Ambassador's Dispatch
January 21, 2001 vol.1 no.2
I don't care how sick I am, I'm getting this update in place on time.
There's no striking theme this week, and at least some of what will come to mind has nothing to do with comics. My latest Westfield pack arrived on Saturday, so I've barely had the opportunity to dig into those, and just trying to get household chores taken care of and try to recuperate before the workweek hits has been enough of an effort.
First, concerning this site:
I'm pleased to see that I'm staying on my schedule. Several modifications have been made during the week, not the least of which was adding an APA-related quote from Tony Isabella to my Legends page, with his gracious permission.
On the subject of Legends APA, I want to remind you that I'm the president of that body for 2001, and we're actively looking for new (and even returning) members. Please contact me if you have any questions. Our next issue is the February one, but there's still time for you to get involved. Come on, give it a try!
Next, some people appear to be having problems accessing some or all of my pages, while other aren't having any at all. While I know that geocities has proven quirky at times even for me, it's disturbing to hear from some that they can't even get in. So, if you do make it in please drop me a note of whatever length you wish, or (better still) sign my guestbook.
Time and illness might not allow me to get any other reviews in place today, but such will be appearing during the week.
Below the line that follows I'll be launching into matters of national politics. With the advance knowledge that I didn't vote for Dubbya and would have voted instead for anyone who ever held the job of Ronald McDonald... if such isn't to your tastes then just skip to the bottom and go back to my main page.
The swearing in festivities took place this weekend, but even if I hadn't been feeling ill more than a few minutes of that would've done it. The only marginally uplifting aspects were the protesters and the fun way Bill Clinton kept taking opportunities to address crowds and remind us over and over again via sheer contrast what a dud we're apparently stuck with for the next four years. I'm not going to agonize over that, though. My conscience is clear, as I wasn't suckered in by the tax cut rhetoric, or the absolutely mindless morality and integrity non-message.
My primary concerns over the next four years are long-term concerns. Aside from the oft-mentioned possibility of Supreme Court nominations, I'm concerned about the consequences of tax cuts, a broader license being given to oil & natural gas concerns, and what an expanded voucher program will mean decades from now.
The first two aspects are sheer, short-sighted greed issues. It's almost laughable when it comes to the tax cuts, though, when I think of all those who voted for it only to, perhaps, see a marginal amount more stay in their hands while the richest one or two percent in the nation suck vast reserves back out of the system. Meanwhile, federal and partially federally-funded relief and assistance programs will suffer. But, of course, who should care about that? It's only losers and low-lifes who would ever need any of that, right? Forget about any concept of a social contract between government and governed, because if things get that tough we can just drop to our knees and go begging to churches, right?
The opening of protected lands for drilling, again, pleases the simple-minded because it appears to hold out the promise of cheaper fuel prices. The word "independence" is frequently used to make it seem proudly patriotic and self-reliant rather than being seen as a myopic policy likely to despoil lands and stall the development of alternate energy sources until those currently in a position to make the most from oil are poised to make the killing on the new technologies.
More insidious, however, are the voucher programs. Here's a policy that is the first stage of abandonment of public schools - much like the Reagan-era shift away from government responsibilities to assure truly potable water to its citizens from the tap, in favor of all right-thinking citizens buying water filtration systems and bottled water which, and we all good Republicans should rejoice, created at least two, new, growing business arenas. Worse, still, are the social consequences of these vouchers.
Vouchers represent the next step in a tiered society. Those on the lowest financial rungs of society will be largely stuck there, and by and large made to feel as if it's their own failure as productive citizens who have through no fault but their own subjected their own children to a welfare school system, whether or not anyone in power deigns to officially label it as such. Those who are a step or two up on the financial rungs - not high enough to be able to send their children to the elite academies the upper middle class and above are able to swing, will look for the next best thing. They'll look for private schools which are more affordable. And you know what those schools will be? Religious-based schools. Schools with a religious mission. Schools intent on proseletyzing. Indoctrinating. Schools with science departments directed by people who twist the definition of "theory" and reach for examples legitimate biological science discarded decades ago, all in an attempt to discredit evolution. People whose emmisaries even now go about into states and communities where they don;'t even reside, spewing nonsense about Evolution being the religious doctrine of that bugaboo of the Religious Right: Secular Humanism.
As someone who came up through a Catholic school system I know that such religious indoctrination doesn't always take. Still, I know all too well the deep superstitions it can inculcate, and how easy it can be to remain in that cocoon. And I don't relish the social and intellectual consequences of living in a country shifting itself towards a theocracy.
Send mail to: Mike Norton
Take a look at Ambassador's Dispatch no.1
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