We have dug ourselves a hole (well, more like an abyss, really) and I see only one way climb out of it. The "it" is Guantanamo and the question is, "How do we right this wrong?"
The President last week stated, in essence, that since we don't have any laws to cover what we've done, we have to continue to hold these people until we create the laws to justify our actions. We are holding them not because of what they have done, but what they might do, and without any real reason to believe that they might do what we think they might do other than their religious beliefs or political ideology.
It's called "Preventative Incarceration" and it is illegal, immoral, and unethical. It defies logic and common sense. Where we were once the world's compass on the questions of human rights, we find ourselves as a perpetrator of the very rights violations we used to condemn others for. They have been generalized as "enemy combatants", and while some may be, some may not. They are suspects in potential future crimes, but are not necessarily guilty of anything yet other than being Muslim and/or in the wrong place at the wrong time being of the wrong color. It's Minority Report without the benefit of technological clairvoyance.
The arguments I've heard are that we must prosecute them or declare them prisoners of war. Obvioulsy, the problem with those two scenarios is that in the first case they may not have committed any crimes on our soil and in the second there's been no declaration of war. Let's go back a second: If no crime has been committed here, are they still subject to American laws? If a crime is committed against an American in, say Italy, the Italian courts and laws are applicable, and the punishment is meted out according to the standards of the country where the crime was committed. Take the caning of the kid in Singapore some years back. We were outraged that the court there would hand down that sort of sentence, but it was well within its rights to do so and the kid got the caning. Similarly, if a person from another country commits a crime here, he is subject to our laws and punishments.
Of course, that whole argument depends upon crimes that have actually occured.
The other solution is to declare them prisoners of war, which is difficult to do since there is no war for them to be prisoners of. Yes, I know, if it is looks, walks, and sounds like a duck, it's a duck. It sure looks like a war, but there has been no congressional declaration to make it official, so it's not actually a war. It's a "military action" which is in and of itself is illegal, immoral, and unethical.
So, basically what we have is a bunch of potential criminals who have yet to commit any crime who are prisoners of a non-war. Damn difficult to prosecute that in either case.
The deflective issue is whether to keep them in Cuba or move them to a supermax prison here. I say it's a deflective issue beacuse it's what the fighting is all about but that ignores the real problem which is that no matter where they are, what we have done and apparently are willing to continue to do is illegal. And we're going to "create the legal framework" as we go. The unmitigated audacity of that philosophy is mind-boggling.
One sub-deflective issue that has been thrown around is that moving them here will cost the taxpayers to house them. Uh, we already are paying to keep them in Cuba, so what's the difference?
The other sub-deflective issue is that we don't want them here beacuse of who they are (or rather, who they might be). We have an empty supermax prison which is far more suitable than the plywood and chicken wire camp in Cuba. To my way of thinking, if we want to make sure they can't escape, a concrete fortress in the middle of nowhere is preferable to a rickety old army base surrounded by an ocean in a county that already has issues with us.
So, what's the answer? I think that we need to turn the whole mess over to the World Court and let them decide the outcome and live by whatever rulings they hand down. This cannot come down to a situation of the police policing the police wherein we get to make up the rules as we go along. The questions here are too far-reaching, and the implications to dire for us to handle this alone. The American government is complicit in these illegal acts, and must be held accountable. The rest of the world will judge us, rightfully so, on what we do next. And rather than sanctimoniously create laws to cover our tracks, we need to let the World Court decide what the appropriate course should be.
Afterall, continuing to do something wrong will never make it right. And based upon the legal foundations by which this country has operated for the past 233 years, there is no "legal framework" that we can develop that will justify or codify our actions.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Best Part of the Day
Subconscious Alternate Reality State, or what I like to call Limboland. It’s the place your brain goes when you’re falling asleep, but not quite there. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds multi-colored whirlwind of disjointed thoughts and images in combinations that your conscious self can’t even comprehend. Nightly I will hear my brain say, “Where in the hell did that come from?” after some wholly unfathomable series of flotsam collides and forms a hideous glimpse into the other possibilities of who I think I am. I then ask myself how my brain talks to me, which inevitably leads into the questions of our very existence, and then it’s a pot of coffee and another night writing blogs. Even as it sometimes terrifies me, I am fascinated by this other me that resides somewhere between what I think I know about who I am and what I think I don’t know about who I might also be. Of course, I am a Gemini, so these internal conflicts are nothing new to me. I’ve been at war with myself since my first two cognitive thoughts failed to agree on which one came first. Limboland is the playground where the other me gets to come out and play. It works hard all day, humming quietly along protecting me from my flawed conscious self, then cuts loose like a frat boy on meth just when the rest of me is trying to get some sleep. But, I laugh at it much more often than I cringe from it.
It is my favorite part of the day.
Bloated? Take a dump!
Bloated? Take a Dump.
Grab the forks ‘cuz we’re done. What the government needs to understand is that the hamsters are broke. The cash cow is dead. The piggy bank is empty. We have no more to give. We are barely scraping by as it is, and no amount of political blackmail is going to change that. And by government I mean everything from school boards to the President of the United States.
On Tuesday May 19, 2009 the hamsters of the State of California sent a very clear message to the Guvernator and the legislature by rejecting six initiatives that would ultimately raise taxes and fees. The Guv was particularly keen on the passage of these shell game initiatives, going so far as to tell us that if we failed him, several thousand firefighters would be cut. This as we enter into the fire season and as Santa Barbara burned. His bluff, assuming that it was a bluff (and it better have been) could not pull any more blood out of his turnips.
By a two-thirds majority, we rejected him and his proposals. The message sent to him and the legislature, though probably lost on them, is that we want them to cut spending instead of raising taxes and fees. We want them to do this without cutting the things that our taxes are supposed to pay for, like police and fire protection, education, and most social services. These are, of course, the government’s extortion tools and they are not likely to give them up.
Except they have to. What we want them to cut are the commissions, committees, bureaus, and departments for which there is no apparent reason to exist. They are in place to provide homes for nepotism and cronyism. And there are literally hundreds of them throughout the state and federal governments. It is the fat on the steak that needs to be trimmed, not the steak itself.
What we want them to examine here is the $12 BILLION annually that California gives to programs for illegal aliens. Whatever your state spends is no less problematic. IDEA: If you want to stem the tide of illegal immigration make it less attractive. I would love to receive some of the benefits that we are providing for people who have no legal entitlement to receive them. I have nothing against people from other places as long as they legally enter and do what is required to remain in the country.
I want the government to stop printing ballots in any language other than English. If you cannot read and/or write in this country’s language, then you have no right to vote, regardless of your immigration status.
I want politicians to cease holding children hostage to get school bonds passed or to raise taxes to fund programs that we are already paying for. If the program has become too expensive but is still necessary, then cut another one or combine it with another whose budget exceeds its expenses. I am immediately suspect when a political campaign uses kids to sell itself. It’s the McDonald’s Marketing Model: Bait the kids, hook the parents.
Here’s a question: If you have a budget shortfall, how are you getting paid? If my employer has a negative balance at the bank, I’m going to lose my job. How are these people still drawing a salary when there is no money to pay them? California has a huge deficit (econ 101 lesson: deficit is bad. It means you don’t have enough income to offset your expenses) and yet our government officials, whether elected or selected, are still cashing paychecks. As one of your employers, I’m severing your pay until and unless there is enough money in the budget to employ you.
Oh, if only I could.
One other threat the government likes to employ is job losses through layoffs or terminations. Uh, memo to the idiots: When you take away people’s incomes, you TAKE AWAY THEIR ABILITY TO PAY TAXES, thereby decreasing your income and widening your deficit. Additionally, when you raise taxes on goods and services, people are more likely to stop buying the goods or using the services, which has the exact same effect. You lose income rather than create it. How did we get so stupid?
The People, aka your employer, can no longer support you. We have nothing left to give. We are tapped out. You must find other solutions to your problems. And that cannot be at the expense, once again, of those things that our tax dollars are supposed to provide. It has to be by eliminating unnecessary government entities, self-serving political appointments, and services to illegal immigrants.
If you’re bloated, take a dump. Just don’t you dare do it on us. The hamsters have enough crap to deal with already. It’s your turn at the sacrificial altar.
Grab the forks ‘cuz we’re done. What the government needs to understand is that the hamsters are broke. The cash cow is dead. The piggy bank is empty. We have no more to give. We are barely scraping by as it is, and no amount of political blackmail is going to change that. And by government I mean everything from school boards to the President of the United States.
On Tuesday May 19, 2009 the hamsters of the State of California sent a very clear message to the Guvernator and the legislature by rejecting six initiatives that would ultimately raise taxes and fees. The Guv was particularly keen on the passage of these shell game initiatives, going so far as to tell us that if we failed him, several thousand firefighters would be cut. This as we enter into the fire season and as Santa Barbara burned. His bluff, assuming that it was a bluff (and it better have been) could not pull any more blood out of his turnips.
By a two-thirds majority, we rejected him and his proposals. The message sent to him and the legislature, though probably lost on them, is that we want them to cut spending instead of raising taxes and fees. We want them to do this without cutting the things that our taxes are supposed to pay for, like police and fire protection, education, and most social services. These are, of course, the government’s extortion tools and they are not likely to give them up.
Except they have to. What we want them to cut are the commissions, committees, bureaus, and departments for which there is no apparent reason to exist. They are in place to provide homes for nepotism and cronyism. And there are literally hundreds of them throughout the state and federal governments. It is the fat on the steak that needs to be trimmed, not the steak itself.
What we want them to examine here is the $12 BILLION annually that California gives to programs for illegal aliens. Whatever your state spends is no less problematic. IDEA: If you want to stem the tide of illegal immigration make it less attractive. I would love to receive some of the benefits that we are providing for people who have no legal entitlement to receive them. I have nothing against people from other places as long as they legally enter and do what is required to remain in the country.
I want the government to stop printing ballots in any language other than English. If you cannot read and/or write in this country’s language, then you have no right to vote, regardless of your immigration status.
I want politicians to cease holding children hostage to get school bonds passed or to raise taxes to fund programs that we are already paying for. If the program has become too expensive but is still necessary, then cut another one or combine it with another whose budget exceeds its expenses. I am immediately suspect when a political campaign uses kids to sell itself. It’s the McDonald’s Marketing Model: Bait the kids, hook the parents.
Here’s a question: If you have a budget shortfall, how are you getting paid? If my employer has a negative balance at the bank, I’m going to lose my job. How are these people still drawing a salary when there is no money to pay them? California has a huge deficit (econ 101 lesson: deficit is bad. It means you don’t have enough income to offset your expenses) and yet our government officials, whether elected or selected, are still cashing paychecks. As one of your employers, I’m severing your pay until and unless there is enough money in the budget to employ you.
Oh, if only I could.
One other threat the government likes to employ is job losses through layoffs or terminations. Uh, memo to the idiots: When you take away people’s incomes, you TAKE AWAY THEIR ABILITY TO PAY TAXES, thereby decreasing your income and widening your deficit. Additionally, when you raise taxes on goods and services, people are more likely to stop buying the goods or using the services, which has the exact same effect. You lose income rather than create it. How did we get so stupid?
The People, aka your employer, can no longer support you. We have nothing left to give. We are tapped out. You must find other solutions to your problems. And that cannot be at the expense, once again, of those things that our tax dollars are supposed to provide. It has to be by eliminating unnecessary government entities, self-serving political appointments, and services to illegal immigrants.
If you’re bloated, take a dump. Just don’t you dare do it on us. The hamsters have enough crap to deal with already. It’s your turn at the sacrificial altar.
THe Furry Futilists
The hamster crawls out from under the newspaper and hamster crap, waddles over to the food and water and partakes of some. Then he waddles over to the wheel, climbs in, and starts his routine of going nowhere. He takes a break, a little more food and drink, then starts all over again. He finishes and takes on a little more food and water then heads back to the corner and crawls back under the newspaper and hamster crap and falls asleep.
The next day is the same. And the next, ad nauseum. If this sounds at all familiar, then you my friend are a hamster. But don’t despair. There are millions of us. In fact, we are the majority species on the planet. This scenario runs constantly everyday everywhere. We are not in a rut. Rather we are in a chasm, an abyss, a bottomless pit. The hamster is the symbol of futility and the most befitting emblem the Futilist Society.
Futilist was not a word up until now. I know this because every time I type it, the little red squiggly line is displayed under it. And since I invented the word, who better to define it? So, as a public service to the nice folks who compile dictionaries, here then is the definition of a Futilist:
Fut-ti-list (fyoot/til/ist) n. A pessimist on steroids. A Futilist considers Dust in the Wind by Kansas a theme song. The Futilist motto is, “It’s always darkest just before it goes completely black.” A Futilist has made friends with the monsters under the bed. A Futilist is the exact and extreme opposite of the Eternal Optimist, who is someone that, often with the assistance of drugs procured at either the corner drug store or the house on the corner, mistakenly believes that all of this makes sense or will someday.
We are the hamsters that keep the wheels spinning all the while feeling like all we’re really doing is spinning our wheels. The overwhelming majority of us are the middle management, support, and service people that keep the whole thing working while trying to balance raising and supporting a family or ourselves. And as we trudge through our days, we see all the insanity around us and look at it blankly because we’ve become so disassociated with it all. Global warming and economic chaos, war and civil unrest, and new more virulent viruses, all parade across our TV screens in short attention span style and we ask, “Gee, that’s terrible, but what can I do about it?”
There are those out there screaming into the wind that the machine is broken. Our global political mindset consists of a bunch of frat boys having a pissing contest. Our scientific community can’t agree on whether or not, or when, we’re going to simultaneously fry and drown. And our religious leaders continue to shout at the sky that God will save us/kill us/show us the way/give us a bunch of virgins.
Which reminds me; that’s about the stupidest thing to want, if you’re a man. Whatever the number of virgins it is, it’s for ETERNITY! Once you’ve deflowered them all, you got that many unsatisfied women to deal with. I have never heard what the female suicide bombers receive as their rewards in heaven. I doubt that the idea of a bunch of virgin men appeals to them. But religion and all its hilarity will follow in future blogs.
Getting back to the point, I love Bill Maher. The April 24th show was one of the best ever. Howard Dean, I have a newfound respect for you. You were articulate and informed and said a lot of very positive things. I admire your tenacity for trying to put a hopeful sheen on all the terrible news concerning the major issues confronting us. Alas, however, even you had to admit in the end that we are basically screwed.
For those of you who might have missed it, here’s a recap. The economy is in the toilet and will likely remain there for some time. The worst, sadly, is yet to come. Torture is bad and ineffective (duh) and the previous administration did a lot of horrible things to quite a few people. That Pakistan is likely going to try to kill us all. And if they don’t, the environment will. There was also the requisite Republican bashing and eulogies and some extraordinarily humorous New Rules.
It was a futilist fantasy: A veritable cornucopia of reasons to just go ahead and take a handful of sedatives and wash them down with a bottle of Crown Royal. But I’m not going to do that because in spite of it all, I find this whole thing to be, if not amusing, at least fascinating. Besides, I see some very simple solutions to most of these problems, including the global climate change, and that is the gist of this blog.
I am not here to bitch and moan without some sort of remedy. And unlike the crap the pharmaceutical companies foist upon us, there are no harmful side effects to my proposals. There will be sacrifices, but they are physically painless and completely habit forming. You may scoff that an average guy like me [124 out of 248 my senior year of high school] could actually possess the answers to what ails us, so I challenge you to find fault with them. I will listen to any reasonable rebuttal and will admit defeat if proven wrong.
In addition to major topic/thematic posts, there will be occasional snippets of the futile world around us. From the Triad of Futility to home town news, these filler pieces are designed to point out the absurd, futile, and ultimately positive events that happen every day. Some will likely make you smack your forehead in disbelief while others may offer up some semblance of hope, a small ray of light in the otherwise dark tunnel.
This hamster may not be climbing entirely off the wheel (I still gotta eat), but I’m not just going to curl up under the newspaper and hamster crap anymore.
The next day is the same. And the next, ad nauseum. If this sounds at all familiar, then you my friend are a hamster. But don’t despair. There are millions of us. In fact, we are the majority species on the planet. This scenario runs constantly everyday everywhere. We are not in a rut. Rather we are in a chasm, an abyss, a bottomless pit. The hamster is the symbol of futility and the most befitting emblem the Futilist Society.
Futilist was not a word up until now. I know this because every time I type it, the little red squiggly line is displayed under it. And since I invented the word, who better to define it? So, as a public service to the nice folks who compile dictionaries, here then is the definition of a Futilist:
Fut-ti-list (fyoot/til/ist) n. A pessimist on steroids. A Futilist considers Dust in the Wind by Kansas a theme song. The Futilist motto is, “It’s always darkest just before it goes completely black.” A Futilist has made friends with the monsters under the bed. A Futilist is the exact and extreme opposite of the Eternal Optimist, who is someone that, often with the assistance of drugs procured at either the corner drug store or the house on the corner, mistakenly believes that all of this makes sense or will someday.
We are the hamsters that keep the wheels spinning all the while feeling like all we’re really doing is spinning our wheels. The overwhelming majority of us are the middle management, support, and service people that keep the whole thing working while trying to balance raising and supporting a family or ourselves. And as we trudge through our days, we see all the insanity around us and look at it blankly because we’ve become so disassociated with it all. Global warming and economic chaos, war and civil unrest, and new more virulent viruses, all parade across our TV screens in short attention span style and we ask, “Gee, that’s terrible, but what can I do about it?”
There are those out there screaming into the wind that the machine is broken. Our global political mindset consists of a bunch of frat boys having a pissing contest. Our scientific community can’t agree on whether or not, or when, we’re going to simultaneously fry and drown. And our religious leaders continue to shout at the sky that God will save us/kill us/show us the way/give us a bunch of virgins.
Which reminds me; that’s about the stupidest thing to want, if you’re a man. Whatever the number of virgins it is, it’s for ETERNITY! Once you’ve deflowered them all, you got that many unsatisfied women to deal with. I have never heard what the female suicide bombers receive as their rewards in heaven. I doubt that the idea of a bunch of virgin men appeals to them. But religion and all its hilarity will follow in future blogs.
Getting back to the point, I love Bill Maher. The April 24th show was one of the best ever. Howard Dean, I have a newfound respect for you. You were articulate and informed and said a lot of very positive things. I admire your tenacity for trying to put a hopeful sheen on all the terrible news concerning the major issues confronting us. Alas, however, even you had to admit in the end that we are basically screwed.
For those of you who might have missed it, here’s a recap. The economy is in the toilet and will likely remain there for some time. The worst, sadly, is yet to come. Torture is bad and ineffective (duh) and the previous administration did a lot of horrible things to quite a few people. That Pakistan is likely going to try to kill us all. And if they don’t, the environment will. There was also the requisite Republican bashing and eulogies and some extraordinarily humorous New Rules.
It was a futilist fantasy: A veritable cornucopia of reasons to just go ahead and take a handful of sedatives and wash them down with a bottle of Crown Royal. But I’m not going to do that because in spite of it all, I find this whole thing to be, if not amusing, at least fascinating. Besides, I see some very simple solutions to most of these problems, including the global climate change, and that is the gist of this blog.
I am not here to bitch and moan without some sort of remedy. And unlike the crap the pharmaceutical companies foist upon us, there are no harmful side effects to my proposals. There will be sacrifices, but they are physically painless and completely habit forming. You may scoff that an average guy like me [124 out of 248 my senior year of high school] could actually possess the answers to what ails us, so I challenge you to find fault with them. I will listen to any reasonable rebuttal and will admit defeat if proven wrong.
In addition to major topic/thematic posts, there will be occasional snippets of the futile world around us. From the Triad of Futility to home town news, these filler pieces are designed to point out the absurd, futile, and ultimately positive events that happen every day. Some will likely make you smack your forehead in disbelief while others may offer up some semblance of hope, a small ray of light in the otherwise dark tunnel.
This hamster may not be climbing entirely off the wheel (I still gotta eat), but I’m not just going to curl up under the newspaper and hamster crap anymore.
Welcome to the Hamster Paradigm
Welcome to the Hamster Paradigm
On May 27, 1954, the world and I met for the first time and the war began. And so it is that today fifty-five years later, the Hamster Paradigm meets the world and the war heats up.
This exercise in noisy futility is meant to inform, provoke, and ultimately entertain those who read it. Your involvement is welcome and encouraged and I will gladly discuss any of the content, but will not tolerate name calling or disrespect either to me or anyone who chooses to post comments. The contents of this blog are the property of the author and he asks that you respect that before using any of it, assuming anyone would want to.
Here are a few facts about me to get you started: White male of average looks, intelligence, and sensibility. I have no political or religious affiliations. I do not identify as any particular sexuality but I am in the 13th year of a committed domestic partnership with a very nice fellow named Scott. I prefer dogs over cats, cats over ferrets, and ferrets over rats. I do not abide snakes of any kind, especially those with two legs. I am a realist, pragmatist, and futilist (much more on that later). I am agnostic in that I believe in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities. But most importantly, I am just another hamster on the wheel trying to make it through the remaining days of my allotment.
You are most welcome to come along for the ride.
On May 27, 1954, the world and I met for the first time and the war began. And so it is that today fifty-five years later, the Hamster Paradigm meets the world and the war heats up.
This exercise in noisy futility is meant to inform, provoke, and ultimately entertain those who read it. Your involvement is welcome and encouraged and I will gladly discuss any of the content, but will not tolerate name calling or disrespect either to me or anyone who chooses to post comments. The contents of this blog are the property of the author and he asks that you respect that before using any of it, assuming anyone would want to.
Here are a few facts about me to get you started: White male of average looks, intelligence, and sensibility. I have no political or religious affiliations. I do not identify as any particular sexuality but I am in the 13th year of a committed domestic partnership with a very nice fellow named Scott. I prefer dogs over cats, cats over ferrets, and ferrets over rats. I do not abide snakes of any kind, especially those with two legs. I am a realist, pragmatist, and futilist (much more on that later). I am agnostic in that I believe in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities. But most importantly, I am just another hamster on the wheel trying to make it through the remaining days of my allotment.
You are most welcome to come along for the ride.
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