Festive Left Friday Blogging: Evo’s anti-imperialist military is now official!

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Sabina Becker

And looking mighty fine, too:

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And here’s the story behind it all, from Contrainjerencia:

President Evo Morales declared the armed forces of Bolivia to be nationalist, socialist and anti-imperialist, during the ceremony for the 188th anniversary of the country’s independence.

“I reaffirm on this day, on this 188th anniversary, celebrated in Potosí, that we now have armed forces which are nationalist, socialist and anti-imperialist to defend our country,” said Morales during a swearing-in ceremony in Potosí, southwestern Bolivia.

Before that, the commander in chief of the armed forces, General Edwin de la Fuente Jeria, affirmed that the militaries would be indoctrinated with socialist principals and to be anti-imperialist and decolonizing.

Morales, who arrived in a tank to the ceremonies, which preceded a military parade, announced that the armed forces were born to fight against colonialism, internally and externally, against invasion and domination.

During the ceremony, President Morales and vice-president Alvaro García Linera were decorated by the military institution with a medal bearing the image of the revolutionary leader, Tupac Katari, the first indigenous leader to rise up against the Spanish crown.

At the same time, the Bolivian leader committed economic resources to foment initiatives related to development of new technologies and modernization of the military.

Morales also explained that the armed forces have a nationalist character because, along with the social movements, they are the only ones who can guarantee that the natural resources of Bolivia would not return to being privatized.

Socialists, he added, because they work to distribute vouchers and rents, and because they contribute to national development with technology; and anti-imperialist because they are on the side of the people, for which they are appreciated by the Bolivians and when they were with the empire, they were disparaged.

Finally, the Bolivian president asked that the military institution work together more with the people in the development of the land.

Translation mine.

And people wonder what I see in Evo? Um, THIS is what. He’s plain friggin’ awesome and badass, is what he is.

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DENIED.

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Sabina Becker

ezra-in-a-wig

Ezra the Putz…just one of FUX Snooze North’s many diverse examples of elite right-wing thoughtleadership. (Snurk.)

Ha, ha.

Sun News Network has been denied a guaranteed spot on basic cable TV packages in a CRTC ruling released today.

The Quebecor-owned network did not successfully demonstrate to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that it met the criteria for a mandatory distribution order, the CRTC said.

[…]

Kory Teneycke, the vice-president of Sun News Network, told CBC News prior to the ruling “what is important is the outcome, not the mechanism the CRTC uses.”

“Sun News is looking for a path to parity with incumbents and foreign news services in the market today.”

“A path to parity”? Oh Kory, stop whining. Admit that there’s already enough — MORE than enough — right-wing bullshit out there masquerading as news.

And let the free market decide, since you’re always professing your undying love for it.

Oh wait…I think it just did. Ha, ha.

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It’s Hiroshima Day. Do you know where YOUR radiation is?

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Sabina Becker

Footage of the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, followed by Allen Ginsberg, reading his “Plutonian Ode” over footage of various nuclear “test” explosions from around the globe. Note the quotation marks; that’s because these “tests” are never really JUST a test. The fallout always remains.

And speaking of fallout, isn’t it comforting to know that the danger and folly of nuclear explosions isn’t limited to mushroom clouds?

Highly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an “emergency” that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force, told Reuters.

Countermeasures planned by Tokyo Electric Power Co are only a temporary solution, he said.

Tepco’s “sense of crisis is weak,” Kinjo said. “This is why you can’t just leave it up to Tepco alone” to grapple with the ongoing disaster.

[…]

The utility pumps out some 400 metric tons a day of groundwater flowing from the hills above the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the basements of the destroyed buildings, which mixes with highly irradiated water that is used to cool the reactors in a stable state below 100 degrees Celsius.

Tepco is trying to prevent groundwater from reaching the plant by building a “bypass” but recent spikes of radioactive elements in sea water has prompted the utility to reverse months of denials and finally admit that tainted water is reaching the sea.

In a bid to prevent more leaks into the bay of the Pacific Ocean, plant workers created the underground barrier by injecting chemicals to harden the ground along the shoreline of the No. 1 reactor building. But that barrier is only effective in solidifying the ground at least 1.8 meters below the surface.

By breaching the barrier, the water can seep through the shallow areas of earth into the nearby sea. More seriously, it is rising toward the surface – a break of which would accelerate the outflow.

“If you build a wall, of course the water is going to accumulate there. And there is no other way for the water to go but up or sideways and eventually lead to the ocean,” said Masashi Goto, a retired Toshiba Corp nuclear engineer who worked on several Tepco plants. “So now, the question is how long do we have?”

And for a longer read, there’s this article from 1985, which pokes holes in the idea that Hiroshima was necessary to “save lives”. It was nothing of the sort; it was, grotesquely, the final atomic bomb “test”, the one where live human guinea pigs got sacrificed to showcase the destructive power of the worst abuse of science in history. The fallout is still killing Japanese bombing survivors to this day.

Happy Hiroshima Day.

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On Hugo Schwyzer and “branding”

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Sabina Becker

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So, I guess you’ve all heard about Hugo Schwyzer’s big meltdown.

I’m not going to jump on any bandwagon here; I’m not interested in bashing him, and neither am I interested in defending him. He’s been bashed pretty damn thoroughly, and if he wants to defend himself, I’m sure we’ll be hearing from him again shortly. Or from any of a number of people who count themselves among his friends.

Me, I don’t know the man. But I’ve read his writings with varying degrees of interest over the last few years. Some of what he’s said has been fairly on point; some, way off base; and some, incredibly problematic. The most recent problematic utterance (or most problematic recent utterance, rather)? His referring to his latest lapses as “off-brand”.

Now, there’s a curious way of putting it. Most of us would say something like “that was out of character for me”, or “that was not really me, that was the drugs/mental illness/whatever talking”. Not Hugo. He doesn’t seem to see these things in terms of a character, or a self, but a brand. And therein lies the problem.

Hugo Schwyzer, like all the rest of us, is not a brand. He’s a person. I don’t know what his character or his self is like, but I’ve seen the “brand”, and I do not trust it.

And, more to the point, I have a hard time trusting any person who refers to themself, or their behavior, as something pertaining to a “brand”. Here’s why:

Branding started out as a way of identifying cattle on the prairies, and as a way of ascertaining which rancher they belonged to. The logo of this or that ranch was literally burned into their skins with a hot iron. It was pretty barbaric, but crudely effective. It was, essentially, a way of asserting property and guarding against its theft.

Later, with the rise of commercial industry, the term “branding” migrated to such things as logos, labels and trademarks — basically, anything which distinguished one product from another similar one on a store shelf. These labels were no longer burned into the skin of a cow, a calf, or a steer, but stamped or stuck on cans, boxes and wrappers.

And now, it’s come to refer to people.

Are we just cattle, then? Home on the Range? Are we interchangeable products on a grocery store shelf? Are we property, to be guarded against theft?

No. We are, all of us, people.

And that’s why I don’t trust Brand Hugo Schwyzer. A brand is nothing to do with a person, unless it’s that perverse, ultra-capitalist legal fiction, the corporate “person”. A brand is a label, a logo, a trademark. It is packaging for a product. It is a designator of property. And it has little or no relation to what lies behind it, or to the actual person(s) who created it.

And that’s why I find it strangely telling that Hugo Schwyzer referred to his own best behavior as a “brand”, and his lapsing from it as “off-brand”. Was his ostensibly conscientious, Christian, male-feminist professorship and writing an expression of his real self, or just a carefully fabricated mask to hide behind? Was it a bit of both? When was it the one, and when the other? There seems to be a great deal of confusion between Hugo Schwyzer, the person, and Brand Hugo Schwyzer, the mask. So much so that even Hugo Schwyzer, the person, has trouble telling which is which.

And yes, that’s very troubling. It has worrisome implications for us all. We, as a society, are fixated on the masks, the “brands”; as a result of that, of all this commercial and quasi-commercial packaging with which we surround ourselves, we lose sight of each other as persons. Little wonder, then, that it becomes too easy to leap on this bandwagon or that, attacking or defending. The Battle of the Brands has obfuscated our humanity; it has thereby hijacked the discourse.

I have a great deal of empathy for the Hugo Schwyzer, the person. He’s troubled, and he needs help. I sincerely hope he gets it. No one should have to struggle all his life to hide mental illness and addiction behind a mask. Because that mask can be torn off and destroyed at any time. And while he can always try to rebuild that mask — or “re-brand” himself, as he might put it — it will never be an adequate substitute for doing the real, hard, painstaking work of restoring himself.

You can reinvent your “brand” countless times, tidily and even seamlessly if you’re very adept at it. But to do so is to lie, repeatedly, to yourself as well as others. And, as long as you do that, you will have a hard time living as fully human. And your “off-brand” lapses will keep coming back, whether you like it or not, until you have scrapped the branding and come to grips with your own humanity — no excuses, no subterfuges. The only alternative is to die completely as a human being.

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Music for a Sunday: Nobody’s business but the Turks’…

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Sabina Becker

For all the people in Istanbul (not Constantinople) who are protesting again. I wish I knew how to say “Keep up the good fight” in Turkish.

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Wankers of the Week: Crappy Birthday to me

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Sabina Becker

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Crappy weekend, everyone! And crappy birthday to the pixel-stained wretch who keeps this humble blog. She’s a rickety old thing, but she just keeps creakin’ along. And these wankers just keep on wankin’…in no particular order:

1. Lauren Fucking Green. Yes, Muslims CAN write books on Jesus. They consider him a prophet and a teacher, after all. And yes, their religion permits them to have opinions — INFORMED opinions, yet! Why is this so goddamned shocking? Next thing you know, the FUX Snoozers will be shocked, SHOCKED that Muslims are educated enough to read and write, and modern enough to work a cellphone. Who are the REALLY backward people?

2. Rush Fucking Limbaugh. Speaking of backward people who know fuck-all about Muslims, the Pigman decided to blame Huma Abedin’s religion for her husband’s predilection for sending pix of his own schlong to women other than herself. Because of course, the Christian thing to do is always blame the woman for whatever her man does. PS: Ha, ha. See what happens when you piss so many people off that they start voting with their wallets…against YOU? Let it never be said that the free market isn’t good for something, sometimes.

3. Glenn Fucking Beck. Yup, Biff’s a Nazi. Was there ever any doubt? I think he keeps that ol’ uniform around for something way beyond its “historical” significance (which is nil). I think he’s a wannabe Führer who, at the very least, likes to play dress-up in it. That’s not kinky, that’s perverted.

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4. Mark Fucking Kessler. Boohoohoo, poor oppressed little racist rightard. He claims he’s under attack. While I doubt that very much, I think that if anyone deserves to be taking flak, it’s him. After all, HE started it with the “libtards” shit, the death threats, and the gun nuttery. Oh, and Mark? You’re not a circus clown, that’s true. Circus clowns are at least somewhat entertaining. You’re not. You are, however, very much a deranged lunatic. If the shoe fits — WEAR IT. PS: Ha, ha. FINALLY!

5. Brooke Fucking Goldstein. Hey Einstein, if Huma Abedin is such an unattractive Islamist terrorist, why did a Jewish guy marry her, again? Her background was not exactly unknown, and clearly Hillary Rodham Clinton thought her trustworthy, so it’s kind of hard for her to have “ties” to anyone suspicious. Anyway, why are you blaming the victim? Nobody MAKES their partner cheat. I would tell you to start making sense, but since you’re a FUX Snooze contributor, it’s obvious that you don’t intend to start anytime soon.

6. Dave Fucking Morin. Whatever the hell a “hyperloop” is, it’s not going to replace anything anytime soon. And as for God’s will, you don’t know that. But thanks again for making Silicon Valley the laughingstock of the Internets.

7. Vladimir Fucking Putin. Talk about your fish stories! The perennially shirtless Pooty-Poot (he’s single again now, ladies!) decided to vastly inflate (like, by more than double) the weight of the 20-pound pike he allegedly caught. And then he snogged the fish. In post-Soviet Russia, fish catch YOU.

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8. Oliver Eric Fucking Rawlings. How’s it feel to get your Twitter trolling tossed back in your face? And do you kiss your mother with that (now badly bruised) mouth? If only ALL the trolls who slammed women this week could get the treatment this one got…sigh.

9. Sid J. Fucking Gautreaux. Pardon me, but isn’t it a sheriff’s job to ENFORCE the law, not WRITE it? Why yes, it is. So, then, why in the holy fuck of shit did this one not get the memo that it’s now legal to be gay in Louisiana, and has been for quite some time? And that police entrapment of consenting gay adults is illegal, not to mention a ridiculous waste of police resources?

10. Bill Fucking Bentley. And the Flaming Pants Award goes to…the RCMP, for being scared of a frustrated, lost Polish guy standing around empty-handed. And tasering him to death. And then lying about it, even though it was all caught on video. This guy in particular, though, because the fucker got away with murder. AND perjury. A badge really IS a licence to do anything these days.

11. Robert Fucking Spencer. Obviously, this dude is NOT a scholar of religion, much less one with “exactly the same credentials as Reza Aslan”. If he were, he’d understand that the word “jihad” does NOT mean what he thinks it means (and wants us all to think it means, too.)

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12. Mitt Fucking Romney. Oh look, now Mittens is denying that he said what he is very clearly on record as saying! Mittens, do the world a favor: Get the fuck out of politics. You’re too fucking dishonest for even that, incredible as that may sound. Go on, fade into obscurity and count your moneybags, and never be seen or heard from again. Shove yourself down the ol’ Memory Hole. There’s a good boy.

13. Glenn Fucking Reynolds. Speaking of denial, Instapissant is trying to cover the Repugs’ asses very lamely…by claiming it’s the DEMS who are making war on women. Um, WHAT? Last time I looked, not a single Democrat was trying to police women’s bodies with anti-choice legislation, or keeping birth control out of insurance coverage, or defunding Planned Parenthood. But hey! Why let facts get in the way of a perfectly good projection?

14. Vitaly Fucking Milonov. In case anyone wonders why there’s a massive boycott planned for the Sochi Olympics next year (and all things Russian, right now), here’s a clue-by-four. And may it land right upside this and all the other Russian government homophobes’ despicable heads. And if he’s going to claim that any US and German politicians agreed with Russia’s stance on gay athletes and spectators, I think it’s only fair that he be asked to name names, so that I can shame shames. After all, those wankers aren’t going to list themselves here, y’know…

15. Robin Fucking Thicke. Dude. You are NOT a feminist. You’re a blandly crappy singer, the son of a blandly crappy actor, and your schtick is getting stale. Fuck the hell off, already.

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16. Barbara Fucking Morgan. Yeah, I get it…Anthony Fucking Weiner’s mayoral campaign is not exactly going well. But that’s not because some expletive-deleted intern violated a non-disclosure agreement…it’s because HE did, and it’s called HIS MARRIAGE.

17. Sandy Fucking Rios. Oh dears, looks like somebody’s astroturf roll came up a little short. Only a small handful people showed up for the “ex-gay pride” march that was supposed to be “thousands” strong. Oh, only thousands? As opposed to the hundreds of thousands (if not MILLIONS) who show up to REAL gay pride marches? Be sure to stick around for the funniest part, when Sandy whines that ex-gays are “in the closet”. Yes. Yes, they are. Ha, ha.

18. Bill Fucking Donohue. If same-sex marriage is so “bizarre”, riddle me this: Why did the early Christian church perform same-sex weddings?

19. Riley Fucking Cooper. Oh look, someone thinks he’s a macho cowboy for white supremacy at the country concert. That’s cute. Let’s see how many “niggers” he fights when he’s back on the ol’ gridiron, ha ha.

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20. George Fucking Zimmerman. Well, well. Look who turned up in Texas…speeding like a fucking maniac. With a gun on him. And look who got let off with a warning. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the FBI themselves call for him to NOT be allowed to possess any more firearms?

21. Licia Fucking Corbella. No, Cory Monteith did NOT die because there is a safe-injection site in Vancouver. Shockingly, heroin is available ON THE STREET. And since Monteith was so famous, and his face so easily recognized, it’s probable that he didn’t even buy it himself, much less turn up to a safe-injection site to use it. Yes, Licia, these things CAN happen in Canada. Stop looking so shocked, and stop ginning up fauxtrage, and above all, STOP WRITING FUCKING CRAPAGANDA. (I shan’t hold my breath, either, for the magical day the Calgary Herald wakes up to the fact that addiction is a disease, not a moral failure on the part of society.)

22. Justin Fucking Bieber. He’s now averaging at least one major wank a week, and this week, it’s practically literal: He rubbed a fan’s cellphone on his crotch, and then threw it at another fan. Please, let next week’s one NOT be a dick-pic.

23. Paul Fucking Bernardo. He applied for transfer to a medium-security facility? Um, this is our nation’s most notorious (still living) serial killer, people. Snowball’s chance in hell? Yup. I have a better idea: Release him into the general population, then see how badly he wants lower security.

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24. Patrick Fucking Sharp. Talk about NOT living up to one’s surname, how about this one? He started a “White Student Union” at Georgia State. And says that those who oppose it are “ignorant and closed-minded”. Uh, yeah. Next up: How racist it is to point out that racists are racist. Followed by a lengthy disquisition on how hooded sheets are actually a sign that you’re an oppressed minority.

25. Peter Fucking LaBarbera. MLK would “be rolling in his grave” over LGBT rights, sez he. O RLY? Bayard Rustin was gay. MLK knew. And never gave him a hard time about it. Oops! There goes THAT widdle theory.

26. Rudolph Fucking Randa. Granting the Roman Catholic Church — quite possibly the richest church in Christendom — immunity from lawsuits by sexual abuse victims? That’s a gold-plated fucking wank right there. Let’s hope this ruling is overturned, and soon.

27. Bryan Fucking Fischer. I’m sorry. I WAS going to say something snarky about a bible-thumper who believes Jesus is the force that holds sub-atomic particles together, and who thinks that global warming is some kind of anti-scientific fantasy. But this sort of thing just parodies itself so damn well, I throw my hands up in defeat.

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28. Ariel Fucking Castro. What a pity for his excuse-making that just this week, some scientists decided that sex addiction isn’t a real thing. And what an even greater pity that even if it were, he’d still not qualify, because he claims that those women he kidnapped and kept chained up in his house were having “consensual” sex with him. No. No, they were NOT. Prisoners don’t have consensual sex with jailers. Or creeps in Crocs.

29. Maggie Fucking Gallagher. Not so long ago, gays didn’t get a choice if someone wanted to “cure” them with questionable “therapies”. But now, Maggie the Magnanimous has decided that they have a RIGHT to “ex-gay therapy” — even in the face of how much it hurts rather than helps! Isn’t that just so generous and open-minded of her? She and #27 should get together…and go to Russia.

30. Gordon Fucking Klingenschmitt. Meanwhile, John Jacob Jingleheimer has decreed that same-sex marriage has made his own suddenly worthless in the eyes of the state. Yes, and it’s also given my potatoes Colorado beetles. What can you do?

31. Matt Fucking Shea. Oh how nice, this nutty teabagger is a doomsday prepper! Remember the last time one of them made the news? Yeah…what could possibly go wrong, eh?

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32. John Fucking Baird. Panic! PANIC!!! Terra! TERRA!!! Um, maybe now would be a good time to start disengaging ourselves from US foreign and domestic policy, instead of becoming part of their “homeland”. Ya think?

33. Abraham Fucking Cooper. Word to the wise, rebbe…NEVER FUCKING PISS OFF ROGER WATERS. Especially not by calling him anti-semitic. Or Jew-hating. Or anything else stupid based on his views of the Israeli government, which is not good for the Jews. (Or anyone else, for that matter.)

34. Ivan Fucking Garcia. Blow your trumpet with that mouth? Christ, you are one vile motherfucker. PS: Your poetry sucks. Why am I not surprised?

35. Ted Fucking Nugent. No, you’re not like a black Jew anywhere in 1938. You’re a brownshirt in the here and now, and a fucking idiot all the time, and the brown is from sitting in your own fecal matter. Now shut the fuck up!

36. The Fucking Texas Repugs. Yep, all of them. Pay for your own damn special sessions; YOU called them. Oh, and bow down to Wendy Davis; she’s gonna be your next governor. Tick, tock.

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37. Anthony Fucking Weiner. No, NOT the ex-congresscritter running (or rather, stumbling) for mayor of New York. This one’s in Boston, and as luck would have it, he too is a failed sexter. The catch? He did it from his wife‘s phone, lured her lurid chatmate to another house, clonked him over the head, tied him up, and threatened him with various nasty implements (including power tools and a BB gun) until the poor guy threw up in fright. Yeah, I guess we could say he’s kind of a dick.

38. Roy Fucking Den Hollander. Much as I think the whole concept of “bottle service” is fucking ridiculous (and I would never go anyplace that “offered” it), this guy is even MORE fucking ridiculous. And yup, he’s an MRA: “If I’m hitting on some young girl at the club – and I won’t be hitting on an older one because they don’t look as good – if she knows how old I am I’m not going to be able to exploit her infinite capacity to delude herself into thinking I’m younger,” sez he. Dude, at 66, there is only so much younger a man CAN look (which, BTW, you DON’T!) Women young enough to be your granddaughter will simply NOT be interested in you, even if they are stinking of overpriced booze from every pore. And the way you talk doesn’t hold out much hope that your personality will salvage the situation, either. The clubs are right to bar you, and frankly ought to do so outright, without the bottled subterfuge. You’d only create a disturbance if you’re in there trying to shove your hand up some chick’s skirt or your nose down her blouse. Suck it up and learn how to lawn-bowl, pops. Because you sure as hell are NOT the Rosa Parks of cranky old farts. Or the Carrie Nation of ladies’ night.

39. Juan Fucking Tavera. Pepper spray on pizza? No, that’s NOT a good condiment. Safe to say that your next job after jail won’t be a the local Domino’s, eh?

40. The Fucking Ontario Legislature. Yes, that’s right…ALL of it. Banning a pro-Palestinian event in Toronto, a peaceful one? Just so as not to piss off Israel? What a colossal, cowardly fucking wank. Needless to say, there are protests going on. And rightly so

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And finally, to the formerly anonymous Twitter trolls of Merry Olde England. You’re about to get a massive taste of your own misogynous medicine, boys. It will come in the form of social ostracism and a helluva hard time getting dates from now on. And if that shoe pinches on the other foot, good. I’m not going to waste any pity on you. After threatening the lives and safety of Stella Creasy, Caroline Criado-Perez, and Mary Beard, among others, a little exposure to fresh air and sunlight will do you a world of good. I hope you’ll be looking over your shoulders for fucking EVER.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Festive Left Friday Blogging: Evo in uniform!

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Sabina Becker

Now here’s a sight you don’t see every day:

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Evo did his obligatory military service many years ago, like so many other young Bolivian guys. Since then, he’s been strictly a civvies kind of guy. But for the air force, he’ll gladly don a bomber jacket with wings. And why not? He IS their commander in chief…

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A few random thoughts on the Manning verdict…and the Snowden case

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Sabina Becker

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“I’ve been traumatized too much by reality to care about the consequences of shattering the fantasy.”
— Bradley Manning

It was a farce.

Really, what other conclusion can I draw when a military judge decides that Bradley Manning was not guilty of “aiding the enemy”, but still guilty on all counts of “espionage”? What is espionage if you’re not spying FOR someone — in other words, aiding an enemy? Such is the cognitive dissonance that seems to have taken hold of Col. Denise Lind, who presided over this utterly ludicrous case.

Of course, there were plenty of irregularities from the moment Manning was arrested. He was locked up in solitary confinement, physically tortured without striking a blow, and psychologically tortured using every technique in the book (and probably quite a few NOT in the book, too). The skinny little soldier was forced to “sleep” naked under a single rough blanket on chilly nights, and everything that could be done to break him down, mentally and physically, in the more than one thousand days between his arrest and his trial, was done without shame or compunction.

But even before that, Bradley Manning was tortured and tormented by the military and by his country. He was uncommonly bright in a land where averageness and anonymity are the standards. He didn’t conform to “masculine” norms. He came out as gay while DADT was still in effect. His small physical size didn’t help; it intensified his suffering. His barrackmates ragged him so relentlessly that on one occasion, he wet himself out of sheer emotional distress. His relationship with his boyfriend was fraught with long absences and infidelities, so there wasn’t enough support for him to draw strength from. His family were also far less supportive than they could have been. But when you come from Oklahoma — “the buckle of the Bible Belt” — it stands to reason that others will close ranks against you if you diverge in any way from the strict white, heterosexual, Christian norm. Isolation tormented Bradley Manning long before he ever landed up in the brig.

Thus, it’s no surprise that when he saw all the appalling things his own country’s military was doing, in Iraq and elsewhere, something in him just snapped.

Or maybe a better way of putting it would be that something in him just clicked.

Bradley Manning made the connections between his own suffering and that of the innocent Iraqis killed in the Collateral Murder video. He also made the connections between the sufferings of other countries and the skulduggeries of US diplomats and military attachés — CIA employees, actually — operating in them. All of it came together for him in a heap, and that is exactly how he dealt with it, burning all the incriminating data onto what had been a Lady Gaga CD and then sending it off to Wikileaks. As anguished and tormented as Bradley Manning was over just about everything, his mind was nonetheless clear enough to devise a clever, innovative and definitive solution to the entire mess: He became a whistleblower.

Certainly he exposed a lot of “classified” information that embarrassed and incriminated his government in every conceivable way. But there is a difference between revealing state secrets for the purpose of exposing state crimes, and espionage, which implies a direct advantage to a foreign (and enemy) power. What “enemy” benefited from all this previously secret knowledge? None, since all the damage in the leaked cables and Collateral Murder video had long been done. No US troops in any part of the world were exposed to enemy fire as a result of Bradley Manning’s revelations. No diplomatic installation came under attack either, and neither was a single US business interest placed in immediate jeopardy. Nothing terrible that the US was doing in any part of the world was at any greater risk than it already had been. The only thing that changed as a result of Manning’s “espionage” was that suddenly, all the betrayed, cheated and humiliated countries ever pissed on by US interests had documentary proof of their oppression in hand. Suddenly, what their ordinary citizens knew in their bones — and their politicians often railed against — was confirmed. Their one real enemy was exposed, and it was good old “benevolent” Uncle Sam. The troops who tossed candy to local kids from their tanks, the briefcase-toters of the IMF and World Bank, the suit-clad bringers of Coke and Marlboro and what have you — these smiling pretend-friends were the real enemy. They weren’t there to give the Third World — or the Second, or even the rest of the First — an equalizing hand up. They were there to crush them, to subject them to an undying US capitalist hegemony. All the resources and wealth that could be sucked out of any place you could name, would end up in one and the same place, while local miseries deepened and the call for more “foreign aid” intensified. It was the sweetest scam ever, the ultimate vicious circle, and it seemed manifestly destined to keep turning forever. E pluribus unum, with a vengeance.

And then little Bradley Manning came along and threw a monkey wrench into the wheel.

And the Star Chamber of the US military called it espionage, convicted him, and will sentence him — not to death, as that would provoke too much outcry at home, but to over a century in prison. Which amounts to life without parole, unless some future president sees fit to pardon him.

But who would have the wisdom, or the courage, to do that, if the US government is already firmly in the pocket of not only the Military-Industrial Complex, but all major industries? Under capitalism, democracy is but a mask, a pacifier, a means of keeping the people powerless while selling them the illusion of “empowerment”. There is no such thing as a government by, of and for the people. There is only a government by, of and for the money. And the consumer selection, as far as candidates goes, is dismal. Will it be Fascism, or Fascism Lite? Sorry, no substitutions. You cannot have democracy, nor can you have justice. All courts are kangaroo, and all trials are show. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down. Forever and ever, amen.

Which brings me to Edward Snowden. This is the same thing that awaits him, albeit in civilian form, should the former NSA employee ever decide to return to the United States of Amnesia. One can’t really blame him for deciding to stick it out in Russia for the time being, even to the extent of learning the language. When the former Soviet Union is a greater bastion of freedom than one’s own country (which still brashly prints “Liberty” on all its coins!), you know you’re dealing with a world that has gone through the Looking Glass. Up is down, black is white, wrong is right, day is night, truth is shite. When the “freedom-loving” capitalists have the old “communist” Stasi beat for internal espionage, what else can an agent do who has seen it from within, and decided that he’s had enough?

Oh sure, the US government has promised not to execute him. Just as they won’t execute Bradley Manning. I’m sure that’s a great comfort to everyone, knowing that he’ll still face the torments of the damned if he ever falls back into US hands. Just like Bradley Manning did when he was captured. How many days do you suppose Edward Snowden would go untried after he is captured? Place your bets, ladies ‘n’ gentlemen…I’m going to wager at least 1,000.

And if you don’t think he’s going to suffer crazy-making levels of scrutiny and intrusion into his private life, just look at how much of that has already happened, and then multiply it by the number of days he spends in jail before trial. It happened to Daniel Ellsberg, whose sessions with his shrink weren’t even off limits, 40-odd years ago. It happened to Bradley Manning.

And there is a reason why these guys are being treated this way: They are meant as examples to the rest of us. The message is this: Don’t protest. Don’t blow the whistle. Don’t you dare complain, or expose what you know, or terrible things will befall you. Be good, be compliant, keep your head down, and be thankful it hasn’t happened to you…YET.

But that’s the reason these guys blew the whistle: It could happen to all of us, someday, if things continue in this way. Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers because young men were being sent to unwinnable wars willy-nilly, and he wanted that to stop. Bradley Manning leaked Collateral Murder because innocent Iraqis were being killed in cold blood by psychopaths in helicopters who probably got medals for their contract hit-man jobs. And he wanted that to stop. Edward Snowden leaked the NSA’s long-standing cyberspying program because it affects every Internet user, everywhere, and effectively robs us all of our last vestige of online privacy…and by extension, safety and mental security. It doesn’t just target criminals or terror supsects; it targets EVERYONE, treating everyone as a potential criminal. And he wanted that to stop.

All that any whistleblower anywhere wants, is for “that” to stop. But it won’t stop unless we all work together to make it stop. We can no longer afford the luxury of complacency, of leaving the fantasy of “liberty” in place while ignoring the crushing reality of oppression. The plutocratic purveyors of the fantasy would rather we be too apathetic, too overworked, and too scared to protest. But in the past, downtrodden, overworked, scared people still marched, sat in, and freedom-rode for civil rights. Women died and went to prison for the vote. Soldiers, sailors and air-force pilots banded together with civilians to stop the Vietnam war. Individual whistleblowers are easy to isolate, persecute and make into negative examples, but mass protest means that the authorities are outnumbered.

We already know what to do about all this. The only question is, WHEN?

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Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Fascism Without Swastikas, Filthy Stinking Rich, Heroes for Today, If You REALLY Care, Isn't That Illegal?, Law-Law Land, Spooks, Teh Ghey, The United States of Amnesia, The War on Terra | 3 Comments

Quotable: Martin Luther King on law-breaking

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Sabina Becker

mlk-on-lawbreaking

Bad laws exist to be broken. And convicting whistleblowers of “espionage”, without proof that they were spying FOR someone, is all the more proof that the law is an ass.

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Posted in Law-Law Land, Quotable Notables, The United States of Amnesia | Comments Off on Quotable: Martin Luther King on law-breaking

Cops Behaving Badly: Two incriminating videos

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Sabina Becker

First up, this not-so-routine traffic stop in Vermont:

As you can see, the truck does not go through any red lights. And the driver is surprised (and increasingly angry) as the cop accuses him of doing that. Opposing Views has the story:

The defendants in Rob MacIver’s red-light ticket case are members of the police department and his town’s administration, but neither of them showed up to the hearing on Friday.

MacIver, a 56-year-old Vermont man, is looking to win $2,000 for the damages he incurred while protesting a ticket he received for supposedly running a red light last December, according to WCAX.com.

MacIver says he didn’t go through a red light and the police’s video proved his point. However, police have insisted he violated the law.

“Their default was dishonesty in every encounter,” MacIver said.

If the video above is any indication, I’d say he’s right about that. Oh, and get a load of what transpired the day this case went to court: “The defendants were reportedly found in a coffee shop near the courthouse on Friday during the hearing, so it is unclear why they weren’t able to make the scheduled proceedings.” Couldn’t be because they’re arrogant doughnut-munchers who are used to getting away with this sort of thing, could it?

And then there’s this very shocking weekend incident in Toronto:

This took place in the wee hours on Saturday morning. The victim is 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, who later died of his injuries in hospital. They tasered him…AFTER shooting him. Nine shots were fired. You can hear the Taser hiss clearly in this video; it sounds like a rattlesnake. (They also turn on their sirens at an odd time: why during the Taser part of the confrontation, of all times? Are they covering their asses with noise?)

But here’s the kicker: Sammy Yatim was alone on the streetcar, and armed only with a knife. Since when is that grounds to shoot and electrocute him to death? Do cops no longer learn how to disarm a suspect with a knife, or are they all, as Sammy Yatim yells shortly before he’s killed here, “fucking pussies”? And is that insult the real reason why they killed him?

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Posted in Cops Behaving Badly | 2 Comments