No Wonder we're in a pickle

 "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,


Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,


To the last syllable of recorded time;


And all our yesterdays have lighted fools


The way to dusty death. 

Out, out, brief candle!


Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,


That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,


And then is heard no more. 

It is a tale


Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,


Signifying nothing."

                                                                  Macbeth Act 5, scene 5

   In the aftermath of the 2012 US election I am reminded of this classic maudlin musing from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
   Billions of dollars and relentless bloviated blather in the end provided us with no change in the balance of power in Washington, DC.
   Initially, it would seem, we are stuck in a gear that will take us nowhere. But that is far too simplistic a view. Just look at the events since Nov. 6.
   The nation’s top spy has been burned by two women (and a third, his wife, is no doubt burning his ears and firing up a gas oven for his noggin) and the general in charge of the endless Afghanistan fiasco created one of his own with thousands of emails exchanged with one of the femmes.
   The timing of this sleazy story and reports of massive losses to FHA and the Postal Service seem all too convenient occurrences for a cynical soul.
   But the urgency of the fiscal situation facing America is currently papering over all other concerns, one of which makes me most ansty: Israel and the Palestinians.
   Yeah, yeah, yeah, these two have been at it for centuries; it’ll never end.
   This time may be different.
   As the administration has done its best to ignore the Middle East while it attempts to ‘pivot’ and focus on Asia, events from Libya to Syria to Iran (not forgetting Iraq and Afghanistan) continue to devolve at a rapid pace.
   It appears Israel, weary of the daily raids from rockets, waited until after Nov. 6 to take out the head of Hamas and begin flattening Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu — no fan of Mr. Obama — has been warning for months about attacking Iran and I, for one, take him at his word.
   This isn’t good and my confidence that the US will respond in any positive fashion is undermined by the fact that the powers that are can’t even get their Benghazi story straight.
   Mr. Obama’s immediate global concern? Burma.
   This, and the fact that Hostess has stopped making Wonder bread, Twinkies, Sno Balls, Cupcakes and Ho Hos, weighs heavily upon me today.