MEDICATION NEEDED

by Ruth A. Sheets

When I was in 8^th grade, my history teacher made a unique assignment.  We were to write a day by day "news report" of what later came to be called, "the Six-day War" between Israel and its neighbors.  I read the paper and watched the news each evening and realized that the situation was far more complex than any report I could write.  I learned there is a history behind what is happening and that it is not always easily understood.  And, people's beliefs and emotions get mixed up in the events too. 

I got a second dose of this when the following year my Civics teacher assigned us to keep a "diary" of events in the Vietnam War for February 1968, which turned out to be one of the deadliest months of the war for the US.

At the end of each assignment, I was angry that there was absolutely nothing I could do that would in any way impact what was going on.  I couldn't stop Israel from taking over other people's land and I couldn't stop the destruction in Vietnam.  That one-month assignment ultimately led to my loss of support  for our government's war, and all our wars since then.

I doubt the journalists I was reading intended people to feel so angry and impotent, but the men who start wars either don't think about how people will respond to them or don't care as long as we don't get in their way.  I suspect those men are thinking only of how to achieve their goal, whatever that is.  They have to have enough force behind their efforts to keep things going, no matter what, and just enough popular support at home.  Journalists are just supposed to cover the action.

Last month, Russia attacked Ukraine.  The reason has changed over time"  Ukraine is really part of Russia, Ukraine is run by Nazis that have to be taken out, Russia is worried about NATO, Russia wants to give a black eye to the West - the US.  I suspect Russian President Putin has more excuses to pump out in case the above list doesn't work, or he'll keep using them all and add new ones as they occur to him.  Some are lies, some have a kernel of truth.  The whole operation is bullying, getting others to hurt the people he wants hurt so he can go in and take over.  his crew of soldiers is expendable as are the people of Ukraine.

Journalists have been covering the destruction Russian forces have been causing as well as the civilian deaths.  Instead of just numbers, reporters are interviewing Ukrainians facing the Russian onslaught.  It has been harder to interview Russians since Putin has shut down all but his media which broadcasts and prints only what he wants put out to the people.  Does it matter what Russians say if they only receive Putin-approved messages?  What would they base their opinions on when they could be arrested for speaking what the government doesn't want them to say? 

I have been feeling the kind of impotence I felt more than 50  years ago after my jr. high school assignments, as I learn about Russia's attack on Ukraine.  Unless Russia stops its insane invasion, there are no good solutions.  Russia is a nation where one man and the toadies he has groomed to go along with whatever he decides can invade any country or territory he wants.  China's Xi Jinping is in the same position deciding what to do about Taiwan, a nation that is happy with its independence, but Xi claims it is really China.  Will either risk a nuclear conflict? 

The United States is not blameless either.  We attacked Iraq with no real evidence of the "weapons of mass destruction" George W. Bush claimed.  We have been out of Iraq for more than a decade.  Is life in Iraq better now than before we invaded?  It depends on who you talk to.  The many people who died I suspect aren't doing better.

I see no end to the insanity and our feeling of helplessness that accompanies male aggression, unless there is an intervention.  A conservative pundit recently stated that war is the nature of things and part of the human condition, so we should just live with it.  I have heard that all my life, but I don't believe it.  I think it is the excuse we use to allow some men to remain children, the bullying kind of children.  Their childish behavior elicits a parental response from people who let them maintain it, but in adult settings.  We mistake their bullying, loud-mouthed proclamations, and abuse  as strength, not the bratty, whiny, childish trying to be king of the hill, boss of everyone around so they don't have to listen to anyone that it really is.  They particularly don't want to hear from those adults in the room who might tell them "no." 

I have a proposal.  I would like to see women and men who are researchers and want peace for the peoples of the world, to work on a medication that could be introduced to a leader's water system or air when talk of violence toward another nation or group breaks out.  Brain research has increased dramatically since my Jr. High days, so I am hoping something positive can come of it.  Brain scientists should look at the parts of the brain that light up when leaders and others are itching for a fight.  Find a way to send a medication that would slow down that part of the brain long enough for a cool-off period.  The medication could be spread as a temporary fog or highly targeted water infusion. 

I know I'm dreaming, but something does need to be done to  keep child-men out of power whenever possible, and keep men in leadership from harming other nations or their own people.  We as a whole people of Earth need to work on stopping global warming ASAP.  We don't have time to waste on deliberate destruction, killing, and out-of-control child-man leaders, some of whom have nuclear weapons, not to mention the cyber ones. 

We need you, brain scientists.  We need an anti-war, anti-megalomania medication soon!  Very soon!!

The War President

The War President

by Ruth A. Sheets

June 18, 2019

In the past week or so, Mr. Trump has been tweeting and calling out to reporters over the usual background helicopter that he does not want a war with Iran.  How do I know this is not true, you know, a lie?  Nothing related to Mr. Trump’s presidency in any way indicates that he does not want war with Iran, in fact, everything he has done cries out for a fight.  He has just been scanning to find the place he wants to strike.

Mr. Trump has been itching for a war since he was a candidate.  He couldn't make himself go to war back during Vietnam (bone spurs, you know), but he will be OK sending others to war.  

Mr. Trump’s hatred of Barack Obama is legendary.  His primary goal upon election was to destroy everything Mr. Obama had put into place.  One of those points was the agreement with Iran and numerous other nations to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.  He disregarded the agreement unilaterally for no reason.  Iran was clearly complying.  Everyone said so, but of course, he could not take any information from his intelligence community as he had already informed America that they were no good and essentially didn’t know anything.  His military leaders’ information was dismissed also (as were most of his defense/military advisors).  

It is close to irrelevant what the “intelligence community says now about who did or did not cause the attacks on the oil ships in the Gulf off Iran.  They have become so influenced by Mr. Trump and his constant lying and his demands for intense loyalty that it is hard to know just who they are for.  Then, I pretty much don’t care if Iran did the deed as it relates to the United States going to war.  We definitely do not need another war.  We haven’t even gotten past the last two and have no business starting one. 

Another indicator of Mr. Trump’s bellicose intentions is that the people with whom he has surrounded himself, particularly Bolton and Pompeo, are totally on board with war.  Iran is convenient, but I suspect any “little” war would do. 

Mr. Trump wants to be a war president.  I suspect he thinks that if he gets a war started, people will vote him in again so he can “finish” the war.  Alas, that might actually work.  It did for George W. Bush who was only slightly more competent than Mr. Trump at the job.  If we actually look at what happened, both Mr. Bush’s wars were still going on when he had to leave office due to term limits.  He never did finish them even with the extra time. 

It seems to me Mr. Trump is trying to demonstrate his manhood.  But, as the 8-year-old school yard bully he keeps proving himself to be, he has a long way to go,  and dragging a bunch of folks into a useless stupid war will not do it.  Somehow, he just brought his petty grudge-making, racism, misogyny, xenophobia,   and resentments into adulthood without the ability to reason or think critically about any of them.

So, if Mr. Trump and his nutty cronies Bolton and Pompeo want war, they should play with plastic soldiers and weapons on the oval office desk.  It will be fun and everyone will be better off.  A win-win!  

The Teflon Party

by Ruth A. Sheets

President Reagan was often referred to as the “Teflon President,” particularly by those who were not enthralled by his charm.

While president, he put thousands of people’s lives in danger by firing the air traffic controllers because he didn’t want to pay them what they were worth.  Reagan was seen as the hero.

Reagan’s administration added to the poverty rate in America through its “trickle down economics,” which of course, did not work.  Everything else was blamed for this plan’s failure.  Reagan’s plan is still at the top of the Republican Party’s policies thirty years later.

The Reagan administration illegally sold arms to the Contras after dealing with Iranians, the guys who held Americans hostage for more than a year.  Reagan’s claim that he was out of the loop and Oliver North, looking good in his uniform, allowed the charges to slide off.

The Bush administration was asleep at the switch when 911 happened, but they were allowed to trick America into two wars which are still not behind us, eleven years later.

The Bush crowd passed policies that led to a near depression, yet has been able to blame the Democrats because the nation has not fully recovered in less than four years under President Obama.  Republicans actually look good and honest to about half the US population even though their economic plans, such as they are, have never been even a bit successful.

I just don’t get it!  Republicans can nearly bring down the global economy, put a lot of people at risk, deal illegally with foreign powers, spout overtly racist comments, bust unions so people will earn less for their work and receive fewer benefits.  The Government and our economy  can be held hostage or even shut down so Republicans can get what they want.  Yet a lot of folks don’t seem to mind at all.

What am I missing here?  If any of these things had happened during a Democratic watch, everything would stick for the next twenty or thirty years and no Democrats would be elected.  The Republicans have paid little or nothing for the damage they have caused. 

I suspect that big money has a lot to do with this situation.  Republicans have a lot of it and spread it around in just the right amounts to breed power.  The money myth tells Americans that those who have money must have America’s best interests at heart.  They don’t!  The only interests they have at heart are their own.  But, for many Americans, whatever the Republican wealthy do is okay, no matter who is hurt.  Money and power are Republican Teflon.