Evolution of Consciousness

Nancy Pelosi says, “Over and over again, we hear single payer, single payer, single payer. Well, it’s not going to be a single payer.”

How do you like that? Nancy’s tired of hearing what the people want.

It sounds to me like Nancy’s getting a little too complacent. As Republicans drift further into irrelevance, Democrats, spinelessly filling the void, are beginning to feel invincible. What we’re left with is Republican Lite: Compassionate Corruption.

Max Baucus, the Democratic senator given charge of healthcare reform, pounds his gavel and calls for the police to arrest citizens asking why single payer remains absent from the discussion. It’s a good question: Why is the best answer to the healthcare crisis being completely ignored? Most politicians won’t tell you the real answer, which is money. They are bought, and they do as their masters tell them. Master says, “keep single payer off the table,” and they do it. Max, like our very own Representative Mike Thompson, has been well greased by the health/insurance industry.

The parable of the financial meltdown is illuminating. Wall Street implodes in unregulated greed. Government bails out Wall Street with taxpayer money. Wall Street uses that money for retreats and bonuses (“rewarding excellence”), and hands some of it back to government. Government takes the bribe and continues legislating on Wall Street’s behalf.

Somebody’s getting screwed (see mirror).

We need to remove money from politics. Let’s outlaw all political contributions, period. Public servants earn a salary and that’s it, no more bribery. While we’re at it, let’s scale back some of their perks (remember, we’re supposed to be the boss here). For instance, I propose that public servants receive the exact same healthcare package that any newborn gets in this country (currently, bubkes). If this were the case, healthcare would get reformed in a hurry.

Now the reason politicians feel compelled to raise endless amounts of money (besides greed and corruption) is to finance their campaign commercials. The 30-second ad has become the essential campaign tool for the television age. The more money you have, the more ads you can run, the better your chances of winning. These short ads are marketing pieces (commercials), usually negative, whose primary purpose is to manipulate, not inform. We need to outlaw all these campaign commercials, which only serve to elevate the candidate with the most money and the least scruples.

Instead, media outlets should be required to donate a certain amount of airtime during campaign season to intelligent political debate, where all candidates can openly discuss the issues. This way, any competent citizen could run for office, regardless of wealth, and have an equal chance at winning. Money should not be the mitigating factor in politics.

If we let greed continue to run things in this country, I don’t think we are long for this world. Greed is selfish in nature. Money has no conscience. The “invisible hand of the market” does not consider consequences beyond profit.

We can do better. We need to do better.

This latest cutback in education is a travesty. An already starved system, crucial to our future, is being forced to cut even closer to the bone. This is a tragic result of the steady attack our public sector has been under the past thirty years. Here’s the basic question: should the super wealthy pay less tax? or should we educate our children?

You’ve got to hand it to the moneyed class. They got organized, bought the airwaves, and became quite successful at hypnotizing a majority of voters in this country for an extended period of time, to the point where they had that majority voting against their own better interests. That is some impressive manipulation and propagandizing!

Fortunately, it appears the populace is beginning to awaken to the plunder. 

The key thing we have to do is separate money from politics. To that end, I have a few suggestions. Politicians should not be allowed to accept campaign contributions, period. While we’re at it, we should also outlaw campaign commercials (which require lots of money and end up clogging the atmosphere with counterproductive nonsense). Instead, television stations should be required to provide a certain amount of airtime for political debate, giving candidates ample time to address the issues. If any lobby or special interest want to promote their own point of view, they are welcome to do so, but they have to do it themselves, and leave the politicians completely out of the equation. Hustling for dollars should not be part of public service.

Once elected, I’d also like to suggest that lawmakers be required to eat the same hot lunch our kids get served each day at school. “Yes, Representative Boehner, today’s entree is beanie-weinie and that ketchup packet is your vegetable. And, no, Senator Kennedy, you may not set your apple juice aside for a couple days to see if it will ferment.”

My daughter attends Anderson Valley Elementary. Even though this school (like every other public school in this country) is scandalously underfunded, the staff there still manage to do the impossible, day after day, providing a quality education for hundreds of children. I don’t know how they do it, other than through sheer will and dedication, but I am grateful that there are people who continue to answer this noble calling, in spite of the conditions. 

The way the teaching profession is undervalued in this country is a sin, and we will continue paying the steep price of that neglect until we come to our collective senses.

Healthcare activists flexed a little muscle last week, and witnessed some progress. 

When single-payer advocates realized they were not being represented at the White House “Health Summit,” they protested in strong enough numbers to gain a couple last-minute invitations for Representative John Conyers (lead sponsor of HR 676) and Dr. Oliver Fein (president of Physicians for a National Health Program). Thus, after being told by the powers that be in Washington that single-payer was completely “off the table,” activists ignored that ridiculous edict and managed to get a couple feet in the door. By insisting on it. In large numbers.

Recent breakthroughs also occurred last week on the justice front. After repeatedly ignoring congressional subpoenas over the past few years, ex-Bushists Karl Rove and Harriet Miers finally agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. This investigation will focus on the politically-motivated firings of U.S. attorneys and prosecution of Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Additionally, the Obama Administration released some of the secret Justice Department memos that provided spurious legal cover for the Bush Administration to disregard Constitutional and international law. This was followed by a spirited debate in the Senate on a proposed Bush Truth Commission (over 40,000 signatures were quickly gathered online, demonstrating strong public support for such an investigation — a week later that number has grown to 75,000).

And so it begins. The great uprising of the people in this country. Frederick Douglass once observed, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” This, of course, is still true today; therefore, I encourage everyone to become involved in your government. Don’t let them trash this planet in your name. This is a time of great opportunity, but we must step into it together. Humans need to evolve quickly, else we shall all perish. Notice how quickly the outmoded ideas are falling away. It is time to awaken to our higher destiny.

If you have access to the Internet, it is easy to become involved. There are many websites to help keep you informed and that make it easy to communicate your thoughts and wishes to Congress and the White House. If you have a phone, use it. Call or write often. Get into the habit of doing it whenever the impulse strikes. If you can get to the library, there are good books on whatever subjects interest you. The important thing is to become involved. Educate yourself, then make yourself heard. Speak up. Let them know you’re watching!

Healthcare Watch: HR 676 (single-payer for all Americans) now has 64 cosponsors. Mike Thompson (CA First District) is still missing from that list.

Earlier this month, when asked about investigating the crimes of the Bush Administration, Obama had some good things to say, but ended with the statement that he was more interested in looking forward than back. Give that line a try the next time you get pulled over…

Officer: “Do you know why I stopped you?”

Driver: “Interesting question, officer, but I’d rather look forward than back.”

It wouldn’t work, because bullshit is not tolerated in that particular real-life situation. Unfortunately, the world of politics has a much higher threshold.

Jane Mayer’s recent book The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals is a detailed exploration into the Bush Administration’s embrace of illegal detention and torture. It focuses on the secret legal gymnastics they went through to “justify” criminal acts. Why so secret? Because every time a decent, sane, law-abiding person saw what they were doing they reacted with disbelief, horror, and disgust. So the corrupt inner circle wrapped themselves in the flag, worked in the dark, and barked menacingly when anyone approached.

Dick Cheney was, of course, the heart of darkness. David Addington served as his junkyard dog, and John Yoo was their legal chihuahua. (By the way, shame on U.C. Berkeley for employing Yoo, and shame on Stanford for harboring Condi Rice. These institutions obviously have no moral standards.) Yoo and Addington, with their “creative” legal interpretations, paved the way for Cheney and Bush to steer the Executive Branch into dictator land. (To get a sense of how these two yahoos operate, look up coverage of Addington and Yoo’s contemptuous performance before the House Judiciary subcommittee last summer.)

Immediately after 9/11, one of the things that should have happened was an investigation, which would have revealed the incompetence and laziness of the CIA and Bush Administration which, sadly, allowed the hijackers to succeed. With some honest reflection, these institutions could have learned from their mistakes. But the reality was that the two Georges responsible, Tenet and Bush, quickly agreed that there would be no investigations (they knew what they would find). Instead, they pointed in other directions, and overreacted in some very destructive ways, stirring up lots of fear, hatred, and violence. Here’s a sampling from Mayer’s book:

“With little warning, a half-dozen masked men in black whisked two Egyptian asylum seekers, Muhammad Zery and Ahmed Agiza, into an empty office at Stockholm’s Bromma Airport. Working in swift, synchronized lockstep, the masked men cut off the Egyptians’ clothes with scissors and placed the shreds in bags. They forcibly administered sedatives by anal suppository, swaddled the prisoners in diapers, and dressed them in orange jumpsuits and hoods, with no cutouts for their eyes…the suspects were placed in handcuffs and leg irons and photographed.”

Let that sink in, figuratively speaking, for just a moment. Nice use of tax dollars, if you’re trying to win the hearts and minds of sadists around the world. And that’s just the initial apprehension. Snapshots from Abu Ghraib testify to some of the fun that followed. It’s illegal, unethical, immoral, inhumane, and should not be tolerated. As a human being, I’m appalled. As an American, I’m ashamed. We need a serious investigation to get to the bottom of what happened, and the people responsible need to be brought to justice. I’m not talking about the soldiers following orders as much as the chickenhawks giving the orders. We keep hearing platitudes like “no one is above the law,” but we keep seeing something entirely different play out, year after year, administration after administration. It’s time we got serious about following through on all these high ideals we like to spout.

Now I appreciate Obama’s desire to look forward. There are lots of challenges ahead that he needs to focus on. But he also needs to fully support Congress in their responsibility to investigate and prosecute the criminals that just vacated the White House.

Here’s the recent history lesson: America did not fully investigate and prosecute Iran-Contra, which was the Reagan Administration’s secret, illegal flouting of Congress and the Constitution. Many perpetrators and close observers of that crime came back to help run Bush’s latest round of lawbreaking and abuse of executive power. Until we stop this cycle, we will continue to suffer from it. That’s why the traffic cop usually ends up writing the ticket. People need consequences to correct their behavior. George W. Bush hasn’t encountered many consequences in his silver-spooned life. I think it’s time he got one.

Senator Pat Leahy is trying to build on the good foundational work of Representative John Conyers to shine some light on the many Bush crimes. You can support that effort at BushTruthCommission.com

It’s time for revolution. Big money stole America, and it’s time to take the country back. But first, it’s important to understand who and what we’re up against.

One of the usurpers, Grover Norquist, expressed the goal in graphic terms: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” He is part of the gang who subverted the “conservative” movement, the Republican Party, and the corporate media in this country. Their first puppet was Ronald Reagan, who helped popularize the simple-minded demonization of “big government.” Joe the Plumber is their latest tool.

But the real problem is not big government, it is bad government, which is what we have now. Washington has been thoroughly corrupted by big money. It serves the interests of corporations and extreme wealth at the expense of everyone else. This is not the American dream, it’s an American nightmare, and it is time to wake up.

Think about it: if you are rich and greedy, you don’t want to pay taxes for the public good. You send your kids to private schools, so you don’t care about public education. You can afford healthcare, no matter the cost, so you don’t care about universal coverage. Yes, it is stupid and selfish and short sighted, but that’s exactly who we are dealing with here. It’s time to stop the madness. America belongs to all of us, not just the rich. We’re all in this together.

The place to start is healthcare. Universal single-payer healthcare. Everyone in, everyone covered. Almost every other industrialized nation has it, but we don’t, because the rich don’t need it. They don’t care about you and me. So we have to stand up and fight for it.

There is a bill in Congress proposing healthcare for all. It’s called HR 676. It is the single best solution to the healthcare crisis in this country. It is, of course, opposed by the insurance and drug corporations, so they’ve been pouring money into Washington, to try and keep single-payer “off the table.” Thus far, their strategy is working. You hear the paid-off politicians speaking their lines.

How to fight back? Start with your congressional representative. Ask him or her to co-sponsor HR 676. If you live in California’s First District (the north coast region) your representative is Mike Thompson, who has not co-sponsored HR 676. Tell him to get on it (if you’re in Mendocino County, his number is 962-0933). We need to act in large enough numbers to counter the money he’s receiving from the industry. If he doesn’t respond, then let’s throw him out! That’s democracy at its finest.