We Are the World

I’m borrowing my topic header from Noam Chomsky. He uses it to refer to the United States and its allies (Britain, Israel and a few smattering countries) exclaiming such nonsense as “The World condemns country 'X' for its current policy regarding ‘Y.’” Of course, they aren’t speaking for the “World.” They are condemning country “X” for policies running counter to the interests of the U.S and its minority allies. Most of the “world” could either care less about “Y” or might be inclined to the opposite of the U.S. and its remarkably few allies’ opinion.

As far as I’m concerned, the financial institutions also view themselves as “The World” and nothing (or nobody) else matters. Take a look at the eighteen or so billion dollar “bonuses” that the financial institutions gave themselves last year in spite of the disaster the executives led this country into. President Obama called the bonuses “irresponsible.” I beg to differ. I call it arrogance. They don’t even think or care that it should matter what they did. Of course, once there is a major outcry, the Public Relations Departments (and various Spinners in favor of the corporations) start to do damage control.

I love this spin, as an example: Something to the effect that salaries are more tied in with bonuses in the financial sector than the industrial side of the work force. Give me a break. For my entire life, I’ve been under the impression that a “bonus” given at the end of the year represented a job well done. Not for running a company into the ground and needing taxpayer bailout money.

How about Citigroup signing off for a fifty million dollar corporate jet? Even after its multi-billion dollar bailout. It took a phone call from the White House (“We are not amused”) for Citigroup to “decide” to pass on the jet. One more time, this is not “irresponsibility.” It’s arrogance, plain and simple.

Finally, John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, spent over a million dollars for office “redecoration” and to hand out millions of dollars of bonuses a month earlier than usual in order to get the money out before Bank of America took over the corporation. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was gaming the system so his fellow corporate executives could get their millions before he relinquished control to BofA. Arrogance. Not irresponsibility.

What really scares me is what we are not seeing. I bet there are many such instances of arrogance and frivolous spending that is unseen. Recall that AIG tried to cover their "retreat" (spending hundreds of thousands of dollars) in Arizona after they got their bailout. What other corporations are hiding egregious spending such as this? It will be interesting to see what else these execs are doing behind our backs. Hopefully, we will be able to find out, though I believe most of the shenanigans will slip by.

These guys don’t give a frak about the U.S. or its people, many of whom are leading desperate lives. It’s about greed and the conception that they are “The World.” Until we can oust every one of these money-grubbing egoists and bring in those who think in terms that all of us are a part of this great country and all citizens should benefit from the resources that this great country has, we will have an ever widening (arrogant) upper and (exploited) lower class system.

A New Legal "Process"?

OK. I’ve really refrained from saying anything about the upcoming Obama administration since the man hasn’t even been sworn in. However, upon reading Glen Greenwald’s Sunday post about Obama’s position on closing Guantanamo, I have to say something.

Here is what Obama stated (per Mr. Greenwald):

“It (the closing of Guantanamo) is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize and we are going to get it done but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.”

You mean to tell me that he is considering creating a whole new set of rules to use evidence that is not admissible in our current legal system? And somehow allowing confessions under torture under this "process" is "adhering to the basic principles of Anglo American legal system"? What the heck is that? Maybe we should set up a new set of court proceedings for anything that can’t be used in our present court system. Hey, I’ve got it! If a person is found not guilty in our legal system, we’ll just create a system where he can be found guilty. To hell with double jeopardy, that only pertains to the current legal system…not if there were two different ones. Cool!

I totally agree with Glen Greenwald and his take on Obama’s scary statement. We must not find any kind of “process” which will allow evidence obtained during torture to be used against anyone. Obama’s posture is not what defines us as “civilized,” “decent” and “fair,” and does not conform to our Constitution’s intent.

Our laws have unfortunately enabled individuals guilty of crimes to be set free because due process was not followed. This is obviously a disagreeable outcome of adhering to our constitutional rights that were established by our forefathers in order to protect the innocent. We must, however, never deviate from these inalienable rights.

Letting one person be convicted by evading these rights can lead to the total obliteration of our fundamental laws by those who wish to have absolute power. A crack in the dike leads to the inevitable flood.

Barack Obama’s position is unacceptable. I hope that’s clear enough.

Breathe Easier...The Economy WILL Be Fixed

This morning on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” George mentioned that the producers had given the public an opportunity to send in questions for their sole guest President-elect Barack Obama. According to George (easier to type than his last name), the overwhelming question was (I’m paraphrasing all this since I don’t have a transcript – feel free to correct me if I say anything incorrectly) if the economy can be fixed.

Now let’s think about this. Does anyone REALLY think that Obama is going to say “Gee, George, not gonna happen. This economy has been too corrupted in the last thirty-five years and there’s just no way in Hell I can fix the darned thing! I sure hope it can right itself. I’m really crossing my fingers! But thanks for electing me anyway.”

Be real, George. Is that the best you can do? That was a hanging softball question. Does George really think that his audience is that stupid? That when Obama says (I’m paraphrasing again) it can be fixed though it’s going to take a long time, the viewing audience is going to at last sit back and say “Whew! Now I can relax because our Guy says it can be fixed”? I can see the headline now in tomorrow’s papers: “President-elect Barack Obama Says the Economy Can Be Fixed!” That ought to make everyone breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. Time to go back to business as usual…the economy will be fixed…Obama says so…

As far as I’m concerned this is just scripted political theatre by both asker and asked to alleviate the anxiety of the not-so-bright. Both know that they’re catering to an audience that cannot handle the complexities of economics so good old platitudes will keep those poor people from wringing their hands.

On “Democracy Now!” Amy Goodman aired a clip with FDR explaining to the public how the Social Security System that he implemented would work. In the clip, FDR used the word “vicissitudes.” I wonder how many politicians even know what that word means, let alone use it to inform anything to the public. They wouldn’t dare. They are scared it would make them sound “elitist.” Keep it to two syllable words only. Yet 70 some-odd years ago, our President used it as a matter of course when explaining to the public his policies. My, how times have changed.

It always gets me when a politician says on TV that “The people are smart!” Hogwash. That politician is playing to the stupid. Can’t you just see it? Some “smart” person watching the aforesaid pol exclaiming, “Yup! He’s dadgum right! I shur am one smart sumbitch, ain’t I maw? He’s the feller for me! I’ma votin’ fer him!” And THAT’s exactly why the pol says “The people are smart.”

Of course, as I wrote in an earlier post, for me the real number one issue is the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars. The economy will one day recover and people will get better quality of lives. Sadly, once dead, always dead. No recovery for that one.

Gaming the System

So Security Exchange Commission head Christopher Cox is now spouting out a mea culpa for not checking into serious allegations about Bernard Madoff’s decades-long Ponzi scheme. I love the headline from the Huffingpost: “Christopher Cox Blasts Own Department for Missing Madoff Scheme.” WTF? This is so much bull, I can’t believe it.

This whole debacle which, in some circles say is greater than Enron, is emblematic of our entire current governmental and financial states. Here’s how it goes:

An institution comes up with an illegal or mighty rule bending procedure to make huge profits, continue to do so for years, then when the house of cards falls, we get people in charge like Chairman Cox fecklessly admit that they dropped the ball. These wheeler dealers are repulsive. The God Almighty dollar is the driving force, those in charge turn a blind eye (most likely because they are getting a piece of the action) and the rest of the world be damned.

Of course, when everything starts to crumble, it’s the people that suffer…from personal lost monies and property to the using of their taxes to bail out these greedy bastards.

Let’s start a partial list. We’ll start with Enron. They sucked billions of dollars out of California utilizing a fake “power shortfall.” Then they juggle the books until the entire corporation crumbles, destroying the lives of thousands of their employees. According to the documentary “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” the thinking at the higher echelon was that if an idea sounded good, they tacked a huge profit on the next corporation’s statements just for the thought! Now I’m not by any means an economics expert, but even I know that this is absolutely ridiculous. Puhleeze! Meanwhile, warnings were given but ignored.

How about GM? Their mismanagement is pathetic. All the executives were making their millions, catering to the oil companies and destroying perfectly good electric cars that Americans wanted (You’ve got to love that Chrysler has now announced that they are going to produce electric cars). Of course, they want these same Americans to bail them out. Warnings were given but were ignored.

Now comes Madoff and his vicious game. Thousands of investors are suddenly without their money and charities are folding immediately because they’ve been wiped out by this criminal. Warnings were given but were ignored.

See, this is how it works. Everybody in play knows the game is rigged to make huge profits, but since everybody in play is making money they will politely ignore it. When the shit hits the fan, THEN everybody in play starts hand wringing…moaning a “woe is me, how could we have MISSED this? We’ll do better next time.” Yeah, right. “Better” meaning not getting caught.

The end result is that everybody in play walks away with millions from the scheme, vows to clean up this den of iniquity, then moves on to the next “game” that gives them billions (yes, with a “b”) of dollars, only to hand-wring again once the house of cards collapses.

And let’s not forget that the “Public Servants” in Washington, D.C. who allowed this to happen (read “winked” at the transgressions before the collapse) will move into that very financial sector after leaving the government, whereupon they will start making their millions. This will be in gratitude for their allowing the gaming of the system while they were in government.

Meanwhile, we, the public, will be ignored (i.e., no entitlements capital available), and have our money waiting in the wings as bailout for future gaming of the system so the new generation of economic “experts” from Ivy League colleges can get their millions from us. It’s a tragic Circle Game, ad infinitum.

Don't Look Back?

On “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” today, John McCain said in regard to Abu Grhaib and other torture issues that he “didn’t want to look back,” rather, look forward to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. What really gets me is how McCain delivered the line. As if anyone who would think otherwise is an idiot who doesn’t know the way of the world. This kind of stupid (or should I say “calculated”?) thinking is exactly what I wrote about in a previous post.

We cannot ignore the past. To make sure that this does not happen again requires us to hold those accountable for such egregious behavior that occurred in the past.

By investigating and bringing to justice those who instigated and allowed others to commit these horrible crimes is a great way to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Anyone in the future who even thinks about renewing this kind of crime against humanity needs to be fully aware that he or she will be held fully responsible. Prior to their renewing such actions, perhaps the future administrations will “look back” and see what the severe ramifications were for the permission of torture against our fellow human beings. And this looking back is how we “look forward to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” The old saw “those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it” has never been truer than now.

And, to digress, I love that “good ol’ boy, the guy you want to have a beer with” George Bush, who has a home in “good ol’ boy, the kind of town you want to have a beer in” Crawford, Texas during his administration is now dumping that image (no longer needed) and moving to a high end (read “filthy rich”) housing development in Dallas, Texas. I won’t even go into the fact that blacks were not allowed to live there up until 2000. Of course, SERVANTS were OK.

I truly hope that what goes around comes around and Bush (he doesn’t even deserve the respect of being called “Mr.”) and his administration are eventually called to account for what he has done to the thousands of dead and injured American soldiers and possibly over a million dead and injured Iraqis and Afghanis…all for his and his cronies’ benefit (read profits).

Land of the Free?

Land of the Free?
Then: I could go anywhere in this country and not be detained without a legitimate reason.
Now: I can be picked up and “disappeared” forever without any legal representation just because the President can.

Land of the Free?
Then: We tried and convicted certain Japanese individuals for waterboarding.
Now: We waterboard anyone we choose.

Land of the Free?
Then: I remember when going on a plane trip my family and friends would walk with me to the gate, wave goodbye and watch me enter the plane.
Now: I need a boarding pass to get within ¼ mile of the gate and no one else can get near it.

Land of the Free?
Then: I remember just walking to the boarding gate with my carryon and entering the plane.
Now: I need to take off my shoes, walk through a metal detector, dump my personal belongings into a bin, have my luggage scanned, have no bottles of liquid or gel greater than 3 ounces and have my breathing device swabbed and electronically “sniffed” for dangerous chemical residue.

Land of the Free?
Then: I could telephone friends and family and know that my private conservations were just that – private.
Now: The Foreign Intelligence Survey Act now allows the “Authorities” to listen in to any of my telephone conversations without any restraint and keep it in a database - permanently.

Land of the Free?
Then: I was safe in knowing that the military could not take control of anything within our borders.
Now: There is a 20,000 man brigade sitting idly by, waiting to take control of anything within these United States whenever the President feels like it.

Land of the Free?
Then: I could check out any books I want in the library and it was nobody’s business but my own.
Now: The “Authorities” can force the library to turn over the list of books I have checked without any reason whatsoever.

Land of the Free?
Then: I could walk into any church and worship without anyone spying on me.
Now: The “Authorities” may enter any church and spy on anyone one who is attending the service and the service itself.

Land of the Free?
Now: the last line of our National Anthem is “…o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Future: Last line should read: “…o’er the land of Homeland Security and the home of those in fear.”

Pulling the Plug on Electric Cars

Last night I watched “Who Killed the Electric Car?” This documentary clearly demonstrates that GM and the other car companies have absolutely no interest in anything but the bottom line and acquiescing to the oil companies. They actually had the audacity to say that they were building the big cars because that’s what the people wanted. Never mind that there was a waiting list for more of the electric cars that they were building. They were more interested in immediate bottom line profits than thinking ahead.

To watch GM and the other car companies today begging for money bailouts is disgusting. They had their chance and they blew it. I have absolutely no sympathy for these clowns. They were totally into absolute profit (bigger cars equal bigger profits) and, in addition, acquiesced to the oil companies and their agenda. Screw ‘em.

I won’t get into all that the film presented, which demonstrated the total amorality of these executives (I recommend to the reader of this post to view the film); however, based on their behavior, these bozos must go.

I, personally, want the entire industry to fold up its tents and begin from square one with entrepreneurs who have a grasp of what’s needed now and in the future. Unfortunately, myself being “economic theory” challenged, I don’t have a clue as to how serious of a total collapse of the industry would be to our country as a whole. That’s for those in the know to determine.

If we must keep these pathetic companies in place, I believe two events must occur before bailing the industry out. First, fire these bastards. The entire executive management teams should be gone - now, and then bring in new blood. Second, a strong plan that calls for the retooling of the plants to adapt to the 21st century. Design electrical vehicles (hey, maybe bring back that fantastic Electric Car that they crushed out in the Arizona desert – what a concept!) and work on practical solar applications as well.