Ron Oetting had worked in advertising, commercial printing, sales, and publishing all of his life. He had been involved in the start-up of America's first national daily newspaper, USA TODAY. The company that founded the paper had transferred him from his native Fort Wayne, Indiana to its glittery new headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Seven-and-a-half years after he'd uprooted his family out of loyalty to this multi-billion-dollar corporation, the company tossed him out like yesterday's newspaper. His position was eliminated; security escorted him out of the building so he wouldn't have opportunity to take any sensitive information with him; and he went home with a letter informing him that his position had been "eliminated" and a severance check representing six weeks' pay. At the height of the recession in the late 1980's and early 1990's, Oetting remained out of work for over a year-and-a-half until finally deciding that the head hunters weren't able to find him a job any better than he could find one himself. He persuaded his wife to return to Indiana where he bought a failing community newspaper, and started all over again at age 48. The transition from Indiana to Virginia had been especially hard on his wife, whose chronic drinking problem escalated as he traveled extensively on business, and was rarely home during the week. Now another transition - and her inability to accept that his job loss wasn't his fault - caused her drinking to to become the focal point of what she considered to be her wretched life. As she drowned her sorrows in alcohol, he consumed himself with trying to pull a newspaper out from under the tentacles of almost certain bankruptcy. He had faced obstacles before: a former wife whose paranoid schizophrenia wasn't apparent until after they married...a circumstance that clearly had broken him financially, emotionally and physically as he tried to keep everything together. Trying to revitalize his dying newspaper proved to be more of a challenge than he could muster. After fifteen years, he finally threw in the towel and went into early 'retirement', content to live on a meager Social Security check while his wife lived in what he referred to as his "ex-house", lived off the savings they had accumulated, and kept all the assets and valuables of the car-wreck they called a marriage of almost 29 years.
In 2002, he'd finally walked away from that marriage, though he never bothered to file for divorce. It was a 24-1/2-year stormy relationship that had been punctured by countless fights, arguments, and painful memories. Although he'd stopped loving her years and years ago, he still cared for her in some twisted way. He knew his bitter memories would never allow them to be "friends", but he tried to at least be civil to her, even as she battled to stay off the booze. Alcohol was more important to her than her job, her health, her property, her friends, her family, or her self-esteem. Oetting himself was what he jokingly called "a moderate-to-heavy social drinker", who would meet friends in local taverns. For forty years, drinking had pretty much been a daily part of his life, as he entertained clients and limited his socializing to meeting people in bars and restaurants. It was as if he'd allowed himself to be defeated. He had never had any desire for the "finer things in life". New cars, fancy homes, elegant clothes never mattered to him much. By 2006, nothing mattered to him much. He was a shell of his former self, resigned to sitting in bars with his Morgan & 7-Up and bantering with friends who listened to his stale old jokes again and again and again. At times a male victim of domestic abuse, Oetting chose to walk away from what little "net worth" he had and live alone, trying to barely sustain himself.
In 2003, he had become part of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. group. Now, on Tuesday, February 25, 2008, he was the designate who would introduce the next resolution. "This is something we believe must be 'on the record', for all the world to hear." Oetting spoke in deliberate tones, unusually serious for someone who even considered himself a 'buffoon'.
ARTICLE XXV. RESOLUTION: AN APOLOGY TO THE WORLD
"Since the beginning of this new century, the Bush administration has turned the world against the United States. We became a 'bully' nation, throwing our weight around wherever we damn well pleased. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld destroyed nations they didn't like, often tearing down cultures and societies that weren't compatible with America's idealogies. The Bush administration was by far the most evil, corrupt, incompetent, reprehensible, reckless, irresponsible ever to occupy the Oval Office. It was understandable why some countries thought it necessary to develop their own nuclear weapons of mass destruction as a defense against the world's newest 'evil empire' - the United States of America. Bush ignored the rules of the Geneva Convention and looked the other way as so-called 'detainees' were psychologically, physically, emotionally, verbally and sexually absued. Failed economic policies initiated by the Bush adminsitration has resulted in American taxpayers now being mired with trillions of dollars in debt to pay for a senseless 'wars'. Economic analysts have been predicting that a severe depression is about to impact Americans. Everyday we see that possibiity looming closer. By the time George Bush was out of office on January 20, 2009, the recession would have certainly started turning into a more pronounced economic catastrophe.
On September 11, 2001, I was one of few Americans whose eyes weren't glued to the television as terrorists attacked the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City. I felt it was a long-overdue, expected response to what 'terrorists' viewed as America's escalating wickedness, egoism, arrogance, disproportionate wealth, avarice, political power play, gluttony, and elitism. As more nations weave themselves into 'developing countries' with more consumer demands, it certainly seemed unfair that the United States, whose population was only 5% of the world's total, should enjoy more than 50% of all the world's resources. Whenever this was pointed out, our national 'leaders' would claim a 'survival of the fittest' position, pretty much saying that the rest of the world had no reason to believe it should share in the greater good. That same theory was abundant within the United States. The wealthiest 1% of American citizens owned and controlled the preponderance of this nation's wealth, held all the power, and paid proportionately fewer taxes than those citizens in the middle and lower-income brackets of our society. I believe I understood the terrorists' need to attack America's most prolific symbols of wealth and power. While I didn't necessarily condone it, I think I understood why they did what they did.
Anyone who debated in favor of 'sharing the wealth' was accused of promoting socialism. For the past decade, the U.S. Congress superciliously gave themselves an automatic cost-of-living pay increase while refusing to raise the minimum wage so that our poorest working Americans could at least live slightly above the poverty level. It has been acceptable for the owner or chief executive officer of a multi-billion-dollar corporation to loot their companies while laying off millions of workers whose only crime was that they wanted more than subsistence wages for their labor. Jobs were arbitrarily eliminated and replaced with cheap labor from China, India and Malaysia. Meanwhile the average CEO was paid over 600 times what his average employee earned, even when the corporation (s)he led was experiencing severe financial losses.
The Bush administration abandoned the American workers, but it also abandoned the world. By shoving its influence, wealth and power down the throats of the world's population, George Bush forced other countries to lower their economic standards turn their labor pools into servile work forces. In collusion with a corrupt, evil, contemptible, cowardly U.S. Congress, Bush tried to impose his ideals, his religion, and his power on the peoples of the world.
For such despicable practices, the tens of thosuands of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members would like to offer this sincere apology on behalf of the people of the United States, to the people and governments of the world. Our revolutionary organization has effectively wiped out the majority of the U.S.A.'s wealthiest, most powerful and most influential people in an effort to bring America into sync with the rest of the world. We believe that togther we can collectively share the Earth's bounty for the betterment and enrichment of all mankind. That does not mean to imply that we are taking away the spirit of capitalism or entreprenuership. On the contrary, we believe we can create an atmosphere of infectuous economic prosperity for all the productive members of our planet. We earnestly implore the world communities to accept this as formal apology and to join us in the construction of a global economy that benefits everyone without employing the injustices of excessive wealth, excessive power, or excessive greed. We believe this is the only way for our ever-expanding world to survive. Our goal is to start the process here in the United States and - ultimately - see such vision of equality and prosperity spread to all other communities on Earth. Our shattered world cannot continue to fight wars with each other, compete mercilessly with each other's economies, and think only of our own well-being. It is imperative that we begin - now - to form a world of genteel cooperation and mutual convenience. If we don't, we will become the next endangered species to eventually become extinct. We cannot fight over resources; we must learn to share resources for the mutual benefit of everyone. That is not to say that 'everything is equal' - certainly there should be latitudes that allow for those who work harder to reap greater rewards. But, there must be a point where each man says, 'I have enough money, or power, or influence. It is time for me to share my good fortune with others.' Our goals are not easy goals. We will need everyone's agreement. What the members of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. did to our own upper-echelons of social and political entities must not be repeated. However, we earnestly believe that it was the only way for us to begin this process. Please cast your ballots using the portable voting devices at your disposal. Please understand that if you vote "Yea" we will take that to mean you have also committed yourself to the ideals and principles as the formal legislation will outline. Thank you for you attention, as always."
Oetting's face disappeared from the screen. For the first time in almost twenty years he felt he'd done something productive.
The two-line message appeared. The screen faded to black until tomorrow's telecast.
In 2002, he'd finally walked away from that marriage, though he never bothered to file for divorce. It was a 24-1/2-year stormy relationship that had been punctured by countless fights, arguments, and painful memories. Although he'd stopped loving her years and years ago, he still cared for her in some twisted way. He knew his bitter memories would never allow them to be "friends", but he tried to at least be civil to her, even as she battled to stay off the booze. Alcohol was more important to her than her job, her health, her property, her friends, her family, or her self-esteem. Oetting himself was what he jokingly called "a moderate-to-heavy social drinker", who would meet friends in local taverns. For forty years, drinking had pretty much been a daily part of his life, as he entertained clients and limited his socializing to meeting people in bars and restaurants. It was as if he'd allowed himself to be defeated. He had never had any desire for the "finer things in life". New cars, fancy homes, elegant clothes never mattered to him much. By 2006, nothing mattered to him much. He was a shell of his former self, resigned to sitting in bars with his Morgan & 7-Up and bantering with friends who listened to his stale old jokes again and again and again. At times a male victim of domestic abuse, Oetting chose to walk away from what little "net worth" he had and live alone, trying to barely sustain himself.
In 2003, he had become part of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. group. Now, on Tuesday, February 25, 2008, he was the designate who would introduce the next resolution. "This is something we believe must be 'on the record', for all the world to hear." Oetting spoke in deliberate tones, unusually serious for someone who even considered himself a 'buffoon'.
ARTICLE XXV. RESOLUTION: AN APOLOGY TO THE WORLD
"Since the beginning of this new century, the Bush administration has turned the world against the United States. We became a 'bully' nation, throwing our weight around wherever we damn well pleased. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld destroyed nations they didn't like, often tearing down cultures and societies that weren't compatible with America's idealogies. The Bush administration was by far the most evil, corrupt, incompetent, reprehensible, reckless, irresponsible ever to occupy the Oval Office. It was understandable why some countries thought it necessary to develop their own nuclear weapons of mass destruction as a defense against the world's newest 'evil empire' - the United States of America. Bush ignored the rules of the Geneva Convention and looked the other way as so-called 'detainees' were psychologically, physically, emotionally, verbally and sexually absued. Failed economic policies initiated by the Bush adminsitration has resulted in American taxpayers now being mired with trillions of dollars in debt to pay for a senseless 'wars'. Economic analysts have been predicting that a severe depression is about to impact Americans. Everyday we see that possibiity looming closer. By the time George Bush was out of office on January 20, 2009, the recession would have certainly started turning into a more pronounced economic catastrophe.
On September 11, 2001, I was one of few Americans whose eyes weren't glued to the television as terrorists attacked the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City. I felt it was a long-overdue, expected response to what 'terrorists' viewed as America's escalating wickedness, egoism, arrogance, disproportionate wealth, avarice, political power play, gluttony, and elitism. As more nations weave themselves into 'developing countries' with more consumer demands, it certainly seemed unfair that the United States, whose population was only 5% of the world's total, should enjoy more than 50% of all the world's resources. Whenever this was pointed out, our national 'leaders' would claim a 'survival of the fittest' position, pretty much saying that the rest of the world had no reason to believe it should share in the greater good. That same theory was abundant within the United States. The wealthiest 1% of American citizens owned and controlled the preponderance of this nation's wealth, held all the power, and paid proportionately fewer taxes than those citizens in the middle and lower-income brackets of our society. I believe I understood the terrorists' need to attack America's most prolific symbols of wealth and power. While I didn't necessarily condone it, I think I understood why they did what they did.
Anyone who debated in favor of 'sharing the wealth' was accused of promoting socialism. For the past decade, the U.S. Congress superciliously gave themselves an automatic cost-of-living pay increase while refusing to raise the minimum wage so that our poorest working Americans could at least live slightly above the poverty level. It has been acceptable for the owner or chief executive officer of a multi-billion-dollar corporation to loot their companies while laying off millions of workers whose only crime was that they wanted more than subsistence wages for their labor. Jobs were arbitrarily eliminated and replaced with cheap labor from China, India and Malaysia. Meanwhile the average CEO was paid over 600 times what his average employee earned, even when the corporation (s)he led was experiencing severe financial losses.
The Bush administration abandoned the American workers, but it also abandoned the world. By shoving its influence, wealth and power down the throats of the world's population, George Bush forced other countries to lower their economic standards turn their labor pools into servile work forces. In collusion with a corrupt, evil, contemptible, cowardly U.S. Congress, Bush tried to impose his ideals, his religion, and his power on the peoples of the world.
For such despicable practices, the tens of thosuands of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members would like to offer this sincere apology on behalf of the people of the United States, to the people and governments of the world. Our revolutionary organization has effectively wiped out the majority of the U.S.A.'s wealthiest, most powerful and most influential people in an effort to bring America into sync with the rest of the world. We believe that togther we can collectively share the Earth's bounty for the betterment and enrichment of all mankind. That does not mean to imply that we are taking away the spirit of capitalism or entreprenuership. On the contrary, we believe we can create an atmosphere of infectuous economic prosperity for all the productive members of our planet. We earnestly implore the world communities to accept this as formal apology and to join us in the construction of a global economy that benefits everyone without employing the injustices of excessive wealth, excessive power, or excessive greed. We believe this is the only way for our ever-expanding world to survive. Our goal is to start the process here in the United States and - ultimately - see such vision of equality and prosperity spread to all other communities on Earth. Our shattered world cannot continue to fight wars with each other, compete mercilessly with each other's economies, and think only of our own well-being. It is imperative that we begin - now - to form a world of genteel cooperation and mutual convenience. If we don't, we will become the next endangered species to eventually become extinct. We cannot fight over resources; we must learn to share resources for the mutual benefit of everyone. That is not to say that 'everything is equal' - certainly there should be latitudes that allow for those who work harder to reap greater rewards. But, there must be a point where each man says, 'I have enough money, or power, or influence. It is time for me to share my good fortune with others.' Our goals are not easy goals. We will need everyone's agreement. What the members of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. did to our own upper-echelons of social and political entities must not be repeated. However, we earnestly believe that it was the only way for us to begin this process. Please cast your ballots using the portable voting devices at your disposal. Please understand that if you vote "Yea" we will take that to mean you have also committed yourself to the ideals and principles as the formal legislation will outline. Thank you for you attention, as always."
Oetting's face disappeared from the screen. For the first time in almost twenty years he felt he'd done something productive.
The two-line message appeared. The screen faded to black until tomorrow's telecast.
posted by Bushwacker! at 7:24 AM
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