The Panda Bear on the War and Poor Leadership

The Panda Bear apologizes to her readers. She said she would deal with bullying on today's post. However, her heart is not into writing about bullying this week.

The Panda Bear is very distressed at the level of US involvement in Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. She is tired of hearing of US soldiers getting hurt and killed and of US families suffering because of these wars. She read this interesting post on www.thenation.com by John Nichols where he states:
"Indeed, even by the most optimistic timeline proposed by Obama, the US occupation force will at the end of Obama’s first term be much larger than the US force that was there when Bush and Cheney left the White House in 2009."

Some Change!!!! The Panda Bear used joke when Obama ran and he promised change, that change could be for the worse. In terms of the quest for peace the Panda Bear turned out to be correct.  . The US just seems to be getting involved in more and more wars. Whatever happened to the idea that using war to solve the world's problems should only be done as the very last resort?

Also the Panda Bear does not like that Obama does not seem to be making any personal sacrifices as he pushes more conflict She is tired of hearing about Obama playing golf while he increases the US war effort.

However, Obama is not the only leader in the US who seems not to believe in leading by example. The Panda Bear hears of "experts" who tell others to take extreme measures to stop climate change while living in big houses and take private planes (in other words they waste lots of energy).   The Panda Bear is tired of hearing of CEOs who make large salaries and big bonuses regardless of whether the company succeeds or fails.  The Panda Bear is tired of hearing of heads of nonprofits that are supposed to be helping poor people who get millions of dollars in bonuses while the organization needs money to help its clients (an example of this would be Elaine Ullian of Boston Medical Center-the Panda Bear thinks she should have set an example by donating some of her bonus money to people who needed health care).  

The Panda Bear is anxious for leaders who practice what they preach and are willing to make sacrifices for their ideas.