I try to like Barack Obama but every time I give in to that particular feeling he reminds me he is first of all part of the cabal of the rich and elite ripping this nation apart.
In his recent State of the Union message Obama once again displayed his great oratory skills. A few times he actually challenged the system he is so much a part of. He commented on the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to grant "personhood" to giant corporations, effectively opening the door for even more money of special interests being able to buy the American elections. Justice Scalia was seen vigorously shaking his head "no" and mouthing the words, "you're wrong". Of course Scalia is one of the intellectual giants in his own mind.
Then Obama noted it was George W. Bush's presidency that brought the disaster of the financial collapse to the people of the nation and that he, Obama, was left the task of cleaning up the mess. There's a certain cruel irony that the first black President would have to clean up the huge mess of a white man whose policies were among the most damaging to blacks in America since the 60's and 70's.
Obama even made note of the lock step obstruction of the Republicans in the Senate making 60 votes necessary to pass any bill. He scolded them for their obvious attempt to destroy his presidency without giving a damn about the American people. And, he put the burden of governing back on their shoulders if obstruction of his policies was to continue.
Obama didn't let the Democrats off easy either when he reminded them they had the biggest majority in Congress in some time and now was not the time to "head for the hills". Of course, it's obviously clear, both parties are pretty much the same in their lack of courage. All elected officials play to the polls and the big money financing their campaigns. The people can clearly be inundated with talking points and sloganeering that will make them accept anything the rich bastards decide they should accept.
So, Obama did make me like him for some of the things he said but his actions and the rest of his speech just fortified my outrage for his failure to seize the moment in history to make changes that will actually push the agenda of those most in need. His continued failure to look at the excessive spending on the military industrial complex continues my lack of respect for this man who has so much potential that's been wasted.
Obama talks about a freeze on spending to bring down the national debt but excludes the spending on the military and all the ancillary funding that's involved in keeping the military going. The exclusions from spending freezes amount to 70% of all spending by the government with tax payer dollars! All that's left to freeze are programs that could actually bring positive changes to the lives of everyday people.
All around this nation schools are facing huge budget problems that will result in closing schools and laying off teachers. Higher education budgets are being cut so drastically the tuition for a state university is prohibitive for most citizens' children. Community colleges are being touted as the "new" way to get a college education. Of course after getting an associate degree most students won't be able to go any further in pursuing higher education.
Homelessness, mental health and substance abuse treatment, treatment for the disabled young and old, child care, early education, hunger and all the many problems faced by more and more Americans will be more and more ignored in state and local budgets. Already cities and states are telling the poor, the newly foreclosed and unemployed they can't help. Already schools and programs meant to help the at-risk students are being chopped from budgets.
But, never fear, Obama is here. We can still send our children and grandchildren to war! The wars will continue on and more and more young people will be needed to do the bidding of the masters of war. As Smedley Butler so correctly stated, "war is a racket". We manufacture little in this nation except the tools of war and the equipment needed to keep wars going. In Slidell, LA there's a company making Bradley armored vehicles. That's the major industry of the town. All over America there are these types of companies dependent on the wars continuing. Just today there was a story that the US sold 7 billion dollars of arms to Taipei. Imagine how much we are selling Israel!
Obama can make nice speeches and tell us he's for the common citizen but his actions refute his words. And, watching the mostly white contingent of Republicans in Congress, I can't help but think many of their leaders would be wearing white sheets and robes and burning crosses just a few decades ago.
The hatefulness and obvious distaste shown by their faces and body language are telling. These are the looks of the racist whites who beat down and hosed civil rights workers in the 60's. These white elected officials of the Republican Party are the descendants of the KKK and those who lynched blacks. They'd deny they're racists and accuse anybody who called them racists as being anti-white and using the race card. They will rail against the burden placed on white men with the use of equal opportunity laws and affirmative action. And they will never get it. These are the representatives of the deluded who can't accept the US will become a nation in which the majority will not be white.
It's been clear Obama would encounter the racists as the first black President. But, the extent of the Republican obstruction in Congress is unparalleled. And, the coporate media refuses to comment on it. In America, we don't talk about racism, sexism, homophobia and anything diferent from the Euro-centric "norm".
I live in a neighborhood where the residents were almost completely Anglo. Over the 26 years I've been here I've seen the neighborhood change to one that is at least 50% Spanish speaking. A large influx of immigrants has come to this lower middle class neighborhood. No doubt many lack proprer "papers". Many live with more than one family in a single family dwelling. Many park their cars on their lawns and don't necessarily believe growing and watering grass is absolutely needed.
I like my neighborhood except for some of the old-timers who have talked with me in the local stores griping about how the neighborhood has "changed". They ask me how I like living next door to "them". They talk about the number of cars or people that live in some of the homes. What's really clear to me is the innuendo of these neighbors. They're talking code. Racist code. They don't talk with "them". They only assume about "them".
This is America today and try as I might to like Obama I can't. I can't like him because he has sold us out to the very people who would have gladly lynched him 30 years ago. He has sold us out to the robber barons and gangsters who have oppressed the poor, the people of color and the worker for a century or more. And they will not change simply because we now have a black President. They'll eventually make Obama the scape goat for all that has happened since Ronald Reagan's disastrous reign. They'll point to the first black American President as proof the black man can't govern. Nor play quarterback.
In my sixty years on this planet I have seen much. But the one unshakeable truth has always been the racism that prevails in far too many minds of Americans.
Saturday, January 30
Wednesday, January 27
The Sorry State of Obama
Obama will give the "state of the union" address tonight, hoping to pacify and appease all sides of the political spectrum but will likely please none. He'll mouth platitudes toward the "middle class" and "mainstreet" but not once offer a realistic plan to help the families facing foreclosure on homes or joblessness. Does he seriously feel the general public living in the US gives a damn about his meager proposals in the face of the massive bailouts and handouts to banks and Wall Street racketeers?
Here's the state of the union Mr. President. The banksters, gangsters and racketeers have your testes squeezed tight and you'll do whatever they say if you want to stay in office another term. You and your cronies, along with George W. Bush and his cronies, perpetrated the biggest theft from the American tax payers in history when you gave away money to the failures of the banking and investment systems without conditions or regulations.
Mr. President, the state of the union is you plan on pumping billions of dollars into the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon budget and fighting terrorism but are allowing schools, social safety nets such as Medicare, mental health, addiction treatment, healthcare for all and housing for the poor to go to hell in a hand basket.
The question is how in the hell do you expect to put Americans back to work this way? Are we all supposed to join the military to get a job? Don't tell us you're giving a few hundred million to some job programs or educational initiatives while you continue to pour billions after billions into wars unwarranted and unwinnable.
The state of the union is Americans are sick and tired of a Congress that obstructs any attempt to change things despite a majority number in both houses of Congress held by the alleged party of change, the Democratic Party. Why aren't 51 votes enough to pass a bill in the Senate? It's enough to elect a Senator but not enough to pass a simple bill giving Americans needed health care.
Why isn't the Republican Party called out by you, President Obama, for the un-American tactic of opposing any and all legislation proposed by a Democrat? Why did the Republicans, when they controlled Congress, jam bill after bill down the throats of Americans taking away basic rights, undoing years of social programs to protect the poor and needy and providing massive handouts to the already rich?
The destructive policies of greed continue and will only worsen once the Neocons retake the Congress in the near future. They will bring fear to the idiots willing to listen to their lies in the next elections and only the rich will benefit.
The state of the union is my son will lose his home soon, my wife and I will never be able to pay off our debts in our lifetime and we will join the millions of other families destitute and angry. We will be like the scenes we see in Haiti following the deadly earthquake. People will be in the streets hungry and angry. More so than the thousands upon thousands already at that point.
The truth is, Mr. Obama, there isn't a middle class left in this nation. Your bankster and racketeer friends speculating the wealth of this nation have made sure of the destruction of the middle class. Families can't send sons and daughters to college. They can't get needed health care that will prevent illness. They can't afford their homes.
Get out of the DC Beltway and really look at this nation, Mr. President. If you aren't outraged by what you find, then you have sold us all out.
Here's the state of the union Mr. President. The banksters, gangsters and racketeers have your testes squeezed tight and you'll do whatever they say if you want to stay in office another term. You and your cronies, along with George W. Bush and his cronies, perpetrated the biggest theft from the American tax payers in history when you gave away money to the failures of the banking and investment systems without conditions or regulations.
Mr. President, the state of the union is you plan on pumping billions of dollars into the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon budget and fighting terrorism but are allowing schools, social safety nets such as Medicare, mental health, addiction treatment, healthcare for all and housing for the poor to go to hell in a hand basket.
The question is how in the hell do you expect to put Americans back to work this way? Are we all supposed to join the military to get a job? Don't tell us you're giving a few hundred million to some job programs or educational initiatives while you continue to pour billions after billions into wars unwarranted and unwinnable.
The state of the union is Americans are sick and tired of a Congress that obstructs any attempt to change things despite a majority number in both houses of Congress held by the alleged party of change, the Democratic Party. Why aren't 51 votes enough to pass a bill in the Senate? It's enough to elect a Senator but not enough to pass a simple bill giving Americans needed health care.
Why isn't the Republican Party called out by you, President Obama, for the un-American tactic of opposing any and all legislation proposed by a Democrat? Why did the Republicans, when they controlled Congress, jam bill after bill down the throats of Americans taking away basic rights, undoing years of social programs to protect the poor and needy and providing massive handouts to the already rich?
The destructive policies of greed continue and will only worsen once the Neocons retake the Congress in the near future. They will bring fear to the idiots willing to listen to their lies in the next elections and only the rich will benefit.
The state of the union is my son will lose his home soon, my wife and I will never be able to pay off our debts in our lifetime and we will join the millions of other families destitute and angry. We will be like the scenes we see in Haiti following the deadly earthquake. People will be in the streets hungry and angry. More so than the thousands upon thousands already at that point.
The truth is, Mr. Obama, there isn't a middle class left in this nation. Your bankster and racketeer friends speculating the wealth of this nation have made sure of the destruction of the middle class. Families can't send sons and daughters to college. They can't get needed health care that will prevent illness. They can't afford their homes.
Get out of the DC Beltway and really look at this nation, Mr. President. If you aren't outraged by what you find, then you have sold us all out.
Tuesday, January 26
And So it Goes
I've been gone from blogging since June of 09. Not much has changed personally since the blog of June about myself. Depression and all it entails remains pretty much the same. Or worse.
Much has changed since the election of Obama. Or has it really just stayed the same? There's an argument to be made for both thoughts.
Obama the new fresh face of democracy has turned out pretty much as I expected. He's really like Abu Jamal Mumia suggested; just a black face doing the bidding of the masters at the plantation. He'll be tagged with all the political and economic disasters of the Neo-Cons and then they'll return espousing a "new" direction for America. It's already happening as shown by the election of a neocon in Massachusetts to replace the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy.
Obama came into the Presidency with the hopes of the world that thngs would change but quickly showed it would be the same old thing of the banksters and corporate icons running the show. He continued and expanded the war in Afghanistan while making believe we have reduced our presence in Iraq. Whenever someone asks why we are in either place the terrifying reply starts out with terrorism.
But does terrorism really justify us bombing and strafing villages thought to have the Taliban or the ever elusive Al Queida roaming around in them? How does the drone rocket attack on a wedding party or the home full of children endear the American people to the people of these nations we occupy?
Just as Dubya continually raised the level of risk everytime his ratings seemed to fall, Obama has continued to use terrorism like we used to use the term communism during the war in Vietnam. And just like that war turned out, so too will these wars turn out. We might as well start the memorial wall for the dead Americans duped into thinking they were protecting democracy when in fact the mission they were given has had the opposite effect.
I know a little about being duped by my government. I am coming up on the 42nd anniversary of the 1968 Tet Offensive this weekend on January 30-31. I learned one month after my arrival in Vietnam as a combat infantryman in the Marines what insanity I had volunteered to be part of. JFK and his charismatic oratory along with his martyrdom at the hands of an assassin made it seem I must give up my life to "protect" our country from the scourge of communism.
Instead, what we did in Vietnam was occupy a nation that really didn't want us there except for the Westernized dictators who ruled the South. We terrorized by day and night with the mightiest display of weaponry the world had ever seen. We kicked in hootch doors and insulted and bullied villagers from Saigon to the DMZ. We did all this in the name of democracy. We insisted the Vietnamese wanted our democracy. Like Iraq and Afghanistan, what the Vietnamese people wanted was security from the insanity of war so they could live in peace, work in peace, take care of their kids in peace and live free of violence. We provided none of this for them. Nor did the armies of the other side. What we did was put the general population of Vietnam in the middle of a violent game of power. They couldn't win if they supported the Americans or the North Vietnamese and NVA.
Sure this is a simplification of Vietnam and the current wars but we still must ask ourselves why we were ever there and why we are still there (in Iraq and Afghanistan)? What have we accomplished by importing violence to nations already overwhelmed with violence? C'mon, the truth is we went to these nations to demonstrate our power and to have strategic control of areas in the world we could exploit for natural resources and the fear we could bring to our perceived enemies such as China, Russia and Iran.
Our presence on their doorsteps and the control of oil fields, deep water ports and other vital resources was meant to intimidate. We have become the class bully and in classic Orwellian terms classified our actions as fighting for freedom and democracy.
Why is it we Americans trail all the other industrialized nations in literacy and the knowledge of languages other than our own? Why is it the rest of the industrialized nations have better infant mortality rates and can manage to give all their citizens decent health care? We have slowly descended into the depths of stupidity and ignorance while all around us see our emperor has no clothes while he marches in his pompous parade of oligarchic power.
Just this past week another Orwellian twist has occurred. The justices of the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to designate corporations as being individual people, having the same rights as an individual. This concept has been fought against for over a hundred years to prevent coporations from further buying off our elected officals. Now that the justices appointed by Reagan and the Bushes have opened the door to this personhood of big businesses we are offically without true democracy. Money talks, poverty walks. If we close our eyes and imagine Wal-Mart is a person do we see a predominately American or Chinese person? Where will the campaign funding come from, American tycoons or the centralized government of China, a nation once called our greatest enemy?
If we have become sickened by the lies, the innuendoes and distortions of campaign ads in past years, wait until this election season. Big money willl flood the airways with attack and counter-attack ads. And ignorant Americans will buy into the lies and distortions without finding the truth for themselves. Any attempt to hold a conversation of original thought will be difficult to find. Buzz words and talking points will be used to counter any rational argument against the lies of America, Incorporated.
So, yes, the more things change the more they stay the same. Who will break the cycle? Certainly not the "greatest generation" of my father who have gotten theirs but don't want anybody else to have the same. Certainly not my generation who claimed they would change the world but instead copped out and cut their hair and became "the man". My progressive friends like to believe the coalitions of the Vietnam moratorium movement changed the course of the war but conveniently forget after 1968, the bombing and deaths increased rather than decreased. Nixon used the war for four years to ensure his reelection. The genocide in Cambodia occurred because Americans refused to stop the war.
Who will break the cycle? I don't think my sons' generation will do it because they are the result of my generation's pampering and infantilzing. They became self absorbed and so materialistic they couldn't escape the debt trap of the corporations. They failed to understand the death trap of the military.
And so it goes. Welcome back to my cynical and disparging blog about the country I try dearly to love but become repulsed by every day. Like the old folk song asks, "when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?". I ask myself that almost every day and can't come up with a hopeful answer.
Much has changed since the election of Obama. Or has it really just stayed the same? There's an argument to be made for both thoughts.
Obama the new fresh face of democracy has turned out pretty much as I expected. He's really like Abu Jamal Mumia suggested; just a black face doing the bidding of the masters at the plantation. He'll be tagged with all the political and economic disasters of the Neo-Cons and then they'll return espousing a "new" direction for America. It's already happening as shown by the election of a neocon in Massachusetts to replace the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy.
Obama came into the Presidency with the hopes of the world that thngs would change but quickly showed it would be the same old thing of the banksters and corporate icons running the show. He continued and expanded the war in Afghanistan while making believe we have reduced our presence in Iraq. Whenever someone asks why we are in either place the terrifying reply starts out with terrorism.
But does terrorism really justify us bombing and strafing villages thought to have the Taliban or the ever elusive Al Queida roaming around in them? How does the drone rocket attack on a wedding party or the home full of children endear the American people to the people of these nations we occupy?
Just as Dubya continually raised the level of risk everytime his ratings seemed to fall, Obama has continued to use terrorism like we used to use the term communism during the war in Vietnam. And just like that war turned out, so too will these wars turn out. We might as well start the memorial wall for the dead Americans duped into thinking they were protecting democracy when in fact the mission they were given has had the opposite effect.
I know a little about being duped by my government. I am coming up on the 42nd anniversary of the 1968 Tet Offensive this weekend on January 30-31. I learned one month after my arrival in Vietnam as a combat infantryman in the Marines what insanity I had volunteered to be part of. JFK and his charismatic oratory along with his martyrdom at the hands of an assassin made it seem I must give up my life to "protect" our country from the scourge of communism.
Instead, what we did in Vietnam was occupy a nation that really didn't want us there except for the Westernized dictators who ruled the South. We terrorized by day and night with the mightiest display of weaponry the world had ever seen. We kicked in hootch doors and insulted and bullied villagers from Saigon to the DMZ. We did all this in the name of democracy. We insisted the Vietnamese wanted our democracy. Like Iraq and Afghanistan, what the Vietnamese people wanted was security from the insanity of war so they could live in peace, work in peace, take care of their kids in peace and live free of violence. We provided none of this for them. Nor did the armies of the other side. What we did was put the general population of Vietnam in the middle of a violent game of power. They couldn't win if they supported the Americans or the North Vietnamese and NVA.
Sure this is a simplification of Vietnam and the current wars but we still must ask ourselves why we were ever there and why we are still there (in Iraq and Afghanistan)? What have we accomplished by importing violence to nations already overwhelmed with violence? C'mon, the truth is we went to these nations to demonstrate our power and to have strategic control of areas in the world we could exploit for natural resources and the fear we could bring to our perceived enemies such as China, Russia and Iran.
Our presence on their doorsteps and the control of oil fields, deep water ports and other vital resources was meant to intimidate. We have become the class bully and in classic Orwellian terms classified our actions as fighting for freedom and democracy.
Why is it we Americans trail all the other industrialized nations in literacy and the knowledge of languages other than our own? Why is it the rest of the industrialized nations have better infant mortality rates and can manage to give all their citizens decent health care? We have slowly descended into the depths of stupidity and ignorance while all around us see our emperor has no clothes while he marches in his pompous parade of oligarchic power.
Just this past week another Orwellian twist has occurred. The justices of the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to designate corporations as being individual people, having the same rights as an individual. This concept has been fought against for over a hundred years to prevent coporations from further buying off our elected officals. Now that the justices appointed by Reagan and the Bushes have opened the door to this personhood of big businesses we are offically without true democracy. Money talks, poverty walks. If we close our eyes and imagine Wal-Mart is a person do we see a predominately American or Chinese person? Where will the campaign funding come from, American tycoons or the centralized government of China, a nation once called our greatest enemy?
If we have become sickened by the lies, the innuendoes and distortions of campaign ads in past years, wait until this election season. Big money willl flood the airways with attack and counter-attack ads. And ignorant Americans will buy into the lies and distortions without finding the truth for themselves. Any attempt to hold a conversation of original thought will be difficult to find. Buzz words and talking points will be used to counter any rational argument against the lies of America, Incorporated.
So, yes, the more things change the more they stay the same. Who will break the cycle? Certainly not the "greatest generation" of my father who have gotten theirs but don't want anybody else to have the same. Certainly not my generation who claimed they would change the world but instead copped out and cut their hair and became "the man". My progressive friends like to believe the coalitions of the Vietnam moratorium movement changed the course of the war but conveniently forget after 1968, the bombing and deaths increased rather than decreased. Nixon used the war for four years to ensure his reelection. The genocide in Cambodia occurred because Americans refused to stop the war.
Who will break the cycle? I don't think my sons' generation will do it because they are the result of my generation's pampering and infantilzing. They became self absorbed and so materialistic they couldn't escape the debt trap of the corporations. They failed to understand the death trap of the military.
And so it goes. Welcome back to my cynical and disparging blog about the country I try dearly to love but become repulsed by every day. Like the old folk song asks, "when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?". I ask myself that almost every day and can't come up with a hopeful answer.
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