Tannishblog

I’m enjoying the unfolding story about the Port Management fubar. This is great entertainment: a behind-closed-door deal made public and met with outrage; a proud, defiant stance by Der Leader; a embarrassed admonition that the president was (gasp) uninformed along side a few weak pointers on how the opposition is blowing this all out of proportion.

Who scripts this stuff?

While I have no doubt the Dubai Ports World runs some of the most efficient systems in the world, I cannot laugh at the underlying hypocrisy in this farce. First, the administration has been blanketing the term “terrorist” over the Middle East to justify an illegal police action for the past four years. As a result, Americans are starting to look askance at their brown neighbors on Main Street., whom they previously ignored. Now, we have the same mentality bouncing back and our (for lack of a better term) leaders are intimating their detractors are racists.

You can’t have it both ways, guys. Either all foreign Muslims are in cahoots with the Christian devil, or they are not. Just because the bush family enjoys a long and fruitful history with Saudi princes, going way back to the Second World War, doesn’t justify this exception to the blanket characterization posited by George’s World, inc.

Now, we have to think (and Americans HATE THAT): Not all Muslims are radical extremist anti-American suicide splatter paint artists – the Saudis are our friends. It’s too much. Do all Saudis wear white like their princes? How can we tell them apart? And – most important – what does this have to do with Kate on “Lost?” Americans have no time for this dubious distinction. We’re too busy shuffling from house to car to work to car to the table to the TV, then to bed. Who cares as long as we have gas for the guzzler, juice for the appliances, and somewhere to stash the kids during the day?

Meanwhile, just outside Joe Sixpack’s reality is a place called Earth where the denizens are busy sniping at one another with words, ideologies and/or bullets – whatever is a hand. While this affords some entertaining moments, the whole place is unstable and could implode momentarily. Who’s to blame for an uncaring public consumed by money worries, for an uncaring government drunk on power, and for a few shrewd foreigners angling to take the behemoth down piecemeal?

Could Hollywood write a better angle than this?

Two stories come to me today about people from my gridlocked corner of Chicago suburbia. The first illustrates how adventurous driving the local expressways can be, as a fellow Skokie resident becomes airborne in her auto and slams into someone’s house. The second story took place in the mall three blocks from my house: A sad story. The sentencing in this senseless crime fits the deed.

I could expand upon a Buddhism inspired rant about the consequences of our actions, or about how we let our minds control us instead of the preferred method of us controlling our minds. I could, but most people I know don’t like me when I do that…In anyone’s philosophical bent, I think all can agree that we become the choices that we make. It’s a chicken-or-egg question: Does the foolish person become the deed, or does the foolish deed create the person?

There’s never a dull moment in the third largest metropolis within the world’s brashest democratic republic.

On the topic of the brouhaha over the sale of US port management to Dubai Ports World, whether the company is good for the nation or not is less an issue to me than the underhanded and secretive way the administration goes about their business. Something this vital to American interests should be openly discussed by all interested parties. As was the case with Iraqi restructuring and the ensuing no-bid contracts, this deal too was done under the proverbial table. That’s the issue with the protest, as I see it.

CNN writes about the pressure to kill the deal, here. To quote Tom Ridge, former Homeland Security Secretary:

“I think the anxiety and the concern [over the deal] that has been expressed by congressmen and senators and elsewhere is legitimate. The bottom line is I think we need a little bit more transparency here.”

Indeed. This crowd, busy running our nation into the ground, has watched too many westerns and old spy movies. The cloak-and-dagger deal making may bee good fun for the kids, but is disastrous for political policy. Has every room in the white house been turned into a speakeasy?

Even GOP governors oppose the deal. State lawmakers know, after Katrina, just whom would have to clean up any mess resulting from security breeches on their turf. Bushovik Amerika doesn’t own up to their mistakes; that buck stops elsewhere these days.

While BushCo says the UAE are our Friends in Terror, I’m reminded of Jack Abramoff who raised a few thousands for Bush and was once feted and feasted, who now GWB can’t seem to remember…

While we’re nervous over the possibility of a UAE state-owned corporation managing America’s busiest ports, they do this by purchasing the existing port authority, a British company. What ever happened to an American company overseeing American ports? Surely no one would object to that?

The cost of war comes through in a multitude of ways. New Orleans should know this now, and will be reminded every day for years. Remember No Child Left Behind? It seems the escalation cost of depopulating Iraq has left our schools unfunded on a government mandate brought to you by George Warmonger Bush himself. Even our infrastructure is suffering. As example, I ask if any of my dear readers have driven in a large metropolis lately. How are the roads?

In the Northeast, the power grid is so bad that last weekend’s storm blacked out power for a quarter million people (sic). I remember the last time power outages occurred in the same region. During the seventies, the Carter years, hot summers caused a drain on the grid from excessive use of air conditioners. Then, people hollered at the government to help restore the aging grid. They did just that, although it took a couple years. But there war no trillion-dollar war going on in those days; the Federal government, despite a recession, had the money to help out its citizens.

The Medicaid debacle also is a sign of the costliness of the war. While trillions of dollars are funneled into a black hole of expendable munitions and corrupt restructuring within the war zone, the elderly and the soon-to-be elderly are loosing benefits they have counted on all during their working careers. To have to suffer eleventh-hour restructuring of a plan they have literally been banking on, one that they would have been able to compensate for had they known of the risks, is unconscionable.

Who pays for war: Everyone who dies by war along with their families and friends pays? Everyone injured by war and their families and friends. Every soldier on any side of the conflict, who, through skill and fortune, manage their way home, pays for war in the way their lives and outlooks irrevocably change. Nations pay for war, both the entities and the people who comprise the nations, both the decision makers and the innocents, pay for war through taxation and national debt. People pay for war, in their heartsickness, despair and shame.

People pay a price in their powerlessness to stop war once it has begun; for once leaders take a violent stance against a nation, backing down and admitting to their mistakes is unmentionable. For a politician to admit wrong is career suicide; and no politician in recent memory would give up the power and the perks of their chosen career. Once the mistake is made, therefore, all of America must go along. Nothing short of civil war can stop this foolishness.

The cost of war is too high. In the staggering price tag of high tech warfare, in the incalculable cost of ruined lives, in the thousand tiny needs left untended, war bankrupts the spirit of people, of families and of whole nations. No one can afford this disease any longer.

War Must End!

It is my firm belief that people have an innate understanding of right and wrong. “Listen to your heart” is an apt metaphor for this. We all know - if we listen to our hearts - when we act in ways that cause hardship to others. We don’t need laws to tell us this, we just know. Yet somehow we learn to drown out that tiny voice.

I also believe that no event can exist in a vacuum. Causes like the war in Iraq cannot just happen without other pre-existing conditions being met. Choices made lead to other choices that lead to war. At each juncture, a wise person can avoid confrontation by listening to his or her small voice and choosing the path that leads to less hardship. The continued failure to do so leads to conflict and war.

Likewise I firmly believe in comeuppance. Some would call it Karma, or “you shall reap what you sow.” If we refuses to listen to our hearts, the bad things perpetrated upon others will come back to us.

We all know the Golden Rule: Do unto others what you would have done unto yourself. I’ve always preferred this rephrased, as I think it most accurate: Do not do unto others as you would not have done unto yourself. To refrain from rash actions fueled by heated emotions is a paramount virtue.

To put these concepts together, we start to understand a basic ethic of wholesome behavior toward one another: don’t shit in your neighbor’s yard. Crude, yes, but apt in its simplicity. Too bad our nation doesn’t adhere to ethics.

If our military never took preemptive action, we wouldn’t have to hear the lies of our president. If our president had no reason to lie, he would be more able to convince others on unrelated policy changes. If our president were above board in his methods, we wouldn’t have such partisan strife today. Less partisan politics would allow our lawmakers to focus on their jobs.

Without Iraq, there would be money for Medicare, Katrina relief, and the education reform Mr. Bush started, but cannot complete. Without Iraq, perhaps his tax cuts would make better sense to the struggling, dwindling middle class. Without our needless war, we would engender the hatred of whole peoples around the world. Without the war we wouldn’t have tortured prisoners, bombed whole cities to dust, and maimed and killed countless humans.

One bad decision opens the door to more of the same. Likewise, one good decision can reverse or minimize the damage. A wise person could see this. Too bad we don’t know any in Washington.

If Harry Whittingham dies from injuries related to his accident can Dick Cheney be tried for involuntary manslaughter?

No.

But if the same man were shot in the same way by any other person, the answer would be yes. Expecially if that person was of another ethnic catagory. Or of another economic catagory, political affiliation, social strata…

The divide between the worlds of the “haves” and the “have-nots” just got a little clearer.

Via King of Zembla, an explanation of why America will not get to impeach the warmonger. I support the notion, and add whatever voice I posess to the throng, but never in my heart would I believe it possible to use the constitution to take down this god-awful president.

To do to the Liar-in-Chief what the republicans did to Clinton would be justice. Don’t expect any of that in the near future. Whil both houses, and the supreme court owned by the war party, justice is weeping behind her blindfold.

We should weep as well.

Dick Cheney suffered an Elmer Fudd moment last weekend. I can’t help wondering what the conversation was about at the time. Perhaps someone mentioned Al Gore? More likely a criticism of administration policies would bring on the incident. As usual, the official verson of the “accident” has been removed from reality, specifically from mathematical laws. TalkLeft does the math.

What kills me is the overlooked detail of The Big Dick’s medical entourage. In a purely rhetorical way, I ask: Who’s paying for the 24/7 medical detail?

Nice Job! If you can get it.

In my house, the Olympics are important.

It started for us with Atlanta, in 1996. As we have friends in the area, we though it great to sponge off their hospitality, get our young ones together for the first time, and experience something new. In exchange for the guest bedroom we would buy then a couple tickets to some venues, to share the experience. Ten years gone, Atlanta is remembered as a highlight of our life. It is indescribable the impact of seeing Olympic Park packed with humanity in revelry, without a negative glance, deed or word. I have never understood the term “solidarity” until then. And I have never felt it since.

So now, unable to travel to Turin, we gather around our little-used TV, squinting past the ghosting of the poor reception (we don’t have cable), and try to view the tidbits shown us: So little. And, of course, time and responsibilities intrude. If we could, we would park ourselves and watch it all.

Yesterday I read an op-ed piece from CNN, by Frazier Moore, that dissed the NBC coverage of the events. While I agree that any TV coverage dilutes the experience of being there, that the presentation often undermined the promotional hype, and I feel this writer has never experienced an Olympic moment firsthand. This is typical of the arrogant American mindset of dismissing offhand anything beyond one’s limited experience. No doubt, the author has never tried to ski professionally, or never tied on a pair of skates and skate backward. His closing argument is evident of his blatant, unabashed ignorance:

But that’s just me. Ahead for the networks of NBC is an amateur hour multiplied by 400. Meanwhile, the official VideOlympiad message will prevail, a snow job touting nationalism and global harmony (however much these values seem to collide). It’s a small world after all … but America first!

Here waits the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. Supple bodies; skintight fabrics. Plus inadvertent comedy: plenty of curling.

Here waits youthful promise, dedication and self-discipline (as exemplified by media sensation Bode Miller, the bad-boy role model from the U.S. Ski Team who, among other indiscretions, suggested in a recent “60 Minutes” interview that he had skied while drunk).

Here waits a sprawling drama. “The stories everyone will be talking about,” says the NBC pitchman.

As for me, I’ll accept my estrangement from NBC and, up through the Olympics closing ceremony, look for TV stories elsewhere. At the least, I can find solace in CBS’ “Survivor” and Fox’s “American Idol.” They make no bones about what they are: made-for-TV contests glorifying money and fame.

No doubt this man didn’t miss the Super bowl.

What bothers me is this is an average American perspective: most people don’t care about the higher, more human aspects of the games. Where is the appreciation of effort against odds? Where is the acknowledgement of excellence? Where is the spirit of solidarity, the shared knowledge that all people are one species, and we all have common goals, lives and needs? Where is the joy of life, as exemplified by these young people whom we all – at some point in our lives - wanted to be? No: Americans are jaded, dismissive of human achievement, and pig-headed. If anything can more closely illustrate that we are living at the end of the “American Experiment,” soon to witness the fall of the empire, it is this torpid disregard for our human heritage, this spiritless and callous display of ignorance. If, as is said, “the meek shall inherit the Earth,” where does that leave America?

… and I’ll say it again: I like Jan Schakowski!

Here’s why:

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me to express your belief that President Bush should be impeached. I appreciate hearing from you, and I agree with you.

I share your outrage over the fact that President Bush misled members of Congress and the nation in order to garner support for his pre-emptive and unilateral attack on Iraq. I also believe President Bush broke the law when he unilaterally authorized secret wiretaps of U.S. citizens in 2002. President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for an issue that held significantly less importance to our democracy and did not lead to the loss of innocent civilian or military personnel lives.

While no member of Congress has yet declared a charge of impeachment against President Bush for the false statements he made about pre-war intelligence or for implementing an illegal domestic spying program, I agree that Congress must act to uphold our democracy and make President Bush accountable for his misguided policies and false declarations. If a resolution impeaching President Bush comes up for a vote in Congress, I will support it. In the meantime, I am a cosponsor of H.Res. 636 and H.Res. 637, resolutions censuring President Bush and Vice President Cheney for their actions.

I am also a cosponsor of H.Res. 635, a resolution to authorize an investigation as to whether grounds exist for the House to exercise its impeachment power. Again, thank you for contacting me on this important subject. I will continue to do all I can to make the Bush Administration accountable to the American public and the world for the misguided war it started in Iraq and a Presidential power grab that poses a
challenge in the deepest sense to the integrity of the American system of government. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance to you in the future.

Sincerely,

Jan Schakowsky,
Member of Congress

We need more like her! Global war is NOT the answer to today’s problems. Slandering dissent is NOT an ingredient of a healthy democracy. Lying is NOT leadership! We demand accountability!