Politics and Leadership (2012)

© 2016 Peter Free

 

Rather than Do It Right, Let’s Do It Cheap and Stupid — Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne Suggests Arming One Civilian Employee per School — with the Caveat that the Weapon Be Kept in a Locked Place — in Short, another Bird Brain Representing My Covey of Fellow Gun-Owners (28 December 2012)

 

 

Another Litigator-Worthy Retort to Wayne LaPierre and the NRA — this Time from Psychologist Michael Bader (27 December 2012)

 

 

An Insight Contained in a Paragraph Written about the Economic Collapse of Japanese Electronics Companies May also Apply to the Republican Party’s Future in the United States — the Price of Narrowness (24 December 2012)

 

 

President Obama’s Fulsome Ego Occasionally Surfaces in Telling Fashion — His Gracelessly Self-Centered Eulogy for Senator Daniel Inouye — Conceit May Explain Why the Obama Presidency Has Been almost Exclusively about Him and Not about Finding Solutions to Real Problems (23 December 2012)

 

 

From a Litigator’s Perspective — a Devastating Argument against NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre’s Call for Police in All Schools — from MSNBC’s often Brilliant Political Liberal, Lawrence O’Donnell (22 December 2012)

 

 

Steven Strauss Sees 8 Substantive Parallels between Today’s United States and the Demise of the Roman Republic —  a Heads Up for People Who Refuse to Be Easily Distracted Dunderheads (19 December 2012)

 

 

A Bit of Pessimism — Regarding a Man Who Has Never Displayed Much Grit for a Principled and Uphill Fight — President Obama’s Penchant for Hiding behind Speeches, this Time on the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shootings (18 December 2012)

 

 

Another NRA Extremist Joins Wayne LaPierre in Advocating for Still More Gun Toting — this Time in Elementary Schools — Republican Representative Louie Gohmert and His Impractical Idea about How the Sandy Hook Elementary Tragedy Could Have Been Prevented (17 December 2012)

 

 

A Little too Convenient, Maybe? — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Aims to Evade Congressional Investigation of the Benghazi Consulate Murders by Implicitly Claiming that Concussion Has Recently Addled Her Wits (16 December 2012)

 

 

President Obama’s Weakness as an Alpha Person Was on Display in the Ambassador Susan Rice Fiasco — and an Equally Revealing Ding in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Reputation (14 December 2012)

 

 

What a Sad Sight — a Stream of Political Cowards Passed Wheelchair-Bound Senator Bob Dole — on their Way to Vote Down Passage of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that He and War-Scarred Senator John McCain Had Supported (10 December 2012)

 

 

A Little Covered Story that Deserves Attention — Cadet Blake Page’s Third Year Resignation from West Point — due to the Authority-Bound, Unconstitutional Christian Proselytizing that Is Taking over America’s Military Officer Corps (05 December 2012)

 

The Global Carbon Budget 2012 Report Shows How Pollution-Shifting from Developed Nations to Poorer Nations Makes China Look Bad — and Why American “Holier than Thou” Carbon Emissions Non-Policy Is Hypocritical (03 December 2012)

 

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham — Prominent and Prolific Indicators of the Sheer Stupidity that Characterizes American National Politics (28 November 2012)

 

 

Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl — a Reminder about Why Governance Is Necessary and, When Properly Done, Valuable (26 November 2012)

 

 

A Philosophical Question — When American Politicians Evade Giving a Straight Answer about Proven Scientific Facts, Are They Contributing to the Glut of Willful Stupidity that Threatens to Drown Us? — And a Parallel with Abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens’ 1865 Moral Dilemma, as Depicted in Steven Spielberg’s movie, Lincoln (21 November 2012)

 

 

Business Insider’s CEO, Henry Blodget, Summed the Petraeus-Broadwell-Allen-Kelley Matter in a Humorous Way — which Illuminates the Unlikely “Booby” Traps that Life Sometimes “Lays” Us (13 November 2012)

 

 

Regarding the History Channel’s Documentary of the Allies’ Discovery of the Holocaust — a Reminder of How Evil Builds on Selfish Unconcern — Does America’s Drone Murder Program Hint at the Same Kind of Cultural Immorality? (12 November 2012)

 

 

Republican Party “Missing the Point” Rationalizations for Losing the 2012 American Presidential Race Seem to Have Begun — the Party’s Characteristic Magical Thinking Continues (10 November 2012)

 

 

Even Intelligent People Are Acting Irrationally Partisan — Take, for Example, the Usually Admirable Kathleen Parker’s Column Denigrating President Obama — and Eugene Robinson’s Insight regarding What Is Actually Going on (27 October 2012)

 

 

The Vacuity of American Politics again on Display in the Third 2012 Presidential Campaign Debate — Avoidance regarding Afghanistan and the Bland Acceptance of Indiscriminate Drone Killing — and Joe Klein’s Related Justification for Killing 4-Year Olds in the Name of National Security (23 October 2012)

 

 

ObamaCare’s Details Look as If They Might Work against Some of the Law’s Intent — an IRS Interpretive Notice Implies that the Program Will Probably Have Negative Employment Impacts on Struggling Workers — Columnist Robert Samuelson’s Example of How Political Rhetoric, Poorly Written Statutes, and Reality often Do Not Harmonize as Intended (22 October 2012)

 

 

Governor Mitt Romney’s Unwillingness to Follow the Rules of the Second Presidential Debate Says Something Disquieting about His Character — a President Cannot Govern Like a CEO (17 October 2012)

 

 

Jonathan Bernstein Calls It “Lazy Mendacity” on Republicans’ Part — but Isn’t the Refusal to Use Our Brains Characteristic of American Politics, Generally? — We Have De-Evolved into Reptile-Brained Emotional States (15 October 2012)

 

 

The 2012 Campaign’s Vice Presidential Debate — Cruel and Unusual Punishment for the Participants and the Nation — Vice President Joe Biden versus Congressman Paul Ryan (12 October 2012)

 

 

Liberal Columnist Bob Herbert Summed the Best Argument against Reelecting President Obama — Tactlessly Paraphrased, “He’s a Slacker” — and a Comment about Hard Work’s Foundation in Humility(05 October 2012)

 

 

Governor Romney’s First Presidential Debate Performance Exposed President Obama’s Tendency to Coast — which Explains Afghanistan’s Purposeless Bleeding and the Fact that All the Elements that Led to the Recession Are Still in Place (04 October 2012)

 

 

Joe Scarborough’s Outspoken Essay Justifiably Bashed both American Political Parties — a Comment on Leadership (28 September 2012)

 

 

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President, Mohammed Morsi, Un-Helpfully Threw Fuel on the International Fire Yesterday — Illustrating that, Even if We Successfully Remove Hidden Elements of American Christian Proselytizing in Implementing U.S. Foreign Policy, Islamic Leaders Like President Morsi Will Continue to Prove the “Clash of Cultures” Paradigm (27 September 2012)

 

 

Perspective on America’s State of Political Affairs — Writing so Good from Richard Cohen and Dana Milbank that I Have to Quote a Few Words (25 September 2012)

 

 

More Evidence of Inexplicable Laxness in American Security Abroad — CNN, not the State Department or U.S. Military, Found Ambassador’s Stevens’ “Journal” in the Benghazi Consulate Where He and Three Others Were Murdered (24 September 2012)

 

 

Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney’s Politically Incompetent Campaign Should Not Cause Us to Overlook President Obama’s Transgressions against Sensible Policy — for Example, the Deaths of American Ambassador Christopher Stevens and His Colleagues (21 September 2012)

 

 

Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney Apparently Thinks that He Can Concede 47 Points of a 100 Point Game to President Obama and Still Win — This Kind of Arithmetic Irrationality May Be the Best Reason to Conclude that He Is Not Competent to become Commander in Chief (18 September 2012)

 

 

The Center for Public Integrity Recently Exposed the Practice of Submitting Incorrect Medicare Procedure Codings that Cost Taxpayers Billions in Unjustified Physician and Hospital Payments — a Comment on Congress’ Corruption-Based Lunacy in Giving the American Medical Association Control over Medical Procedure Codes — and an Added Example of Similarly Special Interest-Favoring Complexity in the U.S. Tax Code (17 September 2012)

 

 

Regarding Newt Gingrich — Who Appears Unable Even to Define the Word “War” in Meaningful Geopolitical Terms — My Comment regarding the Former Speaker’s Editorial on Politico Yesterday (14 September 2012)

 

 

Opinion and Stupidity so often Equate These Days — an Example from the Democratic National Convention and Its Pundits (07 September 2012)

 

 

Observations about the Commonalities between China and Germany — from The Globalist’s editor, Stephan Richter — and My Statement about Why We Should Pay Attention (05 September 2012)

 

 

Now that We Joined Alice in Falling Down the Political Rabbit Hole  — Willing Self-Delusion Seems to Be Guiding American Behavior — and a Comment about How President Obama’s Competitiveness Gets the Best of Him and Undercuts the Probability of Achieving a Successful American Future (04 September 2012)

 

 

Camera Pans of the Republican Convention Crowd Showed almost Exclusively White People — as if to Indicate that History Is Soon Going to Shovel the GOP Out of Diverse America’s Way (31 August 2012)

 

 

Two Skillful Paragraphs about Meanness and Blind Self-Justification in Politics — from Writer-Philosopher Cheryl Mendelson — and My Comment about the Utility of Self-Awareness, Attention and Reason (25 August 2012)

 

 

The Questionably Positive Side of Negative Presidential Campaigning — Dana Milbank’s Common Sense Assessment of What Is Happening Seems Valid (16 August 2012)

 

 

A Characteristically Missed Leadership Opportunity — President Obama’s Failure to Excite the Nation about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — after NASA’s Extraordinary Demonstration of Genius in All Four with its Mars Curiosity Landing (15 August 2012)

 

 

I Could Not Have Said It Better — Journalist Chris Hedges’ Single Paragraph about Evaporated American Freedom — in an Article about the Un-Constitutionality of Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act (14 August 2012)

 

 

Bill McKibben’s Rolling Stone Article about Global Warming Is an Outstanding Summary of One Perspective — but It (Understandably) Blames the Wrong People for the Crux of the Problem (13 August 2012)

 

 

Republican Joe Scarborough Complimented Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Leadership Qualities — which Demonstrates that Effective Leadership Has Little to Do with Narrow Ideology or Party Affiliation (27 July 2012)

 

 

Governor Romney Is so Spineless — that he Pretended Not to Know the Name of the Olympic Event that His Wife’s Horse Is in (26 July 2012)

 

 

Charles Ferguson’s Short Essay about Criminality in Multinational Banking Makes the Point about Government-Aided Systemic Rot — His Article Is Shorter and Has More Impact than Most (17 July 2012)

 

 

When Congress Is So Very Bad — and Sensible People Cannot Get anything Done — Well-Spoken Insults Bring Wry Smiles to Our Lips — and Give Us Excuses Not to Look in the Mirror (16 July 2012)

 

 

Has Lost (though Often Bigoted) Leadership Morality Put Us in the Toilet? — New York TimesColumnist David Brooks and Salon Editor Andrew Leonard Vehemently Butt Heads on the Answer — They Are Both Right, which Makes My Larger Point (13 July 2012)

 

 

Banks Were Picking Our Pockets — Former Under Secretary of Commerce, Robert J. Shapiro’s Article Explaining How Financial Institutions Manipulated the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR) under Self-Regulation (13 July 2012)

 

 

A Plague of Political Gnats — Tiny-Teapot Pettiness across the Spectrum of American Leadership (11 July 2012)

 

 

The Affirmative Action Nobel Prize Winner versus the Actually Worthy One — the Latter’s Principled Warning about Doing Evil in America’s Name (25 June 2012)

 

 

Governor Mitt Romney’s Uninterrupted Lying Brings an Even More Toxic Lowness to American Political Culture (22 June 2012)

 

 

Walter Hickey’s Comparison of Russia’s Interests in Syria — with the United States’ in Israel — Is the Kind of Educational Geopolitical Analysis that almost Never Happens in the Ignorant American Media(22 June 2012)

 

 

Robert Kuttner’s Common Sense in regard to the Financial Sector Mirrors My Own View — Why Let Hysterical, Profit-Seeking Crazies Run the World? (18 June 2012)

 

 

The Perversity of American Political Thinking — a Relevant Paragraph from Andrew Leonard (Writing in Salon) (14 June 2012)

 

 

Regarding Mark Stein’s Psychoanalytic Analysis of the Underlying Reasons for the 2008 Recession — Even if His Psychology Is Mistaken, His Factual Overview of the Context and Timing of the Economic Downturn Is the Best that I Have Seen (13 June 2012)

 

 

American Politics, where Sound Thinking Kills itself Out of Frustration with Constantly Gab-Babbling Fools — We Are Not Just Riding a Sinking Ship, We’re Actively Putting Holes in Its Hull (04 June 2012)

 

 

Our Butt-Sitting Couch Rot Is Reflected in Our Choice of Heroes — Lauded Consumerist Steve Jobs versus the Mostly Ignored Frontier-Advancer, Elon Musk (01 June 2012)

 

 

Cynicism Succinctly Captures Aspects of the Human Condition — James Carville’s Comment on the Continuing Freshness of Some Ancient Roman Political Advice (11 May 2012)

 

 

Did President Obama Really Set Politics Aside in Making the Decision to Go after Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad? — Not Exactly, if I Have His Mind Figured Correctly (05 May 2012)

 

 

“Americans Elect” 2012 — Did these Guys Think at All before They Floated their Deflated Balloon? — Or Were their Motives Less Pure than Portrayed? (03 May 2012)

 

 

Another Bit of Stupidity from Congress Surfacing Now — Moving Student Loan Servicing from the Competent Department of Education to Incompetent and Greedy “Not for Profits” (27 April 2012)

 

 

A Sign of Our Greedy and Plutocratic Times, Obliterating the American Commons — Congress’ Attack on the U.S. Post Office (26 April 2012)

 

 

Frontline’s 4-Part Money, Power, and Wall Street — So Far, the Best Documentary on the 2008 Financial Crisis (25 April 2012)

 

 

Israel, Like the United States, Can’t Seem to Let Well Enough Alone — Provocatively Thumbing Its Nose at Palestinians and Presumably Iran (24 April 2012)

 

 

Short and to the Point — Forbes Essay by Two Former Marine Corps Commandants, Bob Lutz (GM), and Frederick Smith (FedEx) on the Need for a National Energy Plan (18 April 2012)

 

 

When Political Liberals Are Correct — Two Well-Communicated Essays Worthy of Becoming a Fiery Lawyer’s Closing Arguments — Comments on the Communicative Value of Reason-Able, but “Conclusory” Arguments (06 April 2012)

 

 

Could this Possibly Get any More Boring? — On the Meaningless Coming Presidential Election and the Go-Nowhere Blather that Surrounds It (05 April 2012)

 

 

The Lamestream Media Knowingly Misrepresented the President’s Comments regarding the Supreme Court’s Review of ObamaCare (03 April 2012)

 

 

Another Congressional Failure Buried by the Typically Sleeping Media — a Budget Proposal Based on the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan Failed Passage in the House of Representatives 38 to 382(30 March 2012)

 

 

Law Professor Geoffrey R. Stone Cuts through the Supreme Court’s Nonsensically Motivated Hypotheticals during ObamaCare Oral Arguments (29 March 2012)

 

 

Media-Generated Lies that Are Intended to Create Controversies — New York Times Reporter Jeff Zeleny Irritated Candidate Santorum with a Deliberate Untruth — then Other News Outlets Pounced on Santorum’s Perfectly Reasonable Response (26 March 2012)

 

 

Waking Ourselves Up with Stephan Richter’s Timely Essay, Just Who Fears Democracy? On the Need to Update the American Republic (20 March 2012)

 

 

President Obama Is Now Leading the Charge for War with Iran — Have Our Geopolitically Foolish and Amoral Leaders Learned Nothing from American Strategic Failures in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan?(06 March 2012)

 

 

Former Representative Joe Scarborough (of Morning Joe) Summed America’s Political Situation Well — “A Political Race to the Bottom” (02 March 2012)

 

 

A First Amendment, Religion versus Health Care Battle under Circumstances Where More Sensible Institutions Would Have Created No Conflict at All — Our Baboon-Like Inability to See Things as They Actually Are and Fix Them (02 March 2012)

 

 

Political Sarcasm Well Done — Public Relations Strategist Cliff Schecter on the Republican Party’s Death Wish with Women Voters (20 February 2012)

 

 

The Devolution of the Republican Party into Being Butt-Heads — Just to Be Butt-Heads — Symbolizes Most of What’s Wrong with the American Political Process — the Absurd Hold Up of Uncontroversial Judge Adalberto Jose Jordan’s Appointment to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (15 February 2012)

 

 

Criticism of the Chrysler-Eastwood 2012 Super Bowl Commercial Illustrates How Rabid Partisanship Spits on America’s Future — Can We Possibly become any More Self-Destructively Blind than This? — On the Value of “Made-in-USA” (08 February 2012)

 

 

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s Pointing Finger — on the Difficulty of Sorting Prejudice from Legitimate Criticism in Regard to President Obama — and How Bigotry Creates Talented Social Survivors but Simultaneously Forces their Boat-Rocking Strength into Hiding (16 February 2012)

 

 

Newscasters Frequently Twist Truth in a Democracy-Damaging Way — an Example regarding Governor Mitt Romney’s Alleged “Gaffe” about Poor People (03 February 2012)

 

 

Increasingly Hard-Line, Anti-Iran, Lunacy from U.S. Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta — Experience Appears Not to Affect American Policy (01 February 2012)

 

 

Pie in the Sky Thinking Diverts Us from Confronting the Nation’s Economic Problems Effectively — Influential New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman’s Idea that “Average Is Over” Is Wrong in Principle and Implied Plan (27 January 2012)

 

 

Even as Fervent a Military Supporter as I Am Should Be Concerned about the Unquestioning Militarism that the United States Engages In — Penetrating Thoughts from History Professor Mark LeVine on President Obama’s Mistakenly Framed State of the Union Speech (26 January 2012)

 

 

The Constitutional Problem with Putting Theocrats like Rick Santorum into the Presidency? — Their Moral Certitudes Refuse to Admit the Ethical Ambiguities that More Thoughtful People See at First Glance — Example: His Political Position that a Rapist’s Child Is God’s “Gift” to the Rapee (25 January 2012)

 

 

The Supreme Court’s Reasoning in Yesterday’s United States v. Jones Decision (about the Fourth Amendment) Illustrates the Kind of “Devil in the Details” Analysis that Is a Necessary Requirement for Meaningful Politics (24 January 2012)

 

 

Are You Patient Enough to Actually Think? — Law Professor Jedediah Purdy’s Fine Essay about Capitalism, Freedom, and Ignored Questions (23 January 2012)

 

 

Do You Wonder Why Perennially Successful Kodak Eventually Swirled Itself into Bankruptcy’s Toilet? — Ineradicably Entrenched Bureaucratic Stupidity — These Two Brilliantly Insightful Anecdotes from Mike Johnston and Hugh Crawford Imply a Larger Parable about the United States (20 January 2012)

 

 

Keystone XL Oil Sands Pipeline — Al Jazeera’s Impartial Interview of Three Experts with Different Perspectives — and President Obama’s Game-Playing Hypocrisy (20 January 2012)

 

 

One-Percenter Mitt Romney’s Obvious Lack of Empathetic Insight — His “Not Very Much” Is Your Idea of a Rigged System’s Unachievable Wealth — the Coming “So Sad” Choice in November 2012 (18 January 2012)

 

 

Is a Moderate and Civil Temperament the Kiss of Death in American Politics? — Conservative Jon Huntsman withdraws from the Republican Party’s 2012 Presidential Nominating Process — a Spiritual Twist that Will Go Unnoticed, even on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (16 January 2012)

 

 

Outsourcing American Manufacturing Hurts Our Innovative Capacity, as Well as Our National Security — but Our Leaders Ignore both Issues, apparently Profiting from Off-Shoring in the Short Term (13 January 2012)

 

 

CBS News’ Lesley Stahl’s Questions Probed Majority Leader Eric Cantor Skillfully Enough to Expose Him for the Self-Seeking Political Con Man that He Apparently Is (03 January 2012)