Doug's Darkworld

A new president is on the way in as I write this. A  war has paused in Gaza. Other wars rage unabated of course. A plane has almost miraculously “walked on water” resulting in a wonderful story in what would usually have been a terrible tragedy. The world’s economy continues to spin downwards, in unprecedented and frightening ways. And for the synchronicity minded, by an odd coincidence scientists have just discovered evidence of the cause of two of mankind’s greatest disasters.

Welcome Obama. I’m willing to serve in the new administration. My chances of that are zero of course, so I feel safe making the offer. My opinion of him remains unchanged, he is a consummate politician with a silver tongue. For good or for ill he did the impossible, and got elected to the presidency of the USA. That alone says quite a bit about him. I’m not sure what sort of president he will make, my crystal ball is clouded. I hope for the best though, but he’s got a hard row to hoe.

Conversely it’s kind of sad, pathetic even, that people in some quarters are still trying to tar Obama as some sort of liberal terrorist-sympathizing anti-Christ. I think every issue of the National Rifleman’s political magazine in the six months prior to the election had a vaguely unflattering pic of Obama on the cover and articles about how he was plotting to strip Americans of their gun rights and their freedoms. The support the troops organization I joined during the Berkeley Marine fracas changed their name to “America Deserves Better” shortly before the election and hasn’t skipped a beat yet. Give me a break. The politics of fear and division, it gets worse all the time. And I do stand corrected, the threat to Obama’s person by white supremacists and the like is very real, I sometimes forget just how implacable fanatics of all stripes can be. Their world is defined by their hatred.

Speaking of worlds defined by hatred, in Gaza the fighting has stopped for the moment, with both sides claiming victory. Um, when the world’s fourth largest military and an organization little better than “villagers with guns” are both standing when the fight is over…I have  a hard time buying the idea that this is a great victory for Israel. It’s unclear what will happen now. I noticed that while supporters of Israel’s actions were really big on justifications for same…they were a little vague on how this war was going to actually stop the rockets from Gaza. And as always the pro-Israel people are in complete flaming denial about any part Israel has played in creating this mess.

For the record the Arab world and many Palestinians have repeated their standing peace offer…if Israel returns to the 1967 borders (giving the Palestinians just 22% of Palestine) they will recognize Israel and guarantee peace. This is ignored in the western media and utterly ignored in Israel. As I stated before, it’s pretty clear what Israel’s goal is, or more exactly, what their goal isn’t…it doesn’t seem to include living in peace with their Palestinian neighbours.

Oh well, in two past human catastrophes, the culprit may have been identified. Evidence has been found in North America of the hypothesized comet impact that wiped out most of North America’s megafauna…and the human Clovis Culture. And even better, the possible impact crater(s) that caused the terrible events and subsequent Dark Ages of 535 AD may have been found. That’s the one that killed half the human race, the greatest disaster to befall us in history. I’ll be writing more about both of these dreadful events by and by. Interesting timing, nu?

Speaking of global disasters, Bush has made his farewell address. I won’t miss him, I don’t think many people will. He’s left a terrible mess behind, two unfinished wars, staggering debt, and an economy in a death spiral. I don’t think he was a bad man, just a simple and easily manipulated one. Possibly the worst legacy he has left is his reinforcement of the idea that if we are the good guys, anything we do is, by definition, good. I guess that’s how people fool themselves into justifying things like torture, spying on their fellow citizens, and “humanitarian” invasions.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.                                                                                           —Hosea 8:7

Good luck and God bless, Mr. President. God bless everyone.

(The above image is from Rider-Waite Tarot deck and is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. The actual status of the deck’s copyright is disputed. The card is called The Tower, and it symbolizes revolutionary change. It’s not necessarily a bad card or a bad thing,  and the similarity of the card to a certain historical event a  certain retiring president used to define his presidency is not lost on me.)