Politics

Politically, I’m very liberal — about as far left as one can go without sliding into Libertarianism.

Guantanamo on the Hudson

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A first-hand account of being jailed for protesting (even though she wasn’t really protesting, and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time) in New York during the RNC:

On Tuesday the 31st my friend Sarah and I were on our way home from vacation.  We were driving right through New York City and were listening to news on the radio about the protesters at the Republican National Convention.  We wanted to stop and bear witness to the protests.  We wanted to add two to their numbers, if only for a few moments, as we each had to be at work on Wednesday.  We drove to town, parked the car in a garage and rode the subway downtown.  We had heard that there was to be a rally in Union Square Park from 5-7pm.  It was published information and it never occurred to us that we would be participating in anything illegal.

[…]

Soon a line of police closed off the other intersection at Irving and 16th, trapping us on 16th St.  We didn’t get on the street, we didn’t climb onto anything to see what was happening, we didn’t yell, we didn’t attempt to run, we didn’t appear violent in any way.  There were probably 100 of us together there on the south side of 16th St, I think that the police had trapped other bubbles of people on the north side and farther up and down the sidewalk.  We saw the police roll out a yellow net, a mesh bolt of fabric that they unrolled and used to push us into a tight group.

[…]

Eventually the police pressed us tightly together into a group. And then they kept pressing…. People were shouting to the police: “Tell us what to do and we’ll do it” and instructing us to hold onto the individuals the police were grabbing: “Don’t let them take them away.”  I was on the perimeter of the group and I was scared that they would grab me next…. I was carrying a bag and yelled at Sarah to get her ID out and gave her some money, and someone else passed around a Sharpie and we wrote the number for the National Lawyers Guild on our arms.  This was when I really knew that we were in trouble, even though it had never occurred to me that I had done anything illegal.

[…]

The police were instructed to lie to us, to pacify us, to tell us that they would move us soon, “It will only be a little longer.” Some police were honest and said they didn’t know what was going on, while others took out their hostility on us, blaming us for “clogging the system” and lecturing us about how we deserved what we got.  There were instances of sexism and verbal abuse.  We were held in numerous cells and we were often reshuffled with people from other cells, a tactic I believe was purposeful to help discourage solidarity.

[…]

I was held for 14 hours in Pier 57, also called “Guantanamo on the Hudson,” a warehouse previously used by the MTA as an automobile garage.  The conditions were appalling.  There were numerous cages built out of wire fence and razor wire.  The concrete floor was filthy, covered with oil residue, soot and chemicals, there were in fact still signs posted around the facility warning of the chemicals.  People experienced rashes, chemical burns, asthma attacks and head to toe filth.  Some chose to stand or sit against the fence all night, but I was so exhausted I lay right on the ground and was caked and covered in filth.

[…]

Arriving at Central Booking we were again searched and I spent time in three cells before I was fingerprinted around 8pm.  I was held in two cells and in hallways finally arriving where I would spend the night around 11pm.  It was here that we were able to use the phone, or at least some of us were able to use the phone before the guards grew tired and refused to respond to any more phone requests.  There were about 27 of us in this cell.  Here we were given soap and toilet paper for the first time, and those women who were on their periods were given appropriate products.

[…]

Mug shots and waiting in various halls took two hours and then a new group of us were taken to another cell.  This time I waited over three hours before my name was called and I was transported to a new cell, this time to see an attorney.  From there it took another two hours until I stood in front of the judge and was released.  It was 8:30pm Thursday night, I had been put in handcuffs on the sidewalk of 16th St. at 7:30pm Tuesday night.

[…]

I believe that that the mass arrests were a tactic to discourage any protesting.  There are people who are full-time direct action activists, but when the level of commitment is raised from one afternoon of protesting to three days of work lost, people are likely to be scared away.  I know that I personally am unlikely to attend any protest that is not legally permitted and well organized.  At the same time I feel that my arrest and subsequent detaining have encouraged me to become even more aware of politics, my rights and any possible influence I might have over issues that concern me.  I plan to monitor non-mainstream news sources daily to stay alert and aware.

There’s much, much more to the full article than what I’ve excerpted here — go check it out.

Welcome to George Bush’s America, 2004.

When November rolls around — vote.

(via Mike)

[![iTunes]] “God is a DJ” by Faithless from the album Sunday 8 PM (1999, 8:01).

[iTunes]: http://images.apple.com/itunesaffiliates/logos/iTunes_sm_bdg61x15.png {width=”61″ height=”15″}

Two digits, thousands of votes

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Diebold’s voting machines scare me more and more every time I read about them. The latest bombshell? It’s not bad enough that the individual voting machines aren’t as secure as they should be, but the tabulation machines that tally all the votes from the individual machines can be manipulated by entering two digits.

Issue: Manipulation technique found in the Diebold central tabulator — 1,000 of these systems are in place, and they count up to two million votes at a time.

By entering a 2-digit code in a hidden location, a second set of votes is created. This set of votes can be changed, so that it no longer matches the correct votes. The voting system will then read the totals from the bogus vote set. It takes only seconds to change the votes, and to date not a single location in the U.S. has implemented security measures to fully mitigate the risks.

This program is not “stupidity” or sloppiness. It was designed and tested over a series of a dozen version adjustments.

[…]

The central tabulator is far more vulnerable than the touch screen terminals. Think about it: If you were going to tamper with an election, would you rather tamper with 4,500 individual voting machines, or with just one machine, the central tabulator which receives votes from all the machines? Of course, the central tabulator is the most desirable target.

With voting systems like this installed in key states, it’s frighteningly possible that it won’t matter who anybody votes for.

(via MeFi)

Former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes on George W. Bush

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Atrios points to a that’s worth seeing — or if you can’t see it, the transcript is worth reading.

: http://69.59.167.160/ “Greater Democracy”

Josh Marshall reports that this is in fact Barnes in the video. The beginning and end show Barnes speaking at a rally, Marshall says this was recorded 6/8/04. The middle portion has Barnes seated, speaking as though in an interview.

Transcribed myself watching the video:

Speaking to an audience:

“Let’s talk a minute about John Kerry and George Bush, and I know them both. And I’m not name dropping, saying I know them both. See I got…I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard when I was the Lt. Governor of Texas, and I’m not necessarily proud of that. (audience laughs) But, But I did it, and I got a lot of other people into the National Guard because I thought that’s what people should do when you’re in office and you helped a lot of rich people. And I walked to the Vietnam Memorial wall the other day and I looked at the names of the people that died in Vietnam, and I became more ashamed of myself than I’ve ever been because it’s the worst thing I did was help a lot of wealthy supporters, and a lot of people who had family names of importance get into the National Guard. And I’m very sorry about that, and I’m ashamed. And I apologize to you, the voters of Texas. (Applause)”

Cut to Interview:

“John Kerry volunteered to go to Vietnam. And that was a pretty courageous thing, because John Kerry could have gone on and gotten another degree. He was in a position where he didn’t have to go to Vietnam. I admired that so much, that he went. But I admired even more the fact that he came back talking about Vietnam and what a mistake it was. A matter of fact he talked about it so much that he got the FBI looking at him and got on Richard Nixon’s list. And that took, that takes a lot of courage of a young man who particularly has an interest in politics and that wants to serve this county to go get on the President’s black list. And I know a little bit about that because I got on Richard Nixon’s black list also, and that’s a story for another time. But it’s, it’s incredible that John Kerry, uhh, had the courage to go do that. And, you know, I think he deserves to be in Profiles of Courage for his service in Vietnam. But I also think, and I’m not upset with him at all that he came back and, and, talked about Vietnam and said that we were wrong. And I think he deserves equally as much credit for that as he does fighting. We should not look upon anyone that disagreed with our Vietnam policy as being unpatriotic. As we should not look upon anyone today that disagrees with our policy, or our lack of policy in Iraq. I am very unhappy with Republicans that want to make anyone that questions this administration’s policy in Iraq is, is not being a freedom loving American.”

Cut back to him speaking to the audience:

“And I tell you, for the Republicans to jump on John Kerry and say that he’s not a patriot, after he went to Vietnam and was shot at and fought for our freedom and came back here and protested against the war -“he’s a flip flopper.\” Let me tell you, John Kerry is 100 times a better patriot than George Bush or Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld.\”

(via Atrios)

The Seattle Times: Kerry for President

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The Seattle Times has officially endorsed Kerry for President.

Four years ago, this page endorsed George W. Bush for president. We cannot do so again — because of an ill-conceived war and its aftermath, undisciplined spending, a shrinkage of constitutional rights and an intrusive social agenda.

The Bush presidency is not what we had in mind. Our endorsement of John Kerry is not without reservations, but he is head and shoulders above the incumbent.

iTunes: “You’re So Physical (Live)” by Nine Inch Nails from the album Solid Gold Hell (1991, 4:58).

I had an *rtion

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More with me finding humor in places I really probably shouldn’t.

difranco

Apparently, a bunch of people got offended by Ani DiFranco appearing in Inc. magazine “wearing a t-shirt that appears to read, ‘I had an abortion.'”

Personally, I think everyone is just jumping to conclusions. The shirt is partially obscured, and while it’s certainly possible that ‘abortion’ is the word in question, that’s certainly not the only possibility.

Now, assuming the shirt is grammatically correct, the word in question does need to begin with a vowel, as “an” is used immediately beforehand. Now, I have no idea what Ani’s sexual orientation is, but she could simply be using the shirt to brag about having a sex life, as whether it be penile, digital, or a strap-on, “insertion” is a perfectly good possibility.

Or, perhaps she recently expounded upon her stance on one point or another, and had an “assertion”.

If she’d just gotten back from the gym, she might have had an “exertion”.

If we drop the assumption that the shirt used the English language correctly, more possibilities appear. For instance, if someone had misquoted her in a previous article, she might be wearing the shirt to subtly complain about having had a “distortion” in a prior interview.

And while I’m finding it difficult to figure out how to work “proportion” into our scenario, it’s another option. Perhaps a little dadaist weirdness is all this is.

In any case, it seems to be a fair amount of controversy over a shirt when we can’t even be entirely sure what the message on the shirt says.

Cheney suddenly supports gay marriage

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Talk about flip-flopping. Dick Cheney, who until now, despite having an openly lesbian daughter, has steadfastly stuck with the party line on gay marriage, suddenly seems to be a little more open-minded about the issue.

Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, spoke supportively about gay relationships on Tuesday, saying “freedom means freedom for everyone.”

At a campaign rally in this Mississippi River town, Cheney was asked about his stand on gay marriage – an issue for which his boss, President Bush, has pushed for a constitutional amendment to ban such unions.

“Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it’s an issue our family is very familiar with,” Cheney told an audience that included his daughter. \”With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone … People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.

“The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that’s been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage,” he said.

From the tone of the article and Cheney’s remarks, it appears that contrary to Bush’s drive to amend the Constitution, Cheney supports letting the states decide for themselves how to handle the issue.

Interesting — but I have to admit, I’m easily cynical enough to really wonder about the timing of this comment after so many years of simply backing Bush’s bigotry. I’m thinking that T has the right idea…

My theory? The Republican convention is just around the corner, and polls are showing that Bush and Kerry are pretty much in a statistical dead heat. Could this be a ploy by the Bush administration to soften the image of the Bush/Cheney ticket on the same sex marriage issue, since so many people who are opposed to same sex marriage are also opposed to a constitutional amendment banning it? Also, gay voters gave Bush about 1 million votes in 2000. Now with many of the “Austin 12”—the hand-picked gay & lesbian Republicans with whom Bush met after he refused to meet with the Log Cabin Republicans—bolting, could this be an attempt to at least keep a few of those 1 million voters who cast ballots for Bush last time around?

Call me cynical, but I think this may be a very thinly veiled attempt to salvage at least a few of those votes.

Gotta admit, that sounds about right to me.

iTunes: “Making Plans for Nigel” by Primus from the album Miscellaneous Debris (1992, 3:35).

It’s only a matter of time

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Citing an unstable political climate, proven stockpiles of chemical and nuclear weapons, a rigidly government-controlled media, and the need to confront emerging threats in a timely fashion, President George W. Bush announced today that the United States has launched a full-scale invasion of the United States.

(from Karl)

iTunes: “Condensers” by Goldenthal, Elliot from the album Heat (1995, 2:34).

Schwarzkopf avoids endorsing Bush

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Four years ago, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf enthusiastically endorsed George W. Bush in his presidential bid.

“… Recalling back to Operation Desert Storm, I can’t help asking myself: Wouldn’t it be great for our armed forces and for America if we could have another commander-in-chief named George Bush with Dick Cheney on his team?” Schwarzkopf said.

This year, however, “Stormin'” Norman appears to be singing a different tune. On Tuesday’s Hardball television show, host Chris Matthews tried to sound out who Schwarzkopf would be voting for.

MATTHEWS:  Who are you voting for?

(LAUGHTER)

SCHWARZKOPF:  I’ve—you know, I’ve…

MATTHEWS:  Boy, would I love to know!

SCHWARZKOPF:  I’ve always told you…

MATTHEWS:  I’d love to know.

SCHWARZKOPF:  I’ve always told you I’m an independent.

MATTHEWS:  But you got to vote, you know?  Is it going to be for Bush, Kerry, or Nader.  I don’t think it’s Nader, so how about one of the other two?

SCHWARZKOPF:  What’s wrong with Nader?  You don’t like Nader?

MATTHEWS:  I’m just—I don’t think he’s your man.  I’m just—I’m trying to probe here, General.  I’m just probing.  No comment?

SCHWARZKOPF:  Let me put it this way.  You know, I’ll know exactly who I’m voting for the day I pull the lever on that machine…or push the buttons, whatever it happens to be.

Okay, sure, it’s not exactly an endorsement for Kerry (or even Nader), either, but there’s definitely not the cheerleading for Bush that was going on during the 2000 presidential race.

If word does come out that Schwarzkopf’s vote really is going for someone other than Bush, that could probably give a good many people pause.

(via Atrios via Al Rodgers)

iTunes: “Is There Anybody Out There?” by Pink Floyd from the album Wall, The (1979, 2:39).

Preaching to the Choir

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Cambridge, OH:

On Saturday morning, I went to Cambridge with a friend. Wanting to see the President, but not wanting to be seen as supporting his policies, I wore a Kerry/Edwards T-shirt. […] As I approached the security area, one low-level security person asked me to turn my shirt inside out. As I said, I was only there to hear the President, and so I complied. When I got to the main security area, however, the same man came up to me again, told me he had checked with his superiors, and that I would not be allowed into the event with the Kerry/Edwards T-shirt.

Traverse City, MI:

…Bush campaign staffers tore up the 55-year-old social studies teacher’s ticket and refused her admission because she sported a small sticker on her blouse that touted the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards.

Rio Rancho, NM:

Last week, some Democrats who signed up to hear Vice President Dick Cheney speak Saturday in this town near Albuquerque were refused tickets unless they signed a pledge to endorse President Bush.

Tampa, FL:

The reports and interviews by the St. Petersburg Times suggest it was the volunteers who first demanded the three protesters surrender their small signs, which derided George W. Bush and brought attention to Gay Pride Month. Summoned to the scene, police charged the protesters with trespassing when they refused to give up the signs or to leave. Volunteers at the Legends Field event say they were just following orders given by event organizers that prohibited signs on the field. But video footage obtained by the Times appears to show the rule was selectively enforced. Even as the disturbance unfolded, numerous crowd members were allowed to wave pro-Bush signs, some handmade, some professionally printed.

More of Bush and company applying his ridiculously nearsighted “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” policy to his own constituents. It’s very clear now: if you’re not a raving fan, you have no business being anywhere near the President of the United States.

(via BOP)

iTunes: “Never Enough (Big)” by Cure, The from the album Mixed Up (1990, 6:07).

Iran planning to attack US forces

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If this is true, this could be very, very bad:

“The rhetoric coming out of the Bush administration has convinced Iran that military conflict is inevitable and rather than await an attack at a time and place of America’s choosing, the Iranians will try to inflict significant damage to U.S. forces on Iraqi soil by means of the Mahdi Army and other Shi’a groups,” an informed intelligence source told This Is Rumor Control. Senior officials of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency would not comment on these reports, but a former senior intelligence officer said that the conclusion was “a no brainer.” As he noted: “If you had U.S. troops on your doorstep and George Bush calling you a part of the axis of evil you would take steps to protect yourself. And it would be better to protect yourself on Iraqi soil than to have to do so on Iranian soil. That is what they are doing. Are we surprised? We shouldn’t be.”

As if we weren’t in a bad enough position already, now Bush’s incessant sabre-rattling has gone and apparently stirred up another hornet’s nest. We could be in a world of hurt soon, if this comes to pass.

When this was all getting started, there were a few satirical articles floating around (that I don’t have time to search out links for right now) taking all of the US’s stated reasons for invading Iraq and turning them around as if it were the US that was going to be invaded due to our stockpiles of WMD’s, propensity for invading sovereign nations, and so on. Things like this sometimes make me wonder if we might not be that far away from that actually happening (realistically, probably not — we’re still perceived as far too much of a superpower to be on the receiving end of an invasion — but we’re certainly not making any friends in the world right now).

Scary stuff.

(via Dave, BOP and The Republic of T)

iTunes: “Your Eyes are Like a Cup of Tea (Al Yunic Sharbouni Ate)” by Master Musicians of Jajouka from the album Brian Jones pres. the Pipes of Pan at Jajouka (1995, 10:34).