The $600 Miracle
These days, our feckless media is all abuzz with talk of the foreign stock market collapse, the burst of the housing “bubble”, the mortgage crisis and the dreaded recession. But fear not America. Uncle George and his rubber-stamp Congress have come together to announce with great fanfare a "stimulus package" to save our tottering economy.
The causes of our current crisis are nothing new to this country. First is the 30-year obsession by Republicans to the sacrosanct concept of free-trade and deregulation that has created a culture of greed and corruption in our corporate boardrooms. This has been done because the federal agencies that should be protecting the health and welfare of our citizens have gradually been stripped of their power or politicized and gutted.
In the past few years, banks and mortgage institutions have led the way with their irresponsible lending practices, only to find themselves burdened by losses in the billions of dollars. As a consequence, some of these corporations have had to go hat-in-hand to overseas sources to bail them out.
But perhaps an even more important, though seldom-mentioned factor in our current economic mess is the cost of the War in Iraq. Through fiscal year 2007, this trumped up and unjustified war has cost U.S. taxpayers $456,100,000,000, or nearly a half trillion dollars. Remember, this was the war that was going to “pay for itself” according to its architects.
To break this down to numbers we can understand, here are some other ways of looking at this enormous sum:
- $4,100 for every American household
- $1,500 for every American
- $3,400 for every taxpayer
- $11 million per hour
- $275 million per day
This amount doesn't even include the untold amount of money that has gone--and will go--into immediate and long-term medical and psychological care for military personnel affected by their involvement in the war. Nor does it include amounts for fiscal year 2008 and beyond; estimated at $150-200 billion per year for the foreseeable future. In fact, one of the current Republican frontrunners, John McCain, recently stated that "even if the United States were in Iraq for 100 years, it would be alright with me".
Remember, too, that this amount only includes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is only a small part of the overall Department of Defense budget, which this year alone is $481.4 billion. One has to question why nearly 20 years after the Cold War ended, the majority of the Defense budget is still going to non-war spending. But that is another issue entirely.
What is appalling to me is that we Americans--who have been indoctrinated by the Republican Party since at least 1964 that Democrats are the "tax and spend" party--continue to swallow this line when the largest tax increases in history were instituted by GOP patron saint Ronald Reagan in the '80's and George W Bush the last seven years.
Now, our clueless leader and the Democratic and Republican sheep in Congress are falling all over each other trying to jump-start an economy that has been badly mismanaged--or should I say unmanaged--by this "CEO Administration". The President and Congress actually appear to believe the lies they're telling us that $600 will induce each of us taxpayers to go out and buy something--to buy anything.
I'm not sure if the President or Congress has discovered this fact yet, but since virtually all regulatory restraint was taken off the banking and credit card industry, the average credit card user is paying as much as 36% interest per year. That means adding more than 1/3 of the principal to the debt every single year.
Many economists predict that this vast mountain of debt will emerge as the next crisis in our looming recession. I wonder how many families will opt to purchase yet another consumer item during this time when their credit card debts are increasing and average incomes in real terms haven’t increased since the year 2000.
I truly fear that we’re being led down the path to our own destruction, and like lambs to slaughter, we don't even notice. Fear-mongering by this Administration continues to eat away at our Constitution in the name of "homeland security" to the point where we as a nation can’t seem to think critically any longer.
Besides critical thinking, common sense also seems to have disappeared from the plucky American attitude we grew up with. Perhaps 9-11 so traumatized the national psyche that we've yet to awaken to the real dangers that exist right here at home by people we’re supposed to trust.
I am hoping that this country isn't in its last days, because if things continue the way they’re going today, America really is going to be a much different place in the coming years.
And I’m fairly certain that I wouldn’t want to live here then.
What a Piece of Work Is Man
In a week that includes the worst mass shooting in American history by a lone, very disturbed gunman, once again we ask ourselves how this could have happened.
At the very same time, hundreds of people a week are being killed in Iraq as a result of a lone disturbed President, who typifies the insanity of a society that speaks of love, tolerance, compassion and peace while officially committing acts of violence and hatred towards people we once claimed to "shine the light of democracy" upon.
A first reading into the mind of Cho Seung-Hui indicates that he was likely sexually abused as a child. This all-too-secret crime against so many children throughout the world generally causes its victims to turn their rage inward destroying their lives in an atmosphere of desperate silence. When it's directed outwards...well, we've seen what can happen.
I am currently reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer, about the history of polygamy in Mormonism. Today, polygamy is officially banned in the Church of Latter Day Saints, and was done so in the late 19th century in order for the State of Utah to co-exist peacefully with the rest of the United States.
Still, the Prophet and founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, is described in the book as mostly a charismatic charlatan who--like so many "cult" leaders--soon believed his own "publicity" and when he tired of one wife, it was "revealed" to him that he could and should take as many as he wished.
So when the official Church banned this sacred tenet of the faith, those who believed in the original revelations of Smith felt justified and even commanded to practice plural marriage.
Today, there are many polygamous adherents of Smith's original Church. While many of these LDS fundamentalists are undoubtedly good and honorable people, the concept of personal revelation as espoused by Smith is the perfect prerequisite for attractive, narcissistic personalities to exploit those around them.
"Under the Banner of Heaven" describes many examples of these kinds of men who have created their own little fiefdoms throughout the world. And invariably, these men have combined a total subjugation of women with an abuse of daughters that include incest and marriage to friends and relatives at ages as young as fourteen, where they would be just one of a virtually unlimited number of wives.
This abuse is as destructive to these girls as any kind of physical, sexual or emotional abuse committed outside of these "communities". But since the vast majority of polygamous Mormon wives are taught from infancy that they are little more than worthless chattel--except as a vessel for begetting Mormon children--they suffer the death of any sense of individuality or spirit. And those with a stubborn attachment to a sense of self have actually be sent to mental institutions for displaying a serious independent streak.
I don't know. After I stopped believing in evil around my second year of college--which was approximately the time I stopped believing that religion was beneficial to anyone--I slowly evolved into a scientific materialist. I was proud of my ability to see past the hypocritical religious crap that permeates our society. This was three decades ago and I've softened my determined atheism a bit.
Nothing in my life or dreams has made me believe in any reality other than this one. But I haven't stopped seeking one...just one moment of a sense of "the other".
I've studied the annals of psychedelia and Shamanism and New Age beliefs, as well as Buddhism, and the intellectual rationalist in me can't help but build rationalist arguments for all the phenomena described, else, I conclude, trying to give myself over to the possibilities of extra-realistic dimensions puts me in the same mindset as the Lafferty brothers described in the book, who became so convinced of their conversations with God that they felt both commanded and justified to slash and kill the wife of a brother of theirs, then calmly slit the throat of her baby.
With this and Cho's actions as well as the action of our President, Vice President and so many others in the world, how can I not believe in evil?
But alas, even these kinds of actions can be reasonably understood as the cumulative effects of lifetimes of mixed messages, misunderstood teachings, abuse, lack of real love and millions of other psychic events that create who we are.
So, who the hell do we blame?
No one and everyone. The same incredibly complex organ that creates breathtakingly beautiful works of art and literature; that can display the most selfless actions of bravery and heroism; that can produce such an intense love for others; can also wield death and destroy lives without a second thought and without a moment's regret.
If karmic evolution is the 1st law of metaphysics, that would offer some sense of gnosis for what we witness every single day.
In the meantime, we can only acknowledge the truth of Shakespeare's observation (as reworked for the musical "Hair"):
What a piece of work is man
How noble in reason
How infinite in faculties
In form and moving
How express and admirable
In action how like an angel
In apprehension how like a god
The beauty of the world
The paragon of animals
I have of late
But wherefore I know not
Lost all my mirth
This goodly frame
The earth
Seems to me a sterile promontory
This most excellent canopy
The air-- look you!
This brave o'erhanging firmament
This majestical roof
Fretted with golden fire
Why it appears no other thing to me
Than a foul and pestilent congregation
Of vapors
What a piece of work is man
How noble in reason
John Gibson is worried. Very worried.
Last week, Gibson--the Fox News commentator who last year courageously alerted us to the
War on Christmas--stunned America once again with a new threat to those of us who are deeply concerned about maintaining white supremacy...I mean, a white majority in our nation.
Here are the shocking statistics in his own words:
"...half the kids under 5 years old in this country are minorities. By far, the greatest number are Hispanic. Know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority population is Hispanic. To put it bluntly: We need more babies."
I know it's not PC to say this, but I don't think our forefathers decimated the Native American population just so that their brown relatives from south of the border could later overrun our nation with their poor, their tired and their fast-breeding masses.
After all, white America massacred thousands of Mexicans in the 19th century just to create the borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. If that hadn't happened, where would the good white people of our great land relocate to in their desire to seek the perfect climate...and the perfect tan.
It's good to know that there are still heroes in America. John Gibson, a man who oozes wholesome whiteness from every pore and hair follicle, will undoubtedly be vilified by traitorous liberals and unchristian race-mixers who have given up the dream of creating a color-free America (except, of course, for those lovely tans). But for the rest of us, I will stay glued to my Fox News Channel, where The Truth is always served red, white and blue.
But mostly white.
Let the Name Calling Commence
In an
article from the London Sunday Times--a Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper--there is an interview with Hugo Chavez' ex-mistress. It is called "My lover, the great dictator".
This sensational interview conveniently comes just days after Chavez and Bolivia's new president, Evo Morales,
faced down the European Union.
While the word dictator has been bandied about rather loosely by our own Bush Administration in regards to Mr. Chavez, it is interesting to note that whenever Chavez is written about, it seems to be impossible to write objectively about the man. For instance, this is the first paragraph of this article.
"The ex-mistress of Venezuela’s leader, darling of Britain’s left, predicts an autocratic disaster, reports Tony Allen-Mills"
Using the phrase "darling of Britain's left" is apparentliy supposed to marginalize Chavez, but I think there are many more people behind Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution than just a few fringe lefties.
As for this woman's predicted dictatorship in Venezuela, let's examine political philosophies a bit.
Indoctrinated in this country to be great believers in democracy as a
the best of all political systems, we have witnessed in the last six years the blatant subversion of what is left of OUR democracy with a bought and intimidated media, corrupt and just-plain-wacked politicians and worst-of-all, a manipulated and dull-witted electorate more upset by gays and illegal immigrants than the ruthless redistribution of wealth upward by Republicans and their ilk.
Masters of the Southern Universe
Ever since 2002, when I watched an old US CIA trick being played on the people of Venezuela, I've followed the ongoing war of words between Hugo Chavez on the one hand and George Bush and numerous members of his Administration on the other.
In 2002, as we might remember, Chavez was overthrown in a coup that was wished for, initiated by and presumably financed by the Bush Administration through its foreign swat team, the CIA, and any number of governmental and right-wing non-governmental organizations (NGO's). To the Administration's dismay, however, the coup only lasted a few days, during which the official US position was basically
good riddance.
This did little to endear Mr. Chavez to our leaders and only brought back bad memories of another South American nation, Chile, and another Socialist leader, Salvador Allende.
In both instances, those leaders had the affrontery to attack the foreign corporations that were exploiting the resources of the land while offering little to the people whose land and resources it was. Epidemic poverty continued while islands of obscene wealth and exploitation of the indigent population were the visual byproducts of the corporatocracy that really control most of the nations in Central and South America.
In 1972, the CIA and corporations like ITT and Anaconda Copper were instrumental in fomenting civic unrest, and in the coup that eventually resulted, President Allende was assassinated. This led to a nearly 30 year reign of brutal right-wing dictator--but US corporation-friendly-- Augusto Pinochet.
Since, 2002, I've expected the same thing to happen to Chavez--a man who has brought real change to the poor of Venezuela for the first time-- just because of the constant public demonization by an Administration that breathes, eats and shits corporate greed.
Four years later, however, Chavez is still alive and has become a hero to millions in South America, where country after country are turning left because of his example. As a result, the man has become a real threat to world corporatism.
This week Chavez and the latest Chavez-like leader in South America, Evo Morales of Bolivia,
strode into Europe with their brand of South American machismo and are fucking freaking out the EU leaders, who all live by the Western corporate code. In their world--as in ours--there is no room for any other system but free-market capitalism.
Democracy, as we have found out all too well in the last 6 years, has little to do with what our world is really about. Capitalism is the true game and we should give some degree of gratitude to the Bushies and their larcenous Republican foot soldiers for showing us the real underbelly of American politics; corporate money, unbridled greed and lawlessness.
In their attempts to shake-up the corporations (in the guise of political governments) that have run roughshod though third-world nation after third-world nation since the end of colonialism, I commend their bold efforts.
In their desire to pioneer real change in a part of the world that has known little but greedy exploitation by outsiders, I wish them success.
In their need to stay alive, I can only hope that they stay out of the line of fire from those entities they really threaten.
Stephen Colbert: Hero of Truthiness
Having watched the
Crooks and Liars webcast of the Annual White House Correspondents' Dinner held last Saturday night, I was interested in the mainstream press's reaction, or--as was the case--lack of reaction.
Still, there were a few entries on
Huffington Post that I found interesting. As usual, the response in blogovia was generally dependent on whether you like Bush (for god-knows-what reason) or don't like him.
So there was this writer name Nathan Gardels who said that Bush "outironicized" Colbert because he was able to make fun of himself.
Ahh...such a clown our Shrub is. And really, doesn't everyone love a clown?
Unable to keep myself from answering my own question, I wrote this:
Stephen Colbert--in the guise of almost every right-wing talking mouth on radio and TV--was relentless in his courage to stand up and blast so many of the Washington power players in politics and the mainstream media.
cvcobb01 was right on the money. We, the dissident majority, were really the intended audience that night. When else have we, the powerless in America, ever gotten to witness the expression of these kinds of widely-held criticisms of politicians and the press before...with them as a captured audience?
And the reaction of those attending is a perfect example of why it was evidently dangerous to one's career to show dissent even by laughing at such witty and biting satire.
Mr Gardels, it's always easy to laugh at a clown. That doesn't take any great talent or intelligence. But to appreciate the art of great satire as it has been used for provocation throughout the ages takes a mind that is evidently more facile than yours.
Thank you Stephen Colbert for giving voice to 5 long years of our having to put up with a clown rather than a true leader.
And Helen Thomas, you've got more balls than anyone in the White House Press Corps...bar none!
I've been a big fan of Colbert since his new show began last fall. I'm constantly amazed at how he (and his writers) are able to say in such a succinct and funny manner what so many bloggers (including myself) can only say with a kind of seething disdain simmering below the surface.
One of the things I always notice about totalitarian states is the lack of public humor. We should all be thankful, then, for people like Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Will Durst and many others who somehow manage to channel much of our righteous anger into laughter. Doesn't mean that we don't feel the same emotions about the issues that bug us. Just means that our frustration doesn't do more harm to ourselves than to those who are doing us harm.
As the United States spirals closer to the kind of banana republic that has generally defined Central and South American nations, I find it a hopeful sign that the endemic poverty of this area is being addressed--in Venezuela at least--by this so-called "dictator".
Few South American elections can be called fair in that region's long history. Certainly the doubts that I now harbor over the democratic process can be easily understood in South American terms. Chavez understands as well as anyone that the direction of a nation can be turned 180 degrees in one election.
For my part, I'm willing to see how the majority of the people fare under Chavez before condemning his mission to raise his people up from a poverty that has never abated regardless of who was elected in the past.
If I can listen every single day to apologists for the Bush Administration downplay and rationalize the evils done by this Administration, then I don't mind in the least being called an apologist for this kind of "benevolent dictator".