USS Liberty Started A Trend
Dying for Israel: Apparently, the USS Liberty started a trend
By Jane Stillwater
https://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2018/03/dying-for-israel-apparently-uss-liberty.html
Author’s note: If you haven’t already noticed by now, I truly do dislike Israeli neo-colonialists and Saudi neo-colonialists. Hell, I don’t even like American neo-colonialists. Why can’t everybody just stay home where they belong! And also how come everyone gets on my case for calling out Israelis and Saudis — but if I were to lie through my teeth about Russia, Syria, Iran or North Korea, I’d get all kinds of applause? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziAK91AEEl8&feature=youtu.be
According to Lt. General Richard Clark, U.S. ground troops are now “prepared to die for the Jewish [sic] state”. https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-us-operation-juniper-cobra-a-harbinger-of-war-on-syria-hezbollah/238768/
Too late, General Clark! Lots of American soldiers have already died for Israel.
For instance, just ask Joe Meadors, a survivor of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty back in 1967. After nine hours of surveillance on the hapless ship, Israeli fighter jets then continuously bombed and strafed the USS Liberty while Israeli torpedo boats opened fire on it. This deadly bombardment lasted more than an hour, killing 34 American military personnel and ripping two rather large American flags into shreds. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/deadly-attack-on-uss-liberty-gets-new-attention/
And then there’s Iraq. 4,424 American soldiers died there. According to US Senator Ernest Hollings back in the day, “With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country? The answer: President Bush’s policy to secure Israel.” https://theshalomcenter.org/node/621
And then there is Syria. American soldiers have been keeping Israeli neo-colonialists’ irons in the fire there since 2011. We’ll never know how many American soldiers have died there. And we’ll never be allowed to know either. https://www.thenation.com/article/bulking-up-on-special-operations-forces-in-2018-will-not-stop-terrorism/
So, yeah. American soldiers have already been dying for “the Jewish state” — or at least for Israeli neo-colonialists’ lust for power in the Middle East.
Civilian Americans have also died recently when a pedestrian bridge collapsed in Miami. America seems to have no money left to repair its infrastructure — but there’s still lots of money left to get American soldiers killed in the Middle East. Israeli neo-colonialists must be totally happy that this is still a thing, still a trend.
So. What does all this “Dying for Israel” fad have to do with little old me? Am I being anti-Semitic? Nah, I’m just still pissed off that Israeli thugs threw me out of Palestine last September. “We are trying to keep Israel safe,” they said. What? Huh? Safe from ME? https://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2017/09/grilled-my-experience-at-israeli-border.html
PS: When I toured the Senate and House chambers on Capitol Hill the other day, I forgot to ask all those war-mongering lawmakers if they too were willing to “Die for Israel”. But apparently not. Apparently it’s okay for others to “Die for Israel” — but not them. They gotta stay alive and well so they can still get their dark-money campaign contributions from the Israelis and the Saudis (not from the Russians BTW). https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/03/15/iraq-death-toll-15-years-after-us-invasion
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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.
And while you’re at it, please buy my books: https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM
See Something, Say Something
See something, say something:
“Those idiots in Washington are gonna get us all killed!”
By Jane Stillwater
https://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2018/03/see-something-say-something-those.html
“Hello, Homeland Security? This is Jane Stillwater. I’m in Washington DC right now and just overheard someone plotting to blow up the whole freaking world. If you don’t stop them right now, America could be end up as a NUCLEAR WASTELAND!” I screamed into the phone. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/02/18/us-is-executing-global-war-plan.html
“Calm down, lady. Just tell us what you heard.”
“Some dude who identified himself with the obvious code name of ‘Lt. General Richard Clark’ was talking about plans for a false-flag operation that involved blowing up parts of Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Gaza — murdering children, targeting civilians! It was horrible! You MUST do something to stop him!” https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-us-operation-juniper-cobra-a-harbinger-of-war-on-syria-hezbollah/238768/
“Ma’am, we have no control over what happens outside of America. Plus you could be just imagining all this.” Calling me crazy, is he? Well, I’ll show him!
“The dude actually said with his mouth that the intention of all these attacks was to vilify Russia and China, enough to get them all pissed off and into a shooting war. But it’s not NICE to piss off Mother Russia! Then some other dude talked about being in cahoots with Ukraine neo-Nazi bad guys with a plan in place to blow up Russian-speaking Donbas! You’ve got to stop these people before Russia finally loses patience with the idiots in Washington and drops nuclear bombs on us in return! Please!” https://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-warns-us-against-attacking-syrian-forces/5631930
I also tried to tell DHS how I overheard the king of Saudi Arabia plotting to send whole planeloads of gold bullion to buy off Congress (again) so that the Saudis could continue to massacre Yemeni babies at will — without any tiresome meddling by stupid American busybodies still tied down with the lead weight of conscience. And also how the evil Saudi neo-colonialists were in league with the evil Israeli neo-colonialists in their plot to steal everything in the Middle East that wasn’t tied down and then become a super-power themselves — with America in the role of the red-headed stepchild. http://therealnews.com/t2/story:21264:Gideon-Levy:-The-Zionist-Tango:-Step-Left,-Step-Right
But the Homeland Security guy hung up on me.
So much for “See something, say something.” Humph.
PS: Other than the fact that Washington DC is the home of a bunch of feral idiots who risk American lives daily in their insane quest for diabolical power, the District of Columbia itself is a wonderful place. I got to tour the Senate, the House of Representatives, the International Spy Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court — and also attended a hope-inspiring rally and march staged by Hasidic Jews in protest of Israeli corruption and war-mongering. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/03/13/instead-of-being-in-jail-haspel-is-cia-director.html
The National Portrait Gallery had an excellent and intimate exhibit of the writing of Sylvia Plath. Fascinating and tragic at the same time. And I almost got thrown out of the Gallery itself by some irate docent when I tried to cut in line to see the new portrait of Michelle Obama. But I got my revenge. I bought the postcard instead and took a selfie with it..
“150 people are standing in line to see Michelle’s portrait right now,” I said to one of the guards there. “I wonder how many people will stand in line to see a portrait of Melania.” The guard and I both laughed. But actually, it’s not Melania’s fault that Americans are more interested in Stormy Daniels than they are in her.
Hell, Americans are far more interested in Stormy Daniels than even in the fact the the power-mad idiots in Washington are trying to blow us all up. But at least some of the DC Metro stations I rode through are far enough underground to serve as bomb shelters. I wonder if I should start building a bomb shelter too when I get home. Couldn’t hurt, might help.
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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.
And while you’re at it, please buy my books: https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM
Urban Shield: Doing Unto Us What We Did To Iraq, Syria, Etc.
By Jane Stillwater
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2017/06/urban-shield-doing-unto-us-what-we-did.html
How many Americans even remember America’s brutal and unnecessary “war” on Vietnam? Even though 50,000 (fifty thousand) of our sons and daughters died in that conflict? And that said “war” went very badly for us when a bunch of determined farmers in black pajamas kicked our butts?
How many Americans even know that our military-industrial complex financed, encouraged and promoted Saddam Hussein’s “war” on Iran in the 1980s — even though that brutal and uncalled-for attack lasted ten long bloody years? And that Iraq, even though it was working hand in hand with both America and Israel and probably most of Europe too, couldn’t even manage to defeat puny Iran?
And journalist Steve Fournier also asks the same question about Russia. “Would you entrust a war to an army that couldn’t defeat some of the weakest nations on earth? The armed forces of the United States have been engaged for over a generation in warfare against governments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Syria. They have managed to destroy lives and property in abundance and have extinguished entire ancient cultures, but they have accomplished no discernible mission. Typically facing poorly-armed and undernourished enemies, they have been unable to record a victory since 1945. Should we trust them to take on Russia?” http://www.currentinvective.com/wp/?p=223
And then there were all those bloody and unnecessary “wars” on Nicaragua, Guatemala, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Palestine (by proxy), Syria, Yemen, Chile, Korea (twice so far) and so on — all of them now conveniently forgotten. http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/06/white-house-says-it-will-fake-chemical-weapon-attacks-in-syria.html#more
Hell, Americans can’t even remember any of the centuries of “wars” on poorly-armed American Indians or even the three or four centuries of brutal and cowardly attacks on defenseless Black people, conveniently referred to as either “slavery” or “Jim Crow”.
And now the same type of folks who brought us all those stupid and shameful “wars” abroad are now trying to bring these same stupid and shameful “wars” home here too. Does your local police department really need a tank? Seriously? Urban Shield sounds pretty much like Iraqi Shield or Afghan Shield or Syrian Shield, all of which ended badly for the civilians of those countries. Bad news for them — and now almost certainly bad news for us too. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-america-armed-terrorists-in-syria/
But great news for the military-industrial complex!
And speaking of urban stuff, here’s the next chapter of my recent adventures in New York City:
Day Three, Part 1: One would think that I would have fallen asleep easily last night after taking the red-eye from SFO — but no. Maybe I got a few hours of primo sleep. But whether or not sleep was involved, my wake-up call still came at 6:15 am. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2017/06/are-americans-even-good-people-any-more.html
And then I discovered Hudson Street Park. 20 blocks of lovely waterfront walkways going directly from The Jane hotel to the Javits Center. Birds actually sang!
Then I got in free to the Book Expo’s authors’ breakfast on my press pass. Karmic reward! Sweet. But shoulda known that the breakfast was not going to be gluten-free. Not even oatmeal or fruit cups were involved. Just orange juice and cream cheese for me.
Damn, there’s a lot of people here — and at $70 a pop. Who’s going to speak? Stephen King. Anyway, here I am, sitting right next to the Random House/Penguin VIP table. There must be at least a thousand people here. 150 tables of ten, plus a bunch of seating for groundlings in the back.
Oliver King, Stephen’s son, spoke first. “Our family sat around and pitched one-line story lines to each other at the dinner table. One of those story lines was about a world without women. Our new book ‘Sleeping Beauty’ resulted.”
Stephen King said, “I used to be a latchkey kid back before there were even latchkey kids — back in the 1950s. And my mom used to say, ‘If there’s no ring around the toilet bowl, you know that a woman is around’. Men just don’t do things like that. Women are the cooling factor in society when men run too hot.” Surely Stephen King didn’t just say that, that all women are good for is cleaning the toilet. I’m sure he meant something else. Will have to read the book to find out.
Whitney Cummings spoke next. “I wanted to write something that will last forever. Books are permanent. I’m an unapologetic book nerd. They don’t bombard you with visual chaos like social media does.” She’s funny as hell, is a screenwriter for “Two Broke Girls”.
“It’s totally hard to write a book. I thought it would be fun and sexy like when Cary Bradshaw did it on TV. But it was actually pretty frustrating. And then there’s fact-checkers. They should go over to Fox News. Fox News needs fact-checkers. Leave me alone!”
She used to be crazy. “You can’t just magically stop being crazy. I went into therapy. I was co-dependent, couldn’t say no. Busy but unfulfilled. Needing the approval of others.” She gave a really humorous presentation. Made all this terrible stuff sound laugh-out-loud funny. “Ambian and wine is not a sustainable combination.”
Her book is a manual about how to change your brain. “People only show their good sides on social media but a lot of people really are in pain. But people do want to change and grow. This book will hopefully provide healing laughs.”
Claire Messud spoke next. “My novel, The Burning Girl, is about two young girls and their close friendship as they pass through the storm of adolescence. We all remember middle school. When something doesn’t make sense just think, ‘Picture this as happening in middle school,’ and then it will make perfect sense. A week can contain a year’s worth of emotions.”
We all put together stories to make sense of our lives, Messud told us. “We fill in the blanks. Many elements are familiar, universal — what we give up to become adults, from only pieces of what actually goes on. But a state of uncertainty between knowing and unknowing is what makes us human.”
Scott Kelly spoke next. 520 days in space, 340 of them consecutively. He wrote a book called “Endurance”. When he was a kid, he read a book called “The Right Stuff” and immediately decided to become an astronaut. “It surprised even me that I did this, and my book is the story of how I got there. Today is a critical day in our nation’s future. I have looked at the earth from space. You don’t see a lot of rain forests down there anymore. You can actually see the pollution. Plus all the cooperation between people and countries regarding space programs shows that we can do anything if we have dreams.”
Then Jessmyn Ward spoke about her new book, “Sing, Unburied, Sing”. “Faulkner once said, ‘To understand the world you must first understand Mississippi’. My mother was a domestic and my father was a factory worker. I never thought I would become a writer. Mississippi will hug you before it smothers you.” Mississippi also has some of the best bookstores there is. Jackson, Tupelo, Oxford. “The past bears down especially hard on the present in Mississippi. Why? It was heavily invested in slavery and then later in Jim Crow and Parchman Farm. How does the past live in the present? That’s the question I constantly ask myself. Writing is my attempt to answer this question.”
She tells us that, “Mississippi is the foundation and walls. America is the roof. Your home fails you, murders you. There is terror — and there is hope.”
Pete Souza then spoke about his new book, “Obama”. He was the White House photographer during Obama’s presidency. “So. I miss this guy. I took two million photos in eight years.” A nice selection of his photos were projected onto a big screen, and that was the end of the authors’ breakfast.
Then it was off to the main exhibit hall to see who was giving away free pens. Nobody was! I only scored three or four pens. Bummer.
But at the Soho Press booth I scored the new Colin Cotterill book! And a pre-publication copy at that! Not to mention a new Timothy Hallinan book, “The Widows of Malabar Hill” and a few others as well.
I also got a copy of the new Joe Ide book, “Righteous,” and some free macadamia nuts — but paid three whole dollars for a tiny bag of potato chips. Had to. By that time I was starving.
Bought a deli salad after leaving Javits Center and then took the 9th Avenue bus back home to The Jane. Am going back tonight to attend the Hillary Clinton School of Lies but that will be about it for the BEA for today. I think.
To be continued…
Are Americans Even Good People Any More?
By Jane Stillwater
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2017/06/are-americans-even-good-people-any-more.html
Today’s proverb from my Franklin Planner says, “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” Dwight D. Eisenhower said that.
America is spozed to be a Christian nation and yet its military has murdered hundreds of thousands of women and children randomly in almost half the countries of the world — and done it for fun but mostly for profit. American “wars” on Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Libya, the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine, Honduras, Panama, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cuba (the list goes on and on) have been criminally-shameful and illegal rapes and slaughters of much weaker countries, based solely on American cruelty and greed. What would Jesus do? Certainly not this! http://www.worldcat.org/title/terlena-breaking-of-a-nation/oclc/76706500
And here at home, we Americans fight hard for our right to have guns so that we can protect ourselves against robbers and The Government, but only end up mostly killing our children by accident and committing hate crimes on purpose. How Christian is that?
Americans are spozed to love liberty yet we have Urban Shield and the NSA and the Patriot Act at home and the CIA and “Special Forces” assassination teams abroad, ones that support the worse kind of dictators such as the Saudi un-Muslim mafia, the Ukraine un-Christian neo-Nazis, the Israeli un-Jewish apartheid neo-colonialists and those brutal butchers in ISIS and al Qaeda who do our dirty work for us. http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/06/07/the-machiavellian-plot-to-provoke-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-into-a-blood-border-war/
America is spozed to be the Robin Hood of the free world and yet we constantly take from the Poor and give to the Rich. Counting the jobless, the homeless, those without healthcare, soldiers sacrificed to defend corporate profits, victims of yucky drinking water, victims of infrastructure failure, your aging parents, your friends and mine, etc., it looks like many more than a million Americans will die far before their time in this coming year because of the Koch brothers, the Deep State, Citizens United, the Wall Street casino where the House always wins, media “war” propaganda lies in order to sell WMDs, and the souls of the corrupt legislators that have been have been bought and paid for by these ill-gotten gains. To say nothing of shameful Jim-Crow-style election fraud by the GOP and also gross interference in our elections by, wait for it, Israel and Saudi Arabia — of which both Republicans and Democrats are blatant receivers of whole boxcars full of untraceable cash.
“Among a people generally corrupt, liberty does not exist,” my Planner goes on to tell me. Edmund Burke said that. And he was right too. https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Money-Street-American-Century/dp/1615778055
Are Americans only getting the corrupt and cruel leaders that they deserve? It certainly does look that way. And are Americans even good people any more — to have let all this evil corruption go on for so long? I don’t even want to think about the answer to that question. Let’s think about something more pleasant instead. Here’s a report on my first two days in NYC:
“Everything’s like a dream in New York City” — especially its book-publishing industry, its celebrity personalities, its amazing museums, its outstanding people-watching opportunities and its vibrant street life.
Day One: I leave for New York in six short hours and guess what? Just finished going through my usual heavy-duty pre-travel panic attacks — including the usual “I could just stay home and lose my airfare money and I would be okay with that” phase, followed closely by the “OMG, I’m so hungry and there is nothing to eat!” phase, and then followed by the “I’m gonna hide under the bed in denial” phase. And yet here I am aboard a BART train that goes to the San Francisco airport and I’m actually okay with that — and even excited.
Heading off to New York City? Who would not be excited about that? Museums and books. Museums and books. Museums and books. And hopefully not bedbugs.
And now I’m on the JetBlue red-eye flight with no problems. The service is great but the free inflight movies all seem to be at least five years old. Mrs. Doubtfire? Really? Moneyball? I played a game-watching extra in that one at least five years ago. The Sound of Music? Huh? Finally settled on 27 Dresses which was entertaining and cute.
Day Two: Well, apparently I must have slept on the plane because there are clearly two hours unaccounted for on that flight. But can’t remember falling asleep. But so what. I got to JFK airport, took the subway (the E train) to 8th Avenue and 14th Street, dragged my suitcase for seven blocks and voila. Here I am at The Jane hotel — in the world’s smallest hotel room. Even the one I had at the Tokyo airport was bigger. We shall see.
They don’t call these rooms “cabins” for nothing. Built in 1907, The Jane used to be a seaman’s hotel for when sailors were ashore. But, hey, the rate is really cheap, the staff is really nice and they don’t have bedbugs. That’s what counts. Plus I’m right near the shared bathroom. Good to know in the middle of the night. Plus the bathroom is really clean. And the cabins are wood-lined and cute.
Today was a day for walking my legs off. 30 blocks up to the Javits Center, and another 30 or 40 blocks wandering around what used to be Hell’s Kitchen and now appears to be Yuppies’ Kitchen instead. And the highlight of the day? Stopping by Soho Crime publishing house on lower Broadway and meeting one of its editors again. Seeing all those excellent books. Wow and double-wow! Plus Soho is located right around the corner from a Whole Foods market. Two birds with one stone. Mental stimulation and dinner.
“Got any recommendations for a good Chinese restaurant?” I asked the editor — the question that Henry Chang’s main character in his latest Soho murder-mystery, “Lucky,” hates to be asked. https://sohopress.com/authors/henry-chang/
“Sure,” answered the editor. “Anything on Doyer Street is great. Nam Wah, Tasty Hint, all of it’s good.” Maybe I’ll go there on Friday because tomorrow is going to be jammed — starting with getting up at 6:15 am in order to go see Stephen King and Owen King talk about their new book “Sleeping Beauties.” Apparently its a story about the consequences of having a world without women. Then I’m meeting a friend at 3:00 pm for rice pudding at B&H Dairy on Second Avenue, and then going to a talk by Killary Clinton at 6 pm. So much fun.
Bottom line: Walking around the streets of New York is a whole tourist treat all in itself and boy did I do that today!
To be continued….
Lost In Chicago…
Lost In Chicago With A Palestinian Holocaust Survivor
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2016/05/lost-in-chicago-with-palestinian.html
One would think that getting around Chicago by riding its elevated train system would be like a piece of cake. All you gotta do is pay your fare and then get from Point A to Point B. But one would not be counting on my highly-elevated ability to get lost. Anywhere. From Antarctica to Alaska, from the Melbourne to Mecca, from Walgreens to Walmart (except I never go to Walmart because they rip off the working class), I can still manage to get lost — and so Chicago’s “L” system proved to be no different from anyplace else.
But when I found out that Mariam Fathallahan, an 86-year-old survivor of the 1948 Palestinian holocaust, was speaking in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, I decided to take a risk. This was a rare opportunity to hear her speak, so I jumped on the Green Line of the “L”. And jumped off again — onto the Red Line. “You need the Blue Line to get out to Park Ridge,” someone finally told me, “but not the Pink, Orange or Brown.” They got a pink line in Chicago? How cool is that!
So I got off that train and onto another train and then onto another train again. And ended up at O’Hare airport. But finally found the right station and then street-hiked east for a mile. So far so good. Only got lost three times. And when I got to the event, there was lots of free food! Hummus and falafels. Well worth the trip.
Over baklava, I got to talk with this refugee from the 1948 Palestine “Catastrophe” — and she was delightful. Jews don’t have a lock on delightful older holocaust refugees who have lived through Hell and survived, moving on to become wise people who are anti-war right down to the tips of their toes. http://www.candlesholocaustmuseum.org/ Many Native American holocaust survivors are like that as well. And also survivors of Reagan’s 1980s ethnic cleansing of the Maya in Guatemala. But I digress.
As the evening wore on, it started raining cats and dogs outside and had gotten really really dark so I had to leave early so I could find my way back. But I heard later that the rest of the presentation went well. http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/local/palestinian-refugees-talk-about-living-without-a-state-at-columbia/article_19d69746-d60a-5208-9230-29cde5acdd00.html
Amena Ashkar, Fathallah’s translator and also a refugee who was born in the camps in Lebanon, had really interesting stuff to say. “When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, their main purpose was to get rid of Palestinian refugees,” and thus continue the Israeli neo-colonialist brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Having survived one holocaust already, Palestinians were then subject to yet another holocaust in Lebanon.
“Does Israel have a right to exist, you might ask me?” said Ashkar, “and my answer is this: Do I also have a right to exist as well?” Someone else added that it is definitely not cool to ask a rape victim if she recognizes the rights of her rapist. http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/21/widening-cracks-zionism
So in the dark of night and pouring rain, I stumbled around the suburbs of Park Ridge, totally and hopelessly lost — until I finally saw a faint light in the distance. It was a Walgreens! “You walk a mile south then cross a bridge over the freeway and then walk a mile more,” said the friendly and helpful clerk. Great, just great. And then I also found out that parts of suburban Chicago have no sidewalks.
And somehow I finally made it back to the South Loop Hotel and took a hot bath. http://www.chicagosouthloophotel.com/
But how many Palestinian holocaust refugees today even have that option — to take a hot bath?
PS: One of the main reasons that I truly dislike the Clinton-Trump presidential ticket is because they both seem to be taking great glee at the thought of killing even more women and children in the Middle East; more than have already been maimed, slaughtered or made homeless by American-made bombs. Don’t all those millions of victims of the Bush-Obama-Clinton-Trump doctrine in the Middle East hate us enough already? http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/05/bernie-comes-to-vallejo/#more-62696
PPS: I’m not the only one that gets lost easily. America too has lost its way. Instead of heading toward the bright boulevards of Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness and the Golden Rule, my country has completely lost its way inside a labyrinth of dark alleys that go nowhere — and have scary names like “Regime Change” and Genocide” and “Homelessness” and “Outsourcing”. https://consortiumnews.com/2016/05/17/the-danger-of-demonization/
PPPS: News just in from my Syrian friend that yet another massive suicide bombing by ISIS/al Qaeda just took place in Syria. And the American neo-con RepubliDems are now jumping with joy. “Soon Syria will be another Libya!” they whisper behind their hands. And at the rate that Wall Street and War Street are supporting al Qaeda and ISIS, America will soon become another Libya too. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-wests-massacre-of-the-innocents-in-syria/5525865
“It’s really bad over there today,” writes my friend. “And the West’s pro-zombi media is celebrating their ‘victory’ on the ‘infidels’! But the pattern is so simple though: Whenever the Syrian Arab Army and their allies win against the ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists and armed gangs, then the terrorists target the civilians, not the army! They are blackmailing the Syrian government and army by targeting the people.
“I can imagine the Saudis, Turks, Qataris and whoever else is behind them [American and Israeli neo-colonialists!] saying to the Syrian officials in the negotiations: ‘If you won against our militias or if you are not going to surrender, we gonna order them to slaughter more civilians — and the Western media won’t even mention the Syrian dead (or our crimes)’.
“I wish that these criminals would not be allowed to get away with their crimes. And I also wish to witness their judgement day for the horrors they have inflicted on Syria.” Me too!
Whack-A-Mole…New Voter Revolt
Whack-a-Mole: Old School Politicians vs. The New Voter Revolt
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2016/06/whack-mole-old-school-politicians-vs.html
First we Americans got stuck with McCarthyism, wherein out-of-line voters had their lives completely destroyed if they even thought about speaking up. American voters were shamelessly intimidated. The RepubliDems were large and in charge.
Then came Chicago back in 1968 — when rioting police basically beat all out-of-line voters to a pulp.
However, the RepubliDem old-school political machine did learn to become a bit more subtle after that — but not by much. Ronald Reagan, their next fair-haired boy, was called the “Teflon” president because no matter what kind of crap he pulled, he always got away with it. Why? Because Wall Street and War Street and the mainstream media always had his back. And their propaganda machine, instead of the cops, now beat out-of-line voters to a pulp. And that seemed to work even better.
Reagan would do stuff that looked and smelled like dog dookie, but a fawning press would rush to assure us voters that the crap we were being forced to swallow was actually candy and cake. And even to this day, Americans are convinced that Reagan is a god — not the devil incarnate that he actually was.
And most Americans wanted Gore or even Nader for president in 2000. But we got Bush-Cheney shoved down our throats instead. Of course there were a few whimpers here and there back then (I myself whimpered a lot) but the Republican high command told us that this new line of bull-crap was all for our own good. And the Democratic high command bobbled their heads in agreement.
And then the MSM told us that 9-11 and the “war” on Afghanistan and the “war” on Iraq weren’t Bush’s fault. And of course, most Americans still believed the MSM.
Then along came Obama, ready to play ball. “No more war,” he told us, fingers crossed behind his back. And we believed him too — because, in America, words speak louder than deeds. http://mycatbirdseat.com/2016/06/94852-democrats-are-now-the-aggressive-war-party/
But what about the 2016 election? American voters are finally starting to wise up. “All that glitters is not gold,” they are finally noticing at last. The next generation of American voters is no longer drinking the Kool-Aid. And so the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee are now being forced to join hands and start playing “Whack-a-Mole” — attempting to suppress voter revolts as they spring up, again and again, first in one place and then in another.
Trump wins the nomination on an anti-war platform that includes making peace with Russia and letting Syria work its own problems out? “How can we take it away from him?” screams the RNC. “What war-mongering party hack can we put in his place?”
Sanders, that peace-loving man of the people, is about to win the nomination? “How can we stop him from that?” squawks the DNC. No problem. Just ask the voters in Arizona, California and New York how the DNC did it. They just cheated, lied, committed election fraud and cut Bernie entirely out of media access. Voila!
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/37325-stealing-california
http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/06/where-are-the-missing-california-primary-votes/
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/arizona_secretary_of_state_confirms_fraud_during_primary_vote_20160401
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/06/nyc-board-of-elections-suspends-2nd-official-delays-hillary-clinton-v-bernie-sanders-results-certification/
https://johnlaurits.com/2016/06/09/take-heart-berner/
And now Whack-a-Mole has been activated yet again and Clinton is shoved down our throats too. But here is the real question — just exactly how much longer can the RNC and the DNC keep playing Whack-a-Mole before American voters really really revolt?
PS: Here’s a comment from my son, posted on social media the night that the MSM, Wall Street and War Street whacked us California voter-moles over the head in order to give Clinton her big win:
“If Hillary is going to get even a fraction towards what this world needs in a leader, she’s going to have to pull out some sh*t that she really hasn’t shown yet, because all I’ve seen so far is glad-handing, false face, pandering (oh damn girl, what’s that in your bag, is that f*cking HOT SAUCE? OMG, sold!), selling out, unyielding war-mongering, reinforcing a RACIST SYSTEM and BUILDING ON IT. She has shown me nothing that makes me feel like politics are mine. Or my generation’s. Or my children’s generation. It’s f*cking bad-ass that she’s a woman. But she is the wrong woman.”
I’m with him!
PPS: Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president, just schooled us Americans with this obvious home-truth: “The two major parties want to offer voters a choice of the two most disliked politicians in America. Lesser evil gets worse every election.” https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/740936884004761601?s=02
If we want a woman in the White House, then why not one who will actually be a good role model for our daughters — such as Dr. Stein or Elizabeth Warren? Instead of one who gloats about killing Libya and keeps illegal e-mails in her basement so she can avoid getting caught? And we all know that Bill will run the White House anyway.
I’d rather have Sanders — or even Trump — in the White House than that.
GOING TO ORLANDO…
If you’re going to Orlando, wear purple flowers in your hair…
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2016/06/if-youre-going-to-orlando-wear-purple.html
How convenient for America’s deep state that Muslims and gays have become such targets of hate. “Better them than us!” Logically, Americans should all be totally hatin’ on the new surveillance state and the new billionaire state and the new police state that America has degenerated into — but Americans have been conditioned to hate Muslims and gays and women instead. How convenient.
On June 22, I leave for Orlando, Florida in order to attend the American Library Association’s annual convention. To paraphrase that old 1960s song, I will be wearing purple flowers in my hair. And a hijab too! Plus I’m already a woman. http://2016.alaannual.org/
But I’m sure that I’ll still be perfectly safe in Orlando. Why? Because the media and the cops and the FBI won’t be after me because I won’t be fitting their profile for what a mass shooter would be like. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/03/steele-every-single-terrorist-attack-u-s-false-flag-egged-intelligence-services.html
Unlike Lee Harvey Oswald, Omar Mateen, Mohamad Atta, etc. I don’t have a history of working for the military, the CIA or any other top security agency or defense contractor. Nor have I been highly-trained by professionals in the fine art of effectively firing deadly weapons. I leave that to Blackwater and the Marines. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-12/orlando-shooter-worked-security-company-which-tranports-illegal-immigrants-deep-insi
Unlike the guy who killed John Lennon, I don’t have friends in high places.
Unlike September 11, 2001, Boston or Sandy Hook, I haven’t announced any military drills or fake “exercises” to take place while I’m in Orlando.
Unlike the Columbine, Sandy Hook, Red Lake, Virginia Tech, Charleston, Aurora, Navy Yard etc. shooters, I won’t be taking any prescription-drug anti-depressants approved by the FDA.
Unlike witnesses’ descriptions of the multiple shooters involved in the San Bernardino, JFK, MLK, RFK and Paris shootings, I’ll be traveling alone. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/06/12/orlando/
Unlike the American deep state and Israeli neo-colonialists, I won’t have a strong motive and won’t benefit from either a terrorist attack or any other type of act that deliberately stirs up hatred. I’m really a pretty peaceful person, really. https://www.sott.net/article/320084-Another-FBI-patsy-Alleged-Orlando-shooter-Omar-Mateen-was-known-to-FBI-for-3-years
So I think I’ll be safe in Orlando next week. Especially if I wear some purple flowers in my hair.
PS: With regard to the Orlando massacre, Clinton has just vowed to keep “war” off the streets of America — hopefully not in the same manner that she has kept “war” off the streets of Libya, Palestine, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Kosovo, etc.
Middle East: Best Soap-Opera Wannabe Ev-ah!
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-middle-east-best-soap-opera-wannabe.html
Several people have asked me recently why I always seem to be writing about the Middle East. “Why don’t you ever write about anything else?”
Of course I write about other stuff — but the Middle East is so much more interesting and entertaining than anything else! The Middle East is definitely more interesting, entertaining and even weirder than any soap opera, reality show or action flick that Hollywood could ever produce. Fascinating stuff.
I’m always amazed that so few other Americans aren’t just totally fascinated by the Middle East too. Or even that there isn’t at least one daytime soap opera devoted solely to the subject — if for no other reason than that the Middle East has some of the greatest villains of all time!
Take America, for instance. Our very own Wall Street and War Street are currently starring as top-billing major actors in the Middle East, playing in prime-time roles — as the biggest villains in the script so far too. America practically invented ISIS, for goodness sakes! You can’t get more villainous than that. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/03/mainstream-media-calls-supporting-al-qaeda-isis.html
Or can you?
According to journalist Daniel Lazare, “After years of hemming and hawing, the Obama administration has finally come clean about its goals in Syria. In the battle to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, it is siding with Al Qaeda.” War Street, you’ve been busted as the Bad Guy — and on national television too! http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41742.htm
Or take Saudi Arabia — another shining example of epic villain-a-lishious-ness at its best. That country has been playing the villain since way back in 1930 — when it invaded the Republic of Yemen for the first time after Yemen actually dared to become a democracy. Then the Saudi regime went on to help America create Osama bin Ladin, finance the Taliban, and dirty their hands with 9-11. And now the Saudi regime is financing and training ISIS. Doesn’t get more juicy than that. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/04/27/saudi-security-forces-arrest-expel-over-174000-people-in-1-month/
No, wait, yes it does. The Saudi regime is now using American-supplied cluster bombs on Yemen. Juicy soap opera at its best, better even than TMZ — unless of course you are living in Yemen. http://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-led-coalition-accused-of-using-u-s-supplied-cluster-munitions-in-yemen-1430637102?tesla=y
And then there is Syria. What is going on there right now is even better than “One Life to Live”. How many Americans even know who Bashar Assad is? The poor guy has a couple of corrupt, sleazy relatives that the Saudi, American, Turkish, and Israeli regimes have spent the last four years trying to put into power. Why? Because power corrupts — so Assad’s relatives are already trained to be as corrupt as their sponsors. How “Dallas” can you get? https://consortiumnews.com/2015/04/27/syrias-nightmarish-narrative/
And of course Turkey is now in the mix too — just can’t keep its hands off of ISIS, the designated “fem fatale” in this reality show. But Turkey had better watch out. ISIS is a psychopath and Turkish citizens do not like President Erdoğan cheating on them and messing around with her instead. https://candobetter.net/node/4397
Or take Iraq — the ultimate reality show. Outwit, outlast and outplay. Plus all the principle soap opera characters are there in Iraq too. You got the lying bitch (mostly America), the BFF (mostly Britain and France), the scheming scoundrel who will stop at nothing to get rich (mostly Bibi Netanyahu) and the struggling anti-hero (mostly Syrians trying to chase ISIS out of Syria) trying to thwart the Bad Guys (mostly ISIS, but with ISIS’s secret suppliers Saudi Arabia, Israel, America and Turkey thrown in). http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/world/europe/fertilizer-also-suited-for-bombs-flows-to-isis-territory-from-turkey.html?_r=1
You just gotta love all that plotting, counter-plotting and backstabbing now taking place in the Middle East — such as when General Sisi in Egypt overthrew a democratically-elected government in order to be America’s date to the prom. Or when the Saudi Arabian regime, source of 9-11 and Osama bin Ladin, comes out smelling like a rose and being America’s BFF. Or not.
You want action and drama? No problem there either. The Middle East has it all! America, NATO, Britain, and France get together and bomb the crap out of Libya (for her own good), put Al Qaeda in charge of Libya for even more raping and pillaging fun (she asked for it) — but then deserts fair Libya in her darkest hour of need. And even though Libya is not technically actually in the Middle East, you can still just sit back and watch the fun.
And ditto for Afghanistan. Lots of action, drama, lies, and skullduggery there too — even though it also is not technically located in the Middle East.
And now apparently ISIS (that tramp!) is also off having a hot illicit affair with the American-sponsored neo-Nazi Ukraine regime, also not in the Middle East — but this new daytime drama may soon to be playing on European TV instead — as ISIS slips off to gay Paree after dumping her thug boyfriend in Kiev. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-isil-is-in-ukraine-americas-agents-of-chaos-unleashed-in-eurasia/5446989
Plus who wouldn’t want to hear the exciting story about brave and heroic Palestinians fighting for their freedom — only to be called angry sluts by the American media. Or how the brave and heroic Yemenis, fighting for their freedom, get bombed back to the Stone Age by the despotic Saudis who still somehow manage to come out as the Good Guys — even after training and financing ISIS. How do they do that? How do they just keep getting away with that again and again? Will they ever get their comeuppance? Apparently not. But stay tuned.
And then there is the Israeli regime, staring as the “scheming patriarch” character, forcing America to do its dirty work so it can take over the Middle East. Bibi Netanyahu is like a Mafia don or the villain on “The Bold and the Beautiful” or “Dark Shadows” — always scheming behind the scenes. He’s like Angelique Bouchard or Sheila Carter. What’s not to love about him?
Why would anybody who loves soap operas and/or reality shows, action movies or even murder-mysteries and thrillers even think of ever not keeping up with events in the Middle East? Entertainment at its best!
Too bad, however, that more than a million lives have been lost so far in these productions — but, for Wall Street and War Street, that’s just one of the costs of being in show business.
Famous Writers From My Hometown
Way back in 1972, I found myself really struggling to find a place for myself in the new Nixon America, both philosophically and economically. The 1960s were clearly over and nobody wanted to hire me — either as a hippie single mother or as a female city planner with a masters degree from Cal. The days of Johnson’s Great Society and Urban Removal were gone completely and monies that used to go to improve our urban infrastructure had all been consumed in a fire called the Vietnam War. Plus planning departments throughout the land were mostly hiring only men “because they had families to support.” Hey, me too!
And so I decided to go to a hypnotist who would then ask my subconscious mind for advice on the subject of, “What should I do with my life?” What am I good at? And the answer came back so definitively clear that it startled me.
“You are a WRITER,” screamed my subconscious. Go figure. Or maybe it had said, “Righter,” meaning a person who seeks justice and to put things to right. Or perhaps both.
And 40 years later, here I am — constantly writing my little heart out. So my subconscious mind was clearly on target. And I am also now living in a city that is famous for its writers (and Righters too): Berkeley, California. So I decided to go for a walk and check out the places where these famous waiters had lived.
Alan Ginsberg lived at 1624 Milvia Street when he wrote “Howl.” And he also used to come over to visit my friends at the Woolsey Street House and hang out with Country Joe McDonald, Chogyam Trungpa and the Floating Lotus Magic Opera.
Jack Kerouac lived at 1943 Berkeley Way. Philip K. Dick lived at 1126 Francisco Street and worked at the Lucky Dog pet shop http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/07/17/a-roadmap-to-berkeleys-literary-scene/ The list goes on and on. Ursula Le Guin, Robert Penn Warren, Huey Newton, Joan Didion, Anthony Boucher, June Jordan, Michael Chabon… All of them had homes in Berkeley.
But then I got to thinking about all the other residents — writers, Righters or not — currently living in Berkeley who do NOT have any homes. James, the writer who lives on the sidewalk in front of Jon’s ice cream shop, for instance. He has no home. And there are many, many, many others too — writers or not — who now live on our streets, unprotected and constantly at the mercy of weather, economic downturns, criminal minds, and bad luck.
And these are only the homeless people in Berkeley that I’m talking about. All across America today there are thousands — probably even millions — of potential writers (and Righters) who are now (involuntarily) On The Road.
The strange and cancerous growth of homelessness in America since Jimmy Carter should surely give me something to write about. And should give you something to write about, too. For instance, you could write to your congressional representative and tell him or her to stop spending our money on sleazy bank bailouts and stupid wars and start spending it on housing and schools instead. Who knows? Perhaps somewhere out there, homeless and afraid and without an education, is America’s next William Faulkner, Mark Twain or Janet Evanovich! http://www.ted.com/conversations/9175/less_than_1_paid_for_the_worl.html
PS: Didn’t Mark Twain live in Berkeley, too? Or at least visit here a lot? I know that he left his memoirs to the University of California.
PPS: Here is an article I wrote back in 2007 after my visit to Nelson Mandela’s home town, Soweto, back when I was in the Peace Corps in South Africa. “Up the ‘Bucs!” http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2007/09/u-p-bucs-visiting-south-africas-soweto.html
And another article I wrote about Mandela’s relationship to Lucas Mangope, uncrowned king of the Setswana, who lived in my South African home town. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2007/09/lucas-mangope-one-of-south-africas.html
Broken Arm, Broken Healthcare System
by jane stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2013/07/broken-arm-broken-healthcare-system-by.html
this report is gonna be short because i have to type it all with only one hand. hunt and peck. no capitalizations. that’s what happens when one breaks one’s arm.
and another thing that happens when one breaks one’s arm is that, after i had tripped and fallen over a piece of uplifted sidewalk in berkeley and got rushed to the hospital in a fire truck, i also quickly discovered how much our healthcare system has been looted and plundered by healthcare insurance company executives trying to score yet another million-dollar paycheck — at the expense of our hospitals, us patients and our hard-working doctors and nurses.
it took forever for me to get seen and treated.
ouch!
the doctors and nurses and technicians at my hospital were all angels of mercy and friendly and skilled and kind. but there were only a few of them and only so much they could do in the time allotted to each patient — they could only spread themselves so thin.
“and how do you feel about working for sutter health, that big conglomerate that has taken over your hospital?” i asked all of them http://www.sutterhealth.org/
“sutter health? i hate sutter health!” they all replied. hey, me too. and every single employee that i talked to said the same thing. and they didn’t just hate sutter health. they really really really hated sutter health. must be strange to have 100% of your employees hate you so much.
“there should be a law that says that when the salaries of executives of non-profit corporations reach over one million dollars a year, then that company’s non-profit status should be revoked.”
sutter’s greed is slowly eating our local hospital alive.
i would type more on this subject but gotta go take my pain medication and then try to figure out how i’m going to take a bath and drive a stick shift with only one arm. sigh. my total sympathy goes out to anyone who has ever permanently lost the use of an arm, a hand, a leg or any other appendage. don’t see how they can do it.
ps: between the heath insurance lobby, the nuclear-waste-creation lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, the oil lobby, the coal lobby, the nra lobby, the bankster lobby, the gmo/agribusiness lobby, the war profiteer lobby, the tobacco lobby, the anti-regulations lobby, the aipac lobby, the pro-pollution lobby, the anti-education lobby, the offshore tax haven lobby, the anti-social-security lobby, the cia lobby, the hedge-fund lobby, the deforestation lobby, the anti-union lobby, the sell-off-our-post-offices lobby, the media-monopoly lobby, the food additive lobby, the strip-mining lobby, the keystone pipeline lobby, the pesticide lobby, the fracking lobby, etc., it’s a wonder that any of the rest of us americans are even still alive and functioning at all — and still even have all our arms and legs too.Stuck In History…
Stuck in history: Mother’s Day, Niles, Bikers & Charlie Chapman
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2013/05/stuck-in-history-mothers-day-niles.html
“Would you like to play Charlie Chaplin’s mother in my new movie?” a film student at UC Berkeley asked me recently. Of course I would. Yeah. Sure!
Did you know that Charlie Chaplin’s mother suffered from and finally died of tertiary syphilis, which she contracted while being forced into prostitution in the gold fields of South Africa by her greedy and unscrupulous husband? And that Charlie then grew up in a Dickensian-style orphanage in the slums of London? It’s true.
And did you also know that Chaplin made a whole bunch of his movies in Niles, California — back before Hollywood was Hollywood and Niles was Hollywood first? And that Niles is just 30 miles south of Berkeley? And that Niles is now one of the antique-store (and biker-bar) capitals of the world?
Just for a moment, let’s take a break from all the lies and propaganda http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17948-forget-cocaine-the-bigger-danger-to-america-is-snorting-crack-koch we are all currently being bombarded with on our flat-screen TVs (propaganda that tells us Syria has WMDs just like Iraq did; that Iran, not the CIA, is the world’s baddest Bad Guy; that only Wall Street needs and deserves a bailout; and that John Kerry has the absolute right and cajones to contest honest elections in Venezuela but did diddly-squat to contest dishonest elections in Ohio http://filmmakermagazine.com/69630-slurping-docs-at-tribeca/). Instead, let’s return to those simple days of yesteryear when everything was uncomplicated and nice and the Little Tramp was king of comedy.
That’s what happens when you visit Niles, CA.
Niles is a sweet little all-American town with a main street and steam trains and an old-fashioned tearoom that is offering Mothers Day high tea.
I remember my own mother with very mixed feelings. She’s dead now (death is the ultimate career change, BTW), so it’s obviously too late to be working out all that emotional spaghetti with her in person — so on Mothers Day these days I just have to say goodbye to all that ambiguity and just let it all go.
But apparently Charlie Chaplin couldn’t — and didn’t. He always thought that he was the one who drove his mother nutzo and never even knew that she had syphilis.
Did I drive my own mother around the bend also? Did Barbara Bush drive young GWB nuts? And what was Anton Scalia’s mother like? We should ask Sandra Day O’Connor about that one.
Happy Mothers Day.
According to Mary Catherine Bateson, her mother (Margaret Mead) completely changed the way that babies were brought into the world and how children were treated here in America. At a time when American children were regimented rigidly with regard to feeding times and that babies were tortured with weird-looking instruments immediately after their birth, Mead let the world know that, in Samoa it was okay to hug one’s child and even actually breast-feed it when it was hungry instead of just letting it cry for three hours and then feeding it only from a bottle.
My mother herself wrote in my baby book that the hospital staff where I was born didn’t hardly allow my mom to see me during the first whole ten days of my life — and then they had the chutzpah to tell her that she couldn’t breast-feed because her milk had all dried up. No wonder so many American guys have such fixations with breasts!
And American women seem to be fixated on them too. Just ask your nearest local plastic surgeon.
So. Perhaps the simple days of yesteryear weren’t so simple after all. Charlie Chaplin’s mother was bonkers from syphilis. We had the great 1929 stock market crash. And World War I was basically a slaughterhouse driven by propaganda and lies — so much so that the main difference between then and now appears to be that, back in the day, no one hadflat-screen TVs.
But Niles’ silent-movie museum, antique stores, biker bar and tea room are still nice places to go on Mothers Day, and to dream about a simple and peaceful time long ago — one that never really existed.
PS: I also got to play another mother in a recent Academy of Art student film as well. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6frzpjGhHEM
PPS: Chicago’s probate court system seems to have developed a rather unique way of celebrating Mothers Day. First, court attorneys who act as guardians for elders (at $250 an hour!) actively seek out home-owning old people; send in a phony doctor who declares them to be incompetent; get them tossed into a warehousing-type old people’s home; sell off the helpless elders’ homes; and then pocket the profits http://marygsykes.com/2013/05/03/a-system-set-up-to-dump-people-in-nursing-homes-let-the-attorneys-hold-a-bake-sale-for-funding/#comment-2050
How can people like this sleep at night? And how can they ever even look their own mothers in the eye after doing these grossly egregious things to other people’s mothers?
Being Homeless Is HARD WORK!
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2013/04/living-dying-on-streets-being-homeless.html
While my apartment was busy being renovated, re-habbed and fixed up for most of last month and a good chunk of this one, I had been forced to find “alternative housing” — staying with relatives, living in cheap motels, house-sitting for strangers, sleeping on various couches and futons, renting rooms-by-the-night in other peoples’ homes, staying in hostels, whatever. But yesterday I finally got to move back home!
Sure, all my stuff was still in boxes when I got back and the heater didn’t work and there was no hot water, but it’s like Virginia Woolf used to say, “All one really needs is a bed and a computer of one’s own.”
Everything else is just icing on the cake.
This past month has been a grand adventure, obviously, and a whole lot of fun in many ways. But the bottom line is that, for most of this time, I was disoriented and grouchy and unsure and unorganized and even afraid. And for much of this time I was basically living out of the back seat of my car — and in laundromats and diners and parks and libraries. Even now, my head hurts just thinking about it.
And even though I myself was never in any real danger of being actually homeless during this time and didn’t have to go without any meals and always found a roof to put over my head, nevertheless, I was constantly stressed out during this entire month. Mucho stressed out. Stressed out a lot!
So just imagine if someone was forced to do this uber-stressful homelessness gig 24/7; for months and even years at a time — with no resources, no backup and no future hope that someday soon they would be going back home again. I can’t even imagine doing all that and still keeping sane.
In just the past month, my complete respect for the homeless has grown by leaps and bounds. It’s a wonder to me that they can handle all this stress day after day and still remain sane. It’s even a wonder to me that they can even still stay alive.
According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, “[T]he number of homeless people on a single night in January 2012 was 633,782.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/20/us-usa-economy-hunger-idUSBRE8BJ14I20121220 And I bet there were a lot more than that.
Here’s to you, homeless Americans everywhere. Having been almost one of you for only one month, I salute you with all of my heart.
PS: My all-time favorite bumper sticker reads, “Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World Peace in one generation!” And I sincerely believed this was true until I met a young woman from China recently — and now have to re-think that idea completely.
“What are they like — those adults in China who have grown up under its single-child system, the fortunately-nurtured ones whose needs have all been met? Are they happy, secure, hopeful, compassionate?”
“No, hardly! They’re egocentric, self-centered and spoiled. They think only of themselves and their own wants and needs. Having been raised without siblings and with so many doting parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, all they can pretty much do now as adults is to whine a lot when they don’t get their own way — and expect to be waited on.”
And this same sort of thing seems to be true here at my housing co-op as well. When we all moved in here back in 1979, a lot of us had some pretty grim stories to tell — having endured poverty, homelessness, spousal abuse, single-parent loneliness, unemployment, overcrowding, victimization, addiction, etc; before finding these wonderful homes. I myself had been previously living in an attic without running water and in an small apartment with no privacy.
And then our sweet little housing co-op offered all of us bruised members of society an idealistic new chance to be wanted, nurtured, protected and loved. My co-op’s motto became “Caring and Sharing”.
And so what happened next? How did these new residents handle this wonderful new chance? Humph. Instead of creating “neighborhood peace in one generation” like we had hoped, they soon became a re-creation of the worst of today’s modern American society, almost exactly. We soon developed an almost Darwinian example of survival of the fittest.
Within ten years, my sweet little housing co-op had already developed its very own Boss Tweeds and its very own 1%.
However, something good did come of all this. Timid little me actually began to develop the necessary cajones to go up against this new 1% all by myself. And even after surviving attempts to beat me up, illegally raise my rent, stage frequent sudden illegal “inspections” of my apartment, actually try to pass an ordinance that I was not allowed to knit in board meetings, hold five (5) kangaroo courts to try to convict me of wrong-doing, attempt to evict me illegally and even to throw me in jail, I did finally win the battle to get my housing co-op not only financially stable for the first time in years but actually renovated and restored to its original pristine condition.
And then, even more important, when George W. Bush stole the 2000 election, I realized that if I could single-handedly defeat the greedy Boss Tweeds who ran my housing co-op, then taking on GWB should be a walk in the park! And that’s how I became a blogger. So, actually, I do owe those former powers-that-be in my co-op a huge debt of gratitude after all.
They proved to me that if someone, even the weakest and meekest of us all, can work long enough and hard enough to achieve justice, then it can be obtained.
And so Wall Street and War Street had better watch out. I am still coming after them. And I’m now locked and loaded — with a computer and a bed!
PPS: A well-known local psychiatrist recently gave a speech to members of the Berkeley-Albany Bar Association, and he said that children raised in child-centered households were far LESS likely to become substance abusers than children raised in adult-centered households.
This probably means that the egotistic children of China at least won’t be at risk for getting all addicted to alcohol and drugs — plus it certainly explains why GWB was a drunk and coke addict for so many years.
Let The Punishment Fit The Crime?
Haiti, Baby Doc, GWB & Obama: Let The Punishment Fit The Crime?
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2013/03/haiti-baby-doc-gwb-obama-let-punishment.html
David Pratt, my favorite war correspondent (besides myself, of course), just wrote an excellent article describing the BBC’s recent interview with Tony Blair — wherein Blair repeatedly made embarrassingly ineffective attempts to excuse and defend his indefensible and inexcusable actions regarding the illegal invasion of Iraq 10 years ago.
But one particular thing that Pratt wrote caught my eye bigtime. “Challenged in the interview [emphasis mine] on what kind of mandate or legal basis would be required for military action in Syria,” wrote Pratt, “Mr. Blair dismissed the role of the UN as readily now as he did back in the days leading up to the Iraq war.” http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/blair-still-misleading-on-the-middle-east.20380809
Might this actually mean that somebody in the British mainstream media actually came up with the integrity and guts to actually challenge Tony Blair live on national TV? That’s amazing.
But where, exactly, was this brave and intrepid reporter back when we needed him most — back in 2003, when nobody in the mainstream media ever challenged Tony Blair or even thought of challenging him. Nobody. And also, where were the intrepid reporters back then who had the cojones to challenge George W. Bush as well? 2003 was definitely not our mainstream media’s finest hour.
But it’s still not too late. Our mainstream media can still spring into action and demand the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from Mr. Blair (and also from Mr. Bush and even from Mr. Obama as well) — and win a Pulitzer Prize doing it too.
And then perhaps some intrepid souls in the mainstream media might even demand that the punishment fit the crime as well.
But Bush, Blair and Obama aren’t the only ones who have happily murdered folks for fun and profit — and gotten away with it too. Various courts in Haiti are, even as we speak, still trying to bring Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier into the dock of justice for his crimes — and are equally having no luck.
Twenty-seven years after committing innumerable horrible atrocities between 1979 and 1986, Baby Doc is finally being subpoenaed for his crimes. Hey, maybe 27 years from now, Blair, Bush and Obama may finally get subpoenaed for their crimes too!
However, Baby Doc’s lawyers are apparently trying to postpone his trial, claiming that Duvalier’s statute of limitations are up. According to IPS News Service, “Duvalier was first indicted for crimes against humanity in 2008 and then again in 2011. But last year, the court suddenly ruled that he would only be tried for embezzlement, saying that the alleged abuses had taken place too long ago.” http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/all-eyes-in-haiti-on-duvalier-hearing/
No, no, no and no.
The statute of limitations for torture and murder are never, ever up — no matter what “Zero Dark Thirty” might lead us to believe. Baby Doc must pay for his crimes. And so must Blair, Bush, Cheney and even Obama.
PS: I’m still trying to get to Haiti by the end of March, but so far things aren’t looking so good. Why? Because of problems with money, transportation, in-country contacts and even hotel accommodations. But wouldn’t it be any (non-mainstream-media) reporter’s dream come true to sit in on Baby Doc’s trial for murder in Haiti? That would be almost as good as being here in an American courtroom when Cheney, Bush and Obama go on trial for murder in the Middle East!
PPS: Since War Street has so obviously screwed up our own American interests in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Palestine and Syria, what makes us think that a war on Iran is gonna go any better?
War Street, however, has not screwed up their own interests in these countries at all — only ours. Trillions of dollars in profits have been pouring into War Street as a result of these cruel and unnecessary invasions. “Keep it coming!” cries War Street. And so Iran is now next. And once again all of us poor “sequestered” fools in America will be paying for this whole new war adventure for the rest of our lives as well.
Here’s an article from the Washington Post that a friend of mine just sent me — her sons have served in Iraq and Afghanistan as Marines so she keeps on top of this kind of stuff. The article’s headline reads, “The U.S. may not have money for infrastructure repairs, but Afghanistan does.” Maybe some people in the MSM are finally getting it right after all. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-us-may-not-have-money-for-infrastructure-repairs-but-afghanistan-does/2013/02/27/c11b475e-7f9c-11e2-8074-b26a871b165a_story.html
What About Afghanistan & Palestine Kids?
It’s Terrible To Kill Kids In CT, But Fine to Do It In Afghanistan and Palestine?
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/12/its-terrible-to-kill-kids-in-ct-but.html
President Obama has just promised to take action against those who kill children in cold blood. One thing that he could do immediately to carry out this promise is to stop killing innocent children with all his guns, missiles and drones — for no other reason than because they were born in Afghanistan or Pakistan or Palestine instead of in Connecticut.
Four-hundred innocent Palestinian children were shot in cold blood in Gaza during Cast Lead I.
Forty-eight innocent children and 12 innocent women were shot in cold blood in Gaza during Cast Lead II.
Unarmed, these innocent women and children were slaughtered as they stood and had no weapons in the face of their killers — who were armed to the teeth.
Tell me again how this is different (and more justified) than what happened in Connecticut?
PS: The shooter at Sandy Hook pretty much fits the national profile of a young person who had been prescribed anti-depressants and consequently the drugs made him nuts — a la Columbine.
Also, here’s a link to Dr. Gary Kohl’s article on the sad effects of anti-depressants on adolescents. Scroll down to the bottom to see the impressively long list of young shooters who have gone postal while taking anti-depressants. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-colorado-batman-shooter-de-mystifying-mass-murder-in-america/32135>.
Brain Drain: The New Israeli Diaspora
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/11/brain-drain-new-israeli-diaspora-by.html
I recently went to a showing of an excellent British mini-series called “The Promise” http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-promise/articles/video-the-promise-trail. Filmed in Israel, it depicts the struggles of one brave English soldier at the end of the British Mandate period — as he futilely tries to save the lives of his Palestinian friends and fellow-soldiers during the violent and pitiless 1948 takeover of the Holy Land by Zionist thugs.
During this movie, I cried a lot.
And after the film was over and refreshments were being served (“Never turn down free food,” is my motto!), I had an interesting conversation with some guy who currently works down in Silicon Valley.
“You know,” he said, “things are changing rapidly in Israel right now.”
“You mean that it’s no longer the same-old same-old there any more? With Israeli neo-cons trying to pass themselves off as pious Jews while happily committing mass murder and partying all night in Tel Aviv — and Christians and Muslims constantly getting beat up and shot at for the crime of making olive oil while Palestinian?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq2MpG4gQgk
By this time I had become rather cynical about Israeli neo-con mercenaries and land-grabbers — almost as cynical as I’ve become about the neo-con mercenaries and land-grabbers here in America too.
“Well, of course there’s still that,” the techie guy replied, “but something else is happening in Israel now as well. People have started to leave there en masse. And not just the usual ones either — not just the poor abused Palestinians still trying to sneak over the border into Jordan or Egypt. And not the discriminated-against Sephardi Jews either, at the very bottom of the Israeli social pecking order, last hired and first fired, who you wouldn’t want dating your daughter.” http://www.mayacafe.com/forum/topic1sp.php3?tkey=1237163771
“Then who?”
“The technological elite in general are now leaving in large numbers. And formerly-Russian tech experts in particular are leaving as fast as they can.” Interesting. Hmmm.
“Are you talking about the kind of people referred to in all those Israeli-sponsored subway ads,” I replied, “bragging that Israelis have invented thus-and-so hot new gadget or found a cure for this or that horrendous disease? Those are the ones that are leaving?”
“Like rats from a sinking ship.” I guess no one with any brains wants to keep living in a country where its leaders are always either declaring war, waging war or industriously hunting for a new war to declare.
“This new brain-drain is actually happening right now — and pretty soon all the people who will be left living in Israel will be the hotel maids, the IDF hard-liners, the land-grabbing neo-cons and racists, haters and religious nuts.” Good grief. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33005.htm
“You have to understand that much of the current Israeli scientific community had originally immigrated to Israel from Russia in order to get away from all the persecution, corruption, wars, lack of civil rights and poverty that existed there before, during and after the breakup of the old USSR.” And from the winters of course.
“Many of these Russian immigrants were not even Jews. They were gentiles who just wanted to get out. And, once in Israel, they discovered that it wasn’t the land of milk and honey that they had expected. And so now they are leaving Israel also, moving on.”
“Where to?”
“Here.”
PS: I’m currently in the middle of reading Jimmy Carter’s fascinating memoir, “White House Diary”. Good grief! If only we had elected Carter for another four years instead of that lying skunk Reagan, America would be in so much better shape right now. For instance, the whole world loved Jimmy for his heroic stands on civil rights, which gave the United States even more love, sympathy and cachet back then than we’ve ever had since, even on the day after 9-11 (before Bush bungled it).
And Carter didn’t “give away” the Panama Canal either. He traded it for the whole world’s good will and to make up for what Nixon, Kissinger, and the CIA had done to Chile, Argentina, etc. Back then, Carter could go into almost any country on the planet and get a standing ovation — while Nixon, Reagan and both Bushes only got rotten tomatoes.
Plus if we had listened to Carter back in the day, perhaps global warming, 9-11, Hurricane Sandy and Karl Rove also might have been avoided!
And if only we had listened to Carter back when he warned us again and again about how Israeli neo-cons spoke with forked-tongues. And they still do. And now we’ve got a whole new crop of neo-con serpents all of our own here in America as well! Plus now various neo-con Red States are actually threatening to secede. Ah, if only they WOULD. Just think of all the money the rest of us would save.
Can’t you just picture Arkansas out spending billions of dollars on its 800-odd military bases around the world or dealing with the Benghazi crisis? Or Alabama supplying Israel with F16s, cluster bombs and white phosphorus? Or South Carolina scaring China into adjusting its trade deficit? Or oil-depleted Texas trying to intimidate OPEC, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, Venezuela and the Saudis? Or Tennessee happily trying to tell Putin or even North Korea to go to hell?
Now that I think about it, secession could actually be the final key to finally putting an end to America’s “endless wars”.
Maybe Lincoln should never have tried to save the Union after all — except for perhaps New Orleans and Nashville.
****
From BuzzFlash regarding the Petraeus event [just who WAS that shirtless man?]: …Cantor’s inappropriate meddling into an FBI investigation for opportunistic political purposes — likely aimed at influencing an election — simply failed. Cantor took the risk of assisting a rogue FBI agent to make an end run around his superiors, without even informing his fellow Republicans on the Hill. He thought he would end up a GOP hero, but he really just looks as seedy as the whole lamentable saga. http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17640-eric-cantor-s-petraeus-october-surprise-failed-as-fbi-stood-firm
Whole New Ballgame 10 Years From Now
Madame Jame Predicts:
A Whole New Ballgame 10 Years From Now
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/09/madame-jane-predicts-whole-new-ballgame.html
“You think that the Giants are gonna be in the World Series this year?” I asked Madame Jane, our local fortuneteller.
“Probably.”
“And also what about 10 years from now?” I’m a die-hard Giants fan.
“Nope. Not a chance. Everything is going to be real different around here in 10 years. Ten years from now, no one will be able to afford $50 a ticket. But there will be other advantages,” M.J. went on to say. “Instead of watching others play baseball, we’ll be out there playing baseball ourselves.”
“Not even watching it on TV?”
“TV will be toast.” Apparently, instead of watching “Survivor,” we will be living “Survivor” 10 years from now. Good grief.
But what else should I ask Madame Jane? “Will Wall Street and war profiteers still be running the U.S.A.?”
“What U.S.A.?”
“How about agribusiness?”
“You will take a stick, punch a hole in the ground and drop in a seed. That will be your agribusiness 10 years from now.”
Too “Little Red Hen” for me!
“But what about L-O-V-E?” I asked next.
“Love? Love? That’s too Christ-like,” she replied. “Love is for hippies and commies. Ten years from now, Christian, Jewish and Muslim extremist madmen will be ruling the day. And we all know that their main message is H-A-T-E.
“And what about children and music and art?”
“We will still have those. We will always have those — as long as human beings have souls. You, however, might have to practice your fiddle underground. But that’s okay because we’ll all be living underground by then due to radiation anyway.”
And all this will be happening to us in just 10 short years? “Hey, don’t blame me. I’m just the messenger.” Then who should I blame? “Right now Americans have allowed a bunch of corporate predators to take over our government — cheered on by a bunch of bozos and sheep who believe everything they see on TV.” Ah, campaign ads.
PS: There appears to be two kinds of Christians, Muslims and Jews — those who believe in killing other human beings for fun and profit and those who do not. I myself stand firmly with those who do not.
PPS: If I were suddenly gifted with super-powers, the first thing that I’d do would be to destroy every single weapon in the world more dangerous than a baseball bat. Then Madam Jane’s current ten-year prediction would never come true.
PPPS: The U.S. intervention in Iran and Lebanon in the 1970s was a disaster that led to putting Islamic extremists in power over there. The U.S. intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s was another disaster that put Islamic extremists in power over there, too.
The U.S. intervention in the Gulf in the 1990s helped keep Islamic extremists in power over there as well. The U.S. intervention in Iraq in the 2000s gave Islamic extremists a huge advantage there too. And now, in the 2010s, the U.S. interventions in Libya and Syria are putting Islamic extremists in power over there too. Currently there are approximately 250,000 Islamic extremist madmen running around Libya that have been armed to the teeth by NATO with weapons paid for by corporate-owned America.
There’s a moral here somewhere.
Perhaps Madame Jane is correct in predicting that the U.S. is going to Hell in a hand-basket sooner than we think.
PPPPS: Now I finally understand why the greedy 1% are always trying to push charter schools down our throats whether we want them or not — charter schools are non-union! Just another way of obtaining cheap labor. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-09-07/article/40160?headline=Berkeley-Schools-the-Billionaires-and-the-New-Superintendent-News-Analysis—By-Thomas-Lord
PPPPPS: I’ll be going off to Ohio in October. No, not to watch the Republicans steal yet another presidential election there — but to attend BoucherCon http://bouchercon2012.com/, an annual murder-mystery writers’ and fans’ convention being held in Cleveland this year. See you there?
And perhaps Madame Jane will be there also — and perhaps she might even be talked into predicting YOUR future too.
Nigeria Today: Taking Corporate Limits…
Nigeria Today: Taking Corporate Limits To Its Logical Conclusion
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/09/nigeria-today-taking-corporate-power-to.html
You think that America’s corporate-owned government has its drawbacks? Wait until you hear what the corporate-owned government in Nigeria is up to! You think that the results of having corporate Big Money buying off America’s politicians has been scary and sad? Then you obviously haven’t ever been to Nigeria — where they have definitely gone way far beyond merely “scary” or “sad.”
When it comes to having a corporate-owned government, apparently Nigeria has become the prototype, the ideal, the epitome of what corporate-owned government can really achieve if it puts its mind to it. Corporations in America like Citibank and Monsanto and Georgia-Pacific and Chevron can only hope to aspire to the high levels of corporatism that have been achieved in Nigeria.
Nigeria today has broken the mold and set the bar really high.
But how do I know all this? From an interview with an expert on Nigeria that took place yesterday in a local park in Berkeley over tuna-fish sandwiches.
“So. What’s up in Nigeria?” I asked him, immediately diving right in.
“Don’t even ask,” he replied. “For one thing, our government is composed of mainly puppet thugs put into office by corporate neo-colonialists — but these office-holders have no power at all. They are only there as a showcase, an illusion, a shadow puppet show created to make it look like someone with dark skin is in charge over there and to give corporations someone to officially sign the documents that have handed Nigeria over to them.”
That’s ironic. In America, corporations try to dig up shadow puppets with light skin.
“When we were children in Nigeria,” continued the expert, “all of us wanted to go off to college because those in our villages who had gone to college would come home and everyone would honor them. But not any more. Now the children in the villages and towns of Nigeria all want to grow up to be government thugs! To drive big shiny cars and take money from oil companies and beat people up.”
“Something like that has happened in America too,” I replied. “Little kids used to want to grow up to be doctors or firefighters or scientists. High school kids wanted to go to college and become architects or engineers or Bob the Builder. Now all they want to do is study business so they can rush off to Wall Street and make a killing. Who wants to be a doctor when they can orchestrate pension-plan takeovers and outsource American jobs. Or go into politics.” Yeah. And become corporate-owned government thugs like in Nigeria.
“And it used to be that everyone in Nigeria at least had a chance of going to high school,” said the expert. “But the levels of available education there are falling fast.” Keep them barefoot and dumb? Seems to be the trend here in America too.
“Whenever we thought of America when we were children, we all wanted to be like that — democracy and all. Owning something that said ‘Made in America’ on it was a very big deal. And now it’s all made in China. But what amazes me most about Americans today is that they all sit back and take this and say nothing. They just listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck and Fox News and accept their fate like lambs to the slaughter.”
I know what he means. And in my humble opinion, it all started back in 1963 when no one really questioned who shot JFK — and who benefited most. Who had the motive, means and opportunity? It surely wasn’t Cuba or even the USSR. “Who killed the Kennedys? After all it was you and me,” sang the Rolling Stones — and they nailed it. Then most Americans went on to never question the lack of preparedness before 9-11 http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/11/the-11th-anniversary-911-paul-craig-roberts/ or the obvious lies about weapons of mass destruction or the need for bank bailouts or…. Sheep.
“Don’t Tread on Me” is now history, sent off to America’s outdated memorabilia rubbish heap.
“When the BP oil spill happened over here in the Gulf,” my expert continued, “BP spent a lot of money on maintaining their public image in America and making excuses. Well, Nigeria has a big oil spill almost every day. Oil spills like that are common in Nigeria. But the major difference between there and here is that BP doesn’t even bother to make excuses in Nigeria. They don’t even consider Nigerians important enough to even make excuses. They treat us like some kind of annoying pests that they just have to put up with while extracting our oil. Not really human.” Definitely beyond sad.
Imagine all those photos of shorebirds on the Gulf Coast covered with oil — and then imagine Nigerians covered with oil like that too. The toxic “body burden” that many Nigerian villagers are bearing these days is tragic.
“Have you ever been to Nigeria?” he asked me. “Rich people there live in securely gated communities and behind high walls. There is no walking down the streets in Nigeria for rich people. Why would anyone ever want to live like that? To always be guarded and gated and stuck behind walls? That’s no way to live. Having economic equality leads to more freedom — even for the rich.”
But as the rich become more and more separated from the poor here in America too, that’s definitely the direction we also are going in. Freedom, like money, does not trickle down.
Next we discussed a whole bunch of other reasons why having a corporate-owned government has led to a failed nation in Nigeria — and will also lead to a failed nation here. But I forgot to take notes and can’t remember the rest of what all we discussed. But you get the gist. Government of the people, by the people and for the people is good. Corporate-owned government is proving to be very very bad.
To paraphrase a recent saying that’s now making the rounds on FaceBook, “If Romney’s proposed corporatist policies actually work, then George W. Bush would have given the keynote speech at the Republican convention — and Nigeria would be a proud role model for democracy and freedom, not just another miserable failed state.”
PS: Has anyone started to miss Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi yet? If he hadn’t been brutally murdered and his corpse dragged through the streets of Sirte, Ambassador Stevens would still be alive and well too.
And does anybody but me find it ironic that the rockets used to attack the American consulate in Benghazi probably came from the same stockpile of weapons supplied to NATO’s allies, the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and paid for by America’s corporate-owned government?
Shades of Ronald Reagan’s favorite “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan — Osama bin Ladin and friends.
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.”
Another Bucket-List Item Checked Off…
Circumnavigating The Globe!
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/08/another-bucket-list-item-checked-off.html
One thing that I’d always really wanted to do was to travel around the world, preferably at the equator, by walking, biking, hot-air ballooning or even by covered wagon or swimming if necessary — I didn’t care how. “What about doing it in an airplane?” Sure. Definitely easier on the knees.
So I did it.
First I lived on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for two years to save up, and then borrowed or begged as many frequent flyer miles as I could. And then just did it! Another big item to check off of my bucket list.
“So how’d it go?” you might ask. About as well as you can expect — considering that in 21 days I spent 55.5 hours actually sitting in an airline chair, eating airline food and watching airline movies, and another 75 hours getting to airports, sitting around airports, sleeping at airports and getting back from airports. Plus going through 30 different security checks in nine different airports as well.
When I tell people that I actually did all of that, they just look at me and think that I made the whole thing up. So that’s why I always take photos. Nobody believes me otherwise. And even then, still nobody believes me. “Nah, those pictures were PhotoShopped.” No, really. I actually did do it!
“So. What did you learn?” Nothing much — except that everywhere that I went, people were always very friendly and kind to me. And NOBODY I met ever deserved to be killed.
Of all the hundreds of people I met on my travels — perhaps even thousands — not one of them deserved to be blown up by a drone or irradiated by depleted uranium or run down by tanks or attacked by militarized police with tear gas or occupied “for their own good” or bombed by “peacekeeping” forces or any of that other stuff that America has now become famous for.
And what I have discovered after circumnavigating the entire globe, mostly at the equator, and going to or flying over so many different countries is this: That America used to be famous for our democracy and our “can do” attitude and our inventiveness. But not any more. Now America is just famous for developing its whole new advanced unique and expensive technology for killing people. Sigh.
So now that I’ve actually circumnavigated the entire globe, do you want to know what the latest, most exciting, most fabulous, most creative item on my recently-updated bucket list is gonna be now? WORLD PEACE! And I’m not the only one who has this item on their bucket list either.
Do you?
PS: Once back home in the good old U.S.A., what was one of the first things that I saw TV? Paul Ryan — channeling GWB. During his recent speech at Tampa, Ryan obviously looked and sounded just like George Bush’s clone — the exact same insincere smile, pseudo-populist bad acting, use of emotional tear-jerking “patriotic” sucker-punches and shameless making of empty promises that Ryan, like Bush, has NO intention of keeping. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/08/ryan-launches-campaign-theme-of-lying-about-everything.html.
Dubya himself may have been banned from the Republican convention, but his spirit — and his disastrous policies too — obviously still live on in the body of Paul Davis Ryan.
And apparently Tea Party members have been going around saying that Ann Romney looks like a REAL First Lady. What’s that supposed to mean? That Michelle Obama doesn’t have blonde hair? Maybe not. But Michelle does have courage, integrity, good taste and class — along the lines of Jackie O and Dolly Madison. Can you even begin to imagine Michelle allowing Mitt to “offshore” thousands of American jobs or strap a dog to the top of a car for 12 hours?
PPS: There was hardly any snow on Mt. Fuji as we flew by it.
PPPS: At all the duty-free shops around the planet, I got to sample Chanel #5 perfume, which used to be my mother’s favorite.
Three Days In Jakarta…
Cheap Massages & Desperately Seeking Obama
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/08/3-days-in-jakarta-cheap-massages.html
After spending 10 hours in the Doha airport and 24 hours at the Singapore airport, I was totally looking forward to spending three whole days in Jakarta — but had no idea what to expect. Jakarta? Capital of Indonesia? Located on the island of Java, famous for its coffee and Krakatoa? Where Mel Gibson fell in love with Sigourney Weaver during their “Year of Living Dangerously” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086617/? Barack Obama’s old boyhood home? What is Jakarta really like? I was about to find out.
An old friend of mine from back when we both worked at Berkeley law offices met me at the airport and immediately whisked me off into a fabulous whirl of fun and food — a sort of three-day-long “Girls Night Out.”
Jakarta has definitely changed a whole lot since 1965 when Sukarno was top dog and Linda Hunt was taking photos of poor people rioting in the streets. Poor people no longer riot in the streets here. Now they know better. The foreign and local “extractive industry” moguls who apparently own most of Indonesia these days have done a really good job of teaching Indonesian poor people to know their place — except of course for a few pesky ingrates over in East Timor. But they no longer count now, having been mostly killed off.
The poor people in Indonesia clearly know their place now — just like the “extractive industries” in America are also happily teaching America’s 99% our places so they can steal our resources too.
But oil companies no longer have to kill people in America to get their hands on our land — because, unlike the people of East Timor (or Sitting Bull or Geronimo either for that matter), Americans have become so, er, gullible that they now allow the “extractive industries” to legally seize their property by use of eminent domain.
According to environmental researcher Allison Grass, “The controversial Kelo v. City of New London (2005) is credited with broadening the interpretation of ‘public use’. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of New London, deciding that the city could take private property and give it to another private entity for ‘economic development’. The Court decided that this met the ‘public use’ provision of the Fifth Amendment.” http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/21-0
What does this ruling mean for Americans? It means that if the “extractive industry” wants your land, they can have it. Period. And you of course will be S.O.L. Never forget that extractive-industry people are running a very harsh economic dictatorship behind that Oil Curtain — and they are not our friends.
As I was being driven though the streets of Jakarta, it became immediately clear that this city is now more like Dallas than Zuccotti Park. Neiman Marcus fans would feel right at home here. The Bush dynasty would love it. And my guilty secret? I too loved Jakarta.
First my friend and I went off to a top-of-the-line beauty salon for full-body massages. Only five dollars! Then we went to the old port of Jakarta where the docks are lined with funky old wooden schooners still being used for transporting goods to and from Indonesia’s 1700-odd islands.
Next we went to visit the old Dutch colony of Batavia. Did you know that the Dutch East India Company was one of the world’s very first global conglomerates? Back in 1602, it was a pioneer poster-boy for globalization — and was probably just as cruel and ruthless back then as Monsanto is now.
What to see and do next? Off to a wonderful Rijsttafel dinner with some delightful Indonesian women and a handful of ex-pats from America, Australia and Korea. And then another body massage. I could get used to this!
Next we experienced a top-of-the-line display of wealth that went way beyond my mere concept of “mall”. So much money here in Jakarta. Streets crammed with chauffeur-driven Mercedes and BMWs. And then after the “shopping complex” experience, we visited a folk-art museum, ate avocado ice cream and — went for a massage!
I owe so much to my friend from Berkeley and her Indonesian friends for giving me the full Jakarta experience.
And the food here! Marvelous. Everyone was getting ready to observe Ramadan in this mostly-Muslim country — and everyone here was either eating or shopping for food or thinking about eating. Me too!
Next came a tour of Jakarta’s largest mosque. “It is the third largest mosque in the world — only Mecca and Medinah have larger ones.” I’ve been to both those other mosques but this one was different — all modern in design and using lots of copper and chrome.
Across the street from the mosque was a large European-style cathedral. Catholics in Indonesia? Yeah. Just like there were Catholics in Nagasaki when American pilots in World War II used Nagasaki’s cathedral spire as a landmark for dropping their atomic bomb, wiping out 8,500 Japanese Christians attending Sunday services in one shot http://tinyurl.com/8pf7yb6. Ah, the smell of burning Christians in the morning. One of America’s finest hours. But I digress.
Time for another massage.
“You know what I would really love to do here?” I asked my wonderful new Indonesian BFF. “Can we go see where Barack Obama lived as a boy and also visit the school that he went to?” The school was easy to find. The two homes where Obama used to live were harder to find — but a local journalist gave us the 411 and we actually found them.
“Did you know that Barack, as a boy, was reputed to be rather pudgy — and that he confused his fellow students because his step-father was Indonesian and his mother was a white American and yet he had really curly hair. Most students finally decided that he was from Papua-New Guinea. And did you know that Obama’s father was an oilman?” No I didn’t. An oilman? Hmmm. Then I can’t understand why Republicans don’t just love Obama. Republicans always seem to love anyone who exploits natural resources for their own benefit (not ours).
And those were my three days of (not) living dangerously in Jakarta. And now it’s time for me to go off to spend yet another night in yet another airport — Narita, in Tokyo. “Ah, but wait!” said my old friend from Berkeley and my new BFF from Jakarta. “We still have time to fit in just one more massage!”
