Thursday, August 18, 2011

Lift our Spirits, Mr. President..NOW!

Hamas denies any involvement in the attacks on Israeli citizens in Gaza today.
Yesterday, the leader of Hezbollah says none of his men who have been charged with the death of Lebanon's Prime Minister, Hariri, in 2005, will ever be convicted in a trial, or will even appear for that trial.
In Somalia, Al Shabab blocks the transfer of food to staring millions, with violence and robbery, then allegedly selling the food on the streets of Mogadishu thereby preventing those most needy from receiving it.
The new leader of Al Qaeda incites his "infidels" (let's use the word they use about us for a change) to commit violence in revenge for the murder of bin Laden.
The streets of many Arab countries are swarming with citizens seeking to overthrow their tyrannical governments, and being met with bullets and tanks. While in Libya, NATO is flying bombing missions in support of the rebels who seek to remove the Libyan dictator from power.
The former President of Egypt, recently was encaged, embedded (literally) for his own trial for war crimes.
The governments of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece are facing a crisis of debt, while the EU ponders the kind of support for their plight...leaning heavily on Germany (whose economy shows signs of weakening) and France, whose leaders recommend a new fiscal arrangement, without additional bailouts, facing opposition for such moves at home.
In the U.S., the Justice department is now investigating Standard and Poor's for their alleged involvement in the fraudulent mortgage foreclosure scandal that still grips that country, not to mention the loss of millions of jobs, just since Obama was elected, and the prospect that the U.S. is actually slipping into a second recession.  The U.S. Administration is not happy with S & P's downgrading of the U.S. credit rating, from AAA to AA+ and this could be a little pay-back.
Consumers are showing signs of serious lack of confidence, (and who can blame them for that?) while political leaders pursue their own political agenda, without regard for the health of the country, or even the world economy.
Hate crimes are occurring with alarming regularity across the U.S., while gangs have been roaming the streets of Great Britain, and more recently Germany.
Is this a time for the planets, and the spirits and the hearts and minds of many people, both ordinary citizens and political and academic leaders, to experience a kind of meltdown, given the severity of our economic, political, climatic, and food resource problems.
To say that drought, and high food prices and political instability and terrorism constitute a perfect storm in Somalia is merely a microcosm of the larger perfect storm that seems to be gripping the globe.
Having just watched a program on the top ten construction projects accomplished throughout the twentieth century, at the time when money and unrest and uncertainty were running at their highest peaks, is, to say the least, inspiring, of what the human spirit can accomplish, even when, and especially when others say it cannot be done.
Note to President Obama: While you are thinking about that speech you will deliver just after Labour Day when you return from Martha's Vineyard, you might want to find another Empire State Building, or another Golden Gate Bridge, or another Hoover Dam, or another Guggenheim Museum or another Panama Canal...metaphor from the quiver of your imagination, and bring it forward, to capture the imagination of not only the U.S. by grabbing millions of workers to accomplish such a goal, but to infuse the imagination of the rest of the world, so empty of hope, so empty of dreams and so empty of inspiration and aspiration.
Hundreds of thousands of people stood all night in Atlanta last night, in "office professional dress" waiting for job fair that actually less than a few hundreds...leaving most dejected in a project conducted by the Black Caucus of the U.S. Congress.
If this is a time to find a silver lining in our woes, President Obama is ideally suited to help us do just that. Let there be no limit on his creativity, nor on his courage, taking inspiration from his predecessors, such as Teddy Roosevelt, and F.D.R. This, if ever, is a time for bold, and spirit-lifting leadership, and no excuses can or will be accepted, or acceptable.

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