“Change We Can Believe In: A Patient Nation Still Waits”

Well, folks, here we go again facing another national crisis.

Now, mind you, I don’t shirk my responsibility for attempting to face reality and dealing with it honestly. But, I see little inclination on the part of our political establishment for engaging in like behavior, nor do I see much interest on the part of the electorate for stepping back from all that numbs their minds in favor of dealing with reality. God forbid they should assume a modicum of responsibility for knowing the sad state of affairs in this country, and being the least bit inclined to do something about it.

The new mantra emanating from our nation’s capitol is the growing deficit and what measures can be taken to re-focus on fiscal responsibility. Everyone in the hallowed halls of government is trying to get on the bandwagon as the next election cycle looms on the horizon. Our illustrious President has given his usual round of great speeches, and has managed to pass legislation that is so compromised it is, at best, a cruel joke at the expense of the American people. The klieg lights on the “issue of the day, “are quickly turned off so he can formulate and peddle yet another set of empty promises. He consistently goes back to the White House and sequesters himself with the corporate thieves who continue to plunder the country. After all, that is where the real money and the real players are who have set us on the path of complete economic ruin: Rubin, Summers, Geithner, Bernanke, Goldman Sachs, Health Care United and the cadre of loyal sycophants who labor in their service.

I am always amused at how transparent our “Raptor in Chief” really is. Bi-partisanship is the alpha and the omega of all that is good and holy in accomplishing the work of Washington. It has become an endless smoke screen for pursuing the agenda of the oligarchs and plutocrats, hell-bent on fleecing all that remains in the pockets of working Americans. Not until their emaciated bodies are reduced to begging for a crumb to sustain life, their eyes have sunk into the skull of what remains of their human form and the land beneath their feet has been laid waste, will those who have sold us down the river hang out the banner, for the second time, “Mission Accomplished.”

His latest ruse is to appoint Alan Simpson as head of a commission to study ways of reigning in the burgeoning national debt. His first targets are rumored to be the entitlement programs that provide a modicum of security against varying degrees of deprivation for a good many of our elderly population, namely Social Security and Medicare. A better whore could not have been found for the job than Alan Simpson. He is, of course, a Republican. His reputation among the elite of Washington is legion. I dare say he could easily qualify as the slimiest slug that ever slid down the hallways of the Senate. But, what the hell, he is one of the good old boys and a member emeritus of the most successful club of consummate thieves in the world. Welcome back, Alan. You have come a long way since your shameless antics in the dining room at the Henning Hotel in Casper. But, I digress. That is ancient history.

What most impresses me in Obama’s first push for fiscal responsibility is his exclusion of defense as a target for economic scrutiny and fiscal restraint. That is big “No, No” number one. The Wall Street Robber Barons remain in tact. Real financial reform is little more than a token gesture. Any genuine repayment of TARP and bailout money will, in all probability, come from money the big banks made by re-investing interest-free government loans from Ben Bernanke’s secret slush fund at the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, thanks to Obama and his happy band of former Clintonites, he will continue to run interference for them lest there be any serious attempt to account and atone for all they have done (and continue to do) to the taxpayers of the country.

Of course, thanks to his backroom deals, in addition to Wall Street, Obama has ensured the continued financial viability of health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. They are destined to reap even more billions through the so-called “Healthcare Reform Bill.” That was the underlying objective of all the hoopla about what a great deal this was supposed to be for all Americans. Another oxymoron peddled by the Washington elite.

If the powers that be really want to save big bucks and maintain the viability of the average American, there are better ways to accomplish those objectives.

Defense spending is the most obvious and should be our first priority on the road to recovery from the fiscal malady that grips the country.

1. The last legitimate war fought by the United States was World War II. The entire world was in peril and we, in the spirit of our finest traditions, rose to the occasion. We not only vanquished the evil plague that enveloped Europe and Asia, we also helped to rebuild the economies of our former enemies.

2. The Korean Conflict was fought to stem the rising tide of communist aggression on to the Korean Peninsula. But that was not deemed to be a real war but, rather, a “police action.”

3. Every subsequent war undertaken by the United States has been based on deceptions of one sort or another, perpetrated by the less than noble intentions and megalomania emanating from the White House, and blindly supported by a corrupt and subservient Congress. Countless millions of lives have been needlessly sacrificed on the altars of political ambition and corporate greed. Trillions of dollars have gone into a sink hole that could have, otherwise, been used to improve the lot of the American people, and to maintain some semblance of national fiscal responsibility.

4. The first “boogey man” to scare the hell out of the populace was the menace of international communism. That was good for years and years of fear mongering that shunted trillions of dollars through the pockets of the military establishment and into the corporate coffers of defense contractors. I cannot believe, given the level of sophistication in our intelligence apparatus, that we could not have known how fragile that house of cards really was, and which could have saved this country massive amounts of money. That was money that could have circulated through the real economy, rather than vanishing into the labyrinths of meaningless folly and the hollow dreams of empire. But we, the citizenry, dutifully bought into the exaggerated threat to our security and approved massive amounts of our national wealth for what? Bull shit wrapped in contrived patriotism?

5. Through all this we poured massive amounts of money into progressively more sophisticated weaponry, aircraft, ships, missiles and the like. Most of that investment was never needed, but it provided the brass an endless supply of new toys, and defense contractors with more money for their swollen piggy banks. Of all that hardware, probably the only cost-effective use of funds was those for nuclear submarines patrolling the oceans of the world, and the B-52 bombers. I don’t see much of a return on our investment in things such as the Osprey airplanes, stealth bombers and fighters, and a whole host of other hi-tech weaponry. We seem to have a penchant for building more and more that has less and less to do with common sense and reality. But, I suppose we have to keep building aircraft carriers so there is something sufficiently grand as to bear the names of prominent and less-than-noble figures that have crossed the stage of the United States political establishment. Except for those few examples of real success, I seriously doubt most were really needed and, ultimately, proved to be cost-effective deterrents. It would be interesting to see a detailed accounting of what the ultimate fate was of all that hardware, and the names of those who profited from what proved to be nothing more than red herrings in the collage of all that was reputed to be absolutely essential to our national defense. I would, also, like to see who bore the brunt of all the cost over-runs and casualties that occurred because of poor design and reliability. Could it, would it, have been the unwitting taxpayers? Not a chance!

6. That the Iraq War was patently illegal is an established and accepted fact. But, that certainly did not retard the White House and the Defense Department from treating it as the real deal, and pouring massive amounts of money into invading a country that never threatened us. But it certainly gave us numerous opportunities to test all sorts of new weaponry, and to cull out the numbers of uneducated and underprivileged slobs who might otherwise end up as civilian workers at home, demanding a living wage, and claiming their right to a share in the American Dream. Afghanistan is only an extension of that madness, but it is serving the same ends for the same people who control and profit from the insatiable appetite of our war machine.

7. The concept of “war on terror,” has caught on at home. The populace extols the loss of human life as somehow noble because, “it is keeping us safe and protects our freedoms.” Safe from what? Protects our freedoms from whom? A radical religion and a deeply ingrained hatred of us because of our foreign policy in the Middle East? What sacrifices are all those naïve champions of freedom making for those who lay down their lives on their behalf in far off places of dubious danger to the United States? This is nothing more than another form of fear mongering, created to serve corporate interests and political ambitions. There may be a modicum of reality to the threat, but the massive response does not warrant the commitment of overwhelming amounts of our national talent and treasure to a cause, the magnitude of which is yet to be proven.

8. I don’t believe one has to be a rocket scientist in order to figure out that these perceived threats are, essentially, little more than guerilla warfare. If we haven’t apprehended Osama bin Laden by now, I doubt we ever will. He and his happy band of religious fanatics are beyond the reach of conventional warfare and the tens of thousands of warriors attempting to destroy them. But it is a great way of squandering massive amounts of money the nation can ill afford in order to feed all the parasites who subsist on the myth of an illusive fear that, in all probability, may never be proven. I am more inclined to think that our first and most sophisticated line of defense should be at the shores of this country, not some far off primitive land whose people don’t even know why in the hell we are there in the first place.

So, what might be done to restore some semblance of national sanity and financial integrity? This is not the time to enable those to whom we have entrusted our future to engage in a game of reverse Robin Hood - taking from the poor and giving to the rich. If the powers that be can keep us focused on the pocket change, what they do with the big bucks will go virtually unnoticed.

1. Reduce the vast numbers of military bases scattered across the world. There is no rational basis for all of those outposts we maintain, given the sophistication of weapons that can incinerate the entire world in a matter of hours. They are nothing but a sink-hole used to flagrantly waste our economic resources. I say restore the real estate to its rightful owners and come home.

2. Stop buying into the fabled notion that we are the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world. Given our current economic situation, I would have to say those words ring a bit hollow these days. That credo is so shop worn that I think we need to have Madison Avenue coin a new one. When we have no money and an atrophied economy, we are essentially broke.

3. Accept the fact that we, as a nation, face an enemy engaged in guerilla warfare, and deal with it appropriately and in like fashion. Serve notice on the world that any country harboring or providing safe haven to terrorists who launch an attack against the United States from their soil, will suffer the wrath of a retaliatory attack. We have the weapons and military hardware to do the job without invading and occupying any sovereign nation.

4. Tighten up the systems for awarding and evaluating the performance of defense contractors. Hold every single one of them to the letter of the contracts they have entered into with the people of the United States. No more automatic acceptance of cost over-runs, re-negotiation and open-ended agreements. Establish a separate agency that has an arms length relationship with the defense industry solely for the purpose of reviewing and evaluating all government contracts before they are consummated.

5. For starters, and under the auspices of an independent commission beholden to the American people that will withstand the scrutiny of independent auditors.

* Stop backroom deals being made by Senator Dodd and Senator Shelby in order to
water down financial reform legislation so they can pay off the benefactors that
seek to keep them in power.
* Break up all the banks deemed “too big to fail.
* Restore the Glass-Steagall Reform Act
* Stop predatory lending
* Enact strict consumer protection laws against banks, financial institutions and
credit card companies.
* Insist on total transparency by the Federal Reserve. There can be no secrecy
when it comes to what is done with the people’s money.
* Separate the trading of derivative swaps from banks, and impose a
real tax on all investment and speculative financial transactions.

6. Impose a corporate tax rate that is in keeping with prevailing standards throughout the industrialized world. Stop corporate welfare and redirect those funds to the welfare of the country.

7. Follow the lead by many of our world contemporaries and impose a value-added tax on all cheap foreign imports coming into the United States. Level the playing field, restore our industrial base, and provide real opportunities for working Americans.

8. Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the rich and substantially increase the tax rates for that same population.

9. Stop subsidies to oil companies and other forms of national largesse for business interests. If they can’t effectively compete in the marketplace, they have no business playing in the sandbox.

10. Stop the delusion that the recently hailed Health Care Reform Bill is the greatest thing for Americans since sliced bread. It is a sham and most of us know it. Amend it to provide for a single-payer system and abolish the sweetheart deals for industries that have nothing but a parasitic relationship to those they are sworn to serve. They have stolen enough. Go for real reforms that genuinely reduce the cost and improve the quality of healthcare for everyone. The complexity of what we now have only serves to confuse the average person. It merely hides the payback to those who have created yet another form of thievery from those who can least afford it. Return the savings to the national treasury.

11. Adopt a legislative agenda that is as favorable to the working people of the country as it is to corporations and the financial houses that brought us to the brink of financial and social annihilation.

12. Publish, prior to every national election, the names of each political personality running for election or re-election, showing the candidate’s top 50 campaign contributors, the amount given by each, and their relationship to specific special interests. Let that be published on the Internet and cable television, as a public service, once a week for at least 4 months prior to the election.

13. Except in cases where issues of national security are clearly a valid concern, prohibit secret and private meetings with those interests seeking favor from the political establishment, with appropriate penalties for failure to comply.

14. Immediately suspend all the perquisites that elected officials have legislated for themselves and grant them no more than they would command in the marketplace. We deserve an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, with benefits that are no more or no less than what is reasonable. Any semblance of an imperial government, in any house and at any level should be summarily nullified. It is contrary to every premise upon which this great nation was built.

15. And, lastly, put as much pressure as can be brought to bear on the White House to rout out the rogues that do deals behind our backs on behalf of those who have no concern for the national interest. Some of the more visible are Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Rubin and others of like mind and bent. We have had enough of the dirty, self-serving politics sold to us under the banner of “Change We Can Believe In.” Hogwash. Obama is accountable to the people who put him in office. Contrary to his demeanor, he is not imbued with the divine right of kings.

Don’t you think the time has come to turn a deaf ear to the din of demagoguery with which we are bombarded from the liberal elite, the conservative right and a compliant news media that peddles their invective in order to pit us, one against the other? Let’s stop the rhetoric and insist on definitive, verifiable and enforceable action for the benefit of all the people. Drag from the sewers all the scum whose sole aim in life is to subvert the will of the people, lay waste to all that is good and decent about us, and which rightfully belongs to us all. As long as we continue to hurl epithets and perceive each other as adversaries, we take our eye off the ball and willingly succumb to the merchants of evil whose only goal is to seek the destruction of the American Dream.

None of this can ever come to pass without a firm moral compass to guide us. We must subscribe to a system of beliefs and adopt a code of conduct that speaks to the finer aspects of our human nature. Those are what must guide us in the conduct of our daily lives if we are to reclaim the dignity, decency and honor that made us a respected and revered nation on the world stage. All that keeps us focused must, of necessity, be the standards we insist on from every one of those who seek to govern and serve us. Nothing less will do. At the end of the day, it is we who are granting them a cherished privilege, not the other way around.

Cowboy Bob
May 18, 2010

"You Can't Be a Bystander and Change the World"

I, like so many others, watch the same television network news and news programs. I hear how the economy is starting to turn around. There are reports of a drop in the number of claims for unemployment benefits, and an increase in the number of new orders for goods and services, and a slight increase in the number of new employees. I, too, want to believe that things are getting better. But is an increase in the DOW and the NASDAQ an indication that the lot of the average American is improving? Are these the people with the discretionary income who are the “investors?” I don’t think so. I am more inclined to believe those playing the stock markets are those who have lost little or nothing compared to mainstream America. So, don’t treat us like a bunch of mushrooms, keeping us in the dark and feeding us a steady diet of bull shit. Give people credit for being smarter than that, and stop patronizing them. They have more on the ball than the so-called educated and accomplished are prone to acknowledge. They, also, have a much better grasp of right vs. wrong.

We are, also, treated with television coverage of contrived demonstrations by the Tea Party, who I regard as a bunch of ignorant rabble rousers operating on the lunatic fringe. But that element is balanced by the wide-eyed do-gooders who know their cause is just, which gives them the license to flaunt the law and impugn the motives of those who dare to disagree with them. None of this charade contributes to what ails this country. All it does is reflect to the world a bias that is not very well grounded in fact, or a sense of concern for the real issues affecting the majority of all the good and decent people hurting from what has been done to them, and which will likely only get worse.

I live in a small hamlet on the fringe of a major metropolitan area, populated by good souls that, in many respects. mirror the images of people long forgotten and who did manifest the finer aspects of our human nature. I see a general malaise and bewilderment at what has come down on their heads, and a haunting worry that it is only going to get worse. There is the young man who has one of two small grocery stores in town. He is not in the league with big supermarkets some 10 to 15 miles distant, so his customers are those who buy the bread and butter items that will carry the purchaser over to his/her next trip into town for some serious grocery shopping. He worries about what the “sin tax” is going to do to his sales of candy, beer and cigarettes. He is concerned about the impact on his business, plagued by the increased cost of health insurance for him and a handful of employees. Will he be able to reconcile all of these factors into a profit sufficient to keep him and his family going?

There is the guy who owns and operates a small auto repair service and towing business. He is a retired career Navy man who served his country with distinction. He is active in civic affairs and is proud of his service through the local chapter of the American Legion. His daughter, who recently completed her tour of duty as a Navy enlisted woman, is now trying to get through college. But, the reports we all heard on the evening news of financial assistance have not quite materialized because of bureaucratic encumbrances never anticipated. She is not sure she can pursue her dream and still make ends meet. Her Dad wonders what happened to a yet unfulfilled promise from a country that benefited from his years of dedication to the service of his country. People have deferred routine maintenance and service on their cars in an effort to stretch a dollar just that much further. Money is tight.

The little flower shop and copy center is only a faded memory locked behind a closed door that once held hope and promise for a lady who believed in the American dream. The end came much too soon with nowhere to go.

Such are the vicissitudes of but a few people sharing a common bond in this small community. But they reflect a growing concern as to where all this is taking us. They no longer believe in the promise of upward mobility on the ladder of progress. They no longer believe that the government really gives a tinker’s damn about them and their plight in life. They are suspect of the real motives of the White House, the Congress, the Supreme Court and all those “public servants” who have laid claim to space in those houses under the banner of “serving the people.” More and more, they see them as shills for big money, corporations, defense contractors, corporate news media, etc., in their quest to slowly starve the host they feed on. They raise poignant and valid questions for which there seem to be no answers.

I genuinely believe the roots of all that has befallen us rest in an erosion of the moral values upon which the very fabric of our national character once rested. We seem to have lost sight of the fact that we are both temporal and spiritual beings. Therein lies the classic struggle of man from birth to death. The temporal embodies our kinship with other living creatures, predicated on the need to satisfy our physical needs in order for the species to survive. The spiritual ties us to our Creator and sets the boundaries and limits on the excesses of the temporal. But we can readily identify with all that relates to our temporal existence. The spiritual, or ethereal, is not visible to our mortal perception of things. Rather, at best our spiritual existence can only be conceptualized by a belief or a simple act of faith. It is a tough contest between those two aspects of our human nature.

I think religions and religious institutions have let us down in a great many ways. There are the scandals that are rocking the very foundations of the Catholic Church. But, the incidence of pedophilia and homosexuality seem to be as rampant or worse in other religions. They just aren’t garnering the same scrutiny by the press and tend to be relegated to the shadows. All of them need to reflect on their rightful place as the moral compass for a civilized society. They need to become relevant to life in this complex world of today. Outmoded notions of piety and sacrifice don’t cut it these days. Dogmatic pronouncements on how to ensure a path to hell and admonitions to repent simply don’t play well in Peoria. We need a strong moral compass we can support and believe in, and religious institutions that have that as their raison d’etre. That is why they exist; not to fill sports arenas, preaching that God wants all of us to be rich, and raking in millions of dollars so the anointed head of the firm can live in opulent splendor. Celibacy does not work, never has worked and has only reaped centuries of a hypocrisy that has fostered aberrant behavior. Authenticity demands that celibacy should be out and the conjugal bed very much in. It would probably bring us all together in a bond between clergy and parishioners that would give new vitality and relevance to institutions that have, for far too long, been lacking in the conduct of our daily lives.

However, we must assume complete responsibility for allowing ourselves to be seduced by materialistic and hedonistic pleasures that are only relevant to our physical being. We can touch them, feel them, smell them, taste them, ad nauseam. That has led us to buy, buy, buy and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Consequently, we came to live in more house that we could comfortably occupy, with marble and granite counter tops, sumptuous wood finishes, etc., all indicative of a “faux” mansion that would be the envy of those we were seeking to impress. There was a Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, you name it, in the garage only because of the easy credit and long-term contracts that made it all possible.

Athletic clubs and gyms were bursting at the seams while we worked up our daily sweat that would lead to the perfect body and sexual pleasures never imagined in days gone by. All for the asking, easy money and a payment plan to suit all occasions. Women ceased to wear clothes. Rather, they resorted to what appears to be the upper half of a slip or a nightgown for a top, skin-tight designer blue jeans, capped with a generous display of cleavage. Modes of address totally inappropriate for teenage girls and matronly women. The end result is the appearance of refugees of all ages from a house of ill repute or a sleazy, pole-dancing strip joint. Now, I grant you, under the right circumstances and in privacy, few men would be averse to having a good look, but not in public or polite company. After a while, the old notion that once you have seen one set you have seen them all sets in. I wonder what all those stylish women would do if every man they passed openly complimented them on a splendid set of “jugs?” There would be righteous indignation and the suits for sexual harassment would clog the court systems. I wonder how women hooked into that perverted concept of being “in” would react to that bare-chested man with washboard abs if fashion dictated that his hairy scrotum discreetly hang through a hole sewn into the crotch of his pants. I rest my case.

But, those who convinced us that materialism and hedonism were the only roads to the good life are the same ones that impoverished us by money we couldn‘t afford, credit we couldn’t pay back and, eventually, the loss of the economic system that made all these things possible. What happened to all that we were promised would come to us through our newfound decadence? The unbridled greed of those who peddled that trash and led us down the primrose path now take away our jobs, our homes, and the social safety nets we once took for granted. It is gone and those we assumed would be looking out for our interests are, instead, in the hip pockets of the predators who have reduced us to an impoverished existence fraught with bewilderment and dismay. They are all getting richer and their tastes are getting more lavish, while what was once our Shangri La is now laid waste with nothing to take its place but hopelessness and utter defeat.

If we are to survive and rebound as the people we once were, and restore the character passed on from a rich heritage that made us great, I think it is absolutely imperative that we reassess the merits of a sound base of moral and ethical principles to guide us through this one and only earthy journey we are all destined to take. It is time to give new meaning to dignity and honor in the way we live our lives and treat each other. We must remember that it was not what and how much we consumed that made us the envy of the world, but what and how much we gave back to the world and those less fortunate than we. We need to value less what we have and more what we are. We need to be less the takers and more the givers. We must seek to judge less and tolerate more. We need to seek a new understanding of what love is, in all its forms and manifestations. Lust is fleeting and saps the vitality of our humanity. Love nourishes that same humanity, both physical and spiritual, and it is the bond that holds us all together in a common journey to make our world and ourselves better in every respect.

Vast wealth and power can never get enough. They will suck the very life-blood out of those who create the wealth and support the institutions of power, with an avarice and appetite that can never be satisfied. We must put in a system of regulations and oversight that works for the benefit of the people and keeps those sworn to serve us honest. We can no longer take a ho-hum attitude at the blatant corruption of a government created by the people, and government officials who are put in office by the vote of the people. They must be held to account by a system of checks and balances that seek to keep government working for all of us. They must conduct the peoples business in the open. The massive influence of lobbyists and what we euphemistically refer to as “campaign” contributions have no place in our democracy. The influence of money must be routed from the system, despite what has been wrought by the infinite wisdom of those swathed in black robes, and who go through the motions of rendering legal opinions based on the rule of law and, ostensibly, for the welfare of the people. Politics should be an honorable pursuit and not conducted behind closed doors or in secret meetings. There is much to be said for transparency in all our government affairs.

We must maintain a level playing field with our economic partners in the world community. We must first look out for our own. That means a healthy society that offers the promise of upward mobility to all. We must stop our national obsession with the pursuit of empire and concentrate more on a national pursuit of excellence in all that we are and all that we do. Return the monies squandered in the pits of foreign conquest to the people of the United States. Restore the integrity of all the systems that serve us, an economy that will sustain us and a society that will value us.

Of all the institutions that have taken a heavy hit in this so-called “recession,” I regard the assault on education as the most egregious by the predators who have reduced us to a beggar society. Education, more than anything else, is what lifts us up to greater heights and a healthier society. Education is there to develop and hone the latent talent and intellect in us all, be it a vocational or an academic pursuit. Wealth can lavishly endow and support the private schools that serve and indoctrinate their progeny. While they prosper and flourish in this current milieu, public education is losing ground at meteoric speed because of budget cuts wrought by governments that no longer have the means to fulfill all their responsibilities to their citizens. That simply cannot continue. For, if the monstrous evil of vast wealth, unlimited power, and all the influence it can command triumphs over the majority, they will reduce us to a two-class society characterized by a class of bottom feeders, and locked into abject poverty that has no other purpose than to eek out an existence of various forms of indentured servitude that will slowly and mercilessly starve and deprive us of all that lifts us up and restores our human dignity.

Time to get angry, informed and involved. Washington needs to be purged of the common whores, in all their manifestation, restored to that “shining city on a hill,” and its place as a government of, for and by the people, supported by all the regulation and oversight necessary to ensure it will remain there for all of us common folk, Not just the few who live in a persistent delusional state that, somehow, they have been endowed by some evil deity as materially superior. That they enjoy even a modicum, much less a divine endowment of spiritual superiority is nothing but a myth that is readily apparent to us all.

I would rather put my feet under the kitchen table of those proudly known as the “salt of the earth,” sharing a good helping of ham hocks, beans and cornbread, than I would by a bounty the likes of which most of us can only imagine; a vulgar display in opulent dining halls created for the cockroaches of privilege to indulge their gluttonous appetites, all at the expense of the poorest of the poor. Cramming for the finals at the end of life won’t change their destiny. If there is a God in heaven, they have already ensured their place in hell.

Cowboy Bob
May 5, 2010

“Back to the Future?”

My understanding of the foundation for the United States of America is a duly constituted republic built on a system of laws as codified in the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights. Citizenship is predicated on a respect for and compliance with that duly constituted body of laws, and all subsequent addenda thereto.

Call it what you will but, in my humble opinion, that basic notion, rather than being absolute, has become situational, based on (1) a subjective interpretation of those laws, or (2) a failure to enforce those laws. That leads us to what I regard as a state of passive anarchy that opens the doors to whatever one can get away with. Nowhere is that more glaring than throughout our entire system of government and the myriad special interests that, essentially, own and control what is euphemistically held out as “a government of the people, for the people and by the people.” From that, I have concluded that to label this nation a “republic” or a “democracy.” is a joke. It exists only as a myth in the minds of extremists and demagogues. By any other name, an oligarchy is an oligarchy, and a plutocracy is a plutocracy.

I abhor the use of labels as an easy and irresponsible way of categorizing the system of beliefs held by individuals and groups of people. I need only to draw your attention to a couple of the most visible examples in our midst today, namely the “Tea Party” and the plethora of organizations advocating amnesty for what is politely referred to as “illegal immigrants,” which seems rather like an oxymoronic definition, if you ask me.

Permit me to offer just a few examples of what I mean:

a. The millions of aliens brought into this country through or with the full support of big business interests (aka U.S. Chamber of Commerce), in order to undercut the minimum wage and requisite working conditions required for U.S. citizens. It is the responsibility of the United States Government to enforce immigration laws and to secure the borders of the nation. Our government has chosen not to commit the resources and to exercise the resolve necessary in order to fulfill that responsibility to the citizens of this country. Consequently, because of that egregious failure, we now have millions of undocumented workers now claiming the right to remain in this country contrary to the laws of the land. Politicians, in order to court the favor of pressure groups and to enlarge the pool of future voters, foster and support those groups.

b. Since the end of World War II, virtually every conflict waged against foreign nations by the armed forces of the United States, and by unilateral action of the President of the United States, have occurred without a formal Declaration of War by the Congress of the United States have been illegal.

c. Failure to hold to account the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for secretly shunting huge sums of money from the Fed to financial institutions, without the approval of Congress, as required by law.

d. Failure by the incumbent Secretary of the Treasury to deliver e-mails that were exchanged between his office and that of AIG, pursuant to orders from a lawfully constituted committee of the Congress of the United States.

We are all guilty of adopting labels as a convenient way to define political philosophies and parties, often at the expense of accuracy and understanding in
favor of perpetuating a certain level of ignorance. The most commonly used in our society are “conservative,” and “liberal.” I regard myself as neither. Rather, I try to base my positions on issues based on the knowledge I have acquired about those issues. I am sure, with some issues, I am regarded as more “liberal,” and with others as more “conservative.” I see no conflict in that for the simple reason that those two labels refer to both ends of a spectrum, with all shades of gray in between. Hence, that seems to be the responsible way to at least attempt arriving at a reasonable conclusion.

All of the foregoing not withstanding, the most pernicious and destructive force that has eroded what we were as a people is the absence of any meaningful moral compass to guide us in the conduct of our daily lives, and the roles we play in society in an effort to behave as responsible citizens.

Terms that once were the mark of shame and disgrace have come to be accepted as a normal part of our daily human existence. Terms such as honesty, integrity, trust, truth, character, honor, morality etc. were once looked upon with pride and reverence. Greed, lying, deception, manipulation, theft, bribery, etc., where looked upon with disgrace and contempt. Today, the former terms are regarded as the stuff of fools. The latter are championed as the means to success and fortune. We have managed, in a very short time, to go from simply being imperfect human beings striving for the best, to having achieved a state of almost total and complete depravity, with no shame or negative consequences for having successfully made the journey. Is it any wonder we are no longer shamed by anything and we simply look the other way as our country is systematically dismantled, pilfered and sold to the highest bidder, all at the expense of the millions who comprise the heart and soul of this great country?

Lest we fall into the trap of seeing ourselves as the victims in all this, let us remember that we, too, have contributed to our own demise and the descent into a state of individual and social decadence. We have been seduced by easy credit, cheap money and cheap goods. Our values have been eroded by the advertising and entertainment industries that titillate the baser aspects of our human nature. The more we get the more we dismiss our human dignity, and legitimate the very forces that are playing into the insatiable appetite of big money that is behind the purveyors of all that seeks to destroy the finer aspects of our nature. Our complacency has fostered our own complicity in what and where we are today.

I believe we have a right to expect and to demand absolute standards of honesty and integrity in the conduct of our government officials and a business community that owns those we elect to serve, not them, but us.

How many know and care that President Obama has deliberately and systematically violated significant numbers of his campaign promises, some of the major ones being -

a. To do away with warrantless wiretapping of United States Citizens. Rather, he has expanded those programs.

b. To vigorously pursue and prosecute those who approved and engaged in the torture of prisoners regarded as terrorists in the custody of the United States. He has now decided that he would rather look forward than backward. (Looks like George W. and Dickey Boy got a free pass out of jail on this trip around the Monopoly Board).

c. Promised the people of the United States that he would pass a Health Care Reform Bill that would include a single-payer provision. However, he met, in secret, with the heads of health care insurance companies and committed himself to the position that he would personally guarantee that there would be no such provision, or a provision for a public option, in any bill approved by Congress. What did we get? Billions more of our tax dollars shunted into the coffers of health insurance companies!

d. He met in secret with heads of the big pharmaceutical companies and assured them that they would not be required to negotiate prices with the government. What did we get? Billions of dollars guaranteed to continue flowing into the coffers of big
pharmaceutical companies!

e. So, what do you think we can expect from a Financial Reform Program? You can bet your bippy it will be just what those to be regulated want, not what we the people demand, deserve and expect!

f. Bernanke of the Federal Reserve, Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers and Rahm Emanuel will continue to ply their evil schemes, enabled by Barack Obama, (the great champion of “change we can believe in), a hopelessly corrupt Congress and a compromised Supreme Court. Wall Street will get bigger and more powerful, the economy will continue to tank, unemployment will continue to stagnate or rise, small
businesses will starve and atrophy, foreclosures on homes will continue, public services at the state and local levels will wither and disappear, and we will eventually arrive at a two-class society. It won’t make a tinker’s damn whether your are a Democrat or a Republican. Both will have been complicit with corporations, big money, big defense and corporate-owned news outlets in bringing about the total disintegration of the United States of America.

So, what can be done, if anything?

a. Revisit the entire concept of what it means to be a person of character, integrity and honesty. Put those attributes into practice and hold our public officials to those same standards. After all, much like pregnancy, it is an absolute condition. You can’t be just a little bit pregnant any more than you can be just a little bit honest.

b. If something is wrong, it is wrong. Hold our elected officials to those standards, as well. If those standards require substantive changes in the law, so be it. That is what they are there to do on our behalf. That includes every legislative action up to and including amendments to the Constitution if need be.

c. Insist on absolute standards in enacting and enforcing more stringent campaign finance laws. Keep corporate influence and money out of our elections. Reduce the cost of elections by reducing the amount of money and shortening the amount of time allowed for primaries leading up to general elections.

d. Severely restrict the power and influence of lobbyists on our government and government institutions.

e. Require at least 7 years between the time a government official leaves government service before he/she is allowed to accept employment as a lobbyist or consultant in the private sector, and vice versa.

f. Insist that every agency in government, created for the purpose of oversight and regulation of another government agency or a sector of the economy, be totally and completely independent and not under the jurisdiction of or beholden to any other agency. Accountability should be vested in joint oversight committees comprised of representatives of both houses of Congress, not the White House, with their business conducted in the open, except where issues of national security are concerned.

The most pressing needs we have today are to stop starving the states and communities of the public funds they need in order to provide vital services to the people and to put people back to work. Some of the ways in which that could be accomplished are to ---

a. Stop allowing private enterprise from using the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve as their private piggy banks at the expense of the American taxpayers.

b. Break up the banks deemed too big to fail, and restore the rightful balance of power with banks at the local level, so the needs of citizens rather than big business are served in a fair and equitable manner.

c. Insist on total transparency by government at all levels, except in cases of national security and only in instances reviewed and approved by the Congress.

d. Review all free trade agreements and insist on changes more favorable to the United States of America. If necessary, level the playing field by imposing a value added tax on all foreign imports. Tax U.S. companies for shipping jobs overseas.

e. As a national priority, insist on the enactment of a comprehensive immigration bill that will honor and enforce the rights of legitimate citizens of the United States over those seeking to enter this country by illegal means. Those who have entered the country illegally should have no claim to any of the resources that
rightfully belong to those who are deemed to be legal and lawful citizens of the United States.

The President should be prohibited from using Social Security, or any other funds created for public and social programs, as his/her petty cash fund. That is the fundamental reason why those programs are in financial jeopardy today, compounded by a bloated defense budget.

The Government has an obligation to secure our borders, rather than looking the other way in order to accommodate influential business interests that desire a cheap and unregulated labor pool. The plight of undocumented workers in this country is, once again, predicated on unbridled greed and political pandering to special interests. In order to fund the needs of those 12 plus million people, I would favor a tax on the very industries and businesses that have profited so handsomely by fostering and supporting this staggering problem.

The Government, as a top priority, should draft enabling legislation and laws that will address this problem in a decisive and humane way without putting the liability on the backs of the American people who had nothing to do with creating the problem. The super rich, corporations, the military-industrial complex and defense are but a few of the “sacred and untouchable cows” that could take us a long
way towards funding this liability. Let them use their ill-gotten gains to rightfully assume this responsibility, not the taxpayers.

We live in a time and an age when there are no simple answers to complex issues. We have no alternative but to accept that fact. I believe the notion of a completely free and unfettered market is simply not workable. It assumes that everyone participating in the economy is motivated by complete honesty and integrity, not self-interest and greed. That flies in the face of human nature It is naïve and unworkable. The last thirty years of our history has certainly proven that. By the same token, the so-called “Progressives,” cannot expect to have a civilized society for the benefit of all when they choose to selectively ignore laws they don’t agree with in order to serve ends they perceive as lofty and noble, but which have no legitimate legal basis in the eyes of the broader society of which they are a part.

Regulation, taken to the extreme is tyranny. However, given the complex nature of the world in which we live today, regulation is a fact of life. We cannot afford to assume that all of those ostensibly serving the common good are, indeed, imbued with a sense of decency and altruism so pure as to lie beyond the possibility of compromises for their own self-interests. Society has every right to expect that government will do everything reasonable to protect us from ourselves and to ensure a safe food supply, safe working environments, safe products, services, etc., for the welfare of all.

There has to be a balance between what may well be contrary interests. However, other progressive and developed countries have managed to accomplish those objectives and still have a vibrant and successful society. Given the ingenuity of the American people, I do not believe it is beyond our reach.

If we are to save and restore health to this rather fragile democracy, we all share a responsibility as allies united in a common effort to make this a society that is of equal benefit to all. We cannot be adversaries pitted against each other while the parasites of corporate greed and big money continue, unopposed, gluttonously feeding at the expense of their host; our common welfare. The more we focus our enmity on each other, the greater the opportunity for the most sinister among us to fleece us of everything good and decent, both material and spiritual, that holds forth the promise of a better future for us and for those who will follow in our footsteps.

Cowboy Bob
April 25, 2010

"Open the Windows to Enlightenment"

Here we go again! The maelstrom surrounding the Catholic Church and sexual misconduct just will not go away. Nor should it, but instead of the persistent and rather obsessive need to belabor the issue repeatedly, and with no resolution of the problem in sight, it should be a wake-up call. Reality simply cannot be denied into perpetuity.

Anyway you look at it; it all began with adoption of the rule of celibacy at the Council of Trent. In my view, it imposed the most ridiculous burden on the men of the cloth that could have been devised, even by the most sadistic and perverted minds among us.

I happen to believe that there are two clear and distinct aspects of our human nature. One is the corporeal or physical part of our existence, and the other is the spiritual dimension, each quite distinct from the other. The physical aspects of our makeup are clearly focused on the survival of the species. Hence, the most intense needs we have are those that drive us to ensure that particular outcome. One cannot deny the absolute requirement our human form has for air, water, food and, yes, sex. They are the strongest drives we have and they cannot be denied in absolute terms. Delayed or suppressed, yes, but never totally denied. Hormones are probably the strongest fuel ever created. When they kick into high gear and put us on hormonal overload, we are revved up and ready to go. The will may triumph some of the time, but I seriously doubt it wins the test most of the time.

Except for a very few, I suspect most men would confess to having had much the same experience where they were admonished by their mothers that engaging in any form of self-gratification would surely result in a loss of one’s vision or some form of mental retardation. Despite those ominous warnings, there are ample opportunities for sufficient privacy in order to yield to the power of the hormones coursing through our veins. Fortunately, I only reached the point where I had to wear glasses. As to the impairment of my mental acuity, I am afraid I have to leave that to the judgment of others.

As our physical form makes the transition from childhood to adolescence, sexual curiosity increases and there is an opportunity to share that curiosity with someone of the same age and, more often than not, the same sex, which has nothing to do with homosexual tendencies. From adolescence, the evolution of our humanity ultimately takes us to adulthood and to a mature sexual existence.

Morality, to my way of thinking, is the means whereby we are taught that the mind is the seat of conscience and exerts control over our physical being so, as we seek gratification of our physical needs, it occurs in a responsible way without harming or exploiting other human beings. Traditionally, the home and the church have worked together to produce a healthy, responsible person, both physically and spiritually, albeit with dubious success in some instances.

When we come to the end of life’s journey, we leave virtually our entire physical being behind and, we are taught; only the spiritual side of our makeup survives into the after life. Our human or corporeal form dies and no longer needs or commands any of the drives needed to survive. That includes sex. Sex is a physical need that can only be expressed and satisfied through a physical experience. Our best efforts to define sex in spiritual terms are folly. It simply cannot be done; no matter how vociferously we may seek to convince ourselves otherwise, aided by the marketing of Madison Avenue and the entertainment industries, and the popularity of all they peddle.

Studies have shown that significant numbers of prison populations and men serving in the armed forces for sustained periods, and who have been estranged from regular contact with the opposite sex, seek release of sexual tension through homosexual relationships. Interestingly, the studies have shown that, when they returned to a heterosexual population, the majority returned to heterosexual behavior. However, a minority who had regarded themselves as heterosexual continued with a homosexual lifestyle, suggesting that their dominant sexual orientation had been denied or suppressed, and only found expression during their separation from members of the opposite sex.

Despite scientific efforts to find a genetic link between sex and sexual orientation, any definitive conclusion in that regard has proven to be elusive. Given the agony and torment most homosexuals experience by being gay, I find no credible evidence that would remotely justify a conclusion that a homosexual lifestyle is one of choice.

I am mystified as to what led to the conclusion that celibacy was, in any way, due to the will of God or that it would, somehow, make better priests and servants of God. It defies logic and the essence of our physical nature. However, that misguided notion fell on fertile soil and took root in the largest, most authoritarian and secretive bureaucracy in the history of the world, the control of which is rooted in fear of authority and deference to perceived superiority. Furthermore, it has led to the grandest conspiracy of silence one could possibly imagine, creating a culture of hypocrisy that could only result in the turmoil we have today, dating back to the earliest public scandals of priestly abuse. A normal, natural need of the physical side of our being could not be contained. Consequently, it found expression and release in ways that were contrary to the position of the Church and often to the finer aspects of our nature, the most vile and criminal of which is pedophilia.

Let us keep in mind that homosexuality is a sexual attraction between sexually mature members of the same sex, implicitly suggesting there is some form of implied consent between the parties. However, in this instance, the adult asserted his authority in those relationships by virtue of his station, rather than because he may have been bigger and stronger than the post-pubescent boys who were the object of his desires, and who may have been homosexually motivated, as well. The adult clearly bears the responsibility for maintaining control over the situation, and it is he who is ultimately accountable. However, I would imagine that celibacy has been an underlying factor in a great many consensual sexual encounters (albeit illicit) between grown men in the priesthood throughout the course of the Church’s history.

Pedophilia is perverse, deviant and violent by its very nature. It is the classic case of a predator stalking its prey, the prey being the countless numbers of innocent children who have been victim to that perversity. It is criminal and should be dealt with accordingly. There is absolutely no rationale for condoning such behavior, attempting to justify such behavior or trying to address it in any passive way. Further, it cannot be cured. It is a pathological phenomenon. There is no justification for the way in which the Church has chosen to deal with this issue. It has always been and remains criminal behavior rooted in a perverse expression of sexual desire. It remains a blight on the Church and one that it cannot sidestep or ignore any longer.

Perhaps centuries of trying to deal with sexual deviancy led the hierarchy of the Church to downplay and minimize the consequences of celibacy. That is no excuse. The fact remains that celibacy is not normal, it has not worked and it has caused untold pain and suffering for which there is simply no justification. The time has come to accept the fact that sexual expression is a natural, normal part of our physical existence and for very good reason. Celibacy is the complete antithesis of that fact and is cause for no end to the torment, hypocrisy and guilt it has caused.

I believe the exodus of priests and nuns that occurred in the 1960’s and 1970’s was largely predicated on the fact that a significant number realized they could no longer live with the hypocrisy of the rule of celibacy, and the impossibility of their ability to live under that rule. Further, in fairness to the Irish, I seriously doubt the popular myth that their heritage was and is the cause for serious drinking problems within the ranks of the priesthood. Rather, I am more inclined to accept the premise that it has been a means for dulling and suppressing the intensity of the sex drive in an effort to maintain their commitment to the rule of celibacy and to their priestly vows.

I am a Catholic by choice and I intend to remain so. However, I have never abdicated my responsibility for thinking and arriving at my own conclusions about a great many things, not the least of which is religion. No matter how imperfect my judgment may have been and, I am sure, continues to be, I will never defer to authority just because it holds itself out as being the only accepted reason for action. Our very nature mandates that we never cease to question authority. To do otherwise is to acquiesce to excesses and to give power to, not only the Church, but also every other institution or symbol of authority in our society, including the sanctioned excesses routinely committed against the citizenry under the classification of national security, defense, etc. Secrecy and mystery do not serve the interests of the population governed by institutions engaging in such practices. When transparency and oversight are eliminated or waived, the doors are open to every kind of excess, manipulation, deceit and abuse imaginable. The vestigial remnants of that kind of mindset are far too prevalent in our society and, indeed, the world. It is time for it to stop.

Do I hold the Pope responsible for what is being alleged about him? I do not have the facts to definitively know the truth of the matter. He is the product of his time and a culture that spans centuries. Just because he walks in the shoes of St. Peter does not make him solely responsible for the transgressions of the many, a goodly number of whom never have and never will be held to account for their part in all this. Against that backdrop, I believe the Pope is doing his best to improve the behemoth over which he rules. To the extent he may have been involved, directly or indirectly, in any aspect of the child abuse scandal rocking the Church to its foundations, he surely knows the extent of his culpability. He, too, knows that he will stand before the throne of God one day and be expected to atone for any part he may have played in all this. Let us not forget, however, that he is but one small player in a situation that is shared by every cardinal, bishop, archbishop and priest that has ever been, directly or indirectly, involved in an attempt to hide and suppress this egregious assault on the innocent. Lest we, too, fall into the trap of wrapping ourselves in the cloth of righteousness, those among us who may have failed as parents, or turned a blind eye or ear to what was going on, or simply chose to ignore it because we were too uncomfortable to face reality and deal with it, all share in that responsibility. We abdicated our fundamental responsibility to be sensitive to what may have been going on around us.

At the end of the day, however, the Pope is the Vicar of Christ and head of the Roman Catholic Church. His background and history notwithstanding, he has the power to address the root causes of this persistent and pernicious cancer that is eating away at the foundations of the Church. It is for him to squarely and courageously face the truth and set in motion the mechanism for addressing and resolving, once and for all, this disgrace that has spanned centuries. Fundamental to that endeavor is abolishing the rule of celibacy and freeing all of the good and dedicated clergy from that burden of hypocrisy, and the impediment that goes with it, in doing God’s work for the flocks they serve.

I believe the Catholic Church can and should be one of the great moral compasses in the world. God knows, with the decadence of our societies that has led us into a state of depravity not seen in my lifetime, the world not only needs that beacon, but it is crying out for it.

I envision Christ, walking among the people as a modest man who gathered around Him humble servants, most of whom were married and imperfect. He gave us the sacraments we observe and practice to this very day, but I am not aware of any divine mandates that said they could only be practiced and administered by celibate men. The tension created by invoking the rule of celibacy has, I have no doubts, historically sapped a great deal of the vitality and energy from the mission of the Church throughout the world. For what? Because some one or a few in authority could not reasonably conclude that celibacy was draining the life-blood out of the very institution its clergy are sworn to serve. Now I ask you, just how convoluted and irrational is that line of reasoning? Celibacy cannot work, does not work, and never will work. It is a self-deception of epic proportions. Time to say, “Enough is enough.” If the protestant churches and other religious institutions throughout the world can support a married clergy and still fulfill the requirements of their ministry, then I see absolutely no reason why the Catholic Church cannot do so, as well.

Before our myopia leads us to a blanket indictment, I think it is important to acknowledge some of the many outstanding contributions given to the world by the Catholic Church:

1 - Catholic educational institutions throughout the world that have provided standards of excellence in schools from the primary up to and including the university level.

2 - Catholic missions that have served the poor and impoverished all over the globe through standards of dedication and sacrifice few can equal.

3 - Catholic charities that have served the poor in urban, rural and international communities, and have helped to ease the pain and hopelessness of their lot in life.

4 - Catholic hospitals and healthcare organizations that have brought standards of excellence to medical and other healthcare services in the United States and throughout the world.

5 - Educational and charitable services to indigenous populations on reservations throughout the United States and Canada.

I believe that it was always intended that Christ’s Church be a church serving all its people, but one that, also, asks all of us to share in its mission to serve the least among us. That can only be realized by being open, honest and transparent in all that we do in its name. Were we to achieve those few objectives, I have no doubt that the Church would enjoy a renaissance that would see its empty churches filled with a cross-section of the faithful of all ages, rather than the few elderly still clinging to a faith they never doubted.

It just might give renewed hope, strength and determination to a world crying out for newfound hope and direction, and a reaffirmation of the commitment embracing the ideals given to us by Christ Himself.

Peace,

Cowboy Bob
April 4, 2010

"It's Time to Get Serious"

I don’t think it is a stretch to conclude that our system of government is, for all intents and purposes, incapable of functioning.

The President has proven to be a man of sweeping promises and little action. He has championed an open and transparent government, only to have climbed into the bed of vested interests on Wall Street, the health care industry, the pharmaceutical industry, big energy, big mining, the military establishment, big corporations and a whole host of other corporate and special interests, contrary to his own campaign promises. As an aside, did you notice that, today, he removed the “public option” from what is being re-submitted to the Senate for reconciliation? Proof, once again that he is nothing more than a corporate hack taking care of his buddies at the expense of millions of Americans in dire need of affordable health care. Meanwhile the average American still waits, patiently, for the help that was promised to end this “recession.”

The auto industries were given what I regard as a token gesture of help when compared to the giants on Wall Street, coupled with a ratcheting down on the unions to help bring it about. His penchant for bi-partisanship is pathetic. It may work in community organizing, but it is a poor substitute for the real leadership demanded in today’s world. He is the complete antithesis of a representative of the people. He is doing everything he can, and not in a very subtle way, to further impoverish those whose lot has steadily deteriorated under both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. All we get from him are hollow speeches filled with hot air and no follow through. At the end of the day, we bear witness to the same complacency that enables him to rape the country at will, and those few diehard progressives who just can’t bring themselves to believe he is the fraud he has conclusively proven himself to be. He is no longer credible and I see absolutely no hope that he has any desire to regain it in order to rekindle the hope and support he had when he was first elected to office. I have concluded that he is a one-term president. However, I am not at all certain he aspires to anything more than that. Rather, when corporations and massive wealth own the country, he will leave the White House a very rich man and his legacy as the “First African American President” will be assured. That's the one distinction that can’t be taken away from him.

The Senate is pathetic. They no longer even try to hide the extent to which they are compromised by corporations and vested interests that own them and lace their pockets with money and favors. They don’t even do a good job of faking their intended roles on behalf of those they are sworn to serve. They run rough-shod over the people and pander to every special interest imaginable. They have given new meaning to the term “corruption.” They have elevated deception and lying to a new level. I think there is more than a simple desire to “retire from public service,” that is causing them to jump ship like a bunch of wharf rats.

The House of Representatives is probably the least corrupt of any arm of government. I dare say, however, were it not for the 2-year term limits that tie them closer to the people, they would be little better than the Senate.

The Supreme Court is, of course, a joke. They have proven to have absolutely no qualms about legislating under the guise of what is euphemistically termed “judicial review.” Their stealing of the general election for George W. Bush in 2000 and their recent ruling in favor of corporations relative to their massive ability to buy candidates and, therefore, elections, negates any residual notion that they are at all objective. They are not credible and certainly, to my mind, are not to be trusted.

The Pentagon, just by its sheer size, financial power and fealty to the seats of political power live and prosper, at taxpayers’ expense, in the bubble of corruption about which we were forewarned by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Their ability to spend money on weaponry, weapon systems, no-bid contracts and the like is unequaled anywhere in the world, exceeding the total budgets of a great many governments. But, all they have to do is wave the flag and hint at an impending national catastrophe if we don’t yield to their demands. We then gladly hand over our dollars and the lives of our young men and women, with no questions asked, and the system just grows bigger and more powerful.

The news media, which was intended to be the watchdog on government, is the biggest joke of all. They have become just one great big corporate empire designed to dupe us into believing what government and big business want us to believe. The diminishing pools of independence in the news media are drying up and, of those left, they are but a ripple on the ocean of what is created by the big boys for our consumption. What was intended to be an instrument of the people is now, clearly, an instrument of those who seek to dominate and control our lives. The next burr under the saddle of our country will be when they zero in on the Internet. I wouldn’t want to bet any big bucks on the projected half-life on that one, either.

Any notion that there will be any discernable effort made to clean up the two major political parties is but a flight of fancy. It just isn’t going to happen. The Democrats have proven themselves to be little more than a bunch of whimpering sycophants. Instead of championing progress in the social and economic spheres of our national life, they bend over so far trying to appease the opposition that they have fallen flat on their backs. They quiver like a bunch of dogs passing peach seeds, all the while refusing to acknowledge their titular head. They may want to believe the best about the current tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but they are acutely aware of the hand that feeds him, as well. He has no intentions of standing up for the common good of the nation. As the storm clouds of the mid-term elections loom on the horizon for 2010, the exodus of those who have stolen all they can is growing before they get their asses kicked out by some lame-brain Republican. The Senate is an abomination. They court our votes and, once elected, turn their entire focus and attention to their real constituents - lobbyists, corporations, and massive wealth.

The Republicans do a laudable job of consistently making fools of themselves. Now, mind you, they are just as skilled at stealing from the national coffers as any of the others, but resorting to Bible thumping, the “C” Street gang, tea bagging and drinking in the profundities of such intellectual giants as Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, Mitch McConnell, Michelle Bachman and the like is downright laughable. Lined up together they are, at best, the largest and most motley group of intellectually challenged figures to be found in the nation’s capitol. But, their mastery of but one monosyllabic word in the English Language, “No,” has proven to be a masterful achievement. Their credo should be, “Don’t bother me with details! I don‘t think, I just react to external stimuli.“ They have given new meaning to the art of lying, and scary though it may be, they just continue unchallenged and unabated, championed on by the most ignorant and ill-informed among us.

With what we deign to refer to as the “two major political parties,” I see faint hope for any meaningful and discernable change in what is floating on the surface of the national cesspool we fondly refer to as “Washington” The ideal means of purging our system of all that ails it would be to make a sweeping change from what we have to a parliamentary system of government, but the mere mention of such a thing would bring out the screaming multitudes, alleging that we were stealing their “freedoms,” (whatever that means) and is part of a left-wing conspiracy to create a socialist government. So, best to abandon any further pursuit of that rational avenue of redress.

The only means I can see of accomplishing what needs to be done in order to save the Republic is a new political party that is based on a return to honest government “of the people, by the people and for the people, “and predicated on the highest ideals of what is required to ensure that those institutions will never again be hijacked by the darkest manifestations of human depravity in the form of massive wealth, corporate power and military might. That needs to be underscored by the supremacy of the electorate and transparency in all actions taken by government, save those that are clearly in the interest of our national security. The only way a third political party can succeed is by focusing on mainstream voters in the Democratic Party, Independent Voters and Moderate Republicans.

Given that the Constitution was ratified by the states in 1789, I find it utterly incredulous that, in over 200 years, all the amendments, rules, protocols and other changes that affect the integrity of that document, have never been subjected to some form of retrospective analysis in order to ascertain ---

1. Were the changes consistent with the intent of the Founding
Fathers as embodied in the Constitution?

2. If not, why were the changes enacted and by what authority?

3. What were the unintended consequences of each of those actions?

4. What actions are required in order to restore the effects of those
changes to what is in accordance with the original intent?

5. If the actions are in keeping with today’s requirements, what means
are appropriate to properly ratify the changes in order to bring
them into line with constitutional intent and the law of the land?

The above analysis should be applied to the actions of the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch, retroactive to the date of ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The evolution of what has become today’s “military-industrial complex,” and what is now peddled as an “independent” news media should receive the same scrutiny.

Although no minor endeavor, I see no reason why an independent body of the right minds and qualifications could not complete such a project, with their objectives to be [a] restoration of the authority of the government vested, exclusively, with the people as citizens of the country, [b] the elimination of opportunities for corruption and self-serving practices on the part of representatives and other officials elected to government, and [c] campaign reforms designed to eliminate, and prohibit, outside money and favors from interests seeking to influence government institutions and public servants.

Such a body should be free from political bias and vested interests, and should operate under the auspices of a reputable public university, based on the probability that private colleges and universities are more likely to be biased in favor of those at the higher ends of the social and economic spectrum.

The commission should be comprised of a workable number of recognized individuals of renown, in disciplines relevant to the requirements of the project. Some names that come to mind are: David Gergen, Chuck Hagel, Bill Bradley, Eliot Spitzer, Johathan Turley, Glen Greenwald, Bill Moyers, Brooksley Born, Elizabeth Warren, Simon Johnson, James Galbraith, Robert Reich, William Grieder, Mario Cuomo, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Former Justice David Souter. Admittedly, these are but a sampling of eminently qualified individuals, many of whom are currently serving in government. The determining criterion should be “objectivity,” which should not be too difficult to ascertain.

The first task of any such study group would be to define their mission and their role in bringing about the changes necessary in order to reconcile what is (current situation) with what ought to be (intent relative to the Constitution). If we don’t know where we came from and where we are, it cannot be accurately determined as to where we ought to be going.

The actual work on behalf of the group overseeing such a project could be accomplished by a group of graduate students from various universities and from academic disciplines relevant to the charge given to them by those directing the overall effort.

1. There should be an independent group assigned to evaluate and report
on the functions and status of each of the following institutions:

a. The Executive Branch
b. The Senate
c. The House of Representatives
d. The Supreme Court
e. The Pentagon
f. The Press in all its forms.

2. There should be an agreed upon schedule of tasks with targets for the completion
of each.

3. Periodic reports should be submitted to the directors of the project for review
and approval.

4. With approval by the overseers, those periodic reports should be published on
cable television and the Internet for public consumption.

Given the degree of corruption and the massive amounts of money involved in all branches of government, the military establishment and the news media, I genuinely believe that we are looking into the abyss of the total decimation of the working class in the United States, with their ultimate fate being no better than that of indentured servants during less civilized epochs in history. I believe the situation to be sufficiently acute as to have placed this nation on the verge of becoming a third-rate power in the world. The evil that we face is so pervasive and so pernicious that it is going to take people of character, courage and determination to turn the ship of state around. Do I believe it can be done? Absolutely! Do I think it can be done without exacting a huge price? No! But, if not now, when?

I am a news junkie and I feed on every reputable form in which it is delivered. It is only because I genuinely care about what this country has been, and what we should ensure that it will be for future generations, that I embarked on my writing binge. I am not a professional writer, nor do I profess to be a particularly good writer, but I do believe I have something to say that comes, not only from my heart and soul, but that is of a deep and abiding concern to a significant number of Americans.

My blog, by its very nature, does not have a wide audience. Therefore, it does not find its way into the hands of those in high places who might be in a position to at least give my not-so-sophisticated ideas and words a cursory examination. I have tried, not because my ego needs the strokes, but only because I give a damn. I have been ignored by universities, the news media, government and others. I am not optimistic this attempt will get any further.

By today’s standards, I may be on the downhill side of the mountain and from humble beginnings, but I have no intentions of giving up until the predators of Wall Street, the healthcare insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and the military establishment are contained and held to account before the people of this country. And, yes, this applies equally to the legions of those elected to serve the people of the United States, but who have become so corrupt as to have sold their very souls to the darkest and most sinister forces that have ever been unleashed on any civilized society in the history of the world. Only when the grave claims me, or those who I hold in such contempt are consigned to theirs, will I call it quits.

As for the future, the youth of this country must set aside what they regard as their inherent right to have “fun” without limits or moral constraints. They need to stop staring blankly into their electronic hand-held devices and communicating only in sound bites or abbreviated forms of the language required by Twitter or Facebook. They need to learn the value of reading, in all its forms. They need to learn the rewards that come from interacting with real human beings, and the joy that can only come from sharing ideas, concepts and goals directed at a common cause -- a better society for everyone. Democracy and government are hard work but they, also, can be one hell of a lot of fun.

Our colleges and universities need to wean themselves from the life-blood of corporate funds and massive fortunes coming from those sectors of the economy that dull natural curiosity and wonder that can only come from a real education. Yes, there is value in the liberal arts and it sure beats the hell out of what is sold for education but, in the final analysis, is only the stuff of technical zombies. They need to re-assert a commitment to the value of the wisdom of the ages, going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment. Our real distinction is not in the degree to which we isolate ourselves from others, but the extent to which we actively engage others. By its very nature, electronic communications are impersonal and cold. That which warms our souls can only come by engaging and associating with real people.

Good luck.


Cowboy Bob
February 22, 2010

"A Few of Life's Regrets"

As I begin writing yet another epistle, I am not entirely certain as to where this is taking me. However, as I always do, I will give it a shot and hope for the best. As I enter a new year, however, it seems like a good time to embark on a few personal reflections.

When I started writing this blog just over two years ago, I did so because I had a lot of free time on my hands and a great many unsettled feelings about a variety of issues. I sought neither fame nor fortune but, rather, to see what if any gems might be buried within the vast labyrinths of that gradually calcifying cranial tissue residing within the limited space allocated to it within my skull. I was writing for myself but thought there was no harm to be done by sending it out to the far reaches of cyberspace, leaving the merits of my efforts to be determined by the wisdom of others. I found I touched the lives of some, pissed off some and inspired a surprising number of others along the way. So, it was not altogether in vain. I filed the beginning of this and a few random thoughts away and, frankly, forgot about them. For some strange reason, I just happened upon these words on, of all days, Thanksgiving. Perhaps there is something prophetic about that.

The prose and ideas may not flow with the fluidity of professional writing, but that is one of the attendant hazards of this type of writing, particularly when one treads on those aspects of his being that may not be terribly easy to face nor to articulate. Is it just a personal catharsis or does it serve a greater purpose? I really don’t know.

I have developed a passionate interest in politics and government in the United States over the past several years. Young though I might have been, I was inspired by the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt when he declared war on Japan, reassured by the steadfast determination and uncompromising honesty of Harry S. Truman, the inherent dignity and wisdom of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the sheer inspiration engendered by John F. Kennedy. Each had his own unique brand of greatness in my view. Real leadership seemed to have died with those few, only to be followed by the golden age of the slick politician as each pursued his own avaricious agenda at the expense of the common good.

Then along came Barack Obama in whom I saw a new ray of hope for us all. Perhaps, I thought, the flagrant wrongs of the past could be righted and we could enter a new age of statesmanship that would appeal to the finer aspects of our nature. I soon realized that all we got was just another politician. To be sure, although very charismatic and mesmerizing, in reality simply another opportunistic patsy for the special interests that have a stranglehold on this fragile republic aka democracy. I have concluded there is, essentially, no difference between the two major political parties. They just serve the same interests in different ways. Our vote every four years, at best, is tantamount to little more than changing the draperies at the White House. The life blood and decency of the American people are sapped from their very being by Wall Street, Corporate America, special interests and a military-industrial complex that is completely out of control. None of them share a common bond with those they exploit at will.

I have come to the conclusion, because of the excesses of avarice and greed by the exploiters, compounded by the enabling complacency and self-imposed ignorance of the exploited, there simply is no hope. We are on a downhill trajectory, moving at meteoric speed, towards our own demise and, indeed, that of the world. When we have passed the point of no return, we will predictably rise up in desperation, demanding instant solutions to very complex problems in order to turn the ship of human existence away from the iceberg looming on the horizon, only to realize we procrastinated much too long. There is no turning back. Our common date with destiny is no longer a possibility, but a certainty. Our human proclivity to pursue pleasure and “things” has finally caught up with us. We slept while Rome burned and greed played the fiddle. No one paid any attention to the alarm bells that have been sounding for decades.

Given that rather ominous and bleak outlook for the future, I reflect on my own life and often ask, “What are my biggest regrets?” That is a fitting question for a man in the twilight years of his life, but not one that is easy to answer.

I regret the crippling effects of an ingrained fear of being poor again. It caused me to constantly doubt my abilities and myself. It led me to compromise my principles for the sake of survival. It caused me to be overly cautious about human relationships, holding back trust and rarely, if ever, revealing the person I really am. I lost a lot of life because of the stranglehold of fear that gripped my every waking moment. The price that I exacted from myself and imposed on others is incalculable; a treasure, the value of which I realized much too late in life. It caused me to be overly concerned about safety and certainty when risk would have yielded ever so much more of real value.

I regret that I was too rigid during the early years of my adult life, which cost me dearly in terms of friendships offered and never accepted, in kindness and understanding that were never seized upon. I consigned myself to being a loner when that was, in reality, the last thing in the world I really wanted.

I regret that my own imperfections caused me to insist on standards of perfection from others that were out of reach from our common human nature. I hurt people who only asked to be respected and trusted. That is a terribly egregious thing to have done to any human being. Sadly, the key players in this tragedy are now gone from this world. When I am alone I often wish I could have one more brief bit of time with each of them. I would tell them how sorry I am for what I did, how much I lost because I never had the courage to be open, vulnerable and authentic, and how I robbed us both by not telling each one how much they had enriched my life.

Two of the greatest regrets of my life are (a) not pursuing a career because of its compatibility with my natural talents, interests and ability, as opposed to gaining success as quickly as possible for the sake of staving off another epoch of poverty in life. In the end, all I really accomplished was squandering the few valuable human attributes that might have brought me years of pleasure, satisfaction and, probably, the security that comes from pursuing that which is a burning passion of the heart and an ambition in the belly. The greatest cost of all was my early transformation into a consummate professional huckster who was oh so willing to sell what I had to offer to the highest bidder. In virtually all of those instances, I set myself up for failure, but it can be said that is the one thing I seem to have done rather well.

There are a whole host of other regrets, minor and major, that are too numerous to belabor here. However, each of them robbed me of so much of the finer side of whom and what I am and never was. In the end, they add up to quite a chunk of life wasted that mattered little.

Why does so much of the world revere characteristics of the human condition that only detract from the finer facets of our human nature? What does competitive obsession do for the world? Why do we manifest disdain for the more noble attributes of our human nature? What is wrong with being gentle, kind, caring and generous with our fellow human beings? Would we not be infinitely better off if we didn’t have to win every contest and just naturally accepted defeat as, at times, the best outcome with the most valuable lesson? After all, more often than not, it isn’t the contest that really matters but, rather, as Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers so poignantly said, “It isn’t whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game.“

I think fathers should seize every opportunity to hug their sons and really let them know how much they are loved and cherished. Shaking hands may be the “manly” thing to do, but it sure is a poor substitute for the warmth and reassurance that only comes with the real deal. Personally, I believe men are the more fragile and lonely because of that mistaken notion of what it stereotypically means to be a real man. A goodly number carry the emptiness and pain of a lost relationship with their Dads that so many secretly yearned for but never had. Not every boy is destined to be a football player so his Father can vicariously re-live the days of his youth and glory at the expense of what might have been a rare and gifted talent that the world may never know. That may well be one of the root causes of the aggression and competitiveness manifest in the masculine mystique as one reaches and lives out maturity. When the head and hormones overrule the heart, I think we need to pause and ask ourselves if we are giving enough time to the finer aspects of our human nature.

When I was just a boy, I vividly recall my Dad saying to me, “Never forget what I am about to say. The saddest thing any man can ever say is, “If I only had it to do over again.” How true.

Looking back over more years than I care to acknowledge, there are four aspects of our nature that, I believe, should be manifest in our person and remain inviolate pillars of our character throughout our lives; (1) unconditional acceptance, (2) unconditional love, (3) unconditional understanding, and (4) the most important of all, unconditional forgiveness. With those as the cornerstones of our earthly journey, I just don’t see how we could possibly go wrong.

In the final analysis, the most sobering realization is, when a person reaches that later stage of life, the reality sets in that you can never really go home again. What is done is done, and we can only hope there really is yet one more phase in the life process, and it is there that redemption awaits us for every regret we ever carried in our hearts.

Have a good year.


Cowboy Bob
January 16, 2010

"Change We Can Believe In? The Time is Now!"

Let me begin by commending the millions of Americans who believed, and still believe, so deeply in the Presidency of Barack Obama, a belief I shared until the reality of his character became apparent. We all hoped in a common belief that he would clean up all that is so contrary to the national interest, and that he would restore a sense of dignity and honor to the White House that has been missing for decades. Sad to say, his record has proven to be the complete antithesis of all those hopes and dreams brought about, not through naiveté and inexperience but, rather, through cunning, deception and design. That he fails the test of leadership is self-evident. He has deliberately abrogated every trust we so willingly placed in him. We have been betrayed.

We were led to believe there would be transparency in government. Instead, we have secrecy and obfuscation.

We were led to believe he would hold to account those who committed war crimes and torture. Instead, we got, “I do not believe we should live in the past but, rather, it is more important for us to look to the future.”

We were led to believe that he would stop warrant-less wiretapping, only to see it trumped in the interest of “national security.”

We were led to believe the controls that were removed and paved the way for the deregulation of the financial industries, and other contributing factors leading us to the precipice of another depression, would be reinstated in the interest of the economic health of the country. Instead, he lost no time in handing the responsibility over to the very people and institutions that had precipitated the financial crisis in the first place.

We were led to believe he would re-open NAFTA. Instead, he joined with his counterparts from Canada and Mexico to reaffirm their collective support for NAFTA and free trade, all at the expense of American workers. He is now seeking to accelerate the pursuit of free-trade agreements to numerous other nations.

We were led to believe he would fight for a national health plan, including a robust public option. Instead, in private meetings, the President assured the healthcare insurance industry and big pharmaceutical companies that (a) there would be no public option in the final bill, and (b) the pharmaceutical companies would not have to negotiate prices for prescription drugs with the U.S. Government.

We were led to believe the President would not be using signing statements on legislation. Instead, he has already resorted to that notorious practice by George W. Bush.

We were led to believe that he would ratchet down on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, it appears he has caved in to the military establishment and, rather than reducing our commitment in Afghanistan, he has increased the troop compliment.

We were led to believe that he was going to require the large banking institutions on Wall Street to free up money given to them under the auspices of the TARP Program so community banks could loan to small businesses in order to stimulate the economy. The nation waits with baited breath.

His “Stimulus Program” was going to jump-start the economy, create jobs and get people back to work. Instead, we have an escalating unemployment rate with only meek assurances that there is a time lag to be expected between investment and results. Meanwhile, millions of people become ever more impoverished and foreclosure rates soar.

There are more examples, but I believe the point has been made. President Obama is skilled at making inspiring speeches that lifts ones hopes to the heavens. He is adroit in his ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth. He is masterful in his ability to pander to special interests and centers of power and influence, while convincing the nation that he really is doing something for the common man. He gives the sales pitch and Rahm Emanuel peddles the goods. We wait with baited breath.

I, like so many, wanted very much to believe in the person and the candidacy of Barack Obama. However, I am mindful of the hazards of believing without questioning the motives of the one who is asking me to accept his/her system of beliefs. Barack Obama is much too intelligent and shrewd to be accused of naiveté. He did not get to where he is, in such a short period of time, to have accepted very much on simple faith. As the old adage goes, “He is dumb like a fox.” In a short span of time, he has taken me from a state of complete trust to one of complete lack of trust. He is simply no longer credible.

While an entire nation of good and decent people cry out for the “change we can believe in,” with the leadership, commitment and dedication to make it all happen, we have instead one who only hears the call of the super-rich, the powerful, the greedy, those whose blind ambition overshadows any notion of compassion and, finally, the mesmerizing influence of gold braid, silver stars and the sheer perverse intoxication that comes only with the power to commit young lives to a violent and untimely death or, worse, a lifetime of suffering from the lasting wounds inflicted on distant battlefields.

When those without power and means plead for nothing more than the opportunity to earn an honest living and share in the American Dream, their cries go unnoticed by the White House, the Senate and the Congress - corruption being the common thread. When the rich and powerful call, it is almost as if I am hearing the stereotypical plantation owner saying, “C’mon now, boy. Ya hea?” Then the caricature of Step’n fetchit comes to life as the answer seems to echo from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, “Yassa, boss; yassa, boss.”

In the meantime, the ghosts of Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Brooks and countless numbers of others who suffered, marched and demanded an equal share of the American dream in the name of racial, social and economic justice simply hang their heads in silent shame for what the President has done to all they fought for.

The President, in 2004, so eloquently stated in his Keynote Address to the Democratic National Convention that “There is no black America and there is no white America; there is only the United States of America.” There is, also, an old adage that says, “One is known by the company he keeps.” Your actions, Mr. President, are not consistent with your words. You no longer have any credibility, and for that, you are far more to be pitied than scorned.

Difficult though the path may be, I have complete confidence that this nation will again be the beacon of hope and justice it once was. Those who are destined to share in that distant triumph will rightfully share in the euphoria of that moment in time. Meanwhile, the 44th President of the United States will likely find himself an old man, alone and forgotten, because of all we had hoped he would be, but which he squandered on the altar of his blind ambition, avarice and the dubious legitimacy of his truly being the First African-American President of the United States of America.

When the ideals, values and guiding principles upon which this nation was founded and prospered begin to erode by benign neglect, fertile ground has been cultivated for sowing the seeds of complete decay of the social, economic and moral values that are so essential to a healthy and progressive nation. When a people become too lazy to research and question what is being done in their name, they invite the very fate they most fear.

When we can no longer trust in the government we have elected to serve us, we have no alternative but to look for a better means to serve our national interests than what we now have in the seat of our Federal Government in Washington, D.C. It calls into question the benefits to society of the financial houses on Wall Street, the image makers on Madison Avenue and the “faux“ news organizations created by corporate journalism. When those very institutions recoil at the notion of any transparency and accountability to the society in which they operate, we know we are in trouble and the time has come for “change we can not only believe in, but can trust, as well.

The most urgent realization we must realize, as intelligent people and responsible citizens, is that the time has come to get our heads out of our posteriors, quit spending our every waking moment with our faces in a hand-held entertainment center, and worrying more about what we look like than what we are as members of the human race. Living beyond our means because we are more concerned about satisfying the baser aspects of our imperfect nature in order to impress others than in acquiring what we need to live a responsible life is a potent elixir for our ultimate demise. When we have become too lazy to go through the rigors of getting an education, and cultivating a sense of wonder and curiosity that will lead to a thirst for knowledge and a natural curiosity about the world around us, we have taken ourselves and the earth to the brink of total annihilation.

Regardless of one’s spiritual beliefs, when we have shared in and contributed to all that will surely take us to the brink, we have become a party to the ultimate affront to whatever higher power we seek to guide and protect us on this mortal journey we all share.

When those we have put in power to serve us violate and prostitute their solemn obligation to society and the institutions of which they are a part, then it is time to turn to that time-honored avenue of redress so effectively used throughout our history -- civil disobedience, as eloquently codified in an 1849 essay by Henry David Thoreau.

“The time has come for change we can believe in. The time is now.” Sound familiar?


Cowboy Bob
December 21, 2009

"We Need A Real Leader For A Change"

I am writing for the benefit of the righteous, the high and the mighty, the self-sanctimonious, the Bible thumpers and those who are so quick to disparage the working class and the poor by the hollow and empty words, “If they would go out and make something of themselves like the rest of us they wouldn’t be where they are.” Now, I ask you, how in the hell do you know that? Your hypocrisy provides a convenient cover for your callousness and lack of conscience. It conveniently permits you to ignore human suffering and rationalizes your selfishness and greed. It sanitizes all of your ugliness and avarice so you can live with yourselves in pious self-satisfaction. You define your religion in your own terms so you can live with yourself, actually believing you are one of God’s chosen ones, instead of the despicable wretch you actually are.

How many of you are upright members of mainline churches so you don’t have to rub elbows with those of a lesser station in life, insulating each other from what you really are? Last night it was bitterly cold where I live. One, lone church in the community, operating on the fringe of mainline religions, whose pastor looked rather like what we used to call a “hippy” took notice. He was very young, with a boyish face, a meager beard and kind of on the “nerdy” side. But, guess what? He mobilized his church, chartered a bus and went to the streets and a neighboring city to pick up the homeless and bring them to his church so they could have a hot meal and sleep in out of the cold for one out of how many nights of absolute misery. One of his parishioners went out and spent six hundred dollars of his own money, purchasing underwear and socks. Another went out and bought fifty sleeping bags with money out of his own pocket for some of those who would be returning to the streets the following day. These common folk simply cared. Where were the mainline churches and synagogues? They were either silent, or were shuttered and bolted in order to protect their assets from the potential ravages of what might seem like unsavory trespassers, who could somehow damage or disturb the clinical sanctity of their facilities housing the symbols of their religious piety.

In my time, there were hobos or bums, but they were few in number each, I am sure, with his own story. Homelessness was not a social phenomenon on a massive scale until the imbecilic and snobbish Reagan’s established the first imperial presidency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, only to be followed by those of like mind (or worse) all of whom have somehow made the very worst of our human nature seem respectable. It has enabled us to allow the institutions to shift their focus from the very people who put them in office to those who buy their favors through ill-gotten gains, literally stolen from the society of which they are a part. It has enabled us to become so abysmally complacent that we don’t have a clue as to what the reality around us really is, nor do we have the moxie and courage to do anything to improve the situation for all of us. Our national credo seems to have morphed into a unified cry of “Hooray for me and fuck you!” with God’s blessings, of course. We have allowed ourselves to be distracted from the reality around us by such vital issues of national interest as Sarah Palin pretending to know what is going on, Tiger Woods dipping his wick, Dancing with the Stars, etc. Ever so much more pleasant than the stench of all that is going on and, in reality, literally destroying our way of life and shredding the fabric of this country.

How many of you “successful” types were investing in a stock market out of control because of its reliance on slave labor, and the complete dismantling of our industrial base that shipped jobs overseas from under those who only sought the means to earn an honest living, pay their taxes and support their families? How many of you disparage those same people who are now working in fast-food businesses and other menial jobs because those are the only industries left for them to earn a meager living and attempt to ascend the socio-economic ladder to a better life? How many of you have disparaged labor unions because they dare to want a better life that will only come about through collective bargaining? If you need a reality check, compare the statistics regarding the standard of living for working men and women with those of the top one percent of the population in the United States over the last thirty years. If that doesn’t cause you to pull in your horns, you are either blind or stupid. But, you look the other way while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce champions the wholesale fleecing of the consumer public by corporations, huge conglomerates and patently dishonest business practices, all of which enhances your stock portfolio, and satiates your appetite for cheap goods flooding the American economy from overseas pockets of human misery, the likes of which you can’t even begin to imagine, much less feel.

Not everyone comes into this world on an even footing. Differences in our genetic makeup, the social and economic start we get in life, and our access to an education all mitigate against any semblance of real equality among us.

Some mistakenly equate a college education as a legitimate claim to more of the nation’s wealth. Not so. A college education offers no such guarantee any more than inherited wealth. As the old saying goes, “If you send a jackass to college all you have at the end of four years is an educated jackass.” The skills emanating from a vocational aptitude are as essential to a healthy society and economy as are the ill-perceived importance of most of what comes from academia. If you want to level the perception of yourself, contemplate for one brief moment the notion of equality and the extent to which you are at the mercy of your family physician, lawyer, accountant vs. the mechanic that fixes your car, the carpenter that builds your house and the electrician that ensures a safe and reliable supply of energy to every convenience you depend on in your daily life. A college education does not guarantee an educated result. By the same token, mastery of a technical discipline does not necessarily reflect the same discipline as that of an intellectual pursuit. Both, however, can and should rightfully claim an essential role in a healthy society.

What we most need to keep in mind is that the essence of our character is tempered, not by our station in life, but by the fires of adversity life has handed us, and which we have endured and survived. At the end of the day, we all, in some way, must earn our place by what we give to society rather than what we take from it.
In the time I have spent on this earth, I would have to say that I have found more inherent decency, honor and character among those who labor by the sweat of their brow than I ever did among those in the executive suite and the boardroom. I could count on a working man to be far less vulgar, more true to his word and less scheming than I ever could from those who regard themselves as part of the educated elite. Those who boast of having “made it,” deceive themselves by not realizing, in the end, all they really did was sell their souls.

I would not presume to speak for another’s system of beliefs. However, I have chosen to believe that, at the moment of our birth, God plants with each of us the essence of His Divine Grace, like a seed that will, if nurtured and cared for, one day germinate. Within that seed is the human manifestation of unconditional love, forgiveness, acceptance and understanding, from which comes a hope and charity that is forever with us. That is what our human decency is all about. So long as that hope is within us, therein lie the finer aspects of our human nature, there for us to call upon at will. That is what gives us the courage and determination to stare down evil, be it within us or outside of us. So long as that is a viable part of our individual and collective make-up, there is hope for the human race. Without it, there is only fertile ground from which to reap every conceivable evil known to mankind, and the seeds of our ultimate demise. Surely, we are better than that.

Given all that I read, see and hear, I am convinced that this nation is on a collision course with destiny, predicated on the cataclysmic forces coming to bear because of the insatiable greed, decadence and depravity of the political, social and economic institutions that are totally out of control and that are in the hands of the plutocrats, oligarchs, corporations and their government minions. Lest those in power become complacent because of their perceived superiority and control over those sworn to protect the nation, do not forget that the oath they took was to “defend and uphold the Constitution,” not the ruling elite. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the Constitution belongs more to those oppressed than it does to the oppressors.

My biggest fear is that we have no idea how much more people can be expected to bear. The Democrats and Republicans are different in name only, seeming to offer only meaningless latitudes and platitudes, while they busy themselves with their own vested self-interests. While we still have the time to change things through peaceful and lawful means, I don’t see that we have any alternative but to look to a third political party that is founded on and upholds the highest standards of honesty and integrity we can imagine, and the leadership to make it happen. The time for hot air is long past. We don’t need any more empty promises, lofty speeches and grand deceptions. The common wisdom is beyond all that. People know the reality we face and how remote the possibility is that much will flow from those who have profited so handsomely at our collective expense. In the extreme, I am reminded of a cartoon I once saw where two vultures are sitting on a branch of a dead tree. One says to the other, “Patience hell. Let’s go kill something!” You can only blow smoke up a man’s ass for so long before fire starts coming out of his nostrils.

We need a real leader and a statesman with a higher calling to inspire us, repair this nation and restore the democratic principles upon which this fragile republic was founded.

Chuck Hagel, where are you now that we need you?


Cowboy Bob
December 13, 2009