How I Became a “Good” Republican
by John Womack
Is America still the land of opportunity? Yes it is! Here I am, a local boy without a party to call my own - but I still made good, and you can do it too! Maybe. Here is how I did it.
When Elizabeth Dole became Senator for our state, I called to talk with her. Like many important women she was hard to get. She didn’t answer the phone and neither did anyone else there. Finally, after about the third or fourth try I got some young staffers to answer. They didn’t seem to know what I was talking about though, and they said they didn’t know how Senator Dole felt about those issues either. I asked them to relay my messages to her and have her write and tell me what she was doing about those things. But I never heard from her.
I persisted in the calls; I e-mailed her too, even wrote some long-handed letters and mailed them to her. I told her I was her constituent and it was her duty to talk with me. Finally I did begin to get replies.
They were all identical. They said: “Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate your input and will consider carefully what you have said. If that issue ever comes to the Senate floor I will take your thoughts into consideration.”
Well! What I had been calling her about, and which she said she would keep in mind IF it ever came to the Senate floor, was the Iraq war, the prisons there and in Guantanamo, the U.S. economy, taxes, conservation, social security, and the “patriot” act, to name only a few. I knew all of those had been to the Senate floor, but I guess she had missed them. I knew she was new on the job, but anybody could do better that that!
So I called her staff now - not her - but her people. I told them they weren’t telling her what I had told them to pass along. I accused them of shielding her from her constituents. I emphasized that I didn’t want her to just blindly support Bush, I wanted congress to assert itself, not to just stumble along following his misguided and incompetent lead. And I wanted her to write and tell me what she thought about all of this.
Finally I began to get a new series of letters. These were each different in wording but they all had the same message: “Thanks for your support, we are helping the President” or “we’re all working together” or “we support President Bush in every way.” They went on: “President Bush is our leader, we support him all the way.” Finally they changed to the viewpoint that “President Bush is our Commander-In-Chief, and we are all behind him!” And they all thanked me for supporting our Commander-in-Chief too.
I couldn’t believe that - I was incensed. I wrote her back and told her that Bush might be the commander-in-chief of the military, but not of the U.S. Senate! I told her he was not the commander-in-chief of of the government, and certainly not the entire country!
I should have stopped there, but couldn’t. I told her the war in Iraq was wrong! I told her to bring our troops home now! I said that Social Security must be saved, to hell with privatization! I called for Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to close now, pointing out that we are creating dungeons for captured U.S. troops far into the future. I told her that Bush is a loser, that he will be become known as the leader of the gang that couldn’t talk straight, the myopic idiot of American politics, the archetype of those who cannot see and never could see and never even wanted to see; the Mr. Magoo of the Oval Office. The man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and when he lost it again and again and again, it was shoved up into a different part of his anatomy! Where he couldn’t find it! With both hands!
I figured that would get her attention. I hiked down our quarter-mile long gravel driveway to the hard road where our mail box stands on a post. I put the letter in and raised the red flag. I hiked back home.
Then I wondered if I had gone too far. Could I get into trouble?
I decided to rethink the issue for a day or two and tone down the language so I went back down to the mail box to get it back out. But the mailman had come and gone. The hard road runs in an isolated part of the country. It comes around a sharp turn to our mail box then goes over a steep hill and that’s it. It was quiet and I had spoken my piece.
I wondered what the future would bring.
About five days later I got a very large brown envelope out of my mailbox. It was from Senator Dole. I was stunned. It’s a subpoena! I thought – I’ll have to go to Washington! Or is it a warrant for my arrest? Don’t they send those things to the sheriff? With a pounding heart and trembling hands, I tore the wrapping open and pulled out a very serious-looking document with a presidential seal on the top of it. It was a declaration.
“Be it known to all who bear witness, that the
Chair, by virtue of the authority
invested in the Executive Director of the
Republican Task Force, confers this warrant
of Platinum Membership to
JOHN H. WOMACK
A Republican Leader in the Franklin community and
steadfast supporter of President George W. Bush.”
It went on:
“Whereas, John H. Womack, is known to represent the
highest Republican ideals and principles; we have,
therefore, affixed the grand seal of the Republican
Presidential Task Force and affixed our names in
confirmation.”
It was signed by Senator Elizabeth Dole, chair, and Mark Stephens, Executive Director.
I screamed “Not ME!” My first thought was to burn it. “What if anybody sees this thing?” I clutched it under my shirt and looked around. The road was deserted. I’ll be ruined! OOOUGH!, I had made her mad, and she got me good!
I wondered if I could sue. I even thought about calling my attorney but he’s a republican. He would be envious. He would want me to get one for him. Accompanying literature pointed out that less than 1% of “good Republicans” would ever earn this award, and if I sent them $120 I would receive another "special honor".
Then, I thought I’ll pay the lousy $120 they want. I will become a full-fledged “Republican of Honor”. Then I can attend their meetings and scream them down, or maybe just sow some seeds of doubt. I can even accompany the President when he comes to visit Franklin or Otto or Nantahala.
I’ll send it back! I can tell them that I had been a republican but “I saw the light.” Or I can be real cool about it and tell them the recipient has “been moved”, and is no longer a Republican. I can get a stamp made, and stamp the envelope: “RECIPIENT EVOLVED”.
Maybe I can send THEM a bill for $120 – hey – why not add a couple of zeros to that figure – they might pay it! Money is different to these guys!
Then again, I can save the document secretly. Put it in a double envelope and hide it in my safe deposit box. If I ever do get subpoenaed, I can pull this thing out and slam it on the exhibit table in a dramatic swoop and stun all of Washington with “proof” that I was an undercover agent for the Republican High Command!
Finally I figured it’s just too much for me. I will have to sleep on it and see what comes out of all this tomorrow.
So, I have a political party again now – wasn’t the one I wanted, but life is often like that. I recall a wise man once told me “be careful of what you hate, you may draw it to you”.
©John Womack, 2005, All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
The Nature of War
The Nature of War
More and more people are beginning to question whether the war in Iraq should continue. It seems to have developed problems peculiar to Iraq. Some people say the administration conducted it poorly. But maybe the real problem lies in the very nature of war itself. Maybe war always turns bad, and perhaps the reason this happens is because war just doesn’t work.
Military force may well be necessary for defense. And it does seem true that the best defense is a strong offense. Yet there also seems to be some invisible threshold beyond which wars begin to assume a life of their own and are no longer under the control of those who started them.
Wars develop a “patriotic sacredness” and become a nation’s holy mission. The nation must “stay the course,” even if that course has not yet been found. War grows to dominate whole economies, it makes religion avert its pious eyes, it drives politics, reshapes nations and totally destroys its own environment (which is really the economic base of the world).
War glorifies killing, it honors the wasting of innocent children. War encourages surreptitious torture, as long as it can be kept secret, and it too often turns its own citizens against each other. Maybe the real problem with war is not just the war we happen to be in at the moment, but the very nature of war itself.
War is uneven in its seizure and redistribution of a nation’s resources. It authorizes, even “requires” suspension of certain rights, regulations and laws. War always rewards a few already powerful people in certain industries and it punishes the nation’s poorest citizens who must fight in the war because they need a little money or education or any way at all to get out of the mess into which they were born. Too often they return after their duty to the same place they left, but now they are injured, sometimes damaged deeply in their souls. Too often they are abandoned after a patriotic pat on the back and a small pitch of money. Too many veterans soon find their way into the prisons they had gone to war to avoid, or they wander the streets, hiding from authorities.
War generates blame. It blames its leaders who always are proven to be wrong about important points that led into the war. War always blames the “intelligence” which was always wrong. Often it seems that intelligence was “wrong on purpose” such as the Gulf of Tonkin “attack”, or the Iraqi WMD. War makes a nation blame its allies who always fail to provide adequate support or who want too much in recompense for that support. One's native country becomes “friends” with strange nations, and it offends many of its old friends. It even blames the enemies who never fight “fairly”, especially after you invade their country and destroy their women and children and their homeland. Sometimes they provide “unwarranted” insurrection and even call for terrorists to come help them fight the invad So maybe the real problem with the war in Iraq is not really Iraq, perhaps not even the administration, maybe it is the very nature of war itself.
Can we do anything? Of course we can. I have some ideas, and so do you, but the purpose of this letter is simply to frame the following proposition: That war in its very nature is evil, it cannot bring forth good results and it will always corrupt all that it encounters - therefore we must solve our problems in another way.
John Womack
More and more people are beginning to question whether the war in Iraq should continue. It seems to have developed problems peculiar to Iraq. Some people say the administration conducted it poorly. But maybe the real problem lies in the very nature of war itself. Maybe war always turns bad, and perhaps the reason this happens is because war just doesn’t work.
Military force may well be necessary for defense. And it does seem true that the best defense is a strong offense. Yet there also seems to be some invisible threshold beyond which wars begin to assume a life of their own and are no longer under the control of those who started them.
Wars develop a “patriotic sacredness” and become a nation’s holy mission. The nation must “stay the course,” even if that course has not yet been found. War grows to dominate whole economies, it makes religion avert its pious eyes, it drives politics, reshapes nations and totally destroys its own environment (which is really the economic base of the world).
War glorifies killing, it honors the wasting of innocent children. War encourages surreptitious torture, as long as it can be kept secret, and it too often turns its own citizens against each other. Maybe the real problem with war is not just the war we happen to be in at the moment, but the very nature of war itself.
War is uneven in its seizure and redistribution of a nation’s resources. It authorizes, even “requires” suspension of certain rights, regulations and laws. War always rewards a few already powerful people in certain industries and it punishes the nation’s poorest citizens who must fight in the war because they need a little money or education or any way at all to get out of the mess into which they were born. Too often they return after their duty to the same place they left, but now they are injured, sometimes damaged deeply in their souls. Too often they are abandoned after a patriotic pat on the back and a small pitch of money. Too many veterans soon find their way into the prisons they had gone to war to avoid, or they wander the streets, hiding from authorities.
War generates blame. It blames its leaders who always are proven to be wrong about important points that led into the war. War always blames the “intelligence” which was always wrong. Often it seems that intelligence was “wrong on purpose” such as the Gulf of Tonkin “attack”, or the Iraqi WMD. War makes a nation blame its allies who always fail to provide adequate support or who want too much in recompense for that support. One's native country becomes “friends” with strange nations, and it offends many of its old friends. It even blames the enemies who never fight “fairly”, especially after you invade their country and destroy their women and children and their homeland. Sometimes they provide “unwarranted” insurrection and even call for terrorists to come help them fight the invad So maybe the real problem with the war in Iraq is not really Iraq, perhaps not even the administration, maybe it is the very nature of war itself.
Can we do anything? Of course we can. I have some ideas, and so do you, but the purpose of this letter is simply to frame the following proposition: That war in its very nature is evil, it cannot bring forth good results and it will always corrupt all that it encounters - therefore we must solve our problems in another way.
John Womack
Friday, November 11, 2005
Letter to Congressman Taylor
Congressman Taylor (rep from the district I live in) wrote an article in the Franklin Press about how we should all not question President Bush, but back and support him and praising him for doing such a good job during the hurricane. Then he went on to write about how much of a problem immigration was, and how we all certainly could agree that we certainly needed a fence across the southern US - and certainly this and certainly that. Also he praised the "minuteman" thing that is patrolling the border between US and Mexico, and now Canada. At the bottom, the letter had a place where people could cut out the article and sign it and mail it to him so he could forward it to the White House. I tried to ignore the letter - and did - for a day. Then I wrote a response. I sent it to the paper and also printed it out and actually mailed it in an old-fashioned envelope and stamp to the congressman.
A Letter to Congressman Taylor
This is a reply to your letter to President Bush, published in the Franklin Press, November 8, 2005.
You began by thanking President Bush for his “leadership in handling the recent hurricane relief”. Could you please explain for me what he did that you admired, so I will know what I missed? Which actions of his would you be likely to do yourself if a great natural disaster struck western North Carolina?
Would you remain on vacation for two more days? Would you then fly to another state to raise money for them? Would you fly “low” over the area before returning to Washington to get back to work?
If the local authorities request federal help, would you return their request and just tell them the form was filled out improperly, try it again?
Would you herd the low-income residents who could not get out of the damaged area to the Western Carolina University auditorium say, and keep them there, surrounded with state troopers, so they could not leave? Would you appoint someone who had been associated with horse racing, but never worked in disaster relief - but who was a friend of a friend of yours - to direct the entire operation?
Please let me know which leadership or management traits of President Bush you admire so much? What part of his planning did you admire? The keeping of 30% of the Louisiana National Guard troops in Iraq for such a long time? It was 18 months counting their 5 month training program. Was it the diversion of probably 80% of money approved for levee repair at New Orleans to Iraq? The firing, in 2002, of the Army Corps chief Parker for trying to build a flood control pump in the river?
What was it about the president’s organizing skills that impressed you? Seems to me that there was an amazing inability for almost everyone to communicate with anyone else. Same as in New York on September 11, 2001. Way back in Vietnam we had airborne communication aircraft that would orbit above the battlefield. Those planes carried electronic equipment which enabled all agencies below to talk with each other. The aircraft were there 24/7, year after year, and one aircraft would cover a diameter of almost 400 miles. That’s ancient technology now, what would you want to do if western North Carolina agencies couldn’t communicate during a disaster? Would you do nothing, like the president did? Maybe Swain or Macon county, or Robbinsville could hire one of these airplanes to do this work. Would that make more sense?
Was it his staffing brilliance that you would copy? Have you studied the art of “Croneyship” thoroughly? Have you practiced by appointing enough incompetent friends to work for you in your own office? You probably liked the part when he said “Good job, Brownie - you’re doing a heck of a job”. Did you feel that you could have earned such praise?
You mention the president showed “sensitivity” to the needs of the people in the region. Yes, we saw some of that, particularly when he was talking about Trent Lott’s old porch that used to be on the beach.
Then your letter shifted to suggest a “plan” for protecting the nation’s borders. Your repeated use of the word “certain” was certainly remarkable. That certainly seemed to imply that the nation was certainly united about the issue, and the only hope was to erect a certain “cactus curtain” across the Mexico-US border. Did I miss the national discussion that certainly must have preceded your decision? Where did you study border control? I don’t recall any suggestions for problems this wall might create, or its cost of upkeep, or which companies would make a lot of money from building and maintaining all that, or even any analysis of other alternatives.
As far as the “Minuteman” operation is concerned, don’t you think that it really seems to cry out for a certain type of leadership? Like that already available through Halliburton, Titan, Blackwater and other private police/military organizations, all run by administration leaders like Cheney and Woolsey, and who have already earned their battle stripes in places like Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and perhaps other places in eastern Europe or the middle East? That would also be another step toward “privatization”, and you always say that government is THE problem. It would be also another step toward blurring the distinctions between lynch mob and authority, “company private” and classified material, and between profit and responsibility.
And speaking of responsibility, you say that the president’s leadership should not be questioned. That seems a proper stance for a servant toward his master, or of a baron toward his king. But Benjamin Franklin suggested that the proper role for a free citizen toward his or her elected officials should be one of constant monitoring and continual questioning.
Although it is not included in the constitution, the right to make mistakes is certainly a God-given right, but IF “mistakes” become “made on purpose”, or with “intent to deceive”, or for the purpose of private gain, then we are not talking about error, we are talking about treason. And the only sure guard against treason by elected officials in high places is the citizen who questions those officials. This is the heart and soul of good citizenship, and that citizen who holds his and her officials responsible, and who questions their actions every minute is the true Minuteman.
Respectfully - and watchfully,
John Womack
A Letter to Congressman Taylor
This is a reply to your letter to President Bush, published in the Franklin Press, November 8, 2005.
You began by thanking President Bush for his “leadership in handling the recent hurricane relief”. Could you please explain for me what he did that you admired, so I will know what I missed? Which actions of his would you be likely to do yourself if a great natural disaster struck western North Carolina?
Would you remain on vacation for two more days? Would you then fly to another state to raise money for them? Would you fly “low” over the area before returning to Washington to get back to work?
If the local authorities request federal help, would you return their request and just tell them the form was filled out improperly, try it again?
Would you herd the low-income residents who could not get out of the damaged area to the Western Carolina University auditorium say, and keep them there, surrounded with state troopers, so they could not leave? Would you appoint someone who had been associated with horse racing, but never worked in disaster relief - but who was a friend of a friend of yours - to direct the entire operation?
Please let me know which leadership or management traits of President Bush you admire so much? What part of his planning did you admire? The keeping of 30% of the Louisiana National Guard troops in Iraq for such a long time? It was 18 months counting their 5 month training program. Was it the diversion of probably 80% of money approved for levee repair at New Orleans to Iraq? The firing, in 2002, of the Army Corps chief Parker for trying to build a flood control pump in the river?
What was it about the president’s organizing skills that impressed you? Seems to me that there was an amazing inability for almost everyone to communicate with anyone else. Same as in New York on September 11, 2001. Way back in Vietnam we had airborne communication aircraft that would orbit above the battlefield. Those planes carried electronic equipment which enabled all agencies below to talk with each other. The aircraft were there 24/7, year after year, and one aircraft would cover a diameter of almost 400 miles. That’s ancient technology now, what would you want to do if western North Carolina agencies couldn’t communicate during a disaster? Would you do nothing, like the president did? Maybe Swain or Macon county, or Robbinsville could hire one of these airplanes to do this work. Would that make more sense?
Was it his staffing brilliance that you would copy? Have you studied the art of “Croneyship” thoroughly? Have you practiced by appointing enough incompetent friends to work for you in your own office? You probably liked the part when he said “Good job, Brownie - you’re doing a heck of a job”. Did you feel that you could have earned such praise?
You mention the president showed “sensitivity” to the needs of the people in the region. Yes, we saw some of that, particularly when he was talking about Trent Lott’s old porch that used to be on the beach.
Then your letter shifted to suggest a “plan” for protecting the nation’s borders. Your repeated use of the word “certain” was certainly remarkable. That certainly seemed to imply that the nation was certainly united about the issue, and the only hope was to erect a certain “cactus curtain” across the Mexico-US border. Did I miss the national discussion that certainly must have preceded your decision? Where did you study border control? I don’t recall any suggestions for problems this wall might create, or its cost of upkeep, or which companies would make a lot of money from building and maintaining all that, or even any analysis of other alternatives.
As far as the “Minuteman” operation is concerned, don’t you think that it really seems to cry out for a certain type of leadership? Like that already available through Halliburton, Titan, Blackwater and other private police/military organizations, all run by administration leaders like Cheney and Woolsey, and who have already earned their battle stripes in places like Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and perhaps other places in eastern Europe or the middle East? That would also be another step toward “privatization”, and you always say that government is THE problem. It would be also another step toward blurring the distinctions between lynch mob and authority, “company private” and classified material, and between profit and responsibility.
And speaking of responsibility, you say that the president’s leadership should not be questioned. That seems a proper stance for a servant toward his master, or of a baron toward his king. But Benjamin Franklin suggested that the proper role for a free citizen toward his or her elected officials should be one of constant monitoring and continual questioning.
Although it is not included in the constitution, the right to make mistakes is certainly a God-given right, but IF “mistakes” become “made on purpose”, or with “intent to deceive”, or for the purpose of private gain, then we are not talking about error, we are talking about treason. And the only sure guard against treason by elected officials in high places is the citizen who questions those officials. This is the heart and soul of good citizenship, and that citizen who holds his and her officials responsible, and who questions their actions every minute is the true Minuteman.
Respectfully - and watchfully,
John Womack
Thursday, April 14, 2005
The New Immigrants.
BernalMug
Originally uploaded by Pretty Penny.
Eduardo Bernal, the Catholic Hispanic Ministry coordinator for Smoky Mountain Vicariate and the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, spoke to the Franklin Voices for Peace Wednesday night at the Macon County Public Library. The meeting was hosted by Grace and Don Washington, and 13 people attended. The presentation lasted from 7:00 p.m. until 9:15 p.m.
Bernal began by pointing out US Census Bureau figures showing the Hispanic population in Macon County has increased by 400% in the past decade, and by almost 800% in some other counties in North Carolina. The Pew Hispanic Center
Most of these immigrants are Mexican who have come here to make money they can send back home. Some of them may have children or a brother or sister they want to put through school. Others want to help their mother be able to buy a home. "They may earn $300 a month and send back $150, or $200." Bernal says most of them have a basic dream that they live for, and that it is simply to marry and raise a family. They are accustomed to hard work - they expect it - and also expect to work without complaining. Only the poor Mexicans come north, "the rich ones go to Europe."
Not all the Hispanics who come here are Mexicans. Most Anglos can't tell the difference between various Hispanics, but the Hispanics know immediately . Many of those coming from Central and South America are better educated than the Mexicans who come north, and many of the former come to avoid political persecution at home.
The problems Hispanics face in North Carolina include language difficulties. Almost all are literate in their own language but find living in English a challenge. Authorities are another problem. There is a distrust of police because in their past experience police have often been corrupt. The first question a Mexican policeman asks a person they have stopped Bernal says, is "Who is your father?" If you father is well known or has political power, you are on your way again; if not, you will be provided a ticket, which if taken along with an offer of money from you, might result in the officer taking your money along with the ticket back, and you can go on your way. If they try this in America it has different results. They also want to hide from the police anyway if they are undocumented. Many provide different names to different people they meet. They may be known as Carlos where they work, Juan with one group of their friends, and they may be known other places by yet other names. Many of the immigrants learn how to "not exactly lie" but "to speak around the actual facts" because the "truth" is often not kind to them here.
The place they feel most at home while they are in America is the church. Most of them are not only Catholic but come from a completely Catholic community. They don't even think to ask for a Catholic church when they get here, and sometimes go to the first church they find, assuming it is Catholic. They don't speak English well of course, and expect every thing here to be different from Mexico. It may take them a while to find their error - at least in some churches - Bernal speaks of the possibility of going to the "wrong" church - a Lutheran church say, or an Episcopal church - for as long as a year before finding out, "by then, you have made friends and contacts, become part of a new community, and been accepted by a new denomination."
Coming here is not easy. The trip is hard and sometimes dangerous. It takes a lot longer than most immigrants think it will and it may be very expensive. Up to 2,000 die each year attempting the journey. Most who get here don't last more than a few months before returning. The first year is the hardest. "You are here, your body is here, but your mind is not - you mind is still at home." Bernal says that many of those who come here, come seeking a lie. "They think they are coming to a movie, which is what they know about America. What they find is a new reality. They have to learn to adjust."
©John Womack, 2005
http://home.earthlink.net/~pathways.
Friday, April 08, 2005
What does the Death Penalty really kill?
The United States is one of a small contingent of countries that still provide for execution. Most of the others are struggling to rise to the level of third-world status.
Even though the American death penalty is metered out largely to minorities, and exclusively to poor people, we have shown compassion on these wretched ones by "improving" how we kill them. Now it is generally an injection of a cocktail of drugs that peacefully (we are told) puts our prisoner to sleep wherein he (sometimes she) then dies. Some medical personnel think that only appears "peaceful" to the witnesses; to the dying one it is an agony to be suffered in a drug-paralyzed body. Who really knows?
A group of undergraduate students in Illinois did some pretty basic journalistic research and found several people on death row waiting to be put to “sleep” were actually innocent and a number of them were subsequently found to be innocent, and some were even released from prison as a result! That was a “wake up” for everybody.
What about those like Timothy McVeigh? He confessed freely. He did it. There seems to be no doubt of any degree. If anyone would deserve to be killed, it would be one such as he, or Charles Manson, or others we can all name. But even in those cases, what about those who commit the act of execution or "official killing"? And it is not just one person. There are prison workers who “care” for the one to be put to death during the last days of his life, there are clergy involved, there are technicians, doctors, reporters, witnesses, and even people who just live in the community in which it all takes place.
There cannot be a system to put just one person to death; it must be a system designed to operate in an ongoing manner. There will have to be continual purchases of expensive equipment, maintenance, testing and repair of all that. Personnel will have to be hired and trained, budgets will require additional funds, and that funding will need to increase from year to year. Performance standards and program measures will be developed and implemented; position descriptions will be build around all that, resumes will be solicited and received and evaluated. People will apply for jobs to kill. There will grow "justifications for death, and a “need” to kill prisoners will assume an importance, and will bureaucratically compete at some level with the “need” for justice.
Many of the people who play seemingly distant roles in in the process have found that they have become connected with those who are executed at a very deep place within their spiritual being. Some of them stated in a National Public Radio program that was aired in May, 2001, that these connections seem permanent and do not go away or fade. More than a few have found that they have slowly entered into a post-traumatic stress syndrome type of life that has proven to be irreversible. Some of the countries which have abandoned the death penalty have said that they did so not because of what it did to the prisoners but because of what they found it did to them as a nation and as a people.
Then there is the issue of “promotion”. History often turns on stories of people who have been put to death for following their own conviction, whether inspired by glory or evil. No one can become a martyr without being killed by his enemies. Whenever any person like McVeigh is put to death, then their cause can become “promoted” to a more worthy cause – a cause more important than life itself. Not for everyone, but some people will always come to see the one who is killed by the state as a noble prophet. Throughout history, the very act of execution has “freed” many people from a prison to play a greater role in the future. Just more of the seeds of death.
Even though the American death penalty is metered out largely to minorities, and exclusively to poor people, we have shown compassion on these wretched ones by "improving" how we kill them. Now it is generally an injection of a cocktail of drugs that peacefully (we are told) puts our prisoner to sleep wherein he (sometimes she) then dies. Some medical personnel think that only appears "peaceful" to the witnesses; to the dying one it is an agony to be suffered in a drug-paralyzed body. Who really knows?
A group of undergraduate students in Illinois did some pretty basic journalistic research and found several people on death row waiting to be put to “sleep” were actually innocent and a number of them were subsequently found to be innocent, and some were even released from prison as a result! That was a “wake up” for everybody.
What about those like Timothy McVeigh? He confessed freely. He did it. There seems to be no doubt of any degree. If anyone would deserve to be killed, it would be one such as he, or Charles Manson, or others we can all name. But even in those cases, what about those who commit the act of execution or "official killing"? And it is not just one person. There are prison workers who “care” for the one to be put to death during the last days of his life, there are clergy involved, there are technicians, doctors, reporters, witnesses, and even people who just live in the community in which it all takes place.
There cannot be a system to put just one person to death; it must be a system designed to operate in an ongoing manner. There will have to be continual purchases of expensive equipment, maintenance, testing and repair of all that. Personnel will have to be hired and trained, budgets will require additional funds, and that funding will need to increase from year to year. Performance standards and program measures will be developed and implemented; position descriptions will be build around all that, resumes will be solicited and received and evaluated. People will apply for jobs to kill. There will grow "justifications for death, and a “need” to kill prisoners will assume an importance, and will bureaucratically compete at some level with the “need” for justice.
Many of the people who play seemingly distant roles in in the process have found that they have become connected with those who are executed at a very deep place within their spiritual being. Some of them stated in a National Public Radio program that was aired in May, 2001, that these connections seem permanent and do not go away or fade. More than a few have found that they have slowly entered into a post-traumatic stress syndrome type of life that has proven to be irreversible. Some of the countries which have abandoned the death penalty have said that they did so not because of what it did to the prisoners but because of what they found it did to them as a nation and as a people.
Then there is the issue of “promotion”. History often turns on stories of people who have been put to death for following their own conviction, whether inspired by glory or evil. No one can become a martyr without being killed by his enemies. Whenever any person like McVeigh is put to death, then their cause can become “promoted” to a more worthy cause – a cause more important than life itself. Not for everyone, but some people will always come to see the one who is killed by the state as a noble prophet. Throughout history, the very act of execution has “freed” many people from a prison to play a greater role in the future. Just more of the seeds of death.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
The Invrionment
Everybody knows the Environment is in trouble and that it needs help. Of course we all help now-and- then, and will continue to do more in the future. We will pitch in when we have enough money to give, or when we have time to spare and we will contribute somehow if things continue to get worse, and so on and so forth.
Webster defines the Environment as “that by which one is surrounded”. While that emphasizes how important it is to all of us, it is also implies the Environment is something which is “out there”. To play a philosopher’s game of words, we could say the Environment is therefore “not-us”, i.e. by definition it is something other THAN us. Thus the Environment becomes a little bit like some old friends who are having problems - we are concerned, of course we are, and we really do feel sorry for them. We will keep them on our mind and perhaps even pray for them. Meanwhile we have to deal with our own problems.
But aren’t we missing something when we then eat food that was “out there” and digest it in our own insides? Or when we drink water from “out there” and use it to refresh and clean the insides of our bodies? Or when we breathe in air from “out there” and mix it with our own oxygen and blood, and pulse all of that deeply inside of us? Isn’t it strange how that which is “out there” keeps coming “in here”? The Environment (En-VIR-oment) keeps becoming our own Invironment (IN-vir-oment), and that’s becoming scary.
The Environment in the Smoky Mountains has become polluted with fine particulate dust and mercury emissions from nearby power plants. We are now finding our Invironments have also become polluted with those same particles and emissions, they are hung up in our lungs and they float through our blood.
The National Academy of Sciences tells us that lead used in paint and other places has become part of the Invironment of many of our children, especially those living in lower income homes, and it has gone deeply inside the brain cells of these children and it inclines them to a lifetime of violence. The Environment of our children has become the Invironment of our society.
An even more recent study indicates that methyl mercury is readily absorbed when ingested, then easily crosses the placenta and blood-brain barriers, and appears to create adverse effects on children while in the womb, and affect their ability to learn language, develop memory and attention skills, and these problems will last their entire life. The degree of affliction is directly related to the amount of mercury their mothers were exposed to during pregnancy. Autism has been found to increase in a predictable rates as mercury in the Environment increases. Mercury comes from eating fish, also in many places from breathing air. Too many American children are now born with permanent brain and nervous system damage due to mercury pollution. Our Environment begins to reach deeper and deeper into our being, no longer just personally but now collectively too, reaching in unknown ways into our posterity. Our government has promised to begin reducing mercury emissions in fifteen years.
All production requires purchasing of raw material from someone else, the labor of processing it and then distributing the product. Material and production costs are subtracted from revenues and the remainder is called "profit". Part of the raw material used in most production processes is clean air and fresh water that is also needed by the citizens of our land who also need that same raw material for their own life. But when many of our citizens receive their air and water it is already seriously damanged. When any business entity takes a resource, uses it and returned it damaged, they have not covered all of their costs of production. The profits they claim are therefore not valid. You rent a car, return it damaged, you will pay for the damage, maybe buy a new car. If a business refuses to pay their labor costs, or their suppliers, they will be sued and incur even greater costs.
Great corporations say they can reduce the pollution they have created but that would cost them more money, that would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. They present the problem/solution as being not really an issue to them, they are just trying to save us money. That seems to imply the problem is our fault, and they are just doing what we want!
But by absorbing the pollution from their production process we are also absorbing some of their costs of production that they did not pay but have taken as “profit” and already dispersed it to their shareholders and officers. Does it actually make no difference to them? not really. If they do pay the real costs of production, a true picture would be available to everyone, not hidden as it is today. While prices would rise for consumers, the profits would also shrink for the shareholders and corporate officers. This would reduce the capital available to the company because shareholders would move to other investments, while many mutual funds would automatically and instantaneously switch through computer programming procedures.
The rising prices would hurt the consumer, of course, but since it would also give a true picture of the costs of our current forms of production it would also encourage conservation among consumers and help them transfer to other forms of production - hybrids in automobiles, solar and wind in electrical, etc. These options are currently repressed because of the high relative price of purchasing them. The market system, so widely endorsed by conservatives, would at last be free to operate on its own in this market, and consumers would finally be able to make wise choices.
Meanwhile, there should be a corresponding decrease in illness costs for the consumers. This would be good for them, but would create a serious problem for the economy because it would significantly reduce money spent for medical care, insurance, pharmaceutical products and the criminal justice system. The costs to respond to the pollution of the Invironment is always much higher than the cost to clean up the Envirionment. So it's complicated - what do you think?
©John Womack, 2005, All Rights Reserved.
Webster defines the Environment as “that by which one is surrounded”. While that emphasizes how important it is to all of us, it is also implies the Environment is something which is “out there”. To play a philosopher’s game of words, we could say the Environment is therefore “not-us”, i.e. by definition it is something other THAN us. Thus the Environment becomes a little bit like some old friends who are having problems - we are concerned, of course we are, and we really do feel sorry for them. We will keep them on our mind and perhaps even pray for them. Meanwhile we have to deal with our own problems.
But aren’t we missing something when we then eat food that was “out there” and digest it in our own insides? Or when we drink water from “out there” and use it to refresh and clean the insides of our bodies? Or when we breathe in air from “out there” and mix it with our own oxygen and blood, and pulse all of that deeply inside of us? Isn’t it strange how that which is “out there” keeps coming “in here”? The Environment (En-VIR-oment) keeps becoming our own Invironment (IN-vir-oment), and that’s becoming scary.
The Environment in the Smoky Mountains has become polluted with fine particulate dust and mercury emissions from nearby power plants. We are now finding our Invironments have also become polluted with those same particles and emissions, they are hung up in our lungs and they float through our blood.
The National Academy of Sciences tells us that lead used in paint and other places has become part of the Invironment of many of our children, especially those living in lower income homes, and it has gone deeply inside the brain cells of these children and it inclines them to a lifetime of violence. The Environment of our children has become the Invironment of our society.
An even more recent study indicates that methyl mercury is readily absorbed when ingested, then easily crosses the placenta and blood-brain barriers, and appears to create adverse effects on children while in the womb, and affect their ability to learn language, develop memory and attention skills, and these problems will last their entire life. The degree of affliction is directly related to the amount of mercury their mothers were exposed to during pregnancy. Autism has been found to increase in a predictable rates as mercury in the Environment increases. Mercury comes from eating fish, also in many places from breathing air. Too many American children are now born with permanent brain and nervous system damage due to mercury pollution. Our Environment begins to reach deeper and deeper into our being, no longer just personally but now collectively too, reaching in unknown ways into our posterity. Our government has promised to begin reducing mercury emissions in fifteen years.
All production requires purchasing of raw material from someone else, the labor of processing it and then distributing the product. Material and production costs are subtracted from revenues and the remainder is called "profit". Part of the raw material used in most production processes is clean air and fresh water that is also needed by the citizens of our land who also need that same raw material for their own life. But when many of our citizens receive their air and water it is already seriously damanged. When any business entity takes a resource, uses it and returned it damaged, they have not covered all of their costs of production. The profits they claim are therefore not valid. You rent a car, return it damaged, you will pay for the damage, maybe buy a new car. If a business refuses to pay their labor costs, or their suppliers, they will be sued and incur even greater costs.
Great corporations say they can reduce the pollution they have created but that would cost them more money, that would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. They present the problem/solution as being not really an issue to them, they are just trying to save us money. That seems to imply the problem is our fault, and they are just doing what we want!
But by absorbing the pollution from their production process we are also absorbing some of their costs of production that they did not pay but have taken as “profit” and already dispersed it to their shareholders and officers. Does it actually make no difference to them? not really. If they do pay the real costs of production, a true picture would be available to everyone, not hidden as it is today. While prices would rise for consumers, the profits would also shrink for the shareholders and corporate officers. This would reduce the capital available to the company because shareholders would move to other investments, while many mutual funds would automatically and instantaneously switch through computer programming procedures.
The rising prices would hurt the consumer, of course, but since it would also give a true picture of the costs of our current forms of production it would also encourage conservation among consumers and help them transfer to other forms of production - hybrids in automobiles, solar and wind in electrical, etc. These options are currently repressed because of the high relative price of purchasing them. The market system, so widely endorsed by conservatives, would at last be free to operate on its own in this market, and consumers would finally be able to make wise choices.
Meanwhile, there should be a corresponding decrease in illness costs for the consumers. This would be good for them, but would create a serious problem for the economy because it would significantly reduce money spent for medical care, insurance, pharmaceutical products and the criminal justice system. The costs to respond to the pollution of the Invironment is always much higher than the cost to clean up the Envirionment. So it's complicated - what do you think?
©John Womack, 2005, All Rights Reserved.
Monday, April 04, 2005
The Problem With Religion . . .
. . .is that God, in Her great wisdom, has not yet spoken clearly to the multitude. Not in English at least, nor in Arabic, nor in Yiddish or Aramaic or Italian or Spanish or Batu-batu. Not even in French for God’s sake.
And when God has spoken it has been in secret, to priests, rabbis, Imams, shamans, roshis, itinerant preachers and other assorted receivers of the True Word, all of whom have been afflicted with the identical learning disability associated with being masculine.
God, however, has clearly and truly revealed Her intention to a few special prophets. Most people agree on the first five or six or seven or so, like Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed. But it doesn’t end there - there are always other men who have been "chosen by God" such as Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, Jim Jones and David Koresch, and it even gets worse. Of course not everybody would agree on the validity of all those “prophets”, but therein lies part of the problem with religion.
Even when we have winnowed down the lengthy list of potential prophets, we still are left with a few important questions, like should the sabbath be honored on Friday, Saturday or Sunday? To what tribe does the land surrounding Jerusalem really belong? Should a man cut his beard? How should a man treat his women - also, one wife only or can (should?) he have more? Only one God for that matter or more? Genesis indicates there were several, or that God was at least plural.
Well, never mind. God has provided that His/Her/Their word be truly recorded in language so that all people can have it available as a “Law” for posterity, to guide their actions and thoughts. Once the Law has been established, then it is THERE - for all eternity - no need for any more laws, ever. Therefore, no need for legislatures, we can do away with all that wrangling and bickering, and finally get rid of elected representives and democratic dialog - no need for any more elections either. All the Laws ever needed have already been “passed”. Humanity will now need only judges and police.
The Law will be available to all people at all times. The Ten Commandments will be especially available - all thirteen of them will be posted in all public places. The rest of the Law (fine print) can be read in the Upanishads, Bagavad Gita, Rig Veda, Zend Avesta, the Torah, the Book of Tao, Talmud, Books of Cuang Tzu and Laotse, the Qur’an, the Tao te ching, and the Holy Bible. Doesn’t matter which book you read. They’re all the same - the Judges will explain later.
Doesn’t matter which bible you read either: the King James Version, the Douay, Revised Standard Edition, the New Jerusalem Bible, the New English Edition, the Apocrypha, or the ASV, BBE, BWE, CET, CEV, DKJV, TEV, the Darby Translation, or the Book of Mormon. Well, that’s just to name a few. There are at least another 53 listed on just one site on the web. But it just doesn’t matter, they’re all the same - God would not let Her people be misled. They are all really the same. But don’t try to read them all, that would be confusing. You just have to Believe - the Judges will expalin all that.
These judges will really be busy. And they will need to get right with God, too. No more screwing around like in the past. No more sanhedrins, colonialism, inquisitions, crusades, Salem witchcraft trials, slavery, segregation, and genocide against native people - like American Indians - all of which were (and still are) done in the Name of and for the Glory of God. As far as homosexuality is concerned, that too is a no- no, well - there’s supposed to something about it in there somewhere, no need to try to find it the Judges will take care of that. Female discrimination is different though, that’s OK, the Bible says so.
It is going to require a lot of judges, police and jails ( religious remediating schools). There will have to be substantial hierarchy involved here. The only thing that will handle all that will be a worldwide return to the feudal system. Then we can have a Lord who will run everything. The Lord can finally tell us which book to read and which parts of it to honor, and how to follow all that and how to live on the "Right Side of God". The Lord can appoint a coterie of wise men who will work and act in the name of the Lord. The Lord’s will will finally be done. And it will all be Catholic too. All who protest will be shot - about time! And no more Sunni, Sh**te nonsense either - that will stop! No time for Orthodoxology and certainly no need for Reform - ever! Evolution will be banished both as theory and as a fact. Nothing will ever evolve again. Anyone caught evolving will be burned at a stake! The ban on evolution will evolve to include all learning except for religion and technology. The lion will quit eating all those lambs, and they will just lie down together - never to get up again.
But the real problem with religion is that it usurps the presence of Spirit and turns mystery into laws, glory into mere gold, wonder into mindless creeds, realization into servitude, and tells you that you are a sinful lump of clay instead of a beautiful being of light.
©John Womack, 2005. All Rights Reserved.
And when God has spoken it has been in secret, to priests, rabbis, Imams, shamans, roshis, itinerant preachers and other assorted receivers of the True Word, all of whom have been afflicted with the identical learning disability associated with being masculine.
God, however, has clearly and truly revealed Her intention to a few special prophets. Most people agree on the first five or six or seven or so, like Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed. But it doesn’t end there - there are always other men who have been "chosen by God" such as Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, Jim Jones and David Koresch, and it even gets worse. Of course not everybody would agree on the validity of all those “prophets”, but therein lies part of the problem with religion.
Even when we have winnowed down the lengthy list of potential prophets, we still are left with a few important questions, like should the sabbath be honored on Friday, Saturday or Sunday? To what tribe does the land surrounding Jerusalem really belong? Should a man cut his beard? How should a man treat his women - also, one wife only or can (should?) he have more? Only one God for that matter or more? Genesis indicates there were several, or that God was at least plural.
Well, never mind. God has provided that His/Her/Their word be truly recorded in language so that all people can have it available as a “Law” for posterity, to guide their actions and thoughts. Once the Law has been established, then it is THERE - for all eternity - no need for any more laws, ever. Therefore, no need for legislatures, we can do away with all that wrangling and bickering, and finally get rid of elected representives and democratic dialog - no need for any more elections either. All the Laws ever needed have already been “passed”. Humanity will now need only judges and police.
The Law will be available to all people at all times. The Ten Commandments will be especially available - all thirteen of them will be posted in all public places. The rest of the Law (fine print) can be read in the Upanishads, Bagavad Gita, Rig Veda, Zend Avesta, the Torah, the Book of Tao, Talmud, Books of Cuang Tzu and Laotse, the Qur’an, the Tao te ching, and the Holy Bible. Doesn’t matter which book you read. They’re all the same - the Judges will explain later.
Doesn’t matter which bible you read either: the King James Version, the Douay, Revised Standard Edition, the New Jerusalem Bible, the New English Edition, the Apocrypha, or the ASV, BBE, BWE, CET, CEV, DKJV, TEV, the Darby Translation, or the Book of Mormon. Well, that’s just to name a few. There are at least another 53 listed on just one site on the web. But it just doesn’t matter, they’re all the same - God would not let Her people be misled. They are all really the same. But don’t try to read them all, that would be confusing. You just have to Believe - the Judges will expalin all that.
These judges will really be busy. And they will need to get right with God, too. No more screwing around like in the past. No more sanhedrins, colonialism, inquisitions, crusades, Salem witchcraft trials, slavery, segregation, and genocide against native people - like American Indians - all of which were (and still are) done in the Name of and for the Glory of God. As far as homosexuality is concerned, that too is a no- no, well - there’s supposed to something about it in there somewhere, no need to try to find it the Judges will take care of that. Female discrimination is different though, that’s OK, the Bible says so.
It is going to require a lot of judges, police and jails ( religious remediating schools). There will have to be substantial hierarchy involved here. The only thing that will handle all that will be a worldwide return to the feudal system. Then we can have a Lord who will run everything. The Lord can finally tell us which book to read and which parts of it to honor, and how to follow all that and how to live on the "Right Side of God". The Lord can appoint a coterie of wise men who will work and act in the name of the Lord. The Lord’s will will finally be done. And it will all be Catholic too. All who protest will be shot - about time! And no more Sunni, Sh**te nonsense either - that will stop! No time for Orthodoxology and certainly no need for Reform - ever! Evolution will be banished both as theory and as a fact. Nothing will ever evolve again. Anyone caught evolving will be burned at a stake! The ban on evolution will evolve to include all learning except for religion and technology. The lion will quit eating all those lambs, and they will just lie down together - never to get up again.
But the real problem with religion is that it usurps the presence of Spirit and turns mystery into laws, glory into mere gold, wonder into mindless creeds, realization into servitude, and tells you that you are a sinful lump of clay instead of a beautiful being of light.
©John Womack, 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Synanim - Peace not Povetry
Participated in the Peace not Povetry Synanim today. A little bit like a two-hour essay exam in college. It was fun, and also frustrating. I didn't know who my group members were and they didn't know me, but there were 6 of us and they all rated me as number 4. That was OK with me. They wanted to resolve the war in Iraq by withdrawing all troops in 30 days and sending in the Peace Corps. They wanted to impeach Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and several others - not that I totally disagree with any of that but I really didn't see that fitting into any kind of a practical way to try to bring the war to an end. This was all done under some serious time restraints - you had to think fast and type fast. Here is my final post:
Ask for a public debate throughout the world. Emphasize that this is not just the end of the war in Iraq but hopefully THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF ALL WARS. Invite UN help. Ask the UN to set up a schedule of public events, to discuss how the war began, what went wrong, and what can be done now. Focus on the outcome.
Bring in people who have had experience working in this type of work before. Bring in some of the people who have benefited from this work, such as places in Africa, the Balkans, and South America.
The Carter Center in Atlanta has many resources that can help, they have access to many people who have done this type of work before, mostly in smaller places. There are other similar organizations - invite all of them to prepare a presentation of suggestions. Ask them to take part in a forum at the UN.
Invite past Noble Prize winners to speak to the subject at the UN.
The United States could ask the Security Council for their suggestions, then open that debate to the entire UN,
Invite neighboring nations (to Iraq) to help.
Some of them can help quietly and in the background. Perhaps they can send "peace troops" in who understand complexities of Iraqs language, religion and mores. They can help curtail terrorists by dealing with them in their homeland.
Israel needs to "understand" that it is part of this problem too, and part of the solution depends upon them restraining their actions and words.
Work with Iraqis to solicit information on peace.
Ask Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites, to work separately, then come together and catagorize their problems and desires. Find mutual ground, and irresolvable differences. Then speak about those, perhaps at a UN forum. Again get professional help in working with them - again the Carter Center comes to mind.
Work with opposition parties in US. What are the good suggestions, what do they see as the problems and the causes of those problems. What do they see as opportunities.
That might be a little like this experience we are taking place in right now. Ask for discussions among the small towns throughout the world. There is a lot of wisdom there.
Check with Old Europe - they have had a lot of practice lately with this kind of thing. They have found that all of their wars have not accomplished much except destruction and reconstruction.
Admit our own errors publicly. Apologize. Work to create a Peace Agency in our own government.
Ask for a public debate throughout the world. Emphasize that this is not just the end of the war in Iraq but hopefully THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF ALL WARS. Invite UN help. Ask the UN to set up a schedule of public events, to discuss how the war began, what went wrong, and what can be done now. Focus on the outcome.
Bring in people who have had experience working in this type of work before. Bring in some of the people who have benefited from this work, such as places in Africa, the Balkans, and South America.
The Carter Center in Atlanta has many resources that can help, they have access to many people who have done this type of work before, mostly in smaller places. There are other similar organizations - invite all of them to prepare a presentation of suggestions. Ask them to take part in a forum at the UN.
Invite past Noble Prize winners to speak to the subject at the UN.
The United States could ask the Security Council for their suggestions, then open that debate to the entire UN,
Invite neighboring nations (to Iraq) to help.
Some of them can help quietly and in the background. Perhaps they can send "peace troops" in who understand complexities of Iraqs language, religion and mores. They can help curtail terrorists by dealing with them in their homeland.
Israel needs to "understand" that it is part of this problem too, and part of the solution depends upon them restraining their actions and words.
Work with Iraqis to solicit information on peace.
Ask Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites, to work separately, then come together and catagorize their problems and desires. Find mutual ground, and irresolvable differences. Then speak about those, perhaps at a UN forum. Again get professional help in working with them - again the Carter Center comes to mind.
Work with opposition parties in US. What are the good suggestions, what do they see as the problems and the causes of those problems. What do they see as opportunities.
That might be a little like this experience we are taking place in right now. Ask for discussions among the small towns throughout the world. There is a lot of wisdom there.
Check with Old Europe - they have had a lot of practice lately with this kind of thing. They have found that all of their wars have not accomplished much except destruction and reconstruction.
Admit our own errors publicly. Apologize. Work to create a Peace Agency in our own government.
Is Wal-Mart Really to Blame?
Is Wal-Mart Really to Blame?
WARNING - this article contains graphic and explicit language which may not be suitable for those who are not mature enough to think for themselves.
Well of course Wal-Mart is to blame - everybody knows that! They have gone around the globe to find the lowest prices for their consumers and they have brought variety and economy to their stores. As a result, the American public has flocked to them as if grateful for a chance to get rid of all of that nasty money.
In a sense Wal-Mart is only a continuation of the Silk Road traders, those camel caravans that crossed mankind's’ first “seas”, the great Asian and Middle Eastern deserts. They were followed by sailing fleets that traded Oriental goods and European goods. In the 1400’s Mercantilism developed out of the same process and rendered the value of everything into monetary worth and led to the development of colonialism, slavery, share cropping, the company store, and coal-miners’-daughters.
We now see the same concept moving into the construction industry. As the cost of private homes here in Franklin, NC rises from $120 through $200 a square foot, new alternatives begin to creep out onto the market stage. Besides doublewides, this market now includes manufactured homes, modular homes, and stick-builts which are produced at factories and assembled with labor brought in from outside the area, some of which comes from Mexico. Who is at fault here? The local contractors who charge $150 a square foot, or the new factory-contractors with their $80 a square foot price tag?
We want to support our local folks, of course. But - at $150 a sqft, a 1500 sqft home costs $225,000; the new guys will do that same home for $120,000. Or, that $225,000 you would pay for a locally built 1500 sqft house would buy you a 2900 sqft house with the new guys! There is no decision to be made here. The question frames its own decision.
So who’s to blame? How could it be the local contractors? They are just trying to build a family business and support other hardworking Americans. Of course the outside guys who come in here are only providing supply for a demand that is clearly being expressed by the public - how can we hold them at fault? Could it possibly be the public, for being too Mercantilistic and valuing everything in the concept of dollars?
(WARNING: Here is where it gets graphic, folks. No one who is incapable of mature thinking should read any further!)
Maybe it is just a failure of the market economy. Read on.
What has happened is that the income gap has widened to the point of unsustainability. More and more employees are working for wages that will not support them, much less buy $200,000 homes. Meanwhile, those who have good jobs are making more and more money, and becoming fewer and fewer in number. Two groups, which have always existed in every society before, and probably always will, the “have-nots” and the “have-a-lots” have come to inherit the entire economy. In America, in the past, both of them occupied a much smaller part, separated by a large middle class which absorbed people from the “have-nots”, and fed a fewer number of their members into the “have-a-lots”.
But now the American middle class is fading out of existence. It is becoming another of the endangered species. A great economic extinction is already in progress: corner groceries, hardware stores, neighborhood book sellers, along with cafés, butchers, ice cream parlors, hamburger grills, city newsstands, bakeries, locally owned florists, newspapers, radio stations, funeral parlors, banks, real estate offices and endless groups of others including mom & pop diners and restaurants, small industries, family farms and small fishing fleets, all these have been replaced by corporate capitalistic enterprises. Now it is the middle class.
The construction dilemma is similar to a Wal-Mart moving in to a small town. It is reminiscent of the arrival of MacDonalds’ chains. The local guys can’t compete for the public’s money at the prices these great corporations bring in to the community. Neither can the local farmers, they eventually have to sell out - usually at rock bottom prices to the same factory farm that has driven them out of business. They were middle-class but now are “have-nots”, and may even work for the “have-a-lots” who now have even more than they did before.
Why didn’t this happen in the past? Actually it did happen many times in the 18th and 19th century. Booms, busts and “panics” ran through a rapid succession of inflations and recessions, even depressions, until the late 1920’s when the Great Depression fastened itself upon the world. From there most governments around the world began to assert themselves over businesses and not just demand change, but dictated a new way of life to them. For the next 70 years, government regulated much of business, at least Big Business. Goods and services were provided in an increasing amount and the people who provided them made enough money in wages to buy the things they produced. A middle class developed and grew, and with it came a measure of predictability and security. As that middle class began to disperse, it was replaced by a new entity which masked the demise of the middle class and “stretched” it. That new class was the Credit Class. As the middle class was being replaced by a debtor society, the effect was muted because middle class people were able to “hang on” by increasing their debt - “for a short time”. Now, as we enter what President Bush proudly calls the Ownership Society, most middle class people really don’t “own” anything except a constantly increasing debt. Now as their pensions are evaporating, they are falling into the have-not group, and looking for a job at the factory farm.
WARNING - this article contains graphic and explicit language which may not be suitable for those who are not mature enough to think for themselves.
Well of course Wal-Mart is to blame - everybody knows that! They have gone around the globe to find the lowest prices for their consumers and they have brought variety and economy to their stores. As a result, the American public has flocked to them as if grateful for a chance to get rid of all of that nasty money.
In a sense Wal-Mart is only a continuation of the Silk Road traders, those camel caravans that crossed mankind's’ first “seas”, the great Asian and Middle Eastern deserts. They were followed by sailing fleets that traded Oriental goods and European goods. In the 1400’s Mercantilism developed out of the same process and rendered the value of everything into monetary worth and led to the development of colonialism, slavery, share cropping, the company store, and coal-miners’-daughters.
We now see the same concept moving into the construction industry. As the cost of private homes here in Franklin, NC rises from $120 through $200 a square foot, new alternatives begin to creep out onto the market stage. Besides doublewides, this market now includes manufactured homes, modular homes, and stick-builts which are produced at factories and assembled with labor brought in from outside the area, some of which comes from Mexico. Who is at fault here? The local contractors who charge $150 a square foot, or the new factory-contractors with their $80 a square foot price tag?
We want to support our local folks, of course. But - at $150 a sqft, a 1500 sqft home costs $225,000; the new guys will do that same home for $120,000. Or, that $225,000 you would pay for a locally built 1500 sqft house would buy you a 2900 sqft house with the new guys! There is no decision to be made here. The question frames its own decision.
So who’s to blame? How could it be the local contractors? They are just trying to build a family business and support other hardworking Americans. Of course the outside guys who come in here are only providing supply for a demand that is clearly being expressed by the public - how can we hold them at fault? Could it possibly be the public, for being too Mercantilistic and valuing everything in the concept of dollars?
(WARNING: Here is where it gets graphic, folks. No one who is incapable of mature thinking should read any further!)
Maybe it is just a failure of the market economy. Read on.
What has happened is that the income gap has widened to the point of unsustainability. More and more employees are working for wages that will not support them, much less buy $200,000 homes. Meanwhile, those who have good jobs are making more and more money, and becoming fewer and fewer in number. Two groups, which have always existed in every society before, and probably always will, the “have-nots” and the “have-a-lots” have come to inherit the entire economy. In America, in the past, both of them occupied a much smaller part, separated by a large middle class which absorbed people from the “have-nots”, and fed a fewer number of their members into the “have-a-lots”.
But now the American middle class is fading out of existence. It is becoming another of the endangered species. A great economic extinction is already in progress: corner groceries, hardware stores, neighborhood book sellers, along with cafés, butchers, ice cream parlors, hamburger grills, city newsstands, bakeries, locally owned florists, newspapers, radio stations, funeral parlors, banks, real estate offices and endless groups of others including mom & pop diners and restaurants, small industries, family farms and small fishing fleets, all these have been replaced by corporate capitalistic enterprises. Now it is the middle class.
The construction dilemma is similar to a Wal-Mart moving in to a small town. It is reminiscent of the arrival of MacDonalds’ chains. The local guys can’t compete for the public’s money at the prices these great corporations bring in to the community. Neither can the local farmers, they eventually have to sell out - usually at rock bottom prices to the same factory farm that has driven them out of business. They were middle-class but now are “have-nots”, and may even work for the “have-a-lots” who now have even more than they did before.
Why didn’t this happen in the past? Actually it did happen many times in the 18th and 19th century. Booms, busts and “panics” ran through a rapid succession of inflations and recessions, even depressions, until the late 1920’s when the Great Depression fastened itself upon the world. From there most governments around the world began to assert themselves over businesses and not just demand change, but dictated a new way of life to them. For the next 70 years, government regulated much of business, at least Big Business. Goods and services were provided in an increasing amount and the people who provided them made enough money in wages to buy the things they produced. A middle class developed and grew, and with it came a measure of predictability and security. As that middle class began to disperse, it was replaced by a new entity which masked the demise of the middle class and “stretched” it. That new class was the Credit Class. As the middle class was being replaced by a debtor society, the effect was muted because middle class people were able to “hang on” by increasing their debt - “for a short time”. Now, as we enter what President Bush proudly calls the Ownership Society, most middle class people really don’t “own” anything except a constantly increasing debt. Now as their pensions are evaporating, they are falling into the have-not group, and looking for a job at the factory farm.
Codex Alimentarius
Emily Dale wrote in on the Blog (Congress Meets its Match) asking about Codex Alimenatrius - what did I know. I knew that it smacked of scare talk and was without substance. So today I thought I would follow that up. Here's what happened:
050330We1224. Called Congressman Taylor's office 202.225.6401. Talked with aide about Codex Alimentarius. He says he is familiar with issue and that it is very complicated. He agrees that as far as he knows, the Codex Alimentarius will go into effect in June, requiring the FDA to approve all vitamins and supplements, then a medical doctor will be required to examine a patient and prescribe supplements - if “necessary”, then the supplements will have to be purchased from pharmaceutical companies. He also said HB 1146 had been introduced this session, just before Easter recess, and if it passed the House, and was introduced in and passed the Senate, and was signed by the President, then it would “restore soverignty to the United States” concerning this matter. He said he had no idea how Congressman Taylor stood in relation to this issue, but that it was a “very complex issue”. My own experience in the past has been that when people in Washington say something is “very complicated”, that means that there are a lot of special interests involved.
050330We1238. Senator Dole’s Office 202.22426342, Was connected to a "specialist" - not in. got Voice Mail - left message with him including my phone number & email.
050330We1246. Senator Burr’s Office. 202-224-3154. Knew nothing about it. After I mentioned HB 1146, he checked it out and found out that it was introduced by Ron Paul (R) Texas, on March 8. HB 1146 is titled “End membership of United States in the United Nations” - in other words, the United States would withdraw from the UN.
Other information - there must be many more, but information is slow today.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/Codex_Alimentarius/index.asp
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/w9114e/W9114e00.htm
http://www.sumeria.net/health/hpb-codex.html
"In October, 1996, Codex met in Bonn, Germany, to make radical changes in the rules governing dietary supplements for member nations. The proposals of greatest concern were those made by the German delegation ("Proposed Draft Guidelines for Dietary Supplements"), which is being sponsored by Hoechst, Bayer, and BASF.
The drug company backed proposals call for the following:
1. No vitamin, mineral, herb, etc., can be sold for prophylactic (preventative) or therapeutic reasons.
2. Natural remedies can be sold as food but they must not exceed the potency (dosage) levels set by the commission. This means that consumer access to dietary supplements will be limited to the RDA dosage as a maximum limit for vitamins (vitamin C - 60 mg, vitamin E - 15 mg, etc.). Supplements without an RDA (e.g. coenzyme Q10) would be illegal to sell because they would all become drugs.
3. Codex regulations for dietary supplements would become binding, eliminating the escape clause within the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that allows a nation to set its own standards. This applies to all member countries of the U.N. Any nation that does not accept and apply these new standards will be heavily fined by the World Trade Organization (WTO), creating the potential for crippling entire sectors of the nation's economy.
4. All new supplements would be banned unless they went through the Codex approval process.
Five steps have already been taken in the Codex process over the past few years. Remember Canadian Bill C-7 which was passed eventually in Canada as C-8? The similarity of the process, the secrecy, and the wording between the Codex proposals and the Canadian laws is uncanny.
Voting in favour of adopting the German proposal has been overwhelming (16 for and 2 against in the most recent vote). The Codex process is now at "Step Five" - formalization and debate concerning the specific features. In two years, Codex could jump from step 5 to step 8 to finalize these restrictions. The Codex proposals already exist as law in Norway and Germany, where the entire health food industry has literally been taken over by the drug companies. In these countries, vitamin C above 200 mg is illegal as is vitamin E above 45 IU, Vitamin B1 over 2.4 mg and so on. Shering-Plough, the Norway pharmaceutical giant, now controls an echinacea tincture which is being sold there as an OTC drug at grossly inflated prices. The same is true of ginkgo and many other herbs. Only one government controlled pharmacy has the right to import supplements as medicines which they can sell to health food stores, convenience stores, or pharmacies.
I understand that step five has been completed and the process is now at step nine.
050330We1224. Called Congressman Taylor's office 202.225.6401. Talked with aide about Codex Alimentarius. He says he is familiar with issue and that it is very complicated. He agrees that as far as he knows, the Codex Alimentarius will go into effect in June, requiring the FDA to approve all vitamins and supplements, then a medical doctor will be required to examine a patient and prescribe supplements - if “necessary”, then the supplements will have to be purchased from pharmaceutical companies. He also said HB 1146 had been introduced this session, just before Easter recess, and if it passed the House, and was introduced in and passed the Senate, and was signed by the President, then it would “restore soverignty to the United States” concerning this matter. He said he had no idea how Congressman Taylor stood in relation to this issue, but that it was a “very complex issue”. My own experience in the past has been that when people in Washington say something is “very complicated”, that means that there are a lot of special interests involved.
050330We1238. Senator Dole’s Office 202.22426342, Was connected to a "specialist" - not in. got Voice Mail - left message with him including my phone number & email.
050330We1246. Senator Burr’s Office. 202-224-3154. Knew nothing about it. After I mentioned HB 1146, he checked it out and found out that it was introduced by Ron Paul (R) Texas, on March 8. HB 1146 is titled “End membership of United States in the United Nations” - in other words, the United States would withdraw from the UN.
Other information - there must be many more, but information is slow today.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/Codex_Alimentarius/index.asp
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/w9114e/W9114e00.htm
http://www.sumeria.net/health/hpb-codex.html
"In October, 1996, Codex met in Bonn, Germany, to make radical changes in the rules governing dietary supplements for member nations. The proposals of greatest concern were those made by the German delegation ("Proposed Draft Guidelines for Dietary Supplements"), which is being sponsored by Hoechst, Bayer, and BASF.
The drug company backed proposals call for the following:
1. No vitamin, mineral, herb, etc., can be sold for prophylactic (preventative) or therapeutic reasons.
2. Natural remedies can be sold as food but they must not exceed the potency (dosage) levels set by the commission. This means that consumer access to dietary supplements will be limited to the RDA dosage as a maximum limit for vitamins (vitamin C - 60 mg, vitamin E - 15 mg, etc.). Supplements without an RDA (e.g. coenzyme Q10) would be illegal to sell because they would all become drugs.
3. Codex regulations for dietary supplements would become binding, eliminating the escape clause within the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that allows a nation to set its own standards. This applies to all member countries of the U.N. Any nation that does not accept and apply these new standards will be heavily fined by the World Trade Organization (WTO), creating the potential for crippling entire sectors of the nation's economy.
4. All new supplements would be banned unless they went through the Codex approval process.
Five steps have already been taken in the Codex process over the past few years. Remember Canadian Bill C-7 which was passed eventually in Canada as C-8? The similarity of the process, the secrecy, and the wording between the Codex proposals and the Canadian laws is uncanny.
Voting in favour of adopting the German proposal has been overwhelming (16 for and 2 against in the most recent vote). The Codex process is now at "Step Five" - formalization and debate concerning the specific features. In two years, Codex could jump from step 5 to step 8 to finalize these restrictions. The Codex proposals already exist as law in Norway and Germany, where the entire health food industry has literally been taken over by the drug companies. In these countries, vitamin C above 200 mg is illegal as is vitamin E above 45 IU, Vitamin B1 over 2.4 mg and so on. Shering-Plough, the Norway pharmaceutical giant, now controls an echinacea tincture which is being sold there as an OTC drug at grossly inflated prices. The same is true of ginkgo and many other herbs. Only one government controlled pharmacy has the right to import supplements as medicines which they can sell to health food stores, convenience stores, or pharmacies.
I understand that step five has been completed and the process is now at step nine.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Late Winter Vigil
FVOP0503
Originally uploaded by Pretty Penny.
FVOP0503,
originally uploaded by Pretty Penny.
Franklin Voices for Peace conducted a vigil on Friday, March 18, 2005, at 5:30 p.m. in Franklin, NC. Standing across from the county courthouse, the group of 13 stood in a familiar pattern, spread out along the sidewalk facing evening traffic. What was different about this vigil was the significant increase in friendly waves, thumbs-up, horn honks, and even an occasional cheer from the passers-by. Something has definitely changed, maybe it is the length of the war, maybe it is a nation growing tired of lurching from crisis to crisis, perhaps it is just a positive reaction from people sensing that there IS the hope that things can actually get better. The vigil was covered by newspapers, and that is a change too. The Macon County News was there early and got a picture of the vigileers before most of them arrived but by then, the reporter was long gone. The Smoky Mountain News was here from Waynesville, too. Sarah Kucharski covered the entire vigil and spoke at length with each member who was at the vigil. Thanks for helping our part of the community get our message out to the rest of the community.
©John Womack, 2005.
Congress Meets Its Match (again)
We poor, normal, ordinary mortals who constitute the constituency of our government, daily watch our elected leaders wrestle with mighty and immortal problems. We impute to them great powers of skill, knowledge and understanding that we know we can never have for ourselves. We see them dealing with princes and principalities, nuclear weapons and trips to Mars, millions and billions of dollars, the economy and the military, and we stand in solemn awe and respect of their greatness. It is not until we see them grappling with events we can understand as human beings that we suddenly see how ordinary and lost they are. Such revelation occurred today - twice! We saw them bringing Schaivo and McGuire “before them” to wrestle with their problems. It was not a pretty sight. Schaivo and McGuire presented themselves as two badly brain-damaged people without memory of their past lives, who nonetheless easily demonstrated an ability to still out-maneuver all of congress in both wit and passion. Then they came to serve, each in their own way, and effect a respite for the Administration from the great peace rallies now under way, and also to give DeLay a chance to demonstrate that he really can seem to be a fine Christian gentleman
As far as McGuire is concened, all we can say is “Shame! Shame!” His message is that the steriods “are not important”. He said that if he claimed he did not use them that no one would believe him, and if he said he had used them he would be badgered by government. In other words the truth is just not important. It is not worth that effort to try to solve the problem. Besides he wants his impressive accomplishments to remain in the record books and not be removed - and he certainly dosen't want an asterisk! His message to kids of today is “don’t get caught”. He was telling them: "Only cheat when you have to, then evade when you have to do that; that's cool." How did congress react? They understood. He was speaking their language.
Schaivo’s problem demonstrates what can happen when politics and theology collide. Our founding fathers tried to separate the two not because it was a “goody-goody” thing to do but because the two great forces are mutually exclusive when they play in the same arena. They both need souls to thrive and they both play on the emotions of mankind. When they crash together, only one will remain to rule the survivors.
©John Womack, 2005
As far as McGuire is concened, all we can say is “Shame! Shame!” His message is that the steriods “are not important”. He said that if he claimed he did not use them that no one would believe him, and if he said he had used them he would be badgered by government. In other words the truth is just not important. It is not worth that effort to try to solve the problem. Besides he wants his impressive accomplishments to remain in the record books and not be removed - and he certainly dosen't want an asterisk! His message to kids of today is “don’t get caught”. He was telling them: "Only cheat when you have to, then evade when you have to do that; that's cool." How did congress react? They understood. He was speaking their language.
Schaivo’s problem demonstrates what can happen when politics and theology collide. Our founding fathers tried to separate the two not because it was a “goody-goody” thing to do but because the two great forces are mutually exclusive when they play in the same arena. They both need souls to thrive and they both play on the emotions of mankind. When they crash together, only one will remain to rule the survivors.
©John Womack, 2005
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