Soldiers Lives Appearantly Worth Less Than Civilians (14 Soldiers Die In Helicopter Crash Due To Mechanical Difficulties)

 

“Fourteen Americans from the 25^th Infantry Division from Hawaii were killed today when their Blackhawk helicopter crashed in Northern Iraq. U.S. officials blame the crash on mechanical difficulties and not on hostile fire.”

That 7-second blip was all that was said about the 14 dead on NBC Nightly News last night. A similarly brief recap was broadcast on my local CBS affiliate a few hours later. The verbal emphasis was that it was a positive thing that their deaths were not a result of hostile fire.

May I take a moment to state the obvious? If these were Americans who died in an aircraft accident as a result of “mechanical difficulties” in any other part of the world, or more specifically: if the 14 dead were civilians, this story would be the lead story on every major new program and network in the country, and no doubt, discussed ad nauseum for days.

Helicopters are not significantly different from airplanes, American’s fly in helicopters every day, and if one crashed, killing all 14 aboard, due to mechanical difficulties, the press would have a field day: What happened? Why wasn’t this defect or problem identified earlier? Who is in charge? Who is to blame? Are helicopters safe anymore? The manufacturer better answer to us!

But no. Because it happened to U.S. soldiers, there was a 7-second blip about it and little to nothing else. As if dead soldiers are so common, such an everyday occurrence, that as long as they weren’t killed by hostiles…is it still not worth our umbrage? That the cause of their deaths, that being an accident, was merely a broadcast footnote.

I am upset that no one cares. That if these were civilians, that this would be a national story, that because these are soldiers, the story is inconsequential.

The Education Of A Collapsed Infrastructure (Prioritizing Our Government Funding)

Education is such a fundamental and basic right in this country. Unfortunately, not unlike other areas of our public infrastructure, policy makers only look at the cost of education and not the benefits of maintaining and improving it.

It is sad to think that there is such a lack of emphasis (or respect) for education, that even properly educated people feel that they need to “dumbify” themselves when in mixed company as to not standout or create a sense of discomfort in others.

In effect, Education has been about reducing the quality of education to conform to the lowest common denominator…let’s not push kids because if we do, the children who are intellectually slower will have a damaged self-esteem when they get older. Bunk.

Did you know that across the US, major universities are no longer requiring English majors to study Shakespeare? The reason: it’s too hard. That is tantamount to not requiring Philosophy majors to be exposed to the likes of Plato or Socrates. People are stupid because we set the bar low and reinforce stupidity and sub-par performance with praise and reward. Though, the current (and worsening) state of Education is only one manifestation of a diseased way of thinking that has taken over our society; a way of thinking that is breaking this once standard-setting, world-leading nation.

As the dimly lit flame of a once roaring—yet now unattended—bonfire, we have failed to support the systems we put in place in order to sustain and grow our nation.

Yes, a major bridge collapsed, but what about the 70,000 other bridges in this country that have been rated as in-need of significant repairs? The Brooklyn Bridge, for example, has a lower safety rating than the recently-collapsed Minneapolis 35W bridge did, as do tens of thousands of other bridges. And what about the tens of thousands of tunnels, many of whom run hundreds of feet below bodies of water? They have no federally-mandated safety and maintenance inspection standards at all, despite Congress being fully aware of this grievous oversight for over 20 years.

Our roads are in desperate need of revitalization as well. By chance, have you driven around (or over) a pothole recently? The number of cars on the road has more than quadrupled since the early 1960s and people are driving more often and farther than ever before. Nevertheless, we’ve hardly improved roadways with necessary repaving, and paving of new routes, instead relying on a flawed system of patches, pot-fills, and political positioning.

What can be said for our airports; have you been to an airport lately? Let’s forget about the elimination of expected services and amenities (e.g., stale pillows, complimentary horse blankets, hot plastic food served in Hungry Man platters at no additional charge) and discuss the increasing instances of lost baggage and delays. Lost baggage amounts to over 10,000 lost or delayed luggage items per day; Yes, ten-thousand lost or delayed items per day, my friends. Statistically speaking, you are safer swimming with Tiger, Bull, and White sharks than you are putting your medication into a checked luggage item.

Since Congress passed the bill to deregulate the airline industry and took away the authority of the FAA to regulate the number take-offs and landings at airports, more and more flights are being added by airlines every year, with even more regional and private jets taking to the air as well, adding further congestion to the already overwhelming aeronautic gridlock. Don’t be fooled by the statistics: airlines and airports have redefined what it means to be “delayed,” not to mention that nearly all airlines now pad their departure and arrival times to account for the inevitable delays. Despite this subversive statistical trickery, nearly 40% of all domestic flights in the US are delayed, late, or cancelled each and every day, with some routes experiencing delays 100% of the time.

There simply aren’t the systems in place anymore to support the number of people who fly. Business travel has sky-rocketed, per capita personal travel has increased tenfold since the 1960s, and people are flying more often. And yet, airports and the irreprehensibly antiquated Air Traffic Control System cannot keep up and Congress is hardly investing the money they need to and more importantly, when they needed to, to keep ahead of the congestion.

The FAA requested a new $20 billion satellite-based Air Traffic Control System to keep up with demand and traffic, and was expected to take 15 years to fully roll-out. Nearly 10 years later, Congress can’t get off their self-interested asses to do anything about it. The FAA requested it, the airlines need it, and the passengers demand it; nothing was done and now we are starting to really feel the consequences of their self-centered short-sightedness.

So now we look around and watch as our systems continue to break in front of us…though many of us hardly notice the greater disease because the symptoms have become so commonplace that we take them for the norm.

We have a population of over 300 million people; in the 1920s-1960s (when many of our systems were implemented), the population was half that and these systems were not designed or intended to be used for so long and by so many. We have serious problems with prison over-crowding, seven-digit phone numbers are soon to be a thing of the past, power grids are buckling and rolling blackouts in cities are not unheard of, at one-percent, the FDA is effectively no longer inspecting our food supply, and the annulment in the quality of education we provide to our children is sickening.

People are living longer and acting younger, it’s not uncommon to reach the age of 100 and be mobile anymore. What will the effects be of longer life coupled with the increasing birth rates nationally and globally? The population of Earth is on track to increase to 10 billion by 2050 (it was 4 billion when I was born three decades ago) and estimates continue to become more aggressive, with some pundits arguing that the global population will reach 10 billion by 2020. Our infrastructure is not only unprepared for that, but humanity is little better prepared to be thrown into mass-scale scenarios where necessary parts of that infrastructure ultimately break down.

To frame a discussion for addressing these issues, according to the US State Department in a report published in July 2007, the DOD’s average monthly expenditure for contracts and pay for the war in Iraq are running at over $10 billion per month. Forgetting about the nearly half-trillion spent on the war in Iraq so far, and what those tax-payer dollars could have otherwise been spent on (though not likely), just two years of this war on Iraq could have had the following alternate benefits:

The kick-off for the new satellite-based Air Traffic Control System ($20B), every major bridge, tunnel, and overpass in the United States inspected and repaired ($188B), and the distribution of updated scholastic textbooks to every child in the United States ($28B), leaving another $4 billion to support significant improvements and supports to our aging health care, public works, and educational systems.

Because our system is broken and long-term solutions are not being seriously considered, we are all forced to lower our expectations for the long-term quality and safety of our lives. Roadways, health care, air traffic systems…despite commonsense, of all those things, how can we neglect Education as if it was simply a cost, rather than an investment in Humanity? Real change is needed if we are going to repair the damage done to this country, but I wonder if we have what it takes to even do that anymore. Instead, I suspect we will watch Rome being invaded by barbarians all over again.

San Francisco Bans Bottled Water For City Workers (Plastics 2 / Humanity 0)

“San Francisco Bans Bottled Water for City Workers.” That was the title of a news brief I read in which San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an “executive order banning city departments from buying bottled water, even for water coolers. The ban goes into effect July 1, and will extend to water coolers by Dec. 1. The move was billed as a way to help stem global warming and save taxpayer money. In a press release announcing the decision, the mayor cited the environmental impact of making, transporting and disposing of the bottles and that more than a billion of them end up in the state’s landfills each year.”

I read this news brief and it reminded me of my blog entry (Plastics 1 / Humanity 0) where, in the Comment’s section, the suggestion was made that bottled water is as bad for our environment as plastic bags are. I had never even considered that before and as a bottled water consumer since I was in diapers in the 70s, I wanted to learn more.

It seems that a quick Google search will return thousands of articles discussing the petroleum usage associated with the manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and disposal of water bottles. This has been something that I have given very little thought to and have taken for granted…I’ve always considered these bottles to be an innocuous and convenient part of my life: I was wrong. I have been walking around with my brain turned off to this.

With more and more city and local municipalities taking measures to curb the use of bottled water, clearly the environmental impact of this specific refuse warrants action and the case for reducing the consumer-nonchalance toward plastic bottles seems to hold water.

—

Estimates suggest that the manufacturing and transportation per each single bottle of water requires the use of:

• 6-7x the amount of water as is in the bottle;
• 1.0 liter of fossil fuels;
• 1.2 pounds of greenhouse gasses released into our atmosphere.

With 12-18 bottles per case, you do the math.

Cable Television And Network News Suck

I find it more and more difficult to find good sources of news on television any more. They only focus on what sells and gets ratings. The News should be a public service to help educate and focus us on issues and events that either affect our lives or the world around us. Instead it is about getting the most viewership by emulating entertainment and op-ed news programs which does a tremendous disservice to us as a populous.

I am tired of it all and hope the American public backlashes to real information sources…which nowadays is mainly found only on NPR, PBS, and perhaps BBC. How sad.

A Possible Reduction Of U.S. Troops In Iraq

Bush is finally dropping hints that he is beginning to agree to an eventual reduction and pull out of American troops in Iraq—highly likely that it’s from the increasing pressure from the RNC that if we are still in Iraq during the 2008 Presidential Elections, that the Republicans will be slaughtered.

It’s unfortunate that decisions of war, decisions which are in effect Military, are in the hands of people who make those decisions for purely political reasons; especially when the real cost, is the cost of human life: both Americans and Iraqi.

Political Catchphrases Hurt America And Our National Dialogue

I never want to hear the term “flip-flopper” again…not from Republicans, not from Democrats, and most certainly not from the Media.

It’s amazing how a politically-spun catchphrase such as flip-flopper can get co-opted by the media and the Politicoratti; given so much of a negative connotation that it can turn an educated, confident person into a long-winded, stammering fool—to the point where few politicians will openly admit to a change of position without justifications rooted in self-righteous and unnecessary half-truths.

There is no doubt that anyone who goes back and forth on an issue too readily is a probable cause for concern; however, the term is misused as a weapon against anyone who has the temerity to verbalize a change of opinion—and frankly, who hasn’t felt one way about something, and then upon learning more, refined their opinion on it?

It’s not just the use of the term flip-floppers that I never want to hear…it’s all the catchphrases which invariably reduce our national debate to a never-ending back-and-forth; appealing to the basest levels of our understanding and used as devices in absence of thoughtful counterpoints.

Politicians and the Media rely on focus group-tested chew-and-spew slogans and buzz-words, which are crafted to be sufficiently catchy and garner enough ratings to guarantee at least as many News-cycles necessary to cement the spin on our public consciousness.

With the kind of exposure an effective catchphrase can get (think: shock and awe, cut and run, stay the course, war on terror), it’s not unexpected that so many people would confuse exposure for merit, popularity for truth. And if you are reluctant believe it, just perform a search on the internet to find out how many Americans still believe that the moon is (at least partially) made of cheese, and see how far this lack of common-sense can penetrate our beliefs if we’ve heard something often enough: it’s disturbing.

It is representative of a symptom which contributes to a greater disease, one that erodes the quality of our information and relies on the general absence of critical thinking. It is as if we have lost our ability to effectively evaluate and discuss issues with open minds. We spend so much time defending pre-conceived beliefs, even on the things we could certainly afford to learn more about, that we don’t hear what the other side has to say, often leaping into conversations with minds so firmly decided, that it is more of a battle of will, than a merited exchange of differing viewpoints.

It’s a fundamental breakdown in communication—in how we interact, evolve, and change. If we are unable to admit that the original position we took was based on an incomplete picture, even in the overwhelming presence of contrasting information, then we can never take measures to correct our path. Without an effective process of “viewing and reviewing” information and allowing reason to influence emotion, we cannot grow—individually or as a group.

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a proud flip-flopper: I have reconsidered many topics (such as affirmative action, illegal immigration, and the merits of polyester) and have better defined my position on these and other issues and, and in some cases, have come to feel that I was misguided in how I addressed them earlier in my life.

I am not always right and nor do I expect others to always be. The bottom line is that we are all human. That growth and change of opinion are part of the human condition and our ability to admit to being wrong and moving on, despite our initial differences, is part of what has defined our success as a species. At some point, we need to remember that admitting to an error doesn’t make us weak, it makes us human; that moving on gives us the opportunity to focus on what’s real, versus on what’s ego.

There is no more destructive force in human affairs—not greed, nor hatred—than the desire to have been right. – Mark Kleiman

Hu Is The New Leader In China[?] / W Bush Play-On-Words Video

Those who know me, know that I prefer to post original content; however, whether you love #43 or loath him, this is too good to pass up, if you have a penchant for classic comedy, you’ll get a kick of this!

Support Our Troops? Then Mean It! (Tally Of Hushed American Solider And Civilian Deaths)

More than 100 American journalists, more than 850 American contract mercenaries, more than 1,000 American aid workers and public contractors, and more than 3,400 American soldiers have already died—and more than 51,000 American soldiers and civilians have sustained mental and physical handicaps that will likely affect them for the rest of their lives; our family, friends, and neighbors, over in a distant land they ought not be. These aren’t numbers…these are people.

As a nation, we came together in sorrow and anger when 2,979 people tragically lost their lives during the September 11th, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

Yet what about the Americans who have died in Iraq since then —a number which far exceeds the number of casualties sustained on 9/11? These aren’t people who died as a result of a terrorist attack on a civilian target on our homeland, but just as tragically, they are lives which have been lost because they were blithely put on the frontline of danger in a political red herring; a line of danger in front of which they don’t belong. A deadly battlefield that serves no purpose or benefit to our country and one that has only brought unfathomable instability, lawlessness, and pain that didn’t exist before; one which has bred both terrorism and anti-American sentiment, resulting in the world being a much more dangerous place for generations to come.

Why are we not as incensed by the tragic deaths of even more Americans, who continue to die in the shadow of 9/11, yet for reasons having nothing to do with legacy of 9/11?

And for what? It seems each week we are told that it is in support of a different reason, probably because each previous reason was based more on spin, than foundation. Did we attack Iraq because they trained and funded those who attacked us on 9/11? No, that was the Saudi Arabians. Did we attack Iraq because they were building and storing Weapons of Mass Destruction? No, that was North Korea and Iran. Did we do it to be welcomed as liberators in Iraq? How about to bring stability and peace to Iraq? Nope, try again. How about to get oil to pay for the war, to help rebuild Iraq, and provide us with access an inexpensive source of crude oil? No, nope, and negative.

Sadly, the most common reason used for why we are still in Iraq is to “support of our troops,” which is a slap in the face to our troops; and each time it is used, it discounts the risk and responsibility our soldiers are shouldering every day. It’s a statement which takes their sacrifice in vain and twists it to serve any purpose desired by those who condescend to use that as a tool for their agenda. I say this because once anyone says that we are doing it “for the troops,” any rebuttal can be manipulated to suggest an anti-Patriotic position. It has become an easy device of the weak-minded to continue to justify any action that sends even more of our brave young heroes into the ring of fire.

Especially not when they claim that everything they do, they do for the troops…so how about doing something such as giving them proper body armor, or armored Humvees, or pre-deployment training, or humane periods of down-time between tours, or reductions in tour-length, or stress training, or well-maintained VA hospitals, or proper pay and benefits.

Please don’t get me wrong: I support our troops by wanting those still fighting to come home, alive and well—and by not sitting quietly as people try to use them as a “talking point” to push a self-satisfying agenda.

“I think that we do a great disrespect to the history of this country when we lose our ability to apply a balance to the way we think; focusing on our triumphs and ignoring our failures, focusing on our heroics and ignoring our criminality. What’s wrong with America is when Presidential Candidates must separate criticism of our democracy from the discussion of their platforms. What’s wrong with America is the way in which we are being forced more and more to equate criticism as something counter to democracy, when, in fact, it’s the core of it.” – Sean Penn, 5/4/07

I respect our soldiers and I love my country, but that doesn’t mean that I have to support a military offensive that doesn’t help us or help the people in the country we invaded. And it especially doesn’t mean that I have to blindly support a Presidential Administration, which clearly doesn’t support the “will of the people” it was elected to serve and represent. Hell, with the way our Administration “supports our troops,” who needs enemies?

No, I say, I am loyal to my country and I am loyal to the Constitution of the United States of America, not to someone who abuses those two things in spite of his Title.

Appalling Religious Group Says “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” & “God Hates Fags”

This is by no means an endorsement of FOX NEWS or Hannity & Colmes, however this is a video that must be seen, if only to see how a small group of Baptists have taken the Bible and have twisted the Message beyond reason to support their cause.

Twisting religion to support a position is nothing new, and in my opinion, it’s so common-place that we rarely even flinch when it happens. While I have seen Religion co-opted to support dozens of causes (often contrary to the teachings of the religion in question), this is such an obscene breech of moral and ethical decency, that I felt obligated to share this on my blog.

Plastic Bags 1 / Humanity 0

Here is an interesting excerpt from Bill Maher’s Blog:

“From now on Earth Day really must be a year round thing. And in honor of this Earth Day, starting Monday supermarket clerks must stop putting the big bottle of detergent with a handle on it in a plastic bag. I don’t mean to tell you how to do your job, but you see that handle you just lifted the detergent with? I can use that same handle to carry the detergent to my car.

“And stop putting my liquor in a smaller paper sack before you put it in the big paper sack with my other stuff. What, are you afraid my groceries will think less of me if they see I’ve been drinking? Trust me, the broccoli doesn’t care, and the condoms already know.

“Maybe you don’t’ need a bag when you buy a keychain. Americans throw out 100 billion plastic bags a year, and they all take a thousand years to decompose. Your children’s children’s children’s children will never know you, but they’ll know you once bought batteries at the 99 cent store because the bag will still be caught in the tree.”

(Source: Bill Maher’s Blog on the Huffington Post)

I wanted to share that on my blog, because ever since reading that, I can’t help but consider the irony of bagging large items (or any items) that have handles on them already; and I could barely keep my thoughts to myself today when, standing on line in an apothecary, I saw a checkout clerk lift a large bottle of detergent by its handle and place it into not one, but two ultra-thick plastic bags: it was obscene and I was appalled.

I have recently started refusing all plastic bags, and now bring my own bags with me when I shop. And when I don’t have my shopping bag with me, or my backpack, I take the items in my hand and carry them out the store with me: oh how primitive! Once you take on this “cause,” you may find that nearly everywhere you shop, people are trying to push plastic bags on you.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am not implying that all plastics are bad…it’s the fact that plastic bags tend to be “single-use” items and are often not even needed. They are pervasive and frequently to do more harm than good and provide more of a burden than a convenience.

Should you take the time to stop and look around, I assure you that you will start to notice discarded plastic bags in trees, bushes, fences, and alleys—it’s distasteful and all too telling of a society that doesn’t care about the World that sustains them.

Global Warming: A Response to Reason or a Reason to Respond

I wrote what I wrote above as a response to a feverish “debate” I read yesterday morning. Someone uploaded a special on Global Warming and all the Neo-cons came out with their talking points (e.g., “Warming is natural and ok/there is no warming,” “then why was there so much snow,” “Al Gore didn’t invent the internet,” “weathermen can’t even predict the weekend weather,” “Democrats were on the wrong-side of slavery,” “there is no real science to prove it,” “this is a Liberal lie,” “the scientists are doing this for money,” or my personal favorite: “Get out of my country and move to France!“).

When did ridiculously absurd non-sequiturs begin to pass as rational thinking and counter-point debating in this country?

I welcome criticism on my writings, but instead of that, there was no debate other than: Global Warming doesn’t exist (mixed with childish insults and the occasional person tossing in how Glenn Beck is like a tall glass of water in a desert of Liberally-biased media); can we say “let’s parrot more Right-wing talking points?”

When did this country suddenly get invaded by intellectual lemmings? Silly me for thinking that disbelieving in Global Warming was a minority opinion. I posted my little rant on the MySpace forums and a couple other places on the net, and well, the same thing happened in each instance: the simple-minds came out of the woodwork and posted their absurd pre-canned attacks.

People should try to think critically about issues before drawing conclusions. Yes, I will say it: if you come to a conclusion before hearing out the issue from both sides, then you are a fool. If someone asks you what you think about “X,” it’s ok to say: “I don’t know enough about both sides of the issue to have a considered position.” Afterward, you have the option to go out there, get information, and let it stew in your head for a while, before you say something that is foolishly irresponsible or illogical.

An act of Logic and Reason is knowing, and executing, your right to say “I don’t know” without the fear of feeling stupid or unknowledgeable…after all you are not a polymath and nobody expects you to be one.

Global Warming: NEA, Christians, and the Political “Wrong”

Anyone who continues to confuse Religion with Right-wing Politics is drawing upon flawed logic and a misguided allegiance to a corporate dole from which they will never benefit.

On May 2 of 2007, CNN’s Glenn Beck, in his infinite disregard, aired “Glenn Beck Exposed: The Climate of Fear” a one-hour program which tackles what he calls the “media hype surrounding the global warming debate” and suggests, like Jim Inhofe, the former Republican Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, that Global Warming is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.

I am dismayed that so many people continue to vehemently tow the Republican Party-line in the name of God and in the faces of both Science and common-sense. The 1980s found a synergy of the Republican Party with Christian Evangelicals in this country, courtesy of astute political planning by both the NEA and Ronald Regan; since then, the two have been inexcisably linked. When will the Church realize that the Republican Party isn’t the party of the Christian church, but the party of the Oil, Automotive, and Gas industries—that the Republican Party just knows where its votes blindly come from, and abuse that power? The Church isn’t a foundation of the Republican Party, it’s a tool.

In late 2006, Bill Moyers, aired a special on PBS—a station which continues to maintain its integrity—entitled “Is GOD Green?” I highly recommend it to those with Religious affinities or not, whether you subscribe to Global Warming or not:

Bill Moyers’s Special Report: Is GOD Green?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/green/index.html

VIDEO of the Entire Program
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/media_players/chapter2-1.html

It amazes me that people continue to deny that Global Warming is a reality. Whether it’s been influence by man or not is completely irrelevant: it’s a fact.

Shame on Glenn Beck. Shame on CNN. Shame, shame, shame on the Republicans and the Church.

Does Congress Need “Reading for Dummies?”

“I took a speed reading course and read ‘War and Peace’ in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.”
- Woody Allen

 

Months before ground troops stormed into Iraq, the Intelligence Community put together a detailed situational and security assessment of Iraq. Their report was intended to provide Congress with the information needed in order to best determine if a military campaign in Iraq was warranted or justifiable.

Due to the highly sensitive nature of their report, Congress members were not distributed copies of the report, however they were instructed that the report would be available for review in a secure room. The report indicated much of what we already know to be true and expressed the risks and lack of supporting intelligence to support a major military strike in Iraq.

Only 6 Congressmen took the time to walk to the room to read it. Several weeks later, Congress overwhelmingly voted to authorize action against Iraq.

It is a commonly accepted practice for Congress members to not actually read or comprehend the bills and legislations upon which they vote. They either review summary documents on current legislation provided by their staff or they adhere to party lines, thereby not needing much more than a cursory understanding of what’s being voted on and when.

This is Politics by CliffsNotes—where summaries or water-cooler discourse are involved in understanding the gist of a bill. Even worse, and yet more common, is allowing party line to determine one’s position, rather than understanding how the legislation would affect the average American.

I may be going out on a limb here, but I suggest that politicians should be required to do their jobs. I propose we apply all the same rules to elected officials as employees have in the Private sector. We could begin with mandatory, on-time attendance to work. I won’t over-indulge myself with details of how little time Congress actually spends working, but how about a minimum of seven hours a day? Furthermore, legislators should be required to read the legislation upon which they will be voting; we could mandate three to four hours a day for reading bills and researching issues for upcoming votes. A library could be established for this purpose alone, where Senators and House Representatives are required to log time. This is a very important part of their jobs and a full understanding of the details of legislation would reduce wasteful spending on corporate earmarks, pork projects, and politically-motivated legislation. We should promote the legislation of issues rather than partisan politics.

If politicians actually did their jobs, the work would be hard and trying; however, they have an important role in society and if paving the path for our Nation’s future was easy, we wouldn’t need politicians.

—

“Men cling passionately to old traditions and display intense reluctance to modify customary modes of behavior, as innovators at all times have found to their cost. The dead-weight of conservatism, largely a lazy and cowardly distaste for the strenuous and painful activity of real thinking, has undoubtedly retarded human progress…”
- V. Gordon Childe

The Greatest Stories Ever Sold: Foley Page Scandal, Hastert, And How The Republicans Let America Down

I remember my country. I remember how the United States of America used to conduct diplomacy and politics. While it was never the utopian model that our founding fathers imagined, it worked nevertheless. The populous was provided with limited amounts of the truth and nonpartisan cooperation was not an unheard of concept. At the end of the day, both sides worked and struggled along side one another to achieve a greater goal.

On September 28, 2006 it was reported that in 2005 Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) had exchanged sexually explicit instant messages and emails with underage male Congressional Pages, an activity he engaged in repeatedly for 10 years. Foley had been warned about the matter in 2005 by another House Republican as well as the House Clerk, but continued in spite of admonishment by additional Congressional colleagues.

Hours after the break of the Senator Foley-Congressional Page Scandal, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) hastily reacted to the derision in a way with which we have all become so familiar in this Country. He summarily called for the dissolution of the Congressional Page program; a program which provides a unique learning experience for some of our brightest high school students and can be seminal in the aspirations of future leaders of diplomacy, law, and commerce. A few days later, reason reared its unfamiliar visage, and Senior Republican Leadership instead called for a reform of the program.

A reform of the Page Program? Unless we live in an alternate Bizarro World of which I am unaware, somehow that course of action seems tantamount to ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water,’ an axiom ultimately apropos. I suggest we consider this from a slightly diametric point of view.

Instead of calling for the end or restructuring of a program to keep Congressional Pages (i.e., jailbait) away from Congressmen (i.e., predators), why couldn’t we address the issue of pedophiles in Congress? Could it possibly be, because doing so would open the proverbial Pandora’s Box of Congressional transgressions and misappropriations of responsibilities to the Offices they hold and people they represent?

This is far from being bridled to the boundaries of pedophilia, as the past six years have made public Congressional scandals involving kick-backs & bribes, money laundering, abuse of corporate jets, sexual misconducts, hard drug use, profiteering, deplorable misuses of public monies, insider trading, all sadly in additional to many other actions of corruption at all levels of our government. With Republicans holding both Houses of Congress expertly spinning and burying leaks and stories of misconduct, how bad is it really if so much has already been revealed?

Which raises a broader question: Why do our public lawmakers continue to address the symptoms instead of the insidious disease? Allow me to answer with my own supposition: It’s a tale I call ‘the Deflection and the Red-herring.’ It draws attention away from responsibility..which we seem to be in short supply of lately..with a scape-goat target that can be easily dispatched.

Examples of deflecting responsibility with distractors include drawing attention to Iraq when it was realized that Bin Laden had slipped through our fingers, linking youth violence to violence in video games as opposed to parents reassuming the role of parenting, applying the moniker of Flip-Flopper to Senator Kerry instead of addressing political agendas, unilaterally debunking Bob Woodward’s State of Denial despite well-documented support of all his criticisms, associating patriotism with supporting the war in Iraq, banning all gels and fluids on commercial aircrafts, et cetera.

Ban lip balm and mascara on planes? Take off our shoes, even if they are flip-flops? We need real protection, not inconveniences which give the impression things are getting done.

Paramount to the problem is that addressing real issues could take time and perhaps the “right” solution, the solution that benefits society the most, could take longer than the 2 or 6 years of a Congressperson’s term. Further, it could reveal larger problems which could reflect poorly on those in power. It could negatively impact the power or future income potential of those affected by the implementation of a “right” solution. It could be that money would have to be diverted from such cost centers as the civil war in Iraq and the Department of Homeland Security.

This is not about Mark Foley and his grossly inappropriate conduct with minors, nor the improprieties of our elected representatives, nor is this about useless civil inconveniences imposed under the guise of patriotism and freedom. It’s about being sold a bill of goods.

Why? Because it can be sold. The Right has done, over the past 20 years, that which the Left has neglected to their detriment: selling the story, be it truth or lie. They sell what is easy for people to believe, something that can stir an emotional response and the more divisive the better. This gets people talking and gossiping, refocusing attention and implanting memory.

Examples of this occur whenever something negative is leaked about the Bush Administration and they come right out and either flatly deny it or negate the impact with a well-crafted and easy to regurgitate “so what?” Days later they follow it up with a statement or an answer at a White House press conference which admits to some extent, their dastardly wrong-doings, or to some extent the validity of the damaging news. However, by the time this evanescent moment of clarity is conveyed, the news story has past the height of its Ratings Curve and the public has mostly lost interest in the story, thus keeping in their minds that initial spin, and not the truth which is undeniably more damaging.

Needless to add, the Left inattentively play right into the Right’s strategy: Uncritically arguing the spin instead of figuratively raising their hand up in the air as if to chide a misbehaving infant while declaring a stern, yet parental “No!” and forcing the conversation back to the issue at hand.

So the lesson learned by the Right is to come out with a convolution of the truth or a bold lie which heedlessly contradicts the truth; that the talked about response that is out first, is the message that is forgot last.

The conservative spin machine has been well-worn in and the number of tactics to forward the agenda is only rivaled by the simplicity of their execution.

On a September 20th interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, President G.W. Bush said: “I like to tell people that when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a ‘comma.’ Referring to the great many other things he believes his Administration has accomplished during the 8 years of his presidency. A comment which also serves to point out that short-term failures in this case are indicative of a long-term success, which is how the they sell us on minimizing the nonsuccess of our military endeavors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To assuage the public outcry to President Bush’s insensitive remark by parents and family members of the nearly 2,800 Americans killed and the more than 24,000 Americans injured in Iraq since 2002, Tony Snow, the former conservative Fox News Anchor, now White House Press Secretary, had this to say during a White House Press Conference in an attempt to clarify the President’s message:

Now some people try to say ‘how dare he try to refer to [the war in Iraq] as a ‘comma’? He’s being glib about the deaths of Americans.’ That’s outrageous! The ‘comma’ refers to the period between last year’s election and today. What the President’s making the point [sic] is that when you look at the History books, the ten-month period is a ‘comma.’

How does that make any sense? Is that even a proper use of the English language? It seems that we have been exposed to so much of, what I shall refer to as, the “Snow Job” that we have reached the point where we don’t even exert the effort to question or challenge Delphic and Carrollianlly nonsensical rationale.

Demonstrating further patent duplicitousness, Fox News, which ostensibly panders to a right-leaning demographic “mistakenly” mislabeled the Republican Senator’s Name/Title subscript during their initial broadcast of the Foley-Page Scandal as “Mark Foley (D-FL).” While debatably, it may have been an innocent error on the network’s part, in today’s climate of political spin and media complicity, it can be difficult to tell the difference.

And of course a different kind of sell is exemplified by Foley. As soon as the story broke, The Republican Leadership prompted Foley to claim that he “thinks he may be an alcoholic” and checked into a 30-day rehab program. This served several purposes, but the most obvious are the fact that he is in a controlled state of incommunicado and more importantly, this gives nay-sayers and staunch right-wing supporters something to debate back and forth like a partisan version of the Chatty Kathy Glee Club. So Fox News (et al.) were gladly waxing poetic on yet another non-issue that draws focus away from the real issues.

And the response from House Speaker Hastert? Three days after the event and after a riled congress and several Senior House Republicans passed the blame up to him, he stood proudly before reporters and heralded President Harry Truman’s infamous edict of “the buck stops here,” accepting blame as the ranking Congressional Republican presiding over the House during the time in which the Foley-Page Scandal took place. Despite his declaration, hours later he is quoted as saying that he refuses to heed calls of resignation by members on both sides of the aisle and passing responsibility and blame to other House Representatives and even the Clinton Administration, which left the White House almost seven years ago. But could we really expect anything less?

It has been recently disclosed that Hastert earmarked $207 million of our tax dollars for a middle-of-nowhere highway project, which even locals say serves no purpose. Why would he do such a thing? In retrospect, perhaps it was because he ended up receiving two million dollars from the sale of some land he bought only three years earlier, which he ensured to be near the proposed highway he backed. Though, I do know people who make money from wastefully spending other peoples’ savings…I certainly would have expected more from the third person in line for the Office of the President. Why spend a couple hundred-million dollars to provide text books, lunches, and healthcare for children in the most depressed cities of our country, when you could spend it soullessly to collect a 1% rate of return, in this case two million dollars. The action is so wanton, it’s morally pornographic. However, it should be noted that in this particular case, no laws were broken, so therefore, no charges will be filed.

Whether it’s the moral decay of our election-year campaigns, the overall sense of disregard within the Executive and Legislative branches, or the ubiquitous “Reacting versus Responding” to issues which require considered responses, modern day politics has taken on a new form. Over the past 30 years we have been witness to an ever-quickening decline in the ability of our current form of government to govern effectively.

The market has been flooded with politicians and pundits spreading spin via the media, White House and Congressional sycophants posing as creditable, independent sources pushing targeted propaganda against the opposing party. Party politics have seemingly become a higher priority for elected officials, than the agenda to govern the United States. Political Parties are neither mentioned, nor alluded to, in the U.S. Constitution, which makes me wonder if they are a good idea to begin with at all.

We need a return to reason, a return to critical thinking, and a new purpose for our government, where politicians conduct themselves as public servants as they were elected to be. I want my country back..where our elected officials tell the truth rather than sell the lie, where political pluralism is embraced as a strength and not as an evil..not because it is the easy thing to do, but because it is the hard thing to do, “because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to accomplish.”