Divine Winds

 
History and legends tell of two incidents when the nation of Japan faced a certain defeat by invasion and the armada was destroyed by storms-- the armadas of Kubla Kahn and the storms that intervened to save them-- were called Divine Winds (the word became infamous later in WWII as Kamikaze-- the last gasp of a defeated nation to squander its youth in a vain attempt to extend a certain defeat).  Kamakaze was a man made divinity and it failed. I think of this now as a great storm seems to crush some parts of my country- places i have lived and think of as my home-- and I do not think it is a Divine Wind-- there is suffering and loss of life and we should all send our prayers to those affected and any efforts we can make to help. No,  It is the impact of this storm that speaks a lesson to me-- how the sophistications and dedications to profits and business so quickly recede and lose significance when the land on which we stand disappears beneath roiled ocean waters and flood. When our systems fail, power gone, underground and above ground networks lost to unstoppable surge of tides-- it is then we are reminded of the need each of us has for others; for help in dire times, when we cannot be saved by wealth or false pride--or the sense of superiority which none of us has earned. No, it is the Divine Wind that sweeps away pettiness and we realize it could be us in the water or our child-- reaching for a rope, reaching for life itself--hoping for a Divine Wind....hdm

Divine Winds

History and legends tell of two incidents when the nation of Japan faced certain defeat by invasion and the enemy armada was destroyed by storms-- the armadas of Kubla Kahn-- and the storms that intervened to save them were called Divine Winds(kamika ze).  The word became infamous later in WWII as Kamikaze, there it was the last gasp of a defeated nation; an incredible choice to squander its youth in a vain attempt to extend a certain defeat.  This was a man-made divinity and it failed.

 I think of this now as a great storm seems to crush some parts of my country-- places I have lived and think of as my home-- and I do not think it is a Divine Wind.  There is suffering and loss of life and we should all send our prayers to those affected and any efforts we can make to help. No, it is the impact of this storm that speaks a lesson to me-- how the sophistications, and dedications to profits and business so quickly recede and lose significance when the land on which we stand disappears beneath roiled ocean waters and flood. When our systems fail, power gone, underground and above ground networks lost to unstoppable surge of tides; it is then we are reminded of the need each of us has for others. The need for help in dire times, when we cannot be saved by wealth or false pride--or the sense of superiority which none of us has earned.  Yes, it is the Divine Wind that sweeps away pettiness and we realize it could be us in the water or our child-- reaching for a rope, reaching for life itself--hoping for a Divine Wind....hdm

the price of free speech...

 

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.

Thank you, George Bush ...

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

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!

right to bear arms

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?

Veterans Care...

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.

Now On to Iran

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

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

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

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.