Do You Hear What I Hear?

Listening to President Obama discount President Karzai's anti-US comments was like listening to the Wizard of Oz tell Dorothy and her motley group of malcontents to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

Obama was speaking at a NATO press conference, assuring America and its allies that Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, asked America to stay in Afghanistan for four more years. (Is this how Obama reneges on his pledge to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2011...by blaming Karzai?) He must think we are all stupid. He must think we have no televisions, no newspapers - that we cannot read and see and hear for ourselves what people around the world are saying.

Karzai asked America to "tone down your presence in Afghanistan." He asked America to stop your night raids on Afghan homes." He asked America to stop killing innocent Afghan civilians." He asked America to "leave."

We heard that. What we did not hear was the sound of Karzai's arm being twisted behind that "curtain" - perhaps part of a good cop - bad cop routine where America tells Karzai, "My dear, dear friend...if you don't watch your mouth, you will be the ones leaving, long before us."

Afghanistan is becoming an American farce acted out on the world stage. And it is our precious sons and daughters who are caught in the crossfire.

On the other side, there is the Taliban - sons of the Mujahideen, who fierce resistance to foreign occupation is legend. these men will fight forever. On the other side is the Afghan soldiers and police. Their loyalty to Karzai is tepid, at best; their loyalty to Obama's cause is non-existent. They are the ones most likely to shoot our sons in the back on their way to joining their Taliban brethren in his struggle against the invader.

"Four more years," Mr. Obama? You wish. At this rate, there will be only two more years of you, (six more of Karzai), and 1,000 more of the Afghan fighter.

Who Needs a Baby to Hold?

A recent study found that people who bully others do less bullying after they have held a baby. On the same CNN show, "Parker-Spitzer", that asked about "American Exceptionalism", (see my previous post), the co-host asked their guests "Who needs a baby to hold?"

The same guest who could not zero in on the source of "American Exceptionalism", again went down swinging.

"Glenn Beck needs a baby to hold, and...oh, Bill O'Reilly." Another guest threw in Nancy Pelosi's name. Okay, all bad actors, I suppose. But, again, they miss the uprights. The question is not "Who is a bully?" Too many people fit that mold; perhaps we all do at some point in our lives, having bullied classmates, younger siblings, even small animals. The question is "Who?" I offer two entities: American needs a baby to hold. Who has been a bigger bully than the nation whose favorite boasts is: "We are taking nothing off the table."

We talk about our kids bullying in school when, on the world stage, we exude the notion that might makes right. (Bullies live by that principle.) America is the bully supreme.

And on whom do we beat? Like all bullies, we beat on the those smaller than ourselves. We bombed Iraq after it invaded our friend, Kuwait. We attached Grenada. We invaded Panama. We bombed Serbia, Libya, Afghanistan, the Sudan, and then bombed Iraq, again.

Funny that we did not bomb Russia after they invaded our friend, Georgia. Neither did we bomb China when they captured one of America's most sophisticated jets. That happened in 2000. We took "bombing" off the table then, and waited patiently while China took its own sweet time before sending our aircraft back to us in pieces.

Speaking of "Taking nothing off the table": Doesn't that sound illegal? Doesn't that suggest that we will do anything; even violate international law to get our way? Isn't that the same mantra the terrorists live by? Nothing is off the table. Isn't that whey we despise them so, because they might do anything?

President Obama has since modified that position, insisting that "torture is off the table." I doubt that it is. We may not torture within our formal framework, but we will outsource such work to places like Egypt, Poland, Bulgaria, and other "black sites" where people can get away with murder. (We torture when we buy torture).

Bullying is in our blood. We think it keeps us safe. Of course, it does not; it only keeps us busy.

Now two of the planet's great bullies have squared off on the world stage. (They need a baby bad). Dare w give each one to hold.

American Exceptionalism

One night, Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer of CNN's Parker-Spitzer posed this question to their guests: "When you hear the words 'American Exceptionalism', what do you think of?"

To a man, and to a woman, each guest spoke of the American people – their resilience, their diversity. One guest spoke of America's freedoms – of speech, religion, etc. They all made good points, except...many nations on Earth have freedom of expression. And all of the world's peoples are resilient; many far more resilient than we, having to daily endure drought, famine, and pestilence.

As for diversity: The Congo, alone a nation of 60 million people, has over 200 distinct ethnic groups. And what about England, that cornerstone of Western civilization where the most common name for boys born in 2010 is Muhammad. Try that for diversity, America.

No, where the United States exceeds all nations in exceptionalism is in the land, itself. From "sea to shining sea," America has more grand vistas, more fertile farmland, and more square miles of habitable space than any other nation on earth.

One needs only to drive across this country - something i did in the 1983 - to see for himself the extent of America's bounty. It inspires. You certainly marvel at the Spirit of those early pioneers who pushed handcarts and Conestoga wagons over mountains and across rivers. But peoples have moved like that for millennia. Imagine the hardships the first Americans endured as they crossed Siberia and the treacherous land bridge that is now the Bering Straits to get here.

Once they made their way down into what would become the "continental US", they could not have known that they have discovered the "Goldilocks Zone." It is that special place between "too-cold Canada" and "too hot Mexico," uniquely separated from much of the world's madness by two great oceans. It is there they lit a fire and warmed it up for the rest of us - this land that is "just right."

Yes we are exceptional people, but only when we are humbly thanking God for this exceptional piece of ground.

Hu's On First?

Watching President Obama and his pathetic attempts to work with the Republicans in congress reminds me of what Churchill said of Chamberlain, et al, prior to the start of World War II: "They had a choice between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor; they will have war."

If Obama were to body slam Boehner and put Mitch McConnell in a headlock, it would not be such a bad thing. The Chinese would take notice. Mostly, Americans would be heartened. We would think, "Yes, things are going to be all right."

Alas, that will not happen. Though bloodied in the mid-terms, Obama - ever the gentleman - has already come out with a hand extended in friendship, only to get his toes stomped. They will slam him into the turnbuckles next. (That's how the Republicans fight.)

The other day, Forbes magazine named President Obama the second-most powerful man on Earth. It may be the first time an American president has not held the top spot. That position, according to Forbes, goes to Chinese president, Hu Jintao, (pronounced "Who?"). Base on "what?" To be fair, he does command a billion intelligent and energetic people; (not to mention that he is Obama's banker.)

That aside, the United States still has a gross national product (GDP) four times that of China's. Our military budget dwarfs China's ten times over.

Forbes is being cute. They appear to be sizing up Obama based on his body language rather than the normal levers of power that govern such proclamations.

This is further evidence of Obama's dwindling stature: That a conservative magazine would squeeze an American president between a Chinese named "Hu" and a Saudi king.

Hey dude, ever heard of a drop kick?

Saving the Unpatriotic Penny

Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Generations of Americans since have lived by that guiding principle. As children growing up in the 50's and 60's, we were taught religiously to save, save, save.

We saved our summer earnings so that we could buy new clothes for the school year. We saved throughout the fall so that we could buy gifts at Christmas. We saved all winter so that come spring we could buy that spanking new used car. and it worked. We never went into debt, and we got most of the things we dearly wanted.

Now America has ditched that discipline. "Spend," they say. "Buy, buy, buy." (It's "bye, bye," all right. we are throwing it all out the window).

The other day, CNBC's Kudlow asked Robert Reich, popular economist from the Clinton Administration, "How do we get out of this economic crisis?" Reich replied, "We must get people spending." In the absence of a Ben Franklin, this is what we are stuck with - quasi-gurus who think a penny saved is an unpatriotic penny selfishly sitting.

Isn't it strange that none of these experts ever talk about lowering prices to achieve economic stability? (The U.S. has lost its competitive edge because of the high costs of its goods, not because we don't spend enough money.) We can see for ourselves that much of America's goods are completely over-priced, including the exorbitant wages/per hour paid workers who do less and less each day. (And the less they do, the less they want to do. "Just pay me," they are beginning to say.)

Time to re-configure "Getting ahead." Instead of hiring one man at $25 an hour, hire two at $12.50, or better yet, three at $8.25. That way, an employer can produce three times the product at the same cost, which will allow him to sell his product at a third of the price, which will make for a three-fold increase in the number of people nationally and worldwide who are able to afford his goods.

On its face, this may look like a simple answer to a complex problem. But it could well be an answer made complex by pride to a problem made simply by necessity.

This isn't it a beauty contest, folks. This is life. The prize goes to those communities, and nations, who families survive.

Les Desagreable

When "The View" guest, Bill O'Reilly, accused Muslims of killing American on 9-11, he inflamed such passions that co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg stormed off the set. Even as the dust of their exit still swirled in the air, Barbara Walters, grande dame of "The View", screamed to her audience, "What you have seen here should not have happened!" Days later, Howie Kurtz, host of "Reliable Sources", flatly stated, "Walking off in a huff doesn't solve anything."

Funny that we did not hear these admonitions when American diplomats walked out during Iranian president Ahmadinejad's recent speech to the United Nations in New York.

In fact, it has become customary for Americans to "walk off in a huff" whenever the likes of Chavez, Ahmadinejad, or any other leader disagreeable to American policy addresses a world body. American media figures even suggest proudly that we continue to do so.

What message do we send to America's youth and to young people worldwide with these recurrent pictures of petulance?

Time someone reminded our so-called "diplomats" of what the word diplomacy means. Time our leaders practice discipline and restraint rather than embrace rudeness at the first convenient moment. Time for adults everywhere to refrain from childish tantrums the instant other become disagreeable.

What Manner of Man Art Thou?

On a night in July 2010, rebel soldiers entered a village in the northeastern region of the Congo and raped 250 women and young girls. When they finished, they slithered back in the jungle virtually unpunished.

Two months later, a UN delegation went to the village to investigate this incident of mass rapes. The village women told their horrible stories beneath a thatched roof. Nowhere in their pitiable accounts was there mention of dead village men, (nor of dead rebel soldiers). How can that be? How can there be a tale of 250 raped women, and not a corresponding tale of 250 dead men who had tried to protect them?

Where were the men of the village that terrible night? Did they jump under their beds, or did they flee into the night and hide in the bush?

These unsophisticated village men cannot be expected to protect their families from Ebola, or some other strange and powerful force they do not understand. But they must be men enough to protect their families from other men, or at least die trying.

We understand the rebel soldiers who committed those unspeakable acts - they are animals. What we do not understand is husbands and fathers who do not serve up their very lives to stop them.