Goebbels Would Be Proud

I read an interesting letter to the editor in my local paper Saturday.  The writer was confused why Obama said God Bless America.  The writer stated that President Obama was a Muslim and not a Christian.  First President Obama is not a Muslim and even if he was Muslims still believe in God.  The writer claimed that Obama was only for the rich Americans not the poor, which apparently made him un-American.  Again the writer has his facts wrong.  The President is trying to raise taxes on the richest one percent of American but is stonewalled by the Republicans, who want to lower taxes on the wealthy. 

Joseph Goebbels would be proud at the Conservative propaganda spread by talk radio and Fox News.  They continue to spread lies about the Presidents birth and religion.  They are trying convince people that they are for the common man, while the President is for the rich Wall Street executives, which is the exact opposite of the situation.  Goebbels said if you repeat the lie enough people will believe it.  The Conservatives believe it and in the case of this one writer it is true.  It is more appalling that a newspaper would print the letter.

My Bipolar Relationship with America

Why I am embarrassed to be an American - the political circus.  The American political system has become a laughing stock.  One only has to look at the current clowns running to represent the Republican party.  We have a man who ran a pizza company, who has no knowledge of anything outside of this country.  His grasp of economics is not much better with his 9-9-9 plan that would be the biggest transfer of wealth to the richest Americans.  We have a woman who claims she is subservient to her husband as the Bible says but would not be if she was elected to be president.  She is opposed to government handouts except when her family receives them.  We have a former Speaker of the House who makes Pinocchio look like Honest Abe.

I am proud that our political experiment of 1789 has withstood all the political turmoil.  America has survived a civil war to end slavery, the great depression, three impeachments and the political corruption of Congress.

America has fueled the economic growth of the world.  This has caused an embarrassing wage gap and destroyed the middle class.  It has also provided innovation in products and ideas.  America is still the land of opportunity for immigrants.

America has provided the world with great authors from Hawthorne to Hemingway.   It is the birthplace of jazz and rock.  The Great White Way has entertained millions.  On the other hand, it has given us the culture of celebrity and the curse of Paris Hilton.

America is land of splendid natural beauty.  We have majestic mountains, white sandy beaches, stark deserts and fabulous forests.  We have a climate to suit everyone's needs. 

Catholic Church Changes

The Catholic Church is again changing and I am not sure why.  After the Second Vatican Council, the Church decided to modernize.  The mass was given in the vernacular instead of Latin.  I was an infant while these changes were occurring, but I would have preferred to have have the mass in a sacred language instead of the mundane.  Apparently, 50 years ago, there was a poor translation because the reason for the new changes is it is closer to the original meaning.  An example of few of the changes from the Nicene Creed. Current - of all that is seen and unseen. Revised- of all things visible and invisible. Current - he suffered died and was buried. Revised- he suffered death and was buried. I am not sure why we are making what appear to be minor changes.  If we want to go back to the original perhaps we should say the mass in Aramaic.

The New Gilded Age

The Gilded Age occurred in the 1880s.  After the Civil War, the United States has a business/economic boom, which fueled our growth and began the shift from Europe to America as the source of wealth.  It was a time when JP Morgan could gather the bankers to his office to avert an economic panic.  It was a time of the creation of companies like Standard Oil, steel companies, AT&T and the railroads.  Unfortunately not all of this wealth was created by new ideas and streamlining of business but the manipulation of stock on Wall Street, mostly by watering down stocks.  The negative side of this growth was the wide divergence in wealth between the working class and the captains of industry.  The ostentatious displays of wealth were show in the vast mansions and summer homes plus the rapacious buying of antiquities.  The captains of industry purchased politicians and the political bosses ran the government.


We are currently in a new Gilded Age with a vast disparity of income between the middle class and the wealthy.  The profits on Wall Street have come from manipulations of securities that provide no value to the economy other than to enrich the investment banks.  The investment banks funnel huge sums of money to the political campaigns of both parties.  Their lobbyist make the laws of the nation.  They ostentatiously display their wealth as the robber barons of old.

How are we to get ourselves out of this mess?  While Occupy Wall Street is helping to shine light on the problem, they have yet to offer any solutions.  The Gilded Age ended with an accident of history, the arrival of Theodore Roosevelt.  Will Obama be the new Gilded Age's T.R.  Unfortunately, I do not have the answers.

How the Tea Party Got It Wrong

Who are the members of the Tea Party?  They are predominately white, middle class men who are concerned with the economic problems facing America.  They claim that they are concerned about the size of the government and government deficits.  Surprisingly they support the Republicans or perhaps were co-opted by the Dick Armey and the Koch brothers, who took the United States from a surplus to the largest deficits.  Republicans have supported large deficits since Regan.  The Republicans refuse to raise taxes to cut the deficit, not even on the wealthiest one percent and believe in cutting middle class programs, such as Social Security, which would hurt the majority of Tea Party members.  Logically it does not make sense to support a party that is in the pocket of the wealthy.

Why was it acceptable for GW Bush to increase the size of government with unfunded programs such as prescription medicare and No Child Left Behind.  The Tea Party has no problem spending billions of dollars on wars but not on Americans.  It makes me wonder is their problem is that there is a black man in the Oval Office that they want to remove.

Hippiefest

Saturday I participated in Hippiefest a Concert for Peace and Understanding. I was outside where a local band was playing 60s music.  I noticed a few women pretending that they were passing around a joint.  They told me that they were reliving the old days.  Then I noticed a man smoking a cigar; he had a real joint behind his ear.   I saw him smoking it later.  I guess he was getting ready for the concert. There was a display of album cover that were drawn with chalk.  You could purchase it through a silent auction.  Someone did the Beatles "White Album", which my third graders could have done.

The show began with Felix Caivaliere performing the Rascals hits, such as Groovin and People Want to Be Free. He also did Wilson Picket's Midnight Hour.  Rick Derringer performed his hits.  I was not familiar with his work but I recognized Hang on Sloopy and Rock and Roll Hootchiecoo.  Gary Wright, the Dream Weaver, performed his early work with Spooky Toad.  He explained how he wrote Dream Weaver.   Gary was working with George Harrison, who invited him to go to India.  Harrison gave Wright books to read and one contained a poem about a weaver of dreams.  Mark Farner sang Grand Funk Railroad hits, such as Bad Time to Fall in Love, Some Kind of Wonderful and I'm Your Captain.  Dave Mason ended the show.  He performed Only You Know, Feeling Alright and All Along the Watchtower.  He was having problems with his voice so they played a blues song, which his bassist sang.

I was too young to be a hippie but I read about protesters spitting on soldiers returning from Vietnam and calling them names.  All of the artists acknowledged and supported the troops overseas.  Each performer was given an equal amount of time to play, which is a change from past shows.  I was surprised that there were not more people dancing.  I only saw two or three groups.  I guess the Baby Boomers are showing their age.  Despite drinking and at least one person getting high, it was a peaceful evening, just as it was billed.

The Moral Decline of Republicanism

The Republican Party has a schizophrenic history.  The party prides itself on its 1850s ant-slavery roots and the party of Lincoln.  In the decades after the Great Emancipator's death, the Republican party became the organ of greedy industrialists.  It has never lost its association with big business.  During Theodore Roosevelt's term as president, he sought to broaden the party.  He wanted a Square Deal for the people. Eventually Roosevelt and the Progressives broke from the party.  Republicans became the party of the status quo and represented big business more than the average American.   "The business of America is business."   It used scare tactics, such as the Red Menace to gain power. While Republicans claim to be strong on defense, the are responsible for the secret war in Southeast Asia and arms for hostage deals with Iran.

As I mentioned in previous blogs, I am a former Republican, who believed it was morning in America.  I believed that the party could not sink any lower but I am disappointed to be wrong.  The current debt crisis debacle shows that the Republicans are willing to put political gain before the welfare of the country.  In their lust for power, they are willing to cause a double dip recession to gain the White House.  They will block any initiatives to improve the economy in an attempt to defeat President Obama.  I do not believe even the Machiavellian Nixon would stoop so low.

Who is to blame?  Ultimately, it is the American people, who believe their simplistic approach to solving the complex problems facing America.  We need to be more educated.  Stop spending your time watching "reality" tv and awaken to the reality of the Republican agenda.  The gap between corporate executives and the rank and file workers is growing at an exponential rate.  The middle class is under constant attack and the Republicans want to balance the budget on their backs.  They want to destroy the middle class, with their tax and education policies.

Wake up everybody.  Take action before it is too late.