Just some kid from the Chicago suburbs that moved to the southwest, went to law school, and ended up confronted with shifting ideals. My thoughts...boring and unedited.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

There can be no democracy within nations if there is not democracy among nations...

Long ago, in 1837, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote in his visionary work Locksley Hall, giving voice to a dream we grapple with still today.

For I dipt the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be;

Saw the heavans fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilotsof the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghostly dew
From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,
With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;

Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.


Venezuela's democratically elected president (whom the conservative movement in America tried to have overthrown - although they failed as they have failed at just about everything else they have tried, except for turning the world towards instability, chaos and destruction) gave a speech recently in the UN. Here in America our media decided it would play the nationalist card (which is amusing because whenever anyone else plays the nationalist card we are appalled and act as though they are the next Hitler) and only talk about the outrage we should feel because of the insult to the president, without addressing the true meaning of his speech, without covering the ideas for UN reform in the speech, and without mentioning why it is that much of the world feels that our president is the world's greatest terrorist.

If you can bring it upon yourself to get past that he called Bush the devil (a comparison that Jesus himself may make if he were around today) and look at the body of his speech, you may find yourself amazed that it is in tune with that wild and crazy idea that this country, and much of the anglo world once embraced...democracy among nations. True democracy among all peoples, with the freedom, opportunity, liberty and equality that comes follows. In essence, the basics of American ideals and values. Those same ideals and values that this group has brushed aside for their inconvenience. Those same ideals, that this group would rather "go it alone" than recognize.

Bush has one thing right...freedom is not free. It is time to take it back. Stand up, walk with people that understand what it truly means to be American, tell Bush and his henchmen "NO MORE!" Your voice can only be ignored if you accept not being heard. This is not the America we love. This is not the America we know. This is not the America we want. America cannot wait any longer. The world cannot wait. On October 5th we will stand up and demand recognition of democracy in this nation.

October 5th. Stand up and be heard. worldcantwait.org.

Friday, September 29, 2006

more anti-Americanism from conservatives (or remember when Buchanan was a joke?)...

Anyone else remember when Pat Buchanan declared that a wall should be built along the southern border to keep those pesky spanish-speaking-brown-skinned-hard-working folks from mexico out of god's chosen country? Anyone else remember when that became a punchline of his bid for the presidency? Well...know Pat Buchanan is the voice of reason from the anti-American conservative movement and the same country that declares on its greatest symbol of freedom to "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." is now trying to add "unless they are brown and trying to come here to find a job and better their situation and the lives of their children." The un-American conservative movement is pushing for some Berlin Wall style fencing along the southern border...because if there is anyone we don't want in this country, it is most definitely hard-working individuals with close-knit families yearning for freedom and a better life (that would just cut against everything this country stands for). There was a time when America prided herself on being a refuge for those seeking freedom and opportunity, there was a time when America embraced those willing to work hard and contribute, there was a time when America stood by the age-old Christian values of helping those in need, especially your neighbor. It seems the conservative movement is hoping we forget that time and that America.

We sure do love our capitalism here in America...so much so that our own health is deemed a commodity subject to the whims of the great "law of supply and demand." According to conservatives, while health and welfare of the entire population should be subject to the "if you can't afford it you don't deserve it" cut-throat competition, government contracts and armament expenditures should be protected from that competition because it would be inefficient (and by "inefficient" they mean "not putting enough money into the hands of companies associated with our movement...especially those associated with the Carlyle Group because Bush's daddy works for them). The end result, companies receiving the equivalent of hand-out contracts from this administration (interestingly enough, many of them tied to KBR/Haliburton and the Carlyle Group) have been doing shoddy work and being paid hand over fist for it. (And remember when this administration told us Iraqi oil would pay for all of this...not so much, turns out your taxes are paying for incompetence). Good thing we kept competition out of reconstruction efforts.

If you believe the un-American conservative rhetoric...it is treasonous and "appeasement" to insist that those who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and Laws of the United States actually abide by some of the most long-standing rules associated with the Constitution and Laws of the United States. They want to push through a deal that would officially put in the United States Code that the executive branch can spy on American citizens without a warrant for 90 days. That's alright, who really needed that pesky Fourth Amendment anymore anyhow.

And the new torture bill is a peach compliments of the conservative movement and their fundamentalist bullshit. There was this little thing that pretty much started the common law system which you may have heard of...been around twice as long as the Constitution itself and incorporated into the Constitution...its called habeas corpus and it allows for those being detained to (and yes, this may seem outrageously inconvenient for a fascist and/or authoritarian/totalitarian state) actually show that said detention is for a reason. Out of that right rose the modern system of governance, based on individual freedom and opportunity, which we all take for granted. But now, after some 500 years of acting as the last resort to fighting tyranny and ensuring freedom remains (sounds rather American doesn't it?) the modern conservative movement has decided it has out-lived its usefulness. Afterall, the US government (especially this administration) would never wrongfully detain anyone. Just ask the countless people that have been exonerated by DNA evidence, or the Canadian man subjected to torture and life inside a coffin, or the three British youths recently starring in docudrama documenting their times at Gitmo for daring to go to their friend's wedding.

So let's check again at how in tune with American values conservatives are these days...

- a free press capable of informing the citizenry and checking abuses of power...not in their value system

- due process and basic rights dating back to the Magna Carta when it comes to accusations against you...not in their value system

- two adults sharing and publically expressing their profound love for each other and the strength of their bond...not in their value system

- equal access to the political branches through non-diluted voting strength of minority groups...not in their value system

- an independent judiciary capable of checking abuses of power and unconstitutional acts...not in their value system

- embracing one's neighbor and the peoples of the world seeking our shores for a better life...not in their value system

- ensuring that those that work for a living are entitled to earn a living...not in their value system

- fair competition for government contracts...not in their value system

just out of curiosity...is there anything American that is in their value system?

October 5th, send a message. worldcantwait.org

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

this is your america...

george bush is going to show those nasty mean leaker people (like the one in his own administration he vowed to so heavily go after before realizing who it might be...oops) by unclassifying a useless portion of the NIE which has been reported to say the war in iraq has set us back in the "war against terror" (which is actually just an excuse to outwardly bully a part of the world we tried to sneakily bully ever since Reagan cut and run in Beruit - yea, thats right all you right-wing fuckheads...reagan mastered the cut and run in the middle east which emboldened our enemies...so please, shut the fuck up on the matter). in response he says the american people can read the document for themselves and see what it says. but by "the document" he means about 10 percent of it...and the 10 percent that is being declassified is basically the executive summary. remember the last time bush tried to tell us about an executive summary of an NIE involving iraq? it had something to do with absolute certainty of weapons of mass destruction in iraq and a connection to al quada...of course that was not quite true, and even then the NIE executive summary had been severely edited by the vice president's office. turned out, if you read the whole damn thing there were all sorts of reservations and "maybe"s that the president kind of left out on the march to war. so when this executive summary piece comes out and says it might be some trouble now...i tend to believe the actual meat of the report is pretty damn incriminating. and bush's "read it yourself, but only this little piece of it" bit just reinforces that.

which brings me to a recommendation for an addition to the federal code. presidents must be sworn in prior to starting a press conference...that way when they lie it will be perjury. and if we can get clinton to go through the process for perjury about getting his dick sucked (and yes, i still believe perjury should qualify for impeachment) then we can get this fuckhead for perjury about just about anything.

a lawsuit was filed in dearborn, michigan against the government and the company responsible for medical treatment of prisoners there. seems an inmate who was completely insane did not get his medication as absolutely necessary to combat his severe bipolar tendencies. instead they stripped him naked and strapped his arms and legs down to a steel bed before allowing him to die soaked in his own urine. but yea...torture of detainees picked up for terrorist activities (maybe) only happens when a few "undisciplined" and "untrained" privates get involved.

speaking of...anyone else notice that the people trying to claim it was only "undisciplined and untrained" privates that caused this embarrassment (and apparently countless others we are now learning of) never seem to question the leadership that would have sent "undisciplined and untrained" personnel to do such an important job? but hell, i guess you don't go to war with the army you want, you go with the army you have...of course you could always not go to war if you don't really have to and you don't have the army you want available. but that might make too much sense...and then you would have to focus on things like the global terror organization that truly is a threat to the security of the united states. and who really wants to do that when you can have a good ol' fashioned war to run over a weak state before igniting an insurgency to draw you to a lenghty stalemate and kill tens of thousands of your soldiers while slaughtering millions on the other side. we needed another one of those...its already been a few decades for christ's sake.

conservatives are really mad that bush got called satan by a democratically elected leader who he tried to have overthrown. (kind of like how another not-quite democratically elected leader tried to have his daddy killed and bush took to comparing him to evil incarnate...tit for tat asshole). of course when rev. falwell pulls out the satan theme against a certain useless senator from new york...they chuckle and claim it was just a joke, no need to be mad. although i do suppose mr. falwell probably has an inside track with lucifer and might know who his minions really are.

conservatives are up in a hizzy over bill clinton again. funny...election time closing in and they are working themselves up over a man that is not running and has not held office in 6 years. right about the time the american public is informed what we all already knew anyways...that iraq is making the threat of global terror worse. convenient hey mr. president? message for conservatives pissed about bill clinton...in the time it took you to get re-energized over this putz a few more families in the heartland found out mom or dad will be home before their tour is up...in a box. and another couple dozen iraqi families tried to put the pieces of their mother and sons and daughters back together to bury. all because of the unnecessary war launched by your leaders in direct conflict with domestic and international law. congrats.

remember when george bush was preaching about the use of steroids in professional sport and how it was horrible for our kids and we would get serious about cracking down on it? well, a couple of reporters went out and wrote a hell of a book about steroids in baseball...told the american people what the government wouldn't...did the investigation that the government either wouldn't or couldn't. they got sentenced to a year and a half in federal prison for it.

and yes...i am a strong advocate for secrecy in the grand jury...but when reporters start being sentenced to federal prison for not revealing sources you know what comes next? every freedom you have. if reporters start being sentenced...next comes reporters talking to avoid jail time...next comes whistle-blowers no longer talking to reporters...next comes all sorts of horribly un-American actions that you will never know about, corruption, blowjobs in the oval office, cronyism, unconstitutional acts by your government...and nobody to talk about it...nobody to force the hand of those acting wrongly. three things absolutely vital to protecting all of the other rights we have...the vote (which conservatives and democrats are trying to take from you)...an independent judiciary (which anyone who cries about "activist judges" is trying to quash)...and a free press (which theoretically will inform you so that the others work as they are supposed to...and they are finally starting to do their job rather than clap to the beat of the war drum). any of those goes and america no longer will be america. all three are under attack from the conservative movement in america, a movement democratic leaders want you to find "common ground" with. remember that in november.

love won't be the end of us...

Sunday, September 24, 2006

modern conservatism is un-American...

growers in california had a once in a generation crop of pears this year...the kind of crop that can make a career, pay for the kids to go to college, maybe even pay off the mortgage, all while putting some honest, hard working people seeking a better life for themselves and their families to work. small business pear growers were exstatic...and then they realized there weren't people to pick those pears. they watched as over $10 million dollars worth of their livelihood rotted in the orchards because there weren't enough migrant workers to pick those crops...even at a couple hundred bucks a week (notice Americans did not come out of the shadows to do this work even for a living wage). so this is how the conservative movement planned to help small business owners in America...force them to sit and watch their once-in-a-lifetime crop rot because they were xenophobic and really did not want hard-working brown-skinned folks to come across the border and pick fruit. keep out immigrants and crush small business owners...yea, that sounds American to me.

come election day, remember that it was conservative republicans that fought against renewing the voting rights act, that most American of laws that expanded the right to vote and attempted to make sure that access to the ballot box was equal. now that they failed in doing whatever necessary to allow themselves further opportunities to steal votes and split the minority vote as tom delay loves so much to do they are now seeking a new method to keep the poor away from the ballot box...mandatory identification cards. that's right...if you can't afford to take a day off of work or if you can't afford to drop the money on a driver's license even though you don't own a car and don't drive...then too bad, you can't vote. the poll tax of the 21st century. apparently conservatives believe that paying money for the right to vote is American...never mind the progress we've made away from that over the last few centuries plus.

remember how we would be welcomed as liberators in iraq? remember how it would take a month and they would form a friendly democracy that would have no problem with allowing American companies to exploit the oil reserves at the expense of the people? remember how that was going to be a domino setting off democracy in waves across the middle east (well, at least "democracy" that agrees with president bush...afterall, when democratically elected leaders don't agree with him, then they are dictators)? (speaking of the domino theory, it didn't come to pass the last time around...and we learned that only after sending 50,000 American soldiers to their death. do we really believe it will happen in the reverse this time? or do these folks need to see another 50,000 American soldiers in body bags and another million plus on the other side dead before they figure that out?) yea...well, that never happened. turns out the war in iraq has been a major setback in the "war" on terror. anti-American sentiment is at an all time high and fundamentalist terror organizations are recruiting more easily. look how good conservatives are at security. guess they are just keeping in tune with their history...you know, like 300 marines dead in beruit before reagan cuts and runs...or 3000 dead on september 11th under this president's watch.

when conservatives speak of tax cuts what they really mean are education cuts, healthcare cuts, security cuts, small business cuts, corporate wellfare and the like. so much for the ideals of our forefathers involving an informed and educated citizenry and workforce that is healthy and lives with basic human dignity. guess equality and the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness aren't quite American anymore.

perhaps it is just me, but i was under the impression that America fought only when it had to and then did so as noble as possible. i was under the impression that America's forces went above and beyond the demands of the Geneva Conventions because it was morally right. and now, thanks to modern conservatives it is a sigh of relieve that the United States will actually abide by notions of basic human rights. so much for that moral high ground they are always talking about.

interesting how the first states in this country were aptly named "commonwealth." commonwealth, as in the common wealth, as in sharing and fairness and recognition that wealth necessarily derives from all. but now conservatives want to tell you that you didn't earn anything...nevermind that you worked your ass off for the last twenty years but have seen your wages go nowhere while your cost of living skyrockets and their financial backers make more and more and more. so your hard work apparently is not worth as much as pushing a few buttons to make capital move from one computer screen to another...not even enough to at least guarantee that if you work for a living you will earn a living. they want us to think it is un-American that all Americans should live with basic dignity and be able to pursue basic happiness. but they are wrong...there are few things more American than the idea that you will be compensated for what your efforts are worth...seeing as how the rest of the wealth would not be possible without those on the lowest rungs...the only logical American conclusion is that those on the lowest rungs should at least be able to live with education, healthcare, security, and dignity.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

The World Can't Wait...

What has history taught us about impeachable offenses? What have we learned about the power of our representatives to hold the person occupying the office of the presidency accountable for "high crimes and misdemeanors"? It seems taking a conservative stance on the reunification process when those very representatives seek a much more radical approach is at least questionable enough behavior to warrant the question. We all assume that taking an active role in politically motivated burglary and the ensuing coverup most likely qualified. We know that a question of perjury warrants a vote. What about acts that qualify as "international terrorism" under the United States Code and implementing, supporting and furthering a regime of "torture" as defined by that same body of domestic law? What about instigating preventive warfare, that which the American prosecutor at Nuremberg calls deplorable and inexcusable? What about aggressive war, what that same tribunal, representing the very basic ideals of the "civilized world," declared the greatest crime against humanity imaginable? What if all of this is done while abusing the trust the American people have placed in the office of the Presidency? What if all of this is done at the cost of thousands of American lives, and tens of thousands of innocent lives in other lands? If simple burglary is impeachable, how is unconstitutional, illegal and un-American waging of war not?

This administration has abandoned true American ideals in favor of a fundamentalist exceptionalism the world has not seen since Rome descended into barbaric chaos. They have instituted and supported a regime that turns American service members into war criminals, and then fall guys as they avoid all culpability. They responded to the deaths of 3,000 people on September 11th with the un-American traits of hatred, vengeance and violence. They have ignored the demands of the very Constitution and laws they were sworn to uphold. They have brought the United States to a point where, rather than holding true to the very ideals we demand others adhere to, those serving our country are placed in a position where there is doubt whether or not they are acting in accordance with basic human rights recognized in domestic and international law.

The American people do not support such action, but they want to act as though you do not matter. They want to ignore you because they know they cannot respond to your demands. They seek to sweep you under the rug because their actions are deplorable and not defendable. They label you un-American in hopes that you will be scared into silence, as if being a warmongering, untruthful, law-dodging, simplistic fundamentalist is American. No, it is they who are un-American. It is they who have raped the very basic American ideals to attempt to rationalize their irrational drive to unnecessary war. An unnecessary war that has now sent thousands of America's sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends home in boxes draped in the flag with tens of thousands more returning horribly maimed, physically and emotionally. An unnecessary war that is now responsible for the violent deaths of Iraqi civilians at the rate of over 3,000 each month. An unnecessary war that has undone decades of work by the global community in avoiding the deplorable death and destruction that represents the most base elements of human nature unless it is absolutely necessary and all other channels of dispute resolution have been utterly exhausted. An unnecessary war that ignores that in this day and age, with weaponry capable of extinguishing the human race, setting such a precedent is suicide. An unnecessary war with those pulling the strings insisting on it being waged with inhuman brutality. Those who would lead this nation into such a war must be held accountable for their actions.

On October 5th people across this nation will stand up and demand accountability for those responsible for soiling the legacy of America as one of a steady march towards expanded freedom and democracy for all. They will march in solidarity to reclaim their rightful title of true American. True Americans, those that believe in the rule of law rather than the rule of the sword. Those that understand there cannot be democracy within nations unless there is democracy among nations. Those that understand that the innocent are those with the most to fear when constitutional protections are brushed aside. Those that believe torture is wrong, always. Those that understand that the Beacon on the Hill was never meant to become the flashpoint of a muzzle.

Stand with your fellow Americans and be counted. Demand recognition of American ideals and accountability from those that pillage them. October 5th, 9:00 a.m., the corner of University and Central. The World Can't Wait.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

torture is laziness, hurry up and kill, and bush's global security...

torture just won't go away will it? i must admit, as an american who believes in things like due process, humane treatment, the bill of rights, civilized behavior, the sanctity of human life, etc. (you know...good old american values) i find it incredibly disturbing and somewhat surreal that our congress is debating torturing people after our president (the "leader of the free world") really wanted to continue torturing people, american and international law be damned. what the fuck has this country come to? when did becoming barbarians become the way to save civilization? what's next? putting suspected terrorists in huge arenas and making them reenact civil war battles and fight lions and tigers and bears (oh my)?

here is the thing about torture and inhumane treatment...it is laziness that does not breed results. see...if these assholes are as terrible as we claim they are, they are no doubt expecting horrific treatment and torture when they are captured...thus this won't do a damn thing to them. as the fbi learned after the 1993 wtc bombing, what they weren't expecting was good old fashioned american police work...isolation from contact but for law enforcement, and humane treatment...a building of trust followed by a spilling of information that leads to capturing key folks. but apparently that is not the concern now. word on the street is that after khalid sheikh mohammed was captured we went right into the hard shit...threats and violence. didn't work. then it was threatening the lives of his children...guess what...didn't work. now we got a guy that won't talk for shit and that we can no longer try other methods (proven methods) on...the biggest waste of an asset in american history. hooray for torture!

jeb bush was in a hurry to kill someone so he rushed it along hoping the supreme court wouldn't get in the way of state sanctioned murder again. see, the supremes told the lower courts they had to hear a man on death row concerning whether or not lethal injection was cruel and unusual...only they really didn't want to, so they sped it through and jeb reissued the death warrant asap. what exactly are we trying to protect from terrorists again? but i guess none of that matters when your brother gets all the bragging rights at family gatherings for having killed hundreds through judicial channels and hundreds of thousands through preventive war...just some good, healthy sibling rivalry.

bush addressed the UN on global security issues...but warned iran that if it doesn't fall in line behind the great world protector of the united states it will face consequences. what exactly those consequences will be i am uncertain...i guess we could always try and occupy yet another country in the region. or maybe cut and run in iraq so that we can take out iran (kind of like afghanistan to iraq see?). seems by "global security" bush means a world gone proliferation mad filled with leaders with itchy trigger fingers and paranoia led by a sole superpower bent on destroying itself and taking the rest of humanity with it. just wondering...but if sole superpower status of the united states is so good for the world...how come since it came to pass there has been so much genocide and war?

violence with guitars...

Thursday, September 14, 2006

fighting someone else's civil war, pissing off mother nature, and big boxes...

things are getting bloodier in iraq with scores of iraqis being killed daily in a nation thrown into civil strife and conflict after the united states decided to take out its leader. does any of this sound familiar? hell...you could transplant "vietnam" for "iraq" in every part of that and it would be a lead to a blog decades ago. once friendly dictator who our government backed falls out of favor with those in the white house and they decide he must go...civil war ensues and the united states finds itself fighting someone else's civil war for no apparent reason. (both nations were meant to serve as a base for future operations...one to stop from being the first domino in communism, the other to be the first domino in democracy [as long as they vote in folks we like...afterall, not such a great track record with hugely popular democratically elected governments that don't follow the american party line]...at least this time there is oil involved).

you would think we would have learned a lesson from our own civil war and our attempts to be involved in several others...they are nasty, excessively and unreasonably bloody (as if any war is not) conflicts...everyone else let the north and the south duke it out...but ever since then the US doesn't seem content to return the favor. instead, we repeatedly get involved...and has it ever ended up good for us in the long run? (nevermind the horror that our involvement tends to unleash on other peoples).

nasa studies are telling us what anyone who was paying attention was already well aware of...the ice caps are melting and it is going to do some seriously fucked up things to our ecosystem and climate. conservatives like to think that the human race is meant to be served by nature and its resources, period, end of story. except they forget one thing...mother nature has been around a hell of a lot longer than any bipedal fuckup of a creature who thinks they are the end of evolution rather than an evolutionary dead-end...and she has always found a way to rid herself of abrasive asshole children who fuck up her home. so next time you fill up your gigantic suv for the drive down the street, think of some things...your heart which is so encapsulated in fatty tissue because you refuse to walk anywhere...your bank account which is drained because you are american and if you want to drive a ridiculously and uselessly large vehicle that actually has a surprisingly small cargo hold you damn well will...and think of your children and your neighbors and all the people who will die because you and those like you love to waste energy and pollute the air with excessive carbon emmissions. on behalf of mother nature, let me thank you for doing your part to trim the human population on the planet...she was growing tiresome of your presence anyhow.

mayor daley's veto of the big box ordinance held up in chicago. the ordinance, passed by a significant majority of alderman in chicago, would have required big time employers with huge stores, thousands of employees and billions of dollars in sales to pay their workers a barely living wage...10 bucks an hour plus 3 bucks an hour in benefits. put that together over a 40 hour work week and you get a whopping $20,000 a year plus another $6,000 in benefits. take out taxes and you have nowhere near enough to support yourself and save/invest in any way, shape or form, and if you have a family...forget it, might as well starve...while the company sells billions in merchandise and makes tens and hundreds of millions in profits off you because it has closed down all the other family owned small businesses in your area and is the only place you can afford to shop now.

the chicago tribune is all about mayor daley's veto...claiming that the ordinance would have declared that chicago is not open to businesses and they all would have run elsewhere and the people would not be able to consume like a good american should. it claims the ordinance told retailers to "close their stores and take their jobs elsewhere"...to that, i have to say...WRONG. it told retailers "you are making an obscene amount of money while crushing small business and gouging your workers (those that still have jobs compared to all those that lost jobs because you refuse to obtain your products domestically) and we are sick of it, now you must at least pay someone who is trying to work for a living some semblance of a living." after 17 years of never using his veto power...the mayor kills a progressive measure designed to help the poor of chicago...mayor daley, lifelong democrat, and, like other leaders of his party, a conservative schmuck.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

to catch a civil rights violating police officer...

was watching that pantheon of journalism, dateline nbc, this evening as they once again aired a "to catch a predator" i was amazed at what the officers allowed them to show the world.

this time they were in georgia dealing with the usual crop of sad men showing up to have sex with underage girls and/or boys (this is where you can insert your "they are sex predators...i don't give a shit what they do to them...they should just take them out back and shoot them" bullshit...no worry that it is incredibly un-American and goes against everything this country stands for, really, the same with the fight against terrorism [it is no "war"]...the best way to save a democracy must be to limit it like fascists of the past)...the first six or seven were the run of the mill men (interestingly enough, pretty much plain white bread). then things got interesting...

a black man showed up and immediately discovered the camera crew so he took off running. as he got out to the front yard, still running, the badges came out with weapons drawn screaming at him to get on the ground. after taking a few more steps he stopped in his tracks, turned to face the officer slowly and raised his hands well over his head. once he had completely stopped moving and was standing there facing the officers with his hands well above his head, the lead officer decided he was just too much of a threat (never mind that any movement to a weapon would have given police more than adequate time to appropriately respond and that this one man was already surrounded by a handful of officers with weapons drawn)...so he popped him in the chest with a taser.

dateline nbc showed this to the nation...myself included...and i, for one, was horrified. here was an incredibly blatant example of overzealous police crossing the line and using illegal force against a suspect that posed virtually no threat whatsoever and dateline was proudly desplaying it without a mention of the civil rights violation that just occurred in front of our eyes. here was dateline glossing over the fact that the man had stopped, slowly turned, and raised his hands while surrounded by several officers and only pointing out that he ran earlier.

interestingly enough...the next man to be shown also took off running. when officers ran at him yelling for him to get on the ground he took one knee and immediately put his hands to his waist (conveniently where any weapon likely would be hidden)...and the police simply walked up to him and helped him to the ground, not even that forcefully. he happened to be a white guy.

not that the criminal justice system is not insanely racist at about every step of the way...but seeing those events presented that way makes one stop and say "hmmm"...

Saturday, September 09, 2006

are fox news watchers really this ignorant?

the program on international policy attitudes released a study entitled "US public beliefs and attitudes about Iraq" in August, 2004. here are some interesting findings...

most americans that got their news from commercial tv held at least one of three major misperceptions about the iraq war...that weapons of mass destruction had been discovered in iraq; that evidence closely linking iraq to al qaeda had been found [even this administration disavoys this now]; or that world public opinion approved of the US invasion [never mind the millions upon millions that emptied into the streets in opposition before the bombs started to fall].

and here is the really amusing part...fox news viewers were the most confused about these key "facts"...a full 80 percent of regular fox news viewers embraced at least one of the above falsities as fact.

the study noticed a correlation between this misinformation and support of the war...those that had the wrong info were more likely to support the war. not much of a surprise there...afterall, why did we think these assholes were lying to us?

when humans go to war, god in no way wills it...

when America could have used its unprecedented power to lead the world away from war, what will it reveal about our national character that we did the opposite? - j. carroll

why, of course, the people don't want war....but, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship....voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. that is easy. all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. it works the same way in any country. - hermann goering (1946) [some things never change]

no child is born with discrimination in his or her mind, hatred in his or her heart, or rocks in his or her hands. these are acquired conditions. - dr. jane schaller (president, international pediatric association)

there are two ways to use the nuke; as a source of world destruction and as a source of world power. we did the former at the end of world war ii, which was the exact beginning of the cold war. we have been doing the latter every day since. and why should [any other nation] not want to imitate us? - j. carroll

you can't have democracy within nations while repudiating democratic values among nations. - j. carroll

for 175 years, we have not been that kind of country. - robert kennedy on preventive war [well bobby, looks like two centuries was too much - as james carroll says "america was not meant to be like this. we are no longer ourselves.]

mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. - jfk

anyone who is not against us is for us. - jesus of nazareth (mark 9:40) [seems bush missed this verse when he was born again]

the more we smash those who hate us, the more they hate us, and the more of them there are. iraq is showing that american firepower is precisely what creates america's enemies. - j. carroll

rumsfeld has become quite a warmonger. he did not seem so when he came and visited us in the 1980's. - tariq aziz (2003 from iraq)

high-minded rhetoric can be reassuring. yet when washington gets down to policy, some torture is deplorable, some is ignorable, and some is fundable...one might think that an appropriate way to oppose torture would be to stop financing it. - norman solomon

in the wars of the 1990's civilian deaths constituted between 75 and 90 percent of all war deaths. - chris hedges [are we honestly to believe that the pentagon corrected this in a mere few years?]

the notion that humanitarian violations can be redressed with random destruction and killing by advanced technological means is inherently suspect. this is mere pretext for our arrogant assertion of dominance and power in defiance of international law. we make the nonnegotiable demands and rules, and implement them by military force. - walter j. rockler (nuremburg prosecutor on kosovo) [why clinton and wesley clark do not deserve any credit whatsoever...and still all too relevant today.]

for all the poppycock about the vietnamese war [or iraq] clashing with our past traditions, we have long been an imperialistic people. the truman doctrine and the johnson doctrine [and now the bush doctrine] are only extensions of the monroe doctrine, new embodiments of that manifest destiny to which our expansionists appealed in a less cautious day. bolivar once said that we plagued latin america in the name of liberty; today we do it to a growing sector of the world. everywhere we talk liberty and social reform but we end up by allying ourselves with native oligarchies and military cliques - just as we have done in vietnam [and afghanistan]. in a showdown, we reach for the gun. - i.f. stone

acts of terror have never brought down liberal democracies. acts of parliament have closed a few. - gen. william odom, us army retired

what does it profit us if we gain extreme security and lose our democracy? not everyone in iraq, afterall, was getting their hands and/or their ears cut off by saddam hussein. in the middle of that society were hordes of iraqis who had all the security they needed even if there was no freedom other than the full-fledged liberty offered by dictators to be free to speak with hyperbolic hosannas for the leader. so yes, there are more important things to safeguard then security, and one of them is to protect the much-beleagured integrity of our democracy. - norman mailer

NO GRIEVANCES OR POLICIES WILL JUSTIFY RESORT TO AGGRESSIVE WAR. IT IS UTTERLY RENOUNCED AND CONDEMNED AS AN INSTRUMENT OF POLICY. - Justice Robert L. Jackson (Nuremburg Trials)

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

women anchors, secret prisons, and crooked politicians...

awhile ago when katie couric was given the job as nightly news anchor on cbs i was baffled and promised to treat her with just as much disdain as i the other major network anchors that found it convenient to abandon their roles as journalists in a supposedly free society in favor of marching to the war drum beat to show support for the president as he sent innocent young men and women off to kill other innocent young men and women in the most un-American of escapades...a war of choice. if couric ends up as useless as a provider of truth as the others were, i will stand by my promise to look down upon her...but i recently had to question my immediate reaction and wonder if there was not something else beneath the surface...if i was not, at least in some way, responding from my male-domination bullshit and assigning her traits unsuitable for serious journalism. and even if i was assigning those traits based on her previous work...was that work not a direct result of the incredibly sexist stereotypes which type cast her into bad morning coffee tv to begin with? with that said, i apologize to couric for jumping on the "bash katie bandwagon" and for thinking she was a lightweight...but make no mistake, if you fail as your predessesor did towards the end, you will again become a target of my disdain.

bush admitted we have secret prisons abroad. a big "no shit" to the fuckheads in the white house. perhaps the most disgusting thing is he seems to be proud of presiding over this mess, over incredibly un-American actions and draconian interrogation tactics without any of the rights our society has declared are absolutely necessary for any semblance of a fair trial, which is absolutely necessary for any semblance of a free society. but do not worry my fellow americans...we really aren't that bad of people...the CIA assures us that it has been less than 100 people...and they are the worst of the worst that have been subject to this "program." and all the tactics were approved by the justice department so everything is working in accordance with law (just try not to think about all the tactics the justice department approved of publically prior to this that actually were against international and domestic law...HEY LOOK! TERRORISTS! THE THREAT LEVEL IS ORANGE! - what's that you say? what was i saying about tactics...don't worry your pretty little head about it...ain't your concern.) the intelligence community and this administration would never lie to us, so all is well. gosh...when will congress get around to authorizing tar and feathering for all terror suspects like the president asked anyways? afterall, if he asked for it it would be treasonous and akin to nazism to question it...right rummy?

former illinois governor george ryan got 6 1/2 years in federal prison. as a former illinois resident let me say this should be a warning to tom delay and anyone else out there that has been a crooked piece of shit over the years...if they can bring you down in illinois and send your ass to federal prison they can do it to you. (of course it helps to have an honest US attorney in the state you reside in...one that won't buy into the illegal bullshit that tries to get pulled by the justice department in D.C.).

if we're searching for peace, how come we still believe in hatred as the catalyst?

Sunday, September 03, 2006

making the world less safe for democracy...

If that is what this administration had actually set out to do...then congrats...go ahead and fly your embarrassing "Mission Accomplished" banner high above a floating home to the machinations of death. Hoo-fucking-ray.

First up, the amazingly consistent increase in the drug trade anywhere the United States Intelligence Community gets involved. As has been the trend ever since the Taliban was toppled and the "democratic" regime of warlords (exactly the kinds we went into Somalia to take out years ago) and American appointed leaders was installed...opium production is headed for the statosphere. Up 50 percent from last year and at an all time record high in Afghanistan after it had been all but wiped out by the Taliban. (Yes, the Taliban were ruthless and immoral rulers...but then what are we when the will of the people is not listened to, illicit drug trade ensues, and innocents die from war and crumbled infrastructure? One cannot accuse others of evil without first recognizing the tendency for it in oneself). So here is the end result of the "War on Terror" (as if it is possible to go to war against an ideology...to go to war against a method of conflict used extensively by the very nation that now sets off to "end" it through just about every major conflict it has been involved in - Sherman's March, Dresden, Toyko, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, "Shock and Awe"...) - CHEAP HERION! Thank god, it was beginning to cost me way more than it was worth for the quick high and emaciated look. Interesting how the party that started the "War on Drugs" seems to be the one that is always involved in the behind the scenes growth of the illicit drug trade...Iran/Columbia, Los Angeles, Afghanistan. Where would we be without the moral guidance of the far right?

In other news, and another attempt to ensure that the United States and the world remain less safe over time...the military is claiming it has successfully tested the missile "defense" system (more aptly named the sole right to offensive strike system). So the tally is now at 50 billion dollars per successful test...and assuming that any country sending in missiles uses missiles that are completely obsolete and weapons incapable of any counter-offensive measures (a laughable presumption)...it should only cost this country about 500 trillion dollars to knock them out of the sky before they hit an American city. Forgetting for a minute the insane waste of money and effort this is...lets look at the effects.

The North Koreans have already publically called the "defense" system what it actually is...offensive measures. It is the same bullshit that drove the nuclear arms race with the Soviets for decades. "Defensive" measures meant to ensure second-strike capability actually make everyone less safe. To overcome "defensive" measures, the other folks go ahead and bolster their "defensive" striking capabilities...and the next thing you know there are enough nukes on the planet to destroy it a couple thousand times over. This is not a defensive system, it is a way to ensure that if the United States strikes...say North Korea...North Korea cannot counter. It is a way of attempting to grant the United States (and its friends since the last time we tried this it led to proliferation) sole stewardship over the most destructive and inhuman device every manufactured. (Which seems counterintuitive since the United States also happens to be the only country every to deploy the most destructive and inhuman device ever manufactured...and, as Truman so aptly put it immediately afterward...for vengeance, not necessity). This of course leads other countries to need those weapons to deter the United States from using them, which leads to massive proliferation...the kind that was kept in check by the treaty regime which this administration has denounced.

If this is Bush's world safe for democracy...illicit drugs and weapons of mass destructions abound...I think I'd rather have something different.