Musings From The Left Coast

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 19:44:57 GMT

A LOOK BACK.....

Forty years ago today, I was a computer operator working for a natural gas utility. On November 22,1963, I was on the 8th floor of the Pacific Mutual building at the corner of California and Kearny Streets in the middle of San Francisco's, financial district, shoving 80-column punched cards through an IBM sorter, and then through a check-writing machine that produced dividend checks for the 65,000 shareholders every three months.

Sometime between 12:30 and I:00pm the mail boy entered the computer room and announced that the President had been shot. Immediatley someone produced a small transistor radio which all seven of the computer staff then gathered around to hear news of the shooting. A few minutes later an announcement came over the radio that the president was dead. About an hour later the Secretary of the corporation made a walk through all the offices to announce that all work for the remainder of the day was being suspended.

As I waited for the city bus to take me back to my apartment across town, near the corner of Sacramento and Divisidaro Streets, I noticed the newspaper racks at the bus stop. Both San Francisco papers had already put the copies on the street that proclaimed, in screaming headlines, "President Asassinated." I remember thinking how quickly the newspaper racks were filled, a mere two hours after the event had occured.

For the next four or five days, TV images dominated our lives. Nothing else, it seemed, was being shown. And the sounds that eminated from our sets are today, still easily recalled---the constant, repetitive sound of the drums, and the ever present sound of horses hoofs as the casket was pulled along Pennsylvania Avenue.

At age 27, having just completed a four-year stay in the Air Force, followed by two years at Ohio University, I considered myself a political neophyte.

Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:50:06 GMT

Baghdad and Beyond

Dick Cheney has emerged again from wherever his current bunker is located. I keep wondering, does anyone know where he hides out or spends his time, hunkered down somewhere deep in the bowels of his bunker? Someone should probably mention to him that, on the average, the body needs about 15 minutes of daily exposure to direct sunlight in order for the body to properly replenish its natural supply of vitamin-D.

He showed up on C-span last week giving a speech to the American Heritage Foundation, probably the most conservative body in America today. But amzazingly, even from this group, no questions were allowed after the speech.

When Mr. Cheney gives a speech I have to listen very carefully. I have a hard time getting past some of his facial expressions. His mouth seems to curl up at one end, showing his teeth in a somewhat unflattering way. I know that sounds petty, and I mean no disrespect, but that is how I react. And he never laughs or smiles. He just never does. I've often thought that the term "Attack Dog" was created with someone like Dick Cheney in mind.

In any event, he gave a speech extolling the "accomplishments" of America's most current occupation effort, which happens to be in Iraq, and more specifically in Baghdad. While Mr Cheney was talking about the accomplishments, four more American soldiers had just died in a firefight with Iraqi resistance forces. And the day before some 10,000 citizens took to the streets of Baghdad to protest the American killing of two additional Iraqi citizens, and the imprisonment of two more Muslim clerics.

As I say I listened to what Cheney had to say. He talked a lot about the $87 billion for the Iraqi occupation effort. I waited patiently for him to give us some idea about the $79 billion that U.S. taxpayers had already coughed up. How was all that money spent? I don't think we should give another dollar to the occupation effort until we (the body politic) have an accounting from the g-w government on the initial $79 billion already expended.

Speaking of how things are going in Iraq, g-w has sent his chief apologists--condi, rumy, colin--out on the chicken and peas circuit again to tell us how well things are going in Iraq. They stay in 5-star hotels. And after they finish eating their fancy 3-course dinner they stand up behind a glossy, mahogany podium and give us their 20-minute spin of how well things are going in the occupied territory of Iraq.

It depends on your point of view I guess. But I just don't understand how things could be "going well" with a 60% unemployment rate in the country, a lack of sanitation and safe drinking water, no electricity for some 50% of the population. In addition, two American soldiers die and ten are wounded everyday by the Iraqi resistance forces. And some 90% of the U.N. humanitarian workers have left Iraq because they could not be sure of the safety being provided by U.S. forces.

The other image of Iraq that I came across this week was found in a recent picture in the N.Y. Times. It showed U.S. Iraqi administrator, Paul Bremmer walking down the middle of a Baghdad street, celebrating the 6-month anniversary of U.S marines pulling down the statue of Saddam Hussein. So here you have the U.S. army of occupation conducting a 6- month celebration, while trying to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

In light of that celebration, can any American still wonder why Arabs hate us so much? Or why Iraqi citizens are not showering us with flowers and chocolates and kisses like the White House and the Pentagon promised just before the start of the war last March.

And the beat goes on.......

czechmate

Thu, 09 Oct 2003 04:20:58 GMT

Arnie and Iraq.....Yesterday I went to vote. I did so even though I promised myself after the 2000 election that I would probably never vote again after the supreme court nullified my vote by appointing g-w as president.

Again, on this whole recall business, I wondered why I was being asked to vote again after my vote of last November was also being cancelled.

But I went anyway. Just before I stepped into the voting booth they handed me this long, rectangular-shaped ballot. I found the recall part right away but had to look three times before I located Cruz Bustamante's name buried deep in the morass of names that appeared on the ballot.

As I blackened in the oval-shaped circle next to Cruz's name on the ballot I had this thought: Is this the kind of democracy we're trying to impose on the people of Iraq. Maybe the Iraqi people don't want to have anything to do with our "democratic"system. Maybe they would rather have a form of government other than what we know as democratic. Has anyone asked them? The Americans of course would like for the Iraqi government to be a carbon copy of the American Democracy. But again, maybe they don't want that. Maybe they want something else. They should at least be given a chance to express their preference for what kind of government they want.

Think about it: Here you have the country of Iraq that has been governing themselves, in one way or another, for 5,000 years. In marches the U. S. government, historically the latest in a long line of governments that have marched through and devastated and conquered that country and says, "We're going to give you a democracy."

Shouldn't we let the iraqi citizens decide what kind of government they would like to live under? Remember, five thousand years. That's how long they have been governing themselves. By my calculations that gives them about a 4,700 year head-start on how citizens should be governed. With that kind of an edge in the experience department, shouldn't g-w, paul bremmer, etal, be listening to their suggestions as to what kind of government they want?

czechmate: October 8, 2003

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 20:50:20 GMT

ON THE SIXTH DAY OF THIS FALL EQUINOX......

Edward Said (pronounced 'sigh-eed') died today at the age of 67. For the last ten years or so he had suffered from leukemia. He was perhaps the most articulate spokesperson for Palestinian causes, and for their history and their culture and their place in the world.

For the past twenty years or so he has been a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City. He also taught at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Yale.

He was salso the author of numerous books about the Palestinian Diaspora. I first came across Mr. Said while working in Saudia Arabia in 1989-90. His commentary often appeared in the Arab News, the major daily newspaper in the Arab world.

Today's edition (9/26/03) of the New York Times, carries a long obituary on his life and times. His voice about the aspirations and the history of Palestinians everywhere will certainly be missed.

Moving on to the subject of Iraq, the U.N. has just issued a report saying that some 50% of the Iraqi population requires assistance.

According to the report, chronic malnutrition persists for several million people including 300,000, who have been driven from their homes by the U.S. bombing campaign. In effect about one out every eight people in the city of Baghdad do not have a roof over their heads. Six months after the U.S. arrival, three hundred thousand homeless people are still walking the streets of Baghdad. A homeless population that approximates the total size of the city of Fresno, California.

What happens to that many homeless people in a relatively confined area the size of Baghdad? And why do our bureaucrats, the ones who ordered this human tragedy, this incredible devastitation and disruption in people's lives, now keep teling us that "things are going well?" did our so-called "war planning " not include an accommodation for that level of human suffering?

This UN report comes at a time when the UN itself is considering a major reduction in its humanitarian efforts in Iraq. A reduction prompted by a significant lack of security as evidenced by the two recent bombiongs at UN facilities in Baghdad.

And all the while george bush and his we-don't-need-the-U.N-or-anyone-else-to-fight-this war-because-we-can-do-it-ourselves-government keeps whistling in the dark, that now familiar tune, "Things are going well. Great progress is being made. Give us another $87 billion of your hardearned taxpayer dollars so we can show you more progress."

czechmate, 9.26.03

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 20:51:55 GMT

THREE AMERICAN SOLDIERS........

And the killing and the mayhem and carnage that has become a daily occurance in Iraq, continues unabated.

On the 183rd day of Mr Bush's war with Iraq, three more American soldiers lost their lives, and three more were wounded. Three more Americans, someone's son, brother, uncle, father, nephew, friend, lover, fiancee, have had their lives terminated. Ended, in the moment of time it takes for an Iraqi resistance fighter to squeeze the trigger and send the bullet on its way.

Three more Americans who will never again see the light of day. Will never sit inside of a college classroom, and listen and take notes as some PHD professor expounds on the classical history of Greece and Rome.

Three more Americans who will never again feel the gentle squeeze of a three year old's hand; who will never again listen to the rushing waters of a high-mountain stream; who will never get to know what it means to be a part of a grandchild's life.

Three more Americans, their last drop of blood oozing out onto the burning sands of an Iraqi desert, some 10,000 miles from home. Their remaining body parts waiting to be placed in a green rubber bag, zipped up tightly and placed on a C-5A cargo plane for the ten hour flight to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

Andrews Air Force Base, just a stones throw away from the Oval Office of george bush. But mr bush will never hear the aircraft, will never see it land, will never see the bodies being unloaded from the belly of the C-5A, will never see the bodies being loaded into the black ambulances prior to their speeding off to some government morgue not too far away.

Part of the reason mr bush won't see any of this is because these procedures for transporting dead US soldiers are carried out in the middle of the night. To the government's way of thinking, they can't take a chance on bodybags being unloaded in the daytime. Some citizen or journalist might see all that and go public with it. Can't do any of that. People might start to turn against the war if they spot too many bodybags. So, its all done under the cover of darkness. All part of the overall war plan.

And just a few years into the future, the three names, along with many others, will be neatly carved just beneath the smooth surface of a piece of shiny, black granite. And the granite memorial will find its way to a choice spot somewhere on the green of the capitol grounds of Washington DC. With the memorial itself having been given some insipid name Like,"Operation Iraqi Freedom" by whomever it is in the government that is responsible for coming up with such titles.

And finally, mr bush will make his appearance in front of the names of the dead, laying a wreath at some choice spot along the base of the granite memorial.

And the beat goes on..........

czechmate

Wed, 10 Sep 2003 05:38:06 GMT

U.S. WAR PLANS...AN UPDATE

Finally, on the 173rd day of mr bush's war with Iraq, he has finally emerged from the woodwork to present to the world, his plan to continue waging this war, and his plan for continuing with the American occupation of Iraq. A war that mr bush entered into under false pretenses that he himself created. A war that was opposed by some 70% of the world's population. A war that was opposed by the 192-member body of the United Nations. A war in which, as of this writing, 287 brave and dedicated American soldiers have left their last drop of blood buried deep in the burning sands of some unknown Iraqi desert. Not to mention the estimated 4,000 american soldiers wounded in action. Or the 7,800 Iraqi civilians killed by the U.S. bombardment. Or the estimated 10,000 Iraqi citizens left homeless because their homes were blown to bits by the "pinpoint" bombing of American armaments.

But none of that was mentioned by george-w of course. He chose instead to concentrate on the centerpiece of his plan: An $87 billion request to continue his effort in the war-ravaged country of Iraq. An amount that will bring the budgetary deficit to just about $600 billion for fiscal 2004. A staggering amount by any criteria. And when you tack on the $350 billion dollar surplus that mr bush inherited from the previous administration, that amounts to some $950 billion squandered by this administration. Where did that surplus go? Where did any of that money go? Shouldn't we citizens, as the ultimate payors of this war, have some indication of how this money was spent?

That is the bank account of the body-politic. You and me. And mr bush is depleting that account at a very rapid rate. With no accountability to speak of on his part.

I listened patiently, waiting for g-w to tell me how this deficit was going to be paid for. How would it be funded, I wondered to myself. Would there be a series of tax increases, and if so where? Or would mr bush roll back the future tax cuts for the rich to help pay for this deficit? Certainly that would be in the spirit of sacrifice mr bush is exhorting all of us to take part in would it not? But alas, no such language was forthcoming.

One other theme of the bush plan was for the UN to play a bigger role in the reconstruction of Iraq. I was not surprised that was part of his plan, but I was a little surprised at his choice of words. He phrased it as "The UN has a responsibility to help out in the rebuilding of Iraq." Strange language from mr bush in that he thumbed his nose at this 192-member body last spring after the UN refused to give him the go-ahead for his invasion of Iraq. Now,six months later, mr bush is telling the U.N. that they have a "responsibility" to, in effect, bail out mr bush from his illegal war. A war that has, very quickly, gone sour for mr bush and his government.

Columnist Paul Krugman, writing in today's (9/9/03) edition of the New York Times made this pointed argument:

"Mr bush created this crisis, and if he were a true patriot he would pay a political price to resolve it. Maybe it's time for him to do a couple of things he's never done before, like admitting mistakes, and standing up to the hard (political) right."

czechmate 9/9/03

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:25:02 GMT

This is a test to make a few corrections.