Dead kids sure are a bummer but….

 

I know the title is rude. It appears to be insensitive. Maybe even shocking.

But I honestly don't think I'm the one being insensitive and shocking here.

I've been sitting here in Japan since the Sandy Hook tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th, trying to imagine how a typical gun owner would complete that sentence.

"Dead kids sure are a bummer but you know what's a real bummer? Not being able to go to a gun show and buy anything I want by slapping some cash on the counter."

 

"Dead kids sure are a bummer but I'd really be bummed out if I couldn't own 57 handguns, shotguns, assault weapons and use hollow-point bullets."

"Dead kids sure are a bummer but can you imagine what a bummer it would be to have to put a new magazine in my AR-15 after getting off only 20 rounds?"

"Dead kids sure are a bummer but there's no way I'm going to take classes in gun safety or have some punk bureaucrat come around every year to check up on me."

What is a typical gun owner willing to give up so that any one of the the victims of the Newtown massacre whose photos appear in this article would be alive? And what is so important to a gun owner that the lives of these people, and the other thousands who are killed by gunfire every year, can be so easily dismissed?

 

Truth is, I have no idea why I'm even writing about this. Because trying to get significant changes in our attitudes about guns really isn't about laws and regulations. It's about becoming sane again. And I don't see that happening.

Here's how the gun-loving members of the American public responded to Sandy Hook: "Shock figures show buyers are racing for firearms in Sandy Hook school massacre state" and "Gun enthusiasts pack shows to buy assault weapons".

I love this:  "Gun backers want to arm schoolteachers"

My wife came up with this one:  BulletBlocker, 'Bullet Resistant Products'

Bulletproof backpacks for children?  Is it just me or does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

 

I understand the powerful appeal of guns. Maybe not as intensely as the gun nuts out there but I do understand. I even understand the need for the latest and greatest of everything. We've been conditioned to want to own the biggest, the baddest, the best. We just can't fall behind, you know.  

"Damn! My next door neighbor just got an AR-59 MICW. What if we get into an argument over how high to trim the hedge? I'll be outgunned!"

Okay. I know I'm rambling. I'm not being coherent or rational.

 

But the truth is, none of the discussions about guns and gun control are remotely coherent or rational. 

We can nitpick over the details of gun regulation but frankly the whole discussion is so far out off the edge, it's like a conversation in an insane asylum between Napoleon and Jesus about what they should do with Elvis over there in the corner to keep him from singing "All Shook Up" during arts and crafts.

Yes, it's that bad.

It's pure insanity.

It's pure insanity because when people flock to gun shows to buy more guns after a tragedy like this, it's akin to a lung cancer patient spending his life savings on cigarettes and giving them to all his friends and relatives.

 

It's pure insanity because not even the simplest, most sensible, least intrusive limitations can get through Congress.

It's pure insanity that we can't even ban weapons which have no other purpose than killing and killing fast, ones like the semi-automatic rifles used in so many recent gun massacres.

I got a Tweet from Yoko Ono a few days ago. It said ... "Over 1,057,000 people have been killed by guns in the USA since John Lennon was shot and killed on 8 Dec 1980."

Which brings me to the way I would complete the sentence.

"Dead kids sure are a bummer but we've gone completely insane, so even if we shed a few tears, we really don't care deep down inside where it counts." 

[ Insert prayers here for the America which is being lost, for the children who are being abandoned, for the death of the American Dream. ]
  
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

 

The Face of Courage

On September 18, 2001, the Authorization for Use of Military Force was signed into law  by President George W. Bush. It had passed 98-0 in the Senate and 420-1 in the House of Representatives. The one dissenting vote against the legislation that has sent this nation plunging into the abyss which we've been brainwashed into believing is a war on terror, was cast by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA).

This was the law that opened the floodgates for the attack on Afghanistan and the war in Iraq __ and torrents of blood spilled by tens of thousands of innocent people, torrents of death for over 6,000 of our own men and women in uniform, torrents of tears for more than 50,000 coalition troops who have been injured or who are fighting for their mental survival against PTSD or perhaps just struggling to walk without legs, a bankrupting torrential drain of $4.4 trillion of our tax money, which could have been put to good use creating jobs for millions of unemployed Americans, rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure, or addressing poverty, disease, and illiteracy throughout the world.

Think of the courage it took for Barbara Lee to stand there before those other angry and agitated congressman, all of them swept up by war fever, outraged by the attacks 9/11, full of the indignity and hubris which is the real stuff of American exceptionalism, mesmerized by the animal cries for revenge and cheered on by the chest-thumping neocon visions of Imperium Americæ . . .

Think of the bold, raw courage it took to stand there in the midst of that stampeding pack of lemmings who were resolved to launch America into the past 11 years of self-sabotaging, wasteful, inhumane, immoral, destructive, and humiliating war we've endured, and say . . .

"Maybe we should stop and think about what we're doing before we jump off this cliff."

Did Barbara Lee have a crystal ball? Was her one dissenting vote the result of clairvoyance or a personal message from God or the ghost of Nostradamus?

No, it was simply a matter of conviction. Conviction perhaps rooted in the Christian values we so loudly proclaim in our moments of lofty rhetoric. We are a Christian nation, right?

As she warned . . .

"Let us not become the evil that we deplore."

And what about that?

 Have we?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Going Postal

As you may or may not know, I left America August 2006. I've returned to the U.S. on three occasions for brief visits, but basically I've been living as an expat in 21 countries, including five in Europe, three in Africa, and thirteen in Asia.

This has given me the rewards of seeing how a variety of other people live, as well as how their respective governments treat them as citizens and human beings.

Now I live in on the outskirts of a rural town in Japan situated a little over an hour northwest of Osaka, also near Kobe and Kyoto.

In my previous blog I listed the amazing array of services provided by Japan Post, Japan's equivalent of the U.S. Postal Service.

• Regular Mail
• Stamps
• Parcels
• Letter Packs
• International Express Mail
• Savings
• Loans
• Cash Transfers
• Money Orders
• International Remittances
• Government Bonds
• Investment Trusts
• Life Insurance
• Local Government Services
• Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance

I reiterate, Japan Post does all of this with care, courtesy, efficiency, incredible attention to detail and a dedication to providing good service. It is among the most loved and respected service institutions in this country. All of these services are available in the main area for 57 hours every week, Monday thru Saturday. Mail services are available for 67 hours per week via a special service window, also open on Sunday. Moreover mail is delivered to each and every home in Japan, regardless of how off the beaten path they might be, Monday thru Saturday, with special deliveries also made on Sunday.

Contrast this with America.

It was recently announced that Saturday mail service for the entire country was being eliminated, effective sometime in the fall.

So . . .

We can deliver lethal explosives via unmanned drones to kill innocent people 1000s of miles away in faraway countries which have no aggressive intentions toward America.

We can deliver enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world 25 times over with 12,000 active ICBMs, and fleets of nuclear submarines and long range bombers.

We can deliver billions of dollars of freshly printed $100 bills to buy the toxic assets of corrupt, blundering too-big-to-fail investment banks across the economic landscape.

We can deliver weapons of every shape, size and destructive power to buyers throughout the world, often ruthless despots and criminal governments oppressing decent people.

We can deliver trillions of dollars in loans and loan guarantees to incompetent and deceptive banks to allow them to continue impoverishing the many to enrich the few.

We can deliver through the corporate media, empty platitudes, unfulfilled promises, and patriotic blather to a populous craving some order from the chaos we're submerged in.

We can deliver bilious and vapid television dramas, vulgar reality shows, celebrity gossip, mindless sitcoms, and orgies of violence and salacious sex on DVDs and cinema screens.

We can even deliver hugely expensive and exotic space weapons systems, spy satellites, and futuristic laser guns into orbits around our planet.

BUT WE CAN'T DELIVER THE MAIL ON SATURDAY!

With changes in technology, and the growth and proliferation new businesses and services, Japan Post understandably has had to adjust. But rather than succumb purely to the often anti-social forces of a completely unregulated free market, the government offers responsible countervailing guidance, responsive to the needs of its citizens.

As private companies, like FedEx and UPS, have introduced their own assortments of delivery services __ and yes, Japan has a thriving private sector in this respect __ Japan Post has kept itself viable and solvent by offering the many other services listed above, making itself a one-stop-place-to-shop when people are running their errands.

While the U.S. Postal Service keeps announcing more and more layoffs, Japan Post makes an important contribution to keeping Japan's unemployment rate down by staying fully staffed with competent, well-trained, unionized workers. Unemployment was last reported at only 4.2%.

Japan Post, as with every other service agency in Japan, not only keeps itself fully staffed, but keeps its staff efficient and knowledgeable with new and ongoing training programs. These assure that whether you are making financial transactions, securing life or auto insurance, setting up an investment trust, planning your vacation, or just selecting and shipping a gift to a friend or relative, you are being assisted by a courteous, competent, eager-to-please individual, intent on providing the best possible service.

And America can't even deliver the mail on Saturday?

What is going on?

Like it or not, here the simple straightforward truth . . .

Our country is being stolen. It is being painstakingly dissembled piece by piece. Our jobs are disappearing. Our freedoms are disappearing. Opportunity is shrinking. The American Dream is dissolving like a ghostly puff of smoke that hinted at better times. Our political and policy decisions are now made by the highest bidder. Our once-amazing country is falling apart. Frankly, America is viewed as in decline by most of the rest of the world.

"Oh! But you're so wrong. America is #1!"

Oh, excuse me. I forgot. I must be some unpatriotic America-hater to even consider such offensive allegations. I do apologize.

But the question still remains . . .

If America is #1, then why can't it deliver the mail on Saturday?

Why can't it maintain and even improve on a service so fundamental and necessary to an organized, functioning society, one that already has a long history of success and approval in our own country, and somehow works just fine in every other country in the world?

The answer is no secret and is appalling:  The U.S. Postal Service is being sabotaged by play-for-pay politicians who at the bidding of private corporations intend to take it apart and privatize it, turning it into another money-maker for interested parties.

The destruction of the U.S. Postal Service is just another in a long list. The corporate vampires will not rest until they've sucked the last blood out of every institution in our once-great nation. They're destroying the educational system, they are bleeding the treasury, they are after Social Security and Medicare, they are already bankrupting the nation leaving people sick and dying while delivering second-rate medical services. They are after every government program, every initiative, every community service agency, to divert tax dollars exclusively to enterprises which improve the bottom line of multinational corporations, bloodsucking institutions which have no loyalty to America, to its citizens, to its families, to its communities, or to actual human beings. With these corporations, the only concern about any of us, our lives, our communities, our country, is what can be extracted in terms of profit.

The tragic disembowelment of the nation's postal system is just the latest round in their long, calculated crusade to dominate and control every aspect of our lives, to disempower us, and leave us at their mercy, beck and call.

With all that seems to be going wrong with America's economy, its democracy, its foreign policy, its media monopoly, human rights and privacy abuses, fiscal plunder and national bankruptcy, rampant corruption in all branches and at all levels of government, it certainly makes it difficult, if not impossible, to know where to begin. They always tell you to choose your battles carefully, ones that you have some hope of winning. Maybe this is a place to start. Maybe not.

I know one thing for sure.

We need to take a stand and take it now.

We need to tell the corporate oligarchs . . .

"Enough! Stop destroying our country or we will destroy you!"

Perhaps we can start by trying to saving the U.S. Postal Service.

Or is it too late?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

“Neither snow, nor rain . . .”

Services and hours for the main post office in my hometown, Sasayama, Hyogo, here in Japan.

The full version of the unofficial creed of the U.S. Postal Service, as it appeared in the USPS Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations in 2001:

"We are mothers and fathers. And sons and daughters. Who every day go about our lives with duty, honor and pride. And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever."

A noble sentiment to be sure, but one which unfortunately which no longer applies to the postal service in the U.S.

Let me introduce to you the postal service here in Japan first with a video. It's short (less than 2 minutes) but you'll get the idea 20 seconds in. Click here.

As it is in America, New Years Day is a big holiday here in Japan. But here they celebrate it by sending out New Years cards, the way we send Christmas or Hanukkah cards, millions and millions of them. It is so important to the Japanese people that these cards arrive on New Years Day that the post office sends an army of their employees into the communities far and wide to deliver them. 

These postal employees are working ON a national holiday.

It gets better.

A quick glance at the photo appearing at the beginning of this article shows that all of the services of JP Post are available 9 am - 7 pm Monday - Friday, 9 am - 4 pm on Saturday. The ATM room is open 8:45 am - 7 pm Monday - Friday, and 9 am - 5 pm SATURDAY and SUNDAY. Why is this significant? Because there is a window in the ATM room where you can still mail packages, envelopes, whatever, locally or internationally, and pick up mail being held for you at the post office, vacation mail or mail which they attempted to deliver to your home needing a signature.

Let me also mention that mail is delivered each and every home six days a week, important packages also delivered on Sunday. On a few occasions, I have seen the mail deliverer for my little village on the outskirts of town appear TWICE at my mail box in a single day.

If your mind isn't blown already by the level of mail service JP Post provides, let me go on to describe what else it does. Here is the entire range of services available through this efficient and valued institution . . .

• Regular Mail
• Stamps
• Parcels
• Letter Packs
• International Express Mail
• Savings
• Loans
• Cash Transfers
• Money Orders
• International Remittances
• Government Bonds
• Investment Trusts
• Life Insurance
• Local Government Services
• Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance
  

Japan Post does all of this with care, courtesy, efficiency, incredible attention to detail and a dedication to providing good service. It is among the most loved and respected service institutions in this country.

At JP Post I can pay bills __ everything here is done electronically and I have never seen a check in my entire five plus years in Japan) __ or send money to an individual.

They have gift and travel catalogs. I can select a gift (sending gifts is a national compulsion here) and send it off anywhere in the world. I can plan and book travel. I can withdraw from my bank account in America. I can transfer money all over the world.

At the post office.

I just read that the U.S. Postal Service will be cutting back and no longer delivering mail on Saturday, starting sometime in the fall.

I can't begin to express how frustrated and angry I get with America when I see what's going on there. Especially when I know from first hand experience what things are like in other countries __ countries like Japan, which ignorant, bellicose commentators in the U.S. love to smugly ridicule.

You may not want to read my next blog posting called . . .

Going Postal!



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Telling It Like It Is

I heard that the LAPD raided an indoor nudist colony, killed everyone and drained the pool. What's going on here? If they weren't having sex with goats or filming child pornography, what's the harm? I mean, this was at a YMCA.

Another big problem these days.

Spreading unfounded rumors.

More on that after I check into a story about an Amish family in Lititz, PA who have been using their 7-year-old son as a human pin cushion.
 
Also looking into a hamster with a human-like face which apparently can say, "Have you read your Bible today?"

Thank god for the internet!

No one has an excuse for being poorly informed any more.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

 

What if they gave a war and everybody showed up?

Back in the 60s, there was an anti-war slogan popularized by Charlotte E. Keyes, which was then turned into a full-length film: "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?"

Well, I'm proposing the opposite: "What if they gave a war and everybody showed up?"

  

I mean everybody!

All 7+ billion of us.

First, this incomprehensibly large mob would have to see what all the fighting was about. That could take a while.

Next, they'd have to figure out who was who __ who were friends and who were enemies. Considering that there are so many similarities and differences, then similarities in the differences and differences in the similarities, that could take a really long time.

There would just be the basic survival issues. The day-to-day stuff. The meal-to-meal stuff. The where-can-I-take-a-leak stuff. That could really eat up a lot of time and energy.

There would be the inevitable I'm-away-from-home-what-the-hell temptations and opportunities, some innocent, some not. Making friends, fun and games, hooking up, random carnal pleasures. That would provide quite a bit of distraction, to put it mildly.

Think of the possibilities!

Granted, it would be a mess. Just the logistical problems, where to sleep, where to even sit down, would be daunting. It would be the mother of all get-togethers. It could be the party to end all parties.

Let's just say for purposes of argument or amusement __ if you find this amusing, you really have a lot of time on your hands, so maybe this 7 billion person war is just your ticket __ we finally get around to some serious fighting.

7,000,000,000 people? That is a lot of hard work. Do you shoot them all? Club them to death? Hack them up with ginsu knives? Bore them to death with bad television? Whew! Very daunting.

My guess __ and I'm definitely going out on a limb here __ is that after killing the first hundred million or so by whatever means, it would all seem pretty pointless. Or at least really really boring. In fact, I'd venture to say that  we'd get sick of it and at least for the foreseeable future, get on with the things that are much more fun (i. e. refer to above, making friends, fun and games, hooking up, random carnal pleasures).

Quite honestly, I don't think the vast majority of us __ maybe 99.99999% __ would ever get around to fighting. We have better things to do.

So maybe the way to cure our addiction to war is when the next big conflict comes our way, we should all get out our backpacks, duffel bags, kid carriers, picnic baskets, and thermos bottles, then head en masse for the battlefield.

All 7+ billion of us!

Let's have a real good go at this war business once and for all.

I really truly want to know . . .

What if they gave a war and everybody showed up?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Fiscal Cliff Poem

(It's all a game, eh?)  

 

White takes pawn
Black takes rook
Drone hits building   

Everyone is dead

[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]