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September 5, 2005
Open Thread 05-90
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Once again, the venality and criminality of this administration is made more apparent.
I will propose a scenario based on what I have read in these threads and the links embedded within.
1.The largely democratic voter base of Nola and surrounding areas is dispersed to other states, thereby negating their political clout.This in the face of local political figures telling the feds that the people don’t have to be sent out of state,the state of Louisiana can hold them.
Any guess about voter registration laws pertaining to the states they have been sent to, and about to be sent to other states yet again as far as elegibity to vote?(residency requirements and all that tiresome stuff.)
2.The administration will declare that “rebuilding is hard work”,and will outsource the work to kellogg,brown and root. Not only for Nola,
but also for shipping infrastructure on the big muddy.
3.The insurance industry gets bailed out yet again by our tax dollars.
(Silerado Savings And Loan was just a test run.)
Property in the Big Easy goes for pennies on the hundreds, not the dollar,and guess who is going to do the buying?
I guess thats how you REALLY do gentrification.
When I was a young man, I used to hitchhike a lot across country.
I went through “Nawlins” several times. I cannot tell you of all the kind people I met on my travels,how they would pick me up off of the road and take me into their homes, or simply stop the truck and ask me to “reach them their Bible out of the glovebox” so they could pray for me for five minutes and then drop me off with a 10 dollar bill so I could eat.
Once,I was heading east out of Houston and ended up walking for two days on I-10 because of the scarcity of rides. No food during that time, and trying to make light of it because of the fact that I no longer needed to move my bowels. I finally ended up in Nawlins, and with 1 dollar in my pocket ended up at a place just off of Jackson Square. It was called “Buster’s Beanery”,and I got a manhole plate
size of redbeans and rice,half a loaf of french bread, a stick of real butter, and all the water I could drink for 80 cents. Those folks kept me from dying.
I won’t even tell y’all about the cute redhead. If I remember correctly, that was back in ’75.
All that is gone now.
All those folks are gone now. The Quarter is gone.Nawlins is gone.
RIP
Posted by: possum | Sep 5 2005 9:16 utc | 1
Each morning we ask ourselves: what horror waits for us today?
Refresh page if it loads incorrectly the first time.
Posted by: Nugget | Sep 5 2005 9:53 utc | 2
Okay,
Joanna aka annti- christ coulter from blondsense (blog) and Jesus’ General, who rode out the hurricane in Biloxi is still there and is now running a one woman relief thing, working her way around the do-nothings from the government and is delivering aid from her pickup. For those not trusting the agencies “in charge” who would like to contribute to relief — and read about the results blogged daily — go here for the details. Having read her commentary for over a year, I’d say if anyone can do it, she can.
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 5 2005 10:16 utc | 3
You can reach her at joannaagain@hotmail.com about how to send$$.
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 5 2005 10:20 utc | 4
On one hand, I read this blog daily, as well as “Today in Iraq” and others, and I listen to “Democracy Now” and radio programs like “Counterspin”, “Between the Lines”, “Unwelcome Guests” and “Time of Useful Consciousness.” I read Chomsky and Zinn and their ilk. I have my own radio show, and I worked feverishly through the night, last night, preparing two hours of coverage on Katrina. I’m surrounded by the knowledge of all the deceit, destruction, greed, theft and murder our goverment, and other governments, are perpetuating around the world. I see no answer to the problems of endless growth, as dictated by world capitalism, and the complete annihilation of life brought on by the collapse of our ecosystems, already in its early stages.
Then,on the other hand, I step out of my middle-class house and look around. The neighbors are all washing their brand new SUV’s, gardening, their kids are running around, and they are discussing sports, or if it’s politics, the latest outrage as defined by the spin machine. And their opinions are just what the media tells them it should be. They get their news from an occasional glance of the front page of the local tabloid, or a few minutes of evening news. They might watch a gabfest on Fox. We discussed political views briefly once last summer when someone came around collecting money for our local boy, John Kerry, before the election. One is a strong Republican, two are patronage hack Democrats, one is a Libertarian. They hold their affiliations strongly, but their understanding and analysis of the way the world works and the meaning of events is completely non-critical, contradictory, self-interested and downright childish. At least the two Dems know which side their bread is buttered because their jobs depend on it. But their cynicism and endless stories of how they got off of the latest speeding ticket because they know the cop or the judge is hardly reassuring.
Polling my neighbor’s views of Bush or “The War on Terror” is fairly meaningless. One day they hear of five soldiers killed or see an image from New Orleans of people wading through water, and they dislike Bush, the next day Bush makes an appearance and spouts some worn-out platitudes and they think he’s doing a good job. When the MSM tells them to be outraged about the looting, they are.
They water their show lawns endlessly, and pour and spray every manner of chemical possible on them. They eat a SAD (standard american diet), but if the press tells them that Alar on apples is dangerous, they are outraged.
But all of this is missing the point: None of this political or environmental talk is important to them. They are too busy raising families and holding down jobs, fixing up their houses, and figuring out how to get ahead or beat the system. That is what their lives are about. Any extra attention is easily filled with mainstream cultural trash: the latest movie, album, or what the sports team is doing.
Of course, they all think of themselves as “good” people, and never make a connection between conspicuous consumption and war or environmental damage. Most of them recycle their cans, bottles and paper.
Needless to say, they regard me with a mixture of bemusement and concern over my “crazy” beliefs and iconoclasm. If I try to bring an idea up in casual conversation, like anything discussed on this site, they shy away. It is simply too scary to lift the curtain, because their whole world view, and way of life, is at risk.
And that I understand because the world today scares the shit out of me. Some days I’m able to keep up Billmon’s sense of humor about the endemic cronyism all around us, but other days I might try on a little tin foil hat for size, and the signals I receive spiral me into despair and depression. Sometimes, all this Cassandra stuff becomes too much and I wish I could cross over to the other side and join my neighbors. Ya know, maybe become a policeman or something, and help society. Seriously, I find myself torn between struggling to continue to live the middle class life I was raised to expect and desire, and the increasing urge to give it up and become an activist of some sort.
So the questions I have are these: Do others in this community have problems reconciling these two world views–One of an American Dream life and the other of a world rapidly spiraling out of control. How do people here cope with all of this Sturm und Drang? Is despair on the rise; are people optimistic? Is there a solution? Is there any hope that these average Americans that I depict will ever wake up and change their beliefs and behavior before it’s too late? Is it too late already? Do we need a great suffering, on the level of the Depression, or worse, to wake us up? What do you think?
Malooga…
great post.
I’m reminded of the phrase “most men lead lives of quiet desperation”.
Your neighbors aren’t happy. Most know and feel their lives are meaningless. And that’s the way it’s always been , but for a few revolutionary moments in history.
The US is on a long, slow, spiral downward. Katrina was the slap in the face. Iraq another.
We’ve got a lot of guns, a lot of meglamaniacs, and when gas hits $X dollars an hour, let the violence comence.
Posted by: folkers | Sep 5 2005 10:48 utc | 6
@Malooga
You seem to know what you are doing and so if it becomes neccessary to resist more strongly you will know that time too.
Some of your neighbors will have a moment when they realise they’ve missed it and some of those will become even more lost in ego-centricity than before but others will ‘wake up’ and decide to resist the crushing numbness induced by the culture of consumption.
The accurate picture you draw of your neighbours probably doesn’t reflect their characters or nationality nearly as much as it reflects the demeanour of man in early middle age.
Every now and again an event occurs that is so dissonant, so at odds with the prevailing commonly held view of reality that a few people are jarred out of their complacency.
I suspect the Katrina debacle is an example of this. You may be surprised at the people who this does move and surprised that the change is more to do with all sorts of other factors in their existence than whoever it was that you thought them to be.
I’m not saying this to excuse ‘cop outs’ but in an attempt to explain man’s condition. Whatever happens in the world around us many people behave according to their species’ need to procreate and protect their clan. Often in spite of rather than because of their mindset or beliefs.
Such people can be frustrating in their apparent lack of concern for the ‘big picture’ but we need them because without them none of us would be here. Similarly without people such as yourself your neighbors would likely have bashed each other’s brains out under orders from the bossfella, millenia ago.
Posted by: Debs is dead | Sep 5 2005 11:33 utc | 7
@Malooga; just keep marching the Ho Chi Mihn trail.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/09/05/story219276.html
Two british soldiers die for oil interests in Basra today.
Posted by: Friendly Fire | Sep 5 2005 11:37 utc | 8
@ Malooga
1. Do others in this community have problems reconciling these two world views–One of an American Dream life and the other of a world rapidly spiraling out of control.
Don’t know if they can be reconciled because they seem to me to be mutually incongruous. It seems to me that unconscious consumerism is limited by finite resources and nature’s constraints.
2. How do people here cope with all of this Sturm und Drang?
With a lot of feelings of frustration, sadness, sometimes despair but then I recite over and over in my mind the aphorisms from my spiritual practice and then kick myself out of bed, do a few stretches to meet the new day and get on with getting on in the best spirits I can muster.
Play/practice my guitar a lot.
3. Is despair on the rise; are people optimistic?
I don’t sense despair is on the rise probably because most people are too busy raising families and holding down jobs…. But I do believe that there is a stronger sense of ‘something’s is really wrong and it’s getting worse’ and ‘the government and corporations are crooked and screwing we average folk’. I think optimism is in the decline.
3a. Is there a solution?
As long as you keep on keeping on, I believe there is hope. I think that the solution ultimately occurs only when you breathe your last breath with the knowledge that you have lived your life to the best of your own abilities and held fast to the expressions of your own truths.
4. Is there any hope that these average Americans that I depict will ever wake up and change their beliefs and behavior before it’s too late?
Yes. I was once an ambitious 30 year old working in the junior upper echelon of corporate America. A hard core randian-capitalist-athiest, moving steadily up the corporate pillar of both professional and personal success. But somewhere between then and now my mind changed/evolved with the help of many who had explored before me and been willing to share with me.
Although many of my less well informed neighbors and friends often seem hopeless cases I continue to practice guerilla rhetorical warfare awaiting opportunities of intellectual vulnerability or confusion to try to embed well aimed arrows from quiver of thoughts.
5. Is it too late already?
Ultimately, no. But in the short run I think inertia is propelling us toward a precipitous fall and there is not enough effort on the part of those at the controls to apply the brakes or steer toward a safer direction. This is where your keeping on keeping on can and will make some difference. Your posts here don’t go unnoticed and have already affected others. I am sure that is true of your radio station as well. We aren’t always aware (probably most often, are not) of the effects of our actions. But I think we can be assured that they do indeed have effects. If our hearts are directing our actions at least we will accumulate good karma.
6. Do we need a great suffering, on the level of the Depression, or worse, to wake us up?
We are experiencing a great suffering now. It just hasn’t radiated out to a significant degree to middle class Americans yet. Yes, I think it will get worse, both in scope and degree. Perhaps my analogy from above should put us already on the ride down the precipice.
7. What do you think?
I think we are at a bifurcation point culturally. Either we collectively wake up to our evolutionary potentials or devolve toward eventual (maybe abrupt) extinction. We are not a static species. We have not arrived at some supposed evolutionary end point as humans. We can continue to improve our personal spiritual conditions. I believed we are impelled to. And we can take charge of our own personal evolution. I think the majority of Americans see themselves as stuck where they are with no possibility of escape and so just make the best of it. You/we can perhaps continue to aim enough of our arrows to goad them to a higher realization of both the world outside them and their own worlds within.
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
– Krishnamurthi –
Posted by: Juannie | Sep 5 2005 17:08 utc | 10
Everything was going great,
‘Til nineteen hundred twenty-eight.
Posted by: pb | Sep 5 2005 18:11 utc | 11
“It is odd that the logic of epidemiology embraced by the press every day regarding new drugs or health risks somehow changes when the mechanism of death is their armed forces.”
Les Roberts, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
“As a test of the independence and honesty of the mass media, few tasks are more revealing than that of reporting our own government’s responsibility for the killing of innocents abroad. In an age of ‘converged’ political parties and globalised corporate influence, few establishment groups have any interest in seeing such horrors exposed, while many have much to lose….”
Burying The Lancet
Posted by: Nugget | Sep 5 2005 18:18 utc | 12
speaking of public health, and feeling like a nut (“sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t” – advertising slogan) how about that bird flu pandemic possibility?
Posted by: mistah charley, ph.d. | Sep 5 2005 19:25 utc | 13
One way to shake of the angst is to support others who are really trying to make a change.
It is amazing to me how much of the left, including Billmon, is ignorning an important story of folks in the US who face imprisonment for peacefully trying to stop the Iraq invasion before it started. The St. Patricks Four poured half a cup of their own blood on a recruiter’s flag in protest days before the invasion, waited around until the police came, and are now facing up to 6 six years in prison.
Their story seems to be invisible to the folks who support the safer and easier issues like Cindy Sheehan or Bush’s ineptitude with respect to Katrina.
Until the deep moral issues of the war(s) are addressed, we will all continue to feel adrift in this morally bancrupt nation.
Please go to the website (http://www.stpatricksfour.org), read about them, sign the letter of support, and try to get bloggers to carry the story. Their trial is on the 19th of September.
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 5 2005 19:32 utc | 14
hmm, anon,i have never heard of the stpatricks4 until today, maybe billmon hasn’t either. some of us are ‘really’ trying to make a change. you might try spreading the news w/out insulting your audience. thanks for the link.
the courage and pain of cindy sheehan has inspired countless people to come forward , many who have never gotten involved w/active protest before. whether your cause is more noble or steeped in morality i won’t be the judge. but don’t disparage the efforts of others.every step counts.
Posted by: annie | Sep 5 2005 22:35 utc | 15
malooga and juannie, great posts! inspirational really!
you make me feel less like i’m just banging my head against the wall.
the average middle-class folks are quite scared. the media breeds fear in the population.
their ritualistic beer and football or hour of dutyful church-going just don’t seem to quell their fears anymore. they are nervous because they sense something is wrong but can’t sem to be able to pin down the source. the government seems to have the terrorists and the scary poor folk under control. but, they still feel uneasy. poor bastards!
Posted by: lenin’s ghost | Sep 5 2005 23:55 utc | 16
@malooga
of course i have my days where it all gets to me. after the election i was obsessed w/ohio and the futility of it all.prior to that i delved into politics in a way i normally don’t working at the dean office about 25hrs a week and organizing my precinct, door to door and working on the caucus here and in other states.i live in a very liberal section of seattle and most of my neighbors are socially conscious. i also have some very close friends who are clueless and get most of their political news from me.in my day to day life i am unloading crap. downsizing. my mother used to tell me the more you have the more you have to clean. i also believe you don’t own stuff it owns you. i just attended a conference on permaculture and am actually talking w/ people interested in getting land together. i think about the future and believe in my lifetime we are going to be seeing drastic changes. most people tend to let the future just creep up on them. sometimes i think my personal everyday life isn’t cutting the mustard, it comes and goes in tides. but its important to just sit back and smell the roses once and awhile. i don’t feel at all guilty when i head up to the mountain in the middle of the week find a good spot, stare up at the sky and just throw away the afternoon w/a friend. i am an artist but also have been self employed the majority of my adult life and have made wise investments. my son is moving out today which will be quite a domestic change for me (all those late night beer fests in the basement, gone!) and inspired by your post i ask his father, and we hardly talk politics when we see eachother, about his impression of katrina. he’s more informed than i thought, i think many average people are quite concerned w/infrastructure. he called it fragile and went on about the f ing privatization of prisons and whats happening to the funding for schools. but he didn’t see any forthought w/regards to the mess in NO. i, on the other hand never underestimate the coniving of cheney@co.
but i believe alot of americans are starting to wake up. the one’s who have been previously not concerned.i think the american dream is dead. but i don’t think dreams are dead. we can’t have ‘the american dream ‘ w/out screwing up the world.
the obsession w/material things has replaced the makings of decent moral fiber. it is inevitable that we will experience a crash. we need it, we deserve it, and i think it will come,soon. within the next decade. its important to enjoy the little things.
Posted by: annie | Sep 6 2005 0:24 utc | 17
Annie,
People like us are in the vanguard now. I am an artist as well who has learned to live independently on next to nothing. I’ve never been in debt and owe no one anything now. I stay in shape and out of the medical system. I am my own boss. I treasure life and continue to experience joy. I refuse to let that be stolen from me. A crash won’t hurt me because I know how to adjust instantly. I don’t fight life. I try to remain flexible and make the most of it, while, of course, putting effort into collective improvement. I believe in universal orchestration and balance.
But I think the greatest contribution now is to cut back consumption. What good does it do to travel to a city for a big protest while consuming mega amounts of petroleum products doing so?
Working diligently in our communities and trying as much as possible to consume local products, thus cutting all that transportation gluttony, is a good solution.
People like you will be needed to teach others how to live.
There is no need to fear the future. Good things are always happening. You carve your own niche and safety is a fact of life too.
Posted by: jm | Sep 6 2005 1:25 utc | 18
I have written to Billmon three times now with no acknowledgment. I did not intend to insult people but to rouse them to something immediate and important that is being ignored. Howard Zinn actually has a quote regarding the fact that no one has heard of the St. Pat’s Four. I also did not criticize Cindy Sheehan, but it is just so easy to support her. It was more difficult to make a real stance against the war, before the war as the St. Patricks Four did.
Malooga- i enjoy your posts. (esp perked up after you mentioned weitko!) i think that if you are in control of your radio show, you are in a fortunate situation, which can also provide invaluable community service. you ask good questions, appear well-read & conscientious, and arm yourself w/ knowledge. continuing arming those who listen to you and don’t worry too much about those who haven’t woken up yet. as others have mentioned, we will be surprised by what people are already thinking. and it would be impossible for any one individual to reach everyone at the same level. not everyone wears the same prescription of cultural eyeglasses. remain optimistic about those areas you can control b/c others are doing the same & eventually it will all fit together. and don’t retreat into the delusion of the “american dream” – it’s crumbling fast. while it’s not possible to know what’s possible, it is possible to know what’s really fucked up & needs to change.
Posted by: b real | Sep 6 2005 2:34 utc | 21
One of the most revealing sources for me is my local talk radio station which has a powerful signal and crosses the whole country. It is located in the West. The overnight host has been there for about 30 years and is well loved and listened to. He is an independent and a highly intelligent man well versed in history and politics. His wide, curious audience is fantastically diverse. As radical as I am, I enjoy participating in these discussions and the realization that the opinions of people are not as simply categorized as some think. Of course, the host’s nonpartisan position is so helpful but it shows how we can come together and discuss the problems of our country without hatred and the stupidity of party loyalty. He has had some very unusual and interesting guests and I consider him a local treasure. The station itself has all political positions represented in its programming. So it’s back to local control and the continuing power of radio in our public forum. I don’t have a television so radio has always been a huge part of my life. And it keeps me fond of my fellow citizens when I hear them express themselves without hysteria and parroting.
Posted by: jm | Sep 6 2005 2:52 utc | 22
BTW, Annie, I love your mother’s philosophy of possession. I agree wholeheartedly.
Posted by: jm | Sep 6 2005 2:56 utc | 23
There’s no time for pop culture resistance. Vigil for a grieving mother? Sure, easy, count me in. Stand in solidarity with four parents who, in accordance with their faith, poured blood on the flag in a military recruiting office? Well….
this is a quote i found on the stpatrick’sfour website in an article titled the path out of crawford leads to binghampton
for some reason cindy just caught the eyes and ears of the press and that gave her a lot of momentum. our neighborhood in ballard had anti war protests continually during the build up to the war and the press didn’t bat an eye. well, out of seattle.
as for the stpatricksfour, i did a search over at kos and found nothing, perhaps you should write a diary. talk about your personal experience with this group or why their plight w/ the trial resonates w/you. this would be a really good time to inform other people since the trial is coming up. or better yet, if you are affiliated w/any of the 4 why don’t they write a diary?? personally i have an issue w/blood. i can’t help it . i sympathize w/them but am not clear how ‘ in accordance with their faith, poured blood on the flag ” some people just resist these kinds of images. but it doesn’t sound like anyone is ignoring them. their forum has an impressive list of speakers.
they just need more exposure. good luck
Posted by: annie | Sep 6 2005 4:25 utc | 24
OH MY GOD, BILLMONS NEW PHOTOSHOP W/BARBARA is so overthetop i couldn’t wait for the thread to comment
Posted by: annie | Sep 6 2005 4:46 utc | 25
annie, unfortunately in babs’ sick mind she will consider the association to and the likeness of marie antonette (although marie probably never uttered those words) flattering. and this is just another example of the bushes’ arrogance and complete divorcement from the reality of these people and reality in general. shrub learned well, like mother, like daughter.
Summary. Two days before the invasion of Iraq, four Catholic Workers from Ithaca (NY), in an act of non-violent civil resistance, entered a military recruiting center, read a statement, and carefully poured their own blood around the vestibule. The four, all parents, were tried in Tompkins County Court in April 2004 on charges of criminal mischief. Nine of twelve jurors voted to acquit.
However, almost a year later, the US government decided to retry the four, now on charges of conspiracy. If convicted, they face up to six years in prison and $250,000 in fines. The St. Patrick’s Four trial begins September 19 in Binghamton, NY.
It didn’t cost me anything to sign a letter in their support.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Sep 6 2005 14:04 utc | 28