Bringing world leaders down their basic bodily functions Their Daily Duty is a series of photomontages by digital artist Cristina Guggeri. The images present imagined intimate moments of President Obama, President Putin, Her Majesty the Queen and even Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama, all seated on the toilet performing their own “daily duty.”

Cristina (aka Kyrdy) made the images in collaboration with Area Shoot, and while they certainly rub our nose in our shared human frailty, they are also a reminder to the “sitters” of their moral responsibility in governance and leadership.

More of Cristina’s work can be found here.
 

 

 
More leaders on the throne, after the jump….
 

 
Samuel L. Jackson has told President Obama to be “a leader” and to “stop trying to relate.”

In an interview with Playboy magazine, Jackson took issue with Obama dropping the “G"s at the end of words:

“We know it ain’t because of his blackness, so I say stop trying to ‘relate’. Be a leader. Be fucking presidential.”

The star of Pulp Fiction, Snakes on a Plane and The Avengers finished off his tirade by saying:

“Look, I grew up in a society where I could say ‘I ain’t’ or ‘what it be’ to my friends. But when I’m out presenting myself to the world as me, who graduated from college, who had family who cared about me, who has a well-read background, I fucking conjugate.”

The Playboy interview was obviously conducted before Obama’s speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Phoenix Awards Dinner the other night when Obama was dropping his “G’s” by the dozens.

Though critical of his presentation skills, Jackson, who campaigned for Obama in the 2008 election, still believed the President was a “safe dude.”

“[Obama’s] still a safe dude. But with those Republicans, we’re now in a situation where even if he said, ‘I want to give you motherfuckers a raise,’ they’d go, ‘Fuck you! We don’t want a raise!’

“I don’t know how we fix this bullshit. How do we fix the fact that politicians aren’t trying to serve the people, they’re just trying to serve their party and their closed ideals?

“If Hillary Clinton decides to run, she’s going to kick their fucking asses, and those motherfuckers would rather see the country go down in flames than let the times change.”

Mr. Jackson was also critical of political campaigns and petitions organized through Facebook and Twitter.

“You need to have your physical body out there in the streets and let these people - and the rest of the world - know. When our anti-war movement led the world, it was because people could see us in the streets, see our faces, hear the protest music.

“You can’t do that shit blogging in a room.”

Via the Independent

 
The streets are littered with bodies. Up to 5,000 people (children, women, men) are dead. Between 7,000 and 10,000 are injured.

The cause of death and injury is chemical weapons—some experts claim these weapons “may have included mustard gas, the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX and possibly cyanide.”

Yet, no action is taken against the dictator who authorized the attack.

This may all sound familiar, but it’s not Syria, it’s Halabja, Iraq, in 1988.

This was “Bloody Friday” when thousands were gassed on the orders of a psychotic and deranged dictator, Saddam Hussein.

This was when Ronald Reagan was POTUS and Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister.

When news of the slaughter reached governments in America and the United Kingdom, nothing was done. Well, that’s not quite true, the Americans blamed Iran for the attack.

Now sheriff President Obama and his side-kick deputy, British Prime Minister David Cameron, are warming-up to declare possible war on Syria’s dictator, President Bashar al-Assad for allegedly authorizing the use of chemical weapons on his country’s people.

Over 100,000 Syrians have died since civil war began in the country in 2011. Nearly 1.5 million people have fled the country, while an estimated 1.2 million have been displaced within the country—nearly half of these are children.

Today, UK Prime Minister Cameron gave a strong performance in Parliament, where he referenced the Geneva Protocol, which prohibits the use of chemical weapons. Syria was a signatory to this protocol in 1968, but with reservations—they only agreed not to use chemical weapons in a war with another country.

Syria did not sign the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

Essentially this means it doesn’t matter what chemical weapons Syria uses on its own people.

We all may be horrified by this, but there’s very little we can legally do to change it.

This also means countries like America and the U.K. have no legal recourse to action against Syria on the basis of the Geneva Protocol or CWC.

With this in mind, why are the elites of America and Britain so keen to “intervene” in Syria with public opinion in both countries so overwhelming against getting involved?

There have been 14 instances of the use of chemical weapons in Syria already noted, why now?
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Also, what is the actual evidence of who used what chemical weapons and when? Even Cameron admitted he didn’t know but had made “a judgement” Also, filling news channels, papers and sites with pictures of dead children will not help a rational debate.

Moreover, why is the use of chemical weapons considered a fair reason (the “red line”) to intervene, and not the deaths, since 2011, of 100,000 Syrians?

What is their end game?

It would be fair to assume that Iran is somewhere on the US/UK agenda. But why? Why now, that the once feared looney tunes, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is out of office, and has been replaced by the mature, level-headed Glasgow Caledonian University-educated, Hassan Rouhani as President?

Moreover, with Russia upping the ante (by allegedly sending in two warships to the area), why are East and West falling back into their expected roles as enemies? Is it better for business? Does it save these countries from dealing with internal dissent? 

Whatever the answer, the next few days will be crucial, and it can only be hoped that our glorious leaders will get their facts right, and think before they shoot from the hip.

Again.

UPDATE:

Thankfully it does seem some politicians are thinking before acting, as David Cameron’s hope of a UK Government motion on “a strong humanitarian response” being required, which may “include military action,” has been defeated tonight by 13 votes—285 (No), 272 (Yes).
 

 
Over the weekend, you may have noticed an article on Huffington Post about how one of Barack Obama’s former professors at Harvard Law, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, proclaimed that the president “must be defeated” in a YouTube video titled “Beyond Obama,” but did you actually watch the video and listen to what he had to say?

Barack Obama took courses in “Jurisprudence” and “Reinventing Democracy” with Professor Unger at Harvard Law School, and you just know that he’s had to have seen this video by now (which to be fair, was made in May before the bold pivot to the left with last week’s unexpected Presidential Order on the children of illegal immigrants. Points there, for sure).

If the President has watched this video, it will be interesting to see if he takes any of it to heart. This is some harsh shit. Well-deserved, though, in my opinion:

“His policy is financial confidence and food stamps.”
“He has spent trillions of dollars to rescue the moneyed interests and left workers and homeowners to their own devices.”
“He has delivered the politics of democracy to the rule of money.”
“He has disguised his surrender with an empty appeal to tax justice.”
“He has reduced justice to charity.”
“He has subordinated the broadening of economic and educational opportunity to the important but secondary issue of access to health care in the mistaken belief that he would be spared a fight.”
“He has evoked a politics of handholding, but no one changes the world without a struggle.”

On the issue of Mitt Romney winning the presidency, Unger remarked “There will be a cost ... in judicial and administrative appointments.” He added “the risk of military adventurism” would be no worse under a Republican than under Obama—true!—and that “the Democratic Party proposes no new direction.”

The guy makes some pretty damning points, although I am not quite as sure that an Obama defeat would be such a good thing for the Democrats or the country as Unger seems to be. He might come off as a bit of a humorless, pompous ass, sure, BUT don’t hold that against a Harvard professor! Ultimately, Professor Unger failed to convince me to vote against Obama, but what he has to say here did make me think.

The whole thing is worth listening to, but if you want to skip past the preamble right to the heart of his anti-Obama arguments, go directly to 6:09.
 

 
Glenn Beck continues to amaze with his hypocritical rants about Obama. He claims concern for the President’s safety while creating an imaginary scenario in which Obama is beheaded in India. “It’s the classic double-negative: God forbid anything bad happen to the people I so love to hate.”

The audio clip below which was broadcast by The Glenn Beck Show on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 is further evidence that Beck is more toxic than the BP oil spill and just as slimy.

Why is the president putting himself in danger? Why is anyone allowing him to put himself in danger, and if it’s not a danger, why do we have 34 warships? I don’t care if you spend $10 billion to protect the President. Nothing can happen to the president, period. I don’t like the man. He’s the President of the United States nothing can happen to him, so I don’t care how much money you spend, but why is he going there? Why are we spending $2 billion to put him there?”

The 34 warships and $2 billion dollar claim is based on bullshit rumors emanating from an anonymous source in India. Its taken on a life of its own thanks to the right wing press. It simply is not true. Beck insinuates that Obama’s life may be in jeopardy because he has turned his back on his Muslim brothers and sisters. Why else would India hold such danger? Once again, the Obama is Muslim lurks as subtext. Is nutjob Beck suggesting that an American President adopt a bunker mentality when it comes to interacting with one of the most important nations on the planet? Xenophobia as public policy. And what’s with Beck invoking Gandhi in the midst of his twisted tirade? It’s a pious smokescreen disguising hate.

Why do I waste my breath? Because millions and millions of people listen to douchebag Beck and take his word as gospel.

“If fantasizing on the radio about the assassination of the President of the United States sounds sick to you, that’s because it is.”

God help us all indeed.

Via The Raw Story