The Slimy Time of Year

Mood: Rather Lost. I missed an entire week somewhere.

Listening to: Sheryl Crow

It’s that time of year, kids. The time when you can turn on the tv and get all the dirt on your local politicians and those who wanted to wade into the fray and challenge them. The nerve of those amateurs. Thinking that they can get into democratic politics. The very idea. Ludicrous. The joyous time of year when campaign signs litter the street corners and curbs of headquarters trying to sucker the innocent into thinking they have chosen a candidate that will actually change Albany. Ah, the innocent – they are so cute you just want to pinch their cheeks to make them wake up! It’s the time of year when they create advertisements about themselves and how they will create change in Albany and the other guy will without a doubt contribute to the shamefulness and mockery of democracy that is Albany.  Yep, local elections folks, just in case you had your head in the sand.  If you live in New York, you have a bit of an idea of how local politics runs. 

The word that keeps popping up here is Albany – our capital and where all of the political machinations occur.  What those of you not from New York may not understand is that Albany is historically and currently notoriously corrupt. To the point where corruption is almost a birthright of any politician involved in any level at all. The fun thing about all of these sound bite advertisements is that none of these local fools can change Albany at all. Kind of like Obama not being able to single handedly change everything we hated about the white house the minute he landed up there. It just ain’t happening. Even if we wiped the slate clean and started over again with all new politicians, or even average folks, Albany’s reputation and nefarious nature would suck the newbies in and create more of what was there. It’s just the nature of the game. You may not like it, but let’s be realistic. 

I’ve always hated the absolute reek of sleaze that accompanies local politics. The first whiff of an election a few months away and you can sit back and let the mud pies fly back and forth.  Even if they aren’t slinging mud, they’re promising people the moon, a Mazarati, and everlasting Change. Can we please let this idea go? It didn’t work for Obama, gifted speaker that he is; it’s not going to work for you either. 

My husband has encouraged me to enter local politics just for the giggles he would get -he’s a bit sadistic that way. I told him I wouldn’t touch that nonsense with a 20 foot stick. Kind of like my watching the “Situation” on MTV. I like watching him, but I would not touch that fool with a 20 foot stick. Ew. God knows where that’s been.    

So we can divide the candidates into 2 basic categories – the innocent and the players. The innocent think they can honestly change things. Or are really, really good at selling that idea. The players have been there, seen it, and done it twice with 2 girls, a dog, and possibly a reindeer. These guys are the professional mud slingers that have written down every real or perceived transgression of absolutely everyone else, and they’re not afraid to use it. This would include the slaughtering of the innocent because they can’t possibly do things right. It’s pretty easy to tell them apart.   

It makes you want to throw your hands up at the whole system, but that’s what they want because then they can carry on as they have been for so long.

Becky

They’re crucifying The Savior!

Listening to: Travel Channel and chattering children

President Obama, we need to talk. I don’t know if you’ve notice this, but they’re crucifying you out here. I know you are just a mere mortal man, in spite of all the hoopla doopla about you saving America during the election. I also understand that most of this criticism is misplaced, since no one man can turn the direction of the ship on the turn of a dime. Still, you have to do something. Anything. I understand that you were smart enough to capitalize on the average American’s need for hope and change, but you gotta keep the ball rolling here. We need you to be the one who makes a stand on things that matter to the American people. I’ve heard of you changing your stance on a few things that you were pretty firm on, like Palestine. Please, please, please, don’t be that guy. We would much rather have a leader that takes a (educated, classy) stand on issues than pick one side and changes his mind later. Don’t.Be.That . President. I think most of us took a running leap onto the Obama bandwagon because you seemed to embody all of the things that Americans prize most in leaders. Things that your predecessor sorely lacked. Americans want, desperately, to believe that you will deliver on at least some of the promises that you made campaigning. Redeem at least some of the respect that America had dealing with other countries. We are sitting here waiting for you to step up again. You have the foundation to be one of the epic presidents that last in our folklore, you just have to reach out and grab it by the horns, and be that guy.

Becky

The Corruption of Karzai

Listening to: Olivia
Mood: Blah

I haven’t really been keeping right up on top of politics as of late, but I have been trying to hit up the BBC for my daily dose of what’s happening in the world. One of the major stories that my favorite news network has been covering is the elections in Afghanistan, and how president Karzai fixed the election and is now insisting that everyone just move on with life as they knew it.

For some odd reason, this really disappoints me. I couldn’t tell you why. After all, this is Afghanistan, great granddaddy of Pakistan’s craziness. I guess it’s just a little disappointing to see everything revert to craziness in spite of everything that has been done to try and counteract it. In a country famous for nuttiness, disorder, and rampant corruption, is it really so much of a surprise that a US backed leader would be true to his roots and revert back to running things in a way that benefits him. This all lies on the assumption that the charges are true. Anyone really want to dispute this? Didn’t think so. I think the really tragic thing is that no one will do anything about this. In all reality, what can be done? Even so, this sends the unfortunate message to both the Afghani people and others around the world that if you are backed by the most powerful people, corruption is sanctioned. This directly counteracts the message of democracy that we are trying to beat into others, and last time I checked, corruption was distinctly undemocratic.

Becky

Anticlimax

Listening to: One hit Wonders of the 80’s on VH1 classic
Mood: Crack head type awake

Apparently it’s been a LOOOONNNNGG time since I’ve been round to blog. Sorry about that! Life has been keeping me busy.

So. Let’s review the obvious. Obama won. By a landslide. He has hit the ground running.
Is it just me or has the whole process been totally anticlimactic? I mean, it really had to be the way he was tearing up the campaign, but still. To be fair, as I mentioned, he has hit the ground running and has been working hard to repair world relations. They have been working round the clock to manage the economic situation too. (if I hear one more person, doesn’t even have to be a talking head, calling it an economic recession, I will personally rip his or her head off)

So what now? Miracles aren’t worked overnight. Unless you’re Jesus or Sai Baba, which Obama is not. So now we have a rockstar in the office, how do we judge his success? I didn’t really want to put failure there also because I think it’s rather hard for us to head downwards from where we were. I still hold out hope that people wouldn’t make a worse choice than the previous one. So how do we judge his success? He promised tons of stuff, some of which he will be able to accomplish. So far, he’s been holding his own with class and good judgment. The issue in my mind is how to know if he’s really a rockstar, or just appears as one compared with his predecessor. President Bush was not a rock star. To call him competent at the office of president would be kind. So compared with such an example, is Obama really that wonderful? I guess, as President Bush was so fond of reiterating, history will be the judge. It’s kind of hard to judge his success so early on in his term.

I know one thing I don’t want to hear anymore about. Their dog. For the love of everything holy. The family has a dog. So frickin what? How many million families in the us have a dog? I also don’t really care if Obama takes off his shirt and goes swimming on vacation with his kids. People do that. After all, he is still a person. I don’t really care much about what Michelle is wearing either. They’re clothes people. She’s not a fashion plate, she’s part of the governing team of the US. If she’s well dressed and makes a good impression, fantastic. Beyond that, let it go.
Becky

Obama and his "Liberal Allies"

Listening to: Peter Pan
Mood: Happy with a little quiet time


Overall, this political season has been surprisingly benign. Really, there hasn’t been much mudslinging or personal attacks. Surprising, I know. Unfortunately, that has changed a bit. I heard an ad recently from John McCain. I have never been a huge fan of John McCain. Obama has been such a breath of fresh air from politics as usual, it’s disappointing to hear a candidate resorting to smearing the other. John McCain released an ad about Obama and his “liberal allies” being more of the same. Ahem. Well. What? Liberal allies? I thought allies were supposed to be a good thing. Why in the world would McCain use such a charged word, reinforcing the fact that he’s quite militarily minded when most of the country has had enough to war talk for a while. It just seems very poorly done. Anyway, how exactly would liberal leadership be more of the same? What? At least McCain seems to have given up the tack that Obama doesn’t have enough experience. Especially after he chose a VP candidate with, you guessed it, literally no experience in big government.

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The Art of Winning or Losing a War

Listening to: The noisy, yet appreciated, air conditioner.
Mood: Mellow

I was reading Time magazine (I know, another blog inspired by Time) recently and happened to catch an article about the presidential candidate’s views on the war on terror. More specifically the problems we are having in Iraq and Afghanistan along with a schedule for leaving. Now I like Time magazine. It’s one of the bazillion magazines I read every month along with numerous books. It just so happens to feature things that get my dander up. Me being a raging liberal and all. Anyhow, I was reading about how both contenders for the presidential title would be judged for winning or losing the war. Ehm, what?

First of all, are have we advanced beyond the bullshit to call it a real “war” now rather than just using the justification of a war on terror? (God I hate that term!)If we are still hiding behind that, we need to be waging war on humanity. Mankind has, and continues to be, incredibly stupid and brutal. Most if not all civilizations have engaged in terror (state sponsored in most cases!) at one time or other. Let’s call a blunder a blunder and recognize the war for what it is. A drain on human capital and money. As a species, we should have advanced way beyond the need for taking what we want by force. Since certain parties did not take history lessons and did not bother to think about the Vietnam war before they instigated this mess, it would probably be a good idea to remember next time that the world has evolved beyond war being an effective means of getting what you want.

Second, and mainly, how in the world do you judge either a win or a loss in war? I’d venture to say that since we are a country with a ginormous army, plenty of money and resources, and a huge amount of control in the world, we have probably won in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, we’ve won in a war sense. We’ve devastated both countries and area not getting resistance per say from the countries themselves. Yes, we are still encountering resistance, but from non state sanctioned entities, which is a whole other matter and blog. We have completely ruined what was a semblance of order and control and have destroyed their economic system along with blowing away a shameful number of civilians. So what’s the problem? We won. It’s just not that easy. We still have not gotten what it was that we started the war for. Yes, Saddam Hussein was definitely way up there on the list of brutal rulers who need to be disposed of. Yes, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban are evil entities that really had no business ruling a country or running around free. But folks, that is not why we went to war with either place. What the US really wanted when we went in was to gain some control. You see, we are control freaks. At one point, we supported Saddam and the Taliban in the form of Mujahidin. We seem to think that we can control a lot of things in the world through swaggering and threats. In the realm of control of the country and region, we have definitely lost. I think this is a major reason that we have been so reluctant to leave. There are still insurgents, and while the countries have changed, we still control them no more than before we invaded. If we leave now, or before the next 100 years are up Senator McCaine, we will have to come to terms with the purpose of the invasion and the countless lives and resources that have been misused and wasted. We hid behind the moral ground going in. We fancied it up to make it look like a defense of our own soil. Admittedly, that was a catalyst, but in terms of Iraq, it was an empty justification that was just below the surface. If we do the mature, responsible, ethical thing and do what we can to help both countries while we’re leaving, we may gain back some of the respect that was lost when we invaded.

There is no winning at this point. It’s my personal opinion that no one “wins” wars. If we struggle on and deny dealing with the problem, we will only lose more lives, resources, and respect in the eyes of the world. I sincerely hope that both candidates have used their heads in thinking of a strategy for dealing with this problem. Arrogance and stupidity never had a place in the leadership of the United States.

Becky