Personally, I believed they should have been impeached after the whole secret torture prisons episode. Not only was it itself a travesty, but its execution further illustrated tis administration’s incompetence.

The first real “enough is enough” moment for me, though, has been the whole executive-branch/legislative-branch/just-go-fuck-yourself 3-card monty game being played by the white house, followed by the back-door pardon of Scooter Libby.

The last one was Cheney’s office explaining away his 1994 arguments for not invading Iraq: “He wasn’t the vice-president then.”

3,706 dead Americans.

On a more emotional level, I’m upset because I have always referred to them as President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, capitalized words like White House, Congress and Capitol; always believing that the office is above the man.

But this administration has done what Nixon and Clinton never did – brought the office low. They decimated the Justice Dept., FEMA, the FBI and other federal agencies in ways that reach down into our day-to-day lives. They go to extraordinary lengths to vigorously promote, defend and cover up torture. They have abandoned the rule of law. They consider me to be a traitor.

It’s time.

What we really need is a leader with a mandate – a landslide election. Currently, the only person that has a chance to give us that is Al Gore, and he won’t throw his hat in (yet). I thought we could wait for that, but these guys see the Visigoths coming over the seventh hill and have already started scorching the earth.

Congress wants to get rid of them, even the GOP members; but they are scared that they’ll pay for it next November. If enough people back them, they’ll do the electoral math and either do the right thing, or at least know the consequences of maintaining the status quo.
We can hope, anyway.

Either way, call your congressmen and tell them: It’s time.

If there’s not one, there should be.

We are fulfilling the dreams of Irishmen everywhere — native and adopted, alike — and are opening a pub.

We’ve kicked the idea around for a decade or so, but Orlando just wasn’t the place to do it. We were waiting for the right place to present itself to us, and that’s exactly what happened.

Morton’s Pub & Grub will open October 1st, 2007. We’ll have a blog on the development of the pub, with lots of photos, on the website. So give it a look.

And stop in for a pint.

Having just moved back to Muncie from Florida after 10 years in a community where the property taxes on my 1,500 square foot home were $3,000 a year, I was surprised to read that people were complaining that their tax bills went up to $1,000 when their home was reassessed. But outrage is relative, as is perception of value; so while my personal feeling is one of “get over it,” I understand how a dramatic change in monthly expenses could make folks upset.

What disturbs me is who they are upset at.

I read comments like “the schools are killing us” or “downsize MITS” and just grimace. There’s nothing like a tax controversy to bring the me-monkeys out of the woodwork. After all, my house has never caught on fire, so why should I pay for emergency services, right?

The sad fact is that the blame usually rests squarely with the very people making all of that noise.

People who decry taxes will vote for anyone who promises them relief from “the tax man,” regardless of whether that person is qualified, intelligent or competent enough to hold the office for which they run. Case in point: In 2004, Hoosiers voted to re-elect President Bush (after having elected him in 2000); and in Delaware county he won by a full 14 points.

So what, you ask? Well, who do you suppose is paying for all of those Bush tax cuts?

Maybe a lot has changed in 10 years, but I always believed Hoosiers to be a fiscally careful lot. And, if I asked one what would have to happen if I suddenly cut his income by a third but none of his expenses, he’d probably tell me that he’d have to find the difference somewhere else. But change “income” to “taxes” and such common sense flies right out the window. City services still cost money. With the federal government paying less to the state, and the state paying less to the county who did you think was going to pay the difference?

Six years ago, economists warned that the President’s tax proposals were reckless and short-sighted, that they only really benefited the top 1 percent of Americans, and that the state and local governments were going to have to raise taxes to take up the slack. But the GOP media machine dismissed them all as out-of-touch “Harvard elite” party-poopers. The president talked bonnily about reinvestment and job creation, hoping that no one would recognize his plan as a re-hash of the old “trickle down” Reaganomics of the 80’s.

Apparently, enough people didn’t; but I bet they can feel it trickling down on them now.

The good news is that, compared to the national average, taxes in Indiana are still pretty reasonable. That will come as cold comfort to someone already struggling to make ends meet; but change is the way of life, and Hoosiers are up to the challenge. What needs to happen, though, is for concerned citizens to look not for ways to blame local politicians; but for ways to revitalize local economies with local business and true community reinvestment.

As always, the answer is to lead the way forward, not to look back.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Listen to Thomas Jefferson discuss the Declaration of Indpendence. It will open your eyes.

In fact, as the day went on, the President went from ‘courting,’ to ‘imploring,’ and finally to ‘pleading‘ with the GOP for their support on the bi-partisan compromise.

As delicious as it is to watch Bush grovel to his own party – and ironically frustrating that the GOP manages to be better at cowing him than the Democartic majority is – I actually find myself behind him on this issue.

The immigration compromise isn’t perfect, but it also isn’t terrible; and it’s far better than doing nothing.

The touchbacks and penalty fines are harsh, although Senator Kennedy’s provision to add back taxes to the tab would have been even more financially regressive, yet was striken from the bill.

But what the Congressional Republicans really oppose is the “amnesty” aspect, and want more focus put on “border security.” But the amnesty isn’t really amnesty, is it? And when they talk about border security, they’re only talking about the Mexican border.

This morning, on MSNBC, Pat Buchanan said “Support for this in Congress is collapsing. If this is such a popular bill, why is that?”

It’s about racism, that’s why – and any other explanation offered is simply bullshit. To say that it has nothing to do with race is like saying the Iraq war has nothing to do with oil.

Like the Chinese Exclusion Act and the NINA movement before it, this is not about immigrants, it’s about a specific group of immigrants – Mexicans.

It’s really about Latinos in general (and many opponents in Florida will be disappointed to learn that immigration laws don’t apply to Puerto Ricans, since they are actually American citizens), but otherwise intelligent folks like Buchanan don’t seem to make such distinctions when they talk about the “third world invasion.” Besides, Mexico is where they cross the border, so they’re all Mexicans, right?

Interestingly, the compromise has been derided as being racist, and in some ways, it is; but apparently not it’s not racist enough for some members of the GOP.

Furthermore, once we set aside the racial aspects, the problem seems to go away with it. If you take away the discriminatory aspects, what are we left with? Security issues? So far, every terrorist we have ever captured or learned of has eithered entered the country through proper legal channels, or via Canada, despite being “more conspicuous.” Capacity issues? From the pro-family, pro-life, anti-birth-control set? You’re kidding, right?

If those are really problems, then the answer is to make it easier to get into the country, not harder. Making it easy means knowing who’s coming in, and how many are coming through. Making it easy also means more people paying their taxes, fewer people dying to get in and making the illegal flow easier to manage.

Of course, making it easy ends the 50¢/hour buffet of cheap labor, which means higher prices for produce and fewer manicured lawns; but we are supposed to be looking at the big picture here, right? So what’s the problem?

Oh yeah, I forgot, they’re still Latinos.

Let’s cut the crap and talk about what we’re really afraid of, here. As ugly as it is, at least it’s honest.

You would think that with a represenative democracy, it would happen more often than it does. Yet, our day-to-day sensibilities seem to become less relevant, the closer you get to the White House.

Still, it happens. Employers hire otherwise incompetent people, out of cronyism or because of whom they are related to, or to gain favor with some group of customers. People who should lose their jobs get to keep their jobs because of who or what they know, or because of some favor they’ve done in the past.

It never really turns out well, does it?

Much like politics, the solution is deceptively simple: Hire the best person for the job. Period.

Sure, you may alienate some interested group; but did you really want to do business with such small-minded folk anyway, let alone allow them to tell you how to run your business?

So why on earth would you let them decide who gets to run the country and how?

In a recent LA Times/Bloomberg poll, Al Gore – who isn’t even running – comes in third at 15%. That’s great news, since he’s also the best person for the job.

Isn’t it time for a woman president, or a black president? Sure it is, but only if they’ll be the best president we can elect. Otherwise, we wind up doing exactly what the neocons did with George W. Bush: Looking at a candidate as someone we can get elected, as opposed to some we should get elected.

Ten years ago, Apple Computer was on the skids. They were bleeding money, the stock was at a 12-year low and the famous Apple ingenuity seemed to have fizzled. CEO Gil Amelio had a reputation for getting companies out of trouble, and he worked hard struggling to turn the company around, but he just didn’t have the chops for it.

The company turned to the one man that could bring them back from the brink – Steve Jobs.

The problem was that Jobs wasn’t on the market. He was enjoying tremendous success with Pixar, and saw no reason to return to the company that had so unceremoniously dumped him, despite being its founder. In fact, Jobs had long before sold all but one share of his Apple stock. He wasn’t coming back – that is, until he came back.

Apple did the smartest thing it has ever done: It recognized the right guy for the job and refused to take no for an answer. Sure, they could have brought in some Steve Ballmer-wannabe, a sales-oriented business manager type, and the temptation was probably there to do so. But Apple realized that its very existence was at stake, and the time to do the right thing, to hire the right person, was upon them.

So after a bit of coy “I have no plans to return…” statements, Jobs mounted the stage at the 1997 Macworld Expo and took the wheel.

Today, Apple is one of the world’s leading technological innovators. The iMac, iPod and other hardware offerings are the most popular and powerful products of their kind in the world; Mac OS X is the most sophisticated and reliable operating system available; the iTunes music store has revolutionized music sales worldwide; and the company is on the brink of the largest electronics launch in history.

Apple has always been about “the computer for the rest of us.” Now it’s time for the rest of us to follow their lead and pick the right man for the right job. Who is that, exactly? Well, if you ask Steve Jobs, he’ll say “We have dug ourselves into a 20-ft. hole, and we need somebody who knows how to build a ladder. Al’s the guy…If he ran, there’s no question in my mind that he would be elected.”

The best person is out there. Let’s hire him already.

During a recent visit to Sofia by President Bush, the streets were lined with American flags, several of which were flown upside-down.

Certainly, there was no official statement intended; but surely many Europeans see Bush as a threat to their lives and security.

Already reeling from our current wars in their backyard, they feel new tensions rise between NATO members and Russia, as our president labors to divert attention from his failure in Iraq.

Often times, it takes a friend to point out to you that your behavior is self-destructive. We broke up with our oldest friend, France, when she suggested it. Maybe this time?

No one was. No one from the MSM, anyway.

The article concerned the new and improved National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, which grants the President extraordinary powers in a catastrophic emergency.

The idea seems practical enough on the surface: In the event of a crisis, we need to make sure the government keeps running, so a position is created to ensure national continuity. Sounds good, right?

Don’t be so sure. It turns out that there was already a National Emergency Act intended to keep the trains running and maintain our system of checks and balances. This one cuts Congress out of the equation, making the responsibility for maintaining government the exclusive purview of the executive branch. Sound familiar?

Also “catastrophic emergency” is rather broadly defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”

Let that sink in for just a moment.

Then consider this: if the United States were to enter into a war with Iran, would it fit all of those criteria? It’s easy to dismiss such ideas a nutty conspiracy theories; but that doesn’t change the fact that such an action would constitute a catastrophic emergency.

For that matter, this presidency itself can be characterized as catastrophic emergency. That being said, President Bush could use himself as the basis for declaring himself Caesar.

And just when you think that you might be over-reacting, something like this turns up in the Boston Globe:

James Carafano , a homeland security specialist at [The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank], criticized the administration for failing to inform the public that the new policy was coming, and why it was changing.

He said the White House did not recognize that discussion of emergency governmental powers is “a very sensitive issue for a lot of people,” adding that the lack of explanation is “appalling.”

But White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that because of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the American public needs no explanation of such plans.

Let that sink in for just a moment, too.

On the heels of this comes the news that General Peter Pace has been fired as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in order to avoid his upcoming re-confirmation hearing. Pace, a Rumsfeld Man through and through, would face a number of difficult questions about Iraq. And no one in the Bush administration wants to hear that.

To be fair, Pace needs to go; but then so does his successor, Admiral Ed Giambasitiani, who was even closer to Rumsfeld.

But the objective here is not to find a better candidate, it’s to cover up the truth, while chipping away at what remains of Congressional oversight.

To give credit where it is due, this administration has done one thing remarkably well – it has consolidated enormous power within the executive branch.

Ask yourself this: Do you honestly believe they would do that, and at the same time risk having a Democrat in the White House to weild all of that hard-earned power?

The madness of King George, indeed.

In all the confusion, I left our television in the garage of our old house – the one I complained had been stolen out of our car.

Oops.

In my defense, I did say “I can’t allow that one person to sour me on humanity.”

Especially since it turns out that one person is me. Good thing.

We have just finished moving to Muncie, IN. It really is an exciting change for us, and the benefits are becoming increasingly apparent.

My hometown of Orlando has turned into something rather ugly over the past twenty-five years. Development is a plague, there are too many people, way too many cars and a general sense of mistrust towards one’s fellow man.

These changes come slowly, so much so that you don’t even realize they are happening. Then, one day, you look around and ask yourself “what the fuck just happened??”

Example: When you get gas in Orlando, you must not only pay first, without exception; but if you pay by credit card, you must also enter your billing zip code to prove the card you’re using is actually yours. The auto-flow clips have been removed from the pump nozzle, so you have to stand there and hold it; because if they don’t do that, someone will claim that the pump didn’t stop when it was supposed to, and so they shouldn’t have to pay. And finally, the pumps all have some statement warning that if you drive off without paying, you could lose your license; and Johnny Law is watching.

Here in Muncie, I went to fill up our moving truck before returning it. As soon as I lifted the nozzle, the pump said “begin fueling,” even though I hadn’t paid. I opened the nozzle, set the clip, went inside, chatted with the cashier while I waited for it to fill, bought some snacks, paid by credit card (without showing ID) and left.

Other than the niceness of it all, and that nostalgic feeling of “how it’s supposed to be,” something else important happened there: I bought more stuff while inside the store. So not only is “the Orlando way” a pain in the ass for customers, it short-changes the gas station operator.

The necessity that drives those restrictions is very real, though. Any place that let you pump first would bleed to death in a matter of months. The problem is that instead of coming up with ways to catch the assholes ruining it all for the rest of us, we as a society have opted to instead treat everyone as if they were potentially a criminal. And before you know it, individuals start treating each other that way, too.

We can’t let that happen, if we are to survive. Sure, people will steal from you if you leave yourself open, but guess what: Those people will steal from you no matter what you do.

In fact, someone stole our television from the trunk of my VW – while it was on the trailer hooked up to the moving van, parked in front of my house – the night before we left. As infuriating as that is, I can’t allow that one person to sour me on humanity.

I’m just happy to be back.