My friend, Davin, has a literary blog. He is a wonderful writer and has other writer friends who contribute to this blog: http://literarylab.blogspot.com/. Not only are Davin and his friends interested in writing but are also interested in reading. The following explains my thoughts about me and reading.
Davin asked me to write about why I read books. In a spirit of full disclosure (isn’t transparency all the rage these days?), I have to admit that until I was around 12 or 13, all I read were comic books, Archie and Veronica (see Sherman Alexie’s TONTO AND THE LONE RANGER FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN to see how those characters can be used), Little Dot, and Richie Rich are a few I remember now. Sixth grade brought the Oz books to me, and I ate them up like candy, but they were better for my teeth. I spent seventh grade in Jeffery City, Wyoming, a mining town of 24 houses, around 100 trailers and a bunkhouse. I presently have a library larger and more diverse than the loaning library housed in a small room in the Quonset hut that also served as the movie theater, hair salon, dance studio for ballroom dancing for the teenagers, and church, Catholic Mass on Monday evenings. I was a little light on the reading that year. I lived in a larger town for eighth grade, and I don’t remember if St. Joseph’s School had a library or not. I did not venture into any public library that might have been available, but to help me pass the summer in another new town, my father loaned me his copy of James Michener’s HAWAII, and by the time I stepped into St. Joseph’s in the fall, I’d finished it. HAWAII was my first ‘grown-up’ book, and I still have that copy. Then the big switcheroo happened. My family moved to Redwood City, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula, and there I found a real public library. Whoa! Years after my first pass through those library doors, I wandered in and saw a book called HOW TO CHANGE YOUR OWN LAST NAME. That was my magical ticket to the last name I now have.
Another full disclosure: I’m white. When I was in second grade, my family lived in Grand Junction, Colorado. Uranium was a hot item lighting up defense contracts, and Grand Junction was part of the Southwest USA’s mining business. For some reason, two Negro girls were in my class. One chilly day, we were lined up around the classroom in front of the radiators when one of the girls admitted she had to go to the toilet and asked permission to leave the room. The teacher said no and the girl urinated on herself. My skull crawled with discomfort. Around that same time I think I may have told my father not say ‘nigger’ in our house anymore. I might have made that up because I wanted to say that. Moab, Utah, another uranium town with both a mine some place outside of town and a mill just across the Colorado River, is where I spent third, fourth and fifth grades. One over-90-degree summer afternoon, a cattle truck pulled up the dusty downtown street as my mother and I stood waiting to cross it. When I saw Navajo women disembark from the back of the truck dressed in heavy skirts and thick velvet blouses, looking hot and dusty, I asked my mother why these women, a number of men, and a bunch of kids rode into town in the back of a cattle truck. As I recall, she said, “They like it like that.” To me they looked hot and sticky; she might have been right. Right? The bed of a hot dusty cattle truck for miles across the desert. I really wondered about that. During eighth grade in Rawlins, Wyoming, and St. Joseph’s School, I got to see white superiority and Latino inferiority, except for the kid called Speedy Gonzales who was a really versatile athlete. As I said before, ninth grade took me to the Bay Area so for the first time in school I got to see real Black/White separation with the kids from East Palo Alto hanging together, except for the athletes, pretty much away from the White kids and vice versa, or rarely the twain should meet. One of the first books I remember checking out of the Redwood City Public Library is MAN’S MOST DANGEROUS MYTH: THE FALLACY OF RACE by Ashley Montagu. Books not only entertain me, they also explain what I observe and wonder about.
Topics other than race have interested me over the years. The Holocaust threaded its way through my pleasure reading a long time. The Vietnam War era held some sway with my reading for a while. Nuclear weapons have had their moment to be held close to my heart of reading. Murder mysteries have helped me see the bad guys get theirs, especially helpful when I would like someone or a few people removed for their perceived misdeeds. I’m always happy when I see timely topics lived out in novels.
I think it was November when the school district I taught in celebrated National Education Week. If it’s national, I guess it wasn’t just my school district. I’d bring in a number of books that have helped me become the person I am today. I’d take in different kinds of books from HAWAII to this transactional analysis book I credit with saving my life to BETWEEN PARENT AND CHILD to THE PROPHET. Often, my youngsters would be impressed by the sheer number of books I’d read. When I’d tell them I’d read EVEN more books than those, whoa, big geek points for me.
I love the ways authors craft sentences. Although I do not remember the exact quote, I do remember that in A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN, Virginia Wolf uses a woman’s flowing hair to describe the flowing branches of a weeping willow. Elizabeth George is such a card in CARELESS IN RED. I listen to books as well as read them. CARELESS is a CD book. As I drove in to the gym parking lot, EG via her book was talking about how thin a medical examiner was by saying, “as thin as a spinster’s hopes for marriage.” Thirty years ago I would have wanted to rip her stomach out (nonviolently of course) and feed it to her, but recently? I sat in my car laughing for a minute or two. Maybe BEING PEACE by Thich Nhat Hanh helped with my transformation; I know that book helped me not take teenage snottiness personally.
I usually have a book or magazine with me. I never know when I might have to wait for a few minutes and what better way to pass my time than reading a passage or two or perhaps a poem or part of a news article. Books slow me down. One of my favorite times of day is when I go to bed. I warm up some milk, brush my teeth, put on my jammies, and snuggle in with a book. I might get two pages read or four, but no matter how many I read, I know when my eyelids get droopy, I can close my book, shut off the light, and have a restful sleep.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Call to Action
As I've said before, I am a Chris Hedges groupie. Below is the beginning of his recent article posted at truthdig.com. He does seem to be taking our national situation to a dire destination but not an impossible one.
Chris Hedges' Columns
Stop Begging Obama to Be Obama and Get Mad
Posted on Sep 14, 2009
By Chris Hedges
The right-wing accusations against Barack Obama are true. He is a socialist, although he practices socialism for corporations. He is squandering the country’s future with deficits that can never be repaid. He has retained and even bolstered our surveillance state to spy on Americans. He is forcing us to buy into a health care system that will enrich corporations and expand the abuse of our for-profit medical care. He will not stanch unemployment. He will not end our wars. He will not rebuild the nation. He is a tool of the corporate state.
To read the entire article, go to
Source: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090914_stop_begging_obama_to_be_obama_and_get_mad/
Chris Hedges' Columns
Stop Begging Obama to Be Obama and Get Mad
Posted on Sep 14, 2009
By Chris Hedges
The right-wing accusations against Barack Obama are true. He is a socialist, although he practices socialism for corporations. He is squandering the country’s future with deficits that can never be repaid. He has retained and even bolstered our surveillance state to spy on Americans. He is forcing us to buy into a health care system that will enrich corporations and expand the abuse of our for-profit medical care. He will not stanch unemployment. He will not end our wars. He will not rebuild the nation. He is a tool of the corporate state.
To read the entire article, go to
Source: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090914_stop_begging_obama_to_be_obama_and_get_mad/
Thursday, September 10, 2009
“What we got here is... failure to communicate.” from Cool Hand Luke
“President Obama was halfway through his speech, trying to dispel what he called "bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform." Then he ran into Rep. Joe Wilson's agenda for the night. His plan would not insure illegal immigrants, said Obama. ‘You lie!’ rang out in the chamber.”
(Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/09/AR2009090903585.html)
What a difference a day makes. Just Tuesday, our brothers and sisters on the Right were railing against Prez O’s welcome-back to school speech. And then with a full assemblage of Congress, the Prez had the audacity to think he could dispel the half-truths and outright lies about healthcare reform that have worked people up into outrage and fear. Fortunately for all Americans and anyone else in the world who watched, heard or read about the speech throughout the world, we all now know: President Obama is a liar. Let’s look at the bold lies he told our children on Tuesday, or at least those who got to hear what he had to say in those schools that were not cowed by the ‘patriots’ who demanded censorship.
“I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.”*
Almost from the get go he’s setting the stage for his ‘socialist’ agenda. I can see it in those words “what’s expected of all of you.” Anyone who has followed the education debate over the past 30 years knows who and what we expect to be responsible for education and where the problems in education lie: the parents, the school buildings themselves, the teachers, and, as nefarious as they are, the teachers’ unions. But expectations of the youngsters themselves?
For over 25 years I taught in public secondary school. Every year I knew I would be the problem in my classroom. If I just cared more. If I were just smarter. If I just had more interesting lessons. If I just devoted more time to my job. If I just, well, could simply fill my room with knowledge the kids could absorb without effort, thought or involvement, then maybe the measurable outcomes would be better.
“But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.”
Wait just a minute here. Prez O wants our kids to be responsible for being the active ingredient in their education? How can this be? Is he telling our kids that their primary job as kids is to be students and to work HARD at that job?
In closing his speech he told our kids “So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down - don't let your family or your country or yourself down.”
Ah ha! There it is! “So don’t let us down…your country.” Here must be where he’s telling the kids to pledge the blind allegiance to his socialist agenda that one commenter of his speech blogged
“THE GOVT. IS IN TYRANNY AND ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS OBAMA EITHER SUPPORT HIS SOCIALIST POLICIES OR WATCH TOO MUCH LIBERAL NEWS, WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE MISINFORMED OR UNINFORMED. THEY DO NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION OR THE WELFARE OF THE COUNTRY, JUST THAT A 'COOL' PREZ IS IN OFFICE. WHAT DOLTS, WHO REFUSE TO RESEARCH WHAT HE AND LIBERAL CONGRESS IS DOING EVEN TO THEM. LIBERALS ARE LIKE REBELLIOUS TEENS WHO DO NOT COMPREHEND ANYTHING EXCEPT THEIR OWN GREED. THEY WHINE WHEN STUNG WITH THE TRUTH AND SPREAD PROPAGANDA. AMERICA WILL NEVER BOW DOWN TO ANY PREZ FOR THEY SERVE US, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. “ (source: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/09/07/obamas-long-awaited-back-to-school-speech/tab/comments/)
I think all caps mean someone is screaming so this person is one of those screamers who thinks that by talking loudly his or her ideas will be heard better. Hmmm.
So Prez O told the kids to do well in school. To take their job as students seriously, maybe even as seriously as they take the clothes they wear, the hairdos they adopt, the music they listen to, the video games they play. What right does he have to do that? I mean he is only the articulate, intelligent, commander-in-chief, president of the United States and leader of the free world. What would he know? And to call out those kids to do their best. Outrageous. What a thought.
Oops I think I’ve heard something like this when another one of the liberal, self-serving, socialist, greedy Democrats already walk down that path as he said
“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what, together, we can do for the freedom of man.”
John F Kennedy’s inauguration in Washington on January 20 1961 (source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/apr/22/greatspeeches)
I can see how these ideas can get someone’s knickers twisted, especially since we have now an entire generation who has ‘known’ that government is the problem and the private sector is our savior, or as the movie WALLSTREET taught us, “Greed is good.”
Prez O should be commended for his speech to our, yes they are OUR, children. His mother was a single mother and he not only graduated from high school but also from college, and he did it through hard work. His wife, Michelle, is in the first generation in her family to graduate from college, and she too did it through hard work. He told our children “Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.” I don’t think he meant for them to discover destructive behavior for themselves or others whom they come across, but rather paths that will bring them income as well as satisfaction. Our children must realize they ARE the most important ingredient in their education. They possess the raw material, their active and engaged minds, to maximize their understanding of the vast information available.
What our children too often see is what I call the Jerry Springer mode of discourse and civics. In one of my psychology classes we were discussing Freud. As we talked about the ideas and insights he’d written and the thoughts that had grown out of his work, one of the young women said, “Yeah, so who’s Freud? It’s just his opinion.” At that moment, I realized how pervasive trivialization had become, at least for her, and perhaps for others who are steeped in our slam-bam culture.
I know many of my brothers and sisters in the United States are concerned about our country. I am, however, concerned about our inability to consider deeply what it is we believe and why we believe it. I think we now simply think that it’s our option and well, all options are equal in their validity. I would suggest that is not true, and all the screaming in the world will not make it true. Many years ago, I read a book called The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker. The only thing I remember from it is that we get all twisted by ‘false’ fears, the murderous stranger always lurking for example, and miss the really important problems that beseech us, like say our aging infrastructure or climate change. I see the current obstructionist talking over one another in interviews and screaming at public meetings to be fueling false fears. What we end up with is ‘a failure to communicate.
source for all Prez O’s speech quotes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/07/obama-speech-to-schoolchi_n_278763.html
(Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/09/AR2009090903585.html)
What a difference a day makes. Just Tuesday, our brothers and sisters on the Right were railing against Prez O’s welcome-back to school speech. And then with a full assemblage of Congress, the Prez had the audacity to think he could dispel the half-truths and outright lies about healthcare reform that have worked people up into outrage and fear. Fortunately for all Americans and anyone else in the world who watched, heard or read about the speech throughout the world, we all now know: President Obama is a liar. Let’s look at the bold lies he told our children on Tuesday, or at least those who got to hear what he had to say in those schools that were not cowed by the ‘patriots’ who demanded censorship.
“I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.”*
Almost from the get go he’s setting the stage for his ‘socialist’ agenda. I can see it in those words “what’s expected of all of you.” Anyone who has followed the education debate over the past 30 years knows who and what we expect to be responsible for education and where the problems in education lie: the parents, the school buildings themselves, the teachers, and, as nefarious as they are, the teachers’ unions. But expectations of the youngsters themselves?
For over 25 years I taught in public secondary school. Every year I knew I would be the problem in my classroom. If I just cared more. If I were just smarter. If I just had more interesting lessons. If I just devoted more time to my job. If I just, well, could simply fill my room with knowledge the kids could absorb without effort, thought or involvement, then maybe the measurable outcomes would be better.
“But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.”
Wait just a minute here. Prez O wants our kids to be responsible for being the active ingredient in their education? How can this be? Is he telling our kids that their primary job as kids is to be students and to work HARD at that job?
In closing his speech he told our kids “So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down - don't let your family or your country or yourself down.”
Ah ha! There it is! “So don’t let us down…your country.” Here must be where he’s telling the kids to pledge the blind allegiance to his socialist agenda that one commenter of his speech blogged
“THE GOVT. IS IN TYRANNY AND ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS OBAMA EITHER SUPPORT HIS SOCIALIST POLICIES OR WATCH TOO MUCH LIBERAL NEWS, WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE MISINFORMED OR UNINFORMED. THEY DO NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION OR THE WELFARE OF THE COUNTRY, JUST THAT A 'COOL' PREZ IS IN OFFICE. WHAT DOLTS, WHO REFUSE TO RESEARCH WHAT HE AND LIBERAL CONGRESS IS DOING EVEN TO THEM. LIBERALS ARE LIKE REBELLIOUS TEENS WHO DO NOT COMPREHEND ANYTHING EXCEPT THEIR OWN GREED. THEY WHINE WHEN STUNG WITH THE TRUTH AND SPREAD PROPAGANDA. AMERICA WILL NEVER BOW DOWN TO ANY PREZ FOR THEY SERVE US, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. “ (source: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/09/07/obamas-long-awaited-back-to-school-speech/tab/comments/)
I think all caps mean someone is screaming so this person is one of those screamers who thinks that by talking loudly his or her ideas will be heard better. Hmmm.
So Prez O told the kids to do well in school. To take their job as students seriously, maybe even as seriously as they take the clothes they wear, the hairdos they adopt, the music they listen to, the video games they play. What right does he have to do that? I mean he is only the articulate, intelligent, commander-in-chief, president of the United States and leader of the free world. What would he know? And to call out those kids to do their best. Outrageous. What a thought.
Oops I think I’ve heard something like this when another one of the liberal, self-serving, socialist, greedy Democrats already walk down that path as he said
“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what, together, we can do for the freedom of man.”
John F Kennedy’s inauguration in Washington on January 20 1961 (source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/apr/22/greatspeeches)
I can see how these ideas can get someone’s knickers twisted, especially since we have now an entire generation who has ‘known’ that government is the problem and the private sector is our savior, or as the movie WALLSTREET taught us, “Greed is good.”
Prez O should be commended for his speech to our, yes they are OUR, children. His mother was a single mother and he not only graduated from high school but also from college, and he did it through hard work. His wife, Michelle, is in the first generation in her family to graduate from college, and she too did it through hard work. He told our children “Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.” I don’t think he meant for them to discover destructive behavior for themselves or others whom they come across, but rather paths that will bring them income as well as satisfaction. Our children must realize they ARE the most important ingredient in their education. They possess the raw material, their active and engaged minds, to maximize their understanding of the vast information available.
What our children too often see is what I call the Jerry Springer mode of discourse and civics. In one of my psychology classes we were discussing Freud. As we talked about the ideas and insights he’d written and the thoughts that had grown out of his work, one of the young women said, “Yeah, so who’s Freud? It’s just his opinion.” At that moment, I realized how pervasive trivialization had become, at least for her, and perhaps for others who are steeped in our slam-bam culture.
I know many of my brothers and sisters in the United States are concerned about our country. I am, however, concerned about our inability to consider deeply what it is we believe and why we believe it. I think we now simply think that it’s our option and well, all options are equal in their validity. I would suggest that is not true, and all the screaming in the world will not make it true. Many years ago, I read a book called The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker. The only thing I remember from it is that we get all twisted by ‘false’ fears, the murderous stranger always lurking for example, and miss the really important problems that beseech us, like say our aging infrastructure or climate change. I see the current obstructionist talking over one another in interviews and screaming at public meetings to be fueling false fears. What we end up with is ‘a failure to communicate.
source for all Prez O’s speech quotes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/07/obama-speech-to-schoolchi_n_278763.html
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Local defense contract
PASADENA
Jacobs secures contract option
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced Tuesday that it received the third of four one-year options on a contract for the U.S. Air Force Air Armament Center (AAC) at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and other locations.
The option year, which begins Oct. 1, has a potential value of $98.1 million. At award in December 2006, the contract had a potential value of $495 million over a five-year period, which includes a one-year base and four one-year options.
Jacobs provides technical and engineering acquisition support for weapons systems development and testing for the AAC. This includes systems engineering and integration support for conventional and non-conventional air-launched weapons systems; test and training range systems; and numerous air combat support systems. Jacobs has supported the Air Force on this program since its inception in 1986.
Source: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_13291775
For a longer article on this subject go to: http://www.sunherald.com/448/story/1589531.html
Jacobs secures contract option
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced Tuesday that it received the third of four one-year options on a contract for the U.S. Air Force Air Armament Center (AAC) at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and other locations.
The option year, which begins Oct. 1, has a potential value of $98.1 million. At award in December 2006, the contract had a potential value of $495 million over a five-year period, which includes a one-year base and four one-year options.
Jacobs provides technical and engineering acquisition support for weapons systems development and testing for the AAC. This includes systems engineering and integration support for conventional and non-conventional air-launched weapons systems; test and training range systems; and numerous air combat support systems. Jacobs has supported the Air Force on this program since its inception in 1986.
Source: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_13291775
For a longer article on this subject go to: http://www.sunherald.com/448/story/1589531.html
Monday, September 7, 2009
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
34th president of US 1953-1961 (1890 - 1969)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
34th president of US 1953-1961 (1890 - 1969)
“What? Me worry?” Alfred E. Newman
My Amnesty group’s book this month is THE UNQUIET GHOST that discusses Russians thinking and talking about their time under Stalin. I remember one of our producers, Gloria, mentioning something about the difficulty some Russians had at facing that time squarely. She mused about the possibility USA people will have that same difficulty facing the past. I’d put that recent past at the election of Ronald Reagan. Yesterday at Borders, Eris and I were in line when she noticed a cute Jelly Belly container. I told her Ronald Reagan ate Jelly Bellys and I still couldn’t eat them. About that same time, the guy in front of us snapped his head in our direction. I did not look up at him. At least I don’t have to worry about ending up in a gulag and/or dead for saying my Jelly Belly comment. In Stalin’s Russia, even supporters and sycophants ended up on the punishment end of the stick.
I admit that I now do feel fear. When the government terrified us after 9/11/01, I was aware great harm could come to our nation. I was not afraid of that but rather that citizens would no longer speak out and hold elected officials accountable for their actions. Barack Obama has been cast on the altar of sacrifice and the Democrats are letting it happen. I don’t care if elected offices change from one party to another given the pendulum of history, but I’m feeling strong-armed. During George W. Bush’s reign, progressives vilified him and his administration. I think invading one country to capture or kill a mastermind criminal only to fail at that and invade another country a year and a half later on a road paved with lies supports my thoughts about GWB’s tenure. GWB’s administration codified and sanctioned waterboarding one man over 180 times, used dogs – German Shepherds- to terrify prisoners (often stripped to their underwear or naked), and detained people – including minors – for years without charges. These points also clarify my thoughts about that administration. But GWB’s and his posse’s media, religious, Republican Party machine powered on with the loudest, most insistent statements and actions. The GOP, the far Right – including the Christians, and some Libertarians seem to want nothing more than to trivialize and demonize our present presidency just as they have climate change, opposition to the use of military force, and development of meaningful energy sources that can be available to developing nations and villages as well as developed nations. And the Democrats? Well, they are not rallying.
I was going to say industrialized nations, but the USA is a developed nation without much industry anymore, except perhaps for weapons systems and the weapons themselves. The Right believes opposition to the USA’s status as the World’s Biggest Arms Dealer is a blow to employment should those workers have to stop making Tomahawk missiles, predator drones, and other items that when used as directed cause maiming and/or death. Maybe those factories could make solar collectors and the hardware to allow them to work – just as an example. I fail to see how the workers would suffer.
While I’m on the topic of weapons and the military, let’s talk about that budget item for the USA. While we spend twice as much on healthcare than many other developed nations with less positive outcomes, we lead the world in military spending. Our budget adds up the to sum of the next 25 nations combined. That seems a bit excessive to me. Maybe many of these men and women who want to serve our country could be trained to repair and maintain our infrastructure and produce other necessary civic projects. They wouldn’t be away from their husbands, wives and children, and they could invest their time and effort, our blood and treasure, in projects they and their families could see and use – be a part of. I’m not sure why we can’t afford this and even more important I can’t figure out why Americans would be opposed to this idea.
For the folks who are convinced that if the enlistees were used for projects in the USA because the government is invading their lives, I wonder how they cannot see that by posting these men and women around the world we are missing their skills and energy here at home. We have military personnel deployed in over 700 places in 130 or more countries. What would we think if 130 countries had significant military presences in our country? This spreading of our men and women who want to serve our country away from our land is a lost resource that is as useful to us as oil and coal. And let me be clear here. Stationing many of our volunteers stateside to work for America in America does not mean I want ANY of my cash flow going to paramilitary groups like Blackwater to continue our widespread military influence abroad.
What is happening in the USA? I’ve been considering the idea that our country’s people are engaged in chaotic (wholly confused) hysteria (abnormal effects due to autosuggestion). I’m not sure how pervasive this chaotic hysteria is but when I see or hear people like Glenn Beck, Jim Cramer, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, or any of the belittling and mean-spirited cowards who hide behind the 1st Amendment and the lack of the Fairness Doctrine, which was abolished in 1987, plant seeds of half truths and outright lies watered with fear, I wonder what their motivation is. They become rich enough to ensconce themselves in exclusive neighborhoods and buy homes in other countries. They can afford to hire Blackwater type security forces or any of its clone security firms to protect what they have. As my country is torn apart by the worst polarization I’ve seen, including during the Viet Nam War, I have to wonder if these men and women, who wrap themselves in Old Glory and claims of true patriotism even as ignite our most base fears and outrage, have no shame.
I do not believe these men and women want a forward moving, functional for ‘we the people’ country as much as they want the destruction of this administration and perhaps government as we understand our representative government to be. In A TIME FOR CHOOSING, a speech Ronald Reagan gave October 27, 1964, he said, “But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector of the economy.” This was essentially an anti-Communist, pro-Vietnam War speech so perhaps the military is what Mr. Reagan had in mind for the ‘legitimate function’ of the USA government. We have certainly seen the idea of our government demonized. The move to the private sector for all things, even our military as we’ve seen with Blackwater, has occurred without much of a ripple of dissent from the majority of people. I am convinced the American people can be sold anything even if it contradicts their best interests. We are so easily swayed, and sometimes simply to the ‘winning’ side. During the second Reagan presidential campaign, one of my students came into our class chanting, “Reagan, Reagan, he’s my man!” This young woman lived in a group home. She’d been taken from her mother, was sexually ‘adventuresome’, abused some drugs, and was generally out of control. Her life story was one Mr. Reagan might have used as an example of all things that had gone wrong with the country. When I asked her why she supported Mr. Reagan, she gleefully replied, “Because he’s a winner!” I think the Right’s scream machine is effective in this same ‘winning’ way.
If President Obama does what Democrats often do well, lose the White House, and in the process set the stage for the loss of the Senate and the House, the Republicans and the far Right will come back bruised, angry, and mean spirited, ready for vengeance. For the Right, the public health insurance option, Medicare for all, is the camel’s nose under the tent that will cause government to invade our lives. For me, the camel’s nose is coated with our chaotic hysteria, and I see that camel standing upright in the middle of our shared tent. Books and articles on what makes me think this way abound. What is unclear to me is how we treat our chaotic hysteria and consider the common weal of our nation and her people. At least at this point no gulag awaits me.
Stevi Carroll 9/7/09
Tiny Bibliography
Chris Hedges – EMPIRE OF ILLUSION: THE END OF LITERACY AND THE TRIUMPH OF SPECTACLE; AMERICAN FASCISTS; WAR IS THE FORCE THAT GIVES US MEANING
Chalmers Johnson - BLOWBACK: THE COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF AMERICAN EMPIRE;NEMESIS: THE LAST DAYS OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC; THE SORROW OF EMPIRE: MILITARISM, SECRECY, AND THE END OF THE REPUBLIC
Jane Mayer – THE DARK SIDE: THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW THE WAR ON TERROR TURNED INTO A WAR ON AMERICAN IDEALS
I admit that I now do feel fear. When the government terrified us after 9/11/01, I was aware great harm could come to our nation. I was not afraid of that but rather that citizens would no longer speak out and hold elected officials accountable for their actions. Barack Obama has been cast on the altar of sacrifice and the Democrats are letting it happen. I don’t care if elected offices change from one party to another given the pendulum of history, but I’m feeling strong-armed. During George W. Bush’s reign, progressives vilified him and his administration. I think invading one country to capture or kill a mastermind criminal only to fail at that and invade another country a year and a half later on a road paved with lies supports my thoughts about GWB’s tenure. GWB’s administration codified and sanctioned waterboarding one man over 180 times, used dogs – German Shepherds- to terrify prisoners (often stripped to their underwear or naked), and detained people – including minors – for years without charges. These points also clarify my thoughts about that administration. But GWB’s and his posse’s media, religious, Republican Party machine powered on with the loudest, most insistent statements and actions. The GOP, the far Right – including the Christians, and some Libertarians seem to want nothing more than to trivialize and demonize our present presidency just as they have climate change, opposition to the use of military force, and development of meaningful energy sources that can be available to developing nations and villages as well as developed nations. And the Democrats? Well, they are not rallying.
I was going to say industrialized nations, but the USA is a developed nation without much industry anymore, except perhaps for weapons systems and the weapons themselves. The Right believes opposition to the USA’s status as the World’s Biggest Arms Dealer is a blow to employment should those workers have to stop making Tomahawk missiles, predator drones, and other items that when used as directed cause maiming and/or death. Maybe those factories could make solar collectors and the hardware to allow them to work – just as an example. I fail to see how the workers would suffer.
While I’m on the topic of weapons and the military, let’s talk about that budget item for the USA. While we spend twice as much on healthcare than many other developed nations with less positive outcomes, we lead the world in military spending. Our budget adds up the to sum of the next 25 nations combined. That seems a bit excessive to me. Maybe many of these men and women who want to serve our country could be trained to repair and maintain our infrastructure and produce other necessary civic projects. They wouldn’t be away from their husbands, wives and children, and they could invest their time and effort, our blood and treasure, in projects they and their families could see and use – be a part of. I’m not sure why we can’t afford this and even more important I can’t figure out why Americans would be opposed to this idea.
For the folks who are convinced that if the enlistees were used for projects in the USA because the government is invading their lives, I wonder how they cannot see that by posting these men and women around the world we are missing their skills and energy here at home. We have military personnel deployed in over 700 places in 130 or more countries. What would we think if 130 countries had significant military presences in our country? This spreading of our men and women who want to serve our country away from our land is a lost resource that is as useful to us as oil and coal. And let me be clear here. Stationing many of our volunteers stateside to work for America in America does not mean I want ANY of my cash flow going to paramilitary groups like Blackwater to continue our widespread military influence abroad.
What is happening in the USA? I’ve been considering the idea that our country’s people are engaged in chaotic (wholly confused) hysteria (abnormal effects due to autosuggestion). I’m not sure how pervasive this chaotic hysteria is but when I see or hear people like Glenn Beck, Jim Cramer, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, or any of the belittling and mean-spirited cowards who hide behind the 1st Amendment and the lack of the Fairness Doctrine, which was abolished in 1987, plant seeds of half truths and outright lies watered with fear, I wonder what their motivation is. They become rich enough to ensconce themselves in exclusive neighborhoods and buy homes in other countries. They can afford to hire Blackwater type security forces or any of its clone security firms to protect what they have. As my country is torn apart by the worst polarization I’ve seen, including during the Viet Nam War, I have to wonder if these men and women, who wrap themselves in Old Glory and claims of true patriotism even as ignite our most base fears and outrage, have no shame.
I do not believe these men and women want a forward moving, functional for ‘we the people’ country as much as they want the destruction of this administration and perhaps government as we understand our representative government to be. In A TIME FOR CHOOSING, a speech Ronald Reagan gave October 27, 1964, he said, “But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector of the economy.” This was essentially an anti-Communist, pro-Vietnam War speech so perhaps the military is what Mr. Reagan had in mind for the ‘legitimate function’ of the USA government. We have certainly seen the idea of our government demonized. The move to the private sector for all things, even our military as we’ve seen with Blackwater, has occurred without much of a ripple of dissent from the majority of people. I am convinced the American people can be sold anything even if it contradicts their best interests. We are so easily swayed, and sometimes simply to the ‘winning’ side. During the second Reagan presidential campaign, one of my students came into our class chanting, “Reagan, Reagan, he’s my man!” This young woman lived in a group home. She’d been taken from her mother, was sexually ‘adventuresome’, abused some drugs, and was generally out of control. Her life story was one Mr. Reagan might have used as an example of all things that had gone wrong with the country. When I asked her why she supported Mr. Reagan, she gleefully replied, “Because he’s a winner!” I think the Right’s scream machine is effective in this same ‘winning’ way.
If President Obama does what Democrats often do well, lose the White House, and in the process set the stage for the loss of the Senate and the House, the Republicans and the far Right will come back bruised, angry, and mean spirited, ready for vengeance. For the Right, the public health insurance option, Medicare for all, is the camel’s nose under the tent that will cause government to invade our lives. For me, the camel’s nose is coated with our chaotic hysteria, and I see that camel standing upright in the middle of our shared tent. Books and articles on what makes me think this way abound. What is unclear to me is how we treat our chaotic hysteria and consider the common weal of our nation and her people. At least at this point no gulag awaits me.
Stevi Carroll 9/7/09
Tiny Bibliography
Chris Hedges – EMPIRE OF ILLUSION: THE END OF LITERACY AND THE TRIUMPH OF SPECTACLE; AMERICAN FASCISTS; WAR IS THE FORCE THAT GIVES US MEANING
Chalmers Johnson - BLOWBACK: THE COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF AMERICAN EMPIRE;NEMESIS: THE LAST DAYS OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC; THE SORROW OF EMPIRE: MILITARISM, SECRECY, AND THE END OF THE REPUBLIC
Jane Mayer – THE DARK SIDE: THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW THE WAR ON TERROR TURNED INTO A WAR ON AMERICAN IDEALS
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