Losing Contact With Reality

That should be the name of Cindy Sheehan's new book, not Peace Mom. Peace is far from her. From just the preview on Radar Online, she demonstrates why she really needs some professional counseling, in the worst way.

...the antiwar icon admits she has fantasized about going back in time and killing the infant George W. Bush, thereby preventing the Iraq War.

This is the kind of hatred that will send a person into an abyss of insanity, if not recognized and treated properly. This kind of hatred will cause her much anguish and will create a very long and miserable life for her, if she does not get a hold of this now. The longer she allows this hatred to ferment in the depths of her soul, the higher the risk she is for a complete mental breakdown and a long-term admission to a psychiatric facility. There can be no peace for her, if she does not submit.

The site also quotes her book as saying:

"Every night I had to restrain myself from taking my entire bottle of sleeping pills instead of just one."

If that is not a cry for help, what is? How many people that have been using her to promote her story, as part of their anti-war agenda, will actually care enough to get her the help she needs to heal?

I ask these questions not to be mean, but because it is becoming very apparent that she has some serious issues that absolutely need to be addressed, before she spins way out of control. She has not been able to grieve naturally, therefore she has not been able to heal properly.

The attention she received from the media last year has largely gone away, based on the original story. That attention was a drug to her. She basked in the limelight, so she could kill the pain. It worked for awhile. But now the story, itself, is fading somewhat and to keep that drug working, she must keep saying/doing more and more outrageous things to capture that same attention. (See: Drug Tolerance)

But as the attention subsides, the pain comes back. To rid herself of the pain, she must deal with the cause of the pain, frankly and honestly. To continue to create more attention in order to kill the pain, only masks the pain, and makes it impossible to heal. Until she comes to grip with these pure and simple facts, she will live the rest of her life miserably, at a high risk for a tragic ending.

What Kind Of Leader Are You?

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

There, you see it. According to this personality test, I am Abe Lincoln. I am not sure that's quite the case. Nevertheless, he was an honorable man.

While it is true that Abe had a peaceful and good nature about him, he didn't waver, when the time came to preserve the Union. Likewise, I have had to tell many a person over the years, "do not take my peaceful and good nature as a sign of weakness". So in that respect, I guess it is close.

How about you?

A Blog (And Comment) Worth Sharing: Global American Discourse

I usually do not front a commenter out unless I think something needs to be said. I'd like to share a good portion of a comment left, on the "Maybe..." post.

Yes, as you say, there are perception gaps between US and its allies. To my regret, Tony Blair is under attack to set a timetable to step down. This is a negative blow to EU commitment.

Nuclear bombs can proliferate. Once Iran acquires them, other Islamic states and terrorists can acquire them. Then, not only US and Israel but also the whole world will face the threat.

For those of you that do not know, Shah. I highly recommend you check out his site, Global American Discourse. He is a Political Scientist, from and in Japan. He is not some wannabe hack here, he knows his stuff, read his blog and you'll see.

I think an important thing to note is, of all the countries in the world, Japan is one of the last countries that needs to worry about Radical jihadists. They do not anger many and are a model of capitalism. They have shown in a remarkable fashion, just what can done for a nation in ruins. They have made it happen.

Except for the fact that China and Korea is holding grudges for things that happened 60+ years ago. They pretty much get along with everyone.

I am not saying that they have no worries, they have them. But they have more of a threat from internal radicals than from Muslim terrorists or the number one sponsor of jihad, Iran. Even at that, Shah still recognizes that a nuclear Iran would be a threat.

The one Asian country that should be concerned is China. They are not immuned. And if Iran gets a nuke, who's to say Iran won't get irritated at China someday and turn on them?

It sure is something they need to be thinking about, as they draw up their alliances.

CBS News: The Couric Era. (How Long Will It Last?)

With a 9.1 rating and a 17 share , Katie Couric kicked off a new era in the CBS News department, easily topping ABC and NBC by a large margin. Much of this is most likely due to the curiosity factor. Many people wanted to see what the new format would look like, and how she would perform in her new role.

Time will tell if the viewers will continue to tune in. Once the hype and the hooplah dies down, the pattern of viewership will be easier to gauge.

I am reminded of what an old sergeant I had in the Army thirty years ago had told me about his experience, when he had arrived at Basic Training. He said the Post Commander and many of the upper echelon of officers for that installation were there. People from the local community were also in attendance. There was even a band present, for the celebration.

The General spoke, as well as a few others in the chain of command. The band played on cue. But behind the podium, there were 10-15 drill instructors standing at parade rest, showing no emotion and not moving a muscle the entire time. It seemed like an exciting occasion, worthy of the fanfare and attention.

After the brief ceremony, the senior drill instructor came to the podium and said to the trainees, something to the effect of the following:

Look around you. The General and his entourage have left. The civilians have all left. The band has packed up and gone home.

And they have left you with us.

After his ever so short inventory of those left in attendance, all of the drill instructors that had been standing quietly and still through it all, came out of those statuesque poses and unleashed an unholy fury on all that remained, the trainees.

So, after the curiosity seekers go home and the newness has worn off, Katie will be left with her critics and whatever dedicated viewership, she is able to garner from the early fanfare. Time will tell how she will do.

Some critics are already out and slamming the newscast. Take a look at Andrea Peyser's critique in the NY Post, this morning.

KATIE COURIC last night underwent her second on-air colonoscopy.

Watching the procedure was not a horribly painful event. Nor was it an experience I would volunteer to repeat any time soon.

If you read the rest of the piece, know that it does not get any better, after that opening statement.

Not as harsh, but, still critical was what came from the Washington Post.

One wants to wish her well on the basis of her tremendous charm, but opening night left acres and acres of room for improvement.

That's the industry for you. They eat their young. Except she's not a youngster, she has been co-anchor of Today for many years. But this is different, this is the bigtime.

Using this combination of anchor and format change, just may be the ticket for CBS to dig out of the hole they created for themselves, when they allowed Dan Rather to run it into the ground by being a loose cannon toward the end of his career. Maybe by adding the free speech segment, they can reject their openly biased past.

But then again, it might not.

Stay The Course In Iraq

No it isn't President Bush, Vice President Cheney, or even Secretary Rumsfeld saying this.

From the USA Today

NEW YORK — Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami said Monday that U.S. forces should remain in Iraq until that country's fragile government can assume greater control.

In an interview here during his first trip to the United States since leaving office a year ago, Khatami said, "We can't leave this newly formed government at the mercy of terrorists and insurgents."

I am speechless.

Despite the change in the leadership, Khatami said that Iran is not the enemy of the United States and that the two countries share strategic interests in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Khatami said Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, didn't provide weapons to Iraqi Shiites while he was in power. He said he doubts that the current leadership is doing so, as has been charged by U.S. officials including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "No one will benefit as much as Iran from peace and stability in Iraq," he said.

Oh, how I wish I could believe him. But the skeptic in me says that this is just a PR campaign.

It's hard for me to understand just how a stable and democratic Iraq can benefit the Iranians. Iranians are already restless, their economy is in shambles, and one would think that the intrigue of a democratic Iraq and Afghanistan, would be too much to bear, for much longer. One would also think that it is just a matter of time before the people would show some signs of envy and want to experience free and fair elections, themselves.

But honestly, as long as the Ayatollah Khameini is still the supreme leader and tolerates the current Iranian president's antics, it's doubtful there will be much of an opportunity for this to happen. That is, unless there is a dramatic shift in policy from the Iranian government. Otherwise, this is just a ruse to make us feel more comfortable, before the dagger goes in.

Addendum:

I might add that Khatami's remarks are certainly going against the supreme theocrat, Ayatollah Khameini's call for the U.S. to withdraw, back in March. What we seem to have here is failure, to communicate. Either that or Khatami is freelancing it. Maybe he had better apply for a visa to stay here, as there may be a fatwa issued on him, for when he gets back.

Newsweek Editor: Iran Is No Nazi Germany

From Newsweek comes another flawed analysis of the situation involving Iran. The essay is by Fareed Zakaria, a Newsweek editor and prominent name in the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), which is a globalist think tank.

Can everyone please take a deep breath?

To review a bit of history: in 1938, Adolf Hitler launched what became a world war not merely because he was evil but because he was in complete control of the strongest country on the planet. At the time, Germany had the world's second largest industrial base and its mightiest army. (The American economy was bigger, but in 1938 its army was smaller than that of Finland.) This is not remotely comparable with the situation today.

Two flaws that stand out in this short passage are certainly worth pointing out:

1. In 1938, this was certainly true of Nazi Germany, but what about the years leading up to that year? They did not start their quest for European and world superiority, as a powerful imperialist nation. It wasn't done overnight. There were several points (early on) that had it been recognized as a threat, it could have been stopped. This is a benefit of using hindsight as a means of Monday morning generalship. We see it now, but they didn't notice it back then, until it was too late. So telling us to take a deep breath and using this as justification to do so, does not compute logically.
2. Militarily, Germany was the strongest nation on the planet in 1938. And they were looking at building an atomic bomb, but the strength was through conventional weaponry (and lots of it). So, even though Iran may not be building its conventional forces to Hitler's levels, their current quest for a nuclear bomb is far much more dangerous.

Mr. Zakaria goes on to make another point, that while true, paints an inaccurate picture of the threat level.

Iran does not even rank among the top 20 economies in the world.

Germany was not particularly well-known as an economic powerhouse during the Weimar Republic, either. In 1933, the shift towards becoming one, began. In five years, they were churning out arms and the economy was robust. In five years, Iran can have a bomb to threaten and intimidate its neighbors with, a stable economy would not be necessary to achieve that objective.

America's annual defense outlay is more than 100 times Iran's. Tehran's nuclear ambitions are real and dangerous, but its program is not nearly as advanced as is often implied. Most serious estimates suggest that Iran would need between five and 10 years to achieve even a modest, North Korea-type, nuclear capacity.

He is correct in his defense spending contrast. But again, one bomb can kill many Americans, many Israelis, and anyone else he wanted to destroy along the way. The only defense spending that counts here, is how much they are spending on the nuke. Besides that, most experts are split on how far they are from getting a nuke, this is only his opinion.

I could go on, but that would spoil the fun for many of you. You can read the article and judge for yourself. But, in all of your considerings and reflections, think about this one thing, what does it matter if Iran's president is not a Hitler. He is still a madman that can do serious damage if he is emboldened further with a nuclear device. Which American city wants to be the one to take one for the team? Which one wants to volunteer to take the hit, for all of us?

The bottom line here is, while there may be many differences in 1938 Germany and today's Iran, there is one chilling similarity that free thinking people see when comparing the two. That is the hatred of Jews. In fact, the Iranian president has even denied the holocaust, which is a common among the neo-nazis of today.

(Hat Tip: RCP)

Have a Happy And Safe Holiday Weekend

PYY wishes all a happy and safe Labor Day weekend. Please, if you drink, don't drive. And if you drive, don't drink. It's not worth killing yourself, it's not worth killing somone else, and at the very least it's not worth a trip to jail.

*New posts will appear below this message, until Monday.*

Prophetic Message Overlooked?

The New York Sun has reprinted an op-ed piece written by Michael Ledeen way back in 1979, many months before Iranians overthrew the Shah and installed the supreme ayatollah system, with the Ayatollah Khomeini, as its first radical theocratic dictator. There are some prophets among us, who get little or no credit for their abilities to see what lies ahead and Mr. Ledeen was one of those men. This is a must read. (HT: Liberty And Culture)

Maybe.....

From the world's most trusted news agency, Reuters:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it was consulting European governments about possible sanctions against Iran for intransigence over its nuclear program, but the EU signaled it wanted to see more dialogue with Tehran.

Try not to laugh. It's really not that funny.

I know. This game gets old and it tends to drag on. But the EU really does want to get this thing solved, so don't be critical of them for not being able to pull the trigger, just yet. They haven't quite fine-tuned their negotiating skills yet and they really need to be able to negotiate, before they can be universally accepted as a valid European entity.

So, it won't hurt at all if it drags out another year or two.

Besides that, who cares if the Iranians get a bomb, right? After all, it is the U.S. and Israel that are at the top of Iran's fecal list, is it not?

Maybe, once Iran gets a bomb and feels empowered to use it as valid leverage, they will remember how the EU was not so hostile towards them and will not threaten them. Maybe, their energies will all be directed towards those that they hate the most, first.

Maybe then, once there is no Israel and a severely weakened United States, there will be peace in the world. Maybe the lion will eat them last.

Maybe. And then again, maybe not.

Maybe, the U.S. is going to be protected by their new missile defense shield, which was just successfully tested. (Read about it, here.)

Maybe the U.S. will have the guts to use it and other weaponry to fight fire, with fire.

Maybe, by the time Iran can load a bomb onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, it can be shot right out of the air and detonated over some poor third world country that has no say in how the negotiations are proceeding right now.

Now, I admit there are a lot of maybes here. But, we just all have to be patient with the Iranians, for they are reasonable. They will see the error of their ways, if we just talk about how we can all get along. Right now the only talking is the EU and US saying stop and the Iranians are saying, NO.

In reality, those that have the abiltity to think logically, analytically, and freely, can see that talking isn't working. But rest assured, we are not asking to muster up a military force to attack Iran, here. All we are asking is to make it harder for them to acquire a bomb, by placing sanctions on them. All we want is for them to realize that the world community is not going to tolerate a rogue radical state to have a weapon of mass destruction; and is willing to isolate them if necessary, until they agree to stop or allow the UN to verify that they are not seeking to do so.

Asking them to rethink all of this without some reasonable leverage is like asking them to play nice, without consequences if they don't. Chamberlain did it with Hitler and what did it get him? Does anyone really think that the Iranians aren't familiar with the Munich Pact?

Maybe, we can have out own Munich Pact, except we can call it the Brussels Pact.

Maybe, it will bring us all peace in our time, and the world will have the EU to thank for it. And it'll be so, because they talked about it.

And then again, maybe not.

Now, come on and roll those dice.

An Olbermann Moment

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised?

As a child, of whose heroism did he read?

On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight?

With what country has he confused… the United States of America?

Answer: The same country that has confused a sportcaster, for a news journalist.

This is why Olbermann's rating are always low, in fact, he is usually dead last. It's amazing to me that MSNBC can afford to keep him, despite the fact that his program is such a poor performer. I cannot imagine that his show is anywhere near the break even point and it certainly cannot be a tax write-off forever.

Don't get me wrong, Keith Olbermann has a right to his opinion and has a right to express it. I will always speak up for that right, no matter how ridiculous it may be. But it is apparent from his ratings that people aren't watching and really do not care about what he has to say, nor do they care about his little war against Bill O'Reilly.

But the thing to consider in all of this is, most shows that come in dead last get the axe in rapid fashion. Yet, MSNBC continues to allow this man's show to embarass both the host, and the network with an incredible display of underperformance. Knowing how competitive this business is, I have to wonder what their justification is for this masochistic act.


Hat Tip: The Daou Report.