Foreign Diplomacy: Great; Repairing National Economy: Better

Last week, and many weeks to come, Obama will face some tough crowds in regards to promised-diplomacy options he campaigned to the citizens of the United States.

His hardships range from elections in Afghanistan, nuclear programs in Iran, detrimental compromises in Pakistan, and questionable arrangements with Russia and China.

Some of his more right-wing criticizers stated, “For an administration that came in thinking it was going to be more realistic than the previous administration, they’ve certainly been hit in the head by real facts. They had — ironically for realists — unrealistic expectations on what they could accomplish.”

Change was one thing to boast while dealing with national issues, but it is entirely another when dealing with unruly international negotiations.

The problems persisting at home should take precedent. The fact that we still have an unemployment rate higher than it has been in decades, speaks to the premise we need “change” at home.

The Nobel Prize may have set the bar high for national AND international promises, but Obama needs to continue to focus on repairing a damaged economy and allowing U.S. citizens an opportunity to succeed under his leadership.

With that being said, he shouldn’t entirely turn his back on foreign policy, but instead make sure the change he is seeking internationally matches short-term goals that can coincide with national long-term, economic repair.

Pieces of Flair

A random tangent from one of the greatest movies of all time, Office Space. The following is from a review by Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle:

“The buttons are called “flair.” Each employee is required to wear “15 pieces of flair.” Aniston wears 15 pieces of flair, and is berated (in the modern, passiveaggressive style of berating) by her manager for wearing only 15 pieces of flair.

This is the modern world, where merely following the rules is a sign of surliness. You must want to please. You must enjoy working overtime for no pay. You must accept whatever strange management idea is being promoted this week, and you must promote it yourself, even if no one understands it.

This movie is about selling your brain every day, and how bad that feels.”

The French & Scientology War

Apparently, the French government is in fact threatening the freedom of religion in France, which isn’t a guaranteed freedom anyways. The French feelings have been expressed as harshly as “[refusing] to recognize Scientology as a religion, arguing that it is a purely commercial operation designed to make as much money as it can at the expense of often vulnerable victims.”

Now, them’s fightin’ words.

According to the BBC’s article, a woman sued for fraud because she was swindled out of money in the ’90s. The prosecutors went so far as to say Scientology should be banned from France but something rather shady happened just prior to the trial.

Apparently, an amendment to the French Constitution was added silently and quickly before the trial began stating that organizations cannot be banned from the country based on fraud lawsuits.

Sounds like Scientology is more integrated in the French government than some flaming adversaries would hope.