The Matarese Circle

Now I’m not absolutely sure that I am right, but it has occurred to me that the radical right in Congress actually manipulated President Obama to approve the sequester provision under the guise of it being such a terrible thing that certainly something could be done before it ever was put into action.  In short, it was a trap that the President walked into because he couldn’t, at the time, conceive of anyone being that Machiavellian.  Remember Speaker Boehner commenting after the sequester provision was first passed way back when he stated that he had gotten “98% of what I wanted.  I’m pretty happy”.  I do believe that the President has learned.

We know that it is the Koch brothers and other billionaires who control the Tea Party who control Congress.  That has been confirmed.  Stop and think a minute just what might happen if the economy of this country collapsed after the sequester kicks in completely.   Many of the essential services on which the populace has come to depend would be greatly weakened.  These billionaires could offer to privatize them through their companies, initially at a competitive price, and slowly take over the responsibilities of government, except for national defense. 

You think I’m a conspiracy whacko?  Take a look at the great State of Michigan.  The Republican Governor and Legislature voted in a law that allowed the Governor to abolish any local government that he perceived to be unfit.  The people of Michigan rightly were distressed over this and got a provision on the November ballot last year to overturn that law.  The provision passed.  So, in December, the Legislature passed almost exactly the same law, but with the added provision that it couldn’t be overturned by referendum.  Now the Governor is eyeing the City of Detroit as being ripe for a takeover.  And of course (sarcasm) it is only a coincidence that all of these areas are populated by people of color.  Now these areas are being managed by one person, not elected but appointed by the Governor, leaving the people with absolutely no voice in how their communities or cities are governed.  Schools and other essential services can be closed or cut, all in the name of the economy.  The people will have no say.  And now I am going to digress a bit.

One of the greatest spy thriller writers of all time, in my opinion, was Robert Ludlum.  He could weave the most intricate stories with a myriad of story threads, which he then turned into a marvelous verbal tapestry.  His most famous are the Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum.  The rest of the Bourne novels that he wrote are really good, but the author of the later Bourne books would probably agree that they cannot match Ludlum’s, although they are good reads.

I have read many of Ludlum’s many times, but there is one novel that I have read many more times than the others for its sheer tapestry of intrigue.  Much to my surprise, when I pulled it up off the internet just now I find that is being made into a movie, probably starring Denzel Washington.  I’m sure it will be a good movie, but I strongly recommend reading the book, either before or after.

The reason I’m writing about this book is that I have been thinking about it lately.  The book is not current, is about a time in our recent history when Russia was our strongest enemy, and is sort of an outlandish story.  Basically it is about a cabal of economic moguls who want to control the world economies, and thus the world.  They go about it by wrecking economies.

I keep thinking of the State of Michigan.  Then I think of The Matarese Circle.  Then Michigan.  I really wish Spring would get here, and I can go outside.

 

 

 

 

 

Memories, Memories

As a result of living in a small town where we spent many years as young people, last night for Valentine’s Day my husband and I had a delightful dinner at the location where we used to buy gasoline.  At other times we have had dinner in my cousin’s former bedroom – the old Galbraith dairy, of many years ago.  We have had dinner in the old medical building, and been to the dentist in the bedroom I shared with my cousin.   Although my all time favorite was the Friends of the Library fundraiser in the old Bucket of Blood Saloon.

We find this sort of amusing, and spent some time laughing about it last night.  Time marches on, and we have found the secret to not wishing things were the way they used to be, is to enjoy most of the changes.  As I said, the dinner last night was very good.   

One memory, however, that has surfaced recently dates back to when I was about 8 years old.  I was listening to the adults discuss how the country was going to be in real trouble and might go back to the worst days of the depression when it looked like things might finally be getting better.  Businesses were going to close, there would be massive unemployment again, the government had no business passing such a law when it would do so much harm.

Needless to say, I was quite frightened.  I waited for all of these dire predictions to come to pass.  Over time, I forgot to be frightened about this law because apparently none of the dire predictions came to pass.  My father still had his job, I didn’t notice that many businesses were closing, my teachers were still teaching at my school that hadn’t closed, and life went on pretty much as before. 

On Wednesday of this week, however, I heard those same arguments all over again, and my memories surfaced of how frightened I had been, only this time all I felt was sort of disgusted.  It has been 75 years since the minimum wage law was first passed in 1938, and the Republicans are using the same old tired fear tactics they used then to prevent the $0.25 an hour minimum wage from going into effect.  (Oregon State University) 

In fact, most of the economic and no government involvement issues the Republicans are raising I have heard for the past 75 years.  Isn’t it about time they evolved into something more productive?  After all, when the owners of the gas station we had dinner in last night recognized, for whatever reason, that it was no longer to their advantage to use it as a gas station, someone came along with a creative idea and with some remodeling turned it into a restaurant. 

Memories are great, and add a great deal of pleasure to life.  But to hang on to the way things were and the ideas that were around 75 years ago is stupid.  But then I’m not the one who called the Republican Party the Party of Stupid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Morning Was a Beautiful Morning.

This morning was a beautiful morning – it was raining, but not hard; just enough to keep the grass on the hillsides nice and green, and ready to grow when slightly warmer weather comes.  Since this is cattle grazing country this was a beautiful morning.  Just the kind when one can stare out the window with the morning coffee and wonder what in the heck one is going to write about today!  My mind began wandering and reviewing some of the major events of the last 10-12 years, and I came up with some really atypical thoughts.

Some terrorists came to this country on commercial airplanes from Saudi Arabia and eventually blew up the two Trade Center towers in New York, killing some 3000 people.  Our forward thinking Republican Administration immediately began ranting about the border between Mexico and the United States being a gateway for terrorists, and over the past however many years, both the Bush and Obama Administrations have spent billions of dollars building a fence to keep out terrorists.  Since the fence takes a bit to get over, or under, now, no doubt if a terrorist wanted to come into the United States, they would have to walk across the border from Canada.  That is, if they didn’t want to fly in on a commercial airplane from Toronto.

Even though the Trade Center terrorists came from Saudi Arabia originally, the Bush Administration drummed up some excuses that they had trained in Afghanistan at terrorist training camps, so we invaded Afghanistan.  They said nothing about the fact the Saudi terrorists had trained in the United States to fly the airplanes.  So, using that logic, are we going to invade ourselves, or just the states they trained in.  Perhaps this is why the gun-lovers are ranting about the Second Amendment – so they can protect us from invading ourselves.

Saddam Hussein made the gross mistake of wanting to assassinate Poppy Bush, so son George made up stories about weapons of mass destruction which any mother of a bunch of kids could tell was hogwash because of the “lying kid” look on his face every time he started talking about them.  So we invaded Iraq, and killed some 600,000 Iraqis.  And of course, Halliburton, Dick Cheney’s favorite corporation could make millions, if not billions, contracting to do work through their subsidiary, KBR, which of course was either never done, or shoddily done. 

Now we have a Republican Party which is so divorced from reality that in an effort to make itself more attractive to the average voter in this country, who is no longer a Protestant old white man with English ancestry, it is trying to rig elections through one means or another, and they don’t think anyone is watching!!  In an effort to woo women voters, Republicans in some states are either requiring transvaginal ultrasounds for women who seek an abortion or in other states are trying to make a human fertilized egg a person.  An unwanted transvaginal ultrasound is nothing more than mechanical rape for the woman required to undergo one.  I can just hear these immature men sniggering in the coat closet about showing these women who’s in charge here.  As for the personhood laws, what about the 1/3 of all pregnancies that naturally end up being miscarried?  Will the parents of these miscarriages be required to have funeral services for these little persons? 

My God!  I hope the sun is shining tomorrow morning!!

 

Nearly As Good As The Comedy Channel

Former Congresswoman Gabby Gifford’s presentation at the Senate hearing on gun safety was remarkable. Her courage and determination to recover, in so far as is possible, after being shot in the head by a mentally deranged young man brought a tear to my eye.  And the obvious pride on her husband’s face as she was making her presentation was inspiring.

With that being said, I never thought watching a Senate Committee on gun safety and listening to those testifying against gun safety laws would be so entertaining!

First we had Wayne LaPierre make the mind-boggling statement that it was pointless to have background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows and between individuals because criminals would never submit to background checks.  Assuming, of course, that there would be enforcement of the new law, isn’t that what this is all about?  If the criminal doesn’t submit to the background check, he, or she, doesn’t get to buy a gun!  That is the whole point!  We all know that there will be a black market for guns but at least the criminals will have to pay a great deal more for an assault weapon, and will have to go to some trouble to get one.  But this will also keep them out of the hands of other people who really shouldn’t have one.

After LaPierre’s testimony we got to listen to Gayle Trotter’s testimony about how guns really make women safer.  Never mind that the majority of women who are killed, are done in by someone they know well, and that someone has access to the gun that is already in the house.  But Trotter had a scenario, apparently made up since she cited no documentation to support it, of the woman with children who is home alone with them, and 4-5 intruders come into to her house.  She wouldn’t have enough bullets in just a regular gun to kill all of them.

So let’s carry this thing a tad further.  In order to have easy access to her AR-15, it would need to be close at hand and loaded so that when the intruders “intrude”, she is loaded and ready to shoot since most intruders don’t make appointments.  Now how old are these children? Boys, as soon as they reach the age of thought, are fascinated by guns.  You may notice that I did not say, “age of reason”.  So let’s assume, since we are making this scenario up that there are boys in the house between the ages of 5 to 15.  Thus, there will be a loaded and ready to shoot AR-15 within easy access.  And if they are all girls, has anyone just assumed the girls are not interested in guns?  So boys or girls, has anyone taken the time to teach the children not to, under any circumstance, for any reason, touch the AR-15?  And will the children actually listen?  Or has the mother taken appropriate precautions such as dismantling the gun and putting parts of it in different locations in the house, with the clips in still another location?  And if so, then it is not loaded and ready to shoot the intruders who didn’t let her know they were coming. 

I can hardly wait for the next hearings.  Nearly as good as the Comedy Channel.