Colin Powell's Fall From Grace

Have you ever wondered why Colin Powell didn't run for president in 2000 when popularity polls suggested he stood an excellent chance of election? Is it too wild to suggest that he understood all too well the CIA apparatus once headed by George H W Bush and decided it was too risky to go up against George Jr? Or maybe he felt like some did that the first black man to run for president was likely to be assassinated by right-wing, white supremacists? Or maybe there are things he did in his past that would likely surface and embarrass his family? It's a perplexing mystery.

Regardless of what prevented him from taking a run at the office there is no question he blew a chance of historic proportions that he will never get back. Instead he accepted a position that required he kiss-ass, back-pedal, do constant damage control for and support the policies of a president and administration that he obviously never respected or believed in. Bush and his administration (including Rumsfeld) constantly put Powell in compromising positions over and over again by ignoring him, reversing his decisions and stepping on his authority. Powell should be extremely embarrassed over the lies he was told that led him to stand before the UN and announce that it was known fact that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was planning to use them, that we had concrete evidence supporting this including proof of mobile WMD production facilities and Saddam's attempts to get uranium from Niger - all lies. Now that Powell is no longer part of this administration it just doesn't make sense that Powell feels any loyalty or love for these people. If he truly loves his country he would speak out. What could it be but fear of those in office?

And just recently Powell was faced with another conflict out of the many put upon him by Bush and company - the nomination of Tom Bolton for Ambassador to the UN. Bolton - self exposed as a chicken hawk, an arrogant and angry right-winger - the Walrus-looking Wilford Brimley of the beltway obviously had no respect for Powell. The Washington Post reports Powell privately told two of three GOP members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Bolton is a very problematic government official, according to Republican sources. The Post says Powell " - did not advise the senators to oppose Bolton, but offered a frank assessment of the nominee as a man who was challenging to work with on personnel and policy matters. A Powell spokesperson said, "He has not reached out to senators" and considers the discussions private."Bolton served under Powell as his undersecretary of state for arms control, and the two were known to have serious clashes. "Powell has stayed out of the confirmation fight in public. It is not Powell's style to weigh in strongly against a former colleague, but rather direct people to what he sees as flaws and potential problems." Bolton, who is charged with among several other things of trying to destroy an underling for withholding information from him, has been indicted for previously withholding critical information from Powell himself when Powell was Secretary of State. You would think Powell would feel an obligation to the American people and could convince others from his first hand experience that Bolton is unfit for this critical position. Withholding critical information from a superior officer would get you thrown in the brig in the military I served in.

And now that Scooter Libby has been indicted for lying to the special prosecutor about his outing of covert agent Valerie Plame, and now that it has become abundantly clear the White House conspired to deceive the American people and other nations concerning Saddam and WMD's, you would think that Powell would want to vindicate himself by stepping forward and apologize to our country for his role in this deception. And for sending our nation's troops to die in an unnecessary preemptive invasion that has taken thousand upon thousands of innocent people's lives, made our nation measurably less safe and has caused other nations to lose all respect for the US as the world's defender of truth and freedom.

I think it's time for Powell, as someone who at one time honorably and fearlessly served his country, to grow his balls. Maybe it's not the way he did it during his rise to power within the ask-no-questions-just-follow-orders military but that's the past. Apparently he took that Commander-in-Chief thing too seriously. The civilian arena Powell now operates in is free of that sworn allegiance, obey your superior, ass-kissing philosophy.

Powell has embarrassed his true supporters enough with all the compromising, waffling and boot-licking during his term as Secretary of State. If avoiding confrontation is his "style" he would have made a damned poor president anyway. If Powell loves his country and truly wants what's best for it he needs to throw off the mysterious yoke of impotency he believes is around his neck. He might never again have the chance to be our president but he can redeem himself with those he has disillusioned by apologizing to our nation and by speaking the truth with authority and conviction.

Gary

Drive A Hummer For God

God Wants You To Super-size It!

It amazes me in one way - but then considering the trends of the last 20 years it doesn't surprise me that the spread of the idea that bigger-is-better has continued to drive men to destruction. Where will this all end? What will be the outcome of this Wal-mart orgy to create the titanic of all corporate entities or the behemoth of all cultural empires? How big does something have to get before it's legs will no longer support it and it sinks into the ground unable to move or sustain it's own life?

As Wal-mart bullied its way through small town and suburban America the local small business retailers of those invaded communities faltered and dropped like flies in a mist of deadly bug spray. This pattern has repeated itself as corporate conglomerates have taken over independent and family owned insurance agencies, banks, office suppliers, funeral homes, used car dealerships, and you name it. Where will it end and what will be the effect on our culture?

I sampled this theory first hand as a member of several corporations whose philosophy was to grow at any cost or by any means necessary to overcome competition. Cheating, lying, under-the-table payments, breaking laws, sacrificing individuals were methods all considered fair as long as it was being done in the interest of the corporation and the American economy. If it was illegal, by way of lobbyists, you petitioned (bribed) elected representatives to clear the way for big business by passing laws to make it legal. Elected officials have always been on the take in one fashion or another, but the big payoff has always been the funding of reelection campaigns to perpetuate their Faustian compacts and keep the most productive courtesans in office.

Employees are expected to worship the corporate entity that pays their salary - the corporation becomes your God and you are considered sacrificially expendable to the benefit of the entity. As the corporate high priests demanded more and more sacrifice from the workers they continued to build their power and income at the expense of the laity.

Personal greed and avarice has never had a better avatar than the leaders of corporations and the investment community. If corporate activity could be identified as unethical, corrupt, or it was known to be illegal, it was skillfully hidden or paved over with creative bookkeeping, smooth dodges by corporate attorneys and outright bribery. The consumers, employees and other middle and low income taxpayers are the rubes to the carneys' who prey on ignorance and naivete by using the same techniques that have been perfected by scam artists since the beginning of the merchant class. In the name of God, they profit from a perpetual war of economic conflict with other nations and allow that our nation's economy comes first and foremost and the promoters of that economy becomes the final arbiter of what is considered unscrupulous, corrupt or is favored by God. They actually think the idea of maintaining hegemony by economic and military might grants absolution from God for any sins committed in the process since we are good and all others are evil - or at least unworthy of God's blessings.

Some years ago consumers began to honor and worship the biggest corporations, those that generated the biggest illusion of greatness like the designer clothing and sporting goods giants, the food and soft drink manufacturers, car manufacturers, electronics, etc. Consumer loyalty took on a new and strange feel as followers began to buy and wear clothing that advertised these corporations and their products, like Coca Cola, Nike, Sony, Disney, Tommy Hilfiger, you name it. There is an element of people in society that somehow feel they add to their self-worth, influence and chance for success by identifying with successful brand names and supporting those in power they consider winners. The psychological technique of creating illusions and feeding off human ignorance, weakness and perceived needs has reached new levels of proficiency and success. In the America I remember so fondly, the only person who wore a shirt emblazoned with Coca Cola was the guy who drove the soda truck and he took it off as soon as he got off work. They used to pay people to advertise their products, now they charge you for the privilege.

Even small churches are no longer immune to this shift towards a universal corporate philosophy, to building brand name, consumer loyalty and offering glitzy services that you are told you just can't live without. Older and traditional congregations are now becoming victims of this bigger-is-better movement to super-size our lives. In recent reports, in rural communities and cities across the nation, congregations of fewer than 100 members are shutting their doors at a rate of 60 a week. Newly formed megachurches, meanwhile, have increased in number by 30 percent in the last four years. Half of these new churches belong to no traditional denomination and are part of the new apostolic reformation and, compared to their corporate counterparts, are being referred to as McChurches or Wal-Mart churches by those who are dismayed by this trend. Just like large corporations, parishioners of these large congregations appear to be caught up in the idea of mass marketing, continued growth and the power of large numbers as the supreme benchmark of redemptive success. Call me alarmist or old-fashioned but somehow I do not accept the premise that large, wealthy church communities are better than small ones.

Nature has proved otherwise as has history. The largest always outgrow their own ability to control themselves and either self-destruct or become vulnerable to unforeseen negative forces like corruption of purpose, disease of one manner or another and the demand of more and more energy needed to sustain it. Consider the fate of the biggest of all animal life and the biggest of all empires, the biggest dictators. Man is on the road to extinction if we think that nothing matters as long as we keep expanding our population, expanding our use of energy and production, expanding our markets, growing the size of our institutions, expanding empires and developing bigger and more destructive weapons to protect them from others. The natural order of things in the end will enforce the limitations set by God no matter how strong or powerful any entity thinks they have become. The quest for the biggest Gross National Product, global trade and most successful economy of scale cannot lead to God or will it lead to a better life. I find it difficult to equate God's blessings with the prosperity of the powerful over the powerless. My God is bigger and stronger than your God is a sentiment we don't want to hear on school playgrounds much less voiced by both our elected representatives, our military leaders and our clergy and aimed at those of other denominations or faiths.

The madness and corruption of religious orders has always existed but the combination of "big" religion with extreme militancy and corporatism has prompted a ministry that hawks Christian prosperity as a promise of God and one they can deliver. Are you struggling to meet your bills and in need of a better job? Are your kids doing poorly in school and are you tired of driving a ten-year old car? Do you want to own a new $500,000 home in the suburbs, send your kids to private school, drive a Hummer and enjoy a guaranteed annual income from a successful investment portfolio? Well, God wants you to have all this and more! This is his promise! Come celebrate with us and join others who have been rewarded by God for answering the alter call to Fernwood Evangelical and committing their life to the Lord. A life of luxury and ease will be yours for the asking. See what miracles God will bestow. Warning: May cause temporary headaches, palpitations, stress, dependency, delusions of grandeur, unfulfilled expectancy, disappointment and possible death. No guarantees or implied warranty. Not responsible for trance induced behavior or violent self-righteous acts committed while under the spell of this organization. All contributions and assignments of property are irrevocable and become the property of Fernwood Evangelical.

Never was this commercialized brand of Christianity more evident than on a vanity plate I saw the other day attached to a Hummer, a commercial version of the same patrol vehicle our troops use in Iraq. The license plate read U2RBLSD - an aphorism for "you too are blessed". Will this vehicle that has become the symbol of our military might and the spread of military power, and commercially an icon of environmental destruction, economic excess and gross consumption of energy, also become the icon of the Christian prosperity philosophy? Would Jesus drive a Hummer?

The idea that God wants us to multiply and be prosperous in the most egregious and destructive manner possible is anathema to the reality of our situation which is a finite availability of natural resources and an alarming and growing rate of harm to our planet from non-sustainable industrial and energy consumption that has created global warming and a dire warning from climatologists of impending destructive weather patterns. The reckless belief that God has ordained one nation's people as the only worthy humans, has given them carte blanc to run roughshod over the earth doing whatever pleases them, that God will deliver the technology just in time to save us in the end, that God condones war and violence as a means to control others, and the equivocation of monetary prosperity with those who become Christians, has got to rank up there with the most ignorant and insane religious philosophies of all time.

I suppose once the prophecies of Revelation are fulfilled those who are "left behind" will not be driving Hummers or living the good life. All the Hummers, the money and the other good stuff will be raptured up to that big Wal-mart in the sky with the select group that God has chosen to reward. I say the sooner it happens the better. The earth can only take so much elitist and unfettered Christian evangelistic imperialism.

Gary