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| Friday, July 10th, 2009 | | 8:55 am |
Overview of a Condemned System: The Prison-Industrial Complex Part 1
Overview of a Condemned System: The Prison-Industrial Complex Ray Carlson, MSW, ASW I work as a psychiatric social worker at the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, California. It is the third largest jail in California, the fifth largest in the United States. Using the bible of Western mental health convention, the Diagnostic Standard Manual (DSM), I spend each morning throughout the week assessing and diagnosing multiple clients for mental health disorders. While I could devote a separate series to my perspective on that salient lens through which we view mental health issues, today I will limit my criticism of it to its chief flaw: While it offers a comprehensive catalog of what is wrong with individuals, it omits any analysis of the irreparably flawed systems that dominate the lives of my clients, in this case the criminal justice system. Is it even appropriate or helpful to frame debates regarding mental health or criminal justice systems entirely within a rhetorical question of what is wrong with individuals, while neglecting an honest discussion of what is wrong with systems? One wall of my office is a growing gallery of client art. Daily, I survey this great display of talent and resilience, while puzzling over the following conundrum: Why is it that in an era where the buzzword is “green,” and the term “recycle” applies increasingly to our garbage, we continue to throw humanity into a bin from which there is no recovery? Application of a theoretical framework of social work known the Person-In-Environment perspective would suggest a similar judgment against the criminal justice system as has been acknowledged by the eco-environmental movement regarding our current use of natural resources. In both cases, the current system is unsustainable. The next admission, that the time has come to build and implement a systemic and transformational set of solutions to these problems, while also obvious, will require considerable creativity after significant debate. As systems interact, the transformation of the criminal justice system will necessitate that those systems with which it interacts also be transformed. In order to be successful, such a transition would need to incorporate a new paradigm that replaces the old Industrial Revolution values of profit motive and subordination to the machine with a distinctly stated value and priority of human worth and potential. Although incarceration as an answer may serve our temporary illusion of convenience and simplicity, the dire condition of our Federal, State and local budgets begs for an open discussion of both human and financial costs of such a non-solution. As would be the case in ignoring a malignant tumor, our continued denial of the systemic problems we must now confront has allowed these problems to metastasize. Perhaps a good place to begin this discussion would be to identify the many who lose and the few who profit from this system of waste. The losses include ruined or impaired lives of inmates, broken relationships with their families and friends, intergenerational cycles of incarceration, poverty, and unemployment, tax dollars spent to fund the system, and the loss of tax revenue such inmates could contribute as employed and enfranchised citizens. The few who gain most from the current system include most notably two groups: the politicians who write the laws, and the heads of the corporations of the prison-industrial complex who fund lobbying efforts to the first group. This essay is the first in a multi-part series. Each part will examine one aspect of the current state of the Criminal Justice system. The articles that follow will provide anecdotal examples of the system’s dysfunction, will discuss problems with and propose solutions to the current system. | | Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 | | 7:32 am |
Social Justice, War, Punishment, and Torture: Follow Links, Connect Dots!
Commentary: The first link below is a three-minute movie, entitled, "Civilian Casualties of War." It concerns what we the people of the United States are doing in Afghanistan. As long as war rages on in Afghanistan and Iraq, with more of the same looming overhead with other nations, no one will be free, here or elsewhere. As Americans contemplate the meltdown of the economy, and try to salvage what little of our wealth we have left, we need to be more mindful of those whose lives are being destroyed by our bombs while we live in relative comfort. As you will see in the short film, what the United States is doing is far more harmful than even what is being done by the Taliban, because we use far more money that than does the Taliban to destroy lives. As long as torture continues in the name of fighting terrorism, no one in or out of this nation is safe. Do not think that just because it is a dark-skinned person today, it will not be a light-skinned person tomorrow. Do not think that your U.S. Citizenship makes you immune. For one thing, if you go to a foreign land and others see your passport, the fact that it is from the United States will place you in increased danger and under scrutiny. For another, if the United States is willing to massacre Iraqi civilians and call them "suspected terrorists," what makes you think that this nation will exempt you as a U.S. Citizen, if for instance the government doesn't approve of your peace-promoting activities? If there are no followed Geneva Conventions, there are no legal constraints. Please see the second link for further information. The third link is Amazon.com's two cents worth on the Google search "Love County Fear Government," just in case you're one of the few Americans who still reads. If you don't read, I can understand it, but neither you nor I can excuse your ignorance any longer. The writing is not just on the wall; it is in books, and your American privilege will not protect you for much longer. As an activist, I find myself caught in a world of ambivalence. I love what this nation was supposed to be, and yet our treatment of American Indians and the institution of slavery from this nation's inception rendered the vision more of a myth than a reality. Now, as the power structure continues to churn out Orwellian disinformational slogans such as, "They hate us for our freedoms," (please see link 4) I begin to wonder if anything short of a full economic and political collapse can bring to the American Empire a sense of empathy for those across the world, or even a sense of social justice for those citizens of the United States caught either in the military-industrial complex, or for that matter, the prison-industrial complex. Link 5, authored by my friend Allen L. Roland, sums it up pretty well. As a social worker at the fifth largest jail in the United States and the third largest jail in California, I will have PLENTY to say in the future about the cruel and unusual scourge of punishment across California and the United States that is ruining the lives of the innocent as well as the guilty, while it raids our local, state, and national treasuries with morally, ethically and fiscally bankrupt practices. If you won't bother to read the books or even the links I've alluded to, won't you at least stay tuned to my column? If your head isn't firmly stuck in the sand of ignorance, this very column promises to be an eye-opening experience! Links: | | Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | | 7:03 am |
American Medieval Practices in the 21st Century
Commentary: It is something quite extraordinary when Spain, home of the Spanish Inquisition, seeks to prosecute members of the Bush Administration for torture in the 21st Century. Should you look into Spanish history and ask what the difference is between our respective practices of torture, the answer is: somewhere between 175 and 350 years. The United States is said to have dated back to July 4, 1776, putting it squarely in the middle of that time period. Is the lack of American knowledge of World History a reason why we repeat the most vulgar practices of our European past?
Although we keep hearing that "it isn't our policy to torture," which we will hear again at the end of the video segment below, it is clear that we have engaged in such, and continue to do so. Americans need to stand up against cruel and unusual punishment. If I remember correctly from grade school, the reason we are supposed to follow the U.S. Constitution is that it is morally and ethically superior to other nation's ways of conducting their laws. But a look at this video will make any American paying attention recognize that we have strayed severely from "All (men) are created equal."
My brother was killed in Vietnam. Yet, I can not tolerate going to Memorial Day Services, because talking heads on stage at the National Cemetery continue to insist that the United States fights wars for freedom, evoking in my mind the slogan "Freedom is Slavery" from Orwell's book, Nineteen Eighty Four. Links: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/24-0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisitionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four | | Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | | 7:05 am |
HUMANITY'S PRECIPICE!
Commentary: Daily, I struggle to find a place on the ballooning human suffering all around us where we can recognize all of our struggles to be tied together. The following link pretty much sums it up: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8071347.stm The very shape of our world has to change from a pyramid to a sphere. Humanity's brain, dominated during the whole of written history by the brain stem (reptile brain), needs to shift to the cerebellum and cerebral cortex (mammal brain). There is no more room for false comfort, no more time to wait and see. The handwriting is on the wall. What we are experiencing all over the globe are the first contractions of a tremendous re-birth of humanity. But as we are now mammals, not reptiles, we can't just hatch a New Age like another reptile egg. It is taking the suffering we are experiencing from inside to push a new consciousness out of the womb of human ignorance and into the world in which we live. Suggestions: 1. Breathe, and 2. Push 3. Visit the link above and below. Next, look at the upper right-hand corner of the news article. Unless the advertisement changed between this column's posting and the reader's reading, it is a corporate commercial claiming that General Electric is making a commitment to healthcare, with the caption below, "imagination at work." Well, if "imagination at work" equals magical thinking and deceit, this is certainly true. But I would lay odds that the same corporation would not need to spend million$ on glossy video advertising were it intending to save billion$ by thwarting single-payer healthcare for all Americans. Recap: Can you hear me? Hello?!?!?! I said, and will continue to say, as long as there are words left in the body of www.raycarlson.com and there is life left in the body of Ray Carlson, that EVERYTHING has to change. That includes the way we think, the way we treat each other, what we pay attention to and what we ignore, what our priorities are, what we value, what battles we are willing to engage in, and how we live from day to day. The catastrophe borne of the human suffering our neglect is racking up worldwide is more of a threat to national and global security than any 9/11 the Bush Administration can devise or manipulate. What's more, America is in the position to lead the rest of the world in one direction or the other, but not both. Where the irresistable force meets the immovable object is in each and every individual's consciousness, particularly across the United States of America, if and when we recognize that what is being forced upon us in the name of "National Security" is the very strategy that will destroy any sense of security that humanity has left. What will it take in order for us to wake up?! While I'm afraid to ask the question, every living being needs the answer! Link: | | Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | | 9:13 am |
"War on Terra" is not JUST a Bushism!!!
Commentary: It struck me today. Bushie Boy didn't "misunderestimate" his crusade against nature when he referred to the "War on Terra." "Terra" is Latin for "earth." There really is a War Against Terra raging across the planet. Corporate-driven patriarchal values of centralized wealth and power have so eclipsed the way societies are run, that we are presently overrun with wars, prisons, garbage, pocket to public tyrannies, corporate greed, and contempt against every last feminine value of supporting and nurturing life. Our air, our soil, and our water are polluted, while all across the "land of the free" is health care that is only free to the ruling elite. Meanwhile, our single Mother, the Earth, struggles to feed all of us. We garner her gifts by stealing them, trying to corral them into private profit, showing her our thanksgiving by bombing the hell out of her children, killing off every species we can, then turning blind eyes and deaf ears to the very problems we face, until to paraphrase Gandhi, the whole world is blind and deaf. Is it that much of a stretch to say that such a slumber begs a great awakening, an awakening that stretches into the spiritual but is grounded in the political and the social? The false religion is here and now. The very ones calling themselves "pro-life" have no clue what to do in order to sustain life except to criminalize women's already limited political power of choice. This group-think pushes war and capital punishment, lets the guilty go free, judges the innocent as guilty, and punishes them for being alive. People like Jeb, Brother of Bush, talk about a culture of life, but their poster child is the ghost of Terry Schiavo. I shudder at the thought that some illiterate slob at the Department of Homeland Security might mis-read what I have written, break into my apartment on a warrantless search, and hold me without charges and against my will in some God-awful torture chamber, all because I tell the reader that Bush is wrong and Terra is good. But if there is a public grass-roots movement to restore the U.S. Constitution, enough to give me a fair and speedy trial, my hope is that the rules of English as well as the rule of law apply. So, do your part for Terra. Make love not war. Think for yourself. And fight public injustice with personal truth. End of sermon. Links: | | Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | | 6:57 am |
The 100 Days, Defection of Spector, and Eventual Arrival of Franken
Commentary: The first 100 days of Obama's Administration have passed, although policies followed and embraced by the United States of America have been wrong not for 100 days, nor even 100 years, but over 225 years. I am of the opinion that the Obama Administration has yet to make any real radical departures from the logical extreme of these horrible, unethical, and unsustainable policies, which merely went viral during the Bush Administration. This is evidenced most blatantly but not exclusively in the embrace of Bush's torture policies, war in Afghanistan, continuing military presence in Iraq, and supply-side banking. There are those, myself included, who have been of the opinion that our new President really wants to do the right thing, but is stymied by the number of Republicans in the Senate, who can and have effectively blocked his agenda from being enacted, threatening gridlock on a daily basis. Although Al Franken has yet to ascend to his hard-fought Senate seat, it is clear that when he does, Obama will have what the more liberal of us consider to be his last, best opportunity to distinguish himself from the Bush White House: a fillibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate. Originally, I was of the opinion that the mid-term elections would prove to be a turning point, as Obama would have the opportunity to consolidate his power. But now, particularly with yesterday's defection of Arlen Specter, our new President will soon have the barest number of Senatorial seats to support sorely needed politically and economically radical shifts in direction. Furthermore, we don't have another two years to wait, and Obama himself has even given lip service to change, saying that now is the time for bold measures. So is this another lying, compromising administration, another carefully measured public relations campaign, or is it "the real thing?" My skepticism, which has existed from the beginning of Obama's run for President, continues unabated except for a few brief signs of hope now and again with positive gestures. But if Obama told us that the time has come to put away childish things, I will add that the time has also come to sweep aside cosmetic gestures and embrace the type of world in which we want to live and raise our children. My opinion is that, upon Al Franken's arrival to the Senate, it will be time to begin a long-overdue and sorely needed shift back toward ethical and humanitarian values across this vast and politically and demographically disparate land. It will need to be bold, because the time for business as usual and cosmetic adjustments is long over. If America ever had a moral compass to begin with, an idea refuted by the genocide of the Indians and the treatment of the African slaves, it has certainly lost this compass now. Whether or not the present Administration decides to begin telling the truth, the time has come for all of us to begin doing it in our lives. Stand up for social justice and peace. Do not let the corporate steamrollers have the last word. Watch the news, but don't just wait. Speak up. Even if the only outcome is an open discussion between yourself and one of those reasonably moderate types open to facts, it has the power to shift the debate in a way critical to the survival of not only the United States, but the entire world. Links: | | Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 | | 7:28 am |
Did the First Lady Break Royal Protocol? WHO CARES?!?!?!
Commentary: In case you haven't noticed, the worldwide financial system is melting down. Merrill Lynch delivered bonus payments to the tune of $3.62 BILLION to top executives, dwarfing AIG's $165 MILLION. But what is prominent this morning in Yahoo news? Whether Michelle Obama broke British protocol by touching the Queen of England on the back. I understand that the revolution will not be televised, nor will it appear prominently on the Internet. But if anything underscores why the traditional press has become irrelevant, it is the way that traditional news agencies what is worthy of the public's attention. Links: | | Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | | 7:40 am |
Read Between the Ears
Commentary: Usually I connect the dots, but today, I (re)state the obvious. The linked article asks the question, with indredulity, why so many Americans are killing themselves and others. Please allow me to apply my brain to a no-brainer, so that we can connect the ears and find what is between them. 1. Our industrialized society is based solely upon money, but lacks any basic social structure. 2. Our monetary system is dissolving underneath us. 3. What is left? I believe that human beings have a need to know that they have been alive on earth. If they are silenced, then as Simon and Garfunkel sang, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls." If they still feel invisible, a lifetime may dissolve into 15 minutes of fame. What does it take for others to pay attention to the fact that someone is alive and human? Now, notice your reaction to what I write. If you are offended, re-read what I have said, then look into your own soul and see what it is that is really bothering you. Link: | | Thursday, March 26th, 2009 | | 11:15 am |
Just When You Thought You've Seen It ALL... ... ...
Commentary: Today, I contrast two stories I just happened upon, to illustrate the intensity of the battle between good and evil, between peace and war, that is taking place across the planet even as we speak. Then, I use a third and confirmed historical artifact to synthesize the two and make my greater point. First, a bill was recently and stealthily introduced by such agri-corporations as Monsanto, the effect of which could make organic farming illegal. (See link 1a.) Rumor has it as well (see links 1b.) that Monsanto has experimented with creating corn spliced with HIV, ostensibly for some type of biological warfare. If you're like me, you probably wonder if there is any end to this type of evil. But if this triggers your anger and fear, please read on, my friends. The next story, below, from which I quote, should trigger your hope... ... ... ************* "The Palestinian youths from a tough West Bank refugee camp stood facing the elderly Holocaust survivors on Wednesday, appearing somewhat defiant in a teenage sort of way. Then they began to sing.
The choir burst into songs for peace, bringing surprised smiles from the audience. But the event had another twist: Most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from the West Bank, a rare sight in Israel these days. And the youths had no idea they were performing for people who lived through Nazi genocide - or even what the Holocaust was... ... ... " (See link 2. for entire story.) Analysis: Peace and cooperation are more beautiful than evil is ugly. Both war and peace, both evil and good, are wrought by humans. That they can not coexist is the reality. In the short run, war overruns peace, and darkness overtakes humanity, as it did during Medieval time. In the long run, however, peace wins, and the great light extinguishes the darkness, sometimes literally. Please read on, dear reader. I refer to a profound historic reality, that the Berlin Wall fell not because of the power of militarism, not because of Reagan nor even because of Gorbachev, but because of protests of nonviolence and candlelight prayers for peace. The East German army was prepared for any contingency EXCEPT prayers for peace and lit candles. Mind you, if you hold a candle, it requires two hands, one to hold the candle, the other to keep the wind from extinguishing the flame. In this type of demonstration, your vulnerability is your only strength. And apparently, it was enough to confound the East German military.(See links 3) Remember that Gandhi said, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Love, Ray ************* Links: 1b. AND AND AND | | Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | | 7:27 am |
Falsely Framing the Public Debate: Education and Health Care
Commentary: I'm not often at a loss for words. But for an entire week, I have been at a loss, searching for words which would embody deep, profound, and disturbing questions that Obama's education and health care proposals bring to my mind. At last I have found the tip of the iceberg, the links to which are below.
Rather than do your thinking for you, I invite you to follow the links, then think for yourselves. I have supplied the readers with a few critical thinking questions to help you think freely and openly, and to find the hidden assumptions that falsely frame the public debate.
Critical-Thinking Questions: Considering that the human brain learns without scholastic prompting beginning at birth, what are we calling "education"? Who is going to decide what constitutes a good teacher? Policy hacks, school administrators, parents, or students themselves? Are critical thinking skills the basis of the curriculum, or grounds for teachers to be terminated? What are the real reasons why we only teach to one side of the brain, utilizing regurgitation of memory and so-called "facts" instead of to the higher centers that include critical thinking, integration, and creativity? What's wrong with a picture of change that shuts the most important voices out of the debate? Examples: Health Care and Education
Links: | | Monday, March 9th, 2009 | | 7:30 am |
The Age of Secrets and Era of Corporations are both Ending
Commentary: What may sound like today's science fiction can likely become tomorrow's prophecy. Therefore, if the day ever arrives when other civilizations are confirmed to be in touch with our planet, humans will likely almost immediately assimilate the knowledge and treat the news as though it had been self-evident all along. The corollary to this is that at that time, they'll likely refer to any belief that we are alone in the Universe as analogous to a "flat earth" theory. But today in 2009, lacking firm evidence to the contrary, most are prone to question the sanity of anyone who declares that we aren't alone in the Universe, just as centuries ago, many thought that Copernicus' great theory, subsequently confirmed by Gallileo, that the earth was indeed not the center of our solar system, to be fantasy-laden, or worse, heretical. And so it is I believe with the Age of Secrets and the Era of Corporations. While we have had and tolerated both, and will likely continue to have both, humanity is beginning to move around a great cosmic curve. Although we don't yet know the outcome of events in this life or at this time, outer reality at last appears to bear out what I hereby declare. The Internet is a vehicle behind which information travels at speeds fast enough to permit neither the type of secrecy nor the limited consciousness that has been characteristic throughout known human history, thereby accelerating the change that many have long seen coming. The Age of Secrets has been an extended period of time during which general knowledge is obscure, mystical awareness is buried under the world's religions, and the political vehicles of Church and State use secrets to hold power over the masses so that they can be controlled and manipulated into doing their bidding. The Kennedy assassination is one salient and rather recent 20th Century example of this phenomenon. Another even more recent example, and one that up until this time has dominated 21st Century human consciousness, is the true story behind September 11, 2011. That the majority of the public still buys "conspiracy theory" regarding the former, and that at least a plurality, including a group of 9/11 widows, believe the same about the latter, tells this author that Lincoln's quote, that you "... can't fool all of the people all of the time," is correct. The actual tendency for those with power to hold this power over the masses can be traced back at least as far as the history of the Catholic church, partially neutralized by the invention of the printing press. Before that, legend has it that various civilizations that were technically adept were inhabited by humans not privy to this mystical knowledge. From at least the Medieval era until the present, much mystical and metaphysical knowledge has been hidden from the public view, although these conventional beliefs are challenged by the current nature of quantum physics. A variety of cultures, including the Mayans, Hopis, and Tibetans, have prophesied that there would be a time of culmination, a time of purification, and then a new civilization. What we are experiencing these days appears to be that very change. Although evidence appears now to show scientifically the possibility that life on the planet, particularly human life, could end, we seem to be in a cuspal period, one that necessitates a change from a crude fundamentalism to a more advanced fundamental recognition of human rights, of a planetary consciousness from which we derive life, and a more sustainable global lifestyle. The Age of Corporations is the latest, and I believe last manifestation of the Era of Empires. While at one time Western Civilization was said to be spread through conquest, what was actually spread was a lifestyle that valued technological linearity over spiritual cyclicality. The end result is a planet of people connected technologically through the Internet, but unaware of our inherent connection to each other, the planet, life on Earth, and to the Cosmos. The cultural topsoil of countless indigenous civilizations has eroded to the extent that we are literally in a race against time. We are coming out of an era during which profit has outstriped prophets, during which our values reflect what Oscar Wilde referred to as "the price of everything and the value of nothing." But even as our entire way of life crumbles before us, we have the opportunity for the deepest and most godlike aspect of our consciousness to surface, thereby helping the planet move back in a more sane direction. Whether our technology saves or destroys us will depend upon where our collective consciousness travels in the course of the next four or five years. Those of us who wish to see this precious but fragile planet survive will need to undergo a major soul searching experience, find something deep and powerful in us that motivates and empowers us in this life, something that indigenous cultures have long referred to as a "vision," and then follow this vision in a way that is ethical and respects life. Links: | | Friday, March 6th, 2009 | | 3:38 am |
Say It With Animation!
Many events are better explained by animators than experts, all the more so because these so-called experts are the same ones who led us off the cliffs with their words, cleverly disguised to simultaneously bore us and make us think that the subject matter was too complicated for us. So how's this for some straight talk? 1. On the financial meltdown, Mark Fiore's parody on "frog-backed securities": 2. On the Gaza strip, Yoni Goodman's 90-second animation, "Closed Zone": You may agree or disagree, but after watching these very brief cartoons, you'll never again think that the subject matter is over your head. | | Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 | | 7:28 am |
Conspiracy is NOT Theory, and Controversy is NOT UnAmerican
Question: Who was the articulate political activist who uttered these words?
Quote 1: "We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed."
Hint:
It was the same man who, later in the same speech, said the following: Quote 2: "Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed--and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.
Answer: President John F. Kennedy, April 27, 1961, to the American Newspaper Publishers Association Analysis: Before you dismiss suggestions of conspiracy at top economic and governmental levels, I suggest you read the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," by John Perkins. If you can't read the entire book, follow the last text link below for a summary. The major notion of which the book should disabuse the reader is that conspiracies are limited to foreign governments, or for that reason to governments at all. Following the logic of this book, should we be at all surprised by suggestions that political assassinations across the globe are funded by American corporate interests? Moreover, if such is the case, what counter-forces are in place to stop assassinations of our own leaders, especially a leader such as Kennedy himself, who in the speech quoted here, resolved to tell the truth? When asking critical questions about global conspiracies, it is important not to confuse the question "how" with the question "why". The David Icke video link provides salient examples of a technique often employed by the controlling powers, known as "Problem, Reaction, Solution." The real reason "why," normally covertly concealed, is almost always control of the world's resources, whereas the "how" is by any means possible. Witness the wars either funded or fought by the United States over the last fifty years when examining political realities through this lens. Finally, why in the world would I raise such questions almost fifty years after the JFK assassination? Because: 1. The past is prologue, 2. Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it, 3. The ruling forces haven't changed, and, most importantly, 4. At last the United States has another President who is trying to tell the truth! Links: Video: Text: | | Friday, February 27th, 2009 | | 7:31 am |
Reading the Tea Leaves: The Mid-Term Elections of 2010
Reading The Tea Leaves: The Mid-Term Elections of 2010 Opinion: I have emerged from my ambivalence about our new President, and now believe I can safely read the tea leaves of the Obama Administration: If our new President intends to bring about real change across the nation, the mid-term elections should provide us with the first clear turning point for his Administration, as well as providing the liberal activists with our first Progressive vista. I believe that Obama's strategy in the first two years is to consolidate his power and augment his credibility by appearing more reasonable than the Republican opposition, thus adding to his numbers in Congress. By early 2011, when the next Congress takes over, Progressives should have their first clear view of what this man actually intends to do over an eight-year period. So far, the feeling of many progressives like me is an abundance of hope for what the man seems to have in his heart, combined with severe disappointment toward his cabinet choices and policies thus far. Many ask, "Is he FDR, LBJ, or Clinton?" While I may share this ambivalence as a progressive activist, I also believe that political change requires more slow and deliberate movement than does political activism. Many progressive ideas are first advanced by the activists, then eventually adopted by politicians, who hope to appear more centrist and bipartisan in order to add to their majorities. I repeat: While activism is necessary to move politics along to keep up with the times in which we live, its agenda is different than is politics. Activism seeks to tell the truth, whereas politics aims to make movement palatable to the masses. In metaphorical terms, the ship of State turns slowly, even in iceburg-infested water, in order not to appear to rock the boat too quickly. If I am correct, Obama is employing a political strategy that will pay off largely in two years, by which time I hope and pray to God that we haven't already struck ice like the Titanic. Links: | | Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | | 7:32 am |
Obama's Health Care Proposal: What's Missing?
Opinion: Please read the fine print from the President's "universal health care" proposal, and notice the following: according to Associated Press, he intends to pay for his plans specifically 1. by raising taxes on the wealthy, and 2. by slashing Medicare. I repeat. Please look above at #2, and then look below for a direct quote: "About half of what officials characterized as a $634 billion 'down payment' toward health care coverage for every American would come from cuts in Medicare. That is sure to incite battles with doctors, hospitals, health insurance companies and drug manufacturers. Some of the Medicare savings would come from scaling back payments to private insurance plans that serve older Americans, which many analysts believe to be inflated. Other proposals include charging upper-income beneficiaries a higher premium for Medicare's prescription drug coverage." Questions for critical thinkers: 1. Who are "many analysts" referred to in the article? And in particular, how many of these "many" are in the Obama Administration? 2. Of these "many", how many have current or former ties to the healthcare companies, and if the number of them is significant, 3. How can we expect anything new from those who serve to gain personally from a flawed health care system? 4. Is there something else that the President is not telling "us" (read: U.S. Citizens)? While the Reuters article says that the funds from Medicare will be slashed by "requiring competitive billing in some areas of the Medicare program...", logic asks if this is enough to save $317 billion, or the half of the $634 billion reserve that the AP article refers to. While I'm not an economist, I think I can safely predict that we can't get "there" from "here." If Obama is looking at the "big picture," he is not yet leveling with the American people, which brings to my mind the question of whether he has a vision in mind and is afraid of how the press will react if he shares it with us, or if he's just making it up as he goes along. In either case, there is a point to be made that is less economic and more spiritual: We are not mere cogs in an economic wheel. We are human beings, made in the image of whatever it is that created/evolved us. As such, our ability to imagine is perhaps the most powerful instrument we have. In the grey area, in the unknown that we currently face, there is room for each of us to imagine a solution that fulfills our individual and collective needs. More on that in my next column! Links: | | Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 | | 7:31 am |
Mr. President, Did you say "Change" or "Chains" we can believe in?!
Links: Commentary: I hate to be right about politicians, because what I see is cynical, depressing, and disturbing. But when the Obama campaign hit me up for money in the mail several months ago, I sent them only a note, telling them that they could count only on my vote, not my money, until I saw some real change. Apparently, "change you can believe in" has turned into "chains you can believe in." The most important change we were hoping for was to be change in our human rights policies. As you can well see from the links above, when the Obama Administration heard the word "change," they apparently thought they heard the word "chains," as they now continue the ethically repugnant and socially oppressive policies begun by the Bush Administration. Until the United States turns a major corner as regards human rights, prisons for profit, and the military, and furthermore that this change is reflected in our economic structure, there will be no social nor economic justice. An economic stimulus package designed to get us back to "business as usual" deserves to fail, because the status quo fails to take into account the needs and rights of not only American citizens, but of the entire world community. How a nation tells its history says everything about how it sees itself. German college students had to protest the way in which German history was (not) being told, leaving off with a gigantic gap between the abdication of Kaiser Willhelm on November 9, 1918, and the end of World War II in 1945. Eventually, Germany came fully to terms with its Nazi past, and then moved on. And so it must be with the United States. Therefore, until we begin to tell the truth with American history by adopting books such as Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" into the high school curriculum, I will not believe that any type of real change has come to the American mainstream. Issues of social justice demand critical thinking in examining our past, from the holocaust of the American Indians, to the wholesale kidnapping of the Africans as slaves, to the imperialistic and hegemonic policies engaged in by the United States following World War II. | | Monday, February 23rd, 2009 | | 7:41 am |
A Fireside Chat While the House of Cards is Burning
First, a disclaimer. Here at www.raycarlson.com, I try to connect the dots between events across the nation and in the world. However, don't let me do your thinking for you. If you disagree, by all means write me at raycarlson@raycarlson.com and present your opinion. Oh, but please reveal your email address. If I'm not anonymous, neither should you be. Now then, let's talk about Obama's supposed "failure" at bipartisanship. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/22/obama.so.far/ I think we need to give debit where it's due. By definition, you can't have bipartisanship with rank partisans. Make no mistake, I'm talking about Republicans in Congress, so if you're one of them, sue me! Allow this unabashed liberal provide a perspective regarding bipartisanship. If you read anything or eveything that I have written, bipartisanship is not anywhere on my list. Why? Because you can't talk with people who don't think for themselves. People who take their que from corporate money (here meaning public officials, not the people who vote for them) don't think for themselves. They may come up with reasons why they vote one way or another, but when it comes down to it, money is the only ventriloquist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquist "Huh?" you say. Bluntly paraphrased, "money talks," and in the case of state and federal Republican legislators, anything else is an illusion. If you want to know who is talking, find out who their donors are. Bluntly put, you aren't going to get any kind of bipartisan agreement between an administration trying for the first time in at least eight years to steer us clear of the iceberg-infested economic waters we are in, and the moneyed interests who got us into this mess in the first place. The Obama administration has already compromised their credibility with the progressive wing of the Democratic party by placing corporate stooges in the cabinet. This amounts to the old cliche of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/20-4 I'm not saying bipartisanship doesn't work. Don't get me wrong. I think the marriage of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarznegger is a good example of it (although I must confess that I much prefer Maria to Arnold, not only as a mate, but as an ostensible governor). But at a time when mutually exclusive agendas compete across the nation and in the world, the people's agenda is the direct opposite of the corporate agenda. Follow this link before you argue with me, please... http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/22. What we need once and for all is to get corporate money out of politics, no easy task. Perhaps we need to revisit the discussion of the First Amendment and why this writer believes that only individuals, not corporations, should have rights under the U.S. Constitution. So stay tuned, okay?!?!?!
Love,
Ray | | Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 | | 7:09 am |
War in Afghanistan: Two Stupid Ideas!
Dear President Obama, First of all, I feel for you. All these people telling you what to do at once must be crazy-making, unless, of course, you can be your own man. And in Washington DC, that's a big if. It's a tough job, but that's why it pays $200,000 something a year. No, not even half a CEO salary, but as I said before (February 14th column), there are some things money can't buy. Hopefully. Having said that as my disclaimer, I'll let you know up-front, as I promised to do several columns ago (December 19th, 2008, to be exact) that if you follow the "warnings" of the Neocons and the Dick Cheneys, the CEOs of Merrill-Lynch and Goldman-Sachs, and you try to make "deals" with those who got us into the ugly mess we're in, I will consider that you have essentially deafened yourself to the liberal progressives such as myself. Therefore, make no mistake, my compassion for the position you are in will dissolve like the Arctic Ice shelf when you trod in the footsteps of the last regime, or other failed regimes here and abroad. But I digress. We will discuss the Arctic ice shelf and so-called "clean coal" at another time. (Sigh!) You claim to be knowledgeable of history. Then do you understand that the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was at least as futile to the Soviets as the Vietnam War was to the United States? If it was a dumb idea the first time, do you really think it's a good idea the second?! Sure, you acknowledge that Iraq was stupid, which is half the problem. Then, instead of eliminating the other half, you seek to double it! Stupid idea!!! Let us take another, perhaps even more salient example in history of a dumb idea enacted twice. Napoleon in 1812 decided to march against the Russian front, which according to the article below reduced his troop levels from 510,000 to 10,000. And if it didn't work the first time, who deemed it appropriate the second? Why Hitler, who was arrogant enough not to learn from history. According to the same article, it cost him 1.5 million soldiers, and eventually, the war. Now that I have made my utilitarian argument, allow me to make the ethical argument. We are NOT Hitler. We are NOT Napoleon. We are the United (freaking) States, and even as we speak, we are losing everything we have supposedly "fought" for in our entire existence, economically, ecologically, and politically. Everything that we say this nation is supposed to be about is threatened by the continuation of the military-industrial complex and the prison-industrial complex. The juggernaut of war, the juggernaut of prison, and the profit motive running roughshod over every aspect of ethical treatment of one another is going to kill the entire planet if we do not stand up now and cry ENOUGH!!! And of course, if we continue to plunder the rest of the world with our ill-conceived policies, there will be no hope at home. It has taken 40 years, but what has gone around the world has come back home, with a vengeance. More vengeance abroad will reap more vengeance at home! The earth is not flat. What goes a-ROUND, comes a-ROUND. Let me say it again, in unequivocal terms! NO MORE WAR!!! NO MORE WAR!!! Can you hear me?!?!?! Can anyone out there hear me?!?!?! Let your voices be known. We have to stop this madness immediately, if the planet is to have any chance of survival! If we care about the next generation, we have to build bridges to the future. We can't build bridges by burning them. We can't preserve a world civilization by razing it. If soldiers we must be, let us all be soldiers for peace, and let us steel ourselves and our message to be invincible. Let our ethical compass guide all of our actions, and may we march toward social justice, being led by truth, not by fear. We may lose individually in this battle, but truth, not fear, will win the war, if war must be our paradigm. And may we find peace in the words above during our own steps toward the light of truth in the months ahead. Find truth in whatever form you find it. Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Tao, Peace, Justice, Freedom. And keep your eyes and ears aligned with it. Amen! End of rant. For today. | | Saturday, February 14th, 2009 | | 9:32 am |
Does EVERYTHING Have to Be About Money?!?!?!
Stimulus (not to be confused with "Stimulus Package"): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7874408.stm
Response:
Happy Valentine's Day. In case you've recently arrived to Planet Earth and are wondering what on Earth is going on, or in case you've been here too long to notice, something is seriously wrong here!
Let us break it down. What, you say, that's the problem?! It's appearing more and more broken down these days, you say? Well, in fact, you're quite right. It isn't just a mirage. It's a reality. What's wrong with this picture? Allow us to employ the Socratic method, and answer a question with a question: Does EVERYTHING have to be about money?! (Exit Socrates, Enter Activist) I know it seemed like a good idea at the time, thousands of years ago, beginning in or around the BronzeAge, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age ... ... ...and seemingly forever after. Originally, humans had to have a way of exchanging goods and services. So as the story goes, the idea behind the first minted coins, with the heads not of the Presidents, but of the gods themselves, was to transfer into the hands of human beings a little of the power of those gods. But power is a two-sided coin. In many ways, and for quite some time, the idea appeared to work, until what was supposed to be our medium of exchange became our leader. But sadly, what humans lost touch with by externalization was our own power as Gods-in-training. Ultimately, everything must change, including the idea of worth as an extrinsic (outer) phenomenon. Example: Statements such as, "What is Bill Gates WORTH?" Currently, and right before our very eyes, our entire planetary monetary system is melting down. There are those who would like to replace one flawed system with another, equally flawed monetary system. But folks, just in case it isn't crystal clear, this is not the Bronze Age anymore! Nor Even the Iron Age! The dinosaurs are gone, although we still embody them in our Paleolithic and territorial values. NOTE: Please notice that the individuals who would recycle the Bronze Age are generally the "haves," not the "have nots." Please also notice what these individuals wish to make private (everything they can get their money-grubbing hands on, including beaches, forests, mountains, perhaps even oceans someday. Oh, and political leaders), and what they want to make public (war, bailouts, and waste). What should that tell us about them? Writer knows that for everything else, there's Mastercard, but to flip the commercial around, there are some things money can only hire, but can never buy. Let us list a salient ten: 1. Awareness of and caring for others 2. Environmental consciousness 3. Ethics and integrity. Social Justice. Democracy. Human rights. 4. Enlightenment and Wisdom A fool and his money are soon parted. 5. Life after death Contrary to myth, you can't take it with you. 6. Forgiveness Contrary to the selling of Indulgences by the Catholic Church, which helped kick off the Protestant Reformation, which kicked off other problems, it simply can not be bought. 7. Respect and Friendship As far as I know, money can only buy disrespect and ruin friendships. 8. Creativity You can buy the art, you can hire the artist, but you can't buy what's between his/her ears. 9. Values. "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." 10. A non-monetary-based system. In short, all the values that are precious to us, the ones that will save the planet, depend precisely upon a new perspective on life, one that employs a new and different view of relationship between inner and outer, self and other, and ultimately life and death. | | Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 | | 6:26 am |
A Time to Enact our Visions
I remember as a young adult having had multiple spiritual visions of our future, which have continued over time. In my 20s, I could hardly wait to get there. Thinking of the signposts of the prophecies, and still being very much in my youth, I reacted with enthusiasm and impatience. These days, all of the things that were talked about, including looming economic and ecological catastrophes, social and political structures disintegrating, are occurring, things that all the human pack animal mentality used to deny with the widely-espoused, "That'll NEVER happen," which gave way as the ground began to melt to, "It's ALWAYS been this way." I guess the short-sighted among us have no sense of the cyclicality of time. Nor will our "I told you so's" do anything more than comfort our smug and insular sides, which in any case need to give way to a larger and greater compassion. The first step is to recognize that we are all in the same boat, which needs not to sink. What I remind the reader is what I remind myself: that destruction and chaos are not the end of order, but the beginning of new order. And while there will always be followers as well as leaders, I believe three important things: first, that our technology of communication imitates our natural broadband connection with one another, second, that at the pull of some great switch, humanity pulls off a great switch. That pull would be now. And third, that each individual who can speak their truth when the Quaker in them is so moved will be another instance of the Buddha, putting his finger to the earth at the moment of enlightenment, asking that earth to bear witness to his right to be. When I was a child, I remember learning about the history of the Industrial Revolution. I learned that even though it was a revolution, those experiencing it were likely unaware of it, since it happened so gradually. Fast-forward to these days, and the changes are not at all subtle. Public opinion is divided between those who say, "It'll get worse before it gets better," and those who say, "It's ONLY going to get worse." Let's hear it for (from) those who understand that in a free will Universe of constant change, the absolutes such as ALWAYS, NEVER, and ONLY are illusions. Let us see the changing truth behind such flat-earth thinking, and affirm and reinforce it as well as speak it when it bubbles up from a deep, integral, and ethical part of us. And this is the change we seek, of which we are a part, from which we are not apart. |
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