I went to the Post Office yesterday and I discovered something - the Government does offer reasonable services at overly reasonable prices . That is the story of the year . 2009 has been a year of anger, milestones and gun toting nuts and guess who the 6 corporations who control the media focussed on? The anger and the nuts. This has been a year where Democrats forgot they promised change, Republicans realized they have a stranglehold on the media and some stories slipped through the cracks due to people who were at first tea baggers , and because of their lack of experimentation changed their name to Tea Partiers .
The year isn't over yet but a look to what is going on now and what happened may serve us well.
Hopefully my diary can spark some interest. Here we go............
This is a year when we want to 'normalize' relations with the military junta in Myanmar. Nothing has angered me more . I can not help but feel it is based on a Chevron request - after all, they were grandfathered in to do business with them after the ban. When I consider what is a genocide of their own people after peaceful protests and a monsoon and how Chevron money financed it, I get sick.
ExxonMobil is purchasing a natural gas company to further corner the energy market, and while Democrats fight for energy change I wonder if they'll allow the purchase ? Congress fought the Sirius XM merger for nearly 2 years , will they fight ExxonMobil with the same veracity or will they allow yet another company to merge with the giant to make it a super giant ? This will more than likely be a non story once Exxon starts buying commercials , but it really shouldn't be. Hopefully people like BarbinMD will keep on top of it.
Healthcare, well, enough said. It seems insurance companies won again. I hope someday we can get change, but due to another media merger we won't. Comcast buying NBC is the non story of the year. We are now at 5 corporations controlling all we see, hear and read. A few advertising dollars will win any argument now, because corporations don't fight their profit base. This purchase will eventually prove to be very harmful to the country in my estimation - I feel the media is the vanguard of democracy , and fewer vanguards mean less democracy. I can look to Chevron over the last 2 years to prove that. When the monks were being murdered in Myanmar and the UN was sending food not being distributed by the junta , Chevron seemed to be purchasing an inordinate amount of advertising - and it worked. The stories were buried in less than 3 days, except on Democracy Now and The INN Report . PBS won't cover it because one grant from Chevron will allow any documentation on film to be never show on our 'Public' stations. The Comcast merger may be the end of a popular progressive movement, because in a trivially media based society it will be ignored. Trivial is a belief I think proven by recent 'events' of Tiger Woods. A Black/Thai man slept with some white women , cheating on his blond haired blue eyed wife - NATIONAL CONTROVERSY. A man cheating on his wife managed to bury the Exxon purchase , the Comcast merger and god knows what else - pathetic. This was every national news show, every 24 hour networks focus and shameful. A pseudo athlete cheats on his wife - it only mattered because the man was dark skinned and the women were white , well that and there were important stories to bury.
As the year closes I went to the post office yesterday. It is our annual trip to send pictures to family in Thailand. I am getting ready to take a pay cut, so I shopped around. Fed Ex and UPS charged $16 and $34 respectively for EACH envelope to be delivered within 2 weeks where as the USPS was a grand total of $9.97 for all 4 envelopes.
AND THE USPS IS BEING USED AS A REASON FOR FIGHTING THE PUBLIC OPTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Consider that. To spite every bit of provable evidence that our government services work far cheaper and far better than the private sector, we lost an OPTION for healthcare. The DMV , a branch of every state government , that if an appointment is set can have an ID good for 5 years for under $35 in less than an hour is so maligned that was another battle cry against an OPTION.
I have had issues with government services - I recall the bigot we were purchasing our wedding license from at Philadelphia City Hall 10 years ago . Are you telling me that same person would have been any nicer working for a private company ? If I apply my one instance of infuriating treatment by a government employee to all government services then by all means, the government sucks. BUT IN MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE , The IRS, The BCIS, The INS, DMV, Post Office, Water Authority, PBS (for children's programming) , Department of Transportation and trash removal (I must have missed a few) have all been exceptional . WHY DID WE ALLOW REPUBLICANS TO HIJACK A DEBATE BASED ON SITCOM JOKES ?
To me, that is the story of the year. Government services decried by republicans and it worked ! I think there should be competition in the private sector for Drivers Licenses ! Let people decide and once you see the cost from the private sector and the wait, you'll be at the DMV smiling. Just look at what happens when we privatize the Armed Services - costs triple, accountability is gone and numbers are hidden ! Look at privatizing the Police. New Orleans not that long ago was the perfect example when BlackWater had armed security strong arming the locals with no recourse available.
As I review the year , I think to myself, what would I do without government services ? I would pay a ton more and receive a ton less. The next time I see someone wearing one of those FDNY hats, I may ask if they realize that is a government service. As we crawl away from the year all we can hope for is that next year, before elections ravage the democrats, we learn to walk.
Happy whatever holiday !