Arvin Hill's Carnival of Horror

Joe Conason: Immunize The Torturecrats

2009-02-12T22:21:00.009-06:00

Whatever grim realities The Great American Future yields for influence-deprived nobodies like me, I'm just happy to not be The Pragmatic Shoeshine Boy for America's Torture Masters, a large, and - contrary to fussy assertions - bipartisan club with enthusiastic members in every branch of government.

By golly, this time next year, when I'm starving to death under a crumbling bridge, I can at least take comfort in knowing I never sunk so low as to assert the nation's most distinguished, accomplished criminals - my political overlords - should be exempt from justice. Optimism is hard work, but, like any other narcotic - except for, say, Darvocet - occasionally worth pursuing. Admittedly, as silver linings go, it's a shitty one. But it's something!

Joe Conason's latest article/proposal/capitulation/rationalization, PARDON THE BUSH MISCREANTS, has been a long time coming. Anyone who ever visited The Carnival of Horror more than once (you know, back when I used to come here myself) is already keenly aware of how all this sanctimonious fakery is destined to play out.

Conason, covering for Senator Pat Leahy and the rest of the millionaire Democratic Establishment, supports immunity for torturecrats if they spill the beans to a legislative body which is itself comprised of torturers, kleptocrats, war mongers and gutless fucking cowards who, by all rights, should be tried and jailed for their recklessness, fecklessness and all-around douchebaggery.

"We don't have the votes for total victory, so, uh, fuck it."

It's a familiar refrain - no, make that a mantra - among those on The Pseudo Left, i.e. the only Left in this nationalist gut heap we call a country. It includes all you sentimental fuckwits who got weepy on Inauguration Day. Hope-addled suckers. Abuse junkies. Perpetual victims. Deniers. Chumps. Friends. (Yes, I still love you. Even though you don't listen. Or look. Or learn. Anything. Ever. You gullible fucking morons.)

Having the votes or not having the votes is presented by The Serious People as the sole consideration for those "tough decisions" facing our elected demigods. In reality, it is something else entirely: a tried-and-true distraction from the moral bankruptcy which defines our collective authoritarian mindset; a factually correct lie. And whether the subject is torture or impeachment or subsidies for new flavors of ice cream, The Mantra is nothing more than a pathetic rationalization used to obscure Americans' tireless acquiescence to, and de facto support of, The Fascist Plague which continues to drive our delirious nation far beyond the boundaries of reason, sanity and redemption.

LETTER:

Shame On The Shameless

Funny how polls are only relevant when they can be molded into a net plus for America's political elite.

What disturbs me about the idea of so-called truth and reconciliation for Bush-Cheney, Inc. and its habitual enablers in the U.S. Congress is how predictable it is. I've seen this coming for years, and, yet, despite the complete lack of surprise, it is absolutely infuriating to watch this ridiculous charade.

Same old bullshit to the Nth degree. There are those who govern and those who are governed, and, by God and Country, the former are intrinsically superior to the latter.

Those Who Govern use the law to steal from us directly and indirectly. They pack off men and women to kill and be killed, either to enrich themselves or purely for political expedience. Their disdain for the rule of law to which the rest of us are subjected, often in brutal and ruthless fashion, is beyond dispute. They unleash their monsters of choice however they see fit, whenever they see fit.

And they - Those Who Govern - do it all because there's always someone like Joe Conason, Et Al, to protect them from the just consequences of their crimes.

This isn't just about The Bush Administration, Joe, and you damn well know it. If Leahy or anyone else on Capitol Hill - our State Actors who, for the last eight years, have perfected the art of moral theatrics and gutlessness - care to prevent the abuses which have stained and strained this country to its breaking point, they need only confess their own failures with a full acknowledgment of COMPLICITY.

Sadly, Joe Conason, your brain - and, along with it, your sense of justice and basic human decency - is no less rotten than those of your Beltway pals. What you're advocating is not pragmatism. It's forfeiture. Some things are worth fighting for, even when the odds do not favor a painless victory - or any victory at all.

You're an abject failure as an American citizen, Conason.

As a journalist, you're about average.

Draw your own goddamn conclusions.

-- Arvin Hill [Read Arvin Hill's other letters]
Permalink Thursday, February 12, 2009 08:13 PM PST

Insight: David Sirota

2009-02-07T22:21:00.008-06:00

Less than two weeks ago, liberal darling David Sirota wrote that Washington Democrats are pushing Obama to the left.

One week later, Sirota writes Washington is the same one-party town it always has been -- controlled not by Democrats or Republicans, but by thieves.

So, Obama is being "pushed to the left" by thieves. How fortunate we are that thieves lean left.

Who knows what next week will bring? I am grateful to live in a country where the pundit class sorts out these infinitely complex Beltway dynamics for their fellow Americans.

It's all so very confusing.

Meet The New Boss

2008-11-26T09:45:00.002-06:00

The Man. The Myth. The Mass Delusion.

2008-11-07T10:39:00.009-06:00

From Rebecca Solnit, who should know better:

"Who he is is so much better than we had any right to expect in a country left to the jackals for so long, even if he's just a pretty gifted liberal Democrat with an uncanny ability to see beyond the binaries and describe what might lie there."

Though weary, wary and cynical, I would share Solnit's Hallmark sentiments about Obama had the man's actions as a Congressman, Senator or presidential candidate approximated his rhetoric.

It doesn't.

He speaks eloquently of the need for international diplomacy. Then, for a hardy round of AIPAC applause, rattled the nukes in his pocket. All options are on the table.

He speaks eloquently of accountability and responsibility, but practiced neither when he flatly rejected holding The Bush Administration accountable for its actions, none of which, he asserted, rose (or sunk) to the level of criminality.

He speaks eloquently of fairness and supported a monstrous transfer of wealth in the form of "bailouts" - with no conditions - for his Wall Street backers.

He speaks eloquently of freedom and advocated The Bush Administration's policy of unrestrained, systematic government surveillance on American citizens.

But nevermind all that.

Like the call & response absorbed by the sweltering cotton fields of yesterday's Mississippi Delta, Obama's rhythmic oratory is answered with weepy hallelujas and bold proclamations of change even as the whip falls, again and again.

Obama's uncanny ability isn't the nuance and vision Solnit describes. It's something much simpler: a highly refined talent for performance. Above all else, this is what Americans across the political spectrum have desperately missed for the last eight years: a convincing, well-spoken liar whose mind is as sharp as his teeth.

If that isn't a jackal, I don't know what is.

Reindexed: Al Qaeda Won. Just Ask Judge Richard Posner

2008-06-25T10:48:00.007-05:00

NOTE: Although this post appeared one week short of a year ago (June 28th, 2007), I'm reposting it because - despite receiving more hits by far (including an impressive number of spook hits from our surveillance-minded, waterboarding betters in the federal government) than anything else I wrote last year, and despite ranking rather prominently for months afterward - when I tried to find it this morning, it stubbornly refused to show as a search result on either Google or Yahoo.

I was able to locate a couple of references to it (a curiously small number considering several other blogs & sites found it worthy of referencing at the time, which is always a surprise) yet could not find the actual post without logging into blogger and searching my own queue.

I doubt there's anything nefarious about its disappearance considering the url changed as a result of publishing to ArvinHill.com last year. How paranoid do you think I am? Just because I got lots of hits with UNKNOWN in the sitemeter ID fields when it first appeared, that doesn't mean they're out to get me. It is kind of weird, though.

So here's the post as it appeared last year. Let's hope my torture masters in D.C. and Chicago will not see fit to destroy my puny life on the basis of a little spleen-venting over the loss of my Constitution. For what it's worth, I'm completely over it. Breakin' up is hard to do. Boo hoo.

And maybe I can find it when I need it next time:

From The Australian:

A TOP-RANKING US judge has stunned a conference of Australian judges and barristers in Chicago by advocating secret trials for terrorists, more surveillance of Muslim populations across North America and an end to counter-terrorism efforts being "hog-tied" by the US constitution.

Judge Richard Posner, a supposedly liberal-leaning jurist regarded by many as a future US Supreme Court candidate, said traditional concepts of criminal justice were inadequate to deal with the terrorist threat and the US had "over-invested" in them...

His proposed "big brother" solutions flabbergasted delegates at the Australian Bar Association's biennial conference, where David Hicks's lawyer, Major Michael Mori, is to be awarded honorary life membership.

Richard Posner is a careerist. Like everyone else with two sparking neurons in the U.S., he fully understands no one gives a rat's ass about The Constitution.

The Bush Administration, itself a product of post-Constitutionalism, does exactly as it pleases, as does Congress and the federal judiciary. Search & seizure? Separation of Powers? Advise and consent? Habeas corpus? Civil rights? The Rule of Law? These are all throwbacks to another time. The United States Federal Government now operates like a high school student council with guns, bombs and mass media.

"We have to fight terrorism with our strengths, and our strengths evolve around technology, including the technology of surveillance," said Justice Posner, a prolific legal scholar who sits on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

So, technology is the Great American Salvation. That such a declaration is made by an esteemed legal scholar tells us everything we need to know about the mindset of the elites charged with the care, custody and control of the United States government.

"Are there terrorist plots that are at a formative stage among the large US Muslim community of two to three million people? In the 600,000 Canadian Muslim population, are there people planning attacks on the US?"

"What we have to do is discover the extent of the terrorist threat to the US. There is a danger, and it demands a rethinking of some of our conventional views on the limits of national security measures.

"We should think of surveillance as preventative, not punitive. We should think of controls that have nothing to do with warrants or traditional criminal justice to prevent abuses."

If, by "we" Posner means himself and his fellow elites for whom "the law" is whatever they say it is, his statements make a lot of sense. Otherwise, I can say with some certainty that Arvin Hill would not be included in any first person plural spoken, written or thought by Judge Posner or the vast majority of his peers.

Not that I'm a Muslim, Dick. I swear!

If we want to ride horses and eat ice cream, we're just going to have to accept that American Muslims (and other swarthy types, to be sure) must be stripped of all legal rights, harassed from cradle to grave and relegated to the outermost fringes of society. Like we did to all the white dudes after McVeigh and his crank buddies went-a-bombing in Oklahoma City. Only then can we be truly safe. Because people on the fringes of society always make docile, friendly citizens. Our priority must be safety. To be "safe" is to be "free."

Is this making sense yet - or are you just being obtuse?

Judge Posner said the US temper and culture could not sustain repeated terrorist attacks.

Could not or would not? It's an artificial distinction. The national psyche is controlled with eerie efficiency by the entire social class which created Posner just as it creates and controls everything else: for its own utility.

The Big Scary Monster that Posner is warning about already devoured the U.S..

The Republic was so weak, hollow and meaningless by September 11, 2001, that it couldn't withstand a single terrorist attack. Yet, the aftermath of McVeigh & Company's Oklahoma City hootenany - just a few short years before 911 - looked considerably different from the total lockdown and relentless collective mindfuck initiated by The Bush Machine and its owner-operators. What happened in the interim between those two events?

At one time, the rule of law existed as a buffer against the mob rule mentality that has always menaced the human condition. Its banishment from the collective American conscience - something which has happened largely by design, as Posner's remarks illustrate - does not bode well for our future. It doesn't make our present any more palatable, either.

Melbourne QC Tim Tobin said it was a shock to hear such hard and isolationist positions coming from a judge known as a liberal thinker. While he was disturbed by the judge's proposed crackdown on US and Canadian Muslims, he suspected the sentiment would be welcomed by the Howard Government.

I can't help but feel sorry for Australians, few of whom seem to understand their nation is just a tiny bit behind the U.S.. But, the truth is, all English-speaking Western nations are on a similar trajectory. Where they currently appear on the descending arc is largely irrelevant, or soon will be.

Among societies in Western industrialized nations, it isn't FEAR which marks the inauspicious start of the 21st Century. It is the capitulation to fear, which is a very different creature.

People who are afraid are easy to control, and people who are easy to control make compliant servants and junkie-like consumers. Everybody's a winner! As it turns out, blowback can take a take several centuries to play out. I don't know about you, but I don't expect to live to be a thousand.

Judge Posner raised the prospect of secret trials as a "tailored regime" to prosecute terrorists in cases where there was a concern about classified information going public.

Tailored regime? Now that's some tidy terminology. After reading his musings on jurisprudence, it becomes embarassingly obvious - even to a high school dropout like me - that Richard Posner is better suited to head The Department of Tag Lines at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky than rendering life and death decisions at the highest levels of government.

If the United States has forfeited a Constitutional Republic for a tailored regime [which, as we already know, is exactly what has occurred] - then the tiny minority of Americans who possess a deep and abiding understanding of the concept of freedom have the greatest duty to vigorously challenge the individuals and institutions which place a premium on further erasing it from the public mind.

"...Judge Posner said the US was "a law-saturated society where even non-lawyers tend to think of problems in terms of legal categories"

"Criminal justice and war are the two responses we have to terrorism. Each comes with its own legal institutions and doctrines and regimes but the struggle against international terrorism doesn't fit either very well.".

Let's see if I understand this. "Terrorism" will flourish in the "law-saturated society where even non-lawyers tend to think of problems in terms of legal categories." That's a real problem - THE real problem - for the Richard Posner's of America: Non-lawyers possessing some understanding of law. The rabble can have "rights" - but only if they don't understand what those "rights" are. Which explains why, according to our political elite - both Republicans AND Democrats - none of us can afford to claim any rights.

I thought Fascism was the problem. But according to Richard Posner, Baby Boomers were simply exposed to too many Perry Mason reruns.

Citizens who recognize they have inalienable rights - rights which, by definition, are fully independent of, and separate from, the bureacratic whims of the power mongers who lord over the population at any given time - cannot be tolerated by those who think of themselves as our masters, and act in accordance with that belief. These citizens - quite possibly you - represent the only real threat to the American elite which Judge Richard Posner so enthusiastically represents. Some things never change.

Other things, such as the failure of American citizens to place a proper value - or any value whatsoever - on inalienable rights, change in the worst way possible.

He said it was "quite misplaced" to suggest national security measures in force or contemplated in the US could endanger liberty and undermine the political system. This was because governments could no longer conceal what they did: "We have a very aggressive media and a huge and complex government where many people in the government are quite willing to talk to the press."

Whose "liberty" and whose "political system" will not be "undermined by a national security state? Yours? Mine? Or the liberty and political system of Richard Posner, who clearly sees himself as an apparatus of the police state.

So, there's not enough secrecy in our government. If only the U.S. didn't have "a very aggressive media" (nevermind that thinking Americans increasingly must turn to non-American news sources for anything resembling accuracy and disclosure) and everybody would just shut the fuck up while American Muslims and various other malcontents were systematically rounded up, tortured and neutralized without fanfare. Then, Judge Richard Posner and his good friends wouldn't have to advocate such unpleasantries as a matter of policy. Sure, it's circular reasoning, but whether or not it makes sense isn't really the point. It's circular enough to get confirmed to United States Supreme Court by The Senator From Delaware and his good friends.

I might be able to enjoy my weekend more if someone could convince me this absolutely ridiculous person - or someone exactly like him - won't soon be signing [il]legal opinions studiously crafted by Pepperdine's latest batch of translucent bootlickers. As highly as I think of you all, I doubt any comfort is forthcoming.

Conversation With Myself

2008-02-28T11:42:00.002-06:00

Q: Haven't seen you around lately. What up?

A: Working my ass off.

Q: Branding, marketing, all that evil shit?

A: Exactly.

Q: You never struck me as a workaholic.

A: I ain't. Maybe you've heard the old Bob Wills tune, "The Devil Ain't Lazy."

Q: ”No sir-ree!”

A: That's the one. ”He works twenty-four hours a daaaay!” Asleep At The Wheel covers it with The Blind Boys of Alabama. It's killer. You know, I caught the lazy rap most of my life. Lazy is a moral judgment. Its function is to shame. As a tentacle of the hallowed "work ethic" Americans love to exalt - while Mexicans do our landscaping and Guatemalan sweatshops crank out fashion apparel - it's pretty darn effective.

Anyway, the label always pissed me off, even when I halfway believed it. After a few decades, it occurred to me I wasn't lazy at all. Sometimes I call myself lazy, but only because it rolls off the tongue, unlike poor time management skills and a rich inner life. I forgot where I was going with that.

Q: Workaholic.

A: Oh, right. No, I'm not a workaholic. I just work a lot. Hours worked are just one aspect of what defines a workaholic. Based on the ones I have known, it comes down to whether or not they construct their entire identity around their occupations. My theory is that it's an avoidance mechanism. An escape. A diversion. They live to work. I work to live. Like everything, there's a gray area. It's a great thing to love what you do for a paycheck. But it ain't who you are.

Q: Do you love what you do for a paycheck?

A: No. What I love is being very good at something I can get paid for. As opposed to trying to shoehorn myself into a cubicle gig on the basis of what's available and who I can trick into hiring me. It's a strange thing to find my commercial niche in my mid-forties.

But what I do? It's The Devil's work. No two ways about it.

My last straight job was as a reinsurance accountant, which I quit in late 2001. Afterward, I tried to get jobs shuffling papers, trimming hedges, crunching numbers. No matter how servile but effective and capable but professionally non-threatening I tried to be, employers wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole. I probably should’ve been wearing sunglasses.

Now I do this.

Most marketing professionals believe their own hype. They've been indoctrinated at a thousand different levels of our malignant culture. I'm only been indoctrinated at, say, five hundred of those levels. Well, seven fifty. But I ditched a third of ‘em over the course of the last ten years. Ironically, the indoctrination gap accounts for why I'm better at it than most of them.

I'm not attempting to claim the moral high ground over my formally educated, institution-loving, dolla-dolla-bill-y'all peers. If anything, I'm even more of a scumbag than they are because I'm acutely aware of what branding and marketing represent, which is manipulation, plain and simple.

My competitors - branding experts, marketing gurus and PR wizards - use flowery terms to describe what they do. They articulate messages and cultivate perceptions and accurately convey the essence of various businesses, products and services. They recoil from the term "propaganda" and find it enormously offensive. These respected, accomplished, talented folks would do well to take a cue from the enterprising drug dealer who rarely or never uses the product.

I’m in the mind control business.

People pay me to use text and graphics to drive sales. It’s a polite form of mind control. Unlike, say, most of what passes for journalism, which is a rude form of mind control.

Oddly enough, one doesn't have to resort to lying, strictly speaking, to influence consumer behavior, although (obviously) many do. Being a lone wolf, I have the freedom to accept or reject clients based on what I can live with. For example, if Taser International offered me a million dollars to design a sidebar ad, I'd tell 'em to kiss my ass. This is why, as good as I am at this kind of work - and I am damn good - I'd prefer to pay the bills in some other manner, although not any other manner.

A week or two ago, somebody was raggin' on me for this line of work. I didn’t mention that chances are great they wear sweatshop clothes and have little awareness of why they selected them. Self-righteousness is hardly an abnormal feature of the human psyche, but it’s really grating when worn like any other fashion apparel. So I responded truthfully: The moral positions with moral employers are in short supply. My experience would indicate they always have been.

Karma is so fucking with me. Espouse a philosophy or an ideal, and, sooner or later, something comes along to test your commitment to it. When your needs and/or wants are being met, integrity is a cheap fucking word. When they aren't, it's a luxury I can’t afford. The trick is to reign in those needs and/or wants so that integrity becomes less cheap. It’s damn hard to do in this in a consumer culture, even if you don’t really have a rapacious appetite for material things.

This week, I got my septic tank pumped and signed an annual contract with the company which inspects the system & certifies the code compliance each quarter. Not cheap. Nor is the dentist. Profuckingpane. Glasses for Mrs. Hill. Vet bills. A mean tax bill from last year, made all the meaner by knowledge of the murder and misery it sponsors. And I’ll have to work a quarter of this year just to clear the tab. It's a good thing I can't find any drugs around here or I'd be up Shit Creek.

Q: Is that all you’re doing? Working?

A: Almost. I’ve gotten some writing done, but nowhere near enough to have any real shape. It’s hard for me to write fiction without becoming completely immersed in it, and my payin’ commitments occupy large chunks of my time. It’s a difficult negotiation.

I’m trying to be mindful about making myself go out every now and then. Dan’s Silver Leaf has an amazing roster of musicians, mostly Americana with the odd foray into jazz. I keep strange hours and tend to refrain from getting shit-faced (only because I hate hangovers), so there’s no reason not to go out. Denton has a little avant-psychedelic music scene, and it’s kinda fun to get out and meet people who are doing their own thing. Because I’m as old or older than their parents, it’s interesting to see how they react to an invader from outside their pack.

It is truly remarkable how segregated we all are. Race. Class. Age. I got to thinking about how unfortunate it is, and why, in American culture, it’s such a hard, well-defined segregation. Which led me right back to my profession. The society in which nothing matters but commerce has zero use for individuals and every use for demographics. Divide and conquer. Rich, poor, middle class. Old, young, middle-aged. Educated, uneducated, self-educated. All that matters is which slot we fit into so that every last cent can be shaken from our pockets. The only mitigating factor is that so many of us make our living shaking every last cent from each other’s pockets. Which doesn’t sound too bad until the term “pyramid scheme” is factored into the whole fucked-up mess.

Because I’m making an effort to color outside the lines, I’ve been exploring online communities which are atypical of those I am naturally inclined to visit. It’s been an interesting exercise. It takes some finesse to navigate, but I’ve managed to avoid eviction while ringing a bell or two, so I’m doing alright.

Q: Why are you talking to yourself?

A: Because it’s easier than writing several dozen emails saying the same thing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.

Today's Magic Word is INCLUSIVE

2008-01-20T13:16:00.000-06:00

Not surprising to hear Obama exalting Reagan. Ah, yes... the excesses of the 60’s and 70’s. As Barry Crimmins responded in an exchange at The Field: "Like what? The civil rights, peace and environmental movements? Thank goodness Ronald Reagan turned us back from those dangerous paths."

I have the big picture. I’m supposed to shut up and fall in line behind the latest, greatest pitchman for the myth for American exceptionalism. Ronald Reagan bullshitted this country by pretending to be on its side before screwing it over. Those with an actual working knowledge of the man's background were not surprised. He did the same thing to his brothers and sisters in the Screen Actors Guild when he was an undercover toady for thug studio bosses, as well as Hoover and McCarthy (while serving as the president of the guild.)

So what if Obama is only bowing to the myth of Ronald Reagan? It doesn’t change the fact that Reagan was a horrible president who did an awful lot of damage to innocents at home and abroad. As he did this, we were told again and again how he made us “feel better about ourselves.” How? By living lives unencumbered by conscience?

Obama made his calculation by bringing Reagan into this. No one asked him to so much as mention the scrotum-necked ghoul. He made a decision to play to the dopes and perhaps he will benefit from it. But he will lose some historically literate people in the process. I’m sure that’s a statistically insignificant slice of the American demographic pie so I guess he’s pretty shrewd.

How fortunate we are to live in these enlightened, moderate times. Thirty years ago, no one could have foreseen Americans being liberated from wretched excess in 2008. You've come a long way, baby.

Pick a card, any card. Whether it's Social Security, National Security or, as with his recent case of name-dropping Saint Ronnie and all those nasty "excesses" of 60s & 70s, Cultural Security, Obama can be counted upon to adopt the prevailing right wing narrative.

This is the very definition of a serious and electable candidate. The prenuptial contract required for ascendancy. The reason I don't care who wins the Democratic primary. And why I expect an impressive spectacle of chaos and disorder in the streets of Denver at coronation time, regardless of who prevails.

Obama's supporters call this inclusiveness. That’s a little too “inclusive” for me. Contrary to what most Democratic voters are all too eager to assert, inclusiveness is a paper-maché word, not a virtue. Like its paper-maché cousin, the candy-stuffed piñata, inclusiveness conceals its rewards until it is busted open as the party reaches its high point, at which time votes and cash (an artificial distinction if ever there was one) rain down on the jubilant, virtuous supporters.

At election time, the Dem rank & file, like well-trained mice, will support anything their candidate might do which curries favor with the mythical Reagan Democrats, a demographic which magically ceases to exist when separated from the halo of hyper-nationalist fantasy. Thanks to the endlessly accommodating behavior of Democrats in the House & Senate, even the dumbest political observer understands "election time" means every single day.

Obama may become the first black president. But he sure as hell won't be the first human hologram to reach the pinnacle of executive ordination. Nor the last. It's a prerequisite for the job.

Meeting Payroll

2008-01-19T11:37:00.000-06:00

Fortunately, it's just a payroll of one.

I've had an intense couple of weeks replete with creative challenges - conceptual, graphic and linguistic - and tight deadlines including a couple of all-nighters.

Sometimes I think I'd like to have an agency so I didn't have to be responsible for every aspect of ad work. But the truth is more complex, because then I'd have to deal with supervision and the more mundane aspects of management - like paying people just enough to afford some profit, which is difficult in the self-employment arena. And exceptionally difficult for a person who doesn't like dealing with money. Or people. Or corporations.

Since January still hasn't slipped by me, I've still got a few Favorite Things 2007 to post, which I'll be getting to in the next couple of days.

Enjoy your weekend.

Johnny Letter Strikes Again

2008-01-10T02:50:00.000-06:00

Of course I was going to nail viewers for tuning into The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. As previously discussed, I have this thing about scabs. A union upbringing can do that to a person. So when Heather Havrilesky at Salon warmed up the tubes and fired up her the popcorn, what else was I going to do?

I wasn't planning on being so verbose, but since the heading of the first letter to Heather's column "Viacom's Hostages" I decided to give in to my more bombastic impulses. Predictably, some goat was got. Some people like to split hairs over what is and isn't a scab. I'm not one of them.

More people commented unfavorably toward Colbert & Stewart after my letter compared with the lone dissenter in the dozens which preceded it. I always wonder about the people who read and never comment, as they are often the ones I'm addressing in Salon letters.

So without further ado, I dedicate the following letter to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. And labor-contemptuous liberals everywhere.

Oh, Stewart & Colbert ARE scabs, alright. Et tu?

Still tuning in, are you?

Typical "progressive" fakery. All moral posturing with no commitment.

What a pretty little package.

Forced back to work. That's the phrase liberals are using to justify the actions of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Talk about disingenuous. These guys didn't have to go back to work. Had they refused until a resolution, Viacom would've had to have been very, very careful about challenging them, in no small part because of the massive amount of public support either of them are capable of martialing.

As things played out, they returned to work - and, in doing so, weakened the strike's effect and the efforts of the very people they imply they support.

To believe they were forced back to work is to be a sucka. It's understandable their fans would prefer to characterize their return as being forced back to work. It's not like I'm unsympathetic. First there's no Santa. Now this.

Instead of directing the condemnation where it belongs - and God forbid anyone consider individual responsibility - the common refrain is "Sure, Stewart & Colbert are union members, but but but...

The only but that matters?

"... but, as a viewer, I want my entertainment. And I'll find any number of ways to justify my favorite liberal icons crossing picket lines in defiance of their own union's strike. Avoid watching? Hell no. Why should I have to endure the excruciating hardship of refraining from four hours of television every week until there's a resolution?"

Viewers of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show - millions of 'em - have bitched incessantly about Democratic politicians being unprincipled, spineless, corrupt traitors to liberalism for seven long years. But it's perfectly okay for these same viewers to refrain from exercising solidarity with the striking writers, even if it means becoming scabs themselves. Regardless of the mental gymnastics employed to assuage the conscience that knows better, the viewer - a real Friend of Labor, no doubt - tuning into Stewart and Colbert IS crossing a virtual picket line.

The next time you bitch about what weasels your Democratic representatives are, look in the mirror and be grateful you have a party which reflects its constituency just as capably as the ones conservatives have.

Some things really are as simple as they seem: As long as the strike is ongoing and you're watching The Daily Show and/or The Colbert Report, you're a scab.

If you're comfortable with that designation, no problem.

If you're not, don't blame me. That's your Conscience talking.

-- Arvin Hill

[Read Arvin Hill's other letters]

Permalink Tuesday, January 8, 2008 02:40 PM

For Your Primary Pleasure

2008-01-06T00:35:00.000-06:00

I've always hated the way presidential candidates are chosen in the primaries, although an explanation would be even more cruel than listening to an interview with The Undecided Voter. Nobody deserves that, so I'll make this short and sweet. Until voters are smart enough to choose their candidates by nationally televised knife fights or cage matches to-the-death, I'm not inclined to pay much attention. For me, as things currently stand, electoral politics is like The World Series, Dancing With The Stars or God. Boring as fuck and everywhere. Since I can't run off to a deserted island and eat conch while it's going on, I'm sticking with the following two sources for my democracy-o-rama treatments.

• Al Giordano's The Field. I'm not a gambler (I don't care what anybody says: mixing pills and whiskey isn't gambling if you know what you're doing), but if I was, I wouldn't place any election bets before reading this guy's take on it. I'd love to know how much money moves around based on Giordano's prognostications, which is ironic considering he could used a few of those bucks while covering the drug war and Latin American politics in underpaid obscurity via Narco News Anyone can be wrong, but Al has a good record, and reading his analyses is a very different experience from the narcotic drone of Bob Scheiffer, Jeff Greenfield and the ~~dozens~~ hundreds of incestuous, overpaid fuckwits eschewing actual analysis in favor of the rusty shiv or the reach-around, depending on who picked up the tab for last night's dinner and "dessert."

• Barry Crimmins is thoroughly disgusted, appropriately cynical, weirdly energized, and fucking hilarious. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll wish you were never born. Oddly enough, I'll shed a tear when Hillary packs up the wires, batteries, circuitry and silicon chips for her humiliating return to Graft Central where she can resume her usual & customary duties doing Wall Street's heavy lifting and giving aid & comfort to mass murderers the world over. She isn't even gone yet, and I'm already missing the contagious joy spreading like warm cognac through my upper torso whenever Barry grinds her up like pork sausage. Which is quite a lot.

* * * * * * * *

Back in a few short days. I've got some payin' gigs to attend to.

Salon Editor Surprised at Hillary's Iowa Showing

2008-01-04T16:02:00.000-06:00

For the record, I don't give a hoot about Iowa. Or New Hampshire. Or any of the other hamster races. But I'm a smoke 'em if you got 'em kinda guy. And I like to archive some of the comments I leave elsewhere because - especially at a big outfit like Salon - all it would take is a change in editorial policy to render such things hard to find. Not to mention the obvious fact that content is hard to come by for lazy bastards such as m'self.

[Response to Joan Walsh's "On To New Hampshire"]

Joan's Tin Ear Tinnitus

Unlike the smattering of predictable whines directed toward Glenn Greenwald whenever he writes, for good or ill, about any of the primary candidates, reader criticism of your coverage & commentary has a decidedly different RINNNGGG to it.

In late November, I asked you a direct, simple question (http://tinyurl.com/3dnyk7): Would you consider a role in a Clinton Administration? I all but begged you for a straight answer.

Your deft, disarming response (http://tinyurl.com/2zrxqq), notable for its casual charm, was like watching Jackie Chan dodge knives and bullets:

I worked for the California State Legislature, briefly, early in my career, and I learned a lot, but I was miserable. I have a big mouth! Politicians really don't want to employ me. Plus, I have no intention of working in a place that's swampier and more humid than Sacramento and so much farther from San Francisco. Finally, I have the world's best job. Hillary applied, and when she didn't get it, she ran for president. (Kidding!)

An answer to my question - again, a very simple question which centered on consideration (vs. your use of intent and present circumstance) - was nowhere to be found.

It was an artful evasion worthy of the most accomplished masters of political doublespeak, which was why - knowing credentials when I see 'em - I asked the question in the first place. Yes, I would consider or No, I wouldn't consider or I'm not certain if I would consider. Any of those would've laid a predicate for a straightforward response upon which your candor could be evaluated with a critical eye. Which, one can only surmise, is why you offered a non-answer. One considerably more revealing than an actual answer.

Given this blatant aversion to straight-shooting, is it any wonder Salon readers associate you with another evasive triangulator?

In that same response, addressing another one of your readers:

I stopped answering letters claiming I'm in the tank for Hillary a while ago. But I'm going to finish this answer, and then reprint it in every letters thread when it comes up again.

and

I'm not supporting Hillary Clinton, much to the chagrin of friends and family who are. (Don't worry, I have plenty of friends and family who aren't!) I truly haven't made up my mind. I will say, though, that when MSM folks who were so wrong on impeachment, including my friend Chris Matthews and now, the next generation of Beltway smirkers, like my friend Ana Marie Cox, go after Hillary Clinton, well, I can imagine myself going into the voting booth and thinking about the way the media gangs up on her, and, yes, voting for her. Right now, that's not my plan. But I don't know.

For a professional communicator, the gulf which exists between what you say and what a substantial portion of your readers hears should be a significant concern. Unfortunately, a willingness to ignore the credibility gap is just another cost of membership at The Pundit Class Country Club. In no time at all, you'll be referring to "my friend, Bill Kristol..."

Isn't it something how things - humans and situations and viruses - reproduce? The hierarchal contempt of the Democratic Party Establishment toward its lowly base - wrapped in tidy, condescending obfuscations - is strikingly similar to the relationship between Salon and its readers. In both of these situations, an honest conversation would be, to put it mildly, very refreshing. Well, for the little people, anyway. The big people would find it as refreshing as inhaling the particulate of their own teeth as the dental drill grinds on and on. What a role reversal that would be.

Despite the Conventional Wisdom Factory in which you toil, and counterintuitive though it may be to many people (though certainly not you and your friends, all of whom know better): People can handle the truth. That's a real problem for those who prefer their bread buttered in the dark. Where there are problems, there are opportunities - in this case, job security for you and other first responders in The Applecart Vanguard.

P.S. No. 1: Al Giordano nailed Iowa. Funny how the real cool kids are never the ones who aspire to the club.

P.S. No. 2: Speaking of funny things, it's also funny how your blog's prominence on Salon's index page waxes and wanes according to the volume and tone of reader responses.

Favorite Things, 2007: Failure

2007-12-31T14:27:00.000-06:00

It must be a favorite, because I've had more of them than I could count this year. Personal and professional projects, ill-conceived and half-completed. Relationships both poorly maintained (sorry y'all) and completely severed, which, in a case or two, could just as easily be filed under Accomplishments (no one reading this). I had hoped to do a better job of reconciling the abysmal chasm separating my ideals from my lifestyle. A colossal flop, that was, but at least my guilt is tempered by an empty bank account.

E•mail me to purchase advance tickets for next year's failures.

Sorry, no refunds.

Favorite Things, 2007: The Satellite

2007-12-29T22:20:00.000-06:00

One of the innumerable benefits of corporations dominating every aspect of American life is that FM radio isn't littered with a broad range of musical genres & artists to clutter and confuse our beautiful, busy minds. My complaints on this subject have typically been met with curious stares, as if I was a bell-bottomed time traveler from 1976. "I get all my music online," was the common refrain. Then I'd have to admit to being one of the last hostages of a 28K dial-up connection (36K on a good day) because broadband was cost-prohibitive in The Styx where DirectPC (with its ridiculous upload restrictions) was free of competition from cable, which was nonexistent, and DSL since the nearest phone switch was installed when Reagan was still murdering Guatemalans by proxy.

So I languished - and it was hard, brothers and sisters - until this year, when The Dish Network (viva DVR) introduced me to Sirius Satellite Radio; not the full package, but enough of it to bring me into the 21st Century. ZOWEEE. Space travel couldn't possibly be this rewarding. Nourishment in the form of, among other channels, Pure Jazz, Left Of Center, Outlaw Country, Area 33, Boombox and Chill has restored my atrophied musical brain. And then Mrs. Hill, who does not enjoy the luxury of working from home like yours truly, became a subscriber for those daily chariot race to Robot Central. Of course, I can't afford smoke anymore, but since middle-aged shut-in's have difficulty procuring a steady supply anyway, it's a moot point.

If only there was a similar fix for the rest of my neural function, but you can't sew a silk purse from a sow's ear.

Yes, I'm familiar with The Dark Side, both The Satellite's and my own. Faced with the choice of having them or not, I would choose not. Whatever their benefits, the total militarization of Earth and Space is evil enough for me to say no thanks. Even if though it would mean risking the occasional tornado, hurricane, tidal wave or missile strike and living without The Sarah Silverman Program and The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman.

Easy for me to say. I still hate phones with a passion.

Favorite Things, 2007: The Road

2007-12-29T11:26:00.000-06:00

Some fifteen or so years ago, I read Cormac McCarthy's Suttree and found it such a strikingly perfect novel that I decided to refrain from reading any of his other books. Hey, I never claimed to have risen above juvenile idealism.

Last year, enough time had passsed that I felt up to risking disappointment, so I bought No Country For Old Men. I should have known better. The serial killer is the least interesting archetype in film or literature, and No Country For Old Men was no exception. I don't doubt The Stylin' Coen Brothers' ability to pull off a watchable adaptation. In terms of expectations and forgiveness, I'm generous with movies in a way I am not with books.

Because McCarthy is such a reclusive figure, I caught a portion of his interview with the doltish Queen Oprah. By that point, having read a few brief reviews, it was clear that those who read the The Road - my wife among them - were haunted by it. So, being a sucker for creepy, I reluctantly forgave the author for the fresh disappointment of No Country For Old Men and hit The Road.

I'm damn glad I did.

If people are reading books in five hundred years, assuming people or books exist at that inconceivably distant point, they will still be reading The Road.

McCarthy's economy with language, his sparse prose as vast as a desert sky, presents the reader with a post-apocalyptic landscape which is heartbreakingly real. Each page is saturated with the grief, despair and terror of a dying planet's last gasp. It is a testament to the author's sublime talent that he was capable of threading this agonizing tale with just enough love and hope to keep the pages turning at a breakneck pace. I was moved to tears by this book. It restored my faith in fiction.

Stewart & Colbert: Scabavision

2007-12-28T00:33:00.000-06:00

I was raised in a household that knew firsthand what a union was. My mother and father both held blue collar jobs. Both worked their asses off - long hours and hard work - but it was my mother who had the union job, and the size of her paycheck relative to my father's provided tangible lessons about the benefits of labor unions. The income differential wasn't the only advantage to union membership, as was evident from comparing their stories on subjects ranging from sick time, health insurance, the frequency of raises, their work environments and the human foibles inherent in the management/labor divide.

So, despite never belonging to a union myself, I'm sympathetic to unions because I was a direct beneficiary of the labor movement, which included every person who ever got their head cracked, and those who cracked a few heads in kind, to secure the kinds of rights and protections that my family did not take for granted.

While raising a little hell at A Tiny Revolution in the comments subsequent to Bernard Chazelle's post about Thomas Friedman working on his next sure-to-be-vapid book, I raised the subject of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announcing their intent to resume The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on January 7 with or without writers. After noting that Stewart & Colbert would be standing by to help Friedman, a celebrated tool of the oligarchy, sell a few books, I posted:

Word is Stewart & Colbert are returning to work on January 7th sans writers.

Mr. Stewart, host of “The Daily Show,” and Mr. Colbert, host of “The Colbert Report,” will have to improvise their monologues and interviews without the help of their writing staffs.

They're both WGA members, so, yeah, they're scabs in my book. So, too, are the late night weenies, who really don't give a shit about weakening the union so long as they fare okay. No doubt, the highly principled liberal hordes will do whatever it takes to justify and promptly forgive the scabbery since, you know, we're talking about folks who don't have much of a problem voting for stalwart supporters of The Surveillance State, kleptocracy, mass murder and ethnic cleansing, Unitary Executive rule and whatever policy du jour prevents citizens of The United States and other countries from having a voice in political affairs.

But Stewart and Colbert are such cards, and, hey, people gotta have their entertainment. Besides, in the words of an ancient Faith No More song, they
CARE A LOT -
ABOUT YOU PEOPLE...

The next commenter asked if I had entertained the possibility that the two liberal icons were returning to do a terrible job so as to emphasize the how rotten their shows are without talented writers, to which I replied:

There is zero doubt in my mind that's exactly what their M.O. will be. Their lip service to the strike will provide the necessary justification for their fans to watch and laugh and ignore the fact that what these guys are doing by returning to the air is weakening the union, period.
Where writers are involved, silence speaks volumes. The suits at Comedy Central and other other networks don't give a damn what happens as long as they can run fresh shows to support a fresh barrage of commercials. That does not help writers. It all but eliminates the sanctions which are absolutely fundamental to assuring writers to get a fair shake. Money talks and bullshit walks, and these two guys - by returning to work without a resolution - are making sure the fat cats get their money. But, then, they're fat cats themselves, so this shouldn't be surprising. It is, however, disappointing.

I long ago tired of Stewart yukking it up with any old fascist selling a book. He's an obsequious toady, and, although the material on The Daily Show (especially the correspondent segments) is good, Stewart himself is neither funny nor insightful.

Sadly, I will miss Colbert, as his humor has a caustic bite to it. But if he chooses to be a big money scab and undermine the people largely responsible for his good fortune, all I can say is see ya. I know how to hold a grudge, and will.

Phoenix Woman wrote:

Actually, Stewart and Colbert are being forced by Comedy Central to go back to work. Click this petition to tell CC to cut the crap and negotiate:

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/petition/truthiness

That really got under my skin. I replied:

So, let me get this straight, Phoenix Woman: Stewart and Colbert are prepared to cross the picket line, but Comedy Central gets the petition.

That is rich.

So rich that if I had a dollar for every person who signs that petition and subsequently watches four hours of Comedy Central's scabfest each week, I could buy a pair of one-way tickets to New Zealand and put the rest in a Turks and Caicos account.

Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald will continue generating a thousand letters each week from Democratic voters who can't understand why their political representatives betray them at every turn.

And liberal treachery remains an artificial construct ~~of the~~ [reserved for] Nader-loving spoilers responsible for George W. Bush.

There's something wrong with this picture, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it'll become more clear after the whiskey and eggnog fade.

It's the accountability, Stupid.

To the extent there is leverage to apply, it should be applied first and foremost to the person or persons committing the betrayal. Those who respect the picket line enforce the picket line. Comedy Central is doing what management is expected to do. As union members, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are not doing what union members must do - which is respect the fucking picket line.

This is all very anachronistic and quaint to those who have either never known or, in many cases, conveniently chosen to forget that supporting labor is something one does by their actions, not by issuing hollow platitudes like a guest on Meet The Press.

I write this not because there's anything particularly magnificent about The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, but because it serves as such a fine example of why The Liberal Tribe is such an ineffective one. Progressives who fail to comprehend the primary betrayal in this situation are the same ones who vilify the admittedly villainous Republicans while supporting, begrudgingly or enthusiastically, a Democratic Party which is not only scornful of its constituency, but actively complicit in the crimes blamed almost exclusively on Bush and his neocon cronies.

If writers are still on strike when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert return to work for Comedy Central on January 7, progressives who tune in for any reason are effectively crossing the picket line themselves. Which makes them scabs-by-proxy.

Management or Labor. Tune in and support the scabs of Comedy Central or tune out and support the writers primarily responsible for their success. These are mutually exclusive options. Prog-bloggers who refuse to comprehend the necessity of choosing sides in a simple labor dispute are most assuredly unqualified to provide any valuable insights into the sociopolitical morass of life in post-Constitutional America, much less propose any measures to challenge the status quo (not that there's a lot of that anyway).

Anyone who feels inclined to show some solidarity with the strikers is more than welcome to the sidebar graphic.

On Muteness & Mutation

2007-12-06T13:05:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I know. It's been a drag here of late.

I've had little to say, and my attempts at posting have been exercises in futility. My blog queue is full of drafts. Creatively, I never really caught a second wind after Shiner's death, but that only interrupted my momentum. Silence would've found me anyway.

Sick of politics.

Sick of media.

Sick of the Party Faithful.

Sick of the fucking treadmill.

Sick of the plague of denial permeating every nanometer of American culture.

Only the intensity changes. None of it goes away.

I'll remember 2007 as the year I finally parted, once and for all, with the last remnants of the most stubborn and pernicious of myths: that the American political system, despite its flaws, possesses enough redemptive qualities to render it worthy of every citizen's allegiance. This is The Big Lie. The titanium thread perpetually weaving the infinite fabric of lies called American culture, upon which the sacred and profane are pulverized into an amorphous blob of meaningless commodity.

Ignorance truly is bliss. And bliss is the worst kind of hallucination; the kind which distorts truth beyond all recognition. An almost impenetrable screen of delusion. The strange thing is how counterintuitive the dynamic is. You don't pursue bliss in American society. It pursues you. Relentlessly. Fraudulent, toxic and all-consuming, it is the imaginary fuel of a very real power structure. The adhesive which keeps the social order predictably static. The political establishment, equipped with sprawling media tentacles and religious devotion to state-sanctioned brutality, spawns an endless stream of intricate, seductive illusions. It is the projectionist, the projector, the screen and the image. It's even its own audience, sitting in the seat over, pleasantly eating popcorn and swilling soda like the rest of us.

Reject the bliss at your own risk. There is nothing pleasurable, much less easy, about subjecting yourself to the visceral, tormenting, soul-crunching erosion of faith in humankind that comes from dissecting the barrage of holography constituting the American norm. Not that it matters. The congenital inquisitor is not driven by satisfying answers (there aren't any), but by the opiate of revelation, even when each one accompanies the destruction of a cherished notion or previously indispensable belief.

Once the macro lie is understood, the black box can be seen for what it is: the ultimate self-sustaining, self-perfecting propaganda machine. The penalties for disobeying its commands are too many to list here, but, for me, its demystification comes with one briefly comforting realization: I'm not crazy. Subsequently, recognizing the micro-lies becomes an effortless task, one as natural as drawing a breath or taking a piss. Their transparency, quantity and effectiveness are initially shocking. The shock fades, but the sheer magnitude of the micro-lies - their pervasiveness; the ease with which they are propagated and accepted without question; their necessity to the existing social order - eventually tempers the first realization with a qualifier: Perhaps my grip on sanity is more tenuous than I thought. Departures from consensus reality are like that.

When the last of the national myths - all parented by American exceptionalism - finally dissolves, what will fill the vacuum? Social conventions, once merely suspect, become absurdist role play. The shiny material articles signifying success and enlightenment and culture begin to dim. What's left is our personal relationships. Because of my introverted nature, and because most people are content on the conveyor belt of life, I'm not especially thrilled with that particular nugget of truth. I should be living in a cave somewhere in Calistoga County.

I am fortunate to have a loving wife to drag along on this expedition, although deviating from the narrow conceptual framework of the American experience is an inconceivable proposition for her. And not without reason. The post-modern rat race of contemporary American life is largely a hollow, unsatisfying charade. Nonetheless, the psychological process of leaving it behind has delivered me to a place that is, in many ways, even more barren and desolate than the desert I've been wandering for the last forty-five years. Because I still live here and expatriation doesn't seem likely for some time, I still have to keep a toe in the water, smiling pleasantly while interacting with mall zombies.

Expecting others to understand the nature of my discontent, much less care, is extremely unrealistic; yet, despite the futility, attempting to do exactly that feels necessary in a way it never has previously. It is against this backdrop that I received an exquisitely formed idea for another writing project. The thing which doomed me to failure in past projects was the absence of a message. Now I have one. It'll be interesting to see if I can pull it together in 2008.

Let's Step Outside.

2007-11-13T17:00:00.000-06:00

Maybe I'll get around to reading "The Naked And The Dead" before I die. Probably not. I'm in no hurry to descend to the next level of depression.

What has not been depressing is reading anecdotes about Norman Mailer. The word pugilistic and its variations appear frequently in these stories, which is understandable since the same pointy-heads most likely to have encountered Mailer are the only ones who use the term, and, like the heirloom china hibernating in the cabinet, few occasions are worthy of its use.

Some will think it a poor reflection on my character to admit being amused, even a little charmed, by Mailer's legendary willingness to occasionally challenge a rival, critic or random party guest to a good old-fashioned fist fight. Mean drunks are not my favorite breed of human - far from it - but the bulk of my contempt is reserved for the malicious, sober ones, if only because there are so goddamn many of them in positions of power and privilege.

Mailer was the product of an era in which obnoxious assholes accepted the risks of injury (usually non-fatal) and public humiliation as potential consequences of their behavior. Consequences which, at least for supporters of corporatism, no longer exist. Not that this poses a problem for liberals, attached as we are to the notion that violence never, ever, ever solves anything solely because we wish it was true. But who among us would spare the torture-loving, Constitution-hating, war-profiteering plutocrat from the indignity of a well-timed broken nose and an unmoored bloody tooth falling to a polished travertine floor reflecting a thousand hyperactive flashbulbs.

How fortunate we are to live in such a civilized time; one in which socially acceptable violence is confined to paid professionals working on behalf of The State, athletes and persons defending their possessions.

Conflagration: Check.

2007-09-27T10:45:00.001-05:00

By way of Chris Floyd's Empire Burlesque (Ninth Circle: The Widening Gyre of Iraq's Death Spiral), I was referred to the single most comprehensive, foreboding, ominous article I have ever encountered detailing what The United States has spawned in the Middle East. Nir Rosen's latest dispatch, No Going Back, is a devastating, heartbreaking, infuriating assessment of the geopolitical mayhem wrought by America's latest ongoing vanity project. Anyone willing to look past the next U.S. election can see what is coming, and it is likely uglier than even the most pessimistic among us previously imagined.

The American invasion and occupation of what used to be Iraq (as a nation state, it no longer exists) will reverberate throughout the world until the sun throws its last spark. Any Americans - conservative, liberal and every point in between - entertaining fantasies wherein they are miraculously insulated from these reverberations are completely and utterly bankrupt of reason. At one time, we called this debilitating condition insanity. Now it is called normalcy.

I strongly urge you to take the time to read it in its entirety.

(Note: I'm working on a very tight deadline and may not be posting for a day or two.)

From The State You Love To Hate

2007-09-25T16:15:00.000-05:00

Across the political spectrum, people, including far too many Texans, enjoy thinking of George W. Bush - a willfully ignorant, boorish, fratboy thug - as the quintessential Texan, even though he wasn't born here and, more importantly, is neither well-mannered nor tough, two characteristics commonly ingrained in Texans of a certain age (your skepticism is easily forgiven).

It's not hard to see why the shtick works. Conservatives, of course, will believe any lie another conservative tells them. And liberals beyond the state's expansive borders are all too happy to buy Bush's Texas Act because it confirms pre-existing, entrenched prejudices toward the people of this state, a point I was reminded of thanks to Salon readers responding to Bill Sasser's article, Texans Turn Against Bush's War.

It ain't easy bein' a Texan these days. But that's another post.

The article itself was unremarkable with the exception of the following:

But elsewhere in Texas Bush has become a figure that former supporters say they no longer recognize. "I was very enthusiastic for Bush when he first ran, embarrassingly so looking back now," says Paul Burka, executive editor of Texas Monthly magazine. A political independent who has covered Texas politics for 30 years, Burka twice voted for Bush for president. "Early on his approval rating in Texas was around 80 percent, and he did well with Democrats as well as Republicans and independents. Now there's widespread disappointment he hasn't led the country in the same way he led Texas. To a lot of us he doesn't look like the same person he was as governor. I would say it's been an enormous disappointment."

Despite my calcified cynicism, I was nonetheless stunned by the complete lack of self-awareness in Burka's lame-ass commentary. Although the self-described "independent" political observer admits to being "embarrassed" for his uncritical support of GWB, I don't think it is unreasonable to suggest that any human being with even the tiniest shred of conscience would be more than "embarrassed" for playing a role in the creation of the Bush Frankenstein fronting our ignoble empire. Remorseful or repentant would be a start. Burka, a major player in the vanguard of what passes for conventional wisdom in Texas, is neither.

George W. Bush was never anything but a transparent fraud, at least to those of us not enthralled with aristocracy, power and wealth - the holy trinity of what passes for virtue these days (and not just in my state, either). Paul Burka would have us believe Dubya The Great has changed - devolved - since his days as Governor of Texas. This is surely among the most ridiculous things I have ever seen in print. It ranks right up there with war-loving Democrats attempting to justify their shameful role in invading and occupying Iraq by claiming to have been deceived by George and Dick. These highly implausible assertions may appear to be unrelated, but they share a common source: the American obsession with winning.

Back a winner, be a winner.

Back a loser, blame the loser.

I've worked for countless self-entitled elitist fuckwits who were cut from the same cloth as our dictator-president. Ugly, venal, narcissistic assholes. People for whom the usual and customary rules do not apply. In my class-conscious brain, these guys - and girls - stand out like chartreuse against an orange backdrop. Burka either lacks my finely tuned bullshit detector, or he's one of them. Considering his line of work and his enthusiastic support of GWB in 2000 and 2004, the latter is a safe bet.

Either way, like much of America's political class (the ones entwined in microphones, TV cameras and massive printing presses), Paul Burka isn't qualified to pour piss from a fucking boot. Maybe this is why Texas Monthly has long been a spectacularly dreadful magazine unfit for parakeet shit, unless the parakeet is in the market for a watch that costs a hundred grand.

Movin' On

2007-09-17T21:36:00.005-05:00

...not to be confused with Move On, an organization which I have no use for whatsoever.

Thanks to everyone who showed some love during my recent loss.

The sting of Shiner's departure is becoming slightly more diffuse each day. As someone intimately - and consciously - familiar with Grief, I allow myself the freedom to experience it however it unfolds. If I've learned anything in the last forty-five years, it is this: In the pantheon of unhealthy human behaviors, the failure to acknowledge grief is surely one of the most toxic. There's no way through it but through it.

With the more immediate manifestations fading, the main one I'm contending with now is lethargy. I'm way behind on everything from email to yard work to home maintenance and whole lotta mundane bullshit in between. Fall can't get here fast enough - it's my favorite time of year - but at least I won't have to wait much longer. Time to start getting caught up. Sort of.

Even though I haven't been posting, I'm not sitting around crying in my Fruit Loops. Granted, sitting around in my boxer shorts drinking wine and watching television isn't much of an improvement, but at least I haven't been watching much bad TV (that's another post).

I barely noticed September 11th, which is as it should be. After several months of not smoking herb - the longest stretch since my days in the Air Force - my pretty pink lungs were filled with sweet, herbaceous smoke. It was a music day. Trane. Chris Whitley. Robert Earl. Helmet. And many more as they used to say on those cheesey commercials pitching god-awful compilations. Patriot Day, my ass.

As the cloud begins lifting, I look forward to resuming some semi-regular posting. Right after I mow my nappy yard.

Farewell, My Shine

2007-08-28T11:37:00.000-05:00

Even as a puppy, Shiner had those eyes you only see in creatures with ancient souls. Always sweet, playful and affectionate, he was also a fearless defender of those he loved. As a peacemaker and gentle spirit, he welcomed other dogs into the family with grace and generosity. He enjoyed naps with all the enthusiasm other dogs give to meaty table scraps. He kept me warm when the nights were cold. I loved not having to go to an office every day because it afforded me the luxury of spending so much time with him. He was surely the most easygoing American Staffordshire Terrier in the history of the breed.

Despite his declining cardiopulmonary function over the last year, his quality of life remained excellent right up until the end. This was largely due to two things: (1.) a glucosamine/MSM supplement which has truly remarkable effects counteracting the effects of osteoarthritis, and; (2.) taking him off dog food, which I've concluded is poison even when it is not literally poisoned. Shiner's daily breakfast was pulverized or pureed greens, beans, broccoli, yogurt & cheese. Dinner was usually three or four raw chicken wings (raw bones are healthy for dogs and don't pose the choking hazard like cooked bones, which splinter). Within a month of changing his diet, his health improved dramatically: more energy; less coughing; significantly improved digestive health; no more dry skin.

Shiner was more than a pet, more than a friend, more than a family member. He was Beauty incarnate, much loved and well-cared for since joining us at the age of six weeks. He returned that love, exponentially, every day.

The hardest thing about loving any creature is outliving them. But the joy they bring into our lives is a sublime thing, well worth the abysmal grief left in the wake of their departure.

Shiner would've been fourteen on Thursday. We'll miss you, Shine. You were the best.

Incommunicado

2007-08-09T07:58:00.000-05:00

Modem trouble.

And you thought you had problems.

Breakin' It

2007-07-30T01:28:00.000-05:00

Fatigued from Sisyphean task of attempting to reanimate The Somnambulant among us - the roughly seventy percent of Americans who shrink from the words opposition and resistance like flaccid dicks in a glacial tributary (yeah, I'm talking to you, San Francisco) - I ain't posting this week.

Instead, I will be re-training my bleeding psyche on generating a personal income, which is no big loss for either of us since I've been a broken fucking record for the last few ~~days~~ ~~weeks~~ ~~months~~ years. I take great pride in giving marks their money's worth, so please feel free to refund your ticket at the gate.

Suckers.

Upon my return, The Carnival of Horror will be dabbling in the ubiquitous format known as podcasting. Hopefully, the prospect will shock Your Humble Carny's frighteningly sober brain into exploring previously unconsidered possibilities for sharing future horrors - even if they're just the same old horrors delivered in a slightly more visceral package.

Questions?

A: No, management doesn't care if you don't like podcasts. Next.

A: Transcripts? Hell, no. Next.

A: Yes, being a dial-up monkey complicates matters, but I have ways. Never underestimate the tenacity of an angry, embittered idealist accustomed to fighting unwarranted hope and justified depression simultaneously. Just keep your expectations extremely low - just like you always have - and we'll get along just fine. Next. Nothing else? Anything at all? Fantastic. That settles it.

Ciao, babies. Have a blissful week.

George W. Pelosi vs. The World

2007-07-24T23:59:00.000-05:00

Allow me to make something clear: I don't care what Democrats think about impeachment. I don't care what Republicans think about impeachment. I don't care what Greens think about impeachment.

What I care about is whether American citizens still believe in self-governance and can come together as citizens - not political loyalists - to prevent another war.

It's this simple:

1. I believe IMPEACHMENT is the only way to prevent another offensive war - this time against the people of Iran.

2. I believe American citizens have sponsored enough DEATH and MISERY and DISPLACEMENT and DESTABILIZATION and TERROR by looking the other way while Republicans AND Democrats have used WAR to further their own narrow political interests.

3. I believe citizens have the RIGHT and the DUTY to COMPEL politicians to act on behalf of the public good, whether they want to or not.

4. I believe IMPEACHMENT - at this point - starts with changing the calcified, cynical mind of Nancy Pelosi; and that doing so requires PROTESTING IN HER DISTRICT.

5. I believe I am not alone.

Love,

Arvin Hill
Friday, July 27th, 1:45pm CST

_______________________________________________________

The following post was originally published on July 21st, but I'm bumping up the date just to keep the post from disappearing for the next week or two.

Or three.

Or longer.
_______________________________________________________

Nancy Pelosi is the linchpin. It is SHE who is greenlighting every ongoing and future crime of the Bush-Cheney Administration. It is SHE who refuses to hold the outlaws in The White House accountable.

And it is the people of San Francisco who are failing to compel the woman THEY sent to Washington, D.C., to represent THEM. So, I ask you, San Francisco, is Nancy Pelosi the conscience of her district? Or have you all simply ceded your own authority - and abandoned your conscience - by acquiescing to her cynicism?

Each day she is not held to account, it is Pelosi who is ushering the nation and the planet down to the next level of Hell - with all the blood and death and financial ruination and sheer misery that entails - so she can deliver a "historic" speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next year. NEXT YEAR!!!

How DARE her.

How DARE the Democratic Party refuse to do what is right.

What a horrible, indelible stain on the city of San Francisco, whose people are better than this.

All those progressives, visionaries and anarchists willing to tolerate such naked corruption in their own backyard while the bodies pile up at home and abroad. Is everyone there so drunk on this year's cool new drink that they no longer give a damn? So high on E that "it's all good." So fucking stoned they just can't muster enough outrage to take to the streets?

I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT.

If the World Bank attempted to hold a convention in San Francisco in the next seventy-two hours, does anyone doubt thousands of people - from all over the West Coast - would converge there to make their displeasure known? "Organizers" would be pouring out of the woodwork. Where are they now?

Yet their own Congressional Representative - "Madam Speaker" - gets a pass for her egregious neglect. For her indifference. For her political calculations which are costing lives day after day. Week after week. Month after month.

Year after year.

How hard would it be, really, for CITIZENS - the ones in HER DISTRICT - to say NO MORE. The nation would stand behind them. Those who care about, not only our fate, but the fate of people all over the world who have been victimized, and continue to be victimized, by monsters of our own making. We would stand with you, San Francisco, to say ENOUGH.

Enough fear.

Enough terror.

Enough thievery.

Enough destruction.

Enough contempt for those with whom we share this planet.

If politicians only understand Big Money - which everyone knows is exactly what they understand, and to the exclusion of everything else -should there not be a Citizen's TAX on the blood-soaked tyranny Madam Speaker is so ably and cynically promoting by her inaction?

Are Americans even capable of understanding the concepts behind the tortured words freedom and democracy? Can we remember what they meant before we surrendered them to greed and avarice and indifference? Did we ever know?

Does America have a soul?

7/21/07 - 10:27am
_________________________________

Update: Read Ray McGovern's account of the meeting he and others had on July 23rd with John Conyers regarding the subject of impeachment:

"Throwing salt in our wounds, he had us, and some 50 others in his anteroom arrested and taken out of action as the Capitol Police “processed” us for the next six hours."

San Francisco's hometown gal, Nancy Pelosi, says impeachment is "off the table." No matter how many crimes George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have committed. No matter how many crimes they are committing today. No matter how many crimes they commit between now and the time of the Democratic National Convention next year.

July 24th, 2007 - 11:00PM CST
_________________________________

The Dangers of Dreaming

2007-07-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

Millions of Americans are acutely aware of the complete collapse of The Republic. Aware of the atrocities committed daily in parts of the world most will never see, or care to see. Aware that the our insatiable appetites are expediting an unpleasant collision with reality.

But there are no social movements. No anti-war movement. No human rights movement. No civil rights movement. No democracy movement. For now, there is only chatter among people of like mind.

When this changes, it will be out of fear, not hope. Which means The Beast of Deprivation will be in plain sight of even the most witless, intruding on our mundane reality like a hungry mob at dinner.

As a kid, I was always mystified by economists, politicians and other luminaries of the capitalist system. The sole measure of "prosperity" was, and continues to be, growth. Even being a lousy student in math, it struck me as completely illogical - and I wasn't the most logical kid on the block.

Thirty years later, living in a house larger than I need and using more resources than a conscientious person with a full stomach has any right to use, it is no less maddening.

Yet here I am.

Joe Bageant has written about the tension and conflict between he and his wife over his macro perspective and the personal guilt that comes with being cog in the wheel of Empire. Being all too able to sympathize, it was one of the many things we discussed in Belize last year while he was busy actualizing his dream of egress.

I would walk away from it all tomorrow. The woman with whom I have shared my entire adult life, despite her adventurous spirit, would not. Security is the concept which infuses her personal ethos, which, in typical karmic fashion, is what affords me the freedom to avoid a miserable 9-5 existence wedged and withering in the bunghole of Corporate America. It is her sensibilities, not mine, which have not only kept us from starving to death, but brought me a number of life-changing experiences that would not have otherwise occurred.

What I have only recently begun to understand is the extent to which most creatures are simply unwilling to let go of all that is familiar.

In material societies, the familiar is comprised of material things, whether it's our pursuit of them or the pleasure they bring us once possessed. Our collective imagination is severely stunted, locked in a pattern which rarely extends beyond the stiflng boundaries aquisition and loss. Of course, these are mere ponderances of our daily reality. The American Dream - whether in America, The U.K., China or where ever it takes root - is a non-dream.

From my obstructed view - which is all I have to go on - it appears that few citizens of Western industrialized and post-industrial cultures are interested in pursuing a paradigm which does not include a primary focus on things.

In North America, only the Mexicans appear to be engaged in any meaningful resistance to the status quo, risking life & limb in the process. Not surprisingly, few outside of Mexico are even aware of their rebellion.

I foresee a renaissance of intentional communities in the coming decades; small groups of people attempting liberation from the traditional concepts of "security" and "happiness." They will have their own internal and external challenges, as all communities do.

But the ugly truth is that those who have will not hesitate to kill in order to keep what they have and accumulate even more. This is the worst of human nature, and everything in American society is structured to reinforce the fraudulent nobility of this murderously competitive impulse. These days, the killing is done by proxy. As all that we know melts into an unfamiliar state some call Reality, so, too, will the tidiness of maintaining our non-dream. It will become more and more difficult to ignore our blood-stained hands as The Empire's proxies evolve into tomorrow's avengers. To wrap your mind around this, look no further than the diaries posted at Iraq Veterans Against the War.

By all means, dream.

And in the lucid moments feeding those dreams, be mindful that your dreams are considered a direct assault on the well-being of those who are best served by the status quo. May the dreamers prepare themselves for what awaits: brute force to kill those dreams.

It will not be pretty. Powershifts never are.

California Dreamin'

2007-07-20T23:46:00.000-05:00

Last night, I had the strangest dream.

I was in a hotel. Late for a business appointment, anxiety turned to panic as I navigated hallways and conference rooms and more hallways. In classic dream fashion, I was lost. Worse, I was fighting sleep, unable to fully awaken. Whenever I tried to talk to anyone, my speech was slow and unclear. People were perplexed by my inability to pronounce words or complete a sentence. Everyone thought I was sick. All I needed was assistance getting to the lobby. Someone, somewhere, was waiting on me. I wasn't going to make it.

Finally, I find an elevator. Ding. It's empty. I get on, punch L and ride down. The doors open, but the hotel lobby I am expecting is not there. Instead, I step out onto a crowded city street. Every direction I look, sidewalks and streets are packed with people. The atmosphere is charged but peaceful. Serious, but oddly festive. I look at a woman next to me. "This is really embarassing," I said, surprised at the sudden clarity of my words. "Can you tell me what city this is?" She just laughed and said, "Your kidding, right?" And then I remember my appointment is - was - in San Francisco. I missed it. Didn't care. But I still didn't understand why thousands of people were congregating to shut down the city. They were unified in their purpose, whatever it was. Never had I seen so many people in one place. The Golden Gate Bridge was filled with pedestrians. No cars. No trucks. No traffic. Anywhere. The same woman who had laughed at my question said "If Pelosi won't do anything about it, what else can we do?"

Instantly, I woke up.

And for a few seconds, I believed thousands of people were shutting down the city of San Francisco to demand Nancy Pelosi call for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Even as I realized it wasn't really happening, I was infused with a sense of optimism and hope. Like the living fabric of the dream only moments earlier, it quickly faded. But the question remained: Is it so impossible that the people of California could fill the streets of San Francisco and force Nancy Pelosi to do what is right for the nation? For the world?

Twenty hours later, I refuse to believe the answer is no.

The Unavoidable Pain of War

2007-07-20T17:59:00.000-05:00

Sooner or later, whether you do or don't know someone who's had the grave misfortune to have been a direct part of our ongoing Iraq Atrocity, you'll still feel that punch in the gut. We can theorize and sympathize and express our indignation without feeling it, but as the years drag on and the blood keeps running, it catches up with all of us.

Take, for example, the following anecdote related by The Artist Formerly Known As Pus Boy:

So, I’ve started working part-time as a real estate agent. I got my license and have even been asked to do some real estate instruction. It may turn into a full-time thing, assuming the real estate market stops being shit.

Anyway, last week, I went on a house critique with some other agents. The place was a mess, and the criticism was flying. (The owners weren’t there.)

And then, I noticed the American flag, folded into a small triangle and enclosed in a small glass case. And, then I noticed the sympathy cards strewn about, and the funeral announcements.

I realized that I was standing in the home of a National Guardsman who did not come back from Iraq.

Read the whole post.

Part II of Can't Never Could

2007-07-18T13:16:00.000-05:00

Responding to my comment - ("Can't Never Could" Part I) in the course of this discussion at A Tiny Revolution, John In California asks "So OK, great, we know what the problem is but will you (and Mike) associate yourselves w/ a Solution?" John sees that Solution in the Kucinich candidacy and asks if I would be willing to start pitching Kucinich [to the ever faithful devotees of a political system I believe is irrepairably broken]. My response follows:

Sure. As soon as he runs as an Independent, forms a guerilla movement and seizes CNN.

I get your point, but I suspect the reason I have a FBI file is because I have associated myself with a solution. And it is one frowned upon by The Authorities, as well as those who superficially appear to be my allies.

People invariably want shit spelled out for 'em - in large part, I have learned in recent years, so they can object to it on principle and further absolve themselves of responsibility. That, too, is typical of the Democratic Faithful's mindset: Just give us the answer! When the answer does not comport with what they want to hear - like a Soros endowment or signing a petition - they're outta there.

Dissidence takes many forms, some effective and some not. Deep down, people already know what the answers are - the possibilities, the personal limitations and, worst of all, the cost. Those who wrestle with issues of civil and not so civil disobedience - of duty and risk and sacrifice - ultimately end up boiling it all down to a single question: "Is the USA even worth it?" The collective answer, thus far, is a resounding no. Perhaps it always will be.

But we are early, relatively speaking, in The Republic's passing. Many are only now realizing what we think of as America - the ideal; the potential - isn't simply limping or gasping or otherwise ill. It is dead. And those who didn't actively murder it turned away while the deed was done, Kitty Genovese style. In the place of a Republic stands a zombie, mindless and hungry; extremely dangerous for any person, group or institution capable of challenging its authority in any way, shape or form.

Perhaps when people understand there is nothing left to save - that a new Republic must be constructed out of whole cloth and not merely salvaged - we will have turned a corner. How far we are from that realization, assuming it ever comes, is anyone's guess. I certainly don't expect to live long enough to witness it, and anyone who does is considerably more optimistic than me. Such a mass epiphany, should it occur, will manifest itself far too late for those who experience it. But for future generations, perhaps it will come just in time. In our post-modern culture of boundless narcissism, the concept of sacrificing for future generations could not be more unnatural. I am hopeful of very little, but I like to think Americans - like other human beings - still have the capacity to relearn the signficance of sacrificing our comfort and material fortunes for those who come along after us. It sure beats sacrificing our ideals daily in the here and now.

As I Toil in The Spectacle...

2007-07-17T14:54:00.000-05:00

Last week, I was remiss in my duties as paid corporate propagandist and only accomplished about ten percent of a heavy workload that I should've completed by now. As a result, I must do penance for previous indulgences (even though few of them were much fun) and won't be posting for a few days.

In the interim, for the benefit of the uninitiated marks who have somehow managed to stumble upon this festival of darkness - yet, still remain - I leave you with the following essay from Jay Taber's War of Ideas:

MORAL SANCTION
The power of moral sanction as a penalty of conscience for violations of our sense of decency--based on a belief in the application of justice--has been essential to struggles for autonomy and dignity since the Middle Ages, and is, in my opinion, central to the struggle of rebuilding democratic society today. An examination, therefore, of the strengths and weaknesses of this tool of social change is warranted.

If you dare.

Can't Never Could

2007-07-16T17:39:00.000-05:00

[The following is my reply to one of those "We Still Can't Get Our Act Together" posts which, for some strange reason, keep popping up hither and yon in the Lefty Blogosphere.]

One look around and it's plain to see who sets the total agenda in this country: The voters who send pro-business, pro-theocracy, pro-empire, anti-Constitutional zealots to Washington, D.C.. The mass media, being capital-based, belongs to them. It's their echo chamber. Liberals ceded that ground a long time ago. We don't even try to compete against it.

But, hey, we've got The Blogosphere, where people who already know they're continuously being lied to can go and read all about it.

Every.

Single.

Day.

Democratic politicians don't even have to be brought to heel by The Right, as they have been more than adequately leash-trained over the last quarter century or so. It's always 1980 at the DNC, where "populism" is synonymous with "Reaganite lynch mob" instead of universal healthcare or education for all or a living wage.

Democratic voters - like the people they annoint as public servants - know damn good and well who owns America and, despite all the bitching, accept it unconditionally. Read Huffpo or DKos or Americablog and there is never a shortage of self-described "progressives" willing to make excuses for the latest "betrayal" by the national party. It's always The media would crucify them for demanding immediate withdrawal and They don't have the votes to impeach and [Fill-in-the-blank] would just give Karl Rove ammunition. Feeble, feckless and all too ready to wait for that magical political pendulum which exists only in the minds of "moderate" or "left-leaning" Pollyannas who expect something for nothing.

I regret to inform you The Democratic Faithful are ticket-takers and rubber-stampers. By day's end, they do what they're fucking told. In the Good Cop, Bad Cop routine, they are absolute suckers for The Good Cop. Democrats don't make demands because they are unwilling to look any further than the next election. There is no vision. How could there be? Contrary to the turbo-posting lefty masses, there isn't even a Progressive Movement, just as is there is no Anti-War Movement. Social movements are so Sixties. God forbid today's Democrats should ever be associated with anything from The Sixties - what, with history being re-written and all.

It took me waaay too long to catch on that Democratic politicians are pussies because the people who elect them are pussies. Today's Democrats are best represented by Ward & June Cleaver. What would the neighbors think? is always the paramount concern.

Democrats en masse won't lend support to Kucinich or any other candidate who espouses the values they claim to hold. They're too terrified of being photographed next to some sandal-wearin' kid with a spliff in one hand and a "Free Mumia" sign in the other. Nevermind that Republicans don't give a shit if the fuckin' Grand Dragon of the KKK shows up at the RNC's "big tent." It's nothing a wink and a nudge can't resolve.

What if Kucinich gets photographed taking a ride in a tank donning a large and goofy-looking helmet? Why, everyone who supported him will end up looking like douche bags! Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.

Must...

choose...

candidate...

acceptable...

to...

the bought & paid for Handjob Crew at Washington Week In Review.

Yes, the deck is stacked against anything and anyone to the left of Fred Thompson. The Right owns the deck. And with that deck, it sets the terms of faux-debate because it is corporate, religious and xenophobic. They - not liberals - are the True Believers dwelling among us. Everybody knows American politics is all about that Dolla Dolla Bill, Y'all - and, sad but true, the butter saturating political bread comes from corporate cows which don't give an anachronistic term like "the public good" a thought except to oppose it. The problem is that everyone who knows this accepts as an incontrovertible truth that it will - or, worse, must - forever remain that way.

Democratic politics is a top-down operation. "What are they gonna do? Vote Republican?" say the brainiacs at the DNC. They've got your number, Progressives. When the bell rings, you will pull the lever for whatever cookie is offered - and if it's made from the grist of conveniently forgotten corpses, oh well, the Republican is worse.

Gotta be pragmatic.

Gotta keep writin' those letters to the editor.

Gotta keep hollerin' in the same deaf ears.

Awwww, look at the those fringe lefties. They're so cute when they're mad.

Corporate theocratic xenophobes are not afraid to wield torches, pitchforks and an arsenal of disproportionate resources when their representatives don't listen and act in accordance with the Little Pecker Syndrome which defines that particular consituency. And when the time comes for such unpleasantries, you may have noticed they don't do much hand-wringing.

Nice, Arvin. So we should act like a mob, you say? Never! How, then, could our virtue remain intact?

What are Democratic voters - not to mention the progressives accustomed to not having any political representation - prepared to do when faced with systematic, institutional betrayal? After the requisite bloggy indignation and an hour or two in the drum circle, you aren't going to do jack shit.

And that ain't no secret. Especially at Democratic National Headquarters.

* * * * * * *

UPDATE: Since the discussion continues, so does my commentary: Part II: Can't Never Could. For original context, refer to A Tiny Revolution. As much as I would like to continue the discussion, I'm late on a pressing deadline and my ass is already in hot water. Later, taters!

Iran-Contra: A Smashing Success

2007-07-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

Jonathan Schwarz directs us to Sam Husseini's trip down memory lane:

Killing the Constitution:
How I Became a Radical Twenty Years Ago Today

Many think they now see through the Democrats' complicity with the Bush administration's illegal wars and unconstitutional actions. If they think this is new, they don't know that half of it.

Exactly twenty years ago today, on July 13, 1987, I witnessed the Democratic Party establishment covering up -- and therefore helping -- the subversion of the U.S. Constitution. It was actually on national TV, but few seemed to care.

The Iran-Contra hearings were going on. I watched them almost in their entirety, had just graduated from college and wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I spent time with my dad, who'd just been diagnosed with a severe heart condition and we watched much of the hearings together.

For a while, I was admiring of the co-chairs of the Iran-Contra committee, the Democrats Sen. Daniel Inouye and Rep. Lee Hamilton -- who would go on to co-head the 9/11 Commission and the Iraq Study Commission.

But, following events closely, it became clear Inouye and Hamilton were covering things up. This became glaring on July 13, 1987 when the following exchange took place as Rep. Jack Brooks, a Democrat from Texas, questioned Oliver North:

READ THE REST

* * * * * * * *
The liberal lemmings at Daily KOS, Americablog, and Salon.com continue to pin responsibility for our post-Constitutional ~~nation~~ society on Bush, Cheney, the GOP and Joe Lieberman - even as The Senate voted this week to lay the groundwork for another global atrocity of collective punishment, this time against the people of Iran. The amendment to the defense spending bill requires David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker to produce a report every sixty days on Iranian involvement in Iraq. Not one Senator voted against it.

When Kevin Hayden of The American Street asks Didn’t these guys learn anything since their October 2002 vote?, I am compelled to break down the lesson learned by the DNC Luminaries in Congress:

Yes, Dems in Congress - including the slate of presidential wannabe’s - have definitely learned something: The Democratic rank & file doesn’t have the guts, conscience or foresight to punish the party for any - and I do mean ANY - breaches of the public trust. No matter how frequently Democrats at the national level betray their oaths - whether the end result is illegal domestic spying, stocking the federal bench with fascists, adopting torture as a policy, or slaughtering, wounding and displacing a million people on the far side of the world - the Democratic Faithful will show up at the ballot box to reward them for their shameful cowardice and complicity. Subsequently, said voters - having expressed the required degree of indignation - will categorically reject even the tiniest shred of responsibility for what transpired previously and the horrors to come.

That’s what the Democrats have learned: That there are no consequences for swearing their allegiance to the militarial industrial complex and media which work hand-in-hand to deny the public of any role in government.

Guess it’s time to write a letter to the editor again. Sign another petition. Call my representative to express my displeasure. That should fix it!

The American political system is irrepairably broken. Until there are consequences for those who continue propping up the empire with wave after wave of propaganda, death and destruction, Americans - including those who conjure excuse after excuse for the most basic breaches of human decency committed in our name - have no right whatsoever to throw around words like "freedom" and "democracy." That they will continue to do so without the slightest sense of irony, much less guilt, is more evidence of the extent to which our national character has been corrupted.

Did I say that?

2007-07-13T11:09:00.000-05:00

No, but they're definitely the words of a kindred spirit:

Experience has disposed me to be kind in my personal dealings and severe in my professional ones.

* * * * * * * *

I was therefore raised in what might be described as a religion-free household. Strange to relate, as a result of my travels around the United States the past seven years, I begin to come to the disquieting conclusion that we Americans are these days a wicked people who deserve to be punished. The idea embarrasses me, but I nevertheless stand by it.

* * * * * * * *

I believe that rhetoric is undervalued these days. My own generation had much to do with devaluing it back in the 60s, when all public talk seemed mendacious. Part of what I do these days is an attempt to resuscitate rhetoric as an honorable and worthy feature of public life in this country. I am sensible that rhetoric sometimes changes the world. It frightens me to be in possession of it.

James Howard Kunstler
Home From Nowhere
Simon & Schuster, 1996

About The Blogroll

2007-07-12T17:45:00.000-05:00

It was just easier to start it from scratch.

Since its inception, your humble host at The Carnival of Horror has undergone a transformation or two. Along the way, I picked up readers, lost readers, went on several extended leaves and, picked up readers, became more radicalized, lost more readers and - well, you get the idea. In the process, I got de-linked from several sites, while other sites fell stagnant or disappeared altogether.

I don't take any of it personally, and I hope no one else does, either.

Looking around, I see a parting of the Lefty Seas, with the Democratic Party Faithful falling behind - or, rather, remaining behind, its so-called leadership; and others of us who are less forgiving of the rubberstamping and ticket-taking that has defined the Democrats in both Houses of Congress throughout the lawless regime which has brazenly refused, with no consequences, to submit to the checks and balances fundamental to achieving something resembling a true democratic republic.

That chasm can be expected to grow as Campaign '08 cranks up against the backdrop of an illegal, immoral, seemingly intractable war being waged by a nation which - without anything that could be considered a fight - has turned its back on the Constitution and casually acccepted that the rule of man now exists where the rule of law - with all its imperfections - once stood.

And, so, in that spirit, I decided to basically wipe out my blogroll and start over. I've gotten a lot surlier since my earliest days (and I started pretty prickly) - and I am basically no friend of any political party, even if I count many a partisan as personal friends. So, if you're looking for a Democratic Comrade, I'm not your man. If you're looking for a progressive ally, that's a different story. Either way, visitors who would like a sidebar link added or removed from The Carnival of Horror are encouraged to drop me a line.

Let The Naderite Screech Begin!

2007-07-12T00:41:00.000-05:00

It's not like I'm getting paid to talk people into burning shit down. But if someone's going to admire Hillary Fucking Clinton's "fighting spirit" - well, it's hard not to display a little fighting spirit of my own.

I'm sure Ms. Wright is a fine human being since I found her site via Joe's, but by the time I finished reading her post on Hillary, I wondered if she had slipped my friend a mickey. It wouldn't take much of one since she's a blonde with a guitar and Joe is extremely fond of guitars.

The Fightin' Side of Hillary

But when an ad in the New Yorker says "Got Hillary Hostility?" hawking a "Hillary Clinton Voodoo Kit" I do have to wonder where we are headed in this land of the free. The Hillary voodoo doll ad asks " Is she too liberal? Too conservative? Or just too impossible to pin down?" Hmmm...sounds like some of the complaints I've heard about Merle Haggard... But the way I see it, love her or not, when it comes to the political game, Hillary's a fighter.

It's unfortunate that "Hillary" rhymes with "pillory." It amazes me the hatred that she seems to stir up from people who would seem to at least want to give her the benefit of doubt. My feeling is she frightens people--and perhaps most particularly, men-- to the point where any kind of logical discussion of her attributes, both good and bad, is impossible to have.

She is Everywoman. She is Superwoman. She is probably much smarter than you. She's certainly smarter than I am. She even inspired Merle Haggard enough that old Okie from Muskogee wrote her a tribute song. Maybe he was hoping she's use it on her campaign.
So here's the thing. All the pious Naderites of 2000 brought us the mess we have today, by naively believing there's no difference between the two parties, "they're all corporate machines, blah, blah, blah." So they split the Dems vote up and handed over the election to the country-club neo-nazis we have now. Thanks guys!!
-more-

Now, before I share my screed, I do feel compelled to say that I don't consider myself a "Naderite." It's safe to say most "Naderites" would find me as intolerable as Democrats and Republicans forced to share my company.

There was zero chance anyone but Bush was going to carry Texas in 2000 and I was sick and fucking tired of chasing the Democratic Party to the right ever since Reagan Pox had infected the national psyche when I first became eligible to vote. So I politely declined to vote for Gore-Lieberman in 2000 and made my protest vote for the anti-Corvair guy. Knowing what fuckwits I have the misfortune to share my state with, and given the absolute capitulation of the Democratic Party to all things Republican prior to 2000 - and, amazingly, since that time - I would absolutely do it again. Assuming I believed in voting, which I no longer do since no political party or candidate gives a Kleenex worth o'snot what I think anyway.

It's not as though my response to the above-captioned Hillary post is a literary work of art, but after taking the time to assemble it ... well, I've lost a few here and there in various places and I kind of like to record them at The Carnival just for the record. Especially when I know damn good and well the topic will come up again.

So there's your preface, and here's my reply:

I guess as we descend into the interminably long campaign season, the Nader screech will become deafening.

It isn't the Naderite swipe, in and of itself, that's so irritating, but, rather, the complete absence of accountability by the toady Democratic voters (then and now) who looked the other way and prattled on about "peace dividends" while party leaders - including Saint Bill - were selling out working men and women with such nifty ideas as NAFTA, staggering Pentagon budgets, locking up pot smokers and going after welfare mothers.

As for Hillary, I dearly pray - for your sake - that she is not more intelligent than yourself. Granted, there are different types of intelligence, but I don't think "amoral" is one of them except from the vantage point of reptiles, flies and cockroaches.

She won't even say authorizing Bush's Iraqi Boner was a mistake. Has she ever admitted a mistake? God knows she's made enough of them. Being Hillary means never having to say you're sorry, which is probably one of the things that got her on the cover of Fortune Magazine with the caption "Business Loves Hillary."

Well, what's not to love.

And now she's picked the illustrious Dick Gebhardt as her chief economic advisor. Remember him? It's okay if you don't, but he was a complete loser - like the rest of the Democratic Party - when it came to standing up to Bush Style Fascism. Gebhardt is now a lobbyist tasked with ridding Peabody Coal - oops, I mean Peabody "Energy" - of those pesky carbon caps while siphoning federal dollars for new coal "technology." Not that Hillary isn't serious about global warming.

You bet your ass I'm afraid of her. I'm afraid of sharks and gators, too, and it isn't because I'm a man and they're "smarter" than me. It's because they give zero thought to what they devour. Conscience is a hindrance to the more primal creatures among us. No wonder Hillary is the odds-on favorite of the same high-dollar wingnuts who so adore George W. Bush. Bitter pill for the Democratic Faithful - not to mention the feminists who still call themselves Democrats - but I guess what constitutes "The Left" doesn't know bitter from sweet from salty anymore.

Merle Haggard can be forgiven for his horrible Ode To Hillary. Any artist who creates a masterpiece like "Mama Tried" can be forgiven for subsequent flops. Hell, I forgave him for using the digital voice processor that made him sound like a singing microwave on "Chicago Wind." But, then, whatever his errors in judgment, Hag didn't contribute to the death, injury and displacement of upwards of a million human beings.

Talk about restraint.

If Republicans have been unbearable in the past six and a half years - and they have - it's the Democrats (like the ones whining about Cindy Sheehan threatening to run against Bella Pelosi - see "Cindy Sheehan's Wrong Turn" at Joan Walsh's blog) that are going to put bats in my belfry. I may have to find a nice private island somewhere in the Caribbean for all of 2008.

Class Dismissed

2007-07-11T14:13:00.000-05:00

We have been taught to use these ethnic, regional and racial labels to cover up the real issue in America that the rich want keep hidden another 200 years—that we are a classist country. That one class owns pretty much the whole country these days and that all the rest are left to suck hind tit and pretend they are all members of something called “the middle class.” The only real middle class is that thin layer of commissars, lawyers, teachers, journalists, and other caterers to the empire, those people necessary to manage it and count the beans, dumb down the kids and lock up enough people to keep the privatized gulags in business.

Brother Joe Bageant
July 9th, 2007
Interview, Dissident Voice

The Not So Pretty Hate Machine

2007-07-09T21:33:00.000-05:00

It goes by the name of U.S. Foreign Policy.

From a freshly resurrected Chris Floyd:

"We were wiped out mercilessly, and we blame the Americans, the Iraqi government, the criminals and all the politicians who brought us catastrophe and destruction. They have destroyed everything with their sectarianism and politics."

These were the words of Zainulabideen Rustam Abdullah, who "lost his wife, three daughters, his grandson and his daughter-in-law" in last Saturday's attack, the Washington Post reports. I have never read anywhere a more succinct and accurate portrayal of the hell-hole that George W. Bush has created in Iraq with his unprovoked invasion and destruction of that country. The war is indeed a merciless act, a brutal act of hubris, of avarice, of cynical deliberation and wilful ignorance. The sectarianism that it has unleashed – and abetted – and the thuggish politics in both Washington, London and Baghdad have indeed "destroyed everything."

911 *could* have been rendered an anomaly. Instead of answering the question "Why do they hate us?" - a legitimate question badly in need of being publicly explored, at least for the semi-literate, disinterested, self-absorbed citizens who didn't already know - Americans wept in self-pity as Republicans and Democrats burned our Constitution so they could enjoy a moment of public hand-holding on television and jockey for votes. Whatever shards of The Republic remained up until that point were hastily crushed into sand beneath the soles of our political leaders' designer shoes.

That's what happens when "united we stand" takes precedence over "liberty and justice for all." But, then, liberty and justice have a cover charge. Standing room only is free admission - even if there is a three-drink minimum and the drinks are very expensive.

Turning Iraq into a killing field to satisfy our nationalist hard-on wasn't the brightest idea for anyone concerned with the future, not to mention the blameless human beings with whom we share the planet. Think about it: If your country of origin - a place your relatives still called home - was being devoured by a foreign occupation, not to mention one instigating sectarian violence for its own benefit - how would you react?

Not so good, I'm guessin'. You might even hold a grudge.

On the other hand, given the attention deficit disorder afflicting nine out of ten Americans - coupled with our amazing ignorance of, and willful indifference to, the world beyond our borders - it might not be so irksome.

But Death leaves a mark on the souls of those closest to the ones it claims. Regardless of how many people die in Iraq, more will survive. And they will remember, if only because it will be impossible to forget, that on the other side of a dying planet, Americans - those who loved George W. Bush and those who didn't - were going about their daily activities as if it was just another day. Because, for us, today is just another day.

Tomorrow, and the day after, will have other stories to tell. Eventually, we will listen whether we want to or not.

As billions of dollars are poured into corporate machines which exist for the sole purpose of permanent warfare and countless variations of state-sanctioned violence, more than a few Americans are feasting on the moneypies baked in Washington, D.C.. At one time, it would have been called blood money. Today, it's just a 401K. A mutual fund. The Economy.

Even now - contrary to the self-serving assertions of citizens on both ends of the political spectrum, and many points in between - there is no anti-war movement.

Blowback? It hasn't even begun. An entire generation of walking wounded on the other side of our comfortable world will grow up vowing revenge. Today's Orphan Machine - one which could not exist without the wasted tax dollars generated by the apathetic citizens of our miserable empire - is tomorrow's Terrorist Machine; but at least when it kicks into gear, no one will have to ask, "Why do they hate us?" We will already know.

Tolerating the Intolerable

2007-07-09T14:57:00.000-05:00

A friend - college-educated, affluent, professional, mother of two - recently asked me why the American public tolerates a lawless regime which operates with zero regard for the public good. She was animated with incredulity, exasperation and genuine curiosity.

"Well, why do you tolerate it?" I asked.

It was a simple question, and, unlike hers, answerable. I felt cruel for having asked it, like I had suddenly lunged across the table and slashed her with a razor before casually resuming my Stoli and waiting for her response.

"That's exactly I'm wondering," she said. "Why is it that any of us, including me, put up with this? I don't know."

A psychologist (which I am not) hears I don't know a lot. More often than not, the patient (which I have been) knows. It's easier to say we don't know - to pretend we don't know - than it is to explore a painful truth that cuts to the bone.

I took a drink and delivered the indictment as only a co-conspirator can, my Caribbean Joe shirt saturated with the warm blood of guilt and complicity. "Because your immediate needs are being met."

Unfortunately, the hour was late and the conversation brief. When the discussion resumes, my hope is that it won't be over the last cocktail of the evening.

Today's Devotional

2007-07-08T03:15:00.000-05:00

It is wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life.

Phil Ochs
*An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Period
by Charles DeBenedetti (Syracuse Univ. Press, 1990)

My Fourth Of July Message:

2007-07-04T18:39:00.000-05:00

CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED:

D E N I E D

Inconveniencing Dissent: Barnes & Noble, Borders Hide "Deer Hunting With Jesus"

2007-07-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

Being one of the vanishing primates who prefers "brick & mortar" to online retail, I resisted the temptation to purchase Joe Bageant's book "Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War" online.

Having anticipated the book's release for as long as I've known and loved Joe (well before the money monkeys at Crown traded the working title, Drink, Pray, Fight, Fuck... with the comparatively tepid title, Deer Hunting With Jesus...) I wanted to experience the corporeal pleasure of seeing it on the actual shelf of an actual bookstore amid the carpeted hush and subtle fragrance of toxic chemicals wafting from ink-saturated pages and artful book jackets.

Knowing a thing or two about category management and various other specialties comprising the blackest of The Black Arts, a discipline known by both practitioners and victims as marketing, I happened into a Barnes & Noble in Denton, Texas, my eyes scanning the choice promotional areas where books are not merely sold, but moved.

Nope, nothing there.

I make my way to Politics & Current Events, where Barack Obama is delivering the Sermon on the Mount and Hillary Clinton strikes a triangulating pose of genuflection, pensiveness and wax dummyhood. Penetrating the sickly fluorescent glare are Rahm Emmanuel, James Baker, Bob Shrum and Ari Fleisher, each pitching a bible of self-aggrandizement, their faces staring out from bookshelves like fiberglass alligators at a roadside attraction. Ignoring the queasiness, I persevere, my hand instinctively orbiting back to my wallet to confirm none of these scoundrels have picked my pocket. Not this time, motherfuckers.

But Deer Hunting With Jesus, its cover depicting a miniature American flag affixed to a blurry pickup adjacent to a modest church, is conspicuously absent.

This was my second trip to a major bookstore during the month of June and the second time I had come up empty-handed, and now I was starting to get suspicious. The first time, at a Borders Books & Music in Dallas, I assumed - mistakenly, I now suspect - that I'd beaten the book's arrival.

So, on my second mission, this time at Barnes & Noble, I approached a clerk and asked about Deer Hunting With Jesus. None of the three employees present had heard of it, but after minimal electronic investigation, I was told it resided it in the Social Sciences section, where I was escorted and shown the book. Like a loaded gun placed safely out of reach from the probing hands of errant, mischievous, potentially murderous toddlers, the high contrast jacket - red, white, blue and gray - gleamed from its humble position at the far end of the row; a misfit in the small "Social Sciences" section conveniently located near the narrow, lightly traveled wall aisle mandated by the Fire Chief.

I mentioned the odd placement, but didn't raise any hell about it at the time, mostly because I got sidetracked by a conversation with a very thoughtful and courteous steward of the store and was also pressed for time. Besides, B&N is a corporate monolith. The decisions about what gets sold versus what gets moved are made deep in the bowels of The Machine, far removed from the brick & mortar retail slaves.

CURRENT AFFAIRS - AMERICAN/POLITICAL/POVERTY is how Crown, not exactly small potatoes as a division of Random House, categorizes Deer Hunting With Jesus. It's on the jacket, not coincidentally, just above the bar code.

Searching for the book at Barnes & Noble, and previously at Borders, it never occurred to me to look anywhere except the Politics & Current Affairs section. Everything about it is political: the cover art, the endorsements (Sherman Alexie, Studs Terkel, Jeffrey St. Claire, Howard Zinn, Mark Cripsin Miller, David Sirota) and every chapter therein.

The corporate robots at both Barnes & Noble and Borders Books & Music, in a mutually assured spasm of category mismanagement (something that would really piss me off were I a stockholder) appear to have decided Deer Hunting With Jesus should be torpedoed. The appearance of the word "POVERTY" in the classification technically allows retail chains all the cover they need to bury the book in Social Sciences, where it is free to attract the darting eyeballs of random passers-by en route to the pisser and limp-dick academics in need of some instant expertise before their next cocktail & weenie function.

When it comes to product placement, there are no accidents in the world of brick & mortar retail chains. Which means it is hardly accidental that Deer Hunting With Jesus is being hidden from the tired eyes of the very readers most likely to identify with Bageant's white-hot populist message delivered with caustic humor, heartbreaking poignancy and - sin of sins! - dangerous clarity.

Next time around, I'll just order my book of choice online. At least I'll be spared the fiberglass alligators.

Al Qaida Won. Just Ask Judge Richard Posner.

2007-06-28T22:18:00.000-05:00

From The Australian:

A TOP-RANKING US judge has stunned a conference of Australian judges and barristers in Chicago by advocating secret trials for terrorists, more surveillance of Muslim populations across North America and an end to counter-terrorism efforts being "hog-tied" by the US constitution.

Judge Richard Posner, a supposedly liberal-leaning jurist regarded by many as a future US Supreme Court candidate, said traditional concepts of criminal justice were inadequate to deal with the terrorist threat and the US had "over-invested" in them...

His proposed "big brother" solutions flabbergasted delegates at the Australian Bar Association's biennial conference, where David Hicks's lawyer, Major Michael Mori, is to be awarded honorary life membership.

"We have to fight terrorism with our strengths, and our strengths evolve around technology, including the technology of surveillance," said Justice Posner, a prolific legal scholar who sits on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

"Are there terrorist plots that are at a formative stage among the large US Muslim community of two to three million people? In the 600,000 Canadian Muslim population, are there people planning attacks on the US?"

"What we have to do is discover the extent of the terrorist threat to the US. There is a danger, and it demands a rethinking of some of our conventional views on the limits of national security measures.

"We should think of surveillance as preventative, not punitive. We should think of controls that have nothing to do with warrants or traditional criminal justice to prevent abuses."

Not that I'm a Muslim, Dick. I swear!

If we want to ride horses and eat ice cream, we're just going to have to accept that American Muslims (and other swarthy types, to be sure) must be stripped of all legal rights, harassed from cradle to grave and relegated to the outermost fringes of society. Like we did to all the white dudes after McVeigh and his crank buddies went-a-bombing in Oklahoma City. Only then can we be truly safe. Because people on the fringes of society always make docile, friendly citizens. Our priority must be safety. To be "safe" is to be "free."

Is this making sense yet - or are you just being obtuse?

Judge Posner said the US temper and culture could not sustain repeated terrorist attacks.

Melbourne QC Tim Tobin said it was a shock to hear such hard and isolationist positions coming from a judge known as a liberal thinker. While he was disturbed by the judge's proposed crackdown on US and Canadian Muslims, he suspected the sentiment would be welcomed by the Howard Government.

Judge Posner raised the prospect of secret trials as a "tailored regime" to prosecute terrorists in cases where there was a concern about classified information going public.

"...Judge Posner said the US was "a law-saturated society where even non-lawyers tend to think of problems in terms of legal categories"

"Criminal justice and war are the two responses we have to terrorism. Each comes with its own legal institutions and doctrines and regimes but the struggle against international terrorism doesn't fit either very well.".

I thought Fascism was the problem. But according to Richard Posner, Baby Boomers were simply exposed to too many Perry Mason reruns.

Other things, such as the failure of American citizens to place a proper value - or any value whatsoever - on inalienable rights, change in the worst way possible.

He said it was "quite misplaced" to suggest national security measures in force or contemplated in the US could endanger liberty and undermine the political system. This was because governments could no longer conceal what they did: "We have a very aggressive media and a huge and complex government where many people in the government are quite willing to talk to the press."

Mojo Nixon's "LYIN' COCKSUCKERS"

2007-06-28T15:21:00.000-05:00

Sirius Satellite Radio is reviving Mojo's short-lived political program "LYIN' COCKSUCKERS" on Thursdays at 11PM EST on RAW DOG, Sirius Channel 104, an uncensored comedy channel.

Unfortunately, I don't get the full Sirius radio package at home as part of my DISH TV deal, so I don't get Channel 104 and won't get to hear it (although I do have the odd privilege of listening to his killer sets on Sirius Outlaw Country, where he has somehow managed to hang on to his job there.) Because I'm still in The Styx, there's no affordable broadband where I'm at - or even a decent dial-up connection, for that matter (my phone switch must be thirty years old) - I won't get to hear LYIN' COCKSUCKERS [subtitled "Because That's What Politicians ARE!"] online, either. I don't even think it's on the schedule at the Sirius website, but it *will* be on tonight and those of you with 21st Century connectivity are highly encouraged to give it a listen. The Sirius Channel guide is here.

If you're not familiar with Mojo, all I can say is there ain't another one like him, a fact for which many people are undoubtedly grateful, although I do not count myself among those people. Those of you who still indulge in recreational drugs will probably want to get started about a half-hour before the broadcast. If you get real brave and call in, tell the crazy bastard Arvin says "It's nice to share."

Busy, busy busy.

2007-06-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

And not in a good way.

After nearly twenty-five years of taking a cumulative beating from the back-stabbing, narcissistic half-wits I have the misfortune to claim as in-laws, I can state with absolute certainty that forgiveness and tolerance are extremely overrated. This week's Jerry Springer-esque incident - one that I am too angry to recount here - has completed the arc from casual indifference to simmering resentment to boiling contempt. My last shred of patience has been depleted and will not be replenished under any circumstances since doing so only contributes to the escalating cycle of dysfunction and betrayal.

Posting will be light to non-existent for the next few days, but I will not be taking an extended leave of absence. Check back next week. In the interim, I'll be working on redesign for this wretched place.

May the rest of your week be a hell of a lot better than mine.

P.S. Don't ask about the particulars. This isn't that kind of blog.

C. David Welch: Murderous Motherfucker.

2007-06-14T23:51:00.000-05:00

"I like this violence," says the skinny U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and career bag man for the U.S. State Department. Palestinians killing each other thanks to the noble efforts of the Bush-Cheney Machine and its U.S. State Department appendage. What's not to like?

One of the truly wonderful things about being totally bereft of professional and social ambitions is that it affords me the cathartic luxury of calling a sitting State Department official a murderous motherfucker.

I know name-calling isn't nice. It isn't civil. It isn't pretty. It isn't supposed to be. They're lying, murderous motherfuckers. Just how much civility are they entitled to?

By way of this post at Chris Floyd's Empire Burlesque, I waded through the blood to A Tiny Revolution where Jonathan Shwartz has assembled the pieces of this exemplary model of American diplomacy in action. It is a must-read. Go there for the details and come back for the polemic.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

When he isn't crafting devious methods of killing people, C. David Welch likes to inspire young people. Last September, he delivered a convocation address to the bright & shiney faces at The Fletcher School at Tufts University:

“While making progress on the Arab-Israeli conflict remains a core concern, the ability of the international community and determined states in the region to improve the economic and political situation in the many nations of the region remain the only way to create the conditions for real development and lasting stability,” Welch said. “To the degree that we and they are successful the ambitions of radicals and extremists will fail.”

He continued, “We are under no illusions. We know how hard conflict resolution and reform in the region will be. But I am an optimist and I think we can succeed. As I said before, the Middle East is a region in transition and it has come to a crossroads. U.S. leadership is key. How we respond will define our relationship with the region for the foreseeable future.”

If C. David Welch is an optimist, I'll stick with pessimism.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

When The Empire's henchmen exalt democracy in Palestine and the inside job goes awry, there is only one option: Flood the place with enough weapons and briefcases full of crisp, U.S. taxpayer dollars to spark a civil war. It's a win-win situation, or win-win-win situation if you count the arms dealers. The world stops laughing at the egg on Uncle Sam's dour face. Israel takes a breather. And the Palestinians become preoccupied with killing each other instead of building a functional government, critical infrastructure and attracting enough foreign invesment to feed, educate and employ the men, women and children who live there.

Sure, innocent people die, but what's a patriot to do.

If you're George W. Bush or one of his many surrogates, you have an orgy of self-congratulation and tell everyone who will listen, Those people have been killing each other for a million years.

If you're Congress, you express solidarity with Israel.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In Palestine, elected or not, the bad guys cannot be allowed to succeed. Neither can the good guys. In fact, the only feature distinguishing the good guys from the bad guys is the number of rounds they're willing to go before taking a dive for Washington, D.C.. Success is not an option. It never has been.

When Syria or Iran stand accused of similar involvement in Lebanon or Iraq, the word terrorism gushes out of every television and media command center in the Western hemisphere.

When my government does this in Palestine, the C. David Welch's of The Empire call it U.S. leadership.

I call it criminal.

The Art of Invisibility, Then and Now

2007-06-13T21:52:00.000-05:00

1972. The clock in the living room chimes and cuckoos, reminding us every half-hour the oldest of my three brothers - the only one in the service - is no longer stationed in Germany. We have a color Polaroid of him and a couple of other guys standing in front of a truck with Blood, Sweat & Tires painted on the canvas cover.

I'm nine or ten, a fourth grader, looking for a book in the library at Rutherford Elementary School in Mesquite, Texas. The "V" section is small. High on a shelf is a thin, light green, cloth-covered hardback. I step up on the stool thinking perhaps there are other books I'm missing, but it is the only one, so I take it from the shelf and sit down at a table to see what I can learn.

There are lots of mountains, lots of deltas, and lots of people in funny hats eating lots of rice. I don't know what gross national product means, but it isn't what I want to know. The 1967 World Book Encyclopedia at home has the same information.

My shyness is debilitating and I am extremely reluctant to talk to anyone who doesn't adore me. I steel myself to approach the librarian sorting books on a cart.

"Is this the only book on Vietnam?"

She looks up and says "That's all there is," before returning her attention to the cart.

We are supposed to leave the books on the cart when we're done with them, but I take it with me as I walked back to the tiny, useless "V" section. I am baffled there is a war raging on the other side of the planet - I had a globe - and no mention of it anywhere in my school. Not in the classsroom. Not in the library.

That's all there is.

Why wasn't I allowed to know? Did they even know?

I climb the stool once again and return the thin, green hardback to its slot on the shelf. The only thing I learned was that I was on the receiving end of a lie.

Every afternoon at 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, a somber Walter Cronkite shows me what combat looks like.

Machine guns. Artillery. Black clouds. Gray smoke. Napalm. Exhaustion on the face every soldier and Marine standing, sitting or laying down, cigarettes dangling from their dirty faces. The dead and wounded - theirs and ours. Protests - here and there. Monks on fire. It was all on television. Every day. They are sickening images because war is sickening, and it doesn't matter whether you believe the war in Vietnam is a necessity, a criminal act or a horrible mistake. It doesn't matter whether you understand any of it. Seeing what is happening there makes everyone sick and sad and angry. The word hero does not spill out of every broadcast. The faces of the network anchors and correspondents are not jovial and carefree before, during or after they show us the horrors of the day. There is no small talk.

That isn't a problem today. Those who believe sacrificing members of their families on the altar of lies concocted by this administration and its surrogates - Republicans, Democrats and the nationalist press - don't have to be confronted with the ugliness of their loved ones' day to day, moment to moment reality. They don't have to see or read or hear anything that conflicts with their opinion. There are only heroes and bad apples. People "full of hate" for George W. Bush and The United States of America. People who hate freedom and everyone risking life and limb in its name.

My family never got the dreaded knock at the door. Bobby made it home in one piece. I didn't go to school that day. All these years later, I find myself wondering how often my mother and father thought that moment was closing in on them every time a friend, neighbor or relative would ring the doorbell or knock on the screen door.

Today, somewhere in America, a nervous kid gets out of a car and walks into a small, plain office with a couple of desks and framed posters of young men and women exuding health, happiness and a sense of purpose. Across town, a man in a uniform holds a flag in one hand and rings a doorbell with the other.

The Sopranos in Less Than 75 Words

2007-06-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

The beauty of The Sopranos was this: Everything you thought was they was us.

The Sopranos was myth-making at its finest. Not myth as the grandiose lie our post-modern society believes myth to be. Myth as Truth.

Phil Leotardo was our post-Constitutional Republic.

Tony Soprano was The Republic.

Carmella was The Public.

A.J. was The Ego.

Meadow is The Future.

Human beings. Every fucking one of us have rotten genes.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Thank you, David Chase.

Sewing Seeds of Discontent

2007-06-05T02:57:00.000-05:00

He's fifteen. Not brooding. He has a warm smile. For a kid whose parents just divorced, he's surprisingly pleasant, which comes as a great relief since we are going to be on a business trip for eight days.

We just met and are standing at the airport gate waiting out a flight delay. We are in the same group of business people and their families about to take an eight-day trip. He and I are in the "families" category. Outsiders.

Relieving the boredom of an interminably long delay, we chat. At one point, the kid boasts in a half-joking manner, "I don't read books." Shocking, I deadpan.

His wingnut daddy - who happens to be one of my wife's slightly more esteemed coworkers, not to mention my client - interjects to make sure I don't get the wrong impression. "But he reads a lot on the internet."

"Sure he does. Don't worry, man," I say to the patriarch before switching to the kid. "Nobody has to read a book to be successful in this culture. Hell, reading the right ones can be highly detrimental to your career."

"This guy," he says to his son, "is, like, waaaaaaay left. He thinks John Kerry is a conservative." There is little doubt my reputation has beat me to the initial introduction to his kid.

"It's true," I tell him. "And I'm the only liberal you've ever met with an arsenal." Most of the guns in my house are my brother's, but since millionaires living in tiny trailers lack space for gun cabinets, and I provide the real estate for his firearms, coins, arrowheads and various other sentimentalities. I don't explain this to the kid.

We talk about guns and make small talk, his eyes traveling nonchalantly from my straw cowboy hat - my Meskin' hat, shaped by wire into a form that few white men would be seen in - to the gothic half-cat, half-reptile, half-something else succubus inked on the outside of my calf.

Throughout the week, we often talk about music. To his credit, the kid is not bound by one or two genres, although his taste ranges from pedestrian to loathsome. I am especially critical of the Nashville hacks on his MP3 player. "Boring. Formulaic. Fake." He never seems to know if I am yanking his chain (I am) or being 100% honest (I am), but the kid never closes the door. He likes the idea that Gordan Gano of The Violent Femmes wrote timeless masterpieces that perfectly represented the male teen experience - or at least, a good deal of mine - and that he wrote these songs while he was still in high school, which was what made them so raw and true.

The kid never heard of The Violent Femmes. I sang a few lines of Blister In The Sun and he said he'd heard it once or twice, but, where or when, he wasn't sure. "That's just the tip of the iceberg," I tell him. "You have to hear the all the songs on the CD to appreciate just how good it is." I recommended he listen to it alone. Loud.

I'm like an exotic animal at the zoo, both to the kid and his father. Wingnut Daddy can rarely resist the temptation to talk politics. He finds it hard to believe people like me still exist, and he loves to espouse all kinds of rightwing dogma in the constant search to see if we have anything - anything at all - in common. Mostly, we share a fascination with hallucinogens, although he is now terrified of them (not surprisingly, since serious introspection is a conservative's greatest fear), while I am just bummed I don't have any.

Day Seven arrives in a flash. We are all exhausted. Sleep deprived. Aching feet. Ready to go home.

The kid and I are waiting for the doors of the hotel to open for breakfast, a vitally important meal because of the brutal pace of the trip. By this point, he makes good-natured, half-wit jokes about my political leanings, and I reciprocate. He hates Jon Stewart - way too liberal, says the kid - and seems surprised to learn I ain't crazy about Saint Jon, either.

"I just think he's a pussy," I tell the kid. "That George Tenet interview was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen on television."

He loves Stephen Colbert. "Smart guy, huh," I reply.

"Very. Man, that guy is hilarious. I know he's a liberal, but..." His voice fades like the end of a song.

The kid waxes conservative on some other subjects, among them the French. "We saved their asses. What did they ever do for us?"

I give him a pitiful look. "I think the name Colbert is French."

He tries not to appear embarrassed. At fifteen, everything is a game of gotcha.

"Ever hear of The Statue of Liberty?"

Silence.

"Maybe you need to ask yourself why you believe the things you say you believe instead of just casually accepting them as having a factual basis," I tell him. "Get back to me after you read de Tocqueville. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. You don't read books."

He says he never heard of de Tocqueville and I say too bad the guy didn't have a MySpace page.

I ask him to name something decent about conservatism. "Taxes" he says. "You say conservatives only care about ourselves and don't care what happens to poor people."

"Yeah. Except for the poor people who also identify as conservatives. Those folks are just scared. Scared because they're told by the rich conservatives that what little they have - whether it's their guns or their Mason jar of cash buried in the backyard or their religion - is in imminent danger of being destroyed by Evil Liberals."

"What about the fact that, because of us, poor people pay less taxes."

"Really poor people don't pay income taxes. When you're demanding more tax cuts, who does that benefit?"

Silence.

"Here's a Big Lie I'll bet you accept as fact: The Liberal Media."

"Oh, man. For sure."

"Those blowhards on FOX?"

"Not them. By the way, I hate O'Reilly."

I tell him even people who like O'Reilly hate O'Reilly.

"So, you really believe the millionaires - the millionaires and billionaires - who own and operate the corporations controlling broadcast and cable networks are liberals? You think they wouldn't tell a lie or two to suck up to power and keep what they've got and even pay fewer taxes while they're doing it?"

The kid forces himself to say aloud it's a possibility.

"Here's the deal," I tell him. "It isn't enough to advocate a position or policy or say you're this or that just because The Other Side is against it or just because everyone you know says you should." I expect a protest, but it doesn't come.

He sighs. There is a slightly troubled look on his face, one he does not want me to see.

"I ain't saying you have to know everything to form an opinion. But you have to at least make an attempt to learn something besides what other people are telling you to believe. Because if you don't, you're a tool. You're the easiest thing in the world to control - for other people to use you like a dolla dolla bill, y'all.

The kid smiles a little, but it isn't a happy smile.

Amazingly, I still haven't lost him.

A Chinese man opens the door of the restaurant, where our final breakfast together - him and his dad; me and my wife - awaits.

"I ain't saying liberal good, conservative evil. Liberals are suckers, too, and I tend to give 'em hell even worse than you guys. But what you need to understand is that what you call conservative is the dominant culture. And no matter who wins this election or that election, unless Earth gets hit by a comet the size of the moon, that ain't gonna change in your lifetime. Because, in America, it's all about the money."

We make our way to the restaurant, but before we get there I stop. "I forgot to tell you something. The last thing." The kid pauses and turns around.

"All that shit you believe that ain't true?"

"Yeah."

I lean in to tell him a secret: "You believe it because you're brainwashed."

"I'm not brainwashed," he says defiantly with a nervous smile that doesn't match the response.

"How would you know? You don't think people who are brainwashed actually know they're brainwashed? If they knew it, they wouldn't be brainwashed, would they?"

He thinks about it in silence.

I tell him not to feel bad about it. That he's only fifteen. "And when enough people regurgitate the same shit day in and day out - whether its on television and or at school or at the dinner table - it is human nature to become convinced those things are true. It's called conventional wisdom. And the worst thing you can do is accept it as truth without making an effort to find out for yourself. Because sometimes people are lying and looking for a tool, but, most times, they're just plain wrong."

The next day, daddy wingnut and I are drinking beer at a sidewalk cafe. He tells me the kid thinks I'm the coolest. "My reward for avoiding the Dockers Look," I reply, hoping my blush goes unnoticed.

He laughs and says, with some amusement, "After breakfast, he told me, 'Dad, Arvin said I was brainwashed!' He was really flustered. And, of course, I asked him, 'Well, what were you two talking about?'"

A big smile spreads across my face. "What did he say?"

"He said, 'I can't even remember, Dad.'

"I think it was tax policy," I said.

Laughter rang out from our table, echoing off the brick and glass, spilling into the parking lot. We ordered two more beers.

The Anti-Impeachment People

2007-06-03T02:14:00.000-05:00

The Bush-Cheney Administration is the most secretive, blatantly corrupt, lawless administration the U.S. has ever created, tolerated and perpetuated. The damage it has done to The Republic and the world is incalculable, and every single person reading this - and many who aren't, like, say, your kids and grandkids and their progeny - will live with the consequences for the rest of their lives.

Agitating against impeachment, we have "conservatives" contending The Unitary Executive has done nothing wrong, or, if he did, certainly nothing which rises to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors." Other conservatives - many of whom occupy powerful positions in government and media - are fully cognizant of the extent to which they are supporting a rogue administration which operates as it desires with impunity, free from the problematic confines of the rule of law. They personally benefit from a culture in which there is no law, only the politics of power and perception. No accountability. Their world has no yesterday and no tomorrow.

Together, this group runs the country however it pleases. It controls the terms of debate. Decides who is on the receiving end our bombs. Decides who goes without healthcare. Decides who gets on television and how they are characterized. Decides who goes to jail. Decides who gets a profession and who gets a job. Decides who gets rich, who stays rich and who stays poor. Decides who lives and dies. They are the creators of Consensus Reality - the reality their idealogical enemies, liberals, claim doesn't really exist because it isn't Reality at all.

Everybody else agitating against impeachment falls into the second category. Liberals. The odd "centrist" or "independent" or Green known to throw a bone to Democrats occasionally. And people who never give politics a thought, but can always be counted upon to hold an opinion. They all blow around from issue to issue like tumbleweeds in the wind, always reacting to the former group's cues. This group is a World Wrestling Federation audience booing the bad guy they're paying to see.

The intellectuals in this group, the vast majority of whom can always be counted on to pull the lever or push the button for Democrats, believe that not having the votes is, in and of itself, ample reason to not to impeach. Principle is for suckers.

For them - these knowledgeable, educated, and often charming pragmatists who pride themselves on their critical thinking, facility with language, reverence for history and, yes, ideals (checked by a Real World View, of course) - there can be no risks. No Big Ideas. They talk loudly and walk softly. Always. Their biggest fear is not terrorism or their fellow citizens dying from lack of healthcare. Certainly not homelessness. Not the unfathomable violence in some distant, foreign part of the world they'll never see where their tax dollars make orphans, widows, beggars, prostitutes, criminals, cripples, and irradiated soil & water.

No, the biggest fear of The American Intellectual - and those who want so desperately to belong to that group - is the fear of being perceived as granola-eating, drug-addled Chomskyites by peers, opponents and an indifferent public. Dirty hippies spitting on Veterans. Naive idealists. Symbionese Liberation Army. Some loser who shares an opinion - any opinion - with a kid holding a sign that says "Free Mumia."

Humiliation is their biggest fear. They will do anything - pay any price - to avoid it.

They convince themselves Fascism is a threat, not a reality. Convince themselves The Republic is endangered, not extinct. Convince themselves there is a magical pendulum that - any day now - will begin to swing back in their direction, thereby relieving them of any responsibility to stick their necks out like the coal miners and factory workers and suffragists and civil rights marchers and the regular people - nameless and faceless and forgotten - who risked their lives, and often lost them, in the pursuit of a scrap of human dignity for themselves, their families, their neighbors.

The intellectual's greatest possession is his or her own head. As long as their heads survive, the world is okay. Flawed, but okay. Things will get better.

Justice is a concept. The Constitution is a history lesson. The Republic is a rhetorical device to employ in lofty arguments. Oppression is the suspicion that someone is looking at their email. Struggle is the long wait for Democrats to "grow a spine" or "frame their arguments" or "stand up to the media." Leadership is a word they applaud at the convention. They expect the Democrats they elect to uphold their oaths to protect and defend The Constitution - but only when victory is a certainty; when they can be assured the media they routinely and justifiably condemn, and the power structure it represents, acquiesces.

Contrary to what passes for conventional wisdom in liberal circles, The Democratic Party is the mirror image of its base - conflicted, uncertain, unprincipled and terrified of looking foolish to each other and the very people whose boots rest on their gelatinous spines.

Power does not acquiesce.

Power does not surrender.

Power is not threatened by righteousness or morality or indignation.

Power doesn't care how its subjects feel.

Who, then, will challenge it?

Blood and Gold

2007-05-29T17:20:00.001-05:00

What it is, brothers and sisters? How's life been treating y'all?

Been punked by any Democrats lately?

I missed the play-by-play of the latest fraudulent vote in which Bush's Mules (once known as the Democratic Party) gave The Unitary Executive a big thumbs up - and a whole lotta cash - to make sure our ongoing crimes against the people of Iraq don't sputter to an ignoble end for lack of funding. One wonders how much of that money - my money, your money - finds its way into the velvet pockets of the Bush-Cheney families and their many cronies.

War is hell, but only for The Expendable Class. Even then, it isn't like they emerge from experience empty-handed. If only for the duration of their sacrifice, the cloak of invisibility which would otherwise shroud them from cradle to grave is momentarily lifted, revealing The Hero suffocating deep within the hollowed-out soul of every faceless ghost shuffling through Wal•Mart behind a shopping cart full of sweatshop goods and low, low everyday prices.

For its investors, war is something else entirely. If there is one certainty about the American public's acceptance of permanent war, it's that a lot of people - not just George & Dick - have seen their bank accounts grow fat enough to sink Turks & Cacos, where a good deal of those zeros reside and multiply faster than AIDS-striken widows working as refugee-prostitutes in Syria. They are your Congressmen. Your judges. Your "public servants" in The Pentagon and State Department. All the pretty people and cool kids populating the cable & broadcast networks and print media. And how's that 401K doing, anyway?

so wave the flag and take a stand
stand in line to shake his hand
he says he's a friend
a friend of the common man
~The Blasters

Wouldn't you like to see the stock portfolios? Me, too. But, alas, this is perhaps the dirtiest of dirty secrets and, as such, cannot even be discussed, much less revealed. Not only are the rich getting richer and paying few, if any, taxes, they're doing it on the rotting flesh of random corpses, bleeding orphans, displaced families and shattered lives. It has always been thus, as we are the proud and not-so-proud beneficiaries of a brutal Empire papered in slick, glossy advertisements which hold our gaze and make us pine for its stolen fruits. I gotta make a living, man.

Like a five hundred-foot robot from a sci-fi 50's flick, "Bush's War" - our war, yours & mine - plods and lumbers and destroys, undeterred by pleas for peace and justice, leaving only the stench of smoke and death in its wake while shitting bricks of gold into the open arms of its grateful creators.

Just don't blame The Democrats. As any Democratic loyalist will attest - and damned if there aren't millions and millions of 'em - whatever collective culpability exists, This is Bush's War. And, as anyone who reads the papers can tell you, They didn't have the votes for an override. Or, as Salon's Joan Walsh put it:

"...the party doesn't have the votes to stop the war, and thus Democrats have to focus on recapturing the White House and bulking up their congressional majorities in 2008, since that's in the end the only way to bring the troops home. There is absolutely no way that Bush winds down the war...

Absolutely no way, says Joan, that Bush will "wind down" the war. Hey, it's only Congress, not FOX News. Their hands are tied. Get off their backs.

And, besides, what are nobodies like you and me gonna do about it, anyway? The Republican Party went so far to the right, it tumbled over the edge of the Flat Earth years ago, taking the nation's ideals and the Democratic Party with it. Think it never occurred to Rahm Emmanuel that, come election time, you will - for the millionth time - swallow the pill and push the magic button for Democrats in '08? What the hell else are they gonna do? Not much, Rahm. Not a goddamn thing.

Don't look at me. I don't know where the answers are, but I've never been more certain of where they are not, and that's in the cold ashes of yesterday's democratic republic. Stop sifting and look somewhere else.

Letter To Joan Walsh

2007-05-29T17:01:00.000-05:00

"Equal Blame" = Disingenous Framing

Democratic complicity, like the cowardice and corruption which fuels it, is not some rippling mirage constructed in the fevered brains of frothing leftists.

The complicity of the Democratic Party is real. It has been since well before Day One of George W. Bush's Reign of Profitable Terror. Your response to that complicity is to assign liability to the war's architects and enablers as though you are an insurance representative handling a dented fender claim.

Has the Democratic Party done everything in its power to stop this war? We both know the answer to that question, Joan, even if only one of us will answer it. NO. I would add an emphatic far from it. You would likely disagree.

Play all the semantical games you want. It is, after all, your gig. But don't expect the rest of us to play along. Of course, we don't have to so long as there are millions of voters willing to give them another chance. Given the national propensity for self-delusion and magical thinking, the rest of us will always be outnumbered. That's okay, too, because the rest of us are damn tired of being forced into accommodating the rest of you.

One day, perhaps the rest of us will recognize the obstacles to democratic and Democratic reform, then confront them directly without the usual liberal angst. What separates progressives from our ideological ancestors is our unwillingness to make hard choices and take action. Until we overcome that weakness, we will be failures as citizens and as human beings.

The Republican Party sells fear. Fear of terrorists. Fear of liberals. Fear of impoverishment. Fear of oppression.

The Democrats sell fear, too: Fear of Republicans.

Both parties are selling the same can of botulism. Only the labels differ.

I used to think the Democratic Party which so often aided and abetted George W. Bush did not represent the voters who sustain it. Unfortunately, as your commentary increasingly reflects, that party is a fair representation of its rank & file. Talk about an ugly truth. Were it otherwise, there would be a serious campaign to exact a toll on the Democrats who actively and passively promote the NeoCon agenda. Instead, with the rarest of exceptions, their failures are rationalized and excused by the few centrist and "progressive" figures whose opinions are promulgated via corporate media. Funny how that works.

A party which cannot oppose a tyrant like George W. Bush possesses neither the qualifications nor the will to lead America out of the dark valley of fear. That the Republicans are likewise unfit to lead gives me no comfort. A coward is a coward and a crook is a crook regardless of political affiliation.

This Democratic Party needs to be destroyed so that something useful can be constructed in its place. I don't see that happening because, frankly, not enough people give a damn. By the time you're done prostituting yourself for the Democratic Beltway Elites, it is possible Americans will understand that an '08 Democratic "victory" - just like The Bush Years - will have been constructed from a mountain of lies and our own persistent suspension of disbelief.

So, by all means, go ahead and pin your hopes on an '08 White House victory. When the champaign corks are flying and you're signing up to play White House Spokesperson, remember that it will have been "won" by the needless death and misery of thousands of human beings.

For the Record

2007-04-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

New Yorker looks at the US Attorney purges in context of the US Senate's 'no deal' on the White House offer of Gonzales testifying behind closed doors, not under oath, without a transcript.

Crisis=Opportunity=Crisis*

2007-04-17T01:41:00.000-05:00

CBS News had a special 1 hour edition tonight with Katie Couric live from Blacksburg, presumably so everybody can see for themselves how much she cares. Hey, screw the ratings boost the news gets when something interesting and terrible happens. Yes, what happened today is genuinely horrible, but how are the news networksthat different from more run of the mill ambulance-chasers?

As I think I've written before, I don't think George Bush,jr is stupid. He's strikes me as someone who, though narrow-minded and incurious about things that don't strike him as immediately interesting, is generally shrewd with regard to things that do matter to him. He/Cheney/Rove does(do?) strike me as someone(s) who will look at the horrible events at Virginia Tech this morning and see political opportunity, and I have a certain queasy feeling about it.

I could well see the white house calling for some ostensibly benign sounding legislation, like the "Safe Campus Initiative" or something. Legislation designed to reinforce the Patriot Act and give federal officials greater powers to inspect college facilities, including the personal effects of students, college computer systems, etc. I could even see the Bushies vaguely suggesting they'd even maybe, kind of, of sort of, maybe favor some sort of gun control.. They'd do this indirectly through a surrogate, say Elizabeth Dole or Arlen Specter. Then they'd quickly backtrack, and point out they only meant on college campuses, and maybe not even there, etc. But by then, you'd have a bunch of democratic senators who'd taken the bait, finding themselves hectored by the supposedly liberal media for not supporting the administration's initiative, now only a design to enable the feds to more easily snoop on students and faculties. Dick Morris used to call it "triangulation."

Less cynically,Helena Cobban on the events at Virginia Tech, here.

Above: more from CBS's 4.16 home page.

*I understand that the notion that the Chinese character for crisis means opportunity is not really accurate, but it still makes for a nice reference.

cross-posted at HZ.

Magic Marin

2007-04-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

The little old church down the street packed it in a few years back due to declining numbers, only to be picked up by some locals who've revamped it into what is now called the Spiritual Healing Center. Driving by today, I noticed it now features an, "Herbal Sanctuary." Heh, heh.

American Amnesia

2007-03-30T18:23:00.000-05:00

Harper's Ken Silverstein takes note of Time magazines' bogus recollections of the Reagan administration, including the claim that the long list of convicted felons--many of whom returned to commit high crimes under Bush Junior--were so virtuous and peace-loving that conservative 'doves' like Richard Viguerie are now shedding tears of nostalgia.

Adrift from Gods and Angels

2007-03-30T00:23:00.000-05:00

I found my pride and my greatness in wanting this carnival of killing and burning just exactly as it was; and to love it, and to stand in it without illusion, support, or belief; to laugh into the void and still be there, in the criminal pleasure of being cut adrift from gods and angels.

---Willy Peter Reese (a soldier), A Stranger to Myself

Damned Proud

2007-03-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

photo:AP/BBC

the caption: People gather at the site where coalition warplanes destroyed two houses in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

the BBC discussed the summer 2006 war with John Bolton:

Former ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability. Mr Bolton said an early ceasefire would have been "dangerous and misguided". He said the US decided to join efforts to end the conflict only when it was clear Israel's campaign wasn't working. The former envoy, who stepped down in December 2006, was interviewed for a BBC radio documentary, The Summer War in Lebanon, to be broadcast in April.
[...]
More than 1,000 Lebanese civilians and an unknown number of Hezbollah fighters were killed in the conflict. Israel lost 116 soldiers in the fighting, while 43 of its civilians were killed in Hezbollah rocket attacks.

(Emphases mine.) He also said he was "damned proud" of what the US did to prevent an early cease-fire.

meanwhile, also via the BBC, Shimon Perez said that Jewish settlers were making Hebron 'unbearable':

his comments came on Tuesday, a day after settlers took over a building in Hebron, claiming to have bought it. A local Palestinian family disputed this claim, saying they had purchased the property. Peres said that the settlers should be evicted if it is proved that they have acted unlawfully. A large Israeli force of police and soldiers is surrounding the three-storey building after large numbers of settlers moved in late on Monday.

Today(March 22nd) is also World Water Day which was first commemorated by the UN in '93 to raise awareness of the fact that as many as a billion people around the world don't have ready access to safe drinking water.

photo via Slovak Agricultural University

cross-posted at HZ.

Cold Turkey

2007-02-16T13:23:00.000-06:00

Brrrrrr.

All that Provigil, yet no posts for two weeks. You don't write. You don't call. I know.

Not only did the dog eat my homework, he ate it while I was in Napa tagging along with the illustrious, industrious Mrs. Hill as she practiced the black art of marketing with appalling grace and aplomb.

Despite the steady rain which pelted us for most of the trip, and the cozy confines of our accommodations, blogging was the furthest thing from my mind. Being a martini & Xanax kinda guy, I certainly hadn't expected to be so smitten with Wine Country. I guess I'm more precious than I thought. And who knew Californians could actually be warm and charming? It was enough to shatter, if only for a while, my Misanthropy Initiative (now in its 45th year).

In the words of Texas troubador Robert Earl Keen, the road goes on forever and the party never ends. But a shut-in like me can't stay gone forever, so here I am, back to my usual contempt for the human animal. I'll make it up to you, I swear, between now and the end of the month.

For now, though, having been distracted by the Edwards-Marcotte train wreck, I give you this, my first Salon letter which - woe is me - failed to garner the coveted Editor's Choice Stamp of Approval. No doubt, there will be others. I was responding to this pitiful essay by Ms. Marcotte in which she inadvertently details why she was a lousy choice for any political campaign, let alone a vacillating spore like John Edwards.

When Demagogues Cry
Donohue and Malkin know they're demagogues. But despite a well-deserved reputation for inflammatory rhetoric, you still labor under the impression you are not. No wonder you got your ass kicked.

That a liberal blogger of any stripe, much less one with a sizeable audience, would be surprised by the long knives and gnashing teeth of the Republican Smear Machine is nothing less than dismaying.

More disturbing, though, was your willingness to promote a spineless featherweight who, in order to show off his Mighty War Cock to voters, supported the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq... only to "regret" his decision when it became crystal clear that a continued defense would have *certainly* ended his career.

Edwards was buying authenticity and you were selling. To the extent there's even a story here, it is one of astoundingly poor judgment, both yours and your candidate's. Martyrdom is surely more comfortable than owning up to that, which explains the self-pitying tone of your essay.

Contrary to prevailing opinion - yours, Salon's and pretty much everyone else's - the left blogosphere is not a Democratic monolith. Many of us have turned our backs on the party which refused - and refuses still - to stand up to the lawlessness, bullying and criminal machinations of the Republican Party. Rewarding serial non-performance, duplicity and corruption with contributions and votes makes progressive political reform impossible. Perhaps another decade of being marginalized, suckered and abused by the DNC-ites you so enthusiastically support will strengthen your powers of observation.

various items

2007-02-15T23:55:00.000-06:00

Skimble: "America's greatest hope: gradual decline"
[whatever you think of the sentiment, I note that a lot of this has been going around lately, such as this article by Chalmers Johnson and this item in Salon(from 2006)by Helena Cobban. -JV]

Avedon Carol: 'I've been thinkin'

I just want to say: The trouble with the "incompetence" meme is that it assumes Bush/Cheney/GOP are operating on the same theory of government as the rest of us are. And while it's true that they hired people who were not competent to run government according to the agenda of the US Constitution, and that they have not run government competently if that was there intention, it is not at all reasonable to assume they have been incompetent at achieving what they wanted. I still think people should talk more about the fact that they are running the country into the ground just the way they wanted to.

Rob(Realitique):
"What Reshaping the Middle East Really Means"

I read about this over the summer but not in this much convincing detail. Per usual, The Centre for Research on Globalization is way ahead of the curve. Yes, boys and girls, They aren't just considering literally redrawing the borders of countries, they're actually doing it. This was, as pointed out here (esp. in the first bullet point), part of the reason for the Lebanon War last summer. It comes on the heels of what we did in Afghanistan in the eighties and Bosnia in the nineties, in both cases with the help of Al Qaeda, and it may well be (and I hope it's not) one of the several purposes of making Iraq bleed. In this scenario, Iran would be lucky to be bombed, even with nuclear bunker busters, than to undergo the strife of its neighbors. At least they'd get to keep their land--a dubious gift top military planners aren't even granting our ally Turkey.

Heather Wokusch: 'It’s Not Just Bush: We’re Accountable Too'

Tom Engelhardt: Thelma and Louise Imperialism-- Over the Cliff with George and Dick?

Iraqi Konfused Kid writes:

I'm gonna tell you something that all the Iraqis who pretend they're full of pride and shit don't tell you, every Iraqi who knows what's good for him wants the US military plan to happen - it's a known fact today that while US soldiers do occasionally rape 15-year-olds and add naked photos of our hairy butts to their family albums, they are still infintely more trustworthy than any Iraqi soldier from anywhere. When an American soldier knocks on your door for a search, you go 'oh thank god' but when Iraqis do the same, you are instantly on your toes. Forget about all those Iraqis and Arab bloggers who live outside or have never been in there recently, they don't know what it is like - Iraq is dead - we are living in a newfound, and very real, age of sect. The intellects and all the other deadbeats like you and me who do nothing but bitch about how Iraq is great and how we had a beautiful country before the war are having a hard time accepting this, but they're going to have to deal with it.

(via Healing Iraq)

The pieces by Avedon and Rob strike me as especially prescient. I don't know how to evaluated "Iraqi Kid's" sentiments one way or another; I'm leery of accepting it as anything more than one person's frustration; not so much because of him saying something positive about the US presence-- I reject the notion that liberals must disavow anything and everything the American military does in Iraq-- but because later in his post he says that he hopes "they completely remove Sadr City and Adhamiya from the map."

cross posted at HZ

Sheriff clears self & contractor in rape victim harassment

2007-02-02T01:57:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, King of Zembla posted a story about a 21-year old rape victim in Florida alleging that she was jailed for two days for failing to pay $4,585 restitution after a 2003 juvenile arrest and was thereafter deprived of Plan B ("morning after pill") contraception due to an overzealous nurse acting on behalf of Jesus.

Here's a follow-up just in case your blood pressure isn't already in the danger zone.

According to the Sheriff's Office and medical provider (also known as THE ACCUSED), "Nurse Ratchet" - and I don't know the jail workers' real name because unlike other segments of society, jail workers accused of reprehensible conduct receive the luxury of not having their names printed in the newspaper - was entirely blameless.

But a three-day internal investigation by the Sheriff's Office and medical provider Armor Correctional Health Services concluded the nurse was not authorized to give her the pill.

When the woman was booked into the jail, a police officer told deputies about the medication.

But the woman was just one of 166 people booked into jail on the busy Saturday, and another deputy picked up the medication, unaware of the unusual circumstances, Parrish said.

Medications brought to the jail by inmates must be taken to medical professionals, who verify it before dispensing anything. In this case, that didn't happen, Parrish said.

He dismissed the woman's claim about religious objections.

"We categorically deny that," he said.

He refused to go into more details about the woman's jail stay, saying Moore threatened legal action. Moore declined to confirm that.

"Our story remains consistent," said Moore's wife, Alice G. Moore, who spoke on his behalf. "We do believe there are witnesses - it was in a jail after all. It is unfortunate that they refused to take responsibility."

The St. Petersberg Times used the following headline for the above-quoted story:

Nurse cleared in denial of pill

Somehow, I doubt the use of the word "cleared" is mere headline slop. It strikes me as extremely misleading. And it certainly sounds anti-victim compared to, say, "Sheriff Denies Charges."

The comments on the original story are worth a perusal.

February is PILL MONTH

2007-02-01T22:33:00.000-06:00

Political purists who eschew the cultural and the personal will be disappointed to learn that February is PILL MONTH at the Carnival of Horror. It's also Black History Month, but I'm more familiar with pills.

Smart pills, happy pills, suicide pills. Sordid anecdotes, Big Pharma, research, law & order, public health - it's all on the table. Readers are invited to share stories and tips, so click on the Valium below to send me an email - and don't jack with the subject line or it'll likely find its way to the spam pile.

Happy Trails, Molly

2007-01-31T19:46:00.000-06:00

I started reading Molly Ivins when the Dallas Times Herald picked up her column in the late eighties. Her knowledge of the Texas Legislature - what it was and how it worked - was unmatched. She educated a lot of people and I was one of them.

Television was a lousy format for Molly, who needed the nuance of the written word to cajole and edify and charm. She loved language. Armed with a wicked vocabulary, she occasionally delighted in sending readers to the dictionary. Her folksiness didn't always translate well beyond state lines, but it was clear Molly loved being a Texan as much as she loved being a journalist, writer and world class expert on political creatures.

Like the most committed humanitarians, Molly was a fighter. Yet she always strained to see the best in even rotten people - occasionally to the point of treating rabid dogs like big dumb puppies. Though it was sometimes tenuous, she had a faith in the American people that I lack and envy. That's probably the worst thing that could be said of her. She was damn good people and one hell of a public servant.

Goodbye, Molly. You will be missed.

Salon: Readers Strike Back, Writers Weep

2007-01-31T13:26:00.000-06:00

Gary Kamiya explores the ramifications of Reader Feedback (mostly of the public variety) on writing. At its core, the piece is a lamentation of the professional writer's diminished place in the social order (bummer for you, dude!).

Although he fails to distinguish commentators from writers (a blurry but significant distinction where it can be made), Kamiya nonetheless makes some interesting observations that, when taken as a whole, point the way toward ever increasing white noise and stifling cultural enforcement of the delusion known as consensus reality:

And, of course, for a writer there is the guilty narcissistic pleasure, which can become an addiction, of wallowing in what other people have to say about you. If you have a blog, as New York Times media writer David Carr noted recently, this temptation is even more powerful. In the Balzacian -- some would say baboonlike -- game of status-affirmation that we are all tempted to play from time to time, the number of letters you get, blogs that deal with you, or the number of times your name comes up on Google is an index of higher rank.

-snip-

Miller, who says the tendency of discussion threads to degenerate is an example of "the tragedy of the commons," believes that the worst online abuse is directed at writers who make themselves vulnerable by revealing intimate things about their lives. "I don't think people who write stuff like that should read their letters," Miller says. "If you write something revealing, people mob up and become predatory." Miller attributes this to a rampant cultural self-righteousness: "It's like a virus in society -- the policing of norms." As every online editor knows, pieces about child-rearing, sexual mores and the like provoke remarkably virulent outbursts of reader self-righteousness.

-snip-

However, the real danger posed by the reader revolution is subtler. As writing becomes more of a dialogue and less of a soliloquy, the risk is that it will flatten out. That the new ideals of consensus and saturated information will replace the old ones of creativity and individuality -- what Powers called "the age of personal reflection."

Self-censorship has its place - assessments of vulnerability and exposure are especially critical in the age of online publishing - but nothing kills creativity like caution. In an increasingly risk-averse culture, the effect of mob rule on good writing cannot be easily dismissed.

* * * * *

Since Kamiya's article is about reader feedback - and also because I'm a lazy, lazy blogger - what follows is my response:

The Age of Personal Reflection is over.

No worries. Writers *will* write. The courageous ones, anyway. And they're the only ones who matter. That part hasn't changed, nor will it.

Whether or not there continues to be an audience for creative, reflective, insightful writing remains to be seen. My experience with adults under 25 - hooked, as they are, on a constantly charged neurological I.V. of text messages, voice mail and entertainment media - provides little reason for optimism.

The entire political-media establishment is "concerned" about self-publishing and open publishing, but the *coarsening of society* is far from the primary source of its discontent. Losing credibility, prestige, attention, advertisers and market share to writers and commentators who aren't in the club - that's a problem. Not having a monopoly on setting the parameters of public discourse - determining what views should or shouldn't be taken seriously - that's a problem. And, of course, accountability is always a problem.

As someone who has long felt completely alienated from traditional top-down information outlets - and repeatedly betrayed by the [non-existent] Fourth Estate - I'm delighted to see the old order subverted. Online media isn't pretty, but it's far closer to the spirit of truth than the old self-contained, insular, ivory tower model of journalism and editorial commentary.

People know trolling, misogyny and canned talking points when they see them. If an audience can't be trusted to discern pathos from reasoned discussion, it's time to start cultivating a more sophisticated audience.

-- Arvin Hill

Permalink

Aversion, affirmed

2007-01-31T09:50:00.000-06:00

Salon's Daou Report should load with an audio of "Clowns To The Left of Me, Jokers To The Right" (Stealer's Wheel, 1974).

Somewhere between my optic nerves and brain, the The Daou Report's "Right" side simply vanishes, thereby saving me the trouble of actively avoiding summaries of "Blogs For Bush" and similar "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out and cut my goddamn taxes" manifestations of Fascist dogma.

After reading this My Left Wing post, the Left column of the Daou Report is starting to vanish into a similar neurological black hole. Or I could just be having a stroke.

Conservatism is Dead, and it's Not Coming Back

To be completely truthful, conservatism properly understood has actually been near total demise ever since the election of Ronald Reagan. Nearly every ideological facet of what used to be known as American conservatism has been abandoned largely abandoned by both political parties--or is slowly being taken over in its most benign and idealistic form by the Democratic party as a secondary plank.

[snip]
Conservatism, then, is dead. It isn't coming back. In its place we are left with three fundamental choices that will determine the future of Liberalism and the future of the free world:
1) A Progressive Liberal vision of partnership, long-term thinking and respect for the common good that disregards race, religion, language and even national boundaries;
2) A Corporate Liberal vision of unfettered economic neoliberalism that exploits people with a view toward quarterly profits and respect for shareholders only that also disregards race, religion, language and even national boundaries;
3) A devil-may-care pessimistic vision of big-government control with no vision that simply expects Jehovah to resolve everything.

I now understand the concept of negative atomic weight. By the time I finished reading it, two bong hits were required just to take the edge off the inanity. The whole post was eerily reminiscent of Saturday Night Live: Take a five-second joke and beat it into a five-minute sketch. Hilarity does not ensue. And it's time you'll never get back.

There is a good deal of wit, intelligence and even a little insight scattered around the blogosphere. Unfortunately, finding it isn't getting any easier.

Create the Narrative

2007-01-26T13:48:00.000-06:00

Barbara Gray and Pat Lauderdale, in their paper The Great Circle of Justice, refer to narratives and stories as

“basic life forces needed to establish and to preserve communities and develop a common culture of shared understandings, and deeper, more vital ethics…how humans are to live with each other…a blueprint that provides the communities’ structures (e.g., political and spiritual forms of governance, kinship relations, and societies that have specific duties and responsibilities in maintaining justice within the community).”

Through participation in narrative events, they claim, those who feel as if they are alone become connected to their community.

Gray and Lauderdale’s paper, oriented toward American Indians, applies as well to the rest of us here in Indian country; the stories we tell help to model the type of society we want to live in, who we are, and where we came from. And it is this role of storytelling, the use of history, the preservation of memory, that enables us to recognize patterns of conduct and rhetoric our communities have witnessed previously, in order for us to comprehend new threats and dangers. Replenished, renewed, and repeated, these stories build a cohesive narrative of our collective understanding—our institutional memory.

Memories, however, do not reside in books or aging minds alone; indeed, they require the regular nourishment of ceremonies and conferences and public gatherings where they are spoken and heard and embellished with the perspective of time and maturation and contextual change. And by making the linkages between the past and the present, our stories--with luck--allow us to create the narrative of a future that embraces both.

[ from Institutional Memory as Community Safeguard by Jay Taber ]

The King and The Revolution

2007-01-25T14:11:00.000-06:00

There were times during 2006 when I wondered whether Jonathan Schwarz's A Tiny Revolution and Simbaud's King of Zembla would dry up and blow away.

I tried to reassure myself that these are two very talented individuals who were probably just working on some project or another because, hey, bloggin' don't pay the bills (unless you're one of the irritating megabloggers directing contributions to the DNC). But I know how easy it is to say fuck it and walk away. Sometimes, for the sake of one's health and well-being, it's a necessity.

Much to my relief, each of these weirdo luminaries has returned to form.

In the Age of [dis]Information, those who connect the dots - assembling lucid and often horrifying narratives from scattered shards of facts - are the muses of resistance, illuminating the spiderweb fissures marking the weak spots of The Monolith's armor.

Let the smiting begin.

Time to Experiment

2007-01-19T12:51:00.000-06:00

In his essay The War and the Spectacle, writer Ken Knabb articulates that if Americans want to contest the hierarchical system that taxes their income only to produce endless wars and little else, then they must reject hierarchy in their own methods of resistance and relations with their fellow citizens. "Ultimately," says Knabb, "[this] means challenging the social organization that turns people into spectators of prefabricated adventures because they are prevented from creating their own."

In a related article on self-government, Indian Country Today's Duane Champagne observes that, "Most people in the general American public don't understand the principles of self-government."

While his comment was made within the context of American Indian nations' relationships with the United States, Champagne also remarks that, "[while] most Indian communities derive their social and political institutions from creation teachings...so that the people can live and maintain relations with the plants, animals and cosmic powers in the universe...sovereignty is not a term that is easily translated to Indian communities from its European origins of centralized political organization based around the divine right and powers of European kings."

And here, I would note, lies the fundamental distinction between the two systems of governance: one society where everyone participates in creating law and order in their daily lives; another in which these responsibilities have been delegated to the successors of kings. As Champagne puts it, "Indian communities maintain commitments to kinship and culture that do not reflect the way of government of the United States, but often are guided by the values and visions of tribal ancestors and teachings. Self-government and the roots of American Indian national autonomy originate and remain grounded within the values and cultures of Indian communities."

This contrast between choosing to be ruled and electing to be free, perhaps, contributes to the maddening dissatisfaction of Americans--seemingly helpless against hierarchical brutality--that too often finds expression in violent collective outbursts toward peoples who reject domination. As Knabb remarks, "If they want to break through the spectacle-induced stupor, they must use their own imaginations. If they want to incite others, they themselves must experiment."

The Consequence

2007-01-17T21:56:00.000-06:00

taunting earthbound dogs
dropping twigs on upturned heads
the ground was less kind

Happy New Year

2007-01-15T22:44:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I know it's a little late. That's just me, man. You know that.

So, no sooner did I re-engage in the blogging effort when - zzzzaaaap! - my good friends at Flickr informed me the free ride was over.

This comes at an inconvenient time. 2006 was The Year of Broken Things (whether it was my car, toilet, amp or front tooth) and I am loathe to assume additional debt since most of my damaged goods are still pending repair. Plus, this is January, a month which sees more than its share of financial duress. Firewood. The annual contract with the septic tank guy. Propane. Dog tumors to be surgically excised. Christmas indulgences. New health insurance deductibles to be met.

So, no, Flickr. I don't think so. Nothing personal.

I made alternative arrangements for file storage (image, sound & multimedia) and, for all practical purposes, unlimited bandwidth, which means this is a good time to initiate a long overdue redesign. The process of migrating images and updating the links here at The Carnival, though simple enough, will be a time-intensive pain in the ass. It's enough to make a superstitious person suspect The Universe may be exacting a toll for the neglect I inflicted on this ignoble venture last year.

This is as good a time as any to explain the dearth of guerilla graphics. I finally abandoned my old graphic work horse, the user-friendly MS Image Composer, in favor of the industry standard, the remarkably anti-intuitive Photoshop. Since I'm also learning the entire Adobe CS2 package - and doing it on a Mac - well, let's just say it pays to take the long view. When it comes to software and home improvement skills, I believe in doing things the old-fashioned way - namely, by failing frequently and painfully until proficiency becomes the only possible outcome. Fake it 'til you make it. In a few short years, I'll be an expert.

So long, noodle king

2007-01-07T08:43:00.000-06:00

CNN: TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- The Japanese inventor of instant noodles, a snack that has sold billions of servings worldwide since its launch, died on Friday at the age of 96, according to an official at Nissin Food Products, the company he founded.

Born in Taiwan in 1910 while it was under Japanese occupation, Momofuku Ando ran clothing and other companies in Taipei and Osaka early in his career.
[...]
Often seen devouring servings of the dish he invented, Ando opened a museum devoted to instant noodles in Osaka in 1999. Ando is survived by his wife, Masako.

no, this is not a story of earth-shaking importance-- but I figured you might be tired of me posting about Saddam. Plus, I hear he was one bad Momofuku.-JV

caption(afp):Momofuku Ando at the opening ceremony of the refurbished Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka, Japan, on 25 November 2004.

another poll of no great importance...

2007-01-06T06:46:00.000-06:00

(You can click on the image to enlarge.
I took the screenshot at around 6am central time on Jan 2nd. Note the sheer number of people participating.)

Myself, I'd like to see the results of the poll on the question of whether or not it was ironic that the press was falling on top of each other praising Ford for pardoning Nixon the same week that Saddam was hanged, and how it helped a "wounded" country heal. But that's me.

Saddam's last night

2006-12-30T23:16:00.000-06:00

Getty/ Cal Berkeley

In a few hours, Saddam Hussein will presumably breathe his last breaths and be hanged. Earlier this evening Fox news had Oliver North on(!?) to opine that he didn't see how Saddam's execution would affect the violence in Iraq one way or another. And his opinion on this question has value, because of...what? I've already opined on the disastrous effect I think Saddam's execution will have on Iraq. Riverbend(via Juan Cole) discusses this too:

Why make things worse by insisting on Saddam's execution now? Who gains if they hang Saddam? Iran, naturally, but who else? There is a real fear that this execution will be the final blow that will shatter Iraq. Some Sunni and Shia tribes have threatened to arm their members against the Americans if Saddam is executed. Iraqis in general are watching closely to see what happens next, and quietly preparing for the worst.

She also goes on to mention an idea I've been working on for an article on Iraq, that the US(well BushCo, at any rate) actually wants things to deteriorate in Iraq:

My only conclusion is that the Americans want to withdraw from Iraq, but would like to leave behind a full-fledged civil war because it wouldn't look good if they withdraw and things actually begin to improve, would it?

I've wondered about this, apropo of the Iraq study group report; what if the real reason we don't have a non-gradual withdrawal of US troops is because the Shia might then feel forced to make peace with the Sunni insurgency, and then maybe things would get better, demonstrating to the world, including US voters, that the US presence was in fact the destabilizing agent so many people insisted it was. Juan Cole, in discussing Riverbend's comments, says he disagrees with her about the US plan being to split Iraq in three. I think he's wrong, and she is correct. Keeping Iraq weak for another 5 or 10 years-- or longer-- keeps all that Iraqi oil mostly off the market for several years. This serves several purposes:

1.It makes the "lilly-pad" American permanent bases being built there seem necessary,

2. It will discourage various European oil companies from pressing their case that contracts they signed with Saddam be honored,

3. In turn clearing that major hurdle from preventing the privatization* of the Iraqi oil reserves from occurring.

4. And, this will help keep oil prices up for the next 5-10 years. As Greg Palast said, "mission accomplished."

update(BBC):

Iraqi TV said the execution took place just before 0600 local time (0300GMT). It was witnessed by a doctor, lawyer and officials. It was also filmed.
US troops and Iraqi security forces are on high alert for any violent backlash.
Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November after a year-long trial over the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail.

I also note that they could have waited another week, so that Eid would be over.(it starts this weekend, adding insult to injury viz. the timing. Speaking of Juan Cole, he discusses this as well in his latest Salon article.)

*a handy pneumonic: "privatization= plutocratic plunder."

(I posted this at Hugo Zoom last night, at about 945pm central time-- which probably means he was executed while some 30-40 minutes earlier.-JV)

Ko To Tamo Peva

2006-12-27T14:08:00.000-06:00

Our Sarajevo friend Seesaw says see this movie.

Through the Nyquil Haze

2006-12-21T22:34:00.000-06:00

With or without Nyquil, I always enjoy reading an interview with Gore Vidal.

GV: When I said I am not a prophet that doesn't mean I can't occasionally guess what's coming. I knew that what those they call the neo conservatives in the United States (the old word that was used to describe them was "fascist"), they want to use American power in order to get the corporations which are generally gas and oil to maximize profits. They want to manipulate the constitution so that it is rendered meaningless. They want supreme power, and circumstances allowed us to elect a man that's a real fool, literally a fool.

If the American people had a free press, an alert media, he could never have been elected anything. He's not competent; if you listen to him talk for ten minutes its clear he doesn't know what he is talking about. He's desperately trying to read a teleprompter and nothing really makes sense, and without one of his advisors he can't face anybody when it comes to a question.

* * * * * * * *

Which brings us to the latest absurdity, the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Local TV reporter Gary Reeves' report on WFAA Wednesday evening featured the usual boosterism, but it wasn't all high fives. William McElvaney, SMU Professor Emeritus - of Preaching and Worship - wasn't in favor of the university hosting the sixty-foot tall, gilded versions of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and My Pet Goat. "I'm concerned that so many of the practices of this administration have violated basic United Methodist social principles about peace and war, about the environment, about habeus corpus," said McElvaney.

Reeves reported that a presidential library can draw as many as a half-million visitors annually. Given Bush's propensity for murder, there's a pretty decent chance a few of those visitors will have known and/or loved one of his many victims. Rest assured, it will be the most high-tech, hyper-surveilled building ever created - which tells you all you need to know about the level of risk associated with hosting a shrine to a war criminal. Although an omnipresent security apparatus will record every burp, hiccup and fart released within a ten-mile radius of the "library", it is highly unlikely to deter dissidents from pissing on the carpet.

* * * * * * * *

I try not to think about the Bush Administration crimes yet to be discovered because many of them will approximate the magnitude of this:

SHERWOOD ROSS, TRUTH OUT - In violation of the US Code and international law, the Bush administration is spending more money (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to develop illegal, offensive germ warfare than the $2 billion spent in World War II on the Manhattan Project to make the atomic bomb.

So says Francis Boyle, the professor of international law who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 enacted by Congress. He states the Pentagon "is now gearing up to fight and 'win' biological warfare" pursuant to two Bush national strategy directives adopted "without public knowledge and review" in 2002. . .

Terming the action "the proverbial smoking gun," Boyle said the mission of the controversial CBW program "has been altered to permit development of offensive capability in chemical and biological weapons!" . . .

For fiscal years 2001-2004, the federal government funded $14.5 billion "for ostensibly 'civilian' biowarfare-related work alone," a "truly staggering" sum, Boyle wrote.

Another $5.6 billion was voted for "the deceptively-named 'Project Bio Shield,'" under which Homeland Security is stockpiling vaccines and drugs to fight anthrax, smallpox and other bioterror agents, wrote Boyle. Protection of the civilian population is, he said, "one of the fundamental requirements for effectively waging biowarfare."

Rest assured the Anthrax Killer is on that payroll.

Guess I better enjoy the Nyquil now, because it damn sure won't be of any use against Bush's Pentagon germs. Considering his impressive track record of unleashing death and misery, it would be the height of foolish to assume King George's germ warfare will turn out any differently than his other ventures. They all end badly.

God Save The King

2006-12-18T22:51:00.000-06:00

Maybe Pinochet's former bodyguards can take up the slack.

Former Secret Service agent Chuck Vance, who is a former son-in-law of former President Ford, said Bush's post-presidency will include a variety of challenges.

"One thing is, he is a relatively young man, and young men are more active and always on the road," said Vance, now a security consultant in Virginia. "That takes a lot of manpower and a lot of team effort."

And, Vance noted, Bush will be a target.

"He is the only president that invaded a country without provocation and without it being started by the other side. I think he has gained a lot of enmity. ... There are a lot of people who resent this president, both externally and internally, some of whom have lost sons and daughters and had people injured in the war in Iraq," he said.

Vance said Secret Service officials make security decisions based on "threat levels."

"I know this president has been getting a lot of threat letters," he added. "There are a lot of people out there who think very strongly about him in one way or another."

And that's just the home crowd.

X News

2006-12-17T22:09:00.000-06:00

Television broadcasters claim 1st amendment right to run science fiction video news releases produced by Exxon as real news. Network argues that informing viewers that their news programs on such topics as global warming were actually videos made by such sponsors as General Motors--using actors pretending to be reporters--would unduly burden the news stations.

Fightin' Words

2006-12-14T12:25:00.000-06:00

Argument turns physical after Jefferson GOP event
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By JOSEPH GERTH
jgerth@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

A battle for control of the Jefferson County Republican Party turned physical last weekend, after an argument that one GOP delegate said left him with a bruised arm. Now John Lawlor has sworn out a warrant against Peter Hayes, charging him with assault. He says Hayes punched him in the arm hard enough to cause a bruise. Hayes says he tried to grab Lawlor's arm only to get his attention. The case is scheduled to go to mediation. Meanwhile, Hayes alleges that Lawlor kept him from being a delegate to the state Republican Convention for religious reasons.

The brouhaha at the convention was over the party's decision to exclude seven slates of delegates to the convention, claiming some of the slates contained Democrats, people who live outside the state, or too few or too many delegates. Hayes, a staunchly conservative Republican who has run for mayor several times, was among those disqualified. Both said they had words in the auditorium at Eastern High School after the convention. Lawlor said Hayes approached him and asked whether he was having a sexual relationship with another male Republican. "He knew my history and he was trying to provoke me," Lawlor said. Lawlor said he "was gay at one time and he (Hayes) knew that." Lawlor said he is no longer gay. Hayes said he merely asked why Lawlor had opposed Hayes as a delegate and sided with another faction of the Republican Party. He said he made no sexual references.

Lawlor said the two then began talking about Hayes' religion. Hayes belongs to the Unification Church, founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Both men said Lawlor then called Hayes a "Moonie." They agree that Hayes then objected. "I said, `You don't call people Moonies,'" Hayes recalled. "`Just like you don't call a black person a nigger or a Jewish person a Kike.'" Both men said Lawlor used the term "Moonie" several more times. Lawlor said that is when Hayes "bopped me" in his left arm. It caused a bruise and left his arm sore for several days, Lawlor said. Hayes, however, said he only tried to grab Lawlor's arm to get his attention.Hayes said: "I asked him how come you didn't do the right thing, and he said, `It's because you're a Moonie and I don't want to work with you.' Then, he started saying, `Moonie, Moonie, Moonie, Moonie, Moonie.'" Lawlor recalled saying only "Moonie, Moonie, Moonie." Hayes said he believes Lawlor, who serves on the party's nominations committee, blocked his candidacy because of his religion. That violates his constitutional rights, Hayes said.

A Cold Wind Blows

2006-12-14T12:21:00.000-06:00

And it sucks if you don't have a coat.

Each year Warming Hearts (formerly known as Winter in Pine Ridge) has contributed hundreds of NEW coats to children who otherwise would do without any at all. Tribal funds to clothe children are minimal, and are not available to those children who do not attend school. The economy on the reservations that we serve is practically non-existent and households that may consist of generations of extended families have an average yearly income of about $3,600.00

Our families are recommended to us by social service agencies, schools and community members as being particularly needy. We reach out beyond the communities and towns and have drivers who will bring coats and snow boots even to the families who live in the most remote areas of the reservations and who can not even afford the gas it takes to get into town. Your participation in this coat drive will bring a smile to the children's faces and will warm your own heart in the process.

Time to dust off that PayPal account.

Bush The Deliberate

2006-12-14T11:57:00.000-06:00

Yesterday's wave of surreality crested with The Decider In Chief refusing to be rushed into revealing the next phase of his ongoing war crime.

Bush had hoped to announce his new strategies next week, but pushed back his speech until January. He wants his new defense secretary to participate in the policy review; Robert Gates will be sworn in on Monday.

“I will be delivering my plans after a long deliberation, after steady deliberation,” Bush said. “I’m not going to be rushed into a difficult decision.”

Long and steady deliberation. This is the new, improved Gee Dub - thoughtful and open to reasonable suggestions about the best way to achieve V-I-C-T-O-R-Y over the freedom-haters wreaking havoc in Greater Shiastan.

With all that deliberation going on between now and the Happy New Year that awaits, only a fool would try to predict the Unitary Executive's ultimate course of action. Unless, as US News & World Report reveals in the administration's latest trial balloon, President Gas isn't really "deliberating"...

The White House announced yesterday that President Bush's speech announcing his new policies for Iraq won't be given until January. The reason? CNN's The Situation Room mentioned "senior administration officials" who suggested Bush wants more time because he "is planning to do something big" namely, he is "very seriously considering agreeing with John McCain and increasing troop levels." In fact, the Los Angeles Times reports on its front page that "strong support has coalesced in the Pentagon behind a military plan to 'double down' in the country with a substantial buildup in...troops, an increase in industrial aid and a major combat offensive against Muqtada Sadr, the radical Shiite leader impeding development of the Iraqi government." The Times also notes that strategy would overlap "somewhat a course promoted by" McCain. And the Washington Times says "top military officials with whom Mr. Bush met yesterday backed Mr. McCain's stance."

Precisely because there is no deliberation, our corporate media masters dutifully portray The Little Dictator as an open-minded statesman instead of the accomplished homicidal maniac everyone knows him to be.

Were this a sane country, John McCain's knee-jerk enthusiasm for funneling America's sons and daughters and mothers and fathers into the Imperial Meat Grinder for at least another two years would render him a pariah in every sense of the word. As it is, promoting human misery, death and perpetual war makes for a dandy Republican presidential campaign. This is humanity's payoff for McCain surviving rats, rice and Jane Fonda for five and a half years. Talk about getting the short end of the chopstick.

But, then, if America bore even a passing resemblance to a functioning democratic republic, George W. Bush, having demonstrated only incompetence and malice since seizing the White House in 2000, would have been stopped long ago. Period. No excuses.

Being well past the dark point of mere dysfunction, we will continue adjusting our expectations accordingly. Congressional Dems - those well-coiffed, inspirational firebrands comprising The Opposition Party for the last six years - can be counted on to feverishly raise cash with an unprecedented sense of urgency while millions are killed, injured and displaced as a result of Bush's homicidal psychopathy.

No use getting uppity about accountability and justice. After all, Henry Kissinger is still living the good life, counseling power junkies and popping Viagra, his blood-drenched cynicism the perfect palate-cleanser between the single malt and creme brulee.

assorted bits

2006-12-11T21:48:00.000-06:00

Gregg Easterbrook in Slate asks: why do we need a permanent lunar base?

Paul Krugman: "The Great Wealth Transfer", a good(if somewhat longish) article in Rolling Stone,

Mary, at Pacific Views: "A Disintegration of Personality"

Dr Donald O. Hebb at McGill University found that he could induce a state akin to psychosis in a subject within 48 hours. Now, what had the doctor done? Hypnosis, electroshock, LSD, drugs? No. None of the above. All Dr Hebb did was take student volunteers at McGill University where he was head of Psychology, put them in comfortable airconditioned cubicles and put goggles, gloves and ear muffs on them. In 24 hours the hallucinations started. In 48 hours they suffered a complete breakdown. Dr Hebb noted they suffered a disintegration of personality. Just goggles, gloves and ear muffs and this discovered the foundation, or the key technique which has been applied under extreme conditions at Guantanamo. The technique of sensory disorientation. I've tracked down some of the original subjects in Dr Hebb's experiments of 1952 and men now in their 70s still suffer psychological damage from just two days of isolation with goggles, gloves and ear muffs. David Hicks was subjected at peak to 244 days of isolation, the most extreme isolation in the 50-year history of these CIA psychological torture techniques. David Hicks has suffered untold psychological damage that will take a great deal of care, a great deal of treatment and probably the rest of his life to move beyond.

the cartoon above is via Mark Kleiman, who describes GWB as the enabler-in-chief. Coincidentally, Kleiman discusses the murder of Ronni Moffitt. She was an American citizen killed by a car bomb(see b&w photo, below) in Washington DC, along with her boss, Chilean activist Orlando Letelier(see the brazilian cartoon in the previous post).

photos: tni, sinkers.org
cross-posted at HZ.

Good f***ing riddance

2006-12-10T15:21:00.000-06:00

cartoon from argenpress

Augusto Pinochet, an object lesson in "why they hate us," is dead at 91. Should I say only the good die young? Should I wonder if there is an afterlife, and if he'll meet some of the people whom he had killed and "disappeared" there?(some of them are undoubtedly pictured below, in an image from the allegedly CIA-supported coup of September 11th, 1973 that brought him to power for 17 long years in Chile.)

upi photo

What I do wonder is how many Americans, especially younger people, know enough about our not-so-ancient history to understand what I mean when I describe him as an object lesson in why large numbers of people all over the world resent US foreign policy. I attended high school 1978-82, and nobody told me about it then. Rightly or not, I'm guessing today's high schoolers generally get an even more oblivious trip through history than I did. (God help us all if Katie Couric and the History Channel are supposed to be taking up the slack.) I also think it's interesting that he died on International Human Rights day.

radio.usp.br

see also:
"Operation Condor", and

memory and justice- "the caravan of death"

quiz question for the smart-alecky: Some say famous people "die in threes"; apropo of Pinochet what significance(if any) is there to the recent deaths of Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Milton Friedman?

cross-posted at HZ.

Takin' the pill

2006-12-01T02:56:00.001-06:00

“I wouldn’t call it depression, exactly,” I told Brother Joe Bageant in a rare fit of human contact a few months ago. “Hell, I would,” Joe said. It was hard to tell if he was talking about my state of mind or his own, but since we share similar karmic trajectories, it didn’t matter.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

My spirit was thin. But for the love of a good woman and a few dogs, I would be well past the point of decay, a diaspora of forgotten particulate scattered across greasy asphalt parking lots and the odd patch of green. As it is, my atrophied soul could be confused with a small piece of tripe. It used to be bigger, brighter. More difficult to imagine.

Sad and happy are not the considerations here. Show me a “happy” person in a First World country cognizant of the world being devoured every minute of every day and I will show you a person who doesn’t give a thought to personal accountability, complicity and guilt.

My brother, Marvin, swallows damn near every lie broadcast by the Beltway Wurlitzer, even if he doesn’t digest them all. There’s often a look in his eye that says he knows it’s all a lie. He’s no true believer; just another idiot who mistakes his own fear and greed for “the way things are.”

Expecting me to gloat about the Democrats’ midterm victory, or at least take some pleasure in the power shift, Marvin seemed disappointed by my apathy. He was stunned to learn I hadn’t voted.

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows.

“You don’t get it,” I said. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, the American people have learned nothing. There is no anti-war movement. No anti-Fascist movement. No contrition for our international arrogance and blood lust. No appreciation for the immeasurable suffering we inflict on the world and ourselves. No recognition of how the simplest acts we perform every day destroys life and nature and pretty much all that is good. And no reckoning for those who choose political expediency, greed and cowardice in the face of the greatest threat to face America since The Civil War.”

Like the vast majority of conservatives, if not every goddamn one of ‘em, Marvin only understands binary concepts. Yes, no. Good, bad. Black, white. God, Satan. Not surprisingly, he did not not pursue the discussion, much less understand my diatribe, so I wrapped it up. “For the hundredth time” I said, “I am not a fucking Democrat.”

A few months ago at a social gathering I couldn’t get out of, a husband and wife were beaming with pride as their nineteen-year old son, a shiny new Marine recruit, prepared for the killing fields. The kid is my niece’s boyfriend. He is quiet, obedient; a mama’s boy eager to do right as only naive, aspiring killers can be. I left early, my heart a tangle of pity, angst and rage.

If he wasn’t packing for Iraq or Afghanistan, it would have been some other place where dark-skinned people and diminishing natural resources converge. Venezuela. The Niger Delta, perhaps. Because war and death were the logical result of what transpired not on September 11, 2001, but on December 12, 2000. That most Americans believe otherwise can only be attributed to the mighty elixir of propaganda, denial and wishful thinking that has sealed our fate.

We have always preferred nationalism to truth. It’s where the money’s at.

I can only laugh at the talk of Americans “waking up” and “getting wise” to fear-based, greed-driven, reptilian conservatism. We are one terror event away from exposing that comfortable lie.

The architects of permanent war have nothing to fear. They – like the rest of us – know Americans will not demand justice because we don’t demand anything. We do what we’re told and call it good citizenship.

The American oligarchy has never enjoyed greater security. It is safely insulated by our rapacious appetite for comfort, sloth and distraction. The same people who demanded the invasion and occupation of Iraq – Republicans, Democrats and media propagandists, having filled their offshore accounts with golden digits wrought from the blood of innocents - will be selling another one in a few short years. Just ask anyone who remembers Vietnam or Iran Contra. That’s how we do things in the Home of the Brave, over and over and over. Despite our national obsession with crime, we still manage to have a recidivism rate for mass murderers. What a pity we don’t have a national obsession for justice.

Which leads us to the next dangerous lie: the reconciliation of a divided nation. Its fictitious nature is the very reason for its inclusion in the national script. By the time the 110th Congress is sworn in, The Machine will be blaring “unity” nonstop between commercial breaks. No (serious) crimes were committed during the making of this Fascist Paradise.

Roughly half the country is bat shit crazy – paranoid, bloodthirsty, and completely enthralled with authoritarianism. It’s all there: the security state; permanent war; post-Constitutionalism; oligarchy. It’s a long list. And for the last six years – eight, if you start with the harbinger of Clinton’s bogus impeachment – their delusions have been treated as the loyal opposition by the other half of the country, which is only half as insane as its right wing counterpart. Conservatives are now very much accustomed to their fantasies being realized, and no Democratic Congress is going to change that.

Decisions, decisions. Hillary or Obama? Rudy or John? Pizza or a cheeseburger? Moral sanction or slavery. Stay or go.

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

~ Leonard Cohen

What to do about it. That’s what some people want to know. The answer, for all its vagueness, is obvious: Whatever your conscience can stand.

Guy Debord, in 1958, commented that "Victory will be for those who will have been able to create disorder without loving it." The Spectacle (i.e. The Machine), with its constantly evolving state of self-perfection, cannot be defeated. All it must do to prevail is exist.

It can, however, be fucked with. Disordered. Do you have the imagination? The courage? The will? Before you answer with a yes, no or maybe, bear in mind two things: (1.) Post-modernist America is a system, not a culture, and; (2.) there is nothing real about consensus reality.

Later, my friends. I have a pill to take.

Dick Cheney, c. 1991

2006-11-26T10:17:00.000-06:00

the image is just a still, so I thought it was a waste of bandwidth and time to put a standard size image up.

also at HZ.

CANZUS v Indigenous

2006-11-20T14:29:00.000-06:00

Communique

El Enemigo Comun

2006-11-20T14:24:00.000-06:00

Oaxaca doc

the 2006 mid-terms: catching up

2006-11-18T00:18:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I stifle my words, with my desire to fastidiously document my sources-- in part because I value solid documentation as a corrective to the wind of gaseous punditry that asks you to take all sorts of crazy-ass assertions on faith and authority, and partly because I guess I'm just like that. Today however, I'll just make some fairly general remarks, although I may add links later, in a subsequent post about the subject(s) at hand.

It's been 10 days since the election, and look at all that has happened in these past 10 days! Election day started with the pall of the recent corporate media meme about how it was beginning to look a lot like the democrats might not survive a late GOP surge in the polls, and ended with the essential certainty that the democrats had taken the house and looked likely to take the senate, pending the results in erstwhile red Montana and Virginia. Sanctimonious opportunist Joe Lieberman got his nasty self reelected, and nobody in the poll-examining-happy major media speculated about whether Bill Clinton's endorsement(which he didn't withdraw after the primary loss to Ned Lamont) had anything to do with that. Nobody speculated about erroneous exit polls either, presumably because the only Massachusetts Liberal© running was Teddy Kennedy, a safe bet for reelection. No other reason.

Then: empty cowboy hat George Allen folded like a Dixie® cup, after sufficiently large numbers of Virginia voters decided that in spite of teevee news hectoring, they could actually tell the difference between biography and fiction. Considering that he was at this point the very axis about which control of the senate pivoted, I couldn't help but think how odd it was that a little birdie would warble in his ear: "concede." Yes, other explanations are mathematically possible, but it was beginning to look like a narrative was unfolding...

cross-posted at Hugo Zoom.

Go Vote

2006-11-07T08:03:00.000-06:00

will it make a difference? probably not. But if you don't vote,

you might as well
hug George Bush

sweatily, in front of thousands of people.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Saddam and the future

2006-11-05T05:44:00.000-06:00

reuters photo

Over the weekend, at least thus far, the tv news networks have been all ~~horserace~~ midterm election 2006, all the time. I've been lackadaisical myself in discussing Iraq-related goings-on lately, in part because it's so discouraging.

Nevertheless, there's the small matter of the Saddam verdict, due out in a few hours. But there's little interest in discussing that, mainly because we pretty much know what it will be. But what will prove to be more important? When pope Ratzinger recently decided to suggest Islam is an inherently savage religion he didn't kill anybody, but would that Somali nun be dead if not for his words? Strictly speaking, I don't know. But I know there is a difference between formally evident guilt, if that's the right term, and more diffuse moral guilt. The Saddam verdict will also have substantial consequences beyond the event itself.

reuters:
"Iraq waits nervously to hear if Saddam will hang"(also here)

claudia parson(reuters):
Saddam's chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said Saddam believed the verdict was timed to boost President George W. Bush before U.S. mid-term elections on November 7, and urged a delay.

Former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, who leads an international group of lawyers involved in the defense, said Saddam would almost certainly receive the death sentence but it would be "victors' justice." "It will create violence maybe for generations to come," he said, adding that the trial was politically influenced. "It's an unfair trial in more ways than you can count. Where have we seen a trial take place in the midst of such uncontrollable violence?," he said.

Saddam, 69, and seven co-accused have been charged with crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shi'ite villagers after an attempt on his life in the town of Dujail in 1982.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said Saddam's execution cannot come soon enough, fuelling charges of political interference in the U.S.-backed independent tribunal.

I can't help but remember George Bush jr's (supposedly) accidental on-microphone comments to Tony Blair this past summer at the height of the 2nd Israeli war on Lebanon, when Junior said,

``See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this sh** and it's over,'' Bush told Blair as he chewed on a buttered roll.

Now I wonder: has George Bush, grasper of buttered rolls and irony that he is, reflected on how, undeserving though Saddam may be, Bush could help facilitate peace in Iraq(and maybe even indirectly save US and Iraqi lives) by just "getting Maliki to stop this sh**" and commute Saddam's presumptive death sentence to life in prison? For Saddam's sake? No, but a champion irony-grasper should have no problem seeing this clearly.

If he did this, Bush, jr would also seem to (finally) have the gravitas that he wants people to think he has, and even seem to validate his comment from a few years ago about how Jesus is his favorite philosopher. But he'd have to stop caring about seeming like a tough guy in the eyes of delusional hicks who love him no matter what he says or does, and start caring about sh** that matters.

meanwhile. at least 42 people have died since Wednesday as Israel sustains rocket attacks against Gaza. But this is boring, or at any rate another hard-to-focus-on-thing with congressional elections going on.

also, from the BBC:"Tense Iraq awaits Saddam verdict"

update: from the Peninsula(Qatar):"Saddam rejects Rumsfeld offer of release*"(May 2005)

*I'll admit I didn't hear about this in 2005, but just now(via)-JV

cross-posted at Hugo Zoom.

Culture of Imbeciles

2006-10-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

There are two parallel counterrevolutionary confusionist tactics: the partial cooption of new values, and a deliberately anticultural industrially facilitated production (novels, films), the latter being a natural continuation of the imbecilization of young people begun in their schools and families.

It is no longer a matter of noting the increasingly massive use of commercial publicity to influence judgments about cultural creation. We have arrived at a stage of ideological absence in which advertising has become the only active factor, overriding any preexisting critical judgment or transforming such judgment into a mere conditioned reflex. The complex operation of sales techniques has reached the point of surprising even the ad professionals by automatically creating pseudosubjects of cultural debate.

The abundance of televised imbecilities is probably one of the reasons for the American working class’s inability to develop any political consciousness.
--Guy DeBord, 1957

Schwarzing around

2006-10-18T23:21:00.000-05:00

Jonathan Schwarz of A Tiny Revolution has been posting up a storm of late. Here are links and titles of some recent items:

"How To Keep Your All-Encompassing Fantasy World Intact" 10.12

"George Bush Explains The Seriousness Of The Situation In Iraq" 10.13

"Only So Many Ways To Persuade Yourself It's Okay To Kill Others" 10.14

"Once Again I'm Proven Right About Humanity's Frothing Lunatics" 10.15 and

"Not IN SPITE OF But BECAUSE*" 10.17

*Wherein he tells a fable about a lady who didn't know the sun was a star like other stars in the sky, then one day became the chief astronomer of the United States. At least I think it's a fable.

"Horsing Around"(1957)still via 3stooges.net /Columbia.

it's October 15th, somewhere...

2006-10-16T01:11:00.000-05:00

Mussolini's 1939 Lancia Astura, was auctioned off for charity in 2005.
Courtesy Autoblog.com

15 October 1946: 60 years ago tonight, Herman Göring commited suicide the night before he was scheduled to be executed.

15 October 2005: 1 year ago, Iraq voted on a new constitution.

from Wikipedia's article:

After 10 days of counting votes, the country's electoral commission announced that the constitution had been approved by a wide margin nationwide. A number of critics allege massive irregularities, especially in the crucial province of Nineveh, which was widely expected to provide the third (and deciding) "no" vote.

Maureen Farrell, 2004(via th' Mahablog):

“There was one exact moment, in fact, when I knew for sure that Al Gore would Never be President of the United States, no matter what the experts were saying, and that was when the whole Bush family suddenly appeared on TV and openly scoffed at the idea of Gore winning Florida,” Hunter S. Thompson wrote, two weeks before the Supreme Court’s fateful decision.” Of course Bush would win Florida. Losing was out of the question. Here was the whole bloody Family laughing & hooting & sneering at the dumbness of the whole world on National TV.”

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."-Wm. Faulkner

the Canadian, European, and Turkish editions of this post show a picture of Mussolini's 1939 Lancia, taken last year when it was auctioned off for the SickKids foundation. If you prefer the US edition, with an image of Bush ~~smirk~~ smiling confidently, let me know.

cross-posted at HZ.

briefly

2006-10-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

courtesy brandelion.com and th' Atlantic.

from the Washington Post:

NEW YORK -- Two major American Jewish organizations helped block a prominent New York University historian from speaking at the Polish consulate here last week, saying the academic was too critical of Israel and American Jewry.

The historian, Tony Judt, is Jewish and directs New York University's Remarque Institute, which promotes the study of Europe. Judt was scheduled to talk Oct. 4 to a nonprofit organization that rents space from the consulate. Judt's subject was the Israel lobby in the United States, and he planned to argue that this lobby has often stifled honest debate.

Additional comment about this from Eric Alterman, here.

a thing I learned today:

“Sock Puppeting” is creating a fake user identity to defend yourself and attack critics on a blog.

I had to look it up after Lindsay Bernstein wondered if Christopher Hitchens was engaging in said practice at her blog. I don't know if he has, but he left a very nice comment about me.

from Agressive Progressive at DKos[via]:

On September 19th of this year a judge ruled that Georgia's new Voter ID law violated the state constitution by placing unnecessary restraints on those Georgia citizens otherwise qualified to vote. Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that between September 20th and 25th Georgia's State Elections Board sent 200,000 letters to remind voters about the January legislation that required voters to show one of six forms of government-issued photo identification at the polls.

My tax dollars at work. For the GOP.

cross-posted at Hugo Zoom.

Freedom to Hate

2006-10-11T14:36:00.000-05:00

Family Research Council hosts pre-mid-term Congressional election nationwide satellite broadcast to right-wing churches Sunday, October 15. Focus of get-out-the-bigot-vote campaign to center on homosexual tolerance and criminalization of hate-based violence as a threat to Christian freedom.

Belgium's huggable fascists

2006-10-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

normally I don't like to just post extended excerpts from a news article, but because my sitemeter stats suggest that most people are lazy and don't follow the links, here's an exception:

a familiar-sounding headline, this time regarding politics in Belgium,
from Jason Burke, in the Observer:

"Far right strives to disguise its roots in bid for national power"

From the ashes of a party banned for inciting hatred, a new force is emerging in Belgium

'We speak with the authentic voice of the people. We say out loudly and proudly what they are thinking, and we'll be in power soon.'

[the] party is Vlaams Belang ('Flemish Interest'), one of Europe's most successful and newest far-right parties.
[...]
'We are not skinheads, we are not extremists, we are just honest, working Flemish people like the people we represent. It's time we had our say.'

Vlaams Belang's Flemish nationalism, with its calls for strict measures against immigrants and immigration, its barely disguised xenophobia and its strong rhetoric on security - as well as its slick organisation - have brought it from the extreme fringe of local politics to its mainstream in just over a decade. Six years ago, VB won 22 out of 55 seats in the city, with 35 per cent of the votes cast and has been kept from power only by a fragile coalition of all the other parties combined.

Filip Dewinter, VB's leader, believes that his party is the product of pan-European trends that is seeing radical groups forcing their way into the democratic mainstream. Speaking in the party's office in central Antwerp, he talked of 'a wave of support that is rising and that will going on rising'. He told The Observer: 'There is an explosive cocktail of factors. There is unemployment, immigration, a sense of insecurity... and traditional parties have no response.'

He also admitted that VB is a renamed version of Vlaams Blok, a party dissolved after being condemned for inciting racial hatred by a Belgian court two years ago. 'The style and the propaganda have changed, but we are the same party underneath,' he said.

Dewinter denied alleged links to neo-Nazi groups. However, opponents allege that the party has shadowy connections to violent far-right cells, such as the network of extremist militants armed with homemade bombs uncovered in the Belgian army recently. Many claim that the rhetoric of VB is a key factor in the rise in racist violence seen in the country of 11 million people in recent years. A young Belgian who opened fire on immigrants in Antwerp in May, killing two, was the son of a VB activist and the nephew of a VB member of parliament. 'There are mad people everywhere,' said Dewinter with a shrug.

Two of VB's main themes are immigration and Flemish nationalism. Though Antwerp is a cosmopolitan city with people from 140 nations, and especially large Jewish, Turkish and Moroccan communities which live together without serious problems, there has been little contact between ethnic groups. A recent study by the University of Leuven found that Belgian under-16s were as racist, if not more so, than their elders.

But the VB package is more varied than straight xenophobia. Ellen Samym, a 26-year-old adminstrator handing out VB leaflets in Deurne, said it was the Flemish nationalist theme that attracted her. Tensions between Walloon French-speakers in Belgium and the Flemish-speaking Flamands have been exacerbated by rapid economic growth in the Flemish parts and a growing social gap between the dynamic north and a poorer south. 'We pay too much tax that goes to the Walloons,' said Samym. 'We should be independent and then we could give the money to our own people.' For Dewinter, independence for Flanders is logical, not necessarily for economic reasons. 'They are of Latin genes, we are from Nordic racial stock,' he said.

The rise of Europe's new far right:

Austria Extreme right campaigning on anti-immigration ticket won more than 15 per cent of vote in elections this month.

Denmark Led by controversial woman Pia Kjaersgaard, the ultra-right Danish People's party swept into parliament as the third-largest party in 2001 with 12 per cent of the vote. It is more popular than ever, having received a major boost from the Muhammad cartoon controversy.

Switzerland The Swiss People's party takes an anti-immigrant line but its leader, Christoph Blocher, insists he is not racist. Elections in 1999 and 2003 made the party the largest single political force, with 27 per cent of votes cast. Last month a referendum backed Blocher's tough new laws on asylum seekers and immigrants.

France A persistent presence since 1972, the National Front and its ageing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen broke through at the 2002 presidential elections with six million votes. The FN, and other extreme right-wing parties, are predicted to do well in next year's election.

UK The racist British National Party, led by Nick Griffin, scored its best poll in May's local elections, with three council seats in Burnley, Lancashire. Because of the electoral system, the party is unlikely to gain MPs. Griffin wants to pay non-whites to return to their countries of ethnic origin and to withdraw Britain from EU.

cross-posted at Hugo Zoom.

Mark Foley, pt 2

2006-10-09T23:40:00.000-05:00

Part 2 of 2-- I hope. Clearly, a lot more stuff has come to light since last week. I have a hard time explaining to some people that to me the transcripts of several years old Instant Messages is not particularly damning evidence, insofar as IMs can be forged, and if they're so old when they come to light it's unlikely the telecoms and ISPs kept the tracking data, they're just pieces of paper. One thing I didn't know when I first posted about Foley was that he told ABC's Brian Ross that he'd talk to him on the record if he didn't publish them, which strikes me as considerably more damning. The people at the National Journal's Hotline blog, hitherto unfamiliar to me, have a useful timeline of Foley-related events, as does Wikipedia at "Mark Foley Scandal"(how many congressmen get 2 separate wiki entries? He's special.)

John Boehner "cannot recall" whether or not he discussed Foley with Hastert? Hastert "takes responsibility" and refuses to resign? What if Columbus took responsibility for discovering the New World and refused to sail? He could have gotten a lot more done that way, and saved Magellan's life by taking responsibility for circumnavigating the globe, maybe even later that same afternoon.

Columbus:Yep, it's round.
Queen Izabella: That's astonishing-- you just left!
King Ferdinand: Here are your gelato coupons.
Columbus: Coupons?
King Ferdinand: You were supposed to bring us treasure.
Columbus: I'm... having it appraised.
Queen Izabella: Oh, please.

via demagogue.

Hastert said he'd resign if he felt it would help his party. Well, wouldn't it? He could ask the entire GOP house delegation to quickly meet to vote on it, and those who voted him out would then have tangible insulation from the Foley -Hastert scandal to take home to their district.

One final thought: I haven't heard one democrat call for the pages to be given civil service protections or the right to unionize. It's a big house o' representatives, so maybe somebody has, and the tv people have ignored it because it isn't "sexy news." Nevertheless, if congress needs pages, shouldn't they have these rights? It might end a vestige of the patronage/spoils sytem from 19th century politics, and just be regular old public sector jobs. Maybe a lot of D.C.'s predominantly black young people would apply for the jobs-- possibly some in congress have sought to avoid this.

Mark Foley

2006-10-04T23:57:00.000-05:00

This photo of Foley is from 1999.[via Karena]

Yes, he does look like a patronizing dork in the picture, laughing it up regarding how he has his hand on the hat of one of those anonymous little people who exist to serve their betters. But what if he's just a patronizing dork?

Avedon has a brave and decent post up about Mark Foley. I tried to leave part of this as a comment, but had difficulty. It's not clear to me what he did that actually qualifies as pedophilia either, in terms I've what I've heard thus far. I left a comment at Karena's, to the effect that I felt that he might be being railroaded, and one of the other commenters replied that if that was the case, why did he immediately resign when this broke?

I'll admit that gave me pause--I reflected on it. It occurs to me that Foley knew his goose was cooked, and there was no other way out. Consider:

1.the specifics of what you are accused of is never revealed because it's considered too sensitive to reveal because we're talking about minors. This allows people's imaginations to run wild. Did he actually proposition for sexual favors? From what I've heard, apparently not.

2.He's a gay republican being accused of these things, in the height of an election widely described as particularly desperate for his party. The dynamic is different for republicans. There's the theocratic base to contend with, should he be foolish enough to run again in '08(or even a recall election in '07) if he somehow won with this breaking in late September. Then there's the party higher ups. Bigshots demanding their contributions back and making him lose face, and maybe a blog led hate email campaign and astroturfing newspaper op-ed pages with strangely-similar-in-wording demands for his dropping out of the race.

2b.Some conservos are treating this as an opportunity to suggest all gays are pedophiles, or latent pedophiles who would act on their presumptive pedophilia if they had half a chance. If Foley's sense of identity as a closeted republican all these years has been bolstered and developed by peers and supporters whom he perceived as regarding gays this way, this may make being outed like this particularly trying on his psyche. And consequently make him fold as he did. Besides, do we know that he first heard about this on 9.28 or 9.29? Maybe he was threatened with being outed for weeks or even months now, and what seemed sudden to the rest of us may have seemed to him like a relief.

3. Absolutely nobody has been discussing whether or not the IM messages have been authenticated. I'm not recommending it, but if you know the user name and password, you can pretend to IM as Mark Foley or Paris Hilton or Condi Rice or whoever.(Maybe most US teevee reporters, at the national level, are too stupid to know what an IP address is. I believe that text messages from mobile phones also have what are called ESN signatures*(unless they're from really old analog-only cell phones from the 90s.) And some of the IMs are over a year old. Would the ISP or telecom providers have kept the data?)

3b. This provides a neat(too neat) segue for the GOP to say

"telecoms need to hold on to more of their data for longer for future law enforcement consideration! Have we learned nothing from that unfortunate business with Mark Foley?"

It will be demagogued into the pending "Screw Net Neutrality Act of 2006", and used to broadly suggest persons who object to the anti-NN parts of the overall bill as people who want to enable child molestation on the net. What? You don't think the loudmouths on TV would do this?

4. This broke just in time to distract people from the Military Tribunals Act of 2006, signed by the senate the night before. How about that.

see also
Wikipedia'a article on net neutrality,
Microsoft proxy can omit neutrality issue -- US SEC - Reuters India - Oct 3, 2006

"Why capitol hill pages fear retaliation"[via Avedon.]

*oops. when I originally posted this, I wrote "ISN". Here's a brief explanation.

cross-posted at HZ.

Life as a BlackMan (the board game*)

2006-09-26T21:01:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia's entry:

Life as a BlackMan is a board game designed and marketed by Underground Games, Inc., a black-owned game company chaired by C.E.O. Chuck Sawyer. Unlike the Game of Life, which simulates life for upper-middle class whites, the intent of Life as a BlackMan is to depict life's struggle to get ahead from the perspective of oppressed minorities in the United States. The game is promoted as a way to teach tolerance. However, critics of the game charge that Life as a BlackMan, like Ghettopoly, only reinforces negative stereotypes of black Americans.

Object of the Game:
Players begin the game as an eighteen-year-old black male high school graduate who is ready to enter the world and build a career. After starting the game, players must make their way through a number of treacherous districts, each with its own hazards and diversions....

...Building a pile of cash and getting rich is not the goal of this game. The one and only object of the game is to stop going around in endless circles, find a good career, and attain Freedom. The first person to reach Freedom wins.

company website: blackmangame.com (I really like their flash intro.)

*"we are, most of us, pawns in life. Our only consolation is-- the game cannot be played without us." -Georg Lukács(1885-1971)**

**No, not George Lucas. Cross-posted at HZ.

9.10 and 3/4

2006-09-11T18:44:00.000-05:00

I decided to check my comments [at HZ] after watching the nightly news.(On NBC tonight. I'm Katied out. She warned me on her debut last Tuesday that Limbaugh would be on 2 days later and I skidaddled. Well that, and she described freedom of speech as a privilege, apropo of her introducing CBS News's new nightly editorial foofaraw.)

NBC dutifully reported that nothing whatsoever is going on, anywhere in the world, besides 9.11 commemorations. Did the other networks report anything different? Fox probably had a little more footage of Junior hugging people than their competitors did, but I'm guessing that's it. I think I might be more a more patriotic person if I avoided TV news altogether. Look, don't get me wrong-- I really don't see myself as a curmudgeon, nor do I place particular value in the curmudgeonly approach to life. All the same, I tire very quickly of corporate TV whores, the politicians included, climbing all over each other trying to outdo one another in subtly telling us what kind of ideological import we should be ingesting viz 9.11, and precisely how to swallow it.

I am not altogether averse to sentiment, per se, just the false and cheap kind. I do like this image, for example, taken by photographer Don Nixon in 1999:

via daystarvisions.com

Cross-posted at Hugo Zoom, except for the following:

And now, a question: do you AH readers want Jay and me to continue posting here? I honestly don't know how long Arvin will be gone doing his thing. My impression is it will be quite some time, though he could surprise me. The blog will in all likelihood stay up whether we continue posting or not. I hope it will, at any rate.

When I post here it's generally stuff that I cross-post at my home blog, Hugo Zoom, as is the case here, although if people comment here I treat the comments as completely separate and don't assume you've checked to see if anyone is discussing the topic you bring up at HZ. I did have one person leave the same comment at both places on one occasion-- but I don't expect people will generally go to this much trouble(!) and I'm happy to respond both here and at HZ.

I've noticed that Jay sometimes creates content here that I haven't seen at his regular blog, Skookum. For that matter, Jay("Spartacus") has a lot of interesting items you'll miss if you only look at his material here, like this recent piece("pardon me") about the 9/11 commissioners' conflicts of interest.

Anyway: I am not speaking for either Jay or Arvin, but I thought this would be a good time to ask for some feedback.

Part-time No Benefits

2006-09-07T14:52:00.000-05:00

According to WSJ (5/20/05) “The number of super wealthy in the U.S. has surged, with 430,000 households now worth more than $10 million. That’s up from 65,000, adjusted for inflation, in 1989.”

Collaborators

2006-08-26T13:36:00.000-05:00

As collaborators par excellence, NPR and its CPB sibling PBS extend the marginalization of dissidents required for totalitarian control. Lest some think it a mindless oversight on the part of NPR, recall that their programs are 1. discussed and planned in advance, 2. funded and executed by professional staff, 3. edited and polished complete with soundtrack, and 4. scheduled for broadcast and dutifully advertised and archived.

Aid for Lebanon

2006-07-31T23:13:00.000-05:00

Two-year-old Karim Qobeisi is treated in hospital in the southern market town of Nabatiyeh (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari);Two Lebanese Red Cross workers unload medical supplies donated by the Kuwaiti Red Crescent in Beirut(AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)

rather than saying anything clever I'm just going to duplicate Juan Cole's post, here:

AUB Relief Effort: Send money

It can also be sent via the American University in Beirut's New York office. AUB is an educational institution incorporated in the US, so there is no question of the donations being anything but above-board.The Lebanese mostly are angry with the US now, and many hate us, for unleashing Israel on them. At least we can do some penance. 500,000 displaced persons, and over a thousand wounded, is as big a humanitarian disaster as the Kashmir earthquake or some per-country effects of the last tsunami. Send a lot of money.

" The American University of Beirut is once again at the forefront of efforts to care for those who are suffering in Lebanon. We will do everything we can to take care of those who need our help. We have done it before. Our commitment to do so is just as strong today. We are seeking your support for the newly created AUB Medical Emergency Fund so that we can continue relief efforts in the following two areas: medical supplies and volunteer relief.

You can make a secure online donation, https://give.aub.edu.lb.

You can issue a check payable to: American University of Beirut / Medical Emergency Fund American University of Beirut

You can issue a check payable to: American University of Beirut / Medical Emergency Fund American University of Beirut 3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017-2303 USA

For other payment methods, please contact jeffrey@aub.edu or + 212-583-7600 (New York Office) bimad@aub.edu.lb or + 961-3-996543 (Beirut Office)"