Syria: Which Shoe IS on Which Foot Now?

So here we are again, the USA rides to the rescue, ha HA!
oh, we will surely solve the whole situation in...Syria. Who
is kidding WHO, exactly?

There seems to be little doubt that chemical weapons have
recently been employed in Syria: shroud upon shroud, body
after body, televised with no blood spatters, bruises, etc.
Still, I think our president was ill-advised in 2012 to state that
chemical weapon use in Syria would constitute "a red line"
which Syria had better not cross.

Let's recur once again to the Bush era, the father this time;
we didn't seem to care about the many THOUSANDS of
Northern Iraqi Kurds Saddam Hussein had gassed, this in
the late 1980s. Only when Kuwait was overrun (1990-91)
did  Bush I intervene, a sharp, short, successful limited war.
Genocide, however, was not on any agenda to be avenged
or halted. The one bright exception was stopping the internecine
genocidal war among the slavs, largely by Bill Clinton's authority.

Now, however, in 2013,  we feel quite prepared to enter
Syria's chaotic civil war, while President Assad is being
backed by nearby Russia and Iran, with all manner of terrorists
and mercenaries streaming in and already on hand. How many
Arabic speakers will we have available to our military? Why do
we think we will achieve mastery there? We haven't won a major
engagement since I was born 68 years ago, 1945, WWII.
-Korea? Nope. -Vietnam? Nope. -Iraq? Nope, and  Afganistan,
nope again. So stop the "number one" cant/chant, already. It just
makes us look pathetic like France, Spain and the U.K. at
the end of their world dominance eras.

 We're still actively engaged in Iraq, not to mention Afganistan,
whatever troop withdrawals have occurred. With a tiny amount
of cash in the federal kitty, our urgent  need to borrow, DC at
polarized maximum, AND a small volunteer army, what IS
this tardy declaration now?

Which shoe is on which foot?  I'll say nothing about WHOSE
foot.

Ted Cruz Cannot Serve as President of the United States-Ever

It doesn't matter what his political persuasions are; it doesn't
matter where his parents were born; Ted Cruz, having been
born in Canada, cannot serve as president of the USA. The
definitive answer to this is found in Article II, paragraph five
(NOT to be confused with the Second Amendment) of the
United States Constitution. Some are quoting the Fourteenth
Amendment regarding Mr. Cruz, which DID NOT overturn
Article II's stipulation stating one must be a natural-born citizen
of (in) the United States. Reading all of paragraph five, that
means born in the USA (and I'm not quoting Bruce Springsteen
here).

Haven't our media and our general populace recalled the ongoing
and current immigration/deportation problem, where the mother
is born elsewhere, never became an actual U.S. citizen, but her
children, born HERE, ARE?? Ditto for foreign dads of U.S.-born
offspring.

Despite any demurs to the contrary, Sen. Cruz  DOES want
to be the next U.S. president. He has said he'll give up his
Canadian citizenship; the constitution is silent on the matter of
dual citizenship, as it wasn't much of an issue when  written.
Taking such action is pointless; it won't gain him entrance to the
White House as its next four-year resident.

By the bye, for the lesser-schooled among us, "natural born" is a
translation used by the Founding Fathers in 1787 of De Natura,
a Latin expression equating to "of, or from nature" in English.
The Founders were opposed to conferring citizenship, the Vice-
Presidency and the Presidency based on the parents' birthplace.
(Yes, some other nations have that system, but we don't.)
Where the mother gives birth geographically is the key...that must
occur here, in one of the 50 states. Please read the Constitution,
especially you video media mavens at the Washington Post,
you're embarrassing yourselves terribly. 

Another point: after seven scant months serving in the U.S.
Senate, who does this guy think he is? After all the shouting
and fear-mongering among the right-wing nuthatches, Ted
included, he hasn't served illustriously or long enough to be
so sure he's entitled and/or all-knowing. But bet on it, the
Koch Brothers are loving this.

Stop Middle East Military Aid Madness--By U.S.

Here's a daring idea: the USA stops all military aid to all
nations in the Middle East--and that includes Israel. We can
continue any  available opportunities to send food and
medicine to anyone around the world who needs it,
but--STOP ENABLING THE KILLINGS!

Friend or foe, don't send any "mo" guns, planes,
bombs, missiles, etc. That is, if the USA would actually
like to be the "kinder, gentler" nation Bush I mentioned
back in the day, 1988-1992. (Seems eons ago, no?)

Don't chastise me; yes, I realize our armaments industry
employs many here at home--but we can hire these same people
and many more besides to repair our crumbling, third-world
infrastructure. Giving Israel, Egypt, et  al over a billion a
year each in military aid does NOT advance civilization
(i.e., peace) by any rational stretch of the imagination.

Don't remind me about the many key trade agreements,
I'm aware, I'm aware,...but care for life, limb and property
had better become demonstrably more important SOON
or we keep proving we are no better than ants and
meerkats, other animals constantly at war with their
own kind.

Let's stop our  Middle East madness as military
murder suppliers. On to peace accords and
helping the needy!

***************************************
P.S.: Memo to Mr. Obama: Somebody has to go first.
How sensible is it to accuse the Russkies of Cold War
thinking when WE DO THE SAME? 

Rahm Rams Through More Misuse of Chicago's People and TIFs

He's at it again, the vitriolic, stubborn and not-so-smart Mayor
of Chicago. Oh yes, he's clever; as an attorney he successfully
brokered the sale of  Com Ed to Exelon (along with other
nuclear utilities), which made him $$$$$$ and Exelon  the
largest nuclear utility in the U.S. He's also unusually canny in
the political arena, combining bullying and other forms of
hardball to be a congressman and Presidential White House
Chief of Staff--catapulting him onto the 5th floor of Chicago's
City/County Building, otherwise known as City Hall.

--But as an administrator, a fair-handed one? One who effectively
demonstrates caring about ALL of Chicago, be they rich or poor?
(You know, as Harold Washington did?) Good golly, Wally
and Miss Molly, nooooo! he ain't, he's hardly a saint...there are
the 49 simultaneous school closings, adversely affecting the
children, teachers, parents and those neighborhoods.

                     ********and now*********

The Reader, long a free paper lifting the veil of official secrecy
and outrage in Chicago, has recently exposed the latest local
Chicago crime against humanity--a deal being brokered between
the city,  a certain railroad company out of Virginia, and our
horrible, unethical, mismanaged TIFs.  According to venerable
Reader writer Ben Joravsky (August 1st),  a two-mile swath of
Englewood will be dedicated to a freight yard which will pollute
the area. But a few hundred jobs will be created, says Norfolk
Southern. --Great! Poison the many, force people out, destroy
their homes,  but a small percentage of folks will earn a paycheck.
Is this  responsible or caring action planning?

Then there is the further finagling of Chicago TIFs, proposed by
the Mayor to facilitate this unholy project, mercifully shot down,
albeit, I suspect, only  temporarily. Complying with various laws
requiring public announcements about these matters, the city
used the expedient of printing the mandated verbiage in the
Legal Notices section of  the two dailies--cynically done, as
who reads those notices?

YET SOME of Englewood's more observant residents DO
peruse said notices and are mounting a defense, which I fear
will lose in the short term...but perhaps, not in the long run.
These shenanigans should represent another factual nail in
the coffin confining Rahm to one term. How much more
misuse of people, land and money can Chicago take?

Planet Earth, Theater of the Absurd: Facts vs. PR Disjuncts

Well, friends, neighbors and the occasional other reader, it's
time to excoriate the irrational (and therefore unhelpful) in the
news here at home and elsewhere-Earth:

(1) President Obama claims  we're not stopping our world
involvements due to terror while 19 U.S. foreign embassies
remain closed--for over a week. --Disconnect, anyone?
[I back the closings, but not the rah-rah, we fear no one
verbiage which ISN'T supported by events and many of us.]

(2) Announcements continue that the NSA's various sweeps
and programs are ever more broad and intrusive, yet the NSA
stridently, confidently claims their actions are legal:
a. They are NOT legal, as these practices violate several
articles and amendments of the U.S. Constitution, putatively
the highest law of the land.
b. See (1): PRISM, both versions of the Patriot Act, etc.,
show just how terrified our USA is of terrorism, just how deep
a mark they have made on the national psyche. --Terror as
psychological warfare? That's where the terrorists HAVE
won. [Not to mention all the practical ways life and travel
have changed here.]

Let's leave the Theater of the Absurd and recognize certain
uncomfortable home truths: our nation is just about as
vulnerable to violence and vandalism as everybody else.
Can't we cease the public blather about how we're
still number one, how we remain totally unaffected by
murderous extremists?--In my lifetime? Please?