Bernie Sanders, Burning Down America's Political Establishment

THE GOOD NEWS IS, BERNIE SANDERS, independent U.S. Senator from Vermont, self proclaimed socialist, is running for president, as a democrat, challenging the almighty Hillary. The bad news is, his chances seem slim to none. It would require a seismic shift in the electorate, an uprising of the young and restless. Sanders advocates public financing of political campaigns, the breaking up of the big banks, and free college for all who qualify, among other left wing causes. How he would pay for college is uncertain; best guess is that he would gut the military, which could be gutted deeply and still remain by far the world's strongest, capable of maintaining and defending the great American global corporate empire which we all love, cherish, or, in the case of liberals, ignore. We could save money on political campaigns by legislating nine easy words: "the sale and purchase of political advertising is prohibited". Then, require all media outlets to provide free time to candidates, in reasonable quantities. Its time for the rest of us to stop letting our ultra conservative fellow citizens demonize the word "socialism", and maybe Bernie can do it. We have socialized fire and police protection, socialized city streets, sewers, state and federal highways, and socialized schools. Then too, medicare, medicaid, and social security. And, come to think of it, our military is not privately owned for profit, now, is it? There is nothing, really, not to like about any of America's socialist institutions. They all work like a charm. So you think Bernie hasn't a chance? Bear in mind that in 1920, and again in 1932, socialist and communist candidates for U.S. president got over a million votes. If Bernie can help America understand that every republican running for president is a complete, intellectually accomplished lunatic, and that Hillary is old hat, a watered down conservative, and if he can get America's college campuses fired up like people such as Ross Perot and Ron Paul have proven can be done, you never know. Bernie might just set fire to the moribund establishment, and burn the conservative house down.

Burning Down Baltimore, Getting In the Game

GRANTED, THE "PROTEST" IN BALTIMORE became a riot, with stealing, burning, and looting. Give Obama dredit; he knows crime when he sees it, and he identifies it. Of course, he used to live on the south side of Chicago, so he certainly should. Granted, there are many leaders within the African-American community who spend more time applying make up than tangibly assisting the eternal crusade against racial injustice. Granted, the Baltimore targedy was not about race, at least, according to many locals, even though the looters and rioters were, according to cameras, all African-American. And, finally, granted, the best way for people of whatever skin pigmentation to advance in life is to work hard, get an education, and play by the rules. But is that all there is to it? Is that it? Somewhow, something seems to be missing here. Before our black brethren and sistern can get started on their higher education, doesn't George Wallace have to step aside, and quit blocking the door? He already did that, you say? OK, fine. Then don't we need to dramatically upgrade public schools in our inner American cities, instead of closing them? Yes, of course, much progress had been made. Those of us eixty years old or older have seen it, close up. Public restrooms and water fountains are now for everyone, they aint no mo white only and colored only, and so forth, blah blah blah. But have we the American cracker community formally, officially, and completely eliminated racism from our collective, societal hearts of hearts? Do those among us with dark brown skin rather than light brown skin really have an equal chance at that good job? All other things being equal, believe it or not want to, at one time or another, nearly every sociology department of every major American University has asked this very question. And they have answered it using a wide variety of useful techniques, including graduate students, extensive surveys, and numerous other forms of intelligence and scientific analysis. Every single study has yielded the same answer. Repeatedly, conclusively, the answer is: no. We have not eliminated racism in America. It is, in fact, as prevalent as ever, albeit in more subtle, less visible forms. White guy gets the job, black man does not. Send out a thousand completed job apps, to employers all over the fruited plain, half of them black sounding, half white sounding, in terms of names and essays, and, all other things being equal, the white guy gets hired, every time, all across America, in business after business, job after job. It never fails. It is no coincidence. It is demonstrable, plain, residual, lingering racism. And don't give me that crap about ivory tower intellectuals, out of touch with reality. The opposite is true. Science works. Universities, using science, always find the truth, no matter how long it takes, because science is self correcting, redundantly self checking, and in the end, it all adds up. Hence, our modern science based lifestyle. America, despite all its greatness and virtue, remains, at heart, a deeply racist country. And you can talk about playing by the rules instead of burning down Baltimore and stopping the race card industry all you want. No matter who you are, or what color, if you are going to succeed in life, if you are going to win in life's game, you must first be given a chance to get in the game.

The National Football League, Coming Clean

I FREELY ADMIT THAT I don't know much, and until today, for example, I had no idea that the National Football League is registered with the United States government as a philanthropic, non profit, tax exempt entity. Even though I've been soaking up the on field action for fifty years, I never had any idea. Excuse me? All that, for an obviously profit seeking profit making business enterprise which just last year grossed an estimated six billion American dollarinos. What do they do, drop a few coins in March of Dimes buckets? Volunteer as escorts and body guards at United Way fund raisers? Lend celebrity appearances for worthy causes? Something, surely. Breaking news: the NFL intends to surrender its non profit tax exempt status, post haste! Maybe it will even stop letting America's tax payers pay for their stadiums, but don't count on it. Cash flow considerations. Why forego their enviable non profit status? To avoid financial disclosure laws? To hide Commissioner Goodell's multi million dollar salary? Public relations? Could be Pee Ar. Bear in mind that the League is going to be out at least a billion dollars, and likely much more, for damage compensation to former players who sufered, and are still suffering, the ill effects of concussions, which for decades were called "getting your bell rung", laughed at, dismisssed as unavoidable, unimportant reasons to sit out only a few minutes, then jump right back into the game. Next thing you know, they'll go back to leather helments, and start holding their heads up and away from contact, rather than using said heads, as they currently do, as speartips. And hell, who knows? Perhpas the League will actually start contributing something financially to their respective communities, as it questionably claims it already does, start paying for its own facilities, and start sharing the wealth a bit with, say, consession workers, custodians, and all those little people who really, if you think about it, make professional football the glitzy gladiatorial spectacle thaw we the American people have come to know and love, so very deeply, so very hard hittingly.

Are Protesters Against Racism Phony, Or Are Their Critics Phony?

THE REVEREND AL SHARPTON @ the Reverend Jesse Jackson are hustlers who have turned racism into a profitable industry, according to some conservatives, most notably, the ubiquitous Rush Limbaugh. In other words, their constant dwelling on the issue of racism in America is not an attempt to end it, but, rather, an attempt to perpetuate it, presumably for their own profit. Twisted though this reasoning sounds, it deserves consideration, as do, really, all points of view. Did slavery exist for 246 years in America? Was there such a thing as "Jim Crow" laws, or were they simply part of some science fiction novel? Has there ever been anti-African-American racism in America, is there any now, or was it all merely an illusion, a fabrication in a cheap novel? Well, it seems like, the answer should be "yes", it really did happen; it was not made up. There does seem to be evidence of it, a pattern to it. Now, there seems to be a pattern of white cops mistreating, once in a while, black law breakers, or is that also a fabrication of the far left? One must be open minded in asking these questions. Limbaugh quoted Booker T. Washington, a late nineteenth- early twentieth century advocate for African-American opportunity, who himself seemed to feel that some fellow advocates advocated only for the purpose of supporting their own fame, fortune, and power. Could it have been that Booker T. simply felt the competition of fellow advocates a bit too closely, and was in fact promoting his own career? Herbert Hoover believed that depression era protesters were communist plants, not World War One Veterans. Richard Nixon thought that anti-Viet Nam war protesters were thugs, snobs, commies, and trouble makers, who really didn't give a damn about ending a war. And Rush Limbaugh thinks that prominent black people who claim to try to end racism in America really don't want to end it, they want to extend it, for their own careers. Could it be that Hoover, Nixon, and Limbaugh were themselves trying to promote their own careers, by positioning themselves against people whose causes were just, but unwinnable, by demonizing the protesting anti-establishment while self promoting from the safety of the establishment? Heaven only knows.

Bush, Complaining From a Very Safe Distance.

WELL, IF THAT AINT THE POT calling the kettle black. Since he left office, and handed Barack Obama a severe recession and two needless, devastating wars, George Bush the younger has, wisely, kept his mouth shut. But shut he can keep it no longer. perhaps he feels that he has given his successor sufficient honeymoon time, and adequate head start before unleashing the hounds of vitriol. According to George Junior, Obama has made a thorough mess of things, notably in the field of foreign policy, most particularly with regard to dealing with Iran and the infamous nuclear issue. In this he is merely echoing the standard republican line. Obama is being too mild, too tentative, too trusting, too naive, the usual claptrap. As if he, or anyone else who might have been president, could have levied super harsh economic sanctions on Iran for years, watch them retrench, dig in, and survive, and then expect them to capitulate when suddenly the sanctioneers turn soft and offer to come to the table. When you've already been put through the meat grinder, economically, and have survived, yes, you are interested in coming to the negotiating table in the hopes of getting the sanctions removed and restoring your economy. but no, you are not in a mood to capitulate to tough treaty negotiations; why would you be? you've already taken their best shot, short of invasion or bombing, have weathered the storm ,and have remained standing, if considerably. weakened. So what if the sanctions continue? You can make it clear that you are willing to budge, willing to compromise; but only to a certain extant. In short, no amount of tough talk, after years of hard economic times imposed by the people to whom you are suddenly talking, is going to sway you; you might as well stand up to the tough guys, and make a deal you feel you can live with, or make no deal at all, and simply keep going on in a state of economic deprivation. They won't dare initiate military action; if they did dare, they would have done so already, probably a long time ago. Anyone who thinks he or she could have brought the Iranians, who are already prostrate, to their knees with tough talk, is a wing bag, and nothing more or less. And let's not even get started listening to Bush 2 criticize Obama on his conduct of the extant wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the bush boys started those themselves, then failed to finish what they started. If you can't finish your own fights, don't complain about someone who can.

Healing A Civilization, Before It Dies

CIVILIZATIONS ARE LIKE MACHINES. The more complicated they become, the more likely they are to break down. But there is a big difference between machines and humans, other than the obvious organic, living nature of humans. Machines just sit there, broken and silent. People respond by withdrawing from reality (whatever that might be), going into denial. In modern America, our wealthy elite build mansions and surround them with iron clad fences, blocking out the world, blocking out the lesser levels of society, and sit inside with high def big screen TVs, amid other forms of hedonism and consumerism. The lesser sorts, the teeming masses, escape into cheap thrills and drugs. Entertainment is cheap in America, packaged and sold according to all income levels; escape is easy, escape is a profit making business for our corporate masters, who control our culture. Meanwhile, society's resources are spent and exhausted amid ever concentrating wealth, a new gilded age, until the hollowed out shell shatters and collapses. Ancient Rome went from a population of one million in the third century A.D. to about ten thousand in less than two hundred years, as the birthrate declined, and Romans fled the city, looking for opportunity, any opportunity, elswehere. When opportunity is not here, it might be elsewhere, and people flock into and out of cities as they see a better chance for survival - somewhere, anywhere else. The same happened to the Mayans. Fragmentation, decreasing efficiency, increasing disorganization and inefficiency of resource allotment, societal collapse. In America, the gilded age of the late nineteenth century was followed by the "progressive era", when society changed course, and directed more resources into areas where they were more needed. Corporate criminal behavior was regulated and outlawed, the income tax was introduced, wealth started flowing a bit more towards the working class, which produced it. Our hope now may well be the coming of age of solar energy, new technologies to improve our health and environment, and a growing awareness for the need for social activism. Societal healing is always possible, in spite of the lessons of the Romans, the Mayans, and others before and since. The question is: how sick does a civilization become, when does the healing start, if it ever starts, and how much healing takes place?

Looking At Ourselves In the Mirror

ACCORDING TO THE PSYCHIATRIC PROFESSION, over the past few decades, an increasingly large number of Americans display symptoms of advanced narcissism. People walk into shrinking offices, lie down on the couch, expecting to be treated, most usually, for depression or anxiety. They later leave having discovered that their real problem is that they are utterly insufferable. Symptoms include an exaggerated, unrealistic sense of self importance, a lack of real concern for the welfare of other people, self absorption, and a sense of entitlement which easily brings out anger due to a feeling of being neglected, underrated, or cheated by others. Sound familiar? Sounds like a normal, average American. Maybe it sounds like you. Everybody in America is a celebrity, a facebook twittering tweeting celebrity, with a long list of phony friends, and a proclivity to announce the most mundane features of one's life to the world as if they were of the utmost importance, as if anyone cared. Everyone is a celebrity wanna be, A Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian, waiting in the wings, waiting to be famous for being famous. Becoming rich, quickly, and becoming famous, instantly, are listed by most Americans as their two highest priorities. In a culture devoid of any real community, we struggle to create our own, with ourselves at the center. We have become atomized, a culture of every man and woman for himself, with dwindling membership in civic organizations of all sorts, and an explosion of social media, where we can hide behind our computer screens, and promote ourselves, and encourage strangers to push the "like button". But all is not lost. People also indicate a desire to be of service to others. In any complicated culture, competing, conflicting forces exert influence, pushing society in whatever direction the accumulated forces will. Here's hoping that we Americans start spending more time at the communtiy center, and on our front porches, sipping lemonade with our neighbors.

Denying The Truth About Murder and Genocide, Barack Obama Style

NOAM CHOMSKY, distinguished professor of linguistics at M.I.T. since, believe it or not, 1955, and also a well known political activist, contends that every American president since World War Two was a war criminal, should have been impeached, removed from office, tried, and most likely convicted and hanged. Other than that, no complaints. Noam could probably take it back a bit further, say, back to Washington, but hey, Noam likes to keep it positive. Barack Hussein Obama certainly fills the bill. Any time a NATO surveillance satellite photo ops a bearded man in Pakistan with a small arsenal of small arms, the orbiter clicks a quick pic, and the boys back on the ground run a quickie analysis. If the shoe fits, and he's among America's wanted, neither the Christian nor the Islamic God can save his America-hating ass. Big O clicks on "delete", and into Pakistani airspace flies an all American drone, without Pakistani permission. Often, said drone finds its mark. Other times, no dice. But since these terrorist types tend to hang out with hordes of women and children, wives, mistresses, brats, all serving as convenient cover, collateral damage, as we like to cleanly call it, is usually considerable. Does Obama care? If he does, he doesn't show it. Of course, our laconic president shows little. His sister once reported that she had never seen him angry, nor depressed, nor much of anything in the way of inefficient emotion. But B. O> is very careful to avoid calling genocide genocide, whether it be his policy, or that of a favorite ally, say, Turkey. Today marks the one hundredth anniversary of the culmination of the Ottoman Empire's (Turkey's) slaughter of over a million Armenians. They got most of them, but, perhaps regrettably, not Kim Kardashian. (that's a joke). And, of course, to this day, they deny it, the way folks deny high blood pressure, Christians deny evolution, and conservatives deny global warming. Deny, deny, deny. It works! Obama will not use the word "genocide" when referring to the "unfortunate" Armenian mass disappearance during World War One. However, the good news is that the Germans, just yesterday, came right out and called the spade a spade. You can always count on our German friends to come clean. They now even admit that there was a bit of a problem regarding their Jewish community a while back. Well, at least somebody has the integrity and guts to tell the truth. Too bad it aint our American president.

Becoming Lighter Than Air; Trying To Retire, Being Laughed At, and Being Unable To Retire

DAILY YOU LIVE LIFE, you interact with people, and you accumulate resentments. A snub here, a slight there, and it adds up to stress. It proves to be more trouble than its worth. You can't remember exactly what happened with whom, who said what, or when, or why. Who do I resent, and who do I not resent? If you're smart, you finally decide to just throw it all out the window, quit worrying about it, and just love the shit out of everybody, without reservation or conditions. Its so very much simpler. Eventually, you complete a new accumulation of negativity, and if you're still smart, you purge all over again, and again, you begin anew. Just love the shit out of everybody, and don't worry about it. A steady storm of correspondences! #(1) said a poet. An accumulation of grievances, neatly packaged and prepared, always ready to be broken out for inspection and some form of use. For some glorious future retribution which never seems to arrive nor matter. God, it seems so trivial. God, what is it all for? What are patterns for?, said a poet.#(2) Wipe it all away, and you become lighter than air. On April 27, 2015, I turn sixty. Six weeks ago I walked into the office and announced my intention to retire on Friday, April 24. They said "yeah, whatevah". I shrugged my shoulders, and walked out. I had done my part, had given adequate notice. Six weeks went by, and nothing much happened. Business as usual, the daily grind. On retirement day, i walked back in after work, and said: "well, um, I guess I am now retired". I was half expecting everybody to jump out of a closet, yelling and laughing, and handing me a gold watch on chain, a glass of champagne, and some finger snacks. Instead, they said "dude, you're too funny. You sure know how to keep a good joke going". My mouth fell open. I suddenly realized that to them, the whole thing was a big joke. I said: "No! Really! I'm sixty years old, nearly. I'm retired, as of now!" More laughter. Dude, they said, you look about forty five, you act about twenty five, and exactly what in the hell are you gonna do? We both know you love this job, and that you have no life outside it. So, what's your point? I just shrugged my shoulders, and said, "OK, fine. I'll see you tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow... (struts in the petty pace from day to day, said the poet) (#3). Another poet, said "confronted with great merit, the only resistance is love." (#4) Why resist? why not just love?...................poet number one: Theodore Rhoetke...poet number two:Amy Lowell...poet number three: William Shakespeare...poet number four: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe........see y'all at work..

Fricking Fracking

THE GREAT STATE OF OKLAHOMA is now the earthquake capitol of the world, surpassing such quaking hotspots as California, japan, and the middle of the Pacific ocean. What's wrong with this picture? Isn't Oklahoma, deeply ensconced in middle America, supposed to be relatively stable and free of the shakes? True, it lay in fairly close proximity to the famed New Madrid fault, but, heck, that only becomes a problem every few hundred years, and, since historically there has been little human habitation or infrastructure in the Sooner state, and since the New madrid fault is close to everyone, earthquakes have never been associated with Oklahoma - until now. Now, at long last, the highly conservative government of Oklahoma, prone to do little other than preserve the status quo and attack the rights of gay people, has formely acknowledged that there is a problem, and that the problem is caused by the oil industry, and its recently invented practice of forcing oil out of the ground by pumping massive amounts of water into the ground at very high velocity. Folks in the middle of the state, who can remember never having experienced an earthquake, are now having several every day, albeit small ones. It all started a few years ago with a quake here and there, then increased to two a month, then two a week, and now, its shake rattle, and roll, to the tune of two or more quakes each and every day. So now it seems good Sooner folks can add earthquakes to a steady stream of tornados as their primary source of excitement. I live in extreme western Arkansas, just a few miles from the Oklahoma border. Three years ago, on a chilly, windy, November night, about eleven P.M., I noticed that the walls in my new ranch style house were sort of weaving back and forth, swaying visibly. I took it to be a resultt of the stong wind, and prepared to lose my home to a late season freak tornado. I went to bed, assuming that I would either live, or die. Next morning, a flicker of a thought entered my mind, belatedly. No, it couldn't be. I turned on the news, and sure enough, an earthquake had shaken my town, epicentered in eastern Oklahoma, about a three point five. Well, I always said I wanted to experience one, and I got what i wished for. Admittedly, I always assumed I would have to spend a day or two in southern California to get my wish. Maybe I ought to be a bit more careful about wishing, as the saying goes.

Trying to Figure Out American Foreign Policy, But Being Unable To

ONCE UPAON A TIME the United States and Iran were allies. Then, they became enemies. Currently, they are both; enemies on the Arabian peninsula, in the battle of Yemen,allies in Iraq, against the self proclaimed Islamic State. The self proclaimed United States of America was once the enemy of Iraq, but is now allied with iraq, against the Islamic State, which, as mentioned above, proclaims itself thus, and, since it thinks it is, therefore it is. At least, that was the criteria last time anyone checked, which apparently wasn't recently. The United States, Iran, and Iraq are all allied agaisnt the islamic state in Syria and while the United States and Iraq are allied against Syria, or what's left of it. Iran is allied with Syria. If this sounds a bit confusing, its beacuse, quite simply, it is. Most of it thanks to the foreign policy of the United States, which never met an alliy it couldn't turn into a friend, nor a friend it couldn't turn into an enemy. Let the confusion continue! The best guess is that the Islamic State is here to stay. Recruits are flocking to it from all over the world, and although some of them are being apprehended and jailed before they can get out of their home country, most arrive safely in that part of Syria and Iraq wherein said I.S.I.S. resides, where evidently they feel far more welcome and part of something bigger than themselves than they ever did at home. There must be a lesson in this, somewhere. Meanwhile, you haven't heard much about American airstrikes lately. That's because there isn't much to hear. They are ineffective, as usual. Hide underground until the bombs stop falling, then come out, and go about your business. Nobody seems to want to take on the self proclaimeer on the ground, and until that happens, nothing is happening. Considering current circumstances, it is becoming rather difficult to equate American foreign policy with anything other than sheer and utter chaos. Let the craziness continue!

Accepting My Subordinate Status, Albeit Reluctantly

MY HOME MORTGAGE, which was actually two home mortgages, was not exactly, shall we say, the sweetest deal on earth. I had a eighty-twenty, eighty percent first mortgage and twenty percent second mortgage, at eight and six percent, through the Bank of America. It started in 2005, when the market was hot, and dumb people like me were being lured into dumb deals by very smart, very large, very criminal corporations. But, I've managed to dig myself out of my B. o A. hole, and have gotten well ahead of the game, having already paid off the second mortgage. B. o A kept sending me snail mail offers to refi, then, when I applied, turning me down. But what would one expect from an organization which gets dragged into federal court several times a year, and fined heavily for fraud? The recent history of the financial services industry in America being what it is, namely, riddled with crime, failure, and public assistance, I thought it might be interesting to engage the nice looking young man with the Arvest name tag, siting in the recoup area post blood donation, in a friendly little chat. when he told me that my current lender, Nationstar, which bought my loan from the B. o A., was not likely to accede to my request to reduce my interest rate, because then they would have to do it for everybody, I bought it. But I shouldn't have. Hell, why not? Why not simply establish criteria, like, being well ahead on house payments, and giving a borrower with a well above market rate a break? They could, if they would. then, I got down. I pointed out the recent of large American banks gong to prison for various forms of creative financial fraud, and suggested to my nice young banker conversation partner that a bit of federal oversight, meaningful federal oversight not written by former and future employees of the financial services industry, might be in order. His response? that that might be all well and good, but that it would end up 'hurting the small banks", even driving them out of business, or, just as bad, rendering them easy pickins' for big bank take overs. Again, in the spur of my post blood letting moment, I nodded and smiled sweetly. total agreement, complete acquiescence. then, later, I was, like: what the hell? Federal regulation hurts small banks? No shit? Well then, why not simply write and implement regulations on banking practices which apply strictly to big banks? there's gotta be a way, aint there? but, I guess not- It just can't be done. there no solution, no power in the universe capable of making large American financial services corporations behave morally and financially properly, no way to avoid my problem, and the problem of everyone in the United States of Acquisitiveness who has not much money; the persistent condition of being owned, controlled, and exploited by the economic powers that be. All hail, Bank of America.

Being Told The Truth About American Wars, and Not Caring

MY SISTER, GOD LOVE HER, was a high ranking civil service employee at the Pentagon, with an office quite near the Secretary of Defense. He actually had an affectionate nickname for her, which I can't currently remember. Something like "muffin", I think. What would you expect from a man named "Rummy"? On that fateful tragic day, nine one one, the day Karma came to America, big sis got quite a jolt, and was actually thrown from her chair and across her office by the impact of the jet-bomb. Later she said to me: "I wish people would stop trying to kill me". Fair enough. Who wouldn't? Out of respect, I waited until the rubble had been cleaned up, the nation had quenched its excess hysteria, and my sweet sister had regained some sense of normalcy in her life, to the extent that one can, under those circumstances. Among my character flaws is a relentless need to speak the truth, what I believe to be the truth, insofar as I can ascertain the truth, if I ever can. Big sis was articulating what most Amricans at the time were: "those lousy bastards are just plain old jealous and resentful of Amrican success, prosperity, freedom, and yadda yadda." Finally, I could contain myslef no longer. Beloved sister, said I, (perhaps unwisely), nine one one did not occur because fanatical Islamic terrorists jealously and pettily resent American happiness. Nor did it have anything to do with any resentment of Christianity. They already know an infidel when they see one, and are for the most part willing to allow Allah to deal with blasphemy later on down the road, in His own time. Nor were the suicide killers insane. They were merely very, very motivated. Actually, their success in carrying out their dark mission is a testament to their intelligence, determination, organizational skills, and ingenuity, all the right stuff, all traits we Americans hold dear, unless some vicious enemy dares apply them to our detriment. No, the truth is, they did what they did because, strangley enough, they, along with many of their countrymen, tend to wax angry when a superpower sends its military halfway around the world, invades, attacks, conquers, and occupies an Islamic country, and pretty much destroys it, leaving it in ruins. The casualty list of as many as a hundred thousand Iraqi civilians didn't help matters either. I further reminded my sister that most people, given the same set of circumstances, would feel much the same way. I don't think I got through to her, and I don't think that concept has permeated the thinking of the American people as a whole. Amazing, what a potent combination patriotic propaganda and denial can be. Added to that is the undeniable fact that President George Bush 41, one week before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, told the Iraqi dictator that invading Kuwait was just fine and dandy, as far as the U.S.A. was concerned. Yes, that's right. we the American people gave Saddam a blank check to launch a war that, after a sudden inexplicable American change of heart, has resulted in twenty five years of terrorism, death, misery, I.S.I.S., and heaven only knows what else. For verificataion of this, type "April Glaspie" into google, and scroll down to where it says something like "transcript of discussion with Saddam". You'll note that when the lady Ambassador, the first ever from the U.S.A. to an Arab nation, told Saddam this, Saddam, as the transcript says, "smiled". So would anyone, in his situation. Bear in mind that this is all a matter of offical record, on tape, a state department transcript. Alas, if only we had told Saddam that we DID care, and had no intention of putting up with it. Well, America wanted war, war for oil, and that's exactly what it got, and exactly what it still has. But try telling that to my big sister. She just doesn't care.

Living In the Great American Fun House

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS live below the poverty line, and most of them are neither lazy or stupid. Millions more in the working and lower middle classes live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay mortgages and bills. They are, for the most part, neither stupid nor lazy. Those who live more comfortably are often deeply in debt, and not doing well digging out. It all adds up to a financially stressed, hence emotionally stressed society of fearful, angry people. You can see it in people's faces, in the way strangers look at each other with expressions of contempt, dismissive indifference, or worse. The joy isn't there, and neither is the love. Then there's the health factor. Most Americans are either overweight, out of shape, or both. One tenth of the population has diabetes, and there is an epidemic of cardiovascular disease and various forms of cancer. Tens of thousands of Americans have been victimized by crime and violence, ranging from identity theft to rape. Our many foreign wars of aggression have left tens of thousands more with debilitating injuries, physical and mental. Veterans hospitals are overflowing, with many waiting outside, the system unable to handle the demand. Twenty thousand murders, forty thousand automobile deaths per year. Factor in the divorce rate, well over fifty percent, with the accompanying emotional and financial cost, the victimization of innocent children; is anyone in this beleaguered country healthy and whole? Simply, no. Its a wonder we even have the energy to gin up our enormous hatred of minorities - blacks, Hispanics, gays, and so forth. Long standing staples of American society, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, keep marching right along. Our communities, such as they are, are pathetically inadequate to address any of this. Instead, we take it out on the rest of the world. The disintegration of America's communities is well documented and detailed in a marvelous monograph entitled "Bowling Alone", written by prominent Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam. Just when we need our social support systems more than ever, they have abandoned us, or rather, we have abandoned them. And so we escape into our big flat high def screens, with five hundred choices of vacuous, vicarious violence and stress; just what we need. We go online to post our shallow, inane messages to strangers, whom we pretend are our friends. We tell each other how much we like each other, but we ignore the true feelings of disgust and contempt. We have few face to face friends, fewer than ever, studies reveal, and we hardly know our neighbors, so we carefully list our Facebook friends, people we will never know nor care about. But they are n our list, and we have pushed our "like" button, which is the only button we have, and thus, they are our "friends". We beg them to add us to their list of friends, we trade lists. They friend us, we friend them. All with the click of a button on a computer screen. this, dear friends, is a culture of death, inexorably dying. This is a culture of illusion, the great American fun house. Somehow, strangely appropriate in a country which was named after a con man. If American culture were a horse, it would have been put out of its misery, long ago, with a compassionate bullet to the head.

Figuring Out Hillary, the Rush Limbaugh Way, and The Right Way

RUSH LIMBAUGH HAS HILLARY CLINTON all figured out. Just ask him. Hillary, you see, is exactly the opposite of the person she pretends to be. Everything about her, including, presumably, her make up, is a fraud. In the United States of Appearances, appearance trumping substance might in truth not be at all so uncommon, but Hillary takes it to a higher level. She is, points out El Rushbo, a woman of enormous wealth who seeks even greater wealth, and plans to raise two point five billion dollars with which to purchase the American presidency. All the while, Rush reminds us, she portrays herself as a champion of the "common man", or something of the sort. Also, every event in which she is the featured attraction is entirely orchestrated, down to the last photographer and crowd member. And so forth, and so on. Well, the truth is, Rush Limbaugh is quite correct. The question is: so in the hell what? Isn't that the way its supposed to work? Don't all politicians pose for the cameras, orchestrate their own events, and put on airs? Don't all of us, down to our tatoos, necklaces, and earrings, try to put out some sort of image? According to Rush, Hillary Clinton is nothing other than a phony liberal, a hypocrite, doing one thing and pretending to do another. But Rush really hasn't figured her out at all. The truth is far simpler: Hillary, quite simply, is not a liberal at all. She is a conservative, in a country in which there are two types of people; conservatives, aka "democrats", and ultra conservatives, aka "republicans". Real liberals wouldn't be afriad of words like "socialism" and "liberalism". They wouldn't feel the urgent need to replace those terms with the bland pedestrian word "progressive". And above all, they wouldn't avoid coming right out and encouraging the American economy to take direct government action to redistribute the wealth from the wealthy to the poor, as a means of expanding the free market by expanding the number of people involved in it. Since 1980 (R.Reagan, neoliberalism) we've been redistributing wealth towards the wealthy. When a real liberal comes along, even Rush Limbaugh, of all people, might be able to recognize it. Don't count on it though. In the United States of Appearances, a real liberal would likely be entirely ignored, run out of town, or well disguised, sort of a reverse Hillary Clinton.