Beat the distressed

This thuggish state Rep. in Hawaii is a real piece of work. He decided to show the homeless in his district who's boss, with a fucking sledgehammer. He patrols his district and destroying the meager belongings of the downtrodden.

Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process.

You have to watch the video at the link to truly appreciate how creepy he is but it gets worse. Tom Brower is considering physical confrontation next.

...I want to do something practical that will really clean up the streets," he said.

"I find abandoned junk, specifically shopping carts, and I remove them. I also create a situation where those carts can't be pushed around the city. I think it's a good thing," he said.

"I don't want to be threatening to anybody," Brower said. "I think it's threatening to steal things and then walk around with them like it's their own."

Brower said he has yet to take a cart from a homeless person who's pushing it, but that may be coming. He supports other efforts to remove abandoned property. The sledgehammer approach is his way of pitching in.

If you watched the video, he doesn't actually remove them. He smashes them with the sledge and leaves them piled up for the city to remove. Which is about the meanest, most cost ineffective way to deal with abandoned carts. For one thing the carts he smashed all looked perfectly operable. He could just return them to the stores. Those carts are expensive. I'm sure they would be happy to get them back. Furthermore, stealing shopping carts has been long been the practice among the homeless. By destroying the one they already have, it just encourages them to steal a fresh one.

And how does this help the homeless get off the street anyway? Maybe he could spent some energy on finding solutions to homelessness instead of working out his frustrations with a sledgehammer. Austin, TX has a homeless problem too. They're not vandalizing property there. They're building a self-sustained Community Village for the homeless outside of downtown.

US Vets refused the right to vote?

expatbrian

Almost. Secretary of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, James Peake, continues to refuse to allow non-partisan groups from helping vets register to vote. Like everything else being revealed about the real treatment our vets receive when they come home, this is a national disgrace.


Peake, if this order stands, you're nothing but a pig just like your boss.

Wounded vets and amputees who have no mobility and thus cannot get out of the VA hospitals to register are shit out of luck. Because Peake will not allow even The League of Women Voters to assist them to register. His reason? It would interfere with the quality of their medical care! I guess Peake hasn't been following the news which has told us repeatedly that there IS NO quality medical care in the VA facilities.

What is the real reason? These vets, like all the Iraq and Afghanistan vets are volunteers, every one. We must assume that they supported the war. Why not let them register to vote? Um, it couldn't be that the administration is worried that these tens of thousands of wounded vets might be having second thoughts about the war, could it? That maybe now that they have been there, seen it up close and personal, experienced the truth of the Iraqi horror, that they might vote for someone who promises to end it? That maybe they will vote for anyone who might spare their buddies from possibly becoming victims like them?

I don't know the reason. I'm just a dumb old fart with a computer. But I do know that we should be bending over backwards to insure that our vets have access to every single American right and priviledge that they have volunteered to fight and die for. And, as I understand it, despite administrations attempts to manipulate it, voting is still an American right.

No lie too lame

by Capt. Fogg

Burning burning burning burning
O Lord Thou pluckest me out


All of what most of us say and do and believe has nothing to do with reason or even with facts. That anyone can, as many obviously do, blame the 2001 attack on Democrats as part of a belief system under which our country is divided by phallic metaphor between tough and wimpy, hard and soft, unbending and flaccid is evident. The cornerstone, the unquestioned first principle is that Democrats are Liberals and liberals are defenseless and advocate defenselessness -- history and dictionary be damned.

Of course the attack was aided and the attackers abetted by the refusal of the Republican government to pay attention to warnings and the effective shutdown of anti-terrorism planning. Why it was the Democrats' fault that the airlines weren't forced to incorporate reinforced cabin doors, I don't know and why the myth persists that Democrats resisted counterattack I don't know either, other than to say this is a nation of insane people.

So why is it surprising that yet another insane billboard has cropped up in Florida, with yet another picture of those tired towers burning and the fully expected and indeed inevitable plea not to vote for Democrats. It wouldn't be surprising even had Bush admitted responsibility, admitted incompetence or even complicity. Democrats advocate defenselessness, unilateral disarmament, appeasement and general flaccidity and they would in the minds of the mindless even if they were all Goosestepping down Pennsylvania Avenue in black, shiny boots and even though the party supported Bush's programs in near unanimity. Belief is truth and truth is belief.

"Liberals get abjectly hysterical whenever the truth about them is pointed out,"

reads a comment at Republican website Lucienne.com. Hysteria of course is a familiar condition at such places; obsessively so, albeit mostly unnoticed except when projected onto others. The calm, dispassionate commentary by Republican agitators and polemicists, it's implied, should be an example to abjectly hysterical Liberal hotheads like -- well, like me. Of course the hysteria is theirs, the truth is not, and so it will remain until the inevitable collapse of the United States into an authoritarian, aggressive, nationalistic, xenophobic cauldron of irrational right wing idiot rage; flags flying, neon crosses ablaze and the twin towers forever smoking on billboards in the hot Florida night.

Burning

Cross posted from Human Voices

General Accuses Bush Administration of War Crimes

expatbrian

Well George, remember what you said about "listening to your commanders in the field"?

A retired Army general who spent 10 months in Iraq and led an investigation into the atrocities at the Abu Ghraib prison there accused the Bush administration Wednesday of committing war crimes and called for those responsible to be held accountable. Full article here.

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account,"wrote Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba.

Bush, as the Commander in Chief, and as a "war president" as he likes to call himself, is ultimately responsible for the actions of his military underlings.

"The detainees suffer permanent hearing loss, persistent and debilitating pain in limbs and joints, major depressive disorder, severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety disorders, such as panic attacks." The men were later released and were never charged with any crimes.

We may be Democrats or we may be Republicans, but we are all Americans. Is this what our founding fathers envisioned and is this what is acceptable now in the United States of America? If we are patriots, is not our first patriotic duty to uphold our own Constitution and abide by our own laws? Or are we ready and willing to uphold that Constitution only when the going is easy but when the going gets a little tough, when we feel a little insecure, we forget all that and start behaving like the very barbarians we are supposed to detest?

"With this evidentiary record, this report provides the most detailed account available thus far of the experience of detainees in US custody who suffered torture — a war crime — at the hands of US personnel. Additionally, this report provides further evidence of the role health professionals played in facilitating detainee abuse by being present during torture and ill-treatment, denying medical care to detainees, providing confidential medical information to interrogators, and failing to stop or document detainee abuse.

Just what justification is there, once we are smacked in the face with evidence of actual war crimes, to not take some kind of action against those who are responsible? Just what excuse for our actions do we expect to be acceptable by the international community? Or are we so arrogant, that we no longer care what anyone else thinks?

The report was released Tuesday, the same day documents made public by the Senate Armed Services Committee presented during a hearing on the administration’s interrogation policies showed a pattern of humiliation, abuse and even torture inflicted on detainees was a deliberate policy of the Bush administration.

Jonathan Fredman, chief counsel to the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, discussed with U.S. military officials how interrogators could use the "wet towel"technique against detainees to extract information.

Fredman added that the "wet towel"technique would only be defined as torture "if the detainee dies."

Just what kind of a fucking country are we, anyway?

Vet news. Who cares

expatbrian

Just a few stories that rarely make the news. I thought it would be nice if we at least knew what was going on with our vets, even if we can't or won't do anything to help them. We are truly a disgusting nation.

VA rejects presidential directive to help wounded vets register to vote. That was a Clinton directive of course, not a Bush one. And their bullshit reason? Because using its staff resources that way would interfere with their mission of offering quality care to their patients. Quality care?? And by the way, they won't let outside groups or even individuals to come in and help either.

McCain joins McBush in attacking and denying veterans. No wonder they don't want wounded vets to vote. Who would vote for this turncoat anyway?

US soldiers forced to launch campaign to convert Iraqis to Christianity. It's a direct violation of the Constitution's Establishment clause in the First Amendment, which prohibits military personnel from promoting any form of religion, but who cares? We gave up the Constitution years ago. The marines are doing it too even though Iraqis are horrified at the sacrilege. Now, that's winning hearts and minds!

Attempt to arrest John Bolton for war crimes fails. A former ambassador was physically blocked from approaching Bolton in his attempt to make the arrest.

Home foreclosures in military towns are 4 times the US rate. GI's were targeted during the subprime lending boom because of their low credit. Now, as their mortgages double, they are forced out of those homes. Foreclosures are up nearly 500 percent in some military towns.

1/3 of the US female soldiers in Iraq suffer sexual assault. But the VA won't recognize their trauma or treat it as PTSD. I guess they're just supposed to "buck up" and quit whining.

Military mental health insurance too low to cover costs. It doesn't really matter that soldiers suffering from PTSD have to wait months to get a doctor's appointment, because their insurance won't cover the treatment anyway.

So, in summary, get over there and fight for us but when you get back, don't assume we're going to fix what happened to you when you were there. Don't bother us about your wounds or your nightmares or your screwed up heads. And if your a woman, especially don't bother us just because you got raped a little bit. You probably asked for it anyway.

If you lost your house when you were gone, that's your problem, not ours. Serves you right for listening to the bullshit ads we made to sell you the house in the first place.

And don't talk to us about your constitutional rights to vote. If you're well enough to vote, you shouldn't be in the VA hospital anyway, crybaby.

Ted Stevens & James Peake Hate Veterans

expatbrian

At Memorial Day events in Alaska, both Senator Ted Stevens and VA secretary James Peake decided that, instead of honoring veterans, it was a good day to try to screw them over - again. Stevens warned of a "mass exodus" from the military if the 21st Century GI Bill goes into law without major changes.

In other words, don't give them full college benefits after their tour is up (like he got after WWII service) because, heaven forbid, they might want to actually get out of the military when they are supposed to and use those benefits. They might not stay in the military so they can be rotated back to Iraq over and over and over again until they get wounded or killed, their marriage falls apart, or they finally commit suicide.

Instead of that Ted, why don't you reinstate the draft and solve all of those problems once and for all? Maybe because you're a political coward and don't give a shit about our soldiers? Or even worse, maybe because some rich donors son might have to go "serve his country" along with all of the poor ones that already are? Can't have that.

Peake did his part to humiliate the vets by insisting that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is over diagnosed, attaching a stigma to PTSD that the mental health and veterans community have worked hard to remove.

Now isn't THAT a load of Bushco doublespeaking crap. Does anyone agree that the VA should be a completely independent agency and the head of it should NOT be appointed by the president? On the other hand, does anyone remember the VA ever being so political and involved in conflicts like this before? I don't.

"What Stevens and the Bush Administration said this weekend was unfounded and disappointing," Begich said. "While Stevens had his college education fully paid for after serving in WWII, he now wants to hold today’s veterans hostage by not offering them full college benefits. Our veterans deserve care and support for their service, but Stevens and the Bush administration prefer to deny them those benefits."

Peake and Stevens. Two more war criminals for the firing squad.

Obama, watch your back - Update

expatbrian

Apparently I'm not alone in my fears concerning Obama's future health or lack thereof. Hillary seems to be planning on it as well. I just read this good article which points out that she has invoked this "Kennedy assassination" imagery not just this once, but several times over the last few months. Watch the Olberman videos in the same article to hear more.

In a previous post I expressed my worry that, if Obama selected a VP more conservative than himself, he would be taking the chance of becoming a target because, should he be unable to serve, that VP would step directly into the White House. It seems that Hillary is fantasizing about just such a scenario.

Yesterday it was reported that members of her staff are holding secret meetings with Obama people about Hillary joining the ticket. Is she doing that to cover both bases? It's pretty obvious that if Obama were to drop out of this race anytime before the general election, Hillary would be the only democratic candidate and would probably win the White House. But what happens if Obama were to suffer tragedy after being elected? The only way that Hillary could take his place is by being the VP. Otherwise she is not anywhere in the chain of ascension. Its the only reasonable explanation for her staying in the race at all.

Clinton knows that she hasn't got a chance in hell of winning the nomination now under normal circumstances, but if she hangs in there and makes it miserable for Obama and the party, they may offer the VPship just to get her out of the race. In other words, she is willing to hurt the party's chances in the general election in order to implant herself in the the line to the throne. If so, she's as bad as Bush was in 2000 and 2004.

Also, by bringing up the possibility of a Bobby Kennedy like tragedy, she invokes the fears of the democratic voting public who she hopes will say to themselves, 'she's right. If something happens to Obama we want to make sure that our second choice - Hillary - gets in. Not some VP that we know nothing about.'

I'm surprised she didn't bring up the imagery of John Kennedy as well. In one paragraph she could have vividly invoked the horror of those two nightmares. Why didn't she just say,

"Bobby Kennedy getting shot and killed during his campaign and John Kennedy getting shot and killed while in office just goes to show you how important it is to have a good solid second candidate or VP waiting in the wings to take their place."

For all practical purposes, that's exactly what she is saying. And it's disgusting and abhorrent.

This may sound fatalistic and conspiratorial. But this is Washington and when it comes to the fight for the White House, anything goes. And after all of the underhanded, conniving and despicable tactics that Clinton has pulled (refer to Olberman again) I don't trust her and wouldn't put anything past her. I think she has become a real and present danger to Obama, and not just as a competitor for the nomination.

I go back to my earlier recommendation. Obama should name a VP that the rich and powerful Republicans just cannot stomach. Hillary does not fit that mold. It may be the only way to insure his longevity.

cross posted from World Gone Mad

The absurd "furor" over Reverend Wright

The only reason there is a "furor" as the press likes to say, is because the Repubs and the press who are so firmly snuggled up in their pockets have created one. And the only credibility Obama has lost in my eyes is due to him feeling that he has to address it as if it is valid.

If Obama is responsible for what Wright says, or anyone else for that matter, doesn't it follow that the victims of Catholic abuse are also responsible for the actions of their pedophile priests? After all, these priests were once the victim's "reverends" too.

And what about the rest of us. Are we somehow responsible for the misdeeds and even the misspeaks of our former bosses, colleagues, and pastors? Are children held accountable for the independent actions of their parents? Are newspaper subscribers responsible for whatever might be printed in the oped? Any sane person would agree that that would be ridiculous.

Is Wright an independent, fully grown adult? Yes. Did Obama tell him what to say or encourage it in any way? No. Does Obama or anyone else have the power to control what Wright says? I doubt it.

Hilary tells a blatant lie trying to show herself to be some kind of macho war mistress, having to run for cover under a barrage of bullets to visit the troops, and that actually serious incident has disappeared from the press. But Obama, who is leading the race and is a real threat to the Republican criminal cartel, is still all over the news because of something someone else said that has nothing to do with him.

The only good part of this whole dirty business is that it shows - no, proves how embarrassingly petty the press, the republican party and all the Americans who eat this crap up as if it is gospel really are. The whole rest of the world is laughing their asses off because we are publicizing what all of them have known all along. That even with all of the riches and blessings we have, we are still just a petty, racist country and really no better than anyone else.

Veterans committing suicide in record numbers

expatbrian

Two veterans groups who have filed suit against the VA have exposed a coverup by that agency as to the number of vets who are attempting and succeeding in committing suicide. The VA, in response to a records request by CBS news had said that there were a totol of 790 suicides in all of 2007. However, a private email that has come to light shows otherwise.

In one email message titled “Not for the CBS News…,” the VA’s head of mental health Dr. Ira Katz wrote "Shh!" and then claimed there were 1,000 suicide attempts per month by veterans under the care of the agency. The e-mail was written last February when CBS News was questioning the VA about the number of veterans who have tried to kill themselves.

Attorney Gordon Erspamer, whose father was one of the GI's exposed to massive radiation during the atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll in 1946 and later developed leukemia, is handling this case pro bono. He has done a lot of free work on behalf of vets since finally winning a $90,000 settlement for his dad. It took him 10 years fighting the VA to get disability benefits for him.

"If you add up the veterans' suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and compare it to the total combat deaths, the veteran suicides are higher," says Attorney Gordon Erspamer, who introduced a VA e-mail at the trial that showed an average of 18 vets a day are committing suicide. "The VA doesn't want that out."

Sens. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii and Patty Murray of Washington state said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among veterans. Murray, who clenched her jaw and seemed to shake with anger during the discussion, said she is tired of spending “every day for five-and-a-half years” trying to drag information out of VA.

In a stunning admission, top officials at the Veterans Health Administration confirmed that the agency’s own statistics show that an average of 126 veterans per week —6,552 veterans per year—commit suicide, according to an internal email distributed to several VA officials.

She said a study showed 6,250 veterans killed themselves in 2005 — and in his e-mails, Katz “not only backed up those numbers, but said they were much higher.” The emails also show that 12,000 vets a year that are under VA care are attempting suicide.

A second department e-mail message from Dr. Katz shown at the trial starts with “Shh!” and refers to the 12,000 veterans per year who attempt suicide while under department treatment. “Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” it asks.

This is the organization that is supposed to support, treat, counsel and give aid to our veterans. But this is the Bush era VA and they are obviously more concerned with making his sorry ass administration look good than they are with their stated mission. And we are paying their salaries.

You can and should read this and the related articles published by Veterans for Common Sense here.

Think about how bad it must be for this many young soldiers who survive the war, to be so absolutely desperate that they must take their own life when they come home. Something is horribly wrong here. And the one agency whose sole function is to protect and help them covers up the problem instead.

Now throw into that mix the fact that recruiting standards have been lowered so as to allow those who are already mentally unstable to join and serve. If stable men are so stressed out that they can only get relief through suicide, what chance do these less capable recruits have?

How wrong is a war where more troops kill themselves than get killed on the battlefield. How wrong is the policy that allows that to happen? And how can we even consider electing another man who publicly supports these policies and fully intends to continue them? Are they all crazy or are we?

cross posted at World Gone Mad

The other, less important news

expatbrian

I haven't posted much about politics lately. I'm pretty much bored and disgusted with the whole thing. It's just a repeat of all past election seasons with all the candidates telling us daily how bad the other candidates are and how only they can and will save us and the world. Of course, none of them can or will.

My home page is Google News and right now, in the long list of stories there, there is just one Iraq related story and that is about Petraeus getting promoted. It seems the war is no longer of any interest to the American people. Lots of news about Mugabe, Dalai Lama, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Jordan, and of course Texas religious fanatics, a new house full of murdered people in Chicago, a grizzly bear that some idiot decided could be tamed and the very latest on American Idol. Somehow American soldiers being brutally killed everyday didn't have the pazazz necessary to make the news.

So in case anyone is interested, and the evidence is strong that no one is, during the Pennsylvania primary this is what else was going on.

Pvt. Ron Harrison,26 of New Jersey, was killed by a "non-combat" injury near Baghdad.

Spc Steve Christofferson, 20 from Wisconsin, was blown up by an IED in Bayji.

Sgt Adam Kohlhaas, 26 of Missouri was blown up at the same time.

Two as yet unidentified Marines were blown up by an IED in Ramadi.

Another as yet unidentified Marine was blown up by an IED in Basra.

Four as yet unidentified Marines were wounded in those explosions.

A few bodies were found in and around Baghdad but they can't all be identified because they didn't all have heads.

I'm sure the families of the dead and wounded soldiers cared about it. That's probably about 100 people or so. The other 320 million of us apparently can't be bothered.

Pope's visit-a letdown for angry victims

by expatbrian

Crowds of former abuse victims, their families and supporters were angered and frustrated by the Pope's comments yesterday and rightly they should have been. Instead of apologizing to them directly for the dispicable and sinful behavior of the clergy involved and his church's systematic attempts to cover it up, he instead moaned about how it had hurt the church. In other words, the church is the victim here, not the thousands of innocent children whose lives were ruined by its representatives.

"It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen,” Benedict said, adding that he would work to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood. “It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way their mission."

At a news conference in Boston organized by a victims’ group, Mr. Robert Costello, who said he was abused by a priest in West Roxbury, Mass., starting when he was 10, said he was shocked that the pope would talk about his own suffering and that of the church while making no mention of the harm done to victims.

Various victims’ organizations requested several months ago that the pope or his representatives meet with them during the papal visit, Mr Isley said, but all such requests were met with silence. Indeed, the Pope refused to listen to any of the victim's input.

I said it yesterday and I will say it again. The pope and his Vatican cartel care only about one thing. The money. They have proven themselves to be arrogant, lying demagogues and unworthy of the respect or admiration of the millions of good catholics who they are supposed to represent. I hope every single person who was abused by these putrid ungodly pedophiles goes public and bleeds the Vatican coffers dry.

cross posted at World Gone Mad

The Pope is Coming...The Pope is Coming!

by expatbrian

Yeah, and I for one am barring the doors and windows and keeping the children locked inside for the duration.

The Church commissioned a study that found 10,667 people accused 4,392 priests of child sexual abuse from 1950 to 2002.

And that doesn't include the illicit probing, touching and wanking that's been going on behind rectory doors for the last 6 years. If this isn't all disgusting enough, reports show that More than 17 percent of accusers had siblings who were also allegedly abused. Among accusers, 46.9 percent said they had been abused numerous times. No wonder the church prohibits birth control. Big families means more easy pickin's for the priests.

Why is the Catholic Church finally willing to take this problem seriously? Is it because they have suddenly found a little morality? NOT. It's because after $2 billion dollars in settlement claims they just cannot afford it anymore.

Bill Maher posed an intriguing comparison on his show last night. What if these cases of abuse and molestation were coming from a big Day Care chain instead of the church? What would happen to the perpetrators and the head of that company? They would be thrown in jail ofcourse and become bugger fodder for the other inmates. But because it is the "high and mighty" church, priests are simply reassigned and settlement money is quietly paid.

Reuters has a good timeline of the major church incidents here and take a look at Maher's take on it last night. He also compares it to the recent child abuse allegations coming out of Texas. Oh,and for heavens sake, don't forget to lock up the children.




cross posted at World Gone Mad

All in the name of religion - again

As of today over 400 children have been taken into protective custody from the Fundamentalist LDS "Yearning for Zion" compound in Texas. The state is saying that all were either abused or in harms way. The pedophile bastard who leads this wayward but allegedly holy cult is already in prison so they probably can't charge him for today's crimes. In case you've forgotten, he was convicted of raping a 14 year old girl and then forcing her to marry her 19 year old cousin.

They are questioning and detaining some of the other men. Well, I'm sure glad to hear that!

Some of the women have chosen to stay with their children. SOME? And the rest have been told they are free to go or return to the compound. Why? Don't they maybe have any information about the nightmare that their children were being subjected to? Don't they have something to say about the policy of forcing girls as young as 14 to marry men as old as 50? Aren't they witnesses? Jeez!

How could this whole thing go on, especially after the ringleader was arrested and convicted, without someone knowing? I mean, shouldn't law enforcement or child services at least have monitored the situation from time to time? Well, they didn't. Not until a 16 year old girl who was forced to have a baby by some old pervert called and complained.

Oh, wait a minute. I forgot. This is Texas - again. And besides, it was a religious compound. All in the name of God.

Saturday Quickies

by expatbrian

Just have a few minutes right now but a couple of things are worth passing along. First, I just read that Charleton Heston has died at 84. He made over 100 movies in a career that spanned 60 years. I don't agree with his politics on guns but he surely had that acting thing down pat.

Jonolan has this excellent post up showing all the the members of this administration that hold both US and Isreali citizenship. It is incredible. The implications and possibilities are frightening.

And I just read this horrific account of the rape, sexual abuse and associated cover ups that have become part of the civilian contractor life in Iraq. It is an ongoing and pervasive nightmare. This excerpt concernes a 42 year old female civilian paramedic who woke up to this.

That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand--but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.

KBR immediately tried to shut her up and cover up the whole incident. When she contacted an attorney in the US via email to help her out, her computer was confiscated. Read the whole thing. It's just unbelievable that we, the public, have to pay the salaries of perverted shitheads like this. Well, I shouldn't say we. I don't pay anymore.

International Women's Day - 100 Years

by expatbrian

A confession from us (men) to you (women)

March 8, 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, a day initiated in the USA in February, 1908 by women demanding the right to vote and other equal treatment. The very fact that 100 years later we still have this day is a testament to the failure of this effort. It is still overwhelmingly a man's world.

Why is that? Why, when America is based on equality, equal access and equal freedoms, are women still struggling to attain that equality? Why, in this 21st civilized century are women still oppressed by men, even in this great country of ours?

Well, we men have a confession to make. It's because we are in charge and we don't want you to be equal. Never have - never will.

We insist on branding you as the weaker sex because we are frighteningly aware of how strong you are. For decades in the US, and still today in some parts of the world, we did not allow you an equal level of education. Not because we thought your place was in the home raising babies, although we firmly believe that it is, but because we didn't and still don't want you to be as educated, as prepared as we are. If you were, you might want some of our jobs and our power and as men we simply don't want and can't allow that to happen.

How effectively have we kept you in your place? Damn effectively. Of the 1,897 citizens who have served in the US Senate since 1789, a grand total of 35 have been women. 16 of those are serving right now. So, over the period of our nations history, 1.85% of the Senate seats have been held by women.

In the House, of the thousands who have served over the last 2 1/4 centuries, just 216 have been women including the 74 that are there now. Between both the House and the Senate, 16.3% are women. (The global average for women at parliamentary level is 17%)

That's about as much equality as we're willing to give.

What about that most noble of bodies, the Supreme Court? Ah, now that is a different story! These are not elected positions but appointments by the president HIMself. Of the 110 justices that have served on the Court, a grand total of.........drumroll.......... 2 have been women (1.8%). Again, equality American style.

And of course there has never been a president from among you. There may be in the near future, but that's ok now. Afterall, corporate America controls the actions of even the president, and corporate America is controlled by us.

These numbers are utterly justified because, if men were not in control of all three branches of government - at all times - then we couldn't control your sexuality, what you do with their bodies, and all the other roles that we allow you to play in society. We certainly can't leave these most important decisions up to women themselves. Shudder at the thought.

An excellent example of this is Roe Wade. Was this law passed because you demanded control over family planning through access to abortions? Only partially. Had the majority of men been against your right to choose, you wouldn't have it. But we finally realized that abortion rights also serve us, the men.

Afterall, without Roe/Wade, if every woman - every time she became pregnant - had to give birth, a whole lot more of US would be paying a whole lot more child support and marrying a whole lot more of YOU that we really didn't want to. And when we ultimately divorced you, we'd have to put up with that pesky alimony. That would be troublesome, problematic, inconvenient and just plain messy for us. So, despite religious adversity, even in today's ultra conservative Christian USA, Roe Wade is a-okay.

As men, we are brutally aware of our nearly absolute dependence upon women. It's been that way since we suckled at our mother's breast. This dependence, which we hide behind a facade of machoness, makes us resent you. Some of us even secretly hate you. To vent our anger and resentment we belittle and dehumanize you. We tell dirty jokes about you. We sexualize you unmercifully. We even beat and rape you.

Why? Because we can. Afterall, we are bigger and stronger than you are. And have more power. We hold all the cards. Sure, we allow laws that make those acts criminal. We have to in a 'free' society. But if you go public with your victimization, we will humiliate you, expose your most hidden secrets in court, and generally make your life miserable. So we have done everything we can to convince you to tolerate us, even build us up and make us feel masculine.

We like diversity in our women so, year by year we change you. Through the fashion and cosmetics and retail industries, which we control, we tell you how to dress, how long or short your skirts should be, what color lipstick is 'in', what uncomfortable shoes to wear and how to fix your hair just right. And we generally charge you more for these accessories than we do other men. We know you will eagerly pay the price. But, hey! We don't force you to wear burkhas. Or do we?

And by the way, there's a little stubble on your legs and under your arms. Take care of that, will you? Thanks a bunch.

We no longer restrict your education because, in this modern world, we need you in the workplace. There are just not enough of US to go around. And we pay you exactly what we think you are worth which is less than we pay other men.

We are confident that we can maintain this status quo indefinitely. Why? Because, even though you have an equal right to vote, even though as a group you control 50% of any and all ballots, we are convinced that you are too foolish to organize yourselves - to use that voting power - to make any meaningful changes.

And even if you did, what changes would you make? Enact meaningful equal pay legislation? Crack down on crime? Put in place a real war on drugs? Spend money to improve the quality of education? Bring the troops home? Stop our perpetual involvement in foreign wars? And take action on all of the other things that need to be done to protect your children? Yikes! Sorry, can't allow that. We, the men, know where the money needs to go and those things just ain't a priority.

We know your husband ran off with his young, pretty secretary. We know your son is in Iraq and your daughter is in rehab. We know your balloon payment is overdue. But have a happy International Women's Day.

PS: Rumor has it that for 2009 its gonna be minis, beaufonts, and the return of those wonderful garter belts in virginal white. Shop early.

(afterthought) What would the world be like if only women owned guns?

cross posted from World Gone Mad

Comparing the cost of the war

by expatbrian

Most of us cannot really comprehend amounts in the billions, let alone trillions of dollars. There is no frame of reference. But a new article from the NYT that I found at Veterans for Common Sense may help.

On Thursday, the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Senator Chuck Schumer, looked at the costs of the war. The witnesses included the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. Estimates for the total cost run between 2-3 trillion dollars. Thats 2-3 thousand thousand thousand thousand dollars.

Both men talked about large opportunities lost because of the money poured into the war. “For a fraction of the cost of this war,” said Mr. Stiglitz, “we could have put Social Security on a sound footing for the next half-century or more.”

...the money spent on the war each day is enough to enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start for a year, or make a year of college affordable for 160,000 low-income students through Pell Grants, or pay the annual salaries of nearly 11,000 additional border patrol agents or 14,000 more police officers.

That's each day people, not each week, month or year!

The Bush administration has tried its best to conceal the horrendous costs of the war. It has bypassed the normal budgetary process, financing the war almost entirely through “emergency” appropriations that get far less scrutiny.

Mr. Hormats told the committee:

“Normally, when America goes to war, nonessential spending programs are reduced to make room in the budget for the higher costs of the war. Individual programs that benefit specific constituencies are sacrificed for the common good ... And taxes have never been cut during a major American war. For example, President Eisenhower adamantly resisted pressure from Senate Republicans for a tax cut during the Korean War.”

Said Mr. Stiglitz: “Because the administration actually cut taxes as we went to war, when we were already running huge deficits, this war has, effectively, been entirely financed by deficits. The national debt has increased by some $2.5 trillion since the beginning of the war, and of this, almost $1 trillion is due directly to the war itself ... By 2017, we estimate that the national debt will have increased, just because of the war, by some $2 trillion.”

And we even have to argue about a national health care program? The money is there, for all of the rebuilding and social initiatives we need. But right now, we are letting a madman spend it, unchecked and unaccounted for, by the billions each and every day. Just who is really at fault here, people?

cross posted at World Gone Mad

Pick your nightmare

by expatbrian

Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Gaza, Somalia, Sudan, Algeria, Congo oh…and yeah, almost forgot…Iraq. Take your pick of which violent, horrific nightmare destination to read or write about.

Two thoughts come to me as I read the news this morning. One is, I am so overwhelmed by the amount of violence and insanity in the news, and it is so widespread-so pervasive, that I really thought I couldn’t actually post on any of it. So instead, I’m posting about that feeling of drowning in a sea of informational despair.

Second is, when reading through the news, Iraq was so far down the list of headlines as to be almost an afterthought. I go through Google headlines first, then usually BBC, Al Jazeera, WaPo and SF Chronicle in that order. There is so much election spewage that its easy to forget that we have men and women getting blown apart over there. Daily. I’m sure Bush and the Repubs love it - seeing the Iraq stories get lost in the sheer volume of other violent news.

I look at the pictures, like these, and wonder about the children that are horrifically victimized on a daily basis by the insanity inflicted upon them by adults. How can they possibly grow up without hate and vengeance consuming their very souls? How can we hear about it, see it, listen to the frightening stories about it and not lash out at those who are causing it? Are we so overwhelmed with the sheer volume of it that we just can't care anymore?

I guess this is why we let Bush get away with what he does. We just don’t feel it anymore. When we hear about dead civilians or 10 or 100 or even thousands, even if they are women and children, we just don’t feel anything anymore. Its just so absolutely common place.

It is so digusting and sad. So shocking. I would say we are turning into animals, but animals don’t behave this way. It is as if, in settling our disputes, violence and killing have become the method of first resort instead of last resort. Killing our own families and friends. Shooting our classmates and colleagues. Mutilating, whipping, stoning, hanging our women for “dishonoring us”. Molesting and abusing our own children. Letting our actions be guided by racial hatred instead of rational thought.

What has happened to us? For gods sake, what have we become?