Times are tough

Caught with shopping basket
loaded with stolen lobster and steak,
he tells police, “times are tough.”

Times are indeed tough. In both of our grocery stores (I hesitate to describe them as real supermarkets) there are now special bins where meats that have not sold quickly enough are marked down “for quick sale.” Even with the marked down prices I see people, mostly elderly people, looking fondly at these various kinds of meats, but then rejecting them as still too expensive. I have seen this often in recent months and it is quite obvious that the recession (or depression) is taking its toll. Basic categories of foodstuffs are becoming so expensive people are unable to buy them. When a single steak is priced at $12 or more, a single loaf of bread at $4.25, a single potato at over a dollar, and so on, is it any wonder. About the only thing that has gone down in price is gasoline, so I guess it is less expensive to drive around hungry. What an incredible mess we have made of our lives in the past few years.

For months I have not heard or seen anything about a pipeline through Afghanistan. I thought that perhaps this idea had been abandoned. But today I did see a reference to it, which leads me to believe that there is still some hope to create this Russian bypass that will deliver gas from Central Asia directly to us and our allies (if we still have any allies, that is). I would have thought that by now such a plan would surely have been given up as little more than a “pipe” dream, as history has clearly demonstrated that the Afghans do not take kindly to being invaded or occupied by outsiders, and their terrain, along with their fierce resistance has traditionally won out over everyone who attempted to conquer them. I see no reason whatsoever to believe that the U.S. will be successful where everyone else for hundreds of years have failed. Thus, in my opinion (such as it is), sending further troops to that distant and difficult land makes no sense. None, zip, nada, zero, whatever. And even if it were to be done, surely the cost would be prohibitive (unless, of course, the plan is really meant to just enhance the pockets of corporations by offering more unbid and cost-plus projects draining away more taxpayer money). I don’t like being so suspicious, but after watching the behavior of our so-called “government” for the past few years I can’t help it. Having naively believed for most of my life that government was intended to look after and protect the citizens, I have been bitterly disappointed to learn that the function of our government is to siphon off taxpayer money and give it to corporations and the already wealthy. Oh well, live and learn, I always say. I have.

According to many who support the actions of the Israelis against the world, common sense, morality, and international law, the current cause of the Israeli attack on the Gaza concentration camp is because Hamas was sending rockets into Israel, rockets that after weeks of bombardment seem to have finally killed one (1) Israeli (maybe by now 3 or 4). But what a convenient and nonsensical idea. Surely the cause of, or beginning of, or primary reason for, what is going on between Israel and the Palestinians is more complicated than that. Indeed, it is doubtless so complicated and goes back so far into the past as to now be probably impossible to pinpoint. As the Hamas rockets are clearly not the start of something new, and as the real beginning is now lost in the fog of history and will never be agreed upon, I suggest we forget about it and just start over from right now. It is clear by now that the Israelis and Palestinians are never going to solve their problems on their own. Someone (the best bet would be the U.S.) has got to get them together, force them each to make concessions, and settle their disputes once and for all. I realize this is easier said than done, but what is the alternative? Shall we just let the status quo continue on into such time as there are no more Palestinians? A final solution? I suspect the goal is probably not truly a “final solution” as such, but, rather, a Palestinian population so weakened, starved, sick, destroyed and helpless they will just agree to some kind of reservation life. I’m pretty sure that’s what the present Israeli government would like to see, but how about the rest of the world? Here we thought the worst evils of colonialism were over. Well, they’re not.

LKBIQ:
Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche

TILT:
Immediately upon completion of Casablanca, which she did not like, Ingrid Bergman starred in For Whom the Bell Tolls, which she did like.