i visited chicago last weekend, i miss the city dearly...a beautiful symphony of light and sound.

thursday i was walking along the lake front when the blue angels were practicing for the upcoming air and water show...it was a rather impressive sight, but became deeply troubling when i realized that were i brown skinned and spoke arabic while worshiping according to the koran the sights and sounds of the united states air force would inevitably be followed by earth-rocking explosions in the city behind me, the air becoming choked with black smoke and the stentch of burning flesh whilst a vast fire engulfed entire blocks and the symphony of the city turned to agonizing cries of innocent women, children and elderly being incinerated or crying over their mangled, burned loved ones. suddenly i was not so impressed with acrobatic feets.

also, i realized how incredibly idiotic it was for these pilots to be putting on an display of their prowess for onlookers over lake michigan on a thursday afternoon. afterall, aren't the blue angels supposed to be some of the navy's best pilots? and don't the neocon fuckheads like to tell us we are in a battle against pure evil? if that is true, why the fuck are we wasting the talents of some of our best pilots showboating for chicagoans whilst the ultimate war between good and evil rages? but then again, these are the same folks that did not think it necessary to send in enough troops to get the job done and did not think it necessary to adequately supply those it did send in.

read a comment by someone claiming the iraq war has been intelligently handled because there haven't been too many american deaths. slight problem with that...if the purpose of this war is to save the lives of american service men and women, then keeping them home and out of combat is the most intelligent way to approach that. about the only way one can legitimately claim this war has been handled properly and intelligently is if the purpose was to create a failed state for global terror to grow in, drop a crucial nation into civil war, slaughter hundreds of thousands of innocents, and destroy the promise of america once and for all.

"we do not defend our freedoms by giving up our freedoms. at bush's directive, intelligence agencies have been spying on our citizens without warrants. we have been jailing people without charges or due process. this must end. the defense and spread of conservative freedom is the death of progressive, traditional american freedom." - george lakoff (every liberal/progressive in america must read his books)

awhile back i tried to explain to a friend that people do not vote on issues in this country. it is a mistake the left has made for far too long, actually believing that truth will set the electorate free and they will vote in accordance with how a candidate lines up with them on issues...as if people actually made a checklist and compared in that way. no, the vast majority of people have never voted on issues, but on their value systems. afterall, if people voted on issues, modern anti-american conservatism would not be a threat to freedom.

the good news is that even though people vote on their moral makeup and their value systems, the vast majority of people have a progressive value system...afterall, that is what america is all about, progressive expansion of freedom, of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. that is why people are proud to be american, because for all the flaws of this country, past, present and future, it has managed to maintain a steady course towards more expansive freedom, expanding the freedom to vote, expanding the rights of women and minorities, expanding the freedom of workers to make a living by working for a living...this is why the modern anti-american conservative freedom cuts are so dangerous, and so incredibly un-american...it goes against the overall progressive history of america and tries to turn back these advances of freedom in favor of a literal interpretation of a document that was based on limited freedom with the hope that it would expand, a document that enshrined the enslavement of an entire people and implicitly authorized genocide of another, a document that left women, children, and the less-fortunate without the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

i have rather unfortunate news for the conservative christians out there...your fundamentalist views are no less evil or dangerous than those of islamic fundamentalists.

i have more unfortunate news for the conservative christians out there...jesus was a progressive, even by today's standards...and the vast majority of christians follow his example in progressive thought and action.

modern anti-american conservatism bases its foreign policy on a belief that the united states is the supreme moral authority in the world, and that it must teach other nations how to act in accordance with the proper morality. unfortunately, it then proceeds to teach these nations that superior might makes right, and that force is an acceptable means of getting your point across, especially when you are inept at articulating it because you were too busy snorting lines to develop your language abilities during your developing years (not that that would apply to any world leaders we know). so in the end, daddy america teaches baby iraq and north korea and iran that violence should be a first choice, and that nobody will listen to you if you don't back up your talk with violence of horrific magnitudes. yea...democracy is on the march...right behind the angel of death.

so i was sitting in the houston airport that carries the name of several criminals and caught some cnn...a 20 minute report on somebody being arrested in the ramsey murder, now a decade old (interesting how a rich, exploited little white girl is murdered and it is a story for a decade...thousands and thousands of impoverished, brown arabic girls are killed by american weaponry and the radioactivity of its remains and it is never a story). nevermind that the nation and the state of colorado blew a shitload of tax payer money on bringing back a guy from overseas that is clearly just a nut case and did not commit the murder...what pissed me off was the story that followed, that the media wasn't paying enough attention to iraq because of the crimes being commited by israel in lebanon. 20 minutes on a decade old murder...and then complaining that the war isn't getting enough coverage. apparently the editors missed the irony.

speaking of the war...is it a war within a war now? like a civil war within our war? bush likes to call hezbollah a state within a state, that is why i ask. (and does anyone else find it amusing that we are supposed to be appalled by a "state within a state" when our nation includes 50 of them...without including counties and municipalities?)

i was sitting in the airport in houston, the fattest city in america, waiting to catch a ride to chicago, the second fattest city...and everyone at the gate was overweight. i am amazed that the companies that manufacture trans fat and the companies that then sell it to americans get away with poisoning our population in this way...and then even get the fda to agree that 0 grams of trans fat doesn't have to mean 0 grams of trans fat.

score one for the freedom-expanding judiciary...the same folks that brought you intergrated water fountains, schools, buses and the like. a judge in detroit told the anti-american/anti-freedom conservative white house its wiretap program was incredibly illegal. (and as a double-whammy, the judge is a female, that doesn't go over well with fundamentalist assholes). this case will go up on appeal, and then the higher courts will have a decision to make...do they continue to support expanded freedom as has been the american way for centuries, or do they support the contraction of freedom through right-wing activism?

"i have seen this movie. it was called vietnam." - general anthony zinni on iraq in 2004. funny how the military spent decades trying to unlearn vietnam and perfected it just in time to need the lessons from vietnam which had been hidden.

i don't wanna talk about those things anymore...

parties, gender equality, and the law of war...

well, lieberman lost his bid for the democratic nomination for his own senate seat...to which i say, good for the democratic voters of connecticut. but, lieberman has filed to be placed on the ballot as a third party candidate...to which i say, good for joe lieberman. let me explain...lieberman is a fool and bought into the "tough on defense" bullshit, and it will most likely cost him his job (barring a miracle come november). perhaps the democratic party of connecticut finally woke up and realized it had been supporting conservative assholes for too long because they weren't quite as conservative or as big of assholes as the guy with (R-Conn) after his name (because, god forbid we get too many female senators...that would shake up the proper social order - which we will get to below). but then the democratic party once again proved it has lost touch with the ideals that transformed it from a party of racial oppression and war-mongering (the torch which it passed onto the republicans decades ago) to one of humanity and compassion...its leaders basically came out and told lieberman he is an asshole for running for office anyways and that the "democratic voters have spoken"...by this they are of course ignoring the lack of voter turn out in primaries and are implying that anyone who is not either the front runner for democrats or republicans need not apply. for that, i say fuck the democratic party (which should rename itself the "american lesser-of-two-evils party") - well, that and for moving right constantly rather than standing their ground and for allowing the conservative christian numbnuts usurp the claim of morality when their morality is un-american. so if you are in connecticut...don't vote for a democrat, don't vote for a republican, and don't vote for lieberman...find another candidate worthy of your vote, stop throwing it away on the same old bullshit and make it count by putting in the column of someone that represents what you truly believe.

the FDA is re-considering Plan B...although the restrictions it suggests are crack-smoking stupid - for instance, they are requesting its over the counter use be limited to women over the age of 18 but require anyone under 18 to get a prescription. basically, this means that the group of people that need it over the counter the most, young girls unprepared for motherhood and less likely to be mature enough to handle the embarassment (compliments of the christian right who labels them whores, although any strict christian parent should be aware that it is your children who are sexually active, big time) thereby making them less likely than those over 18 to seek a prescription (or know where to go to get one without paying a shitload for a doctor's visit and exposing themselves to the scorn of over-bearing strict parents whose attitude towards life makes them more likely to beat their children). makes perfect sense...keep it from those that need it the most and are the least likely to ask for it but give it to those that need it less and are more likely to ask for it. the brilliance of conservative views on morality on birth control.

and here is the problem with the conservative view on abortion...it considers pregnancy and child-birth punishment for the transgressions of the mother, for her inability to control her sexual urges (although notice, the father doesn't get much punishment...but really, they aren't sexist at all). responsibility for your own actions is what they love to tell you...but then their stance makes children responsible for the actions of their mothers and fathers. this bullshit with making Plan B available to those over 18 while putting in road blocks for those under 18 also manages to punish those who are less culpable - i.e. those subject to juvenile punishment rather than adult sanctions - and not those that are more culpable. the brilliance of conservative morality on birth control.

that being said, it is a step in the right direction for gender equality...which the theocratic republican party is attempting to role back. it is no mistake that women made major strides towards equality when birth control and reproductive rights took hold in this country. which is exactly why the conservative, rich men in power are so threatened by it...it shakes up the moral order that they see as ideal...god over man, man over woman. forcing women to go through child birth keeps them from pursuing things like equal rights, equal opportunity and serious careers. this is why conservatives are against choice...to punish and to maintain the "moral order."

israel's actions are illegal. a recent, ongoing discussion about this has shown me that people do not understand that laws surrounding the conduct of war and when war is legal. i hear a lot of israel supporters declaring that israel has a right to defend itself...but that right is limited by international law (and was done so, ironically enough, in response to nazi aggression...my how the tables have turned). self defense for a soveriegn nation must be limited first to those actions directly proportional to the harm suffered...in this case, a limited skirmish leaving a handful of israeli soldiers dead and two taken prisoner (all though some believe collective harm fits in...but if you want to go to collective harm, then Hezbollah - assuming for purposes of this blog that it is a state actor, which it is not, which means you cannot go to war against it - had every right to kill a few soldiers and kidnap a few given the devastation israel wrought on Lebanon and the detainment of scores of lebanese). this is what makes israel's actions illegal...dismantling the infrastructure of a country (that was not responsible) and slaughtering hundreds of civilians (even if you drop leaflets telling them they are going to be killed first) while levelling an entire section of lebanon is so far out of whack with the harm it is clearly retribution and collective punishment...both very much illegal when it comes to warfare.

but this is what happens when the united states tries to unilaterally redefine laws surrounding war...suddenly acts that german leaders were put to death for after nuremburg become acceptable acts of "self-defense" - and by this i mean "preemptive" wars, that are actually wars of aggression...the western powers did not make targetting civilians a crime at nuremburg because the allies participated in wholesale slaughter of civilians, which american leaders even referred to as "terror bombing" at the time, and which, then, as now, served only to strengthen opposition to the allies - but really, your country has never done anything immoral.

america...i wish you would stay where you are...

Progressive and Proud...

It is high time that Progressives and Liberals stood up and reclaimed the high ground which the conservative movement has wrongfully usurped. Liberalism is founded on compassion, empathy, and true concern for yourself, those around you and your environment. Yet we have allowed the conservative movement to brand liberal as an insult, as if being a good human being should be seen as some sort of problem. If you, as I, believe in the most basic of religious teachings, that a good, moral person is one who seeks to help without harming, then stand up and declare it with me...I AM PROGRESSIVE AND I AM DAMN PROUD OF IT.

We know it is our moral system that is based upon nurturing and caring for other human beings and the environment we rely on for life. It is our moral system that develops people of strong character that seek not only to better themselves and their own situation, but to better those around them.

It is our moral system that is grounded in the ideals which created this nation. We understand that the first European settlers in this country survived through a strong sense of community and lifting up those that are struggling. We understand that it is our obligation to help those that have difficulty helping themselves, we recognize the absurdity of a moral system that built around the notion that if you are not fabulously wealthy it is because you are lazy and unworthy. We recognize that the basic premise of the American economic dream is that if you work hard you will get ahead, and if that is not possible, you should at least be guaranteed adequate food, shelter, medicine, education and dignity necessary to pursue happiness. We understand that it is not enough to talk about individuals repaying their debt to society without acknowledging the debt that society owes to individuals.

We believe that America, at its core, is a system striving towards equality of opportunity, and that, although it has seriously erred in the past in fulfilling that promise, the course of history and the American people have worked to progress towards that goal, but that a false belief in American infallability hinders efforts towards further progress. Our moral belief system is based in hope, on the understanding that people respond best to nurturing, education and opportunity rather than the threat of severe punishment. Our morals are those that led to end of slavery, the end of child labor, the end of disgusting working conditions, and the rise of equal rights for women and minorities. Our beliefs are those that recognize the right of all peoples to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Do not let them call you un-American. You are, in fact, the very embodiment of the ideals that are America. So stand up and proudly declare, I am a Progressive, I am a Liberal, it is morally right, and I am damn proud.

The Two-Tier Economy...

The following is an excerpt from Moral Politics by George Lakoff...required reading for anyone that cannot understand how the other side of the aisle thinks.

There is a persisitent and terribly damaging myth about our economy, namely, that in the American economy poverty can, in principle, be eliminated - if only there is better education, more jobs, more opportunity, and if people will just work hard, save, invest, and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. This is simply false. Our economy as it is presently structured requires substantial poverty.

The present American econmoy requires that certain jobs have low wages: cleaning houses, caring for children, preparing fast food, picking vegetables, waiting on tables, doing heavy labor, washing dishes, washing cars, gardening, checking groceries, and so on. In order to support the lifestyles of three-quarters of our population, one-quarter of our workforce must be paid low wages. These are the people who make two-income families possible, because they take care of the house and the children, allow fast-food outlets, restaurants and hotels to exist, and perform other tedious, unpleasant, unsafe, and physically difficult jobs that support middle, upper-middle, and upper class life.

It is a myth that all the people so employed can lift themselves up by their bootsraps, get educated, spend thriftily, save, invest, and get out of poverty - that is, to get decent housing in a safe neighborhood, adequate food, health care, and education for their children. Even if all the present lower-tier workers moved into the upper tier, the country would still need a quarter of the population, working at low wages, to take care of the children, clean the house, work in fast food places, pick the lettuce, weed the lawns, wait on tables, wash the cars, and so on. This economy absolutely relies on hard-working people whose pay does not reflect their contribution to the economy.

In short, those on the ground floor of our economy are holding up those on the upper floors - and they work hard to do so. But the structure of our economy does not allow their pay to be commensurate with their contribution to the economy as a whole.

A free-market economy is one in which labor is seen as a commodity that people should be able to sell for what it is worth. But in our economy, individual employers cannot, for the most part, afford to pay lower-tier workers a wge that reflects what they contribute to the eocnomy overall.

In an important sense, lower-tier workers are working for the conomy as a whole, since they make upper-tier lifestyles and incomes possible. In a well-run market, people should be able to get what their labor is worth. But we do not have a well-run market. What is needed is a market correction - a way that the conomy as a whole can reward those whose labor it depends on but cannot adequately pay. The machanism is simple: a negative income tax (that is, a serious expansion of the earned income tax credit).

What do lower-tier workers deserve for making middle and upper-class lifestyles possible? What is the least they deserve? Adequate health care, adequate nutrition, decent housing, and full access to education. Can the econmy as a whole afford it? I suspect so, but the question has not been asked, at least not properly: Can we afford a moral economy - a fair, well-run economy in which people are paid what they have earned, that is, what their work is worth to the economy as a whole? Can we at least provide a "moral minimum" - the least that lower-tier workers deserve? Anything less is simply immoral, and a market that pays less when it could do much better is not a well-run market. This is a national discussion we need to have. It is a discussion that makes clear that markets are not forces of nature; they do not just happen; they are not totally "free"; they are constructed and run, and the question we must ask is how they should be run.

if you're not angry...you're either stupid or don't care...

"in war, it's not enough to justify. you also have to win. lebanon, like iraq, is a reminder that the capacity to kill the enemy does not necessarily mean you can defeat him...you can end up creating terrorists faster than you can kill them." (steve chapman - chicago tribune)

true hundreds of women and children are being shelled to horrifying deaths by israel, and tens of israelis have been killed, and the chinese authorities are beating dogs to death because they failed to properly protect their population from rabies...but there are issues of far greater importance people. i mean, for god's sake, mel gibson asked a cop that popped him for dui if he was a jew! anti-sematism rears its ugly head again and proves that hollywood (and anyone who dares to question israel) is just a mindless anti-sematic...which we all know is much worse than being a mindless neocon/lib that never questions israel.

speaking of israel and their brilliant approach to fighting an organization that spawned from the last time they attacked and invaded lebanon (afterall, it makes all the sense in the world to attack a group with the same tactics that led to its existence in the first place)...a couple weeks of shelling and destroying the infrastructure of a nation, and israel is hit by a new high of missiles. i am amazed at how well conventional military might has proven at fighting unconventional enemies using unconventional tactics. look how stable and productive and democratic and safe and nonviolent afghanistan and iraq and lebanon have now become. the best of intentions often result in the greatest of evils.

speaking of military might...it seems that with all its might and resources the united states had to rely on simple old age to bring down one of its greatest enemies in cuba.

bad news for the fundamentalist christian right...you have awoken a sleeping giant...the majority of americans, who happen to be progressive and realize that your interpretation of the bible is no more valid than theirs. the folks on the kansas board of education which apparently wanted a repeat of the humiliating scopes trial and took steps in favor of intelligent design (better referred to as the continuation of the "the great ball of fire in the sky goes away every night so it must be controlled by a giant being riding through the sky on a chariot" theory) were ousted. a sign of things to come.

generals testified before congress that the situation in iraq is spiralling towards civil war. they are obviously un-american haters of the military and are siding with the terrorists and hurting the morale of our troops.

joe lieberman claims his democratic rival is trying to buy his way into office. excuse me while i collect myself from laughing at the idiocy of any candidate claiming another is trying to buy their way into office in a day and age where every significant national politician whores themselves to an array of hired guns backing deep pockets.

the administration is asking congress to define what exactly would be a war crime and going too far in interrogations. funny, the military never needed clarification on what exactly violated the geneva conventions before this administration...no, they prided themselves on going above and beyond the geneva conventions so that it was never in doubt. apparently "supporting the troops" means pushing them as close to criminal activity as possible without being reprimanded. it is the equivalent of complaining that driving while intoxicated does not define intoxicated...and even though we know that drinking and driving is wrong, we need to know if we can have 5 beers before hitting the road, or just 4.

your congress is making it easier for corporations to take your property and sell it back to you. that oil they will be drilling in american waters...that is yours...and you will be paying 4 bucks a gallon for gas made from that oil soon. but don't fret, the company selling it to you will probably only be making $60,000 a minute in profits while they take your oil and sell it back to you. kind of like stealing your car, washing it and selling it back to you for blue book value.

california governor terminator is making a deal with the british to work to avoid rising carbon emmissions. even a steriod-filled womanizer (translation - sexist asshole) figured out that destroying the environment is bad for business. when it comes to protecting the environment the one percent doctrine becomes the 1000 percent doctrine for the white house.

speaking of protecing the environment, there is a lot of uproar of protecting our children from sexual predators. of course, if you were truly concerned about protecting children you would be horrified at the companies that poison the air they breath, the water they drink, and the food they eat. so keep supporting capital punishment while your child develops diabetes, heart disease and asthma.

while the international community considers sending troops into lebanon i wonder when the troops will arrive in africa.

the analysis utilized by the national security counsel in determining just how much the pakistanis are gearing up to produce more nuclear weapons says the new reactor pakistan is producing will be substantially less capable than reported. of course these are the same people that told us hussein had all kinds of this shit all over the place...the same people that would bomb iran for doing the same. so forgive me if i have a difficult time accepting this at face value. hooray for proliferation of nuclear weapons!

a young man was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday (two already served) for a drug trafficking offense. during his sentencing i realized the only real difference between him and a whole lot of people i knew growing up was that he grew up in a neighborhood wraught with poverty and gangs and his mother was addicted to crack. but that will mean nothing to some people who will call me an "apologist"...of course those same people claim we cannot completely blame soldiers for murder, torture and other war crimes because the circumstances of their surroundings in combat.