Category: Philosophical

I See White People

August 6, 2007
PhilosophicalRantRepublicansStrange
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Oy.  Republicans.  White, one and all.  Even those who are not so white.

It’s true.

Take a look at the Cook County, IL, Republican Party Executive Board:

What a group.   I’m sure it’s a coincidence that all of their People of Color were not elected to office this year.  Must have had other things to do.

Or, perhaps the family maids and chauffeurs don’t get much of a vote in the GOP.

George Bush And The Nine Trillionth Dollar

August 3, 2007
CongressHumorPhilosophicalRepublicansWhite House
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George Bush and the Nine Millionth Dollar

It’s almost here. Can you feel the excitement? People are already starting to line up at the Pentagon, White House, U.S. Treasury Department, U.S. Capitol Building, and countless other key locations around Washington, D.C., for the midnight release of the U.S. Government’s George Bush and the Nine Trillionth Dollar by Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury Department.

That’s right, literary fans, the excitement is building around the globe. President Bush, under the guidance of Vice President Dick Cheney (He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Questioned) and Director Paulson, has already issued instructions on a strict embargo on the book until midnight on a date in the very near future but yet to be announced. Citizens will be given last minute instructions on where to queue up for copies of the book, which will sell for $45 retail. Advance-order copies are available from Amazon.com and Borders Books for $50. Reached by phone by Larry King, Vice President Cheney justified the extra $5.00 for those who order early by saying, “If you order late, the terrorists win.” Color-coded wrist bands will be available at select locations throughout the D.C. area for $100 each so lines are orderly as the members of the public line up for their midnight copies.

We’re almost there! According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the current debt to the penny is $8,945,504,468,375.99. Less than $35 billion to go!

“We’re very excited,” said Director Paulson, “This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. We never expect to hit $9 Trillion again!” This all but answers the questions billions are wondering, “Will the debt ever come down?” and, “Will there be a sequel to this book?” Paulson could hardly contain his enthusiasm for the most famous series of books the U.S. Treasury Department has ever produced, “We anticipate publishing volume both 10 and 11 in the next few years, as long as we can keep a Republican in the White House. Help us reach our goal!”

Many are hoping for some answers to long-standing questions in the new volume:

  • Who will live?
  • Who will die?
  • As the needs of U.S. citizens grow and debt increases, who will the United States borrow from next?
  • Who will the United States pass the debt to when Japan and China finally call their loans?

“The debt is the money the federal government borrows from other countries and it’s own citizens,” President Bush explained. “It’s money that we borrow.”

Thousands emailed the president after this statement, thanking him for explaining the national debt at last.

The White House and the Treasury Department announced that millions have already placed advance orders for George Bush and the Nine Trillionth Dollar using credit cards, of course.

(Graphic: Turning Left)

Parents Guilty in Underage Drinking Tragedy

July 21, 2007
GeneralPhilosophical
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It was all too tempting to start this reflection with some quip, making light of the conviction of a Deerfield, Illinois, couple found guilty of allowing their son’s friends to drink in their basement one night last October. How easy it is sitting on this side of the monitor to mock, to ridicule, or to cry self-righteous.

One night last October

That’s when it happened. And I’ll bet everyone involved is crying to go back, to undo what was done, to bring back the two who were lost:

Killed were Daniel Bell of Bannockburn, and a passenger, Ross Trace of Riverwoods, both 18.

That’s the one line in tonight’s story in the Chicago Tribune that resonates more than any other on the page.

With my personal involvement with youth through the years, I’ve heard of too many incidents where young people report that parents buy alcohol sometimes for their parties. Or parents permit drinking in the house because, “they’re going to do it anyway, so they may as well do it here where we can watch them.” The so-called “chaperoned drinking” is the adults’ way of pretending that they actually still have some measure of control in the lives of their children.

Perhaps. The story gives the cold facts:

As the debate continues in courtrooms, at high schools and around kitchen tables across the country on who ultimately bears responsibility for underage drinking, a jury in Lake County weighed in with its own opinion Saturday, finding a Deerfield couple guilty of allowing their son’s friends to drink in their basement one night last October.

Two teenage guests were killed in a car crash shortly after leaving the Deerfield home of Jeffrey and Sara Hutsell. According to testimony given during the five-day trial against the couple last week, the 18-year-old driver had consumed alcohol at the party.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated seven hours before reaching its decision at about 7:40 p.m. They also convicted the Hutsells of one count of endangerment of a child and one count of obstruction of justice for lying to police officers on the night of the accident. The jury acquitted the couple of another obstruction charge for destroying evidence. The Hutsells showed no emotion as the verdicts were read.

Perhaps it’s an admission they no longer have control. Or perhaps they just want to be their kids’ friends. I really don’t know. I can’t analyze. I don’t know them. Many were expecting prison time for the couple. “They” should be punished, after all.

We will preach and analyze and throw this headline around for a while. We will yell at our kids, stand on street corners, carry signs, cry, and get angry. We will talk about “those parents” who let kids do those things. We will want to even further tighten our absurdly punitive laws in Illinois even further, put “them” in prison, take away the kids’ driving licenses, do something more to convince ourselves that we’re really in control.

We’re so fucking good at punishment, after all. We must know what we’re doing. Look at all of our prisons. We can’t build them fast enough. And now we’re sending two more away. Good for us!

But in the midst of finger-pointing, in the midst of our tears for two young lives snuffed out “one night last October,” we need to simply pause and let it all sink in:

Killed were Daniel Bell of Bannockburn, and a passenger, Ross Trace of Riverwoods, both 18.

And that can’t be undone, ever. No matter how many people we put in prison. If the possibility of death from driving drunk doesn’t stop people from driving drunk, is more prison time going to do it? Will these convictions stop the next idiot parents from winking at the kids in the basement as they hide their beers, “checking on the party,” and then return upstairs?

No. Parents have been convicted before of such things.

So the real question is, how do we really prevent the next senseless deaths?

We Love You As Long As You Are Christian

July 13, 2007
PhilosophicalRantReligionRepublicansStrange
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Harry Reid finally went too far. Watch this video. Truly unbelievable.At least that’s what the great granfalloon, the Religious Right, is saying.Imagine disrupting a chaplain leading an assembly in prayer.That’s exactly what happened Thursday in the United States Senate. CNN has the report:

Three people were arrested in the Senate visitor’s gallery Thursday for disrupting the chamber’s morning prayer, led for the first time by a Hindu clergyman.

As Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Nevada, began to lead the brief prayer, two women and one man shouted, “This is an abomination,” according to the Associated Press.

Capitol Police Sergeant Kimberly Schneider tells CNN that the three were arrested in the Senate visitors’ gallery for “disruption of Congress.”

The Great Granfalloon, the American Family Association, actually issued an Action Alert when they found out about the possibility of a Hindu leading prayer for the Senate:

Send an email to your senator now, expressing your disappointment in the Senate decision to invite a Hindu to open the session with prayer.

On Thursday, a Hindu chaplain from Reno, Nevada, by the name of Rajan Zed is scheduled to deliver the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate. Zed tells the Las Vegas Sun that in his prayer he will likely include references to ancient Hindu scriptures, including Rig Veda, Upanishards, and Bhagavard-Gita. Historians believe it will be the first Hindu prayer ever read at the Senate since it was formed in 1789.

WallBuilders president David Barton is questioning why the U.S. government is seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god. Barton points out that since Hindus worship multiple gods, the prayer will be completely outside the American paradigm, flying in the face of the American motto “One Nation Under God.”

Here’s the great theological statement you were advised to pass along to your United States Senator:

“In Hindu, you have not one God, but many, many, many, many, many gods,” the Christian historian explains. “And certainly that was never in the minds of those who did the Constitution, did the Declaration [of Independence] when they talked about Creator — that’s not one that fits here because we don’t know which creator we’re talking about within the Hindu religion.”

There are many things wrong with this statement — not the least of which is that the Declaration of Independence is not the United States Constitution! Have these people even read the Declaration of Independence? It’s not about God at all. A Creator is mentioned in the beginning, and a Supreme Judge near the end. That’s it. Other than that, it’s one of the most inspiring pieces of literature any country has ever produced. Among the great crimes King George was accused of:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

Ouch. Depriving us of the benefits of Trial by Jury. Sound familiar to anyone on the Right?

I’m with Vonnegut. I would like to see these clowns on the Right once, just once, quote the Sermon on the Mount. Why are they stuck on obscure passages from the Hebrew Scriptures, and they never quote the Christ they claim to love?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Why don’t we ever hear any of that?

Get with it on the Right: Jesus is a Liberal.

Dick Cheney Scares Me

June 28, 2007
PhilosophicalRepublicansStrange
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Salon.com ran a brilliant piece by Sidney Blumenthal about Dick Cheney today, “The imperial vice presidency.” Thoroughly fascinating exploration and summary of the Washington Post series that we spoke about earlier in the week. Seeing it all summed up so neatly in one place left me with a feeling of fascination — the kind I used to feel in my adolescent days, perhaps, for Hitler. I know it’s easy to toss the “H-word” around, and we do it all too easily in the media and elsewhere. But, at some point, we study Hitler almost as if his actions never impacted us – as if we live elsewhere, not on planet Earth. How could one of those humans, one of those animals, become so powerful, and do so many horribly ungodly things?

Plenty of food for thought, and an exercise in futility, perhaps. Many hours in the dorm room lost to such feeble yet at the time seemingly important discussions.

Indeed, how could Hitler become so powerful?

Enter Dick.

He scares me now. He never did before. Before I let the Washington Post sink in, before I permitted Salon.com to sink in, I relegated Cheney to the comedians — Jon Stewart somehow helped me cope. Letterman made me laugh at it all.  Colbert made sense.  I could laugh at Cheney, and then go on with my day, my week, seven years or so.  I could sleep at night, content that reason would someday prevail, and the long nightmare of the Bush presidency would finally end.

But not any more. The man is dangerous.

Just a small selection:

Cheney has crushed the normal interagency process that permitted communication, cross-fertilization and cooperation at the sub-Cabinet level through all previous modern administrations. At the same time, he has isolated Cabinet secretaries, causing them to be fired when they contradicted him, as he did with Christine Todd Whitman, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill.

Cheney thrives in darkness, operating by stealth within the government, and makes a cult of secrecy. None of these insights are new, except for additional telling details. Reports the Post: “Man-size Mosler safes, used elsewhere in government for classified secrets, store the workaday business of the office of the vice president. Even talking points for reporters are sometimes stamped ‘Treated As: Top Secret/SCI.'”

“Cheney thrives in darkness…?” What the hell does that mean? He is a man so ruthless that even John Ashcroft objected to his ethics:

Of the Bush Cabinet secretaries, former Attorney General John Ashcroft most strenuously confronted Cheney about his seizures of power. Ashcroft was perhaps the most conservative member of the Cabinet, and it was out of a sense of his own constitutional obligation that he objected. When Ashcroft discovered that John Yoo, the deputy assistant in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had been recruited by the Cheney operation to write memos on detainee policy that would deny any role in the new legal process to the Justice Department, he was outraged. At the White House he confronted Cheney and Addington. “According to participants [at the meeting],” the Post reported, “Ashcroft said that he was the president’s senior law enforcement officer, supervised the FBI and oversaw terrorism prosecutions nationwide. The Justice Department, he said, had to have a voice in the tribunal process.” But Cheney did not relent. Ashcroft received no meeting to discuss the matter with Bush. Cheney was the gatekeeper — the decider for the Decider.

Indeed, the Decider is a puppet. Cheney is King. And he doesn’t care. Damn the torpedoes. Damn the Democrats. Damn the Republican Party. Cheney no longer has to care:

Despite the recent round of punditry that Cheney’s influence has waned, he remains a formidable force. These are Cheney’s final days; this is his endgame. He will never run again for public office. He is freed from the constraints of political consequences. He now has no horizon. He lives only in the present. He is nearly done. There are only months left to achieve his goals. Mortality impinges. Next month, he will have his heart pacemaker replaced. He disdains public opinion. He does not care who’s next. “We didn’t get elected to be popular,” he said on Fox News on May 10. “We didn’t get elected to worry just about the fate of the Republican Party.”

Cheney is worse than I ever imagined.

Bringing the War Home

June 17, 2007
IraqPhilosophicalRant
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The Washington Post has an incredible story today about the pain suffered by some soldiers returning from Iraq. Standing tall in parades, welcomed in many communities as heroes, our young men and women are returning to the United States haunted.

Telling the story of Army Spec. Jeans Cruz who helped capture Saddam Hussein, the article details the praise has come at a cost:

But a “black shadow” had followed Cruz home from Iraq, he confided to an Army counselor. He was hounded by recurring images of how war really was for him: not the triumphant scene of Hussein in handcuffs, but visions of dead Iraqi children.

In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression.

Cruz sought help from the local Department of Veterans Affiars medical center, trying for help for a diagnosed case of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, his PTSD claim was denied, in spite of overwhelming evidence of his accomplishments for this country:

None of that seemed to matter when his case reached VA disability evaluators. They turned him down flat, ruling that he deserved no compensation because his psychological problems existed before he joined the Army. They also said that Cruz had not proved he was ever in combat. “The available evidence is insufficient to confirm that you actually engaged in combat,” his rejection letter stated

Yet abundant evidence of his year in combat with the 4th Infantry Division covers his family’s living-room wall. The Army Commendation Medal With Valor for “meritorious actions . . . during strategic combat operations” to capture Hussein hangs not far from the combat spurs awarded for his work with the 10th Cavalry “Eye Deep” scouts, attached to an elite unit that caught the Iraqi leader on Dec. 13, 2003, at Ad Dawr.

It does us well to remember those who return with the war still raging within. And their claims are denied. The complete article is worth spending time with.

Where is the great Champion for Justice and Democracy, George W. Bush? Why is he not leading the cry of outrage?

Well, Happy Fathers’ Day, George. Enjoy the cards. How about picking up the phone and giving Army Spec. Jeans Cruz a call? Better yet, Mr. President, read one newspaper article today.

This one.

This war is costing us much more than money.

Paris Hilton Should Have Stayed at a Holiday Inn Express

June 8, 2007
HumorPhilosophicalRant
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Poor Paris. It sounds like it was a spectacular scene. Judge Michael T. Sauer preempts Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and sends Paris packin’ back to prison to serve out the remainder of her 45 day sentence. We learn from our friends at Salon.com:

And once Hilton’s hearing was over and she was returned to jail, the news was even more grim. “Paris Hilton left the courtroom in tears, screaming for her mother,” a Headline News anchor told us, solemnly. “It was not a pretty sight.”

I have never followed Ms. Hilton’s budding career. I don’t see myself ever doing so. For some reason many in the media, at least, seem to obsess with her every move. Sheriff Baca released Hilton, citing Hilton’s “severe medical problems,” yet never specified what those problems might be. Baca perhaps revealed perhaps his true bias when he said, “Punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice.”

Let’s see. Our national debt right now is conservatively estimated to be at$8.84 Trillion, 3,504 American’s have been killed in Iraq, somewhere between 65,000 and 71,203 Iraqi civilians have been killed – with estimates putting that count closer to 100,000 and beyond, and we have spent $432.93 Billion in Iraq alone.

I don’t feel sorry for Paris. I don’t weep for her. For some reason this she is news.

Grow up, dear.

Burn These Republican Words Into Your Mind

February 7, 2007
PhilosophicalRepublicans
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From AlterNet, posted by Evan Derkacz:

On January 17, 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower said goodbye to public office with an address that concluded with the words below [strangely, the Eisenhower Library’s version and the audio in the video to the right, differ slightly. Brackets represent the text in the Library version omitted from the audio file…].

You’re familiar with the warnings in this speech against the “military-industrial complex,” but the subtler parts of the speech are every bit as powerful and refreshing…

As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

Read the rest here. Watch the video. Take time to reflect.