Why I Voted For Obama

I have voted for President Obama at every opportunity, although my view is that he's made major mistakes. My reason for choosing him can be found in Dexter Filkins' article in the May 13 The New Yorker. In the article Leon Panetta talks about a covert proposal to arm one side in the Syrian civil war.  This course of action was urged on Obama by Panetta, Hillary Clinton, Gen. Petraeus and David Clapper (director of National Intelligence).  Obama replied, No thanks. He saw that action as a slippery slope down which we would tumble into yet another war--and why this particular war? At any time there are ten such wars we can sponsor if we decide to get involved.

Obama's action astonished Sen. John McCain. "There may be another time in history when a President's entire national-security team  recommended a course of action and he overruled them, but if there is I'm not aware of it," McCain said.  Yes, there is most of a universe out there that McCain never heard about.

Chekhov

Chekhov wrote that if you fear loneliness, you should not marry. I've found no context except that the sentence comes from his notebook, a collection of unrelated observations. Chekhov might mean that marriage is not a cure for loneliness, or--this is more likely--he might mean that marriage will make you lonely at times. Loneliness is built into marriage.

Republican Talking Points

Republican Talking Points: "The globe is divided between good Americans and bad people. The worst person is the President. He is not American. He wants to subjugate the good Americans. He plans to take away their liberties. We must hold hearings to prove this is true. Hearings will confirm that he hopes to do bad things to good people. He has already done something terribly wrong, and we will find out what it was."

Benghazi Talking Points

As you know, the Republicans have been running a campaign of quackery centered on the first talking points used by the administration in the confused hours immediately after the terrorist murders in Benghazi. The Republicans keep asking questions that have already been answered. This is, of course, a waste of time, but we might want to consider the people who wrote the talking points, particularly the man who signed off on them, the editor-in-chief. He's a well-known retired general named David Howell Petraeus.

War Looms

In Washington the war drums have begun to vibrate more loudly this week. Sen. John McCain continues to love war, of course, as do the neo-racist haters of all things Islamic. But a new element has been edging onto TV panels, the centrist practical men. Some very reasonable liberals on MSNBC have discovered that Syria is a vital part of America's self-interest. After all, Syria is near land that itself borders on oil fields. They do not see any reason for the President to hesitate. Here is the argument. The whole region could disintegrate, and in the end the oil-rich nations might end up selling their oil to countries that do not have oil, selling oil on the world market, just as they do today. We can't let this happen. We need to get in there and start killing someone, anyone. Otherwise the high opinion the world has of us will fade, and no one will love America again.

An Age Divider

You know you are getting old if you can remember that once you ate some canned tamales.

Google "Shot by Toddlers"

 In the week of April 10, a 2-year-old shot her mother with a Glock. A 4-year-old killed a woman with a hand gun. A different 4-year-old shot and killed a 6-year-old. A 3-year -old died of an accidental self-inflicted wound.

You can google "Shot by Toddlers."

Solar Power to the People

According to the Press Democrat, the first city to require solar power in new housing developments is a deeply Republican burg in the Southern California desert, Lancaster. This, of course, is exactly what we need to mitigate climate change. Our local Sevastopol, deeply fearful of smart meters, is considering becoming the second city to do the right thing. You see?  Paranoia can have good outcomes.

Moronic Letters

I usually skip the editorial page of our local newspaper, the Press Corporate Democrat, because the letters to the editor are moronic. A respectable newspaper would not print rubbish. For example, this morning's paper had a letter that ended as follows:

"The White House (our house) should not be closed to us. it is just the president (sic) trying to put pressure on the public so he can put us further in debt. In my household, I don't spend money I don't have, and I don't want my government to spend money it doesn't have. Particularly when it wastes so very much on duplicate programs and provides welfare and shelter to non-citizens  who blow up innocent children."

Signed (a very stupid woman)

 The assumptions by this very stupid woman are that the President  wants to increase the national debt, and his reason is . . . she doesn't say. I suppose Obama wants to increase our debt because he is pure evil. The stupid woman is so ignorant about economics that she assumes that you manage a household the same way you manage a federal government. Now it is true that she likely owes the bank $400,000 on her mortgage, and it is true that the federal government has a large military payroll and an economy to get back up to speed, but never mind. In her dim mind the two are comparable. Finally she seems to believe that our mass murderers (most of them male citizens) are on welfare when they flip out and kill people.  That is a fact, and she found it deep in the recesses of her own gigantic hindquarters. 

Remind me not to read the editorial page tomorrow.