A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

Credible Sources for Mid East News

2012-02-18T13:04:00.000-05:00

Juan Cole's blog, Informed Comment, a sample of which is found here, and Pat Lang's blog, Sic Semper Tyrannis, a sample of which is found here, are two examples of what appear to be credible sources for accurate Mid East news. To be sure they are biased toward refuting the Neocon propaganda for war against Iran; however that's a bias which is sorely needed to counter the Neocon plan to take us down another dangerous path toward war.

This is especially important since the so-called Main Stream Media seems once again to serve as the loyal stenographers of the Neocon/Military/Industrial Complex which fooled us into blindly buying into war against Iraq. There is virtually no light between that cabal and the non-registered Israel political arm in America, AIPAC. The combined resources of these two lobbies are powerful and their poisonous tentacles reach into the pockets of far too many politicians in all branches of government.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Buying into the American and Israeli arms dealers' war against Iran would lead to the disastrous result of being the second fool.

Leanderthal

Mr. Fish, Shock Jock of Cartoonists

2012-02-18T12:17:00.000-05:00

Mr. Fish is a political cartoonist, one who usually aims to get your attention by the use of shocking imagery, like his recent pornographic image of George Washington.

Here, he writes rather than draws, and it's effective, if somewhat overdone in the pedantic English department manner of imagery. Clearly he's a far left liberal, in the mode of Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com. He finds fault with Obama as often as with the GOPher clowns pretending to be serious statesmen. Frankly I find myself liking and also disliking his messages; liking because I often agree with them, and disliking because he likes to shock in the extreme, bordering on the pretentious.

It's likely though that I would not have read this piece had I not seen his cartoons; and I'm very glad I did. I hope you will read it and be glad you did it too.

Leanderthal

An Essay on What Makes Right Wingers Tick

2012-02-17T17:43:00.001-05:00

This essay speaks for itself. It's the first attempt I've seen which tries to understand the psychology behind the behavior of people who cheer the idea that people without insurance deserve to die.

Leanderthal

This is Hilarious

2012-02-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

I'm posting about this because the title of the article in question is simply hilarious, that is if you enjoy a little locker room humor. You have to understand that the article is about GOPhers threatening to add something about contraception to a highway bill.

With that in mind, how can you not laugh at the title of the piece: "Where the Rubber Meets the Road"?

Leanderthal

More Most Dangerous Fellas

2012-02-14T11:18:00.002-05:00

Update Below:

Here's a post on Sic Semper Tyrannis which shines a bright light on the nefarious and shadowy work of AIPAC, the unregistered, so far, Israel Agent, the American political arm of the current Israeli political power, the far right hawkish Likud party.

These people, AIPAC, are known as Israeli Firsters, a label reserved for Americans who put Israel's interests ahead of the interests of their own country. They would call me an anti-Semite, if they paid any attention to me and my little blog. That's the propaganda they spread about anyone who dares to find fault with their unwavering, uncritical support of the Likud hard liners who are currently the rulers of today's Israel.

By that definition many Jewish public media journalists qualify for that label; such clear and objective thinkers as Eric Alterman, Glenn Greenwald and Roger Cohen, to name only three which come to mind at this moment. But indeed they and the less public bloggers are many, if not legion.

To call Israel a "democracy" is to use a word which can only be described as an oxymoron at best. How can a country be a democracy when it treats a huge block of its citizens and residents, the Palestinians, as second class citizens at best, denying them the rights accorded to its Jewish citizens. It is a Jewish state, not a democracy.

Update: Here is Joshua Holland's wonderful and trenchant piece on the problem of criticizing Israel.
"We give up .Please give us an acceptable way of insulting you---------" is aimed at AIPAC which excoriates anyone who dares to criticize Israel.

Leanderthal

A Most Dangerous Fella

2012-02-14T10:38:00.001-05:00

Eric Alterman tells us here about Sheldon Adelson's Israeli hard line support and how he has bought Gingrich's loyalty to that position, which is 180 degrees from the position Gingrich had publicly stated before becoming Adelson's prostitute.

Even though it seems Gingrich's rocket has flamed out this is still a story which people who think should read; a story of how people with huge egos and huge bankrolls can buy influence right here in River City.

Leanderthal

Crying Wolf----Again

2012-02-09T10:08:00.000-05:00

Here's an opinion piece which makes sense by exposing the right wing war hawk Neocons for crying wolf again.

Leanderthal

A Fellow Voice Crying in the Wilderness

2012-02-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

Here's Glenn Greenwald's lonely cry in the wilderness about the sacrifice of American liberties at the altar of hyped domestic terrorist threats.

This point of view deserves to be, and needs to be, shouted out all over America. You can help give this its needed hearing by being outspoken on the issue with your circle of friends and acquaintances.

Those who stand to make huge profits by promoting and prosecuting endless war are the real enemies of American democracy. They are collectively called Neocons, and are the loudest voices in the cry for uncritical support of Israel at any cost. They want America to support Israel in the bombing of Iran, a country which has not invaded another country in recent history, and which is not suicidal enough to attack Israel.

Good Grief!!! Geesh!! Speak UP!!! Make your voice heard outside the wilderness.

Leanderthal

Fool Me Once--------

2012-02-06T15:13:00.000-05:00

Full me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It seems to me that this old maxim is the take away message from the Hill poll mentioned in Kevin Drum's post today.

Read here how easy it still seems to be to fool human beings into supporting, even clamoring for, war.
Shame on the Neocons and shame on us.

It's in the genes. Maybe someday, eons from now, a mutant gene in the ageless process of evolution will emerge which will change all that. Survival of the fittest will benefit those humans in our homo sapien, sapien species who eschew violence.

The news media will fight it though. Everyone getting along doesn't sell.

Leanderthal

How's This For Straight Talk?

2012-02-06T09:20:00.001-05:00

Tom Toles labels space colonies "lunacy".

The point is we're stuck here on Earth, so we need
to clean it up.

Leanderthal

Exposing the Self-Serving Cynicism of the Israeli Right Wing

2012-02-03T11:53:00.000-05:00

Here's Juan Cole's excellent essay on the cynical, self-serving propaganda of the hard line Israelis and their Israel-first American conspirators.

This point of view needs to be made known and exposed widely.

Leanderthal

Scalia On Citizens United Decision

2012-01-22T13:57:00.000-05:00

Here's SCJ Antonin Scalia's comment to people, like me, who disdain the Supreme's decision to open the flood gates for corporations to use their funds, the largest of them usually publicly owned, with no limit and no accountability as to their sources, to sponsor candidates for public office: Turn off the TV.

What a condescending wise-ass crack! And we are supposed to respect him as a Supreme Court Justice.

It is, in fact, a travesty of justice.

Leanderthal

Kathleen Parker Says It All

2012-01-21T14:43:00.000-05:00

----though we are all sinners, we are not all running for president of the United States. Gingrich’s sins of the flesh ultimately are of less importance than the narcissism and grandiosity that compel his actions.

Here's her column on Gingrich, deserving of a full read.

Leanderthal

The Wizard of Newt

2012-01-21T14:25:00.000-05:00

Charles Blow pulls back the curtain on the Wizard of Newt here.

Gingrich is running a clinic on how to stir up hate.
He unleashes a crazed crowd and causes a feeding frenzy for that in South Carolina.

Leanderthal

Almost But Not Quite

2012-01-21T14:10:00.000-05:00

Gail Collins almost makes me not miss Molly Ivins. Almost.

Read Collins' column on Gingrich here.

What a sleaze he is!!

Leanderthal

Important Story on the Perfidy of Likud Israel and AIPAC

2012-01-14T15:03:00.000-05:00

It's rare to find a credible source for revealing clearly perfidious actions on the part of the far right Likud thugs in Israel and their American agents, AIPAC. Juan Cole is such a source. I don't yet know who Mark Perry is (I will check him out), however, since he is credited with being Juan Cole's source here it's likely he is a reliable one.

Likud and AIPAC are responsible for giving Israel a black eye in the minds of many Americans. What's really disturbing is the lack of push back by any recent American administration, of either party, engendering tacit approval of these anti-American organizations. As Cole observes the GOPher presidential wannabees seem eager to kiss the asses of these guys.

How long Lord, how long?

Leanderthal

He Gets It

2012-01-14T12:30:00.000-05:00

Tom Toles, the WaPo cartoonist, gets it here in his Friday Rant blog post, and hopes the voters finally will too.

It's all about the taxes stupid. No, not you; it's the gullible public.

Leanderthal

Send In The Clowns

2012-01-09T16:07:00.000-05:00

Don't bother, they're here.

And this guy says he's ready to be president on day one?
I don't think so.

He sticks his foot in his mouth without any help from others.
Voters should stick a foot in his other orifice.

Leanderthal

Our Politicians: For Sale By Owner

2012-01-07T12:54:00.003-05:00

Update Below.

Please read Bill McKibbon's piece here about the need to go from being just a disgusted cynic to being an angry activist, or at least a supporter of those who are.

This is what the Occupy movement is all about, being an angry activist. However if you're like me, not about to do what they do, live in tents and endure all manner of difficulties which accompany doing that, at least don't disparage them, as the 1% and their servile public servants want you to do.

Recent articles have revealed that members of Congress are, by and large, quite wealthy. Even better off financially are former members of Congress who have become lobbyists and/or speechifiers, like Palin and Santorum.

Something in the Bible has it that the poor we will always have with us. Same goes for the rich. But at least we can support those who are active on our behalf in working to reign in the damage the rich are doing at the expense of the poor. That should include kicking the whores of both parties out of office.

Before we can do that though we need to fight, or at least support those who fight for us, to reverse the Supremes' Citizens United decision. That reversal will be necessary if we have any chance to elect presidents and members of Congress who are honest, genuine public servants, not on the take, not expecting to be private servants of their personal pimps, big corporations like Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Banks and the like.

I've been calling D.C. the home of the Elected Mafia for quite awhile now. It's an apt label for those who essentially live by the practices of extortion, protection money(racketeering), bribery and payoffs. Elliot Ness used to put them in jail for tax evasion when he couldn't put them in jail for their other crimes.

Who will be our Elliot Ness? I had hoped Elizabeth Warren would get that job, but alas, she frightened the GOPhers so much they had to blackball her. Pity. We need her, or someone like her, now.

Leanderthal
Surviving specimen of
a homo sapien species
long thought to be extinct.

Update: Here's Mitt Romney's public statement about the need to be rich when running for office.

All In One Place

2012-01-06T11:10:00.001-05:00

I found the issues I find troublesome in the Obama administration all in one place, in Glenn Greenwald's current post at Salon.com.

You can find them in the fifth paragraph(not counting the paragraphs written by others whom he quotes).

Check them out here.

Update: Greenwald's point is that there is essentially so little difference between Obama and Romney on these issues that they won't be debated by the two men who are likely to be the contestants in the 2012 election contest.

Am I going to vote for Obama? Of course. I'd rather disagree with him and hope for change in these issues than risk the chance of a GOPher in the White House.

Leanderthal

Talk About Creeps-----!!

2012-01-05T19:39:00.000-05:00

This one also speaks for itself.

What a world!!!

Leanderthal

They Deserve Each Other

2012-01-05T17:06:00.000-05:00

Speaks for itself.

Leanderthal

"I find him by far the creepiest of the lot. "

2012-01-05T14:48:00.003-05:00

Update III Below.

Update II Below.

Update Below.

Describing Rick Santorum, one of the current front runners in the GOPher
race to become that party's presidential candidate,
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones says it best.

"------I find him by far the creepiest of the lot.".

Me too. Others are clowns, but Santorum's the real deal in the world of creep.
Why, because it seems he really believes the shit he spouts. At least
you know where he stands on big issues, and his stance is the most
frightening and the creepiest of them all.

Read Drum's "Onward American Soldiers" post here.

A frightening creep; that pretty much sums up Santorum.

Remind me to put Iowa on my list of places not to live.
According to a pie chart I saw recently its demographics
show it to be about 90% white, and from all recent appearances,
is the Mecca of the North for Christian Evangelicals,
among the most frightening and creepiest of all in the
world of demagoguery.

I find Israel to be a frightening and creepy place, the penultimate
of anachronistic cultures, in defining itself as a Jewish State;
which, at least today, apparently means treating anyone not Jewish as
second class citizens at best, and fair game for the far right Likudniks
and Ultra Orthodox Jews at worst. No melting pot, multi-culturalism there.

Perhaps it's like that in Iowa. It seems to see itself as a
White Protestant Evangelical State, likely exhibiting a similar
intolerance for any who don't conform to that narrow world view.

The hard to dismiss evidence is found in Santorum's public statements
quoted, in part, by Kevin Drum in his post.
While other GOPher presidential wannabees pander to
whatever audience they address at any given time, my fear is that
Santorum really believes what he says.

Someone like that should never be permitted to live in the White House.
That would be truly creepy and, to say the least, frightening.

Leanderthal

Update: I just remembered that Iowa legalized gay marriage. I have to amend my statements about the state being the home of so many Christian Evangelicals to make the observation that the Iowa GOPher party is the home to so many Christian Evangelicals.

Update II Back to Santorum as the creepiest of them all, here's another example. What's sticking in this guy's craw that's making him support such nasty positions? Unfeeling logic activated and nourished by Big Insurance extortion?

Refer to my post titled Politicians; Bought and Paid For, 1/7/12 for more on politicians on the take.

Update III Just in case you'd like another example of Santorum's world view which gives me the creeps, check this out.

Who Knows?

2012-01-01T20:05:00.000-05:00

Robert Reich predicts that Biden and Hillary will switch roles before the 2012 election. Don't know if Hillary would go for it, but wouldn't that make for an interesting election? Biden is no draw when it comes to impressing the electorate, but Hillary? Could be a game changer.

Read what Reich has to say here .

Leanderthal

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This Excites Me

2012-01-01T17:10:00.000-05:00

Here is a short essay by Martin Rees, well known astronomer, on some of the mysteries of the Universe.

I get so excited reading such works that I'm always sad when I've come to their end.

Leanderthal

The Best Description of 2011

2012-01-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

The Festival of Sleaze. That's what Dave Barry calls the year we just survived.

Have you ever seen a more apt description of our current public figure creep show?

Leanderthal

One Of My Favorites: NIcholas Kristof's Columns

2012-01-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

Here's a perfect example of why I like Nicholas Kristof's columns in the NY Times.

Bet you will too, if you don't already.

Leanderthal

"The Age of Nefarious"

2011-12-31T23:09:00.002-05:00

Update Below.

Like it or not Glenn Greenwald shines a much needed very bright light on the shadowy practices of the Obama administration, continuing the kinds of nefarious practices of the Cheney/Bush administration which I've been railing against among my fellow progressive friends for three years now.

Be sure to read it here.

Though it is a bit longer than the usual essay it's worth a full read. He does a really good job of exposing the head-in-the-sand mentality of so many of us progressives who just want to avoid looking at the reality of what the Obama administration has done and is still doing. We are so worried that a truly awful Republican could win that we are willing to give Obama a pass on practices and policies which most progressives abhor.

Will I vote for Obama? Yes, of course. But like Greenwald says, it's about the lesser of two evils.

The Occupy movement needs the support of all progressives because those civil disobedient folks are railing against the pernicious practices of both the last administration and the current one. Don't fall for the claims that these folks are trouble makers who need to bathe and get a job. That's the salacious work of the 1% and their servile, so-called public servants.

It's instructive to note that, to my knowledge, Obama has not taken a public stance on the Occupy movement. Why? Three guesses, and the first two don't count.

We look away at our peril.

It is the dawning of "The Age of Nefarious". (Can't remember who said that first, but I wish I had.)

It's now 11:15 PM, Dec. 31, 2011. Have a Happy New Year! Let's do what you can to make it a good one.

Update: Here's Ross Douthat of the Times with a similar,, albeit briefer, point of view on the strange value of Ron Paul's candidacy.

Leanderthal

A Fun and Funny Read

2011-12-31T09:55:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun read; Krauthammer and Achenbach on looking for other life in the Universe.
There's fun in both pieces.

Just be sure to read the Achenbach comment. That's where the funny is.

Leanderthal

Cohen on Hitch

2011-12-20T09:18:00.000-05:00

Here's a fine example of why I continue to admire the writings of the New York Times columnist Roger Cohen.

In this piece he eulogizes Christopher Hitchens better than any of the other several journalists' attempts I've read.

I think Hitchens was correct in his belief that religion came to be because of humans' fear of death. His claim that it is a product of a time when "nobody had the smallest idea what was going on" might be his best contribution to those of us who don't believe in a god who intervenes in the lives of human beings.

I am atheistic on the belief in that kind of god.

I am agnostic *("One who holds the view that ultimate reality, as God, is unknown and probably unknowable.") on the belief in a creator of the universe. The ultimate question is 'Why is there anything anyway?' "Tis a mystery" and it's good that it stays so.

*Merriam Webster Dictionary definition.

Leanderthal

"An Invented People"

2011-12-17T23:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a fascinating narrative about the Palestinian and Jewish peoples.

Richard Sale is a frequent contributor to Sic Semper Tyrannis, a blog published by Col.(Retired) Patrick Lang, whose military career included years in intelligence work, many spent in, and focused on, the Middle East.

I have more curiosity about, than knowledge of, the history of these two peoples. If you read this, please take a few minutes to critique it using the comment option at the end of the post.

What is fact and what is myth, understanding that there are elements of truth in both?

Leanderthal

On the Nature and Makeup of the Occupy Movement

2011-12-17T22:48:00.000-05:00

Here is a fine essay by the well credentialed authors and respected cultural critics, Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich, on the nature and makeup of the 99%.

They put the lie to the claim of the 1%, and their servile public servants, that the encampments are dangerous, violent, festering and unhealthy places, needing to be removed, forcefully if necessary.

It seems that the encampments are actually places where all levels of the society and culture which comprise the 99% come together to teach each other about their common needs, their common humanity and their mutual newly awakened awareness of the unmitigated greed of the 1% whose policies, actions and financial clout are used to destroy the lives of those on whom they feed. The authors use the term "greased chute" to describe the slide of the 99% into a state of desperation. This term is used in contrast to "safety nets" which more humane cultures provide.

Leanderthal

The Hitch Is Dead

2011-12-17T21:42:00.002-05:00

Update below:

There have been numerous eulogies to Christopher Hitchens since his death a few days ago. Most have been glowing, focusing on his intellect and wit. They seem to be from people who profess to being his long time friend.

Glenn Greenwald has a different take on this Read it here. He starts with his objection to the deifying of Ronald Reagan, setting that up for comparison to the glowing eulogies for Hitchens.

As a self-confessed agnostic I read Hitchens' atheist diatribes about religion with interest and curiosity, though I think he didn't give enough credit to the good things people in many churches do. What he was correct about was his stance against the pernicious practice of most versions of religion around the world to justify horrible behavior and to turn a blind eye to the inexcusable universal abuse of innocents by clergy and fundamentalist extremists.

Update: Here is another opinion about Hitchens by Kevin Drum of Mother Jones. He focuses more on Hitchens' politics than his vitriol on religion. But both Drum and Greenwald would seem to agree that "the hagiography(I had to look it up) is getting a little too thick to bear".

Leanderthal

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Where is the Peace?

2011-12-17T09:25:00.000-05:00

Mr. Fish's No Good Peace of Crap.

Glenn Greenwald, A Much Needed Voice

2011-12-14T18:07:00.001-05:00

I've modified some of the language of the earlier post. Hat tip to The Old New Englander(TONE).

Here's a link to a really important column by Glenn Greenwald of Salon on the pernicious problem of liberal Jews being smeared as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic by those whose unconditional support of Likud, right wing, extremist elements in Israel is so blatantly tribal, putting the interests of that element of Israel ahead of the interests of the American people.

Progressive Jews like MJ Rosenberg, formerly an AIPAC official, frequently observe that the behavior of the right wing element in Israel is actually not in Israel's long term interests, nor in America's.

Glenn Greenwald himself is to be commended and applauded for his openly critical stance against those whose goal is to destroy any writer who dares to question any behavior of Israel, no mater how heinous.

His is surely one of the most important voices crying out in the wilderness of honest, decent, truth-speaking-to- power journalists.

Leanderthal

Juan Cole's History Lesson

2011-12-11T12:58:00.000-05:00

Here is Juan Cole's excellent and enlightening history lesson on the Palestinians. His main purpose is to expose our government's complicity in destroying what should be Palestine, and how Newt Gingrich articulates exactly what the US is actually doing to support Israel in that effort.

This is the best I've come across on the issue.

Cynicism Redefined

2011-12-10T10:54:00.000-05:00

Here's Gail Collins tale of the sordid actions of Congressional Gophers in blocking any nomination by the president.

These people do not deserve to be called Congressmen or Senator. They are not interested in governing, only in blocking anything initiated by President Obama.

They need to be rooted out and sent home to spend more time with their families.

What a sick country we have today.

Leanderthal

Wars of Choice

2011-12-08T18:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to an important essay on America's wars of choice. I send it out to you who might not have come across it at TomDispatch. com.

Leanderthal

Our Fifty-first State

2011-12-06T09:24:00.001-05:00

Here's Roger Cohen's chilling piece on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

It starts out with mild criticism, but be sure to read to the end.

If Israel were in fact our fifty-first state, and it seems like it is based on the US government's uncritical support of it's behavior, it would be a poster child for those who scream for states' rights.

Leanderthal

Dog Chases Car. Dog Catches Car. What Then?

2011-12-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

Here's Paul Krugman's assessment of the GOPher qualifications.

Don't miss it. It's priceless.

Leanderthal

More Insight From Glenn Greenwald

2011-12-04T18:47:00.000-05:00

Be sure to read this piece by Glenn Greenwald on moral relativism, the predisposition of nationalists and all tribal groups to demonize those considered their enemies. The pot calling the kettle black.

Greenwald sees this in how the US and Israel demonize Iran.

Leanderthal

A True Voice Crying in the Wilderness

2011-12-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Glenn Greenwald is a true voice crying in the wilderness. Here is his profound and trenchant essay on the mind set of all actors in today's globally militant culture, the We Are At War mindset, which is characteristic of the US fringe extremists as well as the Islamist fringe extremists.

It's worth a full read. I strongly recommend it. This phenomenon needs to be understood by all Americans.
We need to come to grips with the fact that the militant fringe extremist element of our nation is wasting blood and treasured and America's reputation in our name.

It used to be that it was a Bush/Cheney thing. Now it's apparent that the Obama administration has taken up the same cudgels, and in doing so, have sacrificed our freedoms in the name of unending war.

We need an army of Voices Crying in the Wilderness.

Leanderthal

Social Darwinism

2011-12-01T17:05:00.000-05:00

Be sure to read this piece by Robert Reich on the Social Darwinism being espoused by the current GOPher presidential candidates. It's an eye opening essay, or at least it should be, on what Social Darwinism would mean as it pertains to our culture's future.

Reich reminds us how it worked out before the more egalitarian changes of the twentieth century.

What's especially interesting to me is that those who preach this approach are also the ones who are most vociferous in denying evolution, the survival of the fittest, as the force which resulted in the appearance of human beings on the planet. They preach that God created man in his own image, the fairy tale of all fairy tales.

They also rail against abortion as murdering human beings, but support the death penalty. Huh?

How can any thinking, rational person support for president anyone who hold such truths to be self-evident.

As Ron Paul says of Gingrich, they are serial hypocrites, as is he.

Leanderth

An Honest Self-Described Fat Cat Speaks Truth

2011-12-01T16:43:00.001-05:00

Here's a most refreshing piece about why fat cats can't replace the lost purchasing power of the middle class.

It's written by a self-described fat cat.

Oh, how good it would be if he were to be joined in this view by the other fat cats.

Leanderthal

POTUS Qualifications

2011-11-22T17:23:00.001-05:00

If one of the qualifications to be POTUS is dishonesty, Romney certainly passes that test.

Here's a great example of that.

This guy is such a hypocrite and a phony! He will do and say anything to get the nomination. But then
so would the rest of the Ghopher pretenders.

Think Progress gives him equal time here. This is good, this is very good.

Leanderthal

Tom Toles Friday Rant

2011-11-04T12:48:00.000-04:00

This is good. This is very good.

Tom Toles is a WaPo political cartoonist, but also a really good writer.

Leanderthal

"Send in the Clowns. Don't Bother, They're Here"

2011-11-04T12:39:00.000-04:00

Here's the best piece I've come across on the topic of the GOPher Clowns who pretend to the job of ring leader.

Timothy Egan gets it.

Leanderthal

Weaponized Keynesians

2011-10-31T09:41:00.000-04:00

Thank my guy Barney Frank for this label and concept.

Here's Paul Krugman's piece on what Barney was talking about.

Government spending is good for the economy except when it's bad.

Now if we could just get every one of the 99% to read this.

Leanderthal

George Will on Romney

2011-10-29T18:03:00.001-04:00

When George Will criticizes a GOPher politician I take heart.

Here's his WaPo column on Romney, whom he labels the unelectable candidate.

Leanderthal

May 21st

2011-10-29T15:28:00.001-04:00

So what is the significance of May 21st?

For some, the followers of the cult preacher, Harold Camping, it is the day the world was supposed to end,
but the he pushed it forward to October 21st. Since that didn't happen either, they, his followers, playing with a deck several cards short of full, apparently have decided that the rapture actually did occur on May 21st despite and contrary to evidence, facts on the ground, what most of us accept as reality.

I'm one who wants to know as much as I can about how everything works, but I'm also one who understands that if we homo sapiens(wise men) ever understood it all we would find ourselves adrift in a kind of frightening sea which only Herman Melville an Stephen Crane have dared to confront.

So, if someone disappears before your eyes, perhaps it's because the rapture has already happened. But blink and look again before you spread that word.

As for the significance of May 21st, it just happens to be my birthday. I wasn't taken up into the clouds on that day in 1937, unless of course being born to life on this Earth is actually the rapture. Who's to say?

Leanderthal

That's What I'm Sayin'

2011-10-29T15:20:00.000-04:00

Here' a report on the pay checks of Military/Industrial CEO's.

Obscene is the nicest word I can think of to describe such taxpayer thievery.

These are the war profiteers. They want you to think it's for your safety.

It's for their greed.

I've been saying this on this page for a very long time now.

Here's the data to back it up.

Leanderthal

Nausea

2011-10-26T17:27:00.000-04:00

I started this post a few weeks ago, and am now just working on making it a message I'm willing to put out there.

Troy Davis was murdered last night, just a few hours after I retreated to the safety and comfort of my bed.

I woke up sick at my stomach this morning, anticipating that the news would be about his
execution. The state of Georgia, USA, murdered Troy Davis last night. The only solace
for me is that his long ordeal ( the fear, the sheer horror of being strapped down on a gurney so that another human being can kill him with a lethal injection) is over. And this is legal!!!

Whenever I have been exposed to news of another living being's helplessness at the hands of other living beings I always project my feelings on that person who must have experienced the most horrific feeling of helplessness upon knowing that there is nothing one can do to escape death..

Most other countries have eliminated the death penalty. We're supposed to be a humane society. Apparently only when it comes to our household pets.

Leanderthal

Essays by Anti-Zionist Jewish Writers

2011-10-26T17:11:00.000-04:00

Here's an essay by a Jewish American writer, the essence of which is critical of the American and Israeli stonewalling of the Palestinian's request for statehood recognition at the UN.

I've been heartened, and somewhat surprised, by the recent straight talk coming out against the hard right Likud leadership in Israel, from the minds and hearts of those who might be called speakers for the liberal, progressive, non Zionist Diaspora Jews.

Tom Friedman, and Glenn Greenwald, to name those Jewish journalists whom I, as a Gentile, a goy, consult on such matters, have pulled few punches lately when criticizing, if not condemning, the right wing, hard line, Likud party leadership for their clearly undemocratic treatment of Palestinian leadership.

Leanderthal

What a Question?

2011-10-26T17:08:00.000-04:00

Here's a piece which asks the question, Does Obama deserve credit for killing Qhadaffi? (I don't care how it's spelled. It's a small mind that can spell a word only one way.)

I try to stay away from moralist positions, but the facts on the ground, or in the air as it were, recently point to a pattern, which if accepted as OK, that is to say no one speaks out against it, makes me again "accepting", the fifth and final stage of grieving, that I don't have to live forever, and sad for what kind of world my children will have to explain to their children, my grandchildren. I know, I know, it's a story of doom as long as there have been people to tell the story.

In one of my poems in the collection, The Poet and the Pendulum, I wrote about this. It has to do with the nature of Nature. Nature doesn't care that we shit in our own pew, she'll repair all and anything we manage to
damage in our shitty little time on Her Earth. In contrast to our Narcissistic view of ourselves, we exist and are only alive for a nano second of geological time, and who knows, Nature's/Creator's time.

I've often wondered about the axiom "fight fire with fire". That can be momentarily appealing ,especially in the abstract in places like Yellowstone National Park, with intentionally set fires as backfires and controlled fires,. as both a short term tactic, and a long term strategy. It upsets me when helpless creatures of Nature are killed in the process and accepted as collateral damage. That's the PETA part of me.

The humanist part of me, a self described agnostic, just makes me sad that human beings, of which I have to sadly admit I am one, haven't ever, still can't and likely won't ever stop killing each other, sometimes seemingly, just for the sport of using new weapons.

On a more grounded, or elevated, as it were, basis, the justification for killing an enemy seems to rely on what the enemy identification is; if enemy combatant, take him out of circulation by killing him. So what constitutes an enemy combatant?. A soldier in the uniform of another country which is acknowledged by all as an enemy is an easy call. That is so last century though. Our current enemies, those we choose to call them such, aren't likely to be wearing the uniform of any country, but are likely to be the kind who hide behind the "camouflage" of no uniform. They are what our military leaders call terrorists, so those who promote war somewhere all the time have defined our enemies by coming up with a universal term which is so broad as to defy its vulnerability to challenge.

The Mafia is a terrorist organization, as is any militia, as were those who went up against the English in our own revolution, shooting from behind trees, initially in their own civvies, not a uniform. One man's patriot is another man's terrorist. How soon our Neocon/Pentagon/Military/Industrial complex cavemen choose to forget.

But I digress. My real problem is that moral one, the one I'd prefer not to acknowledge; the practice of our own government, under the guise of protecting us, of setting up a group of human beings who are tasked with identifying individuals who are "our enemies" by some subjective standard, subjective because the standards are outside our own ratified Constitution and its Amendments, and who are targeted for elimination, assassination. No due process under the Constitution or the Geneva Convention for these bad guys.

The fact that the weapons set loose are now often drones, essentially robots controlled by
star wars trained technicians continents away from their human targets, is not a big surprise. Killing is killing, assassination is assassination by whatever means. While it's not a big surprise for me it is a chilling reminder that homo sapiens have always, do now, and will always look for more efficient ,more deadly and less risky, ways of killing those other living beings, whether animals for eating or humans for conquering.

(The spear in the hands of a practiced thrower, compared to the bludgeon in the hands of the one who got up close and personal, (read vulnerable), might be the earliest known example.)

If there ever were an American Exceptionalism worthy of respect, it existed, historically, during the time when the documents, which we like to remind ourselves are us, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were actually honored, respected and for the most part
became the standards for which and under which we Americans did our best to live.

Those were the times in which we, our American ancestors, chose our leaders when they more or less tried honestly to represent us, their voters. We, as a new nation, who had just thrown off the tyrannical and occupying force of what was then the acknowledged military dominant nation on Earth, tacitly adopted a world view to avoid getting involved in problems all over the world.

Sadly that seems to be challenged today, as it eventually has been over recorded history of our species .In today's edition it's seen by those who have a serious personal financial interest in maintaining their status, as behavior of a fringe group, a giving up on "real Americans", and at least a lack of patriotism, if not the behavior of a traitor.

These are the Neocons, those who stir the pot of tribalism to create a crisis, to be sure there is always a place to wage war in which they make millions of dollars. Gullible Americans drink the Koolaid that they are being protected by our military.

So who should get credit for killing Qaddafi? What a question. That anyone should get credit for killing another living creature is a sickening cultural meme.

Leanderthal

Tom Toles, New Age

2011-10-26T09:27:00.000-04:00

Tom Toles here introduces us to a new age. It is the dawning of the Age of Nefarious.

That's good, that's very good.

Leanderthal

American Exceptionalism in Action

2011-10-22T17:41:00.000-04:00

Here's Glenn Greenwald's take on what Americans are so excellent at that we can accomplish anything we set our minds to.

Like Assassinations.

Leanderthal

A TomDispatch Must Read

2011-10-22T17:34:00.000-04:00

Here's a message which needs to be shouted from the rooftops. Tom Engelhardt of TomDispatch.com exposes the extortion of the elected mafia that is the Pentagon and it' cabal of cronies.

Leanderthal

It's a Start

2011-10-22T14:52:00.000-04:00

President Obama must not authorize the tar sands pipeline. That would be a start on living up to his campaign pledge to end the "tyranny of oil".

Here's an essay on the Koch Brothers' interest in getting the authorization. Game over for the climate?

Leanderthal

Hypocrites Masquerading as God Fearing Believers

2011-10-15T16:04:00.000-04:00

This requires no additional words from me.

Leanderthal

I Don't Know But I've Been Told

2011-10-12T12:09:00.000-04:00

Terror plots are getting old.

Who's more credible, the Obama administration or Greenwald?
I'm going with Greenwald on this one. And it pains me to say that.

Here's Greenwald's piece on the latest terror plot exposed by the DOJ and the FBI.

Leanderthal

Strange Bed Fellows

2011-10-05T17:29:00.000-04:00

How about Ron Paul and Rachel Maddow agreeing on anything?

That NRA, non-repetitive-anomaly, isn't likely to stoke speculation
that they will go find a motel room together.

It does remind us that birds of different feathers can agree to perch
next to each other on some kinds of hot wire issues, if only for a brief time.

Here's a piece which focuses on the questions Maddow raises about
the legality of assassinating an American citizen, and
here's one by Ron Paul.

Leanderthal

Necessary Roughness

2011-09-21T18:33:00.000-04:00

This is not a topic with which I regularly engage on these pages, the ups and downs of major players in the world of sports.

Having said that, I am one who is guilty of enjoying watching really good college teams, but at the same time
am appalled at the hypocrisy of those who condone and look the other way at secretly remunerating college players, when it's clear that they are aiding and abetting college athletics as essentially a farm system for professional sports.

One has only to read the reports about the CEO's, (that's calling a spade a spade) of NCAA Division I institutions on their comments about what conference in which they want their teams to compete.

Sadly, as usual, it's all about money, in the form of attendance revenues, but mostly TV contracts.

Perhaps there will come a time when there are enough people who, like me, have enjoyed watching real talent perform at the college level, but who take off the blinkers when it comes to looking the gift horse in the mouth.
Too many college athletes have been sacrificed at the altar of the almighty dollar, cast aside, scholarships cancelled, when they didn't perform as expected or when the NCAA eligibility ran out.

How is that different in principle from professional athletes being let go by the teams which have become disilussioned with their performance. Fact is each has been fired. The part about getting a college education is of no consequence, and is ignored.

So far the NCAA/College referees have called such actions "Necessary Roughness".

Once again I think that when historians write about our era they will likely conclude that the word, Hypocricy
might capture the human element.

Leanderthal

Fall From Grace

2011-09-19T17:08:00.000-04:00

Chris Hedges interviewed the Reverend Jeremiah Wright recently. Here's what Reverend Wright had to say about Obama.

As I've written here recently, when historians want to tell the story of our last several decades one word which will likely occur to them as symbolic of that era is "hypocrite".

Leanderthal

"This is War"

2011-09-19T13:19:00.000-04:00

The title of this post, "This is War" is the label which Huffingtonpost.com gave to its piece about Paul Ryan, the GOPher who is making a name for himself in GOPher politics. The "War" refers to what Ryan calls Obama's proposal to tax the super rich; "Class Warfare".

One still valid axiom, which I can only paraphrase, admonishes us that if we ignore history we will be condemned to repeat it. Well, that's a pretty lugubrious statement. Why is it that we are condemned to repeat it? Why is it not that we are blessed to repeat it?

Could it be because history, at least in the recorded sense, begins with the ability of humans to record it.
And what about humans? Some think, as I do, that the worst thing that happened to Earth is the evolution which led to our species, homo sapiens. Why, because homo sapiens, us, have the ability to discern what is good or evil, and too often, choose evil, which, because it always results in horror and death, is the bain of all life on earth.

But back to Paul Ryan's throwing down the gauntlet in calling Obama's proposal to tax the super rich as a way of restoring health to America, Class Warfare. He actually advocates increasing taxes on the Middle Class.

To call that "out of touch" is too tame a response.

Often, on this blog, I have likened our politicians to
an elected mafia. They are willing to hold hostage
those who can't and/or won't pay to buy them out.

The word is "extortion".

Leanderthal

Schadenfreude

2011-09-19T13:07:00.000-04:00

Eugene Robinson wrote this column in the Washington Post.

Pay special attention to his comment about the
"yeah" reaction to Dr. Ron Paul's initial response to a question
about who pays for health care.

Good doctors try to heal folks. I guess a Libertarian doctor lives
up to his Hippocratic Oath to Do No Harm by doing nothing.

This is just one of many examples which are out there for all to see.

The far right GOPhers, some of whom hide behind their
Libertarian mores, are all about themselves, and take no
responsibility for, let alone ownership of, the needs of the unfortunates in our society.

They must think that high wire performers should work without
a safety net, if they are to be consistent in their belief that one
must count on his or her own skills, and not look for help
when the unexpected occurs.

Their motto, not yet widely exposed, is "I've got mine, get your own".

There are those of us who have a care about folks who have done all they
were raised to do but still have fallen on the kind
of hard times from which it is essentially impossible to recover on one's own,
in a society and culture which turns its back on those who can't
cut it.

If there is one word which might stand out for historians who
deign to understand enough of our era to write about it honestly,
that word would have to be "hypocrite".

Leanderthal

Compare and Contrast

2011-09-19T09:59:00.000-04:00

Remember the instructions from the teacher or professor to write an essay comparing and contrasting two points of view? Well here's your chance to do it without worrying about the grade you'll get or passing the course.

Compare and contrast these two columns by generally liberal leaning journalists. One is James Carroll and the other is Glenn Greenwald. What can be accepted as given is that both pieces are critiques of the Obama administration.

James Carroll

Glenn Greenwald

Leanderthal

What Is Truth?

2011-09-17T14:11:00.001-04:00

For me, I know it when I see it. It's a belief which doesn't have to go through awkward gyrations to explain away contradicting facts.

Here is Col.(Ret) Pat Lang's take on the consequences which will follow from our government vetoing the Palestinian request for state membership in the UN. Col. Lang is a retired Army officer who experience includes working with Intelligence Agencies on the Middle East, most notably Israeli intelligence.
I believe that his credentials give him credibility in these matters. He makes the points which make the most sense to me.

I do have to say that I don't understand the title of his post, something about we should give our veto in the UNSC to Israel.

Also for important reading on this issue, here are Juan Cole's thoughts on why Palestinians need recognition as a member state in the UN. Again, like Lang's, Cole's points make sense to me.

Leanderthal

"Our Form of Justice" Rick Perry Govenor of Texas

2011-09-16T18:45:00.000-04:00

It seems that Rick Perry continues to believe that his country is Texas, not the USA.

He's quoted as saying that Texas has its own form of justice which we think is appropriate.

He was cheered recently at a GOPher debate when the number of executions he has overseen was announced.

Leanderthal

It's The Oil Stupid

2011-09-16T13:02:00.000-04:00

Michael Klare, writing for TomDispatch.com, helps keep alive the truth about oil in this essay.

Klare is the author of several books shining bright lights on the shadowy workings of those whose lives and fortunes are tied to oil. One of his best efforts is "Resource Wars".

Years ago the airline industry ate the lunch of the railroad industry because the latter didn't understand that they were in the transportation business, not the railroad business. One wonders how life would be different if those in the oil business understood that they are in the energy business.

Another tragic example of not paying attention to history?

Leanderthal

The Decline and Fall of The American Empire

2011-09-16T12:52:00.000-04:00

Here's an essay from TomDispatch.com which states what I've been saying about U.S. duplicity and the treacherous course which will ultimately lead to the decline and fall of the American empire.

What's that line about being condemned to relive history?

Leanderthal

Good Grief

2011-09-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

This should be enough to discredit this guy once and for all. He has a right to believe it, but he's way out of bounds in recommending it to his flock of sheep. I guess Newt Gingrich and John Edwards would agree with him.

Leanderthal

The Devil Is Not In The Details; It's In The Intent

2011-09-15T16:13:00.000-04:00

Here's another crucial, realistic and sensible essay on what we as a people have let ourselves be manipulated into becoming since 9-11-2001.

We have been seduced by some of our human brothers and sisters, people whose behavior constitutes the acts of war criminals, whom we must acknowledge we actually elected, and who have exploited our most basic emotions, those which scientists tell us reside in the evolutionarily oldest parts of our brain; known as the limbic system it's that part of the brain which we still share with the most fearsome of our earthly ancestors; crocodiles are a particularly useful example.

I believe, as journalists like Eugene Robinson, Chris Hedges and Joe Nocera believe, that we were justified in going after Al Qaeda and their Taliban protectors in Afghanistan. We won that war in a few short weeks. We scattered Al Qaeda and sent Osama fleeing into hiding. And I don't apologize for the hunting down of that evil man and killing him as we, yes we, did recently, because both actions were directly tied to the horror of 9/11 which he orchestrated. He was an enemy soldier. I abhor capital punishment, but this is what they call the exception which proves the rule, though I've never understand why that is so.

Over the eons of evolution, human beings, homo sapiens, what we label our species, exist with brains which have evolved to the extent that we who possess them, seem to act in a way which helps us decide if something we encounter is positive or negative, the context always being about the risk of being or not being.

Like Papa Bush who wisely decided not to pursue Saddam back to Baghdad after he ran him out of Kuwait, we should have had the wisdom to stand down after we accomplished our objective in Afghanistan.

But the cabal known as Neocons, comprised by the likes of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Feith and Wolfowitz, had been itching for a war with Saddam for many years, and they saw this horror as the perfect excuse to invade a country which they lied to us as being behind 9-11, realizing that they could strike while the iron was hot, that hot iron being the human instinct for revenge, and which, if excited into a crowd and mob mentality, would provide them with the necessary support to back more reasonable and less warlike politicians into a corner. To object and God forgive even oppose was to be branded unpatriotic, risking their political careers and marginalized, if not kicked out of office.

The instinct which the war criminals exploited, in its most violent form, always subjugates logic to its
more emotionally violent purposes.

Why do these people do this? Because they can. How is it that they can? Because they have the money to buy what they want. The trite aphorisms are: money is the root of all evil, the golden rule is that those with the gold rule, if you don't understand something follow the money. The behavior of people like this is found in their actions which can be reduced to the most cynical of world views. "I got mine, get your own". Even people like George W. Bush, who lives off the money made by his ancestors has the gall to act like this. (He comes by it naturally, at least from his mother, who famously announced during the horrors of Katrina, that those huddled masses in the Superdome were doing well when compared to the lives they had before the storm.

How out of touch, even unconsciously, can one be?

My anger is reserved for those who consciously manipulate people and circumstances for their own personal and like minded group gain.

It should not come as a surprise to anyone, who has the intellect and uses it, to realize that what the least educated among us, those who are the most vulnerable to the con of the war criminals, don't, can't see, is that the evil ones who in their selfish intentions actually do evil, and are the devils on earth.

It should be obvious to anyone who bothers to think about it, that human beings have projected both good and evil onto mythical beings, God and Satan, based on behaviors which human beings have observed and encountered in their own personal lives here on earth.

Why, though, do the concepts of good and evil still reside in and are still ascribed to mythical beings, even among the most educated humans? Denial perhaps? The realization that each of us has lived as human beings who have come into being through the most basic of instincts, sexual intercourse, used to perpetuate the species, as bequeathed to us over the eons of time so vast as to be incomprehensible to our minds as evolved so far, by the process of evolution.

I realize that I am an advocate for trying to understand how everything works, having given up on the idea that I can understand what everything means.

The question which likely will always go unanswered by those of us who seek to know what everything means or how everything works is,

Why is there anything any way?

To the extent that I can accept that this is the ultimate unanswerable question which our minds, as stimulated by the current evolved status of our brains, I will strive to continue to do the "To Be" thing.

Leanderthal
Surviving specimen of a Homo Erectus species
long considered to be extinct.

Roger Ebert on Death and Dying

2011-09-15T15:50:00.000-04:00

I identify with much of what he wrote here, though I'm agnostic about the ESP experience.

He's the only one other than me, to my knowledge, who actually said something about being OK before birth.
That's the reason I expect to be OK after death. OK in that sense must include nothingness.

People ask me if I miss sex after the treatment for prostate cancer killed my libido. My response is, "If you don't miss it you don't miss it". I expect that I won't miss life when I'm dead, any more than I missed life before I was born.

http://www.salon.com/books/memoirs/index.html?story=/books/2011/09/15/roger_ebert

Leanderthal

Leanderthal

Glenn Greenwald on the 9/11 Day Observance

2011-09-14T15:18:00.000-04:00

Here are Glenn Greenwald's thoughts on the knee jerk right wing, and even one left wing, reaction to what Paul Krugman wrote on 9/11/2011, condemning the political celebrationist behavior in the observance.

I support Krugman in his stance. I also found Chris Hedges' essay that we have become what we loath compelling.

Leanderthal

Useful Essay on the UN Palestinian Resolution

2011-09-14T15:03:00.000-04:00

Here's an essay which helps me understand what is going on re: the Palestinian effort to become a member state in the UN.

What is still hard to understand is what I see as the flimsy reason the US is citing for vetoing the resolution. This is especially true when I read in the essay that Israel reviles the US president, even though they want US help with their Saudi relations.

It just has to be the huge money Israel throws around to reward or punish US politicians. AIPAC really should be required to register as an agent of the foreign government, Israel.

Leanderthal

Why Veto the Palestinian UN Request?

2011-09-14T12:50:00.000-04:00

The old saw is, "If you don't understand something, follow the money trail". That's the only reason I can think of to explain why the US will veto the motion in the UN to grant Palestine state status.
Israel continues to be the tail wagging the US dog. And it's gotta be because of the millions, if not billions of dollars Israel spends to buy off US politicians. It's a really dirty business.

Here's a good essay by William Pfaff on the issue. Unfortunately it stops short of justly accusing Israel of extortion, a serious form of bullying, the ugly behavior of any stripe which I detest.

Leanderthal

Who Your Friends Are Says A Lot

2011-09-13T17:54:00.000-04:00

Here's a story which reveals a lot about Ron Paul. His supporters shouted in support of letting a man without health insurance die.

These are likely the same or at least the same sort who cheered recently when the number of executions in Texas, while Perry has been governor was announced.

As Chris Hedges wrote recently we have become "what we abhor".

Yes, I've been disappointed in Obama's seemingly feckless leadership, but I will vote for him again.
The possibility that one of the GOPher candidates becoming president is truly frightening.

Leanderthal

2011-09-11T19:21:00.000-04:00

How sick a society, a culture, do we need to be before we "get it" and decide to take steps to deal with it?

Sadly , it doesn't appear to be anytime soon.

Leanderthal

Needed Back Talk on 9-11-2011

2011-09-11T18:53:00.000-04:00

The emotional banality we are enduring today, the ten year anniversary of the horror inflicted on us,
is understandable.

We as a nation had not experienced such gall from an enemy since the War of 1812, and that seldom rises to the level of conciousness in anyone, save historians.

Pearl Harbor was a day of infamy which got our attention big time, and yet it was not an attack on America as we perceived it to be in those days. Hawaii was a chain of islands in the Pacific. Few if any Americans forsaw or considered that it would become a state, and even since it is, it is still thought of as a territory, as is Alaska, in the mode of Puerto Rico.

But New York? DC? That's different. That's us! That event was like a mugging in our own neigborhood, a place long considered safe from those who we thought wouldn't dare come into where we actually live.and take a chance that they could succeed.

What changed? It is a change which defies and goes against what we have long thought to be the mostly normal human instinct to survive. Some humans, it seems, can become convinced that their
future is brighter after death than in this life.

We have only to try to understand why some of us consider taking our own lives, to grasp what is going on in the minds of people who sacrifice their own lives.

Some long for death because in life they are in constant pain, physical and/or emotional.

Some long for death, even look forward to dying, because they have become convinced that their
release from the horrible reality of their lives depends on their killing others whom they have been told to believe are those who are responsible for their horrible and intolerable existence.

We were given a warning about this, to us, aberration,during WW II. Many Americans died when Japanese suicide bombers crashed their planes and themselves into American Navy ships.

Still, that was years ago. Surely we didn't still have to be on guard for that right here in New York.

We were so wrong, and our error in not anticipating the actions of humans beings intent on killing themselves in the process of killing as many others as possible in the process will continue to haunt us as a people, a nation, until we as particpants in our culture as voters, endorse and elect leaders who are willing to say and do what is the right thing to do, even if it results in their defeat for re-election

So, what is the right thing to do? If you need to ask, you wouldn't understand it.

Was Does Winning Look Like?

2011-09-11T16:47:00.000-04:00

Eugene Robinson, columnist at WaPo, points out that we won the war started by Al Qaeda on 9-11-01. It might even be called a necessary war, that one at least.

And yet we're still fighting wars in the Middle East. Unnecessary wars. Why?

Read here what Gene Robinson has to say about that.

Leanderthal

Read It And Weep

2011-09-11T15:42:00.001-04:00

In the sharpest of contrasts to the eulogies for heroes so prevalent and ubiquitous today, here is Chris Hedges' view of what horror that 9-11 horror invoked in us, as perpetrated by our leaders.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/nationalism_in_the_aftermath_of_9_11_20110910/?ln.

Any additional words from me would only add to the banality of the discourse we are having to endure today, 9-11-2011.

Leanderthal

Cheering for Executions

2011-09-08T13:25:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to Glenn Greenwald's excellent essay on the disgusting cheering at last night's GOPher debate, when the number of executions in Texas during Perry's reign was announced.

The irony is that GOPhers say evolution, the survival of the fittest of species, is a hoax. These same people practice that principle of evolution in their daily lives and world view. They are also the ones who say abortion is murder.

Sometimes I'm ashamed to admit to being of the same species as these horrible people.

Leanderthal

Roger Cohen on Israel's Abject Government

2011-09-06T10:21:00.000-04:00

Here's the Jewish New York Times columnist Roger Cohen on Israel's refusal to apologize for the killings aboard the Gaza bound flotilla.

As I've stated here several times, I detest bullies of any stripe. The far right Likud and their American agent, AIPAC, is made up of bullies.

I also have a big time problem with Obama who, like all recent US presidents, is cowed by those bullies.

Leanderthal

Perry's Book Signing

2011-08-29T17:52:00.003-04:00

Here's a piece which I can't wait to see what Jon Stewart and his writers will do with it on the Daily Show.

Apparently Rick Perry has been autographing copies of Bibles for people during his visit in S.C.

Who does he think he is? God? Christ?

Of course this is all ludicrous. It just goes to show those of us who still have not lost our senses that this guy needs to be sidelined as just another narcissist.

Leanderthal

"Leading From Behind"

2011-08-29T16:47:00.003-04:00

Sometimes a simple phrase says a lot, like a picture worth a thousand words, but can also result in unintended consequences.

The phrase, "leading from behind" implied, according to its author, the unwritten words "the scene". It was a phrase intended to draw a stark contrast between Obama's leadership style in the Lybian situation and the bravado, out front, cheer leading style of Bush, as exemplified by his Mission Accomplished bravado after the" shock and awe" invasion of Iraq.
The hungry right wing jackals jumped all over the phrase as it was written, without those two words, using it as propaganda, citing it as admission of what they claim as Obama's weak leadership.

I make no apologies here for Chris Lizza, the author. He should have known better.

This piece helps shines the Cape Cod Lighthouse beacon on those dark prowling jackals for who they really are and what they will stoop to do to attack Obama.

As I've opined several times before on this page, I really do hope that those who have assured us over the many years of our democracy that the people, as a whole, can be counted on to get it right, are themselves right.

Leanderthal

Dawkins on Perry

2011-08-27T20:01:00.003-04:00

Wow!!

Rarely have we been offered such a smack down of an ignorant politician by a brilliant scientist.
Richard Dawkins puts Rick Perry in diapers and short pants.

Read it here.

This is a real treat. Enjoy.

Leanderthal

Color Me Suspicious

2011-08-12T18:20:00.002-04:00

Patrick Lang, Col, Retired, posted this on his Sic Semper Tyrannis blog. You can find the credentials he claims as a military officer with serious INTEL experience with the machinations peculiar to the middle east, by visiting his blog. Google will direct you there.

AIPAC, from all that I have and could read, is a powerful(because of its money clout) lobby apparently, from many reports, made up of American Jews who want our government(that's us because we elect it) to back Israel in whatever Israel does which today means unconditional support financially, politically, for the far right Likud bullies.

Lang has frequently called for AIPAC to be required to register as an arm of a foreign government, in this case of course, Israel.

Leanderthal

Supercommittee

2011-08-06T11:21:00.002-04:00

It's said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. So what will a supercommittee design?

Let's hear your imaginative guesses. Share using the comments option.

Leanderthal

No Other Conclusion

2011-08-05T10:36:00.002-04:00

Tom Toles, the WaPo political cartoonist also writes a blog.

Here is his eminently correct and to the point essay on GOPher hypocrisy.

So why does it work, when it's so obviously a campaign of lies?

The elephant in the room, the presence of which no one wants to acknowledge, is the hoards of Americans who need everything laid out for them in as simple a manner as possible. The genius of the GOPhers, going back at least to George W. Bush and Cheney, is that they understand this and exploit it.

How do they accomplish this? By making everything seem as simple as black and white, good versus evil, right versus wrong, etc.. As George W. Bush told a journalist once, "I don't do nuance".

The sad irony is that the Democrats should be the party which appeals to the people, because it has traditionally been the party which has passed the most legislation which benefit people.

But the GOPhers have cooped that advantage by convincing the people that their country is going to the dogs because of those programs, thus appealing to another maxim in the general population that one should not spend more than one makes. Never mind that a sensible rule for individuals is not always a sensible rule for governments. That requires an understanding and acceptance of nuance; the missing ingredient in those who need it most.

Those who need life made simple buy into the GOPher strategy of repeating lies often enough that they become facts, the tried and true principle of advertising. The consequence is that the GOPhers have caused the people most in need to vote against their own interests.

That's genius.

Unfortunately, in my not at all humble opinion, I believe that there is something even darker going on, no pun originally intended. Many of these same people just can't abide a black man sitting in the White House. If one has that view, however subconsciously held, it doesn't take much to swing them against the party a black president represents.

We must constantly remind ourselves that Mitch McConnell, the GOPher leader in the Senate, openly and without nuance said that the main objective of the GOPhers is to insure that Barack Obama is a one term president. They remember that a sick economy made George H.W. Bush a one term president and they learned the lesson well.

So many people vote out of pure frustration and fear of personal financial disaster.

The Democrats simply have to come up with a message that gains back the trust of the frightened American people. How to do that and keep it simple too? I wish I knew.

Leanderthal

Let's Hear it for Curmudgeons

2011-08-03T15:07:00.003-04:00

This is good.

Wish I had the courage to act as cantankerously as I feel.

Leanderthal

Deadlines

2011-07-31T18:56:00.002-04:00

Here's a piece which takes us through the give and take leading up to yesterday's MLB self imposed trade deadline.

Unless you have been living under a rock you don't need to be reminded about the acrimony leading up to the US government's self imposed debt ceiling deadline.

Would that our politicians acted as decently as our MLB teams.

Leanderthal

Mercy Knows No Religion

2011-07-31T18:17:00.002-04:00

It's not often that we hear about this level of foregiveness.

Leanderthal

Preaching to the Choir

2011-07-30T18:48:00.002-04:00

"Preaching to the Choir" might just be an appropriate blog title as "A Voice Crying in the Wilderness".

If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?

If a voice cries in the wilderness, and there is no one there to hear it.
does it make a difference?

Thanks to the few of you who have made a difference.

Leanderthal

First, Let's _______All The Fanatics

2011-07-30T17:46:00.003-04:00

I was going to target the Zealots, but decided against it because its definition referred to a group of early Common Era Jews. I don't want to go there.

Nevertheless I can't help but think of the fanatics in our political system as zealots, whether sectarian or secular.

Here's how my online dictionary defines zealot. Note that the word fanatic is a synonym.

Here's how that dictionary defines fanatic. Note the words "extreme" and "uncritical".

I left the verb word blank in the title of this post. Why? Because I was tempted to quote the Bard on what he suggested we do with lawyers.

I abhor capital punishment, and resist using the word "kill", even though I suspect that the Bard might have been using that word metaphorically, to get rid of or isolate what he viewed as the pernicious influence of the lawyers of his day.

What word would you choose to fill in that blank? "Vote them out of office" is not
an option in the solution of today's crisis.

Ridicule
Embarrass
Expose
Your word

Leanderthal

Don't Be So Sure

2011-07-29T15:31:00.004-04:00

Here's a report that humans crowded out Neanderthals, resulting in their extinction.

Sorry to disabuse you of your assumptions, but
you missed some, at least one; that of a mutated strain:-)

Leanderthal

War Is A Racket

2011-07-28T10:42:00.002-04:00

Here is an essay that should be taken seriously, but won't be because it's all about human nature which is embedded in our DNA and our mythologies.

This is likely the most prophetic message of a Voice Crying in the Wilderness.

Leanderthal

Tom Toles, the Cartoonist, Writes a Blog

2011-07-28T10:08:00.002-04:00

Here's Tom Toles, the cartoonist's, blog on Gridlock.

The best line, and the God's truth, is the one about what it takes for Congress to tie its shoes in the morning.

I don't let Obama off the hook for being willing to give away the store. Nobody likes an appeaser.

But the GOPHER goal is to make him a one term president, openly stated by the Senate Minority Leader.

When someone is determined to take you down they're hard to stop. All stops are being pulled to get him, and the workings of the Congress are devised to make that happen. Blue Dog Dems are a huge part of the posse.

Leanderthal

Fooling Some of the People All of the Time

2011-07-25T18:30:00.003-04:00

Here's an interesting opinion piece by Bernie Sanders on the need for a third choice in politics.

However appealing it might seem, the desire is not likely to be matched by the commitment of huge money needed to finance such a so-called populist movement. It is not likely to attract the financial support required to pay for the campaign, e.g. media ad placement, etc..

"Populist movement." That name which previously had been the property of the liberals has been bought and paid for by the adherents of the so-called Tea Party, what seems to me to be a kind of cult in the GOPHER party. What might be the most misunderstood phenomenon of the Tea Party is that it seems to be made up of a wider assortment of people than the Dems have been willing to acknowledge.

The genius of the Far Right's strategy, as illustrated by the huge power of money from the Koch brothers, is that it grabs and holds people by the short hairs of their reality: I'm out of work, I can't pay my bills, I'm losing my house.

People in that situation, condition and state of mind are the most vulnerable to black versus white propaganda, and are the most easily recruited to the ranks of us versus them.

They fall prey to those who, for their own greedy and manipulative purposes, take advantage of their so-called populist constituency by preaching and repeating that it's a bad thing to actually think about and consider the possibility that all is not so easily separated into the good and the bad,the positive and the negative, the black and the white.

George W. Bush famously said, "I don't do nuance".

It's been my observation that the purveyors of such fallacious propaganda come from the ranks of the wealthiest Americans, who will do almost anything to protect that wealth. Their motto is" I got mine, get your own". They have been joined by the dim witted who have been lured aboard the Tea Party wagon, financed by the Koch brothers and their ilk.

What drives me crazy is the willingness of such people to vote against their own interests.

More Crying in the Wilderness.

Leanderthal

GOPHERS: POLITICAL PARTY OR RELIGIOUS CULT

2011-07-25T17:59:00.003-04:00

Here's is an interesting essayson the current behavior of the GOPHERS.
And here's another.

Tell us what you think readers.

I, for one, would be interested in any defense of the GOPHERS against these accusations.

I will publish any and all comments which pass the test of decency.

Leanderthal

Makes Me Want to Scream!!!

2011-07-25T14:00:00.002-04:00

I've often wondered just how low politicians will go to protect their asses, their cushy jobs, and ignore the needs of the people.

Today I found out. There's no bottom to how low they will go.

Here's a report revealing that Harry Reid has given in to the GOPhers' demand that huge cuts in spending be made, but with no new revenues, meaning no increased taxes on the super rich who own Congress.

It just makes me sick, viscerally. It's not only immoral; it's illogical, without reason. It redefines extortion.

And it validates my identifying with A Voice Crying in the Wilderness.

Leanderthal