Cashing In

Getting your own reality TV show after engaging in morally dubious or scandalous behavior is rapidly becoming part of the American Dream, a means of cashing in on one's 15 minutes of fame. The latest individual to take this path to celebrity and riches is Ashley Dupre, the $4,300 a night prostitute, noteworthy for her contribution in ending former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer's once promising political career.

Renee Marie and the Star Spangled Banner

Granted, the Star Spangled Banner ain't exactly the easiest song to sing but Renee Marie's decision to sing Lift Every Voice and Sing, based on nothing more than artistic license, is a bit much. There just isn't any justification for substituting your personal preference for a situation where you were expected to sing a specific song, regardless of the aesthetic considerations.

Two Perspectives About America

Washington Post op-ed columnist Colbert I. King offers a comparative look at Frederick Douglass's famous 1852 4th of July speech before the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society and Barack Obama's recent speech "The America We Love." King writes, "The two men's remarks, touching on loyalty, race and the country's moral foundation, underscore the difference 150 years has made in the life of the nation."

Obama on Israel

There is an interesting piece in the London Review of Books by Uri Avnery, leader of Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, that examines the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's appearance at the Aipac conference. In Avnery's view, Obama's speech "broke all records for obsequiousness to the Israeli lobby. That is shocking enough. Even more shocking is the fat that nobody was shocked."

Interesting still is Avnery's analysis of what accounts for Aipac's influence in US politics:

What has caused the rapid ascent to power of the American Jewish establishment? The more I think about this phenomenon, the stronger my conviction becomes that what really matters is the similarity between the American enterprise and the Zionist one. The Mayflower passengers, much like the Zionists of the first and second aliya (immigration wave), fled from Europe, carrying with them a messianic vision, whether religious or utopian. (The early Zionists were mostly atheists, but religious traditions had a powerful influence on them.) The founders of American society were pilgrims, the Zionist immigrants called themselves olim – short for olim beregel, or ‘pilgrims’. Both sailed to a ‘promised land’, believing themselves to be God’s chosen people. Both suffered a great deal in their new country. Both saw themselves as ‘pioneers’ who would make the wilderness bloom, a ‘people without land in a land without people’. Both completely ignored the rights of indigenous people, considering them savages. Both saw the resistance of the local peoples as evidence of their innate murderous character, and felt that this justified even the worst atrocities. Both expelled the natives and took possession of their land, settling on every hill and under every tree, with one hand on the plough and the other on the Bible. True, Israel hasn’t committed anything approaching the genocide performed against the Native Americans, nor anything like slavery. But in the unconscious mind of both nations feelings of suppressed guilt make themselves evident in the denial of past misdeeds, in aggressiveness and the worship of power.

Jesse Helms 1921-2008

Jesse Helms, the arch-conservative and unreconstructed racist, is dead. May his soul, or whatever passes for one, experience nothing but eternal, unrelenting unrest and damnation.

Obama's Faith

Hardly anything new about a candidate after securing the party's nomination and promptly moving toward the center in the general election campaign. Traditionally, Democratic nominees move from the left to the center; Republicans, right to center. But Obama's announcement that he will rename and expand on Bush's faith-based initiatives makes even Obama's most fervent supporters somewhat uncomfortable.

Clark Hangs Tough

Perhaps it is just me but Barack Obama is starting to resemble Bill Clinton in demonstrating a propensity for bailing on supporters for what the opposition perceives as controversial remarks. The latest example is Obama distancing himself from Gen. Wesley Clark for questioning John McCain's qualifications to be president. To Clark's credit, he is hanging tough as evidence by the following statement:

There are many important issues in this Presidential election, clearly one of the most important issues is national security and keeping the American people safe. In my opinion, protecting the American people is the most important duty of our next President. I have made comments in the past about John McCain's service and I want to reiterate them in order be crystal clear. As I have said before I honor John McCain's service as a prisoner of war and a Vietnam Veteran. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. I would never dishonor the service of someone who chose to wear the uniform for our nation.

John McCain is running his campaign on his experience and how his experience would benefit him and our nation as President. That experience shows courage and commitment to our country - but it doesn't include executive experience wrestling with national policy or go-to-war decisions. And in this area his judgment has been flawed - he not only supported going into a war we didn't have to fight in Iraq, but has time and again undervalued other, non-military elements of national power that must be used effectively to protect America But as an American and former military officer I will not back down if I believe someone doesn't have sound judgment when it comes to our nation's most critical issues.