HAZMAT

Habeus Corpus No More

2005-09-09T12:23:00.000-05:00

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

Roachblog

2005-03-21T02:18:00.000-05:00

Roachblog

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

2005-03-21T01:29:00.000-05:00

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

snapshot

2005-03-04T11:48:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-03T01:12:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-18T09:54:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-16T20:13:00.000-05:00

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

2005-02-16T01:19:00.000-05:00

Ossie Davis: A Life of Passion, Principle

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

2005-02-14T10:14:00.001-05:00

What Does It Mean?

The Passing Of A Great Artist

2005-02-11T11:48:00.000-05:00

Playwright Arthur Miller Dies at 89 (AP)

Spreading Feardom And Hypocrisy To All The World

2005-02-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

Condoleeza! New Negro For The New American Century!

Our correspondent Jeff Gannon of Talon News reports on Rice's fabulous European tour: "She arrived as if a winged warrior, a goddess. She truly was the obsidian Brunhilde!!! The French and German degenerates groveled at her feet!"

True Theory Of Relativity

2005-02-04T10:52:00.000-05:00

Behold!

Father and Son

2005-02-01T01:50:00.000-05:00

The man's son evenly announced, "I wanna be like mommy."
"Oh?", he replied.
"Yes. I understand how it feels to be a girl."

The father thought, "I don't think my son is gay . . . nah, he's just five years old." Then he thought, "Will my son see himself as black? His mother tells me he's not black - that he's just a person." The man thought, "Just a person? . . . like mommy? Does she mean just a person like herself, that is a white woman, or just a person like myself, who happens to be a black man?"

He laughed at himself. He knew his own mind was just getting funny with him. He knew his son would most likely see himself as a dozen different things - that contradictory, fluid, course and subtle identities would grip him, taunt him, mold him, bore him or elude him altogether. He knew that identity needn't be exclusionary. He knew all this. He was a broad mover and thinker.

But the world is a narrow place. The father worries for his son. He wants to understand his son, see himself in him, help him. He wants him to be strong, full of character. He's a good man, trying to do the best he can do. A few days after his son's proclamation the man secretly calls his sister and asks her if she thinks his son is gay.

Brother cracks me up.

Lincoln's Caution

2005-01-30T14:00:00.000-05:00

While I can't attest to the accuracy of the quote, I trust it is true. This was forwarded to me by a dear friend and political thinker:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching
that unnerves me and causes me to tremble
for the safety of my country. As a result of the
war, corporations have been enthroned and
an era of corruption in high places will follow,
and the money power of the country will
endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon
the prejudices of the people until all wealth is
aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is
destroyed."

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln and Eisenhower have warned us. Take their words to heart.

Are They Private Accounts Or "Personal" Accounts?

2005-01-28T13:06:00.000-05:00

Alarm! Don't stop calling "private" accounts, "private" accounts!
Remember what's important! The Bush administration and their flacks, shills and courtiers within the government and media are trying to change the term from "private" to "personal". You see, it seems that people were somewhat confused and put off by the notion of privatizing social security. The radical right now believes that the word "personal" has a softer, more secure and homey air. Immediately, the major media in the U.S. has capitulated to the administration's desire that the new word be used. How . . . convenient.

"Privatization" must be held as the primary term in this debate. Progressives must force the Democratic Party to use the word in their critique of the administration. The media must be forced to use the word. Learn from Grover Norquist, Carl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Sinclair, Mellon Scaife, Murdoch. Dammit! This is a propaganda war. Their side knows it. Meanwhile, I've been watching for almost twenty years as the radical right has used all of the tools of deconstructionist propaganda to dance circles around Progressives and Moderate Liberals. Wake up people!

Privatization is a move in the wrong direction. And these guys see social security privatization as but one in a cluster of radical privatizations. Fight at the level of language!

Privatization = Deprivation
Private Is The Playboy's Purloined Purse, His Spoiled Smirk
Privatization Turns The Public Square Cold and Dangerous
What's Privatized is What's YOURS Made NOT YOURS

Never, never, never stop calling it social security PRIVATIZATION!!!

. . . thank you . . .

Turner Compares Fox's Popularity to Hitler

2005-01-26T11:49:00.000-05:00

Turner has intimated as much before.

It saddens me that he still feels it necessary to make this rather self-evident point.

It terrifies me that anyone could laugh, dismiss, or resign themselves to it.

Gonzales Fails To Gain Backing of Mexican American Legal Defense Fund

2005-01-24T13:38:00.000-05:00

"In a significant and welcome move, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund ('MALDEF') has publicly stated that it 'cannot support [Alberto Gonzales'] confirmation' as Attorney General.

MALDEF was very careful to praise Gonzales for his life achievements and to state that they expect to work with him if he is confirmed. But the headline is MALDEF's refusal to support his confirmation. I applaud them. I am sure it was not an easy thing to do, as they faced considerable pressure internally and externally on this. Consider that they are opposing the first Mexican American nominated to be Attorney General. It may seem mealy mouthed, but I believe it is a courageous act.

From a purely political point of view, Democratic Senators have no excuse now. This is all the political cover they could possibly need. Their votes now are truly votes of conscience. A yes vote will condone torture. They must vote no."
(Via Daily Kos.)

Let's hope the Senate Democrats weigh in on the right side of this one. In the short run the Democrats may suffer with Republican identified Mexican voters, but for the sake of the long run they must make a principled stand in opposition to Gonzalez. Besides, if they show strength they may begin to pry back some political capital - then (down the line) we could have a progressive Mexican American Attorney General.

Progressive Groundswell?

2005-01-19T00:39:00.000-05:00

Democracy For America: "Oklahoma, Mississippi and Utah Democratic Party Leadership Join Florida in Endorsing Gov. Howard Dean for DNC Chair"

Weren't The Spartans Peerless Warriors? And Homosexuals?

2005-01-17T11:03:00.000-05:00

Pentagon Spurned Plan to Initiate Enemy Homosexuality
It makes sense that the Big Cajones at the Pentagon dropped the plan. Correct me If I'm wrong, but wouldn't such passionate sentiment for one's comrades only strengthen unity in the face of American troups?

For The Battle Shall Be Bloody

2005-01-11T17:37:00.000-05:00

Dean For DNC Chairmanship

Goodness! Does he know what he's in for? How hard will the Clintonites seek to destroy this guy? Or will he simply be bought?

Rope-A-Dope Won't Trump Padrone Putsch

2005-01-07T01:43:00.000-05:00

Ali took way to many punches, and now the Democrats appear set to do the same. But you know what? The Republicans will pound the friggin' paste out of the Democrats if that's their brilliant plan.

I'm so fkn fed up with these Democrats - here's what I say. To hell with the Republican-Light wing of the Democratic Party. Those jerks have had enough of my support. Almost everything the Republicans say about their lilly-livered, spineless, disingenuous, idealess and calculating nature is true.

We've all heard the Republican jingo about fighting to defend democracy. Well check it out, we'd better fight to defend liberalism. Fascists and Evangelicals will not become adherents of liberalism by osmosis. But now is not the time for liberalism anyway.

The future of the Democratic Party lies with the Progressives. We must seize the party. That's it! No more considered compromise for the Clintons and Kerrys of the world. They don't deserve it.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones & Barbara Boxer - Babies Got Back! . . . Bone That Is

2005-01-06T13:18:00.000-05:00

Jones and Boxer Take A Historic Stand.

Bush will have been named president twice through appointment by another branch of government. Last time it was the Conservative Supreme Court, this time it will be the Conservative Congress.

John Conyers fought to publicize the issue of voter irregularities and fraud in Ohio. Take a look at the report.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio's 11th District and California Senator Boxer have now forced a debate in the House and Senate.

But where are John Kerry and John "We will count every vote" Edwards on this significant day?

What pathetic perspective will Scott McLellan over at the DNC share with us on this one?

I'll tell you one thing, the Republicans will respond with fire, too bad the "leadership" of the Democratic Party is so, so feeble.

Of All The Pandering, Propagandistic Things To Say!

2005-01-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

Damage Looks Worse Than War - "I have been in war and I have been through a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have never seen anything like this." - Powell On Tsunami Aftermath

What? Proportionatly worse, or worse in a site by site comparison? Worse than Falluja? Worse than Mai Lai? What the hell is this man's point? Is he implying that slaughter caused by wars of American agression is not "as bad" as that caused by nature?

Far better to have loved ones struck by bolts of lightning than to have maniacs hack them down before your eyes. To loosely quote the despicable Rudolph Giuliani, "There's no moral equivalency."

2005: Let's Go Over A Few Things Again

2005-01-03T14:10:00.000-05:00

"My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober." Gilbert K. Chesterton

One of the strangest things about blogging is the ease with which one can stumble across a quotation . . . and . . . then . . . quote it. (At times, a blog becomes a jingoistic medium, like a favorite saloon, where one easily relays and amplifies ill-thought positions, instantly making them one's own.) Despite the obvious irony, I'm comfortable quoting Chesterton's criticism of jingoism.

Other than this presently-quite-pertinent aphorism, all I know of Chesterton is that he converted to Catholocism and authored novels in which the priest-detective Father Brown pursued mysteries through a world of skepticism and faith.

Was he also a flippant bigot? Some suggest his work contains sloppy racial stereotypes. Some say EXACTLY the contrary - that he poked and prodded at those stereotypes. Hhmmm. Whoever Chesterton was, whatever he believed, it's a nice little quote.

Messed up people make good points. Good people have messed up perspectives.

Sweet fruit has bitter skin, or vice-verse, or not. We do not live in a world of "Good" people and "Evil Doers".

Nothing in this world is so simple.

As America's hyper-powerful war of dominion continues, we in America, at the center of imperium, within these Inebriated States of America must stubbornly resist the faux patriotism of the warmongers. We must continually question those who would control our definitions of terrorist, patriot, homeland, mother.

War Is A Racket - Major General Smedley Butler

2004-11-24T09:59:00.000-05:00

Smedley Butler Was A Coward: Speed Boat Vets Tell The Truth

Praise the Lord, The Americans Continue To Liberate The People Of Iraq!

2004-11-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

First our man Saddam Did It - Now American Soldiers Do It. See soccer moms and Nascar dads shower their love upon God's less fortunate.

We're Decent People - They Bad . . . Bad! Bad!!!!

2004-11-16T15:56:00.000-05:00

What all the world knows and half of America denies . . . and yet . . . when confronted with it . . . by "liberals" or "traitors" or "Frenchies" . . . finds . . . oddly . . . SATISFYING! . . . Praise Be! America remains a profound practitioner of terror. From Indian massacres, to the Philippines, to Vietnam, and now Iraq.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

2004-11-09T17:18:00.000-05:00

I can't say anything about America's laughable voting standards that hasn't already been said. Send a man to the moon? Sure. Track down a tax dodger? You bet! Blow up a terrorist in a far corner of the world with a missile fired from a ship in another corner? Hubba! Hubba! Have a clear, verifiable, secure voting system here in the richest country on the planet? Get real . . .

The People Of The Earth

2004-11-06T18:26:00.001-05:00

Some people are born poor in Bangladesh. They are smart and full of character. They may even be charismatic, witty, visionary. But because they are born into some bad situation without any opportunities - any plump, easy opportunities - they languish. They never see a beautiful mountaintop sunrise. They never ride a horse or go skiing or have a friend give them inside information on an investment opportunity. They persevere and they toil. And then one day, it's over. They die without achieving any of the great things to which they were suited. To my mind, they are heroes.

Other people are born in the suburbs of a Dallas or a Los Angeles. They aren't particularly smart and have little character. They are not curious or gifted in any discernable or distinguishing way, but they are richer than most of the people of the earth. They get their first car at age 16 and get into a college where they get high and learn a few things. When they finish school, they get another car and begin working. These people are atuned to a world of wealth, and they know how to get along. They win. Over the span of their lives they consume large amounts stuff and enjoy beautiful moments. Many of these people are loathsome. But they win.

Life isn't fair.

George Bush reminds us of this. America is "about" this.

6:35 am - vote cast - patience is a virtue

2004-11-02T08:26:00.000-05:00

. . . on and on and on it goes

2004-10-20T09:32:00.000-05:00

I just don't think I'll be very active with the blog until I get back to New York. Sorry. Blue Mountain and Eagle Nest are spectacular and my work is coming apace - it's all my faculties are able to manage. But I check the net for a second each day, and I did notice this: Stay Vigilant!

Trifecta!!! Kerry Wins Final Debate - Bush Suffers Wierd Slack On Left Side of Jib, Froth On Other Side

2004-10-14T08:13:00.000-05:00

On a day when the news from Iraq is as nasty and shameful as ever, we within the Blessed Kingdom must look back over the recent diversion of the presidential debates and scorn the mainstream media. Here's one of the reasons why - from The American Prospect:

MSNBC: WORSE THAN FOX? Chris Matthews just asked Andrea Mitchell , NBC's news correspondent, for her reaction to tonight's debate. Mitchell made a few cursory remarks and then, struggling not to roll her eyes, said that John Kerry, "frankly, pandered on the issue of Social Security." Now of all issues, why on earth would Mitchell be so irked about Social Security, of all things? The passage in question:
SCHIEFFER: Let me just stay on Social Security with a new question for Senator Kerry, because, Senator Kerry, you have just said you will not cut benefits. Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, says there's no way that Social Security can pay retirees what we have promised them unless we recalibrate.

SCHIEFFER: What he's suggesting, we're going to cut benefits or we're going to have to raise the retirement age. We may have to take some other reform. But if you've just said, you've promised no changes, does that mean you're just going to leave this as a problem, another problem for our children to solve?

KERRY: Not at all. Absolutely not, Bob. This is the same thing we heard -- remember, I appeared on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert in 1990-something. We heard the same thing. We fixed it.

In fact, we put together a $5.6 trillion surplus in the '90s that was for the purpose of saving Social Security. If you take the tax cut that the president of the United States has given -- President Bush gave to Americans in the top 1 percent of America -- just that tax cut that went to the top 1 percent of America would have saved Social Security until the year 2075.

The president decided to give it to the wealthiest Americans in a tax cut. Now, Alan Greenspan, who I think has done a terrific job in monetary policy, supports the president's tax cut. I don't. I support it for the middle class, not that part of it that goes to people earning more than $200,000 a year.

KERRY: And when I roll it back and we invest in the things that I have talked about to move our economy, we're going to grow sufficiently, it would begin to cut the deficit in half, and we get back to where we were at the end of the 1990s when we balanced the budget and paid down the debt of this country.

Now, we can do that.

Aha! Turns out, Kerry's criticism of the Fed chairman hit a little too close to home for Mitchell. Alan Greenspan, of course, is Andrea Mitchell's husband. And in the interest of full disclosure, Mitchell and the other members of the panel said ... absolutely nothing at all.

No conflict of interest there, folks. Nope, none at all.

--Ayelish McGarvey

More On The Meaning Of Dred Scott

2004-10-12T23:12:00.000-05:00

I wish I had more time to comment on this, but art calls. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Sinclair to broadcast anti-Kerry documentary

2004-10-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

What More Can I Say . . . ? Wait a minute - I'll say this. "Bring It On!!!"

I actually believe that running this sort of propaganda on the eve of the election could BACKFIRE. Lil' Georgy Porgie is kinda annoying when he gets mad. Are you sure you want to mess with a guy who actually has the brass to screw you? You people BETTER win this election, and keep on winning 'em too. Mess with Kerry's war record at your own peril boys!

Yee Hah! Don't forget to crack a few anti-French jokes while you're at it! Remember, the whole world is watching!

George Bush And Dred Scott Sittin' In A Tree

2004-10-11T08:04:00.000-05:00

The most ridiculous moment in Bush's and Kerry's Town Meeting last Friday night was the strange statement Bush made about the Dred Scott Case. (Yes, I found this even more odd than his rooster swagger and rudeness to the interlocutor Charles Gibson.) Bush's response to a question about who he would appoint to the Supreme Court came in the form of a muddled statement about who he would NOT appoint to the court. Here's the transcript:

   I wouldn't pick a judge who said that the Pledge of Allegiance couldn't be said in a school because it had the words "under God" in it. I think that's an example of a judge allowing personal opinion to enter into the decision-making process as opposed to a strict interpretation of the Constitution.
    Another example would be the Dred Scott case, which is where judges, years ago, said that the Constitution allowed slavery because of personal property rights.
    That's a personal opinion. That's not what the Constitution says. The Constitution of the United States says we're all - you know, it doesn't say that. It doesn't speak to the equality of America.
    And so, I would pick people that would be strict constructionists. We've got plenty of lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Legislators make law; judges interpret the Constitution.
    And I suspect one of us will have a pick at the end of next year - the next four years. And that's the kind of judge I'm going to put on there. No litmus test except for how they interpret the Constitution.

Bush's argument is that we should adhere to a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Popular stuff these days. My problem with the strict constructionist approach is that Article V of the Constitution guarantees our right to amend the Bill of Rights (thereby changing the intent), and legal precedent guarantees judges the right to interpret both the constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Bush and his ideological fellow travelers argue that original intent is clear. I'm not sure it is. Whether or not their intent is clear, however, judges often SHOULD NOT presume to act as the founding father's might have. The main reason is that the founding fathers at least accepted and often fiercely supported slavery. Furthermore, Bush's statement is just plain false - stupefyingly so. The Constitution very clearly recognizes the status of slaves - or "other persons".

In Article I, Section II:
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

And in Article IV, Section II:
No person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Bush misrepresents the Dred Scott case and the Constitution when he says, "[The idea that the Constitution allowed slavery because of personal property rights is] a personal opinion. That's not what the Constitution says. The Constitution of the United States says we're all - you know, it doesn't say that. It doesn't speak to the equality of America."

In fact the Constitution does speak to "the equality of America", and it is very clear. There are citizens, there are indians, and there are "other persons" - slaves. Slaves were a special form of property, plain and simple - the Constitution recognized them as property and guaranteed rights to the property owners protecting ownership, tax base, and legislative representation.

It seems to me that the Dred Scott decision was not built on "personal opinion" but on a strict interpretation of Articles II and IV which I site above. And in opposition to this, civil rights have been best guaranteed and extended by visionary judges who have applied the principles of the Constitution and The Bill of Rights in ways which more profoundly universalize the ideas embedded in The Constitution - which after all was an imperfect document. Bush want's to flip it. He wants to make people believe that at its core, the Constitution has proven a greater champion of civil rights than the Bill of Rights or progressive judges. This is typical of the way radical fascistic thinkers "deconstruct" meaning. One has to wonder if all of this has something to do with further planned attacks on collective bargaining, environmental regulation, and especially Roe vs. Wade.

Awake! Awake! Good legal scholars must remain vigilant. But that's not my job - I'll just buy you guys a few beers.

Full Hazmat Toxicity Restored By October 10th

2004-10-07T12:06:00.000-05:00

Sorry people, I've been in upstate New York at a residencey which is a bit secluded and denuded of things necessary for blogging. High speed access should be restored here soon, and I will resume posting.

Debates

2004-10-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

. . . watched the debates on the live CSPAN feed last night. Best way to watch. Split screen. No commentary. No camera angle hijinks. Just a steady stream of the entire event. Afterwards I bypassed the pundits and went to bed. The debate went well for Kerry - to put it mildly. Bush probably looked like a "good ol' boy" doing "hard work" in the eyes of his supporters.

Sad.

I'll be away from my desk for a short time.

Please peruse previous postings and post s'il vous plaît!

Why I will vote for John Kerry for President - by John Eisenhower

2004-09-29T10:07:00.000-05:00

THIS IS NOT A FOOTBALL GAME! In an enlightened democracy we must be critical yet fair. Democracy is debased by jingoism and stubborn party loyalty.

Here's Some Texas Style Legislation Fo Ya

2004-09-28T20:13:00.000-05:00

US House Passes Bill Targeting Net Song Swappers

This one is bad enough on it's face. It's a piece of legislation that tries to put the file sharing genie back in the bottle. It's not going to do anything more than send a few people to jail, and its prone to abuse. In the end it'll probably be amended and used against pornographers. What's really dangerous about the bill is the pesky little part that amounts to censorship.

Part of the bill has a provision to shield companies that edit out sex and violence from movies to make them more "family friendly". It strikes me that this will make it easier for entertainment chains with political or cultural biases to censor the content of the films that they project or broadcast. Perhaps I'm hasty though, so I'll give this some more thought and come back to it.

Anyway, Loews theater chain was bought by The Carlyle Group in the late summer -this, coincidentaly, was about the time Fahrenheit 9/11 was filling movie houses. Carlyle has as board members Bush Sr., Frank Carlucci, and a number of other powerbrokers close to the Bush Administration and their thinly veiled fascism. Let's not wait to see what Loews deems "family friendly" in the age of perpetual "WAR ON TERROR!"

President "Interviewed" By Hypocritical, Bullying, Lying Hatemonger

2004-09-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

The president actually talked to the press, yesterday. Well, sort of. But look at who he talked to. Why, it was Bill O'Liar of the Fox network, Rupert Murdoch's radical-right propaganda mouthpiece. Needless to say, there was no hard questioning. All "independent thinkers" in the media must lift their voices NOW in a deafening cascade of criticism. Shame on Bush for talking to such an oily, viperous, divisive cur. Even you people in mainstream commercial media should be able to point out how shameful is is that this interview occurred. O'Liar is a proven liar and unpatriotic divider of the American people. This one's such a no-brainer, I'm sure you can do it and cover your own asses at the same time!

Go to Rupert Murdoch's Fox website and read the transcript. I won't link to the page as it would make me feel too dirty. The president had an interview with a hatemonger. Attack! Attack! And tell the weak-kneed whiners who langorously worry about the Kerry campaign, yet claim to be liberals or progressives or libertarians or anarchists or whatever, tell them - in the words of Bill O'Liar - to "Shut Up!!!"

Kiddiing . . . kidding . . . Calma Nina . . .

King Abdullah Lets HIs Stiff Upper Lip Slip. Of Iraq He Says,

2004-09-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

"It seems impossible to me to organize indisputable elections in the chaos we see today."

A Profile Of Abdullah From BBC News Online:

The son of King Hussein's British-born second wife, Princess Muna (nee Antoinette "Toni" Gardiner), Abdullah was schooled in England from the age of four and completed his high school education in the United States.

He later took one-year courses in international affairs at Oxford and Georgetown Universities writing a masters degree thesis on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In 1980 he joined the British military academy at Sandhurst and served in the British army in West Germany and Britain.

He served in Jordan's 41st and 90th armoured brigades, the air force's Helicopter Anti-tank Wing and the Second Guards Brigade.

In 1993 he was appointed deputy commander of the Special Forces, assuming command one year later.

His main role was in a highly specialised commando unit dedicated to maintaining internal order, which helped to quell riots in southern Jordan in 1996.

He became special forces commander before learning of his succession.

In 1998 he led a high-profile special forces operation to storm the hideout of gunmen who had killed eight people in Amman. When the shooting was over Jordanians chanted his name on the streets.

Although he speaks colloquial, barrack-room Arabic fluently, Abdullah speaks English better than Fusha or classical Arabic - although he has made great strides in improving his Fusha, which protocol demands for official appearances.

He is a qualified diver and pilot and a keen free-fall parachutist. His other interests include car racing (he is a former Jordanian National Rally Racing Champion), water sports, scuba diving and collecting ancient weapons.

Not Afraid Of Mellon Scaife (i.e. right wing press moguls) . . . And She Doesn't Need The Secret Service To Deal With Hecklers

2004-09-27T14:24:00.000-05:00

Smart. Sassy. Sexy. She's like some dangerous chick from a Bond film. Let's be frank, compared to Laura Bush . . . Wow!!!

Carter Predicts Florida Poll Will Again Be Flawed

2004-09-27T12:43:00.000-05:00

ARTICLE

Building A Deck - Brooklyn Style!!!

2004-09-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

I'm a bit busy today - building an outdoor deck at Milady's Chateau at Carroll Gardens.

Here's a great site to keep you busy. Later!

TomPaine

P.S. The apathetic are still out there working their subtle damage. I spoke to a Pennsylvania non-voter just yesterday who told me he would not be voting in the upcoming election. Slippage! . . . Damn! The last time we spoke he had said that he would vote - for John Kerry. This time the word was that both candidates will bring ruination upon us all, and so the refrain was, "Yo No Voto!" Well, the non-voter is entitled, obviously, and I too have felt and acted in the same way in elections past. But this time such active inaction is a huge mistake. Progressives will make little headway under a second Bush administration. Remember what they are doing. They are using the F.C.C. to limit expression, stacking the judiciary with radical right wingers, defunding the public schools and the arts, privatizing healthcare, breaking down the wall between church and state, insulting our strategic allies, and etc, etc, etc . . . .

ALL MEANINGFUL CHANGE IS INCREMENTAL! STAY THE COURSE. VOTE NOVEMBER 2ND AND PULL THE LEVER FOR A CONGRESSIONAL REP WHILE YOU'RE AT IT. IF YOU DON'T VOTE, THE NEXT GUY WILL KNOCK KNEES AND FAIL TO VOTE, AND THE GUY AFTER HIM WILL SOB AND GO TO BED WITH A HEADACHE. PRACTICE VOTING FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS, SO THAT WE MIGHT ONE DAY HAVE A CHANCE TO VOTE FOR THE MESSIAH!
Heh . . . kidding, just kidding . . . However, while we're in the religious mode - Please lift your voices with me and brother Desiderius Erasmus In Praise Of Folly:

HIGH HOPES

Next time your found, with your chin on the ground
There a lot to be learned, so look around

Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can't
Move a rubber tree plant

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your gettin' low
'stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ant
Oops there goes another rubber tree plant

When troubles call, and your back's to the wall
There a lot to be learned, that wall could fall

Once there was a silly old ram
Thought he'd punch a hole in a dam
No one could make that ram, scram
He kept buttin' that dam

'cause he had high hopes, he had high hopes
He had high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your feelin' bad
'stead of feelin' sad
Just remember that ram
Oops there goes a billion kilowatt dam

All problems just a toy balloon
They'll be bursted soon
They're just bound to go pop
Oops there goes another problem kerplop

Ingrown Toenail: Nagourney Poison

2004-09-26T10:20:00.000-05:00

Kerry as the Boss: Always More Questions
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JODI WILGOREN

On Sunday one MUST NOT sink beneath the waves of TV pundits and corporate newsprint. They will enervate and confuse. Skim, but do not slip. Check out how things are being skewed, but watch your footing. (I go back and forth on how closely to read and listen to the propaganda - I know it's tricky.)

The article linked above amazes with its waste of ink on Kerry's "deliberative" character and whether this is a strength or weakness. By ruminating on such balderdash the article grinds to dust all important issues, such as Kerry's positions on tax policy, the war, education reform, and the judiciary.

Why is it that The New York Times puts stuff like this on their front page? It's no better than their running Judith Miller's regurgitated sourmash about WMD's. The Times sold the war in Iraq as much as any other paper in America. And now it's selling "doubts" about Kerry where there shouldn't be any. What's going on? Is the Old Grey Lady doing the limbo with Rupert Murdoch?

Krazy Kat - How'd Eye No That Car Tunist Wazza Brutha?

2004-09-25T16:38:00.000-05:00

Interesting fact of the day. Ever heard of Krazy Kat? He was the star of a very cool comic strip that ran in Randolph Hearst's newspapers from the 1910's-40's. Krazy was a sexually ambiguous cat who was in love with Ignatz, a mean, antagonistic mouse who persisted in throwing bricks at Krazy's head. Then there was Officer Pup who repeatedly locked up Ignatz and liked Krazy and tried to keep the peace with the conviction of a simpleton. Trippy illustrations, philosophical conundrums, language games - great stuff.

Well, I found out this morning that the creator, George Herriman, was a brother! Art Spiegelman, creator of Maus and the beautiful new graphic book In The Shadow Of No Towers, mentioned Herriman's background while praising his work in a radio interview.* Ever since I was a kid, I'd sensed something Afro-American in the funny, difficult, sad, surreal poetry of that comic strip. Herriman supposedly said of Krazy Kat, "It's like a hypnotic song, it doesn't give any echoes in the brain, but in the soul".

It's true.

* In the same interview, Spiegelman said something to the effect that the towers (and - I would say - everything terrible and beautiful in the world) now have the quality of "ephemera made real", the "real made ephemera". Dat's Krazy . . .

Now It's The English Press! Why You All Such Player Haters?

2004-09-25T00:51:00.000-05:00

How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise To Power

The Patriot Act And Law Enforcement: At Odds With Art & Critical Thinking?

2004-09-24T12:50:00.000-05:00

I've been following this story from the beginning, and I still can't get over the stupidity and cruelty.

Artist Resuming Work After Terrorism Probe
BUFFALO, N.Y. September 24, 2004 (AP) --

Buoyed by a worldwide outpouring of support, an artist targeted by a terrorism investigation for allegedly using biological materials as a medium says he is ready to get back to work.

Steven Kurtz, also a professor at the University of Buffalo, is set to take part in the Cinematexas festival in Austin this weekend and has plans for presentations in Montreal and New York City over the next few months.

Kurtz became the target of a federal terrorism investigation in May after firefighters found the materials during an 911 call at his home. Kurtz had called to report that his wife had died from an apparent heart attack.

He was indicted a month later for plotting with Robert Ferrell, the former chairman of the University of Pittsburgh's human genetics department, to improperly obtain potentially harmful organisms. Ferrell allegedly used his school account with a biological supply company to order serratia marcescens and bacillus atrophaeus for art projects.

Kurtz and Ferrell have both pleaded innocent to mail fraud and wire fraud charges contained in a June indictment which accused him of improperly obtaining bacterial agents. If convicted, they face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The Critical Art Ensemble, which Kurtz helped found, has used human DNA and other bio-materials in works meant to draw attention to political and social issues, such as genetically altered foods.

In an e-mail received Thursday, Kurtz outlined his upcoming appearances. A discussion of past projects of the Critical Art Ensemble will be the focus of the Texas appearance, he wrote. A paper being presented in Montreal in two weeks would address germ warfare and the negative effect on public health policy, while a version of CAE's Molecular Invasion project would be presented in New York City sometime next month, he said.

Kurtz also acknowledged his backers around the globe. They have used Kurtz's case to highlight their concerns over the rights of privacy and artistic and academic freedom since terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The University of Buffalo held a forum just this month exploring the relationship between art and government. An exhibit discussed at the session is titled ``Shutters,'' which explores issues of privacy and surveillance through the work of nine artists, including Niels Bonde of Denmark, who equips stuffed animals and other inanimate objects with paranoia-inducing cameras.

``I thought it was appalling,'' Bonde said of the Kurtz indictment. ``Have they no sensitivity toward that man's tragedy and also, don't they understand art? ... That was my initial reaction.''

Today's Lesson: Count To Ten, Hold Your Tongue, Be A Good Little Doggy

2004-09-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

ek
do
teen
char
panch
che
saat
aaht
nau
dus

George Bush Murdabaad!!!*

*As chanted on the revolutionary street.

Cat Stevens Vs. Timothy McVeigh

2004-09-23T19:24:00.000-05:00

On September 21, a plane from England bound for Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. was diverted to Bangor, Maine when federal authorities realized that Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens, was on board. Aside from this guy belonging on a watch list about as much as I do, it's not reassuring that he had boarded the plane and made it half way across the ocean before the flight was flagged and diverted. . . . Everything is clearly under control in the "WAR ON TERROR". I bet the only reason Cat's name ended up on the list is that in the mid-70's somebody's heart got broken to strains of "Oooh, baby, baby its a wild world." After years of pain, the wounded lover (now a fed) had a chance to get even by screwing that heartbreaker's favorite singer.

Seriously though, this cat (he'll always be Cat to me) was placed on the list because he was perceived to have "ties to potential terrorists". Interesting. I could be accused of having ties to potential terrorists, too. Check this out. At a friend's party, just before the invasion of Iraq, I sat across the table from the sort of angry white man that listens to too much talk radio and thought, "Christ, this guy looks just like Timothy McVeigh!" He did. His rap was a little different, though. He told me that it was time for people to stop questioning the government and obey our commander in chief. He was pure proto-fascist, crew cut and all. (I encountered him again months later in the company of a guy with Hitler hair and mustache. I'm still being serious. Even though I disliked these guys, I'm a good friend of the guy whose party they were at - and I believe they are potential terrorists. America is full of potential terrorists, most of whom are angry white men. How long will it be until one of them blows up another federal building, or drags another black man behind his pick up truck, or mails anthrax to another democratic member of congress, or shoots up his workplace or a schoolyard full of children with his brand new, easily procured AK-47?

Probably not long.

In light of this, I must make a Modest Proposal - yes, yes, of the Swiftian variety. I advocate that we prevent all angry white men and those who have ties to them from traveling on public and private transportation within the continental waters, lands, and air of the United States. We should immediately begin registering all angry white men between the ages of 13 and 63. Fingerprint all the thin lipped angry shiksas, too. Oh what the hell, let's just put all the white folks who make me and my peeps nervous on the list. For the security of the country we cannot afford to hesitate.

Peace To My People

Desperate Police Recruits/Collaborators Continue To Be Killed.

2004-09-22T07:47:00.000-05:00

Not a week goes by without police recruits and hapless bystanders being killed in this manner. Why does this keep happening? If the Americans are safe (at least inside the Green Zone), then Iraqis who need to work for them should be made secure - at least when they go to sign up for the puppet police force! What madness has been set in motion? And what is really going on?

20 Seconds - Go Ahead. Clap For 20 Seconds. Waddaya Think?

2004-09-21T16:08:00.000-05:00

Bush addresses U.N.!!!

Paints A Crazy Picture!!!

Receives Smattering of Applause for Nearly 20 seconds!!!

Father of Pan-Arab Nationalism: Khair al-Din Hasib

2004-09-18T09:49:00.000-05:00

Of Homeland, Identity and Occupation

Hasib has an interesting perspective on the occupation of Iraq, more informed and humane than the bizarre - though well produced - fantasies one hears from the pundits on American TV. But you won't see him on any of the newstainment shows. His views are simply too at odds with the interests of those who control our xenophobic and imperialistic media.

What would the super-sized, god-fearing, stuff-loving brothers and sisters of our fair homeland do with Hasib's words?
A goodly portion might respond with an uplifting round of "Four more years!! Four more years!!, as per a Bush rally.

That lusty sentiment, when coupled with the sensitivity displayed by contractors and troops at Abu Ghraib should exlain why MOST Arabs perceive MOST Americans as "essentially perverse".

The View From The Beyond

2004-09-17T00:26:00.000-05:00

Independent

Le Monde

Reuters

Amerigo Jingo Ho!

2004-09-16T17:37:00.000-05:00

lips pressed tight
sneer as brittle
as your fear

knuckles clenched
palms as sweaty
as your mind

eyes piercing
all strategy
no pathos

you're my
homeland brother
wishing you
were - john wayne

you're the
rugged individualist
with season tickets
to the fascist rally

i know you
prideful and blind
i got your back
like you got mine

Yemeni Driver

2004-09-15T16:42:00.000-05:00

The other day I took a ride in a limousine. The driver was Yemeni. As we pulled away from the curb he started a recording of the Koran which was particularly beautiful in spite of being awash in studio reverb, as is all too often the case. I listened for about ten minutes and then commented, "This is beautiful music," to which the driver responded, "It's not music." I asked if it was the Koran, and the driver said yes.

Now, I have been through this sort of exchange several times before, and I have to admit I find it somewhat tedious. (More later . . .)

Air India

2004-09-14T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here's something that happened earlier this year on an Air India flight from London to New York. You know how there's always that family with the particularly grubby, noisy little baby that you try to avoid? Well I was in my seat waiting for departure, when a really sweet Nigerian guy asked if I would switch seats with him so that he could sit with his wife and daughter. As a result I found myself two rows back from "that baby", both of us in aisle seats. That baby cried and fussed and writhed around like a sweaty little grub during the entire flight - most of the time leaning over his mothers shoulder and directing his protestations right at me. He was the youngest member of a big family of Muslims, his mother clad head to foot in hijab. The westernized uncle sat directly across the aisle from me . . . buying a couple hundred dollars of duty-free gift alcohol during the flight - so I'd already been seduced by the cultural dynamism of the family. With about an hour left in the flight, the baby finally seemed to grow tired and there was quiet for a time.

Suddenly the mother cried out and started wailing. I couldn't tell what was happening at first, but then the woman got out of her seat with the baby and I could see that he was blue and appeared paralyzed, or dead. The woman stood there crying and trying to revive the child, and then stepped back to where I sat directly across the aisle from the uncle, who was the top member of her family. I looked up and down the aisle to see what response was coming, but there was none. The stewardesses ALL disappeared. They were gone. No one around us was moving. People were gawking, but nobody moved. I jumped out of my chair and stood there unsure what to do. I turned for and aft looking for a stewardess and saw a male steward about 10 yards back down the aisle acting as if he were doing something - he stood there with a fire extinguisher in his hands and faked having the situation under control in a particularly Indian bullshit kind of way. The baby was ashy and frozen, not breathing. the mother was wailing Ojalla! Ojalla! Ojalla! I motioned to the steward to come and help, but he just nodded from his position back by the kitchen as if he were way ahead of me. Still, there was no sign of any other stewardesses.

I started hollering for water and instantly a pregnant English passenger ran up the aisle from the back with a plastic cup of water which I handed to the mother's auntie, who threw it on the baby's face - no effect. No one moved, everyone around us was still in their seats except for the young Hassidic man and his wife who were on their feet looking uncertain but concerned and ready to help. I looked up and down the compartment one last time for a useful stewardess and seeing none began to run up the aisle to the front of the plane hollering, "Is there a doctor, there's a baby here that's not breathing!" Everyone looked at me either feigning dispassion or with fear in their eyes. I could read their eyes, "Oh my God! It's a terrorist!" Finally, almost at first class, I came to an Indian woman with her husband and daughter. She locked eyes with me, stated that she was not a doctor but had been a nurse and quickly climbed out of her seat. She put her hands on my back and pushed me ahead as we ran back down the aisle to the spot where the woman stood crying hysterically with her child. No sooner did we get back than the nurse pulled the baby into her arms, took a good look at it, kneeled, turned it on its back and breathed firmly into it's nose and mouth. There was a no reaction. I was looking straight down into the baby's face. The woman repeated the action twice more, and then one of the babies eyelids flickered. A few moments later the child's eyelids began to flutter violently. He jerked and began to cry - it was over. I got a bit choked up, but it passed quickly. The little guy was most upset and very, very alive.

I sat back down in my seat. The baby's mother continued to cry hysterically for another ten minutes, but the danger had passed. By this time one stewardess had materialized along with another nurse (an English brother who had heard my cries and raced back to help). These two stayed with the mother and helped to calm her down. I sat in my seat and felt good for a few moment - then bad. I questioned why I hadn't tried cpr myself. But I didn't know it could be such a simple solution. When I first saw the baby, my first thought was that it was already dead, and when I asked myself what I could do I only thought of hitting it on the back, which scared me because I thought I might hit it too hard. About a half hour later, the woman's relatives were still in shock, and I was sitting there feeling slightly depressed and insignificant. Then the uncle turned to me with embarrassment and tears in his eyes and said, "Thank you", and shook my hand. He was still in slow motion.

Behind me sat two thick-set English bulldog yuppies who looked at me with cold eyes and acted as if nothing had happened. So many people on that plane and so few that could bring themselves to get involved.

Thought Slivers

2004-09-13T09:34:00.000-05:00

A few words from Robert Fisk.

See the Campaign Slogan Below? I keep coming across this sort of thing. What do you think?

Bush Kerry `04
Republicrat
One vote, one party
NO choice

Here Comes Bushy Cotton Tail!

2004-09-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

Here Comes Bushy Cotton Tail
Crash That Bike on the Pretzel Trail
Flippity Floppity, Look at Ol' Georgy Go

Flip-Flops on saying The War On Terrorism Can/Cannot Be Won

Flip-Flops on saying He's A War/Peace President

Flip-Flops on Criticizing Judicial Activism But Using It To Win White House

Flip-Flops on Independent 9/11 Commission

Flip-Flops on Independent WMD Commission

Flip-Flops on Time He'll Spend With 9/11 Commission

Flip-Flops On Calling For U.N. Vote On Iraq War

Flip-Flops on Department Of Homeland Security

Flip-Flops on Hybrid Automobiles

Flip-Flops on Assault Weapons Ban

Flip-Flops on Steel Tariffs

Flip-Flops on Nation Building

Add to the List! I'll be editing it later.

Uptown

2004-09-10T18:04:00.000-05:00

skinny cellphone girls shout
their business with abandon
rushing in and out of creepy
cloned coffee shops
girls just wanna play monopoly
125th street's not the same
no preachers no hustle
no kooks or curbside cooks
just slow occupation
by the "free trade" generation
goose stepping patriots
trying to get loose while
uptight out of sight
Harlem turns to memory

a song

2004-09-09T12:26:00.000-05:00

time favors the insignificant
the most important things are lost

ride the echos in the party of ghosts
and slip and drift and be

rainstorm

2004-09-08T12:45:00.000-05:00

rain whips the pavement
and wickedly calls me out
purring . . . strip and dance

Hurried Media Strategy Of The Day

2004-09-07T13:23:00.000-05:00

From earlier in the summer there are two new tabloids in NYC . . . hold on, this gets interesting.

We now have Metro, which has daily editions in New York, Phily, and Boston and a slew of Metro editions across Europe (owned by BPZ Worldwide). We also have amNewYork, founded by Russel Pergament who coincidentally was one of the founding publishers of Metro's Boston edition. Leaving aside charges that Pergament censors writers who take an "anti-Israel" stance, I'm a bit inspired by this development. (N.B., I haven't yet had time to research either paper, so the rest of my argument should not be taken as an endorsement of either.) Both papers use AP and Reuters feeds, glossed over with a little celebrity gossip and local cat-in-burning-tree-scratches-out-eyes-of-counsilman's-transvestite-lover material. Typical. But here's the important point: neither of these papers is hard right wing. These papers are presently "competing" for a place as the millimeters-left-of-center option to Rupert Murdoch's right-wing New York Post. The competition between Metro and amNewYork is probably one that pits similar if not identical investors against each other, but it's still important. The major players in the tabloid market have been entirely on the reactionary right for years. This ain't London, no Daily Mirror in New York. But New York could easily support such a paper - as could many other cities.

Here's what's on my mind. We must quickly mount stronger slightly-left-of-center media organs AT THE TABLOID LEVEL before we can push battle the Republicans, let alone push more progressive issues. We also MUST have a slightly-left-of-center television network or two with full blown, propagandistic news services. A lot of mopey, strategically deaf Democrats still don't get this. But some Democrats and progressives seem to have finally reached the same conclusion. Gore is talking network, and Robert Redford and his crew are putting Al Franken on the Sundance cable network starting tonight. I think people have FINALLY begun to recognize that Democrats will not pry loose control of the political debate until they have a powerful network base akin to Fox. Nothing less will suffice, and relying on the established networks for fairness is foolish. Let's make this happen as quickly as possible. We can try to inject our progressive perspectives into the new slightly-left-of-center tabloids. The key thing is to remain realistic and focused. In the end, the whole thing will come down to whether or not a few billionaires like George Soros will be willing to float such slightly-left tabloid media until they achieve a foothold. As to the profitability of such media, I have little doubt that if done on the scale of Fox, such media could rival the competition. Air America is beginning to kick conservative talk radio around the ratings block - advertising dollars will follow.

By the way, the reason I mention Soros is not simply because he's one of the highest profile slightly-left-of-center billionaires. It's because Dennis Hastert and the Republicans are already starting to go after him. About a week ago Hastert repeated a nutty slander that Soros's money could be drug money. (Republicans never let public record and historical fact get in the way of an unsubstantiated smear. Why would they? The media is owned by people who will broadcast their lies, and there's no risk of censure or penalty. There's no reason not to do it.) If Soros starts putting money into a left-of-center challenger to Fox, the Republicans will hit him with WMD's. The only muscular response will be to "out" Hastert and Murdoch as pedophilic deep-cover Chinese agents. And the best way to do that effectively will be to have media on par with the Fox empire blaring the story at full volume - "All Truth! All The Time!" It can't happen fast enough.

Yours Truly,

Cynical yet Sincere

Corporate News Cannot Conceal Reality. Well Maybe it Can for a Time . . . But Over the Long Run . . . .

2004-09-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

The truth about the anti-Bush rallies of August 27th-September 2nd may be suppressed - but only for a time. Corporate news may stick to self-serving, programmatic coverage of the Republican National Convention, and as a result people around the U.S. will fail to understand that the real story of last week was the counter convention held by the protesters. But in these times there is an enormous amount of independent reporting done with cheap audio/visual tools. And this reporting is fresher and more "real" than that done by corporate shills who care more about invitations to tacky RNC parties than they do about getting the story right. The evidence from the streets of New York - outside Madison Square Garden - will remain, in the end, as the lasting truth. Just as the truth of the February 15th, 2003 anti-war rallies will become more widely known over time. The truth about this past week in New York City is that the most visionary, profound, and beautiful political passions sprung from the breasts of anti-Bush protesters, utterly dwarfing the sentiments of the Republican convention.

Over the course of the week, there were some 5,000 Republicans gathered at the Garden. Meanwhile, the number of anti-Bush/RNC protesters in the streets easily and consistently numbered in the mid-1,000's. Admittedly, it was often hard to differentiate between protesters and the average anti-Republican New Yorker, as no matter where you were or what you were doing the mere mention of the Republicans got people's eyes rolling. On Sunday the 29th the anti-Bush/RNC march brought between 250,000 and 500,000 people to the streets. And in general, the Republicans dared not show their exuberance in the streets of Manhattan. Rather, they perched inside the barricaded safe zone set up around the Garden, darting bat-like from their hotel rooms to taxis and chartered busses and from there into the few safe spots where they could gather without facing overwhelming derision - e.g. private parties, steak houses, gentlemans' clubs, sports bars. When the Republicans went to Sotheby's they ran a gauntlet of shouts and Johnny Cash songs. In Central Park people jeeringly questioned their views on taxes. On 57th Street they faced the phlegmatic scrutiny of European jet setters bored by their red-white-and-blue provincialism. And on the days when I went down to Ground Zero, the Republicans were nowhere to be seen. I suspect those who visited were bussed in at dawn to avoid the possibility of discomfort or embarrassment.

No, the Republicans failed to take New York - I know it, they know it, the media hacks know it, and with time, the record will show it.

Kerry Attacks At Stroke Of Midnight

2004-09-03T08:11:00.000-05:00

Hard hitting response to Bush and Cheney gets buried on page A26 of the Washington Post. Commercial media . . . . Kerry will not back down, he will attack his adversaries in the Republican administration with the same directness and persistence that he unleashed when he turned his speedboat INTO enemy fire, beached it, and stormed the shore in order to face his enemy and protect his men. It's his M.O. folks. And if anybody wants to hash out the Vietnam war again, I'm sure he'll oblige. It's probably about time that other unjust war was re-examined. We should look for parallels to the Iraqi occupation and the nation building that regretfully lays ahead. An understanding of this could help make the world a more peaceful place.

I'm off for the weekend.

Bush Speech Goes Well, Very Well

2004-09-03T00:56:00.000-05:00

It wasn't what I'd hoped for. Bush did a good job with a very clear and resolute speech advocating more war, less taxes, plebeian obedience, and selective corporate welfare. Did anybody look up "fascism"? Seriously, the president's platform is not conservative so much as activist. Especially where he advocates interfering with women's reproductive processes and amending the constitution to ban gay marriage.

He also mentioned something about allowing

"small firms to join together to purchase insurance at the discounts available to big companies. We will offer a tax credit to encourage small businesses and their employees to set up health savings accounts, and provide direct help for low-income Americans to purchase them."

Huh? What's that about? Who's gonna administer and fund that? It just won't happen, with his manifest desire to further deregulate the insurance industry.

Anyway, he delivered the speech in a way that is SURE to compel his constituency. Even if he froze up again - yep, just like on Sept 11. It happened when he was interrupted by the shouts of his supporters violently ejecting either the "Bush Lies" woman or the "Pink Slip" woman, both of whom infiltrated and disrupted the proceedings with their words. Brava!

So Many Lies!!! So Little Time.

2004-09-02T12:43:00.000-05:00

Let it suffice to say that last night's speeches by Dick Cheney (Yale drop out) and Zell Miller (bitter dixie-crat) were condescending, angry and riddled with lies. (Can you believe that Cheney's gay daughter was at the convention but didn't go up on the stage when Cheney had his family join him. Sad . . . )

I don't believe I have the fire to address what was said.

However, I heard the post-interview in which Miller challenged Chris Matthews to a duel. Ha! What a nasty screwpot!

Today is the final day of the anti-RNC protests. It's been a great week.

If you don't already have something to do, join in the the great american shout out.

Oh yeah, AND according to the American Research Group's poll (conducted Aug. 30-Sept. 1) the convention is already giving the Republicans a NEGATIVE bounce. I don't know what to do with polls, so I wont comment.

God Speed fellow progressives!

Laura is Blah, Bush Girls Giggle, Schwarzenegger Fakes History

2004-09-01T08:48:00.000-05:00

As for the protests: How in the world did the police find a way to arrest 1,0000 people? I'll tell you, they had to grab people all over Manhattan. Unbelievable. I stopped by Sotheby's for the Man in Black Block. At least 700 people were there defending the good name of Johnny Cash. A bunch of folks in black, singing Cash songs and "welcoming" the Republicans to that puffed-up and elitist antique shop.

I'm still disappointed by all the lazy attitudes about civil disobedience and protest. I spoke to a friend first thing this morning and got good and upset. He had completely tv-shaped notions about what's been going on here in New York City over the last few days - and he lives right here! The only thing he really had an opinion about was a fear that he might get arrested or beat up by the police if he protested. He said that the violence in the streets was worse than ever and he didn't want to get caught up in it. It was an utter fiction. I had to tell him that.

"Don't tell me that it's worse than before, because you're not aware of what's going on and you're just saying anything. The fact that people protest is the only thing that makes protest possible." The truth is that although the arrests have been large, arbitrary, mechanical, unfair and senseless, they have not been all that violent. (I'm saying this as a guy who used to be a nightclub bouncer.) There has been very little violence - way, way less than you'd find after a Big 10 homecoming game. I think the arrests are being conducted so that the police department can practice, frankly.

After the defense of Cash I went down to Ground Zero and participated in the 1st Amendment Mob with Rev Billy and many others. It was beautiful. After we filled the concourse with the unison recitation of the 1st Amendment we broke into a freedom chant that spread like wildfire into the hearts of all present. Moments later we took to the street and sang "George Bush Does Not Return To Ground Zero". People laughed and cried. I felt a sense of patria. How 'bout that.

As for the RNC: Arnold Schwarzenegger made up history. He referred to American support for Mandela and the end of Apartheid. That's a bit disingenuous. It was your average Progressive and Democrat who protested the Apartheid regime, not the average Republican. During the 1980s Cheney opposed sanctions against South Africa and voted against a resolution calling for the release of Nelson Mandela . . . six times.

Arnold especially annoyed me by telling his tale of the time that Communist border guards stopped his family in his uncle's car. He recalled how afraid he'd been that his father might just be taken away and never seen again. O.K. I can relate. As a kid, this nappy headed little boy had a similar fear of the police from the back seat of his parent's car, right here in America. My parent's interracial union was illegal in a fair shake of states right through the late 60's. Miscegenation laws were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in '67, and those laws weren't completely repealed by each state until November 2000 when Alabama repealed its law. So it wasn't so great for many of us here when Arnold was busily falling in love with the U.S.A. It seems things have improved both in eastern Europe and the United States.

Here's another angle on things. Think about the "illegal" and poor kids who continue to fear the cops for equally good reasons. Think about the worry of trying to stay on the right side of things with hard-scrabble parents in the land of "3 strikes, your out".

One last bit on Arnold's myth-making: In his speech he remembered having a friend translate the 1968 Nixon/Humphrey debate for him shortly after arriving in America. Apparently Arnold thought Humphrey sounded like a socialist or communist or something. Interesting. Especially because there was no such debate. It never happened.

Oh, and hats off to the young Yale man, Thomas Frampton, who infiltrated the RNC and gave Dick Cheney a piece of his mind. Bravo!

The Cost Of The War On "Terror"

2004-08-31T08:27:00.000-05:00

Iraq isn't the stage of a "war on terror" it's a country being stolen from under the feet of it's own people. The war there is about control of geographiy for the sake of American oil security. Iraqis don't need us there to combat "terrorism". Nor do they need us there for technical support - any number of other countries could provide the services needed. Have not the Iraqis successfully pumped oil for about half a century?

Terror is created by beheadings as well as carpet bombings. Terror is a tactic and an emotion, not a thing against which war can be waged. And by refusing to speak about what terror really is - what causes it, what removes it - ordinary people, innocent people, poor people suffer most. The costs of this war will be payed (at far too high a rate) by people who are nothing but pawns.

In Iraq the "war on terror" is a battle for carpetbagging. Check out who's suffering.

Iraq Militants Kill 12 Nepali Hostages

John McCain Mocks Michael Moore From Floor Of RNC ///// Giuliani Talks Macho And Mocks Kerry

2004-08-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

The tone of McCaine's speech was painfully defensive. Odd. I have to think that the Republicans feel hemmed in over there at Madison Square Garden. At one point he referred to Moore as a "disingenuous filmmaker". This precipitated the audience's most thunderous reaction of the night. You could feel the heat, the teetering at the brink of hate. Then McCain repeated the line for good measure, which was sort of weak as Moore was there in the room gloating as the throng booed him. (As we know, nobody, Fox and Carl Rove included, has been able to poke holes in the thesis or content of Fahrenheit 9/11. The film stands too solidly on it sources.)

There was also a strong focus on 9/11 and the heroic nature of our nation's war efforts. Same ol' stuff you'd find in any warrior nation in any corner of the world. But again, the overall tone of McCain's speech seemed defensive and plaintive. It struck me as a sort of political swan-song. The words of a man getting older and gently reassuring himself and his party before moving on. Who knows . . .

A little later Giuliani came out and struck a more strident and bellicose tone. He gave a pretty strong speech . . . in that creepy Giuliani way, but he was preaching to the choir. He did do a good job of ridiculing Kerry, though - especially in referencing Kerry's 180° change of opinion on the Israeli apartheid wall. First the wall was wrong, then it was right. The criticism is fair, even if it comes from a guy with a horrifyingly biased and thuggish pro-Israel position.

In Giuliani we see the mindset of far too many Americans. There will be no consideration of whether it is right for Halliberton and KBR to steal in Iraq, or for both political parties to support anti-democratic oligarchies around the world. Only those who stand against our "democratic" vision are ever criticized or (when rich and weak enough) attacked. There will be only "principled leadership" in the visionary exercise of force by "optimists". The U.S. and its allies are righteous. Those who oppose us must submit or be utterly defeated. Neither at home nor abroad will time be wasted on sensitive or effeminate talk.

'Member Metternich?

2004-08-30T10:59:00.000-05:00

How Come The Public Can't Get A Count On The Size Of The Protest? Shouldn't we be able to get the number instantly through some sort of "freedom of information" appeal?

The NYC police department has surely scanned in crowd-shots from aerial photographs, and no doubt, these have been analyzed for a head-count. At the very least, they should release approximations based on the number of blocks which were full of protesters. The department should be obligated to share this information with the public. The people need these numbers so that we can better understand the nature of our civil protests.

Mainstream corporate media is reporting that more than 100,000 protesters participated in the march. Progressive media reports the number as somewhere between 200,000 and 500,000. (As of 2pm on Monday, the NY Times is apparently reporting that police in contact with the paper unofficially agree that the number of protesters was in the area of half a million.) The rally was large, very large, but it didn't strike me as being as large as the Feb 15, 2003 anti-war rally - this is simply my impression.

Nevertheless, the size and diversity of the crowd was inspirational. The low points of the day included a moment where I absorbed the sickly venom of the counter-protesters - see their website at protest warrior.com. They're kind of like the yes men for people who spend their energy despising progressives rather than critiquing corporate and governmental malfeasance. A coalition of hate mongers: ultra-Zionists, homophobes, and brawlers. Why so much disdain for homosexuals and Arabs?
Why such hate in the face of love? - sarc.

One thing's for sure, the best of the day included a Central Park Walkabout with the Billionaires for Bush. At one point they stood outside the the bars of the Central Park Boathouse toasting the patrons who sat by the beautiful manmade lake within. What a moment: the alarmed but nevertheless composed elite in dinner dresses and blazers stared out through the fence like chimps at the zoo, while outside, the giddy, goofy, bedizened, and tuxedoed pranksters called to them "Buffy, Bradley, where is Kennyboy?" and "Thank you for paying our taxes." - so full of LIFE. The billionaires have only one gag but they offer it with great panache and . . . well, noblesse oblige.

billionairesforbush

More soon . . .

BUCK FUSH !!!

2004-08-29T10:48:00.000-05:00

Today is the day. The march against all the things that seem to be winning in the U.S.A. I'm off to make myself heard at the Republican Convention and beyond. Fat chance, right? I'm sure I'll see my swarthy face on the news tonight above the caption: ANARCHISTS TERRORIZE GROUND ZERO!!!

It seems that Darth Vadar's ship has landed atop Madison Garden. Fox News has unfurled a banner the size of a small prison camp - N.B. It's five times as large as the Budwiser banner. That Fox flag brings to mind Leni Riefenstahl's images of the Nazi rallies. It makes me want to stop drinking Bud. But of course, unless I brew my own, I'll always be putting money in some fascist's pocket. Maybe I'll just cut back.

Off to Central Park!

Hundreds of Critical Mass Bikers Arrested

2004-08-28T11:47:00.000-05:00

With this act begins a silly process of spending enormous money on pushing people around. The cops coral and stop Crit Mass bikers and then arrest them for blocking traffic. The city is committed to this sort of foolishness. Such a waste.

It's Saturday. The trip to Mass MOCA was wonderful. It's a beautiful arts center with a museum and space for dancers and performers to develop and present their work. It's a shame that there are so few places like this in the U.S. I've been told that the arts budget for Berlin is greater than that of the ENTIRE United States. Apocryphal?

The Stop Shopping Choir will be at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery tonight at 8pm. Stop By! Tomorrow we'll be out enjoying ourselves with the other Patriots. Let me leave you with the line I've been parroting of late.

"Those who fought for our independence knew liberty to be the secret of happiness, and courage to be the secret of liberty."

- Louis Brandeis

The Choir Shall Stand With The Reverend

2004-08-27T07:52:00.000-05:00

Friday morning and I'm fixin' to head up to Mass MOCA with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. Praise Be.

mass moca

Complacency is not Reasonable

2004-08-26T15:00:00.000-05:00

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You can still read today's post below . . . however,

!!!BE SURE YOU HAVE BOOKMARKED THE FOLLOWING LINK!!!:

http://handledbymoses.blogspot.com

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2004-08-26T14:00:00.000-05:00

There's that face, that attitude, that "been-there, done-that" tone, that parotting of uninformed cynicism. People don't even realize they're regurgitating a soup of attitudes shaped by too much TV, too much talk radio, too many crap tabloid magazines and newspapers. They actually think they're "thinking" when they express this lazy cynicism. And so it goes. One talks politics in America, and every other person says, "They're all a bunch of bums. Do you really think so-and-so would do anything any different than so-and-so?" The question is usually asked by someone who is either 1) a Democrat or Progressive or Libertarian who doesn't vote, or 2) a Republican who actually DOES VOTE. Let's leave aside what Republicans are actually doing when they say this. In New York City it's common for stealth Republicans to express cynicism about the political system just to provide cover for themselves - it makes getting through the day a little smoother. So let's look at the non-voters.

Most of the time people who express the "they're all the same" sentiment are uninformed or uninterested in the details of history and political structure. That's quite a handicap. But it's really nothing new. You can be sure the same inertia of complacency has existed in most cultures since the dawn of civilization - that's why most societies have had political systems which were monarchies, plutocracies, or oligopolies of some sort, to this very day. It's hard to be involved in Democracy. It takes education, information, security, time, and vested interests within the system. So let's understand that some people really don't have much time to participate in politics. Some simply feel that they can't. But it's worth trying to keep people involved in our Democratic system. And it's actually true that the American system has the potential to give the most power to the most people and thereby protect most of the minorities amongst us. People need to be reminded of this.

Anyway, this summer one hears questions about whether Kerry will be any different than Bush when he is elected president. Again, leaving aside Republicans, it seems as though the question is always asked by someone with a twinkle in their eye and a sneer flitting across their lip. To look into this jib is to face the success of American propaganda. This is the lazy cynic who has no idea how the government is structured at the municipal, state, or national level. He doesn't understand how legislation is put together and moved through the system to make law. He doesn't understand how judges are appointed or who they answer to. He doesn't understand how impeachment proceedings are brought against a president. He also doesn't know or care who owns the media, the actual airwaves, the water, or who builds the bombs. And so, when you try to talk to this person about differences between specific politicians, all you get from them is, "Aaaah, they're all the same. You don't think that so-and-so wouldn't do exactly the same as so-and-so?"

Argue with these sneering cynics. Here's a good question to start with. Ask them if they can tell you the difference between a democratic government and a fascist government and why they might prefer one over the other. If they can't get into the distinction, hold on tight and explain the difference. Can you? I find it to be a nice big can of worms . . . and a reasonable place to start defying complacency.

Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

2004-08-25T14:10:00.000-05:00

Here's something I read on the internet. Supposedly, George Bush has referred to Kim Jong-il of North Korea as a loathsome "pygmy". Well . . . a pygmy he says. I'm confused. I suppose that's a put "down", right? There's something wrong with being a pygmy . . . right?

Blind bigot. What did a pygmy ever do to him? I suppose this is further evidence of Bush's getting past racial bigotry. He feels comfortable playing with the language of race and racism as if he were an artist - an absurdist.

Let's Get This Thing Going

2004-08-24T14:54:00.001-05:00

In the following days I will begin to post thoughts on art and politics. Get ready.