Scam Update

Of course, this would have been as easy to predict as the sun rising tomorrow in the eastern sky. What do you think the right is going to suggest in the wake of the Christmas Eve would-be terrorist bomber on the flight landing in Detroit? If you guessed a ramping up of intrusive and draconian security measures, well, a gold star for you. Let's begin with the retired Army general, obviously a prototype of his kind, who suggests that what we need is more screening, and if you're a Muslim male between 18-28, you should be strip searched.

Beginning tomorrow, they are ratcheting up the screening of everybody coming into the US,

All passengers flying into the United States from abroad will be subject to random screening or so-called "threat-based" screens, the Transport Security Administration said in a statement.

But it further mandated that "every individual flying into the US from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening."

So God help you if you're flying in from a state the US has deemed is a state-sponsored terrorism country--or, be it noted "other countries of interest." Because if you're coming from one of these places, you're going to go through "enhanced" screening. That's those machines that see through your clothes if they are available. If they aren't we're talking full body pat-down. Real nice if you're a Muslim, much less if you're a Muslim woman.

It's all crazy, of course. Has been from the beginning. (See this piece from the New York Times from 2007, for example.) Making life more miserable for air travelers is not doing a damn thing to make us safer. It's a huge--HUGE--scam, brothers and sisters. Because if a terrorist wants to attack us, he will despite the security measures. These people are not stupid. They are going to circumvent whatever security procedures we devise. We're constantly guarding against the last attack. Unfortunately, I can say without too much fear of it being untrue: just wait and see.

Nanking

I watched a documentary--a 2007 documentary entitled simply "Nanking"--tonight on the fall of that city, at the time the capital of China, to the Japanese in December 1937 and the subsequent sack and pillage of the city by the Imperial Japanese Army.  It was horrible beyond the telling of it. And what makes this story particularly poignant is that to this day, it remains a political issue. The government of Japan has never acknowledged or apologized for the atrocity, and Japanese nationalists and militarists deny it ever occurred or that it has been grossly exaggerated. The bare facts are horrifying enough: one-third of a thoroughly bombed-out city burned by arson, somewhere around 300,000 massacred, up to 80,000 women raped.

No matter how many times you're reminded of what human beings are capable of, no matter how often you witness scenes of unspeakable brutality and evil wrought by war, it still strikes you dumb and numb to realize that nothing whatever has altered in the character of human beings in the intervening decades since this crime against humanity to prevent the same things from happening all over again. Indeed, the same atrocities--mass murder, torture, and rapine--none of them has disappeared. Indeed, they have only flourished in the years since. We have become so inured to suffering and death and cruelty, that none of it has much effect on us any longer. We still just love the hell out of war.

It makes me sick to know what we're capable of. And ain't this a hell of a cheery way to start the new year?

Pray God for some miracle. Let there be peace.

It's That Time

Time to look back on the past year, and ahead to the next year, if that's the kind of thing that floats your boat. I'm a historian, so obviously looking back is more my style. But I have to tell you, there's no great thrill in it. On the personal level, things are OK, even good. Both me and my beloved are healthy, our kids and grandkids likewise. Nobody lost their job while millions were not so fortunate. I got the poetry book published, and I finished all the writing tasks I was assigned. And as parent and grandparent, I still receive daily the gift of seeing my offspring mature and learn and grow. And I'm blessed by being loved by them. I've seen way too much family estrangement in my life. It's a poison and a curse, and I thank God I've been spared it.

On the not so ebullient note, I will note only one bit of information about the past year. I read today that--would you believe I just went to go find where I read it, it's either the local (small size) paper or the current USA Today, and I cannot find it? The reason I took note of it was because it stated some truly frightening percentages of people who are siding with the teabag nut cases. As I recall, people expressing agreement with Democrats were 35 percent, with Republicans 28 percent, and a little over 40 percent (!) for the teabaggers.  Or was it "identified with"? Hell, I don't know and I cannot find the reference on line. This is really frustrating thing for a historian, but what can you do? All I can say is that if we now have 4 out of every 10 Americans in sympathy with the inchoate and frenzied howls of the teabag people . . . well, we're in worse trouble than I thought. (It just doesn't sound right--and it is my memory, after all, we're relying on here--but still . . . it seems to me that anything over 10 percent of the people in league with those screechers just cannot be a good thing.)

And on that sorry note, let's have a new year. Please.

And On a Cheery Note

Here's James Kuntsler contemplating what's going to happen when everything goes down the crapper in 2010.  He foresees a full-blown depression and all of its attendant disasters. For the complete helping of end-of-the-year depression, you can read the article here. It ain't pretty. No prettier than this, just one of the dire consequences of our folly:

   One wild card is how angry the American people might get.  Unlike the 1930s, we are no longer a nation who call each other "Mister" and "Ma'am," where even the down-and-out wear neckties and speak a discernible variant of regular English, where hoboes say "thank you," and where, in short, there is something like a common culture of shared values.  We're a nation of thugs and louts with flames tattooed on our necks, who call each other "motherfucker" and are skilled only in playing video games based on mass murder. The masses of Roosevelt's time were coming off decades of programmed, regimented work, where people showed up in well-run factories and schools and pretty much behaved themselves. In my view, that's one of the reasons that the US didn't explode in political violence during the Great Depression of the 1930s - the discipline and fortitude of the citizenry.  The sheer weight of demoralization now is so titanic that it is very hard to imagine the people of the USA pulling together for anything beyond the most superficial ceremonies - placing teddy bears on a crash site.  And forget about discipline and fortitude in a nation of ADD victims and self-esteem seekers. 

Happy New Year!

A Nation of Five-Year Olds

Now here's a take on this whole latest terrorist flap that I thoroughly agree with. The basic thrust of this fine piece is that the whole "protection" apparatus of TSA is a waste of time. For starters, don't kid yourself, the TSA "professionals" are just a step above McDonald's workers, and they're under the illusion that they're actually protecting us. But the "fact of the matter is that there is nothing anyone…not even super-genius, secret government agents with perfect teeth and a lovely December tan…can do to make us perfectly secure. So it really doesn’t matter who’s manning the TSA checkpoints." Right on, brother. All signs point to this obvious fact. I heard a woman on NPR today talking about how TSA confiscated a bottle of vanilla she was bringing back from Mexico, but missed a 4-inch folding knife in her purse. Such stories are legion.

But we are so gripped by fear, we'll do anything "the organs" say is necessary to keep us safe. We have become a nation of five-year olds, whose parents keep telling us there's probably a bogeyman in every closet.

Here's the heart of it: "I’m saying that if we don’t want to live with the dangers then we might want to stop provoking them. I’m saying that there is no such thing as perfect safety and security; you are going to die someday and you probably won’t go to heaven. And i’m saying that our government consistently overplays any actual threats (and their probability) in order to control us through fear." Can anyone seriously doubt that the American people are afraid of everything? And the stuff they fear the most is the stuff least likely to happen . . . any terrorist who wants could blow himself up in the midst of a crowded airport terminal and kill lots of people. And how hard would that be? TSA wouldn't make a damn bit of difference in that scenario.

Book Goals . . . Or Is It the Other Way 'Round?

For years one of the family Christmas traditions was a statement from each one on Christmas Eve before presents. It began as "I want to apologize to you for . . . " to each member of the family. This changed after a while "Something I really appreciate about you . . . ." to each member of the family. Now with the addition of grandchildren and son-in-law, we've evolved to a statement by each person of some (number is not specified) achievable goals for the coming year. We await the arrival of my sons from Florida next month when the whole family will be together before we pronounce goals for the coming year. But I already know mine, and one of them is to read all the books I received as gifts this Christmas and throughout next year. Which means I've got a great lineup waiting for me. Here's the books I got as real hold-in-your-hand books this Christmas. (I got 103 classic books for my Kindle on CD; some of which I already had there, but not too many.) Here they are in no particular order:

       Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places (2009) by Bill Streever. I've already started it, and I'm hooked.

       Plus Shipping (1998) by Bob Hicok. Another of those mostly unknown poets who blows me away.

      Made Love Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State (2007) by Norman Solomon. American militarism . . . a growth industry.
      
      Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism (2008) by Kevin Phillips. Has this guy ever written a bad book?

      Tear Down This Myth: how the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future (2009) by Will Bunch. And I used to think that Reagan was the dumbest man ever to hold the office of president of the US. Compared to W, he's a frigging genius. But Reagan still made a horrible mess of things, and what's more, millions of people in this country think this affable ninny descended from Olympus.

      The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball (2007) by Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, & Andrew Dolphin. Advanced sabrmetrics.

      What is Your Dangerous Idea? Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable (2007) by John Brockman. Sample: When will the Internet become aware of itself? Not all dangerous, and not all new . . . but chewy stuff for the most part.

Looks like a historian's list, no? But only one book that can be construed as history, and that just barely. And you'll note the absence of fiction. Sorry, if there's going to be limited book-reading, fiction is going to lose out with me every time. I know, I know. That's very sad. But what can I say?

It's going to be fun making this goal.

 

Quote(s) of the Day

"I think there's kind of a desperate hope built into poetry now that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time."                  --W. S. Merwin

"Any idiot can face a crisis; it is the day -to-day living that wears you out."

                                       --Anton Chekov

"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible."                               --Voltaire

Somebody stop me! Did not I tell you all at one time how much I loved quotations? If I haven't, I should have. I love the way a great artist can encapsulate life in such delicious little bon-bons.

All these guys are right. W. S. Merwin has twice won the Pulitzer for his poetry. Chekov and Voltaire need no introduction. Geniuses all.

Safe, Safer . . . Frigging Impervious (Till the Next Time)

Here's some news to brighten your holidays: as a result of the attempted bombing of the Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit yesterday--I leave aside the question of just how in the hell something like this was allowed to happen given the current level of absurd security procedures we must endure now--TSA is clapping on a whole bunch more restrictions on the poor, hapless air traveler. I've had occasion to complain before about the torture one must go through to get on a plane and fly anywhere. I think it's ridiculous, but there are many, many things that I think are ridiculous that other people don't see that way. So I guess now we're all going to feel safer (is it okay to be supremely annoyed at the same time?) when TSA ratchets up the torture wheel a little tighter on all of us who have the misfortune to have to fly somewhere in the United States. Here's a snippet from a story that ran in the New York Times:

According to a statement posted Saturday morning on Air Canada’s Web site, the Transportation Security Administration will severely limit the behavior of both passengers and crew during flights in United States airspace — restricting movement in the final hour of flight. Late Saturday morning, the T.S.A. had not yet included this new information on its own Web site.

“Among other things,” the statement in Air Canada’s Web site read, “during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.”

So, got that? For the final hour of every flight, you are going to be glued to your seat. Don't even think about having to go to the bathroom. By God, you just hold it till your eyes turn yellow. But remember, it's for your own safety. Oh, and that book or magazine you were reading. Hell, no, you cannot read anything, and that includes a Kindle. You must sit, mute and meek in your seat, just like a classroom of miscreants being kept after school. But, remember, this is for your own safety. Oh, and you're only going to be allowed one carry-on bag now, and you're going to be screened at the airport gates, according to the story. Airport gates? What in the hell does that mean? Are we going to have to go through another security procedure before the one we all endure now to get to our airplane?

Why don't we just cut to the chase and institute a rule that no one can carry anything onto an airplane and all passengers must be stripped nude to board the aircraft? But don't worry about it . . . it would all be for our own safety.

Poor Jesus

A standing joke in my family for years has been my stock answer to the question from my kids, what do you want for Christmas? The habitual reply: World Peace. After so many years, the irony and perhaps the genuineness of the desire has been lost on them. Or perhaps my kids, having grown up with war and killing virtually all their lives, view the response as just Dad making jokes again. I wish I could really say it's a joke to me. But it isn't.


I'll admit to being a hopeless dreamer when it comes to what's possible for humanity if it ever grows a brain or a conscience. In this case, it's an either-or proposition: one or the other, brain or conscience, would certainly suffice for humans to grasp once and for all and permanently the indisputable truth that war is a cruel, pointless, sick, fruitless, and inhuman exercise. But to publicly espouse such a position in this country, indeed, in most countries, is to automatically brand yourself not only as some kind of nut case, but an unpatriotic traitor to the nation. The only solace for us nut cases is to realize that we're not alone. A lot of people are crazy like this.


And some of them actually have public voices. Unfortunately, those voices are typically drowned out by the clamor of the super patriots or the justifications for war by the elite chattering and scribbling classes. A member of which we must certainly count people like New York Times op-ed writer David Brooks. Fortunately, there are people like Matt Taibbi around to set the record straight. Taibbi is profane and unsparing in his demolishing of what he calls "Brooks's recent toadyist masterpiece." He refers to Brooks's latest column, "Obama's Christian Realism," which basically endorses Obama's indefensible decision to widen the war in Afghanistan on moral grounds--with, Taibbi gleefully points out, the exact same arguments he used to endorse George Bush's decision for war. 


I love it when something like war--one of the most clearly un-Christian activities there is--becomes "realism" when it's time to excuse it. But that's nothing new, of course. Poor Jesus has been twisted to fit the narrow, selfish and bloody purposes of humankind from the beginning.

What a Nice Little Ride

You don't have to be able to read the fine print. All you need to know is these lines represent the stock prices for the major health insurance companies in the U.S. from October 27 to December 18, 2009. Do you see anything strange? As the passage of the so-called healthcare reform bill became more and more likely, the stock prices for these companies just roared up. I've said it before, and it really is something blindingly obvious, or at least it should be. If the health insurance companies like the so-called healthcare reform legislation, it cannot possibly be good for the rest of us. Above is Exhibit A. We are getting royally screwed, brothers and sisters. It does not appear that this bill is going to be defeated. All the Democrats in Congress are going to get in line, even the progressives, despite being shat upon by the Administration basically since the start of this process.

Update I: The ever-perceptive Glenn Greenwald also takes note of the stock price jump, and he goes on to discuss the demonization of progressive critics of the healthcare bill by the administration, their friends in the the press and the blogosphere.