Restoring my faith in humanity

If you're still suffering from the post-election blues, this article and this website and this website has done more to restore my faith in humanity that anything else so far.

Be at peace.

Combat Marines & "The Hollywood Factor"

The mainstream media are all over the story of the Marine who shot the injured and unarmed Iraqi in Fallujah - on camera (not too bright and a bit too impulsive ). You can bet they'll be stringing this story out for weeks. It's a war and you're in the battle zone - what did you think was going to happen? These guys are trained to be killing machines, don't ask for apologies now.

Anyway, I watched the video this morning and something struck me about the encounter. It seemed kinda.....Hollywood. I don't mean that it was staged, I mean that the timing of the shooting (boom) and the one-liner, "He's dead now!" seemed like a scene from an actioin movie, like that Marine saw one too many Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and drew from that experience instead of his Marine training. I think "Platoon" was the first thing that jumped into my head.


Not that I think that it wasn't a justified shooting. According to rumor, some of the bodies have been booby-trapped and we all know how willing our enemy is to die for their cause by blowing themselves up (personnally, I think I'd be shooting anything that moved). But it seems that pop culture and it's movies have soaked into our very being, leaking out of our mouths at the worst possible moments.

Could the presence of a camera have anything to do with how this went down?

Tyranny of the minority?

The other night on tv, Bill Frist, the senate majority leader, warned the country of an evil that's lurking in our congress. It's called the filibuster and he actually coined it "The tyranny of the minority" - when it's used by Democrats, of course.

Can you believe that?

The Republicans control the house, the senate, the presidency and most of the state legislatures and they have the audacity to complain about a stalling tactic that's been used, quite LIBERALLY, by the Republicans whenever the democrats are in control of congess. But then he knows that, all the congress knows that, and any adult whose lived through a couple administrations knows that.

So who's Bill Frist trying to scare? The same moral majority who put Bush back in office, I'd guess. Fear worked so well in the presidential campaign, why stop now?

Perhaps they'll declare the filibuster "A Tool Of Satan!"

Tax-deductible morality

Took my wife and daughter to my wife's sister's house for my nephew's birthday and to check out their new McMansion in the sticks. They invited my wife's step-siblings and their kids as well. Their new house is enormous and left us feeling pretty irrelevant, at least as far as material comfort and social status goes.

During after-dinner drinks the conversation turned to politics and the recent election. I had a feeling this was going to turn out bad. The majority in the room, who are undeniably middle-middle-class, voted for Kerry. Me, being a working-class schlub on the fringe, voted for Nader. Our hosts, however, the owners of this enormous house in an upper-class neighborhood, and who own a business which they run out of their home, excused themselves from the conversation. They were clearly embarrassed in present company to say they voted for Bush.

The conversation quickly turned to less sensitive subjects but later I asked my brother-in-law if the "morality issue" had anything to do with his vote, since I know them to attend church regularly. He grinned, shook his head, and said, "No. Not really." Basically, he voted to keep his big, fat, tax break. He and his wife are good with money and voted for their economic self-interest. There's nothing wrong with that - unless they suspect their candidate is likely to harm the greater good of the country, in which case I would argue against the "morality" of their motives.

My in-laws were going to open a seperate office for their business. It would cost them more initially, but they'd be able to hire permanent employees instead of "independent contractors" (currently, two employees who work out of their own vehicles) increase their credibility as a firm, and expand their commercial opportunities. Instead, they decided that it just made more sense for them to take that $1200 a month lease payment for office space and put it towards the mortgage payment for a larger home, open another tax-deductible office downstairs with its own entrance and write it all off.
Ba-da-bing.

So for the time being, my well-to-do in-laws will be holding on to their Bush tax winfall. Perhaps someday, when they feel more comfortable, they'll get around to creating some good jobs for the rest of us schlubs.

Saving Private Matlock????

Bastards! Tease me with a scheduled broadcast of "Saving Private Ryan" then I hear on CNN that it's not going to air in some cities because ABC is afraid of the FCC coming down on them? And sure enough, there's an episode of "Matlock" airing as I type. Are you fucking serious? Is this what the NEW MORALITY promises us for the next four years? Matlock instead of airing the word "fuck" during prime time? Why didn't they just choose to bleep it out? TBS ruins movies like that all the time.

I am seriously pissed.

I sent nastygrams to the following e-mail addresses: fccinfo@fcc.gov and talkback@wxyz.com.

Selective Morality

Ever since the Republicans blind-sided half the country with their supposed moral mandate in the 2004 presidential election, I've been wondering how they were going to continue to claim the moral high-ground by ostracizing those who support gay lifestyles and abortion while continuing to ignore other important moral issues such as aid to the poor, civil rights and the U.S. health care crisis.

But then I heard an interview with author Rick Warren who wrote "The Purpose Driven Life", which, despite its lack of coverage in the mainstream media, has sold over twenty million copies. It's a big seller at Wal*Mart.

During the interview, Warren conveniently divided morality into two camps: Social Morality, which includes things like aid to the poor, civil rights and health care which Liberals tend to support; and Personal Morality, which includes things like opposition to gay marriage (i.e. those who support traditional marriage) and opposition to abortion that conservatives tend to support.

We all on the same page now? Social Morality for liberals and Personal Morality for conservatives. Divide and Conquer; a purpose-driven strategy for evangelical conservatism in the 21st Century.

Now, who's up for a good 'ole traditional book burning?

Morality Prayer

I think the pundits are right. George Bush's victory is a mandate for morality. With that in mind, I'm inspired to say a prayer for us all. I encourage anybody reading this to say a prayer for humanity, or bettter yet, write your own prayer to The Almighty that our fearless leader doesn't encourage a global meltdown and cause more needless suffering. I don't usually take the time to pray, but I fear our current circumstances warrant it.

Dear Lord,

Please help our leader, George W. Bush, make sound and humane decisions in the coming years of his presidency.

Please help him secure the safety and welfare of all peoples, not just those in North America or those who serve North American business interests.

Lord, help George remember that all human life is precious and full of potential, not just the unborn; liberals, homosexuals, the working poor, the homeless and even drug addicted, radio talk-show hypocrites and sexual-harassing t.v. anchormen who bear false witness to line their pockets with gold deserve to live.

Lord, take pity on us all in the coming years.

Teach George to rule with compassion and humility, and have him teach compassion and humility to those who will do his bidding.

God temper his arrogance so we may avoid the wrath of those who wish us harm.

Urge him to use OUR wealth for good, and not use OUR wealth for evil; to promote peace and not pre-emptively wage war.

Please let him heed your words, Lord.

We are forever at Your mercy.


Amen

CSPAN: GOPAC Lunch w/Newt

I just got done watching a speech by Newt Gingrich on CSPAN. I don't agree with his politics, but I have a lot of respect for this history professor and the passion with which he argues his case and his ability to energize conservatives. But one of the last questions he fielded was, "What can the GOP do to change the America's image in Europe, most of whose population vehemently disagrees with the Bush administration, and seemingly, the majority of Americans considering the outcome of the 2004 election?"

Uncharacteristically, Newt didn't actually answer the question, but again emphasized our differences from the Europeans. He said we should remember who we are. We Americans are the people who left Europe in search of something better. He also criticized the European people and their press, saying that the BBC is more anti-American that Al Jazeera. As far as opposition to the war goes, he said something to the effect of, "Let's be honest, The French and The Russians were only opposed to America's interference in Iraq because they were making a lot of money off Saddam."

I thought to myself, "Yes, Newt. Let's be honest, shall we? It's always about the money, isn't it? Let's be honest. Why is the Bush administration stirring up the hornets nest in the Middle East? To spread the benefits of democracy for the benefit of humanity? No, really, let's be honest. It's because certain powerful players in America have INTERE$T$ in Iraq. Let's be honest, shall we? When they say it's not about the oil, it's about the oil, isn't it Newt? C'mon, let's be honest. Shall we? The Carlisle Group is making a fortune on the front end, cashing in on weapons sales to execute the perpetual War On Terrorism, and Haliburton and Kellogg, Brown & Root is making a fortune off the back end, with no-bid contracts for rebuilding all the shit we've blown up and all the shit we're going to blow up. Let's be honest, Newt; it's always, always, always, ALWAYS about the money. Isn't it? Just level with us, will ya?

Economic Relativism

I took my mother on a shopping trip to the Retail Mecca of The Midwest yesterday; Novi, MI. The city's centerpiece, Twelve Oaks Mall, was developed in the early eighties by Taubman and Associates (yes, that Taubman). Over the next twenty years, mini-malls, retails outlets, theatres and department stores have sprawled out to the city limits making Novi one of, if not THE, shopping destinations for the monied uppper crust. Just outside of Novi, in Farmington Hills, MI., luxury car dealerships such as Jaguar, Hummer, BMW and Audi are clustered together within a block, creating a veritable automotive boutique for the wealthy. Within a twenty square-mile radius of the shopping district are countless developments of expensive homes and brownstone condominiums that have overtaken the landscape in the last ten years, seemingly doubling population and traffic.

But within a fifteen minute drive of this capital capitol is my 1994, 16x80, single-wide manufactured home that resides within a park. It's the only place I can afford to live that's near my job and my hometown where my parents still live. They still reside in their post-WWII, GI-loan home that was built during the "white-flight" from Detroit in the early fifties. It's a small, three-bedroom brick home with a basement. It's still a good neighborhood and it was a great place to grow up, surrounded by woods my friends and I were free to roam. The woods are now a suburb of high-priced homes that are well more than ten times my annual pay.

I suppose it's natural that I aspire to have AT LEAST what my parents had, but alas, the expensive real estate that now surrounds their modest home has driven the cost of living in that neighborhood out of my reach. I often complain about my manufactured digs (trailer life) and dream, someday, of having a traditional stick & mortar home on a plot of land I can call my own. My father paid $13,000 for his home in 1952. Today, it's worth around $180,000 - still, it's more than I can currently afford as a working-class man without a degree.

On returning from our shopping trip, we stopped by my trailer to pick up my mother's blood-pressure monitor which I had borrowed. Even though we live withing five miles of eachother, she rarely visits. I showed her some of the improvements I've made to our humble digs, utilizing some of the skills I've acquired since abandoning music for maintenance. She complimented my work and said I seemed to have more room than they have because of the layout and extra large master bathroom with the garden tub (that's now finished with ceramic tile and Pergo floors instead of carpeting). And it was much cheerier than her house, she added.

Then she reminded me that what I have is much more than what many people in the world have. At least it's not a cardboard box, a motel room, or an efficiency apartment in the bowels of the city. At least I don't live in the Middle East, or India or China or Africa - where they'd literally kill to have what I take for granted. And she's right. I want for nothing, really, other than more space and the psychological well-being that comes from proper Feng Sui and organic surroundings. We have five TV's, two DVD players, a washer & dryer, a refrigerator, microwave, computers - most of the trappings of modern life. What we don't have is the high-quality Amerrican life we all imagined for ourselves as teenagers; nice house, nice cars, nice clothing, space for entertaining, private schools, club memberships, nice vacations, college for our children.

There'sis still a price for sucking-up the near-bottom of the socio-economic ladder in susburban America. My family, by living in a manufactured home, is surrounded by construction materials that contain formaldahyde and other nasty chemicals- creating a relatively unhealthy home environment. We're treated with contempt by some in our school district and suffer from political efforts such as creative re-districting and, currently, regressive tax increases that I feel are discriminatory. We've been treated with disdain or dismissal by the local police when we file a complaint because our clustered population causes the perception that trailer folk cause more crime, yet contribute less to the local tax base. My mother-in-law almost NEVER comes to visit my wife, in contrast to the frequent visits she makes to her sister in an upper middle-class neighborhood. All of these things sap our confidence and dampen our aspirations for the future.

The argument that we're still doing better than slave laborers in third-world countries doesn't appease us any more than when our parents told us to eat our brussel sprouts because children were starving in Africa. Back then, we could hardly imagine those dirt-poor peasants on the other side of the world. But today, we have cable television to show us EXACTLY how we're doing relative to those kids. I have to wonder if this is an accident of modern worldwide communication, or a means of social control to appease the insecurity I feel being surrounded by wealth and oppulence.

...and the culture war rages on.

George W. Bush has won re-electioin with a popular vote advantage of 3% and 55 million Democrats and progressives are shaking their heads in disbelief. Not only did The Republican Party re-elect their president, but held their plurality in the Senate and gained seats in the House of Representatives. Peggy Noonan was gloating about the victory on Fox news and the mainstream press believes the vote was a mandate on morality - which dems believe is republicanspeak for disenfranchising gays and banning abortions. Eleven states paved the way for constitutional amendments to their respective constitutions to define marriage as only that between a man and a woman. We'll see if said morality will extend to the sick, the poor and the tens of thousands of civilians who die as "collatoral damage" during the war in Iraq. I'm sure there's plenty of scripture that can be used against the conduct and policies of this administration.

It became clear after hearing Nancy Pelosi's speech last night that this unexpected loss will force the democrats to re-examine their strategy. But after seeing the conclusion of her speech and several commentators who mourned Kerry's loss, it hasn't weakened the progressives, but further emboldened them and stiffened their spines. Not only is the culture war not over, but will heat up and possibly boil over within the next four years. Despite a traditional call for unity, I didn't see any convincing evidence last night or today of a desire to reach-out or compromise with the dems. The attitude seems to be, 'we welcome the democrats to join us' (i.e. you're either with us, or against us). More of the same.

Politically, one thing is quite clear: whatever we suffer as Americans, at home or abroad, will be the sole responsibility of The Republican Party who still ruthlessly control both houses, the presidency and some might argue, The Supreme Court.

The One Percent Solution

At six a.m. this morning, the presidential race is still too close to call. Y2K flashback. My state of Michigan went to Kerry, but I decided to be brave, stick to my values, and vote with the one percent of sanity: I voted for Nader. Kerry paid a lot of lip service to helping the "middle class" but ignored the plight of the working class who continue to suffer from this country's trade policy and die from it's foreign policy. You can bet the Yalies' (George & John) children won't be working for Wal*Mart without health insurance or be torn to peices by roadside bombs in Iraq (that, by the way, were created by the very people we have "liberated").

Another thing that tipped my vote in favor of Nader was a realization that was brought home by the comedian, Geoge Carlin. He admitted in an interview with Terry Gross that he doesn't vote (Fresh Air: November 1st, 2004) . When asked why , he said, "..because there's an ownership class in this counry and there's no real choice...they do what they want, they get what they want and Americans deserve what they get because they're not engaged. The only thing that I like about the left as opposed to the right is that, generally speaking, the left seems to care more about people and the right seems to care more about property."

After seeing that half the country still voted for Bush after the immense failures of his administration, I can only conclude that our nation has lost its way. The right wing marches on towards oblivion and will drag us all down with it. Brace yourself, my countrymen. We're in for a helluva ride.