Observations from Ft. Myers, Florida

Mon. March 19, 2012:

Gentle Readers:  From a spotty computer in some sunny Ft. Myers gated development's lobby, one has to make a few overdue Observations about the state of the world beyond Ft. Myers.

1.  The anti-Palin HBO film Game Change, whatever its partisan flaws, had a couple outstanding points about our beloved USA.  By far the most valuable was the line from Woody Harrelson's character, in helping prepare Sarah for her debate vs. Joe Biden:  "How many answers will she have to be ready for, and how many minutes will her portion of the debate fill?  Roughly 25 answers to study, ultimately to fill 45 minutes of Palin talk?  Any person can be made to memorize such answers, to fill up those 45 minutes."

Can there be such a thing as too much democracy?
Herein lies a fundamental flaw in our democratic republic. 
Safe to say, this was not what conservatives' esteemed Framers of 1787 had in mind.

2.  Game Change got another thing right:  John McCain at least wants to be a better citizen than politician.
But it must be just as impossible to do this, as it is to be a normal civilian after someone has tried to kill you once you put on the uniform of any military in the world -- including the military of our beloved United States of America.  Through World War II, if not McCain's Korean War, our troops were the cowboys in white hats, and did not seem to commit atrocities.  But the sad truth is, military combat taints soldiers the world over, and our boys are not immune.  German novelist Erich Maria Remarque made that clear in the 1920's, for those paying attention.  In 2001-2012, for every 500 American soldiers who hugged & heroically tried to protect an Afghani or Iraqi child, there was probably 1 who thought nothing of urinating on a local's body, or burning a local's Koran, or shooting & burning 16 local sleeping innocents in their beds.

And now, the same genuinely decent Citizen McCain who tried to put a stop to Sarah Palin's fear-mongering nonsense about Obama being an "Arab," is currently arguing on "Meet the Press" that surges & more tours are essential in that graveyard of empires -- Afghanistan.  The brave & fundamentally honorable citizen of Game Change reverts to just another Republican politician vs. Obama's war strategy toward the 2012 Election.  Is this what the 1787 Framers expected?

3.  Obama & his strategists are doing a stunningly lousy job of defending their actions/inactions about
"delaying" [and why not be clear on this, too:  not totally killing!] the Keystone Pipeline, and about frightening rises in gas prices.
If Keystone drilling & fracking are so dangerous to nearby aquifers & visible rivers, Make The Case.  Evidence is apparently plentiful, but we receive none of it from Obama's team.  Why not show footage of the horrendous damage fracking has done to certain Michigan rivers?  At the very least, run an endless loop of  disastrous oil spills like Exxon Valdez & BP in the Gulf!  The consequences were real, still around, and shocking.
That might give pause, to at least a few independent drill-baby voters.

And what about a clear, simple presentation of how little any president can do about gas prices, at any time?  Over 75% of such prices get determined by worldwide demand, right?  And another 20% by commodity speculators?  [If these figures are incorrect, then the White House should be correcting them; if they are correct, Why In Hell aren't we being told about them?] 
Is Obama tired of being president?  Is he throwing the election?  Even if not, what good will he do even if re-elected?  He has to be able to clean up such messes -- with "dogged" resolve if not intelligence.  At least Romney got out of the car and hosed it down, along with Seamus.