The Olympic torch has been steadily making its way across the globe, lighting up news headlines, and surprisingly enough transcending embargoes into North Korea to reach it's final destination in the evilest nation on earth – Communist China...which yes, has been nearly a complete Capitalist enterprise since the death of Chairman Mao Tse Tung in 1976.
Unfortunately for me, the Olympics doesn't light my torch, nor does it get me misty eyed. Call me crazy, but the notion of nations getting together to run faster, jump higher, chase around balls, or perform the perfect triple axel for the trillionth time doesn't exactly scream progress or togetherness for me like economic and political justice would, or an end to resource wars, neo-liberalism, ecocide, hunger and starvation, imperialist plundering, most of which are unparalleled in the history of humankind.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, these factors all make me fear to have children, and what's worse the criminal elite in charge are still in office, and as greedy and myopic as ever, as they plan our demise from their laptops, country clubs, golf courses, jets, and limousines. With that being said, senior U.S. officials in Hollywood, Congress, and the White House are canceling Botox parties nationwide, from the Gold Coast to the "burnt toast" (California) in order join arms with Dalai in a global chorus line for a "Free Tibet".
The craven queen of Botox, Nancy "Impeachment is off the table" Pelosi, and the horribly opportunistic snake oil saleswoman Hilary Clinton are calling on George Bush to protest the opening of the Olympic ceremony in Beijing. At a time when our nation is weak and vulnerable the voices of opportunism and hypocrisy are heard loud, and are presently at work infuriating the Chinese government. "Our" traitor to democracy Nancy Pelosi states, ""I don't think China should have gotten the Olympic games to begin with..."I had a resolution in the Congress, which was very popular, and bipartisan support on it. But they did get them with the promise that they would open up more and have better respect for human rights and freedom of expression. They have not honored that".
Where does Nancy Pelosi or Hilary Clinton get off? Are we supposed to respect these tools of corporate America, who sanction Bush's madness, and have refused for 7 years to lift a finger to hold him accountable? These people shouldn't be the voice of moral indignation heard around the globe, they should be the voices of apology, and I would most gladly accept their resignation on my cubicle desk first thing tomorrow morning. Further Pelosi states, "I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table". I find this statement by Pelosi incredibly irritating being she doesn't seem to know what to keep on or off the table. I wouldn't hire this woman to sweep up potato chip crumbs after a PTA meeting. Can someone answer for me what in the world she's doing representing our country?
Free Tibet... Sure Why Not, but Why Now?
After all, shouldn't Tibet be a free country? I believe democratically minded peoples everywhere would agree that all nations have the right to self-determination, and sovereignty unless of course that nation starts blaming Jews for all its problems, and proceeds to then morph into the "Arian Nation", which is happening now in semi-remote pockets all over the United States. However, some people seem to have a problem with the Olympics (which is supposed to be viewed as a symbol of global unity) being manipulated into a P.R. stunt for politically motivated ends, which run counter to the notion of "togetherness " and peace which is supposed to be embodied by the holier than though monks of Tibet.
For those very reasons, the Dalai Lama is fearful of tarnishing the pristine perception the west holds of Tibet. Recently, the Dalai Lama encouraged those engaged in the "Free-Tibet" movement to exercise restraint and not use violence to disrupt the torch relay.
The Dalai Lama certainty views negative publicity as the possible Achilles heel, which may trip him on his arduous journey back up the mountaintop where he will once again be crowned King Buddha, and ruler of the feudal underworld below, which during his short reign as a teenager resembled medieval feudalism, just the same as in Europe, and at times just as brutal, self serving, and cruel as any other theocracy, so lets stop fooling ourselves about that. There is a wealth of history to prove that point by performing a simple Google search alone (Friendly Feudalism by Michael Parenti). Some may call me an apologist for the acts of "Communist" China, which is in fact in the running for evilest nation on earth according to George Clooney, George Bush, and George at work. Nevertheless, it seems to be the general consensus among George's everywhere but in China and North Korea, so like a "good American" I'm just going to run with the pack, and remain uncritical in order to not lose any more friends, upset loved ones, or appear "un-American".
However...What about Iraq, and right here at home? In case it has slipped our country's collective short-term memory, not very long ago some of our countries finest stationed in the cradle of civilization were busy fitting our Iraqi prisoner's heads with pointed hoods, stacking them in naked pyramids, and decorating their gentiles with electrodes. It goes without saying that I am sure the soldiers would have rather have been home hanging Christmas ornaments on trees instead of penises, but the Captain Ahabs of pirate Capitalism had to have their oil, so here we are, once again, stuck in the same quagmire as always.
Often I frequent Iraqbodycounty.org just to try and make some sense of all the morbid headlines and statistics in the news. Iraq body count estimates a number of 83,336 – 90,897 killed civilians as a result of violence and documents their findings fastidiously, and further mainstream polls taken in 2007 by CBS reflect that to be an accurate number. Of course this doesn't mean our soldiers are responsible for all civilian deaths, it just means our country is responsible period, and it's high time we owned up to it as a nation, and stopped blaming Iraq for their colonialization as Nancy the Imperialist Pelosi does constantly.
In 2007 the Iraqi ministry of social affairs estimated unemployment rates in Iraq at 48%. Not only does the New York Times estimate the war cost at 1.2 trillion...yes trillion dollars, but also the human cost of the war is 2.34 American Military lives per day. If you calculate oil in quarts you would get 168 quarts of oil per barrel. The amount of blood in the average human body is 6 quarts, so we expend on average only 14.04 quarts of blood daily in Iraq, which is only 11.966% of one barrel of oil, so when Bush Energy and Co. gather around the oval boardroom to crunch the numbers, they must find that calculation to be an acceptable American blood to oil ratio. It seems hypocritical to not consider the amount of Iraqis dead per day doesn't it?
If the Iraq debacle wasn't awful enough, we have just surpassed China for the highest gross prison population in the world, yet we have roughly 1/4 their population size. With that being said, you can do the rest of the math yourself. (U.S. 303,824,646 – China 1,321,851,888) George Bush perceives Iraq's participation in the 2008 Olympics as his kind of progress. Haven't we learned yet that George Bush's upside down perceptions of progress only lead to misery, and misfortune for the already unfortunate and marginalized. Bush, Pelosi, Clinton, and the rest of the pack of rats have the king Midas touch, only instead of gold, everything they touch turns into a crisis situation.
