You may have noticed Sparrow Chat has been unusually quiet over Christmas/New Year. The reason is quite simple: I’ve had very little to say.

The holiday period provided a measure of relief from the ongoing political farce being played out in Washington. Any swing towards the right displayed by this nation in November was nothing like as large as John Boehner would have us believe, but Obama’s capitulation on tax cuts for the wealthy, that ended the lame duck session of Congress, must have sent top Republicans scurrying back to their homes believing they’d already been visited by Santa Claus.

Hardest to bear, while watching and listening to American politicians, is the knowledge they’re really exceedingly stupid. Whether the gene pool of elite America is shrinking through inbreeding, or the education system has just become so degraded it allows simpletons to achieve degree status, the quality of intellect of those individuals taking their places in Congress this week pertains less to what is going on in their heads, than to the area of their anatomy closest to the seat cushions they’ll be occupying in the House or Senate.

It’s truly remarkable that this country, supposedly leader of the world, can be run by a bunch of spoilt brats behaving in a manner reminiscent of grade school kids bickering over a candy bar. The infantile character of these people doesn’t just result from parental over-indulgences in their formative years; corporate America has now taken over that role, and its not just Republicans who are having their noses wiped and their pockets lined by the lobbyists for big business.

If those Americans who voted Democrat in November believe their representatives are independent of corporate influence, they need to think again. Obama’s apparent impotence over the repeal of tax cuts for the wealthy was caused as much by Democrat opposition as Republican intransigence.

Much is being made of “bipartisanship” by the Democrats. It’s a central tenet of Obama’s presidency and one that, recently, Nancy Pelosi has become equally vociferous about. “Bipartisanship” means ‘to reconcile the desires of both parties’, in this case, both political parties.

The result of bipartisanship in everyday politics is disastrous for the electorate. It may be a necessary way to run a country at war, under threat of invasion, or in times of dire crisis – as a short-term strategy – but despite George Bush’s inaccurate description of the aftermath of 9/11 as the ‘War on Terror’, America is not at war with anyone. Of its own choosing, it’s fighting an invasive, empire-building, series of battles in Afghanistan and Iraq. The homeland is not under threat of invasion by another nation.

This appeal for bipartisanship comes from a weak political party (the Democrats) under pressure from a much stronger party (the Republicans). The weakness of the Democrats is not due to a lack of seats in the government (they were just as weak when they had control of both Houses) but because of turncoats within the party itself.

The Democratic Party is being consumed from within.

Greed is the cancer eating away at the heart of the Democratic Party, and in American politics, greed takes the form of corporate influence. Lobbyists are magnets exerting a pull on all members of Congress. It’s not easy to resist their advances, and though not all Democratic politicians fall victim to their lure, sufficient are co-opted to ensure the corporate masters get exactly what they want from their servants in the political halls of Washington.

Despite Obama’s campaign pledge to “clean up Washington”, he’s either fallen victim to the corrupt practices of corporate influence himself, or is too weak a personality to exert sufficient pressure where it’s needed to gain control of his party and government.

The collapse of democracy in the US Congress is cause for concern, but of far greater disquiet is its reflection of the country as a whole. What occurs in Congress is only a mirror of what is happening throughout the United States.

Just as corporate power is taking over the government and bending it to its will, so that same power is having a similar effect on the population as a whole. Through advertising and media control, the American citizen is being brainwashed to accept government by corporation, rather than – as the US Constitution states – by the people themselves.

We now know the Tea Party movement was an artificial creation of big business, designed to temporarily further the interests of corporate America. It succeeded. Now, for all practical purposes, it has been put to bed, no longer required, but capable of being re-awakened should it prove useful in the future. Sure, there may be a few elected representatives of that organization who will attempt to cause trouble for the Republicans once Congress gets under way, but just like any unruly puppy can be coaxed with a juicy bone, a fat wad of dollar bills waved under the nose will no doubt pacify most errant Tea Party politicians, who, if truth be known, only really used the movement as a vehicle to get elected.

Do Americans care anymore how their country is run? Some undoubtedly do. Barack Obama bears comparison with Louis XVI of France. He, too, was an indecisive and weak leader who would often back down when faced with opposition. In the late 1700’s, France – just like America today – was bankrupt from too many wars and a grossly inadequate system of taxation. Louis’ political enemies distributed pamphlets displaying false or grossly exaggerated information to the populace, to agitate public opinion against the king, (though they neither suggested he was a Muslim, nor accused him of not being a French national!).

The bloody French Revolution exploded out of resentment for the elite in society, of which Louis was the figurehead. Much of the sad state of the nation was inherited from his predecessors, who were responsible for numerous wars, including France’s part in the American Revolution. But the French populace of 1789 had a short memory, as have Americans today, a fact Obama discovered when he found himself blamed for many of George Bush’s misdeeds.

The similarities between the France of 1789 and America today are hard to miss. There was, however, one major factor responsible for igniting the fires of revolution in France that is missing in modern day America: the French peasantry were starving.

Thanks to two brothers from New Hampshire, Richard and Maurice McDonald, the peasants of 21st century America are fed beyond the point of obesity. These pioneers of the fast food outlet were, unwittingly, responsible for a gluttony epidemic that’s spread throughout America and the western world. Had they been in Louis XVI’s France there would never have been a revolution and the monarchy would likely still rule that country.

Corporate America should be very grateful to ‘Dick’ and ‘Mac’ McDonald. Thanks to them the US peasantry are too well over-fed to consider revolution. Many can barely manage the journey from sofa to TV, but then they have a remote control, so they don’t have to.

There will be no revolution in America. The people are too fat and lazy. They’ll complain about their lot, but do nothing about it. The corporate bosses will have their way; Democratic Party politicians will toe the line; “Days Of Our Lives” will broadcast ad infinitum, and the smell of burnt cow will continue to emanate from half the buildings on Main Street.

I guess that’s why I’ve had nothing much to say over Christmas.

Filed under: Speechless

The American news media ends its evening bulletins with the inevitable ‘do-gooder’ report, designed to assist US citizens in believing how wonderfully selfless they all are. The BBC chose a slightly different slant on America this Christmas. One that more aptly describes what this country is truly like, particularly if you’re black and living in poverty.

Imagine living in a nation where a woman can spend nine years in prison just for attempting to snatch a handbag, and her daughter gets a similar sentence simply for aiding her escape from the crime-scene. No violence was involved; it was no more than a brief, attempted, bag snatch from a customer in a supermarket.

If you live in America, you live in that nation.

A court in Baltimore, Maryland, deprived a six year old child of her mother and grandmother for nine years, for an offense that, in most civilized countries, would have resulted in probation.^[1]

Latasha Shelton is twenty-seven years old and black. Her mother, who shares a cell with Latasha, was a crack addict in need of money to fund her habit. Quite (pronounced ‘Cutie’) Shelton is Latasha’s daughter. Her father was a drug dealer, imprisoned, then murdered. She’s six years old and has to be looked after by her great-great grandfather, who’s seventy-six.

Occasionally, thanks to the generosity of the nation that banged them up, she’s allowed to visit her mother and grandmother for a few short hours.

This story isn’t unique. According to the BBC:

Despite the fact that African Americans make up only 30% of the population of Maryland, the overwhelming majority of women at Jessup [prison] are black – and so, as is the case nationally, it is black children that suffer most from America’s incarceration rate.

One in nine African-American children now has a parent behind bars.

One in nine children has a parent in prison. Now that’s a statistic to make any nation ashamed. Except, it fails to shame most Americans. Ask almost any white person how it makes them feel and the response will be something like, “Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time.”

There’s a pitiless, heartless, element among American citizenry, particularly with regard to those living in poverty. Being poor is to have failed to live the American Dream. White, middle-class, America would rather not accept that their American Dream created the poverty in the first place.

CBS, NBC, FOX, and other news media do their best to maintain that attitude. Analysis of their ‘do-gooder’ slots reveals the constricted nature of such philanthropy. Usually, they are local community projects, or ‘one-man-bands’, that may assist a few middle-class citizens fallen on hard times.

Nowhere is there any continuous, concerted, attempt to truly help the poor in society – except around Christmas time when the Salvation Army dutifully requires destitute examples of their stilted benevolence to shiver for hours outside Wal-Mart stores, ringing a bell and begging for money.

This Christmas, middle class Americans – at least, those who still have a job – will be sitting down to dinner after exchanging gifts with all their family. No doubt the majority will pause to say grace. They’ll thank their god for the bounty before them, and for sending the baby Jesus on this day to save their immortal souls and guarantee them a place in Heaven.

At no point will Latasha Shelton and others of her ilk invade thoughts or prayers. Should ever it do so, a hasty, private, postscript to the grace will simply hope the likes of her don’t end up in our Heaven.

Merry Christmas.

One of every three black males born today can expect to go to prison if current trends continue.^[2]

^{[1] “US children cope with parents behind bars” BBC, December 21st 2010}

^{[2] “Sentencingproject.org” Research and Advocacy for Reform.}

Filed under: A caring nation

In these days of economic gloom and dark political intrigue, Sparrow Chat would like to take this opportunity to wish Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America, a very happy Christmas.

The White House

Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, D.C.

Sir,

On behalf of me and mine, I would like to wish you and yours a very happy Christmas. I will refrain from including the part about ‘a prosperous New Year’ as, in your case, that is already a forgone conclusion.

Unfortunately, for many of the citizens you represent it will not be the case. Millions have no work, many have lost their homes to foreclosures, those who are sick and cannot afford health insurance are unable to seek treatment.

No doubt, this Christmastide you’ll raise a glass and laud your victory in extending unemployment benefit, but at what cost? You signed your Healthcare Bill into law, but at what cost? You brought out measures to help families resist foreclosures, but at what cost?

I will remind you of the cost: you continued the policy of George W Bush and further bailed out the banks and finance houses, with our money, to the tune of billions of dollars. In return, those same establishments ran a ‘robosigning scandal’ that evicted thousands of home-owners who never deserved to lose their homes. The measures you implemented have had little effect on the foreclosure figures – they were down a mere 4.00% in October, and in no part due to your measures. Those measures may have had better teeth had you not caved to the demands of the ultra-right.^[1]

The healthcare bill you appear so proud of is little more than a Christmas gift to the insurance industry. The ‘public option’ – its glorious centerpiece – slid unceremoniously into a deep muddy hole in the cemetery of Republican indifference, even before those who might mourn it were aware of its passing.

Still, you did achieve a thirteen month extension of unemployment benefit, so those you are supposed to oppose don’t have to hold freshly picked posies to their noses and walk passed emaciated carcasses of the long-term unemployed, as they wend their way down Pennsylvania Avenue to their posh clubs and Washington dining establishments.

It really wasn’t such a great deal, was it? In return for thirteen months of unemployment benefit you bartered sixty-eight billion dollars in tax relief for the wealthy. Surely, more than sufficient to purchase a plethora of freshly-picked posies, even at Washington prices.

Sir, I have supported you throughout your presidency. For me, like most sane individuals in this nation, it was a breath of fresh air when George W Bush and his entourage of demonic psychopaths vacated the White House, and you moved in.

Let me be fair, you have had some successes, but frankly, those minor victories count for nothing against your latest, and perhaps greatest, political capitulation over the Bush tax breaks. Even your own party has turned against you.

This country needs that the rich and powerful pay their rightful share. In the manner of a true quisling, you denied your nation’s need. Neville Chamberlain, himself, would have been ashamed to know you. The fresh air you brought to the presidency has turned fetid and stagnant.

How easy would it have been to allow the Bush tax breaks to expire at the end of the year, then introduce a bill reinstating tax cuts for the middle class and extending unemployment benefit? Of course, the ultra-right could vote it down, but doing so would show their true colors to the American people.

Sometimes, Mister President, it’s necessary to fight, even when the end result may not be to your liking. It’s called adherence to principle. You, sir, have betrayed the very principles you were elected to uphold.

On behalf of all the homeless, the untreated sick, and the poverty-stricken of this country, I wish you and yours a very happy Christmas.

As you, and Mitch McConnell, and John Boehner, raise your rare cut glasses of fine Cognac and toast each other over the White House turkey, I trust you’ll spare a moment’s thought for those poor, underprivileged, folk who trusted you with their livelihoods. The ones you have betrayed.

Happy Christmas, Mister President.

^{[1] “Foreclosure Activity Falls ‘Artificially’ Due to Moratorium” CNBC, November 11th 2010}

Filed under: Goodwill to all men