Adios Afghanistan

On October 7, 2001 the USA and certain of its allies launched Operation Enduring Freedom, an invasion of Afghanistan in response to the al Qaeda attacks on the USA of September 11, 2001.  The stated goal of this invasion was to dismantle al Qaeda and dismantle its training and logistical operations in Afghanistan facilitated by the friendly Taliban regime that came to power when Russia deserted the country. 

Over the years, the USA and its allies became bogged down fighting and dismantling the Taliban while al Qaeda moved across the border to Pakistan.  During the occupation the invading forces established Hamid Karzai, a former Unical executive, as president.  Karzai, who suffers from and is medicated regularly for depression, proved to be a contrary partner and ran a corrupt administration that exercises power only over the capital of Kabul.  During the occupation and continued war against the Taliban, Karzai has repeatedly criticized the USA and its allies who are keeping him in office.  Karzai has proven that in addition to being corrupt and inept, he is not to be trusted. 

This week, after more than eleven years of military action resulting in the deaths of 2175 Americans and a total of 3255 allied forces to date, President Obama annouced that the USA is drawing down its forces and turning over to the Afghan army and police the duties of maintaining the country's security.  During the same press conference, Karzai announced that he is retiring from office this year.

This military action originally had a clear goal and mission that is quickly accomplished but became distracted by an unrelated USA invasion of Iraq instigated by a weak US president who was manipulated by a cabal led by his own vice president.  The stated goal was not to defeat the Taliban and establish a regime friendly to the allied forces but to dismantle al Qaeda.  No one in the allied command seemed to notice or care that al Qaeda was replaced by the Taliban as the on-field adversary and that the goal of the mission, costly in both human lives and financial expenditures, became the perpetuation of the corrupt and inept Karzai administration even despite Karzai's traitorous actions towards the allies.  For many years now that USA and its remaining allies in the invasion have ignored the original goal of the mission.

The USA has needlessly lost too many soldiers and spent too much of its scant resources on a mission that long ago lost its focus and resulted in the USA and its allies becoming proxies for the Karzai administration in a civil war against the Taliban.  Finally the USA has determined that it has lost too much, including most of its allies, while accomplishing little in respect of its original goal.  The enemy is al Qaeda, not the Taliban and, similar to Karzai using the USA and its allies as proxies to fight its side of its civil war, al Qaeda is using the Taliban to engage and distract the USA from pursuing and accomplishing its objective, namely the eradication of al Qaeda.

The USA has been fighting in Afghanistan too long and for no good purpose.  The removal of US forces from the killing fields is long overdue as is its support of Karzai who, not surprisingly, is stepping down as the USA withdraws.  As an adjunct to this belated withdrawal, Obama has named former US Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense to oversee the withdrawal.  Hagel is the right man for this job now and Hagel will ensure that the future use of US forces will be in actions with clearly defined goals and plans of execution.  As a former war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Hagel will fight to keep certain elements of the US government from using military force to further hidden agendas and will maintain focus of the goals of any missions undertaken. 

Adios, Afghanistan and good luck to Sen. Hagel in maintaining sanity and integrity in the use of US military might in the future.  For the past eleven years, the US has lost too much and accomplished too little.  The time to bring US troops home is long overdue.

Let's Seize the Moment

While the facts now indicate that the Tucson tragedy was not the direct result of overly heated political rhetoric, let's continue to seize the moment and tone it down. Let's discuss matters civilly among ourselves, including those with whom we disagree. Let us show respect for differing opinions and let us not demonize those with whom we disagree. Congressional members set a good example by sitting together with opposites resulting in a more orderly and civil presentation of our nation's condition. They disagree on issues, not on the worth and humanity of their opposites. Let their example permeate the political discourse and let us discuss and disagree civilly and respectfully. Those whose opinions differ from ours may be our adversaries, but they are not our enemies. They are our family, friends, and neighbors.

Also, we should take this opportunity to be more mindful of the needs of those around us. We need to occasionally leave our comfort zones to come to the aide of those who are asking for help and we should not ignore their subtle pleas. We all live in the same society and in order for that society to succeed, we need to be aware that we are not alone and that at times we may need to become proactive in aiding a person in need.

As Rodney King asked so succinctly and eloquently some years back "can't we all just get along?" I hope so, and I believe we will, if we all do our part.

Despicable Acts of Cowardice

"Sarah Palin sent condolences to Giffords’ family, but said nothing about her unconscionable SarahPAC map putting 20 House members, including Giffords, in actual crosshairs for supporting healthcare reform, or her infamous Tweet telling conservatives “don’t retreat, reload.” Giffords’ 2010 Tea Party challenger, Jesse Kelly, hasn’t apologized for inviting supporters to “shoot a fully automatic M16″ to “get on target for victory” and “remove Gabrielle Giffords from office.” " Joan Walsh Salon

Responsible people of influence do not use the rhetoric of violence to make their points and anyone in politics or the media who uses this vernacular should be condemned and shunned. The attack on a member of Congress is an attack on the American rule of law and way of life. Those who exhort others to commit such attacks do not have any place in American society. A 9 year old child lies dead this morning because of this attack, an innocent child whose life was only beginning. We cannot tolerate this. We cannot allow this. This must stop and it must begin with an end to the rhetoric of violence and hatred spewed forth by the ignorant. Those who encourage these despicable acts of cowardice, intentionally or otherwise, do not have any place in American society. I say intentionally or otherwise, but one can hardly read the utterances above and not conclude that the results in Arizona were the intentions of the speakers. Those who speak the words that encourage the actors are no less guilty for the resulting criminal acts.

A Nation in Decline

With great hope, considerable enthusiasm, and dire need for changes, President Obama was inaugurated in January 2009 at which time the "official" [read understated] U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6% (http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2009/feb/wk2/art02.htm). After almost 2 years in office, the hope has vanished, the enthusiasm dissipated, and the need for change is even more dire. The November 2010 unemployment rate has risen to an intolerable and unconscionable 9.8%, increasing .2% since October 2010 and all signs indicate that the American economy is stuck idling in neutral while the president has become remote, disengaged, and, according to some reports, unhappy with his position. He should realize that his former supporters are disenchanted, disappointed, and unhappy with his performance, or lack thereof.

Obama has failed to deliver on almost all of his campaign promises and has gone from being the omnipresent face in the media to perfunctorily continuing the George W. Bush agenda. His failure to deliver even marginal improvement in the American Main Street economy is a betrayal worthy of former Vice President Cheney. Worse yet, America is in steep decline. With de facto unemployment near 20% and in deeper that imaginable debt, America is spiraling downward like detritus in a flushed toilet. And he who promised to rescue this nation after eight long years of Bush destruction is in a snit because the job isn't as he imagined. Worse yet, the alternatives are unacceptable and we have two more years of gridlock, stagnation, decline, and lack of leadership before the next election.

The two-party system has failed to provide a check and balance to incompetence and petulant behavior and a third alternative is now essential. This nation is in serious decline and is heading towards a metaphorical waterfall without a competent and engaged captain to steer it to safety. God help America because no one else in government either has the will or the wherewithal to do so.

The Failures of President Obama

President Obama was elected on a platform of change, but to date very little has changed. He inherited a mess from a grossly incompentent president and administration and the electorate believed that he was better equipped to fix the problems than his opponent. He came to be inaugurated with great promise, hope, and support, but to date he has failed to fix any of the problems he promised to fix. For example,

1. The economy: so far the only thing that has been fixed has been Wall Street with banks flourishing and the stock market climbing while Main Street remains in depression caused by job loss reported at 10.2% but more realistically 17-20% and climbing. Financial executives are licking their collective chops over the bonuses they will receive at year's end while the working class struggles to remain employed and meet basic expenses. An economy based on consumption is debt-ridden and cash poor with credit max'ed out. The coming holiday shopping season appears to be a disaster for retailers which will result in more unemployment and more pain and suffering for Main Street. Obama seems to have forgotten that it's the economy and his forgetfulness makes him look uncharacteristically stupid.

2. Healthcare: those of us who remember the congressional gnashing of teeth and warnings of impending socialism that accompanied the Medicare debate. President Kennedy couldn't get Medicare passed in congress and it took the strongarm parental bullying of Lyndon Johnson to get the congress to do what was right. The same demogoguery is being spewed by the opposers of doing what is fair and just for the masses but the strong parent is absent so legislation that should have been passed > 30 years ago now is dragging on and on and on. Nancy Pelosi finally rammed it through the House. Harry Reid is equivocating about maybe next year and appears too weak to find a way to accomplish what everyone agrees needs to be done. The White House stands by hoping that congress will do the right thing but doesn't take the initiative to get it done. If Harry Reid can't find a way to pass this legislation, then Harry Reid needs to be replaced as Senate Majority leader. If the White House doesn't stop dithering and engage itself in the debate, then it will fail miserably where others have failed, but will have managed to literally snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In short, no heath care reform equates to a failure by Obama to fix a festering problem that should be a no-brainer.

3. Middle East: Obama and Clinton are letting Netanyahu pull a Shamir but pretending to want peace while doing everything to prevent the forward movement of the peace process. Settlements in occupied territory are patently illegal and a major obstacle to peace but Obama/Clinton have taken the bait from the Netanyahu hook and all the positive gains from Obama's speech in Egypt have dissipated. A Middle East peace solution isn't any closer to fruition today than it was under George W. Bush, et. al. Obama has lost the initiative and his Middle East equivocation equates to failure.

4. Afghanistan: as Obama dithers over what to do, what to do, Americans continue to fight and die, once again, in the wrong country fighting the wrong war against the wrong foe. al Qaeda is flourishing in Pakistan while America fights the Taliban in Afghanistan. bin Laden must be convinced we are a nation led by gross incompetents and Richard Holbrooke is a total disaster as special envoy. What we have gotten under Holbrooke's watch is a corrupt Afghan president who stole an election more blatantly than the Iranian president. Americans continue to fight and die in now record numbers while Obama contemplates his next move. Another failure looms.

5. Iran: moving closer to nuclear weapon capacity while Obama loses Arab support due to his naivete in the Israeli/Palestinian morass. Engaging Amadeenijad after the stolen election is a huge mistake and Obama is failing to move in any direction in respect of Iran. The Iranian mullahs apparently have copied a page from Netanyahu by feigning to want negotiation while continuing to do whatever they want in pursuit of their goals.

In sum, the Obama administration continues to flounder without accomplishing any problem solving successes and the electorate is growing disconcerted and angry. The 2010 election could result in a loss of congress for Obama's party unless positive results are achieved. For all the hope of change we had last year and on January 20, 2009, we now have misgivings, doubts, slow-burning anger, and conviction that we have met the new boss and he is the same as the old boss.

Farewell to Ted Kennedy

Sad somber day. I came of age during the rise of Camelot, when America was in a state of flux and social changes that lead to upheaval and created a different world that was in some ways better, in some ways not. I always had great hopes, but few of them were realized. Now the last of the Camelot knights is gone and the era is ended. I do not find any reason to hope for the best for this country now. Ah, Teddy, in many ways you were the best of the best. God bless you and keep you. You earned your reward.

Jesus and Mary Chain

From Lost in Translation

Listen to the girl
As she takes on half the world
Moving up and so alive
In her honey dripping beehive
Beehive
It's good, so good, it's so good
So good
Walking back to you
Is the hardest thing thatI can do
That I can do for you
For youI'll be your plastic toy
I'll be your plastic toy
For you
Eating up the scum
Is the hardest thing forMe to do
Just like honey

Haven't we all had an experience like Bob and Charlotte?
Haven't we all bee somewhere
With someone unique
And together we've wanted
Time to stand still
To live forever in the moment
Only to have it end
The pain is hardly bearable
The pain endures
But we do go on
We don't have any choice
But it's not the same
And it never will be.