August 29, 2011 --
Libyan, Oh Libyan, Oh Have You Seen Libyan that Muammar Gaddafi?
He is rotten to the core, so
His crimes are growing ever more so.
This would be a great time for Groucho Marx, commenting on the world at large rather that Lydia the Tattooed Lady. At home and abroad an unnerving weirdness prevails.
As of this writing though Tripoli has fallen, more or less, Gaddafi has not been found despite a $1.3 million reward for his capture offered by the rebel National Transitional Council. It looks like he has gone to ground. Determined it appears to fight on. As a guerilla, perhaps. On the home front the East Coast was hit by both an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week, there will no longer be the mind of Steve Job at work to change our culture as he steps down from leadership at Apple, and Texas’ latest gift to the nation, Gov. Rick Perry, is leading all of the polls at this point in the race to win the Republican nomination while commentators say he could very well win the general election and be or next president. You just can’t get any weirder than that. But one thing at a time.
Much jubilation in Tripoli as rebels gained control, more or less; more muted jubilation over here where everything must be seen in political terms. Will this be a boost to the Obama reelection campaign? Can many conservative critics get mileage out of flaying him for turning to help from NATO rather than just unilaterally jumping in and taking charge as evidence of continued world dominance, while others complain about the cost. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all support our President with a simple “well done” and go on to the next problem?
From his bunker on the golf course at Martha’s Vineyard the President spoke with some sincerity and reserve rather than fly off into a “Mission Accomplished” celebration even though it was his efforts that through the UN the French, Americans, British, and Italians, even the little country of Qatar, which sent in military advisers to coordinate NATO air strikes, all of whom contributed heavily with the material and logistical support that led to the fall of the regime. The President said that “the situation is still very fluid.” There remains a degree of uncertainty. “True justice will not come from reprisals and violence; it will come from reconciliation and a Libya that allows its citizens to determine their own destiny.” He also highlighted NATO successes. Obama supporters call this “robust leadership;” Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham attacked him for letting Libyan rebels take Tripoli instead of burying Muammar Qaddafi under American bombs months ago. That sounds like Iraq revisited.
Had McCain and Graham had their way we wouldn’t have seen footage of the jubilant celebration in the heart of Tripoli and a big sign with the heading FANTASTIC FOUR over the images of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Barack Obama. Beneath the portraits were the words “GOD BLESS YOU ALL. THANKS FOR ALL.” If you follow FOX News I doubt that you saw that anyway.
Mutafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebel National Transitional Council, said the rebel’s steadfast allies “would have the best opportunity in future contracts.” I’m afraid we all know, cynically, what that means. Libya is like one big tank farm, considering the size of the nation’s oil reserves. A lot of nations seem to be lining up at the pump.
Let’s put Libya in perspective. It has a population about equal to that of the Texas Metroplex: Dallas, Fort Worth, and the daisy chain of five little cities that connect them, a little less than 7 million. Land area is about double that of the state of Texas. The population has no history of self government to build upon. They know how to fight, but not how to govern. What kind of government can the West expect, or hope for? The rebels speak of democracy, but does that mean Political pluralism, religious tolerance and equal rights for women?
In a kind of veiled dig at the Administration for support for the rebels, (overlooking worldwide concern for the lives of the populous) conservative syndicated columnist Diana West trots out the credentials of some of the prominent rebels and sees Shariah Law and “animus toward Israel.” Yet on some beaches in Libya women wore bikinis. West reports that “Libya sent far more recruits per capita to fight with al-Qaida in Iraq than any other nation including Saudi Arabia.” The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) has been “designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2004.” One rebel leader, she says sports “the ‘zabibah,” the forehead bruise of fanatical adherence to Islamic law. Civil war is always a possibility. Various Rebel leaders met for the first time in a hotel in Tripoli this week to figure out how to restore such things as clean water and medical services to the city. Using that old movie chestnut, “it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
While Libya begins to consider what kind of democracy they will establish, over here this campaign season forces us to consider how we want ours to function, especially now that the power of mega-wealth has grown to dictate our governing direction through SuperPACS and big money lobbying. Just how pervasive this has become is illuminated by media coverage of the record of Republican candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry. It’s enough to make you choke on your Dos XX or Starbucks Latte depending on how you swing.
Perry has been blatantly giving away hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize businesses of his big campaign donors. Even this week, despite the hue and cry about his record, two of its biggest financial supporters received handouts worth millions. One, Red McCombs of San Antonio whose wealth began with car dealerships, was awarded a huge sum of money from the state “development fund” to establish Formula One racing in Texas, while Perry drastically cuts funds for education throwing thousands of teachers out of work and reducing funds for programs aiding students to go to college. Standard Perry procedure. You are very successful home builder who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Perry’s campaigns over the ears. A board is formed to deal with home buyers complaints. You simply have your chief executive officer appointed Chairman of the Board (fox in charge of the hen house) and make another substantial Perry contribution. Republic turned Oligarchy.
How will this work from the Oval Office? We might very well get the opportunity to find out. Polls all have him ahead as much as double digits over his Republican opponents and even-steven with Obama. Conservative commentators are taking him seriously and saying he has a good shot at winning the whole banana. It is the worst of all nightmares.
As the Republican candidates concentrate on New Hampshire, as if that wasn’t devastating enough along comes hurricane Irene to join them on the East Coast. Floods. New York City shuts down as it blows in today as it wends its way up the East Coast. Over five million people without power. Republican candidate Ron Paul asks what’s the big deal? We have hurricanes all of the time (in Texas) but while losing power is always a problem, when you live in high rise apartment twenty or thirty stories up and elevators stop working, especially if you happen to be in them when they do, it is another matter. We will get full reports in the news Monday on how the city made out. But you wonder if it will blow into Rhode Island. Or at least I will. When I lived there you would see markers on buildings in downtown Providence showing how high the water reached in a mid-century hurricane in which shoppers drowned in the basements of department stores in the heart of the city. The storm barreled in to the mouth of Narragansett Bay at high tide and surged over the heart of the city. My advice to residents there who feel the urge to look for a good bargain, wait a bit to see what develops unless you are as water-acclimated as the state’s famous Quahog clam.
An era came to an end this week. The person who has probably had more to do with changing our culture in these last 15 years stepped down: Steve Jobs has given up his hands-on, leadership role at Apple to become Chairman and things may never be the same again. Think about it. The iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad all changed our lives and most likely wouldn’t have happened without Jobs at the wheel. He turned Apple into one of the world’s most valuable and influential companies, and citizens of the world into electronic maniacs. For a moment there this summer Apple exceeded Exxon Mobil as the most valuable United States company. As CNBC host Jim Cramer said: “He is America’s greatest industrialist. Perhaps the greatest ever.” Much is being written, and will be written about is creativeness, his management style, his success. I have to say, though, when I try to cope with some of his gadgets I sometimes use his name as a curse rather than an accolade.
Now let’s play a little guessing game, WHO SAID THIS?
1. Was this said by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Columnist Maureen Dowd, or a Libyan Rebel leader?
“Scorched earth runs in the family.”
Dowd noting Dick Cheney’s ancestor, Samuel Fletcher Cheney, was a Civil War soldier who marched with Sherman to the sea while she was commenting on Cheney’s memoir, “In My Time.” He trashed about everybody she reports.
2. The actor on the Dos XX beer commercial, Congressman Paul Rand, or Steve Jobs?
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
Steve Jobs in “The Whole Earth Catalog,” along with “Be curious, experiment, take risks.”
3. Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker, Republican candidate Jon Huntsman or Jon Stewart?
“Combine Elmer Gantry’s nose for converts, Ronald Reagan’s folksy confidence and Sarah Palin’s disdain for the elites — and that dog hunts.”
Parker in a column on Rick Perry.
4. Calvin Coolidge, Mitt Romney, or Sen. John Kerry?
"I am as much interested in human beings as one could possibly be, but it is desperately hard for me to show it."
A quote from Calvin Coolidge in The Tormented President but it applies just as well to the other two men.
5. George Washington, Jessie Jackson or Bill Clinton?
America would “give to bigotry no sanction”
George Washington in 1790 in a letter to the 300 members of the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island in answer to their concern about the new government taking shape, prior to enactment of the First Amendment.
Now for a list of a dozen QUOTES YOU WILL NEVER HEAR SPOKEN
1. “I started it so it really should be called ‘Romney care.”
Mitt Romney taking credit for the Health Reform Act. Sure.
2. “I have to admire the way President Obama stepped in to help the Libyan rebels. I wouldn’t have had the guts to do it.”
Senator John McCain
3. “It is a disgrace that only 25 percent of families below the poverty line have dishwashers. Shame on the Obama administration for not providing vouchers to help them buy one.”
Sean Hannity on FOX
4. “I’ve given up reading books until I can get around to buying a Kindle.”
Voracious reader columnist David Brooks
5. “I want to thank NATO for choosing Libya to visit this year.”
Colonel Gaddafi
6. “When Congress comes back from vacation and gets to work we will see a booming economy.”
Economist/columnist Paul Krugman.
7. “I just had a very productive meeting with the President in the Oval Office and am very pleased to follow through on his directions.”
Speaker of the House John Boehner
8. “What this country needs is a strong woman feminazi as president.”
Rush Limbaugh
9. “Those stuffy old television shows are so dated and unrealistic. Why can you believe it, not a single kid on the Brady Bunch ever got pregnant before marriage.”
Sarah Palin.
10. “I’m going to be maid of honor at a lesbian wedding and I don’t have a thing to wear.”
Michelle Bachmann
11. “There is just too much money being sent on political campaigns.”
The raiser of mega campaign funds, Rick Perry
12. “I want to thank Mitt Romney for giving me that Mulligan.”
President Obama on the Golf Course at Martha’s Vineyard
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