I wasn’t born with a book in my hand or a library card in my pocket, but it was close. I don’t remember when I got my first library card. Oakridge had a nice little library and the high school library wasn’t bad either. And I don't remember anybody trying to ban any of the books in it.
We had a six foot, three shelf book case that my folks proceeded to fill with Reader’s Digest Condensed books and National Geographics. We still take the Geographic. We started in 1956 and we have ALL of them. Grandma had this huge book case. Her sister was a missionary in India and she had several books about the Far East. Inhaled them. Hey I probably would never go there so it was the next best thing. Even if they were written along the lines of the Great White Father brings civilization to the ignorant natives. Heck they were thirty years old by the time I got my hands on them. A set of 1952 World Books. They’re in a box upstairs. And probably still a decen reference for anything before say, 1940.
Mom and dad may have been puzzled at some of the books I brought home. If they even worried about checking. Saw Ben Hur when it came out. Promptly checked out the book from the library. Probably wouldn’t have the patience to read it now. The Time Life books series came out. Library stocked them all. I read them all. Now that I think about it the only genre I didn’t read were romances. Boring, boring, boring.
Checked out a book from the school library about the KKK. My little Methodist soul took a beating when they got the region by region run down about the Klan in the twenties. Turns out the Methodists in parts of Oregon were big Klan supporters. It’s not like there were very many African Americans to persecute at the time, so they ragged on the Catholics.
Stumbled across Rise and Fall of the Third Reich when I was freshman. Which lead to reading everything about the Nuremberg trials that I could find. The folks never tried to stop me, but looking back fourteen might have been a little young to discover just how inhuman human beings can be. I think I was a sophomore at the U of O when I realized that the Nazi’s weren’t unique, just very, very, mind bogglingly efficient.
In college it was South Africa and apartheid. What do you mean we're supporting these assholes?
And all those threads are leading me to a very scary set of suspicions. We joke a little or a lot about the “news” on Fox. But the steady drumbeat that demonizes and denigrates minorities and anyone with politics to the left of the worst Tea Party member or Louie Gohmert makes me wonder if the ideas of Joseph Goebbles on propaganda were on Murdock’s reading list.
Well, this entry didn’t end up where I thought it would. That doesn’t surprise me.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
THE NATURE OF EVIL
His name was Gustav Gilbert. Rank captain. He was an army psychologist assigned to the prison wing of the Nuremburg justice complex. His job? Monitor the defendants in the first war crimes trial. Try to keep them reasonably sane and healthy until the verdicts were in.
During what turned out to a nearly year long trial Gilbert explored, as well as he could, what made the defendants tick. Take a strain of philosophy starting with Hegel that exalted the state over the individual and war over peace. Add a national belief, traced in part back to Martin Luther, that obedience to superiors was how the world works. Any superior; teachers, parents, pastors or political leaders. Not all Germans bought the party lone but the majority did. Mix in an unhealthy dose of anti Jewish, actually anti anybody who wasn’t German, propaganda that painted so called non Aryans were vermin, less than human. Especially the Jews..
But Gilbert still believed he only part of the puzzle of the evils the trial was exploring. He interviewed the defendants. He interviewed other prisoners at Nuremburg and any others he could make contact with. The final piece of the puzzle? A total absence of empathy. The inability to sympathize or even identify with other human beings.
Gilbert even had the chance to interview Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz. Hoess was “proud” of his record of extermination. But claimed that while the camp was in the business of extermination he didn’t tolerate torture or cruelty towards the prisoners. (face palm, head bounce, loud scream)
Keep that in mind as Ferguson, Missouri plays out. And the next African American or Latino is shot, beaten or described as a “thug.” Or the next Faux talking head goes in front of the cameras to fulminate over the Central American kids trying to get out of the killing zones.
During what turned out to a nearly year long trial Gilbert explored, as well as he could, what made the defendants tick. Take a strain of philosophy starting with Hegel that exalted the state over the individual and war over peace. Add a national belief, traced in part back to Martin Luther, that obedience to superiors was how the world works. Any superior; teachers, parents, pastors or political leaders. Not all Germans bought the party lone but the majority did. Mix in an unhealthy dose of anti Jewish, actually anti anybody who wasn’t German, propaganda that painted so called non Aryans were vermin, less than human. Especially the Jews..
But Gilbert still believed he only part of the puzzle of the evils the trial was exploring. He interviewed the defendants. He interviewed other prisoners at Nuremburg and any others he could make contact with. The final piece of the puzzle? A total absence of empathy. The inability to sympathize or even identify with other human beings.
Gilbert even had the chance to interview Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz. Hoess was “proud” of his record of extermination. But claimed that while the camp was in the business of extermination he didn’t tolerate torture or cruelty towards the prisoners. (face palm, head bounce, loud scream)
Keep that in mind as Ferguson, Missouri plays out. And the next African American or Latino is shot, beaten or described as a “thug.” Or the next Faux talking head goes in front of the cameras to fulminate over the Central American kids trying to get out of the killing zones.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
I HAVEN'T FALLEN OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH
I've been slowly rereading Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and a book on the Nuremburg trials. Not exactly easy blogging material.
I will say this. I first read Shirer's book when I was a freshman in high school. If my folks had any questions about my library choices they never said anything. Looking back, fourteen might have been a little young. Especially the chapter about the New Order for the conquered areas of Europe. Once I was done I never looked at my fellow human beings in quite the same way.
I will say this. I first read Shirer's book when I was a freshman in high school. If my folks had any questions about my library choices they never said anything. Looking back, fourteen might have been a little young. Especially the chapter about the New Order for the conquered areas of Europe. Once I was done I never looked at my fellow human beings in quite the same way.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
DON'T WASTE THE WOOD
For the record I believe that any middle eastern flood was local not world wide. Something happened somewhere, sometime. Almost any culture worth its salt has some kind of flood legend. Even the Greeks.
Another of those "we've found the ark" stories. Even a former astronaut went to Turkey years ago.
Let me get this straight. That great big boat was floating around for almost a year and it only got to Turkey?
The world has been flooded for months. It's a giant mud flat. No trees for miles for cooking, keeping warm, shelter. You going to let that great pile of seasoned wood just sit there and rot? Recyle, recycle, recyle.
Another of those "we've found the ark" stories. Even a former astronaut went to Turkey years ago.
Let me get this straight. That great big boat was floating around for almost a year and it only got to Turkey?
The world has been flooded for months. It's a giant mud flat. No trees for miles for cooking, keeping warm, shelter. You going to let that great pile of seasoned wood just sit there and rot? Recyle, recycle, recyle.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
TWO WAYS OF LOOKING AT CREATION
Noah again. I just love picking apart some the reviews. The land is a barren waste. There isn’t a tree or a bush for miles. Noah’s grandfather Methuselah gives him a seed. When he plants it a forest grows around their camp, forty or fifty years growth overnight.
Man talk about picking nits. “That isn’t very environmental. Grow a whole forest just to cut it down.” God/dess give me strength. What was he going to use to build the bloody boat. The few trees that were surviving were what we’d call in Western Oregon bushes with delusions of grandeur. Using those you’d have room for the family and the doves. And it would be a tight fit. And actually there were plenty of trees left by the time the rains hit. And I still don't know where they put all the critters even if they did sleep through the whole catastrophe.
This isn’t about environmentalism. It’s about two radically different interpretations of our relationship to the Creator and the rest of Creation. Are we caretakers, taking only what we need and being respectful enough to clean up after ourselves, realizing that in words of the Lakota “we don’t own the earth we borrow it from our children.”
Or are we Dominators with all the baggage, crap and bloody mess that goes with it. Taking what we think we need whether it’s man, beast, plant or resource. Tampering with the very core of Creation itself never mind the damage or the mess. Creating plants that can be poisoned and live. Look around you. We haven’t quite reached the devastation of Noah’s world, but just take a look at the tar sands of Alberta or a pond where they store the waste from fracking. We are definitely on our way,
I was working on this yesterday. News on the net. A tailing pond up in Canada has breached dumping 1.3 billion, you read that right billion, gallons of heavily contaminated wastewater into the local watershed. That's the equivalent of 2,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. It may reach the Fraser River, the longest river in Canada. Tubal Caine would be so proud. His spiritual children live on.
Man talk about picking nits. “That isn’t very environmental. Grow a whole forest just to cut it down.” God/dess give me strength. What was he going to use to build the bloody boat. The few trees that were surviving were what we’d call in Western Oregon bushes with delusions of grandeur. Using those you’d have room for the family and the doves. And it would be a tight fit. And actually there were plenty of trees left by the time the rains hit. And I still don't know where they put all the critters even if they did sleep through the whole catastrophe.
This isn’t about environmentalism. It’s about two radically different interpretations of our relationship to the Creator and the rest of Creation. Are we caretakers, taking only what we need and being respectful enough to clean up after ourselves, realizing that in words of the Lakota “we don’t own the earth we borrow it from our children.”
Or are we Dominators with all the baggage, crap and bloody mess that goes with it. Taking what we think we need whether it’s man, beast, plant or resource. Tampering with the very core of Creation itself never mind the damage or the mess. Creating plants that can be poisoned and live. Look around you. We haven’t quite reached the devastation of Noah’s world, but just take a look at the tar sands of Alberta or a pond where they store the waste from fracking. We are definitely on our way,
I was working on this yesterday. News on the net. A tailing pond up in Canada has breached dumping 1.3 billion, you read that right billion, gallons of heavily contaminated wastewater into the local watershed. That's the equivalent of 2,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. It may reach the Fraser River, the longest river in Canada. Tubal Caine would be so proud. His spiritual children live on.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
NOT A HALF BAD MOVIE
Well, I finally got my copy of Noah. Not a half bad flick. The story holds together. The bad guys are suitably evil. Noah is heroically tormented. The story parts with the Old Testament in some details. Which isn’t hard since the Bible is very scanty with the details. And none of what must have been the total horror of the events. (fictional yes.)
God’s pissed. Doesn’t say why. God’s going to destroy Creation. He’s quite specific in the means. Call it the Great Cosmic Flush. Noah is tasked with saving a small portion of that Creation. The ark works. They land. The grape harvest is miraculously quick and I guess raw wine doesn’t take long to be drinkable if the drinker is just this side of insane and not to picky because that’s one detail that was included. The man is filthy drunk, passed out on the beach and buck naked. It’s a long shot, “tastefully” handled. If you can rent it online might be worth a look.
I’ve said before that I love the one star reviews on Amazon. Most of the ones from the fundies who thought were going to watch I’m not sure what are priceless. One gal took her under 13 kids to film expecting something reverential along the lines of the Ten Commandments, the Charlton Heston version.
And don’t know what it is with the fundies. Whether they’re psycho, sociopaths, lacking in the empathy gene or what. LADY this the story of the end of the world. By the time the film is over EVERYBODY except Noah and his family is dead. Can you even imagine living in a world so despoiled that the Creator decides to basically flush the whole shootin’ match and start over? Can you even imagine the horror as the dry land disappears and you’re left with nothing to hang on to? No, I didn’t think you could.
And most Americans are so theologically inept that they don’t recognize that there are two theologies represented in the film. The Dominator and the Caretaker. Tubal Cane is about as subtle as the Sherman tank. Man is at the top of the heap. What man needs, he takes and too bad about the mess. We take and use and destroy and leave devastation behind. Sound painfully familiar?
The Caretaker takes what is needed, doesn’t use more than is needed. Works with Creation and gives thanks for its gifts. Hello! Anybody listening?
And the trick of transporting an ark full of critters? Put ‘em into hibernation. That really stuck in some craws. Geez, people use your heads for a change. You want to shovel shit for the next ten months? It would take another ark just to haul enough hay for the elephants. And what about the lions, tigers, leopards etc. The Lord said two of each, not two to have offspring and a dozen extra to keep the meat eaters happy. Details, details details,
Well, this has maundered on long enough for now.
God’s pissed. Doesn’t say why. God’s going to destroy Creation. He’s quite specific in the means. Call it the Great Cosmic Flush. Noah is tasked with saving a small portion of that Creation. The ark works. They land. The grape harvest is miraculously quick and I guess raw wine doesn’t take long to be drinkable if the drinker is just this side of insane and not to picky because that’s one detail that was included. The man is filthy drunk, passed out on the beach and buck naked. It’s a long shot, “tastefully” handled. If you can rent it online might be worth a look.
I’ve said before that I love the one star reviews on Amazon. Most of the ones from the fundies who thought were going to watch I’m not sure what are priceless. One gal took her under 13 kids to film expecting something reverential along the lines of the Ten Commandments, the Charlton Heston version.
And don’t know what it is with the fundies. Whether they’re psycho, sociopaths, lacking in the empathy gene or what. LADY this the story of the end of the world. By the time the film is over EVERYBODY except Noah and his family is dead. Can you even imagine living in a world so despoiled that the Creator decides to basically flush the whole shootin’ match and start over? Can you even imagine the horror as the dry land disappears and you’re left with nothing to hang on to? No, I didn’t think you could.
And most Americans are so theologically inept that they don’t recognize that there are two theologies represented in the film. The Dominator and the Caretaker. Tubal Cane is about as subtle as the Sherman tank. Man is at the top of the heap. What man needs, he takes and too bad about the mess. We take and use and destroy and leave devastation behind. Sound painfully familiar?
The Caretaker takes what is needed, doesn’t use more than is needed. Works with Creation and gives thanks for its gifts. Hello! Anybody listening?
And the trick of transporting an ark full of critters? Put ‘em into hibernation. That really stuck in some craws. Geez, people use your heads for a change. You want to shovel shit for the next ten months? It would take another ark just to haul enough hay for the elephants. And what about the lions, tigers, leopards etc. The Lord said two of each, not two to have offspring and a dozen extra to keep the meat eaters happy. Details, details details,
Well, this has maundered on long enough for now.
THIS IS MY BLOG
It's my special plaything. It's been my place to rant, rave, howl, celebrate for over ten years. COMMERCIAL comments from posters I can't trace will be deleted. They are not appreaciated, wanted or read beyond finding out that the poster obviously uses English as a second language. Good Lord, if you want to read your screed at least make the damn thing readable. I'll delete it anyway, but the minimal respect will be appreciated.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
TERRORISM IS A WORD FOR NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE
The US has spent billions of dollars ensuring the right of Israel's right to existance and self determination.
At the same time back in the eighties this country under Saint Ronnie spent billions of dollars blocking the rights of the people in Central and South America to exist without repression and to choose their own governments without the fear of death squads, informers you thought were your friends and neighbors. To find your liiitle country in the crosshairs of the most powerful nation this planet has ever seen and not give up. To be cold, hungry, frightened, watching your children and your elders die and not give up. To finally spit in the eye of the oppressor and go back to the villages you were driven from replant your crops and rebuild your houses.
The fundies and the righties claim they're being repressed and persecuted. Any helicopter gunships flying overhead? Any fighter bombers strafing the civilians as they try for refuge across the border? And planes or choppers calling in mortor fire to get anyone they missed? Anybody keeping track of where you go to church or hold a Bible study? Anybody stopping the busses and taking people away? Any checkpoints around town at times other than the favorite drinking holidays?
If not. STFU and pray it never happens to you. I hope I'm wrong but I've an inlaw of an inlaw that I suspect would be Johnny on the Spot to join the Amercan version of ORDEN.
At the same time back in the eighties this country under Saint Ronnie spent billions of dollars blocking the rights of the people in Central and South America to exist without repression and to choose their own governments without the fear of death squads, informers you thought were your friends and neighbors. To find your liiitle country in the crosshairs of the most powerful nation this planet has ever seen and not give up. To be cold, hungry, frightened, watching your children and your elders die and not give up. To finally spit in the eye of the oppressor and go back to the villages you were driven from replant your crops and rebuild your houses.
The fundies and the righties claim they're being repressed and persecuted. Any helicopter gunships flying overhead? Any fighter bombers strafing the civilians as they try for refuge across the border? And planes or choppers calling in mortor fire to get anyone they missed? Anybody keeping track of where you go to church or hold a Bible study? Anybody stopping the busses and taking people away? Any checkpoints around town at times other than the favorite drinking holidays?
If not. STFU and pray it never happens to you. I hope I'm wrong but I've an inlaw of an inlaw that I suspect would be Johnny on the Spot to join the Amercan version of ORDEN.
Monday, July 28, 2014
WARNING MINI RANT AHEAD
Working with La La Land Credit Union you can transfer between accounts if it’s your account. I haven’t figured out how to transfer, on line, between two accounts where I’m primary on one and secondary on another. So, it’s do it over the phone. The one time I tried treating the transfer like paying a bill I was told I couldn't pay a bill on my own account. Thank you so much.
Usually it’s not too hard, but today I was ready to chew nails and spit rivets. Usually they ask what a recent TRANSACTION on the account was. This time it was a debit card purchase. Well, f’ing (didn’t actually use the F bomb) know, it’s been awhile since I blew the dust off that card, I usually write checks. When did I join the credit union? Damned if I know. It’s been awhile. Which branch did I join at? You’re kidding right? I think it was the old branch on campus, but I sure as hell don’t remember. Might have been VRC.
Then it started getting into intrusive territory. What’s your driver’s license number, What’s the code word you use before you enter your password. At this point I was royally pissed and heading for total badasss. Yeah I know. Jackie as a bad ass. I was able to get help from a supervisor. Finally.
Because I don’t fit in their lovely little pigeon holes we almost weren’t able to do business. All in the name of protecting me. Weird since I was transferring funds between the account where I’m primary to the one where I’m the secondary. This was my monthly grumpy day.
Usually it’s not too hard, but today I was ready to chew nails and spit rivets. Usually they ask what a recent TRANSACTION on the account was. This time it was a debit card purchase. Well, f’ing (didn’t actually use the F bomb) know, it’s been awhile since I blew the dust off that card, I usually write checks. When did I join the credit union? Damned if I know. It’s been awhile. Which branch did I join at? You’re kidding right? I think it was the old branch on campus, but I sure as hell don’t remember. Might have been VRC.
Then it started getting into intrusive territory. What’s your driver’s license number, What’s the code word you use before you enter your password. At this point I was royally pissed and heading for total badasss. Yeah I know. Jackie as a bad ass. I was able to get help from a supervisor. Finally.
Because I don’t fit in their lovely little pigeon holes we almost weren’t able to do business. All in the name of protecting me. Weird since I was transferring funds between the account where I’m primary to the one where I’m the secondary. This was my monthly grumpy day.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
AND WE WONDER WHY
there are folks on the border literally foaming at the mouth at the idea of kids from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras seeking refuge here. Take this guy's attitude and multiply it by about a million.
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the idea that there were so many American businessmen in Guatemala after we overthrew the democratically elected government in the fifties. This is a piece of an interview with one Fred Sherwood, former president of said American Chamber of Commerce. Not exactly sure when this took place , but must have been in the seventies or eighties. And is, I believe, a prime example of why we ignored so much violence.
Question: the state department says the government hasn’t done enough to deal with the death squads. Do believe that’s reasonable?
Sherwood: Hell no. Why should we do anything about death squads? They’re bumping off our enemies, the Commies. I’d give them more power.
Question: Do all the U.S. businessmen feel the same way?
Sherwood: Of course they do. After all they’re trying to do business. The commies are trying to stop them from doing business…to stop the economic growth…it’s a hell of violence going around. No one approves of violence. I don’t. But it’s a question of them or me. I’d rather I be them…we grew up on the basis of private enterprise. But these peasants, they don’t know how to run anything. Really, I’m not down beating them, but they don’t. They’re dumb damn savages.
Jesus wept.
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the idea that there were so many American businessmen in Guatemala after we overthrew the democratically elected government in the fifties. This is a piece of an interview with one Fred Sherwood, former president of said American Chamber of Commerce. Not exactly sure when this took place , but must have been in the seventies or eighties. And is, I believe, a prime example of why we ignored so much violence.
Question: the state department says the government hasn’t done enough to deal with the death squads. Do believe that’s reasonable?
Sherwood: Hell no. Why should we do anything about death squads? They’re bumping off our enemies, the Commies. I’d give them more power.
Question: Do all the U.S. businessmen feel the same way?
Sherwood: Of course they do. After all they’re trying to do business. The commies are trying to stop them from doing business…to stop the economic growth…it’s a hell of violence going around. No one approves of violence. I don’t. But it’s a question of them or me. I’d rather I be them…we grew up on the basis of private enterprise. But these peasants, they don’t know how to run anything. Really, I’m not down beating them, but they don’t. They’re dumb damn savages.
Jesus wept.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
"EXCEPTIONAL" AMERICA
Remember back in the seventies and the Watergate hearings? Over and over it was “what did the president know and when did he know it?” And that was the attempt to steal an election that Nixon was probably going to win anyway.
Fast forward to the eighties and Iran contra. In a complicated several way dance we channeled arms to Iran in hopes of getting some hostages in Lebanon freed. Weapons and money were channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. Drug dealing was involved. There was a laundry list of suspects that were convicted, then pardoned by Bush I. To the the best of my knowledge nobody ever really asked “what did the president know and when did he know it?” And honestly, if he didn’t know WTF was going on it was because he was sitting in a corner, eyes closed, fingers in ears humming really, really loud.
Google War Against the Poor: Low Intensity Conflict and the Christian Faith by Jack Nicholas-Pallmeyer. It’s actually on the web as a PDF. Because it’s a PDF is doesn’t give me the usual ID so I can link to it. If you copy and paste to Word it runs about 114 pages including notes. If only half of what he wrote back in the eighties was true it’s a scathing indictment of US policy from the early fifties on.
There’s a film out here about how “special” America is. We’re special alright. But not in the way Dinesh d’Souza intended.
Fast forward to the eighties and Iran contra. In a complicated several way dance we channeled arms to Iran in hopes of getting some hostages in Lebanon freed. Weapons and money were channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. Drug dealing was involved. There was a laundry list of suspects that were convicted, then pardoned by Bush I. To the the best of my knowledge nobody ever really asked “what did the president know and when did he know it?” And honestly, if he didn’t know WTF was going on it was because he was sitting in a corner, eyes closed, fingers in ears humming really, really loud.
Google War Against the Poor: Low Intensity Conflict and the Christian Faith by Jack Nicholas-Pallmeyer. It’s actually on the web as a PDF. Because it’s a PDF is doesn’t give me the usual ID so I can link to it. If you copy and paste to Word it runs about 114 pages including notes. If only half of what he wrote back in the eighties was true it’s a scathing indictment of US policy from the early fifties on.
There’s a film out here about how “special” America is. We’re special alright. But not in the way Dinesh d’Souza intended.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
I'M ON THE BORDER TOO
In the comment section of an article on the work being done on the border by faith communities and people of good will one guy wrote “Jesus is crossing the border.” Most of the other commenters took his statement as either being a joke or mean spirited.
Well, depending on your theology Jesus is down there on the border. Jesus in solidarity with the poor and down trodden as liberation theology teaches. As you do to the least of these you do it to me.
Then there was the comment that we should take care of our poor, naked, starving US citizens first. Well, very few Americans are actually naked and starving. Although a lot of them are getting their clothes at Goodwill and need food pantries to get through the month if they’re lucky.
Trouble is you can’t function in this country without a car of some kind unless you live in a major metro area and then you’re probably living in a neighborhood that qualifies as a “food desert” with far more fast food joints than markets with fresh meat, poultry and vegetables. If you know how to cook. If you have the tools to prepare the food. If you can afford to stock your pantry with what you need. And in areas where food items attract bugs, a way to store your basics so that you get to use them before the roaches get to it. And if you're working two or three low wage jobs trying to keep the wolves from the door and keep track of your kids, who has time to cook? Or you may know in your gut that the money would be better spent on home cooked food but the kids are hungry now and those Golden Arches are right over there.
The dirty, really dirty, secret is that the problem is structural. That’s true not only for the so called third world but for many areas of the US. Not too long before his death MLK was joining the beginning liberation theologians. Our country couldn't solve the problem of minority poverty without helping all of our citizens out of poverty. And we can't solve the problems of poverty in this country without helping the poor of other countries out of poverty.
Our “problem” with immigration could have been solved forty years ago. If the multinationals and big business wanted it solved. the option of telling their workers "keep your mouths shut or I'll move your jobs to India or China," It suits business to have a labor pool in this country that can’t complain for fear of being turned in to the feds. Next step up is the pool that gets threatened with “keep your mouth shut. I can replace you with…” Next step up and so on.
The brutal truth is that in a world that celebrates automation and so called labor saving (Wendell Berry called them labor replacing) devices, a world trading scheme that pushes exports and sweat shop industrialization over sustainable local communities (that includes big ag in this country) this planet probably has an excess population of at least two billion people. What are they supposed to do? Starve quietly? Not bloody likely.
Although the Paul Ryans of this country are doing their level best to destroy the safety net without putting anything in its place. Like decent jobs and making sure that companies are penalized for shipping profitable companies overseas. And what about the countries that have no safety nets. Especially the ones like Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras where US policy over half a century destroyed any chance their people had of building a decent society.
The vultures have come home to roost and they’re sitting on our southern border.
Well, depending on your theology Jesus is down there on the border. Jesus in solidarity with the poor and down trodden as liberation theology teaches. As you do to the least of these you do it to me.
Then there was the comment that we should take care of our poor, naked, starving US citizens first. Well, very few Americans are actually naked and starving. Although a lot of them are getting their clothes at Goodwill and need food pantries to get through the month if they’re lucky.
Trouble is you can’t function in this country without a car of some kind unless you live in a major metro area and then you’re probably living in a neighborhood that qualifies as a “food desert” with far more fast food joints than markets with fresh meat, poultry and vegetables. If you know how to cook. If you have the tools to prepare the food. If you can afford to stock your pantry with what you need. And in areas where food items attract bugs, a way to store your basics so that you get to use them before the roaches get to it. And if you're working two or three low wage jobs trying to keep the wolves from the door and keep track of your kids, who has time to cook? Or you may know in your gut that the money would be better spent on home cooked food but the kids are hungry now and those Golden Arches are right over there.
The dirty, really dirty, secret is that the problem is structural. That’s true not only for the so called third world but for many areas of the US. Not too long before his death MLK was joining the beginning liberation theologians. Our country couldn't solve the problem of minority poverty without helping all of our citizens out of poverty. And we can't solve the problems of poverty in this country without helping the poor of other countries out of poverty.
Our “problem” with immigration could have been solved forty years ago. If the multinationals and big business wanted it solved. the option of telling their workers "keep your mouths shut or I'll move your jobs to India or China," It suits business to have a labor pool in this country that can’t complain for fear of being turned in to the feds. Next step up is the pool that gets threatened with “keep your mouth shut. I can replace you with…” Next step up and so on.
The brutal truth is that in a world that celebrates automation and so called labor saving (Wendell Berry called them labor replacing) devices, a world trading scheme that pushes exports and sweat shop industrialization over sustainable local communities (that includes big ag in this country) this planet probably has an excess population of at least two billion people. What are they supposed to do? Starve quietly? Not bloody likely.
Although the Paul Ryans of this country are doing their level best to destroy the safety net without putting anything in its place. Like decent jobs and making sure that companies are penalized for shipping profitable companies overseas. And what about the countries that have no safety nets. Especially the ones like Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras where US policy over half a century destroyed any chance their people had of building a decent society.
The vultures have come home to roost and they’re sitting on our southern border.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
COLLATERAL DAMAGE?
“Ten years ago Javier Perez could provide for his family. He grew enough corn and beans on his small plot of land in southern Mexico to feed his wife and five children and sold his extra harvest to buy shoes, schoolbooks and other necessities. Over the years Javier earned enough to send his five children to primary school and to fix up his modest, dirt floor house.
About five years ago Javier lost his market for corn and beans. Upon Mexico’s entry into the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and the United States in 1994 imported US corn and other basic foods flooded the Mexican market, leaving Javier with no place to sell his crops. At the same time cuts in government supports to small farmers raised his cost of production.
In recent years, Javier has planted papaya, cantaloupe, watermelon and tomatoes in turn. But without resources, technology, or a secure market he ended up with a barn full of rotting fruit and a growing debt with the bank. Like the majority of Mexicans Javier is now poorer than his parents were. In order to keep the family afloat financially, his oldest son has left for the United States where he has found work as a migrant farm worker and sends money home periodically. Another son and daughter are seriously considering emigrating.”
Testimony given the group Witness for Peace and quoted in School of Assassins: Guns, Greed and Globalization by Jack Nicholas-Pallmeyer printed by Orbis Books in 2001.
Reading this I realized that our taxpayer subsidies to Big Ag are never going to end. They play too big a part in the on going foreign policy efforts to break the economies on the smaller countries to bring them into line with toxic capitalism. In this world view Javier and his family are simply collateral damage. Pretty sick isn’t it?
About five years ago Javier lost his market for corn and beans. Upon Mexico’s entry into the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and the United States in 1994 imported US corn and other basic foods flooded the Mexican market, leaving Javier with no place to sell his crops. At the same time cuts in government supports to small farmers raised his cost of production.
In recent years, Javier has planted papaya, cantaloupe, watermelon and tomatoes in turn. But without resources, technology, or a secure market he ended up with a barn full of rotting fruit and a growing debt with the bank. Like the majority of Mexicans Javier is now poorer than his parents were. In order to keep the family afloat financially, his oldest son has left for the United States where he has found work as a migrant farm worker and sends money home periodically. Another son and daughter are seriously considering emigrating.”
Testimony given the group Witness for Peace and quoted in School of Assassins: Guns, Greed and Globalization by Jack Nicholas-Pallmeyer printed by Orbis Books in 2001.
Reading this I realized that our taxpayer subsidies to Big Ag are never going to end. They play too big a part in the on going foreign policy efforts to break the economies on the smaller countries to bring them into line with toxic capitalism. In this world view Javier and his family are simply collateral damage. Pretty sick isn’t it?
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