God of Greed

All we need is to look across the street.

Not over the ocean at some remote native village. Not in any war-torn country that we see only as fleeting images on CNN. All we have to do is look right into our next door neighbors eyes and see abject desolation. Millions of Americans are living in Poortown and more are moving in.

For those of us who have jobs, we see shades of this disaster at the edges of our work place. Cost cutting in management. Restrictions on overtime and new hires. Supervisors demanding more but not giving anything in return. Some companies are even taking advantage of the hard times by using the bad news to frighten workers into concessions that benefit upper management but leave the lower rungs worse off. I see this in my job, which has the additional pain of happening during the holidays.

Add to this the true colors of the 21st Century Republicans. How people who call themselves Americans can operate this way and still look in the mirror is beyond me. How cold and vapid can the 'human' heart get?

If McCain had been elected, these situations would have become much worse. As decent, loyal Americans we would have had to recreate the French Revolution for Christmas. But The Fates saw fit to grant us a favor, a reprieve. But we have to wait for silver lining. We can see it on the horizon but we ain't there yet. What can we do to keep the country together as we approach Inauguration Day?

We have to gather the troops. This is no bluster, we have to get every one we know on board to take these monsters on. It isn't a partisan tiff any more. This is for the suvival of the American Worker. How these greedy Republican bastards can face themselves in the mirror every morning is beyond me. How cold and vapid can the human heart get? Is the Almighty Dollar that grand that you would desimate your own nest to get it?

These fucktards consider themselves moral, devout Christians. As Liberals, we've spent the good part of the last eight years pointing out how blatantly false and hypocritical this is, but it goes beyond that now.

This IS the face of Modern Christianity. The grand cathedrals of stone and glass that reside in heavenly parks and reserves throughout the South are testament to this new 'Faith'. These new temples of greed use Christ the Icon, not the Savior. They rake in millions from ignorant fools who fall for the grift and patter of the ministers. The money is fed to the charlatans in the GOP who take the message of greed and avarice to the Hall of Power. For eight long and indulgent years we have suffered for their profit. Greed is God to these people.

Decent people who call themselves Christians are outliers. They exist only because the Halls of Power keep them around for show. They do good works but can't seem to get beyond helping only a few. Consider the action against poverty if the combined resources of all the Christian denominations were set in place.

Everyone I know who calls themselves a Republican is going to hear an earful from me. Every chance I get, I'm going to remind these bastards who drives this country, who serves up their double tall mocha in the morning, who rings up that bottle of scotch, who put wrench to nut to assemble that great yellow Humvee they drive from fill-up to fill-up.

Let them use their religion to explain away their inhumanity. Let them curl up and wither as we show them how real Americans take back this country and put the shine back on the Statue of Liberty after eight years of being covered in crap.

parts of this entry was posted as a comment on Hoffmania.com

David A.
So Mote It Be.

Broadband Now! Broadband Everywhere!

With President-elect Obama getting ready to take teh big chair in 45 days, plans are being proposed to implement a stimulus package of needed overhaul and maintenance to our crumbling infrastructure. One of the plans that the stimulus package puts in place is to bring broadband to the entire country, similar to what was done to bring telephone service to rural areas in the 40's and 50's. According to CNBC, Speaker of the House Pelosi says that the new stimulus package will include an investment in broadband internet infrastructure as well as plans to improve the national power grid.

This stimulus package is vital to the survival of the economy of the United States. Yes, its deficit spending but its more than just spending money. This is all about taking charge for the first time of our progress, our responsibility to bring this country - albeit kicking and screaming - into the 21st century.

I too believe that we should balance the budget. That's the only way to sustain any real growth we may have in the near future. But we have to get to that point first. Everyone would like to be in the black, have no debts, live well within your means and have a decent, secure nest-egg to protect them from catastrophe. But reality is a real bitch. Times like these dictate a whole new set of priorities. We can't afford the 'luxury' of trying to balance the books right now. America needs to dip into the credit cards for these hard times. No one wants to but we have to. Once these stimulus plans start to bring us away from the ledge, we can then seek to bring the deficit under control. That task will be a whole lot easier when we are doing better and have a more stable economy that's anchored to a secure foundation.

Of course we can't spend it on any worthless crap. Every dime has to be monitored and scrutinized. I feel confident that Obama will get this done in the way that's best for the country. We will be watching though, no free rides here just consider it a trade. Do for us and we'll do for you.

Bringing broadband to every corner of the nation is vital to getting the needed information that will power the dawn of this new century. The global nature of today's reality dictates that success is only achievable to those who see things from all arenas. You can't be provincial any more. Bury your head in the sand and it'll get paved over. Universal Broadband Access isn't a luxury any more, it's as important as any highway, bridge or power grid.

Overlooked in this, however, is one very important factor of nation-wide access - consumer's cost.

How much will this new access cost each of us? Will this national broadband be available but for a nominal fee or will it be free, like the Wi-Fi at my favorite coffee place? Will we still have to fork out $50 bucks a month to Verizon, Comcast, or Time-Warner to see kittens burp on You Tube? The article linked above mentions a few ways to that the stimulus money will be distributed and how the access is accomplished but it doesn't mention how much consumers (as opposed to tax payers) will pay.

Personally, I feel that this access is part of our national discourse and thus should be free. Cable television, pay-per-view entertainment and the like shouldn't be included, though. That type of stuff we should have to pony up the ducats for. I mean I'll rent movies from Netflix, pay for HBO and cough up a buck or two for some new music. But the on-ramp to the Info Highway has to be toll free. The Internet has become the World's back fence. We have to be able to seek out news and opinion from everywhere, without censor. That's part of being an American in the 21st Century.

America has always been the Last Great Frontier. In the past, that meant a hard scrapple subsistence in the vast areas of wild that existed across this country. We scraped out a meager living, built our towns, started industries and flourished. Now, those places are tamed and settled. It took a lot of guts and sweat to put those places on the map. What we have to realize now is that the new frontier isn't a dusty shack in the Rocky Mts. or a lonely homestead on the Plains of Kansas; it's a laptop at a coffee shop in Manhattan, an IPhone at O'Hare airport, or on a desk in a student dorm in Boulder, CO.

Years ago in Seattle, the people had an opportunity to upgrade the local transit system by building a new commuter rail line. It was a radical offer, one that had lots of folks excited. People had been introduced to rail transit when they built the Monorail for the World's Fair a few years earlier. It was planned to accommodate a large increase in population that officials believed would happen in Seattle's near future. Yet, there were those who felt differently. They told folks that Seattle was a nice, quiet place to live and that this plan was way too big, too aggresive and besides, we wouldn't have that many people living here. They said it was a waste of money on something not needed. So, the people voted it down and sent the whole proposal packing. It left town and went south to San Francisco.

Thirty years later, San Francisco has BART, a decent commuter rail line and Seattle has to deal with the worst traffic and the most archaic transit system in the country. Not only did the prediction about the increase in population come true, it was woefully inadequate.

This should serve as a lesson to those who feel we should be cautious and hesitate before deciding on any radical changes to our way of life.

We need to learn from being too conservative when it comes to planning for the future of this country. Sitting in your cozy living room safe and sound is OK but if you want to grow and prosper you have to get out and do new things, stick your neck out a bit and show the Fates that you deserve to be trusted with good fortune.

I relish the thought of blogging, laptop in hand, while sitting in the forests of Washington, telling folks around the world about the beauty I see.

George Jetson, meet your new neighbor!

David A.
So Mote it Be

The Audacity of Hope - the Future approaches...

I hope Pres. Elect Obama pardons my outright theft of the title to his book but I feel it is apropos for this entry.

The future is coming. The future is always coming. It never arrives. The future is always a promise, a gift yet to give, a dream that still lingers in sleep.

The present is momentary. It arrives, smacks us on the forehead then leaves. It lights up before us like the bright flash of a snapshot. After the flash, the present no longer exists.

The past is everything. The past is who we are; which is to say who we were. We live in the past, rely on the past, make all of our choices based on what has happened before. When I say that humanity is history, I mean it quite literally.

The last eight years of our history have been, to say the least, some of the most tumultuous years in American history. One could find times in history that were more violent, more disastrous, perhaps even more tragic but given the level of global awareness and the vast amount of information, good or bad, current situations give these times a more drastic and severe immediacy. More people have an active part in this global awareness; more people are participating than before.

We need to look at this new chapter of our past as an opportunity. Everything we are, everything we expect to get from the future will depend on what we do now. We need to control the flash of the present by shaping what the promise will bring. This will give us the prescience to correct the mistakes made by the fools our countrymen put into power at the dawn of this century.

Our collective past will depend on the choices we make in this present.

David A.
So Mote It Be

Sen. Edward Kennedy, Lion of Strength and Will

My heartfelt best wishes go out to Sen. Kennedy and his family today as he embarks on the journey to wellness. He has been diagnosed with a form of brain cancer.

Words can't sufficiently describe the greatness and patriotism of Teddy Kennedy and his selfless serfvice to this country. Every American is indebted to him for his courage of service.

Get well soon, sir. America needs your strength now more than ever.


David A.
so mote it be.

Red Dawn Remix

Now, I'm no big fan of New York. Can't really comment much since I've never been there. It would be a kick to visit but this is not one of my ten most desired homesteads.

So, this morning while trolling about the 'Toobs. I came across this gem from Fuego del whisky.

So, according to this 'Dirty Harry' goon, Manhattan would be the perfect place to invade if you were a group of Islamofascists hellbent on subverting our freedoms. Really? Of all the places I would invade, New York is down on the list. After the tragedy of 9/11, we saw how New Yorkers came together to help and protect their loved ones. I couldn't imagine it would be this cakewalk that Ol' Harry seems to think. In fact, any group invading New York would have their plate full in a 'New York Minute' sort of speak. My money would be on the New Yorkers.

But the Wingers love to play games with reality, shaping it so that their little penis to big penis fantasies play out as the gossip truth. If it wasn't so pathetic, it would be hilarious.

Maybe I should give this a try.

Let's play this remake Red Dawn game, the one where Red Dawn is remade with these substitutions:

Colorado is now Iraq.
The Cubans replace the British.
The Wolverines still come from a local high school but are a soccer club.
The Americans are the Russians.

Everything else remains the same. Story, scenes, sets, and special effects.

In fact, you could play the whole movie without any alteration other than those labels.

When the movie came out, it both enraged and delighted me. It showed how resourceful we could be in the face of dire circumstances and hopeless odds. Hell, who doesn't like to see American kicking ass against an old enemy, one that we've never truly tested. We know that any all-out war against the Soviets would have led to our mutual destruction so we never got the chance to see who's the king of the hill.

But reality is a bitch. It won't let us make a damn fool out of ourselves and risk the whole fucking world. The problem is that there are many folks around here who can't grasp this whole 'concept' of reality. The Kindergardener in Chief is a card-carrying member of this group.

Bush III the Simple has allowed us to become the bad guy in an action film.