Tension Grows

Recent financial headlines shouted "Fear Rules" as the Greek crisis took its toll on the markets.

As economists speculate whether the European meltdown will cause a renewed recession in the US, several other stories add tension to the mix.

The Gulf oil spill has potential to have a HUGE impact that could spread around the globe. The predictive linguistics work at Half Past Human had mentioned an "ocean sickness" and "blue flu" that causes a "big stink", so this unfolding catastrophe could be a major predicitive hit for them. The potential for destruction of sea life is staggering, and the ill effects could be felt inland as toxic fumes spread. HPH has targeted July 8 as an important shiftng point, and November 8-11 later this year as marking a major "release of building tensions".

This is also a story of corporate greed run amok, as one of the surviving crewmen from the drilling platform tells of the representitive from BP ordering the crew to disregard safety and speed up operations because of cost concerns. It appears that the oil well blowout was caused by the blatantly dangerous decision to press forward despite clear indication that the wellhead had been damaged. Afterthe blowout, the chief of BP had the audacity to tell the press that the drilling contractor was in charge of the operation, so it couldn't be BP's fault. Look for a major congressional inquisition to follow on this one. The oil still gushes unabated, and it's anyone's guess when it will be stopped.

Meanwhile, tensions are building on the Korean penninsula. Many are unaware that a state of war still officially exists, and how quickly the bloody conflict broke out 60 years ago. It's difficult to conceive how "Dear Leader" Kim, as deranged as he may appear, could pull the trigger on another conflagration. No strategic purpose would be served, particularly if the North fired off a nuke, since it's well understood that the US forces in the South rely on tactical battlefield nukes for deterrence. An attack on the South could result in a huge radioactive crater north of the DMZ, since that would be the only practical defense of Seoul, due to it's proximity to the border and the sheer size of the North Korean forces.

Is Kim really so deranged as to tempt fate? Evidence suggests that the sinking of the South Korean ship was the result of chest-pounding machinations by a North Korean general, and tacitly supported by Kim because it helped solidify his grip on the military. Of course, giving in to South Korean demands for an apology would be tantamount to suicide. A war could conceivably result from ego-fueled miscalculation, just as road rage sometimes leads to escalating acts of violence.

I just read up on Korean war history, and have an uneasy feeling that more news is going to originate in that part of the globe soon. Wars and economic depressions seem to run in cycles, and we could be due for both.

The Myth of Electoral Choice

News item: Minnesota Republicans endorse Tom Emmer for Governor.

The coming gubernatorial race in Minnesota will likely be the most polarizing and divisive ever. The Democrats had already endorsed Margaret Anderson Keliher, one of the most liberal candidates in recent memory.

Emmer is endorsed by Sarah Palin and Tea Party activists. His extreme right-wing positions almost make governor Pawlenty seem liberal by comparison, despite the latter's recent pandering to national Republican activists in preparation for an expected presidential run.

Now that the state supreme court has ruled Pawlenty's unilateral budget "unallotments" illegal, the fun can really begin as the legislature grapples with an urgent multi-billion dollar deficit.

Emmer's solution the budget dilemma is simple: slash and burn. Aid to cities and counties? Toast - let 'em shutter libraries and go without police and fire protection. Education? Fire so many teachers that classes will need to be held in gymnasiums. Health care for the poor? Cut it all and hope that private charity fills the hole.

This is not to suggest that the traditional liberal solutions are a no-brainer; raising taxes can only go so far in a shrinking economy, and becomes akin to squeezing blood from turnips. The problems are complex and solutions may require totally new thinking.

The remarkable thing about all of this is the degree of rancorous polarization taking place throughout politics. The tedious health care reform debate in congress was just the beginning; expect things to really heat up by the fall elections.

Republicans claim to offer a clear choice for better solutions, but really don't. Both parties are enmeshed within the corrupt corptocracy that our system has become. For example, Republicans claim to defend freedom, but how many of them have worked toward repeal of the Patriot Act? Where are the voices raised against the gulag at Guantanamo Bay, intrusive surveilance of citizenry, or the illegal & brutal war in Afghanistan? Those issues are part of my litmus test for politicians who truly care about defending liberty, but the number who pass are vanishingly small.

Republicans attack Obama's spending policies, but memories are apparently too short to recall Reagan's tripling of the national debt, or Bush Jr. conducting a needless war charged to the national credit card. In fact, the heinous bailouts that have energized the Tea Party activists were originated under Bush's watch. Dare we mention that Clinton presided over a balanced budget?

The point of this commentary is to suggest that the system appears to be breaking down, as would be expected during any major shift - And shifting we are.

The revolution meme foreseen by the predictive linguistics at Half Past Human appears to be taking hold. Their crystal ball holds more dark possibilities over the next several years, but this is not so much "doom and gloom" as may appear. They also see elements of a new social structure forming to replace the old, consistent with a vision of an enlightened new age.

This is an exciting but potentially scary time to be alive. Those who remain here must have chosen to do so.

Another Candidate for the Hall of Shame

News item: Evangelist Franklin Graham is peeved after being disinvited to the Pentagon Prayer Day observance.

Firstly, a prayer observance at the national warmonger headquarters? WTF? What are they planning to pray for, world peace? Or maybe something a little less noble?

Anyway, Graham vented his spleen to the right wing bunch at Newsmax.com, claiming that Obama's actions and words favor Islam over Christianity, and his own disinvitation was a "slap at all Evangelical Christians".

Graham has worked hard to earn his notoriety, taking a much more blustering tone than his famous father in attacking other religions. Billy Graham's son and successor doesn't get banned from a national prayer observance for trivial reasons.

The irony is, that Graham's ideal world vision of an American Theocracy closely mirrors that of fundamentalist Islam. In a classic case of projection and transferance, whatever evils Graham finds in Islam likely also exist in Christianity. Now consider the fact that both faiths claim to worship the same God (as do the Jews, which are scorned by both). Maybe this is one reason so many enlightened souls are shunning religion in any form and exploring the spiritual path.

Speaking of religious intolerance, Ross Douthat recently wrote in the New York Times that the popular Comedy Central series "South Park" has finally taken on one taboo too many. They added the prophet Mohammed to the league of religious icon superheroes as having "the powers of flame". Oops! The resulting death threats were taken seriously, and the offending episode was removed from distribution and any other reference to the Prophet in other episodes was bleeped out.

Douthat ponders what this suggests about the state of our institutions, since everything sacred but Islam is fair game for ridicule and mockery. He concludes that "if a violent fringe is capable of inspiring so much cowardice and self-censorship, it suggests that there's enough rot in our institutions that a stronger foe might be able to bring them crashing down."

The true irony is that the Western tradition of religious tolerance is challenged by a religion that many find distasteful due to its own intolerance. Reverend Graham and radical Islamic mullahs all concur on one major point: Religious tolerance is a bad thing when practiced on anyone but their own. They should get together and do lunch over an open Qur'an, and see what else they might have in common.

A Nasty Mess

The oil continues to gush out of control. It might take days or weeks to plug the leak, and could eventually affect the Atlantic coast. This could become the major story of the year, with unthinkable damage to fishing and wildlife.

No word yet on what caused the explosion and failure of anti-blowout valves. Rush Limbaugh suggested that "environmentalist wackos" had sabotaged the rig to commemorate Earth Day. Of course, Rush is the real wacko here, but he may have subliminally (and accidently) picked up on something relevant; my senses tell me that sabotage is a real possibility.

Many, including Gerald Celente's Trends Research Journal have been predicting that the PTB (Powers That Be) would soon launch a major war to divert the populace from the sad state of the economy. To justify it and to build public support, another false-flag terrorist event on the scale of 9/11 would first be needed.

Celente predicts the coming terrorist event, but it’s anyone’s guess when or where it would happen. Today’s bomb scare in Times Square could have been a failed attempt at such an event.

This may be really reaching out there, but I would not be too surprised if we begin to see rumor circulate that evidence was found of sabotage on the oil rig, followed by official announcement that an Iranian terrorist cell has been linked to the explosion. Of course, the Iranians likely would have had nothing to do with it, or perhaps some Iranians in CIA employ might surface with some clumsily planted “evidence”. (Recall the alleged 9/11 hijackers conveniently leaving their plans behind in rental cars).

Far fetched? Well, we do know that the drumbeat has been building for “getting tough” on Iran, and recent reports surfaced of “bunker buster” warheads being shipped to the naval base at Diego Garcia. After harshly condemning new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, the Administration seems to be toning it down and focusing more on the Iranian issue.

I could be completely wrong on this, but it these events pan out, it would track well with Bush’s Iraq strategy. Few could have conceived of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq without 9/11 first setting the stage.

Unfortunately, Gerald Celente’s prediction is plausible, and it’s only a matter of speculation as to where and when.

The American electorate thought regime change was the solution to the Bush nightware. Unfortunately, that nightmare may have been simply the opening scene of a multi-act major drama.

Take This "Reform" and Shove It

The insurance companies won and the people lost - that's how I read it.

Should we be surprised? Imagine the megabucks flowing from the powerful players - Big Insurance, Big Pharma, Big Medical Associations, etc. As usual, we got the best legislation money can buy - unfortunately, those that write the checks got to write the legislation.

Obama put his presidency on the line to get some semblance of health care reform passed, and some progressives chose to see the glass as half full rather than empty. They reasoned better some reform than none, and hoped it would form the baseline that frames future incremental improvements. The intentions were good, but the results are worse than doing nothing.

In the midst of the curiously rancorous and divisive debate, Republicans pulled out all stops to oppose and obstruct, but failed. Some conservatives, such as Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, actually came up with reasonable-sounding alternatives, but for the most part, the Republican party is bankrupt of ideas. They represent those who either benefit from the present system, or are wealthy enough to not care. They fan the flames of fear and discord with loaded phrases such as "Socialism" and "Government Takeover of Health Care". It remains to be seen whether they will reap any electoral benefits from these tactics in November.

One thing Republicans are correct about: The legislation is a budget-buster and will cause a lot of economic damage. Although clearly in disagreement with their motives or agenda, I rooted for their efforts to stop the legislation. Hopefully the more heinous elements can be repealed by the next Congress.

Cutting Medicare to offset new spending makes no sense; one immediate effect will be more doctors and providers pulling out of Medicare practice, and reduced quality of service from those that remain.

Placing mandates and higher taxes on employers will likely backfire, particularly in an economy which is already teetering on a renewed downward dip.

Already insurance companies are arguing over and resisting some of the new mandates, and who knows what details are tucked away within the vast pages of legislation. Look for a series of unpleasant surprises to emerge.

As stated earlier in this blog, the basic concept of insurance is ill-suited for funding medical care. The "single payer public option" is the most reasonable solution that spreads costs among the widest possible base. Unfortunately for backers of true reform, this leaves insurance companies out of the equation, and they refuse to accept this outcome quietly.

Rationing is another monster in the closet that obstructs true reform. Is rationing a truly bad thing? This isn't about "pulling the plug on Grandma", although many feel as I do that being kept alive artificially is hardly a good thing. Rationing must be addressed because unlimited access to health care potentially means unlimited expense. We must decide what level of expenditure is appropriate, and allowing the percentage of wealth spent on health care to climb toward infinity is not appropriate.

There is an optimal point to be found in the cost/benefit curve, but the big money interests that benefit from unlimited funding of medical technology must be excluded from the debate. Of course, this touches on basic issues and questions regarding the practice of allopathic medicine in this country. Any debate on medical expenditures must take on the broad issues, with enormous amounts of money at stake. It's a battle that the big money is not likely to lose in a head-on fight.

A more likely outcome will be the gradual collapse of the present health care system as the overall economy continues to slide into depression, so most of this debate has been a moot point.

Believe it or not, there is a bright side to this, and that's what this blog is all about. Things are shifting! Something new is emerging. Stay tuned.

-Darkwave

Taking Another Contract out on America

So ex-speaker Newt Gingrich has another contract drawn up to take out on America. Apparently he feels that not enough damage was done to the country under the Reagan-Bush reich.

Newt may be right about one thing: He proclaims that, in order to succeed, Republicans must propose alternative leadership and not function merely as the opposition party. However, to be really serious about that, Republicans would need to wrench themselves out of their alliance with the corrupt corptocratic system. I would not hold my breath waiting for this to happen any time soon.

The Democrats are generally not much better off. Voters hoped for change, but found only improved theme music as a result. Health care reform was auctioned off to the highest bidders, and senator Al Franken says he supports Obama's illegal war in Afghanistan. As the song by The Who put it, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." Contrary to the lyrics, however, we do continue to get fooled again and again.

The new faces Bush Jr. installed on the Supreme Court value corporate rights over that of individuals, as several key rulings have shown. The most recent outrageous ruling opens the floodgates of unfettered campaign spending by corporations. The only possible bright side is that this could result in big money's influence being revealed more transparently than ever. Perhaps a backlash will develop, as people scurry to consult their copies of the constitution to discover that corporate entities are not named as having rights equal to individual citizens.

I'll say it again: We need to dispose of the myth that our two-party system offers real choice.

-Darkwave

Candidates for The Hall of Shame

There appears to be a need for a Hall of Shame to bring recognition to public figures who stray from the bounds of commmon decency in pursuit of their agendas. The currently unfolding horrendous disaster in Haiti seems to have brought out the worst in some people. Topping the list is erstwhile evangelist Pat Robertson, ever a reliable source of ludicrous gaffes, who has outdone himself once again.

Seems that each time disaster strikes in some unfortunate part of the word, Roberston feels the need to link events with The Wrathful Almighty God. By his twisted logic, hurricane Katrina was a logical response by God to the "sinful" reputation of New Orleans. So, with Haiti undergoing unimaginable horrors, Roberston links it to a "Pact made with the Devil" by slaves during French colonial rule. One wonders how much credibility he retains with Christians of any stripe anywhere, so he should be a shoo-in to the Hall of Shame on the first ballot.

The next Hall of Shame candidate is far more popular and should certainly know better: Rush Limbaugh. His quick reaction to scenes of devastation and misery in Haiti was to accuse Obama of planning to use it for political gain. He blasted the idea of rushing aid to Haiti, suggesting that paying income taxes was already enough sacrifice. This was too much for even some of his conservative listeners, and those who called in to disagree were dismissed on the air as "blockheads".

Limbaugh's arrogant stupidity may cost him some listeners, but there is probably a segment of his audience that applauds notoriety and resonates well with the lowest gutter nonsense that spews into the microphone. Many of these people still have not accepted the notion of an African-American in the White House, and gleefully latch on to attack phrases such as "socialist agenda" as code words for racial bigotry. On this wavelength, Obama is sure to be attacked no matter how successful he is. Not surprising, since Rush has already told us how he "hopes Obama fails". Apparently, if nothing is done to halt the downward spiral in this country, Rush and his listeners will be overjoyed.

- Darkwave