Tuesday, December 30, 2008

What It Means to be Liberal


or, "Oops, I guess I painted a target on myself!"

So it's been a long time since I actually wrote here. I have to confess, I never rode high the wave of the Obama victory, and frankly, in an odd way I'm glad I didn't -- the let down would have been much worse. I mean, the whole FISA vote was a big clue not to get one's hopes up, in my opinion. And then he started stacking his cabinet with Washington insiders and conservative Democrats (and even couple of Republicans...) and nary a Progressive in sight among his inner circle. And then of course... Rick freakin' Warren. And now, the clincher for me is Obama's refusal to speak out against the massacre in the Gaza Strip -- hell, what statements that have come out his camp are tacitly supportive of Israel! Forgive my cynicism, but I'm beginning to wonder if the primary difference between McCain and Obama really is that Obama can make his way through an entire statement without stumbling and uttering a malapropism.

So, in my lonely journey out into the blogosphere for answers, I stumbled upon something... well, disturbing. Ghastly and disgraceful, I would venture to say. By the way, buckle up -- this is going to be a long post because I'm making up for lost time. It will also include a humble request from me to you, but we'll get to that.

So anyway, what I stumbled upon was a blog written by a Jewish American who is pretty much literally celebrating what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. I'm not talking about the sort of jibes those of us on the (apparantly civil) end of the blogosphere take at neoconservatives when they earn themselves a heapin' helping of schadenfreude. I mean, this woman is really rejoicing in what Israel is doing -- not just the bombing, but the suberversion of the peace process, the grand spin campaign to clean Israel's image of war crimes, the denial of Palestinian's right to live, let alone live in their ancestral homeland. The works.

I suppose I should have known better when it comes to neoconservative blogs, but... well. I was shocked. So I posted a comment. Not surprisingly, it got bounced in moderation. I probably could have stopped there. Some would argue that I should have. But what is going on in Gaza, right now, right this minute, is a crime against humanity. And I thought about how the crimes of Nazi Germany against the Jews went unpunished for so long, and how people were afraid to speak out, and I decided that enough was enough. Nothing justifies an air strike on an undefended population center -- particularly one of the most densely populated, impoverished ones in the world today -- and so I sent an email to the site's proprietor.

For some background, it was this news story that prompted my specific response, as well as Ms. Yourish's reaction to it at yourish.com, specifically /2008/12/27/5826 (besides the obvious backlash that backlinking might bring down on me, I also refuse to dignify that blog with link rank.)

Ms. Yourish,

I'm fairly confident the comments section on your blog will continue to be thoroughly screened and censored, and while I don't expect you actually care about anything but your own interests, I still feel compelled to say something.

I find it disgusting that you celebrate this atrocity against the Palestinian people. Your own blog shows you not only know about Israel's duplicity -- the fact that the "peace process" has been nothing bit a ruse to discredit the notion that any sort of compromise is possible -- but you embrace this duplicity with open arms. It's clever that Israel fooled Hamas by sending in a few scant humanitarian shipments as a false show of good faith? Maybe that's considered acceptable behavior to Zionists, but the rest of the world would consider that a crime.

Israel has been planning this massacre for months -- your own blog posts constitute evidence of that. They've been planning it as far back as the unilateral withdrawal itself, if Dov Weissglass' own words are to be believed. You and your government have made a mockery of diplomacy and you've turned your back on everything the rest of us fought for when we helped saved the Jewish people from the atrocities of World War II. How dare turn around and commit atrocities of your own and betray the memories of those you lost to the Holocaust -- the memories of those that many of us lost, because Jews were not the exclusive victims of those crimes.

The rest of the world isn't fooled, anymore. For sixty years, Israel has been able to operate in the shadow of US imperialism, shielded by apathy, racist anti-Arab rhetoric, propaganda and misinformation. For sixty years you've answered the crimes committed on your own people by inflicting them on others. Things are changing, and they will be quickly leaving Israel behind (and probably the United States as well, by all accounts, but that is another matter). I'm not telling you this because I expect you to listen to me, or to care about anyone you don't consider fully human. I'm telling you this so that you remember that there really was a choice, some time in the future when we're all suffering the effects of Israel's crimes against humanity, much like we all suffered from the effects of the crimes of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. You remember that you helped sow these seeds; unfortunately, we will all have to suffer the whirlwind thanks to you.

I doubt it will ever actually touch you directly -- I imagine you're affluent enough to remain afloat even in the economic crisis that is going to leave myself and many of my friends close to destitution, and since you're safely ensconsed here in the US you'll never have to witness the suffering and the horror that is war for yourself. I'd like to say that you'll have to live with your own demons for the rest of your life as a consequence of the crimes you endorse, but I imagine you will sleep farily soundly. I have no illusions that appealing to your sense of humility and compassion will bear fruit. So there is really little more to say.

Sincerely,
Pi3Orionis

Harsh? Yeah, admittedly. Impolite? Well, even Ghandi was a bit rude when he couldn't take it any more ("I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.") Vitrolic, even? Dare I say, but what can I say, it's in the name of my own blog.

Hateful? Certainly not.

Well... I guess I have to be honest. I expected there would be consequences -- you know, accusations of trivializing the Nazis by making a reference to them, accusations of being a Nazi myself... you know, the usual sort of reply one gets when one offers criticism of Israel to the right wing -- but I didn't imagine Ms. Yourish would be so crass as to try to mobilize an attack upon me by publishing my email address in a blog post where she, er, responds, to my letter ( /2008/12/29/5850 on the aforementioned site). You know, for a self-described writer and publisher I expected something a bit more... sophisticated. Mea culpa, or caveat emptor, or whatnot, I guess.

Lucky me, I've only gotten one little piece of hate mail thanks to the stunt, so I suppose I got off easy. But it's occurred to me this is a symptom of something larger -- a symptom of a sort of contagious mindset in which taking joy in the suffering of others, making vicious personal attacks or even outright racism, even actively participating in a campaigns of disinformation and slander have all become tools of the right wing. And with these crudely sharpened knives, they lash out at everything liberalism stands for... justice, honoring of promising, respect for human dignity, freedom of speech, the providence of forums for open discussion.

So here's my request. Fight it. For too long liberals have been ignored, and in part it's because we don't stoop to the depths of our assailants. We've been slandered and forced to defend ourselves in realms of civilization that wouldn't even exist if not for the liberals who have been the innovators, defenders and champions since the very beginning -- art, literature, academics, sciences. We don't have to wield the same crude weapons of the right wing, those of insult and slander and misdirection... we have weapons which are far more powerful in our hands, and they are powerful because we marshal them -- we are at are strongest not when we are attacking someone with them, but when we are defending with them... and stronger still when we wield them in defense of others. Speak out. Join a local group of activists. Keep blogging. When someone else gets knocked down, give them a hand, help them get up and stand with them. Keep asking questions, all the time, of everybody. Be willing to concede to the truth in honest debate; be willing to stand strong against an onslaught against the truth. Find a cause, and be willing to invest yourself in it.

I know it's difficult. We get precious little respect nowadays, in the United States, those of us who can still see the shining beacon on the hill. The political process has been subverted by greed and the national dialog has been polluted by propaganda. But we cannot give up, because doing so doesn't simply mean something as petty as defeat. It means suffering and loss for everyone. Neoconservatives lied to get us into a war with Iraq; but the sons and daughters of neoconservatives bleed no less when they lie broken on the battlefield. The poor working-class Republican suffers just as badly as anyone in the conditions of the raw economic folly that right wing philosophy has brought us, even if he cannot or will not see that. When we cede ground to those who would destroy us -- the haters, the spin doctors, the war profiteers, the swindlers in business suits, the preachers of intolerance -- everybody suffers. Even themselves, in the end. Just read over Ms. Yourish's reply to my letter and see how profoundly alone and cut off she thinks her people (and by extension, herself) are from the rest of humanity.

We aren't fighting against somebody. We're fighting for everybody.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

OMFG Pie!


From Dr. Zauis wonderful blog...

I really shouldn't let myself get so far behind on my blogging. I missed this precious little gem when Doc Z posted it about two weeks ago.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Defining Terrorism

Regarding this video snippet...

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. I mean, they're only dictators as long as they aren't our dictators, right? Why shouldn't the same rule apply to terrorists?

New rule for the Campaign '08 drinking game! Whenever Palin or McCain mentions Bill Ayers and either "terrorist" or "Obama" in the same sentence, take a drink. If they do so in response to a question not directly related to Bill Ayers, take two drinks. If they manage to fit Bill Ayers, Barack Obama and a reference to terrorism in the same sentence without conjunctions, finish your drink.

Special thanks to BuzzFlash for bringing this to my attention. Read his blog entry on the topic, it's far more eloquent than mine. :)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

How Dinner with the Klingon Delegation...

...might have went in the Mirror Universe's Star Trek VI? (Warning: Language Not Safe For Work!)

I swear, I almost had a Genesis Incident in my drawers after finding this. It's darn near the funniest thing I've seen in... well... ever, possibly. Check out some of SciFiAssasin's other video cuts, he's a real genius at this thing. My runner up is Servalan singing.

That first video up there, though... I don't wonder if that's what it's like when Bush and company attend a G8 summit. I can just imagine the delegates from the EU starting a betting pool to see whose malapropism or bad behavior from the Bush team will cause Condaleeza Rice to sputter into her dinner wine first.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Chuck Norris, Black Belt Economist

So. It's been a while since I've posted. Things have been pretty hectic for me back in Real Life, and what's been going on in politics lately has been... well... too depressing to even blog about. I wanted to go positive on my next post, but it's been sort of difficult. I think I will veer off of politics in my next post which I will try to get out there tomorrow. I'm not sure if anyone's reading this thing at this point, so meh, maybe no one's really noticed. Heh.

Anyway, this right here is funnier than it is depressing, at least. McCain was going to hire Phil "you buncha whiners!" Gramm to be his Secretary of the Treasury -- but that's only because Chuck Norris was already booked to be Mike Huckabee's Secretary of Treasury!

Did you hear Chuck Norris kicked the national debt so hard, it lost three or four digits!


You know honestly, every time Norris goes on TV to stump for Republicans, it really takes the mystique and -- dare I say it -- the grandeur out of his reputation as a mythic asskicker. I mean seriously, the guy's dumber than a bag of rocks. I think he needs to go back to his roots and defend America by beating up endless swarms of ninjas, not careening through political analysis like a third grader at the wheel of a semi.

Take my advise, Mr. Norris. Take one for the team and just sit this discussion out. We'll call you if a guy with an eyepatch or a facial scar shows up and tries to steal a nuke or whatnot, okay?

In the meantime, let's not talk about "economic terrorism," unless you seriously expect us to believe that you're really willing to ship Lloyd Blankfein to Gitmo as an enemy combatant, or waterboard Hank Paulson in order to stop the "ticking time bomb" that is our economic meltdown. 'Cause I'm guessing... you're not.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

If at first you don't succeed... Revise history!


So, as Newshoggers was kind enough to point out, the White House has apparently decided to announce yesterday that Osama bin Laden was not the mastermind of 9/11! Oh noes! Quick, someone tell John McCain that he's on the wrong trail!

That can mean only one thing: someone has gone back into history and altered the timeline! This sounds like a job for the ACME Detective Agency!


I mean, seriously, I don't know what's worse: the possibility that this is a falsehood, and Bush wants to sweep his failure to actually catch Osama bin Laden under the rug... or the possibility that this is the truth -- which would mean that this entire time, Bush has been using Osama bin Laden as a scarecrow and fabricating a myth around the man so that the Republicans could trick the rest of the American people to sit down, shut up, follow along and stop asking questions. People have died over this. We've committed our troops -- our brothers, our sisters, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers -- to this and now they're going to say, "Nope! That was the wrong guy. Sooorry!"

Of course, to top it all off, they're saying "We've already got the guy! It's Khalid Sheik Muhammed!" Gee, let's roll out that old Mission Accomplished banner, why don't we? Now, before I go any further, I will say that the guy is probably guilty of committing crimes. I've ostensibly decided to put credence in the 9/11 Commission's report. But how do we know, now, whether he is the mastermind? His confessions were extracted by torture. We've literally made it impossible to give the man a fair trial for his crimes -- and that is a crime our government has committed against the victims of what happened at the World Trade Center.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

How Bad Books Get Good Sales Numbers

Check out Park Here and Political Irony to find out how to get your scurrilous, right-wing propagandist tripe to the top of the bookseller charts!

At this rate, there won't be any room at Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste.

Lipstick on a... oh.


Uh... Senator McCain? Barack Obama wasn't talking about Sarah Palin. :)

(Edit: Whoops, forgot the tags!)

Friday, September 5, 2008

The real American Kulterkampf

Just when I thought that Republicans could jump no more sharks and plumb no more depths... well... check out this post on Crooks & Liars.

I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. Well... I do believe it, I suppose. I just really don't want to. If you had any doubt that the Republicans weren't going to frame the War in Iraq as a Christian crusade against Islam, that they aren't concerned with lumping in millions upon millions of innocent, peaceful Middle-Easterners in the same category as the mythical stereotype of the al-Qaeda super-terrorist... that they're not concerned, ultimately, about how many innocent people die, both American and Middle Eastern lives, so that they can provoke this so-called culture clash between the East and the West that they've manufactured... here is your proof.

If you're not already familiar with the concept, I suggest you refer to Wikipedia's entry on Kulterkampf. I come from an ethnic background of Roman Catholic German and Polish heritage... while the specific reasons my ancestors departed Europe remain unstated in my family, I can check the emigration dates on my family's geneology, and I can do the math.

Granted, the original application of Kulterkampf reflected an extremist form of secularism that was targetted against a specific religion. That religion (Roman Catholicism) was viewed as an external threat to the "national integrity" of the German Empire. I dare say it isn't a stretch to substitute another extremist ideology as the driving force (say, evangelical Christianity) and target a totally different religion which can be demonized as a foreign threat to our existence as a nation (say, Islam).

If I need to point out just where this subverted, nationalistic form of uber-patriotism ultimately carried Germany, then you apparently slept through a very important history lesson in school.

If the founding fathers of this country could witness this year's RNC, they'd be bursting out of their graves in desperation to stop this. More than ever now, I fear for the future of the United States of America.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Avatar of Replicanism...


...is Sarah Palin, it would seem. Jane Smiley at HuffPo has put it in terms more eloquent than I can muster, so I recommend you check out her post first.

Have you read it? And you came back here and you're still reading my blog entry? Oh thank God(s). :)

I'm just staggered by McCain's VP choice. Not so much with her being neo-conservative and ultra-Christian -- McCain needs to make some strange bedfellows if he wants campaign donations from anyone other than telecoms, oil companies and defense contractors. I'm not even surprised that her first major presentation to the world at large contained bald-face lies about her own record as well as her rivals'. I mean, hypocrisy is the bread and butter of the Republican party.

Case and point, this tired refrain: "Oh, John McCain was a POW! You can't challenge the consistency of his positions when he served his country with honor!" Well, John Kerry is a war hero, and that didn't protect him from being labelled a flip-flopper and things much, much worse. It didn't stop the Republicans from attacking John Murtha and Wesley Clark did it? Oh, no, but suddenly McCain is sacrosanct because he was fought for his country and that magically makes him, and him alone, immune from criticism.

I'm not awestruck that McCain chose Palin. I'm awestruck that he and his campaign botched it so very badly. The cat's out of the bag about her daughter's teen pregnancy, the religious fervor of her associating the War in Iraq (who are we at war with again, exactly?) with "God's work," and her ties to an Alaskan secessionist movement. How long did these guys have to do their homework on Palin so as to spin it somewhere useful (or at least, somewhere obfusciated and harmless)? Or, God(s) forbid, pick someone else with the same qualifications (womanly bits, belligerent partisanship, ultra-Christian) who hadn't descended into sheer crackpottery? Instead, they equated "a long and thorough vetting process" with "late night cram session" and Sarah Palin was the result.

Fortunately, for us perhaps more than for Republicans, she is the perfect icon of the Republican Party.

A swarm of rants in the blogosphere...


So. I finally got around to starting my own blog. :) This little corner of the internet will serve as a place to post about what's on my mind. Mostly, these will be political commentaries, I imagine. For the record, I am a raging anti-imperialist liberal who believes that, if government is going to exist at all, it should damn well take care each and every single person in its jurisdiction, no matter who they are or what they do. Government should not be a tool for domination of any class of human beings over any another and it should isolate itself from institutions that do (organized religion, the "free" market, gambling, first person shooters, whatever).

Now and then I will post some things related to my other interests, those being art (drawing, digital and 3D, maybe occasionally video or music), games of various types including board games (we're talking hardcore, like Arkham Horror not Chutes and Ladders, people!), computer games, and roleplaying games. I have a few (some say a few too many...) projects of my own that I am working on, and I will probably foist them upon my readership from time to time. :)

Anyway, please read the rules before leaving any comments on my little blip in the blogometric field. They're to the right. No, your other right. A little farther... little farther... too far! Back a bit. There you go.

Enjoy!