Blessing I Don't Think So

Counting our Blessings

Prior to conjuring up things we should do but never do (New Year Resolutions), I guess it is appropriate that we count our blessings. I have in this blog bemoaned the actions of our once great president castigating him for being everything from an inexperienced boob to an inveterate campaigner. And I was quick to point out the glaring “cave-ins.” Well I guess some would say a serving of crow is in order. But not so fast. I am not ready to relent and call the recent gains great strides forward.
First, the biggest winner in the past two years were the fat cats. I am not talking about people holding a job. I am talking about those who sit on the top of this economy and continue to grow richer and richer while the average Joe struggles to make it or even hold on to his job. When you hear the president bore you with his successes, please recite the mantra “at what cost.” That tax cut was indicative of how things go in this country. They get a huge chunk of the pie and we get the crumbs. I often wonder just how much the rich need and then I thought of old Scrooge McDuck and then I get an inkling that there is never enough. So the country goes into hock with China while the super rich scour the yachting magazine for a newer model, and the average Joe gets unemployment. What a country!!
So Obama will say we got a health care program, but not with a public option. The funny thing about that result is that a public option would have canceled out any potential law suit. You have to wonder if the insurance industry purposely got that provision kicked out so they could mount a legal challenge through their emissaries. But that would mean they were devious, not those honorable folks. And we don't need a soothsayer to divine what our illustrious Supreme Court Justices will rule, do we?
The first responders got their bill, watered down, but you have to wonder if those pompous conservatives talking about the deficit were shamed into voting. Gays got their right to join the military. Big deal! It was so long in coming that it was absolutely absurd to count it as anything but something that was long over due. But not too fast, the military has to study it.
And before we get all pumped up with successes, let us remember that the wars continue. Young men die and get wounded while those we are supposedly saving plot ways to steal our money and cooperate with those who are our mortal enemies.
A recent cover of AARP had George W on the cover. He has no regrets, well maybe a few. It is amazing that in this crazy world we live in, a man can screw up royally and go on to be portrayed as a regular guy. While he smiles, the misery his policies generated continues. So on this Christmas, I will skip counting the blessings and focus on the glaring things that need attention. It seems to me we are witnessing the decline of this nation. And we the great mass of humanity who long for a better way are left with a system that continues to focus on those who don't need it at the expense of those who do. If this tax cut is such a great stimulus, how come it hasn't worked?
So my New Year's resolution is to stop being such a boob and take things at face value. I have already started. No more TV news, no more presidential press conferences, no more Obama and White House e-mails. No more BS.

Obama and Liberals

Love is so Fleeting

To hear the president's latest condemnation of the liberal wing of the party, you would think that we were nothing but ungrateful slobs who haven't the slightest idea of how hard he has worked for the things he said he was going to do. Hmmm. Do we really need to get pedantic and delineate all that he didn't do? I don't think so. It might be easier to say, he gave us absolutely nothing, nothing at all save speeches and explanations of how what he did do was the best he could do. Hmmm, sounds like a good ad.
Well, if he is so disenchanted with us liberal types, why don't he return all our contributions to his campaign no matter the amount. I promise to spend mine immediately on some useless imported junk, which should spike the gross national product, and help this dismal economy by employing another person in a substandard retail job.
The problem he is having with us liberals is that we looked behind the curtain. Suddenly the sonorous voice once so powerful and promising is little more than the utterances of a pup of a politician who pompously goes about listening to those who thought his candidacy was a joke. From the generals to the economic advisers, he followed the path blazed by W and his henchmen. For two years, the country listened and the only thing we got was what we heard. He talks of what can be done, but he didn't do anything. After two years, we still had the wars (bigger than ever), the unemployment rate higher and higher, inflation more and more, a health care law that few understand, in short, all we got was words. Then the election, which showed just what the people thought of his administration. Now, it wasn't the liberals who lost the election, hell we didn't get anything. So it must have been him and what he did or what he didn't do. Oh, it is so hard to confront one's failures.
So, I guess liberals need to re-group and find a new leader for our causes. The president is on a trajectory that will lead him to one term. It wasn't the middle that embraced him and propelled him beyond the “also-rans” in the primaries, heck they were with Clinton. If he thinks that the middle and those who follow Fox News are going to embrace this pitiful attempt at appeasement, he is delusional. The arrogance displayed in his penchant remarks about the politics of the country is but another example of hubris. The man who told us we were the ones who made a difference is now telling us we are irrelevant. Fox news and the middle, which is as amorphous and undefinable as “normal,” will jettison him and his ideas in their attempt to go back to a time that never existed.
By the by, Ronald Reagan was never anything but a B actor. It is likely that his term office will someday be judged for what it was, a period of years presided over by a man suffering from senility and Alzheimer. Obama, like Carter, will fall to the forces of his own character. He should realized that the election of 2010 was not about what the democrats did, but what he didn't do. He let the other side, which wasn't the loyal opposition, remember the “you lie” comment and the drone of a justice shaking his head, frame the arguments, and we Americans like a good explanation, even it is completely false. We must remember Mencken's observations, No one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the American Public. Obama has gone over to the dark side, and no amount of his rhetoric or admonishments can make the body politic anything than what it is – a reactionary world of “know nothings” who will get what they really want, his defeat in 2012. He should have stuck to his guns and gone after what he said he was going to rather than following whatever he was following. We thought we had in him a leader, one who would alter the course of history. All we go was another politician who was trying to keep his job by reading tea leaves. Perhaps he wanted us liberals to keep drinking his brand of kool-aid, but something is happening here Mr Jones, and you don't know what it is.

Time For Real History

Well, two years since that fateful election, when liberals of every stripe heralded the golden age of democracy. A man of mix races rose above the hatred and bigotry of a nation and proclaimed a new era of American politics. The faces in the crowd as he gave his first speech as President elect were painted with awe and wonder. Even an icon, such as Oprah, stood there among the masses (probably the first time in a long time) with tears in her eyes. Black and white, old and young, we were united. But as Obama's words echoed and then faded, the right with their vicious accusations, half truths, and outright lies began their spin operation. The Republicans in congress were chastised for going along with the idiotic and criminal Bush Administration. Yet they held steadfast in their belief that in the end spin not action would rule the day. They were right.
Obama with the delusion only a naïve foolish young man could harbor believed that compromise and reason would bring about the changes he so fervently championed in the campaign. Oh, Brother, he was as wrong as wrong could be.
Obama, we were told was a student of history especially Lincoln. A Team Of Rivals, a historical account of the man, was mentioned so often it was as if Obama was channeling Lincoln. But reality has a pernicious way of dashing hope and replacing it with despair. The failures of Obama's first two years is a study in the fruitless attempt to make politicians anything other than what they are– a collection of self aggrandizing, thieving, self centered ideologues whose only intent is to feather their own nests, collectively and individually. To even think, that reason, logic, and compromise can produce meaningful laws is ludicrous. Yet with all the persistence of a deranged man walking streets of a crowded New York City Street carrying a sign board, the great mixed hope continued his pursuit of the impossible. Ah! A modern day Don Quixote, suitable for a play or a novel but hell to witness when one's fate is in the hands of a mad man, as honorable as his intentions maybe.
So here we are in Chapter 2, the list of failure range from the sad dismissal of equal rights for gays to die honorably to an economy that is well in the tank. While we still squander billions and billions on fruitless wars helping both allies (which they are only in name) to avowed enemies. So, our president went to visit the troops, well, he should have had the troops visit him in the White House. And he should have singled on gays who had served honorably and awarded them a commendable service award and make it known as commander-in-chief, he honored those who served honorably. Maybe, even to trump John McCain, single out a few who had given their life. He should order the generals to obey his order that all service men and women have rights guaranteed under the constitution or discharge them. And if the McCain and the rest of those gay bashing hypocrites want to fight – he should set a time and date near the Lincoln Memorial and see if they really want to fight. Then and only then would he be reaching back into the storied pages of the history of this country. That should be the first fight, the first time the new “no compromise” president starts acting like a leader. Fight after fight should follow, maybe even a duel to get the historical context true to form.
This nation was never a bastion of logic and reason. It has always operated from the gut. There are no niceties in American politics. There is the only knock down drag them out way of doing things.
The future looks bleak. The Republicans had stated nothing will be done till the tax bill includes the upper 2 per cent. I suggest Obama call their bluff. Let the congress appear as foolish as they really are. Trying to appease this sorry coterie of reactionary fools is like trying to make sense out of Sara Palin's pronouncements. It is time, well it is well past time, to draw the line in the sand. It is time to stop this “rock star” approach to politics and get in the ditch and fight like there is no tomorrow. Because if things progress as these “no-nothings” want, there will be no tomorrow only sad yesterdays that were so destructive.

Oh Obama is This Really the End, Stuck in Washington with Capitol Blues Again

Leading vs Campaigning

The recent changes in the White House staff indicates just how far the Obama Administration is drifting. As in any delusional self aggrandizing display of ego, the administration and indeed the president is resorting to a strategy that served them well in the past. The problem is campaigning and leading are entirely different. The former is little more than a shell game. You can talk your way in and out of a problem. The latter requires action, and decisive action at that.
Obama was elected on a wave of hope and change. Hope that the foolish ways of the previous administration would be replaced with thoughtful action. Implicit in this hope was the desire that certain actions would be reversed. Most notable, that the foolish and unjustified war in Iraq would end and that a more intelligent and militarily sound approach in Afghanistan would be adopted. There was a mandate for change, a congress was elected as evidence of this deep desire for change and hope. What the electorate got was nothing short of pompous speeches and stupefying inaction. In short, more of the same.
Both on election night and inaugural day, there was ample evidence of a new spirit among Americans. Then, the status quo seeped in every corner and when the high of election ran its course, the country had little more than what it had. The gays got shafted though a simple act might have come in a day or two. Sure the curmudgeons would have argued that the military would soon disintegrate into chaos, but surely their warning would have proved as false as their position in short order. The health coverage could have had a single payer if the White House had fashioned a bill with some sense and sent it to the hill, rather than let the sausage makers have their opportunity to fashion something that no one could understand. Also, the Palinites, the no-nothings of our generation, would not have been able to develop arguments with no basis in reality. On the financial side, Obama instead of bringing in those who created the mess should have turned to others who had a keen eye on the scams being perpetuated on our economy – Volker comes to mind. And lastly the most fool hardy of all missteps, the let me forget what I said on the campaign trial blunders, was listening to the generals on Afghanistan, one who was both irreverent and a outed liar. The only thing that top that fool hardy move was appointing Petraus to the zone. All these acts are a sign that the little geniuses who ran the campaign had no idea what they were doing and the president was presiding over a monolith that he wanted to co-opt instead of lead.
And what does the president do now to correct the past, he brings in his campaign manager. Good show there, huh? More words and less decisive actions.
Change can only occur when decisive and dramatic action is taken. It is also apparent that change causes tension and some need to be dragged into the future. The electorate expressed its dismay and disappointment with the past two years. Starting the campaign two years before the election is a sign that the White House just doesn't get it. It is not the message that is wrong; it is the messenger who just doesn't get it. Compromise is only effective when two parties are ready to deal honestly with one another. Chaos Theory dictates that the most unreasonable person wins in the end. Bringing intelligence to the table with a bunch of no-nothings whose avowed purpose is to defeat you is just plain stupid. They have no respect for the man or the office. The sad irony is that the opportunity the president was given was squandered, and like a character in a Greek Tragedy he had only his hubris to blame.

The End of Reality That We Never Knew

I feel detached these days. Election day is approaching and the absurdity of our political system is never more apparent then at the time of an election. We live in a fantasy world where nothing is real. We are bombarded with news twenty-four hours of every day. The news is recycled from the tabloids known for their indiscretion and questionable bending of the truth. Political operatives spend hour after hour twisting and bending the facts to give us a less than honest appraisal of their candidates and the oppositions. Issues are made up based on the electorate's predilections.

The new twist is the old twist. The so called mavericks have come upon the scene with their mouths open wide spewing anti government slogans and attesting to their “common man” leanings. Their rise can be attributed to the fact that government is in shambles. After eight years of dishonest thuggery, we have a president who tried to be all things to all people. He attempted to be the great compromiser while the other side declared on his election day victory that they were not going to do anything to help. Right wing blabber mouths with unlimited air time questioned his very status as a citizen. The irony of all this patriotic opposition was that the country had fallen into a hole of debt and not one of these so called intellectuals was concerned with helping to right the ship of state. All the right did with the help of their minions of revisionists was to launch broadside after broadside making it nearly impossible to give any sense of accomplishment to the new president. The smug blonds and the overweight loud mouths came forth with their witty asides twisting facts and history to serve their rhetoric of hate.

In all this fight for the “common man” we must be honest and state unequivocally that it is a fight for the “common white man.” Racism is alive and well. These tea party folks are the “no nothings” of this age. They are against government for all the people though they will defend with all their might the government that they receive. They are characters out of Twain's Huckleberry Finn who detest educated black men. They are lead around by their noses by folks with dishonorable intentions. They listen to the shrill call of the wild. They are bound by the illusion that they are the real voice of America. The sad fact is the real voice of America is somewhat tainted by a history steeped in racism and jingoistic fervor that serve the top one percent who hold a disproportionate share of the wealth of the nation.

The nation watches reality shows that are concocted in the minds of simpletons who want us to believe they are real. People are paraded before us as celebrities when their only claim to such status is their appearance on a medium that has evolved into a P T Barnum side show. They are freaks of a medium that is too adept at changing reality and whose main intent is to get the unsuspecting buyer to purchase a pill that will do whatever age and diet has robbed them off.

Our elections are a reflection of our society. Bombast is the language of these times; dishonesty the underlying principle. The common man is swayed by the tides of their fears. All too many await deliverance from those who will twist words to serve their ends. Carnival barkers abound ushering us to a side show that will never meet the build up. We will learn again that, in the end, it is all about power. And the sad reality was first observed by a Lord Acton in the 1800's, Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Two New Poems

These Foolish Things

These foolish things I concern myself with,
These foolish things I hold to be true,
These things that pass in and out of my fancy,
These things that keep me stuck in my fate,
These things are of no value,
Save that which I invest in them,
Puddles of misunderstandings,
Rivulets of uncertainty,
Streams of broken dreams,
They dribble from me like drops from a worn faucet.


6/2010



Unfinished

These tired eyes focus on some lost time and place,
I sketch a memory from fragments of your face,
Searching through forgotten moments I trace,
Hoping to piece it all together in an embrace.

A poem

A Rainy May Day in Kijijoji

The wretched scurry from their hovels --
They scoop up their possessions --
Trash to most all in this profligate world --
The weather is relentless and without compassion,
Like the minds of those who pass by without a single concern save their mania --
Torn and tattered fashions not chic -- essential,
Time and worry crushed their frames,
Rain splattered spirits crouching in dingy niches.
Rain spirits growth on this earth
While the wretched seek shelter before they are washed away.

How Wrong is Wrong

Dylan once sang you don't need a weather man to tell you which way the wind blows, but you do need a barometer to tell you the pressure. My disillusionment with Obama arose out of his continuation of the Bush's policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, his appointment of the jackals of finance to run the economy and his endless and futile attempts to negotiate with the disloyal and recalcitrant opposition. On top of that, he has made deals with the devils of health care, drug companies and single minded senators. The litany is one who wanted change not a continuation of the status quo. But ironies of all ironies, Dick Cheney endorsed the president's policy on the two wars and the appointments of generals. Does Obama need any other evidence that his polices need a complete overhaul?
When he first took office, Obama stated he wanted to look forward not backward. With that statement, whatever wrongdoing the previous folks did they were given a "get out of jail free card." The consequence of this fool hardly policy is that the likes of the former vice president can't pollute the air waves with his constant self-serving observations. It isn't enough we have him but also his daughter who constantly spin along with the sirens of the Fox News about the benefits of war mongering.
When you get an endorsement of the former vice president than you need to review your policy. Frank Rich observed that rather being cute about the Palin issue they need to focus on what is wrong and what needs fixing. The first thing that should be done is to draw a line in the sand with the Republicans and detail what “hope” and “change” represent in terms of legislation. Rather than a sausage makers' delight health care bill, a simple plan with simple but profound meaningful change needs to be offered. He rattled those fundamentals enough time and with the plethora of lawyers running around the White House perhaps they a bill can be drafted and sent to congress. He needs to line up Pelosi and Reed and the rest of the Democrats and forbid them to add on to the bill. Next he needs to present it to the people and insure every provision of the new bill relates to people and not private interests. He also needs to fire his finance team and re-hire people who are muckrakers and who will attack the jackals of finance – first rule should be banks are banks and investments banks are casinos for the risk takers. Insurance companies need to follow a plan where their assets are available for the things they insure. Last of all, the president has got to stop talking and forbid his flacks from rationalizing the non activity. The president has listened for over a year, now he needs to act.
Admittedly, these observations are naive at best. But to take a Jacksonian position as oppose to some corrupted Lincolnesque one is a move in the direction of change. We are country divided and unfortunately we will always be divided. Fox News and its legion of pundits along with Palin can capture the hearts and minds of those who fill the ranks of the no nothing segment of our electorate. It is an American tradition as old as the republic itself. Nothing can change the mind of those who have made up theirs and refuse to listen to logic and reason. The fact is that in any noble endeavor where right has triumphed over prejudice, strong and persistent action is needed. Non-violent, yes. But mainly, tough dogged politics is a necessity. Compromise is good, when you can compromise. But when you can't it is a waste of time. If Democrats want to be the party of the people, then it has to go back to doing the people's business. Like a junkie who needs to kick a habit, they need to stop taking corporate money and get down to the people's business. And remember if Dick Cheney agrees with you, you must be doing something wrong. After all, he is not a clock that is broken, hence he is never right not even twice a day.

Now For Something Entirely Different

So we are told to stop and smell the roses. I guess that means to take stock of one's surrounding and revel in the gift of life. Well, that action doesn't necessarily bring one to some Pollyanna conclusion of the living experience. At times, stopping and smelling brings one to the awareness of passing time and its effect on life.

On Aging

As the days dwindle down to a few,
As the page gets further from the eyes,
And the hair grows straw like, wispy,
As clothes becomes fashion-less,
And others wait impatiently while we dawdle – purposefully,
While we linger with the next act – methodically,
And others have since sped to their appointments,
When the hours blend and purpose remains elusive,
When talks turn to things long gone --
The eyes, crow feet-ed blink looking for tears,
When the music is unknown,
When the cold is colder and the hot unbearable, death like,
What once was known is forgotten,
When what was once certain is uncertain,
When the sunsets and sunrises collide,
And simple things amuse – rapport with a child,
When the mind grows vacuous,
And the wind scatters the soul piecemeal,
When the lonely days and lonely hours diminish
To a precious few, while the breath fades,
And the body relents and we exhale but for the last time
And, then silence and cold conjoin,
And our soul burns out like an ember.

The Illusion of Change

With the election of Brown to replace Ted Kennedy, a liberal such as myself needs to take stock of the current state of national politics. The once promising ascendancy of Barrack Obama has been reduced to but another melodrama. The dreams and aspirations of those of us who once were smitten with the hope of change must now endure but another example of American politics at its worse. The high ideas of service and placing the American people first were thrown out the proverbial window by a minority whose only interest was their own contributors. The super majority was little more than an illusion. Liberman, a loser of the first order and a turncoat to boot, was exercising the rule of one, and Nelson outdid him by sheer greed guiding his unprincipled compromise. Thus the super majority was only a number with no actual significance.
The democrats were all too comfortable with themselves. The president boldly walked into the same financial den of thieves with the same reckless and thieving scoundrels who had ramped up but another attack on the national treasury. Funny, the money interests need to be saved by all means while the suffering unemployed must wait in the welfare lines till the economy turns better. The lag in jobs is a function of the need for capitalists to amass even greater wealth before they are about to dole any out. And the difference between governing and campaigning is simple. In the later, all you need to do is talk you way out while the former takes some serious action.
The health care bill failed because it was left to the sausage makers to produce a product. It stunk from the outset by all of the special interests that needed their safety net. The politicians will cite the development of legislation is complicated. Why? Because lawyers love to use language that only they can understand. Lawyers, especially devious, unprincipled, or stupid ones, tend to confuse things so they can do what they want. They can commit crimes with impunity because they twist words to make their actions legal. They also prevent any action against them with the same slight of hand. Of course the really stupid and arrogant ones tend to get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Where was the president while congress was drafting legislation? Well of course, he and his crack team of spinners were out there spouting campaign rhetoric. He had time to prance about the world selling everything from his home town to accepting a Nobel Peace prize. Irony of all ironies given the state of our military adventures. When at home, he cavorted with known scoundrels like the drug companies chieftains. Meanwhile our dubious representatives were out collecting their graft from those who needed a special paragraph or two to protect their interests. In the end, the country was left waiting in the wings. When the product was delivered it was both incomprehensible and needed a reconciliation. Change like mist on a summer day vanished.
And the irony of all this madness is that this country continues to slide ever closer to the abyss of ruin. In a song by Jackson Browne, he makes the observation, they sell us our president like they sell us our soap. We shouldn't be surprised at how much our president is like the winner of American Idol as opposed to a leader. After all, he was elected on his wit and charm. We believed him because he was believable and more so because we needed to believe. We needed to have someone with high ideas. We needed a knight in shinning armor to rescue us from the dogs of war, from the robber barons of Wall Street. We needed to have hope again that we could will our way out of the morass of greed and war mongering. Yet, we still are plagued by that we had hope to rid ourselves. We are left, again, sitting on our couch looking at the spectacle of our political system exercising the only tool at our disposal the negative vote. Unfortunately, all that ever gets us is that which we already have – a hopeless journey along the road of political absurdity where the “new boss is the same as the old boss.”