14 Responses to "Peter is Currently Feeling …"
January 21, 2009 at 8:57 am
Well said. I don’t think America is very show-offy as a nation, relatively speaking. I think what we saw yesterday was the release of the pent-up horror of a people who, in 2003, listened to their president tell the world: “You’re either with us or against us, and if it’s the latter, don’t look at us cross-eyed or we’ll bomb you”.
A bunch of us saw that and said: “That’s not American. It can’t be American.”
Obama is the anti-Bush in many more ways than just skin color and political party.
January 23, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Sorry, Peter.
Another president, another child murderer.
Change, eh ?
M
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President Obama ‘orders Pakistan drone attacks’
(US Air Force/EPA)
A Predator drone
Tim Reid in Washington
Missiles fired from suspected US drones killed at least 15 people inside Pakistan today, the first such strikes since Barack Obama became president and a clear sign that the controversial military policy begun by George W Bush has not changed.
Security officials said the strikes, which saw up to five missiles slam into houses in separate villages, killed seven “foreigners” – a term that usually means al-Qaeda – but locals also said that three children lost their lives.
January 25, 2009 at 9:52 am
Good call Matt. We’re going to see soon what Obama is really about. The “collateral damage” you note above is one area. I mean, it’s one thing to call in the Joint Chiefs and tell them to start wrapping things up, and tell the press about it. It’s quite another to manage and reduce ongoing “collateral damage”.
Similarly, on George Mitchell going to the Mideast on Wednesday, it’s one thing to make a grand gesture at the State Department in front of the press. It’s quite another to face down the howling AIPAC and the Israeli lapdog known as Congress, and have Mitchell sit down with Hamas (something that Hillary said won’t happen) — an obvious necessity for any negotiated resolution in that hell hole.
Week One was about “signaling”. IMHO, Obama did a splendid job of that across many domains.
Week Two is about the start of with “putting your executive power where your press photo opps are”. Gonna be interesting.
January 27, 2009 at 9:07 pm
I’ve decided that this was the most appropriate place to rant and rave.
America is plum stupid.
Canada is plum stupid.
Not a trace of judgment in those comments. 
I am so PISSED OFF.
Canada just released it’s stupid budget. In the next 5 years, we will be 85 billion more in debt to “create jobs”.
Like Matt said in another mail, you don’t fix a problem by digging a deeper hole. Jeesuz.
Harper inherited a 12 billion dollar (for that year) surplus from the previous liberal government. He f*$ked it up and put us 33 more billion into debt. In a couple of years, Canada will be 500 billion dollars in debt.
And you know what? Their proposed plan WILL NOT WORK. People will not be spending. Harper didn’t get elected because there are more stupid people in Canada than smart. He got in because we don’t have proportional representation in this country. So that means, that most people will be smart and not spend (SAVE, which is not what the government wants us to do). Therefore, there will be no improvement in the economy.
I just can’t believe it.
WHERE THE HELL ARE THESE INOVATIVE ECONOMIC THINKERS? THE NEW AND UP AND COMING ECONOMIC PIONEERS WITH NEW THOUGHTS?
Einstein said that you can’t fix a problem with the same mind that has created it.
I am disgusted.
10 years ago, in my own personal life, I was looking into the future and I saw that we were heading into potential bankrupcy within about a year. I predicted that we would have to sell our old home, maybe move out of town. Then I sat down with my husband and said: “We have to change the way we’re doing things. We have to change the way we’re thinking.”
And lo’ and behold, while we are not “wealthy” people (however, compared to third world standards we’re more than wealthy), – we are in the best economic position we have ever been in, in our entire lives and we live in a dream home that we built and will retire in.
Now, tell, me. Someone like myself. No knowledge of economics. Just an average Joe (Jane) that said: “we have to change – whatever it takes – we have to change”. Why can’t the stupid “experts” of this stupid country do what a regular Joe did?
We changed alright. We cut right down. We had no T.V. for 5 years. We went to the local reuse dump to get wall paints and other things we needed. Our entertainment became the free kind: hiking, biking, playing board games, friends over for potlucks, playing music and dancing with friends in our homes, etc.
And we also started coming up with ways on how to create more income in our company through new ways, to grow it and to flourish it.
NOW WHY CAN’T THE STUPID CANADIAN GOVERNMENT HIRE SOME PEOPLE WITH INOVATIVE IDEAS TO CUT F*$KING SPENDING AND CREATE NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES WITH A LOW BUDGET, AND WHEN THE ECONOMY STARTS PICKING UP AND FLOURISHING, THEN INCREASING THE SPENDING BUDGET WHEN THEY HAVE THE GOD DAMN MONEY?
I live in a stupid country.
At least the banking system in Canada is a good one. Small blessings I guess.
I gotta get my grubby hands on some real gold before the future imminent collapse. I don’t trust the stupid government anymore and I don’t trust “government insured bonds”.
I think the banks in Canada are much, much more healthy than the stupid government.
Interesting times ahead.
One good point though, even though it will not help the country. I will be getting a $1350 tax credit next year for home renovation (I was intending on doing it anyway before the “wonderful” tax cut initiative on the budget).
Seems to me that Harper copied a lot of what Obama is doing with trying to get the country out of an economic crisis by spending a ton more money on stupid things.
Can’t someone get these people some innovative economic minds?
Sheesh.
January 27, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Thanks for the rant. Entertaining.
Government has very different motivations than individuals. Most not very healthy.
January 27, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Peter, yes you are correct when you write:
“Government has very different motivations than individuals. Most not very healthy.”
The motivation of this budget was quite clear. It was this:
“We’re going to kiss everyone’s ass and please everyone so that the opposition party will be happy with us and don’t form a coaltion against us so we can stay in power.”
And therein lies the problem.
What a snake the finance minister is. Back in December with the old budget he said that the governnment will not go into further debt for any reason. Well his tune has definately changed since the attempt of the governmental overthrow by the coalition.
Truly. I can’t imagine being in power, for power’s sake. I mean, don’t you go into power because you think you can make things better? That you can contribute to the betterment of everyone?
It’ll will be very, very interesting to watch Obama in these next few years. Is his agenda truly the “one for all and all for one” attitude, or is it “me, me, me, me and my needs”.
Time will tell.
January 28, 2009 at 10:46 am
Kathy — Try not to expect anything out of the politicians that you don’t already see in the famous athletes, movie stars, and musicians. Once in awhile, we seem to get one or two who are actually wise and caring. The vast bulk though are people addicted to the big three: fame, money, and power.
If you expect nothing but venality out of politicians, then you’ll feel nothing but pleasure to find one gem out of the dung heap, rather than disappointment about the other 99%.
January 28, 2009 at 10:57 am
So do you think Obama is “one gem out of the dung heap”.
Frankly, I don’t think we’ve ever had a PM in Canada that fits the bill. Trudeau? Just Okay, but he was the one that racked up our country’s debt in the first place, so he couldn’t have been all that intelligent or caring.
Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas I think comes the closest to that description in Canada. Too bad he was never a PM.
January 28, 2009 at 11:08 am
IMHO, the jury is still out on Obama. Will be very interesting to watch over the coming years.
I don’t diverge from my core belief — blogged about last year — that Obama is driven by a messiah complex. But even if so, that underlying motivation wouldn’t conflict with doing what is best for the people. This is because we Americans are so deeply f#%ked, and so profoundly irresponsible, that we need a messiah to lead us out of this mess.
So in America, circa 2009, we may have perfect fit between an ego maniac messiah figure and a nation of babies that needs a Moses to lead the way. It’s a closed feedback system. No pathology there.
Maybe 20 years from now, in some glorious future “dark ages”, our lives will center around our local communities, and we will pay scant attention to these national figures. But that day is not today.
January 29, 2009 at 5:18 pm
“I can’t imagine being in power, for power’s sake. I mean, don’t you go into power because you think you can make things better? That you can contribute to the betterment of everyone?”
I just had a long conversation about this elsewhere. In Atlas Shrugged, they keep making the statement :
“Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises.
Kathy the mistake your are making, and it is a natural one, is that your premise is that all people are motivated to do good. In fact that is completely false.
http://www.strike-the-root.com/91/groves/groves1.html
Over the years I have come to believe that there are 3 types of people, sheep (90+ percent), wolves, and sheep dogs. The wolves CHOOSE positions in the govt because it gives them free regn over the sheep. If you think this 6 percent of psychopaths don’t exist, then just think back to junior high school. 
I think what the Fourth Turning indicates is that the 80 year saeculum cycle is one of increasing power of the psycholpaths among us – and at some point in time, there pathology quite literally BRINGS DOWN the system upon which the rely on fr sustenance. Then the ekpyrosis happens, everything is reorganized/torn down and new systems are put in place and the psychopaths begin a new cycle increasing their control of the sheep.
Until we can identify and cull these individuals, human societies will continue an endless cycle of collapse, despair, war and pain.
Matt
January 29, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Obama believes that FDR didn’t go far enough :
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=42697
To me this article is like a straw in the wind – as long as he holds this belief, I think at some point in time the timeline of this Great Depression will diverge – and not in a good way.
Matt
January 30, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Matt — Sorry for the delay in approving your comments. Our home DSL went down on Wednesday. Won’t be back up until Monday. Argh!
I’ll respond to your comments on Monday. (I’m at an Apple store right now.) Thanks.
January 31, 2009 at 12:44 am
The FDR article is interesting. So the reason people remained in an economic depression back then was not enough spending.
Hmmmmm. Spend money you don’t have to get you out of the hole.
I wonder how high the trillion dollar debt load can go before someone has to pay the piper.
And yes, I still believe in my heart of hearts, that everyone is motivated by doing good at the core of their being. But somewhere along the way, for some (like pychopaths), their perception is so skewed that it doesn’t look like good intent anymore – just the opposite. Or some (like many politicians), their perception is founded on ignorance and stupidity.
At least, that’s what I’d like to believe. If I didn’t, I’d get too disheartened with the world.
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- duckandgather: Thanks Kathy. I just listened on NPR to a recent speech given by Cornell West. Very moving and passionate. Subject was squarely in the topic of this p
- Kathy Graham: Exactly. It's sad that most people in this world place money as a much higher priority than health. I realize this is a patriarchal analogy, but c
- duckandgather: If Obama didn't clearly stand up against the Right wing and the Health Corporations, as he did in his speech a couple of weeks ago, his staunch suppor
January 21, 2009 at 8:50 am
Feeling a tad patriotic are we?
Well, you know. It’ hard to know how much of America is show, and how much is real.
But even after all the glitz and all the sentimentality and all the hopeful thoughts for change get replaced with the daily grunt and grind of tasks at hand, I wonder how much is show and how much is real.
At least now, America is paving it’s way for “global support”, which it has not had in the past 8 years. I think that will factor in to some measure of success – don’t know quite how though.