RANGER AGAINST WAR: Homeboy <

Friday, October 12, 2012

Homeboy

 --substitute any Administration here

She's a bad drunk
She's a good time girl
She has an illegitimate child
So she'll be sticking 'round town for a while
She is America 
--American Miracle, Rust Belt Music
____________________

While the people charged with interviewing our President-to-be think the woes of the Middle East, Asia and and abortion rights are the main issues of concern for Americans, this blip appears in the State section of USA Today:

The Cleveland city council reported it could take 22 years and $4.5 billion to clear all 8,500 vacated houses that need to be razed in the city. The price tag includes the cost of keeping the properties free from vandalism (The Plain Dealer).

Ohio, like so many states, suffers from a form of MPD; Dennis Kucinich would never be elected by the conservative Western farm belt, who sees its problems as differing from those of the city-dwellers.  Winning elections should be about representing and governing the entire electorate, and not just those most likely to vote for you or to vote at all.  Instead, we all know the pull of the vested interests.

Being from Cleveland, the 22-year estimate seems rosy; the house in the slums are not getting any newer, and the maintenance is not getting better.  Why does neither party espouse a Federal reclamation project to destroy these homes while salvaging recycled items of value?  Copper, bricks and aged hard wood do not grow on trees.

The United States transfers $300 billion from the public coffers to the various civilian contractors providing security alone in shit holes around the world.  Why not spend our hard-earned, newly-minted tax dollars on our own U.S rust belt shit holes?  Cleveland's plight is that of every Rust Belt city in America, an everyday slog not called "hope".

Ten steps above the existence of most rust belt denizens is the life led by most graduates of Ohio's nearby Bowling Green State University, but even their latest alumnae newsletter (Fall '12) sounded the alarm of another ecosystem in it's death throes:

Walking toward the shores of Lake Erie during the summer, it is easy to imagine visiting a sparkling tropical ocean. The turquoise water glimmers in the sun as gentle waves lap at the white beach. A capricious breeze carries the animated sounds of birds chirping among the reeds and grasses.

Upon closer approach, however, it becomes clear that all may not be as sublime as first envisioned. Lake Erie water should be a deep, dark blue — the turquoise hue is actually the result of toxic blue-green algae blooms. The white beach is the effect of invasive zebra mussel shells that litter Lake Erie shores. The aggressive flowering rush and other invaders are overtaking native reeds and grasses, home to hundreds of bird species.

Lake Erie is the 12th largest lake in the world and the most biologically productive of the five Great Lakes, which contain 20 percent of the planet’s surface freshwater and supply drinking water to more than 35 million people. ...

"Sublime" ... not a word Ranger often associates with much of Ohio, but his state is not alone in its quagmire.

Does Mr. Romney or Mr. Obama have a plan for Ohio, beyond offering its residents fallow, puerile hope or the insulting kick in the teeth that is the conservative's "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" claptrap?

No, we did not think so.

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3 Comments:

Blogger Brooklyn Red Leg said...

I wanted to throw up back during the initial stages of the RNC as I watched the doomed Liberty delegates try and get our insane foreign policy under control. One of the points that was raised was why we give money to foreign nations (ie - "foreign aid"). All kinds of nonsensical excuses are always offered, but the truth is that its money taken from the poor and middle-class of the US and given to rich thugs who buy weapons to murder their own citizens. This, naturally, creates outrage among said citizens which fuels even more resentment against the US, leading (at some point) to dead GIs (who often leave behind devastated families), destroyed materiel/equipment and even more national treasure pissed away. While I think the US government is about as successful at "rebuilding our infrastructure" as they are at nation-building (ie - not at all), there is definitely something to be said for at least doing something different.

Friday, October 12, 2012 at 4:17:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Spending hundreds of billions on the folks back home sorta undermines the aura of American Exceptionalism, the concept that we're the Greatest Thing on God's Green Earth, evah, bitches!

It would also show that Americans are freeloaders who suck at the government teat all their lives, therefore not the Masters of the Universe.

It's also not what our wealthy overlords want to spend money on as they prospect the world for new resources to mine and develop.

What's a dump like Cleveland got to offer them?

bb

Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 4:27:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://lnmc.crooksandliars.com/jared-shade-reynolds/cls-late-night-music-club-m-w

It's got "Cleveland" on it

bb

Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 8:50:00 AM GMT-5  

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