BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Why Leaders Make a Mistake, Can't Fix it and Won't Admit it. A world leader can make a huge mistake such as leading their nation to an unjust war, then, after the reasons for the war are shown to be invalid, not be able to bring themselves to admit that the mistake that the war was wrong or be “big enough” to reverse policy and stop the war. Instead, they continue to maintain that the war was right all along, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. They defend their error, fail to reverse course, and allow many more to die needlessly. This happens often in history. One thinks of Napoleon’s foolish invasion of Russia. Hitler did the same a century later. One thinks of Vietnam. One thinks of Iraq. Psychiatrists call it "narcissistic rage in leaders". It is direct evidence of a leader's fundamental psychological weakness--a damaged and fragile self-concept. But it can also lead to the destruction of individuals, groups, organizations, and even entire nations. ...

Leaders Use Patriotism to Justify Today's 'Holy Wars' By RICHARD E. CROSS Our country is torn apart by controversy when it comes to the subject of war. Americans are at odds over the meaning of "patriotism" and "supporting our troops." In our own local paper there has been an ongoing and heated exchange on the subject. Amid these arguments, however, we can observe a dangerous and distorted concept of "patriotism" that has become a new kind of "religion" for some. The state has become an object of worship, and the age-old mantra of "holy war" has once again been involved to mislead and deceive the citizens of our homeland. Hermann Goering, Hitler's second in command, said it cynically but acutely: "The people can always be brought to do the bidding of their leaders. That is easy. All you have to is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the fatherland t...

AFTER THE FALL: WHY AMERICA NEEDS A SPIRITUAL LEFT by Rabbi Michael Lerner For years the Democrats have been telling themselves 'it's the economy, stupid.' Yet millions of middle-income Americans have voted against their economic interests to support Republicans who have tapped a deeper set of needs. Democrats differ on the fix. The center/right activists of the Democratic Leadership Council warn that the Party needs to distance itself more from its economic populism, its anti-war discourse (what they call the George McGovern or Howard Dean wing of the party), and its identification with gays, feminists, and other cultural legacies of the 1960s. On the other hand, center/left activists like Robert Borosage of the mainstream progressive Campaign for America's Future and Katrina van den Heuvel, editor of the Nation, call for big ideas from progressives but actually have little more to offer than the recycled ideas that failed to catch primary voters when they were offered...

LEADERS OF FAITH by Alan Dershowitz Audience member: “And I want my testimony to read that I voted for a man who stands for the lord Jesus Christ. And you sir, you’re a pretender. You do not know the lord. You’re a Mormon.” Romney: “One of the great things about this great land is we have people of different faiths and different persuasions. And I’m convinced that the nation does need to have people of different faiths, but we need to have a person of faith lead the country.” (Emphasis added.) Mitt Romney on CNN 02/19/07 ~~~~ Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has himself been a victim of bigotry because of his religion, engaged in a bit of religious bigotry himself recently. In the process, he also indicated that he does not believe in Article 6 of the United States Constitution, which declares that “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office…under the United States.” Romney said he would impose such a test. He declared that “we need to have...