Cape Cod Lighthouse

Switching Back

2010-02-28T15:04:00.002-05:00

A recent visitor suggested that I switch back to writing on the blog http://leesvoicecryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com.

The rationale is that this title more accurately represents the mood of people today. That commenter thought that I needn't worry about the title implying that I'm any kind of prophet. That's the reason I made the switch some time ago, and wrote about why on the Voice blog and referring visitors to Cape Cod Lighthouse.

So, if you've been good enough to visit the blog, http://capecodlighthouse.blogspot.com
you will be able to read my most current thinking on matters which I find important enough to write about at A Voice Crying in the Wilderness.

Thanks for your interest,and I hope that you will take the time to write comments.

Leanderthal

Religious Controversy

2010-02-27T11:52:00.002-05:00

"The Jesus Mysteries" is a book published in 1999 which looks at the history of paganism, mythology and other strange ideas, and how those ideas came to be embodied in the stories about the life of a man called Jesus.

Here's a summary of the book's message
.

"The Jesus Mysteries"

by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy

quotes and notes by Vexen Crabtree 2003 Feb 21

The book is a summary of the theories and history of the Dead Sea Scrolls, with a lot of introductory text to each area of study.

Quotes in my website are taken from 2000 paperback edition. Published by Thorsons, London, 1999.

The traditional history of Christianity is hopelessly inadequate to the facts. From our research into ancient spirituality it has become obvious that we must fundamentally revise our understanding of Christian origins in the most shocking of ways. Our conclusion, supported by a considerable body of evidence in our book, The Jesus Mysteries, is that Christianity was not a new revelation. It was a continuation of Paganism by another name. The gospel story of Jesus is not the biography of an historical Messiah. It is a Jewish reworking of ancient Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting Godman Osiris-Dionysus, which had been popular for centuries throughout the ancient Mediterranean.

The stories told about Osiris-Dionysus will no doubt sound familiar. He is the Son of God who is born to a virgin on the 25th of December before three shepherds. He is a prophet who offers his followers the chance to be born again through the rites of baptism. He is a wonderworker who raises the dead and miraculously turns water into wine at a marriage ceremony. He is God incarnate who dies at Easter, sometimes through crucifixion, but who resurrects on the third day. He is a saviour who offers his followers redemption through partaking in a meal of bread and wine, symbolic of his body and blood. The Jesus story is a synthesis of the Jewish myth of the Messiah Joshua (in Greek Jesus) with these Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting Godman.

It is hard for us today to imagine the Jesus story being consciously created, but this is because we have misunderstood ancient spirituality. Myths were not seen as untruths as they are now. They were understood as allegories of spiritual initiation, which encoded profound mystical teachings. Reworking old myths to create new ones was a standard practice in the ancient world.

The conquests of Alexander the Great had turned the Mediterranean world into one culture with a common language. This created an age of eclecticism, much like our own, in which different spiritual traditions met and synthesized. Jewish mystics of this period, such as Philo Judeas, were obsessed with synthesizing Jewish and Pagan mythology. In light of all this, it is actually no surprise that some group of Jewish mystics should synthesize the great mythic hero of the Jews, Joshua the Messiah, with the great mythic hero of the Pagans, Osiris-Dionysus.

At the time, both Pagans and Christians were well aware that the Jesus story was a myth. The early Christians, known as Gnostics, understood the Jesus story as allegory, not history, and even called Jesus by the names of the Pagan Godman. The Gnostics were brutally eradicated by the Roman Church in the 4th and 5th centuries, and since then we have believed the official propaganda that these Christians were dangerous heretics who had gone Pagan.

Actually the evidence suggests the opposite is closer to the truth. The Gnostics were the original Christians, just as they themselves claimed. They had synthesized Jewish and Pagan mythology to produce the Jesus story and many other extraordinary Christian myths largely unknown today. The Roman Church was a later deviation, which misunderstood the Jesus story as history. It was, as the Gnostics said at the time, an imitation Church teaching a superficial Christianity designed for the masses.

Roman Christianity, and all its subsequent offshoots, is based on the idea that if you believe in the existence of an historical Jesus you will go to heaven when you die. For the Gnostics, however, Jesus is an everyman figure in an initiation allegory. They taught that if you yourself go through the process of initiation symbolized by the Jesus myth, you would die to your old self and resurrect in a new way. The Greek word we translate as resurrect also means awaken.

For the Gnostics, Christianity was about dying -- the idea of giving up your mortal body and awakening to your immortal essence as the Christ within - the One Consciousness of the Universe. This mystical enlightenment was not something that happened after death, but could happen here and now.

The historical figure of Jesus has been so central to Western culture that it is hard to question his existence. As soon as we hear his name we can see him in our mind's eye, in his flowing white robes, with long hair and a beard. Yet this picture of Jesus was not created until the 8th century. Early portrayals of Jesus show him clean-shaven with short hair and wearing a Roman tunic. St Paul says that long hair disgraces a man, so presumably his image of Jesus was not the same as ours.

The fact is that everything we think we know about Jesus, like this romantic picture of the bearded saviour, is a creation of the human imagination. Actually there is barely a shred of evidence for the existence of an historical Jesus and this dissolves on closer inspection. Paul, the earliest Christian source, shows no knowledge of an historical man, only a mystical Christ. The gospels have been thoroughly discredited as eyewitness reports. Other bits of traditional evidence, such as references to Jesus by the Jewish historian Josephus, have been shown to be later forgeries. If solid evidence had existed, there would have been no need to have created such fabrications.

A little over a century ago most people believed the story of Adam and Eve to be history. To most thinking people today its is obviously a myth. We predict that within a generation a similar revolution will have taken place in our understanding of the gospels. People will look back at the beginning of the 21st century and be amazed that a culture with the technology to travel to the moon could see the fabulous story of Jesus as anything other than a myth. However, we do not want to dismiss the Jesus story as nonsense. For us it is truly the greatest story ever told, because it has been thousands of years in the making. It is a perennial tale that has fascinated the human soul since the dawn of time.

Whilst our ideas clearly rewrite history, we do not see ourselves as undermining Christianity. On the contrary we are suggesting that Christianity is in fact richer than we previously imagined. According to the original Gnostic Christians, the Jesus story is a perennial myth with the power to impart the mystical experience of Gnosis, which can transform each one of us into a Christ, not merely a history of events that happened to someone else two thousand years ago.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Tale of Three Generations

2010-02-21T08:57:00.003-05:00

'Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.' That's an old chestnut shibboleth which more or less accurately describes the seemingly inevitable macro cycle of a business history. A person with a vision and/or a compelling need to keep body and soul together rolls up his or her sleeves, works long hours and founds a small business which finds a need in the market place and establishes a viable niche. The first born inherits the leadership of the small company and expands it, improves it, brings it up to date with new technology, enlightened awareness of how to keep the team of employees together and pulling as one. The third generation moves in and milks the company for personal satisfaction, exhibiting none of the qualities of innovation and perseverance of the previous two generations, but all of the self serving habits of one who feels entitled.

The following generation has to roll up its sleeves and start over.

Here's Tom Friedman's Sunday Times column which chronicles how this is working out in our society today. Except for using his column yet again to give a seemingly obligatory periodic plug to his friend Michael Mandelbaum, Friedman provides a pretty good summation of what we're dealing with in our economy today.

Perhaps President Obama has not yet realized that he's that fourth member of the family on whom falls the need to roll up its sleeves and start over.

George W. Bush certainly lived up to his role as the profligate third generation who milked the thing dry for his own pleasure.

It's not lost of many of us that George W. actually is that member of the third generation, the first being his grandfather who amassed a fortune, the second his father who understood the need to be a good steward of that fortune. George W. Bush is the silver spoon, spoiled brat who exhibits all the characteristics of the entitled one. That we actually survived, albeit barely, his bought and paid for presidency is a tribute to the underlying strength of the people who make up this country.

(For those of you who require specific facts to support the claim that George W. is the true embodiment of that profligate third generation, read my recent post about Mark Shields' column on the subject. )

Obama needs to call on the experience and skills which he honed as a community organizer in Chicago, and employ those skills at the national level. By doing so he will gain the admiration and trust of the American people, who desperately want to be led by someone who understands and who demonstrates, not just proclaims, that he knows what needs to be done in times that call for starting over.

By doing so, in contrast, Obama would expose the selfish and out of touch GOPhers as the profligate third generation they truly are.

It's not the role that Obama wanted to play as demonstrated by his attempts to act like a second generation leader, promoting huge initiatives, like reforming health care, which require a still healthy economy to support them. It's fallen on him to be a kind of new founder, a first generation type who, not just figuratively for photo ops, actually rolls up his sleeves.

Behold, he makes everything new again. In that sense he really could be The One.

Lighthouse Keeper

How Soon We Forget, to our Peril

2010-02-20T21:24:00.002-05:00

Here's Mark Shields' important contribution to what should be the true public discourse about what has happened to the economy under the GOP and the Dems. If he got his facts straight no one should give any credence whatsoever to the idiots at the CPAC conference which was held this week.

As I've written recently on this page, those politicians and party hacks who call themselves Conservative are trying to win the support of the public by hypocritically shouting lies, believing that repetitious loud volume hollering can cover up the facts they want and need to hide.

One can only hope that there is still a sufficient number of street wise and alert Americans who see through this bluster, and recognize people like Beck, Limbaugh, Palin and Pawlenty to be the dishonest buffoons they truly are.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Opinions of Two Rational Journalists

2010-02-18T09:45:00.003-05:00

E.J.Dionne and Ruth Marcus offer their fairly rational opinions on Congress and today's politics in the Washington Post. It's heartening that these two journalists continue to state their moderate/progressive views in a newspaper which is inexorably becoming the print version of Fox News.

Neocons Fred Hiatt, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, William Kristol, Marc Thiessen, to name some, outnumber moderate progressives like Marcus, Dionne and Eugene Robinson.

Click on the following links to read what Dionne and Marcus have to say. These two pieces were posted on TruthDigg.

Ruth Marcus:

E.J. Dionne:

Words and Meanings; Often in Conflict

2010-02-17T11:02:00.002-05:00

Here's a fascinating piece on how words can have different meanings to different folks.

In the DADT argument fewer people were willing to support homosexuals for serving openly in the military than gay men and lesbians women. Huh?

My view has it that the word "homosexual" still connotes a generalized sinful life style to many straights, especially the so-called Conservative, white Christianist fundamentalists, while the terms "gay men and lesbian women" connote actual human beings who somehow are given a pass by the
great unwashed.

Reminds of "Get the guvment hands off my Medicare". Conservative today really means "Don't require me to think, and don't fix 'it', because I don't want to admit' it's' broken.

God help us, nobody else will. And I'm agnostic.

Lighthouse Keeper

Conservatives Against Conservation

2010-02-17T10:42:00.002-05:00

Here's a good piece from Andrew Sullivan on the disconnect between Conservatives and conservation.

He refers to the older generation of Conservatives as most likely to be blind to the destruction of the planet inherent in their misguided head- in -the- sand "view". If that older generation were prohibited from indoctrinating their offspring in those misguided opinions we might be rid of those opinions in a generation or two.

Clearly that's not going to happen. Destructive as well as constructive cultural memes are passed on by both the blessings and the sins of the fathers. We see that in the perpetual and never ending hatreds around the globe as well as the absurd unwillingness to acknowledge the signs of self-destructiveness all around us.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Onion Provides Today's Mental Health Break

2010-02-17T08:46:00.002-05:00

Here's The Onion's offering on what to do about loveless marriages. Make them illegal? If it gets to the Supreme Court should some of the justices recuse themselves? Enjoy.

Lighthouse Keeper

Mental Health Break, Thanks to Gail Collins

2010-02-13T12:12:00.003-05:00

Ya gotta love 'er. She helps me not miss Molly Ivins quite so much.

Do yourself a favor and read today's Gail Collins piece in the Times.

Lighthouse Keeper

There's No End to Mystery

2010-02-13T12:02:00.002-05:00

I am agnostic when it comes to religion, so this piece by Greta Christina appeals to me.

I'd like this to be an open thread. Jump in everyone.

Lighthouse Keeper

Creation Begins at Home

2010-02-10T08:44:00.002-05:00

Here's an article about an idea that really excites me, the idea that we create our own reality, that the Universe is a construct of our minds. The author uses his experience of waking from a dream to help us understand what he's talking about.

This is consistent with my own belief in the idea that Man created God in his own image.

Lighthouse Keeper

DADT: Repeal.The.Damn.Law

2010-02-07T11:47:00.005-05:00

Here's Frank Rich's excellent piece on this anachronistic legislation.

Seems politicians, at least those who still have their faculties intact, do pay attention to the mood of the public.

They milk the prejudice cow as long as they can, but come to understand that they are milking a dead cow when they realize that the public moved on when what little milk which was left for a time had turned sour.

This piece deserves a full read.

Lighthouse Keeper

Out of Timeouts

2010-02-05T11:56:00.002-05:00

Wasserman's cartoon in today's Boston Globe is yet another proof that a picture is worth a thousand words.

What to do when you're in the red zone, it's 4th and goal at the 1, both the play clock and the game clock are down to two seconds, you're out of timeouts and all your teammates are about to be called for illegal motion for running off at the mouth?

Lighthouse Keeper

"Banksters"; Perfect Addition to the Lexicon

2010-02-05T09:54:00.004-05:00

Andrew Cuomo is taking on the banksters.

What a great new word.

Lighthouse Keeper

Domestic Terrorism

2010-02-05T09:28:00.003-05:00

If one of the aims of a terrorist is to bring the normal function of a government to a halt, surely Richard Shelby(R, AL) qualifies for the label.

He's holding the US government hostage by putting a hold on 70 presidential appointees, something a senator can do based on an arcane Senate rule.

His beef: He accuses the White House of holding up a multi billion dollar defense contract which Alabama had hoped to land.

Shameful. How do such rules come into being? That's on top of the filibuster rule which stops virtually all legislation. Talk about time for a change.

"The More Things Change---------

2010-02-04T12:35:00.003-05:00

-------the more they stay the same."

Tip of the hat to Frank Fowles, my friendly Mainiac, for putting me onto this piece about history.

People don't change. Only the specifics of the circumstances in which they find themselves change.

Here's an interesting comparison of French history of fifty years ago with our own today.

Lighthouse Keeper

Hedges: Objectivity; The Disease of American Journalism

2010-02-01T11:11:00.007-05:00

Here's an essay by Chris Hedges which leaves me confused, though I'm having a difficult time expressing why and how. He seems to contradict himself, but perhaps it's more about my not understanding what he's saying.

On the one hand he seems to be decrying the lack of reporter's empathy in submitting stories, or more accurately reporter's empathy being written out of their stories by editors who fear offending those who grant access to their reporters and/or provide advertising revenue.

This might be called the Tyranny of Objectivity; a claim that Hitler is an ogre balanced by a claim that Hitler is a prince, to use an example Hedges cites from the past. He seems to be saying that objectivity obscures truth. Truth is that Hitler was an ogre.

In his last paragraph he says that we won't be better off when these "fact based" institutions fail. That's the thought that I can't seem to reconcile with his earlier criticism. Fact based reporting seems to me to be a positive thing, but he seems to be using it in an accusatory, pejorative way.

Please use the comments option at the end of the post if you think you can help me out here.

Lighthouse Keeper

Renaming the Super Bowl

2010-01-31T10:56:00.001-05:00

All college football bowl games these days have commercial sponsors. Why not "Professional" football?

(It's really not professional in the sense of talent and ability, but professional in the commercial sense. All participants are paid help, however amateurish their skills. )

And so I suggest that CBS and the NFL recognize and acknowledge this by renaming the Super Bowl the 'Focus On The Family Evangelical, Witnessing and Proselytizing Super Bowl'. Call a spade a spade, and propaganda, propaganda.

With my TiVo I regularly record my game of choice and delay watching it long enough so that when commercials come on I can fast forward past them. You can't do that if you watch a game in real time. It only takes about five minutes of delay to arrange this.

Next Sunday I will give myself this option. Truth be told I do want to experience one episode of the 'Tim Tebow Thirty Seconds of Sharing' show, if only to be able to discuss it honestly if necessary sometime.

BTW, I read somewhere recently that the law of the land where his mother was pregnant with him made abortion illegal. If so she had no choice in the matter unless she was willing to break the law. And if she had had a legal choice she would have made her decision not to abort within a Pro Choice philosophical or religious belief/conviction system.

Hmmm.

Lighthouse Keeper

My Kind of Cleric

2010-01-31T09:38:00.000-05:00

Here's an ode to Howard Zinn which I found moving.

I do hope that the Rabbi's idea comes to fruition this July 4th.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Headline Says It All

2010-01-31T08:19:00.002-05:00

Here's a most revealing headline. "Can Palin raise enough money to win in 2012?"

The implication is clear: enough money will buy you anything; experience, values, talent, honesty, integrity be damned.

I'm reminded of the old joke, 'Everything I have is for sale except my wife and my dog, and I'm not so sure about my wife'.

Geesh, what a world.

Lighthouse Keeper

Matt Taibbi; Today's Must Read

2010-01-30T17:07:00.002-05:00

Here's a terrific piece by Matt Taibbi on David Brooks' hypocrisy.

He's to be thanked for drilling beneath Brooks' writing about populism
and exposing it for the bull shit it really is.

Lighthouse Keeper

Schadenfreude Lives

2010-01-29T11:08:00.002-05:00

You just have to read this piece by Roger Cohen in today's Times.

He mocks up events in 2040, when China has replaced the US, and the US has exited stage right and left.

Fantasy? Perhaps not, if you believe as I do that people don't change; only the labels change.

I smiled as I realized that I was enjoying a schadenfreude moment.

Lighthouse Keeper

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, David Brooks Style

2010-01-29T10:41:00.002-05:00

As I was reading through David Brooks' column in today's Times I almost began to believe that he was speaking real truth to power, but I also began to be on the lookout for his usual disguised wolf's teeth hidden somewhere in the sheep's clothing.

Sure enough, after talking sense to lure in the progressives and the independents, he showed those fangs, if only in a brief and fleeting expression.

Look for it toward the end where he asks Obama if he, as the second coming of Ross Perot speaking truth to the country, is willing to offer a tax increase on the lower 98%. Shameful, deceitful hypocrisy David Brooks style.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Party of No

2010-01-29T09:55:00.004-05:00

Here's a TPM piece about a strict party line vote on fiscal discipline. Guess which party voted for it. If you said the GOP you'd be wrong.

The GOPhers rant daily about deficit spending, blaming all of it on the Democrats. Then all forty GOPher senators voted against a pay as you go bill.

The GOPhers are only interested in blocking anything the Democrats want done. Screw the voters. Screw the country. It's politics only baby.

Any questions?

Lighthouse Keeper

Over-Educated? How Stupid Is That?

2010-01-28T17:59:00.002-05:00

Here's a great example of terrible journalism, if you could even call it journalism.

I don't know anything about Sam Stein except for this really stupid, ignorant, class clashing claim.

Who qualifies to be among the over-educated? Clearly Stein need not worry about being included if that label has anything to do with intelligence.

Geesh.

Lighthouse Keeper

We Go Forth on the Feet of Heretics

2010-01-27T19:57:00.003-05:00

Here's an obituary for Howard Zinn who passed away today at age 87. He didn't leave much on the table.

Lighthouse Keeper

Bob Herbert Gets It Right

2010-01-26T19:11:00.002-05:00

Start of rant.

This column in the NYTimes by Bob Herbert says it all. He speaks for me.

I've often said that GOPhers fall in line and Dems fall all over themselves.

But the real message in Herbert's column is that Obama hasn't really changed anything that much.
He's being rolled by the Pentagon and Neocons, he's being rolled by the drug and health insurance companies, he's being rolled by his own Congress on several issues, he's continuing Bush secrecy policies, etc.. Change, what change? Some way it would have been worse had McCain won. How much worse? I don't know.

GOPhers only position is to take a position opposite Obama, regardless of the issues. Obstruct! And they make no bones about it. Par example: Jud Gregg's comments, threats, about reconciliation.

End of rant.

Lighthouse Keeper

Frank Rich Gets It Right

2010-01-24T11:28:00.002-05:00

Here's a column by Frank Rich in today's NYTimes.

I think it is today's Must Read.

If Obama, unlike W, reads the papers I sure hope he reads this piece.

Lighthouse Keeper

Mental Health Break

2010-01-24T11:07:00.001-05:00

Here's a charming, tongue in cheek, wishful thinking piece which tells a truth.

That truth is "---we all want a wife", even wives.

Enjoy.

Lighthouse Keeper

Is Main Street Now Totally Screwed?

2010-01-22T12:46:00.003-05:00

According to this summary of the state of the union by Andrew Sullivan on his Daily Dish blog for Atlantic Magazine it seems so.

I appreciate his getting all this shit together. It's a powerful list of just what has screwed us.

Lighthouse Keeper

Anniversary

2010-01-21T10:28:00.001-05:00

This cartoon says it all.

Lighthouse Keeper

Finally Paul Volcker Gets Obama's Attention

2010-01-21T10:08:00.002-05:00

Here's some encouraging news. Paul Volcker who has been able to be objective about big banks, even though he has known the major players for years, is starting to influence Obama that there need to be regulations which reign in high risk taking on the part of the banking industry.

Geithner and Summers are too chummy with the big fish in the big pond.

Lighthouse Keeper

I Don't Get It. Clearly I'm Out of Touch.

2010-01-19T22:09:00.003-05:00

I am really at at loss to account for how and why Martha Coakley was defeated in her bid to succeed Ted Kennedy in the US Senate.

Please enlighten me.

It's not lost on me that though I sign my posts as Lighthouse Keeper, there exist those who do their best to hide themselves from the light, which they know and fear will expose them for who and what they truly are.

Lighthouse Keeper.

The French, Hugo Chavez and Haiti

2010-01-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a report of a government minister of an assumed ally, the French, claiming that the US efforts to help Haiti are all about occupying Haiti. Seems our guys, who are trying to make the best use of a damaged airport, waved off a French plane, which landed safely the next day.

In a recent post where I exposed my concern about this possibility I wrote that I expected those who hate us and our elected officials for whatever reason, be they terrorists or GOPhers, would make this kind of accusation.

I really didn't expect to read that the French had taken such a cheap shot.

They now have earned the dubious distinction of being lumped together with Hugo Chavez for claiming that the US is using token and grossly insufficient numbers of aid workers as cover for occupying Haiti.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Multi-Level Tragedy That Is Haiti

2010-01-17T18:06:00.002-05:00

The most obvious level of tragedy in Haiti is the reality of the huge death toll, the injured not being able to get help, the potentially huge numbers of people buried alive who will not be found in time, and of course the lack of potable water, food and medical supplies.

Those food, water and medical supplies apparently have arrived, but mob rule is a huge problem preventing those who want to help the individuals who make up the mob from being able to do so.

Emerson wrote: "The mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast".

It's tragic that marshal law is likely the only way to stop mob violence, meaning that those upholding marshal law can shoot to kill the beast if necessary.

Who should instigate marshal law? Since the Haitian government seems to have ceased to exist itwould have to be another state taking over. I hope a state other than the US takes charge. If we were to do it those who detest our government, terrorists and the GOP, would use it as evidence that our government is a super power bully, and is trying to take advantage of a helpless people for nefarious reasons. It doesn't have to make sense, just repeat it over and over again until it becomes a fact to the most dim witted of people everywhere, who seem to outnumber those who see through the propaganda and spin.

A catch twenty-two situation to be sure.

Lighthouse Keeper

Finally, Obama Gets His Back Up. Is It Genuine?

2010-01-14T19:30:00.005-05:00

Finally, President Obama has gotten his back up and called out the heads of the financial institutions, often known simply as Wall Street, whose greed has known no bounds, and who have had no regard for the financial plight of the element of our society often known simply as Main Street.

Genuine or political posturing? I wish I could be certain that it's genuine, but I also understand and accept that it might be needed political posturing?

Obama made his populist declaration today with members of his economic advisers flanking him (I wonder to what extent they are actually "at his side"), including Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner. Summers' facial expression was pretty much implacable. Geithner's however resembled a deer in the headlights. Both should be fired, based on conflict of interest and flagrant hypocrisy.

The most conspicuous in his absence was Paul Volcker. He speaks truth to power. Perhaps that's why he was absent in the photo op and his experience, skills and wisdom are absent from what Obama is hearing from his economic advisers who, clearly, are incapable of objectivity in the discharge of their assignments.

Unlike Summers and Geithner, Paul Volcker's years of experience in dealing with people like Blankfein, Dimond, Lewis, etc. seem not to have jaded him in his evaluation of right and wrong.

Question: Why has Obama marginalized, as in publicly excluding Paul Volcker, and has essentially ignored, if not actually dismissed, Volcker's advice and counsel? Tell what you think.

Lighthouse Keeper

There'll Be A Change In The Weather and a Change in The Sea,

2010-01-13T17:35:00.003-05:00

Here's a short piece on right wingers using cold spells to dispel rumors that climate change is real.

I draw your attention to only the first part of this piece, the one about the difference between weather and climate.

I haven't read the other parts of the piece, so I can't speak to them.

This piece makes the crucial point that changes in the weather do not correlate with changes in the climate. So when and if you encounter someone who mocks climatologists' claims of global warming you are on solid ground, not thin ice, if you refute their position with this truism.

It's the change in the sea, a sea change, which is crucial.

Lighthouse Keeper

Frustration: When What's True Isn't What's Right

2010-01-12T10:12:00.003-05:00

Here's a really good essay by Stanley Fish in today's Times on frustration.

We all have our stories. His stories are especially relevant in today's society.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Power of Martydom

2010-01-11T16:21:00.000-05:00

Here's Sic Semper Tyrannis blog writer Colonel Patrick Lang's, (Army Retired) ,take on OBL getting exactly what he wants. The conflict might be classified as an unholy alliance between enemies who thrive on their mutual need for each other.

Lang writes assuming that OBL is alive. Even SecDef Gates says we haven't had good intelligence about him for years. OBL dead or alive, could be a valuable and most useful Straw Man, used by Al Qaeda to capitalize on and milk his charisma to recruit impressionable, disillusioned and thus vulnerable to propaganda, idealistic young people to take up jihad. That seems to be the case in the Christmas, thankfully inept, airline bomber.

It's said that Jesus was executed by crucifixion, at the hands of Roman authorities who wanted to crush a growing insurrection. Pilate was able to wash his hands of Jesus' blood, thanks to a complicit Jewish hierarchy which also wanted to quash a threat to its powerful and corrupt hold on Jewish society.

Jesus was martyred, and that martyrdom has accounted for millions of adherents to Christianity over two thousand years. OBL is already a martyr, dead or alive, with untold numbers of adherents to his agenda of jihad against the West.

Martyrdom can be a powerful force, especially when those who want to exercise control over vast numbers of impressionable people, use it to promote the acceptance of myths, as historical fact.

Lighthouse Keeper

Acting With Intelligence Versus Acting On Intelligence

2010-01-11T15:52:00.001-05:00

The most recent proof that "Military Intelligence" is an oxymoron would be comical if it hadn't been so tragic. It's the the story of the double agent, trusted by his handlers, who blew away himself and seven CIA agents recently.

Here's a Boston Globe column which raises an interesting point of view regarding what Afghans might and might not be capable of in fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. I think H.D.S. Greenway might be on to something here.

Since it's been observed several times recently that if our goal is to bomb Afghanistan back to the Stone Age, the problem is that it's been done already, and we're just reorganizing the rubble.

On top of that, counting on getting uneducated and illiterate people, with little and no experience in forming effective hierarchical, top down, command and control organizations, is a fool's errand. Such institutions assume the existence and participation of trained, disciplined and motivated military and/or security personnel who accept being a part of such organizations.

These peoples' vast experience over hundreds of years is of a tribal nature, a far different cultural animal than we are asking them to accept, embrace and believe in.

As usual, our tunnel vision, black and white, keep it simple bureaucrats and military commanders, could benefit greatly by immersing themselves in the study of cultural anthropology, focused on backward, to our way of thinking, people. They need to understand that because a geographical area on the planet has been given a name, Afghanistan for example, it doesn't follow that such an area is a successful nation state in our sense of the term. At best the successful cultural and political unit is the tribe.

The disconnect, as in trust and respect, between the tribes and the Kabul government is obvious. The only thing they seem to have in common is the assumption that corruption is a part of, and way of living.

As we get more involved in Yemen, as it seems we are, we will find this true in that inhospitable land as well. Al Qaeda needs sanctuaries that tribal cultures can provide; locals they can woo and bribe, who will, as tribes do, protect them as their own. There are many such cultures available to them; those in the lands called Pakistan and Afghanistan are clear examples, and they see Yemen and Somalia as other lands, nations in name only, in which to thrive, thanks to the sanctuaries of inhospitable, to outsiders like ourselves, terrain and indigent peoples.

One of the great ironies in history, as I see it, is that America exists today because tribal like units in the colonies, used guerrilla tactics to defeat the disciplined, trained, hierarchical, top down command and control, British Army, but since then we've reverted to that same top down, command and control strategic model our revolutionary, guerrilla colonists fended off.

It seems to me that, historically, the usual outcome of such conflicts, those pitting close to the land defenders against regimented would be colonial occupiers, could more accurately be described not as defeating the enemy so much as denying it victory.

The psychological, perhaps spiritual, advantage which defenders have over offenders of their lands and cultures is at least two fold, which on first blush might seem to be inconsistent in terms of human nature. One is passion and the other is patience. Passion without patience can be vulnerable to destruction and defeat. Passion with patience is likely to prevail in most conflicts in which humanity is prone to engage.

You heard it here first. I want my epitaph, carved into my headstone, to read, "When Will We Ever Learn?"

Lighthouse Keeper

David Brooks: A Candidate for The Most Pretentious Pundit Award

2010-01-11T15:43:00.001-05:00

Here's a link to a David Brooks recent NY Times column.

I have two complainst about Brooks and this column. One has to do with what he claims Tea Partiers are against, and proceeds to lump all kinds of elements of society which the
Tea Partiers are against under the label, "The Educated Class".

Check out what and who he claims the Tea Partiers are against in this segment of his column.

This is a direct quote:

"The tea party movement is a large, fractious confederation of Americans who are defined by what they are against. They are against the concentrated power of the educated class. They believe big government, big business, big media and the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy — with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation."

I don't know about you but when I read that he lumps big government, big business, big media and affluent professionals together as what Tea Partiers are against, and read that he sets them off against a group which he labels The Educated Class, I am moved to call attention to his use of class warfare language to ingratiate himself with those who feel disenfranchised, powerless against whatever is big, when big is a synonym for the power of money.

The other complaint and one which cannot really be separated from the first, is Brooks' pretentious use of cultural and anthropoligical ideas and terms in promoting his neo con agenda.

Lighthouse Keeper

Important Observation Re: Airport Security

2010-01-10T18:21:00.004-05:00

I found this comparison beteen Israeli aiport security and our own TSA airport security fascinating. Israel screens potential and would be passengers; our TSA screens for things on potential and would be passengers.

How about that?

Does Israel practice profiling? Since everyone who wants to enter their airport terminal is screened, it seems that the answer to that question is "No".

It can be argued that this is not an apples to apples comparison, based on the difference in the sheer number of passengers passing through the respective airport terminals.
Perhaps it's unrealistic to expect that our TSA could implement an Israeli type passenger screening due to the vast numbers of passenger screenings which would be required.

What got my attention in this article is that apparently the last preboarding screenings of would be passengers at Israeli airport terminals are conducted by well, if not highly, educated professionals who receive additonal education, yes training, to be security guards, as opposed, and in sharp contrast, to the general image we have of our so-called TSA security guards.

Lighthouse Keeper

Kevin Drum's Good Idea

2010-01-10T15:16:00.002-05:00

Here's a piece by Kevin Drum at Mother Jones with which I heartily agree.

He quotes FDR on politics and hatred during his administration. It sounds so contemporary.

Lighthouse Keeper

An Antidote to the Main Stream Media

2010-01-08T20:28:00.003-05:00

Here's a link to TomDispatch.com which, in my not so humble opinion, is an absolutely indispensable source for big picture analysis of what's really going on.

Tom Engelhardt, the publisher of this blog, makes clear what he is trying to do, in his mission statement for TomDispatch.com: "A Regular Antidote to the Main Stream Media".

When I stumbled upon his website several months ago I realized, even before I read his mission statement, that he was doing what he could to wake us up to the distortions, lies, deceipts and propaganda spins which the Main Stream Media contines to publish on it's front pages, above and below the fold, as well as on its editorial and op-ed columnist pages.

Lighthouse Keeper

Michael Klare on Blowback

2010-01-08T12:55:00.002-05:00

Here's an important addition to the public discourse on what this new decade will bring to or on us.

I'm especially interested in the fourth of his points, what the planet itself is likely to bring to or on us.

Michael Klare is a futurist thinker and needs to be listened to. He is the author of 'Resource Wars' of a few years back and which I heartily recommend.

Lighthouse Keeper

TomGram.

2009-12-27T09:23:00.002-05:00

Here's a very trenchant essay on war by Tom Engelhardt. Worth a full read.

Lighthouse Keeper.

Tora Bora, The Story of How Bin Laden Was Allowed to Get Away.

2009-12-22T15:13:00.002-05:00

Here's a six page account by a well respected writer on terrorism, Peter Bergen, of how Bin Laden was allowed to escape capture at Tora Bora.

If you wonder how it all went down, this report is likely the most authentic you will find.

I'm cynical about this. I actually believe that the Bush/Cheney administration did not want Bin Laden captured. He represented the head of the terrorist hydra that was needed to keep the public in fear. So long as Bin Laden was free he was the symbol of the enemy the administration needed for propaganda purposes to justify the war on terrorism, and to justify invading Iraq.

I hesitate to call this a conspiracy because the word brings on great ridicule. But it was at least a hidden agenda. Semantics? I suppose so.

Lighthouse Keeper

Dust And Ashes

2009-12-21T09:30:00.002-05:00

Here's a column by Russ Douthat of the Times which I didn't expect to enjoy, but did.

As one who is agnostic about God, I found this piece to be thought provoking and rather well written.

Lighthouse Keeper

Spin City

2009-12-20T11:51:00.002-05:00

Here's Frank Rich's Sunday Times column. It needs no comments from me except that I hope you read it.

Lighthouse Keeper

Speaking Truth to Those Who Pretend To Have Power

2009-12-18T19:22:00.003-05:00

Here's a link to my email response to Senator John Kerry who, in an email, tried to hit me up yet again for a donation to finance Dem ads to combat GOP propaganda.

Let me know what you think.

Lighthouse Keeper

Update: Postmaster said my email is undeliverable. So, once again we have a one way communication, precluding a dialogue. They can solicite money and shield themselves from disagreement. Don't you just love technology?

Perhaps I'll go to the trouble of finding Kerry's web site and look for a link to send this where a staffer might even read it.

"The Unspeakable" A Must Read

2009-12-15T11:05:00.002-05:00

To call something a conspiracy is to invite ridicule. So just try talking about hidden agendas. We see these every day in politics.

But "conspiracy" is a much more trenchant and proper name for what has been called "The Unspeakable", what the permanent war military/industrial/intelligence complex has done and is still doing, through subterfuge and even assassinations.

Here is a link to an article on Truthout, comparing what JFK faced and what Obama is now facing.

JFK refused to escalate the Vietnam war. He was assassinated. LBJ who did escalate that war died of natural causes.

Of course this is a much too simplistic statement of cause and effect. The article however fleshes out details and facts which might make the reader more open to the possibility of there being an endless, permanent war cabal; that which Ike warned us about, what he labeled the military/industrial establishment.

With his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan, Obama has been rolled by those who practice "The Unspeakable". If he continues the willingness to be rolled perhaps he will get to die a natural death.

This article, which is a critique of an important book, is a must read, not just for it's claims and warnings, but for its citing of specific details and historical facts, lending credible support to the reality of the ongoing conspiracy it exposes.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Sleazing of America

2009-12-09T19:29:00.002-05:00

It's often said that money is the root of all evil.

Au contraire; I like money, and as a retired and financially challenged man, I'd like to have a lot more of it. I would welcome an influx of big money from winning the lottery, or inheriting big from a wealthy relative I didn't know I had. I'll happily take the chance, assume the risk, that having significantly more money might make me evil.

But there is real truth to the acknowledgement that money is the root of all evil, as long as the shibolith is modified to say, "Money used to corrupt is the root of all evil.

It's also often said, that if you don't understand something, follow the money.

I don't know about you, and I'm sure others have wailed against the decline in decency over all of recorded history, but I seem to be inundated with sleaze whenever I watch TV, surf the Web, check out the newstand or take in a movie.

I'm no prude. My real concern is that the sleazing of America, perhaps more accurately called the sleazing of civilization, leads to the decline and fall of decency, which knows no country.

Censorship leads to even more corruption, like what happened during Prohibition. That's not the solution.

It's often also said that in all organizations, small to large, the tone of the culture usually reflects the values of its leaders.

In the US, at least for the previous eight years, our leaders essentially told us that they were above the law. If the law is what keeps regular folks decent, and if our leaders say they don't have to follow it, it's not a stretch to conclude that, consciously or unconsciously those who follow the leaders will take on the same attitude.

What do you think? Use the comments option to chime in.

Lighthouse Keeper

"The Modern Denial of Human Nature"

2009-12-08T18:46:00.003-05:00

The title of this post is actually the sub title of the book, "The Blank Slate", by Stephen Pinker. who was a professor of psychology at MIT when his book was published in 20o2.

This commentary on my part likely qualifies as an expression of a voice crying in the wilderness.
Like the age old philosophical question about a tree falling in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound.

I write this as if it is a virtual tree falling in the cyber forest. You don't have to be around during the actual event, my writing this. If you find it interesting you will have confirmed the event.

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and theoretical thinker of the first half of the twentieth century
postulated that we don't come into life a blank slate, but that we come into life with predispositions about how we see our world and how we prefer to make decisions about what we see.

Steven Pinker, the an MIT professor, wrote a book a few years ago called,The Blank Slate, The Modern Denial of Human Nature, which espoused, in an up to date way, the same idea.

Our leaders, politicians, business executives, and in some cases, our teachers, and in most cases our parents, operate as if we all come into life a blank slate, and the Nurture, by itself is what shapes us, makes who we are.

WRONG!!! Any one who has parented more than one child knows this. Kids, siblings, raised in the same environment, the family and home, subjected to the same Nurture, rarely behave alike,
but display their own unique personality. Some have postulated the birth order is at play.

I'll leave that to others who are more knowledgeable than I to flesh that out, but birth order and/or at birth inherent preferences both tell us that to assume we all should be considered blank slates and equally easily influenced by our authorities, parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, bosses, politicians, is more than naive, it's destructive.

What do you think? Use the comments option to chime in.

Lighthouse Keeper

"Commanded- In- Chief"

2009-12-03T10:26:00.003-05:00

Here's Tom Engelhardt's detailed summary of how the Commander-In-Chief surrendered to his own Generals.

One of the most important, revered and essential elements in the foundation of our Constitutional Republic has been that a civilian, the President, is in charge of the military. Clearly, that's been compromised. And this is different from a Latin American military coup how? It's actually bloodless politically in the strict sense of the word, but it will be bloody enough militarily.

More Neocon war, somewhere, all the time. That's apparently our future. Tragic.

Who will be the Edward Gibbon of our time? Who will write The Decline and Fall of the American Empire?

Lighthouse Keeper

"The Generals Won _ Everything"

2009-12-02T17:11:00.002-05:00

Retired Colonel Patrick Lang's piece on Obama's decision is on his blog, Sic Semper Tyrannis, which can be found here.

Lang says the generals "rolled" Obama. So sad, so sickening and so true.

So $30 billion more per year will be poured down the rat hole which is Afghanistan. Just think what that could pay for in nation building right here, ours. Bridges, schools, environment, medical research, job creating work-----you get the picture.

The only word for this situation is 'obscene'.

Be sure to read William Rivers Pitt's, The Angst of a Liberal, dated 12/1/09. Here's a link to it, if you haven't used the link I provided in an earlier post.

Lighthouse Keeper

He Speaks For Me

2009-12-02T09:56:00.001-05:00

William Rivers Pitt speaks for me.

Lighthouse Keeper

Throw The Book At 'Em Or Thank Them; Just Don't Let Them Profit From It.

2009-11-29T17:48:00.005-05:00

On one hand, to say that the uninvited couple who somehow got into the state dinner "crashed the party", might be funny to those who like to embarrass the high and mighty, but it ignores the reality that they got past the screening devices, and could have done that with concealed biological agents or other hard to detect means to assassinate the president and create havoc.

On the other hand their self centered, narcissistic need for attention which they hoped to parlay into lots of money by being sought after for interviews and TV contracts, just might have done our nation a service, by exposing holes in the security apparatus designed with the intention of providing absolute security to our president.

I appeal to the media of all kinds not to give them money and publicity. They should be ignored by all except the Secret Service. Being ignored is the one thing they fear the most.

Lighthouse Keeper

Enough is Enough

2009-11-29T10:05:00.002-05:00

Here's Mark Shields on Wall Street greed.

He cites the wisdom of Joseph Heller on how much is enough.

Lighthouse Keeper

Religious Wars

2009-11-26T10:43:00.004-05:00

Here's an interesting piece by Nicholas Kristof in today's NY Times, discussing the impact of recent books about religion and God.

It's an appropriate topic for our secular holiday, Thanksgiving.

As an agnostic I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lighthouse Keeper

Principles Versus Politics

2009-11-25T18:27:00.003-05:00

I have no particular written piece, nor even a group of written pieces, to cite for this post.

I have only my personal observations of Obama in his first year as president.

(Personal disclosure, should that be important to you.) I was and am an Obama supporter, and reserve the right as an individual American citizen to criticize those I've chosen to lead.

I'm drawn more to analyzing patterns inherent in the incidence of specific events and pieces of anecdotal evidence, than to each and every specific event or piece of anecdotal evidence.

The pattern that I perceive has it that Obama ran a campaign based on principles, but in office, faced with the possibility of being a one term president, he has succumbed, as so many presidents have, to the fear that he might not get re-elected if he leads based on his principles.

During the campaign in 2008, as many of you know, I predicted no significant change in how things are done in D.C., regardless of who was elected president.

Sadly it seems I was correct in that prediction.

Lighthouse Keeper

Secret Societies

2009-11-25T12:19:00.002-05:00

Hat Tip to Old Dude for leading me to this article.

Here's a piece which sheds the Cape Cod Lighthouse beacon on the shadowy presence of secret societies in our midst. In this case it's known as The Family, and its C Street House in the DC area.

Many of its members are well known politicians and other assorted public figures. Some of them have had, and are having, important impact and influence on pending legislation, like the Stupak amendment to the health care bill.

This particular society is Christian Fundamentalist in nature, far right wing extremist in character and allegiance to big money in practice.

There have always been secrete societies, with a wide variety of tenets and goals, but usually fundamentalist and elitist in nature and character. A common thread is their obsession with keeping secret, and out of the limelight, the names of participants, as well as insistence on unwritten discussions, plans and agreements.

In Boston it's been known as The Vault. In Catholicism, it's Opus Dei.

In the 1970's Taylor Caldwell wrote a historical novel called "Captains and the Kings". Its plot was about a secret society of wealthy people around the world whose allegiance was to money, but no particular country, regardless of the source of their citizenship. It was an arms dealer cabal which supplied both sides of the Civil War. (By the way it's a great story, with a rather transparent inclusion of the Kennedy family's involvement in it, going back to the patriarch, Joseph Kennedy.)

This NPR interview reveals some rather striking similarities to the group Caldwell wrote about, including the inclusion in the cabal of people from all around the globe. It's the living proof that Follow the Money, especially when it's wrapped in Fundamentalist disguise, is the mother of all axioms, and truths.

I'd be most happy to receive a large and wide variety of comments on this post. Treat it as an open thread.

Lighthouse Keeper

Mr. President, Perception is Everything

2009-11-23T14:04:00.002-05:00

Here's a piece of news that makes me wonder why the White House doesn't get it when it comes to appointing regulators of systems who have long ties to those same systems. Talent and experience of course are important, but not if they are used, or are even perceived to be used, to protect those same systems.

In this case it's about the Financial System's clear need for stronger regulation.

It's being rumored that Jamie Dimon, current CEO of J.P.Morgan Chase,
who has made vast sums of money on Wall Street and Banking is being considered a likely successor to Tim Geithner, who used to be the head of the NY Fed, should Geithner resign or be kicked out.

Whatever the talents and view points Dimon might have to make him seem appealing, the public perception would be all about more of the same; another insider of the good old elite boys club, likely to protect his buddies in the face of needed regulations. Geithner has been accused by some to have protected his buddies, perhaps the same group that Dimon would favor.

Why give the GOPhers even more ammunition.

Lighthouse Keeper

Triple Dipping; Corruption in the Military/Industrial Complex

2009-11-23T09:51:00.006-05:00

Here's a piece to get your blood boiling. And we complain about corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan. A glass houses and stones story. Scandalous.

Lighthouse Keeper

2009-11-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

Today's Must Read

2009-11-20T10:44:00.002-05:00

Here's a link to Tom Engelhardt's excellent piece on Afghanistan, including a speech he wishes Obama would make soon, written by Tom himself.

Conventional wisdom has it that if Obama were to make this speech he would be dead meat politically. Some of us think that the majority of Americans would cheer. Who knows, as Tom points out, what would happen in 2012? If the economy turns around, and it is shown to have turned around, as least in part, due to a jobs program that worked, Obama could win a second term easily.

Remember that George Bush, I, was considered a hero war president after the Gulf War, but lost a second term because the economy tanked after that war.

How soon we forget.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Music Woman

2009-11-18T18:04:00.004-05:00

Here's a really good piece by Max Blumenthal at TomDispatch.com, a great place to read in- depth analyses of current events and phenomena, and yes from an anti-imperialist, anti-neocon

It's a brief history of time in the age of Palintology.

Like the Music Man, Sarah Palin is all about drawing attention to herself by stirring up trouble "Right here in River City", the image and symbol of what she calls "Real America". Like The Music Man, she's the classic Charlatan, taking in the rubes who are easily swayed to follow someone who promises good fortune, if only they pledge their meagre treasures to her as their leader.

Sarah Palin is currently a media lightening rod, and probably can count on media exposure between now and at least 2012.

If I were a late night comedian I'd be grateful to her, as a cause celebre because she has spawned some of the funniest TV shows and videos, like SNL's spoofs starring the adorable Tina Fey.

If Palin were to be denied media coverage she would fade from the scene rather quickly. That's not going to happen because the liberal media make money off her, and the conservative media want to promote her.

Actually, the media coverage of Palin might be for the best from a moderate to progressive point of view. That coverage includes both conservative and neoconservative evaluations of her, which include a range of criticism, from Unqualified to Joke.

Max Blumenthal has captured and exposed the Palin phenomenon well.

Lighthouse Keeper

Securing The Barn Door After the Horses Got Loose.

2009-11-15T19:40:00.005-05:00

Here's an essay, the gist of which won't escape you for long. My hope is that the message of this essay becomes fodder for real discussion around kitchen tables everywhere.

Tip of the hat to The Old New Englander for sending it to me.

Lighthouse Keeper

Gene Robinson Gets It

2009-11-14T10:35:00.002-05:00

Here's Eugene Robinson's recent WaPo column on Afghanistan. He makes a strong case for bringing home the troops.

He is so right, but, like a lot of thinking Americans, he's likely to be disappointed.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Courage to Be President

2009-11-12T20:02:00.006-05:00

Here's a report which both encourages and frightens me.

Obama is not rubber stamping his military advisors' requests, if not demands, to escalate the war in Afganistan.

That encourages me.

Those military advisers who have gone public with their views, have violated their oaths to adhere to and follow the chain of command, including advising and ultimately following and obeying the orders of their Commander-In-Chief.

That scares me.

It scares me for many reasons, but what scares me the most is the possibility that the far right wing, neocon, military/industrial complex might even contemplate a scenario in which Obama was eliminated, taken out, as was JFK.

JFK resisted pressure from the military to escalate the Vietnam war. He was assassinated. His successor, LBJ, rubber stamped the military demands. He died a natural death.

Attempting to connect the dots in the form of similar information and clues to look for a pattern of criminal behavior and related cover up, and making a connection from the past to the present exposes one to ridicule as a conspiracy nut job; to be ignored, dismissed as an out of touch, mentally disturbed voice crying in the wilderness, a kook.

Accepting an institution's conclusion that it absolves itself of all blame and culpability, based on having investigated itself, should expose one to ridicule as intellectually challenged, naive, one who can be manipulated by ideologues and is to be feared as surely as those who manipulate the gullible dunces.

Obama knows and understands this. That is why he should be supported and encouraged for the courage he exhibits daily as president. He knows that he is putting his life on the line every day.

Lighthouse Keeper

What a Revoltin' Develpment This Is

2009-11-12T16:45:00.002-05:00

This is the sorry state of affairs in the place they call Afghanistan. It is a country in name only. Actually it's a rogue state, a home to unimpeded corruption from top to bottom. It is not worth one more American or NATO life, nor one more dime.

I'm delighted that McChrystal is "furious" that our Ambassador to that rat hole advised our president to hold off on adding more troops and money until their so-called president, the chief of tribal corruption, cleans up his act. The sweet irony is that our Ambassador is a retired general, who was the senior U.S.military commander in Afghanistan for two years.

Lighthouse Keeper

Perfect is in the Eye of the Beholder

2009-11-10T17:15:00.002-05:00

President Bill Clinton had it right today when he to told his Democrat Senator audience that there is no perfect bill. Perfect to whom, would be the obvious question.

I read recently how the law which enacted social security for the retired was passed with terrible initial inequities, e.g. farm workers were excluded so that plantation owners would vote for it. It's value was in getting something made into law which could be, and subsequently was, improved to be the safety net program we have today.

We are facing again today just that kind of hold- your- nose need to compromise on health care reform legislation. Just get it done, however imperfect it is, because subsequent Congresses will have something to improve upon, which is much easier to do than breaking all new ground, radical change, which three quarters of the population is inclined to resist, if not fear.

Even the most conservative of our citizens are open to change if it's incremental and gradual. That is why improving an initially radical change law is possible. Even if the bill which gets Obama's signature contains language which restricts insurance coverage for a woman's right to chose, that is likely to be changed, corrected and improved in future sessions of Congress.

As Obama has said, in his pragmatic way, don't let the perfect get in the way of the possible. He said as much again today when he told Congress that it was a health care bill, not an abortion bill, and urged Congress to get it done now.

I've learned that we don't have time to make it perfect, but we will have time to improve it once we "Git-R-Done" as Larry the Cable Guy exhorts us.

Lighthouse Keeper

Fagetaboutit

2009-11-09T11:29:00.003-05:00

Reading this piece by Nick Turse at TomDispatch.com, my wish that Obama would get us out of Afghanistan turns out to be a pipe dream.

The Pentagon is running and ruining our country. The billions they get to build infrastructure to support our empire building around the world would likely upgrade our own infrastructure and well as pay for health care and education, etc..

Instead it's being poured down the rat hole which is Afghanistan, and preparing the killing fields for young American lives.

Also read this piece from TomDispatch.com describing the atrocious treatment of AWOL and PTSD soldiers and how they are offered amnesty if they agree to deploy again to Iraq or Afghanistan.

It's nothing short of criminal.

Lighthouse Keeper

Sadly True

2009-11-08T09:06:00.002-05:00

Here's Tom Friedman's take on the Israel/Palestinian conundrum. Sadly it makes a lot of sense to me.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Power of Entrenched Interests

2009-11-04T08:43:00.005-05:00

Here's a Times editorial which exposes the military/industrial complex entrenched interests which Obama, like all presidents, is up against.

When Ike became president Harry Truman was said to have been sorry for the former general, because he would be frustrated by giving orders and wondering why nobody followed them.

Russ Baker writes about this also in his piece, "What Obama Is Up Against". Read it here.

Gene Robinson of WaPo treats it as well here.

As a retired former CEO of an industrial company I can't imagine wanting to be POTUS.

Lighthouse Keeper

"One Nation Under Contract"

2009-11-04T08:33:00.002-05:00

Here's an important piece by Tom Friedman on the expanded use of civilian contractors to provide war support services which once were provided by the military.

My only quarrel with Friedman is that he's too accepting of this practice while claiming to be worried about it.

Prof. Stanger has done the country a service by exposing this invitation to corruption.

Lighthouse Keeper

The Wisdom of Matthew Hoh

2009-11-02T13:17:00.003-05:00

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Old Dude who drew my attention to the interview of Matthew Hoh.

Here's a link to that interview. As Old Dude pointed out in the comment he left on my earlier post about the time machine to the 14th century which is Afghanistan, some of the questions posed and statements made are troubling.

As Matthew said, this is a political issue. Even a dove leaning president does not want to be painted as weak on war. The neocon propaganda machine is formidable and to be feared. They support war somewhere, all the time. There's huge profits to be made. Their connections and ties to the Pentagon are tight, and the military/industrial establishment is essentially an unbalanced and unchecked separate branch of the government in the U.S.

As always, follow the money.

Lighthouse Keeper

Afghanistan: "Time Machine to the 14th Century"

2009-11-01T08:58:00.002-05:00

Here's Maureen Dowd's great piece on Obama's dilemma.

Lighthouse Keeper

David Brooks' Gratuitous Insult to Obama

2009-10-31T11:45:00.002-04:00

Here's Glenn Greenwald's critique of David Brooks' vapid expose on what Obama the man has to be, tenacious and convicted about winning in Afghanistan.

Brooks cites military experts, without naming any of them, that their big concern is Obama the man. Does he have what it takes to be a war president? This is nothing but a gratuitous insult to Obama.

Sadly, it seems that being tenacious about domestic needs, health care, infrastructure, education, etc.. carries no currency with these unnamed people whose careers and jobs are all about making war. The billions being poured down the rat hole which is Afghanistan could improve, if not solve, many of our domestic problems.

Brooks writes like the neocon he truly is, all about war somewhere, all the time.

He should not enjoy, because he does not deserve, the admiration he gets as a Times columnist. Don't forget that he worked at the Weekly Standard with Kristol and company before he went to the Times. He's little more than a slightly sophisticated Fox News talking head.

Lighthouse Keeper

What Makes a War President? The Vapid Opinion of David Brooks

2009-10-30T20:43:00.004-04:00

Here's what I judge to be an opinionated and politically slanted, to the point of dishonesty, column by David Brooks who likes to market himself, pass himself off as, a well informed, objective and intelligent purveyor and analyst of ideas and facts, as a columnist for the New York Times.

Please know and be aware that his former employer was the Weekly Standard, the far right neocon
slanted web based virtual newspaper, headed by William Kristol. whose neocon credentials are unimpeachable.

I can't help but think that Brooks has found a great paying job which provides him with a credible forum for his neocon opinions.

Lighthouse Keeper

Sadly,The Prevailing View is Endless War

2009-10-24T18:20:00.005-04:00

Here's an article which suggests, if not predicts,
that McChrystal's view will prevail in the debate about what to do in Afghanistan.

And here is Glenn Greenwald's latest essay on how and why it is a permanent fiasco.
It's the best commentary I've come across on endless war.

Health care, like Heaven, can wait, according to the Washington Post.

Lighthouse Keeper

Gloria Patri

2009-10-24T18:14:00.001-04:00

Here's two views on war and warring; each one toxic:

The surprisingly hawkish view of Roger Cohen of the Times, a guy I admire for the most part, but not on this.

The satirical and sardonic view of Jo Comerford at TomDispatch.com.

Unending war is becoming so accepted by the public that future generations will see it as an American meme.

Who will be the Gibbon to write about our decline and fall?

Here's the Gloria Patri as sung in the Church of the Holy Pentagon:

Glory be to the soldier and to his son and to their holy ghosts.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, war without end, Amen, Amen.

Lighthouse Keeper

Asking the Wrong Question

2009-10-20T15:28:00.000-04:00

What is the exit strategy? That's the wrong question. Neocons and the military/industrial complex don't want an exit strategy because their job descriptions are about waging war and making the tools of war.

The correct questions are: What would success look like, how long would it take, and what are the chances of achieving it? The last part is the crux of the problem. Afghanistan is almost a stone age country, ruled in a tribal fashion, and the central government is so corrupt that the masses of people turn to the tribal chiefs, the war lords, for protection.

There are no reliable partners for peace there. Obama should heed McChrystal's warning that the war is unwinable, and dismiss his qualification "unless" we make a massive expenditure in lives and money at a time when we have neither available.

It's about time Americans acknowledge that flag waving patriotism has nothing to do with these wars of choice, which include all conflicts since WW II. The Korean War was officially called a 'conflict' because, like other use of our military since WW II has been authorized, not by declaring war, as is the prerogative of Congress, but by abdication on the part of the Congress, ceding that responsibility to the executive branch which the Founders consciously tried to guard against.

My other blog, on which I have not written lately, is called, "A Voice Crying in the Wilderness". I got to thinking that there was a serious implication of conceit in that name.
I am no prophet, as the title might imply, so I've been writing for the past several months on this blog, Cape Cod Lighthouse, A Beacon to the Adrift, and Illumination for the Washed Ashore.

My goal is to shed light on dark places and shadows.

Lighthouse Keeper

Far Right Fringe or Not? What Say The GOP Leaders?

2009-10-20T15:17:00.001-04:00

Here's a link to a revealing piece about another example of the depths to which the far right fringe of the Republican party has descended. Add this to the claims of charlatans like Beck and Limbaugh who accuse Obama of being a racist hater of white people and a Nazi, and those who claim Obama was not born a US citizen and so not a legitimate president.

Off the wall fringe groups might be ignored, simply because they promote a clearly propagandist position which, yes, comes across as off the wall to voters, hopefully even those of us who are dealing with daily issues of keeping our heads above water financially.

The real danger to the republic is not the hateful stuff but the silence, in the face of it, of the elected and public figures who don't ascribe to the hate filled messages, but who in and by their silence, should be found,by default, complicit

Lighthouse Keeper

Demilitarization: It's Time

2009-10-20T15:02:00.003-04:00

Here's a fine piece on the facts of our unsurpassed militarization since WW II. As James Carroll pointed out in his recent Boston Globe column, endless war has become so prevalent that future generations will accept it as America's foreign policy. It has become an American cultural and political meme.

Our 'Defense'* budget is larger than all other countries on the planet put together. We supply 70% of all arms and armaments. That should get attention and scrutiny, but the average citizen is ho hum on the issue.

Our domestic problems could be funded and fixed with even a modest redirection of Pentagon funds. It's time.

*It used to be called the War Department for obvious reasons. Defense Department is a euphemism.

Lighthouse Keeper

Why We Have Perpetual War

2009-10-18T11:51:00.002-04:00

Here's a revealing piece by Glenn Greenwald on who is behind the perpetual war policy in America.

Politicians like Diane Feinstein, a Democrat, are pushing for perpetual war for, you guessed it, the money to be made. 'Follow the money' is the axiom again validated. Feinstein's husband makes millions in war.

Neocons don't have a lock on greed it seems.

By its continuance perpetual war is fast becoming a cultural and political meme, and thus uncontroversial to future generations.

Lighthouse Keeper

Our Imperial Presidency

2009-10-16T15:07:00.002-04:00

Here's a piece which should be required reading in all civics classes and by anyone who votes.

It appears on the blog TomDispatch.com which is run by Tom Engelhardt, a man who sees the big picture and finds authors to articulate the issues.

In this case it's a commentary on how the executive branch has become a virtual monarchy, regardless of the White House occupant.

In this space I've often observed that I didn't expect much to change in Washington, regardless of who won the White House. Sadly I seem to have been correct in that believe.

Lighthouse Keeper

We're Screwed, Over and Over Again

2009-10-16T12:53:00.003-04:00

Here's a most discouraging article about health care reform. Seems it's working best for the private insurance industry.

It's all too true that Congress is filled with the best politicians money can buy.

That includes the Snowe job.

Read it and weep here.

Lighthouse Keeper

What Prize?

2009-10-09T10:10:00.002-04:00

Here's Glenn Greenwald's appraisal of the Nobel committee's choice for this year's Peace Prize.

I believe he has done an admirable job at seeing both sides, and, reluctantly, I agree with his conclusion. At the very least it was awarded prematurely.

It will be interesting to hear what Obama has to say about it this morning.

Lighthouse Keeper

America Interrupted

2009-09-30T08:51:00.002-04:00

Here's Tom Friedman's column in the Times exposing the zeitgeist of today's America, comparing and likening it to that of Israel when Rabin was assassinated.

He shines a lighthouse beacon on the shadows in which such anger breeds and thrives, bringing it out where all can see it and acknowledge it as a problem; essential to addressing it.

This was the topic of our weekly lunch group yesterday. Pat Lang of Sic Semper Tyrannis sees a parallel to JFK's dilemma in Vietnam with Obama's dilemma in Afghanistan. JFK had been resisting the military's call for a massive troop escalation in Vietnam. That escalation happened, but only after JFK was assassinated.

Frightening is too tame a word to describe American discourse today.

Lighthouse Keeper

Ken Burn's National Parks Documentary Series

2009-09-28T16:33:00.002-04:00

This is to recommend, just in case you aren't aware of it, a documentary series on PBS TV about our National Parks, by Ken Burns.

I've set my TiVo to record the six episode, twelve hour series, and have watched about half of the first episode.

The scenery is stunning of course, and the influence of and insight into people like John Muir is captivating.

Don't miss it.

Lighthouse Keeper

Did McChrystal Do Us A Favor?

2009-09-22T09:32:00.003-04:00

Perhaps the general did us a favor by portraying a very dim view of the war in Afghanistan.

We must get out of there as quickly as possible.

One can only hope as Bob Herbert writes here and as Gene Robinson advocates here.

Lighthouse Keeper

Neocon War, Somewhere, All The Time

2009-09-21T13:03:00.002-04:00

This piece about more troops for Afghanistan or the war is lost is a cynical and erroneous assessment.

"The" war is actually two wars. We won the first one, but Bush chose not to consolidate it. He started another war in Iraq,which ate up the resources, the troops and equipment needed in Afghanistan and provided the Taliban with an open invitation to keep the fighting going there; thus the second war which is already lost.

For the Neocons the first Afghan war was too successful, too quickly.

A recent cartoon showed a huge vehicle called 'Empire' crashing in Afghanistan with the caption "Where Empires Go To Die".

When will they ever learn? Likely never, because they don't want to learn.

Lighthouse Keeper

Missile Defense In Europe; An Insight?

2009-09-18T17:28:00.002-04:00

Every now and then I read something which makes the hazy picture a little clearer.

Here's an article about the rationale being made public for the change in missile defense in Europe.

As you read it pay special attention to the part about surrounding Iran with anti-missile and military might; our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Navy ships in the eastern Med and in the Persian Gulf. Also note that this kind of pressure is already in place in Asia to protect our allies in that region.

I hadn't made this connection before. Economic sanctions are all about depriving a country of money. They also deprive the decent citizens of that country. Military sanctions have a less direct negative impact on those decent citizens.

The holdout dead-enders of the Cold War, like John Bolton, call this appeasing Russia. Russia is a kind of ally of Iran, but it also doesn't like missiles aimed at them.

I've always enjoyed finding a way to solve more than one problem and a time. This just might be one of those occasions. We remind Iran that they are surrounded and isolated militarily, reduce the tension between the US and Russia and get some points with the Israelis, and perhaps reduce the chances that they might act on their own against Iran.

Russia's figure head president praised Obama for doing this, and the Defense Minister in Israel has said publicly that Iran is not seen as an existential threat to Israel. No coincidence in either of these statements.

Of course all these observations are from the point of view of one(me) who likes to find logic in events. Often that search for logic is naive, being taken in by propaganda and spin. I still believe that the Neocons are a cabal, with a war and American global hegemony agenda(I don't call it a conspiracy because I don't want my views to be dismissed as silly and nutty).

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out at the UN meeting coming soon.

Lighthouse Keeper

An Important Essay at TomDispatch.com

2009-09-17T12:23:00.002-04:00

Here's another important, and well written essay by Tom Engelhardt at TomDispatch.com. It should be required reading for all voters at least.

He, and the other writers he publishes on his site, select important topics and articulate their positions extremely well.

This essay is about endless war as an American way of life. The so-called Global War on Terror is just such an endless war, by definition. It's the sick genius strategy of the Neocons. There's so much money to be made in war.

Lighthouse Keeper

Cry Uncle, or Holler Like a Dutch Uncle?

2009-09-16T14:57:00.003-04:00

How is it that Obama, riding a wave of popularity and with a majority in both houses of Congress, is getting rolled? The rollers are lobbyists in the employ of special interests, and members of Congress in the clutches of those same special interests.

Here's a very discouraging analysis of the power of money to block Obama's agenda. Just read the numbers and dollars and whose pockets are being lined by whom. The so-called revolving door results in House and Senate staffers going to work as lobbyists, exercising huge influence on members of Congress. It surely looks like a one-sided fight. In boxing it's called "taking a dive".

When you add in the ugly racist agenda it's truly discouraging.

Until voters are feared by politicians as much as they fear special interests it isn't going to get better.

Holler like a dutch uncle or cry uncle?

I'm a hollower. That's why I blog. Please holler.

Lighthouse Keeper

More Than One Moral Issue

2009-09-14T10:47:00.001-04:00

Here's James Carroll's must read column in the Boston Globe.

Lighthouse Keeper

Maureen Dowd Says It Like It Is

2009-09-13T09:26:00.002-04:00

Here's Maureen Dowd's Times column saying publicly that racism is behind the ugly and dangerous things being said about Obama. This takes some courage, as she's likely to be targeted by loonies who shout, "You lie", boy.

As I've written here several times, there is a sub culture in this country which just cannot deal with a black man occupying the White House.

Lighthouse Keeper

Bob Herbert Makes Interesting Points

2009-09-12T10:06:00.003-04:00

Here's Bob Herbert's NY Times column in which he makes the point that it's the public which is skeptical.

A while back David Brooks said that seldom is a major legislation made in a lousy economy. Bob Herbert is seconding that opinion when he mentions the fear in the minds of the public.

Saying that billions will be saved by eliminating waste and fraud doesn't get it.

So far what seems passable is a bonanza for insurance and drug firms. Not what Obama had in mind.

Lighthouse Keeper

Maureen Speaks For Me

2009-09-09T10:52:00.002-04:00

Here's Mo on Bo.

Less Spocky and more Rocky covers it nicely.

Lighthouse Keeper.

'A Battle of Wills'

2009-09-08T12:57:00.002-04:00

Here's Harold Myerson's Salon article comparing George Will, Traditional Conservative, to William Kristol, Neoconservative.

That's what I'm sayin'.

Myerson concludes that George Will is a quaint relic in Republican circles.

My view is that the Neocons will have their way in those circles so long as Republicans of all stripes are willing to do anything and say anything to bring Obama down.

Should Obama reverse course in Afghanistan, as George Will, urges, he would be vilified as a wimp on terrorism and national security.

The American people are not supportive of a long term effort in Afghanistan, according to most polls, but neither are they worked up about it in the face of loss of jobs, health care costs and all the domestic problems we face.

And as long as there is no draft only the families of volunteers are worried for their relatives in uniform. And as long as the Pentagon's hiring of soldier of fortune private firms to replace support troops in combat zones goes unchallenged, the American public is not likely to rise up against war in Afghanistan any time soon.

We seem to have been raising a private army to fight along side our volunteer armed forces. I wonder where they fall in the chain of command of which the president is Commander-in-Chief.

The Neocons like it the way it is. There are plenty of former soldiers, security guards and other aggressive kinds of people to fill the ranks of the private security firms. The pay is good and fighting bad guys with deadly weapons suits their lifestyle and world view.