Because I have been blogging for over twelve years so I need to remind myself that many of my readers are young or have not yet been exposed to some very fine films and books.

If you have not yet seen the documentary about Robert McNamara — or don’t know who McNamara is — then you need to sit down your smart phones, take your laptop off your lap, and focus on screening The Fog of War – Eleven Lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara, directed by Errol Morris with a touching score by Philip Glass.

This movie is a masterwork. Get it from Amazon as a DVD (like I did in 2008) or as a instant digital download or getting it from Netflix like I did (I left my DVD in DC).

Watch it right now.  Do it.

One of our country’s greatest-of-all-time minds was tasked with masterminding the master-strategies of World War II through the Vietnam War.

Some of his admissions, from the horse’s mouth, are incredible. In response to fire-bombing Tokyo, General Curtis LeMay and Robert McNamara had the following back and forth that I quote from DiText:

LeMay said that “If we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals.” “And I think he’s right. He, and I’d say I, were behaving as war criminals . . . LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side has lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?

That’s a pretty amazing admission. And I believe that in many wars, the coup de grâce is often a criminal act — an act so brutal and devastating that the enemy says uncle.  Such violent profanity is so common that the French dismiss it with a phrase:

C’est la guerre

Quite a lot of the world has crimes against humanity warrants out for President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and I guarantee there will be warrants out for President Barack Obama over Libya, that’s for certain. Additionally, if not for raining Hellfire missiles on Pakistan then for rampant civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Only time will tell, but one will easily see, after watching the movie, that so many souls — hundreds of thousands — are sacrificed gladly with the understanding that others, our military men and women, are spared.

This documentary is surely an end-of-live, 11th hour, mea maxima culpa confession. He may well be an “IBM machine with legs” as he’s been described; however he’s also a sentimental man, a passionate man, a devoted man, a man who considers his actions as service to his country and to his president, and also not the result of avarice or glory — to me, anyway.

At the end of the movie, I respect Robert Strange McNamara quite a lot.  And to think that we have minds and hearts such as his in the White House and Pentagon make me feel much safer.

Do we really want to know how the sausage is made?  Do we really want to consider the breaking of the eggs?

Here are lessons of war that Robert S McNamara puts forward in the film (via Wikipedia):

R.S. McNamara’s eleven lessons of war

1. Empathize with your enemy
2. Rationality will not save us
3. There’s something beyond one’s self
4. Maximize efficiency
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war
6. Get the data
7. Belief and seeing are often both wrong
8. Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
10. Never say never
11. You can’t change human nature

Ten additional lessons from R.S. McNamara

(These supplement the documentary; they are in the DVD’s special features.)

1. The human race will not eliminate war in this century, but we can reduce the brutality of war—the level of killing—by adhering to the principles of a “Just War,” in particular to the principle of “proportionality.”
2. The indefinite combinations of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations.
3. We [the U.S.A.] are the most powerful nation in the world—economically, politically, and militarily—and we are likely to remain so for decades ahead. But we are not omniscient. If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of the proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend directly the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.
4. Moral principles are often ambiguous guides to foreign policy and defense policy, but surely we can agree that we should establish as a major goal of U.S. foreign policy and, indeed, of foreign policy across the globe: the avoidance, in this century of the carnage—160 million dead—caused by conflict in the 20th century.
5. We, the richest nation in the world, have failed in our responsibility to our own poor and to the disadvantaged across the world to help them advance their welfare in the most fundamental terms of nutrition, literacy, health and employment.
6. Corporate executives must recognize there is no contradiction between a soft heart and a hard head. Of course, they have responsibilities to stockholders, but they also have responsibilities to their employees, their customers and to society as a whole.
7. President Kennedy believed a primary responsibility of a president—indeed the primary responsibility of a president—is to keep the nation out of war, if at all possible.
8. War is a blunt instrument by which to settle disputes between or within nations, and economic sanctions are rarely effective. Therefore, we should build a system of jurisprudence based on the International Court—that the U.S. has refused to support—which would hold individuals responsible for crimes against humanity.
9. If we are to deal effectively with terrorists across the globe, we must develop a sense of empathy—I don’t mean “sympathy,” but rather “understanding”—to counter their attacks on us and the Western World.
10. One of the greatest dangers we face today is the risk that terrorists will obtain access to weapons of mass destruction as a result of the breakdown of the Non-Proliferation Regime. We in the U.S. are contributing to that breakdown.

Eleven lessons from the Vietnam War

The documentary’s lessons-learned concept is McNamara’s eleven-lesson list of In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (1995).

1. We misjudged then — and we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries … and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.
2. We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience … We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.
3. We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.
4. Our misjudgments of friend and foe, alike, reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.
5. We failed then — and have since — to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology military equipment, forces, and doctrine. We failed, as well, to adapt our military tactics to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture.
6. We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large-scale military involvement … before we initiated the action.
7. After the action got under way, and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course … we did not fully explain what was happening, and why we were doing what we did.
8. We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient. Our judgment of what is in another people’s or country’s best interest should be put to the test of open discussion in international forums. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose.
9. We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action … should be carried out only in conjunction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community.
10. We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions … At times, we may have to live with an imperfect, untidy world.
11. Underlying many of these errors lay our failure to organize the top echelons of the executive branch to deal effectively with the extraordinarily complex range of political and military issues.

I have really sad news to share. I just found out that San Carlos Mayor Omar Ahmad passed away.  I only knew Omar as a friend. Yes, he was obviously a very successful man and the mayor of a California city with a population of 27,424. Yes, we spoke about the state of the city under the stress of a collapsed economy. But not really.

The last time we met was when I was rolling through Los Angeles on a crazy around-the-country business trip in my car.

He reached out to me last February from San Carlos to let me know he was coming to LA to see one of his favorite singer-songwriters,Vinx, at Molly Malones on the 10th.

It was only an evening together but with his friend, like always, it wasn’t just about seeing a show, it wasn’t just about listening to music, and it wasn’t just going out on a school night.

Like every other magic experience with Omar, I met the band, I met Vinx, and I even met Vinx’s lovely manager, Jennifer Lambert.

Of course, we have been to many conferences together all around the country for years and year, and all of those conferences have been especially welcoming and interesting because of Mayor Ahmad — both because of his personal contributions but also because his professional, intellectual, spiritual, and political contributions as well.

I mourn this loss. I feel for his family and friends. I wanted more time. I wanted to Omar to show my his city. I wanted to see him in that context.  To see what his home way like, his office, his neighborhood.  I put it off because there was always plenty of time.  Well, there wasn’t and I regret that.  One thing I won’t regret, however, is only knowing the man, Omar, and not ever letting the successes, the titles, or the politics get in the way of that, never coloring it.  I got to know the man and for that I am grateful.

Godspeed my friend Omar. I am certain you will be as magnetic, joyful, generous, curious, and popular in the afterlife as you were in these, your beautiful forty-six years.

• San Jose Mercury News: San Carlos Mayor Omar Ahmad dies from heart attack
• City of San Carlos: Mayor Omar Ahmad Passes Away After Heart Attack
• City of San Carlos: City Statement – Mayor Omar Ahmad Passes Away
• City of San Carlos: Transit Board Member Omar Ahmad Remembered
• Religion Dispatches: Omar Ahmad: Muslim, American, Cowboy Boot Aficianado (1965-2011)

Image by wstera2 via Flickr

Since there’s so much going on online, post Osama bin Laden‘s death in Pakistan, in memoriam of the attacks on September 11th, I wanted to add my personal memories as culled from my blog entries from 9/11 and the week or so afterwards. As close to real-time reporting of the moment as I have:

Driving the Jeep Home
Posted Sep 11, 2002 – 09:29 AM

I must have spent some time with Michelle, as she was under the weather, because on my drive back from Michelle’s pad in Dupont, I had the windows rolled down and Morning Edition on the radio. It was then that I heard about the 0850 and 0904 crashes into the World Trade Center. First into the first Twin Tower (as I knew them) and then the second, respectively.

The weather was pristine, in the low 80′s like it is today, and I had the windows down and the radio was on loud. I looked over to other drivers and we shared looks. The looks were not terror, they were not panic, they were not any of those things. They were not even numb, dumb looks. They were looks of incredulousness. Disbelief. Dumfounded.

There were rumors of all sorts of things at that moment. There had been no sort of anything in DC yet, but there were rumors that there was a bomb in the State Depeartment.

At this time, 9:30, I was driving fast down Massachusetts Avenue, returning from a night’s sleepover with my ex-girlfriend, Michelle.

I was staying there because I has double-booked my apartment and as there was a bed for Isabelle and a bed for Kate, I was either sleeping on the love seat (I am 6’3″) or in the bed of a friend. Michelle was my friend. Michelle is my friend. So are Kate and Isa.

Lincoln Park and the Explosion
Posted Sep 11, 2002 – 09:35 AM

I returned to the Hill, and was rounding Lincoln park, on 11th Street, SE, and I heard an enormous, muffled, but distant blast. There were rumors on the radio that there was a bomb at the State Department. Michelle works at the State Department.

I hit the gas and hustled home to Isabelle, to Kate, to the television and to the phone so that I could call Michelle to see if she was okay.

Before the blast, I was in the Jeep, listening to Morning Edition on the radio. I was returning to my home office. I had the windows down and saw everyone in the other cars with looks of disbelief in their faces. My face must have been similar.

When the day began, I woke up in bed with my Ex, Michelle. She had let me spend the night because I had double-booked my pad and needed someplace to crash. She was sick so she didn’t plan on going to work in the Library of the Department of State.

Upon Arrival at the Grotto
Posted Sep 11, 2002 – 12:03 PM

Upon returning to the Grotto, my pad, I joined Kate and Isa on the blue Ikea loveseat. They were hunched over, squinting at the little Sony 19″ TV with all their might. The room was dark. Kate told me my mom had called to tell me what was going on. When she called, Kate and Isa had turned on the TV. Neither of them watches. Only my obsessive NPR-listening kept me informed as returned from Michelle’s.

It was really only then did I recognize what was going on in NYC. It was only then, as they alternated between live news feeds and the looping looping looping footage of the crash crash crash of the two planes into what knew as the twin towers, but now learned were called Tower One and Tower Two of the World Trade Center.

I had been in New York city just about a month previous. I had been staying in Brooklyn in Anne and Ian’s apartment. While they were gone. When they returned, I commuted into the City with Anne. She works for Moody’s. Ian works for the Port Authority. She worked right next to the WTC towers and he, Ian, worked in them.

We had walked from their gorgeous walkup apartment in Brooklyn to the Subway. It was only a short ride to the Subway right there at the WTC. I walked Anne to her building, gave her a hug and a kiss, and then headed uptown to the trains back to DC.

I wrote this first weblog entry the week before visiting Anne, Ian, Marlise, Minna, and Mark; I wrote this second weblog entry the week after.

Funny that. It bears no importance that I was at the towers a little over one month before the terrorist events of 9-11, but I hadn’t realized it.

Collecting My Family
Posted Sep 11, 2002 – 12:20 PM

When I realized the import of what was going on, I called Michelle Nolan, my recent Ex, and told her that I was jumping into the Jeep and dashing back over to Dupont so that I could collect her from her 10th floor condo, right up the street from the State Department and relatively close to the Executive Branch. And she lives in a Studio apartment, one wall of which is glass. And she lives with our dog Suzi.

So although she didn’t want to come at first, I sped over there anyway. To collect her. To collect them. Big Little Erz and Little Little Erz.

There was a lot of traffic forming. There were the first signs of the military. I hustled up 13th, and then made it up to Florida and cut around above the city center and after some nasty jams, I made it in to Dupont and there was Miss Michelle and Miss Suzi, all packed up and ready to bail.

I got her in the car. As I said before, she was feeling sick anyway. She was looking kind of out of it; I knew I was kind of out of it. It didn’t matter. When I need to perform, I always do, thank God.

As I recall, there were already Hummers at some of the corners downtown, so I avoided downtown again. I tried my best to do the circuit, but as I recall, I believe I tool Mass Ave mostly.

When we got into the Grotto — Suzi, Kate, Michelle, Isa, and I — I felt better. And by that time, Anita was back home and her crew were starting to drink some beers. Isa had made plans to bail town to the ‘burbs to avoid the inevitable, I was blogging and sending emails on the kitchen table, Michelle and Kate were glued to the TV, and Suzi was just chillin’. She’s good like that.

Of course, the towers fell. The fell and many people didn’t get out. And there is something wrong when the rescuers need rescue.

By noon, Kate and I headed over to Al’s to grab some ‘za.

And, then there was the plane, hijacked, and apparently on its way to the White House. And then there was the report of it going down in a field in Central Pennsylvania.

And the day passed.

Washington (and America) Under Siege.
Posted Sep 11, 2001 – 11:10 AM

This morning at 0850 a jetliner crashed into the World Trade Center. Then another. Then a jetliner crashed into the Pentagon. A car bomb at State. A fire at the Old Executive Office building. I heard an explosion on the way home from Dupont. I guess it was the State Department. The towers collapsed. There is a jetliner on route to DC. It is hijacked. A 747 crashed in Western PA. Part of the Pentagon is collapsed. All federal buildings have been evacuated. F-16s are scrambled. The two towers are collapsed at the World Trade Center. What are you doing right now? Are you okay? What were you doing when the initial terrorist action was perpetrated?

Washington Gridlocked and Panicked.
Posted Sep 11, 2001 – 02:01 PM

Union Station is closed down, for obvious reasons. 395 in Virginia is as well. I was just on the road picking my friend up from Dupont so she would not be alone, so I know that 16th street up to Bethesda is locked, so is New York Avenue, Rhode Island, Mass Ave, and obviously downtown. I have decided not to leave the city, as this probably won’t go NBC, so I am staying put.

People are blowing through red lights and stop signs. Emergency Vehicles are stranded in traffic.

I recommend leaving your windows open so that you can hear sirens and horns

The routes out of the city are mad and gridlocked but most folks who are home are eating lunch right now at the stores and restaurants around the hill.

Don’t panic. Stay at home. Slow and stop for pedestrians. Give blood. Respect the authority of the street cops as they direct you, if you will be on the road.

Be safe.

Friends, Please Check In!
Posted Sep 11, 2001 – 2:33 PM

If you are here, you might know me. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to those who are suffering, are injured, or have died, and their friends and family.

Secondly, please click on the “comments?” link below and let me know if you are okay? Or if you want or need to talk about this.

My Experience of Wednesday’s Terrorism in DC
Posted Sep 11, 2001 – 03:42 PM

Egad!

I found out on the way back home this morning from a friend’s house. On NPR. At 0930. Washington was hit by an AA jet — the Pentagon.

I left the windows open when I was driving. I drove across town twice today, once from Dupont at 0930 and once at around 1130.

Each cross street was dangerous because there was a cascade of Emergency vehicles. I left the doors open because of Emergency vehicles as well as cop cars. I kept my windows open because people were blowing through stoplights and stop signs.

Union Station is locked down. When I dropped Isa off there, all trains were ceased and Jersey Barriers. The sky was and is clear, bright blue, and earily quiet.

There is not a plane in the sky.

Southwest of here, there is a waft of dark smoke. I assume it is the Pentagon.

All the roads out of town are gridlocked and I am hoping that there is not a second round.

The entire city is evacuated. There have been many revisions of what had happened: car bomb at the State Dept., Old Executive Office Building on fire. Something going on at the White House.

Right now, the skyline of Manhattan is completely different and Washington a panicked and ornery.

The Pentagon is still partially collapsed and the full extent of the attack — the force of its ripple; the reaction to a definite action — is still to be revealed. Is everyone okay? Is Anne and her fiancé Ian okay? Others in Gov’t and Finance?

Well, I know that Mark, Michelle, Diane, Cheryl, Suzi, and Kate are okay. How about the rest of you. Lots of love and Godspeed!

Chris Abraham

Normalish
Posted Sep 13, 2001 – 06:02 PM

I just drove out to Target on rt 1. The car’s batts were acting funny, so I wanted to get a charge on, so I went to Target so that I could buy a can opener and some laundry detergernt and dishwashing machine liquid.

I didn’t see the damage to the Pentagon. What side was it on? Anyway, aside from the a little more intensity with regards the police presence, all the roads are open and I could even travel up Independence back to the pad.

Its very weird to see it heal at least superficially so darn quickly. There are roads closed off, but I don’t see the National Guard or anything.

Chez Michelle
Posted Sep 11, 2002 – 07:30 AM

A year ago this morning at 0719, 11 September 2001, I woke up with Michelle. Michelle had recently moved out of our shared apartment and into her new condo in the Chandra Levy building in deepest, darkest Dupont, Washington, DC, US.

Michelle felt sick. I got up, had some water, used the loo, and then left the little Studio flat with our dog. I walked Suzi up to P Street, grabbed Michelle some food from the convenience store. The kind of care package one collects for a friend who is under the weather. As everyone knows, I always over-buy. She could have camped out in her little apartment, under the covers, for a week on my supplies.

Chris Abraham Online 9-11

On February 17th, in the New York Times, Paul Krugman wrote an op-ed piece that I didn’t read until this morning.  I have been so frustrated by the right as they consistently talk smaller government and deficit-reduction when in fact have a terrible track record for either.  In Willie Sutton Wept, Krugman speaks for me so I am going to except from it shamelessly — these words are my thoughts on the subject, my heart, and my mind, but better — by Paul Krugman — about the subject (emphasis is mine):

There are three things you need to know about the current budget debate. First, it’s essentially fraudulent. Second, most people posing as deficit hawks are faking it. Third, while President Obama hasn’t fully avoided the fraudulence, he’s less bad than his opponents — and he deserves much more credit for fiscal responsibility than he’s getting.

[ . . . ]

Slashing spending while the economy is still deeply depressed is a recipe for slower economic growth, which means lower tax receipts — so any deficit reduction from G.O.P. cuts would be at least partly offset by lower revenue.

[ . . . ]

Anyone who is really serious about the budget should be focusing mainly on health care. And by focusing, I don’t mean writing down a number and expecting someone else to make that number happen — a dodge known in the trade as a “magic asterisk.” I mean getting behind specific actions to rein in costs.

[ . . . ]

What would real action on health look like? Well, it might include things like giving an independent commission the power to ensure that Medicare only pays for procedures with real medical value; rewarding health care providers for delivering quality care rather than simply paying a fixed sum for every procedure; limiting the tax deductibility of private insurance plans; and so on.

And what do these things have in common? They’re all in last year’s health reform bill.

That’s why I say that Mr. Obama gets too little credit. He has done more to rein in long-run deficits than any previous president. And if his opponents were serious about those deficits, they’d be backing his actions and calling for more; instead, they’ve been screaming about death panels.

[ . . . ]

If you’re serious about the deficit, you should be willing to consider closing at least part of this gap with higher taxes. True, higher taxes aren’t popular, but neither are cuts in government programs.

Oh, and even Paul Krugman avoids the third rail issue of military spending, the cost of the war on terrorism, a multi-front war, and a Defense Department budget of almost $550 billion dollars for 2011 — which does not include any of the other Department of Homeland Security agencies, including the CIA, the FBI, the TSA, the NRO — all of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. But, since we have men in the field, that’s a dangerous thing to broach — which is odd because wanting to bring our boys home used to be a noble aim; however, when there are no jobs at home, I guess that’s a Catch-22, indeed.

It is only January 4, 2011, and I am seeing articles like this from the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Big Firms Poised to Spend Again,

“We preserved cash” over the past few years, said Jim Flaws, chief financial officer of Corning Inc. “Now we’re turning around and feeling comfortable about our outlook and spending it.”

“Big U.S. companies have cleaned up their balance sheets and, flush with cash, appear open to using it in 2011 on factories, stores and even hiring.

It looks like it will be a race between the Obama administration and the new Republican Congress to prove that the economy started healing and US companies started hiring and spending before the austerity measures and repeals that Congress has queued up start cutting into the very few public services that we have left.

As a communications professional, this will all boil down to messaging.  Will the American public even know that the largest US companies are coming out of their three year hibernation well before the Tea Party and the Republicans start slashing and burning essential public works and public health initiatives?  We’ll see.

To date, the Obama administration an the Democrats in charge has done a terrible job of keeping the passion alive.  What I should be able to say is that this is Obama’s to lose but that’s not the case — the GOP already owns this space and could probably roll through and even begin associating the return of jobs and the market with the Republican win last November.

This is a list of what FOX News viewers believe to be true (via Perez Hilton*):

• 91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
• 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
• 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
• 60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
• 49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
• 63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
• 56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
• 38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
• 63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)

* Obviously, it must be true

Today, November 2nd, is Election Day!

Make sure to get out and vote. Voting is pretty simple, but if you have any questions, here’s an outline of helpful information. Please share this information widely–forward this email, and post it on Facebook and Twitter.

(Reading this on your mobile phone? You can get voting info here: http://m.google.com/elections)

Where and when do I vote?

• Find your polling place, voting times, and other important information at http://pol.moveon.org/votinginfo2010.html, using an application developed by the Voting Information Project.

• You can also get your polling location by texting “where” to 30644 from your mobile phone.

• These resources are excellent, but not perfect, so to double-check information, you can use the Voting Information Project application to find contact information for your state or local election official.

What do I need to bring?

• Voting ID laws vary from state to state, but if you have ID, bring it. To find out the details, check out your state’s info at http://www.866ourvote.org/state.

• You can also find more information by calling or checking out the website of your state election official. Look up their contact information here: http://pol.moveon.org/votinginfo2010.html

What if something goes wrong?

• Not on the voter list? Make sure you’re at the right polling place, then ask for a provisional ballot.

• Need legal help? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE or email help@866ourvote.org.

On your ballot

• The League of Young Voters has put together a site where groups and individuals can post do-it-yourself voter guides. Check out your state here: http://theballot.org/

How can I help get out the vote today?

• Make calls to voters right from your home: http://pol.moveon.org/2010/call/start.html
And a quote to remind us all how important it is to vote today…

“Because if everyone who fought for change in 2008 shows up to vote in 2010, we will win this election, I’m confident that we will.” –President Barack Obama

My friend Richard Laermer believes that President Obama’s lack of physical and visible anger is the direct result of being from Hawaii.

I am from Hawaii. Richard sees lots of similarity between the behavior of people he knows from Hawaii and the president — including me!

Maybe, however I also think it has a little to do with avoiding the “angry black man” label as well… sort of a hybrid.  The question is, why would growing up in Hawaii result in such behavior?

Well, I tried, below, to brainstorm some reasons, though it’s rough.  The long-story-short is that Hawaii is more influenced by the Asian social and cultural mores that state that one must do anything to save face and prevent shaming your opponent, allowing them an “out”  — and your foe must, as well, work hard to protect you from shame as well.

It is not that Hawaii locals, natives, and kama’ainas (localized haoles) don’t get angry, fight, and so forth — but the issue here is about shame.

It is about saving face and allowing your foe an opportunity to save face, too.

We (generally) don’t like to corner anyone — the mentality states that we allow other people to escape from a terrible situation with their pride intact and also demand that we’re allowed to do the same.

It is a little like this in the South as well, I have discovered.

And really WASPY people sort of play by some of these rules.

It is an Asian interpretation of “what goes around comes around” — by never cornering your enemy, you offer the best of both worlds while doing your best to prevent BBS (burnt bridge syndrome).

However, Asians; Hawaii locals, natives, kama’ainas; and the rest are not suckers or fools — this “lack of anger” is only temporary.

If the face-saver realizes that his foe has no desire to be helped and, worse, has not an open hand but a fist, this could get very messy.

So, we’ll see what President Barack Obama does at the end of the day — and what sort of “behind the back” plan he has…

Because, when the whole saving face thing doesn’t work out, the extension of this strategy is to stab your foe in the back.

And so ends my deep peering into my crystal coconut.

Here are 11 Public Option FACTS via Rant.com:

1. If you like your current health insurance plan, you can keep it.
2. If you like your current doctors, you can keep them.
3. Insurance companies will be prohibited from denying you coverage because of your medical history.
4. Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping your coverage if you get sick.
5. Insurance companies will be prohibited from reducing your coverage if you get sick.
6. Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to place a cap on the amount of money you may receive from your illness, no yearly cap allowed, no lifetime cap allowed.
7. The government will place a limit on a citizen’s out-of-pocket expenses.
8. Insurance companies will be required to cover all check-ups and preventive care.
9. The government insurance plan will NOT add to the US deficit and will actually save money in the long run.
10. The US is the only large industrialized country left in the world that doesn’t provide its population with a government alternative health care option.
11. The most important thing for you to realize about the Public Option and the Obama health plan? It’s going to save you money. Yes, even if you were to end up getting taxed for it, it is STILL going to cost you LESS than you’re paying now for health insurance!

More info via Rant.com, Whitehouse.gov, and on Senate Finance, and on Facts About Reform.

Via The Big Picture.   I will be spending most of December in Berlin so I will see what they think.  All I know is that Berlin — and the rest of Europe I covered in 2008 — hoped that Barack Obama‘s presidential win might tone down the tragic global perception of America as an Idiocracy.