It's Great to be Back?

Does anything make sense anymore? The Fukushima disaster is now said by some experts to be the single greatest industrial disaster in all of human history. The Japanese seem to have learned their lesson and have announced they will abandon nuclear energy entirely. The Germans have said the same thing and will phase out their nuclear plants. I believe Switzerland has also so announced. The Italian public has voted against nuclear energy. China is apparently well on the road to converting to renewable energy and are far ahead of us in renewable energy technology. But here in the U.S. the Tennessee Valley Authority has announced they will construct six “micro” nuclear plants along a river in that state. We are not going to be influenced by any Asians or Europeans, or even common sense, when there may be some money to be made. It’s the American way, shoot first, ask questions later. I find this so utterly stupid it makes me ashamed to admit my citizenship.

John McCain, I gather, has been let out of the nursing home again. He is now claiming, with no evidence or facts whatsoever, that the terrible wildfires in Arizona were caused by illegal immigrants. I guess his claim is based upon the simple fact that immigrants are known to build fires (like everyone else). He is also ranting and raving about the isolationism in the Republican Party. He and his buddy Graham are determined we should be constantly at war (with apparently as many people as possible at the same time).

Clarence Thomas, who should never have been appointed to the Supreme Court in the first place, should resign. There is no doubt whatsoever that he has both ethical issues as well as conflicts of interest. Of course he will never resign, nor is it likely anyone will seriously try to force him out. Laws no longer matter much here in the U.S. if you’re on the right side (that is, the side of the wealthy and corporations).

Governor Rick Perry of Texas is making noises about joining the gang running for the Republican nomination. There are apparently many who would like to see him do so. They say he’s been a great Governor, has created jobs, and other stuff. Texas has the largest percentage of low wage jobs anywhere in the U.S. and also has a 27 billion dollar budget problem. Perry is also apparently a religious nut case calling for public prayer sessions (by religious fundamentalists) that minorities would be better advised to avoid, especially Muslims and Gays. So why shouldn’t Perry aspire to be President of the country he has threatened to secede from?

Ron Paul seems to be coming on strong, I think because of his now fashionable positions against the “wars” and our “empire.” Perhaps it’s because he wants to turn the clock back to frontier days and for some I guess there is a kind of romanticism involved in such thoughts. His position, as I understand it, is “Why should the government help anyone?” Why indeed, we should just let them die if they have no resources, health care, homes, food, or whatever. Like, who needs ‘em anyway? Paul would also apparently like us to return to the gold standard. Unless I am mistaken, Nixon took us off the gold standard because we didn’t have enough gold at the time. What would happen now if we returned to a gold standard? Would there be enough gold in all the world to cover all the dollars? Somehow, I don’t think so.

Republican creativity knows no bounds. Mark Amodei of Nevada, running to replace John Ensign, has announced that raising the debt ceiling would bring about an invasion by the Chinese. Of course the debt ceiling will be raised as it always has. If the Republicans had any plan other than bringing down President Obama this would not even be an issue. But what Wall Street wants, Wall Street gets, and Wall Street wants the debt limit raised. Republicans can bluster all they want but when it comes right down to it they will play along. Whatever you think about Obama, unless something really unusual happens I cannot see any of the current Republican clowns beating him in 2012. It will be, of course, the same “Hobson’s choice” it always is, the least of two evils will pretend to have won and things will continue much as always. Personally, I believe the election is already over, Obama has been picked to win and the only question is which one of the current pretenders will be picked to lose. The Republican candidate is basically irrelevant but we must maintain our pretense of democracy. Obama will bring some troops home, employment will probably start to rise, some action, however feeble, will be taken to deal with the debt, and probably the filthy rich and the corporations will see at least token tax increases. When you think of it as merely a giant charade it isn’t quite so painful. You want my advice, take a long walk in the forest.