A World-Crisis: One More Opportunity to Play the Blame Game
Wow. There’s some heavy stuff going down in Washington. And once again, I am loathe to trust anything I hear because it’s all so steeped and occluded in “messaging,” “spin,” and deluxe finger-pointing. It’s really hard to be an informed citizen these days. You begin to feel as though there really is no TRUTH. Just somebody’s version of it. And as in all things politics, it’s being bent to serve a purpose.
From today’s decidedly left-leaning HuffPost:
Some people have been wondering whether Dick Cheney and George Bush, to preserve their legacy and their secrets, would spring an October surprise to secure the election of John McCain–the clearest and almost the only urgent goal of this administration as it winds down. We have wondered whether the trigger could be in Georgia, or Iran, or Pakistan. Yet the banking crisis, in the manner of its management, now looks like the October surprise one week early and with one week longer to turn it to advantage.”
Gawd. Really? I mean, could that be true? I think not. I think the people in Washington can’t help working every situation to their advantage, but I guarantee that this crisis was not “manufactured.” A ridiculous assumption. There are too many people in Washington, including Pelosi, Barney Frank, and a gazillion others who would be aware of it. It’s cynicism maximized into paranoid delusion. That said, would the Bush Administration and Cheney, et al, work this situation to their advantage? Yup. No doubt. One begins to wonder: if the result is the same as if it were manufactured, then there are far scarier things going on in Washington than I can stomach. I am naive enough to believe that the leaders of our country, ALL of them, care about the people and want to do what’s right. Greater good and all that.
Republicans, on the other hand, argue that the Clinton Administration forced the bad subprime loan practices by insisting that low/no credit borrowers be allowed to borrow anyway (Community Reinvestment Act). According to Investor’s Business Daily (emphasis added):
The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Reinvestment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority homeownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats now decry as not only greedy but “predatory.” Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street. But the seed was planted in the ’90s by Clinton and his social engineers. They were the political catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck.
Uh, yeah. So, all that subprime credit was just irresistibly JUICY and the Democrats practically FORCED all those poor victimized hedge-fund managers and senior-level Wall Street investors to re-package it and sell it worldwide in a disguised form that then crumbled everyone’s assets. I understand. It’s quite clearly the Democrats’ fault. Those bad, bad social engineers and their JUICY, JUICY subprime mortgages! It was NOT POSSIBLE TO RESIST THAT TEMPTATION. Kind of like Eve bringing down the whole scene and the downfall of all humanity. Really. All her fault. Democrats. All their fault. Nothing to do with de-regulation at all. (Which, some Democrats supported, I might add.)
The important take-away for all this is to choose a side. Be sure to rant whenever possible about FAULT and point-
fingers. Be sure to maximize cynical thinking by looking intensely for political maneuvering rather than solutions. McCain’s decision to delay the debate seemed like a good idea. I was a little shocked by the Obama camp objecting to debate delays. I’m sure all he heard for days was, “Don’t do it! That’s what they want!” Then I read his statement that the American people need the debates more than ever. Oh yeah. Dang. It’s so hard to remember what I want!
Dood. All WE THE PEOPLE want is to know that our representatives are responsible, clear-thinking individuals who will do what’s right for the greater good. It’s just world markets we’re talking about. And remember, if you’re going to seek some completely unprecedented solution? Maybe you can make sure there’s some justice involved. Those bankers came from both parties. Jails don’t care who you voted for.
Obama’s Like an Overripe Fruit
How exhausted would you be after enduring this year’s campaign marathon? Should be an Olympic event. Maybe 2012. For now, we see article after article declaring that Obama is squashy like an overripe fruit. That the public is tiring of his rhetoric, his polish, his thoughtfulness, his FLIP-FLOPPING AND QUESTIONABLE STANCES ON IMPORTANT ISSUES.
Hmmm. I beg to differ on these charges. I had my doubts about Obama’s veracity. I thought it might all be too good to be true. And with feisty Russians and uppity Koreans, and how-dare-those-Chinese-women to even THINK they’d beat us in beach volleyball, one feels the need for someone with a strong support of US interests and safety and less-so about a nuanced approach to complex foreign policy “opportunities”. But that’s knee-jerk, fear talking. The world is a scary place and what I want more than ever is a SANE person (unlike the one we have now) sitting in the White House. What I want is someone with the depth and the capacity to understand the mind-boggling variables that go into making Foreign Policy decisions. This would be Obama. McCain could be good; he’s seen and experienced that area where few of us take our thoughts: the front lines where the blood and bullets fly. He’d make decisions that reflect his compassion for the men and women who fight the wars we fund.
But do you know what I really want? More than anything? Someone who won’t be on the ballot. Someone who maybe doesn’t exist right now (unless he’s Ron Paul, who had some things very right). I want a president, an entire executive branch AND a congress, that does not engage in overextending our presence, our hegemony, in areas where we don’t belong. The Bush Administration sent troops into Iraq in a bold-faced, illegal attempt to establish a US presence in an oil-producing country. WTF? We are the country capable of innovation and popular effort on a huge scale. Voluntarily. We don’t need to invade and coerce other countries to get our way like jerk-bullies on the playground. We need to pull back and stop trying to cram democracy down the world’s throat. Why? Because one of our values is diversity. We can let other systems work. The Chinese are a great example of an entirely different culture and approach to government that works well for the billions of people for whom the system orchestrates order. They don’t have democracy. They don’t need it. Something I’m clear about? I don’t need them to have it!
So Dear Mr. President-Elect, whoever you may be, please reel it back in. Please don’t tow the crusty old rotten line of nation-building or corporate entitlement that drags us into senseless wars where we don’t need to be. Please be sane, and you know what? Please do be “nuanced” but only so that we understand
that though your approach is answering complex questions, we’re sure you have the AMERICAN PEOPLE and not American Interests in mind when you respond to all those scary global situations that call for decisiveness.
George said it best, George Washington that is:
It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world.
Because we’re past our prime, hopefully, as an empire builder, let’s slow down peacefully and gracefully. Let’s divest our resources from the gulping, cash-hungry maw of mistaken entanglements. I’m hoping Obama thinks somewhere along these lines, but cynically, we know he can’t say what he truly believes and get his campaign financed.
Aliens Align for Obama
I’ve been closely following the campaign in all the blogs and news sources when it finally hit me: there’s been a significant rise in the number of UFO sightings reported recently!! We all know what this means! Yet another faction, yet another source of undue influence over our political system. I’ve had it. Between all the PAC money and special interests, do we really want aliens in the mix? I wrote to Senator Obama with my concerns. He completely assured me that he is immune from all forms of external influence, including alien mind control which has in the past been known to influence other politicians (including Alaska Senator Ted Stevens). The picture at left was sent by the Obama camp along with his reply letter. It *is* exciting to know the aliens love Obama as much as the Europeans do.
So then I felt better — until this! An excessively well-educated ex-astronaut from NASA has come forward with his shocking belief that we are not alone. This is no country bumpkin, this is a smart guy. He walked on the moon for nine 
hours. I’m thinkin he knows what he’s talking about. In fact I read somewhere recently that children in the US are more likely to recognize alien forms than bees when shown pictures. Why is our culture so heavily steeped in alien lore? Is our collective unconscious conspiring to prepare us as a species for universal politics? We can’t even handle the United Nations! We’re not ready! Start making your tinfoil hats, people. If Obama can hold out, so can we!
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