Filed under: Politics
This is the text of an email I recently sent to the Congressman who represents my district (Steve Southerland.)
In this age of economic and digital warfare it is unlikely that New York will be physically sacked as was Rome in 410, yet I feel a strong sense of déja vu watching the 20th Century’s last Superpower, in which I live, devolve into a nation of debtors, criminals and extremists.
Need I say more?
One need only look at the state leading the race to our decline to realize that imperial America is rapidly becoming an important, but not supreme power.
The newly elected (by about 25% of the electorate) of Florida is so blindly anti-everthing (except his own power and wealth) that he refuses $2.4 billion of federal money for a project that will create jobs and invigorate a large section of “his” state’s economy.
This is the state leading the country in a charge to the bottom of the world’s lists of infant mortality, broadband penetration, knowledge and competence of its citizenry, to name just a few of the areas in which we compare poorly to even so called “third world” countries.
Spend a few weeks in and around the state capitol, Tallahassee, and you’ll realize that we have our own third-world nation within our borders.
At the same time we smugly violate international laws governing the treatment of prisoners.We incarcerate a higher percentage of our people than any of our peer nations and many nations we consider backwards or repressive. We routinely sell elections to the highest bidder, now allowing those bidders to be corporations. We refuse to regulate the distribution of highly addictive and abused pain killers on the grounds that it would be an “invasion of privacy.” And soon, while stripping the rights of public employees to organize and negotiate their working conditions we’ll allow guns to be openly carried on college campuses.
Doesn’t anyone see the connection between a Governor who was the co-founder and head of the company (Columbia/HCA) which paid the highest Medicare fine in the history of the US after pleading guilty to massive fraud charges and his refusal to regulate prescription pain killers? Florida is the nation’s, if not the world’s, epicenter of the illegal prescription drug trade. It affects not only Floridians but the people of countless towns and cities along the pipeline connecting south Florida to the Appalachians. One has to wonder how much of the profits of this deadly trade make their way into the personal wealth of prominent Floridians.
If we don’t wake up soon and recognize the folly of “sustained economic growth”, the recklessness of denial of global climate change and our contribution to it, the absurdity of our insatiable addiction to fossil fuels and the illusion that we are all powerful and unconquerable we may well end up like poor Honorius of Rome, more relieved that his favorite hen was still alive than worried about the empire crashing down around him.
There is a lot of coverage these day of acts of violence against Muslim American, and this coverage is good. We need to become more aware as a society of acts of hatred and bigotry both here and abroad. Unfortunately, Muslim Americans are not the only group that is suffering these attacks. As the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) documents on its web site and in its monthly publication, Intelligence Report, hate crimes against a variety of groups is on the increase. Most Americans might be surprised to know that the Ku Klux Klan is not only active but growing. But the KKK is by no means the only organization targeting groups based on their racial, social, or ethnic identities. The SPLC reports that since 2000 the number of hate groups has increased by 54%. These groups include neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separatists and other. According to the SPLC there are 932 known hate groups operating in America today. Some of these groups target ethnic minorities, especially Blacks and Latinos. Others target Gays, Jews, and even the federal government. Although a few do not condone violent tactics, the majority of these groups have been engaged in or condone violence against the targets of their hatred.
It’s time mainstream America woke up to the fact that extreme rhetoric, a failing economy (based on unrealistic “sustained growth”) and our loose gun laws are making America a much more dangerous place for all of us.
Filed under: Politics
One of the biggest objections conservatives have to the Health Care Reform Act is the provision that would require people to have health insurance or pay a fine. Most of us live in one of the 48 states that require auto insurance. The two that don’t, by the way, haven’t joined in the suit filed in Florida to have the law declared unconstitutional. I’d like someone to explain to me why I can be obliged to purchase auto insurance but not obliged to purchase health insurance. I guess we value our cars more than our health.
Filed under: Politics
You may have heard of the effort by the Republicans to let the public decide what is wasteful research spending and what is worthwhile. This would be a big mistake. If you are not familiar with the development of the LASER, which enables CDs, bar code readers, checkout systems, super accurate surveying, laser eye surgery, and too many other technologies now taken for granted, you should read the excellent article in Science News published on the 50th anniversary of the demonstration of lasing. Even the scientists who developed the first lasers were not thinking of practical uses. They were just interested in testing one of Einstein’s ideas. Had the public been asked whether to fund research into Einstein’s theories I’m sure we wouldn’t have the laser today.
I suggest you look for “wasteful” grants related to weapons development, combat, and other areas of “defense”, especially those granted to institutions in Virginia, and vote for them.
Filed under: Politics
“I do not accept second place for the United States of America.” With these words President Obama pretty much summed up his message tonight. Whether it was “clean energy”, education or health care Mr. Obama made it clear that we need to work harder to achieve the stature that we would like to think we have in the world.
I must say I’m not too happy about his emphasis on nuclear, clean coal and off-shore drilling. I would have liked him to include an increased emphasis on solar, wind and hydro-power.
I think he summed up what the madashell party was hoping to hear when he said, “We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions.”
Finally, we would all do well to take his advice to stop taking cheap shots and pointing fingers and instead work together.
I just saw an ad on the Weather Channel, I think it was sponsored by Accura. They identified G Gordon Liddy as a “Radio Talk Show Host.” How nice. Have we all forgotten his role in the White House Plumbers that resulted in his spending four years in prison?
The Plumbers, if you’re too young (or too old!) to remember, were a extra-legal group organized by Nixon’s white house to perform illegal acts of sabotage, etc. against Nixon’s opponents. The whole operation eventually led to Watergate and Nixon’s resignation. Liddy was a key player and went to jail for his part. How many other crimes did Mr Liddy and his crew commit that were never discovered? We’ll never know. Now we “respect” him as a “Radio Talk Show Host.” turns my stomach.
