The Fog of Crisis

The term Fog of War has come to refer to the lack of certainty in military operations. If you stop and look at it, not only wars but other kinds of crises can also produce a "fog" of uncertainty and ambiguity. The war in Syria is an example. Allegations that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons have been flying around the media and have been accepted as fact by Sec. of State John Kerry. These allegations have not been conclusively proven, however, but nvertheless the Obama administration is now been pushed to take military action against the Assad regime.

Such action would accomplish nothing. The US could drop bombs or fire missiles at Syria and that would not solve anything. Syria's problems are for the Syrians themselves to resolve. Syria isn't ours to fix anymore than was China, Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan.

While America Burns

The Roman Emperor Nero did not actually fiddle while Rome burned in 64 AD; the violin hadn't been invented yet and some historians think Nero wasn't even in Rome at the time. But today we have a Congress that is screwing around while California burns. Even while the California Repub Dana Rohrabacher maintains that global warming is a "hoax." In the meantime funding for fighting wildfires has been cut by Congress. This is on top of cuts to education and scientific research. Oh yeah, and the nation's bridges are falling apart. A person with brains would think that the Repubs are deliberately trying to destroy America.

Can We Deal with Irrationality?

When we consider the events that led to WW2, we are haunted by one question. At what point should people have realized that Adolf Hitler was not just an "aggressive nationalist" but a threat to world peace, and possibly to civilization itself? It's a complicated question and one that has many dimensions. But I think that one important indication is that Hitler was unappeasable. He continued to make more and more demands, and there was no end point except world domination.

Irrationality, of course didn't end with Hitler. Political extremism, takes many forms. We can see Al Qaeda, who's extreme and twisted version of Islam has led it to conduct a global campaign of terror, much of it directed at Muslims they don't approve of. In the wake of the attacks of 9/11/2001 we Americans thought that Al Qaeda was going to lead some kind of Pan-Islamic Jihad. In reality, all they have done is wreak death and destruction.

The problem happens when people adopt beliefs that are unarguable, that must be accepted or rejected. When persons adopt the position that you are either with them or against them, then how can they be dealt with?

Rancid Priebus Passing Gas

Rancid Reince Priebus, chairman of the RNC, is venting gas because CNN is planning to make a movie about Hillary Rodham Clinton. Priebus and the RNC are threatening to exclude CNN and NBC from covering the 2016 GOP debates. The Gopers don't seem to realize that they would only be hurting themselves. The Gopers still insist that the "liberal media" is against them. The fact the media is actually controlled by corporate interests doesn't bother them. Gopers believe what they believe even that the earth is flat and the moon is made of cheese.