We have nothing to fear but -------

FDR said that "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". There are two variations which can well apply to current events.

Concerning the war against terrorism , we have nothing to fear but the extremism of religions. The posturing taken in the name of God or Allah promises to guarantee us a long costly war with no end in sight.

The rhetoric being spewed out by the GOP presidential wannabees makes me shudder. One cannot help but feel that we have nothing to fear but the possibility that a Trump or Carson could set foot in the White House as a resident. Concerning Trump, I wonder if he is a fan of Benito Mussolini?




In the end, if one is to maintain any degree of sanity, he has no choice but to embrace FDR's admonition. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. To do otherwise only encourages the extremists.

About The Iran Nuclear Deal

The Obama administration has finally negotiated  a deal to limit Iran's nuclear capability. Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to denounce it as a historic mistake. A bushel full of Republican presidential hopefuls have started to parrot his warnings. We will have to endure 60 days of militaristic posturing by our conservative politicians in Congress. So be it. In the end the deal will be implemented and we have a chance of stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

As a byproduct, the deal  will unfetter us from the control of our Mideast relations by Israel. Israel is universally believed to posses nuclear arms. Personally I am no more comfortable with this than I am with North Korea or Iran possessing nuclear arms. At best, Israel's views on nuclear capabilities are hypocritical.

 Bravo Obama. Bravo Kerry. Thank you for giving diplomacy a nod over bombs.

(By the way, the price of gasoline should plummet. I wonder how our neo-cons will handle that.)

One size does not fit all

Every time I hear an American politician expound on how exporting democracy to all corners of the world will result in Utopia, I grimace. Its like saying one size fits all is the way to go, regardless of how ridiculous the suit looks. The terrible rise of ISIS in the Middle East makes our attempts at nation building the laughing stock in the Islamic world.

In an essay for the Washington Post on 9/4, "Why they still hate us, 13 years later", Farreed Zakeria hits the nail on the head. His last two paragraphs leaves much food for thought.

"What did I miss in that essay 13 years ago? The fragility of these countries. I didn’t recognize that if the dictatorships faltered, the state could collapse, and that beneath the state there was no civil society — nor, in fact, a real nation. Once chaos reigned across the Middle East, people reached not for their national identities — Iraqi, Syrian — but for much older ones: Shiite, Sunni, Kurd and Arab.

I should have paid greater attention to my mentor in graduate school, Samuel Huntington, who once explained that Americans never recognize that, in the developing world, the key is not the kind of government — communist, capitalist, democratic, dictatorial — but the degree of government. That absence of government is what we are watching these days, from Libya to Iraq to Syria."

No one likes a dictator but if the alternative is chaos and beheadings it is a tolerable choice.  In tailoring our foreign policy it is well to remember that one size does not fit all.

Last Man Standing

Considering the latest war in the Mideast and the stonewalling by both sides on a cease fire, Mike Luckovich may have had it right in his January, 2009 Atlanta Journal editorial cartoon.

You can't make a silk purse out of a Sow's ear

Saddam Hussein's statue came down and Bush declared, "Mission accomplished". Actually the mission was closer to demolished and Obama had to pick up the pieces. The pieces went together in a make shift fashion and Obama finally announced that the mission was as accomplished as it could be and the Iraq War was over. ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) raised its bloodthirsty head and said 'hold the fort, nothing is over until Iraq is destroyed'. And thus began another Iraq War. This one would be different . We would not have American boots on the ground ( neither would the Iraq security force). Only advisers - 300 of them. Wow! Three hundred advisers will accomplish what thousands of combat troops were unable to accomplish. Bull shit! I have to agree with Rand Paul - we should never have been involved in the first place and we should not be involved now. Iraq with its rival religious sects is a poor excuse for a country. At best it is a coalition of religious antagonists posing as politicians. As the High Primal has reminded me a number of times, when the British carved up The Ottoman Empire they used a dull knife. As other nations before us, we were unsuccessful in picking up the scraps they left. It is time to admit that as far as Iraq is concerned, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ( I trust that the clerics will not consider that as blasphemous). Our involvement  should be confined to making our democracy as strong as we we possibly can, both economically and militarily.

Birth of a Camel Revisited

A question I raised back on 10/13/09 (Birth of a Camel) concerning health care reform has been answered. At the time I mused:

"Crunch time for health reform legislation! Today , yet another Congressional committee will vote on much needed health care reform legislation. I believe that this is the fifth committee, three in the Senate and two in the house which has tried its hand on this issue. If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, what variation of a camel can we expect after the work of five committees is merged into one bill?" 

The roll out of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) has put the final touches on that creature. Its a Jackass! Unfortunately it is also making an ass out of our President. Watching Obama once again apologize for the botched job of launching the Affordable Care Act was heart wrenching. 

When the Affordable Care Act was signed by Obama, Joe Biden referred to it as " a fucking big deal". If the current problems with the Obamacare roll out are not fixed in a timely manner, it sure will be a fucked up deal at the polls in 2014 for Democrats.

At the break up of nuclear negotiations with Iran, Secretary of State, John Kerry stated that no deal is better than a bad deal. As deals go, I wonder if Obama settled for a bad health care deal just to have a deal? In  case of Obamacare, I feel that even a flawed deal was better than none ( such would have also been true with the Iran nuclear negotiations, Mr. Kerry). At least it has put health care on the front burner. Hope Obama salvages his landmark legislation before the pot boils over.

Who's in the hot seat?

Britain's House of Commons voted not to approve a military strike against Syria. The debate took a few days. Now we have the spectacle of our Congress starting a debate on the same subject. Judging by today's hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Syria's Assad should have no fear of a military strike by the United States in the very near future. By the time Congress has exhausted its hearings in the Senate, hearings in the House, a debate on the floor of the Senate and a debate on the floor of the House, members will be too exhausted to vote.

Unless the United States has been attacked, Congressional approval of military action is not an efficient process. Obama must have known this before he asked for Congress to approve his taking action against the government of Assad. What's he trying to prove? I hope it is not his way of obliterating that red line he hastily drew.

 I'm not sure who is in the hot seat, Obama or Congress. One thing for sure, the American people waiting out  the outcome of all the hot air and posturing are feeling the heat.

One more for the road

No, I'm not on a binge. Just one more rant about The Plain Dealer and home delivery before I put the whole subject to bed.

Today is Wednesday and true to their promise The Plain Dealer distribution people deposited a hard copy of the paper at my garage door. Breakfast with a newspaper. Life is good.

My euphoria lasted through half a cup of coffee. The news in the paper was as stale as the piece of toast on my plate. Indians got clobbered by the Tigers for the umpteenth time - knew that before they played. Al-Qaeda threatening to bring us to our knees again - already knew all that Washington is willing to tell me. Browns training camp news galore - boring as all hell. Obesity down in the country except for Ohio - don't need a newspaper to tell me that; just walking down the street does the trick. One whole section devoted to food (Taste) - proving that Ohio is committed to leading the nation in the number of fat people (according to the High Primal, if you want a body that does a lot, you must put up with the bulk). I could go on and on but that would bore me as well as anyone who may be reading this. Suffice to say that the Wednesday edition of the PD should have been labeled "All The News You Already Know".

Being without the hard copy of a newspaper the past two days was no big deal. That Bezos guy is right. Within the next twenty years there will no longer be newspapers as we know them today. He's spent 250 million for The Washington Post to prove that.

One more for the road. The Plain Dealer e-edition was obviously designed for an iPad. Since that's the device of choice I think the PD's marketing gurus could have come with an iPad giveaway promotion. Not so, butt thank goodness for The New York Times e-edition. It's friendly with all my devices.

A Wandering Mind Gathers No Moss

Worries Mount as Syria Lures West’s Muslims- so blared the headline for a story in last Sunday’s New York Times. Evidently much ado is being made about who is helping the rebels. “Young Muslims are traveling to Syria to fight against the government of Bashar al-Assad, raising fears among American and European officials of a new terrorist threat when they return home”. Not necessarily true. Foreigners fighting in the Spanish Civil War were the inspiration for some great novels- not terrorism. Maybe some young radicalized Muslim will return from Syria and write “For Whom The Muezzin Calls”. We may even see some  historical epics like “The Cedars Believe In Allah” or “Winter in Damascus”. Then again they may return as more accomplished bombers.

Carlos Danger, aka Anthony Weiner, is giving user names a bad name.

Finally got a letter from The Plain Dealer explaining how pleased I’ll be with their 3 day a week home delivery and what a treat their e-edition will be. Re-read it three times and I still was not thrilled until I realized that there was indeed a plus side to the reduced delivery of hard copies. Fewer papers to put out for recycling. As for the e-edition, my DEL button will handle the trashing.

I haven’t written much about the hard playing Cleveland Indians who are currently 2.5 games behind the Division leader. I’m not going to start now since I’m mindful of Chief Wahoo’s curse. If only the Dolans would retire him, first place would be a cinch.

The Cleveland Browns opened training camp last week. They are apparently way ahead of schedule- one concussion already reported.

Kudos to Senator Sherrod Brown. He's moving to Cleveland from the outer suburb of Avon. Another way of looking at it, the good senator is putting his money where his mouth is.

One way to beat cancer - redefine it! A group of experts has determined that as far as cancer is concerned we are still living in the nineteenth century. What to do? They have recommended changing the definition of cancer and eliminating the word from some common diagnoses as part of sweeping changes in the nation’s approach to cancer detection and treatment. That will bring the cancer rate down dramatically. Now we need to redefine what obesity is and eliminate so many fat people walking the streets.

Father Knows Best

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

On July 4, 1776 the  British  colonies of America evoked these rights to shed themselves of a government bent on denying them "certain unalienable rights" and began the American Revolution. On July 3, 2013 the Egyptian military in response to a perceived will of the people, deposed a democratically elected President of the country and ended Egypt's experiment with democracy.

 Democracy is never an easy birth. A coup d'e-tat ( although Washington will be reluctant to deem it so)  to achieve the reforms that people clamor for is an abortion of democracy. Once again the Egyptian Generals are playing the role of "Father knows best". Whether a democracy will be conceived again is up to the Egyptians. It is their choice, not ours.

Shame on our UN Palestinian vote

Count me in the minority. I don't feel that the United States fulfilled its role as a world leader when it opposed the bid of the Palestinians for an observer role at the United Nations. We should have at least taken a page out of the German foreign policy playbook and abstained from voting on the issue.

It was one more example of our foreign policy being held hostage by the Jewish-American vote. In turn we get a slap in the face from the Israeli who immediately announced a plan to expand settlements in East Jerusalem. Just in time for Christmas.

Arguments that the recognition of Palestine  as an observer state is unnecessary for the Palestinians to achieve their goal of statehood fail to convince me. I can't help but think how our forefathers would have reacted if urged to be patient rather than take to the battlefield to achieve freedom from the English yoke.

Diversity is a strength of this country. Playing to diversity for political gain is a weakness and is wrong.

Nice Going Bibi

(Photo from the NY Times)

Netanyahu's "show and tell" presentation to the United Nations must have been an embarrassment to the White House. With all the aid money we funnel to Israel, one would think that Israel could have put forth a classy power point presentation. Somehow a sketch of a Keystone Kop bomb just does not get me excited. A giggle perhaps, but no urge to kick the shit out of Iran. Think back to Colin Powell and his weapons of mass destruction presentation before the Security Council. Now that was class and expensive, although not as expensive as the stupid war it got us involved in. Getting back to Netanyahu and his bomb, I hope it at least got Iran thinking that Israel doesn't know the difference between a Keystone Kop bomb and a nuclear bomb. That should dispel any fear that Israel is a nuclear threat, in which case there is no sense in Iran going broke trying to become one. Nice going Bibi.

Time To Sound Retreat

 In today’s NY Times op-ed column, America’s Inevitable Retreat From the Middle East, Pankaj Mishra paints a thought provoking picture of the waning power of the United States in the Middle East. As Mishra points out:

 “Republicans calling for President Obama to “grow” a “big stick” seem to think they live in the world of Teddy Roosevelt. Liberal internationalists arguing for even deeper American engagement with the Middle East inhabit a similar time warp; and both have an exaggerated idea of America’s financial clout after the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s.
It is the world’s newly ascendant nations and awakened peoples that will increasingly shape events in the post-Western era. America’s retrenchment is inevitable. The only question is whether it will be as protracted and violent as Europe’s mid-20th century retreat from a newly assertive Asia and Africa.”

Thought provoking indeed. What I got out of it:

• Whether we like the word or not we are retreating from Iraq and Afghanistan. The mission was not successful. We never should have been there in the first place.
• We are not good at nation building. Nations are built internally, not externally.
• Democracy works for us but not necessarily for others.
• Keep the hell out of Syria!
• Israel is not our ward.
• The sooner Israel faces reality and ceases to be a loose canon, the sooner there will be peace in the Middle East.
• Keep America strong through aggressive social policies which will insure that we can all go about our business with our head held high.
• Isn’t it about time that the United Nations takes on a more proactive role in world affairs?
• If the United Nations is to be strictly a debating club, it may be time toquestion its usefulness..
• Let the world know that “Don’t Tread On Me” still means something to us.

Prophets For Profit

It seems to me that  much of the viciousness in the name of God is caused by those who would make a profit from a prophet, whether they be Christians, Jews or Muslims. It's too bad that during the era when prophets uttered their sacred word there were not tape recorders or better yet 'You Tube' to record and preserve the true word. Lacking an unbiased source of the the sacred words, we are left with what someone thinks they heard and worse yet with someones interpretation of what someone thinks he heard. Too often the objectives of these 'someones' or  teachers is political, monetary or all of the above but rarely spiritual. The masses being what they are - gullible and in need of believing in an after life far more comfortable than this one - can be molded into  snarling beasts, all in the name of God. War, Crusades, Jihad, massacres, murders, ethnic cleansing all in the name of God. God damn them!

Is Sharon Waiting For Mubarak?

The New York Times reports that “Former President Hosni Mubarak, who led Egypt for three decades until he was toppled last year in a popular uprising, was on life support at a military hospital late Tuesday after he was declared “clinically dead” by doctors, according to Egyptian officials and state news media.” The news reminded me that for more than six years, Ariel Sharon, the former Prime Minister of Israel has been in a coma. I’m not sure why Israel is hanging on to him unless they are planning some sort of resurrection. I’d put my money on Sharon waiting for someone to join him in a Mid East summit, but I doubt that Mubarak will be around very long. He may be "really dead" as I write this. That’s the way the cookie crumbles, Sharon.

CORRECTION! It is now reported  that the news of Mubarak being "clinically dead" is greatly exaggerated. My post of 6/19/12 was a day early and short on facts. The turmoil in the Arab world is now messing with my blog posts and I don't like that. I plan to withdraw all aid (in the form of sympathy of course) to Egypt. Don't give up Sharon - I am sure Mubarak will join you soon. On the other hand it won't be the first time that a Jew has been snubbed by an Arab.
-6/20/12

Cage The Hawks

The following lines appeared in a NY Times article, Hawks Steering Debate on How to Take on Iran - “It’s not about Israel,” said Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, the House majority leader and a key Congressional ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel" .   Netanyahu has allies in Congress?  Do these allies represent Israel as well as their constituents? Absurd! Cantor is not alone in wanting Obama to unleash another war in the Mideast. There is no way we should get entangled in yet another war.  Frankly, I doubt that we are prepared to win a war. If the Hawks have their way, we can kiss our standing as an economic powerhouse and a super power goodbye. If Obama doesn't cage the Hawks I'll be sorely disappointed, November election or not. If he does not accelerate an exit from Afghanistan, it will be a big mistake.

Et tu, Karzai

It's a bit of a stretch but Leon Panetta must be feeling that the curse of the Ides of March has descended upon him as he tries to calm the Afghans. The benefactors of billions of dollars in U.S. aide are turning on their "patsy". The message is clear - here's your hat, what's your hurry but keep the money flowing into our bank accounts. President Karzai with his flowing robes is leading the attack. It's easy for me to say but the message to Karzai should be: et tu, Karzai, go to hell!

Beware The Drones of March

Senators at work

The Ides of March, March 15th for those not acquainted with Latin, is almost upon us. At one time it was a day to be avoided by all tax evaders. Mercifully, nowadays those considering telling the IRS to go fly a kite have another thirty days to reconsider.

 Some sports addicts look forward to the Ides as a date to prepare for March Madness wherein teams consisting of five giants, run back and forth on a wooden floor, tossing a large ball to one another until one decides to place it into a net which resembles a basket - aka Basketball.

 The March Madness phenomenon is a urologist's dream. A Cleveland Clinic doctor reports that the number of men scheduling vasectomies jumps by 50 percent around the Ides of March. These crafty gents figure that watching a little basketball while recovering is almost as good as sex.

Starting on the 15^th of March,  baseball players in sunny Florida or Arizona who don’t quite measure up to big league tobacco chewing techniques will find themselves honing their skills on the farm.

The Ides of March is also celebrated by would be conspirators. It has its origins to a day in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of Senators led by Marcus Brutus. Caesar had made the mistake of declaring himself dictator for life ( in Roman days the Senate actually took their job seriously). His second mistake was to pooh-pooh the admonition of a soothsayer who in no uncertain terms advised him to “beware the Ides of March‘. Contrary to popular belief , Julius Caesar was not exactly a genius, he needed more than a verbal admonition. A poor review of the theater performance he planned to attend, would have kept him away from the scene of the crime. As it was, this dictator for life got stuck like a pig. In his dying moments all that he could utter was , “Et tu Brute” ( for the uneducated the words translate into ‘And you, Brutus’). As far as I know he never got an answer from Brutus who was miffed at being called a brute.

If one has read the preceding words carefully, he - or she for that matter- might conclude that the original Ides of March was a Roman Spring. A dictator was eliminated and an empire gained the freedom to destroy itself. Our modern day Arab Springs don’t measure up to this mother of all Springs although the after effects bear some resemblance.

In keeping with the theme of this post, my advice to Syria’s President and dictator for life, Bashar Assad, is not to accept any theater invitations for March 15^th . He should also keep his eyes peeled on the sky. Beware the Drones of March!

Front Row Seat

The other night as I sat in my living room enjoying a glass of wine and watching TV, I couldn't help but muse about the miraculous ability of modern day communications to transport world events into our homes in a vivid and almost real time basis . Here I was in afront row seat watching footage of Syrian citizens being viciously abused by other Syrian citizens dressed in military apparel ( I hesitate to call the latter soldiers). Coming to grips with witnessing horror while relaxing in a comfortable living room provides much food for thought.

 As I sipped my wine, I had a pang of guilt. Fellow humans being brutalized while I casually watched -it was incongrous. For a minute I likened myself to a spectator in the Coliseum watching gladiators mangle each other. I don't mean to imply that witnessing news clips of protests, beatings and wars should be avoided. On the contrary, we should watch and absorb the full meaning of what is going on with the intent of  taking some kind of action to deal with man's inhumanity to man. I'm afraid, however, that there is more of a chance of becoming so used to having a war or revolution in our living rooms, that we liken the chronicling of the events to a Hollywood blockbuster - when the "movie" is over its time to go back to life as usual.

 Fortunately there are those who use their front row seats as an opportunity to get involved in the politics of our country to make sure some Syrian is not watching men in military apparel maiming American citizens. To those I raise my glass in thanks.

We Interrupt The Holiday Season

We interrupt the Holiday Season or more properly the Christmas Season with all sorts of breaking news which could make that gentleman with the white beard unhitch his reindeer, fire his elves and hunker down in the North Pole for at least another twelve months.

 There is enough breaking news clogging the networks to spawn at least a dozen posts per day. I'm not that ambitious a blogger so I'll confine myself to one post with enough tidbits to insure a few sleepless nights.

 For starters  I could join the chorus and declare that the world is well rid of Kim Jong-il. I might even second that Senate warrior, John McCain and condemn Kim to a warm corner of Hell. The problem is I know little about Kim except for what I read in the papers and hear on TV and lately the media has been a bit unreliable in how it puts together stories. I'm told he was a bad person. I have to wonder how a bad person survived so long but then I might conclude that bad persons have a knack for survival. It takes armed intervention to get them out of power. Think Saddam Hussein. While thinking about Saddam, try not to think about the bad person or persons positioning themselves to pursue their ambitions in the new Iraq. Will the ruler of North Korea start a nuclear war? Will the new ruler of Iraq cave to Iran? Will Iraq, Iran and bad man Assad's Syria declare war on Israel to get rid of weapons of mass destruction? Will the United States retaliate by bombing the shit out of the whole Mideast? Where in hell are we going to get our oil? Russia? This is terrible and that SOB Kim Jong II started it all.

If the threat of a nuclear holocaust wasn't bad enough we have breaking news out of Washington that Boehner and his band of thieves are about to steal - check that - are about to shut down the government because a bunch of hoodlums in Indian head dress insist that helping American citizens is not the American way. Why they call themselves The Tea Party is a mystery to me. I'm not a fancier of tea but I always thought a tea party was a gentile affair. Boehner says that he is merely looking after my interests. He's a nosy sort. He would be interested to know that the threat of Medicare reducing doctor payments by 27% has already caused two doctors to tell me to go see a veterinarian. Do vets prescribe sleeping pills?

The worst news of the day was that the probability is high that we will not have a White Christmas. That's real bad news if you are in the snow plowing business. If the latest weather reports hold out we are bound to be hit with a mini recession by New Years Day. Landscapers will be laying off all the illegal aliens they hired to man their cute little trucks with the snow plow in front. Ford will have to shut down its F-150 truck production. If only Bing Crosby was around to sing "Let It Snow" - that would save the day.

All this bad news is very depressing. Unless I stop writing about breaking news I know that I will have a blue Christmas. So to hell with you Kim Jong-il, the hell with the Mideast and the hell with the cheap politicians in Washington. Most of all, let it snow. let it snow - only a couple of inches should do it. The best breaking news will be that all had a Merry Christmas in spite of all the assholes in the world trying to make our days on earth miserable.