From the – to the +

 

Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!

Whine! Whine! Whine!

What's the point?

I agree. 

If all we do is bitch and whine and stop there, there isn't much of a
point. It's just more pain and frustration piled on devilry and
dysfunction.

But . . .

It doesn't have to and shouldn't stop there.

From my perspective out here in Expat Land, the biggest obstacle there in
America is that people don't understand the problems. Often they are so
overwhelmed, they just bury their heads in the sand. Americans are
misinformed, disinformed, and in the throes of massive collective
denial.

Understandably, everyone just wants to go on with their lives, do their job 
__ if they have one __ take care of their kids, mow the lawn, watch some TV, 
and try to eke some fun and comfort out of their often miserable and tense lives.

And if things in America were on track, this certainly wouldn't be too much to ask.

But things are not on track. In fact, the country is heading 180º in the wrong direction.

People sense this. Every day there's some new crisis. Prospect of another war.  
Scary stuff everywhere. New terrorist threats. ISIS. Russia. China. Iran. Contagious 
diseases. Ebola. Killer Avian Flu V. 3.0. Violence by the police. Counter-violence
by angry mobs. More arrests and police killings. Ranting and raving in
Congress. More gridlock. Shutdown of the federal government.  Ranting
and raving on TV.  Muslims, beheadings.  Immigrants. Same-sex marriage,
abortion. Climate change. No climate change. Moreguns. Fewer guns. 
Stand your ground. Arm teachers. Arm bus drivers. Bring a gun to church. 
Bomb Syria. Arm Ukraine. Bomb Iran. Sanction Venezuela. Bomb North Korea. 
On and on . . .

Beyond the anxiety and outright fear caused by this ongoing tsunami of chaos and
trauma, there is a growing sense that all this calamity is not just a
string of bad luck __ that there is something fundamentally wrong!

The problem is that with all of the yelling, finger-pointing, and verbal
mayhem, no one can keep any of it straight, and anything resembling a
constructive conversation is impossible. The lunatics have taken over
the asylum.

We no longer have time for this. There are three challenges which if not faced squarely and honestly pose an existential threat to our nation. They ultimately could destroy us.

The three existential threats?

• Collapse of the economy
• Destruction by war
• Climate change
  

Insiders know where we're heading and what's coming if some things don't change very dramatically, very soon. Vast stores of ammunition have been set aside in anticipation of internal unrest. 
We increasingly see the police being militarized, being authoritarian and unaccountable.
Some observers suggest we are already on the threshold of being a
police state. Those responsible for maintaining the status quo __ i.e.
the standing configuration of power __ know where the incipient chaos
and dysfunction is taking the country, and understandably are preparing for the worst.

But they are not heading off the potential catastrophes. In fact, they are largely to blame!  
They are the reason we're in the mess we're in and plunging toward even worse times.

This bleak future is not inevitable. We can turn this around. 

We! 

Not our current crop of myopic leaders. You and I. But it will take some doing.

And doing starts by getting people to pay attention.

Maybe that's where the bitching and whining comes in.

But it can't stop there. Out of the negativity of recognizing how bad off things 
are now, there can and must emerge a positivevision of what should follow. 
That means each and every one of us deciding what's important. We start 
by asking ourselves what makes our country great . . .

Is it having the biggest military?

Is it having the most billionaires?

Is it having the largest economy?

Is it winning the most gold and silver medals at the Olympics?

Is it the freedom to buy all sorts of stuff __ a seemingly infinite selection __
because television ads tell us that will make us happy?

Is it our entertainment industry __ envy of the entire world, cranking out movies,
TV shows, video games, music __ into which we can escape and live rich
fantasy lives?

Is it how easy things are __ meals we can pick up at drive-thru windows, credit
cards we can swipe when we're broke but want something really bad,
social sites where we can find out what our friends are doing every
waking moment of our lives?

Is it all of the instant gratification __ drugs, fast food, smart phones, Instagram, 
Twitter, free porn, online shopping?

Is it the seemingly endless variety of spectator sports __ football, baseball,
boxing, cage fighting, basketball, hockey, pro wrestling, the amazing
spectacle of the Super Bowl?

Is it the American Dream __ though the vast majority of us don't get to live it?

We also must decide how we are going to go about shaping our society and
country, how our democracy will function, how decisions will be made,
how much of the responsibility to ourselves and future generations we're
going to entrust and delegate to our leadership elite, the elected or
de facto pillars of society . . .

Can we just depend on "experts" __ corporate CEOs and our political leaders __
to make the right choices for our communities, our schools, every aspect
of our lives?

Can we let corporations decide everything for us __ what to buy, what is safe,
what is healthy, what products and services are constructive and
sustainable, what makes for a better society and positive future for our
children and our children's children?

Can we let expensive campaign ads during election cycles substitute for meaningful
debate and serious discussion of critical issues that effect us, our
safety, the quality of our lives?

Can we in good conscience permit the privatizing of everything __ schools, roads,
water, sewage, electricity, libraries, the internet __ because some
corporate-owned demagogues say government is bad bad bad and private ownership 
is good good good?

Should we allow our leaders to worship at the altar of "free trade" __ NAFTA, TPP,
TTIP __ if it means surrendering national sovereignty and handing over
the design and control of our entire future to multinational
corporations?

Can we continue letting our schools, towns, roads, bridges fall apart and
become worthless because we have wasted so much money on unnecessary
wars and military bases, that now we supposedly don't have any funding
left for education and crucial infrastructure?

Should we allow capitalism and pure unfettered pursuit of profit trump individual 
and community needs and values?

Can debt-based currency creation __ the privatization of the right to "coin money" 
by ceding that power to private banks __ over the long haul serve the greater good 
of the country and provide equitable distribution of our national wealth?

Can the monopolization of production and services by large multinational
corporations fulfill the long term goals and aspirations of our country?

After our humiliating record of defeat on the battlefield __ Korea, Vietnam,
Afghanistan, Iraq __ can we trust that our leaders, locked into a
feckless 'war-and-more-war' approach to foreign policy, will do the
right thing on the international stage going forward?

After being lied into the war in Iraq, after having the economy completely
mucked up, after seeing our factories and jobs shipped overseas, after
being conned into bailing out the big banks and watching the wholesale
looting the Treasury and Federal Reserve to stuff the wallets of Wall
Street fat cats and corporate CEOs, can we trust our current politicos
with respect to anything at all?

In theory, nothing in our democracy is written in stone. We __ you and I __
can change the priorities. If our country is headed in the wrong direction,
we can turn it around.

At least . . . in theory.

I'm currently writing a political tome, a concise but powerful, practical
manual for change, which I believe can make a difference. It is my
attempt to help put 'We the people' back in the political
equation, giving the majority of American citizens say in shaping the
future of the country. It's about taking power back from those who
driven by greed and hubris have bankrupted the country and made us the
most feared and hated nation in the world, then assigning that power to
its rightful owners __ you and I.  It is not about tossing
power capriciously into the filthy hands of an unruly mob, but a plan
for thoughtfully and respectfully placing it in the guiding hands of a sane 
and sensible majority.

I hope to have it out late May or early June.

Working title . . . 

Candidate Contracts: A Manifesto (A New Front and Perhaps Last Stand 

in the Battle for True Representative Democracy in America).

Do you see now? At the end of the day __ and it has been a long day for sure __ 
I don't mean to merely be negative.

I actually intend to be quite positive.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

America Is Losing The Base Race!

With Russia's new military bases in Manitoba, Ontario, and Bermuda, it is clear 
that the U.S. is losing the critical base race.

Compare the maps to see how vulnerable America has become to Russian
aggression. By my count, Russia has leaped ahead, and we can expect
nuclear missiles to rain down on us any day, or worse, our school
children being forced to drink vodka at lunch so their innocent minds
can be ravaged by Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy.




OMG!!!

Where is Pussy Riot when we need them?!!


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Obama’s Neocons and Other Hawkish Lunatics

 

People often don't see the obvious.

I constantly get criticized for maintaining that Obama is a warmonger. The
president's actions are proof positive:  His escalating of the war in
Afghanistan, his engineering the destruction of Libya, his manufacturing
the crisis in Ukraine, his demonizing Putin and resurrecting the Cold War 
with Russia, his infamous kill lists and callous use of drones in countries 
like Pakistan and Yemen.

Most recently, there was his request for unlimited war powers,
a new AUMF, a shrewdly and deceptively worded legislative authorization
which allows him to attack any country, anywhere on the earth,
targeting individuals, groups and nations which he alone decides are
deserving of some tough love __ aka annihilation by military force.

If this weren't incriminating enough, just look at the people he is surrounded by.

First, the hard-core psychopaths . . .



Ashton Carter is Obama's new Secretary of Defense. He wants confrontation with Russia; advocates a "preventive war" on North Korea, i.e. blow them to kingdom come now rather than later; and thinks we need to mount an aggressive campaign to fight ISIS. I guess he finds it easy to overlook the fact that our other aggressive campaigns created ISIS, that they are using the armaments we introduced into the region for their aggressive campaign, that every aggressive campaign we have mounted in the Middle East has recruited more fanatics and terrorists,
a fact which has been verified by our own security agencies. Carter is
an unapologetic proponent of projecting America's military across the
globe, without respect for the national interests of any other sovereign
powers and without patience for the niceties of diplomacy.

 

James Clapper is Director of National Intelligence, and is by any measure
Spy-Master-In-Chief.  He recently distinguished himself by 
lying under oath to the U.S. Congress,
evidence that he believes that as head of a major law enforcement
agency, he himself is above the law. Like other neocon exceptionalists,
he believes the U.S. itself is above the law, thus entitled to
ignore treaties, international legal precedents, and anything America
finds bothersome. He recently threw his flaming hat into the ring of
international politics by advocating sending lethal weapons to Ukraine,
violating the terms of the Minsk II agreement which is offering some
hope for the end of the bloody conflict, and more destructively,
antagonizing Russia, which has over the past year worked relentlessly to
broker peace there. But why would Clapper want peace? That might end up
reducing his bloated share of the federal budget.

 

Victoria Nuland is Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and married to Robert Kagan, one of the founders of the neocon Project for the New American Century.
She was instrumental in turning the Maidan demonstrations into a full-blown coup, an illegal, violent overthrow of the admittedly corrupt but still democratically elected government. She continues to sabotage any hope for a negotiated solution to the crisis she helped to orchestrate
and create. She is virulently anti-Russian and militantly in favor of
dismembering the country to expedite the control and plundering of
Russia's abundant natural resources, as well as those of the Ukraine,
for the benefit of American-backed banks and corporations.


 

General Philip M. Breedlove, is the current Supreme Allied Commander Europe
(SACEUR) of NATO Allied Command Operations. He has had a remarkable career indeed, but his recent detachment from reality and delusions of grandeur have made him the major proponent for war on Russia in the E.U. theater of command. His constant spewing of venomous anti-Russian rhetoric and wild claims have made him both a laughingstock and a thorn in the side of the saner members of the European community, who for some reason
don't want Europe to become an incinerated pile of rubble in service to
the American dream of world hegemony. If Russian troops and equipment
had invaded Ukraine as many times as General Breedlove has claimed __
against all evidence to the contrary __ half of the Russian military
would be set up in vast emplacements visible from the moon with a cheap
pair of binoculars. But you know those cagey Russians! They made
everything invisible! They're there! Really. Just ask Breedlove.

 

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt is a California guy with a very shallow, checkered career in the diplomatic services, which makes him the perfect tool to go about the business of spreading propaganda, sidling up to chocolate king Petro Poroshenko __ current President of Ukraine __ for photo ops and general glad-handing, and promoting the depraved neocon agenda, unburdened by a comprehension of the complexities of international
relations, indifferent to the human suffering being inflicted on
citizens in the East of the country, and cavalier about the potential
for nuclear war the machinations of the U.S. is creating. Snatching war
and death from the jaws of peace and harmony? All in a days work!


Then, there are those without official neocon credentials but who embrace undisguised bullying and unrestrained militarism.

 

Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, seemed over the course of
much of her career to have her heart in the right place. She cared so
much about victims of genocide, she even wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning
book about it, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.
She has stood strong for religious freedom, human rights, women's and
LGBT rights, and campaigned against human trafficking and for protection
of refugees and religious minorities.

Unfortunately, lately she's become very confused. She wants to accomplish these noble
things by bombing everyone into submission. She was instrumental in the destruction of Libya,
and now her weepy voice can be heard spreading propaganda and
subjecting the world to her acrimonious diatribes promoting chaos and
violence at the United Nations. Power issues shrill catcalls demonizing Putin, rails against Russia, then without blinking prevaricates about the actual role the U.S. has played in the Ukraine. What happens to these people? Is there some mutant strain of warmongering meningitis going around?

Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry put a unique spin on an old
tactic. Instead of doing the familiar GOOD COP/BAD COP routine, these
veteran clowns do BAD COP/WORSE COP __ each of them vying to be more
obnoxious, deceptive, and counter-productive than the other.

 

Joe Biden has always been a straight-talker, unafraid to lay it on the
line, paint stark images in bold strokes. He shoots from the hip and
often ends up with his foot in his mouth. The problem now is not his
candor. It's his rancor. That and his willingness to ignore facts and be a complete stooge for policies which at best are misguided, or at worst will plunge America and Europe into another major war. He and Kerry have already alienated Russia, undone years of diplomacy, unraveled the trust that had slowly built over decades, and launched Cold War 2.0, a frightening confrontation which has the potential to bankrupt the country, if not trigger the nuclear holocaust of World War III.
Joe just can't shut the fuck up. Maybe the gaffs were funny before, but
it's hard to get a giggle going when we're facing human extinction.


 

Unlike Biden who is a full-out puncher, the more guileful John Kerry is a master of the feint and duck. He'll often use the Rope-A-Dope to keep everyone off-balance, as if
this vindicates the havoc he will in the end remorselessly inflict. His pronouncements combined with Obama's has turned a peaceful and generally promising detente with Russia into a hostile and dangerous game of chicken. Along the way, Kerry has managed to alienate many of America's most trusted allies, and create panic and hysteria among many former nations of the Soviet
bloc. When not hiding behind his adorable impersonation of Pepe Le Pew,
he's threatening, intimidating, bullying, and overall a bombastic
buffoon.

If these lunatics are allowed to continue, they will not rest until they destroy the world.

These folks are so blind, so arrogant, so incapable of perspective and moral sensibility, so drunk on power and possessed by delusions of imperial grandeur and world conquest,
so out of touch and incapable of common sense and common decency, so
lacking empathy and basic kindness, they are happy risking nuclear
annihilation to see their misguided priorities and psychopathic visions
prevail.

Obama's foreign policy is a box of chocolates. Except you always
know what you're going to get __ more war, more bombing, more drone
assassinations, more innocent civilian deaths, more illegal regime
change, more chaos and destruction.

Then again, what else can we expect? It's the company he keeps. Obama is surrounded by bloodthirsty, arguably mad, imperialist warmongers, megalomaniacs who see themselves as saviors of the Universe, chosen by
destiny and blessed with infallibility. Were any of them to undergo
sound and objective psychological testing, they would immediately be
committed to maximum-security institutions for the criminally insane.

However, America treats them differently.

It elevates them to the highest positions of power.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Isn’t it about time to stop this ugly business?

 

Isn't it about time to stop this ugly business of meddling in other countries and overthrowing governments?

Here's the short list of U.S.-backed coups over just the past seven-plus decades . . .

Syria 1949.
Guatemala 1954.
Tibet 1955-1970s.
Indonesia 1958.
Cuba 1959.
Iraq 1960-1963.
Democratic Republic of the Congo 1960-1965.
Dominican Republic 1962.
Iran 1963.
Guatemala 1963.
South Vietnam 1963.
Brazil 1964.
Ghana 1966.
Chile 1970-1973.
Argentina 1976.
Afghanistan 1979-1989.
Turkey 1980.
Poland 1980-1989.
Ecuador 1981.
Panama 1981.
Nicaragua 1981-1990.
Haiti 1991.
Iraq 1992-1996.
Venezuela 2002.
Haiti 2004.
Iran 2005-present.
Honduras 2009.
Syria 2012-present.
Ukraine 2014.

Moreover, it's no secret that we're at it again right now with Venezuela, and a 
poorly-kept secret that Russia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia, probably another 
shot at Cuba, and (you heard it here first) Kyrgyzstan, are also in the queue.

Despite this deplorable, well-documented record of heavy-handedness and
America's widely-acknowledged reputation for notorious, anti-democratic
assaults on the governing institutions of other sovereign nations, we must 
endure Jen Psaki, the spokesperson for the current idiotic crop of meddling 
imperialists, spewing this sort of laughable propaganda . . .

Even if Americans are unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge this immoral,
highly illegal and now extremely dangerous "game of thrones" America has
been engaged in, the rest of the world is catching on. It's going to
come to an end, sooner or later, one way or another.

When other nations see NGOs like NED (National Endowment for Democracy) 
or USAID (United States Agency for International Development) come knocking
on the door saying, "We're just here to help!", they understandably either run the 
other way in complete panic, or more frighteningly __ as in the case of Russia __ 
put their entire nuclear arsenal on hair-trigger high alert.

Thus I predict, with 100% confidence, that the days of U.S. meddling, both
overt and covert bullying, especially the one-size-fits-all destructive
military deployments, are numbered __ except for maybe just one more
very epic, history-making coup.

That will be . . .

Regime change in Washington DC itself.

At the rate things are going, we might not have to wait that long.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

The Case For Female Circumcision

There is no case for female circumcision.

But we live in a very sick world.

We've come to expect the worst.

So here you are . . . reading this.

I’m not being judgmental. I would have clicked on the link too.

Curious . . . confused . . . offended . . . appalled . . . outraged . . . sickened!

I would absolutely have to see what some psychopathic individual had to say
about such an inhumane, degrading and completely offensive practice,
what twisted justification some misguided misanthrope was proposing for
perhaps the ultimate assault on the dignity of females __ the mutilation
of their genitals.

But isn’t that the way things work these days?

There’s always some outrageous headline, some teaser being dangled, some
grotesque manipulation of our reality using loaded phrases and
press-your-hot-buttons language.

It’s not just the sensational stuff either. It’s often fluff, feel good blather which
plays on sympathies or compassion, fantasy or nostalgia, offering
hearts-and-flowers stories or syrupy melodrama, maybe patriotic anthems
and tales of alleged bravery and heroism    __ which dramatically slant
and obscure the truth.

Anyway . . . here we are: “The case for female circumcision.” 

Yup . . . that’s how it reads.  Sucked you right in!  I do understand . . .

 

You wanted to see some demented asshole try to stick up for grotesque and degrading mutilation. What would he look like? Maybe you wanted to both disdain and savor his depravity?

Why?

So you could gag? Hate someone for being so pathologically and sadistically ignorant?

Then share it on Facebook? Send out indignant Tweets?

Really show that bastard!

Yes, letting people know how we feel gets the job done, and more importantly, establishes that we're morally superior . . . because you and I could never support something so foul and inhumane and repulsive, right?

How about these photos? You and I paid taxes and that money went toward this . . .
 
I rest my case.

We all live in a glass houses. I’m not going to pretend I’m any different.

But that’s not the end of the matter, is it?

I am confident that most of you __ like me __ would like to do better.

We’d each like to turn things around and become the person we always 
believed we could and would be.
But to do that, we must first answer this question . . .

How did we become so numb?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

What is more evil than pure evil?

 

My Japanese wife in her quest to understand Western
culture regularly runs by me some very interesting, sometimes entirely
bizarre web sites. Recently she directed me to one strangely called  
vegetariansareevil.com,from which I borrowed the image you see posted 
here. The site is now shut down, I guess because they couldn't pay their 
bill or maybe there are still some sane people in the world who had the 
good taste to delete it.

I have to say that while I am pretty jaded about what pops up on the internet, 
this one truly pushed the envelope of absurdity.

Offering a twisted taint-by-association logic __ which even makes the outlandish
satire of The Onion seem tame by comparison __ the web site seemed to be
promoting more meat consumption, based on the intrinsic evil of being a
vegetarian. Right! Just what we need. More heart attacks, colon cancer,
strokes, hypertension, clogged arteries. More stinking blood-drenched
meat farms and global warming resulting from even more massive herds of
steroid-plumped beef cattle farting continent-engulfing eddies of
methane gas. More tectonic escarpments of slimy pig shit and tidal waves
of cattle piss to foul the waterways and aquifers of our fragile
ecosystems.

It can safely be assumed that whoever is behind this __ if it is not a complete
put-on, in which case my hat goes off to them for their entirely
brilliant if bizarre bit of mockery __ suffers from severe blockage of
the arteries that supplies blood to their brains. But that's a whole
other can of beans. Or spam. Or something. Maybe a Double Down from KFC?

The reasoning is as direct as it is specious . . .

Hitler was evil incarnate. Hitler was a vegetarian. So vegetarianism is evil incarnate.

I am reluctant to point this out __ since I don't want to trivialize the
extent to which such thinking can impede any constructive exchange of
ideas __ but I have it on good authority that Hitler also breathed. So
we all should stop breathing? Because clearly such imitative behavior is
evil incarnate? Inhaling an endorsement and praise of the Holocaust?
Exhaling like clicking our heels together and yelling 'Sieg Heil!'

Maybe more interesting, or at least sensible, is to ask: Exactly why was Hitler a
vegetarian? The answer is brilliant on many levels and the perfect cause
for disbelief and indignation.

First we have this quote from Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda,
asserting the extent of Hitler's devotion to the idea . . . 

"The Führer is a convinced vegetarian, on principle. His arguments cannot
be refuted on any serious basis.  They are totally unanswerable . . .  He
believes more than ever that meat-eating is harmful to humanity. Of
course he knows that during the war we cannot completely upset our food
system. After the war, however, he intends to tackle this problem
also." 

Then we have the words of Hitler himself . . . 

"One may regret living at a period when it’s impossible to form an idea of
the shape the world of the future will assume. But there’s one thing I
can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be
vegetarian." 

It appears that Hitler based his vegetarianism on an opposition to causing
suffering to animals __ isn't that ironic? __ and rooted in the  
writings of Richard Wagner . . . 

"When first it dawned on human wisdom that the same thing
breathed in animals as in mankind, it appeared too late to avert the
curse which, ranging ourselves with the beasts of prey,
we seemed to have called down upon us through the taste
of animal food: disease and misery of every kind, to
which we did not see mere vegetable-eating men exposed." 

So here is a man whose demented policies resulted in cruel human experimentation,
the cold-blooded torture and murder of millions of people, a man
responsible for collecting gold fillings from freshly killed victims and
turning people into lampshades, the man who stacked human corpses like
they were cobs of corn during the autumn harvest . . . the same man who
found the killing of animals for consumption as food, indelicate, cruel,
unsavory.

Whew!

Let's try to get a handle on Der Führer, some perspective on him and his times.

Remember that the German people in the 1930s and 40s looked at Hitler as a great
man. He was revered and regarded by millions of Germans, both in Germany
and in enclaves of Germans in bordering countries, as a demigod. Most,
of course, subsequently denied any knowledge of his savage treatment of
the Jews, gypsies, Poles, and others he regarded as 'subhuman'.

I personally believe that many, if not a majority, had a strong inkling of
what was going on. It's hard to be downwind of the human barbecues
taking place at Auschwitz-Birkenau and conclude the stench coming from
the ovens was yet another splendid meal of sausage or beef steak for the
residents, who for some reason looked extremely anorexic.

But citizens somehow looked the other way. They gave Herr Hitler a pass.
Anything which might cast doubt on his noble work on behalf of the
German people was swept aside in the torrents of praise. Why question
this remarkable man? After all, he was telling them what they
desperately wanted to hear, that Germans were a great people, an exceptional
people  __ destined to lead the rest of the world into an era where
Germany would oversee a grand new world order. He told them to stand
tall, be proud and patriotic, serve their country, to support the wars,
and let him and the Third Reich create an empire which would raise them
to their rightful place as the leaders of the world.

(By the way, does this sound at all familiar?)

 

Yes, Hitler turned the faltering German economy around. Hitler restored the
faith of the German people in themselves and their country. Hitler loved
dogs. Hitler loved children. Children loved Hitler! Hitler made his
people proud. Germans worshiped their Führer. He loved his people! By
golly, he was so gently and caring he was even a vegetarian.
What a great guy! So they proffered one of the most savage men in
history the blind eye of absolution, a total pardon for his less than
humane activities, the not-so-pleasant collateral damage, necessary
evils __ the pogroms, the slave and concentration camps, the terrifying
and indiscriminate civilian massacres of the Blitzkrieg, all of the
unpleasant but requisite slaughter necessary to achieve the greater
glory of Germany.

As one of my favorite contemporary philosophers says . . . 

"Rationalization is the evil step-brother of rationality." 

Now with the hindsight of history and the clarity of victory, we know Hitler was
pure evil. Worse than pure evil! Evil evil evil! How convenient, because
our bully pulpit blowhards have the perfect tool at hand to demonize
anyone they don't like. How often we now hear the hysterical screaming . . .

"[Fill in name of latest evil bogeyman here] is another Hitler! He must be destroyed!" 

Now I'm not about to make any such comparison between Adolph and any living
politician or national leader. I'll leave that to the purveyors of
panic, a congested field of hysterical pundits and desperate politicos
who lie and spit their hatred in pursuit of their insatiable appetites
for plunder, death and destruction.

What I want to point out here is that there is an important lesson to be learned.

At the time of Hitler's reign, the German people saw him as a savior, a hero, a
man who would restore dignity and worth and greatness to the German
nation. They looked very selectively at all of the positive things about
the man, ignoring the blatant signs that they were in the throes of a
love affair with a madman, whose unprecedented cruelties knew no bounds,
whose egomania and visions of hell drove his destructive delusions.
Obviously, we now benefit from a more complete understanding. All of the
niceties and personal charm, the propaganda and spin which mesmerized
the German nation and infused them with a pathological reverence for
their leader is horribly irrelevant against the massively cruel,
psychopathic crimes their Führer inflicted on humankind.

And that is the lesson we must learn from this.

I'm not going to name names here. All of you are big people you can figure this
out on your own who this might apply to. These idols who substitute
charisma and charm for character and honor are scattered far and wide
across the political landscapes of the world. We have them here where I
live in Japan, though I'd like you to focus on America and its European
allies, since the West is the center of power in the world, at least for now, and 
represents the greatest existential threat to humankind.

Having said that . . .

When our contemporary leaders give their inspiring speeches, when they appeal to
our pride, declare America the greatest nation in the world, declare
Americans to be superior and exceptional, appealing to our already
bloated pride. When they calculatingly take popular stands on
"hotbutton" issues sure to bring them easy support because these are
intensely emotional and appealing matters, for example, when they
support gay marriage and minorities and other human rights, when they
voice their concerns for the vulnerable, the sick and the less fortunate
members of our society, even come out in favor of legalizing marijuana,
then maybe give a little boost to the budget to help the unemployed or
shove a nice plate of food in front of a hungry kid at school. There's
no question, these are on their own terms good things. These show common
decency and compassion and common sense. These are fine, genuinely
heartening gestures for sure. They feel good and give us the warm and 
comfortable feeling that we're in good hands.

By golly . . . they're just like loving children and dogs and being vegetarian.

Hmm.

The point is, when these same people then slaughter tens of thousands of innocent
citizens around the world, start unnecessary wars over oil or other
resources, promote aggression to enrich the corporate stockholders of
our vast defense industries, sponsor extrajudicial torture and killing
__ drone and special ops assassinations __ refuse to sign or approve treaties like banning land mines and cluster munitions, when these same leaders support ruthless murderous regimes around the world, and through all of the horror of these and other crimes against humanity, we look the other way, are we any better than the German citizens were before and during WWII?

Aren't we just giving these putatively wonderful men and women a pass on the things that are the true measure of their moral leadership, the things which will blot our history for generations to come with the blood stains of our savage disregard for human life?

Of course, none of our splendid current leaders will ever reach the level of
depravity and notoriety in history books as the man who was more evil
than pure evil . . . Herr Hitler. 

Our leaders can be forgiven for their sins.

They still eat hamburgers.

Just like us.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

I really like them!

The other day I watched two historic segments from the Steve Colbert show.

One featured President Obama and the other Hillary Clinton.

Both were great! I mean phenomenal! Entertainment at its best!

Obama taking Colbert's place and ridiculing himself in the third person was
hysterical. Hillary's going toe-to-toe with Colbert in a namedropping
contest was brilliantly funny.

Whoa! I've still got major giggles, folks. I'm burping up so many LOLs I'm 
even having trouble writing this!

But it goes deeper. Beyond being incredibly entertained, the astonishing thing for me 
personally was how much I really really liked them. Yes . . . I am being sincere!

I've certainly pulled no punches on either the President or Ms. Clinton in previous blogs. 
Anyone who has read my stuff knows I'm no fan of either. (What an understatement, eh?)

But on a 'like' scale of 1 to 10?

No doubt about it . . . they are both solid 10s!

Which brings me to the point of this piece.

What has likeability got to do with competence or leadership?

In this age where the science of crafting image and shaping perception has
reached levels of sophistication no one could have anticipated even ten
years ago, it hardly comes as a surprise that public figures look good,
always say the right things, know how to pour on the charm, excel at
doing everything needed to have people follow them around like they're
warm-toasted S'mores Bars at a fat farm for insatiable sugar-addicts.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things these days that are finger-lickin' good and a
belly full of lip-smackin' fun, that doesn't mean they're good for you.

As with way too much in our advertising-heavy, product-saturated consumer 
world, we must carefully read the label and do some serious research to see
what's going on behind all the affable hype and feel-good packaging.

As I have argued before, conflating beauty contests and entertainment
with politics is a dangerous game. Making the election of political
leaders like choosing the prom king and queen doesn't just trivialize
democracy. It destroys it.

Sure, feeling warm and cuddly about our government officials is a pleasant
thought, and maybe desirable on some superficial level. Both Obama and
Ms. Clinton exude charm, are amiable and very videogenic. Judging from
their acclaimed guest appearances on Comedy Central, both have all the
right qualities to host their own television shows, either serious and
thoughtful, or comedic and fun. That's well and good.

 

But the true measure of constructive, visionary leadership is not how
effectively they deliver one-liners, what nice people they appear to be,
how down-to-earth they are, or even how picture-perfect they are with
their families.

The true measure is on the larger national and international stages what set
of values they represent, what ideas they offer, what plans they embrace and
and promote, what promise of peace and prosperity they achieve, what path 
they lay out for shaping the future of America, both for us and generations 
to come.

I say we keep things in perspective.

Both of these American icons are very talented people. Isn't there some
Biblical injunction about proper use of talents? I sincerely believe we 
should put their real talents to work.

Sarah Palin __ god help us __ has her own subscriber television channel.
Much admired and forward-looking patriot that she is, dear Sarah has
laid the groundwork. Let's take the baton and run with it!

We've seen what these two are capable of on TV.

How about a Barack Obama Channel?

A Hillary Clinton Channel?

Why not?

This is what America is all about. It's what make our nation great!

Television!

On the other hand, as to our Nobel Peace Prize President and the lady 
who engineered the destruction of Libya as a nation . . . let's be clear 
about our political future.

We've endured Obama's stealthy alliance with the neocons, corporatists, the
imperialists and oligarchs. We've found every excuse in the book for his
putting the needs of banks and corporations before the needs of the
people. We've averted our gazes as he started more wars and killed
innocent citizens with drones. Not much we can do about that now.

But we still have a choice with Ms. Clinton. Forget the pretty picture on the 
outside of the package, folks. Start reading the fine print on the label before 
it's too late. Let's nudge this self-serving sociopath out of politics and into 
show business where she belongs. 

The Hillary Channel: Name-Dropping, Self-Aggrandizing Hillary, All Day Everyday 24-7!

I like it!

Enough said. To end this on a positive note, I will now throw a bone to the
diehard Obama apologists and lets-elect-a-pair-of-ovaries-for-president
Hillary supporters out there, who may have accidentally stumbled on my
blog site, showing what a doggone open-minded guy I am, proving along
the way that I am without question, a truly gracious blog host.

Appearing below are the two Stephen Colbert show segments that had me
belly-laughing, happy-slapping-my-knee, and rolling on the floor with
delight. Together they provide the perfect laugh track for the final
self-indulgent excesses of an empire in decline.

Enjoy!

[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]