Something just occurred to me

Is "radical conservative" an oxymoron?

Even so, how else would you describe them?

Thank you, Gen. Powell.

I heard yesterday that Colin Powell, a Repubulican, does not support the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the UN.

I have a deep respect for Mr. Powell; As Secretary of State, he was a relatively moderate voice and had diplomacy down pat. Granted, his schtick about weapons of mass destruction was just plain wrong, but hey, lots of people believed the lies.

As time wore on, I think he was relegated to "token black" in the presidential cabinet; I find it interesting that Condoleezza Rice, another African American replaced him.

Since his resignation, he seems to have found his voice. I'm sure that there are lots of rightwingnuts out there who will say that he's just bitter about not getting his way, but I'm not convinced.

Matt Sandwich has quoted an article in the Washington Post, which reminded me that I'd heard about Powell's opposition of Bolton.

It seems that Two GOP senators called Powell for information on Bolton. The WaPo article says this:

"General Powell has returned calls from senators who wanted to discuss specific questions that have been raised," said Margaret Cifrino, a Powell spokeswoman. "He has not reached out to senators," and considers the discussions private.

General Powell did not sign a letter from seven other former U.S. secretaries of state or defense supporting Bolton.

Class act, that man.

More personal info.

To my select readers--all 5 of you!--The time has come to let you know that I have finally obtained gainful (if underpaid) employment) in Yosemite National Park.

I'm leaving Rhode Island in a little over two weeks, and I've been busy packing my stuff for storage while I'm gone.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with all the news in order to provide my perspective on current events, but once I' there, I hope to use my 'l337 social engineering skills to obtain wifi access to post.

I grew up in California, and hold some very dear memories of Yosemite. It was one of the few places that enchanted me as a child, where I have good memories of my mother, and it's been calling me back for a few months.

The job is pretty up in the air right now. I don't even know what I will be doing once I get there. It could be as a maid at the Ahwahnee lodge, or the Yosemite lodge. I could be cleaning stables, or slinging hash in a High Sierra camp.

My blog will not become a worker's rant. If I post, I promise I will not delve into the horrors of working for the park's concessionaires. I will try not to become a travelogue, either. There's plenty of information on the beauty of Yosemite out there already.

Wish me luck, gentle readers. This is an adventure.

Jean Dudley.

Mark this day on your calendar!

In my last entry, I wrote that Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, joined the Hitler Youth before it became compulsory. I was wrong.

There's a very good article that refutes the London Times article here.

Mea culpa.

Former Youth for Hitler elected Pope.

Well, that was quick. They went with the white guy, but get this--he used to be a Youth for Hitler. Apparently he joined when he was 14, the year before it became compulsory. Supposedly his membership was short and not enthusiastic. His father was anti-Nazi Now, I'm all for believing people can change, and forgiveness and all, but this just sticks in my craw. He's also 78 years old.

Further, he's the head of the leader of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, the Inquisition's latest incarnation. He's also a stern conservative, speaking out against Asian priests who held that Non-Christian faiths were part of God's plan for humanity.

Looks like we're in for a bumpy ride, folks.

"Drinking the Kool-aid"

I've been seeing the phrase "drinking the kool-aid" a lot recently in the left hemisphere of the blogosphere. It's used to refer to those in the Republican Party who seem to be going along with the Neo-Con leadership and against the time-honored values of the Right.

For those who are too young to remember, the phrase has its origins in a terrible tragedy of the late 70's.

Jim Jones was a charismatic man, a self-styled prophet and messiah figure. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, Buddha, even God. He began in San Francisco, but moved his "People's Temple" to an enclave in Guyana, where he was the autocrat who had full control over the lives of the 900+ members. Every aspect of their lives was controlled; He even drew a particularly tragic page from history (Massada), and practiced "white nights" where the entire population would drill for mass suicide by drinking small cups of red liquid at his bidding.

Everything came to a head when a US Congressman went to Jonestown in Guyana to investigate allegations of human rights violations. Jones Would not let him in the compound until after dark. The Congressman Ryan managed to take out 16 members who wanted to leave, and among them was a mole who opened fire at the airstrip as they were about to leave.

At that time, Jim Jones put into motion the actual mass suicide that he had rehearsed for all those years. The final "white night" was November 18, 1978. Over 900 members lined up and drank the cyanide-laced grape kool-aid drink, mothers giving it to their babies first, and then drinking it themselves.

Jones was shot by his own guards.

Listen to NPR's "Remembering Jonestown", an audio file on the story of Jonestown. Requires Real Audio.

Passport blues; It's amazing what you learn when you read the papers.

It's amazing what you learn when you read newspapers. F'rex, take George Bush. (Insert Rodney Dangerfield joke here). According to this Reuters article, he learned that his own administration is going to require passports to travel back from Mexico and Canada by reading a newspaper.

Um, how can he not know about this?

WASHINGTON, April 14 - President Bush said Thursday that he had been surprised to learn in the newspaper of his administration's decision last week to require Americans to have passports to enter the country from Mexico or Canada by 2008. He said he had asked the State and Homeland Security Departments to look into other means of tightening border security.

At least, he's showing some common sense in opposing it.

Something's weird about the whole passport issue. Next year they will begin issuing passports with Radio Frequency ID chips, (RFID for short). Your name, date of birth, and a digitized copy of your image will be transmited by these little beacons, but it seems to me that unless they're encrypted 6 ways to Sunday, anybody with a hand-held receiver will be able to find the Stupid, Ugly American in a crowd. There seems to be some debate over how far away these chips can send info, but it ranges from about 4" (10 centimeters) to about a yard (1 meter).

What's really stupid is that they refuse to use contact-read devices--like the magnetic strips on your ATM, Debit and Credit Cards. Same information, but a hell of a lot more secure. And they aren't beacons advertising the exact location of your passport.

For a good source of information, I recommend this article in Freedom to Tinker.


Via BoingBoing.

BTW, get your passport now before they begin putting RFID chips in them. They cost about $100 for a first time issue, not including the cost of getting your picture taken. They are good for 10 years. When they are renewed, they give you your old one back after updating the expiration. At least now, they do. This means that a passport issued without an RFID chip will not be replaced with a new one with the chip.

Wal-Mart is ripe for unionization--let's hope the union actually does something for the workers.

I'm still a bit leery of unions. Not because I think they're socialist in nature, but because as with lots of large groups of formerly-oppressed people, they all too often become oppressive themselves. However, some corporations are ripe for an organized backlash from it's workers.

Take for example Wal-mart. They've been showing up an aweful lot on my blog roll these days. What prompted me to write about them today was this article from those good folks over at Think Progress.

Unions often are ham-fisted in their approach, and, I think, ripe for sleeping with the enemy. Far too often, stewards are buddy-buddy with management, and as a result, the people they are supposed to represent are left in the cold.

I will be working for a union this summer for the first time in my life. Watch this space for more information.

Sometimes synchronicity happens

I'm not sure why, but I was wondering just who the first women in Congress were this morning. I can't remember the train of thought that led to that question. It flashed in my brain, and I made a mental note to do some research later--one of the millions of research topics filed in some inaccessable corner of my mind. I rarely ever find that list again when I am bored and have access to teh internets.

Then synchronicity happened. I stumbled across a name referenced somewhere; Jeanette Rankin.

Daily Kos quotes a WSJ article about Brian Sweitzer:

Red, blue or purple--color-coding Montana's patterns of voting is just too simplistic, and [Montana Democratic Governor] Brian Schweitzer fits the non-conformist mold to a T. A prosperous farmer/rancher from the area of Whitefish in the tony Flathead Valley country, Mr. Schweitzer cultivates a well-spoken, gun-owning, dog-loving, native-ritual-doing, shot-of-whiskey-drinking true-west style somewhere between that of Jeanette Rankin (a famously antiwar liberal Republican elected to the U.S. Congress before women's suffrage was passed) and Mike Mansfield (the conservative Democrat senator and former ambassador to Japan whose voting record, taken as a whole, was more liberal than that of George McGovern)

Whoa, hold up a second! She was elected to the House of Representatives before women were even allowed to vote? But wait! There's more!

Miss Rankin (I'm adhering to period forms of salutations here; She would not have used "Ms." in her time frame, and may not have approved of it.) was a Republican, albeit she advocated for programs that would have been called Socialist today.

Take, for example, the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act of 1921. In an era when women were giving birth in their homes with the assistance of female neighbors in some cases, or if they were lucky with the assistance of a skilled midwife, infant mortality rates were high. Jeanette Rankin advocated for public funding for clinics and education on prenatal health and childbirth.

She's a fascinating look at the history of women in politics in America. I recommend looking her up.

Peter Jennings is a class act.

ABC's anchor Peter Jennings revealed to his audience that he has lung cancer. He's a remarkable man, and I wish him full remission and recovery. (With thanks for to those good folks at Crooks and Liars for the video clip and heads up)

I knew it would happen.

HalTurnerRacist,
originally uploaded by Jean Dudley.

So, yes, it would send the radical-religio-rapture-racist-right into conniptions if an African were elected pope.

I may have to go to church to pray for his election. Or maybe not. He might be assassinated by the likes of Hal Turner within a week of assuming the papal crozier.

Didn't take ol' Hal very long to get all nasty in the pants over this, did it?

Why isn't Hal Turner in jail?

Hal Turner of halturnershow.com seems to be crossing the line from free speech to inciting violence. Or not?

Take a look at this screen cap of his archive, and note the two articles on the right.




I have to wonder if he's had any visits from the FBI over this. My wild-ass-guess is that he has, and they've decided not to go forward with prosecution. However, the man did say that he'd volunteer to assassinate judges. Perhaps all he's lacking is a political action group?

It's illegal to kill judges. It's illegal to threaten them. It's illegal to incite violence against them. I'd call this a clear case of inciting to violence, wouldn't you?


This is a link to the full-sized screen capture.

Just what kind of ignorati are in the Senate?

Senator Cornyn (R-TX) had something pretty puzzling to say on the floor the other day (Apr 4, 2005).

I don’t know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that’s been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence.

(Video link here, WMV file)

Is he being disingenuous, deliberately making connections and dancing around the justification of "courthouse violence"? Or is he just plain ignorant of recent events? I can think of two instances right off--the man who overpowered his police guard, and the murder of a judge's husband and mother. Both of those were not related in any way to "judicial activism".

He contradicts himself when he says "Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently..."

I suppose one could imply that what *is* new is that the public perception has shifted from just run-of-the-mill courthouse violence and politically motivated courthouse violence.

Now he's issued a rebuttal to those who make the claim that he's justifying the violence, and turning it around and blaming them for taking his quote out of context.

Out of context or not, the above statement contains factual inaccuracies. Nobody seems to be killing judges or their families out of political frustration in the US. I'm not convinced he was actively calling for such violence. But I am leaning towards a belief in manipulation by misinformation. This administration, and especially the so-called "Republican" side of the isle has an increasing track record of doing so. How many people believe that Saddam Hussein was in some way responsible for the tragedy of 9/11?

No, he's not ignorant. He's a twister of words and current events to his political ends. And he's aiming to take over the judiciary.

R.I.P,. Prince Rainier.

Prince Rainier has died at the age of 81. He was Europe's longest reigning monarch. As the Prince of Monacco, he was deeply loved by his people. In turn, he deeply loved his American starlet wife, Princess Grace.

Rest in peace, Prince Rainier.

So...

How do you think Americans would react to an African (read "black") pope?

Oh, I hope they do it, I REALLY do.

Be fun to watch all the racists go apeshit.

One thing I will say about the pope...

I think that for all his faults, Pope John Paul II had one redeeming attribute: He lived by Jesus' words "Turn the other cheek".

He showed an immensity of spirit when he forgave and befriended the man who tried to kill him.

It may not completely balance out his destructive stand on abortion, contraception and alternative insemination, but I think it went a very long way towards that end.

Rest in peace, Karol.

Pedophilia and Homosexuality

I had a conversation some time ago about the sex abuse by priests in the Catholic church. The person I was speaking with said that it was because Catholic priests weren't allowed to marry, and so gays were more likely to become priests and molest boys.

I disagreed with him. It's not about homosexuality, I said, it's about power. "Then why do they choose boys?" Because boys are less likely to talk about what happened to them, due to fear that they will be labeled "gay".

Pedophilia isn't the same as homosexuality. Most pedophiles self-identify as straight, but will choose their victims carefully to ensure that they are not caught. The gender of the child isn't as important as the age.

When women sexually abuse children, they also chose boys because in our culture a boy who is "seduced" (read "coerced into sexual victimization") by an older woman is "lucky", it's part of his initiation into manhood. But if a boy is "molested" by a man, he is queer.

As much as I dislike the prohibition on marriage for the priesthood, it's not responsible for the exploitation of children in the church.

About time, I'd say

It seems that the national security hawks have finally caught on regarding America's security risk due to an increasing demand for foreign oil. A group of former national security advisors has sent a letter to President Bush stating that America's dependancy on foreign oil is now a concern to them.

We *must* develop new means of generating energy, or face the reality of being held slaves to antagonistic governments. America was once the land of innovation--we have the brightest minds in the world, and we now need to put them to work devoping an alternative to fossil fuels. We can, we must, but will we?

No more blood for oil.

Rest in Peace.

Terri Shiavo has died. Rest in Peace, Terri. I wish peace for her parents and husband. Now, to brace for congressional legislation on end of life matters in America.

I'm reminded of a something I read long ago; "If life is a game, it's not very fun. You can't win, and you're not allowed to quit."

Who is this guy, anyway?

The things you miss when you don't have a TV. Well, not always, it seems--Hal Turner doesn't have a venue on television. Apparently he had a radio show for a while, but financial troubles closed that down. Now he spews his racist, homophobic and sexist bile on teh internets.

This guy's a piece of work, I tell you. He wraps himself in the First Amendment while he uses some of the most outrageous claims.

I'm really not sure how serious he is. His website seems to be filled with all sorts of crazy talk. Here's a snippet from his introductory page:

Hal Turner  developed a reputation as being the most controversial radio talk show host in the entire world. He's a typical, everyday, average, married, white guy.  A father, a Catholic.  But what made him controversial - and still does - is this:  he says publicly what most people only dare to think privately. 

OK. I can respect that.

Further along it says:

al unabashedly caters to "straight, white people."  Some call that "racist" yet they say nothing about "Black Entertainment Television", "Black STARS Movie Channel",  the "Miss Black America Contest."  They also say nothing about outlets catering to hispanics such as "Telemundo", "Univision" and others.  Hal decided that if blacks and hispanics could have media outlets catering to them, White people should be able to have a media outlet too!  The Hal Turner Show is such an outlet.

*eyebrow up*


I thought most television and radio was aimed at "straight, white people" already. I was under the impression that Minorities were marginalized.

And then there's this, from his "news archives" page: Hold on to your hat, folks, it's a doozy.

ISRAELI JEW ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTING TO STEAL $350 MILLION VIA COMPUTER HACKING
Thieving jew caught when Japanese Banking Group detected intrusions Once again, the so-called "God's Chosen" prove they are nothing of the sort.

WTF? Please note that I've copied and pasted directly from his web site. He actually uses the lower case "j" to refer to Jews. All the time.

He's been advocating pretty hard for Terri Shiavo. Normally, I'd call this a case of ironic satire--but I'm not so sure. Is Hal suffering from a really bad case of confliction? Oh, I hope so. I really do.

MAYBE I'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THIS TERRI SCHIAVO THING THE WRONG WAY. . . . . 

I've been proceeding from the assumption that she was merely a totally innocent, completely helpless woman being savagely deprived of life  through slow starvation and dehydrationher by an adulterous husband with the blessing of renegade courts acting in direct defiance of U.S Congress Subpoenas, .    But on second thought. . . . . .

She was born a jew, but converted to Catholicism.  Being born a jew makes one a racial jew no matter what religion they convert to.  And seeing as racial jews are the lowest form of scum in the history of this planet, (They've been thrown out of more countries than any other race in history)  maybe starving Terri to death isn't too bad a thing at all.  

In fact, since there are so many other jews in Florida, doubtless many who are seriously ill from all their inbreeding and race mixing, maybe this Schiavo thing is a terrific way to set case law as an excuse to get rid of a whole slew of other jews!

I still think it would have been far more humane to simply gas her to death.  But I guess after all the hoopla about "gas chambers" in Germany back in WW2, the powers that be are a bit squeamish about using that method again.

Oh well.

*blink*

So, this is how "most Americans" really think? I'm dumbfounded. Maybe I'm just naive, but I really can't believe that this is the view of most Americans. If it is, maybe it *is* time to move to Canada.

"Oh, Canada..."
Excuse me while I go Google for the rest of the words.

No, wait. "...seriously ill from all their inbreeding and race mixing"? Er. One or the other, pal. I mean, you get a racial gene pool, and eventually there is going to be a limited selection--and the only way to keep it viable is to add to it from other sources, such as other races.

I'm just stunned. I think I'm going to have to go lay down.

So it doesn't happen to you--hopefully.

One of the questions I've heard asked on the Terri Schiavo case is "Would this be happening if she had left a 'living will'?"

No one wants to answer that with a simple yes or no. That worries me. The fact that Congress feels the need to step in to an area over which they have no jurisdiction is troubling enough. I begin to suspect that if it suited their political agenda, it would happen regardless of whether or not she had documented her wishes.

Be that as it may, I would still recommend looking in to setting up a living will. Here's a link to a set of worksheets that will help you do just that.

http://www.abanet.org/aging/toolkit/home.html

Tackiest URL ever.

http://www.notdeadyet.org/

Overheard in IRC

[19:14] <ArtfulOzian> I see the Republicans are fighting hard for the right of people without functional brains to live.
[19:15] <FluffyFloridian> It's their base.
(Nicks changed for their protection)

A bit of personal history

When my mother was dying, I took emergency leave to be with her. Granted, we weren't on the best of terms in years previous. But we had made a sort of peace, and had reached a place where we could exchange jokes, and I had become comfortable asking her for advice. And this is the important part: She had told me that the thought of being revived was something she had been having nightmares about. "Don't ever do that to me", and she made me promise.

When I arrived, she was still able to speak. When I walked into her hospital room, she greeted me by name as if she'd seen me the day before. "I like your hair that way."
"Mother, I've worn my hair like this for years", I said.
"I know, I still like it that way though."
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Pretty good, but I want to get home to Richard."
I'm not sure which Richard she was referring to--she had a succession of cats--all black, and numbered sequentially--by that name. The last Richard had died about 20 years before.
"Mother, do you know what day it is?"
She rattled off an incorrect day and month, in 1957. The year actually was 1983.
Do you know where you are?
"Dusseldorf Air Force Base, Germany." She was in a county hospital in California.

Mother had been having urinary problems. She was hospitalized when an infection developed around a catheter that was doing no good anyway. She'd simply stopped urinating.

Her blood ammonia levels were through the roof. Her blood pressure had dropped so low that her liver and kidneys had shut down. The ammonia in her body was accumulating. And she was as high as a kite on it. In fact, that is what had triggered her live-in care giver to call me. He said that he thought she'd started drinking again. Mother was in a wheelchair due to losing her right leg to artery disease a few years before. She was also a member of AA, and so was her care-giver.

During our rather surreal conversation, her doctor walked in, checked some things and said that if I had any questions...? I excused myself to Mother, and walked out into the hall with her. She explained that they didn't know why her blood pressure was so low. They suspected internal bleeding. She asked me how my mother's mental health was. I explained her long history of "manic depression", as it was called in those days. "Do you think she tried to kill herself with Tylenol?" I told her that I really had no idea, but that it may have been a possibility.

I asked her what Mother's chances were. "Not very good. I doubt her liver and kidneys will ever work again, at this point."

I looked at the doctor. "Can you explain what rights I have regarding her care? She is obviously not capable of making sound decisions. Do I need to get a lawyer?"

No, I didn't need to get a lawyer. As her daughter, I had more say than did her brother. I heaved a sigh of relief. I would not have put it past him to get all righteous and insist on "heroic measures", in spite of the fact that they despised one another. She would have wound up like Terri Schiavo if he'd had his way.

I told the doctor that I was exercising my right as next of kin: "No code". Make her comfortable. No problem there. The ammonia was taking care of any pain, she said.

I went back in and Mother said she was tired, and wanted to sleep. I told her I'd be back later. I gave her a kiss, and she said she loved me, and that she was glad I came.

At my friend's house, the phone call came during dinner. She had slipped into a coma. Her blood pressure had dropped, her heart rate was almost nil.

I arrived at the hospital. She was almost unrecognisable. She had tubes in her nose, her mouth, and electrodes all over her. She had an IV of blood going, in an effort to get her blood pressure back up. She was un-responsive. I spoke to Mother, told her that as far as I was concerned, we had made our peace, and not to worry about me. I didn't want to hold her back if she wanted to go.

Another doctor came in. She introduced herself as the doctor on duty. I walked into the hall with her, and asked her if Mother's doctor had left my instructions in the pass-down. The doctor said yes, but she wanted to be clear; What were my wishes?

"No Code." As soon as I said that, an alarm went off in Mother's room. Nurses were there immediately. The doctor followed them in. I stayed out.

The doctor emerged either a short time, or an eternity later. "She's gone, isn't she?"

"Yes. Would you like to go in?"

In a daze, I went in again. The respirator machine had stopped its rhythmic sounds, and was simply hissing low. Yes, Mother's body seemed diminished. I can't and won't describe how. She was simply gone. I said a small prayer, to her, to the universe, to any deity listening in thanks and blessing for having had the chance to make right with her, and for peace for her.

I can't imagine Congress stepping in to keep my mother alive. Even my uncle stayed away. What happened was strictly between me and my mother. Congress had no right to step in. California had no right to step in. And they didn't, because she was a crazy woman, an obnoxious old bag who smoked 100 hand-rolled cigarettes a day, told filthy jokes and wasn't above competing in a biker's wet tee-shirt contest from her wheel chair. She was abusive, opinionated, and socially unacceptable. She was also a Republican, and adored Ronald Reagan, even though his gutting of the mental health care system in California was to her profound detriment.



The law is that the next of kin has the right to make decisions regarding medical care. Terri Shiavo's husband is her legal next of kin. This isn't a battle over the right to live, it's a battle over the private and personal choices next of kin have to make every day. This is no place for Congress. This is no place for the President. This is no place for the governor.

But Bush seems to think it important enough to cut short one of his hundreds of vacations to come home to sign a bill to keep Terri Schiavo alive--against the wishes of her husband, and against her own wishes. She has been held prisoner in her body for political purposes, and that just floors me. This isn't our business. This is a private matter between Terri's husband and Terri's doctors.

Tom "Crooked as a dog's hind leg" Delay says that the "sanctity of life takes precedent over the sanctity of marriage". Only as long as it can be milked for political power, it seems.

Shiavo and Gonzales

Terri Shiavo's case has been politicized to such an extreme that George Bush "cut short" his vacation in Texas in order to come back to Washington to sign a bill to keep her on a feeding tube. I can't help but remember that Bush didn't cut short his vacation in Texas for the South-East Asia Tsunami.

This flies in the face of the right of her husband to make a decision based on her wished on her right to die.

Compare this with another case: Castle Rock V. Gonzales.

Jessica Gonzales obtained a restraining order against her estranged husband from the court. That order specified that he be arrested if he violated the order. He kidnapped their three daughters from her house. Jessica called the police several times in the hours that followed, but they refused to do anything. He eventually showed up at the police station, and opened fired at the building. He was killed in return fire. The police found the bodies of the three girls in his truck. He'd killed them prior to going to the police station.

This case is now before the Supreme Court.

I really want to know:

Why are we borrowing huge amounts of money from a country that forces women to abort after their first child? Why are we in debt to our eyeballs to a country that uses slave labor to produce goods, and then floods *our* market with rock-bottom prices that we can't compete with?

Help me out, here, folks.

"If you're not confused, you just don't understand."

Anti-Choice women who get abortions

"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion" : When the Anti-Choice Choose. (The article on the other side of this link was written by Joyce Arthur )


Fascinating, if sometimes disturbing read on the varied attitudes of "pro-life" women who get abortions, as told by their service providers. They range from shame, privilege, denial, antagonism (before, during and after the procedure), and vindictiveness to gratitude, respect and ideological shift to support of choice.

Some are blatant hypocrites, others are obviously mentally ill, some are racist, some feel a sense of privilege that borders on pathological.

As for the service providers, some have refused abortions because of obvious confliction, others refuse to provide assistance to women who call them murderers. Women who shift ideologies tell their own stories often relate their surprise at the non-judgemental attitudes of their service providers.

One story I found particularly disturbing follows:

A few behave in a very hostile manner, such as calling clinic staff "murderers." Years ago, a clinic counselor in British Columbia told me that one of her patients went into the procedure room apparently fine with her decision to have an abortion. During the abortion, at a stage when it was too late to stop the procedure, the woman started screaming "You murderers!" and other invectives at everyone in the room.

When reality meets ideology head-on, there you will find some very telling behavior. I'd recommend reading this regardless of your own stance on abortion.

Good news out of California today!

Court Rules California Cannot Ban Gay Marriages

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In a victory for gay rights groups, a California Superior Court judge ruled on Monday that the state's voter-approved ban on homosexual marriage is unconstitutional.

Word of the day: Propaganda

Propaganda: 1. The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.

The Bush Administration has been using taxpayer funds to produce videos that are largely self-aggrandizing. These videos are then broadcast over public airwaves on corporate network stations as "news". They do not have any sort of disclaimer as to who the producers are.

According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the Office of National Drug Control Policy(ONDCP) violated propaganda laws because it didn't identify itself as the author of the videos.

The videos are designed to look like regular news items, produced by independent news outlets.

In July of 2004, House Representatives Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) and John W. Olver(D-MA) sent 7 of these tapes to the GAO for review.

The GAO reviewed them, and then verified them with the ONDCP. Here's the money-shot quote:

The VNR*s which included those prepackaged news stories and suggested anchor remarks were clearly labeled, both externally on the videocassettes and in the included slates, as ONDCP products. As ONDCP observes, "It would be virtually impossible for a reasonable broadcaster to mistake the VNRs for . . . independent news report[s]." ... However, none of the prepackaged news stories and suggested anchor remarks contained in ONDCP's VNRs disclosed the agency's role (as producer and distributor of those materials) to television viewing audiences.

(*VNR=Video News Release, and emphasis mine)

I find it interesting that the ONDCP tried to wriggle out of any responsibility by implying that only broadcasters need to be made aware that these VNRs are "fake news".

What about the viewers? Don't they have a right to know the source of "news" is not independent?

If you'd like to read the GAO's response to Waxman and Olver, you can find it here.

You can send a letter to the Department of Justice through http://www.stopfakenews.org/.

If you're really interested, Google "ONDCP". Lots of fun stuff comes up.

Update: Aviation Safety Video News Release

Word of the day: Propaganda

Propaganda: 1. The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.

The Bush Administration has been using taxpayer funds to produce videos that are largely self-aggrandizing. These videos are then broadcast over public airwaves on corporate network stations as "news". They do not have any sort of disclaimer as to who the producers are.

According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the Office of National Drug Control Policy(ONDCP) violated propaganda laws because it didn't identify itself as the author of the videos.

The videos are designed to look like regular news items, produced by independent news outlets.

In July of 2004, House Representatives Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) and John W. Olver(D-MA) sent 7 of these tapes to the GAO for review.

The GAO reviewed them, and then verified them with the ONDCP. Here's the money-shot quote:

The VNR*s which included those prepackaged news stories and suggested anchor remarks were clearly labeled, both externally on the videocassettes and in the included slates, as ONDCP products. As ONDCP observes, "It would be virtually impossible for a reasonable broadcaster to mistake the VNRs for . . . independent news report[s]." ... However, none of the prepackaged news stories and suggested anchor remarks contained in ONDCP's VNRs disclosed the agency's role (as producer and distributor of those materials) to television viewing audiences.

(*VNR=Video News Release, and emphasis mine)

I find it interesting that the ONDCP tried to wriggle out of any responsibility by implying that only broadcasters need to be made aware that these VNRs are "fake news".

What about the viewers? Don't they have a right to know the source of "news" is not independent?

If you'd like to read the GAO's response to Waxman and Olver, you can find it here.

You can send a letter to the Department of Justice through http://www.stopfakenews.org/.

If you're really interested, Google "ONDCP". Lots of fun stuff comes up.

Word of the day: Shill

Shill: One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle.

Findingavoice.com : Add another blog to the fire

Ann Davidow has earned a place on my rss feed blogroll with her articulate and reasoned article "The Corporate Ownership Society" recently published on Buzzflash.

A quick trip to Google reveals that she writes for Mother Jones.

You can find her writings here: http://findingavoice.com, and her XML feed is here: RSS

Why are new regulations on the treatment of prisoners classified?

In an unattributed editorial dated March 11, 2005, the New York times revealed something that disturbs me highly.

It was good to learn yesterday that the military commander in Iraq has issued definitive rules about how to treat captives in American prison camps. Unfortunately, that was about the only good news in the newest Pentagon report on prisoner abuse, actually a 21-page summary of a larger, classified study by the Navy inspector general of interrogation rules in Guantánamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Just consider that it took more than a year after the military says it first learned of the nightmare at Abu Ghraib to issue the new rules. And don't ask what they are, because they're classified.

Why? Why are rules for the treatment of prisoners classified? I think I remember someone saying that they didn't want potential prisoners to know how they will be treated so that they will have the upper hand.

i find that counter to American standards of ethics. Personally, I think that a prisoner has the right to know what treatment is or isn't legal under the laws of the government of their captors.

Human rights are supposed to be the corner stone of our culture. Does that mean the human rights of only Americans? Why? What makes Americans more deserving of humane treatment than other people?

Can anybody out there answer these questions for me?

Just who is this Tom Delay guy, anyway...

I've been hearing murmurs about Tom Delay for some time, and now it's time to find out about him. Wikipedia has lots of information on him.

Mr. Delay is the House Majority leader. He's the Republican Representative for the state of Texas, and has a long history in the House.

He's been in the media spotlight for a while. Seems Mr. Delay has serious issues with living up to ethical standards. Accepting expensive trips from lobbyists and then voting in their favor is one example. He also has misused government resources for political purposes.

Now for today's news(subscription required, I recommend Bugmenot.com:

An Indian tribe and a gambling services company made donations to a Washington public policy group that covered most of the cost of a $70,000 trip to Britain by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), his wife, two aides and two lobbyists in mid-2000, two months before DeLay helped kill legislation opposed by the tribe and the company.

A very good idea!

Kevin Drum of "Politcal Animal" has a very good idea for legislation regulating personal data databases in America;

• Stricter regulation of personal information, along the lines of Corzine's legislation but tougher. This would apply to companies that limit their databases to information about their own transactions with their own customers.

• Individuals should be invested with property rights in any commercial collection of personal data about themselves that's assembled from multiple sources. In a modern society, any such collection really is "your" identity. You should have the right to control it.

As co-owners of the data, consumers would have the absolute right to be informed that a file on them exists; to review their files free of charge; to contest any information in their files; to be notified whenever their data is requested; to compensation if their data is sold to another broker; and to approve the release of their data.

Think about it, friends and neighbors. Corporations gather information about you, often confuse it with others making it wildly inaccurate, and then don't protect it from identity thieves. It's *your* identity, it's *your* information, why should *they* be making money off it, corrupting it, and then don't take precautions against it being stolen?

Go, read the article, and then send it to your congressional representatives. You can use the links I've provided in the bar to the right to contact them.

Live Journal isn't all teen angst and drama.

How I found this isn't important. But this lady says it beautifully. On Supporting Our Troops.

I make this vow, this pledge, this promise:

I will not EVER write any articles about the Michael Jackson trial. If you are sick of the "coverage", you can rest assured that I will maintain this blog utterly free of any reference to him from this point forward.

You deserve time away from the media circus.

BradBlog: Add Another Blog to the Fire

The Brad Blog now has an RSS1.0 feed!

This is the sort of hatred we can expect from the far right.

screen cap from halturnershow.com,
originally uploaded by Jean Dudley.

Hal Turner later explained this as "a zing", a joke.

This judge's husband and mother were brutally murdered in her home. Her mother was in her 80's, and used a walker to get around.

Orcinus has a partial transcript of Turner's appearance on Dateline.

Here's the part that stunned me:

Mr. TURNER: I have rendered an opinion that what she did on the bench makes her worthy of being killed, yeah.

MURPHY: Do you still believe that?

Mr. TURNER: Yeah. Yep, that's my opinion.

Mac-Savvy Granny!

You go, girl!

Get out your box of tissues.

Get out your box of tissues.
Get a big glass of water.
Turn off the television.
Turn off the stereo.
And then go here and read this.
With thanks to John at AMERICABlog, Markos at Daily Kos, and to dKos Diarist Amprather

General observations

Since I didn't do any catblogging yesterday, I thought I'd do a bit of general observation instead. Not to worry, I'll prolly upload some pics of my housemate's cats next Friday.

Reading through my RSS feeds is always fun and enlightening. This morning I read about an application that will allow me to download images formated to fit my mobile phone screen from any RSS feed.

I am highly tempted to download it, if money weren't so damn tight right now. Here's the RSS feed I read:

Lockergnome's RSS Resource: Mobile Photo RSS reader

Here's a link to the software developer's site:

49PM.com: Mobile Photo RSS reader

Watching the world around me.
I work at a store in a small New England town, and right next to the store is a section of an historic canal dating from the Industrial revolution. Over the winter, I've been watching the water flow, and the ice form.

In the middle of this canal, two trees has taken root; grasses have sprung up at their bases during the time when the river runs low. As water is bound in ice up stream, the level lowers, and a small island emerges around those young trees. As the water rises, ice will form around the tussocks of grass, around the boles. Water lowers, and those tussocks and boles become the centers of ice islands.

I've been fascinated with the day-to-day changes of those ice-islands in the stream. The edges are grotesquely art nouveau, with regular blobs forming in fantastic shapes.

Would this be an example of fractals in real life? Within chaos of the stream, patterns emerge. Whoa, that's very Zen, isn't it?

Quotes from Justice Scalia

This guy seems fixated on the notion that the Government derives it's authority from God. Also our institutions, laws, and the foundation of our laws.

I respectfully disagree with Justice Scalia.

"And when somebody goes by that monument, I don't think they're studying each one of the commandments. It's a symbol of the fact that the government comes -- derives its authority from God. And that is, it seems to me, an appropriate symbol to be on State grounds. "

" As I say, I don't think most people know what the text of the Ten Commandments are, but they do know that is stands for the fact that our laws are derived from God. "

"I think the message it sends is that law is -- and our institutions come from God."

"And it doesn't matter what the version is, does it? If it just stands for the fact that laws -- the foundation of our laws is God. "

Source: Thomas Van Orden Vs. Texas argument before the Supreme Court

If you spy for the US Government, you have no legal recourse if they dump you!

In 1875, Enoch Totten brought suit to the Supreme Court on behalf of the estate of William A. Lloyd, a Civil War spy. President Abraham Lincoln had contracted with Lloyd to spy behind Confederate lines, and promised a monthly stipend of $200. Lloyd never received the funds promised to him.

The Supreme court at that time ruled that covert operatives could not bring suit against the US because it may disclose sensitive information injurious to the national security.

Today, the Supreme Court upheld that ruling by reversing the decision of the Appellate Court that ruled in favor of John and Jane Doe, again citing "national security" for denying them the benefits promised by the CIA.

Read the decision here.

So my advice is this: If you spy for the US Government, insist on a hefty chunk of money up-front. Don't believe promises of lifetime support. You have no legal recourse if they disavow any knowledge of you, and leave you stranded. Better yet, don't offer to spy at all.

Seems like this is shaping up to be Day of Administrative Irony at Jean's Voice

I admit to being in line behind such good folks as Markos and John when it comes to commenting on the daily blues news. Be that as it may, I too have to comment on the irony of the situation. First a bit of information.

On Feb 28, 2005, Under Secretary for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky held an On-the-Record briefing to announce the release of the 2004 Human Rights Reports. Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy Human Rights and Labor Michael Kozak also gave remarks and answered questions.

The report entitled "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), as amended, and section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. The law provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, by February 25 "a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A) in countries that receive assistance under this part, and (B) in all other foreign countries which are members of the United Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human rights report under this Act." We have also included reports on several countries that do not fall into the categories established by these statutes and that thus are not covered by the congressional requirement.

(From the Dept. of State website)

You can read the entire report online at the U.S. Department of State website. Just use the links on the left of the page to read individual sections.

The section that deals with Iraq specifically is here.

Now, some selections from the report.

Grid coordinates were obtained on at least 10 mass graves in Al-Hatra in Ninewah Province. On September 1, authorities began to dig a site near Al-Hatra. Two gravesites were excavated; one site contained the remains of women and children and the other contained remains of men. Approximately 275 bodies--thought to be Kurds who were killed by the former regime--were found in each site.

This was a grave-site of people murdered under Sadaam Hussein. What I found interesting is the segregation of women and children from men--how ironic that religious extremism will segregate even in death.

Women's leaders claimed that some extremist groups targeted women by kidnapping, killing, and terrorizing them in an effort to force them to refrain from working in public, to remain at home, wear veils, and adhere to a very conservative interpretation of Islam. According to an Amnesty International (AI) report, the lack of security remained a serious threat, and women and girls feared abduction, rape, and murder.

Yes, this happened under the provisional government. How ironic that we go to liberate a people oppressed by Sadaam, and yet women lose their rights as a result.

Basrah police also reported that the same Internal Affairs Unit officers were involved in the killings of a mother and daughter accused of engaging in prostitution. The Basrah Chief of Intelligence was removed from his position as a result of the accusations; however, he retained command of the Internal Affairs Unit.

Yes, this is the provisional government at work.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), during this reporting period, torture and ill treatment of detainees by police was commonplace. In interviews with 90 prisoners conducted from August to October, 72 claimed that they had been tortured or mistreated. The reported abuses included some instances of beatings with cables and hosepipes, electric shocks to their earlobes and genitals, food and water deprivation, and overcrowding in standing room only cells.

Is this beginning to sound familiar? Hint: This not a report on the US Military abuses at Abu Ghraib. It's the Iraqi Interim Government. I have to wonder--who taught whom?

There were instances of illegal treatment of detainees. For example, on November 1, Baghdad police arrested two Coalition Force citizen interpreters on charges involving the illegal use of small arms. After their arrest, police bound the detainees' arms behind them, pulling them upward with a rope and cutting off their circulation. This treatment was followed by beatings over a 48-hour period with a steel cable, in an effort to make the detainees confess. Both interpreters required medical treatment after their release to Coalition Forces. No further information on the incident was available at year's end. In another case, the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI) gathered enough evidence to prosecute police officers in Baghdad who were systematically raping and torturing female detainees. Two of the officers received prison sentences; four others were demoted and reassigned.

Ah, the rape rooms are still in use, then? Isn't this what we were supposed to be stopping?

I can't go on reading this report. Call me a whimp, I don't care. I'm getting ill.

The ultimate irony of this report is that it is so similar to reports coming out of Guantanamo about the torture of detainees there. On the other hand, I am glad that the report is this open about the state of the IIG; After all, the US Government is responsible for all of this, ultimately. Is this damaging to the Bush Administration? Yes, I think it is. And for all the irony of it, the hypocrisy it reveals, this report at least scratches the surface of an ugly, immoral and odious situation that the U.S. Government set up.

Impeach Bush. Or maybe not--Cheney would take office, and I think things would be even worse under him, both here and in Iraq.

A nod to the Theocrats, or just plain ironic?

With thanks to John at America Blog for the heads-up:

Bush Administration To Require U.S. AIDS Groups Take Pledge Opposing Commercial Sex Work To Gain Funding

Under the new policy, even groups whose HIV/AIDS work in other countries has "nothing to do" with commercial sex workers will have to make a written pledge opposing commercial sex work or risk losing federal funding, according to the (Wall Street)Journal.

In light of the recent Gannon/Guckert scandal, I find this utterly astonishing. Just how bald-faced does the current administration have to be before we start demanding an impeachment?

(Brad, are you listening?)

Follow up

On Feb 19, I posted an entry on similarities between a propaganda campaign in Germany and Social Security privatization.

In that entry, I said that a poster depicting a severely disabled man appealed to monetary greed. Since then, I have learned about the history of pre-WWII Germany. WWI decimated the German economy. People were literally starving. So, it wasn't fair of me to say that it appealed to greed. It appealed to survival. Now, please don't think I am advocating for the Nazi idea of euthanasia of defectives. I am not. I am simply trying to present historical fact. I am of the opinion that the killing of those born with birth defects is just plain wrong. It is one of my absolutes.

I have admitted in the past that I am woefully ignorant of world history, haven't I? If not, consider this my confession.

Atrios, you got some 'splainin' to do!

Atrios over at Eschaton posted this. It almost made me spew my coffee on my viewpanel.

Senior administration officials have informed Fox News that according to the latest intelligence, Osama bin Laden opposes Bush's plans for Social Security privatization.

Developing...

-Atrios 5:52 PM

Uh, "developing"? Wait a second, this isn't for real, is it?

Tell me it's not, please, Atrios? Tell me it's a product of your fevered and twisted humor, designed to fill a bit of time on the blog!

First Osama helps Bush get elected by threatening those states that vote for him. Now he opposes Social Security reform.

I begin to suspect that Bush is using a sock-puppet. Good gods almighty, how stupid are the American sheeple?

Picture7

For John @ AMERICABlog

Why it matters

Avinash asks:

Jean,
This is another example of why we need to focus on the real issues at hand. Frankly do any of us really care what is displayed on the grounds of the State Capitol. Instead of trying to resolve the present stalemate regarding the choice of conservative justices (I don't agree with Bush trying to shove them down our throat either) and trying to get justice for the gay rights we are looking at stuff like this which is not going to lead to anything constructive. Since you are a law student (I remeber reading that somewhere on your blog) maybe you can shed better perspective on this issue.

I chose to link to this story because the display of the "Ten Commandments" on state or federal property is a specifically Christian*act. By allowing it, it is establishing a state religion, something that is prohibited by the US Constitution. When the US Constitution is negated, it opens the door for religious dogma to become US law. This would allow the federal government to deny minorities (such as gays) their civil rights.

BTW, I am not a law student, yet. I'm just beginning. I need to get a 4-year degree first, then apply to law school.

*I say Christian because although it is in the "Old Testament", all the translations are from Christian Bibles such as the King James Version. Further, Judaism holds that there are 613 Mitzvot, not 10.

How-to make an image-link on your blog

How to put an image on your blog and make it a link:

First, you much get a copy of the image: right-click and save to disk the image. Then upload it to your own webspace. If you use the URL of the image here, it will freak out Photobucket, and all anyone will see is "Bandwidth exceded, try again later".

I use Flickr. I can also recommend ImageShack if you don't want to register for an account.

Once the image is uploaded to your webspace, note the URL that goes directly to the image, not to a page with the image on it. You can tell the difference because pages usually end with ".htm", or ".html". Images alone end in ".jpg" or ".gif".

You will also need the URL of the page you want the image to link to. In this case, I am going to link back to http://committeetoprotectbloggers.blogspot.com/.

Once you have that infromation, here is what you will need to type into your blog entry field:



I used a screen capture of my text editor to put that up. I don't know how to code it so that it won't automatically become the image-link!
Publish your post.

Home Grown Democrat

washingtonpost.com: Supreme Court on a Shoestring:
Supreme Court on a Shoestring
Homeless Man Takes On Texas, Religious Display

Thomas Van Orden lives in a tent in the woods. But he refused to be defined by where he sleeps, but by his efforts to uphold the US Constitution. He's taking the city of Austin, TX to the Supreme Court of the US over violation of the "establishment clause".

It should be interesting to follow this case.

I love Robin Williams!

What a thing to wake up to in the morning, lemme tell you! When Robin Williams gets ahold of Gannon, it's funny and pointed and absolutely hilarious.

I'm begining to regret that I don't have a TV.

Anyway, for the back story, Bill Mahr had Senator Joe Bidden(D-DE), Leslie Stall of CBS and Robin Williams on. Something Senator Bidden said something that rather scares me:

"Why isn't every major network in the country investigating a security breach, forget anything else."

Forget everything else?

I really am worried that Propa-Gannon-gate is a distraction from something else we should be paying attention to. This is just a bit too salacious, too well tuned to prurient interest. I mean, Guckert actually used the same name he used (Jeff) when he was a paid "escort", for crying out loud! It's like he (or someone) WANTED (him) to be found out!

The trail of crumbs is a bit contrived, methinks.

Anyway, for the video, go here: One Good Move.