beterwas
honestly misbehaving
Archive for Confound Authority
November 9, 2008 at 3:39 pm · Filed under Confound Authority, Finish Ahead
I read many letters, blog posts and online comments that express a real frustration and powerlessness over is happening in government today. At the federal level, it looks like the Bush administration has managed to make one more massive money grab, before heading out the door.
At the state level, sources of tax revenue are being shuffled around at a dizzying rate, resembling a game of three-card-monty.
And at the local level, which may be the most maddening, the city and county grapple with a desperate financial situation, while numerous parties vie to protect their own interests. What makes the local government situation particularly frustrating is our proximity to it. Indianapolis seems far away, and Washington D.C. even further; but we see City Council members every day around town, and yet still feel like we can’t be heard.
What can we do? Actually, lots of things. Read the rest of this entry »
November 5, 2008 at 12:29 pm · Filed under Confound Authority, Finish Ahead
November 3, 2008 at 12:25 pm · Filed under Confound Authority
I love it when unintended consequences work out in our favor. It’s such a rarity in life.
In two days, hopefully, we’ll wake up to President-Elect Barack Obama, and the face of America will be indelibly altered.
I try to imagine a young Afghan or Pakistani boy, sitting in a madrassa, looking at a picture of Barack Obama. I imagine it was easy to sell George W. Bush as the Great Satan, with that smug expression on his face. But the anti-western imams out there will soon have their work cut out for them, trying to sell the idea that a Kenyan-American named Barack Hussein Obama is the enemy of Isalm.
In two days, we may discover how to truly win the war on terror.
Two days
August 19, 2007 at 11:44 pm · Filed under Call Bullshit, Confound Authority
It’s time to impeach Bush and Cheney.
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.
June 14, 2007 at 12:08 pm · Filed under Call Bullshit, Confound Authority
The President met with GOP Senators Tuesday to try and salvage his Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (the name seems to be as important as any particular provision with the GOP, doesn’t it?).
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 20, 2007 at 11:20 pm · Filed under Confound Authority, Musings
Continuing with my reflections on this past weekend’s March on the Pentagon, I focus my attention today on war protestors.
War protestors are difficult to pin down. It’s not that they are scattered in their focus – on the contrary, they are often very single-minded. This is particularly true when the war hits home, by endangering, or claiming, the life of a loved one.
No, what makes them tricky is that so many of them are opposed to abstract concepts, rather than specific realities.
First of all, any enlightened being must be opposed to war. The suffering created by violence, in the interest of economy, territory and/or ideology is itself intolerable. “Live and let live” means exactly that, and doesn’t really leave any wiggle room.
Then there are those opposed to the secondary issues of war, such as occupation, economic collapse and suppression of civil liberties (both abroad and at home).
For example, I hear many people complain about how Americans are not asked to make sacrifices for this war, when the simple fact is that they have – they just don’t realize it, because there is no dollar amount associated with things like habeas corpus, Miranda rights and torture.
There are also the “anti’s”. A reflection of their pro-war – any war – counterparts, they are simply anti-establishment. They are typically anarchic, disdain all authority, and war protests serve only to give them an outlet for their dissent. They don’t want to see the war end, they want to see the government end; and there’s no reasoning with them.
Finally, there are the practical objectors. They see any military operation that does not directly relate to true defense as a waste of lives, money and resources. Many of them believe, in fact, that such opertations are folly and ultimately weaken our defensibility. While this persepective doesn’t adequately regard the human cost of such conflicts, it does address a very real aspect of ill-conceived combat operations.
Moving beyond the idea of war, and into the theatre of Operation Iraqi/Enduring Freedom, we find people opposed to every aspect of this partcular war – even some you never knew existed.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 18, 2007 at 12:16 pm · Filed under Confound Authority
I’ve set up some photos of yesterday’s march. I’ll be writing more on the experience later.
View the photos here.
It was really a profound experience that I whole heartedly recommend.
March 17, 2007 at 10:48 am · Filed under Confound Authority, Musings
9:00 am - It’s cold. 30º and windy, but the rain/sleet/ice is all gone and it’s sunny and beautiful – so long as you’re inside looking out a window.
The local news is dominated by last night’s NCAA tournament. But the national news shows republicans preemptively disputing the protest. Madman McCain is in New Hampshire right now hyping the end of the world that will come about if we leave Iraq.
The protest begins in just a few hours. You still have time to get here.
10:43 am - I’m leaving the Hotel Harrington now. I tried the diner, Harriet’s, for breakfast. No. The people are nice enough, but the service sucks and the coffee is terrible.
12:00 pm - It is freezing cold and the wind is brutal. There was another event planned for today– a Gathering of Eagles – which appears to be a bunch of Vietnam vets/bikers protecting the monuments from destructive hippies and showing their support for the war.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 16, 2007 at 8:39 pm · Filed under Confound Authority, Musings
12:20 pm - I’m on my way to DC this weekend for the big anti-war protest.
I was supposed to take a bus, but UCF’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) were in charge of that, and well, they mean well.
Then the bus was replaced by a carpool; but again, SDS was in charge, so I’m on plane.
Air travel has become so utilitarian, flying domestically is not so different from taking a commuter train – except you bring whatever you like on a train, with or without a Ziploc bag.
Speaking of which, can someone explain to me how taking the toothpaste out of someone’s carry-on bag, putting it inside a ziploc bag, and then returning it to the carry-on is keeping us all safe?
I’m sure the procedure didn’t start out that way, so what was the original intent?
Read the rest of this entry »
