Global
- Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad
Euripides (480-406 BC)
Perhaps Euripides had it right. How else to describe the strange apathy over the daily threat posed by nuclear weapons? In a recent article entitled “Apocalypse Now,” former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara states: “We are at a critical moment in history” with the main concern on nuclear weapons and proliferation of states possessing these weapons. And still there is little concern expressed by the general public. This situation is remindful of Hurricane Katrina. The warnings were clear that it was only a matter of time before a killer Hurricane of Katrina’s magnitude would strike New Orleans, and yet the action required to withstand such a storm was not taken.
It’s the same dreadful situation with nuclear weapons. Unless there is a dramatic change in the present course of events, it is only a matter of time until a missile strike carrying nuclear weapons occurs somewhere in the world. Moreover, such a cataclysmic event could soon spiral out of control, leading to a nuclear tsunami that could envelop much of the world.
Euripides (480-406 BC)
Perhaps Euripides had it right. How else to describe the strange apathy over the daily threat posed by nuclear weapons? In a recent article entitled “Apocalypse Now,” former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara states: “We are at a critical moment in history” with the main concern on nuclear weapons and proliferation of states possessing these weapons. And still there is little concern expressed by the general public. This situation is remindful of Hurricane Katrina. The warnings were clear that it was only a matter of time before a killer Hurricane of Katrina’s magnitude would strike New Orleans, and yet the action required to withstand such a storm was not taken.
It’s the same dreadful situation with nuclear weapons. Unless there is a dramatic change in the present course of events, it is only a matter of time until a missile strike carrying nuclear weapons occurs somewhere in the world. Moreover, such a cataclysmic event could soon spiral out of control, leading to a nuclear tsunami that could envelop much of the world.
Now about sex.… One school would allow us no flavor for our fare and the other would have us all on a straight pepper diet. ~Alcoholics Anonymous p. 69
I see the world in this spiritual way – way more fluid than how we’re asked to define it. I actually think there’s a whole spectrum of gender, not just men and women. In a lot of cultures, there’s not just two. But I’m glad when people take their destiny into their own hands and take actions that they think will make them happy. ~ Daniella Sea, http://www.girlfriendsmag.com/feature.html June 2006.
The love that dared not speak its name now won’t shut its mouth. ~ Spoken at a dinner party
I see the world in this spiritual way – way more fluid than how we’re asked to define it. I actually think there’s a whole spectrum of gender, not just men and women. In a lot of cultures, there’s not just two. But I’m glad when people take their destiny into their own hands and take actions that they think will make them happy. ~ Daniella Sea, http://www.girlfriendsmag.com/feature.html June 2006.
The love that dared not speak its name now won’t shut its mouth. ~ Spoken at a dinner party
Remarks at Democracy Fest, San Diego, July 15, 2006
More than any other weapons system, the chief products of the military industrial complex are lies. We just learned this week that Congress was cracking down on corruption by denying another contract to Halliburton. In reality, Halliburton has completed its main task of building five permanent bases and doesn't care as much about more contracts for services for soldiers. And, in fact, last month the Senate rejected, nearly along party lines, a bill to create honest contracting and impose penalties for fraud of the sort almost openly engaged in by Halliburton.
Lies and secrets are what the military industrial media complex sells us. We say the phrase "military industrial complex," but the lies that it hides behind permeate our thinking and dominate the politics of both major parties. Some of these lies are:
Being tough and hungry for war makes us safer.
The wars we wage have something to do with defense.
The wars we wage are fought for reasons related to foreign threats or international relations.
We wage our wars reluctantly.
More than any other weapons system, the chief products of the military industrial complex are lies. We just learned this week that Congress was cracking down on corruption by denying another contract to Halliburton. In reality, Halliburton has completed its main task of building five permanent bases and doesn't care as much about more contracts for services for soldiers. And, in fact, last month the Senate rejected, nearly along party lines, a bill to create honest contracting and impose penalties for fraud of the sort almost openly engaged in by Halliburton.
Lies and secrets are what the military industrial media complex sells us. We say the phrase "military industrial complex," but the lies that it hides behind permeate our thinking and dominate the politics of both major parties. Some of these lies are:
Being tough and hungry for war makes us safer.
The wars we wage have something to do with defense.
The wars we wage are fought for reasons related to foreign threats or international relations.
We wage our wars reluctantly.
Someone should make a video game of The Inconvenient Truth. The generation
of most game-players will inherit global warming's escalating march, and
many won't see any documentary, even an excellent one. Inconvenient Truth
is, after all, a lecture and slide show, mixed with a strong personal story,
some nice Matt Groening animation, and more humor and hope than you'd expect
from a film on the subject. We need to get everyone we can into the theater
seats, buying tickets for friends, colleagues, and neighbors, paying the way
for those on the fence to at least give it a look. I'd love to see schools
negotiate daytime matinees in normally empty weekday theaters, so their
students can attend at radically discounted prices. But some--especially
those swayed by the Bush administration's propaganda against science,
thinking, and other "reality-based" pursuits--will still find it too much of
a high-brow lecture.
"The question that remains is: Are we who want the killing to stop as committed to peace as those who are committed to war?"
Ouch, this is a devilishly tough question, unless you're content to answer it in the negative. Then, of course, no problem. A bitter grimace and a stiff drink or whatever (name your poison) will get you through the day. Watch the opinion polls plummet - Gallup this week finds two-thirds of Americans opposed to the war in Iraq - and shrug in wonder that it doesn't seem to matter, but exercise patience. When three-quarters of Americans oppose the war, then the politicians - surely the Democrats at least, surely Hillary - will lip-sync a different tune . . .
Or you can scream.
One recent e-mail correspondent, after reciting the familiar litany of insanity about this war, from the lies to the slaughter to the cynicism, signed off her letter: "Wounded to the soul."
Ouch, this is a devilishly tough question, unless you're content to answer it in the negative. Then, of course, no problem. A bitter grimace and a stiff drink or whatever (name your poison) will get you through the day. Watch the opinion polls plummet - Gallup this week finds two-thirds of Americans opposed to the war in Iraq - and shrug in wonder that it doesn't seem to matter, but exercise patience. When three-quarters of Americans oppose the war, then the politicians - surely the Democrats at least, surely Hillary - will lip-sync a different tune . . .
Or you can scream.
One recent e-mail correspondent, after reciting the familiar litany of insanity about this war, from the lies to the slaughter to the cynicism, signed off her letter: "Wounded to the soul."
Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative unit of Congress, released a report indicating that the Pentagon has been calling up reserve soldiers who are ill or medically unfit to serve. The reservists are serving primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is responsible for managing medical and physical fitness policy and procedures, the report determined that this office has no way to determine if reserve soldiers are fit to serve or have pre-existing medical conditions prior to deployment.
Consequently, the GAO found that the Pentagon couldn’t confirm to the Secretary of Defense or Congress that reserve forces are medically and physically fit when they are called to active duty. Yet under federal law reserve forces are required to have a medical exam every five years and an annual review of their medical status.
Consequently, the GAO found that the Pentagon couldn’t confirm to the Secretary of Defense or Congress that reserve forces are medically and physically fit when they are called to active duty. Yet under federal law reserve forces are required to have a medical exam every five years and an annual review of their medical status.
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline isn’t a household name yet, but he may be soon. In recent months Mr. Kline has shown that he is the type of judicial nominee that President Bush is looking for. Mr. Kline has that most valuable of assets that right-wing Republicans require of a nominee: a “conservative judicial philosophy.” In recent months he has sought to deny poor women of the right to an abortion, despite federal law to the contrary. And he supported handing out a much harsher sentence to a gay teenager who engaged in consensual sex than to heterosexual adolescents.
In August Mr. Kline filed a lawsuit against Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. The lawsuit alleges that by using Medicaid funds to provide abortions the state is depriving citizens, to include fetuses, of the right to life without due process of law. In his civil suit Mr. Kline defined conception as the beginning of life in order to bolster the argument that abortion violates an individual’s right to life. The suit claims that, “At the very moment of fertilization, a new, unique and genetically distinct human being is formed, distinct from its host while dependent upon her.”
In August Mr. Kline filed a lawsuit against Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. The lawsuit alleges that by using Medicaid funds to provide abortions the state is depriving citizens, to include fetuses, of the right to life without due process of law. In his civil suit Mr. Kline defined conception as the beginning of life in order to bolster the argument that abortion violates an individual’s right to life. The suit claims that, “At the very moment of fertilization, a new, unique and genetically distinct human being is formed, distinct from its host while dependent upon her.”
Whereas an election is the legal process by which We, the People,
transfer power to our governmental representatives; and
Whereas, current electronic voting technologies have been shown to be unreliable, insecure and unverifiable; and
Whereas, electronic voting technologies which do not include a permanent paper ballot of record provide no means to verify results reported by elections officials, through recounts or other legal means; and
Whereas, citizens are denied oversight of the software used in electronic voting and counting machines; and
Whereas, the use of proprietary (secret) software in our elections amounts to a secret vote count; and
Whereas, publicly-funded testing and certification of software and hardware of electronic voting systems is shrouded from public oversight; and
Whereas, current election procedures violate "chain of custody" laws thru the use of removable and/or remotely accessible memory cards, which now constitute the official ballot box; and,
Therefore, Be It Resolved that there is no basis for confidence in any election held under these conditions; and
Whereas, current electronic voting technologies have been shown to be unreliable, insecure and unverifiable; and
Whereas, electronic voting technologies which do not include a permanent paper ballot of record provide no means to verify results reported by elections officials, through recounts or other legal means; and
Whereas, citizens are denied oversight of the software used in electronic voting and counting machines; and
Whereas, the use of proprietary (secret) software in our elections amounts to a secret vote count; and
Whereas, publicly-funded testing and certification of software and hardware of electronic voting systems is shrouded from public oversight; and
Whereas, current election procedures violate "chain of custody" laws thru the use of removable and/or remotely accessible memory cards, which now constitute the official ballot box; and,
Therefore, Be It Resolved that there is no basis for confidence in any election held under these conditions; and
The Exit polls said he won, but the "official" tally took his victory away. His supporters found they were scrubbed off voter rolls. Violence and intimidation kept even more of his voters away from the polls. Hundreds of thousands of ballots supposedly showed no choice for president -- like ballots with hanging chads.
And the officials in charge of this suspect election refused to re-count those votes in public. Everyone knew full well a fair count would certainly change the outcome.
You've heard this story before: Gore 2000. Kerry 2004.
But Lopez Obrador 2006 is made out of very different stuff than the scarecrow candidates who, oddly, call themselves "Democrats."
For six years now, I've had this crazy fantasy in my head. In it, an election is stolen and the guy who's declared the loser stands up in front of the White House and says three magic words: "Count the votes."
And the officials in charge of this suspect election refused to re-count those votes in public. Everyone knew full well a fair count would certainly change the outcome.
You've heard this story before: Gore 2000. Kerry 2004.
But Lopez Obrador 2006 is made out of very different stuff than the scarecrow candidates who, oddly, call themselves "Democrats."
For six years now, I've had this crazy fantasy in my head. In it, an election is stolen and the guy who's declared the loser stands up in front of the White House and says three magic words: "Count the votes."