Hannukah

I was planning to be more “positive” today. I’ve got an article on philanthropy from the Monitor I wanted to share and a great article from November’s SOM – Science of Mind, magazine. However, between the Wiki Leaks on Afghanistan and the President’s proposal to freeze Federal employee pay, and his refusal to stand up to the Republican terrorists and represent his amazingly silent middle class constituency, I’m rarin’ to rant again.

But before I do, the SOM reading for today by Kathy Juline, will add some balance and indeed get at my spiritual truth, and I hope yours as well, the truth I really want to actualize. She begins with this from the SOM text: “Light has the power to overcome darkness; not by combating darkness, but by being exactly what it is: light.” That is what I want to remember, actualize and live by; and probably, if you reflect on it, which is my hope, you do, too.

I want to know that the light of love is always present, even when it does not at first appear. The eternal light, which is the message of Hanukkah which begins today, shines in the life of each of us, even in times that seem darkest, like now. Today’s affirmation: I allow the light that dwells eternally within me to reveal the truth of my oneness and wholeness. So alright, now for the rant, but done with the belief that it, too, reveals the ever-present light and in so doing, allows us to be more aware of that light and thus dissipate the seeming darkness.

It seems we’ve got a pretty clear choice between taking care of ourselves here in the good old US of A, or throwing our money away in Afghan. Only our political so-called leaders, including Obama, don’t seem to see that choice clearly, even with the big deficits they say they’re so concerned about.

As I’ve posted before, the vast bulk of info available about Afghan, now augmented by the Wiki Leaks, is that tho we are doing somewhat better militarily, that success is irrelevant and will not lead to over all success for a number of reasons. First, the official Afghan so-called government is no government at all, at least by our standards. It can not protect it’s citizens, run an honest election, or keep from taking bribes – which after all if we weren’t so arrogant about our way of looking at the world, we would realize is just a normal, acceptable way of doing business there.

Second, this so-called government along with our so-called intelligence guided generals and diplomats negotiated with and gave lot’s of money to someone who was supposed to be the second in command of the Taliban, but who turned out to be an imposter who absconded with the money.

Third and related to number two, the Taliban is not a unitary monolithic force but a lose alliance of various points of view and levels of commitment. In other words, no single person can speak for it or negotiate with it, because there is no “it.”

Then, fourth, there’s Karzai himself said to be a manic depressive off his meds and a ‘patriot’ who doesn’t want foreigners in his country, tho it’s OK for him and his so-called government to take money, and lot’s of it, from Iran.

Fifth, our so-called counter insurgency strategy, endorsed by General Petreus and all our High Level Decision Makers, admits the country cannot be secured solely by military means and requires we have a viable civilian authority to work with, which given points one thru four above, is clearly not present now and seems like it never will be.
Six, we are also working with repressive, nasty ‘war lords,’ who are playing all sides against each other.

So now The Powers That Be want to not give Federal employees a raise for two years. These same compassionate Powers want to cut your, and mine, Medicare and Social Security. All while we spend enough in the Afghan to solve all our problems here. The choice is clear. Not only are you and I already sacrificing for this useless, no-win foreign adventure, but The Powers That Be want us to make even greater sacrifices and cut deeper. I say enough, and I invite you to join me and also say “Enough!”

Enough of the so-called War on Terror and the, “We’ve got to fight them there, so we don’t have to fight them over here,” bull shit. Enough! After 243 marines were killed in their sleep by a terrorist attack, Ronald Reagan pulled our troops out of Lebanon. After the so-called Paris Peace Talks, we declared victory, which we could have done at any time, and pulled out of Nam, leaving the country to the so-called communists. Let’s do that now, in the Afghan. We can no longer afford guns and butter. The choice is stark and clear. Eliminate the deficit and solve our problems here at one stroke and exit Afghanistan as quickly and decently as possible.

Food Insecurity, 2

According to the Monitor, “one in 10 South Americans – about 38 million people – escaped poverty during the past decade. That’s remarkable progress by any measure. Contrast that with the United States, where poverty has been growing due to a decade-long stagnation of income for the middle class. In 2009, the US had more poor people than in any of the 51 years since poverty levels have been estimated.” Wow! And with the exception of the last almost two years, who’s been in charge? And what does that tell you about the focus of those people and who they represent?

“Of course, America’s poor are far better off than South America’s poor. And the US still has a much lower poverty rate (14.2 percent versus around 70 percent.)” But still, the trend line is clearly up for South America as progressive governments have made much social progress, and down for the US, as non-progressive governments have reduced or eliminated commitments to social progress in favor of the magic of the so-called ‘fee market.’

And ‘good news’ Leonard Pitts reported in last Wednesday’s Miami Herald, “an average of 17.7% of all Americans were at times unable to feed themselves” in the past twelve months. “You may be wondering : In what universe does a 17.7% ‘food insecurity’ rate qualify as good news,” especially in this the so-called greatest nation on earth? The good news is that “figure represents a drop from the 18.5% rate at the end of 2009. That means that just under 55 million Americans had to go without food at least occasionally.” You might want to “drop a line to your elected representative and let her or him know you consider it unacceptable that children – and even their working parents – hunger in the richest nation on Earth.” We need to “take the critical first step in becoming a nation where everybody eats,” not just the fat cats; where our compassion and common sense (I mean starving people make poor citizens and starving children probably won’t earn enough to pay our Social Security), rise above our political rhetoric, fear, loathing and need to blame.

Food Insecurity

I’ve been hinting at ranting less and I will, eventually, I hope. But in this the season of what Mary Sanchez calls “national gluttony” [remember when Gluttony was one of the Seven Deadly Sins?] it is “unacceptable that we tolerate a growing number of hungry children.” In classic Federal double speak, the reality of hungry people in this the so-called ‘greatest nation on earth’ is called “food insecurity.” Cool! Food insecurity. I guess calling it that makes it easier for the food secure to ignore it. That’s kind of like changing the name of the War Department to the Defense Department – it just makes everything easier to swallow.

Food insecurity impacts 50 million Americans and means that these people “worry if they or their children will eat that day, or if what they can afford will be adequate.” Yes. And what can they afford? Not the healthy organic stuff. No. What they can afford is the greasy, salty, fatty sugary stuff – fries, coke and a big mac. The greasy, salty, fatty sugary stuff is priced lower, thanks to our Federal taxes subsidizing huge agri-business corporations, than water, fresh fruit and vegetables. Could this have anything to do with the ‘epidemic’ of obesity? Duh!

A Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act is now pending in Congress. Will our ideologue politicians and their political terrorist allies, terrorists because Republican Senators and Congressmen are in mortal fear of a so-called Tea Party challenge on the right, so will not do anything vaguely compassionate for fear of being labeled ‘socialist,’ kill this, too?
What is ‘leadership’ about if not standing up for kids? “Passing the bill would help rectify this atrocious statistic: One a typical school day, more than 55 percent of the children who qualify for free or reduced-rice school breakfasts don’t get one.

“We’re a country that wisely demands children must attend school until a certain age. And with No Child Left Behind, we’ve laid down some pretty tough expectations about performance. But it’s doubtful we’ll meet those goals until we also enact No Child Comes to Class Hungry.” Quotes are from Mary Sanchez’ article, “Hunger shouldn’t exist here,” in the Miami Herald last Tuesday.

Bread and Circuses, Reprised

Happy Thanksgiving! In spite of my spate of rants lately, and what is to follow, we DO have much to be grateful for! As always, my purpose is to encourage you not to take our blessings for granted and to understand our degenerating situation as well as how many of our fellow citizens are in distress this year, and to use our blessings as a place to start extending blessings to everyone and everything. Now, bread and circuses.

Two months ago, I did a post on bread and circuses, which I will reprise briefly to relate it to the current Big News Story on privacy, scanning and airport security. Bread and Circuses. When the Roman Republic was crumbling and in the hands of wealthy oligarchy, to distract people from what they’d lost and what the oligarchy was stealing and destroying, the oligarchs and government officials gave the people bread, so they didn’t have to struggle to make ends meet, and circuses in the arena, to distract them. Bread and circuses, bloody circuses, to distract the masses from the important issues of the day.

See any parallels in our day?

We have our own version of Bread and Circuses right now distracting us from the important things like global climate change, energy reform, and political corruption. The distractions, which dominate the so-called news, are trivial by comparison: Privacy vs Airport Security; Sara Palin; Gay Marriage; Big Gov’t vs No Gov’t, the Kardashians, Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton. This is what is in our faces and taking our time, distracting us from talking about the more important things.

Who benefits from this condition? Who wants to keep healthy, decent, caring people distracted, disgusted and dropping out – disengaging from serious discourse and the honest exchange of ideas between compassionate citizens, not voting, and not running for office so people like Michelle Bachman and Christine O’Donnel can run instead? Who likes things as they are and the trajectory things are on? Follow the money. Who’s getting rich? Who’s not? Who’s winning and who’s losing? Bread and Circuses are paying off big time for somebody, is it you?

American Exceptionalism from Afar

From the Economist in London excerpted in the Monitor, “America has for more going for it than its current mood suggests,” states the editorial. “It is still the most innovative economy on earth, the place where the world’s greatest universities meet the world’s deepest pockets…. It has a flexible and hard working labor force. Its ultra-low bond yields are a sign that the world’s investors still think it a good long-term bet. The most enterprising individuals on earth still clamor to come to America. And it still has a talented president who can surely do better than he has thus far.” How’s that for American Exceptionalism from afar?

A lot of superlatives there, many of them true – for now. We can continue this if we see ourselves clearly, address what needs addressing and stop kidding ourselves. A holistic, integrated, systematic approach is needed. Immigration, health care, energy, tax structure and full employment are not as separate as they seem. Keeping them in silos, walled off from each other, taking gradual, incremental steps is the old, traditional way of doing things. We can’t afford that anymore. Some central convening point is necessary to focus and pull our efforts together for the benefit of the entire nation.

Selfish special interests seemingly unconcerned about the nation or killing the goose that lays the golden egg, thrive on the traditional incremental silo approach. Divide and conquer! It worked for Caesar and every leader since. It’s working now. Have you heard that more than half of Congress are multi-millionaires. How’d they get that way? Did they abuse their positions? Sell out the nation for special interest support?

As the Economist pointed out, we’ve got a lot going for us. Let’s pull together, adopt a holistic, integrated, systematic approach, assert ourselves, pay attention to the flow of money and build a world that works for everyone and everything.

Privitizing Profits and Socializing Costs

Today, I’m mellower, not as angry, not feeling so threatened, not so much the innocent victim, nor as heart broken, and a tad more spiritual. But there’s no doubt I’ll be back to the anger and heart broken innocent victim so enough. I do have some spiritual things to share, but I have one more ‘ranty’ thing to talk about today. It’s in an article by Fred Grimm of the Miami Herald, always a great source of ‘ranty’ things, entitled, “Private prisons the force behind immigrant law?”

I share this with you in the hopes that it will help you awaken and choose differently, but with the belief that it probably won’t matter, or that the people who need to awaken and repent [choose again] do not read this blog.

“The notion of requiring state and local policemen to lock up suspects who have no proof they entered the country legally,” beside fitting in nicely with the Tea Party hazarai [write me and I’ll explain what that words means] “is being pushed by the Corrections Corporation of America, which operates private prisons in 19 states. CCA, according to the company’s own reports, projects ‘a significant portion of our revenues’ coming from locking up illegal immigrants. With national crime rates down and prison populations shrinking, illegal immigration has become a crucial segment for the private prison industry.

“The private prison industry already has plenty of lobbying muscle in Florida. In 2008, House Speaker Ray Sansom (since disgraced, arrested and ousted) [not for this, but for something else] inserted $113 million into the budget for a 2,000 bed private prison, despite the state’s financial crisis. When the prison was finally finished the Department of Corrections didn’t have the prisoners to fill it. The new prison sat empty.

“Lobbyists went to work. Legislation passed last spring required the DoC to move 2,224 inmates into the facility and to guarantee the prison company that the new prison would stay at least 90% full.” This is happening everywhere these private prisons operate and is the hallmark of the whole ‘privatization’ charade – which means privatize profits and socialize costs. This is corporate welfare at its most blatant. Because of the fierce, evil and life-threatening Budget Deficit, your Social Security needs to be ‘fixed’ you need to retire later and get no COLAs, but it’s OK for these corporations to feed at the public trough. I’d rather feed there, but I don’t have any lobbyists, not even any representatives in the legislature or Congress. They’ve all been bought and paid for, already.

Privatization, private prisons in this case, allegedly “save taxpayers money. But a study by the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy released in April discovered ‘simply no data to suggest that’s true.’ What lower costs there may be come from ‘creaming’ taking the less troublesome, less expensive class of prisoners. ‘The private prison industry has no incentive to reduce crime or rehabilitate prisoners. Only to lock up more prisoners.’” Given this, Florida’s, Arizona’s, Texas’ considerable population of undocumented immigrants, no rehab required, must look like a mighty cash crop ready for harvest.”

Thank you, Fred Grimm and John Hall of the Center, and thank you, reader, for waking up, realizing it doesn’t have to be this way and choosing again.

More American Exceptionalism

Before I rant on and share some more ‘bad’ news about our beloved country, I want to assure you and myself, that it is my beloved country. It’s breaking my heart now, because I love it so. Also, from a New Thought, Science of Mind and Course in Miracles perspective, I know that I’m stuck in ego and looking with ego and that I need to shift out of ego – fear, anger and doubt, and look with spirit – love, forgiveness and mindfulness, to free myself from the horror and dread. Having said that, and needlessly struggling to do that, on with the horror and dread! God how the ego loves anger, fear, horror and dread. Mmm mm; bring it on! Let me feed on the carrion.

I already said 18 veterans a day commit suicide. Do you think that number will go up or down? The Monitor says that a report last month on perceived public-sector corruption found that the US had slipped from being the 19th least corrupt nation, to 22nd, behind Chile and Ireland. Wow – behind Chile and Ireland – how’s that for the fools who run around saying, thinking and acting, ‘We’re #1!’? How’s that arrogance working for us?

The Republicans in the Senate, the #1, ‘We’re #1’ sayers, are challenging the President of the United States on the nuclear weapons treaty with Russia. This is the same basic treaty that their great god Reagan endorsed and worked so hard to achieve. Their hatred of Obama, their avowed desire to bring him down at any price, even at the price of our national security, economic and social success, seems to know no bounds. They seem not to understand he’s their President, too, that he’s the President of the United States, who despite their rhetoric, which they now seem to be believing, is an American, was born here, is Christian, is not a ‘socialist’ and does love his country.

In their lust to destroy him, and only God knows why, they seem willing to embarrass the nation before the world and even destroy it. Could this be a new version the Spanish Inquisition in which the body is burned to save the soul? But it’s not fair to blame the Republicans. The real blame goes to the people who vote for them despite their history, especially their recent history. Clinton only abused Monica Lewinsky. The Republicans and their supporters are abusing the nation.

The style, ideas and actions of these people go way beyond Washington, too. The Miami Herald had a story Wednesday with the headline, “’Wage theft’ widens.” According to the article, “Wage theft is when workers are paid below the minimum wage, not paid for overtime, forced to work off the clock, have their time cards altered, are misclassified as independent contractors, or are simply not paid a wage for work performed.” This is the natural result of the dog-eat-dog, I’ve got mine fuck you, ‘free market,’ too much regulation, get the gov’t off our backs and let the market rule attitudes espoused by Republicans and their supporters.

Wage theft was below the radar as long as it impacted immigrant laborers like maids, whores, and gardeners, who could not complain for fear of being sent back. But according to the article it is also becoming prominent in “professional and higher salary jobs, including those in the legal profession, at architecture and accounting firms, public and private schools and in medical fields.” Cool! The equal opportunity promise of the American Dream almost fully realized at last, everybody, or almost everybody, being equally abused. Clinton only abused Monica Lewinsky; the Republicans and their supporters are abusing everybody. How’d you like to have a surgical nurse who’s having her wages stolen, attend you at your next surgery?

Government is a counter-weight against greed, and abuse of people with less power by people with greater power. Perhaps it was funny when Reagan said, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” But thirty years later that attitude has a metastasized into a cancer. Awake! See this, understand it, repent, which means ‘choose again.’ Be responsible and stop dancing to the dirge of fear, prejudice, loathing and hate. We can, together, letting go of the fear and hate, and trusting in spirit, build a world that works for everyone and every thing.