Down In the Hollow

Where does the time go?

2009-12-04T08:08:00.002-05:00

Was it really July when I last wrote something? Time really does fly. A lot has been going on making it hard to find time to update this page.

First, an update on the pregnancy. I am 33 wks., I am huge and feel like I am ready to pop. And I am having a baby girl!! Everything has gone perfectly so far, except for having to change doctors at the end of the second trimester. But I will get to that.

I don't like cold, I do like sun. I like the southern part of the US for those reasons. So, somehow I've ended up in Connecticut. The military decided that I needed to move 800 miles away from what is familiar to me at 28 weeks pregnant. The car trip was hell. Finding a place to live was hell. I actually broke down and cried for a solid day after signing a lease (I think it was hormones).

So, I am here, and I guess I should finally accept it and figure out what the hell I am supposed to do here. This place is actually really small, smaller than anywhere I have lived in about 7 years. I have to get used to that. I also have to get used to the fact that people here obviously only eat pizza. There is a pizza place on about every block. Why? Pizza, pasta, and "grinders". Sometimes you want something different to eat. Anyway, if I am missing something food-wise let me know.

I am in New England, now what????

Life Changes

2009-07-15T02:24:00.006-05:00

I'm pregnant! I found out that I was pregnant on my 8th wedding anniversary. Seriously. We were planning on going somewhere really nice ans splitting a bottle of wine. But I felt the urge to take a pregnancy test that morning. To my utter surprise, it was positive. Eight years of infertility and bam, out of nowhere, I find out I'm pregnant. Btw, that was my best anniversary gift.

I am currently 13 weeks. The ultrasound picture is from 11 weeks. So far everything is going pretty well I guess. Although, I am having pubic symphysis pain which is pretty awful. I am going to start physical therapy for that soon.

As far as everything else, I did have my second brain scan done and it showed that I have about 9 or so lesions. My neurologist still wants to take the route of wait and see before he "officially" diagnoses me. However, at visits he talks about my MS and what to expect. When I found out I was pregnant, he said it shouldn't be a problem because people with MS tend to feel better during pregnancy. So, I don't know whether to say I have MS or not.

At my last visit, the neurologist wanted me to get a spinal MRI. A week before I was scheduled to get that done, I found out I was pregnant. I do wish I had been able to get that scan done earlier. In August, I have an appointment with an MS specialist at a local medical university. They are going to go over all my scans and history and give me their opinion. So, I am pretty nervous about that.

Test Results

2009-02-04T18:06:00.002-05:00

Inconclusive!!

More tests and more waiting. Coming up is another brain MRI in a month and an Evoked Potential test at some point unknown right now. After that, I will have another consultation with the neurologist in May. Fun all around.

News from South Carolina

2009-02-01T22:49:00.001-05:00

Best Comment EVER

plinx wrote: 43m ago

God, who cares?? Talk about irrelevant! "Oh, a young man smoked pot at a party! What a bad influence on my children!" You know what? I hate your kids. I hope they all drop dead.

Re: Phelps apologizes for 'bad judgment' in marijuana photo

Happy fucking Monday

Test Day

2008-12-17T19:37:00.002-05:00

I had my LP today. It was absolutely horribly, so I never want to do that again. I was told to expect the results in 4-6 weeks which sucks ass. I have an appointment for the beginning of February. At the moment that is all the updates I have.

Moving, the election, MS and a Jag

2008-12-09T18:26:00.008-05:00

Hello all. I am sorry I disappeared on you, again. Here are some updates:

In October, I moved. I don't know if I told everyone I was moving. It took me less than a week to get everything where I wanted it. It seems to get quicker every time. However, it doesn't get any easier to be ripped away from friends you came to care about and start over in a new place every couple of years.

Moving on to the election...
I know you guys wanted to know what I thought about the big, historic moment. Well, I am not sure how I feel. Obama is definitely a step up from Bush and no one can deny the historical implications of his being elected, but he is pretty centrist and in my opinion too status quo. I am in a watch and wait mode. I am not going to get excited about anything until I see some solid proof that there will be real change.

I would have posted something sooner but I have been to a billion doctors over the last few months, so it has been really stressful for me lately. I developed tinnitus in my right ear and went to my PCM about it in early September. My PCM referred me to an ENT. The ENT referred me to an audiologist and a neurologist and also set me up with an appointment for an MRI on my brain. My audiologist said my hearing was fine. I just had the MRI last Thursday and saw the neurologist on Monday. The neurologist had the MRI results and said he thinks I have MS (multiple sclerosis), because the MRI found lesions on my brain consistent with MS and my symptoms are consistent with MS. And no, this has nothing to do with the tinnitus that started this whole thing, the MRI showed nothing that would cause that. I go back on Wednesday of next week to get a lumbar puncture to try to confirm MS.

Finally, the Jag.
With everything that is going on, especially medically, there is something that has managed to make me feel better. I brought home this baby on Friday, the day after my MRI:

Food Not Bombs

2008-08-04T08:11:00.005-05:00

This weekend I fed about 200 people. It was one of the most depressing and yet uplifting experiences of my life. I am going to do it again next weekend.

Fear

2008-07-29T11:42:00.003-05:00

Recently there was a shooting in Knoxville, TN at a Unitarian Universalist Church. The guy that did it wrote in a manifesto of sorts that he was motivated by his hatred of liberals. I am sure you have all heard about it.

Things like this are why I am always paranoid of being openly liberal in the South. I have heard stories of people being beat up and harassed for their beliefs, and now we have a mass shooting.

I wanted to bring that up as a preface to a recent event that occurred to my husband and I. For the first time in my life, I had a gun pointed at me. Here is how I ended up at the wrong end of a handgun:

I went to Alabama to visit my family for the 4th of July. I had only been there a couple of days when I noticed there was some friction in the neighborhood. The neighbors down the hill from my sister and her husband seemed to have some problem with them. The first incident I witnessed was the day they called to police on my sister because her dogs went near their land and supposedly seemed threatening. We all knew it was bull, and the cop seemed to be annoyed that he was bothered by such a trivial thing. Oh well, the neighbors are unfriendly assholes, no biggie. It's not like we have never had those neighbors before. So, we went on with our business.

This brings us to the 4th of July. It was getting late that night and there were fireworks going off in the neighborhood, like every year (although it is technically illegal within city limits.) Then, I started to hear something weird. It sounded like fireworks hitting the roof of the house. My husband and I went out to investigate. When we went out back we saw the first firecracker hit a pecan tree in my parent's yard. Then, we saw the the second (one of the big ones) go off at ground level in my sister's backyard only feet from her backdoor. It lit the entire backyard up. We saw that the people down the hill were aiming fireworks at my sister's house. We ran over there to tell them to stop. That is when we had a gun pulled on us.

The wife is the one who pulled out a handgun. The male just stood there and said "get off my land", although we were on my father's land. My husband was the first to notice the handgun pointed at him. He said that having a gun pointed at him made him uncomfortable and asked if she would kindly put it away. That is when she went all right wing nutso on us, saying, "it's my right to carry a gun, you can't take my rights away." Seriously, she said that. So, we stood there longer than most people would have if there was a gun pointed at them and continued to ask them to be careful where they are pointing their fireworks. After we left, they packed everything up and went inside.

Anyway, you might wonder how this story ties into the above story. Well, it turns out that the animosity towards my sister started when she got a Wiccan bumper sticker on her car. She dared to be openly Wiccan. These people were simply following the trend of expressing fear of what is different in the form of hatred and violence. As a result, I had a gun pointed at me on the 4th of July.

A few days after the incident the woman gun toter came to my dad and apologized for "the gun thing". She claimed that the reason she pulled a gun on us was that she was afraid for her husband's life. See, he was in Iraq and now has a pin in his back and she thought we were going to hurt him and she said that they had accidentally shot all those firecrackers at our houses. Yeah right. Why was her first response to pull a gun on her neighbors if they were innocently shooting fireworks and accidentally shot some at our houses?

Of course, they are patriotic, gun loving, Christian, conservative Americans. And that gives them the right to pull guns on their neighbors because they thought that they were above the law and common decency since he was injured in Iraq. I said that night that I was done. I disown Alabama and the South in general.

Gardening

2008-07-28T13:38:00.014-05:00

It is almost August and I haven't posted a single picture of this year's garden. I have seriously been neglecting this blog. I guess there is a lot going on here, but that really isn't it completely. I just don't have the motivation anymore. The more it looks like things aren't going to change, the more distant I get.

Anyway, here are some pics:

Maybe soon I will put up some pictures of the actual garden. I just haven't taken any in about a month. I have gotten tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers this year. The first plate of tomatoes pictured went into some homemade spiced tomato jam that I jarred. The second picture is just what I have picked in the last week. I will find something to do with those shortly. Although I did use some of them, along with the basil I grow, to make some bruschetta the other day. (This picture was actually taken after I made the bruschetta)

Here are a few more pics I have on hand of some of the other things I grew this year:

Other than gardening, I have recently been house hunting. I will be moving in just two months. It has been hard to find anything affordable. I am currently in sticker shock. It has been almost impossible to find something less than 1000 dollars a month to rent. That means that in two months, my rent will go up by about 400 dollars a month (at least). Ridiculous. We may just get lazy and live on base. It will be more convenient and the commute will be shorter. However, we will have to shell out over 1300 a month to live there.

So, hopefully, this will be more than just a monthly update. I may not write a lot about politics necessarily, but I am definitely going to try to be around more often.

Salvation

2008-06-19T13:33:00.001-05:00

Life Changes

2008-05-18T19:38:00.002-05:00

Sometimes too many things happen at once and you can only struggle to keep up. So, here is month of May, so far, in a nutshell:

1. My mother, father, and sister came to visit for a week.
2. At the end of that week we attended my husband's graduation and commissioning.
3. My mom stayed for another week because my husband and I were planning to go to Alabama to buy land anyway.
4. The day before we were going to leave for Alabama, my cat started having seizures. We took him to the emergency vet.
5. The next day, I stayed behind to care for my cat, my husband and mom headed out.
6. The day after that, I was officially a land owner.
7. The next night, my cat's condition got worse.
8. Husband rushed home the following morning. That evening, my cat was taken to the emergency vet and stayed another night.
9. Yesterday, picked my cat up from the emergency vet and transported him to neurologist in a nearby state and left him there for the night so they can monitor him.
10. Tomorrow I will find out what the neurologist has to say.

To sum up, the blog had to take a backseat for a few weeks. My head is still spinning trying to take in all that has happened since May 1st. This is probably the first break I have had since then and it is a brief one. Tomorrow I will hopefully know more about my cat's condition and more changes may come. So, at the moment I cannot deal with much more than what I am already dealing with. I am hoping that soon life will be back to normal because that would mean that everything turned out fine.

Land of the Free?

2008-04-24T11:07:00.002-05:00

From the New York Times: Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.

Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment.
...
Indeed, said Vivien Stern, a research fellow at the prison studies center in London, the American incarceration rate has made the United States “a rogue state, a country that has made a decision not to follow what is a normal Western approach.”

Unfortunately, most of the rest of the article is crap. Once they move from stating numbers to analyzing them, the article goes downhill. The conclusion they come to is that the high incarceration rate is due to our democracy. Utter garbage. What they, not surprisingly, fail to mention is the privatization of our prisons and the rise of for profit prisons in the US over the same time period that the prison population started rising. They also don't mention the racist factor to our prison system. For example, while African Americans make up a small minority of our overall population, they constitute a much larger percentage of our prisoners.

So, just look at the numbers and ask yourself, are we really a free country?

SC Insanity

2008-04-23T10:53:00.002-05:00

"His name is so close to Osama I feeling might be Islamic therefore he doesn't recognize Christ," Pastor Byrd said.

If you think the story is ridiculous, you must read the comments. Here is an example:

Russia still has a large nuclear arsenal. Barack Hussein Obama is a muslim name. If Americans elect Obama this country deserves to be nuked.

Is it just me or do you also feel like you are surrounded by crazies? One day I will leave this state and never look back.

Food Crisis

2008-04-20T21:50:00.001-05:00

Never mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession that is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch.

Red Alert on Green Fuels: Biofuels igniting global crisis for food, people and the planet

Illogic

2008-04-15T10:07:00.003-05:00

An unfortunately common conversation at the University of South Carolina:

Random Guy: "We have to do everything we can to protect Israel because the Bible says..."

My husband: "Yes, we should base all of our foreign policy on a book of mythology."

Random Guy: [visibly shocked] "You don't believe in the Bible?!?!"

My husband: No.

Random Guy: "I see you are wearing a wedding ring. You should get divorced. Marriage is a Christian construct and if you do not believe in the Bible, then you shouldn't get married." [Blah, blah, blah, more religious nonsense, etc...]

My husband: "You think Christians are the only people in the world who get married?"

Random guy: [obviously puzzled because the concept of marriage across all cultures and religions had never crossed his mind] "I don't want to talk about this anymore, I don't want to get in a shouting match."

[End Conversation]

Do Something

2008-04-13T15:46:00.002-05:00

On Friday, Bush outwardly admitted to approving torture, yet the media is silent like it has been about every other important issue over the past 7 years. The illegal war is still raging, harsh interrogation techniques (read torture) are still being used, and our rights are being destroyed. Yet, the majority of Americans continue to be misinformed and silent. Do we fall into apathy? Or, do we do something?

Earth Hour

2008-03-29T18:32:00.001-05:00

"On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.

Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change."

http://www5.earthhourus.org/

Kicks off in half an hour on the east coast. Maybe next year we should combine this event with the orgasm for peace event. Gotta go, I'm going dark.

Iraq War Anniversary

2008-03-20T00:53:00.002-05:00

I feel that I should say something about the war/occupation/insanity that is still ongoing. But I am at a loss for words. So, for now, I guess I will leave you with this:

For Fuck's sake, this shit hasn't ended yet!!? How many years has it been!!? Do people even care anymore!!? Fuck!

Defending Hillary...kinda

2008-03-20T00:23:00.002-05:00

I have this neighbor who is always coming over here trying to convert my husband and I. She leaves behind her ridiculous tracts that say things like "atheists(communists) are oppressing Christians." We usually politely decline the tracts and she explains that if we just read them, we will "know the truth." They end up being left at my house anyway and then are taken straight to the trash. However, we tolerate her to an extent because she is in her eighties.

However, the other day she came over to give us some tracts and she asked if we had been following politics (after she had earlier proclaimed that Bush is a fine president). We explained that we had. She said that she pays attention to politics and then said that she had heard that "Clinton's wife" was "running for governor or something." Then we informed her that she was in fact running for President. And that is when she exceeded my toleration level because the next thing out of her mouth was that she didn't agree with a woman being president because women are supposed to be a man's "helpmate" and that woman can't have authority over men because her precious book and church told her so. So, I told her that hell yeah a woman could be president and that women are just as capable as men. Then I told her to get out of my house.

I have tolerated her berating me for being an atheist. My husband and I tolerated her even though she said that science had ruined my husband and that he needed to find Jesus and rid himself of the evil science. I have tolerated her showering us with tracts from a creationist think tank. But, I will not tolerate her saying that I am a second class citizen because I happened to be born with a vagina!

(Btw, I still have no desire to ever vote for Hillary. But, it is not because her nether regions.)

Unpeople of the World Unite

2008-02-28T12:52:00.004-05:00

Noam Chomsky: Why is Iraq Missing from 2008 Presidential Race?

A few days ago, the New York Times—the military and Iraq expert of the New York Times, Michael Gordon, wrote a comprehensive review, first-page comprehensive review, of the options for Iraq that are being faced by the candidates. And he went through them in detail, described the pluses and minuses and so on, interviewing political leaders, the candidates, experts, etc. There was one voice missing: Iraqis. Their preference is not rejected; rather, it’s not mentioned. And it seems that there was no notice of that fact, which makes sense, because it’s typical. It makes sense on the tacit assumption that underlies almost all discourse on international affairs. The tacit assumption, without which none of it makes any sense, is that we own the world. So, what does it matter what others think? They’re “unpeople,” nice term invented by British diplomatic historian [Mark] Curtis, based on a series of outstanding volumes on Britain’s crimes of empire—outstanding work, therefore deeply hidden. So there are the “unpeople” out there, and then there are the owners—that’s us—and we don’t have to listen to the “unpeople.”...

It’s only the position of the large majority of the population, kind of like national healthcare, but not of the people that count. So there are plenty of “unpeople” here, too—in fact, the large majority. Americans share this property of being “unpeople” with most of the rest of the world. In fact, if the United States and Iran were functioning, not merely formal, democracies, then this dangerous crisis might be readily resolved by a functioning democracy—I mean, one in which public opinion plays some role in determining policy, rather than being excluded—in fact, unmentioned, because, after all, they’re “unpeople.”

Read the entire thing to get honest commentary on the state of things. I only highlighted the parts about unpeople, but there is a lot more interesting things in this speech. As an unperson myself, I thought I would focus on this portion at the moment. Also, read the entire thing to get more context. The first paragraph and the second paragraph have little to do with one another other than the "unpeople" part. Enjoy.

Establishing a Legacy

2008-02-27T11:37:00.003-05:00

We’ve all heard Bush’s claim that history will treat him well, and we’ve heard that he’s spending this last year building his “legacy” as President. He is operating under the impression that a façade of fiscal conservatism roughly applied at the end of his term will be what history remembers him for, not illegally invading a country or two, authorizing torture of prisoners, or willfully disregarding the Constitution and doing away with the legal and philosophical foundations of Western Civilization. And yet, even his fiscal “responsibility” is not shaping up to leave a legacy his country, much less his children, can be proud of.

Bush issued a 5-year, $3.6 billion cut to Medicaid through a “shift in federal reimbursement policy” for special needs children in public schools around the country. This was not routed through Congress, and will be in effect by next school year if Congress doesn’t intervene. Bush has no problem paying $12 billion a month to kill people around the world, but $53 million a month for special ed students is suddenly something the schools should be paying as part of their education mission.

LEGACY: Bush tells retarded kids to buy their own damn short bus.

This month’s issue of Scientific American gives us the next piece of Bush’s fiscally “responsible” legacy. Late last year, Bush demanded that Congress present him a budget that did not go over his arbitrary spending limit or he would veto the entire budget. Never mind that Bush has yet to include the cost of killing people around the world in his annual budget request, instead relying on “emergency supplementals” that he requests from Congress whenever it is politically expedient to remind the country we are at “war”. Congress had to scurry to find cuts to make to account for the positive additions they had included. Unfortunately, they chose to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the Department of Energy’s scientific research budget, including around $100 million from high-energy physics research at our national labs. Fermilab will have to lay off 200 employees by June, with everyone else taking days of unpaid leave every month. They are mothballing NOvA till at least next year, and our bid to build the ILC in America is dead before the ink dried on the proposals. ‘"The ILC will go forward, but the U.S. will fall behind," says Barry Barish, director of the global design effort for the collider.’ These were the big upcoming projects scheduled at the nation’s premier accelerator lab that would give the scientists there a purpose after Tevatron closes in a few years, supplanted by a higher-energy accelerator at CERN coming on line later this year. ‘"The greatest impact is on the future of the lab," [Fermilab’s director, Pier] Oddone says. "We have no ability now to develop our future."’ SLAC in California faces layoffs as well, and an early end to BaBar experiments. Argonne faces similar budget shortfalls. The US has also backed out on its pledge of $160 million to an international project testing the feasibility of nuclear fusion power plants. Again, that project will go forward with or without American cooperation and funding assistance. The question for our political leadership is this: Do we want to be at the bleeding edge of cool science, developing the new technologies that have useful, society-improving applications, or do we want to be like one of those poor countries still using gas centrifuges to enrich uranium in 2008?

I haven’t checked, but I bet the Homeland Security and nuclear weapons projects at Los Alamos are in fine shape.

To counter claims that their immigration fears are founded in racism and fear of the brown man, Republicans claim that they don’t mind immigration, so long as the immigrants are smart and rich. Mark Messier of Indiana University, one of the spokesmen for NOvA, said "The signal this sends is, 'Go do your research somewhere else.'" These policies will deter exactly the kind of immigrants they claim to want from coming to the US for education and research, and it will begin to drive out American scientists, forcing them to other countries to accomplish their research.

Basic research into unanswered questions is the spark of new technology. New technology is rarely generated out of old knowledge. Sure, Congress may say, “I don’t know the difference between a muon neutrino and an electron neutrino, so let’s cut that experiment.” But when that experiment unlocks the answer to why matter dominates the universe instead of anti-matter, which gives us clues into how to generate anti-matter more efficiently, which leads to powerful compact energy sources to transport us to other planets, it doesn’t really matter what Congressman Schmuckatelli (idiot-BFE) does or does not understand.

This doesn’t even get into the attempt to force privatization on the nation’s scientific infrastructure or face closures. Arecibo, the largest single dish telescope in the world, was told last year to find its own source of funding in the private sector, because the nation apparently cannot scrounge up $1 million a year to fund the radio telescope’s operations. The staff has said this essentially kills all chance of continued operations at that site because the chance of finding a donor is almost zero. It appears the study of cosmology is not terribly profitable.

Politicians are at least discussing issues surrounding our nation’s science education. But they need to understand that if the only jobs available for scientists coming out of college are in the weapons industry, the nation is going to lose out on the best theorists, researchers, engineers, professors, and experimentalists who will go to another country where the pursuit of knowledge is valued as an end in itself, rather than as a means to kill people more efficiently.

LEGACY: Bush cuts jobs, creates a reverse brain drain, and drops our science community’s standing in the world to save a few bucks now, costing us time and knowledge, priceless commodities in the search to understand the world we live in.

I Hate the Primaries and Election Season

2008-02-21T14:45:00.002-05:00

Why have I been absent for a while? Maybe because what I have to say isn't interesting or "relevant" at the moment. I am not picking apart candidates or endorsing a candidate either. All I have to write about is now considered old news and looking in the past when I should be looking forward. To what? More of the same? Why isn't anyone talking about the war anymore? Why wasn't there more outrage at the government's admittance that our country engages in torture? Why is our government still spying on us? Why hasn't Bush been impeached yet? Why isn't anyone talking about the coming kangaroo trial in Guantanamo where evidence gained through torture will be admissible? That got a blurb on some sites, sandwiched between the latest stories on Obama and Clinton.

I don't care about who is the shrillest, coolest, most charismatic, most so-called experienced, etc. What are their foreign policies and how do they differ from the current clusterfuck? I also don't care to partake in the debate about which supporters of what camp are more rude, mean, cult-like, etc. Who the fuck cares, really. Why can't anyone talk about important things?

To the Guys at Area51

2008-02-20T22:05:00.004-05:00

Now move on to more important things already.

Better late than never?

2008-01-24T09:17:00.000-05:00

It is closing in on five years since the Bush administration decided to preemptively attack Iraq. During the months preceding the invasion, the media outlets acted as cheerleaders. During the war, the media outlets were cheerleaders. And after the war, mainly still cheerleaders. But, what the media had not done is actually investigate how and why we ended up in Iraq. Many bloggers have done more research and taken a more in depth look at the war than the main stream media has.

Five years later we finally have a report by the Center for Public Integrity detailing all the false statements that were made by top officials in the Bush administration in the run up to the war. Although I am very refreshed to see what I have been trying to tell people for years put in an online database by what is considered a reputable source, I am still a little upset that it took five years for some 'reputable source' to put together a project like this. I point out 'reputable source' because I know that there have been innumerable amounts of people who have written books, blogs, alternative newspapers, etc. about this subject since the beginning. But, we all know that it takes a 'reputable source' to officially point this out for the mainstream media to take it seriously. Basically, they have to have their hands forced.

So, here it is in all its 'late to the scene' glory:
The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War

Here is an interesting chart from the website:

To me, this is enough evidence for impeachment. Unfortunately, in five years, no one took the time to put this together until less than a year before Bush leaves office. Why is it that this kind of information wasn't taken seriously until now? Most of this was common knowledge to people paying attention. But, enough ranting. It's out there now. Let's see if the main stream media picks it up. So far, Reuters has written about it. That's a start.

Now that this is out there, can some group go through the trouble of outlining how international and domestic laws were broken in the waging of this invasion?

Challenge

2008-01-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

With primaries now in full swing and an election nearing, I find that recently I just don't give a damn. It seems more and more likely every day that things will not change. Instead of thinking about the possibilities of a better country here, I have recently resigned myself to thinking about what country I will move to when my husband leaves the military. Honestly, the prospect of moving somewhere that has national health care, a healthy democratic system, and a more peaceful populace has been a lot nicer than chronicling the fall of this nation.

So, here is the challenge:
Convince me that there is anything left to give a damn about. Convince me that I actually matter in the entire contrived process of elections in this country. And convince me that there will be some change as far as foreign policy or health care that will make it worth staying here.

I'm Back

2008-01-05T13:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long absence. I meant to write something telling you I was going on vacation. I went to Alabama where I had no access to internet. (Hard to imagine there are still places where there is no internet, eh?)

When I returned home, my internet service was not working. I got the cable guy out here and he fixed the problem. It had something to do with the grounding wire for my cable being sketchy, so they replaced it and everything is up and running.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. And I hope everyone had fun celebrating the fact that the Earth is still stuck in its solar orbit.

Your Daily Dose of Tao

2007-12-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

Tao Teh Ching #66

How does the sea
become the queen of all rivers and streams?
By lying lower than they do!
Hence, it is the queen of all rivers and streams.

One who humbles himself, therefore,
can serve all people.
By putting himself last, he comes to be their leader.
Thus, when one of subtle virtue is set above people,
they do not feel that he is their burden.
And, when he stands in front of people,
they do not feel that he is an obstruction to them.
Therefore, the world follows one of subtle virtue joyfully,
and never tires of doing so.
He does not compete with anyone,
thus he is above all competition.

Courage to Speak the Truth

2007-12-14T19:55:00.000-05:00

My husband wrote this paper for his military ethics class.

The Ethical Dilemma of Preventive War

On March 19, 2003, the United States began the invasion of Iraq. The justification for the war presented by the US government was based primarily on claims of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction stockpiles and their capacity and desire to produce more, use them against US targets, or hand them off to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. These threats were deemed to be so significant that invading Iraq for the purpose of regime change was the most certain way to ensure the safety of American national interests from imminent danger[1].

But there was no explicit threat from Hussein against the US, nor was there irrefutable evidence that Iraq currently had any WMD in hand. There was an assumption that, since Hussein kicked out the UN inspectors in 1998 and never issued a full accounting of what the final disposition of all of his weapons actually was, he must have been hiding something, and there was speculation that his intelligence agents had met with Al Qaeda operatives several times over the years. But war is the most significant action one government can take against another with the most devastating and far-reaching consequences, and therefore one would assume the requirements for starting a war should be rather high and the evidence for its necessity beyond reproach. So the question the US faced was this: Can any country morally or legally justify prosecuting a war of preventive self-defense against another, not in retaliation for a threat or an attack, but in order to prevent some theoretical capability for a future attack?

Preventive wars of self-defense are morally and legally wrong.

First, we examine the Constitutional Paradigm and the Legalist view of Just War Theory to determine whether this type of war is permissible. The US sought, but did not get, UN authorization for military action. UNSC Resolution 1441 clearly did not authorize military action, but required further action by the Security Council after a report from the UNMOVIC inspection teams[2]. The report to the UNSC by Hans Blix on behalf of UNMOVIC on 7 March 2003, 12 days before the start of the invasion, said that “at this juncture we are able to perform professional no-notice inspections all over Iraq and to increase aerial surveillance.” He commented on Iraq’s initial reluctance to fully comply, but noted that recent steps had been made that were resolving the outstanding issues, including developing means for testing dump sites to determine the quantity of weapons that had actually been destroyed and gathering scientists for interviews. In conclusion, Blix said that he felt within months disarmament would be completed and verified and the follow-up monitoring regime could be put into place[3].

When the US and UK returned to the Security Council in March to seek another resolution specifically authorizing the invasion, one was not passed because there was no agreement on the Council. UN Charter, Ch. VII, Art 42 requires a determination to be made by the UNSC that non-military measures have been ineffective before authorizing military force[4]. Thus no authorization for the invasion in the international community existed. Two days after Blix’s speech to the Security Council, British Sec. of State for International Development said that “if there is not UN authority for military action or the reconstruction of the country, I will not uphold a breach of international law or this undermining of the UN.[5]” The UN charter states that nothing in it can be construed to remove a nation’s right to self-defense, but according to the UN charter, Ch. VII, Art. 51, a war of self defense can only be undertaken by a member state in response to an attack[4]. Under the terms of the Constitutional Paradigm, the US is bound to follow the laws of the land, to include international treaty obligations such as the UN Charter. As long as the US is a member state of the UN (more so, perhaps, because the US is a permanent member of the Security Council) the decisions of the UN should be highly valued when determining US foreign policy. The decision to invade Iraq cannot by supported by the Constitutional Paradigm or the Legalist Perspective of Just War Theory.

Investigating the invasion of Iraq through Kant’s Categorical Imperative, we ask: what is the moral maxim involved in the decision to go to war? The maxim presented by the President is that the US is morally justified in invading another country to protect itself, not because of some overt and explicit act of aggression, but because of a perceived threat of a possible future act of aggression[1].

Kant’s next question to the decision maker is whether or not the maxim can be universalized without loss of consistency. In the case of preventive war, the answer must be an emphatic no. No one would wish the heightened and combative rhetoric between North Korea and Japan in recent years to come to a point where Kim Jong Il preemptively defended himself against the threat of Japanese or US aggression by launching missiles into Tokyo or Seattle, using the preventive US invasion of Iraq as a justification for both its fear and its actions. Nor would anyone want Iran preemptively defending its borders from a perceived threat of a US assault from the large contingent of war ships near its territorial waters by launching missiles at the carrier battle groups stationed there. As these examples show, the doctrine of preemptive or preventive self-defense cannot be universalized with pleasant results. If the moral maxim is only true for oneself, it violates the categorical imperative.

Kant also argued that any lie told to advance one’s goals exhibits the height of immorality because it removes the other person’s ability to properly make his own choice on the matter. The use of false or misleading claims of evidence against Iraq to convince the US public to be supportive of the invasion violates the public’s right to choose based on a full and accurate accounting of the facts surrounding the case for war. The president cited intelligence in his 2003 state of the union speech that was largely based on a document known to be a forgery[6]. The often cited aluminum tubes which were claimed to have been part of a centrifuge program were determined by the Department of Energy to only be useful in a rocket program, not a centrifuge, especially in combination with the particular magnets Iraq was alleged to have purchased at the same time. Colin Powell cited HUMINT sources in his speech to the UN in Feb. 2003 that were known to many in the intelligence community to be fabricators or completely unreliable. While he had instructed the CIA to screen out of his speech things that were single source or unreliable, the CIA still cleared things in the speech that were “overstated, misleading, or incorrect.”[7]

The government claims that after the events of Sept. 11, 2001 the US can no longer afford to wait for the enemy to strike first. This was given as the reason for the sudden decision to confront Iraq on WMD. However the administration has reportedly been planning the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Hussein’s government since its first days in office. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill provided the press with a document labeled “Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq” from early 2001[8]. The first two National Security Council meetings of the Bush administration in January 2001 were about the problems Iraq posed to regional stability and the idea of regime change. According to participants in those meetings, “it was a matter of how, not whether” the US would invade Iraq[9]. If it is true that the administration has been planning the invasion of Iraq since the early days of the Bush presidency, then any claim to the contrary by the administration is intentionally misleading, and therefore immoral.

On the other side of the discussion about Iraq, there are many who made a case for going to war. Those arguments for invading Iraq that have any basis in traditional moral philosophy can largely be divided into two groups. A utilitarian would argue a similar case for invading Iraq as Truman used for deploying nuclear weapons against Japan: while our strike may cause large scale death and destruction, not striking in this manner will result in a much greater number of dead. Bush delivered a speech in Cincinnati in October 2002 that attempted to assuage concerns of some of his critics[10]. Bush claimed that he had to start a war in Iraq to disarm and depose Hussein before Iraq could find a way to use WMD against America. Now, because of 9/11, America knew that “the price of indifference would be catastrophic[11].” Bush did not want to wait for the “smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud” delivered by an Iraqi nuclear weapon[10]. Preemption was, he argued, the only logical and safe choice for the man charged with protecting the country to make.

Another argument in favor of the moral permissibility comes by way of natural law theory. Protecting one’s life is an inviolable virtue and therefore a moral obligation. The state is an amalgamation of many lives, therefore an obligation of the state is to protect the lives of its citizens. Hussein allegedly posed a grave threat to American lives, therefore protecting ourselves from him must be the state’s obligation. But taking other lives would result from this action. The qualification of forfeiture points to Hussein’s treatment of his citizens and past military efforts as an example of his lack of respect for life. The doctrine of double effect asks four questions of the moral agent before engaging in a war. One must show the following things to be true. First, removing Hussein from power is a good act in itself. Second, all of the death that comes with war is unavoidable if Hussein is to be removed and disarmed. Third, any innocent deaths that result from the war are not the means of removing Hussein, only an unfortunate side effect. Fourth, any innocent deaths resulting from the war are not disproportionate to the good effect of removing Hussein. The US argued that all of these statements were true before going to war.

What is the balance of these competing arguments? Since the US eventually invaded Iraq, one might be convinced to claim the latter position as the morally justified one. But this would be justifying a decision simply because the decision was made. This assumes that America is right because it has the military force to silence all challengers. Perhaps instead we should heed the words of MP Smith in a speech to the House of Commons. “Strength does not lie simply in military might. Strength lies in having an unanswerable case. It lies in making the right moral choices.[12]” Again, the nature of war requires that its necessity is sure and its justification beyond reproach.

The argument that this war was necessary based on the notion that America could not abide the consequences of leaving Hussein in power ignores the positive steps the UNMOVIC inspectors were making towards verifying disarmament. It ignores the disarmament of Libya through diplomatic means[13]. If the danger was imminent, Bush should have begun the invasion in early 2001. If all diplomatic options had been exhausted, why were the inspectors sounding confident that they would have things wrapped up satisfactorily in a few months? If the decision to use force had been made, why start a war when an assassination team could have accomplished the primary objective in a few weeks? This leads to the conclusion that the danger was not imminent, nor was the war the last option available.

The justification of this war is in question on a number of points. If the US is to be a global leader in the post-superpower era, it must act as the first among equals in the international community. There is no place in today’s world for a single hyper power, for a global hegemon who issues unquestioned directives. While US military power is impressive, that is not enough to keep the world on a tight leash. The UN is necessary, despite its flaws, and taking a grievance to the Security Council with the intention of using it as a cover for doing things on your own anyway, regardless of the outcome in the Council did more damage to its future effectiveness by undermining its decision than its own bureaucratic inertia ever could have.

The war in Iraq was waged unnecessarily and unjustifiably. Since there was no imminent threat from Hussein, no clear articulation of the real reasons for pursuing this war, no pressing need for war over diplomacy, and therefore no excuse for all of the lives that have been lost, we must determine that preventive wars must be excluded from future debates over international relations.

Footnotes
1. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html, 2002 State of the Union Address
2. http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S/RES/1441%20(2002)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC, UN Security Council Resolution 1441
3. http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/SC7asdelivered.htm, Hans Blix report to the UN on behalf of UNMOVIC, 7 Mar, 2003
4. http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/chapter7.htm, UN Charter
5. http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2003/rp03-022.pdf, Iraq: developments since UN Security Council Resolution 1441, p. 16
6. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB129/part2-niger.pdf, United States Senate, Select Committee on Intelligence, Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Released on July 7, 2004
7. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB129/part7-powell.pdf, United States Senate, Select Committee on Intelligence, Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, Released on July 7, 2004
8. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/oneill.bush/, O’Neill: Bush planned Iraq Invasion Before 9/11, CNN report, 14 Jan, 2004
9. Suskind, The One Percent Doctrine
10. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021007-8.html, President Bush, speech to the nation, 7 Oct, 2002
11. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html, 2002 State of the Union Address
12. http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2003/rp03-022.pdf, Iraq: developments since UN Security Council Resolution 1441, p. 15
13. Suskind, p. 46

The instructor, a Navy Captain, gave him an A.

Book Review: Chomsky

2007-12-12T05:55:00.000-05:00

What We Say Goes: Conversations in U.S. Power in a Changing World
By Noam Chomsky

This book is a collection of interviews with David Barsamian done for The American Empire Project.

My husband bought me this book for my birthday and I finished it in one day. I couldn't seem to put it down. It is a wonderful book that not only discusses current events, but gives you a historical background that helps you better understand the current events. The interview format makes this book very interesting. The topic is constantly changing, keeping you wondering what will be discussed next and insuring that you are never bored. There is a wealth of knowledge in this book. I highly recommend that you read it.

Happy Birthday to Me.
(Btw, I turn 26 today)

Torture Tapes

2007-12-12T03:11:00.000-05:00

No matter what I do, I cannot sit down and write a decent post. There are probably two or three posts worth reading on this entire blog.

It wasn't always like this. A few years ago I could write something in depth nearly every day. I guess that was before I gave up. It may not seem like it with my content devoid work of late, but I still pay attention to every little detail of what is going on in this country. And every day it becomes more clear that nothing is going to change. I can't muster up the energy to put what I feel in words. This country is a clusterfuck. But, I will give it a try.

I am sure everyone has heard about the CIA guy who has come out and said that he was involved in water-boarding detainees, the ones that were on the tapes that were recently destroyed. This guy is a real piece of work. I say he is a master propagandist.

My husband was watching Dan Abrams last night and this guy was on. He sprinkled his story with enough truth to be credible and the rest of what he said is questionable at best. He admitted that Zubaydah was water-boarded but then went on to say that there were no beatings and that he gave the CIA actionable intelligence.

The interesting thing is that almost word for word this sounded familiar, like I had heard this story before. I had. In Ron Suskind's book, The One Percent Doctrine. Except, in the book, Suskind describes a mentally ill guy who was not only water-boarded, but also beaten. He also goes on to describe the many wild stories that Zubaydah told and how the CIA would jump at every wild accusation just to find that there was nothing there. This is where the CIA guy diverts from the story that I had already heard.

What scares me is that this guy is a master propagandist, unlike the usual talking heads. He is good. I watched in amazement at his flawless execution of the point he is trying to get across: torture is ok because it works and saves lives. He does it as a "skeptic", which gives him the cover of credibility. But, this guy is no skeptic or whistleblower. At the end of the show, he was asked why he came forward and he said, "I wanted the American people to know about this wonderful success story." (paraphrasing)

Success story? To see that the entire smoke and mirror show up until that point had been to arrive at that very moment made my stomach turn. That is where the interview ended, leaving those words hanging there. I sat in silence for a moment trying to process what I had just witnessed. Moments like that I am reminded that I live in a bizarro world.

Here are some things to think about when listening to this guy speak. One, there is no way that the CIA would let this guy go on television and tell people that we water-board people unless they approved it for their on benefit of some sort. Remember, these are the same techniques that the Bush administration has claimed they cannot disclose because they are classified and would "embolden the enemy." Two, CIA agents sign non-disclosure agreements when they begin and cannot divulge secrets without retribution. This guy doesn't seem to have a care in the world, which points to him being allowed to tell us certain things that will be to the benefit of someone. I have no doubt that this guy is not genuine. The whole thing stinks.

Remember, this guy said that the reason he came forward is to tell the American people a torture success story. He said that himself. This, I am afraid, is the first step the establishment is taking to legitimize torture and make it something that is openly acceptable. Remember, the wiretapping scandal was, according to the government, a lie and conspiracy until it wasn't anymore and then it was necessary. The secret rendition prisons were lies made up by the "liberal America-hating media" until they were proven to exist, then they were not only necessary but legal and good.

I am going to have some more content driven posts up in the days to come. There is also going to be a special treat coming soon just for the holidays. So, stay tuned, I guess. And, stay away from the television if you want to stay sane.

I hate the cold

2007-12-11T12:40:00.000-05:00

That's why I am glad that it is 80 degrees outside today.

Nice warm spell just in time for my birthday tomorrow.

Propaganda

2007-12-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

The task of propaganda lies not in weighing right and wrong, but driving home your own point of view. You cannot objectively explore the facts that favors others and present them in doctrinaire sincerity to the masses. You have to push relentlessly your own case...

Even the most brilliant propaganda will not produce the desired results unless it follows this fundamental rule: You must stick to limiting yourself to essentials and repeat them endlessly. Persistence on this point, as in so many other cases in the world, is the first and most important precondition for success...

Propaganda does not exist to furnish interesting diversions to the blase' young dandies, but to convince above all the masses. In their clumsiness they always require a long lead before they are ready to take notice. Only by thousandfold repetition will the simplest concept stick in their memories.

--Mein Kampf (via Sources of the Western Tradition 6th ed. p. 379)

And people say that Bush doesn't read.

Compliance and Deadly Force

2007-11-30T11:33:00.000-05:00

Back in 2005 there was a story about a bipolar guy that was shot and killed on a plane for acting "weird". I believe that this was one of the first times that I lost all hope for this country and realized that most of the "left blogosphere" was not much better than the rest of the brainwashed country. I had a different blog then. I wrote how horrible this was and how stupid the air marshals had been. I was pretty sure that most compassionate people would understand how fucked up it was to shoot a mentally ill person in cold blood after the wife tried to tell them over and over that her husband was bipolar. But, instead, that day I found myself facing the fact that most of my readers that I had formed a relation with were not that compassionate when it came to the mentally ill.

That day I realized that yet again I was on my own. There were a handful of people who were compassionate, but the overwhelming majority agreed that taking out a gun and shooting this man was the "safest" option. Obviously, to me, that day it was clear that most people still see mental illness as a crime. Kill what we don't understand!

To understand what this has to do with anything and why I am bringing this up two years later, I will have to give you some background information. My sister is schizophrenic. Right now she is in the care of my parents, but I am all too aware of the fact that one day they will not be able to care for her anymore. It has already been basically established that the torch will be passed onto me. I have no problem with that other than the fact that it scares the hell out of me.

See, my parents live in a small town where everyone knows that my sister is sick. Everyone knows everyone and the police know who she is and what to expect. I, on the other hand, move around a lot. I live in larger cities where no one knows you. I am a military spouse and I move a lot. That brings me to the airplane story. I was thinking about this the other day and came to the realization that I would never be able to take her on a plane. If she were to live with me, I would not be able to take a plane to visit my parents. I may be living thousands of miles away and I would have to take a car because I cannot trust that my sister would be safe. I cannot say with certainty that she would not be shot and killed for being different.

But it is more than flying. If I am in a place with fascist police, I could never feel comfortable taking her anywhere. She acts "weird", she doesn't "fit in", and she doesn't comply with social norms. Every time I hear a story about a mentally ill person being tasered because they were acting strange or not complying, I get sick. What if that were my sister? What if I took her out in public and she started to freak out? What if the police ignored my pleas that she is sick? What if they ignored me when I said she is harmless? She is not a violent person, she is schizophrenic plus she is a little slow. She would not understand what they were saying to her or wanting her to do.

So, I guess the point is that the next time you hear a story about a mentally ill person who is tasered or shot because they were acting"strange", try to imagine it was your sibling or parent or child. Try to imagine how helpless you would feel knowing that there are only a handful of people that understand mental illness and have compassion for those least among us who are all too unaware of the ugly world that we live in.

Kucinich Update

2007-11-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

From the Kucinich campaign:

Our nation faces a crisis, yet its leaders, and the candidates
campaigning for the Presidency, refuse to acknowledge or address
it in any substantive way.
That's why it's time for: A DIALOGUE FOR DEMOCRACY.

This Thursday, November 29, Democratic Presidential Candidate
Dennis Kucinich will host an unprecedented "Dialogue for
Democracy" forum that will be streamed LIVE on the Internet at
KucinichTV.com. Along with invited guests, Dennis will bring
this crisis to the attention of the nation and the world so we
can better understand what's wrong, and, more importantly, what
we can do about it. The first segment of the LIVE broadcast
begins at 11 a.m. and continues until 1 p.m. The LIVE forum will
resume at 5 p.m. and end at 9:30 p.m.

Changes

2007-11-27T13:38:00.000-05:00

I was hoping for major political changes this past year. It seemed like my last hope. In a few months, I will begin packing all my things in preparation for another big change. What is coming is unknown really, since I will not know where I am headed and what I am in for until right before it happens. At this point, I just know that I am leaving sometime in the next six months. Where to I am unsure.

My life is going to change dramatically. I am not looking forward to this change. The thoughts of what's to come are worrisome to say the least. I will be making a major change in my life in the midst of the upcoming elections. What happens in these elections will have a direct impact on my very future. I have no expectations that the electorate will do what is sensible. Actually, I am preparing for the worse. Don't be surprised if my depression comes out in my writing as Spring draws closer.

This post may seem strange, but I have been dealing with this looming change by myself for awhile now. I have known that this time would come. It is not something that has just sprung up. But with each passing month, reality sets in. What the hell have I got myself into? It has been a fun couple of years pretending to be the wife of a civilian and not of a military officer. Those days are coming to an end. Soon the sun sets on this short era of my life and a new era begins. One I can't help thinking will be a dark era. An era filled with regret and depression. But, who cares right? Everyone else can do what they want. Go shopping, don't worry, start more wars, have a grand old time while others suffer, right?

Garden Update

2007-11-26T01:16:00.001-05:00

Here's the garden as of yesterday. The peas are blooming and we have more tatsoi than we know what to do with. But, everything is doing great despite the fact that it dropped down to 29 degrees the other night. A few weeks ago, I decided to give them a blanket of straw and they have been fine on the few nights that the temperature has dropped.

Compare to a month ago.

Late Happy Turkey Day

2007-11-26T01:04:00.000-05:00

Great Minds

2007-11-19T13:04:00.000-05:00

Dennis Kucinich
by Gore Vidal
Excerpt:

I asked a dedicated liberal his impression of Kucinich; he wondered if Kucinich was too slight to lead a nation of truly fat folk. I pointed out that he has the same physical stature as James Madison, as well as a Madisonian commitment to our 1789 Constitution; he is also farsighted, as demonstrated by his resolute opposition to Bush's cries for ever more funding for the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More to the point, in October 2002 he opposed the notion of a war then being debated. For those of us at home and in harm's way from disease, he co-wrote HR 676, a bill that would insure all of us within Medicare, just as if we were citizens of a truly civilized nation.

Town Hall meeting on the Tubes

2007-11-14T17:55:00.000-05:00

The New Constitutional Convention
with Congressman Dennis Kucinich!
Wednesday, November 14
9 PM EST

Go to www.kucinichtv.com to watch.

From a Kucinich campaign e-mail:

The New Constitutional Convention Initiative will include a a series of nationally
broadcast discussions (via www.kucinichtv.com) that seek to accomplish three outcomes:

1. Outline the ongoing assaults on the Constitution.
2. An educational component / civics lesson to clarify the intent of the framers and
provide a foundation for understanding the ongoing assaults on the Constitution .
3. Discuss in detail what can be done collectively and individually to restore crucial
constitutional principles.
4. Provide a venue which will lead to a coordinated and sustained national effort to
renew the Constitution and restore accountability in government.

The New Constitutional Convention Initiative will hold a national conference call each
week for the next 10 weeks - culminating in a major event at the end of January.

What are rising oil prices doing to the rest of the world?

2007-11-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

Oil price rise causes global shift in wealth

"High oil prices are fueling one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history. Oil consumers are paying $4 billion to $5 billion more for crude oil every day than they did just five years ago, pumping more than $2 trillion into the coffers of oil companies and oil-producing nations this year alone."

The winners in this financial cluster-fuck are Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Argentina. The losers are the US, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and China. Breaking even are Britian and continental Europe.

Conditions for doing well seem to center around either being a net oil exporter with a stable political environment or around reducing total petro-product usage to compensate for rising prices. Doing poorly appears to result from taking environmentally stupid positions as an importing nation or being a producing nation without the political infrastructure necessary to develop the country in a financially sound manner. Britain produces what it needs and continental Europe has been cushioned against rising oil prices by a severely weakened dollar against the Euro.

The surprising details in the article make it well worth reading. I suspect at some point America will be forced to acknowledge that it is no longer a sole global hyper-power, but would be in a better position if it claimed status as first among equals or something like that. A reinvention of the American psyche in that manner might better posture us to deal with emerging issues in the global political sphere.

We will, I suspect, lose the ability to economically bully people as the dollar falls and markets here generally drop. We are also not convincing as a military bully after Afghanistan and Iraq have shown the impotence of a small fast professional military in dealing with popular uprisings in urban settings. All we have left is the ability to talk to people in a sincere and conciliatory fashion, working together to achieve a common end. I hope someone in charge realizes that we don't hold all the cards anymore before it's too late.

The Week Review

2007-11-07T11:47:00.000-05:00

In case you missed it:

1. Mukasey may still have a fighting chance at the Attorney General spot despite his dictatorial tendencies and his refusal to verbalize that water-boarding is torture. And despite the fact that retired JAGs* have come out and said what everyone already knows: "Water-boarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal."

*These are not just some JAGs, these were the JAGs. The difference is important.

2. Project Censored has come out with it's Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008. If you want to stay informed, you have to check out the stories on this list. While it is a long read, it is definitely worth the time.

3. Rep. Kucinich has introduced a resolution to impeach VP Cheney.* While this is not the first proposal he has made, he has said that he is going to continue to push this one regardless of the opposition he receives. I believe this man deserves some acknowledgment for standing up for what is right from the beginning.

*This is a link to a Youtube video

4. And on a lesser note, put here for it's absurdity, the FBI has been sifting through grocery purchases to try to bag them a terrorist. (pun intended) But seriously, the FBI has reached a new low by trying to find "Iranian terrorists" by following the sells of falafel. Firedoglake has the details.

5. To not just pick on the FBI, I figured I would include the CIA for their own tax payer wasting absurdity. Check out the ridiculousness here at this fresh new up and coming blog:
Guys from Area 51

And that is it for this week in review.
However, I wanted to note that I have been having intermittent internet problems that have been keeping me offline more than I would care for. What the hell am I paying for again? Anyway, enjoy.

Reason #999 Why I Suck at Blogging

2007-11-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the hiatus. All last week I had terrible debilitating migraines. When I get migraines, I cannot look at this computer screen. But, thankfully, those are gone. However, as soon as the migraines passed, I didn't have time to jump right back into blogging.

See, my loving husband has coerced me into accompanying him to a ball. Yes, a ball. I am not a frilly woman. I hate dresses and makeup and all of the hoopla that goes along with it. I hate shopping and malls and department stores, etc. So, it has been hell for me to spend much of this past week there looking for a dress and shoes and makeup and accessories.

I finally managed to pick out the perfect lipstick to go with my gown. Then, the next day, I read about high lead content in women's lipstick on Tom Paine. I searched the site that was linked to and found my exact lipstick on the list of lipsticks with high lead content. My luck I guess. Now I have a choice of buying a different brand and hoping that it is not full of lead too (unlikely) or wearing the poisonous lipstick one night and throwing it in the trash afterwards. Unfortunately, at this point, option two is more likely. In case you don't click on the other link here it is again:
E. coli conservatism in the makeup kit

(You didn't think I would write a post that had nothing to do with politics did you?)

But, on a lighter note: I realized this week that I suck, I mean absolutely suck, at walking in heels. If I don't break my neck Saturday, I will call the night a success.

My attempt at a fall garden

2007-10-24T11:58:00.000-05:00

I have had food growing in my garden since March and I am down to my very last tomatoes and okra coming in. A few months ago, I started my fall garden. I am hoping that everything works out.

In this garden, I am currently growing Tat soi, Rouge d'hiver lettuce, Parris Island Cos, Beets, Spinach, Rainbow chard, Cilantro, and Sugar peas.

In my container garden, I am still growing a few things. My Poblano plant is finally putting out peppers. I have decided to try some Purslane and I have a pot of that growing. My hot peppers and banana peppers are coming to the seasons end. Soon, they will either come inside for the winter or wither away. Sad. But, that is how it goes. The only thing you can do is preserve some for the winter, which I have began to do. This is my first time jarring anything, but I gave it a go. Here is what I got so far:

Looming Environmental Disaster

2007-10-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

Drought-Stricken South Facing Tough Choices

ATLANTA, Oct. 15 — For the first time in more than 100 years, much of the Southeast has reached the most severe category of drought, climatologists said Monday, creating an emergency so serious that some cities are just months away from running out of water.

Officials in the central North Carolina town of Siler City estimate that without rain, they are 80 days from draining the Lower Rocky River Reservoir, which supplies water for the town’s 8,200 people.
In the Atlanta metropolitan area, which has more than four million people, worst-case analyses show that the city’s main source of water, Lake Lanier, could be drained dry in 90 to 121 days.
The hard numbers have shocked the Southeast into action, even as many people wonder why things seem to have gotten so bad so quickly.

Can't say that this is a surprise. I have been aware of the drought for years. I noticed as everything got worse this year. The river just down the street was so low a few months ago that you could walk from one side to the other without being more than waste deep at the deepest point. If this trend continues, it is going to be really bad, really soon. Maybe this is what it takes to get people in the South to wake up and realize that this is why conservation and responsible use of our resources is important.

I think this guy says it best:

“I think there’s been an ostrich-head-in-the-sand syndrome that has been growing,” said Mark Crisp, an Atlanta-based consultant with the engineering firm C. H. Guernsey. “Because we seem to have been very, very slow in our actions to deal with an impending crisis.”

Tortured Logic

2007-10-06T16:01:00.000-05:00

I was sick for a week and realized that I must have slept through the outrage and uprising that occurred in response to the revelation of the Torture Memos.

I must have, right? There is no way that this could have been revealed and then sizzled out without much more than a whimper, right? I know that there was probably some moral outrage vocalized by the opposition party, hell they probably even wrote a letter or threatened to investigate. But, where is the real anger? Where is the real outrage that one would expect from so-called civilized peoples when they are shown that their government has been torturing people? I have seen none. And I expect, like most real important things, this will be forgotten by next week and relegated to the memory hole along with all the other stuff that is supposed to get investigated. Until then, I will not hold my breath.

I however am going to skip the stage of blathering on about shocked moral outrage. I am not shocked and I can hardly be more outraged than I was years ago when it was painfully obvious to any honest person with a brain that our government was engaged in torture. I wrote about it on my other blog and was attacked by true believers that feigned outrage that I dare say the word torture when I had no proof. (To them, proof would be a signed statement by Bush saying that it is happening, caught on videotape so they couldn't say it was forged) People like this don't want to believe and never will.

I personally think that there aren't very many people on any political side that really, truly care. I say this because when I get to this topic, I have to stop dead in my tracks. I think, why are there any other things even being discussed? How can people put this up and then an hour later put up a post on "Guess what so and so said about X issue." How do you treat torture just like you treat any other mundane piece of information? How are those things equal? And then the very next day, poof!, it's gone. Forgotten. There is some other thing to be outraged about. Do you know what Rush, Coulter, O'Reilly, etc. said/did? The answer should be, "Who Fucking cares".

However, the people of short attention spans need their 24 hour brain-drain overload of crap information. Because, if they didn't, if these people could only slow down long enough to let any of these big issues really sink in before having something shiny dangled before them, they may have time to really think about them and they may get upset. The fact that a lot of big blogs have moved more and more to the 24 hour, big news format is depressing and counterproductive. One must wonder if their stats (ratings) are more important than actually informing anyone.

So, I am just going to let you chew on this for a while:

Your Government Tortures People

Let that sink in. Sleep on it, meditate on it, pray on it for all I care, but just really think about it.

To the Monks in Myanmar

2007-09-27T14:21:00.000-05:00

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.jiwamusic.com"&amp;gt;Jiwa Music&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

May Peace be with you my brothers.

Pathetic Pussies

2007-09-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

There are some dirty things people do all the time and, most of the time, they at least have the balls to do it to your face. But, then there are those that are so pathetic and mentally castrated that they will lower themselves well below the lowest common denominator. One of those people is Megabrad.

This mental midget has been a permanent fixture on a friend's site for quite awhile. I try to ignore him and I haven't even addressed him in about a year. He has never been to my site and commented, so when I found this:
http://iamsoretarded.com/

I was quite surprised.

At first I was just baffled as to why anyone would pick on my tiny site like this. I have not stepped on anyone's toes, I had no foes that I knew of, I do not troll right wing hate sites. So, I thought, why me?

That is until I used the great technology of the internets and Googled "Iamretarded". Fortunately for me, a certain imbecile had went around bragging about owning the site:

So, why is this asshole picking on me? Why does he do these things behind my back? Does he just lack the balls to confront someone face to face? Is he that much of a little pussy?

It was also very classy of him to send an anonymous troll to leave this message on my blog:

This is how I found out about the whole Iamretarded website. I thought the comment was weird, so I checked haloscan and got the IP. Then I compared that IP to my statcounter, and lo and behold, the author came from Iamretarded.com. So, was this comment a plant from Megapussy to try to discredit my blog from the whole three people who read it? Would he be that pathetic? I believe he would.

Update: I have verified that the above comment is indeed from a rightwing troll. How nice. No doubt a friend of Megadumbass. It is a shame that his friend was too stupid to read my profile and see that I am married to one of those "idiots". I see now who really hates the military.

Update 2: I have been removed from the site and replaced by Fade.

Random Idiotic Comment from the Internet

2007-09-22T00:59:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, you run across something so dumb and disturbing while going through internet forums, you have to scratch your head. Here is an example of that idiocy. From a college paper forum that's not really worth linking to, in response to the MoveOn ad:

"Your exercise of free speech seems to have proven yourselves foolish pawns of our enemies."

You have to fear for the nation if this is a common thought on college campuses. And all this time I thought that it was the Terrorists™ that hated us for our freedoms.

I think I may make this recurrent post. Every Friday I will try to find a comment that is so dumbfounding that you have to wonder if you have been kidnapped and transported to an alternate universe.

However, speaking of college campuses, this seems to be the only 'protest' going on in my neighborhood:
Protest causes campus chaos

Political Inaction

2007-09-21T14:33:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder...

Blogging is NOT taking action. If I see one more person say, "I am so pissed off, I am going to blog about this", I will frickin' scream. Yes, I blog. To vent. But, at the end of the day, I know that this is all it is--a place to vent. When I get out there in the streets and protest, and talk to friends and neighbors about what is going on, when I inform people about important events that aren't covered in the news, I am acting.

Get out there and march, scream, be heard! Get off your asses for once and DO something.

You have got to get out there in the real world and use your rights NOW. Before they are gone.

Political Insanity

2007-09-21T12:55:00.000-05:00

The MoveOn scandal. Where do I begin?

This has been one of the most ridiculous weeks in the Senate since probably 2002-2003. The democrats continue to give the republicans anything they wish. Not willing to take a stand on anything of importance, they prove over and over that they are no different, for the most part, than the republican authoritarians. After allowing the republicans to obstruct the Webb bill (mostly crap anyway*) and the Habeas Corpus Restoration bill (actually pretty important) without putting up a fight, they go on to pass a bill condemning MoveOn.org for a political ad. It was a slap in the face.

*Whereas the Webb bill may seem to some as an important bill for our troops, and it is at least part of the 'slow bleed' school of thought on ending the war, I say it is mostly crap because the best way to end the war and 'take care of the troops' would be to stop funding it. This bill doesn't do that. It plays into the 'who supports the troops more' diversionary tactic of the right. And it has nothing to do with ending this illegal war.*

The 'obstruct freedom of political speech' bill, also known as the Cornyn Amdt. No. 2934, condemns MoveOn.org for criticizing General Patraeus. Not only is this a rediculous waste of time on the Senate's part, but it is an attack on free speech. What business is it of the Senate's to condemn an organization's opinions?

Half the democrats voted for this attack on free speech. Maybe some blind dem supporters will finally see that a large contingency of democrats are no different than their republican counterparts. We are fucked as a nation if this is what our government has come to.

The leading dems are not going to stop the war! It is all politics. They could care less about what the people want, or that the war is illegal and immoral. They just want POWER. Kucinich is about the only democrat I could vote for without holding down vomit, yet he is relegated to the fringes. Only about 30% of democratic voters even know who he is. The people in power like it that way. We will vote for the people that they have pre-approved.

Duty

2007-09-17T12:35:00.000-05:00

Now He Tells Us

2007-09-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

Greenspan speaks:

Of the conflict in the Middle East, Greenspan said: “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

I am saddened too Mr. Greenspan. Of course, I am also saddened that you didn't speak up sooner. I just wish all the enablers in the Democratic party would start saying it too.

Also, I find it interesting that this article is entitled, "Greenspan Bashes Bush Policies in Memoir". Is MSN trying to marginalize Greenspan? By using this language, they are channeling republican talking points. The right wing's big thing is that people on the left are just 'Bush bashing' because they hate Bush and not because they have valid problems with his policies. Way to frame the article MSNBC. Don't be too obvious about it.

Kucinich!

2007-09-15T23:55:00.000-05:00

Vote your conscience!

Combat Sailors?

2007-09-13T09:29:00.000-05:00

A new trend is emerging that is especially scary to me. The Army and Marine Corps is stretched so thin that the military is turning to the Navy to supply warm bodies to the never ending war in Iraq. In the past, the Navy had a program called blue to green where sailors could volunteer to serve in Iraq. Recently, this has changed. With Bush's surge at full tilt, the Navy has begun forcing sailors to pack up and ship out to Iraq for a role that they have not been trained to do. I first found this out when someone my husband knows at his current command had his orders changed at the last minute and he was reassigned to Iraq. Everyone at the command was puzzled. When asked if he had volunteered for the duty, he confirmed that he had not. It came as a surprise to him. (His actual words were along the lines of, "Hell no I didn't sign up for this shit.")

So, I took it upon myself to look this up and see how common it is.
This is what I have found so far:
Air Force, Navy seeing growing duty in Iraq

Peace with Honor

2007-09-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

(Click the image to open full size in new window)

One Word

2007-09-09T01:43:00.000-05:00

Psyops

95 Never Felt Better

2007-08-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

The last couple of days have been wonderful. The temperature here has been in the mid to high 90's. It may not sound that great, but I never realized how refreshing and cool 95 was until I had to suffer through 10 days straight of temperatures above 100 degrees. I don't know if many people have been paying that much attention, but it has been hell this summer in the South. Here is a US Drought Monitor.

I went to the Congaree National Swamp on Saturday and on the way there I passed through a very rural area dotted with farms, except these farms were skeletons. I passed field after field of dead and dried up corn fields. It almost looked as if someone set them all on fire. It was bad. I also read a story the other day about dairy farmers in South Carolina that were just having trouble keeping their cows alive. At the time, they were losing several cows a day. Not to mention that they were no longer getting much, if any, milk out of them. The same things are happening in Alabama and other SE states. Along with this, Texas has been drenched with rain all summer. I wonder if that is also having detrimental effects on farmers and agriculture in general.

I thought about all of this when I ran across this post at Blognonymous. The graphic he has up on rising food prices is alarming. How much worse is it going to get when we really start feeling the effects of a disastrous summer growing season?

On a similar topic, my garden is barely hanging on. I guess 10 days straight of record breaking heat will do that. My okra and a few tomato plants are doing pretty well, but everything else in my garden is basically gone. My container garden is doing pretty well also. I can move them into the shade when it gets too hot. We had our first rain in a month Friday. I hope it won't be another month before we get some more.

Tomorrow is supposed to be over 100 again. Hopefully, this will be a one day thing. I am just now getting used to not sweating all day in my own house.

It begins...

2007-08-15T08:08:00.000-05:00

Administration will designate group as ‘global terrorist’

The designation of the Revolutionary Guard will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It authorizes the United States to identify individuals, businesses, charities and extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said -- a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.

There are people in the administration that will not be happy with anything short of an all out war with Iran (Cheney, etc). This is the first huge step to escalation. This is the first major policy that sets up the rationale for war. We are on our way folks. Get ready, because it's coming.

Also from the article:
"The administration's move comes amid growing support in Congress for the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act..."

What fucking idiots. This is playing out just like Iraq. 'Oh, we didn't think that the President would use this to make a case for war, yada, yada, yada...' Of course not, you idiots. Of course not. And if I believed that, I would be as stupid as they pretend to be. Of course these people know what they are doing.

We are alone. Our Congress has proven that they are not there to represent the people or protect the constitution. They have proven over and over that they are just enablers to illegal war, the destruction of our constitution, and the systematic dismantling of our country in general. Our courts are a joke, our attorney general is criminal at best. And what do they do? They give this criminal enterprise known as the Bush administration more power to spy and now an excuse for another preemptive illegal war. And what do we do about it??? Not a damn thing.

Something rotten...

2007-08-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

According to the latest White House Jobs and Economic Growth report:

"The President's Pro-Growth Policies Are Helping Keep Our Economy Strong, Flexible, And Dynamic."

So dynamic, in fact, that it is apparently very easy for the economy to shit itself while no one was paying attention. So flexible that the economy of 2007 can contort itself into a near exact replica of the economy from 1927. It appears to me that the Fed and Treasury Secretary were so concerned with staying on message and promoting the President's Strong Economy propaganda that they missed or chose to ignore the impending sub-prime mortgage fallout, which dropped the bottom out of several types of bonds and securities, and in turn hit the highly volatile hedge funds very hard.

These are large markets that don't just jump around because someone issued a terror alert or a celebrity got busted for coke. These are the markets that (unfortunately) run your lives. The economy has long ceased to be a string of quarterly reports or an aggregation of earnings tables or a stock ticker at the bottom of CNN. This is a nearly sentient organism out of anyone's control. This is not something that breaks one day for no reason, and it's not something you can fix in a couple of hours. If I had any liquidity at all, I'd be buying all the Euros or gold I could get a hold of. But I don't because I live in Bush's strong economy where the average household savings is negative. It really doesn't matter much though, because we'll all be dead sooner rather than later.

Well, fuck. That won't imbed right, so here you go. Please watch the video at this link.

Oh, yeah, one more thing.

VOTE KUCINICH 2008!!!

The Dark Side

2007-08-10T01:24:00.000-05:00

Sweltering

2007-08-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

To Fade

2007-08-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

Here's the beginnings of a response to Fade's latest post.

You appear frustrated because of your commitment to Truth, Justice, and the American Way. I suspect the root of your frustration may lie in your conviction that Truth and Justice are somehow an American Way, as opposed to just a Good Way. Once you realize that the American government has rarely been true or just, you can set your sights on fighting for Truth and Justice, where ever you see their precepts violated. Instead you place the focus of your love on your country, and become frustrated when it does not live up to your ideals of how it should behave. Just know that Truth and Justice are not unique to America, they were not new ideas with the birth of America, but they are, perhaps, more important than America as a country. Countries come and go, but a Good and Decent Human's commitment to Truth and Justice will be a struggle that will need to be fought for generations after the American empire crumbles into the dustbin of history. Then, there will be a mention of the once proud American empire in the history books, but the real and important story that historians will be praised for digging out of that dustbin will be that, even in the end, even in the darkest final days of the empire, there were still humans willing to work for the high ideals of Truth and Justice. Be THAT footnote in history. That, my friend, is something worth fighting for.

T.I.P.

Wall Decor

2007-07-30T09:17:00.000-05:00

This is probably my favorite decoration in my house. I bought it in March after a protest that I attended. It is a 3' by 5' flag and, yes, there are 50 stars. I counted. The flag currently takes up a wall in my dining room. It always gets strange looks when I have people over for the first time. I was planning on flying it outside, but I figured someone might destroy it or throw a flaming brick through my window. I have become attached to it (and the integrity of my windows), so I have decided to hang it inside instead. Maybe I can find a miniature companion to hang out front...

Link Dump

2007-07-22T14:22:00.000-05:00

Ship of fools: Johann Hari sets sail with America's swashbuckling neocons
-Hear what is said when the camera's aren't rolling

Thom Hartmann talks to Paul Craig Roberts about Bush's power grab
-Could America be heading towards dictatorship?

Corporate warfare has a branding problem
-Dead soldiers and 600,000 dead Iraqis bad for the war business. Corporations, I mean the Pentagon, looking to Madison Avenue to learn how to better sell war. The problem with the Iraq war/occupation is not all the death based on lies, it is a 'branding issue'. (If this doesn't make your stomach turn, you may want to take your pulse to insure you are still alive. Only the living dead would not find this atrocious.)

*UPDATE: Third link fixed.
*UPDATE II: New Link!

US Coup
-Must know American history, or the history corporations would rather you not know.

Empty Talking Points

2007-07-22T02:34:00.000-05:00

There is no such thing as a discussion on the internet. All people do is talk in stupid pre-packaged phrases, or talking points. People are so pathetically self-absorbed that they cannot just discuss an open-ended subject. All they want to do is 'win' the argument (since everything must be an argument with these people). For the most part, the internet, like the MSM, is devoid of intellectual content.

When I read most things, I am encountered with the juvenile bantering of, "I'm right, you're wrong, lalalalala." It's pretty annoying and makes me not want to try to converse with others in this format. I like to take on broad philosophical topics. I like to debate them and hash them out with other people in an intellectual manner. I believe that this is a good way to reach solutions. The only problem is that the internet doesn't tend to be the medium that allows a healthy debate. It instead allows people to avoid problems and swarm anyone with an inquisitive mind with talking points.

For example, we need change in this country. There are several different theories on how that change will come or what it will look like. Most people in this country are fed up with the two party system, but feel trapped in it without any third party candidates that stand out. So, how do we address this? Most people that flock to a third party say they do so because they are disillusioned with the current system. But, this may be part of the problem. They are disillusioned, not driven. They are not putting out a universal message, and if they are, it is one of disillusionment and not a positive forward plan for the nation.

You have to be for something to win. It sounds ridiculous, but that is how the group dynamic works. The message has to be universal, it cannot be too exclusive. What third party fits this description? Third parties are very niche oriented. How then are they ever going to get enough electoral votes to be added as a viable third party? As far as I see it, they won't.

Our system is currently set up in a way that to infiltrate it is nearly impossible. But, what if the third parties made a coalition party and united under one universal banner long enough to get elected to some national position? They could start with the House or Senate to get name recognition for their party. Could they put their pet agendas aside for awhile for the betterment of our democracy? Or are they so unbending that they will continue to just be a thorn in our side and not a vehicle for change?

Why bringing these obvious problems up is considered shilling for the democrats is beyond me, but that is what I am accused of doing. By explaining to them that the current third party apparatus is going nowhere and we need someone to step up and lead with a uniting message, I am obviously just trying to discredit them or something. It couldn't be that I may have a point and they do not want to take their head out of the sand long enough to realize that I may be right. That maybe their candidates aren't doing enough to get the message out (if they have one). And that, if the average people on the street never hear of them or their message, they can never expect to win the vote of those people.

The country is ready for change and there is no one standing up to take the lead. What has Nader done recently? He should personally contact every major liberal blog and get as many as he can on board. He should be at every protest. He should show up at every presidential debate and put his platform out, even if it means on the other side of the blockade. He needs to make town hall meetings all over the country to spread his message. He could do a lot.

What would it take in this country for someone to truly stand up and do whatever it takes to get their message heard and to recruit people to their movement? If a third party candidate just states his/her message without making the effort to spread that message to as many people as possible, and therefore never intending on acting on that message, isn't he/she also just spouting empty talking points?

Rationality

2007-07-03T14:23:00.000-05:00

Have you heard... (the voice of the internet)

Geneva Conventions are quaint

Torture is made acceptable by the Bush administration

The US holds people in Gtmo indefinitely with no right to Habeas Corpus

Extraordinary Rendition

Secret Prisons

Illegal Wiretapping

Hamdan

Lied into War

600,000 Iraqis dead

Plame Gate!!

Bush commutes Libby's sentence!!!!!

Holy Crap! Now we have to do something!! This can't stand!!
(Sometimes I want to bang my fucking head against the wall)

WAR!!

2007-07-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

What is it good for?

Funniest and scariest fucking shit I have ever seen. Enjoy.

Book TV, again

2007-06-23T22:49:00.000-05:00

It's time for the second installment of C-Span 2 Saturday Nights. Tonight John Perkins gave a talk about his new book "The Secret History of the American Empire". Some of you may remember Perkins from his first book, "Confessions of an Economic Hitman", where he discusses his career convincing foreign governments to comply with the interests of the US, as represented by the World Bank and the IMF. This book goes into a little more depth about the machinations of the US corporate interests, using economic coercion to create an empire rather than overt military might.

First the corporations identify a country with interests worth exploiting. Then the World Bank issues a huge loan to the country for the purpose of development. Except that money never gets to the country, but is diverted to the engineering firms and contractors that build up the infrastructure, and to the few rich government and corporate officials in the country who actually benefit from the "development" projects by colluding with the foreigners against their own people's interests. Eventually, an economic hit man like himself would walk into the government offices in this country and demand cheap resources or a vote in the UN or troops in Iraq since they will never be able to meet the terms of the loan.

If that fails to ensure compliance, the jackals will move in to remove/assassinate that leader, installing one more favorable to the US. He said that because of his own personal failings as an economic hit man, the actual hit men moved against the leaders of Panama and Ecuador and killed them. If the jackals fail to implement US policy in that country, then the military stands ready to bring force to bear.

This supports previous accounts of similar tactics used by bankers and lawyers to coerce foreign governments in developing countries, and correlates nicely with theories of economic imperialism advanced elsewhere.

In the second book, he focused much more on how to change this economic system into something more equitable to the whole world. He dealt with four fundamental questions that we need to ask to determine if we can bring change to a system. First, is there a problem worth trying to change, and what does the change need to be? Second, are we willing to take the risks necessary to implement the change? Third, is there reasonable hope of success in trying to make these changes? Fourth, what can we as individuals hope to do to implement the new system?

Perkins gives a very inspirational speech about change, but one that I feel is somewhat too optimistic. He apparently still has great faith in the ability of humans to get off their lazy stupid asses to help people, even if it won't directly help them immediately. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that Americans seem largely to have lost any capacity for empathy. There are notable examples of compassionate people, of course, but they are the exception. Hell hath no fury like an American separated from reality TV.

But he does try to approach the issue in two ways. He uses the moral argument that, since we as individual citizens have rights and subsequent responsibilities as Americans and as humans, then corporations should be held to the same standard. They have been given rights as corporate persons, but without any of the requisite responsibility incumbent on any effective member of a society. By holding corporations to a new standard of business practice, we can impose on them a new policy, not one of maximizing profit to the shareholders, but one of maximizing benefit to the community. We can convince them to do this, the argument goes, because they already want to go down the responsible path, they just don't know how.

The other approach he takes in convincing people to work for this new version of corporate society is by noting the very real threat posed to the future of humans by the utter failure of the US model of government and economy. He says the US model has already failed, not might fail, or will fail soon, but has already failed, both in fulfilling its purpose and in providing an example to others. If we cannot change our consumption habits, we cannot export our model of society to other nations like China and India. I have seen estimates that, if the current level of US consumption were applied globally, the planet could sustain something on the order of 2 billion people. China has 3-4 times our population and is only now approaching our level of pollution. If consumption trends do not abate soon, the environmental and social order we exist in now will be threatened and ultimately collapse. We have to change because there is no other choice.

I prefer the first argument because it approaches the issue from a social justice perspective that acknowledges the fundamental humanity of everyone, and reminds us that we cannot hope for a better world for our children without rightfully hoping for the same better world for all children. We have the capacity to change the world into a more peaceful place with less poverty and destruction, so we have a moral imperative to do so. I think the second argument will be more effective generally because large groups of people respond better to being made afraid of something, more so if the threat is existential rather than peripheral, if the threat is something that will happen to everyone rather than something that might happen to someone else.

On Bravery and Scoundrels

2007-06-20T04:08:00.000-05:00

Charleston, SC has had a busy news week. Fred has an article about the 9 firefighters that lost their lives in a factory fire yesterday. This is a horrible tragedy that may have been prevented. According to the New York Times, "a bill that would have required older buildings to install sprinkler systems failed in the Legislature two years ago." Unfortunately, building regulations are not on the top of the list of things to get done in a state that in the past year has seen even its AAA credit rating drop. That's when I ironically ran across another story out of Charleston, one that has definitely been overshadowed by the tragic loss of life on the same day.

Indictment Accuses South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel Of Distributing Cocaine, Starting In 2005

(AP) "South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, a former real estate developer who became a rising political star after his election last year, was indicted Tuesday on federal cocaine charges.

The millionaire is accused of buying less than 500 grams of the drug to share with other people in late 2005, U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd said. Ravenel, 44, is charged with distribution of cocaine, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison."

Ravenel, a republican who is "also the state chairman for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign", was just recently elected in November replacing Democrat Grady Patterson. According to the article, "State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said his agents were aware of the allegations before Ravenel was elected in November, but they didn't have enough information to pursue criminal charges."

How many other Americans have needlessly died while our elected officials were snorting coke up their noses?

Must Read

2007-06-18T08:11:00.000-05:00

The General’s Report
How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.
by Seymour M. Hersh

“They always shoot the messenger,” Taguba told me. “To be accused of being overzealous and disloyal—that cuts deep into me. I was being ostracized for doing what I was asked to do.”

Taguba went on, “There was no doubt in my mind that this stuff”—the explicit images—“was gravitating upward. It was standard operating procedure to assume that this had to go higher. The President had to be aware of this.” He said that Rumsfeld, his senior aides, and the high-ranking generals and admirals who stood with him as he misrepresented what he knew about Abu Ghraib had failed the nation.

“From the moment a soldier enlists, we inculcate loyalty, duty, honor, integrity, and selfless service,” Taguba said. “And yet when we get to the senior-officer level we forget those values. I know that my peers in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib. We violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable.”

Tonight on C-SPAN 2

2007-06-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

We were channel surfing tonight when we came across Michael Isikoff interviewing Ted Gup about his new book "Nation Of Secrets: The Threat To Democracy And The American Way Of Life". It was a very educational look at the culture of secrecy that has become so pervasive, not just in government faux national security issues, but in so many aspects of our lives, from federal civil suits to journalism to medical care. He argues that, while there is a legitimate need for national security secrets, the culture of government has been polluted with superfluous classification in an attempt to merely prevent embarrassment or avoid accountability. Also, the problem has been exacerbated by society's acceptance of this secrecy, which raises the issue to one that, he feels, threatens the very fabric of democracy. For if we become complacent, and complicit, in this pervasive attitude of government that they don't need to tell us what they are doing or why they are doing it, then the citizenry's ability to make responsible decisions about our country's future becomes impaired. And he talks about a few juicy formerly classified things that make it that much more interesting a show.

It will be replaying Sunday night at 6 and 9 PM on C-SPAN 2. Get your thinking hats on

Garden Pictures

2007-06-15T06:51:00.001-05:00

Main Vegetable Garden

It's kinda small, but for my first garden, it will do. The garden has four tomato plants: Sweet 100, Red Beefsteak, Mr. Stripey, and a Roma. In the back towards the middle are two bell pepper plants, a purple one and a red one. In front are my three yellow crookneck squash plants. Behind them are a row of carrots and a row of red onions. And finally, in the back right corner is my cucumber plant on the trellis.

Okra Garden

My okra are still young. I started them from seed late (May). These are a red heirloom variety from Alabama.

I also have a container garden on my front porch and an herb garden in a flower bed in the front yard. I have a few pictures of the container garden and more pictures of the main vegetable garden here:

Garden

2007-06-14T06:51:00.000-05:00

I hope to have pictures of my garden up soon.

Random thoughts

2007-06-09T03:22:00.000-05:00

Remember when...

-The Iraq war was illegal?
-Torture was illegal and taboo?
-Illegal wiretapping was an impeachable offense?
-International law meant something?
-Secret renditions for the sake of torture would have been appalling?
-The Iraq war was wrong because we are killing innocent people based on lies fed to us by our own government and not because it was "handled badly"?
-The Geneva Conventions were not "quaint and outdated"?
-Habeas Corpus applied to everyone?

Probably not. It seems that most people have forgotten. Of course, this is why it is so hard for me to even muster the energy to write this blog anymore. I find it impossible to write within the strict rhetorical framework that most people have surrendered to. I still remember all of the above. How anyone can make an opinion on anything in the political world outside the context of the above items is hard for me to understand. (Hence why I have been so disillusioned since the dems took over. They seem to be fine forgetting most, if not all, of the things that led to them being elected)

Oh, just for fun, I will throw in a cartoon:
Ethanol Magic?

Weather and other things

2007-06-09T02:14:00.000-05:00

First off, it's hot. Really hot.

I am really tired of the heat and the drought. I just want rain, lots of rain. I was so happy when the last tropical storm came through (what was left of it).

Let me explain how I got to the point of hoping that a tropical storm would come. It all started about mid May when forest fires in southern Georgia and northern Florida were all over the news. Plans to visit my family required that I drive through Georgia, so that had me a little worried. Thankfully, the drive went fine. It was when I was in Alabama that things began to get weird.

I was in Alabama on my anniversary (six years!). That morning I awoke to thick smoke in the air. It wasn't like a cloud of smoke, but more like a blanket. It turned out that winds were bringing massive amounts of smoke from Georgia into Alabama. I told my husband that at least our sixth anniversary will always be remembered. For the next several days the same thing happened, it would be very smoky in the morning and slowly clear up as the day went on. It was not good on the lungs.

Back to present. So far there has been one good rain storm here and that was the result of the last tropical storm, Barry. It is hard to explain how one feels after weeks on end of no rain. I am hoping it will all turn around and the drought will end. Every day here the weather station calls for the chance of afternoon showers and everyday...nothing. Yesterday we had six drops of rain. I was so happy when the sky turned gray, they winds picked up, thunder was heard in the distance. I was sure that a big storm was brewing. Unfortunately, it was a lot of drama with little to show for it. I heard six distinct drops of rain hit the overhang over my back patio and it ended.

So, yes, I want rain. Any way I can get it. However, I don't think the heat and the drought are going to be the end of this summer of crazy weather. If the really early start to hurricane season is any indication of what's to come, I may be in for an eventful summer.

Into the Jaws of the Beast

2007-05-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

click on picture to see slideshow

I finally found the time to upload the pictures from the Republican presidential debate. It was an interesting experience. There were hundreds of Mitt Romney and McCain people there along with a handful of Giuliani folks. There were also a few other rallies going on besides the pro-republican groups and our small anti-war group. There was a group of confederate flag wearing anti-immigration protesters that showed up, but I didn't get a picture of them. A friend I met up with at the rally said that he took pictures of the anti-immigration rally, so maybe I will be able to put those up at a later date.

Towards the end of the evening, a large rally and march for the fair tax was taking place and completely overshadowed any other group that was there. About 4000 people showed up to march for the fair tax which dwarfed our 20 or so anti-war protesters. Me and one other person got stuck in the middle of the march and were surrounded on all four sides by a train of people. We stood our ground and held up our signs and took the abuse that ensued for about 30 min. (which is the time it took for the entire group to march past us). The republican supporters were nice compared to a lot of the people in the 'fair tax' group. We probably had several hundred people yell at us and flip us off during that grueling 30 min. period, which seemed to last forever. We thought a few of them were going to break out of their formation and jump us, but thankfully they were the type that sticks to the flock. Several of the minions yelled, "There are more of us than there are of you." I yelled back, "I guess that means I have more balls."

So, that was what was going on outside the walls of the republican presidential debate. I am sure there are many places you can go to get the scoop on what went on inside the debate.

Preview

2007-05-16T13:54:00.000-05:00

I haven't had time to sit down and put a post together on yesterday's debate, so this will have to be a placeholder for the time being. We are going out of town tomorrow and I have been busy preparing, but I will find more time to get this done today. Until then, enjoy this teaser.

Debate is tonight

2007-05-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

We're going downtown tonight to harass some Republicans before the debate. There will be an anti-war rally outside the convention center where the debate is being held. We'll try to bring back pictures, unless the local storm troopers smash our camera. Or our faces.

rally starts in an hour. still have to make signs. be back later.

Navyswan out.

Political Cartoon Time

2007-05-06T03:50:00.000-05:00

Click here to view a new cartoon by Mark Fiore called Veto Accomplished.
(I prefer to call it Lebensraum)

What is up with the food?

2007-05-01T13:47:00.000-05:00

First bacteria in our vegetables, then our pet food was contaminated with something called melamine, now it seems that the melamine problem is more far reaching than originally thought. What is going on with the regulation of our food? How is this allowed to happen? What does this say about the entire conservative philosophy of deregulation?

A new Import Alert the FDA has released says that there are several vegetable proteins that may be contaminated in addition to the wheat gluten that was found to be the source of contamination in the pet food. The alert is for the:

"DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF ALL VEGETABLE PROTEIN PRODUCTS FROM CHINA FOR ANIMAL OR HUMAN FOOD USE DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF MELAMINE AND/OR MELAMINE ANALOGS"

Also, it seems to go beyond just vegetable proteins. The FDA has released an update that says swine might also have been contaminated through contaminated rice protein concentrate in feed. The release says that there is low chance that this will lead to human illness, however some of the reasons they give are a little bit superficial at the very least. For example, "even if present in pork, pork is only a small part of the average American diet." Well, that's a nice thought.

Just to let you know: "As of April 26, sites in the following states are believed to have received and used contaminated product: California, Kansas, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah. As we confirm additional sites that have received and used contaminated product, we will provide additional updates."

Have a nice day.

Every Now and Then...

2007-04-28T00:29:00.000-05:00

There is good news. I ran across this article the other day and was hopeful. The Thai government has taken on Big Pharma and may be winning. From BBC News:

The Thai government's decision to bypass the patents on two Aids drugs and one heart drug, so it can offer them to all Thai citizens, is a bold move, which has put the country on a collision course with the big pharmaceutical firms.

Affordable ARVs are now available to tens of thousands of Thais - in fact many do not pay anything at all for them, as they are provided by the government's universal healthcare scheme or by HIV/Aids organisations.
This is possible because of Thailand's decision to make cheap, generic copies of ARVs at a fraction of the cost of the branded drugs.

That is fantastic. Healthcare should be seen as a right not as a privilege only the rich can afford. The big Pharmaceutical companies make a huge profit playing games with the lives of people all over the world that cannot afford the overpriced medications. For years the companies have found and exploited loop holes to keep from letting their expired patents onto the market, therefore disallowing cheaper generics to be made. Now, they are at the other end of a legal loophole and they are whining like babies.

Suddenly Thailand, long seen as a loyal trading partner of the US, has seen its image transformed into that of a violator of intellectual property rights.
Its decision has been condemned by the pharmaceutical industry, but applauded by non-governmental organisations campaigning for wider access to affordable medicines.
Actually what Thailand has done is completely legal under international trade regulations.

Way to go Thailand. Also, I think that we here in the states should be ashamed that a little country like Thailand has universal healthcare and we don't. As the only industrialized country that doesn't have universal healthcare of some type or another, America is falling behind other countries in regards to the health and well being of it's citizens. We are no longer number one in any aspect of health care. It really is sad that we have been tricked by the wealthy business class and politicians of this country to give up our health so that they can continue to receive tax breaks and rake in windfall profits every quarter. Meanwhile, it is becoming harder and harder for the average person to even afford insurance and if they can, they can't afford the medications. Good health should be a right.

Embrace the Cat Blogging

2007-04-28T00:11:00.000-05:00

Re: Fred's Cat Blog Post

Another go

2007-04-25T00:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the frequent disappearances. I feel like an absentee landlord. I can make excuses all day long about why I have been gone, like these: a death in the family, along with my sister visiting for two weeks, followed by nearly two weeks of sickness, but that would only be part of the reason. I could have written something at some point in there, but I didn't. I come here to the blog and stare at it at least twice a day if not more. However, I am always unable to start typing. I usually get frustrated and put it off for another day. I have lost my mojo.

I have been trying for a while to get back into the swing of things but have found it difficult. It seems that since the Democrats took back Congress a lot of people have fallen asleep and I find it frustrating. I have also been doing some depressing reading lately. For example, this from Gore Vidal:

By 1800 there were two political parties, each controlled by a faction of the regnant oligarchy. Today, despite close to two centuries of insurrections and foreign wars, of depressions and the usurpations by this or that branch of powers not accorded, there are still two political parties, each controlled by a faction of the regnant oligarchy. The fact that the country is so much larger than it was makes for an appearance of variety. But the substance of the two-party system or non-system is unchanged. Those with large amounts of property control the parties which control the state which takes through taxes the people's money and gives a certain amount of it back in order to keep docile the populace while reserving a sizable part of tax revenue for the oligarchy's use in the form of "purchases" for the defense department, which is the unnumbered, as it were, bank account of the rulers. (Gore Vidal, The Second American Revolution and Other Essays (1976-1982) pp. 266-267)

It seems that nothing has changed. The essays in this book were written before I was even born, but you can apply most of it to the political environment today. Thirty years later and we have the same complaints, the same problems and nothing has been done to rectify any of them (instead, more problems have been added). Is there any way to fundamentally change what our government has evolved into? Is it even possible? How?

Don't get me wrong, I am not a person that sits back and says, "there's no difference in the parties, so I am not going to vote or get involved because there is no point, blah, blah, blah". I know that this kind of thinking is partly why we are in this mess in the first place. While I am an absentee landlord of this blog most of the time, most of the citizens of this country are absentee landlords of their country (though they are perfectly capable of voting for the next American Idol).

I am going to try to write more often. I may not be analyzing the newest scandals that have come out of the political world very often, but I will be political. Everything these days is political. I am just hoping to go a little deeper than the most recent headlines. I will end this with an excerpt from the Tao Teh Ching:

If I had even the tiniest grain of insight,
I should live in accordance with
the subtle way of the universe;
my only fear would be to stray from it.
The Integral Way of the universe
is very smooth and straight,
yet people's minds prefer devious bypaths.

The courts are polished and decorated.
while the fields are untilled,
and the granaries are empty.
People wear fine clothes
to adorn their external appearance.
They carry sharp swords at their sides
and worship might rather than righteousness.
They know only to make merry
by indulging in food and drink.
They crave to possess more riches
than they could ever use.

This is the committing of robbery
and is not the Universal Integral Way of natural life.

Shameless Product Placement

2007-04-17T07:12:00.000-05:00

Borrelli olives are the best olives in the world.

Unless they give you botulism. Then they aren't so great. I long for the days when the biggest problem with our food was rumors of needles in clear Pepsi and arsenic in our Tylenol, the days when we could trust that at least our produce was safe. Learn to grow your own food. It's fulfilling and tasty, and no horrible diseases. And in your own garden, you don't have to take any risky shortcuts by placing profit margins over the safety of your family.

One of the old philosophical questions has been answered by the modern corporation. What is the value of a human life?

Apparently, not much.

On an unrelated note, I'm reading some stuff by Lao Tzu and a book on Vietnam, so hopefully I will be able to provide some deeper insights into how an enlightened man who is in touch with the universal subtlety would never have gotten involved in a land war in Asia. More on that later.

Clear the Mind

2007-03-30T12:31:00.000-05:00

In a world where up is down and war is peace and nothing is sane, it is nice to step back from the brink of insanity and find a little peace for yourself.

War: What is it Good For? Privatization!

2007-03-24T15:04:00.000-05:00

I need to write about something. I haven't been able to sit down and think. Actually, I have been avoiding it lately. There is so much going on and so little concern, so what is the point? Most of the major blogs bore me in their coverage of the same things over and over while ignoring other things that have been completely overlooked by almost everyone. Nothing seems to be changing. No one seems to care anymore about the fact that we are torturing people. No one cares about the mercenary groups of Blackwater and the like who not only work around the globe but have camps set up in America. No one seems to care that it is looking like we are never leaving Iraq. There was nearly no coverage of the protests on the anniversary of the "war". I understand that politically motivated firings of Attorneys is an issue that needs covering, but is there no room for a mention of other problems here and there?

The Walter Reed seemed to come and go. Seems it was replaced by the new scandal of the week. All the reporting was, of course, on how "incompetence" was to blame for all of this. However, what should have been the focus is that this is exactly what should have been expected. The most important aspect of this story should have been the privatization of Walter Reed and how it fits neatly into a trend that goes back since Bush took office. It is NOT incompetence. Their intention is to privatize everything: the military, social security, schools, etc. They want all of these institutions out of the hands of the government and into the hands of the private sector because then there will be no oversight and regulation of these institutions, and profit reigns over public interest. Think about it. The perfect military would be one that is beholden, not to protecting America, but to protecting the bottom line. Schools, when privatized, will no longer have to treat everyone equally. They can have their god in school (and while we're at it, why not bring back segregation?) Social security of our citizens would be at the whims of corporations. It is the ultimate goal. It is the complete destruction of the new deal that has been a stated goal all along.

And with this, there will be a permanent lower class of Americans. We will be back to no social nets, rampant poverty, etc. But they don't care. The corporations will have thick wallets and the religious right will have their god in school. Fuck everyone else. That is what complete privatization is really about. Helping the few at the expense of the rest.

Right now, we see the test run. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan. We have more mercenary forces working in more theaters of warfare than we have ever had in our history. The plan is to expand on this theme. More mercenaries and less military. If this is achieved, then the war mongers will not be beholden to the American people. We as citizens will not be able to put to a stop unjust wars. We are already seeing this. We have people fighting mini "wars" in over 60 countries around the world. Some of these are with mercenary troops only. Most people think we are only in two countries. Can we really say we have a democracy when we are waging wars in over 60 countries, some classified, and the majority of our country not even know about it? If we do not know that it is going on, there can't be any oversight. That is the point.

When we are told that we are living in a post 911 era, they mean it. Not because things inherently changed after that date, but since that date they have decided that they are going to fundamentally change America. And not for the good. They have found an excuse for permanent war. They have found something even better than the long running cold war: a never ending hot war.

Memphis Anti-War Protest

2007-03-19T08:19:00.000-05:00

As you all know, I had to change plans this past weekend and go to Memphis instead of D.C. I was disappointed by this turn of events. However, Friday I was listening to Air America and heard about a local protest that was planned for March 17th. So, I attended that one instead.

Midsouthpeace Protest

This was my first protest and it was relatively small. I would estimate around 200 people attended. It was a little different than I expected. The group that organized it is a religious group and there were several leaders of local churches that attended and spoke. From their website, "The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is an interfaith, inter-racial organization dedicated to education and advocacy for local and global peace and justice issues."

All in all, it was a great experience. I was a little worried about Marching down Beale Street during a pretty large St. Patrick's day celebration. However, everything turned out fine. We had a lot more cheers and thumbs ups than we had jeers. Actually, I only witnessed two people that had a problem with it. We also received a lot of honks of support from passing cars. I am looking forward to doing it again.

Also, if you are interested, pics and vids from other protests as I come across them:

March on the Pentagon
Protest in Austin

On Birth, Death, and Everything in Between

2007-03-13T12:05:00.000-05:00

It's spring break and I found that this is a perfect time to start my garden. So, on Saturday, I picked up some plants and seeds and I began digging up my flower bed. It took most of the day, but by dusk, I had a fully functioning herb garden complete with rosemary, basil, cilantro, parsley, and lavender.

The next day, we delved into the main garden. Out back, our yard has been neglected by years of uninterested tenants. Most of the yard is absent of grass, and compact dirt spots have taken it's place. So, with a few tools and a lot of motivation, we took to digging our plot. We began at noon and by 7:00pm we had dug, aerated, and fertilized a spot that ended up being 7' by 10'. We planted our tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, spinach. We then sowed our carrot seeds and watered the garden. We were finished. Now all we have left to do is watch nature do it's thing and marvel at the life we have created. After all, to me there are few things better in life than seeing something I have created flourish.

I was elated. The gardens were done and I was now getting excited about going to D.C. this weekend. But, as we had just finished sowing the last seed of life into our garden, we received a call that would bring a dark cloud over it all. My husband's grandfather is in the hospital. He has lung cancer (never smoked) and it has spread. With that, things seemed to crumble. So, now, we are in a different mode. The excitement of new life taking root and new experiences has been replaced with the somberness of a life ending. So, I guess, the cycle of life continues.

Instead of going to D.C. this weekend, we are scrambling to make last minute plans to go to Memphis. There we will say our goodbyes I suppose. This will, more than likely, be the last time we see him. The doctors have said that he has days, weeks, maybe months. But, since they said that, he has had a turn for the worse. No one there is optimistic about the situation.

I will be leaving here on Thursday. You will probably not hear from me from Thursday through Monday of next week. I will more than likely not have access to the internet. I'm sorry I will not be joining my friends in D.C. I hope that we can one day meet. For now though, the unpredictability of life will force us to go our separate ways.

To go with my post below

2007-03-06T01:31:00.000-05:00

I think this compliments the Joe Klein insanity quite well.

Can you hear that?

2007-03-05T23:45:00.000-05:00

We just moved a notch to the right.

Oh, how the kinda-but-not-really left in this country fall for a trap every time. Ole Joe Klein makes up some list about what a "left wing extremist" is and everyone goes bonkers. Not because Joe called people extremists for some relatively non-extreme ideas, but because he "misrepresented" the "left". So, for now on, I am guessing we will see a lot of people distance themselves from the issues that Joe brought up so as not to be pegged an "extremist".

Oh, sure, this country is just fucking peaches right now. (damn, I cussed. I must be an extremist) The government imperialistic? Nah, can't be. Cuz Joe said that if you say that, then you are an extremist. Kinda like if you say that we are winning in Iraq enough times, it will come true.

The US a negative source? Nope, that would be extremist talk. We all know that the US doesn't do ugly stuff like torture, start preemptive wars based on lies, and run secret prisons. And, as a supposed role-model of the world, if we do those things, there will be no negative effect internationally.

The administration purposely lied us into war? Oh my, no. That would be a dangerously radical thought. It's not like there was a memo that said, "fix the intelligence" to get us into war. It's not like there is overwhelming evidence that the decision to go into Iraq was decided a long time before the case to go to war was made (or fabricated).

And don't blame poverty on society. No that would be wrong. It's not like millions of more Americans have slipped into poverty since Bush has taken office. It's not like the gap between the rich and poor keeps widening even further every year. It's not like society tolerates businesses getting richer and richer while cutting more and more jobs and offering less and less benefits.

And don't ever bash the corporations. They are obviously your friends and care deeply about the average person. And, it would be extremist to bash them anyway. It's not like they are making windfall profits while the average person struggles to pay bills. It's not like they have been the number one benefiters of Bush's tax cuts (corporate welfare).

And please don't say anything negative about religious people (unless they are non-Christian, then they are fair game). It is extremist to even vocalize disapproval of even the most egregious acts done in the name of Christianity. It's not like Christians under Bush have pushed for allowing pharmacists to refuse prescriptions to patients. It's not like Christians have tried to undermine science. There are many more things, but to point them out and complain would be extreme of me.

In addition to the fact that Joey boy has created a situation where "left" leaning people will feel the need to distance themselves from valid points, he also sprinkled it with logical fallacies and strawmen statements.

"-believes in a corporate conspiracy that controls the world."

How about believes that under the global society that we live in, corporations have become very powerful entities that have a lot of political influence on the decisions that politicians make. And, politicians rely on corporate money for their campaigns and then owe those corporations something in return? I think that is a better description.

--believes American society is fundamentally unfair (as opposed to having unfair aspects that need improvement).

Strawman or some other logical fallacy. I have witnessed this one first hand. For example, a liberal complains about an aspect of health care that isn't fair and a right winger tells them that they hate America. It has become impossible to rightly complain of any problems in America without being attacked with these kind of strawman arguments.

Yet again, someone has taken valid ideas and valid complaints of the government that we live under and twisted them into something they are not. It is a classic swindle. The intended result is for people to jump ship and distance themselves from valid and very important problems this nation faces. Of course, from what I have seen, it is working.

However, Norbizness, or The Left, has not disappointed and seems to have called Joe on his scam.

Entertainment News

2007-03-01T23:54:00.000-05:00

If you like a good suspense thriller, you have to check out The State Within. This six part mini-series aired on BBC and I was lucky enough to catch a replay of it the other night on BBC America. It is absolutely captivating. You will not be able to stop watching. It makes the suspense thriller mini-series in America look like complete rubbish. If you don't have BBC, I believe that The State Within is on DVD now. In the meantime, check out the trailers on the website.

Over 513,000 tractors built in the last three months alone!

2007-02-26T03:28:00.000-05:00

So one thing I've learned over the last 6 years is that when the President says something in public, you can bet that the exact opposite of that statement is actually the truth.

Take, for example, this statement on the official White House "Jobs and Economic Growth" website.

"Real After-Tax Income Per Person Has Risen By 9.8 Percent – More Than $2,800 – Since The President Took Office."

Hooray!! Really? That's a bunch. Gee, thanks, Mr. President for making all of that income growth.

And yet we hear that an "American Journal of Preventive Medicine study... found that since 2000, the number of severely poor — far below basic poverty terms — in the United States has grown 'more than any other segment of the population.'"

So who do we believe? Do we believe the President's statement that "When people across the world look at America's economy what they see is low inflation, low unemployment, and the fastest growth of any major industrialized nation,"?

Or do we believe one of those "scientific" studies based on data from the Census Bureau that says things like this:

"Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries," the study found.

"That helps explain why the median household income for working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

"These and other factors have helped push 43% of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty — the highest rate since at least 1975."

Now, personally, I don't know why USA Today has to go all the way to Agence-France Presse to get economic news. It seems like they could have just pulled some fun facts off of the White House.gov site, slapped a happy picture on it, and called it a day. We would never have been the wiser. But now they've gone and published foreign stories about our illustrious economy that might make our national balls shirk in embarrassment. Shame on AFP for writing such blatant unvarnished truth. And shame on USA Today for publishing propaganda that hadn't been approved by our government. And worse, it was written by those Frenchy tarts at AFP. If it's not good enough to get Americans to write about, then it isn't true.

I guess in New America, everyone really is entitled to their own facts. You're free America. You're free to believe everything the government tells you to believe.

Now go back to sleep, America. I'm sorry I woke you. Don't mind me.

Conservapedia Insanita

2007-02-25T14:34:00.000-05:00

Many people are doing posts on the new conservative alternative to Wikipedia called Conservapedia. I was not going to jump on that bandwagon until I read some of it myself. This is proof that there are some people in this country that really do want to create their own reality. Here are some nuggets that I found:

Ninteenth [sic] Amendment

"In an early example of judicial activism, this amendment was ratified in 1920, as advocates ("suffragettes") cited women's support of World War I to persuade President Woodrow Wilson to change his position from opposing this amendment to supporting it. Women could already vote in many areas of the country, but this amendment guaranteed the right, in violation of the principle of states' rights."

Judicial activism? Really? How?

A slightly more disturbing passage is the one on the Crusades. I find the following point quite scary:

"Some Christians fully defend the Crusades, and proudly compare the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq to a modern version of the Crusades."

How about some more crazy:

Liberal:

"Modern liberals are treasonous and generally hate America."

Hate Crime:

"Liberals promote hate crime legislation for two reasons: (1) to publicize and sometimes exaggerate the importance of prejudice and (2) to legitimize certain lifestyles by declaring them to be protected by law. Under the second reason, hate crime legislation is a stepping stone for a lifestyle to become protected under anti-discrimination laws."

THE LEFT:

"The Left is this guy. He must be stopped."

I wish I were making that last one up, but I am not. See here.
But, this is enough for now. There is plenty more to sift through and I may post more in the future. Until then, enjoy these:

Encyclopedia Red State and
I'm assuming many conservatives are embarrassed by Conservapedia

March Protest

2007-02-24T17:59:00.000-05:00

I think there needs to be a conversation about the March 17th protest. I haven't seen any left wing sites talk about the right wing chatter that has been culminating, so I will start the conversation. The thinking people in the blogosphere need to address this "chatter" before the protest, not afterwards. From scanning the internets, it seems that the right wingers are frothing at the mouth to make this thing go sour. The Fr**pers are all on alert. They have all but said that they will try and start a riot. Some quotes from a thread about the protest are:

- "This is the big one"
- "A riot is an ugly thing, and it's about time we had one."
- "Blackwater ops on the way."
- "One riot = One Ranger."
- "5.56mm"

I think everyone that is planning on attending the protest needs to realize that there is a chance that some right wing militants will try to make this thing turn ugly. There is a history of instigators infiltrating peaceful protests in this country. As the fr**pers clearly state, it only takes one person to start a riot. It seems that this is their goal.

I know that some protest veterans may say that this is always a possibility and there is nothing to worry about. However, this is the first major protest since the republicans lost Congress. The right-wing fringe is feeling threatened and there is no telling what they may do. Like they said, "this is the big one." The alternate world that these people have created in their heads is falling apart around them. Personally, I think they are capable of anything at this point. (Note the reference to the 5.56mm round)

What does this mean?
This post is not intended as fear-mongering. I am not trying to dissuade people from going to the protest. I think that everyone that can go should go. What I am doing is trying to start a dialog. We need to be talking about this before something happens to ensure that more people will understand what happened if things turn ugly. These things tend to get covered up or not even talked about. Why? Tell me your thoughts.

Also, if you have been to protests like this before, what should one expect?

How Far Must We Fall?

2007-02-23T03:07:00.000-05:00

How much further do we have to go before hitting rock bottom? How far do we go before we see more than just rhetorical wars of the words? When can we begin to have intelligent conversations about the direction that this country has taken? Will it be after another war is waged, or the economy has crashed, or the middle class disappears? How long must we let this failed conservative experiment play out before we can finally change course? Because that is what we are seeing right now. Everything from foreign to domestic policy is a failure that is continually getting worse.

I scour the blogosphere desperately looking for some semblance of serious discussion of important issues, usually to no avail. There are only a few blogs that even bring up these important issues. Unfortunately, too often, I see that these are the least commented on posts. And even when the posts do get attention, they quickly fall prey to a diversion troll. It almost seems that after the November elections, the nation went back to sleep.

People think that the stupid little victory in November is meaningful. Only slightly. While the democrats can bring some balance back to the government in some cases, the big problems that plague our country still exist and they are still festering. Health care costs are still rising. The "war" in Iraq is not ending anytime soon. (The newest estimate is that it will be another 10 years before we even think about leaving!! ) The gap between the rich and the poor is rising at a fast pace. Housing, food, and fuel costs are rising. The deficit is soaring. Meanwhile, we are giving tax cuts to the rich. The US is threatening Iran. Ships are piling up just outside their border. Our rights have been chipped away little by little. Religious fundamentalism is on the rise. How long can we sustain the current course we are on? What can we do to stop it? And how do we do anything when the rhetoric from both sides of the American political spectrum sound so much alike?

As far as I see it, there are two main groups that are shaping the rhetoric. There are the American centric nationalists on the right and the American centric populists on the left. (Not the true left. American politics is skewed to the right, so the "left" I am referring to is probably the middle in any balanced nation.) These two groups are made up of mostly the same type of people. They are both hurting and they have both been conditioned to redirect their frustrations on some foreign entity. Both groups are very similar in the targets of their frustration. The right is more fervent in their hatred of the target groups, but in general, both sides are guilty of projecting their frustrations. You will find the same American centric racist slant from both the nationalists and the populists in regards to Muslims and Hispanics.

For example, this week Rush Limbaugh was railing against the US allowing 7000 Iraqis take refuge in this country. At crooks and liars, there was a post about the democratic governor of Ohio who said that he didn't want the Iraqis in his state. I thought, for sure, that the comments would consist of disgust towards the callousness of the governor's statements. But, about 50% or more of the comments were in agreement with the governor and Rush. However, to be fair, the commenters on C&L are a new group of the populist democrats I mentioned above. I am not sure what happened to some of the real liberals that made that site great, but it has greatly deteriorated since they have left.

The scary thing is it seems that we have actually went a notch further to the right over the last few months rather than moving back towards the middle. And, yes, I said towards the middle. Right now, we are so far right as a country, that a large portion of the democrats can be characterized as right of center. Which basically means that we barely have a democracy, at least not a true democracy. It seems that if your ideas do not fit into a small window between center and extreme right, you are not seen as a true American. How is that democracy? How is it that so many of us have NO voice in politics? The way I see it, we nearly have a oligarchy. Businesses have more say in how the government acts than the millions of citizens. And, yet, we continually obsess over whether gays should marry or whether Hillary should be president? (NO. She should not! Are two families the only ones capable of running this country? Why not just declare that we are an aristocracy?)

We are screwed. We, as a nation, have let the wealthiest people and corporations completely take over our government and it will be damn near impossible to get it back. The corporations and the wealthiest people in the world are screwing us and other poor people in other nations, but too many of us take their cue and blame who they tell us to blame for the mess they made. CAFTA and NAFTA really hurt Central and South American families. That is one of the main causes in the increase in people over the border. Our companies made the families there destitute. Our jobs are then shipped off to China and India because the corporations know that they can take advantage of the people there. By doing this, they leave entire towns destitute here in the states. And who do they tell us to blame? They tell us that it is the Mexican's fault. Although, the Hispanic peoples are suffering from the same ills we are. And the masses eat it up. Our jobs have been shipped to China because of corporate greed, and the Mexicans are to blame. It doesn't make sense when you spell it out like that, but people will still eat it up.

And for another twist, China is now outsourcing some of the jobs that we have outsourced to them to poorer countries such as Vietnam. So, when does the chain stop? And what happens when it does? What is driving this whole corrupt machine is the need for quick, easy money. The corporations move their businesses to poorer and poorer countries and pay the people crap. We get somewhat cheaper crap than we were getting. However, we all need cheaper crap because the corporations took the good paying jobs away and we are all working in the service sector. Maybe when the republican dream is realized and we have shanty towns full of our own destitute people who are desperate for any work at all, they will move the manufacturing sector back here. Then China can buy some cheap American made products.

Tao and the Art of Climate Repair

2007-02-18T11:18:00.000-05:00

"A sage governs this way:

He empties the people's minds and fills their bellies.
He weakens their wills and strengthens their bones.
Keep the people always without knowledge and without desires,
For then the clever will not dare act.
Engage in no action and order will prevail."

~Laozi

The religious right's never ending War on Science seems to be an effort to follow this 2300 year old nugget of Chinese philosophy. Laozi's idea was that if the people are ignorant and plain, they will be good little worker bees with no thoughts of advancement, either social or technological. In his mind, this would lead to an introverted, simple, peaceful society.

Perhaps more accurately, I believe it would lead to a society of minds that are more easy to mold to the whims of the leader. At the time, Laozi was also advocating inaction on the part of the king or governor. However, with today's religious and political leaders taking a more active (and destructive) path, the simple-minded population they are bent on creating will only be more likely to follow them blindly down the destructive path they are creating.

From Burnt Orange Report, via C&L:

Evolution is a religious conspiracy

"It's enough to set the world a-spinning that the chairman of the [Texas] House Appropriations Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, distributed to legislators a memo pitching crazed wingers who believe the earth stands still -- doesn't spin on its axis or revolve around the Sun -- that Copernicus was part of a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Old Testament.

Why fund public schools or keep colleges available to the middle class if they are filling our children's heads with damaging Kabbalistic fantasies? (Yes, Copernicus, Darwin et al are part of a Kabbalistic Conspiracy according to the fixed-earth crowd)."

This was brought on by a letter written in the name of a member of the Georgia state House by the proprietor of www.fixedearth.com, a purely batshit crazy place where they ignore and/or manufacture science in the interest of getting evolution out of schools and replacing it with creationism. They just want to use a Jewish conspiracy to do it. A lot of people were all upset over the Jewish thing, including the ADL, but that was just the means to an end, as far as I can see. The end they want to accomplish is the same as the B of E in the Dover case, and the same as the Kansas B of E. They want their particular religion implanted in the school system, at any cost.

It really does require a particularly stunning ignorance of physics and astronomy to arrive at some of the conclusions this guy reaches. I tried to sift through some of it, but i couldn't find (1) any purported scientific evidence to support his claim of a fixed earth or (2) any correct information about the currently accepted cosmology he was supposedly trying to refute. He missed some really basic things about modern cosmology, like the age of the universe. When you claim that an ancient Kabbalah text set the age of the universe at 15 billion years, and that proves that modern cosmology is a Jewish conspiracy, it might be interesting to point out that the currently accepted age of the universe is more like 13 billion years. That might not be important to him, but it's pretty important to astrophysicists. And when you talk about Newton's "invented math" (i.e. calculus) that he used to solve the planetary motion problems, you should probably mention that he invented calculus because the systems were a little too complex for simple algebra. I mean, you could do it with algebra, but it would take so much more paper. What if Newton's hand had cramped halfway through doing all that algebra, and he just said, "Ahhh, fuck it! Who cares why the planets go around in circles. I'm going to go sit back under that nice apple tree." I suppose as a corollary to his designs on ending evolution, he should also advocate stopping math education at algebra. And I guess he would want Pythagoras' "occult" geometry taken out as well. I suppose he wants school to cover reading skills to the point where a student can read the Bible, and then send them home to work in the factory.

Anyway, the fact that the chair of the National Council of State Legislators committee on Agriculture, Environment, and Energy seems to give this crackpot enough credence to pass his tripe around to the entire Texas state legislature is scary enough. Is there no one in government with enough scientific background to refute these claims outright? Apparently not. It seems everyone wants to jump on the Anti-Semite bandwagon first, rather than the Anti-Science this guy was trying to push onto people.

Maybe this has something to do with it:

Knowledge of core subjects increasing, but so is belief in pseudoscience

"In 1988 only about 10 percent knew enough about science to understand reports in major newspapers, a figure that grew to 28 percent by 2005.

People are giving increasing credence to pseudoscience such as the visits of space aliens, lucky numbers and horoscopes.

In addition, these researchers noted an increase in college students who report they are “unsure” about creationism as compared with evolution.

There also has been a drop in the number of people who believe evolution correctly explains the development of life on Earth and an increase in those who believe mankind was created about 10,000 years ago.

Miller said a second major negative factor to scientific literacy was religious fundamentalism and aging."

So here we have a direct correlation between religious fundamentalism, belief in creationism, and belief in aliens and horoscopes. Well, to be fair, the article did suggest that the belief in astrology may be tempered by people's confusing astrology and astronomy. I would argue that people who confuse the two don't actually know that much about astronomy.

Anyway, while religion serves a social function, providing a place for communities to grow, a place for social structure and trust to form, etc, when religion gets in the way of human advancement, it presents a larger negative social impact than the positive influences it brings. If you have a very strong sense of community, but your city is going to be underwater in 30 years when the glaciers melt, it doesn't really matter how many people brought you a casserole when you were sick or how everyone coo-ed over your niece at her baptism. Your city is underwater.

Which brings us to this:

Poll Finds High School Students Don’t Understand Climate Change Issues

"[T]he average high school student believes climate change has no consequences for them in their lifetime, according to the survey. The average high school student fails a quiz on the causes and consequences of climate change...

Students who are not affiliated with any religious denomination know more about climate change, and are 13 percent more likely to believe the U.S. should reduce greenhouse gases."

This particular type of scientific ignorance is, perhaps, the most dangerous, simply because of the potential level of disaster involved. The International Panel on Climate Change released a major report earlier this month. It didn't seem to make much of a splash in the major media outlets here, at least compared to the relative significance of the report to other "news" stories at the time (i.e. diaper on an astronaut, some lady died, etc) that got played out over a painfully long time. Why didn't a major report of several hundred scientists from around the world get more attention and respect payed to it? I have an idea. This was the Working Group 1 report on the Physical Science Basis for climate change. That's going to have a bunch of big words and science-y terms in it, like "paleoclimate" and "radiative forcing" and "biogeochemistry". No one understands words like that, so no one would "get" a news report about the report.

Maybe when WG 2 report comes out in April on "Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability", it will get more attention. I sure hope so, because that one will probably have more direct application to our lives, like the projected outcomes of our inaction that we will have to adapt to, the potential cultural and socio-economic impact of climate change, etc. And then WG 3 in May will tell us how we can maybe stop some of this from happening at all. Please America, learn a little when these reports come out. I'm sure other people around the world would like you to. It's OK, really. You don't have to be science dumb. It's not hard and it doesn't hurt. The reports explain everything for you. Just give it a try.

Erratic behavior

2007-02-16T03:30:00.000-05:00

My internet connection has been sketchy. I have had a hard time getting and staying connected. So, if I am not around, I am probably not able to get online.

On other topics:

I am not sure why I even bother with this blog. Who cares? Who listens? I am not sure anymore. People seem to get more and more stupid as time goes on. I am surrounded by kids who have no idea why we went to Iraq or anything about the lies that led us to the war. They were only in junior high when we invaded and they think that we should 'stay the course' because their parents are conservative republicans who obviously teach them that phrase along side the alphabet. When asked why we went to Iraq, they cannot answer. They have no clue about what is going on. You may think I am over exaggerating, but these kids don't know anything at all.

When asked in a political science class when Bush made the axis of evil speech, one student said 2004. The same student, when asked, said that the Iraq war started in 2001. How's that for critical thinking? The poor kid somehow thinks the Iraq war began three years before the 'axis of evil' speech. Another student, when asked to label a map of the Middle East, put North Korea next to Iraq. These are college students!

There really is no point to this post and that is why there is no clear definition to it. If you find that I am just all over the place, I am. I don't care. It is 3:00 a.m. and I got a glass of wine, and I could care less.

A final word on stupidity:

Paid for by your tax dollars, a word from a soon to be military officer:

"I hope Stephen Colbert runs for President. We need a good South Carolina republican running for president."

That was a serious comment. I wish it were a joke, but it is not. Maybe more frightening, however, is that he is a political science major. I am sure he has a future job at the AEI.

I guess the better part of the above story was the look on his face when he was corrected. I am told that he looked like he was about to cry. I think about this guy and how he must have worshiped this fake character on TV and I laugh my ass off. It is so sad, but so fucking hilarious at the same time. What a dumbass.

I guess I should wrap this up. I am on my third glass of wine since I started this post. If I keep writing, I will end up at four glasses and an inability to write correctly. So, goodbye for now.

Deja Vu

2007-02-14T09:33:00.000-05:00

For anyone that has noticed the increased rhetoric from the Administration about Iran:

Tony Snow cleared it all up for us yesterday in his press briefing:

Tony Snow: We've declared it over and over — we're not going to war with them. Let me make that clear. So anybody who is trying to use this as "the administration trying to lay the predicate for a war with Iran" — no, we're committed to diplomacy with Iran. But we are also committed to protecting our forces.

Now, see? All cleared up. No reason to doubt Mr. Snow. It's not like our leadership would lie right to our faces about such an important issue. And it's not like there is a precedent for this kind of behavior. It reminds me of 2002 when good ole Rummy let us know the truth about Iraq:

WASHINGTON — The United States has no plans to invade Iraq or any other country, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday, but he refused to discuss the Bush administration's thinking about how to deal with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Think about this for a while:

"It may be hard to follow George W. Bush's path to [...] because he is walking down two roads at once. The only way diplomacy can succeed is if Bush is fully prepared for it to fail."

"So word spreads that his generals are planning to mount a military exercise in the Persian Gulf ....... even as his diplomats are hard at work on a United Nations resolution..."

(and before you click the link, try to guess what country the passage is referring to)

What Are You Fighting For?

2007-02-13T14:03:00.000-05:00

This is my first attempt at making a video. I hope you enjoy it.

The interesting thing about art is that the feelings you have, that you can never quite put into words, all come streaming out. - me

Been gone too long

2007-02-13T04:27:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the disappearing act...again. I have been working on a side project for the blog. I can't tell you what it is, but it will be a first for me. It should be ready soon. I hope it will make up for my absence.