Debates about dominance

I was bored at some point last night so I started flipping channels. No, that isn’t exactly how it was, I was really flipping channels because what I was watching had been interrupted by commercials and I am not having that. As I was going by CNN, I noticed that there was some form of group debate on the current economic issues that the United States is going through or facing however it should be described.

There was all this talk if America was bowing out from world leadership and dominance and what that means and how they could come back and etc. A yawn was my response. I am so tired of this empire talk that seems to keep on repeating itself over and over again. Everyone keeps seeing the sun setting on the American Empire as we know it and here comes another dark age again right?

I am not buying it. Not yet anyways. I don’t think China is really as strong as everyone is betting on them being. I still think America has a couple of Aces up their sleeves and if the right people play them at the right time, that things will be back up and running in no time. I also think that Europe should stop waiting for the United States to act on all things, be it economics, social politics, or international issues. Europe should do their thing. Why should we expect someone else to do all our work for us?

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I realize that I sometimes get funny looks when I tell people that I wanted to live in Europe. I guess its always that notion that the other side of the pond is always so much more intriguing. Luckily for me, I come from both sides and since I can’t live in both at the same time, I picked the one that appealed to me the most. Best decision of my life says I.

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Doom and Gloom

Things aren’t good. Everyday I get slapped in the face with harsh economic news with very dark and evil predictions of things to come. I think it’s a bit early to prophesy doom, but on the other hand the indicators aren’t exactly pointing up at the moment.

The governments of Europe and the United States are all talking about restraint and cutting spending. The problem with such a course of action is that it will inevitably hurt the poorest of the poor and mean nothing to the rich. If we look closer at the United States as a whole, the current political philosophy being espoused by the right wing block and from some centrists is some form of Beatlesque “Let it be” mentality. Where am I going with all this? Well for starters the infrastructure of the United States could use a serious upgrade (ports, rail, and airports), but no one is willing to shell out the cash for it. These kinds of things allow the creation of jobs and allow for the creation of jobs in the private sector as well as it allows for better production and shipping options for firms.

However, the populist scream of the moment is that we do nothing, because in the United States the notion is that government is the problem (I seem to recall it was the private sector that got us into the whole mess but hey why go against the rage on the street). Since we won’t be building for the future, I am going to continue the dark prophesies with my own: if you don’t build it, they (prosperity) won’t be coming.

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The GOP field for 2012!

There is an election coming next year and I am not feeling all so great about it. The good news is that the economy is slowly recovering and Obama has honestly done quite well, while the bad news is that the GOP is going to throw everything at him including the kitchen sink to try and knock him out. Can they do it? Well, to be fair, stranger things have happened in American politics.

So far the only real election news is about the candidates who will be running against the President. They don’t seem like much at the moment, but given enough air time they might be able to come across as ready, willing, and able to do the job (that is what media consultants and advisors are for). What I am wondering is, besides the obvious claims of “he’s a socialist and he’s destroying our country,” what the GOP message is? I know that they all don’t want to raise taxes, which means their understanding of economics is juvenile at best, but besides that I don’t really see what their visions and goals are. Being the anti-incumbent only works when the incumbent was really unpopular.

Mitt Romney is the one who has been getting the most buzz of the gang up to this point and that doesn’t bode well for the GOP. Romney is boring and average at best. He doesn’t really shine in any way and what is worse at this time in history is that he is a moderate in a party that doesn’t like moderates very much. How is Mitt going to show that he can be a tough nut on the international scene, when he is the inspiration for Obama’s “socialist” health care system? Add to all this that he is a Mormon (which is a cult by the way), and I start to believe that his whole presidential campaign is just a bunch of fluff that the wind hasn’t blown away quite yet.

Could Newt Gingrich be a contender then maybe? The man is a debacle as a person so I find it hard to believe that he will be able to inspire people to dream of America in new ways. Sure his bark is loud and ugly, but his bite is pretty wimpy and its really kind of sad that he wanted to drag his terrible personal life through the limelight one more time. Then again that is exactly what the presidential race is a good time for: airing your dirty laundry. Newt has a closet full, a houseful, and a couple of summer cottages full to be sure. Hope he can handle the scrutiny!

Tim Pawlenty reminds me of a long and exhausting yawn that you witness from the person sitting next to you towards the end of a long transatlantic flight. Ditto for Paul Ryan. Plus Ryan doesn’t know how to count which the CBO has proved a couple of times now.

Michelle Bachmann is a time bomb that has ticking for quite some time now and is just waiting for the right camera angle to explode. Its just a question of when the Americans who vote for her are going to realize that she is insanely weird, and that her views on the world are at odds with most normal people. It’s a shame that no one has made a documentary about her yet. It wouldn’t even need a sarcastic narrator to get the audience laughing.

The GOP field for 2012!

There is an election coming next year and I am not feeling all so great about it. The good news is that the economy is slowly recovering and Obama has honestly done quite well, while the bad news is that the GOP is going to throw everything at him including the kitchen sink to try and knock him out. Can they do it? Well, to be fair, stranger things have happened in American politics.

So far the only real election news is about the candidates who will be running against the President. They don’t seem like much at the moment, but given enough air time they might be able to come across as ready, willing, and able to do the job (that is what media consultants and advisors are for). What I am wondering is, besides the obvious claims of “he’s a socialist and he’s destroying our country,” what the GOP message is? I know that they all don’t want to raise taxes, which means their understanding of economics is juvenile at best, but besides that I don’t really see what their visions and goals are. Being the anti-incumbent only works when the incumbent was really unpopular.

Mitt Romney is the one who has been getting the most buzz of the gang up to this point and that doesn’t bode well for the GOP. Romney is boring and average at best. He doesn’t really shine in any way and what is worse at this time in history is that he is a moderate in a party that doesn’t like moderates very much. How is Mitt going to show that he can be a tough nut on the international scene, when he is the inspiration for Obama’s “socialist” health care system? Add to all this that he is a Mormon (which is a cult by the way), and I start to believe that his whole presidential campaign is just a bunch of fluff that the wind hasn’t blown away quite yet.

Could Newt Gingrich be a contender then maybe? The man is a debacle as a person so I find it hard to believe that he will be able to inspire people to dream of America in new ways. Sure his bark is loud and ugly, but his bite is pretty wimpy and its really kind of sad that he wanted to drag his terrible personal life through the limelight one more time. Then again that is exactly what the presidential race is a good time for: airing your dirty laundry. Newt has a closet full, a houseful, and a couple of summer cottages full to be sure. Hope he can handle the scrutiny!

Tim Pawlenty reminds me of a long and exhausting yawn that you witness from the person sitting next to you towards the end of a long transatlantic flight. Ditto for Paul Ryan. Plus Ryan doesn’t know how to count which the CBO has proved a couple of times now.

Michelle Bachmann is a time bomb that has ticking for quite some time now and is just waiting for the right camera angle to explode. Its just a question of when the Americans who vote for her are going to realize that she is insanely weird, and that her views on the world are at odds with most normal people. It’s a shame that no one has made a documentary about her yet. It wouldn’t even need a sarcastic narrator to get the audience laughing.

Sunday Hate

I hate Sundays. I think I have kind of always hated Sundays. One reason for this is that the next day is Monday. That means either back to school or back to work. As if the coming week wasn’t bad enough, there is always the issue of what one should do on a Sunday. A lot of stores are closed or have bad opening hours; so shopping is out, and besides who wants to jostle with a bunch of other people on their day off.

Should one spend the day in the park? Well if you like being surrounded by a sea of blankets in the summer full of people just like you. Should one go to a café? The cafes are always full with people brunching their way through the early part of the day and then later by big groups of people meeting up to socialize. There is nothing wrong with any of this; it’s just that I want something else when I have free time.

I usually don’t go skating on Sundays at least not during the early nice spring weather. Why? Because the skatepark in my area is so packed that it becomes unbearable. Once upon a time I lived in a city with a skatepark that was open 24 hours; that is they left the lights on. That was quite a while ago and those days are passed and to be honest I don’t really miss that place.

The ideal days off then are from Monday to Thursday. The weekend is a good time to work and then you can take off and enjoy what everyone else can’t because you are free.

Here is the updated reading list:

1. I Married a Communist by Phillip Roth (finished)

2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (finished)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (taken a break for now)

8. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (finished)

9. Invisible by Paul Auster (finished)

10. The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike

11. Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (currently reading)

12. The Blind Assassin: a Novel by Margaret Atwood (finished)

13. Villages by John Updike (finished)

14. The Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt

15. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

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Late Update

It is time for an update. I was in Spain for about two weeks and couldn’t think of anything good to write, plus I was trying to write a bit of fiction. That went ok, but I am not really satisfied with my work: I never seem to be. I expect perfection from myself. I hate doing things half assed. I think this is a positive attribute that I possess, but at the same time I can see that it also holds me back from trying new things here and there. What usually goes along with this type of attitude is the fear of failure. I don’t know why I have that. To fail is to be human and everyone will sooner or later. The trick is to learn how to turn that failure into a future desire to succeed again. I am talking in clichés here and will just give the book list as it currently stands.

Reading list 2011:

1. I Married a Communist by Phillip Roth (finished)

2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (finished)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (taken a break for now)

8. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (finished)

9. Invisible by Paul Auster (finished)

10. The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike (finished)

11. Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (currently reading)

12. The Blind Assassin: a Novel by Margaret Atwood (finished)

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Idiocy vs Islam (which one is worse?)

I thought for a few days that I could do it: that I could just stop writing about the idiocy that is American politics. Reading news nowadays generally results in my blood boiling to the point that I don’t feel like doing anything at all. It isn’t healthy, and yet I keep doing it.

Today I read an article about a woman with the name Brigitte Gabriel (she uses a fake name). I wanted to go ahead and quote something that she said. I thought perhaps some of you might find it interesting, as I know that I did.

“America has been infiltrated on all levels by radicals who wish to harm America,” she said. “They have infiltrated us at the C.I.A., at the F.B.I., at the Pentagon, at the State Department. They are being radicalized in radical mosques in our cities and communities within the United States.” -NY Times

My first reaction to this was to start laughing and I am not talking about a light chuckle here either, I mean serious eardrum splitting laughter. Then after I let it sink in a bit I realized something more serious about this: history is just repeating itself in a very sad way. Does anyone remember the McCarthy era? It was that wonderful time in American history where the HUAC in the government blacklisted people because of their personal political beliefs. Its really hard to believe this today, since Americans are brought up on some kind of steady diet of freedom, liberty, and justice since the moment they are born, that it was possible their own citizens had been forced out of earning their daily bread.

So how was the HUAC really any different than Pete King’s Congressional hearings this coming Thursday on Muslims? I don’t really know yet, but to be honest I am not looking forward to finding out either. If America were really the great country that the Republicans keep telling us it is, then why is it threatened by a religion? This is all really a waste of space to be honest and the truth is that you cannot really reason with idiots like Gabriel or King: they are right and you are wrong end of discussion. What we can do on the other hand is ignore them and the people who vote for King would be wise to stop doing so: the man is not completely there.

If people live in America and choose to follow a religion, then they are free to do so. Of course they are not allowed to kill because of their religion, but we have laws for that kind of thing like most nations around the world do. Holding a hearing on the threat of a religion really amounts to nothing less than fear mongering. Of course that was what the HUAC was all about anyway.

All this got me thinking about a song by Bob Dylan: Talkin John Birch Paranoid blues.

Substitute the word Muslims for commies or reds and you get just about what the right wing sentiment is at the moment. Things don’t change at the core they just acquire new shapes.

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American Politics and Debt

The US Political Media are obsessed with talking about debt, debt, and debt. Its almost like they woke up one morning and were like “oh, shit we have debt, we really didn’t know that.” Then on top of that, there has been this continuous, and its not ending any time soon, talk about cutting this and cutting that. The list of things that is going to be cut looks oddly like the usual Republican wish list. Planned Parenthood? Oh, yeah because that took up so much money.

There are two things that aren’t up for discussion on the Republican side of the spectrum: the defense budget and raising taxes. I agree there are things that could be cut, but the real problem the Americans are having has to do with the fact that the Republicans cut taxes and then maxed out their credit card. Irresponsible, but that’s what that party stands for.

I have realized something from watching American politics: it’s a circus act, and a freak circus act at that. That idiots and fools are given so much time to spew garbage, lies (I am looking at you Huckabee), and wallow in their own stupidity is a great portrait of a country that seems to be stuck in the toilet. To be honest, I am not sure a people as stupid as the Americans deserve a country so rich and free as what they currently have. With all that being said, I am going to try to write about other things on this blog for a while. I will let the idiots take care of themselves.

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