The God of Politics

I’ve recently completed  series on religions, examining spirituality, and I realized there was  God I had left out.

Who is more dangerous, the leader who sends people into a war, or the bully who thinks he can just launch a few missiles? Has lobbing a few missiles ever resolved an issue, other than displaying  the impotency of the leader launching them? Isn’t that what we vilify Iran and North Korea for?

Our present Demigod started out as a demagog (that sounded so poetic I just had to use it). Having built his castle by appealing to common prejudices, he found that not only did he believe he was a God, so did his followers. He could do no wrong in their eyes, even when his dog rated an extra aircraft to Maine. Of course there were people on the plane, that doesn’t alter the fact that were it not for the dog, there would have been one aircraft. This during the “crippling sequester”, which has left servicemen on the front lines without hot meals. Oh, that’s not budget cuts, that’s due to the reduction in troops. Really? Never happened before.

He’s done really well appealing to the lowest common denominator. Class warfare worked really well, until it became evident he was more interested in the war than the solution. Feeding racial tensions was a winner, but it wasn’t as easy a sell when the victims were white. “If I had a son, he’d kill a stranger out of boredom” didn’t go over in middle America. Fortunately for him, that “lowest common denominator” also has the memory of a goldfish.

A comedian I once knew would respond to hecklers with “Go ahead and walk out, I already got your money!”. Our current President appears to be at the point he is saying the same to us. It doesn’t matter if he can convince us that the United States should intervene where the United Nations will not. It doesn’t matter if Congress votes against military action. He’s under the impression he can do it anyway, and what are you going to do about it?

In the web of lies, a petition was created to “Stop Assad”. Signers number in the dozens. “Syrians are killing Syrians. Click here to support President Obama’s plan to send Americans to kill Syrians, so Syrians can kill Americans”. Despite overwhelming rejection of his plan to get involved in another war, the President continues to press his case. Remember when the President of the United States’ “case” was the interests of the American people?

Consider this. Last summer, the military changed it’s rules about women in combat. Last month, congressman Charles Rangel began his campaign to reinstate the draft. Anyone having trouble with the math? After two unpopular wars and consistent degradation of the military spirit, and facing a war in which public support is at an all time low, little Susie will have the opportunity to be the first one on her block to come home in a box.

A recent statement by Vladimir Putin, suggesting a diplomatic response, has received the following comment: “So is it possible, that the threat of retaliation from our President, for the use of chemical weapons was actually used as a ruse to prompt the Russians into engaging the Syrians into defusing their chemical weapons stockpile? …if so, well played President Obama!” The apologists never give up. Diplomacy was never part of Obama’s strategy, he opened with threats and was backed into a corner when his bluff was called.

Last night, President Obama spoke to the nation, promising there would be no American boots in Syria, despite the fact there already are. I’m sure some people believed him. He was late taking the stage, gathering public opinion up to the last minute, and he appeared to be relieved to have some breathing room. Perhaps his most foolish statement was when he said “We have to take action, that’s what makes America different”. Any Cowboy stereotypes need to be reinforced? I thought what made us different was our following procedure, staying within international law. Right now the only stereotype he’s representing is poseur, all hat and no cattle.

With time perhaps we’ll locate the truth. Credible reports are stating to come in that the entire chemical attack was staged. Motive? I can think of three possibilities. 1) Assad used WMDs using untraceable sources to hide his involvement. 2) Rebels used WMDs against their own people to cross Obama’s red line and get the support of America. 3) Rebels possessed WMDs and accidentally contaminated themselves.

Actually, I support invading Syria. An invasion force led in person by Barack Obama, waving a flag, followed by all the congresspeople who voted for intervention.

After that, maybe the UN could do its job of enforcing the Geneva Protocols, as they have for almost one hundred years.

He brought snacks to a gunfight

It was difficult, but I avoided commenting on anything American for the last two weeks. Now I’m back.

In Brussels, Blaine Reininger covered the dubstep song “Knives to a gunfight“, dedicating it to Trayvon Martin. He started by saying “Out of respect to Trayvon, we’re going to call this ‘you brought snacks to a gunfight”. I knew I’d have to write about it.

The President of the United States of America stated “Trayvon could have been me”. Wouldn’t Trayvon have been fortunate. At seventeen, Barry was at the Punahou school, a 17-acre oasis of calm, order and privilege tucked behind a low stone wall topped with cacti in Honolulu Hawaii. In his own words, he used marijuana and cocaine to push the questions of who he was out of his mind. Sounds as if thirty five years ago, Barack Hussein Obama II was more like George Zimmerman (let me spell that out. A liar). Trayvon neither used cocaine nor was he awaiting a scholarship to Occidental College.

I’ve seen some pretty bizarre responses to the Zimmerman verdict, the New Black Panther party offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of George Zimmerman, dead or alive. Publicly. Repeatedly. I’m not sure exactly why they feel like they’re “third class citizens”, I doubt very much the Klan ever made public statements that outrageous. Now of course that offer was made more than a year ago, and I don’t recall the Panthers paying the bounty to the state of Florida when they arrested him, but bringing the story to light sure is a great way to fire up racial tensions.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry felt their opinions about justice would be of interest. Something about pots and kettles goes here. In a related (too bizarre to comment) story, Zimmerman’s brother is worried about vigilantes.

Another great story was a collection of twits saying they would go out and shoot a Mexican and call it self defense in response to the “Not Guilty” verdict. Well, at least they’re getting closer. Zimmerman’s mother is from Peru. He actually doesn’t like Mexicans either, so maybe shooting a Mexican would put you on his good side.

As a matter of fact, George Zimmerman is an idiot. It doesn’t matter what his race is, and it really doesn’t matter what Trayvon Martin’s race was, Zimmerman was told to stay in his car by a police dispatcher, and instead confronted a man on the street. None of us will ever know what happened between then and when George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, but for some reason twelve people on a jury thought that “stand your ground” doesn’t mean that it’s actually your ground that you’re standing on.

Another twelve people in Florida thought that Casey Anthony wasn’t responsible for the death of her daughter.

Things were starting to look pretty good for violent offenders in Florida, then a woman went out to her car, got her gun, and came back to fire a “warning shot” at her ex husband, and received twenty years in prison. Apparently she hadn’t realized that in order to get away with a crime, you should not leave witnesses. Particularly witnesses who you’ve shot at.

If these stories were all you knew about Florida, or America, you might think we’re a bunch of idiots. Well, we have done everything we can to encourage idiotic behavior but there are a couple of things to remember.

First, there are about three hundred fourteen million people in America (over nineteen million in Florida alone). Allowing for a lunatic fringe of three percent (although I believe it’s closer to twelve), that would be over ten million lunatics in the United states. They can’t all live in Manhattan.

Second, while some people still believe the news media reports important stories about society, the job of the news media is to sell the advertising space that allows it to exist. News is not a public service, it’s a business. Dog bites man doesn’t make the front page. Man bites dog might make page three. A story has to be unique, not representative, to make the lineup.

Third, a headline is not a story. A headline is supposed to get your attention. This is why the most intriguing story is mentioned over and over, and then broadcast last, so you’ll watch the entire show. Which isn’t a terribly bad thing, many people sit through an entire newscast and might pick up some actual information while waiting to see the squirrel on water skis. The headline is the carnival barker, making the bearded woman sounds interesting enough that you’ll pay to see her.

Rioting in response to an unpopular verdict is not the answer. Using a tragedy for self promotion is a number of things, ranging from pathetic to disgusting.

We cannot fix every broken mind out there, but of those that we can fix, we can only do so with love.