And Then There Was One

The Multi-National Force, the official title of Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing”, is no more. Australian forces planned to leave by weeks end and UK forces did not get an agreement extension from the Iraqi parliament. Perplexing that the UK waited for an extension, though this is a great excuse for leaving without embarrassing the US.

Pointless that US military bureaucrats are hastily creating a new official title for US forces in Iraq. Then again, a name is important because the original seemed to have fooled most Americans. The Coalition of the Willing totaled 38 countries, not all participating simultaneously, and most volunteering less than 100 troops. Japan committed troops that weren’t allowed to engage in battle!

Amazingly geology and coalition building have something in common. Recent mysterious tectonic plate movements have created an Atlantic coast line for the once landlocked Afghanistan. That’s given NATO grounds to frighten together its Coalition of the Unwilling for another protracted quagmire.

Change That's More Of The Same

The Obama administration has underwhelmed us again. They’ve resorted to Bush warmongering lesson #1: fear as the greatest motivator. The latest target our ally New Zealand (NZ). This nation of only 4 million people is fiercely independent in the foreign policy arena. So staunchly antinuclear, it prohibits any nuclear armed or powered naval ships to dock in any of its ports. Why would the US think that it could pressure this nation into a war that is very unpopular amongst its citizens? Not sure myself, but Obama’s proxy gave it a go. The new US ambassador to NATO, Dr. Ivo Daalder, was quoted in the NZ Herald saying “God forbid there be a threat directly to New Zealand. Wouldn't it then be good for a country like Holland or Canada or Slovakia or the US to be there [for you]?”

Really? Is this the extent of Dr. Daalder’s diplomatic persuasion, scaring your ally into sending more troops to Afghanistan? Or is Obama hoping NZ’s politicians ignore the negative opinion its citizens have for the US War on Terror? Fortunately, the tiny island nation isn’t easily bullied. NZ Labour Party leader Phil Goff said "New Zealand's contributions to Afghanistan are purely a decision for New Zealand to take, and we should not make that decision on the basis of pressure from anyone else."

If only the Europeans had the same moral fortitude of the New Zealanders, there may have enough voices of reason in 2003 to prevent the US from creating the quandaries of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iranian Frenzy

What can be more hypocritical than for one nation stained with two consecutive presidential election scandals to accuse another nation of the same wrong doing? Perhaps a free press executing propaganda duties worthy of state-run media.

But unlike the Colin Powell cartoon-talcum powder presentation or the Mushroom cloud-WMD fear mongering, the US media was correct this time! The Iranian election was a fraud. We didn’t need to peruse poll results or get tweeted from Tehran. The election was sham before the polls were open. This election was rigged back in 1979 when the current constitution was implemented during the Islamic Revolution.

Iran is not a democracy and doesn’t pretend to be. It is a theocratic dictatorship run by a Supreme Leader (the name says it all!), who personally appoints the heads of the judiciary, police, military, radio, TV etc. He appoints 6 of the 12 member Council of Guardians whose duties include selecting candidates to run in the presidential election. A country run by a dictator, and his hand picked cronies cannot masquerade as a democracy.
As contrary to political freedom this regime may be, it is not unusual for the region. A few seconds into an internet query would return the details of Iran’s government structure; I guess corporate news channels don't have time to do research. Another apparent omission; none of our allies in the region are democracies, not Jordan, Saudi Arabia, nor Israel, so why the fuss? I find the media coverage and hysteria misplaced and frightening. Not because the story is misleading but because the facts are so obvious. I have this strange feeling of deja vu. Didn’t the media help mislead us into the Iraq War? What are they trying to sell us this time? The Obama administration recently stated there is no ceiling to troop levels in Afghanistan. Will the extra troops use Afghanistan as a base to attack Iran?
Free elections are essential in a democracy. And so is a press free from government influence.

Man In The Mirror

The world mourns Michael Jackson; I’m amazed at how Michael captivated us. He created the most popular music worldwide for decades and may be the greatest entertainer the world will ever know.

Michael accomplished through music what the great empires in history could not; he united the world. Not with sword, gun, or smart bomb, but with music. Music is an amorphous art, not easily described, with meaning dependent on person, culture, and time, yet he used this art to conquer the world. This tormented child was able to meld dance and song into something people from every corner of our planet embraced. This may blasphemy to some, but he was bigger than religion! He reached beyond, touching the hearts of adults and children everywhere. No use of mythology, no fear of hell, he didn’t scare us into believing in his music, we just did.

But there was some darkness around him as well. His childhood is tainted with allegations of abusive from father as well as other mentors. The media constantly hounded the impressionable teenager about his sexuality. He responded by manipulating the media and controlling our perceptions of him by leaking bizarre rumors about himself to the press. He spent years abusing myriads of controlled substances in an attempt to self medicate undiagnosed mental anguish. Obvious self contempt drove him to bleach his skin and scar his face until unrecognizable. And we are all familiar with the sexual abuse allegations that followed him in recent years.

Even though he became the star attraction of a bizarre media circus, we still loved him. He created music that transcended culture, nation, continents; his music united our world. Sadly, the man was a creation of our world, shaped by the many forces within modern society. A society where antidepressants are the most common prescribed medications while our society scorns mental illness. Pain and malaise are the most common complaints we make to our doctors who respond by giving narcotics away like candy. Those of us living outside the mainstream medicate ourselves with alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs trying to cope with past abuse, broken childhoods, abandonment, or grief. Our media glorifies unworthy personalities who undergo plastic surgery on a regular basis. Hypocritical politicians persecute homosexuality yet privately have same sex lovers. Internationally, governments espouse democracy and freedom but oppress their citizens and ally with tyrannies. Our world is confusing and duplicitous. There exists a dissonance between what we aspire for and the reality in which we live.

And we acted the same toward Michael. We found hope in his music. And as we judged and scorned his public antics, secretly we could relate to his obvious, yet unspoken torment. The world's greatest entertainer encapsulated all the hope we strive for and the demons we wish to exorcise; he was society's Man In The Mirror.

Effecting Change

While trolling the web, I came across a post that interested me. The blogger felt that the “left” (Democrats) needed to build a unified base within congress to get “things” through. This is true. Progressives need to prioritize issues and create an agenda with concrete actions for our current systemic failures: financial, social, foreign policy, etc. However, there were two underlying issues that I felt needed highlighting. First, the Democratic Party is part of the problem.

In 2008, the country stood behind Obama for different reasons, the biggest was fear of another Republican in office. The Democrats mistakenly view this as a mandate to do what they want. And unfortunate for us, most Democrats are unprogressive, spineless, parasites that have participated in creating many of the problems we face today.

Second is our electoral process. I'm cynical of our two-party political system (in-depth rant coming soon!), its back room dealings, how money equates to votes, and how stifling it is to progressive voices; but also realize that to effect change help is needed from those within it.

We have bought ourselves 4 years; we must act now. We must seek out and promote insiders who have the outsider’s perspective we desire. There are a few Democrats who honestly encompass many viewpoints shared by those on the progressive left and it is up to us to stand behind them and demand their voices be heard. That won't happen until we disengage from the distracting bickering and narrowly-framed debates of critical issues all too common on corporate media and subsequently discussed on progressive blog sites.

Better Late Than Never?

"Among other things, the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act would give the federal government the power to regulate cigarette ingredients ..."

An industry purposely poisoning its customers, immoral. The regulatory body protecting you complicit in this, criminal. It took our Congress 100 years to correct their mistake, but its better late than never!

When the FDA was created in 1906, nicotine was a regulated substance. Big Tobacco lobbied (read bribe) congress and exceptions were made for nicotine and cigarettes. For a century, Big Tobacco has added 600 ingredients to their products for decades, knowing that when burned a cigarette creates 4000 chemicals, many carcinogens. It wasn't until 1994 that a complete? list disclosed to the public. And even with industry cover-ups and government disregard of the facts, Americans have known that cigarettes were harmful. And as much as I would like to blame corrupt politicians and evil corporations, the brunt fall on us. We sat around and did nothing. We just accepted (ignored) the fact that cigarettes were killing us. I'm not advocating making smoking illegal, far from it. I'm disgusted we allowed an industry to poison our friends and family with 600 toxic chemicals, unregulated and legally!

This is my point. Politicians are our employees; they work for us. Its unacceptible that we continually allow them to lie, cause harm, and commit crimes; ultimately in our name! Its wonderful that we have finally corrected a 100 year old mistake. But how long will we allow continued poisoning of our water, land, air and bodies by dozens of other American industries?

Obama's New Beginning

I have read and re-read many times the President’s speech in Cairo. Naturally I wanted to discuss each section, tease out hidden meanings. But not today. It’s taken me a few days to formulate my thoughts, and I’ve decided to be positive. Why? Because I have allowed the negative-energy shit-storm called American politics to infect my soul; this is my holistic detox. So here it goes. As Whitney urged her Hillman dorm mates to do, “Relax.. Relate.. Release..”
The tone of his speech was hopeful.
That’s the best I can do. Sorry. After every read, my natural reflex is to cringe at each omission and nuanced falsity. I worry that listeners to this speech may have missed what I’ve read. My advice; before passing judgment on a much hyped speech, I recommend that you read it, for the words almost always betray feelings initially evoked. Just as sailors must beware the sirens song, so too must the world avoid hopeful words spoken from a lawyer’s forked-tongue.
The Cairo speech was about American foreign policy, area where most American’s are deficient, but the arena where the world’s problems will be addressed. And it is important to remember during these perilous times, that our president isn’t a visionary. He has no specific plans for change. Obama is a politician. A centrist American politician. And that’s how he must be viewed. And he won’t effect any changes unless we force him to.
Now that I’ve failed in my attempt at positivity, I’ll end with this. Obama’s the best president we’ve had in the oval office for several decades.