Whether Fight or Flight, the Threats Still Persist

What is the next step in the Useless Nations' decades-long, U.S.-led "police action" on the Korean Penisula, not to mention continuing sagas in places like Iran? At least, some people grasp the situation...

"The Irrelevance of START," Charles Krauthammer

"Nuclear Blinders," John Bolton (former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.)

"Why We're Always Fooled by North Korea," Michael J. Green

"North Korea Will Never Play Nice," B.R. Myers

Others, not so much apparently...

  

"U.N. Secretary General Eyes New Aid, Better PR Campaign, for North Korea" (Former South Korean Foreign Minister, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon)

"North Korea's Conistent Message to the U.S.," Jimmy Carter (former president of the U.S.)

"Crisis in Korea?," John Feffer

Student Body Scan Sham

Let’s see if I understand this correctly…ILLEGAL immigrants enrolled in California colleges will continue to receive reduced tuition, while LEGALLY-born U.S. students can expect an 8% hike to their tuition? Of course, the “undocumented” students will also feel the pinch to their in-state wallets as well. But let’s phrase the question another way…while American CITIZENS are harassed, manhandled and molested in their daily travels by airport security under the guise of “national security,” ILLEGAL immigrants will continue to be enfranchised with the benefits offered by the United States – that even a number of LEGAL citizens do not enjoy, and no less at the expense of American taxpayers – without so much as a single grope from Homeland Security?

Pardon my confusion, but what the hell is wrong with this scenario??? Did we suddenly wormhole to Bizarro’s Htrae, or more likely into The Twilight Zone? Is this a waking nightmare, from which there is no escape?

If nothing else, it is certainly a wakeup call.

(Okay, maybe not exactly what was meant by “wakeup call.” Now, if Hayden were a TSA agent - legal, illegal or otherwise - you think at least a few members of the "Don't Touch My Junk" crowd might be okay with a pat down?) 

©2010 Steve Sagarra

A Dose of Humble Pie

He believed Washington alone could mandate change to solve the problems of the United States and its citizens. He believed one political party alone could dictate that change, whether the American people wanted it or not. He believed he and his party were the voice of the American people. Now that the opposition has taken control of the House of Representatives, and achieved major gains in the Senate, how does that crow taste Mr. President?

With Republican gains in Congress, the agenda of President Obama and the Democratic party ostensibly has been demolished. The American people sent a clear referendum on the direction of the country, with a message that progress promised – by both Obama and soon-to-be former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi – has not been forthcoming. Mainly, because there has been no progress or even the hint of such. A multi-billion dollar, taxpayer-funded bailout of Wall Street, bankrupting public coffers in favor of the very instigators to the economic downturn? A GDP growth rate at a dismal 2%, ranking the largest economy in the world barely 15th – tied with Pakistan – in terms of growth? And the most telling, an unemployment rate hovering over nine percent – peaking at 10.1% in October 2009 – for the last 17 months, the second worse period since 1982? Compare that to 6.3% in June 2003, the highest ever reached during the much-maligned Bush era.

Faced with the political shift, Obama immediately danced the Potomac two-step in an attempt to portray himself as a centrist. A leader willing to compromise in the crafting of policy and legislation – a concept rebuffed during the first half of his term. Yet, by all appearances, he is still failing to understand the disconnect among voters. The lesson of the mid-term is not that his administration has not done enough; rather, that the American people do not approve of what has been done so far. Espousing a more moderate stance in defeat is hardly convincing that, overnight, he truly has turned humbly to the center for setting an agreeably bipartisan agenda, rather than just for his own political survival.

©2010 Steve Sagarra