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There’s a serious recession looming for most countries on the planet. Major auto manufacturers in the US are on the verge of bankruptcy, possibly with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. The IMF has said Britain’s economy is in such dreadful shape it is likely to suffer more than other European nations from the encroaching world recession. In the Congo a potential genocide seems likely on a scale of Rwanda in the 1990’s. To top it all, China is raising a finger to western nations over global warming, with the response: “You caused it, you fix it.”

All of this is irrelevant. The US media is preoccupied with even more important matters. The issue is of such vital international importance even a Russian nuclear missile attack on Washington would take second place.

It’s a matter still to be resolved. The future of the country depends on finding an answer. All over the United States media reporters are poised, all desperate to be first with the scoop to end all scoops.

There is a question on everyone’s lips; a conundrum as yet unanswerable:

What kind of puppy will the Obama family choose to take with them to the White House?

Filed under: Barking mad

The election’s finally over, and now we’re into that good old American tradition of scapegoating and minority-bashing; in fact, anything that shifts blame, cuts through embarrassment, and makes us feel more comfortable at the expense of someone else.

The two prime targets right now are Sarah Palin and Ralph Nader.

Most will have read of all the dreadful things done and said by Palin while the poor, innocent, Republican campaign management stood by, impotent. Much debate buzzes throughout the blogs and media as to the truth, or otherwise, of these allegations. Presumably, it depends on one’s view of Palin as to whether it is she, or McCain’s campaign team, who were the guilty parties. John McCain, himself, appears to have retired into one of his seven mansions and is saying very little. Perhaps, because he’s still too busy crying into his cocoa.

Given the manner in which McCain’s team managed the Republican campaign throughout, and having noted how vociferously and condescendingly Sarah Palin lied to denounce Barack Obama at every opportunity, it’s fairly obvious to all but the most tunnel-visioned Republican faithful that each is responsible for one third of the blame, when it comes to apportioning the poisoned pie of failure. The other third must go to the Republican presidential nominee, if only for using the the phrase, “my friends,” at least a million times too frequently.

Less obvious is the reason for attacking Ralph Nader.

Fox News appears to have taken the lead in this department, with Shepard Smith expressing a high degree of 2nd-grade schoolboy temper tantrum during an interview with Nader.

Apparently, the independent candidate spoke to a radio station recently, and said:

To put it very simply, he is our first African-American president; or he will be. And we wish him well. But his choice, basically, is whether he’s going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations.”

Shepard Smith and Fox News, never slow to whip up public hatred and contention among the moronic masses, immediately leapt to Barack Obama’s defense at what they decided, in their infinite stupidity, was a racial slur against him.

Fox News viewers, keen to advertise to the world their zombie mentalities and non-existent education, immediately assaulted the ‘comments’ sections of blogs and newspapers nationwide in a vitriolic denouncement of Ralph Nader as ‘rascist’ and ‘anarchist’ – among other, less printable, adjectives. Even Smith was quick to use the term ‘spoiler’, when describing Nader’s bid for the presidency in 2004.

Of course, regular Fox News viewers with their short attention spans will have already forgotten how their media heroes spent the last twelve months describing Obama as ‘terrorist’, ‘Muslim’, and adorning him with a whole host of other false and accusatory decorations.

For Americans, with few exceptions, Ralph Nader is a spoiler. Because the elections in this country are treated as a mammoth ballgame, two teams battling it out while their fans yell and scream and cast aspersions at the opposing side, Ralph Nader is viewed as the hooligan who rushes onto the pitch two minutes before the end and stabs the referee. He ‘spoils’ the climax of the game.

US politics are controlled in such a way that it’s almost impossible for one party to gain sufficient control of Congress and achieve anything worthwhile. Even following Obama’s ‘landslide’ victory, the Democrats have failed to win enough seats to prevent a filibuster.

Imagine, for a moment, a third party with no corporate affiliations winning a dozen or so seats in Congress. Neither Republicans nor Democrats could govern without allying to the minor party, which in turn could exercise immense power by pushing for policies beneficial to the American people.

Of course, it would ruin the ballgame.

Ralph Nader was right to express doubts about Obama’s allegiance. After all, much of his campaign was financed by the corporate giants. Nader is an intelligent man who made the mistake of assuming he was talking to educated people when he used the comparative terms ‘Uncle Sam’ and ‘Uncle Tom’.

He was wrong. Some of those listening worked for Fox News.

Filed under: Political aftermath

Viewing the media of late, their oh-so-knowledgeable ‘experts’ waxing lyrical over “America’s Finest Hour”, I found it hard not to dwell awhile on what finally brought the United States to the point of electing a black man to the presidency.

Not for one single moment would I endeavor to detract from the joys and emotions of the black community, at what must be for them the virtual realization of King’s Dream. This day was too long in coming, and it’s right they should celebrate it to the full.

Consider, though, how not so long ago Iraq was topping the agenda of election issues. John McCain whole-heartedly supported Bush’s “surge” in Iraq. By so doing, he signed his own presidential death warrant. Had Iraq remained in turmoil, if US soldiers were still dying in quantity from IEDs, Obama would have been the one giving the ‘sob-sob’ speech on election night, and McCain would be celebrating. Instead, the surge provided sufficient US forces to wall-up Baghdad and its turbulent suburbs, stifle the rebellion, and take Americans’ minds off the war.

Even that may not have been sufficient to win Obama the prize, had the Bush administration’s economic policies not chosen that moment to, in the words of dear old Jeremiah Wright, “come home to roost.” The sub-prime mortgage credit crunch, alongside dire economic figures, sealed McCain’s fate as surely as another 9/11-type attack on November 3rd would have kicked Obama right out the game.

In his concession speech, John McCain yet again referred to America as “the greatest nation on earth.” It gets more than a little irksome after a while. Americans may consider themselves “the greatest on earth”, but facts reveal they are just like anyone else, and this election provided adequate proof of that.

En masse, human beings everywhere are remarkably similar to sheep. Americans are no different. Sheep are quite happy while they have good grazing and a sense of security. Let loose a wolf in the field and they’ll rush around in blind panic desperate for a leader to protect them.

It was this very fear-inspired desperation that propelled George W Bush back into power in 2004. The attacks of 9/11, followed by a carefully constructed program of political scaremongering, kept Americans in a state of panic and George Bush in the White House.

McCain’s alleged military prowess would undoubtedly have seen him replace the present incumbent if the public’s fear of al Qaeda had not given way to other fears – those of homelessness, joblessness, and rapidly rising food prices. George W Bush, and those allied with him, gradually metamorphosed from leaders into wolves. The credit crisis was their fault; the 700billion dollar ‘bale-out’ was for their benefit, and the economy continued to dive into the ground.

John McCain was seen by many, and rightly so, as one of the wolves. Another leader was required quickly. Fortunately, an election was just around the corner.

Barack Obama may well prove the savior of America. He’s a very capable man with a brilliant mind and great charisma. Had Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination there can be little doubt she would be president-elect today. It would be unfair to not recognize the part Obama personally played in winning this election, but he was undoubtedly helped by the GOP’s great ability to lose it.

The people chose Obama to solve their economic woes. Like all sheep, and all human beings, self-interest was their motivation – that, hopefully, they also chose the best man to bring the Iraq war to a close, was mere coincidence.

It’s good that America elected a black person to be president, but his color was not the reason. A white Clinton would have won by an equally large margin.

For handing him the keys to the White House, Barack Obama must thank the sheep, baa-ing loudly for help to rid them of the wolves, once thinly disguised as good shepherds, that they themselves foolishly allowed back into their field four years ago.

Yes, sheep can be exceedingly stupid creatures.

Now, we must hope Barack Obama, himself, does not eventually metamorphose into just another political predator.

Filed under: Baaaaaaa!