The staff of life revisited

Ancient Egyptian wall carving of stalks of wheat

Below is an excerpt from an old post of mine, The staff of life. It was discussing wheat rust, a disease that greatly reduced crop yields and how that might affect countries with poor food sufficiency. I ended it with the following: 

Which brings us to Jimmy Carter in a 'round about sort of a way. While touring North Korea he had the following to say about that country's growing famine:

"One of the most important human rights is to have food to eat, and for South Korea and the US and others to deliberately withhold food aid to the North Korean people is really a human rights violation."

That comment raised a lot of eyebrows, but it shouldn't have been that surprising. The UN, through its Human Rights Council and various Progressive NGOs, has long been banging the drum for Food Justice, sometimes framed as Food as a Human Right.

This is a movement that encompasses the usual bugaboos: climate change (so arability rather than farming practices becomes the culprit for food shortages), sustainable farming, organic farming, cultural diversity, GM food, corporations, exploitation, oppression and lately the much touted obesity epidemic.

They make no bones about the fact that they want to change, from seed to table, which foods are grown and how and to who they are distributed.

Make no mistake, if the Middle East does slide towards famine there will be loud voices, accompanied by pictures of big eyed children with empty food bowls, blaming it all on Western capitalism and demanding free food from the same Capitalists as payment of a fine for their guilt. How that will play with grocery prices going up is easy to imagine, but the agitation will be there none-the-less.

The impact of the Ukranian war on World food supplies will be significant. At best food prices will greatly increase, at worst some regions may slide into famine. All will be affected. This will lead to major food exporters having to take up the slack as best as possible. 

I expect that there will be many voices clamoring for a say in how food is to be distributed. Some will be arguing for a realpolitik approach, but I think there will be a loud contingent arguing for Food Justice. As I said in that earlier post, "They make no bones about the fact that they want to change, from seed to table, which foods are grown and how and to who they are distributed". 

Never leave a good crisis go to waste. It bears careful watching as to how this debate will unfold. There will be many motives in play and much mischief possible.

We've been here before

Trofim Lysenko

Interviewer: Lastly, why do you want to be a reporter, Kang Seo Jin?

Kang Seo Jin: I believe a reporter can change the world.  I hope to write articles to right the injustices of the world. I want to be the voice for people who are weak. I want to make the world the better place to live in. That is why I want to be a reporter. 

The above is a brief snippet of dialog from the Korean comedy Welcome to Waikiki. Seo Jin is interviewing for a reporter job and she gives a boilerplate answer to why she wants the job. I chose it because it is such a boilerplate answer -- rather than saying she wants to ferret out the facts for the public, she bluntly says she wants to, in effect, engage in social engineering.

That emphasis on a mission of social engineering has long been a de facto aim of both journalism and the soft sciences: psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, etc. Some, myself included, believe it is to the detriment of those disciplines. 

This trend towards social engineering, now joined with the critical race theory hustle, is beginning to assail math and the empirical sciences: chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, etc.  There are calls to inject a social engineering stance into them as well. 

To the social engineering enthusiasts Se Jin's, "I want to make the world a better place to live in" trumps all other arguments. How could such a sentiment be questioned? What could go wrong?

In the 1920's and 30s, due to Stalin's disastrous policy of the collectivization of farms, the Soviet Union was beset by famine and hunger. Trofim Lysenko, the son of a peasant farmer, had studied biology. Lysenko rejected Darwin's theory of natural selection and instead adhered to the by then discredited Lamarckian theory of inherited characteristics. He soon caught Stalin's ear with his theories As Encyclopedia.com described them:

Despite the fact that Lamarck's theory of evolution by acquired characteristics had been widely discarded as a scientific hypothesis, a remarkable set of circumstances allowed Lysenko the opportunity to sweep aside more than 100 years of scientific investigation to advocate a "politically correct" way to enhance agricultural production. When Lysenko promised greater crop yields, a Soviet Central Committee—desperate after the famine in the early 1930s—listened with an attentive ear. The very spirit of Marxist theory, Lysenko claimed, called for a theory of species formation which would entail "revolutionary leaps." Lysenko attacked Mendelian genetics and Darwinian evolution as a theory of "gradualism." 

At its heart communism is just another form of utopianism.  Stalin believed that by properly ordering society he could social engineer the emergence of the New Soviet Man, a leap forward in human social evolution. Lysenko was also a committed communist and, in his biological theories, he extended the notion of creating a New Man to ordering nature to create better crops as well.

For example, because of Russia's climate, winter and summer wheat crops were a concern. Lysenko believed that by freezing seeds they would get acclimated to the cold and produce greater yields. Further, because they would gain the cold hardiness, their seeds would inherit it as well. Of course, none of that worked. 

However, Stalin continued to support him and in fact Lysenko's notion of science supporting communism spread to other scientific disciples as well. Soon it became dangerous to question him, with many scientists and academics landing in Siberian gulags for doing just that. In the end, Soviet science became ridiculous in its chase of the proper Marxist interpretation of reality. Worse, Mao Zedong also embraced Lysenko's ideas and so they worsened the famines China experienced as well.   

In the end the scientific method is just a process whereby you test your ideas of how things work against reality. Trying to use it to force reality to fit your preconceived notions will always lead you astray. I fear that is the mistake the modern social engineers of the sciences are making today; I fear that in chasing utopia they will find graveyards instead.

Finally, to remind us of the actual tragic cost of Stalin and Lysenko's "I want to make the world a better place to live in" motives, below are two paintings of the starvation by Marchenko Nina.

Mother of the Year 33

The Road of Sorrow

As we prepare for the 4th

Below is an old post of mine, originally put up on July 4th of 2010. As I write in the end of the post:

Americans forget how revolutionary we are. Jefferson's "all men are created equal..." is both intoxicating and destructive.

Again, or more properly as always, there are people who in their bones do not believe that all men are equal. Rather, they think most of us are fools who argue "that what was round was in fact square." so of course we need our betters to save us. And naturally they are our betters. I guess each generation has its own Intolerable Acts. We shall see. 

Above is the song Dimonkransa sung by Myra Andrade of the Cape Verde Islands. Cape Verde received their independence from Portugal on July 5th, 1975. The liberation movement was led by the socialist African Party of Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV). Andrade's father was a member of it, and in fact she was born in Cuba.

Upon independence Cape Verde was a single party government, but in 1990 at a party congress the PAICV approved the introduction of multiparty democracy. In the election that followed the opposition fared well, and Cape Verde has evolved into a stable multi-party democracy.

However, this is not a post about her politics, nor the sort of third world socialism that bubbles through the undeveloped world. It seems to me there is a deeper strata, a bedrock so to speak, which lies under the languid melancholy of her lyrics.

It was said that democracy,
Lopsided democracy,
It was said that democracy
Was like a hidden treasure,
But now that it has been found.
We have all opened our eyes
And each one, relying on his judgment,
Confidently declared that what was round was in fact square,
And went to work, with a great many theories,
To prove that he was right.

(lyrics from the version she sung on her first album Navega)

Andrade is ill at ease with democracy, but for social rather than political reasons. Early in the song she calls it 'lopsided democracy' and as its lyrics unfold her complaint is that each person, not matter how foolish they are (and she clearly thinks many if not most of them are fools), now express a cacophony of opinions and arguments that bury the truth. 

She ends the song singing of English businessman and listing names from Cape Verde's past, some who have been elevated and some who she fears are being forgotten, and expresses distress at this reordering of authority. 

Stripped to its bone, the song is about a lost elite. Andrade is expressing nostalgia for a short-lived one party rule and for an escape from European domination. Of course it is her party that should rule and she now makes her home in Paris. Perhaps it is she that is lopsided, rather than all of the happy fools she mocks?

The time will come when old Náxu’s opinions
Will not be held in higher esteem than those of a babe in arms.
People will come together and cry: enough!    

Americans forget how revolutionary we are. Jefferson's "all men are created equal..." is both intoxicating and destructive. It is a hell of a thing not to have to step into the gutter to clear the side walk for a swaggering aristocrat. Andrade is intimidated by and dismissive of people who have opened their eyes, and each one, relied on their own judgment, but a free man knows better.

As for coming together and crying "enough"? That is exactly what our 4th of July celebrates. Happy 4th of July to you all.

A song for the election

Well, it is a song about the wrong election, but whatever. Regardless, no matter how the vote goes there will be hysteria. Better to take it all in stride. Have a good one no matter what.
 

Comey the fall-guy?

I haven't posted much politics lately. Other sites certainly do a better job of dissecting the apparent sleazy antics of the CIA, FBI, DOJ and the Obama administration. What triggered this post was the leaked news that the IG draft report found that James Comey was insubordinate in his handling of Clinton's email server. From Business Insider:

The Department of Justice's inspector general has concluded that James Comey defied authority at times during his time leading of the FBI, ABC News reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with a draft report on the matter.

The report, when finished and officially released, will cap Inspector General Michael Horowitz's inquiry into the FBI's handling of its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The report is said to focus on senior FBI leadership at the time, like Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, rather than on Clinton.

One source told ABC News the draft report about Comey described his conduct as "insubordinate." Another source reportedly agreed with that characterization but could not confirm that the exact term had been used.

Needless to say the leak is spin. It neatly places the blame on Comey while insulating his superiors and of course Obama. I suspect the actual report will be more complex than that.

That said, if true one wonders what Comey thinks of being setup as the fall-guy?

Which Green Light Do I Obey?

Click any image to enlarge]

"James Comey is an enemy. No he's an ally. Firing him is great. No, you fools. Firing him is terrible. Only filthy Trump supporters think so!"

The firing of FBI Director James Comey has been yet another milepost in his transformation to-and-fro between hero, villain and victim in the public's eye (with his particular role at any moment defined by the viewer's politics). In the latest, Democrats --who a week earlier had railed on Comey for stealing the election from Hillary -- are now outraged over his firing.

Frontpage has an entertaining article, Comey, Colbert and Orwell, that compares the confusion of Stephen Colbert's audiance to the news of the firing to a scene in Orwell's 1984. Truth be told, over the last several months, the right end of the political spectrum has suffered the same whiplash in their opinions of Comey . He has been an odd news story.   

Regardless, Comey will be an interesting footnote in history. Tasked with the election-year investigation of Hillary Clinton I think he was stuck with the unenviable task of trying to square a political circle. In the process he managed to support, bewilder and enrage - with the emphasis mainly on enrage - both sides of the political spectrum.

By the way, the Traffic Light Tree statue in England I've used to illustrate this story is supposed to represent the fusion of technology and nature, not mixed signals, but I guess I've reinterpreted it. It seems that nothing is safe from the Comey news maelstrom.

So Long. That's All. Goodbye.

With tomorrow's inauguration looming Bill Haley & Comets' See You Later Alligator springs to mind. Catchy and cheerful tune that fits my mood at the moment.

As an aside, I saw the Comets, I think it was the bassist Al Rapppa's version of the Comets, play in a slightly sketchy local bar. They put on a good show. During the break -- since they were one of the founders of Rock N' Roll I bought them a beer.

Whoo-boy, what a mistake. Talk about best friends forever! There was no getting rid of them and one drink led to another until my wallet was pretty much empty. Still, a good time was had by all and they were nice guys with good stories. In hindsight, I guess it was well worth the money.

I suspect Obama is another guy we'll be unable to get rid of, but our time with him at the table talking about the old days, betwixt lecturing us on what scum we are, will be much less enjoyable.

 
  

I don't think that's going to work

Below are a couple of quotes pulled from the Washington Post article Keith Ellison, Howard Dean offered as possible DNC chairs as Democrats seek to regroup.

Sanders said the reasons for Clinton’s loss were “fairly obvious” and cited two factors: lower turnout by the Democratic base and the Republican nominee’s far greater appeal to white, working-class voters, which Sanders dubbed “a humiliation for the Democratic Party.”

“White working-class people are deserting the party in droves,” Sanders said.

...

In an interview, Sanders said he is lobbying for (Keith) Ellison (for the position of DNC Party Chairman) and argued that the DNC needs to be reoriented so that it becomes less of an insiders' club “preoccupied” with raising money and more of an advocate for the concerns of the working class.

Really, the Democrats think the working class whites in fly-over country are craving the likes of Keith Ellison to return them to the fold?
 
There is a Scene at the end of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure where the two time-traveling high schoolers have brought back historical figures for the final project of their history class. They are on a stage giving a presentation, part of which is Napoleon standing in front of a table with a map of Europe on it. On the map Napoleon has little toy soldiers arrayed in preparation for the invasion of Russia.

Bill (or was it Ted?) wanders over, looks at it and says, "no offense dude, but I don't think that's going to work."
 
Seems like an appropriate response to Keith Ellison as the Great White Hope.

Lopsided Democracy

Below is an old post of mine, originally put up on July 4th of 2010. In light of the election it seems relevant. Indeed, "People will come together and cry: enough! ". Only it wasn't in fond nostalgia of the wise old elite, instead it was a lot of people who resented being called simpletons for their opinions. Anyway, the election brought this song and post to mind...



Above is the song Dimonkransa sung by Myra Andrade of the Cape Verde Islands. Cape Verde received their independence from Portugal on July 5th, 1975. The liberation movement was led by the socialist African Party of Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV). Andrade's father was a member of it, and in fact she was born in Cuba.

Upon independence Cape Verde was a single party government, but in 1990 at a party congress the PAICV approved the introduction of multiparty democracy. In the election that followed the opposition fared well, and Cape Verde has evolved into a stable multi-party democracy.

However, this is not a post about her politics, nor the sort of third world socialism that bubbles through the undeveloped world. It seems to me there is a deeper strata, a bedrock so to speak, which lies under the languid melancholy of her lyrics.

It was said that democracy,
Lopsided democracy,
It was said that democracy
Was like a hidden treasure,
But now that it has been found.
We have all opened our eyes
And each one, relying on his judgment,
Confidently declared that what was round was in fact square,
And went to work, with a great many theories,
To prove that he was right.

(lyrics from the version she sung on her first album Navega)

Andrade is ill at ease with democracy, but for social rather than political reasons. Early in the song she calls it 'lopsided democracy' and as its lyrics unfold her complaint is that each person, not matter how foolish they are (and she clearly thinks many if not most of them are fools), now express a cacophony of opinions and arguments that bury the truth. 

She ends the song singing of English businessman and listing names from Cape Verde's past, some who have been elevated and some who she fears are being forgotten, and expresses distress at this reordering of authority. 

Stripped to its bone, the song is about a lost elite. Andrade is expressing nostalgia for a short-lived one party rule and for an escape from European domination. Of course it is her party that should rule and she now makes her home in Paris. Perhaps it is she that is lopsided, rather than all of the happy fools she mocks?

The time will come when old Náxu’s opinions
Will not be held in higher esteem than those of a babe in arms.
People will come together and cry: enough!    

Americans forget how revolutionary we are. Jefferson's "all men are created equal..." is both intoxicating and destructive. It is a hell of a thing not to have to step into the gutter to clear the side walk for a swaggering aristocrat. Andrade is intimidated by and dismissive of people who have opened their eyes, and each one, relied on their own judgment, but a free man knows better.

As for coming together and crying "enough"? That is exactly what our 4th of July celebrates and we'll have our Gadsden flags mingled with the Stars and Stripes. Happy 4th of July to you all.

Then I awake and look around me

Jerry had a teenage girlfriend too. However, the times being what they were, he ended up marrying her instead of sending text messages. There were consequences for Jerry over that.

There have been consequences for Anthony as well. A hard drive full of more than penis pictures. Emails that most certainly talk about other topics than yoga and wedding plans.  Those other emails must be coming and so a CYA letter is dispatched.

Hopefully, the excuses and evasions will be too little and too late.. Instead of Mary, it will be Billy running down that path. Hey, a fella can dream, can't he?

The world's poorest President

Jose Mujica, the leader of Urugauy, has been dubbed the poorest President in the world. As the BBC explains:

Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside.

This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders.

President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife's farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo.

The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.

 

The waiting room

This day of waiting for election returns brings to mind waiting rooms. So, while away a few minutes in our election day waiting room with the above video where we see one of the world's worst receptionists in action.
 

Harry Reid wins an election

Pulling in 53% of the vote, Harry Reid easily out distanced his three competitors -- John Edwards, Dick Cheney and the Gila Monster -- to win the title of America's National Lizard in the latest Flares Poll of International Opinion. Congrats Harry, it's an honor you certainly deserve.

As for that other election winding up tomorrow, the Diplomad says it well in his post The Politics of Revenge:

Obama's exhortation to his followers to vote out of "revenge" is another unappealing glimpse into the soul of the President. Combine that with his heartfelt "you didn't build that,""the bitter clingers" to guns and religion, his obsession with redistribution of wealth and income, his wife's "never been proud of my country,"and the couple's twenty-some years in the pews of Rev. Wright's church, and you have a pretty complete picture of the First Couple despite their efforts to hide and reshape their past. Obama and his wife are haters. They are the perfect incarnation of the university faculty lounge/Hollywood celebrity culture of contempt, resentment, vanity, and entitlement.

Some people think four more years of Obama would crash and burn the system, and a return to federalism and small government would result (The Cloward-Pivens of the right). I don't think that scenario is remotely plausible. Four more years of Obama would swing the Federal Courts further to the left and enshrine his bypassing Congress to rule by executive orders.

Left-leaning courts would support Democrat executive orders and stymie any future Republican Presidents' attempts to roll them back via their own executive decrees. If you think I'm overstating things, take a look at Herry's finger above and ask yourself, do you really believe the Progs won't fight tooth and nail to keep Romney from reigning in Obamacare and the EPA's regulations?

There is no magic route directly from A to Z. The long counter-march through the institutions will take time, and it will only be realistically done a step at a time. At this point we need to stop the leftward drift not abet it.
    

Paper or plastic

I don't generally chase the zeitgeist, but the RCJ article about Sandra Fluke holding a rally of 10 people in a Sak 'N Save parking lot is too funny not to mention. Here's the lede:

Sandra Fluke, the woman at the center of a media firestorm earlier this year after Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut,” spoke Saturday in front of about 10 people at the Sak ‘N Save in north Reno.

It is surprising to see no attempt by the reporter and editors to bury the nonsensical aspect of the story. I guess somebody isn't a fan of having to fork over tax dollars to buy her contraception.

As an aside, I'll be in Miami next week so my posting will be more erratic than usual.
  

Yoani Sánchez has been arrested in Cuba

Yoani Sánchez is the Cuban dissident blogger who runs Generation Y, a site that's been on Flare's blog roll for some time. The BBC is reporting that she and her husband were arrested last week as they attempted to attend the trial of Angel Carromero.

The Cuban government is accusing Carromero of manslaughter in the death of a passenger in a car crash. Dissidents say Carromero was forced off the road and the charges are just an excuse to jail Carromero.

If you run a blog please mention her arrest. The Cuban government must not be allowed to operate in darkness. If enough of us protest perhaps the pressure will do Yoani and the other dissidents some good. 

If you're not familiar with her blog, her posts were always fascinating, with a sadness and grace about them that is hard to describe. The following is from the last post, They Won't Be Back Again, that appears on her blog

Festivals of Varadero, Girasoles Opina, Bossa Nova  in Havana… a parade of progressive and talented artists toured the country in the sixties, seventies and eighties. I followed their catchiest tunes and imitated their hairstyles and clothes. Humming “Who told you I was always laughing, never crying…” “What is it, what is it, that goes sighing through the bedrooms,” “Pedro Navaja, his hands always inside his coat.” I remember my sister laughing at me and saying that I had “Brazilian hair” because my profile reminded her of a table lamp, like the profile of María Betania and many other divas of that time. I adored that comparison! It was also a time when we frequently saw Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel on the national scene. Even “La Negra,” Mercedes Sosa, sang “Thanks to life,” in front of the national microphones.

However, these usual artists also stopped visiting us. Some died, others were disillusioned by the abuses and excesses of the Revolution and, most of them, simply stopped considering Cuba among the essential places in their itineraries. From the promotional posters that used to read, “Paris, Berlin, New York, Buenos Aires… Havana,” the largest of the Antilles disappeared. We went from being an obligatory stop to becoming a place where only the ideologically convinced appeared. Politics colored everything, determined arpeggios, tunes, choruses. The music was divided between artists committed to “the cause” and “traitors” who didn’t deserve to appear before a Cuban audience. The last time I heard Joaquin Sabina in a Havana theater, a girlfriend climbed up on the stage and planted a kiss on his cheek. “The caress of farewell” we later called that gesture, because after that we never saw hide nor hair of the Andalusian again. The character (or alter ego) of one of his sung stories said, about his visit to Cuba, “I’ll never return, I don’t enjoy it.”

For an earlier post about her see Social justice delivered via a fist.

UPDATE: I should have looked around a bit more. Babalu reports that she has been released. Well, even after the fact her arrest should be protested far and wide.

Hellooooooo visitors from Instapundit.Thanks for dropping by and please mention Yoani Sánchez and Angel Carromero problems if you run a blog.

Old campaign pictures

Click any image to enlarge

Vintage Everyday has a nice set of old campaign photographs. I'm sure the campaigns were just as silly and nasty back then as they are today, but at least they didn't go on 24/7 365 days a year. I love Robert Taft holding the rooster -- his expression looks like Obama's during the first debate with Romney.

Time to update the Truman Library

Our leader has spoken, "Oh, I think that, you know, as President I bear responsibility for everything, to some degree...but mainly it's Bush's fault.'

OK, I may have added the part about Bush, but you know Obama was thinking it. Regardless, we can't have Truman turning a phrase better than the Great Orator, can we?
 

The Kings of War

A site I read regularly is the website Kings of War. It is a blog by faculty and students of the Department of War Studies, King's College London. They argue from a variety of different view points, but their posts are always illuminating, thought provoking and lucid.

I've added them to Dlares' 'Bolg of Interest' section of the blogroll. I recommend you check them out -- some of their positions may be different than yours, but at least they are well reasoned. The comments are well worth reading as well.

As a taste, this is from their post 9/11: Eleven years on, is it time for our liberalism to be more, not less, muscular?

But the point of this post is rather simple actually, and I think gets lost in all the noise surrounding radicalisation, counter-radicalisation etc etc..

That point is that the west has a set of defensible ideals that it should not be ashamed to uphold vigorously, as it did sixty-six years ago: freedom of speech (including within limits, tolerance of marginal views and ways of life), freedom of association, freedom from state interference, all being equal the access to prosperity, and the ability to change the government.

It would be right to point out that the west needs to do some of its own housekeeping to uphold these values internally (and it clearly does - for a wonderfully written and caustic view of our current political elites see link) but we should not get lost in the relativist backwaters of everyone’s inequality is fair enough. The west has asserted values that have improved the life experience of individuals for at least the post-war period, and brought relative prosperity for the majority of people living through it. Now that this prosperity has atrophied, it is time to reassert the values and conditions that underpinned it, and not to get sucked into lowering our standards to those of emergent nations. President Bush was ridiculed when he called for a democratic revolution in the Middle East, but he proved to be surprisingly prophetic, as the early inklings of a democratically based revolution have occurred in that region. It is now time for the values the underpin the progressive success of the west in the post-war period to be the lasting legacy, the phoenix from the 9/11 ashes. It is time for the our liberalism to be more, not less muscular.

What an absolute disgrace

How in the world does the top picture lead to the bottom? Obama responds to an attack on American embassies with a midnight knock on the door of somebody who posted a YouTube video? What an absolute disgrace.

The flimsy excuse for the region-wide and supposedly spontaneous Islamic protests was some obscure film that 'offended' the so-called prophet Mohamed. Only an idiot would have given any credence to that story. In fact, these were coordinated attacks, one of which led to the the murder of one of our ambassadors, and they were obviously timed to occur on the 11th anniversary of 9/11. We've now learned that warnings were given of such a possibility.

In the face of all that, since day one, Obama's administration has been treating seriously the claim that this is all about some YouTube video. In a time where it may just pay to have Middle Eastern governments, who are the ones that can dispel those rioters in a heartbeat after all, to be worrying about what sort of angry response the U.S. might adopt, we have Obama and company ignoring the reality of the First Amendment and enabling the protests by harassing a YouTube filmmaker.
  
It is the price of having a fool in office who knows how to campaign, but not how to govern. In a post called Obabbler's speech I said this:

Obama gave his big Middle East speech today. My reaction to it is colored by my suspicion, which I cannot shake, that Obama has largely dialed out of the foreign policy component of the Presidency. 

The initiatives he tried to implement in the beginning of his Presidency have all been reduced to a shambles; and rather than rethink his policies, the biggest Brainiac in the Universe has simply shoved the mess aside. Out of sight, out of mind.

My belief is that when he clocked out of directing foreign affairs other elements in his administration began to, in the resulting power vacuum, struggle with each other over the direction of America's policy.  I think you see this in the confused response to the Egyptian crisis, then in the dithering and eventual incomprehensible intervention as Europe's lapdog in Libya, and in the US's obvious uncertainty as to what to do in Syria. Even the multiple and conflicting stories that came out of the raid that killed Bin Laden point to multiple sources pushing multiple narratives.

As a result I thought he speech was a bit of a hodgepodge: his Howard Zinn-like understanding of history as a pastiche of exploited fuzzy-wuzzies, mixed with the Clintonista's pro-Arab slant, mixed with the State Department's usual inertia.

I still think that is true. Obama has been skipping his intelligence briefings for some time, he is so little interested in the rioting that he's not stopped campaigning and fundraising, the State Department appears to be frozen with indecision as it flounders in contrary directions. And the media in all of this? About as useful as tits on a bull.
 

Empty Chair Day submission

OK, this Stimulus Fund funded GM concept vehicle is not exactly a chair, but you can sit on it. Plus, and you'll have to pardon my French, but the ol' expression "shit or get off of the pot" seems like it fits with the spirit of Empty Chair Day.