Detroit and Class Warfare.

I’ve already written about how I grew up in Detroit and what it was like in the fifties and sixties. I can’t really tell you much about the fifties since I was just a kid first trying to figure out what the heck was going on with this life thing. I did go to a freshly built elementary school three or four blocks from my home and my class size was around twelve or fifteen. It really was a neighborhood school. In 1963 I went to a newly built junior high school that was still within walking distance. I do remember the sixties – albeit with some foggy time toward the end of the decade, but that’s another story – and Detroit was hoppin’ and poppin’ – at least on my white ass side of town.

I grew up right in the middle of square miles of working class families and we were solidly middle class. One of my friends’ father worked in mid-management for Chrysler, and another friend’s father sold Chevys. My uncle Eddie worked forty-five years for Ford. He retired with a good pension and lived a long life. Sometime around World War II my mother worked for Fisher Body. Later she worked for the National Bank of Detroit whose biggest customer was General Motors. She once told me about having to track down a million dollars of GM money. That’s when I first learned that the rich see money differently than the rest of us.

In ’69 I worked for Ford for a couple of months in the summer. I worked at the Rouge Complex at the stamping plant. We put together all the sheet metal that went into cars, operating huge machines that shaped and cut the steel or spot welders that put pieces together. I had to join the UAW and they took forty dollars out of my first check for union dues. I was paid 3.47 an hour – that would be seventeen something today. The next year I worked at a machine shop five minutes from my home that made parts for Chrysler, the quintessential small business interface to the auto industry. It was non-union and I got 2.50 an hour – or about twelve something now. Notice that jobs were available and they paid rather decently.

My brother worked for Ford after he got out of the Navy while he went to college and law school. He worked testing electronic components. Did you ever see the movie Class Action? It stars Gene Hackman. Fred Thompson makes a cameo, kind of like he did in Hunt for Red October. He explains how a company knew about a problem but that the beancounters, the company accountants, ran the numbers and saw that it would be cheaper to settle lawsuits later then have a recall to make the cars safe. My brother worked for the unit that informed Ford of the problem that the movie references.

This is what has gone wrong with American business over my lifetime. The beancounters got control and dictate to the rest of us. The executives have the power and they wield it ruthlessly. Heartless, they care nothing for the pain they cause thousands and thousands of families. They have made millions and millions off the blood, sweat, and tears of the workers, the ones that actually do the work of designing and building cars. Scumbags like Roger Moore (Roger of Michael Moore’s Roger and Me), Henry Ford III, and Lee Iacocca literally destroyed Detroit as heads of the Big Three, yet they made themselves richer. It’s the same aristocratic attitude that our forefathers had a revolution over.

I left Detroit in 1973, and my parents did in 1975 when my father retired. By 1980 when I returned to Detroit to bury my father, I was shocked to see how badly the city had been devastated. The executives made millions, the workers got screwed.

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Its a New Dawn.

This was going up last night when we had a power outage for a few hours and I went to bed.

Never in my life have I seen such a thing. The whole world is rejoicing over the election of an American president. They were dancing in the streets around the globe, not to mention all over this country: two hundred thousand in Chicago, thousands in Times Square, Harlem, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Oakland and hundreds of other localities from coast-to-coast. They came out in a spontaneous public display of collective joy honking horns, whooping, or chanting, “O-ba-ma”, or just all around having a street party. It was like New Year’s Eve. Again, over the election of a president.

It is an incredibly profound event for the African-American community, and it is going to have a tremendous affect on society as a whole.

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Yes He Did.

I’ll flat out say it, Tonight I am really proud of my country. Ten months ago I didn’t think it possible. I thought there was no way America would vote for a black man, no matter that he is as much white as he is black and is the quintessential mythical American Dream story. It was interesting when he took Iowa, but then he lost to Hillary in New Hampshire. Then he kicked butt Super Tuesday and went on the ten state run. When states like Montana and Idaho went with the black guy over the white chick, I thought that it just might be possible.

Now tonight. I’m an oldguy. I cut my political teeth on the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement. There’s a very good reason African-Americans are ecstatic and in tears tonight. Hell, I’m in tears! Something I never believed possible in my lifetime has occurred. This is a tectonic shift. The world has just changed. I can think of no more historic moment in my lifetime. Maybe the fall of the Berlin Wall – but this is where that change picks up.

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24 Hours.

Finally, it will all be over. Yes, I am stressed. All night tonight they’ve been running an anti-Obama Rev. Wright ad telling north Florida to be afraid of the angry black men – gotta frighten all the white folk. That’s what the Republicans are all about, and all they got in their bag. The past month has been the ultimate revelation of what their kind of politics brings us to, the brink of economic meltdown. Just because the DOW stopped its freefall, don’t believe we’re out of the woods. More than likely, the hundreds of billions of dollars that the Treasury just sent over to Wall Street was greatly appreciated and there were bargains to be had, with the result of a rise back above nine thousand.

Anyway, I have absolutely no trust in these people. They have no regard for the American people. We are merely sheep to be fleeced in their eyes. As a computer professional, I absolutely cannot trust computerized voting – it’s just too easy to mess with the votes. In our form of government, a citizen’s vote is sacrosanct, regardless of what the fascist judge Antonin Scalia would have us believe. My hope is that if Obama’s supporters turn out in overwhelming numbers, it will not be denied. I’ll be watching Virginia as an early barometer. If it goes Obama, it’s all over but the shouting. We can only hope and pray. Oh God, let justice reign.

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How Despicable.

I find people like this extremely abhorrent. I don’t mind this woman’s anti-abortion stance, that’s her right and freedom. What I take issue with is her arrogant self-righteous attitude and spirit that makes me question her Christian bona fides in much the same way she wants to question mine. She starts right out:

To all those who name the name of Christ who plan to willfully disobey Him by voting for Obama, take warning. Not only is our nation in grave danger, according to the Word of God, so are you.

I didn’t get that memo. In fact, God told me to vote FOR Obama. Also, I don’t take too kindly to fear tactics like she’s employing and whenever anyone does it sets off the alarms. Frankly, I’m willing to bet (and I’m not a betting man) that I know the Word of God better than she does, so I’m not worried about the nebulous danger that she’s trying to make me fear.

In one week, America will make a choice. And to those who call themselves "Christian" who are planning on voting for Barack Obama, put down the Obama talking points and read God's voter guide before you go to the polls:

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live (Deuteronomy 30:19)

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I not only planned on voting for Obama, I ALREADY HAVE!!! Putting Christian in quote marks tells me that she doesn’t think I’m a real Christian since I don’t believe like she does. I assume she means the Bible when she says “God’s voter guide,” because she quotes me a verse from the First Covenant saying it like GOD is speaking to me right now. Is she prophesying? I don’t think so. She’s merely swinging the verse that someone taught her was good and kind of apropo like some kind of cudgel.

Then she rattles off a bunch more verses which I could just as easily apply to her when she comes out with this doozy:

Obama-Biden are pro-death.

What can you do but call that out for what it is: just a flat-out goddamned lie. Let me say that again, that’s just a FLAT-OUT GOD-DAMNED LIE! As in, the statement bears no resemblance to reality. The woman is being hysterical at best, but since she likes to throw the Big Ten around how about:

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Ex 20:16

Then she goes into an anti-gay screed. What gay people do affects me not in the least, but could someone tell me why they’re usually nicer, more creative, and have better taste than nearly every religious person I ever met – and I met a lot.

Then she goes into redistribution of wealth like it was a bad thing. I can only gather for all her bible-spouting that she has never read the book of Acts, as in Acts 2:44-45 and 4:34-35, not to mention Matthew 19:21. What most people don’t understand is that we’ve had an enormous redistribution of wealth over the last thirty years, only it has been from the poor and middle class to the already rich, and it’s impoverishing us. I think it’s a good thing to turn that flow around, back to what it was like in the fifties and sixties when the country was at its peak.

She wraps up by basically condemning again anyone who doesn’t think like she does, rattling off a few more condemnatory verses, again wielding the cudgel of fear that we won’t be saved.

I’ll be simple, fear is not of God. Anyone that goes there is not in the Spirit of God. However, it is a staple technique of charlatans and oppressors. When it happens we can know that we do not have to trust the source of it.

This is par for the course with these “Pro-Life” people. I don’t believe for a second that they care one whit for the fetus they say they want to “protect.” Why? Because they won’t have anything to do with it once it’s born. They couldn’t care less about the child. After it’s born it’s YOYO (You’re On Your Own). The only reason they posture themselves this way is because they think it gets them brownie points with God.

There is nothing in the entire essay to lead me to believe this woman actually knows God in any direct experiential way. It’s entirely legalistic in a warped Old Covenant sort of way. It’s the spirit of the Pharisees, not Jesus. A “Christian” is a disciple of the teachings of Jesus. Honestly, I think she needs to get to a nunnery and do some major studying about the New Covenant and engage in serious meditation, prayer and devotion to the Lord. It would do her spirit good.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

FYI: This is what Sarah Palin is all about.

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Seven Days.

Thank God, only one more week left to this endless campaign. While it’s looking good right now for Obama, I will be holding my breath until he’s declared the winner by the Electoral College, whose are the only votes that really count in this republic. It’s not a done deal for me. There’s been a LOT of shenanigans being pulled by the Republicans with voter suppression. I shudder to think of what will happen if Obama wins by millions of votes, but McCain/Palin get elected by the EC. It just so happens that the day after the Election Day is November fifth, Guy Fawkes Day:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

It’s really an admission of failure of the McCain campaign that a week from the election and all they can do is raise the specter of the boogeyman of socialism – Obama’s a socialist, they say. Anyone that believes that Obama is a socialist first does not know what socialism is, and second does not know what Obama believes. Again, it’s just utter bullshit. It always seems that it’s the Republicans that shovel the most bullshit. It’s like it’s all they got. They certainly can’t run on redistributing the wealth to the already wealthy (which is what they’ve done the last thirty years). They’re saying that Obama’s for “spreading the wealth around,” as if it were a bad thing. I certainly hope so! I could use a little more wealth coming my way, but I’m not going to hold my breath. We haven’t seen the end of this crunch.

It seems the Republicans are fearing a real bloodbath on Election Day. We can only hope that our long national nightmare be over. I’m talking about thirty years of national insanity. It looks like this could be one of those realignments that come about once a generation. The Democrats were swept into domination of the government in 1932, due to the First Great Republican Depression. I personally believe Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be the best president we ever had. The Republicans tried to make a comeback after World War II, winning the White House with Eisenhower. However, Eisenhower was what was called at the time a moderate Republican, and the Republican Party soured themselves on the electorate with Joe McCarthy. Interestingly, I would say Eisenhower was to the left of Clinton economically. That’s how much things have changed in my lifetime. They tried making a comeback with the vile Nixon, but he nearly destroyed the party. Reagan made the comeback in 1980 and ushered in the sea change for the Republicans. Fortunately, the Republicans never got control of both houses of Congress, until the 2000 election. Then after 9-11, Republicans got whatever they wanted for a solid five years. The Democrats regaining Congress merely put the brakes on the Republican agenda.

Now we are on the brink of the Second Great Republican Depression. It’s good that the Democrats are poised to take serious control of government. Obama is very familiar with the struggles of the poor and middle class. It has been his life. With the notable exception of his pow years, McCain has been nothing but a spoiled brat of privilege his whole life, much like George W. Bush.

So, yeah I’m with Obama. I think he’s one of us.

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Oh. My. God.

Well, after waiting for it for thirty five years when I was a young guy, it seems The Crash finally decides to show up when I’m old and gray. Yep, it sure looks like they really screwed the pooch this time. When they actually start saying the words, “worst economic crisis since the thirties,” things have to be bad. Make no mistake, this is the direct result of conservative economic policies that have been pushed on us since Ronald Reagan. What we are seeing is the loudest repudiation of those ideas that could occur.

Let’s see, they come up with a 700 Billion dollar bailout, but the markets around the world precipitously drop. Last week the Dow drops 2500 points or near a quarter of it’s value, the largest in HISTORY. Everyone got excited when it went up over 900 points on Monday, only to see that wiped out by today two days later. Now the Dow is not an accurate measure of the economy, but it does reflect what the business class thinks of the economy, specifically, it’s future.

It isn’t through yet. They say the bailout got them through to the election three weeks away. More than likely there will be some more serious tremors after that, especially the beginning of next year.

Locally, pretty much everyone I know is in a slump and have been for months.

I’ll still be holding my breath for the next three weeks, but it seems that Obama may win this election unless it gets stolen by the Republicans which is still a very good possibility. There is voter suppression going on in a number of states that just happen to be considered “battleground,” and they still control the damn machines. The Obama campaign is pushing people to vote early, if possible. We did here in Georgia a couple of weeks ago. I read this morning that over 500,000 have voted in the state already.

I’m really thankful for the meditation practice that I’ve taken up this year. Things are getting pretty crazy out there, and it’s my spiritual refuge.

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