Trib cries out for Syria but not Iraq

"President Barack Obama must reconcile the bloodbath that took place in that broken city with the indefensible policy of idly watching it happen from the sidelines."

So ends the Trib editorial "Requiem for Allepo" lamenting the carnage in the Syrian civil war that contains the implicit belief that Syrian government forces are the bad guys while the rebels are the good guys. The Trib, like every US media outlet condemning western powers for not intervening directly to overthrow Syrian President Assad, knows that much of the rebel forces represent the same jihadist forces responsible to the 911 attacks, and would likely have implemented a bloodbath on Shi'ites, Christians and non-allied Syrians had they taken over that worn torn land. The Trib also knows that unlike the US, Russia is truly existentially threatened by a Sunni extremist rebel government setting up shop on its doorstep and would have been derelict in its duty to protect its security allowing a rebel takeover. The Trib surely knows that the US and western allies had the opportunity to achieve a workable peace in 2012, but spurned Russia's offer because they felt Assad was on the verge of collapse, and wanted to do a victory lap over his demise. Lastly, and most telling, the Trib fails to mention its role as supporter of the criminal US war in Iraq which killed many more than in Syria, and will go on killing and deforming fetuses for generations from the depleted uranium we left behind. Go ahead and bemoan President Obama not intervening in a civil war we had no business intervening in and would have failed monstrously had we done so. Then look in the mirror and hang your heads in shame.   

1 in 151,600 was one in a million

Really bummed by plane crash death of nationally famous Chicago area atheist Rob Sherman last Friday. A near lifelong A-Man like Sherman, I've followed his exploits, tweaking the governmental religious police violating the Constitutional prohibition against state sponsored religion for thirty years now, and thought he'd be here defending me from the perpetrators of that un-Americanism for many more. Many countries are infinitely more religiously intolerant than America, but our prohibition against state sponsored religion is enshrined in our Constitution and must be vigorously honored. Sherman's endless humor, good cheer, iron clad logic, bravery and doggedness in pursuit of fulfilling the American experiment in freedom and liberty has endlessly inspired me. I love religion, prayer and spirituality. But it only works when done individually or in private groups out of the public square. Seven states, Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas still have Constitutionally unenforceable laws on the books denying atheists the right to hold state office.

My battles on behalf of atheism have been trifles compared to the public battles of Sherman, whose grace dwarfed that of his opponents. When every prez closes every speech with 'God bless the United States of America', I cringe and shout back at that hopeless little screen that 'No G-Man blesses any country bombing innocent women and babies in seven countries to enrich the war party.' When reciting the Pledge I emphatically offer "NO GOD" at the offensive moment, still smarting from the 1954 Ike sponsored congressional provision to add 'under God' in utter disregard to the Constitution. I caught hell from the priest who married us 43 years ago for uttering the A word during his pre-marriage grilling.

Every day another 151,600 godless souls depart the one and only life they will know. But Rob Sherman last Friday...one in a million.

Nothing's changed

Watching Trump do his mean spirited victory laps before adoring true believers is chilling. Hearing GOP legislators gushing about plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Social Security is heartbreaking. Observing the grotesquely rich, the anti education, the Islamaphobes, the climate change deniers and the fossil fuel zealots prepare to join the administration is revolting.

Trump has shown no class, no humanity, no decency, no wisdom since his election. He revealed those characteristics after he won the nomination, after he entered the race, indeed, going back to his decades as a greedy, cruel, heartless, narcissist businessman and entertainer.

Trump is a fluke of a flawed electoral process, the power of charismatic fear and loathing, an irresponsible press using him for ratings and wealth, government law enforcement stoking crazed criminal conspiracy theories, a malleable, uninformed and irresponsible voting minority. We must not suffer any illusion this utterly flawed human can properly execute presidential powers. We must push back. We must organize. We must speak out. We must stay vigilant. We have no other choice. If not for ourselves, we must do this for our children, our grandchildren, our world. We've been warned.