Freedom Glory

When you discover that you're a day behind for the week,
When you realize that it's Friday instead of Thursday
What do you do?

Post a music video called "Freedom, Glory, Be Our Name..." Duh!

democracy is earned

a friend of mine sent me this cartoon- and i had to share. in the interest of full disclosure, i have not been following the news closely about anything lately. i generally skim the headlines and read what interests me. but i have kept up with the headlines on iran. i do not know the culture intimately- what i have learned comes from a couple of blog buddies of iranian descent and national geographic. what i do know is, the persian people are strong and resilient. they have resisted losing their sense of self and their cultural identity- they are proud to be persian.

i don't know that the same can be said for americans. we lost any cultural identity we had to strip malls and fast food joints a long time ago. we turned into self centered, perpetual scared, sheeple with a 'lord/lady of the manor' attitude- we delegate and pay for people to do things for us. well, this is just proof positive that you can't outsource or pay for democracy. we would do well to follow the iranian model- and apologize for calling them part of the 'axis of evil'- if we would have been smart 60 years ago- we would have left their democracy intact. i don't think that they have ever quite gotten over the fact that we meddled in their government then- and i really have a feeling folks should understand that it was us who mucked things up in the middle east. not the middle eastern folks.
"

Abuse Of Power And Police/Security Agencies: There They Go Again

Here's one more example of what can, will and do happens when we turn a blind eye to granting indiscriminate powers to police and security agencies:

Read More +/-

Phoenix police raid a blogger

In what should send a frightening chill down the spine of every blogger, writer, journalist and First Amendment advocate in the United States, Phoenix police raided the home of a blogger who has been highly critical of the department.

Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops, said the officers confiscated three computers, routers, modems, hard drives, memory cards and everything necessary to continue blogging.

The 41-year-old software engineer said they also confiscated numerous personal files and documents relating to a pending lawsuit he has against the department alleging harassment - which he says makes it obvious the raid was an act of retaliation.

I've told you so, didn't I?

Any questions?

Then try this one for size:

No more freedom of the Internet.

That's right - and it is coming sooner than later indeed:

Cybersecurity Act would give president power to 'shut down' Internet

A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration.

The bill's draft states that "the president may order a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic" and would give the government ongoing access to "all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access."

Authored by Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 seeks to create a Cybersecurity Czar to centralize power now held by the Pentagon, National Security Agency, Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security.

While the White House has not officially endorsed the draft, it did have a hand in its language, according to The Washington Post.

Paging China, paging China ...

Ah, the things people are willing to do/accept in the name of Holy Security.

Q.E.D. - once again.

And so it goes ...

(Addendum: although China pledged to improve human rights, allow me to remain skeptical - just as I have become quite skeptical of anything President Obama says concerning civil rights. As but one example among many, take the time to contrast this (or this) with that (or that) - you'll then better understand my point.)

Thus I repeat: any questions?

birds on a wire

for some reason, that song has been running through my head.

so, big dick cheney is threatening a terrorist attack again. sigh. i don't get americans who want americans to die. this is the second time he has come out talking about terrorists attacks on american soil- after perpetrating 9/11/01.

i never thought i would ever have to live through domestic terrorism in my lifetime, but i have. and i never thought that i would ever have to entertain the idea that my country- once a democratic republic- would turn into a police state- but there's that very real possibility. even with barack obama as president. if we have another tragedy like 9/11 or the joblessness and homelessness turn even more desperate, we may see the troops deployed here on american soil for the first time in our history- turn against fellow americans. it's a very real possibility. and it's scary.

i am stubbornly and determinidly moving ahead with my gardening and sustainability plans. the birds are indeed on the wires in front of my house and they dine in my yard (hopefully on japanese beetle grubs) twice a day. life changes. i don't particularly want it to- especially in the ways it has changed so recently, but the buddha says that life changes. that our suffering comes from attaching ourselves to ideas and ways of life and clinging. some days i feel like i want a life preserver because i have fallen overboard but then i realize- hey, this is the life i have been given and i won't let the shortsighted, greedy bastards win.

and here i am- like a bird on a wire- trying in my way to be free:

8 Prop

I'm sort of weak in my enthusiasm for complicated legal matters, you know? So the title of the Prop 8 video immediately caught my eye: Proposition 8 Made Simple. If you haven't seen this, you have to.





This is the latest from the courts on overturnings Prop 8.

And then I want you to take a look at this video of this yes on prop 8 counter-ad.