Republicans coopted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

While killing everything he believed. 

While Dr. King was alive, the FBI investigated, harassed and tried to kill him.   Conservatives called him communist, Marxist, "coon" back in the sixties.  Republicans fought him every step of the way and against everything he stood for when he was alive and when he was dead they've fought his memory.  Until the day came when enough of the people who vehemently opposed Dr. King and viscerally hatred him were gone and their children, ideological descendants, and shameless propagandists could hypocritically claim they always loved, honored, and cherished MLK Jr.

It was the smart move.  First, cynically honoring Dr. King provides cover for their agenda.  They say one thing and do the opposite.  Secondly, attempting to steal Dr. King legacy angers and annoys The Left broadly.  And conservatives sole policy is to #OwntheLibs.  Lastly, in order to defeat Dr. King conservatives realized physically killing him was not enough. They needed to murder his spirit, too.

Thus, having killed the Real Martin, Republicans set themselves up to take the mantle of Saint Martin and claim his every speech amounted to the one quote they take out of context to justify the rightwing agenda of oppression, intolerance and adulation of the Rich.

Today,  Dr. King would no doubt be arrested in Virginia for teaching the dreaded Critical Race Theory.  South Dakota would damn Dr. King as the Real Racist.  And Republicans would without irony damn Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and self-righteously declare they were judging him on the content of his character.  A Character they assassinated in life and in death.

READ HER WHOLE THREAD

Where is the Conservative and Republican Rush to enlist?

I haven't heard about the mad rush by Young Republicans (YR's) or Young Conservatives (YC's) to fill the slots needed by ISAF Commander General Stanley McChrystal to win in Afghanistan. The YC's resistance and fighting here on American Colleges is too important and the YR's are too busy fighting here on the home front against Islamo-Hitler to finish the job Superhero Bush and Ditherless Cheney began 8 years ago. Or maybe all the slots were filled by ethnic minorities while they DeLay'ed and by other Americans in tough financial straits or lacking health coverage?

Well, you can't expect the gutless flabby Chicken Hawk Punk Ass Bitch Republicans to actually fight! They merely goad people on and leave the fighting to be done by others.

Perhaps, secretly, the Chicken Hawks agree with US State Department Official Matthew Hoh (and former Marine) who resigned his position in Zabul Province because of opposition to continuing the Afghan War. Hoh stated in his resignation letter, "I find it specious the reasons we ask for bloodshed and sacrifice form our young men and women in Afghanistan" and "I do not believe any military force has ever been tasked with complex , opaque and Sisyphean mission as the U.S. military has received in Afghanistan." But, Chicken Hawk Punk Ass Bitch Republicans will publicly call for more troops and more war if they think it will help their political aspirations all the while harboring no intention of ever putting their pasty asses in the fire.

Rough stuff excerpted from The Usual Suspect at Rucksack to Backpack: Walk With Me In Hell

To my ungrateful generation,

This world is full of people who demand respect without earning it. That's a commodity that I can no longer afford to give away freely. If I haven't earned someone's respect by now, then I never will, and that's fine. The more I think about it, the more I realize that you have NOT earned mine. Thought you had it for free? I can't believe you're still alive when some of the best men I'll ever know died in someone else's country. As far as I'm concerned, this ain't your land anymore. We earn our keep. You'll always be below me now, not because of what you haven't done, but because of how you conduct yourself despite what you have not done. Don't dare try to cheapen what we go through. Come experience it for yourself.

Roll the dice, take a chance card. Spin the wheel, sit for a spell and let the Russian Roulette begin. Let's do some time in the meat grinder together, THEN you can open your mouth. Until then, you're cattle with an inflated ego and unfounded opinions. Empty, vapid, soulless byproducts of bad TV and shitty rap music.

There's more via the link. But, that's a coarse hard bitten assessment of the hidden costs of war which Punk Ass Bitch Chicken Hawk Republicans conveniently leave out of the ledger of bills due. Hopefully, The Usual Suspect doesn't let his experiences exact too much of a toll on his soul. So I bid him remember those Thespians of Great Renown and their view on (The Bright Side of) Life:

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life... ~ The Bright Side of Life, Monty Python

Related:
Operation Yellow Elephant: Not as tough as his name and mouth imply

Trust the "Obama" Government?

And now, folks, it's time for "Who do you trust!" Hubba, hubba, hubba! Money, money, money! Who do you trust? Me? I'm giving away free money. - The Jack Nicholson, Batman (1989).

President Obama is not the Progressive Superman, a mythical hero fighting for social justice and against tyranny, hoped for and it's not that much of a surprise. Any politician who rises to the level of the Upper branches of the Federal Government can only do so via Matrix-esque Corporatist implants. Obama's no different in fact in continuing many of the previous president's policies he appears to be Bush-lite. The really disheartening thing for me is the Warfare State continues.

Marines are still dying and Americans still don't give a fuck except that they should be shielded from their deaths.

My chest aches at listening to the monologue accompanying the heartbreaking images of the LCpl Bernard but it's 1 of the 5163 dead Americans sacrificed for American Interests. And so few, seemed to give a fuck when any of the other faceless pumped their heart's blood onto foreign soil for Interests...

The Corporatist Kleptocracy cares more for money than blood. This is well known, that Obama allows this to continue is not an unexpected punch to the gut but a dismissive hand flip from the War Machine.

My own active involvement ended, thankfully, four full years ago, but my tacit approval continues to this day. It continues because I have a good (nicely paying) job now, a home, free time and a settled life... I'm too afraid to make any big waves which would overturn what I've got and that's the problem that's what the Government relies on. Because America is such a land of plenty, most Americans are comfortable with the status quo. My kid didn't die in Iraq, I'm not facing unpayable medical bills, I've got a Silverado and a 50" LCD, why fight?

Of course, Birther Teabaggers are making waves but only so Dick Cheney can regain power and he can continue their subjugation at a faster pace than Obama is pursuing...

Is it in the heart or in the head

If you're not liberal when you're under 30 you have no heart, if you're not conservative blah blah blah ~ Winston Bloody Churchill

I was asked if I voted with my heart or my head this election. I replied if I had voted with my head I would have voted for Ralph Nader, but I voted with my heart and choose Barack Obama.

I really wanted to vote for Brian Patrick Moore the real Socialist running for President, but Illinois didn't allow the Socialists ballot access.

This is the first time I've managed to vote for the winner of a presidential election.

Sadly, I have to admit Sean Hannity was absolutely correct. Being in Illinois, following the pick of Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff, I have learned Obama has contacted Louis Farrahkan to supply young men for the creation of the OKIS (Obama koranic Imposition Squads). Blackwater has been contracted to provide training to the OKIS, who will liason on with local Illinois law enforcement in forced conversations and the placement of korans (with GPS trackers) which must be placed in the living rooms of every American. Incidentally these korans must be shown to a police officer upon demand.

Who could have known!

Whatca Gonna Do?

When Obamania runs wild over you, Sarah?

How can real patriotic pro-Americans support a president who thinks the terrorists are the good guys, whose islamic pastor damn's America, whose election means Death to Israel, whose wife doesn't love America, who would be a Neo-Marxist president?

What happens when he issues signing statements to not respect laws passed by Congress? What happens when he overthrows a a government run by a brutal dictator and frees millions of people but then get the US involved in long war and an open ended Utopian Nation building program? What happens when his vice president shoots a man in the face and then hides from local law enforcement for 24 hours? Will you just accept these outrages?

But how to resist? How do you brave brave souls resist his encroachment on your rights? Clearly, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Loyal Subject Sean Hannity believes violent resistance to a government and even speaking out against one's country to be unacceptable.

How do you intend to live One Day as A Lion? Well, I don't think Hannity, she who shall be never named, Bill Cunningham, Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Lars Larson, Melanie Morgan, Michelle Malkin are going to do anything except continue to spout their invective over the airwaves, Which according to Rush Limbaugh and Malkin readers Obama's grandmother faked her death in order to get the sympathy vote for Obama.

Oh well.

I am against government. The corporate class continues to dominate and control vast wealth and power. It continues to pit poor and middle-class americans against one another and American workers against workers in other Nations both figuratively and literally. The Military-Industrial-Congressional-Complex continues to siphon of Trillions of dollars in the production of death. My leanings tend towards restriction/destruction of coercive authority and a move towards Minarchism/Anarchism. But, I don't have a specific target. I would never fight against police officers or soldiers because they are cogs in the machine and not the problem. And as I am not imbued with superpowers like V or Neo to strike out and destroy the Machinery itself I restrict myself to education of self and others. And as long as people abide by the Non-Aggression Principle I'm more than willing to let other people do as they will.

But, to the Freepers Obama is the enemy they hate! He is The One whom they need to fight against. Limbaugh is on air saying Obama is going to destroy America. And the real Americans are going to do nothing for the next four years?

And when thinking about the Obama/Ayers guilt by association game never forget Judas kept some excellent friends.

If you think War is Good for the Economy

then you obviously believe that Theft and Criminal Damage are good for the economy as well.

Think about what a good boost to the economy someone breaking your car windshield and setting off a fire extingusiher inside you car does.

First you have to clean your car, this requires the use of cleaners and towels, plus maybe a vacuum so you'll need to pay for those supplies which keeps Americans working in production, transport and sales of those items.

Next you drive your car to get a new windshield this requires the use of fuel a boost for American oil companies. Then there's the labor required to put the new windshield into your car by the mechanic and you have to pay the cashier.

And unlike War which results in destruction overseas, when iPod's and jewelry are stolen and cars, homes, street signs and parks are vandalized it's happening right here! Americans get the added benefit of getting the latest updated equipment and newest infrastructure.

If one wishes to be logical with the continued pace of advancement in concrete techniques, fiber optic wiring, power cables, building materials and manufacturing techniques Americans should demand the US Government destroy everything (highways, bridges, homes, Wal Marts) in the United States using half of our munitions and rebuild it all in order for We the People to enjoy a technologically updated society.

Using the Dead

The Dead can't Speak... but that doesn't stop those those who wish to take or maintain power from using them. The most recent incident is Barack Obama wearing a bracelet with the name of soldier killed in Iraq during the Presidential debate. It appears the family has asked Obama not to wear the bracelet.

Of course, the Demopublican/Republocrat side would never stoop to such behavior. My side is pure and righteous, the other side evil and ghoulish. My side has every right to invoke the dead and use them to take power because my side will do what is right with that power.

No one in politics has the right to use the dead. It is odd the side of the blog-o-shpere which supports McCain (or simply loathes Obama) is just finding out now those in power use the dead to support their continued control. Where or where have you been during the last seven years? You haven't been listening to Bush use the dead as the main reason we have to stay in Iraq?

But of course, supporting The War to Realign the Middle East to conform to American business and military interests, by simultaneously protecting Israel and Saudi Arabia, placing a puppet regime in Iraq with which to gain access to their oil reserves and possessing force projection ability towards both Syria and Iran is a good and proper use of American lives...

The truth is there is only one side in America, the ruling side, the Party of Property which controls you, does not have your interests at heart and to whom you are nothing more than an interchangeable and replaceable cog wheel in the machinery of industry or war.

You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time. You can find them in churches and schools and newspapers and legislatures and congress. That's their business. They sound wonderful. Death before dishonor. This ground sanctified by blood. These men who died so gloriously.

They shall not have died in vain. Our noble dead.

Hmmmm.

But what do the dead say?

Nobody but the dead know whether all these things people talk about are worth dying for or not. And the dead can't talk. So the words about noble deaths and sacred blood and honor and such are all put into dead lips by grave robbers and fakes who have no right to speak for the dead. If a man says death before dishonor he is either a fool or a liar because he doesn't know what death is. ~ Excerpt from Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo

Look In My Eyes

What do you see?
The Cult of Personality

I sell the things you need to be
Im the smiling face on your t.v.
Im the Cult of Personality
I exploit you still you love me

I tell you one and one makes three
Im the Cult of Personality ~Living Colour

With the recent Cult followings which have arisen around Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, neurologist Robert Burton recently reiterated the well established findings published in his book "On Being Certain" which show once people have made up their minds they do not change them. Obama and Palin have invoked a visceral emotional stirring in their followers which has metastasized into full blown fanatical devotion demanding unrestrained political warfare to destroy the enemy.

No Quarter is to be given. Obama and Palin and their campaigns do nothing to stop this and actively encourage it. This is why elaborate, detailed speeches on their stances aren't given. That would nail them down and limit their appeal. By not telling the people what they believe or what their positions actually are, they allow the deluded people to graft upon them their hopes and dreams. And people convince themselves often times despite the spoken facts that their beloved savior holds those same beliefs themselves.

The certainty and unwillingness to change one's positions is not a new phenomenon and has been mentioned by Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Betrand Russell and an apocryphal Zen Story.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

Despite all the rhetoric of Change We Need and Maverick Reformers, whichever ticket of the Two parties wins they are going to be beholden to certain powerful groups which do not represent 99% of the People in this nation. And the new President and Vice President will use their position to further entrench the power in the hands of the Few. The question remains which deluded group do you belong to which thinks they are going to help you?

Update 09/25:
LT Nixon warns America of the Palin of the Corn.

Military Advisor

At the end of Blockbusters such as Iron Man you always see a Special Thanks to military advisor USAF Lt. Colonel So-and-So. Well, the brother of a friend of mine who is an actor and involved with the Provision Theater Company called me to attend a reading of a rough draft of a play about a young army medic struggling with PTSD after serving in Iraq. I agreed.

The Play revolves around a female Army Medic's struggles to reconnect within society circa 2005.

It's a fairly standard story. Young girl joins in 2000 in attempt to escape the small town farm life in Minnesota and finds herself in Iraq in 2003 or 2004. A terrible event occurs which she happens to survive. At home her father and her best friend don't understand the changed woman. She finds it difficult to handle regular dates. She's reluctant to go to the VA and when she does is paired with a bureaucratic doctor at first until she requests a new doctor and is helped by an unusual doctor who goes out of her way to save the young woman.

So after the reading the board expressed it's dismay at the playwrights use of profanity, the overuse of dialogue to stage scenes and move along the drama, the predictable device of unusual doctor finds a way to connect, and found they couldn't care about the main character because she was an "unlikable brat". Worst of all the play needed work and while suggestions could be made to the playwright he was under no obligation to make any changes. However, the board seemed happy the play didn't delve into politics and remained focused on this one young female soldier.

Then I was asked for my opinion. I stated I thought the play was supposed to be about the struggle to reconnect within normal society and what was missing was the second act in which the audience gets to see the resolution. The young girl reconnecting and re-entering into society. I then said while the character was sarcastic and sardonic I wasn't put off by her demeanor and thought it would be a good juxtaposition to expand the flashback of her prior to service being a happy go-lucky girl deciding to join up to "see the world and pay for college". Also I didn't think there was enough profanity, but then of course I was in the Marines.

I mentioned what everyone seemed to want was a modern retelling of The Odyssey. Because as I explained all of Odyssey's trials and tribulations are parables about a soldier trying to "return home" from war. I asked if they'd heard about Joseph P. Dwyer an army medic made famous by an iconic photograph who died as a result of his struggles with PTSD. No one had...

The board decided to not pursue the play.

I am the Law

And You Won't Fuck Around No More - I AM THE LAW
~ Anthrax, I am the Law, based on the Judge Dredd Series.

This NY Times blogpost by Sudhir Venkatesh is a very interesting read of how some senior (crusty) police officers view the legal system and the ways in which they would like to dispense justice.

From the interviews: You laugh, but the good cops never let problems get to judges. They are judge on-site, I like to say. And, I don’t mean just for stupid things like kids shoplifting... I mean for serious things.

What strikes me is the sense real justice is not to be found in the courtroom. I don't know if this is an unconscious feeling gained from watching too many Charles Bronson flicks. The comment section has insightful views from people.

If you agree we should have Police, which is a valid question, what do you want the Police to do? Well, that's a huge question, for which I'm unprepared to diverge into right now, I will state Police Officers usually do not like having to respond to inane calls from people about the wind breaking their tree branches.

But, in concert with the Venkatesh piece, there have been several recent high profile stories involving police forces and the Use of Force.

The dumping of a paraplegic man out of his wheelchair by a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy in February 2008.

The April 2008 acquittal of three New York PD Detectives for shooting and killing Sean Bell.

An May 30, 2008 Chicago Police raid on a Hispanic club on 2514 W. Fullerton is now the basis for a $10 million dollar Federal Civil Rights Violation lawsuit. Here is the NBC 5's venerable Carol Marin covering of the story of the raid.

I mention these examples because they are perhaps** the most egregious recent instances. Additionally, with the ubiquitous nature of video cameras today (watch this example) police officers need to actually behave properly.

From Chicago Public Radio Eight Forty-Eight, here is an interview with Daniel P. Smith about his book, On the Job: Behind the Stars of the Chicago Police Department. (Greetings & Salutations to Queen of the Harpies for the link.)

Smith discusses one of the key points of distrust between Police Officers and the American populace the predilection to apply perfect hindsight to stressful split-second decision making situations.

However, this is not only a problem with American law enforcement but with the American Iraq War as well. The Hadithah incident, the shooting in Fallujah of a wounded enemy in a mosque and everyone one of the checkpoint shooting Americans don't ever hear about or just plain ignore are others. Young men (and women hurray equality!) are placed in high stress situations which they judge to be kill or be killed.

The oft quoted and perhaps trite maxim is summed up as, Better to be judged by Twelve, than carried by Six. Of course, what the Chicken Hawk, Warmongering Cowards who champion war at home while ensuring their pasty, flabby, blubbery white asses do not get besmircthed by a grain of sand never understand is those choices injure even when the soldier making them is never physically wounded.

And that's the difference. As Smith said in his Chicago Public Radio interview (at 04:17) he "will never criticize a Cop, myself, for instinctual reaction" so too will I not criticize my fellow warriors for their immediate reactions on the battlefield. But Vulgar pre-mediated displays of power (Shock & Awe) can not be defended.

And this is one of the chief evils of the Iraq War. But maybe it's just another system of control, perhaps understood by those in power or perhaps not understood but simply exploited by the Architects of War. A by-product of our evolutionary past and tribal beginnings in which our brains can focus and contemplate the deaths of a few of our fellow humans and can not grasp the horror of the hundreds of thousands dead as a result of our Invasion of Iraq.

**- There have been, thus far, 21 Chicago Police shootings (6 fatal) in 2008.

Lobbyist of the People, the People being one Dennis Hastert

I wonder how Dennis Hastert's first week as a lobbyist for Dickstein Shapiro went?

Hastert, the infamous former Speaker of the House, who shielded Republican Pedophile Mark Foley, made millions when the federally funded Prairie Parkway 'happened' to pass through his real estate holdings near Plano, Illinois and was caught abandoning his Hydrogen powered photo op car for a 6MPG fully armored Chevy Suburbuan, is the latest to pass through the revolving door of Congress/Corporate Lobbyist...

Who could have known politicians use their positions and influence to enrich themselves?

But here again when children inherited this position of authority from their fathers, having no experience of misfortune and none at all of civil equality and liberty of speech, and having been brought up from the cradle amid the evidences of the power and high position of their fathers, they abandoned themselves some to greed of gain and unscrupulous money-making, others to indulgence in wine and the convivial excess which accompanies it, and others again to the violation of women and the rape of boys

Citizens or Servants of Government, Part One

Two issues have come to the forefront recently; The Government deciding whom you can and can not marry and the education of it's citizens.

The California Supreme Court recently caused a Nova in Right Wing Radio by overturning the state's ban on marriage. The Right attacks centered on two basic salients:
1) Tyrannical Unelected Judges are attempting to impose their liberal secular progressive values on the majority of Americans who don't share their beliefs.
2) And Marriage has always historically been defined as between one man and one woman.

Well, we can disperse with the second point easily, because it is not true. Marriage has not been historically defined as one man and one woman. Marriage is a cultural artifice which varies between human societies. Whether that be Polygamous or Polyandrous situation or the mainstream American model.

Currently in America we have Serial Monogamy, which up until recently was dominated by Older Men. When financially successful men gathered enough resources they could jettison their current older model and marry a younger one. This was evidenced by such men as Johnny Carson and Hugh Hefner. Now financially secure older woman are getting into the trade-in of their older spouses for younger men, e.g. Demi Moore's trade of Bruce Willis for Ashton Kutcher.

The first point is one which politically ignorant Americans, who often listen to Rush Limbaugh for their civics lessons, get hoodwinked because it doesn't matter. Government has no right to determine whom is "married" to whom, as long as each person is an adult (let's say 17), is of sound mind, no coercion is used and the union is freely entered into by each person. If Person A and Person B wish to share a household and recognize each other via legal documents and call themselves "married" that is their right. And the will of the majority doesn't matter. The majority can not vote themselves control over their fellow citizens. If 101 people get together 51 can not vote to enslave the other 50.

Part Two will touch on the new GI Bill and the Government officials who are worried American citizens will only spend 3 years in the military in an attempt to get education benefits.

Update 05/23:
Rick Santorum chimes in using the two pronged attack; It's tradition and against the Will of the People.

Can anyone spot the disconnect?

The same shell game is being played on the American people over and over again. Bush declares success in Iraq, despite or because of the conditions on the ground, claims the Troops will be reduced, then the reduction in forces never occurs and the number of American servicemen in Iraq remain the same as it was during the initial invasion.

For instance, Dick Cheney, wearing a 10 gallon hat, most likely carrying his spare blood supply for his artificially propelled heart, recently told the graduating class of Coasties, "The war on terror is a lengthy enterprise, but it does not have to go on forever." Sounds like victory is at hand and an end to the toil placed on the US military is close.

But, meanwhile...

General Petraeus and Lt. General Odierno are defending the pause in Troop Reduction and asking for another 4 months to decide if further reductions are possible. Odierno will be taking over as the Top General in Iraq when Petraeus is nominated to Centcom Commander. Odierno for those who don't recall stated this in 2006: ""This generation of service members will be in what we're calling the Long War," the general said. "Our estimate is that for at least the next 20 years, part of our focus will be on how do we deal with the extremist networks that will continue to threaten the United States and its allies."

And the basic refrain from Paetraeus and Odierno hasn't changed since the Surge began. Last year in May, Odierno stated, "Right now, if you ask me, I would tell you I'll probably need a little bit more time to do a true assessment."

However, we have SecDef Gates dusting off the Vietnam-Era 'light at the end of the tunnel' rhetoric; Gates claims Iraq 'endgame' in sight, but warns against hasty pullout. Of course, he hedges his bets warning against a pull-out. This is calculated to lay the groundwork for the Bush Regime to blame the Next President for losing Iraq.

After he flees to Paraguay, Bush will begin his next spoof, convincing the American populace that as he was leaving office Victory in Iraq was right there! Just one more jot or tittle and the US would have experienced the orgasmic release Bush felt every time he dealt out justice to the evil-doers!

But then...

The terrorist appeasing Defeatocrats took over the White House and Congress and surrendered all of Bush's hard fought gains. Of course, most of the heavy work will be done by Faux News, Dick Cheney and Bush's handlers via, Print, Internet, TV, and Radio hammering the Next President Bungled Iraq interpretation into the collective unconscious of the American People.

Taser! Taser! Taser!

The Taser has become the panacea of law enforcement. It has been marketed successfully as a less-than-lethal alternative. In 2005, information surfaced that Taser International was involved with the Department of Defense study to determine if the military should purchase Tasers. Getting the majority of your research from the company attempting to sell you their product represents a basic conflict of interest.

A San Francisco Cardiologist Zian Tseng recently stated Studies on tasers are flawed. Dr. Tseng pointed out, Most commonly cited studies that show the devices are safe were financed by Taser International.

Taser International has taken an aggressive policy of suing Coroner's and Medical Examiners who cite Taser's as partly or wholly responsible for deaths of people after having been "Tased". Amnesty International cited 291 deaths from June 2001 to September 2007, in the United States. Truth Not Tasers Blog is a blog in memoriam for Robert Bagnell, who died after an taser incident with Vancouver Police.

So, whom to believe? Well... Taser International does have a demonstrable bias. If their weapons are shown to have contributed to the deaths of people then they aren't the non-lethal force option they're claimed to be. Opening up Taser for lawsuits, loss of sales and the destruction of their corporation.

Personally, I have experienced a Taser and I've got the patch to prove it. I Rode the Lightning for 5 seconds. However, it was modified Taser hit, the probes which are shot out and embed themselves in the suspect were attached to my belt and lower back. It did not feel good.

I think the Idea of the Taser as a magic bullet conflict-ender may have convinced (I don't use "brainwashed" but others have) police forces to overlook the possibility the devices are not as safe

The Taser dilemma is also indicative of the continuing transformation of US police forces into a more Paramilitary mindset.

Update:
Read about the recent Colorado Taser Duel.

Everyone's Gotta Sacrifice

Karma Police
I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can ~ Karma Police, Radiohead

George W. Busch was interviewed by Politico recently. Some of his answers were eye openers but I almost teared up reading about the sacrifice the man whom no one has suffered more than during the last 5 years:

Question: Mr. President, you haven't been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?

Busch: Yes, it really is. I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.

To give up golf during trying times like these! The Strength, The Courage, The Balls! Busch's Clubs should be placed on his Altar of Sacrifice at his 100,000 acre Paraguay Presidental Library.

Question: Mr. President, for the record, is global warming real?

Busch: Yes, it is real, sure is.

Holy shit! Somebody tell the bloviating pederast Rush Limbaugh to attack Bush for his Gore-like Global Warming statement!

Busch: The biggest issue we face is -- it's bigger than Iraq -- it's this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives.

Isn't that what we've been espousing as the prime goal in Iraq, especially with the Surge? To Kill the right (or wrong depending on your perspective) people in order to achieve our and ostensibly the Iraqi people's political goals.

Question: Mr. President, we know you're a man of intense faith.

Busch: Michael, I'd say daily. I mean, part of the faith walk is to understand your weaknesses and is to constantly try to embetter yourself and get closer to the Lord.

Obviously, Busch is a Simpsons fan as he extrapolates upon the motto of Jebediah Springfield, "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."

Update (05/14):
Keith Olbermann Special Comment

"I must study politics and war

that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study paintings, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." ~ attributed to John Adams, 1st US Vice-President

This sentiment has been cruelly and cynically manipulated by National Leaders in the US since it's beginning. In the 1946 drama Tomorrow is Forever Orson Welles' character proclaims a similar theory. Bush and his minions have often invoked the "Long War" and need for continued support Ad infinitum.

Every ruling administration has feed the same line to the American People. Trust Us, they say, You have to put up with hard times, a loss of certain liberties, and sacrifices in order so your sons shall not.

Every generation falls for it, at first because education was a hard thing to come by in early America. Not that people were stupid, far from it. Earlier Americans had to cope with problems people today wouldn't know how to address. But, after education became funded and accessible to all the curriculum needed to be controlled and decided by those in power. Education then became a tool to craft the masses of America into cogs for the Machinery of War or Business. And since the nation was (and still is) controlled by a cadre of Captains of Industry, Governmental Rulers and the Leadership of the Military, children must continually be molded through the patriotic lens of America.

It's a natural human feeling government is exploiting. Mankind has always felt willing to (except for the 70s and 80s when the Baby Boomers decided it was all about them) put up with hardship so their children would not have to. Humans have evolved sense of kinship and feelings of love of family. The military has for years latched onto this natural instinct and attempted to brain wash it's young applicants into identifying with the military as family. Once a Marine, Always a Marine.

What political leadership has done over the years is attempt to expand the idea of family. Patriotism is the effort by which feelings of kinship are transferred to a larger group of people, i.e. America. That's why the Warmongers always invoke the term America to cloak their goals, which quite frankly are continued and expanded war. You and America are the same. Let me assure you, Erik Prince, CEO of Blackwater and Dick Cheney have the same goals and desires as you. Every single one of the 300 million people in the country is the same. War is in Our National Interest.

As Howard Zinn pointed out, "What struck me as I began to study history was how nationalist fervor--inculcated from childhood on by pledges of allegiance, national anthems, flags waving and rhetoric blowing--permeated the educational systems of all countries, including our own." - A People's History of the United state, pg.659.

Patriotism is still exploited today. Genuine feelings of loss, pride, and sorrow are used by the unscrupulous to divide people. Watch Ari Fleschier's (of the infamous Americans better watch what they say) Freedomwatch use the same language I've highlighted:

I'm not going to post the actual videos but a link. Watch the last two videos.

The Gravest Threat to Our Military

The Government needs to get better control on our Troops. That's why I whole-heartily support Paul Broun's recent Military Honor and Decency Act. As Broun noted, "Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women..."

Controls need to be placed on what our youth see, read and hear, especially those being given weapons training. When young men and women enter boot camp a careful diet of approved State sponsored literature is the only thing they need to have access to. We must also consider adding mandatory chemical supplements to their diet, to curb and control their moods.

Gosh! I mean can you imagine if the members of our military were allowed to view dirty books! Think of the consequences! The next thing you know they'll be reading subversive literature and questioning our leadership in Washington.

And as Ari Fleischer reminds us, "they [Americans] need to watch what they say, watch what they do."

And if they [Americans] don't our properly trained military can remind them.

God sure is Mad!

God just sent Americans another message. If you even think about electing Barack Obama and not John McCain he'll kill Americans via a Hurricane.

You see obviously, the now 22,000 dead and rising in Myanmar from a cyclone is due to homosexual Sin, just as Hagee said, "I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

Listen to John Hagee from his NPR Fresh Air interview (it's at 23:03). "All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that."

I can see the bumper sticker now:
If you don't Vote for McCain
You'll Suffer A Hurricane

Now I know what you might be thinking! Why would God speak in Hurricanes? It's because he's a blowhard.

Oh... And ignore the 4 Marines killed in Anbar by an IED because the Surge has succeeded.

Happy Mission Accomplished Day!

I'd like to wish All Americans a Happy Mission Accomplished Day. Hard to believe it was 5 years ago, Major Combat in Iraq Ended.

It's been nothing but Nipples and Root Beer since...

I can think of nothing more appropriate for Bush's Legacy than this Day, unless of course it's the continuing disdain for Veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries.

But after all Veterans are merely pawns to George W. Krushcehv!

To be fair to the Bush regime I'll make sure to refer to May 1 by the Title reinterpreted by Dana Perino Happy Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission!

Contract Dichotomy

I've already written about this issue but the Bears (from Chicago) Linebacker Brian Urlacher is demanding a reworked contract.

His current contract has 4 years left on it. 4 years. I think everyone who's served understands the gravity of 4 years...

Urlacher signed the 9 year deal for 57 million in 2003. Now the reason you sign a long term deal in most sports is for the security and for the big upfront guaranteed signing bonus. Urlacher is threatening to retire in order to keep his signing bonus. Additionally, Urlacher has neck and back injuries. His career could be shortened so he's trying for more money.

I have no problem with people attempting to get as much money as possible. But doesn't this situation highlight the disconnect American Society has with reality and Iraq? The dichotomy between a football player, who's major problem* is he has the terrible duty of working on Sundays versus those lazy Marines and Soldiers who only have to face the risk of getting their legs blown off?

Either contracts matter or they don't. Personally, I'd like to see Urlacher get more money because I naturally come down on the side of the individual but I know the government will not afford the same latitude in missing movements or threats of "retirement" from the service members prior to obligating their contract, because I think the government labels that person a criminal.

*-I'm ignoring the fact Urlacher once had dalliance with Paris Hilton.