Culture, Nation States and Local Mitote
(Culture) Most folks in American understand how Corporate Capitalism hijacked representative democracy and turned a nation of citizens into a nation of consumers. If we aren’t a Walmart shopper we are the targets of an Amazonian commodity tracker. Whether you buy a gallon of gas at the corner gas station or a bar of soap at the grocery store somebody makes note of it.
The woman from El Prado, who works at home, follows me as I browse the Internet and a night spent at Motel 6 during my summer trek to Lake Tahoe has turned into an obsessive-compulsive disorder as the national chain chases me round with their logo. With help from the telecoms and high tech networkers, the National Security Agency (NSA), see Ed Snowden’s notes, has turned us all into “targets” as NSA listens and watches.
If we misbehave we’ll get a visit from “the man.” None dare call it fascism.
(Washington D.C.) Best recent headlines come from Barack Obama: “We tortured some folks.” When they aren’t torturing the “folks,” apparently the CIA has been spying on the U.S. Senate Intelligence (?) Committee and “lying” to Congress. What else is new? Each political party lies to the other and one, the Republicans, in particular, apparently lies to each other.
In the past America referred to itself as a Christian nation and despite the naysayers and secular humanists, Jesus had many good things to say: “Turn the other cheek,” “let ye who is free from sin cast the first stone,” and “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” But not anymore.
(Gaza) Just as the U.S. “tortures some folks,” so it passes on millions of dollars, missiles and bombs to the Israelis for use in killing Palestinians. Due to the historic attitude of anti-Semites in Europe and America, the Nazis, per Hitler, created ghettos and death camps during WWII for Jews. In a cathartic and fateful response to the attempted genocide, the post-war powers granted the survivors a state in Palestine circa 1948. The “fateful” invasion and occupation of Palestine, expanded in 1967, and continues to expand the occupation to this day, as the Israeli settlers and government try to push Palestinian men, women, and children into smaller and smaller corners of the desert or into he sea itself.
Gaza is about the size of the area on the West Side of the Gorge. Draw a line along Highway 64 running east to west from the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge to Tres Piedras, south to the turnoff to Carson, then proceed east along that road as the southern boundary and turn north along the West Rim Road adjacent to the Rio Grande itself as the eastern boundary. About 1.5 million folks live in this crowded ghetto though fewer, recently, everyday due to death from the sky, malnutrition and a lack of medical supplies because of the Israeli embargo and American sanctioned sanctions, etc. Meanwhile, of course, the Gaza, as friends point out, is one of the fastest growing areas on earth, due, perhaps to undefeated despair as John Berger would have it.
The slow genocide of the Palestinians is being perpetrated right before our eyes. Israel has a bigger slingshot but still, I don’t believe they have the stomach for a “final solution.” Each day the Israeli government reminds us of the tragic pattern and their fall from the legacy of moral high ground. Apparently all the states of the Mid East are governed by pariahs.
Readers might remember how Wikileaks revealed the behavior and comradeship of all governments in the capture of internal memos. So-called democrats and dictators behave similarly in positions of power even as a majority of the people cries out for peace! But peace doesn’t fit the corporate or political model of profits and repression in today’s world.
(Taos) On Tuesday, it is very likely that the Town and County Governments will sign on to a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA), we hope, for E911—Central Dispatch operations. That’s one small step for local government and a giant step for Taosenos, as the County, despite delays and expenses, along with their supporting partners, tries to centralize and upgrade emergency services for the entire local region.
By the way: leave the Mayor/Commissioner doing double duty. We elected him. I think Dan should serve in both jobs as we try and reduce duplicated government services. It’s a long-term vision. Since Taosenos like to fight, we need Mr. Work Gloves as a peacemaker.
(El Mitote) Here’s some gossip for Taosenos, which is why they read these posts. Recently, a town councilor persuaded a second, along with the help of a former, to save the manager’s job. Said official is on thin ice due to a habit of Byzantine convolutions and you might say, a lack of sensitivity to the concerns of elected officials. Return those calls and emails cuate!
The much vaunted “Mainstreet Program,” due to inaction, despite investments in time and money by both County and Town personnel during the last year, has been put on “probation,” so to speak, by the state due to inaction. Now the County has changed the locks on the old County Courthouse Mural Room, due to “problems.” Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose. (The more it changes, the more it stays the same.)
As far as elections go, the November general is set but the race for District Attorney in two years is starting. Scandalous reports from Raton about behavior and investigations by the state bar of the local DA’s office suggest change is needed. Attorneys are lining up to consider the post at the Taos Complex.
The Shadow knows.