Flyover

Didn’t watch the Super Bowl last Sunday. Didn’t care about it one way or another. The way the NFL and the American military are in bed together makes me nervous. We can’t have a major NFL matchup without an Air Force flyover prior to kick off. It’s obligatory that we show our brave troops all the love we can, every chance we get. Watching F-14 fighter planes scream over the stadium makes us feel good about our country.

God bless America and all that.

It wasn’t always so. Back in 1977 when I was an 18-year-old airman in the United States Air Force, I was dispatched for twelve weeks of technical training to one of the cesspools of the great state of Texas, Wichita Falls. One of the first things newbies were told was to avoid wandering around certain streets downtown because the local cowboys liked nothing better than to kick the holy crap out of airmen from the base. I can’t imagine the same thing happening in 2015, not when every service member is a full-fledged hero.

The military budget is bloated and obscene. Our wars never end. At this very moment the United States is arming its future enemies. Stick your heads back in the sand, good people, and tell yourself that all is grand on the fruited plain. Ignore the facts, the science – ignore what is happening right in front of you. Where’s your food going to come from in the years ahead? Do you really think that Carl’s Jr. is using grass fed beef in some of its burgers? Are you a climate change denier? Are you one of those people who think we can burn fossil fuels forever with no consequences to Mother Earth? Fool. Make no mistake, we’re punishing the old gal, and you can take it to the bank that the suffering lady will have the last laugh. The uber rich are building fortified compounds and hiring private armies against the day when the angry, hungry and desperate masses come calling. 

I hope I’m dead and cremated by then. It’s going to be ugly and the gutters will run with blood. All over the world, the plutocrats and oligarchs are squeezing the common people, making survival ever more tenuous and dire; the common folks won’t forget those who made their lives miserable.

They’ve got the money, we’ve got the numbers. You know what old Neil Young said, right? “Starve the takers/feed the givers.”

For some reason, Jimmy Baldwin is skipping across the back of my mind with a broad smile on his face. Jimmy tried to sound a warning many times, but like all prophets, he was ignored. Damn, humankind never learn. Century after century, decade after decade, year after year, the same hubris, the same mistakes, the same lies, the same myths, the same fables, and the same empty promises.

Snow in the east, drought in the west.

Night falls heavily and with finality.