Random Ramblings About Amerika

A few random thoughts about the state of the nation the past few weeks.
The next time a politician or some other celebrity adulterer gets discovered having an affair, paying a hooker or soliciting for a gay sexual act couldn’t he just have the courage to face the press without including his wife or other family members?

For the last week or so the press has played the inane game of belittling the wife of the NY governor that she would “stand by her man” and become one more in a long line of betrayed wives standing in front of the press with their cheating spouse.

At the same time the opposite political party does all it can do to take advantage of the immoral behaviors of the adversarial party’s exposed member…yeah, that is a play on words.

Why not shut up for god’s sake!!!? While political hacks fail in most areas to actually have bipartisan cooperation, there is one area that is bipartisan; the sexual infidelities and peccadilloes of men and women in power.

And what a refreshing thing it would be for the unfaithful individual to accept responsibility without having to have their partner in the limelight. Man up for god’s sake!

And on the same subject, do the people of this country have nothing better to do than worry about the sexual lives of politicians and celebrities when young men and women still die in Iraq and Afghanistan entering the sixth year of occupation? Don’t we have more important and pressing issues in this nation like making good on the promise of rebuilding the homes of the Katrina survivors, making good on a pledge to rebuild the Iraq infrastructure or ending this damnable war that is sucking the life out of the U.S., Iraq and Afghanistan??

I also wonder why the 4,000 dollar call girl gets free layout shots on front pages of many of the American newspapers while the headlines scream out about the immorality of the unfaithful husband. What the fuck?? Monica and all the other victims of the horrible crimes of prostitution or sexual harassment by a famous man always seem to cash in and the morality police look the other way while the poor wife is badgered endlessly and the idiot husband is made out to be vile and evil.

What great role models we have for our daughters with the now famous call girl, the Monicas and other air heads like Paris and Britney. We gripe about sex permeating our culture but like childish voyeurs can’t avoid giving fame to childish men and women who want everybody to know about their sexual exploits. Oh, and the fact the porn industry is a billion dollar plus industry sort of flies in the face of the chaste American persona.

There’s also the idiot editors of rags like the local Rocky Mountain News who consistently endorse conservative dogma but don’t mind putting the call girl with open blouse and plenty of cleavage on their front pages. Looking for stories on the war in Iraq or Afghanistan? You’ll have to look in the back part of the paper for that one.

Another question comes up in my mind. Why is it sexist to oppose Hillary for President when there are so many valid reasons to do so? Granted the candidacy of a woman for president is a new phenomena but Hillary is hardly new as an insider of the ruling class of whites that have held power since the beginning days of the American republic.

NOW and other feminist groups have tried to portray poor “Hill” as the victim of scurrilous attacks by men but seem ok she backed down to Bush on the beginning of the war, allowed herself to be bought off by the Zionist AIPAC and seems to change colors and positions more frequently than a chameleon.

And why should we exonerate her for the codifying racism her campaign has carried out through hubby Bill in his Jesse Jackson analogy of Obama’s victory in South Carolina or Geraldine Ferraro’s blatant statements the reasons for the Obama success has been his blackness at the right time in history. And of course ads about who we would trust at 4 a.m. are also nothing but code for the racist liberal asking us if we really want a black man to be the one. Especially one who is just a “boy” in his experience in Congress.

Give me a break! There are plenty of reasons for Hillary to be thought of as an undesirable candidate that have nothing to do with being female. And of course all the misogynists of the world will deny their sexism and fall back to those other reasons but that doesn’t mean all of us against Hillary are sexists.

And then there’s Obama who wants us to believe he’s a man of integrity and against the war from the get go. Except for all those times he voted to continue the funding of the war. Another egregious action is the cowardly disavowal of his fiery mentor and former reverend at his church. When white Americans become upset the reverend dare suggest God will damn America for the racist and imperialistic policies it has upheld since the days of Washington and that the terrorism of 9/11 was brought about because of past policies that have enraged many parts of the world for it’s tyranny and repression, Obama buckles under and says he never heard the “preach” say these things and he’d never have agreed with them if he had.

Video of blacks leaving the rev’s church after making such comments seemed to indicate most agreed with such an assessment. And why shouldn’t any marginalized community be angry and know they aren’t part of the wealth and prosperity this nation has had? Infusion of drugs, prison and unemployment make all the dreams die quick deaths.

Now Obama is back tracking on his betrayal of his mentor with a new speech that still disavows what he said but explains the anger and many reasons why he might say such things. Talk about Orwellian double-speak!!

And it all circles back to our occcupations and why Americans will always look at the death of one American as being ten to twenty times more important than the death of an innocent Iraqi child, Vietnamese mom or Nicaraguan peasant. The very outcry of anger and angst when someone dares suggest our nation is complicit in oppressing citizens of nations from the Middle East to Central America to Asia is a loud cry of racist ignorance of history.

From backing the Catholic minority tyrants of Saigon to imposing the Shah upon Iran to funding the death and destruction of Saddam there is clearly a nasty trail of American foreign policy never caring how much harm came to the citizens of the nations we imposed our will upon.

We fail to remember or even know democratic elections have been overturned with our help whenever the winner is someone who doesn’t put American interests above those of the people of that nation. Contras, the duly elected president of Iran who attempted to nationalize the oil industry and the attempts to overthrow Hugo Chavez are all examples of our “democratic” intentions in other parts of the world.

We need only look at the most repressive “government” of the Middle East that has enjoyed our constant support, the monarchy of Saudi kings and sheiks. We only need to look at the racist policy of our biggest ally other than the Saudis, Israel.

And we question why those chickens came home to roost??? Oh, sorry…..those words uttered by a college professor or fiery black preacher are anti-American even if they do describe the truth.

Let’s not forget John McCain, though. He just went on his eighth visit of Iraq. Seems like he wants to earn a Combat Action Ribbon. The joke is, his statements the war is working, the surge is working and that American occupation is successful in bringing democracy to Iraq.

McCain wants Americans to believe he’s some kind of expert in combat tactics because he was shot down over North Vietnam in his jet that took off from an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. Being a POW made him a legitimate American hero in the eyes of most Americans.

McCain gets well orchestrated walks near the Green Zone in which large numbers of American troops are put on alert and guard him. The area he walks through is cleared well ahead of time by the occupation forces and merchants and other civilians are screened with only the most accommodating allowed to speak to the Senator. He hears the report by the hand picked troops and civilians the occupation has brought progress to Iraq and declares our cause is just.

We can’t blame McCain alone, however. The constant visits of American Congress people get the same orchestrated and artificial treatment. Visits to the few places that have begun reconstruction and walks through areas well fortified have become the norm and the Congress staff and American people are sold a bill of goods.

Let’s remember McCain has recently qualified his stance about the wars. At first he challenged Bush for the mishandling of the war but now he’s talking about the possible need for American troops for the next hundred years. McCain has changed his mind so many times on so many issues I wonder if he wasn’t hit too many times in the head while a POW and suffers from some serious traumatic brain injury symptoms.

I’d just warn anybody listening to American dignitaries tell us how well things are going in Iraq and Afghanistan to recall how the media is only allowed into the field when they’re embedded with the military. Independent reporting and information is scarce. Manipulation of information by the military and the Bush administration is rampant.

One last comment has to do with a group called Gathering of Eagles. This group has taken to shadowing the ever growing GI resistance movement of Iraq veterans, both active duty and discharged. They also turn out for the antiwar rallies being held in D.C. and other cities to get their twisted thinking published as opposition to any group calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. The press plays right into their hands and gives the 40-50 equal time with the 200,000 with opposite opinions.

Last summer the group stalked the father of a soldier who had been killed in action in Iraq. The father had taken part in an antiwar rally in D.C.. He was carrying a small mock coffin with an American flag on it. The father is a member of a group called Military Family Speaks Out that opposes the war and seeks to bring troops home.

The Gathering of Eagles thugs ripped the American flag off the mock coffin the dad was carrying. The father was alone because the rally had finished. The thugs physically assaulted the father before they left. The next day, there was a photo of the leader of the Gathering of Eagles shaking hands with President George W. Bush at the White House.

This past week the Gathering of Eagles marched outside the college where members of Iraq Veterans Against the War were holding their Winter Soldiers Investigation hearings. The hearings were individual veterans testifying about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. The troops testifying spoke about incidents in which innocent civilians were injured, killed or tortured. They also spoke about private contractors using American troops to guard their workers to assist the companies in reaping more profits from the war. Each speaker was asked to produce their discharge papers and any evidence that would validate their stories. Their backgrounds were verified and any witnesses besides the speaker contacted to verify the stories.

Outside the perimeter of the hearings, Gathering of Eagles members claimed the veterans inside were fake, traitors and communist sympathizers. They spoke to the press about the great “progress” being made in Iraq. They listed hundreds of schools and other public services that had been returned to normal. What they failed to mention was the fact most of the reconstruction was in the Kurdish part of Iraq where little fighting has occurred. The Kurds have been trained by the Israeli army and much of the rebuilding has been assisted by the Israeli and American governments.

Listening to the interview of the members of the Gathering of Eagles was much like most of the rhetoric I’ve heard across the country from neocons associated with the Bush/Cheney/Rove wing of the Republican Party. They attempt to smear the reputation of their opponents and call the service of veterans into question to carry out their own agenda. We must keep in mind a day after thugs for this group assaulted the grieving father of a soldier killed in action while in Iraq, their leaders were meeting and smiling with George Bush. Wonder if they told the war story of how they assaulted the father.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…no, that can’t be used anymore after Crawford…meanwhile back in America. Billions of dollars continues to be spent in the administration of American occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Social programs for the poorest and weakest Americans continue to be shorted in funding by the federal branch of government. The American economy is diving fast into a recession. Workers in this nation now make 1/200 of what most CEO’s of large corporations make. Many of the CEO’s have driven their companies into bankruptcy and insolvency but still garner huge buyouts for their failures in leadership.

As we approach the next “important” election for a “new” presidency, many states can’t assure the voter their vote will be properly counted. Voting machines sold by corporations with ties to the Bush administration have been allowed to be used despite evidence of tampering and break downs. Four years after Bush was elected for his second term, the voters of Ohio are now being told there were problems back in 2004 that possibly tilted the election to Bush. Ohio’s electoral votes were the ones to clinch the election for Bush.

And as the song says….”the beat goes on”.

And here is the rest of it.