Sunday, May 8, 2011

Dumb and Dumber, or Just Plain Nefarious

At the risk of getting additional comments that cannot be posted, I am going to state that most Americans fall into one of these 2 categories. Obama illustrated to Americans and the world, how easy it is for this country to get something done when we are not hindered by the sociopathic right wing element in this country.

The American mind is powered by consciousness, which makes decisions based strongly on the need for self-preservation. From an early age Americans of my generation were taught by their parents, in the classroom, and by our society at large, that we were special. And I believe this notion.

As Americans we are susceptible to fears: Fear that our way of life is in danger, Fear that perhaps we are wrong. These fears make us uncomfortable so we bury them. And we cling to old ideologies and behaviors that served us well in the past, when things were different, even when, all around us, it is apparent that they are false. And we fail to believe that the old notions are detrimental to our very self-preservation and the preservation of our country. Driven by the right wing media, whose sole purpose for being is to fortify and enrich the top 2% in our country, we cling to our ideologies.

Americans are special. But if we are to remain so we must be cognizant of what's happening today. The unpatriotic, amoral selfishness which the right wing parades as rights of individual, has absolutely nothing to do with what the Founding Fathers intended, quite the contrary. We must become aware that our collective consciousness is being manipulated to the detriment of our country.

Since the inception of our country, the greatest strengths of America have been our economic strength and economic sovereignty, and the freedoms and way of life we Americans have been blessed with. These strengths have enabled our leaders to be successful in foreign affairs. I believe we still serve as a power of example for much of the rest of the world. If we continue to be influenced by right wing extremism, the American way will perish, and soon thereafter, America- the country- will end in a blaze of golden parachutes.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Osama bin Laden Dead - "And I'll get on my knees and pray, We don't get fooled again."

The conservative wing of the US Supreme Court is at it again. A recent ruling illustrates clearly that their decisions are political and not based on any philosophical interpretation of the Constitution. The decisions of the conservative wing vacillate between states' rights and federal rights depending upon which interpretation suits the fulfillment of their agenda. The case I am referring to is the recent ruling on AT&T v. Concepcion which preempted state laws designed to protect American consumers.

Bin Laden is dead. And his execution was carried out by a tactical strike that was so efficient that it truly boggles my mind. The political risk to Obama aside, the mission was cost-effective on every conceivable level. First, considering the human factor, there were no American causalities and no civilian causalities. Second, though we presently don't know the extent of it, it is highly probable that a large amount of good intel was obtained.

The only drawback to the tactical strike vs. bombing- which some of the President's advisors advocated- besides illustrating Obama's competency as commander-in-chief, is that defense contractors lost some profits. It should be noted that the Navy Seals make about what the average teacher makes in America. I realize that I am "begging the question" when I say that this action did not seriously increase the deficit.

However, I do believe that it was not in the best interests of the New Conservatives to kill bin Laden. His "lurking" threat allowed them to carryout their agenda in the name of anti-terrorism. And a fearful population is a pliable population as Stephen Colbert pointed out in his counter rally last year.

Finally, it is awesome what the Obama administration accomplished, so competently and cost-effectively, when it is contrasted with the billions the Bush administration spent attempting to do the job, ostensibly. Just imagine if we had done that at Tora Bora; And used all that money to subsidize manufacturing, for research and development, and to repair and build infrastructure; endeavors that would have stimulated the economy and strengthened America long-term. American lives would have been saved. We wouldn't have the debt and we certainly wouldn't be in the situation we are today.