Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Cannot understand Why!
The Year is slowly drawing to a close and there are still many things and happenings which puzzle me in the US. Becoming Americanized is a slow process especially to appreciate what piques media interest and what is fair and good game in their eyes.
Let us take some of the latest headliners; Tiger Woods. For crying out loud, give him a break! He was involved in something private in his house, dashes out in what seems like a tearing fury, cannot control his car and manages to knock out a fire-hydrant at the whopping speed of 30mph! You all know the rest. Now is it not time to give it a rest? Let him be. He did nothing criminal, so the police say, so it is up to him to settle whatever dust he raised at his home and it is certainly not our business.
Amanda Knox alias Foxy Knoxy. This American girl has been found guilty of murder along with a boyfriend of hers. The trial happened in Perugia, Italy, after a long preparation for the formal indictment. She is an American citizen found guilty of killing her British room-mate. But the media are not happy. This "poor" US girl has been wrongly accused. the trial was a joke. The Italian judicial system is nowhere as competent and fair as the American one! Give me a break! Italy has had a fully functioning judicial system long before America was discovered, by an Italian! Not only, there is a fully functioning US Embassy in Rome, which is not that far away from Perugia and I am sure there was at least one competent member from the Consular staff which was following the case. Not only, there is no death penalty in Italy, so she could consider herself lucky since that is what she might have got if she were found guilty in the US! But the media will not let up! With all the troubles we have here, political, social, economic, military, you name it we have it, does the media have to keep trying to find fault with what other Countries are doing and questioning their methods? This happens repeatedly and I am sorry to say not only by the sensational press but even by moderate news outlets who pride themselves of presenting the news as fair and unbiased.
These are two recent cases, but I have noticed that scorn is also reserved for things French, Spanish and of course Italian. Europe is constantly referred to as being socialist in spite of the fact that there are several conservative governments at the moment. Very rarely is something nice said about the European states. With the ongoing debate about public health, the bashing has also included Canada in the list. Has no one ever heard of the saying, "Comparisons are odious"? It is one thing to compare systems so as to get the best for oneself. It is another to always run down others because OURS is so good. If it is so good how come we have all the problems we have today?
In the spirit of Christmas, can we not spare some magnanimity towards the "unfortunate" countries from where most of our forefathers came and from whom we adopted all that is good in this Country?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Fort Hood
All the world now knows of the tragic event that has happened in Fort Hood. The loss of life and the injuries inflicted cannot even begin to express the horror and shock that has swept over the country. There has been constant coverage from all media and constant speculation on how an officer of the Army could inflict such pain on his fellow soldiers and their families.
Blame and more speculation is flying around as to the cause, reason and rationale behind this, but the real picture is slowly coming clear
Major Hasan, contrary to was told, was a born Muslim. He was a mild mannered man, vouched for by family and friends. He was an Army psychologist at Walter Reed Hospital, and contrary again to what has been said, had not been deployed in recent years; but he had been hearing gut-wrenching storied from the boys that had been to Iraq and Afghanistan and the horrors of what these boys had been through in the wars which are still ongoing. All this was getting to him badly.
It seems, though I am not positive, that he had been asking for early retirement from the Army, even if he had to pay to get out, but bureaucracy, Army regulations and who knows what else, got in the way of his getting his release. Not only, to add insult to injury, he was transferred to Fort Hood and told that he would be deployed!
Now this Army Major was a devout Muslim who attended his mosque regularly. He was being deployed to fight against a Muslim people. Irrespective of why this war was on, that it was the West's genuine intention to bring peace and democracy to both Iraq and Afghanistan, in his mind he must have been very reluctant to fight people of his faith and of, unfortunately, his radical beliefs. Also, a fellow Muslim attendee of the same mosque, said that Major Hasan had asked him to find him a wife who wore the traditional Muslim headdress as well as who prayed five times a day. How could he have been considered good material to be deployed?
The Army MUST have known about the increasing unease of this Muslim Major, of his reluctance to be deployed and the real reason behind this reluctance. Why did they not give him the discharge he was requesting? In my mind, they should not only have discharged him but also given him an honorable discharge to be sure that no one could say that it was a case of ethnic bias.
Bias aside, in this day and age, when the whole Christian and Jewish world is in a deadly fight for the survival of western principles, mores and hard earned emancipation, against the fundamentalist extremists who want it otherwise, do you think that any of the US armed forces should keep amongst their ranks any soldier or officer whose religious mores are so much in direct contrast to the policies and politics of our Armed Forces and Government?
These times are not for pussy-footing around the risk of offending somebody's extremely touchy sensibilities! There is no place in today's Armed Forces for people whose sentiments and beliefs are in such radical contrast to what we believe in and to the politics and policies that were are now following.
There are many devout Muslims in the US who live as good citizens of the US and who are an example to all; but, the extreme element is lurking there and to ask and expect them to fight for principles that they do not believe in, is tantamount to extreme folly as was seen in the Fort Hood tragedy.
As always, we have to wait for some tragedy to happen before we take a close look at how we are handling each and every situation.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Hear! Hear!
Have sadly neglected my blog for a very long time, but the statement made recently by the Prime Minister of Australia prompted me to post it on my blog.
Read for yourselves and decide whether you would like the Leader of your Country to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Kevin Rudd of Australia. Kudos to him for saying what everyone thinks but has not the courage to say:
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Sunday, August 23, 2009
Last of the trio.
This is the last of the trio and definitely last on this subject. All that is now left is for all to make jiudicious decisions and to hope that this is not a lesson for which we shal pay very dearly.
Letter from Procter & Gamble Exec
Please read, even if you are an Obama fan. It is legitimate, written by respected Lou Pritchett, formerly of Proctor and Gamble. Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America’s true living legends-an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world's highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change management. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as "partnering." Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
Dear President Obama:
You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.
You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American. You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core. You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.
You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
You scare!
You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one. You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world. You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations. You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people. You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient. You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do. You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Reillys and Becks, who offer opposing, conservative points of view. You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Lou Pritchett
This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Big surprise! Since it hit the internet, however, it has had over 500,000 hits. Let's keep it going. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. It's happening right now.
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Saturday, August 22, 2009
The second of the trio relating to Pres. Obama.
This is the second of a trio of opinions I have found on the internet and which seem to be of some veracity and therefore much interest:
Israeli psychologist on Obama:
Interesting, but you decide what it is worth....
Dr. Sam Vaknin is an Israeli psychologist. This is his interesting view on our new president.
Dr. Vaknin has written extensively about narcissism.
Dr. Vaknin States "I must confess I was impressed by Sen. Barack Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident - a wholesome presidential package. I was put off soon, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words. Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American history. Never a politician in this land had such quasi "religious" impact on so many people. The fact that Obama is a total incognito with zero accomplishment makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming. Obama is not an ordinary man...... He is not a genius....... In fact he is quite ignorant on most important subjects
Barack Obama is a narcissist.
Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of the Malignant Self Love believes "Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist." Vaknin is a world authority on narcissism. He understands narcissism and describes the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person. When he talks about narcissism everyone listens. Vaknin says that Obama's language, posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest and nearest suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Narcissists project a grandiose but false image of themselves. Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of People's Temple, the man who led over 900 of his followers to cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder their own children was also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles Manson, Joseph Koni, Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao, Kim Jong Ill and Adolph Hitler are a few examples of narcissists of our time. All these men had a tremendous influence over their fanciers. They created a personality cult around themselves and with their blazing speeches elevated their admirers, filled their hearts with enthusiasm and instilled in their minds a new zest for life. They gave them hope! They promised them the moon, but alas, invariably they brought them to their doom. When you are a victim of a cult of personality, you don't know it until it is too late. One determining factor in the development of NPD is childhood abuse.
"Obama's early life was decidedly chaotic and replete with traumatic and mentally bruising dislocations," says Vaknin. "Mixed-race marriages were even less common then. His parents went through a divorce when he was an infant (two years old). Obama saw his father only once again, before he died in a car accident. Then his mother re-married and Obama had to relocate to Indonesia, a foreign land with a radically foreign culture, to be raised by a step-father. At the age of ten, he was whisked off to live with his maternal (white) grandparents. He saw his mother only intermittently in the following few years and then she vanished from his life in 1979. She died of cancer in 1995."
One must never underestimate the manipulative genius of pathological narcissists. They project such an imposing personality that it overwhelms those around them. Charmed by the charisma of the narcissist, people become like clay in his hands. They cheerfully do his bidding and delight to be at his service.. The narcissist shapes the world around himself and reduces others in his own inverted image. He creates a cult of personality. His admirers become his co-dependents. Narcissists have no interest in things that do not help them to reach their personal objective. They are focused on one thing alone and that is power. All other issues are meaningless to them and they do not want to waste their precious time on trivialities. Anything that does not help them is beneath them and does not deserve their attention. If an issue raised in the Senate does not help Obama in one way or another, he has no interest in it. The "present" vote is a safe vote. No one can criticize him if things go wrong. Those issues are unworthy by their very nature because they are not about him. Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations.
The University of Chicago Law School provided him a lot longer than expected and at the end it evolved into, guess what? His own autobiography! Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing on race relations, for which he had been paid, Obama could not resist writing about his most sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams from My Father.
Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote his own autobiography when he was still nobody. So did Stalin. For a narcissist no subject is as important as his own self. Why would he waste his precious time and genius writing about insignificant things when he can write about such an august being as himself? Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless. As the norm, they lack conscience. This is evident from Obama's lack of interest in his own brother who lives on only one dollar per month.
A man who lives in luxury, who takes a private jet to vacation in Hawaii, and who has raised nearly half a billion dollars for his campaign (something unprecedented in history) has no interest in the plight of his own brother. Why? Because, his brother cannot be used for his ascent to power.
A narcissist cares for no one but himself. This election was like no other in the history of America. The issues were insignificant compared to what is at stake. What can be more dangerous than having a man bereft of conscience, a serial liar, and one who cannot distinguish his fantasies from reality as the leader of the free world? I hate to sound alarmist, but one is a fool if one is not alarmed. Many politicians are narcissists. They pose no threat to others...They are simply self serving and selfish.
Obama evidences symptoms of pathological narcissism, which is different from the run-of-the-mill narcissism of a Richard Nixon or a Bill Clinton for example. To him reality and fantasy are intertwined. This is a mental health issue, not just a character flaw. Pathological narcissists are dangerous because they look normal and even intelligent. It is this disguise that makes them treacherous.
Today the Democrats have placed all their hopes in Obama. But this man could put an end to their party. The great majority of blacks also voted for Obama. Only a fool does not know that their support for him was racially driven. This is racism, pure and simple. The downside of this is that if Obama turns out to be the disaster I predict, he will cause widespread resentment among the whites.
The blacks are unlikely to give up their support of their man. Cultic mentality is pernicious and unrelenting. They will dig their heads deeper in the sand and blame Obama's detractors of racism. This will cause a backlash among the whites…..
The white supremacists will take advantage of the discontent and they will receive widespread support. I predict that in less than four years, racial tensions will increase to levels never seen since the turbulent 1960's.
Obama will set the clock back decades... America is the bastion of freedom. The peace of the world depends on the strength of America, and its weakness translates into the triumph of terrorism and victory of rogue nations.
It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamo terrorists and virtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the prospect of their man in the White House. America is on the verge of destruction. There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological narcissist as president.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Criticism from North of the Border
The following rather alarming critism came in today from Canada on my mail. I thought it worth while publishing!
Obama's White House is Falling Down
In the sixth month of his presidency, Obama has turned an economic downturn into an economic disaster, taking over and trashing entire companies, and driving the nation deep into deficit spending expected to pass 10 trillion dollars.
Abroad, Obama seems to have no other mode except to continue on with his endless campaign, confusing speechmaking with diplomacy. It is natural enough that Obama, who
built his entire campaign on high profile public speeches reported on by an adoring
press, understands how to do nothing else but that.
While the press is still chewing over Obama's Cairo speech, this celebrity style coverage
ignores the fact that Obama's endless world tour is not actually accomplishing anything.
Instead his combination of ego driven photo op appearances and clueless treatment of foreign dignitaries have alienated many of America’s traditional allies. Those who aren't being quietly angry at Obama, like Brown, Merkel or Netanyahu, instead think of him
as absurdly lightweight, as Sarkozy, King Abdullah or Putin do.
While his officials carry out their dirty economic deeds, Obama responds to any and every
crisis as if it were a Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland musical, with a cry
of, "Let's put on a show." Thus far Obama has put on "shows" across America, Europe and the Middle East. And what the adoring media coverage neglects to cover, is that Obama's shows have solved absolutely nothing. They have served only as high profile entertainment.
Neither alienating America’s traditional allies, through a combination of arrogant bullying and ignorance, nor appeasing America’s enemies, has yielded any actual results. Nor does it seem likely to. Islamic terrorism is not going anywhere, neither are the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran. While Obama keeps smiling, the global situation keeps growing grimmer.
At home, if Obama was elected as depression era entertainment, the charm of his smiles and his constant appearances of magazine covers appear to be wearing thin on the American public. Despite the shrill attacks on Rush Limbaugh or the Republican Enemy of
the Weak-- the Democratic Party of 2009, is polling a lot like the Republican Party of 2008. The Democrats have suddenly become the incumbents, and the only accomplishment they can point to is lavish deficit spending, often on behalf of the very same corporations and causes they once postured against.
The European Union Parliament's swing to the right cannot be credited to Obama, though
doubtlessly some European voters seeing socialist economic crisis management
on display in the world's richest country decided they wanted none of it, but it is part
of a general turning against federalism. And Obama’s entire program is dependent on heavily entrenching federalism at the expense of individual and state's rights. Yet that is precisely his Achilles heel with independent voters who are polling against more taxes and expanded government. And no amount of speeches by Obama can wish away his 18 czars or the national debt he has foisted on generation after generation of the American people. That leaves Obama with a choice between socialism and the independent voter. And thus far he has chosen socialism.
Obama's tactic of hijacking Bush Administration era policies on the economy and the War on Terror, and exploiting themes Trojan horses to promote his own agenda, have left him coping with a backlash from his own party, as well as general Republican opposition.
His Czars are meant to function as the bones in an executive infrastructure accountable to no one, but a lack of accountability isn't just another word for tyranny, but for incompetence. A functional chain of command is accountable at multiple levels if it is to function effectively. Obama’s White House by contrast is in a state of over-organized chaos, the sort of
organized disorganization that undisciplined egotistical leftists naturally create
for themselves, complete with multiple overlapping levels of authority and no one in charge but the man at the top, who's too busy doing other things to actually be in charge.
Dennis Blair as National Intelligence, who collaborated with the Muslim genocide of
Christians in East Timor, trying to muscle out the CIA to create his own intelligence network, is typical of the kind of chaos being spawned by every chief in an expanding government bureaucracy working to make sure that all the Indians answer to him. Similarly the National Security Council wrestling with the State Department, highlighted by Samantha Power getting her own specially created NSC position to butt heads withSecretary of State Hillary Clinton, illustrates the state of conflict and chaos in American foreign affairs. A state of chaos so pervasive
that incompetence has now become commonplace and no one can even be found
to double check the spelling of a Russian word that is meant to be the theme of American's
diplomatic reconstruction with Russia, or to pick out a gift for the visiting British Prime Minister.
Meanwhile on the economy, Obama exploited the ongoing bailouts, transforming them from bailouts into takeovers meant to shift the balance of power in what had been a
democracy and socially engineer not only corporations, but the lives of ordinary Americans. But the public's patience with corporate bailouts is at an end, most Americans were never happy with them to begin with, and want them to end. The death of Chrysler at the hands of Fiat and the UAW might look like a victory in the union ranks, but it doesn’t play too well outside Detroit. And tacking on CAFE standards that will kill the pickup truck and the SUV will badly erode Obama in the swing states, if exploited properly in 2010 and 2012. Despite the constant media barrage, orchestrated out of the White House, the public is growing disenchantedwith the performance of Obama and the Democrats.
With unemployment booming and the economy dropping, the jobs aren't there and the spending is out of control. Republicans today are polling better on ethics and the economy, than the
Democrats are. That shows a trend which is likely to register in the mid-term elections in 2010, in the same way that the EU parliamentary elections served as a shock to the system.
In the opposition, Republicans are free to embrace the rhetoric of change, to champion reform and push libertarian ideas about the size and scope of government. In turn all Obama has is his celebrity fueled media spectacle world tour. A charade now serving as a parallel to the depression era entertainment that functioned as escapism in a dour time. But before long, it may be Obama that the American public will want to escape from.
Obama has tried to play Lincoln, Reagan, JFK and FDR-- but in the end he can only play himself, a shallow, manipulative and egotistical amateur who is in over his head, and trying to drag the country down with him. Obama's White House is falling down and while the
flashbulbs are still glittering and the parties are going on in D.C. and around the world, Obama and the Democratic Congress may be headed for a recession of their own
