January 13, 1999
"We'll tell our children's children why
We grew so tall and reached the sky
We left our footprints in the earth
And punched a hole right through the sky."
"So watch the old world melt away
A loss regrets could never mend
You'll never miss it till it's gone
So say goodbye, say goodbye
To seasons end."
(Marillion [Hogarth, Helmer])
Here in the Chicago area, we've had upwards of thiry inches of snow since the first of the year, twenty one inches on New Years weekend.
The decency of the human spirit has revealed itself as people in my apartment complex have pulled together to help each other...jumping dead batteries, digging out each others' cars, loaning shovels, clearing paths for our mail carrier.
Small snippets of morality, from real people.
It's snowing here again this morning, probably another two or three inches. I start the car to warm it up (doing my part to blast a hole in the ozone layer), and trudge back inside to bundle the kids for school.
As a result of all the snow we've had, this daily routine of taking the kids to school, normally a round trip of about ten minutes, has turned into a daily nightmare clocking in at about thirty minutes.
While at a stop sign, my mind began to wander.
"Damn, when will this snow stop...the scientists are right...snow and rain are falling around the world at record totals...the evidence is all around us that the warnings of global warming are not to be dismissed as the rantings of 'socialist' scientists...and we can't even agree to raise the debate, much less find a solution...corporations and the right-wing politcos that repesent them (as opposed to the people), Ditto-heads (with hate on-loan from "god"), Tel-evangelscums preaching "god's" word that "we" were given dominion over the earth to do with as we please, as a justification to kill the earth...all co-opting the debate for power and greed."
Morality? I think not.
As I arrive at school, I witness what has become a daily demolition derby of sorts...children struggling with snow-drifts and at times, sliding into the street...parents driving like demons to grab parking spots, spots they shouldn't even be in, with the front or rear of their cars sticking out into traffic as they let their kids out of the car either into traffic or into snowdrifts where they could slip under the cars of other demon-parents...so many dangers surrounding our children, dangers that could be addressed.
Do I see school officials hiring contractors to remove and haul away the snow, or provide something more than one crossing guard (little more than a volunteer parent, in an area with four seperate street corners and three school entrances) to provide for the welfare of our children?
No.
Do I see village officials applying pressure to business owners in a strip-mall directly across the street from the school to also remove and haul away the snow? Do I see village officials providing traffic cops, to discourage selfish drivers and assure a smooth traffic flow?
No.
Have school and village officials returned my phone calls to address these problems?
Would I be bringing this up if they had?
Morality? I think not.
As I sat down to write today, I'm reminded of the people who have elevated themselves to be the arbiters of morality for the nation.
I'm reminded of Bob Barr.
Here's a man on a mission to rid our land of the "evils" of abortion, who not only "allowed" his second wife to have one but apparently drove her to and from the clinic, paid for it and then lied about it when questioned under oath...a man who now calls HER a liar.
A man who claims our President has "abused" legal "technicalities" to obstruct justice, to prolong the process. Yet, when asked about extra-marital affairs during the divorce from the same woman whom he allowed to kill one of "god's children", took advantage of a technicality himself and in essence, took the fifth.
A man who cavorts with white-supremacists and yet, continues to lie about his involvement with them.
Morality? I think not.
I'm reminded of Henry Hyde.
As his constituent, I've not only had to deal with the arrogance of his voting record, but also the arrogance of his local staff. A staff who are masters of spin control...who pat me on my head and send me on my way because Mr. Hyde will vote HIS conscience, not that of the Constitution or the people and you really don't UNDERSTAND the issue anyway...a staff that has hung up on me.
Mr. "100% [Christian?] Coalition rating" Hyde, protector of Reagan and Bush and North, (treasonous bastards all) telling us to "keep lies in context"...he of S&L scandals who bilks not only the taxpayers, but his former bank board members as well..."christian" destroyer of families, who doesn't possess the courage to come clean about his own "youthful indiscretions" for thirty years...who cries morality as he piously indicts the President for not giving enough details about HIS "youthful indiscretions"...who promised "fair and impartial" hearings but denies witnesses in the House and then insists on witnesses in the Senate.
Morality? I think not.
I'm reminded of "men" like Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson.
"Men" who threaten to take their bat and ball and go home if the Repulican party refuses to advance their theocratic agenda..."men" who are either so fearful, or so insecure (or both) about their own sexuality they feel the need to spew some of the most vile and hate-filled rhetoric towards "ho-mo-sect-uls", leading to beatings and murders, carried out in "god's" name by the lunatic fringe of their flocks..."men" who become buddy-buddy with the likes of Mobutu Sese Seko, Jorge Serrano and Frederick Chiluba, cruel dictators and oppressors, to cash in on those countries' natural resources to fuel their anti-semitic, rascist hate machines at home..."men" who routinely violate election laws..."men" who produce and peddle scurrilous "Clinton Chronicles"..."men" who routinely abuse and harass their employees, especially females..."men" who take out Contracts ON America..."men", and women, whose evils could fill a book.
Morality? I think not.
I'm reminded of Trent Lott.
Ah, yes...Trent Lott, who now (along with fellow neo-confederate, segregationists William Rehnquist, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms) finds himself sitting in judgment of "sins".
A man who, along with his uncle and nephew (and Bob Barr), belongs to the anti-anyone-who-aren't-white-males Council of Conservative Citizens...A man who regularly writes a column for their "newspaper"...who has frequently spoke at their meetings...who invited their high-ranking members to his D.C. office to praise their policies as good for America and then lied about it all...who came dangerously close to treason by publicly questioning Operation Desert Fox...who filibustered on the Senate floor in opposition to a gay man, calling him and others like him "sick", akin to"kleptomaniacs" who need to be treated for their "disease", all based on thousands of years of biblical mis-translation and misinterpretation, so to cloak his words of hate with words of "love".
Morality? I think not.
There is, Mr. Lott, blood on the hands of you and your "moral" friends.
And I'm also reminded of Tom J. Wright's most recent column at his website (The Pornography of Power) entitled "Republican Hate Rhetoric Turns Deadly: Somebody Stop Them Before They Kill Again".
Here Mr. Wright says, "But so far, no one has forced conservatives to take responsibility for their hate rhetoric. This certainly includes the media, which of course is itself mostly right wing. How else do you think sick bastards like...Hitler-wannabee Pat Buchanan, the loony Nixonite G. Gordon Liddy, and all of their right wing clones throughout the country, ever get on the air? It ain't accidental, folks."
He also mentioned hate-monger Bob Grant...I would add Rush Limbaugh to his list.
I agree with Mr. Wrights' assesment that, "The increase in hate crimes is a direct result of the increase in hate rhetoric. And we all know who the masters of hate are: the hard core Republican right wing. These lunatics spew out hate the way an open sewer spews out raw sewage."
He goes on to say, "Well, it is time for the American People to hold the Republicans, and their mouthpieces in the media, personally accountable for their outrageous scapegoating, inflammatory rhetoric, manipulative scare tactics, and the violence that inevitably follows."
According to Mr. Wright, "The best way to stop it and these people behind it, is to vote the Republican Party out of office. And out of existence. Like the Whigs of yesteryear, it is time for the Republican Party to die. It is too infested with fanatics to be saved...Also, a sincere letter of apology, signed by conservatives everywhere, should be promptly submitted to the American People, and put on display in Washington D.C. The display will serve to remind potential hatemongers everywhere that they will endure Great Pain, Suffering, and Humiliation, if they ever again attempt such crude tactics...Not only that, if the likes of Bob Grant or his ilk ever openly encourage violence against innocent citizens again, and said violence occurs, then the District Attorney of the county in which the incitement to violence was made, should promptly prosecute them as criminals, for aiding and abetting a crime...with the possibility of HARD TIME in any number of America's Maximum Security Penitentiaries."
I could not agree with Mr. Wright more...except to add that I would not limit the threat of prosecution only to talking heads.
I'm calling for the immediate indictment, prosecution, impeacment, removal from office and/or imprisonment of any and all duly elected public officials who are found to have lied under oath, incited violence toward others through the use of hate rhetoric, performed any private acts that are contrary to their public stance (especially when that stance is one that would limit the rights of others), bilking the taxpayers, commiting crimes against the state by undermining an ongoing military operation through words or actions or any other crime or misdeed that is contrary to "the rule of law."
What's good for the goose should be good for the gander.
This includes you, Mr.'s Barr and Lott.
Morality? I think so...if this is the way they want the game to be played.
Oh, by the way, you've had your bottom-feeding Matt Drudge for how long now? Don't cry when we find our own to turn the tables on you! At least our guy checks his sources.
Our collective psyche has been so polluted and muddled by the "morals" of corporate greed and hate-mongers, we can't even agree to save our planet from disaster and possible destruction.
So just what DOES the weather have to do with morality?
As I look out my window, the snow is still falling...
...maybe the sun will come out soon.