SEAMUS IGNATIUS MULDOON, HIMSELF - CASTING ABOUT

CASTING ABOUT – IT’S JUNE 2008

      Confessions

      If one must never have committed the things he wishes to criticize, who could write anything at all? During the 70 years of my life I have said numerous things, some quite awful, that are now inconsistent with my feelings. Oddly enough, while I recognize them for what they have been, I am not apologetic. They were the honest expressions of my feelings at the time. Truth to tell, I would not be surprised if I were at some time or another to repeat many of them. If you require more rectitude of the people whose opinions you would consider, read no more and just look elsewhere.

      Where do I think we are?

      I think we are at or approaching numerous tipping points. I see those tipping points to be environmental, economic, geopolitical.

      I am less interested in whether global climate change is caused by this, that or the other thing. The most probable truth is that there are many interacting causes. I like that approach because it takes political blame out of the discussion. It doesn’t matter which sonofabitch’s theory you like most/least. What matters is that action, not discussion is called for. Many powerful groups are making a bloody fortune out of the status quo. They are willing to let everything go to hell in a hand basket as long as they can reap short term profits. They have much political suck. They will use it as forcefully as they can. We are not just facing the problems themselves, but also the minions who don’t want the problems addressed until they can milk this cow dry.

      Illustratively, those who are pushing the idea that food grains should be converted to ethanol, and that that would influence the price of gas know that that is a farce. They also know that it causes food prices to skyrocket, and that starvation will be even more severely aggravated.

      An immediate embargo on any fuel made from food grains would be an important step in the right direction, but it won’t happen because not enough of us are hungry enough yet. As for those who are, screw ‘em, right?

      These same folks have us so completely bamboozled that we swallow the most ridiculous stories about why gas is so high. If any jihadist gets pissed off and blows himself up along with whoever happens to be standing around, word goes out that the Middle East Risk Profile has just increased so that the cost of oil must be increased to account for the risk.

      We, the supposed mightiest military force on the planet, are spending $ 10,000,000.000 a month to keep a lid on the Middle East, and we can’t influence the Middle East Risk Profile? Are you fucking nuts? By this ruse the price of oil and gas is whatever we morons will swallow in connection with any ridiculous story. The people who are selling us the oil, the Saudis, don’t want instability, so it aint coming from them. We are supposed to believe that the “insurgents” and Al Quaida are setting the price of oil and gas by blowing up police stations in Iraq? FORGETABOUTIT!!

      One might posit that if we are indeed that stupid, we deserve to be fleeced.

      The automotive and petroleum companies don’t want nuclear mass transportation and nuclear power generation. Their propaganda is that we can make it easier if we drive differently. That is total bullshit and they know it. Driving differently will not sufficiently dilute the impact of the new Asian demand curve for energy products. Nor will driving differently reduce the security risks in the most energy productive region of the planet. When you look at who is making fortunes in the Middle East, you will understand what the war is about. I am willing to agree with the effort in Afghanistan, but Iraq is only about oil profits. If it were about anything else, we wouldn’t be looking at this picture today. Consider only that the Maliki government in Iraq is living large on mountains of corruption, and that they have no incentive to accomplish any mission that would make that cash flow slacken.

      Mr. Maliki visits Tehran regularly now that the UN mandate on Iraq is about to expire. The purpose is to create the proper atmosphere to enable him to milk us for a lot more in order to obtain “his consent” for us to stay in Iraq beyond 31st December.

      If we told the Iraqis that we will be out of there ASAP and that they have to pay their own bills out of the oil revenues, the situation might be incentivized for positive change. As it is now, that won’t happen. Any claim that our leaving will create chaos is ridiculous. If the Iraqis don’t want chaos, there won’t be chaos. If they can’t live together, we can’t make them do it.

      Geopolitically, we are in the Stone Age. Those we saved during World War Two have now become self sufficient and no longer recognize a perpetual obligation to follow our lead if they don’t agree with our goals or directions. We do an awful amount of good in the world. But we are alienating people because we are insisting upon ridiculous notions of who we now are and what our esteem is amongst the other nations of the world.

      Could we afford to engage diplomatically with our enemies? Of course. The message needs to be that we are open to negotiations, but that when we believe we are being conned, we move to step two. Then we do one and make the necessary statement of consequences if there is an attempt at chicanery.

      Since we don’t do that, what we now do is ridiculous for the reason that is isn’t true. We are tough on Iran, but more amenable to North Korea. We are that way with North Korea because we aren’t ready to do anything forceful there. They know that. The whole world knows that. So who are we kidding about being willing to deal with serious threatening countries?

      We don’t need a missile defense shield in Europe. We don’t have serious missile vulnerability on account of any state in the Middle East, which is the excuse bruited about. No one in the Middle East is going to attack us with ICBM capacity in the near term No one there has that capacity or is about to acquire it. If someone detonates a nuclear device in the USA, it will probably be delivered in a rented truck. The device will have entered the USA via any number of vulnerable points.

     If there was a slam dunk example of how the tough stance about dealing with enemies fails to produce anything positive, consider Cuba. In roughly 50 years, our tough stance with Cuba has accomplished nothing. Cuba is a small island, for God sake! If we can’t scare Cuba, how the hell could we expect to scare anyone else? Everyone in the world is aware of our lack of progress with Cuba. Whenever the neocons get up on stage and talk tough, my reaction is that I must be watching Saturday Night Live. Only an evangelist could take that crap seriously.

     Where is my head/heart?

      A year ago I had all but given up. I figured that there will never be a crack in this wall of inadequate performance until the wall simply crumbles. The current ruling political party is promising only a continuation of the same old bullshit. We are seeing the results of absolutism, evangelism and other fascist influences. Hopefully we are also seeing that we can’t afford to continue down that terrible road. We will not achieve a life quality that we want through our military prowess.

     We need to seek balance. Balance is long lost. It must be refound.

      I believe that the young people of America will make the difference. The old farts are all but useless. I see that positive trend in the politics of June 2008.
As a young Cuban immigrant said recently to a news reporter, we are not like the older generation. With us family trumps politics. We want access to our families more than the aggrandizement of some outdated political agenda.

     Because these wonderful young people are giving me hope that the next generation might not be as stupid as we are, I am starting to hope again. I’ll be back in a few weeks to discuss where that seems to be headed in July.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, PLEASE