In recent days I’ve been scouring the ground as I walk about town, looking for intact bottle caps that I might be able to use. Last Tuesday, while walking up High Street with my daughter, I spotted this bottle cap lying face-up where the sidewalk and a commercial building met. I picked it up with mild interest, thinking that the edges were in fine enough condition that I might flatten them with some ease.

As I usually do with bottle caps on the street, I turned it over before I put it in my pocket to see if there was any dirt I needed to knock out first. When I turned it over, I was astonished to see circuitry on the back! The circuitry didn’t look like it was running off the edge or anything, so this wasn’t just some old circuit board someone cut out in order to… what? And there was a little bit of battery power right there on the back, which made it seem to me that this little bottle cap back was made for a reason. The final, really intriguing bit: right there in the ribbon below the “Ultra,” there was a little tiny something or other that poked out the front. What was it? What did it do?

In the fifteen minutes it took me to walk back home, my mind was all abuzz with possibility. Paranoia was in full swing as I asked myself: could this be a bug? A listening device? Some little bitty camera? What did someone leave it there for, face-up? Crowd surveillance? Who did it? The FBI? NSA? Oh, the possibility! The horror! The excitement!

Then I got home and noticed the text “PAT. 5143439″ right up at the top. Well, spy agencies probably don’t get registered patents for their gadgets. I looked up the patent number and found out what it’s really for:

A novelty button assembly provides buttons with a variety of indicia on the face of the button and an unlimited location of the blinking light in the face of the button. An electronic circuit is adapted to drive a light emitting diode with a current pulse of very short duration to permit the use of a small battery and to provide long battery life. A capacitor is used in a novel high efficiency oscillator circuit only in the determination of blinking rate and battery current duty cycle, allowing the use of a wide variety of smaller value capacitors that lend themselves to microelectronic packaging desirable in flasher button assemblies. The pin used to fasten the flasher button assembly to the clothing of a wearer also serves as the electrical switch to turn the flashing button assembly on and off.

Well, if that doesn’t beat all. Sure, it isn’t some high-tech listening device, and yeah, I had to put my paranoia back in my pocket, but what this little beastie did turn out to be is kind of neat. Someone on the planet decided that they could have fun and make money by sticking a circuit onto the back of a bottlecap and turning it into a little light display. And, at least in once case, they did.

The world is a very big place, and there is a lot left in it for us to find.

Watch what the Republicans do, not what they say, to find their priorities.

When my brother worked as an elementary school teacher in a public school, he spent a fair amount of his own money just to equip his classroom in a barely acceptable manner: place educational posters on the walls, put books on the shelves, and so on. He was not alone. Teachers on average spend nearly $500 of their own money on school supplies for their students in a year — and considering that schoolteachers in this country aren’t paid on a par with stockbrokers or plastic surgeons, that’s a fair part of their annual income.

Until the end of 2005, there had been on the books a provision that let teachers deduct the cost of classroom supplies they purchased from their taxable income. That provision was not only compassionate, was not only supportive of education in the country, but also made perfect sense — when teachers devoted their own money to the education of their students, it ceased to be in any practical way their income.

When the Republican-controlled House and Senate declared an end to their work year yesterday and left for home, they had failed to pass a law extending the provision for teachers. Now teachers who shell out their own money to stock their classroom with necessary supplies will not only lose the income they spent on educating their students, they’ll also have to pay additional taxes on their non-income. You can thank the Republican Congress for that.

While failing to ensure fairness for America’s hard-working teachers, the Republican Congress made sure to dedicate extra days this week to suspend those portions of the United States Constitution which guarantee a fair trial. And don’t think the Republicans simply place destruction of the American Constitution over tax laws, either: they made sure to pass a law back in May 2006 cutting taxes on interest income and the sale of stocks, two sources of income that primarily benefit people who are already well-off.

Forget teachers. Help the rich. Suspend the American Constitution.

These are the Republican Party’s priorities. Are they yours?

60 miles driven so far this week

My attention is swallowed up by the passage this week of a bill that guts habeas corpus and other constitutional protections of individuals against the power of government. It’s like a black hole to me, making it hard for me to even see the light from other stars in the political universe.

But surely there is something else going on out there. Shift my center of gravity. Tell me about something else going on that bears attention.

Weekend Open Thread.

Have the past three days made you angry? Have the past six years made you furious? Don’t just sit there; join with like-minded others, exercise those First Amendment rights to Assembly and Speech, and shout your dissent out loud.

There are only six days left until October 5, when the 5 Day of Mass Resistance erupts.

Since two days ago, when I last wrote with a list of cities organizing events, 16 more cities have registered their events, bringing the total to 134 cities across America with demonstrations planned. Even in states such as Alabama and Utah are in on it. The current list of cities (click here for details on events):

Chances are large that you are within striking distance of one of these demonstrations. If you are, click here to find information about the protest event. If on the off chance you aren’t within shooting distance of a demonstration, click here to register an demonstration where you live. Just call a place and time, put some fliers up around town, and be surprised to see how many people come.

What can you do to spread the word?

1. Put up fliers. I’ve modified the original fliers, taking out superfluous material and putting in a space where you can put in your local demonstration’s details. Go to a copier, make a hundred copies, and stick them up around town. Call it your exercise for the day. Here they are: flier 1 and flier 2.
2. Make your own smaller 1/8 page sized announcements with “Oct. 5,” “Drive Out the Bush Regime,” and demonstration details for your local event. Put them on every table of a cafeteria, every table of a coffee house. Hand them out to people hopping on the local bus.
3. Print those smaller announcements on the kind sticker paper you can put through an inkjet or laserjet printer (via OfficeMax) and… well, you know those lampposts around town?
4. Got a blog? Spread the message with your own post.
5. Call ten friends, if you have ten friends. If you don’t have ten friends, call ten enemies and get them upset so they’ll spread the word and get people talking. Even negative publicity is good publicity.

New locations for this increasingly massive day of demonstration are being added regularly — until October 5, we’ll provide an updated list every day.

Your government won’t fix things for you. Your mother-in-law won’t do it for you. You’ve got to show up at the march and be counted among the dissenters yourself. The only way that the country can be shocked into listening to our outrage is if we wallop them with a surprising show of people on October 5. That means you have got to be there. It means you need to tell ten friends. This is, to quote the annoying but accurate anarchists, what democracy looks like.

This afternoon, I needed a new pen, and so I bought one at the Barnes and Noble that read upon its side:

“Hope is a Waking Dream.” ~ Aristotle

No matter how I scribbled, ink would not come out of the tip.

As I noted last week, the Republican Party is using its GOP.com website to help its followers lie in public. GOP.com maintains a set of ready-made letters for its toadies to cut, paste, and automatically send off to newspapers around the country. The unethical dimension of the technique appears when Republicans sign their own names as authors, making it appear to dangerously gullible newspaper editors that a local salt-of-the-earth actual person, not some Republican Party hack, wrote the party-boosting letter.

Here is an example of one of GOP.com’s processed pablum cut-and-paste talking point McLetters:

President Bush has a clear plan for victory in Iraq that begins with training Iraqi forces so they can defend their country and fight the terrorists. We are making tremendous progress towards this objective. Earlier this year, Iraqi forces led the fight in clearing out terrorists during the crucial battle of Tal Afar, with U.S. troops in a supporting role, and every day, Iraqis are taking more control of the situation on the ground. Withdrawing from Iraq, as some Democrats in Washington propose, would send a dangerous signal to our enemies that we cut and run when the going gets tough. President Bush is offering a clear strategy to win, not a political quick fix.

The plagiarized letters continue to appear in news outlets around the country. Why, just this Wednesday the above words were cut and pasted 100% into an Argus Leader Media letter to the editor that Lynn Petersen of Brookings, South Dakota falsely claimed she wrote.

Lynn Petersen is the just latest citizen to turn herself into a lying tool of the Republican Party. Whether Lynn Petersen chooses to lie to a newspaper — and through the paper to lie to her neighbors — is a matter for her to decide upon and to deal with the consequences of. But when the Republican Party chooses to encourage citizens to lie to the media and to each other, then it becomes a policy issue and an indication of amorality in the Republican political machine. If you consider yourself a “moral values” voter, ask yourself how you can vote for a Party that is telling your fellow citizens to lie to you. Is that what you stand for? Is that what you want to vote for? I hope not.

I just so happened to be working in Washington D.C. while the House and Senate passed the new torture and arbitrary imprisonment law (HR 6166 and S 3930). The law allows the President of the United States to declare anyone an “enemy” and then take away all their legal rights as a result - without chance of appeal. This law effectively transforms George W. Bush into a dictator.

I recorded the following video podcast of my thoughts in immediate reaction to this development on the scene, right in front of Capitol Hill.

Thereisnospoon at Daily Kos informs us that we need to “Calm The Fuck Down Already” regarding the passage and imminent signing of H.R. 6166 and S. 3930 into law. The gist of the argument: it will all be fixed, so don’t take it out on the Democrats who voted yes. I won’t mince words: Spoon’s appeal is partisan bullcrap.

The only way to get this abominable law overturned will be to change the hearts and minds of Senators already in office. Moral cowards who fail to speak their true moral values, who capitulate over and over and over again in vain hope, will change no one’s heart and no one’s mind. Americans who believe in the Constitution need to speak more, not less, if things are to get better.

Republican Dennis Hastert, who helped push Bush’s pro-torture, anti-freedom law through the House of Representatives, unintentionally let slip the true intentions of the legislation. He said,

“Freedom worldwide would be coddled, if we followed the Democrat plan.”

That pretty much sums up the Republican attitude this week, doesn’t it? Whatever we do, the Republicans say, we must not coddle freedom!

The United States of America has now completely disappeared. We are all now subjects of the Homeland.

A corrolary to the Golden Rule is that what one does unto others, one should be willing to have done to oneself.

I will respect the moral integrity of the 65 Senators and 253 Representatives who voted to approve the Tyranny Act when I see them each volunteer a son or daughter to be sent into the machinery of the “enemy combatant” system, to be picked up off the street, classified and detained without appeal to a court, and subjected to the “alternative procedures” of interrogation borrowed by the Bush administration from history’s inquisitors.

But they aren’t terrorists! You cry.

Neither will be a startling number of the people trapped in the crushing cogs of America’s newly ordained injustice system. Every witch hunt ensnares and eviscerates the innocent as it destroys the innocence of the hunters.

Of course, not a one of these scoundrels will volunteer their son or daughter, much less themselves. This is because they are moral cowards of the worst order. The violent usually are.

44 miles driven so far this week

Sigh. Before I begin to write on the more serious news of the day, I’m going to write about something utterly trivial. It’s purgative in a way and boy, do I need to purge.

Once a week, I plop my daughter off at a drop-in day care center for a few hours and work in a coffee shop to feel like a non-dad person for a spell. On my way in this morning, I walked past a store I’d never seen before called Giftology. Through the glass panes, I could see the contents:

Clocks embedded in fake marble.
Clocks embedded in plexiglas faux crystal.
Clocks embedded in maple wood.
Pens in big, long brass holders.
Pens in big, long black plastic holders.
Pens in big, long maple wood holders.
Pewter soccer balls.
White ceramic vases.
Plexiglas faux crystal photo frames.
Key chains.

Does anyone here wake up in the morning and say, “Golly, I sure do hope I get that pewter soccer ball for Christmas, or a clock embedded in plexiglas for my wedding anniversary!”? Does anybody you know work extra hard at the office so they can get a pen held in a big, long, black plastic holder in recognition of five years’ service? Or a key chain for two?

Bullshit! Nobody wants these “gifts.” We already are swimming in key chains. The knick knacks are already covering our desks, and the clocks look like crap unless they’re dusted every month. These aren’t gifts. They’re opportunities to discharge a sense of obligation to people we don’t particularly care for. They aren’t tokens of affection or appreciation; they are tokens of thoughtless disdain. “Gift,” nothing; these aren’t gifts. They’re burdens, extra pieces of mostly plastic crap that we won’t use but can’t politely throw away just in case the “giver” shows up at our office or in our den and notices their absence. Thanks, boss, more crap I have to steward! May I have more, please?

Giftology is to gifts as blue eye shadow is to beauty.

Every member of the United States Senate takes a binding Oath of Office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Not to support and defend the people. All the people living in the United States of America are going to die anyway; there’s no defense against that. The United States of America is not defined by its particular people, since they come and go.

Not to support and defend the country. The land itself has been here for billions of years, and will go on for billions of years more with or without the Senators’ help. The United States of America has not been consistently defined by its borders, which have changed.

The Constitution of the United States. Every Senator swears a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States is the test of patriotism. It defines America and Americanism, and deviations from the Constitution define betrayal.

Habeas Corpus — judicial review of detention — is guaranteed by the Constitution. It is a bulwark against tyrannical government. And it is savaged by S. 3930, a bill destined to be signed into law. A committee — a committee! — appointed by the President or the Secretary of Defense will have the power to designate any person — citizen or not — as an enemy combatant. And if they say a person is an enemy combatant, then Shazam! — that’s what they are. No court will have the power to review that designation.

The right to confront the one’s accuser and the evidence against oneself is guaranteed by the Constitution. It is a bulwark against the construction of kangaroo courts and show trials. And it is tarnished by S. 3930, which grants detainees only the right to confront processed, edited, redacted, selected versions of reports of evidence. Just guess where that will head.

S. 3930 is a domestic attack upon the Constitution.

To vote NO is to support and defend the Constitution. To vote NO is to uphold one’s solemn Oath of Office. To vote NO is to declare one’s status as a faithful ally of the United States Constitution and the United States of America.

To vote YES is to attack the Constitution. To vote YES is to violate one’s solemn Oath of Office. To vote YES is to declare one’s status as a domestic enemy of the United States Constitution and the United States of America.

Here’s the real roll call, ignoring nominal party and focusing instead on behavior:

Lamar Alexander has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Wayne Allard has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
George Allen has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Robert Bennett has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Kit Bond has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Sam Brownback has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Jim Bunning has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Conrad Burns has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Richard Burr has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Thomas Carper has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Saxby Chambliss has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Tom Coburn has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Thad Cochran has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Norm Coleman has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Susan Collins has betrayed her oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
John Cornyn has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Larry Craig has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Michael Crapo has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Jim DeMint has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Mike DeWine has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Elizabeth Dole has betrayed her oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Pete Domenici has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
John Ensign has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Michael Enzi has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Bill Frist has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Lindsey Graham has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Charles Grassley has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Judd Gregg has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Chuck Hagel has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Orrin Hatch has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Kay Bailey Hutchison has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
James Inhofe has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Johnny Isakson has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Tim Johnson has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Jon Kyl has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Mary Landrieu has betrayed her oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Frank Lautenberg has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Joseph Lieberman has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Trent Lott has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Richard Lugar has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Mel Martinez has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Robert Menéndez has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
John McCain has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Mitch McConnell has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Lisa Murkowski has betrayed her oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Ben Nelson has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Bill Nelson has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Mark Pryor has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Pat Roberts has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Jay Rockefeller has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Kenneth Salazar has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Rick Santorum has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Jeff Sessions has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Richard Shelby has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Gordon Smith has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Arlen Specter has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Debbie Stabenow has betrayed her oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Ted Stevens has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
John Sununu has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Jim Talent has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
Craig Thomas has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
John Thune has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
David Vitter has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
George Voinovich has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.
John Warner has betrayed his oath of office and forsaken the American constitution.

Daniel Akaka has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Max Baucus has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Evan Bayh has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Joseph Biden has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Jeff Bingaman has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Barbara Boxer has honored her oath of office and done her duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Robert Byrd has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Maria Cantwell has honored her oath of office and done her duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Lincoln Chafee has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Hillary Clinton has honored her oath of office and done her duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Kent Conrad has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Mark Dayton has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Christopher Dodd has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Byron Dorgan has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Dick Durbin has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Russell Feingold has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Dianne Feinstein has honored her oath of office and done her duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Tom Harkin has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Daniel Inouye has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
James Jeffords has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Edward Kennedy has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
John Kerry has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Herb Kohl has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Patrick Leahy has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Carl Levin has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Blanche Lincoln has honored her oath of office and done her duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Barbara Mikulski has honored her oath of office and done her duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Patty Murray has honored her oath of office and done her duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Barack Obama has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Jack Reed has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Harry Reid has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Paul Sarbanes has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Chuck Schumer has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.
Ron Wyden has honored his oath of office and done his duty to support and defend the American Constitution.

And Olympia Snowe? She fell asleep on the job.

This isn’t about political party. It’s about the betrayal of a solemn obligation to some damned fine moral values. Defenders of the American constitution are outnumbered two to one in the Senate, an outvoted minority on the Supreme Court and completely absent in White House. It is time for citizens who pledge their allegiance to the Constitution to fill the breach. They say the pendulum will swing back to the side of reason in due time, but when the pendulum is being held in place, someone has to give it a little push.

Push.

I am concerned on principle by the apparently imminent passage of a bill that guts the habeas corpus rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution, provides a retroactive amnesty to the Bush administration for its crimes, and gives a committee appointed by the president the power to snatch people off the street, designate them, and detain them without review. The Constitution is the highest law of the land, and when the Constitution is disregarded, our nation ceases to become a land of laws, and instead becomes a domain of naked power.

But I am even more concerned on a practical level about what happens next. Do you remember September, 2001? Do you remember how freaked out everyone was? How irrational we all were? For a time, the Constitution repressed our worst urges, at least domestically. But what about now? What happens five or ten years from now when another moderate to major terrorist attack takes place? There won’t be a precedent of respect for habeus corpus. There will be a precedent of indefinite detention. There won’t be a precedent of judicial review. There will be a precedent of shadowy executive commitees without review or restraint. There won’t be a bedrock respect for the bill of rights; a full third of the first ten amendments will have crumbled as of tomorrow.

So what do you think will happen after that attack? Here’s what I think: I think you’ll see havoc that dwarfs any direct damage from the terrorist attack. I think you’ll see mass detention of terrorists, dissidents, activists, family members, and swarthy people. I think “sedition” will be added back to the list of crimes, along with “disruption;” if you can ignore the fourth, fifth and sixth amendments, why not ignore the first? I think you’ll see riots in the street, more jailings, more disappearances, more torture, states of emergency and martial law.

I’ve had a nice life so far; I’ve had my chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I don’t want my children to lose their chance. That’s why it is imperative for a bill like S. 3930 to be voted down. And that’s why I am despondent at the prospect that a majority of America’s leaders are set to vote with a hearty YES.

===
Update: 7:37 pm. It’s passed. It will be signed by Bush. The Bush Supreme Court will OK it. All avenues within the government have been exhausted to protect and defend the Constitution that embodies American ideals. It’s time to work outside government. It’s social movement time.

Have you gone to senate.gov, looked up your Senators’ contact information, and called their offices to voice your opinion regarding the Tyranny Act, S. 3930? If your Senators are Republican, have you asked them to vote No? If your Senators are Democratic, have you asked them to filibuster?

If you haven’t called your Senators, what are you waiting for? Time is running out.

If you haven’t called your Senators, will you be able to forgive yourself in ten years’ time?

Now would be a good time. Also, now. Or, if you’re too busy flossing right now, how about now?

Get on the phone.