Arrogant Greedy Pigs

I believe in being civil. And I think I usually am. But there is a time for being uncivil, and this is one of those times.

To wit, the Wall Street idiots (to use Senator Sen. Claire McCaskill's term for them) who handed out $18.4 billion in bonuses last year are supremely arrogant and greedy pigs.

One of them, John Thain of Merrill Lynch, used taxpayers' money to hand out bonuses to his executives to the tune of three to four BILLION dollars. This is the very same pig who spent $1.2 million renovating his office while his company was sinking. Maureen Dowd of the NY Times listed some of the details: "Curtains for $28,000, a pair of chairs for $87,000, fabric for a 'Roman Shade' for $11,000, Regency chairs for $24,000, six wall sconces for $2,700, a $13,000 chandelier in the private dining room and six dining chairs for $37,000, a 'custom coffee table' for $16,000, an antique commode 'on legs' for $35,000, and a $1,400 'parchment waste can.'” $35,000 for a toilet!

* * * * *
Note to my fellow Christians: If you find this pig language unacceptable, I recommend a return visit to the Bible, especially the Prophets and the Psalms. Here is just a brief sampling:

Jeremiah: "Woe to him who builds his house on wrong, his terraces on injustice...who says, 'I will build myself a spacious house, with airy rooms...' But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except on your own gain.")

Amos: "Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, you who oppress the weak and abuse the needy; who say to your lords, 'Bring drink for us!'..."

Psalm 5: "For there is no sincerity in their mouths; their hearts are corrupt. Their throats are open graves; on their tongues are subtle lies."

Psalm 10: "Arrogant scoundrels pursue the poor; they trap them by their cunning schemes. The wicked even boast of their greed; these robbers curse and scorn the Lord."

Psalm 58: "No, you freely engage in crime; your hands dispense violence to the earth...Their poison is like the poison of a snake..."

Psalm 64: "They resolve on their wicked plan; they conspire to set snares; they say: 'Who will see us?' They devise wicked schemes, conceal the schemes they devise; the designs of their hearts are hidden."

Certainly we have to have hope and reach out to those who want help to climb out of the pigsty. But let's not forget that all four gospels tell us that the same Jesus who calls on us to love our every neighbor got really angry and overturned the tables of the money changers.

Embracing a Holocaust denier

Sometimes stuff that emanates from the Vatican sends my blood way above the boiling point.

The latest: Pope Benedict has removed the 1988 excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson. The latter had been illicitly consecrated bishop by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had revolted against Pope John XXIII's Second Vatican Council that modernized the church. Lefebvre died in 1991. He had supported the pro-Nazi Vichy regime in France (1940-1944), dictators like Jorge Videla (Argentina) and Augusto Pinochet (Chile) and France's xenophobic and anti-Semitic Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Williamson is a Holocaust denier. He recently said on TV that the Nazis did not kill six million Jews and that no Jews were killed in gas chambers. He has endorsed "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a fiercely anti-Semitic hoax that goes back to the late 1800s.

The Vatican says removal of Williamson's excommunication does not support his personal views. (Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said that Robinson's positions "are his personal ideas... that we certainly don't share but they have nothing to do with the issue of the excommunication and the removal of the excommunication") That may fit the church's bureaucratic Canon Law, but what does it say to Jews and the rest of the world? Jewish leaders have expressed outrage and point to the fact that the great gains in Catholic-Jewish relations since Vatican II have been seriously set back. And I'm sure multitudes of other folks around the world, like myself, could just spit blood.

On this great & glorious day

Tonight just the words of President Barack Hussein Obama. Here are some quotes from his inaugural address today:

"That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet...

"We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things... Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do...

"And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more...

"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect...To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it..."

Begone, George and Dick

I wasn't going to write these words until Tuesday, but I don't want to distract readers from the immense hope and joy of that Inauguration Day. Anyway, can't you already hear those immense sighs of relief around the nation and around the world? After eight miserable years, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney are leaving the White House for good...

having ignored pre-9/11 intelligence on terrorists,
having conducted a barrage of lies about WMDs in Iraq,
having waged an immoral and illegal war on Iraq,
having brought about the death of 4.227 US troops in Iraq,
having brought about the death of very possibly over 1.3 million Iraqis,
having operated a secretive secondary government,
having simply brushed aside Habeas Corpus,
having detained hundreds of people without trial,
having approved torture and rendition to overseas prisons,
having carried out warrantless wiretapping of their fellow Americans,
having sold their souls for Oil,
having lied through their teeth to the whole world for eight years,
having filled federal departments with feckless cronies,
having shut their eyes to the enormity of Katrina,
having embraced phony science to further the savaging of the environment,
having dedicated themselves to vast tax breaks for the richest 1%,
and having presided over disastrous corporate deregulation.

A recent NBC/WSJ poll reports that only 21 percent of Americans will miss Bush. A recent CNN poll reports that only 33% of Americans want him to take part in public life. My only question: How on earth can those numbers be so high?

The Decider's Last Hurrah

I just saw a re-run of George W. Bush's very last press conference. In my view it was utterly pathetic, grimly comical and downright revolting.

He bragged about the "surge" in Iraq, but of course he left out the conniving and lies that paved the way to his immoral and illegal war. (And never mind 4,226 dead American troops, probably over 100,000 wounded Americans and possibly more than 1.3 million dead Iraqis.)

He claimed our country's moral standing was not damaged in the wake of his war, torture and extraordinary rendition. This has to be the epitome of total denial.

He said the federal response to Katrina was not slow, even though many victims were not evacuated until a week after the hurricane hit. And he left out the fact that a lot of New Orleans is still a total mess.

The only bright spot is that we will have no more Bush press conferences. Let the nation rejoice!

What next in Afghanistan?

Writing about Afghanistan in the January 5 edition of the New York Times, Bob Herbert quotes two Times writers.

Michael Gordon:

“Afghanistan presents a unique set of problems: a rural-based insurgency, an enemy sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan, the chronic weakness of the Afghan government, a thriving narcotics trade, poorly developed infrastructure, and forbidding terrain.”

Dexter Filkins:

“Kept afloat by billions of dollars in American and other foreign aid, the government of Afghanistan is shot through with corruption and graft. From the lowliest traffic policeman to the family of President Hamid Karzai himself, the state built on the ruins of the Taliban government seven years ago now often seems to exist for little more than the enrichment of those who run it.”

In the last seven years, 631 US troops and 416 troops from other countries have already been killed in Afghanistan. Let us hope that President Obama will move very, very slowly on his announced plans to send thousands more troops into what Herbert calls The Afghan Quagmire.

Gideon Levy speaks out

I try to avoid just quoting others on this blog. However tonight I feel I must share the following excerpts from a Jan. 2, 2009, article by Gideon Levy on Haaretz.com (Tel Aviv):

"Israel embarked yesterday on yet another unnecessary, ill-fated war... Within the span of a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, the IDF sowed death and destruction on a scale that the Qassam rockets never approached in all their years...

"Once again, Israel's violent responses, even if there is justification for them, exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom.

"What began yesterday in Gaza is a war crime and the foolishness of a country...

"Israel did not exhaust the diplomatic processes before embarking yesterday on another dreadful campaign of killing and ruin. The Qassams that rained down on the communities near Gaza turned intolerable, even though they did not sow death. But the response to them needs to be fundamentally different: diplomatic efforts to restore the cease-fire - the same one that was initially breached, one should remember, by Israel when it unnecessarily bombed a tunnel - and then, if those efforts fail, a measured, gradual military response. But no. It's all or nothing. The IDF launched a war yesterday whose end, as usual, is hoping someone watches over us...

"The pictures that flooded television screens around the world yesterday showed a parade of corpses and wounded being loaded into and unloaded from the trunks of private cars that transported them to the only hospital in Gaza worthy of being called a hospital. Perhaps we once again need to remember that we are dealing with a wretched, battered strip of land, most of whose population consists of the children of refugees who have endured inhumane tribulations.

"For two and a half years, they have been caged and ostracized by the whole world. The line of thinking that states that through war we will gain new allies in the Strip; that abusing the population and killing its sons will sear this into their consciousness; and that a military operation would suffice in toppling an entrenched regime and thus replace it with another one friendlier to us is no more than lunacy."

President Obama's Takeoff

Thursday, January 01, 2009

On this first day of 2009, as we grimace watching the news from Gaza and Israel, Barack Obama is only 19 days away from moving into the White House. The world must be wondering if he will be able to make a difference in that unholy land. In Baghdad today, the Iraqis took charge of the Green Zone. Where will that tripartite country's government, corrupt as it is (sharing second place with Myanmar among the world's most corrupt governments), go in conjunction with Iran? How much more of Afghanistan will the Taleban control this year? Where is Pakistan headed? And on and on it goes.

But I think nobody doubts that our new president will first direct his energy toward the crises at home. And what a tsunami to face on waking up the first morning as leader of the nation. While people lose jobs, sweat over grocery and medicine costs and watch the foreclosures on their block, the big shots still get away with murder. With the Wall St. bailout heading for $8.5 trillion (and AIG alone getting $150 billion of those bucks), CEOs are still walking away with huge golden parachutes that are even tax free. In the meantime, where the bailout billions are going is to a great degree a mind-boggling mystery. (By the way, to get a grip on the figure $8.5 trillion, realize that it is more than the Louisiana Purchase, the New Deal, the Korean War and the Vietnam war combined.)

Take a very deep breath, Obama team...