What would Dr. King think?

I got to hand it to the five reactionary maniacs on the Supreme Court; by "invalidating" Section Four, the most important provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, they definitively told Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. what he can do with it. "Doc," as Reverend Ralph Abernathy and others called him, must be rolling in his grave. Half a century ago, scores, if not hundreds of people, mostly black, died just to secure their constitutionally-guaranteed right to cast a ballot. Hundreds, even thousands were beaten and tear-gassed. Congress should do something, right? Ah, but didn't 1803's "Marbury v. Madison" Supreme Court ruling confer upon that very same High Court the status of final arbiter of US Laws? You tell me - I'm no lawyer, I just play one on TV. But I DO know that the majority of "justices" on the nations's highest court are WRONG, so WRONG. And I sure as hell don't trust their motives. This is a transparent maneuver to preserve all those unconstitutional "Voter ID" laws, that have sprung up like noxious weeds on America's civil rights landscape. And to enable several states, mostly in Dixie, to continue unimpeded racial discrimination at the polling stations. Yes indeed, the Old South has morphed into the New South, with contemptible servitude and disenfranchisement for millions. It's time to drive a stake into the heart of the "New Confederacy." And don't even get me started on Arizona... http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/27/pelosi-mulling-john-lewis-voting-rights-act-to-overturn-supreme-court-decision/

Putin won't co-operate - I wonder WHY?

Tsk Tsk. President Putin, that grotesque violator of human rights and dear friend of every Russkie oligarch, refuses to hand over heroic Edward Snowden to the United States' National Security Gestapo. Now don't misapprehend my sentiment: I'm no fan of "Vlad the Impaler," (google him) Putin, but maybe, just maybe Russia has valid, historically-based reasons to respond in a petulant manner. After all, it was the USA that intervened, at the cost of thousands of Russian lives, in Soviet Russia's circa-1920 Civil War. Naturally, America took the side of the Czarist "White Russians." While true that Franklin Roosevelt finally recognized the existence of the Soviet Union in 1933, that was a bit late in the game. In World War II, that much-beloved-by-Nixon Genocidal General from Dixie, slap-happy George Patton intended to continue thrusting eastward, toward the USSR. In the aftermath of Nazi Germany's May 1945 defeat, Patton knew the "Commies" were our "true and perpetual enemy," and must be eradicated. Did you know that Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay was chomping at the bit during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis to turn Moscow into a pile of glowing embers? Only the relative sanity displayed by Kennedy and Khruschev managed to save Humanity - for a time, anyway. More recently, George W. Bush abrogated the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, in order to more "legitimately" install an extremely provocative "Star Wars" type "Missile Defense System" in Poland. And while I don't condone Russia's 2008 bombing of the Georgian capital Tblisi, it didn't help matters diplomatically for the US to actively side against Russia, even going so far as sending US warships into the Black Sea, resulting in a potentially catastrophic confrontation. No, I don't like, nor do I defend the misdeeds of the Russian hierarchy. The "Pussy Riot" women should be released immediately. But Russia does indeed have cause to snub the United States' efforts to seize and punish "Fast Eddie Snowden." Ah, the wily Mr. Snowden, who pretty much only revealed things we American already knew - or at least suspected. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/vladimir-putin-confirms-edward-snowden-is-still-in-moscow-airport-and-blocks-us-extradition-demands-as-venezuela-says-it-would-consider-asylum-request-8672580.html

Is Fast Eddie Really in Moscow? That's not the MAIN issue!

An American talk-show host, Randi Rhodes, joked on June 24 that "...he's escaped to Communist countries, no matter how you slice it." But Edward Snowden seems to have amazingly - considering he apparently lacks a passport - gotten the assistance of various governments that are obviously reluctant to co-operate with the United States' extradition requests. The very brave and heroic "Fast Eddie" seems to be directing himself, wisely, through and toward several countries that are fed up with the US President, State Department and Congress continually pointing out other nations' spying and "Human Rights Violations." Some very chubby American fingers have been pointed at China, condemning Beijing for hacking America's national security apparatus. But it takes a lot of nerve to demonize China, when the NSA has targeted EVERY "wired" American's electronic transmissions, and probably the emails, land-line and cell phone calls of every "wired" human being on earth! http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/24/senators-nsa-letter-inaccurate-information-privacy

Insider Threat!

"Insider Threat!" As if things weren't repressive enough, now it turns out, Federal employees have been instructed to act as Professional Judases against their fellow workers. Social Security staff, for instance, are obliged to report to the Security Apparat if their colleagues are reading dangerous material like "The Onion" on their lunch hour. Gawd help anyone in the Federal bureaucracy who burned his toast that morning or argued with her husband - their irritability may be considered "suspicious." When Fascism came to America, we were apparently a bit distracted. I know I love my "Perry Mason;" it comes on every night at 10:30. But I disgracefully digress - wasn't "Insider Threat" just the sort of treacherous, back-stabbing, paranoid behavior that so disgusted the American Public, it ended up bringing down the notorious, red-baiting Senator Joe McCarthy in 1954? What's next, mandatory swearing to "Loyalty Oaths" of the type that President Harry Truman signed into law on March 21, 1947? "...With Liberty and Justice for All." Yeah, sure! These days - actually for a long time now - you can obtain just as much freedom and fairness as you can afford to PURCHASE! http://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/25/insider_threat_government_employees_urged_to

"I left my hearburn in San Francisco..."

"I left my heartburn in San Francisco." I was last there, April 2002. Got off the Greyhound from Vancouver at 4:00 AM - Market Street and the Tenderloin were both a kind of howling Wilderness at that hour. Deranged characters wailing into the night sidewalk near the Trans-Bay Terminal. City Hall Plaza was as far out as ever - those weird trees that grow there. Some decent guy warned me as to my safety. Then I headed up those steep, steep hills to the Haight - with all my damned luggage in tow. The Sun was coming up when I reached that Mythical Corner: Haight-Ashbury, and I had coffee. It was still too early to see all the runaways with their feet in the gutter, and various other street people; the kind of people I had loosely associated with back in 1990. I went down to the Cala Grocery (or is it Safeway, now, or Ralph's?) and "borrowed" one of their shopping carts. That took a helluva load off my tortured feet. Had an ecstatic promenade through ever-beautiful Golden Gate Park - what a masterpiece of landscape design. Backtracked, took in the view from on top of Buena Vista Park - took strategic measures to avoid the aggressive "cruisers." To each his own, but I swear they very nearly jump out of the bushes at you. From that park, the view across the Golden Gate of Marin County is awesome. I ended up walking down to that Catholic church on Market Street, near the Tenderloin again, and had a free meal. Finally checked out the Embarcadero - it's much nicer, lined with really fantastic palm trees now that they took the Embarcadero Freeway down. Strolled on back to the Trans-Bay terminal, and headed East, to Reno, Denver, Omaha, Rockford and Madison. I'll always love the place, but after about 10,000 miles in two weeks riding the Greyhound (West Palm Beach - Madison - Minneapolis - Winnipeg - Vancouver - Medford Oregon, then Southbound and and all the rest)... I can truly sing: "I left my Heartburn in San Francisco!" To think I may never eat at "Jack-in-the-Box" again... sighs. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.funcheap.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2Fbuena-vista-park.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsf.funcheap.com%2Fbuena-vista-park-trails-celebration-sf%2F&h=382&w=575&sz=73&tbnid=4piTfZWWHHD5AM%3A&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&zoom=1&usg=__g_B7hzDChM9_OiKs-bZErK7jw6Y%3D&docid=ftG4UkSHA-qA7M&sa=X&ei=NajHUfPLMsmsqQHkxoC4Ag&ved=0CDAQ9QEwAQ&dur=1505 http://www.aviewoncities.com/sf/goldengatepark.htm

Righteously embedded

Things are totally different today. We've come a LONG WAY, BABY! The level of precision targeting is astonishing. US Boys and Girls in Khaki camouflage never miss a heartbeat, all the better to extinguish it. Noxious nattering nabobs of negativism, otherwise known as "Journalists" (Hrrrmph!) are damn silly for inserting themselves into an Undeclared War Zone. Unless, of course, they go through proper channels and get their foolish asses righteously EMBEDDED! In any event, is it OUR fault if they hide like civilians, who don't have the sense to get out from under the neighborhood's "legitmate military targets?" You know, like Serbian water-treatment plants, Sudanese aspirin factories and Iraqi fallout shelters? Like the Israelis, we drop tons of leaflets warning them to GET THE FUCK OUT! And of course, they'd BETTER NOT attempt to burn oil wells! http://vimeo.com/63389575

What I love about America

What I LOVE about Amerika and Amerikans? We're TENACIOUS about achieving our GOALS. We don't stop until the Whole Shithouse goes up in FLAMES. So, even though these methods from 1967 were rather crude, rudimentary and quaint, we Amerikans continue to EVOLVE. We're WAY past depositing little GIFTS, Santa Claus-style, consisting of a little soap and gasoline, or NAPALM. Nowadays, DEPLETED URANIUM gets the LITTLE PEOPLE much HIGHER, and brings HEARTS and MINDS over to OUR SIDE, the RIGHT SIDE! We Amerikans love TECHNOLOGY, and will stop at nothing until we have evolved beyond the status of mere mortals. Our Men and Women in uniform play GOD every single day, sending hundreds of thousands - even MILLIONS - of bewildered SOULS to a BETTER WORLD. It's interesting when human beings are, in the stroke of an instant, transmuted into RED MIST! So thank the vigilant PILOTS, soaring majestically in OUR Wild Blue Yonder, EVERYWHERE and ALWAYS. The intrepid UEBERMENSCHEN of the United States Air Force keep us SAFE, while simultaneously displaying their bravery to the entire WORLD. Yes, Our SCREAMING EAGLES are COMPLETELY FEARLESS - from 35,000 feet above the COLLATERAL DAMAGE inflicted. US FOREIGN POLICY IS A B*MB! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY02BGxy4xM

Coup D'etat in Wisconsin

Wow. This can't be good. Wisconsin is now, to cite just one negative development since the Republican takeover of 2011, dead last among all 50 states in job creation. I too have been deficient in the amount of anti-Scott Walker chalking I'v...e been doing on the outer Capitol Square, and in many other respects. But I do hope to see all Wisconsinites of conscience later today/tonight, in Downtown Madison Wiscsonsin. After all, we wouldn't want to miss the unspeakable "budget butchery" that is about to take place. Of course, it isn't just the continued loss of local jobs which is at issue -there are the doomed Penokee Hills, about to be destroyed by a 4.5 mile open-pit long iron sulfide mine. There is the prospect of "Dog The Bounty Hunter" setting up shop in the Badger State. Women seeking Supreme Court-sanctioned abortion procedures face actual rape by trans-vaginal ultrasound, another Republican travesty. How about $650 million additional dollars in tax cuts, overwhelmingly to benefit the wealthy, who don't need them? Then there are those 85,000 Wisconsin residents who will be kicked off Badger Care/Medicaid, due to Legislative Republicans' and Scott Walker's vicious callousness. If nothing else, let's get down to the Square tonight, to witness history in the making. Today, and the days soon to follow, are not completely unlike that terrible day in September 1973 when Pinochet violently took power in Chile. Not as bloody, by a long shot, of course. But entirely destructive of the social fabric so far left intact. Make no mistake: Wisconsin's Republicans share an important characteristic with their partisans nation-wide: They are FASCISTS! We must at least protest these impending legislative atrocities. "Let History Judge." http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/jessica_vanegeren/little-public-opposition-to-assembly-s-passage-of-budget-unlike/article_6b023d2c-d916-11e2-9d2d-0019bb2963f4.html

Good Ruling. Rare kind of Decision

I am not a legal expert, so I cannot comment on whether this ruling will have an overlapping, positive effect - putting the brakes on all those highly discriminatory "Voter-ID" measures implemented by numerous states in recent years. Including the one imposed right here in Wisconsin. But I sure hope all "Voter-ID" requirements are struck down from coast to coast! http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/us/justices-reject-arizona-voting-law-requiring-proof-of-citizenship.html?hp&_r=1&

Why I oppose US intervention in Syria, continued

I've been accused of being "callous" by somebody who supports arming the Syrian rebels, so I better clarify: I'm primarily opposed to the United States acting unilaterally, and insanely intervening in yet another Mid-eastern nation. For the USA to arm the rebels and/or impose a no-fly zone is one hell of a slippery slope. It's playing with fire in the worst possible way. Iraq stands out as the most salient example, where the US armed the notoriously corrupt Ahmed Chalabi prior to 2003. Not to mention the hand the West had in providing the chemical weapons used against Iraq's Kurds in 1988. Really, it's highly dubious any American intervention would be characterized by Humanitarian traits, nor that it would be limited to sending arms. That wasn't the case in the Former Yugoslavia, where NATO bombed water treatment plants and spread Depleted Uranium. So I seriously doubt whether US military action would have a beneficial effect in Damascus. It doesn't follow that I deny the Syrian rebels every potential opportunity to acquire arms. And the Israeli factor in this equation? Don't even get me started! I don't support Russian policy in this area, nor Vladimir Putin, nor Assad. But where is it written in stone that the United States MUST get involved in EVERY civil war, or "Revolution," as it were? Habitual aggressors like US Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain no doubt condemn everyone like me; we believe the imperitive that the US mind its OWN, REAL strategic business outweighs America's SUPPOSED "Humanitarian Impulse." Their bellicose rhetoric is quite tacky, and the idea that ALL those who rebel against Assad deserve American weapons is questionable, at best. Seems to me there are some very uncouth elements within the insurgency. The enemy of my enemy isn't always my friend. Doubtless Senators Graham and McCain propose that I must be on the side of the Syrian regime. Nonsense. The United States always being assigned the role of "International Savior" isn't logical, legal, sustainable or sensible. Especially considering its recent history.

Go, "Fast Eddie!"

Best of luck to you, Edward Snowden. I can't thank you enough for the incredible public service you've done on behalf of all conscious Americans, and citizens of the world. Not to say anything of your courage. Did they ever call you "Fast Eddie" in High School? Run, Eddie, RUN!

I stand with Tom Hayden: No US war in Syria.

I have no sympathy for the neo-imperialist, ultra-interventionist 11% of Americans who favor the prospect of a truly insane intervention in Syria. Wasn't the Iraq War, and the false pretenses under which it was waged a severe enough lesson for people like that? Once you arm the rebels and impose the no-fly-zone, the presence of US troops on the ground becomes a distinct possibility. Mr. Obama, are you really willing to risk another Neocon-grade American catastrophe in the Mid-east!?! God I HOPE NOT! I'm truly sorry for the suffering of the Syrian people - really! I just don't think the USA should, could, make things any better. I know America's record of militarisitic adventurism, especially since 1945. It's neither justifiable, nor helpful.The de-facto role the USA plays as World Police Officer is an illegitimate one. http://tomhayden.com/home/can-public-opinion-stop-us-war-in-syria-1.html

Through a PRISM, darkly

Me? Surprised by "PRISM?" Hardly. I remember the 1970s, when hearings were held on Capitol Hill, in "response" to revelations that the National Security Agency had been eavesdropping like crazy on Americans' phone calls and surreptitiously opening and reading our letters for more than two decades. Not to mention the malfeasance of the CIA and other agencies. One result of the nation-wide outrage was the 1978 establishment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court, supposedly as a guard against warrentless spying by the "Intelligence Community." Well, the FISA Court has served as a kind of star chamber all along; its real function was only to facilitate these monstrous invasions of privacy. During the Bush years, things went from bad to worse, with FISA's 11-judge panel meeting regularly in a vault at the "Justice Department" (it still does) to approve extensive wiretapping. It's such a goddamn "Kangaroo Court!" According to FISA provisions, in order to spy on American citizens, a warrant of sorts is required - 72 hours AFTER the surveillance begins! During the George W. Bush regime, the FISA Court turned down a mere FIVE requests to spy on the citizenry, to the best of my knowledge. So I was disgusted, of course, when reports of the latest enormous "monitoring" were made public on Wednesday and Thursday. But shocked I was not. And I cannot believe anything is going to improve anytime soon, what with Obama's spirited defense of the indefensible. And the underwhelming apathy, overall, of the American citizenry. Still, I'm in complete awe of Glenn Greenwald for bravely publicizing this. I only hope he manages to emerge unscathed; he currently lives in Brazil most of the time - but that may not be nearly far enough away! Most Americans, apparently, aren't too worried about giving up more of their liberties. Most Americans are extremely happy to exchange what's left of their rights for that most elusive and illusory state of affairs. The tens of millions of severely misguided among us call it "Security."

Time for a rational cannabis policy

This development is of course, not surprising, considering the absurd and offensive campaign waged in the 1920s and '30s to scapegoat pot-smoking blacks and their "pernicious" Jazz music for causing egregious levels of "street crime." There is a solution for this type of violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause - it's called LEGALIZATION, and it should be extended to the 48 other states besides Washington and Colorado. http://blog.norml.org/2013/06/04/minorities-disproportionately-arrested-in-u-s-for-marijuana/

EMERGENCY in the Badger State

EMERGENCY. A done deal, but still a loud and insistent SOS. Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature have, for the most part, passed their vile and punitive budget, including multiple measures that make Austerity look like a good time. Where are the 175,000 incensed protesters we had on just one fine day in Winter/Spring 2011, surounding that GOP Hall of Shame, OUR State Capitol? We have no choice, in moral terms, but to rally against the ruin of the Badger State. Even if it IS too late, we MUST return to the burdensome business of saying: "This Shall Not, Can Not Pass!" You're needed NOW. http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=40092

Fast and Furious

It's all coming down so fast and furious, and is so odious, even the Republican-leaning Wisconsin State Journal editorial board had to take notice: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/editorial/don-t-boot-center-from-campus/article_e8db3a8c-573e-5aeb-8966-da06e8f9984f.html

Wisconsin 49th in economic forecast

Did you notice when you looked at the map in this article, all the states with the lowest/negative forecasts have Republican Governors? We MUST return to the streets, en masse. We can possibly endure, in physical terms, the destruction of our beloved home state. For a while. But if we don't MASSIVELY demonstrate and simply make it IMPOSSIBLE for Repubs to go about their evil business, all we're gonna be left with is our tears. Crying might make us feel a little better, but it's not very constructive. http://www.jsonline.com/business/fed-index-ranks-wisconsin-49th-in-economic-outlook-b9927135z1-210333771.html

SWOONING

The sheer, unadulterated level of GOP corruption is literally making me swoon as I type these words. The Repubs, with some significant level of enabling on the part of select Democrats, are undoing a social contract that dates back not just to the the Eisenhower and FDR administrations. Some of what has been lost is a century old and more, like the right for state workers to collecrtively bargain in any meaningful sense. Ah, but I digress; this particular link concerns the unspeakable, institutionalized graft that is being written into law this spring. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/bail-bondsmen-lake-michigan-among-special-interest-items-in-budget-plan-b9927006z1-210231371.html

I REMEMBER

Obviously, profound loss is an inevitable and normal part of the human experience, and those of us who dwell excessively on that which is missing - for instance, obsessing upon those who have gone before and are now beyond - should, in the simplistic sense, Get Over It. But often I find myself unable to do just that. Yes, we are justifiably criticized for living in the past. On the other hand, extreme neurotics who are hopelessly out of touch with the times, and who REMEMBER things others have blessedly been able to forget, are an indispensable resource for historians. I know this is very Un-American, this life-long remembrance of previous people and events. Examples abound: How many Americans now recall NIXON's use of the IRS to target those on HIS enemies list? Yes, I'm mixing metaphors today; probably the major point I have in mind is how very INTERESTING clinical depression and other psychic pathologies can be. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4O0MC5HQwI

I'd like a lemon-flavored preemptive swab!

You are presumed guilty if ever arrested for a serious offense. Go ahead, swab me down, Supremes! I don't mind relinquishing what little freedom I had - I never used it enough, anyway. And who'd have ever guessed Antonin Scalia had any qualms about preemptive DNA testing? It's a wonderful world, this Maximum Security Utopia of ours! http://www2.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Maryland_v_King_No_12207_2013_BL_143974_US_June_03_2013_Court_Opi

Social Security has a $2.8 trillion SURPLUS

Wall Street is salivating at the prospect of expropriating this, just as the One Percent has gleefully stolen nearly every other public surplus they could get their vile and greedy hands on: https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2013/05/31-7