Nonsense and Insanity

Herman Cain has now announced that God told him to run for President. Of course God had already apparently chosen Michele Bachmann. Can God really be of two minds about this or is he changing his tune depending upon what the odds look like from time to time? I’m not certain but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that God also had something to do with the Rick Perry campaign. Does anyone take these nonsensical claims seriously, and if so, why?

Republican accusations of socialism are so commonplace these days they, too, can hardly be taken seriously. Now they are accusing Elizabeth Warren of being a socialist. I guess that is the most derogatory term they can muster for anyone who dares to suggest anything that might favor the poor and the middle class. If you fight for the rights of anyone other than millionaires, billionaires, and corporations you become automatically tarred with this incredibly horrible (in their minds) label. Bernie Sanders, by far one of our very best Congresspersons, isn’t accused of socialism because he is one and admits it freely while trying to do something other than make more profit for the rich and the corporations. If all our Congresspersons were like Sanders, and all the Republicans in the Party of “No”were in hell where they clearly deserve to be, think how much better the world would be.

Moving on from the primarily nonsensical to the more seriously insane behavior of the U.S., consider our attempt to undo the ban on cluster bombs. Every country in the world with the exception of the U.S. (and maybe Israel and the U.K.) have signed a pledge to ban cluster bombs, and not satisfied with merely refusing to sign it we are now apparently trying to undermine it. It is common knowledge that cluster bombs kill far more innocent people, primarily children, than anyone else. So isn’t it a good feeling to know you’re on the side of using an basically unnecessary and especially horrible type of bomb to kill and maim children all around the world? How much you want to bet the military/industrial/political complex wants to continue producing these awful weapons? Profits can be made anywhere if you’re deranged enough.

If the above isn’t crazy enough for you, consider that we are now going to station American troops in Australia. I guess Australia, like Germany, France, South Korea, England, and who knows all else, is incapable of looking after their interests without American aid. Maybe, like Germany, they just can’t afford to maintain a military of their own. And just what is the threat to Australia that requires our presence? It doesn’t seem to be very clear although there are some mumblings here and there about China. We are seriously considering a war with China, an even more insane idea than attacking Iran? I suppose there is some rationale for stationing troops in Australia, perhaps some vital secret reason I cannot comprehend or shouldn’t know about? I still think it’s another really crazy and unnecessary way to waste more money on the military.

Speaking of Iran leads me immediately to Israel and the Palestinians, the real hotbed of insanity that just keeps on giving and giving (more misery and trouble for all concerned). Our official policy is our stated desire for a two state solution, the creation of a Palestinian state living in relative peace with a neighboring Israel. The Palestinians are asking the United Nations to award them statehood, something that might actually happen, if the U.S. wasn’t actively working against it and using our veto to prevent it. Why are we doing this? Ostensibly, because we claim (along with Israel, of course) the solution to the problem can only be achieved by negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. There might be some credibility to this claim if it were not already known that negotiations will never be settled between the two parties because Israel does not want a solution to the problem, favoring the status quo of racism and apartheid. The real reason we (the U.S.) are preventing the Palestinians from gaining statehood (or much of anything else) is because we are afraid Netanyahu (the apparent ruler of the Middle East) might spank us for being naughty and not doing precisely what we are told to do. It is hardly a secret that the (Israeli) tail has been wagging the (U.S.) dog for years and, given our nitwit-filled Congress with their delusions of Armageddon, will probably continue to do so into eternity (if Armageddon doesn’t come first).

Not to be outdone on the insanity frontier, Newt Gingrich, apparently the new Republican flavor of the month, has announced that if he were elected President he would offer a cabinet appointment to, of all people (I think he might be a people) John Bolton! I suggest he just dynamite the U.N. instead, it would be quicker and less painful.

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.

Henry David Thoreau