Another problem associated with his old age is his lack of knowledge of computers or the Internet. It is widely speculated that he has never gone on line, when asked about that, he answered, “My people go on line for me” and when his deputy campaign director Mark Soohoo was asked about McCain’s computer knowledge he answered, “You don’t necessarily have to use a computer to understand how it shapes the country.” You have to shake your head at verbiage like that. I just can’t imagine a president not having a little knowledge about a medium that is changing the world daily. I have nothing against senior citizens, I think they are invaluable, I just don’t know if America is ready for a grandfather president who is set in the past and would add nothing new in this modern age not to mention to stay engaged in a very fluid worldwide modern society...

But there are three reasons or three women that might represent why she should not be,but in reality the three woman and the ordeals that they have gone through since either running for President or being Prime Ministers has been harrowing yet inspiring. These women have given up their freedoms and one her life and this year has highlighted their grace, their competence and their intelligence.

Starting with the incredible rescue of fifteen hostages held by FARC, one of which was Ingrid Bentancourt, the French-Columbian politician, who while running for president six and half years ago was kidnapped. To hear her speak after this ordeal where she was chained to other prisoners and herded through the Columbia jungle was inspiring. Having to endure the most horrific conditions a human could possibly endure she actually talked about forgiving her captors. Her articulate answers to questions that might be overwhelming to some were an inspiration to watch.

The second woman, Benazir Bhutto, who endured much and finally lost her life in her pursuit to lead the people of Pakistan for the third time was devastating. She was assassinated on Dec. 27 and it was surely the shot heard around the world. Her presence and beauty and intellect were sure to bring Pakistan out of the shroud of a military leadership that was closing down the state to stay in power. She was already a remarkable leader, the first woman to lead a Muslim country; she actually did it twice in 1988-90 and again from 1993-96. She was driven from office because of corruption charges that were generated again by generals in the military. In her death one must hope that she has inspired change in Pakistan but that is yet to be seen.

Finally, is the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was voted the Prime Minister of Myanmar in 1990 and has been held in detention ever since by the military junta. Her home was nearly destroyed by the cyclone Nargis; she lost her electricity and has been living by candlelight ever since. Her on-going dedication to peaceful protest is an inspiration to a war torn world and country. These three women’s presence and fortitude in a world that needs inspiring are reason enough to see that the world not only needs woman leading more but without them we are doomed to make the same mistakes we have made for centuries…

All is fare in love, war and business. But still we should celebrate our independence, it’s not like we pin our hopes and dreams on OPEC, who have driven oil so high that we can’t drive. I know that it is being blamed on speculators or supply and demand, but look folks, who is controlling what we get? It is the Axis Of Sleaze otherwise known as OPEC. And they’re not the only ones calling the shots these days, since America has been waging wars on two fronts and sliming it’s own people, Russia has turned into a super power once again; so much so that the American Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson Jr. was in Moscow recently appealing (begging) for them to invest in the American economy. The President of Russia chimed in that America was basically ‘in a depression’, economic gurus here haven’t even admitted being in a recession, and the Putin surrogate continued to condescend by saying the U.S. should do a lot more listening than talking and that they have no right to tell other countries how to run their business when their business is so bad. And looking at our economy he might have a point there. We’ve sold out souls to the world and now we must pay.

But still, why not celebrate? Our freedoms have been calculatedly taken away by the Bush administration for the last eight years. We have become a nation known for torturing prisoners of war all over the world. But not to worry, we can still enjoy our American pastime by watching a baseball game, forever tainted by the use of steroids by its greatest players, or enjoy the fire works, but not in California, Nevada, Arizona or Florida where wild fires are burning out of control. And we can always think about the future although in the last six months peoples’ retirement plans have lost more than 20% and the stock market has lost the most money since 1930, oh yeah, that was the year of the Great Depression. But please enjoy the 4th of July because it gives you one day to forget all the rest of the days that lay ahead…

Image Credit: Andy

The seminal book on media written by Marshall McLuhan was an inspiring and prophetic view of media in the world. But right now it is no longer, The Media Is The Message but The Media Is The Mess. I mostly mean the TV media, cable mostly but not excluding some networks. Where in the entire history of the world could we have found as many morons at one time, who deliver the news or actually deliver their opinions on the news than now? From Wolf Blitzer, gruff, insinuating, ramblings and never asking the right questions and repeating the same set quotes, to Bill O’Reilly’s, total lack of any kind of since of reality bravado, to Chris Mathews’ misogynist rants and really not knowing anything about playing hardball but interrupting anybody that has an opinion that doesn’t agree with his, to Lou Dobbs, the self proclaimed defender of all that America is and should be and really doesn’t know what America is or will be, to Glenn Beck, who is totally incoherent in his ramblings; and that’s just a few of the cadre of the stupendously idiotic news presentation group we have been forced to deal listen to (and I know you can turn the channel or turn it off).

And not to be forgotten are all those talking head pundits that are rolled out to give their opinions and keep getting it wrong on every twist and turn in this political season none of them who have a clue what America wants or needs because they’re too busy reading newspapers so they can actually comment on something instead of going out and investigating the news. Most recently the brave Scott McClellan, who has been burned at the stake by the Republican smear machine, called the media complicit in creating this albatross of a war that we are mired in in Iraq. Complicit to say the least, the news media might as well have tied a bow on everything the Bush administration said and did without investigating the lies, smoke and mirrors that they were presenting.

The news media basically jumped though hoops for George Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of the Neo-Cons. Katie Couric said she felt pressured to not report negative about what was going on. So, I guess our forefathers created freedom of the press so the press could be pressured not to tell the truth? And it seems to get even worse with each passing day. The other day I was watching a news analyst commenting that some Americans still think Obama is Muslim and went onto say “he will have to prove to them that he is not”. I sat there thinking why don’t you say he is not, you know he’s not, I know he’s not, so why don’t you set the record straight, but he said nothing, just nodded a nod of innuendo. It’s sickening.

And then the recent slanders on Fox news border on full-blown yellow journalism. First they light up the screen with a headline “Outraged liberals say stop picking on Obama’s baby mama!” a racial slur so disgusting if defies reason. And then this episode that reminds me how out of the loop the media really is, a Fox News anchor, E.D. Hill reported that, the Obama’s excited fist bump at his victory rally in St. Paul was “a terrorist fist jab” and then the wonks afterward kept asking what that fist bumb meant and who does that. Haven’t they seen Tiger Woods make a good shot or any athlete celebrate a great moment, do they know what a high five is? It’s excruciating how these people and I’m not saying all of them because as I am writing this it was just announced that Tim Russert died of a heart attack, he was one of the few good ones. Unlike Russert, who represented common Americans by asking the right questions, these days most newscasters and people who comment for the news don’t represent anything but themselves and in doing so make the media and themselves look like the biggest losers of all time…

In this second part of a really bad story about the ongoing quacking by a lame duck president that might prove to be a lesson on how not to be a president or how not to do business as a super power nation when you’re a lame duck, but I digress. It’s been less than a week since the lame duck president quacked about negotiating with terrorists and used the word appeasement to describe such an atrocity as actually speaking to someone. It is only possible to create peace by bombing and killing I guess. But since Bush’s diatribe about the uselessness of negotiations a bright light has been put on America’s power and influence or waning power and influence. Almost in lock step a lineup of American allies announced not letting a day go by after Bush’s denouncement of negotiating with terrorists, that they are doing just that, negotiating with people Bush calls terrorists, the most amazing confession coming from Israel where Bush made his recent remarks, it seems they are actually negotiating with Syria and have been for months with Turkey being the arbitrator. Another ally on the war on terror, Pakistan signed a treaty with the Taliban to stop their terrorist attacks in Pakistan but they can go ahead and attack anybody they want in Afghanistan; and finally the French are in contact with Hamas that will lead to negotiations on the Middle East issue. What next the British sign a peace treaty with Al Queda? This is the current state of affairs and actually a pretty good way for these other governments to do business; it can’t be bad to do the opposite of whatever the Bush administration says or does. The Bush administration is so frustrated with it’s lack of influence now days it’s now wagging fingers at news organizations including NBC and the Israel news media for making Bush sound like a terrorist, and before that labeling Jimmy Carter a traitor for talking to Syria and Hamas. Oh, for the good old days when they could say anything, lie about weapons of mass destruction, Al Queda connections and create a war that was supposed to last a couple of days after “shock and awe”. But now here we are suffering our own shock and awe five years later, the economy going bust and the rest of the world sitting back smirking, and why shouldn’t they, after the horrible way the Bush administration has acted in the last seven years. So let Bush talk and watch the world ignore him or better yet do the opposite of what he says…