Politics

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

I'm a terrorist!

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Or rather, if I lived in Oregon and participated in a peace demonstration, I could be branded a terrorist and face life imprisonment if this legislation goes through:

The harshest critics of the war protests in downtown Portland angrily called the demonstrators “terrorists” and wished aloud that the police and courts would treat them as such.

This morning, that idea gets put to the test at the Oregon Legislature, where a ranking senator has introduced a bill to “create the crime of terrorism” and apply it to people who intentionally cause injury while disrupting commerce or traffic.

If convicted, they would face imprisonment for life.

Jimminy frikkin’ Christmas. This kind of crap makes me sick.

Look, if some of the protesters get out of hand and “intentionally cause injury while disrupting commerce or traffic,” then they’re criminals, and deserve to be treated as such. Arrest them, try them, and, if necessary, jail them. But they would be criminals, not ‘terrorists’, and certainly not deserving of life imprisonment!

(via Tom Tomorrow)

Contributions

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I went ahead and made my first-ever political contribution today, after thinking about it through the weekend. Hey mom — is there a line for that in my baby book?

Thank you for your contribution to Dean for America.
Your support will help me share a new vision for America that includes:

  • Guaranteed access to quality health care for every American.
  • An American foreign policy that embraces multi-lateralism, and that would seek to resolve conflicts in concert with our allies.
  • A federal budget that is balanced, because we can only have social justice if we have a strong fiscal foundation.

Your continued support is critical to our campaign’s success. I hope you also will consider inviting your family, friends, and associates to visit www.deanforamerica.com and make a contribution to our campaign.

With best wishes, Howard Dean, MD

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Why we're invading

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Finally — a simple, concise, clear explanation of why we’re invading Iraq, in the form of a dialogue between a ‘Warmonger’ and a ‘Peacenik.’

(by Bill Davidson, via jwz)

Peacenik: Why did you say we are we invading Iraq?

Warmonger: We are invading Iraq because it is in violation of security council resolution 1441. A country cannot be allowed to violate security council resolutions.

Peacenik: But I thought many of our allies, including Israel, were in violation of more security council resolutions than Iraq.

Warmonger: It’s not just about UN resolutions. The main point is that Iraq could have weapons of mass destruction, and the first sign of a smoking gun could well be a mushroom cloud over NY.

Peacenik: Mushroom cloud? But I thought the weapons inspectors said Iraq had no nuclear weapons.

Warmonger: Yes, but biological and chemical weapons are the issue.

Peacenik: But I thought Iraq did not have any long range missiles for attacking us or our allies with such weapons.

Warmonger: The risk is not Iraq directly attacking us, but rather terrorists networks that Iraq could sell the weapons to.

Peacenik: But coundn’t virtually any country sell chemical or biological materials? We sold quite a bit to Iraq in the eighties ourselves, didn’t we?

Warmonger: That’s ancient history. Look, Saddam Hussein is an evil man that has an undeniable track record of repressing his own people since the early eighties. He gasses his enemies. Everyone agrees that he is a power-hungry lunatic murderer.

Peacenik: We sold chemical and biological materials to a power-hungry lunatic murderer?

Warmonger: The issue is not what we sold, but rather what Saddam did. He is the one that launched a pre-emptive first strike on Kuwait.

Peacenik: A pre-emptive first strike does sound bad. But didn’t our ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, know about and green-light the invasion of Kuwait?

Warmonger: Let’s deal with the present, shall we? As of today, Iraq could sell its biological and chemical weapons to Al Quaida. Osama BinLaden himself released an audio tape calling on Iraqis to suicide-attack us, proving a partnership between the two.

Peacenik: Osama Bin Laden? Wasn’t the point of invading Afghanistan to kill him?

Warmonger: Actually, it’s not 100% certain that it’s really Osama Bin Laden on the tapes. But the lesson from the tape is the same: there could easily be a partnership between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein unless we act.

Peacenik: Is this the same audio tape where Osama Bin Laden labels Saddam a secular infidel?

Warmonger: You’re missing the point by just focusing on the tape. Powell presented a strong case against Iraq.

Peacenik: He did?

Warmonger: Yes, he showed satellite pictures of an Al Quaeda poison factory in Iraq.

Peacenik: But didn’t that turn out to be a harmless shack in the part of Iraq controlled by the Kurdish opposition?

Warmonger: And a British intelligence report…

Peacenik: Didn’t that turn out to be copied from an out-of-date graduate student paper?

Warmonger: And reports of mobile weapons labs…

Peacenik: Weren’t those just artistic renderings?

Warmonger: And reports of Iraqis scuttling and hiding evidence from inspectors…

Peacenik: Wasn’t that evidence contradicted by the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix?

Warmonger: Yes, but there is plenty of other hard evidence that cannot be revealed because it would compromise our security.

Peacenik: So there is no publicly available evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

Warmonger: The fact that we can’t find any weapons of mass distruction proves that he’s hiding them from us.

Peacenik: Don’t you think if Iraq has any weapons of mass destruction hidden somewhere, the best course of action is to have UN weapons inspectors look for them and destroy them safely and without any loss of human life?

Warmonger: The inspectors are not detectives, it’s not their JOB to find evidence. You’re missing the point.

Peacenik: So what is the point?

Warmonger: The main point is that we are invading Iraq because resolution 1441 threatened “severe consequences.” If we do not act, the security council will become an irrelevant debating society.

Peacenik: So the main point is to uphold the rulings of the security council?

Warmonger: Absolutely. …unless it rules against us.

Peacenik: And what if it does rule against us?

Warmonger: In that case, we must lead a coalition of the willing to invade Iraq.

Peacenik: Coalition of the willing? Who’s that?

Warmonger: Britain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain, and Italy, for starters.

Peacenik: I thought Turkey refused to help us unless we gave them tens of billions of dollars.

Warmonger: Nevertheless, they may now be willing.

Peacenik: I thought public opinion in all those countries was against war.

Warmonger: Current public opinion is irrelevant. The majority expresses its will by electing leaders to make decisions.

Peacenik: So it’s the decisions of leaders elected by the majority that is important?

Warmonger: Yes.

Peacenik: But George Bush wasn’t elected by voters. He was selected by the U.S. Supreme C…-

Warmonger: I mean, we must support the decisions of our leaders, however they were elected, because they are acting in our best interest. This is about being a patriot. That’s the bottom line.

Peacenik: So if we do not support the decisions of the president, we are not patriotic?

Warmonger: I never said that.

Peacenik: So what are you saying? Why are we invading Iraq?

Warmonger: As I said, because there is a chance that they have weapons of mass destruction that threaten us and our allies.

Peacenik: But the inspectors have not been able to find any such weapons.

Warmonger: Iraq is obviously hiding them.

Peacenik: You know this? How?

Warmonger: Because we know they had the weapons ten years ago, and they are still unaccounted for.

Peacenik: The weapons we sold them, you mean?

Warmonger: Precisely.

Peacenik: But I thought those biological and chemical weapons would degrade to an unusable state over ten years.

Warmonger: But there is a chance that some have not degraded.

Peacenik: So as long as there is even a small chance that such weapons exist, we must invade?

Warmonger: Yes.

Peacenik: But North Korea actually has large amounts of usable chemical, biological, AND nuclear weapons, AND long range missiles that can reach the west coast AND it has expelled nuclear weapons inspectors, AND threatened to turn America into a sea of fire.

Warmonger: That’s a diplomatic issue.

Peacenik: So why are we invading Iraq instead of using diplomacy?

Warmonger: Aren’t you listening? We are invading Iraq because we cannot allow the inspections to drag on indefinitely. Iraq has been delaying, deceiving, and denying for over ten years, and inspections cost us tens of millions.

Peacenik: But I thought war would cost us tens of billions.

Warmonger: Yes, but this is not about money. This is about security.

Peacenik: But wouldn’t a pre-emptive war against Iraq ignite radical Muslim sentiments against us, and decrease our security?

Warmonger: Possibly, but we must not allow the terrorists to change the way we live. Once we do that, the terrorists have already won.

Peacenik: So what is the purpose of the Department of Homeland Security, color-coded terror alerts, and the Patriot Act? Don’t these change the way we live?

Warmonger: I thought you had questions about Iraq.

Peacenik: I do. Why are we invading Iraq?

Warmonger: For the last time, we are invading Iraq because the world has called on Saddam Hussein to disarm, and he has failed to do so. He must now face the consequences.

Peacenik: So, likewise, if the world called on us to do something, such as find a peaceful solution, we would have an obligation to listen?

Warmonger: By “world”, I meant the United Nations.

Peacenik: So, we have an obligation to listen to the United Nations?

Warmonger: By “United Nations” I meant the Security Council.

Peacenik: So, we have an obligation to listen to the Security Council?

Warmonger: I meant the majority of the Security Council.

Peacenik: So, we have an obligation to listen to the majority of the Security Council?

Warmonger: Well… there could be an unreasonable veto.

Peacenik: In which case?

Warmonger: In which case, we have an obligation to ignore the veto.

Peacenik: And if the majority of the Security Council does not support us at all?

Warmonger: Then we have an obligation to ignore the Security Council.

Peacenik: That makes no sense.

Warmonger: We have to liberate the Iraqi people from an oppressive dictator no matter what anyone says.

Peacenik: You want to liberate the Iraqi people by carpet bombing their country without provocation or international support?

Warmonger: If you love Iraq so much, you should move there. Or maybe France, with all the other cheese-eating surrender monkeys. It’s time to boycott their wine and cheese, no doubt about that.

Peacenik: Here…have a pretzel, instead.

Chocolate bombs

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I’ll get away from the constant war/protest posts eventually, but I came across this report on CNN and had to share it: Brazilian protesters toss eclairs at U.S. consulate

More than 2,000 anti-war protesters on Friday marched to the U.S. Consulate, where they burned American flags and tossed balloons filled with pink paint.

The protesters also threw chocolate eclairs at the consulate, shouting “Let’s bombard the consulate!” In Portuguese, chocolate eclairs are called “bombas de chocolate,” which translates as “chocolate bombs.”

Protest reports

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I’m going to collect some of the various protest news stories I find here, just for an idea of how things went…if you happen to stop by and know of any good stories/links, feel free to post them in the comments!

A day of protest

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My work was kind enough to let me call in and take a personal day today, and I spent the entire day at the “Day of” protest in front of the Federal Building in downtown Seattle. I’m home now — tired and footsore, but very happy.

I’d been considering seeing if I could take the day off since I first started hearing about the various protests planned for the first day of the war, and after watching the news reports last night, decided to see if I could do it. I called work at about ten this morning, and while my manager wasn’t available, the day shift leader assured me that if I didn’t hear back with a call asking me to come in, I’d be okay to take the day off. After waiting around the apartment until noon to be sure everything was okay, I headed out the door and started walking down the hill.

Chemical scare at the Quest building

As I passed Seventh Avenue, I realized that I could see emergency lights flashing a few blocks down, so I went ahead and took a detour. Turns out that the Quest building across the street from the downtown Barnes and Noble had received some sort of “suspicious letter,” and hazmat teams were in the process of checking the building out. This is something like the seventh chemical scare in the past week for Seattle, as I found out while watching the King5 newsfeed last night — they’ve all turned out to be hoaxes so far, so the authorities are assuming that it may be some sort of protest action, though as yet, there’s no definite word.

Protest at the Federal Building

When I got to the Federal Building at about 12:30pm or so, there were already a good hundred fifty or so people gathered, and the number grew and grew as the day went on. I spent the majority of the next eight hours here, mingling with the crowd, talking with people, listening to public speakers, getting a pocketful of flyers and literature from various groups, and (of course) taking a ton of pictures.
The Westlake Center protest joins us

By the time 5pm rolled around — the ‘official’ start to the protest — the group at the Federal Building was easily a good few hundred strong. As it turns out, though, there was another much larger protest going on concurrently a few blocks away at the Westlake Center Plaza, and at 5pm, that entire group marched down to join our group at the Federal Building. Suddenly the gathered throngs swelled by what felt like an order of magnitude. I’m no good at estimating crowd numbers, but 1500-2000 wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

During the march to Westlake Center and back

At seven, the march portion of today’s protest started, and we all went on a round trip through downtown, marching from the Federal Building at 2nd and Marion, up Marion to 4th Ave., down 4th to Pine, then back to 2nd and back down to the Federal Building. Chants and slogans filled the air, along with honks and cries of support from commuters sitting in their cars watching us all pass by, and waves from people in officebuilding windows along the way.

More protest schedules and details can be found at the following websites: The Emergency Response Network | No War Against Iraq Coalition of Washington | Green Party of Washington State | Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War (SNOW) | Not In Our Name Seattle | Church Council of Greater Seattle After the march, there were a few more speakers, then the day’s protest was ‘officially’ called to a halt, though I expect there will be some people camped out there all night long until tomorrow’s protests start. I’m guessing that tomorrow’s protests will be even larger than today’s were — as it’s a Friday, fewer college students will have classes, more people may be able to escape work, and there is a planned student walkout scheduled for noon. I’ll need to go into work tomorrow (while I’d love to participate again, I can only afford to miss so many days of work), but I may be able to join in again this weekend.

All in all, an excellent day. No problems at any point from what I could see, either. While there was a definite police presence, noone was foolish enough to do anything to cause any difficulties, and the assembled officers got to have a day to just stand around and watch the protesters. There were a few moments towards the end of the night that I was afraid might boil over — there was a large contingent of riot troops out acting as crowd control, and not all the protesters were entirely eager to clear the streets after the march so that traffic could resume moving through downtown — but if anyone did anything more than grumble, it didn’t happen anywhere near where I could see it, nor did I hear rumors of anything from anyone else.

All 79 of the pictures I took today have been posted in the family photo gallery. I’ll work on more descriptive names bit by bit, but at least the pics are there now.

It begins

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After holding back for a whopping 90 minutes after Bush’s 48-hour deadline, cruise missiles started falling on Baghdad about 45 minutes ago.

Bush is just starting to address the nation.

Update: Two things stuck out at me during Bush’s speech. First, that he made sure to do his best to make it Saddam’s fault if innocent civillians get killed, because of his placing military personell and equipment in civillian areas. Second, that he already mentioned that this war could be harder and go on longer than some people expect. That didn’t take long. Bleah.

10 minutes

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The fact that I can do a countdown to when the bombs could start falling is probably one of the single most freaky and surreal things about this whole mess.