Where is my golden parachute when I need it?

By Arlene Peck

 

 

 

I stopped writing several months ago. I told myself it was because of several health issues plaguing me, especially a brain tumor with which I must unfortunately co-exist and hope for the best. There is no "Plan B”, so, like Israelis and Arabs living in a tiny area called Israel must ultimately learn get along, “she” (my tumor) and I will need to share a very small space in peace and harmony.

 

Actually, when I think about it, the State of Israel has a smaller chance of surviving the future. It’s not going to happen. The peace and harmony part, that is. Of course, the feeling of futility is doubled when I look at Israel's situation: a "caretaker government" with no true leaders making fateful decisions with no true mandate.

 

I told myself that I should learn to live clueless like most of the others living in La La Land and save myself the stress. Unfortunately, that’s not working. We are in a rudderless ship. I realize that not only is there no captain, but the crew are pirates. We’re in the middle of “the perfect storm” with perfect idiots blabbering about “staying the course”. What course? I don’t think I’ve ever been more alarmed or frightened about what is happening in my country or Israel. What happened to leadership? Even worse, what happened to the press? Truly, there was a time when I was proud to tell people that I was a columnist. And regarding my nationality, I now tell people I’m Canadian, especially waiters, so they won’t spit in my food.

 

There was a time when I was actually proud to tell people that I was a columnist/journalist.  I considered it a field that people might even look up to. Alas, that was in the days of Edward R. Murrow, Huntley-Brinkley and Walter Cronkite. These were smart people who actually did some investigative reporting. What do we have today? A battalion of Barbie and Ken dolls who look gorgeous and can even read from a teleprompter, provided, of course, that the words they parrot aren’t longer than two or three syllables. We have so ‘dumbed down’ that those who are supposed to report to us haven’t a clue as to how, nor can they begin to discern the public's ‘special needs’. And such needs do not point to another road to nowhere or pork barrel sugar coating that allows ‘the government’ to turn us from democracy to socialism and eventually communism. That, folks, is where we are rapidly heading today. It is what we learned in the Karl Marx manual: let the ‘government’ take over our banks and lending institutions and give them unfettered control. Our democracy has been hijacked while we agonize over Lindsay, Paris and Britney.

 

However, I saw a recent special about the Friends of Barak Hussein Obama on FOX by Sean Hannity. I must admit that it blew me away. It was one of the few investigative stories that I’ve seen which went into detail on the corrupt and dangerous background of the Manchurian Candidate, or the man who would be President. It doesn’t matter, though. Where I reside, in the land of extreme liberals, everyone around me floats around seemingly mesmerized by the Obama aura. Did Hitler get his start like that? Did he not also excite large crowds with promises of “hope and change”? G-d forbid if I even suggest that the election of this man scares the living beegees out of me. I am immediately accused of being prejudiced. If I say, “It’s not about race” or “I just don’t want a Muslim as my President”, people either give me a glazed look or put their fingers in their ears and say, “La La La… I’m not listening.” My mother, Queen Mollie, was quick to point out “Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.”

 

What really boggles the mind is how all the corrupt, inept politicians and bankers who got us in this mess in the first place are now lecturing us on how to fix it… immediately! We have presidential candidates who know diddly-squat about finance telling us, along with Congressmen and Senators, how to run the Treasury Department. Worse, President George W., who probably has a popularity rating of about 10%, says he is for the ‘plan’ (whatever the plan of the moment is). And, if his record is any indication, if he’s for anything, how good could it be? If I were to trust anyone with making the decisions for us folks on “Main Street”, then I’d go with Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. It just seems to me that any remedies should come from those with proven economic and financial success and achievement…. Mayor Bloomberg, are you working on it?

 

As we now face the disaster perpetrated on us and fume about how the political scene has let us down, consider the report that the corruption at Fannie and Freddie was widespread and commonly known as far back as 1999. Yet, where was the Senate or House or even press outrage then? Barak Hussein Obama was running around in Chicago as a county organizer intimidating bankers into giving loans to the poor downtrodden to buy expensive houses. Of course, they couldn’t afford them nor did they intend to pay for them.

 

Why no warnings then? That might have upset the free ride that the CEOs and corrupt government leaders were getting during the high-flying days of golden parachutes and ‘earmarks’ for their ‘special needs’.

 

Is it any wonder, then, that I don’t want to write? Hell, I don’t even want to read the newspaper. How I wish that all we had to worry about was Lindsay and her latest rehab trip or Paris and her prison or sex tape escapades. I wish that all we had to complain about was Britney's underwear or lack thereof. Instead, I am forced to refinance my property to pay for the increase in taxes they’ve hit me with.

As a single woman, I remember the hours I spent with other women complaining about all the abuse they got from men. They’d lament, “He made me lose my trust!!” We didn’t know how lucky we were. Now, I walk around muttering, “I trusted my government, my country, BOTH of them. What happened?” When did we outsource our future to third world countries? I remember laughing when I found out the phones of both the White House and IRS were being answered by Indians or Filipinos. Folks, I’m not laughing now.