Statecraft Informer

Sparxafire!

Well, folks. I don’t want to damage the cultural and political fabric of our nation any more than it’s already ripped. I do regret that I must give up this blog due to professional developments in my life. It has been a pleasure, I’m sure.

Sparxafire!

This is just the kind of thing that ticks me off and gets this country into so much trouble! In today’s edition of the NEW YORK TIMES, yes… our national newspaper of record…. NOT the Wamego Times, Wamego, Kan., but the NYT lead headline is, “Marines Press to Remove Their Forces From Iraq.” Wow. This sounds like the troops are just getting so fed up, they’re begging/pressing to please just come home. Glass half empty.

Not.

They want to remove themselves from Iraq and go to Afghanistan to fight the original Al Quaeda that bombed the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

That’s very different.

These kinds of irritating headlines have an ever greater influence over the rapidly growing stupider U.S. population, who are not inclined to actually read beyond the headlines. Journalists know by now that if they can’t tell the story in the headline, pull quotes and photo captions, then the story won’t get told! That headline should have read, “Marines Want to Move on Afghanistan” or something similar. Glass half full.

This headline represents the exact same kind of logic that “Che-bush-ney” use when they talk about the international coalition in Iraq like they’re a big deal. Even Great Britain is withdrawing half their force, but the REAL story is that they only have about 5,000 soldiers left there!

It’s like bumping into a fence post and trying to act like you meant to do it. It’s childish and demeans not only those who write headlines like that, but it demeans the reader as well!

I am thoroughly insulted. As with anything else, there’s nothing to be done about it. Fire off a letter to the editor of the NYT and see what happens.

Sparxafire!

Oh, no! Somebody woke up the religious right extremists in the U.S., and they’re coming out cranky. I guess what did it is Republican candidate Rudy Guiliani’s lead in the polls — as far as Republican candidates are concerned. We all assume, or hope that no Republican has a chance in heck of winning the 2008 election based on the past eight years of shoddy, disgraceful, unlawful Republican rule. The Republican party is basically in shambles, and here come the religious extremists to try to kill it off — which is fine by your statecraft informer. The Republicans have made themselves obsolete and it doesn’t really matter who nails their coffin shut.

Religious right extremists cannot live with Guiliani’s pro life, pro gay stance (er, sorry…) when it comes to social values. They claim, if he wins the Republication nomination, they will take their toys and flounce away to form some other party. Yawn. This is very typical logic on the part of the ultra religious folks, who live their lives with an ever so tenuous grip on reality… They who claim that their god is actually in charge of everything, and who waste countless hours praying and whatnot to this alleged diety. That behavior alone qualifies one as well, loopy, at least. I cannot see the difference between believing in “Jonah and the Whale” and the “Tooth Fairy”… (At least, I think “Jonah and the Whale” is a bible story isn’t it? I get these things mixed up in my old age!)

So off they go to try destroy their political party, tra la… because it does not even occur to them that their twisted little pro-life, anti-gay, anti-science agenda is the real culprit that needs to die off. How tragic for them to be so off track, so mean and narrow and unenlightened. On the other hand, if they wish to crusade against the Republican party instead of unwed mothers, gays and social progress, I say, knock yourselves out! I honestly hope you win.

Sparxafire!

I do not live in a state anyone cares about. So, if there are political ads being aired, I’d have to go find them on the Internet – something I never do… Instead, I sort of run across them at news portals and whatnot. And so, it is with some herky-jerky reaction that I viewed Hilary Clinton’s new ad, explaining how very very much she has done to try to help the rescue workers who continue to suffer from the aftereffects of working at the Ground Zero cleanup.

This ad is clearly scaffolding for the general election, when the primary season still has a ways to go. Cleverly, as an intended consequence for sure, it sends a message to Barack Obama and John Edwards that she thinks she is the assumptive close to nail the nomination… No need to worry about campaigning against Dems for the nom…. she’s launching against the Rep leader already because, indeed 9/11 belongs to Rudy Guiliani, the Rep front-runner.

Never mind that all I ever hear about is the acute suffering and lack of help for the rescue workers… So, it’s not clear what Hilary has done, exactly…. And that’s not the point, after all.

Now, the Statecraft Informer / Jury-of-One is honestly still out on how to vote in 2008. We are not really pleased with any choice we see at this point. A lot could happen between now and election day, and your Statecraft Informer urgently hopes a lot does happen. Like some miraculous third party, formerly known as the middle class should shake of its coma and arise … Or Oprah would decide to run … other celeb, like Britney or Alec Baldwin or Ronald McDonald… or Bloomberg could fling in a few monkey wrenches… I don’t know… Ralph Nader? Is Ross Perot still alive?

Perhaps you chuckle at these suggestions, but the American Idol gets more votes every week than any presidential candidate could possibly hope for! Perhaps Dr. Phil is bunching up even as we speak to sail his hat into the ring! I hate to admit it, but there is room for something like this in this election, and I don’t think I’m the only one who is feeling room temperature about the race so far. Larry Craig is going to need something to do….

Sparxafire!

There are a lot of things I don’t understand about torture. For example:

1. We are obviously a country that engages in torture, in violation of international law.
So why don’t the international enforcers come after us and force us to stop?

2. In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court declared torture to be illegal. In July 2006, your president disseminated “new and approved” torture guidelines. What kind of upstanding land of the free has to declare torture illegal??? And has a torture menu???

3. Everybody, but everybody says torture does not work.

4. Torture is scuzzy, low and primitive — traits the United States tries to avoid. We are supposed to be all about “twilights gleaming,” and “purple mountains majesty.” Oh, and human rights and “the pursuit of happiness.” Whereas torture is anti-gleam, non-majestic and inhumane.

5. Americans are apparently okay with torture. They do not seem to object or question the use of torture by the United States government. Have we all gone mad?

What are we thinking? Well, apparently, we tacitly agree that torture is OK when dealing with extreme religious terrorists who wish to harm the U.S… a tactic that is proven not to work. That’s all your statecraft informer can infer from the reaction of the populace… We are now officially sanctioned enablers of torture. I wonder if that could be worked into the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner, or perhaps the Pledge of Allegiance:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all except our enemies whom we torture.”

Sparxafire!

I watched Ken Burns’ “The War” on PBS and it is taking me some time to process it. Of course, it is a stunning production, full of footage I’ve never seen before. And again, Burns has found wonderful survivors to interview, and fascinating threads to follow through the entire series. Of course, this is what happens when an artist is handed 100 percent support, and eliminates all fog of “how to make ends meet.” That’s what enables an artist to soar… and Burns soared for six years on this project. And I can see all six years in it.

My first thought: From the narrative of the survivors, one gets a glimpse into perhaps the main reason why soldiers are reluctant to discuss the war after they get home. The context is unbearable… it’s just not possible to sit in a warm, comfortable kitchen and describe the horrors, and, in the middle of it, be asked if you’d like a coffee refill or whatever. It’s too jangling, and the sympathetic listener is just flat inadequate. No matter how the listener responds, it functions as a reminder never to talk about it again, there is just no possible human response by someone who was not there, who did not see.

My second thought: How could I have been so selfish and self-absorbed as to not ask my father about his experiences in WWII? He was a veteran, and he died in 1979. Now he’s gone, and I have only the skimpiest understanding of what he did as a technical communications sergeant stationed in England… at least I think that’s what I recall.

While this is depressing, I guess the thread here is that all these failings seem to be hard-wired into the human animal — the selfishness, inadequacy of empathy and of course, the inability to avoid war in the first place.

Sparxafire!

This whole situation of Dan Rather peeling back the lid to reveal the stench of the behavior of the media since 9/11 is actually huge! There are many places online where you can get the full story, such as this post by Leslie Griffith on the Huffington post, “Thank You Dan Rather.”

It is so clear to me what the framers of the Constitution intended by creating three branches of government, with various powers that result in a system of checks and balances, AND, via the Bill of Rights, amendment one, to ensure a free press to keep everyone informed.

Thus, things like executive privilege and Congress denouncing citizen speech clearly go against the intent of the framers.

So, if it’s so clear, why must we endure these governmental attacks on free speech? Who is in charge of enforcing the Constitution, anyway? A president swears to uphold the Constitution, as does every other government participant. So how is it that the Constitution is in shreds? What’s going on here?

Without a free press, the branches of government do not function correctly, and we’ve lost it, people! How could everyone break down all at once? Sad to say, a lot of the fault goes to our broken down capitalistic, free market society. Simply this: The reporters and journalists were afraid of losing their jobs if they protested the clear and obvious censorship that was being forced upon them.

And, it was being forced upon them by media owners who were afraid to appear unpatriotic in the wake of 9/11 — again, for fear of losing viewers and advertisers. What a crappy loop! It can’t endure. Always remember how we were asked to respond to 9/11: shop.

Sparxafire!

Well, let’s see… what unfathomable smear shall we examine today? I think your president’s insistence on vetoing the SCHIP bill that provides access to health care for the uninsured children of the U.S. is a good start.

Now, the president doesn’t get the big deal: According to him, when a kid gets sick, he or she can just show up at some emergency room for treatment. How can we explain this type of thought process? Emergency rooms are not set up to handle rashes, ear infections, sore throats, tummy aches and any number of childhood ailments. This is equivalent to telling a motorist whose car is overheating to rush to QuikTrip®… Yesssss, you might be able to buy antifreeze at a QT, and they have other related, but not appropriate stuff there, like gas and air for your tires… But they’re really not properly set up to handle an overheating car… Ultimately, not very close, and certainly, no cigar!

Your president is a parent. He has surely endured a few episodes of illness or injury of his kids. It is a basic human skill to apply your own experience to broader issues. It is not possible to lack this basic skill and still be human! And at this point, I prove I am unable to explain your president’s logic, or lack thereof.

So now, UNPRECEDENTED-ly, (as far as I know), state governors, led by New York’s Gov. Spitzer, are suing your president for his “narrow stance” on this issue. Wow! That’s just awesome!

This just in from the White House website, “The President does not believe health coverage for poor children should be held hostage while political ads are being made and new polls are being taken.” I admit this is kind of taken out of context, but still it makes no sense whatsoever.

My inability to explain the unexplainable is giving me a headache, so I’m off to the emergency room!

Sparxafire!

Time for a quick comment on censorship. In the U.S., we allegedly have freedom of speech, which is why I am able to jabber so carelessly here. But, and there’s always a but… not when the words could cause bodily harm to others, not in cases of state secrets, or slander or libel. The U.S. Constitution’s first amendment merely protects us from government censorship. “Congress shall make no law…”

It is perfectly legal for your boss to require you not to disclose trade secrets and to make rules about your communications as an employee. Just ask Don Imus how that works. Or Verizon, who refuses to allow a pro-choice organization run ads on its cell phone network. Nasty facists, but that is not new or surprising to anyone who understands we are living under a regime that is run by corporations.

So, on top of everything else, taking time to go out of its way to do so, your government is on a toot to sniff around the edges of “free speech” just to see how skittish it can make us.

First step: Surveillance of everybody, willy nilly. Well, hey! You have to listen in to know who to censor, right?

Second step: Start “denouncing” everybody. Even though it clearly states “Congress shall make no law” they’re getting around that, and trying to damage free speakers with denunciations. So that is why we have to watch jaw-dropping sessions of Congress denouncing MoveOn dot org’s “Petraeus/Betray Us” ad. In fact, Congress is finding denunciations of free speech to be a fun diversion. Last week, they denounced Rush Limbaugh, puffy radio host, for calling war veterans who have come home and spoken out against the war “phony soldiers.”

These are just denunciations, mind you… No jail time or fines… Effects on the denounced being incalcuable. Oh! Hold on….

We do have a situation where your president is pressing his case against the Fox Network for “fleeting profanity” on TV awards shows. I don’t know, maybe Cher dropped an f-bomb somewhere, or Sally Field cut loose with …”god dam wars…” Whatever. You see, the airwaves are theoretically owned by all of us. Ha. And the Federal Communications Commission regulates the airwaves on behalf of the people. And Bush already lost the case in a lower court, so we’re going right to the Supremes. Who knows, maybe Diana Ross can figure it out.

So in the wake of Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 SuperBowl, Congress gets its panties in a bunch and passes the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, (under a huffy, narrow-minded Republican majority) raising the maximum allowable fine from $27,500 to $325,000 per violation. And Congress gets to decide, which is sweet because they seem to have a lot of spare time on their hands lately.

Now we have Bill O’Reilly on our airwaves, spewing insulting speech against an ethnic group. What do we think? Will he be fired or denounced or skate free?

Clearly, freedom of speech is no longer a simple, self-evident truth. These are dark times and they’re trying to take it away. Just a caution, folks, stepping up on the soapbox is turning into a slippery proposition.

Sparxafire!

Are you up-to-speed on the new “Freedom’s Watch” organization? Its members consist of wealthy Washington insiders who predict that Iran is the next Nazi regime and that Iranian president Ahmadinejad is really Hitler. Did I mention the members of this group are wealthy? As in, it was just founded this summer and its first item of business was to run a $15 million advertising campaign to prop up support for the president’s Iraq strategy, which, is best summed up as, “stay the course,” as far as I can tell.

To be able to waste $15 million on a lost cause evokes two thoughts:
1. The members are smart enough to have earned and be worth millions of dollars.
2. The members are stupid enough to choose war with Iran as their next agenda item.

I’ve never understood how people can be so smart and so dumb at the same time! Among these charter members are folks who have Cheney’s private number in a “Hey, zup Dick!” kind of way. For example, one member is Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, who says, “Ideologically, we are inspired by much of Ronald Reagan’s thinking – peace through strength, protect and defend America and prosperity through free enterprise.”

Puh. Leese. As if Reagan ever had a thought in his head. Tsk.

And “the free enterprise” system? Double Puh. Leese. They have to be roaring with laughter behind their closed, tax-exempt doors. The notion of free enterprise is only the thinnest veneer of semantics that whitewashes the obviously facist U.S. state where these guys were able to gouge out their fortunes in the first place!

And this is how they “give back.” Campaigning for more war. Great, fellas. Thanks very much. What is wrong with this country??? Free Dumbs Watch.

Sparxafire!

I guess I should have set this up as a two-parter. Yesterday, I argued that the system of checks and balances among the three branches of government has broken down for the first time in American history (that I know of). Today, I tackle the fourth estate… the press, the media – often referred to as the MSM, mainstream media … which the framers of the Constitution depended on fully as much as the three governmental branches. The first amendment says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; ….

There it is. GOT to have a free press to publicize and cast a spotlight on governmental antics. Dan Rather is now suing “the media” for crumbling to governmental pressure to report the antics its way, supressing, spinning, whatever you want to call it.

This is as good a bellwether as any to indicate that the fourth estate is just as broken as the government! What’s beyond a “trifecta?” Quadfecta? Who is breaking our society apart. What is their motive? Why do people in power ALWAYS turn corrupt? How is it a good idea to aggrandize oneself on the back of mass human suffering? That is, Katrina suffering, military suffering, Iraqi suffering, medical suffering and, of course, a middle class that is embarking on its last gasp collapse – too weak, apparently, to mount any protest.

I would truly welcome a dispassionate, logical breakdown of how the thought process progresses from President Cheney. Is it actually something so small as greed? Honestly? How much money do you want? Why is it necessary to have so much money beyond, say, a few million? And, apparently, it doesn’t work unless you are doing things to make sure that other people have less money. After all, what good is it to be a millionaire if everybody else is also a millionaire?

Sparxafire!

I am not seamless with my history of the U.S. government. But as far as I know, we are living in unprecedented times where all three branches of government are compromised, in dangerous disarray. And, especially in the absence of historical precedent, there is no guarantee they will survive when the entire system of checks and balances has collapsed.

I think above all else, this what people are really referring to when they speak of “dangerous times,” and the “crisis of the constitution.” When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution, it is understood they were justifiably concerned with avoiding any king-like powers for the chief executive. No crowns, no thrones, and answerable to the congress and judiciary. On the other hand, the chief exec was given power to veto the congress, and to select the jurists on the Supreme Court… So, it is a somewhat sloppy weave.

It seems to me that over the years, a majority of U.S. presidents have more or less understood the fathers’ intentions, and in spite of the sloppy weave, have wrought veto and appointment powers in a more or less responsible way. They knew and respected the intent behind the three branches.

Then, the century turns over, and pow! Six years later we are a fully blown fascist state. I’ve quoted the 1987 movie, “Wall Street” before… (”How many yachts can you waterski behind???”) And I quote it again: Bud asks, “Why do you have to wreck this company???” Gekko responds, “Because it’s wreckable.”

That still doesn’t answer the question: WHY did Cheney and the Bush family want to wreck this country? It’s more than wreck-ability. As a bona fide victim, swirling down the tubes even as we speak, I’d like to know why I had to lose my life in 21st century America. That’s the very least I could ask, not deserving more than the very least and all.

Sparxafire!

I cannot resist stuff like this: Apparently, your president’s new little press secretary accidentally posted online your president’s reading copy of his speech to the United Nations. The speech on the paper he reads from has phonetic helpers to help him pronounce words correctly. I know.

Keith Olbermann, of MSNBC’s Countdown, pulled back from the implications of having phonetic helpers in a speech, alleging that everyone who speaks publicly does it now and then. Although I agree with Olbermann 99.9 percent of the time, I’m not so sure …

I’ve done a fair amount of public speaking, and have to say I’ve never done it!

OK, so here’s the fun part: In the speech, the writer helps your president pronounce Mauretania this way…

more-EH-tain-ee-a

Now, this is not easy to do in a blog, but, the EH syllable is actually not accented… It’s the TAIN syllable that has the accent. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself, say Mauretania out loud. See? It’s like Lusitania, the ship, except your president’s writers would have you saying, Loose-UHHH-tane-ee-a…

It’s tiny and insignificant. It is an error than means absolutely nothing, and, as Olbermann implies, there’s nothing here to extrapolate, such as Bush should be impeached because he hires speech writers who cannot even create an accurate phonetic helper for Mauretania.

Still. As a writer, my interest is in words, language, grammar and such like that, and I happen to find this ever so amusing… As in a stupid guy hires another stupid guy to prevent him from sounding stupid and ends up looking really, really DOUBLE stupid. Stupid X Stupid = Stupidity Squared. There’s your joke.

Sparxafire!

So much of current events seem to share what I kindly refer to as “being out of touch.” Take this quiz to see where you stand:

1. You are the Republican president of the U.S. and declare that Republican presidential candidates see you as a “big asset” in the upcoming election. The next day, in a candidate forum, nobody mentions your name. You are:
A. Out of touch
B. An idiot and a big, fat liar
C. All the above.

2. You are a mercenary solider-of-fortune in Iraq and you shoot a bunch of civilians. You are:
A. Out of touch
B. A war criminal
C. All the above

3. You are a Democrat in Congress. You waste time debating and ultimately voting to condemn an ad with a pun that equates Petraeus with Betray-us. You are:
A. Not sure what you’re supposed to be doing.
B. Unclear about what you do for a living.
C. Stealing your paycheck from the taxpayers because you frankly don’t know how to do your duty.

This could go on forever. I could even throw in a Britney Spears deal:
4. You are Britney Spears and the judge just ordered you to undergo random drug testing to retain custody of your children.
A. You go home and take a nap.
B. You go shopping for underwear.
C. You go club-hopping and get roaring drunk and stagger about in full view of the papparazi.

Is it me? Am I the one who is out of touch? For example, how could any human with the credentials, record and approval ratings of your president stand in front of a microphone with a straight face and declare he is an “asset” to his party? When he does things like this, (”My fellow Americans, up is down.”) my initial reaction is anger. “How dare he think I am so stupid!”

Is that what this is all about? Do these people think I am that stupid? Or are they just that stupid???

Sparxafire!

One of the best writers/bloggers at the Huffington Post is Steven Weber, and he just posted an eloquent and hopeful piece hoping to rouse the masses out of their stupor. I encourage any visitors to bounce around here and read a few sample posts… That’s what we do here, at Statecraft Informer. We try to understand the Bush supporters. How do their minds work? What makes them tick? What mysterious logic takes them to the conclusions that the Iraq war (Operation “Enduring Freedom!” Ha Ha! Who knew “enduring” meant troops will be there for 50 years???) is a good thing?? Ad nauseum.

Where Steven has hope for the masses, I’m afraid I must argue that that ship has sailed. As a baby boomer, I am allowed to say, “Shame on the boomers; 2007 is the world we created.” Euw. Must be so! Clinton and Bush are both boomers, too. We began our productive, adult lives in the early 70s. We are starting to turn 60 this year. What did we contribute? The electric car and reduced dependency on fossil fuels? Health care for everyone? Economic security for all? Maybe we can take some credit for developing (not inventing…) the Internet. And what is that?

Instead of using the Internet to create a true democracy, where everyone is wired in, and could vote daily on all issues facing the government, we went with porn. Interesting choice.

Name one president who has done anything to help the middle class. I remember “having hope” when Jimmy Carter promised to revamp the IRS and clean up the tax codes and eliminate the lard and so on. How’d that work out?

There are a bazillion such examples of failure. Reagan’s presidency? Oh, my. Every time I hear that damned, “Mr. Gorbechov, tear down this wall!” I laugh out loud. I see the captain of the Titanic declaring, “Mr. Iceberg, sink this ship right now!”

When was the last time the government “did” anything??? Anything at all to improve the quality of life in this country. Instead, everything they do, or fail to do, has beaten down the middle class to a bloody pulp. So here we are, one of those third-world outfits with a few wealthy at the top, and near starving masses. Recipe for revolution? You’d think so, wouldn’t you?