Of Quagmires and Quicksand | a clip and commentary

[nostamj]

from Bob Herbert's column in today's NYT:

The credibility that he enjoyed during that campaign, and which reached a peak in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, has steadily eroded since then. He said he was a compassionate conservative, but he has hammered programs designed to assist the poorest and most vulnerable among us. His administration has taken a blowtorch to the environment. And his fiscal policies are so outlandish that liberals, moderates and conservatives are asking if he's taken leave of his senses.

During the run-up to war, the public heard ominous references to mushroom clouds and was encouraged to believe there was a link between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11. It's time to put an end to the fantasies and the deceit, which have landed us in a quagmire overseas and the equivalent of fiscal quicksand at home.

It's not too much to ask that the president of the United States speak the clear truth about his policies and their implications. Mr. Bush would do himself and his country a favor by establishing a closer relationship with reality and a more intense commitment to the truth.

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And what is that truth?

First, two failed wars.

The long-forgotten Afghanistan can hardly be called a success. While bush* claims to have captured 2/3rds of the al-Qaeda leadership, is there any reason to believe this claim? The fragmentary nature of their cells and their international scope make hard numbers impossible to know. The Taliban is back. Women are subjugated. Opium production flourishes. And the puppet Karzai clings tenuously to a fraction of Kabul.

The Iraq "war" is a fraud and a failure. Overwhelming firepower guaranteed a successful invasion and occupation. Now, increasingly sophisticated attacks by 'insurgents' (who would be called 'patriots' had the occupying force been the Chinese and the invaded country the USA) pick off our soldiers and Iraqis working with the occupying army daily. The numbers of the wounded are hidden.

And, the rationale for this 'war' has been exposed as an utter sham. The sacrifices made by dead and wounded have not made us safer.

Second, the economy has been destroyed for all but those at the very top of the economic foodchain.

Corporations and their greedy CEOs are making more money with less workers and the bleeding of US jobs has becoming an outright hemorrhaging. What will happen when the bled-out workforce can now longer afford to be consumers?

In a sane world with a functioning free press, bush* would have nothing, absolutely nothing, to use as the basis for an argument for his re-election. (I know, he didn't really win the first time but this is long enough. I didn't get into environmental rape, health care scams or a dozen other festering wounds inflicted by this administration.)

But it isn't a sane world and we don't have a functioning free press due to the 24/7 propaganda/distraction pumped out by the corporate/cable media.

If only the republican base (not the .1% who continue to invest--very profitably--in the bush occupation) could be made to understand how deeply they are despised and used. The margin of defeat for bush* and all his cabal stand for would make vote manipulation impossible.

It's time for our preachers and our choirs to leave the sanctuary and form new alliances. We may not agree on everything, but we can agree that bush* has done nothing for us. Nothing for the US.

Failure means only expanding quagmires abroad and deepening economic quicksand at home.

If you're not already a millionaire, you have no reason to vote for bush* and no hope of becoming one if you do.

One would think that the theft of the "American Dream" would resonate with everyone who has not reached that plateau...

[nostamj]

1. damn

this is a tough room.

note to self: never spend an hour on a post when you could be dusting the bookcases.

[dpibel]

2. Well, jeez

When you cover it all, there's nothing to add but, "What you said."

What's going on right now is the culmination of a 20-year process of inculcating in the American mass a sense of fat and happy helplessness. Folks are willing to defend their right to buy whatever stuff they can afford and call that the good life, regardless of what else is going on.

As you not, they're oddly willing to support the people who do them the worst. I could never understand the blue-collar workers who came into the local tavern singing the praises of Ronnie Reagan, even while their jobs were slipping away and their wages were going down. I could never understand why there was no outrage over the savings & loan debacle, where the wheelers and dealers outright stole money, got slaps on the wrist, got to keep the money, and left the public holding the tab. And now I can't understand how people blithely acquiesce--cheer on, even--this band of lunatics who are stripping the treasury bare and killing innocents on both sides.

The best explanation I have is a 60-year (at least) propaganda, advertising, and PR campaign to turn a people with a reputation for high-minded generosity, sharing, and a commitment to peac (leaving aside the fact that the reputation was only partly deserved, and emphasizing that these are attributes of the people and not of the plutocrats) into a people who are proudly greedy, selfish, and warlike.

I agree with you that the only hope for changing this is at the individual level--person to person. The message of consumerism, of stuff above all, of happiness defined by possessions and not freedom, is reinforced hundreds of time daily, both by the eternal promises that this car or this brand of beer is the key to true satisfaction, and by the skewed news.

I find it awfully hard to find room in all that for optimism.

And that doesn't even consider the fact that I've said for years that, in case of national crisis, particularly economic, the people of this country will instantly and vigorously support fascism over some other form of reorganization.

[nostamj]

3. well jeez, I'm glad you found something to add...

and I agree.

in fact, many of your observations fit into another longer piece I've been toying with called (tentatively) The SPAMming of America.

Beyond the email SPAM, which is, of course, nothing but a relentless mantra of MORE MONEY, MORE SEX that you don't even need to open the messages to 'get', the is the spamming (processed meat) of the entire American culture.

Spam jobs. Spam entertainment. Spam news. Spam fast food.

[dpibel]

5. Another metaphor

Isn't it great to be on a forum with hundreds, if not thousands, of active participants, and be able to carry on a private conversation? (netsmeely of your choice here)

I'm not sure why people don't want to talk about this stuff. The problems are deep and systemic, and we can either figure out what to do about it, or throw our hands in the air and give it up.

To the point promised in the header: I think of this as a white noise culture. There's plenty of information out there, but it's just so much static in the babble of celeb crime, horse-race/fashion-show politics, and puppy rescue, all passing as news, along with reality shows that show anything but reality. At some point, it all blends together into white noise, and you can't hear anything.

You can't figure out why you're kinda agitated, because you no longer recognize that you're trying to think around a head full of static.

Two cents, just to see if anybody else wants to talk about this.

[nostamj]

6. "white noise" that's good too

people are so stressed and tired trying to survive... how can you ask them to penetrate the 'white noise'?

finding the truth shouldn't be so much hard WORK. but it is.

and it's part of how they are winning.

they simply exhaust us.

[nostamj]

4. new sig pic kick

:shrug: if this sucks this bad... i got a lot to think about.

if i could edit i'd fix this though:

Corporations and their greedy CEOs are making more money with less workers and the bleeding of US jobs has become an outright hemorrhaging.

[GOPisEvil]

7. Scathing!!!

Excellent! :thumbsup:

Early leader for quote of the year: "Mr. Bush would do himself and his country a favor by establishing a closer relationship with reality and a more intense commitment to the truth."

[nostamj]

8. thanks!

but this thread still looks like the Hinderburg.....

oh, the spell checks! :crazy: