Tannishblog

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.

Well, that was short-lived.

For a bit I was scaring myself getting glassy-eyed over a Republican presidential candidate. Ron Paul says some very compelling things that his netizen echo chamber is happy to crow, but I found Daniel Miessler, a pro-Paul blogger honest enough to list some of the more troubling statements made by the man.

Here’s the bullet points. Daniel explains them better than I could:

He Doesn’t Believe in the Separation of Church and State
No More Federal Environmental Protection.
He’s Against Abortion and Would Like to See Roe vs. Wade Overturned.
He Doesn’t Believe The Evidence for Man-Made Global Warming Is Convincing.

I can almost hear you… “Well, yeah. He’s Republican. Duh!”

I deserve it. I’m dutifully putting my optimist back in his padded cell. there is no Holy Grail, there is no Santa Claus, and there is no candidate who will speak with the peoples voice. Perhaps there never has been. Surely the cadre of millionaires currently stepping forward will not represent us. I know this in my heart, and still let my foolish self prevail.

I’m through with that now.

Words intrigue me. That should come as no surprise. I don’t do this blogging thing for money, after all. The work I’ve been thinking about lately is:

at·ti·tude (āt’ĭ-tōōd’, -tyōōd’) n.

1. A position of the body or manner of carrying oneself: stood in a graceful attitude. See Synonyms at posture.
2. 1. A state of mind or a feeling; disposition: had a positive attitude about work.
   2. An arrogant or hostile state of mind or disposition.
3. The orientation of an aircraft’s axes relative to a reference line or plane, such as the horizon.
4. The orientation of a spacecraft relative to its direction of motion.
5. A position similar to an arabesque in which a ballet dancer stands on one leg with the other raised either in front or in back and bent at the knee.

We have attitude when we walk. A person can tell the mood of another just by watching how he moves. By paying attention to the attitude of the body, as in definition 1, one can easily guess the attitude of the mind, as in definition 2. Of course words broadcasts attitude on several levels. One’s choice of words, ones pronunciation and tonal qualities in combination convey a spectrum of attitudes in subtle and obvious ways.

People use this consciously when manipulating for a goal. That’s the nature of interaction and communication. It’s when the attitude is delivered sub-consciously that interests me. How many of us are cognizant of how we project our attitudes? How we and our attitudes are perceived?

I don’t suggest obsessing about the opinion of others. Yet people who have negative attitudes toward others might want to ponder the affect it has on others. Conversely, I one has a positive attitude towards the people in their life, one doesn’t need to be concerned with such things.

Some may not care; that’s an copping an attitude about one’s attitude. Most would say they don’t care, even convince themselves of not caring, but would be lying. And lying to oneself is perhaps the most tragic attitude one can take.

My favorite righty blogger friend sites an article exposing a Y2K bug data glitch in US temperature data graphs used to project climate change as the Holy Grail of truth to prove her long-held hypothesis that global warming is a scam. I don’t blame her, though. She’s entitled. Most bloggers only rely on sources they are predisposed to agree with to parse their rhetoric. I do it all the time…

What alarms me is how she clearly ignores other signs of climate change. The recently exposed islands in Greenland that, so long covered in thick ice, had always been thought to be connected to the main land mass. The satellite photos of recent large-scale fractures in Antarctic Glaciers. The sinking of small island-states like Trinidad-Tobago. Even the changed migration of Canadian geese, much noted here in Illinois where we both live, is a fact ignored in favor of an irrational belief.

And what about the problem-that-shouldn’t-be-named? No one mentions pollution these days. That shopworn buzzword of the last century is taboo in the tabloids lately. My aforementioned friend lives in a semi-rural small town where, I surmise, she can forget the sight of sunrise over the Kennedy Expressway in all it’s brownish, hazy glory. Nor, I think, can she envision the silt of airliner fuel exhaust that coats my car every evening, as I leave the industrial park that nestles next to O’hare Field. While her neighbors dream of corn fields of ethanol-grade hybrid grain, I awake to the reality of human congestion flavored by addiction to fossil fuels.

Global Warming, as a catch-phrase, has unfortunate connotations. Replacing it with Climate Change is, while more accurate, less visceral, and less likely to get our fat arses out of the easy chair to take action. What needs doing is simply to open our eyes. When we can see for ourselves the thickening of our thin atmosphere from our own collective wastes, then perhaps we can make pollution the center point of a political movement to care for the fragile ecosphere we all rely upon. Only through politics will America take up the sword against our most insidious of enemies: ourselves.

The right may scoff. Let them. When we can gather enough steam to provide purchasable alternatives to old-school technologies, then the market to which Conservatives pray will put out of business whole industries that refuse to ride the forefront of ecological stewardship. When hit in the wallet, they will finally listen. As for the exurbian naysayers; the brown skies will find then soon enough.