Obama's 1st Year's Grade

It's now the end of 2009 and almost 1 year has passed since President Obama assumed the office of the presidency. It's been a year of turmoil, both financially and politically, unlike anything I have seen since I have been alive. It is also the first time in 8 years that I did not have to suffer the embarrassment of having an incompetent as president of the US, and our country being the laughingstock of the world.

The things that I would downgrade him for, was his renewal of the Patriot Act, his renewal of FISA, his decision to send additional troops into Afghanistan, and his refusal to prosecute the criminals of the previous administration who approved torture and all manner of other violations of International and US law.

For these I would give him a grade of C.....

On the other hand, there were many notable things that he did achieve, the most recent was being awarded the most prestigious award in the world - the Nobel Peace Prize. Earlier in the year he also nominated and secured the appointment of the 1st Latina Supreme Court Justice, he fulfilled his campaign pledge to begin the daunting process of reforming healthcare in America, and he achieved a host of other legislative actions that had been neglected or denied by the previous administration. He has had many critics, both on the Right and on the Left, but at least one source correctly saw that his was one of the best 1st years in office that any previous president has had..

....from The BradBlog - http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7595

• Continued the draw down the misbegotten war in Iraq
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Thoughtfully and decisively picked the best of several bad choices regarding the war in Afghanistan
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Gave a major precedent-setting speech supporting gay rights
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Restored America's image around the globe
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Banned torture of American prisoners
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Stopped the free fall of the American economy
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Put the USA squarely back in the bilateral international community
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Put the USA squarely into the middle of the international effort to halt global warming
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Stood up for educational reform
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Won a Nobel peace prize
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Moved the trial of terrorists back into the American judicial system of checks and balances
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Did what had to be done to start the slow, torturous and almost impossible process of health care reform that 7 presidents had failed to even begin
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Responded to hatred from the Right and Left with measured good humor and patience
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Stopped the free fall of job losses
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Showed immense personal courage in the face of an armed and dangerous far Right opposition that included the sort of disgusting people that show up at public meetings carrying loaded weapons and carrying Timothy McVeigh-inspired signs about the "blood of tyrants" needing to "water the tree of liberty"...
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

• Showed that he could not only make the tough military choices but explain and defend them brilliantly
  (But that wasn't good enough for his critics)

For all these first-term achievements, I would give him a grade of A....

IMHO, His overall grade for his first year is a B to a B+, and I fully expect it to rise to a grade of A by the end of his 4-yr. term in office.

Time Out - Tiger Says!!

Well, the Tiger just announced that he was suspending his prowling on the PGA tour...and presumably in the bars and nightclubs where he picked up a bevy of flaxen-haired, blond hotties whom he clearly has a preference for, and who are just as unaccomplished as his nordic wife.

When you marry a woman for the wrong reasons, you are bound to get bored and restless, even if she is the mother of your two children. And apparently he was very bored! - so much so that he recklessly left traceable text-messages, and voicemails on the phones of a bunch of one-dimensional sperm cups, and now is paying millions for their silence. If only he had his head on straight and had a preference for the many attractive, accomplished Sisters available, it's almost guaranteed that he would not be in this mess today.

You would think that palling around with certified 'playas' like Barkley and Jordan, would have taught him a thing or two about how to 'play' with discretion and minimal exposure and risk. Instead, he displayed all the street smarts of a Monk gone wild on vacation. Reportedly he did not even use condoms as he scraped the bottom of the barrel with his driver and his 9-iron.

Predictably, the American sports establishment is chagrined at being betrayed by one of their 'honorary' whites who had the temerity to 'diss' one of their beauties they allowed him to marry, by whoring around on her. Just a few years ago they would have lynched him for much less than this - and this is how he repays them??? There was also a time when he would not have been permitted to even enter the clubhouse doors, never mind play on their golf courses.

Now, beat writers are tripping over themselves in angst at the besmirching of their sport by Tiger -
"golf has always held itself on a higher moral plane as a sport ruled by principles of honor. Has any such publicity created a bigger stain on golf?", and, "the game of honor and integrity had been besmirched like at no other time in it's 500-year history. It is a stain that no amount of Clorox could remove."
This is the most laughable of all assertions...that golf could have been stained by Tiger's actions, notwithstanding their racist history of exclusion that did not end until 1961, when black golfer, Bill Spiller's 13-year court battle, finally permitted him and fellow blacks to play on the PGA tour.

What they probably are really pissed at, is the certain plunge in revenues that all phases of golf will experience while Woods is away from the game - from smaller gates, drops in TV ratings, smaller purses, decreased corporate sponsorships, decreased equipment sales, deceased Ad revenues; to tour players dropping back to the 'Peter Principle' salary levels, where they would have been had not Tiger come along in the first place.

Many of the golf pros grumbled at Tiger's greatness and invincibility whenever he played, now they have a lot more to grumble about while he's on his sabbatical - the longer he is gone the worst it will be for them. When he was on tour they loved to hate him, now that he is gone, they will love to have him back.

It now appears more and more, that Tiger was being beaten with a golf club by his wife, because of her fury at the published accounts of his infidelity. This is what caused him to run out of the house and take off in his SUV with no shoes on, just before the crash. Apparently his wife was running right behind him and succeeded in smashing out the rear windows in her fury. But by the time the authorities got there, the spousal battery of his wife on him, was turned into "her heroic rescue of him", thus saving her from being arrested and charged with spousal battery. Had he been the one beating her, he would have surely been arrested and gone to jail. Instead, she gets a pass plus millions of more dollars to stay in the marriage with him.

All the facts may never come out, but he made his bed and he has to lay in it.

A Prize For Peace - Or a Nobel War?

As I listened to President Obama's speech, it struck me that his justification for the war he just expanded, is exactly what he had to say in order not to displease the powerful, elite, MIC ideologues who profit handsomely from our being constantly at undeclared war.

Do you think his life would be worth a plugged-nickel if he crossed them????

He is not a fool - he knows that they already murdered a sitting president plus his brother and two Civil Rights Activists, for crossing them by opposing the escalation of the Vietnam War; He knows that they warned Reagan with a faked assassination attempt when he strayed from their directives; he knows that they assaulted NYC and Washington, DC with massive air strikes that only they could have engineered and accomplished - all to provide a 'terrorist' rationale for war and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq...

He also knows that the recent security breech that allowed the 'party-crashers' to get close enough to kill him, was a thinly-veiled warning to let him know how easy it will be to take him out if it were ever necessary.

So it appears to me that President Obama is fighting to stay alive, while still trying to do some good for the people who supported him and even for those who did not - I don't envy his dilemma.

So don't get caught up in the hype that he could have ended the war by bringing the troops home, rather than choosing to expand it as he did - he may not have had that option because his life was on the line, and his first duty to himself and his family, is to stay alive!

How Dare You, Jesus!

This is the month of the year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the only Eternal God and Creator of the Universe.....

But since His birth and earthly ministry, His teachings has created a conundrum and a dilemma for those Conservatives who consider America to be a 'Christian' nation, yet hate, resist and ignore most of His teachings, particularly those they consider to be too socialistic, too communistic, or too pacifistic.

When Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matt. 5:38-39), Conservatives reply, 'we consider this to be unrealistic - in fact we believe in capital punishment and Bush's doctrine of Preventive War that justified the bombing, invasion, and rape and pillaging of Iraq.'.....how dare you, Jesus!

When Jesus says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25), and in Matt. 6:19 He says "do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth", and a few verses later, in Matt. 6:24, He says "You cannot serve both God and Money". In Luke 6:24 He says, "woe to you who are rich." Conservatives reply to all this, 'we believe in being filthy rich and we love the tax cuts for the rich that Reagan and Bush lavished on us while the standard of living for the middle class and the poor worsened every year....and to expect us to 'sell everything we have and give to the poor' (Mark 10:17-22), is pure insanity - only a communist would expect us to consider doing something like that.....how dare you, Jesus!

So every year about this time, Conservatives of every stripe are reminded of how far from the teachings of Jesus they really are, and in no sense can they claim to be Christians or claim America to be a Christian nation.... Jesus says they are not, and how dare He?

Obama's War????

Well, President Obama just fulfilled his campaign promise to send additional troops and expand the war in Afghanistan....much to the chagrin of many Liberal Progressives - many of whom are apoplectic with cries of, "we voted for change, and we are not getting it!"

Perhaps they didn't hear, or merely ignored Obama when he was campaigning - particularly in his Sept. '08 debate with McCain...he clearly said that the situation had eroded steadily there, and he would send in at least two brigades to shore up the deteriorating situation.

In fact, just 1 month after he took office, he sent 20,000 troops there as his first installment...now he has sent an additional 30,000 troops and an unknown number of support and logistical personnel. When they have arrived, we will have about 100,000 troops there, as well as at least 125,000 contractors.

Progressives want the troops to be brought home immediately because they see it as a hopeless mission, and that country has never been conquered by a foreign power in it's history. But we are not there to stop terrorism or the Taliban, we are there for other unstated reasons....

Like Bush, Obama can never say what are the real reasons for our being in Afghanistan, but here are a few -

- To secure and guard a right-of-way for the oil/gas pipeline which has already been started, and runs across the length of the country..

- To pacify the Generals who can only be pleased when there is war and they can be promoted...

- To provide a continuing stream of work and profits for big defense contractors and others of the MIC (military industrial complex), with profitable, no-bid contracts...and to provide a profitable bonanza for the oil companies which provides fuel for our military's needs...

- To control and profit from the world's largest narcotics growing area, from which the CIA derives most of it's funding for secret 'off-the-shelf' projects, and other mischief...

- To provide a military presence near the increasingly unstable Pakistani government, which has over 65 nukes in it's arsenal...

Will he start bringing them back in 18 months? - probably, if he really wants to be re-elected in 2010...but who really knows????...

MJ Docu: "Redeem or Fail To Acquit?"

My buddy Nezet responded to the question this way -

A response to the Los Angeles Times Opinion section “Comments Blog” titled: ‘This Is It': Does the Michael Jackson documentary redeem or fail to acquit?

The title of the article is insulting and demeaning to Jackson and his family IMHO….tripe like this “'This Is It': Does the Michael Jackson documentary redeem or fail to acquit?” as a title gets neither benefit of the doubt nor station with me. It is intended to demean and be slanderous to Jackson. Like some of the comments made by folks to the article, and they are entitled to their opinion, after all, this is AmeriKKKa…and how some people will want to continually try Jackson in the court of public opinion and forever tie his acquitted cases to his musicianship is a red herring at best. If every artist’s personal life is to be a reflection on what they do for a profession (singing, acting, playing an instrument, etc.)…puh-leez…let’s pull out the tabloids and “true Hollywood” stories of some of our so-called stars of yesterday and current ones….oh, and let’s pull out the “race card” (even if Michael Steele is in the background shouting “NNNNnnnoooooo!!!”)…how is that white artists can have all kinds of “dirt”…be it sex with an underage person, DRUGS, car accidents, multiple marriages/divorces, etc. and that’s just the stuff we hear about…after living out in Cali and crossing paths with a few folks in the “industry” there is a lot of sheet going on that doesn’t make the press…I’m not having this crucifying of MJ to satisfy some inherent need of denouncing and demeaning him on trumped up charges by money-grubbing parents of some of these kids. MJ had problems…who doesn’t…we’re all human (well, I suspect some are reptilian but that’s a rant for another day!)…and on many cases I would say IMHO he had poor judgment in his actions as an adult (to put it mildly)…but I’ve yet to see or hear all these details of how he’s a serial child molester or how he had sexual activities with any of these kids. All I know is some families got PAID large (looked like, “Hey Johnny go spend a night with MJ, oh...he touched your arm at night…and he let you SLEEP in his bed…CHILD MOLESTATION!!! What’s that…oh, you’ll pay us $20 mil….okay, send over the check…thank you very much! Oh Johnny…he’s fine…LATAH!”). Yadda-yadda-yah!

Back to the movie…I liked it, it was sad and bittersweet to see a supreme talent like MJ at work…and how he treated his fellow dancers, musicians, staff…no boasting, no diva-behavior, no “this is my show dammit!”…frankly, a gentle human being who was a master at his craft, knew what he wanted…and I’ve no doubt the actual concert show would’ve been a monster (as in good)! He was a tragic figure, flawed by a skewed childhood (or lack thereof frankly)…and I’m probably in the minority when I put a LOT of the blame to his parents (not that I want to drag Katherine or Joe through the mud, wringer, etc.)…but despite all the success, money and materialism…as the parents you need to get a grip on your reality…so hopefully your kids can have one. But in the drive, and this is probably on Joe the most, to be successful in the music industry…MJ’s childhood and sense of “normalcy” was skewed from when he was like 7 or 8 years old…and we have all been witness to the result. Even his siblings have “issues” that I surmise from afar…the predictable multiple marriages/divorces…and “acting out” by many of them…the only one who seems to be fairly balanced is Rebbie…who you don’t hear about or see in the press…which is why she’s probably fairly “normal” but I’m just speculating on that idea.

I could go on but I think you get my take…MJ…a “force of Nature” as one friend put it…and I concur…never seen anyone like him before…and don’t know if we’ll ever see anyone like him again! May he RIP….

By “Nezet”

How To Protect Marriage

I think it's absurd that the rabid right-wing is presuming to protect traditional marriages by supporting legislative bans on gay marriage or civil unions...this is like trying to promote cleaner air by banning air conditioners....Also, to think that marriages need protecting is laughable on it's face....

But to play along with their line of illogical thinking, I propose 5 ways to protect marriages while 'tongue is firmly ensconced and planted in cheek'...

1 Outlaw divorce - there is no better way to protect the institution of marriage..

2 Ban Viagra - except for married men and for procreative purposes only!..

3 Mandate arranged marriages - in much of the world this has worked best for centuries...

4 Levy a fee of $10,000 to obtain a marriage license - this way only the most committed, responsible and wealthiest citizens will marry....

5 Outlaw unmarried sex - if jail is mandated, it will provide a powerful incentive for responsible citizens to get married...

I am expecting an avalanche of congratulatory messages on my bold initiatives to preserve their non-issue, from the James Dobsons' of the world - but I'm not holding my breath!..