Call this the story of The Bad Shepherds. What can one say about a country’s leaders when they haven’t adequately protected the citizens under their care from corporate predators? From the tobacco companies that have addicted 30% of its citizens -- and millions more in their early graves? From the alcohol industry, which ruins countless lives in its lust for profits? From the many-tentacled food, snack, soft drink and fast food industries, which have "shaped" this country into one in which over 60% are overweight and eating their way into a hospital? From the pharmaceutical companies that are successfully achieving their agenda of pushing pills on millions of children? From the gun merchants, who won’t be satisfied until every 17-year-old in the country is packing? From the television purveyors, a marketing machine for everything unhealthy, be it morally or physically?

The sad fact is that our shepherds, our so-called leaders who have been entrusted with the public welfare, have been well-paid to not intervene forcefully in these fleecings. Almost without exception these individuals (and you can include the top persons in the regulatory agencies), live a lot higher on the hog after their tenure than they did when they entered “public service.”




The general mood among European people these days is very anti-Bush/anti-U.S., especially regarding our actions in Iraq, our general unilaterism, American support for what’s perceived as Israel’s bullyism, the U.S.’s opposition to the World Court, and our environmental intransigence. Add to this our continued massive export of unhealthy food, cigarettes, and trash entertainment, and one can see where the Europeans (who’ve been around the block many, many times) are getting their anti-American attitude.




Fun Fact. The U.S., with 5% of the world's population, has 25% of the planet's prison population. (Maybe the police are just lazy in those other countries.)




After decades of caterwauling (i.e., bitching and badmouthing) by the Republicans about how the Democrats were big profligate spenders and couldn’t balance the budget, etc., lo and behold the Republicans get control of the presidency and the House of Representatives and immediately turn a projected four trillion dollar surplus in the next decade into a projected five trillion (and counting) deficit.




This red-white-and-blue waving nation has become Number One (Way Number One) in murders, number of guns, rape, illegitimate births, drug addiction, alcoholism, divorce, abortion, child abuse, child sexual molestation, suicide, venereal disease and every other gauge of moral degeneracy that can be cited. (Also, Number One in denial that anything is seriously wrong.)

Before long, it will just be the military power that we excel at -- and with progressively fewer friends in the world, we'll surely need it.




It may be fifteen or twenty years away, but America is sailing toward a gigantic iceberg -- fiscal suicide, ecological disaster and unparalleled social unrest. And so we sail, the CEOs at the wheel, the politicians smiling at the passengers, the entertainment industry playing the music, and the so-called journalists re-arranging the deck chairs.

The first step in not hitting the iceberg is knowing that it’s there, but these mislabeled leaders are so caught up in their own egos and materialistic success that there’s little chance of them steering the ship in a different direction.




All romantic versions of history aside, most popular uprisings against the established order in the past 3000 years have been squashed, and most of the leaders of such protest movements tortured and/or killed. In modern-day America, protesters and anti-government types are just ignored by the media, shunned by polite society and written up in detailed FBI files. (OK, I suppose that’s some progress.)




Almost fifty million Americans (including yours truly) without health insurance is a national shame -- all the more so considering that most of the other industrialized nations have this problem covered, and compounded by the fact that U.S. healthcare costs have become obscenely expensive. And yet, the Bush Administration and the country at large remains shamelessly blasé about it all.




Possibly the biggest all-but-uncommented-on (at least in the U.S.) scandal in the world is that in dozens of countries a small oligarchy controls all the wealth and power. In many of these nations, concentrated in Arabia and Africa but also found in Asia and South America, there is a plentitude of oil or some other natural resource that could allow for a reasonably high standard of living for everyone. Instead, less than 5% greedily gobble up the income and mercilessly punish those who resist the shackles of their rulership. (With almost no exceptions, the U.S. is allied with these countries, and invite their leaders over for State Dinners and tours of Washington.)




Did I dream this? I fell asleep in front of the TV again so I'm not really sure. A spokesman for the Bush Administration was explaining the budget cuts which would impact hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged children. "These are poor kids, they're not important. Hell, most of them ain't even white. Let me show you what is truly important, and why this administration is committed to tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans."

On the screen appears a women in a huge walk-in closet filled with hundreds of dresses and pairs of shoes. She starts pulling new things out of Gucci and Versace bags, showing them to the camera. Then the video switches to a man in a large garage filled with cars, some antique, some newer models. He's standing beside a brand new Rolls-Royce, and says something to the effect of how he's paying 150 thousand less on his taxes this year, and thought he'd "reward" himself with a new toy, “and a mink stole for the missus.”




The vast majority of Americans don’t understand why most of the world resents or hates us. A large segment of our society is composed of middle class folks who are doing a good job of being upstanding church-going people. Their houses are lemony fresh, their bodies are zestfully clean, they bake great cookies, they give money to Jerry’s kids and occasionally an earthquake relief fund. And they teach their children to be nice to everyone, even the dark-faced ones.

In their own minds, America is a kind of utopia, and they can’t comprehaend why so much of the rest of the world is against us. Their comprehension would be improved if they could transport themselves into the life of someone in a Third World country and see what America means to them.

America is the place where the factories along the river came from, the factories that make it impossible anymore to drink from that river or fish from that river. The good old U.S.A. is the place where the cigarettes come from that so many people in that person’s family and town are now addicted to (and are spending upwards of 10% of their meager income on). America is where the pornographic magazines and videos are made that have the young (and some of the older) males in a tizzy. It’s also the source of the shoot-‘em-up action movies that have created a market for the kids buying plastic guns and rifles -- also made in the U.S.A. And America is the backer of their repressive government which deals harshly with those who seek to have fair elections in their country.

So, yes, I’m quite sure that they don’t care that your lawn is perfectly manicured and edged, or that you haven’t missed a PTA meeting since 1997, or that your little Sally was recently Citizen of the Month at her school.