Sunday, August 31, 2008

William Rivers Pitt Gets if Right

I've searched for a column or essay that gets it right. I found it. Please read it here.

What hasn't yet happened is moving preaching to the choir to a confrontation, a facing down of McCain/Palin/Rove, and exposing their tactics for what they are; sliming, swift boating, character assassinating of decent people, for the personal goal of capturing and occupying the ultimate position of power, president of the United States.

Honesty and Integrity should be essential qualifications for the office of President of the United States. A poll of US citizens is likely to confirm those values.

The neocons have forsaken their allegiance to the values of our Republic, if they ever embraced them, in favor of their commitment and allegiance to whatever works for them in pursuit of money and power.

In our times these are the people of the elected mafia, my label for Cheney/Bush. They will stop at nothing to get their way.

They are neither Americans nor Patriots first, though they cloak and wrap themselves in the American flag.

They have no allegiance to anything except their commitment to raking in huge amounts of money, which can be made by fanning the flames of ethnic hatred anywhere they can find it on earth, so that the military/industrial establishment, about which General of the Army, and President Dwight David Eisenhower warned us, can make their billions by convincing the public to go along with Congress in approving huge expenditures on research, development and manufacture of arms, as a defense against threats from others, sometimes real, but often hyped.

These are people who understand that there is more money to be made in war than in peace.

In WW II, we had a War Department which defended us. Now we have a Defense Department which starts wars.

Hello?

It is not new to our time. These are just today's examples of people
who profit from wars, by selling arms to both sides, as their predecessors
did in our own Civil War.

Should you be curious enough to pursue this I recommend a historical novel by Taylor Caldwell, The Captains and the Kings, published in the 1970's.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Saturday, August 30, 2008

The AP, a Conservative Lobby

When will someone blow the whistle on the Assocaited Press, and specifically it's senior writer Fournier?

This guy has dumped all over Obama for weeks. His so called reporting is the equivalent of Fox News reporting. the US equivalent of Pravda, the voice of the former Soviet Union.

He has close ties to McCain. Clearly he is not objective. The AP has been pretty much trusted for decades to report the news, not support a news source.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Friday, August 29, 2008

Sara Palin for Veep?

Karl Rove is not stupid, though he's probably dumb like a fox.

One thing seems clear. John McCain turned to Rove trained lieutenants a few weeks back when he realized that he was in trouble as the GOP candidate. That was a turning point, after which swift boat type attacks on Obama became the daily specials on the news menu. That was also about the time Rove became a consultant for Fox News, the US equivalent of Pravda of the former Soviet Union.

Fair and Balanced? Give up on insulting my intelligence. You can appeal to those whose decisions are made mostly based on their levels of testosterone, both males and females have it. You understand the power of instincts, and use it to manipulate the emotions of those who need to be told what to think and do.

I will not waste my time and energy on crying shame, for you have no shame. You who do this are just the current examples of those who have done this since the beginning of recorded history of our species on this earth.

Karl Rove is such a person. He is the master of labelling others as evil in order to deflect that accusation away from himself. He mastered his craft of deceit in the telemarketing business. Need I say more?

Karl Rove is the master of deceit, now "advising" Candidate McCain who used to claim that he was the maverick of the party. Candidate McCain, like Faust, has sold his soul to the current incarnation of the Devil in Right Wing Christian garb, Karl Rove.

John McCain must have come to realize that he needed to bring in the hit men of the current elected Mafia, and let loose the Rovian attacks, like swift boating. Whatever works, do what you have to do, shoot now and ask questions later, etc..

I got it so far, until McCain chose Palin as his running mate.

Yes, she is pro-life; yes she has recently spoken out against pork, and can seem to claim belief in and support of traditional so called Conservative values. The far right base for McCain might be revelling in this news, which he desperately needs.

His attacks against Obama have been mostly based on Obama's inexperience Then he chooses a running mate with even less experience. She has been AK's governor for less than four years. Her previous job was mayor of a small town, small as in 6500 people.

He's 72 years old now and she's 44 I think I heard. Yet he's chosen her as his running mate who would become president should he not be able to serve a full four year term.

Hello?

I come back to Rove whose admitted life goal is to keep Republicans in power, in the same sense that the Third Reich was to last a thousand years.

I don't ask what McCain is thinking, I ask what Rove is thinking. He's the modern day Machiavelli. McCain has reduced himself to being Machiavelli's Prince.

On the surface it seems to be a really dumb move. A few days ago Rove was predicting in his new role as a Fox analyst that Obama would make the mistake of selecting someone for merely political advantage, like Tim Kane of VA, to garner support in a crucial state. Now we find McCain doing just that. Obama chose Biden because he could step in as president with clear experience in the halls of government. Is Palin up to that? Of course not.

Is it as bald faced as choosing a running mate simply as a lure to hook Hillary supporters? Palin is a hard line Pro Life supporter. I wonder how many women will take that bait, willing to put Roe v Wade back on the table in front of a Supreme Court packed even more by Far Right extremists.

I throw this out as a thread of a topic, and solicit your ideas and responses.

I really don't know what to make of this. Enlighten me please.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Thursday, August 28, 2008

John Kerry--If Only

If only John Kerry had said in the 2004 campaign what he said last night in the 2008 campaign he might have been our president for the last four years.

I will not speculate about how history might have been different with Kerry as president. But I will say that his speech at the Dem convention was more powerful and authentic than those he made when he was the Dem candidate in 2004.

The brilliance of his speech this time around was his ability to turn the tables on McCain as the ultimate flip flopper. He pulled it off using McCain's on words.

The brilliance of Kerry's speech was his use of the labels, Senator McCain and Candidate McCain, to expose and lay bare the differences which McCain as a Senator and McCain as a candidate claims to believe in and support.

The positions which McCain told us he believed in as as senator are diametrically opposed to the positiions he now claims to believe in as a presidential candidate

So much for the Straight Talk Express.

How much more slack is the public willing to give him? How far will the American people be willing to go to honor a soldier who was captured and tortured? Elect him president?

My disgust with McCain is about his willingness to play on the emotions of voters whom he wants to influence to support him solely based on his horrible and terrifying experience as a captive American soldier. His use of that image as a POW to deflect any and all legitimate challenges to his record as a politician is ---------------------. I ask you to fill in the blanks.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper.

In a Just World According to Kucinich

It seems the Obama campaign edited out the following zinger from Dennis Kucinich's convention speech.

"The Republicans want four more years. In a just world they'd get 10 to 20."

Sure wish they'd let the dogs out.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Shame, Shame on Cable So Called News; How Low Are You Willing to Go?

Here's just another and typical example of a so called factual report from a so called journalist to a so called objective well known member of the so called Main Stream Media.

It reminds me of a TV commercial some years ago which featured three people; one who liked Bud Light because it tasted great and one who liked it because it was less filling. There was a guy who sat between those two people who stirred up the different points of view which could be inflamed into an argument by saying to each of the so called enemies, "That's not what he said." That person in the middle was a well known celebrity, a former NFL star.

That ad was intended to amuse the public by poking fun at people who are ready to fight over almost anything. The intent was to promote the sale of Bud Light. We got it. Nobody hurt.

In its coverage of the Democratic Convention,
CNN has produced a parody of that commercial which is neither funny nor amusing. It's an intentional ploy to stir up animosity between the candidates for the purpose of bringing attention to that so called journalist's so called objective employer of the so called Main Stream Media.

This ad was intended, not to amuse the public, but to stir up animosity between the candidates. The intent, like the beer comercial, was to promote CNN as the Cable channel of choice.

We get it. Lots of people hurt.

Leanderthal Lighthouse Keeper

Monday, August 25, 2008

From Comment to Essay

What follows began as a comment to a post on the always interesting blog, The
Old New Englander. It kind of got out of hand and spilled over to become my own expression of deep felt thoughts which are more appropriately published on my own blog, leesvoicecryinginthewilderness.blopspot.com.

Thanks and appreciation to The Old New Englander for his revelations which energized me to write what you can read by clicking on the links below.

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=23631160&postID=8938694647149393145&pli=1

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

McCain's Wars

Here is a link to a post on the always well informed Minstrel Boy blog. It is an essay by Pat Buchanan which addresses McCain's connection to his advisor Randy Scheunemann and why his advice is so dangerous to our country.

I am ordinarily no big fan of Pat Buchanan, but he is right on target with this essay.

I keep writing about people whose allegiance is to war and defense contractors, not to any particular country. Scheunemann is one of those, one of the neocons who fan the flames of discontent wherever they can find it.

I am one who dares call it treason.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Hillary for Veep

Here's a piece which I just happened to come across this afternoon, as I have been wondering about how Obama is going to re- inflate his colorful balloon.



Some have said he needs to attack McCain. Here's the catch 22 of that. He's damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't.



To wit, those of us who support him do so because he's got a big picture view of things, not the shoot now and ask questions later view which has cost us so dearly since 2000.



That makes him vulnerable to attack about his toughness. When and if he gets tough in responding to such shit he is accused of being just like all the other politicians who go negative, thus defacing his image as a healer, a bipartisan leader.



What to do?



Choose Hillary as his running mate. Why?



She's known as a ballsy female, the classic model of the Queen who said, "Balls, if I had two I'd be King".



She's the bad cop to Obama's good cop.



In politics she's fought, been bruised, lost battles and come back to win battles. She's the hardened, in the trenches, realistic politician Obama isn't.



She's the icon of the female fighter which all men, if they are wise, need to appease, based on experiences in their own homes, and secretly admire and cheer when that rage is re-directed against others.



Just ask Bill Clinton.



Then there are her supporters who are still really pissed off. She's tried to get them to let go of their rage but it's not working. I read about a so-called Whip team, made up of Obama and Hillary supporters who believe they can keep the Hillary camp in line at the convention. Good Luck. They are in denial about the extent and impact of the potential rage of the female.



Ask anyone who has been confronted by a mother bear who both nurses her cubs, and fights off threats to them.



If I were to find myself in a hard place between a male challenger and a female challenger, and if I thought that making one of them my partner would carry the day, I would choose the female. Obama has demonstrated his willingness to listen to a female's point of view, as exhibited in his partnership with his wife, Michele, no intellectual slouch.



Anytime a male of the species can get the female of the species on his side, a challenging male is at least at a disadvantage.



For several weeks I was of the opinion that Barack shouldn't select Hillary, because she had been such a strong and violable opponent, and I was not sanguine about the prospects that she could actually let go her competitive drive sufficiently to support him. I wondered if she were sufficiently hinged healed to trade her principles for her personal political advantage, in the model of Joe Lieberman.



I have been encouraged by what she has said publically, but have still been skeptical, if not cynical, about her motives.



Then came an email from Bill Clinton today. It was a request for a contribution to help fund the Democrat Party's support for the election and/or reelection of Democrat Senators and Congressmen.



I sent another small donation.



My hope is that Obama will put together his own team of rivals, who will understand that he has the will of the people behind him who are sick of what's happened since 2000, and will rally around him and support him as he solicits their unique skills and values to restore this Republic to the reputation it enjoyed and deserved before the neocons debased.



It's true that we go forth on the feet of heretics. In this particular election we have the chance to go forth on the feet of heretics in two ways. We could elect a black male as President and a white female as Vice President, assuming the black male has the balls to choose the white female as his political mate, and the white female can put her virtual and wishful balls on hold for a few years, and her husband, the former president, can acknowledge the reality of the situation as gracefully as his wife.



What they can't seem to grasp and understand, based on their personal experience in politics, is that Obama doesn't want to be President for the power and authority of that office in the sense of being in a position of authority, but for the influence the office of President provides to share his values and visions as an authority in the sense of one who has become an authority on what many people consider to be important.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Monday, August 18, 2008

Attacking McCain, And Sorry to Have to Do That

You can read here comments posted on Kevin Drum's blog at the Washington Monthly, the subject of which is how to respond to McCain's attacks. As of this hour on Monday, 8/18/08, my comment is the last in line.

I've tried to copy that unfinished comment to my own blog, and I'm not sanguine about the prospects that I know enough to pull it off.

I won't know until I complete the process of publishing this post.

Please know that I'm aware I have left the expression of my point of view unfinished. That's because I didn't want to lose what I was able to write, even though I knew I had more to say.

Maybe that's the most valuable benefit of the blogosphere's virtual dialogue provision. Dialogues are back and forth discussions, and, at their best, honor the spoken and written word of the other interlocutor(s).

My comment in response to Kevin Drum's posting is a thought in process. Please, if you by any chance happen upon it, accept it with that caveat.

Should you have any reason, wish or curiosity to read any of my other thoughts, you can find them at:
leesvoicecryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com.

In the meantime I recommend that you read the comments of those who espressed their thoughts before I did.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Saturday, August 16, 2008

That's What I'm Sayin'

Here is a link to a video in which a former Reagan official blames the neocons for the Russian/Georgian fight.

As I've been saying, there's no money in peace. The military/industrial complex needs wars anywhere they can start them to keep making billions, and for testing their new toys.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The March of Times

It had to happen, it was inevitable.

This morning when I checked out the headers of reports and stories online I came across one that grabbed my attention for a rather difference reason. It was not so much about the report as the headline grabber.

It was the online equivalent of a print headline on the website, MSNBC.com. to wit: "U. S. in '50, even older, more diverse."

My dad was born in '03, my mom in '06. Until today that had been sufficient information that they were born in 1903 and 1906.

I guess what jarred me the most, and at the same time released me the most, was the realization, if not the epiphany, that I no longer need to feel accountable for what I did in the last century.

It's not tomorrow, but it's the first reference I've seen in which the writer has felt no need to differentiate between the 1900's and the 2000's.

That likely says more about the readers than the writer, except that the writer is likely of the same generation as the readers.

I am not offended. I'm actually relieved that I no longer need to worry about being brought up on charges by those I've disappointed in my lifetime; that was so last century. Ancient history seems to be more understanding of the flaws of its participants than modern history, which is always written by the victors, flaws be damned.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Ya Think?

The latest neo-con ploy to elect McCain can be read about here.

It's about the use of the Russian/Georgian fight, and I thought about this as soon as I became aware of that fight. I don't think it's far fetched at all.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Thursday, August 7, 2008

The Elected Mafia

I've been trying to express my thoughts on this situation for days, and now I think I'm willing to publish them.

Hamden has been sentenced to 66 more months in jail. This redefines travesty of justice.

I don't know what country I'm living in any more. It's surely not the one I grew up in, except geographically it seems familiar.

For all I know Hamden is a terrorist and a very dangerous man. That seems to be why the Bush administration has decided to incarcerate him for many years without access to America's Judicial System. Just take him out of circulation, never mind the Constitution's provision for basic rights for all individuals, not just American citizens.

Did you know that?

Apparently that is the position our Elected Mafia takes when they want to silence their opponents. Gitmo is the equivalent of the concrete shoes of the Mafia. The only difference seems to be that the people taken out of circulation are not yet dead, though they are expected to succomb to torture, which they claim is justified by their so-called war on terrorism,
or die from other means, old age included.

How convenient it is that a war defined that way has no chance of being defined as having a chance to end. It's like saying that humanity will change it's ways and at a certain time will no longer be violent.

Defining war this way paves the way for those who profit from war to always have a war to fight, an endless war.

This is neocon heaven, a scenario that they could only have envisioned in their wildest dreams.

Hello Americans? Are you there?

The Gitmo Tribunal (if there's a more terrifying phrase in any language I don't know what it is) acquitted Hamden of the most serious charge, and found him guilty of a lesser charge.
Yet they sentenced him to serve 66 more months, rather than freeing him based on his several years of time served without being charged.

And the Main Stream Media, the US equivalent of Pravda, headlined their stories with words implying leniency and minimum sentencing.

Bush and Cheney should be the objects of what has become known as rendition. Their rendition should be to The Hague, to be tried as War Criminals and for Crimes Against Humanity.

It's too late for impeachment, which would afford them the option to resign with only three months left in office. Congress failed the people by not using the Impeachment process ,which does not create a Constitutional crisis but is actually what the framers provided to be a solution to one.

Bush, Cheney and their cabal can tell their benefactors that they took care of them for eight years, and that they now look forward to the rewards accorded to good and faithful servants.

Like Nixon, I can see them giving their personal high signs as they board planes to take them to those rewards, the ones they believe they earned from those they served so well, those who bought their allegiance to hidden agendas, not those who voted for them, expecting their allegiance to all the people.

Bush's high sign is likely to be the perfunctory salute he flipped off to those pledged to obey him as Commander In Chief. But it's likely to be a stiffer and more impressive salute to those he knows are his own Commanders In Chief.

He and they know who they are, and he and they know they have been thumbing their criminal noses at those who elected them, who, for a time, honored the offices they have used for their and their benefactors' advantage to the detriment of the American people, only half or less who voted for them.

Cheney's high sign, if he were suddenly to express any attempt at being honest and authentic, would have to be the International Sign of Discontent, The Bird, the Ultimate Flip Off, the Middle Finger of Fate, the Single Finger Salute.

Cheney, above all, harbors a disdainful opinion of not only his fellow citizens but for humans in general, most accurately stated as, "Fuck You".

That would be consistent with his disrespect for decency when he, as the titular president of the Senate said to a respected member of the Senate "Go Fuck Yourself".

And it also would be consistent with his response to a reporter who solicited his reaction to a survey which indicated that a large majority of Americans were unhappy with what was going on in Iraq.

"So?"

His partner in crime, the discredited Donald Rumsfeld referred to our Western allies, as old Europe. It was never made clear what he thought New Europe would look like. Perhaps he expected them to support even more carnage on their lands than those they has sustained in two world wars, suffered and endured for almost the first half of the last century.

These are men who occupy the highest offices of our land, only because they managed to get the 2000 electoral tie decided by the Supreme Court, a nine person vote to supercede and override votes of millions of Amercican, the results of which they could count on because they had packed the court in their favor.

Sandra Day O'connor cast the deciding vote. She had enjoyed a reputation of being impartial until it came to light that she had been a life long friend of George W. Bush. So much for impartial justice.

The blindfold on the iconic image of Lady Justice, holding the balance scales of the law, has been removed and discarded by those who have passed themselves off as worshippers of God, supporters of American values(are all good values only Ameircan?) and all the other scams they have perpetrated on those of us they claim to champion and represent.

They have done an effective job of putting psychological blinders on honest and well meaning Americans, while stripping Lady Justice of her most important and essential garment.

That's rape in the first degree; the punishment, if convicted, is up to the people.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Do Anything, Say Anything to Get Elected

Bob Herbert has published a piece in today's Times to which I wish to draw your attention, especially if you, like me, are not especially sanguine about the chances that our fellow Americans realize how badly they've been had since 2000, and willingness to vote to kick the bastards out in November.

Barack Obama has pulled his punches when he had several opportunities to knock out his opponent in the ultimate heavy weight fight, the winner of which would be be crowned Champ.

Champ in this fight becomes the next President of the United States.

So what is going on? Why doesn't Obama hit McCain when his guard is down?

Clearly McCain is fighting for his credibity, by appealing to the basest of instincts of those whose responses are fed and ignited by appeals to their instinctive testosterone motivations, rather than the reasons they might have been taught and encouraged to trust in their exposure to education.

McCain is resorting to appealing to base instincts, clearly a Rovian ploy, which has come up recently upon the arrival on the scene of Rovian accolytes, now on board the so-called and now discredited Straight Talk Express.

Obama successfuly fended off Hillary's say anything, do anything attempt to railroad him, side track him, slime him. Now he needs to stay true to his nature in order to fend off McCain's today's version of Swift Boating.

I am one who, from time to time, wishes Obama would land a left jab, and a right hook on McCain's chin, and knock him to kingdon come.

That's because I am never sure of my faith in the judgment and values of my fellow citizens. I often wonder if they will show up to vote in November, and if they do what will motivate them to do so.

In today's Times, Bob Herbert wrote about a political contest, the results of which encouraged me not to give up on my fellow citizens' ability and sense of values to reject the abject lies of someone who is willing to do anything and say anything to get elected.

Clicking on the highlighted link above will take you to Herbert's report. I wish I didn't feel the need to mention this, but Bob Herbert is calling out a woman of his own race and ancestry who played what is often called the race card, against her male Jewish opponent.

Check out the results of the subsequent election should you wish to find hope in your fellow citizen's ability and willingness to do the right thing.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Raison D'etre

It seems I have to let go of two visions, and acknowledge and accept two contrasting realities.

I have to understand and acknowledge that in my lifetime I have to accept that I cannot make much of a difference in the reality that humanity has a very dark, inhuman side. I have to acknowledge that I am a specimen of that species, homo sapien, sapien, otherwise and generically known as humanity. I am a male specimen of humanity who often wishes he were not identified as a member of his own species, a species which has an affinity for killing and maiming, alongside, and in stark contrast to, an affinity for caring and nurturing.

I also have to understand and acknowledge that in my lifetime I have to let go of another vision, that of living in another country, needing and enjoying a rudimenatary grasp of another culture and language, based on a deep felt belief that being able to speak another's language is an essential bridge to understanding that other's view of life, which is so personally bound by the culture and memes so inherent in that other's experience.

The French have a way of capturing the essence of living in a way that, in contrast to the more prosaic volks langue of Anglo Saxon/Germanic peoples, speaks to me. Perhaps it's my hard to describe affinity for the French language. Perhaps that affinity has to do with my appreciation and enjoyment of what I feel is the poetic quality of the French language.

One of my disappointments in life is that I have not been able to follow my dream of living for a few years in France.

We all have dreams which are not realized; this is one of mine.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Sad and Infuriated

In this post I provide no link to another's contribution. This is my own and personal contribution.

Supposedly reputable polls have recently reported that McCain and Obama are either tied or close enough in the responses of those polled to be tied , statisfically speaking.

That not only saddems me but infuriates me.

It is becoming more and more apparent that Americans who respond to polls have not yet let go of their inherent prejudices toward those who are different from them. In this case different in race.

In the face of the Cheney/Bush "fuck you" approach to anyone who opposes them I had hoped that the public outcry would have been more vocal. I had hoped that the public would not have bought into the testosterone based instincts to which Cheney has appealed, and would have reviled him for what he is.

Apparently Cheney is correct in his assessment of the intellectual level, or lack thereof, of our citizenry. He has successfully played on the testosterone realities, or wishes, of those who are always willing to blame others for their failures, who can easily, with cunning, be manipulated to play out their frustrations emotionally in favor of those who knew how to inflame them.

When Obama brought this up recently he was confronting the problem of differences, and played into the hands of the Rovian advisors who have told McCain that he has to go on the attack. No surprise there. Once he took them onboard his
Straightalk Express he committed himself to their form of Straighttalk,
Straight as a euphemism for attack, hang the cost

History has it that voters seldom elect a president and a Congress from just one political party.

The American people, consciosly or subconciously are skeptical of a government which can do whatever it wants, without checks and balances.

I think it is likely that the voters will elect a sufficinent number of democrats in both house of Congress to offset a presidential veto. I also think it is likely that the voters will elect McCain president, based on his appeal to their nationalistic feelings. I think he will be given the benefit of the doubt because he appeals to the "Keep it simple, black and white rational with which a sizeable majority of people identify.

When George W. Bush said, "I don't do nuance", he spoke to all of those who needed someone to tell them that whatever they were suffering from, it wasn't their fault. That was and still is the genius of the Rovian manipulation of the vulnerable.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Unentitled And Pissed Off

Here is a link to an opinion piece from Andrew Sullivan.



Here also is a link to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of Fascism.


Andrew Sullivan is a man who has supported traditional conservative policies for many years, until he began to understand that the Cheney/Bush and friends cabal, has actually used their Conservative imprimatur to undermine the basic principles of genuine conservatism, in order to confuse the public sufficiently to gain support for what is not true Conservatism, but for what is essentially Fascism. All I can do is to make it easy and convenient for you to take the time to check out the meanings of the terms.

Of course it is natural that you would rally to the defense of those in which you have had faith and supported. I only ask that you consider some dissonant evidence, and as objectively as you can, re-evaluate your opinions and re-evaluate what you will do and say in your sphere of influence.

I understood what I considered conservative principles for years. That was when the word "conservative" connoted responsibility, carefulness, incremental change, don't through the baby out with the bath water, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

In recent years, the term Conservative took own a very different connotation. An early change came about with the juxtaposition of the word "compassionate" with the word "conservative".

It was a brilliant marketing strategy. Who could argue with the idea that someone who embodied a conservative approach to leadership, that is to say a person who professed to take a go slow, incremental approach to change, also embraced a point of view that whatever incremental change that would be made would be implemented with the full understanding and acceptance of the needs of those who could only rely on the Compassion of those who had it in their power to help them.

This is the sick reality of Rove and Cheney.

When again will the charge of Shame carry sufficient weight to discredit and remove such people from significant influence?



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Motivations

Here's a link to an opinion piece about Female Suicide Bombers.

It's tempting to assign and tie violent actions of females to instincts for protecting their progeny. One has only to watch Animal Planet and other programs to be reminded of that instinct.

That is likely a contributing factor, but on its own is not likely to be the deciding factor which claims the minds of women who blow themselves up and take as many with them as they can.

The loss of all hope has to be a huge factor, as is the accompanying, debilitating acknowledgement that one is powerless to resist. The ultimate act of humans who believe that they are in such a positon of powerlessness is to demonstrate that they are not powerless and back up that claim by taking the lives of those on whom they project blame and taking their own lives in the process.

Psychiatrists and psychologists who study such things often tell those left behind that suicide is the ultimate "fuck you" message.

I am the son of a mother who took her own life and am not writing about this in an abstract and academic sense. Having thought about this for the past 41 years, I've come to appreciate, if not understand, what level of hopelessnes can build up to such an extent that one actually wants to end one's own life, and in doing so is willing, even eager, in such a deranged state of mind, to take the lives of others in the process.

While my mother didn't take anyone else out with her physically she did take out her husband, daughter and son emotionally; and left a disturbing legacy for not only those who physically survived her suicide, but also the children of her daughter and son, not all of whom knew her in life, but came to learn that she died by her own hand. The taking out emotionally of family members survives generations.



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

John McCain, Slimeball

Here's another link to a Bob Herbert piece in today's Times. He airs out the entire recent sliming of Obama by McCain.

It is truly sickening.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Friday, August 1, 2008

How To Start A War

Kevin Drum, in The Washington Monthly tells us about some ideas kicked around in Cheney's office about how to start a war with Iran.



It seems Seymour Hersh was told by his New Yorker editors to leave some of those ideas out of his recent column, simply because they were, sigh of relief, rejected. But the very fact that those he couldn't write about were actually considered by Cheney was reason enough to include them.



You can't make this stuff up. Check it out.



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper