Just a few short takes on what’s happening on planet Earth this week. Got a lot of things going on, as it happens – no excuses. Anyway… here’s what’s bugging the hell out of me.
Haiti. The story is starting to get old, I can see, even though many are still waiting for help, not getting enough food, can’t find a doctor, etc. A large part of the problem is our obsession with security. I’m afraid we’ve been an occupying power for a few too many years; it has had its effect, just as it has on the Israeli Defense Forces. We take a military approach to everything, and we trust no one. The U.N., for the most part, is in the same boat, driving around in secure vehicles even before the earthquake hit. Combine this with the general decay of our emergency management capabilities over the past decade and it’s not hard to understand why even with a significant commitment of resources, people in Haiti have been waiting a long time for a helping hand.
For chrissake – over the past two weeks, I’ve been listening to NPR correspondents blandly reporting how the markets in Port Au Prince are full of food but most people cannot afford to buy it, while relief agencies are struggling to efficiently distribute food and water. And I’m practically screaming at my radio, W.T.F. – THE FOOD IS ALREADY THERE! JUST PAY FOR IT! Take some of the freaking money you’ve pledged to this problem and stuff it in the pockets of these food vendors so that they will GIVE THE NEEDY SOMETHING TO EAT! If anyone out there can tell me why this can’t happen, I’d love to hear about it. (In any case, please consider supporting Partners in Health – they are not afraid to do what needs to be done, and that’s the kind of help Haiti needs.)
Af-Pakistan. I suppose there’s no point in denying that we are actively engaged in battle in Pakistan, right? Three dead American soldiers tie a firm knot on that one. How many time are we 
going to kill the “Top Taliban Leader” or “#3 Al Qaeda Leader” by remote control before we realize that these guys are almost always replaced by someone younger and more militant, and that the human cost in terms of civilians killed and wounded in these operations generates many more recruits than can ever be discouraged by martyring militant leaders?
And another thing. Witness, if you haven’t already, South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer’s comments about poor people, equating them with “stray animals” who should not be fed because “they breed” and “you’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply.” Leonard Pitts Jr. deconstructed this better than I ever could. All I can say is that, if they’re going to replace Mark “Appalachian Trail” Sanford with this tool, old South Carolina will only be trading the blind for the stupid.
That’s all I’ve got.
luv u,
jp
enough. But whatever his motivations or limitations may be, we simply cannot allow ourselves to be confined by them. What America needs is a healthy dose of movement politics – the kind that brought us the five day work week, earned black people the vote, and brought the Vietnam war to an end. It’s the only way fundamental change happens, and we had best start facing that fact.
Whether or not Obama is serious about making positive change, he should understand one thing: the Republican party, particularly those in Congress, will not support him no matter what he does. He could adopt all of their positions (instead of just many of them) and they will still work to destroy him politically. That is their clear objective, whatever noises they make for the cameras and microphones. From a political standpoint, I don’t blame Obama for addressing the G.O.P. retreat this week and taking their questions. I think he should call them out, and we did see a little bit of that today. But if he seriously thinks that they are going to work with him on anything substantive, he is smoking crack. He would be well-advised to start appealing to his base, a.k.a. the people who got him elected, and use his considerable rhetorical gifts to articulate a more progressive vision of governance.
Looks to me like the good people of our neighboring commonwealth have seen fit to hand Ted Kennedy’s old seat to Mitt Romney 2.0, a slight upgrade from the original model (this one, at least, confirmably anatomically correct). As far as his political positions are concerned, it’s a mixed bag – a little angry anti-bank populism (People are mad, damn it, and so am I!), a little love for waterboarding, some tin-foil hat-ism, and the usual measure of running away from his most inflammatory comments, like passively questioning president Obama’s origin as the son of two legally married individuals. (Smooth.) There’s also the listing from political side to political side as needed, like voting in favor of Mitt Romney’s statewide health insurance system in Massachusetts, but opposing the national version. He should blend in nicely with the G.O.P. caucus, though poor Jim DeMint will have to forfeit his crown as the party’s Senatorial winged Adonis. (Sad. Very sad.)
excuse to openly channel their inner Republican (to the extent that they haven’t been doing it up to now). Of course, with this week’s Supreme Court decision removing any restrictions on the flow of corporate cash into political advertising, any Democrats who maintain a less-than-congenial relationship with Exxon-Mobil, Google, Cargill, or any other firm with deep pockets will likely find their districts flooded with attack ads, paid shills, and every kind of legal sabotage money can buy. Yes, folks – George W. Bush and his reactionary predecessors are truly the gift that keeps on giving. The 5-4 decision to sell our electoral process to the highest bidder was advanced by two Reagan appointees, one Bush I appointee, and (crucially) two Bush II appointees. Is it too late to say, we should have kept W out of the White House?