Kismet is fate after all
And God has a grand plan
That we might never call
On Him to help a man
Overcome predestination
Or use our will to make a path
To a higher calling or station
Without engaging His wrath
And after watching the tape
It was God who planned the rape
In Mourdock’s fundamentalist logic
But I think that makes me sick
The far right has struck again and their logic is
indisputable. Rape of women is in
God’s plan, therefore we should embrace rape as an opportunity to make
babies. Richard Mourdock (Indiana)
then went on to explain his remarks by agreeing that rape is horrible, but that
because it is part of God’s plan, we should embrace the results. Surely, I am no theologian, but does
that not assume that we have no free will and cannot chart our own course in
life? Even more recently, John
Koster (Washington) demonstrated that he would not allow free will for the
woman raped. I know that the GOP
prides itself as the party of freedom, but it begs the question of freedom for
whom. How can this party of “small
government” that would cut FEMA funding by 40% if Paul Ryan’s plan is approved,
also be the party of treating women like property? I used quotes on small government because that is the GOP
mythology although it is unsupported by recent experience when Bush II grew
government at a faster rate and greater size than anybody in recent history. Practically speaking, there is a
“morning after” pill that would prevent conception, but since these social extremists
will not permit contraception, the woman raped is not only scorned, but
sentenced to carry the child of a hostile sexual attack.
If this were not alarming enough, there is more. In 31 states, rapists have custody and
visitation rights. These are the
same rights as other fathers have.
Tell me again that this is jurisprudence and not weighted insanity that
continues to place the woman in jeopardy.
Tell me that this is not some twisted law of property that allows the
defiler equal rights with the defiled.
This validates Todd Akin and his insanity, but does not do much for
women or for children. It
validates the sick notion that women are merely chattel to be controlled by the
state, while corporations have all the freedoms of real persons. Cuddly Mittens Romney put it so
well: “Corporations are people, my
friend.”
Lest you think that insanity is limited to a sociopathic
treatment of women, there is more.
The recent and tragic Superstorm Sandy points to another form of
insanity. Here, Mittens has
clearly sided with corporations over people who feel hunger, cold, pain and
physical suffering. His statement
during the Republican primaries would have had each state deal with the searing
pain and destruction caused by Sandy to be faced by each state individually
(“and preferably by private enterprise.”)
Actually, we saw the effects of promoting the use of private enterprise
during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when GW Bush failed to preposition resources
to permit immediate response to help save lives and property. It was weeks after the initial storm
before significant help arrived and it was largely through questionable
contracts for goods and services that were not certified. The housing purchased from vendors by
the government was chemically contaminated and the death toll was immediately
over 1,800 with estimates that exceed 4,000 if we include the following weeks
of turmoil. As a trained
logistician, my observation is that the apathy and incompetence demonstrated by
a regime that hated government led to monumental errors and criminal
folly. Not only was the housing
unhealthy, but payments made for shipping and counter-shipping fuel and ice and
water and medicine was outrageously high and uncontrolled. Worse, it did not get to the real
people who needed it.
Corporations were paid. The
response was late and uncoordinated despite Bush’s assertion: “You’re doing a hell of a job,
Brownie.” Ironically, horse
manager Brown (the butt of Katrina gallows humor) has now claimed that Obama
moved too soon for Sandy. If you hate government and government
saves people, what does that say about your concern for people? Maybe it was Kismet again (God’s will
that people drown, die of exposure, lack food, medicine and shelter?) I will not only stick with the concept
that the federal government has a responsibility to help the helpless, but also
that I prefer my God to theirs.
Maybe I don’t have the “rapture,” but I have love and a command to “love
my neighbor as myself.” (Today’s
gospel tor those who care.) Government is as government does, and being tardy for a storm
is unconscionable. What could be
more effective than coordinated federal government action for a storm that
affected at least 13 states.
Surely it would be less quick or effective to wait for the storm to begin
contract talks with vendors for goods and services. Add to that the reality that once the storm hit, that states
and individuals would be at the mercy of corporations that do not exhibit that
“mercy” quality of personhood. The
bottom line does not include mercy.
This brings me to my last point about Kismet. Kismet and blaming God for the bad
things in life is common with fundamentalists including certain Islamic and
Christian sects. This creates new
mythologies. These can then be
exploited by the unscrupulous to avoid the pressure of improving lives and
taking responsibility for helping others.
It simultaneously dampens the motivation of the uneducated and the poor
to better themselves, for it is Kismet, after all. This means that we do not need to
concern ourselves with the melting of the polar ice caps or the rising waters
of Florida and Bangladesh or the extreme heat and cold of the past couple
decades or the effect of the Koch brothers’ bituminous coal or other fossil
fuels or ways to reduce carbon emissions. Pretty neat, right?
We can do as we damn well please and then blame God. Whether you believe in God or not, that
is surely convenient and effective.
Who is going to question it? Bush essentially said: “How was I to know. Nobody predicted it.”
The truth is that Katrina was predicted as was Sandy and we have
experienced enough storms to know what can happen. Blame it on big government for rapes and small government
for storms, but please don’t blame it on God. Blame climate change on ignorance of remedies or fundamentalism
to avoid confronting it, but if you won’t acknowledge that the earth is older
than 6,000 years, you are either severely conservative or severely (intellectually)
handicapped. Go vote.
Peace,
George Giacoppe
04 November 2012
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