyptian army, it is no wonder that Obama is reluctant to cut off funding.

The reason that Egypt gets so much aid from the U.S. in the first place is because it made peace with Israel.  But why do we supply arms to both Israel and Arab countries?  In the past we had provided arms to the Shah of Iran, then Saddam Hussein to fight Iran, and the Afghans to fight the Soviets.  And how did these aids help us?  We would have been better off providing funds for Arab and Israeli youths to come to America as foreign exchange students.  An Arab kid would stay with a Jewish family and vice versa.  I believe that when these young people go back home, they will be less likely to be enemies of each other when they become adults.  Some of these kids will become leaders of their homeland.  Wouldn't that be better than giving both sides bombs?

Christie tells the members of his party that you have to be practical.  Taking extreme views means that you are not going to win.  And if you don't win, your views do not matter.  This reminds me of               Kennedy who once said that the first duty of a politician is to get elected.  I think Cristie is right.  Of course, right now he is appealing to New Jersey voters.  Will he still take such a strong centrist position when he is pushed by the right?

It seems like the extremists on any side are the best friends of the other side.  Take Egypt
, for example.  The Muslim Brotherhood had power.  But the extremists would not just run the country but had  to be merciless against their enemies.  This led to protests and led to the army taking over.  Of course, the army is now doing the same thing and thus lead to endless violence.    Whenever one side goes overboard it will only help the cause of the other side.  Maybe our politicians should keep that in mind.

News:  Alex Rodriguez suspended till 2015.  It is about time and well deserved.  The only problem with the suspension given to A Rod and Ryan Braun is that they have such big contracts that they will get millions after the suspension is over.  Even if  a life time ban is too harsh, I think that voiding the rest of the contract is an appropriate punishment.  If one got better stats from peds which led to big contracts, then those contracts should be voided.  The player should have to prove his worth without peds to get another contract.

Sure the integrity of the game is important.  But I worry about the use of steroids by big stars is driving the use of these drugs among young athletes.  A Rod and others are still idolized by young athletes and seeing them prosper even after getting caught will do nothing to deter the youngsters from trying peds. 

From the previous blog comments:  I don't think that Rand Paul will win the nomination but he will make it difficult for any moderate to win.  I agree that Christie is a good candidate.  I don't think Rubio can win either.  He is a LINO--Latino in name only as oppose to RINO--Republican in name only, the term given to moderates by the extremists in the Republican party.  So I don't think Rubio will win the majority of the Hispanic votes.  I doubt Huntsman will run again as he is too moderate for his party and he does not have the blue state appeal of Christie.  Christie vs Clinton is still the best matchup.