Jim Hightower has always made me laugh, but his page 3 today [2/15/23 TPP] actually made me bleat out loud alone in my kitchen! His rapier-sharp, intellectual wit, led him unerringly to skewer our elitist, out of touch Supreme Court [Let’s admit it: The Supreme Court is corrupt and clueless”], and then in the next column [“Is your lush, green lawn killing Mother Nature”] point out the anachronistic absurdity of turf grass lawns on a dying, water starved planet. He instinctively knew that we couldn’t miss the irony, and the juxtaposition could not be more poignant nor more acerbic. But why not make the connection even more crystalline: Let’s have a Supreme Court Justices’ Lawns Survey, with photos! Possible areas of interest:
1. Do they work on their lawn or hire a service?
2. Do they/their service use pesticides or herbicides? If so, why? [I had a next door neighbor at a summer lake cottage who would not even go into the house in the spring until the entire area, house and grounds, and been sprayed and fogged into a bug dead zone. Her name was not Karen but you get the point];
3. How often do they mow or trim, and are they aware that 2 cycle gas engines [those ubiquitous and horrible leaf blowers and string trimmers] are one of the least fuel efficient and most polluting devices on the planet?
4. And re: 3 above, why do they mow/trim/blow so often? Do they or others in their household actually use/play on/recreate/ entertain on the lawn, or is it strictly for show and status?
Like Jim, my father fought his entire life to grow bluegrass on the western Iowa Loess soil, which had been created to grow Buffalo Grass, Side Oats and Bluestem. I’m fairly certain that he died cursing the “Lawn Gods.” But I have been redeemed, and would love to meet with our Justices to help them be redeemed too. To The Reader: Which one of Jim’s two pieces am I talking about now? If you don’t know, that just reveals Jim’s perspicacity. Perhaps the answer will be revealed in the next installment.
SCOTT H. PETERS, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Your Editor’s Reply in TPP, 2/1/23, “No Free Passes for War Starters,” chronicles recent, post-1991 Eastern Europe politics. The past 12 months have been a crash course in education of Ukraine of these past 32 years, and you hit notable highlights.
One matter that isn’t mentioned is the Minsk Agreement, the international agreements negotiated in the Belarus capital between Ukraine and Russia, signed 9/5/14, and expired, 2/21/22.
Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany, was in the news when she stated to “Die Zeit” on Dec. 7, that Ukraine never intended to act in good faith, “The 2014 Minsk Agreement was an attempt to buy time for Ukraine. Ukraine used this time to become stronger...”
May another round of negotiations soon bring a lasting peace to Ukraine and its people.
WILLIAM CULLEN, Dubuque, Iowa
Editor’s Reply: The first Minsk Protocol failed to stop fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatist forces in Donetsk and Luhansk that were armed and supported by Russia. Both sides accused each other of ceasefire violations, and by January 2015, the Minsk Protocol had collapsed. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said March 27, 2016, that Russia was “not a party to the Minsk agreements,” and Putin on Feb. 22, 2022 said the Minsk agreements “no longer existed” and Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for their collapse. Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022, in a war they expected to last three days.
By all appearances, Vladimir Putin has given the world a rude awakening, and dissolved the illusion that complete evil doesn’t exist in the human soul. It was a comforting misconception, of course, but Vladimir dispelled it through his ghastly viciousness.
How sure we had been — and how very mistaken — that psychology had cosigned the concept of evil to delusions of the Dark Ages. Then Vlad came along with his unmitigated and heinous crimes, spreading misery and destruction and nuclear threats.
We say we trust in Providence on our currency — and now we need, instead of sophistry, to clearly see our situation. Social sciences have taught us to flatter ourselves concerning increased knowledge; they haven’t taught us how to deal with grotesqueries armed with nuclear missiles.
WILLIAM DAUENHAUER, Willowick, Ohio
I found Joseph B. Atkins [“Geopolitical Death in Ukraine,” 2/1/23 TPP) a tad unhinged. His wild accusations of all the intrigue, the puppet masters, and everything in Ukraine going accordingly to their greedy plans was off-putting. We know corporations are an evil today, but these wild swings may help, not hurt their image. Reel it in.
On the other hand, [“Two who flunked Dictator School,” 2/1/23 TPP], John Young wrote a beautiful article grounded in facts on the two idiots most responsible for the world’s troubles, the troubles that aren’t climate related.
I found the juxtaposition between these articles intriguing, Atkins is the teacher? Huh.
Love The Progressive Populist!
ROBERT PITTACK, Caldwell, Idaho
John Young’s piece “Servants of the Damned Tend to Get Their Way” [2/15/23 TPP] was particularly enlightening to me not because of the thesis that the rich and/powerful get their way, even if they are grifters. I think I already knew this: political rights without economic rights are not equal rights. What really impressed me was instead of an abstract “powerful law firm,” he named names: Jones Day, a Cleveland firm.
I am not in the 1% bubble, I can’t even see it from my spot in the 99%, but if I knew one person at the firm I would be full of umbrage and whine about it to my friends, and by the mythical six degrees of separation, they would whine and gossip about it to their friends and more and more of the 99% would be horrified if they weren’t already aware. We could glare at them as they tooled around in vehicles worth more than most houses we masses occupy, and we could at least roll our eyes and spit on the ground if stadiums were branded “Jones Day” or they donated a fraction of their blood money in the name of doing good. Probably wouldn’t make any difference but we could see these skunks as who they are.
I am ignorant about the actual names of the oligarchy running the “show” but knowing their names and games might be a start to a better future, albeit a tiny one, by one of the tiny ants they see on the sidewalks out of their corporate towers. If you happen to maintain a property you know one ant is insignificant — an infestation is a problem.
RUSS PATTERSON, Woodbury Minn.
Dave Zirin’s article, ”The NFL just showed the world what it thinks of its players” [2/1/23 TPP) brings to mind the story about when an American reproached Pablo Picasso for praising the dangerous sport of bullfighting. And Picasso retorted that more young people die or are seriously injured while playing football, as compared to bullfighters. And he was right.
DAVID QUINTERO, Monrovia, Calif.
When an individual, family, group, entity and especially those who hold positions of responsibility, authority and trust are devoid of accountability, shame, guilt and humility our nation/world faces severe detrimental outcomes. As I reflect on my wife’s and my “shared parental responsibilities” in the role of raising our four now-adult children, 55-64, and didn’t intervene when appropriate with some form of corrected actions or punishment at times to set our children’s thinking and actions to adhere to the aforementioned criteria for a humane, sustainable and secure society we would be deemed irresponsible and “bad parents.”
“We” the people have essentially abandoned our “guidance and oversight” of those cited to the point of ridiculousness with “our politicians,” and our greatest STUPIDIFIERS are the REPUBLICAN CABAL who spout outright lies, propaganda, bogus alternate facts, conspiracy theories, denial of scientific facts, and modernity’s “flat Earthers.”
Between US Rep. George Santos and Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis (today’s Mussolini) there’s no two more scurrilous , lying characters that adhere to and believe in that Romanesque strategy of “divide and conquer,” along with that Machiavellian proposition “the end justifies the means” when it comes to lying and bogus propaganda.
“We” the people have to make it absolutely clear to all individuals in all taxpaid positions of authority that when you (he/she) open your mouths to speak as our representatives, the only information “we” want and demand are facts and truth. Should you lie, exaggerate or (he/she) fail in this requisite there shall be more than a spanking levied and punitive reprisal shall be forthcoming and costly.
Cease with the cultural stupidity in dividing our nation and its people as the results shall lead to decimation and annihilation worldwide!
FRANK C. ROHRIG, Milford, Conn.
I am very disappointed you would even print Ted Rall’s most recent vicious rant against President Biden [“Only Biden Can Stop This Political Dumpster Fire Redux,” 12/15/22 TPP]. As I have said previously, it is one thing to have strong opinions and another to be vicious. Rall comes across as a man who is wrong about an issue and decides, instead of facing up to his mistake, to double down and become even more insulting. Rall gives Biden no credit for the excellent job Biden has done in fending off trumpism (fascism), and passing meaningful legislation in a Senate where Manchin and Sinema constantly obstruct. There has to be some editorial oversight of what is said in your publication.
PAUL WHITE, Ridgewood, N.J.
Thom Hartmann’s article on page12 of the 2/1/23 issue [“What the final stage of Reaganism looks like”] is a history lesson all on its own and I thank him. He did, however, omit a major part played by President Clinton. He was flattered and courted by the big bankers and succumbed to their will with the passing of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that pretty much repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which protected pension monies from other monies and bank speculations. The 2008 bubble burst was the eventual result.
His articles are a great asset to us Progressive Populist readers. Again, thank you.
GRACE GAMBINO, Jacksonville, Fla.
From The Progressive Populist, March 1, 2023
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