War Games

Athletes representing both small and large countries from around the world are presently engaged in civil competition against each other as part of the XXIX Olympics. But beyond the opulent confines of Bejing's Olympic Village, the world is hardly a civil place. In fact, in the sovereign nation of Georgia, a civil war is raging, and the Russians, who stand to gain from it, are lending their might to Georgian separatists. It's hard to be sure who initiated this bloody contretemps, but it couldn't be a better time for it if one desires minimal interference. After all, the world is preoccupied with a once every four years international sporting extravaganza, so who has the time or inclination to intervene between warring nations?

True to form, the United Nations is issuing toothless condemnations, and world leaders from Nicolas Sarkozy to our own President Shub are intoning about the possibility of a peaceful resolution. But it's not likely anything will be done to stop what looks for all the world like a well planned power play by Vladimir Putin's Russia. Enjoy the Gymnastics!

Never Believe a Rumor...

until it has been officially denied. Those were the sage words uttered by one of the greatest politicians of the 19th century, Otto Von Bismarck. With that in mind, I submit the following denial of treachery from The White House.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080805/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_iraq

Secessionist Pressure Points/Crisis of Liberalism.

Is a Unitarian a progressive? I don't know. Frankly, I'm not sure I can reliably identify what a progressive is these days, but it seems clear that in the mind of at least one deranged, "librul" hating, southern trucker, Unitarianism amounts to an evil worthy of mass murder. And while it would be easy to dismiss the actions of the gibberish spouting homicidal maniac who opened fire on a Unitarian congregation in Tennessee as nothing more than a tragically freakish one off, I'm afraid that, from my vantage point, the desperately unhinged character is probably no anomaly. The south, and the great interior of the United States in general is full of people with similarly vicious attitudes as the rampaging, buckshot spraying trucker. And though they almost certainly don't possess the level of malevolence of the aforementioned gunman, don't for a minute think they aren't deeply hostile to liberalism, a doctrine whose hallmarks are expansiveness and inclusion.

It is almost certain that without the advent of liberalism, a creature of The Enlightenment, there would be no United States at all. Absent Enlightenment liberalism, one segment of the British social order of the day, untitled, anglo saxon, male property owners, would not have had cover for their demands for self rule and no model for crafting a system of governance which, at least nominally, enshrined egalitarianism. Over time, more and more members of the U.S. social order, descendants of former slaves, and woman, for example, have been included in the political decision making of the nation, and as a result, one can say that the the initial promise inherent in The Constitution has been, to some substantial degree, fulfilled.

The greatest crisis of liberalism in the nation's history occurred as a result of the issue of slavery, which, of course, by hook and by crook, led to a fraught political environment, insurrection, regional secession and ultimately to a cataclysmic military conflict. The attempted massacre in Tennessee, despite the fact that it came at the hands of someone who was clearly deeply disturbed, might be best viewed as a kind of recrudescence of a very old liberal crisis. With that in mind, It is instructive that a substantial part of the the Tennessee gunmen's rant was directed against gays, a group that is presently engaged in the nation's most notable struggle by a social group to acquire the full compliment of rights, protections, and privileges accorded their straight peers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080729/ap_on_re_us/church_shooting

The Greatest Generation?

As the years pass, and only a handful of folks who took part in World War II are left, there are fewer and fewer homages paid to that intrepid cadre of young men and women who bore the full brunt of the war. And while I have tremendous respect and admiration for the so called "greatest generation", and all that they sacrificed during those days of peril, I have always bristled at the very idea of a greatest generation. What of the sacrifices of those who fought in World War I, or perhaps even The Civil War? Ah, but of course, the Civil War was so long ago, and has problematic moral aspects that I imagine, at least in the minds of some, removes its participants from consideration as being the greatest generation. As for World War I, well, it just didn't have quite the urgency of World War II, did it? Ditto for Korea, and the poor folks who fought in Vietnam are, however unfair it would seem, only in the running for a prize for ignominious failure. So, properly tabulated those who took part in a morally unambiguous conflict of the size and sweep of World War II are at quite an advantage in the "who will be labeled the greatest generation" sweepstakes.

And yet, as I ponder the combined contribution of such political leaders as Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bush senior, I am sorely tempted to observe that since victory was sealed with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, the greatest generation's record is, at best, spotty. And, as fate would have it, today, another of their member, if only just, eighty four year old Alaskan, Republican Senator Ted Stevens has, shall we say, let the celebrated side down, what with his indictment for not reporting to the tax man a quarter of a million dollars of bag money he received from big oil. It's nice to know that after generations of being harangued about the debt we all owe to the greatest generation, we probably deserve a refund.

Dark Knight Indeed.

Putting aside "The Dark Knight's" bleak subject matter, subject matter of which I do not have first hand experience, one can hardly imagine a movie title more eerily appropriate to our nation's current condition. Merely employing just one of "The Dark Knight's" double meanings puts one in mind of such national catastrophes as the collapsed housing market, insolvent banking system, inept and grotesquely corrupt political class, seemingly indefinite military engagements, and last but not least, and by no means particular to the U.S., climate change. In the main, the aforesaid horrid phenomena might be said to seal the deal on the idea that the present period in our nation's history does indeed amount to a very dark night.

Employing the other referent in the title's double entendre, one can't help but associate it with Democratic nominee for President, Barack Obama, a figurative and literal dark knight if ever there was one. Obviously the filmmakers could not have had all of these connections in mind when they made the movie, but that is beside the point, the point being that by hook or by crook, "The Dark Knight" is a very powerful and important cultural signifier, relevant in myriad ways and on several levels. I imagine, at least in part, this is what accounts for its seemingly stunning popularity at the box office where it is resonating with viewers, many of whom are committing to multiple viewings, to a degree that puts the movie on a pace to break all sorts of revenue records. In a nation where literally breaking the bank has become an everyday concern, that seems only fitting.

Loserman Resurrected!

During the contretemps that ensued in the aftermath of the 2000 election, zombies for Bush ran about in graceless fashion carrying signs reading Sore Loserman. For them, this indelicate bit of - dare I call it- word play aimed at Al Gore and running mate Joe Lieberman amounted to wit. Now that Senator Lieberman is, for all intents and purposes, one of them, one almost pines for the days when large numbers of admittedly stupid people effectively, and collectively, spat at one of the most loathsome characters to ever drag his knuckles through the halls of government.

Senator Lieberman's latest affront to decency is the fawning relationship he has developed with the vile "Reverend" John Hagee, he of the lunatic notion that, and here I slightly paraphrase, Katrina was New Orlean's punishment for having a gay rights parade. John McCain, a former Hagee devotee, has distanced himself from him, if only under duress. But if, like Pastor Hagee, you support Israel, even if only because you are eager to usher in the Apocalypse tout suite, Lieberman is ready to extend a sweaty, smarmy hand to you, and a public pat on the back. After all, Joe's motto might as well be, Israel, Israel, uber alles! Loserman indeed.

Of Food Stamps, Soup Lines, and Income Tax Abolition.

For all you very strange people who continue to spew nonsense about how a recession hasn't taken hold, perhaps you might, for a minute, remove your very small heads from your rear ends and peer at some genuine evidence as opposed to Alice in Wonderland statistical jiggery pokery of the sort concocted by federal bureaus. For example, the use of food stamps in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is now the fastest growing program in the U.S. Earlier this decade, Massachusetts had the lowest number of eligible residents for food stamps, but my how things have changed what with declining economic fortunes, soaring food prices, and a little less bureaucratic red tape. Why if you cup your ear and listen carefully, you can almost hear, in the manner of The Great Depression, the rattling of large metal spoons on the sides of very big kettles of watery soup. Could it be coming to that? I wouldn't bet against it just yet. Then again, if the voters of The Commonwealth, many of whom are now availing themselves of food stamps in record numbers, decide to vote to repeal the state income tax, there will likely be no money for soup of any kind, watery or otherwise.