Cynical Easter


I'm looking at the news today, of the rapid escalation in violence in Iraq, and wondering if it is a coincidence that the violence increases when President Bush and party nominee McCain begin to try and use any lull in violence as a vindication for the occupation. There is no vindication for the occupation unless it's that we needed to set up military bases on the borders of Iran and Saudi Arabia to stabilize the oil industry's investments and in the process save Halliburton from financial ruin after the stewardship of Dick Cheney, who invested the company in asbestos litigation.

The structuring of Halliburton leading up to the war, and the splitting of the company once the CEO had been moved to the shadow Presidency, was positioning for the occupation. If there was no other justification for the war, it could be argued that it was justified because of the enormous amounts of taxpayer money it poured into the pockets of rich Texans. But over the top of the business of war there's always the public relations, which operates on symbols which control the emotions of the public.

The pulling down of the statue of Saddam was perfect symbolism for the fall of an evil giant. It's much easier to understand in those clear terms of good and evil than to ignore what is being spoon fed to a child's level picture book media which is, itself, built over the top of a corporate interest which needs exactly the same emotional relationship to the public as does Halliburton. In the United States today, you cannot get an objective view of events without working very hard for the information. The rule is:

Follow the money, not the lyrics with the animated bouncing ball.

The further down the food chain you go the more the emotional reaction prevails. It reminds me of a song by Lee Hazelwood, where he says, "Talk about somebody don't know nothing, she don't suspect nothing."

William Burroughs said, "At the top levels, people get cynical after a few drinks."

In other major symbolism covering more practical matters, Ugly Betty is stumping for Hillary in Pennsylvania. Joseph Lieberman is whispering the right answers in McCain's ear when the Arizona senator leaves the ground and soars into misinformation. Bill Clinton is offended by the perception that he made a backhanded swipe at Obama when he said Hillary and McCain would provide a race between two people who love the country. His stock continues to crash at our house. What once seemed secure and with an unassailable legacy is now worthless because of poor mergers and worse management. He has achieved the once unimaginable feat of transforming himself from an elder statesman into a sad old Puer.

Maybe what he was saying is that if Hillary and McCain run against each other, it doesn't make much difference which one wins, as both are firmly in the grips of the established power structure. It's good sometimes to remember that Hillary was a Republican. And if Obama's church bothers you, take a long look at Hillary's power prayer secret circle. I'll take Wright over Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

There's nothing wrong with HIllary having her secret prayer group with the most conservative of Republicans, but if Obama's relationship with his prayer group is up for examination and judgement, then the sword cuts both ways. Hillary's secret group can be justifiably looked at as the K Street of Washington D.C. religious groups, or even branded a cult. Is this fair? No, because in America we are not supposed to be applying a religious test as a qualifier for public office. But as all other rights to privacy have been eroded by the media, so the right to free practice of religion is now being sacrificed for an advantage in the polls.

And on Easter Sunday, Clinton moves ahead with her challenge to Obama, having accepted that she cannot catch up to him but can possibly drag him down to her level. The press continues to repeat that Clinton won Texas when she got fewer delegates there than did Obama. In Ohio, voting irregularities led to the impounding of voting machines. In Ohio by coincidence Hillary's exit poll margin of three percent swelled to ten percent.

But even losing Texas, winning Ohio with questionable process, and throwing the kitchen sink at Obama to try to blacken him a bit, or to put it another way, color saturate him, HIllary has not yet been able to write the horror story ending to this campaign.

The Super Delegates appear to be too paralyzed by political obligations to stop the blood loss, or even make a point of the fact that Clinton did not win Texas in the final analysis. The informal agreement as I recall was that if she did not win Texas and Ohio by clear margins she would withdraw. She only won Ohio, and arguably would have not won the Texas popular vote if not for the meddling of Republicans who want the Democrats to self-destruct.

Richardson is setting a good example, and it's time other Super Delegates realized they aren't all that super, just comped by management because nobody expected the play would run past two weeks.

Posted: Sun - March 23, 2008 at 04:11 PM