PEACEFUL COUP D'ETAT, ANYONE?

I have a question. Are Americans complete idiots? Or are they just totally exhausted from trying to make ends meet? We could conduct a poll.

We elect our government to represent our interests. Instead, they join forces with Corporate America in order to grab power and line their pockets. We place our trust in our elected officials. Rather than just tell us the truth, they respond with a combination of spin and outright lies. The war in Iraq is going well, inflation is under control, deficits don't matter, Social Security and Medicare are on solid ground etc.

For the sake of accuracy, let's take everything they throw at us and jerk it around 180 degrees. The war is a hopeless quagmire steeped in America's blood and treasure. Inflation is raging for everything you need in this world, be it food for your body, heat for your home, gasoline for your car, education for your children, or health care for all. We are hopelessly indebted to foreigners who have become our bankers. It is the creditors who make the rules, after all, not the debtors.

The debt is not the $8 trillion that the government funnels through its public relations firm, the press. It is closer to $78 trillion. Those are the funds obligated to pay social security and medicare to the 77 million retiring baby boomers. Our representatives like to call these debts "unfunded liabilities" which they hide "off budget." They make what Enron did look like a walk in the park.

How do you think the government is going to pay these obligations? Increased taxes? They'd have to tax 500 percent of your income to even come close. No, they'll print the money on pieces of paper called U.S. dollars. The more currency they print, the less it will be worth. What you thought would be enough for a luxurious retirement won't even provide you with the neccessities of life. It's called inflation, and it's the most insidious tax of all. We're all living through it right now, but you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Just wait until Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin S.  Bernanke starts dropping $100 bills from his flying machine. Our government can't pay the bill, and the dollar is dropping like a stone. It's obvious that the government plans to inflate away its debts on the backs of the middle class.

So I go back to my original question. Are we all idiots? Or are we in a protracted coma? Why aren't millions of Americans incensed? Why aren't we swarming around the White House and the Capitol Building? Why aren't millions and millions of us streaming into Washington with signs that read: "Peaceful Coup d'Etat?" Can you imagine the power of millions of citizens, all carrying that same stunning message, descending on Washington, D.C.

11/23/2007

A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

I just read an article entitled: "Bush's Healthcare Fantasy." It is, in my opinion, less a fantasy than a deliberate ideology that is determined to make sure that the United States stands alone as the one country amongst the developed nations of the world that does not have and never will have a universal health care system.

The health insurance companies do not want it, the pharmaceutical industry does not want it and the medical establishment does not want it. They will do whatever is necessary to make sure it never happens. And, of course, they will accomplish their goal by colluding with the appropriate members of the Legislative and Executive branches of government. After being paid handsomely to do the healcare industry's bidding, our elected officials will then leave office and seamlessly morph into lobbyists for the very industries they represented when they were in government.

The sole purpose for having a government in the first place is for the protection of the citizenry. Americans go to the polls with the unspoken understanding that those individuals they elect to office will represent their interests. That they represent the special interests who line their pockets at the expense of the American people is quite simply a conspiracy.

Yes, Virginia, there is a vast right-wing conspiracy. We bear witness to that conspiracy every day as our jobs leave our shores and the greatest transfer of wealth from the many to the few takes place right before our eyes.

Not only won't there be a universal healthcare system in this country, there will come a time very soon when our government officials, having bankrupted the country by killing people in unnecessary foreign wars, will look us right in the eye and tell us that we can no longer afford the entitlement programs that We the People counted on. Major cuts will have to be made in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. And Corporate America will renege on employee pensions and health insurace. In fact, that day is already upon us, isn't it?

The only way this is ever going to change is when a leader emerges who totally disassociates him/herself from the Republican and Democratic parties and states unequivocally that as a truly independent candidate, he or she will have no interest in special interests and will only represent the needs of ordinary American citizens. Such an individual will, of course, need the protection of our entire military establishment.

08/06/2007

THE MIDDLE CLASS MUST STRIKE BACK

America used to practice a democracy that was the envy of the rest of the world. One of its components was a free enterprise system that produced and benefited a large middle class. While it took 300 years to nurture this breathtaking experiment, it has taken the Bush administration a mere 6 1/4 years to trash it.

While sacrificing our nation's blood and treasure in the name of democracy in Iraq, Bush has trampled the Constitution here at home. It is, after all, as he said himself, "just a piece of paper."

What we have now in this country is something called "authorative free enterprise" or what I prefer to call "conspiratorial capitalism." The corporate elite and the most powerful members of our elected government are in collusion to separate the once proud middle class from its financial assets. By outsourcing the best jobs to China and India and "insourcing" cheap illegal labor across our southern border, by becoming the greatest debtor nation in the history of the world, by debasing the U.S. dollar and then lying about the rampant inflation that has been taking place for years (the greatest hidden tax on each and everyone of us), by spying on the American people through tapping of their telephones, tracking their emails and snooping into their financial records, by detaining so-called "enemy combatants" without allowing them recourse to legal assistance and torturing them in the process, by repeatedly sticking it to Congress with its super secret, none-of-your-business response, this small covey of power-hungry individuals are running the United States of America down a slippery slope to bankruptcy and world scorn.

This Bush guy is so much more impeachable than Clinton and Nixon put together, that one would think it would be a piece of cake. But the Congress doesn't have the stomach for it --- or for anything else for that matter.

If we have to hold out until November of next year, there's two things everyone of us can do: 1- whatever is necessary to insure that all voting machines leave a paper trail in 2008. (These guys will stop at nothing); 2- Whatever is necessary to protect our financial assets. Remember, those assets are on a one-way track from the many to the few, and all paper assets are nothing more than that: "just a piece of paper."

04/17/2007

THE TOOTH FAIRY LIVES !

We had a customer come into our art gallery the other day and use the "S" word. She turned to her husband, and I distinctly heard her say, "Dear, I think maybe we should try to save some money." Although it was a private conversation not meant for the likes of my ears, I felt compelled to let them both know that saving money is positively un-American and cannot be tolerated in any form whatsoever.

I further personalized the issue by appealing to their patriotism. "If you truly love your country, and I'm sure you do, then you have a moral duty to go further into debt by continuing to buy things you don't need with money you don't have." They stared back at me with a glazed expression, which was a signal for me to continue their education. "Our Federal Government sets a good example for us all and expects every citizen to do his or her part in following its lead."

Having paused in my monologue, I asked them whether they were ready to repent over their use of the word, "saving." "Surely, you must know that the alternative to going deeper into debt is recession or worse, and you certainly don't want to have that on your conscience." I concluded by begging them never to use the "S" word again in public, as it could turn out to be contagious.

The couple did a quick 180 and accelerated out the door, never to be seen again. But I felt good that in some small way I had at least tried to do what I could to keep the myth alive that the economy is thriving, business is great and there is no inflation.

The Tooth Fairy lives !

11/26/2006

POLITICAL ASYLUM ANYONE?

We used to have a system of government that relied upon checks and balances. The Executive Branch had to work with Congress because the Senate and the House of Representatives had been given oversight powers to review the president's agenda. The Supreme Court was, for the most part, above politics. It simply ruled on the constitutionality of issues that arose from cases that could not be resolved in the lower courts.

Enter the Bush administration. In what can only be labeled as a genuine conspiracy with Corporate America, the rich and the powerful few now do pretty much as they please. They dictate the rules of the game to the Congress, which willingly abdicates its oversight responsibilities to a point where I for one do not even recognize the country in which I've lived all of my life.

Whether it's the energy bill for the oil companies, the Medicare Prescription bill for the drug companies, awarding no-bid contracts in Iraq to their "bedfellow" companies, hoping to turn over our busiest ports to a United Arab Emirates company, outsourcing our best jobs to China and India, leaving our borders wide open to terrorists and illegal immigrants, spying on Americans without first obtaining warrants, preventing high-ranking officials at the Defense Department from telling the truth about "Operation Able Danger," and doing the same at NASA to make sure that the scientific facts about global warming do not get out, issuing "Goldilocks" reports on the economy which are patently false, outing a CIA undercover agent as revenge when her husband publicly caught them in a lie, presiding over the greatest transfer of wealth from the many to the few in the history of the country --- I could go on forever.

The point is that this conspiracy (and that's what it is) goes unchallenged because, having been appointed instead of elected, the Bush-Cheney dictatorship feels no obligation to represent the people. (That was obvious in New Orleans). With most of Congress and the journalistic community in the same corporate hip pocket as the Executive Branch, and the American people willing to swallow whatever they're spoon fed, the Republicans look to have a lock on this year;s mid-term elections. How can that be, you say? Because in a year when you'd think we'd kick the bums out, the Democrats offer nothing.

Political asylum anyone?

02/18/2006

BIN LADEN'S ECONOMIC TRAP

When Bin Laden struck the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon on 9/11 his real motivation was to goad the United States into attacking Afghanistan and Iraq. We took the bait as he knew we would. Our Pavlovian military response accomplished what no one else and nothing else had ever been able to do before:

unite a billion Islamic people in a common cause.

But what exactly is that cause? It is certainly not a military victory over an impervious superpower. Instead, it is a strategy based primarily on economics. Bin Laden has declared war on the world's monetary system and specifically the U.S. economy. By drawing the United States into the trap of a military response, he is successfully bleeding this country's financial well being by driving expenditures through the roof while the economically challenged president keeps lowering taxes. The triple deficits of budget, trade and current account explode while the value of the U.S. dollar will most certainly implode.

The United States is the greatest debtor nation in the world. As such, we "depend on the kindness of strangers," otherwise known as foreign central banks, to finance our remarkable deficits. Since "Made in the USA" is largely a thing of the past, we buy from China and Japan things we don't need with money we don't have and in return send them ever depreciating dollars so they can buy our Treasury bonds and keep us afloat. Our bankers (foreign creditors) can pull the plug whenever the discomfort of choking on too many debased paper dollars hits the trigger point. The dollar represents the common shares of the United States of America. If this country were a corporation, it would be spiraling toward the potential for bankruptcy.

Do you think for one moment that Geortge W., sitting smugly in his Oval Office, has the slightest inkling of what al-Qaida is really up to? Anyone who might have educated him on the subject has been purged from his Cabinet and from the CIA. Hopelessly bogged down in Iraq, this president, nonetheless, plows ahead on the basis of his one remaining thesis that we are freeing a people from an evil dictator. (Of course, the world is filled with evil dictators, and America is famous for having done business with most of them, including Saddam).

When ignorance and stubborness are combined with a total lack of dissent, bad things happen. We will continue to hemorrhage billions of dollars and, of course, the real blood of our young people, as well, in the pursuit of futility. It does not matter what happens in Iraq or even whether we capture Bin Laden. The grand strategy of bringing down the financial system of the West, with the U.S. dollar as its reserve currency, will go on unabated. So, as they say on the various bankrupt airlines, "Fasten your seat belts." The next few years could get nasty.

03/26/2006

GREAT DILEMMAS NEVER CEASE

When George W. Bush was appointed president, he, like all federal officials, took an oath of office in which he swore to "uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States." In fact, I even heard him recite that oath with my own ears, and he actually got all of the words right.

Imagine my shock, then, to have come across two astounding quotes attributed to the same George W. It is not possible that he actually said these things, yet the editor of Capitol Hill Blue, a highly respected, politcally agnostic, publication, cites three solid sources who were all present at a meeting in the Oval Office when the words were uttered. Apparently, Republican leaders told Bush that his stubborn, unyielding push to get the most onerous provisions of the Patriot Act renewed without protection for civil liberties was likely to alienate the Conservative wing of his party that was stilled miffed over his candidacy of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice. W's unbelievable response was: "I don't give a Goddamn, I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."

An aide to the President then made the following point: "Mr. President, there is a valid case that some of the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution." Whereupon it was reported that Bush screamed: "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face; it's just a Goddamned piece of paper."

All this occurred before the stunning revelation that Bush has since 9/11 personally and secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on telephone calls and read emails of people within the United States without obtaining judicial search warrants as specifically required by law.

Bush sought to justify his unconstitutional and perhaps criminal actions with the usual rhetoric about his being the Commander-in-Chief whose duty it is to defend America from another terrorist attack. He has used the same logic to explain why it is OK to hold prisoners for years without charging them with any crimes  and without allowing them access to legal counsel. He has had no problem with condoning torture, and, in so doing, thumbing his nose at U.S. and International law. He has encouraged the Pentagon to amass personal files on millions of American citizens, the military to spy on innocent Americans and the FBI to get into bank statements and other financial records in secret.

This administration, as everyone knows by now, came to Washington with a far-reaching agenda. But when a president swears an oath ("so help me God") to uphold the Constitution and then waives that Constitution when it gets in his way, then it's time to revisit the 'I' word. Impeachment is a serious matter; so is the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The irony of all this is, of course, that George Bush is big on democracy in Iraq while showing outright contempt for it here at home.

When the great abdicators, otherwise known as Congress, return to Washington in January, I trust they will educate W. on the significance of the Constitution and what it has meant to this country for over 200 years, and what it means for him personally to disregard it. My only regret is that should Bush be kicked out of office, we'd be stuck with the snarling Cheney. Great dilemmas never cease.

03/26/2006