Habeus Corpus No More

US News Article | Reuters.com: "Bush's power to detain US enemy combatant upheld"

Roachblog

Roachblog

Well . . . at least "terrorists" didn't do the killing . . .

International News Article | Reuters.com: "Two U.N. Peacekeepers Killed in Haiti"

snapshot

A few days ago I found myself at a man's apartment off Jefferson Avenue deep in the body of Brooklyn. When I walked onto the street it took me a minute to figure out how the numbers were running and before I found the apartment a guy watchdogging the block from the corner shouted out, "What address you lookin' for?" Turf. Inside the apartment building I wound through a dingy maze of hall and staircase, my shoulders actually knocking against the walls. Like Theseus, I trekked past an eye peering from a cracked, chained door, past a "Beware of Dog!!!" sign and then a pretty young woman who guardedly glanced and replied "Good . . . you?" as I squeezed by and asked how she was doing. On the third floor landing, the door to the apartment was open. I poked my head in and called out "Djoman!" From a side room a friendly dreadlocked African man walked out and greeted me, leading me immediately to the room where I worked on his computer and audio system.

When I'd finished working, I packed up my things and headed back out to the living room. On the couch was another man who had come in while I was working. He was burly and sour and quite a bit on the hard side. "Hey man, you're pretty quick! I watched you working. You know what you're doing." I said thanks. "I want to know if you can do something for me." There was an awkward pause. "Do you know how to get into a computer and find things out?" I said it depended on what he meant. What did he want me to do? At once I thought he wanted me to hack something - like maybe a safe - but I just commented vaguely that there were things that could be done. "I want you to come to my house and look at my computer. I want you to find out who my wife is talking to on the internet."

I get asked to do a lot of things on my job. I poke through people's computers and see their secret stuff, letters from their business partners, court papers, snapshots, you name it. But this was a first - which only means that if I do this long enough I'll be asked again. The man was angry. I chuckled and said, "I don't want to get into it." He didn't smile. Djoman laughed nervously, "He wants you to spy on his wife." Now, I can think of few things I'd less like to do than spy on a man's wife - both because I'm not inclined to spy, but also because one should avoid proximity to such magnetic fields. Suddenly I saw his wife in a negligee touching my temples and rubbing my shoulders as I worked on the dilapidated family computer. I saw myself running through the streets with neighborhood kids laughing and pelting me with rocks, the enraged husband tearing the shirt from my back, the meat cleaver swinging in his sweaty hand. As I walked back to the train the guy on the corner gave me a nod and asked me if I'd found what I was looking for. I guess I had - a snapshot.

Those Never Known Are Known

A friend of mine told me that a friend of his died last week. I'd never met her. She was a Nigerian girl named Vivienne and she was young and beautiful and she had sickle cell anemia.

When he and I were talking, her death wasn't the first thing he mentioned. But after I told him about the recent, big upsetting thing in my life - something I'm slow to speak of - he in turn told me what was weighing most heavily upon his soul.

Life is so sad. It is brief and confusing and absurd. We can learn things and we can work at things, but the learning and working can never be completed. And as hard as we try to get things right, we're not really built for that.

In hearing of the death of my friend's friend, I felt as if my friend had died - one not known merged with one known - and in fact I think my friend had died a little, which meant that I too had died a little. I was dazed and grieved by this simple equation. The most important thing in life is the sharing of it.

Here's to Vivienne and to the things she and Paul shared in Atlantic City and in New York City - hanging out with Tom Jones, flirting, playing cards, laughing, gambling, living.

I'da Made Perle Eat His Own Shoe

A Lying, Traitorous, War Mongering, Rapacious Bastard Gets Far Less Than He Deserves!

He should account for every Iraqi and American death to which he's contributed. A shoe in his face simply wont suffice. Dirty shoes to start and Guantanamo Desert for all the members the Conquerers' Club! Here's to the New World Order . . . Huzzah!

Let's Get To Work - Dean Shows Up Sounding Like A Real Democrat

Dean's Letter To America

Okay now . . . I don't wanna hear anybody kidding themselves about who Howard Dean is. Howard Dean is a conservative. The right wingers and the sellout Democrats who support the violent establishment of the New World Order are going to call him "Chairman Mao", but we know they're full of it. Reject the Radical Right Wing Realm Of Unreality within which the Clinton's (of all people) exist as representatives of the left. They don't believe it, so don't you. Let's not act like Dean's some sort of Progressive Messiah. No, Dean's a fairly conservative Democrat with a few admirable progressive positions. Having said that, many of us can and should work with this guy. Even if he's conservative - let's give him a chance. At least the Democratic National Committee is under the leadership of a guy who talks and walks . . . yes, and hollers like a Democrat.

Here's Chairman Howard Dean's DNC Plan as posted on the DNC site.

1. Show up! Democrats should never concede a single state, a single district, or a single voter to the Republicans. We must be active and compete in all 50 states and work with the state parties to build a true national party.

2. The success of the national party depends directly on the success of the state parties — we must better integrate our operations by:
Having the DNC pay the salary of each state party executive director to help ensure that the state parties have adequate funds.
Collectively building and sharing supporter lists between the national and state parties.
Recruiting, training, and encouraging candidates to run for office at every level — building tomorrow's farm team from the ground up.
Actively grow local Democratic committees and communities by working with neighborhood activists who can reach out in their communities and enable the grassroots to support state and local candidates.
Maintaining a permanent campaign in every state. We need to establish an ongoing, active presence, which does not have to be recreated every four years for four months.

3. Set core principles that define the Democratic Party and what we stand for and take a bottom-up approach to the development of the Party's message;

4. Use cutting-edge Internet and other technologies to fundraise, organize, and communicate with our supporters;

5. Strengthen our political institutions and leadership institutes to promote our leaders and our ideas — these organizations must work together in a coordinated and integrated fashion to elect Democrats at every level, so that we can take this country back.

A Simple Testament To A Powerful Activist

Ossie Davis: A Life of Passion, Principle

Dean Takes DNC Chairmanship - No Thanks To The Clintons, Kerry . . . Or Organized Labor

What Does It Mean?