accountability

not a word much used these days- from the speeder who cuts you off in traffic; to the local pastor fondling pre-teen parishioners; to state officials caught peddling prostitutes; to the federal government who starts illegal wars for profit- no one feels accountable anymore. here in new york state, the budget woes and tax burden is not something to be envied, and yet, for more years than not, the state budget has been late without a squawk from new yorkers. we shrug and complain and go about our daily routines. lately, the miracle cure is 'marcellus shale' as if this will be the answer to all of our problems. my thought is perhaps new yorkers should stop looking for a quick 'drill, baby drill' fix to the tax burden and take a tougher look at the root cause of it. we need to make difficult decisions and the truth is- we don't have a representative government in albany. what we need to do is take the knife to the bloated systems that exist solely to perpetuate jobs and decide whether we need streets with curbs or a generous social services package. seriously.

i have been thinking quite a bit about accountability lately because i can't wrap my mind around the fact that it has become so commonplace for americans to simply give in without a peep to bullies and loud mouths and so called 'experts.' i haven't quite decided whether it's gullibility or guilt or i don't even know...

america was a great idea for a long time- and it worked for most because the citizens maintained the system. now, i know that there were severe flaws- i mean women have only had the right to vote since.... 1920. that's what really blows my mind that so many young people simply assume that they will always have their rights because they always have. they nod and smile when told that they really need to maintain and continue to fight to keep the civil liberties americans used to enjoy under the constitution. within the span of a decade, the very essence and core of american democracy has been eroded down to a nub. we live under a facade of rights- not the actual rights.

any american who still believes that they have a right to privacy or are protected from unlawful search and seizure hasn't been paying attention to the congress or the supreme court within the last few years- and indeed the last couple of months. yes, we can hop in our cars and speed down the highway and cut someone off in traffic with impunity- but we can also have our computers and phones and mail monitored without us even knowing. we can also be taken from our homes and no one need be notified and we don't have to be mirandized or allowed counsel indefinitely. did i mention we can be held indefinitely too......

so, as the fourth of july approaches, i wonder if there really is an america under the cheap, patriotic bbq facade. after the beer buzzes fade and the smoke from the fireworks clears, will most americans understand what they were supposedly celebrating? will they understand that we do not have a representative government on any level anymore? will they understand that chief responsibility of every citizen in a democracy is to hold their governments accountable?

even our upper middle class, white, landowner, slave owner founding fathers got that...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,^[71] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

but i have a feeling that most americans wouldn't even know where those words came from, let alone have read the document through more than once half assedly in their 10th grade civics class. see, we don't want to be held accountable so we can't very well hold anyone else accountable. and, hey, history is boring right? i mean otherwise we would have recognized that the banking collapses and the basic implosion of our economic systems mirrored that of the 1920's.... or that tyranny usually comes from within one's own nation- and that corporates rarely have the 'small people's' welfare at heart...

but, hey, don't let me rain on your bbq- and while i realize that it's your land to do with what you like, with a record like the energy companies have- whether it be digging for oil or natural gas, you don't really get to do what you like. there comes a time when the rest of us need to stand up and say- shut the fuck up and sit down- people who have half a brain need to be heard now...

god smote me down

i have a bit of an idea of how job felt- minus the boils.... i have been absolutely miserable for the last few days with post nasal drip, sore throat, cough, and swollen glands the size of bull testicles... sigh... i have a feeling that god must be angry with me- i mean how else to explain it other than 'an act of god?' i must admit i have skewered the right quite a bit for their hypocritical, single minded, bigoted, terroristic, dog like devotion to fascist ideology...

oh. shit. i'm not going to get better any time soon am i?

i suppose god is sore at me for skewering the left- that paragon of acquiescing to all things right while embracing the power sucking abilities left behind by their right wing predecessors.....

oh. shit. i'm not going to get better any time soon am i?

america has been america for oh, about 234 years or so- in fact, her 'birthday' is coming up this weekend. it's the holiday where americans can celebrate their independence from british petrolueum- um, i mean the british east india company- um i mean the british empire.... and bask in the knowledge that because a small group of upper middle class merchants didn't want to pay their taxes anymore, they hatched a carefully planned, spontaneous plot dressed as the evil red terrorist hordes to dump a whole boatload of tea out of hundreds- into boston harbor under cover of darkness....

yep. i'm not going to get better any time soon am i?

some of those upper middle class, landowning, slave owning, white guys decided to pen these immortal words to get the whole ball of wax rolling:

'when in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to seize control of your government so that you can assume 100% of the profits from taxing the 'little people', you should do so but only by using ill trained, expendable citizen soldiers to fight for that in your stead.'

or something like that. good to see not much has changed in the last 234 years....

since i know i am not going to get better any time soon, i guess i had better go make some hot..... tea.

gonna be unpopular for sure

but i have little sympathy for the red state, republican- let's deregulate everything and shrink government agencies to nothing gulf coast region. sorry that your tourism and whatnot is now gone but hey, maybe ya'll can pray it ok again.... just sayin' that you reap what you sow... or in right wing bible thumper talk- hey, it was an act of god.....

random thoughts...

got some garden going and landscaping and whatnot... it's a mixed bag so far as nothing looks real nice at this point. perennials take time to get established and re-established and garden plants are hit or miss getting going... sigh... at least it's good exercise... anyhoo, i have been thinking quite a bit about helping people. there's a part of me that believes that folks sometimes need a helping hand when they are down and that there is no reason that we can't provide basic human necessities for everyone in this country. then, there's the part of me that worked in human services and saw how useless most of the 'helpful services' were- substance abusers and child abusers are abusers- and they aren't interested in help- simply a handout. so, riff raff moved into a rental across the street from the fam and since the police are there every other day or so- mom has been treating it like an episode of 'cops.' the decent neighbors in the neighborhood are not keeping pace with the riff raff these days i am afraid and i have already put a bug in hubby's ear about unloading the property and 'white flighting' it out of the area. and, no, the riff raff is not exclusively 'minority'- it's just trash. these people pimp young people out and run drugs and throw wild parties where adult men urinate off the porch and they slur karaoke.

i generally refer to those folks as 'white trash'- and that's what got me thinking i suppose. you can give folks money and a nice place to live- but you can't give them respect and decency. being poor doesn't mean being trash and it doesn't mean you have to be soul less and emotionless- the substance abuse does that. which brings me back around to my thinking and not really having a good answer. there seems to be a whole lotta folks with too much time on their hands- from teenagers to crack heads- nothing to do and a whole lotta time to think about making a quick buck off the backs of others- whether it be their offspring or the taxpayers. no, i am not kidding- the bitch across the street pimps out her kid. anyhoo, i'll bet dollars to donuts that there are taxpayer social services involved over there while they make money off the system. and it's the kids who pay the ultimate price. it steams me.

our social services in this country are about as successful as our health care system- if that gives you any idea. these both exist purely to perpetuate jobs for the middle class. in fact, most of our 'system' exist solely to perpetuate jobs- profit over people- from the health care to education to social services. there isn't a bit helpful about any of them. the middle class has been 'educated' to the standard of living where walmart country chic is haute coutre and nascar is the sport of kings... really... there are so many people out and about here in my area- i keep asking- where's the recession? apparently, no one here got the memo because everyone in the greater binghamton area is out walking, driving and shopping as if summer vacation started early. that's a whole lotta folks with a whole lotta free time.

there are too many people and not enough jobs- and that's not something you'll ever hear on the msm networks. with more efficient computer systems and robots- and so much cheap labor elsewhere- we really don't need the middle class widget makers anymore. and we only need so many folks to flip a burger at wendy's. look, i am a fairly generous person but i have little to no sympathy for social services sponges. if you are going to receive services, 1) you have to be tested regularly and randomly for drugs and alcohol, 2) you must look for a job and get one in a certain time frame and if you don't- your ass is out there volunteering for a certain amount of hours every week, and 3) you get random visits from social workers if you have kids- to insure that you clean your damned apartment and put curtains up to the window and you don't have 150 people in and out of your home.

if we are going to perpetuate the capitalistic, consumeristic ideology- then we are going to continue to have a large swath of the population who are sponges. the folks who use services correctly are not the ones who are the issue- the people who are wandering around the streets texting and cell phoning their next deal- are. why would anyone attempt anything meaningful when they have no reason to? why would they give a damn about their neighbors if they don't their own children? america has had this ugly secret for a long time and refused to acknowledge it, but we have more of the broken screened, weedy grass, people on the front stoop being obnoxious folks than the white picket fence, flag waving crowd. the middle class is shrinking and truthfully, the folks who are problems now- their numbers are growing.

perhaps that's the real reason our rights are being eroded by the dozen. the 'haves' in power see the 'have nots' as a real problem in the coming years. unfortunately, for the rest of us- there is no where else to flee to...