After seven years of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, their infantile and ruinous response to 9/11, disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law, shameless pandering to corporate America and the wealthy, official disdain for science and reason, signing statements, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath – which is still an ongoing humanitarian tragedy even if the mainstream media chooses to ignore it – after all this misery, shame and outright stupidity, it’s hard to muster much hope for the future, regardless of who captures the White House this November.
Barack Obama tells people it’s all about Change, this political season’s magic word, but Mr. Obama is thin on the specifics of what that means. Obama reminds me of an old-fashioned snake oil salesman, selling bottles of hair restorer from the back of a wagon. “I know you’ve dreamed of having a lustrous head of hair, a flowing mane, and here at last is the product that can make your dreams a reality…”
Hillary Clinton touts her “Day One” experience, though it seems to me that this experience is predominantly grounded in failed policies, particularly those of her hubby, William Jefferson Clinton, a master political manipulator, accomplished liar, and renowned skirt chaser. People seem to have forgotten that Democrats got creamed in the ’94 mid-term elections and lost the U.S. House, Senate and a number of governorships. That shellacking gave rise to Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and a host of corrupt hard right GOP nitwits. Although Bill Clinton won re-election in ’96, he spent the rest of his Administration fighting a holding action, including nearly two years of White Water and Monica Lewinsky accusations, denials, admissions and apologies. Some legacy.
John McCain, war hero and aging war horse, bases his candidacy in Safety & Security. McCain has an undeserved reputation as a maverick, and is now furiously trying to distance himself from past statements and policy decisions in order to court the GOP’s wing-nut religious right faction. “I never said that ethics in government were more important than God. I promise you that I will consult the Almighty before making even the smallest decision. I believe that God is Great, and that He is on our side.”
It wouldn’t bother McCain at all if American military forces maintained a presence in Iraq for the next hundred years. Never mind the cost, never mind the wishes of ordinary Iraqi citizens for hegemony over their own country, in McCain’s mind Americans have a right to plant military installations on foreign soil, and to buttress this argument, McCain cites Germany, Japan and Korea, where the United States has maintained military bases for nearly half a century. McCain doesn’t spend much mental energy wondering why, with the Cold War a speck in our rearview mirror, we “need” military bases in Japan or Germany; he’s obviously comfortable with American Imperialism as it’s currently constituted.
The thought of Cindy McCain as First Lady scares me. Cindy looks a tad uptight to me, a woman prone to hysterical fits; I can easily imagine her chewing out the gardener or her personal assistant or any other lackey who helps her get through the day. I heard her say that she’s proud of her country, but the statement only makes me wonder if she knows what’s really going down in America – anyone who claims to be proud of the United States today hasn’t been paying attention during the past seven years.
In case you’re wondering, I don’t hate America and hope for its demise; I served in the armed forces, vote in every election, write letters to elected officials and participate actively in our Democracy. My issue with America is that instead of coming closer to realizing its historic promise, it has drifted further away. Once we believed – and acted upon that belief – in equality of opportunity, basic fairness, and the welfare of common people and communities. Although far from perfect, we at least lurched in the right direction, albeit often fitfully and painfully.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the Lincoln Memorial in August of 1963, he said that the signers of the Declaration of Independence had made a promissory note with the citizens of our new country – a note the country defaulted on where citizens of color were concerned. Today I think an argument can be made that America has defaulted on its promise in many other ways.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The Titans of Cowardice
I get a kick out of the Wall Street Journal, Bible of the Capitalist class. Here’s a Page Two headline that ran a couple of days ago: “Worried Bankers Seek to Shift Risk to Uncle Sam.”
I’ve been waiting for the Titans of Finance to run to the government for help. Let’s review: banks either made unsound loans to under-qualified borrowers or invested in Collateralized Debt Obligations that included sub-prime mortgages. The loans and CDO’s were pure crap to begin with, but the banks, sniffing easy profit, put aside sound lending practices and jumped in with both feet.
Now that the sub-prime mortgage scandal has infected the wider credit market, the banks are lining up at Washington’s door with their hands out, like Skid Row panhandlers. Understand that these are the very same folks who once criticized so-called “welfare queens” for lack of personal responsibility; the same folks who criticize government programs of any kind (except, of course, those that benefit corporate interests), and the same folks who at every turn extol the virtues and integrity of the American CEO. The Capitalists have thrived during the Bush regime, an age highlighted by weak or non-existent regulation, cronyism, ethical myopia, low corporate and personal tax rates, and a cowboy mentality in the Finance industry.
Bankers despise all things “publicly financed” until their banks fuck up so spectacularly that they have no place to turn except to the public treasury. That’s when they run to Washington babbling about the need to shore up the banking system, the credit system and the monetary system – for the benefit of ordinary Americans on Main Street, of course. How quickly capitalists recover their civic consciousness when the shit hits the fan and puts their stock price at risk. It’s a hypocritical spectacle that puts the lie to the myth that the American economy is fair and equitable and open to anyone with the drive and gumption to succeed.
If it smells like horseshit, and sticks to your boots like horseshit, it most likely is horseshit.
Isn’t it ironic that American bankers and their ilk are opposed to a social safety net for average citizens, but are only too willing to leap into a safety net themselves; ironic that they resist paying a fair share in taxes, but love taking advantage of taxpayer assistance!
And you can bet, when the dust settles and the banks have shifted their risk to the taxpayers, that the Titans of Finance will earn huge bonuses for their “bold” leadership.
Only in America.
I’ve been waiting for the Titans of Finance to run to the government for help. Let’s review: banks either made unsound loans to under-qualified borrowers or invested in Collateralized Debt Obligations that included sub-prime mortgages. The loans and CDO’s were pure crap to begin with, but the banks, sniffing easy profit, put aside sound lending practices and jumped in with both feet.
Now that the sub-prime mortgage scandal has infected the wider credit market, the banks are lining up at Washington’s door with their hands out, like Skid Row panhandlers. Understand that these are the very same folks who once criticized so-called “welfare queens” for lack of personal responsibility; the same folks who criticize government programs of any kind (except, of course, those that benefit corporate interests), and the same folks who at every turn extol the virtues and integrity of the American CEO. The Capitalists have thrived during the Bush regime, an age highlighted by weak or non-existent regulation, cronyism, ethical myopia, low corporate and personal tax rates, and a cowboy mentality in the Finance industry.
Bankers despise all things “publicly financed” until their banks fuck up so spectacularly that they have no place to turn except to the public treasury. That’s when they run to Washington babbling about the need to shore up the banking system, the credit system and the monetary system – for the benefit of ordinary Americans on Main Street, of course. How quickly capitalists recover their civic consciousness when the shit hits the fan and puts their stock price at risk. It’s a hypocritical spectacle that puts the lie to the myth that the American economy is fair and equitable and open to anyone with the drive and gumption to succeed.
If it smells like horseshit, and sticks to your boots like horseshit, it most likely is horseshit.
Isn’t it ironic that American bankers and their ilk are opposed to a social safety net for average citizens, but are only too willing to leap into a safety net themselves; ironic that they resist paying a fair share in taxes, but love taking advantage of taxpayer assistance!
And you can bet, when the dust settles and the banks have shifted their risk to the taxpayers, that the Titans of Finance will earn huge bonuses for their “bold” leadership.
Only in America.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Visions of George
There’s a vision stuck in my cranium: George W. Bush is standing on the White House lawn, alone, speaking into a wireless microphone that doesn’t work. Behind him, the White House is engulfed in flames and thick smoke is pouring from the windows; sirens wail and frantic staff members carry portraits, china, chairs, busts and documents out of the building; police, fire and Blackwater helicopters hover overhead. It’s a scene of chaos and panic, like Saigon in 1975.
But Bush is serene, as always, with his trademark monkey smirk in place. As if addressing the nation he says, “My fellow Americans, ignore the mayhem going on behind me. I can assure you that everything is under control. In fact, we’re doing a heckuva job. I’ve just presented my budget proposal to Congress, and I want to tell you that it’s a sound, fiscally responsible document. Now, a lot of so-called experts say that our economy is heading south. I call such people cowards. I’m the President and I say the economy is fundamentally sound, which is why my proposal calls for more of the same. We’re going to stay the course and make my tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent. Why? Because American millionaires and billionaires deserve tax relief so that they can buy more homes, cars, private jets and jewelry. Our millionaires and billionaires may not need tax relief, but I think we should give it to them anyway. We’re going to increase funding for the wars we started in Afghanistan and Iraq because to do anything less would be a disservice to our patriotic defense contractors. We’ll pump more money into useless homeland security projects in Montana and Idaho. We’re going to continue corporate welfare programs because it’s a competitive world out there and American companies need all the help we can give them. The American people may not deserve taxpayer-supported assistance, but American corporations do. We’ll continue privatization of essential public services, maintain blind faith in the free market, and strip away even more of the regulatory framework that protects ordinary Americans but gets in the way of big business.
“Now my fellow Americans, some of you are mildly concerned about the wild swings in the stock market or the minor downturn in the housing market. Let me assure you that if we stay the course and continue doing what we’ve done the past seven years, we will achieve spectacular results. Skeptics, cynics and Liberals think this is crazy talk, but my belief in voodoo economics is as strong today as it was the day the Supreme Court put me in the White House. Coincidentally, I also believe in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, and the lost city of Atlantis. And like my father before me, I believe fervently in staying the course, in a thousand points of light, and in the joy of wielding a well-oiled chain saw. So, my fellow Americans, I bid you good day, God speed, and may the force be with you.”
Thankfully, this is only a twisted vision brought on by an overdose of Presidential primaries and reading the Wall Street Journal. On the other hand, in service of a corrupt ideology Bush and his cronies have so thoroughly pig-fucked the United States of America that we are sure to suffer for many years to come.
But Bush is serene, as always, with his trademark monkey smirk in place. As if addressing the nation he says, “My fellow Americans, ignore the mayhem going on behind me. I can assure you that everything is under control. In fact, we’re doing a heckuva job. I’ve just presented my budget proposal to Congress, and I want to tell you that it’s a sound, fiscally responsible document. Now, a lot of so-called experts say that our economy is heading south. I call such people cowards. I’m the President and I say the economy is fundamentally sound, which is why my proposal calls for more of the same. We’re going to stay the course and make my tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent. Why? Because American millionaires and billionaires deserve tax relief so that they can buy more homes, cars, private jets and jewelry. Our millionaires and billionaires may not need tax relief, but I think we should give it to them anyway. We’re going to increase funding for the wars we started in Afghanistan and Iraq because to do anything less would be a disservice to our patriotic defense contractors. We’ll pump more money into useless homeland security projects in Montana and Idaho. We’re going to continue corporate welfare programs because it’s a competitive world out there and American companies need all the help we can give them. The American people may not deserve taxpayer-supported assistance, but American corporations do. We’ll continue privatization of essential public services, maintain blind faith in the free market, and strip away even more of the regulatory framework that protects ordinary Americans but gets in the way of big business.
“Now my fellow Americans, some of you are mildly concerned about the wild swings in the stock market or the minor downturn in the housing market. Let me assure you that if we stay the course and continue doing what we’ve done the past seven years, we will achieve spectacular results. Skeptics, cynics and Liberals think this is crazy talk, but my belief in voodoo economics is as strong today as it was the day the Supreme Court put me in the White House. Coincidentally, I also believe in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, and the lost city of Atlantis. And like my father before me, I believe fervently in staying the course, in a thousand points of light, and in the joy of wielding a well-oiled chain saw. So, my fellow Americans, I bid you good day, God speed, and may the force be with you.”
Thankfully, this is only a twisted vision brought on by an overdose of Presidential primaries and reading the Wall Street Journal. On the other hand, in service of a corrupt ideology Bush and his cronies have so thoroughly pig-fucked the United States of America that we are sure to suffer for many years to come.
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