The Big House Dwelling People

Who really understands
the logic of these brain-diseased
who sociologist describe
as "The Big House Dwelling People?"

Their behavior came from axons
deep in their bones.
For decades bred they had been
selection determined by the regression
from logic to instinct
and a genetic inability
to delay gratification
or count the cost.

Oh, they worshipped their God
with rational ritual
and prayers for permance
of their personal objects:
money, cars, waning sexuality, and
other healthful consumer choices.

Their prayers sadly
never prevented
never preserved.

The things they called
"Ethical Failures,"
Lying, Cheating or Genocide.
Never mattered because
they believed they had a ticket to ride
they believed the ride would never end

The ride ended
they suffered grief
beyond normal grief
but after all their suffering
thought was never given
to the injuries they had caused
nor to anyone else's well-being

Do they deserve our sympathy
as victims
or our contempt when they
are tried as defendants?

No one should ever judge
who has not walked a mile
in their smelly Gucci shoes?

But this brief chronicle of their folly
shows that there is really no limit
to human self-deception.

That much is certain
That much I can confidently say.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Big House Dwelling People copyright Feb. 24, 2010 by Jamie Jacks

Please don't make me a Socialist.

source: http://www.socialismisnojoke.com/.

I came out into the parking lot at work and found a sticker like the one above with the phrase socialism is no joke, affixed to the tailgate of my beat up 1994 Toyata pickup. I was vexed by this not too serious act of vandalism. I have the remants of an Obama Biden bumpersticker on the bumper of my truck, a sticker showing I am a member of CSEA (California State Employees Association) and a sticker showing I am a Unitarian Universalist and a former member of the Kern Wheelmen.

Obviously, by putting those sticker on my truck, I am as Shakespeare would say, "Wearing my heart on my sleeve for the daws to peck at. There was a time when I didn't put bumperstickers on my truck, because I didn't really want people to know what I was thinking. But the last years of the Bush Administration made me change my mind. Suddenly it was important to let people know, I was a proud union member, a proud Unitarian/Universalist and yes a proud Obama Democrat.

But such actions have consequences. Since I work on a University campus, the sticker was stuck on my truck as a joke. Well the sticker is removed. I've filed a complaint with the campus police, and have stated that I will file charges if this particular prankster is ever caught.

I'm not a socialist. I own stock, have house and a 401k. Success of capitalism, especially American capitalism is important. Being middle class does not mean that ignorant of the problems facing people not only in Bakersfield or America but around the globe. I imagine myself as I am someone who is working in a small way for social justice. Yes I am an Obama supporter.

When I see a sticker placed on my truck (my property) I understand it's probably a one-time deal a prank. Sadly the current hatred of right-wing reactionaries who are posing as hard-core conservatives, towards anybody who objects to their corrupt political and fanatical religious and social views demands that they call anyone who disagrees with them as an enemy to "their America." That forces them to falsely villify Pres. Obama by comparing him to the Joker, and to insult me by putting their foul sticker on my truck.

I am not their enemy. Like them, I care about America and am working as a citizen to try to make it a better place.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Bernard Kerik fallen hero

"I met Bernie in 1990 at a meeting to organize the annual Buczek Foundation...I was immediately impressed with his organizational skills and was delighted when two years later he joined my campaign...As an outsider and a risk-taker, Bernie wouldn't accept 'that's not the way we do things' as a reason new strategies couldn't tried."
Source: Giuliani, Rudolph W. (2002) Leadership. NY : Hyperion, c2002. p. 83.

On Feb. 18, 2010, Bernard B. Kerik was sentenced to 33 months in prison according to the New York Times after pleading guilty "to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials."

When I first read this news item, I wanted to use it to demonstrate the unfitness of Rudi Giuliani to ever be elected Senator of New York or President of the United States. I realized that Bernard Kerik's fall, had a lot do with how anyone can be corrupted by power. That is something I have to keep reminding myself these days. Anyone can be corrupted whether it's a union activist like myself or someone like Bernard Kerik, who came within an ace of being chosen as the first head of the Dept. of Homeland Security. Kerik will begin his sentence on May 17th. It will not be easy to be a prisoner of after being a prison warden and head of the New York Dept. of Corrections. His conviction destroys his many years of public service.

There are two aspects of his fall that merit mention. First during this trial many people came forward and offered testimony lauding both his character and his many years of distinguished public service. But there was no testimony or praise from his former patron Rudolf Giuliani.

In his book Leadership, Rudolph Giuliani devotes a whole chapter to loyalty, calling it "The Vital Virtue." According Giuliani, "A leader who distances himself at the first sign of trouble migh save a few popularity points but it's shortsighted. Eventually no on wants to work for someone like that. The best people don't apply, know that should trouble arrive, they'll be left twisting in the wind." (p. 235).

Perhaps the severity of Bernie Kerik's crimes made support by Mr. Giuliani impossible. It might also be the Mr. Giuliani left Mr. Kerik twist in the wind."

The second interesting thing about the conviction of Mr. Kerik, was that he was convicted for "lying to White House officials." The White House officials in questions were serving the George Bush and Dick Cheney. I think it's funny you can go to jail for lying to White House officials but these very same White House officials, like Dick Cheney's counsel Scooter Libby, don't go to jail for lying to us.

On Feb. 8, 2010, the the New York Times published the prosecutor's memorandum to judge pertaining to Kerik's sentencing, “The defendant’s egotism and hubris were the tragic flaws that led him to commit the considerable number of crimes to which he ultimately pleaded guilty,” the memo said. Mr. Kerik “became a wealthy man by shamelessly exploiting the most horrific civilian tragedy in this nation’s history.”

Kerik is not the only man to try to "shamelessly exploiting the most horrific civilian tragedy in this nation’s history.” Rudy Giuliani ran for President in 2008 , most ly by promoting himself as Mr. 9/11. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who recently admitted to authorizing torture is a welcome guest on the Sunday morning talk shows. His success has been so good he has been able to boost the career of his daughter Liz, whos e only creditials as a conservative leader seem to be she shares genetic information with the vice president. John Yoo, who wrote the legal memos authorizing the C.I.A. to torture prisoners of war, gives speeches on CSPAN, and former Cheney speechwriter Marc Thiessen, now has a weekly column at the Washington Post. Theissen recently went on a Catholic cable channel to justify Bush administration torture policies. Sarah Palin , the half-term former Governor of Alaska, wraps herself in the American flag and brags about how she would deal with terrorists in Iraq and Iran.

As shown above, Bernie Kerik is not the only person trying to exploit 9/11 and will to go to any lengths to do it, but so far he's the only man being sent to jail for committing crimes to satisfy his greed money and power.

Capitano Tedeschi


30

Quotations taken from: Giuliani, Rudolph W. (2002) Leadership. NY : Hyperion, c2002.

photo credit: Bernard Kerik when he was NY Police Commission retrieved Feb. 19, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:At_the_Landfill.jpg

Bernard Kerik fallen hero copyright Feb. 19, 2010 by Jamie Jacks

The cult of the cardboard Ronald Reagan

To me right now feels like a winter
that has nopromise of the rebirth of spring
Now is the twilight of Empire,
It's as if we live at the intersection
of two acidifying and dying seas.

But unworried are some
sedentary, aging Americans
who hate gays, love guns, and believe
that everything in the bible
is the word of God and everything
in the bible is true.
That God will take care of his elect
and God's elect don't include
me or you.

Their thinking has been stunted
since elementary schoold
they are blind to how
their preferences and their perversity
are now shaping their consequences
the way a broken lathe
mars the once perfect steel.

Their every day lives
are lived apart
they are guided by the senile
cult of a cardboard Ronald Reagan
and the pernicious optimism
of the bizzarre propserity Gospel,
which says God is like a slot machine
prayers are like nickels and if
you believe and pray
the machine will finally pay off.

They love AMERICA,
That romanticized
Ozzie and Harriet world
where gas was 47 cent a gallon
Negroes and Mexicans were amusing and
kept their place.
But since this world doesn't exist
they try to recreate it wherever they wander
Sucking oil from hostile ground and
complaining that Swedish Wal-Marts have
high prices and marvelling that it
costs the equivalent of $17.40
to get a Whopper and Fries at
the only Burger King in Oslo Norway.

To perserve their illusions
they don't mind attaching some A-Rab's
testicles to a car battery.
That to them is justice, not torture.
That sex education is abstinence only because
sex is for procreation and only
sanctioned in man-woman marriage.

Don't waste their time
arguing different biological perspectives
or mention Anthropogenic global warming
whatever that is.
There is no environmental contamination
or embryonic abnormalities
leading to higher rates of infant mortality
amongst the so-called poor.
"Lazy is as Lazy does," they'd say.

It would be easy to dismiss them
save for the fact that when criminals get
political power disaster is there way.
In WWI the Germans used mustard gas
against the British, Americans, Beligians and French,
But sent Lenin to Russia to spread the virus of
Bolshevism.
The cult of the cardboard Ronald Reagan
The pervision of the Prosperity Gospel.
That is the new virus,
they are the new Bolsheviks.
Their way is human suicide.
That is what must be treated now.

Capitano Tedeschi

30 The cult of the cardboard Ronald Reagan copyright Feb. 19, 2010 by Jamie Jacks

War stories of my father

One of my Facebook friends, Gary Funk, has a blog My War in Europe, that documents the testimony of his 88-year-old father, who was an Army infantryman in WWII and later served as part of the occupation forces.

I thought this was an excellent idea. My father was a Marine who served in China during the last days of WWII. I have some pictures, perhas some of his letters and memories of stories he told of that time. Though my father was a Marine, he was not one who wore his Marine Corps training proudly, the way most Marines do. But perhaps now is a good time to investigate his time in China, post his snap shots and do some research on Marine activities in China in the last days of the Second World War.

So what do I remember. Colorful medals, and a silver ring with the First Marine Division badge on it, which my dad gave my when I was five or six, 1959 or 1960. These treasures, I subsequently lost. Stories that he told of his service in China, some snapshots including one of an a Navajo code talker.

More to follow.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Democrats, Republicans, Boobus Americanus and the National Debt.

An article in the New York Times about the Federal Deficit was sad and difficult reading. The article, Party Gridlock in Washington Feeds Fear of a Debt Crisis, is yet another sad and sorry tale about the grim financial situation the country has allowed it self to fall into. According to the Times,

"After decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning, economists and the nation’s foreign creditors say that moment is approaching faster than expected, hastened by a deep recession that cost trillions of dollars in lost tax revenues and higher spending for safety-net programs."

We are rapidly reaching a fiscal tipping point. Entitlement programs and interest on the Federal Debt will soon make it impossible for the government to fund any type of program. This problem is further exacerbated by political gridlock in Washington. The Republicans feel they can return to power as long as they refuse to raise taxes. The Democrats are losing power because they refuse to take the radical social measures necessary to change, such as cutting entitlement benefits. Then there is "Boobus Americanus", the average dull-witted American, who wants wars, empire, Medicare, Social Security and a myriad of other governement services, yet refuses to pay for these services.

We are As the Roman historian Livy said “finally began the downward plunge which has brought us to the present time, when we can endure neither our vices or their cure” ). So Federal Government is rapidly approaching a point where it can neither endure the consequences of the rapidly increasing federal debt or effect some cure for it.

The solution requires compromise and the willingness to sacrifice the good of a particular faction for the good of the country. Will the Republicans or the Democrats or Boobus Americanus be willing to come together to make such sacrifices in the form of HIGHER TAXES AND LOWER GOVERNMENT BENEFITS?. I don't know.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Making a desert and calling it the American Dream

There is no going back
to the good-old-used-to-be.
The Ozzie & Harriet world
of my mythological youth

Beaver Cleaver on crack!
The idea stinks worse than
a roadkilled skunk!

I don't yearn for the misremembered days
I can't feel your pain.
The past you dream of is dead
That's a clear as if
it were written on a six-story billboard.

There is no virtue
in worshipping dead gods
whether they were carved on Easter Island,
dreamed up by Madison Ave., or enshrined on Mount Rushmore.

Do you actually believe that
we can continue are hydrocarbon-based
credit card-driven consumer culture
'til the end of time?
Towing the Beemer behind the RV
to visit the grandkids in Spokane,
is that what the American dream
is all about?

Some may think so
but the Brazilians, Chinese and Indians think not.
The sad truth waits
with the menacing barbians
who are part of the human traffic
crossing the Arizona border.

If the mythical past,
shallow as a text message
as malignant as a sex offender,
is dead, what then?

It's time to break the chain
of ordinary madness that dooms us
to an unsustainable future
It's time to stop making a desert
and calling it the American Dream

Can we do it? I don't know.
If we do, then we can
become straight "A" students
in the eyes of our ancestors.
We can create a new America.
A country that would make Washington, Lincoln,
Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King proud!

Capitano Tedeschi

Making a desert and calling it the American Dream, copyright Feb. 11, 2009 by Jamie Jacks

30

I am a taxpayer am I not?

I am sitting safe and warm
in a Bakersfield Starbucks
12,000 miles from
Terrorist or Taliban

I am not troubled by
news of distant wars.
The rumblings of our empire
are not shown on the television I watch
or computer screen I read

I am a taxpayer am I not?
I support the troops.
We must do what it takes
to keep the Homeland secure.

So in 8 years,
I still don't know what
type of crater a Hellfire missile makes
after being fired from a Predator drone
I am told a six inch piece of shrapnel
can shear off a babies's leg
sharp as razors shrapnel pieces are.

I have not been told of
that terrible moment
when brave men realize
that the ammo has run out
and the choppers won't get there
in time.

Oh, I might in an odd moment
see a video of a funeral procession
in the online version of the local paper
Or a picture of an acquaintance
crying and holding the folded flag that
draped the coffin of his dead Marine son.
Or I might see a college student
with one metal leg, the other
lost to an Iraqi IED
I am told a six inch piece of shrapnel
can shear off a man's leg
sharp as razors shrapnel pieces are.

Seldom am I bothered
enough to ask why?
Or ask how?
Or ask what can we do to
fight these wars better?
Or what will it take to end them?
No leader has even bothered to ask me,
and I sure as hell haven't asked
What I can do to help?

I am sitting safe and warm
in Bakersfield Starbucks
12,000 miles from
Terrorist or Taliban

I am a taxpayer am I not?
I support the troops.
We must do what it takes
to keep the Homeland secure.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

I am a taxpayer am I not? copyright Feb 6, 2009 by Jamie Jacks

Alabama Senator Jeopardizes National Security in Order to Get Some Pork

Theoretically, the Democratic Party, has sizeable majorities in both houses of Congress, and controls the White House. But sadly it is not the major party.

The dictionary defines "major party." A political party with enough electoral strength to gain control of the government or to effectively oppose the party in power." In the United States the Republican Party, a political minority controls the government.

A perfect example of this appeared today in the New York Times today. In The Caucus, the politics and government blog, there was a column "White House Blasts Shelby Hold on Nominees."

Apparently Sen. Shelby has placed "a blanket hold on dozens of President Obama's nominees. Senators can and do place holds on nominees, but according to the Times article Sen. Shelby's blanket hold "is considered rare."

This hold really has to do with political pork. "Senator Shelby placed the holds over concerns he’s raised about a proposed contract involving a tanker (Northrop Grumman has interests in Alabama); and over financing he’s sought for building a counterterrorism center in Alabama." the Times reported.

Marc Ambinder blogging in in Politics for The Atlantic writes, "if you're trying to really hammer the point home that the reason why it seems that your party can't govern or get results is due to factors beyond your control... you'd turn Richard Shelby's unprecedented blanket hold on 70 nominees for reasons no more pure than the preservations of two favorite programs into not only a talking point... but also a way of justifying recess appointments for these nominees."

Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall, describes Shelby's stunt,
"In this case, we're not dealing with a stand on partisanship or ideology or simple political shiv play which I guess can each be respected in their own place. This is more like just a stick up. Gimme my money and I'll give you your Senate back! Worse than a squeegee man and not much better than a bank robber, Shelby is shutting down the president's ability to appoint anyone to anything until he gets his way."

Sen. Shelby's stunt is just one of many examples of the dengeneration of American political culture due to corruption, false political ideology and rabid partisanship. According to Michael Winship in his column ''My State Legislature's Crazier than Yours. Oh Yeah?'', which was re-posted on Bill Moyer's PBS web site. "It’s all a nasty game that puts cronyism, partisan bickering, and corrupt, despicable self-interest above the needs of increasingly desperate citizens."

It's important to note, that such behavior has been exhibited by Democrats as well as Republicans. But Sen. Shelby's recent attempt to hold up Pres. Obama's appointments for posts in the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security so he can get make sure that Alabama gets a couple of Federal projects, is not only outrageous it jeopardizes the national security of the United States.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Source: Official Photo of Sen. Shelby, http://shelby.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.OfficialPhoto

Copyright Feb. 5, 2009 by Jamie Jacks