So much fear in America

Maybe I shouldn't pay so much attention to what the government and media do. Probably I would be a happier person if I did.

This may seem apropos of nothing, but it's a general reaction to how this country has been going over the past decade or so.

Our policies are predicated on a few things

- We are the good guys

- Terrorists hate us because they are bad guys

- The best approach is to take the fight to them

It's just so hard to hear all sorts of things motivated in the name of "fighting terror". We're engaged in a shooting war in Yemen (without any Congressional vote on it, naturally) and it's really hard to know what the reason is supposed to be. And since we don't really know what the goal is, there's no possible way the process can resolve itself.

I think our processes have completely detached from any plausible rationales. Why is the US fighting in Yemen? Because continued war is good for the people pursuing the war.

Anyway, the war thing is just one of many things that make me feel like I cannot vote for Obama come November. There's just way too much abuse of power going on. Maybe I cannot stop it. But I don't have to act like I approve of it. And given that Obama deceived people like me to get his vote in 2008, I'd feel like a jerk to go along with him regardless of his many broken promises.

Many posting ideas this week:

- the imminent end of the Garnett/Allen/Pierce era for the Celtics

- Prometheus: Noomi Rapace as an academic. My reaction is predictable

- time to play with some science policy posts

But back to the topic. I am tired of being flooded with negativity and fear. I feel like I resist the propaganda, but I'm suspecting that's not entirely true. Not that I'm living in fear, but it's a bummer when so many people are so frightened about everything.

p.s. I wonder what happened to the paragraphs? Apparently I have to do my own HTML now?