Elmo’s Big Adventure

So, Spanish Elmo is leaving tomorrow, with his Donald Rumsfeld doll. He told me that he thought Donald needed to see more of the world, so maybe he’d stop bombing people. It’s always a bittersweet moment when one of your loved ones go off on their own.

You’ll be able to follow his adventures at his blogspot, elmoanddonald.blogspot.com.
He’s very excited, and hopes to be back in about a year.

Immigration-2006

So, according to estimates, there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the US. (where does that number come from, anyway?) Leaving aside the question of the accuracy of that number, let’s look at some other assumptions. Let’s say that of that group, around half, let’s say 5 million, work full-time jobs, using phony ID and SocSec cards. And let’s say that the employers are enlightened enough (HA) to pay the minimum wage of $5.15/hour. That comes to an annual wage of $10,712.

Social Security and Medicare taxes, (employee & employer contribution is 15.3%, so those 5 million workers and their employers pay $8,194,680,000 into the SocSec fund. Let’s go a bit further, and say the effective tax rate for withholding is around 5% for these workers. That comes to $2,678,000,000. This adds up to $10,872,680,000, give or take, that is put into the US Treasury annually by these workers. Let’s adjust that to $10 billion, smoothing out errors in my assumptions. They will never be able to receive SocSec benefits, or get a tax refund, so that money will stay in the treasury. So let’s cut the crap about them somehow getting a free ride.

So far this year, about 4 or 5 hundred people have died attempting to get to this country. The US and Mexican governments are both complicit, along with the corporatistas, in destroying opportunities for the poor Mexicans to find ways to support their families in Mexico, so they risk all to come here, to be able to make some money to send home to their families. Just as we would if we were in their position.

Yet, still they are reviled.

“They take jobs away from Americans.” Ha. What a load of crap. Corporate America decided a long time ago to take advantage of the unfettered capitalism practiced by the WTO, and encoded into NAFTA, and deregulation. Nobody “took” jobs, they were sent away by your capitalist masters. And while they were doing that, they were setting up in tax havens, so that they wouldn’t have to pay their fair share of the burden of keeping this country afloat and functioning (and so you can toss out that bullshit about the illegals sending home money, and taking it out of the US economy). These same corporations also insist on the US sending its troops into other countries to protect their “interests”, but as we’ve seen, they don’t want to have to pay for that service. At home, they’ve shredded the pact with their remaining workers, decimating pensions and healthcare benefits. Along with the bushistas shredding the remains of America’s social safety net, US workers are fast approaching the aristocratic order that is preferred by the rich. And guess who ain’t gonna be part of the aristocratic class. And you’re worried about a handful of immigrants? What fucking idiots.

And some final thoughts on the demonstrations tomorrow. I support them. I support their message, and I support their cause. And I support their methods wholeheartedly.

Are we pissed because we’re jealous? The illegal immigrants that will be marching tomorrow have a lot to lose by exercising their rights. Are we jealous of their courage? Are we jealous because they’re standing up for their rights, while we roll over and let ours be taken away? Fill the streets, “shut down cities”. The American people should have done it in 2000 when the Supreme Court selected the president. We should have done it again in 2001, when the president bush cut the taxes on the rich, we should have done it again in 2003, when he invaded Iraq. And we should have done it 2004, when the bushistas stole the election again.

Separate yourselves from the bigoted rhetoric of the nutzoid right [they’re ALL nutzoid], and start looking at ALL peoples as people. They are not illegal immigrants, they are people. They are not Iraqis. They are people. People, goddamn it. Just like you and me, with the same hopes, dreams, and fears.

Opportunity for life itself, let alone upward mobility, is being destroyed right before our eyes. All we need do is open them to see it. May 1 is International Workers’ Day. We should be reveling in these actions, not reviling them. The immigrant population, with its recent actions, presents the most graphic demonstration of where our corporate masters are taking workers the world over. We are all going to have to decide, and soon, do we join them in solidarity for justice for the worker classes?, or do we let the corporatistas keep us separated in subsets, so they can take our children’s future from us?

And one last thing for you Christians out there. What the fuck do you think Jesus would do?

what would you do?

“WWJD” is heartbreaking, and beautifully done. http://peacetakescourage.cf.huffingtonpost.com/animations/wwjd.html

missing morals

Dead Cities
By Chris Floyd
Published: April 14, 2006
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/04/14/120.html

Of all the war crimes that have flowed from the originating crime of President George W. Bush's unprovoked invasion of Iraq, perhaps the most flagrant was the destruction of Fallujah in November 2004. Now, as ignominious defeat looms for Bush's Babylonian folly, some of the key players in fomenting the war are urging that the "Fallujah Option" be applied to an even bigger target: Baghdad.

What these influential warmongers openly call for is the "pacification" of Baghdad: a brutal firestorm by U.S. forces, ravaging both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias in a "horrific" operation that will inevitably lead to "skyrocketing body counts," as warhawk Reuel Marc Gerecht cheerfully wrote last week in the ever-bloodthirsty editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal. Gerecht's war whoop quickly ricocheted around the right-wing media echo chamber and gave public voice to the private counsels emanating from a group whose members now comprise the leadership of the U.S. government: The Project for the New American Century.
(more)

Divine Mushroom Cloud: A Call to Worship
by Karen Horst Cobb
April 22, 2006
CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0422-29.htm

On June 2nd the god of America will be paraded before the people of the earth causing them to tremble in fear. Americans will again marvel as they worship the god of their own creation. Just like the restless Israelites in the desert who grew inpatient with god and fashioned a golden calf to protect them we have grown inpatient with god and fashioned a shiny idol of power. Southern Methodist University is working with the new clergy of death who have named the idol Divine Strake.

The 700 tons of explosives designed to simulate the effects of a nuclear weapon will create a glorious mushroom cloud. The goal of the ammonium nitrate and fuel to be detonated on Shoshone land will cover Las Vegas with a mushroom cloud and will measure 3.5 on the Richter scale. Some believe it is in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty which banned all testing for nuclear weapons. This simulated explosion will show the "enemy" and the war planners how the real thing will impact the ground and the air in which a nuclear bomb is detonated. Specifically, it is designed to simulate using a tactical nuclear weapon on underground facilities like the ones we are told exist in Iran. If this were the real thing the death toll would be huge, people would be incinerated in a flash with no chance to "duck and cover", much of Nevada would be contaminated with radiation. For any who might survive in the surrounding area they would experience a curse of cancers and deformities which may effect their children and their children's children. The evidence of America's idolatry is clear. We have named it Divine, worship it in our churches and trust in its power.
(more)

The Rise of Fascism in America
by Gary Alan Scott
April 12, 2006
CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0412-32.htm

Fascism in America won’t come with jackboots, book burnings, mass rallies, and fevered harangues, nor will it come with black helicopters or tanks on the street. It won’t come like a storm—but as a break in the weather, that sudden change of season you might feel when the wind shifts on an October evening: Everything is the same, but everything has changed. Something has gone, departed from the world, and a new reality will have taken its place. All the old forms will still be there: legislatures, elections, campaigns—plenty of bread and circuses. But “consent of the governed” will no longer apply; actual control of the state will have passed to a small and privileged group who rule for the benefit of their wealthy peers and corporate patrons.

To be sure, there will be factional conflicts among the elite, and a degree of debate will be permitted; but no one outside the privileged circle will be allowed to influence state policy. Dissidents will be marginalized—usually by “the people” themselves. Deprived of historical knowledge by a thoroughly impoverished educational system designed to produce complacent consumers, left ignorant of current events by a corporate media devoted solely to profit, many will internalize the force-fed values of the ruling elite, and act accordingly. There will be little need for overt methods of control.
(more)

April 29

Whose Spring? Our Spring!
by Ted Glick
April 18, 2006
Znet
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=1&ItemID=10112

For as long as I’ve been an activist for progressive social change, the spring and the fall are usually the times when pre-planned, major demonstrations or campaigns happen. Summer with its heat and vacations, and winter with its cold and snow, generally are not the best times to try to mobilize large numbers of people.

Six months ago, in late fall, a mix of progressive groups began having serious discussions about whether there should and could be a major demonstration this spring. It took a couple of months, but we did come to agree that, yes, we should and we can. And as a result, on Saturday, April 29th, many tens of thousands of people, probably hundreds of thousands, will be marching for peace, justice and democracy in New York City (www.april29.org).

(more)

fixin to die rag_updated

With all respect and gratitude to Joe McDonald for the original song. When I was in infantry school in 1969, my company adopted the song as our marching song, much to the dislike and disgust of our "superiors". And yes, we paid a price, but next time out, we broke out into song again, loud and proud.

Unfortunately, a good many of those in my company are only names on the Wall now. This update is dedicated to them, and those who are going to die in Iran.

We really do seem to be incapable of learning from our mistakes.


"I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag"
-1967 Country Joe and the Fish

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Iran
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is in Iran;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds —
The only good persian is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is in Iran;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Huh!

Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the evil ones.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is in Iran.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Iran.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is in Iran.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

sleepwalking into bush's war

I know that I'm pushing against the tide, but I've been doing it for 40 years, so it makes no sense to stop now.

There ain't nobody in my local area that's going to be sleepwalking into bush's war with Iran. But if they do, when they wake up from their nightmare, they are going to know exactly what they did.

I can't shame bush or his acolytes, because they have no shame or conscience, but I can damned sure shame my neighbors and anybody else I can reach. I guess you could say I'm pissed. And that's what we all need to be doing. Slap a picture of a child with their guts blown out down on the table, and make them look. Let them know that bush, with all his rhetoric and bullshit, is, in reality talking about killing kids. Because, that’s what happens in modern wars. There is no way around it. We need to ask ourselves, and our neighbors, “Are we done with allowing bush to do this, or do we also have some more killing to do?”

Why another War?

The bushistas are out rattling sabers again, and denying that there are plans to attack Iran.

This why it is going to happen. Our little georgie has given an ultimatum to Iran: “Do as we tell you, or else.” He’s not going to back down. He can’t afford to, now that his Iraq adventure has come to such a humiliating defeat for him and his policies. His alcoholic ego won’t let him. Iran is not going to back down. There is no evidence that Iran is doing anything in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, although the US is sure in violation with bush’s recent deal with India, and it’s insistence on developing new weapons.

If Iran is wanting to develop atomic weapons, that’s a situation that would be years down the road. Today Iran announced that it has been successful in enriching a small amount of uranium to commercial reactor grade, about 4%. Iran has 164 centrifuges working on this effort. In order to enrich enough uranium (about 90%) for even one bomb would take tens of thousands of centrifuges working 24 hours a day for years. Not exactly an imminent threat.

No. That’s not the reason the bush is going to attack Iran. The voices in the Enlightened One’s head are telling him to kill again. “Bring us fresh blood” they whisper in his ear, seducing him to unbridle his lust and wallow in the death sex he needs.

The second reason is the elections in November. The bushistas cannot let control of Congress to slip from their hands. If they do, there’s going to be hard time served for many of them, and public humilation for the rest.

There are only two things that will reverse bush’s disastrous slide in polls. One is a terrorist attack in the US, certainly not out of the realm of possibility for the bush and his acolytes. The second is another war, a fresh war, one filled with the promises unfound in Iraq, and fueled by the dark fantasies of the bushistas. And the date range is in September or October. After georgie’s vacation.

And you know what else? Either one would probably work. Even though the administration’s lies are in the public realm now, and they have not been able to give us a reason why we should believe them now, the American public will leap on board, “a-whoopin’ and a-hollerin’”, just like they did with the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Just a sick perverted group of people being led by madmen.

A christian nation, my ass.


The Human Costs of Bombing Iran
By Matthew Rothschild
April 11, 2006
The Progressive
http://progressive.org/mag_wx041106


“…let’s look at what the human costs of dropping a tactical nuclear weapon on Iran might entail.

They are astronomical.

“The number of deaths could exceed a million, and the number of people with increased cancer risks could exceed 10 million,” according to a backgrounder by the Union of Concerned Scientists from May 2005…
[…]
If the United States used nuclear weapons against Iran, it would be violating the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty, which prohibits nations that possess nuclear weapons from dropping them on nations that don’t.

But in the Bush Administration, planning to do this is just “normal” behavior.

And a million casualties or more?

For Bush, that is evidently not a disqualification.”



Why the United States will attack Iran in 2006
By Dave Eriqat
April 7, 2006
Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/feedback/78912-Iran-0

[…]

“A new war against Iran would divert attention from Iraq and firm up public support for the President and his party, as is evidenced by the renewed passion for red-white-blue and yellow magnetic ribbons.

Another good reason for a war against Iran is to divert attention from the economy. It's obvious now that the U.S. housing bubble is deflating. Whether it continues deflating gradually or snowballs with spectacular consequences is anyone's guess. How it plays out is largely subject to people's perceptions. People are still fairly optimistic about the economy, so perhaps that's why the housing bubble is deflating slowly right now. But that could change. In any event, with the housing bubble the driving force behind current consumer spending, and with consumer spending driving the economy, as the housing bubble deflates, consumer spending will go down. An imminent decline in consumer spending coupled with other indicators, such as converging bond yields, hint at a recession late this year.

A new war would be a great diversion from economic woes and afford the government a chance to pump "liquidity" into the economy. The U.S. Government recently discontinued reporting the broadest measure of the money supply, M3, perhaps in order to hide future liquidity injections.”
[…]

more christian idiots

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies
Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
April 10, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-christians10apr10,0,6204444.story


...Christian activist Gregory S. Baylor responds to such criticism angrily. He says he supports policies that protect people from discrimination based on race and gender. But he draws a distinction that infuriates gay rights activists when he argues that sexual orientation is different — a lifestyle choice, not an inborn trait....

Hey fuckhead, baylor, be careful what you wish for. Remember christianity is also a lifestyle choice.

a murderous thug

US plans strike to topple Iran regime - report
Monday April 10, 2006
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1750680,00.html

The US is planning military action against Iran because George Bush is intent on regime change in Tehran - and not just as a contingency if diplomatic efforts fail to halt its suspected nuclear weapons programme…

***

Let’s be clear about this. george bush is intent on murdering people, not regime change or halting any programs. anything else is just icing on his cake.

bush is a murderous thug, with his coke and booze-addled brain seeing himself as the messiah. So let’s cut the crap, and call it like it is.

Solution or problem?

You do know, of course, that nobody’s going to do it for you. If you want change, you’re going to have to work for it. Back in the days, the Black Panther Party would say that “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”. And that’s still true today.

Now then, if you don’t mind that bush and his cronies have destroyed this country, you don’t have to do anything. The country will go down the tubes for you, just the way you want. If that’s your attitude, then let me warn you. Do not expect politeness from me. Do not expect respect. And don’t expect me to leave you alone, because I will be on you like flies on shit. Which you are.

If You Don't Mind, Why Don't You Mind?
by Todd Huffman
Published on Saturday, April 8, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0408-20.htm

A favorite line of song, penned by the Canadian band The Magnetic Fields, poses the question: If you don’t mind, why don’t you mind? Where is your sense of indignation? To anyone who isn’t yet appalled by the extent of the disaster that is the Bush presidency, I could not think of how better to ask it: Why don’t you mind?

Not a day goes by without some new disclosure, some new bit of headline evidence that the Bush presidency is the most catastrophic presidency in the history of our great country. The consequences of this fact will effect not only yours and my personal future and fortunes, but those of our children and theirs. Where is your sense of indignation?

[…]

So what can you do? It is easy to feel helpless, or to lapse into indifference. But what these perilous times cannot bear is indifference. We can no longer stand on the sidelines and wait for some non-existent catalyst to suddenly appear and mobilize a movement that we can then join. It is past time to take action. The profile of courage required is in the mirror.

This is an election year. Write letters to the editor. Write letters to your congressional representatives. Call your congressional representatives. Join your local and state Democratic Party organizations. Talk to your family, friends, co-workers, and fellow members of your congregation about writing, calling, and joining together. Good people of all political persuasions opposed to what the Bush Republicans are doing to our country must not rest until we take back the Senate and House this November. We must not rest until in 2008 we take back the White House, the people's house, and hang on it a banner reading "Mission Accomplished".

It will most certainly not be easy. But "not easy" is not a synonym for "let’s give up". Rather, it just means "we have to be more imaginative and work harder and do more and work together to make things right again". We must come alive with the immediacy of our challenges. The time for turning our great nation away from the road to ruin is fast passing.

Todd Huffman (doctortodd@att.net) is a pediatrician and writer living in Eugene, Oregon. He is a regular columnist for the Springfield (OR) News, and a regular contributor to the Portland (OR) Oregonian, the Eugene (OR) Register-Guard, the University of Oregon Daily Emerald, the Washington (Seattle) Free Press, and the Columbus (OH) Free Press.

April 4th

“Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. …

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted…”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address, January 17, 1961

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
-Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967, Riverside Church in New York City

Dwight David Eisenhower died on March 28, 1969, in Washington, DC.
Martin Luther King was murdered on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.


We didn’t pay attention.