Atrocities

The US is using (on people) napalm and/or phosphorous weapons that keep burning after water is applied. They are deliberately targeting doctors, clerics, old people carrying white flags of surrender, and the wounded.

Reap what you sow, man. How can they expect anything but the most vicious, inhumane attacks on their own soldiers and, where possible, civilians, when this is how they treat their enemies? And yet, if you asked, they would still claim the right to do this because terrorists targeted civilians in the World Trade Center attacks.

No wonder they are so determined to prevent their soldiers from being tried in the International Criminal Court.

US using uranium weapons

According to this article from BBC News, the Uranium Medical Research Centre is reporting extremely elevated levels of non-depleted uranium in the urine of Afghanis. In other words, the US is deliberately poisoning the Afghani people with radioactive dust from non-fissioning uranium weapons. That sounds a lot like genocide to me.

Understanding George Bush

I've heard before, and commented on the idea, that Bush is not as stupid as he would like us to believe. In terms of his IQ, I think it's probably true. But IQ is only one measure of intelligence, and, many argue, not a good one. This article (free registration required) describes how his intellectual laziness and messianic complex have led his advisers to strictly limit the information he hears, and to present it only in ways that support their policies, to prevent him from making a snap policy judgement based on his gut feelings about a person or a situation.

I've worked with and for people like this, and I can (sort of) sympathize with his advisers. You seriously can't get anything done if there is no consistent policy or guiding vision. Given the growing hegemony in the administration, however, I think they're starting to succeed in training him to think the way they want, which means that we're in even more trouble than we thought.

How many US soldiers have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan? According to the DoD, about 8500, right? Then why does this article on the Stars and Stripes website say that "20,802 troops have been treated at Landstuhl from injuries received in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom"?

Looks like the same person who's having trouble counting the number of Iraqi casualties is responsible for tracking US injuries. Makes you wonder what the real number of US dead is, doesn't it?

Oh, the irony

The US is refusing to accept the election results in the Ukraine as legitimate because "there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse." Ha! Hee hee ho ha hoo! Excuse me, that just struck me funny.

Ahem. So, yes, the US wants the Ukraine to make sure that their leader has been legitimately elected. How admirable.

Update: Someone on Michael Moore's writing staff is my spiritual twin. Just found on his website:
In a Decision Fraught with Irony Powell Says United States Can Not Accept Ukraine Election Results "...because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse"

Vietnam vet called to active duty

They're recalling 53-year-old grandfathers to active service now. Time to start making predictions on the date that the draft is officially reinstated. Let's see. The Iraq election is scheduled for January 30. I expect the US to start withdrawing troops from Iraq on February 10, and to declare war on Iran on February 15. So, no later than March 1, I would say.

Bush approval rating

Gallup says sixty percent of Americans have a positive opinion of Bush. Fifty-five percent like the way he's handling his job.

I don't believe I have anything to say about this.

Noam Chomsky is a genius

I've noticed in the last few weeks that it's become very popular to hold Noam Chomsky up as the epitome of a raving left-wing lunatic. I have to question whether any of these people have ever read his writings. Yes, he's extremely critical of American capitalist society, politics, and media, but he's not a socialist: he does not believe that the state should control everything. In fact, if asked, he describes himself as an anarchist. He believes that people need to think and question and make up their own minds, instead of blindly consuming (information, goods, services).

He's also a genius who has had massive influence in practically every discipline I've ever studied (and many I haven't), including linguistics, literary studies, journalism, anthropology, psychology, political science, mathematics, and computer science. He's determined to expose the suffering caused by American foreign policy because he believes it's his moral obligation. This does not mean that he hates America. What could be more patriotic than trying to improve one's country?

If the election has taught me anything, it's that many people don't want to hear information that contradicts what they believe. Nonetheless, before you criticise him, go read his words yourself instead of repeating what someone else said about him. Then, if you don't agree, have at him.

Privatizing social security

Dave Zweifel talks here about Wall Street anticipating making money off the privatization of social security. I think a bigger motivater for Bush is the idea of injecting billions of dollars every year into the stock market for corporations to play with and earn money off of, instead of having all that lovely money locked away in a trust fund, doing "nothing"

Abortion

This article explains my views on abortion, the pro-life movement, and why murder is illegal when abortion is not, clearly and concisely in a neat little package, and I didn't even have to do the work of writing it. Thanks, Robert Steinback!

Student funding cuts

Now this is something I remember from the debates: remember Bush claiming that he had increased funding for students? Apparently, Bush doesn't. Pell grants have been cut in the 1600-page omnibus bill of doom, resulting in total loss of funding for 90,000 students and reductions in over a million other student awards. Say the students, "But Mr. Bush, how will I afford community college on this?"

Iraq may sue US for war crimes

And I hope they win. Not that it's likely to make any difference to Bush or his supporters. Not that his supporters are likely to hear about it, or believe it if they do.

The media's role in the election

I think this is a really important article. The author, Jeff Cohen, used to work at Fox News. He says:

To help Bush mislead Americans, Fox News Channel required that the banner "War on Terror" run when Iraq was discussed.

Bush, with the cooperation of much of the media, actively and deliberately deceived Americans to gain their support. Whether or not you believe in his policies, how can that not piss you off? Don't you feel like you've been duped? Are you just refusing to admit he tricked you out of pride? Help me understand, because there's been nothing but bad news out of Washington since the election, and it's looking like my worst fears about Bush's second term are going to come true. What will it take to convince you, to gain your support in stopping him before he destroys everything?

History offends me, I want it changed!

Fuck. You.

US forces storm mosque, kill four

I feel like I'm just screaming incoherently here, but how can this be justified? How?

Return to the Dark Ages

OK, maybe not quite. But I have to keep reminding myself, in light of articles like this, that the US is not the only keeper of scientific thought and reasoning. What will be lost during this period of theocratic rule will be recreated once it ends. The US will undergo a new period of enlightenment. Still, it's disconcerting to have to argue to the "faith-based community" that "human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world."

From the linked article:

...[M]any of the intellectual leaders of the American colonies were drawn to the Enlightenment. The colonies may have been founded by leaders of various dogmatic religious persuasions, but when it became necessary to unite against England, it was apparent that no one of them could prevail over the others, and that the most desirable course was to agree to disagree. Nothing more powerfully impelled the movement toward the separation of church and state than the realization that no one church could dominate this new state.
Many of the most distinguished leaders of the American revolution--Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Paine--were powerfully influenced by English and--to a lesser extent--French Enlightenment thought. The God who underwrites the concept of equality in the Declaration of Independence is the same deist God Rousseau worshipped, not that venerated in the traditional churches which still supported and defended monarchies all over Europe. Jefferson and Franklin both spent time in France--a natural ally because it was a traditional enemy of England--absorbing the influence of the French Enlightenment. The language of natural law, of inherent freedoms, of self-determination which seeped so deeply into the American grain was the language of the Enlightenment, though often coated with a light glaze of traditional religion, what has been called our "civil religion."

We hold these truths to be self-evident...

Who are the terrorists?

If the US army is trying to cow the Iraqi people into electing a puppet government approved by the US, by making them believe that they have more to fear from the US than they do from the anti-US Iraqi forces, as this article suggests, then who are the terrorists? They have destroyed Fallujah, not to get at Zarqawi as they originally claimed, but apparently just to create an example for the Iraqi people of what may happen to them if they don't cooperate. They refuse to (publicly) count the Iraqi dead, and they're now apparently unwilling to release figures on how many US soldiers are dying. This suggests that the numbers are bad. Very bad.

It's like the US, as a country, is committing suicide, dramatically and publicly. How can they ever function as a credible and respectable world power after this? I would suggest that they can't, no matter who's in charge.

Boycott!

Time to boycott US and British companies! There may be no nation capable of standing up to the US militarily, but they can't force us to buy their crap. Boycott US and British products and services until they withdraw the last of their troops from Iraq!

If you're looking for more information, here's a site with lots of links to get you started.

What product did you boycott today?

"Protecting" more than just the definition of marriage

Kevin Drum (via Andrew Tobias) points out something we all missed in the furor over the election - eight of the eleven state referenda banned more than just gay marriage. From Boston.com:

In state after state -- most prominently in Ohio (which Bush barely won) and in Michigan (which he nearly did) -- these referendums went far beyond the question of who gets to be formally married. They also banned legal and other conventions incidental to marriage, which are central to the evolving institutions of civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Incidental things, like the right to contractually arrange distribution of assets, child custody, pensions, and other employment benefits. Basically, civil union rights of any kind.

Colin Powell sics US on Iran

The LA Times reports that he announced that Iran has missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, apparently on the basis of one disgruntled Iranian exile's statements (shades of Chalabi). As Marc Cooper asks, how can anyone make a reasonable decision about this "intelligence" after he did the exact same thing with Iraq and turned out to be, not only wrong, but lying through his teeth? I'm starting to think that the Bush administration never read the fable about the boy who cried wolf.

File under freedom

Some pharmacists in the US are now refusing to fill women's birth control prescriptions because they object to them on moral grounds, and the states are passing laws protecting these pharmacists' "right" to do so. Not only do some of them refuse to fill the prescription themselves, but they also won't transfer the prescription to another pharmacist or give the woman the prescription slip back.

Canadian politicians are a bunch of liars, too

Fuckers say that Canada won't endorse the Iraqi war, but secretly provide US support. I was right not to trust Paul Martin, who is a LINO (Liberal in name only). This has to stop.

I love Google

Try the Googlebomb suggested here. May you laugh as much as I did.

Bush makes secret deal to allow oil drilling in national parks

I'm so frustrated by this, because I know it's going to roll off his back just like every other shady deal and flat-out lie of the last four years. He is truly the teflon president, and the media and Democrat politicians are a bunch of fucking cowards for not attacking him on this kind of scandalous bullshit. So are the Republican politicians, for that matter.

Who killed Margaret Hassan?

This article raises some interesting questions about her death. Who stands to gain the most?

New link -->

10 truths about liberals and conservatives - required reading for those who are really interested in understanding the other side. I've permanently linked to it on the right because I think I need to go back and read it regularly. It's really easy to dismiss the other side's actions and beliefs as uninformed, mistaken, immoral. I'm at least as guilty of this as anyone else. But it's important to remember that most people are sincere. It's also important to remember that the other side's beliefs are not arbitrary - they're based on concerns that are valid within their world view.

Never mind what I have to say about it. Go read the list.

Margaret Hassan executed

I just overheard that she is confirmed dead. I remember hearing that the organized insurgents had avoided kidnapping her because they knew she was on their side, and because they knew that it would be an extremely unpopular thing to do. They said that they didn't know where she was, and believed that she had been taken by a rogue group.

This is very sad. Although I abhor the beheadings, at least there is a political purpose behind most of them. This one served no discernible purpose. She was married to an Iraqi and had lived there for something like 20 years. Kidnapping her didn't put pressure on any government to withdraw troops from the country, and she was well-known enough that they probably knew that.

Presumably she was targeted simply because she was non-arab. In one sense it's nothing compared to the US killing 100,000 Iraqi civilians in this ridiculous war, but I think it's a dangerous road for the Iraqis to go down. Right now, for the most part, they've got the sympathy of the world, but they could lose it easily.

You're kidding

Yet another thing that everybody but Bush and his supporters knew: U.S. military commanders are realizing that the "insurgents" in Iraq are almost all Iraqi, not foreigners. Of more than 1000 fighters captured in Fallujah, only 15 are confirmed foreign fighters. (free registration required - can also be read here with no registration).

The depths of the Bush administration's misunderstanding of what is going on in Iraq is staggering. Either these people are completely incompetent or completely dishonest (or both), because on issue after vital issue, everybody knows the truth but them.

Selective service updating records

They claim that it's just routine, but boy, what amazing timing, eh? After Bush flat-out promised in his campaign that there would be no draft.

And is it just me, or does the draft by design target poor people? From the article:

“Back in 1982 a federal law was passed that basically linked federal grants, student loans and federal assistance to students with Selective Service,” Flahavan said. “You had to register with Selective Service with a Social Security number (in order to receive federal assistance)

According to the stats at the end of the article, every male between 18 and 25 has to register, not just those asking for federal funding for schooling, but I wonder what mechanism is in place to ensure the sons of the wealthy are registered.

Surprisingly, even non-citizen male aliens have to register with Selective Service. So presumably a 20-year-old Canadian man could be playing hockey in the States and get drafted? Can that be right?

Unilateral action to stop a dictator

I bet this would get the troops out of Iraq faster than anything else we could think of. Of course, we might not like where they went next...

Fluids for Christ

This site is a joke, right? It's awesome, whatever it is. From Roy's very convincing testimonial,

My wife tell me, "Roy, you've been the master of my house for some thirty year, but I'm gonna up and leave you if you don't get that demon blood out of you." I told her, "Woman, you ain't the boss of me."

Awesome.

Hee!

Thou-shalt-see TV - the new tv lineup under the theocracy.
(free registration required)

Who's likely to appoint activist judges?

In his blog today, Kevin Drum talks about Stealth Conservatism - his idea that many of the policies the Bush administration pursues, although polarizing (e.g. abortion bans), are in fact red herrings. Bush may have the support of half the population on his stated policies, but how many would support the Supreme Court eliminating Congress's power to ban discrimination or to require safety standards for workers? Likely not too many, yet these may well be aims of the "constructionist" judges that Bush wants to appoint.

Bush threatens mankind

It's disturbing for me to find out that a Nobel Peace Prize recipient has the exact same fears about Bush that I do.

[Note that the attribution link inside the article is incorrect - it should be www.smh.com.au, and you need to register to read the article there.]

More on change

This article reinforces my belief that the election was a referendum not on George Bush or even on the war in Iraq, but on change. It goes on to suggest that companies like Fox are deliberately playing on those fears by having one arm of the company produce and promote edgy material like the movie Kinsey, then having their conservative arm, Fox News, blame the decadence on the liberals.

Stepford fucking revisited

I seriously cannot fucking believe that in fucking 2004 women are still subjected to this kind of demeaning crap. A presidential candidates' wives' baking contest? Are you fucking kidding me? If you were wondering why Hillary Clinton is so reviled, I guess this would be your answer. Presumably, with her own legal and political career, she doesn't have time to sit around coming up with fucking cookie recipes. Man, what if one of the candidates were a woman (or gay - hah!)? Would her husband be expected to participate in this kind of thing? I try to think what I would do if I were in Teresa Heinz Kerry's position. If you don't participate, it makes your husband look bad; if you do participate, you've just sold out all your beliefs. Win-win all around for the conservatives, I guess.

Blood for...

The idea that the wars in the Middle East are being fought for oil is usually dismissed as being too simplistic. After all, the US imports only a relatively small percentage of its oil from there, and could probably obtain what it needs from other countries, without going to war. It's true; it's not that simple or direct.

But the catch phrase "blood for oil" is based in truth nonetheless. In this article, the author explains how the American economy is dependent on the de facto use of the US dollar as the world's currency, which in turn largely depends on the oil-producing nations, particularly OPEC, selling their oil for dollars.

The only OPEC country that has converted from the dollar to the euro (the only other competitor for a world currency) is, not surprisingly, Iraq. Iran is considering it, and guess who Bush is considering invading next? Venezuela is talking about decoupling its oil from both the dollar and the euro, and Bush is reportedly trying to topple the Chavez government there.

So, if "blood for oil" is too simplistic, maybe we could change it to "blood for oil for dollars".

Rats deserting a sinking ship?

Colin Powell resigned this morning. Apparently several more are supposed to follow. Is this a sign that they know Bush's second term is doomed and they're jumping ship before they get pulled down too? Or is Bush clearing out any dissenting, more moderate voices? (I know that Ashcroft is hardly a moderate, but it sounds like Gonzales is at least as far right, possibly more).

Also, what the hell is up with this? I didn't see the story at the time, but Jesus Christ! I'm starting not to believe his stupid act anymore. I read right after the election that he loves being underestimated, and I believe it's true, because he can get away with so much more if people think he's too stupid to be effective. It's also very demoralising to us to be beaten by such an apparent moron.

It's long been a secret fear of mine, which I don't talk about too much for fear of being thought paramoid, that Bush isn't planning to relinquish the presidency at the end of his term. Is it possible for the US to end up with a religious dictatorship? The way that things are currently going, I think the answer is yes, absolutely. And to 51% of Americans, I say fuck you, you asked for it. But even though the other 49%, along with the rest of the world, did not, we're going to suffer for it anyway.

I'm on a mission from Gob

Arrested Development really is the funniest show on tv. If you're not watching it, what's wrong with you? And how can fox be such dickheads with their news, make such terrible reality tv, and yet be so awesome with their sitcoms?

OB/GYNs practicing their love

I had heard about this Bushism, but I hadn't seen it myself until now. Even funnier than the Bush footage itself is the anchor's reaction.

Shakespearean letter scam

For anyone who's ever received the Nigerian letter scam, this is awesome! This guy should really be doing Shakespeare.

Foreign investors sue Argentina for damages

If you were ever unclear about what anti-globalisation protestors are objecting to, here's a really good example.

Continental defence

While the rest of the world withdraws from its associations with the US, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin apparently wants to

renew the mandate of a joint Canada-U.S. military planning group, which has been working on an ambitious project that could bring the armies and navies of both countries under a single command for North American defence.

I think it's a bad idea to collaborate with the American military in any way, and I think it's a horrible idea to give them a foothold on Canadian soil. I've emailed my MP, and I've encouraged my friends to do the same, asking him to help prevent this from happening.

How Abu Ghraib happened

This article gives a very informed and detailed account of how the Bush administration's gutting of the Geneva Conventions led to the war crimes perpetrated at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and the consequences that are likely to follow. Long, but extremely interesting.

Here come the thought police

Students in Boulder who were rehearsing a Bob Dylan song, Masters of War, for a talent show were visited by the Secret Service on Thursday. They were accused of threatening the president because the lyrics say "I hope that you die and your death'll come soon". Neither the students nor the song, written in 1963, referred to Bush, although the lyrics are certainly as appropriate to today's situation as they were in the 60s.

So now it's illegal to sing protest songs. Four more years of this, people. And don't think it's not going to get worse.

Greens and Libertarians demanding recount

It's sad that the Democrats aren't doing this themselves.

Individual states implementing Kyoto anyway

Oh, this is delicious! Nine north-eastern and mid-atlantic states are implementing Kyoto-like emissions reductions on their own, in spite of Bush's opposition. The leader of the movement is New York's Republican governor, George Pataki, and the following states are participating:

• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• Rhode Island
• Vermont
• and of course, New York

In addition, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and D.C. are "observers" in the process (whatever that means).

It's already starting. Bush and his neo-Luddite world-view are being left behind. Rational people recognize what needs to be done and are doing it, whether he likes it or not.

By the way, did you know that the US is responsible for 25% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions?

The UN doesn't like Gonzales either

Finally, someone is talking about war crimes. If it were any country but the US, this would have been said a long, long time ago.

This makes me so uncomfortable

In the week and a half since the election, I've read a lot of articles decrying the Democratic Party for having no clearly defined moral values, no vision. Most of these articles insist that if the party ever wants to regain power, it must move to the right, embrace Christians, and compromise on some "lesser" beliefs (usually whatever the author doesn't feel too strongly about). Here's yet another article from someone claiming to have the answers. But point number three of nineteen is

The failure of the Democratic Party to connect with America's desire for fulfillment is political death.

He later says that Americans want "a deeper sense of personal meaning, a national mission, and passion in times of fear." I agree. I think you can draw a straight line between that desire and the US's crusade to destroy Iraq, now endorsed by the American public (not to mention the movements to ban or restrict gay marriage, abortion, freedom of expression, and personal privacy). So yes, if the Democrats want to win, one way is to try to out-Republic the Republicans, but do they want to change the direction of the country or do they just want to win power?

I believe that the Kerry campaign had a vision but were afraid to articulate it because they thought it was their election to lose, and talking just gave Rove and his team ammunition to sway voters back to Bush. As it turns out, they and we misjudged the majority of voters. What seemed so obvious to so many of us, that anyone would be better than Bush, wasn't obvious to them; they needed to be convinced, and the Democrats' campaign didn't do it. Worse, they were afraid to try. We tried. We screamed ourselves hoarse, but we didn't realize that we were only screaming at each other. The other side wasn't listening to us, and were apparently willing to believe Bush and his administration in spite of massive evidence to the contrary (I call this the O.J. Simpson bamboozlement defense).

I don't know if it can be done. I don't know if it's possible to establish a dialogue that would allow us to put forth our concerns in a way that would enable the other side to hear them. But I know we have to try. So clarify the party's vision, yes. Stop letting the Republicans set the agenda and define the terms of the discussion, by all means. But if the party becomes a clone of the GOP, what's the point?

I just said that! Sort of.

I didn't articulate it very well, but in this post I was trying to say that I thought Bush's victory had a lot to do with many people's fear of change, especially post-9/11. This article says it much more clearly. It also talks about the way that Arafat was made a scapegoat by the Israelis, a thought that I have had more than once in the last week.

The day after Arafat died, there was a retrospective of his life on one of the major networks (not sure which one). They showed him up on stage at some major gathering of international leaders, and they showed Bush deliberately snubbing him as though they were both 7th grade girls. I'm sure that it really made Bush feel better about himself, but most people grow out of that kind of behaviour by the age of 13. Not the fearless leader, though. This would be the man who is going to bring peace to the Middle East. Has he even heard of the concept of diplomacy? Or is that the girly-man solution?

Go Brazil!

Good news on the environmental front (for once).

The US is weird

From a news release from the Center for Constitutional Rights opposing the appointment of Alberto Gonzales to the position of Attorney General:

Gonzales is an old Bush crony from back in Texas who supported their friends’ corporate interests and took contributions from Halliburton and Enron when he was a judge.

Contributions? Is that a euphemism for bribes? If this is known about him, how can he even be a candidate for the position of Attorney General? I know that Canada is probably considered a little quaint in its dislike of such things, but come on! Seriously, what does it take to be considered to be too corrupt for public office in the US? Besides, of course, lying about sex.

Pretty, pretty maps

Because I'm a major map geek, these make me very happy. Also, they're much less depressing than the usual red/blue division.

Yasser Arafat dead

Apparently he died just a few minutes ago, or it was announced a few minutes ago. I'm not sure. I wonder what this will mean for the Middle East. I really can't even guess, because I find it oddly hard to get a grasp on the rights and wrongs of the situation between Israel and Palestine. Things should get even more interesting, anyway.

Democracy in action

It amazes me to hear Republicans talking about supporting the results of the democratic process, and then to read stories like this. I'm not sure why I should be surprised that they think that democracy is something they impose on others, not something they are subject to themselves.

Did we say orange alert?

Sorry, we really meant yellow. No, it's just that there was a preelection threat, and we all said we would be re-examining the state of play after the election. Yeah, sorry about that. Hope it didn't affect the way you voted or anything.

The gloves come off

They're not even pretending it's about protecting the US anymore. From a Reuter's article:

In an interview with Britain's Financial Times newspaper, Powell said Bush had no intention of pulling back and insisted the newly re-elected president had a mandate to pursue American national interests in international affairs.

In a shocking and unforeseen move, Bush takes his weak election majority as a mandate to subjugate the rest of the world in the name of American business interests.

Kangaroo court

I don't understand why due process is such a big problem for the administration. If the prisoners at Guantanamo really are enemy combatants and terrorists beyond doubt, then there should be no risk in giving them access to lawyers. Of course, if the administration can't back up their claims with hard evidence, their reluctance becomes much more understandable. Hey, I know! Maybe these prisoners are the guys with the WMD! It's all starting to make sense now.

More word

My thoughts exactly.

...Mr. Bush's peculiar combination of zealotry and utter incompetence...

Ashcroft resigns

I just heard on the news that he stepped down for health reasons. I've heard that if Bush gets rid of both Ashcroft and Rumsfield, it'll indicate that he wants to be more conciliatory so he can rehabilitate his image in his second term. From everything else that he's said and done since the election, that doesn't seem likely, but I'll grasp at whatever straws I can get.

All I can say is...

WORD.

So tired

I've spent about 30 hours in the last three days writing a program for school, in addition to my full time job, and I may die of tired. For some reason, I keep accidentally hitting just the right shortcut keys to screw things up completely. I was in the middle of writing a long email and I managed to hit some combination of ctrl something that made it disappear. I assumed that it was deleted, but it just occurred to me that it might have been sent. Hell, I don't know. And apparently you can accidentally post here by hitting some combo that probably includes alt.

Sars at Tomato Nation wrote a new installment of Girls' Bike Club that made me feel better about the election for the first time, which is a good thing for my polyp.

I have a cat stuck inside my shirt with the bottom tucked under him so I can type and he can feel good about being close to me. I swear, if I have to buy a baby-carrier...

Some country music award show is on TV, and while it makes me cringe, I am too tired to go change the channel. That is how tired I am.

Sometimes insights seem really self-evident, but it takes someone else saying them to you in just the right way before you get them. I got this pamphlet at work today that talked about the way different people deal with the stress of change. It basically said that people who feel that external forces control their lives are much less willing to accept change than those who feel they have a large degree of control over their own lives. They are also less likely to take proactive steps to prevent bad things from happening. How much does this sound like christian conservatives? Think about it:

• in their minds, God controls everything that happens
• they're fighting to maintain "traditional values"
• they won't do anything to prevent global warming

I struggle to understand the mindset of a president who refuses to consider the Kyoto Accord because it might cost american jobs. Have you heard the news, George? The North Pole is melting. What will it take to get you to understand that a) jobs don't matter if the world is uninhabitable, and b) surely the economy would benefit from all the work involved in developing new technologies needed to reduce our environmental footprint. His real concern, of course, is not jobs per se, but maintaining the status quo. If oil loses, his supporters lose, and his own family loses: money, power, their stranglehold on the world. Can't have that, obviously. Come to think of it, it's not his mindset I struggle to understand so much as that of his supporters. Wake up, people. It's your neck, and your children's necks, that he has his fingers wrapped around. He is not your friend.

Voodoo

According to this analysis of the exit polls,

the economy was the most important of all. Compared to 2000, fewer people personally think they're doing better but more people believe the economy is in good shape anyway. And Bush was overwhelmingly successful in convincing those people that his policies deserved the credit.

What kind of freaky mind control does this man exert? Doublethink indeed.

Meet Stuart

Just trying out this bloggerbot thingy.

Sign the petition

I don't pass on email petition spam, but this may be a little more realistic. Let the U.S. know you want them the hell out of Iraq, and that you want them to stop starting wars.

Brought to you by the BRussells Tribunal.

Iraq declares martial law

Leading up to the election, Bush called Iraq a catastrophic success. Well, he was half right. Half-wit.

Yay Saskatchewan!

On Friday, my province legalized gay marriage. That makes seven out of thirteen jurisdictions in Canada where it's legal.

Not surprisingly, the Saskatchewan Party is criticizing the NDP for not challenging the court decision. And Alberta has passed legislation defining marriage as exclusively heterosexual. It's this kind of thing that makes me unwilling to see the right-wing parties ever gain power. Yes, they'll eventually be voted out, but who knows how much damage they'll do in the meantime?

If you're looking for a place to move, the following provinces allow gay marriage:

• Saskatchewan (yay!)
• Manitoba
• Ontario
• Quebec
• Nova Scotia
• British Columbia
• the Yukon Territories
  

Hmmm...

There's not a chance that this will ever be proven. But it's very interesting, nonetheless.

Meta

To clarify (for all you non-existent readers out there), I won't just talk about politics here. Any subject is possible, and I'll probably end up posting pictures of my cats because I'm just that cheesy. But I'll spare you for now.

Getting started

In the last four days, I've been running from blog to blog looking for solace, thinking that somewhere, someone is going to say exactly the right thing that will make it all make sense and put everything in perspective so that I can put the pieces of myself back together and move on.

My favourite bloggers have mostly been silent. I think they're having the same problem I am. We tried so damn hard, and it didn't help. It didn't work, and now he's got four more years, and more "political capital", to destroy the world.

What, then? What do we do next? Do we play constant watchdog for the next four years and hope that we can prevent him from starting a nuclear war? Do we assume, like 59 million americans have done, that he's sane and won't actually destroy everything that we know? Given what we've already seen him do and his not-so-veiled threats in his post-election speech, that doesn't seem like a safe bet.

I don't know. I know that I'm going to get more involved in causes I believe in. I plan to try to do a lot more convincing these next few years, rather than sitting back and assuming that people see the world the same way I do. I don't like the idea of proselytizing like a christian, but I'm not sure what other options are left.