- Before embarking on today's rant about the universe,
I'd like to begin by making an appeal to my readers on behalf of the forgotten.
Most of us are aware of what happened with Enron and WorldCom, where greedy
corporate pigs stole money and lied to their employees about the health
of the companies, which led to two of the worst bankruptcies in recorded
history.
The media jumped all over these two stories. But now, like so many before
them in the Third World, the victims of Enron and WorldCom have become
the forgotten people. They've become victims of American corporate greed.
Entire life savings and retirement funds were wiped out in the blink of
an eye by Enron and WorldCom. While the thieves have gotten away and made
millions, the GOOD people at these companies, hard working American citizens
who were doing a job and earning an hourly wage, have been left in the
cold.
They've also been left in the cold by George W Bush, who has cut billions
from programs that could have helped these victims of Wall Street's epidemic
of greed and gluttony. But there is a way you can help. Two non-profit
trusts have been established for the Enron and WorldCom families. Donations
can be sent to help Enron and Worldcom's victims recover and attempt to
start a new life.
-
- The Enron fund's website it at <http://www.eerfa.com/>www.eerfa.com
and donations can be sent to:
-
- Humble Community Bank
- 1515 FM 1960 Bypass East
- Humble, Texas 77338
- Account Name: E.E.R.F.A.
- Assistance: Rebekah Rushing
-
- You could also try calling 713-858-5523 or emailing
- eerfarequest@aol.com for more information on the Enron
fund.
-
- For WorldCom, the Website is
- www.exworldcom5100.com and donations can be sent to:
-
- The Peachtree Bank of Dunwoody
- 1725 Mount Vernon Road
- Dunwoody, GA 30338
- attn: ex-WorldCom Employee Assistance Fund
- 770-730-9965
-
- Or, you can send money via Paypal to: exWorldCom5100
-
- I know times are tough right now, for everyone. But
many of these people are REALLY hurting. Even if it's just one dollar,
it's the thought that counts. Please let the former employees of Enron
and WorldCom know that they're not alone, and that our hearts are with
them in these troubled times.
Imagine how it would make you feel if you'd lost your job, your savings,
and your quality of life to a bastard like Ken Lay. Imagine how uplifting
it would be, how much hope for humanity it would demonstrate to you, if
you were to discover that complete strangers out there are trying to help
you, when the Federal government and your former employers have done nothing.
Sending a simple dollar bill transcends the bill itself. It becomes a
symbol of HOPE.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Almost anything you do will seem insignificant,
but it is very important that you do it. You must be the change that you
wish to see in the world."
It may seem stupid to you to send a dollar, like trying to plug a great
chasm with but a single straw. But each of us working together can make
a dam of those straws, one piece at a time. I ask that each of you consider
this, and consider sending some money to Eerfa and the WorldCom5100.
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
I took the time to do some re-reading this month of the great works. In
this last week we've seen the birthdays of two great men come and go.
Pierre de Beaumarchais was born January 24, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
was born January 27. Together, they immortalized Beaumarchais' two-part
masterpieces, The Barber of Seville and the Marriage of Figaro.
http://membres.lycos.fr/jccau/ressourc/thea18/beaumarc/figatxt.htm
Most of us have heard of Figaro. Many of us have seen Mozart's operatic
adaption of Beaumarchais' play, the Marriage of Figaro. But to many of
us, the historical significance of Figaro is unknown.
This is in part because of the Maestro's incredible musical adaption of
Beaumarchais' work. Mozart did such an amazing job with his less politicized
adaption of Figaro that almost no one does Beaumarchais' version of the
play anymore. It's also unknown due to the fact that schools in North
America should rather be seen as a really bad joke, and as a temporary
holding area for those not yet able to work minimum wage jobs, than as
places of learning.
To demonstrate this point, one only needs to compare the Pulp Fiction literature
from the early 20th century to the Pulp Fiction literature of today. Vocabulary
has been cut in half. Grammar is horrendous. The ability to comprehend
complex context is gone. Your average high school graduate today is a
functional illiterate, able to recognize words and read sentences, but
unable to string those ideas together into a more complex arcing ideology
or historical context.
In short, we're pumping out a sausage machine that makes minimum wage slaves
for the ruling class who are smart enough to work a factory, but in most
cases not smart enough to understand the root causes of their inability
to get ahead in life.
Every revolution has a turning point. A defining moment that sets the
stage for what comes after - a moment frozen in time that's remembered
throughout the crests and troughs of human history. The Boston Tea Party
was one of those defining moments. The Berlin Wall coming down was another.
In France, the defining moment was the publication of Beaumarchais' The
Marriage Of Figaro. There were many other Revolutionary authors at the
time. Dumas, Voltaire, Zola, and Rousseau were also writing great works.
But the difference between their work and that of Beaumarchais or Mozart
is simple. What set these two apart from the others is that their work
was in the form of the spoken word, using actors and singers to bring a
message to the streets of Paris and beyond, which served to inspire the
people to take their country back from despotic Kings and princes.
It was an ugly, bloody Revolution, because those in power made peaceful
revolution impossible, thereby making violent revolution inevitable.
For those who don't read French, Bernard Sahlins has published an excellent
translation updated into modern English which is much more accessible and
entertaining for most people to read.
It's my belief that Beaumarchais saw himself as Figaro, and Louis XVI as
the tyrannical Count Almaviva. If some of you were wondering where I got
the idea for the Interview With Orwell, look no further. I stole the idea
of having ME talk to Orwell from Pierre de Beaumarchais, and I'm not afraid
to say so. One could do far worse when choosing role models to steal from.
Beaumarchais addressed too many grievances to count in Figaro. Some of
the more important issues he addressed were the injustice of monarchy,
women's rights, labor issues, censorship, taxation without representation,
the double standards of the aristocracy, and the vile nature of Prima Nocte.
Prima Nocte was a fringe benefit granted to Lords of the Manor in Beaumarchais'
time. It was a law that gave the Lord of a Manor the right to deflower
any young girl in his employ on her wedding night. Today, rape is no longer
involved, the practice of Prima Nocte in spirit is ongoing in the USA other
capitalist societies.
Today, it's not simply a question of deflowering a maiden. Entire families
are FOCCED by the Corporate Elite. Today's nepotistic aristocrats, people
like Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andrew Fastow, act without the slightest
concern for the impact their actions may have on others. They act as they
please in the most vulgar fashion imaginable. There is not a swear word
or curse yet invented that can properly describe these people.
Figaro didn't get off to the best of starts. Beaumarchais tried for months
to organize a performance of the play, but Louis XVI had banned it upon
publication. Beaumarchais set a trap for Louis XVI, and Louis walked right
into it without realizing that he'd lost even before he'd begun fighting.
You see, the act of banning the play was in and of itself the act that
kicked off the firestorm. From that point on, anything Louis did was seen
as oppressive and tyrannical. He finally agreed to allow a private performance
of Figaro, but when he saw the turnout for the play, he panicked, and cancelled
the show. Bad move. Even the aristocrats turned on Louis at that point.
But what could Louis do? Beaumarchais was telling the truth about French
society's ruling class, which was rotten to the core, just as the ruling
class in America is today. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn't.
In the end, truth won, and tyranny lost. Beaumarchais and Mozart have
immortalized the servant Figaro, and Louis XVI is now famous for having
his head cut off by his own people for subjecting them to unjust laws,
censorship, and the tyranny of taxation without representation.
Perhaps George W Bush could learn a thing or two from reading Figaro and
the history of France in the 1790's. Perhaps we ALL could. If history
can teach us anything, it teaches us that all tyrants will fall. It teaches
that when one creates a framework so harmful to the fabric of working people's
lives that they can stand no more, and when one makes it impossible for
them to have a redress of grievances heard by the ruling class, the ruling
class ensures a violent, often sadistic end to their bloodlines.
HR 1646 and HR 5170 have created that framework. A framework of Corporatism
so blatant to any who read the bill that Congress should be hiding its
head in shame and fearing the wrath of the People, when the People come
to fully understand what these bills represent. Rather than face the fate
of the French Aristocracy, perhaps those in Congress should think long
and hard about the similarities between late 18th century France and early
21st century America, and make sure to invoke the Sunset Clause on the
Patriot Act when it expires at the end of this year.
I'm going to make a prediction that the Patriot Act, like Hitler's Enabling
Act, is not going to go away come November. It will be extended either
by Congress or by Executive Order. I hope I'm wrong, but I believe my
assessment of Bush's designs for dictatorial power are correct. Time will
tell.
The situation in France was VERY similar to what we have today in parts
of America. Near Yale, the home of the Skull and Bones and THE school
for the children of America's corporate elite, we see young men and women
living in the most comfortable surroundings imaginable, while a few blocks
away we can see a tent city of the poor and homeless. In Miami under Jeb
Bush, it's the same.
In the 18th century, Marie Antoinette's answer to the problem of the homeless
and hungry was, "let them eat cake." The response of rich Floridans
to the plight of the poor seems to run along similar lines -
www.nytimes.com/2003/01/27/opinion/27HERB.html
"Miami is the poorest big city in the United States - poorer than
Newark, poorer than Detroit, poorer than any city with a population of
250,000 or more. Most of the poor are working, and many have more than
one job."
"A young woman named Naomi Sanchez said her brother had turned to
selling drugs and been murdered, and that her best girlfriend had become
a prostitute. She said she was unemployed and was on her way to another
friend's house, where she hoped she'd be able to get something to eat."
-
- "Fisher Island is off-limits to everyone except
residents, invited guests and whatever employees are needed to keep them
safe and comfortable. It is accessible only by ferry. If Mr. Recio showed
up on the dock and tried to board the ferry, he'd be angrily hustled away.
-
- The Miami area is the most extreme example of the economic
inequality that is becoming more and more evident throughout the U.S. If
the gap between the folks at the top and those at the bottom continues
to grow it will at some point undermine the social cohesion of the nation.
Anyone who thinks it's a good idea for the pampered elite of Fisher Island
to stockpile more and more in the way of luxuries and privilege while increasing
numbers of Miamians are going to bed hungry should think again."
-
- Let them eat cake. Closed communities. Moats between
rich and poor that require a ferry to cross, and the servants who DO cross
must have the right papers to do so, or be 'angrily hustled away'.
Has anyone heard this tune before?
It's time to turn a page back in time and learn a lesson from the French,
before it's too late. America has the most potential to do good of any
nation on earth. It also has the most potential to do harm. A choice
must be made, and soon, by the people. Not just by the poor, but by those
in power.
Will America continue to ignore the plight of billions outside its borders,
and tens of millions at home, ensuring bloody and brutal revolution in
the future?
Or will America learn its lessons from the past, and turn its course before
we reach the inevitable conclusion to this sad tale?
That choice is up to the voters. Only 40% of registered voters voted in
the last election. If the silent majority shows up at the polls in 2004
and makes itself heard, there will be a change in government, and a change
in the 'more of the same vs. less of the same' two party system.
The choice is up to YOU, the People, not Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney. The only
reason they have power is because many of YOU, the People, choose not to
exercise your democratic right to vote, because you've lost hope.
But that one vote is like that one dollar some of you are going to give
to Enron and WorldCom employees. It's one straw in a great bale of hay.
And with enough hay, a needle like Donald Rumsfeld will simply be lost
in the haystack; twisting in the wind until his War Crimes Tribunal.
YOU are Figaro. YOU are Beaumarchais. You CAN beat the bastards. You
can do it without war, without violence, and without chaos. You can do
it at the polls, if you choose to and motivate your neighbor to do the
same.
You just gotta believe.
Peace
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