Good House Cleaning---and the Senate, too!

With the presidential election looming on the horizon, it will be a good time to do some serious House cleaning. The current small Republican majority there needs to be boosted so it can stymie any new initiatives of the Obama administration if, God forbid, he should be re-elected. The government of the United States has deviated from the principals of our Founding Fathers as can be imagined. It has become so corrupt that it needs to be re-set to undo the evil that it now embodies. It no longer represents the will of the people. The coalition that makes up the military/industrial complex dominates the Congress like a swarm of sharks does a school of sardines. Aided by a media that only tells the public what it wants them to know, they scratch each others backs with legislation that benefits them by expanding their power base. The problem, as I see it, is that we have professional politicians. They are not servants of the people, but self-serving power seekers. Once they have obtained a seat of power, they will do whatever it takes to hold on to it. It is the old adage being lived out in front of our eyes: "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." American needs to wake up to the truth. Unfortunately, most of the public would rather not get involved. Those who say they want change only want it if someone else is the one making it. Meanwhile, the professional politicians use every trick they can to hold on to what they have and squeeze the working middle class all the harder. Pretty soon, the taxpayers who uphold the government are going to react to what is being done to them. I only hope it is not too late to save what once was the greatest country on earth.

A flaw in the military's thinking

When writing my novel, Double Trouble on Corned Beef Row, I had to familiarize myself with military strategy and means of attack and defense. One of the problems I had in writing the book was planning a covert operation to capture an Israeli secret weapon. I had to come up with a scenario that was not only viable but tactically sound. It took me a good while to come up with a solution to my problem, but I believe it was not too far fetched. I was not trying to write science fiction, but a military operation that was unique and plausible. Several people who have read the book have commented on its reality and my knowledge of the processes. Which brings me to the point. I believe the US military has placed far too much emphasis on technology. A single, well placed nuclear device could cripple all of it. A nuclear device exploded in space above the USA could knock out our entire infrastructure from cell phones to traffic lights to water supplies and sewage treatment. If a rogue organization wants to destroy the United States, that is all they would have to do. No more computers, television, automobiles, trains, airplanes, electricity of any kind. The explosion would cause an electromagnetic pulse or EMP that would wipe out anything that uses an electronic circuit to control it from cars to wrist watches. And an ICBM would not be necessary to do it. A rocket launched from American soil by domestic terrorists or smuggled in by enemies could do it, and the military would have no defence against it. Technology is a wonderful thing, but too much reliance on it could kill us all.

I have become an angry old man

I have come to the conclusion that I am glad I will not live too many more years. At 72, I have had a full life that started out wonderfully. Two loving parents, doting grandparents, and a slew of aunts, uncles and cousins nearby. Then came WWII and my father's departure for the Marine Corps. Iwo Jima changed him and my relationship with him. He was no longer the gentle person he had been before. That, and the fact that my mother made him the one who passed out discipline for my misdeeds. I began to fear him more than love him. Still there were good times together. Happy times. I remember times spent at my cousin's waterfront home on Chesapeake Bay where one could look into the water under the pier and see sunfish or bluegills guarding their nests in the shallow water. Not so, now. That same water is clouded with pollutants. In my neighborhood, glistening white marble steps shone in the sun. The ladies of the houses there made sure they were kept immaculate. Not so, now. The neighborhood has been taken over by whores and drug dealers. Those white steps are filthy with car exhaust residue, spilled soft drinks and beer. I have seen the America I love being slowly dismantled by the greed of its people on all levels, the corruption at highest offices of government, and the lopsided reporting of events in the press and on TV. I have seen its industrial might that enabled it to defeat terrible enemies during WWII allowed to crumble and fall into disrepair. There is no longer the kind of pride and patriotism that once existed in our cities. It still exists in middle America, but has been lost in the cities. There, the tenets of citizenship and patriotism have been cast aside for corporate profits and personal greed. Those subjects are no longer taught in the schools. I see my country dying of a lack of morals and general apathy. I only hope I die before it does.