Read this article that lists several great links that report on what our government is up to.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Just Say No
I remember Nancy Reagan's famous words when she touted her cure for the millions of Americans using illegal drugs: "Just Say No".
Now, it seems the current administration is so convinced that Nancy's strategy worked they're willing to give it another try, except this time it's for everyone else who is practicing the "illegal" act of sex.
Backing off from teaching safe sex and the use of condoms if individuals wish to continue to have sex, this administration is saying we shouldn't be having it at all, unless we're married of course.
Not withstanding the mounting difficulties of getting birth control pills filled at the local pharmacy (see previous post), and the continued underfunding of Planned Parenthood, this administration is taking a hard stand against what they deem as immoral sexual practices. Unfortunately, they miss the issue of public health altogether.
Forget the risk for increases in the spread of communicable diseases and unwanted pregnancies, we should all just listen to the words of Nancy and simply say no to sex.
Who knows, they might even decide to pass the "Condom Stamp Act" making it illegal to manufacture condoms or any contraceptive without the permission of the federal government.
Now, it seems the current administration is so convinced that Nancy's strategy worked they're willing to give it another try, except this time it's for everyone else who is practicing the "illegal" act of sex.
Backing off from teaching safe sex and the use of condoms if individuals wish to continue to have sex, this administration is saying we shouldn't be having it at all, unless we're married of course.
Not withstanding the mounting difficulties of getting birth control pills filled at the local pharmacy (see previous post), and the continued underfunding of Planned Parenthood, this administration is taking a hard stand against what they deem as immoral sexual practices. Unfortunately, they miss the issue of public health altogether.
Forget the risk for increases in the spread of communicable diseases and unwanted pregnancies, we should all just listen to the words of Nancy and simply say no to sex.
Who knows, they might even decide to pass the "Condom Stamp Act" making it illegal to manufacture condoms or any contraceptive without the permission of the federal government.
A Troubling Picture: Past & Present Election Maps
Has our electorate really changed since the pre-civil war days?
It seems that this could be open to some additional debate.
It is entirely possible that our nation has come full circle yet again to those days of that once divided nation, and we are in peril of repeating the bloodiest episode of our nation's history.
The real difference this time is that our President is a southerner, and not from Illinois, so it would be the north that would cede from the southern states, or "Jesusland" as some have coined it.
It seems that this could be open to some additional debate.
It is entirely possible that our nation has come full circle yet again to those days of that once divided nation, and we are in peril of repeating the bloodiest episode of our nation's history.
The real difference this time is that our President is a southerner, and not from Illinois, so it would be the north that would cede from the southern states, or "Jesusland" as some have coined it.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Don't Give Up Website
"WE DO NOT CONCEDE Coalition urges you to continue to help get the word out - we are making a difference! Unite in your communities, protest in numbers, deliver petitions to your elected officials. Let your friends, family, email lists, and groups know about this growing coalition of concerned Americans who are questioning the results of the 2004 election. Write letters to the editor urging members of your community to NOT CONCEDE their votes. We must all do what we can to help get this issue out front and center in our communities! Check back here for continued updates and be prepared to take ACTION!"
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Hornets Nest in Fallujah
From all the accounts of rapid success in Fallujah, this is striking evidence that things aren't quite going as well as planned over there.
While numbers of the military dead are reaching the mainstream news, there hasn't been anything mentioned about our soldiers who have been seriously wounded in the operation (see link). Our temporary victory is a costly one. And as Fallujah continues to rage, other battles are being fought across Iraq, including bold new clashes throughout the city streets Baghdad, Mosul and elsewhere.
So while the small Shiite city may succumb to US pressure for the time being, it will certainly revert back to lawlessness, time and time again.
In a very real sense, we are the insurgents.
While numbers of the military dead are reaching the mainstream news, there hasn't been anything mentioned about our soldiers who have been seriously wounded in the operation (see link). Our temporary victory is a costly one. And as Fallujah continues to rage, other battles are being fought across Iraq, including bold new clashes throughout the city streets Baghdad, Mosul and elsewhere.
So while the small Shiite city may succumb to US pressure for the time being, it will certainly revert back to lawlessness, time and time again.
In a very real sense, we are the insurgents.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
November's Bitter Pill
What will happen in the next four year's with the Bush factor at the helm of American politics?
I was just considering this recently as a friend of mine had asked me last night when I stumbled upon one of my older blogs. The frightening thing is that parts of that post are already ringing true as the reference to the Artic National Wildlife piece shows.
Upon further reflection though, there are probably a few things I may have left out, or overlooked. November's bitter pill is more than just something hard to swallow for us anymore. Worldwide attention to the U.S. election has never been so great, indicating the true impact this presidency has had in the last four years, not only in this country, but in virtually every corner of the globe.
Other developing countries, especially emerging democracies in eastern Europe see our election as justification for rigging their own. Sure you can call it a democracy, but it certainly doesn't look like one. The once pristine image of American Democracy is fading in the eyes of the world and people are understanding that you can still rig elections to maintain power.
The divided EU, whose economy and currency continue to gain momentum since November, will tear at the heart of the NATO alliance, and between eastern and western Europe. The imperial nations of the past can once again resume their colonial land-grabs in developing countries rich in natural resources. Tension across the Atlantic will only continue to weaken the U.S. as Europe will be seen as the more stable bet worldwide.
Powell's resignation signals a more conservative direction for American interests worldwide. Make no mistake, Condi Rice will be what Colin could never be; George W.'s yes man, or woman. This pattern of replacing moderate conservatives throughout the administration will just further divide our nation and those whom we come into contact with in the next four years.
This leaves just two possible scenarios for the international community. Complete subordination, or a combined resilient response to our contempt of the modern global community.
American's could soon be tried for War Crimes by an international court. "In recent months, there have been other indications that the international community is taking a harder line toward U.S. behavior.
At last July's Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, a resolution was passed condemning the use of torture in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism. The assembly called on all participating states to follow international commitments laid out in the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture.
Around the same time, the UN Security Council refused to extend the exemption from prosecution in the International Criminal Court for U.S. forces. Previously, U.S. forces were left exempt from prosecution in any UN-authorized mission. But after the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, the UN Security Council let the exemption lapse, despite heavy lobbying by the United States.
Also in July, the International Court of Justice ruled that the wall being built by Israel and supported by the U.S. violates international law because it cuts into Palestinian land as determined by the 1967 borders between Israel and Palestine.
Perhaps seeking to capitalize on the momentum of the ICJ ruling on the Israeli wall, a group of 41 British members of parliament sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 20, asking him to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on whether the war on Iraq was legal.
Hungary, Poland, and even England are beginning to turn away from us. Not just in terms of military support but also politically. The United States will continue to erode its respect to the rest of the world and stand even more isolated.
This general anti-American feeling will continue to spread into the commercial markets eventually lowering the dollar with respect the the Yen and Euro making it more difficult to repay even the interest on our national debt. The significance of this effect on the stock market could only be replaced with the privatization of Social Security.
But I wouldn't expect the EU to be very divided for long. Eastern-block nations will quickly seek to align themselves with their stronger neighbors politically. In fact, I would suspect that virtually the only nation to continue its full-support of US foreign policy would be Israel.
"Exactly how international relations will play out over the next four years may not be easy to predict. But it is clear that many nations won't tolerate what many consider the continued lawlessness of the United States. "
I was just considering this recently as a friend of mine had asked me last night when I stumbled upon one of my older blogs. The frightening thing is that parts of that post are already ringing true as the reference to the Artic National Wildlife piece shows.
Upon further reflection though, there are probably a few things I may have left out, or overlooked. November's bitter pill is more than just something hard to swallow for us anymore. Worldwide attention to the U.S. election has never been so great, indicating the true impact this presidency has had in the last four years, not only in this country, but in virtually every corner of the globe.
Other developing countries, especially emerging democracies in eastern Europe see our election as justification for rigging their own. Sure you can call it a democracy, but it certainly doesn't look like one. The once pristine image of American Democracy is fading in the eyes of the world and people are understanding that you can still rig elections to maintain power.
The divided EU, whose economy and currency continue to gain momentum since November, will tear at the heart of the NATO alliance, and between eastern and western Europe. The imperial nations of the past can once again resume their colonial land-grabs in developing countries rich in natural resources. Tension across the Atlantic will only continue to weaken the U.S. as Europe will be seen as the more stable bet worldwide.
Powell's resignation signals a more conservative direction for American interests worldwide. Make no mistake, Condi Rice will be what Colin could never be; George W.'s yes man, or woman. This pattern of replacing moderate conservatives throughout the administration will just further divide our nation and those whom we come into contact with in the next four years.
This leaves just two possible scenarios for the international community. Complete subordination, or a combined resilient response to our contempt of the modern global community.
American's could soon be tried for War Crimes by an international court. "In recent months, there have been other indications that the international community is taking a harder line toward U.S. behavior.
At last July's Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, a resolution was passed condemning the use of torture in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism. The assembly called on all participating states to follow international commitments laid out in the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture.
Around the same time, the UN Security Council refused to extend the exemption from prosecution in the International Criminal Court for U.S. forces. Previously, U.S. forces were left exempt from prosecution in any UN-authorized mission. But after the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, the UN Security Council let the exemption lapse, despite heavy lobbying by the United States.
Also in July, the International Court of Justice ruled that the wall being built by Israel and supported by the U.S. violates international law because it cuts into Palestinian land as determined by the 1967 borders between Israel and Palestine.
Perhaps seeking to capitalize on the momentum of the ICJ ruling on the Israeli wall, a group of 41 British members of parliament sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 20, asking him to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on whether the war on Iraq was legal.
Hungary, Poland, and even England are beginning to turn away from us. Not just in terms of military support but also politically. The United States will continue to erode its respect to the rest of the world and stand even more isolated.
This general anti-American feeling will continue to spread into the commercial markets eventually lowering the dollar with respect the the Yen and Euro making it more difficult to repay even the interest on our national debt. The significance of this effect on the stock market could only be replaced with the privatization of Social Security.
But I wouldn't expect the EU to be very divided for long. Eastern-block nations will quickly seek to align themselves with their stronger neighbors politically. In fact, I would suspect that virtually the only nation to continue its full-support of US foreign policy would be Israel.
"Exactly how international relations will play out over the next four years may not be easy to predict. But it is clear that many nations won't tolerate what many consider the continued lawlessness of the United States. "
Friday, November 12, 2004
Cartographic Election Map Shows a Different Picture
Maps and cartograms of the 2004 US presidential election results as created by Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman University of Michigan.
Alaska: On The Chopping Block Again
Pity we have to destroy what's left of our pristine world to make way for progress. Looks like the animals are on their own this time.
The Coalition of the Willing: To Die
Here's a great idea to increase the combat readiness of our military. Instead of inviting other countries to join our "Coalition of the Willing", we can outsource the job to poor people all over the world. Those eager enough to become Americans can by proving that they're willing to die for it.
The actual numbers of foreign enlistees are probably quite small now, but I would bet this portion will certainly grow given the difficulties with Homeland recruiting efforts.
Have to admit, it's pretty tough of us to let other people die for our problems. If we're really lucky, this process of training and supplying foreigners in the US military might create another Manuel Noriega, sinking the world further into chaos.
Last I heard, the School of the Americas was still open for business. Here's some interesting information about the US Army School of Americas (SOA). Based in Fort Benning, Georgia, this large base trains Latin American soldiers in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. SOA graduates are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Among the SOA's nearly 60,000 graduates are notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia. Lower-level SOA graduates have participated in human rights abuses that include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the El Mozote Massacre of 900 civilians.
I can just picture a graduation day ceremony where the commander addresses his class saying, "now the time has come for you to go back to your countries and fight for this country."
You can bet, we're doing our part to grease the wheel.
The actual numbers of foreign enlistees are probably quite small now, but I would bet this portion will certainly grow given the difficulties with Homeland recruiting efforts.
Have to admit, it's pretty tough of us to let other people die for our problems. If we're really lucky, this process of training and supplying foreigners in the US military might create another Manuel Noriega, sinking the world further into chaos.
Last I heard, the School of the Americas was still open for business. Here's some interesting information about the US Army School of Americas (SOA). Based in Fort Benning, Georgia, this large base trains Latin American soldiers in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. SOA graduates are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Among the SOA's nearly 60,000 graduates are notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia. Lower-level SOA graduates have participated in human rights abuses that include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the El Mozote Massacre of 900 civilians.
I can just picture a graduation day ceremony where the commander addresses his class saying, "now the time has come for you to go back to your countries and fight for this country."
You can bet, we're doing our part to grease the wheel.
No Child Left Alive Act
This article about the governments new ability to comb through the private information of secondary students as authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act not only subverts the whole intent and purpose of this bill, but it also sheds some light on the continuing problems of getting people to participate in this pre-emptive military action.
I served for 6 years in the USAR, having enlisted during the First Gulf War. A part of me was simply needing some money to complete college, but there was also a part of me that wanted to serve my country. At one time, I had pondered the idea of serving as an officer. Another time, I was also considering returning to the Reserves, mainly to do what I had been doing in my previous term, which was office work for the commander.
In retrospect, there were probably two main reasons that kept me from continuing my service.
Number one, it was too divided on a cultural level. White people were mainly non-inclusive, and generally displayed militaristic/aggressive characteristics. African Americans and Latinos, who comprised half of the divisions roster, wanted nothing to do with the majority of white people because of this, kept to themselves, and simply waited for the end of the weekend. Surprisingly, or not, I felt it was the latter group who were generally more equipped to serve effectively if the need should arise to activate our unit.
The mess hall was split right down the center during chow, with whites on one side and everyone else on the other. This always made it hard for me to know where I was going to eat being a white-ish outsider recently coming from another country. It wasn't until a year or so had passed that I felt comfortable enough to sit with anyone I chose, but it always amazed me that while we live in a free country, there is still such a long way for our nation to come. Evidentially even though the "Whites Only" sign came down, there are plenty of people who still live as if it where hanging right there in plain sight above the chow hall doors.
We were generally not prepared to serve. I have to admit, when signing my name on that dotted line there was a moment of fear. My life was now in the governments hands. What if they called me up and I had to go fight for my country? Would I ever make it back to the rest of my life? No one can ever know the answer to questions like that, and neither could our government, but when my drill instructor confidently told us that this is the best military in the world, I wasn't convinced.
The other privates around me, could hardly read and write let alone keep cadence. Shit, half of them were scared out of their minds just being in basic training. I felt slightly depressed knowing that my unit wasn't more like the ones I had grown up watching on TV and that this small snapshot taken at bootcamp was more common throughout the military.
In the reserves, equipment shortages were frequent, and training, especially combat, was minimal. At one point, our company was given an on-the-spot drug test, but 60 percent failed, so they just threw everything away. Two years later, it was disbanded under Clinton.
So when the time came to re-up, I decided to play it safe. Figuring that, in the event of a real war, this was too serious a combination to be comfortable betting my life upon.
Back to the beginning. Coming to finish off my secondary education in the US, I was excited to see how patriotic and energized most of the students were there. It was an urban middle/working class district where a large percentage of young men would volunteer. General Douglas McAurthur grew up in this neighborhood. When I came to live there, my dad made sure to drive me by his house showing where he used to live before West Point and before WWII.
The high school quarterback went off into the Army. Most of the wrestling team joined the marines, and virtually half of the guys, it seemed, had already completed basic training by their senior year, or were getting ready to go as soon as graduation day passed.
It has been more than ten years since then, and I suspect things aren't the same back there now. Neither is this country.
I served for 6 years in the USAR, having enlisted during the First Gulf War. A part of me was simply needing some money to complete college, but there was also a part of me that wanted to serve my country. At one time, I had pondered the idea of serving as an officer. Another time, I was also considering returning to the Reserves, mainly to do what I had been doing in my previous term, which was office work for the commander.
In retrospect, there were probably two main reasons that kept me from continuing my service.
Number one, it was too divided on a cultural level. White people were mainly non-inclusive, and generally displayed militaristic/aggressive characteristics. African Americans and Latinos, who comprised half of the divisions roster, wanted nothing to do with the majority of white people because of this, kept to themselves, and simply waited for the end of the weekend. Surprisingly, or not, I felt it was the latter group who were generally more equipped to serve effectively if the need should arise to activate our unit.
The mess hall was split right down the center during chow, with whites on one side and everyone else on the other. This always made it hard for me to know where I was going to eat being a white-ish outsider recently coming from another country. It wasn't until a year or so had passed that I felt comfortable enough to sit with anyone I chose, but it always amazed me that while we live in a free country, there is still such a long way for our nation to come. Evidentially even though the "Whites Only" sign came down, there are plenty of people who still live as if it where hanging right there in plain sight above the chow hall doors.
We were generally not prepared to serve. I have to admit, when signing my name on that dotted line there was a moment of fear. My life was now in the governments hands. What if they called me up and I had to go fight for my country? Would I ever make it back to the rest of my life? No one can ever know the answer to questions like that, and neither could our government, but when my drill instructor confidently told us that this is the best military in the world, I wasn't convinced.
The other privates around me, could hardly read and write let alone keep cadence. Shit, half of them were scared out of their minds just being in basic training. I felt slightly depressed knowing that my unit wasn't more like the ones I had grown up watching on TV and that this small snapshot taken at bootcamp was more common throughout the military.
In the reserves, equipment shortages were frequent, and training, especially combat, was minimal. At one point, our company was given an on-the-spot drug test, but 60 percent failed, so they just threw everything away. Two years later, it was disbanded under Clinton.
So when the time came to re-up, I decided to play it safe. Figuring that, in the event of a real war, this was too serious a combination to be comfortable betting my life upon.
Back to the beginning. Coming to finish off my secondary education in the US, I was excited to see how patriotic and energized most of the students were there. It was an urban middle/working class district where a large percentage of young men would volunteer. General Douglas McAurthur grew up in this neighborhood. When I came to live there, my dad made sure to drive me by his house showing where he used to live before West Point and before WWII.
The high school quarterback went off into the Army. Most of the wrestling team joined the marines, and virtually half of the guys, it seemed, had already completed basic training by their senior year, or were getting ready to go as soon as graduation day passed.
It has been more than ten years since then, and I suspect things aren't the same back there now. Neither is this country.
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