politics

There’s an excellent posting from Dru Blood today entitled “The Importance of Dissent“.

Many people are tempted to stop protesting now that the war is in full swing. Many other people debate the effectiveness of the usual protest tactics — what does bocking traffic or holding demonstrations here in U.S. cities do to stop the conflict in Iraq? However, these are important issues, and shouldn’t stop, for two reasons.

Firstly, we must continue to express our discontent with the tactics undertaken by our goverment. To stop now, to shrug our shoulders and go home, is just admitting defeat. We can’t change anything by staying in our homes and ignoring it, and when our government isn’t truly representing us anymore — well, to quote the Declaration of Independence, “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall most likely effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Secondly, if we do nothing, we’re giving up our right to assemble, and in a day and age when more and more of our rights are disappearing, that’s a dangerous thing to do voluntarily. From Dru:

What protestors are doing is very important to the preservation of free speech. It might be annoying, it might be condemnable, it might even piss people off. But, damnit, it’s absolutely crucial that people continue to exercise their right to assemble and agitate peacefully as much as possible. If no one did, how easy would it be to erode that right and/or take it away altogether? In fact, many people say that there has already been a great deal of erosion in the right to assemble, considering protestors are forced to get parade licenses and have to work with the government and the police prior to being “granted” the right to assemble. There’s actually a great deal of red tape involved in exercising your right to assemble peacably, and that, I’m pretty sure, is different from the way it was during the Viet Nam war….which was the last time that protests were as large and as coordinated as they are now.

So… brave freedom fighters ? I guess that’s open to interpretation. However, protestors of any ilk are certainly doing a very important thing for the continuation of democracy. We are exercising muscles that, if left unused, could very possibly atrophy, leaving our democracy damaged and ineffective.

The mother of one of the members of politically conscious band Spearhead was recently questioned by Army officers about her son’s “un-American” activities. During the interview they displayed photos of her son at peace rallys, records of his travels, a list of people he worked with at the band’s management office, and revealed that her daughter — currently serving in the military, and deployed in the Gulf — had had her CD’s confiscated.

“She’d spoken in an interview about her daughter who has been deployed in the Gulf, and her son who is in this band Spearhead,” says Spearhead frontman Michael Franti. “They showed her a picture of her son wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Unfuck the world’ on the front, and ‘Dethrone the Bushes’ on the back. They told her that was an un-American statement. She said, ‘That’s free speech,’ and they said, ‘Well, things are changing these days.'”

(via RandomWalks)

Snippets from the Toronto Star’s Iraq War Index:

• \$850 billion: Estimated military spending in the world in 2002.
• 50: Percentage spent by U.S.
• 0.0015: Percentage spent by Iraq.
• 1 in 6: Chance the U.S. bombed Iraq on any given day last year.
• 98: During the first Gulf War, the reported “success rate” (or percentage of accurate strikes) by Tomahawk cruise missiles.
• 10: Pentagon’s estimated “success rate” after the war ended.
• 92: Between Sept. 14, 2002 and Feb. 7, 2003, percentage of news stories airing on NBC, ABC and CBS that originated directly from White House, Pentagon or State Department.
• 236,202: The number of times Osama bin Laden was mentioned in international media reports between Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 11, 2002.
• 57, 667: The number of times Osama bin Laden was mentioned between Sept. 11, 2002 and today.
• 66,648: The number of times Saddam Hussein was mentioned between Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 11, 2002.
• 225,147: The number of times Saddam Hussein was mentioned between Sept. 11, 2002 and today.
• 13: Percentage of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 who could find Iraq on a map prior to the war.
• 1: Number of countries that have used nuclear weapons against another country.

(via Stavros)

Most of the political camps have released their fundraising numbers, and Daily Kos has posted a quick summary:

1. Edwards: \$7.4 million
2. Kerry: \$7 million
3. Gephardt: \$3.6 million
4. Lieberman: \$3 million
5. Dean: \$2.6 million

The rest of the candidates are too embarrassed to release their numbers until they absolutely have to (April 15th).

Lots of interesting back and forth in the comments thread to that post, too. From the looks of it, the three top contenders right now are (in no particular order) Dean, Edwards, and Kerry. So far, between Dean and Kerry, I’d definitely go for Dean, but I really should take a closer look at Edwards to see what I think of him.

Sidenotes:

• Dean managed to beat his fundrasing goal by around 70%. Very impressive showing.
• Kerry’s site doesn’t seem to load in Safari. Might impact the “mac vote” (which, I’m sure, is a demographic that all the presidential contenders are worried about).

Wasn’t one of the major reasons for attacking Iraq because they had all these hidden Weapons of Mass Destruction, and it was our God-given duty to go find them? And now, weeks into the war, we’ve still found absolutely no evidence that any of these weapons actually exist?

Apparently that doesn’t matter.

A growing majority of Americans believe the war in Iraq is justified even if the United States does not find weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, public optimism about the progress of the fighting has surged as recent gains on the battlefield have eased fears that the allies will become bogged down in a long and costly war, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

As long as we’re winning, then anything’s justified. The ends justify the means — or even the motives — and the ends, of course, are determined by the propaganda we’re fed by our government and the media.

(via Daily Kos)

This post originally started as a reply to an e-mail I got today, but after babbling on and on, I figured that I’d repost it here, too. The gist of it is a lot of what I’ve been babbling about lately — pay attention and get involved.

Hey Kim!

On Friday, Apr 4, 2003, at 21:10 US/Pacific, Kimberley Kelley wrote:

Have any of you seen this? What do you think about it?

From: “Alaskans for Peace and Justice”
\<listmaster\@aks4peace.org>
Date: Tue Mar 25, 2003 07:51:52 US/Pacific
Subject: Tell Representative John Conyers You want a vote to Impeach

FYI — Please Notify Others

I forward you this action alert, sent to us by many members. I am soo… grateful to Rep. John Conyers for sticking his neck out like this.

Peace, Kate McClellan www.aks4peace.org

Subject: Rep. Conyers: “Do you want Bush impeached?”
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 17:19:00 -0900

This just in — Spread far and wide. Apologies for duplicates. House Representative John Conyers on the Judicial Committee is asking you — through his legislative assistant Alexia — fax or email if you want Bush impeached.

Fax to:(313) 226-2085 ATTN: ALEXIA, assistant to Hon. Congressman John Conyers

Message from Alexia: The phones are currently ringing off the hook, so please send a brief message stating whether you are for or against impeachment. email: john.conyers\@mail.house.gov OR Fax: (313) 226-2085

They are NOT introducing articles of impeachment now. They are only TALLYING.

Also, go to www.votetoimpeach.org for a thorough outline of reasons impeachment is called for (they are numerous), and to sign an online petition.

Yeah — I first heard about the Vote to Impeach website back in February, and babbled about it a bit on my weblog (Impeach Bush!). I have no idea if there’s really much chance, but I think I added my name to the list.

At this point, I don’t know how likely it is for Bush to actually get impeached, but the 2004 elections aren’t very far away, and I’m holding out hope that if nothing else, we may be able to vote the idjit out of office. To my mind, it’s far more important for anyone who’s concerned about the way Bush has been leading the country to start paying attention, check out the Democratic candidates, and (as horrible as it may seem), actually start paying attention to all this political crap.

I know that a lot of people I know have historically not paid much attention to politics, especially in Alaska. Heck, by the time most people in Alaska are voting, we usually have a good idea who’s going to win in a national election, and a lot of people use that as a point in the “why bother?” argument. However, I think if we paid attention to the 2000 elections enough to actually learn something, it might have been that individual votes, no matter how inconsequential they might seem, do count. What if just a few thousand — or even a few hundred — of the people who usually say “why bother?” had shown up at the polls in Florida? Bush didn’t win the popular vote, and he only got the Electoral College vote by a narrow margin. If there were a bit less apathy, and a bit more action behind the grumbling I hear so often, we might have a very different country today.

Okay, then, so what about all you in Alaska? I could easily imagine a lot of Alaskans returning to the same old argument of how Alaskan votes don’t really count, because of the way the Electoral College is set up. That may be so, but I’d offer two arguments against that.

First off, I’ve never been one to let that stop me from voting. Whether or not it “matters” in the grand scheme of things, I’ve always thought that if you don’t even make the attempt to voice your opinion, than you really don’t have much grounds to stand on when you start to complain. A democracy — our democracy — can only work if ‘we the people’ actually care enough to pay attention to it, to get involved, and to shake off the apathy that all too often keeps people away from the polls. Put most simply, in my (not necessarily) humble opinion, if you don’t vote, you’ve got absolutely no right to bitch. Do you believe that one candidate is better than another? Stand behind that belief, express it, and I’ll be a lot more likely to listen to you than if you just sit at home and abdicate your right to any say.

Secondly, I know that there are a lot of people living in Alaska who have family and friends “outside.” Talk to them, see where they stand. If you find a candidate that you support, do a little proselytizing. You may or may not convince anyone to vote for your candidate of choice, but with any luck, you might convince a few more people to pay attention, and to vote.

The right — and especially the religious right — may not be an ideology that I support, but I’ll say one thing for them, they know how to mobilize their troops. Too many times I’ve seen friends on the left end of the political spectrum bitch and moan about what’s going on or how things are being done (or not being done), but then do nothing about it. Meanwhile, people on the right end of the spectrum are getting together, spreading the word for their chosen candidate, and showing up to the polls in droves. I think too many people equate trying to talk about a political candidate with the stereotypical ultra-Christian missionaries we get knocking on our doors, trying to talk about their particular God of choice, and therefore instinctively shy away from doing anything remotely like that. Unfortunately, that’s probably just what we need. I think it’s time for the left to take a few lessons from the right. I don’t agree with their choices, but their methods sure do work.

For what it’s worth, my current candidate of choice is Howard Dean (Official website, Campaign weblog, Unofficial Dean weblog). I’ve been following him a lot, liking what he has to say and his approach, and even tossed a little money his way for the campaign (a first for me)! You might find another candidate more to your liking, but I figured one little plug wouldn’t hurt. ;)

Anyway, I’ll leave off for now — didn’t mean to turn this into such a missive. I will say one thing for Bush, though — much as I dislike him, and happy as I will be when he leaves office, his bungling has done more to get me actually active and paying attention to the world around me than any other event or person has in a very long time. I’m just hoping that I’m not the only person to be feeling this way.

As cheesy as it sounds, I believe that if we all start actually paying attention and getting involved, we can make a difference. I’m making an attempt.

How about the rest of you?