Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Department of Peace

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) introduced legislation (awhile back) to create a Cabinet-level department of the federal government, dubbed the Department of Peace. I don't know the viability of the idea, but the proposed responsibilities of the department would include:

  • Monitoring of all domestic arms production, including non-military arms, conventional military arms, and of weapons of mass destruction,
  • Making regular recommendations to the US President for various arms reductions strategies,
  • Assumption of a more pro-active level of involvement in the establishment of international dialogues for international conflict resolution (as a cabinet level department),
  • Establishment of a US Peace Academy, which amongst other things would train international peace-keepers,
  • Development of an educational media program to promote non-violence in the domestic media,
  • Monitoring of Human Rights, both domestically and abroad,
  • Making regular recommendations to the President for the maintenance and improvement of these Human Rights,
  • Receiving a timely mandatory advance consultation from the Secretaries of State, and of Defense, prior to any engagement of US troops in any armed conflict with any other nation,
  • Establishment of a national Peace Day,
  • Participation by the Secretary of Peace as a member of the National Security Council,
  • Expansion of the national Sister City program,
  • Significant expansion of current Institute of Peace program involvement in educational affairs, in areas such as:
  1. Drug rehabilitation,
  2. Policy reviews concerning crime prevention, punishment and rehabilitation,
  3. Implementation of violence prevention counseling programs and peer mediation programs in schools,
  • Also Making recommendations regarding:
  1. Battered women's rights,
  2. Animal rights,
  • Various other peace related areas of responsibility.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Nefarious is a five-dollar word.

From MSNBC.com:
Ex-Powell aide rips Bush on Iraq, detainees

WASHINGTON - A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that “the president of the United States is all-powerful” and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.

In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was “too aloof, too distant from the details” of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush’s detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because “otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard.”

Monday, November 28, 2005

Why should you obey the law?

Justice Louis Brandeis said:
"In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the laws scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker; it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."
Powerful words.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Free-marketeers.

From Mark Shield's column on CNN.com:
The editor of The Wall Street Journal editorial page and the host of the Tomlinson-backed PBS show was Paul Gigot, a respected journalist and agreeable colleague with whom I had sparred weekly for eight years on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." These Journal panelists are all in near total agreement that tax cuts and unfettered free enterprise are good, while government regulation (with the possible exception of federally mandated de-icing of airline wings in sub-zero weather) and most Democrats aren't.

I'm all for the mandate, too.

The Wall Street Journal editors program was not a brand new TV show. It had appeared, until it was cancelled in January 2003, on the cable business channel CNBC, which Dow Jones, the publisher of the Journal, owns jointly with NBC.

So the show got canceled on the "free-market" and then got pushed by a Republican to get back on the air funded by federal tax dollars. Shields makes a good point.

American.

"America represents something universal in the human spirit. I received a letter not long ago from a man who said, 'You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey, and you won't become a German or a Turk.' But then he added, 'Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American."
- Ronald Reagan (at campaign rally for Vice President Bush, San Diego, November 7, 1988)

Kerry Wins!..as jury foreman.

From CNN.com:

Incidentally, the case was a lawsuit brought by two men "suing the city for injuries suffered in a 2000 car accident involving a school principal." The jury rejected the claim.
"I just found him to be a knowledgeable, normal person," said Cynthia Lovell, a nurse and registered Republican who says she now regrets voting for President Bush in last year's election. "He kept us focused. He wanted us all to have our own say."

Monday, November 21, 2005

Context.

From a survey of Latinos in the South, commissioned by Center for Research on Women in Memphis, the Highlander Research and Education Center, and the Southern Regional Council:
East Tennessee, a predominantly rural, white working class Appalachian context.
Appropriate.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

My alcohol-tinged message to the Music Row Democrats.

"The Democratic Party needs a spine. We need to clearly state our beliefs, unabashedly and unapologetically.

We must state the value system that we believe in unequivocally.

We must show that "liberal" is not a dirty word. Extreme conservatism is just as bad as extreme liberalism. Compromise for the greater good is the future of our country and our society.

We must be able to develop answers to right-wing neo-conservatives, defend our patriotism and simultaneously point out flaws in the Republican talking points without sounding like "hippies", "bleeding heart liberals", or "pinko commies," even if some in our Big Tent happen to fall into those categories.

We must state that we believe in our Constitution and Bill of Rights and love our country enough to die for it."

This is in quotes. Even though I'm the one saying it.

God Bless America.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

More Disapprove than Approve in East Tennessee


(click image for larger view)

If Jesus debated Kerry and Bush.

From an October 31, 2004 sermon, posted here.

Evidence.

This page has some really great quotes. My favorite:
"If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
- David Otis Fuller
Another:

"My great concern is not whether God is on our side, my great concern is to be on God's side."
- Abraham Lincoln

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

2012

The Washingtonian, a publication in Washington, D.C. polls Congressional staffers and aides regarding members of Congress. Their results from the 2004 poll are funny and interesting.

From the House and Senate sides, respectively:
MEMBER I’D LIKE TO SEE AS PRESIDENT IN 2012
1. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN)
2. David Dreier (R-CA)

SENATOR I’D LIKE TO SEE AS PRESIDENT IN 2012

1. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
2. Bill Frist (R-TN)
3. John Edwards (D-NC)

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Good ol' Rocky Top!

On Saturday, I will be at:

University of Memphis vs. University of Tennessee
Neyland Stadium - Knoxville, TN
2:00pm


Wish that I was on ol' Rocky Top Down in the Tennessee hills
Aint' no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top, ain't no telephone bills
Once I had a girl on Rocky Top, half bear, other half cat
Wild as a mink, but sweet as soda pop I still dream about that !

Rocky Top you'll always be Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee!

Once two strangers climbed ol' Rocky Top Lookin' for a moonshine still
Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top, reckon they never will
Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top, dirt's too rocky by far
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top, get their corn from a jar!

Rocky Top you'll always be Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee!


I've had years of cramped-up city life Trapped like a duck in a pen!
All I know is it's a pity life, can't be simple again

I would vote for John McCain.

States' rights used to be a euphemism for racism, referring to a states' right to allow slavery to be legal. This phrase of conservatism is now being borrowed by liberals to stand up for oppression, fascism, and the "neo-cons" that have taken over the Republican party. Stephen Crockett writes on OpEdNews.com:
Fiscal conservatism has become a very important element in Democratic election successes. Restricting the invasions of privacy and erosions of freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is another element of the appeal of many Democratic candidates to traditional conservative voters.
It is clear that traditional conservative need to start ignoring the Democratic or Republican labels when voting. Issues matter. Policy positions and actions matter more than empty words. Traditional conservatives should be looking at the actions and beliefs of the Bush Republicans, “neo-cons”, so-called Christian Rightists and greedy Corporatists and deciding if these are the kind of people that should be using the “conservative” label!

Don't make girls cry.

I personally can't stand when girls cry, not because it annoys me, but because it makes me feel helpless. Rabbi Marc Gellman writes in an unrelated article on MSNBC.com, quoting the Talmud:
“Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears.

Which is it?

Donna Brazile writes for (subscription only) RollCall.com:
"...the cost of running for public office, largely driven by the expense of the broadcast ads that are the bread and butter of modern campaigns, is so high that fundraising for the next race must begin virtually the day after they win the last one."
So are we elected people to office to represent us or are are we electing professional, taxpayer-funded, professional fundraisers?

These same elected officials who avoid good or worthy legislation like the plague because a particular industry will withhold their contributions. How is that a democracy? Politicians aren't representing the people, they're representing whoever gives them the most money.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Gotta be kidding me.

It takes 12 DAYS to impose a curfew. And then, miraculously, the rioting in Paris France's suburbs "decreased sharply."
Duh.

Crazy statistics.

From Zimmerman's column on CNNSI.com:
Green Bay Packers (1-7)
Despite this record, they still can put forth the amazing statistic of having scored more points than they have given up, 168-159. In the advanced mathematics department at MIT they call this the Statistical Variable Syndrome for Reversible Numericals.

That's just crazy. How do lose when you score more points than are scored on you?

Truth.

"When people think, Democrats win."
- Bill Clinton

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Guns don't kill people, bullets do.

From CNN.com in Jacksboro, TN, population 2,000, 35 miles northwest of Knoxville:
One dead in Tennessee school shooting

Sheriff: Student suspected in shooting of three administrators

JACKSBORO, Tennessee (CNN) -- A student opened fire Tuesday afternoon on a principal and two assistant principals at a high school in Jacksboro, Tennessee, killing one of them, the sheriff said.

The suspect was taken into custody, authorities said.

No students were injured, and Campbell County Comprehensive High School was locked down immediately after the shootings, said Judy Blevens, director of Campbell County schools. About 1,400 students are enrolled in the school.

Campbell County Sheriff Ron McClellan identified the slain assistant principal as Ken Bruce, 48.

McClellan, who was at Bruce's side when he died, said it's not clear how many times the assistant principal was shot. McClellan said he saw only one entrance wound.

Two other victims -- Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce, who also is a track coach -- were airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Pierce was in critical condition and Seale was in serious condition, hospital spokeswoman Lisa McNeal said Tuesday afternoon.

The 15-year-old student allegedly slipped a gun under a napkin and fired at administrators in a common area, CNN affiliate WATE reported.

Bruce was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center in LaFollette. The suspect also was taken there for treatment of a minor injury.

Police already have taken statements from the suspect, McClellan said, and once he's given medical clearance authorities plan to move him to a secure facility.

"I have no information firsthand of what type of motive or what would cause this individual to do this," McClellan told WATE, adding that the student's father had arrived at St. Mary's with a lawyer.

CNN affiliate WBIR interviewed a longtime friend of one of the administrators who said "everybody's very sad" and "in disbelief" after the attack.

As word of the shooting spread, a throng of concerned parents gathered outside the school. Authorities tried to assure them the students were OK and that dozens of police and deputies had secured the scene.

Buses and vehicles eventually were allowed onto campus to pick up students.

Eerily prescient questions.

This was written by James Fallows in the Atlantic Monthly. The piece was written in November 2002, four months before the invasion of Iraq.
"Going to war with Iraq would mean shouldering all the responsibilities of an occupying power the moment victory was achieved. These would include running the economy, keeping domestic peace, and protecting Iraq's borders—and doing it all for years, or perhaps decades.
Are we ready for this
long-term relationship?"
We fight them over there, so we don't have to fight them here. Sounds good. I'd be for that, too. If it wasn't for the fact that every Iraqi that gets killed for walking down the street gets blamed on the invasion, and in turn the American people. Which includes me, as it were. The hatred and resentment of the Iraqis creates more terrorists. It's a vicious cycle.

I don't want U.S. soldiers dying to create an Islamic state of terrorists. Is that so bad?

"Fire the bus driver."

View Barack Obama's (and others) interview on The Daily Show.

Sam Donaldson on George W. Bush

"It's a personal character thing.

It's not, `This policy doesn't work' or `Gosh, we're going to have high heating oil bills; that's terrible, I don't like that.'

It's, `I don't trust you.'

You can't repair that by getting rid of X, Y or Z."

Monday, November 07, 2005

Life in the "Google Economy"

From the NYTimes.com:
"Cellphone makers, for example, are looking at the concept of a "shopping phone" with a camera that can read product bar codes. The phone could connect to databases and search services and, aided by satellite technology, reveal that the flat-screen TV model in front of you is $200 cheaper at a store five miles away."
That would be helpful.

...wave of the Future:
A professor atHarvard Business School said that Google is "the realization of verything that we thought the Internet was going to be about but really wasn't."

Saturday, November 05, 2005

"Chicago"

by Carl Sandburg:

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,

Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,

Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing!

Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Definitions, please?

What do these phrases mean, exactly?

"ownership society"

"personal accounts"

"tax relief"

"school choice"

"color-blindness"

"opportunity zones"

"devolution"

"streamlining government bureaucracy"

Getting evicted.

From MotherJones.com:

"Renters still in shelters or temporary homes across the country will never see the court notice taped to the door of their home. Because they will not show up for the eviction hearing that they do not know about, their possessions will be tossed out in the street.

In the street their possessions will sit alongside an estimated 3 million truck loads of downed trees, piles of mud, fiberglass insulation, crushed sheetrock, abandoned cars, spoiled mattresses, wet rugs, and horrifyingly smelly refrigerators full of food from August."

Embarassing.

From Yahoo! Sports:

Tennessee averages 16 points per game, ranking 108th out of 119 Division I-A schools.

Oy.

Get what you deserve.

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
- George Bernard Shaw

Horse's mouth.

William F. Buckley, prominent (almost legendary) founder of the National Review in 1955 (and fifty years ago a CIA operative in Mexico City) wrote:
"...the sacredness of the law against betraying a clandestine soldier of the republic cannot be slighted."

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Boston Legal

AWESOME show!