Tannishblog

One of the tenets of Buddhism is Inter-connectivity: Everything, everyone, is interconnected, interdependent. Our fragile society is so complex that sometimes it’s hard for people to connect the dots. But the following seemingly disparate news items are - to me, at least - so intertwined as to be one, yet I don’t hear anyone putting them together. Taken together, they form a bleak view of American politics over the past few decades.

Exhibit a: President Obama’s July, 25 2011 speech on the Debt Debacle.

This quote alone secures my vote.

“For the last decade, we’ve spent more money than we take in. In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card.”

Exhibit B: An artistic portrayal of the state of education in America.

Put these together and what do you get? A nation with mistaken priorities.

Clearly the nations of the world would agree with this assessment. Our “leaders” should take this, pour it into a bucket and stir - Liberally.

Another in the never-ending series of I-Should’ve-Thought-Of-That:

Time to get our National Shit Together.

I started this blog to to poke at the idiocy that was the Bush Administration. That’s all history now, although we are still reeling from it’s many impacts. Now that my Guy is in the White House, I have no snark, therefore no inspiration.

I honestly can’t critique Obama. He’s taking the harder road, doing his job properly, by being Democratic instead of Dictatorial. Unfortunately, most Americans do not have patience with "Due Process." Most do not understand prioritizing and compromise. Most have no patience, as we are the "Instant Gratification" society.

We have also lived through 30+ years of under-funded public education; We are Idiots.

That is why I fear a second term for Obama is nigh impossible. Joe Sixpack cannot fathom the complexities our President is wrestling with daily. He has no concept of the issues (due largely to corporate-owned "news" outlets that spin facts out of truthful alignment.) Indeed, Mr. Bluecollar is being (mis-)Informed by said Media, which will impact the national vote in 2012.

Our Founding Fathers assumed that the Public would stay Informed. We are the opposite, these days. We are Misguided, Misdirected, Disinterested, and Misinformed. We, as a society, are too busy chasing after the newest iPhone.

We are all guilty of Democracy’s Demise. We’ve been distracted by the newest bauble, the hottest film star, the latest gimmick. We’re fed this stuff all the time, but we have the choice to turn away; this is within our power. But we don’t.

That’s the problem.

Six months is enough vacation. Time to start writing again…

What happens to a President-Flogging-End-Of-The-World_Is-Nigh kind of blog when a new administration begins? One that I helped elect?

It goes on vacation.

I’ve still been watching politics, waiting for the "A hah!" stroke of inspiration, but it hasn’t come. Unlike Cowboy politics, discourse and diplomacy takes time. Also, a reasoned approach to politics is lousy as a spectator sport. This is bad news for Mr Obama. His thoughtfulness and eloquence makes for few sound bites. Even the New York Times has trouble quoting the President in its Quote of the Day snippets.

I’ll give the Republicans one thing: They know how a little swagger and machismo can conquer the nightly news. Obama needs some of that.

Maybe he needs to open his shirt a bit for photo ops, or sometimes wear bling and a brim. Or maybe he can sign legislation in sweaty tees with a basketball tucked under one arm. Photos of him talking to heads of state with his feet on the desk would go a lot further if he wore vintage Air Jordons. Surely these tactics would propel his image as An Average Guy With Brains (as opposed to an effete intellectual, or some such.) This stuff is Sound Bite Heaven and is just as manly as clearing brush.

Then perhaps people will forget that half a year has gone by and not much has changed. Before Change You Can Believe in becomes Change You Have To Wait For.

I have a fascination with Society’s Decline. This is the central theme on Tannishblog, although I had no idea at inception. "Civilization is a fragile construct," I often say - only to meet silence and odd looks. These days we can see society tremor from unstable systems and practices reaching inevitable conclusions: Climate Change; Global Banking meltdown; A Housing Crisis in America; Unwarranted warfare; Political corruption, and hundreds of slayings of infinite variety. All occur as expressions of self-centeredness. Hatred, fear, greed, disinterest in our environment or in each other are cause of the above symptoms of civilization’s destruction.

Yet some voices of truth can still be heard:

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.

                   – His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I can almost hear you scoff: "Yeah, right!" you say. Take a moment to think about it. We have not been taught, in the Western Society, to cherish these qualities. Your dismissal of such messages are a result of years of being told and sold the opposite message.

"What’s in it for me?"
"Show me the money."
"Looking out for Number One."
"Taking care of business."
"Me first!"

"Me First" is exactly what is killing us. Compassion and Empathy is what can reverse our course. People want that, Barack Obama’s appeal is that he exudes compassion, that he cares about others. Most just don’t know how to express this most basic human quality as he can.

And that’s sad, isn’t it?

The Economic stimulus package just passed by congress is a joke. It will not affect our economy beyond furthering the budget deficit by $168 billion. The reason is simple: the money is already spent. The $1,500 I expect from the deal (if I read the fine print correctly) is mostly gone with a mortgage payment and a weeks groceries and gas. Poof! I will not be using it to buy that wall mounted, high definition television from the local store.

The idea of the US Government handing out checks is laughable. In the words of Shel Silverstein: “get your coat and grab you hat, son. There’s a nut down on the corner giving dollar bills away.”

Aparently I’m not the only one thinking this way. From MSNBC:

(J)ust 19 percent of the people surveyed said they planned to go out and spend the money; 45 percent said they’d use it to pay bills. And nearly half said what the government really should do is get out of Iraq.

Forty-eight percent said a pullout would help fix the country’s economic problems “a great deal,” and an additional 20 percent said it would help at least somewhat. Some 43 percent said increasing government spending on health care, education and housing programs would help a great deal; 36 percent said cutting taxes.

“Let’s stop paying for this war,” said Hilda Sanchez, 44, of Waterford, Calif. “There are a lot of people who are struggling. We can use the money to pay for medical care and help people who were put out of their homes.”

I concur.

My neighbor lady is 88 years old. Her husband died a few years back and they have no surviving children. A scattering of friends, neighbors and her husbands 2 elder brothers are her only lifelines. My wife shops for her, as she can’t drive anymore. As far as I know all she does during the day is watch television and read newspapers. Ever since her husband died, she’s been cleaning out her house of forty years of accumulation. She’s methodically cleaning up after her life, putting her affairs in order and awaiting the inevitable. Some days are good and some days are bad. What kind of life is that in terms of quality?

I think on this as I read a New York Times article on Assisted Suicide. Please read it, it may become a very important subject to you one day.

Gloria C. Phares, a 93-year-old retired teacher in Missouri, wrote:

“I was healthy until 90, and then Boom! Atrial fibrillation; deaf, can’t enjoy music or hear a voice unless 10 inches from my ear; fell, fractured my thigh and am now a cripple; had a slight stroke the day after my beloved husband died after 61 years of marriage.

“I’ve lived a happy life, but from here on out it’s all downhill. Is there any point in my living any longer? I’m not living — just existing. I very much want to die, but our society doesn’t let me. Oh for a pill to ease myself out and end my pain, pain, pain.”

No authority exists that has he right to tell anyone they cannot end their life. Not family, friends, the government nor the church can dictate what is best for any person. To the extent that all these entities will try to do so, is the extent to which our society is most wrongfully arrogant.

We have Assisted Living. Why not Assisted Dying. Its humane.

All of a sudden, Mike Huckabee is a frontrunner in the Republican rat race. Is there anyone who truly believes that a Repub can win the White House after the ongoing catastrophe that is Bush/Cheney/Rice/Iraq/Iran??????

Really.

For those few people so seeped in denial, my condolences. No one can argue with a sick mind. However, no matter how idealistic, how inexperienced, how indoctrinate a Democratic candidate might be, there’s no chance a Republican has for the top seat. None.

So why bother to give Mike an inch of news coverage? Only to save face in the coming disaster of credibility when the house of cards perpetrated by the Bush administration, held up by the MSM, comes inevitably to fall. A weak overture, but the only available stance left to a  failed and failing institution

The NEWS as we know it is dead. Government, as we know it, has failed. Grass roots, restructuring politics, along with our adrift national identity, will regain - with strength - a rule "by the people, for the people." Or our Great Experiment will crumble. It has come to the Point of No Return.

Ask yourself: Where will you stand. Will you stand beside the Predatory Lenders, that steal your dreams? Will you stand beside the hospitals, drug companies, and their legions of lobbyists, who hold profits before public health? Will you stand beside the Gun Lobby, as they set aside Human Life, Human Decency, to increase monetary gains? And will you stand beside a military machine that is bent upon destroying innocents for the tactical advantage of controlling oil manufacturing and distribution? Ask yourself: where does your interest lie? What path most benefits your children?

Ask yourself: What is the Lesser Evil - and, isn’t is still evil? Is it justified?

Even before full emplacement, America’s shadow Army is taking heat. Blackwater USA, a “security firm” with deep ties in Washington, is in a wrangle with Iraqi officals over a fire fight over the weekend. the US account has it that a convoy of diplomats were fired upon in a crowded square. The American response was typically decisive. Civilians were killed.

Of course, the enemy counts on that happening. that’s why they do these things with innocents around them - besides the camouflage benefits - to later cry how the Coalition is targeting indiscriminately.

With all that’s happen in Iraq, I would be surprised if the Yankee yahoos aren’t blasting everything in sight. The situation is out of anyone’s control. Prolonged fear can do that to the stalwart, not that that adjective applies to these hired guns.

Iraqi response was to first “revoke Blackwater’s license to operate.” As if that mattered…
Today the soup thickens as Iraqi officials re-write their initial assessment to say the “response” by Blackwater was actually an “attack.”

All this will only prove how powerless is the Iraqi government. The nation, such as it is, is in US control. All the car bombs in the world can’t change that, as they have a disturbing tendency to maim and kill more Iraqis than foreigners. That may be Bush’s grand strategy (if there is one) to let the nation self destruct until there are only isolated bands of brigands left between our Corporate interests and all that oil. All we have to do is stand aside and let that happen.
Yet with all the pressure to remove our troops outfits like Blackwater will become ever more necessary to replace the troops while the natives blow each other up. This outing of our shadow warriors might cause difficulties, but it cannot stop what is already in action: A switch out of soldiery is imminent.

Think of it as an oil change.

Florida seems to be the testing grounds for the New American Century, wherein fear acts as crowd control and police brutality becomes de rigeur. It is become the breeding ground of the modern police state. Unfortunately, the crowd hasn’t quite gotten the message yet. The State that Tasers unruly children has turned its Protectors of the Peace against a more conventional target: liberal college students. From Chicago Tribune:

A University of Florida student was Tasered and arrested after trying to ask U.S. Senator John Kerry about the 2004 election and other subjects during a campus forum.

Videos of the incident posted on several Web sites show officers pulling Andrew Meyer, 21, away from the microphone after he asks Kerry about impeaching President Bush and whether he and Bush were both members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.

“He apparently asked several questions — he went on for quite awhile — then he was asked to stop,” university spokesman Steve Orlando said. “He had used his allotted time. His microphone was cut off, then he became upset.”

As two officers take Meyer by the arms, Kerry, D-Mass., is heard to say, “That’s alright, let me answer his question.” Audience members applaud, and Meyer struggles to escape for several seconds as up to four officers try to remove him from the room.

Meyer screams for help and asks “What did I do?” as he tries to break away from officers. He is forced to the ground and officers order him to stop resisting. Meyer says he will walk out if the officers let him go.

As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student’s “very important question,” Meyer struggles on the ground and yells at the officers to release him, crying out, “Don’t Tase me, bro,” just before he is Tasered. He is then led from the room, screaming, “What did I do?”

Must have been some questions!

Liberal use of Tasers on liberal arts students conjures flashback images of the police in Valve Software’s brilliant near-future PC adventure Half Life 2, wherein masked and black suited militia freely use stun batons on the oppressed citizenry.

It’s an odd coincidence that such behavior occurs in Jeb Bush’s former territory. Rigging election results was just an appetizer for an insidious creep toward greater martial control. Be forewarned.