Happy New Year to All from the Uke Man !!!
Saturday, December 31, 2005
One more look at 2005
Well Folks,
I can't say I'm sad to see it go.
Below find a report on what the author calls "bizarre." I guess he's right, but it doesn't hold a candle to Bush & Co.!!
- Uke Man
2005 Offers Fresh Tales of the Bizarre
By PATRICK CASEY
(a ukethanks to Sondra)
The Easter Bunny was hopping mad but kept his cool after being socked by a boy, a Wal-Mart greeter was sacked for showing a lot more than customers cared to see and a prep football coach was reprimanded for some eccentric licking.
2005 offered fresh tales of bizarre lust, quirky cuisine, multiple marriages and other foibles of human existence.
SAY WHAT TO ME, DUDE?
Like most everybody, LaChania Govan of Chicago got bounced around when she called her cable company to complain. She made dozens of calls and was even transferred to a person who spoke Spanish - a language she doesn't understand. But when she got her August bill from Comcast she had no trouble understanding she'd made somebody mad. It was addressed to "Bitch Dog." "I was like you got to be freaking kidding me," said Govan, 25, of her reaction when she saw the bill. "I was so mad I couldn't even cuss." Two employees were fired after company officials went through records and identified them as being involved in the incident.
JUST WHAT WAS IN THAT RECIPE?
How about the Idaho high school boy who fed a batch of semen-frosted brownies to a fellow student and his friends? It seems the teenager was more than a bit ticked when his classmate put peanut butter in his cheese sandwich days before. As a police report said, the prankster, who has since agreed to admit to three counts of disturbing the peace, "hated peanut butter and it made him more mad than he could explain."
GAVE A LICKING AND KEPT ON TICKING
An Oregon education board reprimanded a Central Linn High School football coach for licking the wounds of several student athletes. Coach Scott Reed admitted licking blood from the knee of one student and the arm of another. It was not clear why he did it. Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright called the licking "bizarre" but not criminal because contact wasn't forced. Three students said it appeared the coach was "just joking around."
SO EASY. EVEN A CHILD CAN DO IT
An Anderson County, S.C., sheriff's deputy was temporarily sidelined by his boss after the officer's pistol went off during a gun safety class at a middle school. It seems the weapon discharged when a student pulled the trigger as the deputy was showing the kids how hard it was to take a gun from an officer's holster. The bullet fired into the floor, and debris cut two students.
ONE WIFE AT A TIME
Another South Carolina deputy had a lapse of judgment, too, but his was of the matrimonial variety. Sumter County sheriff's deputy Jay Follin was fired for being married to two women at the same time. Follin, 27, was separated from his first wife when he married his second, according to a department investigation. His second wife, the investigation revealed, was already married to another man at the time. Everything became known when the husband of Follin's second wife filed a complaint with the sheriff's department. The couple was separated at the time.
PSST! TRADE YA SOME GOAT FOR A ROCK
Four Connellsville, Pa., men ended up behind bars after they allegedly stole and butchered a goat so they could trade it for crack cocaine. Two of the men, police said, stole and killed the 4-year-old pygmy goat and then took it to another residence where two more men skinned and butchered the animal.
40 GOATS FOR CHELSEA CLINTON. DO I HEAR 50?
Kenyan councilman Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor says he offered Bill Clinton 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand in marriage five years ago. He's still awaiting an answer.
HEY! WHATCHA LOOKING AT?
A Pittston, Maine, man arrested after he was found peering at a teenage girl from the business end of a New Hampshire rest-stop privy has pleaded no contest to criminal trespass. Gary J. Moody was given a 30-day sentence that will be suspended if he maintains good behavior for two years. The judge cited Moody's public humiliation from the ensuing publicity in not jailing him.
HOOD? WHAT HOOD? WE DON'T SEE NOTHING
Two Cedar Rapids, Iowa, men landed in jail after they continued driving on Interstate 380 when the hood of their car popped open and covered their windshield. Instead of stopping to fix the problem, the men stuck their heads out the windows so they could see and kept going. Two Linn County deputies took note and pulled them over.
ANOTHER STORY ABOUT THE DANGERS OF SMOKING
A man riding in a car on Arkansas 234 near the Oklahoma border didn't go to jail following a long night of drinking. But he did go to a hospital after jumping from the vehicle in an effort to retrieve his lit cigarette. Jeff Foran was recovering after leaping from the car and landing hard on the roadway in a failed bid to grab the butt, state police said. "If anything could make him stop smoking, this should be it," said Trooper Jamie Graver.
MAMA MIA! ALL SHE WANTED WAS SOME PIZZA
An 86-year-old Charlotte, N.C., woman spent two nights in the city lockup after police said she called 911 dispatchers 20 times in a little more than 30 minutes to complain about service at a pizza parlor. Dorothy Densmore told dispatchers the shop refused to deliver a pie to her apartment. Densmore wanted the workers arrested. Instead, police arrested her.
NEVER WHEN MARRIED
Authorities in Wisconsin pinched a 63-year-old man who allegedly had a fondness for calves.
Harold G. Hart, of Neillsville, reportedly told police he stopped at a Greenwood farm "at least 50 times" to have sex with calves there. The man, however, told police he never had sex with animals while maintaining a relationship with a girlfriend or his wife.
HONEY, I'M HOT FOR YOU
A 38-year-old Oregon man wearing a gasoline-soaked cape set himself on fire before getting down on one knee and asking his longtime girlfriend to marry him. About 100 people gathered to watch Todd Grannis perform the flaming stunt for Malissa Kusiek, who said "yes."
SHOOT. HE WAS JUST TRYING TO BE FRIENDLY
In Muscatine, Iowa, Dean L. Wooten was fired for greeting Wal-Mart customers with a computer-generated photo in which he appeared to be naked - except for a carefully placed Wal-Mart bag. Wooten reportedly told customers the store was cutting costs and the bag was the company's new uniform. A supervisor told him to stop showing the photo after customers complained. He was canned when he displayed the photo again.
AIN'T FUNNY TO THIS BUNNY
The Easter Bunny wasn't laughing this year. Bryan Johnson, who portrayed the holiday rabbit at a mall in Bay City, Mich., says he was pummeled in an unprovoked attack by a 12-year-old boy.
"He just started hitting," Johnson said. Johnson suffered a bloody nose but kept his cool because he figured it was inappropriate for the Easter Bunny to battle back.
I can't say I'm sad to see it go.
Below find a report on what the author calls "bizarre." I guess he's right, but it doesn't hold a candle to Bush & Co.!!
- Uke Man
2005 Offers Fresh Tales of the Bizarre
By PATRICK CASEY
(a ukethanks to Sondra)
The Easter Bunny was hopping mad but kept his cool after being socked by a boy, a Wal-Mart greeter was sacked for showing a lot more than customers cared to see and a prep football coach was reprimanded for some eccentric licking.
2005 offered fresh tales of bizarre lust, quirky cuisine, multiple marriages and other foibles of human existence.
SAY WHAT TO ME, DUDE?
Like most everybody, LaChania Govan of Chicago got bounced around when she called her cable company to complain. She made dozens of calls and was even transferred to a person who spoke Spanish - a language she doesn't understand. But when she got her August bill from Comcast she had no trouble understanding she'd made somebody mad. It was addressed to "Bitch Dog." "I was like you got to be freaking kidding me," said Govan, 25, of her reaction when she saw the bill. "I was so mad I couldn't even cuss." Two employees were fired after company officials went through records and identified them as being involved in the incident.
JUST WHAT WAS IN THAT RECIPE?
How about the Idaho high school boy who fed a batch of semen-frosted brownies to a fellow student and his friends? It seems the teenager was more than a bit ticked when his classmate put peanut butter in his cheese sandwich days before. As a police report said, the prankster, who has since agreed to admit to three counts of disturbing the peace, "hated peanut butter and it made him more mad than he could explain."
GAVE A LICKING AND KEPT ON TICKING
An Oregon education board reprimanded a Central Linn High School football coach for licking the wounds of several student athletes. Coach Scott Reed admitted licking blood from the knee of one student and the arm of another. It was not clear why he did it. Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright called the licking "bizarre" but not criminal because contact wasn't forced. Three students said it appeared the coach was "just joking around."
SO EASY. EVEN A CHILD CAN DO IT
An Anderson County, S.C., sheriff's deputy was temporarily sidelined by his boss after the officer's pistol went off during a gun safety class at a middle school. It seems the weapon discharged when a student pulled the trigger as the deputy was showing the kids how hard it was to take a gun from an officer's holster. The bullet fired into the floor, and debris cut two students.
ONE WIFE AT A TIME
Another South Carolina deputy had a lapse of judgment, too, but his was of the matrimonial variety. Sumter County sheriff's deputy Jay Follin was fired for being married to two women at the same time. Follin, 27, was separated from his first wife when he married his second, according to a department investigation. His second wife, the investigation revealed, was already married to another man at the time. Everything became known when the husband of Follin's second wife filed a complaint with the sheriff's department. The couple was separated at the time.
PSST! TRADE YA SOME GOAT FOR A ROCK
Four Connellsville, Pa., men ended up behind bars after they allegedly stole and butchered a goat so they could trade it for crack cocaine. Two of the men, police said, stole and killed the 4-year-old pygmy goat and then took it to another residence where two more men skinned and butchered the animal.
40 GOATS FOR CHELSEA CLINTON. DO I HEAR 50?
Kenyan councilman Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor says he offered Bill Clinton 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand in marriage five years ago. He's still awaiting an answer.
HEY! WHATCHA LOOKING AT?
A Pittston, Maine, man arrested after he was found peering at a teenage girl from the business end of a New Hampshire rest-stop privy has pleaded no contest to criminal trespass. Gary J. Moody was given a 30-day sentence that will be suspended if he maintains good behavior for two years. The judge cited Moody's public humiliation from the ensuing publicity in not jailing him.
HOOD? WHAT HOOD? WE DON'T SEE NOTHING
Two Cedar Rapids, Iowa, men landed in jail after they continued driving on Interstate 380 when the hood of their car popped open and covered their windshield. Instead of stopping to fix the problem, the men stuck their heads out the windows so they could see and kept going. Two Linn County deputies took note and pulled them over.
ANOTHER STORY ABOUT THE DANGERS OF SMOKING
A man riding in a car on Arkansas 234 near the Oklahoma border didn't go to jail following a long night of drinking. But he did go to a hospital after jumping from the vehicle in an effort to retrieve his lit cigarette. Jeff Foran was recovering after leaping from the car and landing hard on the roadway in a failed bid to grab the butt, state police said. "If anything could make him stop smoking, this should be it," said Trooper Jamie Graver.
MAMA MIA! ALL SHE WANTED WAS SOME PIZZA
An 86-year-old Charlotte, N.C., woman spent two nights in the city lockup after police said she called 911 dispatchers 20 times in a little more than 30 minutes to complain about service at a pizza parlor. Dorothy Densmore told dispatchers the shop refused to deliver a pie to her apartment. Densmore wanted the workers arrested. Instead, police arrested her.
NEVER WHEN MARRIED
Authorities in Wisconsin pinched a 63-year-old man who allegedly had a fondness for calves.
Harold G. Hart, of Neillsville, reportedly told police he stopped at a Greenwood farm "at least 50 times" to have sex with calves there. The man, however, told police he never had sex with animals while maintaining a relationship with a girlfriend or his wife.
HONEY, I'M HOT FOR YOU
A 38-year-old Oregon man wearing a gasoline-soaked cape set himself on fire before getting down on one knee and asking his longtime girlfriend to marry him. About 100 people gathered to watch Todd Grannis perform the flaming stunt for Malissa Kusiek, who said "yes."
SHOOT. HE WAS JUST TRYING TO BE FRIENDLY
In Muscatine, Iowa, Dean L. Wooten was fired for greeting Wal-Mart customers with a computer-generated photo in which he appeared to be naked - except for a carefully placed Wal-Mart bag. Wooten reportedly told customers the store was cutting costs and the bag was the company's new uniform. A supervisor told him to stop showing the photo after customers complained. He was canned when he displayed the photo again.
AIN'T FUNNY TO THIS BUNNY
The Easter Bunny wasn't laughing this year. Bryan Johnson, who portrayed the holiday rabbit at a mall in Bay City, Mich., says he was pummeled in an unprovoked attack by a 12-year-old boy.
"He just started hitting," Johnson said. Johnson suffered a bloody nose but kept his cool because he figured it was inappropriate for the Easter Bunny to battle back.
Friday, December 30, 2005
the Parker Pot calling the Harker Kettle black
Hey Folks,
Ms. Kathlene Parker is at it again, naively letting her bourgeoisie prejudices show again. Here are some excerpts from a recent column followed by my view:
Beware the host of babbling bloggers
Thursday, December 29, 2005
KATHLEEN PARKER
Of all the stories leading America’s annual greatest-hits list, the one that subsumes the rest is the evolution of information in the Age of Blogging.
. . .
There’s something frankly creepy about the explosion we now call the blogosphere – the "electroniverse" where recently wired squatters set up new camps each day. As I write, the number of blogs (Web logs) and bloggers (those who blog) is estimated in the tens of millions worldwide.
Although I’ve been a blog fan since the beginning, and have written favorably about the value added to journalism and public knowledge thanks to the new "citizen journalist," I’m also wary of power untempered by restraint and accountability.
. . .
Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality, though most would have little to occupy their time were the mainstream media to disappear tomorrow. Some bloggers do their own reporting, but most rely on mainstream reporters to do the heavy lifting. Some bloggers also offer superb commentary, but most buzz and blurt like caffeinated adolescents.
Even so, they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups. These effete and often clever baby "bloggies" are rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision.
Spoiled and undisciplined, they have seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug and the miracle of WiFi. They play tag team with hyperlinks ("I’ll say you’re important if you’ll say I’m important") and shriek "Gotcha!" when they catch some weary wage earner in a mistake or oversight. Plenty smart but lacking in wisdom, they possess the power of a forum, but neither the maturity nor humility that years of experience impose.
Each time I wander into blogdom, I’m reminded of the savage children stranded on an island in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Without adult supervision, they organize themselves into rival tribes, learn to hunt and kill, and eventually become murderous barbarians in the absence of a civilizing structure.
What Golding demonstrated and what we’re witnessing as the blogosphere’s offspring multiply is that people tend to abuse power when it is unearned and will bring down others to enhance themselves. Likewise, many bloggers seek the destruction of others for their own self-aggrandizement. When a mainstream journalist stumbles, they pile on like so many savages, hoisting his or her head on a bloody stick as Golding’s children did the fly-covered head of a butchered sow.
. . .
We can’t silence them, but for civilization’s sake and the integrity of information by which we all live or die, we can and should ignore them.
Kathleen Parker writes for The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.
kparker@kparker.com
Folks,
It seems to me that one reason blogging HAS exploded is because so many people’s views HAVE BEEN ignored by “mainstream” journalists who ARE “tempered by restraint and accountability” from addressing the bloggers’ concerns. Parker’s suggestion to ignore the bloggers just adds fuel to the fire.
The “mainstream” press IS tempered, restrained, and held accountable but by POWERFUL people and by economic considerations – which also are the province of wealthy, powerful people. Regular folks be damned.
I’ve seen it happen first hand in my small town of Circleville and in Columbus at the statehouse. The “New York Times” slogan “All the news that’s fit to print” gives a clue. SOMEBODY is determining what’s fit to print, and you can bet that the “somebody” answers to the powerful, not to regular folks.
Hence, what ISN’T fit to print (according to the wealthy lords of politics and commerce) appears on blogs or alternative radio (where it exists), or disappears.
Now, bloggers have and do put out trash, but so do the White House and the “mainstream” media Parker praises as being “adult.” Perhaps Parker is worried that if the public becomes discerning enough to separate the gold from the garbage within blogs, they might be able to do the same thing with the “mainstream” press instead of blindly swallowing everything shoveled its way.
As for the analogy to Golding’s novel, it has been many years since I read it, but my memory suggests that she overlooked a major point the author made.
It might seem that by using children to act out the plot, Golding suggests naive children, “in the absence of a civilizing structure,” and without “adult supervision,” might “organize themselves into rival tribes, learn to hunt and kill, and eventually become murderous barbarians.”
Actually, the story's surviving children are rescued in the end by adult sailors from a ship of war actively engaged in a war that itself caused the children to be evacuated and eventually trapped on the island in the first place. These mature, “civilized,” humble, disciplined, experienced adults who are supposedly tempered by restraint and accountability are engaged in the same sort of savage, mindless behavior from which they have just rescued the children.
Golding’s point is: Who will rescue the adults? And I doubt that he would discount the tragedy of these adults’ misuse of power on the basis that “they had earned it” through experience, maturity, discipline, restraint, or by having been supervised by adults.
Parker would save us from the bloggers, but - as Golding would ask - who will save us from Parker and the mainstream press?
- Uke Man
Ms. Kathlene Parker is at it again, naively letting her bourgeoisie prejudices show again. Here are some excerpts from a recent column followed by my view:
Beware the host of babbling bloggers
Thursday, December 29, 2005
KATHLEEN PARKER
Of all the stories leading America’s annual greatest-hits list, the one that subsumes the rest is the evolution of information in the Age of Blogging.
. . .
There’s something frankly creepy about the explosion we now call the blogosphere – the "electroniverse" where recently wired squatters set up new camps each day. As I write, the number of blogs (Web logs) and bloggers (those who blog) is estimated in the tens of millions worldwide.
Although I’ve been a blog fan since the beginning, and have written favorably about the value added to journalism and public knowledge thanks to the new "citizen journalist," I’m also wary of power untempered by restraint and accountability.
. . .
Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality, though most would have little to occupy their time were the mainstream media to disappear tomorrow. Some bloggers do their own reporting, but most rely on mainstream reporters to do the heavy lifting. Some bloggers also offer superb commentary, but most buzz and blurt like caffeinated adolescents.
Even so, they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups. These effete and often clever baby "bloggies" are rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision.
Spoiled and undisciplined, they have seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug and the miracle of WiFi. They play tag team with hyperlinks ("I’ll say you’re important if you’ll say I’m important") and shriek "Gotcha!" when they catch some weary wage earner in a mistake or oversight. Plenty smart but lacking in wisdom, they possess the power of a forum, but neither the maturity nor humility that years of experience impose.
Each time I wander into blogdom, I’m reminded of the savage children stranded on an island in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Without adult supervision, they organize themselves into rival tribes, learn to hunt and kill, and eventually become murderous barbarians in the absence of a civilizing structure.
What Golding demonstrated and what we’re witnessing as the blogosphere’s offspring multiply is that people tend to abuse power when it is unearned and will bring down others to enhance themselves. Likewise, many bloggers seek the destruction of others for their own self-aggrandizement. When a mainstream journalist stumbles, they pile on like so many savages, hoisting his or her head on a bloody stick as Golding’s children did the fly-covered head of a butchered sow.
. . .
We can’t silence them, but for civilization’s sake and the integrity of information by which we all live or die, we can and should ignore them.
Kathleen Parker writes for The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.
kparker@kparker.com
Folks,
It seems to me that one reason blogging HAS exploded is because so many people’s views HAVE BEEN ignored by “mainstream” journalists who ARE “tempered by restraint and accountability” from addressing the bloggers’ concerns. Parker’s suggestion to ignore the bloggers just adds fuel to the fire.
The “mainstream” press IS tempered, restrained, and held accountable but by POWERFUL people and by economic considerations – which also are the province of wealthy, powerful people. Regular folks be damned.
I’ve seen it happen first hand in my small town of Circleville and in Columbus at the statehouse. The “New York Times” slogan “All the news that’s fit to print” gives a clue. SOMEBODY is determining what’s fit to print, and you can bet that the “somebody” answers to the powerful, not to regular folks.
Hence, what ISN’T fit to print (according to the wealthy lords of politics and commerce) appears on blogs or alternative radio (where it exists), or disappears.
Now, bloggers have and do put out trash, but so do the White House and the “mainstream” media Parker praises as being “adult.” Perhaps Parker is worried that if the public becomes discerning enough to separate the gold from the garbage within blogs, they might be able to do the same thing with the “mainstream” press instead of blindly swallowing everything shoveled its way.
As for the analogy to Golding’s novel, it has been many years since I read it, but my memory suggests that she overlooked a major point the author made.
It might seem that by using children to act out the plot, Golding suggests naive children, “in the absence of a civilizing structure,” and without “adult supervision,” might “organize themselves into rival tribes, learn to hunt and kill, and eventually become murderous barbarians.”
Actually, the story's surviving children are rescued in the end by adult sailors from a ship of war actively engaged in a war that itself caused the children to be evacuated and eventually trapped on the island in the first place. These mature, “civilized,” humble, disciplined, experienced adults who are supposedly tempered by restraint and accountability are engaged in the same sort of savage, mindless behavior from which they have just rescued the children.
Golding’s point is: Who will rescue the adults? And I doubt that he would discount the tragedy of these adults’ misuse of power on the basis that “they had earned it” through experience, maturity, discipline, restraint, or by having been supervised by adults.
Parker would save us from the bloggers, but - as Golding would ask - who will save us from Parker and the mainstream press?
- Uke Man
Dowd on the surveillance crowd
December 21, 2005
The Squires of Surveillance
By MAUREEN DOWD
(and a ukethanks to Phyll)
Dick and Rummy are holed up in the den of Rummy's
Chesapeake Bay retreat, Mount
Misery, pawing through sheafs of transcripts of
wiretapped telephone
conversations, hunting for inside dope.
Chinook helicopters patrol the skies above the
red-brick waterfront mansion.
Rummy loves the take-no-prisoners lineage of his $1.5
million getaway, built in
the 19th century by Edward Covey, an evil slave owner.
Winter weekends by a crackling fire are cozy and
conspiratorial, now that the
two men have nearby spreads in St. Michaels, Md.
These squires of surveillance while away their
evenings sipping from goblets of
Glenlivet and perusing the illegally bugged phone
conversations of any American
they please. Getting in the holiday spirit, they're
mining data to revise their
naughty and nice lists.
"Check this one out, Dick," Rummy says excitedly.
"I've been reading Jennifer
Aniston's conversations for the last six months now,
and I gotta say, I don't
get what she sees in this guy Vince Vaughn. 'Wedding
Crashers' was funny. They
shot that here in this village, you know. But I don't
trust the guy. No way he's
going to give up lap dancers and be true. I just don't
want to see Jen get hurt
again."
Dick grunts. He's deeply absorbed in the classified
reports on the F.B.I.
infiltration of a Vegan Community Project and a People
for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals protest against llama fur. He's ruminating
over a naked picture of
Pamela Anderson emblazoned with the PETA slogan, "I'd
rather go naked than wear
fur."
"Porter Goss tells me that Pam was shacking up with
Mark McGrath - you know, he
used to be with that band, Sugar Ray?" Rummy says.
"Listen, Dick, we need to
jawbone about this flapdoodle about our stateside
spying operation that
developed while you were on your whirlwind tour of
American torture chambers in
Iraq and Afghanistan."
Dick interrupts, "More torture."
"Some pansies are making unwarranted claims that we
should have gotten
warrants," Rummy continues. "But we can't worry about
the Constitution's fine
print during war. Besides, it's fun to secretly blow
off the super-secret court.
Sure, warrants would have been no problem - the court
has turned down only five
government requests since 1979. Why the dickens
shouldn't we go in and eavesdrop
on whoever we want? Who says we can't do sneak and
peak searches whenever we
dadburn please?
"Junior can try to model himself after Reagan, but you
can't beat our old boss
Nixon when it came to channeling paranoia in a
productive way. Nixon and J.
Edgar Hoover had it right: dark times call for dark
measures. We're thinking too
small, really. Let's sic the I.R.S. on Murtha, McCain
and Feingold. Let's bug
Condi and Lieberman - those back-stabbing sons-of-guns
want our jobs. Condi has
no clue who she's dealing with, right, Dick? I
perfected the black art of
infighting before Condi was born. And while we're at
it, let's tap Risen's
phone. His story in The Times about our wiretaps was
an outrageous invasion of
our privacy and an assault on our monarchy's - I mean,
our executive branch's
absolute power. We'll smoke out the rat who leaked
that story."
Dick takes a sip of Scotch and nods. "More snooping,"
he says.
"Karl's new game plan of pretending to admit that we
made some mistakes in Iraq
seems to be working," Rummy muses. "The Kid's approval
ratings are picking up.
But I hope Georgie's not falling for that contrition
guff he's peddling. We
don't want him to go wobbly on us. We have a long way
to go in Iraq. The Iraqi
security forces are still curled in a fetal position.
Oh, by the way, Chalabi
called today. He thinks Iran did a better job trucking
in stuffed ballot boxes
for the Shiites than we did for the Sunnis." He adds
slyly, "You'd think we'd be
better by now at stealing elections."
"More fraud," Dick rumbles. "More rigged elections."
Dick points at the flat-screen TV over the roaring
fireplace. It's time for
their favorite Sunday night program.
"It isn't on yet, big guy," Rummy sighs. "The Kid is
yakking again to the
nation. He's so desperate he's pre-empting 'Desperate
Housewives.' The gals
won't be on for 20 minutes."
Dick glowers, sinking deep into his leather chair.
"Hey, I've got a great idea!" Rummy grins. "You wanna
read a phone transcript of
a big cat fight between Teri Hatcher and Nicollette
Sheridan? Mueller just sent
it over. Hot stuff!"
Dick perks up. Half his mouth inclines, indicating
extreme joy. "More Nicollette
Sheridan," he nods.
The Squires of Surveillance
By MAUREEN DOWD
(and a ukethanks to Phyll)
Dick and Rummy are holed up in the den of Rummy's
Chesapeake Bay retreat, Mount
Misery, pawing through sheafs of transcripts of
wiretapped telephone
conversations, hunting for inside dope.
Chinook helicopters patrol the skies above the
red-brick waterfront mansion.
Rummy loves the take-no-prisoners lineage of his $1.5
million getaway, built in
the 19th century by Edward Covey, an evil slave owner.
Winter weekends by a crackling fire are cozy and
conspiratorial, now that the
two men have nearby spreads in St. Michaels, Md.
These squires of surveillance while away their
evenings sipping from goblets of
Glenlivet and perusing the illegally bugged phone
conversations of any American
they please. Getting in the holiday spirit, they're
mining data to revise their
naughty and nice lists.
"Check this one out, Dick," Rummy says excitedly.
"I've been reading Jennifer
Aniston's conversations for the last six months now,
and I gotta say, I don't
get what she sees in this guy Vince Vaughn. 'Wedding
Crashers' was funny. They
shot that here in this village, you know. But I don't
trust the guy. No way he's
going to give up lap dancers and be true. I just don't
want to see Jen get hurt
again."
Dick grunts. He's deeply absorbed in the classified
reports on the F.B.I.
infiltration of a Vegan Community Project and a People
for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals protest against llama fur. He's ruminating
over a naked picture of
Pamela Anderson emblazoned with the PETA slogan, "I'd
rather go naked than wear
fur."
"Porter Goss tells me that Pam was shacking up with
Mark McGrath - you know, he
used to be with that band, Sugar Ray?" Rummy says.
"Listen, Dick, we need to
jawbone about this flapdoodle about our stateside
spying operation that
developed while you were on your whirlwind tour of
American torture chambers in
Iraq and Afghanistan."
Dick interrupts, "More torture."
"Some pansies are making unwarranted claims that we
should have gotten
warrants," Rummy continues. "But we can't worry about
the Constitution's fine
print during war. Besides, it's fun to secretly blow
off the super-secret court.
Sure, warrants would have been no problem - the court
has turned down only five
government requests since 1979. Why the dickens
shouldn't we go in and eavesdrop
on whoever we want? Who says we can't do sneak and
peak searches whenever we
dadburn please?
"Junior can try to model himself after Reagan, but you
can't beat our old boss
Nixon when it came to channeling paranoia in a
productive way. Nixon and J.
Edgar Hoover had it right: dark times call for dark
measures. We're thinking too
small, really. Let's sic the I.R.S. on Murtha, McCain
and Feingold. Let's bug
Condi and Lieberman - those back-stabbing sons-of-guns
want our jobs. Condi has
no clue who she's dealing with, right, Dick? I
perfected the black art of
infighting before Condi was born. And while we're at
it, let's tap Risen's
phone. His story in The Times about our wiretaps was
an outrageous invasion of
our privacy and an assault on our monarchy's - I mean,
our executive branch's
absolute power. We'll smoke out the rat who leaked
that story."
Dick takes a sip of Scotch and nods. "More snooping,"
he says.
"Karl's new game plan of pretending to admit that we
made some mistakes in Iraq
seems to be working," Rummy muses. "The Kid's approval
ratings are picking up.
But I hope Georgie's not falling for that contrition
guff he's peddling. We
don't want him to go wobbly on us. We have a long way
to go in Iraq. The Iraqi
security forces are still curled in a fetal position.
Oh, by the way, Chalabi
called today. He thinks Iran did a better job trucking
in stuffed ballot boxes
for the Shiites than we did for the Sunnis." He adds
slyly, "You'd think we'd be
better by now at stealing elections."
"More fraud," Dick rumbles. "More rigged elections."
Dick points at the flat-screen TV over the roaring
fireplace. It's time for
their favorite Sunday night program.
"It isn't on yet, big guy," Rummy sighs. "The Kid is
yakking again to the
nation. He's so desperate he's pre-empting 'Desperate
Housewives.' The gals
won't be on for 20 minutes."
Dick glowers, sinking deep into his leather chair.
"Hey, I've got a great idea!" Rummy grins. "You wanna
read a phone transcript of
a big cat fight between Teri Hatcher and Nicollette
Sheridan? Mueller just sent
it over. Hot stuff!"
Dick perks up. Half his mouth inclines, indicating
extreme joy. "More Nicollette
Sheridan," he nods.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Hey Folks,
Today is my birthday, and I am sixty-ONE year old.
I can’t think of a better way to share the celebration with you than the video of the birthday party I threw for Midnight Ukulele Disco (see: www.sonicuke.com) when it, too, turned one year old !!
Click here: http://www.ukuleledisco.com/birthday to see Jason Tagg’s & my handiwork!
Enjoy!!
-Uke Man
p.s. I’m not getting older! I’m getting childish!! (Damn it!)
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday . . .
Today is my birthday, and I am sixty-ONE year old.
I can’t think of a better way to share the celebration with you than the video of the birthday party I threw for Midnight Ukulele Disco (see: www.sonicuke.com) when it, too, turned one year old !!
Click here: http://www.ukuleledisco.com/birthday to see Jason Tagg’s & my handiwork!
Enjoy!!
-Uke Man
p.s. I’m not getting older! I’m getting childish!! (Damn it!)
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday . . .
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Twain - on class and the Civil War South
Hey Folks,
I’ve been re-reading Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court and sharing pieces of Twain’s political commentary with you here (this is the 14th entry) .
His insights remain pertinent to this day. We haven’t changed much from Twain’s day – or from King Arthur’s, for that matter.
- Uke Man
Chapter 30 – The Yankee and the King come upon a burning Manor house and a mob of peasants busy chasing down and hanging other peasants suspected of having killed the oppressive lord and burning his manor.
The painful thing observable about all this business was the alacrity with which this oppressed community had turned their cruel hands against their own class in the interest of the common oppressor. This man and woman seemed to feel that in a quarrel between a person of their own class and his lord, it was the natural and proper and rightful thing for that poor devil’s whole caste to side with the master and fight his battle for him, without ever stopping to inquire into the rights or wrongs of the matter. This man had been out helping to hang his neighbors, and had done his work with zeal, and yet was aware that there was nothing against them but a mere suspicion, with nothing back of it describable as evidence; still neither he nor his wife seemed to see anything horrible about it.
This was depressing – to a man with the dream of a republic in his head. It reminded me of a time thirteen centuries away, when the “poor whites” of our South who were always despised, and frequently insulted, by the slave lords around them, and who owed their base condition simply to the presence of slavery in their midst, were yet pusillanimously ready to side with the slave lords in all political moves for the upholding and perpetuating of slavery, and did also finally shoulder their muskets and pour out their lives in an effort to prevent the destruction of that very institution which degraded them.
I’ve been re-reading Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court and sharing pieces of Twain’s political commentary with you here (this is the 14th entry) .
His insights remain pertinent to this day. We haven’t changed much from Twain’s day – or from King Arthur’s, for that matter.
- Uke Man
Chapter 30 – The Yankee and the King come upon a burning Manor house and a mob of peasants busy chasing down and hanging other peasants suspected of having killed the oppressive lord and burning his manor.
The painful thing observable about all this business was the alacrity with which this oppressed community had turned their cruel hands against their own class in the interest of the common oppressor. This man and woman seemed to feel that in a quarrel between a person of their own class and his lord, it was the natural and proper and rightful thing for that poor devil’s whole caste to side with the master and fight his battle for him, without ever stopping to inquire into the rights or wrongs of the matter. This man had been out helping to hang his neighbors, and had done his work with zeal, and yet was aware that there was nothing against them but a mere suspicion, with nothing back of it describable as evidence; still neither he nor his wife seemed to see anything horrible about it.
This was depressing – to a man with the dream of a republic in his head. It reminded me of a time thirteen centuries away, when the “poor whites” of our South who were always despised, and frequently insulted, by the slave lords around them, and who owed their base condition simply to the presence of slavery in their midst, were yet pusillanimously ready to side with the slave lords in all political moves for the upholding and perpetuating of slavery, and did also finally shoulder their muskets and pour out their lives in an effort to prevent the destruction of that very institution which degraded them.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Uke Man Musings on "the World Can't Wait"
Hey Folks,
Back in October, I took the call "The World Can't Wait; Drive Out the Bush Regime" metaphorically. Personally, I didn't think anything we did would actually result in the abrupt departure of the moron now serving in the Whitehouse.
I believed it was possible, but not likely. At the same time, I had no doubt that together we COULD resist, attack, and - within a reasonable time period – have a significant effect.
A lot has changed since then; a lot of people’s eyes have been opened, a lot of corruption and innumerable lies have become more difficult to deny; cracks are showing in Bush’s façade.
Because of this, I am much more hopeful about our chances of driving him out! It still might not happen, but it’s much closer to happening; and even if he manages to finish his term, our efforts can have a tremendous effect on the PB (Post Bush) years.
To do that we must first change our mind set. The way to drive Bush out is by RESISTING! And resisting now – the PEOPLE resisting – not looking for a “savior” among the Democrats or third parties and then waiting and hoping that we have not been snookered again – but the PEOPLE resisting NOW – telling Bush to step down NOW & take his program with him!!
"Resisting" is different from the alternative we know best: i.e. selective support of candidates/selective pressure on D'sand R's seeking election/pressuring their supporters/expanding liberal media – essentially, pressuring the system (its R’s & D’s) – whether by e-mail or donations or civil disobedience – to get THEM to ADDRESS our concerns.
All of that is fine and can go on as always – IN ADDITION to the people’s INDEPENDENT actions. In fact, those presently pursuing the traditional approach will be aided by the people’s effort.
What we do will harm the radical Republicans presently raping the nation and the world and will also send a message to Democrats, something like: “Look! We’re tired of waiting for you to grow a spine; we’re going after Bush, and then we’ll come back and check out your posture – if you want our support, you’d better be standing up straight and strong!”
The World Can’t Wait offers a real chance both to pull apart the Bush juggernaut and simultaneously put the Democrats on notice that their timid Republican-lite bullshit had better end.
Because of the reality of this broad approach, everyone who sees Bush as a disaster can find it easy to participate; and when enough of us get together to make the people’s demands, we can’t be ignored. We might not be reported well, but we know that they are watching and that they are concerned (see: http://rwor.org/a/028/who-hated-bush-ad.htm ).
The next opportunity for mass action will be January 31. As a member of Columbus NION, I’m kicking around some ideas with other members as how best we can organize to get as many people as possible to help with the call from the World Can’t Wait (below).
I’ll keep you up to date.
- Uke Man
BUSH: STEP DOWN And Take Your Program With You!
1. Jan. 31, on The Night of President Bush’s State of the Union Address:
Bring the Noise!
Drown Out Bush’s Lies!
In large cities and small towns all across the country, join in rallies one hour before Bush’s address as we make our determination to “Drive Out the Bush Regime” the political message of the day.
At 9:00 PM EST, just as Bush starts to speak, everywhere we will BRING THE NOISE. In a cacophony of sound, we will drown out his address with music: from drums to violins, from hip hop and classical; and with noise: banging pots and ringing church bells, sound car horns and lifting our voices.
2. DEMONSTRATE on SATURDAY, FEB. 4
(following the State of the Union)
Washington D.C.
The Saturday after the State of the Union address, massive numbers will protest at the seat of government. Prominent voices of conscience will help deliver the people’s verdict on Bush’s criminal regime with our demand: Bush Step Down And Take Your Program with You!
Start Organizing Now!
Back in October, I took the call "The World Can't Wait; Drive Out the Bush Regime" metaphorically. Personally, I didn't think anything we did would actually result in the abrupt departure of the moron now serving in the Whitehouse.
I believed it was possible, but not likely. At the same time, I had no doubt that together we COULD resist, attack, and - within a reasonable time period – have a significant effect.
A lot has changed since then; a lot of people’s eyes have been opened, a lot of corruption and innumerable lies have become more difficult to deny; cracks are showing in Bush’s façade.
Because of this, I am much more hopeful about our chances of driving him out! It still might not happen, but it’s much closer to happening; and even if he manages to finish his term, our efforts can have a tremendous effect on the PB (Post Bush) years.
To do that we must first change our mind set. The way to drive Bush out is by RESISTING! And resisting now – the PEOPLE resisting – not looking for a “savior” among the Democrats or third parties and then waiting and hoping that we have not been snookered again – but the PEOPLE resisting NOW – telling Bush to step down NOW & take his program with him!!
"Resisting" is different from the alternative we know best: i.e. selective support of candidates/selective pressure on D'sand R's seeking election/pressuring their supporters/expanding liberal media – essentially, pressuring the system (its R’s & D’s) – whether by e-mail or donations or civil disobedience – to get THEM to ADDRESS our concerns.
All of that is fine and can go on as always – IN ADDITION to the people’s INDEPENDENT actions. In fact, those presently pursuing the traditional approach will be aided by the people’s effort.
What we do will harm the radical Republicans presently raping the nation and the world and will also send a message to Democrats, something like: “Look! We’re tired of waiting for you to grow a spine; we’re going after Bush, and then we’ll come back and check out your posture – if you want our support, you’d better be standing up straight and strong!”
The World Can’t Wait offers a real chance both to pull apart the Bush juggernaut and simultaneously put the Democrats on notice that their timid Republican-lite bullshit had better end.
Because of the reality of this broad approach, everyone who sees Bush as a disaster can find it easy to participate; and when enough of us get together to make the people’s demands, we can’t be ignored. We might not be reported well, but we know that they are watching and that they are concerned (see: http://rwor.org/a/028/who-hated-bush-ad.htm ).
The next opportunity for mass action will be January 31. As a member of Columbus NION, I’m kicking around some ideas with other members as how best we can organize to get as many people as possible to help with the call from the World Can’t Wait (below).
I’ll keep you up to date.
- Uke Man
BUSH: STEP DOWN And Take Your Program With You!
1. Jan. 31, on The Night of President Bush’s State of the Union Address:
Bring the Noise!
Drown Out Bush’s Lies!
In large cities and small towns all across the country, join in rallies one hour before Bush’s address as we make our determination to “Drive Out the Bush Regime” the political message of the day.
At 9:00 PM EST, just as Bush starts to speak, everywhere we will BRING THE NOISE. In a cacophony of sound, we will drown out his address with music: from drums to violins, from hip hop and classical; and with noise: banging pots and ringing church bells, sound car horns and lifting our voices.
2. DEMONSTRATE on SATURDAY, FEB. 4
(following the State of the Union)
Washington D.C.
The Saturday after the State of the Union address, massive numbers will protest at the seat of government. Prominent voices of conscience will help deliver the people’s verdict on Bush’s criminal regime with our demand: Bush Step Down And Take Your Program with You!
Start Organizing Now!
Monday, December 26, 2005
The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime
Hey Folks,
Here are a few bare-bones bits of info from The World Can't Wait's website ( http://www.worldcantwait.net/ ). If you are unacquainted with "The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime!", this may seem complicated or confusing to you - as far as "how" and "what" - not "why." I'll try to write up something to help in that regard.
- Uke Man
The Mission of World Can't Wait (from the website)
World Can't Wait is organizing people living in the United States to take responsibility to stop the whole disastrous course led by the Bush administration. We seek to create a political situation where the Bush administration's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking U.S. society is reversed.
We seek to mobilize millions to express their outrage, to speak the truth, to act with urgency and form an organized political resistance. We welcome any individuals and groups who agree that the Bush Regime should be driven out, whatever their political party affiliation or lack thereof. We reach out to people who have been fooled by Bush, and to those who have been most seriously affected by the outrages inflicted by the Bush Regime.
We drew our inspiration from...The Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience which we encourage you to read ( http://www.nion.us/NSOC/NION2wsigninfo.htm ), add your name to, and distribute broadly.
Excerpts: "No election, whether fair or fraudulent, can legitimize criminal wars on foreign countries, torture, the wholesale violation of human rights, and the end of science and reason."
"It is our responsibility to stop the Bush regime from carrying out this disastrous course. We believe history will judge us sharply should we fail to act decisively."
BUSH: STEP DOWN And Take Your Program With You!
1. Jan. 31, on The Night of President Bush’s State of the Union Address:
Bring the Noise!
Drown Out Bush’s Lies!
In large cities and small towns all across the country, join in rallies one hour before Bush’s address as we make our determination to “Drive Out the Bush Regime” the political message of the day.
At 9:00 PM EST, just as Bush starts to speak, everywhere we will BRING THE NOISE. In a cacophony of sound, we will drown out his address with music: from drums to violins, from hip hop and classical; and with noise: banging pots and ringing church bells, sound car horns and lifting our voices.
2. DEMONSTRATE on SATURDAY, FEB. 4
(following the State of the Union)
Washington D.C.
The Saturday after the State of the Union address, massive numbers will protest at the seat of government. Prominent voices of conscience will help deliver the people’s verdict on Bush’s criminal regime with our demand: Bush Step Down And Take Your Program with You!
Four immediate objectives for late December:
1) Raise money to run the protest plans for the State of the Union and the Call for The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime in major newspapers, as well as radio ads on Air America. [donate now]
2) Get students and professors prepared for when campus gets back in session to moblize the campuses for the State of the Union. [click here]
3) Saturate communities and schools with materials announcing this, and take out ads specifically calling for this State of the Union manifestation. Flier a movie on 12/25. High school students - spend your winter break selling t-shirts and posters from WCW to holiday shoppers. Contact the national office and local chapters for more info. [download flier]
4) Reach out to organized professional and social justice organizations and bring them solidly in this movement - librarians, neighborhood associations, religious institutions — getting not just endorsements but resolutions that BUSH STEP DOWN and taking action during the State of the Union.
Here are a few bare-bones bits of info from The World Can't Wait's website ( http://www.worldcantwait.net/ ). If you are unacquainted with "The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime!", this may seem complicated or confusing to you - as far as "how" and "what" - not "why." I'll try to write up something to help in that regard.
- Uke Man
The Mission of World Can't Wait (from the website)
World Can't Wait is organizing people living in the United States to take responsibility to stop the whole disastrous course led by the Bush administration. We seek to create a political situation where the Bush administration's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking U.S. society is reversed.
We seek to mobilize millions to express their outrage, to speak the truth, to act with urgency and form an organized political resistance. We welcome any individuals and groups who agree that the Bush Regime should be driven out, whatever their political party affiliation or lack thereof. We reach out to people who have been fooled by Bush, and to those who have been most seriously affected by the outrages inflicted by the Bush Regime.
We drew our inspiration from...The Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience which we encourage you to read ( http://www.nion.us/NSOC/NION2wsigninfo.htm ), add your name to, and distribute broadly.
Excerpts: "No election, whether fair or fraudulent, can legitimize criminal wars on foreign countries, torture, the wholesale violation of human rights, and the end of science and reason."
"It is our responsibility to stop the Bush regime from carrying out this disastrous course. We believe history will judge us sharply should we fail to act decisively."
BUSH: STEP DOWN And Take Your Program With You!
1. Jan. 31, on The Night of President Bush’s State of the Union Address:
Bring the Noise!
Drown Out Bush’s Lies!
In large cities and small towns all across the country, join in rallies one hour before Bush’s address as we make our determination to “Drive Out the Bush Regime” the political message of the day.
At 9:00 PM EST, just as Bush starts to speak, everywhere we will BRING THE NOISE. In a cacophony of sound, we will drown out his address with music: from drums to violins, from hip hop and classical; and with noise: banging pots and ringing church bells, sound car horns and lifting our voices.
2. DEMONSTRATE on SATURDAY, FEB. 4
(following the State of the Union)
Washington D.C.
The Saturday after the State of the Union address, massive numbers will protest at the seat of government. Prominent voices of conscience will help deliver the people’s verdict on Bush’s criminal regime with our demand: Bush Step Down And Take Your Program with You!
Four immediate objectives for late December:
1) Raise money to run the protest plans for the State of the Union and the Call for The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime in major newspapers, as well as radio ads on Air America. [donate now]
2) Get students and professors prepared for when campus gets back in session to moblize the campuses for the State of the Union. [click here]
3) Saturate communities and schools with materials announcing this, and take out ads specifically calling for this State of the Union manifestation. Flier a movie on 12/25. High school students - spend your winter break selling t-shirts and posters from WCW to holiday shoppers. Contact the national office and local chapters for more info. [download flier]
4) Reach out to organized professional and social justice organizations and bring them solidly in this movement - librarians, neighborhood associations, religious institutions — getting not just endorsements but resolutions that BUSH STEP DOWN and taking action during the State of the Union.
Dick, Head Man
Folks!!
We need to take the call from "The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime" VERY seriously!! I'll post something about it soon.
- Uke Man
December 23, 2005
New York Times Editorial
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Mr. Cheney's Imperial Presidency
George W. Bush has quipped several times during his
political career that it would be so much easier to
govern in a dictatorship. Apparently he never told his
vice president that this was a joke.
Virtually from the time he chose himself to be Mr.
Bush's running mate in 2000, Dick Cheney has
spearheaded an extraordinary expansion of the powers
of the presidency - from writing energy policy behind
closed doors with oil executives to abrogating
longstanding treaties and using the 9/11 attacks as a
pretext to invade Iraq, scrap the Geneva Conventions
and spy on American citizens.
It was a chance Mr. Cheney seems to have been dreaming
about for decades. Most Americans looked at wrenching
events like the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and
the Iran-contra debacle and worried that the
presidency had become too powerful, secretive and
dismissive. Mr. Cheney looked at the same events and
fretted that the presidency was not powerful enough,
and too vulnerable to inspection and calls for
accountability.
The president "needs to have his constitutional powers
unimpaired, if you will, in terms of the conduct of
national security policy," Mr. Cheney said this week
as he tried to stifle the outcry over a domestic
spying program that Mr. Bush authorized after the 9/11
attacks.
Before 9/11, Mr. Cheney was trying to undermine the
institutional and legal structure of multilateral
foreign policy: he championed the abrogation of the
Antiballistic Missile Treaty with Moscow in order to
build an antimissile shield that doesn't work but
makes military contactors rich. Early in his tenure,
Mr. Cheney, who quit as chief executive of Halliburton
to run with Mr. Bush in 2000, gathered his energy
industry cronies at secret meetings in Washington to
rewrite energy policy to their specifications. Mr.
Cheney offered the usual excuses about the need to get
candid advice on important matters, and the courts,
sadly, bought it. But the task force was not an
exercise in diverse views. Mr. Cheney gathered people
who agreed with him, and allowed them to write
national policy for an industry in which he had
recently amassed a fortune.
The effort to expand presidential power accelerated
after 9/11, taking advantage of a national consensus
that the president should have additional powers to
use judiciously against terrorists.
Mr. Cheney started agitating for an attack on Iraq
immediately, pushing the intelligence community to
come up with evidence about a link between Iraq and Al
Qaeda that never existed. His team was central to
writing the legal briefs justifying the abuse and
torture of prisoners, the idea that the president can
designate people to be "unlawful enemy combatants" and
detain them indefinitely, and a secret program
allowing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on
American citizens without warrants. And when Senator
John McCain introduced a measure to reinstate the rule
of law at American military prisons, Mr. Cheney not
only led the effort to stop the amendment, but also
tried to revise it to actually legalize torture at
C.I.A. prisons.
There are finally signs that the democratic system is
trying to rein in the imperial presidency. Republicans
in the Senate and House forced Mr. Bush to back the
McCain amendment, and Mr. Cheney's plan to legalize
torture by intelligence agents was rebuffed. Congress
also agreed to extend the Patriot Act for five weeks
rather than doing the administration's bidding and
rushing to make it permanent.
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court refused to allow
the administration to transfer Jose Padilla, an
American citizen who has been held by the military for
more than three years on suspicion of plotting
terrorist attacks, from military to civilian custody.
After winning the same court's approval in September
to hold Mr. Padilla as an unlawful combatant, the
administration abruptly reversed course in November
and charged him with civil crimes unrelated to his
arrest. That decision was an obvious attempt to avoid
having the Supreme Court review the legality of the
detention powers that Mr. Bush gave himself, and the
appeals judges refused to go along.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney have insisted that the secret
eavesdropping program is legal, but The Washington
Post reported yesterday that the court created to
supervise this sort of activity is not so sure. It
said the presiding judge was arranging a classified
briefing for her fellow judges and that several judges
on the court wanted to know why the administration
believed eavesdropping on American citizens without
warrants was legal when the law specifically requires
such warrants.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney are tenacious. They still
control both houses of Congress and are determined to
pack the judiciary with like-minded ideologues. Still,
the recent developments are encouraging, especially
since the court ruling on Mr. Padilla was written by a
staunch conservative considered by President Bush for
the Supreme Court.
We need to take the call from "The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime" VERY seriously!! I'll post something about it soon.
- Uke Man
December 23, 2005
New York Times Editorial
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Mr. Cheney's Imperial Presidency
George W. Bush has quipped several times during his
political career that it would be so much easier to
govern in a dictatorship. Apparently he never told his
vice president that this was a joke.
Virtually from the time he chose himself to be Mr.
Bush's running mate in 2000, Dick Cheney has
spearheaded an extraordinary expansion of the powers
of the presidency - from writing energy policy behind
closed doors with oil executives to abrogating
longstanding treaties and using the 9/11 attacks as a
pretext to invade Iraq, scrap the Geneva Conventions
and spy on American citizens.
It was a chance Mr. Cheney seems to have been dreaming
about for decades. Most Americans looked at wrenching
events like the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and
the Iran-contra debacle and worried that the
presidency had become too powerful, secretive and
dismissive. Mr. Cheney looked at the same events and
fretted that the presidency was not powerful enough,
and too vulnerable to inspection and calls for
accountability.
The president "needs to have his constitutional powers
unimpaired, if you will, in terms of the conduct of
national security policy," Mr. Cheney said this week
as he tried to stifle the outcry over a domestic
spying program that Mr. Bush authorized after the 9/11
attacks.
Before 9/11, Mr. Cheney was trying to undermine the
institutional and legal structure of multilateral
foreign policy: he championed the abrogation of the
Antiballistic Missile Treaty with Moscow in order to
build an antimissile shield that doesn't work but
makes military contactors rich. Early in his tenure,
Mr. Cheney, who quit as chief executive of Halliburton
to run with Mr. Bush in 2000, gathered his energy
industry cronies at secret meetings in Washington to
rewrite energy policy to their specifications. Mr.
Cheney offered the usual excuses about the need to get
candid advice on important matters, and the courts,
sadly, bought it. But the task force was not an
exercise in diverse views. Mr. Cheney gathered people
who agreed with him, and allowed them to write
national policy for an industry in which he had
recently amassed a fortune.
The effort to expand presidential power accelerated
after 9/11, taking advantage of a national consensus
that the president should have additional powers to
use judiciously against terrorists.
Mr. Cheney started agitating for an attack on Iraq
immediately, pushing the intelligence community to
come up with evidence about a link between Iraq and Al
Qaeda that never existed. His team was central to
writing the legal briefs justifying the abuse and
torture of prisoners, the idea that the president can
designate people to be "unlawful enemy combatants" and
detain them indefinitely, and a secret program
allowing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on
American citizens without warrants. And when Senator
John McCain introduced a measure to reinstate the rule
of law at American military prisons, Mr. Cheney not
only led the effort to stop the amendment, but also
tried to revise it to actually legalize torture at
C.I.A. prisons.
There are finally signs that the democratic system is
trying to rein in the imperial presidency. Republicans
in the Senate and House forced Mr. Bush to back the
McCain amendment, and Mr. Cheney's plan to legalize
torture by intelligence agents was rebuffed. Congress
also agreed to extend the Patriot Act for five weeks
rather than doing the administration's bidding and
rushing to make it permanent.
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court refused to allow
the administration to transfer Jose Padilla, an
American citizen who has been held by the military for
more than three years on suspicion of plotting
terrorist attacks, from military to civilian custody.
After winning the same court's approval in September
to hold Mr. Padilla as an unlawful combatant, the
administration abruptly reversed course in November
and charged him with civil crimes unrelated to his
arrest. That decision was an obvious attempt to avoid
having the Supreme Court review the legality of the
detention powers that Mr. Bush gave himself, and the
appeals judges refused to go along.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney have insisted that the secret
eavesdropping program is legal, but The Washington
Post reported yesterday that the court created to
supervise this sort of activity is not so sure. It
said the presiding judge was arranging a classified
briefing for her fellow judges and that several judges
on the court wanted to know why the administration
believed eavesdropping on American citizens without
warrants was legal when the law specifically requires
such warrants.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney are tenacious. They still
control both houses of Congress and are determined to
pack the judiciary with like-minded ideologues. Still,
the recent developments are encouraging, especially
since the court ruling on Mr. Padilla was written by a
staunch conservative considered by President Bush for
the Supreme Court.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
The Great Satan
Now Folks !!
Below are the words of an ECONOMIST!! He says exactly what the Uke Man has been saying for some time – much of it here and available in the archives!!!
The rabid dogs running this country are worse than "Scrooge,"worse than “zombies” - which Krugman calls them. I don’t believe in Satan, and humanity doesn’t need Satan; but human devils are practicing their craft here on the earth. You can find them in Washington and in the board rooms of pharmaceutical, oil, agricultural, defense, media, and other corporations.
They are insatiable! THEY are the beasts that need to be starved!!
All I want for Christmas is for someone to drag Grover Norquist to his own bathroom and drown the mother-fucker in the tub!
- Uke Man
December 23, 2005
The Tax-Cut Zombies
By PAUL KRUGMAN
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
If you want someone to play Scrooge just before
Christmas, Dick Cheney is your man. On Wednesday Mr.
Cheney, acting as president of the Senate, cast the
tie-breaking vote in favor of legislation that
increases the fees charged to Medicaid recipients,
lets states cut Medicaid benefits, reduces enforcement
funds for child support, and more.
For all its cruelty, however, the legislation will
make only a tiny dent in the budget deficit: the cuts
total about $8 billion a year, or one-third of 1
percent of total federal spending.
So ended 2005, the year that killed any remaining
rationale for continuing tax cuts. But the hunger for
tax cuts refuses to die.
Since the 1970's, conservatives have used two theories
to justify cutting taxes. One theory, supply-side
economics, has always been hokum for the yokels.
Conservative insiders adopted the supply-siders as
mascots because they were useful to the cause, but
never took them seriously.
The insiders' theory - what we might call the true
tax-cut theory - was memorably described by David
Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director, as
"starving the beast." Proponents of this theory argue
that conservatives should seek tax cuts not because
they won't create budget deficits, but because they
will. Starve-the-beasters believe that budget deficits
will lead to spending cuts that will eventually
achieve their true aim: shrinking the government's
role back to what it was under Calvin Coolidge.
True to form, the insiders aren't buying the
supply-siders' claim that a partial recovery in
federal tax receipts from their plunge between 2000
and 2003 shows that all's well on the fiscal front.
(Revenue remains lower, and the federal budget deeper
in deficit, than anyone expected a few years ago.)
Instead, conservative heavyweights are using the
budget deficit to call for cuts in key government
programs.
For example, in 2001 Alan Greenspan urged Congress to
cut taxes to avoid running an excessively large budget
surplus. Now he issues dire warnings about "fiscal
instability." But rather than urging Congress to
reverse the tax cuts he helped sell, he talks of the
need to cut future Social Security and Medicare
benefits.
Yet at this point starve-the-beast theory looks as
silly as supply-side economics. Although a disciplined
conservative movement has controlled Congress and the
White House for five years - and presided over record
deficits - public opposition has prevented any
significant cuts in the big social-insurance programs
that dominate domestic spending.
In fact, two years ago the Bush administration
actually pushed through a major expansion in Medicare.
True, the prescription drug bill clearly wasn't
written by liberals. To a significant extent it's a
giveaway to drug companies rather than a benefit for
retirees. But all that corporate welfare makes the
program more expensive, not less.
Conservative intellectuals had high hopes that this
year President Bush would make up for this betrayal of
their doctrine by dealing a death blow to Social
Security as we know it. Indeed, he tried. His proposed
"reform" would, over time, have essentially phased out
the program. And he seemed to have everything going
for him: momentum from an election victory, control of
Congress and a highly sympathetic punditocracy. Yet
the drive for privatization quickly degenerated from a
juggernaut into a farce.
Medicaid, whose recipients are less likely to vote
than the average person getting Social Security or
Medicare, is the softest target among major federal
social-insurance programs. But even members of
Congress, it seems, have consciences. (Well, some of
them.) It took intense arm-twisting from the
Republican leadership, and that tie-breaking vote by
Mr. Cheney, to ram through even modest cuts in aid to
the neediest.
In other words, the starve-the-beast theory - like
missile defense - has been tested under the most
favorable possible circumstances, and failed. So there
is no longer any coherent justification for further
tax cuts.
Yet the cuts go on. In fact, even as Congressional
leaders struggled to pass a tiny package of
mean-spirited spending cuts, they pushed forward with
a much larger package of tax cuts. The benefits of
those cuts, as always, will go disproportionately to
the wealthy.
Here's how I see it: Republicans have turned into
tax-cut zombies. They can't remember why they
originally wanted to cut taxes, they can't explain how
they plan to make up for the lost revenue, and they
don't care. Instead, they just keep shambling forward,
always hungry for more.
Below are the words of an ECONOMIST!! He says exactly what the Uke Man has been saying for some time – much of it here and available in the archives!!!
The rabid dogs running this country are worse than "Scrooge,"worse than “zombies” - which Krugman calls them. I don’t believe in Satan, and humanity doesn’t need Satan; but human devils are practicing their craft here on the earth. You can find them in Washington and in the board rooms of pharmaceutical, oil, agricultural, defense, media, and other corporations.
They are insatiable! THEY are the beasts that need to be starved!!
All I want for Christmas is for someone to drag Grover Norquist to his own bathroom and drown the mother-fucker in the tub!
- Uke Man
December 23, 2005
The Tax-Cut Zombies
By PAUL KRUGMAN
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
If you want someone to play Scrooge just before
Christmas, Dick Cheney is your man. On Wednesday Mr.
Cheney, acting as president of the Senate, cast the
tie-breaking vote in favor of legislation that
increases the fees charged to Medicaid recipients,
lets states cut Medicaid benefits, reduces enforcement
funds for child support, and more.
For all its cruelty, however, the legislation will
make only a tiny dent in the budget deficit: the cuts
total about $8 billion a year, or one-third of 1
percent of total federal spending.
So ended 2005, the year that killed any remaining
rationale for continuing tax cuts. But the hunger for
tax cuts refuses to die.
Since the 1970's, conservatives have used two theories
to justify cutting taxes. One theory, supply-side
economics, has always been hokum for the yokels.
Conservative insiders adopted the supply-siders as
mascots because they were useful to the cause, but
never took them seriously.
The insiders' theory - what we might call the true
tax-cut theory - was memorably described by David
Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director, as
"starving the beast." Proponents of this theory argue
that conservatives should seek tax cuts not because
they won't create budget deficits, but because they
will. Starve-the-beasters believe that budget deficits
will lead to spending cuts that will eventually
achieve their true aim: shrinking the government's
role back to what it was under Calvin Coolidge.
True to form, the insiders aren't buying the
supply-siders' claim that a partial recovery in
federal tax receipts from their plunge between 2000
and 2003 shows that all's well on the fiscal front.
(Revenue remains lower, and the federal budget deeper
in deficit, than anyone expected a few years ago.)
Instead, conservative heavyweights are using the
budget deficit to call for cuts in key government
programs.
For example, in 2001 Alan Greenspan urged Congress to
cut taxes to avoid running an excessively large budget
surplus. Now he issues dire warnings about "fiscal
instability." But rather than urging Congress to
reverse the tax cuts he helped sell, he talks of the
need to cut future Social Security and Medicare
benefits.
Yet at this point starve-the-beast theory looks as
silly as supply-side economics. Although a disciplined
conservative movement has controlled Congress and the
White House for five years - and presided over record
deficits - public opposition has prevented any
significant cuts in the big social-insurance programs
that dominate domestic spending.
In fact, two years ago the Bush administration
actually pushed through a major expansion in Medicare.
True, the prescription drug bill clearly wasn't
written by liberals. To a significant extent it's a
giveaway to drug companies rather than a benefit for
retirees. But all that corporate welfare makes the
program more expensive, not less.
Conservative intellectuals had high hopes that this
year President Bush would make up for this betrayal of
their doctrine by dealing a death blow to Social
Security as we know it. Indeed, he tried. His proposed
"reform" would, over time, have essentially phased out
the program. And he seemed to have everything going
for him: momentum from an election victory, control of
Congress and a highly sympathetic punditocracy. Yet
the drive for privatization quickly degenerated from a
juggernaut into a farce.
Medicaid, whose recipients are less likely to vote
than the average person getting Social Security or
Medicare, is the softest target among major federal
social-insurance programs. But even members of
Congress, it seems, have consciences. (Well, some of
them.) It took intense arm-twisting from the
Republican leadership, and that tie-breaking vote by
Mr. Cheney, to ram through even modest cuts in aid to
the neediest.
In other words, the starve-the-beast theory - like
missile defense - has been tested under the most
favorable possible circumstances, and failed. So there
is no longer any coherent justification for further
tax cuts.
Yet the cuts go on. In fact, even as Congressional
leaders struggled to pass a tiny package of
mean-spirited spending cuts, they pushed forward with
a much larger package of tax cuts. The benefits of
those cuts, as always, will go disproportionately to
the wealthy.
Here's how I see it: Republicans have turned into
tax-cut zombies. They can't remember why they
originally wanted to cut taxes, they can't explain how
they plan to make up for the lost revenue, and they
don't care. Instead, they just keep shambling forward,
always hungry for more.
Had too much sugary, maudlin Christmas fun? Try this
Hey Folks,
Here's the antidote.
http://www.illwillpress.com/xmas.html
Have a fun day!
- Uke Man
( a ukethanks to John )
Here's the antidote.
http://www.illwillpress.com/xmas.html
Have a fun day!
- Uke Man
( a ukethanks to John )
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Happy Holidays to One & All !!!
Hey Folks,
The Uke Man is not a big holiday fan, and I haven’t had a drink in almost a month (trying to diet – not dry out); so, I’m NOT feeling particularly festive.
But, I DO care about YOU, and I hope YOU have a very festive Holiday!!!
To help in that regard, let me share the best little net-card/site/thingamajig I’ve ever come across (sorry it’s only Christian - but if it helps, I’m an atheist ukulele player – it’s the arrangement I liked).
Enjoy!! And have a wonderful time in your life whatever you believe or don’t believe.
Just click on this:
http://www.reuters.hu/card_dom/index_content.html
- Uke Man
(a ukethanks to John)
The Uke Man is not a big holiday fan, and I haven’t had a drink in almost a month (trying to diet – not dry out); so, I’m NOT feeling particularly festive.
But, I DO care about YOU, and I hope YOU have a very festive Holiday!!!
To help in that regard, let me share the best little net-card/site/thingamajig I’ve ever come across (sorry it’s only Christian - but if it helps, I’m an atheist ukulele player – it’s the arrangement I liked).
Enjoy!! And have a wonderful time in your life whatever you believe or don’t believe.
Just click on this:
http://www.reuters.hu/card_dom/index_content.html
- Uke Man
(a ukethanks to John)
Scotts Miracle-Gro[an] Revisited
To the Editor (Columbus Dispatch),
Lynn Boydelatour’s letter regarding Scotts Miracle-Gro’s policy of firing workers who refuse to quit smoking off the job * was not unexpected. There are many good-hearted Puritans out there who can’t help themselves. They must be about, “bettering” lesser folks.
Boydelatour applauds Scotts, saying, “These are the kind of self-sacrificing individuals I’d rather cast my lot with.” Well, Scotts’ CEO flatly admitted that the policy was to save the company money. The only ones who would be sacrificing are those who are fired, about whom Boydelatour says “Scotts need not worry.”
Boydelatour is correct that Captain Cook’s sailors might not have gotten their healthful fruit juice without the threat of being flogged, and, for that matter, God’s people might not have avoided trichinosis if Moses had simply told them pork was hazardous to their health.
What Puritans fail to recognize is that this is a FREE country. When businessmen are granted the powers of God or even of the sailing ship captains of yesteryear, we may or may not be healthier, but we most certainly will not be free.
Yours - Tom Harker
* For more information, I have re-posted an earlier posting directly below this one.
Hey Folks,
Above is a letter to the Dispatch in answer to one of today’s letters.
No matter what the issue, there will always be SOMEONE, some half-assed fool, who will pompously address an issue based on his personal feelings or on some narrow factual point that makes no sense in the larger context.
In this instance, the writer clearly expresses concern over workers becoming ill from smoking, but in the end suggests Scotts not worry over families whose breadwinner is suddenly unemployed – not a very healthful situation.
Likewise, his analogy to Captain Cook and other sea captains runs counter to his point. Captains such as Cook had life and death control over their employees, and could control every aspect of their lives. Moreover, they could do so in ways that best served their personal careers and the investments of their backers. In regard to forced ingestion of citrus juice to prevent scurvy, this happened also to serve the sailors’ longevity as well – as those Scotts workers who are able to quit on command would also be served.
But Scotts’ CEO is not endowed by our constitution with life and death control over his workers, regardless of how the corporation-owned government interprets the law.
The analogy breaks down further when the writer relates that many captains refused to follow a maritime law requiring the stowing of citrus on voyages in order to cut costs. So much for the letter-writer’s characterization of the captains – and by analogy, the Scotts CEO – as “self-sacrificing” individuals.
Finally the writer presents the classical, cavalier attitude of the “let them eat cake” crowd of wannabe aristocrats, those that by income-level or attitude find it easy to move lesser souls around the board of life without regard to their welfare. To him, if it helps the company and is no skin off his nose and gets a few people to stop smoking (a legal, if unhealthy, practice), then to hell with the rest and to hell with “A man’s home is his castle.” He apparently believes that, just as the farmer has a vested interest in keeping the animals he owns healthy until they are slaughtered, the entremanure has an interest in keeping up the health of the workers he owns – at least until they no longer work for him.
- Uke Man
Lynn Boydelatour’s letter regarding Scotts Miracle-Gro’s policy of firing workers who refuse to quit smoking off the job * was not unexpected. There are many good-hearted Puritans out there who can’t help themselves. They must be about, “bettering” lesser folks.
Boydelatour applauds Scotts, saying, “These are the kind of self-sacrificing individuals I’d rather cast my lot with.” Well, Scotts’ CEO flatly admitted that the policy was to save the company money. The only ones who would be sacrificing are those who are fired, about whom Boydelatour says “Scotts need not worry.”
Boydelatour is correct that Captain Cook’s sailors might not have gotten their healthful fruit juice without the threat of being flogged, and, for that matter, God’s people might not have avoided trichinosis if Moses had simply told them pork was hazardous to their health.
What Puritans fail to recognize is that this is a FREE country. When businessmen are granted the powers of God or even of the sailing ship captains of yesteryear, we may or may not be healthier, but we most certainly will not be free.
Yours - Tom Harker
* For more information, I have re-posted an earlier posting directly below this one.
Hey Folks,
Above is a letter to the Dispatch in answer to one of today’s letters.
No matter what the issue, there will always be SOMEONE, some half-assed fool, who will pompously address an issue based on his personal feelings or on some narrow factual point that makes no sense in the larger context.
In this instance, the writer clearly expresses concern over workers becoming ill from smoking, but in the end suggests Scotts not worry over families whose breadwinner is suddenly unemployed – not a very healthful situation.
Likewise, his analogy to Captain Cook and other sea captains runs counter to his point. Captains such as Cook had life and death control over their employees, and could control every aspect of their lives. Moreover, they could do so in ways that best served their personal careers and the investments of their backers. In regard to forced ingestion of citrus juice to prevent scurvy, this happened also to serve the sailors’ longevity as well – as those Scotts workers who are able to quit on command would also be served.
But Scotts’ CEO is not endowed by our constitution with life and death control over his workers, regardless of how the corporation-owned government interprets the law.
The analogy breaks down further when the writer relates that many captains refused to follow a maritime law requiring the stowing of citrus on voyages in order to cut costs. So much for the letter-writer’s characterization of the captains – and by analogy, the Scotts CEO – as “self-sacrificing” individuals.
Finally the writer presents the classical, cavalier attitude of the “let them eat cake” crowd of wannabe aristocrats, those that by income-level or attitude find it easy to move lesser souls around the board of life without regard to their welfare. To him, if it helps the company and is no skin off his nose and gets a few people to stop smoking (a legal, if unhealthy, practice), then to hell with the rest and to hell with “A man’s home is his castle.” He apparently believes that, just as the farmer has a vested interest in keeping the animals he owns healthy until they are slaughtered, the entremanure has an interest in keeping up the health of the workers he owns – at least until they no longer work for him.
- Uke Man
Scotts' Miracle-Gro fertilizer is Shit!
The newspaper reported today that a national corporation headquartered in Marysville, Ohio – Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. - is taking an “in your face” approach to “cut costs.” The approach includes firing anyone who smokes – not just on the job, but at home as well – anyone who smokes – period!
In addition it requires employees to complete a “health assessment," have it evaluated by medical professionals and then follow recommendations to improve their health.” Slackers will pay higher health premiums in 2006, and ever higher (each month) in 2007.
The Scotts Fuehrer says, “We’re being as aggressive as the law will allow us, to keep our costs under control.”
Well, fuck them! And fuck the law, too!
Now, Folks, I don’t smoke, and I’m retired (don’t need a job), and I know that smoking “can be hazardous to your health,” but fuck Scotts anyway!! Fuck corporations! Fuck business! And fuck capitalism too! and the invisible hand of the Market it rode in on!
We are living in the United Corporations of America, operating under the constitutionally guaranteed right of one-dollar/one-vote! Money is the measure of all things. The rich fuckers OWN the government, and the masses are little better than slaves to the corporate interests. Government of the Corporation, by the Corporation, and for the Corporation.
Most workers on the USA Plantation can be fired for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason. Often - without warning - they are told to leave, given five minutes to gather any personal belongings, and escorted off the premises. Then, in many cases, the company tries to fuck the worker out of unemployment compensation.
Now they are fucking people out of their pensions – fucking them out of Social Security is temporarily in remission, but is being tended to by Drs. Alan Greedspan, Groovy Norquist, Dubya, et.al.
Talk about treating human labor as a commodity! Well, it’s just business; gotta compete; gotta keep Wall Street happy: headquarter offshore, outsource to China, “subcontract” to a sweatshop, use prison labor, work Granny ‘til she drops, throw the long-term/higher cost employees in the trash, ignore “archaic” labor laws, hire “part time” and “temp,” reduce or eliminate health benefits, work ‘em “off the clock,” hire illegals and lock ‘em in at night, require welfare recipients to work in Tyson’s chicken hell-holes, ignore child labor laws, use sympathetic courts and “bankruptcy to break unions, lay ‘em off from living wage jobs (and if they won’t work for Sam [Walton or Uncle Warmonger], let ‘em starve).
And if treating workers like use-and-discard parts of the Money Machine, suitable for degradation and abuse on the job is not enough, NOW the shining stars of the “American Dream,” the “best and brightest” of this stinking city on the hill (to paraphrase the beloved Gyp-er – may dogs piss on his grave) are sticking their condescending blue noses into the worker’s "free time" and his so-called “castle,” his home.
Well, someone needs to break off their snotty blue noses and feed 'em to the pigs! We are NOT their fucking chattel!!
- Uke Man
In addition it requires employees to complete a “health assessment," have it evaluated by medical professionals and then follow recommendations to improve their health.” Slackers will pay higher health premiums in 2006, and ever higher (each month) in 2007.
The Scotts Fuehrer says, “We’re being as aggressive as the law will allow us, to keep our costs under control.”
Well, fuck them! And fuck the law, too!
Now, Folks, I don’t smoke, and I’m retired (don’t need a job), and I know that smoking “can be hazardous to your health,” but fuck Scotts anyway!! Fuck corporations! Fuck business! And fuck capitalism too! and the invisible hand of the Market it rode in on!
We are living in the United Corporations of America, operating under the constitutionally guaranteed right of one-dollar/one-vote! Money is the measure of all things. The rich fuckers OWN the government, and the masses are little better than slaves to the corporate interests. Government of the Corporation, by the Corporation, and for the Corporation.
Most workers on the USA Plantation can be fired for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason. Often - without warning - they are told to leave, given five minutes to gather any personal belongings, and escorted off the premises. Then, in many cases, the company tries to fuck the worker out of unemployment compensation.
Now they are fucking people out of their pensions – fucking them out of Social Security is temporarily in remission, but is being tended to by Drs. Alan Greedspan, Groovy Norquist, Dubya, et.al.
Talk about treating human labor as a commodity! Well, it’s just business; gotta compete; gotta keep Wall Street happy: headquarter offshore, outsource to China, “subcontract” to a sweatshop, use prison labor, work Granny ‘til she drops, throw the long-term/higher cost employees in the trash, ignore “archaic” labor laws, hire “part time” and “temp,” reduce or eliminate health benefits, work ‘em “off the clock,” hire illegals and lock ‘em in at night, require welfare recipients to work in Tyson’s chicken hell-holes, ignore child labor laws, use sympathetic courts and “bankruptcy to break unions, lay ‘em off from living wage jobs (and if they won’t work for Sam [Walton or Uncle Warmonger], let ‘em starve).
And if treating workers like use-and-discard parts of the Money Machine, suitable for degradation and abuse on the job is not enough, NOW the shining stars of the “American Dream,” the “best and brightest” of this stinking city on the hill (to paraphrase the beloved Gyp-er – may dogs piss on his grave) are sticking their condescending blue noses into the worker’s "free time" and his so-called “castle,” his home.
Well, someone needs to break off their snotty blue noses and feed 'em to the pigs! We are NOT their fucking chattel!!
- Uke Man
Twain - The Nature of Work
Hey Folks,
I’ve been re-reading Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court and sharing pieces of Twain’s political commentary with you here (this is the 13th entry) .
His insights remain pertinent to this day. We haven’t changed much from Twain’s day – or from King Arthur’s, for that matter.
- Uke Man
Chapter 28 – The Yankee discusses the nature of work
There are wise people who talk ever so knowingly and complacently about “the working classes,” and satisfy themselves that a day’s hard intellectual work is very much harder than a day’s manual toil, and is righteously entitled to much bigger pay. Why, they really think that, you know, because they know all about the one, but haven’t tried the other. But I know all about both; and as far as I am concerned, there isn’t money enough in the universe to hire me to swing a pickaxe thirty days, but I will do the hardest kind of intellectual work for just as near nothing as you can cipher it down – and I will be satisfied, too. Intellectual “work” is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward. The poorest paid architect, engineer, general, author, sculptor, painter, lecturer, advocate, legislator, actor, preacher, singer, is constructively in heaven when he is at work; and as for the magician with the fiddle-bow in his hand who sits in the midst of a great orchestra with the ebbing and flowing tides of divine sound washing over him – why certainly, he is at work, if you wish to call it that, but lord, it’s a sarcasm just the same. The law of work does seem utterly unfair – but there it is, and nothing can change it; the higher the pay in enjoyment the worker gets out of it, the higher shall be his pay in cash, also. And it’s also the very law of those transparent swindles, transmissible nobility and kingship [and the aristocracy of inherited wealth – Uke Man].
I’ve been re-reading Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court and sharing pieces of Twain’s political commentary with you here (this is the 13th entry) .
His insights remain pertinent to this day. We haven’t changed much from Twain’s day – or from King Arthur’s, for that matter.
- Uke Man
Chapter 28 – The Yankee discusses the nature of work
There are wise people who talk ever so knowingly and complacently about “the working classes,” and satisfy themselves that a day’s hard intellectual work is very much harder than a day’s manual toil, and is righteously entitled to much bigger pay. Why, they really think that, you know, because they know all about the one, but haven’t tried the other. But I know all about both; and as far as I am concerned, there isn’t money enough in the universe to hire me to swing a pickaxe thirty days, but I will do the hardest kind of intellectual work for just as near nothing as you can cipher it down – and I will be satisfied, too. Intellectual “work” is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward. The poorest paid architect, engineer, general, author, sculptor, painter, lecturer, advocate, legislator, actor, preacher, singer, is constructively in heaven when he is at work; and as for the magician with the fiddle-bow in his hand who sits in the midst of a great orchestra with the ebbing and flowing tides of divine sound washing over him – why certainly, he is at work, if you wish to call it that, but lord, it’s a sarcasm just the same. The law of work does seem utterly unfair – but there it is, and nothing can change it; the higher the pay in enjoyment the worker gets out of it, the higher shall be his pay in cash, also. And it’s also the very law of those transparent swindles, transmissible nobility and kingship [and the aristocracy of inherited wealth – Uke Man].
Friday, December 23, 2005
Leonard Peltier
Hey Folks,
If you haven’t heard of Leonard Peltier before, you should now.
Check out my earlier posting and the sites below for more information:
http://www.freepeltier.org/
http://www.leonardpeltier.org/
Directly below is a statement by Leonard Peltier reporting on his transfer (at last) to a less oppressive prison situation.
- Uke Man
LEONARD HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO USP LEWISBURG
August 15, 2005
Aho My Relations,
On August 15, 2005 I was transferred to USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania. Life has been extra difficult for me since I was transferred from Leavenworth. This system is designed to make one feel very powerless, and what they are doing with me now is definitely aimed to erode my body and spirit even more. My loved ones, and all of you, my friends and allies who continue to support me, keep me sane and hopeful.
They say that it is in times of crisis that one can really see who your real allies are. Those of you who have contacted the Terre Haute Prison and the Bureau of Prisons on my behalf, keep me in your prayers, and are supporting my Defense Committee, have made an enormous difference in my situation. I humbly thank each and every one of you, and firmly believe that your actions most certainly saved my life and prevented me from living in an institution that is well known for its extremely high crime and violence. Also, health problems continue to plague me and the conditions I was subjected to exacerbated them. I know deep within my heart, that if there had not been such an outpouring of support, concern and overall outcry regarding my arbitrary detention, I would have probably stayed in solitary confinement for an indefinite length of time, or worse I would not have survived in the general prisoner population. Although I have been forced to endure many hardships, I will never surrender, even if all that is left of me is my spirit. Your love and support inspire me to overcome everything.
I hope that here at Lewisburg I will be able to resume living in the general population, practicing the traditional ways and continuing with my artwork. My defense team is preparing to go through some major milestones. They need your support more than ever to re-establish our office and prepare for upcoming reviews and legal battles. Since Russ Redner, Paula Ostrovsky, and Toni Zeidan do not want to accept any salaries or remuneration of any kind, all of your donations will go directly to the office transfer and upcoming campaign.
I again want to express my sincere appreciation and tell you once more that without you I am not sure I could have survived this last month. Every day I think about and pray for a time when I will be among you, shoulder to shoulder, fighting for justice for my people and our Mother Earth.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Leonard Peltier
NOTE FROM THE LPDC:
Please contact USP Lewisburg to make sure Leonard regains all his hard earned prisoner rights, especially his religious rights, visitations, regular phone calls and ability to paint. Be polite and courteous, but let them know that a lot of us all over the world are concerned about Leonard’s well-being.
Warden
USP LEWISBURGU.S. PENITENTIARY2400 ROBERT F. MILLER DRIVELEWISBURG, PA 17837
Phone: 570- 523-1251Fax: 570- 522-7745E-mail address: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
Also please continue writing to Leonard but be mindful of his situation and respectful of his personal affairs.
Leonard Peltier # 89637-132USP LEWISBURGU.S. PENITENTIARYP.O. BOX 1000 LEWISBURG, PA 17837
If you haven’t heard of Leonard Peltier before, you should now.
Check out my earlier posting and the sites below for more information:
http://www.freepeltier.org/
http://www.leonardpeltier.org/
Directly below is a statement by Leonard Peltier reporting on his transfer (at last) to a less oppressive prison situation.
- Uke Man
LEONARD HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO USP LEWISBURG
August 15, 2005
Aho My Relations,
On August 15, 2005 I was transferred to USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania. Life has been extra difficult for me since I was transferred from Leavenworth. This system is designed to make one feel very powerless, and what they are doing with me now is definitely aimed to erode my body and spirit even more. My loved ones, and all of you, my friends and allies who continue to support me, keep me sane and hopeful.
They say that it is in times of crisis that one can really see who your real allies are. Those of you who have contacted the Terre Haute Prison and the Bureau of Prisons on my behalf, keep me in your prayers, and are supporting my Defense Committee, have made an enormous difference in my situation. I humbly thank each and every one of you, and firmly believe that your actions most certainly saved my life and prevented me from living in an institution that is well known for its extremely high crime and violence. Also, health problems continue to plague me and the conditions I was subjected to exacerbated them. I know deep within my heart, that if there had not been such an outpouring of support, concern and overall outcry regarding my arbitrary detention, I would have probably stayed in solitary confinement for an indefinite length of time, or worse I would not have survived in the general prisoner population. Although I have been forced to endure many hardships, I will never surrender, even if all that is left of me is my spirit. Your love and support inspire me to overcome everything.
I hope that here at Lewisburg I will be able to resume living in the general population, practicing the traditional ways and continuing with my artwork. My defense team is preparing to go through some major milestones. They need your support more than ever to re-establish our office and prepare for upcoming reviews and legal battles. Since Russ Redner, Paula Ostrovsky, and Toni Zeidan do not want to accept any salaries or remuneration of any kind, all of your donations will go directly to the office transfer and upcoming campaign.
I again want to express my sincere appreciation and tell you once more that without you I am not sure I could have survived this last month. Every day I think about and pray for a time when I will be among you, shoulder to shoulder, fighting for justice for my people and our Mother Earth.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Leonard Peltier
NOTE FROM THE LPDC:
Please contact USP Lewisburg to make sure Leonard regains all his hard earned prisoner rights, especially his religious rights, visitations, regular phone calls and ability to paint. Be polite and courteous, but let them know that a lot of us all over the world are concerned about Leonard’s well-being.
Warden
USP LEWISBURGU.S. PENITENTIARY2400 ROBERT F. MILLER DRIVELEWISBURG, PA 17837
Phone: 570- 523-1251Fax: 570- 522-7745E-mail address: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
Also please continue writing to Leonard but be mindful of his situation and respectful of his personal affairs.
Leonard Peltier # 89637-132USP LEWISBURGU.S. PENITENTIARYP.O. BOX 1000 LEWISBURG, PA 17837
A Chilling Consideration
Hey Folks,
I heard an Air America host say something like, “Either he’s [Bush] an idiot or the Neo Con agenda is to create a new Evil Empire – the Muslim world. It’s good for business.”
I don’t know whether you noticed, but when the Soviet Union collapsed, the right wing psychos – while celebrating wildly and demanding that “the Gypper” be carved on Rushmore – seemed to lose some of their focus.
All my life we had been kept in line by the boogey man, godless communism. Suddenly the threat was gone. What WOULD the reactionaries do? How WOULD they keep the great unwashed masses in line slaving away to make money for their betters?
I noticed right away, perhaps because I was teaching. Not long after the fall, the vampires started in on public schools. There wasn’t a day that some attack didn't fall upon the public school system.
It was a pain in the ass to anybody teaching school, but we were a pale imitation of the communist boogey man. After all, a first grader can hide under his desk to escape a nuclear attack, but hiding under the desk won’t fool the teacher.
It struck me that the fuckers who run this country were desperate to recreate the “foreign threat”; it works; they’re comfortable with it; and it’s good for business. Bush got elected/selected, in part, because of the Arabic boogey man.
It isn’t too far out to wonder if this whole fiasco is designed not to create client states in the Middle East – states that will lick our boots – so that we can control the flow of oil to our benefit rather than to the benefit of our competitors; but, rather, to create a new boogey man.
Personally, I believe it started out as the former. The chilling part is that now, with the original plan falling apart like cheap asphalt in a spring thaw, the “boogey” plan offers the Neo Coneheads an equally appealing alternative to “(subservient) nation building.”
A “Win-Win” situation for the crud that is Bush & Co. will NOT make for a Happy New Year.
- Uke Man
I heard an Air America host say something like, “Either he’s [Bush] an idiot or the Neo Con agenda is to create a new Evil Empire – the Muslim world. It’s good for business.”
I don’t know whether you noticed, but when the Soviet Union collapsed, the right wing psychos – while celebrating wildly and demanding that “the Gypper” be carved on Rushmore – seemed to lose some of their focus.
All my life we had been kept in line by the boogey man, godless communism. Suddenly the threat was gone. What WOULD the reactionaries do? How WOULD they keep the great unwashed masses in line slaving away to make money for their betters?
I noticed right away, perhaps because I was teaching. Not long after the fall, the vampires started in on public schools. There wasn’t a day that some attack didn't fall upon the public school system.
It was a pain in the ass to anybody teaching school, but we were a pale imitation of the communist boogey man. After all, a first grader can hide under his desk to escape a nuclear attack, but hiding under the desk won’t fool the teacher.
It struck me that the fuckers who run this country were desperate to recreate the “foreign threat”; it works; they’re comfortable with it; and it’s good for business. Bush got elected/selected, in part, because of the Arabic boogey man.
It isn’t too far out to wonder if this whole fiasco is designed not to create client states in the Middle East – states that will lick our boots – so that we can control the flow of oil to our benefit rather than to the benefit of our competitors; but, rather, to create a new boogey man.
Personally, I believe it started out as the former. The chilling part is that now, with the original plan falling apart like cheap asphalt in a spring thaw, the “boogey” plan offers the Neo Coneheads an equally appealing alternative to “(subservient) nation building.”
A “Win-Win” situation for the crud that is Bush & Co. will NOT make for a Happy New Year.
- Uke Man