Get your prions here! America has just found its second case of Mad Cow Disease. But, Dear Consumer, do not be alarmed. Your government is taking care of you!
That's right, thanks to Republicans, we have:
-Less testing of meat for BSE (Mad Cow)
-Less testing for E. Coli
-Little or no label of meat origins
-Legislation in favor of giant meat processors that slaughter 400 000 lbs of semi-fresh cow per day
-Legislation to keep those slaughterhouses moving fast so that more and more workers can be maimed
-Legislation favor union-busting activities
That's right, even though farmers and ranchers are overwhelmingly in favor of telling you the origins of their fine products, ConAgra, IBP, etc., are getting their way. But, Dear Consumer, you voted for Bush! What he knows so well is that even people whose brain begins to turn into a sponge, who lose coordination and cannot walk, who go into convulsions and turn catatonic in the months preceeding their inevitable death, well, these people will vote Republican because, perhaps, having a spongy brain makes that more, not less, likely.
You think that last statement is underhanded, don't you? You are right. My apologies to anyone with Mad Cow Disease who voted Democrat. Please contact me, if you are still alive.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Moral Values
Working at an institution that has a strong religious tradition, even if it is no longer affiliated to any religious entity, has become important to me, especially since we are formerly Quaker. Say what you will about it, the Society of Friends is commited to a global view of moral values. Got an email from a former student today for this meeting in Pasadena. GO!
Go, even if you are not a member of Quaker church, or any church for that matter.
Here's the email I got:
American Friends Service Committee
980 N. Fair Oaks Avenue
Pasadena 91103
Map
In this past election, we saw "morality" redefined to be little more than opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
But, what about war's cost to civilians and society? What about taxes being cut for the wealthy while poor and working poor people were forced out of social programs that support basic needs? What about the pollution of our environment? What about spreading fear against GLBT and immigrants? What about the death penalty?These are moral values and we cannot allow morality to be defined to not include them.
Please join faith-based and other activists for a meeting to design a strategy for speaking the truth about our broader agenda and definition of morality through the media, our places of worship and other organizing.Sign up online to attend, or to receive information on future events.
AFSC office is wheelchair accessible.
For more information contact Steven Gibson at (626) 791-1978 ext. 130, sgibson@afsc.org, or Jochen Strack (626) 791-1978 ext. 138, jstrack@afsc.org.
Sponsors:
Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace
American Friends Service Committee
Go, even if you are not a member of Quaker church, or any church for that matter.
Here's the email I got:
American Friends Service Committee
980 N. Fair Oaks Avenue
Pasadena 91103
Map
In this past election, we saw "morality" redefined to be little more than opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
But, what about war's cost to civilians and society? What about taxes being cut for the wealthy while poor and working poor people were forced out of social programs that support basic needs? What about the pollution of our environment? What about spreading fear against GLBT and immigrants? What about the death penalty?These are moral values and we cannot allow morality to be defined to not include them.
Please join faith-based and other activists for a meeting to design a strategy for speaking the truth about our broader agenda and definition of morality through the media, our places of worship and other organizing.Sign up online to attend, or to receive information on future events.
AFSC office is wheelchair accessible.
For more information contact Steven Gibson at (626) 791-1978 ext. 130, sgibson@afsc.org, or Jochen Strack (626) 791-1978 ext. 138, jstrack@afsc.org.
Sponsors:
Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace
American Friends Service Committee
Today: Cyclopsis...
I only heard a story about the ravages of depleted uranium (DU) today. It noted the increase of children in Baghdad born with no ears, without eyes, and, yes, some are born with one eye in the middle of their forehead. Of course, government lawyers, like Gonzales, are poised to fight establishing any link between DU and the increased rates of deformities or leukemia at birth. This is exactly what they have done with Gulf War Syndrome, also thought to be related to DU. While the ultra hard DU warhead penetrates enemy tanks with ease and immediately kills those near the explosion, the particles released by the impact kill indescriminately.
Half life: 4.5 Billion years.
So, of course, the Sun will swell and die, and so will the human race before any of these particles loose their radioactive properties. I am assuming that will be the moment people in this administration will look up from Hell and admit they were wrong for the first time.
Here is a link These images are horrendous.
Of course, I could put images like these on street signs and I would be called an unpatriotic SOB by the very pro-lifers that supported Bush.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, W is clearing brush....clearing brush...clearing brush. It is beautiful to see the hypocrisy, the lies, the smirk, the demeanor. Save these babies, George.
Half life: 4.5 Billion years.
So, of course, the Sun will swell and die, and so will the human race before any of these particles loose their radioactive properties. I am assuming that will be the moment people in this administration will look up from Hell and admit they were wrong for the first time.
Here is a link These images are horrendous.
Of course, I could put images like these on street signs and I would be called an unpatriotic SOB by the very pro-lifers that supported Bush.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, W is clearing brush....clearing brush...clearing brush. It is beautiful to see the hypocrisy, the lies, the smirk, the demeanor. Save these babies, George.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Jacques Chirac
Those savvy French......Je ne suis pas sûr que ce soit dans la nature de nos amis américains, en ce moment, de rendre systématiquement des faveurs." C'est aussi ce que pensent aujourd'hui la majorité des Britanniques.
Translation: I am not sure that, presently, it is in the nature of our American friends to systematically return favors.
Translation of the translation: Cher Tony [Blair], I think you have been royally screwed and will get nothing for it. Of course, I could have told you that. In fact, I did. Not that I am rubbing it in, I have my own problems. Colin was a good chap, wasn't he. We'll miss him...
etc., etc.
Translation: I am not sure that, presently, it is in the nature of our American friends to systematically return favors.
Translation of the translation: Cher Tony [Blair], I think you have been royally screwed and will get nothing for it. Of course, I could have told you that. In fact, I did. Not that I am rubbing it in, I have my own problems. Colin was a good chap, wasn't he. We'll miss him...
etc., etc.
Why Dems are running scared
There is something too cerebral to all this talk about Dems "standing" their ground. Though I have to say that I strongly believe Dems should be more fervent in their critiques of the Right and more deeply rooted in their own political philosophy, I have to remind myself everyday that there are serious financial circumstances involved in political life.
This article in The Hill says it all, though it doesn't speak broadly to the issue, only hints at it in its title "Dems fear lobbying blacklist"
...Several Democratic aides said that a midsize Washington lobbying firm, the Alpine Group, declined last week to hire a Daschle staffer with whom the group had been in long-standing discussions about a possible job. They said the Daschle aide, who The Hill agreed not to name, believed he would get the job based on conversations with the firm about three months before the election.
According to one Senate aide familiar with the situation, the firm told the Daschle aide, “This is a cold town for Democrats. It’s especially cold for Daschle’s staff.” Asked whether DeLay or any of his associates had specifically conveyed a message to the firm, the Senate aide said, “The implication was that DeLay had put the word out that Daschle staff should not be hired.”
Now, I think Washington had a LOT of problems when a certain bonhomie reigned, when Senate rules of engagement actually reflected certain polite beliefs. But in some ways, those days also meant survival of those who disagreed with you and survival of their ideas. Those days are gone, and they are gone for the political underclass as well.
The Repubs are remaking the town in their own image. It is scary.
No wonder Democrats seem so timid. They are afraid for their livelihood.
This article in The Hill says it all, though it doesn't speak broadly to the issue, only hints at it in its title "Dems fear lobbying blacklist"
...Several Democratic aides said that a midsize Washington lobbying firm, the Alpine Group, declined last week to hire a Daschle staffer with whom the group had been in long-standing discussions about a possible job. They said the Daschle aide, who The Hill agreed not to name, believed he would get the job based on conversations with the firm about three months before the election.
According to one Senate aide familiar with the situation, the firm told the Daschle aide, “This is a cold town for Democrats. It’s especially cold for Daschle’s staff.” Asked whether DeLay or any of his associates had specifically conveyed a message to the firm, the Senate aide said, “The implication was that DeLay had put the word out that Daschle staff should not be hired.”
Now, I think Washington had a LOT of problems when a certain bonhomie reigned, when Senate rules of engagement actually reflected certain polite beliefs. But in some ways, those days also meant survival of those who disagreed with you and survival of their ideas. Those days are gone, and they are gone for the political underclass as well.
The Repubs are remaking the town in their own image. It is scary.
No wonder Democrats seem so timid. They are afraid for their livelihood.
How to Be an Opposition Party
Great comments by Matt Stoller in How to Be an Opposition Party.
Quote:
Currently, the pitiful candidate Kerry is busy setting himself up for 2008 by shitting on the base operatives striving to have every vote count. This is a mistake. When you are in opposition, every ally is important, and you do not sacrifice allies to stay in game, because you are not in the game. Kerry and many Senate Democrats do not understand this. They are not players anymore.
Kevin Brennan and Ian Welsh, two brilliant Canadians who have a deep interest in American politics, lay this out. In Learn How to Lose, Kevin shows that there is a right way to lose that scores you points in later elections, and a wrong way to lose that just fosters the perception of ineffectiveness. In The Bright Red Line, Ian talks about the battles that need to be fought and filibustered, the things upon which we cannot compromise or we lose the American polity for a generation.
In other words, being an effective opposition is about resisting structural changes that tilt the playing field away from you while allowing the governing party to enact policies you do not agree with, all the while proposing clear alternatives and publicizing them. Meanwhile, at the state and local level, governing well is essential to showcase how effective the Democratic alternative really is. At the federal level, though, we have no power, so we can be honest, like Al Sharpton in the primaries. Imagine that, a party of Sharptonian rhetoric.
Quote:
Currently, the pitiful candidate Kerry is busy setting himself up for 2008 by shitting on the base operatives striving to have every vote count. This is a mistake. When you are in opposition, every ally is important, and you do not sacrifice allies to stay in game, because you are not in the game. Kerry and many Senate Democrats do not understand this. They are not players anymore.
Kevin Brennan and Ian Welsh, two brilliant Canadians who have a deep interest in American politics, lay this out. In Learn How to Lose, Kevin shows that there is a right way to lose that scores you points in later elections, and a wrong way to lose that just fosters the perception of ineffectiveness. In The Bright Red Line, Ian talks about the battles that need to be fought and filibustered, the things upon which we cannot compromise or we lose the American polity for a generation.
In other words, being an effective opposition is about resisting structural changes that tilt the playing field away from you while allowing the governing party to enact policies you do not agree with, all the while proposing clear alternatives and publicizing them. Meanwhile, at the state and local level, governing well is essential to showcase how effective the Democratic alternative really is. At the federal level, though, we have no power, so we can be honest, like Al Sharpton in the primaries. Imagine that, a party of Sharptonian rhetoric.
Messaging The Mossad, clearing brush...
As America begins to straddle one-party rule and one-party ruled government institutions , Steve Clemons gives us a glimpse of the model: Isreal's Mossad. Sharon executed his purge. Now Bush is doing his.
As I said yesterday, the world is becoming our West Bank. Now we are becoming Israel, and more than just metaphorically. I am pro-Israel, but I am 100 percent anti-Sharon and anti- theocracy.
Clearing brush, clearing brush, clearing brush...
As I said yesterday, the world is becoming our West Bank. Now we are becoming Israel, and more than just metaphorically. I am pro-Israel, but I am 100 percent anti-Sharon and anti- theocracy.
Clearing brush, clearing brush, clearing brush...
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Fallujah in Pictures, Clearing Brush, Pharma-gov
As I'm going through the day's news, trying to forget them long enough to plan class, to grade some papers, to find some distance from everything that is going on, I inevitably fall on something like this: Fallujah in Pictures
Look at it. Think about it.
I don't know what's going to happen. I can't pretend to. But we are making enemies faster than we are making friends and, unless the Bushites get lucky and the Iraq election leads to a request for America to leave, we're in Iraq for a long time to come. Regardless, we have given the Muslim world ammunition for decades. Welcome to America's West Bank. I guess everybody knows that.
Meanwhile, back at the homestead, Holy George, is purging the ranks of the CIA. Like Homeland Security, he's setting it up to be a publicity apparatus, a research institution whose findings are guaranteed to be 100% in line with administration doctrine, or should I say dogma. This is ritual. This is like clearing brush. What are these darn weeds doing here? That's not the landscape I'm after. By golly, this here needs to be a golf course where I can drive the ball 250 yards without any water obstacles. That is my right. That is my priviledge. Serve me. Watch this drive.
Yes, clearing weeds.
It dawns on me that the administration is actually modeling itself not on the energy companies (though that is true to a certain extent as well), but on the drug companies. They do their own self-serving research, they spend luxuriously on advertisement and sell a lifestyle that finds its potency in a balance of fear (of death, of illness, of impotence) and often ambiguous results riddled with side-effects. Think Vioxx.
But hey, these manly men are tough right? They've got hard-ons that would make a mule blush. WEll, that's what they would like you to think. I think they are first-class sissies, policy hacks, and, unfortunately, politicians.
I'm depressed today.
Howard Dean for Chair.
Signing off.
Look at it. Think about it.
I don't know what's going to happen. I can't pretend to. But we are making enemies faster than we are making friends and, unless the Bushites get lucky and the Iraq election leads to a request for America to leave, we're in Iraq for a long time to come. Regardless, we have given the Muslim world ammunition for decades. Welcome to America's West Bank. I guess everybody knows that.
Meanwhile, back at the homestead, Holy George, is purging the ranks of the CIA. Like Homeland Security, he's setting it up to be a publicity apparatus, a research institution whose findings are guaranteed to be 100% in line with administration doctrine, or should I say dogma. This is ritual. This is like clearing brush. What are these darn weeds doing here? That's not the landscape I'm after. By golly, this here needs to be a golf course where I can drive the ball 250 yards without any water obstacles. That is my right. That is my priviledge. Serve me. Watch this drive.
Yes, clearing weeds.
It dawns on me that the administration is actually modeling itself not on the energy companies (though that is true to a certain extent as well), but on the drug companies. They do their own self-serving research, they spend luxuriously on advertisement and sell a lifestyle that finds its potency in a balance of fear (of death, of illness, of impotence) and often ambiguous results riddled with side-effects. Think Vioxx.
But hey, these manly men are tough right? They've got hard-ons that would make a mule blush. WEll, that's what they would like you to think. I think they are first-class sissies, policy hacks, and, unfortunately, politicians.
I'm depressed today.
Howard Dean for Chair.
Signing off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
