Too Civilized

It seems we have become too ‘civilized’ to fight wars with guns. In fact, guns are now classified as being pretty much in the same category as Chinese toxic toys. So, what do we do now? How do we fight?

We now use food, currencies, unemployment, propaganda and promises as weapons. And even so, there must be blood. We haven’t yet given up entirely on the puritanical idea of requiring the blood of a sacrificial lamb - a price paid - to give substance to any effort. Israel.

America is losing. America will survive, but in greatly diminished state. Our anachronistic weapons will no longer save us. Our money is worthless. We are dispirited. We are forever reacting. We have no plan. Go with the flow; jump aboard. Better late than never. The flow is toward chaos. Hang on! We are going down.

It is now our official policy, to draw back; to hide in the reeds, watching as our house of cards collapses. We have no strategy, no will - only ideology; ideology which says that whatever anybody else does is good. We have been wrong all along. Bush. The terrorists are right. They, at least, are fighting for a cause. We have no cause. We have no religion. The almighty dollar crashes and burns like the twin towers in Lower Manhattan.

We hate ourselves. We promote the chief haters to important positions. We teach our kids to hate themselves - their country, their parents, their heritage.

Change. It’s coming. It’s been coming for a long time. We hope for the best: collective salvation; deus ex machina in the form of Islam, perhaps?

It no longer matters how we got here. The dominos are falling. I’m currently reading a delightful book, a novel by R. K. Narayan, “A Tiger for Malgudi”. The headmaster of the school is hiding in the rafters, watching the the sage lead the beast to safety. The town’s folk, skeptical at first, marvel at the ease with which their humble ‘savior’ handles the animal which turns out to be smarter than all the bureaucratic heads, paralyzed by fear, put together.

So we fight; for fight we must. To get what we want; or to keep what we believe to be ours. We use all our modern tools to our best advantage, even while we now openly question which side our general is on.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Weapons

Climate is not about weather. Health care is not about wellness. Law is not about justice. Governance is not about order. Drilling is not about energy. Science is not about knowledge. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not about peace. What’s it all about?

It’s all about control. Food as a weapon; oil/gas as a weapon; rare earth as a weapon; law as a weapon; the environment as a weapon; terrorism as a weapon; health as a weapon; history as a weapon.

Actually, weapons were kinder. We could sometimes see the eyes of the person pulling the trigger; or we could see a vapor trail - something warm. Words just leave cold echoes in empty rooms. Arguments and accusations; until we can no longer be sure who said what; or even if it’s been said at all; or if we ourselves might have said it. (Talking to oneself is still considered a sign of madness.)

Madness, though, appears to be the goal. We’re made to question where we stand; find common ground. Is there even anything the mere size of a bullet to stand on?

Who thinks they’ll be able to unravel this maze we’ve created? Whose fingers would untangle this knot before it strangles us in hopeless ecstasy? Whose shoulders are strong enough to shift us back to basic - to where a spade is a spade once again?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

People Starving in Africa

It seems the press is forever caught flat-footed. During most of the Bush administration, major media types practically wore out the once legitimate word, 'unexpected'. Every positive development (and there were many) re the economy was 'unexpected' - the subtext, of course, being always the same: How can things be going so well with an absolute moron in the White House?

Now with Obama safely ensconced and wielding ultimate power, the press still hasn't been cleared to jettison the word 'unexpected'. Every measurable weekly, monthly, quarterly tally since Obama took office is cratering, obvious proof of a systemic failure in government policy. It is consistently reported as 'unexpected' – subtext, again, being: How can economic data be so dismal with our boy genius in the White House?

It’s an interesting tactic by the White House to blame everything on people who would want the POTUS to look bad. This sets up all kinds of possibilities for Obama: War against talk radio; internet; bloggers; returning veterans of foreign (lost) wars, legal immigrants; tea party revelers; emigrants; people with money, people with jobs, people with families; meat eaters; accomplished people; people with talent; private sector people; anybody even a smidgeon to the right of Karl Marx; non-union people; people who exhale more than their allotted share of CO2; etc.

There is of course the lingering possibility – gaining in credibility every time Congress meets with the president’s blessing – that what we view as failure, he views as success. After the back of the Great Satan is broken, who will take credit; who’ll get the blame? It’ll be interesting to see how the greatest train wreck in human history will be evaluated after everything is said and done.

This puts me in mind of the very first lie I was subjected to as a child. “Clean your plate,” I was told. “There are people starving in Africa.”. It was a veiled threat by which I was made to feel somehow guilty. Today I know that the lack of food in Africa or anywhere was not because I might have eaten more (or less) than my share, but because food in the affected areas was used as a weapon by ruthless dictators who wanted to keep their populations in check.