The economy is doing great! If you’re one of the 338,000 documented unemployed Americans out there – don’t worry. Good times are just around the corner.

Despite the fact that the US Treasury will be borrowing an unprecedented amount of scratch this year to keep our nation running, the powers-that-be assure us that our economy is on the mend. Pay no mind to the squandered surplus, the tick-like swelling of the trade deficit, or the record unemployment. This is America, damn it. The land of opportunity. A place where people can get rich(er) every day.

The Bush Administration’s economic strategy has Reagan-era financial pundits salivating. Trickle-down is back, and it’s stronger than ever. The catch is this time around the average slob knows damn well that while the rich may spend their money here in the states, they stash it in off-shore tax shelters in the meantime. The result? Less tax revenue collected for those pesky government services the “Liberals” are always whining about. Bah. Who needs welfare, Medicaid, or a decent public education anyway? Isn’t it high time the US shrugged of the poor, the sick, the huddled masses of world? Who needs them?

According to our government’s most recent assessment, things are just dandy. So much so the President – after declaring homosexuals second-class citizens – has removed himself from the burdensome task of running the most powerful nation on Earth for a month.

There was once a time that the President of the United States believed it would be inappropriate to campaign for re-election while US citizens were held hostage in Iran. Times have changed. This President had no such trial of conscience when considering whether or not he should vacation while the US economy spirals out of control for “the rest of us” not in the millionaire club, and while US troops continue to wage a war entirely of his own making.

It is a disgrace that the Commander-in-Chief should choose to “relax” while our fellow citizens fight and die. I’m sure the news of Mr. Bush’s vacation will be a real hoot to those troops counting the days they have to live through before they can finally come home to their families.

Enjoy your summer Mr. President. Your fall is fast approaching.

Labels: economy, George W. Bush

From the Washington Post, via Drudge:

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Democrat Gray Davis will have to fight to keep his job this fall in the nation's first gubernatorial recall election in 82 years, state officials announced Wednesday after tallying the results of a Republican-led petition drive that seemed farfetched just months ago."

So why should the rest of us care about California? Why indeed...

Via GOPUSA.com:

"Republicans have set their sights on the Democrat stronghold of California for 2004, as Democrat Gov. Gray Davis comes one step closer to facing a recall vote.

The Golden State has been solidly Democrat in recent years, but with a popular President and a well-funded campaign, Republicans hope to put the state back into play. With its 55 electoral votes, a Republican victory in California would all but guarantee Bush re-election."

So, get a petition signed and steal the election before a single vote is even cast. Now THAT takes balls.

Labels: 2004 election, George W. Bush, Gray Davis

Via Metafilter:

"Dude. To hell with moving to Canada. I'm not giving up that easily. This may not be the best time to be a liberal, but why concede? Secede! With the 5th largest economy in the world, prodigious industry, a diverse population, rich natural resources, and a growing rift with the federal government, why is California sharing a budget with the unbeautiful when we could be enjoying our very own Republic? Is it for lack of leadership? Or lack of a clue?
posted by scarabic at 5:24 PM PST [trackback] (27 comments total)"

California? California!? What about New England?

Here we are: Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and of course the two Behemoths – Massachusetts and Connecticut – just waiting for the chance to start anew. For fuck’s sake I thought we had pretty much taken control of the situation back in 1861. Apparently not.

Yes, by all means, let California secede the Union, and let the rest of us do it too. It’s not as if we can do a worse job on our own. According to the original argument we needed a strong centralized, federal government to protect us from foreign powers…to keep our individual rights as free citizens intact, but now it’s that same government that threatens to curb our rights and freedoms. This is unacceptable; In fact it is intolerable.

If the current configuration of the United States of America – a simple matter of relative form and function which itself would seem utterly strange and alien to the Founders – no longer meets the needs of the people, then it should be altered.

This right was guaranteed to us by the Founders decision to recognize the Constitution as an imperfect, living document. They understood the fundamental importance of change within a democracy. It is time for a change worthy of that understanding to occur.

We want equity. We want justice. We want a system in which one individual human being has as much say in our governance as any other human being. Granted, this thought scared the living shit out of the founders – indeed it might scare the shit out of any one of us after viewing a few hours of NASCAR or a professional wrestling event – but it is time to accept democracy in earnest…warts and all.

But not nationally. The founders were correct – at least in that respect – in assuming that a complete democracy would lead only to complete ruin. Therefore I propose a compromise; a re-evaluation of the original democratic experiment that was the United States of America.

Once upon a time there were the Articles of Confederation. They existed for a few short years, and were later replaced by the system of governance under which we now reside. Times have changed; we have matured as a nation.

There are many, many forms of democracy available to us. All of them are 100% “legal” under the U.S. Constitution. All it takes – as with any great deed – is the will and the patience to make it happen. Just as our nation survived the transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, so too must our system of governance evolve into something new before is it torn asunder.

If California wishes to leave the union I wish them well, but I would first ask the citizens of that state to consider this: If we as U.S. citizens are willing to take so bold a step as to consider such a proposition, would it not be equally as sound to consider even bolder alternatives to our current means of experiencing democracy?

If we are going to change this nation, then let's fucking change it. Let’s build this thing to last. Let’s take the broken dreams and promises of the Founders and make them real. It’s not as if we have anything to loose.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, one must agree that there's never been a nation more wealthy or more powerful than the United States of America at this very moment. Our nation is – in fact – so rich and so mighty that each and every American citizen should be experiencing the spoils of our success. All I propose is that we do just that.

A change is necessary. I believe that a radical change in the way in which we continue this experiment of democracy, started so long ago, would be a welcome one. Let us reconsider these arbitrary lines on maps that we call “State Lines,” and instead view ourselves as we really are: As citizens of small, distinct nations bound together by common ideals, not imaginary borders.

“California” is no more or less unique than any other region of our nation. It just happens to be encompassed within the boundaries of a “state” (a divided one at that). New England is no different; nor is any other geo-political region of the land-mass within the area known as the United States of America.

Let this union of peoples and places recast itself in the crucible of freedom before we shatter it on the anvil of tyranny.

Labels: bloggers, blogging, founders

Each and every one of us is a node on the web. We are all necessary. If one of us goes down, we all go down.

Well, not exactly, but what if it were true? Even for a few of us. We'd all be in the shiter.

I'm no fan of rampant legislation for security, or corporate spying, but come on; Take care of your god damn machine.

These things called computers help us live our lives in ways we can't even imagine. Is it worth it to risk them? Hell no. Upgrade the dammed system when it needs to be upgraded at home. Demand that it be upgraded at work if it's not already. Jobs are at stake here.

Our economy can not handle a major attack. The fact that some companies give the federal government a heads up on security issues is admirable - I won't go into how I think that the government should be the ones alerting industry to these issues instead of the other way around - but home networks need to be secure too.

Is my machine secure? I don't know, but I'm sure as shit going to spend some time with her to figure it out.

Without us, the individual users, the internet is nothing. With things going the way they are, we can't afford to let this get away from us; We must protect our systems.

Update. Update often, and check-out those anomalies. Odds are, you're going to find a problem long before the Department of Homeland Security is.

I'll leave it at that.

Labels: bloggers, blogging, Cybersecurity, technology

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has been criticized by some in the media as being big on message, but short on policy. These critics claim that as a Governor, Dean doesn't have the requisite experience to lead the nation through these difficult times. I beg to differ.

Leadership isn’t about having all the answers; It's about knowing who to go to get those answers. We've seen a catastrophic breakdown of this basic truth in the current Administration with the yellowcake fiasco. Had the right people been tapped to provide an accurate, non-biased assessment of the information at hand, the President would not find himself in the position he is now. Howard Dean knows better.

Touted far and wide as the "Internet Candidate," Dean has attracted a wide range of supporters on the web. Myself included. But I confess, I’ve been curious as to where exactly Dean stood on issues such as intellectual property rights, personal privacy on the net, etc. I’ve been pleasantly impressed.

I'm a long time fan of Stanford Law Professor, and founder of the Center for Internet and Society, Lawrence Lessig. Professor Lessig's blog is one of the best on the web (it is listed in my sidebar simply as "Lessig"). If you find yourself on a computer most of your waking hours, then Lessig's blog is a must read. This week Howard Dean is at the helm of that blog.

I hope that this is a sign of things to come: Sanity in national policy with regards to the protection of our individual rights and freedoms on the internet. Howard Dean knows who to tap for answers and analysis. That’s exactly the type of leader this country needs.

Dean for America in 2004.

Labels: 2004 election, howard dean, Lawrence Lessig

It may seem cold, even vicious, but there’s a country at stake damn it. This is an opportunity; maybe the best one we’re going to get. We need to take it.

A few months ago I signed up at Meetup.com for the Howard Dean campaign. I signed up to see what was going on. I wanted to know if the Democrats were going to put up an actual candidate against Bush in 2004. I went to one meeting.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to go to more than just one, but life interfered. There was an implied conflict of interest with the campaign and my wife’s profession for one, and my father fell critically ill. Otherwise, I would have been out there in the trenches with Dean’s loyal band of supporters. And I might yet be.

Dick Gephardt, one of “The Party’s” hopefuls, has a chink in his armor. I’ve seen a lot of news the past week or so about the Dean campaign – not to mention a lot of groping by the Democratic Party leadership as to whom they should throw their considerable weight behind – and I’ve been impressed.

Here’s this governor, from Vermont of all places, actually making the folks inside the beltway squirm. Nice.

Sure most of the press was about cash (It felt a bit like a donate to the Dean campaign info-mercial after a while), but even besides that it was almost all positive. And on top of it all, “conservative” taking heads were willing to concede a few points to Dean. Ya just can’t beat good old New England “Get-off-my-land-ism. But now there’s something more tangible than war-chest dollars behind Dean: Actual supporters.

To those of you who sent Dean a check, or authorized a debit to your account in past few weeks, good on ya, but in the immortal words of Han Solo: “Don’t get cocky, kid.” There’s still an election to be won. That’s why I’m writing tonight.

Dick Gephardt is currently ahead of Howard Dean in both “viewer polls” (for all the shit they’re worth” and in campaign contributions, but we have an opportunity to upset that standing.

Gephardt can’t get it up; attendance that is. Contributions aside, Meetup.com meeting attendance has actually become an issue in this primary season. The mainstream press is watching the grassroots for a change.

That is why I will make every effort to be at the next Meetup.com meeting in support of Howard Dean. I believe that there is someone better than George W. Bush capable of running this country without running it into the ground. Of the choices available to me, I believe that Howard Dean is the best candidate for the job of President of the United States of America.

Speak now, or forever hold your peace.

Labels: 2004 election, George W. Bush, howard dean

No offense to all of you flag waving fans of Sousa’s marches out there, but having seen military justice in action on several occasions I’d say that the assessment is dead on.

The military is a funny animal. When you join, you forfeit the rights and freedoms accorded to all American citizens so that you might be better able to protect them. It is no small sacrifice.

Today, hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens are serving in various capacities abroad at the order of the Commander-in-Chief. They are there because of their oath to serve and protect the Constitution. This document has been the blue print for every democracy since its creation. It is the global standard. However, on this Fourth of July, that renowned and respected status which our nation has so briefly enjoyed is in peril.

The Founders – ever fearful of tyranny of any kind – ensured several rights were embedded in foundation of our government. Chief amongst these rights was the freedom to dissent. This blog exists as my personal celebration of that right.

The assumption of innocence, the right to face ones accusers, and the right to a speedy and just trial by a jury of ones peers are built into the framework of our government not to protect individual citizens from the abuses of an unsympathetic regime, but to protect the right of all citizens to dissent without fear of persecution.

But these rights do not apply to those facing trial in military courts.

Today, over 600 individuals remain imprisoned by our govenrment without charge, legal representation, or the ability to communicate with their families. Following an investigation, some of these individuals may be found guilty of crimes for which they have yet to charged, but only some. The innocent among them will suffer no less, and will be treated no better in the meantime. It is an injustice which we should all concern ourselves with on this day of freedom.

These individuals – some only in their teens – will face a military tribunal with the authority to impose the death penalty. This is unacceptable. As Americans we should be incensed that our government has stripped these people of their most basic legal rights when they are fighting for their lives.

The Administration has attempted to justify this treatment by referring to the prisoners of camp X-Ray as enemy combatants. This designation has been summarily imposed without investigation or trial. The Administration’s assumption is that special steps need to be taken – that a few eggs need to be broken – to ensure the continued security of our nation. We’ve heard that line before, and it can only lead to one disastrous end.

If the United States is to continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, we need to start playing by our own rules again. Truth and justice for all must not be a goal or an ideal; it must be a reality. The integrity of our nation depends on it.

Half the country doesn’t trust the word our government. The world views our leaders as suspect, and our populace as either ignorant or complicit. This cannot, and will not continue for very much longer. There will be consequences for all of us should we continue to allow the dilution of our rights, the curtailment of our freedoms, and the sullying our identity as a freedom loving nation.

I want my country back.

Labels: camp X-Ray, founders, guantanamo, military tribunal, patriot act