rant o' the day

"Actually, Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, made about $2 million this past weekend, whereas X-men made about $150 million. That just shows we're more interested in the fake people saving the fake earth than the real people trying to save the real earth." --Jay Leno

(All Hat and No Cattle)

I thought that this was excellent commentary...Americans appear to prefer the magic of illusions, brutal violence, powerful and mysterious hero's that save the day, and American's like to see their country triumphant, as love saves the day, and nothing changes, rather than understand that our entire way of life is killing us and the planet.

WE ARE KILLING THE PLANET! Of course that means we are killing ourselves too, but that's not as important as mythic hero's and fantasy.

I was watching a National Geographic Special on Art and Culture in Afganistan and the impact of both the Taliban and war on this country. Experts say that without art, such as sculputure, paintings, jewelry, even film, a country could lose its history. The identity of a people with their land and their culture is vital. To be Afgan, you must be a part of the history of Afganistan, you must know the people and lessons of the past. Think of the impact on Americans if every single Christian relic were confiscated and destroyed.

During the Taliban reign, Afganistan Art Historians and Artists literally risked their lives to protect sacred national treasures of art. These men, and I presume women, hid or disguised precious historical artifacts to protect them from destruction by Taliban Clerics. Had they been caught they would have been excuted on the spot. That took real courage and real dedication to a cause. Pride in Heritage.

As I watched this special I got a glimpse of what life was like for the Afgan people, both during and after the Taliban. I got a glimpse into their world view and this is what I found interesting. The subject of The Budda was a central focus on their lives, and the lives of millions and millions of human beings. In Afganistan there were massive and ornate statures of the Budda centuries old. These were mostly destroyed by the Taliban, but that is not really my point.

My point is that the world perspective of Buddists is significantly different than Christianity. Reincarnation for one thing is a pretty basic difference. Christians prefer that we live one life, then we go to Judgement, whereas Buddist's believe that we will be reborn in another life, depending on how well, or poorly, we have done in this one. The reality of people who are Buddhist, is vastly different from the reality of Christians. Not only that, but the reality of Budda has been in existence for centuries prior to the advent of Christianity and it is still going strong today. This means to me that Buddism has a much stronger claim on truth than Christianty. That is, a spiritual path, perspective, that has been accepted and passed along for thousands of years, must be superior in all ways to one that has just appeared withing the past few centuries. Therefore, I tend to believe that the Buddist reality is more likely than the Christian reality.

But then, I differentiate between Christ and Christianity. They are not the same. Christ was a man, an avatar, who lived a life of compassion, spirituality, understanding, acceptance and hope.

"...The real Jesus was born illegitimately. He called himself "the human one." Just like Buddha, his authority came from truth, not power. He taught whoever has love has God. He said those who work for the common good are his church..." (Don't Bow to God's Bullies. Rev. Jim Rigby, Huffington Post)

I see Christ as a man who despised war, sought to heal and support those more unfortunate than he. I see Christ as someone who would support universal Health Care, Low income Housing, universal child care, safe and clean drinking water and food, justice in our courts and politics. I see Christ as a leader of liberal causes, who would approve of people putting aside their differences to listen to each other, understand from each other, seek to live in harmony with each other.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot envision Jesus Christ hating someone because they happen to be gay, or Moslem, or poor, or female. I cannot imagine Christ being so ego-driven that he would be a 'jealous God'. I cannot imagine Christ condeming to eternal hell people who do not believe in Christianity. He just wouldn't do that. That is not who Christ was or is. I believe Jesus Christ is horrified that humans launch themselves into a killing frenzy of war in his name. No way could I accept the belief that Jesus favors rich people over poor people and that the rich are rich because they are 'blessed' by him, or that the poor are poor because they aren't devout enough. What a crock.

I see Christianty as nothing more or less than a means for one human being to attain power over other human beings. It is a religion. Therefore it was created by men, for men, with all of the prejudices, bigotry, and lies inheirent in men who seek power. Christianity has nothing to do with Christ; he is there only as a token symbol to justify brutality and a rigid control of people. Still, Christianity has many 'good Christian's' but they are good because they are at heart good people. They would be 'good' no matter what religion they chose. Being kind and compassionate has nothing to do with what religion you are, except for the curious fact that religion can make you less compassionate not more.

"...To picture God in terms of power is also one of the great bait-and-switch gimmicks of all time. People within the power hierarchy proclaim that God is the ultimate authority, and then appoint themselves as God's interpreters and enforcers. They are God's humble bullies. It has been one of the most successful con games of all time..." (Don't Bow to God's Bullies, Rigby)

Well, that is about all for today, my daily rant against the hypocrisy of religion and the unwillingness of Americans to understand the truth of their world.

Just makes ya proud, don't it?

thoughs o' the day..

It is curious to see the White House and their lickspittle minions, The Mainstream Media, all gloat about the "Post-Zarqawi era", as if this actually meant anything.

Then we have the suicides in Guantanamo, to which the U.S. GOP responded in shocked indignation. "How dare these prisoners take their own lives to mock us!"
Sociopathic people are unable to see themselves as responsible for bad things. This type of mental illness manifests itself in blame of others and a total preoccupation with their own needs and wants. By every criteria, the leadership of this country and the GOP that supports it are stark raving crazy.

Returning to Guantanamo for a moment, lets be clear about something...these poor unfortunate souls locked for life in the U.S. Guantanamo Prison have no hope of a trial, let alone clemency. Some may be enemy terrorists and some may be absolutely innocent. No one will ever know because there will be no trial, no chance for each of these men to tell their story. Trapped for life in the dungeons of the Empire. What is to keep these men from suicide? What possible hope do they have?

America is keeping these people locked away in direct and flagrant violation of every international law and treaty. America is keeping these people locked away in direct and flagrant disregard of every American Law and Treaty.

Bush said just today in one of his condescentions to the American Press, that "America is a nation of laws". Sure, laws that the Emperor likes and support his pograms are just fine. Anything that hinders or stops the Emperor is ignored.

But beyond Bush, the rage and hatred endemic in the American People against people unlike them is a monument to zenophobia and hypocrisy. If your gorge can handle it, take a good look at what the 'law abiding' people of this nation have done to Native Americans, The Mexican People, The Irish People, German, Italian, Japanese-American, Phillipino's, Vietnamese, the Entire South American Continent,the list goes on and on. Consider the abysmal treatment of African-Americans, both historically and in the present. The truth is that America is, at times, a vicious predator on the lives of other people.The Empire is in to bloodlust in a big way.

Should we be surprised that the trapped souls in Guantanamo commit suicide? What choice do they really have?

As to the killing of Zarqawi, Bush will do his victory dance on the world stage and the hypocrisy is palpable. How many times has Bush killed or captured Zarqawi? Five? Six? Killing Zarqawi means nothing, and the rest of the world knows it.

Yet, here are the papers dutifully pretending that there is such a thing as a 'Post-Zarqawi' era. Here we have the president and his hencemen publically gloating about "Post-Zarqawi"! What bullshit. This is a could example of how the American People are manipulated by language. The White House spins the tail as a 'victory' and creates waves of meaningless press and plans. The pupper masters jiggle the strings and American journalist's pound computer keys.

Does anyone really believe this hogshit?

White House Hones a Strategy for Post-Zarqawi Era

"THURMONT, Md., June 12 — President Bush gathered top aides at Camp David here on Monday to calibrate the best way forward in Iraq during what the administration described as a critical juncture, following the death last week of the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq and the final formation of a unity government there..."

"...The meeting was as much a media event as it was a high-level strategy session, devised to send a message that this is "an important break point for the Iraqi people and for our mission in Iraq from the standpoint of the American people," in the words of the White House counselor, Dan Bartlett..."

Mea Culpa..

I have once again been reminded of the old quotation: "Your right to free speech ends at the other guys' nose." Forget who said it. But I understand it.

I realize in reviewing many of my recent columns that I have been ranting. Not a bad thing necessarily, but it is an explosion of emotion formed from the magma of fear and sorrow. This is my country and I sorrow to see the corruption, murder, and ideological insanity that preoccupies the present Administration. I fear that Americans have become indifferent to the responsibilities of citizenship. But, maybe, it isn't the abstract 'them' that I fear, perhaps it is myself. Perhaps I have become indifferent, reduced to making keyboard noises in place of standing up in the real world. Perhaps I need to place participation in the system over rhetoric.

I know that our only hope for a brighter future lies within the reality of the system itself. In order to win, we must use the system to win. To do otherwise is to tear it all down in spasms of childish rage. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, are all arrogant assholes who truly believe in their mission. I could match their arrogance with my temper, but what would that avail? I am begining to realize that if I want a future of peace and promise it must start with me.

Sometimes I push the envelope of 'Free Speech' because I am reckless and want someone to hear my voice. Perhaps the more outrageous my statements, the more I believe I will be taken seriously. But, the trap to this, the lie to this, is that I wind up ranting and do very little thinking. And it is thinking that is called for now. To convince others of the dangers we currently face, from Theocratic Fascism to Environmental catastrophe to Economic collapse we must use reason and responsible words. Example rather than exortation.

I will leave my past words in view, but with this caveat: "Violence is the behavior of powerless people. People who believe they are helpless. Violence does nothing to disprove this belief, and further, but more importantly, violence does not work." I have made a study of War, and have come to the conclusion that war never solves anything, it only leaves the rich richer and the poor dead. The outcome of violence is always more violence, rarely peace and never tranquility. For the world to change for the better, I must change for the better.

I will devote this blog to peaceful means of communication and problem solving, not because I fear the retribution of the Empire, but because my existence at this time has more to do with discovering who I am and how I shape my reality than it does in venting injudicious fear.

I will still feature news stories that uncover the lies of the Empire, but I believe I must focus on learning a new way to see, rather than an old way of reacting. Shouting isn't the only way to be heard and violence solves nothing.

Be at peace, and take it slow.

BOG

There have been so many signs that Demcracy is dead in America that no one who seriously thinks about these issues can doubt it. What is particularly disheartening is that the tyranny now in place has never even bother to disguise their moves. From the gitgo they have stood up and told the American people, "Fuck You, we will do what we like, when we like, and how we like because you people don't count for shit." That is the state of Politics in America today.

George W. Bush has been voiding the U.S. Constitution and breaking American Laws for close to five years now, and there has been no serious challenges to this illegal activity. None. Oh, an insipid whine arises occasionally from the cowering mutts along the Democratic side of the Congressional aisle but this hardly qualifies as robust opposition party activity.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a demonstrably illegal move, cancelled the recount of votes in Florida during the 2000 Selection, and the swing state of Ohio was the scene of rampant voter fraud and political arm breaking to give the GOP another Presidential victory in 2005.

From the Patriot Act to the NSA wiretapping the United States of America has become a gulag. Granted it is still a pretty gulag, with incredible technological goodies to distract the stupid, but it is in fact a gulag. With every passing hour the perfidious whores in Congress toil to nail and weld the prison doors shut on the American people. Wrapping us in legal and financial trappings of razor wire.

When a form of Government becomes predatory, citizens no longer owe it alligence.

When a form of Government eliminates all semblance of fairness and destroys all means of redress for legitimate greviences, then there is no other recourse for citizens to follow but violence.

When a form of Government ceases to be neutral, but is working against the will of the people, then this form of Government must be resisted. It is ironic in no small measure that we now find ourselves, in 2006, facing the same tyranny as the colonists faced in 1776. Only this time it is our own Government that is imposing tyrannical rule.

I cling to the fading hope that somehow, saner people will step in and stop this horrendous death march to despotism. But with every day, I read news like the following, and I realize that hope is fading.

With new legislation, Ohio Republicans plan holiday burial for American Democracy
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
December 6, 2005

"A law that will make democracy all but moot in Ohio is about to pass the state legislature and to be signed by its Republican governor. Despite massive corruption scandals besieging the Ohio GOP, any hope that the Democratic party could win this most crucial swing state in future presidential elections, or carry its pivotal US Senate seat in 2006, are about to end.

House Bill 3 has already passed the Ohio House of Representatives and is about to be approved by the Republican-dominated Senate..."

"...HB3's most publicized provision will require positive identification before casting a vote. But it also opens voter registration activists to partisan prosecution, exempts electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuples the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and makes it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio. When added to the recently passed HB1, which allows campaign financing to be dominated by the wealthy and by corporations, and along with a Rovian wish list of GOP attacks on the ballot box, democracy in Ohio could be all but over.

The GOP is ramming similar bills through state legislatures around the US, starting with Georgia and Indiana...".

The answer, if there is such a creature, is to become involved in local politics and to conduct local resistence to illegal and immoral federal laws. Tip O'Neil once said that 'All politics is local". I take this to mean that it is at the local level that our power lies. the Race for Sheriff, County Commisioner, Mayor, School Board, Water Commission, what ever are the elections that we may have some control over. Forget about Federal Elections, they are now moot. The right people in these local offices are the last hope for a transformation of America to democracy. It is a long shot, and will take awhile, but, beyond armed rebellion, it may be the only shot we have.

Be at peace, and take it slow.

The Future is Now

by William Greider, June 10, 2006, The Nation

"...The strange paradox of our times is that despite America's fabulous wealth, most people's lives are shadowed by economic anxieties and real confinements, the wounds that market ideology has imposed. They fear that much worse is ahead for their children. Reform must re-establish this fundamental principle: The economy exists to support society and people, not the other way around. Only government can liberate them from the harsh rule of the marketplace, the demands imposed by capital and corporations that stunt or stymie the full pursuit of life and liberty in this complex industrial society. This very wealthy country has the capacity to insure that all citizens, regardless of status or skills, have the essential needs to pursue secure, self-directed lives. This starts with the right to health, work, livable incomes and open-ended education, and to participate meaningfully in the decisions that govern their lives. The marketplace has no interest in providing these. It is actively destroying them..."

(emphasis mine)

I have said it before and I appreciate hearing it from others. The purpose of the Economy is to support ALL people and to improve the lot of ALL people, not just the rich and influencial. Further, the purpose of Government is to level the playing field so that capitalism does not prey on citizens. Government is responsible to regulate commerce so that the health, safety, and wellbeing of all citizens is protected. Government is to stand between the consumer and the Capitalistic Economy and see that all, from the CEO to to janitor, have a living wage, reasonable benefits, and a respected place in our society.

The purpose of Government is the wellbeing of the People. Nothing less and nothing more. Anything else is pure tyranny.

Unlike our mainstream society, the indigenous people of this world knew with every fiber of their being that a warrior goes to war only at the request of his or her people. Because of this, the responsibility for what happens in war is shared by the entire tribe. The warrior serves as an extention of the will of the people and has sanction to kill in the heat of battle. But all tribal members share in the sorrow of this killing, not just the warrior. So when a warrior returns from war, he or she is accorded great honor and great forgiveness for their deeds. The tribal people also knew that war changes a man, and that to once again rejoin their tribe the warrior must be transformed from war to peace. The haunts of war shared by all, the guilt of war spread among the people, the rage of war forgiven and understood.

Where are we in modern America with this? We send our young off to war, but we do not share in their agony and we do not reach out to welcome them home. Sure we have token parades and speeches, but these are meaningless gestures because we refuse to acknowledge the horror of their experience. We refuse to know the agony and the desperation, the heartbreak and the numbing slaughter of others. The American people, by and large, stand with token handshakes and vacant cheers for our warriors. but we do not look them in the eye and say; "Thank You, I share in your agony of war, I forgive you for what you did in war because you served in my name for all our people." The warrior wants nothing more than to return to his or her life and rejoin society. But rather than assist them in their healing from the wounds of war, we ignore them and shrug off their pain because we do not want to accept responsibility for what we have asked them to do.

The United States of American has gone to war, without discussion or rational thought. We have hurled our young people, our best and brightest, into the maw of war for no justifiable reason. We are slaughtering our young and the innocent because a petty tyrant has demanded that we do so. The shame of Iraq, as the shame of Vietnam, is that the American People have abdicated responsibility for the lives and wellbeing of their own children to appease the megalomania of our insane leadership. Our children are being maimed and killed because Americans couldn't be bothered to ask questions and demand reasonable answers from our politicans.

Iraq isn't just a failure of leadership, it is a failure of the American people to participate in their own country.


Honoring Warriors Past and Present
By GRETCHEN RUETHLING

Published: June 10, 2006

""Where are your lands?" a trader once taunted Crazy Horse.

"My lands are where my dead lie buried," the Sioux chief responded.

About 200 people crossed that rolling prairie on horseback last week, riding from Nebraska to South Dakota in a four-day tribute to honor all military veterans and the revered Crazy Horse.

"It was a way to say thank you to our warrior culture," said Charles Brewer, 40, of Pine Ridge, S.D., who organized the ninth annual Crazy Horse Ride..."

(pictures by Jerry Swope)

today's rant...

We are buying a house, a lovely home and enough land to provide privacy, space, and room for vegetable gardens. With this new home we will raise chickens, geese, rabbits, and maybe a goat or two. With this new home we will be semi-independent by growing some of our own food, creating things to barter, and being free from the incessesent glitter and cacaphony of suburban living.

But there is a price. As citizens of the American Empire we are forced into institutionalized bribery and egregious usury, followed by imprisonment in a financial system that controls our access to home, food, water, and income.

Our loan documents show an interest rate of 6.7%. This is an imaginary number drawn up by accountants to disguise the true costs of our loan. It is a fiction. It is a fiction that everybody involved with the home loan process knows is fiction. Better said, it is a lie that everybody knows is a lie. It is a lie ginned up to play the 'game' of home finance. For example, lets say our loan is $300,000 but our interest rate is $350,000 on top of this principal. Total we will owe $650,000 for our property. You can play games with number all you like; 6.7%, 7.1%, whatever, but the truth is that we will pay over 120% interest on our loan. That is the truth. Everybody in this transaction knows this, and everybody knows that this level of interest is more than we would pay if we would have borrowed the money from Tony Soprano. What is more, is that each of these people probably had to pay the same outrageous interest rate as we do, yet they still participate, like a judas goat.

The Home Finance racket in the American Empire is one of unashamed theft and plunder. Legalized. The banks went to their favorite politicians, gave them outrageous amounts of money, and demanded that laws be written forcing citizens to pay bribery money to them for the dubious honor of getting a loan. The politicians wrote the law, passed it, and now each of us is condemned to squander our hard earned money to these crooks. Theft with a ballpoint pen. When you buy a house and have to get a Bank Loan to do so, you are trapped in a system of fees and charges that you cannot escape.

On a macro-level, the politicians and bankers like this system because it not only provides guaranteed wealth to the banks, and pocket money to the politicians, but it also is an effective means of social control. It creates 'wage-slaves' of the American People.

Unlike slavery in the past, where the slave owner had to supply food, shelter, clothing, and meager medical care to his slaves, the slaveowners in this society (The Wealthy Elite in business, finance, and politics) have none of these expenses. In the American Empire you citizens are expected to work your ass to the bone, have your wages become worth less and less, and become ensyared in a society that see's debt as the answer to your problems, not the problem itself. Wh To live in the American Empire costs a lot of your money, most of your time, and all of your soul. Plus, by the burden of staggering debt, slaves are held without the need of whips or chains. If you want a decent place to live, then surrender to staggering financial debt and a life long commitement to employment you cannot quit, probably doing some job that just bores you senseless.

Understand this, you cannot fight a system that locks you into that system. Put another way, you cannot fight a jail cell from inside the cell. You must be on the outside to have any power. Consumer debt is the primary means of imprisionment in this country. As long as you owe 'Them' (Banks;Government,financial institutions) you will dance to their tune because they can deny you further credit. And there goes your life.


We are driven into debt to buy/expect the things we are persuaded to buy/expect by the companies that make the things and create the expectations.

Fucken weird I tell ya.

FACTS TO PONDER:

(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health Human Services.

Now think about this:
Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that's 80 million)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .000188.
Statistics courtesy of FBI

So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
Remember, "Guns don't kill people, doctors do."

FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!!!

Out of concern for the public at large, I withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people to panic and
seek medical attention.

(thanks Mark)

Lets take a moment and consider something...there is a deep and seemingly uncrossable no-man's-land between the priorities of the American People and our entire Political Leadership, both parties, local or national.

The American people want peace, economic opportunity, financial security, physical security, and general stability. The American people want to have a nice home, decent car, good and plentiful food to eat, affordable entertainment, employment that treats them with some respect and pays a living wage. They want to be free of ruinous medical bills by having full medical coverage, preferably like Medicare used to be. They want to be able to retire and spend their remaining years watching their grandchildren grow, and their children prosper. The American people are no different that the Iraqi People, the Iranian People, the Israeli People, and every group of humanity on this globe. They want the freedom to live their lives in some comfort and with a reasonable expectation that the immediate future will be better than the immediate past.

On the other hand, the Bush Administration and the entire political leadership of this country want unlimited personal power, wealth beyond imagining, and no one to tell them 'no'.

They are narcissistic children demented by illusions and delusions of grandeur. They are insane by every definition of the word.

Is there a point at which the American People rise up and with violence wrench back this country from the oligarchs and wealthy elite who have taken over? Is there a point in which Americans will realize that they no longer have power at the voting booth and that their wants and needs are totally ignored by their political leaders?

I don't know.

I would like to believe that the American people are not so far subjugated that they couldn't rise in physical rebellion, but I don't think it is possible in reality. There is a naive belief in this country that 'things will somehow work out'. That somehow Bush and his minions will turn out to be the good guys and that they aren't really as demented and deranged as they seem; that the economy is poised on the verge of a gigantic growth and good jobs will be everywhere; that the environmental degradation is really ok and that we really didn't need all those pesky plants and animals that are going extinct anyway; that energy problems are entirely solvable with modern technology and that soon there will be plentiful cheap energy for all; and that the middle class lifestyle so beloved by Americans will continue on, uninterrupted, forever.

Fat chance.

Americans, by and large, are damn fine people who are honest and caring and 'salt of the earth' type people, but we have allowed a coup de'tat, and the wants and needs of these fine Americans is no longer a concern of government. In fact, America is no longer a concern of government. Government is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Multinational Corporate Business Interests.

Think of this: The cost of the Iraq War, a war that is clearly unnecessary, illegal, and certainly immoral, would be sufficient to:

• we could have hired 4,972,551 additional public school teachers for one year.
• we could have provided medical insurance for 171,815,152 children for one year.
• we could have provided 13,909,806 students four-year scholarships at public universities.
• we could have built 2,583,548 additional housing units.
  
• we could have fully funded global anti-hunger efforts for 11 years.
  
• we could have fully funded world-wide AIDS programs for 28 years.
  
• we could have paid for 38,004,200 children to attend a year of Head Start.
• we could have ensured that every child in the world was given basic immunizations for
  95 years.
  

But we aren't going to do that, are we? Our tax money goes to killing people. Somehow I don't believe that is a family value of the average American, but it is for George W. Bush and his cohorts.

Like I said, a deep and uncrossable no-man's-land between the American People and American Politicians.

(info on costs of Iraq War from The National Priorities Project)

• 
  
  

Letter to Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 8, 2006

Lt. Ehren Watada










"I am a two tour combat veteran of Vietnam and I want to state unequivocally that I support Lt. Ehren Watada in his decision not to go to the Iraq War. This War is wrong and quite likely illegal. At the very least it is a bloody exercise in national hubris and naked greed. The military and indeed this country desperately need men and women who are willing to stand up to the power hierarchy in this country and tell the truth. The Iraq War is wrong in every possible way and it is not worth the life of a single person, American or Iraqi. Lets put and end to this useless exercise in death and bring our young people home. Thank you Lt. Watada for your courage and your conscience, you are an American Soldier and Officer of whom I am very proud."

John M. Whitten

11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

Vietnam 1969-1971

Do Bush and those blithering idiots called Fundamentalist Christians really believe that our most pressing issue today is Gay People loving each other?

No wonder they want us to return to the Dark Ages of ignorance and superstition, only the truely stupid could believe in this bullshit.

America will never become a true Democracy, nor will it ever live up to its promise of freedom and dignity, as long as Americans refuse to openly discuss why our words and our deeds are two different things.


The Rot From Within
By Doug Nelson
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 05 June 2006

"....his notion of a "Christian" nation, and our constant lip service to "freedom and justice for all" have made our country a sick joke in the rest of the civilized world. Our history of violence against women, blacks, Native Americans, immigrants, dissenters, and religious minorities surfaces through every crack in our national foundation. No sooner do we identify a "threat" or an enemy, whether it is believers in Islam, abortion providers, immigrants, or marijuana users, than someone is proposing rounding them up, putting them in jail or worse.

Our national obsession with punishment and prison is a root cause of Guantanamo. Civilized systems of justice have, as a distinguishing feature, careful consideration of the facts of the individual case and the application of law to the particulars of the case. Yet, the knee-jerk reaction to nearly every social problem seems to be treating all members of a group as if they are criminals. Mob justice is simply mob violence disguised. By extension, we occupy a foreign country and treat the inhabitants as inmates, subject to search, home invasion, torture, beatings, and death. In consenting to surveillance of our own communications within our own country, we are consenting to being treated as inmates..."

I was killing time yesterday and accidently turned the TV to the 'Shopping Channel". That is the strangest damn show I have ever seen. It is like watching beings that you are fairly sure are from your Galaxy, but you just can't figure out which planet.

Two absolutely air-headed women spent nearly 15 minutes describing the wonders of a wind chime....15 minutes! I have never seen anything quite like it, they just jabbered on forever telling every minute detail of this thing, as if Wind Chimes had just been invented and this was the first working model. It was kind of like the first proto-human trying to describe 'fire' to his cave-mates.

Then they had callers, poor miserable wretches that spent much of their free time waiting for some product to be announced just so they could call up an buy the damn thing.

I thought to myself, this is quite possibly the most rampant obscenity of consumerism I have ever seen.

Pathetic...and sad. I got these visions of these lonely smucks sitting in their mobile homes, surrounded by boxes of unopened goodies purchased on credit, bill collectors who know them by their first names, and statues of deer stiffly poised on their front lawn backlit by cut metal outlines of a grandmother bending over. Oh, and an inflatable flamingo...
====================

Talked with a a young kid today. Graduated High School yesterday. Plans on entering the U.S. Navy because they will pay for college. He and his family cannot afford the staggering cost of education in this country. So he must enter the military.

Military is not bad. Sometimes the the training is even useful in the civilian world. You do learn to work with a wide variety of people, you learn to push yourself, you learn discipline, responsibility. Sometimes you get to travel to foreign lands and kill people.

I think that young, hard working, honest kids that join the military are the cream of the crop in many ways. These are the kids that you want to join your society and you want to be successful so that they can raise other hard working, honest kids. And Military service gives you a perspective that can be invaluble, learning other cultures and other ways of living.

What puzzles me though is why we in America refuse to provide education for our children. Why is that? We are spending over $1 BILLION dollars per day in Afganistan and Iraq and yet we cannot seem to find out way clear to provide a college education and training to our next generation?

If you look at American priorities, it is obviously more important to kill other people and steal their natural resources, then it is to educate our own people.

Americans, if you consider how we spend out tax dollars, prefer to kill, maim, destroy, rather than gain knowledge and wisdom. And they call this, 'civilization'?

This country could easily afford to provide free education to every single Child in this country. Zero through Graduate School. The fact that we don't is symptomatic of the rot that invests this country...the rot of profit over people...the rot of the bottom line and short term gain being more desirable than a knowledgeable citizenry and an intelligent culture.

The more American History that I read the more I realize that the framers of our form of Government only gave us a template, not a mandate. They provided us with a set of guidelines that would lead us to Democracy but they did not, and could not, provide us with Democracy itself.

For so long, from the Reagan era to the utter debacle of today, I have pined the loss of our Democracy. But now I am begining to see that we really haven't lost Democracy, because we have never had Demcracy, not yet at any rate. What we have is the hope and the framework for creating a Democracy.

Americans have a long way to go before we are capable of creating, and living in, this brilliant form of government. We cannot have Democracy until we overthrow the Military Industrial Complex that now strangles our ideals. Further I am begining to believe that Capitalism itself is antithetical to Freedom and must be replaced before Democracy can live. If nothing else, we must have a strong and people oriented form of government that can control Capitalism, bending it to the good of all people, rather than just the privileged few.

America has a long way to go, and we may not have the time necessary to find our Democracy.