Grind the Gears

Update

2009-01-28T16:21:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted anything in probably 9 months. So what has been going on? Well, I moved into a yurt for 4 months with new girlfriend. Shot a deer. Cried alot after I shot it. Butchered deer with friends. Ate deer. Moved to San Francisco to finish last semester of law school. Started work with the Sierra Club. Currently living out of back of truck. I like to park next to Golden Gate Park.

Colossal Errors

2008-04-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

I was at a conference about a month ago in Eugene Oregon. I went to a panel that was focusing on the Clean Water Act. The moderator was giving a description of all the recent cases and described one case where the lawyer would have won the case but he or she forgot to insert a couple of boiler plate lines in his complaint. I remember thinking ouch, but then thought that with all the shit you are supposed to remember an error seems inevitable.

I just made what I would consider to be a colossal error. I am working for an attorney that asked me to do something and I misunderstood what I was supposed to do and did something completely wrong.

The stress of having people's livelihoods in your hands is hard to describe. Waking up at two in the morning feeling gripped that you might have fucked something up is not much fun. I think maybe I should stick to representing plants and animals.

When Discrimination Can Be A Good Thing

2007-12-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Discrimination is commonly thought of as being a bad thing. I'd like to posit the idea that discrimination against gays can be a good thing - as in the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the U.S. Government. For those of you living under a rock, the Government doesn't allow openly gay people into the army. I think in this specific case, discrimination against gays can be viewed as a positive thing. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against gays in general - to each his/her own. What I do have a problem with, however, is the U.S. killing over a million innocnet Iraqis. I have a problem with the CIA torturing people and destroying the evidence. I have a problem with Gitmo. And last but not least, I have a problem with the entire idea of maintaining a military. Because I don't think we should even maintain a military, I don't have a problem with the military telling people they can't join. I would maintain that position regardless of whether the military was discriminating against blacks, whites, native americans, or anyone else. I actually hope the military expands their discriminatory practices - maybe one day we won't have a military.
I guess what I'm getting at is that for me, saving people's lives - whether they be gay people wanting to go to Iraq, or innocent Iraqis being killed by U.S. military personnel - weighs more on the utilitarian scale than the concept of equality or ending discrimination. Again, I want to emphasize that I am tenatively endorsing (until someone gives me a good reason not to) discrmination only in the very narrow military context. If it were a school that was discriminating based on sexual orientation I would come to a completely different outcome. Don't ask about where I come out on a military school - too much interpenetration of the topics (pun intended).
This is most likely a moralistic judgement call. I've already been told by a friend that the means don't justify the ends, but I tend to think they do.

This blought (blog about a thought) was sparked by a conversation I was having with a friend about one of my school's policies. The school foregoes millions of dollars of fuding every year in what is commonly known as Solomon funds. We don't get the funds because we don't let military recruiters on campus.

I was thinking we should let recruiters on campus for a few different reasons:
1. They can recruit across the street at the post-office. Note: They aren't yet, but does that change anything?
2. We could give millions of dollars worth of scholarships to gay students that want to work in the public interest field after school.
3. Supposedly I'm going to one of the most liberal schools in the country. By the time you are in law school, you tend to be settled into your ideologies.
4. I would table right next to the fuckers every day with stats on how many people they are killing worldwide.

The person I was discussing this with tried to raise the analogy of corporations on college campuses and how that is a bad idea. While I tend to agree that allowing large multi-nationals to turn college campuses into a marekting zone is a bad idea, I subscribe to that idea because the tradeoff simply isn't worth it. A corporation like Coca-Cola might give $15/student, which isn't anything compared to the marketing benefits they are receiving. On the other hand, if you are giving millions of dollars to a school with 600 semi-liberal students, you are talking about a significant amount of money per student. What is the tradeoff? You might lose a student or two to the darkside, but you might significantly lessen the debt from a group of students who will get out of school with more than $150K in debt. If you lower their debt, you will make a public interest job more accessible.
All I'm saying is that the school should consider the cost benefit analysis before coming to any conclusion. I think the school is doing all the students a disservice by saying that the military discriminates and ending the analysis there. Either or thinking is a trap.

Field Notes

2007-11-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

I went into the belly of the beast this past weekend - Washington D.C. - for the annual National Lawyers Guild convention.

One of the panels hosted a Supreme Court justice from Venezuela. He pointed out some interesting tidbits that I wasnt' getting from the BBC regarding Hugo Chavez's constitutional reforms. Popular media has been saying that students are against the proposed changes. What the media fails to point out, however, is that the students happen to be from one school - a private catholic school at that. Not exactly an insignificant fact. In terms of abolishing presidential term limits, the media has also failed to point out that Venezuela is the only country to allow for a referendum/recall vote. This actually happened in 2004 and Chavez remains in office.

I can only imagine where our country would be if we could hold a referendum for Bush tomorrow. This year was bleak; I'm guessing next year won't be much better.

The Invitation

2007-08-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

Every now and then we hear or read something that inspires us to
evaluate who we are or aren't. This poem was given to me years ago by a friend and it seemed like a good time to review it.

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living,
I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,
if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill
you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic,
or to remeber the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you're telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself,
if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when its not pretty everday,
and if you can source your life from God's presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure,
yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"YES!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone,
and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are,
how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Orion Mountain Dreamer

Full Catastrophe Living

2007-08-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

School is set to start up on Monday and I'm not really looking forward to it. The spring semester saw me practically lose my mind; between reading for classes, activism, working on my mom's case, training for a marathon, ice climbing, my dog, girlfriend...

Things should be a little easier this semester - I'm taking fewer classes, won't do nearly as much activism, I ran the marathon, the ice hasn't formed yet, still have the dog, and my girlfriend left me. So... time to evaluate my mental headspace.

I feel okay overall. I thought about sleeping with a bunch of women to try and make myself feel better but that is a rather hollow idea. A distraction to keep myself from the work that needs to be done. Mental rehab is tough work. I've gotten into a habit of trying to call myself out anytime I find myself judging other people, comparing, competing, lying to myself, or being negative in general. Exhausting work. If I'm not doing one of the above I busy thinking about the past, living the glory days. I guess even this post is a reflection in a way. I'll let it slide becasue it is theraputic in a way. Anyways, have you ever noticed how hard it is to live in the present? I went for a walk today in the woods and kept catching myself thinking and not paying attention to this beautiful area I was in. I finally made a concerted effort and boy was it worth it. I ran into a new plant species I haven't seen before, this beautiful yellow flower that dangels precariously from a slender stem. So delicate, rich and alive. On the way down I found a bumble bee that had recently died. It was neat to examine it; the furry legs with small spikes... I saw a robin egg that had probably just hatched. I haven't seen one of those in years. Not becasue they aren't there, but because I've been living somewhere else, always thinking about something. Ironic that I spend about an hour a day in the woods. I haven't really enjoyed any of it - I haven't even been there. The same can be said of many other aspects of my life - thus the ex-girlfriend I suppose.

So the re-awakening is beginning. Like a butterfly leaving the cocoon I'm emerging with a new purpose. It feels amazing. Sometimes I close my eyes and just focus on my breathing. I open my eyes and cry because everything is so beautiful.

The work is just starting though, law school was a big catalyst for going into the cocoon and it is going to take everything I have to keep from returning to the dead. Learning when to step off the grid and see the robin's eggs is certainly a challenge.

Just when I thought law school was about to suck all life out of me...

2007-04-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

I go and win a drag show contest. Yep, I took the plunge and put on a dress. A tight, short one at that. I didn't have a wig or put makeup on though; maybe next time. The GLBT group on campus put on their annual "GAYLA" event and encouraged people to cross dress. The group brought in professional performers from NYC and Boston. I admit I was a little out of my comfort zone watching them dance. At the risk of sounding like a bigot - a few of them just looked weird. Not that I'm one to talk, walking around in a dress myself. Towards the end of the night I started to feel a little more comfortable. My partner and I have a friend who is gay and we ended up sitting in the very front row so that he could take better pictures. One of the performers got up pretty close to me expecting a kiss - students hooted after I pecked her on the cheek. After the performers were done the guys that wore drag were brought onto the stage for the judging. I was crowned the king - or is it queen. After the contest I headed over to the bar to rub elbows with some locals. I caught a few looks but handled myself pretty well. Overall I had a pretty good time. It was a good experience to get out of my comfort zone and be around a little more diverse group. I'm stoked that the law school footed the bill to bring drag queens to the school. I'm not sure how many other law schools can say the same.

Town Meeting Day

2007-03-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

I just walked home from the Town Meeting. Town meeting is a once a year event in Vermont, it falls on the same day every year. It is an opportunity for the people in the town to vote on the town budget, make amendments, budget proposals, say thanks to firefighters, etc. Most towns in Vermont have a town meeting. All the schools - preschool through law school, have the day off. The city workers have the day off. Lots of local businesses shut down so that workers and bosses alike can participate. Our town's meeting was held at the highschool, which is adjoined to the elementary and middle school. The temperature outside was negative 15 degrees, negative 25 with the windchill. Nonetheless I was glad to be walking to the school and not in a car because they were backed up to the center of town for the meeting. When I walked into the gymnasium (20 minutes late) people were holding up green cards over their heads. I immediately thought of an auction. Instead, they were voting on whether there should be a count or if the moderator was allowed to eyeball a close vote. 5 Keepers of the Peace got up from seats in the crowd and dissected the gymnasium to count the votes in their designated areas. The crowd was maybe 250 people, with probably 85% grey haired and over forty years. The rest was an eclectic bunch of law students and random townies.

The face to face interaction was probably the most incredible aspect of the meeting (Other than the fact that this was true Democracy in action). Anybody can comment on the town's budget. One person got up and asked why there was an increase in the firefighters' budget. The fire chief stood up and explained that the town didn't have a paramedic and that they were having to bring one in from the next town over and it was costing money. Some people asked about various group's requests for budget increases - if a group representative wasn't there in person somebody would motion to either eliminate the funding or cap it at the previous year's level.

There was a group of five sitting on a platform at the head of the auditorium. These five(the selectboard) are elected by the town to write the checks to various groups and make sure the town stays in the black. People in the audience asked them questions and made sure they could account for where all the money in the town was going. The moderator for the event looked like a cross between a farmer and Peter Kropotkin. He had been moderating our town's meeting for the last 15 or so years and did a good job making sure everyone knew what they were voting on and procedures, etc.

The lowpoint for me was when one community member said that she didn't understand that her opportunity to comment on the overall budget had already passed. The moderator took a vote for opening up the discussion again and the majority voted against it. At that point, I felt as though the majority had silenced something that should have been heard. Nonetheless, the lady stood up before the closing and said what she thought - that the select board had too much power and that they weren't being scrutinized enough for their spending and allocations. One select board member responded by saying that the budget had only increased by $6000 dollars while the overall budget was well over a million. Another audience member got up and assured the questioner that town members hold the select board accountable and described the accessibility of the select board. This made me feel a little better.

Some of the town members voiced concern by how few parents were at town meeting day, given all the voting on school budgets. There were complaints about work and one town member avered that there is a statute in place that says anybody who lives in a town with a meeting is required to have the day off. The moderator said he would look into it. I admit I was also surprised by how few 30 somethings were in the crowd. Because most of the audience was on a fixed income (retired), they may have been a little more hesitant to raise taxes or increase funding versus a parent who is employed. I wonder if the fixed incomes unduly influenced any votes.

Overall, the town meeting was amazing. The chance to see participatory democracy work at the local level was a unique experience. States like Montana that have small populations with tight knit communities (I'm thinking rural Montana) could certainly enact and benefit from something like town meeting day. Incredible.

The War This Morning

2007-02-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

By William Simonsen

In October I asked my son if the aircraft carrier he serves on was going to be sent back to the Gulf on its second mission.

It was a critical question because his enlistment is up in June, 2007. He told me it was scheduled to go into drydock for refitting during February, so he felt he would get mustered out before any further deployment. The critical question for anyone currently in the US military is their date of discharge.
Many people are simply not getting out. Their discharge dates have been postponed several times. They do not know when they will be discharged. They have no civil rights.

In early December, when Bush announced he was 'studying' a new strategy for the war in Iraq, it was obvious he intended to send in more troops. The decision to increase troop strength was surely made long before the November election, but its announcement was postponed until the outcome of the election was known.

Had the Republicans retained control of Congress, an announcement of a troop increase would have been made immediately. Brass bands and flags. A great patriotic play.

But with the loss of their stranglehold on all branches of the federal government, the Bushnazis knew they would have to massage the message a bit.

So in Bush's 'study', new commanders and the same old strategy disguised as a new strategy were presented to the public by a corrupt and willing media.

My son came home on leave before Bush played out his sorry puppet show.
While we were driving home from the airport, my son and I discussed the situation. I told him to get ready to go back. He said I was the only man on earth to think such a crazy thought.
I simply asked him if aircraft from a carrier in the Gulf could attack Iran. He said it was the same distance to either country from the carrier. My son was called at home two days after New Years by one of his shipmates. The Reagan's captain had called a meeting for all hands to announce they would be leaving port in late January.
Bush's belated announcement of a troop increase was a surprise to no one.
In mid-January an aircraft carrier group left for the Gulf. It is to become an additional carrier group there. In addition to an increase of 22,000 land-based troops, we have and increase of about 10,000 sailors.
In the last two weeks of January, while Bush was beating the drum of war with Iran and North Korea, a large number of guided missile cruisers and support ships also left West Coast ports. Most aboard were told their destination was 'the Far East" not the Gulf.

The day before they sailed, the men and women on the Reagan were informed their destination was the Far East.

In these days of the 'Axis of Evil', the Far East means the Sea of Japan, just off the coast of North Korea. This morning, the network talking heads were pushing the story that Iran was officially warned to stay out of our war in Iraq.

And history is being conveniently rewritten to state that Iran has 'probably been supporting insurgents' for years.
So I guess that means it is alright to bomb Iran any old time we feel like it. The next chapter in the revision of history will be that Iran has weapons of mass destruction. Or that Iraq hid all of its WMDs in Iran, so we should go get them. Or that to stop the civil war in Iraq, we need to start a war with Iran. Or some other fictional justification too insane for me to imagine.
Or perhaps it is simple, If we start a new war in Iran, we can ignore the humanitarian crimes we continue to commit in our old war Iraq, and the civil war we have started.
Memory is so short when we have a new manufactured crisis everyday. This strategy was successful when a new war in Iraq helped us forget the war crimes we committed in Afghanistan.

Believe this - nothing, no lie, is too far-fetched for the Bushnazis.
No war crime is too heinous to protect our sources of oil.
No story is too foolish for us to believe if the speaker has a large number of American flags behind his podium or pulpit. We Americans can convince
ourselves to believe anything if the alternative is kiss our SUVs goodbye.

The truth is always more painful than a lie. Truth is finite. Lies and belief are infinite.
So, how long do you think it will be until we attack Iran? How many more weeks will pass before we bomb the missile factories in North Korea?
It will be announced by the government after it has been accomplished. We will not get to make a decision, the great decider will decide.
Some kind of excuse for an attack will be manufactured by Bushnazi controlled media. An attack on our troops will be faked. Video of weeping surviving mothers and sisters will be shown non-stop on all channels. A kidnapping of a blonde child by the black haired, brown eyed evil bastards will be played out in the theater of the national media.
Anyone who opposes the new wars will be excoriated as unpatriotic.
Our empire will remain secure. We will be told our safety is being defended. We can damn the consequences.
This is no television soap opera. This real horror is being played out everyday so we can sleep the sound sleep of the just and all-powerful, we the emperors of the 21st century.

***************

Copyright © William Simonsen, 2007.

William Simonsen is a writer living in Bigfork. For three decades his work has been circulated worldwide, some translated into five languages. He has worked in print, radio and television.

The Matrix

2007-01-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

Remember the movie The Matrix? Recently I have been thinking about the role of corporations and how they are creating a Matrix. Can you imagine a world without corporate influence? It is hard to do isnt' it? It seems that corporate advertising is everywhere. TVs, Radios, Bill Boards, Signs; you can't turn without being bombarded with consumeristic messages. Are they colonizing our minds? Are they using marketing to control our thinking? The ads are glitz and glamor, but the reality is that we are wasting this earth. Chemicals are spilled and the poor pay the price. Cancer. Death. Disease - they don't show that. We're living in a false corporate reality.

How do we get rid of them - the corporations? How can we fight back? How is it that corporations are offered all the legal rights that a person has. The matrix thought gives way to my thinking of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Corporations are the beast in the book. What started as an experiment has gotten out of control. Far more powerful than originally intended - hurting everyone and everything in their insatiable quest for more money and power. No conscience. How can we kill the monster? Do most people even realize that the monsters exist? Is it the monster that should be killed or the system that allows it to thrive. Remember the movie The Matrix? Unplug. Abort. End.

The Original Free Trade Agreement

2007-01-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article that likened the U.S. Constitution to NAFTA. The article describes how the original states sent delegates to Philadelphia to address problems of interstate commerce under the Articles of Confederation. The delegates pledged themselves to secrecy. Their constitution turned a cooperative venture among soverign states into a setup where Congress would decide commerce and an unelected senate would approve treaties. Note: The 17th amendment, ratified in 1913, replaced selection of senators by state legislators with direct election.
Critics of the secretly created Constitution yielded when they were promised a Bill of Rights. Our Bill of Rights stands exposed as the first diversionary “side agreement”. Just as today’s free trade agreements have labor and environmental side agreements that do not alter NAFTA’s fundamentally undemocratic design, the Bill of Rights did nothing to change the very specific language of the constiution which empowered the propertied minority to rule.

The article goes on to say that the surface language of the constitution is about We The People, our delegated authority, consent of the governed, the blessings of liberty. But the coercive power of the constitution is directed towards limiting authority of the majority to make the rules for governing this country. The surface language of the WTO is about the free trade of goods and services across national boundaries, but the coercive power of the WTO is directed to limiting the authority of the majority in every country to govern-that is, to control their own labor, steward their natural wealth, use their property, conserve their resources, structure their communities, define their institutions. Backed by the Military power of governments controlled by men of property, the WTO is about enabling a few to rule over multitudes.

This idea was lifted entirely from the book Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy. I encourage everyone to check it out.

We the People

2006-12-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

Why was the U.S. Constitution and subsequent Government created? If it was made to promote the general welfare for We the People, why wasn’t a Bill of Rights the first thing that was created? How can there be any sort of general welfare without individual rights? And why wasn’t the Constitution produced democratically with full participation of We the People? Did the rich landholders get together in a secret room and make a document to further their own interests? Maybe the original Republicans, the poor farmers, should have rose up in revolt and stopped those that were taking away our liberty. I guess they couldn’t have because they didn’t have the first or second amendments yet. Now that we do have them, we shouldn’t forget why.
Why was the Government created? To govern me? I don’t remember being asked to be governed. If I don’t like being governed can I vote to eliminate the people who govern me, or at least their positions? The constitution says it was created to establish justice and promote domestic tranquility. It doesn’t say for who though. It says We the People; but who exactly are We? Are We the Native Americans whose land was stolen and were forced to live on the worst land? Are We the Blacks that were enslaved and denied equal protection of rights under the Constitution? Are We the gays that are denied equal protection to marry? Are We the immigrants who can’t enter the U.S. even though the U.S. is composed of immigrants? Who are We? Does the Government work for We the People or are We the people being oppressed by the Government?

Is libertarianism tenable given globalization?

2006-12-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

My question is this: How can libertarians exist in a globalized world?

Countries are increasingly becoming more interdependent upon one another. That interdependence manifests itself through free trade agreements. The nature of Free trade agreements is to exploit the natural resources that countries have to offer. The poorer country opens up its natural resources to the rich country in exchange for jobs. There are many (un)intended consequences with that model. I will focus on the environmental. Developing countries do not have environmental regulations in place to stop unsustainable practices. The rich country devours the resources the poor country has to offer and when nothing is left or extraction is no longer profitable it moves on to the next poor country. Loss of rainforests and trees through extraction has a direct relation with the amount of carbon dioxide that can be processed. Fewer trees to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen means the co2 goes into the atmosphere where it gets trapped and warms up the earth. Even when a country has economically isolated itself from other countries (disallowed free trade agreements, etc.), this doesn’t preclude the country or its people from feeling the deleterious environmental effects of free trade. As developing countries continue to industrialize and countries like India and China continue to grow their middle class, the effects of carbon emissions will be felt even more by people all over the world. Additionally, developed countries like the U.S. do little if anything to reverse their high levels of emissions. One environmental result is global warming.

Macro scale geo-politics promoting globalization are having an ever-increasing effect on the lives of individuals. As the interdependence of countries grows, the effects are felt significantly at the individual level. Our ability to enjoy the natural environment we have come to know and love is being trespassed upon by free trade agreements and corporations that place more emphasis on money than our environment. Live and let live is no longer possible. Instead, the thinking needs to refocus on how well we should be able to live.

More of the Same?

2006-11-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

With Demoncrat Nancy Pelosi scheduled to become the Speaker of the House what is she going to say? We've already heard her say that Venezuela's democratically elected president is a "thug".

"Hugo Chavez fancies himself a modern day Simon Bolivar but all he is an everyday thug," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference, referring to Chavez' comments in a U.N. General Assembly speech on Wednesday.

"Hugo Chavez abused the privilege that he had, speaking at the United Nations," said Pelosi, a frequent Bush critic. "He demeaned himself and he demeaned Venezuela."

So what is happening here? Is it O.K. for Pelosi to say Bush is "incompetent" but not O.K. for the leader of a foreign country to say anything about Bush?

Will Pelosi be just another purple politician who thinks that the only good democracy is one that has been approved by the U.S. - One that doesn't open up their mouth and call it like they see it?
Red, Blue, they're all the same.

Secretary of Terrorism

2006-11-14T05:58:00.000-08:00

In case you are unclear about what is happening in Guantanamo, the U.S. is holding people they consider to be enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most of those people are from the Middle East. The reason they are being held in Guantanamo and not on U.S. soil is that the President and Congress have consistently said that enemy combantants being detained by the U.S. who are not on U.S. soil do not have the same rights as U.S. citizens. In fact, they don't have the rights that are guaranteed them by the Geneva Convention. The biggest right that they are not offered is that of Habeas Corpus. That right gives any prisoner a hearing where they can testify in their own defense. They can exculpate themselves from blame. As it stands, the U.S. has flown people they deemed to be enemy combatants from the Middle East to Cuba. This exclusive U.S. practice is known as extraordinary rendition. Some of those victims of extraordinary rendition have been detained for up to six years with no trial or opportunity for telling their side of the story. How does that work? Well, the U.S. Government has said that a defense lawyer would necessarily need access to classified documents and if those documents became public the Terrorists would win. So instead the U.S. Government terrorizes people by holding them indifinitely without a trial. Donald Rumsfeld played an integral role in hashing out the plan and now that he has stepped down there is talk of him being tried for allowing torture to occur at Guantanamo and elsewhere. When the Secretary of Defense knowingly condones torture he should be considered a terrorist threat to domestic and foreign peoples alike. Why doesn't a foreign country fly in and take Rumsfeld via extraordinary rendition and hold him indefinitely?

The only reason people should be happy Rumsfeld stepped down is because he has further opened himself up to being prosecuted. Otherwise it is business as usual. Don't fool yourself for a minute into thinking Gates is any better. Afterall, he played an integral role in the Iran-Contra affair; yet another subversive terrorist plot.

Managing the War

2006-10-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

Those Democrats that argue for better leadership in the war on terror need to think about the trap they have fallen into. The current war on terrorism is an act of terrorism itself. Killing and wounding hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in the name of fighting terrorism can only be seen as an act of terrorism in and of itself. Those that think the war should be managed differently will perpetuate those acts of terrorism that kill so many innocent civilians. Democrats need to think about the reasons for going to war. There never were any weapons of mass destruction. There are no links between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The only way to manage this war is to get out. Otherwise, we risk demonstrating further acts of terrorism. We need to stop sending bombs and start sending food. Progressive politicians need to become more aggressive in their fight for truth, protecting fundamental human rights, and ending the neo-cowboy psychological warfare being used to instill fear in all US citizens. Progressive politicians have got to stop being scared of calling this President exactly what he and his administration are: Terrorists.

Eco-Rights & The Green Scare

2006-10-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Bush administration has stepped up their domestic terrorism program against environmentalists following their post-WTO Seattle debacle. We are witnessing a large scale witch hunt to put an end to environmental actions that demonstrate socially unconscionable actions on the part of the private sectors. This neo-red scare is seen mainly in the Western states and has materialized in the form of Federal terrorist charges against those fighting to preserve our natural resources and wildlife.

The University of Washington Horticulture Center sustained $7 million in an act of arson. The center was responsible for producing genetically modified trees, a threat to the genetic diversity of our National Forests. One defendant was holding a radio at the time of the arson and is now facing life in prison + 1115 years. While I concede that arson shouldn’t be taken likely it should be pointed out that nobody was hurt as a result of the act. Compare this with one of the bombers in Oklahoma City who was responsible for the death of more than 200 men, women, and children. That person was out in less than 10 years.

Unfortunately, the President and his earth raping cohorts have not applied the same laws across the board. Those responsible for blowing up abortion clinics rarely see jail time. The new wave of repression against environmentalists can be likened to the McCarthyism of old. First they targeted the communists, then the anti-war hippies. The slippery slope used by the current administration funded by private developers and builders has to be stopped before all of our first amendment rights allowing us to stand up for the environment are stripped.

Demoncratic Indoctrination

2006-10-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

The two party system strikes again. The victim this time is none other than John Tester. This entry is in no way, shape, or form a bash on John Tester. Even though I’ve never met the guy he comes off as solid and I agree with most all of his viewpoints. With that being said…
Tester is being turned into another Washington talking head. A drone. It kills me to hear talk of him showing Washington what Montana is all about. I wonder how much money Washington has pumped into his race. Next thing we know we are going to have to stand in front of his office holding signs up to protest CAFTA or NAFTA. We had to do it with Baucus. Granted, Baucus voted against CAFTA, but why did he have to be persuaded; he is a Democrat. I can hear it now: You’ve got it all wrong - Baucus and Tester are totally different animals. I completely agree. So why are they both in the same party? Why is it that we lump them all together until there are only two parties? Why doesn’t Tester run as an independent? He seems to be liked well enough. Is he worried about funding? In that case money and Washington have already begun asserting their ownership over him.
Why do the truly progressive candidates continue to be associated with Democrats who constantly bog them down? The Republicans don’t experience this problem and it shows everywhere. Look who is in power. The difference is that the right wingers work well together. They might not agree with each other all the time but they realize that if they work together they get a lot of what they want a lot of the time. The left wing doesn’t do that, at all. For example, many atheists can’t stand religion. They don’t bother to consider the idea of Liberal Catholics or Buddhists. This sort of fragmentation is pervasive throughout the party. So what to do? The way I see it, we have two choices.
A.)We can try to work together and take one out of the Republican playbook
or
B.)We start new parties.

Choice A seems bad on its face. There is nothing progressive about mimicking Republican strategy. Additionally, it furthers the status quo (read: fascism). The end result is that yes, Democrats gain control and get some things done, but, the other half of the country that didn’t vote Democrat is out of luck. Fuck them you say? Think about how it feels right now. It just isn’t a very democratic system.

Choice B is what we need to be thinking about. I like it because you have more options. Imagine Baskin Robins with only two flavors of ice cream. The choices aren’t so appealing are they? Now throw chunky monkey, peanut butter toffee buzz and double chocolate chip cookie dough into the mix and things are a little more interesting. You get my drift.

So again I ask the question. When will the Montana Progressives break away and begin to form new parties? We’ve already got the politics. Are we afraid we won’t get enough support? I say that is B.S. We will get more support. People are turned off by Democrats because they are a reactionary, opposition party. Alternatively, people like it when you look them straight in the eye and tell them exactly what you think. It has to start at the grassroots level though. Ralph Nader isn’t going to win a presidency without first solidifying the movement at the local level. So if you are thinking about running in any race, think green/independent.
Finally, I am curious what Tester has to say about the issue of campaign finance reform, one of the few swords that seems capable of inflicting serious damage to the beast known as the Democratic Process.

Constitutional Intent

2006-09-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

The framers of the constitution could have never imagined our country would be ruled by multi-national corporations. The constitution was set up to safe guard the freedoms of the individuals, not corporations. How is it then that Corporations are offered more freedom and rights than real people under the constitution? The constant echo by the courts during history is that the people are safeguarded from tyranny by the political process. The founders never could have imagined a day when the political process itself would be ransacked by corporations pushing fascism. So what should the people do when they are no longer safeguarded by the political process? What does the constition say about that?

Rich White Men

2006-09-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

Not that most of us don't already know this, its just that it is increasingly coming into focus for me - Our country was founded by a bunch of rich white bankers. Hamilton and the rest of the lot didn't care about the poor farmers, they just wanted power. Not true you say of the Federalists? Then how is it that as soon as we gain our independece from Britain we have people setting up a new constitution. It is ironic and painful that those at the constitutional convention setup an alledgedly democratic system through the least democratic means possible - secretly in a room without telling anyone else. The same line of thought can be traced up to today. Now we will bomb for peace. The Republicans should have revolted when the constitution first came out.

The Devil in Bush Comes Out

2006-09-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

"...To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

Theodore Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star, 149
May 7, 1918

A brave new world

2006-09-13T07:58:00.001-07:00

The biggest issue for this election seems to be security. It is definitely the elephant in the left wing’s front room. What should we do? Create language for it. Use the word multilateralism more. Stop talking about negatives (isolationism), this only makes us an ineffective opposition party. Make the case that Democrats can create new, strong ties with countries to tackle this problem together. Terrorism is a problem we all have, and we should all share in solving the problem together. We have to share responsibility of fighting terrorism with other countries. If we don’t we become the terrorists. By taking the multilateral approach there will be more buy-in from other countries, relations will be better, we will get out of debt, etc.
We have to stop talking about the failures and shortcomings of the Republican party and stop assuming that sooner or later they will self-destruct. We have to stop assuming that by just telling people the truth they will vote for Progressives. Instead, we have to have a stronger, more unified vision throughout the party. We have to sell our vision of what the future is going to look like to the public, otherwise, it is going to be more of the same. In short, we need to find ourselves, and not be afraid to say what it is we stand for and what we want.

Law school precipitates anarchists

2006-09-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

In McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall provides a broad interpretation of the constitution. He says, “ Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but which consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional.” Here Marshall was arguing to give the Feds more power. Even today the effects are still being felt. Juxtapose his quote with this one from Voltairine De Cleyre: “Instruments which are setup to safeguard rights become the very whip with which the free are struck.” De Cleyre must be talking about the U.S. Constitution. What would Marshall have thought if he would have known that Congress would use the constitution to eliminate individual rights(read: gay marriage ban) of U.S. citizens? And to think it started with a stupid bank. Appropriately ironic I suppose. We should have listened to Mercy Otis Warren.

Voting Does Not Equal Democracy

2006-09-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

The right wing continuously touts what they call democracy and how great they are for spreading democracy. Just because you can vote does not mean you live in a democratic society. What seems to be happening is that the window blind is kept in tack while the interior of the house is being completely changed. The result: Fascism. We are living in a time where candidates are only able to successfully run in an election if they have the monetary backing of huge corporations. When said candidate wins an election, you bet your ass the corporations that financially backed the candidate will want to be repaid. In this way we can see the merging of Gov't with corporations, or fascism. How can we change the system? Campaign finance reform. Limit the amount of money that can be spent by candidates and have that money be supplied via taxpayer dollars. This way the playing field is equal and more people are likely to vote because their money is going towards financing.

Becoming the Evil We Deplore

2006-07-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

Bush has repeatedly said that people in other countries hate us because they hate freedom. This needs to be qualified a little bit. More appropriately perhaps: they hate freedom being pushed on them when they didn't ask for it. The U.S. constanly sees itself as holding the moral highground. The current administration's message seems to be that the U.S. is strong and "productive" and that if other countries want to be the same they should mimic the current paradigm. The problem with this idea is that not all countries want to be like the U.S. Many countries don't ask for our "help" and yet we insist on giving it. The result: suicide bombers. Go to somebody else's country, begin bombing and killing their innocent civilians, force an unwanted political system and then have the nerve to call it a war on terror. Who is terrorizing who?
Mainstream media only reports on the terrorist means. They talk about Terrorist cells, funding, etc. They never talk about other factors that contribute to terrorism such as the religious rationale and the social and political conditions. When we bomb other countries and kill innocent civilians we are leaving their children in abject poverty. How do you think those kids will grow up thinking about the U.S.? Our bombing has created a negative feedback loop that creates more terrorists. By leaving Iraq we will not be failing in our mission, instead we will put an end to terrorizing the innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq. The war on terror can be won. First, it needs to be renamed the war on poverty. It should start at home and then be exported abroad.

Specific Sundries

2006-06-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

Oh Juneau, when will you stop raining? It has been going strong here for weeks. I haven't seen the sun in weeks and it is depressing. Sure the grass is green and wildfire risk is minimal but come on; just 15 minutes of sun.
This job is extremely unexciting and a bit depressing given this will probably be my last field season for quite a while. I was hired on as a plant tech and haven't had the oppoortunity to look at plants on the clock since I started.
I am going to law school in Vermont. I am excited but sad to be leaving Missoula.
I would give just about anything for one of those lazy summer Missoula days.

Know Your Family

2006-06-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

Posting will be extremely light over the next few months. Working in remote Alaska for Uncle Sam. Not to worry, I'll keep an eye on him.

On Not Taking a Stand

2006-05-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

I constantly hear and think that Democrats have no balls. They pussyfoot around issues and go mushy when the going gets tough. Mainly I am speaking to National Security, which seems to be their most obvious weakness. Republicans have put the spotlight on national security for the last what - 4 or 5 years. Nothing else has ever mattered nearly as much as keeping the country safe. This approach is reactionary and if Democrats were smart they would look at some causes for "why they hate us" in a different approach to securing the country. while this may be overly broad, unfair and sweeping I'll say it anyways: Republicans would just assume bomb everyone and everything than work with anyone to fix any problems. For example: after 9/11 what did Bush do? He didn't stop and work with the International community to try and figure out anything. His own party would have called him a Sally. Instead, without thinking, immediately he took our country into what will be known as a dark and unsettling four years of US American history.
In some regards I can understand why Democrats pussyfoot around. If war is being pushed you don't want to look soft or you risk losing confidence. At the same time they are probably thinking geez... isn't there another way to do this without killing thousands of innocent civilians? But Republicans don't have enough time to stop and think about best ways to approach the problem much less stop and talk about the problem. So you have Democrats begrudingly going on with this war even though alot of them probably don't think it was justified. Could they have stood up and said something. yes. Should they have stood up and said something? probably. I think the fact remains that they didn't know what to say. They didn't have a "plan" as Republicans like to point out. The problem that Democrats are faced with is trying to change the mindset of many in the US and also to clean up the foreign policies of more than 100 years worth of US Presidents. That is no easy task and it won't be done using a ten point plan. So the Republicans break out the war plans and the cycle of violence continues. Didn't their Mothers ever tell them two wrongs don't make a right.
Democrats need to really examine the mechanisms driving the violence in this world. That is where they realize they are part of the problem. Wealthy Democratic Senators driving gas guzzling SUVS. They need the war in Iraq and they know it. Before Democrats can take a stand against Republicans they need to decide what they stand for themselves. They need to convince themselves that the US doesn't have to take advantage of every country it does business with in order to maintain the status-quo. I think Democrats are scared of that last idea. They are scared to tell the US people they are living like fucking hogs and they need to think about other people in the world and there needs to be dramatic overhaul of the US system. From the Hummers we drive to the free trade, neo-liberal economic policies we push. While this is "The Land of the Free" it seems some have taken that notion too far and everyone is scared to tell them there have to be stipulations if we want to see this country truly flourish.

Valparaiso, Chile

2006-05-05T14:43:00.001-07:00

Basra

2006-05-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

Perspective

2006-05-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Enviromental activists protested, along with native Papuan tribes people, against the american corporation Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc, and its mining facility in the area, and demanded the mine closed because of its destruction of the natural enviroment, which is still a resource for survival for many people.

Responsible Capitalism

2006-04-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

I really want to get another dog but am afraid I will never find a landlord willing to let me raise a wolfdog pup in a rental. In the midst of one of my many hair brained schemes to find the money needed to buy my own house I thought about investing money in stocks, mutual funds or another sort of invisible money making venture. My dad has been telling me for years about how I can make alot of money playing around with these intangible systems. My cousin loves to say that he is making his money work for him. I have always been turned off by them though. I thought and still do to some extent that investing was crossing over to the dark side. And then it hit me. Invest in socially responsible companies. It seems like a win-win situation. I can make money through a capitalistic system while being responsible and encouraging responsible practices. Just another pipe dream? Probably, but it will be fun playing with fake money.

An Examination of Parecon

2006-04-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

I found this article on Parecon at Znet Blogs to the right in my links.

Post-capitalist capitalism

Michael Albert: Parecon: Life After Capitalism. Verso, £9.

Participatory economics, or parecon for short, is a vision of life after capitalism favoured by many in the anti-capitalist movement. The author of this particular vision helped to establish Z Magazine and its web site Zmag (zmag.org), including its subsidiary page devoted to parecon (zmag.org/parecon), which debates the issues raised by this book.

Parecon opposes “corporate globalisation” and argues for its replacement by “equity, solidarity, diversity and self-management.” For Albert, capitalism means “private ownership of the means of production, market allocation, and corporate divisions of labour.” Life after capitalism is said to combine “social ownership, participatory planning allocation, council structure, balanced job complexes, remuneration for effort and sacrifice, and participatory self-management with no class differentiation.” The council structure involves workplaces, neighbourhoods, and “facilitation boards” which co-ordinate planning.

So-called “market socialism” is rejected because the market and class differentials would remain, as would buyers and sellers of labour power (capacity to work). In Albert's account, because class differentiation disappears in parecon, “you cannot choose to hire wage slaves nor to sell yourself as a wage slave.” Parecon permits workers to assess their own pay and conditions in their decision-making by inputting their preferences via councils. It apportions income in accord with effort and “does not force or even permit people to try to maximise profits, surplus, or even revenues.”

Notice however that Albert is specifically talking about prohibiting profit maximisation, not profits as such. Profits are acceptable; “excessive” profits are not. In the procedure envisaged, individuals and councils submit proposals for their own activities, receive new information including new indicative prices, and submit revised proposals until they reach a point of agreement. This process is open-ended and in Albert's book a hypothetical example is discussed which reaches a seventh planning cycle, or as Albert calls it “planning iteration.” In reviews of this book much has been made of the potential for bureaucracy in this procedure, but a more telling criticism would be its unquestioning acceptance of the profit system. Wages cannot rise to the point which prevent profits being made; and a fall in profits will put a downward pressure on wages. This is called the class struggle.

“Parecon is basically an anarchistic economic vision”, admits Albert, and it shows. Like many on the left, the difference between capitalism and post-capitalism presented here is essentially political, not economic. As indicated by the title, the crucial factor is participatory planning. The capitalist economy would remain substantially the same in parecon: the accumulation of capital out of profits produced by the unpaid labour of the working class.

Fasten Your Seatbelts

2006-04-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

It looks like ASUM is about to make a big left turn. This should be another fun opportunity to work on crushing corporate capitalism.

MAYDAY!

2006-04-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

MAY 1ST IS THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WORKER SOLIDARITY

SPEAK OUT AGAINST INJUSTICES TOWARD WORKERS IN MONTANA AND ABROAD

• Montana Minimum Wage Campaign
• Protest Immigration Bill HR 4337
• Ending Sweatshop Labor

Carnival Games & Informational Booths
Music by: The Victory Smokes

MAY 1st - NOON – THE OVAL

RALLY - OVAL TO COURTHOUSE – 1:30 PM

State Senate Candidate

2006-04-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

I want to spotlight a good friend running for State Legislature in Montana. Her name is Michele Reinhart and she is running in House District 97 which is just west of Missoula. Michele has tons of experience and is a solid Progressive. I have had the pleasure of being in a few courses with her at the University of Montana and I can honestly say I haven't met anyone at the U who is as policy savvy as Michele. She would be great in the Montana Senate and would definitely shake things up a bit. Please check out her link, then donate if you can to her campaign - money well spent.

Random Interdisciplinary Thoughts

2006-04-20T04:23:00.000-07:00

Political folks are constantly using rhetoric to try and win people over. I admit to some extent I am guilty of it too. The thing that kills me is how sweeping, broad, and to a large degree over-generalized the rhetoric usually is. The use of rhetoric in an effort to get out sound bytes rarely does little to foster any sort of deliberative dialogue, especially when the other side is using rhetoric as well. The result often seems to be two parties talking past each other instead of trying to find any sort of common ground. To some extent grad school has offered me the exact opposite. This is the land of eternal analyzation, where you have to write a 25 page paper on the ramifications to the sociopolitical landscape that occur both in the U.S. and abroad as a result of preferring Charmin Ultra versus the new recycled toilet paper. There hasn't seemed to be much of a happy medium lately. At any rate there is one simple thing that I keep seeing and coming back to in grad school that can be applied to rhetoric - it needs to be much more interdisciplinary. The implications are somewhat beneficial: you stop generalizing so much because you have to delve into so many diverse aspects of life. This translates into more thoughtful and thorough discussion of topics (hopefully). So why don't more people link different aspects of whatever it is they are talking about? I'm not sure I have the answer but I have a few ideas. 1. Media doesn't like thoughtful discussion. It just doesn't fit into the way our current media is structured and conveyed. Turn on the TV and you are likely to see 5 second snippets of whatever topic the media finds interesting. Television networks seem to be of the persuasion that most people don't want to hear good dialogue amongst parties but would rather hear them throw out their best line and let the uninformed viewer decide what is right or wrong based off of the snippet. Why is that? Well, I think it has to do with the media taking advantage of the way our culture is setup. I think it is safe to say that people in the U.S. are workhorses. We invented the forty hour work week and when that wasn't enough we decided we needed to work overtime. Why do we do that? For the money stupid. Our society is enfatuated with money. For many affluence is measured by how big your house is or what you drive to work (Never mind the fact that most never really enjoy the things they think they want because they are too busy paying them off or worrying about what they need next.) So you work like a dog, come home tired becasue you just worked 16 hours and turn on the T.V. You are disgruntled because you just missed your favorite episode of [Insert mindless show here] so you turn on Fox news. Lo and behold you get your five seconds of whatever and you take it at face value because your tired, overworked, and quite frankly you don't want to critically think about anything.

In case you have forgotten what the question was I will restate it. Why isn't there more linkage of topics when using rhetoric? Another possible reason: Some think it becomes too relative. By focusing on one topic some think they can isolate and quantitatively discuss current topics. In other words it is easier and more manageable. That is dangerous because it leads to unimformed decision making.

A case in point: The immigration issue. What a fucking mess huh? Some republicans want to allow immigration so they can exploit the labor market. Others don't want to let immigrants in because they fear it will destroy their standard of living and potentially the labor market. Some say we are all immigrants and who are we to disallow others into our country. I don't think the dialogue or the answer lies in whether or not we should let them in as much as why they want to come here. I suspect it is a causal relationship that needs to be explored. Most likely immigrants want to come here to improve their quality of life. If the U.S. begins to absorb 3-4 million immigrants annually it is likely that they will very quickly become more consumptive in their habits given the increase in wages. Increased consumption equals decreased resources. It is very doubtful that the earth itself would be able to absorb the impacts of such drastic changes in resource consumption levels. If everyone in the world were to live like the "average" U.S. citizen we would need something like 7 planets to sustain consumpton. That isn't an option so what else do we have? Well, we can make it so that they don't want to come to our country because they are comfortable in their own. This is the option I am pushing for. Don't get me wrong, I fully support peoples' efforts to live a higher quality life; I just don't think the U.S. model is a sustainable one. So what needs to be done. Well, alot. First off we need to increase consumerism in other countries so there is some sort of infrastructure and economy in place. Then we have to curtail our own consumerism to a sustainable level. The hope then is that we can converge so that all countries are relatively close to one another in the socioeconomic aspect of things. Communistic you say? Perhaps, or just looking out for our kids' kids.

Montana's Institutionalized Slavery

2006-04-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

There is currently a campaign being carried out by numerous non-profits trying to get a minimum wage initiative on the ballot. The idea is to raise the minimum wage in Montana from $5.15/hour to $6.15/hour. The dollar increase is much needed for the more than 27,000 people working at minimum wage. Right now people are having to work 80 hours/week just to survive at that wage. This is really a matter of human rights and the non-profits are treating it as such.

The current minimum wage is an example of institutionalized slavery. A living wage in Montana is somewhere between $9.30-$9.50/hour. When you pay workers nearly half that amount you are forcing them to work slave like hours to be able to put food on the table. That has got to end.

This has to be qualified in 34 districts so anyone wanting to collect signatures in their area to get the initiative on the ballot can contact me.

Coke Victory

2006-04-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

The University of Montana recently held an open forum for students and administrators to discuss the exclusive contract the U holds with Coca-Cola. The outcome was beneficial. The president agreed to work with us to form a taskforce. The taskforce will create a purchasing code of conduct that companies have to abide by. Finally, the taskforce will create a grievance board. This will give us a more formalized way to lodge complaints against Coke for their human rights abuses and get them off campus.

Another outcome of the forum was 200 pissed off students asking the President of the University why he insists on being so incalcitrant in breaking the contract with Coke when over 20 other Universities worldwide have broken their contracts.

KPAX, one of Montana's newstations was there and we got some footage on the 10pm news. I am working on getting that feed up for people to check out.

To find out more about Coke's human rights violations check out my Killer Coke link to the right.

Joke of the Day

2006-02-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

What did Bush have to say about Roe v. Wade?

I don't care how they get out of New Orleans.

The Coca-Cola Struggle

2006-02-17T15:21:00.000-08:00

The University of Montana has an exclusive contract with the Coca-Cola company. The company also has allegations of human rights abuses against their union workers in their Colombian bottling plants. We've managed to get 15% of the student body to sign a petition asking the president of the U, George Dennison, to call for an independent investigation of Coke. This has been a 3 year struggle and this might be the semester that something happens. Exciting to say the least. If you are a UM student and want more info or to get involved we have meetings every Tuesday at 7pm in UC room 223. If you aren't a student but just want some more info check out killercoke.org

Evil

2006-02-03T09:06:00.001-08:00

That is the only word that can describe this man.

The New Chile

2006-01-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

A new president has been elected in Chile as well as a new leftist leader in the South. And a woman none the less. Good news for the anti-neoliberalist front. This is turning out to be an exciting movement in the South. I'm itching to dig out my sandals and take an extended trip.

On Stupidity

2006-01-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

From the Helena Independent Record: "Idaho wants to kill as many as 51 wolves in the north-central part of the state, according to a plan that state Department of Fish and Game managers say will help boost the region's elk herds.

"The killings would take place on the state's mountainous border with Montana, near State Highway 12. Biologists estimate there are between 43 and 69 wolves there, but too few elk for hunters.

The plan is to initially kill 75 percent of the area's wolves."

So the grey wolf is on the endangered species list for what... 30 years? They are not even delisted and already people want to cull 75% of the area's population. Who do they have running the circus over there? I don't have huge amounts of experience with wolves, but I did get a degree in Ecology and I can say with confidence that the problem is most likely not that there aren't enough elk, wolves almost always take only the old and diseased prey. The real problem(s) lies in the fact that you have out of state hunters that are fat and lazy and don't want to work for an animal. All they want to do is throw a couple thousand dollars at an outfitter to walk them a tenth of a mile from a truck so they can shoot the thing and put the head on their wall with all the other animals in an attempt to boost their already over-inflated egos while showing off their "skill" as hunters.
Everybody knows that when wolves come into play the other animals go into hiding. Look at Yellowstone. Before wolves were reintroduced there were elk all over, hanging out on the roads, etc. Now they don't come out of the trees. That isn't becuase there are no elk left, but because they are back in a normal ecosystem.
So if you are reading this and out of state, hit the treadmill, you fat,lazy, selfish, cunt. That comment doesn't apply to those who need the meat, just the obese middle aged white guys who think they can dominate nature any way they please.

Revisiting The War On Drugs

2006-01-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

With the recent election of Evo Morales as Bolivia's president Washington's war on drugs might take an interesting turn in the future. If you have followed any sort of news in the last four years you probably know the war on terror has cost the U.S. more than 8 trillion and counting. That means the U.S. will have to cut spending on programs. I am predicting the U.S. will slowly scale back its war on drugs, given Evo is claiming to decriminalize the cultivation of Coca. It wouldn't make much sense that Washington continue to pump millions into an anti-coca program in South America when one country there has legalized it and the war on drugs failed miserably in the U.S. Don't expect to hear too much about it though, that would means the Republicans have lost face with Reagan's brainchild.

I also think the election signals a deeper problem Washington is going to face in its quest to maintain "hemispheric defense" (read: imperialism). The U.S. just doesn't have the monetary resources to maintain the empire like it did before the war on terrorism. The deficit has opened the door for opportunity in South America and abroad for leftist leaders to emerge; and emerging they are.

Hats off to Max

2005-12-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't know it, Montana's Senator Max Baucus voted against the Defense Budget Reconciliation and for privacy (against the Patriot Act). It is no big secret a huge part of his voting no to the budget reconciliation had to do with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Big ups to Max, he has come through in the clutch just about if not every time on issues pertaining to ANWR. SOLID.

Are these guys ever gonna stop trying to tap the ANWR? I urge everyone to call or email their Senators and remind them that petroleum is a non-renewable source, I think they frequently forget. Note to oil politicians: stop being so damn myopic and think about something other than lining your pockets. How about passing some legislation to increase the mileage on the yellow Hummers cruising around the suburbs of America?

2005-12-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

When Will This STOP?

2005-12-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

Thinking Like a Terrorist

2005-12-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

Did you ever stop and ask yourself why there is so much security at airports? I would guess it is to protect valuable assests. What are those assests? Humans, I hope. So when you create enormous lines aren't you creating an even easier opportunity for alot of people to die. Now a terrorist does not even have to make it through a security screening, he can just walk in the front doors of an airport and set off a bomb while waiting in line to be checked. That is not a comforting idea given I am flying across the country in a few weeks.

2005-12-03T17:36:00.000-08:00

The last time I shopped at Walmart was about a year ago. I remember thinking how wonderfully convenient it was that I could purchase my groceries, my household items and get my film developed in one full swoop, and get a bargain to boot! But then something happened that really burst my bubble... I got a crash course in Walmart Economics. The more I learned about Walmart’s philosophy and business practices, the more concerned I became, and ultimately, the more committed I chose to be toward sharing all that I’ve learned with as many people as possible.
As a person of conscience, there came a time when I was forced to reconcile all that I had learned and accept responsibility for it. That meant taking a stand... and that meant standing on the principal, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. It’s really as simple as that.

As a single mom on a fixed income, with three children at home, I full well know the importance of being as frugal as possible but I do not what to be responsible for the grief that someone else has to endure as a way of life in order to make ends meet in my own life. How anyone can justify this is beyond my understanding.

The truth is, Walmart can afford to offer some of the low prices that they do because they are paying sweat shop wages, sometimes as low as 3 cents an hour, to manufacture the same goods that were once manufactured here at home. The effect of this has resulted in the loss of good paying jobs at home as well as a lowering of a work standard and ethic that had once made America great. Rather than raising standards throughout the rest of the world, Walmart is systematically lowering standards at home - all this in the name of the almighty dollar, with no regard to the impact that such detrimental practices have on individuals, families, and communities throughout, not only this country, but the world.

Walmart currently has 3700 stores throughout the country and has ambitious plans to raise that number to 6,000 within the next 5 to 6 years. Is this in line with your vision of America? Where Walmart is the only place to shop... where the nostalgia of our historic downtown communities no longer exist because Walmart intentionally sets out to annihilate all competition? Where Walmart is one of the few places left in our communities to work? Where our brothers and sisters are denied good benefits, a decent living wage, respect and dignity on the job, and the right to organize and form a union?

How can we forget the sacrifices of our forefathers who gave their lifeblood to ensure our way of life? Yes, we live in a capitalist society but does that mean that everything we are, everything we believe, must be reduced down to the “bottom dollar?” Is this not the same as worshiping mammon? Does the bible not warn us against the “love of money?” At what point do people matter more than profit? What happened to “we are our brother’s keeper?” These are the many questions that continue to make my head spin and my heart ache and I for one, cannot ignore them.

This philosophy of profit at any cost, is undoing America, and every one of us who chooses to turn a blind eye to what is happening right under our noses, is partly responsible for the harm that is being done. As the largest corporation in the world, Walmart has the power to do right, and to do good, and sometimes they do, but all things considered, when you step back and look at the big picture, Walmart is responsible for doing far more harm than good. It seems strikingly apparent to me that The Walmart Corporation chooses to live by the old adage, “he with the most gold make the rules”, and given the millions of dollars they spend lobbying for subsidies and other favors, it seems they are well on their way to doing exactly that. Other small businesses don’t get subsidies so why should Walmart? Isn’t America supposed to represent fairness, equality, freedom and justice for ALL? We should have a fair and level playing field with everyone being held to the same standard.

America may be financially wealthy, but if we allow corporations like Walmart to continue to choose profit over people, what does that say about the wealth of our collective spirit? We can no longer afford to rationalize unto ourselves at the expense of others, here at home or abroad. As a matter of principal, we can no longer allow greed to trump need. Wake up America! Wake up Walmart!

The whole wake up Wal-Mart blog can be viewed at: http://blog.wakeupwalmart.com/

Are the Gears Starting to Grind?

2005-12-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

Executives from U.S. firms including Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil appeared at a hearing in Wisconsin on Thursday to defend record profits.

The hearings follow a similar face-off in the U.S. Senate in early November, which critics say failed to get a sufficient explanation about how the companies have made unprecedented profits at a time of national crisis.

Maybe somebody can explain why these guys had to appear at a hearing? Afterall, aren't we living in a market system. Who says you have to display any sort of ethical behavior in a market system. If that were the case half the Republicans in office would already be indicted... oh wait. The only reason these guys went before any sort of Senate hearing is because Venezuela is making the U.S. oil corporations look bad and enough poor people are starting to take notice. FINALLY.

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth IS

2005-12-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

"Mr. Bush, I'm going to make another bet with you. I've bet you a dollar to see who lasts longer — you in the White House or me here in Miraflores (palace)," Chavez said Thursday.

It is reassuring to see that somebody is calling up Bush and giving him some of his own medicine. Bush is seen as the traditional I'm tougher than you I'll kick your ass kind of cowboy. Well it seems that a new cowboy is town by the name of Chavez. Actually, he's been in town for a while, he's just stating to get more and more recognition. He's also beating Bush at home. How about Venezuela sending the poor virtually free oil in Massachusetss? You'll never see the money grubbing capatilist named George doing something like that for his own people. Isn't it interesting that the U.S. can spend billions if not trillions of dollars spreading "Democracy" when they can't even take care of their own people? For fuck's sake, what are people supposed to make of that?

2005-12-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

A young piquetero boy participates in a citywide road blockade, cutting off all access to Buenos Aires. Argentina, 2002.

Oh Colombia

2005-11-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

This picture is from Parque Tayrona, Colombia. It is a beautiful park if you ever get the chance to go there. Sleeping on the beach...

Rethinking the University

2005-11-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

NEWSFLASH: THE ADMINISTRATORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS. THAT MEANS THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO SERVE THE STUDENTS. IN ORDER TO DO THAT, THEY SHOULD ASK US WHAT WE WANT, NOT TELL US WHAT WE ARE GOING TO GET. That concludes the newsflash.

There was a Board of Regents meeting this past week. On Wednesday at the subcommittee meeting for budget and finance three University Vice Presidents gave a review of progress for the allocation model redevelopment. One of the first principles was, "the model should reward-not punish- institutions for aggressively seeking revenues from sources other than:
a. Students, or
b. State

I think this idea needs to be qualified and rethought. First off, I don't know why they included "not-punish" Perhaps it is because of all the backlash from a few short months ago when the administration tried to bulldoze the golf course and caught a bunch of flack for not consulting anyone. Or perhaps it is because the administration recently signed an exclusive contract with Nike and none of the students knew about it and now some of them are pissed. Maybe they included that line because they don't want to get any shit from the students with regards to the alleged human rights abuses by the Coca-Cola company; yet another contract with little input from students.

I applaud and commend the Adminstration for wanting to seek alternative sources of revenue for the University. It helps my checkbook and all the other students. I DO NOT, however, condone or endorse the cavalier attitude of the administration that encourages pursuing alternative economic avenues without student input.

It is one thing to complain, but another to propose changes or ideas.
Here are some of mine:
a.) The wind turbine at the north end of the Missoula campus - do something with it. It is an untapped source of
revenue
b.) Have ASUM hold a contest for students to submit ideas; the University is an enormous think tank; use it
c.) Instead of making money why not save some. The lights in the vending machines are on non-stop, vending
misers are devices that have motion sensors so when nobody walks by for 15 minutes it powers down the lights
which means the compressor doesn't always have to be on.
d.) Has anyone looked into solar panels?
e.) Other campuses: with Schweitzer pushing for the coal --> petroleum idea why not get the Butte Campus
involved, they are all about the mining. It would give students hands on experience, and keep some of the money
in the state.
e.) Beer. They are selling it at the University of Wisconsin with relatively few safety problems. Construct a beer
garden at the football fields and make a killing. Sell it at the basketball games. The cost to manage underage
drinkers would pale in comparison to the potential for money to be made.

2005-11-17T21:16:00.000-08:00

This is today's stolen image.

2005-11-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

These images were stolen from KBGA

Terrorist Training Camp in Georgia

2005-11-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

CLOSE THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS!

Dear friends,
Please join us on Wednesday, November 16, for a funeral procession to commemorate the victims of the Army’s School of the Americas and to call on Rep. Rehberg to cosponsor HR1217 – calling for the closure of the school. We’ll meet at the XXXs at North Higgins and proceed through downtown to Rehberg’s office – 218 E. Main.
The School of the Americas (SOA) has trained more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers – many of whom have been involved in the worst human rights atrocities committed in our hemisphere. November 16 marks the 16th anniversary of the murder of the six Jesuit priests that directed the Central America University in El Salvador. The priests, their housekeeper and her 16-year-old daughter, were killed by graduates of the SOA.
In El Salvador, SOA graduates also participated in the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the rape and murder of four U.S. churchwomen, and the massacre of more than 900 civilians in El Mozote.
More than 11,000 soldiers from Colombia have been trained at the SOA – the most of any country in Latin America. SOA graduates support the right-wing paramilitaries responsible for the vast majority of human rights abuses committed in Colombia.
Rep. Rehberg has called the SOA, “a beneficial program for the United States and its students.” Let’s tell him that he’s dead wrong about the SOA and urge him to take action to close this terrorist training camp in Georgia!
In solidarity,
Scott Nicholson
Community Action for Justice in the Americas

Also see the link under resources to the right for more info.

Who are we?

2005-11-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Lately I have had a feeling that a lot of people living in the U.S. simply don't care about people living outside the U.S.
Our country is big, our cars are big, our ego is big, but how big are our hearts?
When we idolize or strive to be like the supermodels we see on the racks in the checkout line at the grocery store we are saying something about our culture and ourselves.
Is it possible that the reason so many people in so many countries want to be like us is because our ego is so huge and we seem to be so sure of ourselves and our way of life that it is hard for people in other countries not to buy into the same ideas?
The skinny North American supermodel symbolizes not success but the process by which many people in the U.S. have come to grow fat. Instead of exercising and eating properly she vomits and does a bunch of cocaine. This is very symbolic of the American way of life. Cutting corners instead of doing things properly. The fat CEO and the supermodel are one and the same. All are built upon a false sense of importance. Strip away all the material possessions and we see both are neglecting themsleves. Strip away American culture that embraces money as the ultimate and we see that many people in the U.S. have neglected not only themselves, but their souls in order to be accepted by a fake reality. Strip away American values and what are we left with?
Most of us don't seem to be cognizant of this; much less aware of where to start the process for change.

Information Age

2005-10-30T20:38:00.001-08:00

You may notice that I have put up a bunch of new links under the resources. Trying to add as many as I can to disseminate good info. If you have any ideas for websites that are needed leave it in the comments. I'm currently looking for an online political dictionary. I think it is Wycoperia? Any idea on the spelling?
Thanks

Update: I found the Dictionary: Wikipedia. check out the link under resources. Maybe I will start throwing out five-dollar words like neo-liberalism soon.

The War on Poverty

2005-10-30T20:03:00.000-08:00

The right wingers have done a pretty good job in the past making the progressives out to be a bunch of pussies. I would recommend the progressives revamp and endorse a "War on Poverty" for the next presidential election. They would capture the majority of the poor's vote, and that is important. Sometimes I gotta wonder about Max Baucus. The whole thing with the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is really gonna put the hurt on the already hurting sugar beet farmers. Do the politicians really care or are they just out to stay in office?

The Revolution WAS Televised

2005-10-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

The flick went really well. Community Action For Justice in the Americas nearly sold out the Roxy. We are starting to become a force to be reckoned with.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

2005-10-26T07:26:00.001-07:00

If anyone is in Missoula on Friday the 28th I would strongly urge you to see the documentary entitled The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. A couple of Irish guy were in the Presidential Palace in Venezuela in 2001 when the CIA backed a failed coup attempt against the democratically elected President Hugo Chavez. Amazing. Come see what our Gov't is doing to help spread love and democracy abroad. Doors open at 6pm, film is at 7pm. The Roxy Theatre

A beautiful day

2005-10-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe it has been the crappy weather, but today I couldn't help but grin. The sun was blasting, the leaves are falling, the air is crisp. I couldn't help but wildly smile. Just bursting at the seams. Life has been pretty wild since my mom passed away. The good days feel really good and the bad days, well they feel bad. I've been wearing my mind on my sleeve and try to be as honest as possible. What a beautiful day it was. Ahhh....Montana.

Schweitzer and the Black Gold

2005-10-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Take a look at Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's answers to some questions by Jerome a Paris on a recent blog regarding the process Schweitzer endorses which would make synthetic fuels from coal.

One question I thought interesting:

QUESTION: What about the environment? This takes lots of water and makes solid waste I hear.

ANSWER: Water needs, traditionally an enormous hurdle, have been all but eliminated with the advent of a process that actually produces water with its excess hydrogen and oxygen. Plus, 40 years of coal development in the prairie of southeast Montana has taught us how to restore the land with responsible reclamation. And while solid wastes are a concern, it is certainly better to sequester these toxins, and sell or dispose of them in a controlled manner, than to release them into air and water as is done now.

OK, now my question is this:
What do the coal development sites look like in southeast Montana?

U.S. War in Colombia: Repression and Resistance

2005-10-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Jesseca Letke, Erin Thompson, and Scott Nicholson traveled to Colombia this summer to witness the impact of U.S. intervention in the war. They traveled to two of the most conflictive regions of Colombia and met with peasant and union leaders, women’s rights activists, and other human rights workers. They say it was a very powerful and inspiring experience and they’ll be giving a presentation about their trip, “U.S. War in Colombia: Repression & Resistance,” on Wednesday, October 12, at 7 P.M. in the North Urey Underground Lecture Hall at the University of Montana.

Since 2000, the U.S. government has given $3.2 billion in military aid to Colombia. The Colombian military supports the right-wing paramilitaries that are responsible for the vast majority of human rights abuses committed in Colombia. Our tax dollars are financing this brutal repression against the people that are struggling non-violently for social justice. The U.S. government has also funded the aerial fumigation of more than 1.2 million acres with the herbicide glyphosate (Monsanto’s Roundup) as part of the “war on drugs.” This indiscriminate spraying destroys food crops and causes severe health problems.

Wednesday, October 12, at 7 P.M. in the North Urey Underground Lecture Hall at the University of Montana.

Nike and The University of Montana

2005-10-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

Dennison just won't quit. He recently signed a contract with Nike. The same Nike responsible for sweat shops all over the world. Did he ask the students if they wanted Nike on campus? NO. Does he care? NO. George Dennison could care a less what the students want, he has his own agenda. The problem is that George Dennison's salary is paid in part by the students. Oh yeah, he is scheduled to get a 30K dollar pay-raise for next year.
I walked into the administrative office and asked for a copy of the Nike contract. The receptionist asked me for my name and was about to refuse me the contract when I wouldn't tell her. Some guy walked up to me and introduced himself as Jim Foley. He asked my name and I wouldn't tell him. After I repeatedly made it clear the contract was a public record he told the receptionist to give it to me. Then he told me what I had done was disrespectful. I told him what was disrepectful was how Dennison and VP Bob Duringer went behind the student's backs and signed the contract without even consulting ASUM.

My Mother

2005-09-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

This post is more of a vent than anything. My Mother passed away unexpectedly last Monday. She was working in a propane plant where they refine liquid propane into gas form. She was still in training and was supposed to have the trainer within 30 feet of her when she performed certain duties. When she died nobody was within 300 feet of her.
My mom was one of the toughest women I have ever known. Growing up I remember her coming home from Bethlehem Steel and being pitch black from head to toe. She shoveled coal in the steel mill for fifteen years. She cut slabs of steel, used turtle torches, and many things I will never know. She went to school for HVAC. Got a degree at age 47 in labor law. It isn't that she had to take those jobs, she chose to. She picked jobs most men wouldn't want to do, and she did them better than most men.
If you ever knew my mom you would probably say she was one of the most honest people you ever knew. Not just about lying, but being brutally honest. She would tell you exactly what was on her mind, if it hurt your feelings or not. She was not one to beat around the bush. If she didn't like you, she would tell you and that's that. I bet she never had anything hanging over her head, except maybe a halo.
At the funeral I met tons of people who were friends of my Mother's. She was living in the midwest so I never got a chance to meet many of these people before last week. They told me stories of only meeting her once and her changing their lives forever. If my mom liked you she would bend over backwards for you, and she frequently did. When I was out of the country she would send care packages across the country. Other people told me about how she used to watch their kids. Cousins told me about how my mother would send savings bonds for each of their kids' birthdays and Christmas. So many people told me so many stories of how generous my mother was. I started to wonder how my mom could go to school, work 40 hours a week, watch somebody else's kids, send off care packages, call everyone in the Goddamn world and keep up with every family she had ever known. The list goes on and on.
The line at the funeral was backed up so that you had to wait forty five minutes to get in the room where her pictures and flowers were. I haven't been to too many funerals, but I have never been to one with so many people. People who only met her once drove 5 hours to tell me she sent them a statue. The statue was supposed to be buried in your backyard and brings good luck when you are trying to sell your home. I was dumbfounded to hear that she was sending people things she had only met once.
Before 3 or 4 months ago I hadn't talked to my parents for about a year and half. They both grew up poor and worked hard to get what they have. My parents were living the American dream. Huge house in Suburbia, SUV, Jag, vacation time. Golf for my Dad. I didn't talk to them for a few reasons. I have traveled a bit to South and Central America. I have seen some poverty and it hurts. It hurts to see my parents living like pigs. They have an overabundance of things in my opinion. I feel like they can't appreciate that people are dying in 3rd world countries and they have a 3 story house with 4 bedrooms for 2 people. I decided to not talk to them because of that. I don't know what changed inside of me, but I decided to talk to my Mother after a year and a half. I started to realize that my parents could be reasoned with. That my mom was willing to listen. She just needed to learn about things. I was on the track to showing my parents what I think is important; that there is a life outside of Suburbia.
I just wish I would have started talking to my mom sooner than I had. I am sure going to miss you mom, and your cream peas.
I guess I need to start working on my Dad.

Food for thought

2005-07-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

The United States spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitation services, and basic education to every person on the planet.
And we wonder why Terrorists attack us?
-John Perkins-

On Guantanamo

2005-06-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

From Senator Dick Durbin:

Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. . . . On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

Who is terrorizing who?

Schweitzer is a closet case hippy

2005-06-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

With all the press Schweitzer has been getting lately I thought it appropriate to label him myself: Hippy. A smart one at that. I would venture to say people think of hippies as smelly, change seeking, dog-loving, environmentalists. Schweitzer is all of the above. I've never been close enough to smell him, but he says himself he has a stink on him after leaving the State's capital. The photo above further proves his intelligence. Look at the guy. He is wearing normal clothes but asking for spare change.
You may have read about the letter he recently wrote to Bush telling him that in order to come up with a decent management plan for Montana roadless areas 9 million dollars and 500 Forest Service employees would be needed to look at all variables. What a smart move. Instead of just coming right out and saying I don't want to develop roads in these areas, he says we don't have enough money to look at it. Martz would have been all over the opportunity to get the cut out even more. The times, they are a changin'.

The thing that kills me about the guy is how he is touting the greatness of Montana. Of course everyone in Montana knows it, but don't announce it to the whole god damn world. Being from Whitefish, he should be shaking his head with disgust at the development in the Flathead Valley. Somebody recently spit out the number 300k as the median home price in the Fish. What Montanan can afford that? It is all the fucking people from California. The result is apparent. The Flathead valley is beginning to look like anytown, USA. What a shame. The wages don't appear to have increased as a result of the steady influx of people either. All the retiring Californians take advantage of the situation. The solution is simple. Anybody wanting to immigrate into Montana should have to pay a one time tax of... oh let's say 75% of their total savings and assests. That way they could know what it is like to be a real Montanan.

2005-05-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ironically enough I am working for the feds seasonally. Somebody has to keep big brother honest I suppose. Be back in a few weeks. I'll leave you with this quote.

Es mejor morir en los pies que vivir en las rodillas.
-Emiliano Zapata-

Fascism Today

2005-05-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Moussilini said, "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power."
HALIBURTON
Throw some right wing judges on the bench, consolidate the church and state. Align the Judicial and Executive branches. Neo-crusades for Democracy around the world. Attack countries with no weapons of mass destruction (Iraq). Leave the countries alone that don't have oil but are trying to develop WMDs (N. Korea) Hold people without trials and no access to lawyers for indefinite periods of time in foreign countries (Guantanamo Bay)
Privatise everything.
It is like a nightmare that won't stop. Everyday reading the paper to see who we bombed, how many have died. When will it hurt bad enough that we will ask for it to stop?

U.S. + Multilateralism = Oxymoron

2005-05-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

I was reading a reuters article that said Connie Rice has abandoned the failing tactic of publicly talking shit about Venezuela's president Chavez. No, she didn't stop because she found out he was democratically elected. Maybe she is scared of getting cut off of Venezuelan oil.
So what did she do? She went on her first South American tour to talk to everyone but Chavez. Hey, if you got a problem with somebody and you are the U.S. the last thing you do is talk to that person. Instead, she held meetings with her trusty lapdog named Colombia about monitoring Venezuela. My tirade digresses.
The part of the article I found most humourous/scary was where Mark Weisbrot of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research think tank referred to the U.S.:

"They lost when they attacked head-on but now they'll focus on using multilateral forums against Chavez."

Does that mean they will go in with the CIA and Colombian troops and multilaterally remove Chavez via another Coup d'etat?

Ask nicely Jon

2005-05-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

If you didn't catch Jon Stewart asking the cunts at CNN for some real media catch it here.

Baucus Reminder

2005-04-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

Just a last minute reminder that a rally against the Central American Free Trade Agreement is being held at every Baucus office in the state at noon until 1pm today. Go to the office nearest you and tell Baucus that Montana jobs are important. Tell him we are going to lose Montana jobs if this goes through. STAND UP FOR MONTANA This effects everyone, unionists, farmers, sugar beets, the whole lot.

Death by Major Media

2005-04-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

My best friend's name is Vincent. I never caught his last name and it doesn't matter anyways. I met him in Peru and had the honor of being around him for a week. Vincent once said to me that if you lined up all the pain and suffering in the world in front of a person, he/she would become insane within 10 minutes. I was quick to counter it wouldn't take half that long.
All too often in the U.S. we lose sight of what's really important. Part of this is our fault and part of it is to blame on the media. Instead of looking to our neighbors to lend a hand, we look at their SUV with envy. We work long hours and fall out of touch with our families. How can we begin to think about the problems of those half way around the world when we barely have enough time for our own families?
Major media corporations today do a less than adequate job of getting real news out to the average U.S. citizen. After working a 10 hour day the average guy wants to sit down with a Pabst or Budweiser, watch t.v., and shut the brain down for the night. This is the beauty of television, you don't have to think, it is all spoon-fed to you. Fox news and CNN have picked up on this and are doing their part in keeping the machine well greased. Instead of focusing on the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur, we are forced to watch the Michael Jackson trial. Michael Jackson may or may not have abused a child, but hundreds of thousands of people are being abused and killed as you read this in the Darfur. Is that not important? Of course it is. The truth is that the majority of people don't hear or see it.
Despite my meager experience in the realm of blogging, I continually come to the same conclusion: there seems to be relatively few outlets for change. I constantly read shocking news only to file it away in the back of my brain. Blogging seems to be a great way to gain insight into a million things; why not make it a great way to change a million things? Start grinding the gears.

Calling all Bozos

2005-04-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

Magda Lanuza of Nicaragua will be at the Bozeman Public library April 28th at 7pm to discuss implications of debt, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, ecological and social justice, and women's rights. She will also discuss the impact of international debt on her country and the global economy. If you are in or around Bozeman on this date, it will be something worth checking out. The Sugar Beets are depending on you. Click here for full schedule.

Speaking of Sugar Beets, there will be an Anti-CAFTA rally across the state at all of Max's offices: Billings, Butte, Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Missoula. The rally will go from noon-1pm on April 28th. Stand up for Montana Contact info: Erinrenee@hotmail.com

Schweitzer in Salon

2005-04-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Schweitzer scored a spot in Salon.com It is kind of nice to feel some ostensible transparency, unlike Senator Burns. Check out Ed's take on what Ol' Connie boy has been up to.

Help George Out

2005-04-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

2005-04-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

While we're talking about scoring, it sounds like 5 U.S. soldiers smuggling cocaine from Colombia into the U.S. were arrested. Yes, Colombia is the country that receives hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. to combat drug trafficking. What's the fuss? The soldiers were just taking the coke out of Colombia (heavy sarcasm). Luckily George's cabinet seems to have some resourceful people; I'm sure he'll have a more reliable hook-up in no time. Please contact Georg e if you've got a line on something.

Save the Sugar Beets!

2005-04-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

So what do dog whistles and sugar beets have to do with one another? Alot if you are a Blue Dog Democrat in Montana. While I am usually quick to scathingly censure anything Rehberg or Burns do, it appears they might have gotten one right, for once. They recently sent a letter to U.S. Chief Agricultural Trade Negotiator, Allen Johnson, telling him where to stick the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The two claim CAFTA will devastate the sugar and sugar beet industry here in Montana.
SAVE THE SUGAR BEETS! (and Montana jobs).

Here is where the blue dogs need to step in. Max has of yet to sign the letter. Traditionally he has had his pant leg caught on the fence, so we need to chase him over the stupid thing and commit to saying no to CAFTA. Give him a hollar, you will sleep better knowing you have saved a sugar beet.

Miss Montana?

2005-04-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

It sounds like Victoria isn’t so interested in full exposure when it comes to revealing where her catalogs come from. According to the Native Forest Network,
They are printed on paper from the Canadian Boreal, a forest wilderness larger than the Brazilian Amazon that is being clearcut at a rate of two acres a minute, 24 hours a day, mainly for paper.

Here are some of their talking points:

Approximately 395 million catalogs are mailed by Victoria's Secret each year - that's more than one million a day.

Most catalogs end up in the trash or recycling - often without even being looked at.
(I firmly disagree)

Almost all of these catalogs are produced from virgin fiber paper with little or no recycled content.

Indigenous people are being negatively impacted by the logging and paper production industries.
Native plant and animal populations are being destroyed by logging and processing operations and the pollution they create.

If you find the girl in the picture extremely appealing, or, if you want to ask Victoria to stop her sadistic ways, contact her

Pulling the plug on ANWR

2005-04-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

ANWR - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

In trouble.

The Deception: Petroleum takes upwards of 10 years to refine. We will not have abundant oil tomorrow if they drill today. We will not be off foreign oil tomorrow if they drill today. It will still be expensive to drive your Hummer.

The shame: Petroleum is a non-renewable resource. That means it will run OUT.

The hope: right-wing christians. I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. They offer the hope of clashing with their fiscally conservative brothers. That means the budget resolution might pull the plug sort of speak on the chance of drilling. This has the as-of-late environmental mendicants licking their chops.