Urge House Judiciary to impeach Bush

Dear Mr. Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee,
The Democratic Party may think it in its best interest not to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush, please consider doing what is right, imperative and just. If Bush still has time to bomb Iran before he leaves office, you have the time to impeach him. Anticipating that you face a hostile press, please consider initiating an investigation of the media which could lead to their indictment on charges of treason for abetting Bush’s crimes.
Thank you!

Here’s the contact info for the House Judiciary Committee to urge them to move forward the 35 Articles of Impeachment HOUSE RESOLUTION 1258. This committee is chaired by John Conyers, once-upon-a-time-ago a vocal advocate of impeachment. A written letter makes the best impression. Personal phone calls are next. Then Emails.

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:

Honorable John Conyers, Jr. (Chair) D-MI
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
Email: john.conyers@mail.house.gov
(202) 225-5126

Honorable Howard L. Berman D-CA
2221 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Email: howard.berman@mail.house.gov
(202) 225-4695

Honorable Rick Boucher D-VA
2187 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Email: ninthnet@mail.house.gov
(202) 225-3861

Honorable Jerrold Nadler D-NY
2334 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5635

Honorable Robert C. Scott D-VA
1201 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-8351

Honorable Melvin L. Watt D-NC
2236 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-1510

Honorable Zoe Lofgren D-CA
102 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3072

Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee D-TX
2435 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3816

Honorable Maxine Waters D-CA
2344 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2201

Honorable William D. Delahunt D-MA
2454 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Email: william.delahunt@mail.house.go v
(202) 225-3111

Honorable Robert Wexler D-FL
213 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3001

Honorable Linda T. Sanchez D-CA
1007 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-6676

Honorable Steve Cohen D-TN
1004 Longworth Building
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-3265

Honorable Hank Johnson D-GA
1133 Longworth Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-1605

Honorable Betty Sutton D-OH
1721 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3401

Honorable Luis Gutierrez D-IL
2367 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-8203

Honorable Brad Sherman D-CA
1030 Longworth Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0524
(202) 225-5911

Honorable Tammy Baldwin D-WI
1022 Longworth House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-2906

Honorable Anthony Weiner D-NY
1122 Longworth House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
Email: weiner@mail.house.gov
(202) 225-6616

Honorable Adam Schiff D-CA
326 Cannon House Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
(202) 225-4176

Honorable Artur Davis D-AL
208 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2665

Honorable Debbie Wasserman Schultz D-FL
118 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-7931

Honorable Keith Ellison D-MN
1130 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-4755

Honorable Lamar S. Smith R-TX
2184 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4236

Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. R-WI
2449 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5101

Honorable Howard Coble R-NC
2468 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3306
Email: howard.coble@mail.house.gov
(202) 225-3065

Honorable Elton Gallegly R-CA
2427 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-0523
(202) 225-5811

Honorable Bob Goodlatte R-VA
2240 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5431

Honorable Steve Chabot R-OH
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2216

Hon. Daniel Lungren R-CA
2448 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5716

Honorable Chris Cannon R-UT
2436 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Email: cannon.ut03@mail.house.gov
(202) 225-7751

Honorable Ric Keller R-FL
419 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2176

Hon. Darrell Issa R-CA
211 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3906

Honorable Mike Pence R-IN
426 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3021

Honorable J. Randy Forbes R-VA
307 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-6365

Honorable Steve King R-IA
1432 Longworth Office Building
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-4426

Honorable Tom Feeney R-FL
323 Cannon House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-2706

Honorable Trent Franks R-AZ
1237 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4576

Honorable Louie Gohmert R-TX
508 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3035

Honorable Jim Jordan R-OH
515 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2676

Complete 35 Articles of Impeachment Kucinich blacked out by media and net

Rock Star
US Representative Dennis Kucinich:
 
“President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office”
 
x 35

Dennis Kucinich put impeachment on the table last night in defiance of House Speaker Pelosi’s assurance to Bushco. He snuck it in under a Question of Privilege and then spoke for almost five hours. C-Span carried his electrifying performance live, but the mainstream media is so far ignoring the story. As a result, it does not rank on Google News and bloggers themselves have been slow to disseminate the details, hindered by the kucinich.us website being hacked. Here are the 35 ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT via democrats.com via Afterdowningstreet.

Here are the 35 Articles. Visit impeachbush.tv for the arguments Kucinich made for each.

Article 1
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq

Article 2
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of
Aggression

Article 3
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War

Article 4
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States

Article 5
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression

Article 6
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114

Article 7
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article 8
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter

Article 9
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article 10
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article 11
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article 12
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources

Article 13
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries

Article 14
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article 15
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article 16
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article 17
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article 18
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article 19
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article 20
Imprisoning Children

Article 21
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article 22
Creating Secret Laws

Article 23
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article 24
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article 25
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article 26
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article 27
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article 28
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article 29
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article 30
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article 31
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article 32
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article 33
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article 34
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article 35
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

Pictures in remembrance of Elizabeth

Elizabeth FineronA memorial will be held for Wilma Joanne “Elizabeth” Fineron at Benet Hill Chapel, 2pm Monday April 28.
 
Steve Handon will officiate the ceremony. The music will be performed by First Strike Theater alumni. Benet Hill Monastery is at 2577 Chelton Rd. The chapel is located behind the school.
 
The Gazette wrote that Elizabeth walked her talk, the Indy featured a similar tribute. CSAction reprinted an email Elizabeth sent about her hospital ordeal.
 
Below we’ve collected some pictures of Elizabeth.

Early portrait

Already a knowing smile

On the steps with brother and cousin

Long blond hair

Becoming a nun

With friends in Woodland Park

Irish

In the afternoon sun

Birthday

Gathering with friends

Big smile

For a tribute and more pictures, click here.
For an amusing photo sequence, click here.

Elizabeth sent this email about her difficulties at the hospital:

I have had a very rough medical month and a half. I went into Memorial with Pneumonia the second week of March. While there they planned for me to return to have the right Corroded Artery done and in the meantime they sent me to Health South Rehab to work on balance. I stayed there a few days and returned home to wait two days to go back to Memorial for the surgery. I had the surgery and went home. At home I watched the hematoma on my neck get bigger and bigger and me get “dimmer and dimmer”. On Monday I saw Dr. Carlson and the next day (April 1st) I returned to Memorial for him to go in and heal the INFECTION. While in my neck he accidentally cut into the artery. In order to stop the bleeding he had to cut the main nerve to my tongue. A plastic surgeon (Dr. James) came and sewed up the tongue. Then Dr. Carlson put a patch on the Artery. Two days later he went back in to remove the patch and put a vein from the leg. While in something happened to my vocal cord. They kept me in Memorial a few more days and sent me back to Health Care South. I just got home yesterday and will have home medical care for a while. I feel very withdrawn from every thing so Paulette, if you want to call me or come visit me that would be terrific and I can get caught up. Love you both.

Elizabeth.

My Earth Minute of Reflection

I’m typing this on the Earth Hour. Immediately after, actually. By the time we’d thought to look at the time, we’d missed the whole thing. Our usually regressive city council had registered Colorado Springs as an official participant, and we wondered if we’d watch the city lights go dark, on a Saturday night, when offices and stores are vacant anyway. Except for the clubs, which would surprise me if they even dimmed the music to mark the event.

Earth Day became Earth Hour became an Earth Minute of Reflection.

Had we observed Earth Hour, extrapolating that by advocating turning off the lights, the organizers had meant all power, I would have unplugged by laptop, to rely on my battery until such a time, the hour later, when I could plug back in to recharge and resume my online connection.

I’m playing right into the comparison described by a friend. He said the Earth Hour effort reminded him of the calls to boycott gas stations on a collectively agreed date, which keep circulating via email. Even if everyone is able to conspire to stop buying gas for one day, the gas companies can count on twice as many customers the next day. Nothing changes unless we curb our consumption of energy.

Earth Hour is wonderfully pragmatic by offering a palatable measure of ECO effort for attention spans which could no longer apply themselves to a whole day of green etiquette required by Earth Day. Perhaps this hoopla garnered more adherents. I missed it. The thought I gave to the environment and Global Warming was my Earth Minute or two. Talking about it. Probably next year I can shorten that.

What does it accomplish when we lower the bar to accommodate the slower adapters? Earth Hour seems all the more a tragic opposite of another progressive concept, the Long Now. Thinking in terms of expanding our sense of responsibility to the future, by tying it to our present, seems a more promising revelation. Earth Minute seems to me like Pennies For Peace, it suggest we can get away with paying the fiddler from just the change in our pocket.

Bruce Vincent loves George is so 2004

Bruce Vincent receives a Preserve America Award in May 2004The Vincent email has come around again, like flu season, hoping to cast Stutterin’ George Dubya in a pious light. Though it reads like Reader’s Digest bad fiction, even urban myth, the author is authentic, the event is factual, but of course a private moment with George cannot be corroborated. Who knows, the devotional lingo may be the story Vincent had to tell his wife, to cover for a Jeff Guckert/Gannon blue dress affair, if we’ve learned anything about Republicans.

What utter tripe. We’ve all of us looked into Dubya’s eyes enough to know there’s no there there, nothing but air. What reason is there these days to be circulating such a fawning pre-election 2004 profile of Bush? I think folk are trying to rationalize their support of their previous election year candidate. History has already sized up George Bush. I doubt even Bush’s biographer will argue that this president is not the alcoholic, half-wit tool of thieving, war profiteering, war criminals.

About any notion of Bush’s depth or spirituality, I have to point to the interview he gave his friend and fellow reprobate Tucker Carlson for Talk Magazine in 1999 (now reprinted in the National Review) where he made fun of condemned killer Karla Faye Tucker. Declining to offer clemency to the reformed Tucker, Bush mocked her supposed plea by mimicking her voice and pursing his lips: “Please don’t kill me!”

April 15 tax protest

Many people will be protesting April 15th. Will you? Non-compliance is key.
 
Why are we paying income taxes to a thoroughly corrupt and malfeasant federal government? Why are we timid and compliant in the face of, and with the daily evidence of, a well funded predatory fascist military state, protecting the profits and property of the wealthy corporate class, closing in all around us and robbing us of our children’s futures?

Should you stop paying income tax? You decide.

The income tax “law” was based on a fraud of a kind of taxation called un-apportioned direct tax that supposedly became legal through the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. But………the Supreme court ruled since 1914, 3 times no less, that the 16th Amendment conferred no new tax of personal income on the individual and changed no existing taxing power or category, nor added a new category (called un-apportioned direct tax) that didn’t exist before the 16th Amendment. That’s the truth of it. Though tax lawyers and CPAs wail and moan that the 16th amendment is what makes us pay taxes. They are ignorant. They are complicit. They do not know the Supreme court rulings. The extent of the governments taxing powers do not include the un-incorporated individual earner. Your earnings are fruits of your labor, not taxable profits or capital gains.

Don’t believe me?

Here I’ve attached, a brief from a man who has put 9 years of his life into researching the lie and is calling the DOJ, certain Congress members and the IRS out on the rug for this deception. You can use the exact same information of the Supreme Court cases to fight this. And when enough of us do, the IRS and the income tax will go away. On personal income anyway………not corporate earnings.

But don’t fall for a “Fair Tax” (30% sales tax) proposal to replace the lost IRS revenue that some in the tax protest movement are pushing. Very regressive tax as the wealthy will avoid it and buy goods offshore or through tax trusts, shelters etc… and the working and middle classes will foot the bill. (The poor would be exempt from it.) But……. point is, we wouldn’t need to replace the revenue if the Feds collected the money transferred away to shelters and off shore accounts by the wealthy elites/corporations, and cut the Pentagons budget by 75%. Including closing most of the bases around the world. Or nationalized our coal, gas, oil and mineral reserves to become the property of all Americans. Citizens in Alaska receive a monthly dividend from their oil! All gold mined in this country becomes the property of 2 giant corporations when it should be all of ours.

Think the rich corporations are paying more in income tax? Of the income tax money collected, the corporations pay approx. 270 bil. Individuals pay approx. 700 bil. Sure there are a lot more individuals than corporations. But the mass of the individuals are working and middle class paying an illegal tax on their labor. And with inflation (crashing dollar value due to lower Fed interest rate and mass infusion of more worthless money into the economy) you’re losing the battle to hold on to any gains.

Are you a W4 refund taxpayer? That is, do you get a refund at the end of the year by claiming withholding? Wouldn’t it make more sense to get your entire paycheck without withholding, thereby your full worth? Lets make the Federal govt. figure out another way. Read the W4 withholding fraud below.

Still feel like paying your personal income taxes? If so, is it because you’re afraid of the IRS? Sure it is. They don’t want you to discover the Supreme court rulings that make the 16th amendment irrelevant. But they know the deception is soon coming to an end.

Check these videos. Tom Cryer, a lawyer in Shreveport, found not guilty of tax evasion recently. Hasn’t filed for 10 years.
http://www.truthattack.org/page4.php

Information from lawmens listserve:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/national_lawman/join

“The Michigan legislature is now in the process of repealing the state income tax, as they have been informed that the state income tax relies on the federal income tax being properly applied.”

A recent email:

Dear Lawmen and Others: The government has a headache and still it is trying to fool all the people all the time. Read the following:

The Justice Department, on the heels of a split verdict in its tax evasion prosecution of actor Wesley Snipes, is planning a crackdown on the so-called tax protester movement.

The protesters, or tax deniers, assert a constitutional right to avoid federal taxes, relying in part on century-old Supreme Court decisions. Their ranks are growing to include white-collar professionals, and they are costing the government millions in revenue, officials say.

“Too many people succumb to the fallacy, the illusion, that you don’t have to pay any tax under any set of conditions,” said Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman, the new head of the Justice Department’s tax division. “That is a growing problem.”

Notice how Mr. Hochman words his statement in an attempt to deceive the public. No one claims that we don’t have to pay any tax under any set of conditions! That is simply deception, lies and deceit. What Mr. Hochman is avoiding saying is that the income tax laws and the constitutional federal taxing powers are entwined into a massive scheme to deceive the American people. Mr. Hochman, we don’t pay you to lie to the American people and subvert our Constitution! The Constitutional taxing power of the federal government is limited to 1) Direct Apportioned taxes, 2) Excises, 3) Duties, and 4) Imposts. There are no other authorized taxing powers of the federal government, as has been stated in numerous Supreme Court rulings.

Mr. Hochman, are you trying to say that precedence law no longer applies if it is good case law and has never been overturned? Are you crazy? Mr. Hochman, where did you get your law degree? From Disney World? Are you trying to say that the Supreme Court of the U.S. did not have the authority to rule on these matters? Are you crazy?

Mr. Hochman, do you know that the Constitution is over 200 years old? Does that mean it is out of date in your eyes? Are you crazy? Are you saying that subject matter jurisdiction does not apply to the cases on income tax?

Mr. Hochman, do you know that the corporate income tax is a tax on the privilege of incorporation, and not a direct tax on the income of the corporation? Do you know that the corporate income tax is an excise tax? Do you know that a direct tax is a tax on the person, property or rights of an individual? Do you know that all direct taxes must be apportioned? Do you know that there has been no direct apportioned tax imposed on the general population since 1861? Do you know that Title 26 does not impose any direct apportioned tax on the general population?

Can you rebut any of these propositions, Mr. Hochman?

And if you find all this hard to believe, then why does 26 USC 7608 limit all enforcement authority of all domestic agents to ATF taxes? Why did the IRS have to stoop to out and out lies and claim that all persons, even private employees of private employers, must have deductions taken from their paychecks under the authority of 26 USC 3401-05? You are a lawyer, Mr. Hochman, and you can perfectly well read the regulations that explain who is an employee and who is not an employee, for the purposes of withholding.

Who are YOU, Mr. Hochman, to presume that your government position entitles you to deceive and defraud the American people? Are you crazy?

Have you ever heard of precedence decisions? Have you read the Anastasoff case of 2000, in which the 8th Circuit stated that the American Courts get their power from precedence? Do you know that? Do you believe that? If you don’t, then you should talk to a psychiatric counselor, not a legal counselor!

Let’s put our slogan out in front of the public so the government cannot suppress the information on direct un-apportioned taxes anymore. The government’s fraudulent claim that the prohibition was overturned by the 16th Amendment, is rebutted by the STEWARD case, 24 years after the 16th Amendment was passed. Nothing has changed that since 1937.The last direct apportioned tax was in 1861.

Everyone should put the slogan on direct taxes on their signature lines. That is the issue.
No direct un-apportioned tax confirmed by the US Supreme Court rulings in CHAS. C. STEWARD MACH. CO. v. DAVIS, 301 U.S. 548, 581-582(1937)

A recent email:
To make a provable case, just look at the STEWARD case (1937), 24 years after the passage of the 16th Amendment.
“Steward” ruled that the sovereign has the authority to impose 1) Direct Taxes with “apportionment”, 2) Excises, 3) Duties, and 4) Imposts. Then Stewart goes further to state that there are NO other taxing powers, even though there have been many attempts to claim there was another taxing power given to the sovereign. The Court stated that not in a hundred years has there been such a taxing power discovered. All federal taxes must fall into one of the four classes.

The Appeals Judge in my case made a false statement in his ruling. He said that Conces claims that the government cannot levy a tax on individuals and non-incorporated businesses. He is DEAD wrong! I didn’t say that. The Supreme Court said first, that individuals could always be taxed from the very beginning, but if it was a direct tax, it must be apportioned. The last apportioned tax was in 1861.

Senior Democrats eat their young

Help the Dems out, just this once. The County Assembly last Saturday was overrun with excited delegates and alternates. Palmer High could hardly support the numbers, or more notably, the DP was unaccustomed to such a turn out. I’d like to insinuate that the DP did not know how to keep the usual lid on everyone’s enthusiasm. But they tried. A line formed around the block while volunteers at the door held newcomers at bay. Some were told they couldn’t enter, many were kept waiting until beyond the posted 10:30am time limit to have submitted their ballots.
I know who was at the door. Do you?

Democratic organizer Bob Nemanich wrote this in a 2/26 email to his
Fellow Obama Supporters!:

Jay Ferguson, the vice chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party and I have been receiving numerous reports of curious and even worse descriptions of attempts, by some party volunteers managing the entrance doors last Saturday morning, attempting to turn rightfully elected delegates away from the convention. This is serious stuff. If any of you witnessed or experienced an attempt by someone telling delegates who were in line Saturday morning and told to go home because; of “the crowds were too big”, “no more room inside”, “they had enough delegates”, “the fire marshal was going to close us down” or were told “their name was not on their lists” or other intimidations.

You need to contact us immediately! We will need the description of the person who was at the door making these or other statements or intimidating anyone, which line you were in, the time, and other circumstances which might further identify this person and activity of attempting to suppress the vote.

Blow the whistle on the unscrupulous gatekeeper and whoever he got his instructions from. Write Bob at rwnemanich at gmail.com

Stop plans for ICE detention in Denver

OPPOSE the construction of a new immigrant detention center in Aurora!
Colorado Progressive Coalition office, 1600 Downing St. Suite 210
Saturday, March 1 11:00 a.m.

The GEO Group, one of the nation’s largest private prison corporations wants to build a new 1,100 bed immigrant holding facility in Aurora. The Aurora Planning Commission will vote on the proposal to build this facility March 12.

If you would like to help stop this facility from being built:

1. Contact Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition with your name and/or organization to sign on to the attached petition. Contact: chandrarusso-at-gmail.com

2. Contact the Planning Commission directly, along with the Mayor and Aurora City Council, and tell them to oppose the detention center. Their email addresses: schapel-at-auroragov.org, citycouncil-at-auroragov.org, etaur-at-auroragov.org, and rrpeters-at-auroragov.org

3. Personalize and print the petition as a letter to be sent to: Planning Commission Members, Aurora Mayor and City Council c/o Susan Chapel, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, 2nd floor, Aurora, CO 80012

4. Join us on Saturday, March 1 at 11 a.m. at the Colorado Progressive Coalition, 1600 Downing St. We will meet to review strategy, talk about how to engage safely and respectfully. We will then drive out to Aurora to flyer. If you are unable to make it to this event but know others that might, please forward this message to them.

—————————-

Dear Planning Commission Members,

As you may know, the GEO Group, a billion dollar corporation, wants to build a new 1,100 bed immigrant holding facility in Aurora. This facility will hurt our community and lead to great suffering while putting millions of tax dollars into the pockets of a destructive corporation.

We strongly urge you to OPPOSE the construction of a new immigrant detention center in Aurora when it comes up for hearing on March 12.

Here is why:

Detention hurts asylum seekers and other victims of torture and trauma Torture survivors, victims of trafficking, and other vulnerable groups can be detained for months or even years, further aggravating their isolation, depression, and other mental health problems associated with the horrors they have experienced.

Conditions in detention are atrocious Detention centers across the country have prevented men, women and children access to phones and food. Several people held in immigration detention have died because they did not receive basic medical care. The GEO Group was forced to close detention centers after the US Justice Department sued for “abuse and neglect,” “life threatening conditions,” and sexual assault of children.

Private prisons profit off of misery GEO is expecting $30 million a year in profits for its new Aurora facility. GEO has a vested interest in having sufficient men, women and children to fill its beds. To GEO, they’re not people, they’re profits- at $95 per person per day. To this end, the GEO group has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to ensure elected officials push for policies that benefit GEO- more detentions nation-wide.

A detention center can become a poorly run state or federal prison almost overnight The GEO Group has not been granted an immigration contract for its proposed Aurora facility, meaning it could be used as a prison. Private prisons have been shown to cut corners, have inadequate staffing levels and receive little government oversight.

As decision makers for Aurora, we trust you will make choices that strengthen our communities and enhance our way of life. We believe you will support development that enriches our neighborhoods and maintains our values.

Building one of the country’s largest immigration detention center in Aurora does neither of these things. It is an affront to communities, families, workers and tax-payers. We trust you will not allow this detention center to be built.

The You Make My Day Award chain letter

You Make My Day AwardSo begins each post: “My friend so-and-so surprised me with a You Make My Day Award. Thank you! (You should really check out their wonderful blog!) I’m to post this with the following proviso,” etc, etc.

Nothing wrong with a little guerrilla marketing, in this case lighting a back fire up the social network where blogroll links and reciprocal courtesy comments were just not keeping everyone’s interest. Internet blogging has set into motion a real-time one hundred monkeys experiment, but of course someone has to address the task of monitoring the output. We won’t know if even a blogosphere of monkeys typing away can produce Shakespeare unless somebody is diligently evaluating the gibberish.

It didn’t take long tracing the roots of the You-Make-My-Day-Award givers to find someone who explained the rules as: “You have to pass this on to ten people” etc. And there it is. The YMMDA is a chain letter. And like so many viral emails, its driving force is a smile over coffee, pass it on.

Chain emails, whether they promise warm and fuzzies or anticipation that Bill Gates will personally pay you a quarter of a million dollars, are disseminated to chart social networks, yours. They plot connections between people, particularly the veracity of those connections measured by the speed and frequency with which you give your friends priority. Such information is valuable to anyone wanting a bead on you. Use your imagination.

So the You-Make-My-Day-Award is netting bloggers, internet users who may have moved on from circulating those clever email chain letters. I’m perhaps most disappointed that people using their blogs as creative outlets, can’t be creative enough to praise each other on their own initiative. They have to borrow a concept, a graphic and a blurb, and admonish each other to keep it up. These monkeys are getting tired.

Spook Steve Recca wants us to feel safe

Commander Steve Recca, of the new DoD endowed UCCS Center for Homeland Security, told his Shove Chapel audience last night that Homeland Security is about being safe. That means everything to him from keeping his daughter safe at school to keeping the streets safe from excessive snow fall. Does the DHS want a crack at Climate Change?

Recca also explained that Homeland Security is about community. Yes, community: the local community and the global community. Whatever does he think “homeland” refers to? Manitou? Planet Earth? Before Bush and Ashcroft I’m pretty sure “Homeland” had only ever meant Nazi Germany, needing to be kept safe from Fascist-haters like socialists, anarchists, discontents and others who objected to Nazi land grabs. In the Soviet Bloc security would have been about community: the community of neighbors ready to rat on you.

Steve Recca kept Homeland Security affairs out of Greg Mortenson’s presentation until the end. Then, to cap off the questions from the audience, from the darkened anonymity of the public microphone, Recca asked for everyone’s patience while he read an “email from a Marine at an FOB (Forward Operating Base) in Afghanistan.”

In this “email” a soldier explained how protecting one of Mortenson’s schools was the most important goal of his mission, etc, etc.

The inattentive audience may have become too accustomed to visualizing boiler room letter writing sessions assigned to soldiers in the field, or soldiers laid up in VA hospitals with nothing else to do but hand-write form letters dictated to them by military PR specialists. Those Letters to the Editor sent to newspapers across the country, or emails to Dr Greg in this case, may be outsourced to India for all we know. In any case, the Colorado College audience was bored of it.

I’d like to see Recca explain what role propaganda or jingoism plays in Homeland Security.

Commander Steve Recca is a career spook, now pioneering the post-graduate studying of keeping white America safe. I can understand that DHS might require information sharing with the Intelligence Community. Does it have to be part of that community? Is that the “community” Recca was talking about?

Will Homeland Security be training its airport shoe-sniffers to conduct surveillance and torture too? Steve Recca doesn’t bring transportation or border guard experience to his job. His background is entirely about spying.

1983- graduate (with honors) of U.S. Naval Academy
1990- Master of Arts (with distinction) from Naval Postgraduate School
1990 to 1993- tours on USS YORKTOWN, USS TEXAS, USS AMERICA
1993- Staff, Commander Naval Forces Europe (CNE), in London
    Intelligence Watch Officer, Head of the Current Intelligence Branch.
1994- Certificate in International Political Affairs
    from University of Zurich
1995 to 1997- Special Assistant and Speechwriter
    for the Secretary of the Navy
1997 to 1998- Office of the Director of Central Intelligence,
    speech writer, member on Director’s Long-Term Planning Board
1998 to 2001-American Embassy in Oslo, Norway,
    as Assistant Naval Attaché,
    Joint Staff and Office of the Secretary of Defense
2001- Inman Intelligence Chair, Naval Postgraduate School,
    Senior Intelligence Officer and Intelligence Programs Coordinator
2003- Department of Defense Chief Liaison
    to the German Federal Intelligence Service.
2005- United States Northern Command’s Interagency Coordination
    Directorate, policy planning and technology consultant
2007- UCCS Center for Homeland Security

Here is Steve Recca quoted in the August 24, 2007 Colorado Springs Business Journal about a newly formed COLORADO HOMELAND DEFENSE ALLIANCE:

“The whole point behind the alliance is creating partnerships, networking — collaboration with government, military, university and corporations in the aerospace, defense and security industries.”

Greg Mortenson’s own cup of tea

In his own words, Greg Mortenson is quite a bit more revealing about his motives in Pakistan. Pax Americana is definitely a subtlety lost on him.
 
Central Asian regions where CAI has financed constructionThis map is from the Central Asia Institute‘s own brochure. It shows the parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan where Greg Mortenson’s CAI has helped finance community building projects. I thought the shaded area formed an interesting buffer zone along the border to… CHINA! Is that region of greater interest peacewise than the war-torn borders facing Afghanistan or India?!

The current Independent features a cover story on Mortensen, to promote his Jan 15 Colorado College appearance. It turns out he’s as inarticulate as his dictation of Three Cups of Tea suggests. Here’s how Mortenson regards his unwitting Islamic accomplices:

…we bring in mullahs who support girls’ education. We have two ex-Taliban who are now teaching in our girls’ schools and have become some of our biggest proponents. It’s somewhat similar to an ex-smoker or an alcoholic who has changed and becomes very against smoking or drinking.

Here Mortenson describes how his schools convince Muslim communities to enroll their girls:

We even use good old-fashioned Western capitalism. We go and tell a mullah: If I want to marry a girl in your village, how many goats do I owe you? He might say five goats. If she has a fifth-grade education, how many goats would I then have to pay you? And the answer would probably be 15 to 20 goats. A goat is usually $30 to $40 each.

And then we tell the mullah: If all the girls are educated, just think of how much more wealth you’d have. Then you can see his eyes get bigger.

At least Mortenson is up front about the Capitalist invasion for which he plays scout. Evidently the untapped region’s girls are for sale, and once educated they’ll have value-added for mercantilism.

American society tends to glorify education for its own sake. What “education” is CAI providing to the Muslims exactly? Do CAI’s texts teach that secular culture is intent on the eradication of spiritual culture? Is the CAI curriculum simply favoring western indoctrination over an Islamist counterpart? I’ll let Mortenson show his hand:

perhaps the most controversial, is our Islamic studies for about two or three hours every week. It’s very tempered, and we include in that learning the differences between Sunni and Shia. We’ve also added what you might call religion studies, or learning about different faiths or religion.

In a monotheistic society you need that like emperor penguins need tap dancing lessons. Imagine the uproar if we tried to teach New Life Church kids that the faith of their parents was only one extreme of many! A good idea no doubt, but unlikely to provoke a peaceful reaction.

POSTSCRIPT
Our junior high student came home yesterday with three promotional pieces about Three Cups of Tea in advance of Mortenson making an appearance at her school. Do you wonder how he’s getting such press? One of the pamphlets instructs the children about how they can “Help Three Cups of Tea (3CT) surge:” (My emphasis, their slip of the forked tongue)

1. Recommend 3CT to at least one person or place: family, friend, colleague, book club, professor and teacher, student, and places of worship. It also makes a great gift! (You’ve got to be kidding me! 3CT practically screams you’re illiterate.)

2. Visit 3CT website…

3. Recommend 3CT for ‘One Book – One Read’ at http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html (please don’t).

4. Recommend 3CT as a University or college-wide… read http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/070607/7summer.htm (YGTBFKM)

5. Ask bookstores without 3CT to stock the book, especially airport bookstores. (?)

6. Send 3CT with a personal note to your Senators and/or Representatives (US legislators, why?)

7. Write a ‘letter editor’ [sic] to suggest 3CT and to support education and literacy… to promote peace, economic development and prosperity. (Emphasis mine. Co-opting Muslim girls for Capitalism promotes peace how?)

8. Ask magazines, newspapers, or radio station [sic] to review 3CT (they suggest sending a copy)

9. Learn about the power of girls’ education… in What Works in Girls Education (by Neocon think tank author Barbara Hertz)

10. Learn about grassroots book promotion…

11. Suggest 3CT to Oprah: http://www.oprah.com/email/reach/email_showideas.jhtml

12. Suggest 3CT to C-Span 202-737-0580.

13. Write a book review on Amazon.com, bn.com… (No need, it’s getting slammed! Too bad my Junior High principle isn’t getting a clue. Are our teachers illiterate too?)

14. Start Pennies For Peace in your school, library, or place of worship… http://www.penniesforpeace.org

Billions for war, but apparently we need only pennies for peace.

Hopefully 3CT’s proceeds are going toward peace. (Marie reports their financials say it’s “up to 7%,” so hey, they do mean single-cent figures!) Perhaps Mortenson can earmark some of the Coins for Cultural Sensitivity.

POST-POSTSCRIPT
The Amazon reviews are uproarious! But 3CT trolls are loading the funniest with bad marks where it asks Do you find this review helpful, so you’ll have to look fast. I’ll reprint a couple below.

By the way, Three Cups of Tea, One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… was originally released as Three Cups of Tea, One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations. It wasn’t selling the mission?

I’ll work up my own slipcover for Mortenson’s speaking engagement, with help from the comments below. Hopefully he’ll be good-natured enough to sign it:
Three Cups of Tedium: One Man’s Mission to be a Dhimmi
-A Condescending Westerner who attempt to “educate” Muslims.

(This is part 2 of 3 pieces: a review of the 3CT book, the promotion around the book tour, and Mortenson’s public appearance.)

Shieldher for her own good

Available in five beautiful colors
I had to elaborate on Tony’s clever post about the fun-in-the-stun state of Arizona. I am shocked at the idea of personal tasers becoming as ubiquitous as Tupperware!
 
Did you ever carry pepper spray, or Mace as it was known when I was in college? It was pitched to women as a sure-fire way to stop a predator in his tracks. Just spray it in an assailant’s eyes and he’ll stumble around yelling “Ah, my eyes! my eyes!” long enough for his prey to flee.

There is a new protection device available from an Arizona company called Shieldher. It is, I kid you not, a personal taser, the TASER® C2. To soften the outright horror at the thought of our already over-armed streets filling with more weaponry, the Shieldher taser comes in innocuous and feminine colors like metallic pink. I imagine this is meant to discourage macho would-be criminals, who might otherwise be inclined to carry one of these weapons to subdue recalcitrant victims.

Shieldher is aware of the TASER® C2’s potential for misuse:

Our mission is to pacify the fears we face daily as women in an effort to increase the quality of our lives! We have received numerous calls and emails that validate the need for this product and we are committed, at Shieldher, to providing the product in a manner that reinforces it as a personal safety device NOT a weapon.

Undeterred by the overwhelming likelihood of sinister usage, the company touts the benefits of the personal taser:

The TASER® C2 transmits electrical pulses along the wires and into the body of the target, overstimulating the sensory and motor functions of the peripheral nervous system, causing overwhelming incapacitation.

I have a daughter going off to college in the fall and, once I overcame my initial horror at the very notion of personal tasers, I began to play with the idea that perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I rather relish the idea of the grabby cocksure frat boy writhing on the ground much to the delight of his drunken brothers.

But mere moments later I recalled what has been beaten into my brain over the years by gun control advocates. A handgun carried for personal protection is far more likely to be used against its owner than his or her assailant. I feel certain that the same will be true for the personal taser. How long until the stopped becomes the stopper? How long until Shieldher’s newly-empowered female client encounters a pretty pink taser tucked neatly into the back pocket of anyone desiring her overwhelming incapacitation?

Jena 6 Update

Those who support the Saint Patrick’s Day Seven here in Colorado Springs are not making a fetish out of this case. There are many other worthy causes out there we support, too. Everywhere the US Judicial System is miscarrying justice. Below is an appeal from supporters of The Jena Six of the lousy state of Louisiana.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Dear Supporter,

On September 20th, Mychal Bell–the first of the Jena 6 to be convicted–is scheduled for sentencing. If the District Attorney has his way, Mychal will face 22 years in prison. It’s a horrifying moment for Mychal, his parents, and the rest of the Jena 6 families. It’s also a perfect time for those who can to come to Jena, in person, and stand with them. We know it’s a serious time and financial commitment, but we wanted to give you the opportunity to join the hundreds of people who have already emailed us to say that they will come. If you can join us, please click on the link below to RSVP:

http://colorofchange.org/jena/rsvp.html

Our presence in Jena–in large numbers–will help focus media attention on the situation in Jena, escalate pressure on Louisiana public officials, and most importantly, show the families of the Jena 6, especially Mychal Bell and his parents, that we will stand with them in the face of this injustice.

On July 31st, with only a few days to prepare, 300 people from across the country rallied at the Jena Courthouse. We delivered a petition signed by 43,000 ColorOfChange.org members to the District Attorney demanding that he drop the charges against the Jena 6. It was a powerful day that made it clear that the Jena 6 and their families won’t have to fight on their own. Since then, more than 100,000 people have taken action and contacted the Governor, media attention to the case has grown, and we have an even bigger opportunity to make a profound impact.

As we plan for this event, we want to get a sense of how many people can commit to coming to Jena. Below are some details about getting there, so you can figure out if you’ll be able to join us.

Details

If you’re flying to Louisiana, the closest airports to Jena are Alexandria (45 minute drive) and Monroe (1.5 hour drive). You can also fly to Lafayette (2.25 hour drive), Shreveport (2.75 hour drive), Baton Rouge (3 hour drive), New Orleans (4.25 hour drive), or Houston (about a 5 hour drive). The closest hotels are in Pineville and Alexandria. As they fill up, we’d recommend staying at hotels near the airports above.

If travelling from out of town, you’ll want to get to Louisiana the night before, as things will start early in the morning, probably by 8am or 9am. Organizers will meet you when you arrive at a central location in Jena and get you situated for the day. We will be providing maps, organizers’ cell phone numbers, and other information closer to the day-of; you will be able to reach someone in case you have any problems, need directions, or have questions along the way.

RSVP

Once you’re confident you can come, please rsvp at the following:

http://colorofchange.org/jena/rsvp.html

If you have questions, you can send them to jena@colorofchange.org.

If you can’t come, don’t worry. We’ll be sending emails soon with more ways to take action between now and the 20th. Whatever your participation, we thank you for your ongoing commitment to justice for the Jena 6. It continues to be our privilege to be part of such a powerful community of support for these young men.

Thanks and Peace,

— James Rucker
Executive Director, ColorOfChange.org
August 28th, 2007

Police foreknowledge on St Patricks Day

Raining on our parade April 17 Saint Patricks Day 2007
We used to joke around the fire at Camp Casey about whether we were being surveilled or infiltrated by agents or disruptors even, as has been done with historic regularity to opposition political groups and their organizers. Even to discuss it today with CPIS or PPJPC feels self-aggrandizing. We know ourselves that we do not pose such a threat that law enforcement would need to monitor our actions.

Let’s dismiss out of hand the idea that struggling activists in Colorado Springs would merit infiltration. So too wiretapping or bugging devices. Have we ever raised but a timid excuse-me to authority? Have we ever mobilized even more than a smattering of protesters ready to press our local leaders for accountability? We have not. We might grab the news on occasion, but in that respect we seem quite willing to telecast our intentions on the local news. To eavesdrop on us then would be redundant.

Alright then, how about email exchanges? Any need to monitor our email passing to and fro? Local ISPs handling the email could flag potential buildups of momentum. Is law enforcement in touch with them? Maybe, maybe not. Who wants to sort all that, or file the paperwork to get the analysis from Buckley.

At least an observer might want to watch our general mass mailings, for calls to arms. What about checking those weekly announcements at a minimum to see what we say we are doing?

And what about the websites? There are less than a handful of community websites which post and discuss upcoming actions. Would the police be looking at websites like this, or csaction.org, or ppjpc.org to try to sort out what’s up?

Police Chief Myers, in explaining the mishandling of St. Patrick’s Day, pointed the finger at the PPJPC and myself for duplicity in joining the parade. Myers explained that our websites made no mention of our intentions to march with the Bookmobile. Well, putting aside their erroneous conclusion, Myers’ statement confirms the answer to the last question: are the police checking in on us online? They say they do.

The police check the websites
If they had looked at our website, they would have seen what? Our calls for participation in the parade, our discussion of the parameters of the permit, our reservations, when we would be assembling, where we were parking, even the larger plans we had to conduct a peace rally in adjacent Pioneer Park. Those were plans we were still trying to juggle. I was hoping to gather onlookers from the parade route and have them join us afield for an impromptu peace rally. These plans were fully fleshed out and debated online, in multiple places. If the police studied our websites as they say they did, they would have seen our plans for that Saturday.

So even if the police weren’t infiltrating us, surveilling our meetings, wiretapping our phones, monitoring our communications, sifting our email, or reviewing our public announcements, they would have known from our websites that the PPJPC was marching with the Bookman, in green peace t-shirts, as we had done, announced and recruited for, online, the year before.

The police excuse of having been taken unawares on St Patrick’s Day, of being confronted with not knowing whether we had a permit, of stopping us in the parade route instead of earlier in the assembly area, begins to ring a little of falsehood.
Come to papa
The odds of us encountering a smiling Erwin Paladino of the CSPD, head head-cruncher of the 2003 anti-protestor police work, begin to look very improbable. The strategy then to throw us to the ground creating a scene, creating an obstruction themselves, making a lesson out of dealing with people stubbornly clinging to their rights, begins to look a little premeditated.

That is, if you believe the police are keeping their eye on us. We disrupt at the Broadmoor, we seek redress at our representatives’ offices, we banner the main streets, we interfere with military job fairs and recruitment strip malls. We show up at City Council and have them scrambling amok. We don’t plan any of this in secret. Probably somebody’s responsible for keeping themselves abreast.

So did Erwin Paladino draw the plum job of getting to apprehend us one block from the official parade start? Or was it a big coincidence? At the staging we could have rallied or prevailed from a dialog unhurried by the pressure of holding up the parade. At Tejon and St Vrain the police got to appear improvisational and exercise executive authority to take us down.

US Homeland Security exports Orwell to Mexico

It was just a matter of time. The US State Department has awarded a contract to a US spyware company to set up intercepts of telephone calls, emails, and other information system communications in Mexico.

In Mexico, the government is calling this part of the ‘War on Drugs’. Here, with our more updated propaganda system in place, it is being called a contract to help stop TERRORISM! Who could ever be against such nice goals? Don’t you feel protected? I bet you do!

This is the same company and same system given by the US Government to their friends in Colombia, the Colombian oligarch government and their allied death squads. With the ‘War on Terror’ in fool gear, the US Government and its private contractors will be exporting Orwell everywhere! Be sure to check out the contracted company, VERINT, and its brochures.

Lawyergate, who’d have thunk it…

it would seem that this issue has gotten the most screams out of the Cons. They are spinning like a Maytag on amphetamines.

The White House is hedging already, people are getting “hazy memories” like they wouldn’t seriously remember something like firing a whole bunch of their pig buddies.

Sure they don’t remember, after all, “they have the attention span of a goldfish and wouldn’t remember what their leader’s said 6 months afterward”

OOPs that’s the Left Wing that supposedly can’t remember anything, and the Cons are sharp as tacks….

Details, details…

You know, there’s a Mafia saying that comes to mind, rather forcefully, “never shit in your own front yard” meaning if you are going to do major crimes, don’t do it in your own neighborhood.

If you were a guest at a Mafia house, you wouldn’t even have to lock your car. They wouldn’t sell dope in their neighborhood, they wouldn’t allow anybody else to either.

These buffoons in the Administration just got more and more arrogant. An Email from a WHITE HOUSE computer to start outing Plame?

How stupid can they get? Why not go behind a McDonalds and use their WiFi, fer cryin’ out loud?

I bet some of the best scams ever on the web were done in the alley behind a Mickey D’s.

They just don’t know how to hire real talent, I guess.

Questions to St Peter

Sometime in October search engines found Ask Saint Peter .com. This was an experimental A. I. project scheduled to address what people were doing with their lives. It’s online but yet inoperable. The splash page features the picture of a young Iraqi child recovering in a US field hospital emergency room. He looks hauntingly at the camera. Text hidden below the picture quotes the Gospel about a camel having an easier time squeezing through the eye of a needle than a rich man getting into heaven. Clicking anywhere on the page addresses an email to St. Peter and an increasing number of people have begun to write.

Somehow these web surfers expect 1) that St. Peter is all knowing, and 2) that he can divine the future. Their questions range from trying to test him, to asking things they do not know, to asking about their fate, to making confessions. Here are some of their emails: (all last names have been abbreviated).

pweezy: so am i going to hell
andres: hey soy andres kiero saver k camisa tengo
shereen: What types of questions can I ask here?
Alle: What is josh c. doing right now?
dudy: how old am i?
Elizabeth: What color of shirt I’m I wearing today?
kyle: am i going to loose my job
kyle: how many girls have i had sex with?
rhonda m: i want to know if my marriage is going to end?
Katherine: Saint Peter, AM I going to go out with christian?
Vic: I’m not sure what to ask because I have so many questions? Will we my partener and i have a sucessful life? Will I be a good mother and wife? Why do i feel so hopeless? What about financial stability? Why do people lie?
Stacie: whos this
alicia: how many people are in my apartment? will me and my girlfriend be together for much longer? how much longer will we be together?
steve A: will I make it to the league?
jocelyn: if youre not ready to be a christian because your having too much fun being a lose christian, does god pretty much hate you ?
whitney c: Father peter am i going to hell
kyle: what color sweater is jordan wearing?
sydney: I have a question to ask, can u help me?
Andrew: will i go to hill?
lily m: is jose going to hell????
mike: whats this
danny: am i going to hell or heaven
jordon m: am i going to hell if so please email me
jamie: Who is with me? Peter will you answer my questions?: who is with me? please answer. Peter will you answer my question: where am I right now? when will i die? tell me now please
Justin: Why is your picture so scary?
brandon u: am i goin to hell
briana: who am i on the phone with right now?
caroline g: Do what?
tony: what am i doing
Ana: am i going to hell?
ed: Will I go to hell?
(lucas as) jonny: wats my name
jessica: Am i going to hell
brenda: HOW DOES THIS WORK?
chrissy: what is my best friends name?
curtis: what am i doing tommorrow?
julia M: What is my best friends name?
(julia as) giovanni: what’s my friends name?
julia M: Hi i want to know if you know things about me. I want to ask you questions that only i would know. Who is my best friend? Who is next to me? Which neighbor am i with write now? What neighbor is at my house right now? Where do I live?
junior mafia: is this real?
Jordan: Is my fiancee going to move back to Florida?
Alba: im i going to hell?
(blank): Who am i talkinh to and what is their number
Julia (again): Who am i next to? When am i going to die?
roshawna: what color shirt am u wearing?
mb: are you there?
Michael: are you there?
Ruby: Am I going to go to hell? I am a practicing lesbian. I also, however, attend my local church every Sunday. I have talked to my fellow Christian about this and they suggested trying to settle down with a nice man. I tried but couldn’t seem to bring myself to even kiss him.
Another confession of mine is that I’ve dabbled in Astratu. It is a new revivement of norse paganism. I find it deeply interesting.
Sometimes I aim for rabbits on the road if I see them. My vision goes red within this time. I find it highly disturbing.
Finally… My darkest truth is that I once ran over a man at 90 mph and was too scared to stop and help him. I have never shared this horror with anyone.
Please give me guidance as to my destiny after death. Will Satan be in control of my soul? Will I suffer eternal torture as the Holy Bible says?

Super bowl Janet Jackson and Republican morality.

This is something I published a couple of years ago. Every bit as relevant as today. And every bit today as then, some things are timeless.
This one contains a “dirty” word, so you might go ahead and set your browser Content Filter to profanity blocking. Better to censor yourself than try to censor me.

But now, once again, we are going to have the hyperbole and rampant commercialism pushed onto our senses, over and over and over and endlessly and I bet you thought I was going to say over again and again and again and repeatedly.

I don’t know the exact date of the Super Bowl. Just that it’s about a couple of weeks. I know the Chicago Bears are going to be one team, because of the hype I got as soon as I opened one of my email servers.

I am sure everybody is going to get lots and lots of Emails saying Bears or ? you choose… or New Poll: Who will it be Bears or ?

There will be jockeying to find out what the commercials are going to be for the half-time show, there will be much breathless wide-eyed awe and stories about what the commercials and so much (ok, I lied, there are more than one “dirty” word in this) all kinds of who-seriously-gives-a-fat-rat’s-ass-about-it bullshit, to lead us up to the Big Game.

A lot of the commercials are going to be for beer. And other drugs, especially alcoholic drugs.

You know the ones, they say at the end of it “(name of brewer/distiller) urges you to DRINK (notice they put this word last) responsibly”.

It is dope dealing at its finest. The crack house and the opium den and the weed corner are blown away (sick dope reference) by this magnum opus of Purveyance of Demon Rum.

And it is on a Sunday, a Pagan holy day, co-opted by Christianity, for worship of our respective God or gods. Pastors in Churches across the land are going to schedule their services, especially the evening services, around this latter-day Circus Maximus. And their morning services too, because the worshipers are going to have to rush to the store after services so they can score their dope and munchies for the BIGGGGG DEALLLLL…….

So I got the Super Bowl part embedded in our consciousness, right?

Now to the Republican Morality part, for a quick tease, then to Janet Jackson and the Infamous Titty Incident, then back to a slightly longer rant on Republican “Morality”.

The owners of the NFL teams, virtually all of them, are supporters of the Republican party. And the R’s pay it back in spades by supporting legislation that makes the PUBLIC TREASURY pay for the stadia, (yes, I spelled that last word right, I’m practicing my Latin, are you?) the security, the traffic control, and in-stadium dope I mean Beer Sales. That last because some stadia, like the ill-fated Cotton Bowl in Dallas, are in dry precincts. Which is the real reason the Cowboys don’t play in Dallas, for decades it has been in Irving, and next year it won’t be in Dallas County even.

The cities have to pay for the construction of the stadia out of bond money, and they are always told that it will boost the local economy.

Also here in Colorado, there was a guy running for Senator, you might recognize the name Pete COORS. And yes, he is heir to the beer fortune.

On to The Titty Incident.

Janet Jackson, during the half-time 3 years ago or was it 4, I lose count of things like football. Got her costume deliberately torn at the end of a song and exposed part of her (gasp! the HORROR!!) breast. Now, I didn’t get to see this. I don’t watch football. The homo-eroticism of 22 very large gentlemen throwing their bodies at each other doesn’t do it for me.

There was much scandal. Much public outcry. Much Breast Beating in the halls of Congress, (yeah, I know, that last joke was horrible but I had to get it off my chest) even the Commander in Chimp of the United States saying that he hadn’t watched the incident, but it was a lovely breast.

Ok so I might have taken a little liberty with that last statement, but I don’t keep abreast of the off the wall statements of Mr Bush, every time I try to watch one of his speeches my brain tries to escape by crawling out my left ear.

The Moral Outrage sweeping the country was amazing, especially in the R party.

Like Mr Coors.

 During the 04 super bowl, and I know I know, the Super Bowl calendar starts from S.B. I and S.B.II and so forth, with the not-very-subtle Roman numerals numbering system. Instead of A.D. or C.E., measured from the birth of Christ or the birth of Christianity, depending on your faith viewpoint. But I don’t worship the oblong ball. So it matters naught to me how the Hell many S.B. there were.

Mr Coors was OUTRAGED about this public impropriety. How dare they interrupt his half time show where he had a commercial or two over the years, with scantily clad women whose costumes showed a substantially higher percentage of overall Breast Acreage than Ms Jackson did, telling the poor saps watching that somehow they would have a shot at touching these breasts if they only buy his brand of Dope. For people who keep up with such things, these are the modern version of the Vestal Virgins performing their religious duty at the modern Circus Maximus, the Cheerleaders, who get paid a paltry amount for their Services on the field, but get much more opportunity working in commercials. Like for Mr Coors.

Since this was an Election Year, when all the Noble Laws about the Half Time show being lagged 4 seconds or so just to protect America from such an awful sight ever again….

And the Republican NFL team owners who pimp out these Vestal Virgins as part of their Circus, were also outraged, that Ms Jackson would Dare To Expose America to a sight of substantially less breast-age than their own cheerleaders and even most of the Female fans and even some of the (ewwweewwww) male fans show during every game. I mean, one team has its fans wear cheese on their heads, and paint their naked upper torsi green and yellow, and show over and over again one in particular a set of udders that would make a topless dancer envious (or nauseous) and who happens to be a guy (I think)

So this year we will be (or you will be, I plan to be out riding my bicycle, while the streets are practically deserted for four or five hours) watching a heavily subsidized, heavily censored, erotic commercial enterprise, knowing that the GOP Big Brother apparatus will be protecting us from such unseemly behaviour ever again occurring.

a couple of pictures from another blogspot.

I got these from wallstreetjackass.typepad.com Now I just got to upload them.

Also there was a serious little bit, somebody had emailed it in, on Christmas Eve last, in the Green Zone a Blackwater (private militia, Civilian security contractors, mercenary police) employee at a christmas party, drunk, shot an Iraqi private security guard 10 times killing him. The writer asked what the hell was this guy doing with his weapon when he was drunk? And mentioned that Blackwater had rushed him out of country before the Local Cops could have him. And that it was being hushed up. but that last is no surprise. He concluded that Blackwater personnel are now forcibly on the wagon, until further notice.

I remember these cats from when Soldier Of Fortune was still running employment ads. They used to offer amongst other things, tidied up paperwork, anonymity while on the “job” and presumably all the civilians they could “interrogate”

But you notice that when one of them gets offed the R’s always insist on their media whores describing him as a CIVILIAN contractor. There is definitely something seriously wrong here….

just can’t put my finger on it….

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Candidate Ritter as opposed to Bush

Bush was coming to Denver. Friends of mine were driving up to be part of the welcome.

The same day I received an email from the Ritter for Governor campaign. Bush was coming to Denver, we need your support! What’s this? Bill Ritter interested in greeting the President? Rebutting his policies? Joining the protest of GW’s visit?

No. Bush will be raising money for the opposition, the email read, please help us raise a proportunate amount.

Silly Democrats, politics are not for kids. You can’t merely ask for support without offering to do anything for it.

Genteel protest

To try to speak against the war, you’re accused of being too political. Yet neither party wants to be antiwar. How then is the issue of war too political?

Maf54 signs out

Ah, the smell of Napalm on the internet.

THIS MORNING I read about Congressman Foley having sent emails to an ex-congressional page. Not his page, but a page he missed. The overly familiar tone made the 16 year-old recipient feel icky. Foley mentioned another page, “and he’s in really great shape.” A further request for a photo was interpreted by the boy as sick x 13.

The denials were routine. Foley’s outgoing warmth was apparently misconstrued. “It’s a political smear campaign of the worst kind,” said Foley’s campaign manager. The usual internet trolls came out in support of [closetted] Congressman Foley. Why make a big deal about the page being a boy? Why not accord Foley the presumption of innocence?

THIS EVENING, Congressman Foley is confronted by emails and instant messages with other former pages, by definition highschool teenagers. Some of the exchanges were sexually graphic.

And Congressman Mark Foley, six-term Republican representative to West Palm Beach Florida, outspoken [gay] opponent to gay rights, chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, screen name “Maf54” to his highschooler correspondents, folds.

Chain emails and Saint George

About this time each year for some reason, a certain friend of mine gets into a panic and passes on chain emails in renewed hope that she will come into money. Last year she sent everyone the It-Really-Works-Bill-Gates-Will-Pay-You-$275K email. A day later she apologized.

Does she recognize what all these chain emails are really about? Chain letters and Ponzi schemes in the cyber world take on an entirely different purpose than they used to have through snail-mail. And they succeed wildly. Chain emails circulate for large computers to map contact patterns and networks.

When you forward a chain email, its authors track whom you sent it to and how quickly. That’s why the email is launched in the first place, to chart enormous networks of who is in touch with whom. At the most superficial level, the process determines which email addresses are valid. To information traders the emails reveal social connections and hierarchies.

We’re not just talking about the pyramid schemes, we’re also talking about all those clever emails you get in the morning that apparently made one of your relatives smile. Where did you think those come from? Did you think some cherub with time on his hands, sitting at his kitchen window in Hawaii, composed a funny story addressing impish Americanisms which through myriad cyber degrees of separation found itself in your aunt’s incoming email? You’d be right. Except about the cherub’s clients who are watching the logs as their whimsical package bounces along.

Especially if the message involves embedded graphics. Server-side graphic files telegraph the whereabouts of an email in real time. Often graphic files are disguised as text. (MSN and Hotmail track all their email using embedded graphics that pretend to be text. Given that linked files require many times more computation power than does text, disguising the files AS TEXT would seem to concede that Microsoft knows we would not appreciate what they are doing.)

Don’t you wonder why at the end of each and every one of those clever emails, the funny sentiment is always followed by urgent instruction to send it on?

Do these authors think that they are just SO funny, you MUST pass their work on to everyone you know? Do you see this at the end of newspaper columns or comic strips? Do book authors end their novels by recommending that you tell all your friends to buy a copy or face three years of bad luck?

If an email asks to be sent on, and you want to, and must, here’s how to do it without contributing to the fortunes of direct marketers and spammers. Copy and paste just the text into a fresh email, then send it on. If there is a graphic, save it to disk and then attach it.

2.
Or put it on the web. Here’s an email forwarded to me from my good friend Paulette. 🙂 It’s an old joke, presented this go-round as Saint George.