THE ENCOUNTER

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

THE ENCOUNTER

"Momma! There's a man at the door."

"Who is it"?

"He said his name is Gerry."

When Vern got to the door, she couldn't believe her eyes. Why, it was Gerry Minyard. She and Monty hadn't seen him in over 10 years, and she knew when Monty found out that Gerry was here he would be delighted. She also knew that now that Gerry had shown up at their door after so many years, it meant the end of their plan to leave for San Francisco that evening. But she didn't mind. She loved seeing Gerry, and she couldn't wait to see Monty's face when he found out he was here.

"Gerry! How are you? We thought the world had swallowed you up."


Gerry just sort'a smiled and said, "you know, you wouldn't have been too far off. You know how I am, here a day, there a day, never in any one place too long."

"Well, I gotta tell you, Gerry, you are the last person that we thought we would see out here. Just before we moved here to Covina, Monty tried to find you to give you our new address, but they told him that you had quit United and had left town."

"Yeah, I got tired of staying in one place, and after Monty left United to go to work at Rockwell, I ran out of Liberals to argue with, so I got bored and left."

Vern laughed as she said, "Yeah, I can see how that would really be a hardship on you, Gerry.

Have a seat, Gerry. I know I don't have to tell you to make yourself at home. You're like family, so this is your home. Let me get you a beer."

"That sounds good, Vern. Where's the big shot?"

"He's in the shower..."

At just that moment Monty yelled from the bathroom. "Vern! what time does the plane leave?"
Vern put her fingers to her lips warning Gerry not to say anything. She wanted to surprise Monty.

"We're on Trans Western flight 301. It leaves LAX at 6pm."

Monty walked into the living room wearing slacks and a T-shirt, but he had a towel over his head drying his hair, so he didn't see Gerry. "Baby, I can't wait to show you this little place on the Wharf..."


Then Gerry said, "and I can't wait to see it, darlin'."

Even before he brought the towel down, Monty was yelling out Gerry's name. "Gerry, Gerry, GERRY! How the hell are you man?"

As Monty grabbed and hugged Gerry and began to go through all of the questions that one asked a close friend that one had lost touch with, Vern began to reflect on this most unusual friendship.


Monty and Gerry met about 15 years ago while they both worked for United Office Equipment Company. Monty had just graduated from college, and was coming into the company as an assistant warehouse manager. Gerry had already been working for the company for a couple of years, but as a casual laborer. The company had offered Gerry a regular job but Gerry turned them down. He said he would rather work on a day to day basis, that way he wouldn't feel tied down.

What made this friendship so endearing to everyone who witnessed it is the fact that it was so unlikely. Monty is a 37 year-old college educated black man whose politics is left of center. Gerry, on the other hand, is a 57 year-old Irishman. A Reagan conservative, who may, or may not have finished high school. They don't agree on anything. Every night they would sit up over a bottle of gin and argue about politics until well into the night. If a person didn't know 'em they'd think they were bitter enemies. Gerry would call Monty A subversive commie sympathizer, and Monty would call Gerry a reactionary, brown shirt fascist. Yet, they have an affection for one another that defies description. It went beyond politics. Monty, who's kind of distant toward people by nature, loved Gerry like family, and it was clear that Gerry felt the same way toward him. Vern always felt that Gerry sort of adopted them as the family he didn't have--or, at least, never spoke about.

Gerry lived a hard, but romantic life. He reminded Vern of one of Steinbeck's characters. He seemed to have stepped right out of The Grapes of Wrath--A tall, slim, Irish drifter with handsome, but rugged features. He never stayed in any one place too long. Vern suspected he just didn't want to develop any lasting affections like the one he had stumbled upon with them. For that reason, she suspected, he wasn't above hopping a freight train and traveling to the next state on just a whim. He traveled real light, but he certainly wasn't a bum. If he made eighty dollars a day working one of his many day-jobs, forty of it would go in the bank. He had helped Monty and Vern out of some really tough spots when they were younger--and wouldn't allow them to pay him back. "I don't lend money to people I care about--I give it to them. Besides, I don't ever remember you charging me for dinner when I eat up your food."  He's a unique individual.

"So you're going up to Frisco, uh? Nice town--I spent five years up there one day."

Monte said, "What?"

"Aw, it wasn't nothing," said Gerry. "I'll tell you the story one day. I was passing through there one day and got into a barroom brawl that got a little out of hand, but that was another time and place." Then as though snapping himself back into the present he said, "Maybe I should have called before I came by."

Monte said, "Don't be ridiculous, Gerry. We were just going up to the bay area because we have a little time on our hands, and we didn't have anything else to do - not to mention that it gave us a chance to get away from our little darlin's for awhile," and he cut his eyes over toward the kids.

Just then Vern came from the rear of the house. "I just called the airline and canceled our flight until tomorrow night."

Gerry said, "You didn't have to do that for me. I didn't intend to come here and ruin your plans."

"Gerry," said Vern, "if we had known we were gonna to see you this weekend, we never would have made plans in the first place--and besides, we have two months to go any place we like. Now, I'm going to make you some of my famous enchiladas that you use to love so much."

Gerry's eyes lit up and he said, "Now I can live with that," as his eyes followed Vern as she headed for the kitchen. "You're a lucky man, Monty."

"I know. It's almost as though we were made for one another."

Gerry said, "Actually, I think you were."

But Monty didn't hear him. He'd become wrapped up in his thoughts of how perfect life had been since he and Vern had been married.

"Gerry," said Monty, assuming that expression of total seriousness that Gerry had come to know so well, " it's almost like divine intervention. Every since we've been married it seems that our life had taken on a life of it's own. Even when we do something stupid, it seems to turn out right."

Vern stuck her head out of the kitchen. "You know, Gerry, Monty's right. Take the kids, for example. We got married as soon as Monty got out of the service. We were babies ourselves, and we didn't know a thing about bringing up kids, and yet, our two kids have been nothing but a joy to us. We haven't had one problem out of either of them."

"Have you ever thought,"" said Gerry, "that it just might be divine intervention?".

"There you go," Monty broke in, "still tryin' to save my soul. Man, you ain't been here ten minutes and you tryin’ to slip Pat Robinson through the backdoor already. Don't you know by now that you ain't gon' ever sell me on that Moral Majority stuff? Those people are neither moral, nor a majority--their most earnest prayer is that I drown tryin' to swim my way back to Africa--and the way you drink, smoke and cuss, you can’t believe that stuff yourself."

Gerry fell-out laughing. Monty really had a way with gettin' to the bottom line, but Gerry was determined to get his point across in this decade old debate between them.

"Listen Monty, I'm not a part of any Moral Majority--I don't care for them myself. I've come to agree with you over the years on that issue. But don't you think, organized religion aside, that there just might be some force in the universe that lends a hand to prevent man from destroying himself?"

"Yes. I do believe that," Monty replied. "In fact, I believe that the universe itself, and everything that is a part of it, is God. Where I have a problem is when man tries to make God in man's image. They try to make him look like us--or, at least y'all. They try to make him think like us, and try to make him as silly as us. God doesn't have to be a person, he could be the universe itself. So I don't have to have faith. People who claim to have ‘faith’ don’t have faith in God. They’re faith is in man, and what he tells them about God. But I know there's a God, because as far as I'm concerned, God is whatever force that put all of this in motion, and a sin is when you do anything to violate the laws of nature.

They went on like that for some time, until Vern interrupted saying, "You guys are getting a little heavy in there. Come on and eat. The food is ready. Taylor , Lil' Monty! Come and eat your dinner."

When Taylor and Lil' Monty got to the table, Gerry said, "Man, these don't look like the two babies that I remember. And why are you calling this man Lil' Monty? He's as tall as his father."

Taylor said, "Taller. He's an inch taller than my father, and he's only 14 years old."

"I see you're still proud of your little brother. I remember when you two were about two feet tall--well, he wasn't but about a foot and a half. Even then, you used to say, "My little brother can count to ten. My little brother can say his ABC's."

Taylor began to blush.

"Don't be ashamed. There's nothing wrong with loving your brother. That's one of the things that sets this family apart, makes it special--you’re full of love. Most of the world is full of something else, but we won't get into that."

After dinner, and after Gerry finished raving over Vern's enchiladas they went back into the living room to have a few beers and laughed and talked the night away. Monty had persuaded Gerry to stay over, promising to take him back to L.A. on the way to the airport.

Monty said, "I see you're still smoking those old nasty Pall Mall Reds."

"If I remember correctly", said Gerry, "they didn't use to bother you that much when you were bumming ‘em off me at United. I had to bring an extra pack every morning just for you. I bet you owe me 32 thousand dollars, just in cigarettes."

They all started laughing, then Monty said, " Aw man, you're making me sound like a bum. The only reason that I use to ask you for cigarettes is because I was trying to quit smoking."

"Yeah", said Gerry, "and from the cigarette in your hand, I see you're still trying." He look up toward the ceiling and said, " ten years later, Lord, and he's still trying to quit--but, at least he has his own cigarettes."

That's when Vern chimmed in, "uh uh Lord, 'dem my cigarettes."

"Take it from an old red-neck", said Gerry, "he'll never change, Lord." Then they all fell out laughing.

They stayed up laughing and partying until the wee hours of the morning. It had been years since Monty and Vern had enjoyed anyone so much.

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The next morning Vern got up early. She thought it might be nice if they all got up to an early breakfast and maybe take Gerry on a little outing. Maybe they could go to Puttingstone Reservoir, he'd probably like that. They might even be able to persuade him to stay another day. She'd like that. She couldn't remember when she had enjoyed a house guest so much.

When she got up and went into the kitchen she was surprised to find that the kitchen was spotless. When she went to bed it was a mess. She was enjoying Gerry so much that she hadn't found time to get to it. She knew the kids hadn't done it because they were already asleep, and it was after 3 in the morning when Gerry, Monty, and herself had turned in. Maybe one of the darlings had gotten up early to do it, knowing she had stayed up late and might be too tired to face it this morning. She loved those kids, they were so thoughtful.

She went to Lil' Monty's room to check on them. Lil' Monty had bunk beds, so whenever a guest stayed over the guest used Taylor's room, and Taylor would take one of the bunks in her brother's room.

"Monty, Monty!"

LiL' Monty looked up sleepily from his bed.

"Where's your sister, Monty?"

"She's in her room."

"She can't be in there. Gerry's in her room."

"Who's Gerry, momma?"

"You know, your daddy's friend--the one who stayed over last night."

Lil' Monty was becoming wider awake, now. "Momma, there wasn't anyone over here last night."

"Monty! the man who had dinner with us last night!" Vern was becoming irritated, now. The boy must still be asleep.

Lil' Monty was wide awake in earnest, now. He looked concerned. "Momma, nobody had dinner with us last night. You and daddy were supposed to be going to the airport, but when daddy got out of the shower you guys went in the room, laid down, and went right off to sleep. We tried to wake you, but we couldn't, so we just let you sleep. We put a pizza in the oven and watched T.V. for a while, and then we went to bed."


"Wait a minute, damn it! I know I ain't crazy." Vern rushed to Taylor's room and opened the door. Taylor was in her bed sound asleep. "Taylor! wake up!"

"What’s the matter, momma?"

"Taylor, don't you remember answering the door for Gerry yesterday?"

"Who?"

"Gerry! Your daddy's friend!"

"I did'nt answer the door for anybody yesterday." Taylor looked over at her brother with a bewildered expression on her face. Lil' Monty started laughing.

"Momma been dreamin'." Now they both started to laugh.

"Naw, naw--hell naw! That whatn't no damn dream. Go wake up your daddy!" The kids went into the bed room to wake their father.

"Daddy, daddy. Wake up daddy. Momma wants you to come to Taylor's room."

"What's wrong?"

"Momma said to come there for a minute." When Monty walked into Taylor's room he immediately asked, "Where's Gerry?"

"DAMN IT! I KNEW I WASN’’T CRAZY!"

Vern began to relate to Monty what had happened that morning. In spite of the fact that the kids insisted that nobody came over the night before, they were sure that Gerry had been there. At first they thought the kids were playing games with them, but the enchiladas were still in the refrigerator, untouched, and wrapped in foil. And another thing, when Monty woke up he was still wearing the towel he placed around him when he'd gotten out of the shower.

Just then, the phone began to ring. Taylor went over and picked it up. She said, "They're here...no...they fell asleep." Then she turned around and said, "Granny's on the phone crying. She said turn on the TV."



Monty went over and switched on the TV. When the TV came to life it showed the picture of a smoking plane crash. Dan Rather was saying, "Trans Western flight 301 between Los Angeles and San Francisco lost power and crashed into a schoolyard shortly after takeoff from LAX, killing everyone aboard."

Varn just collasped onto the sofa in shock. "That's the plane we would have been on if Gerry hadn't..."


Monty and Vern could only look at each other. Both knew what the other was thinking, but the words wouldn't come out.

"Vern, tell your mother you'll call her back. I'm gon'na call Carl."

Carl had worked at United Office Equipment with Monty and Gerry. Maybe he had Gerry's phone number and they could figure out just what was going on.

Vern was relieved when she heard Monte exchanging pleasantries with Carl. She wasn't sure Carl had the same number--they hadn't spoken to him in over seven years. But the conversation seemed endless. She wanted Monty to get off the phone so they could get to the bottom of this strange occurrence. Finally she heard the conversation winding down.

...."Are you sure about that, Carl? Ok. Thanks."

When Monty hung up the phone he had tears in his eyes. He told Vern to sit down.
"Gerry died three years ago. Carl and Rudy went to his funeral. They tried to contact us but our name wasn't in the Los Angeles directory. We must of both had Gerry on our minds yesterday and had similar dreams."

"Similar my ass," said Vern, "It was the SAME dream, buddy!"

"Well", said Monty, stranger things have happened."

"Monty, you're always trying to be so clinical."

"That's because there's a logical explanation for any and everything that happens in life", said Monty. Vern was seated and looking down at the floor with her hands between her legs. When she looked up, she had a distant, but knowing look in her eye. She said,"Oh yeah, then explain this." She brought her clasped hands from between her legs to reveal a brand new pack of Pall Mall Reds.


At just that moment, the vertical blinds began to rattle from a pronounced breeze that whipped through the house. Monty wiped the tears from his eyes, looked up at the ceiling, and said, "Still a ham, uh Gerry?"

Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Tavis/West: We Know We're Hurting, Now Tell Us the Truth About Why

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Tavis/West: We Know We're Hurting, Now Tell Us the Truth About Why

This is a reprise of an article that I did back in December of 2005.  At the time, I pretty much predicted what we’re going through today. No, I don’t claim to be a prophet, but the writing on the wall was so clear back then that anyone with common sense could easily connect the dots. The very same is true today. That’s why it is so hard to fathom why Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are spending so much time and effort stating the obvious instead of telling us what we need to hear as a people, and then coming up with a plan of action - that is, unless you take their own self-interest into account:

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Wake Up, My People

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I went to view the remains of Stanley Tookie Williams last week-- he went to Washington high school with my late wife. When I went inside the mortuary’s Slumber Chamber where Tookie’s body lie in repose, there was a lady sitting in the front pew crying, presumably a member of Tookie’s family. It was obvious that the lady was in great pain, so in spite of the fact that I didn’t know her, I offered her my condolences. The chamber was quiet and solemn. Then I walked out the side door of the mortuary—and into an absolute zoo.
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In the parking lot next to the mortuary there was a crowd of people partying like it was New Years Eve–the music was blasting, one car was on lifters so high that it seemed to be standing on end, and three sisters were dancing in a heated frenzy before a crowd of maybe a hundred people shouting, “Go ba-by! Go ba-by! Go ba-by!” It was unbelievable. But the scene outside the mortuary that night served to reinforce a point of view that I’ve held for many years now--it's time for our people to wake up and sniff the funk, because the fumes are emanating from all around us, and it’s coming at us from every direction. That goes for the American people in general, but black people in particular.
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As black people, we have a beautiful and festive culture, and I realize that in the past that festive spirit has been used to great effect as a defense against pain. But times are changing in this country, and they’re changing faster and more drastically than we’ve ever known before. So, if we are to survive as a people, we must adapt to that change--and we’d better do it real fast.
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Looking at the United States today, one can’t help but recognize that it’s become reminiscent of Germany during the 1930s, just prior to the rise of fascism. We have a regime currently in power that’s stolen two elections and has taken over every branch of government; they invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses and they’re saber rattling towards others; They’ve set up concentration camps all over the world, and they’re torturing innocent people. As we party, they’re not only passing laws that will allow them to spy on American citizens, but arrest those citizens, while denying them rights supposedly guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States.
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We’ve got to start thinking the way this government thinks (notice that I didn’t say “the White man”, because if a White man happens to be poor or middle class, he’s in trouble too). We‘ve got to start thinking ahead. When I was in The Marine Corps way back in 1971, even then, they had me out in Twenty-nine Palms training reservists in desert warfare. So you see, while we’re living in the moment, this government is thinking ahead. And when you consider the fact that Bush is now spending 2 billion dollars a week in Iraq, and sending this country into so much debt that it precludes our funding education, Medicare, most entitlement programs, and possibly, even Social Security, you’d better believe they have a game plan in mind. They have to have one, just to deal with the resulting social upheaval that is sure to result—and they are practicing that game plan in Iraq as we speak. So it is past time for black people to set our party shoes aside, at least for the moment, and embark on a very serious and sober reassessment of where we stand in this country today.
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Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-America--I Love America. America has provided me and my family with a way of life and opportunities that we might not have found in any other place in the world. But what I love most about America is the American ideal, those ideals that we may not always live up to, but we aspire to. It is the American ideal that makes America special, and it is the assault on those ideals that makes me very nervous about the Bush administration. Under Bush, we seem to be losing sight of what America stands for. He claims that the terrorist hate us because of the American ideal of freedom, justice, and equality. But if that is indeed the case, the terrorist are clearly winning this war, because with every day that passes those ideals are being whittled away.
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When Bush invaded Iraq in response to 9/11 he demonstrated very clearly his propensity for venting his hostility towards people of color. In spite of the fact that all available evidence pointed to the fact that Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with attacking this country, his invasion of Iraq seems to say, “Oh well, one Arab is just like another—they’ll do.” That is not the American way.
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And as a result of that policy, United Press International reported on July 12, 2005 that according to an Iraqi humanitarian organization, 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003. The report goes on to say, “chairman of the 'Iraqiyun humanitarian organization in Baghdad, Dr. Hatim al-'Alwani, said that the toll includes everyone who has been killed since that time, adding that 55 percent of those killed have been women, and children aged 12 and under.” Thus, according to this report, more women and children are being killed in Iraq than anyone else--and that, is not the American way.
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In addition, it has now come to light that the Bush administration has been spying on Muslims in their homes, businesses, and mosques, without warrant, since September 11, 2001. Conservative spin masters try to justify this policy by saying that this fudging of the Constitution only affects
0.1% of the people, so those of us who don’t have anything to hide don’t have anything to worry about. But the fact is, these violations set a precedent that sends the nation down a slippery slope that affects us all. It’s not only a gross violation of an entire community of people, but a corruption of the United States Constitution that places us all in jeopardy. That is not the American way.
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So it is clear that our government, under Bush, has no understanding, nor respect, for limits. Since he's already demonstrated his propensity to paint all people of color with the same brush, it’s not a very big leap from terrorist, to Muslim, to Black Muslim, to black people in general. While that's not the American way, it's a glaring reality.
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So, again, it is past time for the black community to turn down the music for a minute and get serious. The Cabbage Patch can wait, because if there has ever been a time in our history where it is incumbent upon us to focus, educate ourselves, and become politically engaged, it is now. We’ve demonstrated over the years that we can party hardier than any group of people in the world, but at this point in our history, we have nothing to party about. Tookie’s body should attest to that fact.
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

U.S. Postal Service: Is the Budget More Important Than Employees Exposed to TB?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

U.S. Postal Service: Is the Budget More Important Than Employees Exposed to TB?

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On Tuesday, August 2, 2011, when the employees showed up for work at the United States Postal Service’s Los Angeles International Service Center (LAXISC), they were greeted by a note on the time clock instructing them to gather in the main conference room at 3:30 p.m. After all of the employees assembled, along with some military personnel and personnel from the Center for Disease Control, they were informed by the plant manager, a Mr. Holden, that they had been exposed to tuberculosis. They were told that an employee had contracted the disease about a year earlier and they had just been informed by the CDC.
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According to a rerliable source, Mr. Holden then went on to inform the employees that only "high risk" personnel would be tested. When asked why wasn’t everyone being tested, a repreesentative from the Los Angeles County Health Department indicated that the budget precluded them from testing everyone.  Manager Holden later went on to suggest that if the employees had any concerns they should contact their private physicians and arrange to be tested. Thereafter, they tested all of the managers and just a few of the employees that they considered high risk.
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The source also indicated that the APWU’s presence was all but nonexistent at the meeting. The source said:
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"The local president, John Driver, and none of the local officers bothered to come to the meeting. Instead, the treasurer, Darryl Brown, came and did not even ask any questions or voice any concerns about the situation. Is this what our president and local think of us whereas we are not even important enough for them to be present to see about our safety and welfare regarding an employee being diagnosed with TB that we all may have come in contact with and may even have exposed our families to?"
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Subsequently, it was found that the employee that caused the exposure died on July 8, 2011. Of twenty-six employees tested as of last week, thirteen tested positive. So here are a few questions just begging to be asked:
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1. If thirteen of the twenty-six employees that’s been tested so far tested positive (half), isn’t that cause for concern? Wouldn’t it be prudent to put budgetary concerns aside, if for no other reason than to protect the health of the employees, and their family, friends, and neighbors?
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2. Since all of the employees at that facility were potentially exposed to TB on the job, why do they have to incur the expense of going to their own physician? Isn’t that considered a job related hazard, and isn’t it the postal service’s responsibility to protect the job-related threat to the health and safety of it’s employees and their families? 3. Since all of the employees worked in one facility and the postal service has no idea how the employees came into contact with one another in commons areas, lunchrooms, restrooms, etc. How did they determine who was "high risk?"
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4. How does the postal service justify testing all of management and not the employees who are in much closer contact with one another?
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5. Where’s OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) in all of this? Don’t they have a role in seeing to it that the postal service doesn’t give their budget priority over the safety, health, and welfare of their employees?
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6. Why would the Health Department representative speak to budgetary issues?  It is the postal service's responsibility to protect both, its employees, and the public, from this deadly disease.  
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7. And where are the unions? Why aren’t they in there demanding that the postal service test every employee in that facility to ensure that they are free of a virulent disease that can kill not only them, but their children?
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This situation is a prime example of the fact that apathy on the part of the American people has allowed both the business community, and our government, to write the poor and middle-class off as expendable and secondary to profits. We see it everywhere, including on the battlefield, with the endless wars that use poor and middle-class troops as cannon fodder to promote the interests of war profiteers and oil companies. As we speak the oil companies are rushing into Lybia to divide up the spoils that poor and middle-class troops have died for while thinking they were defending the interests of our country.
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And the irony is, the children of the people who benefit most from the death of the poor and middle class troops, the rich, are no longer even expected to defend this country. Dying for this country is now considered the job of the “little people.” The job of the rich is to merely sit back and reap the benefits of our sacrifices.
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We saw the very same scenario in play when the 29 coal miners were killed in West Virginia on April 5, 2010. Hubpages.com reported:
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"29 COAL MINERS DIE in COAL MINING EXPLOSION
The Massey Energy Company of Montcoal, West Virginia ignored violations and warnings that the Upper Big Branch Coal Mine which they own, was not safe for coal miners to be working in."
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Then just weeks later, on April 20, 2010, eleven oil workers were killed in a horrific explosion on an oil rig run by British Petroleum. In the aftermath of the disaster The Daily Beast reported:
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"A document obtained by The Daily Beast shows that BP, in a previous fatal disaster, increased worker risk to save money."
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has known about the threat to public health of the job-related transmission of TB for some time:

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"The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing a health standard, to be promulgated under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. 655, to control occupational exposure to tuberculosis (TB). TB is a communicable, potentially lethal disease that afflicts the most vulnerable members of our society: the poor, the sick, the aged, and the homeless. As many as 13 million U.S. adults are presently believed to be infected with TB; over time, more than 1 million of these individuals may develop active TB disease and transmit the infection to others. TB remains a major health problem with 22,813 active cases reported in the U.S. in 1995. A number of outbreaks of this disease have occurred among workers in health care settings, as well as other work settings, in recent years. To add to the seriousness of the problem, some of these outbreaks have involved the transmission of multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which are often fatal. Although it is the responsibility of the U.S. Public Health Service to address the problem of tuberculosis in the general U.S. population, OSHA is solely responsible for protecting the health of workers exposed to TB as a result of their job.
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"OSHA estimates that more than 5 million U.S. workers are exposed to TB in the course of their work: in hospitals, homeless shelters, nursing homes, and other work settings. Because active TB is endemic in many U.S. populations, including groups in both urban and rural areas, workers who come into contact with diseased individuals are at risk of contracting the disease themselves. The risk confronting these workers as a result of their contact with TB-infected individuals may be as high as 10 times the risk to the general population. Although the number of reported cases of active TB has slowly begun to decline after a resurgence between 1985-1992, 16 states reported an increase in the number of TB cases in 1995, compared with 1994. Based on a review of the data, OSHA has preliminarily concluded that workers in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and certain other work settings are at significant risk of incurring TB infection while caring for their patients and clients or performing certain procedures. To reduce this occupational risk, OSHA is proposing a standard that would require employers to protect TB-exposed employees by means of infection prevention and control measures that have been demonstrated to be highly effective in reducing or eliminating job related TB infections. These measures include the use of respirators when performing certain high hazard procedures on infectious individuals, procedures for the early identification and treatment of TB infection, isolation of individuals with infectious TB in rooms designed to protect those in the vicinity of the room from contact with the microorganisms causing TB, and medical follow-up for occupationally exposed workers who become infected. OSHA has preliminarily determined that the engineering, work practice, and administrative controls, respiratory protection, training, medical surveillance, and other provisions of the proposed standard are technologically and economically feasible for facilities in all affected industries.

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"DATES: Written comments on the proposed standard must be postmarked on or before December 16, 1997 and notices of intention to appear at the informal rulemaking hearings must be postmarked on or before December 16, 1997."

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Now, in spite the stern warning of a sister agency regarding the importance of controlling the spread of this virulent disease in the workplace, we see the United States Postal Service all but ignoring the possibility that their employees could take a deadly, and possibly incurable, disease home to their families, neighbors, and friends just to save a dollar. And just as telling, the employee unions are simply standing by mute, watching this unconscionable, atrocious, and flagrant act of irresponsibility like it's business as usual. What more do we have to see to understand that it's time for American workers to stand up and retake control of their lives?
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It’s time for American workers to wake up and begin to realize that their apathy is allowing them to be written off as expendable. It's time for them to change that by using the political clout of their numbers to make themselves heard. It’s past time for them to realize that they're knee-deep in a class war that they’re losing badly.
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The idea that we can simply vote people into office and depend on them to protect our interests is a myth, and the institutions that are supposedly setup to protect our interests are actually designed to protect the status quo by giving us the illusion of justice - anyone who’s ever tried to sue a corporation for its misdeeds can attest to that. All of these institutions are myths designed to allow the few to control the many.
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History is clear. There is no example in the history of mankind where justice has simply been bestowed upon a people. The only way to obtain justice is to be strong enough to take it, and then steadfast enough in your vigilance to hold on to it. So the bottom line is, you cannot depend on politicians, union representatives, or anyone else to defend your rights without seeing to it that they have something to lose by failing to do so. Thus, the only defender of justice that we can truly depend upon is just us.
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The U.S. Postal Service is a United States government agency, so if this nation truly believed in justice, the U. S. postal service would be in the very forefront of the fight to protect employee rights. But instead, the United States Postal Service, one the few, if not the only, government agency actually mentioned in the United States Constitution, is more hostile to workers’ rights than any agency in any dictatorship anywhere in the world.
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We’ve got to bring this fact to President Obama’s attention, because as chief executive officer, he’s the head of that agency. How can we commit the lives of American troops to fight for the rights of people in other lands, while their parents are working on a plantation here at home?
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So it’s time for not only postal workers to wake up, but for poor and middle-class workers all across this country to come together and flex their political clout. If we are to survive as a nation, poor and middle-class workers must begin to understand that they will never again be secure in their jobs or their way of life until they come together to ensure that their politicians, union officials, and employers are insecure in theirs.
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Eric L. Wattree

http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)


Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

The Tavis/West Poverty Pimp Tour

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

The Tavis/West Poverty Pimp Tour

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Why Attack a Sleeping Sentry Before Repelling the Invading Hordes?

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While Tavis Smiley and Cornel West have the right idea in terms of the need to confront power, it’s their motives and the hypocrisy of their agenda that I have a problem with. They’re clearly being self-serving and purposely divisive, which plays right into the hands of those who continue to subjugate us.
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The primary reason that our government doesn't work, and the institutions that are supposed to be protecting our rights have become monuments to the maintenance of the status quo, is WE, THE PEOPLE have allowed ourselves to become so distracted by the corporate promotion of social hedonism that we're allowing the most ruthless among us to take control of government.
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As I point out in a message to the group, CARMA (Citizens Against Reckless Middle Class Abuse), the poor and middle class will never be secure in their homes, their standard of living, or their jobs until they ensure that their politicians, unions officials, and all other representatives of the people are insecure in theirs.
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Keeping the people divided is the coin of the corporatist realm, and I seriously suspect that Tavis is working in concert with the corporations that he continues to shill for - Wal-Mart, Exxon, Nationwide, Wells Fargo, etc. As for West, if he was even close to as intelligent as the corporate media would have us believe, he’d surely recognize the relevance of the Abraham Lincoln maxim that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” So West is either working in collusion with Tavis’ turncoat agenda, or he’s incredibly stupid for failing to recognize that social manipulators have been keeping the people under thumb with the tactic of social division for centuries - if not eons.
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Cornel West has been on the losing side of the last three presidential elections - in 2000 he supported Ralph Nader, in 2004, Al Sharpton, and in 2008 he jumped back and forth between Tavis Smiley's criticism of Obama and Obama's camp, depending upon which way the political winds happened to be blowing at the time. That's why Obama has little use for him.
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The fact that West is always aligned with losing agendas, and his efforts tend to always be detrimental to the poor and middle class, should clearly demonstrate that West's assessment of the political environment is based more on some obscure theoretical construct than what's practical and in the best interest of the people. He seems to view politics as more of an academic experiment than what actually puts meat and potatos on the table of the poor and middle class. Then when his experiment fails and the people are left miserable and hungry, he says, "Oh well, maybe next time." Then he disappears back into the comfortable embrace of academia to charge outrageously high speaking fees to explain why the poor and middle class don't have meat and potatos.
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So the fact is, the people need to ignore self-serving demagogues like Tavis and West and simply take a lesson from the Tea Party. We need to strictly control those we allow in office and make them immediately accountable for their behavior, period. Thus the problem is not the system; the problem is our apathy, and our failure to control the system. 
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The government is SUPPOSED to be us, but we've shirked our responsibility. We’ve allowed ourselves to become more interested in Kobe’s jump shot than we are the education of our children, the future well being of our families, and even the survival of the nation as a whole. We’ve also allowed corporate instigators to create so much animosity among the people that we’ve become more interested in hating one another than we are in coming together to protect our common interests - and Tavis and West are playing a major role in that.
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We do need to get Obama’s attention, however - at this point that’s a given. But our approach should be through educating the people, not by antagonizing half of the population against the other. That’s counterproductive, and it’s also counterrevolutionary - and believe me, the turmoil that’s taking place here in the United States, in the Middle East and Africa, and now in the United Kingdom, clearly attests to the fact that we’re currently knee-deep in a global, class revolution.
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But people like Tavis and West are advocating that we live in a fantasy. They want us to believe that we can lay all of our problems at the feet of Obama. The problem with that is, when you live in a fantasy you're forced to view reality as a myth, so they're completely ignoring the real culprit, and that's the malevolent agenda of the GOP - in fact, they're helping to promote that agenda by spurring division among the people. They’re engaging in the very same kind of hysterically flawed, self-serving, and demagogic behavior that Ralph Nader did during the 2000 election, which led directly to the misery of the Bush era, and ultimately, to the situation that we currently find ourselves.
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Those of us who are students of political history have seen this Tavis/West demagoguery before. They’re following directly in the footsteps of Ralph Nader, one of the worst turncoats in American history.
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During the 2000 election Nader should have pushed his agenda during the Democratic primaries, then if his position was rejected, he should have fallen in line and supported the Democratic candidate if for no other reason than to support the public good. He should have understood that it's foolish to become so disenchanted with the Bogeyman that you elect the Devil. But instead, when his position was rejected, he took it as a personal rejection and acted like a petulant child. He ignored the greater good and purposely sabotaged the Democratic agenda, along with all of the causes that he was supposed to be so passionate about all of his life, and took his ball (and votes) and went home.
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Nader's treachery in this matter negated everything that he ever accomplished in his life. He also betrayed the fact that everything he ever accomplished was done purely for self-promotion and not for the public good, as we had previously assumed. His miserable act of treachery during the 2000 election was purposely designed to help George Bush to win the election. He purposely set out to deny the Democrats a victory in retaliation for rejecting him as a candidate. He placed his petulance before the best interest of the nation. That makes him just as culpable as Bush and Cheney for the death of over a million Iraqi citizens, and the maiming and death of thousands of American troops. He's also partially responsible for the nations current economic condition, which is a direct result of the Bush administration’s purposeful plundering of the United States treasury.
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The Nader/West coalition claim that Nader simply stood on principles, and in an attempt to elude responsibility for bringing George W. Bush into power they contend that it wasn't Nader's fault that Bush won. Their contention is, "Gore simply didn't fight hard enough for a recount." But the underlying message to that argument is, Gore didn't fight hard enough to undo the damage that we'd done. Because the facts are clear. Bush won the election in Florida by 537 votes, and Nader took away 97,488 votes. So Nader's personal "principles" led directly to the death and misery of literally millions of innocent people. Thus, Ralph Nader should be remembered as one of the most miserable, self-serving snakes in all of U. S. History.
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Tavis and West are now engaged in the very same sort of treachery as Nader, and it may very well lead to the same result, or worse, because you see, this time we’re going to be left with a fascist state. Look around you. The GOP has already turned the state of Michigan into Michighanistan. So what are we gonna do, refuse to vote for Obama in the next election and turn the country over to fascists? It sounds to me like that’s eactly what Tavis and West are advocating.
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That brings me to yet another reason why the activities of Tavis and West send up a red flag for  me. Notice that nearly all of their hostility is directed toward Barack Obama. They’re saying little or nothing about the GOP, who are DIRECTLY engaged in undermining the poor and middle class. So I have to ask a very simple question. Why are they focusing all of their energy and resources toward attacking a sleeping sentry, while completely ignoring the invading hordes?
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So something is very wrong here, or at the very least, tactically inept.
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Happy 50th Birthday, Mr. President

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Happy 50th Birthday, Mr. President

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Happy Birthday, Mr. President,
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But I’ve got to be honest, you have me about as hot as fish grease right now. I simply cannot figure out what's going on in your head. You go out and give these rousing, voice-quivering speeches that renew my confidence in the fact that you're finally going to go back and confront the GOP, then you get back to the Oval Office and seem to curl up in the fetal position, letting the Republican Party not only roll all over you, but us. What's up with that?
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I think your heart is in the right place, but I've come to the conclusion that you're suffering from the effects of a coping mechanism that you've developed over the years. I believe that as a result of living all over the world and having to deal with being an outsider all your life, you've developed a go-along-to-get-along style of dealing with adversity. That's obviously worked for you in the past, after all, you're President of the United States, but that's not what the people voted for, so it's time to reassess your strategy.
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While the American people liked Mr. Rogers - just as they do you - they didn't want him as president. The American people want John Wayne. That's the only reason Reagan was elected - and still glorified - in spite of his gross incompetence and corruption in office. The Republicans recognize that fact - that's why Bush and Cheney walked around in cowboy boots. Republicans know that the American people expect their president to be strong and resolute, even if he's ignorant. So I don't know who's guiding your strategy, but if they're telling you that the people are going to put up with a president running around Washington asking, "Can we all get along?" They're dead wrong.
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So you need to step up to the plate, my man, and let some of the hood come out in you. Because if I'm not seriously mistaken - and I don't think I am - that's exactly what the American people voted for. They figured that at this point in our history that's exactly what we need - an intelligent man with the backbone of a hood rat. And you know what? They were right. The GOP leadership represents nothing less than America's domestic enemy, and they should be dealt with as such.
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So at this point, we don't need a diplomat; we need a warrior with the survival instincts of a hood rat. Some people tend to see that as a pejoritive phrase, but I don't.  I see a lot to be admired about a person who can survive being dragged through the pits of Hell. John Wayne built a career on portraying exactly that kind of person - a White hood rat.
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For that reason, I think you're going to find that your rousing oratory just may backfire on you in the coming campaign. This time, if the rest of the electorate are anything like me, instead of your quivering voice evoking moist eyes of inspiration like it did during the last campaign, it's only going to serve to provoke anger this time, because it's going to remind the people of how badly they were bamboozled in the last election. But they're going to stand by you, because they know their only choice is either standing by you, or having to endure a fascist America.
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So while I'm mad as a wet hen, I plan on sticking by you and pushing for your growth as well. That's the nature of the progressive mindset. We believe in independent thought, so unlike the GOP, we don't insist on everyone marching in lock step. We understand that since no one corners the market on either knowledge, wisdom, or intelligence, we must rely on our combined intellectual resources to move forward. We're also firm believers in the kind of vigorous, and sometimes angry, debate that's currently taking place among progressives today.
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We understand the importance of keeping in mind the difference between efficient thinkers and ideologues: Efficient thinkers always give truth priority over ideology, while ideologues always give ideology priority over truth. So I'm with you until the end, come hell or highwater, but I intend use my column to give you pure hell every step of the way, and I intend to squeeze everything I can out of you during the coming campaign. You see, you still have the potential to become a great president, but sometimes you have to drag great men up Mt. Rushmore kickin' and screamin'.
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Another reason I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt is because you managed to get Michelle, so you must have something going for you.
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A good friend of mine would call that last remark a “slapliment.” But we can fight later - and fight we will. Until then, however, again, I'd like to wish you a very Happy Birthday.

Remember the dream



Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Will The Real President Obama Please, Please Stand up?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Will The Real President Obama Please, Please Stand up?

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I’ve been a steadfast Obama supporter every since the very first day he arrived on the political scene, but I must admit, it hasn’t always been easy. First, even as a candidate, he reversed his position on FISA after it was revealed that the Bush administration had been illegally spying on the American people. Then once elected, instead of allowing his attorney general a free hand to hold Bush and Cheney accountable for the war crimes committed in Iraq as prescribed both by law, and his oath of office, he sent the message to his attorney general, and the American people, that we shouldn’t "look back" on the murder of close to a million people.

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Then, instead of giving us the change that we could believe in that he promised during the campaign, he’s allowed the Republican Party to frame a completely false political debate which has given them free rein to hold the American people hostage and keep us in absolute misery. And while all this is going on, the only word coming out of his mouth is "compromise."

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Many of my fellow Obama supporters contend that the president can only do so much, which is absolutely true. But what he can do is use the bully pulpit of the presidency to educate the people, which he’s failing miserably at. The entire GOP agenda is based on flat-out lies, the blatant corruption of facts, and a deviation from reality that’s so severe that even a child could see it if someone would simply take the time to explain it. So why isn’t Obama doing that?

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President Obama should have a staff right next door to the Oval Office that’s dedicated to nothing but poking holes in Republican lies. If the White House had such a staff, John Boehner, Eric Canter, and the rest of the GOP demagogues would be afraid to tell the blatant lies that they’re telling, because they’d know that every time they told a lie, the very next day the entire news cycle would be dedicated to pointing it out.
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How much time would it take to demonstrate to the American people that it’s not the rich who create jobs? It’s the poor and middle class who create jobs by buying goods and services. It doesn’t matter how big a tax break you give the rich, they are not going to hire anyone to produce goods unless they have someone to sell them to. Is Gucci going to hire people to produce his handbags if he’s forced to sell them in a homeless shelter? Of course not, because no one in the homeless shelter can afford to buy them. Well, that’s exactly what the GOP is turning America into - a vast homeless shelter.
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The American people need to be educated to the fact that the GOP, in collusion with multinational corporations - and I now suspect, the United States government - are purposely keeping unemployment high in order to bring down the standard of living of the American middle class. In the new global economy American corporations are forced to compete with countries who pay their workers less per week than many Americans spend on lunch per day. Thus, the standard of living of the American middle class has become a liability. So the continued high unemployment rate, in spite of record corporate profits, is nothing but a ploy to get the American people accustomed to expecting less for their labor. That’s also why the GOP is engaged in a concerted effort to destroy labor unions.
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But it’s not just labor that’s under attack. Every facet of American life is under assault. It started with the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine. That allowed corporations to turn the public airways into a propaganda conduit. Corporations are now allowed to lie to us with impunity and deprived us of all reliable sources of information in the news. And at the same time, the entertainment division of that very same corporate media is telling us what and how we should think, act, and what is and is not acceptable. The corporatists are turning us into unthinking Stepford children. Thank God for the internet, but I assure you, they’ll be zeroing in on it much more aggressively very soon.
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In addition, our schools are being corporatized. If we don’t do something about that soon, in the very near future corporations will be programming our children instead of educating them. We’re currently knee-deep in a class war, and our educational system is being used to solidify and reinforce a new class system. In the very near future, poor and middle-class children will have one of two options - either accept whatever crumbs the corporations decide to throw at them, or become cannon fodder for the military-industrial complex.
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Have you noticed that the children of the rich are no longer even expected to fight for this country? So why should they care about the endless wars that we’re engaging in? No one they love is dying, so it’s just a matter of dollars and cents to them.
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So the rich don’t pay taxes, and they don’t fight and die for the country. So exactly what is their function in society? I’ll tell you what it is – to sit back like royalty, prosper on our misery, and complain that the grandparents of the people who are dying for the country are too much of a burden on the nation. That’s it. Then, to promote their interests, the GOP is holding us hostage every chance they get, and saying, ”Let them eat cake” - and the president is talking about balance and compromise? Please!
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So yes, there is something that one man can do. The President of the United States can educate America, and thereby, save the American people from utter disaster. Because the one thing that holds this entire conspiracy together is ignorance. Without it, the conspiracy will come tumbling down like a house of cards.
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So Mr. President, at this point in our history compromise is the very last thing we need. What we need now is firm, aggressive, and uncompromising leadership.
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.