US politics – Page 9 – Wis[s]e Words

Ronald Reagan died

Published on June 5, 2004

So Ronald Reagan finally died; the eulogising will start in five minutes. Having seen what happened when that other
embarassement, Richard Nixon died, I have no doubt Reagan will be praised up the wazoo in the coming weeks. And of course, the loonies who want to name everything in the country, from the dimes to airports named after him will only be strenghtened in their efforts.

Now my first political memory is a feeling of disappointment after hearing Carter lost the 1980 presidential elections (I was six years old…), so I’m not entirely unbiased about the guy, but even so the truth is he was a disaster as a president. He wasn’t a president, he acted being a president. He won the 1980 elections because he let his election staff do dodgy deals with Iran. He then oversaw the first major onslaught on workers right and the welfare system in the United States, started a massive and largely unnecessary buildup of the US military, halting Cold War detente even almost causing World War 3 when he forgot the mikes were on and joked that “the bombing will start in five minutes”.

Meanwhile his war on Communism grinded a lot of innocent people up in El Salvador, Nigaracua, Honduras amongst others, while it also made it necessary to trade weapons with Iran illegaly, in order to be able to finance those noble freedom fighters, the Contras. While his wife financed well intentioned but crap comics against drugs, his own administration was making sure cocaine could flow into the country on a larger scale then ever.

And he thought it was a good idea to lay wreaths on the graves of Waffen SS members.

For all those reasons I can’t care less that he died and I can’t pretend its a great loss to humanity. Besides, he got to die peacefully; some people were less lucky, thanks to him.

Tranquility Bay

Published on July 1, 2003Leave a comment

It’s been difficult these last few years not to become anti-american, to judge the US by the actions of its government, to not let the stupidity and venality of a minority (I hope) of its citizens sour me on the country as a whole. Articles like this two part series in the Observer don’t help, because they confirm all the stereotypes of Americans I’ve been tempted to believe lately, that y’all are halfway on your way to fascism and happy with it:

Were you to glance up from the deserted beach below, you might mistake Tranquility Bay for a rather exclusive hotel. The statuesque white property stands all alone on a sandy curve of southern Jamaica, feathered by palm trees, gazing out across the Caribbean Sea. You would have to look closer to see the guards at the wall. Inside, 250 foreign children are locked up. Almost all are American, but though kept prisoner, they were not sent here by a court of law. Their parents paid to have them kidnapped and flown here against their will, to be incarcerated for up to three years, sometimes even longer. They will not be released until they are judged to be respectful, polite and obedient enough to rejoin their families.

The last Resort, part I

The last Resort, part II

The first article goes on to describe the routine inside Tranquility Bay, how the children are treated, e.g. how they get to it in the first place:

The first most teenagers hear of Tranquility is therefore when they are woken from their beds at home at 4am by guards, who place them in a van, handcuffed if necessary, drive them to an airport and fly them to Jamaica. The child will not be allowed to speak to his or her parents for up to six months, or see them for up to a year.

The second article follows up with interviews with some of the people involved: staff, parents and the children itself.

Susie is 16, from New York, and here ‘because of having sex. Not going to school. It was my attitude. It wasn’t, like, drugs. The problem was, me and my mom, we just didn’t have a relationship. We could say how was your day, that was about it.’ The possibility that this was a normal phase is adamantly rejected by Susie.

‘No, that wasn’t normal. I would be doing the same thing all my life. I would never have got out of it.’ Her friend Michelle believes, ‘I’d be living on the streets now. And I think one of the biggest things I’ve learnt here is that everything happens for a reason. I came here for a reason. You see, I just wasn’t meant to be living the life I was living. I wasn’t meant to be homeless.’

What emerges from these articles is a picture of what I could only call a re-education camp; it would fit right in with current practises in North Korea. There’s the isolation from society, the constant supervision, the emotional abuse and breakdown of personality, the brainwashing by constant repetition, the punishement for unwanted behaviour and thoughts culminating in a “rewiring” (as they call it
themselves) of the children’s personality. Can you imagine sending your children there? Yet the article asserts it’s legal in the US and would be legal in the UK as well…

UPDATE: Long Story, Short Pier has more about this, including eye witness reports of survivors.

Found via PolitX, an excellent (UK) political blog.

Glad to see somebody’s optimistic

Published on March 5, 2003

Not.

Just take a look at these Federal Times polls of US government workers. Not very happy campers. If their agency offered buyouts for which they were eligible 82 percent of those polled would take them. 81 percent thinks “Bush’s proposal for a $500 million performance fund — to reward top- performing employees with raises above an across-the-board 2 percent raise” is a bad idea. Etc. etc. Mr Bush has such a way of winning
people over…

Thanks to the Sandwichman over at Max’s.

Tougher than the rest

Published on May 16, 2002Leave a comment

A group of New Jersey activists wants Bruce Springsteen to run for senator. The group called “Independence for New Jersey” has the guidance of Doug Friedline, who was a campaign aide to Jesse Ventura in the 1998 Minnesota governoral elections. Springsteen has not been contacted yet.

I wonder if he would be interested. Many of his songs have been political after all, from his cover of Woody Gurthie’s This Land is your Land to Born in the USA and American Skin. He always seemed to me to be an old fashioned sort of blue collar Democrat, it would be interesting to see what and how he would do in real politics.

I would vote for him.