Mob Rule

An armed mob confronts government police officers who are attempting to enforce the law, causing a stand-off, and this doesn't just scare the shit out of you?  This mob action in favor of a bigot who thinks black Americans would be better off enslaved, not does he want to pay a fee (and fine of $ 1,000,000 for using someone else's land.  It gets worse.  One of the two major political parties defended them, at least for awhile.

Slavery in the US

I am reading "The House Girl" by Tara Conklin about the life of a slave woman in Virginia in the 1840's.  I am struck by the level of fear that existed in our system of human bondage.  All those living in this system lived with a constant state of fear.  Of course, slaves feared the violence of whipping, death for the smallest of things and sexual assault by slave owners.  But white slave owners also lived in fear of a slave revolt or individual act of vengance by a slave wronged.  White non-slave owners also feared for their lives and property if they were known to speak out against the cruelty of the southern labor system.  Slave women feared the sexual assault that resulted in children of mixed race.  White women feared their philandering husbands loss of affection.

What a totally evil system and its damage to our society is ungoing.

The Dogs of War are gathering

In the Virginian Pilot today, in a small article inside the main section of the paper-in a spot that could be easily overlooked, it is reported that the US and Poland seem to have agreed to send "US ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO's presence in Central and Eastern Europe".  This action has been triggered by the events in the Ukraine.  It is noted that this is a "political decision" with the military planners coming up with details.  And I voted for Obama because I believed he would be less likely to expand the nation's wars.  I guess I was wrong.  How do we figure the Russians will respond when a former "ally" and border state is now willing to accept US forces?  Maybe we wouldn't mind if the Russians sent troops to Cuba or Venezuela or some other country on our border?

Priorities

Vladmir Putin, Hamid Karzai, Bashar al-Assad...are the only people we hear about on the nightly news.  Does anyone know who the mayor of Detroit is?  Of Camden, NJ? Or even the governor of West Virginia? Sorry, but I've got to the point of just not giving a shit about the problems of the world when the problems of this country go ignored.  We seem to be trying to solve the problems of the world when in fact we are trying to profit from those problems or attempting to justify our obscene military/industrial complex spending.  With out problems to "solve" we would not need the military establishment we have and that would mean many wealthy people and companies would lose money.

Senator Bernie Sanders

I came across this 1989 comment by Bernie Sanders in the book Challengers to Duopoly by David Gillespie and I thought it worth reporting here.

"...the United States has the lowest turnout of any industrial nation (talking about voting)...the main reason is that Democratic and Republican candidates have little or nothing to say to tens of millions...mostly the poor, working people, and youth.  Both major parties, dominated by wealthy individuals and corporate interests, are deeply out of touch with these citizens.

The two major parties not only fail to provide solutions to the problems of society but, in many cases, don't even discuss the issues.  Given the level of current debate, the interesting thing is not why half of the people don't vote, but why half of the people do.

The richest 1 percent...now owns more than half of the nation's wealth.  While we had a doubling of billionaires (recently), close to three million Americans now sleep out on the streets".

As of this date, Senator Sanders of the state of Vermont was recently re-elected  a second term in the US Senate and some people think he should run for President in 2016.

Pardon my Foolishness

With all the recent talk of the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, I kind of felt left out.  So I have devised my own "olympic" for those of us who are too old to compete.  So here it is.  But first.  There are three classes to these events.  The first is for those age 55 to 65.  The second is for those 65 to 70.  The last is for those 70 and older (The designation of the classes has nothing to do with my age, which is 71).  The older contestant may compete on all three levels.

Event # 1 =  The Beer Can Pour.  Pop a 12 oz flip top can of beer.  Pour contents into a 12 class.  The objective here is to pour as quickly as you can without any spillage.  If any foam is spill you are disqualified from this event.  If any brew is spilled you are permanently banished from these games for life.  May the best pourer win.

Event # 2 =  The Beer Bottle Pour.  Same as above but this time with a 12 oz bottle of beer.

Both of the above events the time begins when the can or bottle is picked up until the filled class is laid down on the table (or bar if competing in a pub;  two extra points are added if the pub is in Ireland).

Event # 3 =  Sock Donning.  From a sitting position, with socks rolled into one pair.  Open roll and insert feet into sock.  Heal must be in proper location or 5 seconds is added to time.  Time for event is from a "bell" being rung until both feet are socked and on  floor.  May the best socker win.

Event # 4 =  Cross Word Puzzle contest = Using Monday puzzle from any local paper (not the NY Times or LA Times or any other major city rag), fill out all clues correctly.  Substract 1 min for each block incorrect. This event may take longer than one of us can stay awake, so it can be shortened to filling out the first ten clues correctly.  May the best puzzler win.

Event # 5 =  Same as above but with two person teams, using one pencil and one puzzle.

Event # 6 = Shoe Race.  From a standing position, sit in chair.  Place shoes on feet; must have laces.  Lace up both shoes and stand up.  Best time wins.  Subtract 5 seconds for each eyelet missed.  May the best lacer win.

Event # 7 -  Pants Pull.  Getting into a pair of pants (your own please) without falling over.  Competitor must be standing and remain standing thru-out the contest.  Sitting down before the pants are fully on and belted will result in  disqualification.  Any touching of a wall, chair or any other item for balance will cause the score to be increased by 1 min.  Style points will be taken away for any swaying or loss of balance that does not require sitting down.  May best puller win.

(That's all for now.  More events may follow)

SNAFU

"Plan to reduce military prompts resistance from Democrats, GOP".  "Members of both parties say cuts will hurt the country".  This from The Virginian Pilot this am and it doesn't say much for the difference between the two major parties on the issue of defense spending.  

Obama's plan to "dramatically overhaul the nations military" will be resisted by both parties.  Sec't of Defense Chuck Hagel wants to reduce the Army to the size it was in 1941; 440,000 to 450,000 active duty personnel, down from 520,000.  Congress has agreed to keep military budget under $ 500 billion (BO wants $ 495 bill) for next week (ops) year.  Tea Party wants more cuts in defense.  In Dec. Congress approved a 1 % cut in Veterans benefits; this month they voted to cancel that cut-the vote was 99 to 0. Dems Kaine, Levin, and Blumenthal are all opposed to military cuts.  (Note: Hagel "announced the Army would be downsized". Can he do that w/o Congressional support?)

Obama wants a "security pact" with Afghanistan by the end of the year or he will withdraw all US troops (he told us in 2008 he would end the middle east wars, now he will only if Karzai refuses to sign an agreement to keep troops there.  I remember in 1968 Nixon said he would end the Vietnam War and after I got out of the service in 1970 the war continued two more years.  Obama told me he would end our present wars and here we are many, many years later the the wars go on.  When will I learn not to trust anyone running for high office?)

Its clear now that Obama wants to keep 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 while Karzai wants them out.  Karzai, our ally and the one we put in office, has been making anti American speeches and taking anti American actions recently; We put him in office costing us thousands of US lives and God-knows how much money.  Something is rotten here.

Some Items from Last Year.

I just came across some articles from the magazine The Week that I put in a book and forgot they were there.  Maybe I should have left them there.  The first, from 2/1/13 from Slate.com reports on a You Tube video stating that the Sandy Hook elementary school killings in Connecticut never really happened.  Instead the video says that a "elaborate conspiracy staged by the government" faked the event-having actors playing the parts of the parents and children, and with the children still alive-to set the stage for a plan to take all guns away from Americans.  This is called "gun massacre trutherism" and it also happened after the Aurora and Virginia Tech killings.  This group is supported by the NRA who are telling people that there is a "massive Obama conspiracy" to take guns away.  (Its been a year now, I'll have to google this to see what is being said.

Second, is the news from the same edition about Sec't of State Chuck Hagel-a decorated and wounded Vietnam War vet-who had always believed the war was just but had "gone wrong".  In 1997 the government release tapes from LBJ in 1964 "confessing that the US couldn't win in Vietnam" but LBJ decided "his legacy" demanded that he keep us in the war.  Hagel is today deeply set against war and the possible loss of more American lives.  He became more anti-war when letters from his father-who served in the Pacific during WWII-stated that "if I thought I would ever have a son who would have to go through this, I would never get married".  This is personal in a way because when I was drafted in 1967 my father said nothing to me about what might lay ahead; and he had a government deferment during WWII.

Pete Seeger

The activist song writer and singer-aged 94-died this past week in his home in New York close by the Hudson river he helped to save (at least to some extent).  His songs and his life showed a deep concern for the injustice in our country and for the oppressed and marginalized.  He was involved in labor, peace and civil rights movements.  Some of his more well known songs were; "We Shall Overcome", "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", "The Hammer song" and "Waist Deep in Big Muddy" (an anti Vietnam war song that CBS censored in 1967).
During the 1930' and until 1949 he was a member of the Communist Party in the US.  In 1993 he said "he would like to see a world without millionaires".  He served in the Army Special Services during WWII entertaining US troops in the South Pacific.   In 1950 he was compelled to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee where he refused to answer their questions and was held in "contempt" of Congress, serving only a "few hours" in jail, but being blacklisted from TV for the next 17 years.  He was also an environmentalist and worked for the clean up of the Hudson river.  He continued his singing and protesting by coming out against the Iraq War and by his support for the Occupy Wall Street movement.
His musical instrument of choice was the banjo-which he called a "machine"-and "the Hammer song" summed up his life and music.
If I had a hammer
Id hammer in the morning
Id hammer in the evening
All over the land/ Id hammer out danger
Id hammer out a warning
Id hammer out a love between my brothers and sisters
All over the land.
Seeger's belief that in the face of injustice one "must do what one can do" to oppose it, and his own epitaph  he wrote:
And so keep on while we live
Until we have no more to give
And when these fingers can strum no longer
Hand the old banjo to young ones stronger.
(Source:  "He did have a Hammer" by Jim Berkerman of The Record 1/29/14)

Society and "place"

I recall a past episode of the TV program called "Downton Abbey" in which the lord of the manor tells a young friend, who is reluctant to use the valet his new position offers, that it is "important for everyone to have a place" and to use the valet's services.  I also recall an article recently about a police shooting in Iceland-the first of its kind in modern Icelandic history-and the comment that while guns are available in Iceland the economic gap between the rich and poor is very narrow, leaving everyone in that society with a "place" or a committment to the whole society. 

My thought in regard to this is that our society has not found a way to ensure everyone a meaningful "place" or connection to the whole or interest in the operation of a orderly and just society.  Fascism imposed on European societies in the 1930's and 40's gave everyone a place by making all classes work for the interest of the state.  I am certainly not advocating that form of government, but our system must find a way to give all people a sense of belonging to a greater whole and having an interest in the betterment of society.  There are just too many people in our society without jobs, or a decent quality of life that would give them a sense of "place".  There is just too much of a gap between those few at the top of the economic ladder and those at the bottom, especially when we hear (via TV, movies, and ads) all the time about the things that money will buy.  Without that sense of "place" all kinds of anti-social actions will be taken by those with nothing to lose.