Sour Relief
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, American GIs were going absent without leave (AWOL) because they didn’t want to fight in Vietnam. Today, the new generation of American GIs are going AWOL more because they need treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Civilian attorney James Branum recently told Dahr Jamail of Inter Press Service that his client, Eric Jasinski, 23, took matters into his own hands after not receiving the proper care from the military’s mental health facilities. “[Jasinski] has heavy duty PTSD and never would have gone AWOL if he’d gotten the help he needed from the military,” said Branum. “This case highlights the need of the military to provide better mental health care for its soldiers.”
Veterans Seek Casualty Plan From Obama Administration
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the late 1960s and early 1970s, American GIs were going absent without leave (AWOL) because they didn’t want to fight in Vietnam.
Today, the new generation of American GIs are going AWOL more because they need treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Civilian attorney James Branum recently told Dahr Jamail of Inter Press Service that his client, Eric Jasinski, 23, took matters into his own hands after not receiving the proper care from the military’s mental health facilities.
“[Jasinski] has heavy duty PTSD and never would have gone AWOL if he’d gotten the help he needed from the military,” said Branum. “This case highlights the need of the military to provide better mental health care for its soldiers.”
Before Jasinski’s deployment, personal matters already complicated his life, such as a fresh divorce and his grandmother’s death.
Jasinski said he acquired severe PTSD after serving in Iraq for a year as an Army intelligence analyst.
His job was to collect data used to direct strikes on targets from the air; the violence and deaths he caused compounded his guilt feelings, he said.
Not to mention that the lifes of two of his friends were shattered in Iraq: one died while the other lost his legs from a bomb.
Jasinski was diagnosed with PTSD from a civilian doctor and given medication; however, upon learning he would have to serve another deployment through the stop-loss program, he decided to go on the run.
Jasinski said he turned himself over to authorities at Fort Hood in Texas on Dec. 11 after a year because he wanted to get on with his life and become a social worker to help others.
Jasinski’s lawyer said that their hope is to have the military treat Jasinski or grant him a medical discharge. No court martial.
What Obama Plan?
Jasinski’s advice for troops experiencing PTSD symptoms but not receiving care from the military is to seek care for themselves, no matter the financial cost.
“Go see a civilian, and hopefully that therapist will help you; even then I’m not sure that will help, but you have to take that chance,” he told IPS.
But that’s Jasinski’s plan.
The Obama administration has yet to come up with policy to care for the 30,000 U.S. soldiers he wants to deploy to Afghanistan when they return home.
Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), said in a op-ed piece for Truthout.org that during his announcement of the troop escalation on Dec.1 at West Point, President Barack Obama made no mention of caring for the American casualties from the war.
And it’s not like there hasn’t been such a casualty plan before; VCS pointed this out on CNN in October 2006 (during the Bush administration) before the Walter Reed scandal broke.
However, Sullivan now placed the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Obama in his piece “Obama’s Wars, Obama’s Casualties, Obama’s Responsibilities.”
“… let us be very clear: our Nation shall not repeat the mistakes after the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the first eight years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, where the long-term medical needs of our service members and veterans were neglected,” he wrote.
Great Risk
Sullivan cited four major challenges for the U.S. military and the Veteran’s Administration: helping the already 500,000 veteran patients in the military’s system, finding doctors to cover the health care labor shortages, dropping the suicide rate among soldiers, and covering the financial cost of the wars.
If nothing is done to give veterans mental disability benefits, the health of the military and the nation is at great risk.
Sullivan cited independent expert and governmental evidence from the Veterans for Common Sense v. Peake case linking PTSD, depression, suicide, and other psychological and social disorders to deployed soldiers, veterans, and their families.
Under oath, Dr. Gerald Cross, the deputy under secretary for health in the VA, said that “the high rates of PTSD among Iraq veterans are the result of various factors, including multiple deployments, the inability to identify the enemy, the lack of real safe zones and the inadvertent killing of innocent civilians.”
Moreover, the nation’s top suicide expert, Dr. Ronald Maris, said that “depression and PTSD are two of the leading risk factors for suicide.”
The mental health problem is systemic, according to studies by the RAND Corporation and Stanford University.
If two million service members are deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and between 18 and 35 percent of them have depression and PTSD, then it stands to reason that the VA must treat between 360,000 and 700,000 soldiers with serious mental health problems.
“The estimates are reasonable, as the VA has already treated more than 227,000 mental health cases from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and 40 percent of our troops have deployed twice or more,” wrote Sullivan.
Already this year, the Army has seen one of its own psychologists allegedly gun down his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. Major Nidal Hassan’s case will see a court perhaps next year.
But that doesn’t discount the record numbers of suicides reported and confirmed from 2006 to 2009.
The VCS’s casualty plan proposed to President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is five-fold: fill the mental health vacancies throughout the VA system; test for mental health problems in soldiers before and after deployment and provide care accordingly; crack down on the stigma of mental health problems in the military ranks; process claims through the VA quicker, which means hiring more staff; and have the VA freely share information about the total human and financial costs of these two wars.
“We can and must do better under President Obama,” wrote Sullivan
‘March Forward’ Plan
And then there’s the plan from “March Forward!,” an organization founded in 2008 that includes veterans and active-duty members of the U.S. military.
Two days after Obama’s announcement, “March Forward” called on active duty members of the military to refuse orders to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The group’s founders say that the refusal must be carried out because the occupations of these two countries are both illegal and immoral.
But, of course, the medical treatment returning soldiers receive is inadequate also.
Said the group in a statement:
“On Dec.1, we got a clear order from President Obama. For many more years, we will be sent to kill, to die, to be maimed and wounded, in a war where ‘victory’ is impossible, against a people who are not our enemies. For over eight years, we have come home in coffins, in wheelchairs, with our skin burned and with our days and nights haunted by the trauma of war. We return home to a VA whose services are so inadequate that active duty soldiers who succumb to suicide outnumber those killed in combat.”
Obama Opposes Glass-Stegall Wall Street Reg, Senators For
The Obama administration and key U.S. senators are butting heads over the reinstatement of a Depression era regulation for Wall Street.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration and key U.S. senators are butting heads over the reinstatement of a Depression era regulation for Wall Street.
Team Obama is opposed to the Glass-Stegall Act while the bipartisan group of senators lead by Sens. John McCain and Maria Cantwell are for it.
The Glass-Stegall Act of 1933 would separate the institutions of commercial and investment banking whereby it would be illegal for consumers’ deposits to be used on the stock market.
Using consumers’ deposites was one of the main causes of The Great Depression, according to federal investigators of that era.
However, Obama is against instituting the Act back into law, which was repealed under the Clinton administration with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.
Obama’s reasoning is that, as Newsweek magazine put it: “You can’t turn back the clock.”
“I think going back to Glass-Steagall would be like going back to the Walkman,” one senior Treasury official told Newsweek.
According to Bloomberg, John S. Reed, the former co-CEO of Citigroup, wishes to go back to the Walkman and make Glass-Steagall federal law.
Three Professional Nurse Unions Form National Organization
Three of the nation’s largest unions for professional nursing aligned into one national group earlier this month.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Three of the nation’s largest unions for professional nursing aligned into one national group earlier this month.
The immediate goal for the 150,000-member National Nurses United is to pass national health care reform currently being debated in Congress.
The three unions include California Nurses Association (83,000 members), the Massachusetts Nurses Union (23,000), and the United American Nurses (45,000).
The merger occurred at a convention in Phoenix after eight months in talks.
The three unions will operate independently in their regions only to take on national reforms on the federal level as the National Nurses United.
The nurses unions are in favor of single-payer health care system as promoted on Capitol Hill by Rep. John Conyers in the House and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Senate.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee successfully changed California law to enforce new nurse-to-patient ratios, which are seen as increased average nurses’ salaries from $59,937 in 2004 to $81,428 last year.
This ratio law still has its critics who say that there is no evidence that it improves patient care, though it is the only law of its kind in the nation.
Marijuana Legalization Up For Vote In California Next Year
California will vote on the legalization of marijuana in its state next year, according to The Los Angeles Times.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will vote on the legalization of marijuana in its state next year, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Organizers for the ballot measure say that they have collected 680,000 signatures, or 250,000 more than is required by state law.
The measure would give municipal districts a wide range of tax control on the sale and production of marijuana in the state.
The Times reported, “It would make it legal for adults over 21 years old to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and to grow it in a 25-square-foot area for personal use.”
A new Angus Reid poll found that 53 percent of voters across the country back the legalization of marijuana.
If marijuana is legalized, California advocates expect $1.5 billion in tax revenues in the first year.
California is in the midst of a state-financial crisis.
Should the measure win, it would still butt heads with federal laws that classify marijuana as a controlled substance with no medical value.
Bailed-Out Firm Hires Ex-Bailout Czar
One day Neel Kashkari is camping in the woods of Northern California.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One day Neel Kashkari is camping in the woods of Northern California.
The next, the Treasury Department’s former bailout czar is working for the very investment giant he helped bailout, PIMCO.
In fact, PIMCO wrote its own bailout itself, according to Reuters’ Felix Salmon.
Moreover, the New York branch of the Federal Reserve hired PIMCO and three other firms to manage its $1.25 trillion mortgage-backed securities purchase program.
Talking Points Memo noted that PIMCO’s close ties to the Treasury Department and the Fed gave it the nickname “the fourth branch of government.”
The revolving door doesn’t stop here: Kashkari was once a vice president at Goldman Sachs.
Former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson appointed Kashkari to run the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Goldman in turn received a heafty bailout from the federal government under TARP.
PIMCO, on its own, hired former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan as a consultant.
Kucinich To Invoke War Powers Act
Former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich promised at an anti-war rally last week to introduce bills to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich promised at an anti-war rally last week to introduce bills to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
“I will soon introduce two bills invoking the War Powers Act, which will force votes on withdrawal from Afghanistan. The decision to go to war is not the president’s alone to make” said the Ohio representative before the hundreds of protesters outside the White House.
Kucinich noted, however, that Congress would vote that week on continuing to fund the conflict the military occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq by $ 130 billion dollars.
The demonstration came as President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
Earlier in the month Obama announced that the U.S. would send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
Kucinich is seeking congressional support for invoking the War Powers Act of 1973, which he says in a letter still places the burden of declaring war in the hands of Congress.
“Despite the president’s assertion that previous congressional action gives him the authority to respond to the attacks of September 11, 2001, a careful reading of the Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) makes cleat that the AUMF did not supersede ‘any requirement of the War Powers Resolution’ and therefore did not undermine Congress’ ability to revisit the constitutional question of war powers at a later date,” said the letter.
Brits: Prosecute Blair For War Crimes
Britons are now calling for their former prime minister to be prosecuted for war crimes.
LONDON, England — Britons are now calling for their former prime minister to be prosecuted for war crimes.
The outrage sparked last week when Tony Blair publicly admitted that he would have still backed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq regardless of Iraq not having weapons of mass destruction.
Blair noted on the BBC that then-Iraq President Saddam Hussein should have been deposed for his threat.
Lawyers for the Hussein promised to file charges against Blair.
International lawyer Philippe Sands told The Sunday Herald that such prosecutions are not surprising considering Blair’s admission.
“The fact that the policy was fixed by Tony Blair irrespective of the facts on the ground, and irrespective of the legality, will now expose him more rather than less to legal difficulties,” said Sands.
Newspaper editors and anti-war activists groups are also recommending that the current British war inquiry switch gears after Blair’s comment.
Blair is to meet with the inquiry led by former civil servant John Chilcot next spring. The meeting will reportedly be in secret.
Blair originally justified the invasion of Iraq on allegations that the Middle East nation had WMDs with which to harm the West.
None of the WMDs claimed to exist were ever found.
Blix: U.S. Itself Could Prosecute Bush
Speaking to a British newspaper, a former U.N. nuclear weapons inspector said that if former President George W. Bush is to be prosecuted for misleading the American people against Iraq, the United States itself must carry it out.
LONDON, England — Speaking to a British newspaper, a former U.N. nuclear weapons inspector said that if former President George W. Bush is to be prosecuted for misleading the American people against Iraq, the United States itself must carry it out.
Dr. Hans Blix told The Daily Mail that Bush could not be put on trial at an international tribunal because Congress has never signed on to such a process.
“Bush, at least, could not be tried before the International Criminal Court in the Hague because the U.S. is not a signatory to it. But I wouldn’t say it’s impossible,” he noted, adding. “A national tribunal maybe.”
Dr. Blix — the 81-year-old Cambridge-educated international lawyer — explained that in his opinion, both Bush and former Prime Minister Tony Blair “misled themselves, and then misled the public” on the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq.
That said, Blix, who led the investigation into the original claims and found no such weapons, is not spearheading any effort to have either leader held legally accountable for their misleading their countrymen.
Instead, Blix devotes his time to lobbying for nuclear energy as a solution to climate change, according to The Mail.
Drug Money Saved Banks During Financial Crisis: U.N.
The money deposited by organized crime syndicates saved a few banks from collapse due to the financial crisis last year, according to a U.N. official.
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — The money deposited by organized crime syndicates saved a few banks from collapse due to the financial crisis last year, according to a U.N. official.
Said Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime:
“In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor.”
Costa declined to the UK Observer which countries or banks were saved in this way because his job is to speak to the problem only, not lay blame.
However, the Observer noted, “It is understood that evidence that drug money has flowed into banks came from officials in Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the U.S.”
In all, organized crime had an estimated $352 billion in drug money laundered through the banks over the last two years, the newspaper reported.
Alaska To Focus On Heavy Oil Extraction
Alaskan lawmakers will focus on developing a plan to extract 30 billion barrells of ‘heavy oil’ from its North Slope this spring.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Alaskan lawmakers will focus on developing a plan to extract 30 billion barrells of ‘heavy oil’ from its North Slope this spring.
Such a plan has been on the backburner because heavy oil is more expensive than the state’s natural gas supply to pull out of the ground.
Natural gas prices are at seven-year lows in comparison to oil which has become twice as costly in the same period, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
However, looking at the bigger picture, 30 billion barrells is not much oil, especially if one-fifth of it is recoverable according to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas.
“In the year 2000 alone, about 30 billion barrels of oil were consumed (worldwide,” wrote Peter Goodchild, author of Survival Skills of the North American Indians, published by Chicago Review Press.
What makes heavy oil so expensive is that its consistency is like that of honey, unlike light, sweet crude oil.
Other places where heavy oil is located include Canada and Venezuela.
In the last five years, ConocoPhillips, BP, and Italian firm Eni have staked out an investment in heavy oil
However, Conoco’s production has not increased in the North Slope due to its unforeseen complexities, said a spokesperson.
Give Hospital Cleaners A Christmas Bonus
You know who deserves a Christmas bonus this year?
The people who clean hospitals for a living.
Actually, from now on, just go ahead and pay them more in yearly salary.
According to the New Economics Foundation, hospital cleaners create $16 of value for every $1 they are paid.
Bankers, on the other hand, destroy $11.30 of value for every $1 they are paid.
But bankers aren’t the worst value vampires: tax accountants blast roughly $76 in value for every $1 generated, according to the Foundation.
NEF spokesperson Eilis Lawlor explained to the BBC that her think tank’s formula is not an attempt to undermine workers in any particular social class.
It’s merely for reflecting the true value of society.
“As a society, we need a pay structure which rewards those jobs that create most societal benefit rather than those that generate profits at the expense of society and the environment,” she said.
The conclusion to which the think tank came is pretty obvious: pay people according to their value to society, and add a environmental impacts to the payment levels as well.
And tax the wealthy more.
In A Minute
Unfortunately, the NEF report fails to mention how much value soldiers create or how much they destroy society.
It must depend on one’s point of view.
Is Al-Qaeda a stain?
Is Osama bin Ladin a bargain?
Writing for TomDispatch.com, Jo Comerford estimated that American taxpayers are paying $57,077.60 per minute for the privilege of having American troops surging in Afghanistan.
That calculation seemed to be based purely on labor costs: 30,000 troops at $30 billion equals $57,077.60. That doesn’t count machinery, other assorted technologies, the bases being built, and the training of our so-called “Afghan police force.”
By her calculations, the cost of occupying Afghanistan will be in the neighborhood of $103 billion in 2010 alone.
“That’s equal to total annual U.S. spending on all veteran’s benefits, from hospital stays to education,” the executive director of the National Priorities Project noted.
And this occupation is not “budget deficit neutral” either.
Since this time in 2007, over seven million jobs have been lost in the United States, she wrote.
For just $30 billion, a lot more could have been bought at home.
“According to a recent report issued by the Political Economy Research Institute, that sum could generate a whopping 537,810 construction jobs, 541,080 positions in healthcare, fund 742,740 teachers or employ 831,390 mass transit workers,” Comerford wrote.
So to whom does the Salvation Army bell tolls?
— Nathan Diebenow
Christmas At Juvy Hall
This column began about three decades ago. I began working on it in 1985. I’m still not sure I’ve got it right, but it is my Christmas present to you, as it once was to me.
Christmas never meant that much to me.
Well, not after I quit sticking my feet under mama’s table, anyway.
Most of my Christmases were spent in some bar or greasy spoon poring over a still-damp early edition with my byline and somebody else’s bloody mistake all over it.
I had about as much goodwill in my soul as a multiple-car pileup or a family reunion shooting.
But that was before I had supper with Santa Claus.
It was called Pete’s, or maybe Joe’s, or the Deluxe Diner; someplace with enough chrome out front to grille a Cadillac and enough grease out back to lube one. About the only thing to recommend it was that it hadn’t the decency to close on Christmas Eve.
He was sitting there in a dirty red suit that looked like it came from the north pole, alright, by way of the seedier parts of New Jersey. His hat and mittens lay in a crumpled heap on the only other occupied seat in the joint.
He was nursing a cup of bad coffee and line of worse jokes. The cook ignored him so he tried a few on the waitress. She wasn’t buying, either. Humor doesn’t sit well on hot griddles and flat feet.
More out of curiosity than compassion, boredom than benevolence, I sat down and soaked up a couple of his jokes.
His name was Meyer.
He lived alone.
He sensed he had an ear beside him primed for more than corny puns, so he filled it with his life’s story.
His wife died. Car wreck. They said the guy was drunk. Who knows? To this day, he said, he still slept on the one side of the bed.
They had a son, born just in time for Khe San.
Bitter? Nah! He was an immigrant. Maybe if he hadn’t come here, his son would never have been born at all.
But he missed kids, So every year he put on the suit and went down to juvenile hall to play Santa…
Juvenile Hall?
Jeez, Meyer, juvy hall? An orphan’s home or the children’s hospital maybe. But juvy hall? That’s like delivering kittens to a hyena den! The kids they lock up out there have broken glass for souls!
Yeah. This year a kid they had in isolation (That’s the child psychology euphemism for solitary.) spit on him. Youngster about 15. You probably remember reading about him.
No. I wrote about him.
I remembered all right.
I remembered a pool of congealed blood next to a busted open candy machine.
I remembered a young woman with a couple of babies who would have to make do with a smiling cop’s fading, black-draped picture instead of a father. She had that kind of stunned agony on her face people get when they’ve been told their life is over, but they’ve got to go on living anyway.
I remembered the obituary of a naive kid just out of the academy who once told his partner he didn’t like wearing a gun, but if he did, maybe everybody else wouldn’t have to.
I remembered a rap sheet on a youngster about 15 that took up three pages.
He was a punk.
Now he was a killer.
“Lord, Meyer, what kind of kid spits on Santa Claus?”
“Exactly the kind of kid who needs to know there is a Santa Claus.
“Come on, Meyer, I been to more than three county fairs and a taffy pull. I don’t want to hear that sheep dip about how there ain’t no bad kids… “
“Oh no, there’s bad kids. Lot’s of ‘em. And bad places where they come from and most of them never get out of. Sure there’s bad kids. Why do you think I go down to juvy hall every year in this lousy suit and pretend not to die inside when I remember putting together an electric train for my little boy and talking to my Sarah about really important things like getting a new couch, or where we would send him to college or whether we should try to get a new car next year or the year after? I don’t let all that kill my soul because there’s bad kids. And because there’s not much you or me or anybody can do about it except whatever we can.”
“C’mon, Meyer, you’re not even a Christian…”
“So maybe a guy from Nazareth wasn’t a Jew? Lemme tell you something. When my boy died, they took a long time getting the body home. So long I got mad about it. It seems sort of foolish now, but at the time it was important to me. So they finally told me why.
“See, he wounded. And this corpsman, this other kid named Reilly was carrying him. And when they got hit by this mortar shell, they got all mixed up together, and they took some time straightening things out. How many Jews you know named Reilly? Tell me how a Lace Curtain Mick from New Rochelle gets mixed up in the same plastic sack with a Jew from Dallas. Maybe then we can talk more about Christians and Jews.”
We talked some more. I don’t remember about what. Christmas mostly.
I didn’t notice until he said his good-byes and reached to pay for his coffee. As his hand extended across the counter, the frayed red sleeve hiked up about halfway to reveal a tattoo on the underside of his forearm; a series of dark blue numbers.
I sat for a long time after he left, staring at my own reflection against the moonless city night, thinking. Thinking about history; humankind, whatever that is. Thoughts. Deeds. Words.
Mostly some words I hadn’t thought of in a long time, but have thought of quite a lot since:
“Fear not, for I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior…”
Christmas Piece 2009
It’s Christmas, by cracky. But, the lack of snow makes getting into the spirit somewhat difficult. “They said there’ll be snow at Christmas.”*
It’s Christmas, by cracky.
But, the lack of snow makes getting into the spirit somewhat difficult.
“They said there’ll be snow at Christmas.”*
Yes, I do hate snow. But, as much as I dislike it, snow is one of the primary elements that make Christmas, well, Christmas.
Or, so we’ve been led to believe.
It’s really difficult to be merry and gay (okay, so being gay just comes natural for some folks) when the grass is still green — in the northern part of Illinois.
Yet, the reminders are always present, like having to dodge the Salvation Army guilt patrol every time I need to run into a grocery store for a loaf of bread.
In this time of economic unsettledness, the Salvationistas seem to have become more aggressive, positioning themselves not off to one side or another of store entries and exits but right in the path of shoppers.
And they’ve set up buckets at more stores than in past years.
I usually share some change upon the first encounter of the season, but if I have more to give it’s going to Mazon.
Sorry, I digress…
Not having rugrats to fill our home with wonderment (nor am I anxious that my son should provide some), my seasonal joy is somewhat limited to the sparkle of lights on a tree (this year we got one earlier than the past few years, and it’s really a beauty), assisted by Christmas movies, television programs, and music.
We kicked off our holiday viewing traditionally, with the original 1966 version of Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas;” the size of our hearts can’t help but be increased as Boris Karloff genially recounts events in Whoville, and the love shown by each Who to one another.
For the second year we’ve been delighted by the antics of Will Ferrell’s supersized “Elf” (2003) — with Ed Asner as the perfect Santa, and Bob Newhart’s wonderfully droll elf narrator.
And, just last evening, our faith in humankind was at least partially restored as we made the annual visit with Charles Schulz’ Peanuts crowd for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965).
Then there’s the music; in an attempt to spark my enthusiasm I’ve had more holiday ditties and carols playing in the background than the past few years.
Tchaikovsky offers a life-sized Nutcracker.
Pearl Bailey wants five pounds of money in a box.
Bing Crosby dreams of a Christmas that’s snowy white.
Frank Sinatra waltzes through the season in three/four time.
Judy Garland suggests having a little Christmas, so long as it’s merry.
Nat “King” Cole seems to be roasting Mel Torme’s chestnuts on an open fire.
Paul McCartney is simply having a wonderful Christmastime.
Eartha Kitt is still looking for that 1954 Caddy convertible.
Gene Autry’s up on the rooftop, brightly lit by Rudolph’s shiny red nose.
Jimmy Buffett may venture off to Christmas Island.
As Hitler laments his lost tannenbaum, Satan is keeping space reserved for Andy Dick.
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer believe in Father Christmas — still looking for peace on Earth.
The Kinks express a more pragmatic need for cash rather than silly toys.
Dean Martin lets us know how cold it is outside.
Elvis is blue.
The Beatles teach us that o-u-t spells “out.”
Willie Nelson says you better be good, and watch out because Santa Claus is coming to town.
Mr. Hankey will undoubtedly be making a visit, too.
According to Sammy Davis, Jr., all the world over it’s Christmas time.
John Lennon reminds us war can be over, the best gift ever, so long as we want it.
Mahalia Jackson is having a silent night, one that’s holy as well.
And in between the Christmas cheer, this being a democratic household, for eight nights we light the candles.
Thus, the best I can leave with you are the words of St. Nick, as quoted by Clement Clark Moore, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!”
Shalom.
* Greg Lake, “I Believe In Father Christmas”
(Erstwhile Philosopher and former Educator Jerry Tenuto is a veteran who survived, somewhat emotionally intact, seven years in the U.S. Army. Despite a penchant for late-night revelry, he managed to earn BS and MA Degrees in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. On advice from a therapist, he continues to bang out his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast — providing much-needed catharsis. Jerry is also licensed to perform marriage ceremonies in 45 states.)
Wisconsin Has A Bug
We all know that states have “official” animals, birds, and flowers. Until I did a little research, I didn’t know that there were also state insects, amphibians, and reptiles. For example, the state insect of New York is the ladybug, Missouri’s reptile is the three toed box turtle, and the official amphibian of Washington is the Pacific chorus frog. However, recently Wisconsin has taken this naming of living things a step further. America’s Dairyland, whose state dance is the polka, has been in the news lately because there is a bill before the state legislature to name a State Germ.
We all know that states have “official” animals, birds, and flowers. Until I did a little research, I didn’t know that there were also state insects, amphibians, and reptiles. For example, the state insect of New York is the ladybug, Missouri’s reptile is the three toed box turtle, and the official amphibian of Washington is the Pacific chorus frog. However, recently Wisconsin has taken this naming of living things a step further. America’s Dairyland, whose state dance is the polka, has been in the news lately because there is a bill before the state legislature to name a State Germ.
Representative Gary Hebl has introduced a bill that would make the bacterium that helps in the production of cheese the official State Microbe of Wisconsin. This supposed beloved microbe is as easy to say as it is for someone to say “she sells seashells” after downing a few six-packs of Wisconsin’s state drink. The microbe is called the Lactococcus Lactis.
Hebl feels that his bill would pay homage to Wisconsin’s cheese heritage while also promoting its image as an important location for biotechnology and microbiology research. Isn’t it nice that instead of spending all of their time on a depressing subject like unemployment, some legislators want to brighten their constituents’ day by debating what should be the state microbe?
Regina Whitemarsh, a microbiology student at the University of Wisconsin, is all for the measure. In fact, she said, “I think other states would try to think of other, cooler microbes to pick, but I don’t think they could find one, so they’d be jealous.”
I had never thought about being jealous of another state because of its microbe. But now that Wisconsin’s Whitemarsh has thrown down the gauntlet, she has my attention and she should have yours. She has scoffed at us and challenged the rest of the country to find “cooler microbes” for their states. Game on.
How hard can it be to come up with a “cooler microbe?” Microbes are the oldest form of life on Earth. There are billions of them — just in and on our bodies. The three major types of microbes are bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Let’s throw out protozoa. It sounds too much like high school biology. Nobody wants to be the Protozoa State.
That leaves bacteria and viruses. Right off the bat, let’s ask the big question: would any state want to declare itself the Swine Flu State or the Land of N1H1? Even if they mean that their state is so strong they aren’t worried about taking on swine flu, I just don’t see it appearing on any mugs or license plates.
I think going with something well known might be the way to shut down Wisconsin. If I were a governor, I’d quickly sign up for the Common Cold State. I know the cold is made up of many viruses, but who said we have to limit ourselves to one? Objectively speaking, doesn’t California, the Common Cold State, have a better ring to it than Wisconsin, the Lactococcus Lactis State?
Another way to go is with the microbe that keeps many kids out of school each year — the Streptococcus. Strep throat is no joke. People have to take it seriously, so they’d have to take seriously the state that adopted the Streptococcus. In any case, it would be an interesting battle — the one between the Lactococcus and the Streptococcus. In the spirit of fairness, may the best ococcus win.
Scientists believe there is a “good bacteria” that helps keep our breath smelling nice. Does good breath trump good cheese? Only time will tell if a state grabs the anti-bad breath bacteria for its very own.
We often hear that yogurt contains good bacteria that helps with digestion and other things. If there is to be a “Yogurt State,” it will probably be a blue state politically. I’m afraid the conservative red states will feel that yogurt is “too French.”
Like an infection in a science fiction movie, once this fight for the best microbe gets going, I don’t know that anyone will be able to stop it. It’s all pretty shocking. I never would have guessed that a nice, Midwestern state like Wisconsin would challenge the rest of the country to a new kind of germ warfare.
(Lloyd Garver has written for many television shows, ranging from “Sesame Street” to “Family Ties” to “Home Improvement” to “Frasier.” He has also read many books, some of them in hardcover. He can be reached at lloydgarver@gmail.com. Check out his website at lloydgarver.com and his podcasts on iTunes.)
Amassing A Fortune: Chile, Conquistadores & Afghans
Writing all that stuff about the 2009 Chilean presidential elections a few days ago has plum worn me out — and now I can´t think of anything else to write about here in Santiago that would be even half as exciting. But my hotel has free internet so I feel like I gotta write about something. I know! I can write about how freaking WARM it is down here. I knew I had a reason for coming. It´s 85 degrees. Perfect.
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
Writing all that stuff about the 2009 Chilean presidential elections a few days ago has plum worn me out — and now I can´t think of anything else to write about here in Santiago that would be even half as exciting. But my hotel has free internet so I feel like I gotta write about something. I know! I can write about how freaking WARM it is down here. I knew I had a reason for coming. It´s 85 degrees. Perfect.
I went to the main cathedral in Santiago today — and somehow that reminded me of the war on Afghanistan. The cathedral was built by conquistadores after their war on the local Indios. It´s the same principle. You go to war. You amass a fortune. You spend your fortune on grandiose things. The conquistadores had money coming out of their ears and built this GLORIOUS cathedral — but they built it on the blood and the bones of the poor slobs that they had conquered.
Is the amassing of fabulous wealth worth all the pain that it costs? Do the victors really have the right-of-way? And do they really get away scot-free?
What ever DID become of the conquistadores?
“Okay, Jane you are really wandering off base on this one….” As usual. But look at it this way. The conquistadores came here and occupied Chile. The occupation was profitable. The Bush-Obama administration has occupied Afghanistan — and that occupation is profitable, too. But exactly who profits? In the case of Afghanistan, it is clearly the weapons manufacturers who have been amassing fortunes (It surely isn´t me — or the poor Afghans. Or the rest of America either.)
According to an article in AlterNet, the average American like you and me is really hurting financially right now. “Can you imagine an America without a strong middle class? If you can, would it still be America as we know it? Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed, or just plain out of work. One in nine families can’t make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion from pensions and savings, has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put 10 million homeowners out on the street.”
And have the weapons manufacturers, like the conquistadores, used their wealth to build cathedrals, too? Get cracking, you guys! I want to see some bell towers and stained glass produced really soon — or at least some mosques as nice as Al Aqas or the Dome of the Rock.
Meanwhile back in old-time Santiago, the conquistadores had obviously been living high on the hog — if judging by their cathedral is any rule of thumb.
And in Afghanistan? Like the Indios in the old days in Chile, most Afghans today are the poorest of the poor. And if the Bush-Obama administration really wanted to put an end to the Afghan occupation, it would simply spend its billions on improving the conditions of the Afghans instead of spending it on weapons.
I really enjoyed visiting the cathedral in Santiago. And a whole bunch of Chilean Indios died to build it. And if they want to stop being hypocritical in Afghanistan, the weapons manufacturers should start building cathedrals there too because they appear to be the conquistadores of today.
P.S. Here´s a video of the inside of the Santiago cathedral. Sorry it came out so dark but you couldn´t use flash. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqH_gdY1axs).
And here´s a video of election night at the Pinera headquarters. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f3xKSWKAy0).
Last-Minute Gift Shopping? Don’t Forget The Pepper Spray
When it comes to buying a gift for that special someone this holiday season, nothing says I love you like pepper spray.
(Flashback from 12-10-2005)
When it comes to buying a gift for that special someone this holiday season, nothing says I love you like pepper spray.
At least, that’s according to the Bureau of Shopping Statistics, which says that personal protection devices are big sellers during the holiday season. This is further supported by ex-NRA spokesman Charleton Heston, who once said, and I quote:
“Get your paws off me you dirty, stinking ape!”
What this means, of course, is that I’ve had too much coffee, and therefore should be the last person in possession of any type of weapon. It also means that the threat of apes uniting to take over the world using pepper spray is very real — which makes Christmas the perfect time to arm your loved ones with a personal protection device capable of stopping your average primate.
(If there are any English students reading this, that last paragraph was called a “segue,” which is a tool that writers often use when they:
a) Lose their point
b) Lose their mind
c) Stay up late watching Planet of the Apes.)
Like most people, you’re probably asking yourself why you’re sitting here reading this when you should be out there SHOPPING.
The reason is simple: I’m going to tell you about what is arguably the most exciting personal protection device since the pocket-sized poodle.
I’m talking, of course, about the ultimate personal protection device — The SpudChunker.
Let me tantalize you with a testimonial from a man who readily admits that his wife was once very intimidated by his SpudChunker.
But not anymore.
“Now, not only is she comfortable handling my SpudChunker, she even has her own!” — Bill Spencer, Sidney, Neb.
What is this amazing device, you ask?
(Or, more importantly, will I stop with the sexual innuendo before I lose my job?)
Take a moment to visit www.spudchucker.com, and you will discover the newest addition to the world’s personal protection arsenal: a high-velocity potato gun capable of sending a 2 inch “spud plug” 300 yards or better (depending on wind, trajectory, and whether you prefer curly or regular fries.)
You’ll be glad to know that these guns are available in 3-foot, 4-foot, double-barrel and even “tennis-ball-barrel” models — which could come in handy should you ever be attacked by Andre Agassi.
When scanning the website, you’ll notice the phrase for serious spudders only repeated many times, often followed by an exclaimation point.
There is a very good reason for this:
Meth-heads, they are.
With the holiday shopping season drawing to a close, I hope this information will be helpful to you.
And in the spirit of the holidays, remember that love sometimes means having to say you’re sorry — especially if you happen to get pepper spray on your loved one’s SpudChunker.
(You can write to Ned Hickson at nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com, or at the Siuslaw News at P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR. 97439)
Cold, Bleak Times
So here we are in the middle of winter, or at least we will be by the time you read this. The days are short and cold. Last night it was dark by 5 or 5:30 p.m., and by 8:30 I could barely keep my eyes open! No wonder bears hibernate.
So here we are in the middle of winter, or at least we will be by the time you read this. The days are short and cold. Last night it was dark by 5 or 5:30 p.m., and by 8:30 I could barely keep my eyes open! No wonder bears hibernate.
I remember when I lived up north. Winter began earlier there. I enjoyed the cold weather. But I kept waiting for that Northerner to blow on through and leave a few 70-degree days in its wake! Never happened. Finally, in late spring, summer arrived. And that was it until the next winter. How I endured seven years of this, I have no idea. Florida had shorter winters, but the rest of the year it was like living in a steam bath. I like Texas weather better. You have some cold. You have some warm (OK, HOT). Before you can blink, it’s changed.
So where’s the warm lately? I’ve had enough, thank you, of these long, cold days, one after another after another, with no toasty little breaks in between. I want the sun on my face and at my back. We had a couple of teasers last week when Old Sol finally chose to shine for a few hours. And when it started to go down, the temps dropped fast.
Zack (who hates the cold and loves summer no matter how hot it becomes) toughs it out in this season, goes and lights up brush piles, stays warm moving around the fire. Sometimes I help him, but when I stay behind to work in this icy farm house, I never seem to warm up. He comes in complaining of being too hot (not to mention singeing off a few eyebrows yesterday, usually MY trick), and finds me wearing three of four layers of clothing, with a hot sock draped around my neck.
Two of our very old Dearborn heaters finally gave up the ghost this year. We thought they only needed cleaning, but apparently the same part had to be replaced in each. The part is almost as expensive as an entire new heater, so we made the sensible decision to buy new. The newer ones are sleeker and have a smaller footprint and profile. How nice that they take up less space. Although I had become accustomed to the old dinosaurs, I always thought they were huge (and no prettier than the newer ones). Well, I hate to sound like an old codger, but these new heaters just aren’t the same. Buyer’s remorse set in. We broke down and had the part replaced in one of the old Dearborns and will pick it up today. I missed it like an old friend. Without these familiar, old boys in place, the house has seemed colder than ever, both physically and figuratively. We’ll put the second part-less heater in a barn and wait until we can make that repair as well. So much for progress.
There is little blooming now but pansies and Johnny-jump-ups I put in a few weeks ago. They replace the ubiquitous purslane and moss rose in my planters (which the frost turned to much). These are the only annuals (I’ve learned by tedious trial and error over many years) that will survive either our hot summers or cold winters. So they take seasonal turns supplementing the things that return year after year. The perennials that flower, on and off, from early spring to late fall are dormant now. I remind myself that they need a rest to come back strong and healthy, which I anticipate with great impatience. I miss the show.
I know that in a few short months, muscari (blue bells, as they are often called here), crocus, narcissus (paper whites), daffodils, hyacinths, — and all the rest— will pop up. Poppies and morning glories will sprout from this year’s seed. Bluebonnets will spread like a blanket, and everything we’ve worked so hard to plant and nurture will reward us by chasing away the winter.
Parker: Bush Is A Traitor
I want to comment on former President Bush. I’m very angry at Bush for the mess he left behind for President Obama to deal with.
I lost half my 401-K savings, and am facing a layoff from work. It’s hard to move forward, when you’re reminded of eight bad years of the Bush legacy.
Bush is a TRAITOR to the American workers by shipping three million jobs overseas, losing good wages and benefits. That’s why the economy is in trouble!
I hope someday Bush will face very tough times, just like he put our country through!
And I hope I live long enough to see the day when historians will harshly judge Bush as the second worst, and most stupid, president in U.S. history since James Buchanan.
I can tell you this!
Bush was so bad for a president he puts Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and Herbert Hoover to shame!!!
John F. Parker,
Big Bend, Wis.
Economically Speaking: Is America Burning?
There is no immunity from the economic plague hitting Americans.
Obama Becomes Part Of The Problem
There is no immunity from the economic plague hitting Americans.
So many here in Texas believed they were so much better off than in other states. Maybe this was true a short while ago; however, the economic chaos that other states have seen is hitting Texans very hard. Texas is NOT immune. No one is. The ailing economy has become a national plague.
There is no light at the end of this depressive economy. Not since The Great Depression have so many Americans been in such financial turmoil.
While the U.S. economy has been on a downturn for several decades, the Bush administration propelled us into this mess and the Obama administration is not doing very much to resolve it.
The primary objective should be to provide jobs to all Americans. To do that requires incentives for businesses to hire and for the government to develop federal jobs to rebuild our ailing infrastructures.
Obama promised jobs, but has not yet delivered.
Little has changed in government and on Wall Street. What is changing drastically is increased job loss, long-term unemployment and many more home foreclosures.
To make matters worse here in Texas, Gov. Rick Perry has done little to help the growing number of long-term unemployed. He could have accepted more federal stimulus and/or diverted some of our state tax dollars towards providing businesses incentives to hire more Texans. Perry likes to blast Washington for all our Texas ills, but the truth is that Perry has NOT provided much help either for hardworking and hardly working Texans.
How will people pay their rent and mortgages? How will they hang-on to their health care plans? Will they keep their jobs? How long can the government provide unemployment benefits to the already staggering millions of jobless who grow in number daily? This is a big mess that is increasing steadily.
Americans will be hurting financially for many more years to come. The level of our economic demise and return to financial health will be determined by the actions of federal, state and local governments.
Right now, it doesn’t look too good. The flames are getting higher.
(Peter Stern of Driftwood, Texas, , a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a Disabled Vietnam Veteran and holds three post-graduate degrees.)
Dallas Republican One-Of-A-Kind Congressman In The 1950s
In an open letter to congressional colleagues on Dec. 22, 1964, a bitter Bruce Alger blamed his failed bid for a sixth term in part on a national magazine that branded him one of the five worst members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In an open letter to congressional colleagues on Dec. 22, 1964, a bitter Bruce Alger blamed his failed bid for a sixth term in part on a national magazine that branded him one of the five worst members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The last Republican from the Lone Star State to serve in the House was Harry M. Wurzbach, the choice of a predominantly German district in the 1920s. Since his death a quarter of a century earlier, the delegation had been exclusively Democratic.
The Republican candidate carried Texas in the presidential election of 1952, but Dwight Eisenhower’s historic feat did not produce two-party parity. Two years later, the short-handed GOP contested only a dozen of the 150 legislative races and a mere six of the 22 congressional matches.
As usual, every Republican crashed and burned — everyone, that is, except handsome Bruce Reynolds Alger. The 36-year-old realtor and World War II bomber pilot upset the political applecart by winning the House seat reserved for Dallas County.
Credit for the breakthrough went not to the victor but the vanquished, a testy former mayor of Big D. Wallace Savage angered so many liberals in the Democratic primary that most cast their ballots for his opponent or boycotted the general election altogether. After Savage publicly spurned their support, blacks too stayed home enabling Alger to spring his 53-percent surprise.
Although the newcomer hitched a ride on the coattails of the popular president, he did not share Ike’s moderate views. Bruce Alger was a Newt Gingrich conservative, when the future Speaker of the House was still in grade school.
To slim down a federal bureaucracy the Dallasite believed too big for its britches, he prescribed a crash diet of tax cuts, slashed spending, business deregulation, and a restoration of states’ rights. By consistently carrying his lean-and-mean philosophy to its logical conclusion, he soon earned a reputation as a right-wing radical.
Alger certainly had the courage of his convictions and never shied away from attacking federal programs which enjoyed broad support. He denounced social security as a “shakedown” and suggested senior citizens should turn to private charities instead of the government. As the lone dissenter in the school-milk debate, he reasoned, “If they leave our tax money back in Dallas, parents will be able to pay for their kids’ lunch.”
Alger was an ardent anti-communist, who urged constituents to guard against the Moscow menace at home and abroad. “If we do not rally at the grass roots,” he warned in a 1956 speech, “we will have a Socialist Labor government in four or eight years with a man like Walter Reuther at the head.”
At the same time, however, Alger kept his distance from the paranoid fringe. A separate-but-equal foe of racial integration, he nevertheless refrained from referring to the civil rights movement as a communist plot. The John Birch Society, an influential force in Dallas during the 1950s and 1960s, may have considered him one of their own, but the cagey congressman never joined the extremist group.
Alger skillfully mixed rigid ideology with pragmatic politics. He stunned fellow Republicans by refusing to campaign against fellow congressmen explaining he had to stay on good terms with the 21 Democrats in order to get anything done in Washington.
Democrats at first dismissed the Alger upset as a fluke and predicted a prompt return to the status quo. But Henry Wade, the Dallas district attorney, suffered a stinging rebuke at the polls in 1956 as did state senator Barefoot Sanders in ’58 and Joe Pool in ’60.
The next year, a college professor from Wichita Falls replaced Alger as the golden boy of the Texas Republican Party. John Tower’s unprecedented triumph in a winner-take-all special election to fill a Senate vacancy boosted morale and paved the way for substantial gains in 1962.
Alger survived the scandalous fallout from a messy divorce to post his fifth consecutive ballot-box victory. West Texans ended his lonely vigil by sending Ed Foreman of Odessa to D.C.
Democrats took their revenge two years later with an epic landslide that decimated the ranks of Republican officeholders. Voters evicted nine out of 10 state legislators and both GOP congressmen, including the seemingly invincible ideologue from Dallas.
The Goldwater debacle played a major role in the ouster of Alger by ex-mayor Earle Cabell, but more decisive factors dictated his demise. His failure to achieve passage of a single bill or resolution during his 10-year tenure disillusioned all but his most devoted followers, and Dallas’ loss of eight federal agencies underscored his inability to bring home the bacon convincing business leaders as well as “The Morning News” to switch sides.
The repudiation of 1964 permanently scarred Bruce Alger, who left Texas in a huff. He returned to Dallas in 1976, but in more than three decades the charismatic David that once scared the bejabers out of the Democratic Goliath has kept a low public profile.
(Christmas Special! Order “Outlaws & Lawmen” and “Revolution & Republic” at regular price of $28.40 (s&h inc) and receive a free copy of “Secession & Civil War” — newest “Best of This Week in Texas History” collection. Mail payment to Bartee Haile, P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX or order on-line at twith.com.)
