In 1870, the Prussian King Wilhelm I met, with great courtesy, the French ambassador at Ems. This ambassador then sent off a telegram (the infamous telegram from Ems) to Paris. An ambitious Prussian politician by the name of Otto von Bismarck intercepted the telegram and had it reworded to sound more arrogant; to make it truly offensive. And then, he had the telegram published in Prussian newspapers so everyone could see how the Prussians had disrespected the French.
Upon hitting the streets in Parisian papers, it was gobbled up and the brave Parisians were outraged at what they thought was a very arrogant Prussian attitude. Knowing Germans as well as I do, I don’t doubt that the letter was spiced with that very typically German “I am better than thou, you foreign monkey,” (it was precisely this inherent disdain for everything foreign which permitted them with such apparent glee to slaughter 50 million foreigners during the WWII) and so the Parisians were probably right in being upset.
The outrage, however, was not worth going to war over. Prussia had tried to bribe the Spanish Parliament into choosing Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern to become the next King of Spain. The French didn’t like this idea.
In those days, however, when smoke signals tended to get confused with puffing locomotives and pigeons with messages of peaces tended to lose their way, a “your momma”, “uh-uh, your momma” contest kicked off. Mobilization in those days was a thing that once launched was difficult to stop.
War was inevitable. War happened and once again, the Germans kicked French ass.
Disgruntled by this loss, the next generation of French and their leaders happily sought an entry into another war with Germany. When that young Serb assassinated an archduke who nobody really missed, the gloves were off and WWI occurred. Then, after the horrific reparations brought down upon Germany at Versailles by the bitter French and the petty and trite English, WWII was just a matter of time.
I’ll Kick Your Ass, Man
When W. and Mr. Potter (Cheney) started the name-calling, recall “axis of evil” (Iraq, Iran and North Korea), all of the lessons learned over the last century were, in oh-so-Republican fashion, disregarded and once again, the Republicans showed the world that they know better than the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Hoover, FDR, Churchill, Truman, LBJ, Gandhi, etc.
What was accomplished with this spate of name-calling? 10 years ago, North Korea wasn’t anywhere near capable of testing nuclear missiles but today, they are doing it on a regular basis. Iran was isolated and suffering and near economic collapse. Iraq was Iraq and some 250,000 Iraqis were still alive and well, not to mention over 4000 American men and women who were living their lives quietly with their families.
In the time that we became the big, dumb and somewhat emotional bully, China has not only challenged our economic hegemony but it is now we who are seeking to stem the tide of their lead; Russia has regained significant regional power and even has the energy power to force Europe to turn a blind-eye to their human right’s abuses; Chavez mocks us; North Korea knows we are overstretched in our Iraqi and Afghani quagmires so they too act as they see fit.
Mexico is on the brink of becoming a failed state thanks to our insatiable hunger for drugs and our failure to understand that US-made weapons are only exasperating the situation. And, whilst we were becoming a less relevant and a weaker nation outside of our boarders, internally, we were abandoning the working class Americans. We were selling our future greatness so that already really-really-really rich people could enjoy ever more fruits at the ever-increasing labors of the working poor in America.
Dialogue
When President Obama opened up dialogue with Iran and even Al Qaeda, he was paying honor and respect to the statesmen of the last 100 years. When he shook the hand of the President Chavez, he was demonstrating to the world that sticks and stones may hurt but names are just words that can always be called back and forgotten.
Each time President Obama seeks dialogue as opposed to war and what now is obvious to the world, empty threats about how we will invade here or attack there, he is paying respect to the men and women who have “made the ultimate sacrifice.”
He is saying: “Your death was not in vain. We will resolve this ‘conflict’ and we will prevent others from losing what you have, my friend, the one life that was granted to you by a God who is all forgiving and who couldn’t be upset by mere name-calling.”
And, when we resolve our differences with Iran and Venezuela and North Korea, boys and girls in America will not have to look to a folded-flag for words of wisdom from a dearly, departed mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, friend…And, we will be made ever safer.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Safer, yet--Part Two
Of all the industrialized nations, of which we are one, we are the only country where today's high school graduates are less likely to go onto college than their parents; the trend of each generation growing up to be smarter, or at least better educated, than their parents has ended.
Those of us who graduated in the aftermath of Reagan-Bush, and who started families under the Clinton-era boom, are today the last of a national trend that was commenced shortly after the signing of the peace treaty in Ghent, Belgium--1814, it officially ended the War of 1812. America moved forward at varying rates of speed, always improving itself, despite mistakes and a Civil War, etc.
Excesses from unbridled capitalism ultimately led us to a world-wide depression that devestated many parts of our nation; but, thankfully, led us to a new era of government activity from which many Americans, workers, unemployed ones, etc. still benefit today. A national infrastructure, schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, dams, an army, air traffic control, the internet, electricity for all and so many other great achievements were attained.
Yet, the sad irony in all of this is that although so few Americans would want to live without the things listed above, many of the same people today hating Obama and screaming "socialism" would not give up any one of those things. And usually, it was a Democratic government, be it president or congress, that fought to obtain these things for the masses. It was usually the Republicans fighting to get rid of them by labeling them as "communist", "socialist", "tax and spend liberalism", "theft from future generations," blah, blah, blah.
Theft
Soon, we will celebrate the success of D-Day yet again; boys between the ages of 17 and 30 assualted the beaches and lept from airplanes for the future of our national well-good. With bullets spraying sand around their feet until the mark was met and they crumpled to the ground, so few of these men really doubted why they were there.
Thanks to the government progressivism of FDR and so many Democrats after him, Bill Clinton being the last until the election of Obama, our nation had invested today for the better of tomorrow. How can the Hoover Dam, how can the nation's road networks, how can public schools, how can the internet be "theft" from future generations as it is being labeled by Republicans and Conservatives (a "conservative" is republican so embarassed by the excesses of the GOP that they choose this Suess-esque euphemism). All they do is stand in the way of progress and prevent our nation from advancing logically forward like any living organism is supposed to do according to the laws of nature.
Jesus a Democrat
As Spock said when he was dying, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one or the few; and yet, they have governed over the past century as if the opposite were true: tax cuts for a tiny percentage of already sickly rich people; more guns in the hands of anyone for the sake of ever larger profits for the gun and bullet makers; fewer abortions for the poor and even less money for these kids born into poverty; no family planning education to perhaps help these people to make better decisions and no condoms and no jobs because the wealthy, conservative owners have shipped them all to China.
No strict standards for auto-makers to make cars better so that the air might be made a tab bit cleaner. Why? Because it is always more politically expedient to do nothing and sit back and count the money. Al Gore's impact on the battle against global warming could prove to be the turning point, if it is not already too late. 9 years were lost in this battle because they simply hid the truth, lied to us all about the effects of global warming and today the world is hotter and further from concensus than ever before.
Now, 16 years after they successfully destroyed a chance at healthcare for all Americans via lies sold as public service announcements, today they pull out their same tired slogans and again will do everything they can to prevent Joe and Mary Middle-America from obtaining affordable healthcare.
When our president, finally, went after the credit card companies, what did they do? They attached a rider onto the bill that would permit Americans to carry concealed weapons into parks. How will that help our nation tomorrow, 10 years from now, 50 years from now? How many of us will be killed by one of those weapons at a bbq gone bad in a public park?
The conservatives have stolen the one thing from us which government was supposed to have guaranteed its citizens: the right to be safe, to which they say, "arm yourself." Jesus didn't carry a gun.
The republicans, the conservatives with their so-called fiscal conservatism handed out trillions of dollars of surplus created by Clinton's truly austere governing and today, we are a weaker, a poorer and a less safe nation.
If anyone is against the policies of President Obama, then I say to them: "Go to the next sale of slaves at your local auction and complain about it to people who care." Oh, there won't be an auction because government action did away with that peculiar thing supported by...yes, the South. And for those who will say Lincoln was a Republican, yes, he was and if he were in office today he would be a Democrat. If you know American history, you know when the parties changed their core policies. It was after the war.
Our nation should be better and I don't understand why conservatives want us to be so weak and so hated and so broke and so stupid, fat, unhealthy, unemployed, violent and so backward.
Obesity is big money. Guess who supports this industry and guess who was against telling Americans just how many calories are in a Big Mac? Why do they fear knowledge and truth?
"Praise Jesus, Amen blah-blah-blah." My Jesus is a Democrat.
Those of us who graduated in the aftermath of Reagan-Bush, and who started families under the Clinton-era boom, are today the last of a national trend that was commenced shortly after the signing of the peace treaty in Ghent, Belgium--1814, it officially ended the War of 1812. America moved forward at varying rates of speed, always improving itself, despite mistakes and a Civil War, etc.
Excesses from unbridled capitalism ultimately led us to a world-wide depression that devestated many parts of our nation; but, thankfully, led us to a new era of government activity from which many Americans, workers, unemployed ones, etc. still benefit today. A national infrastructure, schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, dams, an army, air traffic control, the internet, electricity for all and so many other great achievements were attained.
Yet, the sad irony in all of this is that although so few Americans would want to live without the things listed above, many of the same people today hating Obama and screaming "socialism" would not give up any one of those things. And usually, it was a Democratic government, be it president or congress, that fought to obtain these things for the masses. It was usually the Republicans fighting to get rid of them by labeling them as "communist", "socialist", "tax and spend liberalism", "theft from future generations," blah, blah, blah.
Theft
Soon, we will celebrate the success of D-Day yet again; boys between the ages of 17 and 30 assualted the beaches and lept from airplanes for the future of our national well-good. With bullets spraying sand around their feet until the mark was met and they crumpled to the ground, so few of these men really doubted why they were there.
Thanks to the government progressivism of FDR and so many Democrats after him, Bill Clinton being the last until the election of Obama, our nation had invested today for the better of tomorrow. How can the Hoover Dam, how can the nation's road networks, how can public schools, how can the internet be "theft" from future generations as it is being labeled by Republicans and Conservatives (a "conservative" is republican so embarassed by the excesses of the GOP that they choose this Suess-esque euphemism). All they do is stand in the way of progress and prevent our nation from advancing logically forward like any living organism is supposed to do according to the laws of nature.
Jesus a Democrat
As Spock said when he was dying, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one or the few; and yet, they have governed over the past century as if the opposite were true: tax cuts for a tiny percentage of already sickly rich people; more guns in the hands of anyone for the sake of ever larger profits for the gun and bullet makers; fewer abortions for the poor and even less money for these kids born into poverty; no family planning education to perhaps help these people to make better decisions and no condoms and no jobs because the wealthy, conservative owners have shipped them all to China.
No strict standards for auto-makers to make cars better so that the air might be made a tab bit cleaner. Why? Because it is always more politically expedient to do nothing and sit back and count the money. Al Gore's impact on the battle against global warming could prove to be the turning point, if it is not already too late. 9 years were lost in this battle because they simply hid the truth, lied to us all about the effects of global warming and today the world is hotter and further from concensus than ever before.
Now, 16 years after they successfully destroyed a chance at healthcare for all Americans via lies sold as public service announcements, today they pull out their same tired slogans and again will do everything they can to prevent Joe and Mary Middle-America from obtaining affordable healthcare.
When our president, finally, went after the credit card companies, what did they do? They attached a rider onto the bill that would permit Americans to carry concealed weapons into parks. How will that help our nation tomorrow, 10 years from now, 50 years from now? How many of us will be killed by one of those weapons at a bbq gone bad in a public park?
The conservatives have stolen the one thing from us which government was supposed to have guaranteed its citizens: the right to be safe, to which they say, "arm yourself." Jesus didn't carry a gun.
The republicans, the conservatives with their so-called fiscal conservatism handed out trillions of dollars of surplus created by Clinton's truly austere governing and today, we are a weaker, a poorer and a less safe nation.
If anyone is against the policies of President Obama, then I say to them: "Go to the next sale of slaves at your local auction and complain about it to people who care." Oh, there won't be an auction because government action did away with that peculiar thing supported by...yes, the South. And for those who will say Lincoln was a Republican, yes, he was and if he were in office today he would be a Democrat. If you know American history, you know when the parties changed their core policies. It was after the war.
Our nation should be better and I don't understand why conservatives want us to be so weak and so hated and so broke and so stupid, fat, unhealthy, unemployed, violent and so backward.
Obesity is big money. Guess who supports this industry and guess who was against telling Americans just how many calories are in a Big Mac? Why do they fear knowledge and truth?
"Praise Jesus, Amen blah-blah-blah." My Jesus is a Democrat.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
We are Safer--Part One
After the recent reincarnation of Mr. Potter (DICK Cheney), the dish "he is making the nation less safe" has been on the menu.
"Less-safe"...uhmmm...let's see, if you were living in New Orleans; if you went to work in the towers on 9/11; if you are young, under-educated and were unemployed so you joined the Guard and now find yourself in the Iraqi-quagmire for tour number 4; if you happened to be sitting on a porch, in church, in a store, etc. when a recently unemployed, gun-toting neighbor lost it and unloaded round after round until many were left dead, then yes, our nation has become "unsafe".
We should consider the fact that not once in the last 100 years--and really many more--had world opinion been so against us, the American nation and our grand experiment. On 9/12, the entire world, except for a handful of fanatics in caves and ghettoes in some Muslim nations--mostly nations that had been at war or been victimized by Israel--was so sympathetic toward our suffering--suffering which really was miniscule compared to what our government has supported in military dictatorships in Latin and South America.
The world wanted us/needed us and prayed for us to succeed, to recover. Learning I was an American, a woman cried in a hotel in Italy. A bouncer in Belgium beat up an Irish drunk for yelling how grateful he had been that 9/11 had happened. In Munich, the walking street near the City Administration building overflowed with candles, flowers and posters of support such that it was unpassable in spots.
Very quickly, however, the myopic, the arrogant, the prejudiced, the overly-religious and the Republicans started to abuse our nation, our good-will, the good-will of the world by "treading" on the rights of the world; by wiping the bloodied faces of the tortured with our Constitution--a masterpiece on par with anything Michaelangelo had ever done!
Foolishly, ignorantly, like a group of kids raiding the liquor cabinet while the parents are at Bingo and mixing things like Anisette and vodka, bourbon with rum, our nation, the world woke up with a screaming hangover; and even worse, the fun of the drunk was never appreciated because it was as if the concoction had been funneled into us.
Less safe: our infrastructure is in a shambles and we have no money to pay for it so we must go deeper and deeper into debt to the Chinese. Our wealth has been frittered away in the desert fighting a nation that had nothing to do with whether the average American was living more or less safely, happily.
The surpluses created by President Clinton through aggressive budget balancing were handed out to the wealthy in scenes of corporate and rich-people welfare (massive, unjustified tax cuts) never before realized; the welfare given to the rich in the past 10 years has proven to be more costly to our nation's future than the welfare that has been given to the poor since 1965. At least those poor people reinvested a lot of that money back into their communities via purchases; in some way or another these poor Americans educated and raised sons and daughter.
From the moment the Republicans took control of our nation, government stopped governing and it started preaching; those in charge started forcing upon us their personal views of how we should live our lives; a bunch of southern hypocrites who, through manipulation of their built-in excuse that they are "weak sinners", allow themselves to commit any act of treachery against anyone and usually against the interests of our national good and usually wholly in line with the interests of their groups of white friends at the country club, have wasted our national wealth; but, so long as they pray, go to church and drop "Lord Jesus" into every third sentence, they are always righteous.
And, while government wasn't governing things were happening. Storms were brewing, natural and financial, bolts were weaking, rails were rusting, troops were being shorted their body armor, the skies were being polluted, parks were being drilled, fanatics were training in Iraq, Russia was manipulating it's gas power, China was buying the world and our nation was heading for a fall; and, it fell and guess who was in charge of our nation? Yes, the Republicans, Bush, Dick, Rummy and others.
Are we safer today than we were one year ago? With W. out of the White House and Cheney not a heart beat away anymore, yes, we are.
"Less-safe"...uhmmm...let's see, if you were living in New Orleans; if you went to work in the towers on 9/11; if you are young, under-educated and were unemployed so you joined the Guard and now find yourself in the Iraqi-quagmire for tour number 4; if you happened to be sitting on a porch, in church, in a store, etc. when a recently unemployed, gun-toting neighbor lost it and unloaded round after round until many were left dead, then yes, our nation has become "unsafe".
We should consider the fact that not once in the last 100 years--and really many more--had world opinion been so against us, the American nation and our grand experiment. On 9/12, the entire world, except for a handful of fanatics in caves and ghettoes in some Muslim nations--mostly nations that had been at war or been victimized by Israel--was so sympathetic toward our suffering--suffering which really was miniscule compared to what our government has supported in military dictatorships in Latin and South America.
The world wanted us/needed us and prayed for us to succeed, to recover. Learning I was an American, a woman cried in a hotel in Italy. A bouncer in Belgium beat up an Irish drunk for yelling how grateful he had been that 9/11 had happened. In Munich, the walking street near the City Administration building overflowed with candles, flowers and posters of support such that it was unpassable in spots.
Very quickly, however, the myopic, the arrogant, the prejudiced, the overly-religious and the Republicans started to abuse our nation, our good-will, the good-will of the world by "treading" on the rights of the world; by wiping the bloodied faces of the tortured with our Constitution--a masterpiece on par with anything Michaelangelo had ever done!
Foolishly, ignorantly, like a group of kids raiding the liquor cabinet while the parents are at Bingo and mixing things like Anisette and vodka, bourbon with rum, our nation, the world woke up with a screaming hangover; and even worse, the fun of the drunk was never appreciated because it was as if the concoction had been funneled into us.
Less safe: our infrastructure is in a shambles and we have no money to pay for it so we must go deeper and deeper into debt to the Chinese. Our wealth has been frittered away in the desert fighting a nation that had nothing to do with whether the average American was living more or less safely, happily.
The surpluses created by President Clinton through aggressive budget balancing were handed out to the wealthy in scenes of corporate and rich-people welfare (massive, unjustified tax cuts) never before realized; the welfare given to the rich in the past 10 years has proven to be more costly to our nation's future than the welfare that has been given to the poor since 1965. At least those poor people reinvested a lot of that money back into their communities via purchases; in some way or another these poor Americans educated and raised sons and daughter.
From the moment the Republicans took control of our nation, government stopped governing and it started preaching; those in charge started forcing upon us their personal views of how we should live our lives; a bunch of southern hypocrites who, through manipulation of their built-in excuse that they are "weak sinners", allow themselves to commit any act of treachery against anyone and usually against the interests of our national good and usually wholly in line with the interests of their groups of white friends at the country club, have wasted our national wealth; but, so long as they pray, go to church and drop "Lord Jesus" into every third sentence, they are always righteous.
And, while government wasn't governing things were happening. Storms were brewing, natural and financial, bolts were weaking, rails were rusting, troops were being shorted their body armor, the skies were being polluted, parks were being drilled, fanatics were training in Iraq, Russia was manipulating it's gas power, China was buying the world and our nation was heading for a fall; and, it fell and guess who was in charge of our nation? Yes, the Republicans, Bush, Dick, Rummy and others.
Are we safer today than we were one year ago? With W. out of the White House and Cheney not a heart beat away anymore, yes, we are.
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