Burb Rocking
Friday, September 30, 2005
Presidential Briefing
Donald Rumsfeld was giving the president his daily
briefing. He concluded by saying: "Yesterday, 3
Brazilian soldiers were killed."
"OH NO!" the President exclaimed. "That's terrible!"
His staff sat stunned at this display of emotion,
nervously watching as the President sat, head in
hands.
Finally, the President looked up and asked,
"How many is a brazillion?"
(Kudos to my friend Judy for the joke) ¶ 9:13 PM 0 comments
briefing. He concluded by saying: "Yesterday, 3
Brazilian soldiers were killed."
"OH NO!" the President exclaimed. "That's terrible!"
His staff sat stunned at this display of emotion,
nervously watching as the President sat, head in
hands.
Finally, the President looked up and asked,
"How many is a brazillion?"
(Kudos to my friend Judy for the joke) ¶ 9:13 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Outrage Fatigue (& Posse Comitatus)
Seen this?
Nation's Liberals Suffering From Outrage Fatigue (The Onion)
Portland, OR, resident Suzanne Marshal compared herself to an addict, needing increasingly large doses of perceived injustices to achieve a state of anger.
"Even though I know how seriously messed-up the situation is in Iraq, I've became inured to all but the most extreme levels of wrongdoing," Marshal said. "For months, no amount of civilian bombing could get me mad. Then those amazing photos of the tortured Iraqi prisoners hit the streets, and I got that old rush of overwhelming disgust with my government. Then more photos came out, and more officials were implicated, and now—I don't know. It's like a switch in my head turned off again...."
Well, if you check my profile you will see I'm no longer what you'd call young, and, yeah, I'm now what you'd call jaded by politics. But it took the last five years, two very questionable presidential election outcomes, the still-unexplained military and intelligence stand-downs where the current regime did everything it could to permit the attacks of September 11th, huge tax-breaks for the rich combined with huge deficits and cuts in basic services, the National Guard sent abroad (they're national, remember, for defending the nation - isn't it actually illegal to send them off to foreign lands to fight wars, whether such wars are misguided or not?), and the Patriot Act to get me there.
I was a perfect example of outrage fatigue.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday morning, as I tuned in to NPR, I heard someone reporting on the following story:
Bush looks to Pentagon to take lead in disasters by Julie Mason (The Houston Chronicle)
Sept. 25, 2005, 11:33 PM
"Part of the reason I've come down here [to Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio], and part of the reason I went to Northcom [U.S. Northern Command in Colorado], was to better understand how the federal government can plan and surge equipment to mitigate natural disasters," Bush said.
In the case of a terrorist attack, the Defense Department would automatically serve as the lead authority in overseeing a response, Bush said. But he added that the Pentagon also could take a top role in a large-scale natural disaster....
Currently, state governors are responsible for disaster preparedness and response, including calling in their National Guard units.
Governors can request assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If federal armed forces are brought in to help, they do so in support of FEMA and their activities are restricted by law.
Putting the planning and oversight in the Pentagon's hands would effectively federalize disaster response, possibly eroding states' legal rights....
What's being floated here is a trial balloon calling for the dismantling of the Posse Comitatus Act. The what? See below:
Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
10 U.S.C. (United States Code) 375
Sec. 375. Restriction on direct participation by military personnel: The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to ensure that any activity (including the provision of any equipment or facility or the assignment or detail of any personnel) under this chapter does not include or permit direct participation by a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps in a search, seizure, arrest, or other similar activity unless participation in such activity by such member is otherwise authorized by law.
18 U.S.C. 1385
Sec. 1385. Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act ofCongress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise toexecute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
This act was passed by southern lawmakers emerging from 15 years of military occupation in the defeated South after the Civil War (see the rest of the material to be found at the page linked to above). Its purpose was to safeguard the freedom of America's citizens by making military rule illegal in the United States. Freedom-loving citizens on both the right and the left have long understood the importance of preventing America's military from being used as a posse comitatus against her own people. Should this ever be allowed to happen, it would be tantamount to the institution of direct military rule in America and the total subversion of America's democracy.
Where have exemptions to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 been championed? Try not to be too surprised:
U.S. Northcom Fact Sheets Posse Comitatus Act (PCA)
Remember Northcom? Bush had just come from there prior to giving his speech on dispensing with the restrictions imposed by the Posse Comitatus Act (though he never actually mentioned the act by name).
The Bush-Cheney administration ignored the imminent disaster threatening New Orleans and the Gulf Coast until well after it was too late. It requires no stretching of the imagination to understand this may well have been done deliberately. In fact, it's almost the only way the administration's complete lack of response to the enormous crisis - for days - can make any sense. By doing nothing, the administration fostered an even bigger crisis, one in which it could be claimed the usual measures had proved insufficient. The historical severity of the disaster, and the government's failure to deal with it, then becomes the justification for ceding even more power to the federal government - once again at the expense of the freedoms of Americans. Sort of like Andrews Air Force Base, charged with the air defense of our nation's capital, standing down as a plane flew toward the District of Columbia for an hour and then slammed itself into the Pentagon - AFTER two planes had deliberately been crashed into the World Trade Center. And then using the government's failure to defend its people as an excuse for the government to weaken civil liberties while at the same time claiming new and greater powers for itself.
Déjà vu all over again? Yes, and again, and yet again.
If Congress fails to grow a pair and stand up to the neoconservatives, and thereby allows more steps toward military rule to be taken - such as, in this case, the abrogation of the prohibition on posse comitatus - I will take steps of my own. To leave this country. If America goes away from me, I will have no choice but to go away from America. If freedom can no longer be found here, then we must look for it elsewhere.
Hey, Junior, thanks for curing me of a very serious case of outrage fatigue. And you thought the Onion was only joking.
Why the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 is so vital to a functional American democracy:
From the right:
Posse Comitatus - Do You Think You're Safe? by Ed Henry (Western Missouri Shooters Alliance)
From the left:
Predators, Snipers and the Posse Comitatus Act by Kurt Nimmo (CounterPunch) ¶ 5:36 AM 0 comments
Seen this?
Nation's Liberals Suffering From Outrage Fatigue (The Onion)
Portland, OR, resident Suzanne Marshal compared herself to an addict, needing increasingly large doses of perceived injustices to achieve a state of anger.
"Even though I know how seriously messed-up the situation is in Iraq, I've became inured to all but the most extreme levels of wrongdoing," Marshal said. "For months, no amount of civilian bombing could get me mad. Then those amazing photos of the tortured Iraqi prisoners hit the streets, and I got that old rush of overwhelming disgust with my government. Then more photos came out, and more officials were implicated, and now—I don't know. It's like a switch in my head turned off again...."
Well, if you check my profile you will see I'm no longer what you'd call young, and, yeah, I'm now what you'd call jaded by politics. But it took the last five years, two very questionable presidential election outcomes, the still-unexplained military and intelligence stand-downs where the current regime did everything it could to permit the attacks of September 11th, huge tax-breaks for the rich combined with huge deficits and cuts in basic services, the National Guard sent abroad (they're national, remember, for defending the nation - isn't it actually illegal to send them off to foreign lands to fight wars, whether such wars are misguided or not?), and the Patriot Act to get me there.
I was a perfect example of outrage fatigue.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday morning, as I tuned in to NPR, I heard someone reporting on the following story:
Bush looks to Pentagon to take lead in disasters by Julie Mason (The Houston Chronicle)
Sept. 25, 2005, 11:33 PM
"Part of the reason I've come down here [to Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio], and part of the reason I went to Northcom [U.S. Northern Command in Colorado], was to better understand how the federal government can plan and surge equipment to mitigate natural disasters," Bush said.
In the case of a terrorist attack, the Defense Department would automatically serve as the lead authority in overseeing a response, Bush said. But he added that the Pentagon also could take a top role in a large-scale natural disaster....
Currently, state governors are responsible for disaster preparedness and response, including calling in their National Guard units.
Governors can request assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If federal armed forces are brought in to help, they do so in support of FEMA and their activities are restricted by law.
Putting the planning and oversight in the Pentagon's hands would effectively federalize disaster response, possibly eroding states' legal rights....
What's being floated here is a trial balloon calling for the dismantling of the Posse Comitatus Act. The what? See below:
Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
10 U.S.C. (United States Code) 375
Sec. 375. Restriction on direct participation by military personnel: The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to ensure that any activity (including the provision of any equipment or facility or the assignment or detail of any personnel) under this chapter does not include or permit direct participation by a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps in a search, seizure, arrest, or other similar activity unless participation in such activity by such member is otherwise authorized by law.
18 U.S.C. 1385
Sec. 1385. Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act ofCongress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise toexecute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
This act was passed by southern lawmakers emerging from 15 years of military occupation in the defeated South after the Civil War (see the rest of the material to be found at the page linked to above). Its purpose was to safeguard the freedom of America's citizens by making military rule illegal in the United States. Freedom-loving citizens on both the right and the left have long understood the importance of preventing America's military from being used as a posse comitatus against her own people. Should this ever be allowed to happen, it would be tantamount to the institution of direct military rule in America and the total subversion of America's democracy.
Where have exemptions to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 been championed? Try not to be too surprised:
U.S. Northcom Fact Sheets Posse Comitatus Act (PCA)
Remember Northcom? Bush had just come from there prior to giving his speech on dispensing with the restrictions imposed by the Posse Comitatus Act (though he never actually mentioned the act by name).
The Bush-Cheney administration ignored the imminent disaster threatening New Orleans and the Gulf Coast until well after it was too late. It requires no stretching of the imagination to understand this may well have been done deliberately. In fact, it's almost the only way the administration's complete lack of response to the enormous crisis - for days - can make any sense. By doing nothing, the administration fostered an even bigger crisis, one in which it could be claimed the usual measures had proved insufficient. The historical severity of the disaster, and the government's failure to deal with it, then becomes the justification for ceding even more power to the federal government - once again at the expense of the freedoms of Americans. Sort of like Andrews Air Force Base, charged with the air defense of our nation's capital, standing down as a plane flew toward the District of Columbia for an hour and then slammed itself into the Pentagon - AFTER two planes had deliberately been crashed into the World Trade Center. And then using the government's failure to defend its people as an excuse for the government to weaken civil liberties while at the same time claiming new and greater powers for itself.
Déjà vu all over again? Yes, and again, and yet again.
If Congress fails to grow a pair and stand up to the neoconservatives, and thereby allows more steps toward military rule to be taken - such as, in this case, the abrogation of the prohibition on posse comitatus - I will take steps of my own. To leave this country. If America goes away from me, I will have no choice but to go away from America. If freedom can no longer be found here, then we must look for it elsewhere.
Hey, Junior, thanks for curing me of a very serious case of outrage fatigue. And you thought the Onion was only joking.
Why the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 is so vital to a functional American democracy:
From the right:
Posse Comitatus - Do You Think You're Safe? by Ed Henry (Western Missouri Shooters Alliance)
From the left:
Predators, Snipers and the Posse Comitatus Act by Kurt Nimmo (CounterPunch) ¶ 5:36 AM 0 comments
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Bush-times = End-times?
Returning to the idea of my original post:
Hey, are we in the End-Times?
Though I was raised a Christian, and still have my Christian values (remember those - help and protect the poor and the weak, love thy neighbor, blessed are the peacemakers?), the Christian mythology is just too full of holes. The Ragnarok end-of-the-world script is much more honest and makes a lot more sense. Loki (science/technology) is set loose and willingly serves all sides - those working toward evil ends, those working for good. In the West, Odin's elite spears, Thor's armies, Njord's navies, and Vali's covert operatives relentlessly battle for one order, one law, one rule - theirs. To the East, the forces of chaos cannot prevail in a conventional conflict, but chaos itself is their greatest asset. There is no central command. The responses to the West's military operations are random, often suicidal, annexing no new territory, making no strategic gains - yet persistently gnawing at the enemy's flank. Victory for either side is a defeat for all and could well mean the end of the world. A far better model for what we see today than the phantasmagoric mess in Revelations. Making me wonder: How far ahead were the ancient skalds able to see?
But if we go by Revelations, does anybody recall this?
Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult by Wayne Madsen (CounterPunch)
April 22, 2003
Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs, and his constant references to "evil doers," in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations - the anti-Christ. People close to the Pope claim that amid these concerns, the Pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations.... "We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel." The Pope, who grew up facing the evils of Hitler and Stalin, knows evil when he sees it. Although we can all endlessly argue over the Pope's effectiveness in curtailing abuses within his Church, his accomplishments external to Catholicism are impressive.
According to journalists close to the Vatican, the Pope and his closest advisers are also concerned that the ultimate acts of evil - the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon - were known in advance by senior Bush administration officials. By permitting the attacks to take their course, there is a perception within the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy that a coup d'etat was implemented, one that gave Bush and his leadership near-dictatorial powers to carry out their agenda.
The Pope worked tirelessly to convince leaders of nations on the UN Security Council to oppose Bush's war resolution on Iraq. Vatican sources claim they had not seen the Pope more animated and determined since he fell ill to Parkinson's Disease.... Whether Bush represents a dangerous right-wing ideologue who couples his political fanaticism with a neo-Christian blood cult (as I believe) or he is either the anti-Christ or heralds one, the Pope should know he has fought the good battle...
To carry this analogy just a step or two further, the year 2004 was a record year for natural disasters. Check out Discover magazine's "2004: Year of Calamity" by John Grimwade (vol. 26, no. 1, Jan 2005). Some of the highlights: In January of last year, Antarctica unleashed formerly landlocked glaciers upon the world's oceans and sea-levels rose, while South Africa and Eritrea wasted away in droughts threatening a collective population of 5.9 million; in August and September, Florida and the Caribbean felt the wrath of 4 major hurricanes in just 6 weeks, leaving at least 2,000 dead; flash-floods and landslides in China on September 10th wrecked 300,000 homes; Mount St. Helens shook itself awake with a 10,000-foot column of steam and ash, the eruption of Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano required a rerouting of air-traffic, Mount Egon's four eruptions forced the evacuation of 2,000 Indonesians, and Mount Aetna erupted for the first time in 7 years; and then there were the locusts - plagues of them in Africa and Australia, destroying millions of acres of cropland. Honestly, that's the short version. Droughts, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes and did I forget to mention the plagues of locusts? Maybe you were watching The Daily Show last year during the hurricanes, which presaged the other disaster known as the 2004 election? John Stewart took a look at the hurricane barrage hitting Florida, took note of the vote-counting fiasco in Florida four years earlier, and then noticed that another election was fast approaching on the calendar. He asked in a small scared voice, "Maybe God is angry with us?"
(See Bob Morris' Any Questions? for further details.)
And now the Katrina-Rita one-two punch delivered to the Gulf and especially to New Orleans.
Now guess what was going on while Rita claimed the media's attention?
Anti-war rally held in Washington (BBC) 24 September 2005
The world is not a happy place these days. The people are trying to tell their leaders something. Maybe the gods are, too?
New Orleans/2005 Hurricane Katrina (GlobalSecurity.org) ¶ 1:34 PM 1 comments
Returning to the idea of my original post:
Hey, are we in the End-Times?
Though I was raised a Christian, and still have my Christian values (remember those - help and protect the poor and the weak, love thy neighbor, blessed are the peacemakers?), the Christian mythology is just too full of holes. The Ragnarok end-of-the-world script is much more honest and makes a lot more sense. Loki (science/technology) is set loose and willingly serves all sides - those working toward evil ends, those working for good. In the West, Odin's elite spears, Thor's armies, Njord's navies, and Vali's covert operatives relentlessly battle for one order, one law, one rule - theirs. To the East, the forces of chaos cannot prevail in a conventional conflict, but chaos itself is their greatest asset. There is no central command. The responses to the West's military operations are random, often suicidal, annexing no new territory, making no strategic gains - yet persistently gnawing at the enemy's flank. Victory for either side is a defeat for all and could well mean the end of the world. A far better model for what we see today than the phantasmagoric mess in Revelations. Making me wonder: How far ahead were the ancient skalds able to see?
But if we go by Revelations, does anybody recall this?
Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult by Wayne Madsen (CounterPunch)
April 22, 2003
Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs, and his constant references to "evil doers," in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations - the anti-Christ. People close to the Pope claim that amid these concerns, the Pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations.... "We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel." The Pope, who grew up facing the evils of Hitler and Stalin, knows evil when he sees it. Although we can all endlessly argue over the Pope's effectiveness in curtailing abuses within his Church, his accomplishments external to Catholicism are impressive.
According to journalists close to the Vatican, the Pope and his closest advisers are also concerned that the ultimate acts of evil - the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon - were known in advance by senior Bush administration officials. By permitting the attacks to take their course, there is a perception within the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy that a coup d'etat was implemented, one that gave Bush and his leadership near-dictatorial powers to carry out their agenda.
The Pope worked tirelessly to convince leaders of nations on the UN Security Council to oppose Bush's war resolution on Iraq. Vatican sources claim they had not seen the Pope more animated and determined since he fell ill to Parkinson's Disease.... Whether Bush represents a dangerous right-wing ideologue who couples his political fanaticism with a neo-Christian blood cult (as I believe) or he is either the anti-Christ or heralds one, the Pope should know he has fought the good battle...
To carry this analogy just a step or two further, the year 2004 was a record year for natural disasters. Check out Discover magazine's "2004: Year of Calamity" by John Grimwade (vol. 26, no. 1, Jan 2005). Some of the highlights: In January of last year, Antarctica unleashed formerly landlocked glaciers upon the world's oceans and sea-levels rose, while South Africa and Eritrea wasted away in droughts threatening a collective population of 5.9 million; in August and September, Florida and the Caribbean felt the wrath of 4 major hurricanes in just 6 weeks, leaving at least 2,000 dead; flash-floods and landslides in China on September 10th wrecked 300,000 homes; Mount St. Helens shook itself awake with a 10,000-foot column of steam and ash, the eruption of Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano required a rerouting of air-traffic, Mount Egon's four eruptions forced the evacuation of 2,000 Indonesians, and Mount Aetna erupted for the first time in 7 years; and then there were the locusts - plagues of them in Africa and Australia, destroying millions of acres of cropland. Honestly, that's the short version. Droughts, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes and did I forget to mention the plagues of locusts? Maybe you were watching The Daily Show last year during the hurricanes, which presaged the other disaster known as the 2004 election? John Stewart took a look at the hurricane barrage hitting Florida, took note of the vote-counting fiasco in Florida four years earlier, and then noticed that another election was fast approaching on the calendar. He asked in a small scared voice, "Maybe God is angry with us?"
(See Bob Morris' Any Questions? for further details.)
And now the Katrina-Rita one-two punch delivered to the Gulf and especially to New Orleans.
Now guess what was going on while Rita claimed the media's attention?
Anti-war rally held in Washington (BBC) 24 September 2005
The world is not a happy place these days. The people are trying to tell their leaders something. Maybe the gods are, too?
New Orleans/2005 Hurricane Katrina (GlobalSecurity.org) ¶ 1:34 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Taking Responsibility
The story is faux serious (IOW, it would be serious if it wasn't an act), but the URL is pure hilarity.
¶ 12:53 PM 0 comments
Monday, September 12, 2005
My commercial pet peeve of the day
Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper
It's not just Dr. Pepper, it's not just Vanilla Dr. Pepper, it's not even merely Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. No, it's DIET Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. I think that is too many things for one soda to be. ¶ 9:10 PM 0 comments
Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. PepperIt's not just Dr. Pepper, it's not just Vanilla Dr. Pepper, it's not even merely Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. No, it's DIET Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. I think that is too many things for one soda to be. ¶ 9:10 PM 0 comments
