Los Hombres Minuto

And So It Goes

Perfectly Clear

Kevin McMillan comes right out and says it:

It is a simple, incontrovertible and easily demonstrable fact that the Bush Administration carried out a massive and systematic campaign of deception with respect to its case for war in Iraq and with respect to alleged WMDs in particular...

...And none of this has anything to do with that favourite excuse of war apologists, "bad intelligence" -- of which of course there was tons, most of it served up by Iraqi "defectors" coached by the Iraqi National Congress (and Allawi's Iraqi National Accord).

Unfortunately, the "mainstream media" (!!) is both unwilling and unable -- out of ignorance, for example, of technical matters regarding WMD or of the history of weapons inspections in Iraq -- to come out and say this. Equally unfortunately, the "alternative media", while more than willing, shares this ignorance. The result is that -- incredibly -- more than two years afterward people are still able to get away with the claim that the Bush Administration didn't actually *lie* in making its case for war in Iraq (it only, as people like to say, "exaggerated" or "sexed up" their case)...

...There's no need to play softball with this Administration. Its case for war was fraudulent or ludicrous in virtually every respect, and so many of its deceptions were demonstrably so at the time they were made.

The "alternative media" is trying like hell not to look like a bunch of crazed conspiracy theorists, propogating the airwaves with nonsensical items that have the unfortunate disctinction of being true, in part because they find it hard to believe that governments were capable of such actions, but also because the "mainstream media," whom the public still trusts, remarkably, will treat them as lunatics and pariahs if they dare to speak the truth.

I agree with Mr. McMillan: we need to stop pussyfooting around the issue. The Bush administration, the Republican leadership, and their financial backers are criminals and murderers. They should be removed from office, placed under arrest, and sent before an international commission on charges of war crimes. The American media, with the facts clearly before them, chose instead to abdicate their responsibilities in favor of propagandizing for the Administration. They, too, should be thoroughly and publicly investigated to see if they were a) incompetent, b) unwilling stooges, or c) active participants. If a or b, they should be hounded out of the profession, if c, they ought to be tried as co-conspirators, just as the Nazi media were tried along with government officials at Nuremberg.

This is what should happen, but all of you reading this know that this will never take place. The Democrats are only now taking the first steps towards becoming a forceful opposition. The disenfranchised left: that is, the bloggers, the alternative media, and the uncounted, numerous organizations dealing with their particular issues in this country are too disorganized and too busy bickering among themselves to even attempt to make such a clear case. The popular will has been circumvented by fraudulent elections that make any "polls" completely irrelevant. What I fear the most is that it will take nothing short of physical force to rid ourselves of the creatures running our government, and that we will have to learn, as did the Germans and the Japanese, the lessons of hubris.

As seen on Juan Cole.

Good News, Bad News

Avedon Carol makes a great point, as always:

Dionne notes a recent poll that shows Bush losing handily in a presidential match-up between GWB and Bill Clinton. Generally, Americans think the Republicans are way out of line and that far from being "obstructionist", Democrats are doing the people's business when they try to prevent further damage.

That's the good news. But for more bad news, nobody white in Congress is paying any attention to the integrity of the voting machines, and the press continues to behave as if the Black Caucus is on drugs and less credible than the fruitcake fringe. Someone needs to tell them they have this backwards.

Spot on, and to add my own two cents, what do the polls matter if the elections are rigged? That's the really bad news.

What Gives?

I know this board doesn't get a lot of commenting, but lately it's been ridiculous: less than a dozen comments in this last week alone. I know hits are down, but I still have some good posts lately, I would think all my regulars would chime in somewhere. Drop a line here just so I know you're all still alive out there.

It Rolls Downhill

Phil Carter of Intel Dump states clearly why the decision to clear four of five Army Generals of any responsibility in the handling of the Abu Ghraib tortures is a really, really bad thing:

In the Army's leadership schools for officers and sergeants, the doctrinal manual preaches quite a different result from the outcome of this investigation. Bottom line: commanders (and NCOs) are responsible for everything their unit(s) do or fail to do, period. A commander, especially a general officer, is not just responsible for those things he/she ordered, but for those things that he/she knew about — or should have known about...

...The question is not whether these officers actually directed the abuses or participated in them; rather, the question is how they acted as generals and leaders to facilitate the abuses, fail to prevent them, or fail to stop them. That is the standard to which commanders are held, and that is the standard which is not being enforced here today. I dare say that this story sends a staggeringly bad message to the soldiers and junior leaders now on the front lines: we will hold you, your sergeants and your lieutenants responsible for their actions, but we will not hold your colonels and generals responsible for theirs.

There's a saying we all know, Shit Rolls Downhill, the Pentagon has just confirmed this with their decision. This goes hand in hand with corporatist doctrine: Being in charge means never having to say you're sorry...or guilty.

(Via Atrios)

Smite Be Right

The Bug Man

Glen at A Brooklyn Bridge chastises Tom DeLay for threatening to cut funding off for judges who disagree with his political points of view. In the article, Glen refer to DeLay as "Tammany Tom" a reference to Tammany Hall, the poster child for corrupt political machines. For those of you unaware of it, Tammany Hall politicians basically ran the city of New York for the better part of a century. Their most famous leader, Boss Tweed, was finally arrested and jailed on corruption charges. But as much as I enjoy it when any corrupt politician takes a hit, especially one of the main slimeball leaders of the current GOP, the truth is that the analogy is quite unfair...to Tammany Hall:

Tammany...steadily gained strength by bringing newly arrived immigrants into its fold. The immigrants were helped to obtain jobs, then quickly naturalized and persuaded to vote for their benefactors. Because of the willingness of Tammany to provide them with food, clothing, and fuel in emergencies, and to aid those who ran afoul of the law, these new Americans became devoted to the organization and were willing to overlook the fraudulent election practices, the graft, the corruption, and the other abuses that often characterized Tammany administrations.

So here's the thing: Tammany Hall was popular because it actually did things to help people out. What have Tom DeLay and his cohorts ever done for poor working people? Not a damn thing. The GOP works more like a protection racket: vote for us and we'll protect you from your enemies; the lberal elite, gays, blacks, hispanics, atheists, etc. The people who vote for them not only get nothing in return, they're being robbed.

Tammany Hall eventually "went out of business" because the social programs of the New Deal made the services they provided irrelevant. But unfortunately for us, there are unlimited supplies of fear and hate, and because of that, politicians like DeLay will always be with us.

(Via Avedon Carol)

So-Called "Professionals"

Juan Cole takes out Matthew Haughey:

If we were the mainstream media, we would care if you threatened to stop reading us. Because although we might be professional news people, we would have the misfortune to be working for corporations that are mainly about making money.

We would be ordered to try to avoid saying anything too controversial (and I don't mean "Crossfire" controversial), because we would be calculating what would bring in 15% profits per annum on our operating capital. Would hours and hours of television "reportage" and discussion of Michael Jackson or of Terri Schiavo or Scott Peterson (remember?) bring in viewers and advertising dollars? Then that is what we would be giving the public. Bread and circuses.

Of course, I don't use the term "mainstream media" very often, I prefer the more derogatory term "so-called professional media" because I want to make the point that these people are well-paid to do what they do, and they fall far short of the standards that professionals ought to have. We bloggers, on the other hand, while true we don't do a lot of hard reporting, provide an important service by watching the watchmen. And if the so-called "professionals" can't take criticism, they should get out of the business.

Coultergeist

My sources tell me that Ann Coulter mouthed off to a security guard at the airport in Pittsburgh and was strip-searched. More on this as I get it, also news on whether the ones performing the strip search went blind.

Update: Apparently the original item is from Coulter's site, which I will not link here. Coulter apparently was claming that the woman security guard who frisked her was a lesbian or something...she is one sick person. more as I get it.

Here's the link

It's Happened Here

Robert Koehler writes:

As angry as I’ve ever been with the direction of any given administration’s foreign or domestic policy, I never doubted the bedrock premise that the country itself was sound and free, and that political activity — speaking up, attempting to sway public opinion — always had the chance of reversing that policy. I never doubted, even after moving to Chicago in the mid-’70s, with the old Daley Machine (“vote early and vote often”) still huffing and wheezing, that elections mattered and could alter the balance of power. I never felt disenfranchised. Now that certainty is gone, replaced by dread.

It Can't Happen Here was once a familiar refrain throughout the country, referencing what happened in Nazi Germany and in other places around the world about the time of the Second World War. But that statement ignores the many fascists we had in the country at the time, the corporate moguls who supported Adolph Hitler's regime before the war began, and those who continued to support him even after. There's always been a fascist streak in this country, long before the coin was termed. Corporatism (as Mussolini said fascism should be more properly called) ruled American politics for decades around the turn of the 20th century, and its policies came close to ruining the country. Only the New Deal, whose beginnings lie in the days following the War Between The States, saved this country from a Communist revolution and perhaps a second civil war. Having grown up in the peace and prosperity that lieral policies created, we have forgotten what it was like in those dark days before FDR took office. We don't recognize fascism because we have had, un until now, no direct experience with it. Until today.

We currently live in a fascist state. Large corporations work hand in hand with the government to their benefit and to the detriment of working people. We wage wars on countries that are no threat to us, at great cost in money and human life. We use religion as a force to manipulate people and justify our actions.

How did all this come to happen? How did the unthinkable become inevitable? Because we allowed it to happen, that's why. Koehler reminds s of a passage from The Handmaid's Tale:

That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn’t even an enemy you could put your finger on.

When GW Bush ascended to the throne five years and a few months ago, I thought that it would take us ten years to get out of the hole his policies would dig for us. I was wrong: it may take more than a generation, it may even take military force, to straighten this whole mess out. It's happened here, ladies and gentlemen. And if we learned nothing from history about how the Nazis rose to power, we will learn from our own experience.

(via Avedon Carol)

The GOP Welfare Machine

Digby asks a valid question:

...how, exactly, did [Jeff Gannon] make a living during this period? Did someone "meet" him and think that a man who not one person remembers ever making a political remark in this life could be a perfect blank slate? Did this man whose entire life has been spent as an office worker in dull and colorless businesses in rural Pennsylvania just suddenly have a Walter Mitty fantasy that happened to come true?

Who created Jeff Gannon?

Whoever "created" him, there's one thing you can be sure of: Jeff Gannon will never ever have to worry about making a living. The GOP welfare machine will see to that. They take care of their people even if they prove an embarrassment. In the meantime, there's plenty of people here who have to stop fighting precisely because they have to worry about making a living.

Frankly I am sick and tired of the left asking us to give give give; give our time, give our money, do everything for the cause but God forbid you should ask for something in return, you get the spiel about the nobility of the cause and other horseshit. And this from people who have practically made their entire careers in politics, or are independantly wealthy enough not to worry about it. What the fuck are we fighting for, anyway? Yes we're doing it for our country, but we're also doing it for ourselves, so that we can lead better lives and leave a better future for our children, to make a better world for everyone to live in. What kind of future are we going to have if we allow the right wing to continue beating the crap out of us because we're so self-obsessed that we've forgotten that we're supposed to be helping each other out?

If we're ever going to get back in the game, we need to lose the idea that it's somehow noble to drive yourself into poverty fighting for the cause and start setting up support systems for us so that we can do the work we need to do and not have to worry about having to pay the rent. I don't mean money for nothing, I mean networking to find people work, or setting up organizations to do the grunt work that's needed and get people on the payroll that way. I for one am taking a pledge not to do a goddamn thing any more for anyone who hasn't helped me before or who won't help me in the present or the future. Period. And if any of you reading this would do the same, that might start waking the people with the money up.

And don't give me any bullshit about how we don't need to be like the right. That's a crock: we don't have to lie and cheat like them but we can match them energy for energy and make sure our soldiers are well taken care of. I'm not ashamed ofmy poverty, it's not a crime, but it isn't particularly noble, either.

Update I: All the comments calling me a lazy whiner have been deleted. Fuck you.

Update II:To answer that other asshole's question, no, if the Republicans offered me money to work for them, I wouldn't take it. There isn't enough money in the world to buy me over to their cause. Don't you fucking get it? It's not about the money! It's about us talking all high and mighty about the idea of helping people out but when push comes to shove we sit on our hands and do nothing. It's also about too many of us being so tuned in to their pet causes that we lose sight of the big picture. By the time we get our collective heads oyt of our asses, it will be too late...hell it probably is too late.

Support Your Local Blogger

Hits have been down on the site lately, word on the street is that they're down for everyone. Don't know if it's just a lull or if we're all just too fucking depressed. I know I'm depressed lately, haven't had a lot of energy, even to do things I like. Bad enough watching the train wreck that's American politics lately, worse if you can't find work, and have no idea when (or even if) you're ever going to work again.

But the times make it more imperative than ever that we help each other out. We bloggers don't do this for the money, but that doesn't mean we can't use a few coins in the tip jar every now and again. I'm not necessarily asking for myself (though it would be nice), but if you can spare it, and there's a blogger you feel needs some help, feel free to help out a little. Barring that, add a link to a site or sites you feel deserve it, try to get the numbers up a bit. Let's all hang together or we will all assuredly hang separately.

Gun To Their Heads

I just read this great diary on Kos about the coal industry and how much its changed over the years:

Reclamation is meticulous, so well done I don't even expect you to believe it. In a typical situation, the topsoil and a good part of the subsoil are removed from the area and stored before mining begins. Large surface rocks that are part of the natural landscape are also removed. A biological census determines the species mix for every acre of land to be mined. When mining is complete, the surface is returned to a condition as close as possible to the original contours. Streambeds are replaced layer by layer. Topsoil is restored. Those surface rocks are put back just where they were. A plant mix that hits the original species mix down to the most esoteric weed is put in place. In fact, the mining industry keeps several greenhouses in business to produce everything from twisted pinyon pine to herbs that are sacred to Hopi healers. The reclamation is, by far, the most expensive cost in surface mining. The people involved are almost to a person folks with degrees in wildlife biology, fisheries, agriculture, and related fields. These people think of themselves as environmentalists. They're good at their work. The results are nothing less than amazing...

The coal industry has done all those neat things. They've made it safer. Made it cleaner. Reclaimed the land. Why did they do it? Because we friggin' made them do it, that's why.

And that to me is the crux of it: if the federal government didn't put a gun to their heads and force them to clean up their act, they never would. Just like if the federal government didn't put a gun to their heads, we would never have a minimum wage or overtime. The government didn't get involved because it was looking for a way to grab power, it got involved because it had no choice otherwise. Liberalism wasn't created out of a vacuum. It was a moderate reaction to extreme circumstances, at a point in history when much of the rest of the world was turning to either fascism or communism. It wasn't a question f the government doing everything, it was a question of knowing when to step in and wheen to stay out. Corporate activities made government interference absolutely necessary, because left to themselves they would turn the whole damn country into a desert, as long as they could make a buck. And now the same corporate interests that ran us into the ground eighty years ago are back, and trying to bring back the good old days.

And what's scary is that the inevitable backlash could be far worse than anything the corporatists are doing now: the Reign Of Terror in France was worse than the abuses of the monarchy, the crimes of the Czars paled in comparison to Stalin's murderous collectivization policies. There's still chance, a slim one, but a chance nontheless, that we can put a stop to these people before things get too far, but I wonder if we have the stomach for the kind of fight it would take.

Good Old TIMEs

Darrel Plant found some other John Cloud interviews:

RNC Holy Cards

More here.

$600 Jeans

That's right, $600 for a pair of blue jeans. This is what the people who will benefit from ending the estate tax will be buying. Keep in mind, this is money that could be spent on health care or infrastructure or public transportation, things that make the lives of those who will never ever spend that much money on a single pair of pants just a little bit better. We ought to make it a national campaign and make people who buy these things ashamed of themselves.

And don't give me that bullshit about how this will help working people: I doubt the people who made those jeans make more than a few pennies an hour. And if things keep going the way they are, that's all we'll be making, too.

(via Avedon Carol)

Bush Family Values

No Debate

Eric Alterman points out what's fundamentally wrong with John Cloud's "article" on Ann Coulter:

The issue that engages those of us who are invested in protecting and defending the honesty and integrity of American journalism is that Mr. Cloud has used the powerful and influential pages of Time magazine to declare Ms. Coulter’s work “mostly accurate” while admitting that neither he, nor Time’s minions, did the necessary work to defend that pronouncement.

I am reminded of the comments made by Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt on why she refuses to "debate" Holocaust deniers: A debate is on two perspectives on an issue. A debate is not between complete truth and complete falsehood. The entire right is built on series of lies backed by a hateful and corrupt ideology. That there are people in the world like Coulter should surprise no one: her kind has been around as long as human history: the tribal influence that has set people against each other generation after generation. You cannot debate them, you cannot reason with them, they are fanatics.

I'm sorry to say, Mr. Alterman, that there's very little "honesty and integrity" left to defend in American journalism, and part of that is because of the well-funded right wing hate machine that's intimidated (and in Ann's case, threatened to murder) anyone who gets in the way of their bankrupt ideology. Coulter and Cloud are parts of that machine, and Time is, knowingly or unknowingly, an accomplice. I could go on and on about the necessary and vital role an independent press plays in our society, and how important it is to be beholden to the truth above all else, but my words would be lost. People like Coulter and Cloud aren't interested in the truth, and it's an unfortunate reality that a lie is more often believed. We expect, no, we count on journalists to set a higher standard, but as we have seen, they often fall short.

From The Front

Tough Day

A combination of things has kept me from posting today. In fact, my normal routine was interrupted when I first got on the net this morning to find out that somehow all of my bookmarks had vanished into the ether, and I had to re-type all of them in. I don't know what happened to them, but now I'm going to make sure they get backed up. I hate it when stuff like that happens.

Once I got that done, I decided to do a little housekeeping on the site. you'll notice that I added a "Previous Posts" section on the left, as well as re-organizing my links, deleting ones that are either out of service or no longer linking me. I also did some updating on the Coolsville site as well.

Amidst all that was the news that a new Pope was indeed selected, but my moles at the Vatican tell me that there were some shenanigans going on concerning that, it's possible the vote was rigged because exit polls of the Cardinals showed me well ahead going into today's session. More on this as it developes.

New Blog

I decided I needed a place to post stuff based more on entertainment, so I created a new blog called Coolsville. Go there and check it out!

The Conclave Convenes

I put in an order for my papal robes as the cardinals meet to vote me in as Pope. There was black smoke today, which either means they didn't make a decision yet or that they spent all day smoking cigars and watching reruns of Notre Dame football games. Either way, I await their verdict so I can pack my bags and move into the Pope's crib.

I wonder, by the way, if it was a good idea for me to have sent the cardinals some pizza, with the ingredients assembled to look like me...

Also some pie. Everyone likes pie.

I Get More Letters

"Spam" sent to me by "C.K." in Nevada:

Supporting The Troops

The cost of the war in Iraq is rising, and the Pentagon is desperate for ways to cut corners. Since a bunch of money is going to Halliburton and other scams run by the Bush people, the cuts have to come from somewhere else. Armored vehicles are costly to produce and maintain, and housing for soldiers is likewise expensive. But American entrepreneurship comes to the rescue again!

Oh sure you laugh, but the sad part is that it ain't far from the truth. I wish someone could save our troops from the people who "support" them!

I Get Letters

Your Holiness:
I'm confused. I read the following headline in the NY Times: Cardinals Gather Today in Secret to Elect the Next Pope.

If it's such a secret, how did the NYTimes find out about it?

And aren't the Cardinals in Pittsburgh playing the Pirates?

signed:
"R.W.", Michigan

Stenography

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Spam

Lately I've been getting a lot of spam from people trying to sell me drugs like Viagra, and I was curious as to how many people would fall for these ads in the first place. Are people that desperate for Viagra? But even more curious to me is that I get spam that doesn't even seem to be selling anything. The subject headers usually say something like Fluoxetine used to treat depression stimulate but the body will just be a long quote from some poem or old novel. My virus checker says there isn't any virus there, so what's the deal? I can at least understand the Viagra ads or the numerous offshoots of the Nigerian scam, I mean, somebody is getting some money out of it, but why send someone email for no reason?

But hey, some email is better than no email at all. I wonder how Atrios and Kos handle all the email they must get? Surely they have a separate account that's for their personal email. That's one advantage, I guess, to having a site that hardly anyone reads...

More On God

I wanted to write a little more on this because the religious issue is so big right now, and because I didn't want to give the impression, in the last post, that I was suddenly converting to Christianity or any other religion. I am and will remain an agnostic who simply accepts that there are things that we simply cannot understand, and at the very least, respect for our fellow humans and their right to believe what they want to believe should be first and foremost, even if we think what they believe is utterly ridiculous. For the record, I happen to like a lot of the things Jesus had to say, because I think it's right that we ought to treat people decently and to help each other out. I know I feel guilty when I can't give a panhandler a few coins, even if I'm only one step ahead of them myself. My personal feelings, however, about Life, The Universe, and Everything are my own damn business, period, and while I don't mind trying ot have an intelligent discussion about these things, I won't tolerate people trying to force me to change the way I think.

But regardless of whatever other doubts I may have, there is one thing that I am absolutely certain of: if God is indeed on the side of these wretched, hateful cockroaches who take advantage of people's fear and people's faith to turn us against each other for their personal profit, then God doesn't deserve to be worshipped. These people are, IMO, evil and insane, and we ought to do everything we can to keep them from the reigns pf power. Religion has been the cause of more hate and death than anything else in human history, and I hope that one day the time will come when we will just grow the fuck up and stop listening to people who tell you that there is only one true belief.

God Provides

I am not a religious person at heart: that is, I don't care much for church and I'm not particularly fond of any organized religion. I am an agnostic, and I consider my doubt to be my strength, because my doubt leads me to ask questions I wouldn't ask if I assumed I knew everything. My wife, on the other hand, is very religious, a Christian and the kind of Christian, IMO, we need more of: she is caring and considerate, and always thinks of others, often at the expense of herself (too much so, in fact: I get on her case sometimes for not treating herself well). This is sometimes a cause for friction between us, but never anything serious. But my wife believes very strongly that God is looking our for us, and while the cynic in me looks on that as nothing more than pure superstition, sometimes things happen that I simply have no rational explanation for.

For example, there was today. As some of you know, the wife and I are in pretty bad shape financially. In fact, at the time of this writing we are negative two hundred and forty-eight dollars in the bank, which means we have to wait two weeks before we see any more money. We have food in the house, but we'll soon run out of bread and other perishables, which we don't buy in bulk. Anyway, despite all of this, I decided we needed to go on a road trip, so we took a ride to a local mall to window-shop. While we were there, we were asked if we wanted to take a poll, if we did, we would get five bucks each. Naturally we agreed. But after we had finished the poll (which was done by computer), we went out to get our money to find that the poll workers had all disappeared. Needing the money, we waited around for twenty minutes, with no sign of them. I walked around the mall looking for them, finally I snagged a mall security guard who wasn't happy that these people had left all this computer equipment standing around unattended.

Finally, fifteen minutes later, they all showed up. They apparently went across the street to cash their checks and simply forgot that we were there. I was extremely upset that what should have been a fifteen-minute distraction had turned into an hour-long ordeal. Not as bad as Gilligan's Island, but then again we didn't pack as much luggage as the castaways. They made up for it by giving us fifteen dollars each rather than just five, which means we can at least have enough money for bread and milk for the next two weeks.

And that's exactly the kind of thing that prevents me from being an atheist, because it happens time and time again, so often it makes the idea of it all being just a coincidence a little hard to swallow. When we were almost homeless, someone we hardly knew let us stay at their place until we got settled. And when we were nearing the time we had to leave there, we found this apartment, with a landlord understanding enough to not worry if we fall behind on the rent. By all rights we should be homeless, yet here we are, with a roof still over our heads. Were I an atheist, it would blow my mind, but as it is, I can accept the fact that perhaps there's something out there that's looking out for us.

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Like Cockroaches

While I was going to New York for my sister's wedding, I passed the time at the airport and on the plane by re-reading some of H. Beam Piper's short stories. Piper isn't one of the more well-known sci-fi authors, though he's my personal favorite. If he hadn't committed suicide his career would have lasted longer and he likely would have been considered one of the all time greats, up there with Asimov and Bradbury. If you ever have the chance to read any of his work, I recommend him highly.

Anyway, I bring up Piper to make a point. If you do read his stories, you will notice, at first, a kind of right-wing tilt to them. The main characters, people like Jack Holloway or Calvin Morrison, tend towards rugged individualist types like Heinlein's Lazarus Long, though unlike Long, they aren't anywhere near as obnoxious, and never had sex with their own mothers. But a closer look reveals a respect for authority and the governmental process, even a bit of compassion. In Little Fuzzy, about what happens when a corporation finds, to its dismay, a neolithic culture inhabiting a planet thought to be free of such life-forms, their initial reaction was to deny they were intelligent and then to try and kill them. But in the end, when forced to concede otherwise (and oddly enough the heroes of the story are the Federation Navy and an obstinate judge whose authority was respected even when his decisions made him an enemy of the company), even the head of the company worked with local authorities to ensre that the Fuzzies were treated with respect and not exploited.

Piper's attitude, then, can be seen as less a love for the "every man for himself" attitude of the Libertarians and more in line with a practical, "radical middle" approach. Certain things are the way they are because they have to be. And sometimes you have to think outside the box a little in order to accomplish an important goal. For example, many of his stories involve the theory called Paratime, which is the science of moving, not forwards or backwards, but sideways in time: travelling to alternate universes. The main character in these stories is Verkan Vall, a very high-ranking member of the Paratime Police, whose job it is to keep the Paratime Secret from other other timelines, preventing them from travelling sideways in time as well. Occasionally, in the course of travelling, something or someone accidentally enters the time-travel vehicle and gets deposited in a different time "belt." This is the main plot of the story Lord Kalvan Of Otherwhen, but the quote I wanted to use was from the short story Police Operation:

"I checked up on your hitchhiker, Vall," the chief said. "We won't bother about him. He's a member of something called the Christian Avengers - one of those typical Europo-American race-and-religious hate groups. He belongs in a belt that is the outcome of the Hitler victory of 1940, whatever that was. Something unpleasant, I daresay. We don't owe him anything; people of that sort should be stepped on, like cockroaches. And he won't make any more trouble on the line where you dropped him than they have there already. It's in a belt of complete social and political anarchy; somebody probably shot him as soon as he emerged, because he wasn't wearing the right sort of uniform."

As you can see, even in the late fifties/early sixties, there was a recognition of the existence of the radical right that's running the show now, and Piper's straightforward attitude about them is right to the point. Get them before they get us. Take them out of power so that they're not a threat to anyone. They're already starting to show their true colors openly: emboldened now by the political power they have, the modern-day equivilent of the Christian Avengers is making their attitude clear towards people unlike them: "No man, no problem". Remember that well. They'll kill us if they can. They're fanatics who absolutely cannot be reasoned with.

In Piper's stories, of course, the "bad guys" never succeed, if only things in real life were as easy as they were in fiction. The right-wingers certainly believe that they are, else they wouldn't bother to do these stupid things, like invade countries they have no business of invading. I have no doubt some of them truly believed that American troops would be greeted as liberators, despite numerous instances in history showing otherwise. They forgot the lessons we learned in Germany and Japan: the closed fist will win the war, but the open hand wins the peace every time. Now we are become like those we fought against, and it's possible, though as yet unlikely, that the rest of the world may see fit to deal with us militarily. If that day ever comes, I hope they will remember us as we were, and not as we are. The fact that President Clinton was greeted with cheers and love during the Pope's funeral, and Bush was greeted with jeers and boos shows that at least the Europeans understand that while America may do evil things, the American people are still good people. But our good intentions mean nothing if we're too afraid to do the things that really need to be done. When they hit us we should hit them back tenfold, hit them so hard and so fast that they won't even consider hitting us again for a long, long time. And we also need to stop fighting among ourselves, to stop backstabbing each other over petty differences. I myself have met too many on the left who are just as unswerving in their specific beliefs than those on the right. As Jello Biafra said, that's poison. We should focus our attacks on the real enemies, the leadership of the Republican Party and their financial backers. They aren't just a threat to the nation, they're a threat to the entire world, for the sake of the future we need to throw them out of the spheres of power and do everything we can to make sure they won't be back again for a long, long time.

And even if we manage to do just that, we have to remember that they'll still be there, waiting for their chance to try again. Thucydides made this clear 2500 years ago, it's still true today: like cockroaches, one thing these people are really good at is surviving.

On To Mars

Dear NY Times:

To The Editors:

(re: A Slap In The Face)

What a typically whiney, crybaby response from Mr. Kristof. I don't have the time to address the numerous reasons that we no longer believe or trust the so-called "professional" media, but I will say that you, sir, in particular, deserve more than a slap in the face; you deserve to have your ass kicked off every formerly respectable news organization in the country. You are a disgrace to your profession, and if you had any sense of self-worth remaining you would resign and seek another vocation.

Sincerely,
Joe

I'm Back!

Had a great weekend with my family and my new family, it went by all too fast if you ask me. The wife is fine, I called her as often as I could. Now I'm back to the regular grind, looking for work and trying to get things together at home. A fan of the show found out I like Star Blazers, so he bought me all three series on DVD. Well to be precise, he bought me the actual Japanese series (the American DVD sets aren't that hot, and they're also a LOT more expensive). The subtitles are really goofy, but it's no big deal.

I deliberately didn't pay attention to a lot of news over the weekend, though while waiting for my flight in Atlanta on Friday I was inundated with Pope-a-palooza (they have TV's tuned to CNN at the gates). It amazes me how they can spend hours upon hours talking about absokutely nothing. I realize the funeral of a the Pope is a big deal, but did everything else in the world stand still? Yeesh.

If any of my new relatives are reading this, welcome aboard, hope you like the site and don't hold my politics against me.

More posts tomorrow, new show up by Thursday.

Heading Out

There will be no new posts and no new shows this weekend, I'm heading out of town to attend my sister's wedding. I'll be back Sunday evening or Monday.

Oh, and apparently I have some competition for the job as Pope. This guy's mad because I thought if the idea of bribing blogs to support me before he did. He also said I chose a pretty good Pope name, so for that I'll suggest that should he win he should name himself Pope Nyah Nyah I.

Have a good weekend, all

What's On TV
Billmon gives us a list.

Speaking of TV, I just saw the Braves get their asses kicked by the Marlins to start the season, but that doesn't worry me: the Braves have a habit of losing opening games and winning divisions. Of course Florida has never won it's division yet has 2 World Series wins...hmm...

Questions For His Holiness
Since I announced my candidacy for Popehood, I've gotten some questions as to what I would do, apart from what I have already promised:

Will you continue to push the Death Cookie? You can't be a Pope without forcing demonically-possessed wafers on the populace.

Yes, but in order to be truer to the tradition, they will be made of Soylent Green.

You get my vote if I can get a little plastic statuette of you to put on my dashboard.

These will go into production immediately after I am elected, and I'll be sure to send you one. They will also be available in brass, stainless steel, and marble.

I also wish to point out that I was serious about the money: if and when I am elected, a Papal donation of ten thousand US Dollars will be made to the owner of any website who publically endorses my candidacy. So far, only The Sideshow has taken me up on it. Of course, since the Sideshow is based in the UK, the amount will be the equivilant of $10,000 in British pounds at the exchange rate on the day I become Pope.

Keep those cards and letters coming!

What Planet Are They From?
David Brooks says that Conservatives have thrived because they are split into feuding factions that squabble incessantly. I wonder if this was the spin from last Wednesday's Heritage Foundation meeting. Saying that the current American right "squabbles" is like saying that two torturers are "squabbling" because one wants to use a branding iron and another wants to use a taser.

You know, Mr. Brooks is entitled to his crackpot opinions, and the Times is entited to hire whomever (or whatever) they want. But it says something about the state of the so-called "professional" media, which apparently lives on a completely different planet, that people like Brooks are being paid huge sums of money to deliver his tripe when bloggers who get paid nothing for their work are writing far more clearly than he is.

Special Commentary! Click Here To Listen!

Open Thread: Show 95
Listen here. Comment below, or you're excommunicated.

George-Ringo I
I hereby nominate myself to be the next Pope. And since FOX news deems it perfectly all right to call someone a Nobel Prize nominee even if the person who nominated him was neither qualified nor authorized to make such a nomination, and even if the actual Nobel Prize he was nominated for doesn't even exist, I will require anyone who has me on as a guest on a TV Show or Radio show to refer to me as "His Holiness: The Cardinal Of The Blogosphere" and Papal nominee.

If and when I am elected Pope by the Catholic Church, I will take the name "George-Ringo I" and promise the following:

- To give a Papal gift of ten thousand dollars US to the owner of every website who openly endorses my nomination between now and the election

- To excommunicate anyone I don't like, unless they pay me cash

- To build a small replica of the Vatican somewhere in the Bahamas with some comfy wicker chairs and a view of the beach

- To allow priests to marry, even each other

- To Bless every Star Trek Convention, because God knows those people need all the help they can get

And last, but not least:

- To hire some thugs to go and kick Robertson's ass as a way of getting the moneylenders out of the temples

Thank You

His Soon-To-Be Holiness Joe Vecchio (George-Ringo I)
Cardinal of the Blogosphere

Against Us
Avedon Carol tells it like it is:

The message from the White House to almost everyone has been that it really doesn't matter if we are "with them or against them," since, if we are not actually Them, they are against us.

All of us. It doesn't matter what country we are from or even if we are Republicans who ardently support Bush. If we are not actually among their wealthy, powerful cronies, they will happily take everything we have and leave us bombed-out, destitute, whatever strikes their whims. We are spiders whose legs they can pull off for fun, frogs they can torture, toy soldiers to send off into pointless wars, little pockets of money and property to be plundered for their own purposes. They don't care what happens to us - any of us. In fact, it's fun for them to stick it to us. I'm not even sure they think it's more fun to stick it to their opponents than it is to betray the trust of their supporters.

We are their real enemies, of course - not because we are fighting against them (because many of us aren't), but because our interests are so different from theirs that there is always the possibility we will eventually notice that they have more in common with our enemies, and more common cause with them, than they do with us. We are only their cannon-fodder and their prey.

Everything is theirs for the taking, and no constraints are on them. After all, they have divine right.

John-Paul II 1920-2005
I was raised Catholic, which is a good reason why I became an agnostic (Catholicism tends to breed agnosticism). But even though I have a particular dislike for organized religion, I still have respect for the Catholic church because they do a lot more for the poor of the world than most other churches, especially the "churches" run by people like Robertson or Fallwell which are pretty much just scams.

I remember when John-Paul II was elected, the cardinals had barely gotten back home after electing John-Paul I when news came of his death. John-Paul II was the first non-Italian Pope in a long, long while, and his impact was immediate. He was the most well-travelled Pope in history, and while the Church has plenty of problems, he was a strong voice for progressives, and was strongly opposed to the Iraq war.

Here's what the Pope had to say about working people (via Juan Cole):

...the danger of treating work as "merchandise" -or as an impersonal "work force"-remains as long as economics is understood in a materialistic way. It is this one-sided approach that concentrates on work as the prime thing, leaving the worker in a secondary place. This is a reversal of the order laid down in the book of Genesis. The worker is treated as a tool whereas the worker ought to be treated as the subject of work, as its maker and creator. This reversal - whatever other name it gives itself- should be called 'capitalism"- an economic and social system that historically has been known as opposed to "socialism" or "communism."

The error of early capitalism can be repeated wherever the worker is treated as a mere means of production, as a tool and not as a subject. To consider work and the worker in the light of humanity's dominion over the earth goes to the very heart of the ethical and social question. It is in insight that should be applied to all social and economic policy, within each country, but also internationally, to the tensions between East and West, North and South."

"It is useful to recall the changes of the last ninety years. Although the "worker" remained the same, "work" changed. New forms of work appeared and disappeared. Though this is normal, it is necessary to watch out for ethical and social irregularities. It was such an irregularity that gave rise -in the last century- to the "worker question" or the "proletariat question," provoking a great burst of solidarity among workers, mainly in industry. It was a reaction against the degradation of the workers, their exploitation with regard to their working conditions and security; against an unjust system that safeguarded the economic initiative of the owners but did not pay attention to the rights of the workers.

This reaction is in line with the church's teaching and justified from a social morality point of view. Worker solidarity has brought profound changes. Various new systems have been thought out Workers often share in running and controlling businesses, influencing working conditions, wages, and social legislation. But new systems have arisen that allow old injustices to continue and new injustices to appear. New developments and communication reveal forms of injustices more extensive than the ones that aroused workers' solidarity in the last century, not only in industrialized societies but also in agricultural countries. Solidarity movements can also be needed for social groups not previously mentioned but who find themselves in a "proletariat" situation. It can be true of the working "intelligentsia," people with degrees and diplomas, who cannot find work- a situation that arises when education is unsuited to the needs of society, or when there is less demand and less pay for work that requires education. We must consequently continue to study the situation of the worker. There is a need for solidarity movements among and with the workers. The church is firmly committed to this cause, in fidelity to Christ, and to be truly the "church of the poor."

Amen.

PS: since FOX news seems to think it's OK to refer to someone as a Nobel Prize nominee, even when the nomination was from someone who was not authorized or qualified to make it, and for a Nobel Prize that doesn't even exist, I hereby nominate myself to be the next Pope. When elected, I promise to excommunicate anyone I don't like.

Bunker Mentality
The Mahablog points out how the Bush team operates:

Apologists on the Right Blogosphere point out that Bush is running the White House on a "business model," which should concern anyone who knows what happened to all of George W. Bush's businesses. But, of course, it's a bad excuse, anyway. Anyone who has worked in even a middle-management level of even a medium-size business knows that meetings are not about getting work done; they are about setting agendas and coordinating strategies.

In fact, in my experience, a staff can be over-meetinged to the point that the meetings interfere with the business. I've seen it many times, and it's usually an indicator of a really incompetent department head. Some of the best bosses I've had rarely called meetings. If circumstances require several meetings a week, that's usually an indicator of crisis mode.

And since cabinet secretaries are something like division heads of a really big company, frequent meetings make even less sense. Division heads of Procter & Gamble don't work that closely together. The head of the Toothpaste Division and the head of the Disposable Diaper Division are not working out of the same office suite. I suspect they see each other only a few times a year.

The only reason for the secretaries of Agriculture and Education to be working together that closely is if they're up to something other than Agriculture and Education. Instead of a business model, the White House seems to be working with a bunker model. Instead of working in support of the nation's policies, they're working in support of Administration politics.

One of the reasons I started "Stupid Boss Tricks" is to show how moronic the business world is. The right wing always paints government as being completely incompetent and bureaucratic, but the truth is that businesses oare often far worse, and there are things government does well that no private industry would even touch, like building the highways. Building the Erie Canal, which was done by people who had never even attempted such a thing before, was one of the key reasons for the financial success of New York, not to mention Chicago, Detroit, and all the other cities on the coasts of the Great Lakes.

Liberals aren't against capitalism, we're against the abuses and the dangers of unbridled capitalism. There's an important and necessary balance between what government does and what private industry does, and while we recognize that that line changes owing to technology and events outside of our control, we still recognize that the balance exists to begin with. What the right-wingers want isn't even really capitalism, it's monopolization of resources and production that benefits very few people and enslaves everyone else.

The times when government does worst is when it acts on the behalf of the few at the expense of the many, or when it is used, as Teddy Roosevelt said a century ago, to twist the methods of free government into machinery for defeating the popular will. And that is, of course, the essence of fascism: corporate control of the government.

The sad truth is that we have done this to ourselves. That Bush and the people who support him politically and financially act without regard to any sense of decency or morality is no surprise: petty thieves and murderers like them have existed since before the dawn of human civilization and will always be with us. For whatever reasons, we have allowed them to have the power they have because our focus has been elsewhere: with our own lives and worries and not with a sense of greater community that human society demands, especially as it grows larger and more complex. That's only natural when we have lived, as we have for the last fifty years or so, in comfort and prosperity. How we deal with great success is as much an indication of our character as how we deal with adversity. Moreso, even, because adversity allows us to focus and put aside our petty differences. But even in the midst of great wealth, the struggle continues, and again, as Teddy said: At every stage, and under all circumstances, the essence of the struggle is to equalize opportunity, destroy privilege, and give to the life and citizenship of every individual the highest possible value both to himself and to the commonwealth.