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.
Tuesday, January 26
Saturday, June 6
That's Me
The past months have been hard. Life doesn't always go on as always. Sometimes it goes on in spite of us. Sometimes despite our wishes. But life does go on. Having reached 60 for the first time in my life, I've suddenly wondered where my life went. I look back and find all the wasted time and wish I had it back. I look back and say, "if only". If only I had made a better decision when I was 17 enlisting in the Marines. If only I had refused to fight in a war I found intolerable and wrong but was trapped in. If only I had not been the bastard toward wife and kids as I fought the demons trapped in my mind. If only I had bought into the materialistic, self-centered life of Americans maybe I could feel better about my life.
Did I ever think I'd spend more than 40 years ruminating and obsessing on what I did when I was 18 and 19? I doubt I did. Decisions in life at an early age can haunt us for the rest of our lives. I never expected to be 60. Hell, I never expected to be 30. I can't say whether it is a sense of survival or just a cowardly fear of death that has kept me alive. Maybe both. There certainly have been times I wished I could off myself and leave this world a better place. And there have been times when I felt I had to do something to make this place a better world.
Since January of this year depression has been the most descriptive part of my life. Sometimes immobilizing, sometimes suicidal and sometimes just enough to make it hard to do anything of importance or with meaning. Anhedonia is a word used by us in the "psych" world to describe an inability to experience pleasure. Do I experience pleasure? Yes. But I find myself always the person looking through a window at life inside apart from the warmth of family and friends. I see life but I'm never quite completely part of it. I'm the little kid with their nose pressed up against the store window wanting the candy inside but unable to get it.
I don't know if things will get better. I look back at all the sabotaged relationships I've had. I can't stand getting close to anybody. I don't want them to know my darkest secrets. I don't want them to expect too much of me. I don't want to be responsible for their feelings.
I've talked about war, violence, peace and justice ad nauseam to an empty room. I've wanted to make a difference through my words but found I'm just one of millions wanting the same thing. Blogs are a dime a dozen full of inane thoughts of the writer. Why should someone care what I think? Why should I care what someone else thinks?
I used to think I should care what someone else thinks but found it caused me too much discomfort. If I cared what they felt I took on some of their burden as well as the good things they brought with them. If I cared about the thoughts of others I might become human. I don't want to feel the pain of a child soldier in some third world country like Sudan. I don't want to take on the depression of a Palestinian family oppressed by Zionists. I don't want to hear about the families in Basrah or Baghdad living in fear of bombs, bullets and destruction.
I'm American. I have enough angst wondering if they'll foreclose on my home which is too large for just me and the wife. I worry too much about the debt I incurred buying into the American nightmare of instant gratification and consumption to give a damn about a starving child two oceans away.
We here in this country wonder how anybody could dislike us. We are the greatest nation in the world we tell ourselves and to question that is to become a pariah, a communist, a terrorist and an enemy of all that is American. I go to functions my wife wants me to go to with her and find myself so completely alienated by all the excess I find around me I can hardly keep from erupting in a profanity laced rage. I wonder if she wants all that her friends seem to have. The big pictures, the lofts, the urban lifestyle with good furniture and all the latest trendy items to only look at and never touch. I've certainly failed her if that's what she wanted.
I look at my kids as the hardest part of my life. How did I fail them so badly? Crack cocaine became their refuge from me. One still fights the addiction and the other is so closed off I never know what he thinks. My grandkids are beautiful but I am aloof and detached with them just like I am with everybody in my life. The kid with his nose pressed against the store window of life never able to enter and take part in the sweetness of life. That's me.
Did I ever think I'd spend more than 40 years ruminating and obsessing on what I did when I was 18 and 19? I doubt I did. Decisions in life at an early age can haunt us for the rest of our lives. I never expected to be 60. Hell, I never expected to be 30. I can't say whether it is a sense of survival or just a cowardly fear of death that has kept me alive. Maybe both. There certainly have been times I wished I could off myself and leave this world a better place. And there have been times when I felt I had to do something to make this place a better world.
Since January of this year depression has been the most descriptive part of my life. Sometimes immobilizing, sometimes suicidal and sometimes just enough to make it hard to do anything of importance or with meaning. Anhedonia is a word used by us in the "psych" world to describe an inability to experience pleasure. Do I experience pleasure? Yes. But I find myself always the person looking through a window at life inside apart from the warmth of family and friends. I see life but I'm never quite completely part of it. I'm the little kid with their nose pressed up against the store window wanting the candy inside but unable to get it.
I don't know if things will get better. I look back at all the sabotaged relationships I've had. I can't stand getting close to anybody. I don't want them to know my darkest secrets. I don't want them to expect too much of me. I don't want to be responsible for their feelings.
I've talked about war, violence, peace and justice ad nauseam to an empty room. I've wanted to make a difference through my words but found I'm just one of millions wanting the same thing. Blogs are a dime a dozen full of inane thoughts of the writer. Why should someone care what I think? Why should I care what someone else thinks?
I used to think I should care what someone else thinks but found it caused me too much discomfort. If I cared what they felt I took on some of their burden as well as the good things they brought with them. If I cared about the thoughts of others I might become human. I don't want to feel the pain of a child soldier in some third world country like Sudan. I don't want to take on the depression of a Palestinian family oppressed by Zionists. I don't want to hear about the families in Basrah or Baghdad living in fear of bombs, bullets and destruction.
I'm American. I have enough angst wondering if they'll foreclose on my home which is too large for just me and the wife. I worry too much about the debt I incurred buying into the American nightmare of instant gratification and consumption to give a damn about a starving child two oceans away.
We here in this country wonder how anybody could dislike us. We are the greatest nation in the world we tell ourselves and to question that is to become a pariah, a communist, a terrorist and an enemy of all that is American. I go to functions my wife wants me to go to with her and find myself so completely alienated by all the excess I find around me I can hardly keep from erupting in a profanity laced rage. I wonder if she wants all that her friends seem to have. The big pictures, the lofts, the urban lifestyle with good furniture and all the latest trendy items to only look at and never touch. I've certainly failed her if that's what she wanted.
I look at my kids as the hardest part of my life. How did I fail them so badly? Crack cocaine became their refuge from me. One still fights the addiction and the other is so closed off I never know what he thinks. My grandkids are beautiful but I am aloof and detached with them just like I am with everybody in my life. The kid with his nose pressed against the store window of life never able to enter and take part in the sweetness of life. That's me.
Tool of The Rich
What part of Obama's speech in Cairo should give us hope for a new relationship with the Islamic world? Rhetoric is just rhetoric when actions contradict. Obama has become the new salesman for the American royalty of rich power brokers and entitled elitists.
The significance of Obama's journey to the Middle East to give a polished speech he began writing before his election is window dressing and disingenuous. His destinations of Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the cues to his lack of sincerity toward the Muslim world. He chose the two most repressive regimes of the region to curry favor with the long misunderstood and vilified people of Islamic faith. He spoke eloquently about peace in Palestine and even dared to challenge Israel but his failure to speak of the repression of Egypt's Mubarak and the Saudi royal family makes his words hollow and hypocritical.
Progressives and liberals may want us to give Obama time but families sending their sons and daughters off to the quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan war wonder when enough is enough after multiple deployments of their loved ones. Yes, there is still two wars being waged in the name of this nation and billions each month is being spent to fund them. Billions that could be spent to "bail-out" the millions who have lost jobs due to the handling of the phony economic crisis.
What goodwill is being gained by this nation when we continue to wage illegal and immoral wars in nations of large Islamic populations? And how do we stem the hatred toward Americans when we send drones into Pakistan and make multiple mistakes in bombing the homes of innocent civilians instead of the alleged enemy?
As expected the new deal of Obama has turned out to be the same old deal of oligarchy, imperialism and nationalistic insanity. As expected Obama has sold out to the self appointed "royalty" of America. The richest families and multi-national corporations continue to wield the greatest influence and power in this alleged democracy. Locally and nationally special interests buy the elected political prostitutes while the poor and diminishing middle class go begging for table scraps of the great American dream.
While Obama speaks with a charisma not heard since JFK, like JFK he is merely a tool of a corrupted system never meant to be about "we, the people".
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Denver VVAW member
The significance of Obama's journey to the Middle East to give a polished speech he began writing before his election is window dressing and disingenuous. His destinations of Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the cues to his lack of sincerity toward the Muslim world. He chose the two most repressive regimes of the region to curry favor with the long misunderstood and vilified people of Islamic faith. He spoke eloquently about peace in Palestine and even dared to challenge Israel but his failure to speak of the repression of Egypt's Mubarak and the Saudi royal family makes his words hollow and hypocritical.
Progressives and liberals may want us to give Obama time but families sending their sons and daughters off to the quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan war wonder when enough is enough after multiple deployments of their loved ones. Yes, there is still two wars being waged in the name of this nation and billions each month is being spent to fund them. Billions that could be spent to "bail-out" the millions who have lost jobs due to the handling of the phony economic crisis.
What goodwill is being gained by this nation when we continue to wage illegal and immoral wars in nations of large Islamic populations? And how do we stem the hatred toward Americans when we send drones into Pakistan and make multiple mistakes in bombing the homes of innocent civilians instead of the alleged enemy?
As expected the new deal of Obama has turned out to be the same old deal of oligarchy, imperialism and nationalistic insanity. As expected Obama has sold out to the self appointed "royalty" of America. The richest families and multi-national corporations continue to wield the greatest influence and power in this alleged democracy. Locally and nationally special interests buy the elected political prostitutes while the poor and diminishing middle class go begging for table scraps of the great American dream.
While Obama speaks with a charisma not heard since JFK, like JFK he is merely a tool of a corrupted system never meant to be about "we, the people".
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Denver VVAW member
Tuesday, January 20
After The Pomp What Will Be the Circumstances?
On election night there were tears in my eyes when it was announced Barack Obama had been elected as the first black President of the United States. I’m 60 and the memories of Jim Crow, dogs and water hoses are still there for me, even though I’m a white male.
Today I watch as Obama is about to be sworn in on the grounds of the Capitol which was built by slaves considered non-human and not worthy of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I look at the podium and still see the predominance of white faces, hear the jets of militarism fly overhead and see former Presidents who have led this nation on the path of imperialism over the past three decades.
I’d like to say I finally have great hopes of the “change” promised us by Obama and all the others during an excruciating campaign for the Presidency. I don’t. I look at the announced cabinet members of the “new” President and see the "same old" faces of our past three or four decades responsible for a culture of death Americans have endorsed for too long. The friends of Zionism have prevailed in these choices. The friends of aggression and imperialism have prevailed. The friends of injustice have prevailed. There are few friends of the impoverished, the downtrodden and all those mentioned on the Statute of Liberty.
The speech is about to be given and it will no doubt be stirring and inspirational. There is no doubt Obama is the most gifted orator since John Kennedy. His deliverance of words is compared to Martin Luther King. These are fair comparisons but words spoken aren’t necessarily actions taken.
John Kennedy was the President that inspired me to join the Marine Corps, asking not what my country could do for me but asking what I could do for my country. The truth is Kennedy was an imperialistic leader that took a militaristic path rather than a one of justice and fairness. I was a young fool when I joined the Marine Corps to fight an imperialistic war in Southeast Asia. The inspiration I took from Kennedy was based on deceit and aggression. I failed to seek the truth. Instead I accepted the propaganda of a government intent on world dominance.
Yesterday I marched with thousands from the City Park of Denver to the Civic Center in honor of Martin Luther King. The 3.1 mile march was one with hopeful and proud faces. Young and old seemed to have even greater enthusiasm than the previous marches I’ve taken part in. The election and inauguration of Barack Obama was clearly on their minds and expressed in shirts bearing Obama’s likeness, buttons with his name and chants of, "Obama".
"Black Pride" is rightfully and finally acknowledged by a nation with a long and inglorious history of racism. As Obama is about to be sworn in as the next President at this very moment, our hopes for him are overwhelmingly high and unrealistic. No one man can possibly live up to such expectations of hope.
Even sadder, now that his speech is completed, I heard the same saber rattling of previous Presidents. I heard the intention to continue the same path of materialism and militarism. I heard more attention paid the economy of the country than the moral soul of the nation. Have we become such a shallow nation we fail to recognize the humanity that suffers throughout the world is our primary problem? Sadly, the answer remains the same as it has always been. We’ve always been a nation that only reacts when poverty is facing us not when it remains the permanent condition of far too many humans on this planet.
I don’t deny the symbolism of the first non-white President in the American republic’s history. It is, indeed, a step forward in the history of a nation that has pretended to cherish equality and justice. Anyone my age knows it is just a pretense. Any who listened and observed carefully during the campaign know the seeds of hatred are still very much alive in this nation toward any candidate who is non-white or female with the ambition to lead our country.
I don’t hate my country but I’ve come to understand there’s a difference between the government of this nation and the people. Most Americans are like most people in the world. They want peace, security and to provide for their families. They want justice. They want the equality stated in the Bill of Rights and throughout the Constitution. This is a generous nation of people but a people that has failed to understand the misery of those outside the American lifestyle, however.
Recently Abu Jamal Mumia made a statement about the possible election of a black man to the American Presidency. He reminded us that the masters of the plantation are still in control despite the pigmentation of the man elected. He reminded us the state of our nation remains in crisis caused by the leaders of the government and one man in the figure head role of President will not be able to do the necessary work to bring the needed changes.
We’ve seen in the recent assault of Gaza by Zionist forces of the Israeli government a reminder to the world that the government of the US remains firmly entrenched in supporting the oppression of the Palestinian people. Our government continues to endorse concentration camps full of Palestinians because we continue to be cowed by AIPAC and other Zionist groups.
We will soon see the build up of forces in Afghanistan that will drain even more blood and vast potential of our young from our nation. Afghanistan will be the quagmire for Obama that Iraq was for George W. Bush. The continued military occupation of nations in the Middle East will continue to be the greatest recruitment tool for those fanatical groups bent on continued terrorism toward the American people. The failure of the American people to understand “why they hate us”, keeps the hatred fueled without any possible end in our future.
We continue to allow a child to die every 15-30 seconds as a result of poverty while we consume more than any nation on the planet. We continue to spend vast amounts of money for destruction instead of construction. We continue to ignore our complicity in allowing tyrants to oppress by our financial and military support. We allow a school at Ft. Benning, GA to train the forces of tyrants in the Americas and many other oppressed nations of our world. We continue to ignore the threat of nuclear destruction despite the ever growing risk of it happening. We fail to acknowledge the physically and mentally challenged here in our nation. We fail to acknowledge the impoverished, the hungry and homeless here in our own country. Ten billion dollars a month has gone to a war every month since 2003 while the programs for the weakest and most at risk citizens have been cut to the bare bone and face even greater cuts.
I want to hope President Obama will bring the changes he promised but his decisions so far make me pessimistic there will be any substantial changes at all. I had a discussion yesterday about the need of the activist community to remain focused and assertive in demanding the needed changes. It seems ever since the election of Obama there’s been a blindness about the choices he’s made. We seem to accept the historical event of his presidency without questioning the morality of his intentions.
Obama's speech today is a dark cloud of misguided priorities aimed at our financial well being while dismissing the tough moral choices that are needed. I heard the words of a man who has brought great hope to a nation but seems intent on carrying out the same policies of the well heeled and self proclaimed aristocrats that have caused this nation great harm.
I look at the faces of hope in the huge crowds of people that came to see the history of Obama sworn into office and fear they will be terribly disappointed when their lives fail to improve. The disappointment of the idealistic young and old will further weaken a nation of people who have allowed their government to be taken from them. The American republic could well be in the final stages of existence if the people fail to recognize and reject the deception of the special interests of an oligarchic government.
Sadly, President Obama failed to inspire me and gives me little hope. With George W. Bush I had lowered expectations but should the hope Obama gives so many prove a failure it will be much crueler than Bush and Cheney being in power. I pray and hope I’m wrong.
Today I watch as Obama is about to be sworn in on the grounds of the Capitol which was built by slaves considered non-human and not worthy of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I look at the podium and still see the predominance of white faces, hear the jets of militarism fly overhead and see former Presidents who have led this nation on the path of imperialism over the past three decades.
I’d like to say I finally have great hopes of the “change” promised us by Obama and all the others during an excruciating campaign for the Presidency. I don’t. I look at the announced cabinet members of the “new” President and see the "same old" faces of our past three or four decades responsible for a culture of death Americans have endorsed for too long. The friends of Zionism have prevailed in these choices. The friends of aggression and imperialism have prevailed. The friends of injustice have prevailed. There are few friends of the impoverished, the downtrodden and all those mentioned on the Statute of Liberty.
The speech is about to be given and it will no doubt be stirring and inspirational. There is no doubt Obama is the most gifted orator since John Kennedy. His deliverance of words is compared to Martin Luther King. These are fair comparisons but words spoken aren’t necessarily actions taken.
John Kennedy was the President that inspired me to join the Marine Corps, asking not what my country could do for me but asking what I could do for my country. The truth is Kennedy was an imperialistic leader that took a militaristic path rather than a one of justice and fairness. I was a young fool when I joined the Marine Corps to fight an imperialistic war in Southeast Asia. The inspiration I took from Kennedy was based on deceit and aggression. I failed to seek the truth. Instead I accepted the propaganda of a government intent on world dominance.
Yesterday I marched with thousands from the City Park of Denver to the Civic Center in honor of Martin Luther King. The 3.1 mile march was one with hopeful and proud faces. Young and old seemed to have even greater enthusiasm than the previous marches I’ve taken part in. The election and inauguration of Barack Obama was clearly on their minds and expressed in shirts bearing Obama’s likeness, buttons with his name and chants of, "Obama".
"Black Pride" is rightfully and finally acknowledged by a nation with a long and inglorious history of racism. As Obama is about to be sworn in as the next President at this very moment, our hopes for him are overwhelmingly high and unrealistic. No one man can possibly live up to such expectations of hope.
Even sadder, now that his speech is completed, I heard the same saber rattling of previous Presidents. I heard the intention to continue the same path of materialism and militarism. I heard more attention paid the economy of the country than the moral soul of the nation. Have we become such a shallow nation we fail to recognize the humanity that suffers throughout the world is our primary problem? Sadly, the answer remains the same as it has always been. We’ve always been a nation that only reacts when poverty is facing us not when it remains the permanent condition of far too many humans on this planet.
I don’t deny the symbolism of the first non-white President in the American republic’s history. It is, indeed, a step forward in the history of a nation that has pretended to cherish equality and justice. Anyone my age knows it is just a pretense. Any who listened and observed carefully during the campaign know the seeds of hatred are still very much alive in this nation toward any candidate who is non-white or female with the ambition to lead our country.
I don’t hate my country but I’ve come to understand there’s a difference between the government of this nation and the people. Most Americans are like most people in the world. They want peace, security and to provide for their families. They want justice. They want the equality stated in the Bill of Rights and throughout the Constitution. This is a generous nation of people but a people that has failed to understand the misery of those outside the American lifestyle, however.
Recently Abu Jamal Mumia made a statement about the possible election of a black man to the American Presidency. He reminded us that the masters of the plantation are still in control despite the pigmentation of the man elected. He reminded us the state of our nation remains in crisis caused by the leaders of the government and one man in the figure head role of President will not be able to do the necessary work to bring the needed changes.
We’ve seen in the recent assault of Gaza by Zionist forces of the Israeli government a reminder to the world that the government of the US remains firmly entrenched in supporting the oppression of the Palestinian people. Our government continues to endorse concentration camps full of Palestinians because we continue to be cowed by AIPAC and other Zionist groups.
We will soon see the build up of forces in Afghanistan that will drain even more blood and vast potential of our young from our nation. Afghanistan will be the quagmire for Obama that Iraq was for George W. Bush. The continued military occupation of nations in the Middle East will continue to be the greatest recruitment tool for those fanatical groups bent on continued terrorism toward the American people. The failure of the American people to understand “why they hate us”, keeps the hatred fueled without any possible end in our future.
We continue to allow a child to die every 15-30 seconds as a result of poverty while we consume more than any nation on the planet. We continue to spend vast amounts of money for destruction instead of construction. We continue to ignore our complicity in allowing tyrants to oppress by our financial and military support. We allow a school at Ft. Benning, GA to train the forces of tyrants in the Americas and many other oppressed nations of our world. We continue to ignore the threat of nuclear destruction despite the ever growing risk of it happening. We fail to acknowledge the physically and mentally challenged here in our nation. We fail to acknowledge the impoverished, the hungry and homeless here in our own country. Ten billion dollars a month has gone to a war every month since 2003 while the programs for the weakest and most at risk citizens have been cut to the bare bone and face even greater cuts.
I want to hope President Obama will bring the changes he promised but his decisions so far make me pessimistic there will be any substantial changes at all. I had a discussion yesterday about the need of the activist community to remain focused and assertive in demanding the needed changes. It seems ever since the election of Obama there’s been a blindness about the choices he’s made. We seem to accept the historical event of his presidency without questioning the morality of his intentions.
Obama's speech today is a dark cloud of misguided priorities aimed at our financial well being while dismissing the tough moral choices that are needed. I heard the words of a man who has brought great hope to a nation but seems intent on carrying out the same policies of the well heeled and self proclaimed aristocrats that have caused this nation great harm.
I look at the faces of hope in the huge crowds of people that came to see the history of Obama sworn into office and fear they will be terribly disappointed when their lives fail to improve. The disappointment of the idealistic young and old will further weaken a nation of people who have allowed their government to be taken from them. The American republic could well be in the final stages of existence if the people fail to recognize and reject the deception of the special interests of an oligarchic government.
Sadly, President Obama failed to inspire me and gives me little hope. With George W. Bush I had lowered expectations but should the hope Obama gives so many prove a failure it will be much crueler than Bush and Cheney being in power. I pray and hope I’m wrong.
Tuesday, January 13
Failure to Compromise Dooms Us
Over the past fifty years I've sadly observed the continuous hate between Palestinians and the nation of Israel. Palestinians have lived in concentration camps ever since the beginning of the modern nation of Israel. Zionist politicians have maintained control of the Israeli government all this time.
The reaction and response cycle of death continues unabated. Innocent people continue to starve and die lacking the basic needs of survival while only a short distance away the oppressors live in relative luxury. Children continue to perish for lack of potable water. Teens continue to be indoctrinated in the hate of their ancestors without questioning the rationale. Adults continue acting like anything but adults.
An eye for an eye mentality makes it impossible to be neutral or objective because should one attempt to look logically at the newest holocausts being perpetrated you are judged to be against one or the other side. Zionists will condemn you as a friend of Islamic terrorists and Palestinians and supporters of a free Palestine will condemn you as a Zionist should you refuse to choose a side.
I've read and heard and watched all the arguments and rationales that could possibly be made for the continued killing and maiming but fail to agree with either side in their choice of solutions.
It is perfectly clear the Palestinian people had their ancestral land stolen from them in the rush to create the state of Israel. It is clear the planning for the "homeland" of Israel started well before the Holocaust of WWII and the intentions were clearly to rid the homeland of the indigenous peoples who might object.
It is clear the tactic of mass punishment and retaliation was used, continues to be used and has no likely future of ending if Zionists continue to rule the government of Israel. Political influence and American desire to maintain control of the Middle East has fueled the violence and hate.
Americans rubber stamps the actions of oppressors using the lame excuse Israel has the right to defend itself. Looking any further to determine Israel isn't defending itself; it is perpetrating the very conditions so many Jews fled from during the Nazi reign of terror- is beyond the cognition of most Americans.
Time after time Israeli jets, artillery and soldiers invade, destroy and kill with the endorsement of the American government that has provided the bombs, shells and weaponry for the killing to happen. The Israeli government will tell the world they are a humane and scrupulous force that drops leaflets over their intended targets that warn any innocents to flee from their homes if they want to live. Otherwise they will be considered terrorists and the enemy.
Where will the Palestinian people flee? How does a family with nothing but a hovel for a home flee to a "safe" place? Who will take them in and provide them the basic needs they're already missing? Will Israel allow them to cross into Israel? How would the people of Tel Aviv or Chicago react to such a leaflet being dropped on their cities?
How can any sane person question the reasons the Palestinian people rebel against the oppression of the Zionists? The bully would like us to believe it is they who are the victim. The rebellious oppressed people fight back with rocks, homemade rockets and weapons provided by arms dealers of other nations and the bully says if only they submit to being oppressed all this killing could stop.
The more fanatical fringes of the rebellious oppressed people have decided to play by the same rules of the oppressor. Suicide bombers are actually homicide bombers when they kill a busload of school children. The use of innocent civilians as shields in the ongoing violence is a tactic long used in guerilla warfare but it is just as evil and wrong as the use of white phosphorous and cluster bombs.
Gino Strada, a noted surgeon and founder of the NGO, EMERGENCY, tells his audiences and the readers of his book, Green Parrots, 90 percent of the casualties of war since WWII are innocent civilians. Of that group 40 percent are children not in their teens.
Dr. Strada has refused to align himself with either side of conflicts in setting up surgical units to treat casualties of war in the areas of conflict. His organizations stays constantly busy and in need of more funding as more and more wars are perpetrated.
Gino Strada hates war. He hates the senseless carnage of fools with weapons exerting their terror on the children and innocent humans his surgical units have had to treat over the years. He and his EMERGENCY team have seen the darkest side of war. The torn flesh, crushed bones and horrific bleeding no doubt haunts them and compels them to do the work they do.
I find it particularly sad more people don’t understand the thinking of Gino Strada’s refusal to choose sides. But that is the nature of the hate caused by the displacement of Palestinians from their homes to create the nation of Israel.
Surely the Zionists must be condemned for their failures to resolve harm done to the Palestinian people. Zionism, like nationalism, is a plague that discounts and vilifies groups of people in order to carry out a plan of oppression and aggression.
Murder of children and innocent people who may or may not agree with the Israeli government’s actions should be condemned as well. It’s absurd to think small children have any political agenda. The thinking that a bomb in a school bus or in an area with children is an act of a freedom fighter is insanity.
This past weekend here in Denver the supporters of the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and throughout the area occupied by Palestinians lined one side of a major street in front of the state capitol. On the other side was a crowd nearly as large supporting the Palestinian freedom movement. Police presence no doubt kept violence from occurring by the more fanatical participants.
I chose not to attend because I knew I would have found myself figuratively standing in the middle of the street. My family has a history that dates back to the Russian pogroms. My grandfather’s family was forced from their land by government forces in a purge of Jews from Russia. This history does not make my family or me Zionists. In fact my grandfather was raised as a Christian to protect him from the anti-Semitism his mother and father were exposed to throughout their lives.
I abhor the Zionist movement that’s created the occupied territories which are no different than the Warsaw ghetto or concentration camps. But I know the Zionist movement is not fully endorsed by all Israelis any more than the policies of Bush and Cheney were endorsed by the American people.
I have friends who are now only acquaintances because I refuse to choose a side. One friend lived with my wife and me over six months but has since disavowed me because I apparently didn’t agree with their avid belief all Palestinians are freedom fighters. They constantly recalled the life of Rachel Corrie as a life to be admired but took the militant stance that led one to believe all Israelis were Zionists and all Palestinians were oppressed and without any fault for the continued violence. I don’t believe Rachel Corrie died believing the violence perpetrated by either side was acceptable.
I have former friends who feel a violent response is an act of acceptable rebellion to oppression even if it means the murder of children. Of course, these people never got to see the aftermath of a war. And though some are people of color and have experienced great oppression and violence, retaliation will not bring them justice.
The friend who lived with me grew up in relative wealth, going to private schools and exclusive universities. Now they pass themselves off as one of the oppressed because they have family members living in the war torn area in the Middle East. I beg to differ. The family members are oppressed. A rich and pampered American with family in a war zone is an imposter even if they visited twice. They never saw the dead bodies of war or even a shot fired in anger.
It frustrates me that Americans have blindly supported Zionism despite the horrors that have been perpetrated in the name of the Zionist movement. For most, Israel is merely another American state. It frustrates me Americans in the liberal and progressive movement rail against Zionism but refuse to admit the actions of fanatics in the name of the Palestinian movement are immoral and wrong as well.
There seems to be no future for compromise that will end the slaughters. It seems we’re destined to witness and take part in the continued insanity of war between forces that have allowed hate to fuel their entire lives. As long as there is no chance for compromise and peaceful resolution of differences, the entire world is held captive. The future for Palestine and Israel will never be peace and with the continued hate and violence and the failure of Americans to end their government’s involvement. It’s not about choosing sides anymore. It’s about choosing life for the children of our world.
The reaction and response cycle of death continues unabated. Innocent people continue to starve and die lacking the basic needs of survival while only a short distance away the oppressors live in relative luxury. Children continue to perish for lack of potable water. Teens continue to be indoctrinated in the hate of their ancestors without questioning the rationale. Adults continue acting like anything but adults.
An eye for an eye mentality makes it impossible to be neutral or objective because should one attempt to look logically at the newest holocausts being perpetrated you are judged to be against one or the other side. Zionists will condemn you as a friend of Islamic terrorists and Palestinians and supporters of a free Palestine will condemn you as a Zionist should you refuse to choose a side.
I've read and heard and watched all the arguments and rationales that could possibly be made for the continued killing and maiming but fail to agree with either side in their choice of solutions.
It is perfectly clear the Palestinian people had their ancestral land stolen from them in the rush to create the state of Israel. It is clear the planning for the "homeland" of Israel started well before the Holocaust of WWII and the intentions were clearly to rid the homeland of the indigenous peoples who might object.
It is clear the tactic of mass punishment and retaliation was used, continues to be used and has no likely future of ending if Zionists continue to rule the government of Israel. Political influence and American desire to maintain control of the Middle East has fueled the violence and hate.
Americans rubber stamps the actions of oppressors using the lame excuse Israel has the right to defend itself. Looking any further to determine Israel isn't defending itself; it is perpetrating the very conditions so many Jews fled from during the Nazi reign of terror- is beyond the cognition of most Americans.
Time after time Israeli jets, artillery and soldiers invade, destroy and kill with the endorsement of the American government that has provided the bombs, shells and weaponry for the killing to happen. The Israeli government will tell the world they are a humane and scrupulous force that drops leaflets over their intended targets that warn any innocents to flee from their homes if they want to live. Otherwise they will be considered terrorists and the enemy.
Where will the Palestinian people flee? How does a family with nothing but a hovel for a home flee to a "safe" place? Who will take them in and provide them the basic needs they're already missing? Will Israel allow them to cross into Israel? How would the people of Tel Aviv or Chicago react to such a leaflet being dropped on their cities?
How can any sane person question the reasons the Palestinian people rebel against the oppression of the Zionists? The bully would like us to believe it is they who are the victim. The rebellious oppressed people fight back with rocks, homemade rockets and weapons provided by arms dealers of other nations and the bully says if only they submit to being oppressed all this killing could stop.
The more fanatical fringes of the rebellious oppressed people have decided to play by the same rules of the oppressor. Suicide bombers are actually homicide bombers when they kill a busload of school children. The use of innocent civilians as shields in the ongoing violence is a tactic long used in guerilla warfare but it is just as evil and wrong as the use of white phosphorous and cluster bombs.
Gino Strada, a noted surgeon and founder of the NGO, EMERGENCY, tells his audiences and the readers of his book, Green Parrots, 90 percent of the casualties of war since WWII are innocent civilians. Of that group 40 percent are children not in their teens.
Dr. Strada has refused to align himself with either side of conflicts in setting up surgical units to treat casualties of war in the areas of conflict. His organizations stays constantly busy and in need of more funding as more and more wars are perpetrated.
Gino Strada hates war. He hates the senseless carnage of fools with weapons exerting their terror on the children and innocent humans his surgical units have had to treat over the years. He and his EMERGENCY team have seen the darkest side of war. The torn flesh, crushed bones and horrific bleeding no doubt haunts them and compels them to do the work they do.
I find it particularly sad more people don’t understand the thinking of Gino Strada’s refusal to choose sides. But that is the nature of the hate caused by the displacement of Palestinians from their homes to create the nation of Israel.
Surely the Zionists must be condemned for their failures to resolve harm done to the Palestinian people. Zionism, like nationalism, is a plague that discounts and vilifies groups of people in order to carry out a plan of oppression and aggression.
Murder of children and innocent people who may or may not agree with the Israeli government’s actions should be condemned as well. It’s absurd to think small children have any political agenda. The thinking that a bomb in a school bus or in an area with children is an act of a freedom fighter is insanity.
This past weekend here in Denver the supporters of the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and throughout the area occupied by Palestinians lined one side of a major street in front of the state capitol. On the other side was a crowd nearly as large supporting the Palestinian freedom movement. Police presence no doubt kept violence from occurring by the more fanatical participants.
I chose not to attend because I knew I would have found myself figuratively standing in the middle of the street. My family has a history that dates back to the Russian pogroms. My grandfather’s family was forced from their land by government forces in a purge of Jews from Russia. This history does not make my family or me Zionists. In fact my grandfather was raised as a Christian to protect him from the anti-Semitism his mother and father were exposed to throughout their lives.
I abhor the Zionist movement that’s created the occupied territories which are no different than the Warsaw ghetto or concentration camps. But I know the Zionist movement is not fully endorsed by all Israelis any more than the policies of Bush and Cheney were endorsed by the American people.
I have friends who are now only acquaintances because I refuse to choose a side. One friend lived with my wife and me over six months but has since disavowed me because I apparently didn’t agree with their avid belief all Palestinians are freedom fighters. They constantly recalled the life of Rachel Corrie as a life to be admired but took the militant stance that led one to believe all Israelis were Zionists and all Palestinians were oppressed and without any fault for the continued violence. I don’t believe Rachel Corrie died believing the violence perpetrated by either side was acceptable.
I have former friends who feel a violent response is an act of acceptable rebellion to oppression even if it means the murder of children. Of course, these people never got to see the aftermath of a war. And though some are people of color and have experienced great oppression and violence, retaliation will not bring them justice.
The friend who lived with me grew up in relative wealth, going to private schools and exclusive universities. Now they pass themselves off as one of the oppressed because they have family members living in the war torn area in the Middle East. I beg to differ. The family members are oppressed. A rich and pampered American with family in a war zone is an imposter even if they visited twice. They never saw the dead bodies of war or even a shot fired in anger.
It frustrates me that Americans have blindly supported Zionism despite the horrors that have been perpetrated in the name of the Zionist movement. For most, Israel is merely another American state. It frustrates me Americans in the liberal and progressive movement rail against Zionism but refuse to admit the actions of fanatics in the name of the Palestinian movement are immoral and wrong as well.
There seems to be no future for compromise that will end the slaughters. It seems we’re destined to witness and take part in the continued insanity of war between forces that have allowed hate to fuel their entire lives. As long as there is no chance for compromise and peaceful resolution of differences, the entire world is held captive. The future for Palestine and Israel will never be peace and with the continued hate and violence and the failure of Americans to end their government’s involvement. It’s not about choosing sides anymore. It’s about choosing life for the children of our world.
Wednesday, December 31
Nonviolence Is Not Passive
The logical challenge to the nonviolent philosophy of activism is the one asking if we'd be nonviolent if our community or families were being attacked. My personal answer would be, of course not. My immediate reaction would be to defend my community, my family and myself. Even the beloved Gandhi speaks about this situation and says much the same.
The difference between protecting ourselves against attack and initiating violence against others is the difference between morality and immorality. Being the aggressors takes away any moral standing we may have had in a struggle. That's not to say being assertive isn't a moral path. Nonviolent resistance is probably the ultimate form of assertiveness.
Nonviolent resistance doesn't mean passivity. It is the direct opposite of passivity. Nonviolent resistance doesn't mean sitting in streets being ceremoniously arrested in a plan worked out ahead of time with the police. It means taking to the streets to resist the oppressor and the agents of oppression like the police.
For too long the activist movement has wanted to play by the rules of the oppressor in their resistance. They've bowed to getting permits to allow them the "right" to march against oppression. They've coordinated with police to ensure things are "orderly" when the resistance is meant to bring disorder to a failed system. Activists have allowed police to be part of their strategy in resistance. This leads me to the analogy of inviting the fox into the henhouse to help plan a defense against the intrusion and violence of the fox.
Nonviolent resistance can and should target the icons of oppression. Companies like Shell, Halliburton and Fox are all complicit partners in oppression. Wal-Mart and other corporate giants have oppressed workers since the founding of their companies. Political action groups like AIPAC have bastardized access to elected officials and bought public policy. Foreign policy has been dictated by companies and organizations that make huge profits from the policies of never-ending wars.
Martin Luther King and the civil rights workers targeted Woolworths' refusing to seat blacks at their lunch counters. They didn't target the federal government or local government first. They started at the local and corporate level. They started at the level that would ignite the flame of perceived injustice being carried out in the everyday lives of people oppressed.
The flame was lighted by Rosa Parks being forced to stand when empty seats were available in the "white only" part of the bus. She was tired from working hard and for wages that hardly paid the bills. She challenged an oppressive and injust law by taking a seat in the "front" of the bus. Her arrest clearly highlighted the oppression of the segregated South. Her simple, noviolent action was heard around the community and around the nation.
The differences between the civil rights movement and the current movement are dramatic. The eventual diversity of the civil rights movement compared to the current activist movement stand out. The strategies of organizing locally and building by actions that address local issues are different from the march and rally shows against national policies today.
But the issue is Iraq and Afghanistan....Israel and Palestine the movement says. Those issues are surely foremost in a global sense but they trickle down to our local communities. Young men and women are induced into the military locally because they can't find adequate jobs or education. The money for such programs go into the war machine. Crippling the war machine has to be done by preventing it from taking our young people in a back door draft. Crippling the war machine has to be done by insisting local companies take precendence over huge corporate giants that contribute heavily toward war. Crippling the war machine has to be done by demanding local officials refrain from supporting the war economy. It has to be done by fighting for those oppressed locally so they can be enlisted to move on a grander scale against the larger oppressors.
It certainly isn't hard to find local oppression. Police brutality, substandard housing, substandard wages, substandard schools and the ongoing decline of inner cities while rich oppressors flee to the suburbs are but a small example of local injustices and oppression. The most oppresed locally and nationally are people of color and those of non-European ethnicity. Supporting this diverse population only makes sense to build any activist community. It's like planting seeds in the spring to see the the harvest in the fall. If we plant the seed of community caring and support that comes from all sectors of the community we have a rich harvest of activists.
Unfortunately, professional activists from the old Vietnam era movement has taken root and failed to remember the diversity needed to get the attention on the national level. Martin Luther King rallied his followers to join against the war. The Black Panthers were included in the movement. The Brown Berets and LaRaza were part of the movement.
Today we seem to work in separate issue groups that seldom acknowledge the need to connect all the issues as part of the overall oppression going on in this nation and around the world. Gay rights are part of human rights. Immigration rights are part of human rights and the labor struggle. Police brutality is part of racism and violence toward the disenfranchised. Police brutality is part of overall fear to dissent and challenge oppression and injustice. The issues are all interconnected and the activists should be as well for a movement to actually be effective.
Nonviolent action and resistance is not passive. It is assertive and doesn't back down even when violence is directed toward it. I feel strongly about protecting myself and others against violence directed toward us. I'm not going to sit at the curb and allow myself or others to be brutalized without attempting to stop the attacker. But I won't join in the planned attack of others to effect a temporary victory for change. That mentality of retaliation and reprisal is the problem we see in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Gaza, among other places in the world. Violence truly does beget violence and I can't work with organizations that include violence as part of the strategy of effecting change. I did that once. It was called the Marine Corps.
The difference between protecting ourselves against attack and initiating violence against others is the difference between morality and immorality. Being the aggressors takes away any moral standing we may have had in a struggle. That's not to say being assertive isn't a moral path. Nonviolent resistance is probably the ultimate form of assertiveness.
Nonviolent resistance doesn't mean passivity. It is the direct opposite of passivity. Nonviolent resistance doesn't mean sitting in streets being ceremoniously arrested in a plan worked out ahead of time with the police. It means taking to the streets to resist the oppressor and the agents of oppression like the police.
For too long the activist movement has wanted to play by the rules of the oppressor in their resistance. They've bowed to getting permits to allow them the "right" to march against oppression. They've coordinated with police to ensure things are "orderly" when the resistance is meant to bring disorder to a failed system. Activists have allowed police to be part of their strategy in resistance. This leads me to the analogy of inviting the fox into the henhouse to help plan a defense against the intrusion and violence of the fox.
Nonviolent resistance can and should target the icons of oppression. Companies like Shell, Halliburton and Fox are all complicit partners in oppression. Wal-Mart and other corporate giants have oppressed workers since the founding of their companies. Political action groups like AIPAC have bastardized access to elected officials and bought public policy. Foreign policy has been dictated by companies and organizations that make huge profits from the policies of never-ending wars.
Martin Luther King and the civil rights workers targeted Woolworths' refusing to seat blacks at their lunch counters. They didn't target the federal government or local government first. They started at the local and corporate level. They started at the level that would ignite the flame of perceived injustice being carried out in the everyday lives of people oppressed.
The flame was lighted by Rosa Parks being forced to stand when empty seats were available in the "white only" part of the bus. She was tired from working hard and for wages that hardly paid the bills. She challenged an oppressive and injust law by taking a seat in the "front" of the bus. Her arrest clearly highlighted the oppression of the segregated South. Her simple, noviolent action was heard around the community and around the nation.
The differences between the civil rights movement and the current movement are dramatic. The eventual diversity of the civil rights movement compared to the current activist movement stand out. The strategies of organizing locally and building by actions that address local issues are different from the march and rally shows against national policies today.
But the issue is Iraq and Afghanistan....Israel and Palestine the movement says. Those issues are surely foremost in a global sense but they trickle down to our local communities. Young men and women are induced into the military locally because they can't find adequate jobs or education. The money for such programs go into the war machine. Crippling the war machine has to be done by preventing it from taking our young people in a back door draft. Crippling the war machine has to be done by insisting local companies take precendence over huge corporate giants that contribute heavily toward war. Crippling the war machine has to be done by demanding local officials refrain from supporting the war economy. It has to be done by fighting for those oppressed locally so they can be enlisted to move on a grander scale against the larger oppressors.
It certainly isn't hard to find local oppression. Police brutality, substandard housing, substandard wages, substandard schools and the ongoing decline of inner cities while rich oppressors flee to the suburbs are but a small example of local injustices and oppression. The most oppresed locally and nationally are people of color and those of non-European ethnicity. Supporting this diverse population only makes sense to build any activist community. It's like planting seeds in the spring to see the the harvest in the fall. If we plant the seed of community caring and support that comes from all sectors of the community we have a rich harvest of activists.
Unfortunately, professional activists from the old Vietnam era movement has taken root and failed to remember the diversity needed to get the attention on the national level. Martin Luther King rallied his followers to join against the war. The Black Panthers were included in the movement. The Brown Berets and LaRaza were part of the movement.
Today we seem to work in separate issue groups that seldom acknowledge the need to connect all the issues as part of the overall oppression going on in this nation and around the world. Gay rights are part of human rights. Immigration rights are part of human rights and the labor struggle. Police brutality is part of racism and violence toward the disenfranchised. Police brutality is part of overall fear to dissent and challenge oppression and injustice. The issues are all interconnected and the activists should be as well for a movement to actually be effective.
Nonviolent action and resistance is not passive. It is assertive and doesn't back down even when violence is directed toward it. I feel strongly about protecting myself and others against violence directed toward us. I'm not going to sit at the curb and allow myself or others to be brutalized without attempting to stop the attacker. But I won't join in the planned attack of others to effect a temporary victory for change. That mentality of retaliation and reprisal is the problem we see in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Gaza, among other places in the world. Violence truly does beget violence and I can't work with organizations that include violence as part of the strategy of effecting change. I did that once. It was called the Marine Corps.
Tuesday, December 30
I'm Not Endorsing The Path of Violence
As death continues to reign in Gaza, the Israeli army prepares for invasion and the US and allies stand idly by with the same old refrain...."Israel has the right to defend itself". The new face of change, Obama, is included in this Greek chorus of the ongoing tragedy being carried out.
The rationale for killing over 300 and destroying entire communities by accounts of the mainstream media is 7 dead Israeli citizens from the rocket attacks of groups in the Gaza strip. The truth, of course, is Israel is challenging the new President's loyalty to Zionist causes before he even takes the oath of office. The invasion and bombings were every bit as planned as was the war in Iraq. It was inevitable Israel would start the violence once again and continue it until they get what they want; a government they can control rather than one "democratically" elected.
Of course, the US can't condemn Israel's actions since they are so much like the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. The military strategy is simple; pound the target area with bombs and artillery killing indiscriminately to soften things up. Once the chaos, death and destroyed infrastructure is completed, the ground troops aided by helicopter gunships and on call air support enter and occupy. It's the Falllujah strategy. It was refined in Vietnam and carried over to the Middle East.
We fool ourselves, however, if we think voicing our outrage will do much more than validate that we care about the inhumanity of our biggest ally in the world stage. I don't say we shouldn't voice outrage however futile it is. I do suggest we not forget the great urgency we have to build a stronger coalition of activist that spans all cultures and ethnic groups.We have AIPAC and the military industrial complex to overcome to have our voices heard. Only when the numbers reach the scale of the Vietnam moratorium days or the days of Dr. King will the reasonable voices of peace and justice be heard.
I've worked with many activists in my 60 years of life. The most effective have been the men and women who decried the violence of all sides of conflict. The continued killing of those people caught between the two or more political forces at war isn't true revolution or peace and justice. The eye for an eye mentality so often demontrated by the warring sides is a vile repudiation of peace and justice for anyone.
I've been a participant in this insanity of war. The code was retribution for any of our Marines killed by the other side. If a sniper in a village killed one of us, that village was likely to disappear and evacuation of the innocent wasn't part of the deal. My Lai wasn't an isolated incident of war. That fact is finally coming out forty years after the war in Vietnam.
Retribution and revenge killing is common in wars. If I am to offer my support for the insurgents of Iraq, Afghanistan or Gaza, I'm forgetting the concept of peace and justice. Killing and destruction may make us feel good if it is inflicted on the "bad guys" but we give up a large chunk of our humanity to feel satisfaction about killing other humans.
I read and hear anarchists, liberals, progressives, Marxists, socialists and others talk enthusiastically about the struggle with the thinking violence is a logical tool of the struggle. I hardly ever hear that from the combat veterans who have gone that route. Young idealists with rage and frustration in their heart are misdirected in thinking violence will get them peace and justice. They're quick to recall Malcolm X and other radical figures in the past but forget Malcolm came to the conclusion violence wasn't the path.
Rhetoric about violent revolution is one thing, carrying out violence against a stronger and larger force is another. Entering the battle with spears against tanks, artillery and air power may be brave of those who actually engage but it's pretty damn stupid and a waste of life.
I've heard young radicals talk a good story of resistance and struggle but seen them disappear when heads started getting bashed. I've seen vocal leaders encourage their followers to act in violent ways but they always seem to be missing when the violence they encouraged happens. I've listened to impassioned speakers encourage others to resist and act but the only part they take is their words. They don't face the guns or the prisons. They seldom even risk arrest.
I'm not inclined to listen to rhetoric of phonies encouraging us to act violently, to resist and risk prison or to confront the oppressors if they don't walk their talk. And there's a lot of them out there. Now, folks like Kathy Kelly, Roy Bourgeois, Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson walk the talk and do it nonviolently. Their voices are strong and determined.
So, salute the leaders of violent means of change if you choose but don't expect things to change all that much. The power of the gun is a false god that leads only to more violence.
The rationale for killing over 300 and destroying entire communities by accounts of the mainstream media is 7 dead Israeli citizens from the rocket attacks of groups in the Gaza strip. The truth, of course, is Israel is challenging the new President's loyalty to Zionist causes before he even takes the oath of office. The invasion and bombings were every bit as planned as was the war in Iraq. It was inevitable Israel would start the violence once again and continue it until they get what they want; a government they can control rather than one "democratically" elected.
Of course, the US can't condemn Israel's actions since they are so much like the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. The military strategy is simple; pound the target area with bombs and artillery killing indiscriminately to soften things up. Once the chaos, death and destroyed infrastructure is completed, the ground troops aided by helicopter gunships and on call air support enter and occupy. It's the Falllujah strategy. It was refined in Vietnam and carried over to the Middle East.
We fool ourselves, however, if we think voicing our outrage will do much more than validate that we care about the inhumanity of our biggest ally in the world stage. I don't say we shouldn't voice outrage however futile it is. I do suggest we not forget the great urgency we have to build a stronger coalition of activist that spans all cultures and ethnic groups.We have AIPAC and the military industrial complex to overcome to have our voices heard. Only when the numbers reach the scale of the Vietnam moratorium days or the days of Dr. King will the reasonable voices of peace and justice be heard.
I've worked with many activists in my 60 years of life. The most effective have been the men and women who decried the violence of all sides of conflict. The continued killing of those people caught between the two or more political forces at war isn't true revolution or peace and justice. The eye for an eye mentality so often demontrated by the warring sides is a vile repudiation of peace and justice for anyone.
I've been a participant in this insanity of war. The code was retribution for any of our Marines killed by the other side. If a sniper in a village killed one of us, that village was likely to disappear and evacuation of the innocent wasn't part of the deal. My Lai wasn't an isolated incident of war. That fact is finally coming out forty years after the war in Vietnam.
Retribution and revenge killing is common in wars. If I am to offer my support for the insurgents of Iraq, Afghanistan or Gaza, I'm forgetting the concept of peace and justice. Killing and destruction may make us feel good if it is inflicted on the "bad guys" but we give up a large chunk of our humanity to feel satisfaction about killing other humans.
I read and hear anarchists, liberals, progressives, Marxists, socialists and others talk enthusiastically about the struggle with the thinking violence is a logical tool of the struggle. I hardly ever hear that from the combat veterans who have gone that route. Young idealists with rage and frustration in their heart are misdirected in thinking violence will get them peace and justice. They're quick to recall Malcolm X and other radical figures in the past but forget Malcolm came to the conclusion violence wasn't the path.
Rhetoric about violent revolution is one thing, carrying out violence against a stronger and larger force is another. Entering the battle with spears against tanks, artillery and air power may be brave of those who actually engage but it's pretty damn stupid and a waste of life.
I've heard young radicals talk a good story of resistance and struggle but seen them disappear when heads started getting bashed. I've seen vocal leaders encourage their followers to act in violent ways but they always seem to be missing when the violence they encouraged happens. I've listened to impassioned speakers encourage others to resist and act but the only part they take is their words. They don't face the guns or the prisons. They seldom even risk arrest.
I'm not inclined to listen to rhetoric of phonies encouraging us to act violently, to resist and risk prison or to confront the oppressors if they don't walk their talk. And there's a lot of them out there. Now, folks like Kathy Kelly, Roy Bourgeois, Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson walk the talk and do it nonviolently. Their voices are strong and determined.
So, salute the leaders of violent means of change if you choose but don't expect things to change all that much. The power of the gun is a false god that leads only to more violence.
Monday, December 29
Your Friendship Is Cancelled Unless You Agree With Me
Just wondering this morning about recent comments from people on "facebook" about the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. I fully agree we should all be outraged by the overt aggression against an entire group of people for the actions of fanatics claiming religious cause for their actions. The fanatics firing rockets into civilian areas of Israel are no more religous than the fanatic Zionists claiming to protect Judaism in Israel. These are not religious people! Zionism is not Judaism and the self proclaimed Islamic warriors who kill babies and innocents with bombs aren't true followers of the Muslim faith.
I recently had the temerity to give the opinion being outraged without an activist group of great diversity is like going to a wilderness and screaming our displeasure. With a Zionist Congress and Presidency, a media that is primarily slanted toward Zionism and the power given AIPAC just being outraged activists won't bring any changes. The outrage from reasonable people won't be heard or taken seriously until there is a larger and more powerful coalition of many groups of people expressing outrage.
I also refused to go along with the thinking that Hamas is without some responsibility of the violence going on in Gaza and Palestine. Thinking fanatics on one side killing children are "freedom fighters" and fanatics on the other side killing children are aggressors misses the point of why we should be outraged.
The fanatics of both sides, or all sides, that continue to perpetuate violence have trapped the majority of the people in Palestine and Israel in constant violence and fear. They hold the Palestinian and Israeli people hostage with their hatred and violence. And they hold the world hostage because the American government continues to rubber stamp and supply the Zionists in their aggression.
There is no doubt Zionism had a master plan to displace the indigenous people of Palestine to create a "Jewish homeland". That movement began at the beginning of the 20th Century. David Ben-Gurion and others continued to formulate plans to achieve the reclaiming of the "homeland" until WWII presented them the perfect opportunity. The fanatics of Zionism saw the Halocaust as an opportunity to justify stealing Palestinian land for their own.
The hatred and religious fanaticism has gone on for centuries at the expense of innocent people desiring peace and the chance to dream of the future. And the hatred is a double-edged sword where Zionism posing as Judaism and terrorists posing as Muslim freedom fighters take anybody in the way with them into the bloody abyss of violence.
Apparently some took exception to such thinking when posted on a thread decrying the current atrocities in Gaza. My friendship on "facebook" was "canceled" by the person who made the original post. Unfortunately, we've known each other for a few years and I continue to be a great supporter of the person who "cancelled" me as a friend.
It seems immature to believe we can overlook the violence of one side killing children and innocent people and condemn the other doing the same. Since the cycle of violence is centuries old and there's arguments by both sides who started things, both sides deserve our condemnation for perpetuating violence trapping a majority of people wanting peace.
I strongly believe the American people should pressure their government to end the free pass to the Zionists running the Israeli government. I'm outraged American taxpayers fund a large part of the Israeli military from jets to rifles. I'm sick of AIPAC using financial influence to further the cause of Zionist aggression.
I'm just as sick of fake religious leaders using the Muslim religion to further their part of the violence. I'm sick of the fanatics who would blow up babies and innocent school children who claim to be freedom fighters. They are no better than Zionists claiming to be fighting for Judaism. And it is naive and foolish for American liberals and activists to perceive the perpetrators of violence against Zionism by way of killing innocents as freedom fighters as much as it is foolish and racist for supporters of Israel to think mass violence against an entire people for the actions of a few fanatics is acceptable.
Cancelling my "friendship" because I happen to see the need for both groups of murderers to be held responsible for their vile deeds is childish. Closing ourselves off from honest debate about this issue when we disagree with someone doesn't help us grow as a person it makes us ideologues and apologists for one group's violence and misdeeds.
I think if we were to ask the Palestinian people, the Israeli people or the people of Iraq and Afghanistan what they want most it wouldn't be the death of one another. I think they would want lasting peace and opportunity to see their families grow and thrive. I believe that to be the common desire of most humans. I think the eye for an eye mentality of killers claiming religious or nationalistic reason is no longer accepted by most people.
I recently had the temerity to give the opinion being outraged without an activist group of great diversity is like going to a wilderness and screaming our displeasure. With a Zionist Congress and Presidency, a media that is primarily slanted toward Zionism and the power given AIPAC just being outraged activists won't bring any changes. The outrage from reasonable people won't be heard or taken seriously until there is a larger and more powerful coalition of many groups of people expressing outrage.
I also refused to go along with the thinking that Hamas is without some responsibility of the violence going on in Gaza and Palestine. Thinking fanatics on one side killing children are "freedom fighters" and fanatics on the other side killing children are aggressors misses the point of why we should be outraged.
The fanatics of both sides, or all sides, that continue to perpetuate violence have trapped the majority of the people in Palestine and Israel in constant violence and fear. They hold the Palestinian and Israeli people hostage with their hatred and violence. And they hold the world hostage because the American government continues to rubber stamp and supply the Zionists in their aggression.
There is no doubt Zionism had a master plan to displace the indigenous people of Palestine to create a "Jewish homeland". That movement began at the beginning of the 20th Century. David Ben-Gurion and others continued to formulate plans to achieve the reclaiming of the "homeland" until WWII presented them the perfect opportunity. The fanatics of Zionism saw the Halocaust as an opportunity to justify stealing Palestinian land for their own.
The hatred and religious fanaticism has gone on for centuries at the expense of innocent people desiring peace and the chance to dream of the future. And the hatred is a double-edged sword where Zionism posing as Judaism and terrorists posing as Muslim freedom fighters take anybody in the way with them into the bloody abyss of violence.
Apparently some took exception to such thinking when posted on a thread decrying the current atrocities in Gaza. My friendship on "facebook" was "canceled" by the person who made the original post. Unfortunately, we've known each other for a few years and I continue to be a great supporter of the person who "cancelled" me as a friend.
It seems immature to believe we can overlook the violence of one side killing children and innocent people and condemn the other doing the same. Since the cycle of violence is centuries old and there's arguments by both sides who started things, both sides deserve our condemnation for perpetuating violence trapping a majority of people wanting peace.
I strongly believe the American people should pressure their government to end the free pass to the Zionists running the Israeli government. I'm outraged American taxpayers fund a large part of the Israeli military from jets to rifles. I'm sick of AIPAC using financial influence to further the cause of Zionist aggression.
I'm just as sick of fake religious leaders using the Muslim religion to further their part of the violence. I'm sick of the fanatics who would blow up babies and innocent school children who claim to be freedom fighters. They are no better than Zionists claiming to be fighting for Judaism. And it is naive and foolish for American liberals and activists to perceive the perpetrators of violence against Zionism by way of killing innocents as freedom fighters as much as it is foolish and racist for supporters of Israel to think mass violence against an entire people for the actions of a few fanatics is acceptable.
Cancelling my "friendship" because I happen to see the need for both groups of murderers to be held responsible for their vile deeds is childish. Closing ourselves off from honest debate about this issue when we disagree with someone doesn't help us grow as a person it makes us ideologues and apologists for one group's violence and misdeeds.
I think if we were to ask the Palestinian people, the Israeli people or the people of Iraq and Afghanistan what they want most it wouldn't be the death of one another. I think they would want lasting peace and opportunity to see their families grow and thrive. I believe that to be the common desire of most humans. I think the eye for an eye mentality of killers claiming religious or nationalistic reason is no longer accepted by most people.
Saturday, December 20
Bend Over, America
The American worker no longer has to wonder what will happen in these times of economic crisis. Already city and state governments are trying to balance their budgets on the back of their employees. Here in Denver, the mayor has asked the police, fire and sheriff department employees to take a 2% wage decrease or face possible layoffs. This follows rancorous wage negotiations between the city and police just last year which finally ended with a modest increase over a multi-year time.
The sheriffs just got their first significant increase in many years and a new city jail is well on the way to completion despite efforts by some to divert the money to programs that could intercede to stop incarceration, treat drug and alcohol addictions and improve schools; all proven preventative methods to avoid the ever growing imprisonment of a certain population of citizens. That would be people of color. With staff cuts, the new jail will immediately be short of qualified staff to adequately do the needed duties.
My guess is John Hickenlooper, the Opie acting mayor of Denver, has the cynical plan of going after the “heroes” who wear flag pins on the job first before the next request of city employees in other areas. If the badge guys and gals accept the decrease in wages they become role models for the rest of the work force.
There is no doubt in my mind the rest of management in all areas of the work force will be following the plan of making cuts on the backs of workers. Local government will also continue the trend to cut budgets in the safety net of Medicaid clients, the homeless, mentally ill and all other programs of human services. The weakest and poorest of this nation just don’t have advocates and political action committees like AIPAC and the defense contractors.
Over 400 billion dollars have bled from the American treasury to “bail out” Wall Street, automakers, insurance giants and other corporate giants but the American worker will have to face the foreclosure threat with less in their pay check. Health insurance will become more costly and families will have to choose between food or paying for catastrophic illness and injury. Elderly Americans will have to choose between food and life-saving medications. The mentally ill will have to choose between psychosis and relapse or paying co-pays that take away their monthly grocery money. And, we must ask where is the money for the alleged bail out going? Certainly not to the citizens most in need. Not even to the middle class families facing foreclosure and needing to go to the local food banks.
I’m sorry, why is it the American people don’t want to organize their workplaces? Is it because they can’t get enough abuse from the bosses who will continue to get bonuses from CEOs who continue to make obscene amounts in salary more than the average worker? Is it because they can no longer afford health and dental insurance? Certainly becoming homeless wasn’t what the workers felt came with their jobs.
All these dilemmas and many more continue to face the workers as they continue to be targeted as the problem in the economic meltdown. None of the greedy corporate masters are going to have to be responsible for their key roles in causing the meltdown. No politician allowing the regulation free world of Wall Street will pay for their role in the largest theft in history. The war machine continues to suck the life out of the American citizen and there appears no end is in sight. The bad economy favors reenlistments and new enlistments as jobs become impossible to find for the inadequately educated American students.
First there was the fear Wall Street was collapsing and taking a majority of American pensions with it. Then, it was either bail out or the end of the American economic system. Then, the Big Three automakers came to DC begging for financial aid. When it appeared a deal was done, anti-union Senators reneged because the UAW wouldn’t accept further concessions of pay and benefits. The finger was pointed at the workers while the malfeasance and criminal tactics of brokers, traders, politicians and the wealthy was pushed aside.
Since it worked so well against the UAW, the next step was to blame the rest of the workforce. That effort has started in earnest and soon we’ll all feel guilty about failing our country in a time of need, bend over, and take it like we always have done in the past.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Denver VVAW member
The sheriffs just got their first significant increase in many years and a new city jail is well on the way to completion despite efforts by some to divert the money to programs that could intercede to stop incarceration, treat drug and alcohol addictions and improve schools; all proven preventative methods to avoid the ever growing imprisonment of a certain population of citizens. That would be people of color. With staff cuts, the new jail will immediately be short of qualified staff to adequately do the needed duties.
My guess is John Hickenlooper, the Opie acting mayor of Denver, has the cynical plan of going after the “heroes” who wear flag pins on the job first before the next request of city employees in other areas. If the badge guys and gals accept the decrease in wages they become role models for the rest of the work force.
There is no doubt in my mind the rest of management in all areas of the work force will be following the plan of making cuts on the backs of workers. Local government will also continue the trend to cut budgets in the safety net of Medicaid clients, the homeless, mentally ill and all other programs of human services. The weakest and poorest of this nation just don’t have advocates and political action committees like AIPAC and the defense contractors.
Over 400 billion dollars have bled from the American treasury to “bail out” Wall Street, automakers, insurance giants and other corporate giants but the American worker will have to face the foreclosure threat with less in their pay check. Health insurance will become more costly and families will have to choose between food or paying for catastrophic illness and injury. Elderly Americans will have to choose between food and life-saving medications. The mentally ill will have to choose between psychosis and relapse or paying co-pays that take away their monthly grocery money. And, we must ask where is the money for the alleged bail out going? Certainly not to the citizens most in need. Not even to the middle class families facing foreclosure and needing to go to the local food banks.
I’m sorry, why is it the American people don’t want to organize their workplaces? Is it because they can’t get enough abuse from the bosses who will continue to get bonuses from CEOs who continue to make obscene amounts in salary more than the average worker? Is it because they can no longer afford health and dental insurance? Certainly becoming homeless wasn’t what the workers felt came with their jobs.
All these dilemmas and many more continue to face the workers as they continue to be targeted as the problem in the economic meltdown. None of the greedy corporate masters are going to have to be responsible for their key roles in causing the meltdown. No politician allowing the regulation free world of Wall Street will pay for their role in the largest theft in history. The war machine continues to suck the life out of the American citizen and there appears no end is in sight. The bad economy favors reenlistments and new enlistments as jobs become impossible to find for the inadequately educated American students.
First there was the fear Wall Street was collapsing and taking a majority of American pensions with it. Then, it was either bail out or the end of the American economic system. Then, the Big Three automakers came to DC begging for financial aid. When it appeared a deal was done, anti-union Senators reneged because the UAW wouldn’t accept further concessions of pay and benefits. The finger was pointed at the workers while the malfeasance and criminal tactics of brokers, traders, politicians and the wealthy was pushed aside.
Since it worked so well against the UAW, the next step was to blame the rest of the workforce. That effort has started in earnest and soon we’ll all feel guilty about failing our country in a time of need, bend over, and take it like we always have done in the past.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Denver VVAW member
Monday, December 15
A Dying Labor Movement Wounds Us All
It certainly is no surprise the Congressional prostitutes of “big business” have targeted UAW as the problem in recent hearings and meetings to bail out the “Big Three” auto-makers of the US. And, of course, the non-union states catering to the Japanese auto-makers had Senators leading the charge against union members in the former "industrial states".
It has been clear for some time Republicans, and many of the so-called progressive Democrats, have done their best to bust the unions of America in an attempt to further erode the rights of workers and fatten the wallets of the multi-national corporate world.
The saddest part of the discussion about unionism in America is that the corporate world is succeeding in the dismantling of unions. Unions now make up less than 25% of the workforce in the US. But we can’t put the blame entirely on the lackeys of the rich oligarchy. For some unfathomable reason the American worker tends to put more faith in the bosses of the world than other workers who seek some equity and justice in their work for CEOs making 500-1,000 times more in salary than the average worker.
For some reason American workers are stuck on the idea of paying dues “to work” as an affront to them but meekly allow the bosses of Wal-Mart to continually abuse them and deny them a living wage. They allow foreign automakers to reduce benefit packages for healthcare and retirement plus tie the retirement into a volatile stock market. For some reason American workers think the bosses will treat them fairly while the union will cause them to get laid off.
The recent uprising by the Republic Window workers in Chicago is a classic example of the union versus the non-union workforce. Republic management gave the 250 workers less than a week’s notice the company was going out of business. To make matters worse the vacation/sick pay and promised severance pay in the union contract wouldn’t be paid by management because their financier, Bank of America, refused to put up any more credit for the company.
Unbeknownst to the union workers, at first, was the fact Republic was closing the union company at the same time they were opening a new company in another part of the country friendlier to business interests. The new code of the time for “friendlier to business interests” means, of course, unions aren’t welcome. Sure enough, the new company, Echo, was opened as a non-union shop without the “high” wages and expensive benefit package that meant all workers could afford health insurance and dental.
The 250 workers at the defunct Republic decided they weren’t going to put up with the rip off of vacation and severance pay they had legitimately earned. They were especially enraged Bank of America was withholding money to pay Republic’s workers the money due them. Bank of America had just received over 25 billion dollars in the “bailout” program to save America from economic disaster. And, like the many fat cats receiving the money intended to open up credit to businesses, Bank of America was holding on to their billions to make their own bottom line look good to investors.
The workers of Republic took over the closed company’s work place with a sit in. Word of their revolt soon reached the media and spread like a wildfire across the nation. A worker revolt in America was a surefire story because it was very unusual any worker in this nation stood up for themselves against the corporate masters. Union leaders attempted to arrange meetings with Bank of America and Republic management but Bank of America failed to meet the union leaders.
A strange thing began to happen, though. Americans identified with the injustice of the 250 workers of Republic facing unemployment without notice and without being paid for what they had rightfully earned. As usual, politicians came into things late, once they saw the public was outraged and the political fallout could be a problem. Soon President-elect Obama was calling for justice to be served for the workers. Only a few days later Bank of America changed course and negotiated with the union leaders to have the workers paid what was owed.
The uprising by the union members against Republic and Bank of America is an example of a strategy that needs to be used by all activists and the American worker. It was clear the worker was morally right in taking their stand against the company and the financier. Publicity of the injustice struck a note with most Americans facing similar situations of unemployment and loss of benefits. Bank of America had a choice of looking like the evil money grubbers they truly are or defusing the outrage by doing what was right. They paid the workers to avoid the negative image being seen by so many.
Only a few days after Bank of America paid the union workers of Republic the money they had rightfully earned, BOA announced layoffs of 35,000 workers across the nation. Happy holidays, Bank of America workers! Where’s the union to protect you from losing accumulated vacation and retirement pay? Weren’t the billions of dollars provided Bank of America intended to stimulate the economy? Apparently keeping Americans working isn’t part of such a plan.
Soon after the bailout GM, Ford and Chrysler CEOs came before Congress asking for their own bailout package. The first trip to Congress saw them arriving in three separate corporate jets. Nothing like flaunting their power and wealth to impress the public and Congress of the great need for bailout. Pressured by already angry constituents who saw the 250 billion bailout of Wall Street as a scam for the wealthy, Congress feigned outrage toward the auto-makers. The bailout was refused until the CEOs were prepared to provide a detailed plan on how the money they asked for would be spent and assurances the plans would include alternative fuel cars.
It was sickening to watch members of the prostituted Congress chastise CEOs of corporate America that often times buy favors from them. Their outrage was simply incongruent with the facts of political campaigns and political action committees. Drama Queen Pelosi and others looked like poor actors in a small town theatre production.
Now, there was certainly nothing wrong with scolding the CEOs of the “Big Three” and demanding a spending plan but we have to wonder why the same standards weren’t demanded of AIG and all the other Wall Street types when they received far more than the automakers were asking.
The 250 billion plus bailout of Wall Street firms basically came with no strings attached. There was a hopeful expectation the money would be invested in reopening lines of credit for business and helping home owners refinance from onerous loans causing record foreclosures. Of course, Wall Street failed to meet any such expectation. Instead they continued to schedule bonuses for management, prepared golden parachutes for themselves (just in case) and openly went off to luxurious retreats at warm resorts.
Rep. Barney Frank has since gone on national television programs like 60 Minutes saying “you can’t make anybody do what they don’t want to do”. Since Frank is head of a committee on banking and finance he wields great power but he’s disingenuous in his attempt to say there were conditions in the legislation for the 250 billion dollar bailout he, Paulson and Bernacke worked out. The carte blanche bailout of the rich was more a sell out than a bailout.
As we look around the landscape of the crashing American economy we can see the obvious greed factor as one of the major causes for the collapse. We can see hedge funds and selling short practices causing artificial wealth for the suckers hoping to invest in a fair marketplace. All the while, Wall Street became like a big crap game in some New York alley. Bettors put bets on the failures of certain companies in order to win huge sums of money. They used the ruse of calling such bets hedges or insurance but any gambler could tell us Las Vegas casinos run the same schemes.
So, along come the automakers asking for their payday in order to keep hundreds of thousands of union workers employed. At first the arrogant CEOs totally failed to include the UAW in the request for the bailout. Why would they want to include the workers that made their product in any plea for financial help?
On their second visit to Congress, the CEOs came by hybrid cars and had a plan. They included the UAW in negotiations with the Senate once the House passed a bill giving the automakers an original assistance package of 12 billion to tide them over until the Obama Administration took power.
Once the bill got to the Senate, Republican Senators decided they had the perfect opportunity to further weaken unionism by demanding the UAW concede lower wages and benefit packages as a good faith sign of “doing their fair share”. The UAW leadership balked at further wage and benefit concessions. Already they had offered future concessions in addition to the wages and benefits lost in the past twenty years to help keep the factories open. The CEOs had made a public spectacle of offering to accept only one dollar salary for the upcoming year to show their good faith. Of course, they had already prepared their finances for golden parachutes and offshore accounts.
Much is made of the average cost of labor being approximately seventy three dollars an hour for the Detroit automakers. The truth is the average worker’s wage at GM, Ford and Chrysler is around twenty five dollars an hour before benefits. The benefits have been consistently cut over the past two decades. The figures being spewed by anti-union politicians in bed with big business included money being paid workers already retired and the astronomical salaries of CEOs and management. In no other nation does an executive of a corporation make a salary a hundred times more than an average skilled worker.
Many say we should allow the American automakers to go bankrupt since they have mismanaged their business. Truthfully, the CEOs and management of the “Big Three” know they can’t lose either way. With bankruptcy, union contracts can be dismantled, pensions can be stolen and the smaller suppliers won’t be paid. The template has already been forged by the airline industry when they used bankruptcy as a tool to either destroy or fatally weaken their unions. Union members lost over half their accumulated pensions and they saw benefits shrink for healthcare. Wages remain stagnant and seldom match increasing costs of living.
And, of course, the union haters of the Senate blame the failure to give the automakers a financial bailout on the unions. The blue collar worker is being blamed for the problems with the economy not the greedy and cynical tycoons and brokers who have built the house of cards bound to crash on Wall Street.
I can only wonder how the brokers betting for companies to fail and then manipulating stocks to accomplish the failures sleep at night. I wonder how they can pose as patriotic while they systematically and deliberately drive companies out of business causing countless men and women to lose their jobs. And, then the same criminals have the gall to seek bailouts to rescue them from their own destructive practices and their prostitutes in Congress go along with the biggest rip off in American history. But, of course, the blame goes to the worker.
The American workers have become foolish sheep who continue to believe management is their ally despite every indication management will abuse and use them until they decide to excuse them from the workforce. Health benefits continue to decline with over 40% of Americans uninsured. Pension funds in 401K and 403K programs have lost 40-50% of their value in the crooked stock market of Wall Street. Job security is worse than any time since the Great Depression. Two wars bleed our youth and the money from our treasury while making enemies around the world. The failed economy has been a boon for enlistments and reenlistments. Treaties of globalization have devalued the wages of all workers worldwide.
The American worker wants to believe the villain is the union taking dues from their pay but fail to see the only reason their pay is where it’s at is because unions negotiate higher wages for union shops and the threat of unionism forces non-union shops to concede higher pay for their workers to stave off possible organizing. But big businesses, along with their lackeys in Congress, have created large campaigns to vilify and nullify unionism as Marxist, socialist and evil incarnate. And few Americans have any clue what the general principles of Marxism and socialism really are.
American workers need to understand the conspiracy against them is one which will indenture them to corporate power even more than it already does when the unions are destroyed. There are more than financial costs at stake for big business. They want total control of the worker. Breaking up the labor movement is the biggest step toward that goal.
Destruction of the middle class is already well under way. The oligarchy of America grows even bigger and stronger while the American worker foolishly thinks management has their best interests in mind by protecting them from the plague of unionism. Rising unemployment and covert and overt ageism, racism, misogyny and homophobia in the workplace are all signs management has no intention of allowing “undesirables” any power.
Undesirables are those who desire and seek economic justice such as a living wage with benefits to avoid total financial havoc in case of illness or damaging accident. Undesirables are those who want workers to have some security in the latter years of their lives in form of pensions that are stable and not dependent on the stock market.
I foresee a time when the workers of America will be not much better off than the Chinese or Thai slave laborer. I see workers being looked at as interchangeable parts that are thrown away when no longer able to do enough or when making too much. These things are already happening today. Only the labor movement has kept total management oppression of the workers from happening. When we kill the movement we kill ourselves as free people in the workforce.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Combat veteran
Former union nurse and pipefitter
It has been clear for some time Republicans, and many of the so-called progressive Democrats, have done their best to bust the unions of America in an attempt to further erode the rights of workers and fatten the wallets of the multi-national corporate world.
The saddest part of the discussion about unionism in America is that the corporate world is succeeding in the dismantling of unions. Unions now make up less than 25% of the workforce in the US. But we can’t put the blame entirely on the lackeys of the rich oligarchy. For some unfathomable reason the American worker tends to put more faith in the bosses of the world than other workers who seek some equity and justice in their work for CEOs making 500-1,000 times more in salary than the average worker.
For some reason American workers are stuck on the idea of paying dues “to work” as an affront to them but meekly allow the bosses of Wal-Mart to continually abuse them and deny them a living wage. They allow foreign automakers to reduce benefit packages for healthcare and retirement plus tie the retirement into a volatile stock market. For some reason American workers think the bosses will treat them fairly while the union will cause them to get laid off.
The recent uprising by the Republic Window workers in Chicago is a classic example of the union versus the non-union workforce. Republic management gave the 250 workers less than a week’s notice the company was going out of business. To make matters worse the vacation/sick pay and promised severance pay in the union contract wouldn’t be paid by management because their financier, Bank of America, refused to put up any more credit for the company.
Unbeknownst to the union workers, at first, was the fact Republic was closing the union company at the same time they were opening a new company in another part of the country friendlier to business interests. The new code of the time for “friendlier to business interests” means, of course, unions aren’t welcome. Sure enough, the new company, Echo, was opened as a non-union shop without the “high” wages and expensive benefit package that meant all workers could afford health insurance and dental.
The 250 workers at the defunct Republic decided they weren’t going to put up with the rip off of vacation and severance pay they had legitimately earned. They were especially enraged Bank of America was withholding money to pay Republic’s workers the money due them. Bank of America had just received over 25 billion dollars in the “bailout” program to save America from economic disaster. And, like the many fat cats receiving the money intended to open up credit to businesses, Bank of America was holding on to their billions to make their own bottom line look good to investors.
The workers of Republic took over the closed company’s work place with a sit in. Word of their revolt soon reached the media and spread like a wildfire across the nation. A worker revolt in America was a surefire story because it was very unusual any worker in this nation stood up for themselves against the corporate masters. Union leaders attempted to arrange meetings with Bank of America and Republic management but Bank of America failed to meet the union leaders.
A strange thing began to happen, though. Americans identified with the injustice of the 250 workers of Republic facing unemployment without notice and without being paid for what they had rightfully earned. As usual, politicians came into things late, once they saw the public was outraged and the political fallout could be a problem. Soon President-elect Obama was calling for justice to be served for the workers. Only a few days later Bank of America changed course and negotiated with the union leaders to have the workers paid what was owed.
The uprising by the union members against Republic and Bank of America is an example of a strategy that needs to be used by all activists and the American worker. It was clear the worker was morally right in taking their stand against the company and the financier. Publicity of the injustice struck a note with most Americans facing similar situations of unemployment and loss of benefits. Bank of America had a choice of looking like the evil money grubbers they truly are or defusing the outrage by doing what was right. They paid the workers to avoid the negative image being seen by so many.
Only a few days after Bank of America paid the union workers of Republic the money they had rightfully earned, BOA announced layoffs of 35,000 workers across the nation. Happy holidays, Bank of America workers! Where’s the union to protect you from losing accumulated vacation and retirement pay? Weren’t the billions of dollars provided Bank of America intended to stimulate the economy? Apparently keeping Americans working isn’t part of such a plan.
Soon after the bailout GM, Ford and Chrysler CEOs came before Congress asking for their own bailout package. The first trip to Congress saw them arriving in three separate corporate jets. Nothing like flaunting their power and wealth to impress the public and Congress of the great need for bailout. Pressured by already angry constituents who saw the 250 billion bailout of Wall Street as a scam for the wealthy, Congress feigned outrage toward the auto-makers. The bailout was refused until the CEOs were prepared to provide a detailed plan on how the money they asked for would be spent and assurances the plans would include alternative fuel cars.
It was sickening to watch members of the prostituted Congress chastise CEOs of corporate America that often times buy favors from them. Their outrage was simply incongruent with the facts of political campaigns and political action committees. Drama Queen Pelosi and others looked like poor actors in a small town theatre production.
Now, there was certainly nothing wrong with scolding the CEOs of the “Big Three” and demanding a spending plan but we have to wonder why the same standards weren’t demanded of AIG and all the other Wall Street types when they received far more than the automakers were asking.
The 250 billion plus bailout of Wall Street firms basically came with no strings attached. There was a hopeful expectation the money would be invested in reopening lines of credit for business and helping home owners refinance from onerous loans causing record foreclosures. Of course, Wall Street failed to meet any such expectation. Instead they continued to schedule bonuses for management, prepared golden parachutes for themselves (just in case) and openly went off to luxurious retreats at warm resorts.
Rep. Barney Frank has since gone on national television programs like 60 Minutes saying “you can’t make anybody do what they don’t want to do”. Since Frank is head of a committee on banking and finance he wields great power but he’s disingenuous in his attempt to say there were conditions in the legislation for the 250 billion dollar bailout he, Paulson and Bernacke worked out. The carte blanche bailout of the rich was more a sell out than a bailout.
As we look around the landscape of the crashing American economy we can see the obvious greed factor as one of the major causes for the collapse. We can see hedge funds and selling short practices causing artificial wealth for the suckers hoping to invest in a fair marketplace. All the while, Wall Street became like a big crap game in some New York alley. Bettors put bets on the failures of certain companies in order to win huge sums of money. They used the ruse of calling such bets hedges or insurance but any gambler could tell us Las Vegas casinos run the same schemes.
So, along come the automakers asking for their payday in order to keep hundreds of thousands of union workers employed. At first the arrogant CEOs totally failed to include the UAW in the request for the bailout. Why would they want to include the workers that made their product in any plea for financial help?
On their second visit to Congress, the CEOs came by hybrid cars and had a plan. They included the UAW in negotiations with the Senate once the House passed a bill giving the automakers an original assistance package of 12 billion to tide them over until the Obama Administration took power.
Once the bill got to the Senate, Republican Senators decided they had the perfect opportunity to further weaken unionism by demanding the UAW concede lower wages and benefit packages as a good faith sign of “doing their fair share”. The UAW leadership balked at further wage and benefit concessions. Already they had offered future concessions in addition to the wages and benefits lost in the past twenty years to help keep the factories open. The CEOs had made a public spectacle of offering to accept only one dollar salary for the upcoming year to show their good faith. Of course, they had already prepared their finances for golden parachutes and offshore accounts.
Much is made of the average cost of labor being approximately seventy three dollars an hour for the Detroit automakers. The truth is the average worker’s wage at GM, Ford and Chrysler is around twenty five dollars an hour before benefits. The benefits have been consistently cut over the past two decades. The figures being spewed by anti-union politicians in bed with big business included money being paid workers already retired and the astronomical salaries of CEOs and management. In no other nation does an executive of a corporation make a salary a hundred times more than an average skilled worker.
Many say we should allow the American automakers to go bankrupt since they have mismanaged their business. Truthfully, the CEOs and management of the “Big Three” know they can’t lose either way. With bankruptcy, union contracts can be dismantled, pensions can be stolen and the smaller suppliers won’t be paid. The template has already been forged by the airline industry when they used bankruptcy as a tool to either destroy or fatally weaken their unions. Union members lost over half their accumulated pensions and they saw benefits shrink for healthcare. Wages remain stagnant and seldom match increasing costs of living.
And, of course, the union haters of the Senate blame the failure to give the automakers a financial bailout on the unions. The blue collar worker is being blamed for the problems with the economy not the greedy and cynical tycoons and brokers who have built the house of cards bound to crash on Wall Street.
I can only wonder how the brokers betting for companies to fail and then manipulating stocks to accomplish the failures sleep at night. I wonder how they can pose as patriotic while they systematically and deliberately drive companies out of business causing countless men and women to lose their jobs. And, then the same criminals have the gall to seek bailouts to rescue them from their own destructive practices and their prostitutes in Congress go along with the biggest rip off in American history. But, of course, the blame goes to the worker.
The American workers have become foolish sheep who continue to believe management is their ally despite every indication management will abuse and use them until they decide to excuse them from the workforce. Health benefits continue to decline with over 40% of Americans uninsured. Pension funds in 401K and 403K programs have lost 40-50% of their value in the crooked stock market of Wall Street. Job security is worse than any time since the Great Depression. Two wars bleed our youth and the money from our treasury while making enemies around the world. The failed economy has been a boon for enlistments and reenlistments. Treaties of globalization have devalued the wages of all workers worldwide.
The American worker wants to believe the villain is the union taking dues from their pay but fail to see the only reason their pay is where it’s at is because unions negotiate higher wages for union shops and the threat of unionism forces non-union shops to concede higher pay for their workers to stave off possible organizing. But big businesses, along with their lackeys in Congress, have created large campaigns to vilify and nullify unionism as Marxist, socialist and evil incarnate. And few Americans have any clue what the general principles of Marxism and socialism really are.
American workers need to understand the conspiracy against them is one which will indenture them to corporate power even more than it already does when the unions are destroyed. There are more than financial costs at stake for big business. They want total control of the worker. Breaking up the labor movement is the biggest step toward that goal.
Destruction of the middle class is already well under way. The oligarchy of America grows even bigger and stronger while the American worker foolishly thinks management has their best interests in mind by protecting them from the plague of unionism. Rising unemployment and covert and overt ageism, racism, misogyny and homophobia in the workplace are all signs management has no intention of allowing “undesirables” any power.
Undesirables are those who desire and seek economic justice such as a living wage with benefits to avoid total financial havoc in case of illness or damaging accident. Undesirables are those who want workers to have some security in the latter years of their lives in form of pensions that are stable and not dependent on the stock market.
I foresee a time when the workers of America will be not much better off than the Chinese or Thai slave laborer. I see workers being looked at as interchangeable parts that are thrown away when no longer able to do enough or when making too much. These things are already happening today. Only the labor movement has kept total management oppression of the workers from happening. When we kill the movement we kill ourselves as free people in the workforce.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Combat veteran
Former union nurse and pipefitter
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