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Yesterday, I wrote that America makes me uncomfortable because, while a great deal happens here, much of what goes on is undesirable. America would be a much better country without it.

Remember the “American Dream?” That phrase was originally coined by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 work, “The Epic of America.”

He defined it thus:

….that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

I assume that Adams’s definition of “European upper classes” meant the nobility – queens, kings, princes, lords and ladies – of the time. The World War that followed, less than a decade after the publication of his work, did much to alter that. It inspired a socialist reformation that continues to this day, even though European politicians are doing their utmost to reverse the process, claiming the “American model” to be better.

Better for whom?

Today, the “American Dream” is no more than a marketing slogan, a suitably stirring phrase to reinforce those “American Freedoms” still considered a vital component of US life. Present-day Republicans make much of these freedoms; a society where the only regulation is self-regulation by the individual or company.

The results of “self-regulation” can be seen in the millions behind bars in the penitentiaries, the unacceptable degree of corruption rife in every aspect of American life, from gutter to government, and the collapse of the economy brought about by fraud and underhandedness in the financial sectors.

The concept of Republican self-regulation is a farce. They would regulate the right of an individual to use drugs, a woman to have an abortion. They are in favor of many regulations presently enforced in this nation – traffic violations, crimes of burglary, murder, and rape to name a few. These matters, they concede, cannot be left to the discretion of the individual, and rightly so.

Where present-day Republicans particularly want self-regulation is in the area of financial control – matters of taxation and business. No government can function without finance, and the world standard for providing government finance is through taxation. Present day Republicans prefer the working masses to pay for government, rather than the rich and wealthy they represent. They argue that their money is best spent expanding businesses and providing more jobs, even as they’re stashing it away in off-shore tax havens and Liechtenstein bank accounts.

‘Greed’ is the new synonym for the “American Dream”. Maybe it’s not all that new. Greed means using any method allowed (no regulation) to extract money from others, by offering services and goods that aren’t worth a fraction of the price demanded, if they’re worth anything at all.

Take a moment to peruse the sidebars of this website. You’ll note it contains a number of advertising links controlled by Google. Ever since President Obama declared his “bail-out” plan, those adverts have been dominated by scam merchants offering false claims promising to obtain “grants” available under the “bail-out”.

You’ll find websites like: “GovernmentGrantsfor2009.com”; “Officialstimuluspayments.com”; USAgrantreviews.org” and “GrantOneDay.org”.

All of these con merchants are trying to wrest cash from people already in financial distress. Here is the claim of one of these sites:

All American citizens and residents can apply to and may be eligible to receive Federal Government, State Government and Private Foundation funded grants and loans. Remember, these programs do not require credit checks, collateral, security deposits or co-signers. Even if you have declared a bankruptcy or currently have bad credit, as a tax payer and U.S. citizen or resident, you are entitled to apply for this money!

Right now, you may be eligible to receive up to $50,000 in government money that you would NEVER HAVE TO REPAY.

Of course, that statement doesn’t lie. Everyone is eligible to apply for a grant, but virtually no-one is eligible to receive one.

Here’s what the government says:

We have all seen them, late night infomercials, websites, and reference guides, advertising “millions in free money” Don’t believe the hype! Although there are many grants on Grants.gov, few of them are available to individuals and none of them are available for personal financial assistance.” [my bold]^[1]

This is the scam: first you have to join – become a member. This means a paltry payment of a few dollars (“If it doesn’t work out, what have I lost?”).

The object is not so much to swipe your few dollars, as gain control of your credit card. Once you’ve paid the initial fee, you’ll likely get just enough in return to keep your interest going – perhaps a few worthless forms in a fancy plastic package. Suddenly, you’ll get a credit card bill and discover these scum have taken a hundred dollars or so as “your monthly payment”. Not bothering to read the ‘fine print’ you failed to note the agreement that says they’ll deduct this sum every month until you contact them to stop it. Usually, that’s not so easy to do as it may first appear.

It’s all part of the “American Dream”, you see. They have a right to get rich by suckering the poor and suffering. The government is well aware of it – “We have all seen them, late night infomercials, websites, and reference guides, advertising “millions in free money” – but can do nothing to stop what, in a properly regulated society, would be illegal.

That’s the kind of regulation our friendly present day Republicans like Coulter, Limbaugh, Boerner, Bolton, and a host of others, are fighting to avoid.

There are even scam sites that denounce their competition as fraud. They pretend to have checked them all out and only ‘recommend’ the genuine ones. Of course, the genuine ones are their own, or belong to a partner.

Check it out. Google, “government grants”, and when the search engine page opens pay particular attention to those in the right-hand sidebar. Click on a few, it’ll cost the bastards money.

I can’t keep these scum from advertising on Sparrow Chat. I can bar individual websites, but for every one that’s stopped, more appear in its place.

It’s yet another example of what makes me feel uncomfortable in America.

What about you?

Are you comfortable in America?

^{[1] “WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR A GRANT?” Grants.gov}

Filed under: The North American vulture is thriving

For some, the problem of writer’s block may be down to a lack of ideas, an empty head refusing to materialize any pertinent thought that can be caught, held, worked, and finally displayed, like pizza dough transformed from a lifeless mound to a gloriously shaped pastry tray resplendent with glorious topping and ready for the oven.

With me, the opposite is the problem: a head so stuffed with pizza doughs that trying to untangle the sticky goo of ideas, all intertwined and refusing to separate, leaves me jumping from one to the other, unable to settle to any, and finally hurling the keyboard at the wall in disgust at my own limitations.

Ah, well, as Gene Fowler once said, “Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.”

Here’s part of my problem: America makes me uncomfortable. For a writer, it’s an exciting, often exhilarating, place to live. There’s always much going on in this country – far more than in Britain, or other nations of Europe – but a great deal of that “going-on” is decidedly undesirable.

I’m sure many Americans hoped that once Obama was president the country would settle down and become less frenetic. Eight years of George W Bush left normally sane individuals wondering if they weren’t slowly tipping over the precipice into a bottomless void of madness.

Obama, by comparison with his predecessor, is so calm and sane, unruffled and intelligent, that one almost expected a mighty sigh of relief to stir the branches of trees from Florida to Alaska, as Americans settled back into their armchairs, reached for a favorite tipple, and thanked God the bad times were finally over.

Of course, there were certain minor difficulties thoughtfully bequeathed by the previous incumbent – two wars, an economy past the brink of collapse, terrorism on the rise around the world – but those would all be dealt with in time, and most important was the knowledge that we could all finally relax and enjoy our lives once more.

Then, the asylum doors burst asunder and CPAC^[1] spewed forth to haunt our very souls. Like some ghastly, recurring, nightmare the monsters of the GOP we thought had gone forever were suddenly exposing themselves, in all their demented ghoulishness, upon our TV and computer screens.

It could only happen in America.

There they were, once again pouring forth the same old foetid poison that’s been dragging this country back to the dark ages since time immemorial:

Limbaugh:

Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill. Barack Obama portrays America as a soup kitchen in some dark night in a corner of America that’s very obscure.”

Coulter:

Obama has the entire media, the European Union, and Oprah on his side. A poll in Germany said 80% of Germans liked Obama over McCain and we all know how infallible Germans are at picking leaders.”

Bolton:

The fact is on foreign policy I don’t think President Obama thinks it’s a priority. He said during the campaign he thought Iran was a tiny threat. Tiny, tiny depending on how many nuclear weapons they are ultimately able to deliver on target. Its, uh, its tiny compared to the Soviet Union, but is the loss of one American city, pick one at random – Chicago! – [thunderous applause and laughter] is that a tiny threat?”

Joe the Plumber:

Uh…ummmm?”

Instead of retiring to ‘a soup kitchen in some dark night in a corner of America that’s very obscure’ and licking their wounds, realizing they’re mortally wounded and dragging themselves away to die unceremoniously in the gutter, the GOP not only continues to display an arrogance for which it’s long been infamous, but attempts to intensify the party’s swaggering pomposity by roping in a second-rate talk radio has-been, and an unlicensed nobody of a tradesman, for support.

So egotistical are these people that they are totally unaware how sad and bitter this makes them look.

Were they a political party in Britain, or any other nation of western Europe, one could rely on their demise being relatively permanent. Sure, they might manage to garner nine or ten percent in any election held during a time of extreme crisis, for it is such moments that cause the crazed and insane to vote for nationalistic idols, but as a mainstream political party their allegiance with the religious nut machine, and grovelling affiliation to the corporate masters, would ensure a ‘Des-Res’ in the political wilderness for the foreseeable……

Unfortunately, this is America. To quote from another of Ann Coulter’s quips this CPAC:

If Obama thinks the people really want change, wait till 2012.”

Just once, she might be right.

And that’s why America makes me uncomfortable.

Pizza, anyone?

^{[1] “Conservative Political Action Conference Website” February 26th 2009}

Filed under: Zombies of the GOP

The United States of America is to be congratulated. Its annual report on worldwide human rights violations, released in February, is very comprehensive.

Perusing the lengthy document, it’s difficult to find a nation on Earth that isn’t listed among the six geographical sub-headings. The amount of time, money, and work spent compiling this report has to be phenomenal. It is needed, however, as a signpost to Congress when foreign aid is doled out.^[1]

There is one conspicuous absentee.

China, a nation that fared not at all well in the report, noticed one country the compilers appeared to have inadvertently overlooked.

Always meticulous and thorough, the Chinese set out to rectify the omission by compiling their own report on the nation that had been left out.

It’s a very full report running to six pages, each subdivided into a specific category of human rights violation.

The Chinese report on the Human Rights Record of the United States of America in 2008 is available for reading at the link below.^[2]

^{[1] “2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” US State Department, February 25th 2009}

^{[2] “Human Rights Record of United States in 2008” China View, February 26th 2009}

Filed under: Tit or tat?