I grew up reading comic books wanting to be a superhero. Comics taught me that those who speak the truth are heroes, all the rest are liars.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

When The Hammer of Justice Crushes You

While most of the media this week is focus on Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court and undoubtedly will replay nightly how Elena Kagan crosses her legs, I believe it's too late to turn back from the rash of recent court rulings such as 'corporation rights' and their right to unlimited funding of  political campaigns, to the Supreme Court recently refusing to hear Maher Arar's case.
It's more than obvious that the Supreme court has stripped the justice from the American justice system. Our 'highest court in the land' won't set right any issues unless the partisan puppeteers they are beholding to direct them. 
"My case is unique in the sense that I was the only person who was rendered from US soil. But hundreds of other human beings have been rendered by the CIA and handed over to brutal regimes. No one knows how many of these people have died under torture or completely disappeared. Those of us who were lucky "survived" and were released, but now live with psychological and physical scars."
The Supreme Court has strayed so far from the laws of this land and it's principles of fairness, civil rights, and justice for all, that they won't even make a decision regarding rendering of people on US soil! It's one more sign from the Supreme Court that they are corrupted, poisoned, and fraught with private agendas with Liberty and Justice for only the wealthy white!


Halls of Justice Painted Green

Money Talking
Power Wolves Beset Your Door
Hear Them Stalking
Soon You'll Please Their Appetite
They Devour
Hammer of Justice Crushes You
Overpower
The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy

I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price You Pay
Nothing Can Save You

Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done

Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real

Apathy Their Stepping Stone
So Unfeeling
Hidden Deep Animosity
So Deceiving

Through Your Eyes Their Light Burns
Hoping to Find
Inquisition Sinking You
With Prying Minds
The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy

I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price You Pay
Nothing Can Save You

Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone

Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done
Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real

Lady Justice Has Been Raped
Truth Assassin
Rolls of Red Tape Seal Your Lips
Now You're Done in
Their Money Tips Her Scales Again
Make Your Deal
Just What Is Truth? I Cannot Tell
Cannot Feel

The Ultimate in Vanity
Exploiting Their Supremacy
I Can't Believe the Things You Say
I Can't Believe
I Can't Believe the Price We Pay
Nothing Can Save Us

Justice Is Lost
Justice Is Raped
Justice Is Gone
Pulling Your Strings
Justice Is Done

Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real

Seeking No Truth
Winning Is All
Find it So Grim
So True
So Real

Friday, June 25, 2010

Friday's Funky Roundup

I always thought that old age and being a women made you invisible.
From PhysOrg:

Researchers have proposed a new design for an invisibility cloak - a device that could make objects invisible by guiding light around anything placed inside the cloak

 
The Rolling Stone article featuring McChrystal is actually a very good read. Although it does present Obama as the one making decisions which is disappointing given the war efforts outcomes and costs.
McChrystal dismissed the counter terrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as "shortsighted," saying it would lead to a state of "Chaos-istan." The remarks earned him a smack down from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force One.
When to stop blaming Bush? Hmmm..So, let’s see… A Very Political Women sezs:
  • 1.When every child left behind from No Child Left Behind is caught up
  • 2.When every woman denied equal access to birth control around the globe due to W.’s global gag rule has had the opportunity and chance to take part in full health care
  • 3.When every person who wants to join a union is not persuaded otherwise by presidential-mandated “Beck” posters stating that, you know, you don’t have to join a union and here’s why.
  • 4.When every soldier who was wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan is given full recovery both mentally and physically.
  • 5.When Halliburton closes its doors.
  • 6.When Dick Cheney stops running off his mouth. 
  • 7.When the rich pay back the taxes they should have been paying from 2001-2010. 
  • 8.When all the warrantless wire taps are destroyed and evidence thereof is also demolished. 
  • 9.When the budget surplus that existed prior to 2001 returns again. 
  • 10.When the nearly 15 million unemployed American workers regain employment and self-worth.
 
Yeah I hear ya, sigh.., “ The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers and the Fight to Save the Planet,”
"...Their battleground was the American political system . . . so distorted by special interest dollars and partisan bile that it now seemed to block progress of any kind, no matter how urgent”

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Leak That Keeps On Giving

In the two months that oil has poured into the ocean from BP's well, most of us have lowered our expectations that containment will be anytime soon. Now, I'm wondering if I should come to expect more sludge to pollution more waters from BP projects with hope of containment or future spills.
I pledge allegiance to the flag and one nation under BP with Liberty...
Regulators have exempted BP’s project, “Liberty,” from President Obama’s offshore drilling moratorium because “it sits on an artificial island built by BP” and so it qualifies as “onshore.”
"But about three miles off the coast of Alaska, BP is moving ahead with a controversial and potentially record-setting project to drill two miles under the sea and then six to eight miles horizontally to reach what is believed to be a 100-million-barrel reservoir of oil under federal waters"
Really? Fool me once, shame on you, but full me twice...sigh. Wonder if there is an end in sight or this is just the beginning?

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

They All Show 'Poor Judgement'

I really don't care if McChrystal took public shots at Obama. Really when McChrystal provided the Obama administration with the means to justify the current war misadventure, both became the biggest losers. It was a defining moment for the Obama administration to actually get in front of the war and lead the way out...instead they brought the magic bullets offered by old war generals. Obama said today the McChrystal showed 'poor judgement'...well, that sword cuts both ways.

The current policy of counterinsurgency (COIN) is nothing more than backing one corrupt war lord over others for favors granted. There is no chance of 'victory' or 'democracy'. There is only the continuence of death that reinforces the Afghanistan's hate of America (yes America and not Americans, there is a difference!). Unfortunately, Obama fired the General when he should have fired the war effort.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I'll Be Right Back

Last February I fell and broke my right ankle on both sides. It's been a very long healing process requiring surgery and lots of flat on my back in pain down time (damn my allergy to morphine!). This Friday I will undergo a final surgery (hopefully) to remove a screw that held the two bones in place (just leaving 7 screws and an eight inch plate woot!).  It will finally free me up to (1) start phys rehab, (2) drive again! yeah, and (3) hopefully start on a full recovery.

Most ankles break on just one side, the other side holding in place tendons, ligaments, muscles, and nerves...but mine broken on both, so I lost most of the tendons, ligaments...well you get the picture...I actually saw my foot point 180 degrees off...or more to the point my toes were pointing behind me...Ouch. So I can now look forward to a painful and stressful physical therapy utilizing electrodes, ultrasound and an ice-boot. (just imagine putting your leg in a bucket full of ice for 5 minutes).  But it's all part of the healing process which after months of down time, sounds just next to wonderful to me.

A lots of folks need thanking... from my family (bless you for being there helping during the great times and the very dark times) to friends with food, advice, rides, companionship, and books to read!  to a caring medical staff and a really competent surgeon (even if he made me live or survive in 2-4 week increments for the last 6 months! I suppose it help narrow the scope of what happen).

Due to the surgery, I won't be blogging again until late next week or the next. But I'll be back soon. I won't be wearing any high heel shoes but I never blogged in them anyway-)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Wednesday Wanderings

Franken Continues to both surprise and delight me! Al Franken gave an interview about his feminist beliefs. Beside being well articulated and thoughtful, Al raise a much larger question of why women don't have more truly wonderful feminist roll models in literature. Off hand I can think of a couple but as Al pointed out, there is a void. My favorite part of the interview is when asked the whimsical question of which one feminist he'd pick if going on a desert island. He didn't even have to give it thought, it was his wife Franni all the way...
A Sign from G*d?
A six story statue of Jesus in Monroe, Ohio, was struck by lightning and burned to the ground...The landmark stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church...The founder of the church said he was trying to help people, not impress them, with the statue. It was to be a beacon of hope and salvation...enuff said, obviously a sign or omen...there's no more hope...give it up, just saying-)

Do I Seem Stupid?
I love non medically trained men (representatives) who want to make my health care decisions for me. After all, I'm just an educated adult women who has a family and medically trained doctor/staff. Thank goodness for mandated biased counseling, burdensome waiting periods so they can hope to change my mind, imposed costly and unnecessary clinic regulations, required parental notifications and consent, restricted funding, and support medical pro lifers to limit my health care...NOT!

So while making it almost impossible to obtain an abortion, they have done little of nothing to provide women with support needed to not have unwanted children (free contraceptives) or support to raise their family.

Minnesota is no exception, when faced with unprecedented cuts, those most likely to be cut include women and children in programs like public health, nutrition, early childhood, and K-12 education...yeah tell me again how you are pro-life and not just pro-fetus, anti-women?


Save BP, Save the Queen...
I find it so funny that the GOP want to blame Obama for the BP spill...why not the Queen of England...after all it is British Petroleum?   Ah, but that doesn't mean there isn't room of a lot of improvement in energy policy and procedures...And just how are we going to recover from the spill while ensuring it never happens again...can anyone really tell me?

And oh yeah..BP sucks (as the sing along youtube below) but how many grandmas used gasoline to get to the pier, and heat their house and use other numerous oil products...just saying...singing is nice but we (America) still use 20% of the world supply of oil while only providing for 2% of it. Want change? Stop using oil...then we will all have something to sing about!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

An American Christian Warrior or Terrorist?

Let's see...52 years old, white male (construction worker Gary Brooks Faulkner) hunting for Osama Bin Laden with weapons and bible verses...I'm sure he wouldn't decapitate Osama as he claimed, just make sure Bin Laden is saved by embracing Jesus. Sure...Right...

He reminds me of every christian fanatic that ever knocked on my door wanting to save me. And I agree with Martin Bender's observation that we hold ourselves to a lesser standard when dealing with foreign countries especially with media reporting:
"How would you feel if a Pakistani was caught in the forest of Washington, hunting for someone the Pakistani government had declared a criminal, covered in religious Koran texts? Right"
Killing in the name of G*d happens all the time...Religion using their god as a license to kill, or to consolidate power, or obtain wealth, or control. Sadly, Americans only label them as terrorist or zealots if they are brown skinned or Muslim.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Day 63 - Who's in Charge here?

Sigh...funny but not so funny...

The Cost of War

I often wonder why...if the GOP doesn't like big government spending, they continue to support the huge investment in war? Then I ran across HR 5353, better know as 'The War is Making You Poor Act'. It's legislation that would make the first $35,000 American's make income tax free!

The catch is the savings require the militry to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan out of it's current budget without using supplementary funds (additional money). That might mean tightening their belt, eliminating poor and wasteful spending but seems like they already have a disapportionate piece of the Ameircan budget (somewhere around a quarter to half depending on if you fact the magical 'additional funding'?)

Source: http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm 
Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,650 billion

MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion

NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion


Of course..this is not only about the money costs: "The U.S. military marked a grim milestone in Afghanistan this year with more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers killed there since October 2001. Roadside bombings are on the rise, causing double the number of fatalities in 2009 that they did in 2008. And 2010 is on track to be even worse by that measure." USNews