they can put a billionaire in space but they can’t—–

Remember the old expression “they can put a man on the moon, but–?”.  That expression was a somewhat contemptuous play on words usually to illustrate our unwillingness to fix something that seems fixable.  Well, we now have a new expression: “they can put a billionaire in space, but—.  Yes, we have accomplished the unthinkable; we have rocketed a wealthy white man into the far reaches of the stratosphere.  And for one amazing minute he glimpsed the heavens like a spoiled brat who seemingly has nothing better to do with his time or money.

In the race to see who can stoke their wealthy egos the most, we now have the worlds richest white men reaching for the stars.  I personally think it would incredible if they all went up on the same day and all became “Lost in Space”.  Think about it, maybe someone left behind could take their money and put it to actual good use.  Sure, we could build a monument to them.  A healthy, steaming pile of shite would do nicely as it is emblematic of what they all meant to us.  Maybe we could garnish the shite monument with a bar of gold, making it a symbol of the two things they stood for—it’s the least we can do.  In the meantime, I have some usage for the new expression.

They can put a billionaire in space, but they cannot create jobs that pay a living wage.  Think about that for a minute; the billions that will be spent to launch these ass-wipes into space could be used to create new industries with decent paying jobs in an economy where we make our own stuff and can afford a reasonable living.  People could actually feed their families, clothe them, and give them a decent home life.  What a fucking concept!

They can put a billionaire in space, but they cannot do Medicare for all.  Wow, imagine that for a minute, you can go to the doctor, maintain health, cure a disease, at no additional cost other than the funds used to create the system.  Amazing, people would no longer have to worry about excessive, exorbitant healthcare expense.  Maybe we could have the same system that works in other developed nations.  That would be an incredible accomplishment!

They can put a billionaire in space, but they cannot provide the same education that is available to the wealthy.  Yes, they have built amazing schools that only their children can afford.  For the rest of the country, it is school systems that are in a steady decline because the tax base is disappearing at the same rate as the aforementioned decent paying jobs.  This has been especially true in the case of neighborhoods of African Americans and other peoples of color.  Lest we not forget the schools of the small parcels of land that we call “reservations”.  We have done our absolute best to just make those folks disappear completely.

They can put a billionaire in space, but they cannot find new sources of energy that will not burn our planet to a crisp.  Many people will tell you that we cannot completely eliminate the use of fossil fuels.  This maybe true but here is a radical thought; what if we could replace 40% of the carbon-based fuels that we currently use with an alternative?  Surely that would be a great start and might help extend the life of our planet for our children and grandchildren.  Let’s face facts here, in just a couple of years we developed the technology to launch civilians into space and return them safely to earth on the same day.  Yet, we cannot seem to create energy alternatives to what we have been burning for one hundred years.  Something smells fishy-oily here, oh yea, its oil billionaires, the same ones whom themselves will probably trip the light fantastic in space soon. 

They can put a billionaire into space, but they cannot eliminate hunger.  This one cheeses me off (so to speak) the most!  There is one billionaire out there (he knows who he is), the former chief executive of the company that uses a dick as its logo (they are constantly fucking society with it), whose total assets (over $750 billion) could end world hunger.  Imagine being able to feed the starving children in countries like Yemen, a country that our nation has helped to impoverish even further than they already were.  But forget about that for a minute, hell, we have starving children here.  This is the richest nation on earth, yet we have millions who cannot afford a meal.  Without food pantries many of these folks would starve to death.  Keep launching those billions up there.

They can put a billionaire in space, but they can’t stop hating and repressing those who do not look like us (white folks of course).  Many here say that racism no longer exists, yet we watched a white cop hold his knee on the neck of a black man until that man no longer existed.  Ok, maybe you can refute this case or whitewash (so to speak) this argument but what about the lack of a black billionaire going into space.  Hmmm?  It seems rather ironic that the faux astronauts are the same color as their white space vehicle.  But I move on.  

They can put a billionaire in space, but they can’t give you journalism that isn’t propagandized or controlled by advertisement dollars.  It is impossible to find a mainstream news cast that tells you the truth about anything.  For instance, we have mainstream news talking heads who specialize in blaming Russia for just anything that is wrong in this country.  And recently we watched a female correspondent of a major network sniff a backpack looking for traces of sarin gas.  After sniffing the backpack, this genius proclaimed to have smelled an unusual odor.  Perhaps the camera person had a burrito for lunch and the launch of methane confused the reporter.  I guess this person miss that day in chemistry class and did not understand that even a trace of sarin gas can be lethal.  Just another brilliant example of how great our journalism is today. 

They can put a billionaire into space, but they can’t find politicians who are actually for doing the thing for the citizens.  Ok, maybe this a just a case of they don’t want to.  After all, most of the politicians in this nation are monetarily supported by the billionaire class of astronauts who control them.  Attend any political fundraisers and you are bound to see some future astronauts sipping dirty martinis (pun intended) or munching on fish eggs from the seas that they load with island size piles of plastic waste.  This endless circle of cancer is destroying our nation, but we remain captivated by images of their greedy, smiling faces as they get the perfect view of our planet (how ironic).

There are a million more of these that I could do here, but you get the point.  What vexes me most is the way this spectacle has made these covetous ass holes prime time heroes.  The corporate media covers these launches with the same sense of importance as that of scientists who have just discovered the cure for cancer.  They were poised to interrupt regularly scheduled programming for these little rich boy escapades as if war has just broken out or even a presidential speech.  My point here is that we need more breaking news coverage of hunger ending, an illness being conquered, hatred eliminated, and endless wars ending.  What we need less coverage of is little rich boys and their toys racing into space.  As always this is just my opinion. 

The Grumpy Old Fart Citizen