The stink of untended garbage (and what to do about it)

(AP Photo)

In December 2007 the garbage collectors working Naples, Italy, and the whole of the Campania region quit collecting garbage because many of the dumps were filled to capacity.

According to an AP article by Alessandra Rizzo, "It [garbage collection] is a recurring problem - the result of years of bad government, the residents' protests and, officials say, mob infiltration." Now things are out of control.

In Naples, a city of over 1 million people, "Piles of garbage have been blocking sidewalks and streets ... forcing residents to wade through knee-high trash. The stench is prompting some residents to stay inside and others to wear masks. Some have taken to burning rubbish and knocking over refuse bins and have hurled stones at firefighters trying to put out the blazing trash."

Italy's premier, Silvio Berlusconi, has promised to take care of the problem and "will deploy the military to protect trash dumps around Naples ..." Unfortunately, the methods necessary to deal with the trash will take about 2 1/2 years to construct and put in place. That means that the stink will continue, at least on and off, for the foreseeable future.


Naples, Italy, might be understood as a metaphor for the United States under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The garbage created by the Bush administration and its policies over the past seven years has accumulated in gigantic piles across our fair land until the stench has become almost unbearable.

By garbage we're referring to the pervasive corruption that infests every level of the government, organized and authorized by the Bushites, and made even more nefarious by the fact they cover it with the cloak of religion and righteousness.

Consider, if you will, the non-stop lies which formed the basis for the so-called war in Iraq; the wilting, winless war in Afghanistan; the failure to even attempt to capture bin Laden; the bloated and corrupt military machine; the thousands of crooked private contractors in Iraq; and the unwillingness to provide our troops their essential needs. Note, too, that moving into the 6th year of the Iraqi adventure, the Bush administration has not the slightest idea as to how we might withdraw from Iraq without creating chaos. And the number of American military dead is now over 4,000 and growing.

Consider also the tax giveaways to the rich and the destruction of our economy; the Bush/Cheney foreign policy which has failed on every single front; the casual and unresponsive attitude toward environmental concerns; the hands-off approach to global warming.

Consider further the unwillingness to provide health care for our people; the caving into the pharmaceutical companies; the hand-in-glove approach to corporate lobbying; the refusal to open governmental records for review; the secret laws; the signing statements; the corrupting of the Department of Justice; the incredible failure to respond to national needs such as those created by Hurricane Katrina.

Nor should we forget the ignorant arrogance that led to a dismissal of the warnings of an impending 9/11 event; and we recall how that led to the fear-mongering Patriot Act, a Bushite travesty built on disrespect for our Constitution which culminated in the dismantling of our basic freedoms.

And we must remember the garbage promoted by Bush and company that torture is not torture and even if it is we should do it and by so doing we became our enemy.

More garbage, thanks to Mr. Bush and his cronies: the economy is in the toilet; the United States is in the throes of a recession that grows more severe each and every day; and we blissfully carry on a trade policy which benefits other countries while it destroys American industries...

This is the stench with which we live even as the garbage piles higher.


And, as in Naples, Italy, it will take a long time to clean up the mess. But, again, as in Naples, that's only part of the problem.

Once the mess is cleaned up, we must establish a system to ensure that such garbage is not allowed to accumulate again.

To do that we must elect honest, ethical, competent, intelligent, non-ideological, pragmatic people who are willing to work diligently to clean out the rottenness and begin afresh. We need people who will operate from the belief that our Constitution is the foundation document (not the Bible or any other book); who will raise high the banner that proclaims this country is comprised of "We, the people" which means all the people, not just the privileged few. We must elect persons who understand that even though a democracy operates on the principle that the majority rules, a democracy cannot long exist unless the rights of the minorities are respected and protected.

When that happens, our nation may be able once again to take its place among the most honorable of nations.

But first we have to get rid of the garbage!