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Today's Top News
US Cities Face Up to Massive Cuts
US outrage over public service cutbacks across America has found a rallying point in the death of 12-year-old Frank Marasco
PHILADELPHIA - Flanked by two silver balloons bearing the words "I love you‚" and a forlorn blue cuddly toy, the face of 12-year-old Frank Marasco smiles out from a collage of pictures assembled by shocked neighbours on the veranda of his burned-out home. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100813_Services_set_for_boy_whose... Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else ">The young autistic boy died in a fire last week thought to have been sparked by a discarded cigarette.
President Barack Obama this week signed a $26bn federal aid package for cash-strapped states but public anger at cutbacks is still growing. (Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) The
inferno should have been a routine job for Philadelphia's 1,900-strong
fire brigade, the fifth biggest force in the US which handles four major
incidents daily. But the nearest fire station to Frank's house, just
two blocks away, was unavailable after a so-called "brown out".
Firemen at the station, barely 90 seconds' walk from the site of the
fire, were on a maintenance run after a 12-hour shutdown, part of a rota
of rolling daily closures imposed by city authorities grappling with a
wrenching deficit of $2.4bn (£1.5bn) over five years.
"Everybody was running around trying to get the little boy out – he was stuck on the second floor," said a distraught neighbour, Virginia DeShields, whose house was damaged by smoke. She believes the boy might have been saved if the local firehouse had been open: "It's all right if you want to cut. But you shouldn't cut where lives are concerned. You can cut the prison system, cut the libraries, anywhere. But don't cut people who save lives."
Philadelphia's city authorities contend that first responders reached the scene within three minutes – a timeline disputed by Philadelphia's fire union, Local 22, which says it was closer to six minutes before an engine with hoses and water arrived. But irrespective of whether he could have been saved, Frank Marasco's fate is a rallying point in a titanic struggle over cuts engulfing cities and states across the US which are taking desperate budgetary measures, ranging from shutting schools to switching off streetlights and replacing tarmac roads with dirt tracks.
Local government in the US has traditionally been leaner than its British equivalent, with minimal public healthcare, patchy public transport and an ingrained culture of contracting out to private operators. The worst recession since the war has caused a triple-pronged slump: unemployment has eroded income tax takings, a dive in house prices has hurt property tax and weak consumer spending has reduced sales tax. Funding is stretched to breaking point.
The National League of Cities estimates that US municipalities, which had revenue of $398bn last year, face a fiscal hole of between $56bn and $83bn over the two years to 2012. States, which fund broader services such as schools, prisons and highway patrols, are in a worse jam — they grappled with a $192bn shortfall in 2010, equivalent to 29% of their budgets, according to the Washington-based Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"We're seeing drop-offs in revenue that are breaking all records," said John Shure, deputy director of the CBPP's state fiscal project. "The irony is that people's needs are going up but the resources to meet them are going down."
Putting up taxes in a recession is politically unpopular and risks hampering a recovery. And borrowing money is not an option as most US local authorities are prohibited from going into debt. Shure says: "They're required by their own constitutions to have a balanced budget. There's no good answer."
The draconian nature of some cuts would cause even Britain's austere chancellor, George Osborne, to blanch. In Georgia, the county of Clayton, which encompasses down-at-heel suburbs south of Atlanta, axed its entire public bus service to save $8m, leaving 8,400 daily riders high and dry. Faced with a hole in its education budget, Hawaii's Republican governor simply shut down the state's schools on Fridays, moving teachers and pupils onto a four-day week.
Struggling to pay for upkeep of asphalt roads, counties in Michigan and South Dakota have been converting paved country roads to gravel, turning back the clock of modernisation. Then there are trivial, yet eye-catching examples — Miami has dispensed with the services of its chicken catcher. The California city of San Diego disbanded its 27-year-old mounted police force. The state of Washington scrapped its board on geographic names, deciding it could do without a body overseeing the historical and cultural consistency.
Colorado Springs, a city of 360,000 people on the edge of the Rocky Mountains asked voters to approve a tripling of property tax in November. They voted no. So the city switched off a third of its streetlights, removed litter bins from parks, put its police helicopters up for auction online and halted many bus services at 6.15pm. City employees have been asked to stump up more for their own healthcare, while community centres and pools are looking for private money to stay open.
Residents of Colorado Springs are being encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to trim the grass in public spaces.
And anybody who strongly wants lighting can "adopt a streetlight‚" for $75 a year.
Barack Obama this week signed a federal aid package of $26bn for cash-strapped states, some of which will filter through to cities. But many argue this is not enough.
Christiana McFarland, an expert at the National League of Cities, says: "Local authorities are in a serious situation at this point. In years past, we've been down to the bare bones in terms of budget. They're now cutting critical services such as public safety."
Back in Philadelphia, deputy mayor Everett Gillison says it is a "lie" that fire station "brown outs" compromise safety, blaming unions for a cynical campaign to protect overtime. But in a nation where firefighters are held in the top echelon of public esteem, the spectre of darkened firehouses is prompting anger. "That's right – you take pictures of it!" yelled resident Darren Braxton, pulling up in his car as the Guardian visited a shuttered fire station.
Braxton, a maintenance contractor, had some advice for the city authorities: "If you're trying to save money, do something else. You don't mess with the trash men because we'll become Filthadelphia. You don't mess with the police because young people round here don't value life and they be shooting people left, right and centre. And you don't mess with the firefighters because they put out fires."
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135 Comments so far
Show AllThis is easily correctable. Tax the wealthy. They have declined their responsibility to trickle their money down, so, tax it down. Politicians are loath to do this. It's simple, get a petition drive to place it on a special election ballot. Vote it in and magically, there's money for needed services. Both wealthy corporations and individuals should be taxed. The positive outcomes of such an act would outweigh the negative.
Ballot referendums to raise taxes on the wealthy is a good idea, Stone. Lots of footwork, but feasible, since there are a lot more of us than there are of them.
I would also like to see referendums on the wars.
Joe
"Correctable," but not "easily correctable." The simplicity of the plan should not be confused with the incredible difficulty of separating the wealthy from their precious money. Perhaps even tougher is the ghost of Ronnie Raygun whispering in the dreams of less-monied and often downright poor social conservatives that taxes and government are always bad. This force is so powerful that people use it to justify voting against their own self interest (exhibit 1: the "red states" of the Gulf Coast have recently been handed a direct result of such voting behavior--they're screwed because they voted to be screwed). Still and all, since our politicians will not act on behalf of "we the people," I can think of no other approach.
EDDIE: If the media was not held in the hands of the very rich and there still was something remotely akin to "fair and balanced" news reporting, it would not take much to offer graphs that demonstrated where the money is going, and why it's not flowing in. The right wing anti-government/taxes message got LOTS of media play, and bigots like Rush and Glenn Beck continue to sing its rhapsodies to the ignorant and poorly-educated. Now that corporations effectively ARE the government, the implication that one is there to fight the other is another ruse that reflects reality to the same extent the election contest between two seemingly opposed political "teams" depicts it. Smoke and mirrors, my friends... smoke and mirrors and a very elaborate (and expensive) media circus! The 21st century's best tool for bamboozling too much of the people too much of the time... and they pay for it, not only through cable bills!
For the heck of it I went to see a movie on my birthday. My companion and I got to the theater early, and as it turned out, we were the ONLY ones there. For 20 minutes we viewed at least 15 commercials. I felt like an urban sociologist and could almost hear the corporate board members giving their nod to these more sensory-engaging advertisements that would not be allowed on television. Now they had a whole new captive market, the poor slobs sitting in their movie theater seats. I could not believe the amount of propaganda coming at me... because I am aware of it, I am better armed against it; but what of the majority of viewers who are not?
To those who have never viewed "Century Of The Self" on You-tube. It is a MUST-SEE.
You got it siouxrose...until we do something about the corporate media industrial complex we are sunk...when they can demonize or marginalize any narrative except what they approve of through propaganda what chance do we have...no wonder they don't want an educational system that promotes critical thinking.
They can't win so easily against thousands of folks out on the sidewalks talking to each other.
Joe
Joe, I agree with you. I always talk to people on the streets of NYC, and I also listen. Right now, I'm noticing with the threat of Social Security cuts, etc., older people are more willing to open their eyes and their ears. Not long ago, a so-called Democratic administration, and a Democratic Congress failed to give Social Security recipients a cost-of-living raise. Of course, Timothy Geithner talked about cutting Social Security and raising the retirement age after he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury.
Most of the older people I know were born on the heels of the Wall Street crash in 1929, and the subsequent Great Depression. Even though they were children, they fully remember those days. It seems to me that some of them are beginning to realize that this current administration, supposedly Democrat, in NO way resembles the administration of FDR -- with WPA, the setting up of Social Security, Glass-Steagall, etc. Many of these people, like most other people, lost at least 1/2 of their pensions, too, when the economy came crashing down on us.
The other day, one of my acquaintances actually asked me to explain NAFTA, and also asked me questions about the Clinton administration. Prior, when I talked about Clinton, they told me they didn't want to hear it. Now, they are beginning to question the status quo and the Democrats, DLC, as well.
This morning on NPR I heard Obama telling us that "the Republicans want to privatize social security".
Knowing that at least three members of Obama's deficit reduction commission have been advocating the end of social security for many years, it appears that Obama is setting us up for a good cop/bad cop routine where Obama just dilutes social security in the name of deficit reduction rather than privatizing it. Obama's dilution will be step 1 in the total destruction of social security...the slow boil that kills the frog routine.
I've been listening on the radio too and it seems like the right wingers are starting to get it, their points are sometimes in line with ours, except they still blame liberals and "socialism" for these ills. I believe Glenn Beck et al are actually reeling them in with parts of truth and then diverting them by spinning them back away from the truth.
When Gee Dubya wanted to privatize Social Security, handing the pot to Wall Street, he had to, almost immediately, go into a full retreat -- Democrats and Republicans, alike, stood up and yelled "NO!"
Afterwards, I kept hearing that if Social Security were to be privatized, it would have to be carried out by a Democrat -- and along came Obama, Summers, Geithner and Rubin. During the beginning days of the Obama administration, I heard Timothy Geithner talk, briefly, about cutting Social Security.
Social Security is an issue that I have taken up as a key topic to discuss with people -- because Social Security, and the fundamental underlying threads of our social fabric are woven into this one issue. We all have this issue in common! And, this subject, Social Security, is about our well-being, it's about respect for the older generation and it's about taking care of each other in our society. Social Security and healthcare go hand-in-hand with Medicare, etc. All issues are connected.
The burden of the welfare repeal under Clinton falls on the states, and the states are required to balance their budgets, and simply can't keep up with the enormous numbers of jobless and the record numbers of homeless people who have lost their homes.
The other night, my son wasn't home, and I watched an HBO documentary, Homeless -- about homeless children in Orange County, California -- one of the richest counties in the country, although the county did declare Chapter 9 Bankruptcy in December 1993, brought down by high-risk investments in derivatives. An omen for the future, for sure! The documentary about homeless children is directed by Alexandra Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi's daughter. The lives of the children, and the lives of the parents, are tragic. No jobs, living in motels, if they are lucky, etc. Alexandra Pelosi asked one of the boys what he didn't like about his life, and the boy answered, "People asking me stupid questions." I was heartbroken listening to the children talk about their hopelessness. Orange County serves as a microcosm of this country.
KAY: Thanks for the post. For the past few years as my accountant has encouraged me to file less (legal) deductions so that I can theoretically collect more future Social Security payments, I tell her I really don't think it will exist by the time I retire. I am convinced they will begin to cut the program, perhaps by 10% a year to make it slowly vanish.
My father grew up in the Great Depression, and added to his stories are some of the Hollywood movie depictions. They have left their mark.
I believe every soul faces a reckoning; and those endowed with power have far more to answer for than the average person, particularly when the issue of the allocation of resources comes into play. The tragedy is that this nation has so much yet squanders it; that it makes war "at its pleasure" for the very resource (oil) that could be far better conserved were an ethos of conservation even taught! But alas, no, nothing to tangle the nerves of the money-masters who prey upon the disaster version of capitalism, and would not take kindly to the public being taught to cut back on their user/consumption patterns.
Perhaps for the obese, the excess fat will act as the biological equivalent of money stored in a bank account. Maybe they will last longer should food riots break out? And for others, God bless the chile that's got his own... as the song goes.
Sioux Rose:
Great reference!
"God Bless The Child"
Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog Jr.
Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
Money, you've got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
When you're gone, spending ends
They don't come no more
Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
He just worry 'bout nothin'
Cause he's got his own
KAY: I love this tune, whether by Blood, Sweat & Tears or Ms. Billie Holiday... or another. Powerful stuff...
I made up a word this week for our times, how Pluto's transit of Capricorn is recreating a newly minted class system:
CARPICON. I may use it as a title. I think it has a real ring to it...
Dont' forget Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) aka "welfare", a federal assistance program in effect from 1935 to 1996. Initiated by FDR and terminated by Clinton - just like Glass-Steagal! Republicans know that they can't get very far if they go after popular social programs. They leave that to the Democrats! Obama is already going after public education and Social Security.
Yes, that is correct! Obama is "already going after public education and Social Security."
I like it, Joe! Please elaborate on your plans with details here on the boards and keep us posted as to your results. Maybe we can join with your efforts.
Far and wide petitions addressed to local, state and federal officials, not clicked on the internet and emailed but delivered as hard copy original signatures?
Sounds like a movement.
True, but in the US's vast swaths of suburbia and exurbia, there are no sidewalks. Very few USAns live where there are other public spaces where one can walk and talk while waiting for the bus or such. The only public space are sidewalk-less boulevards and freeways for which the only safe place to be is in a car, windows rolled up - radio usually tuned to some ranting right-wing nut.
This factor alone - cars vs. walkability and lack of sidewalks, explains much of the stark differences in attitudes between the suburbs and the city - and the suburban/rural majority is winning.
In my city, streets and roads are falling apart with repairs and repaving sitting half finished, deep cuts in public transit are coming, and cannot even get a small tax on the gas produced by the Marcellius shale drillers (a tax even Texas has) who are literally taking over vast swaths of the state.
You're right. The major impediment is two-fold: 1) our collective ignorance as foisted upon us by the corporate media; and, 2) our emotional immaturity as we continue to "consume" media entertainment that promotes jingoism, militarism, arrested masculinity (and arrested-masculinized femininity), and magic bullets (i.e., impossible solutions). Inertia is not in our favor:
"Manufacturing Consent," by Chomsky; published 1988: no impact.
"Rich Media, Poor Democracy," by Robert McChesney; published 1999: no impact.
"The Corporation," by Joel Bakkan; published 2004: no impact.
We need education and then more education, but instead we get more military funded with cuts to education, Texas textbooks corrupting education, and the elevation of ignorance and incompetence over knowledge and experience (e.g., George W listening to his gut instincts--though how a gutless wonder could have gut instincts is confusing).
Sigh. Anyway, I'll go out and view "Century of the Self," and thanks for that tip.
Happy birthday!
JOE: While I'm with you on this one, the problem is that the military has woven its tentacles into just about every state and with revenues down and jobs scarce, many will argue FOR militarism just to maintain their jobs! The fabric of Mars rules has been so seamlessly sewn into our society that many don't realize that their daily bread depends upon the willful destruction of others' homes, lands, and livelihoods.
The combination of wild weather events, crashes to the global economy, and the blowback of war (as tool for empire-building) will likely cause a deconstruction of the current U.S. model of naked aggression AS enterprise. When I picture the kids playing with joysticks that send drones over wedding parties I realize how insane our nation's economy has become. If it's not directly run by psychopaths, it comes pretty darn close. Eventually universal law works its own karmic levers and blowback results. That time is now.
Dear Sioux Rose - I have worked on getting signatures to put a candidate or referendum on the ballot. It is a day-after-day campaign, but it is effective. While it is being done, there is a chance to talk with people. People seem to enjoy a talking about their reality. The bloviators in the NYT or the airheads on TV news can say what they want, but people still have the ability to think if given the slightest encouragement.
All that's needed are for a ballot campaign are:
1. Someone who knows the technicalities to define the process and draft a suitable petition.
2. A group to recruit and train volunteers and coordinate the campaign.
I have just given myself an idea!
Joe
JOE: I admire your efforts. In my own case, I live in the Bible Belt... Southern Baptist redneck territory. I remember my first impressions of Gainesville, Florida which at least hosted a university! Being intuitive, I could easily sense my status as outsider. I could care less about Gators (football), churches, or their insulated concept of "reality." Just as the film "Easy Rider" so graphically depicted, these niches are not okay with "outsiders."
The point is, I'd rather dance with wolves than try to get this ilk of people to understand what's going on... and I'm not in Gainesville any more. I am out in the wilderness... I keep a low profile and travel as needed. The locals are NOT ready for the shock and awe of enlightenment. The fellow from whom I got my dog sends me emails all the time, and so I have a good "beat" on his (the community's) level of consciousness.
I have a man friend who's bugging me to come live out in California again, and I may do that this winter. He says a group of film makers are coming together to try to create low budget films for the Internet, and he thinks this may be an "in" for some of my work. Now out there, I'd canvas!
P.S. It's so sweet of you to call me dear! You're a very kind soul.
"If it's not directly run by psychopaths, it comes pretty darn close."
Read "The Corporation" or view the documentary by the same name. It IS directly run by psychopaths!
EDDIE: I am reading "The Corporation" right now! What other noun do we have for amoral persons other than psychopath? I try to make my language and metaphors colorful. It's a skill I gained (I hope!) from my lifelong mentor who passed away in March. He even directed off-Broadway plays and had an amazing capacity to bring language to life in ways that hit all the senses.
Well, in my book, "psychopath" is the most apt term. However, to others it would seem to be hyperbole. Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, Inc. (pg. 71 of "The Corporation") used the word "plunderers" in the documentary version of "The Corporation" (which powerfully augments the book, by the way).
Shoot! Now I'm stumped and vexed! Let me know what you come up with.
Or sociopaths.
Joe
SR,
The Right loves Big Government when it underwrites the causes it favors: big military, massive anti-terror spending, big ag, subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, but it hates it when spending supports people they don't particularly care for, especially minorities that live in the city and who, coincidently, happen to vote left. I know you see astrological significance to all of this, but to me it is nothing more than identity politics. Politicians favor those they see as tribal members and oppose all others. Clearly the President does not see himself as a member of the progressive community or else he would offer more support. And I don't really think he connects with the down-and-out of the cities either, for all his posturing and verbiage about his own past. If he did, he would see that cities get the funds they need so they can avoid the kind of tragedy described in the article.
DROSERA: One can attempt to define reality through any number of systems. The closest to absolute truth comes from a synthesis of several... by analogy it would be tantamount to observing the many layers of an onion. Science is a viable, valid layer; however that doesn't mean that other ways of conceptualizing reality (i.e. other layers) invalidate science. These may offer something else, something perhaps complementary.
I can make a quite excellent case that the tribal configurations you speak of tie in with astrological archetypes adroitly.
Saturn, resonant with the Old Testament is the perfect planet to depict conservatives. Its mandates accord with tradition, fundamentalist religions, and persons who hold a naturally authoritarian-bent. Richard Nixon is my favorite example.
Jupiter, resonant with the New Testament depicts liberals. Here we find a more casual live and let live attitude that is basically more permissive.
The two operating like twin dancers in a tango hold the status quo generally where it is. Our elections essentially lend credence exclusively to this pair.
The radical left (socialist/progressive) stands outside the duopoly sustained by the inevitable interplay between Saturn and Jupiter and their respective human "types." It's worth noting that the Bible, a document composed of two antithetical Testaments, not only informs Western culture, it signifies the root of Western Law.
I also find it noteworthy that the Ancient Astrologers (and those who practice Vedic Astrology in India) never considered the influences of (as yet undiscovered) Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Their worldview stopped at Saturn, perfect planetary principle for depicting a stern father god, one with an interest in law and order. Saturn is said to be the Zodiac's arbiter of karma.
Uranus, discovered in the 19th century, became a player as its discovery coincided with worldwide revolutions. It has come to symbolize the radical, as well as the inventor. Identified with the revolutionary (or heretic), it is Uranus' job to upset the proverbial apple-cart. Uranus serves as enemy to the status quo, and acts as the cosmic engine for serendipitous growth through unexpected changes.
Neptune represents addicts and those who willfully deceive others, including themselves. (Neptune is associated with Pisces, the sign where two fish swim in opposing directions. Its "other fish" suggests the road less traveled by, and points to the mystical plane where all divisions dissolve. Everything returns to the whole, The Source, the numinous.
Pluto represents organized crime, and in modern America, the Pluto principle now for the most part runs government. Note the word, "plutocracy."
The constant interplay of these basic archetypes (of time) finds its parallels in human history and all forms of social engagement. Astrology is not a separate realm of study, rather, it is a means for understanding how the parts serve the whole in just about any area of human inquiry. That is one of the many reasons why I find it endlessly fascinating, and often a revelation.
I am not here to teach what's taken me decades to learn, absorb, and appreciate. However, it would be my fond hope that I could broaden minds to at least take in the understanding that our worldviews themselves have remained rather earthbound, and the lack of expansive vision plays right into a historically self-perpetuating feedback loop that results in inordinately limited outcomes. His-story need NOT repeat. Jupiter & Saturn have essentially monopolized the playing field and have currently branded Uranus as a "terrorist." An understanding of the enduring archetypes could explain the past on new ground, and perhaps relieve humanity from falling into redundant karmic traps.
The Circle has no sides. It is a (cosmic) model of not only inclusion, but the very ideal of democracy... the original 12 each hold an equivalent seat of honor. Decisions made must reflect a consensus, rather than the "might makes right" ethos of Mars unchecked, or the equally dark power of Mammon, the inversion of the Venus principle, Mars' intended co-partner. The circle marks the path that transcends polarity, and it is largely polarity that's gotten human understanding stuck in its own deadly conundrums (for centuries).
Time to hit that Neptune button... it grants passage to the land of sleep and dreams where most of us are fated to spend 1/3rd of our existences.
SR,
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Your explanation of an astrological system was fascinating. It reminds me of the Chinese Yin-yang system, the only such model I know it all. As you may know, there are only two principles that are used to sort phenomena: Yin--which is really much more than the female, and Yang--which is much more than male. It probably doesn't bother you that different systems of mythology categorize the world in different ways. While it doesn't exactly bother me that this is so, it sends out a signal that we are dealing with cultural conditioning and not with underlying truth. Cultural perspectives are certainly interesting, but they don't carry the power that scientific truth carries; that is because scientific truth transcends culture. The Earth circles the Sun in China and in prehistoric England and no cultural filtering is necessary to understand that fact.
I think mythologies have power only insofar as they are accepted and followed by people. Christianity and Islam have attracted billions of followers over the years (despite the errors of those religions). Every educated person needs to understand the symbols and the interplay of emotion and reason that underlie those systems. For me, it is more interesting to look at the deepest level, beyond cultural conditioning, to find out what is going on in the world. That would be the practice of asking questions that can be answered, making careful observations, eliminating alternative explanations, and finally, accepting one explanation over all others--in short, the practice of science.
This thread is giving out. Not sure you will see it. Talk to you another time.
"the military has woven its tentacles into just about every state and with revenues down and jobs scarce, many will argue FOR militarism just to maintain their jobs! The fabric of Mars rules has been so seamlessly sewn into our society that many don't realize that their daily bread depends upon the willful destruction of others' homes, lands, and livelihoods." Siouxrose
We must keep this point at the forefront of our focus. It informs every level of our society and our state of mind.
You are quite correct. The USA has been on a "Permanent War economy footing" since 1942.
Turning that "off" is not so easily done. There are communities that have still not recovered jobs lost to various Military base closings that happened decades ago.
It has to be turned off. Is there the WILl to do it?
I have my doubts.
GW NORTH: You know my thinking on the degree to which America has enculturated the ideal of the make-war society. Its programming devices include Hollywood (films that glorify war and the male fighting action figure/hero), fundamentalist churches ("courting Armageddon" as End Times), a jobless "recovery" with the military offering its own ubiquitous job training option. Add these factors to the uber: patriotic national anthem, indoctrinating young minds (via school history texts) to the assumed status of America, The Exceptional, and a media awash in propaganda. Other factors include macho sports due to the way they structure fans to identify with a specific team orientation.
My point is that militarism doesn't just happen to any nation. A number of factors coalesce to guarantee that outcome. In the U.S. under Mars rules (note who gets 50% of the budget money) war is THE product; and this policy imperils our world down to the ruination of the web of life, ecosystem by ecosystem. It is a tragedy in slow, excruciatingly painful motion; and one I will not stop speaking up about in the hope that enough people will wake up in time to foment a critical mass.
Unfortunately, public referendums are done at state and local levels, and war is carried out at federhttp://www.commondreams.org/comment/reply/59389/1584646al levels.
As in other aspects, the American system is designed not for the fair and equal representation of all individuals, but for a relative balance of power between blocs of elites. The referendum gives some voice to the populace, but is designed to be overridden in case of large differences of opinion.
Some genuine referenda about local elections, instead of the abysmal law that just passed in California, would be welcome --- since that's under local control.
End war spending and return more money to the states and cities.
Tax the rich proportionately to the workers and middle class.
Stop the sales tax exemption on stock transfers.
Any politician who does not relate local hardships to the policies of militarism and the coddling of Wall Street, banks and the super wealthy is a worthless politician. (Forgive the tautology). We should not have the schools fighting the hospitals fighting the fire companies for funds. We should all be fighting the speculators on Wall Street and those who make enormous profits from war contracting.
Joe
This was a total disgrace, and a young child died needlessly. Don't cut fire protection...It's NECESSARY!
The child is as much "collateral damage" as the kids our predator drones are killing in Afghanistan.
Congress just authorized an additional $37 billion for the war on top of the hundreds of billions poured into the Pentagon. That $37 billion, and certainly the hundreds of billions, would have filled the "fiscal hole" in local government's finances.
The US has chosen the path of violence and war. Children around the world are its victims.
DFAIRLEY: You nailed the KEY point. I call it "karmic blowback."
Naomi Klein did a masterful job explaining how The Shock Doctrine works. Now it's come home. When leaders can show a depraved indifference to life outside of the nation's borders, it doesn't take long to see the same moral lapses hit home.
Martin Luther King understood that a nation that spends more on armaments than its citizens' needs approaches moral bankruptcy. We are beyond that point. Until the average citizen (and since media is held in the clutches of this beast that realization will be delayed) can understand the link between killing afar (in terms of both moral and tangible costs) and devastation in the homeland, the monstrous machine will continue to pillage and plunder the earth. Incredulity steps in dressed up as American exceptionalism as many try to sustain the delusion that: "this could never happen to us, never happen here! We're Americans!"
What a calamitous waste when that manpower, muscle, and ingenuity might be better applied to a rapid campaign to prepare for global climate change... the real "enemy" and thereby SAVE (as opposed to a preference for destroying) human lives.
I find it amazing that the same machine that's speeding up the ruination of the planet (through the release of more and more airborne toxins, like depleted uranium) goes by the name of "defense." It's OFFENSIVE! And it reminds me of the way the lords of mammon (who also do their part to engineer war so as to profit from it), have designed faux currency packages that they term "securities." These are anything, but! Upside down world has met Orwell... so hang on for a wild ride!
So right...but when you have a gov. infiltrated with zionists like ours what do you expect...but the real problem is that the banksters like goldman sachs and several other global money centers extracted 12 trillion in bailout money...and another 12 to 13 trillion from the taxpayer through housing and 401k losses.
ZAMBONI FUHRER: Your comment would make sense if you ALSO included the real places where big money is being hemorrhaged:
1. Tax cuts in the Homeland Security state to the very rich which have meant less money in the pot for citizens' needs. (Since these elites use lobbies to ensure that their interests will be met, no muscle is seen in rescinding these amoral tax cuts.)
2. No change in loopholes that allow corporations to hide their profits off-shore (as a way to avoid paying taxes). Estimates on this net loss go into many billions.
3. That the MIC takes 48-50% of U.S. budget dollars largely to maintain a global network of over 800 military bases, added to two illegal wars that are largely done for the purposes of resource acquisition.
4. That it was Wall St/banks that received something in the order of 1.3 trillion dollars. This "gift" has done NOTHING to improve homeowners in distress, add jobs to the economy, or trickle down.
When you're willing to take these massive figures into account, then you can add aid to Israel, since it's a pittance when compared to items 1-4.
I agree, so long as you put the details into perspective... that is, Israel is NOT the only area of waste, nor militarism. I think we both agree that the latter is the key issue. I would put Israel at #5 on the list I originally submitted in response to your post. Although I may have left out other corporate trespasses of equal or greater cost.
I recently breached the "chickens are coming home to roost argument" relative to 30 years of Republican/Democratic economic policy insanity, and she looked at me and said something to the effect of, "I don't pay attention to the news, so how do you sleep at night?"
Soon she'll be driving home from work on a gravel road, perhaps mystified to the darkened streetlamps, but at least she will sleep well.
(please note the sarcasm in my last sentence)
The Internet, as long as we have it, IS the People's Media. Promote www.commondreams.org to friends and acquaintances, put it in letters to the editor, etc. Most people now have access to the Internet. A large percentage is aware of society's problems and would agree with taxing the rich people and corporations.
The question is - how to accomplish what needs to be done?
What actions can citizens take, other than becoming aware?
Perhaps that's all we can do at the moment, but it's critical that we spread the word that there are cures for our ille - if we can make them happen.
The question is how.
We have weak decisionmaking systems on the internet. I throw out a comment, maybe people like it. That's not a decisionmaking system. We need wise, efficient, online decisionmaking that doesn't take too many people too many evenings. Also, we need to either strictly limit or else exclude the paid one-note bloggers such as the global warming deniers. They waste our valuable time. I claim that if we invent such tools, we'd be in a better place to challenge the rich idiots.
Such online tools can be invented incrementally. You invent a decisionmaking system that is 10% better. Someone else uses your system and makes it another 10% better. These things grow on themselves.
Goals:
10% less collective thinking about a decision, to essentially reach the same decision. For example, if a jury of 6 people votes unanimously for a small idea, maybe it really is good. If the vote is 5-1, ask another 20 people. Why start off by asking 100 people? That wastes the time of 94 superfluous people.
A 10% wiser decision. Usually a 75% majority decision is a bit smarter than a 67% majority decision.
A way to let good ideas percolate upwards without vast numbers of people pushing behind the ideas. Lone cranks and geniuses come out with thousands of ideas, and a few of them are really useful. Depth of thought is vital to a wiser decision.
10% fewer paid destructive trolls than before.
So that's one positive avenue upward. There may be other useful ways up, but at least I've got mine.
I like most of your ideas and goals except for that part about paid trolls and global warming deniers. Out here in Oklahoma, while I take global warming as a serious threat most rightwing nuts strongly deny global warming and they're not paid to do that. They could come to any blog and express their denial about global warming.
The phrase "paid troll" often gets used loosely on the Internet but I haven't found a single site on the Internet that actually proves that paid trolls exist. I used every available search engine on the net and not a single site has proven that paid trolls really exist. I would be interested in checking out any sources you or anyone have on paid trolls to see how they get paid to troll.
Everybody always wants top notch service for minimum wage. In the case of police and firefighters, we want these guys to be well-trained, well-educated and on top of that they might die in the line of duty,
and then we want them all to work 60 hour weeks because we can't round up anyone else stupid enough to take hazardous duty for low pay. Funny how that works. So we burn many of the existing firefighters out.
Firefighters fight the city, and cops fight the city, because the city is perpetually a bunch of crooks. If people have elected someone who isn't a crook, maybe 4 years later they'll get another guy in office, so the firefighters should have a motto, "watch your back".
Now we have functionally 17% unemployment and the Republicans are just itching to bust unions and tell the voters afterwards, "I told you so! Just bust the unions and taxpayer costs will drop 50% just like that!" The same swill goes for hospital nurses' unions and teacher unions. In most cases the same Republicans have made strikes illegal, so the management usually has some nasty judges fighting on their side.
Now we have entered the age of the Republican wet dream. The Federal Government's national treasury has all been embezzled for colonial empire wars to benefit Republican-friendly multinational corporations. There's no more to borrow on the American Express card. The human sting of national bankruptcy is now being passed on to the states, who pass it on farther to the cities and towns, who now must either tax the shingles off of your house or else cut critical services to you.
So, that's why the mega-fire that is going to burn down half your town won't be put out early. I suppose that a real mayor could deputize 1000 citizens to be volunteer firefighters right now, train them tomorrow, and hire them when the big one comes, but your mayor has the IQ of a fencepost and he can always play blame game afterward.
PAUL K: It would be sheer poetic justice if Grover Norquist's home went up in flames and there was nobody (at the fire house) "home" to call. Karma really does come full circle. The problem is, it doesn't always deliver in a timely fashion, and that leads many to falsely suspect that criminals get away with crime. After all, these days what pays better?
Only justice if Grover were home and consumed by the fire.
Hasn't that guy been drowned in his bathtub yet?
I hope not! Furry blue Grover was the best pal my kids ever had.
gnken
I think what we are seeing is the early stages of "Enslaving the population" I was told that maybe 15 to 18 years ago by my then therapist. I of course switched therapist because I thought he my be alittle "out their". Now Im begining to maybe think he made sense. He went into other issues but he did talk of Govt. taking your home, employment as far as being self employed was diminishing, and that 6 - 12 of the richest families would dominate the world. Peoples salaries would continue to decline enslaving the population to work and survive on slave type wages. I still think that is far fetched, but maybe not.
If we put an end to our wars of invasion in the Middle East and to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, rewrite our engagements with global corporations, and take some serious steps to reign in the carnival/gambling joint that is wall street, we could achieve great things for all the citizens of this country