The Road Not Taken

Hello.

For eight years I have managed not to post on 9/11.  That’s not to say I don’t read everything that is posted by others. I feel that anything I could say about that day would be inadequate at best. How many words can we use to describe the desecration and horror Americans lived through? So many words have already been used. And I am word poor on the subject.

Today in class Teachers chose to show a documentary about Firefighters who were trapped in one of the collapsing buildings but somehow managed to live through the ordeal. I was trapped in the class. I was not at liberty to leave.  I tried very hard not to watch the video and covered up my aversion by getting students to pay attention. I was a hypocrite. I couldn’t help it. Unlike the students, I was fully aware during that day and the days after it. It is still a moment in history I cannot confront without pain. To have watched people choosing to throw themselves off the buildings rather than burn to death is something I cannot put out of my mind when the footage is shown. The horror of listening to people scream when the buildings came down  haunted me for a very long time.  The silence of the skies afterward is something that I hope to never live through again. I still cheer when a plane flies overhead with a great rumbling sound. I marvel at the trails they leave against the blue sky and am grateful.

Why am I writing today?  Because I have been avoiding not just the pain, but the anger that came with that day. And the anger is not entirely directed at those who engineered that horror and then danced afterward. It is directed at our government and how they took advantage of the fear and sorrow of a nation. The lies they told to ensure that we remained in a state of panic so that they could persue other objectives that had nothing to do with what happened. And how we are still locked in the trap they set for us. A nation at war with ourselves.

Instead of following a course of action that would yield positive results from a terrible situation,  our government chose to go to war against countries that had little or nothing to do with the actual act perpetrated. Wars we are still fighting. Instead of burying the dead, we added to the body count. And it’s still rising. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz and Powell are walking around free and men and women are still dying. And the reason we were given for these wars no longer holds. They WMD farce, which had nothing to do with the destruction of two buildings in New York City, has already been exposed.

To this day I don’t believe that we are actively pursuing an enemy so much as an agenda. A monetary agenda. Because let’s face it, three thousand Americans lost their lives and a great many unscrupulous companies made money. A lot of money. Halliburton, Blackwater, Lockheed Martin, Boeing… to name a few. The government awarded lucrative contracts to private prisons to lock up undesirables. The banks and private investors took advantage of a nation whose attention was riveted  elsewhere. In eight years, we became not  the beacon of freedom and tolerance we should have been  but a byword for greed and stupidity. We became the international icon for lies and a haven for charlatans.  Where we could have emerged from 9/11 stronger, wiser and unbeaten, we allowed the pundits to convince us that everyone is out to get us. We began to fight amongst ourselves. Instead of banding together, we fractured. This is the legacy we have given ourselves. And we built it on the graves of firefighters and emergency personnel who died trying to help in a moment of hopelessness.

To this day I am ashamed of where we allowed ourselves to be led. It is my undying belief that those thousands of innocent people deserved better than what we have now become. A nation of backbiters and bickering fools who care more about what an uneducated pundit screams  than confronting a terrible truth. That, in our fear,  we helped our lawmakers create this mess.   The 9/11 victims deserve to be remembered not once a year, but every time a law is made, a deal is brokered or a lobbyist starts talking.

And the only ones who have the true power to ensure that this happens is you and I. When are we going to use it?

Dogwoman

Bailout, Schmailout.

Hello.

I’ve managed to slip my chemical leash and I am back, ready to kick some politician butt. Rendition, my Aunt Fanny.

Just kidding. I’ve been stuck playing the never-ending literary quiz over at Goodreads.com. I just wanted to sound all spyish and less like a complete dork.

To the topic at hand: Bailout Bill.

Complete load of hooey. Expensive hooey at that.

Why would We the People want to reward greedy men and women for ignoring the warnings that have been going on for over a decade? We were told repeatedly in the early nineties that if the credit industry was not reined in this would happen. Guess what? They were right! Surprise! And since the explosion of monetary gain has been by the top three percent, why would the other 97% of us want to work harder to pay off their debt ? We don’t, so suck it Congress. We are already working like dogs just to maintain the little we have. Under no circumstances should we allow the richest people in the country to pass their debt to us. The ‘lower’ classes do not exist as a slave class to take on the burden of the greed of the upper classes.

Also, as long as I am ranting mindlessly, let me say something that has been making my fur stand on end. Why are they blaming low-income homeowners for this debacle?  There were programs instituted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that allowed for sustainable home-ownership for lower income families. At the time of their inception these programs were used to revitalize neighborhoods and were taken on by working class families in an economic environment that allowed people to work and see a return on that work. As mass layoffs began and income to living wage ratios fell in the last eight years, those families began to struggle under the weight of a top heavy economy. They did not, as has been postulated, take on mortgages they could not afford. They took on mortgages they could afford until gas prices, due to excessive profits, risky investments, and speculation began to spiral out of control. This spiral has led to outrageous increases in pricing for everything throughout the country. And the mass foreclosures began.

The biggest drain on our economy has been the two wars we are concurrently waging. But it seems no one wants to mention that. They’d rather point to those who can least defend themselves and blame them.

Well, I blame those who,even after the lessons learned in the Savings and Loan disaster, began creating private equity firms and hedge funds. Those two things helped spur the original financial meltdown in the 80’s. Because of  a government bail out then, the greedy bastards ignored warnings and started up all over again. Those same people should be forced to declare bankruptcy.

They should be required to be punished for their actions. Not rewarded for the pandemic of greed that has sent our country into a tailspin.

If you’d like to urge your Senator to vote no on the Bailout Bill, go here to find out who they are and send them an e-mail. If they get enough mail it might crash their system.

I’ll bet they’d get the point then.

Dogwoman

Straight From the Horse’s Arse

Hello.

In a speech relating to the Russian conflict this is what G.W. had to say:

“Russia’s government must respect Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty..”

Hypocrisy or Irony, you decide.

I find it interesting that a man reviled worldwide as a warmongering saber rattler of epic proportions would decide now is a good time to step up onto the soapbox and point fingers.

Calling for human rights expansion in China and Russia to quit it’s campaign of violence in Georgia while vetoing every effort to bring our troops home from Iraq, even at the Iraqi government’s request, is disgraceful. I noticed, however, no one is calling him on it.

Well, I am. Tag you’re it, Georgie Porgie.

Dogwoman

Legislating Dystopia: Huxley Is Laughing

Hello.

Today I am having a fit of moral curiosity. It could happen, stop laughing.

As our culture endures a rather lengthy shake up and restructuring due to gas prices and food costs, I’ve noticed something. The government in the background is trying to legislate morality. They are going about it much more forcefully than ever before.  They are in the process of trying and potentially winning a battle to make nicotine a governmental regulated drug. Recently legislation was presented to make female contraceptives on par with abortion.

Why is this being allowed? Is it because we the people lack the common sense to live up to high moral standards or have we just stopped trying? In a culture that excoriates anyone who attempts to live outside the consumer mentality and exonerates greedy corporations for what amounts to illegal activities it is not a surprise that we no longer care. No one is listening. We are not being heard.

At some point being a gansta became the highest achievement teens will reach for. I say this, not because of flimsy media reports, but because that is what the students tell me. So, instead of looking beyond, they look around this country and feel that since it cannot be fixed in any meaningful way they will glorify defiance and violence. And that is where many inner city teens live. Not all of them mind you, but many of them.

And the adults are losing hope as well. We are losing the feeling that this government is for the people. As oil companies take in record profits on the backs of working Americans, many of whom are losing their homes, what is there to makes retain any hope for the future? Apparently nothing.

That being said, do we need government to regulate our personal habits? After allowing greed and gluttony to rule the last eight years what right does the Bush administration have to decide what we do with our lives?  They are trying to tell us who we can sleep with, while Republicans and evangelist ministers are indicted for prostitution and fraud. They are trying to tell us how to have fun, while Legislators are indicted for sexual harassment and fixing the judicial branch to reflect their groups’ philosophy. And more importantly, they are trying to tell us what we should believe in. By passing care for the poor directly into the hands of protestant churches and giving them government funding, by defining what a human being is using a 2000 year old book and repeatedly failing at passing new marriage laws aimed at keeping out non-traditional families, our government is trying to force this country to move backwards rather than forwards.

This moral legislation ideology will only last as long as the current crisis. Once Bush and his cronies no longer have their boot heels on the throats of ordinary citizens there will be a backlash. One has only to look at periods of history to see this. And it will not be good. Our society is in the midst of a shake up, a change. It happens every 65-70 years or so. Social patterns change and grow. Not everyone will engage in the change and not everyone will appreciate the new direction. However, it is coming, and it is coming faster than most of us realize.

To legislate personal choice is a violation of not just the constitution but the section of the constitution that guarantees us the ‘pursuit of happiness’. To look over the neighbors fence and decide that their idea of happiness is just a bad choice is ludicrous. We do not all engage in the same behaviors. Nor should we.

I, for one, would find no pleasure in living in a dystopian society in which everyone is expected to behave the same way at the same time, all the time.

Would you?

Dogwoman

Until The Fat Lady Sings

Hello.

It took me two days to recover from my ‘vacation’. Two days. I’ve still got leg cramps from sleeping on the damn bus. Next time they need a chaperon for 42 inner city kids I will be busy. Very busy.

While I was away, I noticed that Obama has certainly gotten a bit cocky. He’s been thanking Hilary for the great campaign as though he believes it’s over. Uh, I thought there were still some states left to vote there, Barak. It’s a chicken counting party. Certainly, Hil is behind. All of the media outlets have proclaimed Obama like a great political messiah who will come and solve all of our problems. But that doesn’t make it so, now does it ?

The gentlemanly thing to do would be to wait until everything has been counted and the nomination has been solidified at the National Convention. In fact, I would say that would be the expedient way to behave. Not to suddenly ignore the person you are running against as though they don’t exist.

Obama has decided he is the winner and is now concentrating on running his campaign as though the primaries are over and the actual presidential election is on.

It is not. The Primaries have not ended. The Presidential race has not yet begun.

I know this because the Democratic National Convention has not been seated, douche bag. Ergo, You, Barak Obama, do not yet have the nomination of your party. Therefore you are not the one who will be running against John McCain, yet.

For Obama to behave this way is just as distasteful and arrogant as coming to Michigan to receive support from Edwards. Discounting Hilary because the media tells you you’re going to win is possibly the stupidest thing I can imagine for a candidate to do. It is interesting to me that Obama is all for rules and decorum when it suits him, such as the seating of Michigan and Florida delegates, but not when it doesn’t.

I think it says a lot about how his Presidency would be run. No matter how many people back him I don’t think he will be much different from the guy who now sits in the Oval Office. Because of his lack of ties in the international community, lack of experience in foreign relations and world wide monetary understanding, it seems to me, as nice as it would be to have a black president finally, Obama would just be another Puppet President whose strings are pulled by lobbyists and political hacks. And already we are seeing the results of bad advice he is receiving. If this is how he treats a fellow Democrat during a very tough campaign how is he going to treat Heads of State during the difficult financial times ahead, or even in dealing with the Iraq war?

Seems a like a whole lot of iffy to me. And I’ve had enough of iffy, haven’t you?

Dogwoman

The New Van Diemens Land

Hello.

So your 17 year old son or daughter had decided they don’t want to join the military to get experience and see the world (i.e. eat sand in Iraq). That’s ok. The Government is not worried because they have a whole new resource they can tap into for bodies recruits.

Sex offenders, murders, burglars and others of the conduct disordered variety are now getting their chance to give back to society. They’re getting a one way ticket to Iraq.

That’s right, the American government is taking the advice of comedian Bobcat Golthwait and sending criminals to do our fighting for us. As Bobcat pointed out “These are the men with experience”.

If this little plan to avoid a draft works out our prisons should be empty by 2019. Excellent.

Of course, there might be a few discipline problems. They are using men who couldn’t abide the rules of an open society and thrusting them into a system that has rules for everything, including when and how to eat.

Oh well.

That’s the price you pay for governing with your head firmly entrenched up your ascot.

Dogwoman

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

Hello.

My weather metery widget is telling me that my city is having a huge rainstorm. It is in fact barely misting.

It LIIIIEEEESSSSS.

Everyone lies. Except of course, political candidates. Unless your name rhymes with Millary Minton.

John “I have Head and Ass Syndrome ” McCain would never tell a lie to general public. But he might let bloggers and news cameras catch him on film. According to McCain downtown Bagdad is the place to be for all your shopping needs. Let’s not forget his little white ones in the eighties that helped spur the Savings and Loan crisis.  No, No, John is a straight shooter who never fudges, flip flops or tries to get one over.

Obama would never lie to the general public either. He might capitalize on one someone else told but, such a thing is morally beneath him. Right. I deeply enjoyed his speech on race and his attempt to distance while not looking like he was distancing himself from the Rev.  Lying by omission or pretended ignorance counts.

I’ve not met anyone who doesn’t lie. People lie to get out of trouble, to avoid trouble, to look better than they are, to get something, to lose something, to hold onto something, to let go of something. A lie can be helpful, detrimental, interesting, painful or useful.

I’m lying to you right now, maybe. For all anyone out there knows I am a right wing Republican who regularly gets off with pictures of Bono. I’m not and the very thought is revolting, but how do you know?

Certain things need to be overlooked. If one starts with the premise that everyone lies life is a lot less complicated. It opens up a path by which one can start to look underneath the lies and hear what is not being said rather than what is. Often the important information coming out of someones’ mouth is the very thing they won’t say.

Such as, McCain for all of his ranting about how Dems can’t end the war, never once mentions how HE will deal with it should he become our President. I’ve no doubt he has a plan but, I’m willing to bet it’s not one the general public would like very much.

Every candidate has an issue they don’t discuss. Instead of being sidetracked by the media circus, look under it and see what’s not being said. That’s where one will find the candidates true beliefs and morals.

And honestly, I regularly get off with pictures of  Paul Wolfowitz.

(As if)

Dogwoman

Three in One

Hello.

Dear Vice President Dick Cheney,

Thank you for your kind words about the soldiers serving in Iraq on the news that we have now lost 4,000 men and women. You are absolutely right, they did volunteer. So did you. And the only action you’ve seen so far is shooting your friend in the face while hunting maimed birds. Perhaps a three year tour of that sandy hell hole would give your tired old ass a wake up call. Just a thought.

Love,

Dogwoman

Dear President Bush,

Please stop talking. Every time you open your mouth something incomprehensible and slightly scary comes out. We the People of the United States would like you to convert to Buddhism and take a vow of silence for the next 10 months.

Sincerely,

Dogwoman

Dear Pat Buchanan ,

Black people across America would like to thank you for really getting to the root of the civil rights movement. With comments like your recent ones stating how grateful they should be that White landowners rounded them up like cattle and shipped them across the ocean like abused sardines, I’m sure there won’t be any backlash.

Are you stuck in a time warp, you cretin?

Honestly, why do these things just creep out of your mouth ? African- Americans are not the only group of people on welfare, using Pell grants or benefiting from state run programs to help the poor. Like Ice Pops, poor people come in all flavors and none of them are grateful to be poor. In fact, they are a bit pissed off. And waiting outside your fancy office. With torches and pitch forks.

Gee, I wonder what they want?

Regards,

Dogwoman

Thought For The Days To Come

Hello.

Is it just me or do the Democratic candidates spend more time talking about themselves than the issues?

I still don’t care if Obama is black or Hilary is a woman. No amount of media hype is going to make me care.

I care that these ‘agents of change’ don’t talk about the recession, Iraq, the credit crunch and subsequent devaluation of the dollar, continuing rising insurance and health care rates and educational issues.

I care that the only thing they care about is the other candidate. It’s very sweet, but maybe they could knock that shit off and get back to what is important.

Dogwoman

Carl Levin Is A Turncoat

Hello.

I am ashamed of the Michigan Senator and would like to issue a blanket apology to all Americans for him. Carl Levin broke ranks and voted with Republicans to fund the war in Iraq without a timetable for withdrawal.

Aside from the horror of watching my state fall further and further behind in just about every category, now I have to apologize to everyone for living in one of the states that just handed King Bush another blank check to do as he pleases.

These constant freebies that the Senate hands out to a man who has no concept of what being the Head of State really means is not only hard to watch, but excruciating when we are forced to participate by the traitorous actions of our elected Senators.There is no explanation available that could possibly excuse Levin’s defection. First chance given I will vote to oust him as he has clearly lost the vision and hardheaded determination he has shown in the past.

Levin should be deeply ashamed of himself.

Nevermind, we’ll be ashamed for him. That’s how it works. Senators can do as they please but it’s the people who bear the burden of responsibility. We’re the ones who pay for their actions.

And right now it’s the soldiers who are going to pay for it by continuation of the War in Iraq.

I cannot fully express in words how much sorrow and embarrassment Senator Carl Levin has caused with his recent vote. Let’s just imagine a rude hand gesture and leave it at that.

Dogwoman