anarchy for breakfast

by twit

Via the Raw Story, it looks like there are some plans developing to welcome the Republican National Convention to St. Paul, Minnesota:

Since last summer, an anarchist group calling itself the RNC Welcoming Committee has been advertising its intention to be present at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN this September, even releasing a video showing black-clad figures cheerfully spreading the word.

here’s the video:

but don’t worry, the government is getting ready, too:

CNN’s Ed Lavendera reports that Denver and St. Paul officials have said that the types of weapons being purchased are “top secret.”

Apart from the traditional pepper spray and rubber bullets employed by police for controlling large protests, Denver, Colorado and St. Paul, Minnesota officials may be spending large sums on weapons CNN calls ’science fiction sounding’.

Weapons such as the sonic ray gun, which emits a head-splitting frequency and deafens large groups of people.

Stripteasin’ for Justice: “La Diosa del Metro”

by twit

“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happy Minutes” via the BBC:

Police in Chile have arrested a stripper who was attempting to remove her clothes outside the presidential palace in the capital, Santiago.

Her arrest comes three days after she performed a series of striptease dances on the Santiago underground, the metro.

Monserrat Morilles told reporters that her performances were aimed at challenging the prudishness of Chilean society and that they would continue.

yes, yes of course there is video:

Hillary For Worldwide Emperor

by twit

Some of Hillary’s most avid supporters are under the impression that she has been offered the Veep slot on Obama’s ticket. So they have created a site, that allows comments without moderation, with the following inspirational message:

Hillary, don’t take a VP slot. Stay in the Senate (or retire or go worldwide).

We won’t let you sacrifice your own future to prop up Obama.

No Remington Steele presidency!

Go worldwide? Is it time for the Emperor of the World election already?

Click here to sign the petition, and don’t forget to leave a comment! Certainly we can all agree that we do not, under any circumstances, want Hillary anywhere near a ticket led by Obama…

Since so many of us actually want Obama to win.

Biofuels are a crime against humanity

by twit

We should have known something was wrong the instant biofuels became so enthusiastically supported by the Bush Administration, but it still is something of a surprise that the World Bank has for months sat on a report that details the crimes against humanity caused by the biofuels industry.

Fortunately, there is someone with a conscience working at the World Bank who helpfully leaked the “damning” report to the media. Via the Guardian on July 4, 2008:

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises.

The World Bank report also includes an analysis of what this means for the world:

Rising food prices have pushed 100m people worldwide below the poverty line, estimates the World Bank, and have sparked riots from Bangladesh to Egypt. Government ministers here have described higher food and fuel prices as “the first real economic crisis of globalisation”.

We hold these truths to be self-evident

by lestro

Today is July 4, Independence Day.

Every year, I make sure to take 15 minutes out of my barbeque/fireworks/beer time to make sure I read the Declaration of Independence.

It’s a good reminder of who we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to believe in about this country.

Unlike the Constitution, which is a working document designed to create and maintain a government that would protect the rights of its people, the Declaration is a statement of Ideals.

It is a philosophical treatise on human rights and government, as well as a point-by-point breakdown of exactly why and how King George was violating those rights.

And I love the simplicity of it: “Hey King George, here’s what we believe and here’s why you’re a jerk. Now piss off, we can take it from here. Love, Thomas Jefferson, et al.”

The very idea that governments draw their power from the consent of the governed and that we elect our leaders to represent us in a larger government was groundbreaking at the time.

America is less a country and more of an idea. We are a nation based not on the divine right of some inbred blueblood (except for the past two elections, of course), but a simple - yet breathtakingly groundbreaking - philosophy. The Declaration is the embodiment of that philosophy.

Written by Jefferson, parts of the declaration are very lyrical, soaring statements on all men being created equal and having the right (among others) to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, while others sections detail nearly 30 specific grievances and reasons for going it on our own. A nation founded on the pursuit of happiness (even if by “all men” he meant “all white, land-owning men”) is and was a truly amazing idea.

What’s even more important is the idea that it is not governments that bestow these rights, that these rights are “unalienable” and bestowed by the Creator. Governments exist simply to “secure these rights.” That is still a pretty radical idea now, let alone in the time of the Divine Right of Kings.

It’s not easy either. We’ve spent the 232 years since then trying to figure out exactly how to live up to such lofty ideals. Well, 225 years anyway. The last seven have been a pretty good exercise in deconstruction of these ideals.

But if we ever have questions about what we are supposed to stand for and why, we need to simply check our founding philosophical document. The philosophy of the nation is right there in the first paragraph.

The Declaration, however, not only separated us from Mother England, but also leaves the door open for future revolutions by laying out the reasons that governments can be overturned: whenever a government fails to secure our rights or ceases to draw its power from the consent of the governed, it is not only our right to overthrow them, but our “duty.”

That’s pretty punk rock when you get right down to it.

So while we all take time today to celebrate our national birthday and pursue our own happiness, be it a barbeque, fireworks or parades, take a few minutes and re-read the Declaration. It’s a quick, inspiring read of just more than 1300 words. Besides, we should all remind ourselves every now and again exactly what we’re doing over here, just to be sure we haven’t lost our way.

Happy 4th.

Vermont Law School pretends to fight for equality

by twit

How embarrassing. For an institution with the motto “law for the community and the world,” one has to wonder why they are engaging in self-mutilation that flies in the face of the most deeply held principles of the school.

Vermont Law School has long opposed the “don’t ask don’t tell” military policy, which is a great thing. They joined several schools in a lawsuit that went up to the United States Supreme Court, challenging the loss of federal funding that followed the refusal to permit military recruiters on campus. And they lost in a unanimous decision by the Court.

The response by Vermont Law School is to continue to bar the military recruiters on campus. Which means, according to the New York Times on June 30, 2008, that the school will not receive an estimated $300,000 to $500,000 in federal dollars each year that the ban continues. The new dean expresses how proud he is to “speak truth to power,” and how great it is to sacrifice such an enormous amount of money for such a tiny school.

I suppose I should send my Vermont Law School diploma back in protest, because I don’t want to display it anywhere if it means being associated with backward and destructive political action. If that school taught me anything, it was to speak out against foolish policies that ultimately hinder the fight for equality.

Introducing our national nightmare

by twit

Via Maureen Dowd, writing for the New York Times on June 29, 2008:

Afterward, Carmella got her idol to autograph her sign, telling the smiling Hillary, “You’re going to be the next president.”

She told The Times that she and her friends were all voting for John McCain and that Hillary was just doing what she had to do.

“But I have a gut feeling,” she said with macabre faith, “that something’s going to happen so that she becomes the nominee.”

[emphasis added]

Somebody PLEASE get the Secret Service and the FBI on this… it is her certainty that really seems to qualify her as the kind of psychopath to keep an eye on.

hooray, it’s Monday

by twit

Let’s have a riot for food, since nobody is expecting such a thing:

“We’re still trying to figure out why so many people showed up.”

Since the economy is going so great, food prices are so low and that price of gas makes us the envy of the world…

Milwaukee police said they have restored order but will remain outside of the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center after a crowd awaiting free food vouchers became unruly this morning.

it just makes no sense that 2,500 people would show up at a welfare office first thing on a Monday morning, and then start rushing the door…

Police responded to the building about 7 a.m. after 2,500 people lined up on the sidewalk and eventually began to block traffic in the street. A number of people had rushed the door, and some people became caught in the crush; however, there were no serious injuries, according to Schwartz.

the twit reads the news

by twit

whoops: Those levees they had thought would hold the Des Moines river back have breached. Total evacuation has been ordered and is well underway in affected areas due to the coordinated efforts of the earlier voluntary evacuations and the police going door-to-door before dawn to wake and assist the people still there. The BBC has video from Cedar Rapids.

damn: Tim Russert is dead. Long live Tim Russert:

What we hope to do in this campaign is recognize there are big differences on big issues between John McCain and Barack Obama – the war in Iraq, Iran, Social Security, taxes. You don’t need to get into this other stuff. If it does surface, then I think the mainstream media has an obligation not to just instinctively put it out there without vetting it.

wow: Protests in Tibet continue, including a report about a monk using a sword to defend himself from officials attempting his arrest and then managing to escape into the mountains before 200 Chinese officers arrived.

To my sisters planning to vote for McCain

by twit

I realize it hurts that Hillary didn’t get the nomination, especially after all of the early media attention that said she was the inevitable candidate. It was a historical moment on its own, providing clear evidence of the cultural shift that finally allowed a woman to become known as the most credible candidate for the  Democratic ticket.

I realize that she was going to vindicate every woman, create a victory for every female held back and left behind by this sexist culture of ours. She called much-needed attention to the inequalities faced by women in America and the unfulfilled promises of liberty and justice for all.

Now the internet is ablaze with former Hillary supporters promising to either vote for McCain, to not vote at all or to write in Hillary on election day. As a woman, from my heart to yours, I ask you to remember why you supported Hillary in the first place. You care about the plight of women, you are sick and tired of being treated like a second-class citizen, you want change to come and you want it now.

I ask you to consider how staying home on election day, writing Hillary in or voting for McCain abandons that clarion call.

Will you work further destruction on your sisters and daughters in order to protest Hillary’s loss of the nomination? Will you work to secure a darker future for all women, now that your first choice is no longer available?

whatever could it be?

by twit

What is the latest issue causing people to rally in the streets?

What affront to civil liberty is getting them knocked out by water cannons and other fun forms of crowd control?

morning cartoons

by twit

starring “Young Hillary Clinton”

Budweiser presents: The 2008 Democratic Convention

by lestro

According the the NY Times, the Dems are lagging on their fundraising efforts for their convention this summer in Denver. Smart money says the problem is that donors are wasting their money on a primary race that is being dragged out by one candidate who has no shot.

But at least the corporations are lining up to help write the platform. Promotional consideration paid for by the following :

Companies that have already donated to the Denver committee and whose logos appear on the committee’s Web site include the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Merck, Lilly, Allstate, Travelers, Lehman Brothers, A.T.& T., Visa, Target and Western Union.

Politicians are like racecars. They’re always gearing up for the next race and they’re both sponsored by hundreds of corporations, all hoping to have their interests advanced by some tool in a crash helmet and a three-piece Teflon suit.

Anyone running for office should be forced to wear the emblem of whatever toxic waste-dumper or puppy-flogger toward which they’re turning a blind eye and deaf ear.

Don’t piss off the Soviets. We’re talking to you, Mr. Spielberg

by loadz

According to Reuters, Communists in the former Soviet Union are a little pissed off about the portrayal of KGB agent Irina Spalko in the new Indiana Jones movie.

Wow, the Soviet Communist party is still around?

Apparently they’re upset about revisionist history casting the former-Soviet Union in a bad light.

“Our movie-goers are teenagers who are completely unaware of what happened in 1957,” St Peterburg Communist Party chief Sergei Malinkovich told Reuters. “They will go to the cinema and will be sure that in 1957 we made trouble for the United States and almost started a nuclear war.”

Yeah, because that didn’t happen until 1962.

The best part is that they unpacked the old communist-y lingo to deride the acting of both Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett (who is actually Australian):

“Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett (are) second-rate actors, serving as the running dogs of the CIA. We need to deprive these people of the right of entering the country,” said another party member, Andrei Gindos.

Ghosts of Iraq

by twit

An insightful comment on a previous post raised an important point about the mental health effects of combat stress, and it reminded me of a recent news story that goes far beyond the cold statistics of the suicide rates for our war veterans:

From the Fort Mill Times on May 25, 2008:

Until the day he died, Sgt. Brian Rand believed he was being haunted by the ghost of the Iraqi man he killed.

The ghost choked Rand while he slept in his bunk, forcing him to wake up gasping for air and clawing at his throat.

He whispered that Rand was a vampire and looked on as the soldier stabbed another member of Fort Campbell’s 96th Aviation Support Battalion in the neck with a fork in the mess hall.

Eventually, the ghost told Rand he needed to kill himself.

Stripteasin’ for Justice

by twit

from the BBC:

Campaign group Pants to Poverty said the “pantathlon” showed “the unfinished business of third world debt”

… “Ten years ago this same weekend, 70,000 people gave birth to a new phase in the fight against poverty.

“This event shows our committed ‘panters’ are prepared to drop their clothes to drive governments to drop the debt.”

Craig Haynes, 22, of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, was one of those taking part.

He said: “We’re here, not to expose ourselves, but to expose injustice.”

Letter to Obama: Fuck these idiots. Go it alone.

by lestro

Sen. Obama -

I recognize that you have secured an insurmountable lead in the pledged delegate count and continue to pull closer in super delegates, but frankly, it is ridiculous it has taken this much time to decide the Democratic Party nomination and even more ridiculous that the super delegates are still squabbling over the best candidate.

The people have spoken and even the pundits have started talking about what anyone with open eyes could see for months.

If the Democratic Party Establishment ignores their own rules and the major in-rush of new voters yearning for something new, something different, then fuck these idiots; Go it alone.

You can win a three-way race between these candidates. Encourage and support Democratic candidates in their races around the country (though there is nothing wrong with supporting a Republican worthy of support), but run on your own. The Red Dawn Generation will follow.

If the Establishment picks the Establishment Candidate, they are obviously no longer the party we need running things.

Go it alone.

Your supporters are fervent. Most of them have been waiting their whole lives to see a candidate who looks like them and understands their world view. For too long we have had to choose between our grandparents and our parents telling us what to do and I am fed up with it. It is time for someone who looks and thinks like us.

And it’s a testament to the good work of the Baby Boomers and the fact that their old ways of thinking are no longer necessary that a white guy from Upstate New York can say that about a black guy from Chicago.

Look, the Red Army is converting

by loadz

Okay, I’m confused. Is this a group of Tibetan monks turning in their robes and joining the Red Army? Or Red Army soldiers joining the ranks of Buddhism?

A more cynical person might perhaps suspect that the Chinese are justifying their use of force by planting imposter monk agent provocateurs in Tibetan protest crowds. But really, what government would do that?

I mean, it’s dishonest. And if we can’t trust the Chinese or Canadians, who can we trust.

Breaking the Great Firewall of China

by twit

via Wikileaks:

In the last week Wikileaks has released over 150 censored photos and videos of the Tibet uprising and has called on bloggers around the world to help drive the footage through the Chinese internet censorship regime — the so called “Great Firewall of China”

… Wikileaks has also placed the collection in two easy to use archives together with a HTML index page so they may be easily copied, placed on websites, cd’s, emailed across the internet as attachments and uploaded to peer to peer networks.

Censored Tibet March 2008 protest photos (120 photos on a single page)

leak:tibet-protest-photos.zip (120 photo archive)

Censored Tibet March 2008 protest videos - display (35 flash videos)

Censored Tibet March 2008 protest videos - FLV format (Flash archive)

Censored Tibet March 2008 protest videos - AVI format (AVI/mpeg4)

morning cartoons

by twit

via Cartoon Brew, “Mexican Standoff” by Parson Brown

Absolut Vodka Goggles

by lestro

How is it that the nation ranked ninth in the world in academics and first in most affordable education didn’t see that this ad might cause a problem or two?

In this image released by the Mexican advertising firm of Teran/TBWA on Monday April 7, 2008, an advertisement created for Swedish Absolut Vodka which ran in Mexico, shows a map of the border of Mexico and the United States where it stood before the Mexican-American War of 1848. The Absolut vodka company apologized for the ad campaign amid angry calls for a boycott by U.S. consumers.

(AP Photo/Teran/TBWA)

Needless to say, the right wingers went absolutely batshit, going so far as to create their own response:

The National Illegal Immigration Boycott Coalition (NIIBC) is known nationally for prior sustained boycotts against Miller Brewing and Bank of America for their support for illegal aliens in the US.

The NIIBC has launched a new website at www.boycottabsolut.com to inform American consumers and provide resources for citizens to engage in the boycott.

“Absolut vodka is trying to sell liquor to Mexicans that aspire to control the Southwest United States,” says William Gheen of ALIPAC.

“The warning signs are everywhere. Illegal immigration is creating a rising threat to our existing border lines and the very existence of the United States. The separatist sentiments and animus towards America are prevalent in the Mexican population and the ranks of illegal aliens inside the US creating a clear and present danger to our nation. Everywhere we look, Global corporations have a hand in this brewing disaster and Absolut just made the list.”

I love that the fence extends out into the ocean on both sides…

The company has obviously apologized and offered to send back the bikini team as a distraction.

Hillary calls for an Olympics boycott?

by twit

rumor has it that this story is brewing:

EXCLUSIVE 4/7/08 11:22:13 ET: HILLARY CALLS ON BUSH TO BOYCOTT OLYMPICS OPENING… DEVELOPING…

really? on the day before the San Francisco protests? right after the disruptive protests in London and Paris?

and I thought the Clinton campaign pretended to ditch Penn for just this kind of divisive thing…

The torch relay becomes a new Olympic sport

by twit
oh look, how nice, people coming together over the Olympic torch…

From the BBC on April 6, 2008: “One protester tried to snatch the torch from former Blue Peter host Konnie Huq.”

Looks like they’ve found a new competition for Olympic athletes:

“Outside Downing Street there were chaotic scenes as former Olympic heptathlon gold medallist Denise Lewis took the flame.”

From the Associated Press: “Another demonstrator tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. Others in the crowd threw themselves at torchbearers running past in official Beijing 2010 Olympics tracksuits.”

The BBC reports that there have also been unannounced changes to the torch route and that the torch has been carried partway by bus to avoid protesters.

Tibet Update: Chinese police open fire on protesters

by twit

On April 4, 2008, the Associated Press describes reports of recent protests, including that “police opened fire on hundreds of Buddhist monks and lay people who had marched on local government offices.” The Chinese media agency Xinhua reports:

… no mention of deaths or injuries among protesters, but said a “riot” had flared up Thursday night outside government offices in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture high in the mountains in Sichuan province along the border with Tibet.

further details are offered by the Associated Press:

… the chief monk, Lobsang Jamyang, refused to allow a government team to enter on Wednesday, but they returned Thursday with a force of about 3,000 paramilitary troops. The two monks, Geshi Sonam Tenzing and Tsultrim Phuntsog, were detained after photos of the Dalai Lama were found among their belongings.

Soon afterward, the monastery’s 370 monks marched on local government headquarters to demand their release, joined by about 400 lay people, Whitticase said. The group left after being told the two monks would be freed at 8 p.m., but returned after officials reneged. Along the way, they were confronted by troops at a road block, who opened fire on the crowd, Whitticase said.

The BBC has more:

Tibetan exile groups say Chinese security forces killed dozens of protesters. Beijing says about 19 people were killed in rioting.

… The latest Xinhua report states that a government official was “attacked and seriously wounded” in the Donggu township at about 2000 (1200 GMT) on Thursday.

“Local officials exercised restraint during the riot and repeatedly told the rioters to abide by the law,” Xinhua quoted an official with the prefectural government as saying.

“Police were forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence,” the official added.

Tibet Protest News Update

by twit

From the International Campaign for Tibet on April 3, 2008:

There have been further protests in the past few days in Tibet as the crackdown on the plateau deepens, with mass detentions in different areas and some monasteries encircled by troops.

In some areas, including Kardze in Sichuan province (Kham) and Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), there are signs that the authorities are provoking further unrest and frustration by requiring local people to sign denunciations of the Dalai Lama.

According to reliable reports received by ICT, in some rural areas of eastern Tibet many Tibetans have fled villages or nomad encampments and are hiding out elsewhere to avoid arrest.

ICT also has a map of Tibetan protests since March 10, 2008:

Previous posts:

Tibet Protest News

The Middle Way Through Tibet

“Tell the World, They Said to Us”

Should the US Boycott the Olympics?

Welcome to the future

the latest in teen fashion

by twit

accessorize with storm troopers:

From the Associated Press and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on March 28, 2008:

Riot police officers arrest a demonstrator during a protest to mark the “Day of the Young Combatant” in Santiago, Friday. The Day of the Young Combatant commemorates the killing of two young brothers by police in a 1985 protest during the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Tibet Protest News

by twit

Protests are happening throughout China but information is difficult to find.

This post collects news reports about recent protests in China by province.

Comments with updates and links are welcome and appreciated.

Map via the BBC. A detailed map of China and its provinces is available via Wikipedia.

(Updates continue at Tibet Protest News Update, including this link to the ICT map of Tibetan protests from March 10, 2008 through March 25, 2008)

Tibet

On March 10, 2008, an estimated 300 monks march to the center of Lhasa from Deprung monastery. On March 13, monks begin a hunger strike and other protests as Lhasa’s three main monasteries are locked down by Chinese authorities.

On March 14, violent protests occur in Lhasa. On March 15, there are reports of crowds of protesters being shot by police during the March 14 demonstrations.

On March 14 and March 15, 2008, demonstrations take place in Penpo, near Lhasa. An estimated 3,000 Tibetans then join demonstrations demanding the release of detained protesters. Most monks from the Penpo Ganden Choekor monastery are then detained by Chinese authorities.

On March 16, 2008, tear gas, electric batons and gunfire drive back Tibetan protesters in Lhasa. On March 17 and March 18, widespread arrests are reported in Lhasa, as well as hundreds of deaths since March 10, 2008.

By March 19, 2008, Lhasa is reported to be quiet, with a heavy Chinese military presence.

On March 27, 2008, thirty monks disrupt a carefully coordinated tour of Lhasa in view of several journalists. On March 28, there are reports from Lhasa of hundreds of prisoners being forced into trucks and onto a train.

On March 29, 2008, there are reports of several ongoing demonstrations in Lhasa, coinciding with the visit by foreign diplomats. On March 30, “panic” is reported in Lhasa near security checkpoints.

Sichuan

On March 15, 2008, monks and other people demonstrate in Ngaba county. On March 16, an estimated 7 23 30 protesters are killed and hundreds wounded by Chinese authorities, including monks from the Kirti monastery, during a protest involving thousands of people marching towards Ngaba county government headquarters. Additional protesters are reported shot by Chinese authorities on March 18, 2008.

On March 20, 2008, widespread arrests, detentions and a ‘massacre‘ are reported in Ngaba county. On March 22, monks protest in the Chabcha area of Amdo. By March 23, food shortages are reported in Ngaba county due to the restrictions imposed by Chinese authorities.

On March 24, 2008, police fire on crowds of protesters attempting to march to a government office. On March 25, there are violent protests and reports of Chinese authorities firing on crowds of protesters in Garze, including monks from the Trehor Draggo monastery.

On March 29, 2008, it is reported that over 500 monks have been taken away from the Kirti monastery in Ngaba. On March 30, mass arrests of monks are reported at the Amdo Ngaba Buddhist School of Dialectics, Amdo Ngaba Gomang monastery, Amdo Atob monastery and the Tatsang Lama Kirti monastery.

Qinghai

Protests in Qinghai began in late February, 2008 with hundreds of people, including monks from the Rebkong monastery, demonstrating until tear gas was used by police to disperse the crowd.

On March 16, 2008, hundreds of monks march towards the government headquarters of Rebkong county and are joined by additional protesters until paramilitary troops detain the monks and use tear gas on the crowd. On March 17, China is reported to engage in ’suppression on the run’ to contain the spreading protests and demonstrations. On March 18, monks at Rebkong monastery continue to protest by burning incense in violation of orders from Chinese police.

Thousands are reported as continuing to participate in protests as of March 20, 2008.

Gansu

On March 14 and March 15, thousands of Tibetans demonstrate in Xiahe near the Labrang monastery. On March 16, protests are reported in Machu county, including the destruction of the doors to the county government offices.

Days of unrest are reported in Hezuo, Gannan and Maqu county, including student protests and clashes with police.

On March 18, hundreds of monks and Tibetans protested in Sangchu county. On March 19, hundreds of Tibetans, including some riding horses, are reported as attacking a government building in an unnamed town.

Detentions and arrests of an estimated 20 Tibetans are reported in Sangchu county on March 21, 2008.

Beijing

A small student-led vigil is reported on March 19, 2008 to be the first reported protest in the Chinese capital.