US President’s weekly Yahoo News updates

Once per week, I consolidate comments I’d posted to recent articles appearing on Yahoo News. I share my views, written as if I actually were the US President. [I’m working on that.] The following were posted between June 6 and today, though appear below in no particular order. As is my usual custom, if I open with a quoted item, that’s from the article itself.

Posted on Yahoo! News

ONE:

"...although Fischer won the most votes [in a poll of leading economists] as 'best suited' for the job."

He can't be "best suited" if, under the current rules, he'd be too old to hold the job. And if the IMF wishes to change those rules, it should be AFTER a currently-eligible new head honcho is chosen under the current rules. I mean, we would never want to give the appearance of changing the rules of the game to favor any one particular candidate, now would we? That would send the wrong message to the terrorists to whom we're trying to teach the virtues of the rule of law.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Besides, how would the IMF gain the confidence of the underdeveloped world, which mostly loathes Israel, by appointing this Zionist - especially by bending the rules?"

TWO:

Perry writes ... “As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus ..." [Perry is a possible contender for the GOP nomination to oppose Barack Obama.]

Maybe Gov. Perry hasn't caught on to this yet, but many others who are not Christians also happen to be citizens. Or is Perry one of those leaders who only thinks of the people who count (and those are Christians and nobody else) when he speaks of We-as-a-nation?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Let's leave Jesus out of this and remember: The good Lord helps him who helps himself. What we really need is to call on good old American self-reliance."

THREE:

"You don't begin to apply the doctrines of a religion to responsibility for guiding a nation or guiding a state.” Mitt Romney.

Which Mormon doctrines would Romney exclude from helping him guide the United States? All of them?? There are none that he would “begin to apply?” Religions are supposed to, among other purposes, provide an ethical basis for actions yet to be taken. If Romney can’t even man-up by declaring which of his foundational religious principles he’ll cast aside and which he deems invaluable for governance, we don’t need him.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“Among my Buddhist principles, none of which I’d leave behind, I’d employ if I were elected US president: Compassion, loving kindness, almsgiving, meditation, and the belief that all people can become fully-enlightened Buddhas.”

FOUR:

"Now we are getting some information that Kaddafi himself decided to rape...," Moreno-Ocampo told reporters.

KADHAFI HIMSELF DECIDED TO RAPE????

Is Moreno-Ocampo (himself) raping the language or did he really mean Kaddafi (in person) unzipped his pants and used his own thingy to do the deed? Or did M-O mean "...Kaddafi himself decided to order his troops to rape." I don't care what the lawyers at the ICC might say, these are not two equivalent statements. [Hmm...maybe those lawyers once worked for Dubya to approve torture.]

Steven Searle for US President in 2012
"M-O better get his shit together and say what he really means."

FIVE:

“The Republicans' theory is that bondholders would accept a brief delay in interest payments…”

Oh, I get it…the Pubbers must be quietly polling major bondholders about this move, which under no reasonable definition could qualify as a “theory.”

As for the Chinese, I foresee an interesting possibility. If we default, they might publicly huff and puff, and scold us. But they won’t do anything drastic if we (quietly) agree to look the other way when (and I do mean “when”) China makes another Tibetan-like land grab. Watch out Mayanmar! Or worse yet, watch out Taiwan. When the chips are down, you’ve got to meet your obligations somehow. Time to start selling our assets, and kiss our empire good-bye. It’s been a swell ride while it lasted.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012
“I wonder how much Taiwan would bring on the black market.”

SIX:

Pelosi said. "I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a Member of Congress."

Ah, so it’s “the pressures” that are worrying Pelosi, is it? To be consistent, the next words out of her mouth should be, “I urge Gabrielle Giffords to focus completely on her recovery from having been shot without the pressures of being a Member of Congress. Besides, her constituents deserve to be actively represented by someone else while Gabby recovers.”

Actually, I don’t care about Pelosi’s consistency. What I really care about is her intelligence. She and all of the other detractors aren’t playing their best hand, which is – threaten to bring Weiner up on charges. Surely he must be guilty of something, otherwise, why all the fuss? Just whisper in Weiner’s ear, “If you don’t resign, we’ll bring you up on charges which, even without merit, will bankrupt you.” That’s how it’s done: Threaten the poor sucker with having to pay so much to defend himself, he’ll wish he had resigned in the first place.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“I absolutely don’t advocate this kind of threat. I’m only pointing out how stupidly Pelosi et al are handling this, since I believe this kind of threat is definitely in their bag of tricks.”

SEVEN:

“President Barack Obama could use frozen Libyan government assets to pay for humanitarian aid to Libyan people....

"What part of the term "frozen assets" doesn't our govt understand? We are holding these pending the outcome of this struggle, and then we unfreeze them. We don't get to spend their money. This is nothing short of stealing. If we want to be all humanitarian goody-goody about helping them, we spend from our own resources. That's how one acts charitably - by giving of what he himself owns. Not by stealing from others.

And if we don’t want to offer our own cash, we could lean on the Saudis: “Your majesty, why don’t you formally recognize the rebel govt and sign a letter of understanding, to wit: Using the frozen assets as collateral, we will loan you the money. If you win, you pay us out of those assets which will by law then be yours. If you lose this war, which will mean we won’t get paid back, we’ll consider the money well spent as an act of charity. Our Islamic government helping Libyan civilian Muslims in their hour of need.”

Steven Searle for US President in 2012“
That’s how it’s properly done.”

EIGHT:

"Everyone ... wants Gaddafi to go," the official said...

Whenever guys like this say "everyone," they mean "the (mostly White) people who count...the ones who live in the developed nations which would never have dreamed of starting two world wars...but did so anyway."

Not everyone wants Gaddafi to go. For instance, his soldiers who think they're staving off Western imperialism (true) and Al-Qaeda (quite possibly). There aren't many soldiers, even in the US army, who would fight against such overwhelming odds. You don't suppose they think they have God on their side, do you? You don't suppose that God is really on their side?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Maybe 'everyone' wants NATO and the US to stop their thinly-disguised gunboat diplomacy."

NINE:

"We need to check the family 'box,' to sit down with the family one last time,” said Huntsman [who is considering entering the GOP primaries as a presidential candidate]…

"Check the family 'box?'" I hope Huntsman feels that his family is more than just another 'box' on a checklist. Sounds to me like he doesn't have all his kin behind him, otherwise, why would he need to sit down with them one last time?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"I've never been terribly comfortable with check-list types. They're usually pretty uninspiringly conventional."

TEN:

[REF: Story that says BO's allies are disturbed he's focusing on the deficit instead of on jobs.]

None of this matters. Obama will still win by a landslide. All talk to the contrary is just an attempt to make this election look competitive. Got to keep the rubes hanging on in suspense: #1 Rule of Lamestream Media.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Shouldn't the GOP be cheering that Obama isn't trying to use the power of Big Govt to create the jobs which the Free Market should be creating on its own? Perhaps so, but they won't be publicly lauding Obama for this, yew betcha."

ELEVEN:

"This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House," [said] the party chairwoman...

Why doesn't the All-Powerful party let Rep. Weiner and his family determine what, to them, is "an unacceptable distraction?" So far, his constituents don't seem hell bent on seeing him go, so the party shouldn't pretend to speak for them. As for the House, are we to believe that the House is so poorly focused that members are actually allowing this affair to rise to the level of "unacceptable distraction?” Their response is just one more reason why we don’t need political parties, and should abolish them in a de facto way by insisting on voting only for independents.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"There’s an expression for what Weiner’s peers are trying to do – they’re trying to asshole him out of a job. That’s pretty much how they tackle the serious issues of the day, too.”

TWELVE:

"The idea that the U.S. could threaten to default is a dangerous one"...

Not really. A truly creative person could take a situation like this and turn it to his (or his nation's, or even his world's) advantage. We've become so numbed out by high finance flimflammery, we can accept without question our currently massive indebtedness without thinking the world will come to an end.

If we default, believe me - the world will not come to an end. A famous old pol once said, "A billion here, a billion there...after a while, you're talking about some serious money." Update that by changing "billion" to "trillion." It's only money.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"But...we don't have truly creative people at the helm, so I guess we're in the shitter after all."

THIRTEEN:

"[Pakistani] Officials initially claimed the five were suicide bombers..."

Mistakes (or blatant murders) like this will create the suicide bombers the govt is so afraid of. Others might call this tragedy "collateral damage" - a term we like to bandy about. Just remember: Every person felled as collateral damage has a friend or relative who then becomes our enemy.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"They don't need us, they don't want us, they just want us to leave them alone."

FOURTEEN:

"Having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress," Pennsylvania Rep. Allyson Schwartz said...[in reference to the Rep. Weiner scandal].

Is that so? I hate to break the news to Schwartz, but the general public thinks of congressmen as pretty low-down creatures. Besides, respect isn't what's fundamental. The ability to deliver is. Even if my congressman was a toad, I'd still vote for him as long as he effectively represented my interests. It doesn't get any easier than this.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"All I'm hearing is a bunch of pols trying to wrangle advantage for their party out of this [scandal concerning Rep. Weiner] - or trying for damage control. Again, for their party. Not for We-the-People."

FIFTEEN:

So a majority of the Senators opposed fee reduction [regarding fees charged by banks each time a credit card is used]. Isn’t the majority supposed to rule? Why are 60 votes “needed to prevail?” Oh, that’s right – that’s the cloture threshold to shut down an (unconstitutional) filibuster.

You don’t suppose the banks will try to make up this lost income somehow, do you? Will we end up paying a bigger price as the banks pour more “lobbying” money (I call that bribery, myself) into the pockets of the senators who supported them and a lot less into the pockets of their opponents? Will the Senate pass some kind of banker-friendly law as compensation for this measure?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“I still believe Obama’s biggest mistake was his failure to attack the filibuster device by threatening to take this to the Supreme Court. Imagine if he’d been bold enough to speechify about that during his first State of the Union address. But then again, Barack doesn’t do bold.”

SIXTEEN:

“A top Republican … called on … Weiner to resign, saying Congress cannot afford to be distracted….”

Does this top dawg think Congress has ADD – that they’re that easily distractible?

"We've got a lot of serious challenges going on in this country and a lot of work for Congress to do. [Then I suggest you get to it and stop your manic obsessing.] The last thing we need is to be immersed in discussion ..” So, un-immerse your silly selves.

“Democrats sounded even angrier …, complaining he had effectively given Republicans a break…” Only if you sink to their level and let them have that break. Rise above their shameless grandstanding for advantage, and show us that you’re statesmen leading the greatest country on earth, not petty pols who allow their opponents to dictate priorities.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“I hope Weiner hangs in there (no pun intended), for sooner or later, other ladies will step forward with their stories. Hmm…maybe that’s what the House is most afraid of.”

SEVENTEEN:

“Still, military leaders are warning publicly …”

Whoa, just one gall dern minute. How is it that military leaders get to speak their minds about ANYTHING publicly. When I was in the military, I was told (in no uncertain terms) that I no longer had freedom of speech.  When you’re in the service, you lose a lot of rights that the average citizen takes for granted.

Besides, think of it this way: If you have the President saying one thing, and the military saying something else, that undermines the President. If our senior officers have an opinion, and if Barack Obama cares to solicit that opinion, they may speak. Otherwise, they may not. End of discussion.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“Not to choose too gross an example, but I couldn’t imagine Hitler’s generals publicly opposing his policies in the heat of battle. Just saying…”

EIGHTEEN:

How is the sinking economy Obama's fault? I didn't happen to see any leadership or bills to fix the mess coming from the Pubber-controlled House. Boner's in charge over there, yet the silence has been deafening. Also, I don't hear anybody in this race saying anything about keeping us out of foreign wars, or pulling us out of Iraq and Afghanistan...like NOW.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Oh, that's right...I'm saying these things but I not a Pubber or a Dem...just a (much needed) independent."

NINETEEN:

"after NATO military craft unleashed a ferocious series of nearly 30 daytime airstrikes on Tripoli."

Given how ham-handed NATO has been with its military responses throughout this campaign, I find it hard to believe those 30 airstrikes didn't manage to kill civilians. Weren't we supposed to only seek to keep Gafhafi's forces in check so they wouldn't massacre civilians? And yet we (yes, NATO is "we") don't think of killing them, though we call that by another name - "collateral damage."

There's a special place in hell for Barack Obama.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012
"Enough of Change We Can Believe In!"

TWENTY:

“The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Richard Shelby, has criticized Diamond for lacking specific monetary policy experience.”

Shelby’s nothing but an unrepentant boll weevil, who knows NOTHING about the financial big picture – he’s a lawyer by training and a career politician, for heaven’s sake. How dare Shelby say Diamond lacks experience. Doesn’t Shelby know experience doesn’t matter? It surely didn’t in his own case, since Shelby floated like a turd to the top by virtue of the seniority system, NOT due to his oracle-like wisdom in financial affairs.

Not to mention our own lack of experience in the White House in the person of Barack Obama who, like all other presidents, is a One Man Branch of Government. That is to say, the lack of experience seems to be the new national norm – God help us. And Shelby has the arrogance to turn down Diamond, just to settle an old political score?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“Under the system of Cross-Sectional Representation I’ve invented, toads like Shelby couldn’t ever possible be elected to national office.”

TWENTY-ONE:

"...the chief government spokesman acknowledged that Syrian forces had lost control of some areas for ‘intermittent periods of time’ and said residents had appealed to the army to do what was necessary to restore security." You say, "the residents had appealed?" I doubt that.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Frankly, I wonder why Assad hasn't yet tried to one-up his dad, the former president who was responsible for killing between 20 - 40 thousand of his rebellious countrymen in Hama in 1982. Kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop."

TWENTY-TWO:

Maybe Congressman Weiner should be congratulated for a unique kind of courage. He's willing to endure public ridicule over relatively minor offenses. Actually, he didn't even break the law. So if he can stand up publicly and say he still wants to represent his constituents, it's up to them to decide how much of a stink they want to cause. They can't recall him and demand another election, but they can petition and rouse the rabble all they want.

It might be interesting to take a poll on their attitude, but I personally think he should be allowed to do his job. Then we'll see what happens when he's up for reelection.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Cut this guy some slack and stop giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls - there are worst bastards acting holier-than-thou in Congress, who actually have dead bodies to account for."

TWENTY-THREE:

"I'm ready to lead. I'm ready to do what has to be done for the next generation..." – Mitt Romney.  Hmm...something's missing here. Oh, I know, "If elected, this is what I'll do..."

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"And if you want to know what I'll do if elected, just google 'Steven Searle US President 2012' which leads to my very detailed blog."

TWENTY-FOUR:

"...the leading newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party..."

China's Communist Party? There is no Communist Party in China anymore simply because there is no more Communism in China any more.

Not to worry, though. Some "Communist" mandarin will figure out that using that label will prove to be embarrassing and, more importantly, might give dissatisfied peasants some funny ideas about mounting a "people's rebellion."

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Some day in the future, a Ministry of Truth drudge will find an old newspaper trumpeting Chinese Communism. His supervisor will tell him to toss that down the Memory Hole, saying, 'China is not now nor ever has been a Communist/communist society.'"

TWENTY-FIVE:

"While the Iraq surge was credited with scoring progress in that war..." Don't kid yourself. Not only is "that war" not over, it hasn't really yet begun. Five to ten years down the pike, we'll look back and ask, "Golly gee, how did that happen? How did we end up losing Iraq?"

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Okay, I'll explain it now for the benefit of that future inquirer: Iraq was never ours to lose in the first place."

TWENTY-SIX:

"...threats from Shiite Muslim militias, hoping to construct a narrative that they were responsible for driving out the Americans."

Well, if we can have our narratives, why can't the Shiite's have theirs? If my memory serves me right, we went into Iraq because Saddam Hussein made a televised speech at the UN directly threatening NYC with nuclear attack if we didn't stop hassling him. No, wait...that can't be it...ah, I've got it: It was to make the world safe for democracy. Hmm...that has a familiar ring, like it's been used before. What is our current narrative, anyway?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"Now I remember...this comes from my days in the military: 'If you can get away with it, do it.'"

TWENTY-SEVEN:

[Story headline: F-15s intercept plane near US presidential retreat]

Too bad those F-15's couldn't have scrambled when it really counted - on 9/11.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"It's amazing how quickly planes can scramble when their pilots don't have any 'Stand Down' orders holding them back."

TWENTY-EIGHT:

Michael,

You claim, “[Weiner] has admitted to wrongdoing, but will still collect a retirement check from all of us."

Don’t you think the word “wrongdoing” is a bit strong – perhaps “misguided moral compass” would be more accurate? In any event, Weiner didn’t break the law – which is what most people would understand to be “wrongdoing.”

As for your claim, “As a public servant, he should lose everything”... Even if Weiner is expelled from Congress, the current law would allow him to collect his pension. To change the law now to try to punish his conduct would be unconstitutional. That would be an example of an ex post facto law.

All these people who are raising a stink about abuses of the congressional pension system should have been complaining years ago. But, no, only when one man’s miscues hit the news do we hear any squawking. Hell of a way to run a country – after the fact.

Actually, Weiner is being quite brilliant here. He takes a little time off, allows the public to forget (which it will), and then quietly returns to his office to serve his constituents to the best of his ability. And most galling of all, at least to his detractors? His district will probably re-elect him, if he isn’t redistricted out of a job.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“Too many people ‘respond’ politically only when a scandal breaks. I call them 'kneejerkers.'”

TWENTY-NINE:

"NATO warplanes relentlessly bombed Tripoli..."

Why is NATO dilly-dallying around? Why not just firebomb Tripoli as the allies had done to Dresden in WWII? Oh, that's right...doing so would needlessly kill civilians, which is why NATO intervened in this civil war in the first place. Although...since "NATO warplanes relentlessly bombed Tripoli,” aren't civilians being killed anyway?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

"The lesson learned from Dresden will be applied to Tripoli - when our guys do it, it's not a war crime.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party

“There are times when I walk the streets alone. I try to sense how much my fellow Americans care about the issues of the day. I don’t like what I too often see in their faces – defeat, exhaustion, resignation, mindlessness. That’s why I do what I do.”

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com