The Public Option

The economic foundations of the “America Dream” have to come from somewhere. How is it this country, America, has risen above all others promising and often providing the “American Dream?” The “American Dream” is nothing other than financial success achieved without the oppressive constraints of social class and politics. Somehow in the American capitalist frontier the system of supply and demand has been upheld. Commodities worthy of value remain as such, and invaluable commodities that are hawked and gambled upon eventually find their true demise. Hedge funds found their true demise. The bundled mortgages of private citizens held in the poker hands of elitist Wall Street players have revealed their true colors. Without a product, without a Gross National Product, there is no product upon which to gamble. Debt is not a good product upon which to gamble. We have learned that in the last two years. What has been the economic foundation upon which the “American Dream” has been possible? That is a good question. It seems the Free Market System, a system that relies upon honest and unbiased advertising, has been upheld in America until now. Now the airwaves that previously supplied that honest and unbiased advertising have become monopolized compromising the neutral communication of a democratic Capitalist socio-economic system. The airwaves have become corrupt. The infrastructure of America, honest and arbitrary advertising via telecommunications, has become a huge propaganda machine for the Extreme Right. The “American Dream” has been quashed by financial elites seeking to maintain their own power. The mobility of America, the ability to sidestep bureaucracy and large government, has been stymied by elitist America. Big business has squeezed the last penny out of Main Street left holding their dicks and wondering where the money is. In an effort to retain their monetary power, the remnants of elitist America produced by the medical profession and the insurance industry are floundering seeming grass roots lobbies at Town Hall meetings across America. Bucking the undeniable unpopular trend of HMO takeovers of healthcare in America, wildcard Republican extremists have launched an offensive against President Obama shouting such absurdities as “Death Squads.” While most Americans know Medicare and Medicaid are not the most efficient and stealth of health care providers, they are there for the masses that need them. Such is the “Public Option.” Unlike these shouters would have you believe at local Town Hall dissentions, the “Public Option” is meant to be nothing other than a viable option for health insurance for those that remain uninsured. As Obama continues to reiterate, it will not change the existing policies of Americans who are happy with their coverage. The Public Option, like the United States Post Office, is meant to provide and much needed service to and for the American people. The anti-Socialist shouting extremists appearing at these local Town Hall meetings are much more likely to be staged by the Republican party than pro-Obama supporters that slowly are beginning to realize their importance to the country. The stagnation of Old Money and the reliance upon tried and true fixed financial instruments has become real, and a true test of America’s Frontier is now underway.

We Can't Handle the Truth, in America

Upon returning to the continental United States after working on a cruise ship out of San Juan, Puerto Rico for six long months, the social, economic, and political landscape appear evil, bleak, and violent. Returning to a military town with the United States still engaged in an unwanted war of attrition against extreme Islam, the smoke continues to disguise reality. Virtual spin machines still are hard at work like Skynet doing their best to skew America’s political perceptions. Is it possible the Democratic Party is staging Town Hall meetings, supplying them with bought political supporters of our current President? Would the Democrats go to so much trouble to sway America’s perception? It is not unrealistic, because the media predominantly is controlled by the Extreme Right. Therefore their what-should-be-neutral media coverage all ready is tainted. It has been years since we as a people have been able to believe television. The internet is more reliable, but it seems not to be self-sustaining. The input of a myriad of bloggers seems to be the fuel of the internet news services. Without their online chatter, their coverage has waned but not without reason. The presidential election now is over, and the reality of trying to bleed news from the Capital Hill spin machine must be overwhelming. Journalism now will be defined by its traditional definition with instinctual, tenacious, investigative reporting. The good stories are left to those reporters who commit to their ideals. The question whether current Town Hall meetings have been staged is reasonable. Wag the Dog scenarios have existed before, and certainly the challenging of the medical elites’ monetary support is a high enough profile issue. It could define the very nature of America. Are we getting down to it? The issue simply is who deserves? Do uninsured Americans deserve health care? Can we qualify their needs for health care in the shadow of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States, “All men are created equal?” Because citizens are unemployed, poor, or illiterate means they do not deserve the same health care benefits as well-provided-for Americans? That seems to be the case in a country with roots in genocide and slavery. While America has redeemed herself in certain ways with advances in industry, technology, and art, today’s post Bush landscape is one littered with bigotry and racism radiating from a Totalitarian elite pushed into exile by Barack Obama and his fervent voters. Still as exhibited in these recent Town Hall meeting the disparate strains of America continue to fight. Slowly and surely Obama seems to be laying the groundwork for what could become milestone reversals of Bush’s unconstitutional policies and legislation. It takes time, and weekly assessments of Obama’s public satisfaction ratings are nothing more than media ammunition to fuel and disguise the truth. Television continues to be a void of nothing. There is very little worth watching, and the minds of our youth successfully have been shielded from the positive aspects and philosophy of American life. It continues to be a campaign of intimidation, fear, and violence. Formerly good people are taking up arms in ignorance, misunderstanding Obama’s plans. They are running scared, worried about no one but their own damn selves the way we were reared in our Capitalist socio-economic system. Obama is trying to change that with hints of a socialist philosophy. The problem is America’s own Extreme seem just as closed-minded as the Islam faction whom we are fighting. Instead of trying to embrace one another in diplomacy with Christian ethics, we are headed down a path of barbarous antagonism not unlike the Extremism we have witnessed since its inception. Media has adopted and embraced the extreme evil sacrament of terror and unknowingly we watch it daily. How can we not be affected? What is the truth? We can’t handle the truth, in America.

Let Them Eat Cake!

With the recent failure of hedge funds, financial instruments gambling upon consumer debt, it may be America’s realigning economy will become anachronistic. Wall Street’s financial district will disappear, and the quaint but realistic merchant shops once littering Manhattan’s streets and alleys will return. They would be selling fresh vegetables, fruit, meats, spices, perfume, baubles, and other accoutrement to thriving New Yorkers. They would not be selling multiple mortgages packaged at budget interest rates. The need to amass billions of dollars would cease, and humanity would return at a provincial grass-roots level. Guilds would take the place of the House and the Senate, and Free Masons would proliferate. Their symbol is on the back of our paper currency. The mundane skills of blacksmithing, cobbling, furniture-making, and cooking would re-inherit their former glory, and the tenets of American social class would shrink. The economy would contract but would come to rest firmly on a foundation of demand and supply. The Gross National Product would become inconsequential, because America would be concerned only with providing for herself. Imperialist desires would be quelled by a previous War in Iraq, another plunder tapping the pocketbooks of citizens. As the financial industry recedes cloaked and incognito, mainstream American minutemen would launch an offensive reestablishing control of the Federal Reserve. Those guilty of the Wall Street melt down would be humiliated, publicly shackled in stocks at the town square, not Town Hall. They would be left to be tormented by their livid dupes. If they whimpered for contrition, maybe guillotine would be spared.

The New Revolution

Disco dancing and step aerobics could have no faults other than mall hair and “Glam-Rock” clothing. They both are vital physical exercise allowing humans to purge their endorphins cleansing them of the toxic refuse created by living in a Capitalist socio-economic system. While the Humanities suggest Western society long has engaged in music rituals to sanctify romance, America has lost touch with her roots. The driving forces of the 1980’s, love and the arts, have been lost. Only now in the bleak aftermath of George Bush’s economic debacle, “The Raping of the American Economy,” are the tenacious residual strains of romance beginning to resurface. Glorify the individual? Indulge the soul? Embrace the libido? These are new thoughts in a changing era of politics. It may be we reap the musical reward as well as the music of the 80’s provided overt cleansing of the confusion of the soul. It astutely fed the desires of the human soul instead of fueling them like pop music. Music and dance of the 80’s provided pleasure, not desire. Pop music as an aesthetic and a specific music style is effective only in riling people like a Hitler war speech. If you want your audience to revel and buy products, this is your choice. If you want to plant the seeds of a long term economy, gain the adoration of your fans, and invest in America as a country you would choose something else. The musical effect of pop music is nothing other than to flush the audience with raw emotion. It matters not if there is no understanding of the lyric content and how it relates to its audience. Pop music is a device that has been abused in the last decade sweeping America’s real music history under the rug. Time/Warner purchased the rights to the majority of America’s hit music and only offers it in expensive compilations on their website. AM and FM radio were corporately monopolized like television and the propaganda campaign began. Those damn longhairs got pushed out of Texas. I mean the country. While living in the barren aftermath of an economic implosion, Americans have realized they have nothing left to lose. Why not form a militia? Why not buy a gun and carry it to a Town Hall meeting? These are our constitutional rights that have been squelched like radio. Cooley and cunningly America was duped into innocent, naïve, compliance with the Republican party whose private citizens bilked them of billions of dollars for their own personal gain. If that is not grounds for a revolution, I don’t know what is. Maybe music will lead the way, again.

The New Secretary of Straight

I have to take a a few minutes and reflect upon what is happening politically in America. Hillary was taped in Africa representing a hybrid Madeline Albright and Jabba the Hut. In her newfound post as Barack Obama’s Secretary of State, we have heard little from her. We as the American people don’t know if she has done anything since the inauguration. If we were assessing her capabilities of diplomacy while watching the news footage of her trip, she would have received a D-. Wagging her finger and refusing to admit past President Bill Clinton is her husband painted her as a crochety school marm full of sour grapes upon losing her own Presidential bid. “Will the real Secretary of State please stand up, Mrs. Albright?” While Obama’s strategy of hiring political enemies to help bridge the stalemate between left and right in America seems prudent, it seems Hillary is dragging her feet. While it does take time to figure out what one’s job is and then figure out how effectively to do it, America’s diplomatic clock is ticking. Amicable worldwide relations could help trump not only the terror card but the ensuing economic depression. Meanwhile America continues to be defined by her incumbent, puritan-rooted, soap-box shouting Republicans fearful Socialism will deprive them of their benefits the Baby Boomer generation so tactfully arranged. It is this generation of Americans that are “in the money” and dutifully covered by health insurance, unlike fledging Gen. X’ers who hide their despondency by buying portable Apple devices and playing video games. “Will the real Condition of America please rise?” It is a bleak portrait. Obama seems effectively to be sledgehammering away at the crony politics of the previous George W. Bush, but a tsunami of deceit and corruption are floating upon the potable water of the American people. Unemployment continues to rise and banks continue to fail. The stark reality the “cheap money” upon which the credit industry was founded is gone may spark a revolution. What have the people got to lose?

The Medicine of the World

Why is it that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are committing suicide after they return to the United States? If the horrors publicized from Viet Nam are any indication of the severity of war, how could life in the good old U.S. of A. be nearly as traumatic? Why is it that when cruise ship employees get their “land legs” back, they find that life in the good old U.S. of A. isn’t nearly as humane as life in floating prisons? Cruise ship employees do not incur the gross physical trauma of soldiers at war, but is there a connection between their mental demeanor when they return to America? Both groups live similarly when they work. Soldiers are taught to bond and support one another in their brigades, battalions, and platoons. Cruise ship employees are taught the same, yet when each group returns isolated to the United States do they find life equally as difficult? The social mechanism that is inherent in communal work seems not to apply to the United States. Does that mean that when enlistees of the United States armed services and cruise lines embark on their journeys of conjoined work and living they are taught a different socio-economic system that is more effective for them? Do the shallow rules of Capitalism not favor a well-formed, integrated, humanistic work force employed for both national defense and recreation? Do the shallow rules of Capitalism favoring an elitist social class no longer apply when the spin is removed, the smoke has cleared, and the napalmed middle and lower classes are exposed? America’s financial structure has been decimated by the grubbing leaches of a Capitalist elitism, and there is nowhere left to turn. The soldiers that have gone to war to fight for the rights of this faction permanently have been branded with our loss. They come back to America, their home, and are met with indifference, poverty, neurosis, and failure. The only difference is America is not shouting, “Baby burner” at the war veterans from Iraq. No yet. The Republican spin machine effectively has masked their evil agenda, and donning suits and ties in the White House’s Oval Office they have demanded respect from America for keeping her safe. None of the ramifications of their covert agenda for which have been accounted. The muck toils on. The sludge of Bush Cheney has become the petroleum upon which America depends, but our reliance on automobiles is waning. How do we clean up this sludge? Would it be to indict members of Bush’s past White House? It seems America wants to burn some witches at the stake, because it might provide a faux resolution to the eight years of incest. Monsignor’s Mondavi’s fingers are still ripe with the smell of Johnny’s anus, but life tools on. The Holy Roman Catholic Church bought their false contrition. Bush and Cheney got their war. What are the American people getting? What are the troops that are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan getting besides decreased bodily mobility, insanity, and poverty? They support system that was supposed to be in place to support these troops evaporated as quickly as federal regulation. “Now you see the money, now you don’t.” The scorched earth of America is smoldering like Mount Redoubt, oozing lymphatic fluid like an open sore. “Where will the detainees go,” Cheney asks? What about the International War Tribunal at the Hague? Isn’t the jail of Slobodan Milosevic appropriate for hundreds of “would be” terrorists? He mastermind and engaged in mass genocide like Hitler. Certainly a diplomatically neutral war tribunal would be the proper place to house these detainees. Maybe the thunderous roar of a dying Fidel Castro’s voice is more threatening to these Islam Jihadists? If America were to allow her incarcerated Saudi step children to stray from the longitude of America, she would become accountable to Europe. The wunderkind no longer could hold the torch of the American Dream, instead only basking in her tainted former glory. She would have to pony up to the plate of Western Civilization, admit her flaws, and ask for guidance. She would have to grow up. For the world economy to heal, Barack and Hillary’s diplomacy is needed. They cannot let right wing insults of “Having coffee with Iran” stop their pursuits. While terrorism is a grievous threat, if we are not willing to drop the bomb, then an alternative method is needed. Al Qaeda is afraid, because unequivocal irrational evil has no reason or rhyme. They have to be treated like children. Pooling the adults in the world is the easiest way to expose the children. If America cannot equally stand as a peer to Europe, then the cause is lost. It is time for Congress and the media to put down their sticks and stones, find a common good for the world, and devise effective solutions. If they don’t, as Obama says, the results could be irreversible.

"Happy Birthday, Mr. Vice-President" War is Business

Who better is there to predict a catastrophic terrorist assault on the United States? His odds are the same as your local weatherman. Stick your head out the window and guess. With fifty percent of America believing Armageddon will occur in our lifetime, his odds still are improving. Stir in these entries on his resume: 1. Commandant Incognito 2. War Profiteer. 3. Nazi. Still his odds are rising. (“The opening bell sounds,” either the Wall Street Stock Exchange or a bout between Halliburton and Blackwater.) Who better is there to predict a catastrophic terrorist assault on the United States? Could we sign a contract like Mumbai? Is the dog wagging its tail or is Cheney “Wagging the Dog?” Diversionary tactics are a crucial part of war, and lest we not forget still we are at war. The Democratic Party wants peace. It cannot be refuted, because with the ousting of George W. Bush from the White House “Hum and Strum” has made an unannounced appearance similar to that of Barack Obama as a presidential contender. Whence does it come? America cannot travel back through time to the l970’s. Although war is not new to the United States, this “War on Terror” is. While politicians are looking for ways to put a bandaid on Bush’s evil agenda, the wounds will continue to fester. Although Bush and Cheney have left Washington their tactics will continue. It may appear Congress is battling itself, but the same puppeteers are controlling the world’s purse strings. As Obama continues forcefully to feed Congress his new and often appropriate agenda, the world continues to turn. The army senselessly tools on, as soldiers murder their wives, rob banks, and commit suicide. Who still is at the helm? Bush and Cheney. Who better is there to predict a catastrophic terrorist assault on the United States? At one time America was a more enlightened nation, but as Wall Street let our economy collapse the need for war mongering continues. It is the most sobering instinct. When we cannot understand or solve our domestic infrastructure, we always can brutalize foreign regions ripe with natural resources. Maybe the United States should sell poppies. That’s a green industry. If we stopped subsidizing paramilitary activity with Afghan-grown narcotics, then maybe we could get out of the war business. What would Halliburton do then? For Cheney war is business, and we cannot forget that the stimulus for war can be a terrorist attack. Whence will it come, Mr. Cheney? Are you signing the check?

Next Time... Collateralized Debt Obligations, Sub Prime Mortgages, Hedge Funds, and Derivatives. The Ongoing Financial Crisis in America

A Short History of GSE's

The Federal National Mortgage Association or Fannie Mae was a Government Sponsored Enterprise or GSE formed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in l938 in response to the Great Depression. It attempted to facilitate liquidity in the market by making mortgages available to lower income families. It bought mortgages from Savings and Loans, which encouraged more lending and insured the value of the mortgages by the United States government. In l968 Fannie Mae was converted into a privately owned corporation with shareholders. A newly formed publicly funded partition institution, The Government National Mortgage Association or Ginnie Mae, took over the role of Fannie Mae. In l970 The Emergency Home Finance Act created a new private corporation GSE to further stimulate the secondary housing market. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or Freddie Mac buys mortgages on the secondary market, pools them, and sells them as mortgage-backed securities to investors on the open market.

Julie Sweeney's Religulous

Comedienne Julia Sweeney created a thought invoking character on past episodes of Saturday Night Live. “It’s Pat,” the fictional comedy routine she realized, effectively probed the public’s perception of gender. With her androgynous character Pat O’Neil Riley, Sweeney pushed the boundaries of sexual orientation by creating a gender-neutral human being. Her recent sketch on Comedy Central’s “Pulp Comics” parodied an English professor’s analysis of the Bible. Staunchly supporting Bill Maher’s views in Religulous, Sweeney’s effervescent literary critic uses a useless technique to try to understand the books of the Bible. Like Maher, the college professor tries to analyze a literal interpretation of the Bible. While television has digressed to a primordial level in recent years, God has not. Because education in America has been failing at an epic level does not mean God is any less intelligent. That intelligence, one capable of devising and creating the universe, is formidable. That is why the Bible not only is not the verbatim words of God, but is not an oration. In certain ways the Bible could be considered a collection of human fables designed and collected to create interest and provoke thought about the history of Christianity. Interpretation of the Bible is academic, and America is doomed to misunderstanding without a more pious and inquisitive look into its meaning. A simple decrying of the words of God’s disciples is not enough to prove that God does not exist. It is a narcissistic and self-deluded neurosis that contradicts the purpose of art and condones human sloth. As Barack Obama continues to say, Americans will have to become engaged in the processes of religion and government to reap the results of both. With dumb founding ignorance of the economic aesthetic visible in Washington, America needs to rally around something other than the hopes of an interim government. The spirituality of America’s black gospel church is being met with grave resistance in the newly convened federal government. President Obama is attempting to bring a swagger of religious confidence onto Capital Hill. Like Bush’s preceding white America always has, they fail to understand, “Taking it to church.” It is a little bit like watching James Brown saunter through the Supreme Court. While a pragmatic approach to healing America’s economy would be welcome, it is obvious no one has the answers. There is nothing wrong with trying to loosen the collar of the GOP while caustically approaching the past agenda of George W. Bush. While a newly invigorated Republican philosophy could serve such a dire economic crisis, the GOP like the Democrats have to prove they know something. At the moment we have the same discrepencies we had before January 20th. Barack Obama has undertaken a mammoth presidential agenda. Each day of his new administration has planted a singular and separate executive order in the furrows of America. With such a diverse agenda it is difficult to see his forest for of the trees. The majority of his decisions have been frugal in abiding by his former campaign promises. Each topic systematically has been reversed in what seems like a schizophrenic about face to Bush’s ironhanded Nazi regime. Stem cell research, abortion rights, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered agenda and Muslim Diplomacy all have been marinated in democratic blood. It is a lot to bite off, and America still is chewing on the lunch. Let’s just pray to the “fictional” Religulous God that the supper of an economic stimulus plan will prove a nutritious meal to the appetite of the American economy.

Discussing the Bosnian Problem

The most interesting executive order to be issued by the White House so far is the one concerning Bosnia. While the Dayton Accords masterminded by former President Bill Clinton ended Slobodan Milosevic’s evil genocidal rein and recognized the individual sovereignty of former Yugoslav republics, it didn’t charter the White House’s new policy on presidential sex. If Bill had been busy instead creating protocol for White House blowjobs, the mayhem may have continued. Ironically he mistakenly was impeached for sexual impropriety led by the soon to be martyr of the GOP Newt Gingrich. Carl Rove is on the line and wants his “No sex in the White House back.” Maybe they could get together with Rush Limbaugh and hire Jessica Hahn to quell their adolescent sexual longings once and for all. Jimmy Swaggart could say the opening prayer and Debra Murphree could take photographs. More appropriately the White House has devised a failsafe method to disguise a potential White House sexual liaison if it doesn’t occur in the Oval Office. Breaking with the Bush tradition the Obama’s have consented they may be interested in sexual intercourse. If so codenamed Renaissance and Renegade will, “Discuss the Bosnian problem.” Such activity wouldn’t seem so extreme if the Obamas slept together. As tradition would have it there are separate bedrooms for the President and the First Lady. “Do we really want this job after all?”

Bond, James Bond

If Matt Damon’s quotes in a recent Miami Herald interview are true, then he has sealed his fate as a non-actor. While his screen abilities are starkly limited, a careful study of and reverence for one’s own aesthetic often make up for one’s shortcomings. If Damon indeed did want to blossom into an actor of stature, then he never would have reprimanded his chosen lineage. Petty bickering is the modus operandi of choice on America’s modern “Reality Television,” but it has no place for screen legends. Slandering Ian Fleming’s novel and film character easily seals his fate as an immature, juvenile, and narcissistic Gen. X’er. If his assessment of James Bond was true, then he would get a shallow plug for his crippled film career. It wasn’t, and any educated adult with a fondness for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang knows this. Bond was never a misogynist, and his playboy attributes in Fleming’s definition were an attempt to disguise the pain of his murdered wife. In Fleming’s novels Bond is a different character all together. He is broken, tired, and lonely. The necessities of cinema created a different character, one that was synonymous with a l940’s-style leading man. If Damon is threatened by Bond’s knowledge and savvy in the films, then he more is afraid of his own shortcomings on the screen and in the bedroom. It is not that often a would be actor gets it this wrong. James Bond was an iconoclastic hipster. He was the real Hugh Hefner and achieved his fortunes with the quill of his own pen. He didn’t bed women. He earned them with savoir-faire, obviously something of which Damon has no understanding.

Salem's Lot of Media

America still is living in the trappings of the “Sexual Revolution” that began in Britain. Hugh Hefner traveled to England, frequented the places associated with this newfound sexual liberation, and brought those images to America under the guise of Playboy Magazine. “Good composers borrow, and great composers steal.” While at its onset in a conservative society, Playboy Magazine may have been groundbreaking. Today in the age of the Internet original media has been forced to redefine itself. Newspapers, record labels, and cable television are scrambling to keep up with the advertising campaign created by Google. Google simply took the advertising concept from television and brought it to the Internet. Steve Jobs took Apple’s graphic interface from Xerox, and Bill Gates took it from Apple. In our modern Entrepreneurial Age it is a matter of who markets their stolen product most quickly and effectively. With ADD a common component of modern media, your competition will be forgotten in weeks. Our economy has become disposable. With this shift toward transient values and disposable products society has become confused. “If our commercial lives are so shallow, how are our personal lives to maintain value and integrity?” Formerly the answer to that question was religion, but with gracious modern entrepreneurism the extreme right media have launched a campaign to doubt the existence of the Creator. With no God and a disposable economic infrastructure, how are our personal lives to maintain value and integrity? Formerly the answer to that question was art, but with gracious modern entrepreneurism, the extreme right media have launched a campaign to disguise the existence of art. Instead we received corporate propaganda, Newspeak, and fortunately it is unmistakable where that has led the American economy. Could the last vestiges of education represent the integrity of our personal lives? Certainly with cable television and the Internet setting such good examples of effective social behavior, do we not all want to go out and buy three twenty-something Playboy playmates to be our concubines? In the name the anachronistic “Sexual Revolution” we could pay them a thousand dollars a week, post a 9:00 p.m. curfew, and have our staff record their every move in a little black book. Hugh Hefner himself has become confused like the American people forgetting the very populace to which he sells his magazine. While under the guise of gracious modern entrepreneurism, Hef overlooked his role as a mentor to quickly growing adolescents. Investing in short term high yield markets all ready has proven to bankrupt a large percentage of America. Can we afford to continue to do this with the future inhabitants and leaders of America? God, art, and education are the mediums that provide such examples, and without them our social behaviors will be lost. What is interesting is that in the right wing media-induced spin, the simple pleasures of Christian living have been lost. America has forgotten that sexual activity is a core component of socialized living, and marriage for heterosexuals is the oasis upon which this activity should be based. Why is it the gay agenda seems to be the only agenda promoting marriage? The divorce rates from marriage have continued to increase since the “Sexual Revolution,” and heterosexual Americans still are searching for answers to success in marital sexual fulfillment. Could it be because the gay agenda has confused heterosexual America? Marriage never has been easy, and the shifting of the sacrament of marriage to a validation of sodomy won’t help. The separation of church and state could allow civil unions for which Barack Obama has shown support. It must be left up to the institution of the church to decide if two thousand years of history must be changed. For this reason God, art, and education must remain the substructure of our country. The alchemy being practiced by Salem’s Lot of right wing media needs to be quashed once and for all. Maybe we should burn Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, and Les Moonves at the stake.

Bridget Jones's Senatorial Bid

"Will you complete me, United States Senate?"

The Fife and Drum of America

Great American composers should be receiving a nice royalty check from ASCAP. While Aaron Copland is dead, both his “Fanfare for the Common Man” and “Lincoln Portrait” were celebrated at the inaugural of newly elected President Barack Obama. Forrest Gump candidly stood in for Lincoln, and the United States military band (a conglomeration from different branches of the military) mightily performed the realization of Copland’s vintage l942 musical portrait. The inaugural, while in the service of America’s first African-American president, served as a dichotomy of previous President Bush’s lack of understanding of the importance of American patriotism and religion to America. With the blink of an eye the Bush family was whisked off to Midlands, Texas aboard “Special Air Mission 28000.” (Because Bush no longer was president, it could not be called Air Force One.) What occurred in America over the airwaves was startling. Suddenly the self-aware, conservative, and a-religious sentiment of Bush buckled, and waves of warm glorified reverence to God and country emerged. Hillary and Bill Clinton were almost brought to tears by the heartfelt National Prayer Service held at Washington’s National Cathedral. It was almost like Christmas had come again. Jesus all ready had been born, but a new Messiah was in the midst. Could such extreme symbolism be appropriate? The sentiments of the people involved seemed to say yes. Presiding priests from varying religions and countries each spoke in a communion that reached deep into the heart. The music of the service, like the music at the inauguration, was representative of the virtue, sincerity, and lineage of both religion and country. It provided the artistic model upon which worship and patriotism are supported. Thwarting separation of church and state the musical performances proved that religion and patriotism are one in the same. John Williams, while absent from the watchful eye of the television camera, paid homage to Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” with his arrangement of the 1848 Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.” His was an air for a quartet of piano, violin, cello, and clarinet. Williams successfully resurrected the voices of William Grant Still, John Alden Carpenter, and George Gershwin in a setting that integrated the diverse and complex concerns of a foundling America and America today. Throughout the inaugural festivities the American military bands proved to be the example. By combining historical perspective, diligence, and soul they tactfully continued to set the example for protocol in American patriotism. While the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps itself pays homage to America’s British roots, the child still must be thankful to her rearing parents.

Bungling and Lip Syncing

America is in transition. As quickly as inaugural optimism came it faded into the sunset replaced with cantankerous media analysis. There could be no better example of this than NPR’s scrutiny of the administering of the Presidential Oath of Office by Chief Justice John Roberts. He and newly elected President Barack Obama both hiccupped on what seemed like an unrehearsed rendition of the oath. It broke the ice. Nina Totenberg, in gracious Nancy Grace style, critiqued the event with the overzealousness of a fastidious wedding planner. Did the nation really need to hear in such detail how our most powerful leaders stumbled verbally on such an anxious, strenuous, and omnipresent day? While punditry of the Constitution prevailed, and the two men went through the ropes again inside the White House, could National Public Radio not have found a more productive thing upon which to report? While the validity of the Oath of Office was in contention, comparing America’s third youngest Supreme Court Justice to veteran William Rehnquist was senseless. Nina made the point that Rehnquist performed a more accurate version of the Oath in 2004 with a tracheotomy tube implanted in his throat. If that is not petty partisan lambasting, what is? The majority of the country is elated a dying breed of white-haired, conservative, grifters are being forced to eat their own rotted flesh and contract Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The more savvy financiers are playing David Blaine and are proving more difficult to find than Eric Rudolph. Isn’t it appropriate the new sheriff has run them out of town? Is this not why we elected Barack Obama? It is why we are proud to have a J.F.K like youthfulness in government again. While juniors Roberts and Obama stumbled on their words, it certainly will not reap the same consequences of a child George W. Bush stumbling on his words to Osama Bin Laden on the playground.

Piloting the Riverboat of Dreams

In today’s pressing political climate it is appropriate Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name from the prospective pool of senatorial candidates in consideration from New York’s interim Governor David Patterson. While Kennedy may be qualified for the job, in light of her expressed responsibility to uncle Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy, she has decided to sidestep the political limelight for the moment. What a moment it has been. With the electing of America’s first African-American President, there is enough civil drama on America’s plate. As represented by Jeb Bush’s decision not to run for the Senate, now may not be the time for the perpetuation of another white political dynasty. “Now’s the Time” for Barack Obama. The sentiment in America is Caroline Kennedy could be a worthy replacement for outgoing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who today was confirmed as Secretary of State. Sarah Palin would disagree saying Kennedy would be riding the “Kennedy Express” toll free from Manhattan to Washington, DC. Duke Ellington might believe the “A” Train to Harlem would be more appropriate. It certainly is with this presidential election. America chose to take the “A” Train to Harlem with its choice of Barack Obama to the United States Presidency. Barack Obama navigated the riverboat of dreams to the White House doors, knocked, and asked for his mint julep. He got it yesterday and enjoyed it in front of millions of Americans hoping for a better tomorrow. Timing is everything certainly in comedy and music, and good timing is proving to be an asset to politicians in America. The masses have spoken, and the era of dynasties is over for the moment. Let’s take the hint from Aretha Franklin, don a new lid, and sing the daylights out of an patriotic hymn. Maybe this lead on a trip to Harlem will give America her new soul. It least it will get you to Bill Clinton’s place.

Attending the Balls of New Orleans

There are certain reasons why Classism is important to America. On the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s birth and with the inauguration of America’s first black president it could be difficult to surmise. Classism, while not defined by economic status, often is. While the definition of Racism becomes visible with color of skin, Classism is more savvy. It is a form of elitism that uses money as a tool for popularity and power. If other desirable traits are not possessed, economic status often in America becomes synonymous with both. It is a tangled web of social and economic ladder-climbing that could make Regan MacNeil's head spin. Circumventing the ambiguity of the above definition, Classism is a ramification of the American Revolution. Americans fought for and sought financial freedom from the oppressive monarchy of the British Crown. Because America is young and naive Classism remains. Two decades ago Classism was highly visible. America was her own self-contained econo-sphere immune from the influences of "rogue" nations. With the advent and rise in America of Bill Clinton’s "Multiculturalism" and George Bush’s "Globalization" the economic infrastructure of America’s populace has become distorted. Mainstream America disappeared and with it went the paradigm of American life. In the l980’s there was no discrepancy over how we lived. Social and economic strata were highly visible and as a result people on lower levels knew for what they were striving. In all probability it was the “American Dream.” What was this dream? Was it similar to Martin Luther King’s dream? While the answer probably is yes, capitalist America shaped the “American Dream” into something tangible monitarily. Vintage television reinforced this image. If often is said Hollywood, the Mecca of television production, was founded by Jews seeking solstice from the oppression of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. They immigrated to America and used television as an art form to create a more humane way of life. Hollywood television shows became the paradigm for Mainstream America if not inventing it completely. Without a visible model of Classism today, how are we as Americans to know for what to aspire in our meager lives? Classism, while an enemy of Civil Rights, gave us an answer to this question. The thing that disturbs wealthy capitalist America about Socialism is the acquisition of their own fortunes. Transforming the world’s superpower into a Socialist state would mean the eventual disarray of the socio-economic system that created their wealth. This is why universal healthcare has failed. The medical profession in America is a means to become wealthy. The physiological needs of America usurps this unhealthy hierarchy. Examples of Classism like this in America need to be dismantled before we as a nation can proceed with universal healthcare. Similarly other professions that have evolved into a social elite must become liberal and recognize their economic viability and Mainstream America are not mutually exclusive. In certain parts of the country these concepts have been more successful, and one such example is the city of Columbus, Ohio. Columbus for many decades has been the testing ground for commercial products. This landlocked culture demands a high degree of intellectual mobility, socialization, political savvy, and artistry. There is nothing else there. There are no oceans in which to swim. There are no mountains on which to ski. There is a long, cold, and gray winter that demands more humanity than survival. Columbus demands and supplies an artistic culture, and that separates them from other areas of America. In Columbus intellectual ability and artistry prove to be a rough foundation for the small amount of Classism that exists. It is one of America’s biggest shames that Hurricane Katrina destroyed the birthplace of jazz music. This port city bustled with the international influences of French Caribbean Creoles, Acadians, and misplaced African slaves. The mixture of these cultures with European blood formed the roux upon which was created the gumbo of jazz music. Without New Orleans America desperately is searching for her soul. In this case Classism is not helping. The best proof of this is the host of balls that are being held in Washington, DC for the Presidential Inauguration. A ball, while not defined by Classism, often is. How many Mainstream Americans attend balls in their lifetime? Few. What is important for a ball is music. While traditional European balls may have utilized an orchestra because many of the dances of Europe were formal, balls in America deserve a potpourri of American styles of music appropriate for dancing. In the last eight years of George Bush’s presidency, the popular joke that Baptist’s never making love standing up because they are afraid of being caught dancing, has held true. In America there has been little emphasis on dance music until the recent television series “Dancing with the Stars." The music that has saturated the airwaves has been pop music. Pop music is not designed for dancing. Both Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky would be turning over in their graves not to mention the great early American jazz bands. New Orleans to America is the Vienna of Austria, and unlike the last eight years having a good time should not frowned upon. Americans do not need a ball to enjoy dancing. Without quality American music any ball would be incomplete. While the minuet, the Viennese Waltz, and the polka could suffice in a pinch, they will not provide the colloquial indeginous rhythms necessary to ensure a truly American experience. Ironcially for this moot point Classism could be appreciated, because often only the upper class can afford such musical entertainment. The demarkations of Classism in the fields of medicine and musis need to crumble like the Berlin Wall. With such pretense and socio-economic awareness eliminated, it will be easier for America facilely to coagulate into the soulful, passionate, and economically potent entity she is.

A Folk Song for DC

Obama-fest was inscrutable. How could one feel that HBO’s donated air-time was not a propagandist feast? While Lincoln is a worthy figure of reverence cemented with his Emancipation Proclamation, is the electing of America’s first African-American President worthy of the same praise? That is all I could think. The work is yet to be done. In retrospect a homage to Abraham Lincoln always is welcome. Few know the sorrow he bore as President during the Civil War. African-Americans owe their lives to Lincoln, but the election of Barack Obama to the United States Presidency demands different results. Are African-Americans still enslaved? Is not all of America enslaved? If we are, are we to expect a synonymous result? Obama-fest suggested change was imminent. What is that change, a freeing of slaves? No one can dispute the balance of power in America has been tipped to the Extreme Right. A heartstring pulling affirmation of what has become minority interests is appropriate. Maybe his Leftist propagandist production was necessary to seal the fate of George W. Bush. Many think Bush will continue to spin his legacy. How could eight years of failed politics be recorded otherwise? Richard Nixon got a library as will George W. Bush. Is it not time to stop harping on the negatives and begin focusing on the solutions to his failed policies? Maybe a big campfire rendition of “Kum ba ya” is what the nation needs. It is setting the precedent for a newly installed 111th Congress. Without orientation such irrefutable change seems unrealistic. Although the Democratic Party has earned leadership in two out of the three branches of government, there is no guarantee they will be able to put Humpty Dumpty’s pieces back together again. A lot is resting on the shoulders of Barack Obama, and it will take more than Martin Luther King’s dream to make it happen. A resurgence of a Civil Rights rally in Washington is a good place to start. It reinforces Obama’s projected strategy. He expects everyone to be involved in the solutions of America. Could the hardball of Washington DC be outsourced Texas? Is it possible that grassroots Depression Era doctrine will prove effective in solving America’s financial problems? Obama’s Obama-fest certainly suggested that. With all of the pining, urging, and yearning let’s hope that solid, tangible, and realistic solutions are on hand for the future government of America. As with George W., all of the propaganda in the world can’t cover up America’s destiny.

Obama-land

President George Bush’s last national address to the nation was met with lukewarm compliance. In the proceeding days the media had been relentless about his record of service in ways fueling the breakdown of America’s financial system. The case has been made, proven with the election of America’s first African-American President, that Bush failed. We cannot beat that dead horse anymore, but I’m sure the media will keep on trying. What is interesting is the social class that is most highly involved is staying mum. The Country Club of Wall Street, Washington DC, and upper class America has not been spoken for in the war on Bush. That is because he was their man. Possibly without even knowing it Bush came into power to be played by elitist America. When you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth, there is no easy way to become a liberal. Certainly without diligent study of the late Andrew Carnegie one merely would continue their entire life living in the bubble of economic security until now. All of the tangible mechanisms of making money it seems have been misplaced. There can be no more bluffing in the poker game of America’s economy. America must return to prosperity, but no one really seems to know how. Green industries, clean power, and expansion of infrastructure all have been proposed as tinder for re-igniting the economy. A brief survey of America’s industrial history could be enlightening. Carnegie made steel and later sold his company to J.P. Morgan. Henry Ford made automobiles, but ironically his industry is near bankruptcy. John D. Rockefeller produced oil. What happened? The magical trinity of steel, cars, and gas suddenly became extinct. Threats of Global Warming and depleting the earth of her natural resources became urgent. Almost overnight the dynasty fell almost as if being beckoned by Mother Nature herself. “Come to Butthead.” This is not all new. There was staunch resistance to Eisenhower’s proposed interstate highway system cutting through picturesque downtown areas to reach the Pacific Ocean. One faction opposed the polluting of cities with carbon emissions and noise. Systematically that was overrun and the automobile became the graven image of America. Everyone it seems needed an automobile. Without them there would be no Geico, no American Graffiti, and no revenues from traffic violations. It cannot be denied that America’s economy has become reliant upon automobiles, but what now? Is America, in a modern Progressive Era, suddenly going to attempt to do the right thing? Millions think so, but the future seems shady. With the examples of the sixteenth through nineteenth amendments to the United States Constitution what remains to be done? Could it be the legalization of drugs and prostitution? Could it go an opposite direction and instead of emancipating the rights of slaves and women attempt to regulate the industries and corporations that so drastically have gone awry? With shouts of Socialism still echoing in the air after Barack Obama’s election, regulation that prudently was enacted to safeguard such a failure of America’s financial markets still must remain the enemy of upper class America. Have they changed their minds? Has the fat lady sung? Have the Country Club’s of Wall Street and Washington, DC finally become contrite? With their fortunes, pensions, and future wealth in jeopardy there is no choice. America herself has become bankrupt with George W. Bush at the helm, and like Poseidon’s captain he never knew what hit him. Wealthy Americans have been living off trust funds, interest, and investments for decades, but now the gigue is up, or is the gigue really up? The question that remains to be answered is, “Where is all that money?” While they may not be making money on their money for a long while, one faction of America still is in the money. Any governmental attempt to redistribute their wealth again will be met with resistance. That is why attempts to reform America’s health care system are met with such tenacious resistance. The upper class in America, the student counsel, the cheerleaders, and the jocks that are the shining examples of the virtues of Capitalism still need a way to create their vast wealth. Any attempt to change that status quo will demand a national revolt, one that has begun with the election of Barack Obama to the United States Presidency. It is unfortunate that classism has to exist at all, but it is a postulate of Western Civilization. Although freedom of religion most often is cited as the reason for the American Revolution, was not it really a desire for financial opportunity and personal wealth? America would not have been built had it not been for European-born entrepreneurs who migrated to a future “land of plenty.” It is interesting the Puritans most often are used as examples of native America instead of the opportunists who immograted here to seek their fortunes. Classism as it directly relates to American slavery will remain a main tenant of the American soul, and it has to be addressed in any economic recovery of the economy. This has been an ongoing issue in national politics with George W. Bush, and it will remain with Barack Obama. It is certain the bell curve will modulate attempting to move its apex to the middle class. Does this mean the wealth in America will be redistributed? How can that happen when the motto of the Republican party always has been, “Get what you can, put it in a can, and sit on the can?” True conservatives prefer moderation in spending unlike the vain and narcissistic CEO’s of this decade. Somewhere there are wise Republicans sitting on their fortunes, and they are running the world. How Barack Obama mediates between these fortunate few and middle and lower class America will be the key to economic success in America. Will it yield, “Yessah massah, may I bring you a mint julep,” or will it fuel a new era of Civil Rights and Progression? Like the late Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama seems to strike a chord in the hearts of many Americans of Caucasian and ethnic blood. It seems this battle has been fought before. It will be up to the United States Secret Service to ensure Obama’s chances are not cut short. While he is riding into office on a Lincolnian train of optimism and with the down home demeanor of Johnny Carson, no one can forget the security of America rests in his security.