19 December 2009

2009......what a year

Well here we are, getting close to the end of another year. Around this time of year, we usually get those "look back" type of TV news programs. I haven't had a TV set for over two years now, so I wonder if they still do those types of programs. Well, this post will look at some of the things I learned this year.
One thing I learned early this year is that an "historic" event can be a dud.
How so? Well, the American presidential election of 2008 gave us the "historic" moment. For the very first time, a black man was elected as president.
OK, historic for sure. How was it a dud? Well, less than one week into the new job, the "new" president ordered the bombing by drone aircraft of targets in Pakistan. In his first year in office, Go-bomb-them has dropped more bombs on Pakistan than W. Shrub did in four years on the job.
We also learned in 2009 that the Nobel Peace Prize can be awarded to a person for "expectations" rather than any actual work towards peace. How else does one explain how Go-bomb-them was even nominated for this "prize"? The nominations for the "prize" closed in late February. He took office on 20 January. So, after being on the job less than two months, he was nominated for this "prize". What peace did he help to make in that short time? Did he bring peace to Iraq? Did he end the war in Afghanistan? Did he bring peace to the Palestine/Israel conflict?
Sadly, the answer to those questions is a resounding no. What he did do in that time was to bomb Pakistan. He also made no comment about the brutal invasion of Gaza. The "excuse" for the no comment on the Gaza disaster was that he had not yet assumed the office. True, yet at the same time, a very weak excuse to me.
So, just what had our president done in his short time in office to warrant the "peace prize"? Well, he got elected on the slogan of "yes we can". He was billed as "change we can believe in". He had raised the expectations of people all over the world.
Oh, so he was nominated for the "prize" based on the expectations people had of him? OK, but by that sort of standard, why not give a high school diploma to every child on his/her first day in kindergarten? We could tell them they were getting it for our expectations of them. Why not? If it works for a "peace prize", what limits do we apply to "regular" people? Do we hold a child to a higher standard than we do a president of a world power? Inquiring minds want to know.
I also learned that when is finally awarded this "peace prize" that it is A-OK to dismiss those who have really worked for genuine peace. You know, people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.. They were described as "naive" by Go-bomb-them in his acceptance speech. In that same speech, he told the world that peace requires war. Was that a "1984" type moment? War is peace? Slavery is Freedom? Oh bother, he really did make it seem that war makes for peace. I had no idea that when giving a speech while accepting a "peace prize" that it was OK to tell the world how war is such a necessity. I never have claimed to be very smart, but somehow it just doesn't seem right to give a speech on how two very well know people who worked hard to achieve real peace were "deluded" as it were. I never would have thought it proper to give a speech accepting a "peace prize" while you tell the world how war makes for peace. Call me stupid, but somehow that just doesn't seem right to me.
Yes, dumb old charlie sure would have figured that if you were being awarded a "peace prize" you should talk about peace and other peace makers. I don't think talking about how "good" can come from war is the right thing to do at that time. Then, maybe I do need some "educating". Yes, I must be very damn stupid at that. I mean, if the president of the US of A makes the sort of "peace prize" speech where he puts down genuine peace makers and reminds us all how "good" war can be, well then, it must be OK to do that.
Is it just me. or does Go-bomb-them look more and more like W. Shrub every day? Sure, the guy still talks in complete sentences, but, well, just what is he really saying?
Before he even got on the plane to fly off to get his "prize", he announced that he would be sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. OK, now, here I might need some help. He sends more troops to a war, thereby escalating a war. Then he goes off to pick up a "peace prize"?
No wonder the elephant gang likes him. Toss in that "prize" speech and they may dump the moose burger bimbo for Go-bomb-them.
By the way, I saw on some web site where one of the late night comics, I think(?) it was Leno, said that Go-bomb-them was nominated for an Academy Award. He got the nomination for a Democrat acting like a Republican. No matter which of the TV guys said it, it sounds damn close to right to me.
I also learned that if you claim to be a "student" of the Great Depression and happen to be the chairman of the Fed, you can be named as the "Time" magazine person of the year. And not just because of those two "qualifications" either. Nope, you can be Fed boss and a "student" of that economic mess and do everything possible to not do what should be done and still get that magazine cover. Not being an economist, I may not have the "clout" to tell Ben his job, but had FDR and his folks done what Ben and his crew have done, that depression of the 1930's would not have ended even with World War Two to bail them out.
I am not a "student" of that time period, but I have read where the government tried to end the depression by creating jobs for those who had none. There was massive federal spending on all sorts of projects. Jobs were created. OK, some were just "make work" jobs, but, they did get people back to work with a regular pay check. What has Ben done? Well, he gave huge, some might even say obscene, amounts of money to the very folks who caused the current economic mess. Yes, folks, old Ben gave Trillions to the "too big to fail" banksters. Now, here again, I show how damn stupid I am. To me, a regular old dumb ass if there ever was one, a "student" of the Great Depression would have gone for things like government spending on jobs to repair the infrastructure. He would have set the money for construction of our aging roads, bridges, and other projects that need to be done. In fact, many of those items have been in great need of money for repairs for years. It was not that long ago that we had a bridge fail in Minnesota. Remember that one? We have many more bridges that are in very bad shape. We have millions of people without jobs. Skilled people without jobs. We have an aging infrastructure. Seems to me, any real "student" of the Great Depression would be able to see that granting the money for those jobs would have been the way to go. But, that would just help the working class. I suppose that is why Ben chose to help those "poor" under paid banksters. Yep, help for the working class might sound like socialism to the elephant gang. Might get Limburger, Beck, O'Really and that crew all hyper. Faux Noise might raise some crap over that sort of thing. Dear me, we can't get those folks upset now.
So, maybe being a "student" of something now means that when a situation comes along that is very close to what you have studied so much, you do just the very opposite of what the folks you studied did. And, then you can be the "person of the year" and have the whole cover on "Time" magazine. No doubt that magazine cover and $5.00 will get you a small, plain coffee at Starbucks. Big damn deal.
We have also learned that one can get elected to the US Senate and not act like any sort of decent American. Yes, I bring up Joe LIEbermann now. Old Joe used to be a member of the donkey gang. He and they didn't get along so good, so Joe quit to be an "independent". LOLMAO!!!!! Sorry about the laughter, but Joe has never been independent. He has been, and always will be, a tool of AIPAC. He is a forever "Israel Firster". On the health care bill grinding its way through Congress, Joe has threatened to hold his breath till he gets his way. Screw him. Let him do it, I dare him. He is a little coward. The other day, Senator Franken got old Joe. Joe was giving some yammering yack or other and asked for an extension on his time. Senator Franken said "no". Poor joe, nobody has ever dared to say no to him before. He said he didn't take it personally. Bullshit! Everything is personal with that rat bastard. Let the little weasel stew in his own shit for now. I never have cared much for Al Franken, but he sure did one decent thing this time. I still think Franken is a pompous ass and never thought he was funny, but I give him a thumbs up for this. Just proves that because I may not like the guy that he can't do something good now and then. Nice move Al.
It may be nasty of me to pick on "poor old" Joe, but he has been doing everything he can to make sure that regular Americans never get a decent health care plan. All the while, he enjoys a gold plated health care package at our, tax payer, expense. Sort of an,
"I got mine. Screw the rest of you." That is what we call an attitude folks. And Joe has a very nasty attitude. Past time that somebody slapped his ass down. Just wish it had been a much harder slap.
The folks who spent two weeks in Denmark learned something also. They learned that Go-bomb-them was not going to ride in like the old US cavalry to "save the day" for them. He did show up the day before the end of that climate meeting. He had some back room meetings with China and some other folks. He did sign on to a statement also. Um, well, big deal. That "statement" isn't really much of anything, as the folks who had been there for the past two weeks found out real soon. The compromise that Go-bomb-them signed onto does not set goals, does not set time limits, doesn't really do much of anything.
One comment from the busted Copenhagen meeting was, "Yes we can, but no, he won't". Sort of sums up a whole lot about the president of the old US of A. I'd say that applies to a great many things. Things like peace and health care for starters. HEalth care? Yes we can, but no, he won't. Peace? Yes we can, but no, he won't. I say that we Americans have first "dibs" on being damn disappointed in Go-bomb-them. We elected him, and he is an American. The rest of the world is upset over this climate deal? Too damn bad, he screwed us even more, and we are stuck with him for at least three more years. Denmark this week just showed the rest of the world what he has shown us for the past 11 months.
So that is my look at the year 2009. A look at a few of the things I have learned this past year. Oh, and guess what? We still have 11+ days left in the year! That means we might even get to learn a few more neat things before we say goodbye to 2009. I'm not sure if that makes me happy or just wary.
semper fi

2 comments:

Tao Dao Man said...

Great post, Charlie.

If you did not like 2009, or if it had a lot of surprises for you. Then you will hate 2010. LOL.
The system is broken, I can not say it any simpler than that. We are headed toward a Fascist state. The baton was handed over to the new bearer of the agenda. The same shadows are still behind the curtains.

Tao Dao Man said...

May you find inner peace in the new year. I doubt we will find global peace. lol