A Certain Level of Irony?

I found Sen. McCain's response to Vladimir Putin's Op Ed piece to be quite ironic. Here is an excerpt:

I make that claim because I respect your dignity and your right to self-determination. I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

On one level, I can't say I really disagree with too much he said. (Although he clearly did not understand what the punk band he mentioned, whose name I will also not repeat, actually did. They would have been arrested if they had done the same thing in Washington, but the prison sentence would have been less.)

This is what happens if you are McCain's or the US' "interesting man." Assad knows thisBut on another level, for McCain to write such a piece shows just how clueless he is. Read the entire piece and substitute America for Russia in your reading. The criticisms he makes of Russia just as well apply to America. Accusing Russia of supporting dictators was particularly funny. As McCain himself said after meeting Qaddafi, "an interesting meeting with an interesting man." Click on the link to see just how ironic it is. 

What planet does he live on?

Actually, I know. He married into the elite that run the US. While his wife is in the second tier of the US's elite, she clearly belongs among their number. Yes, an elite controls Russia. But an elite controls the US as well, and McCain is a part of that elite.

Having gone to Russian many times in the last 12 years, I see the trajectory that Russia is on--more freedom, and more prosperity. Having lived in the US for the last 12 years I see the trajectory the US is on--less freedom, and less prosperity.

If these trends continue, at some point the two countries can wave at each other as they pass in the night, going in different directions.

There is a rumbling stampede headed our way. Are you doing the equivalent of having a nice picnic in a field watching the herd approach, but instead of rising to flee, you continue your meal? Are you enjoying your potato salad as hoof beats get louder?

Why Don't I Believe Obama?

Why don't I believe President Obama? It is the company he keeps.

The Supreme Court ruled that Georgia had no jurisdiction over the Cherokees. President Andrew Jackson, just before he sent many Cherokees to their death in a forced evacuation, said this: "Mr. Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!" (Marshall was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. My historical side forces me to point out that this quote is not well documented historically. But he did say many similar things.) 

“I’ll have those n****** voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” —Lyndon B. Johnson to two governors on Air Force One - 

"I am not a crook." "When the president does it, it is not illegal." Richard Nixon

"I don't remember." Ronald Reagan

"Read my lips, no new taxes." George Bush I

"I did not inhale." "I did not have sex with that woman, Ms Lewinsky." "It depends on what the meaning of "is" is." Bill Clinton

"A zebra does not change its spots." President Al Gore, well he was really elected. 

"Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction." George Bush II

"I have known eight presidents, three of them intimately." Joe Biden 45th President. 

And yes, whatever Conservative Favorite Son is elected in 2020, I will be of the same opinion as to presidental veracity.

But I must admit I do "Like Ike." 

I used to think well of Cal, until I found out he was playing us all for fools using the Public Relations master Bernays to form Coolidge's iconic image. I feel so used. So after what "Cal" did, I no longer trust any president. 

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

I just got the Audible audio for Alice in Wonderland! It only cost $.49! Can you tell I am excited?

This will allow me to make more comparisons of our modern political system using Alice in Wonderland analogies.

My favorite I have used in the past is Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

It tends to shock people when I point out the substantial lack of difference between the major parties. Conservatives are particularly irked when I point this out. But let's look at the issues.

The difference between the Republicans and Democrats on War is minor. Obama is proposing to spend immense amounts of money on "Defense." (I think the original term, the War Department, is more honest than the Department of Defense.) The Republicans complain that it is not enough.

Does either party really plan to end what Eisenhower called the "Military Industrial Complex"?

Be Serious.

There are even pro-war "Libertarians." But the Libertarians, and the 1% of the vote they get, in general offer more on this.

Wealth concentration is a huge problem. While the Democrats pay lip service to the idea, they really are no different than the Republicans. In fact the various "reforms" that have destroyed our financial system were done under their watch during the Clinton administration.

Libertarians do not seem to think it is a problem.

Most of the solutions offered are to my mind worse than the disease of wealth concentration. High marginal tax rates and inheritance taxes do not really affect the very wealthy, only their modestly wealthy competition.

What are my solutions...solutions I acknowledge will never be done short of some sort of economic disaster.

Declare victory in our various wars and bring the soldiers home. Why in the world does the US still have troops in Europe to fight the Soviet Union? We are coming up on the 30th anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union.

I would limit the number of employees that anyone can employ to 50,000. Apple seems to do fine with a little more than that. This might be hard on Walmart with 2 million employees, but that endears me to the proposal.

Will anything happen on either of these issues?

Don't make me laugh.

The parties will continue to fight over things, like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over their rattle.  One may win, but in the fight the rattle may be destroyed.

Stay far, far away as you are the politician's oyster, ready to be eaten. 

Noam Chomsky on Sarah Palin

Oh No, Not Civil Religion Again!

My critique of the modern combination of religion and government has not been well received. I am not surprised as the prophets' condemnation of the ancient forms of patriotic religion was not well received either. 

For me the most notorious example is the singing of the Battle Hymn of the Republic in church. Philip Gorski, whom I have mentioned before, had this to say about the Civil War: 

It was the Civil War and its aftermath, however, that transformed Christian nationalism into a popular ideology and gave it its characteristic ritual form: the cult of the fallen known as “Memorial Day” (Stout 2006). Politicians and clergy on both sides of the Mason-Dixon were quick to claim that God was on their side, that theirs was a sacred cause, and that the blood of the fallen was a form of sacrifice to the Almighty. And as the carnage escalated, the rhetoric turned apocalyptic as well.

Consider one of the most famous and familiar texts of the era — the lyrics for "The Battle Hymn of Republic." It contains the archetypical tropes of Christian nationalism American style: God as a God of war who marches, carries a “terrible swift sword” and can be seen “in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps.” A God, too, who demands blood sacrifice on “an altar in the evening dews and damps.” A demonized enemy, a “serpent” whose head must be crushed. An apocalyptic war that will unleash “the grapes of wrath” and set all men free. An empty promise, of course.

Philip Gorski is apparently not a Christian, so he may have several levels to the idea of an empty promise, but I must agree that from my perspective the promise of God's aid to either side in a murderous war was idolatry. The same is still true today. 

What is ironic to me about the desire to compare Modern America to Biblical Israel is the lack of historical context. Have modern Christians forgotten what happened to ancient Israel? If the comparison is valid, and on some level I agree that it is, then the consequences of America's sins will be dire. 

Jeremiah 7 talks about ancient Israel and the natural consequences of their sins. Let me quote the Message version, and make a few changes to make the parallel I am drawing more exact. 

3-7 “‘Clean up your act—the way you live, the things you do—so I can make my home with you in this place. Don’t for a minute believe the lies being spoken here—“This is God’s Country, God’s Country, God’s Country!” Total nonsense! Only if you clean up your act (the way you live, the things you do), only if you do a total spring cleaning on the way you live and treat your neighbors, only if you quit exploiting the street people and orphans and widows, no longer taking advantage of innocent people in this country and no longer destroying your souls by using your Churches as a front for other gods—only then will I move into your neighborhood. Only then will this country I gave your ancestors be my permanent home, my Country. 

Hmm. 

Knowing what happen to Ancient Judah not too long after Jeremiah 7, and knowing the sins of the US, I am not sure I would make the analogy between the US and Israel lightly.