Eavesdropping - the up-side

Eavesdroppers, Rhett Butler told Scarlett, often learn very instructive things. 

It's true.  Some of the most interesting, puzzling, and frustrating things I've learned lately have come from the impolite art of eavesdropping.

I work two part time jobs.  The first - in a cat shelter - would not seem to lend itself to much eavesdropping, since while I'm there, it's almost always just me and the cats.  But each of the cats comes with a story, and those stories have been, as Rhett said, quite instructive.

In the past few years, more and more cats have been given up by reservists and members of the National Guard.   Called to seemingly endless tours of duty, their family and friends soon tire of pet sitting and the heartbroken owner is left with little choice but the shelter.  Perusing the files also reveals that many owners  list "job loss" as the reason for their having to give up their cat.  "Unable to afford vet bills due to lower income" has turned up on a regular basis.  While the corporate media is busy telling us that the economy is booming and joblessness is negligible, the real story goes unreported.  Decent paying jobs are leaving and being replaced by 'McJobs", three or four of which might be necessary to scrape together basic living expenses.  Luxuries like dental care, health insurance, savings - and pet expenses - are out of reach in this Brave New Economy. 

Sometimes, the cats get adopted.  But generally people want kittens, not cats, and most of the owner give - ups will spend the rest of their days in the shelter, an orphanage for some of the most voiceless victims of the social darwinism that passes for a free market economy.

My other part time job, reshelving items in my local library, has also been a rich source of eavesdropping - gained insight.  There's the indirect indicators there, as well - the nonstop requests for books on how to write good resumes, how to find jobs, how to obtain retraining to enter new fields.  But the most interesting eavesdropped gems have come from two men who frequent the library, and spend an hour or so several times a week chatting.  They talk loudly enough that I can hear them in most parts of the small building, and I've been intrigued - and enraged - by their comments.

One of the men is retired, a military veteran and former union worker.  He is a self -described conservative who frequently praises Ronald Reagan and spouts homophobic comments as regularly as Old Faithful.  Listening to him, one can hear the influence of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh - but there's more to this man than knee jerk wingnuttiness.  He's begun to express worries about Iraq - "We have no busines being there", he announced a few weeks ago.   He is not an uncritical fan of George Bush, either  (though he was quick to point out he cannot stand 'the other ones', presumably the Democrats, with their promotion of gays and abortion and all the social woes he blames for the decline of his fantasy America). 

His conversation partner, though, is another matter.  Laid off from his union job (I assume, but am not certain, that they were former co-workers) he had been employed by the Department of Homeland Security in some sort of guard or screener capacity.  That is, until recently.  He was laid off.    He's been looking for work, but so far, no luck.  Both men agree that no one wants 'older guys' because of the costs of providing them with health insurance benefits.  They also agree that most security firms seem to want 'immigrants' - people they can pay less.   The unemployed man offers no political praise for Republicans or Democrats.  He makes no comments on the burning issues that keep James Dobson awake.  He has other things on his mind.

Their voices start out strong and sarcastic, but as they drift on to the topics of the cost of prescription drugs, the price of gasoline, and the unlikely prospect of the second man ever finding another job, they grow quiet.  Their sentences fade off, unfinished.  And then  they part, the tones of the minor notes resounding through the building, hanging there,  the spectres of fear and uncertainty trailing out after them.

Where are the progressive leaders articulating solutions and answers ?  What do we need to do to get our voices, our resolutions, out in front of the inumerable "library guys"?   I suspect that if we can do that, and do it well, we will have  swelling army of Americans demanding 'Money for human needs and not for war."

•  I'm Not Hopeful

  The Dems are fairly willing to talk about extending compassion to those on ladder heading down. But solving the actual problems would require intervening seriously in the economy.

  Call me a pessimist but I don't think that discussion is going to happen.

  by Gooserock on Sun Feb 12, 2006 at 08:22:26 AM PDT

  •  Are you saying

    that you don't think significant positive change is possible through the current US political institutions?

    I am increasingly of this mind set as well.  It troubles me.  The conclusions it leads me to are uncomfortable, disturbing, and - well, sleep disrupting.

    But I have kids.  I have an obligation to do what is necessary to protect their future.  If the Democrats are enmeshed inextricably and irrepairably in the corporate trough system, what are we left with?  Third party challenges do not seem viable.  

    by KibbutzAmiad on Sun Feb 12, 2006 at 08:26:21 AM PDT

•  Holy Water for Christian Conservatives

  1.  Depleted uranium-It's just fine when we use WMD's
     
  2.  666 Mark of the Beast Chip- The Real ID Act
     
  3.  The No Drugs Act- a secret no lawsuits for big pharma companies clause attached to a Defense appropriations bill passed in December.  Bill Frist ans Dennis Hastert.

  by Lasthorseman on Sun Feb 12, 2006 at 09:02:30 AM PDT

•  hmm, i thought this was about wiretaps, but

  i found an interesting diary. thanks.

  by stodghie on Sun Feb 12, 2006 at 10:46:16 AM PDT

•  What a portrait of our present circumstances

  Very interesting diary. I can imagine the anthropologists of the future coming across very similar sources of information and drawing conclusions on what it was really like to live in 2006.

  It seems to me that the citizens, the little people or the grassroots, have to take back the control of America and make it work. To me, that means electoral reform: voting with a verifiable paper trail and strict limits on campaign spending so it's a level playing field for everyone and so that voted-in representatives don't spend the whole time in office raising money for the next election. It also means tax reform and changing the relationship with corporations. There should be penalties for corporations that move their offices and manufacturing offshore. If you want to sell your product in America, make it in America. Of course, we would all have to be willing to pay a little more to ensure that our neighbours have jobs. We would also have to put a much bigger value on our environment, protecting it and rewarding initiatives that use less resources.

  by Thursday Next on Sun Feb 12, 2006 at 10:50:04 AM PDT