Category Archives: Politics

I will leave that comment by JustaDog on my July 25 post, since it is a real comment by a person who read my blog.
What I can’t get over is how many Christians I meet who are willing to justify our illegal and inhuman treatment of prisoners by citing their atrocities. Of course I care about “executions performed by terrorists.” I care about the children who die in war, theirs and ours, and about the families torn apart, some of them forever. I do not believe insurgents are righteous or that any torture is acceptable. And I do not understand how when we torture prisoners it “resembles fraternity hazing.”
I will point out that when Sadam or insurgents commit atrocities they do not do so with my tax money while wearing the uniform and standing under the flag that I grew up saluting.

So there on the Daily Show was Rick Santorum with his new book, It Takes a Family talking about virtues. It is a little-known fact that the word “virtues” has specific meaning beyond “what Rick Santorum thinks we all would naturally have if we all had been raised by a mother and a father married and living together.” You can go to deadlysins.com (of course) and get a real rundown of what virtues are. It is not a simple matter, which probably puts it a bit beyond Rick Santorum.
The virtues, like the deadly sins, are traditionally seven. There are four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, courage, and justice; and three theological virtues: love, hope, and faith.
Another formulation of the virtues is the “contrary virtues,” so called because each of them protects us agains falling into one of the seven deadly sins, i.e., humility against pride, kindness against envy, abstinence against gluttony, chastity against lust, patience against anger, liberality against greed, and diligence against sloth.
Medieval Christian catechisms also included a list of seven good works: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, minister to prisoners, and bury the dead.
Looking at this list, it is not exactly clear to me how gay marriage is ruining the culture and keeping our children from learning the virtues. Maybe there is a Neo-Con formulation of the virtues where corporate greed is a good thing, government officials are above the law, and you can torture prisoners if you think they might be terrorists.

From Editor & Publisher, a journal covering newspapers:
Government Halts Release of More Photos and Videos of Abu Ghraib on July 25, 2005:

At the eleventh hour, lawyers for the Pentagon refused to cooperate with a federal judge’s order to release dozens of unseen photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Instead, the lawyers said they would file a brief explaining why they would not turn over the photos as ordered in a Freedom of Information lawsuit brought by the ACLU.
Since the papers were sealed, Sean Lane, the government’s lawyer, said he could not discuss the contents. He did explain “that releasing pictures would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment.”
So the Pentagon, which has been okay so far with the administration’s claim that the Geneva Convention did not apply, is now using the Geneva Convention to counter a lawsuit under Freedom of Information by the ACLU.
I never bet the farm or my lunch money, but I’ll bet (one of those free bets where only my credibility will be at risk) that some of those photos, or all of them together, would further strain the administration’s stance that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was the work of “a few bad apples.”

Democracy Now posted an article (London Subway and Bus Explosions Kill 37, Injure 700, dated Thursday, July 7th, 2005) including interviews with some of the passengers from the London trains that were bombed. One passenger, Angelo Power, said:

ANGELO POWER: The others I saw, physical injuries, some had marks to the face. The carriage windows had punctured their skin. Others were physically lying on the floor, because they basically suffered smoke inhalation. Others in the main carriage, as I understand, are severely injured, if not dead. So, but at the end of the day, I honestly thought I was going to die. I’m just grateful to be alive.
REPORTER: It is looking increasingly as though this was a concerted terror attack. What do you think about the people behind this, having lived through this nightmare yourself today?
ANGELO POWER: Well, as a barrister, all I can say is, you know, I wait for the evidence before I can make any or jump to any conclusions as to who it may be. But all I can say is, you know, whoever’s responsible for it, I take pity on them.
REPORTER: Pity?
ANGELO POWER: Yeah, pity, because whoever has perpetrated such a wicked act, you know, needs pity, right?

Thank you, Mr. Power, for an expression of what the political rhetoric of the “War on Terror” is missing. In pity for the person who did a “wicked act,” there is the thread we have lost, the sense of our common humanity.
We will never have enough money or enough people to guard everything all the time, so we can never create a society in which 1) people are free to make choices about their own lives and 2) such acts as the London bombing are impossible.
And we can’t get rid of dissidents by shooting them.
If we lined all the terrorists up and shot them this afternoon, tomorrow their friends, families, and students — those who knew them and shared their world view — would all be terrorists.
If we shot everyone who was not a Christian today, the Christians would have a war among themselves tomorrow.
If we shot everyone who was not a Muslim, — oh, wait. Muslims are already fighting themselves. And most of the world is helping one side or the other or both.
If we can dredge up some sense of our common humanity that doesn’t require everyone to be exactly like us, maybe there is a hope of creating a world in which bombs don’t explode on trains because nobody feels it is acceptable to blow up trains full of people.
We could start by trying to get hold of what Angelo Power knows — people who commit such acts disserve pity. They are people driven by the political and religious delusions of a war that will not end until all of the infidels are buried. Could we work on our delusions a little here and quit exchanging bombs for a few days?

Grapes38

Originally uploaded by Sarah Williams.

Watching the grapevine this year is more interesting than politics. Things keep moving along there, and it is beginning to look like there will be a return on investment.

Politics is getting really frustrating. It seems that by now voters would have hit upon the idea that if we want better intelligence, then we ought to elect some. Who knows, with some better intelligence in the right place, we might be able to get government off their theocratic high horse and back to the business of taking care of people and the environment — medical care, building roads, creating jobs, worker safety, disaster relief — things like that. Maybe we could even find a way out of the Iraq mess this administration has made, where we are involved in a civil war abroad where nobody is on our side, our people and theirs are dying every day, and we can’t even explain what we are doing.

On the Social Security thing, if you are young enough, bright enough, and have enough income, start yourself a stock market account that you can manage yourself. That way you won’t be giving your money to the Neo Cons to give to their cronies. The money we pay in taxes and in Social Security contributions should do something for the common welfare of people. That is the proper function of government —
domestic tranquility and the common good of people.
Now I have to go and see if there are any bugs eating the grapevine…

If you are following the developing story about the charitable vs. the tax advantage aims of Supporting Organizations, Philip Cubeta at Gift Hub has a good anecdotal definition of the issue.
The government issue paper (.pdf untitled document) is at http://www.cof.org/files/Documents/ Government/ 2005%20Issue%20Papers/05_FOTH_ Supporting_Org_-_ FINAL.pdf. (That’s the kind of URL that makes you appreciate links.)
And if you have 10 million dollars (minimum) you can find assistance in setting up an SO at National Philanthropic Trust.

So did that pizza delivery person in Florida who was shot and still went on delivering the rest of his pizzas before he went to the hospital have medical insurance? Maybe he needed the money from the next few pizza deliveries to pay the hospital.

Dick Cheney said during the campaign that more people are keeping more of their money due to the Bush tax cuts. Have you noticed that a lot of state and local taxes are going up and medical insurance costs and cost shares are going up to compensate for lost federal funding? You may have to check your local newspaper (if you still have one that is not a subsidiary of THE NEWS INC), or talk to your neighbors to get a feel for this as a trend. When it happens to you, you may think it is local and not a trend, because THE NEWS INC skims over or just neglects to report it nationally.
As I noticed back in August 2004 when Cheny made his statement, the people keeping more of their money must still be the ones on the far right end of David Chandler’s L Curve, because it is not happening around me. Below the picture of the L Curve are a few short paragraphs of text, under the title “What are the implications of this picture?” While we are watching the news, we need to remember this one:

The mainstream media has been bought up by people in the “vertical spike.” The primary channels for information and expressed opinion are controlled and filtered by a small, powerful group on the vertical spike whose interests are not representative of the majority of Americans. Even when there is no direct political message the programming is tailored to the perspectives and sensitivities of large corporations. The business of media is to sell advertising. Programming is simply the hook to hold an audience until the next commercial. Serious examination of ideas of any kind is seen as counterproductive because it may alienate or bore part of the potential audience. The result is nonstop sensationalistic binges of O.J., Princess Di, Monica, and Elian. The growing media monopoly dilutes and distorts the national dialog, and thereby destroys the basis for democracy. We must find ways to rebuild community and learn to talk to each other directly.

With the cover of Time hitting the real news — the weight loss potential of Americans who restrict their diets in various ways not imposed by war or poverty — it is easy to forget the violence going on in Iraq.
We had to be reminded of it continually to keep us afraid so we would vote to continue George W. Bush in office in November. Now we need to be directed to other urgent and more local matters so we do not regret our decision and question the continuing and escalating war in Iraq. Apparently the appointment of Bully Bolton to the U.N. is not enough motivation to pump up the fear factor on his behalf, so the distraction policy is still working.
After all, there are real concerns to distract us. These include things like Social Security reform and the price of oil. And have you heard any figures lately on creation of jobs other than jobs at Wal-Mart? On the really local front, has your job gone offshore or been outsourced? Have you been given extra work with no extra pay? Has your job been down-graded to a lower income or grade of benefits? Have you delayed your retirement because you see that you can’t afford your medical insurance if you don’t keep working? Or have you taken an extra job to make ends meet? Do you see the economic slow-down around you that I see around me?
Meanwhile, back at the war, in Suicide Attacks Rising Rapidly, a story today by Carol J. Williams, Staff Writer at the L.A. Times, we read: “Suicide bombings have surged to become the Iraqi insurgency’s weapon of choice, with a staggering 90 attacks accounting for most of last month’s 750 deaths at the militants’ hands.” I scanned back over that to make sure that I read “last month’s 750 deaths,” and sure enough, there it was. The story also points out “Increasingly, the bombers are Iraqis instead of foreign infiltrators. Civilians and police, not GIs, are the prime targets.” I read on to discover that American installations and activities in Iraq are better protected now, so it is ineffective to attack us. Instead, attacks are directed at the government and police we are supporting. The Iraq war is a civil war in which we supply one side and refuse to consider who supports the other side. How is this helping us or the Iraqi people?
The Republican administration and its affiliates are grabbing all the economic and political loot they can get in the time they have left, and the mop-up of the mess they leave, here and abroad, is going to be the business of a whole generation of Americans.

Robbing from the poor to give to the rich is bad economic policy, like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Most of us heard the story as a child, but someone should tell Bush II that you have to keep the goose alive and feed it well, or there will be no more eggs:
In Wages Lagging Behind Prices LA Times Staff Writer Nicholas Riccardi explains:

The effective 0.2-percentage-point erosion in workers’ living standards occurred while the economy expanded at a healthy 4%, better than the 3% historical average.

Meanwhile, corporate profits hit record highs as companies got more productivity out of workers while keeping pay increases down.

Some see climbing profits and stagnant wages as not only unfair but also ultimately unsustainable. “Those that are baking the larger pie ought to see their slices expanding,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington.

Riccardi blames the slack job market, which does not encourage employers to raise wages, and notes that “Although the unemployment rate has dropped to a relatively low 5.2%, that figure doesn’t count the hundreds of thousands of jobless people who’ve given up their searches and dropped out of the labor market at a greater rate than anytime since 1988.” Also to blame is the cost of health care:

“Healthcare has eroded the wage base,” said Janemarie Mulvey, chief economist with the Employment Policy Foundation, a business-funded think tank in Washington.

“In the long run, we can’t continue like this. If healthcare keeps crowding out wages forever, something’s got to give.”

The squeeze is especially intense on the 47% of the workforce whose employers don’t directly provide their health insurance. For lower-income workers, who are more likely to be uninsured, the falling value of their wages is even more serious because they’re more likely to live paycheck to paycheck. And rising food and energy prices take a proportionately higher toll on the poor than on the rich.