Then Bowie shouts the line about genocide and, actually, it is rock'n'roll. That's what Bowie does after all, and his music makes this genocide thing sound pretty good; it sounds like a party. Of course it's just a song with coke-driven lyrics and layers of radioactive irony...

*

Now it's March 2015 and we've been treated to a different freakish spectacle that's utterly real and much more sober: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech, in front of Congress, but pleading to the whole world to help prevent Iran from obtaining the nuclear weapons it could use to achieve its stated ambition of destroying the Jewish people.

As everyone knows, this turned into a political hot latke.

I decided to write a letter to my local newspaper, The Seattle Times. I criticized my district's representative, Jim McDermott, for boycotting the speech. And I stated that he should stand up for Congress's right to ratify any arms agreement.

Most of the responses questioned why I even bothered. McDermott holds a safe seat, regularly garnering 85% of the vote. But one letter stood up stoutly for the "hear-no-evil" contingent in Congress. At the conclusion, the writer accused me of being a shill for the GOP; thus people could safely ignore my opinion. There's the moral fiber of today's sophisticated urban elite: Not content with their monopoly on representation at every level of government, they also need to dehumanize anyone who disagrees with them.

But enough about me. What matters is what "everyone" is talking about. And everyone seems to think it's "humiliating" for President Obama not to have Congress go along with his wishes. It's so disrespectful and unprecedented, it's treason. Other "folks" are talking about how effective inspections are and why delegating the whole issue to the UN is the best idea.

This is insanity. Barack Obama's feelings aren't the issue. Voters in the midterm election instructed him to take a more modest approach. He ignored this verdict, and now he's facing the consequences.

The issue at the heart of this treaty is the survival of Israel in the near term, and all that implies for the viability of western culture going forward. This is the big topic of our times, and we can't let "everyone" evade it.

THIS AIN'T POL-I-TICS, THIS IS GENOCIDE.