'Tis the Season to be Bombing?

By: Dennis Rahkonen

Christmas is upon us.

A time of caring, sharing, rejoicing, and extending warm wishes to others.

Or at least so it was in the America of my youth.

But Scrooge Herod is in the White House now. And this Holy season sees him trying to violently overthrow the governments of two oil-rich nations (Venezuela and Iraq) so that the moneychangers in whose behalf he dutifully rules can grab the fabulous wealth they shamelessly covet.

Of course, when you have militarism and world-rule obsession running rampant, it takes dollars. Lots of them. And that means a staggeringly costly diversion from citizens' worsening needs.

I saw an aging Vietnam veteran on the cold streets recently. Typical of homeless, problem-plagued veterans all across America.

What does it say about our values when Washington lavishes billions on a treaty-breaking "star wars" missile system that isn't needed but will hugely profit Bush's corporate friends... and just a pittance for the specialized requirements of troubled vets?

It means there's a gentle Nazarene carpenter out there somewhere, with tears rolling down His cheek.

Our local paper ran a column by Marion Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund. It detailed how Bush's tax cut, with its lop-sided favoritism for the rich, will grievously harm America's kids in support and services painfully denied. All this as an economy fouled by narrow selfishness and malfeasance drives more and more moms and dads into fearful unemployment.

Meanwhile, corporate welfare continues unabated. Big companies stuff their coffers with free taxpayer handouts, but Salvation Army bell-ringers report their collection pots are filling very slowly. The economically battered public has little money to spare.

What's wrong with this picture?

The answer is that we've allowed our country to be run by people who are neither proper Christians nor proper Americans.

I can envision a conversation between the ghosts of Jefferson and Christ:

"Jesus, these warmongering, anti-democratic greed heads have made a mockery out of every principle we held dear!"

"Tell me about it, brother. It was disheartening enough when my birthday went from a sacred holiday into an orgy of crass materialism. Now the richest nation on earth proposes endless wars against the poorest countries. They've gone from wrapping presents, to bad-rapping peasants - and being prepared to nuke them if they get too uppity."

(The ghost of Lenny Bruce pipes in: "It's sick, man. Just sick...")

I have a cherished memory of a long ago Christmas. Grandma took me to a location downtown where Santa was dispensing candy and nuts for gathered children from atop a decorated flatbed trailer.

Snow was gently falling in big, soft flakes, and colored lights shone on actual evergreen garlands suspended across the street.

I guess such idyllic situations can only emerge in childhood, where innocence crowds out life's evils. But we can't just abandon the best spirit that resides within us.

This morning's paper tells of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, and more of the "low intensity" bombing that's savaged Iraq for so long, quite apart from the real war that's promised to come.

It's tough to keep believing in better possibilities, but the effort must definitely be made.

Peace on earth, good will toward humankind.