Super Bowl was the final "should have been" of a playoffs full of them

Monday morning after the Super Bowl, it is so dead around here that you can hear a pin drop after weeks of boisterous arrogance about an assumed conclusion. The only other sound is that of recriminations and “should have beens.” In fact, this past NFL playoff season was one of a great many “should haves.” The Detroit Lions “should have” beaten the Dallas Cowboys. The Baltimore Ravens “should have” beaten the New England Patriots. The Cowboys “should have” beaten the Green Bay Packers. Some may say that Denver “should have” beaten Indianapolis, but that was not displayed on the field. The Packers “should have” beaten the Seattle Seahawks. And the Seahawks “should have” beaten the Patriots in the Super Bowl. On the other hand, it “should have been" Green Bay and Baltimore in the Super Bowl.  

I have to admit that being a Packer fan, I was left extremely bitter following the NFC title game. Yes, Aaron Rodgers was virtually immobile, and the only way the Packers had a legitimate chance to win the game was if the Seahawks sunk themselves with a boatload of turnovers, which is exactly what happened. But Green Bay was unable to put the “dagger” into the Seahawks, failing to score a touchdown from the one-yard line twice. Rodgers deserves much of the blame with bad passes and bad decisions, but just as guilty was Coach Mike McCarthy, who once more infuriated Packer fans with his typical gutless and boneheaded calls. Ultimately, however, it was the Packer defense, which had turned Russell Wilson into the pedestrian quarterback he would be if teams can pressure him, that suddenly “quit.” Wilson’s fourth interception with five minutes left in the game, that “should have been" the finisher with the score 19-7, was just the prelude to a "miracle" overtime comeback. 

With the Seahawks undeservedly in the Super Bowl, I was obviously very much rooting for a New England blowout victory. When Jermaine Kearse made that miracle catch that put the ball on the six yard line with time running out, for a few moments I was enraged by the “luck” of this team. When Marshawn Lynch nearly ran it into the end zone, I calmed down and accepted the “inevitable,” ready to “congratulate” Seattle with Super Bowl wins against the AFC “class.” But unlike the national and local media, I did not “question” the final offensive call; I knew from observation ever since he came into the league there has been an effort to elevate Wilson to super-stud status. Save for his passer rating, his numbers have been among the least impressive in the NFL. My observation is that Wilson's passer rating has been artificially inflated by the occasional “lucky” long pass completions while he was running around the backfield and no one knew if he was going to run or throw. 

On the final play, instead of running the ball from the one-yard line with the seconds running away more from the Patriots than the Seahawks, the play call was a shallow slant pass, to elevate Wilson once more to “hero” status. I had seen this all year, Wilson throwing pointless passes at the end of won games to pad his stats—except the stakes were considerably higher this time.  And it was an easy pass play; all it required was a precise pass. But Wilson did not throw a precise pass. Why? Because of that little flaw in Wilson that the media tends to forget: He's the shortest quarterback in the league at 5-10, and mechanically it is difficult for him to throw over the line directly in front of him. In this case, he threw the ball too far ahead of Ricardo Lockette. With Wilson failing to observe rookie defensive back Malcolm Butler breaking on the ball, he laid it right into the defender's hands. After the game, the coaches were left taking the responsibility, while the players did not—particularly defensive players like Bruce Irvin. 

But the “Legion of Boom” deserves much of the responsibility for the loss; they were the ones that allowed Tom Brady to complete 13 of 15 passes for 124 yards on two touchdown drives to erase a 10-point fourth quarter lead. Afterwards, it was claimed that injuries in the secondary prevented the Seahawks from putting the “boom” in, but that didn’t excuse the fact that as New England was running out the final 18 seconds, the Seahawk players on the field suddenly found their “boom” by revealing their true “colors,” acting like loudmouthed thugs. I was surprised that no one has commented on the scrum that occurred at that point, after which Irvin was ejected from the game as the “instigator.” To add one mistake to another, the Seahawk defense jumped offside with Brady taking the snap in the end zone, then tacking on the additional 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, preventing another chance at a “miracle” finish.

Still, while I am “happy” that New England put a sock into some of those mouths, that “should have” tempers the pleasure in it.

Race hate disguised as a quest for "vengeance"

I did not want to write any more “topical” posts here, but today I had a disturbing experience that needed to be exposed to the light of day. I had just completed my day of manual labor and was walking to a bus stop when I observed a middle-aged black male riding a bicycle on the sidewalk in the opposite direction, on his left side, forcing me to move to my left. I could see from his expression that he was in a belligerent mood, and had probably looking for a confrontation. I looked at him in a mildly irritated way, but said nothing. He looked at me with evil, but we passed each other with otherwise no expectation for further contact.

But I was wrong. Five minutes later he rode up behind me, and menacingly threatened to cause me physical harm if I “followed” him again. Being a logical person, I asked him what he was talking about. I hadn’t seen him before, and I certainly hadn’t been “following” him. But he persisted in his menacing threats, merely brushing aside my protests with more promises of physical harm. 

I tried to walk away, but he kept following me and making the same threats. Several times he stopped his bike and got off it and advanced toward me, apparently because my denials were irritating him. I simply walked faster, and apparently he didn’t want to leave his bike far behind, so after a few steps he walked back to it. Unfortunately for me, there was very little traffic in the vicinity at the time, so there were no witnesses present. 

Finally, I could not contain my outrage at this crazed behavior (maybe he was off his medication). I told him at various times along the several blocks he followed me that I was going to call the police, which didn’t appear to faze him—these thugs actually tell you they don’t care if they go to prison—and it was only when I asked him what his name was did he appear to be concerned about the course his behavior was taking. Of course he refused to do so, which prompted me to call him a coward. 

Naturally he didn’t take this appellation with élan; rather it aroused further aggression. I pointed out to him that bullies only threaten people (like me) who are smaller than they are, thus making them cowards. After one more pass making threats on my person, he finally backed off, riding away in the opposite direction. To be honest, he really didn’t “scare” me, but then again, it is not always wise to “talk” to bullies and thugs who just want to find an easy mark to take out their frustrations on the world.

While I was waiting at the bus stop, something suddenly occurred to me. Why had this person accuse me of doing something I had clearly not done? Why was he so intent on instigating an opportunity for him to strike me? It just didn’t make any sense. Or did it?

Consider: I obviously appeared to be “Hispanic” to him. Starting to get the “picture” now? George Zimmerman was Hispanic, and was vilified and dehumanized for an entire year by the media. His “victim,” Trayvon Martin, was portrayed as an “innocent child” who had been “followed” by Zimmerman.  Of course, the nature of the encounter was much more complicated than that, and I have gone into detail on that subject before.  The reality was that Martin was a few months shy of being an 18-year-old adult. He was a thief, a dope dealer and a “gangsta” wannabe. He was suspended from school three times, and the third time his mother actually kicked him out of her house. He was not charged with any crimes—despite the fact that the jewelry that was found him that led to one of his suspensions had been reported stolen from a residence in the neighborhood. But his divorced parents were “good” people, so school officials gave this “child” every break—to the point where he thought he could get away with anything. Martin clearly had no interest in education, and his “extracurricular” activities clearly marked him as someone who likely would find his “living” in the “informal” economy.

Perhaps we cannot know for certain what all happened on that fateful evening. But was certain was that many “transients” like Martin had showed up in the neighborhood, and some of them were involved in home invasions and robberies. That is the simple fact. Zimmerman was not the “self-appointed” sheriff in town, but had been asked to be so by a neighborhood committee, per the advice of the town police chief to tackle the rise in crime.

So what happened to me? Could it be that this black man thought of himself as “representative” of Martin, and myself a “stand-in” for Zimmerman? It’s the only “logical” explanation, and believe me, I have had many “illogical” encounters with blacks whose belligerence can only be explained by this search for scapegoats in the quest for “victimhood” without consideration or recognition of responsibility. After all, Michael Brown was nothing more than a physically intimidating thug, and there is no doubt that he could and did put the fright in people with his bullying nature when he wanted to. 

And the irony of the situation was that this man validated Zimmerman’s claim that he acted in self-defense, which was the only “logical” evaluation of the evidence in his trial. In my case, the only difference in this man’s warped quest for “vengeance” was that I don’t own a gun. 

And let’s not forget the evil on the part of the media and politicians that established this atmosphere of hate and irresponsibility. As I mentioned before, the gruesome 2006 murder of a Hispanic family in Indianapolis by a couple of black “gangstas” occurred during the height of the anti-immigrant hysteria, as did the murder of an immigrant in Shenandoah, PA—Luis Ramirez—by a couple of white high school “jocks” that an all-white jury acquitted, before Gov. Ed Rendell requested a federal civil rights investigation that found that, among other things, that the town police chief and two of his officers were guilty of conspiracy to abort justice. 

In a town rent with anti-Hispanic immigrant hate, just four years before, 18-year-old David Vega, arrested for a fight after a football game, supposedly committed suicide by hanging in his cell; however, an autopsy found head injuries, a gash on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder. It was likely that he was “strung up” after he had been beaten and killed at the hands of police.

The Southern Poverty Law Center noted at the time that

“Ramirez's death after the July 12, 2008, beating drew attention to what FBI statistics suggest was a nationwide surge of anti-Latino hate crime that began in the early 2000s. Five months later and 170 miles away, another gang of teenagers in Patchogue, N.Y., killed Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero as part of a ‘sport’ they called ‘beaner-hopping.’"

So blacks are hardly “alone” in being the victims of hate crimes—in fact, Hispanics are probably more so in this country, by both blacks and whites. To me, that black man was guilty of hate, and if he had actually done something, it would have been a hate crime. But naturally it wouldn’t be viewed as such by a hypocritical media that feeds the hate. It—and black activists—prefer to use the term “ethnicity” if they give credence to it all. More likely, they think that Hispanics have “what’s coming to them” for “invading” the country.

Life is not easy living between the Nazis on one side, and the "gangstas" on the other side.

While the media continues to "scrupulously" avoid talking about the belligerent mentality and past criminal history of recent "victims" of police shootings so as not to be accused of racism, Zimmerman continues to be a moving target for self-righteous media and those seeking "retribution," hoping to "justify" their total lack of objectivity and credibility. Three years after the incident and two years after the trial, CNN continues to sink into the sewers, reporting that Zimmerman was recently detained for allegedly throwing a wine bottle at his girlfriend; no mention of what she threw at him. These charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

This never-changing world of ours

Having added my 1,000th post on this blog this past Monday, what have I learned about the world? The inescapable truth that nothing changes in this world. To be sure, the nature and utility of the instruments that people use change from time to time, but human nature doesn’t change. Everything that I have written here has been a variation of certain themes and issues, repeated over and over again. Human nature may be forced to adapt in a different way from time to time because of laws and changing social mores, but as far as its prejudices are concerned, people essentially remain the same. 

Thus it is not hard to view oneself as a “cynic” when observing the world at work. The ancient Greek philosophy of Cynicism holds that what makes humans different from the mere beast of the field and jungle is not the acquisition of material wealth or popular appeal, but the life lived simple and free from the burden of greed, arrogance and hypocrisy. The Cynic is “free” to improve his mind and body, rather than to sate his animal wants and desires. Now, some people may believe that your typical vagrant can be defined as a “cynic” by this definition, but the average bum is motivated by pure and unadulterated indolence rather than by any coherent moral and ethical philosophy.

The most famous character who expounded this philosophy, Diogenes of Sinope, preached that the maintenance of mind and body was the most important aspect of existence, and to live in harmony with nature. But unlike a follower of the “transcendentalist” philosophy, like Henry David Thoreau, the Greek cynics did not believe in retreating from civilization and living a life of complete self-sufficiency. Oh no, the Cynic wanted to live his street life  in full view of the public to shame and embarrass the purveyors of cupidity and prejudice—even at the cost of being attacked and  ridiculed. You didn’t need to have to fame and wealth to “justify” your existence—just “live.” Of course, it is difficult to “live” in the modern world by the ancient definition, especially without money. These day, if you are caught practicing your philosophy too openly, you are likely to spend time mulling over your lack of freedom from inside a jail cell. 

 

My family might believe that I live the life according to the ancient ways, if they were of a philosophical bent; being right-wing, they would call it something else. It is fair to say that I was on the periphery of familial bonding, mainly because I was so “different” than my siblings—in both appearance, personality and achievement. While everyone else went on to a bright future, I was headed to the Army to “straighten” myself out. When I left the Army, I went right back to school; I wonder if it ever occurred to anyone back home that their parenting might have been the “problem.” After all, instead of being dead or in jail, I not only went to college, but graduated with honors. But that didn’t stop my mother from making a quizzical remark to me when I mentioned an incident that I regarded as racial in nature: “I wish I never let you be born.” I know that her meaning was that she felt my life was difficult; but it didn’t relieve the sting of the remark, or suggest a recognition of prejudice in herself.

But the fact is that back “home” they think my writing is a gigantic waste of time, although they might be more “sympathetic” and less discouraging if my political and social point of view was more closely aligned with theirs; it certainly would not make the Northern family look good in their eyes of their right-wing Southern friends if they knew there was a “crazed” socialist in the family (which I am not, really). For my part, any communication outside commonplace banalities has produced nothing but grief and anger. I am not engaging in “indolent” behavior, as they may believe; this has been hard work, taking-up practically all of my free time in thinking, reading and composing. it certainly would not make the “Yankee” family look good in their eyes of their right-wing Southern friends if  they had a “crazed” socialist in the family (which I am not, really)

However I live my life, I admit that my writing reflects the other, modern definition of “cynicism,” which Diogenes is also responsible for it. He is most famous—or infamous—for carrying that lamp in broad daylight looking for, and failing to find, the “honest man.” Thus comes what we now regard as the “philosophy” of cynicism: The belief that people in general are motivated solely by self-interest, more or less devoid of altruism or scruple. Of course, everything is relative, and some people are less devoid of such principles as others. But the reality is that even people who believe they are acting on “principle” are in fact doing so for selfish reasons—if only to make themselves “look good” before other people.

Now, to a point I can understand the right-wing “perspective,” about people taking responsibility for their own lives, living within one’s means, etc. But I don’t think that they really understand anything about the world we live in, especially in the negative ways they influence it. During the Roman Republic, citizen-farmers who also served in the military were the backbone of Roman society. But that changed over time; the Gracchus brothers tried to stem the tide of society being controlled by wealthy landowners who displaced the independent farming class, but they were murdered by mobs controlled by the patrician class. This was the forerunner of the virtual slave serf system that dominated life in Europe until the 16th century. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of displaced farmers ended up in urban centers like Rome looking for and not finding employment; in order to “control” them, Roman leaders supplied them free bread, corn and “games.” There was obviously plenty of money to waste—just not in providing employment opportunities. It’s no different in this country, where corporate paymasters prefer to compensate right-wing blowhards of hate like Rush Limbaugh the equivalent of 800 living wage jobs every year. 

Despite my cynical outlook, I looked at the backlog of topics to discuss that I had accumulated for the coming New Year, and in doing so I was suddenly struck by a feeling of ennui. After all, it occurred to me that I had discussed these very same issues before, multiple times in fact. Here is a rundown of pointlessly, hopelessly redundant recent events that I decided to shelve:

Gun violence

Another fatal shooting by police near Ferguson, MO. The victim supposedly had a gun, but did not fire it. “Where is the evidence” that he was threatening the officer, asked a black male indignantly watching the television screen as the story unfolded with demonstrators faced-off against police. While I am as disturbed as anyone by the spate of recent deadly firearm incidents involving both police and civilians, the fact must be faced that both sides are guilty and both share blame in the escalation of tensions leading to lethal confrontations. The credibility of self-styled victims and this this holier than thou attitude doesn’t work for me, save in the most egregious cases. I see a  lot of people using race as an excuse to exhibit rude or belligerent behavior, and it doesn't arouse any empathy in me.

Ever heard of the “content of character” part? I have always thought that right-wingers use the term “out of context,” and they have little themselves when it comes to acting as their Christian “savior” would. But I see very little evidence to justify the notion that the neighborhoods where these shootings have occurred do anything to foster an atmosphere of “peace” or civility—and it starts with parents and teachers, who have obviously fallen down on the job. Parents especially are as likely to be “adult” versions of a dysfunctional culture, and teachers just don’t care. On the other hand with law enforcement, this refusal to “police” the “bad apples” with itchy trigger fingers makes their pretense of sainthood a loathsome display of power and arrogance. 

An “alternative” to “big government”

When Washington state voters in 2012 approved by a slim margin the establishment of “charter schools,” the rationalization was that public schools had failed many students, and a “new” teaching environment was needed to reach low-performing or underserved students. I think some people may have voted for it because they were actually under the impression that these schools would be “privatized” versions of public schools, and thus run more “profitably.” More “productively” might have been a better goal. That certainly has not been the case in the first Seattle school of this nature, “First Class Scholars”—a feel good moniker if ever, intended by idealists to serve developmentally-disabled and otherwise under-performing students. One suspects that elsewhere certain parents who did not want their children to “mingle” with the “others” see this as an alternative to “home schooling.” I don’t know why this is “necessary”; after all, every time I see something about high school sports coverage, I am “amazed” at how little school integration has occurred since the 1950s—even in “liberal” Seattle.

Crime and punishment

Some people may recall the Jodi Arias murder trial, thanks to CNN’s insufferable Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell.  Arias was in fact convicted of first-degree, premeditated murder, but the jury deadlocked on the death sentence, and prosecutor Juan Martinez decided to opt for a sentencing “retrial” which began in October. The murder itself was clearly the act of a psychopath who believed she was “justified” in committing it, being a terribly “wronged woman.”  Arias has her share of supporters who believe her story that she only acted after enduring physical abuse, even though she had never intimated it before, and hadn’t seen Travis Alexander for months and their relationship apparently over. 

However, Arias wasn’t through with him; she “enticed” him to see her again with “suggestive” images of her in various sexual poses. While there was never any evidence introduced to back up her abuse claim at trial, Arias knew it was her only defense strategy after being caught despite careful planning to conceal her tracks. In her interviews and trial behavior it is clear that she has a very elevated opinion of herself and her as ability to manipulate the truth and people. But prosecutor Martinez exposed lie after lie—including that of the outrageous testimony of the gender victim advocate who was too partisan to see the truth even if it occurred right in front of her. Perhaps the  reality was that Arias was this arrogant, conceited Latina who was ashamed of her heritage and wanted to “elevate” herself socially by marrying an Anglo-Saxon male, and to convince him to do so she turned herself into an unashamed strumpet. When that didn’t ensnare him, all that was left for this psycho was bloody vengeance.

Racial divide

A few weeks ago, the New York Times published a story on how minority and white female students received widely disparate punishments for similar school infractions. In one case, a black female and white female student were caught marking a restroom wall with graffiti. The white girl’s parents paid a fine and she walked away without further punishment; the black girl’s parents couldn’t pay the fine, so she was suspended from school. Isn’t that just the way the world works?

I overheard someone say that people who don't "make it" in this life should blame it on their own "decisions." That is certainly true to an extent, but are not people's lives also influenced by the decisions that other people make about them? Are not those the decisions that really count?

Gender politics

The Seattle Times, despite being reduced to a shoe-string budget, charges the outrageous sum of $1 for a daily edition that is maybe a half-dozen broadsheets at best, and still employs a crime reporter who I won’t name but has the initials SJG, who I can tell you from personal experience is one of those “gender advocacy” journalists with zero sense of objectivity. Recently SJG wrote a story about how police were focusing their anti-prostitution campaign on “johns,” because prostitutes were their “victims” in the world’s oldest “trade.” I emailed SJG, commenting on the many bald-faced partisan mendacities in the story, and her general lack of credibility as an “objective” journalist. SJG did have the good sense not to respond this time, because her obsessive misandry makes for informative—and perhaps “entertaining”—reading.  

The problem, of course, is that extreme gender partisans like SJG “inadvertently” reduce women to mindless morons—whining, moaning and complaining automatons. They exist for no other purpose but to serve the “feeling good about feeling bad” narrative of certain people. More recently the Times intrepid correspondent covered the “International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers,” which apparently was an undesired addition to satisfy outraged “victim” advocates at an event sponsored by the “adult industry” to “change the narrative” and “battle the stigma” associated with sex work by the media and the gender mythmakers. I suspect that many in the sex industry believe the “violence” against them is more likely to be the work of law enforcement and self-righteous media paladins, rather than their paying “customers.” Of course, SJG couldn’t help herself but to throw in a few zingers from fringe participants who claimed they were “forced” into sex work, and my overall impression was that it is easy being “objective” when you don’t believe in the narrative.

I saw this public service commercial on television, where several Law & Order actors from the "special victims" episodes did the method acting thing, crying silent tears, enjoining the viewer to "start the conversation" about domestic violence. The hypocrisy was just too much for me. Yes, we do need to start a conversation about domestic violence beyond the usual mythology; what needs to be in the "conversation" is women being made accountable for their actions in the perpetuation of intimate partner violence. On the local radio we hear that domestic violence “transcends” every segment of society—except, of course, gender. It is an advertisement for a “full service” victim shelter, in need of funding. Of course, if a male calls about abuse, he’ll just be sent back for more because he had the audacity to imply hypocrisy.

Yes, there are males who "naturally" seek to vent their frustrations out on an intimate partner and other men; but in the vast majority of the cases, women as much as men need to be held accountable for violent behavior--particularly in the instigation of it, as seen in the Ray Rice incident. Until then, any "conversation" will be a political fraud.

The irony is that while we are constantly bombarded with messages and images of women as equal (or better) than men, they still seemingly cannot function without a thriving “victim” industry. And the irony of that is the fact that the success of women in this society is as much a function of societal factors as it is for men. While women (or at least their “advocates” and the media) like to name call anyone who points out the hypocrisies in their myths, it is definitely my experience that white women have just as much capacity for bigotry and discrimination in order to maintain their “status” and “class” in the social structure—thus being victimizers as well as “victims.”

 

Deliberately “unsolved” crime?

Remember the disappearance of Sky Metalwala three years ago? Think that case has been solved yet?  Most observers believe that his mother, Julia Biryukova, knows exactly where he is—either with relatives back in Russia, or somewhere below the ground. She claimed that she left the two-year-old in a car after it supposedly ran of gas, and was walking to a gas station. She also claimed that she was taking him to a hospital because he was sick; she would leave a sick practically a toddler alone in a car for at least an hour? 

It turned out that Biryukova had just ended a contentious custody hearing with her ex-husband in which she reneged on a custody agreement. Police found that there was more than enough fuel in her car to reach a gas station a mile away, and it was also learned that the boy had not been seen by neighbors for weeks before the disappearance. It was also noted that while Biryukova displayed their daughter prominently on her social media accounts, there was very little indication that she had another child. It was also learned that she had a habit of leaving the boy alone in the house for hours at a time. The boy may have been frisked away by her Russian relations, but case remains open, and while Bellevue police have not ruled out the possibility of homicide—which is why Biryukova was not charged with child endangerment, because he may not have been in the car to begin with—neither have they shown much interest in solving the case, and Biryukova acts as if she isn’t worried at all.

Incivility

There are just some things you are expected to do in order to maintain civility in everyday life. It should come “natural” to people in this country to walk on the right side of a pedestrian thoroughfare, so that people do not impede another’s way. But quite frequently you encounter those who are either thoughtless or are naturally rude. Of course, someone might say that no one “owns” the sidewalk, but it is just good manners. 

On the other hand, we live in an increasingly service-based economy, and the quality of that service is obviously diminishing. In some places, non-paying vagrants get better “service” than paying customers, apparently because they are not “bothering” the employees. You would think, of course, that although there is symbiotic relationship between seller and buyer, but the seller who is in competition with other sellers for the customer’s dollar sometimes acts as if one’s money isn’t as good as another’s. You can’t complain about rude service, of course, because you will be the one accused of being a “troublemaker.”

One can people be thinking? I was waiting for a Metro bus on a Saturday that was supposed to leave the Convention Center at 2:08 pm. The bus was parked in the area where it usually drops off people, except farther behind so that you could see the front of the bus from where we were standing at the stop location. At 2:10 the driver emerged from somewhere and re-entered the bus. Was he leaving now? No, the bus didn’t move at all. I suspected that driver was getting a kick out of watching the reactions of people wondering where the bus was. At 2:13 the bus started moving forward—now is it coming? Perhaps not—it’s moving forward because a Sound Transit bus was pulling up behind it. But wait, he moved up only about ten feet and stopped. But no, he has to move forward again because the ST bus is not pulling around him as expected. 

Perhaps he was hoping he could skip his scheduled route altogether for a longer break; Metro allows this? It must, because this is not uncommon—even during rush hour peak during the week. I watch the bus being forced to move forward by the other bus; is the driver going to make the turn or not? The bus moved forward uncertainly, as if the driver isn’t sure if he can park the bus and resume his extended break. But finally he feels he has no choice but to make the turn into the passenger pick-up lane. It is 2:15, seven minutes late. He doesn’t even stop at the designated stop point, making people walk back toward the bus. When we enter the bus he has this self-satisfied smirk on his face. And the media complains about how “tough” bus drivers have it. 

A society of superficial classifications

I’m asked what country I’m from by someone who obviously isn’t from this one. “Cleveland,” I say. Temporarily befuddled, I think he is surprised to learn that I was born in this country, even though I don’t speak or understand a foreign language. Someone who speaks poor English tells me something that sounds like “Put in tub,” when he actually means “Put on top,” and I’m the one who doesn’t “understand” English. People then ask me what “nationality” I am. I say “American.” They frown upon this, because whatever “you are” is what defines your “place” in society. 

But what does it matter what I say? I learned long ago that you are what people “see” you as—and if you are my presumed “ethnicity,” that usually means inspiring a negative response. I can see it the blue eyes of this person sitting next me on the bus, burning with hatred, his hands shaking with rage that someone like me has the nerve to sit next to him. I think he’d strangle me right on the spot if he thought he could get away with it. The reason why we have laws is because of people like this bigot. I don’t wonder what he is thinking, because I know. But I ask him anyways, telling him I want to write it down for the edification of the world; but he just threatens me with violence. Bullies don’t want to be exposed for the cowards they are. They just hogtie an inebriated man to their pick-up truck, and drag him along a road until he is decapitated. Such was the fate of a black man, James Byrd, by a couple of neo-Nazi types in Jasper, Texas.

World of illusion

Since I received a Safeway gift card for Christmas, I decided I might as well use it at the store located at the corner of Meeker and Washington in Kent. This is the store that I mentioned in a post where when I walked into the place, someone on the intercom said “Skittles Alert”—an obvious reference to the Trayvon Martin story. That clued me into the “politics” of the place. I saw white, black and Asian employees in place—but not one single Hispanic. It don’t know if this is a corporate decision to employ only “real” Americans, or the policy of this particular store. But one thing I do know is that what these people don’t seem to understand is that you only have to be racist against one group to be a racist. 

This past presidential election saw two-thirds of Hispanics vote for Barack Obama, while nearly two-thirds of whites voted for Mitt Romney. Yet I observe that many blacks cuddle with patronizing white people like they are best friends. That’s their business, save one for one thing: When push comes to shove, when that white man or women has to decide what side of the line they are going to stand on, how good a “friend” will they be? After all, even in this “progressive” state, they passed the anti-affirmative action I-200 by a landslide margin. Oh, it’s OK now for both sides to beat on Hispanics, because that is a desire they have in common, but that’s just a good way to add to add reinforcements to the enemy camp. And it does your “cause” no good either when one of your number sucker-shoots a Hispanic and Asian police officer sitting in their car when it is your white “friends” who are responsible for nearly all the shootings of minorities by police.

A material world run amok

I see so much of other people’s “junk” going through a recycle warehouse  every day, most of it stuff that Goodwill and other sellers of used items can’t sell and have to make room for the next haul. Much of it really is “junk” and of questionable utility, although quite a bit of it, especially clothing, are still of worth something to those without. A lot of this stuff is going to Third World locales, or so they say. I’d say 99 percent of the books are well past their expiration date; the most “represented” authors of junk books are Danielle Steele and Nora Roberts. However, Steele’s books actually look like they’ve been “read”; Roberts’ books tend to look like they’re in mint condition—including the back cover image of the author, always with a smug smirk and dressed in the same boring black pantsuit. What a bore. I don’t know if people who don’t speak or read English would find any “enlightenment” with owning these tomes (let alone reading them), but being made of paper, they are an excellent source of fuel for cooking and heating, which probably is the best use for most of them anyways. 

This crazy world

Russian president Vladimir Putin has officially declared the restart of the Cold War, claiming that NATO is Russia’s principle “enemy.” Putin has no one to blame for the distrust the West has for his motives but his own mega-maniacal self; rather than seeking to incorporate Russia into a pan-European conglomeration with common goals, he has set out to reconstitute the Soviet Empire, with himself as nothing less than supreme dictator (perhaps even “Czar”). This couldn’t be more evident than by his recent invitation to his fellow North Korea’s nutjob despot, who has allowed the march of time pass him by, too; perhaps “supreme leader” Kim Jong-Un imagines himself as Genghis Khan, or Attila the Hun. Any way, he is still a nut who apparently regards former NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman as his “ideal” American. But then again, in this country Rodman is also regarded as something of a “nut.”

More political partisan BS on the horizon 

Those who voted in a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate probably have this ridiculous notion that things will "change" in Washington, DC. Republicans  are promising "action" on health care reform; well not "action" exactly, but more indication that these unethical and immoral morons are playing on the bigotry of their constituency who think that it is only "lazy" people who can't afford standard health insurance. Decent individual insurance--if you can get it--can cost $500 a month, and if your employer doesn't have a plan, then that could be half your take home pay if you're in the $10-$12-an-hour pay scale. Let's face it: The same thing that has happened since the Republicans took control of the House in 2010 is going to happen for the next two years from Congress--a lot of nothing. Paying them is the biggest waste of taxpayer money.

To hell in a hand basket

We are told by the media and right-wing politicians that the country is in a bad way, but since when hasn’t it? The “strength” of the late former president Richard Nixon was said to be foreign affairs, yet his domestic policy was “suspect” in retrospect. The principle foreign policy “triumph” of Nixon and his chief foreign policy adviser, Henry Kissinger, has proved to be a very mixed “blessing” at best. The idea of opening up relations with China was for American businesses an opportunity to take advantage of its huge market. That market is even bigger now; the problem is that China’s market remains largely closed to U.S. businesses. In fact the opposite of what was intended has occurred: Rather than insuring American jobs, Chinese-made goods have flooded American markets, and have displaced many millions of domestic jobs (particularly manufacturing) in this country.

In 1974, a Canadian journalist named Gordon Sinclair wrote this editorial that was later a Top-40 hit in the U.S., a rare spoken-word “song” in front of a background of “patriotic” music:

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by forty-one percent since 1971. And this Canadian thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people in all the Earth.

As long as sixty years ago when I first started to read newspapers I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze;  who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did.  They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is under water, and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.

Germany, Japan and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans, who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on it's remaining debts to the United States. When the Franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and the reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there, I saw it. 

When distant cities are hit by earthquake, it is the United States that hurries in to help. Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples.  So far this spring, fifty-nine American communities have been flattened by tornadoes, nobody has helped. The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries; now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war mongering Americans.

I'd like to just see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build it's own airplanes. Come on, let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing jumbo jet? The Lockheed Tri-star or the Douglas-10?  If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia, fly American planes?

Why does no other land on Earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you will find men on the moon. Not once, but several times, and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them—unless they are breaking Canadian laws—are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.

When the Americans get out of this bind—as they will—who could blame them if they said “The  hell with the rest of the world. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds.  Let someone else build or repair foreign dams, or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose; both are still broke.

I can name you five thousand times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble; can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.  Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who's damned tired of hearing them kicked around.

They will come out of this thing with their flag high and when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.  I hope Canada is not one of these, but there are many smug self-righteous Canadians. 

Hooray for America and national chauvinism; this country is never in short supply of that, and it didn’t take a Canadian to remind us. Obviously the particulars here are a bit out of date, but the sentiments are not. As you can see, nothing has “changed.” Republicans and right-wing extremists talk about the “end of America” and blame it on Barack Obama. It’s odd, but they still seem to talk about the “future” as if it is a given. But it is the same as it always has been. Perhaps the only difference is that we are too focused on the “wrong” problems now, political and social. Whatever the case, I have learned all I need to learn, and it is time to move on to other projects.