Freedom, Peace and Justice

A Fireman’s Story

Posted on the January 29th, 2010 under Articles, Government by Pete Gaeta

Once upon a time, in the small town of Palookaville, there was a fire department.  They weren’t very good firemen. They let their firefighting equipment fall into disrepair, failed to enforce the fire code, and allowed a few careless citizens (who were big donors to the Fireman’s Fund) to store highly flammable materials in places that would cause great harm to the townspeople if they were to catch fire.

The townspeople saw this and decided to hire a whole new fire department, starting the next month.

On the last day of the month, sure enough, a spark hit the flammable materials. The fire chief and his captains went to the townspeople and said, gravely, “We need the whole town to pitch in and help fight this fire, otherwise the whole town will be burned to the ground.” The townspeople saw that they were right. They left their homes and comfortable beds to help fight the fire.

The next day, the new fire department took over, and announced a plan to fight the fires. “Yes”, they said, “the townspeople will need to continue helping to fight this fire, for we have not seen a fire like this in many, many years and the risk of this fire spreading is just too great. We know how much of a strain this is on your busy lives, but there is no other way. It will take time, but we will fight this fire with all our might and rebuild the houses that could not be saved, and we will put in place new measures to ensure that this does not happen again.”

The former fire department heard this and refused to help. They yelled and screamed at the new firefighters that they should hold their hoses at a different angle, they blocked the new firefighters from accessing the hydrants and they went around the town pulling alarm boxes to distract the new firefighters from their work. They went to the townspeople and said, “See? These new firefighers are no good! Why should you have to help fight the fire? If they weren’t so incompetent, they would have it all put out and rebuilt by now and you could go back to your beds! Give us another chance and we will show you how much better we can do!”

Despite their hindrances, the new firefighters managed to get most of the fires under control, but a few still burned here and there. They got started rebuilding what had been lost, and made proposals to keep the town safe from this kind of disaster in the future, all the while continuing to fight the remaining fires.

Some of the townspeople (who were not necessarily the brightest bulbs in the drawer) began to listen to the former fire department members. “They are right”, they said, “Why should we have to help fight these fires? Isn’t that what we hired the new guys for? And all these newfangled fire-safety proposals are nothing but a drain on the town treasury!” They repeated these things over and over to anyone who would listen, and some of the other townspeople who weren’t quite as dim-witted, but maybe hadn’t been paying close attention, started to agree with them.

All of the townspeople were weary from fighting the fires. Some knew that it was hard work that had to be done, but others’ memories began to get foggy over what was to blame for the fire in the first place. “We are tired of this”, they said, “let’s bring back the old fire department and see if they can do a better job!” The others listened in amazement that such a thing would even be considered.

Tune in next time to find out if the old fire department is reinstated.  Better yet – get active in YOUR community to make sure that bums like these are never allowed near YOUR fire department again!

Supreme Court Officially Puts Democracy Up For Sale

Posted on the January 22nd, 2010 under Government by Pete Gaeta

In a 5 to 4 ruling on January 21st, 2010, with a single decision, the Supreme Court of the United States of America lifted nearly all restrictions on how corporate money can be used to influence the American political system. No longer will oil companies, mega-banks, insurance companies need to limit the amount of money they spend to get candidates who represent their interests elected or funnel the money through PAC’s. Their messages will be shown over and over on TV, radio and elsewhere to convince the public to elect the candidates they support.

Conservative leaders praised the decision, saying it was a win for free speech. If you’re a conservative, I’ve got news for you – you have been sold down the river. Your voice will be drowned out by the lobbyists and corporations with the megaphones the same as the rest of us. You may have the illusion for a while that your side has “won”, but just wait until the first time you disagree with what your corporate partners are pushing – your opinion will be ridiculed, your character questioned, and your intelligence insulted, as these masters of spin and language manipulation assault the airwaves with slogans that may sound reasonable on the surface but have no other purpose than to make money for the economic elite.

Our elected representatives will now, more than ever, have to weigh every vote based on the pressure they get from lobbyists – or face the threat of being opposed by massive media campaigns against them in the next election and losing their jobs. Keep in mind that it’s very hard to prove that a representative cast a vote based on economic pressure – they will always swear they are doing what is best for their constituents, and support their decisions with some other rationale. We will just have to trust that they are ignoring all the economic pressures and doing what is best for the American people. Yeah, right.

Keep in mind also, that many of these corporations that will be wielding influence in our elections are owned in whole or in part by non-US citizens. Decision about where to send our troops, how to spend our tax dollars, how to protect our civil rights, and how to regulate our commerce will all be effected in a big way by the flow of corporate spending. Don’t fool yourself for a minute that peoples’ votes are not effected by the messages they hear over and over on television – for many people, this is the only source of information they use to make their voting decisions. We will continue to be fed a constant diet of “controversies” to divide us and keep us at each others’ throats, while the real decisions will be made quietly in accordance with the wishes of the corporate lobbyists.

This is the day that the judges’ gavel became an auctioneer’s gavel and declared that from here forward the American political process will be for sale to the highest bidder. It is a sad day for our nation, and one that will change the fabric of our democracy for all time.