Changes You Can Believe In

In domestic dispute she gets gun,
“shoot me,” he says. She does.
in the face. He’s dead.

I hate to say, I told you so, but I did. I am so seldom right about my predictions I cannot help but gloat. In January, when a group of steelworkers, wearing their hard hats, interrupted a meeting of bankers and caused them to flee, I suggested it was a “shot across the bow,” and those sitting on so much wealth should probably pay attention. That shot across the bow has now turned into a full-fledged battle, certainly in Wisconsin, but in other states as well. Financed by the filthy rich Koch brothers, and no doubt other corporations, there is a plan to destroy labor unions across the country. The Governor of Wisconsin is leading the charge and will probably be lucky to survive the backlash at all, let alone remain Governor. His outrageous demand that citizens of Wisconsin give up their rights of collective bargaining appears to have gone much too far. He did not run on such a platform, it was unexpected, and it seems to have struck a raw nerve, rightly so as far as I am concerned. I hope he is recalled or impeached or whatever. Other states with Republican Governors are trying to pull off the same thing and will probably end up with similar results. People can only be pushed so far and it seems the critical point may now have been reached.

This is true not only in the U.S. but even more importantly across the Middle East. There was a successful revolt in Tunisia, and now another in Egypt. This revolutionary fever is spreading widely with similar attempts in Bahrain, Libya, Syria, and even in Iran. Everyone wanted change, we are now getting change you can believe in. Egypt may not continue to honor its treaty with Israel and Iranian ships are now passing through the Suez Canal for the first time in many years (if not ever). The rulers of Saudi Arabia and other countries are becoming more and more nervous as monumental changes are in the wind. It is believed that Muammar Khadafi, the Libyan dictator has fled his country (this may not be true). The U.S., now with egg on its face, is trying its best to play all sides of the aisle, having supported these dictatorial regimes for so long while at the same time hypocritically touting democracy.

President Obama, and the U.S., has been demanding (actually begging, beseeching, pleading is more accurate) Israel to stop settlement expansion in the interest of peace negotiations with the Palestinians. These settlements are blatantly illegal and involve the theft of more and more of the West Bank. The U.N. wanted to pass a resolution condemning the settlements. The U.S. vetoed it! Now that’s what you call real foreign policy. Our Secretary of State still travels around the world paternalistically peddling our foreign policy nonsense as if we still have a voice in the affairs of others. We are increasingly becoming more and more impotent and being ignored by the rest of the world. They know we are approaching bankruptcy and are falling further and further behind. Our manufacturing base has grown smaller and smaller, our economy is becoming more and more service oriented, we go further into debt each year, and there is no end in sight. Perhaps we’ll be able to survive providing manicures and pedicures for the rest of the world. It is not clear that our Congress is even aware of the vast changes taking place in the world, so obsessed are they with attacking women and abortion, doing away with Social Security, Medicare, and anything else that might be of help to the new peasantry they are trying to create.

Speaking of awareness, where has Chris Matthews been for the past eight or ten years? He is now calling for an investigation into why we went to “war” with Iraq. He has apparently just discovered (I guess from reading Rumsfeld’s book) that we were told lies about their nuclear program and such. He seems to be quite outraged about this and insists he will not stop until some investigation takes place. Chris Matthews has a national television show, has for years, is supposed to be politically knowledgeable, and doesn’t hesitate to tell us virtually every day what is what. How is that even I and many others have been calling for an investigation of Bush/Cheney for years but Matthews has been silent until now? I find this virtually impossible to understand.

LKBIQ
The incompetent, with nothing to do, can still make a mess of it.
Laurence J. Peter

TILT:
A donkey “bray” can be heard for three kilometers.