MARLBORO — In this land of the rich, the corporates, the bullies, the disempowered, and the ultra-regional, here's a not-so-hearty welcome to Messrs. Kerry, Lew, Brennan, and Hagel, the four old white guys who've been summoned to state, treasury, intelligence, and “defense” posts in Washington, D.C.
You know, it's a pity we also don't have a new (old) Harry Reid yet, to replace the Senate majority leader in recognition of his shabby work on filibuster “reform,” the Amgen theft of $500 million in the “fiscal cliff” act, and an anticipated reluctance to do anything significant on gun violence legislation.
General Motors and GMAC (now known as Ally Financial) still owe us $32.9 billion from the 2009 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), yet the Department of the Treasury has just okayed salary raises for the company's executives (along with AIG's) for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The big banks thrive like never before. Shootings go on and on and on. Our good congressman, Peter Welch, has to resort to a citizen petition to help get the lapsed Farm Bill passed in the House.
The Guantanamo prison stays open because of congressional meddling and executive inaction. We have yet to repudiate CIA rendition and secret detention practices. (By the bye, what did ever happen to torture prohibition and habeas corpus?)
In Africa, a Predator drone base is about to get under way, ostensibly for military surveillance purposes, but who's to know?
Hey, old codgers, you've got work to do! And the exhilaration of Inaugural Weekend has barely faded!