All Eyes

As we all talk about war in Syria, and wait with baited breath to see just what action the US will take in response to Assad's use of chemical weapons, I am making my way through Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill.  Scahill, who also wrote Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, continues his detailed account of the US involvement in the "global war on terror."

The history of our expanding war, military funding of questionable governments in Arab countries, attacks on supposed al Qaeda militants which end up killing innocents -- often supporters of the US -- is an important perspective as we consider our moral position against Syria's attacks.  During the Bush years, our own president was a puppet for Dick Cheney's masterminding of expanded presidential war powers.  What has come to be known as the "Cheney Doctrine"  -- that if there is a one percent chance of a terrorist group obtaining weapons of mass destruction the US must perceive it as a certainty -- has led not only to deadly attacks in foreign countries with little justification, but to former US supporters joining the ranks of al Qaeda and other anti-American groups.

Tragically, Obama, who once planned to reign in such acts, has become ever more adept in using those special forces to capture or kill those whom his administration determines to be suspected terrorists.  We have an ever-expanding "kill list," reviewed by the Obama's security team on the incredibly nicknamed "Terror Tuesday" meetings.

What we also have is a continuation of a Keystone Kops atmosphere where too much questionable intelligence has led to deadly mistakes.

Where President Obama has succeeded, however, has tended to be in those actions in which he has had a world audience.  The operation resulting in the killing of three Somali pirates holding hostages on the Maersk Alabama was low-key, but precise and heroic.  And of course, the operation resulting in the death of Osama bin Laden was breath-taking in its combination of intelligence and military skills.

Which leads me to the hope that if the world's eyes are on President Obama as he plans his response to the atrocities the Syrian government has committed on its people, he will take precise and effective action.  His decisions thus far, involving cautious evaluation, and the input of Congress, could well lead to support and cooperation from the international community.

As to whether we should take action, and the idiotic focus by the media on the "red line," we should be aware that Assad has escalated his acts in a manner that can only draw attention and approbation; he is a bully looking to see how far he can go.  And the consequences have been an estimated 100,000 deaths and two million refugees.

Each of us brings to our opinions about this war our experiences of past wars.  Some recall that we waited too long to join in the battle against Hitler, others the tragedy of the bombing of Japan.  Then there was Vietnam, and our government's evasions and our own soldiers, those who were tortured or lost their lives, and those who engaged in atrocities against our enemies.  And of course, we have the continuing nightmare of Afghanistan, along with the Iraq war which destroyed so many lives to topple one tyrannical leader.

But we need to look at this war from what we know is happening within its borders.  We cannot imagine, but we should try, a country in which the government has turned against its people, in which our own towns could be attacked, our families killed.  All we could do would be to look to the global community, in the hope that they would intervene. 

Privatizing the U.S.

When I hear our president speak about helping business do its work, I get chills.  When he refers to "small business" incentives, I wonder if he is talking about a mom-and-pop, or about a subsidiary of Blackwater – I mean Xe.

If you haven't read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine:  The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, run to your library, that is, if you still have a library, and check it out.  It's approaching Halloween season, and there is no better time for this scary read.

We have been lured and duped by the wealthy and powerful into hating the government for its incompetence and waste.  If we stopped to think at all about this, we would see just how absurd are both the premise and the argument.

The great waste and inefficiency of our federal government is due, not to federal workers and federal programs, but to the private industries, their lawyers and lobbyists, with which our government's representatives shares its bed.  And its dollars.

The secret to the success of the raping of this country is in scaring people too busy, undereducated, gullible and apathetic to understand that they are being duped.

They say things like, "It is regulation that is killing business", "Raising minimum wage will strangle the free market", "People need to be free of unions so that they can earn a living."

Absurdities.

But people who will never make a living wage without union or government intervention scream about those unionized workers who do, rage at the waste caused by the regulators (that try to keep the mercury out of our food and pharmaceuticals from killing us), and worry themselves about the minimum wage worker who is preventing them from getting that raise.

Nonsense.

But it works.  On MSNBC, during the recent republican debate, I saw an ad, featuring a young, handsome, quite sane looking and sounding individual talking calmly about illegal aliens, and ending in the punchline that we need to do something to stop LEGAL immigrants NOW.

And during that republican debate on MSNBC for gods' sake, where were the ads with the progressive messages?

I know: our side doesn't have the money and the incentive to fight as hard and as long.

So read The Shock Doctrine.  At least be educated as to the extent of this fight.  It didn't start with Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush, and people like Barack Obama, in the name of compromise, are furthering the cause of disaster capitalism every time they speak of government aiding business rather than helping people.  And we need to understand it in order to stop it.

Batten Down the Hatches

Batten Down Your Hatches

I don't have any hatches, but I've had to batten down a lot of things lately and I feel that way a lot of the time.  Something important is going to break, or go wrong, or just not work.

We’ve all gotten used to it in this country.  We don’t expect to have electricity during the mildest of storms, and I am not even surprised when the power goes out for an hour or two on a beautiful day.

Now, don’t go blaming the government.  Government services suck because you  get what you pay for.  At least where government is concerned.  From Amtrak to the power grid, the people with all the money just don’t want to pay for quality for the rest of us, and they just keep convincing us voters that they shouldn’t have to.

And the next verse to that tune is that businesses would do a better job than government.  So look around you.  Where do you get better bang for the buck?

At the airport, the airlines got government to foot the bill for security when they were unenthusiastic about paying for a job that did not immediately and positively impact their bottom line, and then they cut staff at the customer service lines so they could make an even bigger buck by not offering customer service.

If you like your private health insurance better than Medicare, it just may be because those people you voted into office on the platform of cutting the fat out of government managed to cut the budget out of government health care while siphoning off our tax dollars to the private insurers.

And you may not remember the days before ObamaCare, but they are unforgettable if you or a loved one had a pre-existing condition, or you had or were a jobless college graduate that fell ill, but it will all come back to you when the Republicans get the Supremes to repeal that nasty old socialist health care law.

And why pay government employees, when our tax dollars can pay a corporation, say, Halliburton or Blackwater (Xe, for goodness sakes), to pay employees, and we get to pay their wages as well as a tidy profit for the shareholders and CEO’s.   And an extra added benefit to that is, there is absolutely no governmental control over the quality of the job done.  Remember Abu Ghraib?

Sell off our highways, and then hit the government up for repairs as an incentive for "job creation"; privatize our prisons rather than provide the government the funds to better our communities.

Our internet, which should be free, but is actually free to all who can pay for it, is the next mountain for corporate America to conquer.  Because a well-informed public would also want to be a well-educated public.  And a well-informed and well-educated public would not be led around by fear, and would see the contradictions in the rhetoric of privatization and deregulation, and would know that government should be for us all, and not just the wealthy.

And then we would insist on a dependable electrical grid, and attractive schools that children would be proud to spend the day in, with well-paid teachers that are respected for the important job they do for our children.

And we would know that a good, honest government would do this gladly, and then we would only need to batten down the hatches in a rare emergency, and not every time it rains.