De Javu all over again

Wow, looking at the date that I last posted, it is almost exactly a year ago! I just reread my posting then, and, my, it is so relevant today – and so accurately true to the developments over the last year! I intend to spend a bit more time over here writing both on things political and things having to do with Christianity.

First, though, I want to muse a bit about some memories over the last several years. I recall Yuri Volkov and me meeting most Thursdays in downtown Holland during the summer and fall when we weren’t fishing. We talked theology and we talked politics. My recollection is that we both spoke of things that have since become reality in our country.

The first thing was the war in Iraq. It was clear to us both that the Bush administration wanted to go to war with Iraq because of sour memories from Bush 1’s perceived “failure” in the first Iraq war. We also were completely clear that there was no connection with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. In fact, they were competitors, if not enemies, but it was a stretch too far to make a case for the connection to justify war. Even two persons in Holland, MI, were fully aware that such was not true at all. And we were perplexed that Bush did not pay any attention to Al Queda and Osama bin Laden. In addition to that, there were UN expert inspectors in Iraq telling us that they did not have weapons of mass destruction. We all know where that went, right?

Then Yuri reminded me that the way to assess these kinds of situations was to follow the money, or figure out who it was that would profit from such a foolish intervention. It did not take us long to figure that out! We were fully aware that Cheney had never left Halliburton really, but had continued to take retirement and other investment benefits [and luxurious ones at that! I remember one article that claimed that Cheney was making something like $58,000 an hour while working in the Bush administration]. We knew also that there were Bush administration designs for the oil in Iraq, though right-wingers would howl if you were even to suggest that the war was over oil – it was, actually, but it did not turn out the way that Bush and Cheney, the oilmen, wanted.

We also noted the economic indicators over the last 5 years were ominous and seemed to portend something bad coming over the time horizon. Wow, were we prophetic on that point! I think it was I that came up with a slogan to suggest how the government ought to handle the oil crisis: Just Say No!

Sure, I know that that slogan was Mrs. Bush’s slogan for anti-drug programs, but I adapted it to read Just Say N.O., meaning “nationalize oil.” In retrospect, I wonder if we had nationalized oil production and refining and gotten some control over that “shock doctrine” debacle, would we have had the deep depression that we face in 2009 now? One wonders.

But my “Just Say N.O.” was a bit misdirected, it seems. I should have known that banking drives the oil business, too. So my lack of economic expertise showed up, much to my chagrin. But I was not far off.

Enough for my re-baptism into the blogosphere. I will return soon with some more rumination about current event and religious disorder in our nation in a bit.

ttyl