Friday, September 02, 2005

When the fantasy goes awry

You know when Billy and Papa Bush get together, something has gone horribly wrong. I'm speaking of our former presidents of course. They got together with W to reach out to the fortunate (A.K.A the private sector and filthy rich) for help with the recovery of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. They got together for the Tsunami in the Pacific and were able to put together quite a relief package for the victims of the nations effected. But when they have to get together to call upon the upper class and private business communities to pitch in for this latest disaster in New Orleans (least we forget the rest of Coastal Lousiana and Mississippi) there is obviously a problem.

The thing is, there was a problem long before Hurricane Katrina came along. About 40 miles north of here is the County of Charlotte. Within Charlotte are the cities of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, both decimated by another Hurricane, Charley. There are still people living in those areas that have tarps covering their damaged roofs, people still waiting for their insurance companies to pony up what they promise in the TV commercials. Chris Rock said it best "they should call it 'in case shit'." In case shit happens, those companies, after taking premium after premium, deductible after deductible, will pay you back in order to restore what you have lost. But people in Charlotte County wait. On the Florida panhandle when you say the name Ivan people twitch. They are still punch drunk from a hurricane that came and went almost a year to the day. Insurance companies are doing the same dance. I'm sure those companies are in warm ups now for the dance of the century, cause let's face it, New Orleans will never be the same.

The interesting thing about it is that most of these people you've been seeing in pictures and on news reports were dirt poor before the storm came blowing through. When they said they lost everything they had, they did. There is no insurance for these people. They were struggling to pay the rent, much like a growing majority, including myself, are trying to do. We're trying to do it in an age where inflation is out of control, a child's education is an after thought, and our president is taking a vacation. For a month and a half! Yes, I realize that W has the all makings of the oval office down in Crawford, but it is paricularly intriguing that during his time at his ranch the country has gone to hell in a handbasket. And all he seems to be able to do is ride his horse and play the acoustic guitar (I imagine he is playing it badly, it makes me feel better). In other words he's hiding, not just from a woman who's son died in Iraq, but from a country he has failed. Iraq had free elections, great. They wrote a constitution, super great. But how is that helping me, how is that making me safe. How is that making my dollar worth more. Yeah, Sadaam was a bad, bad man, but is he as bad ass as the dude in North Korea who can reach San Fransisco with a nuclear missle, I think not. One of W's first actions as president was to give everybody a tax rebate, followed by a tax cut. Now I'm not an economist, but I've taking enough finance classes to know you can't fight a war without income. And where's your tax cut now? You are paying more for gas, milk and other essentials than you ever had. If you leave the country and exchange your money for say Euros or Yen, you're getting the short end of the stick. The tax cut was a scam to let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the oldest trick in the book. Reagan pulled it in the '80's and I was too young to matter and anybody my age back then was too coked up to notice, which brings me back to Billy and Papa Bush. Why were they sitting there hat in hand, asking for corporations and upper elite in this country to give to help those in New Orleans? Because the country is flat broke, "sorry Nawlings, we spent our last billion giving our soldiers in Iraq substandard equipment and my bonehead son gave y'all a tax cut a couple years back. Our bad." The Bastard (AKA He supported W in 2000 so he really is a bastard) was right, this is going to get worse before it gets better-but not just for New Orleans, but for everyone.

Florida gets a large portion of it's gas from the refineries in the Gulf of Mexico off the shores of Lousiana and Mississippi, so I woke up this morning to gas stations without gas. I work in a business that relies on new construction, without gas I can't get there to use my genenrator in order to use power tools on wood or steel or concrete that was delivered by a truck that takes gasoline or diesel in order to run. A family business that at the moment is two strong that could simply be wiped out because we can't get gas. And I live in THE fastest growing area in the entire state of Florida and one of the top five fastest growing areas in the country which means we can't build enough, but just take away our gas and inflate the housing market and check back with me in six months. I'll be back up in New York living with my parents apologizing to the elder for bad mouthing the Dark Lord of the Sith-I mean Local 3.

No, Captain Nemo and I aren't there yet, but do you see how easy it is to make that jump. These poor people in New Orleans were victims before the storm. Victims of government that, more often than not, has turned it's back on them, or worse, pretended they didn't exist. My cousin, who works in an administrative capacity for the company I work for, sent $100 dollars to a relief fund for the victims of this tragedy yeterday. $100 we didn't have, but it was the right thing to do. I joked today, after seeing that food and water was finally being air-lifted into the makeshift shelters, that if it wasn't for our $100 they still be thirsty and hungry. In hindsight it wasn't ajoke. If it wasn't for those $100, $50, whatever donation people could make, it wouldn't have happened. The Red Cross can only do so much. They are still reeling from last hurricane season, a mudslide in California, and a Tsunami in Asia. I think it's high time the insurance magnates, the Haliburtons, and old money establishments of this country pony up some dough for those of us who have given them their good fortune by not not burning them down to the fucking ground. Yes, I realize this is a capitalist society and that's the way it goes but there is no sale without a client, and the clients are getting restless. The American Dream is a fantasy, most of us aren't living it, we're just living...barely.

the motherfucking motherfucker.

People have commented that I come across in rage on this blog. Well, yeah, it's a writing style, but much more than that anyone who truly knows me knows I get a little nutziod when it comes to truth and justice. I put it to you this way: When it comes to this blog, consider the Bastard (AKA Viva Las Bastard) the Minister of Information, and consider me the Minister of War. "Me say war"

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting query on the location of refineries, I'd say they were thinking "it's Lousiana and Mississippi, who cares."

Yeah, it's more like 7-10%, I'm not looking for a fortune, I just want it a little easier, and I'm sure not alone in that regard. And talking revolution always get's me a little wired.

bastard central said...

i beg to differ boys. the refineries are there because the oil is offshore. it's like windfarms. you can only put them where the wind is best working at. which is why there's no windfarm in the south bronx but a windfarm off the coast of ...marthas...vineyard..? scratch that walter cronkite DID pull out the N.I.M.B.Y. card on that one. so until some serious wind develops in a poorer or uninhabited area, there will be no windfarms in the northeast. so i guess it's a combination of the oil is there and there's nothing LA and LISS. can do about it.

yes yes yes. the top 7% are out there...wringing their hands...plotting on how there are going to fuck the little guy and light their cigars with 1000 dollar bills at the same time. those unions are out there selling your dues to the other party so they can do the same, dub. mwa mwa mwa mwa

—b

bastard central said...

oh yeah, just caught your queensryche reference.

sorry bout your shit weekend dub. mayhap you could take a plane next time. less frustrating? probably not

bastard central said...

let me get this straight, you have given your union permission to use your dues for financing attack ads on politicians that don't subscribe to the union predisents ideology even if it differs from you own? sound a little sketchy to the bastard.

we hold off things for a combination of reasons. one is the old "if it ain't broke" ideology. two is the fact that local and federal facilities are perpetually waiting until the next business quarter to spend that money or bureacracy prevents them from moving money that cleary exists but is earmarked for something else. thirdly and this especially resonates for nawlins, the city officials are corrupt. ray nagin no doubt wanted to make it through his time without incident so that he can take money from his own people's infrastructure. i don't have proof of this but the city's past sets a precident for how we got here

bastard central said...

very good then

bastard central said...

if you say so.

bastard central said...

funny you should bring up elitist crap and zach de la rocha in the same sentence. now there was a self indulgent ship that went down in flames. did you know that che guevara who leftists idealize all over the place was in charge of castro's gulag and his firing squad. i guess it seems easy to put the dead up on a pedistal when he isn't there for us to expose. kind of like kennedy. oh wait our media found out about him. ok, kind of like roosevelt, oh wait they found out about him too.

>>and when they find a cheaper way to do your work whether it be with sinbad, patel or bruce lee your job does not have any protetcion. have you noticed that your wages have stagnated thanks to hallibush?<<

now let's get on the subject off of elitism and onto foolish assumptions:

1) you know how they work cheaper in my industry? we cut down the paper to cheaper stock. they delete an issue from the calendar year. you don't ship it overseas. how do i know this? this is what my 4th quarter will be like. you CLEARLY haven't the vaguest understanding of how my business works. also, the amount of jobs that are outsourced has declined over the last 10 years. dub, please get your head out of the new york times and read other periodicals. they seem to have all the news that's fit to wipe your ass with.

2) up until this point, the bastard has had 4 consecutive raises in his consecutive years here. 2 of them were not promotion enhanced. i do okay. leading me to:

>>you are unable to buy a house to get away from the tenants next door because the standard of living has dropped.<<

the bastard cannot afford a house because in 1999 the bastard did not have a job that afforded me such things. i paid for my wedding out of MY pocket not my wife's family's pocket. the loot that one normally gets at a wedding went towards paying bills. i did not have a lot of leftovers after my wedding and now that i have a salary that can afford a 1999 house, low intrest rates has turned the market into the new get rich quick scheme and i can't afford a 500,000 dollar house. i didn't get any seed money so i continue to live in my building. i do ok there. i write about the neighbors because they are good material and it's not like you get better neighbors in a house dub ("hey plat! you gotta move yer cah")

sleep now in the fire

—the bastard

bastard central said...

oh i got off message for a second. corporate america is held to a different standard. now if the SHAREHOLDERS (and i am not one) have a problem with how the money is spent, they have a voice, not me. and the bastard is comfortable with that. why? i can't do anything about, the bastard is a small fry. now i beat the drum on unions because unions are supposed to be egalitarian institutions that vote like mini democracies that treat everyone's opinion equally. do they? local 3 doesn't try to lean on it's members do they? and if you don't think so, can you speak for all members? i also beat the drum because speaking of drummer's queens village's favorite drummer, mistah houston is a teamster and he doesn't share his union presidents POV on political contributions. many of his fellow drivers on various and sundry movie sets don't share the union president's POV on political contributions. i could send you 3 or 4 stories about the SEIU using heavy handed tactics on people to leverage people into the union and then funneling membership dues into political contributions, even "free" cam-pain workers (mispell on purpose) on union time. is local 3 beyond reproach dub? can you really say that? can you? or do you just choose to believe that they are? and if you do then that's cool, you're entitled. but don't think that for a minute that your opinion matters any more to a large machine like a union than mine does to the largest media conglomerate in the country. i just don't delude myself.

—b

bastard central said...

very good. that's all the bastard wants to know. local 3 will no longer garner any derision from the bastard

okay, i'm mostly talking about seiu and a little teamsters and the teachers. i will clarify in the future but you wouldn't believe the crap i've come across about seiu

not really. i try to keep outta politic and it just keeps coming back to goad me in.

i know, i just wanted to throw some specifics into the mix. outsorcing is still down in this country. funny thing about the presidency. 1)it isn't the highest paying job in the country, 2)don't mess with texas, 3)congress votes on such things and neither party has voted against a pay raise in years, 4)it isn't the presidents call, he'd be accused of having an agenda for working for less money by the media and 5)don't mess with texas
—the bastard