organize_crime... and I deal in videos.
Now I know that you're thinking I'm a dealer of Disney films and movies about piano players.
No, no, my friend, we only sell martial arts films and porn here.
I deal only in the finest of smut, the most primed hardcore and fetish-based pornography this side of the Mason-Dixon.
LOL
I'm gonna love working here.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
What can I say to a man that thinks himself a scholar when he behaves as a fool
So I've got these cheeseburgers... haha just playin.
Thursdays are always great because until Saturday I usually forget that I even have an Internet connection, so I figured I'd make this "alles klar" post before embarking on the voyage.
I was up late last night playing well with the other children (MATT DAYMEN!)
I got an email from a few friends at Georgetown who are currently doing a study on St. Maarten and the current political climate of Caribbean nations. St. Maarten/St. Martin is currently trying to revitalize its economy since the hurricanes have been so merciless.
"We were wondering what you thought about its relationship with the United States since you spent so much time there. Also, what do you think about their continuously recanted and then reasserted support of the war, especially since in many ways they are still a French/Dutch colony?"
There's these dope green monkeys on the island that will follow your car for miles. Sometimes they throw fruit or shit, but only because they aren't used to favorable interaction with tourists. Mostly they just watch you from the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of you so they can alert the other ones to get out of the road. Monkeys are neat.
The island itself is pretty much at the political mercy of whatever international superpower visits them the most. I can remember a time when Desert Storm (or maybe it was still Desert Shield at that point) and my cousin went to Iraq, where he spent most of his time on munitions shit (I rarely understand what he does during the day, although I have to say that it mostly just involves his graduate major, chemistry). He told me that the soldiers came back tired and that a lot of what he worked on, what we now know is a derivative of Agent Orange, injured many soldiers on both sides. He described 115 degree heat, melting his boots. And he also told me many times about how much he hates, as he put it, "sand niggers." Now, St. Maarten/Martin as a collective island is pretty diverse in its international citizenry. But on the dutch side, St. Maarten, there's a fairly large contingent of Muslims from Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc. And they support the local economy so well that most of Philipsburg is dependent upon them for its survival during the summer months, when the economy slows. So for at least half the year, in St. Maarten, "sand niggers" run the show.
The debate about the war, at least at this point, has become rather moot. We're in there, neck deep. So for the residents of that island they're just as in as everyone else. But because its a small island, completely dependant on its beautiful beaches, liquor, and tanned rich women and medical students, you can see how uneasy the huge political rigamarole is. I mean, after all, we're just a bunch of hedonistic freaks to most of them anyway. While the prostitution trade on the island can pretty much assure you the girl of your dreams for one thousand dollars a night, most girls are fairly devout Christians if they are island natives.
I asked a friend or two of mine from there to give me some insight.
"So the political establishment there, at least those who make actual decisions, are in a tough spot: these soldiers that park their boats near our shores, enjoy our island nightlife, and actually aren't too loud or mean or crazy are not exactly a burden on our island. They are great for our economy. Some of them married our local women or men, and some of them mean a lot to our own families. It's a small island, and a lot of us are indirectly related here. But in the inverse, we're an island of poltical refugees. Many of our people that are now citizens of St. Maarten are definitely not natives. Many of them came from the same countries that are currently being invaded, and by supporting the war in some ways we support those who fled Saddam's reign. But some of them have also left family there, most of whom are now either impoverished or in the process of fleeing the country.
"So what do we do? If we support your stay, Reece, we stand the chance of losing a lot of our economic partners. The island depends upon a lot of the trade in Front Street for its ability to function as a cohesive trade market. Nevermind the fact that many of us bought our wives their wedding rings, bought presents for our daughters and sons for christmas, graduation, and birthdays there, so losing those businesses would also leave a little something in our memory behind.
"But if we don't, surely even more people will die and the economy will most likely get worse anyway. Consider it from an international perspective, and you'll see that most of our impotence is based upon a stark inability to choose between what will mostly likely impoverish us and will most likely kill other people.
"But we CAN say that we are not in support of the start of this war. We say that because we are not in support of the start of anything that leaves us, your friends, with no options. While it was your decision (yes, yours Reece) to start the war, it is up to everyone to pay for it. I indict you and your country for trying to take the process away from me even though you want me to help you. I don't like the fact that you, Reece, say you do not support the war, yet you say yourself that you have driven yourself to job interviews for the past three weeks in a car with poor gas mileage. I don't like that you, an American, considers yourself that much of an impact while instead of taking the buses that run on natural gas in your country, you drive your Buick. What can I say to a man that thinks himself a scholar when he behaves as a fool, even though I do the same as he does: the best he can? I say that you yourself must make a choice as to what you think your life means and what your decisions mean for others."
Thursdays are always great because until Saturday I usually forget that I even have an Internet connection, so I figured I'd make this "alles klar" post before embarking on the voyage.
I was up late last night playing well with the other children (MATT DAYMEN!)
I got an email from a few friends at Georgetown who are currently doing a study on St. Maarten and the current political climate of Caribbean nations. St. Maarten/St. Martin is currently trying to revitalize its economy since the hurricanes have been so merciless.
"We were wondering what you thought about its relationship with the United States since you spent so much time there. Also, what do you think about their continuously recanted and then reasserted support of the war, especially since in many ways they are still a French/Dutch colony?"
There's these dope green monkeys on the island that will follow your car for miles. Sometimes they throw fruit or shit, but only because they aren't used to favorable interaction with tourists. Mostly they just watch you from the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of you so they can alert the other ones to get out of the road. Monkeys are neat.
The island itself is pretty much at the political mercy of whatever international superpower visits them the most. I can remember a time when Desert Storm (or maybe it was still Desert Shield at that point) and my cousin went to Iraq, where he spent most of his time on munitions shit (I rarely understand what he does during the day, although I have to say that it mostly just involves his graduate major, chemistry). He told me that the soldiers came back tired and that a lot of what he worked on, what we now know is a derivative of Agent Orange, injured many soldiers on both sides. He described 115 degree heat, melting his boots. And he also told me many times about how much he hates, as he put it, "sand niggers." Now, St. Maarten/Martin as a collective island is pretty diverse in its international citizenry. But on the dutch side, St. Maarten, there's a fairly large contingent of Muslims from Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc. And they support the local economy so well that most of Philipsburg is dependent upon them for its survival during the summer months, when the economy slows. So for at least half the year, in St. Maarten, "sand niggers" run the show.
The debate about the war, at least at this point, has become rather moot. We're in there, neck deep. So for the residents of that island they're just as in as everyone else. But because its a small island, completely dependant on its beautiful beaches, liquor, and tanned rich women and medical students, you can see how uneasy the huge political rigamarole is. I mean, after all, we're just a bunch of hedonistic freaks to most of them anyway. While the prostitution trade on the island can pretty much assure you the girl of your dreams for one thousand dollars a night, most girls are fairly devout Christians if they are island natives.
I asked a friend or two of mine from there to give me some insight.
"So the political establishment there, at least those who make actual decisions, are in a tough spot: these soldiers that park their boats near our shores, enjoy our island nightlife, and actually aren't too loud or mean or crazy are not exactly a burden on our island. They are great for our economy. Some of them married our local women or men, and some of them mean a lot to our own families. It's a small island, and a lot of us are indirectly related here. But in the inverse, we're an island of poltical refugees. Many of our people that are now citizens of St. Maarten are definitely not natives. Many of them came from the same countries that are currently being invaded, and by supporting the war in some ways we support those who fled Saddam's reign. But some of them have also left family there, most of whom are now either impoverished or in the process of fleeing the country.
"So what do we do? If we support your stay, Reece, we stand the chance of losing a lot of our economic partners. The island depends upon a lot of the trade in Front Street for its ability to function as a cohesive trade market. Nevermind the fact that many of us bought our wives their wedding rings, bought presents for our daughters and sons for christmas, graduation, and birthdays there, so losing those businesses would also leave a little something in our memory behind.
"But if we don't, surely even more people will die and the economy will most likely get worse anyway. Consider it from an international perspective, and you'll see that most of our impotence is based upon a stark inability to choose between what will mostly likely impoverish us and will most likely kill other people.
"But we CAN say that we are not in support of the start of this war. We say that because we are not in support of the start of anything that leaves us, your friends, with no options. While it was your decision (yes, yours Reece) to start the war, it is up to everyone to pay for it. I indict you and your country for trying to take the process away from me even though you want me to help you. I don't like the fact that you, Reece, say you do not support the war, yet you say yourself that you have driven yourself to job interviews for the past three weeks in a car with poor gas mileage. I don't like that you, an American, considers yourself that much of an impact while instead of taking the buses that run on natural gas in your country, you drive your Buick. What can I say to a man that thinks himself a scholar when he behaves as a fool, even though I do the same as he does: the best he can? I say that you yourself must make a choice as to what you think your life means and what your decisions mean for others."
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Motivational Thinker Seeks Prolific Death Coach For Bonding on Molecular Level... Smokers NNA plz
Today was brought to you by the letters W, H, O, and A.
My classes are early in the morning this semester so I went in to look for books... wanted to see how much they cost. Naked materialism rose immediately from my skin, since by that point I was also wondering how much a Montgomery College bag would cost so I could look as goofy as I felt. HAHA... School? For me? No thanks. Last time it repeated on me, leaving my shirt covered in that cartoony green and orange vomit (is that shit carrots or something... never could figure that out... maybe yams lol)
Small wonder that I also decided to visit a professor and try for some counselling.
Her first glance at my transcript produced some horror. She asked me why I dropped so many classes. "I was asked to for some... others I left voluntarily after angry quarrels with professors." She recommended that I take things very slowly and not take too many classes this semester. Then, next semester, go for a full time load if I think I like where things are going.
Financial aid, back to the bookstore, etc.
Interview was great. Test next week, after courses pan out.
At some point, I'm ordering Wu-Chronicles. That shit looks dope.
My classes are early in the morning this semester so I went in to look for books... wanted to see how much they cost. Naked materialism rose immediately from my skin, since by that point I was also wondering how much a Montgomery College bag would cost so I could look as goofy as I felt. HAHA... School? For me? No thanks. Last time it repeated on me, leaving my shirt covered in that cartoony green and orange vomit (is that shit carrots or something... never could figure that out... maybe yams lol)
Small wonder that I also decided to visit a professor and try for some counselling.
Her first glance at my transcript produced some horror. She asked me why I dropped so many classes. "I was asked to for some... others I left voluntarily after angry quarrels with professors." She recommended that I take things very slowly and not take too many classes this semester. Then, next semester, go for a full time load if I think I like where things are going.
Financial aid, back to the bookstore, etc.
Interview was great. Test next week, after courses pan out.
At some point, I'm ordering Wu-Chronicles. That shit looks dope.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Nat King Cole (From LJ)
I don't usually post links, but this story was unbelieveable. I charge anyone, republican or demmycrat to try to hold in their vomit.
"Sensenbrenner is your basic Fat Evil Prick, perfectly cast as a dictatorial committee chairman: He has the requisite moist-with-sweat pink neck, the dour expression, the penchant for pointless bile and vengefulness. Only a month before, on June 10th, Sensenbrenner suddenly decided he'd heard enough during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the Patriot Act and went completely Tasmanian devil on a group of Democratic witnesses who had come to share stories of abuses at places like Guantanamo Bay. Apparently not wanting to hear any of that stuff, Sensenbrenner got up midmeeting and killed the lights, turned off the microphones and shut down the C-Span feed, before marching his fellow Republicans out of the room -- leaving the Democrats and their witnesses in the dark. This lights-out technique was actually pioneered by another Republican, former Commerce Committee chairman Thomas Bliley, who in 1995 hit the lights on a roomful of senior citizens who had come to protest Newt Gingrich's Medicare plan. Bliley, however, went one step further than Sensenbrenner, ordering Capitol police to arrest the old folks when they refused to move. Sensenbrenner might have tried the same thing in his outburst, except that his party had just voted to underfund the Capitol police."
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7539869?rnd=1123888123586&has-player=true&version=6.0.8.1024
"Sensenbrenner is your basic Fat Evil Prick, perfectly cast as a dictatorial committee chairman: He has the requisite moist-with-sweat pink neck, the dour expression, the penchant for pointless bile and vengefulness. Only a month before, on June 10th, Sensenbrenner suddenly decided he'd heard enough during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the Patriot Act and went completely Tasmanian devil on a group of Democratic witnesses who had come to share stories of abuses at places like Guantanamo Bay. Apparently not wanting to hear any of that stuff, Sensenbrenner got up midmeeting and killed the lights, turned off the microphones and shut down the C-Span feed, before marching his fellow Republicans out of the room -- leaving the Democrats and their witnesses in the dark. This lights-out technique was actually pioneered by another Republican, former Commerce Committee chairman Thomas Bliley, who in 1995 hit the lights on a roomful of senior citizens who had come to protest Newt Gingrich's Medicare plan. Bliley, however, went one step further than Sensenbrenner, ordering Capitol police to arrest the old folks when they refused to move. Sensenbrenner might have tried the same thing in his outburst, except that his party had just voted to underfund the Capitol police."
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7539869?rnd=1123888123586&has-player=true&version=6.0.8.1024
Monday, August 22, 2005
The Z06 girls
We've all got one.When I worked for the Library of Congress, she was on the same train I was on. My headphones were playing Bilal, and she walked to the beat of Soul Sista. She had great bone structure and a beautiful face with a tiny bit of makeup on. Her eyes were green with gold flecks and her hair was blown out like Pam Grier's in Cofee. Her dress was a wine burgundy with sandals that matched the hem. Her legs were solid masses of muscle, calves oiled up hours before since by that point they had become a little less shiny from all the running and exhaust. Oh, and she was black. Not black like me, or even Black Like Me, but black like Ukrainian soil. Her oiled black hair made her skin shimmer in the Metro lights. What's funny about her is that some people noticed her and some really didn't. The guy next to me had been talking about politics with me for a few minutes, but he began to stammer when she walked on. When she sat down, he laughed and said, "I'm glad we can't smell her from here... I'd probably have to get off at Dupont with you."
Personally, she reminded me of pictures I saw of Zaire. Not the women, but the mountains or the small creeks... the heat that's actually visible... the nightime sky.
But I never saw her again after that. Most of the time now, when I get on the Metro, I feel like I'm fighting the urge to stare at the entrance to the train, mostly out of fear that the one time I do I'll indirectly stare someone down. Silly, I know, but it's still out there for me. And since the Library of Congress job was the best internship I ever had, it probably just solidifies how great I imagine she was. Just goes to show you how quickly life can take you past what you're looking for into what you THINK you want.
This post is for those girls in our life, or rather, passing through our life. Its for the women that capture your attention for a brief moment, moving unscripted. For the ladies that you see and imagine fighting with over the last bit of peanut butter in your flat in Greece. That you imagine probably clip their toenails over a trashcan in the bathroom while talking to you on the phone, make pasta that you must eat when anticipating the arrival of their parents but won't even eat what you cook when your parents show up, and can't stand your Slum Village remixes. They're perfect, but only for you. Other guys might not be into them. Other guys might not even notice them as they walk past you, but all that really matters that you do.
This post is also for the guys who know these women. For the underdogs with the Caddies that smoke that Mustang every single time, even though they really should have lost. For the hopeless romantics, without (or with) the romance. For the guys who read shaky poetry at the cafe about them, only to find out that most people think its about a fish or some strange obsession with Zaire. And, although this probably includes just about everybody, this is for those guys who know there's nothing quite like seeing someone who makes your mind travel through time to your best days on your worst days.
To those who found them, kudos. To those who lost them, condolences. To those who are steadily waiting for them to board the train, there's always tomorrow.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Post Three (email and forum responses)
I'll apologize ahead of time for cutting up your email, but you've made comments that have to be addressed separately.
(edited by request of person quoted)
Quote:
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I have no sympathy for the war or for Bush or any other politician. It's true that they can send other people's kids into fight because that's a part of how our government works.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While definitely true that right now our government can take volunteers and use them as they see fit, historically this is a pretty recent development. Conscription for the purposes of war is usually mandatory in countries that are not democratic and a draft actually was part of it until it was suspended due to the political minefield that was Vietnam. Now, while not necessarily a bad thing (that it was suspended), the Draft was at least somewhat of a way to level the playing field. If you weren't rich enough or powerful enough to get out of it, you'd have to go. A lot of today's senators and other assorted politicians were members of those units that served as draftees, so obviously many of them are not fans of a draft. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that when a draft came up, it didn't pass.
But why have they approved, either in committee or general vote, increased advertising expenditures for recruitment? Why have they built multimillion dollar recruitment centers in rapid time in the poorest of areas (Baltimore has one that looks like a gigantic shopping mall... and it's in the center of the Market Square area, which is home to lots of the city's recovering addicts and working poor) and made commercials showing people how to talk to their relatives about "accepting their sacrifice as one that is necessary to our liberties?" I think, and so would anyone who read and watched these ads, that they're desperate. They are seeing people who usually would cheer their sons' and daughters' entries into service turn their children away because they are frightened that their children won't come back alive. And the worst part for most of the recruiters and congressmen and other political figures is that when it comes to the lives of their own kids they AGREE.
Quote:
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But since I had no say in going to war and nothing I could have said would have stopped it, I have to accept it in so far as I'll support our troops and anything they do because to do otherwise is the same as telling them that they are chumps and stupid to be where they are. I know they are not either of those things. They are for the most part, fine men and women and I can't denigrate their sacrifice by making a mockery of what they do, while being back here where I'm not being shot at.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To address your second statement, I have to tell you that I agree that we should support the troops, but I don't think that accepting what they are being told to do is responsible or respectful. In fact, I think that by reducing them to pawns in a war that we accept yet somehow don't have "any control over" is the real way that we call them "stupid or chumps." What it ultimately comes down to, again, is what you think patriotism is. Patriotism, according to our own Constitution, is not sitting back and waiting for someone to tell us what to do. As citizens in a democracy, we do have representatives who help facilitate the process, but our penultimate role is Big Boss Man. We tell those guys, no matter how rich and powerful they think they are, what to do. And when we don't, we run the risk of doing our country a disservice. When they lie and we let them lie, we are cheating ourselves as well as the kids that we sent overseas.
You're right, those kids trust us to take care of them and appreciate their sacrifice. But appreciation of any gift requires the full and appropriate usage of that gift, which right now we are definitely not doing. By asking people who are trusting us with their lives to violate international law, psychologically harm citizens of a nation that we are supposedly helping, and betray our allies that are also in the field right alongside them, we're endangering them and disrespecting them at the same time.
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Her protests won't end the fighting. If it would, we would all go out and protest. Even if it did end it at the time, it will come back after us another day. The inevitable will happen, regardless of what we do in the meantime.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You've got that backwards. Her protests alone won't end the fighting. If we all went out and protested together, it would end, because you can't silence everyone. The inevitable will most certainly happen if WE BELIEVE THAT IT WILL regardless of what we do in the meantime.
Throughout history, protest has stopped tanks, gave me the right to exist as an black man, allowed Christians all over the world to read the Bible in their own language as opposed to listening to a priest read it in Latin, gave women the right to vote, stopped a war, ended lynchings as legal resolution to conflict.. the list goes on and on. But we as people have decided to not believe in it as a salve for the inequality of our system because those that have money to buy airtime told us it was pointless. It may seem hopeless right now, but that's what people WANT you to believe. In truth, there's more evidence now more than ever that we're at a tipping point in terms of socioeconomic and political change. But the proof of this pudding lies with us. If WE don't act, nothing will get done.
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Was her son better or more important than those still facing death every hour of every day?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No one is more important than another, but I don't think that she's calling for answers just for her son. I think that the answer that she could have gotten from GW was probably one applicable to all. But I think you should direct those questions to those who haven't had to sacrifice their children to the war machine because its obvious that they don't value any soldier's life if they'll send them out on falsehoods.
Quote:
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Or we can give up and let the terrorists of the world take over. At least I'm inclined to fight for our way of life the best way I can, as imperfect as it is. It's far better than a life under Islam.
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Islam is a lot like Christianity. Imagine if someone in Iran said the same thing about Christianity. The first question you'd have is "Why? What have I done?" because most likely, at least in the US, you're of that particular faith. But then, the second question, which is most important, is "Which Christianity?" Within Islam, there's a heap of different sects and branches. Some of them, like the insanely orthodox (or unorthodox, depending on your division) Islam that is practiced by terrorists, aren't even endorsed by clerics because they usually are in violation of doctrine (the 9/11 attackers, for example, wore cologne and went to strip clubs, which breaks tons of Islamic rules.) Then there's Sufism, which is a kind of ecstatic Islam that's not too far from being parallel to a Baptist (there's a lot of great Sufi poetry... try Rumi or Shams if you're interested... I'll throw you a link if you want one). Then there's the ones in the middle - Sunni, Shia, - and the ones that want to be a part of the faith but aren't yet considered true Islam, whatever that means, - Nation of Islam, Five Percenters, etc. With all those different sects, you know what they say when someone asks them who they are? They say, "I'm Muslim," just like a Presbyterian and a Baptist would say they're "Christians." But Christians do bad things, just like Muslims, yet no one in the US is declaring a moratorium on hiring Christian professors or closing universities that are faith based. We're also not deporting Seventh Day Adventists because of David Koresh or imprisoning Pat Robertson.
I'd argue that we do these things, just the same as why we villify anyone, because they are different than what they're used to seeing in the roads or on the streets. But if we're smart, we'll recognize the beauty in our differences and recognize the human potential in each person.
(edited by request of person quoted)
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have no sympathy for the war or for Bush or any other politician. It's true that they can send other people's kids into fight because that's a part of how our government works.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While definitely true that right now our government can take volunteers and use them as they see fit, historically this is a pretty recent development. Conscription for the purposes of war is usually mandatory in countries that are not democratic and a draft actually was part of it until it was suspended due to the political minefield that was Vietnam. Now, while not necessarily a bad thing (that it was suspended), the Draft was at least somewhat of a way to level the playing field. If you weren't rich enough or powerful enough to get out of it, you'd have to go. A lot of today's senators and other assorted politicians were members of those units that served as draftees, so obviously many of them are not fans of a draft. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that when a draft came up, it didn't pass.
But why have they approved, either in committee or general vote, increased advertising expenditures for recruitment? Why have they built multimillion dollar recruitment centers in rapid time in the poorest of areas (Baltimore has one that looks like a gigantic shopping mall... and it's in the center of the Market Square area, which is home to lots of the city's recovering addicts and working poor) and made commercials showing people how to talk to their relatives about "accepting their sacrifice as one that is necessary to our liberties?" I think, and so would anyone who read and watched these ads, that they're desperate. They are seeing people who usually would cheer their sons' and daughters' entries into service turn their children away because they are frightened that their children won't come back alive. And the worst part for most of the recruiters and congressmen and other political figures is that when it comes to the lives of their own kids they AGREE.
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But since I had no say in going to war and nothing I could have said would have stopped it, I have to accept it in so far as I'll support our troops and anything they do because to do otherwise is the same as telling them that they are chumps and stupid to be where they are. I know they are not either of those things. They are for the most part, fine men and women and I can't denigrate their sacrifice by making a mockery of what they do, while being back here where I'm not being shot at.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To address your second statement, I have to tell you that I agree that we should support the troops, but I don't think that accepting what they are being told to do is responsible or respectful. In fact, I think that by reducing them to pawns in a war that we accept yet somehow don't have "any control over" is the real way that we call them "stupid or chumps." What it ultimately comes down to, again, is what you think patriotism is. Patriotism, according to our own Constitution, is not sitting back and waiting for someone to tell us what to do. As citizens in a democracy, we do have representatives who help facilitate the process, but our penultimate role is Big Boss Man. We tell those guys, no matter how rich and powerful they think they are, what to do. And when we don't, we run the risk of doing our country a disservice. When they lie and we let them lie, we are cheating ourselves as well as the kids that we sent overseas.
You're right, those kids trust us to take care of them and appreciate their sacrifice. But appreciation of any gift requires the full and appropriate usage of that gift, which right now we are definitely not doing. By asking people who are trusting us with their lives to violate international law, psychologically harm citizens of a nation that we are supposedly helping, and betray our allies that are also in the field right alongside them, we're endangering them and disrespecting them at the same time.
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Her protests won't end the fighting. If it would, we would all go out and protest. Even if it did end it at the time, it will come back after us another day. The inevitable will happen, regardless of what we do in the meantime.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You've got that backwards. Her protests alone won't end the fighting. If we all went out and protested together, it would end, because you can't silence everyone. The inevitable will most certainly happen if WE BELIEVE THAT IT WILL regardless of what we do in the meantime.
Throughout history, protest has stopped tanks, gave me the right to exist as an black man, allowed Christians all over the world to read the Bible in their own language as opposed to listening to a priest read it in Latin, gave women the right to vote, stopped a war, ended lynchings as legal resolution to conflict.. the list goes on and on. But we as people have decided to not believe in it as a salve for the inequality of our system because those that have money to buy airtime told us it was pointless. It may seem hopeless right now, but that's what people WANT you to believe. In truth, there's more evidence now more than ever that we're at a tipping point in terms of socioeconomic and political change. But the proof of this pudding lies with us. If WE don't act, nothing will get done.
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Was her son better or more important than those still facing death every hour of every day?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No one is more important than another, but I don't think that she's calling for answers just for her son. I think that the answer that she could have gotten from GW was probably one applicable to all. But I think you should direct those questions to those who haven't had to sacrifice their children to the war machine because its obvious that they don't value any soldier's life if they'll send them out on falsehoods.
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Or we can give up and let the terrorists of the world take over. At least I'm inclined to fight for our way of life the best way I can, as imperfect as it is. It's far better than a life under Islam.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Islam is a lot like Christianity. Imagine if someone in Iran said the same thing about Christianity. The first question you'd have is "Why? What have I done?" because most likely, at least in the US, you're of that particular faith. But then, the second question, which is most important, is "Which Christianity?" Within Islam, there's a heap of different sects and branches. Some of them, like the insanely orthodox (or unorthodox, depending on your division) Islam that is practiced by terrorists, aren't even endorsed by clerics because they usually are in violation of doctrine (the 9/11 attackers, for example, wore cologne and went to strip clubs, which breaks tons of Islamic rules.) Then there's Sufism, which is a kind of ecstatic Islam that's not too far from being parallel to a Baptist (there's a lot of great Sufi poetry... try Rumi or Shams if you're interested... I'll throw you a link if you want one). Then there's the ones in the middle - Sunni, Shia, - and the ones that want to be a part of the faith but aren't yet considered true Islam, whatever that means, - Nation of Islam, Five Percenters, etc. With all those different sects, you know what they say when someone asks them who they are? They say, "I'm Muslim," just like a Presbyterian and a Baptist would say they're "Christians." But Christians do bad things, just like Muslims, yet no one in the US is declaring a moratorium on hiring Christian professors or closing universities that are faith based. We're also not deporting Seventh Day Adventists because of David Koresh or imprisoning Pat Robertson.
I'd argue that we do these things, just the same as why we villify anyone, because they are different than what they're used to seeing in the roads or on the streets. But if we're smart, we'll recognize the beauty in our differences and recognize the human potential in each person.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Part Two (Forum and Email Responses)
This entire topic reminds me of one class where the professor told a story about a man he met on the bus a few years prior.
The man had lost his son the previous year to cancer and after long battles and stays in the hospital, his son's body just gave out. He said his boy had lots of mental fight, but sometimes the body just can't support it. When he died, he and his wife moved to a new house, unable to sleep in the same place. They felt haunted by their own grief. Eventually the marriage ended, and the man was now moving on to a new city where he had some old college friends. He showed my professor a picture, and he literally gasped in horror at the sight of a man that looked at least thirty years younger than the man he met on the bus. The child, a ten year old boy, was using braces to walk and had a big smile on his face. I raised my hand and asked if he remains in contact with him, and my prof said sadly no. He did offer the man prayer which he politely refused, saying that he felt abandoned by God. 'Teach said he understood and moved on, but he remembers the last thing the guy said before they went their separate ways, "I wish I could ask God why."
George Bush didn't kill her child. Neither did God, really. Someone, somewhere gave an order to do so. But the fact remains that Bush sent lots of other people's children somewhere to fight a war that he has no intention of personally sacrificing for. At no point will Bush EVER send his own children, because I know that he believes that they are the most important thing in his life and that losing them would certainly destroy him and his wife. But he also wants to see them grow and marry and have kids of their own. And that is certainly more important than whatever he thinks he's fighting for over there, because if he really thought it was that important he'd send them. So a mom, who has lost her child, changed her mind about how she felt while meeting the man she thought would answer her concerns. Maybe she did some reading. Maybe in her search for answers she read commentary from different political figures, conservative and liberal, who think that the decisions made were dangerous. Or maybe she just thought about it while she wasn't so broken up about her child and decided to take action while she felt composed enough to respond but still sad enough to cry.
In the Revolutionary War, there are lots of stories of children fighting alongside fathers and brothers arming siblings for battle. Kids lied about their age so they could be conscripted. It was a war of passionate belief, and while it was also a war that had plenty of people who disagreed with its fundamental tenets and did prove to be controversial for its time, there was a tenor of singularity present that allowed for people to understand its motives and desires as ones that were essential to freedom.
This war, however, is clearly about corporate division, profit margins, and basically just doing favors for friends and family of those in power. The reasons have been baseless and false, the preparations hasty and clouded with denial of informational access, and the overall justification patriarchal and divisive. People may not agree about whether we should stay or go, but the facts clearly point to falsehood when it comes to whether or not this war was righteous or legal.
Other moms have come out in favor of the war even after their children died or were wounded. But a lot of them aren't, and while I don't think the opinions of those moms who do come out are invalid I do think that despite their opinion of the war they'd rather have a live son and no war than a dead one. That, my friend, is what aligns those parents together and is why a conservative man, who voted for Bush, volunteered his own space for protestors to sleep. He might enjoy the press, but as a veteran I'm sure he knew that when he went home, his family was happy to see him. And that's worth 1000 Iraqs, dude.
The man had lost his son the previous year to cancer and after long battles and stays in the hospital, his son's body just gave out. He said his boy had lots of mental fight, but sometimes the body just can't support it. When he died, he and his wife moved to a new house, unable to sleep in the same place. They felt haunted by their own grief. Eventually the marriage ended, and the man was now moving on to a new city where he had some old college friends. He showed my professor a picture, and he literally gasped in horror at the sight of a man that looked at least thirty years younger than the man he met on the bus. The child, a ten year old boy, was using braces to walk and had a big smile on his face. I raised my hand and asked if he remains in contact with him, and my prof said sadly no. He did offer the man prayer which he politely refused, saying that he felt abandoned by God. 'Teach said he understood and moved on, but he remembers the last thing the guy said before they went their separate ways, "I wish I could ask God why."
George Bush didn't kill her child. Neither did God, really. Someone, somewhere gave an order to do so. But the fact remains that Bush sent lots of other people's children somewhere to fight a war that he has no intention of personally sacrificing for. At no point will Bush EVER send his own children, because I know that he believes that they are the most important thing in his life and that losing them would certainly destroy him and his wife. But he also wants to see them grow and marry and have kids of their own. And that is certainly more important than whatever he thinks he's fighting for over there, because if he really thought it was that important he'd send them. So a mom, who has lost her child, changed her mind about how she felt while meeting the man she thought would answer her concerns. Maybe she did some reading. Maybe in her search for answers she read commentary from different political figures, conservative and liberal, who think that the decisions made were dangerous. Or maybe she just thought about it while she wasn't so broken up about her child and decided to take action while she felt composed enough to respond but still sad enough to cry.
In the Revolutionary War, there are lots of stories of children fighting alongside fathers and brothers arming siblings for battle. Kids lied about their age so they could be conscripted. It was a war of passionate belief, and while it was also a war that had plenty of people who disagreed with its fundamental tenets and did prove to be controversial for its time, there was a tenor of singularity present that allowed for people to understand its motives and desires as ones that were essential to freedom.
This war, however, is clearly about corporate division, profit margins, and basically just doing favors for friends and family of those in power. The reasons have been baseless and false, the preparations hasty and clouded with denial of informational access, and the overall justification patriarchal and divisive. People may not agree about whether we should stay or go, but the facts clearly point to falsehood when it comes to whether or not this war was righteous or legal.
Other moms have come out in favor of the war even after their children died or were wounded. But a lot of them aren't, and while I don't think the opinions of those moms who do come out are invalid I do think that despite their opinion of the war they'd rather have a live son and no war than a dead one. That, my friend, is what aligns those parents together and is why a conservative man, who voted for Bush, volunteered his own space for protestors to sleep. He might enjoy the press, but as a veteran I'm sure he knew that when he went home, his family was happy to see him. And that's worth 1000 Iraqs, dude.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Thoughts About The War Part One
I posted an info chart on Iraq, running down some facts I found interesting. The first time I was introduced to that list, I was taking part in a debate between pro and anti war students. Some were in ROTC on the conservative side, some were getting into it for the first time, and on the other side were just interested students and some staff. I used it, and after reading it aloud, both sides issued their displeasure with my reading it. In fact, every time I've told someone about it they've said the same thing: What does that matter? Why is that relevant?
The reason it is relevant is the same reason why Cindy Sheehan is camped out in Texas: truth and facts are important when you are discussing something of great importance, especially when you're making a decision.
Most of the people that I was on the panel with graduated, most going into the military to serve. In a war where the forward areas are claiming lots of lives, it shouldn't surprise anyone that a lot of these kids that I knew have either been injured or killed.
Their parents are not crybabies. My friends are not crybabies. No one who wants to mourn the loss of their family, blood or spiritual, should be told that they are complaining. The issue of whether or not life is tough is irrelevant and selfish, regardless of who asks. Loss is loss, and just because someone with no human stake in the war sees it as an acceptable fate doesn't mean that other people do, and asking why they died does not mean that they seek the country's destruction. Assertion of anything to the contrary is cruel, mean, and unacceptable.
What IS acceptable is a search for answers that isn't stymied by those in power. Mothers who want answers shouldn't be ridiculed because they desire resolution. Ultimately we should be asking what's wrong with US if we can't understand why it's going on and are unwilling to ask.
In my life, I want to be considered a radical. I say radical because the Latin meaning defines radicals as those who seek the root of the problem or cause. Radicals are often in danger because truth is, in many different ways, expensive. In fact, most would say that it is worth a life. People also say that radicals are dangerous, and I agree. But what I don't agree with is labelling any dangerous fool a radical. True radicals accept no answer as definitively true without study, leaving most of them to spend their lives questioning everything, living in uncertainty. But in that uncertainty I think there's pleasure in knowing the truth, and that for me is what's most important.
To tie things all together, we as a society are trained to be afraid of the truth. Our government has a vested interest, at this point, in keeping us this way. The system, democracy, goes right against this trend in the way that systems are supposed to: just by existing, democracy gives us a choice.
So given the information available, you have a choice to make. Are you going to question what you're being told and use actual reason and logic to make a decision? Or will you blindly follow along? And the kicker is that by making this choice, you ultimately are deciding whether or not you are truly a good democratic citizen. Our founding fathers were patriots and citizens in the truest sense: they believed in being a true radical and using rebellion and dissent as a democratic tool, not supressing it. But they also knew the value of leadership and the relationship required in order for leadership to be truly valuable. But, most importantly, they wrote down what they thought and left it to be read, changed or destroyed as we saw fit because true freedom and democracy is shaped and molded to fit the container that is the governed population.
The reason it is relevant is the same reason why Cindy Sheehan is camped out in Texas: truth and facts are important when you are discussing something of great importance, especially when you're making a decision.
Most of the people that I was on the panel with graduated, most going into the military to serve. In a war where the forward areas are claiming lots of lives, it shouldn't surprise anyone that a lot of these kids that I knew have either been injured or killed.
Their parents are not crybabies. My friends are not crybabies. No one who wants to mourn the loss of their family, blood or spiritual, should be told that they are complaining. The issue of whether or not life is tough is irrelevant and selfish, regardless of who asks. Loss is loss, and just because someone with no human stake in the war sees it as an acceptable fate doesn't mean that other people do, and asking why they died does not mean that they seek the country's destruction. Assertion of anything to the contrary is cruel, mean, and unacceptable.
What IS acceptable is a search for answers that isn't stymied by those in power. Mothers who want answers shouldn't be ridiculed because they desire resolution. Ultimately we should be asking what's wrong with US if we can't understand why it's going on and are unwilling to ask.
In my life, I want to be considered a radical. I say radical because the Latin meaning defines radicals as those who seek the root of the problem or cause. Radicals are often in danger because truth is, in many different ways, expensive. In fact, most would say that it is worth a life. People also say that radicals are dangerous, and I agree. But what I don't agree with is labelling any dangerous fool a radical. True radicals accept no answer as definitively true without study, leaving most of them to spend their lives questioning everything, living in uncertainty. But in that uncertainty I think there's pleasure in knowing the truth, and that for me is what's most important.
To tie things all together, we as a society are trained to be afraid of the truth. Our government has a vested interest, at this point, in keeping us this way. The system, democracy, goes right against this trend in the way that systems are supposed to: just by existing, democracy gives us a choice.
So given the information available, you have a choice to make. Are you going to question what you're being told and use actual reason and logic to make a decision? Or will you blindly follow along? And the kicker is that by making this choice, you ultimately are deciding whether or not you are truly a good democratic citizen. Our founding fathers were patriots and citizens in the truest sense: they believed in being a true radical and using rebellion and dissent as a democratic tool, not supressing it. But they also knew the value of leadership and the relationship required in order for leadership to be truly valuable. But, most importantly, they wrote down what they thought and left it to be read, changed or destroyed as we saw fit because true freedom and democracy is shaped and molded to fit the container that is the governed population.
Friday, August 12, 2005
?!?
So I had an interview with some guys from a union a few weeks ago. The meeting itself was pretty negative, and I wouldn't expect to hear from them... except...
I got an email from the organizing director's girlfriend this morning.
Asking me if I would be interested in working for the union she works for.
But here's the thing...
other locals in this union have told me that my name has been thrown to selected locals in the midwest and farwest. All the East Coast locals have, one by one, interviewed me. Most haven't rejected me. Except for this particular one.
Now, here's what I'm wondering when I get the email:
Does he really know that his girlfriend is going after me as a new hire? Or did she, like most of the other locals, pick my email up off of a list on the AFL website? OR, unlike the others, did she pick my resume off of his desk? Does she know that he hasn't called me back? Is THIS my returned phone call?
I got an email from the organizing director's girlfriend this morning.
Asking me if I would be interested in working for the union she works for.
But here's the thing...
other locals in this union have told me that my name has been thrown to selected locals in the midwest and farwest. All the East Coast locals have, one by one, interviewed me. Most haven't rejected me. Except for this particular one.
Now, here's what I'm wondering when I get the email:
Does he really know that his girlfriend is going after me as a new hire? Or did she, like most of the other locals, pick my email up off of a list on the AFL website? OR, unlike the others, did she pick my resume off of his desk? Does she know that he hasn't called me back? Is THIS my returned phone call?
Raiding (From LJ)
Here's the problem that I see with raiding.
I'm sitting in a bar with my girfriend. She buys me a drink, tells me to cheer up. I'm totally bummed out, moaning and complaining. She's trying her damndest now, really giving me a reason to believe that if I just snap out of it, we can turn things around. She's always been a giving, considerate, woman and she's proving it right there. But I just can't see it, for whatever reason, and I just don't pay attention to what she has to say. She starts to feel hurt now and tears up a little. Before she can full-on cry, I head for the bathroom shouting "Now the waterworks start."
Now you've been sitting at the bar too, drinking and watching this ordeal. I obviously appear ridiculous, but the girlfriend seems worth her salt and in need of some bolstering. You talk and after a few minutes, you begin to find yourself attracted to my girlfriend. You tell yourself that it's okay, too, because the attraction is mutual and I'm a big jerk who doesn't listen. You invite her to leave with you, and as you get up and pay for your drinks, I walk over. I point to your girlfriend, who's currently crying in the corner...
Here's where paths diverge:
In the movement, we seem to think that we know best all the time. As a collective, we can agree on a course of action that can best help all of us, but we hate to even think that singularly we might just be stupid. The truth is, regardless of how awesome you think your organizing model is, or how sweet of a rap you think you've got, or how much money your organizing department has, Members Run Their Union and it is their job to make changes by being an informed body.
Members are often kept out of the loop by an exaggerated process and convoluted rules and regs. If we wanted them to feel good about their participation and fight hard for their contracts, we'd involve them in a real way and sincerely support them when times got hard.
The sad truth is that none of that happens. Usually once they are members they are dutifully ignored until we need volunteer ridealong partners for housecalls or until contract time rolls around and we send out the fleet of reps. We don't talk to them unless we think we need them, and that's just foolish. I've seen it in the internationals I've worked for and it never makes for a good situation.
Getting back to the analogy, you're not paying attention to your own partner. It's fine to make friends, but you're obviously not doing that. What you are doing is looking for a way to increase your own happiness with the caveat that you're doing something good for something else so it must make it okay to cheat on your girlfriend. I might be a jerk sometimes, but I'm her jerk...sometimes. You weren't there when I was there for her birthdays and weddings and funerals. You haven't been on our dates or read our love letters. You haven't been there long at all, and really couldn't hear so good from your barstool anyway. So what makes you think you could even do better? You don't even know her yet. You don't know how demanding a relationship can be on both sides in our case. I work all the time away from home and she needs more support. But she also needs me to go out and get that money so we can both eat. While it's not romantic, it's the truth. And the truth builds relationships, not drinks at a bar with some guy with a good shirt on and some hair product. Because tomorrow, you'll look just as grimey as me, you'll just be a different dude. And you'll go to work too, because you can't eat off love, as hard as we try to.
I'm sitting in a bar with my girfriend. She buys me a drink, tells me to cheer up. I'm totally bummed out, moaning and complaining. She's trying her damndest now, really giving me a reason to believe that if I just snap out of it, we can turn things around. She's always been a giving, considerate, woman and she's proving it right there. But I just can't see it, for whatever reason, and I just don't pay attention to what she has to say. She starts to feel hurt now and tears up a little. Before she can full-on cry, I head for the bathroom shouting "Now the waterworks start."
Now you've been sitting at the bar too, drinking and watching this ordeal. I obviously appear ridiculous, but the girlfriend seems worth her salt and in need of some bolstering. You talk and after a few minutes, you begin to find yourself attracted to my girlfriend. You tell yourself that it's okay, too, because the attraction is mutual and I'm a big jerk who doesn't listen. You invite her to leave with you, and as you get up and pay for your drinks, I walk over. I point to your girlfriend, who's currently crying in the corner...
Here's where paths diverge:
In the movement, we seem to think that we know best all the time. As a collective, we can agree on a course of action that can best help all of us, but we hate to even think that singularly we might just be stupid. The truth is, regardless of how awesome you think your organizing model is, or how sweet of a rap you think you've got, or how much money your organizing department has, Members Run Their Union and it is their job to make changes by being an informed body.
Members are often kept out of the loop by an exaggerated process and convoluted rules and regs. If we wanted them to feel good about their participation and fight hard for their contracts, we'd involve them in a real way and sincerely support them when times got hard.
The sad truth is that none of that happens. Usually once they are members they are dutifully ignored until we need volunteer ridealong partners for housecalls or until contract time rolls around and we send out the fleet of reps. We don't talk to them unless we think we need them, and that's just foolish. I've seen it in the internationals I've worked for and it never makes for a good situation.
Getting back to the analogy, you're not paying attention to your own partner. It's fine to make friends, but you're obviously not doing that. What you are doing is looking for a way to increase your own happiness with the caveat that you're doing something good for something else so it must make it okay to cheat on your girlfriend. I might be a jerk sometimes, but I'm her jerk...sometimes. You weren't there when I was there for her birthdays and weddings and funerals. You haven't been on our dates or read our love letters. You haven't been there long at all, and really couldn't hear so good from your barstool anyway. So what makes you think you could even do better? You don't even know her yet. You don't know how demanding a relationship can be on both sides in our case. I work all the time away from home and she needs more support. But she also needs me to go out and get that money so we can both eat. While it's not romantic, it's the truth. And the truth builds relationships, not drinks at a bar with some guy with a good shirt on and some hair product. Because tomorrow, you'll look just as grimey as me, you'll just be a different dude. And you'll go to work too, because you can't eat off love, as hard as we try to.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
New Plan (Saved from LJ)
So my first setup didn't last. I don't know why I stopped posting, but I think it was mostly because I wasn't writing for what I thought was myself. So now, I'm just gonna write like I don't know anyone.
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