[lit-ideas] Re: for Andy and Paul
- From: "Veronica Caley" <vcaley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2005 13:15:39 -0400
>I've been to the US. It's a dirty, smelly, disgusting cesspool, and at the
>same time, it's a rich, opulent, devastatingly beautiful place.
Paul is absolutely right. The US is as he describes it. I have been
watching this country slowly descend into a state that looks like some
Latin American countries ruled by dictators, with the help of the local
religion. The extremes of wealth and poverty he describes are there. In
the last year or so, I have been trying to think of what Latin American
country I was in where the rich people's homes were surrounded by brick
walls. On the top there were shards of broken glass set in concrete with
sharp pieces up. This of course was to deter robberies which the
increasing desperately poor people were undertaking.
The Congress was to return next week to pass legislation to further enrich
the rich by passing legislation to do away with estate taxes, which they
renamed the death tax, to make ordinary people think you are taking heirs'
money unjustly, just when they are grieving for dead relatives. They were
also planning to further cut taxes for the rich.
If you have read this far, keep this in mind. The latest report from the
government shows that in the last five years, the numbers of poor people
has increased by a million every year. The last year, almost all the
increase was by white people, clearly people pushed down from the middle
class. The number of people with no health insurance has increased from 40
to 43 million. This does not count people who do have health insurance,
whose payment for medical care has risen steadily in the past five years.
Also, many companies have and will declare bankruptcy, to get out from
under their pension obligations.
The destruction of unions, starting with R. Reagan firing the traffic
controllers, is about complete.
What to do now? Flood the phone banks of Republican congressmen and
governors and demand that they do the following: Close the loopholes that
allow wealthy companies to pay no taxes by going off shore. Demand that
there be no more tax cuts for anyone. Demand a restoration of some of the
taxes that have already been given back to various rich people and
corporations. Demand a fair, progressive income tax with no loop holes.
And if they don't do it, tell them you will never vote for a Republican
again, until they do. And for the next Congressional election and state
elections, vote for no one who voted for any of the above. And vote out
Republicans controlling the state houses due to unrelenting, ceaseless
gerrymandering, as in Texas, Colorado, Michigan and I am not sure where
else. Demand that the US military go back to soldiers doing the cooking
and meal serving. Stop the situation where Halliburton's subsidiary is
providing restaurant meals to soldiers over seas which cost as much as it
does to purchase same in the local, decent restaurant here. The purpose of
all this is to lower the deficit. Also, you might insist that they
reconsider the budget bill passed by Congress, loaded with pork, further
increasing the deficit and The US's descent into third world status. Also,
this money will be needed to rebuild New Orleans, properly protected from
the disaster we just saw, which was avoidable.
By going to Iraq, the US has shown itself to be a helpless giant. By
Katrina, it has shown itself as incompetent at home as it is abroad.
Oh, yes, and call the headquarters of Right to Life in your state and
demand that they go down to these devastated areas and save lives, not
embryos.
Note to Paul: my family looks to Canada for periodic refuge from all that
you said. We would emigrate there, if we were allowed to. Despite all
that I wrote above, I know most people won't do it. And this country will
continue on it's road to theocratic fascism. The people that want that
type of government are very rich and powerful and politically active. The
rest are mostly entertaining themselves and just trying to tend to their
daily lives.
Veronica
> [Original Message]
> From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 9/3/2005 11:26:42 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: for Andy and Paul
>
>
> >I've been to the US. It's a dirty, smelly, disgusting cesspool, and at
the
> >same time, it's a rich, opulent, devastatingly beautiful place.
>
> Before y'all get mad at me for dissing 'merica. Let me be clear that I
was
> talking of extremes. Yes of course there's the "heartland" and a whole
lot
> of real nice middle class folk. Those people resemble me, apart from the
> funny accent (by me, I'm told by a couple of guys in Red Bud, IL I was
> talking to -- I tell you what!) I'm just aghast at the spectrum from
> squalor to magnificence that I drive by every time I visit.
>
> Just for one example, in Detroit, there is a University [Wayne State]
which
> is reasonably reputable with a beautiful [if somewhat sterile concrete]
> campus located DIRECTLY across from an, I don't know what the word is for
> it now, but I'd call it a slum or ghetto. If you drive down Jefferson
> (probably THE main North/South artery of downtown Detroit) you can go
from
> driving by beautiful stadia, nightclubs, art institutes, to suddenly
being
> in the middle of boarded up, bolted up, barred over, sex shops, constant
> liquor stores, abandoned buildings, then after three or four more miles,
> again, churches, beautiful buildings, the university, hospitals, then, it
> devolves into suburbia, past a zoo, there's a huge fairgrounds, you're in
> the middle of a town (Royal Oak). All in the span of about 10 miles. It's
> quite bizarre. From my experience of driving around almost every major
city
> in the US, I see a street like this pretty much everywhere I go.
>
> I've visited Charleston a few times and was struck by how the downtown
> street, "Meeting", if my memory serves me, at one point, there are
> literally No more black folks. They were sitting on one side of the
street
> and then, as you approached downtown, they just stopped being apparent.
As
> if there was some invisible fence. The irony of the name strikes me.
Maybe
> they should rename it exclusive meeting.
>
> What is wrong that creates situations like that? In Chicago, as you enter
> Cicero, there is actually a HUGE GATE over the road and, let's just say
> that the complexion of the town changes somewhat. A few miles East of
that
> is an absolutely PLUSH green area with mansions, a great park, a lovely
> zoo. Go a few miles East of that and there is a squalid industrial area.
>
> Diversity is one thing, but this isn't diversity. It's separation with
> tacitly acknowledged borders. Perhaps the sick and feeble from the poor
> part of N.O. were just cowed into thinking "I don't cross this road,
under
> no conditions." I read one story about an 82 year old woman who had
rarely
> ventured more than 30 yards from her house. But, thankfully, she was wise
> enough to cross that threshold and ask for help. I'm blown away by
stories
> like that when they are represented by quaint reporters. If only another
> 20,000 folks might have stuck their preconditions away for a couple of
days.
>
> Boringly run of the mill,
> like a good Canadian,
> Paul
>
>
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