So Funny, So True

This reminded me so much of life in suburban America . . .

Help A Fresh Salad Politician Become Mayor of NYC

Dear Friend:

64 Days until the primary. Yes, that's all. And 121 days until the general election.
The campaign - like the weather - is entering the hot season.

And we need your help.

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Thanks,

Dolev Azaria
Finance Director

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Anthony Weiner for New York
http://www.anthonyweiner.com/
PO Box 1132
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Why?

I love Clay Bennett's work. No other political cartoonist can be so succinct, so poignant, and so insightfully honest all at once.

Though I could ramble on and on about how pointless & bizarre I find terrorism, or how sad I do feel for Londoners. I thought a semi-whimsical anecdote might be better.

My mother was a huge fan of the TV Show M*A*S*H, and I was raised on it. In one episode, the show's solemn sinner of a hero - Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce - for no good reason, just loses it and begins to ask "why." He spends the entire episode asking everyone he meets "Why?" To which they all quickly reply, "Why . . . what?" Indeed, he even sends a wire to Harry Truman, the then President of the United States, to ask him
"Dear Harry,
Who started it?
Sincerely,
Capt. Benjamin Franklin Pierce"
He explains, in his typical wise-crack manner, that he wants to know why they're at war with the North Koreans. Some characters just say they don't know and walk away. Others simply state that there are no good reasons. Some try to justify it all thru hasty rationalizations, only to realizing that their logic fails and likewise walkaway. Finally, Hawkeye asks Maj. Frank Pierce - the show's villain & the embarassing embodiment of every bad image ever associated with American men all at once. Frank simply responds, in his usually snivelling manner, that the North Koreans want to threaten the American way of life, that they want to come over to the states and take away free enterprise, TV, automobiles, and even plumbing. Yes, plumbing.
Frank ultimately decides that the North Koreans are at war with the US because they want to steal our toilets. Upon finally getting an honest, be it absurd answer, Hawkeye is greatful. So much so, that he hooks a jeep onto a lutrine, and drops it off at the North Korean/South Korean border in an attempt to end the war.

My anecdote is not meant to humiliate Americans, state that all wars are stupid, or to pick on the misguided efforts of geopolitics. Instead, I too, would like to join with Hawkeye and ask any and all terrorists everywhere around the world . . .

WHY?

Freshen Up the Mix

First, I would like to say Happy Birthday America!! Though my country may be going thru a bt of an odd spell, with Religious Conservatives controlling all branches of government, a political process growing overly stale from moneyed influence, and a foreign policy that makes us seem more like the high school bully than the benevolent quarterback; I still love my country very VERY much.

To all my foreign friends, and non-US readers, I apologize for the following, but it's got to be said. Had it not been for the bravery and forethought of a few refugees, intellectuals, and radicals; the shot heard 'round the world might have never been fired and the world would probably be a less free place.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the
world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

Second, and the purpose of this post's title, I'd like to rearticulate my point about how government reform is needed to make any of this Live8 shit work. I'll address the problems of African governance later, but right now I'd like to take a wide angel approach and then hone in. Let's look at the dirtiest little aspect of this Live8 hullabullooh that nobody is daring to talk about -- it shouldn't have to exist!

No, I'm not talking about the fact we should all live by the golden rule and ensure that our fellow men & women are treated humanely. I mean the fact that the scrambled-egg sham of an international government that we have should have fixed this problem long ago. I mean for Christ's sake, the Secretary General of the UN [the big cheese of it all] had to join a Live8 concert to beg with the other millions of people that the Elite 8 decide to absolve existing debts and create a veritable Pan-African Marshall Plan to help hundreds of millions of people. THAT SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN.

No, I'm not advocating that Kofi get empirial powers, nor am I advocating that the Group of 8 be tried for crimes against humanity. What I am advocating is a true restructuring of the UN in order to ensure that the international community is obliged to look out for the well being of one another, and that any laws passed in its hallways have merit.

Maybe it's naive, but I believe some good restructuring would do the trick.
I mean let's compare this to this.

What We May Miss This Weekend

In an effort to avoid the group think of the blog-o-sphere (and in an attempt to keep politics, policy, & current affairs fresh) I thought I would remind us of a few other noteworthy events that have happened this weekend, that we may otherwise miss in our Live8 Lust.

In spite of an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population in Spain and the new Pontiff's edicts concerning homosexuality and other aspects of modern, Western culture. Our Spainish neighbours across the pond have decided to work to ensure that all of its citizens will enjoy equal rights & protection under the law.

A nation that is neither part of the Middle East or Africa will begin to stumble down a very rocky path, and have very few friends to help it up.

The stale politics of the Middle East will continue. Though there now exists greater hope than before for these people to have a responsible, accountable government worthy of them, they too may stumble and fall if they lack our support to back them up.

The World's Largest Democracy will begin great strides to stand alone & apart in order to better modernize their country and improve the quality of their environment.