Peace?
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the wonderfully sunny, brisk and blue island of Nantucket! Great to be with you on this sixth day of March, 2014, another cold day on Cape Cod, Hyannis/Hyannis Port to be specific, watching the “Grey Lady” steam out of the harbor to a destination ~27 nautical miles, south/southeast of where I write these very words every day. Yes, the famous island of Nantucket, an island one must visit to believe, where a lone light house stands, guarding the gates of another harbor, a LIGHT that has been blown down nine times, only to be rebuilt after each devastating storm, a lighthouse with nine lives…
And so it goes with this crazy world we live in right now, the dawning of a new one at the beginning of this 21st century, a world ripe with challenges as many hold on to old ideas that have already seen their ‘day’. Take the Cold War for example, you know the one where citizens of this country, the U.S., were taught to ‘duck and cover’, an exercise in futility forced upon the masses so as to keep them calm in case calamity found it’s way into their collective lives. Of course the days of President Ronald Reagan and that frigid standoff with the then Soviet Union is long gone. Or is it? Russian President Vladimir Putin does not seem to think so, as unmarked Russian troops poured over the border with Ukraine this past week end, taking over military bases in Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea that was ‘given’ to Ukraine in the 1950’s by then President of the U.S.S.R., Khrushchev. The big question the world is asking is, “…what is Vlad’s end game? Will he take this tact with other former Soviet satellites such as Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia?”. Secretary of State John Kerry has met with Ukrainian leaders in Kiev as well as Paris and as of yet, there is no real answer to that 64,000 dollar question. Stay tuned.
Back here in the good ‘ole US of A, our congress has proved once again just how far away from civility it has strayed. Seacapecod.net’s pal Congressman (R-CA) Darrel Issa has really gone over the top this time. As the leader of witch hunts in the embattled congress and beyond, Issa has tried to pin one “scandal” after another on President Barack Obama, his administration and his allies in D.C. and around the country. It all stems from Benghazi, but could also stem from ‘Fast and Furious’, or, it could have all started from Acorn. Logical, but what about the IRS? FOX “NEWS” and the rest of the scoundrels over on that propaganda television station, much like Russian’s “RT”, are all fired up over the latest debacle that took place yesterday in one of these infamous Issa hearings (witch hunts); this time regarding the so called scandal of the IRS’ use of the 501(c)(4) law allegedly targeting certain republican entities all under the watchful eye of our very fine commander-in-chief. The problem with today’s hearing was Congressman Elijah Cummings, who, after listening to his counterpart drone on and one, simply had a five minute statement to make, to wit ‘ole Darrel turned off the microphone of the esteemed democrat, leaving the man to talk over that mike, letting the world know what an a$$hole Mr. Issa really is.
Many have said, including Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, “…Vladimir Putin is living in another world”, with some saying he has ‘lost his mind…’. I agree, but so are the republicans in this fair land, the land of the free and the brave right? Wrong. This land has become “the land of the corporation” and the reason our democracy is falling by the way side Bill O’Reilly, is due to the FACT republicans have become turn coats. They have chosen to jump in bed with ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, McDonald’s, Monsanto, Walmart, Duke Energy, well, frankly the list goes on infinitum. Gone are the days of one man or woman equaling one vote, as the republicans all across the nation attempt to quell that vote by restricting it by way of their gerrymandered districts, creating a fail safe power source that will, if not contested, spell out the doom of our democracy as one more Gulf, one more stream, one more aquifer–”I’m lookin’ at you Ogallala! God’s speed Nebraskans! We are with you!”–is destroyed by mankind’s folly.
The public debate about the Keystone XL pipeline, perhaps the best thing to happen to environmentalism in this country in a long time, is almost over. And as the CEO of “Transcanada”, one powerful corporation, claimed yesterday, “…the pipeline will be built” (shipping millions of barrels a day down through the heart of America, all for exportation, not for domestic consumption), making this reporter cringe just a tad, for we shall finally witness just how corporately controlled the U.S. government has become…yes sir, done all in the name of fu#k$ng profit over people!! All of this nonsense done on the backs of those good people who do most of the living, loving, eating, drinking and eventually dying in this fair and God Blessed land. It will only be a matter of time before the inevitable happens–an oil spill that will destroy the most valuable underground source of water in this nation, not to mention setting off what many, including this one, climatologists say will “…be lights out for the environment.” ‘Hope it’s a wonderful coffee shop Jack’ (credit the 1988 film “Midnight Run”, starring the incomparable Charles Grodin and of course, Robert De Niro).
How much is enough a$$hole? How much more does ExxonMobil need? How much does David and Charles Koch want before they kill every source of clean drinking water in this country, a country now chanting once again, insanely, ‘drill, baby, drill’, incorrectly thinking that this pipeline (1% of the world’s oil) will somehow offer US more security? How does this happen? By allowing a few to get rich off of the God given bounty of our public lands, frack, frack, fracking away with wells soon to be in the multimillions. Yes, all perfectly legally allowed by our bought and sold politicians–giving the American people’s heritage away like it was theirs to give. A move that is not only unconscionable, it is irrevocably fatal. Our kid’s, kid’s, kids will attest to our collective folly in years to come, wondering aloud as the seas rise, the storms get stronger, famine is ripe due to severe droughts worldwide, wildfires burn and the water and air is poisoned by so many chemicals yet to be named by the EPA without any teeth–why did they not put ego aside and SAVE the planet? WHY? Vote NO, Mr. President, on the Keystone XL pipeline– it’s transparent greed is only eclipsed by it’s overwhelming arrogance. The powers that be that want it, are no friends of the earth or your descendants my friend. Have a great day and tune out FOX “NEWS”, it, like war, is not good for children or any living thing. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
