"Where were you on November 22^nd?"  Anyone who was old enough in 1963 to be cognizant still knows the answer to that question.  Forty-five years ago President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed and, for a few days that November, the earth stood still.

    I was an E-1 in the midst of Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.  Sportscasters like to joke about the "frozen tundra" of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin but they haven't seen anything until they have been to Ft. Sill in the winter.  There were times when we marched on solid ice on the parade grounds.  This recollection is not to be confused with old-timers who recall walking to school in the snow; uphill both ways.  No, Ft. Sill was the real deal.

    To this day, that day is crystal clear in my memory.  We were out on artillery field exercises when a sergeant came around and told us that our Commander In Chief had been shot.  At that point there were no details.  We only knew that Kennedy had been rushed to a hospital.  Our exercises were immediately cancelled and we loaded up our equipment and got ready to ride back to base.  When we got there the flag was flying at half-mast and there was a sense that the Army was on stand-by in case there was a foreign government involved with the assassination.

    As it turned out, however, we wound up with the next few days off and most of us hung out in the recreation room where there was a TV set.  We watched, stunned, as the events unfolded.  The scenes from the motorcade and the clip of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald were replayed incessantly and we were mesmerized by the images.  We had a hard time believing that what we were seeing was real.

    Yet there it was.  The crown prince of Camelot was dead.

    While my three year Army service was just beginning in 1963, I had been home for quite a while and was working as a staff writer for The Fresno Guide in California when Martin Luther King was killed.  A short time later when Robert Kennedy was gunned down a lot of us wondered aloud at what our world was turning into.  The names Martin, Bobby and John became a hit song and it seemed to us at the time that we were in the midst of a chaotic fall into anarchy.

    Now in retrospect I realize that in the short span of five years America had lost its innocence.  The drawbridge leading to Camelot had been rolled up and the wonderful life that it had promised had been shunted into exile, not only surrounded by a formidable moat but by an overgrowth of briars and brambles as well.

    Lyndon Johnson tried to keep things on path but the times and his ability to respond to them were just not the right combination.  We were hopelessly mired in Vietnam and Johnson was pulled into the quicksand against his will.  Johnson had also alienated Southern Democrats with his push for Civil Rights legislation.

    Richard M. Nixon, along with his Republican cronies, took advantage of the falling out along racial lines in his subsequent claiming of the presidency.  When the evils of Nixon produced the Jimmy Carter Administration, Republicans knew it was only a temporary setback.

    Ronald Reagan revitalized the Southern Democrats with his code words and convinced them that it was important that they vote against their own financial interests in order to save their social standing.  Then, with voodoo economics in full force, Reagan looted the Social Security system in order to obscure a mind-blowing deficit that lived on into the first George Bush Administration and has been further amplified over the past eight years under the second George Bush Administration.

    In the forum section of the May 2008 edition of Playboy Magazine, Eric Alterman presented some fascinating information.  Since 1960 the federal deficit has averaged $131 billion under Republican presidents, while Democrats have kept it at about $30 billion; on average a Republican year sees the deficit grow by $36 billion, while under Democrats it shrinks by $25 billion.  National debt has increased more than $200 billion a year under Republican presidents and less than $100 billion a year under Democrats.

    The top 0.1 percent of Americans, who earn more than $10 million a year, pay a lesser share of their income in taxes than those who make between $100,000 and $200,000.  Meanwhile, the average CEO of a 500 company took home $13.5 million in total compensation in 2005, a year in which the top one percent of Americans earned nearly 22 percent of all income.

    Republicans, like the bad guys in Nottingham, steal from the poor and give to the rich.  While they claim to hold dear the concept of smaller government they invariably make the government bigger and less responsive to the vast majority of Americans.

    But now here we are, 45 years after Kennedy's death, entering another era of hope and inspiration.  The briars and brambles are being cleared away.  A majority of Americans have stopped listening to the tales of petty, artificial, divisiveness.  The majority of voters have finally figured out that what a mother in the hood and a redneck in a southern mountain town have in common is that neither one of them owns stock in Halliburton and neither one has health insurance for their children.

    It is time, once again, to enter the castle using the drawbridge of hope.

 

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”  The iconic line from Cool Hand Luke could just as easily represent the current discourse between Democrats and Republicans.  And, while life, truly, is for the living, it is sad to note that as of Saturday one of the major voices for American progressive thinking fell silent for the last time.

As thin as soup made from the shadow of a pigeon. That was an analogy made by Abraham Lincoln in response to a line of reasoning offered by Stephen Douglas during one of their debates in the mid 1800s. It is an appropriate analysis now when discussing the validity of the argument for offshore drilling. Republican presumptive nominee John McCain continues to lead the charge for offshore drilling following closely in the footsteps of the president and a few other leading Republicans. President George W. Bush, amid great fanfare, recently announced that he has lifted an executive ban on drilling for oil on the US outer-continental shelf (OCS). The ban, which is only symbolic and has no effect on the congressional ban which has not been lifted, was implemented in 1990 by his father, President George H.W. Bush, and was then extended by President Bill Clinton. Despite the fact that he has changed his previous opposition to drilling in the OCS, McCain wasted no time in announcing his backing of Bush’s lifting of the ban saying it is a “very important signal” and he urged Democratic presumptive nominee Barack Obama to change his position as well. He said it is important for the oil companies to be able to drill in the OCS because, “... in the short term, it’s important for us to have our own reserves as we transition to different kinds of energy. We need to have sufficient oil reserves off our coast to either reduce or at least cushion the increased costs of oil.” With this posturing McCain and Bush are trying to give the appearance of doing something constructive while playing out the hand of big oil in maintaining current levels of gas output and high prices. They both know that industry analysts have said any possible activity is years away at best. Like with global warming the Bush administration and the oil industry can hire “experts” to postulate any position that pleases them thus confusing the general public, or “low information” voter, and obfuscating the real information. That was the case when the Republicans crafted the current ethanol fuels situation and what has resulted from that maneuver is higher food prices and higher energy prices with profits going to the administration’s top-end Republican friends. Democrats counter the McCain/Bush plan by pointing out that, by some estimates, it would not yield a drop of oil for as much as a decade and will not bring down gasoline prices. They also point out that the Republican hierarchy has made very little substantive effort to seek alternative energy sources. It is important to note that a report last year threw cold water on the idea of new offshore drilling as the way to lower gas prices. It said that new offshore drilling "would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030" and that the impact on prices would be "insignificant." The source of that report was the Bush administration's own Energy Information Administration. “The reality is, you don’t have any rigs available,” said Roger Read, oilfield services analyst with Natixix Bleichroeder. “Record crude oil prices have driven up demand for offshore drilling rigs worldwide. Shipyards are busy building new rigs but availability is quite tight through 2010.” In his announcement, Bush claimed the potential reserve from the restricted areas would last almost 10 years. In doing so he ignored a report made by the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that manages the nation's natural oil and gas resources on the OCS, which estimated there is 3.6 billion barrels of oil; not even a one year supply. Kevin Book, senior analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group in Arlington, Virginia, said Bush’s announcement probably will not lead to new drilling. He noted in a research report that Congress can restore the moratorium and governors, many of whom oppose drilling, would have the final word. That means that even if congress were to lift its ban the states would still control whether there would be drilling or not and California, the state that controls a third of the OCS reserves is not interested. Even though California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has endorsed McCain he has made it clear that he would consider a position as Obama’s energy czar. “I don’t see this as a political thing,” Schwarzenegger said recently, “I see this as we always have to help, no matter what the administration is.” When Schwarzenegger announced he would consider a position in Obama’s administration working on energy and environment he also took a shot at any last-minute attempts the Bush Administration might make on climate change. “If they would have done something this year, I would have thought it was bogus anyway.” The one place where Bush’s announcement was well received, however, was in the stock market. Offshore drilling stocks including Noble Corp. and Transocean Inc. showed a boost in trading. Even in that arena analysts recognize that it would take years for any oil to be produced which makes Bush’s move symbolic on all fronts. According to McCain and Bush, the oil and gas industry wants to lower prices for American consumers but they can't because they're prevented from drilling. This couldn't be further from the truth. Right now the oil and gas industry is sitting on 68 million acres of public lands where it could be drilling but isn't. It has some 6,000 leases in the Gulf of Mexico (where the majority of oil and natural gas reserves are found) that are not being explored. “The idea that we can drill our way out of this (the oil crisis) is just so absurd as to not warrant any serious consideration,” Al Gore said recently. “They used to say that a cure for a hangover was the hair of the dog that bit you. If you had a hangover you went and got another drink and it would help it go away. It’s sort of the same thing with these proponents of drilling. ‘Oh, we’re in a fossil fuel crisis? Well, let’s just dig for more.’ I mean, when you are in a hole, stop digging.” Like the gas tax holiday, OCS oil drilling is a proposal designed to pander to the voters not substantially help them. Despite repeated calls from McCain for a Memorial Day to Labor Day tax freeze, congress concluded – in short order – that having nine billion dollars less to spend on highway construction and repair would result in thousands of lost jobs. It would also result in the additional decline of an already decaying national infrastructure. Even if congress were to lift the ban it would be 10 to 12 years before any oil would be produced. It takes two years for an oil company to survey the site and bid on available leases; another two years for the highest bidder to do seismic tests and analyze the results; another one to three years for exploratory drilling to be carried out in likely oil-producing areas; another two years, if oil is discovered, to set the plans for platforms and pipelines which have to be submitted for government review; there is then a one year review period; another one to three years for the oil companies to build platforms and pipelines; then, finally, the oil can be pumped out. “Once again, the oilman in the White House is echoing the demands of big oil,” Nancy Pelosi said on her speaker’s blog. “The Bush plan is a hoax. It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy independence. It just gives millions more acres to the same companies that are sitting on nearly 68 million acres of public lands and coastal areas.” Pelosi’s feelings are shared by environmental groups who, among a multitude of others, point out that oil companies already have those 68 million acres under government leases they can drill. And virtually all environmental groups join in condemning the call for OCS drilling. After McCain quickly canceled his visit to an offshore oil rig following a massive oil spill in the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Cathy Duvall, the national political director of the Sierra Club, said, “Apparently, hundreds of thousands of gallons of spilled oil, dead fish and oil covered birds aren’t ideal conditions for peddling a misguided plan for more offshore drilling.” One of the reasons for high gas prices is that gas refineries are not able to increase production. Not only are the big oil companies not planning to increase refineries, but Shell Oil announced last year that they were going to close their plant in Bakersfield, California, saying it was inefficient and not profitable enough. However, they were pressured into selling it instead of just closing it down and it was purchased by Flying J Inc. The truck stop chain has approved plans for expanding the plant and will double it’s gasoline output as early as this year. Another of the principle reasons for the current high gas prices is the rampant speculation of high-end, unregulated, money people whose greed is fueled by the Republican’s willingness to look the other way and do nothing to get in the way of profiteering. New drilling will never result in lower prices at the pump until oil company loopholes are closed and the industry is forced to pay a windfall profits tax to discourage price gouging. Former McCain Campaign Co-chair Phil Gramm, while he was in the senate, slipped into law the so called “Enron Loophole” in late 2000 at the urging of Enron lobbyists. The law exempts some energy traders from the regulations that apply to exchange-traded commodities. Currently, about 30 percent of U.S. oil futures trades fly below the radar because they are transacted on a U.S. exchange that works through a subsidiary in London. Similar arrangements are being pursued by U.S. exchanges in partnership with Dubai as well.

    The Iraq War coverage this past March was down to five percent of all stories in the media according to the Pew Research Center.  I can think of exceptions but there are only a few.

    While the main stream media has been busy with the Democratic primary race, searching every nook and cranny for some sort of guilt by association, the war with all of its attendant issues has gone on.  In a way we are all tired of hearing about the war but the newshole (print, TV, radio, Internet) inattention to it of late has produced a quasi acceptance of its continuation.

    Because there were multiple casualties in the same time frame it is hard to be certain; however, Private First Class George Delgado may very well have been the four thousandth American death in the Iraq War.  I vividly recall a picture of his mother, Maria Calle, embracing his coffin.  While looking at that picture it is not so hard to remember that all politics are local.

    “We expect every American to support our military, and if they can’t do that, to shut up.  Americans, and indeed our allies, who actively work against our military once the war is under way will be considered enemies of the state by me.”  Bill O’Reilly, Fox News Channel, February 26, 2003.

    Well Bill-O, I guess you’ll have to consider the Bushbaby to be an enemy of the state.  Bush has, after all, wrecked the military.  Recruiting has reached an all time low because so many people disagree with the war.  So, at this point some military personnel are serving their fourth and fifth tours and they are quickly reaching the breaking point.

    Then, when the service people finally do return home they get very few benefits and the shoddiest health care available.  In some cases they get what a huge chunk of the civilian population gets, no health care at all.  And, like so many other lousy statistics, suicides in the armed services are at an all time high.

    The devastation to Americans does not take into account the travails of the Iraqi population, approximately two million of whom are displaced.  I wonder if Darth Cheney asked any of those people how they feel about having an amusement park in the green zone of Bagdad before he recently released the plans for one.

    It is beyond absurd to think that a person would consider building a skateboard facility when their primary concern is to find a home or have clean drinking water and a sewer system that works.  We, the taxpayers of the United States, have spent untold millions for infrastructure improvements in Iraq that were never built but were paid for in full to Bushbaby Administration cronies.  The amusement park is just another pie-in-the-sky distraction.

    In a recent Pew Center survey, less than one third of the respondents realized that America was approaching four thousand dead.  More than a third thought the death number was three thousand and eleven percent thought it was two thousand.

    In the May/June issue of Columbia Journalism Review they ran a Hard Numbers feature that illuminates the following facts:

·         21.9 percent of newshole devoted to coverage of the Iraq war in February 2007,

·         3.1 percent of newshole devoted to that coverage in February 2008,

·         55 percent of adults in America who correctly identified the rough number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq since 2003 – given a choice between 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, or 5,000 – in February 2007,

·         28 percent who correctly identified that number in February 2008.

    The war has raged on for five years.  That is longer than the duration of the American Civil War which was participated in, directly or indirectly, by every person who lived in the United States at the time.  Five years is one year longer than World War 1 and only one year shorter than the duration of World War 2, both of which were conflicts involving the entire world.

    We are mind-numbed perhaps by the knowledge that an imbecile masquerading as President of the U.S. has absolutely no intentions of righting his damnable wrongs.  His newly minted surrogate, John McCain, is equally guilty because he has made it undeniably clear that all of the current administration’s mistakes will be continued if he is elected president.

    Incidentally, I have been given permission to speak of Bushbaby and McSame that way by no less than Theodore Roosevelt as quoted in the Kansas City Star on May 7, 1918, “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

    Jennifer Aniston seems to be a very sweet lady.  But, her current romance does not suggest the gravitas that is requisite for a national lead story.  The Iraq War, on the other hand, continues to do so.

The sky is falling!  The sky is falling!  Voters in Indiana and North Carolina!

    Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to endlessly repeat it.

I remember Ronald Reagan talking about the “welfare queen.”  There wasn’t a shred of truth in it but he seemed so charming as he told the story.  It had to do with a mother on welfare who, according to Reagan, was symbolic of the abuses of America’s social programs.

It is a week of historical memories and, therefore, an important time for American social and cultural reflection.

It is a week of historical memories and, therefore, an important time for American social and cultural reflection.