Wake Up? Nah

Now that I finally am done with Reed College, I turn back to writing blogs that no one reads.

I feel it would be prudent to state my current political status here. I did not vote in the last local election, mainly because I was out of town and did not bring the ballot with me. Also, it was not the foremost thing on my mind.

Recently I have been told about a number of supposed proofs that the buildings that collapsed on 9/11 were imploded by explosives that the government or the owners of the buildings had placed there in order to prevent those buildings from toppling sideways and causing more catastrophic damage. The question remains as to whether these explosives were set off on purpose or accidentally in the main buildings. It seems to me that the planes could have triggered a chain reaction of those charges going off. Of course, allowing the terrorists to attack us seems like it would have been enough to justify a war, without imploding the buildings.

I'm just now at the beginning of considering all this, and frankly, I just don't see how it really matters. Especially this semester after studying the rise of the Roman Empire, specifically the emperor Augustus, I just don't see how what is going on today with America is really that different. We have a leader who has tons of secret meetings with a core group of his staff, and they basically decide what they want to do, and then use misinformation that they give to Congress to cause them to vote for war powers etc.

Congress essentially made Bush an emperor with a term limit. In all the press conferences I've watched, Bush appears to have the attitude that he can do whatever he wants because hey -- he's president. I do think that he is careful to always leave some stones unturned, some issues left unpressed -- such as Qwest -- so that he appears not to be a total Nazi. Also, thankfully, the US is not nearly as dominant a world power as Rome was in its day; there are lots of things to keep us in check.

Yet I return to the point: America is like the new Rome in many ways. Sure, we lack outright slavery, and things are really good economically and socially for many people. This is why there is no revolution at the moment. All of the people you hear calling Bush a war criminal and saying that we need to pull out of Iraq -- what do they do? They go to work, pay their taxes, and occasionally protest.

However there is not any kind of organized resistance within America to the US government. Surely if there had been a Fallujah-type incident (or incidents, as it were) here at home, perpetrated by the US govt., then we would probably have a coup on our hands. Yet if our government does this type of attrocity to human beings in another country, to a city in another land, then we don't hear about it, we don't think about it, we do nothing about it.

Further, if there was to be any type of real attempt to overthrow the Bush administration, we all know what would happen. Those involved would be called "terrorists," which would then justify their being "disappeared" or otherwise dealt with in an injust way. You see, the Patriot Act essentially is the best type of defense a government could possibly have against a revolution. With such powers, a corrupt government could rise to power and then have the legal means to defend its perch upon the White House. That place is damn near a fortress at this point.

On the development of the White House as a fortress, and the relationship between that and the plane that took off on 9/11/1994 and attempted to crash into the White House:
http://prop1.org/clues/

On the 9/11/2001 building demolitions and other information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories#7_World_Trade_Center

They call all of these "conspiracy theories." However, I do not think that is what they need to be called. Rather, it is all attempts to explain things that led to the stupidest war in history. Things that were led to justify the election and war powers of the stupidest president in history. George W. Bush is the man who benefited most from 9/11, of anyone. Why? I don't see the need for a conspiracy theory.

Still, does it really matter? Is it any surprise that the world's "only superpower" should do whatever it feels like? Is it any surprise that there is a military-industrial complex and that we would invade an oil-rich country and give billions in oil-field equipment contracts to our own companies, rebuilding them before even fixing the water or electricity in Baghdad? Read some Roman history and it won't be much of a surprise to find that the way the Romans dealt with their colonies and provinces is not dissimilar to the way in which the USA deals with Iraq and other nations.

It's all so sickening it has, I feel, forced me and many people who actually *cared* at one point into a sort of coma, a malaise. After the electronic voting machines put Bush back in power (www.blackboxvoting.org), it was as if all our votes didn't even count. Yet did the people of Ohio up? Did the people of Florida rise up after the 2000 election? No, because we all know there is NOTHING WE CAN FUCKING DO ABOUT IT. What are you going to do about it? Hahaha.

Sigh.

Tired of Talking Points

I'm sick of Republican talking points. Which ones? All of them, really, but there are a few that have really stuck in my craw lately.

One of them is, "Liberals/Democrats can only criticize Conservatives/Republicans but aren't putting forward any goals of their own, and the only ones that they would put forward, they know would never garner them any votes."

So here are some policy goals:

1) Reform the voting system to eliminate long lines at the booth.

2) Require mandatory voting for all Social Security Card holders (i.e. all US citizens).

3) Pull out all troops from Iraq/Afghanistan and station them along the US border with Mexico.

4) Raise teacher salaries to $60k/year minimum and require a graduate degree.

5) Constitutionalize a woman's right to choose.

6) End all Geneva Convention violations by the US military.

7) Declare peace with militant Islamism on the condition that we will no longer interfere with their countries if they no longer attack us either.

8) End all foreign aid to Israel because it incites militant Islamists to target us. Let them handle their own problems.

-JSG

Renn Fayre is upon us, for those of you who knows what that means. I haven’t written in this blog in forever, perhaps because I grew so tired of only writing about politics and that’s it. I don’t know really. I can tell you, however, that I have been having some computer problems as well that have interfered with my writing—namely, my computer is on the fritz but I can’t afford a new laptop nor to get this one fixed, if you know what I mean. So I’m just hobbling along for now.

A day of Republican idiocy

It's important to remember not only how evil Republicans are, but how stupid they are as well. So here are just a few items from Wednesday:

President Bush, speaking about the potential of Hezbollah, or "Party of God," a Muslim politial party, (which the administration defines as a terrorist organization), running for office in Lebanon: "I like the idea of people running for office, a positive effect when you run for office, you know? Maybe some will run for office, say, 'Vote for me, I look forward to blowing up america.' I don't know. I don't know if that'll be their platform or not. But it's -- I don't think so."

Wow, what a brilliant political commentary, Mr. Bush. He also told the White House press corps, when asked about the Iraqi assembly not having appointed a President or new Prime Minister yet: "I read about that -- occasionally reading, I want you to know, in the second term -- that -- your stories, that is -- that you know they haven't formed a government yet." LOL! So now, in his second term, Mr. Bush has started actually reading the newspaper? In order not only to know what is going on, but also, to know what the press also knows?

Yet still in Iraq, the NY Times reported Thursday, an Iraqi "recited a littany of problems: water, sewage, electricity, street repair." Yes, but the oil fields are in good operating condition, so what does it matter, right? Of course the oil REFINERIES that would provide Iraqi citizens with heating and automotive fuel are out of commission still. But the facilities to EXPORT oil to the good ol' USA are in fine condition.

In other news, further encroaching on civil liberties, so-called "conservatives" in Michigan have passed a new constitutional ammendment that denies same-sex couples the right to be considered "civil unions" and denies them the ability to be considered as a couple in labor, retirement, medical issues, etc. So basically they are denying these law-abiding citizens basic services simply because they both have matching genetalia. And where in the Bible does it say that such a law should be passed? Someone please tell me...

But it just gets worse. The Senate voted 50-50 to protect the Bush tax cuts that are adding so much to the Federal deficit. "I just don't understand how we can continue to go this way. We're living in a dream world. This deficit continues to grow," said an actually conservative Republican, Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, quoted in the NY Times Thursday.

Yes, Bush's tax cuts include $100 billion in cuts in capital gains and dividend taxes, which most of my readers would never have even heard of because yes, they only apply to rich people with lots of money invested in various areas. Meanwhile I owe about $1000 in my personal taxes this year, even though I only made $20,000 last year. Go figure!

"Our Republican colleagues, who used to be fiscally conservative, have now become borrow-and-spend advocates. They have no intention of doing anything about these budget deficits except add to them," said Mr. Voinovich.

Oh and there was much more crap that went down this day, but I don't even have time to write about it all, because I have to go back to my shit job (I'm on my lunch break right now) making below what is considered acceptable living wages for my county.

JSG

republicans are evil

Just as further evidence that all Republicans are evil, greedy bastards, Republicans have finally come close to passing a bill that would limit peoples' ability to declare bankruptcy.

Of course, who was the source of this bill? Why, the credit card companies, of course, whose $30 billion of profits last year was apparently not enough. No, they need even more ways to fuck consumers up the ass. And Republicans are more than happy to put laws into effect that will force consumers to bend over and take it, whether they like it or not.

Yes, lets prey on the poor, the weak, the irresponsible, the poorly educated. Lets prey on them to the profit of big corporations. Bravo, I applaud your disugusting hypocrisy and evil morals, o Republicans. I hope you're proud of the fact that $40 million in lobbying by corporations like Citicorp, MBNA America, MasterCard, and Visa has resulted in your latest idiot law.

Of course, it's no problem for Republicans to run the federal government into huge deficits every year, but that's another issue.

JSG

PBS facing troubles

The Thursday NY Times reports that newly appointed managers of PBS are pressuring the network due to what the perceive as its "liberal bias". The story quoted Tim Graham of the Media Research Center, "a conservative watchdog group", as saying, "Conservatives do not want to give more tax dollars to television stations that attack their ideas."

Worse, PBS plans on dismantling its analog TV broadcasting capabilities in order to switch to an all-digital, HD, cable/satellite-based system. The former public airwaves that it occupied will be auctioned off by the government to the tune of billions of dollars.

I'm highly offended by both of these points. First of all, PBS is a totally public-owned and public-supported system; the programming on it is protected by the First Ammendment and therefore, no government agent should have the ability to restrict or compromise its programming based on any perceived political bias. Conservatives have every right to push for the inclusion of programming on PBS that reflects their views, just as liberals have the same right. However, just because something like the Buster the Rabbit show has a lesbian couple on it, which could be offensive to some people, does not mean that it should not be included. The very idea that such an uproar as Bustergate occurred, proves that we live in a very dark era indeed.

Second of all, I am apalled that PBS would give up its rights to the public airwaves. With such a change, impoverished families that cannot afford cable/satellite TV will no longer get Sesame Street or any of the other educational programming PBS has to offer. It will clearly change the demographic to which PBS is available, to those who can afford expensive and frivolous TV bills every month. Of course, this change will even further change the support base that PBS enjoys, probably resulting with conservatives taking further control of the network.

Frankly I'm sick and tired of seeing every form of media in this country be affected by the conservative mentality. It's really disgusting. First, it was CNN changing its webpage to the red-white-and-blue color scheme after 9/11. Then it was Fox News becoming ultra-conservative to pander to that market. Of course there are some media outlets which have not bowed completely to the "Republican-ization" of everything, but even Jay Leno wears the stupid little "flag-pin" on his jacket.

Anyone that read flag etiquette books from the 1950s would know that the US flag should only fly free from the top of a pole, and it should never be fixed as a one-sided decal, unable to flap free in the breeze, forever locked in an artificial plastic pose. It should never be affixed to a vehicle or sports uniform as a static decal. It should only fly free, and not be used for partisan goals, but to represent the freedom from forced party participation that makes our nation what it is. I hate to see the flag become just another cog in the great polarizing machine the Republicans are forcing on our society.

JSG

CampFireUSA

I'm at CampFire USA's afterschool program now at a local middle school here in Portland, teaching some kids how to do blogging. Some of em are more interested than others but anyway, that's kids for ya.

JSG