Polibits

Leaving Baghdad ( Part One)

2011-12-16T04:04:00.000-08:00

There may be tears in Baghdad, definitely some in many homes in the U.S. as our troops leave Iraq- a season of homecoming joy hopefully awaits thousands of brave men and women in uniformed service. I expect there are deep doubts and fears that spur tears that will fall and stay in Baghdad, to the extent that a feeling of safety was connected to the U.S. military presence, it too will be leaving.
There were some moments in this road to and from Baghdad that are remarkable - that stand out in memory. For me, like the tips of undersea volcanoes that breach the waters- stepping stones to the eye, but in deeper reveal- they are great mountains. The first was the incredible silence over my City the day after the terror attacks in New York City, the raw feeling in my eyes, and the silence as air traffic and commerce seemed stilled. How we talked in hushed tones. Then the revelation that our government had been asleep at the switch, National Security Advisor specialist in defeating the Soviet Union, might not even have known what Al Qaeda was. How they featured then dropped the pursuit of Bin Laden. Then how Bin Laden appeared in Republican reelection campaign ads, the Boogie Man. No one said hey wait--dint you promise to bring him in? We paid Pakistan to help hunt him down; turned out he was living large in Pakistan. A spectacle: Presidential candidate saying - My opponent would not even have gone to war...ahh, the humanities!

We turned on the war machine as a TV event, shock and awe on Friday night special. We sent our soldiers on a blind alley rush to Baghdad with reporters looking goofy in military garb- flinching at every remote blast. Sandstorms grounded air support- oh, if there had been an army there to oppose us--such poor, poor leadership. The glory was vain, Saddam was hanged but it was a big lie that he brought down the Towers--a lie many Americans still believed.
Eight years of war and my country seemed stranger each passing day, a government taught us to fear, the American spirit, crushed underfoot like a spent cigarette because leaders failed and wished us to believe nothing greater was in us. I remember a disabled war veteran, taking off his artificial leg to pass an airport screening. We spent billions annoying citizens, reinforcing the big scare.
Teaching fear and limitation, but it was merely the first of many such waves-- later we were too broke to make jobs here -the new jobs that fuel the economy and make even more jobs; debt has made us unable to grow--I guess they forget or some never knew- America is tougher than words of doubt. It was tough enough to fight poverty in the 60's, fly to the moon in the 70's, meet cold war communists in the 80's- somehow, a pile of loans does not seem to equate to nuclear missiles in Cuba.
Again the teacher brings a message of fear, to a creature of hope and determination. In the animus of our nation, as if the body politic were a human body, the national skin reacts to the irritations of those repeated doses of fear... a burning sensation.

the real Job Creators

2011-12-02T14:10:00.001-08:00

I hear Republicans, Speaker Boehner in particular, speak of the need to give more resources to "job creators" lower taxes, freedom from necessary rules(my God look at what they have done to our chickens!). By this they mean major Corporations and medium to large businesses across the U.S. But they are wrong, these are definitely not the job creators in the U.S. economy. It is as plain as Pinocchio's nose when he answers hard questions, corporations take far more than they give, it is what they do- the reason or purpose for their existence to create profits. Corporations use public resources as if they were business lunches. Privilege after privilege rests in their hands. They get to pretty much determine if, when, and how much they will pay in taxes. Have free reign to arrange books and records, freely send whole industries abroad and still are able to sell those products here as if they were made here with American workers. No the real job creators are consumers. Those of us who go to stores and Internet and buy things. We create jobs. We create demand for products, goods and services which are met by business to a better or worse degree. Businesses- well they hire people and pay wages from--the money we consumers spend. They hire as few people as the can- and for some weird reason, most Americans agree with that, even when it means that companies are understaffed, replace full time experienced workers with casual part time employees, and lower wages- which as we all know reduces jobs because we consumers don't have as much money to spend.
So the President has it right, this is the time to spend money on infrastructure, build railroads, fix bridges, as many things as we can to employ people. We should take risks to see if we can ignite a solar energy boom, or spark green products, renewable energy devices. Big oil drains us- charging more and more for the privilege to poison our air, the oil by the way is free when taken from the ground. The idea to get the economy moving and sustained is to increase jobs by putting more money in the hands of us-- consumers, savers, new car buyers, home buyers, clothes buyers, electronics buyers-- us, the JOB CREATORS of America.

the opposite of governing...

2011-11-29T07:05:00.001-08:00

would be to put the federal budget on a path of automatic cuts of specific amounts- the so called sequester (quickly, when Congress raised the debt ceiling to avoid US default on its obligations, they passed 1.2 Trillion in cuts unless the supercommittee came to an agreement). Sequester cuts would be made without the careful judgment needed to obtain a reasonable result. It treats for example dollars needed to feed children, or operate hospitals equally with dollars used to buy new office furniture. There are some lower cuts for certain low income and social security type programs, but those cuts tend to affect the most vulnerable of Americans. The Department of Defense for example would have managed cuts of 450 billion over ten years but feel that to double those cuts under the sequester would remove funds needed for military families, significantly reduce the effectiveness of the military. Whether true or not, it is apparent that substantial cuts to highways, schools, military and many more federal functions need careful consideration, the Congress acting in good faith to do its best for the American people.

The Constitution requires only a few things, but one is that there be an annual consideration by the Congress of the national budget and a determination of how and for what we spend. The sequestration condition to the budget ceiling is Constitutionally flawed in that it restrict the powers of the next Congress to do what every Congress must do- use its best judgment to determine spending. As a policy it reflects a disregard for fundamental democracy. Do the people have a right to decide--then to change that decision--the answer except for fundamental rights is -YES; and the Budget Control Act says a very arbitrary, narrow and unthinking --NO. If it keeps the sides at the table to resolve the problem on a long term basis, then it would have served an important and useful purpose.

Catch a Flea-- Miss an Elephant

2011-11-16T01:23:00.001-08:00

The revelations of sexual child abuse at Penn State University raises a bitter question about oversight of college athletics by the NCAA. They take in huge amounts of money, an organization dominated by males, and conspicuous for their own exploitation of college athletes- who generally work for room, board, and tuition at most while this organization rakes in $billions. They are also known for investigations of individual athletes and institutions, deep probes that focus on even slight violations of their ever growing sets of rules on recruiting and KEEPING MONEY AWAY FROM ATHLETES. Many people have been swept up in subsequent criminal investigations for giving money or gifts to athletes. Now, this august body of men, has apparently missed a situation characterized by an eyewitness to rape of a child--how could this be? How could a regulatory body that can sniff out an unpaid car rental miss on a decades long pattern of rape and sexual assault by a prominent coach at one of its most famous member institutions. Why did the public in effect pay the NCAA to watch a practicing child abuser work on the sidelines? These questions might seem harsh or unfair--but so too does the sight of so many highly paid men overseeing so many unpaid athletes, making sure they don't get paid- that there is a 'purity' in recruiting talented young people---when all along there was something like this going on- young boys assaulted by one of the leaders of a bell weather franchise. Is child safety at least as important as, for example : making sure the poor inner-city athlete stays poor while you make billions in TV revenue from his/her skilled performances? Here, there was a public record more than ten years before the scandal hit the news of a rape by an institution's senior coaching staff member- and that phrase from the investigations of Cam Newton, Reggie Bush, and USC forfeiting a championship--" NCAA investigators have uncovered..." Now, it is the NCAA and its $775 million annual revenues that are being- uncovered.

Large and small views of the world: The Danger of High Blood Pressure

2011-11-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

Large and small views of the world: The Danger of High Blood Pressure

Infrastructure...

2011-06-29T05:58:00.001-07:00

My life on a T-shirt, yes

voter suppression left an impression

not soon to be lost, imagine wardrobe costs:

conservative voter liberation,

against labor org limitations

and the incredibly WRONG right wing

yes, WRONG WING attacks the West Wing

and the best things in t-shirts

are not wet anymore, that would harass

those beautiful...glasses, we are brittle edges

drifting on the cusp of freedom, borrowed time

upon ignored infrastructure

it crumbles but much more important- social ones

Will America once again fear its children

growing up so loose now, almost feral

Right Wing song, wrongs 'neath a shadow

so long, and growing, sowing

seeds of dim sighted greed. When

comes the harvest, my life on a T-shirt

would be grim...

do you know where your children are

or more important, alone on mean streets in the night...

do you know where ...their children are?

GOP - Hey we're living here!

2011-04-07T05:04:00.000-07:00

A living Constitution was the faultless legacy of a group of fundamentally flawed men, elitist, racist...rapists, even worse if destroying men who try to escape from immoral slavery is accounted for in human terms. Yet they produced a living social contract that has endured and been given rebirth by the sacrifice of millions of brave men and women---and in the middle of it is the critical idea--our elected leaders represent us--the living people, citizens who comprise this nation--and in the important technical details-THE CONGRESS EACH YEAR IS REQUIRED TO DETERMINE HOW WE SPEND OUR PUBLIC ASSETS. It is not to be done once to bind us forever, it is meant to be responsive and flexible not fixed and tyrannical. So we cant have a Budget unless it conquers the debt from the Republicans Iraq war, mismanagement of the economy until it collapsed, the bailouts and bank business, the bonds based on the liar loans [that someone should be in jail for- in Barry Bonds lied what did these Wall Street guys do?].
So when they read the Constitution in the House, through tears- --did they forget the parts they don't like---let's get to the point-- this Budget weirdness of the House Republicans shows why they are unqualified to lead, why they once again have turned against the people in favor of their Corporate masters--who paid for them true, but did not elect them--their duty is owed only to the people.

What is the magic of $100 billion or 33 billion in cuts of aid to the poor and needy that we would shut down essential government- NOTHING it is either a principle which does not vote nor breathe- or an order from a higher authority--[no not God- they only believe in God when they go to war to kill someone in HIS name-] their Corporate handlers--the Conservative billionaires who - by this Budget nonsense and appearance- are really running the GOP.

If our Constitution, laws or customs forbid us from increasing government revenues--then they must be changed-- they do not and there are so many harmless ways to raise monies to rid us of debt- including just collecting the taxes in corporate profits that should be paid- that it is simply mind boggling that these "mis-leader" can say what they say without fear of an instant lightning bolt--see this is further proof they don't believe in God, they would surely all be flinching like a flea on a scratching dog when they speak such falsehood on the subject of this country being-- broke.

Republicans and the full moon...

2011-02-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

there is always a full moon over Republican-land, it is the way to explain the ravenous appetite for power and so little effort to use it for the benefit of the country. The recession has savaged America, it was brought on by a Governmental indifference, and needless, pointless $2 Trillion spending spree in Iraq---oh, you remember, the ringside seat in the Iraqi bloodletting, civil war, get rid of Saddam and turn the country over to terrorists. Yes, oh the wisdom of that choice---I mean it re-elected Bush, but Court-appointed Presidents are maybe prone to hyperbole- Weapons of Mass Destruction threatening America...hmmm. If there were a droplet of a poison in any country in the world, then we are threatened by a weapon of mass destruction. Kind of makes you wonder why we bother to have 2, 000 nuclear warheads primed and ready---when a few ounces of toxin might provoke our enemies to consume their economies and ruin their futures...like Bush did. Maybe we need to Plant a Bush among our enemies.
Ahhh but the Full Moon- howling the Constitution as if we should return to rule by rich white men and slavery, and obedience to the almighty dollar. Ruining healthcare reform because Insurance Companies want to kick sick children out of coverage; .convincing Americans that they have lost freedom - to dump their illnesses until death upon the public by not having healthcare insurance [ I suspect next will be a lets all start smoking and drunk driving while fondling our big guns] and when the finally invent the laser gun that can incinerate a man or building...they will be there to insist there is a right to bear arms.I am surprised we don't all get to own a nuke.
Turning down rapid rail funds in Florida- thousands of jobs hundreds of careers, because it was a Democrat idea...well if you had any ideas besides becoming a pimple on the butt of progress GOP, you would not be who you are--- howling at full moon, always a full moon in Republican-land

GOP will have to have better excuses...

2011-01-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

Can't pick winners and losers... Can't aford healthcare reform...can't spend to create jobs..can't have public service jobs...can't rebuild crumbling bridges...can't have kids as smart and well educated as Europe and much of Asia...Can't get business to reinvest trillions they have taken out of the economy in the months before the recent mid-term elections( can't be anything other than coincidence there I am sure)

So shallow the pool of talent the value of their ideas, it is alarming that they will have power and money to shape the political agendas for the coming election cycle...but they will. The Supreme Court has handed the nation over to commercial interests who have no real concern with national progress, for them viable markets and the military are enough-- and that is likely all we will have if the GOP continues to roll with the flood of corporate money. A nation at a crossroads, and the GOP has us in their plan-- yes, their idea of America is the land of sleeping sheep. They spend their time destroying a worthy presidency, pandering to the whims of their business masters, cutting off public needs--and now we will pay more for health because so much was spent to destroy out attempts to put a sane policy into effect- that sick people, especially sick children should not be denied healthcare.

They block jobs and demean every effort to create a non- petroleum economy, despite the tons of snowy and pollution evidence they deny human activity is poisoning our environments, for them air and water are industrial privileges, the automobile makers should be free to dump carcinogens and deadly toxins into our bodies. The raise record funds from insurance to stop a plan to improve health here, give us longer, healthier lives- in exchange they will limit our ability to sue for incredibly harmful medical mistakes. The feast on American misery...but no one should blame them. The obstruct the will of the people for two years and some people give them more votes and support--as if they cannot see it is the GOP, their tax and national policies which has taken their careers, jobs and futures. Now because it is possible they will cut taxes further on businesses, take away more things government is needed for by the poor and middle class and continue a will deception that the debts of the idiotic Iraq War are not the base of the pyramid of national debt.

Even a nation of sheep can bear only so much before they begin to wake and question--- why the Party that represents business- seemingly to the exclusion of life itself- cannot bring business to do what it should do--- invest and grow in an America that has given them so, so much.

Republicans will make the economy worse

2011-01-03T09:14:00.000-08:00

well they have too, it is the source of their power--anger over the way Government has lavished billions on business and seemingly nothing on the people who need jobs and better incomes, young people entering the workforce. Just as in the 80's and 90's when Republicans legislatively supported the export of US careers overseas- even an online tutor might be helping your child lean English from Pakistan or India-they will now have to do what they can to sicken and weaken the economy.
They successfully sabotaged the jobs and small business portions of the Obama Recovery plan, and these are the same political forces that destroyed the US economy, banking and finance systems during the Bush Era--so they are quite accomplished at this; a track record of proven effectiveness. They have taken power in the House--the press has disappeared- no one asks them what they have done to improve the economy--stopping Health care for uninsured Americans did produce a lot of jobs- lobbyists, communications expertise--and our insurance premiums Will rise for the money spent to defeat and dismantle a precious life saving healthcare reform law. But they have done little else--they support spending on war- even one like Iraq that produces no discernible advantages from 2 Trillion dollar investment---a nation there on the brink of civil war, a place where Christians must flee for their lives; a haven for terrorism--well I guess before they had Saddam and the innuendos of weapons---yes Republicans will need a lot of anger over the next two years to cover what they will not do for the American people, as they take away the sole effort to aid the people--the Obama Agenda. I thin the one good thing is that now we will hear a lot more news about the end of global warming, even as the sun emerges from the lowest levels recorded and begins to singe our hides---ahh, but then again we will be cutting out spending that might make things better, I guess we will have to be pleased with that, we reap what we have sown, a certain harvest of gain for business, we will have to work to avoid pain for everyone else. The GOP will work to make things worse; they are quite good at what they do!!

the new era...

2010-12-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

in US politics a crossroads has arrived and a path has been chosen, by the legacy of the Bush Presidencies, a poisoning of the political waters. Corporations now have been given free rein, insulated by an oligarchy of philosophically allied front men. The most telling result of the Supreme Courts decision to destroy democracy and turn it into a brainwash...was Clarence Thomas' wife positioned so grandly in a group established just to defeat healthcare reform aspirations of poor Americans...the group was started with some seed investments- donations in the range of $500,000. No shortage of healthcare options for that start up. No one questions his neutrality-- no need to, his record of hostility to human rights, individual rights makes the vote to destroy democracy a mere part of a pattern. There was probably more difficulty for his wife to avoid the millions than to accept them...there were millions everywhere it seemed to defeat the effort to bring medical care to the sick and needy. A true American cause was born once again on the backs of her neediest and most defenseless... and like a video of billion dollar smart missile flying into a window sized target in Iraq...many rich people cheering. Now there are rich people and Corporation owners who wish to see democracy restored, but now it will cost them hundreds of millions to attempt to restore the balance of propaganda, and if democracy were the first victim hare, then truth is, and will be, the honored second...
epilogue:
it troubles me to think of children dying here from a lack of healthcare while a few hundred million is spent to stop a healthcare law that might save them. Stop it because Insurance Executives want to determine who gets healthcare, and how much, and for what price...I mean that is our money they are spending, it will be on our insurance bills for the rest of our insured lives... yes?

Official google.org Blog: Official data underestimate global water and sanitation crisis, showing need for improved monitoring

2010-11-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

Official google.org Blog: Official data underestimate global water and sanitation crisis, showing need for improved monitoring

the price of free speech...

2010-10-03T19:56:00.001-07:00

I grew up around public opinion
it was a strange and mottled thing
all the colors and stripes of life,
a blend of all voices upon its timid tongue.
It has been fed to grow and while naturally shy
yet so much attention each second and fourth year
It seems to shine like the greatest of fascinations.

It was the anchor that dragged an awful war
until the ship-of-conflict ran aground
public opinion stood like the stand at New Orleans
when young America found a stone walled will.

But in recent times it has been battered
abused and terribly despoiled; when her dim eyed guardians
failed; she became the victim of a false crusade
so many bombs bursting in meaningless airs
and New Orleans fell beneath the sea...

Treated so shabbily, even by those once so adoring
now they put on skirts to mock it , and paint it
in colors that frighten and warn, but none so much
as those it holds most dear.

Poor public opinion and now those that
worship at the altar of a vengeful,frigid love
have given her over to those who speak
from the fattened land of profits, while many suffer
they grow great, deciding the fates of pieces of the world.

Oh, poor public opinion, where to rest our weary frame
when the mountains that make war come to take you?
Where will you go...the back alleys, ahh, yes
will be safer than Main Street, and the ballot boxes
will frighten you...they will look like the boxes you once knew
covered with flags, one by one come home...
to your tearful refuge.

Now, you will sink beneath waves of tainted green
here when truth comes to auction
Public Opinion, you can do nothing more,
if you cannot pay the price of freedom...

I last saw public opinion on a rooftop howling at the moon
it was a dream, I am sure, but the lonesome desolate sound...

made me weep.

A sugar feast...

2010-09-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

at the end of Ramadan, Eid ul-Fitr; the beginning of the new year Rosh Hashanah, and in America 9/11 is a day of remembrance a day of national unity. It seems 9/11 so quickly passed a period of solemn grief, to become cause for a re-election war, a bonanza for the war industry; has fallen further now: into the clutches of a new wave of political opportunity- politicians who want to feast on social division and fear, unholy crusaders who worship their personal hatreds, political parties who hide financial gains for friends and allies behind a veil of pretended patriotism, and of course the omnipresent American War Machine- reborn like an evil Phoenix from still warm ashes, moving towards the next Trillion dollar bloodbath.

In the midst of these booming thunder rolls, is a blip on the screen.. a misguided man who wants to burn the Moslem Holy Book to hallow the memory of 9/11. Te vultures from the right and their media have swarmed the occasion, one oddball who wishes to provoke a nation here to rise up against people who believe in a certain form of God... to blame all those for the terror strikes. Well he is going to need a bigger fire... the terrorists that have struck and killed Americans include Christians too, Americans of many stripes have committed terror attacks here...one need think no further that the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. There is no shortage of extremism and the will to violence among every Faith... my mind notes an exception perhaps for the followers of Dalai Lama. But the teachings of Christ have been used as a pretext for millions of murders, some called war, crusades, or even defense of the holy land, or self defense---as in the case of the invasion of Iraq ( no joke, the American President- a man named Bush convinced his country they would be attacked by a broken down Iraq government under a Dictator named Saddam)

That the Holy Book burning would do little here, except reinforce bigotry, and do potentially deadly harm around the world- many deaths and assassinations would be expected, was not a factor--the press eagerly covered the planned book burning, and geared up to cover the retaliations too. Somehow lost in all of this is the idea of 9/11...how we can honor sacrifice and move to greater world peace, better understanding. We will not advance the state of the world by retaliation, in word or deed. We will not improve the world by feeding the futures of our children to the War machine.

It is difficult to answer violence with understanding-- the highest ideals of Christianity and Muslim teachings call for this: to live in peace and abundance. I t requires something badly lacking in the world-- moral leadership focused on world peace, greater understanding, and most of all - rejection of violence.

There might be a sugar feast for all of the world, days to rejoice in peace and the victory of faith over the urge to conquer. The attainment of a higher purpose in life than feeding the greed of the war business, an abundance of life... the sweetness of life.

A Republican Apology...

2010-06-18T04:36:00.000-07:00

Oh to the Big Business that they so dearly love,

a moment we all can treasure; APOLOGIA

the spirit of a political party on display.

Just like the rupture in the belly of the Gulf of Mexico, the true nature of a thing is revealed in the most dramatic terms. YES, the Republican Party values its corporate sponsors greater than this country, greater than the value placed on human life. As if to them, life is unfortunately common, billionaire donors are unfortunately rare. Well, let's see...if a man dumped 500 million barrels of oil on Joe Barton's lawn, he would apologize to the man if we demanded he pay for the clean up, or for the neighbors properties that then become toxic, cancer causing hazards...right Congressman, an APOLOGY TO THE MAN WHO POISONED THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT.

It is important to remember, the oil companies do not own the oil, the oil belongs to everyone, it was made by the Sun and stored in Nature's vast undersea storage facility, the energy of the Sun... the oil companies simply get it and sell it back to us for enormous profits. So it is not too much to ask that they do it carefully and prudently, and--if they make a mess, have a plan, resources for fixing it.

A bailout, a shakedown, ohh... the agony of making a rich donor pay a small price for an unfixable damage to the world. So revealing this is, the true nature of the bungling oil industry, how willing they are to risk the assets we all need for survival; and how utterly contemptuous the Republican Party has become of the intelligence of the American People.

Republicans in the business world...

2010-06-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

many of the major corporations and the military leadership have a common thread of Republican affiliation, it is in the cultures and runs deeply, McCain over Obama deeply--and that is like Grand Canyon Deep, yes?
But consider the Republican's Supreme Court and its incredible bias towards giant corporations over the little people of the country- and by that I include the children, working families--people not living off the equity of the country; and consider the impacts of business on our lives--

shipping of our jobs and careers away for the country
moving whole industries away from the US
making a global preference for foreign workers
making tax laws favorable to global business and
tax incentives for moving businesses out of the US
massive layoffs
massive bailouts
massive profits from military adventures
and politically inspired wars such as the invasion of Iraq

The point is A Republican strategy to make things better or worse in the country would be an easy thing to accomplish, perhaps as simple as raising gasoline prices because of the Gulf Spill, or deciding it is a good time to cut back and trim payrolls- by the tens of thousands. Or deciding to drop gasoline prices, deciding it is good to hire people here in the US. We trust that these decisions are made without regard to political impact in the private sector, but after seeing the burn the earth strategy against the Health Care Reform in the Congress, a year of Senate filibusters...why in the world would we believe that!!!

Oh, and that Gulf Spill, it will have Obama's name all over it, in the fall elections---so he is doing the right thing to give it priority, so so very busy he has been cleaning up one after another Bush Era mess

a legacy for us all to endure, the badness of King George...on the humorous side, won't it be a hoot hearing Republicans talk about fixing the environment!!!!

The Gulf Oil Spill shows...

2010-06-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

the business and greed of people, the footprint of mankind on the environment, has the power to poison our world. The Gulf Spill needs no exaggeration, no melt through to China story, no horror story about bumps in the night; this is the disaster that men could cause, unfolded before our disbelieveing eyes, it is already worse than we could imagine.
A school child, on the day after the explosion, said to me: " My teacher said there is an oil well in the ocean pouring oil into the sea and it could poison the whole Gulf of Mexico." I smiled and had not even connected the explosion to the open well gushing oil. Then I thought-- the oil will stop, or the company will plug the well. I thought about the first Gulf War when the oil wells were set on fire, how they never went out until we capped them.
Now, we are mute witnesses, because the company has so much money it does not need to listen to us. It had no reliable plan for this event, and this event was not unlikely. It was likely and still is. The Bush years still haunt us, when government was like a rich man's toy. Our chickens became diseased, and we still ate them, our government became the ministry of fear and alarm, we watched the colors of the alerts and felt afraid; New Orleans sank while the White House plotted against Democrats, we winced at the sight of destruction--although it affected me deeply, I wonder how many still feel anything. Now the Bush policies that allow a corporation to ignore risks to the world for its profits; a Supreme Court that gives BP - a foreign corporation- the Constitutional Right to spend its billions to influence our elections, and who could blame them, if the Bush people allowed this disaster to take shape--they are worth every penny BP will will spend to get rid of Obama.

a change in the weather---man

2010-05-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

NOAA is one of the more important agencies of government, like those that feed and heal it has a mission that is fundamental to our survival: the survival of our oceans. These wonders are part of the engine of the planet, holding sun heat, making winds, clouds and rain; feeding a majority of the world from its fish and seafood stocks.

During the Bush years which is a little like saying the Dark Ages...it was politicized, its thought process co-opted by a ridiculous Party line...no danger to fish stocks from overfishing, the ocean dead zones might be natural and cyclical; the rise in ocean temperatures does not affect climate...and the biggie ...we must wait a few hundred years to be sure of anything. NOAA was in the pettifog business ---big time, content to confound and confuse the big issues...the ones upon which our fates seem to depend.

Now there is NOAA the foot dragging non-presence while an incredibly bold and reckless corporation acts to damage the oceans in its world-be-damned pursuit of profits. There are potentials for ruin of the nation's most productive ocean food supplier, irreplaceable estuaries, and a cycle of damage that we cannot yet foresee so powerful and unprecedented is the dump of crude oil into the oceans.
The Obama Administration has not been in Office long enough to have created this inert mass of political denial at NOAA that has displaced the effort--frank and open effort- needed to address the huge footprint of mankind on the oceans and climate of our little world's eco-system, but they have been in Office long enough to see it. Now that they have seen it, we will see if they will effect a cure. The health of our place in the world...depends on things like this...

Election Day is a time to learn

2010-05-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

sometimes the lessons are difficult and bitter, sometimes the sweet feeling is a very misleading sugar coating on a hard medicine inside. This election day is about change and the opposite reaction to change---resistance. I have read so many( and I think-- wrong headed) reports of the Tea Party movement and its power, I think it will be seen now and in November, that the Tea Party will affect one party more than another, because it borrows from the same bank of resistance as the Republican Party.
American voted for change in the society when electing President Obama, some opposed him then and now. They have formed and reformed into a movement that is being led by ideals that seem more like a jingo--taking back our Government/ too big government/ socialist government. They are a grass roots movement and have an internal structure of leadership that seems newly created and genuine.

Yet their spokespersons, the people who stand before the cameras, the candidates-- are people like Sara Palin, or Dr. Paul, the son of a Republican Congressman, who says he is an outsider to Washington... there is every appearance of a hijack of the energy of governmental resistance by people who are traditional, insiders, and have no real connection to reform of government.

I think the Tea Party will grow, gather more funds, and might eventually become allied with the flood of corporation monies that are now allowed by our Supreme Court's incredible decision in the Citizens v. FEC case. It may become a 3rd party that will consume a major party at least in some areas of the country and at least in some elections. It is anathema to modern ideas of government- global government, the corporate world for which national boundaries are merely a fact of doing business.

I think there is a balance that has been lost in America- so much acceptance of global factors, so much accommodation of external interests. The Tea Party movement reminds that domestic populations, their aspirations and goals, have a priority at least as important as foreign corporations. The Obama Administration has taken a quantum leap in that direction, and that...as much as anything... has inspired the strength of dissent, that so much change has come...proves that change can come.

Oil can still ruin the economy...

2010-05-04T05:27:00.000-07:00

...even as we sit on the edge of electric cars and vehicles, truly synthesized fuels, the Earth's carbon storage system that we call --oil-- hangs over our heads and threatens once again to ruin our economies and change societies for the worse. Here in the US let's say disaffection over the Administration's response to the Gulf Spill changes politics and we vote Obama out of office. Replacing him with a man/woman chosen by the War machine...the businesses that finance and equip our massive defense establishment. Then we would find a reason to go to war and begin to extinguish hundreds of thousands of lives...sisters, brothere, fathers mothers...loved ones, precious people to many others--and incidentally we terminate a wonderful adventure in this Obama Presidency.

We return our economy to a war footing just when green energy, and improvements in the American way of life...better health maybe, longer life spans; maybe some research that would improve the presently awkward state of medical science---we know so much more than we put into practice these days, and the gap is growing.

Oil--- and the people who would come to power are those who have kept us in the shadow of the Oil cloud, who eschewed or even blocked alternative fuels and hydrogen or electric vehicles. Oil can still ruin an economy because almost every contribution it makes has a damaging side effect- on air, water, even our physical routines of sedentary lifestyles...I walk a lot now and drive little---makes a big difference.
The thing itself is a vast energy source that we use in such a poor way...we burn it and send most of it off into the air, where we wear and breathe it. I have a strong feeling one day OIL will be used in many ways- to heal, to nourish, to build things ---and people will wonder of that primitive ritual of burning such a precious thing for a mere momentary pulse of energy.

things change into the same...

2010-04-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

in America, there is change and then there is the appearance of change----like the TV commercial dominated society we have become, thoughtless wonders we...some ideas that appeal to us because they are cute or trendy, or more likely the opinion of our friends...I call them friend shepherds - they guide a flock of sheepish friends, guiding tastes in clothes, tastes in cool, approving an disapproving, by virtue of superior knowledge of life and happiness. They guide their friends through the perils of life, to the barn in the season of shearing, and of course the season of lamb chops too.
But here we have it, Segregated Public Schools, well segregation by wealth has always been the case here and continued with only small interference from the Civil Rights movement and government policies of progressive administrations--it has been a difficult thing for Americans to give up their idea of privilege. I think the whining Tea Party movement is born of this -- a sense of privilege lost,

how dare they tell me I can't carry my gun in public-- so that everyone will know I am a dangerous man, not to be taken lightly as my appearance might suggest-- having a palatial home, a space age car, and more credit cards than a wallet can hold...is not enough, someone has to lack all those things, many ...most people must lack them, then i feel ...like a real American; [oh and anyone who disagrees should leave the country...taking the memories of your children and family lost in war with you...]

yes, the Tea Party is a reflection of something very insidious indeed, privilege raised to the point of worship. The loss of understanding, the reduction in essential intelligence about a thing-- we must be free to have health insurance on our own, and not as part of a mandate--- we must be free to become burdens on the public, we must be free to be poor and uninsured against our will...

Dorothy Height and Benjamin Hooks died in recent days, Civil rights leaders who gave productive lifetimes to raising the level of life in the US. I also read that parents in Mississippi take their children into racially exclusive schools, not for racially discrimination purposes I'm sure ...but maybe somewhere a friend has been a shepherd.

Maybe the idea is to have more friends like Benjamin Hooks and Dorothy Height, then I would call them...Angels.

there will be war and rumors...

2010-04-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Foreign policy is important, sometimes vital to the nation's economy and security. A nation that depends increasingly on the jobs we have exported to produce needs and wants is more and more vulnerable to the effects of events everywhere.

The Republican party-- which has centered it's approach on engaging in warfare at every opportunity-- would like to convince the public that:
it has a superior view of American international interests; and
that military policies and foreign policies overlap to an extent that perhaps only humanitarian aid is outside of the scope of military foreign affairs.
The result is that they would keep us at war and profits from those wars would fuel their political base. Corporate America is overwhelmingly Republican as is the military leadership, they say.

I have fundamental doubt about the affiliation thing, but the rest is unfortunately true. It makes life smple for Republican leaders: GET SOMEBODY-- GET THE GAYS, FAMILY VALUES man + WOMAN= Family. Get the poor it is their fault they didn't pick rich parents. Read the bible and support killing in the name of freedom. the art of hiding the ball at its best.

The lack of ideas and meaningful direction in governing the domestic agenda--the reason they are the Party of --No...is that governing is not important to them, war is. That is the big payoff. I think they are right, fixing domestic problems is not nearly as expensive nor profitable---quick example-- for the money we spent --no, wasted in Iraq doing a job that might have been done much better and more quickly by an international effort without an invasion---lets say $1.5 trillion over eight years--- every child in the US could have had health insurance, a college trust fund, down payment on their first home, and spending mney for weekends at the mall...or a ringside seat at the Iraq civil War, $1.5 Trillion essentially donated to a nation with more oil than political will to find peace.

Oh, I know my Republican friends, I hear your robotic voices - -- if we helped a generation of children become wealthy and successful it would ruin the country, it would be un-American like giving rights to gay people, or saving lives in New Orleans instead of just finding a way to blame Democrats; but still it shows what you can buy when you pass by the daily special on war in aisle 7 and shop around a bit, many Americans see, there is an appealing sale on CHANGE.

How to measure...Change

2010-04-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

Maybe the problem is that today's government is being measured by yesterday's standards, fear and loathing and the rainbow of dread ( I know you want to forget the red, orange chartreuse alerts--but I wont let you...;). We were whipped into a frenzy to invade Iraq, and when allies insisted on sharing in contracts and rebuilding, they were dismissed. So it shaped up as a painless war, full of high-tech show, an opportunity to reward the people who elected George Bush, many of whom had made money in the first Gulf War--the righteous one- repel the invaders of Kuwait. This one was not righteous, it was calculated and largely purposed to hide a vulnerable condition of our national defense, re-elect the man who oversaw the terror attacks; and spend as much money as possible before a grief stricken nation began to ask--we are invading who? For what? and why isn't my life as important to you Mr, President as the oppressed majority in Iraq...I mean we need roads, bridges, better education, democracy, economic growth, health insurance, better access to education, --did I mention roads and bridges?--all right here Mr. Bush---the answer was a trillion plus dollars spent in Iraq, which now---wants us out, wants to do business with practically everybody else but US companies, and are running elections that look a lot like Bush's elections, so much for democracy .

Instead of US, our money went to Iraq, we got the Republican style of management, see. e.g. New Orleans, hurricanes and old people...and they are still saying we can't afford to help Americans, still trying to convince people it is right to resent anyone who is not rich, and that it is a good thing for the poor to use their assets --even the lives of their soldier children-- for the benefit of the rich...oh man, if there were a higher superpower on the earth, like China may yet be, they will look at this era in America and say...they were so wrong headed, then found a chance for CHANGE. Yes even China of the future may one day routinely do much more for its people than we do willingly here, the POLITICS OF RESENTMENT RUN DEEP, AND ONE PARTY HAS MADE IT,... ITS LIFE BLOOD.

The repeal of the Court...

2010-03-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

this Supreme Court is no stranger to doing strange things and healthcare legislation, the lifeboat for so many millions of people will be in the crosshairs of the most philosophically backward Court since the days of the New Deal...they have proved that they will not respect the presumed power of Congress to regulate the things it finds fundamental and necessary if there is a conservative cause that can be promoted...and here it is no less a cause than the convenience of the War Machine---the Holy Grail of the Republican Party. They could reword the dollar...in War we trust...

Healthcare is a blip on the screen--$120 Billion per year...the Iraq war on the surface was about $12million per hour...about $1Trillion in six years, and that was just the parts that tended to show in the budget. War is like an iceberg, the greater part is unseen, but it is the precedent that matters most, the idea that people might shape a priority for government.

During the Bush years, we needed healthcare reform- they offered to limit our right to sue for the unlimited damage medical mistakes, we were supposed to be happy if they reduced our insurance bill by a dollar. When we needed roads and infrastructure, they studied why our bridges were falling down; when we needed action to protect pollution of oceans and loss of whole food stock species- they gave us doubts that human pollution was polluting the seas; when we saw the weather weirding, power of storms swamping cities- they said we had to wait to be sure before we would make anyone change the way they do business, in fact wanted to relax air quality standards, mileage for cars ( can you believe they actually made bigger and bigger cars---and we bought them!!!)

So the war machine is starting to get antsy, they have many billions to spend, and the Supremes say baby we'd love to see you spend it to do to public opinion what has been done to the food supply here-- overwhelm the consumer until they think a grease burger and oily potatoes is God's gift -- and they once again choose war: expensive, pricey, high- tech conflicts that show how strong we are, invasions for our liberty...now admit it don't you feel more free now that there is a trillion dollars worth of democracy in Iraq...well you don't quite get what you used to...for a Trillion$ do you?

healthy days ahead

2010-03-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

the Obama Administration has done something remarkable, they have overcome long odds to pass a health care bill that portends major change---that's right America--some change from the tired song of what we cannot do for our own people. The Republican Party has once again disqualified itself from leadership, and discarded the interests of the American People in favor of the one thing that it does do--raise and spend other people's money for political victories. They want to rule but have nothing to offer except war and spending massive amounts of our future to feed corporate allies--- look at Iraq--that is One Trillion of our dollars to one of the richest oil reserves in existence, look at it-- that is your child's college money, his/her future career in a new industry, the electric car, the healthcare so many millions need to prevent serious and costly medical conditions--there it is-- the incredible waste of our futures. The war did not have to be even 25% as costly as it was for us, the costs should have been shared by many including Iraq, should have been much lower to begin and end--yes it should have ended long ago too. It has not ended yet, and the lessons learned there, the bravery of the Iraqi people...so many good things, but the amount we paid-- the enormous lavish waste of money to reward the political allies of a marginally competent administration--that was the sinful waste of our futures. Nothing is measured unless we know how much it costs to do it--- and these costs are deeply offensive to the national interests, we are weaker as a result. So now we do something that is not for killing, but for saving life. There is the difference between the Parties, one wants to keep us at war and ignore the needs here, the other wants to invest in the American people, in there needs and best wishes..I know which side I'm pulling for, isn't it nice to have a government that is trying to do something for the American people...i mean other than send our children off to die for corporate profits.

How's that Change thing workin for ya"

2010-02-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

The voice of the Republican party has issued a call that sets the nation where it must truly be--- the election prey of a predator. It is not a glad moment for me, I love my country... to see it set upon like a flock of sheep: How's the change thing... the hopes of millions for better health is that change thing, the wishes for a failure that affects survival for many thousands came in the voice of the Grand Old Party...that now seems more like the Old Boy's Party than ever before. I listened as one of them sat in the White House during the Healthcare Summit and thumbed through a 2700 page bill as if a stage prop which he appeared not to have read and said it would "Bankrupt the country"...to pay for the healthcare of its citizens...who as we speak are...receiving healthcare - medicare, medicaid, state programs, charitable sponsors- but this man wants us to believe that paying our medical costs will bankrupt us...why? What is bankrupt, like spending more than we have to pay for a pointless war somewhere-- Well, perhaps someone told him to say it, perhaps he earns monetary support by doing so, but that idea of bankruptcy- practical and moral- it did not stop him from helping his government spend a Trillion dollars for a front row seat to the Iraq Civil War.

Such dire, desperate tactics...to frighten people into believing in failure.

They ask Americans for many things, these people who ridicule the will of the people...they ask for our loyalty, our tax dollars, and when they find a war their supporters like...they ask for the lives of our children; and now they stand and ridicule the ambitions of American people...

I have a feeling in November, there will be a lot of voters eager to show the GOP ...how they like that change thing...the one that they voted for, worked for, prayed for...and now sit and watch them act like predators in the wild, try to take it down.
I think the voters will show they like that change thing...once again.

Taming the Tiger

2010-02-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

I think many people expect something more, some have the temerity to criticze...without first baring their own lives to us...we frankly have no way of knowing if a morally worse person is doing the judging...yet they cluck and judge...My view is simple: I am not the judge of another, and no-one should be so arrogant to self anoint him/herself as the arbiter of human values.

Tiger Woods owes us nothing.

He owes a great deal to his wife, his Mother, his children but that is for him to resolve with those people, if he believes in God he may have a moment ahead of him that will be stunning in comparison to anything he may have experienced, forgiveness is a powerful thing. But to the public he owes them nothing.

None of us has a right to believe that we enjoy this man's talent any more or less because of his morals, if we do then we delude ourselves. We do not know the private lives of public people even as the press and money hungry people try to drag us into it to make what truly can be judged by everyone as morally tawdry money. But Tiger has given all of us who feed on his exploits, ideate about his even greater potential, more than we have given him, he owes us nothing, no explanation, no apology --no personal reform.

Look at it this way--- we have recently had a President and Vice President who many believed deliberately misled this nation into a war in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands died, hundreds of billions of dollars-- of our scarce resources were spent, possibly wasted...truth was owed there, by a leader with a social contract with each of us. I say save your angst for those men who have perhaps set us on a course for decades of continuous warfare, in a country where public opinion will legally be overwhelmed by billions of dollars from war profits; used to influence elections to elect more leaders who resort to conflict at the highest costs of life, purposefully moralized truths, and pieces of our national future.

This man, Tiger Woods, swings golf clubs, wins trophies...he owes us nothing.

Republicans, We All Agree are Experts on Failure...

2010-02-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

So they have put their expertise on display, in one year President Obama has failed they say, he has not rescued the economy from the mess Bush made, brought back the millions of jobs lost while Bush spent a trillion dollars in Iraq; and friends and allies of the Administration reaped hundreds of billions in profits.
I think any one who listens to them has a memory problem...think of how they treated Americans, would they have spent a trillion on the war on unemployment? replacing those jobs the Republican establishment exported? and health insurance is also another way of saying ...lets save the lives of Americans, stressed people who are paying exorbitantly for health insurance, for whom many millions do not have it, without which many needlessly suffer and die...while the Republicans rake in money--- some from taxpayer- bailed out industries-- to stop progress so they can win the next election.

Think of Republicans and that New Orleans sank beneath the waves while they sat in the White House figuring out how to blame Democrats and win the next election; think of the Twin Towers and the way they invented the fiction that Saddam did it...Bin Laden was the one they promised to get...so much for keeping sacred promises. Yes, I'm sure there is another profitable war out there somewhere, but the rest of the world and most Americans are enjoying the idea of a year or two of no new wars, and trying to finish off the last ones Republicans have done...we 'd like to keep our children for something better than dying for corporate profits.
Yes, Republicans and Failure...joined at the hip and now dripping from facetious lips... How's that Change thing doin' for us...Sara Palin the palm reader asks? ...

well, it would be better if we had more concerned leaders in Congress, men and women deeply concerned about the lives of the people...but unfortunately, we still have Republicans instead.

wait and see if it gets too warm...[a satire]

2010-02-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

The advice of the Republican party to America and the world, stop health insurance legislation because it would give people who don't have much money a chance to live longer and healthier lives, and there is no global warming if remedies might interfere at all with any business anywhere; Corporations should be able to give us as much of their money as they wish to aid our campaign to stop the spread of better health, and public control of government, especially the war powers, by real people, instead of corporations.
It all makes sense - stopping health insurance reform really helps the wealthy have and keep an advantage over the poor, they can look down their well paid noses and watch them suffer from things that could easily be cured by a high priced doctor and some high priced pills. It is survival of the credit-fittest.
Global warming, well we all see it -- it is everywhere, science records the data, we see the massive energy of storms that hold so much more water and energy because the air is warmer-[storms that sink low lying cities, snow storms that have record dumps of snow, over again...are you listening in D.C. ???] yet we can wait because we don't have to change yet, we can afford to allow business as usual, don't stress the business world with safer business practices, and wait. Wait until it is too late and then we can pay every nickel we have to get some semblance of our lives back-- like the trillion dollar Iraq war- so many hundreds of billions in profits- will look like a blip on the screen when the cleanup of polluted air, and megatons of heat trapping compounds must be removed; or when artificial foods must replace the missing fish in the oxygen poor oceans, imagine the costs of trying to clone lost diversity back into ocean life food chains.
And those corporations in the war business should be free to spend their past war profits on candidates who will bring the next war, kind of puts war on automatic pilot...and the politicians get to pick whom we fight...maybe, I think some opponents might require a higher level of expenditure, those would be the "A" list wars...yes, this is a satire...no one would really do these things...I mean deny global warming just so companies can do business as they please; or elect people who are pro-war just to make more sales of missiles and bombs and guns and uniforms and tanks and planes and jet planes and bombers and ships and submarines and cool camo boots and hats, and bullets and machine guns, and electronics, and tactical computing devices, and infra red goggles, gas masks, and artificial limbs, cool commercials to attract young people to go fight in these wars for fairly low wages, and smart missiles and coffins...

Nope, no one would do that, not even Republicans... this is satire.

the TP - ing of America

2010-02-06T20:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, I feel like the character in the Godfather part 25 or so who says...they keep pulling me back in...
I have been happy being happy lately, pursuing career stuff, but the Tea Party thing...well just when I think I'm out---they pull me back...well in this case they steeped me in a cup of lava.

What is the fastest way back into another trillion dollar war somewhere meaningless to the US and most of the world... or how do you turn a noble cause into a feeding trough for your hog-like appetites of your corporate friends. Corporations are not natural people, but like many natural people they have no apparent conscience, if corporations were people they could be serial suicide terrorists acting for self interest that has been poured into its ear, and without fear of its own demise...because it won't die, just be re-papered. But this is the point we are captives of a war machine here, of an interlocking political and economic force that will now be free to influence the choices on election day, if i were a betting man, I would bet the Hawk over the Dove, with this corporate shove...the voters throats will be stuffed on election day. Well that might solve the unemployment problems for a week or two--the people who go to work to lay the foundation for the next invasion, and maybe all of the slaughter will ease world populations pressures, and who knows maybe another Trillion or so will temporarily appease the beast-- I doubt that, truthfully, since WWII it seems the more we feed it, the more of us it eats...

Thank you, George Bush ...

2009-12-29T12:29:00.000-08:00

So they convinced another young man that his calling in life was a senseless act of violence, and the multi-billion dollar setup that George Bush invented and foisted on a then 'still reeling' American public, the one we pay for as a line item on every airline ticket...the one we wait in line for a few times on a typical trip; yes that one. It, that made a WWII veteran sit and take off his artificial leg to pass through a check point..ahhhh yes, I remember it all now; good George ..that one, who made us safe from terror. Each day that went by with a different color for fear was a victory in the war on terror. Least mind that despite the billions to contractor friends of his puny days mis-running the government. So you see, we really are not safer because we hassle every American citizen who gets on an airplane because...gasp shock... this wave of idiots is from largely somewhere else, the middle east, Yemen, those hot spots of 'noise', that the Bush system takes in and ignores. Like the troop of middle east men who wanted to learn to steer and fly but not land a passenger jet. This troubled young man in the air above Detroit, from a wealthy family in Nigeria, gives us a warning, like the people who blew a hole in the basement of the Towers, a warning to do better.

We now have to really do, what we have already paid billions to do, and this theme will repeat itself over the next several years; we will discover more and more things that were supposedly fixed --- --- in reality not ever touched.

But to rely on anything that George Bush's Administration did, is a far greater peril than the doubt-filled future..it's a mortal lock, something critical and vital...was left undone

Republicanation

2009-11-23T05:33:00.000-08:00

As we get ready now for the real healthcare bill, we find the economy still held captive by an enemy, the same force that has gathered to oppose healthcare legislation. It is an insidious force pretending with the coyness of the Devil that it does not exist. But yes, there is a Republican Party, and yes they remain determined to win elections at the expense of the national good, the national best interests. Theirs is simply a higher calling, answering to an higher authority than god, morality or the American people, they answer to the Lord of election and money.

To be sure the Democrats raise money too, and lately have done quite well even getting some small part from real people in small chunks. True they try,,,usually much more ineptly to win elections. But no, they do not place that above the good of the country. The try to make policies to reflect the needs of the people as well as the greed of the business sector. That balance the people and the greed is vital. The greed trickles down to a semblance of jobs or incomes for the middle and lower classes. The great siphon of the rich is part of our culture, the ladder to wealth seems to exist for those not born rich. But the Republicans have sold their souls, they have lost their moral compass. Now everything is a device for elections and paring money for their people. Like the war in Iraq, we refused true international cooperation because our goal there was primarily to spend money with friends of the Bush Administration, and we did...probably $200 Billions in profits much to the allies of Bush, it would have been better spent on an American nation that needed so many things [ or am i the only one with bad roads, low employment, industries vanishing, more bad roads- streets too, creaky bridges, an ignored and growing poverty; poor prospects for college grads, broke cities, impoverished states and...no health insurance for millions...like those who send their children to die in places like Iraq]. Well a Trillion here a Trillion there, even when you are taking hundreds of thousands of lives, one can wonder what is the point...one also wonders of the benefit, Saddam did not bring down the Towers, and now Iraqis want to enjoy their oil wealth in peace, WITHOUT US unless you want to pay $4.00 a gallon again.
So Republicans, you are lucky to live in a place where people can so easily be led to spite their faces, but you should enjoy your little[virginia /new jersey illusion, I have a feeling they are wise-ing up!

Sad Puppets

2009-08-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

I am so reminded of the Civil War...when dirt poor farm boys went out and died so that rich men could buy, sell, and exploit to death... African slaves, same game is being played but here it is... billions in Iraq war profits and now...Healthcare.
So it is the poor should pay so that the rich, wealthy, and well-to-do can have the choice of subsidy from wage earners. A woman with children should support a wall street executive, pay for his Viagra, he who has received a bailout bonus perhaps a million dollars. A poor working woman who cooks, cleans, washes clothes, nurtures small children when she is not at work, should pay health care for a man with two homes and a yacht docked at a Lake in Michigan, where her tax dollars are already at work repairing the low water levels. Oh, and the public golf course at $200 per pop that she also helps pay for, the employees who cut grass so forth for without her help it would be $400 per pop and Mr. Yacht Guy would have to change his cigar brand from Rothschild to Bahia.
This kind of thing happens in America, land of wallet envy. I see people driving Porsches sneering at a homeless vet with a "feed me" sign, saying look at that guy he has so much free time. Ahhh Republicans, can't live with 'em can't send them to a deserted island...
Many people who have taken the work of stopping progress towards health insurance do so because of political affiliation, political opposition has focused on this issue, but as usual there are real forces- money sucking forces- behind the scenes, like the war profits people [as if any sane person could argue against coverage for everyone and limits on how much money can be charged for medical care---i won't even remind them that every licensed practitioner only does so because the poor taxpayer woman has helped educate and train them, and the license itself is a privilege granted by all of us, the public...and do you really want people to get rich by simply charging more and more for something like...life; haven't we learned anything from the OIL people... ] and speaking of high sulfur content

I give this friendly advice to my Republican fellow citizens, from concern for them all, it's hunting season soon, better shave them horns!

Blue in Cambridge...

2009-07-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Would the police enter a house, ask a white man in his own home to prove he wasn't a burglar?
I mean in Boston, Cambridge, Mass. what is the likelihood that it goes beyond...Is this your home sir?
There are race attitudes involved in policing, oh yes, and black men or latino men in blue hear the same drummer, blue is the color that matters...even in those cases where white men in blue have executed black men in blue...those mistaken undercover things, or shoot outs where suddenly the black man in blue...becomes just a black man, and police officer is gunned down by his fellow officers.

It is not an easy business, but i think the Cambridge police have it all wrong here.

They entered the house and infuriated the black owner by making him prove he was nt a burglar in his own home. They should apologize for in their blue hearts I think they know it doesn't go down that way elsewhere. If the black man in blue goes into a home to investigate the burglary and comes across the white male owner, he too does not ask the white man to prove he is not a burglar... well mostly... unless the house is a drug kingpin's house and they want him to get angry and act out...so they can through him in the back of a padded wagon...you see, it is provocative...when the police treat us as if we are criminals, we all want to know what hell is on this man's mind...that he would come into MY HOUSE and ask me if I am a burglar.
the black man in this case, professor Gates is a tv personality, a famous scholar, has studied race in the US, observed upon these questions with scholarly moment and power, and now in the age of Obama... we see some things have not CHANGED.

Bin Laden's Kidney

2009-07-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

A story in the news about a man in Pakistan, deeply in debt, faces a choice: sell his child or his kidney. Pakistan our staunch ally in the search for Bin Laden...remember him? Yes, the one President Bush promised to capture and bring to sudden justice, later a star of Republican Presidential Campaign ads, the one supposed to help us forget how the GOP brought the world's leading economy to its knees,

[no, not China ...US the conquerors of Iraq; the home of Saddam who was really behind the Trade Centers; oh...I will have to declare a Red Alert to bring this all back to your memory, or make an amputee war veteran take off his artificial leg before being allowed to get on an airplane...Take that you terrorists!!!] where was I...oh yes, Pakistan...

such extreme oppression there, it is nearly as bad as in the USA where credit card companies can drain the life from an unpaid debtor, and Corporate rights are so much more important than human rights, just ask any member of the solid five voting majority of our Supreme Court...oh that word "Supreme" meant so much more when Earl Warren and Thurgood Marshall , and Justice Douglass...or Felix Frankfurter... this group reminds me more of Justice Taney...or the 1896 group that decided Blacks were not people but property, now in Pakistan, people sell their children because the rights of a creditor are more important than the individuals. That couldn't happen here. We know that corporations don't give their lives in combat, they just take the profits from war and elect people who think war is the way to solve problems. In Pakistan that government, we gave them lots of our tax dollars, and military stuff too...well I hope they are better at finding Bin Laden than at taking care of their children, or... maybe we should be looking for his kidney.

The Supremes... without Love

2009-06-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

And this is what is wrong with this Court, final Judge...only because we don't have a better one...

I have seen worse courts, but not by much, this group of people who seem hostile to understanding, prone to support corporate profits over people, so thorough in their disregard for logic...when gut level convenience is available. Now comes the New Haven white firefighters and a promotion test in which whites passed and blacks didn't... a white learning disabled plantiff wants the test to stand...so the best person gets the job.
I have some experience wuth eastern cities and their fire departments. The amazing way that tests and the right -things -to-do gets passed down like heirlooms from white father to son, uncle to nephew...all the time the "best man" getting the job...and I do mean "man"...as in "Oh Man do they really think the rest of us are that stupid!". I knew a black man who was denied entry into an nearly all -white fire department because a white dentist said he had too few teeth...must have been the proximity to darker skin that threw off his professional counting skills, [ of course in those days he found a black dentist, who was running an elevator in a department store because of another job test] ...well this man with the few teeth, and this man's son would have to compete with the "best men" from so many generations of "best men..." taking tests with "shibboleths" and winks and nods built in...don't you think we could make it so hard for whites to join the electric glide line, that your country folk music, river-dance histories would be a disadvantage...put James Brown Lyrics into the fire and rescue protocol...it would be about as relevant as that New Haven test, which has about the same chance of predicting the "best man" as the ability to recite "Gin and juice..."
We live in a world where reality is turned on its head [over and over] but unlike the past, the people of color have no reason to let it go by as if they had no choice... Days will come when the best people will be the result of testing, not blood lines... in public employment. Thanks to this Court which will [ in the name of all that is Holy] must see some changes too....

Bushed Doctrines

2009-04-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

President Obama just saved the country, and you thought it was just a crew of brave men hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, no it was the country and perhaps western Europe too. How? Well just imagine if Bush were still the embarrassed President of the US and these hostages presented the opportunity for military action to show strength [ and funnel money to political allies and supporters]. The US and any needy economies with similar minded leaders would have sent an armada into the Indian Ocean, begun construction of new fleets; a military buildup of amphibious forces like the world has not seen, prepared for a ten year stay to protect America... the cost would have dwarfed the limits of governments spending on anything in history, the trillion dollars wasted in Iraq would not even make a down payment on keeping an entire ocean safe from terrorists ...yes the pirates would be converted to terrorists... the nation would be on "Puce alert"... puce is the level used when brimstone falls from the skies.
For if Iraq were a threat to the US for the fictional weapons of mass destruction, these pirates would be the barbarians at the gates. More dangerous than the illegal immigrants from Latin America who come here like we all did ... well like most of us except for the African slaves, and the Amerind peoples... anyway the pirates would be so much worse, more deadly than the killer bees , more toxic than Chinese imports, able to leap small Republicans in a single sneer... you know, truly dangerous. We would spend until the printing presses at the national mint failed and then we would order more...from China.

But President Obama was in office, and the pirates were dealt with on that day, and tomorrow's pirate threat will be dealt with on that day, with reason, cooperation, and measured use of force...and they will still be "pirates", people who go to sea to steal wealth from others. The freedom at stake is the use of international shipping lanes, it is a nasty problem...might get worse; but we don't need to spend thousands of lives, trillions of dollars to hurt the pirates or to help our friends.

Personally, I have disliked the Pirates since they beat the Yankees in the World Series...but that is another blog...

Oh, Republicans...

2009-01-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

Recovery is a long road filled with regrets over how we have let things go so out of hand. Republican leadership has taken the country into a deep recession, the bottom has not yet been seen with everyday seeming to bring a mix of hopeful and ominous signs...now so many more jobs to be cut. Republican leadership policy is evident in the corporate world too, and some of the reductions in forces have the ulterior benefit of worsening the economy while strengthening corporate profits. It is somewhat extreme to attribute political motivations to economic policies but recent years have taught us: a trillion dollar war in Iraq had preeminent political purposes, and benefits for friends of the party in power..set aside contracts for Cheney's old firm was just a cube of the ice berg, the rape of the taxpayers in the wall street bailout, people who managed so faulty a way being the recipients of unaccounted federal funds, [some of which might just sit in a vault until taken as a profit in the future] all of the denials of things needed by the people: education, infrastructure, new jobs, new industries, health care for all... all were denied because we could not afford it...then a trillion for Iraq put the lie to all of the denials.
So Republicans seem to give the nation a choice...its us or them; as we watch their opposition to the stimulus program...the one thing in recent years aimed at helping the American people where they need it most... a government, investing in its people... MORE to come...

January 20...

2009-01-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

President Obama has already made a great degree of success...he has made people forget about Bush, the worst Presidency in memory...and that covers quite a long time. It is like filling in the Grand Canyon, making people believe in the positive power of the US Presidency, yet somehow it has been done. And speaking of the Grand Canyon, the depths of the problems inherited by President Obama...is a depth that seems to grow as more and more truth is revealed. And yet, he seems up to the challenge and the need to innovate, solve crises and handle the routines too. Like walking and chewing gum at the same time while spouting beautiful poetry...following a non leader with a bright new star for many to simply find and be guided. January 20 will come and go ...so will the hangovers and sore throats from laughter and applause... but the beginnings will grow into days of achievement for a nation so accustomed to getting things done...but recently so accepting of a syndrome of failure.
Now suddenly we can have jobs, and peace. Prosperity and new businesses that stay in the US; friends overseas among our sister nations, respect without threats and fear. January 20 will roll with the calendar but some things will stay in our thoughts and perhaps in our hearts.

Hard Choices...already

2008-11-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hard choices seem to be everywhere the Obama Administration seems willing to accept a baptism in firestorms created by many previous years of horribly mistaken priorities. So infrastructure and the bailout frenzy will carry some of the benefits of Obama policy into the economy, the war in Iraq will play itself down on a separate stage, for the next year it will not receive much CHANGE, the economy is the key..and an administration can be tied to failure if it does not appear to grapple with the problem and make some progress.

Energy will be another important area, oil prices will be forced to rise as much as the damaged economies of the West can bear, a potential that progress from the recession will be consumed by rising oil prices, diplomacy is a key ingredient in the need to hold down the habit of gouging the market...difficult since so many national economies depend upon the price and value of oil.

But the stage has been set, the new administration has become a world focus of hope for change...an honest and friendly desire for success, for it is plain now to so many...what a difference leadership can make.

Cabinets...

2008-11-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

Cabinet maker choose fine wood for their craft, then work it until smooth and appealing to the eyes. The design is for the eye but also for the utility of the thing. Cabinets that don't serve a purpose well wind up on the scrap heap of things...grown useless and replaced by more functional models.

The real President, Pres.- elect Obama seems to have learned his craft well. A very deliberate design so far but one aimed to carry the weight of the heavy work ahead. A nation has become accustomed to the Presidency as a place where progress stops. Six years ago, General Motors introduced a hydrogen powered car, put a gas pump at 2nd and Mass. Ave near the Senate Office Buildings for the fleet of cars to be fueled by the Congress Members who were given these prototype cars. They looked like a dream come true...roomy and full powered vehicles running on Hydrogen gas...the most abundant element in the universe.. maybe...but certainly cheap and pretty much everywhere...it's molecules are in every drop of water by the millions...but Republican Party theology said to put the hydrogen car off until the Gasoline boys were ready to set up a supply chain...we would look at it again in fifteen years... and yesterday, hat in hand...fresh from making millions of gas guzzling SUV and trucks, thousands of dreamy car ads for ridiculously low mile per gallon vehicles...fresh off their fleet of private corporate jets...asking the Republicans in Congress and the White House to give 50 Billion or so to keep the companies afloat... hmmm i would say...maybe you should have built that hydrogen car, at least we'd have a reason to hope that American automakers are at least considering the welfare of their workers, suppliers, customers, and the whole air breathing world out there... AMAZING...

So as the real President plans a Cabinet for a real government, the old phonies keep making real problems....

2008-11-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

President Obama...
has a nice ring to it, here he will often be known as Mr. President when I am feeling respectful...Bara-ocky when the mood calls for humor or A - dri- enne!!!...and speaking of smiles, there are these odd looks on faces these days...mention the word President and so many people start to smile...a remarkable phenomenon...hero worship of a politician; little boy..don't you want to grow up to be smart like the President?...been a while since i heard that...since i was a boy...[and your gasoline was still alive breathing walkin' around bitin' stuff]

A leader that makes us anticipate tomorrow with a sense of positive expectation. Confidence is a big part of things..on the day after the terror attacks people turned to President Bush with adoration and respect...he wore that out in no time with a war for the convenience of his friends while the real bad guys are still on the loose...remember the colors of fear...chartreuse alert...hide the small children and savings bonds!!!
President Obama you have an act to follow, and no matter what you do from now on..you have already exceeded the productivity if the Bush second term...you made America smile...with pride...Thank you!!!

Poetry

2008-10-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Now I lay me down to blog
another Right Wing failure to flog
but it is is not so satsfying you see
their mistakes come with a heavy fee

and somehow the point of blame is lost
when the least of us must bear the cost
and watch our futures drift out to sea
to fill ambitious eyes in some other country

and weren't these the same oil brained folks
who cracked our heads like eggs and yolks
to make an omelette of a world of pain
and now they've gone and done it again

first New Orleans sunk beneath the sea
then they hanged old Saddam for our security
and the people who really brought towers down
make GOP campaign footage in turbins and frowns

and there we sit naked, befuddled, and not amused
its our own government got us feeling so abused
and now someone inflates bad mortgage debts
walks off with billions of dollars, no regrets

no... those are left for us to hold near broken hearts
where the sun don't shine, just like some other parts
of the anatomy my left foot would like to see
ohhh, don't let this Administration anywhere near me!

I'd forget about rhymes, and niceties
and remember old grey heads, salty seas
and how my only dearly beloved country
became a hog trough for the GOP

oh man...this election is getting to me!

Thanksgiving...

2008-10-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

The collapse of financial institutions and the bailout mean that the deficit may exceed one trillion dollars, which even for an economy as large as the US, is some serious debt. The lack of care in the government under Bush has been matched by the lack of care in private regulation: badly inflated values have come home to stall the markets with uncollectible debt. And while many have walked off with millions, a few with hundreds of millions, the US taxpayer once again pays nearly $700 billion. The Iraq war designed and operated to liberate $Billions for the friends of the political elites has been another success and the taxpayers again have paid.

Now there is continuing discussion of health insurance, and a health provider industry that will not easily accept price control from the government, and people are faced with the prospect of being told the government cannot afford a $30 billion annual expense for universal coverage; and the need to grow new jobs, rebuild aging infrastructure...all potential victims of a budget squeeze between friends in the war business and friends who have performed acts of war on business... I think we are approaching a point in time, when people will no longer accept that their lives are less important than one of the the richest oil producers in the middle east and the world, or billionaire investment people in the the western world; one of those $700 billion payouts could transform life in the United States for the people who pay the bills...IMAGINE THAT... college for anyone who wants to go, medical insurance for all; an effort to train and retrain workers with pay; ...sounds like a reasonable use of a few hundred billion?... and the lessons are out there, by the Billions...now.

McCain and Pain

2008-10-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

the signs of the times...

My eyes have seen the glory of days of sunshine, nights of radiant reflection; and now they see the sprouting lawns of America [those blue signs of HOPE everywhere] a rebirth, a renaissance of a great spirit, and then the music of the splendid scene jerks to a halt...McCain and Paiin....

No, its McCain and Pal...er.. Governor what's- her -name...but the point was just so ...poignant

my eyes found truth beneath the advertising...yes, McCain and Pain..the wisdom of myoptic eyes and a brain registering at 50 mph in a 40 mph world. Pain is the insight of this moment, a nation shedding the locked steps of pain and fear, raising eyes and visions above mediocrity ...the fates of the ordinary. A Nation so blessed in bounty, resources and courageous people...so unseemly to be seen hiding in fear, fear of itself...fear of fear...fear for the sake of fear.
Pirates roamed the seas in an earlier age bringing terror and destruction, taking lives for profits. Governments secretly hired them to advance their jealousies and ambitions without showing a true flag...black cloth and bones ...now we have a scourge of terror in the world...created by our own hand in Afghan struggles, created by the proliferation of weapons [we have sponsored], created by the inattention to details of government which also show in slow hand reply to hurricane skies, and feebled bridges rusting away in air too full of acid and heat, the partisan starving of our great cities who vote too blue...we have neglected so much...and enriched too few, trickled down wealth and generous takings of the time and precious lives of our young men and women in uniforms of courage and honor...deserving the best we can give in leadership...receiving far, far less...

McCain and Pain, confusion and delusion... a tandem of beasts beneath an undisclosed master it seems...for we simply do not know where they would make war or when ...but the rest, seems assured...

signs sprung on the lawns, naming hope or pawns, choice or dim chance of peace...prosperity awaits the dilligent attention of a people determined to pursue its interests...fairly defined and considerate of other nations, and peoples.
America rises in Autumn this season of Change.

They Just Hit the Iceberg...

2008-10-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

I think I hear a band playing...Nearer my God to thee...; and the deck chairs are being rearranged, pretending to give up Michigan, but they really came too close to the ice and ripped a hole below the waterline. All of the compartments are taking on water... they are sinking ... Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana... filling up, falling like dominoes.

This happened in the primaries too, Hillary vs. Obama and it was like an avalanche fell on the opposition... now with so little time before the election, the walls are crumbling for McCain. Last night there was a TV show, and the lesson for America and the world is that no matter who you are, you have to be up to the job- good enough to do what is needed- or people will not give you the job. We saw Senator Biden was up to the job. His many years of service have given him knowledge, his blessings and misfortunes of life have given him wisdom.

We will be fortunate to have him as our next Vice President, and I doubt that he would tell the world that a simply convenient target like Saddam attacked the U.S. in order to arrange a war that feeds billions to his friends in the business world. Seems like this man, Joe Biden has a deep and abiding respect and gratitude for life.

His child serves in the military, when he says the killing in Darfur must be stopped, he understands the risk of our precious assets...our brave young women and men in uniform...he truly knows how precious they are, and how careful we must be when trusted with their well being.

Why the avalanche...well people can see the lack of care and competence on the Republican side, and how much it costs..robbing our future. Losing jobs, energy prices, ... New Orleans and the hurricane...and bailouts for millionaires while poor people die from lack of health care... all over America...you are seeing it; they are saying we have had enough of these pretender Republican governments who play with our emotions while helping rich people play with our money, our careers, our homes, our children's futures...our country.

Paul Newman

2008-09-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes an actor becomes real... like a figment materializing into something solid, and over a career of remarkable make-believe, many Americans and citizens of a slightly better world must grieve the passing of Paul Newman.

My favorite Cool Hand Luke...had no failure to communicate with the world, he led the way to responsible political activity, humanitarian concerns, even good nutrition... a renaissance man who invented his own brand of complete living.

The Sting like his great movie success is a feeling that something that should have been there, really isn't, Newman really was there... on the side of justice, fairness, a more open and rewarding society. Some people seem to talk about making the world better, others seem to simply do it.

I have an enduring memory of Paul Newman speaking at a noisy Democratic Convention, there on TV, and the crowd seemed indifferent to his remarks, the background noise seemed louder than his voice, and yet he tried... it seemed he tried harder and harder until by the end there was more quiet than noise, more attention to his words, and in the end a joining of the crowd of delegates and his message.

So it seems his career and life had a similar way, the society, the world has lost something that it had learned over time... to treasure.

Something Nice...

2008-09-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

I promised I would say something nice today, after being rather...honest ... about Governor what's -her- name... so here goes...

From deep in the bowels of the body of diminished expectation, rumbled the McCain Campaign and a flighty air of wind emerged to paint the election in a color like polluted water from failure to control chemical runoffs; like tinged sunsets from the lack of improved air pollution controls on auto emissions; like the feeling over the human body when exposed to spent kerosene from buses and jet planes. Like the miasma over a nation when mortgage calls dismantle neighborhoods, and the flat blunt hammer fall on the skull of the country when proud financial institutions seem to crumble and fall...like the uneasy feeling when espying rust on an aging bridge or feeling it wobble while idling next to a eighteen-wheels and two containers of cargo that gets more expensive by the mile as oil prices increase during our business day.

How the evening ride home from work can cost more than the ride in, and the little man who changes the gasoline price board has a permanent crick in his neck. From the spasmodic death throes of a misadventure in Iraq, ending with the birth of yet another nation to drain our wealth for oil, and all the forgotten families who gave the lives of their children for a war in error, for the vast portions of the wealth of a great nation now on deposit in the accounts of the friends of a purely political day; now rises the sound of the man who would lead us, and the free world into the future....

he said...TIME OUT!

Well ....time out can be something nice, especially when you are hopelessly confused and overwhelmed.

The Bail Out...!!!

2008-09-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

I know I promised to deal with guns, second amendment ya-da yada- but something else caught my eyes, and kind of...hmm... set my thoughts on fire... From the proposed financial bailout legislation:

Section 8[ no kidding it's really called section 8]
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

So lets see, we give $700 Billion dollars, [well hundred billion here , there pretty soon it is serious money,] for the cleanup of financial collapse amongst some large ...huge institutions; and those pieces of commercial paper, notes, financial instruments to be dealt with, assets worth $billions...and the stories they might tell of excess and crimes...and even more the Executives... a few Republicans in the bunch, might even have a special "dubya" on the MSN contact list...well they might walk away with golden retirements and bonuses and new solvent companies, debt free; all wrong-doing buried away, forgiven and forgotten...Oh, so much food in this trough ...its like Christmas in September... It's like Iraq without bombers...and the watch word is TRUST ME ....

I THINK WE NEED TO MOVE THE ELECTIONS CLOSER, I THINK WE CAN DO IT TUESDAY...DONT YOU? uh, Mr. Obama...sir, are you busy next Tuesday?

The Red Sea

2008-09-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

Looking at the electoral map theses days is the feeling of Moses and the Exodus, the Red Sea looms like a great obstacle and there are long knives at our backs, thundering hooves, armies and minions of...Yikes !! I scared myself!!!

Republicans, not much use to themselves these days, crumbling economy, wall street collapses, failing confidence in the Son of a Bush Administration, he seems to be in hiding considering how many urgent things need his attention: Housing Mortgage crisis, housing mortgage crisis part 2[Fannie Mae], banking crisis Midwest bank failures, Bigger financial institution crises... it rained in Houston and gasoline doubled... If only we had a government to look after at least a few of these.

Now to the elections and Republicans in a punt/give up year put McCain out there, the sense was that Obama/Clinton would be undeniable, and in four years blame the whole mess on them...and win then...McCain names Governor What's -her-Name...and suddenly all those people who wanted a way to avoid voting for a Democrat, a progressive, a brilliant and able man, A GOOD DANCER, a family man whose family actually seems to love him...and a Black candidate now they have an excuse...elect the first woman, Vice President. Some ideas sound good until you look at them, Rosa Parks, Fannie Hamer, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Jordan, Barbara Boxer, Eleanor Holmes Norton...so many strong worthy women...but Governor "I promise I will learn about the Bush doctrine/Iraq war" ... no, not the woman we had in mind, more like the Mother Teresa story played by Betty Boop.

Conversation with a wall...

2008-09-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

More deadly than a speeding bullet...the unused ballot; and it is still a problem of great significance. So many have had to struggle to obtain the right to vote. The men and women who fought the Revolution...starved and froze in poorly fed and un-housed winters, I'm here to tell you it is as cold as ice in Pennsylvania winters...well those people were denied the right to vote. Yes they defeated England only to have Jefferson, Washington and others tell them they were not responsible enough to choose their leaders. And it is still true today, a group of Conservative rich white men tell the rest of us we cannot choose the leader...WE DON'T ELECT THE PRESIDENT...the empty spaces in Wyoming and desert in Nevada chooses...Electoral votes choose the President not votes...so now thanks to the brave soldiers of the revolution, who raised hell...after the war too...at least we can vote for the Electors, but the empty land still has more say than people.
So Bush One and the Disastrous Son of a Bush, along with the incredible Reagan were elected by tumble weed- covered desert in the west, and that solid south thing ...which brings me to another THING ...Southern Men, VOTING RIGHT WING ... talk about a group that follows a leader... oh, my!...hope this year they finally lose the lemming act and think, chew gum, and vote...I mean really...is enough...enough!!! WHAT IS SO APPEALING ABOUT WAR AND FAILURE ANYWAY...just for variety, eight years of peace and prosperity... come on guys...health insurance for all deer hunters...what do you say???

Three AM...a Prayer and a Story

2008-09-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Time to get seriously funny here...somebody thinks Governor What's-her- Name is a useful fixture on the national stage...and I agree the race needs a woman principal. Someone to represent the past- to- present denial of national office to women. Frances Perkins was a woman Secretary of Labor, there is now a woman Secretary of State, members of the Supreme Court, U.S. Senators and too many Governors and Congress people to mention...ALL OF WHOM ARE MORE QUALIFIED TO BE ON THE NATIONAL TICKET THAN GOVERNOR WHAT'S- HER -NAME,...so who's on first? Is McCain still ticking and the potential second string leader of the free world is going to read up on the Bush Doctrine and the war in Iraq.

Reagan proved you don't really need a President, Bush proved we can survive the worst of them...but human nature is unpredictable, the future too...crises might develop, and that dread nuclear call at three AM[they always happen at 3 AM] and the hot line is answered by ...oh my...I'm in a sweat, what a day-mare... I dreamed that major banks failed and it rained near Houston...gasoline doubled again...and Governor What's -her -Name was answering the President's phone...pinch me quick somebody... ice water in the face...
It is truly time to pray now... Next winter, late January...Some cold Alaska morning, that we will wake up and find she is still Governor of remedial reading ... Amen

They're OFF

2008-09-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

Yes the political race for Presidrent has begun with the image of a horse race...they are off and running; many polls show a lead f0r McCain some say that they polled landlines and cell phones for their results.... the one poll I have found useful is the Washington Post poll this date...suggests 47%Obama/Biden- 46% for McCain and what's her name... Now this is a useful poll because it was conducted after the conventions annnnnnnddddd Only landline phones were called. Now this is where Obama should be far behind, if there really were a preference for McCain this is the poll technique that should show it ...and it does not show well for McCain. The post convention surge often goes away, and the votes don't matter anyway, it is the electoral votes (remember Florida... poor President Gore got Bushwhacked) and electoral votes favor Obama narrowly ... enough to win (270 is the real magic number). Now both have an opportunity, because neither has a real lead or one that can be maintained without considerable effort and effective advertising.

I thought Obama should have picked a woman to be VP, if not Hilary for a dream ticket[my personal preference was Michigan Gov. Grandholm] ...we will see how much it hurts that he did not, wheter Biden can help hold a solid Northeast.

Difference from Denver

2008-08-28T04:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a little different take on Obama and the Democrats in Denver, the campaign will be more of a coronation than a contest; and the real tests await in places as disparate as the Arctic and Georgia [eastern Europe] and Atlanta, Ga. - USA and needing water. The contest in the press and media will likely look like a horse race: Obama ahead, McCain closing fast, Obama pulling away at the end. But in reality the young voters will be with Obama, allowed to be under counted in the polls until honesty[ what little there is] requires correcting the polls near the election so that the results will not show the high priced polling companies were wrong.
Fuel prices will spike if weather turns bad but the trend has been down like the US economy. Despite words from all over of good economy, most of us can see closed businesses and dimmer expectations all around us. Infrastructure in the US has some serious issues and water supplies may join bridge safety as a warning sign that some things have been neglected too long. The good news is that people have seen more than eight years of official inaction from the national government where Republicans shut down so many ideas of progress, is that they are leaving soon, but it seems not soon enough... so expectations will be low for Obama but the opportunities to contribute to the improvement of a nation...are enormous. Starting with the Internet, on to health care, rebuilding and improving infrastructure [and jobs that would have to stay in the US] ; race relations- just stop pitting black-white-Hispanic against each other - It may not be a rising tide, but when the waters have been flat and shrinking for so long- and we are not allowed in the Yacht club - even a little wind blown wave is welcome.

Biden Our Time

2008-08-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

Senator Biden has always seemed many things to me, as a politician, he emerged as a leader willing to stand for things that money- interests opposed...the hallmark of leadership in the Unites States now and historically... and he has learned to withstand the harsh winds that blow in Washington politics, the ones that tend to put into one's face...you are not worthy... until the people with money say that you are worthy....

Obama -Biden is not a dream ticket, it has no woman, no southern white man, no one with executive experience, not enough experience to convince anyone that they could handle a crisis. Well too bad.. we are already in a crisis [ oil, a contrived war to create another oil power, an economy that does not value the American dream, American worker, the American family] and this ...Obama-Biden is the team that will win.

Now, there will be someone to answer the phone at Three AM more inportant someone to try to use government between Nine and Five to analyze and solve public problems...

the Bush people were leaderless and engaged in sham government...alternately blaming the people, hiding the truth, hiding their own inability...but ALWAYS USING GOVERNMENT TO CHANNEL PROFITS TO PRIVATE SECTOR FRIENDS AND POLITICAL ALLIES by peace or war made no differance...at this they have excelled.

And it is this narrow partisan drive to arrange government so as to funnel monies that will be lost. Lost in transition to a more open government; this will be missed for the next four years, and hopefully...much...much longer.

The Dead Sea Strolls

2008-08-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

There is something wrong with a picture of the coasts of the US, covered with areas of dead water...hypoxia waters ...fancy words for not enough air for fish to breathe... and the solution is to blow bubbles... yes someone has thought of aerating the Chesapeake Bay or the the Mississippi Delta, seems a big storm or two...like Katrina and the one that came soon after solved it there...stirred up the waters to a normal balance for a while...but heavy rains also produce more runoffs from fertilizers and the cars we drive... and speaking of agriculture... now we have to drive the food we grow too, ethanol from corn, oil as the base for the fertilizers ...hmmm...then there is this whole tendency to hide the truth, the big storms won't save us, and are not supposed to... not from automobile exhaust and exhausted soils with too much fertilizer, and fertilzer runs into streams, rivers to the seas; and what about the price of food, going even higher if we deplete seafood and fish by using overpriced fossil fuel to fertilize land to make fuel... because fossil fuels are too pricey...hmmm. You know, this would all be really funny; if it weren't happening...yesterday....

Soft news day....

2008-07-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, it will be said SENATOR McCain has more experience and more time has been available to observe his character and ability; that is also the biggest problem with McCain...time has not been an ally - when simple questions turn into looooong pauses without answer, like that thing about health care equity: Viagra "yes", birth control pills for women "no" ...and the answer was...................[well this is a blog i can't possibly pause as long as he did, I will lose all my clicks and wind up with a non profit blog simply here for the use of space]...speaking of cyberspace, it is so important these days, even more so since gasoline prices threaten to empty our highways and strip malls on major traffic areas will be stripped of vendors; the economy has some structural weakness now that we have abandoned economic policy completely to the greed of oil companies; so Internet access and free navigation of the web takes on a fundamental role like freedom to travel. Companies seek to control more and more of the net activity, and Republicans wish to help...web discrimination, pay for better treatment than those who don't pay, how simply "Republican"; kind of like let's run a war with public money and pay two hundred billion in profits to people who would not be caught in a uniform, nor their families, nor their children, children's children...war industry owners and stockholders - mandarins of a puny day [ I like that word "mandarin" for fat-cat rich people], many wealthy people work for peace and brotherhood, one hopes, prays, may God continue to Bless them...

Oh, Zimbabawe...

2008-07-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

The Bush doctrine established a rule of international law, that we, alone, have a right to attack anyone we wish...[ an oversimplification, I know...we have to invent phony self defense first; then attack- formalities must be observed] the Obama doctrine will have to be more precise, it will have to be moral, legal and make sense...and contribute to world peace [ oh the burdens of being a caring soul]. Findings and conclusions are ample on records of governments, the public and press. A failed republic, a blatant denial of legal voting rights to a majority of its citizns to change form or leadership of government .

Zimbabwe might take most of a day; perhaps an intense afternoon of phone calls. Western leaders would have to agree on incentives for Mugabe's red carpet exit, and terms for succession until free elections under UN supervision; food and economic relief parameters; broadly the tens of billions to be apportioned from the wealthy nations of the west and middle east...most of a day, perhaps...because the problems in Zimbabwe are difficult, life threatening...but the resolve to make change, comes in a moment of leadership...something not much seen in the U.S. since that sinkhole opened up in Florida and swallowed democracy...

right to bear arms

2008-07-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

The founding fathers had not seen my fellow Americans driving cars, sixty mph on the next man or woman's bumper, teenagers with beer or marijuana, behind the wheel; middle aged men in pickup trucks and slow reflexes, with beer and amphetamines, behind the wheel; soccer moms with multitasked lists for their multitask lists, on the cell phone, behind the wheel; and of course: can you say ROAD RAGE...sooo if they act this way with their cars, a State licensed but dangerous instrumentality, why should I trust them with handguns [as an idea i would describe it in two words: IN SANE]. Yet, the wise justices of our Supreme Court ( and this is only a name has nothing to do with how good they are) had enacted just such a thing, but before I get into it, next blog, maybe... back to the founding fathers. They passed the Second Amendment after the Revolution and to give rights to the men who fought the war; something they had neglected to do...the right to vote for example was limited to men who owned property or wealth of certain types or amounts, most of those fellows who shivered and starved at Valley Forge didn't qualify to vote, imagine a democracy where the citizens don't get to vote for their President...oooops... Florida... Bush Brothers...[that could be a movie sort of like the James Gang]...oh well...the right to bear arms, the militia.. if they had wanted every one to have a right to own a gun, couldn't they have just ...said so...Every man has a right from God to own a gun...they didn't; soooo wonder why the US Supreme Court finally found an individual freedom that they liked... they didn't much care for speech, or privacy, or all those freedoms lost to the WAR BY tERROR ... OK ...NEXT TOPIC ...the new right to bear arms, or how much is that armor in the window?

There shall be a close race...

2008-07-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

July 4th, truly summer and in election years truly the beginning of the campaigns...shows how unimportant the VP is...because we are clearly focused on Obama. McCain is an afterthought for most voters already, simply wondering if he can manage to win even his home state, so pointless and erratic the image so far...IT WILL ALL CHANGE... the news media needs a race and it will make one, already polls are simmering deeply probing for wedges and divisions, the issues that make even the most poorly qualified candidate a standard bearer for a downtrodden mass...and not to be put out of the limelight...the Supreme Court decided there is a right to bear arms and States will have to avoid banning handguns no matter how many of us are injured in the process...more in a near future blog... Gasoline already priced beyond reason even to semi-conscious Americans, now needs rumors of scarcity , and Republican employers are chiming in, we lost thousands of jobs last month... and Reverend Wright has a new book ...SOOOOO there will be a race, and speaking of race...

Senator McCain...

2008-06-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

Some people seem quite at home in the US Senate, it is an exclusive 100 member club, many of the nation's wealthiest and most self satisfied families are there... McCain is there and there he will stay, past November and next year too... the conservative Christians are not coming on board his ship of politics, and suddenly his campaign takes on the feeling of deck chairs, music playing, and a boat with a big hole in it.
Finding electoral votes for McCain seemed difficult from the beginning, but somehow he floated above the rest of the Republican primary entries, so McCain floats but his campaign does not do as well. Votes have the limited role of picking electors who elect the President, the illusion of popular vote was shattered in the Bush era along with many other real freedoms, but votes must come from people, enthusiasm, and effort...the calling card of the Christian Conservatives ...who want a world of war for oil ...er uh...freedom, war against terror , war against sin- whatever that might mean if not taking lives...wasn't there a commandment? hmmm, and it seems, most of all war against rights for gay people. While McCain and these war things sound like a match made in a Washington summer before a fall election [I didn't want to say Hell..so this is quite close]; it looks more and more like we will continue to have Senator McCain.

The power of Definition-- the real power in the Universe?

2008-06-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

There is a good chance that the so-called Big Bang occurred after gravity, matter, space, and time had all been in existence, so yet in some sense it - the rapid inflation of matter and energy- is still the beginning of the universe, so something unexpected is in this definition of the Universe; the power of defining things has reared its eternal head.

In politics defining things is all the game. The person who makes his or her definition stick with the voters may win the popular vote if he or she can managed to get them counted. What will be the definition of the political universe in 2008, will Iraq be a central system of Galaxies, or barely noticed dark matter unseen but accounting for so much of the equation. Will the dark energy of gasoline prices degrade the economy to the effect of fearfulness? Indignation? Will the general ideas of change face the checkbook of tax accounting and will the corporations and upper income types feel obliged to listen and nod? or will the word "tax" suck the life from a challenge to excellence once again, a national equivalent of vacuum energy.

What of the question of race will inexperience or vagueness become the watchword for the internal struggle of some minds on the incredibly silly question of skin color?

America paid money for painted stones called pet rocks, cringed at- then loved rock and roll, accepted the world oil shortages in the 1970's, elected Reagan twice, a Bush three times, turned Rap music into the melody of Madison Avenue and advertising; and believed that Saddam brought down the towers- so I now no longer put anything beyond the power of definition.

November Rising...

2008-06-06T05:22:00.000-07:00

Election campaigns take on the aspect of a race, where speed to a finish line determines the winner, this looks like a race between a thoroughbred and a plow horse. It is hard to remember such polarity, Reagan was an older man who took on the role of youth and hope, Humphrey and Nixon was a contrast of old smile and old frown; Gore and Bush offered a contrast but people seemed not to notice how limited and un-leaderlike was Bush, nor the patient strength of Al Gore...the fog of Clinton was the perfect cover for Bush.

Perceptions matter so much-
McCain seems blurred and ill-defined while Obama has the benefit of a sharp focus, the public has a firm idea of the man as calm in crisis- a leader. Clinton may wind up being part of the Obama success, for there has been no real suspense for months but the press was able to use the daunting Clinton reputation to sell papers and kept Obama in the role of the man who needed to show something, to answer a call...and clearly, in historic proportions, he has answered every call.

And Now...
A nation now begins the process of turning its trust and confidence to Mr. Obama, and many Republicans may stay home by November, facing reality, but also the acceptance that the fundamentally more able candidate...the swifter horse...will win the race.

Historic Days, Mr. Obama and America

2008-06-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Senator Obama has made many historic moments on his path to the Presidency and today marks another as he clinches the nomination of the Democratic Party. Many might remember this period for the unique achievements of a Black American which no doubt stands in history, but the next four years bear significance too; and America has drifted as if leaderless for most of the past eight years.
The economy has deep problems, and significant strength; an unpopular war lacks a cogent exit strategy that would preserve some semblance of international order in the region; and the American middle class continues to watch its base erode and jobs and careers flow away from our borders. The environment has been largely treated by denial and clouding over issues of serious concern and deepening world impact. But leadership symbolic and factual is of great importance now and in the next four years of the Obama Presidency. The hopes and prayers of millions seeking change and improvement, greater urgency in moving towards our greater potential as a nation...will continue to lift his wings .

A Nation on the Edge

2008-02-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

Post trauma, long after the injury, the true effects are realized facing life with new limitations and so a Nation faces future in dire need of leadership and direction, and a reminder of the resilient faith that made it great from its beginning.

A nation borne on backs of misery and misfortune, some have always found great fortune and the dangling possibility of "happiness" has been our sacred touchstone. Now we face self imposed cruelty and ruin...we have ignored our face to smite the ghosts of our enemies, squandered a national treasure in Iraq misadventure; oversaw a civil war not yet ended; and allowed the American middle class - their dreams and security- to be exported to the whim of corporate bottom line.

The middle class in America in in need of careers, futures in business, leadership concerned with their well being. There is a great divide in American politics, the so-called leaders thrive as never before, friends of the leaders thrive on the profits of politically inspired wars, and the middle classes drift into insecurity and dimming prospects... Mr. Obama, if elected, you will have a difficult job, but also the prayers and best hopes of many millions.

No Democratic Loser on Super Tuesday

2008-02-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Obama blew away the underdog label, and has become the frontrunner for the nomination with Clinton gaining strength from the must wins in NewYork and California... rarely has a Democrat won the modern Presidency without winning both NY and Cal, Obama has shown a nationwide base of strength that has been lacking for nearly two decades...grass roots enthusiasm among young people

... Seduced by the Dark Side have they been...

this amazing contribution to the body politic makes Obama the choice here to be the nominee, positional differences and experience differs little in substance between the two[ sitting Presidents, and Vice Presidents have some claim on job expereince, all others bear a similar risk of becoming puppets of unelected puppetmasters]. The young so vital and so less likely to fall victim to Republican devices...oh like Saddam was behind 9-11... and then WMD in Iraq, and how we are all better off giving up our freedom we are supposedly fighting for...and the world environment...this is going to be an interesting election season...

Veterans Care...

2007-03-06T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Iraq story just took a turn that many had foreseen, the care of the injured soldiers as a measure of how much this Administration and ruling political party really care about the heroes of their war in Iraq. The first middle east war was far more righteous following the incursion into Kuwait but the treatment of gulf syndrome as a political football bothered a lot of people...this one shocks the conscience of a nation.
Yet we have really seen this before, once taken away from creating political divisions, this group has not shown an adequate ability to manage. It boasts often of the contracting out of it's work but rarely of it's own demonstrable achievements in management. Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans showed that even in a crisis that takes lives of innocent Americans, political considerations remain at the top of the agenda and the costly hours spent on how to create political gain in Louisiana in the face of the killer storm has come to light and may not go away.
This administration also gets very high marks for its news management and even from the ridiculous spectacle of "embedded reporters" in the Iraq invasion to now, they have shown excellence in keeping certain news items in a narrower range than expected or due...this will be a test given the new makeup of Congress. Shabby treatment of wounded soldiers makes the pro-military positions and attitudes seem like something completely insincere.

More Hiding Behiond the Troops

2007-02-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

Don't they have enough to do...trying to keep count of things in Iraq: tons of money, tons of weapons and Munitions; tons of terrorists bent on attacking the U.S.( they really say this stuff); keeping track of who is whom in a layer caked civil war;.... and now ON TOP OF ALL OF THAT they have to protect the politicians who blundered into this mess. Yes we cannot even debate the war and its civilian management or the hundreds of billions that we have been ordered to spend BECAUSE..it would be disloyal to the troops... now why didn't i think of this ..in my own life...got a bill at MasterCard that you can't pay..send in some troops and nobody should even mention it again...might discourage the troops.. OK...enough said. Our troops deserve the benfits of the democratic process they the so bravely defend including debate and the will of the people on the important question of wheter we go to war. I think the real problem is that people will become so cynical from hearing this lame brained stuff that they really will stop thinking about our service people..who are not part of the money grab in Iraq nor the politics of wars for elections... .

Hiding Behind the Troops

2007-02-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

Americans love and support its military...no, not the billionaires that have been created by the spending associated with the Iraq invasion...the real troops --your children and mine who serve. We want them to be safe and back home after doing the brave parts to protect our country. The civil war in Iraq is a threat to world peace. True and the nations of the world should be fixing it. Now service in Iraq was directed by a civilian non-combatant and now it is proposed that if anyone disagrees with the civilian decisions on Iraq THEY ARE DISLOYAL TO THE TROOPS.... Well... Imagine you are the survivor of a soldier killed in Iraq and you oppose the war...so this is a disloyal person? or you gave up a child in Vietnam..disloyal now? And who is making this loyalty call... probably a man who never served in combat or one who is simply hiding behind the troops for political convenience. There is a shamelessness to this which is appalling in the context of the sacrifices this nation has made to pursue what history may properly regard as a "folly" in Iraq- a policy that had virtually no chance of success from its start...unless you consider the re-election of Bush and GOP domination of government as success ... to most hardly.

If Iraq recovers then what

2007-02-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

What does it mean to Americans if Iraq pulls itself back into a path towards peace and civil order? Victory? Well this might be the most shallow victory pool in the history of the country even less rewarding than Reagan's stunning triumph over Grenada. A success in Iraq would mean mercifully that a few troops might return before Bush leaves office unless they move on to Iran. It might mean increased oil production and higher prices... nothing like peace or war to drive up oil prices and Iraq needs money to rebuild where they can pick the contractors.
And in America the Republican Party would stick out its Elephant and claim credit, the military would be in for more praise than we could give; and President Bush would be hailed as the greatest President of all for defeating the nation that attacked us on 9/11 with video of operation Thunder and Awe embedded like newsmen during the invasion. Still for most Americans it would not resonate... 600 Billion dollars could have changed life here for the better( except for that rule against Americans helping each other to better lives) but now it is a mountain of debt that will be felt and then when the new Iraq charges us $3.00/gallon...whew!

Can Iraq Save Itself?

2007-02-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

Perhaps with a typical error of focus we look at Iraq as political or military theater: as a contest of interest to the U.S. domestic political agenda. Iraq is also a home to millions with little connection to the U.S. except that we have seized control of a part of their physical place with our military, displaced an autocrat, and have presented them with an opportunity to select government leaders. The civil war-- that has gripped the country almost as soon as the U.S. military deposed Saddam has apparently worsened and has had a dreadful cost in lives and casualties-- has had little to do with global forces but rather with the willingness of a population to find a common interest in security. Thus far a significant number of people have actively engaged and a more significant number seem to acquiesce in the cycle of violence/vengeance among warring factions. As with Saddam, one faction seems in control of the Government...people are treated with regard to their ethnic or religious affiliation. It is unclear how much effort from the U.S. and allies has been aimed at fostering understanding and civil acceptance among these groups... but that would seem far more useful than more weapons or more soldiers...or a new front against Iran. The elements for an ascendant nation of Iraq are in place... but it remains: Can they stop the violence and save their country?

Now On to Iran

2007-01-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

Time tested formula...lose political support: start shooting. Or if your only tool is a hammer then treat all of your problems like nails. Any way it is seen, the US has taken the first step towards a round of hostilities with pre-nuclear Iran. And there is the obvious sarcasm that it must be done now before the window of opportunity to hammer a non-nuclear opponent disappears. So far the war/Republican election cycle has avoided nuclear opponents: Grenada, Panama, Iraq #1, Iraq#2. We have avoided Cuba, Somalia, Kenya, the Balkans and a host of others. So far the Democrats have not joined in...they seemed to have learned something from Vietnam.
For all of its success the war in Iraq has deteriorated into a civil war which cannot be disguised in the western press as anything resembling a military conflict. The US has armed one side intentionally but may have armed both over the years. Now i it is to be on the Iran there is a flimsy pretext that is more compelling than the WMD nonsense that preceded Iraq, we have put soldiers in the theater and now we must protect them. That will provide a surface plausibility until the decision to begin withdrawing by which time we could be fully and deeply engaged in Iran. The Public has lost confidence in the Bush Administration and this could be a test of the power of thew presidency of an historic proportion.

China and the Test

2007-01-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

One result of the commitment of the U.S. Government to Iraq and Iran is that there is a vast opening for China and Europe to move forward and expand their respective areas of influence. China has taken bold and constructive(Darfur) steps in Africa. China has also moved ahead with its missile defense program. China may have determined that it needed to separate itself from the class of nations which could be blinded by US air power in the initial stages of an attack or an invasion..in the post Iraq world nearly every nation might reasonably regard the U.S as a potential aggressor per the Bush self defense doctrine. China now has tested the Bush Space defense doctrine and has clearly challenged the U.S. to back its policy of aggression against any potential threat to its use of space. China is now such a threat... but so is France and Britain..the doctrine is so broad it simply provides a pretext for a potential use of force or a selective aggression. China is simply too powerful to fall prey to the kind of in-your face build up and action in Iraq I and II. The U.S. then in part because it has exhausted its resources in the middle east is even poorly positioned to put on a show of force. So finally it seems the U.S. under Bush will have to negotiate with an equal and find a bloodless accommodation to sharing a resource : near Space. Obviously there will be difficulties but technology has pushed us further and further into near space so the resource itself is potentially unlimited.

2008 Clinton- Obama and the Buzz

2007-01-19T06:29:00.000-08:00

The dream ticket for 2008 could be Clinton- Obama because these two will dominate the press in the big cities like no other two candidates on either side. They will also dominate international press coverage of the race...so why is this important... 2008 might become the year of the Buzz. The year when a presidential election got fully saturated in the modern media mix which has a new center of gravity in cyberspace.
Video on the web,news on the web, opinion on the web... the Republicans and their shock jock radio saturation...so big in 2004...might not be a blip on the screen in 2008. This might cost in the repeat -after- me -Republican voter machinery...what I call the cloning planet ( ..like in Star Wars..the Clone Army..never mind) radio was used to pound home the most emotion filled diatribes about Democrats, taxes, abortion, and anti gay stuff that perhaps occurred in the entire cycle. Those listeners may now be at their computers or You Tube, MySpace, Skype TV or on their PC phones or listening to techno or gospel on subscription radio while driving... point is the news coverage will matter because it is more difficult to purchase and it could even be... (gasp) news driven... go figure....

Iraq Is Not Vietnam

2007-01-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

Iraq is not Vietnam...Iraq is a nation with a huge amount of a critical resource..its role in international commerce will not be overstated rather it emerges as the world turns to more and deeper energy needs. Iran -its dominant neighbor- is energy starved and seemingly bent on regional domination - so Iraq is not Vietnam it is far more critical to world peace. The U.S. invasion of Iraq has been a success. It appears the primary goals have been met: It was a foundation for the reelection of Bush, it provided tens of billions in profits to firms linked or closely linked to the Republican party; it still as the potential to deliver scores of billions in the future to businesses and individuals with ties to the Party and to enhance its fundraising apparatus. The destruction of Saddam was an incidental benefit fitting in with the theory that he or his government was responsible for the terror attacks on 9/11... a belief still held by millions of Americans. There have been economic benefits to the economy as a whole from the spending of an additional 3-400 Billion for the war. The conditions in Iraq were ultimately intended to be the bragging points for the 2008 election based on U.S. military dominance...this seems in doubt at this time but there is still time for change. The war of course crowds out domestic spending especially in States and cities with effective Democratic voting bases. The problem for the Republican Party may be in getting out of Iraq on a schedule consistent with the 2008 elections and the next generation of conflicts which might appear to be useful in the future. Iraq it appears has been far more useful than Vietnam in the context of domestic politics.

Stuck In Iraq

2006-12-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

Well Kerry said it and despite the source it seems more true with each passing day - we are stuck in Iraq. First, it is doubtful that we are getting enough of the news from Iraq but the level of violence is clearly worse now than at anytime in the past. The violence is not random, rather it appears to be calculated to drive the civil war to ever higher levels. There are apparently at least two campaigns of violence there which seem to be more problematic than Al Quaeda-- Sunnis against Shiites, and Shiites perhaps for national dominance against Sunnis and to a lesser extent against Kurds. Yet, our government wishes to revisit the theme of fighting terrorists over there rather than over here-- seems like that denial thing at work again. In Vietnam, the historical revision suggested that the so-called enemy there was not ideology but ordinary people fighting an invader. In Iraq, we clearly are an invader. Clearly, we will be blamed for much of the destruction. Clearly, this nearly incredible loss of life has the potential to foster a real brand of terrorism for there has been an enormous loss of life, even the more conservative estimates exceed 100,000. This is a horribly excessive price to pay to take down a government as weak as the Saddam-Baathists.
The costs to the US in the range of 200 Billion for next year for Afghan-Iraq( 600 Millions per day) is also a horrible use of national resources--most of us would rather see that money educate all of our children or universal healthcare or to create new industries here. It's like a menu that offers Chicken soup or the e coli special--and somehow we don't choose the soup.

Iraq Commission Disappoints....

2006-12-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well if you had low expectations concerning the contribution of the Iraq Commission you might still have been disappointed by its Report. The primary value of the report may well be in its appraisal of the Iraq policy and how much domestic political concerns have apparently affected it. It was startling to see the images and sheer levels of violence portrayed in the Report which appear in stark contrast to the information which has previously been provided to the press and public.
The public would have long ago concluded that Iraq had fallen into a grave and divisive civil war from which there is no apparent recovery based on the sheer breathtaking level of violence. The public would have had a very different reaction to the costs of the war in terms of Iraqi deaths and casualties.. One finds it difficult to imagine an entire world of governments and resources could not have developed a more effective and less deadly method to dismantle the puny military under Saddam's control at the time of the invasion.
The commission disappoints in its primary focus on the domestic political process by calling for resolution of the deployment issue in advance of the presidential primaries in 2008. There is a body of well founded opinion in the American public that much of what has transpired in Iraq: the timing of the invasion, the desperate use of flawed intelligence, the uncorroborated assumption of a Saddam role in 9/11; was in its totality dominated by the re-election of President Bush. This, if even minimally true, would be an omission of Presidential responsibility of an historic proportion. However, the Commission essentially legitimizes this approach by its own politically inspired sense of urgency-- a premature politically motivated onset to this war could certainly be made worse by an artificial timetable for resolution similarly tied to the election cycle. All in all, the new Congress should be even more interested in developing it's own factual basis for Iraq policy development and evaluation--the national mandate of November, 2006 seems to require it.

Iraq has Solutions- but not useful ones

2006-11-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

Iraq and the US campaign there have been historic in the contemporary sense--events that could influence over a two year period or until the next election cycle. Yes, even history has been shrunk down to Republican Party dimensions-- so dominant have been the "politics only" style of running the US government. It was a Republican political success -the entire Iraq campaign from the business planning, to the fund raising, to the feeding of contracts to Republican friendly contractors, to the huge war profits pumped into the economy, to the mindless escalation of energy prices--a Party success of unparalleled proportions. Everyone knew that the build up to the invasion was a big lie--most ignored reality and supported the war. It is hypocritical now that so many more condemn the war--but mercifully war has that effect even when the coffins of our soldiers are carefully hidden from view. The military performed well but has provided excellent cover for the political operations that have flourished under the guise of the liberation of Iraq--for as the undeniable facts show-the liberation of Iraq is a mirage and the ethnic warfare for control over the vast wealth of the country has just begun. The future of Iraq is uncertain but there are many , many workable solutions but none have a sufficient relationship to the Republican Party position in the elections of 2008 and that is the problem. The business of the next war may be more important to the elections in 2008 and Iraq may be left to drift unless the Democrats stumble into taking over policy developments -which when done from the Congress-- only portends that things would be even worse in Iraq while the Iraq majority with guns and bullets do the work we hoped they would do with ideas and ballots.

Draft Not Needed to Limit War

2006-11-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

The draft won't limit the initiation of force- oh it would be different if there were a universal draft- we would have more personal engagement to the power elites if their own children had to go off to earn their copororate dividends by risking their lives in combat-- Mr. Rangel we owe you a great national "thank you" for putting that thought into the mainstream.Using drafted soldiers would not really affect the decision to use force it would really only go to the end war public pressure as the casualties might begin to mount. We have seen the innate appeal to Americans to support troops once committed to combat. The modern constitutional interpretation of war powers- and post 9/11- gives unlimited discretion to commit troops to the Executive. The all volunteer army has shown it runs out of volunteers in these confused and unclear policy situations like Iraq--we have had to move national guard forces into the theater of combat and extend tours of duty to maintain person power as needed. This has been an effective drag on continuing to escalate the military role. The best approach to avoiding war is to interdict the cycle of wars tied to presidential re-election campaigns. With all due respect the hundreds of $billions, loss of thousands of lives, and further destabilization of a critical region was a too steep price to pay to unseat one petty dictator in Iraq and re-elect a mere politician in Washington, D.C..

Putting the Pub back in Republican

2006-11-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

I think there was some small degree of soul searching in DC last night but a whole lot more heavy drinking among the rePUBlican establishment-- a particularly bitter defeat because of the arrogance of the defeated party--they thought they could just Rove the Democrats again.
The Democrats for their part have the high ground now because they do not have to defend the misCONDUCT of the war in Iraq-- they don't have to come up with answers about how to do it better- beca-a-ause it was their idea not to do it at all. And certainly it was their idea not to do it alone, and it was their idea not to do it so that we could accommodate the fund raising for the 2004 re-election of President Bush. So the Republican "spin artists" that want to put the burden of resolving the war on the House and Senate Democrats will be disappointed--the people already know who started this mess and who has made it even worse.
The Democrats will look into the things that led up to the invasion and they will be harsh as they should be when a leader misuses information to set off a war. More important though the Democrats will begin to find a voice to resonate with the public on things that are much more important than Iraq-- economic opportunity, jobs/careers; energy independence, and the almost completely ignored topic of the effects of industrial/commercial activities on the environment-- that story about the disappearing fish has some importance--what kind of world will we leave to our children's children.

GOP WINS AGAIN- yeah, they probably will

2006-11-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

As a Democrat, I feel a need to start wearing a bag over my head--like the football fans in New Orleans-- call the Democratic Party the - "Has -Dems :because it seems there ain't no more of Dems. It was bad enough losing the Count to Bush in 2000. Then the debacle in Ohio in 2004 with the long waiting lines in the black neighborhoods effectively suppressing the vote in many Ohio communities . Now 2006 with all the newspapers using the polls to sell their big expectation stuff only to find that on election eve--there is no lead in the polls it's a statistical dead heat-- well that all well and good because now the rank and file know that they are needed and they must turn out; but turning out and being counted are different things. How many people will be turned away in the inner cities because they don't have a quality picture ID-- or that didn't hear about it before they went to vote. How many will be turned off by long waiting lines in places like Detroit where a new voting machine system will be in place. The Democrats to their favor seem more energized and more determined-- but what they lack are leaders and leaders on the technical side of fund raising and electronic campaigning. Having a message and getting it are still at odds in Democrat universe.

Did He Think That God Wouldn't Notice?

2006-11-03T11:25:00.000-08:00

SEEMS that the leader of the faith based people has resigned... In the middle of campaigns to ban gay marriage .
They used to call them busy bodies or gossips-- now they call themselves "best friends" or spiritual guides or concerned this or that and such ...but there have always been people who want to tell everybody else how to live their lives.
They sometimes come at you with history--"The founding Fathers.." bit--or they come at you with a Bible in one hand and a mouthful of anger and judgment- the religious authority bit--but almost always with these "movement" types we have found that they talked the talk but couldn't walk the walk--Now the leader of the faith based people --who have been hammering away at gay rights and gay marriage to destroy them both--turns out to be GAY-- not only that but BUYING GAY SEX--Whoa!! the faith based people must be spinning in their graves and they ain't even dead yet!
This is the kind of moment in a play where Shakespeare would say the Very Vaults of Heaven would Crack...but you know-- with these particular faith based folks you wonder if Heaven has anything to do with it at all-- (what is that ...is that a whiff of Sulphur !)
I saw the faith based folks supporting a war that has taken many lives--not quite a thou shalt not kill crowd-- I saw them get on board to bring down reproductive rights--well at least that was with the thought of preserving life--then I saw them go after Gays to turn them into a kind of second class citizen -even amending the Constitution- be-e-e-c-a-a-u-u- s-e the faith based folks don't like what Gay people do--how they live--how they choose to live. And they have pretty much judged them and called them everything but a child of God.
Well it turns out the Gay folks aren't so different from the faith based folks after all-- and it turns out- and this is a HOOT- both groups(while at war over gay rights) are being led by Gay people.
Personally, I have gay people in my family, among my close friends, and even if there weren't I would hopefully feel the same way-- if you want someone to think your way ..fine ...try and convince them( I always welcome Jehovah Witness especially when they get me out of the shower, all cold and wet--I greet them warmly-- cookies and milk anyone? --and thank God when they leave--is there a more welcome sight in all of nature than the backs of a group of Jehovah Witnesses--I think not!).
But who is so cool that they can morally condemn other people? I mean unless they are hurting someone else--like a spouse abuser, a child molester( even if he is a congressman in charge of preventing child molesting); and I am thinking here that Fate, Karma, Universal Justice-- somewhere there is a special place for the secretly Gay religious leader who condemns Gay people in the name of God ( there's that Sulphur smell again--that is so weird!)
I'm expecting denials and worse before this story is over-- but for now I hope people think about this next week when they vote in several states to take away some of the civil rights of Gay people which is just another way of saying Children of God.
So maybe the faith based folks need to amend their definition of holy marriage-- one man and one woman-(and one other man preferably by the hour but we won't talk about that.... or the Sulphur).

They Finally Found the WMD

2006-11-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

News and Politics....newsflash to all listeners and all ships at sea....

President Bush has finally found a weapon of mass distraction in the Iraq war – Senator Kerry's Mouth

—yes this deadly device has been discovered deeply implanted in the 2006 election campaign.

Kerry's mouth is the best hope so far for the Republicans that they can hide the public's outrage at the last six years under six minutes of a campaign speech by Kerry.

Some people can't take a joke and evidently some people can't tell a joke! ... ..but in the world of gaffes this was a giraffe--it's big ,spotted, and everyone notices

Kerry's bad standup routine has been followed by Bush and Company and their bad acting routines: Republicans sounding like they are reading from a script : Kerry insulted the troops—Kerry was talking about Bush it was clear-- so the insult routine is just an act—

I saw one clip and it looked so mechanical that somebody needed to look behind the Republican speaker to see if there was a hard drive to make his mouth move…

but the people have seen this act before for example when we were about to go to war in Iraq—the Iraq nuclear program; the Iraq chemical warfare program—so we will see will the voters accept the insult act or not…

My guess is that the news media will do a lot of business on this story—and in the process people will think about our troops in Iraq – and some will go vote - who might not have— and some others will wonder-- is our leadership as courageous and devoted as OUR people who are serving in Iraq?

You Lost What? Where?

2006-10-31T17:08:00.000-08:00

Public Radio ran a report that the US has lost hundreds of thousands of weapons in Iraq--weapons purchased for the Iraqi government security forces- pistols, machine guns, grenade launchers-- maybe as many as 300,000 weapons... . Now I have been forgetful in my life-- and at times even careless with my property-- but MR. RUMSFELD this is the MOTHER OF ALL SENIOR MOMENTS-- you lost 300,000 weapons in a war zone--full of terrorists, insurgents, self-appointed freedom fighters, zealots -- and this was part of your efforts to quell the violence--and don't forget as you have said so often --we are at war. So what happens if those weapons wind up in the hands of the people who are causing the violence in Iraq-- Donald...Rummy ... Baby... I know you have lots of toys and you won't miss these but --you've just got to be more careful with your things!
Now if this report were true, it would seem clear that we really have management problems in this administration--the war is their high priority, it's their main thing-- with turning the government against citizens and in favor of big business a close second-- This war, and how we got there, is what Bush will be remembered for...yes?
Well, I'm going to wait for part two of this story--there must be more--the weapons will be found in a room or a bunker somewhere and this time you guys will keep better track of where they are--you guys just couldn't be that bad.
Now with the election coming up and so many newspapers convincing themselves the the Dems will win something for a change- the Republicans are saying- ain't gonna happen-- why so confident--do they know something that we don't know-- will their folks will show up in record numbers ? Maybe, maybe not. The confidence is spooky to some but encouraging to others and that is the point-- bu-u-u-t there is still that lunatic fringe out there the ballot conspiracy people, they think the election counts are rigged in key states like Bush winning the job loss capital - Ohio- in 2004 --and of course ever since 2000 -- that 500 vote win in Bush's brother's state, in which the ballots could not be recounted according to the Supreme Court guys appointed by Bush's father and confirmed by Secretary -Congresswoman-Senator? Harris-- now that's what the lunatic fringe calls a conspiracy no- that would be a perfect storm of conspiracies but that is a whole 'nother thing!

Faith and Choice

2006-10-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

The story of Christ in the Bible is so amazing it has endured for more than 2,000 years--love and forgiveness- so today in US politics- Christian voters are being challenged to be like Christ- and to forgive the Republicans and stay with them on election day. I don't think it is an easy choice.
Love and forgiveness are simple concepts but just try to live by them. Some mornings I wake up feeling full of the spirit and by the time I get in my car and stop at the first stoplight--I lose my faith - some son-of-a-horn blower starts honking at me to move even BEFORE THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN- -- I'm sittin' there wishing my red tail light was a Star Trek phaser set on STUN! Man!
So that's when I re-a-a-a-ally admire Jesus and the people who can actually follow what he preached--they are stronger people than I am-- I still find a relief in cursing out the guy with the car horn that is "denied unto prayer" ( line stolen from Mark Twain )--
The world's most unpopular bumper sticker would remind us that many of us cannot talk on a cell phone and drive safely at the same time--but it is so cool to be cruisin down the street yakkin' it up --and weavin' all over the road- unconsciously speedin' up and slowin down to match the guy next to you--who is trying to change lanes for cryin out loud!!
In politics the Christians are sort of like the guy drivin' and talkin' on the cell phone- you know he's cool --after all he's at least got a car that runs and a cellphone bill that somebody has paid- but you know he's not all there- his attention is divided and he's not seeing everything he should be seeing-- in politics the Christians just aren't seeing the whole road these days. For the sake of banning gay marriage they have signed on with a brutal and unpopular war; for the sake of promoting Christian values they have aligned themslves with people who only count votes not values(politicians of both parties)-- and the point is Faith and the power of faith are so much more powerful and enduring than politics--Politics is sometimes called the' eternal sea' but to the Christians they remember that it was the Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the waters... and there was Light.
Faith can accomplish so much more Light than politics especially in the values business and people will teach their children the values of their faith...but for Christians the job is really difficult --LOVE, UNDERSTANDING, COMPASSION- you've got a tough role model to follow.

This Is Not a Test...

2006-10-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

its an investment in a nuclear future for a nation and government left wanting by years of self imposed economic isolation--no not a nuclear energy future nor even a nuclear weapon future - but a trade, banking, and credit concession filled future due to the threat of nuclear weapons development. The world stage is somewhat bare- the major actors ( U.S., Britain) bogged down in a civil war in Iraq; France, Germany, and most of the EU bogged down in economic competition with the ravenous Chinese economy- this leaves an opening for North Korea to gain concessions it has been unable to gain by diplomacy or other forms of military threats. Japan and China will be in the queue with the major western powers to ante up a price big enough to forestall more development. On the surface it may appear as multilateral negotiations with a strong regional flavor but underneath it all is the newly weakened U.S.--weakened by the enormous strain and expense of Iraq so that adventurous governments everywhere realize that we will be most reluctant to open a new front anywhere. Venezuela, Cuba, various forces in Africa and the middle east will be emboldened by the success of North Korea-- the costs of Iraq are beginning to come back to bother the West-- the Bush Doctrine- the set of policies and circumstances that justified the invasion of Iraq in self defense: to eliminate a threat from weapons of mass destruction and terrorist collaboration. The Bush Doctrine has seen it's second application: the invasion of Iraq was the first; the nuclear arming of North Korea is the second; it appears that more can expected.

Breaking Up Iraq...

2006-10-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

It appears that there are forces in Iraq determined to break up the nation into areas controlled by religious sects-three or four religion or ethnic based governments instead of the current US occupation sponsored government. It may lack the smooth and easy transition hoped for before the invasion but it may be the path chosen by the Iraqi people in post invasion Iraq. Only the Iraqi people have the power to end the bloodshed there- we do not --we could suppress it by putting a soldier on every corner in Baghdad but that would be done only to impress voters in the US. For western oil consumers stability in the supply is the main concern and if Dubai is any example, oil money can certainly reshape the physical environment and culture of an oil rich nation. A recent factor is that the terrorists elements that have largely come into Iraq in response to the presence of western ( non Muslim) armies will attempt to take over the vast wealth of Iraq and turn it into a powerful enemy for Israel, Europe, and the U.S.- this is certainly possible and the primary deterrent is the wealth of the country- that a broad class of rich and upper middle class people will exert a political control over the nation(s) that come after the invasion forces begin to withdraw. Still the dominant model for pro-western middle east governments will be non democratic governments such as Saudi Arabia(monarchy), Kuwait(Monarchy) Dubai( limited monarchy), Iran ( theocracy). A divided Iraq might offer significant opportunities for democracy but whether the US would be any more at ease with the eventual choices that might be made through democracy remains to be seen- due to oil and strategic politics, democracy is not the exclusive US interest in Iraq or the middle east generally.

A November to Remember....

2006-10-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

President Bush went to Pakistan and congratulated the people of Pakistan on winning so many outsourced U.S. jobs-he said (and I am paraphrasing from memory) that the world can learn a lesson to be more competitive- presumably that meant us as in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio where many thousands of jobs have been lost. How does that square with campaign ads that hold Democrats responsible for losing those same jobs...hmmm.. apparently the problem is the American workers aren't competitive. The Bush speech in Pakistan reminded me of the movie hustle and flow and it's hip hop MOVIE THEME it might have been LIKE THIS:

IT'S HARD OUT HERE FO' A PRESIDENT

MAKIN JOBS FO' THE NON-RESIDENT

The war in Iraq got started because of an imminent threat of attack with weapons of mass destruction. Turned out the weapons and the threat were non-existent. Vice President Chaney in particular asserted that Saddam was in league with the terrorists and the 9/11 attacks--turns out Saddam was harder on terrorists in Iraq than we have been-- there pretty much weren't any -- Saddam apparently didn't allow competition. Sad part is that the people would certainly have followed their President in the wake of 9/11-- why in the world would one need to resort to possibly misleading statements-- a recent Times Poll shows that 52% feel we were deliberately misled-- is it possible to exceed an unlimited budget and misuse unconditional trust? So in October,

I wonder, if folks will remember

these little things come November...