Systemic or Systematic

Sisyphus will start today off with a quote.

“An Actor must work all his life, cultivate his mind, train his talents systematically, develop his character; he may never despair and never relinquish this main purpose – to love his art with all his strength and love it unselfishly.”

-Constantin Stanislavski

This applies to all those who work at something that they believe in. I bring this up because as time goes by, Sisyphus At Rest may become critical and step on some thoughts that may be the heart and soul of what you believe.

Effectively, Stanislavski is providing our disclaimer. As long as you come to the table with this in mind, you will have a seat. So, fret not my little sparrows, it is a big world for all ideas.

Is it Systemic or Systematic? This has been the argument that the public has received from the Administration since day one.

It began with tax cuts, budget cuts and the restructuring of the military. Donald Rumsfield before September 11, 2001 was on his way to get a Pentagonal blanket party for what he was proposing in military changes. He had one eye on the ball and one eye on China. Remember the spy plane that fell into the lap of the big red machine?

We had a projected 4.5 trillion dollar surplus in 2000. Bush insisted that there was something wrong with a system that allows us to take that much money from the American people.

America overwhelmingly said, Hell Yeah! and got $350 dollars and paid taxes on it the following year. Following all that, health insurance, home owners insurance, gasoline, food and interest on credit cards have found it fitting to increase to make up extra revenues that was lost from those big bad taxes they were paying. After all, all that money is out there.

Since that time our moral radar has been deteriorating steadily. Folks would bitch, but at the same time were reluctant to poise the question of why it was the way it was. America felt like they were rode hard and put away wet. Conservatives called it the Clinton hangover. The Liberals, they were ironing their panties.

I suggested buyer’s remorse. There was a stunning lack of ideas from the American culture. We were waiting for the other foot to drop. These guys were saying everything needed to be overhauled. We are going to change the face of education, immigration, taxation and simplify your life by calling everything by a new name.

My favorite is the Death Tax. “They tax you when you die, man.” Please.

Then came September 11, 2001 and Terror alerts, the Department of Homeland Defense and the Patriot Act. Wow, that was fast…

Ole Donny has been out there trying to do it again with renaming the Terror Wars and what Insurgency are. For a long time Rummy denied we were fighting an insurgency.

Bush is constantly moving the goal posts. As scandal climbs higher up the mountain, they ignore or deny.

I watched an old Eddie Murphy skit where he was talking about infidelity, and he mimicked a man being caught saying “It wasn’t me.” and she agreeing because he gives her orgasm. This is the state of the American frame of mind.

On no counts am I suggesting that we have enjoyed this fornication. I am saying that we have been living under the auspiciousness of a leadership that is asking us to enable their policies at our own expense.

I will add another quote from Carl Sandburg. It is from The Unknown War,

… the first bomb blast of the Third World War, keep you wits collected/beware of the matters not to be spoken of/beware of such matters as must be spoken of/watch your ears as to things heard often/watch your ears as to things seldom heard.

I put this out there because I don’t think there are many people in this government that we can trust. The opposition does not logically oppose any ideology with a will of its own. The majority does not have an interest in democracy. There is no oversight or accountability. Our selection has become a big box store stamping out conversation with overwhelming ugliness.

America, this is our fault. Yours and mine. I have confidence this can change.

We need a Community. We need more people to join the fray and to listen carefully and decline bold face lies and denials. We need to take our country back.

What’s Going On….

This is the way around government oversight.

This is more on lobbyist influence.

This is New Orleans Rain.

This is Jerry’s War on Christmas season.

Supreme Court this is a story with legs I hope.

Letterman is granted a pardon.

Bush vs. Texas Courts.

Lest We Forget.

A Community of Rats

Sisyphus has been wading in the wait of discovery of the great argument of our time.

We have the debate that Jack Murtha opened up just before the holiday. We have Georgie boy who is trying to retool his image. And the fence sitters are waiting to see where which way the wind is going to blow.

I’ve scanned through most of my usual haunts. I have tried some new ones. It seems that no one is really sure what is going to happen next. The powers that be feel they can shame the disgruntled into not getting too excited about what happens in Iraq. The straw men are out there, wanting to blow up our TiVos with our remote controls. And don’t forget about those killer M & M’s…

In the mix of the posturing, we have scandals galore in the free market. Congressmen crying, Supreme Court nominees back peddling and folks editorializing about unnamed sources; what could be next?

I went to a speech the other day by Retired General Barry McCaffrey. It was a great honor for me to meet him. (I also met John Glenn, a man from outer space, I felt like I was nine years old.) I have watched McCaffrey on television for many years and he is pretty no nonsense. He revealed something that I find astonishing in many ways. This was also backed up today by Murtha and the Commander of the Pennsylvania National Guard, but we don’t seem to have anyone else in the Reserves to continue to fight the battles that lay ahead in Afghanistan and Iraq. At some point during the summer, we will be using active duty personnel. This would significantly strain a thin force. It does signify that something drastic is going to have to take place to achieve a victorious appearance in this battle of ideals.

A draw down is inevitable.

There have been reports that the Armed Forces Commanders are working up plans for a draw down this summer. This coincides with the mid term elections. To say the least, there must be a lot of frightened cats up there in the halls of congress.

The consistent cry is What’s the Plan? You gotta have a plan! Wars generally have a habit of foundering into chaos without one. Not that we haven’t lost control of the situation or anything. We still maintain that relatively. But what could possibly be militarily viable at this point?

I see no reasonable problem with redeployment. I have thought this for a long time. We contained Iraq for ten years covering the air space and blowing out suspect sights. We no longer have to concern ourselves with Saddam. We could even get some of these bad guys to stick their necks out. This will play out in time. It will be curious to see the new mobilizations. I hope to have a more educated opinion on this sooner rather than later.

Credibility, Accountability and Reliability

I found this lead to be mind blowing.

“By Kathleen T. Rhem

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2005  - The decision by U.S.

soldiers to burn the

bodies of two enemy Afghan fighters was an act of

poor judgment,

but not a violation of the laws of war, U.S.

officials have determined.

Officials also determined that using the act to

incite Taliban fighters

by announcing it over psychological operations

loudspeakers was a

separate act. In all, four soldiers have

received administrative

punishment in the two incidents.”

I found it ironic that after we declared Victory in Iraq two years ago, we publish a document called Strategy for Victory In Iraq. (whitehouse.gov if you want it).

This link is one of my favorite articles I have found. It’s the cure for American Cancer.

I have a review of the latest spin from Slate and the Village Voice.

Dan Froomkin has a good blog on Fact-Checking the President.

One other note that I think that is serious and is still in the gee whiz phase of things is the mounting articles of the bubble that the President is hiding in. There have been plenty of articles lately how Bush will only use the military as a back drop for good press. It seems impossible for him to be able to spend time with the American public, much less care what they are thinking.

Isn’t RSS the greatest thing?