arrest by Oldmaison
Code Pink, Leftist Blues, Political Theater, "Annoying' Cops, Cyber Wars: The Question of "Relevance' in our Fracked-up World.
Jack Random is a fine writer whose works pay handsome dividends to those investing a bit of time and energy in their perusal.
That said, I note that a recent Web article of his, "The Struggle for Relevance: Obama, McCain, and Medea Benjamin" especially piqued my interest, and even more so after its opening paragraph: "There is no shortage of rhetoric in American politics but as for real world consequences it begins to resemble the Bard's immortal lament: "Sound and fury, signifying nothing.'"
Now, I can readily understand characterizing Obama's and McCain's 'rhetoric' in terms of Macbeth's doleful cri de coeur, but how to include Medea Benjamin in such a "weird sisters" coven?
I read on:
Mr. Random centers his argument on Obama's May 24th speech about his wish/intention to end the Global War On Terror (or, as I prefer, the guttural, stuck-in-the-stick-in-the-mud-of-the-throat, GWOT!). Mr. Random avers: "President Obama's declaration is significant but only if it can be believed. Within a week of his speech, promising a shift in policy on targeted assassinations, a CIA directed drone strike killed a Taliban leader in Pakistan."
Now, I don't know about Mr. Random, but, Obama's hypocrisy doesn't surprise me! I didn't vote for him and, frankly, I haven't voted for a Dem or Repugnant since I voted for one of the last true-blue Dems--Cynthia McKinney--for Senator from Georgia. Obama is too cucumber-cool for me; too polished, too smiley, too accommodating to whatever special interest group is pulling his string at the moment.
If O's hypocrisy on the matter of drones shines through his bicuspids, "What then," Mr. Random sagely suggests, "can we expect of his promise to restore civil liberties sacrificed in the name of the War on Terror? What then can we expect of his renewed intent to close the abomination that is Guantanamo Bay?"
Well, now we're cooking! What, indeed, about sacrificed civil liberties during GWOT and that "abomination" called Guantanamo? As he sums up his views on O, I'm wishing I could put it so succinctly, and so well. I quote liberally, while cheering:
"We begin to wonder if the CIA has gone rogue. We begin to wonder if the president and commander-in-chief is truly in charge of the nation's foreign policy."
"Any impartial observer of American history cannot doubt that our intelligence community has at times betrayed our elected government. Beyond the assassinations that turned the nation's course on its head, there are the curious affairs of the botched Iranian hostage rescue under Jimmy Carter and the subsequent arms for hostages deal that played a critical role in bringing Ronal Reagan to power."
"Is it so farfetched to believe that the CIA would have its own agenda? If these musings are correct, how would we know? Would any American president be willing to announce publicly that the CIA is out of control?"
Pretty good "musings." And, might I, with some fear and trembling, suggest that the last president to openly question the power of that roguish agency was JFK--John F. Kennedy, our bonnie prince of Camelot, the official narrative of whose assassination I have nary believed nigh on 50 years!
Leg two of Mr. Random's piece addresses the machinations of that more ostensible villain, John "bomb-bomb-Iran" McCain. Random writes: "Senator John McCain engaged in his own struggle for relevance by starring in a little political theater for the cause of war in beleaguered Syria." It seems that McCanine had introduced a photo-op with "Rebel Commander #9." Problem is, "One of the men chosen for the senator's photo op was quickly identified as the photographer for a terrorist group that kidnapped a dozen Lebanese pilgrims" (I wonder: Shades of that Kuwaiti ambassador's daughter who claimed she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers taking babies out of incubators and bashing their heads against the floor? Reminds me, too, of that quiz show where Johnny Carson started honing his act: "Who Do You Trust?" More to the point, Random gets his leg up on McCain: "Why anyone would still listen to a man who has been wrong on every issue of any importance for the last twenty years is beyond understanding."
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