Fall mountains, just don’t fall on me

Huge, formerly respected companies are indicted on criminal charges. 

A lying and evasive Catholic hierarchy.

A citizenry that routinely disbelieves what politicians and leaders tell them.

A stock market that can no longer be trusted.

A national cocoon of security that was forever destroyed on 9/11.

Our national social structures are crumbling and nothing has yet replaced them. Which helps explain the rise of fundamentalism, which says, in an insane world, listen to us, we have The Answer. Turn off your brain, bow in fealty to our belief system, then all will be revealed.

Joseph Campbell says we have no rituals left in our society, and that this is one important reason why we have youth violence.  There are no moorings left, no signposts to guide the way, and that a society in such circumstances is in bad shape indeed.

There’s a weird convergence here.  Loss of faith in religious, social, business, and governmental institutions is happening simultaneously. “Ancient Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times” seems relevant.

Maybe it’s the effects of global capitalism finally coming back to the States.  At a leftie meeting recently, people were talking about the layoffs and pension fund crashes occurring as a result of corporate corruption.  A man from Zaire said “The middle class in America is experiencing what Africans have experienced for hundreds of years”.

Mostly, our leaders seem out of touch, set in their ways, unable and unwilling to change.  The Catholic hierarchy when not actively covering up the pedo-priest mess, does little but make unctuous noises about how it won’t happen again. Clueless. The Bush Administration, despite their bellicosity, have done little since 9/11 to prevent another attack except piss off the rest of the world.  Clueless.  CEOS’s, who were treated like rock stars not that long ago, now get to do the perp walk.  Greedy pigs.

So who’s left to trust and look up to anymore? But Nature (and politics) abhors a vacuum.  Something will move in to replace our imploding social order.

The question is, what?  Comments?

No Comments »

Concentration Camps in America ?

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be “enemy combatants” has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace. Ashcroft’s plan, disclosed last week but little publicized, would allow him to order the indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional rights and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants. The proposed camp plan should trigger immediate congressional hearings and reconsideration of Ashcroft’s fitness for this important office. Whereas Al Qaeda is a threat to the lives of our citizens, Ashcroft has become a clear and present threat to our liberties. The camp plan was forged at an optimistic time for Ashcroft’s small inner circle, which has been carefully watching two test cases to see whether this vision could become a reality. The cases of Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi will determine whether U.S. citizens can be held without charges and subject to the arbitrary and unchecked authority of the government.  via [Synergic Earth News]

No Comments »

Why we must invade Iraq RIGHT NOW!

link

No Comments »

Cardinal Mahony hid pedo-priests from police, L.A. Times

In a front page story Sunday, the L.A. Times details how Cardinal Mahony blocked police inquiries into priest sexual abuse, hid priests in foreign countries, and, in general did whatever he could to keep a media lid on the problem - even when that meant reassigning priests to parishes where they committed the same crimes again.

Faced with allegations that parish priests had sexually abused minors, the Los Angeles Archdiocese under Cardinal Roger M. Mahony for many years withheld information from police and allowed clerics facing prosecution to flee to foreign countries, internal records and interviews show.

Now Mahoney claims to have got religion, as it were, about this, and says he is busily rooting out all such bad apple priests.  Hmmm, and he also hired the same public relations firm that Enron used to help him in this noble battle.  Pardon my skepticism. 

Indictments are expected soon for several priests, and hey, if Mahony withheld evidence and obstructed justice, shouldn’t he be indicted too?

No Comments »

Get your free EV now!

General Motors Corp. will give away thousands of golf cart-like electric vehicles to comply with California regulations forcing automakers to sell pollution-free vehicles, GM officials said this week. 

Over the next three years, GM will give the vehicles to California businesses and charitable organizations so the automaker can earn zero-emission vehicle credits, which are counted toward the state’s goal of getting more environmentally friendly vehicles on the road.

No Comments »

Scientists, Starving Africans Know Something We Don’t

When three African nations facing famine reject emergency food shipments due to concerns over genetic engineering, it’s time for Americans to reconsider their own government’s policy toward biotech food.

Many nations ban genetically engineered (GE) crops because they fear unknown risks. But how can countries facing famine spurn donations of biotech food?

Officials in Mozambique and Zambia are apparently willing to risk seeing their people starve rather than allow emergency shipments of engineered corn into their countries.

No Comments »