Friends, I’m going to follow Charlie’s advice of a few days ago and take a few weeks off.
I’m feeling a bit jaded at the moment and, besides, I think I’ve probably said all that I can and feel that I face the prospect of becoming boring and repetitious (assuming I haven’t already done so).
I’ve turned off the comments box because when I see comments I feel obligated to reply to them. If there are no comments, I won’t be tempted.
Take care of yourselves and we’ll meet again soon.
David.
Friends, since Obama, the war escalator, took a low profile in Libya, I have been wondering just what he’s up to. It’s not usual that America adopts a background role when there are bombs to be dropped and people to be killed.
Then we had the interlude with Netanyahu when Obama was humiliated by the Middle Eastern war criminal and then Obama’s grovelling address to AIPAC. Then, all of a sudden, Obama took off for Ireland, the home of one of his family members.
We saw Obama drinking in Irish pubs and grinning like a schoolboy. Next he was in Britain being kissy, kissy with David Cameron and the Queen and being applauded by the British Parliamentarians.
What does all this lovely mixing and hugging and the swapping of warm and lavish compliments mean? Is it just a meeting of good friends or is there a more serious objective in play.
My take on the situation is that Obama and his Administration are starting to get the idea that, despite their best efforts to pretend to want peace, many countries in the world clearly see America as a warmongering, imperialist nation that is intent on gaining military control of the world. This reality is a hot topic on the world internet and many sites, including mine, draw attention to this serious problem.
In order to deflect this growing perception, why not put up a smokescreen, employ a few red herrings?
Friends, American Idol is nearly over and, though I’m not sure whether the two finalists are the best of the entries, a result is close and, once it is over, life will come to an end for millions of Americans.
A thought entered my mind, a mischievous thought. Why don’t the promoters of American Idol start up a new show for those who are struggling to succeed in the business of politics, a profession which does require some psychopathic tendencies?
The rules of the new show are easy. As before, auditions are held across America and contestants fight each other until there are only 12 left. Then, each contestant has to do 10 tasks over 10 weeks, one per week (shown below).
People phone in and vote and, each week, a potential politician is declared the winner. The one who gets most winning performances is the winner and gets an apprenticeship in the White House and, of an evening, empties the spittoons in the Congress.
THE TASKS:
1. Lie continuously for 20 minutes without a hint of a smile or downcast eyes.
2. Present a speech on Gandhi or Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King without showing contempt for such selfless people.
3. Be interviewed for 15 minutes without using the word ‘I’ once.
4. Face a panel of Palestinians and convince them that they should move out of the Palestinian Territories.
5. While reciting the American Constitution, sit close to a bucket of 100 dollar bills for 10 minutes without exhibiting stress or agitation as evidenced by a stress meter.
These Americans love AIPAC!
Friends, in a few hours, Netanyahu will address Congress.
The American Parliamentarians will fete him, applaud him, give him continuous standing ovations.
But Netanyahu is a criminal. He ordered the attack on the Aid Convoy which resulted in many deaths and injuries.
Then Congress approves of money bills which have allowed the killing of 10-20 million people since WW2 by American imperialists.
IT WILL TRULY BE CONGRESS OF BARBARIANS AND SATANS!
Friends, do you ever get the feeling that you are slowly sinking into quicksand? I do and it’s a scary feeling.
Of course, I’ve never been in real quicksand so I don’t really know what that’s like but my sinking feeling is real, frightening. I fear I am sinking into the quicksand of the world.
Let me explain giving a simple example. I watched the stormy Obama meeting with Netanyahu. Then I watched the Obama address to AIPAC in which he contradicted himself completely and was servile. Next I saw him jet off to Paris or London, I think it was. Then, next week, I know that Netanyahu addresses Congress and will be given a rapturous reception as if he was a hero instead of a mass murderer (in Gaza) and brutal occupier.
In trying to put these disparate images together, I felt the ground underneath me shift, soften because nothing much makes sense anymore, and I sink a little further no matter how I struggle, how much I think!
Millions of similar images are floating around me. Obama encouraging people to rise up and seek democracy in nations where the U.S. has been supporting cruel despots for decades. Obama talking about peace when he leads the supreme warmongering nation in the world. Obama vetoing U.N. resolutions critical of Israel while claiming to champion human rights.
And it’s not just Obama.
And, stupidly, we believed him!
The only thing he didn’t do was to wear a skull cap or recite from the Torah!
Friends, just when you thought that Obama finally found some backbone, you find he hasn’t!
To applause and some boos, he addressed the AIPAC lobby group last night, the one that runs American foreign policy, and undid his strong words of a few days ago about 1967 borders. He suggested that people had misunderstood his words that the 1967 borders must be the basis of negotiation.
He is your typical snake oil salesman, a master of the pea and thimble trick, the man you find with several aces up his sleeve, a man that can’t be trusted. Ever.
What did he tell us again and again? “Change you can believe in,” wasn’t it?
Soon as he got into the White House, he escalated war. He didn’t close Guantanamo. He organized his own assassination squad. He ignores the sovereignty of other other nations. He used taxpayers’ money to bail out the big end of town during the GFC, he ignored the genocide of Israel in the Gaza strip…
Obama is a man who deserves the complete condemnation and disgust of the world.
This man will not herald Armageddon!
But this man might bring about Obamageddon!
Friends, the end of the world is nigh but not because a religious fruitcake, Harold Camping, says it is!
He (see top photograph) predicted the world would end today and, unless I’m dreaming, it is still here. Harold joins the many people who have predicted the end of the world on this date or that, but, stubbornly, the world continues on. But for how much longer?
However, I can confidently predict the end of the world.
It won’t be as an outcome of divine prophecy or heavenly intervention, but as a result of mankind’s eternal foolishness and inability to foresee where the current direction of human affairs will inevitably lead.
There are several factors that are driving the world towards its end and that will be in a nuclear fireball. These factors, not in any particular order, are as follows:
1. The existence of imperialism which pits nation against nation. You all know who is the major imperialist power in the world today and that it is heavily armed with nukes and it is led by intellectually-handicapped megalomaniacs who would drop nukes without a second thought if they thought it would achieve their dream of global domination.
2. The existence of world capitalism encourages infinite greed in individuals, corporations, and nations, greed such that any means, no matter how illegal or destructive, can be used.
3. The existence of a huge arms industries which profit from war and arming every nation, industries who pay taxes to dependent Governments.
4. The existence of an insane nationalistic idea that fighting wars is heroic and patriotic. Nothing could be further from the truth – war is for savages.
5. The existence of religion which induces a state of mental derangement in the gullible, one that suggests that the end of the world will bring about a flight to the ivory halls of Paradise or Heaven where angels and virgins flit about and people sing hymns forever.
“Doesn’t he know I’m the King of God’s Children?”
“Who does this little turd think he is? I’M the biggest turd in the world!”
Friends, Netanyahu (shown above and looking deranged) has insulted the world’s most powerful man.
Netanyahu has told Obama, in the White House even, that he doesn’t understand the Israeli situation and he told the President that Israel will not consider the 1967 borders when forging any peace deal (which of course, it has no intention of entering into anyway). It seems a bit like a mouse lecturing an elephant but, no matter.
You have to give the little despot marks for standing his ground but to humiliate the President so publicly shows just how fanatical the Jewish leader is. But then, of course, he does have the fifth most powerful army in the world and 200 nukes so I guess that does give you some bragging rights.
But, hang on, Israeli military power comes as a gift from America. You would think that that might make Netanyahu a little less aggressive, less cocky. But no, when your mind is filled with nonsense like you are the leader of God’s Children who are superior to all others, you have lost touch with reality big-time anyway and you can say what you like.
Of course, Obama has lost touch with reality too except on a bigger scale!
Some nations are like vultures!
Ugly, aren’t they?
Friends, it is obvious to many people that our world is chaotic and getting rapidly worse.
China has just warned the U.S. to stay out of Pakistan. Obama has made another series of promises to the Palestinians which are as empty as the others. The world’s financial system is foundering. The Middle East is in turmoil and colonialist and ex-colonialist powers, like vultures, are circling, etc.
What we need is a nation that has principles, that has values, to stand up and show us the way out of the current impasse. Such a nation would need to have the following attributes, fundamentals and values:
1. A proper democracy, one that is not manipulated by corporations, elected politicians, or foreign lobby groups.
2. A nation that talks the talk and walks the walk towards peace. Nations with huge armament industries and standing armies need not apply. Obviously peace is of no interest to them.
3. A nation whose ideology is focused on looking after its citizens especially those in the bottom 30% of incomes who, in a capitalist world, need help to put food on the table and to get medical care.
4. A nation that avoids all war, that is neutral, that rightfully thinks that war is counterproductive and solves no problems and only serves to make the rich richer.
5. A nation that thinks that imperialism is a curse, that respects the rights of other sovereign countries, that sees clearly that the world would be a better place if all people thought of themselves as world citizens who are deserving of equality.
6. A nation that is ruled by laws which it doesn’t change continuously to suit its ambitions, a nation that has laws which do not allow torture or rendition or keeping people indefinitely in cages or exploit the rights of its citizens.
Friends, these three faces will doubtless be familiar to you but for different reasons. They all have something in common. Each man was admired and occupied a position of notoriety and fame. And each man over-reached himself and paid, or will pay, a heavy price.
Madoff, in the top photograph, fell because of a Ponzi scheme, one that he knew must eventually fail. He, already extremely rich, promised investors high interest rates and paid the interest with the funds lodged by new investors. Even a kindergarten child could work out that such a scheme must fail.
It did. Spectacularly! Madoff is now in jail and will remain there for many years, his life ruined! Why would a very rich man engage in a crooked scheme to make himself even richer?
Strass-Kahn, the President of the IMF, is in jail in New York awaiting trial for the alleged rape of a hotel maid. According to reports, he, shown in the second photo, came out of his bathroom naked and found the maid servicing the luxury unit. He is said to have imprisoned her and forced her to engage in a sexual act with him. He was taken of a plane that was about to fly to Paris and is now in jail awaiting trial and bail has been disallowed.
Why would a man who was in a high position and also very rich (and could afford the services of any number of beautiful female escorts) try to rape a hotel maid? What could have gone on in his mind?
The man in the third photograph, Rajaratnam, is being charged with insider trading. He already was a billionaire but he allegedly used inside information from companies to buy and sell shares and make even more money, money he could never spend if he had two lifetimes.
It makes me scratch my head trying to work out what motivated these three men (and there are hundreds just like them) to take spectacular risks, risks that could only have one outcome, that is disaster.