Category Archives: United States

I come from a “shit-hole”

14 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in People, Social Injustice, United States

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Wahoo Bay Beach - Haiti
Wahoo Bay Beach – Haiti

 

It is so easy to disparage others when we are in a privileged position of wealth and power. In such positions, we can lose touch with our shared fragility as human beings. We can forget that the labor of millions of invisible human beings sustains our lives. Immersed in our comforts and luxuries, we can believe we belong to an invincible special breed.

In October 2017, I featured the work of the young immigrant Salvadoran poet, Javier Zamora, who holds a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) now up for review by our Congress. Following that post, another Salvadoran immigrant, who blogs under the name Koyote the Blind, started following my blog. Our president’s disparaging remarks about his country has struck a deep wound.

Ruins of Tazumal - El Salvador
Ruins of Tazumal – pre-Columbian Mayan archeological site in Chalchuapa – El Salvador

 

In his blog post, “I come from a shit-hole,” on Thursday, January 11, he wrote:

I am Salvadoran, even if the term was imposed by Spain. I am American, even if the US thinks they own the name. I am güanaco, even if you think it’s an insult.

I am not Mexican. Mexicans call me “cerote”–a piece of turd.

Today, Trump agreed with them. Today, he said he didn’t understand why liberals want to bring people from those shit-hole countries.

I am a piece of turd from a shit-hole country in the backyard of Ronald Reagan.

Yet, I am here. And I come from the Land of the Jewel, Cuzcatlan, the last bastion of resistance.

I am here to stay, and to change this land, this entire continent, into what it truly is: the mother land in the process of awakening.

You may see in me a turd from a shit-hole country, but I see in you and me and all the true silver light of the empty mind, the freedom from the past, the glory of the New Sun that heralds the coming of the True Human Being. I am here to share that future with you, my reader, without hatred in my heart, without resentment, and without any names to hurl back at you.

You can read his complete post here.

Whether we live on the African continent, El Salvador, Haiti, Norway, or the United States of America, we are all human beings with short life spans in the grand scheme of death and rebirth of interconnected cycles of life on Planet Earth. What makes our insignificant lives meaningful is not our material trappings, but rather the way in which we touch the lives of others we meet along our journey. The greater our influence and power, the greater our responsibility to do good in the world.

Our Gods of War

07 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in United States

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Costs of War Project Map of USA Counterterror War Locations 2015-2017

Costs of War Project Map of USA Counterterror War Locations 2015-2017
Prepared by: Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs – Brown University

 

In his article “Mapping a World From Hell,” published on January 4, Tom Engelhardt presents a unique map produced by Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. After more than 16 years since the United States embarked on its war on terror that has transformed entire countries into hell on Earth, we finally have a visual representation of the true extent of our never-ending wars.

After first targeting Afghanistan in pursuit of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist group back in October 2001, as retribution for the group’s 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, our nation is now militarily engaged in some form in 76 countries. That’s 39 percent of the world’s nations, as indicated in the captioned map.

In places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, U.S. drone or other air strikes are the norm and U.S. ground troops (often Special Operations forces) have been either directly or indirectly engaged in combat. In these and several other countries, American advisers are also training local militaries or militias in counterterror tactics.

The number of U.S. military bases and “lily pads” (small, cooperative security locations) is also impressive. In 2017 alone, the USA deployed American Special Operations forces to 149 countries. We have so many troops on so many bases in so many places worldwide that the Pentagon has trouble keeping track of all of them.

While our gods of war reap the profits and spoils of warmongering, we the American people must pay the bill. In a separate study, released in November 2017, the Costs of War Project estimated a price tag that had already reached $5.6 trillion. That’s more than enough money to put millions of Americans to work again in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.

In the gods of war, we trust. In defense of our nation, we must rain down terror on our enemies. It matters not that our endless wars have created more terrorists and enemies. Next in line to suffer our fire and fury—North Korea. To follow: Iran, Russia, and China. World without end. Amen. 

Read more details at Mapping a World From Hell: 76 Countries Are Now Involved in Washington’s War on Terror

 

Trump: China not to blame for US trade deficit

11 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by in Economy and Finance, United States

≈ 42 Comments

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US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping - Beijing - China - 9 November 2017

While watching BBC World News America on Thursday, November 9, 2017, I was surprised to hear our president say that he doesn’t blame China for America’s trade deficit with that country. This change of tone occurred during his recent state visit to China.

With President Xi Jinping by his side, President Trump told business leaders inside Beijing’s Great Hall of the People: “I don’t blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the sake of its citizens?” [Read the complete news report at BBC Online News.]

While still describing the relationship as “very unfair” and “one-sided,” Trump blamed past US administrations for allowing our trade deficit with China to grow. As indicated in the chart below, showing US Trade in Goods with China 2004-2016, the trade deficit with China was US$266.3 billion (2008) at the end of the Bush administration. It ballooned by 30.3 percent to US$347 billion during the Obama administration (2009-2016).

US Trade in Goods with China 2004-2016
US Trade in Goods with China 2004-2016 prepared by Rosaliene Bacchus
Data Source: US Foreign Trade Statistics

 

On November 9, according to a press release from the US Department of Commerce, America’s trade delegation signed approximately a quarter trillion dollars (US$250 billion) in deals between private US businesses and Chinese entities. The deals signed included shale gas, liquefied natural gas, and aviation projects. Among American executives present at the signing ceremony were representatives from General Motors, GE, Boeing, Caterpillar, Dow Chemical, and Goldman Sachs.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross expects these deals to bring thousands of new jobs to America. “American businesses are the most innovative in the world, and, when given access, can compete with anyone,” he said. “I believe these deals can provide a solid foundation for a stronger relationship that is more free, fair, and reciprocal between the U.S. and China.”

Descriptions of each deal can be viewed HERE (pdf file). Some of these deals are only memoranda of understanding, making them non-binding agreements that may end up being just Christmas tree decorations. Time will tell which deals bear real fruit. For jobless Americans who are hurting, the sooner the better.

CAPTIONED PHOTO
US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Beijing, China – November 9, 2017
Source: ABC News (Associated Press)

The Climate Swerve: Reflections on Mind, Hope and Survival with Robert Jay Lifton and Bill Moyers

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, United States

≈ 49 Comments

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Atomic bomb mushroom cloud over Nagasaki - Japan

Dotard & Rocket Man
play nuclear war games
while Frankenstorms rage.

 

Bill Moyers, managing editor of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, recently sat down with 91-year-old Robert Jay Lifton, a renowned American psychiatrist and historian. They talked about his just published book, The Climate Swerve: Reflections of Mind, Hope, and Survival. Lifton borrowed the term “swerve” from Harvard humanities professor Stephen Greenblatt who used the term to describe a major historical change in human consciousness. Lifton has turned his attention to climate change, which, he says, “presents us with what may be the most demanding and unique psychological task ever required of humankind.”

I share with you some excerpts from Lifton’s responses to Moyers during the interview. Continue reading →

America’s Clean Energy Momentum: How’s your state doing?

09 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, United States

≈ 53 Comments

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UCS - Clean Energy is Sweeping the Nation

The news is good. Despite our pro-fossil-fuel administration of climate change deniers, the use of renewal energy is growing across the United States. So says the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in their report Clean Energy Momentum: Ranking State Progress released in April 2017.

Across America, the growth of wind and solar power generation is impressive. Over the past decade, wind power expanded more than tenfold, supplying energy to more than 20 million households in 41 states. Since 2011, solar power has sprinted ahead with more than 900 percent in growth. In 2016, two million more households now use solar-powered electricity.

That’s not all. Investments in energy efficiency, over the last 25 years, have reduced our need for constructing more than 300 large carbon-emitting power plants. Last year alone, we saved a year’s worth of electricity usage of 20 million households. Continue reading →

“Immigrant Song” – Poem by Korean-American Poet Sun Yung Shin

02 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by in Immigrants, Poetry, United States

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Happy Fourth of July America

My Poetry Corner July 2017 features the poem “Immigrant Song” by Sun Yung Shin, a Korean-American poet, writer, and educator. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she was one year old when an American couple adopted her. Raised in Chicago, she later moved to Minneapolis where she earned a BA in English from Macalester College and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of St. Thomas. She teaches at Macalester College and lives with her husband and their two children. 

When asked about her relationship with the English language in an interview with Lightsey Darst for Minnesota Artists (January 2016), Sun Yung Shin said that strangers often question her ability to speak English without a “foreign” accent. Her fluency and sense of belonging as an Asian American offend them.

Shin’s opening verses in “Immigrant Song” from her poetry collection, Skirt Full of Black (winner of the 2007 Asian American Literary Award for Poetry), express the restraints she faces to achieve her full potential as a human being. Continue reading →

Father said…

18 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by in Poetry by Rosaliene Bacchus, United States

≈ 54 Comments

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Father with Baby Daughter - A girl's first love is her Daddy

Father said not to worry about anything.
He was working to provide for my needs.
And I believed him.

Father said he would never let anyone hurt me.
He was there to protect me, Mother, and my brother Paul.
And I believed him.

Father said not to worry about climate change;
the science is still debatable.
And I believed him.

Father said the abortion of an unborn child is an abomination.
Life is sacred. Only God can take a life.
And I believed him. Continue reading →

Mother of All Bombs

16 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by in Poetry by Rosaliene Bacchus, United States

≈ 25 Comments

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Mother of All Bombs

 

I am Mother.
Created by Father.
A complex scientific birthing process, they say.
I weighed over twenty-one thousand pounds at birth.
Father spared no expense;
he happily paid the $314 million.

I carried you for nine months
in the womb, my child.
I almost lost you, you know.
They closed the clinic
where I used to get healthcare.

I am Mother.
Created by Father.
My over-pressure waves obliterate
everything & everyone within a one-mile radius.
Look at me with awe & trepidation.
I am Death.

Where is Father?
I am cold & hungry, Mother.
He abandoned us, my child—
to pursue his dreams
of dominating the world.

I am Mother.
Created by Father.
He dropped me from the sky
to plummet to the earth.
My body detonated into gazillion atoms.
My soul became a black hole.

I am beautiful.
I am strong.
I am invincible.
Created in Father’s image.
I am Mother of All Bombs. Continue reading →

The Lies We Tell Ourselves

09 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by in United States

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Bombed-out Street in Aleppo - Syria

On Thursday night, April 3rd, our president unilaterally and without congressional approval launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on a Syrian airbase, the alleged site of a chemical attack that targeted innocent civilians. The dust had not yet settled. No United Nations investigation of the heinous crime was conducted to determine the type of chemical weapons used and the perpetrators. But we – the defenders of democracy, peace, freedom, and humanitarianism – know, beyond all doubt, that Syria’s brutal dictator was responsible.

After killing innocent children and beautiful babies, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had to be sent a strong message. Military power is strength. Money is no problem. Continue reading →