To: God Re: Things I need you to do

Participating in a long-standing tradtion, Obama left a note to God in the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

“Lord—Protect my family and me,” reads the note published in the Maariv daily. “Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.”

I love that.  Not “Dear Lord, please …” or even “Lord, please,” or even “Lord,” Instead of a comma, he uses the efficient, business-like dash.  No please, no thank you, no sign-off – just a list of directives.  To God.

 

Obama – Turkey not a democracy

Hunh.  Apparently Obama doesn’t think Turkey is a democracy.

And then there are those who would lay all of the problems of the Middle East at the doorstep of Israel and its supporters, as if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root of all trouble in the region. These voices blame the Middle East’s only democracy for the region’s extremism. They offer the false promise that abandoning a stalwart ally is somehow the path to strength. It is not, it never has been, and it never will be.

According to a 2007 survey by the Economist - hardly a bastion of liberalism – Israel was somewhat more democratic than Turkey.  But even Israel wasn’t in the category of ”fully functioning” democracy, but a “flawed” democracy.  If you’re going for “as democratic as the U.S.”, or a ”fully functioning democracy” - which Obama seems to be using as a yardstick – then neither Israel nor Turkey is a democracy.   If you use this standard, there is no democratic nation in the Middle East. 

But Obama knows what side his bread is buttered on.  Accordingly, Israel is a democracy, and Turkey is not.

 

Building in Motion

Italian architect Dr. David Fisher announced on Tuesday the launch of a revolutionary skyscraper in Dubai dubbed as the “world’s first building in motion,” an 80-story tower with revolving floors that give it an ever-shifting shape.

Call me crotchety, but buildings should not be in motion.  In general, a building in motion is a distinctly suboptimal state of affairs.

 

Compromise is tricky!

Remember when Obama ridiculed Hillary for voting for the Iraq war even though she was against it?  Remember how very bright-line he made it seem?  If you’re against the war, then vote against it!  Duh.  It’s what he would have done, if he’d been there to vote.  No-brainer!

Oh, If only politicians could vote according to their consciences.  Unfortunately – as I’m quite sure he knows well – they often can’t.  As he himself recently could not, on the FISA bill telecom immunity.  What?  If you’re against it, why didn’t you vote against it?  Duh.

 

Obamarang

Whoosh!

What was that?  That was Obama boomeranging on NAFTA.

 

 

Obama and the Timewarp

You know how the Rocky Horror Picture Show Timewarp dance goes, right?

It’s just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right …

This article gives yet another example of Obama’s back-and-forth shuffle, depending on what audience he’s addressing. 

If the topic is Cuba, and the audience is Illinois voters, it’s a Jump to the left – We will end all sanctions on Cuba!  Libertad!

Same topic, conservative Miami voters?  A step to the right.  We will maintain the embargo.

It amazes me that so many Obama supporters still think he’s some kind of amazing, principled social leader, rather than a politician.  He’s going to hold firm, he’s going to convince people of the “truth”, blahbity blah.  Somehow the Obama magic will bring us all together, and the lions will lay down with the lambs, and corporations will put aside their own interest in favor of the common good, etc. 

They just don’t seem to understand that even if he wanted to act according to his ideals – and I’m increasingly starting to believe his only ideal is self-promotion – he has to, and will, compromise. 

Compromise, and pander shamelessly.  I’d like to believe he feels a twinge everytime he panders?  But the more I see of him in action … I just don’t think he does.

It will be interesting to see the effect of the inevitable reality check of the general campaign on Obama supporters, when Obama drifts to the right.  And sad, too, in a way.  People wanted so much to believe.  People wanted a hero so badly.  And he’s knowingly leading them on.

 

Cake and hybrids

Heh.  It’s funny, how impatient I feel when people criticize gaffes by my candidate.  I look at Hillary’s RFK assassination comment and think, dumb.  Misstep.  So what?  Why are people focusing on this stupid shit?  There are major fucking problems that are not getting discussed because the press is more interested in macguffins. 

Like our oil-addicted economy and soaring fuel prices.  To which Obama’s response is, switch to smaller cars and hybrids.  “Switch”?  That entails … buying.  What about all the people who can’t afford to “switch”?  They’re fucked, AND they’re contributing to the problem. 

Obama’s response is either breathtakingly callous, or completely elitist and out of touch.  He bought a hybrid. (Except, he modestly says, it mostly sits in the garage - implying he’s so good about not driving, and completely glossing the fact that, as a senator and Presidential candidate, his own car sits in the garage because he’s, oh, driven everywhere.)  Everybody should buy hybrids!  The people are suffering?  Let them eat cake – and drive hybrids.

(I bought a Honda Civic hybrid in 2004, and am reeeally enjoying the good mileage.  So my disgust with Obama on this issue is not personally motivated.)

Further – worse – how limited a response is that?  Buy hybrids and drive less?  We’re forced into car dependency because of existing transportation infrastructure.  We need investment in rail and public transit.  Then we’d actually be able to drive less.   The airline and automobile industries get insane subsidies – why not throw rail a crumb?

So, how about talking about the structural problem?  Too practical?  Too granular?  Doesn’t make for a flowery speech?  Forget it.

I have to say, this is the most depressing indication of the extent of Obama’s “vision” I’ve seen yet.   So limited and reactive.  And lecture-y.  It puts the burden of a collective problem on individual shoulders, and gives a moral spin to an essentially technical problem.

Sound familiar?  Yeah.  It sounds … Republican.  Ugh.

 

Food shortages = progress!

Secretary Paulson says astronomical commodity prices are helping developing nations.  I wonder what the people killed in food riots in Cameroon think of that?

Oh, wait – they don’t think anything.  They’re dead.

“World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period,” says Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC.

To prove it, food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator. In Haiti, protesters chanting “We’re hungry” forced the prime minister to resign; 24 people were killed in riots in Cameroon; Egypt’s president ordered the army to start baking bread; the Philippines made hoarding rice punishable by life imprisonment.

“It’s an explosive situation and threatens political stability,” worries Jean-Louis Billon, president of Côte d’Ivoire’s chamber of commerce.

More:

Global food crisis ‘silent tsunami’ threatening over 100 million people, warns UN

Rural women could suffer due to increased biofuel production, warns UN agency

And why?

Lehman: Speculative Demand Enhancing Commodities Prices

Speculators profit, ordinary people starve.  This “helps” developing nations how?

 

A very patient driver

On my way to work, I turned onto a side street and found a Cadillac sitting behind a garbage truck while the garbage guy brought the pails to the truck.  The woman in the Cadillac looked like she was just waiting patiently.

There was plenty of room to pull around the truck, so I did.  I looked back, and she had pulled around the truck too, following me.  I wonder if she thought there was a law against passing a stopped garbage truck?  Like a school bus? 

I had an image of little garbage children getting out of the truck and skipping across the road, linking their decaying little hands and dropping bits of rubbish as they went.

Maybe she just hadn’t had her coffee yet.

 

Recycling dead appliances

So.  We have a kaput microwave oven and two defunct TV’s.  The only kind of e-waste the city takes is computers and cell phones.  How to dispose?

Upon investigation, it appears we have 3 options:

1. Put them out on the curb.  They will be taken to a landfill, there to leach toxic substances into the groundwater.  (The average CRT TV has 10 pounds of lead.)

2. Take them to a special drop-off event or scrap dealer.  Odds are, the junk will then be dismantled under unsafe working conditions by prisoners or workers in developing nations. 

3. Pay a “responsible recycler” - a qualification that, apparently, is achieved merely by signing a pledge – to take them off our hands.   It’s an “honor system.”  Are there any controls?  Audits?  Nope.  Sorry, no.  I’m not going to pay a company to “responsibly recycle” my hazardous waste, if there’s no assurance they’re not simply going to turn around and do option #1 or 2.

All of these options SUCK.  I want to do the right thing, and am willing to put some effort and money into it – but there doesn’t seem to be a right thing.