Death Trap

“My point is, with Hillary Clinton, we know what we’re getting — a corrupt war-mongering, duplicitous neoliberal Wall Street shill posing as a progressive. With Trump, we get a narcissistic businessman posing as a fascist. Neither one as president would actually be what they are pretending to be during the campaign.” David Lindorff

The letter from Honda was alarming. IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL  (in red typeface).  “Honda has decided that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in certain 2007-2011 model year CR-V vehicles.”

And in bold typeface this: “The defect in these vehicles could kill or injure you or other people in your vehicle.”

Wait a minute...Honda has decided? What about Honda has discovered or determined or learned? Decided?

It gets even more macabre: “Specifically, in some vehicles, the driver’s front airbag inflator could produce excessive internal pressure upon deployment. If an affected airbag deploys, the increased internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture (break apart) and deploy abnormally. In the event of an inflator rupture, metal fragments could pass through the airbag cushion material possibly causing serious injury or fatality to you or others in the vehicle. Past ruptures like this have killed and injured vehicle drivers.”

But the best part came next. “The remedy parts needed to conduct driver’s airbag inflator recalls will become available in the Summer of 2016.”

So, if I understand this correctly, my family and I should continue driving our potential death trap until Honda has enough parts available to conduct its recall. Happy motoring from now until Summer 2016, which means what, exactly? July? August? Early September?

Honda is rather blase about the possibility of my or my family’s potential death or dismemberment. Play the odds, take a road trip, avoid rear-ending someone…

Honda’s recall took my attention from the presidential election and the terrorist attack in Belgium. Knowing the American corporate media will draw the wrong conclusions about Brussels, I avoid the news. I still believe that the vast majority of the world’s Muslims are peaceful people who want the same things Americans, English, French, Spanish and Africans want: to exercise some control over their own destinies, to raise their children, to work, play, travel, and worship. All the reasonable human expectations. Extremists, whatever guise they wear, get the attention, and Islamic extremists motivate Western nations to wage war endlessly. Don’t misunderstand -- attacking innocent civilians is barbaric and cowardly -- but so is launching laser-guided missiles at a wedding party from a remote-controlled drone. Both acts terrorize the innocent; both acts stoke the fires of vengeance.

And let’s not forget or ignore root causes. Who mid-wifed the birth of ISIS?

The Dance of the Phonies staggers on. Cruz and Trump and Hillary. Bernie Sanders is still in the race, though you’d hardly draw this conclusion from the mainstream media. Hillary is awful on the stump, wooden and pedantic. Little of her hubby’s magic rubbed off. All Slick Willie had to do to make audiences swoon was start his lower lip quivering. Try as she might, and try she does, Hillary cannot convince the masses to like or trust her.

We trudge toward our Hobson’s choice. Dear voter, how would you like your death, brutal and quick, or less painful but more drawn out?

The Fork In The Road

“Throughout the Western world the financial system has become an exploiter of the people and a deadweight loss on economies.” Paul Craig Roberts

Looks like we owe the Feds money again, but may get a refund from Jerry Brown, which means our tax dance for 2015 might be a wash. Had we owed both Federal and State I might have had a nervous breakdown. Our daughter is flunking Physics -- no surprise -- she hates the subject and doesn’t apply herself, and sooner or later will understand the relationship between effort and results. Mom and dad have to go meet with her teacher. The work we do for the money we need to sustain our life is often a soul-sucking grind, and like many Americans in the low-low middle class, though we claw we never seem to get ahead; one calamity and we’re toast. Maybe our lot will improve when Donald Trump becomes president. He’s a winner, or so he tells us at every opportunity, and when he wins, we win.

Forget I said that, I’m joking, of course. Trump, Clinton, Cruz, Rubio, nothing is going to change, no matter which of these people is elected. The American economy is a scam, a house of cards, operated by an oligarchy for the benefit of the oligarchy. As John Jay said when this nation was founded, “The people who own the country run it.”

The mass of people who work for wages understand this, and, at some level, they realize that it is the “system” that causes their struggles, not some fault of their own; not laziness or lack of will or initiative, but a system designed to make them, or keep them, poor. Trump spews plenty of garbage, but when he talks about how trade deals like NAFTA (thanks, Bill Clinton) have decimated the American working class, he’s right, and I think this is why he sounds like a savior to some people.

What about Bernie Sanders? Yes, if Sanders somehow overcomes the Clinton death grip on the Democratic Party and all its machinery, he might shake a few crumbs from the system, but his ability to do so will entirely depend on the makeup of Congress, and this is fraught with uncertainty because so many Democrats are now Republicans, ideologically speaking; Sanders might have difficulty pushing his agenda with Democrats in control of the House and Senate. Of course if those bodies remain in Republican control, Sanders would be stymied at every turn.

Both parties are corrupt, as is the entire electoral system. Voters are offered two unpalatable choices -- isn’t democracy grand! It’s like going to the dentist and being told that your cracked molar can be pulled with needle nose pliers or vice grips, which do you prefer? Politicians, at least at the national level, no longer trouble themselves representing the interests of the voters who elect them. Instead, they represent the corporations and wealthy donors who own them. This guarantees that the critical issues facing the nation will not be addressed, except at the most superficial level. And when it comes to an issue like climate change, superficial measures are a recipe for disaster and death.

Getting back to Trump and his traveling circus for a minute. What is his economic policy? Just win, baby? Knock the Chinese over the head with a two-by-four? Invade Mexico? Any voter -- white, black, brown, or rainbow colored -- who believes that Trump will improve their lot economically is flat nuts.  “I will make great deals,” is not a policy. Running an empire, even one bordering on collapse, is not the same as starring in a make-believe TV show. Blithely declaring that one will “strengthen” America’s military, when 54% of the discretionary budget is already being spent on America’s sprawling military apparatus is not only stupid, it’s suicidal. But that’s Trump. Buffoon, blowhard, egomaniac.

And as of today, the GOP frontrunner.

I’m too tired to think about a Hillary Clinton presidency. I despise the woman; she is mendacious and mediocre and malignant. In my mind, Hillary’s almost as frightening as Trump. Most of her experience is covered with a thick coat of failure, and she has blood beneath her fingernails.

How did America come to this pathetic fork in the road?

Supreme Leader: An imaginary (or is it?) interview with Donald Trump

Editor’s Note: The interminable election coverage is causing me to have wicked nightmares. I wake up in a cold sweat with visions of Donald Trump’s bloated orange face in my head, or I shoot straight out of bed screaming that Hillary Clinton has moved back into the White House. Terrible times. We are trapped in a death spiral.

WOLF BLITZER

Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP

The pleasure is all yours, Wolf. Let me ask you something, why do you call your show the ‘Situation Room?’ What situation is going on in your ‘Situation Room?’ Just kidding. I’m  messing with you, Wolf. Good show, I watch it whenever I can, which isn’t often, but hey, I’m a busy guy.

WOLF BLITZER

I’d like to ask you about Marco Rubio

DONALD TRUMP

Rubio’s a lightweight. He sweats when he’s nervous and the man is nervous all the time. Look, Wolf, here’s the thing. The Republican Party big shots are scared out of their minds because I’m about to lap the field. Bush is out, Christie’s history, nobody can stop me from the nomination. They never thought I’d be sitting in the catbird seat at this point in time, but here I am. I’m too smart, too rich, too charismatic. Unstoppable, that’s what it comes down to.

WOLF BLITZER

Rubio recently criticized the size of your hands, the implication being that…

TRUMP

Don’t be stupid, Wolf. My schlong is huuuge. Do you think I could have accomplished everything I’ve done with a tiny dick?

WOLF BLITZER

Do you think the campaign has become too negative and petty? What I mean is that instead of talking about the economy or ISIS or climate change, the candidates are insulting one another about the size of their dongs.

TRUMP

My opponents are pussies.

WOLF BLITZER

If you win the nomination...

TRUMP

If? There’s no if, Wolf. I will be the nominee. The Trump juggernaut can’t be stopped. The GOP establishment may not like it, but that’s tough. I’ve got the smart people, I’ve got the dumb people, I’ve got people, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER

Let’s change gears and talk about policy.

TRUMP

Are you kidding me? I don’t get lost in the weeds. What you have to understand about me is this: I’m the ultimate big picture guy. I’ve got people to do the policy stuff. You get down in the weeds and all you do is get your clothes dirty. I don’t like to get my clothes dirty. What I do is make the hard choices, the tough calls, the big decisions. We’re going to make America great again, and that’s all you need to know. Trust me. Everything Donald Trump touches turns to gold. I’m Midas.

WOLF BLITZER

How do you feel about the possibility of going head-to-head with Hillary Clinton in November?

TRUMP

I’ll destroy her. She’s got no chance. Clinton is part of the establishment, she’s out of step, not to mention the fact that she’s bitchy. I’m the only candidate who knows how to make America great again. Do you think I will allow Americans to be pushed around by Mexicans, Chinese or Muslims? No chance. A snowball in hell has a better chance. The deals I’m going to make with these people will make you dizzy, you’ll swear you have vertigo. Hillary’s going down.

And let me just say this right here right now to the people of Mexico. Get ready, wetbacks, because the wall is coming.

WOLF BLITZER

You’ve been embroiled in controversy the last few days about David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the KKK who recently endorsed you. What is your relationship to the KKK?

TRUMP

I don’t know David Duke. Did he endorse me? Look, I’m being endorsed by a tremendous number of people -- a tremendous number. My campaign is so exciting that it’s bringing in Democrats, Republicans, Independents -- bringing people in from all sides. There’s no way I can keep track of all the people who support my candidacy. Are there KKK people who like me? Of course, because I’m very likeable. People are drawn to winners, even KKK types.

WOLF BLITZER

Are you saying you appreciate the support of the KKK?

TRUMP

C’mon, Wolf, did I say that? Listen, anyone who knows me knows that I like the black people, always have. Now, when it comes to Mexicans and Muslims, I think we build a massive wall and drop huuuge cluster bombs.

WOLF BLITZER

Thank you, Mr. Trump. That’s all the time we have today. I’m Wolf Blitzer, and you’ve been watching the Situation Room on CNN, the only network that brings you Donald Trump, 24-hours a day. Every bizarre statement, every racist tweet, every fact-free claim, CNN is there.  

Despair in the Time of Donald and Madam Clinton

“The current corrupt and dysfunctional state of American politics is about a growing authoritarianism tied to economic, political, and cultural formations that have hijacked democracy and put in place structural and ideological forces that constitute a new regime of politics, not simply a series of bad policies.” Henry A. Giroux

Journalist Robert Scheer was in Santa Barbara the other night, giving a lecture for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. In a career spanning more than four decades, Scheer has covered plenty of important events, penned a number of books, and founded the award-winning news website, Truthdig, which, among other things, provides a platform for the uncompromising work of Chris Hedges.

At one point in his talk, Scheer said, “The enemy is us.” Not ISIS or Iran or China. Us. We are the enemy because of our own stupidity and arrogance. Take military spending, for example. In fiscal year 2016, according to one report I read, 54%, or roughly $625 billion, of the discretionary federal budget is devoted to defense expenditures. More than half the entire discretionary budget. Education accounts for 6%, or about $74 billion of discretionary spending. The US, of course, outspends every other nation on the planet on armaments. We are bristling with weaponry, armed to the gills, ever ready to wage war on our enemy du jour.  

Our level of military spending and our boot print on the globe is grotesque and completely unsustainable, but our political leaders keep shoveling money at the Pentagon, despite ample evidence that all this insane spending isn’t making the US any safer or more secure. While America’s social and practical needs – like bridges, roads, water systems (think, Flint, Michigan), mass transit, solar power, wind power, care for the young and the elderly – are allowed to go to seed, or get sold off to private operators, the politicians continue to sink billions into hopeless causes like Afghanistan.  

Has the disconnect between the governed and the federal government ever been more pronounced? The system is now so perverted that the will of the people is ignored without consequence. Both parties are ruled by the same sources of money: Wall Street banks, insurance companies, resource extractors, and the military-intelligence-security complex. The corporate-owned media works in tandem with the power complex, feeding the public a steady diet of misinformation, spectacle, and trivia. It takes very little effort to hoodwink the electorate into supporting bogus military conflicts, not to mention economic policies that make the majority poorer, enslaves people in debt, and brings ruin, even death (again, think Flint) to communities. 

The regimes of Uncle Ronnie, Slick Willie, and Cowboy George went too far, created and unleashed a neo-liberal Frankenstein that today is beyond control. Obama maintained the beast. Sadly, too many citizens sat passively by as the American Dream was put to the sword. What happened to American working-class militancy? Who speaks for average working people now? Nobody. In its rightward march toward the political center and beyond, the Democratic Party abandoned the working class.  The only use the GOP has for working people – white ones, anyway – is to stir them up about abortion or gay marriage or gun control.

The prospect of a presidential contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton fills me with despair. Forget choosing between the lesser of two evils. We face a choice between the lesser of two lessers. Standing on one side is Trump, a boorish demagogue, nearly a cartoon character, and quite possibly a fascist; on the other side is Hillary Clinton, an utterly corrupt opportunist with a track record of failure and mediocrity. This is not good, not good at all. I was reading something today that opined that people who support Trump honestly believe that he will restore order in the world. Why, because he’s rich and talks tough?

Yes, the enemy is us. The empire decays from within and is destined to totter and fall. The only question is when.

Walking in the Rain - Portland

“An economy run for a few only benefits the few, and the few, no matter how large their incomes, cannot consume enough to keep the economy growing.”  Paul Craig Roberts

My wife and I fly up to Portland to visit our son’s new school, the Pacific Northwest College of Art. We had planned to drive, but upon more sober consideration the thought of 30 hours on the road seemed too daunting and time consuming. The only reasonably priced tickets we could secure were on Spirit Air, described by a travel agent friend of ours as “a Greyhound bus with wings.” Spirit, it turns out, isn’t that awful though the airline gives meaning to the phrase, “no frills.” As one Spirit flight attendant put it, “Here at Spirit we charge you for everything except the air you breathe.” LAX – Las Vegas – Portland. Close quarters, uncomfortable seats.

Spend a few hours in any major airport and you confront humanity in all its varied beauty and horror. Vegas draws a particular crowd, what I would call, uncharitably perhaps, downscale, motley, common; not being at all interested in gambling, Vegas holds no attraction for me. I’ve been there enough times that I never need, or want, to go again. For me, Vegas is the symbol of what ails America: garish excess, faith in make-believe and spectacle, riches for a few, poverty for many. Vegas also makes me think of water, that most precious resource that is in such short supply in California, and thinking of water leads me to think about Flint, Michigan, and the crime that has happened with the water supply there. I’m reading Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin on this trip and my sense of injustice is heightened.  

Parenting is a hard gig in this hyperactive modern era; I don’t know if kids now grow up quicker or remain in adolescence longer. Our 19-year-old son is a complicated, somewhat tortured soul, who spent a miserable semester at Southern Oregon University in Ashland – not a terrible school or town – but not the place for him. Completely on his own accord, our son applied to and was accepted at PNCA. The kid writes poetry and draws and is happiest when he is engaged in making art. Poor bugger. I wonder if he is doomed to a lifetime of struggle and penury; by the time he leaves PNCA, he will be mired in debt that he may spend most of his lifetime paying off. And he won’t be alone.

What do I want for my son? That he be challenged and inspired and taught to think critically, and maybe have his talent – and he does have native talent – nurtured by a teacher rather than squashed. His high school experience was mostly about being squashed by what he considered “boneheaded” teachers; they never got him or bothered to get to know him.

Portland is a lovely city, growing, a mix of old and new, brick and glass. The city has a cool vibe. We spend some time in Powell’s Books, an enormous store that occupies a city block, four stories of books, books, books, and, pleasantly, shoppers, readers of actual books. I like e-books because of their easy portability and storage, but I love actual books, the tactile nature of turning pages.

It’s always good to get away from the routines and fixed patterns of one’s own life, to gain a new vantage point and perspective. In our case, one of the happiest aspects of the trip was walking around in the rain. The day we returned to Los Angeles it was nearly 80 degrees.

A Feeble and Horrible Year

“The great and terrible irony of capitalism is that if left unfettered, it inexorably engineers its own demise, through either revolution or economic collapse.” Robert Scheer, The Great American Stickup

I’ve never set foot within Iowa’s boundaries. It’s the middle land, flat country, with an economy centered on agriculture and insurance; the highest point in the state is Hawkeye Point at 1,670 feet above sea level. Every presidential election cycle, Iowa takes a turn in the spotlight as the center of the American political universe, and then it returns to being, well, Iowa.

So maybe Hillary Clinton and the Clinton family political machine isn’t invincible after all. Until the Iowa Caucus, Hillary looked the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, a shoo-in with too many advantages for any other candidate to overcome, especially one like Bernie Sanders who proudly proclaims  himself a socialist. Americans are conditioned from birth to fear socialists and communists and Maoists, or any other doctrine that doesn’t exalt free market capitalism; calling yourself a socialist is normally a political death sentence.

I wrote Sanders off in these pages some time back -- not because his economic message doesn’t resonate, it does -- but because the political status quo is so difficult to beat. The truth is that I desperately want to believe that someone like Bernie Sanders can be elected President, but my doubts are as strong as my desperation. The ruling class will not go quietly or let go of its privileges easily; they are on a major winning streak and control nearly every gear of power. Hillary Clinton is an ally of the ruling elites, one of them, a Wall Street suckup if there ever was one, and she will do their bidding when push becomes shove. Same goes for the Pentagon. Hillary seems to enjoy saber rattling, and she will be unlikely to throw a lug wrench into the perpetual war machine. Sanders might, although he’s not completely averse to militarism.

Sanders did better in Iowa than I thought he would and I’m sure the Clinton camp is concerned that Madam is in a battle from which she may emerge bruised or bloodied.

The Clinton coronation is now behind schedule.

The nation is clearly unsettled and seething with anxiety. The middle class is battered. Young people face a diminished future, with many saddled by student loan debt and lousy job prospects. Middle-aged whites, particularly males, have seen their economic and social advantages eroded. They need a scapegoat, and Mexican immigrants, Muslims and other minorities make for inviting targets. Donald Trump speaks in a language these people understand at a subconscious level. Though a complete buffoon, a joke that no thinking person can take seriously, Trump understands how to connect with certain people on a gut level. Make America Great Again is a nice sounding slogan and looks good on a bumper sticker, but what does it mean? Trump says he will make “deals,” as if the political world is merely an extension of a corporate boardroom. It’s not. The world is frighteningly complex and dangerous, many times beyond the Donald’s ken.

I’m not surprised that Cruz won Iowa, although the victory over Trump and Rubio doesn’t make Cruz any less creepy. Past GOP winners of the Iowa Caucus include Mike Huckabee and crazy Michele Bachmann, so winning Iowa isn’t, frankly, that grand a prize. Cruz will pick up momentum on the GOP fringes, with Holy Book thumpers and mainstream media handicappers, but Teddy will also learn that with frontrunner status comes intense scrutiny. Ted has made many bizarre statements during his political career, and all those birds will flock home.

Rubio is still my pick for the GOP. When the dust settles, and Trump and Cruz have totally freaked the GOP mandarins out, Rubio’s youth and ethnicity might prove a realistic default.  This hardly means Rubio is presidential material. None of the GOP contenders are; it’s a weak and sorry bunch of nitwits and hacks.  

More and more Americans are aware that something is fundamentally out of kilter with the way our society is organized, that the American Dream is only available to a select few, and that the means to redress the situation are missing. Thus the appeal of a political outsider like Trump or an unusual voice like that of Bernie Sanders. Too much economic and political power has lodged in too few hands, and the Casino Economy offers more jagged edges than benefits for working people.

When it comes to ideas, the GOP offers nothing but more of the same. Sadly, the Democrats aren’t much better, though at least Sanders is talking about middle and working class issues like college tuition, Medicare for All, and increasing the contribution of the wealthy to the common good. Better still, Sanders is not a serial liar like Hillary Clinton.

If nothing else, that’s refreshing, and in this feeble and horrible political year we take what we can.

Under the Rainbow

“There is nothing good in the world that does not have some filth in its origin.” Anton Chekov

It’s raining here on the Platinum Coast of California, a welcome occurrence in the midst of a horrendous drought. The trees and ground open wide. The gutters run. My old Honda Civic will be washed clean.

I haven’t written anything for several days. I wonder what is happening in Fukushima, Japan. How much contamination is flowing into the Pacific Ocean? Why doesn’t the media talk about Fukushima? What is going on with the cleanup effort and what has become of all the people who had to be relocated? I think about the photographs I saw of black bags filled with radioactive debris and soil. Where are those bags now?

In the US our attention is focused on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the Iowa caucuses, the halftime show at the Super Bowl, and whatever trivia the corporate media deems essential for us to know. Opinion matters but facts don’t count for much. Don’t like the hard cold facts? Simply ignore them.

Like all those black bags in Fukushima. Can we simply jam our heads in the sand and refuse to see or care? Sure, we do it all the time. We collectively forget, until the next time, and then we act surprised, like such a terrible thing has never happened before. The human species enjoys playing with fire, rolling the dice, betting heavy against long odds.

Rain falls, I think of my responsibilities and obligations, debts, errors, miscues, fuck-ups, folly and for some reason unknown to me I think of Henry Miller and Anton Chekov; I see Miller standing at the edge of a cliff in Big Sur, looking out on the Pacific with his hands on his hips. Chekov is sitting at his desk in a smoky, dimly lit room, a pen in his hand and a faraway look in his eyes. The artist shies neither from the beauty or the horror of the world. Miller turns from the cliff edge, Chekov puts pen to paper. Which is the stronger urge, to create or to destroy?

Navigate broken sidewalks, crumbling stairs, rickety scaffolding, peer through broken windows, step over a child’s shoe and a deck of cards, a syringe and a pile of cigarette butts. Rats scratch inside the walls, gnaw on wire and drywall. The rat, the cockroach and the crow are true survivors; when we are long gone, they will still be here, sorting through our detritus, running through our monuments, and taking up permanent residence in our holy places.

The wind gusts, yanking the eucalyptus trees in the yard this way and that, the wind chimes talk fast, and the sun ducks behind the clouds. There is a rainbow around here somewhere.