Pat Political

This administration in trouble?

(The "Second Republic" group held a big meeting Friiday Oct. 28th, at the State House in Mntpellier and gifted me with two 'comments' about this event on my post of Octoer 21st about corporate inroads on public health.  One of my blogger friends told me that he had deleted this from his blog as being inappropriate as a comment and therefore spam.

I choose to regard these two 'comments' as guest blogs.  I had hoped to get to their meeting in the afternoon, but found myself lingering until it was too late to leave, listening on my radio to the Libby indictment announcement and following commentary.  I plan to post here what I wanted to tell this meeting in person either later today or tomorrow.)

Is this administration in trouble?  Possiibly somewhat, in view of Bush's present low poll ratings.

But their primary agenda which is to privatize so many governmental functions that finally all control of our lives is taken away from us is proceeding quite as planned.

Is it really reasonable to assume that Libby, who worked for the most authoritarian of the administration bosses could have done what  he is accused of doing on his own initiative?

No, Libby is the 'fall-guy'.  He is more likely to plea bargain than to go to trial because an actual trial so close to elections would not really be desirable for the administration.  Very possibly he may end with an electronic bracelet on his ankle for, say, six months house detention.  And when this is finished, his reward for service will be a lucrative job in some corporation which Cheney influences.

And today we see the nominee for the Supreme Court whom this administration has had waiting in the wings all along, Judge Samuel Alito.

Yes, Harriet Miers has been the decoy, the fall-girl.   

With the goal of controlling the Supreme Court so nearly theirs, because of their overwhelming majority in both houses of Congress, there would be no way they would risk the possible confirmation of someone so uncertain as Ms Miers might be.  They could count on enough opposition from Repblicans in general that they would be 'forced' to nominate Alito.  And the likelihood of his being confirmed is very strong.

Even if this administration experiences a major defeat in the 2006 Congressional elections, they have already achieved a good part of their agenda and can undoubtedly do more in the year they still have.

Consider how completely the control over a large part of what used to be our civilian army has been lost to Congress by Rumsfeld's handing over to Halliburton contracts for feeding our soldiers and for their laundry, for instance.  Think of the many hints we have had about private companies involved in the interrogation of prisoners.

Consider how com;letely Medicaire has been turned over to the many private companies which now 'administer' its benefits.  And look how thoroughly any real chance at prescription benefits for seniors has been corrupted by giving over the administration of these to private health insurance companies.

This administration is in no trouble.

Update

"While more than 2,000 American soldiers have did in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March, 2003, another 16,000 have been wounded, nearly half so severely they didn't return to duty."  (The Sunday Rutland Herald/Times Argus, October 30th, 2005)

The soldier whose story was detailed is Walt Gaya, who has lost the sight of one eye.  It is possible for him that he still will be able to follow his dream of becoming a photographer despite this handicap. 

What is most shocking about his story is that his natiuralization ceremony was scheduled eight days after he was injured.  One would think that his naturalization would proceed automatically.  After all this man has already served this country well.  But now the Immigration and Naturalization Service has refused to renew his Green Card, which gave him permanent residency, or to tell him how he should proceed toward naturalization!

Is this another example of this administration's unwillingness to support the soldiers it is sending into harm's way?

And we as the citizenry can assume that at present there are some 8,000 soldiers and their families who will be needing our help and support in one way or another, perhaps for the rest of their lives.  And more to come as long as the Iraq war continues...

And more than 2,000 have died

So many ceremonies to mark the 2,000th death of a soldier in Iraq. Such an ugly waste of young life in a war which should never have been started.

But the dead will be mourned and shall be honored. It is the living of this war who concern me. More than 15,000 injuries was the figure I heard. I pray that I heard it wrong, that the number is less. For all of these wounded men and women are going to need and do deserve our support, and many will need it for the rest of their lives.

And yet even as we are being urged to continue the fight, we see that the Bush administration is already cutting back on money to give proper support both to these wounded as well as to their families.

Public Health

One of my sons and his wife just returned from a two week trip to Europe.  One thing that surprised them was that although they certainly ate well while they were away, they both lost weight.  They are sure that it was because they did so much walking.

And suddenly this got me to thinking about how much corporate business success has resulted in increasing public bad health.

TVs, for instance.  TVs first came on the market right after WWII.  My husband was against them, did not think they belonged in a household with growing children, and so we were just about the only family around which didn't get one.  Even my parents finally did, and I have to say honestly that one of the joys of visiting Grandma and Grandpa was that my children could watch TV.  My children were thoroughly rationed with their TV and it really shocked me to see how many hours their friends began to spend in front of it.  And today's children are even more sedentary in their habits...

And how about cars.  The tremendous success of the auto companies in marketing the personal auto to us has resulted in our abandoning walking.  We jump into our cars to do errands only a short walking distance away.  Walking has become one of the conscious forms of exercise and not the normal way of getting from one place to another.

But most shocking to me is the ease with which we have given our children over to the marketing efforts of corporate business.  Go down your super market aisles and count the number of sweetened cereals on the shelves.  And the snack beverages, the fruit juices and fruit flavored juices and the sodas with their high carbohydrate content.  The snack foods loaded with both high carbohydrates and fats.

And we are surprised that we have an epidemic of childhood obesity, not to mention so many heart attacks and  increasing diabetes among us elders.

We talk about the need for a public health system, and then worry about how we can pay for it.  Shouldn't all these corporations which make so much profit from tempting us away from good health habits help pay for their bad effects?  And I am not exempting individuals from their personal responsibility in consuming these snacks.  A health tax should be levied on all of them, say 10%, to begin to pay for the health problems which will follow/ 

The IWW and Mother Jones

What a shock to learn that the international Industrial Workers of the World, which was begun by our own Mary Harris Jones who was so well loved by the miners for whom she worked so hard that they called her "Mother", was labeled a terrorist organization back in the McCarthy era!

We have had some sad periods in our history and this was one of the worst.  We were so ready to label evryone 'evil' and 'terrorist'-- Hitler, Communism-- but the really sad part is that we are still tarnished by this today.

Our willingness to accept Bush's labelling of people as 'terrorist' has led to our accepting also that these people are sub-human and therefore not needing human treatment as detainees...

David Griffin's lecture

And I did not hear anything I did not already know. But he gave a very carefully detailed, if somewhat dry lecture, on all of the questionable official details concerning each of the hi-jacked planes. And in particular he damned the 9/11 Commission for ignoring anything which did not fit the official versions.

I am old enough to have learned in the 1950’s of Roosevelt’s setting us up for Pearl Harbor and to have watched how the Warren Commission assured us that there was no conspiracy involved in the assassinations of the two Kennedy’s and Martin Luther King when at least half of the country was gut-sure there was. And so I have no trouble believing this revelation about our good Bush Republican government.

I find this set-up especially heinous because we have been conned into sending so many of our idealistic young people to die in an inadequately prepared for war which is being fought only for the business advantage of the Bush Republican elite. At least in Roosevelt’s case, there was a very real need for us to come to Europe’s and the Orient’s assistance.

The two most compelling reasons for me to believe are:

First: That President Bush was sent into the most uninvolved position they could find for him that day-- reading to very young children in a public school. I saw from TV clips that he appeared totally stunned and unable to respond when he began to learn of the extent of the disaster. I am not one to hold too strong a brief for him, but I am ready to believe that he had no previous knowledge of exactly what was planned. Just as I am equally sure that Roosevelt did not anticipate the sinking of the battle ship and the thousands of deaths which resulted when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Second: That no fighters were dispatched to intercept the hi-jacked planes although there was a very sure and well established plan for dealing for just such an occurrence. The blame for these failures was placed solely on the local controllers and their immediate superiors by official accounts although no one was subsequently disciplined for dereliction of duty.

I am glad to know that David Griffin plans to continue his efforts to make more Americans aware of this terrible conspiracy and hope to hear that as many more people are moved to become activist in changing the present direction of our country as I heard from yesterday.

Two comments

Iraqis are going to vote on a constitution Saturday, wnicn most of them will not get  to see before they vote, which is still changing even as one version is being printed.  This is a splendid exercize in democracy, according to our government.  Heavn proitect us from such democracy here!

Many of our more fundamentalist leaders, like Billy Graham's daughter Anne, have been saying that Katrina is God's judgment on us for not putting God into our schools.  As we hear even more of the horrors of the recent earthquake in Pakistan, do you suppose that some Muslim clerics will be telling their followers that this is Allah's judgment on us for supporting the Americans...?

David Griffin speaking

On Wednesday, October 12th, at 12 noon, I shall be listening to David Griffin, who has written “The New Pearl Harbor”, speaking at Trinity Methodist Church in Montpelier on the truth behind 9/11 and the American Empire. (He is also speaking in Brattleboro and Manchester on the 11th, and in Burlington on the 12th in the evening.)

What do I expect to learn? Very little that I don’t already know or believe to be probably true. After all I am from the WWII generation which learned sometime during the fifties that Roosevelt had set us up for Pearl Harbor. Why should I not be ready to believe that the Bush Republicans set us up for 9/11.

Will David Griffin galvanize us hearing him in Vermont into action. This an outcome greatly to be hoped for.

We need to come together to find candidates for our legislature to replace the representatives and senators who are too oriented to the corporate business ‘community’.

We need a candidate for governor who is strong on our values to defeat Douglas.

We have the power. Will we use it.

Food Pyramid for Children

I am absolutely horrified by the new food pyramid for children which our government is suggesting should be the guide to children’s nutrition.

This food pyramid suggests low-fat milk for children.

Fat has become almost a dirty word today. But saturated fat and the fatty acids, the mono- and poly-unsaturated fats which are principally present in chicken and pork fat and oils like olive and sunflower are crucial to the body’s health.

Every cell wall of your body is made up of saturated fat. Every hormone your body produces is synthesized from saturated fat.

Children are growing. And they need a lot of saturated fat for their new cells and hormones to develop properly. And they need the good natural fats from whole milk and butter, not the artificial trans fats that are in margarine.

At this time of year when we are starting to worry about colds and flu, let me remind you that the best way to boost everyone’s good health is with real, old-fashioned chicken soup. Scientifically, real chicken soup contains all the fatty acids and minerals and protein your body needs for the health of your immune system in particular and your body in general.

Most Vermonters probably know what I mean by real chicken soup, but I offer the following instructions for the benefit of anyone who needs a refresher.

What is needed is a large pot with a cover and a whole chicken. Cut up chicken will do provided both the white meat and dark meat cuts have their bone. All of the cooking is to be done in the covered pot at a high simmer, that is, just below a boil. Never, ever boil a soup stock. Both the clarity and the flavor will be harmed.

Cook the chicken until the meat is tender. Remove the meat and keep it refrigerated. The skin and bones are to be cooked for an additional 48 hours so that all of the fatty acids and minerals will be in the broth. The soup is made ready to eat at the end of the 48 hours by removing the cooked out skin and bones from the broth and adding back in the meat and any seasonings desired.

Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Good health and bon appetit to you as you enjoy yours!

Rumsfeld Resume

New Job opening:

Director

Pentagon To Head Domestic Disaster Relief-- Agency change proposed by President Bush

Applicant: Donald Rumsfeld

Resume:

Has made maintaining our army far more expensive for those of us who do pay taxes by privatizing so many functions previously always a part of our civilian army. Contracts for these new expensive services given, no-bid, to companies like Halliburton and Bechtel.

Flatly refused to accept and incorporate the recommendations of experienced army generals that far more troops than he wanted to send would be needed if we were to secure Iraq.

When extensive looting occurred, the result of his inadequate troop deployment, shrugged his shoulders and said “Stuff happens....“

Did not incorporate local citizens in the rebuilding of Iraq infrastructure as we did so successfully in Germany after WWII, but granted all reconstruction contracts, again, no bid, primarily to Halliburton.

Has consistently refused to accept any allegations that the huge number of unemployed Iraqi youth is fuel for the insurgency, but insists that the insurgency is primarily fueled by imported Al Qaeda fighters. Has launched several unsuccessful attacks against various so-called foreign fighter strongholds. Only clear results are civilian deaths and property devastation.

Continues to fight his never-ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with army reservists, states’ National Guards, and financial incentives for volunteers. Although he talks “promoting democracy in the Middle East” as the reason for our being there, has never proposed our own democratic way for fighting any danger to our country-- the civilian draft. (Is this because President Bush-- and Senator Kerry also-- has daughters of the ideal military age?)

After carefully reading this resume, I can only conclude that Donald Rumsfeld is the ideal candidate for this job....