Spreading a meme

Roland wanted to post this here, but he's crashed for the night so I'm taking the liberty. Hey, I need to use my posting rights once in a while :-).

Info on a few important Senate and Congressional races:

* AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
* AZ-01: Rick Renzi
* AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
* CA-04: John Doolittle
* CA-11: Richard Pombo
* CA-50: Brian Bilbray
* CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave
* CO-05: Doug Lamborn
* CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
* CT-04: Christopher Shays
* FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
* FL-16: Joe Negron
* FL-22: Clay Shaw
* ID-01: Bill Sali
* IL-06: Peter Roskam
* IL-10: Mark Kirk
* IL-14: Dennis Hastert
* IN-02: Chris Chocola
* IN-08: John Hostettler
* IA-01: Mike Whalen
* KS-02: Jim Ryun
* KY-03: Anne Northup
* KY-04: Geoff Davis
* MD-Sen: Michael Steele
* MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
* MN-06: Michele Bachmann
* MO-Sen: Jim Talent
* MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
* NV-03: Jon Porter
* NH-02: Charlie Bass
* NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
* NM-01: Heather Wilson
* NY-03: Peter King
* NY-20: John Sweeney
* NY-26: Tom Reynolds
* NY-29: Randy Kuhl
* NC-08: Robin Hayes
* NC-11: Charles Taylor
* OH-01: Steve Chabot
* OH-02: Jean Schmidt
* OH-15: Deborah Pryce
* OH-18: Joy Padgett
* PA-04: Melissa Hart
* PA-07: Curt Weldon
* PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
* PA-10: Don Sherwood
* RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
* TN-Sen: Bob Corker
* VA-Sen: George Allen
* VA-10: Frank Wolf
* WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
* WA-08: Dave Reichert

Pass it on :-). Info courtesy Chris on DailyKos.

Five Minutes To Midnight

It's been too long since I've posted, but even with all that I've seen recently, this jumped out at me:

Five Minutes to Midnight: The War Is Coming, No Matter How Hard We Try to Evade It.

"This Time We Must Not Surrender Five Minutes Before Midnight." -- Adolf Hitler

The war referenced in the linked title is the supposedly necessary and inevitable pre-emptive invasion of Iran.

Res Ipsa Loquitur.
--
(/) Roland X
Remember, remember on the 7th of November...
...vote.

A Plague of Madness

Is this the beginning of the end?

I refer, of course, to the ever-widening circle of war, murder and stupidity in the Middle East. I point no fingers, because every force actively involved in the violence seems to want to inflame the other side as far as possible. Naturally, Israel has the big guns, but that's not the problem. Unsurprisingly, the various terrorist groups who want to destroy Israel are targeting its military, but that's not the problem either (military targets being, you know, legitimate). No, the problem is that both sides seem intent on inflicting as much misery, fear and death to their foes' civilian populations as possible. This is an unprecedented escalation for both sides, but especially Israel, which (while guilty of collective punishment et. al. in the past) has always maintained at least some restraint.

It would seem to me that the wisest course of action for the United States, given our vulnerable position in Iraq and Afghanistan, would be to stay as aloof from the actual fighting as possible while trying to end the violence diplomatically. I'm genuinely, pleasantly shocked that this appears to be what the Bush administration is trying to do, though their politically idiotic statements of unconditional support for Israel aren't helping.

Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone wants to give peace a chance. While browsing the blogs, I found this highly disturbing report on the neocon attitude at Glenn Greenwald's site:

In the past, neoconservatives have danced delicately around the notion that Israel's conflicts should be viewed by the U.S. as its own conflicts. But, to his credit, Bill Kristol yesterday came right out and candidly put his views on the table. In the Weekly Standard, Kristol's column -- entitled "This is Our War" (by "Our" he means the U.S.) -- argues explicitly what many have contended for some time is an unstated belief of neoconservatives: that the U.S. should view the threats to Israel as threats to the U.S., because the enemy is the same, and should join Israel in the destruction of these enemies. Kristol actually argues that President Bush should immediately abandon the G-8 summit in Russia and fly to Jerusalem in order to stand by Israel, in "our" new war, which should be waged against Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, for starters. This article is very significant and I am quoting from it at length:

What's happening in the Middle East, then, isn't just another chapter in the Arab-Israeli conflict. What's happening is an Islamist-Israeli war. You might even say this is part of the Islamist war on the West--but is India part of the West? Better to say that what's under attack is liberal democratic civilization, whose leading representative right now happens to be the United States....

Bill Kristol is one of the most influential neonconservative pundits in the country, if not the most influential, and the fact that he is openly advocating this world-view means that we will be seeing much more of it from the neoconservative precincts which led us into the invasion of Iraq.

Mr. Greenwald is measured and quite civil in his assessment of Kristol's position. My take is somewhat less measured: are they effin' nuts?!?

Let's take out the morality question for the moment; I consider both sides of the conflict equally psychotic (this does not, of course, include the majority on both sides who would rather not kill anyone), so the only moral question in my mind is how best to end the killing while being as fair as possible to everyone involved. From a purely strategic standpoint, then, I have to ask: are they effin' nuts?!?

Our military is stretched to the limit. Boots on the ground are out of the question, given we don't have enough troops in Iraq and our forces in Afghanistan are present in laughably low numbers. Providing air support is a joke -- does anyone reading this think Israel needs any help on that front? -- and will only serve to make America that much more hated in the region. So our military assistance is irrelevant for various reasons and all we could do is make our own situation (not to mention Iraq's) worse without helping Israel. What possible reason could America have for getting involved?

Hmm... could it be our own home-grown lunatics who see a chance to "make" the Second Coming happen? Obviously, none of these people have any real representation in the administration (except the increasingly irrelevant Bush), but Rove knows he has to keep them happy, and with Republican poll numbers tanking across the board, he needs a rallying point with the only real base the party has left. The horrific implications make the Iraq debacle look like a slight misstep, but when has something as inconsequential as possibly destroying the world ever stopped the Architect?

I end this post with hope: Gush Shalom, a peace organization in Israel that seems to be making more headway than I would have thought. May your G-d bless and watch over you.
--
(/) Roland X
Hope is a phoenix

The Innocent Have Nothing To Fear...Right?

Wrong.

A Homeland Security Department spokesman was held Wednesday on felony charges of sexually preying on a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl through explicit online conversations. He was quickly suspended without pay from one of the nation's top crime-fighting agencies.

The arrest of Brian J. Doyle, 55, raised doubts about the ability of an agency responsible for safeguarding the country to ensure the security credentials of its own people.

Gee, ya think?

Of course, it can't get much worse than this, right?

Wrong.

When an Orlando mall security officer responded to a complaint about a man exposing himself to a girl in the food court, the suspect hurried out of the mall and ran through the parking lot.

The suspect was Frank Figueroa, then one of Florida's highest-ranking federal law enforcement officers and the former head of a national program formed to target child sex predators.

In a total lack of coincidence, the previous article about Mr. Doyle notes that Operation Predator is run by the Department of Homeland Security:

Homeland Security also oversees an Operation Predator unit, which investigates child predators and pornographers.

That's right, a guy who ran the DHS' anti-child-trafficking program flashed a 16 year old girl...and it may not be the first time:

Homeland Security responded in writing Dec. 5, through Pamela J. Turner, assistant secretary for legislative affairs. Turner said Figueroa had been arrested "for similar behavior" in Amherst, N.Y., in 1977.

The case was dismissed, Turner wrote, "in the interest of justice because the perpetrator was never identified."

At the time, Figueroa was an inspector with the Buffalo, N.Y., customs office.

Because of the earlier arrest, Turner wrote, ICE has initiated a review of all background investigations of employees who work on Operation Predator. She did not say whether a prior arrest would preclude work with the unit.

In Figueroa's defense, he has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer insists that the '77 case, which was dropped, is irrelevant. Our nation is founded on laws that protect people charged with crimes. In America, we are all innocent until proven guilty.

That, however, is the very point I'm making here. These two cases raise an important question: just who is Bush talking about giving unlimited spying power to? The Bill of Rights was written specifically because men are not angels. Brian Doyle and Frank Figueroa may well be innocent of the charges they are accused of, but the simple truth is that these crimes are committed, and we know they're committed more widely than anyone really knows. What kind of havoc could a sexual predator, or a violent bigot, or a stalker looking for revenge wreak with the power of the DHS or NSA, and no one watching the watchmen?

What was that question about why people with nothing to hide might be afraid of Big Brother?

There is a reason that Congress was given the power to hold the executive branch accountable. There's a reason FISA was created. There's a reason the Founding Fathers warned their heirs -- us -- of the dangers that arise when we give leaders too much power during wartime. That reason is staring us in the face at this very moment -- whether we travel down a road paved with the best of intentions or are undermined by those whose intents are evil from the beginning, the final destination ahead is always abuse, fear, and ultimately, tyranny.
--
(/) Roland X
"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."

He Said He Was A Uniter

My apologies for yet another long dearth of posts; I've been focusing on Street Prophets and my local group's local blog, but I'm sharing this one around -- it's that time again -- and thought it would make a good re-inauguration of the Justice Log. It certainly fits the subtitle.

Every so often, I feel compelled to return to this issue, the heart of what shows that Bush is evil -- not just his administration, nor Bush himself merely incompetent -- but the man himself, the puppet sitting in the Oval Office. He bears responsibility, no matter how he might try to avoid it.

I know there were still a few people who remained dubious about Bush on September 12, 2001. I got into arguments with one on an email list -- so many of us became hawks briefly, it was all too easy. For me, it was personal. I'm a native New Yorker. I was born there. My father had worked at the American Stock Exchange, and my uncle was working there on the 11th. His story was harrowing, but he made it out alive.

What I remember most about that day, ironically enough, is not the hours waiting to donate blood, hours well spent with a few hundred of my closest friends, nor the fact that it is the only day I have ever simply "blown off" work, nor that I was awakened by a dear friend I had not spoken to in months if not years, calling from 3000 miles away, to tell us that the Towers had been hit. What I remember most is the shock, the sheer, unbelieving shock, as I stared at the television, still unable to process what was happening. When I woke up, there was a single tower bleeding smoke into the sky, and I tried to look around it -- yes, while watching it on a TV screen -- to find the other. It had already fallen.

Over the next few days, I was prone to wandering aimlessly. At work, I would drift into the storage room where someone had kindly set up a TV. There was, of course, constant coverage. The gaping holes in the city continued to vomit smoke for weeks. People ruminated darkly about the number of dead, wept at the sight of the bereaved survivors who would never have closure, and wondered when the news became part of the first act of a Bruckheimer disaster film.

And there was Bush, Mr. Uniter, claiming that the time for partisan division was past. Gore went to him in a show of support. New Yorkers were cheering a man most had certainly voted against. Even Falwell was unable to get away with bashing the Usual Suspects (read: us). For a brief, golden moment, it really looked like we might come together as a nation, that Bin Laden's monstrosity would become his final folly. A French newspaper declared "we are all Americans," and it seemed true. In the wake of the tragedy was hope: all things were possible, for we were America, and we had been reminded of who we really were.

For the true Axis Of Evil -- Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld -- that simply would not do.

Rove was already plotting to use the attacks against the slender Democratic majority in the Senate (horrors! Democrats with power!), Cheney opened fire on the separation of powers with all guns blazing, and Rumsfeld started the plans to "sweep it all up, things related and not." There was no spirit of compromise, unity or bipartisanship within this cabal, only the realization that this second Pearl Harbor could also be America's Reichstag fire, if they worked hard enough at it. Of course, that would mean deliberately and viciously taking a sword to the dream of unity America found that nightmarish day.

Into this crucible came George W. Bush, widely described as Prince Hal become Henry V, at last come into his own. Here was the moment for the Cowboy President to be his own man, to do what he believed was right and unite the country as he claimed to wish all at once. All he had to do was not be irredeemably evil and hopelessly incompetent. As we have learned, that would have meant standing up to the aforementioned Axis, but no matter what came Before, Bush was -- and is -- the actual President. He could have done the right thing almost through benign neglect.

Instead, he personally spearheaded Rove's two-front war, one against al-Qaeda and the other against Democrats, particularly the Senate majority. I'm sure I don't have to list the travesties he supported with relish, but Iraq and the idiotic union-busting on the DHS were the beginning, and our warning signs. The Patriot Act was just a warm-up. Every stream of toxic rhetoric since then has started, one way or another, from the desk of President George W. Bush, and all he had to do was just say no.

He could have been remembered as a great leader if he had only tempered his greed. America could be as much a political hyperpower as it was a military one if he'd simply compromised, just a little, with other countries, other opinions. Instead, he became the Cowboy Caricature, with his blindingly idiotic lies ("they didn't let the inspectors in"?!?) and equally moronic rhetoric ("bring it on" worked great, didn't it?). Bush could be at 70% popularity right now, instead of half that, if he had just found common cause with all of America instead of trying to carve out 51% -- which is exactly what he got -- on one day in November of 2004. We could still have a nation leading the world towards something better, in a more prosperous environment, if Bush hadn't been a spoiled child with an Oedipus complex.

There are a million reasons to resist this Constitution-shredding Dominionist plutocrat, ranging from the environment to protecting the First Amendment. For me, though, this is at the heart of what Bush is: America's greatest enemy. Bin Laden wishes he could do a tenth as much damage to the country.
--
(/) Roland X
Fleeing the Chenon tyranny, the last Battleblog, Galactikos, leads a rag-tag fugitive web, on a lonely quest; a shining concept, known as Truth.