I’m Pissed, Really

By John Johnson

First I’m pissed at the earth’s mantel. The Earthquake and tsunami in Japan are two of the worst things that have happened lately. Current count of the dead is 10,000 with another 40,000 missing. The scenes of destruction and occasional rescues are heartbreaking.

But what’s really got me pissed is that for decades, a large anti-nuke movement has been pointing out the dangers of nuclear energy and weapons. Japan suffered indescribably from nuclear attacks at the end of World War II, and for a long time resisted the use or development of anything nuclear. Wind, solar and other energy sources exist. But there has been at best a lackluster response from governments. While the lobbying efforts from the nuclear, oil and coal industries have been persistent, no one is spending millions to promote windmills

My friend (love you) is Japanese, her parents moved here just in time to be shipped off to an internment camp where she spent the first four years of her life. Her fathers’ farm was confiscated, maybe by Earl Warren, himself. She still has relatives in southern Japan.

The consequences there have not played out, radiation from the damaged nuclear plant will still affect us. As we go to press, one plant is in danger of a massive explosion, spewing radiation over a vast area. There is no known level of “safe” exposure to nuclear fallout. Spent nuclear isotopes decay in half-life only, and will still contaminate the Earth 50,000 years from now.

I’m pissed that we are in another war, the third major one. Colonel Qaddafi is a supreme a-hole, and deserves to be overthrown. Yet similar rebellions are being countered with massacres in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and other nations in Africa without oil, who aren’t getting much attention, globally.

I’m pissed at priorities which insist that we have enough money for weapons and war, enough to bomb the hell out of the target of the moment, but not quite enough for alternative energy, helping the poor, fixing the infrastructure and the economy.

I’m pissed at Obama. He never portrayed himself as a flaming progressive, but in some ways he is worse than Bush. The Afghan War has grown more brutal, especially with the use of killer drones. His Justice Department has not gone after the Wall Street banksters for looting world economies and driving nations into depression. Instead the Justice Department goes after a few anti-war activists in the Midwest and a few groups of really dumb kids entrapped as terrorists. When asked about the brutal treatment of Bradley Manning, Obama said, “The army knows best.” Net Neutrality? Maybe later. He appointed Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric, the head of his panel on jobs creation. GE has been exporting most of its jobs overseas. He also just appointed Dr. Larry James These are Chief Psychologist at Guantanamo andAbu Ghraib, behind some of the excuses for the torture, just a few examples.

And I’m pissed at Social Security. They mislead you, give you useless or partial information and then do their best to screw you. What you end up with, no one could possibly live on. (See the last two month’s editorials for details of how they screwed me.)

While despite five interviews and appeals, my situation didn’t improve between November and March, the good news is that I was finally okayed and my SSI will start in April, (not much but better than nothing.). But I will have to appeal again to get it backdated. I just have to figure out how to pay my rent. If not I will be really, really pissed off.

All of these large agencies and corporations, banks and credit card companies have mountains of rules and regulations, all skewed in their favor, and teams of lawyers to back them up. If you hire a lawyer to negotiate with them, that’s yet another corporation to deal with and pay off.

That’s our economy, from the bottom to the top, and I’m pissed about that, too. Many states now try to crush pubic employee unions, fire teachers, social workers, janitors, etc. and try to hobble any means for the bottom to organize and have some leverage.

I really, really think we have to really get organized. Really folks, we all need to be a part of actions like those taking place in Wisconsin. (There was a large pro-labor march in LA March 26 and 1/2 a million in London opposed to the social cut backs). Enough of us, often enough that our presence cannot be glossed over by the media, and our demands cannot be ignored. (Hint: If we were able to saturate LA with Change-Links and enough people picked it up and went to some of the events-That would be start).

Then, maybe someday, I won’t be so pissed.