Sliding Toward Fascism
On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder gave a speech outlining the Obama Administration’s view of the use of deadly force (“targeted killing”) against American citizens as part of its “war on terror” (even though the current Administration doesn’t use those words).
I found it chilling and the next step in the ongoing project to shred individual rights and protections in the U.S. Constitution – all in the name of “protecting Americans” . Holder – and where has he been the past three years with regard to criminal activity by Wall Street banksters –said Americans are entitled to due process not judicial process. Holder said. “The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.”
That may seem to be lawyer talk – that is, until you realize what it means. Due process, at least according to Holder, is performed by the Executive Branch given that it has the “expertise and immediate access to information” needed to justify the murder of a U.S. citizen. Holder made it clear this authority would only be used in extreme circumstances of imminent threat outside of the ability of U.S. authorities to capture the individual(s). But imminent threat may not mean what you think it does.
He said, “the Constitution does not require the President to delay action until some theoretical end stage of planning when the precise time, place, and manner of an attack become clear,” adding that such a requirement would incur an “unacceptably high risk of failure.” Presumably meaning the “evil doer” would not be killed before executing whatever it is he/she/they are thought to be planning.
To put it simply, if the President of the United States thinks you’re doing something he (or eventually she) decides is a terrorist act, and you cannot easily be apprehended, you can be killed without ever being accused in a court of law (even in absentia).
You may think, so what? Evildoers deserve what they get. And if you’re a Democrat or a Liberal, maybe you’re okay with Obama doing the deciding. And vice versa if you’re a Republican with a Bush in the White House. But pick the worst person you can think of with that power. Still feel complacent?
American democracy has been based, if often abused, on the “rule of law”, rather than the “rule of man”. The Executive Branch, under both Bush II and now Obama, appears determined to aggregate more and more power. It may seem paranoid to suggest it, but it is a very long slide on the slippery slope of fascism.
President Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” Speech – Part III
Finally, Carter turned to a specific plan for energy independence. On reflection it might not have been possible to achieve all that he set out. And his call for use of coal versus imported oil would have led to even worse environmental consequences.
But its importance is that he laid out a real plan to deal with an issue that continues through this day; a plan that could have been evolved by successive administrations of both parties to address new realities or situations. And recall that Reagan took down the solar collectors on the White House roof that Jimmy Carter had installed. And think about who is called the “greatest” American President by many people and who isn’t. The final part of his speech:
We ourselves are the same Americans who just 10 years ago put a man on the Moon. We are the generation that dedicated our society to the pursuit of human rights and equality. And we are the generation that will win the war on the energy problem and in that process rebuild the unity and confidence of America.
We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I’ve warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure.
All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our Nation and ourselves. We can take the first steps down that path as we begin to solve our energy problem.
Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this Nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our Nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.
In little more than two decades we’ve gone from a position of energy independence to one in which almost half the oil we use comes from foreign countries, at prices that are going through the roof. Our excessive dependence on OPEC has already taken a tremendous toll on our economy and our people. This is the direct cause of the long lines which have made millions of you spend aggravating hours waiting for gasoline. It’s a cause of the increased inflation and unemployment that we now face. This intolerable dependence on foreign oil threatens our economic independence and the very security of our Nation.
The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our Nation. These are facts and we simply must face them:
What I have to say to you now about energy is simple and vitally important.
Point one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this Nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977—never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980′s, for I am tonight setting the further goal of cutting our dependence on foreign oil by one-half by the end of the next decade—a saving of over 4 1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day.
Point two: To ensure that we meet these targets, I will use my Presidential authority to set import quotas. I’m announcing tonight that for 1979 and 1980, I will forbid the entry into this country of one drop of foreign oil more than these goals allow. These quotas will ensure a reduction in imports even below the ambitious levels we set at the recent Tokyo summit.
Point three: To give us energy security, I am asking for the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our Nation’s history to develop America’s own alternative sources of fuel—from coal, from oil shale, from plant products for gasohol, from unconventional gas, from the Sun.
I propose the creation of an energy security corporation to lead this effort to replace 2 1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day by 1990. The corporation will issue up to $5 billion in energy bonds, and I especially want them to be in small denominations so that average Americans can invest directly in America’s energy security.
Just as a similar synthetic rubber corporation helped us win World War II, so will we mobilize American determination and ability to win the energy war. Moreover, I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this Nation’s first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.
These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay. It will be money well spent. Unlike the billions of dollars that we ship to foreign countries to pay for foreign oil, these funds will be paid by Americans to Americans. These funds will go to fight, not to increase, inflation and unemployment.
Point four: I’m asking Congress to mandate, to require as a matter of law, that our Nation’s utility companies cut their massive use of oil by 50 percent within the next decade and switch to other fuels, especially coal, our most abundant energy source.
Point five: To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy mobilization board which, like the War Production Board in World War II, will have the responsibility and authority to cut through the redtape, the delays, and the endless roadblocks to completing key energy projects.
We will protect our environment. But when this Nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it.
Point six: I’m proposing a bold conservation program to involve every State, county, and city and every average American in our energy battle. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford.
I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. To further conserve energy, I’m proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems. And I’m asking you for your good and for your Nation’s security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense—I tell you it is an act of patriotism.
Our Nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices. We often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our Nation’s strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives.
So, the solution of our energy crisis can also help us to conquer the crisis of the spirit in our country. It can rekindle our sense of unity, our confidence in the future, and give our Nation and all of us individually a new sense of purpose.
You know we can do it. We have the natural resources. We have more oil in our shale alone than several Saudi Arabias. We have more coal than any nation on Earth. We have the world’s highest level of technology. We have the most skilled work force, with innovative genius, and I firmly believe that we have the national will to win this war.
I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our Nation’s problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act.
We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.
Twelve hours from now I will speak again in Kansas City, to expand and to explain further our energy program. Just as the search for solutions to our energy shortages has now led us to a new awareness of our Nation’s deeper problems, so our willingness to work for those solutions in energy can strengthen us to attack those deeper problems.
I will continue to travel this country, to hear the people of America. You can help me to develop a national agenda for the 1980s. I will listen and I will act. We will act together. These were the promises I made 3 years ago, and I intend to keep them.
Little by little we can and we must rebuild our confidence. We can spend until we empty our treasuries, and we may summon all the wonders of science. But we can succeed only if we tap our greatest resources—America’s people, America’s values, and America’s confidence.
I have seen the strength of America in the inexhaustible resources of our people. In the days to come, let us renew that strength in the struggle for an energy secure nation.
In closing, let me say this: I will do my best, but I will not do it alone. Let your voice be heard. Whenever you have a chance, say something good about our country. With God’s help and for the sake of our Nation, it is time for us to join hands in America. Let us commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit. Working together with our common faith we cannot fail.
Thank you and good night.
President Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” Speech – Part II
As President Carter continued, he turned to what he saw as the root causes of the concerns expressed by citizens in the first part of his speech. This is where this particular speech got its name – and it was something for which he was vilified by political opponents. And yet he saw clearly that loss of faith in ourselves as individuals, communities and a broader society had less us to a cliff; a cliff that could be turned away if we trusted ourselves and each other.
And tragically, a cliff we collectively jumped off when we elected Ronald Reagan who gave us a promise of comfortable self interest based on a mythic self image and an imagined past.
Carter’s speech continues:
I know, of course, being President, that government actions and legislation can be very important. That’s why I’ve worked hard to put my campaign promises into law—and I have to admit, with just mixed success. But after listening to the American people I have been reminded again that all the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America. So, I want to speak to you first tonight about a subject even more serious than energy or inflation. I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy.
I do not mean our political and civil liberties. They will endure. And I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might.
The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our Nation.
The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.
The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July. It is the idea which founded our Nation and has guided our development as a people. Confidence in the future has supported everything else—public institutions and private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. Confidence has defined our course and has served as a link between generations. We’ve always believed in something called progress. We’ve always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own.
Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. As a people we know our past and we are proud of it. Our progress has been part of the living history of America, even the world. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as we are losing our confidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the door on our past.
In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world.
As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.
These changes did not happen overnight. They’ve come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that were filled with shocks and tragedy.
We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the Presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate.
We remember when the phrase “sound as a dollar” was an expression of absolute dependability, until 10 years of inflation began to shrink our dollar and our savings. We believed that our Nation’s resources were limitless until 1973, when we had to face a growing dependence on foreign oil.
These wounds are still very deep. They have never been healed.
Looking for a way out of this crisis, our people have turned to the Federal Government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our Nation’s life. Washington, D.C., has become an island. The gap between our citizens and our Government has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.
What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government that seems incapable of action. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well-financed and powerful special interests. You see every extreme position defended to the last vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and a fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends.
Often you see paralysis and stagnation and drift. You don’t like it, and neither do I. What can we do?
First of all, we must face the truth, and then we can change our course. We simply must have faith in each other, faith in our ability to govern ourselves, and faith in the future of this Nation. Restoring that faith and that confidence to America is now the most important task we face. It is a true challenge of this generation of Americans.
One of the visitors to Camp David last week put it this way: “We’ve got to stop crying and start sweating, stop talking and start walking, stop cursing and start praying. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America.”
We know the strength of America. We are strong. We can regain our unity. We can regain our confidence. We are the heirs of generations who survived threats much more powerful and awesome than those that challenge us now. Our fathers and mothers were strong men and women who shaped a new society during the Great Depression, who fought world wars, and who carved out a new charter of peace for the world.
President Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” Speech
Another Presidential election year is upon us. In spite of what will be billions of dollars spent on electing one of two privileged servants of the elite to be “Commander in Chief”, at the end of the day the condition and future of the majority of our citizens will remain the same.
And with all the billions spent and all the focus-group approved speeches, neither Obama nor Romney (or whoever) will actually give a courageous speech that describes the gap between our idealized view of our country and its future, and its realistic role in crowded planet facing severe climate change.
It will never happen.
But there was a President who gave a speech that pointed the way to what could have been a much different U.S. than we have today – and that was President Jimmy Carter’s speech on July 15, 1976. It is stunning to me to reread it for the courage he had to hold up a mirror to what this country was becoming. And it is tragic to reread in light of what happened by facing what was in that mirror.
Nominally about energy independence in the wake of a Mideast oil embargo, it is a much deeper reflection on what this country needed to do to become in reality “the last best hope”
Over the next three posts, I want to share that speech. The first part begins here – and listens to quotes of fellow citizens that sound now like the predecessors of the Tea Party and the Occupy movement.
Good evening.
This is a special night for me. Exactly 3 years ago, on July 15, 1976, I accepted the nomination of my party to run for President of the United States. I promised you a President who is not isolated from the people, who feels your pain, and who shares your dreams and who draws his strength and his wisdom from you.
During the past 3 years I’ve spoken to you on many occasions about national concerns, the energy crisis, reorganizing the Government, our Nation’s economy, and issues of war and especially peace. But over those years the subjects of the speeches, the talks, and the press conferences have become increasingly narrow, focused more and more on what the isolated world of Washington thinks is important. Gradually, you’ve heard more and more about what the Government thinks or what the Government should be doing and less and less about our Nation’s hopes, our dreams, and our vision of the future.
Ten days ago I had planned to speak to you again about a very important subject—energy. For the fifth time I would have described the urgency of the problem and laid out a series of legislative recommendations to the Congress. But as I was preparing to speak, I began to ask myself the same question that I now know has been troubling many of you. Why have we not been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy problem?
It’s clear that the true problems of our Nation are much deeper—deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation or recession. And I realize more than ever that as President I need your help. So, I decided to reach out and listen to the voices of America.
I invited to Camp David people from almost every segment of our society—business and labor, teachers and preachers, Governors, mayors, and private citizens. And then I left Camp David to listen to other Americans, men and women like you. It has been an extraordinary 10 days, and I want to share with you what I’ve heard.
First of all, I got a lot of personal advice. Let me quote a few of the typical comments that I wrote down.
This from a southern Governor: “Mr. President, you are not leading this Nation— you’re just managing the Government.”
“You don’t see the people enough any more.”
“Some of your Cabinet members don’t seem loyal. There is not enough discipline among your disciples.”
“Don’t talk to us about politics or the mechanics of government, but about an understanding of our common good.”
“Mr. President, we’re in trouble. Talk to us about blood and sweat and tears.”
“If you lead, Mr. President, we will follow.”
Many people talked about themselves and about the condition of our Nation. This from a young woman in Pennsylvania: “I feel so far from government. I feel like ordinary people are excluded from political power.”
And this from a young Chicano: “Some of us have suffered from recession all our lives.”
“Some people have wasted energy, but others haven’t had anything to waste.”
And this from a religious leader: “No material shortage can touch the important things like God’s love for us or our love for one another.”
And I like this one particularly from a black woman who happens to be the mayor of a small Mississippi town: “The big-shots are not the only ones who are important. Remember, you can’t sell anything on Wall Street unless someone digs it up somewhere else first.”
This kind of summarized a lot of other statements: “Mr. President, we are confronted with a moral and a spiritual crisis.”
Several of our discussions were on energy, and I have a notebook full of comments and advice. I’ll read just a few.
“We can’t go on consuming 40 percent more energy than we produce. When we import oil we are also importing inflation plus unemployment.”
“We’ve got to use what we have. The Middle East has only 5 percent of the world’s energy, but the United States has 24 percent.”
And this is one of the most vivid statements: “Our neck is stretched over the fence and OPEC has a knife.”
“There will be other cartels and other shortages. American wisdom and courage right now can set a path to follow in the future.”
This was a good one: “Be bold, Mr. President. We may make mistakes, but we are ready to experiment.”
And this one from a labor leader got to the heart of it: “The real issue is freedom. We must deal with the energy problem on a war footing.”
And the last that I’ll read: “When we enter the moral equivalent of war, Mr. President, don’t issue us BB guns.”
These 10 days confirmed my belief in the decency and the strength and the wisdom of the American people, but it also bore out some of my longstanding concerns about our Nation’s underlying problems.
Lessons from the 2012 Snow and Ice Storm
Living in the Seattle area, I had my own experience with the snow, ice, and wind of last week’s storm. As I write this, thousands remain in the dark without power; thousands of trees have been damaged or destroyed; and the threats remain: driving to work this morning I spotted one SUV on its side after having crashed through a fence and another car spun around – both apparent victims of the cold temperature and remaining patches of ice.
Fortunately, we lost power for only six and a half hours. And while we watched with fear as our birch tree had a branch overhanging the eaves of the house, it fortunately broke off in way that the house was not damaged.
Still, there were things I learned last week even in my relatively limited exposure to hardships that are offered here:
Personal Protection
We lost one of the branches on our pine tree. So I went outside with a long pole and began knocking off snow and ice from our other trees to save as many of their branches as possible. One small piece of ice hit me in the chin and caused a cut that bled. It was minor and didn’t require stitches, but if it would have been larger it could have caused real damage as I couldn’t get out the way as I was standing in snow and crushed vegetation.
Lesson: a hard hat and face and eye protection should be on hand for any emergency situation. That will also come in handy when the chain saw is used for clean up.
Communications
While our power was out our cell phones still worked. However, the widespread loss of power led to intermittent phone and data reception problems on our iPhones. So instant communications can not be assured; all planning must include the recognition that cellular reception may not be available.
I pulled out my radio that required 5 D-cell batteries only to realize we had used the last of the D-cell batteries. Fortunately we had a hand-crank emergency radio that allowed us to tune in for local updates.
Lesson: A hand-cranked radio should always be available.
Lesson: Inventory of small items such as batteries should be part of any emergency planning
Planning for Structural Damage
Our house suffered no damage from trees or branches crashing down. But I realized that I had no plans (or real supplies) to deal with such a situation. I have tarps, but I don’t think I would have been able to cover a big hole. Neither did I have sufficient lumber to patch a hole. A bigger issue would have been if we had had structural damage that would have made the house uninhabitable. We could have gone to our son’s home, but that assumes the roads were passable (there were a number of roads that were closed by police barriers during the storm and in the immediate aftermath).
Lesson: Sufficient emergency patching supplies should always be on hand to protect your house.
Lesson: Evacuation plans should be reviewed with contingencies for alternate locations
Situational Awareness
There was a tragedy during the storm when a man was killed as he was removing his All Terrain Vehicle (AT V) from a shed; a tree fell on him. Presumably, he had been removing his ATV from the shed due to fear of a tree crushing the shed – an irony made terrible. From news reports it is possible he was acting without a spotter who might have given him a warning.
Lesson: Awareness of risks tends to diminish when a task is being undertaken. Anytime there is an obvious threat someone should acting as a safety monitor. (Same goes for working high on an extension ladder on the side of a house)
2012: Year for the Skeptic
Well, it’s finally here. 2012.
Year of the Mayan Apocalypse. Or not.
Year that we vote for the next tenant in the White House. Will it be that socialist fascist American-hating best buddy of Wall Street, Barack Obama? Or one of the Keystone cops in the Republican herd? Or something behind door number three, as in third-party candidates?
Year of the attack on Iran. Hopefully not. You can be sure you’re going to hear the drums for war beating with stories about how it’s really Iran that’s the ‘evil one’. Be skeptical of everything you hear on television and read this year about Iran and “their plans for attacking Israel.”
And maybe that’s my point. With all that’s happening, and supposed to be happening, in 2012, the best thing you can do is be skeptical about everything you read and hear.
Be skeptical of everything you read or hear about Nibiru and other cosmic threats to Earth this year. If it existed, someone would have seen it by now. Sunspot activity is expected to increase this year – but that doesn’t mean gamma ray bursts. Pay more attention to NASA than Internet crackpots.
Expect the Presidential campaign to get ugly and nasty. Look beyond the rhetoric and see how much difference there are between candidates in terms of past actions and policies. In my opinion, we’re just looking at labels between anyone likely to win.
On Iran. Look at political pressure from AIPAC and its impact on U.S. foreign policy, and particularly what individual politicians say. Look at who has signed the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (Iran) and who has not even acknowledged its nuclear weapons program (Israel) – with the latter a threat to the former. Look at how American fumbling has now given Iran more influence in Iraq now than before the U.S. invasion. Believe nothing about surgical strikes and limited engagement. If this one starts, it’s going to be very brutal and ugly.
One other recommendation: it might be a good idea to turn off the 7×24 television news broadcasts and take a walk or talk to a friend. It’ll be better for you than paying attention to most of the breathless hysteria from mindless talking heads.
Nike Air Violence
Nike’s release of its retro Air Jordans shoe resulted in violence in several malls across the country yesterday as early “shoppers” broke down doors and started fights as they tried to get a pair of the $180 shoes.
I’ll resist commenting much on the makeup of the rioters – at least those shown on the television news coverage – except to comment that we have a problem in this country when young black men still see ownership of a pair of basketball shoes as relevant to their own self worth. Something always has to matter; it just shouldn’t be this.
I’ll rather comment on the Grinch from Nike. It is the heights of cynical arrogance that Nike released this shoe two days before Christmas. Is it unreasonable to expect they did not anticipate the reaction in the stores and the attendant news coverage – and free advertising – they would receive?
Nike has a long history of questionable manufacturing and marketing practices. This is just another instance of their self important and dubious business model.
Obama, Guns, and Social Security
Recently, I received a letter from the National Rifle Association (NRA) informing me the 2012 election will be the “most critical of our lifetime” – with the expected card asking for money. The enclosed letter described with fear growing in each paragraph the threat for gun ownership that will accompany the reelection of Barack Obama.
Are we talking about the same Barack Obama?
From where I sit Barack Obama has no real interests except being the President from Goldman Sachs, the “Commander In Chief”, and raising money for reelection.
I do see a day that a President of the United States will move to restrict or eliminate gun ownership in this country. The only thing is that President will be a Republican. Only a Republican will have the political coverage to be able to do it.
Don’t think so?
Then consider that at least over the last 40 years or so Presidents from both political parties have led or approved actions that go against what seems to be the fundamental philosophies of their political parties. In all cases, they have had the support of their political parties and backers (i.e., moneyed interests).
Only a Republican, Richard Nixon fierce anti-Communist, could open relations with China. While it may not have been obvious or intended at the time, that led to widespread outsourcing of jobs in this country and the rise of the Wal-Mart economy – inexpensive imports replacing domestic manufacture.
Ronald Reagan, Republican and self proclaimed “fiscal conservative”, never balanced a budget and for good measure tripled the national debt. In addition, rather than avoid ‘foreign entanglements’, he led the vicious little wars in Central America.
Bill Clinton, Democrat, destroyed the unions and welfare in this country through GATT, NAFTA, and welfare ‘reform’ – and for good measure also signed laws that led to the financial collapses in the last decade.
George Bush, Republican and ‘Business Man’, led a “War on Terror” through unfunded and irresponsible borrowing. In addition, he created a climate of lawlessness in business due to cuts in regulatory oversight. Republicans claim they are the party of responsible government as they are the party of businessmen. How did that work out?
Barack Obama, Democrat, currently leading efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare. In spite of what is reported about cuts in payroll taxes, this is a deliberate underfunding of the Social Security trust fund. Watch for him, if reelected, or some future Democrat to put the last nails in that coffin.
And that is why it will be a Republican who goes after the guns. It will happen when the ‘owners’ want them taken away.
Fun with “Terrorist” and Other Political Words
George Orwell wrote in Politics and the English Language (1946) that “Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidarity to pure wind.”
I heard a recent news report about an attack in Afghanistan against “NATO troops” and the news reader, the correct term – not news anchor, used the words “militant” and “insurgent” in the span of two sentences. (As an aside, use of “NATO troops” hides the national identities of the soldiers that were killed; particularly important if they were U.S. troops).
I wondered why the news editors felt it was necessary to use two different words that were basically meant to imply the same thing.
It’s clear they were not meant to be objective descriptions of someone, e.g., fighter, soldier, political leader. They were meant to convey the same thing: someone bad; someone not on our side; someone evil; and someone needing to be killed.
Unless one was really paying attention, the words would have slipped past – they were telling you how you should be thinking about something. That’s propaganda.
Given they are just political words, I thought it might be fun to see how various well known (and lesser known) people in history would be portrayed when a political word is used to describe them.
In the American Revolution:
The British would have called George Washington a terrorist commander; Ben Franklin a militant; and Thomas Jefferson the minister of propaganda. The Founding Fathers were the insurgent leadership.
During the American Civil War, The North would have called Robert E. Lee an insurgent commander; and to the South, Abraham Lincoln was the “evil doer”.
The burning of Washington D.C. in the War of 1812 and Atlanta in the American Civil War were both instances of collateral damage.
George Custer was a terrorist warlord (just ask the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota); Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were freedom fighters (and I agree with that one).
Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, both future prime ministers of Israel, were terrorists (their organization was called terrorist by the British after its involvement in the bombing of the King David hotel in 1946). So today’s terrorist can become tomorrow’s statesman.
Even popular culture can be subjected to the same fun.
Luke Skywalker was a terrorist as he attempted to overthrow the established government.
Frodo Baggins was certainly an insurgent against Sauron.
Wasn’t Superman really a militant in his efforts against oligarchs like Lex Luthor?
The list goes on.
The point is that when you hear words like “terrorist”; “insurgent”; “militant” – realize someone is telling you how to think through the use of political words that are just “pure wind”.
It’s important to understand how language is used to shape your perceptions and your behavior because if there’s no integrity in language, there’s no integrity in anything else, and that’s particularly true of politics and political talk.
And don’t get me started on “The War on Terror.”
Review: Blackhawk Warrior Wear Shell Jak and Liner
One of the challenges where I live is finding a good jacket for winter. Our winters are cold, wet and windy – with both rain and snow a possibility. Most days are in the high 30′s to low 40′s (temperatures in Fahrenheit).
So it’s not consistently cold enough to go with a full-blown winter jacket (e.g., down or synthetic insulation with a water-proof shell). This is a place for more of an insulated rain jacket (with a down parka kept for those rare periods when it drops into the 5 – 10 degree range).
I had been looking and found a combination I thought would work well: Blackhawk’s Warrior Wear Shell Jak with their zip-in Fleece Liner Shell Jak. Unfortunately, the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
First, the Shell Jak. I really like this piece. The colors are very nice to look at – I’ve gotten compliments. The shoulder, upper body and arms are a dark green (almost an olive green). The lower body is a foliage green. They work well together: understated with an almost classic look. The material is a breathable three-layer laminate that is both windproof and waterproof (it’s not GORE-TEX®, but it seems to work fine). The jacket also comes in Black or Navy.
The jacket has some really nice features – including pit zips; a fleece-lined collar (something I really appreciate in cold wet weather); and a stow-away hood. The hood when stowed away does add some bulk to the collar, but it still allows the front zip to be pulled up to the chin.
It lists for $299.99 (USD), but you can find it online for a good deal less. It’s not cheap, but you’re getting a good quality jacket with excellent fit and finish.
The jacket also has attachment points at the collar and wrists for a zip-in liner. I got the Blackhawk Fleece Liner, Shell Jak to use as insulation. It’s basically just a typical wind-resistant fleece jacket. It zips into the Shell Jak and also attaches via snaps at the collar and wrists. It works fine as a short-waisted fleece jacket.
Adding the fleece liner to the Shell Jak is where I was disappointed.
The liner attaches easily enough via its zippers and the snaps. However, the combined shell and liner share the same problem I’ve seen jackets from other companies (e.g., 5.11): the fit is bulky and restrictive. Wearing any insulation under the two makes one feel like the Michelin man. And the sleeves, forget about it. Wearing even a long sleeve fleece shirt made getting my arms into the sleeves a mild workout; the same was true pulling them out. The combined shell and liner is not really wearable if I have on anything heavier than a light short-sleeved shirt.
It seems to me a Primaloft liner jacket would work better as it wouldn’t be as rigid a jacket as one made of fleece. But that’s only my opinion.
A note on sizing. I wear Men’s Large in just about everything. I bought both the Shell Jak and Fleece Liner in Large. Would I have done better with Extra Large? I don’t think so. The Shell Jak would have been much too large on its own.
Bottom line: Buy the Shell Jak and just wear a liner jacket you like. Each will have to be removed individually, but it’s a better approach than looking for an integrated system.
