December 3, 2007
by Volt and Electra Penn
After receiving missives from Katharine Graham and G. Gordon Liddy concerning their thoughts and opinions on my question Did God Damn Madalyn? it wasn't long before I was again pleasantly surprised by what showed up in my mailbox. So strangely coincidental that only the Amazing Kreskin might have predicted it, the letter was from another member of Club Watergate.
Patrick Buchanan (special assistant to President Nixon through the final days of the Watergate scandal) sent me a handwritten note on his own personal stationary. Pat's penmanship was so orderly I'd have to give him an A. Neat and even, it was demurely slanted upward and to the right with manly control. At the letter's end, his signature was more robust, especially the large ego letters that initiated his first and last names. However, the heart of his letter presented an answer with steely conviction.
Dear Beverly, he began. "Could Madalyn Murray O'Hair, if she asked for God's forgiveness on her death bed?" It was an honest start, but one that had me scratching my head. Pat had left a few words out of my original question. It was shorthand thinking for a busy correspondent. Could Madalyn Murray O'Hair, if she asked for God's forgiveness on her death bed - what? Could she sing? Could she cuss? Or just be a royal pain in the gut? I finally realized that Pat was offering an intro with a question about my question.
Pat went on to write, "Yes, in my judgment. Would she go straight to heaven? Probably not. She would have to be punished for her sins - as will we all. That is Catholic teaching." I was more than astounded. I held in my hand the fluid thought process, recorded mind-to-pen-on-paper, of a senior advisor to three American presidents, a political analyst for CNN, and the founder of The American Conservative magazine.
From Pat's response it was obvious that Madalyn wasn't going to float into heaven Scott-free. She was going to have to do some time, maybe hard-time - somewhere. But why? All the woman ever did was cuss up a storm, take money from True Believers in no God, and demand her constitutional rights? I mean come on - nobody's perfect.
It's just my take, but I'm of the opinion that the karma stuff occurs right here - while we're still alive to think about doing better. At least it's what happens to that guy Earl on TV. Just as descriptive is the old expression, 'There's a board built for every butt'. Karma according to Pat is, 'There's a purgatory for every sinner'.
Listen, I'm not here to argue Holy Script, Sanskrit or other things heavenly writ, but I would like to point out an important sentence in Pat's letter. "The only person we can be fairly sure was not saved was Judas - as the Lord said, It was better for him that he had not been born".
Even if you've never read the Bible or been to Sunday school it's likely you know that Judas was one of the 12 apostles whose name became synonymous with traitor. After he filled his belly full of free food and wine at the Last Supper the dude ratted out his boss, pointed the accusatory finger then made Jesus a casualty of an inside job.
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Low and behold, fast forward and we have a traitor-created tragedy today as devastating as that fickle kiss was 2,000 years ago. 'We the people', you and me and just about everybody else in this country, have become victims of another inside job. This time Judas came disguised as Alan Greenspan, that mealy-mouth dude who slept through the tragic sub-prime ninja-bomb fiasco.
No Green Lantern, Greenspan is the curse of our millennium, the antihero who rode in on a figment of his own aggrandizement and gave cart-blanc to any who wanted to play Monopoly with our monetary system. Yes, greenback does sound close to Greenspan, but word association is a poor prerequisite to power. No doubt history will apologize with some Nancy-pansy explanation that the man who should've stuck to the clarinet, left economics to bigger brains, and applied for a job at Parker Brothers children's games should not be blamed for what little is left of America's economic cadaver.
When questioned on 60 Minutes, the Head of our Federal Reserve said, "I just didn't get it!" Strange statement for the guy we hired to watch over our piggy banks. Now he's telling us fairytales about what's going on. With his credentials hanging out of every pocket, either Greenspan was lying or flying by the seat of our government. And if the guru of Wall Street 'didn't get it', how can anyone blame the rest of us?
Just the other day I read where Pat Buchanan had warned, "The dollar is plunging because America has been living beyond her means, borrowing $2 billion a day from foreign nations to maintain her standard of living and sustain the American Imperialism."
I gotta hand it to the man. Pat nailed it again. We are spending more than we earn because we have to in order for this country to survive. If you, me and all the rest of us don't empty the store shelves this holiday season our economy will tank. To keep it floating, we've got to spend faster than a boat-load of soused sailors on Cinderella liberty, but by January '08, the proverbial blue-blooded American will be seeing red. Looking at the bottom line there's no whiteout strong enough to hide the minus signs.
The incredible shrinking, sinking, stinking dollar of today didn't spontaneously bend this low. The chickens of 'painless credit' came home to roost shortly after we whipped the Devil himself in Germany and buried old Mr. Depression under an avalanche of ticker-tape. That's when it became easy to grab now, pay never, or roll it all into a consolidated loan of revolving debt.
When, not if, we have the next big Recession, it won't be because we didn't charge enough in the name of holy Christmas. Black Friday's numbers are in for 2007, and things are leaning toward another big year for Mr. Neiman and Mr. Marcus. Economic meltdown will not come because of what we charge, it's because a pile of our plug nickels are worth less than a euro.
I appreciate the time Mr. Buchanan put into his letter, answering my original question, 'Did God Damn Madalyn?' But truthfully if given another chance, I'd like to ask Mr. Buchanan if he thinks that a straw man without a brain like Alan Greenspan damned America?
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Have Penn they'll listen. Volt Penn writes speeches for Progressive Populists and reasoned arguments for those on the left of center. He has also written speeches for anybody who has read his work. You can reach Volt Penn through his artist friend, b.b.kemp, at bbkemp@bbkemp.com
Volt/Electra Penn copyright 2007
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