open Democracy News Analysis - (W)hacked to pieces: deva-stating America, - Comments

Ttrryosborn on "(W)hacked to pieces: deva-stating America"

Ttrryosborn — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 06:58:54 +0000

David, You're right about Bush. As for 9/11 It took him almost 90 days to knock off the entire Taliban thugocracy in Afghanistan at the cost of one American. You're right about the tsunami. The US only raisied $2.5billion in the same amount of time. In Louisiana, it took him almost 72 hours to get past the city and state resistance to federal aid to help the survivors. He should look to you for inspiration. I'm sure others on OD do.

Joeanna Nee on "(W)hacked to pieces: deva-stating America"

Joeanna Nee — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 01:53:13 +0000

Dear David, Have you read any of the previous threads? There are alot of us Independents who know that Bush is an idiot. Here in Maine, we voted for Kerry-hands down. (the lesser of two evils) The damage done, more severe by this President, was set in motion back in the 80's, he was just a better orator than this President. There is no such thing as middle class anymore. That passed by after the s&l scandals (another bush named neil had his fingers in that one). If you care to read a good book, its called "Nickel and Dime" cant remember the author, but she wrote a poignant book about the super rich and the rest of us. I dont need to be rich, all I need is a roof over my head, clothes on my kids back, food to feed them and my love to guide them. Money doesnt make one happy, its the love you receive from one another that makes one wealthy. We only have a finite time on this planet and you cant take money with you when you go. I would like a country that is known for its compassion, not only for its own people but for that of others, without ramming our ideals down its throat. I would like a country that pays attention to what mother nature is trying to say before she gets all pissed off. I would like to answer my son's question of "whats war?" with "a foolish thing people use to do when they didnt get their own way, but now we know better." I may not see this in my lifetime, but I would hope that my sons might in theirs. Accountability is being demanded, and not just by the poor. Lord knows that once Oprah is involved, there just ain't no hidin' it! We have a choice, David ... sit quietly and bitch under our breaths or scream at the top of the mountain "I want answers NOW!" I truly believe that people are choosing the latter. We have some of the most brilliant people all over the world, and we cant see the forest for the trees. We are a global community, our technology has made us that much closer and greed that much easier. Trials and tribulations ... how will you stand to make a difference? Everyone can, however small it may be. After all, its a government elected by the people, for the people. I guess that makes us their boss and maybe they need to be reminded of it. Thats my two cents worth. (sorry, I need the rest for gas)

brolly3 on "(W)hacked to pieces: deva-stating America"

brolly3 — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 00:34:56 +0000

David Theo Goldberg, Congratulations on laying bare the cold blooded neocon philosophy and its consequences. In view of what this Brit has read lately, it is becoming doubtful if there are sufficient forces in the US to turn the tide away from the neoconservative advance. It would seem that they have control over all the important organs, be they media, government, spin machines, and voters. Their opponents have been outflanked and do not look capable of reacting effectively any time soon. And now we face their ( neocon's) doleful influence arriving on more European doorsteps with Angela Merkel in Germany and in the not too distant future with Sarkozy in France,both seemingly sympathetic to smaller government and Anglo-Saxon economic 'reforms' a la Tony Blair.

(W)hacked to pieces: deva-stating America,

goldberg@uci.edu — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:10:36 +0000

So how long is it going to take us to figure out that W is slow on the uptake? Slow in responding to news of the Twin Towers September 11. Bush sat sullenly and silently for ten minutes before a kindergarten class in Florida until he was whisked away by secret service agents and flown off to a hiding place. Slower still in responding to the call for aid in the wake of the devastating tsunami Christmas 2004. Then it took a full few days before pledging a meager and miserly $5m before upping the ante dramatically in response to the much more immediate and generous pledges from Europe. And slowest of all in response to the Gulf destruction from Hurricane Katrina. Comprehension is not the man's strong suit. But, one could say also, neither is compassion. Looking after his largest supporters, by contrast, is high on his list of skills. In each instance bravado would outrun the slow start. But a bravado pledging strong Texan action often ignoring facts on the ground, and in the end failing to deliver on the rhetorical promises made in the name of compassion. Here the material grounds are structural. In 2001 the immediate response was first to invade Afghanistan and de-seat the Taliban, then to prepare for invading Iraq to dethrone Saddam Hussein. The latter, as we now know, contemplated as early as the summer of 2001, well before the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, and in any case completely unrelated to them. Following the South Asian tsunami, the large pledges of aid have fallen well short of full delivery. And in the case of the Gulf, lots of bluster, photo opportunities and press conferences left people on the ground with little or no food, water, and medical care for as long as five days following the hurricane. The US Government, it is well known, is short on cash. Iraq is but the tip of the proverbial typhoon, accounting for something like half or less of the annual deficit. Five years into the Bush administration, the attack on government has been relentless, and not only rhetorically or judicially. For neo-conservatives at least since the Reagan years the state has been identified with welfare, with supporting the unproductive poor at the expense of everyone else and most notably the well off, and with sponsoring people of color at the expense most pressingly of white men. Hence the incessant attacks on immigration, fatalistic welfare programs, affirmative action. In the wake of Katrina many pundits have pointed out that the war in Iraq has drained the state of resources, thus making the likes of New Orleans more vulnerable to the possibilities of flooding as a result of powerful storms. But not many have noticed that the neoconservative attack on the state has self-consciously sought to bleed the state of its treasured life-blood. Privatizing the conditions of wellbeing has meant the wealthy have the best medical care while the multitude have none. The well off live in gated communities high on the hill while the poor live in polluted neighborhoods vulnerably below sea level with no garbage collection and few options. The powerful drive larger and larger gas-guzzling SUVs while the impoverished have no public transportation to speak of. The newly rich drink imported bottled water while the struggling have only polluted tap water. One in seven people in the US have no medical insurance today, and one in eight now live in poverty. In New Orleans those figures are closer to one quarter. The wealthy can dine daily in restaurants while the poor barely have anything to eat at all, and can afford nothing by the end of each month as they await pay checks or welfare subsistence, or both. The wealthy get tax breaks and stock options while the poor can't even depend on the most rudimentary of educations. The lives of the rich are guarded from those of the poor whose fate is more likely prison than work. In the case of Katrina all this has meant the federal resources to make the city less vulnerable to the wrath of nature were rendered less and less available while urban decadence could ultimately be drowned in its own vulnerabilities. The well to do could scramble for safety in their air conditioned tank sized vehicles while the poor were reduced to a decaying and in some cases deadly domed stadium. Family and other networks could support the mobile while the immobile were left to flounder in a flooded and rotting city, many losing contact even with the family members sharing their fate. The less lucky lost their lives. The wealthier got to watch from afar while the stricken got to share the streets with floating bodies, excrement, oil pollution. The privileged seemed to need no medical care while the poor restricted to the city got close to none, even where doctors from further afield were volunteering their help. The rich were free to roam the country, the poor rounded up and subject to prison-like conditions even when bussed off to safer turf. The rebuilding of New Orleans will be instructive too. A city with no residents for the foreseeable future, it will be turned into a Disneyland for the oil industry where the racial poor will not be welcomed back (after all, they have been disbursed and dispersed to larger more heterogeneous cities where their presence ultimately will become less noticed). The working class will service the oil rich and worry free. The pollution will be rendered invisible in landfills and waterways once again to afflict the most vulnerable. A new sports stadium supporting privately owned sports teams valued at hundreds of millions of dollars each will be sponsored by public revenues. Mardi Gras will be turned from the conviviality of an organic urban celebration to the plasticity of tourist fanfare. New Orleans spirit reduced to the cloned parades of Mickeys and Minnies. Welcome back, well, to Houston. For those residents of the Gulf who managed to survive the devastation, life after Katrina will mean putting themselves back together with little government support to rely on, all the public relations rhetoric we have been hearing notwithstanding. Post-Katrina New Orleans has simply made bare for all of us what neocon America amounts to. Privatizing the support system means just that, increased support for private corporate interests and less for the rest of us. New Orleans is Iraq come home. The day after tomorrow, to be sure, will bring with it more of the same. It's after all what red-state America voted for in 2004. New Orleans has simply sounded the alarm bell. David Theo Goldberg University of California http://www.uchri.org