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In past years the Starbucks holiday cups have had winter and holiday images like snowflakes, reindeer or pine trees.  This year, Starbucks decided on a plain red design with no wintry images.

Right-wing Christians decided that the lack of wintry images is an example of political correctness and a slam against Christians.  I’m not sure when winter designs like snowflakes have been considered Christian images like the cross,  but be sure to bear in mind that the holiday cups have NEVER featured religious designs of any kind, and Starbucks does sell Advent Calendars and special coffee blends they call “Christmas Blend.”

But, an evangelical pastor was offended by the new design, because it didn’t have the usual wintry images, so he posted a message on youtube.com declaring war on Starbucks.  He claimed he’d gone into a Starbucks in Arizona and even swaggered in carrying a legal gun just to piss them off even more.  He ordered a drink and declared that his name is “Merry Christmas.”   When his drink was ready, according to Starbucks protocol, they called out his name:  Merry Christmas.

Hence, according to this fellow — Christians had won something in the “War on Christmas” because the barista was forced to call out “Merry Christmas,”  and it was a blow for Christians because obviously Starbucks hates Jesus.

He calls on fellow Christians to follow his example.  This is what they’ve come to, folks.

But, it won’t matter one way or the other!  The Righties are determined to have their friggin’ “War on Christmas” and no matter what the rest of us do — they’re gonna have it. If it isn’t red Starbucks cups, they’ll find something else. Me thinks these folks are really scared about losing the Culture War. Move on, sane Americans …

Starbucks is just their latest target.

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There’s a war on our police … actually, there are two wars on police:  one is a declared war — the one that ISIS called for in January of this year; and the other is a war of retaliation against police brutality and the killing of unarmed Americans by the police.

Both wars kill innocent people, innocent police officers in this case.  But, then again … war does kill innocent people.  The answer, it seems to me, is to find a way to peace by understanding the root causes of this new violence.

ISIS is striking out against us for their perceived injustices.  They resent the loss of Arab prestige and power in the middle east, and they blame western nations for that loss.  Mostly, like Al Qaeda, they blame the United States.

We are the easy target:  we are a wealthy and successful nation and we have been known to throw our weight around.  We have supported brutal dictators in their neighborhood, who have suppressed their people (like Saddam Hussein in Iraq), and we have stormed into their countries with our military and wrecked havoc.

ISIS resents western nations and is busy targeting us in the only way that they can:  they are using social media to call on sympathizers in Western countries to execute so called “lone wolf terrorist attacks”; and in particular they have singled out our police and military in uniform as targets.

And now, adding to that, we have “lone wolf attacks” targeting police by individuals who are sympathetic to those standing up and calling for an end to the killing of unarmed minorities.

The sad thing about these wars is the loss of life of the innocent.  These killings will not solve problems — because this violence is not justice, it is war.

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I just did something really fun:  I downloaded the Republican Party Platform onto my laptop!  If you can ignore all the “freedom” talk, and the “opportunity” and “Constitution” and “Founding Fathers” spin, you’ll see quite readily just what their agenda is.

Right off the bat they tell you that government spending is harming the economy, which is batshit.  Government spending increases employment and therefore increases spending by fellow Americans, which in turn stimulates the economy to grow — therefore:  cutting government and government spending actually harms the economy.

And in the GOP plan, right up there with shrinking government is cutting regulations.  Once we all understand that the GOP lives to serve the elite in our nation, it then makes perfect sense that they want to cut regulations.

But, let’s just take a moment and recall that the driving force behind the 2008 economic melt-down, that almost took down the worldwide economy, was the lack of government regulations and supervision of the greedy bastards.  Yes, we eliminated and deregulated the law that had kept the economy safe for over 50 years, the Glass-Steagall Act, and gave Wall Street carte blanche to rob us … and they did!

So, if we want to roll back the minimal regulations that we have on Wall Street, on our food and drug safety, and on our cars, etc., then fine.  Elect Republicans and you’ll get your wish.  Just don’t come crying to Center Left Nation when you lose your nest egg to Wall Street greed, your defective automobile harms your child, or someone you love is poisoned by unregulated food and drug production.

And I haven’t even started on marriage equality, health care for millions of Americans, immigration reform, diplomacy over invasions, etc………

The Two Parties Are The Same?  NOT.

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We’ve had inklings of this news, but in the April 5, 2015 edition of The Washington Post this article lays out the facts — the hidden hand behind the Islamic State militants is Saddam Hussein’s.

The power of ISIS is the former Baathist Party of Saddam Hussein’s.  Most of the Iraqis involved in the success of ISIS are former Iraqi officers who served under Saddam Hussein, including some who were former Iraqi intelligence officers.  According to The Washington Post article, “Almost all of the leaders of the Islamic State are former Iraqi officers, including the members of its shadowy military and security committees, and the majority of its emirs and princes, according to Iraqis, Syrians and analysts who study the group.”

Sunni Iraqis, who have been left out of governing the new Iraq, that is now being run by Iraqis Shiites, are taking their revenge by lending their expertise to the Islamic State.  They offer ISIS not only military expertise, but also their knowledge of the smuggling networks that allow ISIS to add to their coffers via the illegal oil trading with neighboring countries.

And, we have to remember — the Sunni, under Saddam Hussein, were the educated class, the rulers, and the experts in military matters.  When W. decided to remake the Middle East, I am pretty sure that ISIS wasn’t his goal.  But, ISIS is the result.

One of the early colossal post-invasion mistakes by the W. administration was the decision to purge Saddam Hussein’s Baathist members from the military, to bar 400,000 of their members from holding any government employment (and even denying them their pensions) — and then allowing them to keep their guns — the inevitable insurgency of the Sunni Iraqis began.

The resulting insurgency was initially pacified by American assurances that Sunnis would be included in the new Iraqi government, and by buying off the leaders with American dollars.  Unfortunately, it was assurances that America couldn’t keep — the Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not keep his word to form an inclusive government.

“The Americans bear the biggest responsibility. When they dismantled the army what did they expect those men to do” a former Baathist officer asked? “They were out in the cold with nothing to do and there was only one way out for them to put food on the table.”  When U.S. officials demobilized the Baathist army, “they didn’t de-Baathify people’s minds, they just took away their jobs,” he said.

Disbanding the Iraqi army after the invasion in 2003, leading to the Sunni insurgency, and the resulting Shia government’s exclusion of Sunni Iraqis in the running of the country, all led to the Sunni Baathist leaders joining forces with the Islamic State.  “The crisis of ISIS didn’t happen by chance,” according to a former intelligence officer,  “It was the result of an accumulation of problems created by the Americans and the [Iraqi] government.”

Before W.’s invasion of Iraq, Sunni and Shiites lived peacefully there, and even intermarried.  With the collapse of Iraq, the Sunni and Shia conflict in Iraq has spilled outside the country to become an active, hot war all over the Middle East.  American actions took a match and lit the fire of an Islamic Civil War.

Unintended consequences:  “Outcomes that are not the ones intended by a purposeful action,” Wikipedia definition.  NeoCon meddling in Iraq has certainly remade the Middle East — just not the way they intended when they purposefully took action in Iraq.

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Just noticed that it’s been two months since I posted on CLN.  It surely isn’t because I have nothing to say;  I think that maybe it’s that my Facebook page has drained some of my passion from my blog site!

The inspiration for commenting hits me in the moment and I dash off a quick and shortened opinion to my “Friends” on Facebook.  It’s like a release valve and some of the steam floats off, and I can then move on to other ideas and topics.  But what’s lost, for me, is the opportunity to expand the thoughts I have and provide more detail and hopefully well-reasoned opinions.

Just as emailing has replaced letter writing and texting has replaced phone calls — has Facebooking replaced Blogging?  Each new technology seems to offer easier and shorter ways to communicate our thoughts … but IS easier and shorter actually better?

We’re a lazy bunch, we Westerners.  I don’t know, maybe I should say Earthlings, because perhaps the people in the Eastern bloc countries do it too.  Perhaps it is just being human, after all.  But, something is lost here.

I will try to post on Center Left Nation more often.  It’s good for the soul to have a place to get it down in writing.  Or, maybe just get it down — because my granddaughter gets it all down in her creative photographs and images on her Instagram Page, my son gets it all down in his artwork, and my daughter gets it all down in her public speaking/lectures on having emotionally healthy families.

It’s all just creative expression of who we are, what we think, what we feel.  And, this post is a creative expression of … my own analysis of my laziness of Facebooking!

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Suddenly and surprisingly, the GOP has now decided that it cares deeply about economic inequality in America. I’m sure we all remember that the previous position of the right on this subject was that even mentioning economic inequality was waging “class warfare” and was “the politics of envy.”  We’re glad that they have finally ended their See No Evil period, and now seem interested in addressing the issue.

We can’t wait to see their proposals — but anticipate the prescription from the right will be more of the same:  you know, Deregulate Financial Institutions; Lower Taxes for Corporations and the Uber Wealthy; and maybe even throw in Cutting Food Stamps?

None of it makes any sense in today’s environment … but, you know, they’re still following Ronald Reagan’s economic plan that is now 35 years out of date, and is the plan that caused the economic inequality in the first place!

Following the 2008 crash of the economy — which was completely predictable with all the GOP inspired lax financial regulations and tax cuts for the wealthiest among us — there arose a growing concern among the populace about the enormous concentration of wealth and wealth-growth at the top.

According to Wikipedia, “the richest 1 percent in the United States now own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.”  The gap between the top 10% and the middle class is over 1,000%; that increases another 1000% for the top 1%. The average employee “needs to work more than a month to earn what the CEO earns in one hour.”

The American people have finally caught on to the GOP deception and realize that addressing runaway economic inequality is not “waging class warfare.”  So, the GOP has no choice but to begin to address the issue and abandon the notion of just dismissing and ignoring it.

Paul Ryan, along with a parade of elected Republicans and GOP spokespersons, is now bringing up the subject of economic inequality — and at the same time is creating yet another deception.  While a few of these  statements may be factually true, the asserted conclusions and implications are untrue.

The new GOP party line is that “income inequality increased under Obama.”  Well, yeah it did … however it has also increased every year, beginning with Ronald Reagan and continuing right through every president since then.  Our middle and lower classes have had a 35 year downward slide since Ronald Reagan won the economic argument — which implemented Reaganomics, better known as Trickle-Down Economics.

The GOP’s deceptive implication is that economic inequality started with Obama and is caused by implementing Obamanomics!  Every serious economist states unequivocally that this president saved the country from falling off an economic cliff; more net jobs have been created under Obama than both Bushes combined — over 1 million jobs added in just the last 3 months; the stock market is booming; and the GDP is growing.  America is leading the world economically and our economy is the envy of the world.

Yes, economic inequality is a continuing problem … and one that the Dems have been trying to tackle — with the GOP’s obstinate obstruction thwarting President Obama’s and the Democrats’ efforts every step of the way.

So, we need to be sure that we don’t just listen to the GOP’s words about economic inequality, we need to see what they actually do.  Remember ~ At first the GOP reflected the attitude of, “Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil” about economic inequality.  And when they suddenly switch their message so drastically and suddenly, maybe we should consider the reason why they would do so.

Maybe we should think “Hmmmm, is this just a deceptive Sleight of Hand?”

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Here’s my understanding of how we got ourselves in this current fix with extremist Jihadis.

It all started with the Russian invasion/occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The CIA opposed this move by the USSR and decided to raise an opposition army in the middle-east — by approaching our ally, Saudi Arabia, and asking them to inspire their citizens to go wage war in Afghanistan.  The logic at the time was that we were fighting Communism.

Be careful what you wish for, because the Saudi Imams began preaching a Jihad message with a right-wing interpretation of the Koran — and the extremist Islamic sect called Wahhabi was born. Osama bin Laden was a leader of that group, and led Saudi fighters to wage Jihad in Afghanistan. Bin Laden led, and helped fund those fighters — as did the American government. Just watch the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War” to see how America meddled in Afghanistan during the Russian occupation of that country.

This movie glorifies Congressman Wilson’s and the CIA’s covert war in Afghanistan, but we now know the unintended consequences of that intervention:  the right-wing Wahhabi sect is now dominant in Saudi Arabia; Wahhabi-inspired Al Qaeda, and it’s spawn, are spreading Jihad like wild-fire throughout the Gulf States and beyond; and the West is gripped with a focus on terrorism that has turned from defeating Russia in Afghanistan, to defeating the West and all we stand for.

Here’s a trailer for the movie, watch the entire movie if you can — it very clearly reveals America’s undeclared covert war in Afghanistan.

It is actually fascinating to contemplate how our CIA’s meddling in other countries has wrought such horrible long-range consequences for us and for the world.  We all know that the CIA’s toppling of Iran’s democratically elected leader in order to install the former (and much despised) Shah as that country’s leader, led directly to Iran’s current theocracy under the firm grip of the Ayatollah.

The CIA at the time decided that since the democratically elected new leader of Iran was going to nationalize their own oil, that bringing back the Shah would help America’s Oil companies and therefore be in our nation’s interest.  The Iranian Revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution, led to the ouster of the Shah and the installation of the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.  And Iranian hatred of America and the West began.

A theocratic Iran that is funding Hezbollah and Hamas in their terrorist activities to destabilize the Gulf States, and the creation of Al Qaeda with all their off-shoots as well as ISIL, seems a high price to pay for CIA meddling in other countries’ business.

But that’s the thing about Unintended Consequences ~ they are not only unintended they are also short-sighted.

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The extremists on the American right, still suffering from Obama Derangement Syndrome, are now blaming our president for the terrorist attack in Paris.  Why, you might ask yourself, would they do that?  What motivation could there be for such an outrageous accusation?  On what basis would the wing-nuts reach such a laughable conclusion?

It seems that the major contributing factor in Obama’s “guilt” and his “weakness on terror” is that he refuses to use the GOP’s term, “War on Terror” when describing counter-terrorism programs.  And, do you think that there could be a reason why the administration steers away from that Bush era phrase?

Well … here’s your answer.  We heard the answer on Sunday’s Meet the Press when David Ignatius, the well-known and respected impartial columnist for The Washington Post, commented on this latest GOP presidential slur.

David Ignatius informed listeners that the politically charged phrase “War on Terror” has been universally interpreted in the Islamic world as “War on Islam.”  Thus inspiring even more jihadis and terror plots!

So, you decide:  does using a verbal term that incites terror activities and recruits more young people to join jihad really make the country safer?  Does the president using different language around terrorism than George Bush did really make him “weak on terror?”

Or is this just more GOP demonizing?  Is this kinda like all that fear mongering around “Death Panels” … just more GOP claptrap?

Obama Is Weak On Terror?  You decide.

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According to many war hawks, like John McCain and Lindsay Graham, Putin has been aggressive in Ukraine because Obama showed weakness a year ago by not bombing Syria.  Well, that could be an attractive position if not for the fact that a few years earlier Putin also was acting out aggressively in the neighboring country of  Georgia. He invaded Georgia at the same time that the Bush/Cheney administration was busy invading Iraq.  So, it doesn’t appear on the face of it that Obama’s stance on Syria had anything to do with Putin’s recent push into Ukraine.  If it is presidential weakness that motivates Putin, then how do the critics explain that Putin invaded Georgia while our swaggering cowboy-president G.W. Bush was pursuing military aggression in Iraq?  This argument is not logical.

But, I’d like to switch the reasoning and pose the reverse question:  Did the US invasion of Iraq have anything to do with Putin’s new aggressiveness?  It occurs to me that the example that the world set around the Iraq invasion by essentially letting the US get away with what was clearly a breach of international norms — going into a sovereign nation, deposing a leader, and “re-making” their government/military/finances, etc. — sent the message to Putin that if the US could do all THAT he surely could mess around in Georgia and now the Ukraine with no consequences.

Perhaps our actions in Iraq empowered Putin to be equally aggressive.

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Many of us remember clearly the 1960s and the Civil Rights movement.  Most of us remember that there were a lot of white faces joined with black ones in the demonstrations and voter registration drives.  And, we know that white Americans died alongside black Americans in the Civil Rights era.  That difficult period made our nation stronger:  we showed that America stands for big ideas and fairness — and that we are willing to sacrifice to implement them.

But, now it appears that stirring partisan hatred of America’s first black president has reignited race issues and latent prejudice.  The blatant racism of 50 years ago was socially frowned upon until recently.  Now, it’s all over social media;  police officers have been video taped yelling racist epithets as they bring snarling dogs to peaceful demonstrations in a black community; and white protesters scream hate at black people like it was 1960 all over again! The open hostility from the right to President Obama, and to African Americans in general, presents an opportunity for the rest of us to stand up, stand together, and stand for something important again!

According to an article in The Nation magazine, titled How Trayvon Martin’s Death Launched a New Generation of Black Activism, there are many new groups that “are reviving the grassroots fight for racial equality.”  We applaud the grassroots activism, and call on Americans of all races and colors to stand together for fairness and America’s ideals.

An interesting article in AlterNet, Need a Bias Cleanse? Here’s How One Campaign Is Tackling Racial and Gender Stereotypes, offers a way “To help people unlearn biases.”  These times call for all Americans to personally “take a bias cleanse” and to question if they have hidden prejudices that they haven’t acknowledged to themselves, such as fearfulness of black males that may be at the root of the “shoot first and ask questions later” attitudes of the police and self-appointed neighborhood watch characters like George Zimmerman.

It’s time to demand an end to unfair and unequal justice under the law.  There needs to be a dismantling of the prison industrial complex, a call for the end of militarized police forces and a  demand for respectful policing.  And there must be accountability for the deaths of unarmed black men and boys.

A more fair America would also mean a real commitment to due process and protection of voting rights.   Minority communities must have equal funding of good public education and basic food security for families and children.  And jobs, jobs, JOBS!

All of us need to call for these changes …  all Americans, side by side once again in the fight together for change.

Dear White People:  THIS is our fight too!

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