Houston, We Have A Problem!

It seems to me that those who read my posts, or the hundreds of available other posts, op-eds, columns, essays etc. etc. are already in agreement of most of what they are reading – that is: if they are reading at all, because many seem to have tuned off – and, hence, our writings are only Preaching to the Already Converted, in which case: Houston, We Have A Problem! (A rephrasing by Ron Howard in the movie Apollo 13 of the original quote by US Astronauts when they had a problem on their spacecraft. The phrase has been used for about fifty years to depict when there is a serious problem!)

And, we do have a problem, because Facts and Truth have become so muddled, so confused and confusing that we, humans all across this Planet, are living in The Tower of Babel about which my post published on August 15, 2016 (Tower of Babel) is as true today as it was then, that is: we do not speak, or understand the same language. Did we ever? Generally, yes, because most of us at least agreed on certain indisputable Facts and Truths. No more, it seems!

Hence, the Biden/Putin summit that came as the finale to our President’s “America is Back” European week was interpreted and analyzed ad nauseam by the Left, the Right and Everyone Else each with their own take on the Truth and Facts! And, None of them know Diddly of what really went on away from the cameras and the gaggle of screaming, hyper-ventilating press, to which Biden wisely, sensibly and truthfully said: we will know the results in six months to a year. Therefore, the hyper-ventilating media gaggle can take a chill pill and stop making their non-sensical assumptions and vapid analysis! Trust me, President Putin is not losing any sleep over this . . .

. . . neither is President Xi, despite all the saber-rattling towards China who’s freight carriers are supplying the whole world with consumer goods ranging from toys, to medicines, to food products, to computers and to anything and everything you can think of, which is ample proof that for businessmen and corporations all across the world the bottom dollar is much more important than the US muscle-flexing and demonization that Biden and the US Government, supported by a feckless press and the war-mongering hawks are exhibiting! Such nonsense, such hysteria simply because we always need An Enemy to prove how Wonderful we are, and how Wicked everyone else is! Oh, yes, Houston, We Do Have a Problem!

Shouldn’t we be more seriously worried about the numbers of Teachers, Nurses, Police, Food Production and Agricultural Labor and Workers in all sectors who are choosing not to go back to work, let alone all the hands we will be needing to fulfill all those infrastructure projects that the Administration wants to execute? Even pilots and airplane crew are in short supply! Are we going to be importing Immigrants to fill these staffing shortages? How will that affect our non-existent immigration policies?  How will the Trumpists react to that? Biden “whispered” that businesses should raise their wages – way to go, Joe! – as one way to lure the recalcitrant back to their jobs (some of whom prefer working from home), which a few businesses are already doing rather than waiting for the obdurate Republican Legislators to enact bills that will do so. If I was an honest politician this is one of the problems that I would be seriously tackling rather than the utter nonsense they are engaging in!

And, if I were an honest politician, I would also be seriously addressing the antagonism, indignation, suspicion, frustration, anger and hatred we have been generating for decades all across the world by our militaristic behavior, meddling, mischief, wars, coups and appointing of puppets to execute our policies. I don’t think that our superficial politicians even realize that the world is aware of all that and all our other subterfuges. Are we so transparent and not even aware of it? And all this hoopla regarding our withdrawal from Afghanistan? The writing has been on the wall for twenty years! Didn’t we see it? Did we pretend not to see? Did we believe that defending Kabul and our Puppets there while the rest of the country was seething with resentment due to our terrible, misguided behavior, was an achievement? Afghanistan is a very sad situation (as is Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Ethiopia, Congo  etc. etc.), and with the Taliban in control things might get pretty dismal. However, what is rarely mentioned by the MSM are all our young military people’s serious issues whom we send over there to die, to lose limbs, to suffer PTSDs, to commit suicide, to slowly die from exposure to burn pits and a host of other issues while we shout: God Bless our Troops. Are they simply, nonchalantly collateral damage to please the Hawks and the War Mongers? (Thank God for Jon Stewart who has now espoused the victims of Burn Pits!)

Oh, yes! Houston, We Have A Problem! We have a Democracy and Hypocrisy Problem!

It is not only our relations with Russia and China that need a re-set. The entire Planet needs a re-set, and we’d better get to it before it is too late and before we lose more of the world because of our hubris! I say that with a heavy heart, because I really do believe that the promise of our Democracy is an Inspiration and a source of Hope for billions of people across the world. Restoring that Ideal is what we need to be working on! Not Today, but Yesterday! The tragic aspect of this is that while this goal should by Unifying the Nation, it is not doing so as Republican Extremists and Trumpists (He’s Back! Rallying and Lying!) sow more Chaos, Disruption, Suspicion and Divisiveness! How do they ever justify this futile and wicked endeavor? It is befuddling and plain evil!

Yes, Houston! We Do Have A Problem . . .

. . . however, Houston, the Good News is that the Biden Administration is diligently and doggedly striving every day to find solutions for our Problems here at home, and across the world. Will it all be a bed of roses? No, not at all. It hardly ever is. Nevertheless, it seems to me, as one example – and I am not an expert on this, or any other issue – that our Supreme Court is once again functioning Independently and going by the Law rather than Ideology. Terrific! It also looks from my vantage point that our Justice Department and FBI are also functioning Independently and are hard at work every day, hour and minute to restore confidence in that institution. Another Terrific! All the other parts of our Government also seem to be hard at work, including our State Department that is trying to put out the many fires here, there and everywhere across the world, rather than ignite new ones, which, hopefully they won’t. That, too, is Good News! The only non-functioning, irresponsible, unconscionable part of our Government seems to me to be the Republican-controlled Senate! How utterly shameful! Despicable!

So, Houston, while we still have a myriad problems to deal with – tornados, hurricanes, fires, collapsing buildings and bridges, mass shootings, drug addictions, homelessness, poverty and on and on and on – it seems to me that the work is seriously ongoing to hopefully guide this spacecraft to a soft landing, and, so far, it seems quite promising.

And That Is Good News Indeed! Yes it is!