The #1 Issue

Seriously. Prop. 19 in California, the ballot measure to legalize marijuana (well, to a large degree), is the one I have my eye on most closely. And despite what happens in Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Colorado, Nevada, and every other state with an important congressional race, Prop. 19 is the one that gives me the most hope for progress, and the one that will crush me if defeated.

I have thought it might make me seem shallow to have my focus on marijuana legalization when so much else is at stake. Thanks to Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, editors-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason magazine respectively, for this reminder why the issue is so important.

The 858,000 marijuana-related arrests made each year -- many involving minors, non-violent offenders, and those possessing insignificant amounts -- accounts for more than half of all drug-related arrests and takes a huge toll on the criminal justice system and lower-income communities at every level. No one seriously questions that the drug war disproportionately impacts minorities and that most "drug-related" crime is in fact a result of the black market status of drugs. Mexican drug gangs may be violent but there is no reason to believe that Mexican marijuana merchants would be any more violent than Mexican mango merchants.

And make no mistake: The drug war is effectively a war on marijuana, by far the only illegal drug used by more 1 percent of the adult population on a regular basis.

Think about that. 858,000 marijuana-related arrests each year. And given that we are still living in an era when some major politicians can't even get on board with medical marijuana initiatives, I would gladly trade you a Harry Reid for a Sharron Angle in exchange for a cultural shakeup that would result from the passage of a marijuana legalization measure. Gladly.

Hawaii Governor Vetoes Civil Unions for Gays

So much for all that bullshit hoopla about it being OK as long as we don't try to call it marriage. Damn her!

“I have been open and consistent in my opposition to same-sex marriage, and find that House Bill 444 is essentially same-sex marriage by another name,” the governor, a Republican, said.

Monday Morning Musings

I'm not sure when I started obsessing about life and how quickly it seems to pass as I get older. It has definitely been a bigger blip on my radar since I turned 40.

When you are 20, you feel immortal and the world awaits you. Yet, if you can manage to make it through four consecutive average cat life cycles from that point, you are indeed lucky.

The unfortunate event on March 1st when I broke a number of bones in my face, the resulting surgery a bit more than 2 weeks later, and then my 50th birthday a month later, have all had an impact on how I view life. It seems so much more fragile now than it ever has before. The reality is that any of our seemingly stable lives can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Moreover, it is inevitable. The older we get, the greater the odds that we are on the cusp of a shattering event.

This understanding, which bears down upon me without my approval, is truly maddening sometimes. I see other people carrying on with their happy lives in what appears to be blissful ignorance of reality. I wish I could be like them. But are they all really unaware? Do they just have a more effective method of dealing with it and suppressing the associated emotions and anxiety?

We spend our lives gathering stuff: material possessions, friendships, and memories. We stuff our brains full of music, films, books, travels, sports scores, work experiences, Excel spreadsheet functions, HTML code, user IDs, passwords, credit card numbers, and expiration dates.

Our closets are packed with clothing and boxes in which stuff was delivered. Most people can't even use their garages because they are overflowing with possessions. And this is a relatively new phenomenon. My mother still remembers a time when she only had what was truly needed. She remembers her father telling the story of the first time he ever saw a motor car. He was so frightened he hid in a ditch. Running water and electricity inside the home were new luxuries, and still out of reach for many.

In that short span of time we have evolved into a people who have been born into such luxuries and take them for granted. We no longer need to hunt and gather for survival. Millions of us sit in a chair each day, tapping our fingers on plastic to manipulate data. And millions of us are paid well for it. But not in cash.

Someone else is tapping their fingers on plastic buttons to transfer "money" from one place to another place. When my place receives this transfer, I can then tap my fingers to move it from my place to the place which owns my house. Never having to lay eyes upon currency is a luxury.

I buy my food by swiping a piece of plastic through a chunk of plastic. That's how I get my groceries, my housewares, and fuel for my car so I can drive around and buy all this stuff. Quite amazing.

I don't even need to leave my house for a lot of the stuff I get. Tap tap tap on the plastic, select something you desire on a screen, type in a few numbers which gives instructions to computers to transfer a bunch of numbers from one place to another, and voila! A few days later, stuff comes to your door in a brown truck. And all of this is achieved by data passing through the air, or wires, at the speed of light.

Even in my lifetime, I remember how labor-intensive it was to gather information. I actually had to get up, get in the car, and drive to another building which housed thousands of books. I had to flip through drawers packed with thousands of little cards that contained directions to find the book which would contain the information I needed. And that was all well and good as long as someone else hadn't borrowed the book. There was even a human there to help you, if you needed it. Free of charge!

Now it is possible to gather data on a little chunk of plastic that you can carry with you, and tap on, or so I've read on this big piece of plastic I'm staring at as I tap these thoughts on my plastic buttons -- soon to be available for reading by anyone in the world fortunate enough to have a similar plastic device and viewing screen. You can even do this while you are driving around, buying shit you don't need, and swiping plastic to pay for it. Amazing!

What a world we live in, however briefly against the longer timeline of existence.

In this world of wonder and achievement, I am truly baffled that I can be so depressed. I don't just see the beauty and the wonder; I see everything. While this world in which we live would be unrecognizable to my grandparents in their youth, a few things haven't changed at all. Things like greed.

If we were truly immortal, or even if we could live 500 years, or 300 years, I could understand the concept of greed more easily than I can from my perspective of life at 50.

I am truly aghast that greed remains as pervasive and unevolved as it is. Greed is what compels us to do absurd things like drilling a mile deep -- underwater -- for fuel to power these moving boxes of steel we need in order to drive to a bigger, fixed-position box and punch plastic all day so that we can acquire a bunch of other (much smaller) numbers which get shifted around in the ether. After accruing enough of these numbers we call our own, we can drive around and buy stuff.

Greed is what allowed us to come here, take this land, and call it ours. Greed made us establish arbitrary and artificial boundaries, staking poles in the ground, adorned with absolutely meaningless pieces of patterned cloth in order to have what is essentially a meaningless and hollow identity.

Now that we have that, greed is driving us to destroy it. And we're no longer content to take advantage of people from outside our artificial boundaries with identifies different from our own; we seem eager to screw the life out of anything and everything we get our hands on in order to get more personal numbers stacked in our favor, whether it's our neighbors, the fields which grow the food to keep us alive, the water we need to quench our thirst, or the air we breathe.

We seem to have become completely uninterested in the numbers of our brothers and sisters who have had their equally short and fragile lives ended sooner than necessary by greed.

If nothing else, life is about adjusting and adapting to changes. Life is about caring and understanding. Life is about overcoming selfishness and greed. Life is about understanding that we are of the world and not vice-versa, and behaving accordingly. Failure to comprehend these simple facts is criminal. And we seem to be a nation and a world of criminals.

I have my own issues with comprehension. I cannot comprehend how, in this wondrous short time of bounty and achievement, so many of us cannot be content and enjoy our own personal experiences. Instead, we feel a necessity to exploit and control others, and often to focus on the most asinine of restrictions, while allowing all manner of other profligate atrocities to run rampant. I cannot comprehend how this path of greed we have chosen can be sustained much longer, nor can I comprehend how those of us who never ponder the ramifications of our enormous footprint will deal with the reality when it finally does deliver the ultimate smackdown.

On this day, arbitrarily set aside by some authority, in which we are asked to remember those who have fallen (some of whom still were not even allowed to be open and honest about who they were), and as I also include those who gave up a portion of their life, perhaps the best portion of it (and in many cases, a limb or two, if not their entire life), in their gift of service to this relatively recent nation of artificial boundaries conceived of, and awash in, greed, I have to ask myself if it was a truly necessary and noble cause, or simply a more short-sighted exploitation to fulfill a craven lust before casting them aside like spent fuel rods.

Sorry. I know I can come across as a major downer sometimes. But I think a lot. And I will honor our veterans today by saying we need to do everything in our power to stop creating so many of them for unjust causes. Those numbers (a trillion or two) piled up in someone's account which were used to fund the recent and ongoing wars could have been better transferred elsewhere in our relentless pursuit of stuff.

Live and let live, gently, and with responsible awareness and compassion.

Honk 4 Ignernt Assholes

Oh, the irony!

You are not alone.

Just make sure you remember where "your country" came from and how you got it in the first place.

Conflicts generally known as "Indian Wars" broke out between American government and Native American societies. The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) was one of the greatest Native American victories. Defeats included the Creek War of 1813-14, the Sioux Uprising of 1862, the Sand Creek Massacre (1864) and Wounded Knee in 1890.[68] These conflicts were catalysts to the decline of dominant Native American culture. By 1872, the U.S. Army pursued a policy to exterminate all Native Americans unless or until they agreed to surrender and live on reservations "where they could be taught Christianity and agriculture."

Of course. How the hell did the savages get by for 20,000 years, before whitey showed up, without knowing a damn thing about agriculture?

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

This land is my land, it is not your land
I've got a shotgun, and you don't got one
I'll blow your head off, if you don't get off
This land was made just for me.

You sure about that? Or do you just want the portion of it back that benefits you at the expense of others?

The Health Care Reform Sham

I tried not to get too upset when I heard that a public option was off the table.

I tried to get excited when the co-op idea seemed to gain traction.

But deep within me, I knew we were probably squandering another opportunity for necessary change. And I'll be damned if Bob Herbert hasn't gone and backed me up.

Corporations and the profit motive, coupled with lining the pockets of politicians with campaign cash, will always prevail over doing what is right for the people. I wonder when we will finally say, "enough!"

Giving consumers the choice of an efficient, nonprofit, government-run insurance plan would have moved us toward real cost control, but that option has gone a-glimmering. The public deserves better. The drug companies, the insurance industry and the rest of the corporate high-rollers have their tentacles all over this so-called reform effort, squeezing it for all it’s worth.

Meanwhile, the public — struggling with the worst economic downturn since the 1930s — is looking on with great anxiety and confusion. If the drug companies and the insurance industry are smiling, it can only mean that the public interest is being left behind.

Texas: A Big State But So Few Options

This is just...so damn wrong.

An 18-year-old who has profound mental disabilities was sentenced to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges in a sexual abuse case involving his 6-year-old neighbor. The teenager, Aaron Hart, was arrested and charged after a neighbor found him fondling her stepson in September. He pleaded guilty to five counts, including aggravated sexual assault and indecency by contact, and a jury decided his punishment. Judge Eric Clifford in Lamar County said neither he nor jurors liked the idea of prison for Mr. Hart but felt there was no other option. “In the state of Texas, there isn’t a whole lot you can do with somebody like him,” Judge Clifford said. Mr. Hart has an IQ of 47 and was diagnosed as mentally disabled as a child. He cannot read or write and speaks unsteadily.

"No other option." Let's look on the bright side: at least they didn't go with the death penalty.

Stay classy, Texas!

(I still can't believe this story is for real!)

More on the Arkansas Adoption Ban

I'm glad to see this getting a lot more exposure for just how mean-spirited the passage of the Arkansas proposition against unmarried couples from adopting can be IS.

Dan Savage, editorial director of The Stranger, a Seattle newsweekly, had an excellent piece in today's New York Times.

That state’s Proposed Initiative Act No. 1, approved by nearly 57 percent of voters last week, bans people who are “cohabitating outside a valid marriage” from serving as foster parents or adopting children. While the measure bans both gay and straight members of cohabitating couples as foster or adoptive parents, the Arkansas Family Council wrote it expressly to thwart “the gay agenda.” Right now, there are 3,700 other children across Arkansas in state custody; 1,000 of them are available for adoption. The overwhelming majority of these children have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their heterosexual parents.

Yes, read that last line again. That one man/one woman combo which the various "family" groups proclaim as being the only way to raise a child. The hypocrisy is astounding.

Even before the law passed, the state estimated that it had only about a quarter of the foster parents it needed. Beginning on Jan. 1, a grandmother in Arkansas cohabitating with her opposite-sex partner because marrying might reduce their pension benefits is barred from taking in her own grandchild; a gay man living with his male partner cannot adopt his deceased sister’s children.

Social conservatives are threatening to roll out Arkansas-style adoption bans in other states. And the timing couldn’t be worse: in tough economic times, the numbers of abused and neglected children in need of foster care rises.

For all the good outcomes in the elections this year there are still plenty which make me seethe with anger.

Marijuana Abuse Defined

A SWAT team raided the home of a mayor in Maryland on July 29 and killed his dogs. FedEx had delivered a package containing 32 pounds of marijuana.

Police officials now believe the shipment was part of a scheme in which packages were sent to unsuspecting recipients and picked up by someone else shortly after they were delivered.

The chief of police finally called the mayor and his wife to apologize. Gee, you'd think a personal visit wouldn't be out of the question after the first "visit."

Assholes.

Meanwhile, I'm watching for the FedEx truck.

Let the Games Begin

I'm eagerly anticipating the Beijing Olympics for a completely abnormal reason. I'm more interested in the potential for unexpected events which could disrupt the planned ones and potentially prove embarrassing for a country which should never have been awarded the games in the first place.

Where to begin...

Acts of God

Acts of Assailants

Airborne Particulates

Human Rights Violations

And of course, the Propaganda Panda.

On the ever-sensitive subjective of political protests, visitors are warned in no uncertain terms that protests on any subject from politics, to the environment and animal rights will not be tolerated.

[...]

Then again, few other Olympic cities have such an overt approach to propaganda work. Red banners have sprouted all over the city in recent days exhorting citizens to show their enthusiasm - and their obedience to the Party line.

"I participate, I contribute and I enjoy," a banner at the entrance to one of the parks set aside for "protest pens" at the Games reads. "Welcome Olympic Games with joyfulness and construct a harmonious society," says the banner at the other entrance.

But wait; there's more. Let's throw in the entire Bush family just to really ratchet things up a notch.

When No-Knock Search Warrants Go Awry

We have serious problems in the US right now which should rightly give us cause for alarm and anxiety. The worry that a SWAT team could theoretically and legally enter your home and blow you to smithereens ought not be one of our worries, but it is.

Last Thursday's issue of the weekly Arkansas Times had an article about Tracy Ingle of North Little Rock who had, shall we say, a rather nasty encounter.

No matter what Ingle or those he gave a temporary home to may have done, however, it's hard to imagine he deserved what he got Jan. 7. That night, the North Little Rock SWAT team stormed Ingle's house on a high-risk, “no-knock” search warrant. By the time all was said and done, Ingle had been shot five times — including one bullet that pulverized his femur and left his leg dangling from his body, connected only by a bloody mess of meat, skin and tendon.

According to an evidence list left at Ingle's house after the shooting, no suspected drugs or drug residue were recovered from the residence — only a digital scale, a notebook and a few plastic baggies, all of which Ingle's family members have identified as part of the junk they had collectively stored at the house.

This is why the "war on drugs" is a bad idea. And the no-knock warrant needs to go the way of Nixon: dead and fucking buried.

Conceived during the Nixon administration, the no-knock warrant — and the use of militarized Special Weapons and Tactics teams to execute them — came of age during the drug wars of the 1980s. The rationale behind no-knocks and using SWAT to serve them was simple: As the criminals became more savvy and well-armed, serving drug warrants demanded the element of surprise, and a more well-armed show of force.

The no-knock warrant is a recipe for disaster, particular in a state such as Arkansas, for an interesting reason.

Arkansas is one of many states that has enshrined some version of the Defense of Premises Doctrine in its laws. It is, simply put, the right to defend your home without fear of prosecution, up to and including killing an intruder who has made forcible entry.

It's an idea that is dangerously at odds with the concept of no-knock search warrants, says Radley Balko, senior editor of Reason magazine. A former fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C., libertarian think tank, Balko did some of the early research into the use of no-knock warrants and militarized police units. Over and over again, Balko said, he sees cases where a SWAT team breaches a house, the homeowner exercises his right to defend his home, and either an officer or the homeowner is killed or injured. The only difference is that when it's a cop who gets shot, the private citizen nearly always winds up in jail.

This entire article is gut-wrenching and fills me with anger. And yet, Ingle doesn't hold a grudge against the two police officers who shot him, according to the article. If that's true, it's pretty amazing considering how pissed off I am after reading the article.


Crossposted at Big Brass Blog

Grow Your Own

Nothing pisses me off quite as much as a serious problem with an easy solution which no one, least of all politicians, will take seriously thanks to government propaganda and irrational public opinion.

This particular problem involves at least 124 incidents of lead poisoning in Leipzig, Germany after it was determined the victims all had one thing in common: they smoked marijuana. This marijuana had lead added -- presumably to increase the weight and therefore increase the profits of the sellers. Clever.

Unfortunately, marijuana is illegal and there is no regulation (aside from simply being illegal) and testing of the product for contaminants prior to sale, and of course it's illegal to avoid the pitfalls altogether by simply growing it yourself.

The patients are recovering and taking medicines called chelating agents to help remove the lead from their bodies. But it could take years to clear it completely, particularly from bones. And some were quite disillusioned to learn that poison was added to what they thought was a pure, all-natural product, said their doctor, Prof. Michael Stumvoll of University Hospital in Leipzig, who commented, “How naïve!”

Naïve?? Did he say that because they were buying from an unknown source or that it's naïve to believe that marijuana is a pure, all-natural product?

Whatever. The solution is to legalize the growing of marijuana for personal consumption (or even as an ornamental shrub or privacy hedge, if we so desire). We would then know where the product came from, that it had not been tampered with, it would cut out the black market dealers charging exorbitant prices for a product which, in a legal framework, should cost no more than a bundle of parsley.

People who do smoke marijuana, or bake with it, should be able to grow their own, or get it from someone they know and trust who grows it, rather than playing Russian roulette with a supplier who cares more about making a few extra hundred dollars per pound than whether the customers are poisoned.

Oh, you don't approve of marijuana? Hey, that's OK. Don't use it. There are people out there who choose to avoid onions and garlic because of the aphrodisiac properties. Abstain from it. That just leaves more for me, and frankly, I have no problem with feeling horny.

Just don't try to regulate or outlaw a plant which plenty of others enjoy. That strikes me as a tad hypocritical in a country where almost 50% of our citizens are using at least one prescription drug. And in a country where prescription drug deaths rose 68% over five years.

Poisoning from prescription drugs has risen to become the second-largest cause of unintentional deaths in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hell, even the DEA recognizes there's a problem. (Bold emphasis mine)

Nearly 7 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs*—more than the number who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy, and inhalants, combined. That 7 million was just 3.8 million in 2000, an 80 percent increase in just 6 years.

* Prescription drugs refers to abuseable pharmaceuticals controlled under federal law enforced by the DEA.

Prescription pain relievers are new drug users’ drug of choice, vs. marijuana or cocaine.

Yes, and I'd like to point out that marijuana is the only "drug" here which does not require being "manufactured" in some capacity aside from simply growing, putting out blossoms which are then dried. Contrast that with cocaine for instance.

This is why I have a real issue with marijuana being lumped in with cocaine and other drugs.


Crossposted at Big Brass Blog

40 Years Ago Today

I was not quite 8 years old. Little did I know that an event would reverberate to this very day, and beyond.

Marketing Targeted (Very) Badly

I don't like junk mail, solicitations for money, catalogs full of crap I wouldn't dream of owning, and department store flyers with perfume samples. Accckkkk!

Quite a bit of that stuff comes to kona ranch and immediately goes into the trash.

And given the fact that I am about 6 months in default on a number of credit cards saddled with ex-business debt, you can imagine I get lots of lively letters in the mail from salivating collection agencies every week.

It's a rare day when I find something in the mail to excite me enough to blog about it. Lo and behold, today is the day.

Now, I'll admit, I wasn't exactly excited at the prospect of opening this envelope from the County Sheriff. Christ, that makes the anxiety of a root canal pale in comparison.

But here we go:

Dear konagod:

I am writing to you because I believe you are a law-abiding citizen who has worked hard for what you have. I also believe you are tired of people who turn to crime as an easy way to make a living with little responsibility to society.

Right off the bat, we have a problem. Up until just a few years ago, I would have been guilty in the great state of Texas of a felony for being caught in bed with my partner while rubbing our winky-dinks together. So whether I'm a law-abiding citizen is up for debate.

Next paragraph, please:

Almost every day you and I see or hear of the violence and criminal activities of crooks, thieves, rapists, drug pushers, and murderers.

[...]

The Sheriffs of Texas want to see tougher laws for criminals, more meaningful prison sentences, [yadda yadda yadda...], but we need your help.

Drug pushers: "If you don't buy this fucking pot right now I'm gonna blow your fuckin' brains out."

Where are those pushers? (And why can't I find one?) And what if they really don't need to push... at all. What if I am perfectly willing to buy some pot in a very cordial business exchange? Hey, good for the economy! Potmeister gets $500 for an ounce of premium weed. He or she goes out and buys goods and services, thus stimulating the economy. konagod gets some good weed, stays home de-stimulating the economy, laughing his ass off at bad tv, and writing an occasionally stupid blog post. It's all the same in the end. Whether I'm spending the $500, or the "dope pusher" is spending it, the end result is the same. The economy gets stimulated and that's a damn good thing. And if the issue is the pot seller evading taxes, then legalize it! City dwellers will still buy it, the pot sellers can pay taxes to fund the local Sheriff's department in their pursuit of real crime, and those of us living on a little piece of land can grow our own if we so desire, in much the same way I grow my own collard greens, basil and cilantro, thus circumventing a for-profit visit to my local supermarket. But I digress.

I really don't mean to make light of this. I know there are serious problems in this country with manufactured drugs (legal and illegal). But we know where the Sheriffs of Texas are probably going to focus their attention. And why on earth would my unemployed pot-loving ass send money to help the sheriffs in their quest to round up the very guy or gal who might be my next source of entertainment?

And I simply love how they lump business people in a supply and demand situation (is anything more American than that?)with all kinds of other lowly contemptible thugs.

In another paragraph they attempt to appeal to my passions by focusing on their need for funding to improve child safety, stopping family violence, and sexual assaults against both women and children. Oh, and drugs. And the arrest and prosecution of drug traffickers.

Again, I'll say there are indeed some very nasty drugs out there. But only a fool would refuse to believe the vast majority of people involved in this clean-up would be marijuana users and sellers. And my dear friends, the last time I checked, marijuana was a plant that grows from a seed, not cooked up in a meth kitchen with diet aids, paint thinner, and freon, among a list of many unhealthy substances.

So with all due respect to the Sheriff of my County, I will not contribute $25 to your cause. And I'm a little concerned about why you are needing to raise money via a direct mail campaign. And I'm very concerned about why you'd think I'd rather throw my money at you so you could further suppress my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Maybe, just maybe, if you dropped all the wasted resources you pour in the direction of marijuana control, you might actually be able to make a dent in the other heinous crimes without even asking the tax-paying public for more financial support. Just a fucking thought from a worthless and stupid pothead who loves to be equated with scum of the earth murderers and rapists. And as far as crooks are concerned, you might well have a look within.

I wonder if Willie Nelson got one of these solicitations, and if he finds it as humorous as I do.

The Ununited States: Divided We Shall Fall

After reading the New York Times this morning I'm starting to seriously wonder if the US isn't destined to deal with a cultural divide for decades to come. And the situation seems to be deteriorating during what is perhaps the most important presidential election year in decades.

We have squabbled over race and gender, over pulling out vs. staying in (a reference to Iraq; nothing sexual here), and religion as a political issue and tool has reached new heights.

If we continue on our current trend of playing musical chairs with the primaries and the outcome being a different winner in each one, reflecting the vastly differing perceptions of what's most important with the electorate in each state, then we are in for one long bumpy ride to November and beyond.

Let's start with Shaker Heights, Ohio and work our way out to the broader picture. Six black teenagers beat a white lawyer to near death and it has rocked this small integrated suburb of Cleveland which has been a relatively peaceful model of integration for decades.

“The concept that something like that could happen here literally never crossed my mind,” said the Rev. Diane Ford Jones, an African-American resident of Ludlow.

Petty thefts are rising near the edges of Shaker Heights, so two years ago the city increased its police budget by $50,000 annually to pay for more patrols along the border, said Mayor Earl M. Leiken. Since the attack, unmarked police cars circle the Shaker Heights streets of Ludlow every five minutes. There is no increased police presence on the Cleveland side, residents say.

[...]

What has surprised Ludlow residents most since the attack is the reaction of people around the region. Cleveland has grown steadily poorer over the last five decades. Many people in the surrounding area believe that Shaker Heights will eventually be overwhelmed by Cleveland residents, many of them African-Americans, trying to escape the city’s high crime rate and struggling schools. They wonder why residents of Shaker Heights have not moved to more distant — and safer — suburbs.

Scenarios such as this are are likely to rise as the gulf between those who have and those who have not continues to widen. It's not so different from what is happening in other parts of the world where the conflicts between races, tribes, religious affiliations and class have people on the move seeking safety and security.

And in Montana, a small town has become divided over the issue of climate change which resulted in the cancellation of a speech at the high school by a Nobel laureate climate researcher. While this did not involve violence, it is no less abhorrent to see divisions erupting where we should be uniting. Unfortunately, the right-wing conservatives who are so hellbent on rejecting the mere discussion of the issue prefer to not only bury their own heads, but also prevent more open-minded folks the benefit of education.

The scholar, Steven W. Running, a professor of ecology at the University of Montana, was scheduled to speak to about 130 students here last Thursday about his career and the global changes occurring because of the earth’s warming.

Dr. Running was a lead author of a global warming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the 400-member United Nations body that shared last year’s Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. But when some residents complained that his presentation here would be one-sided because no opposing view would be offered, the superintendent of Choteau School District No. 1, Kevin St. John, canceled it.

[...]

Those who complained misunderstood the content of the talk, Mr. St. John said, but there was no time to explain to all of them that Dr. Running was a leading scientist rather than an agenda-driven ideologue.

“It was my failure to articulate who he is and what he was here for,” the superintendent said. “He’s a Nobel scientist, highly distinguished, but people thought he was something else. Academic freedom is very important here, and science education is very important here.”

Still, as in much of the West, Choteau is home to a deep-seated mistrust of environmentalism, which many here see as a threat to their agricultural way of life. The town has also been largely on the pro-development side of a long and sometimes bitter battle over whether to exploit oil and gas reserves along the wild Rocky Mountain front or to preserve it primarily for wilderness and wildlife.

Finally, there is the raw politics of the matter. Dr. Running specializes in an issue associated with Mr. Gore, not a popular figure among many in this predominantly Republican town.

One has to wonder about our fate as a nation when adversity to Al Gore is so strong as to disrupt and cancel important dialogue. And one school board member didn't even have the backbone to explain his opposition to the event.

Kirk Moore, the owner of a farm and ranch store, is a school board member who favored canceling the talk. But he declined to say why. “No comment,” Mr. Moore said. “Go talk to the superintendent.”

People of this mindset are spread far and wide in the US and they will stop at nothing to exert influence and control, not only over speeches and the contents of science textbooks, but also over elections. There is widespread evidence of their filthy tactics in South Carolina as they make a brazen attempt to impact the outcome of the all-important presidential primary.

Mudslinging in South Carolina began even before Christmas. Nearly 4,000 South Carolinians received bogus Christmas cards purporting to be from Mitt Romney that endorsed polygamy and talked about the “exceedingly fair and white” Virgin Mary.

[...]

At the moment, e-mail is flooding into South Carolina — after having appeared in Iowa and New Hampshire — alleging that Senator Barack Obama is Muslim, which he is not, and questioning his patriotism, based on a photograph in which he does not have his hand over his heart as the national anthem is being played.

The outrageous ignorance, bigotry and prejudice of the people orchestrating these smear campaigns would be laughable were it not for the fact that there are so many ignorant and prejudiced bigots on the receiving end.

What exactly is the value or the accuracy in calling our process "democratic" when it can be so easily manipulated at the primary level, before we even reach the ever-controversial November general election?

On the Democratic side, the most spirited defensive effort is being waged by the Obama campaign after an increase in e-mail falsely stating that Mr. Obama attended a radical Islamic school as a child in Indonesia, and that his parents raised him as a Muslim so he could run for president and subvert the government.

[...]

B. J. Welborn, a volunteer for Mr. Obama, said that she had recently noticed more comments about Mr. Obama’s supposed Muslim ties when making phone calls on his behalf.

“We don’t know where it is coming from,” Ms. Welborn said. “We have a lot of fact sheets, and we direct people to the Obama Web site. But some people just don’t want to listen.”

I'm noticing a common thread here with the earlier Montana climate change story. One of the biggest threats facing our nation today is not Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, outsourcing of jobs or the economy in general. It really boils down to an unwillingness of so many people to fucking listen. They would rather drape themselves in the flag and drown out any reasonable opportunity to learn and discuss with a loud and proud pledge of allegiance, and a steadfast belief that God is on their side.

This shit is seriously undermining and discrediting our election process and it must be stopped. If such activity isn't a felony, it should be. This is not free speech. If their claims were truthful, then it's a fair part of a political campaign. But outright lies being disseminated in an attempt to influence the outcome of an election should be prosecuted as a felony, and the ringleaders of these smear campaigns are worthy of prison time.

By Tuesday afternoon, a group calling itself Vietnam Veterans Against McCain had sent out a crude flier accusing the candidate of selling out fellow P.O.W.’s to save himself.

By Tuesday evening, a group called Common Sense Issues, which supports Mike Huckabee, had begun making what it said were a million automated calls to households in South Carolina telling voters, according to one of the calls, that Mr. McCain “has voted to use unborn babies in medical research.” (The campaign of Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, said it had no connection to the group and had asked it to stop the calls.)

If we cannot have fair and square debates and untainted primary elections for both parties, and if early leaders in these races are selected based upon false accusations and smear campaigns, then our entire process is marred and essentially meaningless. We become a nation with a political process essentially controlled by thugs, bigots, racists, and religious zealots with suppression as their desired outcome. And that makes us not so much different from other countries in the world whose elections and governments are a laughingstock.


Crossposted at Big Brass Blog

Free the West Memphis Three

I cannot believe the West Memphis Three haven't been released after I read an article in the New York Times back on October 30, which essentially proved (to me at least) that all three of them were innocent. They were victims of satanic panic.

Bold emphasis mine:

Supporters of the defendants hope the legal filing will provide the defense with a breakthrough. Two of the men, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, are serving life in prison, while one, Damien W. Echols, is on death row. There was no physical evidence linking the teenagers, now known as the West Memphis 3, to the crime.

“This is the first time that the evidence has ever really been tested,” said Gerald Skahan, a member of the defense team. “The first trial was pretty much a witch hunt.”

Brent Davis, the local prosecutor, did not respond to requests for comment about the new evidence and the case, but in general prosecutors and investigators have continued to express confidence in their investigation.

The story the defendants’ supporters have presented — of three misfits whose fondness for heavy-metal music made them police targets — has won the men the support of celebrities like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Marilyn Manson and the creators of “South Park.” Many learned of the case through an HBO documentary, “Paradise Lost,” and a sequel.

The prosecution hinged on a confession riddled with factual errors and a Satanic cult expert with a mail-order degree. Mr. Echols’s own lawyer called him “weird” and “not the all-American boy.”

If being "weird" and "not the all-American boy" is all it takes to wind up on death row, then I belong there myself.

Thankfully, this injustice continues to gather attention, and Natalie Maines is involved, which hopefully will not prompt another round of CD burnings for the Dixie Chicks.

How Dare You Get Raped: Prepare for a Lashing

Or not.

Gee, I love having "allies" in the world who believe victims of rape need to be punished for having a crime committed against them.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has pardoned the victim of a gang-rape whose
sentencing to 200 lashes caused an international outcry, a Saudi newspaper said
on Monday.

[...]

The 19-year-old Shi'ite woman was abducted and raped along with a male companion by seven men last year in a case that has drawn criticism from around the world.

Ruling according to Saudi Arabia's strict reading of Islamic law, a court sentenced the woman to 90 lashes for being alone with an unrelated man and the rapists to prison terms of up to five years.

Christ. Let's keep up the support for such allies by buying their crude oil and shit.

The Wahhabi Interpretation: Beat the Victim

A girl is Saudi Arabia, 19-years-old at the time she was raped, has been sentenced to receive 200 lashes for her "crime" of being in the same car with an unrelated man.

Lashing is a common sentence under the Saudi penal code, applied for crimes ranging from homosexuality and drinking alcohol to theft and adultery. Usually, lashes are meted out in increments because offenders could not survive hundreds of lashes at once. The administrator of the punishment is supposed to hold a
Koran under his arm so he cannot swing the whip too fiercely; lashes are not supposed to leave permanent scars. The sentence is frequently delivered in public, often at the entrance to a jail.

Wow. Nice society! I won't be vacationing there. God only knows how many lashes I'd get for being a tequila drinker AND a homosexual. But at least I'm not a woman!

I'm so glad my country buddies up to to the Saudis. Let's keep buying their oil.

Whitey Ain't Hurtin'

I'm sure this news comes as a shocker.

While incomes have increased among both black and white families in the past three decades — mainly because more women are in the work force — the gain is greater among whites.

The study, based on data from some 2,300 families during the past three decades, shows a black family's income in 2004 was a little more than half that of a similar white family's.

Don't hold your breath waiting on this to equalize. You might just die.

Georgia Injustice

Genarlow Wilson is a free man after spending nearly three years of a 10 year sentence in prison for the absurd "crime" of having oral sex with a minor when he himself was not yet a legal adult.

The Georgia Supreme Court had to intervene on his behalf.

The Georgia Legislature did modify the law to make similar behavior a misdemeanor, still punishable by up to 12 months in jail. However, they did nothing to help teens who are shackled to Georgia's sex offender registry for similar acts. It's reprehensible and while I'm happy with the outcome for Genarlow, I'm still angry that injustice remains.

From today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Those sweeping limits have stranded other young offenders with virtually no place to go. Also convicted at age 17 of having oral sex with a 15 -year-old, Jeffery York, 23, of Polk County has resorted to sleeping in a camper van in the woods to comply with the registry. When she was 17, Wendy Whitaker, 28, of Harlem had oral sex with a teen about to turn 16; her sodomy conviction landed her on the registry and forced her and her husband to move twice already.

Teen sex is natural and unstoppable. It's an instinct and brilliantly illustrates our disconnect from understanding that you cannot draw a line in the sand and say "tomorrow you turn 18 and can go do adult things, but today you are still 17 and therefore a criminal." It's not that simple and it's unfortunate the Georgia Legislature prefers to bury its collective head up its ass instead of addressing the fact that consensual sex between teens doesn't warrant a sex offender registry.