This pretty well sums it up-and reminds me why, after I vote on Tuesday-I’m going to get really hammered:

The only question is how-Tequila or Scotch?

A rally where people can speak with out frothing at the mouth.

Where irony is appreciated-not railed upon.

Where the signs are spelled correctly

And a large group of people, through satire, tell Saint Sarah and her fans to STFU.

What more can you ask for?

More interesting signs here-”The only person who was Hitler is Hitler!”

I was especially impressed with his comments on the media:

This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times — not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.

But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.

The country’s 24-hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen — or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic.

If we amplify everything we hear nothing.

Which is nice to see. And in case you wondering why this is important-well, consider the alternative:

Cause if they are-I might have to buy one. “By your command“.

AIST’s HRP-4C Cybernetic Human took the stage for “Dance Robot LIVE!” — a song-and-dance routine choreographed by Sam of the J-pop group TRF.

Caprica may be closer to reality than we care to admit.

4 Billion Dollars. That’s the amount of money spent on the midterm elections this year.

Its a staggering sum-especially when you consider that the supposed central theme of this election year is anger about money being wasted.

4 billion dollars. Thing what that money could have done put to a good use. It could be making a good dent on research for AIDS, cancer, and other scourges of our existence. For that kind of money we could fund new schools in a lot of places. We could build a high speed train system between Atlanta and Washington DC. We could do a lot of things.

Instead-as a whole- the country wasted it on this:

I am no political theorist. But here is a concept that seems obvious to me. If you populate government with ignorant people, or with people who avowedly disrespect government, or with people whose background and experience and public integrity in no way merit political office, sooner or later you will have worse governance. The same is true if you elect leaders following political campaigns that overflow with hysteria. Four billion dollars spent to scare voters. Four billion spent to preserve the lobbyists’ hold on Washington. Garbage in, garbage out. “Everything is amplified,” Jon Stewart said Saturday at his “Restore Sanity” rally, “so nothing gets heard.”

Unbelievable. And what is truly appalling is that people are putting up with it. In the case of the Tea Party-they are actively encouraging collective ignorance. AS Bloomberg noted recently-in this election cycle, barely 3-out 10 Americans know the true facts about the economy and what’s happened to it since 2008. (I’ll have more on this later).

4 billion dollars. Wasted. The Tea Bag nation must be so proud of themselves.

This is no way to run a railroad (or a country).

Indeed, the 2010 crop of campaign insanity, unleashed by Citizens United, explains precisely why the “Restore Sanity” rally with Stewart and Stephen Colbert has resonated so well. A great many people, and especially a great number of younger people, want adults in Washington who will act with foresight and selflessness. And this includes the media estalishment. The ralliers are skeptical of a politics-centric media they see in self-sustaining partnership with the engines of the political campaigns. These people want smart candidates. They want even smarter elected officials. And they don’t want to feel like they are being played by Establishment journalists. They don’t see the wisdom they know democracy needs in and around Washigton; instead, they see high comedy, a tragi-comedy really, unfolding on their watch.

Democracy demands wisdom. But this year, all democracy seems to have offered is Christine O’Donnell, with her proud ignorance, and Alvin Greene, with his own baffling riff, and dozens of other candidates unworthy of our respect, let alone our votes. It has given us a candidate, California’s Meg Whitman, who wants so desperately to be elected that she was willing to spend nearly $200 million of her own money to do so, a fact which ought to legally disqualify her from politics again. And it has given us Sarah Palin, the avatar of the naton’s latest know-nothing movement, looming in the wings. Friends, this is no way to run a democracy, much less a wise one.

I miss hearing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the 7th inning stretch.

Since this year is all about taking America back-can we take America back to the way baseball was supposed to be?

Go Giants!

Yesterday, I pointed out how much I miss hearing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the 7th inning stretch. SJS pointed out that there is another tradition that needs to come back-the pitcher needs to bat.

And then today, I thought about it-the idea of playing game five of the World Series on Nov 1 is an abomination. The Series was meant to be played in early October.

And today Slate reminded us of the man we have to thank for that:

Baseball commissioner determined to finish ruining the game before he finally quits.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig—who presided over the 1994 baseball strike, the steroid-inflated home-run chase of the late ’90s, the pointlessness of interleague play, the extortion of billions of dollars in public funds to build stupidly quirky phony old-fashioned ballparks, the intentional destruction and theft of the Montreal Expos, and the dismantling of the pennant-race system in favor of the crapshoot of expanded playoffs—wants to secure his legacy by adding yet another layer of playoffs before he retires in 2012.

At least, he says he’s going to retire in 2012. People have their doubts about that, given Selig’s record of deception and bad faith.

Read the rest here. For those of us who grew up in the 1960′s and 70′s and saw baseball in its prime-its crime. Especially since he destroyed all that Giamatti strove to build.

Want to fix baseball?
-Do away with the DH.
-Shorten the season to 148 games. ( Unless you do away with the Wild Card system).
-Institute revenue sharing and salary caps like they have in the NFL.
-Make George Bush commissioner of baseball. ( Would that he had that job in 1992-think of the grief it would have saved Texas.)

Go Giants!

Sharon Angle gets a ticket to Not Pass Go.Not Collect $200.

A little humor before I get really stinking drunk tomorrow evening. But not before I go to the polls and vote against every “real conservative’, “church going”, “pro-life, pro gun”, “down home” Alabama candidate. If I have to hear about how long Mo Brooks has been married to his wife and how Bentley is not going to take a salary-I’m going to go mad.

To stop the barbarians at the gate. Did you?

Get out and vote!

Nothing to do now but start drinking……………….

Somehow, this scene from The Alamo keeps running through my head today. ” Are you a teabagger? Somehow I thought you would be taller!“

Into intoxication.

“ I’m going to the kitchen, gonna fix something good to eat. I’m gonna sit right down and put a good buzz on! A good buzz on! A good buzz on!-Gonna sit right down and put a good buzz on! “-from a song by JJ Cale.

When JJ Cale wrote that song-he was referring to another pharmacological substance. ( One that hopefully,  will be legalized tonight in California). Thanks to random drug testing-I’ll have to stick to the option of getting stinking drunk tonight.

A long time ago-in a galaxy far away-I was fortunate enough to be in command of  the Navy’s finest E-2 squadron. ( The Lord took pity on me and said, “Yes little man, you may have what you want.”). We were deployed to Puerto Rico for drug operations-and a hurricane was bearing down. We were ordered to evacuate all four of our aircraft to Key West, and we were able to send about 78 of our personnel home to Norfolk for a week-while we took all the aircrew and about 65 maintainers to Key West. To “protect our spot”, so to speak-we left two officers and a small detachment behind. ( about 11 people all told-all were volunteers, great Americans each and every one!).

Anyway, the BOQ made us check out of all of our rooms-except for the two officers we left behind. So in order to avoid having to haul all of our stuff up to Key West -and not to waste perfectly good booze-we moved all of our “stashes” down to their rooms. That meant they had probably, by a conservative estimate, 15 cases of beer, 20 bottles of wine and about 9 or 10 bottles of whiskey. Plus more soda than could float an aircraft carrier. ( yes we drank a lot off duty-sue us).

So the senior man present-one of our LCDR’s decided to document the approach of the storm. He also wanted to have a little fun with us-by documenting his and the other officer rummaging through and drinking our booze. The ensuing video tape, shot over about a 10 hour period as the storm approached and passed, provided a video record of the storm-and their combined descent into massive intoxication.

I intend to do the same tonight-providing a running “stream of consciousness”  post as the country gets gang raped tonight, and I get incredibly intoxicated this evening. Started at 5, its 8:30 now, still not even carrying a decent buzz yet. Time for another beer!

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It’s almost 9-and I’ve lost track of how many times I have yelled “Go f*ck yourself”  at teabagger candidates on TV. At least the witch from Wilmington is losing. Rand Paul looks particularly disgusting. The TV coverage? It is disgusting too.

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I wish I was in a bar watching this. In 2004, I got to be in a bar in Alexandria-very crowded pretty much split down the middle between Kerry and Bush fans-waiting and watching for Ohio. It all came down to that. I remember wanting so much for Ohio to go against Bush to give him the kick in the teeth he richly deserved ( and still deserves) because of the war in Iraq. Not that I loved Kerry so much-but I hated the war in Iraq even more.  Sadly it was not to happen-and there was a visible sigh when they called it for the shrub.  Groundhog does not see his shadow-four more years of war.

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Eric Cantor is on TV now dodging questions from Rachel Maddow. Oh how I would love to be able to rip his glasses off and slam his geeky little head against that Capitol pillar he is standing front of. Spare me,  you f*cking geek,  the BS about how tax cuts save money and the old lie about how small business get hurt by letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those making 250K. Idiot. Time to change on over to ESPN. I think I need another beer.

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A man walks into a bar and asks,  “Do you have wireless?”

Barkeep: “Yes.”

Man: “Ok, then. Lemme get two double shots of Don Julio and two fingers of your best scotch.”

Barkeep: “Will there be anyone joining you?”

Man: “No.”

Barkeep: “Are you on vacation?”

Man: “No. I’m a Democrat.”

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I am way too sober! Need another beer!

The Toomey-Sestak race is getting closer; as with Illinois. They’re nail-biters that could eventually go all night.  That said-the idea of “Senator Sestak” makes me want to puke. Its just as disugsting as Sarah Palin………. This would be a lot easier if the Dems had some decent candidates.

Speaking of Palin,  Ferraro and Palin are now competing for the female victim prize on Fox. Whores! Wait, that does real whores a severe disservice. They at least provide a service for the money invested in them.

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The Tea Party leaders keep misquoting the Founding Fathers.

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Mark Meckler, douchebag in chief of the tea party-is on TV threatening members of his own party. If you want a reason to despise the tea party- I can’t think of a better example than this piece of human excrement.  Saying Republicans have to do it ” the tea party way-you better get on board or we will kill you too.”

Listen sh*t head, it does not work that way. This is a republic, not a direct democracy. Senators and Congressmen have to be free to make decisions based on their own best instincts.  The founding fathers never intended either branch of the legislature to be beholden to a mob of stupid people. This is not Burger King asshole-the customer is not always right. Prick.

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I may have to switch to the hard stuff. Since this night calls for contemplation-out comes the Courvoisier.  Especially, since John Boehner is on TV talking about how Washington has not done what the people want-and now they will. Oh really? How long have you been in Washington you cocksucker? You have been in Washington since 1991. Now you have an epiphany? Where was your “righteous anger of the people” between 2001-2008? Where was your anger when  Bush  launched two wars without making any provision in the budget to pay for them, who proposed and won an expensive new prescription-drug entitlement without paying for it, who catered to irresponsible Wall Street firms. The hypocrisy is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

“Change course.” You’ll be hearing that a lot. And hedged compromise, it would appear. Compromise will be just as it was for the last two years-a one way street.
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As with any war-innocent people die. Ike Skelton got beat. Really sad-for a whole bunch of reasons. He’s not a liberal in the strict sense of the word-he’s done a lot for the country and his state. Him losing proves how much control of the message the White House lost and how much the misinformation of the Fox noise machine had an effect. He voted for Cap and Trade. A Republican idea-that they now disavow any knowledge of. Ah-the scent of the liquor in my nostrils is good.
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Come to think of it-this has to be the most fact free election I can recall in recent memory. Consider what the people believe versus what are the real facts:

As distasteful as it might be-TARP worked. The economy did not drop off the cliff and it is recovering-albeit slowly.

So too did the Stimulus. CBO has said that-so have most mainstream economists.

Most Americans don’t know the Obama administration has cut taxes by more than $240 billion in the last two years, including rebate checks worth up to $800 for almost all families.

The market is back to where it was two years ago.

The number of troops in Iraq are half what it was two years ago.

The voters don’t know any of that. Mostly because they pay more attention to American Idol than they do to their own country.  And yet, I am supposed to think of them as infallible. Please-the civic responsibility to know basic stuff about the economy ultimately falls on citizens. That they don’t know the facts, does not make their actions any more correct.
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And speaking of the war-it has been noticeably absent from the discussion this election. That’s hurt the Democrats more than they realize. Both wars are still failing-but the dream George Bush wanted has come true on Obama’s watch: nobody pays attention to the sacrifices being made by American soldiers on behalf of useless people. Barring a major change before 2012, this will be a fact in then too. The wars will be going on, only a few people like me will care.
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Finally, the whiskey is starting to swirl me down to oblivion. Tomorrow we will have to hear the gloating from the teabaggers and the circular firing squad in the Democratic party. So let me sum it up. In the long run-this is probably a good thing. The rage that has been seething ever since Obama’s election may have found a safety valve. Maybe that feeling of saying “there! We got you!” will help deflate the myths absurd  about Obama’s birthplace, his religion and even his absent father’s anti colonialist tendencies.

And its probably good the Democrats got this over with now. It gives Nancy Pelosi the smack down Obama never gave her ( as I have noted before-if he had he might not be in this position), it gets some new blood to the fore-and it allows the Republicans to come out from behind the curtain of no and prove if they are really serious about doing something to move the country forward. I know-from being a serious student of them, and a former supporter of many of them-that they are incapable of the kind of change needed to reconcile the US to the new world that has come to be in the last 15 years. But they now no longer have an excuse to hide behind. So long as the Democrats actually learn from this event-and the country can put the teabaggers back in a tri-corner box, some good came come of it.

One final point too-when you run people with experience it pays off. When you embrace total lunatics with no experience it doesn’t.  Had the teabaggers actual understood that-they might have control of both houses of Congress instead of one. Sarah Palin has not learned that lesson yet- I think others have.  And if this serves as the enabler to kill off Palin politically in the Republican party, then that will be the best service the defeated candidates of this evening have performed for their country. It cannot survive a fraud like her in high office-and now perhaps the GOP will have the ability to put her in her place. Which is not just in the back of the bus-but tied to the bumper and dragged behind the bus.
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For a guy who had a lot to drink last night-I feel remarkably good this morning.

Speaking of last night, here it is summed up nicely:

“What this election suggests to me is that the United States may have finally lost its ability to adapt politically to the systemic crises that it has periodically faced. The U.S emerged from the Civil War, the depression of the 1890s, World War I, and the Great Depression and World War II stronger than ever — with a more buoyant economy and greater international standing. A large part of the reason was the political system’s ability to provide the leadership the country needed. But what this election suggests to me is that this may no longer be the case.” J.J. Gould

Can be found in Toy Story 3.

Spent the last five days in France. It was outstanding-especially as we went to visit the Normandy Beaches. Pix to follow over the next few days.

So here is where I spent my 4th-no fire works, but a lot of sincere feeling for the folks who can never leave this place:

I wanted to write a quick not about the tragic loss of Robin Williams. His death will most probably be ruled a suicide. And I expect ( and in some of the worst corners of the internet-we are already seeing) the holier than thou brigades are already spouting venom-not understanding in the least the struggles one must deal with, once you get the Scarlett "AA" tagged upon you.

Its common knowledge that Williams struggled with issues from addiction. What most of the do gooders seem to ignore, is the heavy burden America's system of shoving you into the hell that is AA does to you. Addiction treatment is not about stopping drinking. Plenty of people do that for protracted periods of time with no effort. It is the idea that they foist upon you that you can never do it again-that creates the inner conflict that grows and grows and grows. Especially since it is complete and total bullshit-most alcoholics recover on their own, and do perfectly fine drinking again, once they realize that there is personal responsibility. The treatment industry is about control-not fluids. Its about their iron clad demand that you cede control of your life to someone who in all probability is more fucked up than you are. And they stick a double whammy on you in that they tell you , that you can never take that control back.

Only by rejecting their ideas-and demanding to live your life on your own terms can you ever get some peace back. I know, because I lived through the hell of having a worthless bastard tell me how I had to live my life. It took luck and a great deal of anger and planning to escape from the shackles of the "program" he abandoned me into. I don't think I can ever forgive him for his callousness and indifference.

What does this have to do with Robin Williams? Well, a lot I think. The conflict of being a talented individual, knowing you are talented, and then being forced to be subjected to an idea that you are worthless and powerless-is a huge conflict. It creates inner struggles and a feeling of futility at being told you are not "like everyone else". Even when you are. it takes a great deal of struggle to break free.

Not everyone is up to the struggle-no matter how successful they are.

So all the people who so easily dismiss his struggle-I have no use for. The trolls who have been coming out and writing really reprehensible things-I also have no use for. They may think it can never happen to them-trust me, it can. And don't kid yourself, your so called friends and allies will abandon you in heartbeat. Such is the nature of America's coerced treatment machine.

So God rest the soul of Robin Williams, and if he is any just will grant him access to glory. To all those who attack him after the fact-I spit upon you.

I loved a lot of his movies-and I think he was a gifted and talented man. Since I was aware of him from my college years-his work literally spanned the length of my adult life. And he was a great.

He deserves peace and a place in heaven. Those who think otherwise-can leave my sight now.

And what a sad week it has been too.

The news from Paris is sad, tragic and sadly, all too expected in this day and age. In solidarity with the right of a free press to publish what it wants to and not be subject to censorship at the point of a gun- I am republishing one of the Charlie Hedbo cartoons. Oh, and fuck Mohammed too.

And maybe I'll publish another one too.  And while I am at it, fuck Islam. (Click to see propely).

As angry as this apostate religion makes me; as disgusted as I am with their stupid dietary laws, the shitty way they treat women, the clothing things they make women wear-and how frustrated I am that these people will not assimilate into European society, I also have to think hard on what the facts really are.

Contrary to the assertions of some, Islam is not overrunning Europe:(click to see properly)

A disgruntled and radicalized minority is indeed a problem as this week has once again shown us. But one needs to remember the world has over a billion Muslims. They are not going away and we can't kill them all-no matter how much some of our neocon masters would like to try. And I also have to remind myself that it is a minority. Most of the Hijab wearing set here in Germany just want to live their lives. (and they speak better German than I do).

So yea, I am disgusted and angry. I'm tired of Islam's sickness infecting parts of the world I like. I want the women to take off the hijabs and abayas, put on some dresses and shoes and dress like a Western woman.  But in the end, cartoonist Joe Sacco may have it right. And with his cartoon I will close. My deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives this week in and around Paris. The Western World HAS to prove that it is better than these thugs. ( Click to see the cartoon properly-its worth reading).

A FB friend posted a link to the following blog post: entitled "Why I almost walked out of American Sniper". No it's not a quote from Michael Moore-its a quote from a supporter of the country and the military. I can agree with her logic, up to a point :

You need to see this movie because you live in a bubble.

Stated plainly, we complain about dumb things most of the time. We live in comfort and freedom, and for the most part, we’re blessed beyond measure. We complain about bad hair days and people who get on our nerves and when we run out of coffee or get cut off in traffic and the fact that we hate Mondays. And yet we have the opportunity to live in peace. Meanwhile, all over the globe, children are born into war zones and suffer unimaginable torment at the hands of Evil.

This is why I almost left during the movie. As a Social Studies teacher and a student of the world, I’m well aware of the atrocities committed throughout the world historically and in present day. But I’ve only read about them. I’ve only heard about them. I’ve never had to witness them with my own eyes. Sure, American Sniper is a movie and it’s a dramatization of events, but it’s realistic. It’s horrible. And it truly shows how Evil is alive and working in our world.

Not only was I sobbing at various points throughout this movie, I found myself praying, “Come, Jesus. Come.” I almost couldn’t take it– this realistic depiction of evil. I don’t want to believe that people are capable of doing such horrible things to each other, but they are. Oh, they are.

The bubble around me popped. You can’t watch a movie like this, see the horrible things that man is willing to do to another man (or woman or child), not just in the name of a god or of an organization, but in the name of hatred, and go back to your cushy life and pretend the horror doesn’t exist.

Our soldiers face this evil every day on the battlefield and they persevere. They press on. They fight it and try to protect freedom because that’s one of our basic rights as humans. And they make split-second decisions that we pray we never, ever have to make. This is why we are grateful– because they have to make the decisions and carry out the actions we never, ever want to have to face.

It is right there at the end where her logic breaks down. Evil? Really? Then why are we not dispatching legions of American Snipers to the remaining six continents?  Evil things are happening there every day but we do not stage armed interventions by equally brave men. And why don't we you ask?

Because we don't have the resources to solve every problem on the planet.

And because most of the time-its not in our national interest.

Evil exists all over this world. As we were fighting in Iraq, un-counted 1000's were dying in other wars in Africa of the twin evils of neglect and lack of resources to fight problems such as disease, bad infrastructure and starvation. Yet not once did the President rise to the podium in front of Congress and challenge us to go fight them. Chris Kyle and those like him were never sent out to help them. Nor should they have been.

And on those two points I must disagree with Jennifer Hale. Chris Kyle went through a lot. Of course his service should be honored as should that of every other soldier who served in this despicable and unnecessary conflicts throughout the first decade and a half of the 21 st century. If anything it proves James Fallow's point regarding "The tragedy of the American Military", namely that, "the American public and its political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win."

If we don't follow the statement through the logical question, namely "Why was Chris Kyle there in the first place and why did the nation so callously send him into a war the country had no business plunging into?" then we really are not honoring his sacrifices or worse yet learning real lessons from them. Cue Fallows again:

Too much complacency regarding our military, and too weak a tragic imagination about the consequences if the next engagement goes wrong, have been part of Americans’ willingness to wade into conflict after conflict, blithely assuming we would win. “Did we have the sense that America cared how we were doing? We did not,” Seth Moulton told me about his experience as a marine during the Iraq War. Moulton became a Marine Corps officer after graduating from Harvard in 2001, believing (as he told me) that when many classmates were heading to Wall Street it was useful to set an example of public service. He opposed the decision to invade Iraq but ended up serving four tours there out of a sense of duty to his comrades. “America was very disconnected. We were proud to serve, but we knew it was a little group of people doing the country’s work.”

"Either war is finished or we are"  , says Herman Wouk.  I fully agree with the sentiment. But I question whether the majority of Americans do. I think not. They will see the movie in a "yellow ribbon" kind of way- "the people at the [movie theater will] feel good about what they’ve done to show their support for the troops. " But they will never think the problem all the way through. They will never rise in righteous anger that Chris Kyle had to be sent there in the first place, endure the things he had to endure-and have it all matter for nothing. That's right nothing. Iraq is still a basket case, no better than when we found it. Because in the end , Chris Kyle was failed by his leadership, he was failed by his country and he was failed by the people of his country who never asked the probing questions that might have prevented the entire ordeal in the first place. As Kipling wrote after his son's death in the disaster that was the First World War, "If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied."

We do the veterans no good service if we choose not learn from the effort-and solemnly resolve not to repeat the  mistakes that placed them in such a harsh place to begin with. Without those questions, its not worth the time or the effort to contemplate the rest. We have to think it though to the end.

And yes I stole that line from Wonkette.

Leonard Nimoy died today. For a true Star Trek fan like me-its kind of like the end of the world. Yes you knew this day was coming, but you did not want to think about it, and now that it is finally here, you just can't seem to believe it.

I am a fan of the entire Star Trek enterprise (how is that for a play on words?), but I was really enraptured with the Original Series, DS-9 and Enterprise. Next Generation was Ok. Voyager was a bridge too far, and the less said about Star Trek 5-the movie-the better. I still have not forgiven JJ Abrams for ripping the Star Trek canon to shreds, just so he could make his rather shallow, and scientifically ridiculous Star Trek re-boots, but I did like Zachary Quinto as Spock. ( I still have to come to terms with the whole "nailing Ohura" thing, but hey, things change right?)

While he is best known for his role as Spock, the truth was, Leonard Nimoy wanted to be a lot of other things. And the amazing popularity of the original series made that somewhat impossible. In the New York Times they have a wonderful tribute to the man pointing out that there was much more to the man than just the logical alien. 

The actor who won a permanent place on the altar of pop culture for his portrayal of Mr. Spock on “Star Trek,” was almost as famous for wanting to be remembered for other things.

And that is, of course, highly illogical.

It’s hard to think of another star who was so closely and affectionately identified with a single role. Even George Reeves, the first television Superman, was also one of the Tarleton twins in “Gone With the Wind.”

It’s even harder to think of a television character that so fully embodied and defined a personality type. Just as Scrooge became synonymous with miser, and Peter Pan became a syndrome, Spock was dispassion personified.

He could not escape the role-and I think ( but do not know) that as the years passed he came to terms with it and resolved to have fun with it. I have no real proof of that save for some examples of his other work. This commercial he did a couple of years ago when the second JJ Abrams movie came out with Zachary Quinto, is a good example. He appears to be having a lot of fun making fun of himself and the whole genre. I never get tired of watching it.

I love that he was still doing fun stuff like this at a point in life when many people would be sitting around doing nothing.  ? And actually if you go back to the Times article he had quite a solid body of work to lay claim to besides Star Trek. For example did you know, that Leonard Nimoy directed "Three Men and a Baby". He also was in a mini-series about Golda Meir, with Ingrid Bergman in it, no less. He had lots of poetry to his credit and an award winning photo exhibition in 2010. He got typecast as Spock-but he turned it around and made something wonderful of it.

May God grant him rest and peace. And of course, may he live long and prosper in the heavens.

Lee Kuan Yew passed away on 23 March. He was 91. For those who don't know ( and you really should know this) he was the first Prime Minister of Singapore and was the founder of much of what we consider modern Singapore. As he himself said, Singapore is his legacy. That applies for both good and not so good.

Now truth in advertising, I love to be in Singapore. Its where I want to live, (as well as Japan) and I have been there 18 times. I love the place. When Lee Kuan Yew became the prime minister of Singapore in 1959, he assumed control of an ethnically divided, impoverished territory lacking in natural resources. In his 31 years in office—followed by another 21 in advisory roles—Lee transformed his country into one of the world’s most prosperous societies, a major business and transportation hub boasting a per capita GDP of $55,000.  I was often grateful for the quality of life he masterminded there.

But that quality of life came with a price and a dark side-and any eulogy of the man has to take that into account:

He will be remembered as the father of his country, a political street fighter who cut his teeth in the struggle against colonialism. Some will recall an unapologetic taskmaster — a leader more respected than loved — whose pragmatism lifted a Southeast Asian backwater into a sleek metropolis and global business hub. Others will recall the politically incorrect pundit who became an outspoken champion of “Asian values” and a sharp critic of American-style democracy. Each is correct, and captures part of the man. But to these remembrances one more should be added: Lee was the most successful dictator of the 20th century. (emphasis added-SS)

It’s a verdict that will please almost no one. For his admirers, he is a singular historic figure, not an autocratic strongman like those who eventually lorded over other former colonial outposts. He may not have been a Jeffersonian democrat, they say, but he was no dictator. On the other end of the spectrum, dissidents and democrats will take umbrage at the notion of an illiberal, authoritarian leader being remembered fondly at all. Still, Lee was one of the most universally celebrated statesmen of the last 50 years. American presidents, British prime ministers, apparatchiks from the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and European officials all lined up to heap praise on the leader of this authoritarian duchy…………..

…..When Lee retired from office in 1990, Singapore had some of the world’s busiest shipyards, cleanest streets, top schools, lowest taxes, best healthcare, and most efficient public services. The so-called “little red dot” had become one of the world’s most livable cities, a magnet for skilled foreign workers and the multinational corporations who hire them.

But the miracle wasn’t without its price. Lee kept his political project on a tight leash, dampening free speech, muzzling his critics, and squashing political opposition before it could take root. The ruling People’s Action Party is rightly considered synonymous with the government because it has won every election since 1959. Singapore didn’t have a single opposition leader in office until 1981, and until 2011 there have never been more than four opposition members serving in the parliament at one time. On one hand, Lee’s political machine was unquestionably effective at delivering results for Singapore. In most years, it’d be hard for any political party anywhere to compete against PAP’s record of accomplishment. That said, when it came to ensuring their political future, Lee and his cohort were incredibly gifted at putting their finger on the scale.

 

As I said, I really do like the place, even with all its faults, and people who are less enlightened then I am, tend to think I overlook them. Its not true and never has been. If you go back through my posts since 2005 you will see I have been pretty even handed in my reporting. I admit, I do like a place where I can go out for a piece of pizza or a piece of ass with the same general ease, and in my mind that was always one of Singapore's pluses.  But there was much, much more to the city than just my hunger. And Singapore is a great place to eat. ( as well as do other things….    ). Its services and general atmosphere are unmatched anywhere, especially the United States. Singaporeans solved problems efficiently and in ways the world could and did learn from -specifically with respect to health care and housing. The United States, being exceptional and all, did not seem to take the lesson on board. I still bridle angrily at people who say that Singapore's solutions cannot be applied to the United States. Its completely wrong , they could be, and would work.

That said, there were troubling aspects to the place too and still are. Just ask this guy.

My driver, a middle-aged Chinese guy, recognizes me. For most of my working life I was forced into exile overseas. Despite graduating from Cambridge in 1983 with a first-class honors degree in economics, no one in my home country would employ me. But in 2008 I decided to return home anyway and last year I stood as candidate for the Opposition in the general elections. My driver is sneaking surreptitious glances at me in the mirror. Finally he says:“JBJ. Very good man!”

I tell him he’s right and he goes on:

“But in the end very poor. Selling his book on the street corner. I buy a copy. Very sad, lah!” Then after some thought, “That’s what happens when you go against the gahmen (government).”

He is referring to my father, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam. When I was a boy growing up in Singapore my father had been one of the highest-earning lawyers. He was also the first Opposition politician to get a seat in parliament, breaking a 16-year monopoly by the PAP. He was subjected to multiple defamation suits and perverse judgments which forced him out of parliament and out of his law practice and eventually bankrupted him.

Kenneth Jeyaretnam then goes on to ask the question of Mr. Lee that we all should ask, could not the government have found a way to have prosperity, progress and innovation without sacrificing central control and whilst not repressing freedom?  I personally think the answer is yes, especially because there are examples that prove me right, but Mr. Lee would not have agreed with that answer at all. Perhaps at the start he needed a tight grip-for the Communists where a real and persistent threat. But later-not so much:

During his last decades in public life, the Singaporean regime became increasingly critical of the American-led notion that human rights—including democracy—had worldwide applicability. In an interview published in the Atlantic in 2013, Lee argued that “Americans believe their ideas are universal—the supremacy of the individual and free, unfettered expression. But they’re not—and never were.”?

There is one other aspect of the society he crafted that I, for one, find particularly troubling and its not unique to Singapore, the Middle East and other parts of Asia have it too-namely the fact that a part of Singapore's success rests on the backs of an underclass of foreign workers, that will never enjoy the benefits of the prosperity that has been brought there."Singapore cannot compete with cheap labor overseas so it brings the cheap labor to Singapore, with no minimum wage there is no bottom to how cheap this labor can be. Not surprisingly this exploitation has fueled an explosion in GDP but not in real wages, which have stagnated or fallen." Specifically for me, and since this is women's history month, the exploitation of so many people troubles folks a good deal.  The fact that American feminists pay ZERO attention to the plight of these women, is just grounds to shout at them repeatedly.

Singapore is a mixed bag to be sure-but its a better bag than most places, ( light years ahead of Shopping Mall USA) and a lot of that was do to the vision of Lee Kuan Yew. “People want economic development first and foremost,” he said in an interview printed in his 1998 book, The Man and His Ideas. “The leaders may talk something else. You take a poll of any people. What is it they want? The right to write an editorial as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools."

That they got. At what price they paid-that is what will be the discussion in the years to come.

Today is Yom Hazikaron (Yom Hazikaron l'Chalalei Ma'arachot Yisrael ul'Nifgaei Peulot Ha'eivah-  literally, "Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism"). This is Israel's Memorial Day.

Yom Hazikaron is the national remembrance day observed in Israel for those who fell since 1860, when Jews were first allowed to live in Palestine outside of Jerusalem's Old City walls. National memorial services are held in the presence of Israel's top leadership and military personnel. The day opens with a siren the preceding evening at 20:00 (8:00 pm), given that in the Hebrew calendar system, a day begins at sunset. The siren is heard all over the country and lasts for one minute, during which Israelis stop everything (including driving, which stops highways) and stand in silence, commemorating the fallen and showing respect.  Many religious Jews say prayers for the souls of the fallen soldiers at this time. The official ceremony to mark the opening of the day takes place at the Western Wall,  and the flag of Israel is lowered to half staff.

A two-minute siren is sounded at 11:00 the following morning, which marks the opening of the official memorial ceremonies and private remembrance gatherings at each cemetery where soldiers are buried. Many Israelis visit the resting places of loved ones throughout the day. The day officially draws to a close between 19:00 and 20:00 (7–8 p.m.) with the official ceremony of Israel's Independence Day at the national military cemetery on Mount Herzl when the flag of Israel is returned to full staff.

One of the government-owned television stations screens the names of all the fallen in chronological order (rank, name, Hebrew date deceased and secular date) over the course of the day. Names appear for about three seconds each. 

It is that last bit I would like you to think about. As of April 14 2015, Israel had lost some 23,320 of its servicemen and women, 116 of them in the last year alone – 67 of those soldiers killed during Operation Protective Edge. Some 35 wounded veterans passed away this year as a result of their injuries, and were thus also recognized as fallen soldiers. To put that number in perspective, it is the equivalent of almost 1 million lost Americans.

I just point it out because I will be traveling to Israel in a few weeks-and I always try to keep that in the back of my mind when I am working there. It is all tragic. It is all the backdrop with which they live, every day. It helps me understand their perspective a lot better.

Its been a month since I have posted. I have been busy. No excuse to be sure-but its the truth.

During that time a lot has happened, much of it comment worthy-and if you are big reader like I am, you have probably read a lot of the commentary on it already. So I will try not to repeat it.

What I do want to take a couple of moments to comment on is the Chattanooga shooting yesterday. As soon as I heard that the shooter had a Muslim name, I said to myself, "Oh boy, here we go."

And true to form, the Town Hall Harlot proved me right.

Lightning strikes are "heartbreaking circumstances." Systemic assassinations of our troops is an act of war, fool==> https://t.co/qcDmu0ADuP

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) July 16, 2015

Of course, the fact that the shooter was a naturalized American citizen is immaterial to this conclusion.  Now mind you this is just a month after a mass shooting in Charleston S.C. occurred. That we are told is not "terrorism", but this is. Can't they both be equally despicable?

Apparently,  in the eyes of some, not.

I think its important in this time of national tragedy to not be a Malkin or a paranoid American, but to step back and look at some actual facts.

Because, whether you want to admit it or not-the events of Charleston and the events of Chattanooga are more alike than they are different. When boiled down to it's base facts, as we know them so far: An American had a grudge. So he obtained a firearm and attempted to rectify his grudge by using that firearm on his fellow citizens. The grudge may have been fueled by irrational ideas from abroad-but it does not erase the fact that the killer was an American citizen who decided that killing fellow American citizens was the way to go.

Americans are killing each other again. That is the fundamental—if politically less useful—lesson of what happened in Tennessee yesterday. An American citizen got his gun and he went to a strip mall and he killed four of his fellow citizens, killed them as dead as Michael Brown or Eric Garner, as dead as the people who were killed by Dylann Roof, who's awaiting trial, or as dead as the people who were killed by James Holmes, who was convicted of killing them just yesterday. By all the criteria of which we boast of our exceptionalism to the world, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez was as much of an American as the four people he allegedly murdered. His motivation doesn't matter. He was a citizen. His victims were citizens. Americans killing other Americans. It's an old story being rehearsed again with unfortunate frequency.

It troubles me that so many people are trying to tie in unrelated issues to this tragedy. Do we need to enforce our borders? Of course we do. Do we need to restrict immigration quotas from Islamic nations? Much as it pains me to say it, perhaps we might-but before we do so, we need to have a bigger conversation about American ideals and the laws of unintended consequences. Because the same people who are advocating this course of action, are descended from possible nations where their ancestors were considered terrorists just the same as Mr. Abdulazeez was. Is America a beacon of liberty or not?

That said, Islam has some real problems right now, problems that collectively it refuses to deal with. I'm not blind to that. Nonetheless, I am having a hard time making the distinction between how denying immigration rights now to qualified immigrants, would have stopped an immigrant family from spawning a criminal some 20 years ago. Someone is going to have to explain to me how that works.

I'm willing to bet you a quart of your favorite Scotch that :

1) The weapon(s) used yesterday were obtained legally, at anyone of America's 129,817 gun dealers.

2) Mr Abdulazeez may or may not be linked to some overseas terrorist group. I, at this point do not know. But I also would like someone to tell me how that would have stopped him from legally obtaining a gun to commit his heinous deeds. Evidently his family had already been investigated and cleared.

Eventually we’ll learn more about Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, but one thing is certain: The Marines who were killed yesterday were equally as much as victims of the American culture of violence as the victims in Charleston.

Lets not forget too that:

  So far in 2015 , 27000 times an American chose that same course of action. They all had problems they had decided they could not solve. They all had grudges. They all had something that made them angry enough. And, as a result, almost 7,000 of our fellow citizens are as dead as the people in Tennessee. This is not an explanation that satisfies any particular agenda but, unquestionably, we are a very fearful nation with an unacknowledged history of violence that also has armed itself very heavily. Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, an American citizen, chose a very American course of action.  He had a problem he couldn't solve so he reached for the most American of solutions. He reached for a gun and he killed some of his fellow citizens.?

We will be told over and over again, "this is different, we are at war."  I beg to disagree. Whatever wars we are fighting beyond our borders, here at home-this was a crime. Every bit as much a crime as a contract hit ordered by a mob family in Ukraine, China or Sicily.  You have to fight it the same as any other crime. Its tragic that the nation lots four of its finest, but its losing fine citizens everyday. We need to remember that.  When you boil it down to brass tacks, this yet another case of an American with a grudge, who obtained a weapon inside the US and took out his rage with it. If this is terrorism, than most gun violence is terrorism.

And I call it a crime, not an act of war. Terrorism is a violent tool used for political reasons to bring pressure on governments by creating fear in the populace. In the same way, I have never thought it helpful to refer to a "war" on terror, any more than to a war on drugs. For one thing that legitimizes the terrorists as warriors; for another thing terrorism is a technique, not a state. Moreover terrorism will continue in some form whatever the outcome, if there is one, of such a "war". For me what happened was a crime and needs to be thought of as such. What made it different from earlier attacks was its scale and audacity, not its nature.