Facebook and Politics

A friend recently criticized Michael Moore for his pessimism about the upcoming election.  This is what I wanted to tell her:

I think it is hard to get past their (GOP) strategy.  By enacting the Voter ID law in so many states, Obama's chances are shrunk. Also, there are some great articles about how the lies they are telling help RomneyRyan cement their appeal to white people through racism.  This is the last time a white Republican will be able to win depending on "angry white males" and they intend to do it so they can affect the greatest shift of wealth - from the bottom to the top. They'll do it through tax cuts for the wealthy and dismantling social security and Medicare. 

So many people do not have the base documents to acquire Voter ID which is why that is a great way to disenfranchise.  Obama not only inherited a fiscal mess, but also a Civil Rights division filled with Bush appointees who were then (by Bush) granted civil service status which made it difficult to fire them.  Those folks were not willing to challenge the Voter ID laws when they first came up because it helped "their side."  My 82 year old mother learned in the last 10 years that she was born on March 31 instead of March 29 - born at home.  So many elderly people who would vote for Obama have the same problem - without a birth certificate you can't get the photo ID.

I can't find my birth certificate. I brought a copy with me here to Greece and now can't find it and haven't been able to find the right agency in New Jersey to get another copy.  Thank God I keep renewing my drivers' license and passport.

Then there's the money spent on lying ads - it has been proved (I'll have to use the Google as I read so much I've forgotten which article) that continuously telling a lie, and then debunking it, convinces people that the original lie was true.

We will all do our best, but Facebook has the unfortunate thing of being an echo chamber - we are talking to the chorus.

On the eve of the 2nd Greek Election

I keep reading how everyone wants Greeks to continue to vote for the harshest austerity program in living memory, with the exception of World War II.  Greeks are very familiar with WWII.  They suffered greatly at the hands of Germany.  And those who tried to protect themselves, found they had condemned their friends and families to an immediate and brutal death.

Well, now what's on the table is a slow death for all.  Not for people like me who live here as expats.  I can always "escape" back to the US.  I won't have the same life there, but I will be guaranteed a life.  I know that Greece is in many ways, extremely responsible for the dilemma in which it now finds itself.

But there are several things the EU could have done before this point:

• At the beginning, every state's books should have been reviewed.  On wouldn't take on a new business partner without doing due diligence, so why do this which is so much more?
• As it became abundantly clear that Greece was simply borrowing money with no real ability to use much of the EU funds for either the  needed reformation of the society and/or strengthening of the economy, the banks continued to loan Greece money until the "Global Financial Meltdown" (related t the Global War on Terror).
• Then when the Troika determined to "assist" Greece to pay off its debts, instead of using the harshest terms as a means of keeping other countries from reaching this point (as if this tactic has ever worked!  Ask your mother, she'll tell you it a recipe for failure!!), the EU merely gave Greece numbers of people to fire (but no real mechanism of determining if these were the right people to fire - even I a long term visitor of only 9 years, knew that some workers were working, while others were merely at work).  But that wasn't enough - the decision was also made to kill the private economy as well by reducing the minimum wage!  But then there was insult added to the injury; not only would Greece be deeper in debt as the result of taking this "bailout(!)" but the country was forced to buy more military materiel as if Greece were currently at war with Turkey or Albania (the enemies of Greece). So the end result is higher debt, lower employment, and a ruined economy.
• The steadfast refusal to make some changes to the austerity program, even in the wake of hospitals and pharmacies closing, people having to leave their children in orphanages, the rush of money leaving the country, lagging tax receipts (hard to pay taxes without a job!), and a rash of public suicides (this in a country where suicide was nearly unheard of, let alone doing it out in the open), has led us to this point.   

The protesting public unions which have fought reform in all of its incarnations, helped to kill the one industry that Greece could depend on - tourism.  Of course, the weak government played its role to perfection too.  Continuing the game of passing laws it has no intention of ever implementing.  Seems to me, if you're already in the sea, you might as well swim; otherwise you'll just sink.

So, I won't be surprised if Greeks decide to vote for an end to the never ending payments (the debt is several times larger now than it was at the beginning and there is no end in sight for a small population of 11 million people). 

What would you do?

Amaliada

Health Care and the Republicans

Reading about the man who died because he couldn't afford health care, was too young for Medicare and as a male, ineligible for Medicaid, I nearly cried.

My knee hurts so much many times, that I fantasize replacing the joint myself. Even though I know this is stupid. But I have 14 more months to wait until I'm eligible for Medicare and I'm on pins and needles expecting the damn Republican assholes to raise the age for Medicare coverage to 67. I don't think I can wait the 14th months. How can I wait another two years on top of that?

And then I live in Greece, whose economy is nearly in depression - while the EU Finance Ministers and the Greek government dithers. The government is sold on raising taxes, especially those taxes which everyone must pay. 23% for all goods and services, except food which is taxed at 13% is criminal. And now they're going to add a property tax and, of course, make it retroactive.

Tax cars, tax houses, tax food, tax your entire existence. But do they go after tax cheats? Is the state being taxed (property) like regular people? How about the church, the 2nd largest land owner in the country? The answer to every question is NO!

Yes, we can escape or we can stick around and wait for the default, which is surely coming when our dollars will restore a standard of living again - although for the rest of the country it is going to be uglier than it is now.

bin Laden and Reagan

If we believe that Ronald Reagan won the Cold War by manipulating the Soviet Union into spending more and more money on defense, then we have to give bin Laden the same credit for the situation in the US today.

I know this isn't politically correct, but I can't help but see the parallels. When bin Laden attacked the US on the 11th of September in 2001, the US enjoyed its first budget surplus in decades. Within days the US was planning to go into Afghanistan and destroy the Taliban who harbored bin Laden; creating a an atmosphere where strengthening of the already massive military-industrial complex was assured.

Compounding these actions were the decisions to institute unsustainable tax cuts "because the surplus was so large, keep the cost of the war off the books and fund it by using politically expedient emergency measures, and finally allow the fraud perpetrated by the "too big to fail" banks, bailing them out using taxpayer funds.

But the end result of all of this action is the same as what happened to the Soviet Union in 1989 - collapse of the empire and financial crisis.

So, there's a case to be made that bin Laden was the catalyst for the position the world finds itself in today; especially the US.

Planned Parenthood and ACORN

So Democratic members of the House of Representatives were able to recognize a Republican Bill of Attainder against Planned Parenthood, but not against ACORN. Why?

I really don't know, but I think race places a part.

Where I've Been

I've been writing in a journal all of the things I'm thinking and caring about that I don't want on the Internet. It isn't that I'm afraid of flak - I just don't need it.

But this is something that I've been trying to post to Facebook for days and for some reason they feel the content is abusive - now that's abusive!

Here's what I've been trying to post:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYojKjk9P1cCpECG1D6_TsMDQZ3rrbjuPs79llry6PXi6VZGyx2wZU52HDz4DSnO9voBxghdbJxtlNdewDjX7k8iFru7dtjVtw7FtdnRL1It5MCFPZtnmnVqn3kL_0ITQIeAU7o-SVOs1/s1600/Wanted_for_treason.jpg

The Real Lesson from Massachusetts

So, President Obama lost his 60th seat in the Senate -- well, I think it might have been a good thing. He got a heads' up. Bill Clinton never got that heads' up when he was entering the second year of his first term before the 1994 Republican take over. Sure there was pandering by the Republicans (remember the Contract with [or on] America.

But we Democrats are afraid that the President will continue to listen to those that got him in this fix, rather than those who got him into the White House.

We'll see...

Musing on Palestine

I was just watching Witness on Al Jazeera English (we have a satellite dish and I find English-language news preferable to Greek TV since my Greek is so execrable). This week's story was about the old Jerusalem airport which has been turned into a giant check point since the 1967 war. It was told from the point of view of (among others) a woman whose family, prior to the 1967 war, had the only house overlooking the airport. She has a Jerusalem ID and her sister, who lives in Ramallah only five minutes a way, has a West Bank ID so the one from Jerusalem must visit the other because her sister must get one of the few permits allowed at specific times (in this case, Orthodox Easter - I could tell because of the egg boiling and boiled egg fight which is the same here in this mostly Orthodox country).

But what caught my eye were the old pictures from the 1950s and 1960s of the passengers and air staff - not a hijab or khimar (Muslim headscarf) in sight. It seems to me that we (the West) have never considered our actions against Muslims as part of the reason many have retreated into their religion, some more than others.

So, it seems that we have been sowing the seeds of terrorism and our own destruction for some time. This is not a new phenomenon. And it seems that each time we meddle, we make it just a little worse.

We armed the mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets - that didn't turn out so well. We disbanded the army in Iraq only to try to recreate that army after our action caused the sectarian violence that has racked that country. I was reading about how the US occupied Japan after WWII. The US sent in 350,000 military personnel, kept the Japanese army and the police (just disarmed them) and ensured that the Japanese populace had enough food. That was a model that worked. Could have been used in Iraq and feeding the population in Afghanistan would have helped as well.

This was followed by a story of Viva Palestina finally making its way into Gaza and delivering the aid to the people. Many ambulances, wheel chairs, food - a drop in the bucket to be sure, but at least someone is starting to recognize the bucket is empty and needs filling.

If the EU and the US would stop aiding Israel in its policy of collective punishment, a lot would be gained. It is hard to understand what is gained by preaching free and open elections and then punishing those who vote "the wrong way." How do you convince people without a history of electoral democracy that this is the way to go and then punish them when they do what you said? Makes no sense.

Coincidence or Conspiracy?

Is there any doubt, was there ever any doubt among thinking Americans, that the Bush Administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) was so thoroughly politicized that basic American laws were broken in the questioning of the Blackwater Five? I heard a former attorney in the Bush DOJ say that perhaps the State Department officials hadn't heard of the Miranda warnings and were unaware that you couldn't promise immunity and then use those statements - coerced, no less - against these accused.

I really thought that was a stretch; I don't remember reading any intimations that the Blackwater Five were waterboarded!

I'm writing now about the release and dismissal of all charges against the five Blackwater employees who killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in September 2007. How did it come to be that the State Department (?!!) was the organization that interrogated these men? Why wasn't this done by the FBI or another federal law enforcement agency? Since when did the State Department add criminal jurisprudence to their mandate?

This is the same Justice Department that was so lax with the rules in the case of former Senator Ted Stevens that his charges were also dropped. Unfortunately, getting rid of these folks hasn't yet occurred in the Obama DOJ - and we're going to pay for it.

But the dropped charges only happened for Republicans or Republican donors. And the Obama Justice Department doesn't see any wrongdoing in the political lynching of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman? I sure do.

TSA, Unions, and the Republicans

I always knew Republicans (the current variety) were some of the biggest hypocrites in history; but to see them beating on Obama because of the Nigerian terrorist is the worst.

So, Senator Jim DeMint spent a lot of time this weekend railing about TSA. What he neglected to tell his audience is that he has a hold on the nomination of the new director of TSA because the rank and file may want to unionize.

Then there are the 100 Republican lawmakers who voted against funding TSA this year!

Give me a break! I thought Ronald Reagan taught Republicans what to do with uppity unionized federal workers - fire them all! It worked for the Air Traffic Controllers and the airlines kept flying so it could probably work for TSA.

Given the economy and the jobs situation in the US, you wouldn't have to wait long or look far for new employees!

We live most of the year in Greece and when we return to the US, we have to not only provide the airline (Air France) with our passport numbers, but also where we're going in the States - and we're US citizens. I can't believe it is easier for non citizens, even if they have visas.

And what's up with not being suspicious of this guy - he buys a one-way (!!) ticket in cash, has no carry-on luggage and is traveling for two weeks!

I don't think there's a enough communication going on.

2010 Elections - Will You Vote?

I've been reading how disappointed that Democrats are becoming with the Democratically-controlled Congress. So disappointed that fully 53% of them are saying they are less likely to vote for Democrats in the 2010 election!

The poll also shows that 81% of Democrats want Lieberman kicked out of the caucus. Frankly, keeping him in the caucus was one of the stupidest things that the Obama administration championed from the beginning. Not only did Lieberman work for McCain's election and trash Democrats - but he has never supported the Obama agenda.

So, how is the Administration going to change things? Time is running out especially since Lieberman is now in control of what goes in and what stays out of the health care reform bill. The only sure thing in the bill at this point is that people are going to be forced to buy insurance from the same people who have refused to cover them at affordable rates now.

We know the party partisans are going to insist that people not talk down the Administration, the Congress, or the bills that are (or mostly are not) being brought out for passage. I think people will smile sweetly and mouth all sorts of platitudes, but in the end - we'll know how many Democrats stayed home on November 2, 2010.

Now, I've always been proud of my voting record (which I think is close to perfect) since I was first able to vote in the California primary that saw Bobby Kennedy win the election and later lose his life. My personal philosophy is that people are dying for the right to vote all over the world and I have that privilege and right and often I've voted while thinking of them.

But, if I sit out this election (my Congressman has been serving in the House of Representatives since 1988 and is quite likely to continue to easily win elections, with or without my vote) nothing much will change. Neither of my Senators are up for election (and both are extremely capable and I respect them wholeheartedly) so, I could keep my record by voting for local issues and just bypass Congress.

Will I? Only time, and what kind of health care bill is signed by President Obama, will tell.

Empathy and White Men

The Supreme Court today ruled in favor of the white mail firefighters in Connecticut. Their rationale seems to imply that white men have a "right" to promotion.

Could this be because (and I'm purposely including Thomas here!) they are all white men. After all, they couldn't find that women deserved equal pay for equal work.

Letter to My Senator

Dear Senator:

Thank you so much for responding to my earlier letter about the situation in the Gaza strip.

However, missing from your letter was any discussion about the Palestinian people. Of course, Israel has a right to protect its people. What about the people of Palestine? Are they to be denied food, medicine, employment, freedom of movement, and now shelter forever?

What is Israel's responsibility to the people of Gaza and the West Bank? Israel is still occupying Gaza and has never "left" the West Bank. To say that Israel withdrew from Gaza ignores the fact that Israel controls all entry and exit into that narrow strip of land, smaller than Rhode Island, including air space.

It is time for members of Congress to be honest about what is going on. We have a new African American president; as he stated in his inauguration address his father wasn't allowed to eat in a restaurant in Washington, DC 60 years ago and now his son is the President.

It is time to stop allowing Israel to treat the Palestinians as less than people, even slaves were better treated because they were property and assets, and to insist that Israel begin to obey international law. After all, the US exports our military hardware, dollars and oil to that country. What do we the citizens get in return - Israeli actions that incite terrorism in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

Thank you,

Republicans and Filibustering

One of the things I haven't been able to figure out since the Democrats regained majority in the Senate, is why they don't make the Republicans filibuster.

One would think, with public approval of Congress at an all time low, that forcing the GOP to explain to the American public why they don't want to assist Americans, whether it be in domestic policy (environment, jobs, unemployment, health care) or foreign policy (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc.) would go a long way towards educating Americans about what Republicans stand for and why they are dangerous.

Maybe someone can explain to me the political calculation that makes sense why this should be. I mean, everyone knows Republicans don't play fair - they don't know what that means. So there couldn't be a quid pro quo involved here. So what is it?

The Employer Free Choice Act is crucial to helping Americans regain the economic security many families have enjoyed over the past 60 years; especially families of color who worked either in the auto industry or for the government - federal, state, or local.

Make they explain why they're giving us the finger!

Israel Strikes Gaza

Well, that didn't take long - less than 24 hours and Israel has launched missle strikes on Gaza killing at least 155 people according to the BBC. Of course, there will be more to come, as Hamas promises to keep launching missiles at Israel, even though a rocket launched earlier this week fell short of its target and killed two young Palestinian girls in their home.

During the six-month cease-fire, Israel was supposed to open Gaza to the world, to bring in food, medicine, gasoline, all the things that one needs to live (not to survive, which is different). But instead, Israel kept the borders closed except for the number of days that could be counted on one's hands and fingers.

But will this stop?

Opening Gaza

Evidently, Israel has agreed to open Gaza to much needed food stuffs and energy supplies. But this opening will not last and will not be enough to lift the Gazans out of the dire straights they find themselves in today.

For some reason, the Israeli government feels that treating their Palestinian citizens, in much the same way the German government of the 1930s and 1940s treated their Jewish citizens will result in the Palestinian population welcoming their government with open arms. While Palestinians are not considered Israeli citizens by Israel, they live in the country, were born there, and their families have for many, lived their for hundreds of years.

For me this is extremely painful because growing up, I had the most tremendous respect for the Jewish people for standing up to and facing down the Nazi government, against all odds and without losing sight of the righteousness of their cause and their lives.

This was important to me because as an African American baby-boomer, this was fairly recent history and seemed to be a way to behave in the face of oppression and subjugation. But then, the year I turned 20, came the 1967 war and the start of the settlements.

I just read One Missing Word Sowed the Seeds of Catastrophe and could not believe that the lack of a word has changed the world.

Because after the start of the settlements I came to see the actions of the Israeli government to be much too similar to those of Germany in terms of collective punishment, stealing land (wasn't part of the rationale of the Germany government in invading Poland the need for land for their people?), and finally just being unfair.

I know this is simplistic, but there hasn't been anything since to make me rethink my early judgments.

The Riots in Greece

I do understand some of the frustration and rage - I'm also enraged.

Enraged that when this country joined the euro zone they totally lied about the relative value of the drachma to the euro, pegging it at 340 drachmas to the euro. This caused immediate inflation from which the country has never recovered.

I'm also enraged that everyone seems to think that only they have rights and privileges. Seeing the kiosks burned because someone was burning banks angers me.

I'm enraged that the police are not allowed to do their jobs properly, even if they were so inclined. The fact that the Junta was forced out of power over 30 years ago means nothing if the country isn't willing to accept that change. The Junta is the reason why the police have to be invited onto college/university campuses. But if the police could arrest those who commit criminal acts and they would be punished by the judicial system, maybe change would occur.

But Greece is nothing if not egalitarian. The police are not punished, the politicians are not punished, nor or the ordinary citizens punished for committing crimes. We're just punished economically and through the lack of advancement.

How do you make change in such a small country that doesn't really want to change - people say they do, but then push back at every opportunity so that no one is brave enough to keep on.

Poor Greece.

Agia Theodora (St Theodora)

It was a lovely party. We left at 4 in the afternoon and it took two and a half hours to drive there, very windy roads into the mountains. All along the way you can see the damage from the forest fires last year – really devastating. Some of the villages on the main highway are nearly deserted and many homes have burned. Part of the road is national highway so it is well paved and marked and then we drove through three small villages, where only one car can get by – always amazes me how we manage. On the other side of the last village the road widens again and is paved and easy to drive. Finally we get to the site and park. We walked about 1,000 meters and they have booths selling icons, toys, and lots of food. It is in the woods and is really lovely. It is a very small church. Only about four people at a time can fit into it and there is a lovely river that runs behind and underneath it.

The priests started conducting the mass and everyone was outside. There was an icon store on site, so that’s where I bought two English-language books telling the legend (one for a friend in the US who is Greek American and named Theodora [we were at the St Theodora]).

After the mass, and the priest’s sermon (Michael says he was yelling about the crowd for only coming on these great feast days and not going to church every Sunday and not taking their children to church with them – sounded very familiar) we had this wonderful bread and then you were allowed to enter the church and take pictures.

I had to go to the bathroom and we kept seeing signs but no one really knew where they were located. We walked down this lovely path along the river and came out into a clearing with a beautiful restaurant. I asked and they said yes and were quite nice (the bathroom was nice too – Greek public bathrooms are notoriously horrid; no seats and you never put the toilet paper into the toilet – there is always a small can nearby, even in houses including ours).

When we got back we walked into the church and our friends took our picture (we forgot our camera). Outside the church is a small box with paper and pencil and you write your name on paper and put it into the box and you receive blessings from the saint. Our friend Chris was helping several gypsies (there were loads of gypsies there with the young girls on dressed up and some with make-up, which we never see here in town, but all were scrupulously clean, another thing we never see in town here) by writing their names on the paper. Unfortunately gypsies don’t send their children to school, except those who live near large cities like and the Greeks don’t like sending their kids to school with the gypsies – again it sounded too familiar.

Anyway, we left at 9 and were home by 11:30 pm. September 11 is the real Saint’s Day, but there were so many people on September 10 trying to miss the crush on the September 11, I just can’t imagine what it must be like with thousands of people there. It was doable with just hundreds and they have parking for tour buses (we saw one as we were heading out of the last village.

There are some great pictures of Agia Theodora at Outdoors.Webshots.

Palin Pick

Palin is many things. Smart is not one of them. I can't believe that smart people fall for this cynical crap.

Hillary Clinton lost the nomination for a number of reasons. Did you know that NONE of her staff had ever run a presidential campaign before? If this counts in Super Bowl competitions, why shouldn't it count in presidential campaigns? She blew off the caucus states, bad move since they get the largest percentage of delegates. And why, because the state parties want to reward their most loyal, active members. I don't like caucuses because they disenfranchise me because I'm usually not in the US on primary day and my voted ballot doesn't count. The Democratic Party, up til Obama's win in the primaries was the Clinton's Democratic Party. You would think they would know the rules. And did I mention that her great consultant, Mark Penn thought that Democrats were the same as Republicans -- winner take all elections? Give me a break.

Sarah Palin has abused her power in her home state - read the home state papers; they're all online. They have a different perspective of her than you're likely to get in the national media.

But for McCain to think that even rural, Southern women would vote for a woman with no experience to be the Vice President to a man who has overcome cancer four times and is 72 years old is beyond cynicism. Patronizing is what I'd call it.