Since leaving America August 2006, I have traveled to sixteen countries. A great deal has happened. This site is to share my thoughts, photos, music, writings, travel experiences, and developing political/social commentary with you. I hope you find it interesting and informative.
We can
talk and talk, cite all sorts of statistics, construct marvelous
narratives, collect anecdotes, offer incisive and powerful analysis.
But sometimes a few charts says it far better than any amount of
verbiage.
Look
at these and you tell me how the War On Terror is going. See if you
see the same obvious connection between America's military intervention
and geopolitical meddling and the growing threat of terrorism.
I remember a truly idiotic joke from my youth. Pathetically it seems relevant here.
"Why do you keep hitting yourself on the head with that hammer?"
"Because it feels so good when I stop!"
When are we going to stop, ladies and gentlemen?
When?
I've offered an extreme remedy to this madness.
It's one that is so wild and completely outside-the-box, it actually makes sense.
Robert Scheer at Truthdig
treats us to an oft-recurring refrain in his impassioned pleas for
sanity and common sense. I've heard it a number of times in the many
fascinating interviews I've heard of this brilliant, inspiring
journalist.
Here it is . . .
"What happens to these people?"
Indeed!
What happened to Colin Powell?
He
ruined a sterling reputation and destroyed his historical legacy by
lying at the U.N. -- with the whole world watching -- about WMDs in
Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of people died so he could make his boss,
George W. Bush, proud of him. Tragic on so many levels.
Here's a good one: What happened to Dick Cheney?
This
is the man behind the curtain, personally responsible for more chaos
and carnage than anyone since Richard Nixon murdered 3 million people in
Vietnam and Cambodia. This is really mind-boggling! Watch him explain
in 1994 why we should not destroy Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein.
Okay, Cheney is a psychopath. So we can't expect consistency, much less common sense.
She is an example of someone who has truly made the transition to the dark side.
She wrote a book on the "responsibility to protect" or R2P, as the convenient acronym goes. It was called A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,
and won a Pulitzer Prize. However, this once noble framework and call
for responsible, moral action is now the neocon public relations weapon
of choice to bomb and destroy any country that has the audacity to
disagree with America's corporate imperial ambitions. Power herself has
become a neocon war monger, who rails incessantly at any national
leader or country who stands in the way of America's march to world
hegemony.
R2P now equals L2K -- license to kill.
"What happens to these people?"
I think I can answer that. But I'm not going to waste my time. Because . . .
You know what?
I
don't really care what happens to any of these people. Not any more
than I care exactly how a dog contracted rabies. When the animal is
frothing at the mouth, howling, leaping in the air, snapping at
everything in sight, out of its mind and posing a danger to everyone --
children, old folks, anyone innocently strolling by -- there's only one
immediate concern, and one sensible action. We need to take action
before someone gets hurt.
I'm
not proposing shooting these people. But they do need to be isolated
before they do any more harm to others. They need to be called out,
driven out, shut out, exiled from public life. They must be removed
from positions of power beforeanyoneelsegetshurt.
"What happens to these people?"
I know what should happen to them.
No more pulling punches. No more political correctness or obsequious politeness.
We
don't behead here in America. But we certainly do eviscerate public
figures --vilify and assassinate them in the public forums, smear and
quarantine them, ridicule and demonize them personally, mock and
marginalize their messages. Usually it's the good decent ones, citizens
and public servants who take their duty to their country seriously and
are guided by genuine moral concerns and driven by selfless and
magnanimous agendas. People like Don Siegelman, Edward Snowden, Dennis
Kucinich, Chelsea Manning, John Kiriakou.
Time to turn the tables and call out the real enemies of America.
These
people have made a sham of what this country stands for, lie and
deceive the citizenry about the real agenda behind their faux-noble
ideas, rationalize and obfuscate the horrifying consequences of their
actions.
We'll
start with Samantha Power. Her book, brimming with noble intentions,
has morphed into a foreign policy brimming with lethal weapons. She
truly is a traitor to both herself and us.
We
should show no more mercy toward her than she and her homicidal
accomplices have the hundreds of thousands they've murdered, in the name
of "responsibility to protect".
There
should be no haven. Wherever this violent, disingenuous shrew appears
publicly -- and even where possible privately -- everyone should be
reminded she is a murderer and a war criminal. When the outcries and
collective revulsion sufficiently compounds and she is rendered totally
ineffective and discredited, she will be toppled from her pulpit at the
U.N. and the chances of survival for those who she now "protects" will
be increased exponentially.
Rot in Hell Samantha Power! You've killed enough people.
Make snuff movies or become a mercenary sniper.
Either is a perfect match for your CV.
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
It used to be imprudent or just plain vulgar to say the 'F' word.
Now we just say it . . . fuck.
It's such common parlance, so acceptable, it's become the language of diplomacy,
as with the policy declaration by Deputy Secretary of State Victoria 'F**k the EU' Nuland about the crisis she and her neocon friends precipitated in the Ukraine.
But I'll tell you a word we don't dare say anymore.
You know the one . . .
The 'H' word.
Sometimes it's written as 'h*pe' or 'ho*e'.
We used to actually use the word often. It was on everyone's lips.
But after President Obama __ or I should say Brand Obama __ and the
corporate lapdog Democrats made it central to their 2008 and 2012
campaigns, then turned it into both the brunt of cruel jokes and the
poisonous pill of despair, it became as popular as leprosy, not even
whispered anymore in polite company.
Who wants to cry in public?
They sure got us all wide-eyed and teary-eyed with all those 'H*pe and Change'
bumper stickers and campaign posters. People started believing things
would turn around and America would get back on track, after eight
tortuous years immersed in the stupidity, boorishness and arrogance of
George W.
Then this phalanx of feel-good experts and spin doctors responsible for the
propaganda juggernaut we experienced __ especially during the heady
days running up to the 2008 election __ took the faith and good will,
the higher aspirations of the American public and threw them in the
toilet, took several healthy dumps on our heartfelt desire to embrace
the American Dream. They even continue cynically to this day to peddle
fresh variants of their snide charm-offensive h*pe-and-change
trash-talk, assuming the public is none the wiser, and still thirsty for
the arsenic-spiked lemonade of their duplicity.
This is shameful on so many levels. After the horror of George W. and his band
of blatant liars, the ignorant, delusional, self-serving oligarchs who
mockingly led us into a false war, bankrupted the economy, reversed
fifty years of progress toward becoming a humane and sane society, we
had all but given up. Then the sun burst through the storm clouds of our
collective misery and revulsion. People were so engorged with h*pe,
many even heralded Obama as the new Messiah. Okay. Okay. That was over
the top. Yet not just America, but the entire world was at his feet,
expecting this man who spoke with such eloquence, such passion,
sincerity, intelligence, to deliver on the noble promises contained in
his books, Dreams From My Father and Audacity of Hope,
given in soaring oratorical performances at his campaign rallies, in
his inaugural address, and any number of speeches given during the first
few months of his presidency __ most notably the one delivered June 4,
2009 at Cairo University titled "A New Beginning".
Many of us, arguably an overwhelming majority, naively thought this
heralded a new age built around peace and prosperity spanning the entire
globe, and the ascendancy of justice and respect for others. And what do we have? You know . . .
Mr. Nobel Peace Prize has proven to be more trigger happy than the sneering
gun-slinging Texan he replaced, Mr. Transparency is far more secretive
and presides over a regime that spies on everyone, the jails
are bulging with more and more people of color __ but none of the
bankers and financial predators who crashed the world economy in 2008 __
the rich just get richer, the poor get poorer, the banks are looting
the treasury, corporations are out of control, fracking is out of
control, global warming is out of control, wealth inequality is out of
control, poisoning our food, air and water are out of control, the
police are out of control, the imperial neocon warmongers are out of
control, the military is out of control, maybe everything is out of control.
Or more accurately, it's in control of the wrong people.
So now the 'H' word is a very dirty word. It's too charged with treachery, the
violation of the best intentions and wholesome expectations of a lot of
very good but obviously gullible people. No one dares utter it without
everyone within earshot going into convulsions of indignation or crying
fits of despair.
There is, however, another 'H' word I'm hearing more and more these days . . .
Hypocrisy.
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
Strong, visionary, decisive leadership has been missing for so long in America, we don't even know what it looks like anymore.
Arrogance and charisma are not the same as leadership. George W. Bush was as arrogant as they come and Barack Obama is as charismatic as it gets. But both represent terrible ideas, a disdain for democracy, and a complete disregard for the will of the American people.
Here's what I think.
A strong leader doesn't lie to his supporters out of convenience or for his own political gain, or make mincemeat out of the facts because he thinks he personally knows whats best for the country. He respects us and is truthful, even when the truth is worrisome or painful.
A strong leadertakes sometimes controversial stands on difficult issues out of conviction, not out of convenience. He looks for direction in a set of principles __ those spelled out with clarity and candor when he ran for office __ not poll numbers and focus groups.
A strong leader is not afraid of tarnishing his own image because his ideas or policies might be unpopular. His concern is the greater good of America and the welfare of the American citizenry, not his place in history.
A strong leader defends and supports those in our society who are the weakest and most need of help __ because a free society and true democracy is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable, not how it venerates and toadies up to its privileged and powerful.
A strong leader is not impressed by money and power, only that which fulfills the basic tenets of the constitution, the intentions of the nation's founding fathers, and what fosters the greater good for the majority of citizens.
A strong leader recognizes everyone is equal before the law and makes tough choices in enforcing it.
A strong leader cannot be bought or influenced by the rich and powerful and remains loyal to the majority of Americans who entrust him with the responsibilities of his powerful position.
A strong, visionary, decisive leader offers big solutions to big problems. If the car is broke, he fixes it or replaces it. He doesn't just shine the hubcaps and claim he's doing all he can, or worse, claim that shiny hubcaps will get the car running again in top form.
There are more but what I've outlined constitute a good start in defining leadership.
I personally believe Mr. Obama, and the House and Senate leadership, both Democrat and Republican, fail on all counts. I don't know what other conclusion you could draw after watching the fiascos and tragic blunders of the past twenty years.
We have BIG problems in America. They are almost incomprehensibly big. Sometimes they are within the framework of legislative and executive policy formulation. But we also must acknowledge that sometimes they are systemic problems, requiring thorough and fundamental revisions of the way we go about doing things __ BIG solutions.
All the hand-wringing that goes on in the name of shaping public policy, basically a soap opera to keep the masses distracted and uninformed, is cowardly and insulting. This fiscal cliff is a joke. The debate over taxing the rich is simple-minded and tunnel-visioned.
Which points up another example of total lack of leadership. A leader does not let others set the rules of debate, or frame the argument. A true leader brings a fresh point of view, one that is rife with possibilities and potential for positive change. A true leader doesn't let his opponents decide what and how much will be discussed.
If Obama were serious __ and I'm convinced he's not __ about actually addressing the enormous challenges facing this country, he wouldn't be letting a cry-baby like Boehner and a turkey-neck like McConnell push him around. Before those two bozos ever got a foothold, Obama could have cut the legs out from under them by going to the America people, given us some straight talk, and with our support gotten some things done.
Why didn't he? Why hasn't he?
Because Obama is not a leader. He's a follower. To make it even more horrifying, he's a follower of a nefarious and suicidal neo-conservative world view. Obama is a militant imperialist, a dyed-in-the-wool corporatist, a wannabe elitist, an anti-democratic authoritarian, and a self-aggrandizing narcissist.
Hardly the makings of a strong, independent, creative leader.
With the onset of the New Year, spirits will be high and optimism in good supply.
Let's hope that these men and women who think of themselves as spokespersons for the American people, who as a result of being elected to the highest political offices in the land probably think of themselves as being among America's best equipped to steer the country on a constructive course, will finally live up to the high opinions they have of themselves.
Let's hope we see some real leadership.
It's been way too long.
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
