2007 Commentary
on the World2007 Commentary
on the WorldThis is a running dialog giving me a place to comment upon issues of the day without cluttering up the primary dialog.
We have a new Congress. We have an old President but he may
have to try to be human and stop playing God. Someone put it
succinctly. All presidents pray. Until Bush, presidents
prayed for guidance. Bush prays after he has stuck his foot into
it that his foot will come out whole.
But then I guess the word is out: lies, mis-information,
arrogance, and all the rest of the words that well describe Mr.
Bush. And today we got another blast from him and his cronies:
the people be-damned, full speed ahead with more soldiers and more
killing. It reminds me of President Nixon and Viet Nam. I
think Bush is making the same end-around play. Nixon claimed to
have won the war but after he did so, the hippies got control and they
gave the victory to the Vietnamese. Nixon really, sincerely
believed this: it is in his book about Viet Nam. Now Bush
is trying the same gambit. He has lost the war and is putting on
a massacre as a last play. After it loses, the troops will come
home. Bush will blame various people in Iraq for the loss.
In the mean time Bush's cronies plaster the news with how the lack of
support emboldened the enemy. Thus with a winning hand from the
President, the Congress and the dissenters let the Iraqis win.
Remember the grade school bully? He always beat up the little
guy. He blustered around with the big guys but when challenged,
seemed to weasel out of any real confrontation. It seemed an easy
way for the bully to escape the education process. Bully Bush
will go down as the most divisive and most hated president in our
country's history. It will take decades to repair the damage to
the integrity of the USA. Let us hope that the next president
makes serious inroads into international cooperation permitting us to
rejoin the world's democracies.
It is the "We report, You Decide" PAC at their lying best
again. They have turned Obama's playing a Muslim in a school play
when he was 6 years old into a claim that he was brought up as a
terrorist. The problem with chicken-little reporting is that
there are a lot of people who still think that "Fox News" is a
legitimate news channel even when it creates malicious stories out of
the clear blue. After Fox's lies were revealed by real news
sources, Fox's refusal to air corrections has proved their malicious
intent.
I read that President Bush is now looking to the concept of his
'legacy' and is changing his practices. I have heard the
expression "Too Little, Too Late" applied to many situations. It
does not apply to this one. The appropriate expression is more of
the nature of "You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear". The
most arrogant imperialist since Hitler cannot change history by
visiting a tornado-ravaged city and starting talks with countries he
has accused of being parts of an evil empire.
The man who turned his back on the hurricane devastated New Orleans
and Texas (his home) to the point where they are now suing for promised
payments is awe-struck by a couple of tornados? The man who when
elected told Israel et al to settle their own problems, is now trying
to make us forget the names he called some of them? The man who
told North Korea they were evil is now sending them food? This
does not remove the title of the "Imperial" presidency -- it just adds
the term of hypocrite to the long list of other words such as liar and
incompetent.
One of the funniest sequences in the last few years is when Bush
showed up in Texas in the local hurricane control center and said that
he would stay there through the coming hurricane to prevent another
debacle similar to the first hurricane. His advisors quickly flew
him to Colorado, presumably without a straight jacket. I mean,
right in the middle of an upcoming disaster with a whole lot of people
working to save lives and property, you want the supreme micro-manager
in the same room? This man claims that he hires the correct
people for their jobs and expects the best work and then wants to sit
in the control room and direct their activities.
There are still people who believe in him. In my philosophy
class the term "believe in" was not quite as nebulous as "faith".
To believe in someone means you believe that that someone has a quality
or qualities that will be demonstrated. Faith implies that this
belief may be unfounded. Personally I think we are way beyond
"belief in" and are seriously into "faith".
We saw the president nominate a secretary to the Supreme
Court. Not even his rubber-stamp Congress could go along with
that.
We saw a man invade another country and depose its leader apparently
because he did not like the man, thought he could get away with it, and
believed that he was just finishing what he thought his father should
have done? We need to all hang our heads in shame as the kangaroo
court sentenced the previous leaders of that country to death.
Our children will be shamed by this president long after he is replaced
by t a real president. And the parents of the 3,000 plus young
men who have died in a country that wants us to go home? These
people need to either have "faith" or believe that the life of their
son was wasted. I am not running for president so I can say that.
And a new concept has been added. We now have Political Action
Committee (PAC) which appears to work outside of the normal PAC laws
and acts as a continuous advertising agency for the corrupted
Republican party and president. Fox News is an oxymoron:
they have no interest in the "news". They are simply interested
in putting a positive spin on situations to give those with "faith" a
handle for their sanity. A couple of years ago while waiting in a
bank and listening to Fox News, the Fox "Newscasters" were arguing
whether the location where the bodies of two dead school children were
found deserved the title of "crime scene". I would have laughed
if it were not so serious. I am the father of two
daughters. If I came across them dead on the grass in a local
park and someone said it was not a crime scene, between my tears I
would punch them -- and I am a pacifist.
Oh. One more but I think I already wrote about that. His slapping of the European Union claiming that more study had to be done before he was willing to let a single one of his voters lose their job because of the global warming hoax is long forgotten by most as Bush now claims that global warming must be stopped. I was there in Copenhagen when he said it. He denied the problem until it bit him in the polls. He considers the polls of Americans to be the equivalent of a PAC (not his PACs). He eviscerated the CAFE standards for pollution until the the companies producing the gas guzzlers had to restructure (a euphemism for downsize) or be put on the auction block. And as the demand for gasoline has spiraled upwards, primarily as a result of his war and the sales of tens of thousands of new gas guzzlers, we hear of all sorts of excuses or reasons why it is not his fault. Come on people. You elect/appoint a president who is a Texas oil man and he appoints as his top leaders other Texas oil men and you expect anything else? The Dixie Chicks had it right the first time. I resent the short-term memories of the general population. But then many people call me a dinosaur because I do remember the past.
A few thoughts. I see 4 serious disasters in our country's history. There are, of course, many others.
Last fall on behalf of Americans with disabilities, a Federal judge
ruled that the U. S. Treasury had to begin making paper currency
distinguishable by denomination to blind people. The USA is the
ONLY country in the world which does not already do this.
The President sent his legal people crying to the appellate court:
His first complaint was that the blind people should buy $400 currency readers or use debit cards. This is not a joke -- he really did this. Remember what happened to the queen who said "Let them eat cake" when told the people had no bread? We are getting there.
His second argument was that it would cost the government and the
vending machine industry too much money. It is not obvious that
the intent of the Americans WIth Disabilities Act that his father
passed stated exemptions for cost: either you deal with the problems or
you don't. But this argument is also fallacious. Other
Treasury changes are being made from embedded plastic strips to varying
the font sizes. The vending machine people are already scurrying
to keep up with these changes. What change could be easier for a
machine to detect than a size or a texture difference?
Even those of us with pretty good vision, lose with the current
system. I gave a taxi driver a $10 bill one day when I meant to
give him a $1 bill. I figured it out later when I was short a $10
bill and remembered the surprised look on the taxi driver's face.
As you know if you read my stuff, I spend a lot of time in
Mexico. Here the money has every indicator you could think of:
- It varies in size: bigger denominations are bigger
- It varies in color. The most common large denomination,
$100 pesos, is bright red.
- It has a little clear section with embedded text to reduce
counterfeiting. The clear section is differently placed and
shaped on each denomination.
An interesting aside in Mexico is that the paper bills are being
replaced with plastic bills. They last longer and take less space
in your wallet and I expect are more difficult to counterfeit.
And the Mexican peso coins also get bigger as the value goes
up. The half peso coin is a different color and has scalloped
edges. In the USA, the ten cent piece is smaller than the one
cent piece. The quarter dollar and full dollar are virtually the
same size. If you cannot read them, you have to weigh them or see
if the edge is smooth.
We talk about sleeping giants. One of these days, people will
notice that not everything that Mexico does is wrong.
As far as I can see, it appears it is the direct intent of the U.S.
Treasury to confuse people -- and with a President who despises his
entire population, the court had better be strong.
I just read that there is a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer -- or
at least 70% of these cancers. It is very expensive, requires 3
shots, and many insurance companies will not pay for it.
Insurance companies do not like to pay for preventive care until
someone spotlights them. Many lawmakers see the way to reduce
this cancer is to make the shots mandatory for all women of
childbearing age. This includes minors: girls 12 to 14. Who
could be against this? Who would want their daughter to die from
a cruel cancer that can be prevented? I have two daughters and I
would have been first in line for the shots. Who?
The religious right, of course. Their logic is that this is
one more item on the list of things to fear if you have sex with
someone other than your spouse -- after you are married. This
nails down the concept that religious right parents would rather see
their daughters die (and lie about premarital sex) than to have them
live and deal with their own moral issues. The Christian Right is
the penultimate of fear politics.
I can tell you: if you do not have the morals and beliefs straight
by 12 years old, you are not going to improve your relationship with
them or their relationship to God by telling them that you will not
permit them to protect themselves against cancer. The only moral
argument against premarital sex is that you believe that God wants it
that way. There is no moral argument against disease prevention.
The next thing you know, the Christian Right will be forcing men to
have screening blood tests as carriers of this cancer.
Two centuries ago, Brigham Young in explaining the Mormon
Church Doctrine of Blood Atonement said that it would be his
responsibility to take his daughter's life if he found her having
unmarried sex. It takes a pretty strong-willed person to murder
their own daughter. I guess there are a lot of modern-day
extremists out there with a lot of political clout. How do I face
God knowing that my choice killed my daughter? Blame it on
her? I expect God is smarter than that.
The Bush people have stated that President Carter's comments have
hurt the USA's reputation abroad. The Bush people have also said
that Carter's comments and beliefs are irrelevant. I wonder which
side of the Bush group is correct. If Carter is irrelevant, then
his comments pose no threat to anyone. If his comments are
relevant, and, if true, then it is not Carter who caused the
damage. If false, then they are provably irrelevant.
Therefore the White House must believe that they are true. The
problem of reputation is squarely on their own backs. GWB will go
down in US history as the most despised president ever.
I have not written here for a while. I had really thought that
the people of our country were waking up. No such luck. The
problem with lies is that people believe them. We have a White
House (read: President GWB) that has lied so much that the entire
planet is in danger. Maybe he really believes his lies.
Maybe he believes that the planet cannot be suffering from Global
Warming because he has told God that it is His problem to solve.
Maybe.
But in the mean time web sites asking for reader input are deluged
with claims that the Nobel Committees are bestowing awards for
"psuedo-science". RIght. The Polar Ice Cap did not
melt. The earth is flat. I never saw the ice so it is not
there. Oh. That is the claim: it was there. Well it
is not now so what is the big deal? The big deal is that we have
the concept of tip of the iceberg: you see only 10% of a problem.
It is not "psuedo-science". It is simply taking a camera and
photographing the serious damage in just the last 6 years. It has
been going on for 50 but some of it could have been reversed. But
then, GM, Ford, and the others might also be healthier if they had not
been encouraged to sell so many cars that generate so much heat and
consumed so much oil doing so. Far off? Then why did GWB
relax the CAFE standards his first months in office. He told us
that there was lots of oil then. As far as I can tell the one
person gaining the most from high oil prices and lack of foreign oil is
himself so why should he not encourage over-consumption. Ice?
That is just a side effect.
But the problem is not the oil. The problem is not the planet
(although that is an extremely serious problem). The problem is
that the USA has gone from a world leader to a pariah. Nobody
trusts our country any more. For the first four years the people
of the world could just not trust the appointed president. But
the second four years he was elected. It was not a mistake, the
American people have spoken: they want a liar to represent their
country to the world.
And strange twists on things. That is what makes a liar most
effective: mix a certain amount of truth in with the lie so that the
lie becomes debatable. I talked with a friend involved in
International Affairs in Columbia tonight. We heard Bush
yesterday claim that not signing his free trade agreements was
tantamount to "Isolationism". I hate buzz words. I hate
them more when they are used by a liar. You know why Colombians
fear this agreement? (Remember BOTH sides have to agree to
it.) They fear it because they fear Bush's lies. They do
not trust the President of the USA. They do not trust the USA.
So. The agreement may be good or bad. We may not know.
The one thing we do know is that previous actions by GWB have moved
thousands of professional jobs overseas. We know that his
response to the thousands of college graduate hopefuls once you have
received your degree is to return to your local community college and
learn how to flip hamburgers.
The Colombians may vote down the agreement based solely upon the
liar who promulgated it. The agreement does not stand a fair
chance. I always told my kids about the "Rule of 10". My
own rule but it works. If you misplace trust (lie) one
time. It takes 10 trusting incidents to again be trusted.
What the rule does not say is that the scar is still left from the
first lie. Even if you recover every lie, the scars still exist
and the wolf may come for real at any time and attack a scarred
community.
It's not hard people. We have a liar for a president. We
need to elect a new president who not only is a white paragon of truth
but knows how to wield a mop to clean up the dirt. There are no
Republicans capable of both. I hope people will remember that
just because someone washes his hands (so did Pontius Pilate) this last
year, the problem is not in the hands, it is not even in the bath
water. It is in the heart.. Hand soap cannot help the heart.
“There comes a time, when a president can no longer rely on briefing books and Power Points, when the experts and advisers have all weighed in, when the sum total of one's life becomes the foundation from which he or she makes the decisions that determine the course of history." Senator John McCain
Condi Rice says that "If I had to
do it all over again, we would have had the balance between
center, local and provincial better. But that's the kind of thing you
learn over time."
But -- we do not expect our leaders to "learn
over time". As human beings, we spend all of our lives learning
over time. We select
our leaders on the basis that they have had the time to learn the job
for which they are selected. We do not appoint a 5-year-old as
Secretary of State. Why not? After all, a 5-year-old is the
ideal
learning machine. We select Administrative leaders because they
have
supposedly already have had the time and opportunity to learn what is
necessary to do the job. Hopefully, before thousands of sons
and daughters
are killed trying to erase the on-the-job training mistakes.
This does not mean that they have experienced every possible
thing. It just means that they have the experience to make good
choices. The current administration has shown itself to be
seriously lacking in this area.
Worse than needing OJT is, at the end of the evening, having to
admit
that a war is a little more complicated than Disney's awesome fireworks
display. When I was a kid and made a mess, I had to do two
things. First, tell my mother. Second, clean up the
mess. Ms. Rice admitting that they blew it is only the first
step. We have seen no attempt toward cleaning up the mess.
if a
news editor does not like a speaker, the article headline perverts the
news item. For example, the CNN headline on
November 11: "Obama: I deserve a tax increase" where Obama states
that the limit on Social Security earnings should be raised before
lowering benefits. In the same show Obama indicates his interest
is in getting all options on the table so that he can help choose the
best option. I guess you could label this as a tax increase. But
you know that this is action going to happen regardless of Obama's
speeches. After having a President (GWB) who makes Ross Perot
look like a team player, a candidate who states up front that choices
should be made after consulting the people involved should be
lauded. Putting an intentionally misleading headline on the
article is the best way for the press to turn voters against him.
I notice that MSNBC had a more relevant headline for the same talk
show: "Lift the Social Security cap, Obama says". Oops.
MSNBC just changed their headline to match CNN's! Maybe CNN and
MSNBC are trying to out bias Fox. This is an exceptionally bad
move.
I really wonder sometimes why people can support the bas... at all
for anything. He has been so wrong on so many issues that I
seriously doubt that anyone can name something that he has done
right. Naming a secretary to the Supreme Court. Starting a
war just to eliminate a leader who insulted his father. Changing
the entire concept of personal freedom into personal fear ("Probable
Cause" to 'Reasonable Suspicion"; National ID cards, etc.).
Supporting large corporations in a manner that bankrupts them and their
employees and seriously reduces the standard of living across the
country (except for his rich people). Ignoring any and all
complaints not just from the people who he is purportedly leading but
from presidents and leaders around the world. When he took
office, he told the Palestinians and the Israelites to settle their own
problems. In that many words. Now look what has
happened. When he took office, we were friends with Russia.
Now Russia is having to replace missiles because of our
president. When he took office, laws were in place to reduce
automobile emissions. He replaced them with fluff: SUVs and large
pickups were exempt. Now his large corporations are in trouble
because his oil companies are reaping so much profits that these
vehicles cannot be sold. Whatever happened to the concept that
actions have consequences? And there are still people out there
reciting the mantra that we must win the war and kill as many soldiers
as necessary while doing so to "Support Our Troops". I had never
before would have thought that Americans were dumb enough to believe
that you support someone by killing them.
But the worst is his refusal to accept Global Warming as a serious
issue. I was in Denmark when he snubbed his nose (that means
insulted for you Republicans) at the countries of the world claiming
that no one had proved to him that the earth was getting warmer and
that this treaty would cost his citizens jobs. Proving to Bush
anything at all does not seem to be possible. He thinks it is his
job to prove God and the rest of the world wrong. I originally
thought GWB wanted to king. It did not take long to realize that
I had underestimated the man: he wants to replace God. Lose
jobs? Who before him advocated the export of professional jobs to
other countries? Who else tried to define hamburger flippers as
professionals? How many professional engineers and teachers are
underemployed and are now hamburger flippers?
After getting a cadre of psuedo-scientists (I can name some book
authors) to support his war against understanding Global Warming , he
is in his last year in office, admitting there might be a
problem. His psuedo-scientists have labeled anyone claiming that
Global Warming exists are themselves indulging in
psuedo-science. This is the classic case of blaming your
opponent for your own faults. In 8 years GWB has proved very
adept at this maneuver.
But now that the entire world has lined up saying the this Global
Warming is a major issue for the preservation of life on the planet,
has GWB backed down? No. Not one inch. He now
realizes that his legacy will be as the most divisive and hated
president in the entire history of the country. He now realizes
that for the sake of his political party he has to put on a pretty
face. He does not realize that it is too late for that. His
war cannot be stopped before he leaves. His mean-spirited
arrogance regarding the other world leaders and values cannot be
stopped (and he does not want it to). I mean if you ever wanted
to describe a class bully, GWB is your man.
To sharpen that point:: GWB has refused to do anything at all
(except call some friends together) to lead our country in this
world-threatening problem. Instead he has taken the bully
position: if they won't then we won't. He picks a couple of other
arrogant countries and tries to out-arrogant them. I mean we know
that India and China have little regard for saving lives. Back
during the 1960's a politician pointed out that a nuclear war that
eliminated 10% of the population would be a godsend for China.
India may be in a similar situation. But that tidbit aside.
The missing concept here is leadership. You do not lead by
refusing to move until everyone, repeat that everyone, else has decided
to do something. That is not leading, that is the definition of
following. Even the class bully has to come back to the classroom
when the recess bell rings. Except GWB. He may just stay
outside -- not because he did not hear the bell -- he just ignores
bells. In the case of GWB there is no one to discipline him for
disrupting the school. Oh. there is God but I bet GWB would
put up a good fight against God too. God is notorious for letting
mankind destroy itself.
In short, the USA must replace Bush and his followers or the entire
world will suffer. I believe that the world has never needed a
leader more than right now.
This is a frightening concept. At my age I have had various
diseases and other painful problems. Accidents, surgeries,
etc. I remember the first time encountering something so painful
that all I could do for days was to writhe in my bed with soaking wet
sheets and moan. My mother suffered the pain
vicariously This was when
the Asian (or Asiatic) flu first came into the USA. The epidemic
was televised as a national health disaster and you absolutely needed
shots to prevent contracting this flu. For children, the dosage
was two shots, each half strength. A
half-dosage shot made me ill: To anyone's knowledge I had not been
exposed to
the flu itself. My mother was wise enough to not make me endure
the other half. And I know a lot of you reading this will say,
no, you just did not know you were exposed because you cannot get sick
from the shot itself.
This painful experience has been repeated on every occasion that I
was cowed into receiving a flu shot.
Every year I hear doctors tell me that I cannot get sick from a flu
shot. I am told that as a diabetic with a heart disease
getting the flu could be life-threatening. I know that every time
that I have gotten a flu shots throughout my life the shot has
made me sick. You can state that on some occasions I may have
been exposed before the shot could be effective. You could even
claim that for me the shot had no effect and I received the flu from
someone else. You might even claim that the discomfort involved
in my bodies reaction to the shot is being over stated. Bullshit.
The flu shots make me sick. They make me very sick. I
have never had a case of the flu which has made me as sick as a flu
shot. There has not been any flu shot technological
improvement to prevent them making me sick. After all, the CDC
and the doctors maintain that it cannot happen. They have every
reason to not change what they are doing. I have every reason to
not have another flu shot. 100% is 100%. I am old enough to
"Just Say NO" to more days writhing in wet sheets in my bed. Now
I live alone. If I get that sick, who is there to help me?
No one. I cannot take the chance.
So. When I hear that children not getting their shots will be banned
from school and their parents jailed, my reaction is one of total
horror. I know from personal experience that the shots do not
work for everyone and in themselves can cause serious illness.
And I can speak for at least one other family (headed by a pediatric
doctor) who also does not force his family into these illness
sessions.
Maybe the court should send these families to internment
camps. Dachau stall exists as a museum. I am sure Dachau
could be restored or duplicated to fulfill the needs of the courts to
observe children ill from injection-initiated diseases. This is a
difficult analogy because I have been there. Only those who have
walked that dirt understand that historic suffering. Our courts
should not be condemning our children to doctor-induced
suffering. The CDC and doctors should come clean: the shots make
some people sick. I hate the word 'should' but it is appropriate
here.
This is a statement that you could run anywhere with and have pages
to say. I read some of the blogs and they seem to be all running
in the same direction: Bush is a liar and O'Reilly is pissed off.
O'Reilly is always pissed when anyone in the world disagrees with
him. He gets increasingly pissed off as that person gets more air
time. His air time is limited to Fox (this is not news) and only
people who thought that Agnew got a bum rap believe Fox..
I sort of take it the other way. I do not think that our
President is a liar (in this case). Since he has a history of
lying about everything (my wife was good at that), it may be hard to
think that he has for once told the truth. Myself, I think he is
under a lot of pressure to lie less now that people are seriously
examining his words and he really does want there to be someplace,
sometime, somewhere, a little bit of legacy that maybe will not make
him look like the criminally insane dictator he has become.
But I do take the other side. Let us presume he is telling the
truth. I mean as a lie, his statement has some real difficulty
getting his usual doublespeak twist. Even his angry words about
Iran being a threat are blowing in the breeze. He is right here:
Iran is a threat. The problem is that the wolf is at the door and
today only the wolf is at the door. Everyone else got tired of
being called on to help.
Here is the problem. This lunatic has lied consistently to his
constituency so we cannot trust anything that he says. We must
look at what he has done. He has killed the man who insulted his
father. He was able to do this because is is President of the
United States. He has started a war without end. He has
alienated all, repeat all, Moslems in the world. Those that are
not
fighting back are not doing so because they are afraid to even speak
up. Even a dog when kicked too many times will bite. And he has
done a lot of kicking. And there are a lot of dogs. And why stop
at Iraq? What about the unending war in Afghanistan?
And against his own citizens who will now be required to identify
themselves to any government authority at anytime and anyplace?
Whatever happened to the rights of individuals to privacy. That
privacy included the ability to be anonymous. Bush has trashed
that. As his man Ashcroft said:: "Privacy ends at your front
door.".
We now live in a world where the most radical of any religion or
country has legitimate grounds to threaten our very
existence. The grounds may be weak but they are grounds.
After all this lunatic was really elected a second time and not
appointed like the first time. Of course, there was the Ohio
thing
but Kerry did not fight back now that is all modern history.
We see that his CIA chief burned records of known terrorists.
We hear of other records being destroyed. The courts have ordered
him to stop this destruction but his attitude toward the courts is
similar to that of his attitude toward the Congress: they get in the
way of his kingship. And he has probably destroyed all of the
most damaging materials. His CIA chief says that they are burned to
protect the identities of the interrogators. Where was this
concern
when Plumm was identified?
Like I said at the start: anywhere. But enough of lies.
Let's look at the other words: 'Modern American History".. I had
a history prof who stated anything less than twenty years ago is not
history, it is contemporary. So we are certainly not comparing
him to his father, Clinton, or Reagan. To be honest, a case might
be made for comparison to Carter but otherwise you have to go back to
the 19th century for a comparison (I think U.S. Grant might be a good
place to start). But the key word here is "American". The
rest of the world laughs at our concept of history. Our country
is 200 years old. The rest of the world measures history in which
millennium not which decade. To start at the European invasion of
the American continent, that was less than 400 years ago. A drop
in the bucket of world history. So modern American history is
either a joke on all Americans or a carefully worded caveat. I
think
both. I like Joe Biden. He is really good at laying
everything on the table, and in the words of someone else: "you decide".
The sad part is that we all know that the best you can say of GWB is
that he is incompetent. That is giving him the benefit of the
doubt.
The sad problem is that it takes someone with the integrity of Joe
Biden to make that point.
I got an email this week stating that the reason we have this war
and are losing it is because Americans are all at the mall. I
hate malls. I hate crowds in general. But it is common
practice in our species to get some physical distance from someone who
is acting shamefully. Maybe being at the mall is a way to prove
to our king that he has no clothes. Maybe we are just tired of
his childish antics. Who cares if he insulted your father?
Your
father is quite capable of standing up to anyone. I did not like
the first President Bush but my gosh, his credentials were
overwhelming: you could not argue against him on grounds of
incompetence
or lack of experience. I just did not like his politics. We
all love our children. I was lucky, I had good kids. They
were easy to love. I often wonder if my love would have extended
to a child with a serious emotional, mental, or physical
handicap. My hat goes off to the first President Bush for the
love he has shown his children.
But this email stated that we should be strongly backing our
President even if he is wrong. He needs our support and the world
needs to know it. Such support in this country ended at the end
of World Wart II. Or so the email says. Wow. There
are still persons living in fear of being discovered who had that
same attitude in supporting Hitler during World War II. The
consequences of being discovered are not pretty.
When I was in college, I read everything I could get my hands
on. I did not understand the Moslem religion: I read the
Koran. The translated one in English. I know, this is not
the true word of Mohammed. But I was not up to learning Arabic.
Shoot, I have enough trouble with Spanish. I also read Mein Kampf
for the same reason. I wanted to understand the mind frame that
started the holocaust. Hitler laid out his reasoning quite
well. I thought that the book should be required reading but now
if you read it you are considered a left over Nazi. I mean
Hitler's logic was flawed but he told it outright for you to see.
With GWB, you cannot trust anything that the man says and in fact you
are better of distrusting it.
So we are back at the beginning. He is either a liar or is
incompetent or both. Hitler is dead and gone. That was long
enough ago to be history. His legacy of terror and hatred were
buried with him. The world is much more dangerous now.
There are weapons that can break our planet. Some of these
weapons are words: our President for 6 years denied global
warming. Now you can see land in the arctic, our seas are causing
terrible things, and climate change is verifiable by anyone who walks
outside. The pen has shown itself to be mightier than the sword:
the absence of GWB's signature on the Kyoto treaty has helped push the
very existence of our world into the unknown. It is unknown if
the planet can survive and if it does, for how long. Now this is
a legacy. The world will know for as long as it lasts that
one man stood up and fought. One man stood up and led the path to
destruction that no king, president, or dictator has ever been able to
accomplish in all of history. One man who said that he would not
sign the treaty because it would cost his constituents at least one
job. I wonder if the job he was talking about is now part of the
global community. It certainly is not of one of his voters.
And our children? He keeps vetoing insurance for the children
who have none. He is afraid someone will take advantage of the
system and some children who do not deserve it will get
insurance. There is a child who does not deserve insurance?
And again global warming. The scientists have been heard --
they spoke loud and clear at the Bali conference this week: If we
do not change in as few as 20 years, the earth may not survive
us.. Now they are wrong. Absolutely wrong. The earth
will survive us. That is the point. It is presumed that the
dinosaurs became extent due to some horrendous natural disaster.
Global warming, a meteor, a shower of meteors, something. But the
dinosaurs were certainly not intelligent enough to have caused this
disaster themselves. Or dumb enough as the case may be.
We, on the other hand, are doing exactly the same thing to
ourselves: we are making the planet uninhabitable by our own
kind. We are smart enough to cause the problem and not smart
enough or strong enough to end it. So. Like the dinosaurs, we
shall die. All of us. Why? Because the single most
important step to end this disaster was not taken: removal of one
man. The one man on the planet who tried to make all of us
believe that it was the scientists who were screaming wolf. The
known promulgator of the Big Lie: GWB. It is bad enough that the
man has single-handedly cost his own electorate many of the personal
freedoms that so many gave their lives for. He is now standing
directly in the way of the people who are trying to save the earth.
It is real easy, people, next year you have the choice. Do you
want the successor to this madman to be someone following in his
footsteps or do you want the world to survive for more than 20 more
years? This is the choice fellow Americans. It is a simple
choice. You make the difference.
No Republican has stood up and said: "I shall fix what GWB has
ruined." Each of the Democrats has said exactly this: "I shall
fix it." The need to fix both the local and global damage is the
primary platform. The Democrats have only disagreed on the best
path. Pick a Democrat, any Democrat, but I would like my children
to be able to breath the air they live in for the rest of their
lives. That will not happen if the Republican agenda is followed.
The scientists are wrong. Not wrong like GWB says. Yes,
global warming is biting our heels now. No. The scientists are
wrong: the earth will survive. It is the human race which will
not survive. In another couple of million years, the greenhouse
gases will have gone and the world will get a fresh start. And
maybe the millions of our dead little bodies will replenish the oil
supply that the previous inhabitants left behind. And the next
generation of inhabitants might be smart enough to not repeat the
process of the dinosaurs and the humans.
And you think that replacing the dinosaur oil with food, precious
food, will make it better? Dream on. It is easier to die
when you are dreaming The key word here is:
"Carbon-Negative". We need to find ways to eat the cardon
dioxide, not ways to replace dinosaur residual. Solving the wrong
problem will still kill you. Vote for someone who cares.
Solve the right problems. I hate being forced to believe in the party
system. I never thought I would say this -- but for the
lives of your children, vote for a Democrat.
I guess there are no surprises here. Obama, Clinton, and
Edwards seem on a trail of being the final 3. Personally, I liked
the ideas of Kucinovich but he seems to be trailing not because of his
ideas but because he does not have the glamour of the other
three. I really like how Biden speaks out and we need someone to
do that but it seems that the idea of speaking outright and not hiding
his punches is not a popular venue. So it comes down to the
glamorous threesome. Any of them is better than what the
Republicans will offer up.
The Republicans are really in trouble. If the Bush heritage
were not enough, they are sandbagging each other. And what is
with Huckabee? To make it anywhere near 1600 they had better get
together and come up with a single platform with some sturdy
planks. Running another religious zealot only makes them appear
foolish. Romney is a Mormon. Mormons have great
professional skills. When I lived in Phoenix I always picked
Mormon dentists. States with a high Mormon population have good
public schools because Mormons do not like to pay twice for the same
thing and they believe in strong family values. Romney's father was
governor of Michigan when I arrived there in July of 1967. During
the riots. Governor Romney, President Johnson, and Cyrus Vance
were parading before the public while the Mayor of Detroit was
complaining my city is burning and you are dancing. This Romney
may be stronger than his father and certainly has inherited a feel for
the leading office, but to me he comes across as a pretty face.
We need more than a pretty face to let the world know that we want to
rejoin the club and be part of the world again -- if they will let us
back. Romney does not seem to have this in his sights.
McCain. I thought he was dirty in the savings and loan
fiasco. He was but nobody ever pursued charges against the two
Arizona Senators for this. There were pictures and
everything. He may be a war hero. But he is a hero because
he failed his mission. And I guess anyone from a place that
thinks Barry Goldwater is a liberal is too far to the right for me.
So it goes. Another year. Continuous Double Speak from
the White House. We do not torture. We refuse to admit or
deny to water boarding (torture). A President who when he entered
office refused to continue peace talks in the middle east because he
claimed the countries were run by adults and they should handle their
own problems. So now what? His adults crash two planes into
buildings and he declares a jihad -- only after continuing to read
children's stories. He sits himself down in the middle of a
hurricane command center and declares he will see to it that the job is
done right. At least his people were smart enough to move him to
Denver where he was safe from the hurricane and not going to bother the
people who had enough trouble doing there jobs with out micro
management from someone who would not know a hurricane from a himicane.
Most president want to leave behind a heritage. At least
something for the world to remember. In high school part of our
final exam was to write down one item from each term of each
president. This president has many memorable items. A
couple l sited above. Snubbing his nose at the world (European Union
and global warming). I was there in Copenhagen when hs insulted
them all. The country western singers hit the nail on the
head. Our "News" services have all but capitulated under his
glare. We have a PAC called Fox News exempt from PAC rules
because it is a News Service. The others have just bowed to
whatever King Bush and his coward Congress wanted. We got a new
Congress and as usual nothing is getting done. They will stand up
enough to stop some of Bush's antics but they will not stand up and
fight. We all know the the school bully only wants to pick on the
weakest and that he will back down from a real fight. We have the
bully. We need the fight to restore honesty and pride to our
country.
I am concerned that the Senators lusting for President may not be
strong
enough to do it. I pray I am wrong but a few good punches in 2008
will make me feel better.
Has it occurred to anyone else that President Bush 'honoring' the
dead soldiers is sort of like the arsonist watching his fire burn?
Wolfowitz complains that he lost his job due to overexposure of his
problems by the press. I read this as a compliment to the press.