America — The Next Lost Atlantis
Geographically, Economically, Politically & Morally
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/09/america-next-lost-atlantis.html
Geographically: Now that the world’s ocean levels have started rising much faster than predicted, America’s coastal cities may become submerged far sooner than we thought. And, sooner rather than later, Manhattan stands a very good chance of becoming the next lost Atlantis.
Here’s a cute little video from NASA that describes what’s been happening to our planet’s climate over the last 131 years. Check it out: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/131-years-of-global-warming-in-26-seconds/ In this video animation, blue represents minus-two degrees Celsius and red represents plus-two degrees Celsius. That’s only a four-degree variation — but what a variation it is! At the blue point, ice all over the planet used to be still intact. At the red point, however, it has melted. At this rate, San Francisco will soon join Manhattan in its race to become the first lost Atlantis.
But enough said about that. I just hope that you don’t own a condo down in SoHo or beach-front property in Honolulu. You do? You’re screwed.
And then there’s Burning Man. This year Black Rock City was completely engulfed in air-born dust particles and white-out sand storms almost 24/7. If this drought doesn’t let up, perhaps they ought to change its name to Dust Bowl City.
And also, for the first time in memory, we have gotten a hecka lot of Canada geese hanging around Berkeley this summer instead of just passing by in the spring and the fall. Guess they don’t have to fly so far south to get warm any more. No winter vacation in Cancun for them! And we humans don’t need to fly south to Puerto Vallarta during the winter months any more either. Last year was the warmest winter in NorCal that I can remember (but I still love Puerto Vallarta).
Morally: The Republican party (and the huge corporations that now own it) are completely using and abusing their only staunch allies — the older white American males and blind-faith Christians who support them — in order to enact laws and make policies that not only undermine these staunch allies’ beliefs but also their very existence.
Jobs, Social Security, homes, families, medical care, infrastructure, water supplies, energy sources, the very teachings of Christ Himself, you name it — all have been put in grave danger by the very corporate interests that naive older white Americans and gullible Christians have blindly trusted and supported all these years. It’s just sad to watch these trusting staunch allies of the GOP constantly getting knifed in the back.
Then there are the famous Fetus Wars. Jesus is being called upon to testify against Planned Parenthood — and yet Jesus isn’t even allowed on the premises when multiple brutal vicious and bloody wars have been declared against millions of innocent children all around the world. You wanna call yourself a Christian? Then you gotta act Christ-like! Duh.
And Repubs are now actually saying that Ted Kennedy originated the War on Women. Chappaquiddick was a tragic accident. That’s not the same thing. But a true war on women appears to be the GOP’s latest favorite game plan — as Repubs happily head down the same path that other “Christians” took back in the European Middle Ages when an estimated nine million women who dared to speak up for themselves, tried to get an education or attempted to practice medicine were burned alive at the stake.
Economically: Since outsourcing and deregulation has hit America like a category-5 hurricane, our economy has become a disaster area — literally. So many jobs have fled overseas and so much wealth has fled to the Caymans that many parts of the USA look almost like New Orleans after Katrina.
All the things that we used to make here? We don’t even know how to make them any more. And all that knowledge of how to make them has been lost too.
Sometimes I wish that the UN or NATO or whoever — perhaps the war-criminal-trial folks over at the Hague — would sanction America like they are now sanctioning Iran. Then we would be FORCED to become economically independent again.
Republicans have deliberately created a vast pool of unemployed Americans so that they won’t have to pay us high wages. Hence the GOP’s refusal to endorse a job program. Why would they want to do that!
In their haste to make more and more money, large corporations are polluting our water and air and elevating our risk of cancer of course. But they are also killing off billions of bees. Good luck with getting our crops in when there is no pollination. And bye-bye flowers too. We don’t even have to wait until water drowns out the new American Atlantis to miss our fruit trees and flowers. Monsanto has already taken care of that.
Politically: Anyone can buy a seat in Congress these days — or even buy the White House itself or the Supreme Court (especially the Supreme Court). Who would have ever thought that it would be that way here in the former Land of the Free. Not since Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall have our public offices been so “For Sale”. Shame on us for letting this happen.
And remember back in 1999 when we all thought that YK2 was going to be an international disaster? Well all the computers didn’t crash, but YK2 turned out to be an incredible disaster anyway — when George W. Bush stole the 2000 election and almost NOBODY in America objected or even noticed. Then Bush allowed 9-11 to happen, followed by the disastrous Afghanistan invasion, the incredibly expensive Iraq invasion and the 2008 economic crash.
Yes, YK2 really was a disaster.
More political immorality: Who has been a very important ally of corporate-owned Washington in places like Afghanistan, Syria and Libya? Wait for it. “Al Qaeda!” Arming and encouraging the people behind 9-11? Isn’t that about as politically immoral as you can get? But Americans seem to accept this hypocrisy without batting an eye. Go figure.
And what can our bought-and-paid-for politicians possibly be thinking when they systematically alienate huge countries like Russia and China while kissing the booties of their corporate neo-con counterparts in teeny-tiny Israel. Israel? The size of New Jersey? Israel’s neo-con corporatists are gonna save us from the wrath of Russia, China, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and all the other places and countries that our corporate-owned government has thoroughly screwed over the years? Huh?
And then there’s that cruel joke that used to be America’s legendary and heroic Supreme Court. No justice at all to be had there these days — if you are merely working class. Those guys in black robes take their reverse-Robin-Hood roles very seriously.
“Take from the worker bees and give to the drones” should be carved in marble over our corporate-owned government buildings in Washington — just before America, the next lost Atlantis, slowly sinks into the sea.
But you had better get to carving it soon — because there is something in the air in America these days, a sense that nasty undercurrents are moving stealthily toward us from somewhere very deep, somewhere that the average voter isn’t in touch with — except in our guts.
And our guts seem to be telling us that America is now sinking fast. And that “We the People” have absolutely no life jackets — but that the billionaires who now own our government are already provisioning their yachts http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/45275.
To paraphrase Plato, “…once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot” — and then their city of Atlantis got all drowned out.
And to paraphrase Ray Bradbury, “Something wicked is definitely coming our way.”
Anti-Vaccine Campaign Growing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Independent studies are finding that vaccines are causing more problems than they are remedying, frequently causing diseases in otherwise healthy individuals, ruining their lives.
Pro-pharmaceutical elected officials have been fast to pass bills that will enhance drug company profits, leaving citizens to pay the cost, not only of the drugs bought, but with lives lost or maimed forever.
According to Eileen Dannemann, director, National Coalition of Organized Women, “Are you sometimes feeling dis-empowered by the relentless force of the establishment to pass unconstitutional bills eroding our rights for exemptions; passing bills that make it legal for schools to give vaccines to underage children without parent’s consent or knowledge (California); passing legislation that forces parents to go to the doctor to get a ‘religious exemption’?
“A few years ago, a guy from California contacted us. He had made up these decals on his own steam and put them on his new Toyota truck.”
The decals tell those who see the car: “The Greatest Lie Ever Told — That Vaccines Are Safe and Effective.”
Dannemann asked, “You or a relative or friend have a vaccine-injured Autistic, ADHD, Bipolar, Asthmatic, juvenile diabetes child? You are spending a fortune on treatments; you are mad as hell, and you are besides yourself trying to get people, government, your school, your pediatrician to listen up!”
She explained that the Vaccine Liberation Army (www.vaccineliberationarmy.com) “can have any iteration of these high end, outdoor quality decals made for you at a really cheap price. We recommend the above text which our experience shows that it is highly effective in putting an impulse of doubt about the effectiveness of vaccines into people’s minds…even the medically sold-out elderly.
“We can arrange it for you and in a few weeks. You are all set to blow the establishment out of the water as cars and trucks on the road increases.
“Just think of the impact that one car can make in your town, alone. Just think if we had hundreds of parents within our movement starting to make this kind of HARDCORE commitment across the nation. You know, the reality is we are in a battle…and we can only win, as Dr. Palevsky and Dr. Mercola say, that parents need to rise to inform the community and educate their own pediatricians. We have to rise from the bottom up.
“The mental coherence and health of the entire emerging generation is at stake, here. Twenty-five percent (and growing) of children are now on psyche drugs due to the establishment’s purposeful misdiagnosis of “mental illness” rather than vaccine injury.”
TxDOT Is Squawking Again
In response to Ben Wear’s Austin Statesman article “TxDOT says outsourcing highway maintenance could save millions, but previous pilot project fell flat.”
We have learned during the past 10 years that what TxDOT has to say often means very little regarding the truth on various issues.
Mr. Wear makes some good points in the article, e.g., that TxDOT already has used private contractors to perform various highway and road building and maintenance. Unfortunately, more often than not, the work performed is not professional or quality oriented.
A small example of this is five years ago when TxDOT decided to repave FM 1826 in parts of Hays and Travis counties. The seal was a cheaper and lower quality product instead of using a hot seal. Very quickly after the job was completed the road became marred, noisy and bumpy. When large and heavy trucks turned on the road, they created swirls and marks in the seal. However, TxDOT already had signed off on the job instead of supervising the work more closely and inspecting the quality performed. It was disastrous for residents, who fought TxDOT for 1 long year to resurface the roadway correctly. Finally residents won the battle but lost the war as taxpayers had to pay twice to have the roadwork done correctly. TxDOT is arrogant and mismanaged by various Perry appointed puppets at the helm.
There are quite a few other stories that show us that TxDOT often performs inferior work via its private contractors while it spends too high a cost for private work.
Maybe the workload and administration of the too independent TxDOT agency should be cut down and turned over to a private and/or independent commission to oversee and manage road work expenditures and performance evaluations.
In addition, TxDOT and Gov. Rick Perry are far too happy to develop toll roads to increase the profits of their wealthy special interests and themselves instead of doing what they are supposed to do: work in the best interests of the Texas community.
Peter Stern, Driftwood, Texas
Texas Redistricting Maps Rejected
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.s. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled recently that redistricting maps drawn up by the Republican dominated Texas Legislature discriminate against black and Hisptanic voters. The court went to to advise that the Texas legislature had a discriminatory intent in its drawing of the maps.
Interim maps will, therefore,likely be used in the upcoming Presidential election.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says heh will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Texas Voter Photo ID Law Quashed
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. District Court in Washington has blocked a law requiring voters to show photo identification before casting ballots in Texas. The argument suggested that the proposed law could curtail the ability of minorities to vote, with emphasis on African Americans and Hispanics, who often live in poverty, according to Cicuit Judge David Tatel.
He explained that the underlying docutments needed to obtain an ID could be costly and discourage poor voters, the administration resembling an illegal poll tax.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott responded that he would appeal the decision directly to the U.S. Supreme Court since the states of Georgia and Indiana have similar integrity safeguards and thsee have been upheld by the Supreme Court.
The requirement that Texas voters would have to present one of six forms of photo ID before casting their ballots was adopted in 2011 by the Republican-dominated Texas legislature.
Although Texas Governor Rick Perry called the federal court ruling “another victory for fraud,” Elise Boddie, director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund pointed out that “The whole point of our democracy is to make sure that voters have the opportunity to vote, and that’s what today’s ruling does.”
Let’s Rebuild America Now
I suggest both political parties work together to create a Rebuild America Bond to raise private capital to build roads, bridges, schools, military hospitals, vets centers and other shared priorities.
Before elaborating on the Rebuild America Bond, let’s step back for a moment. Harry Truman said that the only new thing in the world is the history you don’t know.
As work begins to address the deficit crisis, Republicans can learn from Ronald Reagan, and Democrats can learn from Tip O’Neill, about how great rivals can work together on major national challenges.
With the jobless crisis imposing severe pain and political independents demanding constructive bipartisan action, Republicans can learn from former Rep. Jack Kemp, and Democrats can learn from former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.
The Republicans miss Kemp, who was a fountain of ideas to create private-sector incentives to address priority national problems. Kemp was both an inspiration to Ronald Reagan and a colleague to liberal Democrats whom he respected and worked with whenever possible.
The Democrats miss Bentsen, who was a progressive capitalist and successful CEO and venture financier in the years between his service in the House and Senate. As senator and Treasury secretary, Bentsen became good friends and respectful partners with leading Republican senators such as Bob Dole and John Danforth.
I have been urging the creation of a patriotic national unity bond since the origin of the Iraq war, which created major war costs alongside major tax cuts, leading to ballooning deficits and severe problems for military personnel, equipment and healthcare.
A Rebuild America Bond would combine attributes of liberal and conservative thinking, in the tradition of Jack Kemp and Lloyd Bentsen.
The Rebuild America Bond would be a conservative, interest-bearing investment like the savings bond and the war bonds of the 1940s. It would be a purely voluntary, opt-in venture that would appeal to many patriotic Americans and financial institutions. It would win substantial support from political independents and voters in the Midwest and hard-hit constituents and communities across the nation.
The Rebuild America Bond would appeal to individuals who today receive close to zero interest on deposited funds. It would appeal to Wall Street firms, mutual fund managers, money center banks and insurers whose portfolios include prudent interest-bearing investments.
The Rebuild America Bond would attract private capital for national priorities. It would attract some of the vast amount of institutional capital now being hoarded, in very low-interest accounts, in a very low-growth economy.
As proposed here, both parties would carefully negotiate the specific uses of Rebuild America Bond capital. There is no such thing as a Democratic or Republican collapsing bridge, decaying school, missing vets center or urgently needed military hospital.
Brent BudowskyWhile our political debates will continue, let’s mobilize the good will and patriotism of an American people who are in this together and won’t accept an America in decline.
There are Democrats and Republicans with private-sector experience who can become the new Kemps and Bentsens, working together on a wide range of issues to support venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and innovators.
Let’s rebuild America now.
Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander, then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. He can be read on The Hill’s Pundits Blog and reached at brentbbi@webtv.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .