Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

Just a quick note to let everyone in the Irregular Times community know… today is the birthday of Hare Trinity, a long-time regular here. Am I right in thinking that this will be your 20th birthday, Hare?

Hope it’s a happy one.

We all know that everybody wants to rule the world the question is why? Who needs the headaches ya know? I mean sure Sadaam may have had lots of money and palaces but hey, did he really enjoy them, being hated and haunted by his own people?
And look at Pres Bush, you really think he is happy? Of course he is just a puppet to the real wizards behind curtain number 3. Any true free thinking American knows that.
So what’s a blog all about anyways something for us wanna be world rulers to feel like we rule a little tiny part of this vast cyber universe we call the Internet?
Well I know I feel important now. Well at least it gives us tadpoles a chance to speak our mind even though we are “being watched”.
And Freedom, does anyone really believe that anyone is really free on the face of the earth?
I used to when I was a kid, before I became a TAX PAYER!
Freedom just another sad illusion.
So hey World this is may first blog so let me know what you think about all this stuff….meanwhile I’ll be still thinking…

The Federal Election Commission has announced its long-awaited system for regulating Internet speech. A number of online writers were worried that internet speech might be lumped together with television and print advertising, making it impossible for bloggers, bulletin board frequenters and podcasters to say anything about an election as it approached. Thankfully, this did not come to pass.

The rules are pretty simple and pretty clear. If a campaign wants to spend money to put a message on a blog that makes it look good, then it has to spend the money using officially regulated funds, and it has to note the spending. This doesn’t prohibit the use of money to spread word about a campaign on the internet; it just makes it more transparent. As it is now, who’s to say whether a blog is really independent or just propped up by a candidate? It’s hard to say, it’s hard to track, and therefore it’s hard to know. Under the new rules, we’ll know, and that’s good for us all: we get to see the wizard behind the curtain pulling the levers.

For everybody else who isn’t playing some kind of insider buddy-buddy back-slapping money-for-kind-words payola game, there are no regulations. None. We get to speak our mind about the candidates, the issues, the policies, and the contests, just as we are able to do today. That’s freedom, and I love it.

I have to forcefully shove these words out of my fingers as I type them in, but it looks like our government has done something right. Whew.

Earlier this morning, I wrote a quick update about my experience so far on MySpace, an online community especially suited to hormonal teenagers, but with some potential for more mature political networking.

I’ve also been trying another online cooperative community to see what kind of potential it might have for enhancing the presence of progressive political causes online. It’s called Squidoo, a name that evokes tentacles stretching and exploring dark corners and crevices – something that the Internet is quite useful for. As it happens, Squidoo is mostly virgin territory when it comes to politics, so I have been able to set up the first and only pages, or lenses as they call them there, on Squidoo dedicated to Russ Feingold’s budding campaign for President in 2008 as well as for the Squidoo lens to serve supporters of Hillary Clinton for President in 2008 as well, though I’m less personally enthusiastic about that prospect.

So far, my experience with Squidoo is positive. Lenses and their modules are easy to set up – though many of the news modules have no options for customization by keywords, and the RSS feed modules need to be supplemented by XML modules as well. There is but one generic module which allows one to write text and html in freeform, but that module seems to have the most potential so far. If I use that module, however, why would I choose to do so on Squidoo?

As with MySpace, my forays into Squidoo will have to be a long-term exploration. In order to fairly judge anything on the Internet, it’s important to use it over a lengthy period of time, to allow things time to develop, for links to be made, and for people to interact. I’ll be reporting back on more of my thoughts on the world of Squidooing in the weeks to come.

As I’ve mentioned before, the 24th congressional district, in Upstate New York, is shaping up to be one of the truly hot races for this year. It’s not just hot because there’s an open seat in a swing district, however. More than that, the 24th district congressional race is hot because there are some truly remarkable characters.

There’s Les Roberts, the progressive Democrat who smuggled himself into Iraq to research, firsthand, the impact of the war upon Iraqi civilians. There’s Leon Koziol, a harshly conservative Democrat who says that one of the biggest problems that the 24th District in New York has is Hollywood… yes, Hollywood in California.

Then there’s Michael Arcuri, the well-connected District Attorney for Oneida County, who seems to plan on just coasting to victory based on knowing all powerful Democrats in Oneida’s city of Utica. Where does Michael Arcuri stand on the issues – with progressive Les Roberts or with right winger Leon Koziol?

Unfortunately, it seems that Mike Arcuri is ideologically more close to right wing Koziol than to progressive Les Roberts. Arcuri appears to be playing the old game of trying to win an election as a Democrat by embracing the Republican point of view. Arcuri goes out of his way to say that he won’t stand with other Democrats in the Senate on the most important, controversial issues of the day.

On Tuesday, Michael Arcuri took his attacks against progressive Democratic grassroots activists a step further, attacking what he called the “liberal fringes” of the Democratic Party.

Michael Arcuri has made it pretty clear where he’s going to stand. As a member of Congress, Michael Arcuri would stand with the Joseph Liebermans of the Democratic Party, and we cannot have another weak-willed, milquetoast, rightward leaning Democrat in that Congress.

For the Democratic primary in New York’s 24th District, the choice for progressive Democrats is clear: Anybody But Arcuri. Vote for one of Arcuri’s more progressive rivals.

What a shame it is that the national Democratic Party seems determined to ram Michael Arcuri through the 24th District’s primary, no matter what the actual Democratic voters of the 24th District want. Let’s hope that Arcuri’s two serious rivals, Les Roberts and Bruce Tytler, have the strength to stay in the race until the primary, without dropping out under pressure from Party insiders more interested in victory than in staying true to the ideals Democratic voters hold dear.

As of today, it’s less than one month until Earth Day. So, I’m going to begin a kind of Earth Day advent calendar of sorts, and check back in on environmental issues and campaigns.

Let’s start out with Earth Day itself, which is on April 22. That’s a Saturday, folks, and the weather will be nice in most places around the country. So why not plan now get out on that day and do some practical Earth Day activities. Plant a tree. Replace some of your lawn with an alternative, no mow, planting. Clean up some litter. Take a bike ride. Practice homeland security.

Wait a minute. Practice homeland security?!?

Yeah, that’s right, I said it, but I don’t mean what you think I mean. If the Republicans and right wing Democrats want talk homeland security, fine, let’s talk about homeland security… on our own terms.

Our homeland is the Earth, not just one particular nation. If one part of the Earth gets screwed up, we all pay the consequences these days. So, homeland security isn’t about going to war, or using illegal government programs to spy against Americans. Homeland security is environmental security.

Make the homeland secure. Stop the pollution of our air, soil and water. Make the homeland secure. Stop the destruction of Earth’s habitats. Make the homeland secure. Stop global warming.

On April 22, take your first step in all these homeland security initatives. Protect the homeland. Celebrate Earth Day.

Over the months, as the story of Ram Bomjon has developed, we’ve had a lot of discussion about the phenomenon as it has developed. First, Ram Bomjon was reported as sitting under a tree for months without moving. Then, Ram Bomjon was subjected to investigation. That investigation was thwarted. Then, with renewed scrutiny, Ram Bomjon disappeared. Now, Ram Bomjon has reappeared in the forest to his followers, who shot a video of his talk to them before he disappeared once again.

Throughout the discussion, one theme has returned again: Ram Bomjon’s supporters claim that it doesn’t really matter whether the Ram Bomjon phenomenon is real or not. What matters, they say, is that the idea that Ram Bomjon has supernatural powers is appealing to some people, so we should just accept it without skeptical questioning.

Well, here’s the test of that postion:

Ram Bomjon ate my mother.

He started with her fingers.

Don’t believe me? Well, I said he did. I say I saw him do it.

He ate my mother, using his belly button, using secret meditational techniques.

What, you want to bring investigators to my mother’s home to see if she is still alive? What, you want to examine the contents of Ram Bomjon’s stomach? Why?

Isn’t what I claim good enough for you? Shouldn’t we just abandon all that nasty skepticism, and accept people’s faith without asking rude questions?

Well, I have faith that Ram Bomjon ate my mother, and I think it’s just a shame that so many people close their minds to that possibility.

If they just would try my methods of meditation for ten weeks, they also would realize that Ram Bomjon ate my mother. So, I think it’s unfair for them to prejudge the matter without at least giving my meditational methods a fair chance.

Besides, Ram Bomjon was missing for several days, at the exact same time my mother was eaten. What more proof do you need?

Or, maybe, do you think that it might be a good idea not to accept people’s outlandish claims about supernatural events at face value?

Yesterday, I took part in an anti-war demonstration on a busy street corner in Davenport, Iowa. There were about sixty of us. That may not sound like a lot, but on the Cosmic Sociological Scale, three-score Midwesterners holding signs in public–where people can see you– is the equivalent of three million Chinese students in Tiananmen Square standing in the path of onrushing tanks. It’s all relative.

A reporter from the local paper interviewed a few of us. Then he dragged his camera crew to the opposite corner where counter-protestors were waving flags. He interviewed–get this–all of them! Can you believe it? Isn’t that just the way the damn conservative press works; they’ll give a couple of progressives a quick few minutes, then spend the rest of the day interviewing every pro-war conservative in sight!

To be fair, must rephrase that: when he finished with us, the reporter walked over to the counter-protestors and interviewed both of them. 

Yep. There were only two. A middle-aged couple, one waving a flag, the other a ”Support Our Troops” banner. I know how they must have felt. Three years ago, it was the progressives who were the small, forlorn group at this intersection. Passers-by derided us, shot obscene gestures at us. Some stopped their cars to scream epithets.

But yesterday, the passing traffic gave us more than a few thumbs-up, enthustic waves and and honking horns. It’s an interesting inversion: it is the pro-war minority and president who are ”out of step with the American People.” We who disagree with the president and his war are the majority.

I don’t know how things are going where you live, but here where the corn grows and the Mississippi flows, the silent majority is finding its voice.

by tedbohne

http://www.opednews.com

So Condi says we can’t allow China to become a “negative force” in the world (American) economy or a military threat to the world. (US) Clearly Rice is not aware of the world around her.

Japan thinks China should embrace nuclear disarmament at the very time the US is refurbishing it’s nuclear arsenal, as well as building new weapons.

Pakistan isn’t likely to stand for this for long. Especially when India starts it’s “nya, nya! we get the guns” crap.

I’d say that George’s decision to share advanced weapons technology to India clearly indicates the possibility, indeed, the probability of nuclear proliferation.

China is the largest trading nation on the planet, ONLY doing what it learned from the US. Given America’s penchant for always playing the game in a foul odious way, I’d say it takes some balls to tell people to “do as I say, not as I do.”

The US has failed out of hand to realize it ISN’T the only superpower in the world. There are still three. China, The Russian Federation, and ahem, the US.

Further, Rice’s embrace of the same Indonesians that slaughtered thousands of East Timorese and damned near sent Amy Goodman to her reward, is perverse in the extreme. These people are terrorists.

I recall that George thought the appropriate response to the Tsunami for Indonesia was shore up their military. You know 2 x 2 = 13? The other countries got the leftovers.

China has come up fast, and has done the US a few BIG favors, such as buying some 4% of US debt, some 700 or so billion dollars.

All the while looking for other currencies to back it’s own with. Further, a huge portion of outsourced work went to China leaving American workers on social programs that Bush is, as we speak, gutting.

I spent some time looking through Walmart, and Sears as well, and better than 80% of the goods compared to the total were made in China. Craftsman power tools, and virtually anything at Walmart. Tires, clothes, household items, you name it.

The US well knew China would invest a huge portion of it’s GNP in military Hardware. Including Nuclear weapons.

American business moguls let greed get the best of them, and they are enroute to a concrete wall at light speed. (186,000 miles per second) What a tapestry that will make!!

Condi’s Romanesque proclamations beg the question, “who’s watching after this kid?” She is apparently unaware that the US has no power over China. China sells to the Globe, not just the US.

China, on the other hand is in a spectacular position to have unwanted sex with the US. The US can’t stop China from beefing up it’s military.

Further, the sick behavior of the US for at very least the last six years has given MOST countries the desire to build up some sort of nuclear force to keep the US and Israel from doing stupid things.

When and if we as a country dispatch the Bush filth, it will be of utmost importance to make it far to difficult for American Multinational Corporations to do any business whilst operating overseas.

Huge import tariffs on their “foreign goods.” Gut the tax code as it applies to Corporations, close all loopholes, and let the earn their keep for a change.

I think most rational people know that continued economic growth as it effects the American people and the world as well, isn’t sustainable.

This fact is as important to the world as clear understanding of global environmental degradation because of manufacturing, and the products of the manufacturing.

People must come to the conclusion without any doubt that “free market capitalism” is at it’s core rotten, necrotic, and criminal. It demonstrates, among other things, some of the more perverse aspects of Humanity.

It benefits only a tiny few, and now we’ve clearly seen the total lack of “courage” of the Republicans and Republicrats in fencing in these corporate fat cats. Largely because they ARE the fat cats.

Since making a better life for everyone is capital intensive, there will be no efforts made for Americans as long as the Republicans retain power. Hell Cheney is still receiving money from Halliburton. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW!, IT’S AGAINST THE LAW!

Then there’s the Abramoff scandal, and the millions of dollars donated to Bush and other prominent Republicans, and a murder or two for icing on the cake. Millions stolen from Native Gambling efforts as well.

Then there’s George’s shoplifter too. Stole some 5000 dollars worth of merchandise. A close friend of George. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

With this type of economic management, the Chinese can buy the US with pocket change, and still get the raw end of the stick!! All the while America sleeps.

I can scarcely believe how catatonic American’s have become about the “bricks of money” lost, stolen, not only by the “Iraqi Government,” but mercenaries, Military personnel, and God knows who else.

Bricks of 100 dollar bills in shrink wrap each worth a hundred grand. Bremmer and associates have lost billions of dollars. Totally unaccounted for, poof! Well, it’s YOUR MONEY!

The Bush sewage might just as well be burning bricks of money to cook hotdogs with. The world has changed, and the world can, and eventually will crush the United States if it continues this reckless behavior.

That sad moment might arrive earlier than expected if someone doesn’t muzzle Condi Rice. I seems unbelievable that the world wide hatred of the Bushes in every country they go to doesn’t appear to even be noticed by George and his entourage.

As far as China is concerned, despite Condi’s “Charles Manson” mentality, and clearly out of place speeches, China just turned out to be better at mass production and sales than the US. It has all the people it needs, and all the resources it needs.

Further, since the US has NEVER engaged in trading honestly and fairly, it’s reign over the world market was destined to end.

Simply put, China is kicking the living shit out of the US economically. The US can’t beat her militarily, an god help us if this mob of sick animals in their clearly delusional state, decide to jump on another bull they can’t ride!

Ted Bohne N96173@msn.com is a Vietnam Vet, and former U.S. Army Ranger, 51 years old, disabled, formerly a paramedic and adjunct faculty at Texas Tech University School of Medicine and tenured faculty at Odessa College, Odessa Texas.

Despite the incontrovertible evidence that there is no government to petition, you and many others continue to advocate “calling” or “writing” to these fictional characters.
There exists today, not a scintilla of evidence that such acts have any consequence, good or bad, yet you continue to do this. This constitutes irrational behavior making such people suspect of some form of dementia.
Clearly the Republicrats will not sign on to a resolution to censure George Bush, and the Republicans certainly won’t. Yet, on you go. I suppose if it makes you feel better, and does no harm, then enjoy yourselves.
The sad aspect of this behavior is that it distracts people from the facts they desperately need to face. Soon, if not already, the US will reach a point where it cannot be saved. Most certainly not in the eyes of the world.
The US is one of Three World Superpowers. The US absolutely cannot defeat them, on the field of battle, or in the boardroom. The days of US bullying other countries, especially small defenseless ones are over.
The US is taking a thrashing from a small, poor, third world country after spending nearly a trillion dollars, employing 20,000 mercenaries, using Iraqis against Iraqis, and other forms of absurd activities.
Some eight billion dollars has vanished into thin air. Can’t be accounted for. Certainly this doesn’t sound like a force anywhere in the vicinity of victory.
Despite this, the US continues to throw threats around as shells from sunflower seeds. The US economy, or at least the one that most of us live with, is in the toilet. Countries world wide are dumping the US dollar as a reserve currency in favor of the Euro. A country becomes worthless when it’s currency dies.
Despite all this and much, MUCH more, People continue to engage in clearly fruitless endeavors shown by history to be ineffective unless backed by the sure knowledge that should the opposition refuse to abandon a clearly criminal, dangerous course that violence will follow thereafter without delay.
Most certainly it isn’t the desired course of action, and in ALL cases should be an instrument of last resort. But, we are now there, and have been for six years.

George Walker Bush now needs to be clearly advised in unequivocal, unmistakable terms that he has a specific and short time frame to depart Washington D.C. along with all members of his regime. Then, immediately and without condition whatsoever, surrender himself and his associates into the custody of persons decided upon by the American people.

That should he or any of his associates contest the aforementioned directive that serious physical harm, including death can and would be employed to insure their departure and seizure.

If American’s aren’t willing to ride out in the name of this Quest, then we are all presently enjoying our last days as a nation.